What Is 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?
Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords? …”
– Sinclair Ferguson writes at Ligonier Ministries.
Marriage: its place and pattern (Ephesians 5:31)
“ ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’ (Ephesians 5:31, R.V.) (See also Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:45; Mark 10:7-8.)
These words refer, of course, to the action of a man in getting married. They indicate why it should be done. If, therefore, we look at the context of these words, we may expect to find out something about the ground and the purpose of marriage. What is more, these words come more than once in the Bible. …”
– In The Australian Church Record, the Rev. Alan Stibbs reflects on the place and pattern of marriage.
1 Corinthians 5: Why it is Necessary and Loving not to associate or eat with certain ‘Christians’
“1 Corinthians 5 has to be one of the most confronting passages in the NT. The Corinthian church was tolerating a case of blatant sexual immorality in their midst. …”
– Moore College’s Dr Peter Orr tackles an important passage.
The Challenge of Feminism (2): God’s Better Solutions
“In my last post we took a look at some different types of feminism, and also some of the gains achieved by the movement.
We also, in light of those gains, wondered whether we should be calling ourselves feminists. My preliminary response was ‘no’: God’s word gives us better diagnoses and better solutions.
In this post I’ll try to show you what I mean. …”
– Dr. Claire Smith has published Part 2 of her response to the challenge of feminism – at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
Should we call ourselves Feminists?
“The New York Times magazine labelled 2015 as ‘the year we obsessed about identity’, and it’s an obsession that isn’t finished yet. Answers to questions of personal identity – ‘Who am I’ and ‘What do I identify as’ – are now shaping public discourse, and increasingly the answers are expressed in labels. I even discovered recently you can now ‘identify’ as vegan!
And one of the labels people are obsessing over is whether or not to be a feminist.…”
– Dr. Claire Smith asks, Should we call ourselves Feminists?, in her first article on the topic of ‘The Challenge of Feminism’ – at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
Evangelical protest: Its cause and content (Galatians 2:11-21)
“Those who know the truth of the gospel may find themselves compelled within the professing Church to become outspoken ‘protestants’, and to give their positive witness to the gospel in order to counter practical abandonment of its truth, and that sometimes on the part of acknowledged leaders or so called ‘pillars’ of the Church.
Since the need for such protest occasionally recurs, it may well be profitable for us to learn from the New Testament its adequate cause and its essential content.
Such a situation is brought before us in Galatians 2:11-21, where Paul indicates how he had publicly to withstand even Peter to the face. …”
– The Rev. Alan Stibbs’ July 1960 column has been republished by The Australian Church Record.
The healing way (Exodus 15:23-26)
“When they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter” (Exodus 15:23). This happened to God’s people, after their redemption from Egypt, when he was leading them.
We may rightly regard the incident as a picture not only of the trials of life, but more particularly of the trials of our Christian pilgrimage. The question of fundamental importance, therefore, was—and still is—what was the attitude of God’s people to such a trial? Or what is our attitude? …
– The Australian Church Record continues to republish Alan Stibbs’ biblical reflections from 1960.
Calling God “Father”: Stumbling block or salve?
“If someone’s relationship with their human parents is negative or non-existent, could the idea of God as Father become unappealing?
As someone who’s always enjoyed healthy relationships with my still-married parents, I know that I’m fortunate. But the more people I meet, the more this seems as rare as it is fortunate. Countless factors cause people to experience parental relationships that range from tricky to traumatic. For those whose understanding of parenthood comes from an absent father or a neglectful mother, it’s perhaps harder to process the fatherhood of God as something fundamentally good. …”
– At The Australian Church Record, Lauren Mahaffey considers if we should dispense with the notion of God as Father.
The Church and the Bible (Part 2)
“What particularly threatens us as members of the Church of England is the very serious danger of the official acceptance by our Church of doctrines and practices which are additional and contrary to the Scriptural witness – and all in the supposed interest of larger and truer unity among Christians.
As each Lambeth Conference makes more obvious, there is the growing pressure of the Anglican Communion, and of a striving after a comprehensive ‘wholeness‘ whose governing principle is not uncompromising loyalty to the Scriptures, as the one supreme rule of faith and conduct, but the holding together in one family of churches which have come to believe and worship differently …”
– Alan Stibbs wasn’t writing yesterday, but in the January 1960 issue of The Australian Church Record.
What is the gospel? — An appeal for clarity
“I remember, more than twenty years ago now, an international visitor to Sydney being asked this question. Throughout the week that he had been here, the speaker had appealed to the gospel many times.
Clearly in a part of the world well-known for the strength of its evangelical witness, such an appeal was essential if he was to get a hearing. But the appeal had not been convincing and it had become increasingly obvious that at this most basic level our guest had a very different idea of what exactly it was that he was appealing to repeatedly throughout the week. So some brave soul — someone braver than me — publicly asked him the question. What is the gospel?…”
– Dr. Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore College, tackles a crucial question in a new essay.
Take the time to read it all here. [This is a re-post from 2015.]
You can also download it as a 240kb PDF file.
Standing on the Authority of God’s Word
“The absolute necessity of what Gafcon rightly contends for is becoming a very personal experience for me. My wife, Gillian, and I have been married for 37 years and I write (with her agreement) on our last wedding anniversary. …
For the suffering and the dying, the pick ’n mix optional orthodoxy of the new Canterbury Anglicanism simply will not do. If my understanding of God’s grace in the gospel and my hope in Christ are just that – my understanding – where is my assurance and confidence in the face of the ‘last enemy’?…”
– In a deeply personal note GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Charles Raven, shares the hope he and his wife Gillian cling to – the sure promises of Gods Word. And do pray for them both.
The Church and the Bible (Part 1)
“On this issue of the relation of the Church to the Bible, the declared position of the Church of England is explicit and unmistakable. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are avowedly acknowledged as supreme and sufficient in authority.
They provide the Church as well as every individual Christian with a decisive God-given rule of faith and conduct. Everything which is either believed or done, with the accompanying claim that it possesses proper Christian sanction and authority, must be capable of being tested and vindicated by this standard. …”
– Alan Stibbs’ words in The Australian Church Record of 1960 are every bit as relevant now as they were then.
Expecting to repent
“It is a humbling experience to be faced with your sin –many of us don’t cope well with it.
We may respond with defensiveness, bewilderment, and denial. …“
– Food for sober reflection, from James Chen at GoThereFor.com.
Also see: A Soul-Refreshed Life (David Brainerd) – Reformation21.
The confidence and hope of our calling
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thess 5:24)
“These few simple words sum up some of the essential fundamentals of Christianity. They tell us three things about God: that he has called us, that he is faithful, that he will do. …”
– Biblical encouragement from The Rev. Alan Stubbs, via The Australian Church Record.
Jonathan Edwards: Safe beneath his Sovereign God
“In the spring of 1750, the central discussion at Northampton Church in southern Massachusetts was not how to honor their faithful pastor for almost a quarter century of diligent labors among them. Rather, it was how to most expeditiously get rid of him.
In late June, the church held a series of meetings, and they summarily fired their pastor by a vote of 10 to 1 – of the 253 voting members, 230 voted for him to be dismissed, and 23 for him to stay.
Why were the people pointing fingers instead of offering warm handshakes to their pastor, Jonathan Edwards?…”
– At Desiring God, Dane Ortlund brings godly encouragement from the life of Jonathan Edwards.
Related: Johnathan Edwards’ The Religious Affections is the free Audiobook from Christian Audio for August 2018.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…