Are Christian Missionaries narcissistic idiots? (Quick answer: No)

Albert Mohler“In Ann Coulter’s view, Kent Brantly should never have gone to Africa in the first place. He should have spent his time and energies saving America…”

– Albert Mohler responds to an opinion piece by columnist Ann Coulter. While the context is US-based, the command of Christ is the same.

‘Get with the Program’ — The Church of England votes to ordain Women Bishops

Albert Mohler“Writing about the age of John Milton, the British author A. N. Wilson once tried to explain to modern secular readers that there had once been a time when bishops of the Church of England were titanic figures of conviction who were ready to stand against the culture.

‘It needs an act of supreme historical imagination to be able to recapture an atmosphere in which Anglican bishops might be taken seriously,’ he wrote, ‘still more, one in which  they might be thought threatening.’

Keep that in mind as you read the news that the General Synod of the Church of England voted yesterday to approve the consecration of women as bishops of the church …

Ruth Gledhill is profoundly right about another aspect of Monday’s vote as well. It won’t stop with women bishops. ‘Now the church can move into the 20th century, although perhaps not the 21st,’ she wrote. ‘A change on gay marriage would be needed to do that.’ Well, stay tuned, as they say”

– Albert Mohler writes on what happens when bowing to the spirit of the age is more important than a serious commitment to biblical Christianity.

‘Anglicans mad only if they ignore Bible’

NZ SRTM derived“Amid the swirl of opinion around the Anglican General Synod’s decision to commit to finding a way to bless gay couples, the epithets for orthodox Anglicans have mounted: anti-gay, homophobic, wrong, immoral, betrayers of Jesus, unloving, judgmental, intolerant, bigoted, ostracising, unjust and hypocritical. Doubtless an incomplete list, but enough to paint a nasty picture…”

– In this opinion-piece for the New Zealand Herald, Michael Hewat (Vicar of the West Hamilton) argues that the NZ Anglican General Synod has failed ‘the LGBT community’.

Related: Same-Gender blessings: NZ General Synod votes. (May 14 2014)

Caring or Killing

Phillip Jensen“‘Is the baby normal?’ is one of the first questions parents ask the doctor and that’s the last time the parents are happy that their child is only normal!

We don’t want our children to be abnormal or have any abnormalities but we do want them to be above average. We don’t want them to be the high achievers who crash and burn in the blaze of celebrity magazine publicity, but nobody wishes their child to be below average. Everybody’s child is above average in their parents’ imagination, and even higher in their grandparents’ estimation.

However, it is very important that our pursuit of excellence and perfection should never be applied to our humanity…”

– Phillip Jensen looks at some implications of being human.

Keeping up with General Synod

Australian dioceses (image: Anglican Church of Australia)As General Synod meets in Adelaide, here are a few ways you can keep up, if you so desire –

Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis

Albert Mohler“As the church responds [the current moral and sexual revolution], we must remember that current debates on sexuality present to the church a crisis that is irreducibly and inescapably theological.

This crisis is tantamount to the type of theological crisis that Gnosticism presented to the early church or that Pelagianism presented to the church in the time of Augustine. In other words, the crisis of sexuality challenges the church’s understanding of the gospel, sin, salvation, and sanctification.

Advocates of the new sexuality demand a complete rewriting of Scripture’s metanarrative, a complete reordering of theology, and a fundamental change to how we think about the church’s ministry.”

– Albert Mohler writes at the 9Marks blog.

Chaplains in Schools Song by Colin Buchanan

SoundcloudYesterday’s “Thank God it’s Friday” with Richard Glover on ABC 702 Sydney had Colin Buchanan as one of the studio guests.

The outcry over a topic for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House and the High Court Challenge to School Chaplains came together in Colin’s song.

Identity

Phillip Jensen“Hello, my name is Bill, and I’m an alcoholic.”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen asks us to consider our identity.

Andrew Symes on the ACNA Assembly

The Rev Andrew Symes“The Anglican Church in North America exists as a kairos response to a crisis in a mainline denomination.

The leadership of the official Anglican denomination in the USA and Canada became more and more liberal. Bishops regularly pronounced that Jesus is one of many possible Saviours , that the Bible contains some of the word of God, that Christian mission is to help fulfil the Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations. It became commonplace to have multifaith services where occult pagan practices would be celebrated in Cathedrals as part of Holy Communion Services, as ‘the Spirit’ can apparently be discerned in all faiths and none…”

– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes reflects on the just-concluded Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America.

God made me this way

Phillip Jensen“The nature argument is expressed: ‘I was born this way.’ ‘This is how God made me.’ ‘I can’t help it; it’s not my fault; it’s in my DNA.’ …

The nurture argument is expressed: ‘I am free to do whatever I like, however I like to do it.’ ‘You mustn’t restrict me from, or require me to do, anything because of my race, sex, or biology.’…”

– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral newsletter.

The Pen is mightier

mightier“A student entering a lecture room today would consider taking notes on a laptop entirely natural. Why would anyone in their right mind question that activity?…”

– a thought-provoking piece from George Whitefield College.

Committed to actually reading the Bible?

NCLS 2011 Bible Reading statsIn an article at SydneyAnglicans.net, Archbishop Glenn Davies observes,

“It is a strange phenomenon that we Sydney Anglicans, who are so devoted to our commitment to the teaching of the Bible, do not appear to be as devoted to our personal reading of the Bible…”

– Read his article, and then check out these resources –

Permanence before experience — the wisdom of marriage

Albert Mohler“Rightly understood, marriage is all about permanence. In a world of transitory experiences, events, and commitments, marriage is intransigent. It simply is what it is – a permanent commitment made by a man and a woman who commit themselves to live faithfully unto one another until the parting of death. …”

– Albert Mohler writes at Southern Seminary’s blog on the wisdom of marriage.

Asylum seekers

David Cook“I don’t want to be too controversial in this column but I think the time has come to write something about asylum seekers…”

– Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook challenges not only the government but also the churches and individual Christians in his latest (29 May 2014) Pastoral Letter.

(Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)

Religious Violence and the Kidnapped Girls

Phillip Jensen“It is an unmitigated horror. There is no excuse and no way of justifying the dreadful kidnapping of the girls in Nigeria. The terror, pain, suffering of those poor young women is beyond comprehension. We must continue to pray for them, support whatever actions are available to rescue them and bring the perpetrators of such a barbaric act to justice. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column.

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