The first step is always a study committee
‘How Denominations come to tolerate, accept, and then endorse homosexuality’ – that’s the title of a brief post by Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition.
“Tom Oden, writing in his book Requiem way back in 1995, explains how it happens. The first step is always a study committee…”
Related:
How Revisionist Activists Subvert the Church – at Stand Firm.
Aberdeen church breaks away over gay ministers row – The Scotsman.
The greatest of all Protestant ‘heresies’?
“Let us begin with a church history exam question.
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism.
On one occasion, he wrote: ‘The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .’ Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement. How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies?…”
– See Sinclair Ferguson’s article at Ligonier Ministries.
2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference talks online
Video and audio files from the 2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference at Moore College have now been posted online – at the Priscilla & Aquila website.
The ‘Must Read’ book in its field
At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor draws attention to Dr Megan Best’s book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Ethics and the Beginning of Human Life – and the strong recommendation by Dr Don Carson.
“At last—a single volume examining beginning-of-life issues that is equally competent in biology, theology, philosophy, and pastoral care. This is now the ‘must read’ book in the field, a necessary resource not only for pastors, ethicists, and laypersons who share her Christian convictions, but also for anyone who wants to participate knowledgeably in current bioethical debates.”
(Tim Challies also makes mention of the book.)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, as you will remember, was launched last November and is available from Matthias Media.
Why does preaching matter?
St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has added two more interviews in its Preaching Matters video series –
Sydney’s Gavin Perkins is asked about the place of preaching in the church, and Paul Clarke from St. Helen’s speaks about Preaching Evangelistically.
Be edified and watch them both!
The Origin of the Thirty-nine Articles
“What were the Articles meant to do? … They were part of a wider program of establishing the Protestant character of the Church of England…”
– Church Society has posted online a 2011 Churchman article by Dr Mark Thompson on The Origin of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Available here as a PDF file.
Archbishop Jensen on the 225th Anniversary of Australia’s first Christian service
Here’s Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon given at St. Philip’s York Street on February 3rd 2013. It was the 225th Anniversary of the first sermon preached in the Colony of New South Wales, by the Rev Richard Johnson.
“Today we have little concept of the difficulties and dangers through which the First Fleet passed in order to deliver its cargo to these shores. Its arrival here was a masterpiece of organisation, skill and courage.
Given the ubiquity of modern communications, we can scarcely imagine what it was like to travel so far with little chance of report or cry for help. We forget how rarely European ships had passed this way and how uncharted the sea was. We can scarcely conceive how frail their ships were, how powerful the forces of nature that imperilled them, how lacking in the technical instruments by which the path may be found and the course traversed in safety.
I think we may say that in truth the voyage of the First Fleet was one of the greatest feats of seamanship in recorded history. …”
– Read it all at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Understanding the Parable of the Tenants
Barry Newman’s latest project has been to blog his way through the Parable of the Tenants.
You can now read his completed series here. (PDF)
Prizes and Consumables
Carl Trueman draws attention to a very thoughtful piece by Matthew Vos. Prizes and Consumables: The Super Bowl as a Theology of Women.
The American Super Bowl might not be big in Australia, and there are differences in our cultures, though perhaps the differences aren’t as great as we might think.
225 years on — will we be faithful?
Two hundred and twenty five years ago, on Sunday February 3rd 1788, the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales, preached at the first Christian church service in Australia.
Craig Schwarze has some resources here – and there’s our own page on Richard Johnson here.
And it’s also worth taking the time to read Johnson’s Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island (PDF file) published in 1792.
Excerpt:
“This will be my daily prayer to God for you. I shall pray for your eternal salvation, for your present welfare, for the preservation, peace, and prosperity of this colony: and especially for the more abundant and manifest success of the Redeemer’s cause and kingdom, and for the effusion and out-pouring of his Holy Spirit, not only here, but in every part of the habitable globe.”
As the spiritual beneficiaries of men like Richard Johnson and John Newton (who recruited Johnson and who edited his ‘Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies…’), the question remains: Will we remain faithful to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and will we be as concerned as these men were for those without Christ?
Related: Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls? – John Newton’s diary entry as he considered the needs of those without Christ in far-off lands.
(Archbishop Peter Jensen will be preaching at a service to mark the anniversary – 10:15am at St. Philip’s York Street.)
God’s Smuggler
God’s Smuggler is the free audiobook from Christian Audio for February 2013.
Mohler on the Boy Scouts of America
“The announcement this week that the Boy Scouts of America may soon rescind its national policy prohibiting the participation of openly homosexual members and leaders fell like a thunderclap. The B.S.A. national board is expected to approve the change early next week, just six months after that same board had announced that no change would be made…”
– Albert Mohler writes on the capitulation of the Boy Scouts of America.
The temptation to keep quiet
At The Gospel Coalition, Thabiti Anyabwile shares an honest but encouraging story about personal evangelism. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Epiphany – Five Reflections from a Lifetime
Bishop Paul Barnett spoke at the Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston, South Carolina this morning.
He’s posted his fascinating and encouraging talk on his blog. Even without the accompanying slides, this is worth reading and passing on.
Using Biblical words in Biblical ways
“Two decades ago, one of my lecturers at Moore Theological College was a great example of the practice I spoke about on Wednesday: using biblical words and concepts in biblical ways.
David Peterson made us aware that inadequate attention was paid in much Christian theology to the use of holiness terminology in the New Testament and specifically regarding sanctification. …”
– Sandy Grant asks David Peterson about Sanctification – at The Briefing.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…