Victoria’s Anti-Conversion Legislation promotional is a soothing Bed-Time Story

“The Victorian Government has just published its media information pack on conversion therapy. And I’ve gotta say, the YouTube video its has produced takes the biscuit. And it’s taken a leaf out of casting central, by employing Mr Bed Time Story Guy to provide the voice over. As I was watching it I wanted to curl up in my jimmy–jams with a hot cocoa.…”

– Stephen McAlpine gives his take on the Victorian Government’s PR campaign.

Image: YouTube.

Calvary Hospital update — Federal Senate Enquiry

Here’s a short video update on the Calvary Hospital acquisition from Tony Percy and the Catholic Voice Archdiocese Canberra & Goulburn.

“Our aim, as you know, is to make sure that this is the first – and the last – hostile compulsory acquisition done by an Australian government on a private institution. In this case it was a Medical Institution – Calvary Public Hospital – we want to make sure it doesn’t happen with our educational institutions whether they’re religious or otherwise…”

NSW Gay conversion law would ban suppression of gender identity

“The NSW government’s plans to ban gay conversion therapy will be expanded to include making it illegal to change or suppress a person identifying as trans or gender diverse.

Attorney-General Michael Daley has confirmed the government is pushing ahead with its own new laws, rather than backing independent MP Alex Greenwich’s bill later this month. …”

– Report from The Sydney Morning Herald.

The book for concerned and confused parents

“The 1960s had the sexual revolution and the 2020s has brought us the gender revolution. So this is a fitting title for a book with the clear purpose to ‘provide the biblical basis for a contemporary Christian response to the complicated feelings and experiences of gender dysphoria’. …”

– Russell Powell writes about The Gender Revolution at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The Gender Revolution — book review

“There are times when I receive a new book and find myself saying ‘I don’t think we need a new book on that.’ After all, some topics have been covered so skillfully, repeatedly, and exhaustively that yet another book on the subject could only be overkill.

Yet sometimes I receive a new book and find myself saying, ‘I’m so glad someone has written a book on that!’ There are some topics that may not have been covered sufficiently or that may reflect such new realities that we are still awaiting good analyses.

The Gender Revolution falls squarely in the second category. …”

– Tim Challies draws attention to an important book from an Australian publisher. Most of our readers should be able to find a copy.

Related:

The authors speak with Dominic Steele on The Pastor’s Heart.

 

Euthanasia in Canada. MAiD in hell?

“More people are being euthanised in Canada than anywhere else in the world. In the last official report, for 2022, 10,064 people died through what Canadians call ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD). …”

– Michael Cook writes at Mercator. Link via Anglican Mainstream.

Heresy! Why Christians must confront false teaching

“Jesus warned his disciples that false doctrine and false teachers would arise within the Church. He spoke of thieves, robbers, strangers, hired hands and wolves (see John 10) and of himself as a good shepherd, protecting the flock. So it ought to come as no surprise when the Church becomes something of a battleground, and all kinds of heresies spring up. This has happened throughout history. …”

– Church Society’s Lee Gatiss writes for Premier Christianity.

Two very differs approaches to ‘Babylon’

Here are two unrelated stories – but both about Christians responding to ‘Babylon” –each response will generate a range of reactions.

John MacArthur’s “The Essential Church” film documents Grace Church’s stand against satanic tyranny – Not the Bee.

Anglican leader welcomes Pope’s vigil for Christian unity – The Catholic Leader.

I am now a Culture Warrior

“‘I was wrong’.  This is not a phrase I use a lot!  At least when it comes to major subjects.   Over the years I have been aware of significant changes in thinking that have had an enormous practical impact for me – baptism, Calvinism, the European Union, socialism, worship and environmentalism being the main ones I can think of.  Recently I have been forced to change my view on the question of culture wars.

I often used to say that I did not want to get involved in culture wars and that it would be a mistake for the Church to do so.  Recently I have been compelled to rethink.  The trouble is that the term ‘culture wars’ is itself a product of the culture wars.  Here in Australia, we look askance at some of the culture wars that are going on in the US, and most of us want nothing to do with them.  It is a negative term associated with white nationalism, Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson,  and suggests that Christians are some kind of political force whose mission in life is to combat the Left.  No thanks.  We want to influence the culture, to win the culture,  not to fight it.  Besides which if we engage in culture wars then won’t we alienate people from the Church and the message of the Gospel?  Doesn’t the Scripture itself tells us that our weapons are not the weapons of this world? …”

– David Robertson writes compellingly at AP, the national journal of the Presbyterian Church.

