Peter Adam to Bishop Richard Condie — ‘A Bishop without a Bible is no Bishop at all’

“Your special robes, your Pastoral staff and a cross, they are reminders to you, and to us, of your weighty responsibilities.

But the Bible is your instrument of ministry, the powerful means God has provided for you to preach the gospel and train people in God’s service. It is given to you: use it!…”

– Dr Peter Adam preached at the Installation of Richard Condie as Bishop of Tasmania on Saturday.

Peter’s sermon has now been published on the Diocese of Tasmania website (PDF file). Take the time to read it – and take these words to heart. (h/t David Ould.)

A conversation, not a recitation

“I have argued in past pieces of the inestimable value of learning a gospel outline. However, a gospel outline is not like a script that we learn off by heart and then recite to a captive audience…”

– At GoThereFor, Stephen Liggins reminds us of the need to actually have a real conversation with another person when we want to share the gospel.

Good reading of the Good Book

“To assess the implications of the Primates’ gathering in January and what we have seen subsequently, I am suggesting that we go back to basics. The first point was the authority of the Bible over our consciences and over the churches. It is God’s word written.

But there is a hot contest over the interpretation of the Bible, especially when it comes to God’s expectations about sexual behaviour. What can we say about how we read the Bible?”

— Dr Peter Jensen writes the second of his Back to Basics series for GAFCON.

Religious Ethos and Open Membership at Sydney University

“A report in the student newspaper from the University of Sydney (Honi Soit, March 13, 2016) records that

‘The University of Sydney Union (USU) has threatened to deregister the Sydney University Evangelical Union (EU) from the Clubs & Societies program over the latter’s requirement that all members must make a declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.’

In other words, a student religious group is being told that they may no longer be registered to use University facilities or receive the financial support other groups receive, because they make it a requirement of membership that someone support that religion. This is a very disturbing development for religious freedom at the University of Sydney, and especially if it presages similar developments around Australia. What is going on here? And is this move lawful, or not?…”

– Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia takes a look.

The Withering of Vice and the Sexual Revolution

“As already noted, the sexual revolution did not emerge in a vacuum. Modern societies created a context for moral revolution that had never been available in intellectual terms before. In other words, certain cultural conditions had to prevail in order for the revolution to get the traction it needed to succeed. One of the things we need to note is that we are looking at an explicitly cosmopolitan revolution…”

– Albert Mohler has posted the last in his four-part series on Secularisation and the Sexual Revolution.

Seven Rules for Online Engagement

“Christians have had their share of social media successes in over the past few years, many of them related to identifying theological error and defending theological truth. This work has been carried on through blogs, of course, but also through Facebook and YouTube and other forms of digital communication.

But for all of the success, there have also been a lot of failures. Many of the most egregious failures have been in discussing or debating controversial topics.

As we learn to engage controversy using these new platforms, we do well to consider how to we can speak with equal parts truth and love—love that is strengthened by truth and truth that is softened by love…”

– Tim Challies distils some very helpful and godly counsel on ‘gospel polemics’ published by Tim Keller.

Related: Learning to Speak Christian in an Online World at Moore College, 17th March.

When God’s patience runs out

“The Anglican Homilies warn us that God’s patience is meant to lead us to repentance.

In Romans 2, the apostle Paul asks his readers if they think they will escape God’s judgment. ‘Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?’

The Homilies, which we are reading though over Lent, have the same message for those who are falling away from faith. God is patient and kind, but there are warnings and there are limits. Here’s how the Homily puts it …”

– See the excerpt from the Book of Homilies at Church Society’s blog.

(Image: Detail from Gerlach Flick’s portrait of Thomas Cranmer.)

William Taylor on preaching the early chapters of Genesis

William Taylor shares some observations on preaching through (or reading through) Genesis 1-11 – at St. Helen’s Preaching Matters.

To go Forward we must go Back

“Since the Primates gathering in January I have been trying to assess its significance for the Anglican Communion.

I am not alone in thinking that the GAFCON movement and its Primates played an important role in the outcome. But it is possible to lose clarity in the midst of all the talk and interpretations. We need to go right back to basics to be sure of our identity, our purpose and our policies as a Communion.

We need to go back to basics to make sure that our witness is heard…”

– Dr Peter Jensen, GAFCON General Secretary, has released the first of six reflections on the fundamentals underpinning the Christian faith.

Headscarves and Hashtags — Other voices in the Same-God Debate

“Many voices have weighed in on the debate as to whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Wheaton’s Professor Hawkins was only reflecting the sentiment of half the country — and perhaps a third of self-described evangelicals — when she declared that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

The ‘same God’ controversy is the kind of ‘debate’ that plays out mostly on social media and largely among Christians and secularists. So it’s really more of a political statement than a debate. But there are other voices that ought to be heard on the subject — stories of men and women who don’t have access to blogs or Facebook because they are being hunted like animals at this very moment…”

– At Desiring God, Tim Keesee adds some realism to the debate.

Islam, women’s seating and discrimination

“In a very interesting recent decision, Bevege v Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia …, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found that an Islamic group unlawfully discriminated against a female member of the audience for a seminar they were running, by requiring her to sit in a “women only” area.

In my view the decision is somewhat disturbing, and has the potential, if followed in the future, to undermine the appropriate recognition of religious freedom in NSW. The implications may extend beyond Muslim groups to a range of religious groups…”

– Assoc. Professor Neil Foster asks some thoughtful questions about a decision that’s been in the news.

Impossible to Believe: The Endgame of Secularism

“The story of the rise of secularism is a stunning intellectual and moral revolution. It defies exaggeration. We must recognize that it is far more pervasive than we might want to believe, for this intellectual revolution has changed the worldviews of even those who believe themselves to be opposed to it…”

– The third post in a four-part series on Secularisation and the Sexual Revolution from Albert Mohler.

Two Worlds

“I live in Sydney, a beautiful city, what a pleasure to show friends from overseas around the harbour, the beaches and the mountains.

And yet, like all believers, my home is the eternal city which is above.

The writer of the Hebrews reminds his readers “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14)…”

– In his latest Moderator’s Comments, Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook reflects on living in two worlds.