Discipled by Algorithms — Where is ‘Big Tech’ Leading You?

“My wife and I ask each other a routine question about technology — and it may not be what you expect. Yes, we ask if the other heard us, and we ask to put down the phone for a while during family time. We, like most families in the digital age, have a ways to go to instill better technology habits in our homes. But the most frequent question we ask each other is, Did you see this online?

While that may seem like an odd question to ask, it reveals a much deeper issue with technology, one we often fail to consider amid concerns about screen time, app limits, and Internet filters. …”

– At Desiring God, Jason Thacker raises some important questions.

Related:

12 Ways your Phone is Changing You.

Anglican Revisionists Keep Pushing their Agenda

“It’s 2022 so about time for an Anglican update. What’s new in the Anglican Church in Australia?

Well, not much. The situation can be characterised as revisionists now effectively ignoring the moratorium we were going to have before General Synod.

Action has been happening in 2 places in particular …”

– David Ould shares the latest moves in Wangaratta and Perth.

Image: The Crest of the Anglican Church of Australia and those of its members dioceses.

Related:

Sydney Diocese Response to actions in the Diocese of Wangaratta – December 10 2020.

Growing My Faith in the Face of Death

“I have spent a good part of my life talking with people about the role of faith in the face of imminent death. Since I became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1975, I have sat at countless bedsides, and occasionally even watched someone take their final breath.

I recently wrote a small book, On Death, relating a lot of what I say to people in such times. But when, a little more than a month after that book was published, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I was still caught unprepared. …”

– Tim Keller, who in December shared that his cancer has progressed to ‘stage IV’, recently relinked to this article which he wrote for The Atlantic in March 2021.

And please do uphold Tim and his family in prayer.

See also:

Pastoring the city – Tim Keller on coming to Christ and learning to love the city – Part 1 of a December 2021 Q&A with Tim Keller by World Magazine.

“To make a long story very short, reading C.S. Lewis on pride helped me finally understand the depth of my sin as something that was not simply a matter of wrong behavior, but something profoundly wrong with my heart, identity, and outlook—and most of all, it was alienation from God. Underneath all the religiosity, I saw I was actually hostile to God. For the first time, I recognized the need for salvation by sheer grace. …”

Handling a hostile culture – Assessing how the Church is responding to shifting cultural pressures – Part 2 of December 2021 Q&A with Tim Keller by World Magazine.

“Every Sunday I preached, every meeting I taught, I took unpopular stands that went against the grain of center-city dwellers. I faced weekly—sometimes daily—opposition and hostility.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a conservative, evangelical church in secular, liberal Manhattan. Every single week I was telling people things that most considered absolutely outrageous, if not dangerous—Jesus is the only way to salvation; without believing in Him you are lost and going to hell; the Bible is true in every word and you must submit to it whether it fits your opinions or not; sex is only for a man and a woman in marriage; you should be radically generous with your money, and, if you are prosperous, you should adopt a modest lifestyle. And so on! …”

From the archives: Broughton Knox on Propositional Revelation, the Only Revelation

“For some time now it has been fashionable to deny what is called ‘propositional revelation’. The term has been coined by those who are opposed to the concept, and by it they appear to mean that revelation is not given to us by God in the form of truths couched in words, or propositions, but that all the revelation that God has given has come to us primarily as acts and events. …”

– It’s never a bad time to be reminded that, in Scripture, God speaks.

Read Dr Broughton Knox’s article in our Resources section.

Rico Tice preaches at the St. Helen’s Insurance carol service

Yes, Christmas is over, but it is always wonderful to hear Christ preached.

Rico Tice spoke from Matthew 2:1-12 at the St. Helen’s Bishopsgate Insurance Carol Service in December 2021.

Be encouraged to likewise share the news of Christ.

Roman Catholicism as a “Temptation” for Evangelical Theology

“The Presidential Address at the Evangelical Theological Society is a helpful barometer to measure where the wind blows in North American evangelical theology. This year (on November 16), President Al Mohler dedicated his address at the 73rd annual convention in Fort Worth, Texas, to the four temptations for contemporary evangelical theology.

