Words of encouragement from Gordon and Ruth Russell

Moore College has posted four brief, but very encouraging, videos with College graduates Gordon and Ruth Russell.

Take the time to watch. At around three minutes each, the videos are ideal for screening in mid-week meetings or on Sundays.

1. Moore and You

2. Why Moore, and what’s next for you?

3. The gospel in a cross-cultural context

4. A word of encouragement and why mission

Stage Two exile – are you ready for it?

“The Western church is about to enter stage two of its exile from the mainstream culture and the public square. And it will not be an easy time.

In case you missed it, Exile Stage One began a few decades or so ago, budding in the sexual revolution of the sixties before building up a head of steam some 20 years ago. Finally some Christians sat down to talk about it 15 or so years ago, and that set the ball, and the publishing companies rolling…”

– at The Gospel Coalition Australia, Steve McAlpine, Associate Pastor at Providence Church in Perth, calls Christians to be prepared for what is coming.

Christ amongst the ‘gods’

“Today, Australia is visibly a religiously plural society. Christianity is no longer the ‘normal’ religion. Religious diversity is the new normal. And we experience that diversity daily. … This is the first of three articles about responding to religious plurality in Australia…”

– the Gospel, Society and Culture Committee of the Presbyterian Church of NSW is helping Australian Christians to think through the issues of living in a multifaith society. You can download the PDF file here.

A sexual ponzi scheme?

“An article in the Washington Post last week (“How to break free from monogamy without destroying marriage”) described the dynamics of an open marriage and the various “apps” now available for facilitating extramarital relations.

The amorality might have been shocking twenty years ago but today such well-traveled territory likely provokes little more than a yawn. Yet the article is still instructive for what the author’s analysis (or lack thereof) tells us about contemporary culture…”

– Carl Trueman writes at First Things. (h/t Tim Challies.)

This is the God who Saves – new EP from Michael Morrow

“Michael Morrow is a UK based Australian musician who has produced songs with EMU Music and on his own.

You might remember him from songs like This Life I Live, Nothing But The Blood, and Come Hear The Angels Sing.

He’s just released a four song EP that takes its name with the first track, This Is The God Who Saves…”

– thanks to Gary Ware for spotting this.

David Cook on Preaching Galatians

“Why is the Gospel so momentous? Is the work of Christ sufficient to bring us into relationship with God, or do we need to make some additive? What place is there for the law in the lives of Christians already saved by grace through faith?

David Cook explains why it is so important to preach Galatians properly. The law will not justify us, but neither will the law sanctify us. The law is no help in causing us to grow in godliness or in maintaining our relationship with God. The work of Christ doesn’t need supplementing by anything we may attempt to do.”

– Check out the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.

I oppose same-sex marriage (and no, I’m not a bigot)

“The passing of the Irish referendum on same-sex marriage has triggered a round of Australian advocates announcing that it is now ‘our turn’. We lag behind the UK, many European countries, some states in the US, and (perish the thought!) New Zealand, and we ought to get with the programme.

The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, in line with the new ALP dogma, has announced that he is introducing a private members bill into Parliament next Monday…

How could anyone stand opposed? The terms in which the pro-marriage redefinition case are stated make it sound as inevitable as the dawn, and as unstoppable as the tide. And these same terms make opposing a redefinition of marriage sound primitive and even barbaric. There are those in favour of change, we are told, and then there are the bigots.”

– Dr. Michael Jensen writes at the ABC’s The Drum.

Related: The Australian Christian Lobby lists some of the consequences of same sex marriage for the free exercise of religion.

Why Australia should not rush to follow Ireland

“So many questions, so little free debate. …

Changing the definition of marriage has far reaching consequences. It is time to press pause and think again.”

– The Australian Christian Lobby raises a number of questions in the midst of a push for same sex marriage in Australia.

A Requiem for the Boy Scouts

“The Boy Scouts were doomed the moment the national leadership decided to preserve the organization at the cost of the values and ideals that gave it birth.

Speaking to a national meeting of Boy Scouts of America leaders, President Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, called for the B.S.A. to abandon its policy of allowing the participation of openly gay scouts, but not the involvement of openly-gay adults…

By any honest account, the policy adopted in 2013 was a compromise that anyone could see would not hold. … the B.S.A. put itself in a no-man’s land of moral evasion.”

– Albert Mohler on the predicament facing the Boy Scouts of America.

What does the Bible really teach about Homosexuality? — Repost

“If I had to choose only one book to recommend to someone (whether a Christian or non-Christian) who wanted to read a basic overview of what the Bible says about homosexuality and what that means for today, this is it.”

– Andy Naselli on “What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?” by Kevin DeYoung.

You can download a 36 page sample and study guide via Andy’s site, and order a copy from various booksellers.

Update: See Kevin DeYoung speak on this topic (March 2015) at a special event at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. 63 minutes.

See also the panel Discussion after the address – 54 minutes – with thanks to Crossway.

Related: Human Sexuality and the ‘Same Sex Marriage’ Debate, from The Sydney Doctrone Commission.

The upside-down cross

At GoThereFor, Tony Payne reflects on Simon Manchester’s talk at the recent Nexus Conference.

Read Tony’s highlights and watch the whole address here. Well worth your time.

Update – Schools, Scripture, Banning of Books and Sexual Orthodoxy

“My previous post mentioned that some books used in Special Religious Education (SRE) in NSW had been summarily banned by the Department of Education and Communities, apparently on the grounds that they conveyed classical Christian teaching about sexual morality.

In that post I said:

It is to be hoped that on review the Department will realise both that the way this was done is entirely unacceptable, and also that the content of the books concerned is not as harmful as it has been alleged to be.

One of those hopes has been realised, but the other has not…”

– at Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor in Law, Neil Foster revisits the SRE ‘book banning’ in NSW. His comments are well worth reading in full – and be sure to follow the links.

The Failure of Winsomeness

“The United States has avoided Europe’s fate for a long time, but the churches here have finally lost the ability to coast on cultural momentum. The churches that don’t retrench around building their internal strength and coherence around orthodoxy – and that requires far more than catechesis, but it requires at least that: teaching our story to our children – and evangelizing from that position of strength, aren’t going to survive. The overculture is just too strong. The forces of atomization and desacralization are very hard to resist.

This is a reality that many Christians, Christians of all kinds, do not want to face. …

… if we believe that being winsome and likable and all that is going to earn us any points with the overculture, we are making a dangerous mistake. Assimilation is not going to be allowed absent giving up what makes Christians distinctive from the rest of the culture.”

– at The American Conservative, Rod Dreher urges Christians to prepare for the long night ahead.

The troubled conscience

“Does God speak through our conscience? Does changing your mind really change your behaviour? Should we follow our head or our heart?

At our next [Moore College] Centre for Christian Living (CCL) event Tony Payne and Peter Bolt will explore two concepts that shape the Bible’s teaching about these matters: ‘conscience’ and ‘mind’.”

– Tuesday 26 May at Toongabbie Anglican.