Related:

Tucker Carlson reads the Bible. (Not the Bee)

The trans culture wars vs lovingly pastoring gender incongruent church members – with Rob Smith

What I’d be reading right now (if it had come out before the extended version)

“You might be aware that a couple of years ago, Victoria passed laws to ban certain kinds of conversation about gender and sexual identity—and other states like NSW are considering following suit. The scope of Victoria’s laws goes far beyond the fringe practice called ‘conversion therapy.’ …

Why am I mentioning this? Despite what you might assume, I’m not just lamenting the madness of modern society or trying to stir up some conservative outrage. Instead, I’m mentioning it because I believe it’s essential to ask: Why? Why are we, in our Western world, in this situation? To be more precise:

Why are we in a situation where ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ are so central to our collective modern view of what it means to be a human being that it can trump biological reality and even a person’s own convictions?…”

– At The Australian Church Record, Lionel Windsor points us to a book which will help you understand why our culture is where it is now – so that “through God’s grace, we can proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to real people in our world today”.

“ACT government’s ‘takeover’ of Calvary Hospital ‘ideologically driven’” — Sky News

“The ACT government’s decision to compulsorily acquire Calvary Hospital should be ‘pertinent and front of mind’ for Australian Christians, says Australian Christian Lobby CEO Michelle Pearse. …”

– Video from Sky News Australia. Image: Sky News.

Will the Archbishops allow General Synod to speak?

“As the summer session of the Church of England’s General Synod opens in York, the mood is more than a little ‘niggly’ according to the former Chair of the Prayer Book Society, Prudence Dailey. …

Dailey described Synod as being ‘bypassed and managed’ – pointing to the record number of ‘presentations’ that Synod was being asked to endure.…”

– Susie Leafe writes at Christian Today. Attendees at recent Lambeth Conferences have experienced being ‘bypassed and managed’ firsthand.

Picture: Susie Leafe speaks with Kevin Kallsen on Anglican TV in January 2023.

Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says Archbishop of York

“The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be ‘problematic’ because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words ‘Our Father’, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament. …”

– Report from The Guardian.

To be fair, in his Presidential Address, the Archbishop wasn’t advocating for a change to the Lord’s Prayer, or necessarily endorsing the views of those who find the use of ‘Father’ to be ‘problematic’.

Rather, the thrust of his address was that Christians should be unified by their baptism into Christ, even when they disagree. The context, of course, is the push by the Bishops to bless same-sex unions, contrary to Scripture, and that is where the Archbishop’s words about ‘unity’, while sounding lofty, may be seen as rather hollow.

Decide for yourself – the Archbishop’s full remarks may be seen here.

Photo: The Archbishop of York speaking at General Synod on Friday 7th July 2023.

Related:

From the previous Archbishop of York.

Letters reveal divisions among the Bishops over prayers for same-sex couples

“A burst of letter-writing has laid bare disagreements in the College of Bishops about the best mechanism for introducing the Prayers of Love and Faith to be used to bless same-sex couples in church.

The moves come as the General Synod prepares to gather in York on Friday.

Earlier this week (News, 5 July), a group of leaders from 11 different C of E organisations, including the HTB network, as well as the Catholic and Evangelical Groups on the Synod, wrote to the College of Bishops to argue that the Prayers, drafted under the auspices of the Bishops, should be subject to the Synod’s authorisation under Canon B2, a process that requires two-thirds majorities in each of the three Houses of Synod at the final-approval stage.…”

– Report from Church Times.

Related:

Text of the letter to the College of Bishops, as published by Anglican.ink.

Netflix gives Narnia to “Barbie,” “Little Women” director

“It seems the post-modernists that C.S. Lewis spent so much time skewering have finally decided it’s time for endless winter in Narnia.…”

– News (and opinion) from Not the Bee.

Image: Christianity Today.

Related:

https://vimeo.com/43983754

J I Packer speaks about reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the Narnia books, and his conversion. – 2012 video from Desiring God.

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