St. Helen’s — Mark’s Gospel Tool Kit
“Andrew Sach introduces tools to help understand Mark’s Gospel in this month’s St Helen’s Training.”
– See this month’s two videos from Andrew Sach, as well as earlier overviews of Mark’s Gospel by Charlie Skrine, at the St. Helen’s website.
The (UK) same-sex couples bill – Anglican Mainstream statement
“The basic issue in the same-sex couples bill is “What is marriage?” The bill renders marriage a genderless institution since any combination of two adults will do. When a child is born there is always mother around. The question is, where is the father? The bill sends out the message that fathers are dispensable for children. It completely decouples marriage from procreation, consummation and adultery.
Once marriage is redefined and reduced to only an intimate relationship, on what logical basis could the law turn away three people who say they want to get married?”
– read the full statement from Anglican Mainstream.
Beg to Give
“It is important that we regularly discuss the whole issue of the Christian use of money rather than only mentioning money when we want to address the current needs of a financial crisis…”
– Phillip Jensen writes on a Christian attitude to money.
Kermit Gosnell’s America — What his trial really reveals
“Here is a clue: When you have to argue at every turn that the issue is not abortion, the issue is abortion. … What the pro-abortion movement fears most is that Americans will pause to consider what this trial really means.”
– Albert Mohler looks at the reality behind the conviction of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell.
Tragic worship
“Christian worship should immerse people in the reality of the tragedy of the human fall and of all subsequent human life. It should provide us with a language that allows us to praise the God of resurrection while lamenting the suffering and agony that is our lot in a world alienated from its creator, and it should thereby sharpen our longing for the only answer to the one great challenge we must all face sooner or later. Only those who accept that they are going to die can begin to look with any hope to the resurrection. …”
– A ‘must-read’ article from Carl Trueman at First Things.
Three reasons I don’t enthusiastically recommend the ‘The Bible’ miniseries
“Adapting a book to film is tricky. Sometimes books-to-film turn out surprisingly well (e.g., The Gospel of John—my favorite “Bible” film). Often they don’t (e.g., the recent Narnia films).
The History Channel aired The Bible: The Epic Miniseries throughout March 2013. About 100 million people watched all or part of the series.”
– Andy Naselli shares his concerns with the popular miniseries.
Rob Bell, Andrew Wilson and presuppositions about Christianity and homosexuality
“In a recent episode of Unbelievable, Andrew Wilson and Rob Bell have an engaging dialogue about the legitimacy of homosexual relationships within Christianity. …”
– Trevin Wax has a response and also the video from Premier Christian Radio in the UK.
Themelios Volume 38, Issue 1
The latest issue of the theological journal Themelios (Volume 38, Issue 1) was released at the end of April. A 2.4MB download – from The Gospel Coalition.
The Look
“For years, I heard C.J. Mahaney reference a John Newton hymn that began with the lines, ‘In evil long I took delight.’
Newton imagines the Savior looking down at him twice from the cross. The first look communicates our guilt and responsibility for the death of Christ. The second look assures us that this sacrifice forever secures our forgiveness before God.”
– Bob Kauflin writes about “The Look” (it’s been out for a while on Sovereign Grace Music’s “Songs for the Cross Centered Life”) – and also provides a free download.
And – much thanks to Marylynn Rouse of The John Newton Project – here is the original hymn in Newton’s own handwriting (Hymn number 309). She suspects Newton was strongly affected by hearing George Whitefield preach on “the look” of Jesus towards Peter – Newton uses it several times in Olney Hymns. She confirms, from his diary, that Newton wrote the hymn for Sunday 5 April 1778.
The Gutenberg Bible
“The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin contains a copy of what many people consider the most valuable book in the world. The Gutenberg Bible is not only the oldest surviving book to be printed using moveable type, but also the first complete book to be produced with that technology…”
– Canadian Tim Challies has been surveying the History of Christianity in 25 Objects. This week, he turns to the Gutenberg Bible.
An introduction to the series, and a list of the posts so far, is here.
Going without in a time of plenty
“Joint research launched 8 May by ANGLICARE Sydney, the Samaritans Foundation and Anglicare NSW South, NSW West and ACT has revealed the extent of hardship for low income households accessing their Emergency Relief (ER) services.
Of the people surveyed who accessed these ER services, 98% were found to be food insecure and 82.2% were severely food insecure. This means that they were not sure where their next meal was coming from or they were unable to provide food for their family on a regular basis. …”
– Read it all at Anglicare Sydney.
The Lifeguard
“The day had seemed to start quite well,
The ‘sea of life’ a gentle swell.
When all at once I felt a change,
The world around was growing strange. …”
– Take the time to read “The Lifeguard”, by John Richardson.
On the elimination of the suffering
“Why is it, as soon as we see someone suffering, that we so quickly think of eliminating the sufferer?
Is it that we think that their suffering is so bad that they would be better off dead than to continue as they are?
Or is it that we are fearful that their suffering would only increase if they were to continue to live in a society which is unwilling to change so that their needs will be met? Or are we concerned that we would suffer because of them?…”
– Dr Megan Best asks some challenging questions in this article at SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo: Matthias Media.)
Euthanasia lives again
“On Thursday 2nd May 2013, the NSW Greens MLC, Cate Faehrmann, introduced to the NSW Parliament’s upper house a bill to make assisted suicide legal in this State, under certain conditions. It is a private members’ bill, which she has given a speech to commend. MLCs will likely debate it again next Thursday 9th May.
The Bill will make it lawful for persons with a terminal illness who are resident in NSW to receive assistance in certain circumstances if they wish to end their life. That is, it will legalise a form of euthanasia in NSW. …”
– Andrew Cameron from the Social Issues Executive of the Diocese of Sydney draws attention to what’s happening in NSW State Parliament (PDF file).
On the same PDF file, there’s also an excellent resource – Notes on the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2013 – from Dr. Megan Best (pictured).
See further material relating to Euthanasia, on the SIE website – and we have links to more here.
Your church is too small
“I decided to go along to the week-long convention to get a feel for where Hillsong was up to. I went expecting a fairly different experience to my normal church life—and sure enough, it was an astonishing few days.”
– The Briefing Editor Sam Freney shares his reflections from the most recent Hillsong Conference in Sydney. (Image: The Briefing.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…