In Mohler’s view, present-day evangelical theology faces these temptations: Fundamentalism, Atheism, Roman Catholicism, and Liberalism.

These words are not to be taken lightly; the trajectory of evangelical theology has not always been peaceful. What is interesting is to understand the main dangers surrounding it.

Let me briefly comment on three temptations and then focus on Roman Catholicism…”

– At Vatican Files, Leonardo De Chirico is thankful for Albert Mohler’s clarity.

(Link via Tim Challies.)

Related:

Article XIX of The Thirty Nine Articles.

Amazing Grace — a hymn for the New Year

John Newton wrote his most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, 249 years ago.

Learn more at The John Newton Project.

“The words of Amazing Grace were etched on Newton’s heart daily.

But we assume that he first wrote this hymn for his New Year’s Morning sermon of 1 January 1773, for it fits his sermon notes so closely and the text he chose to write above it in the Olney Hymns, 1 Chronicles 17:16,17, is identical to the sermon’s text.”

See the video (2:18) here.

You can also hear some of the earliest tunes used to sing the hymn.

Preserving preaching Christ – with Michael Stead

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“The whole concept of a tolerant society is being spun around.

Sydney Anglican Bishop Michael Stead says there are moves afoot to block Christians from being able to say that ‘Christ is the only way to heaven.’

It’s also being claimed by Equality Australia that to say ‘marriage is between a man and woman’ is an offensive statement.

Bishop Stead says he wants to protect moderately expressed statements of religious belief. …”

– This is a very big issue. Watch or listen here.

Priscilla & Aquila Conference 2022 — The one another commands

Peter Orr is the keynote speaker at the 2022 P&A Conference at Moore College on 31 January. (Also via livestream.)

Recently, The Australian Church Record asked P&A Director Jane Tooher what to expect. There’s a lot planned, including ten afternoon electives.

Christmas morning encouragement

With thanks to Emu Music.

The easiest conspiracy theory to debunk this Christmas

“Are you feeling a bit apprehensive about your conversations with family and friends this Christmas?

The restrictions and lockdowns of the last few years have helped to keep us safe physically, but they’ve also played a role in dividing us socially. The combination of physical isolation, fears for safety, and the overwhelming stream of digital information at our fingertips have opened us up to all sorts of problems…”

– Dreading talking about COVID or US politics over Christmas lunch?

Lionel and Bronwyn Windsor have a suggestion for you. At The Australian Church Record.

Submission to Parliamentary committee on the Religious Discrimination Bill

From Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia:

“The submission of Freedom for Faith to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into the Religious Discrimination Bill is now available for download here. I prepared the submission with input from other board members.

Submissions to this committee can be made at their website here, but only until 5 pm Tuesday 21 December.

There is also a short survey that the Committee have released which it would be good for anyone concerned with religious freedom in Australia to fill in before that same deadline.”

Image: Diocese of Sydney. (Emphasis added.)

Five misleading Untruths about the Federal Religious Discrimination Bill

“Would a Federal Religious Discrimination Bill (RDB) allow a nurse to say to a patient with HIV that AIDS is a punishment from God?

Would the RDB allow a disability worker to say to a disabled girl that her disability is caused by the devil?

Would it allow a doctor to refuse treatment to a gay patient just because he’s gay?

These are some of the claims being made about the Religious Discrimination Bill that’s before Federal Parliament. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia Akos Balogh takes a look at some of the claims which have been made about the Religious Discrimination Bill.

See also:

Your voice needed on Religious Discrimination Bill – SydneyAnglicans.net.
Parliamentary survey open to all until Tuesday December 21.

Sunday Morning Encouragement

With thanks to Emu Music.

Does God Care? — from Quiz Worx

“Christmas is meant to be a time of fun, excitement and parties. But sometimes there is also sadness, uncertainty and worry.

In our mixed up world, do you ever wonder ‘Where is God when sad and bad things happen? Why doesn’t he do something?’

This Christmas, the Quiz Worx team are excited to bring you a brand new Christmas show called Does God Care?.

Using fun, animations and puppets we unpack the Christmas story from the Bible to show that ‘YES – God Does Care! …”

– If you haven’t already seen it, check out this Christmas resource from the wonderful Quiz Worx.

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