The Benedict Option: A Conversation with Rod Dreher

A fascinating conversation between Albert Mohler and Rod Dreher.

How can the church be a light in the darkness of the secular world?

Listen here, 62 minutes.

Report of the Select Committee on Same-Sex Marriage Bill

“The Senate Select Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill has now handed down its formal Report (15 Feb 2017). … 

At the moment the current Government’s preferred option, a plebiscite, has been rejected by the Parliament, and the Government has indicated that in line with its election commitments, it will not be moving to a vote in Parliament on the issue.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting some areas of consensus, and flagging the issues on which there still remains substantial disagreement.”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster highlights areas for further discussion in the Senate Select Committee report.

Manipulative, domineering revisionists must be opposed, not appeased

“I can already hear the shocked gasps from some as they read this title. ‘Oh, can’t we have a nicer tone in this debate?’, some are thinking, as they cover their ears, desperately thinking happy thoughts and hoping the whole nasty issue will go away. …”

– As the Church of England’s General Synod debates ‘same sex marriage’ this week, Anglican Mainstream’s the Rev. Andrew Symes calls on Christians believers to stand for the apostolic truth.

(He mentions a segment on BBC TV from Monday 13th February. The link at Anglican Mainstream is viewable only in the UK. Here is another source. And another one, though in one minute segments.)

New Moore College website

Moore College has a new website.

Check it out here.

An Intro to the Institutes


“The opening sentence of John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion alone is worth a lifetime’s contemplation: ‘Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.’

What is it about Calvin that so inspires me? This: his disciplined style, his determination never to speculate, his utter submission to Bible words as God’s words, his submission to Christ’s Lordship, his sense of the holy, his concern to be as practical as possible; the fact that godly living was his aim and not theology for the sake of it. In a forest of theologians, Calvin stands like a Californian Redwood, towering over everyone else.…”

– at Reformation21, Derek Thomas introduces a work which every Moore College student is required to read (in addition to the Bible!).

Christian events in Australia in 2017

Steve Kryger, at Communicate Jesus, continues his helpful tradition of compiling a list of Christian events in Australia.

Here’s his 2017 Calendar.

T.C. Hammond: The Value of the Old Testament

“There are three important declarations in Article Seven.

(1) The Old Testament is not contrary to the New.
(2) The Fathers looked for more than transitory promises.
(3) The moral injunctions in the Commandments of Moses are binding on all Christian men. …”

– The Australian Church Record continues to republish Archdeacon T.C. Hammond’s series on The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion. They’re up to Article 7.

Preaching to Reach the City

Weekend encouragement:

On November 26, 2016, William Taylor spoke on Preaching to Reach the City – at the City Bible Forum in Brisbane.

Audio of his talks is available from Ann Street Presbyterian Church. Direct links to audio files:

Session 1 – Preaching to Reach the City.

Session 2 – Training to reach the City.

Session 3 – Q & A. Partnering to reach the City.

Special Religious Education in NSW and “grooming”

“Over the course of three days the local Herald newspaper here in Newcastle (NSW) has been publishing a series of misleading and inflammatory articles designed to put pressure on the NSW Government to stop offering the Special Religious Education program (SRE, or sometimes popularly called ‘Scripture’) in public schools.

Here I want to address a particularly inflammatory accusation implied or made in these articles, that SRE material somehow supports ‘grooming’ of children for sexual purposes. These accusations are completely false and should not have been made in the first place. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor in Law, Neil Foster, provides essential background. Important reading.

See also: Post-truth hits NSW – Murray Campbell.

500 years on – does the Reformation still matter?

“When all is said and done, the fundamental question for every human being is, ‘How can a sinner like me stand before God on the Day of Judgement?’

Does this still matter? There is only one answer. …”

– In the first of a series of posts on the Reformation, Dr. Peter Jensen writes on the sinfulness of the human race and the danger of the soul.

Preaching as a Means of Survival

“The church’s only recourse in a secular city is to continue to do what it has always done, preach the Word.

We cannot hope that somehow we might stumble upon a third epistle to Timothy, which gives alternative ministry options to what Paul exhorts his protégé to do in Second Timothy. Our only hope is to continue to do what Jesus and the Apostles’ commissioned us to do. Whether we find ourselves in circumstances of cultural acceptance or cultural hostility, we must preach the Word.”

– The third and final post in a series on Preaching in a Secular Age, by Albert Mohler, is essential reading.

See also Part 1 and Part 2.

Related: Why I value expository preaching – Murray Campbell at GoThereFor.com.

Authentic Ministry: Style or Substance – Preaching 2 Corinthians.

William Taylor is speaking at the John Chapman Preaching Clinic at Moore College on Wednesday 8th February. 

We understand that today is the last day to register at the standard rate.

The inviting nature of Christianity

“‘Albert McMakin’ is not a name familiar to many today, yet this man has significantly influenced your life. He worked on a farm in Charlotte, North Carolina, back in the 1930s—but it is not by virtue of his agricultural prowess that his influence has extended your way. The reason Albert still rates a mention in books and can be easily found via a Google search is because of what he did in 1934.

That year an evangelist was conducting a series of meetings in Charlotte, and Albert persuaded a young 16-year-old man to attend one of the gatherings. As incentive, he said that the younger man could drive his vegetable truck into town for the meeting. The teenager went and, before long, was converted. The teenager’s name was Billy Graham—the man who went on to preach the gospel to more people in-person than anyone else in human history. Albert’s simple invitation was used by God to play a key role in the conversion of this future evangelist. …”

– To start the working week, here’s an encouraging article from Stephen Liggins, at GoThereFor.com.

Why proposed same-sex marriage balancing clauses would be constitutional and right

“Last week I had the privilege of giving evidence to the Australian Senate Select Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill.  … The Committee was considering the terms of an Exposure Draft Bill which had been released last year by the Commonwealth Attorney-General, as the sort of legislation which might be introduced were Australians to support change of the law in this way in a plebiscite. …

While the proposal for a plebiscite on the issue was defeated in Parliament last year, the Senate obviously considers it worthwhile discussing the merits of the Exposure Draft, as it represents to some extent Government thinking on what the change might look like. …”

– at Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster argues that “balancing clauses protecting the religious freedom of those involved in solemnising and celebrating same sex marriages must be an important part of any legislation introducing same sex marriage into Australia”.

Annual Moore College Lectures 2015 published

“Moore College rejoices in Kevin Vanhoozer’s publication of his book based on the material he presented at the Annual Moore College Lectures 2015.

The publication is: Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity.”

– Read the full post here.

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