‘Kevin — Good Heavens!’
Sydney Anglicans has a roundup of responses to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s statements this week on the Bible.
Related:
- The Prime Minister on Q&A, Monday 2nd September.
- The Prime Minister amplifies his comments, Tuesday 3rd September.
- And Sandy Grant looks at some of the responses he received to his post yesterday – at The Briefing, Thursday 5th September.
(Photo: SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Shellfish, slavery and same-sex marriage — How not to read the Bible
“This confused way of handling the Bible springs from an ignorance of the Bible’s own narrative.”
Archbishop Glenn Davies writes for the ABC’s Religion and Ethics –
“In recent days a number of strange claims have been made about slavery and shellfish in the Bible. The line normally goes something like this: although the Bible prohibits God’s people from eating shellfish and also endorses slavery, we can disregard these ethical instructions because we have come of age and can see things differently. …”
Here it is formatted as a 2 A4 page handout (330kb PDF file) suitable for copying.
Free e-Book — The Universal Compass: Why Study the Bible?
People from all walks of life would benefit from getting to know and understand the Bible.
George Whitefield College in Capetown has made available, as a free e-Book, “The Universal Compass: Why Study the Bible?” by Dr David Seccombe (Principal, 1993-2012). From the first chapter:
“From the death of the last apostle, the Bible has been the determiner of true Christianity. Almost all churches have accepted it in their statements of belief as the written Word of God, and as the final authority in matters of faith. …
However, although most modern denominations still subscribe in their statements of faith to the Bible as the final authority, some have abandoned it in practical terms. This collapse of confidence stems from the philosophical mood of the past two centuries. Man has placed himself at the centre and rejected all forms of authority not based on his own discovery of truth. …
[This book] is written in the hope that you will begin to read the Bible for yourself, or be encouraged to study it more deeply, if you already are a Bible reader. My prayer is that you may also consider the possibility of full-time study in a Bible-believing theological or Bible college.”
– The book is available as a 4.4MB PDF file from this page on the College website.
Get a copy and pass on the link to others who would benefit.
‘PM misrepresents the Bible’
“Last night, on a serious Australian current affairs program, Q&A, our current serving Prime Minister, a self-professed Christian, grossly caricatured the Bible. ….”
– Sandy Grant responds to the Prime Minister’s statements on Q&A last night.
And Eternity Newspaper’s John Sandeman spoke today with the Prime Minister’s questioner, Pastor Matt Prater –
“I did get attacked a lot on social media last night. And got called a lot of nasty names. I just want to make it clear to anyone reading this that I am not a homophobe. I don’t hate homosexuals. I love everyone with the love of Jesus.”
(Images: ABC TV.)
Update:
The Prime Minister further explained his response (YouTube) in Launceston on Tuesday 3rd September.
Question lands pastor ‘in lion’s den’ – The Australian.
“The first time Pastor Matt Prater interviewed Kevin Rudd, the year was 2006 and the then opposition foreign affairs spokesman was deeply obliging. …”
And Sandy Grant reflects on the whole thing at The Briefing.
The answer to dull and boring preaching
What’s the place of illustrations in preaching? Or emotion? How can we make our preaching better?
Dr Peter Bolt is interviewed for the latest instalment of Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London.
See it here. Invest 10 minutes of your time.
What is the Problem?
“Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, has issued his most serious and straightforward diagnosis of the crisis within the Anglican Communion.”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey thinks the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a serious misdiagnosis. Related: Tearing the Fabric. (PDF.)
Church of the Triune God
New from Aquila Press is Church of the Triune God, a Festschrift to honour Dr Robert Doyle.
From the Publisher’s blurb: “Church of the Triune God explores the work of the Trinity in the Church today in conversation with key theologians such as Calvin and Augustine, and explores how the three persons of the Trinity are active in the different aspects of church life, such as prayer, preaching and mission.”
Contributors, sample pages, and ordering information.
Barnabas Fund urges prayer for Syria and Egypt this weekend
“This Sunday (1 September), we are urging churches and individuals to hold a time of prayer for Syria and Egypt’s Christians.”
– Details from Barnabas Fund.
And you can find a prayer for ‘the Forgotten Church in Syria’ here. (h/t Carl Trueman.)
Syria: Archbishop Welby’s speech in the House of Lords
“We have heard already about Lebanon and about Iran, particularly the effect that an intervention would cause on the new Government in Iran as they are humiliated by such an intervention.
However, there is a further point. I talked to a very senior Christian leader in the region yesterday and he said that intervention from abroad will declare open season on the Christian communities. They have already been devastated. There were 2 million Christians in Iraq 12 years ago; there are fewer than 500,000 today.”
– Read it here.
Assessing Christian election guides
Sandy Grant takes a look at four different Christian election guides –
“Thoughtful Christians could benefit from interacting with each one of these election guides, even the ones where they find a considerable amount to disagree with.” – Read it at The Briefing.
Preaching Christ in an age of Religious Pluralism
Church Society has published online the audio of Gerald Bray’s talk at the 2005 Church Society Conference.
The topic: Preaching Christ in an age of Religious Pluralism (Acts 17 v16).
It’s a 38MB / 80 minute mp3 file (direct link).
Notes on Jeremiah by Graeme Goldsworthy
To promote the soon-to-be-released Gospel Transformation Bible, Crossway have made available a free download of the book of Jeremiah, with an introduction and study notes by Graeme Goldsworthy.
– Download it here. (h/t Gary Ware. Photo: The Bible Society.)
What the Hijabi Witnessed (and what she didn’t)
“I have had the pleasure on a couple of occasions of sitting next to a girl wearing a hijab. Typically, this has occurred in departure lounges of airports or on the platforms of railway stations. Never has it happened in a place of worship at the time of a service. Never, that is, until recently. …”
– Carl Trueman has some excellent points about what the girl next to him saw and heard. (Photo: King’s College.)
Related: Common Prayer. Better Gatherings.
How to be Polemical — without being a downright Nasty Person
“The chief advances of the Christian faith are due to those moments when leaders and laypeople saturated with Scripture rose up in defiance of the unbiblical trends of their time and place. We have the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed, and the Reformation confessions and catechisms because, by God’s grace, men and women had the courage of their convictions and dared to be polemical.”
– Terrific article by Michael Horton in Modern Reformation magazine.
Modern Bioethics and its challenge to Christian thought
“Modern Bioethics and its challenge to Christian thought” is the topic for the next Centre for Christian Living open night at Moore College. Dr Andrew Ford is speaking, 7:30pm Wednesday 28th August, $8.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…