Is Same Sex Marriage a “Human Right”?
“The question posed by the title of this post is simply this: is it a denial of a fundamental human right, for a legal system not to extend the category of marriage to include marriage between parties of the same sex?
The question was posed in a stark way by recent reported comments of the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Prof Gillian Triggs. …”
– Neil Foster’s latest post at Law and Religion Australia, asks if there is an internationally recognised ‘human right’ to same-sex marriage.
EMA 2016 talks available
Audio and video files from Proclamation Trust’s EMA 2016 are available for your edification. Thanks to Proc Trust for this wonderful resource.
Tim Challies on ‘Heaven is for Real’ and other ‘heaven tourism’
“In March 2003, young Colton Burpo was in serious distress.
Doctors did not yet know it, but his appendix had burst and his life was in grave danger. When doctors at one hospital were unable to diagnose him, his parents raced him to a new hospital where he was rushed into surgery, the doctor warning ominously that their son was in grave danger.
Colton survived his surgery and emerged from it telling a strange story…”
– In his series on bestselling ‘Christian’ books, Tim Challies revisits the genre of ‘Heaven Tourism’, and republishes an infographic he created in 2015.
Hope because Hell has not yet come
“This past Sunday at our church we started a new sermon series on the book of Lamentations. The title of this series is “Hell of a subject” because Lamentations teaches us about the wrath or “fierce anger” (1:12) of God, of which an eternal hell is the ultimate expression.
We don’t often hear about the wrath or fierce anger of God, let alone about an eternal hell. Most people would say something like, “My God would never do that!” Rather than worshipping and serving the God of the Bible, most people worship and serve the God of their own making, who, not-surprisingly, has all the same opinions as themselves. Lamentations will help us. Lamentations gives us a small foretaste of the wrath of God…”
– At the REACH South Africa (formerly CESA) website, Andre Visagie shares strong observations from Lamentations.
Amazing Love? A review article from Church Society
From Church Society in the UK:
‘Amazing Love: Theology for Understanding Discipleship, Sexuality and Mission’ is a new book, edited by Andrew Davison, which seeks to promote a change to the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage.
In an extended two-part review, Dr Peter Sanlon, Vicar of St Mark’s Church, Tunbridge Wells, analyses the claims of the book –
“This aim of this book can be given in the authors’ own words: ‘This short book explains why we think it’s good for Christians to embrace their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, and to celebrate their relationships … We think that the Church should be willing – delighted even – to hallow and strengthen such commitments.’…”
“This volume has the appearance of being a digest of thoughtful and considered academic research. However that is just the surface reality – a carefully curated image. Academic publisher, long sub-title, titled academics listed as authors. It looks like academic work; but upon closer examination the mirage fades.…
It is stated on numerous occasions in the book that the aim of the authors is the embrace and acceptance of homosexual relationships by the Church of England. In reality the book has a much larger goal. The goal is nothing less than a wholesale revision of the Christian Faith into a different religion.”
Two new posts at Law and Religion Australia
Neil Foster, at Law and Religion Australia, has updated his blog with two new posts:
Religious Freedom victory in Nova Scotia
and
Religious Vilification claim in Victoria rejected.
Informative reading for an understanding of what’s happening in the realm of religious freedom.
Related: The inaugural Freedom for Faith Conference, Friday 12th August.
What should we think about Pope Francis?
“Pope Francis in one of the most liked leaders in today’s world. …
An increasing number of Evangelicals say: ‘I like this pope, he talks about Jesus a lot…’
True, Francis knows the language that Evangelicals use (e.g. ‘conversion’, ‘mission’, ‘personal relationship with Jesus’) and is able to articulate it in a winsome way. …
The basic rules of interpretation, however, tell us that using the same words does not necessarily mean saying the same things. …
Evangelicals have to do their homework in order to go beyond the surface of mere phonetics in order to grasp the profoundly different theological vision underpinning Francis’ language. They may find it surprising how far Francis is from the standard evangelical understanding of the biblical Gospel. …”
– At Vatican Files (Evangelical theological perspectives on Roman Catholicism), Leonardo De Chirico and Greg Pritchard write about the current Pope.
‘The best of’ Ask Pastor John
Andy Naselli has listening to all of the more than 900 episodes of “Ask Pastor John”, with John Piper, and offers links to a dozen which stand out for him.
D. A. Carson — Reflections on 40 years of theological education
This week on Jason Allen’s Preaching and Preachers podcast, Professor D.A. Carson shares his story, and reflects on 40 years of theological education.
Very encouraging. Runs for 29 minutes.
(The Know Your Roots video series, mentioned in the interview and recorded in 1991, can be seen here.)
The End of Gender?
“In the year 2000 I started giving talks on gender issues, based on research I had been doing in feminism. At the time I would speak of the ‘the end’ of feminism, meaning, the logical conclusion of feminist thinking. …
So, I predicted, the end of feminism – its logical outcome – was not likely to be lesbianism, which after all still asserts that there is a difference between men and women, and that women are to be preferred. Rather, the end of feminism was likely to be the disappearance of gender altogether.
But I did not expect to be proved so right, so soon.”
Plenty of good and thought-provoking reading.
You could start with Kirsty Birkett’s article, “The End of Gender?” on page 6.
Moore College events coming up
The team at Moore College have posted a summary of events coming up in August.
Preaching 2 Timothy: Preaching Matters
In the latest Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, Andy Gemmill helps preachers and Bible teachers think through how to tack 2 Timothy.
David Brainerd: Preach for holiness by preaching the gospel
“David Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indians in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. Born in Connecticut in 1718, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 29 in the home of his friend Jonathan Edwards. Edwards preached the funeral sermon for Brainerd and published his diary. …
Brainerd’s primary method in his mission work was Christ-centered preaching.”
– At the Southern Seminary blog, David Prince writes about the way David Brainerd sought to preach Christ in all his sermons.
Preach the Bible, Not your Dog
R. Kent Hughes has some simple, but excellent, advice in this three minute video from Crossway.
The inaugural Freedom for Faith Conference
“Sharing the message of freedom in a threatening public square”
The very first Freedom for Faith Conference will be held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney on Friday 12th August 2016.
This important conference is being run by Freedom for Faith – a Christian legal think tank that exists to see religious freedom protected and promoted in Australia.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…