Schools would be pushed into an impossible corner
“Faith-based schools are places of education and learning, but they are also communities that educate in a context in which the spiritual life of the child is nurtured and the convictions and beliefs of that faith community are upheld. This particularly means that the staff of the school – the people who most substantially represent and carry forward that school’s culture and ethos – need to wholly support those convictions. It also means a school must have the freedom to shape its community life according to those beliefs. That is why the school exists and parents have the option of choosing that particular perspective.
This is like the freedom that is afforded to political parties. Political parties become a nonsense if they are forced to employ people who fundamentally disagree with their philosophy and who expound contrary views even if only in their private life. …”
– from an opinion piece by Annette Pereira, Executive Officer of the Australian Association of Christian Schools, in The Sydney Morning Herald.
See also: Freedom of Religion policy-making debacle — SMH.
A Hell of a Difference: How our understanding of Hell affects the Christian life
From Moore College’s Centre for Christian Living:
“What does the Bible teach us about Hell? Does our view of Hell change our view of God? How should our understanding of Hell influence how we live now?
Hell can be a difficult, awkward subject. It’s easy to talk about why we’re looking forward to Heaven at church morning tea, but there’s likely to be award silence if we try to open a discussion on Hell. Jesus, however, spent a lot of his time talking about Hell, so perhaps we need to think about it and talk about it more.
On the evening of Wednesday 24 October, Paul Williamson will help us to start this discussion.”
The great need of the hour
“I’m confident that the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is being regularly preached in Sydney Anglican pulpits.
But that is not quite the same as giving adequate, let alone urgent priority to the task of evangelism. How much of the ministry team’s time is spent in relationship with people who are not yet followers of Jesus?
I need to quite deliberately make time to spend with my friends of other faiths and none – and the same can be true for church members who can just as easily find themselves with few non-believing contacts.”
– There are many helpful takeaways from this article by the Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel. Read the full article at The Australian Church Record.
Ruddock Report (part 3): religious schools and gay teachers
“Following the recent debate about whether religious schools in Australia should be entitled to expel gay students on account of their sexual orientation alone (as to which all seem to be agreed the answer is, No), there is now a push to remove the freedom of religious schools to make staffing decisions on these issues.
The ALP has announced that they want to pursue this issue when amendments relating to students are debated in Parliament. It even seems that some members of the LNP Government are unclear about the issue. …”
– Associate Professor Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.
Later in the same post, he writes,
“Of course the community at large has now indicated its support for homosexuality in changing the law to allow same sex marriage. But in the course of those debates, it was regularly claimed that allowing same sex couples to marry would not have a wider impact on those who disagreed with this change…”
The game-changing question for every evangelistic conversation
“Who killed Jesus?”
At some point in every single evangelistic conversation I have, I make a point of asking this question.
In fact, over the years, I’ve realised that nearly every part of every evangelistic conversation I have is in fact leading to the point where I can ask this question. …
– At The Australian Church Record, Dave Jensen asks “Who killed Jesus?”.
(Photo via All Saints’, Belfast.)
Ruddock Report (part 2): changing the law on religious schools and gay students
“Following my previous post on this issue, press reports indicated that the Prime Minister is proposing that the Parliament urgently amend the provisions of s 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act1984 (Cth) which allow religious schools to expel students on the basis of sexual orientation.
If this goes ahead, there is still a need to protect the legitimate interests of such schools in not seeing the religious ethos of the school undermined.
In this post I want to suggest some ways that could be achieved. …”
– The latest from Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia.
Peter at the Cross: An Eyewitness Tells All — studies by David Mulready
CEP has released “Peter at the Cross: An Eyewitness Tells All” by former Bishop of North West Australia, David Mulready.
From the publisher:
“In Peter at the Cross: An Eyewitness Tells All David Mulready explores the historical events surrounding the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, mostly through the eyewitness accounts of the Apostle Peter.
These 40 daily reflections can be used for personal study as well as by groups, with the use of sets of discussion questions. Eight sermon outlines are included which may be useful in the preparation of Bible talks.”
The Greek New Testament — from Tyndale House
“Academic heads have recently been turned by a new edition of the Greek New Testament, produced by a team of evangelical scholars, based at Tyndale House, Cambridge.
The Tyndale House Edition (THE) has a number of advantages over other editions of the Greek NT, relevant for scholars, pastors, students and any Christians keen to read the Bible in its original languages. …“
– At Church Society’s blog, Michael Dormandy reviews the new edition of the Greek New Testament from Tyndale House, Cambridge.
More information from Tyndale House.
Bowl up for the Moore College Open Day Saturday, 13 October 2018
Here’s a reminder about this Saturday’s Open Day at Moore College.
The pastor in your background
“But even if we can’t bring to mind exactly what was said six weeks ago, I promise you that cumulatively your regular preachers are wearing down paths through your brain. They are having an impact on you, unseen or not. What they teach you from one Bible passage provides you with context for other passages you read, influencing the way you understand the Bible as a whole. …”
– At GoThereFor.com, editor Rachel Macdonald writes to encourage you to pray for your pastors.
Christian Writing Seminar
Matthias Media is holding a free Christian Writing Seminar (“Christian writing in a secular world” with Scott Monk) at Moore College on Monday 15th October.
Destroy and kill: the command for Israel and for us
“If God didn’t want idolatry to be a snare for the people of the old covenant, how much more does he want us to kill what will turn our hearts away from single-hearted devotion to the Lord? …”
– Andrew Barry reflects on what it will mean to be genuinely holy. At The Australian Church Record.
That Hideous Strength — video overview
Here’s a short video overview of Melvin Tinker’s book That Hideous Strength.
What Is the Greatest of all Protestant “Heresies”?
“Let us begin with a church history exam question.
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism. On one occasion, he wrote: ‘The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .’
Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement.
How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies?
Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords? …”
– Sinclair Ferguson writes at Ligonier Ministries.
Tune in to the ACL’s Synod Briefing Podcast
The ACL’s Synod Briefing Podcast for 2018 is now online.
It’s produced as a service to Sydney Synod members, but is also relevant for anyone who wants to see the Lord Jesus honoured and churches strengthened through decisions of the Sydney Synod.
If you can’t be at Synod, and want to follow along with all the action, you can subscribe to our Daily Synod Updates.
They will be posted on our Facebook page, or you can sign up to receive them direct to your inbox.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…