Call for all Queensland euthanasia amendments to be heard
“The nation’s most extreme euthanasia legislation has been tabled in Queensland Parliament and the government has declared they will end the debate at 5:45pm on Thursday 16 September – whether or not all amendments have been tabled and discussion has been allowed.
This is essentially a gagging rule. 54 amendments have been tabled. Every one of them should be allowed to be presented and considered. …“
– The Australian Christian Lobby, and a number of Queensland politicians are calling for all proposed amendments to the euthanasia legislation to be debated.
Church in Wales ‘abandons the Christian faith’
“On Monday 6 September, the Church in Wales voted to allow its clergy to bless same-sex ‘marriages’ and civil partnerships.
This was not entirely unexpected given the decline of Christian doctrine and ethics within the Church in Wales in recent years. …”
– Carys Moseley at AnglicanInk looks at what the Church in Wales’ decision amounts to.
See also:
Church approves blessing service for same-sex partnerships – The Church in Wales.
Church in Wales gives ‘gospel-inspired lead’ to C of E, says Bishop of Liverpool – Church Times.
Photo: Bishop Gregory Cameron, courtesy The Church in Wales.
Debating the Church and same-sex marriage
“On Friday 3rd September, at 2.10 pm, I had a phone call from a number I did not recognise. When I answered, it turned out to be from a BBC researcher asking if I would appear on BBC1 on Sunday morning for a debate about the Church of England and same-sex marriage, in the light of the coming vote taking place in the Church in Wales.
I have been preaching in different churches, covering for vacancies, but it just happened that this Sunday I did not have a commitment.
As I have said elsewhere, when someone makes a media request like this, the first thing to say is ‘Yes’…”
– Dr Ian Paul shares his experience (and video) of being interviewed on BBC TV last week. Do pray for those who stand for the authority of God’s Word.
The interview can be seen here – and this exchange calls to mind Luke 11:17.
A Profile of Moral Collapse: President Biden, Abortion, and the Culture of Death
“Almost fifty years after Roe v. Wade, abortion remains the moral issue in American public discourse and politics.
There are very few profiles in courage in American politics. This seems especially true when it comes to the defense of unborn life. The political predicament of a pro-life politician is this – the political class and the New York-Hollywood-Silicon Valley axis reward those who abandon pro-life positions and condemn those who refuse to surrender.
A particularly important profile in moral collapse now resides in the White House. The story of President Joe Biden’s slippery shape-shifting on the abortion issue is both revealing and horrifying.
Brace yourself. …”
– In his latest essay, Albert Mohler looks at what happens when leaders abandon their ‘devoutly held beliefs’ for political expediency. This is not a ‘party political’ commentary, but a chronicling of one man’s moral shift, at the expense of countless unborn lives. Mohler ends with a challenge to us all.
Fighting the euthanasia debate and what if we lose?
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“What are the consequences if euthanasia is legalised? And how do we fight the issue?
Legislation is before the Queensland Parliament and is about to come to the parliament in the UK and in New South Wales to allow euthanasia.
And laws permitting euthanasia have already been passed in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand… there’s a bit of a sense that even if the conservatives succeed in holding out this time… at some stage it feels like it will happen.
Euthanasia is illegal in most of the United States, although significantly it is legal in the more progressive Washington, D.C. and seven states.
Andrew Errington is Senior Minister of Newtown Erskineville Angican Church.
Megan Best is a palliative care doctor and associate professor with the Institute for Ethics and Society at the University of Notre Dame.”
A very important optic.
Bishop of Newcastle “Lifts Ban on Same-Sex Blessings”
“In a move that can only serve to push the Anglican Church of Australia into much deeper crisis, the Bishop of Newcastle Peter Stuart has written a Pastoral Letter where he signals his approval of clergy conducting a blessing of couples married in a same-sex marriage.
In his familiar style, Stuart does not explicitly state the change of conditions but his meaning has been clearly understood by its recipients …”
– David Ould reports on the Pastoral Letter from Bishop Peter Stuart to the Clergy of the Diocese of Newcastle dated 9 August 2021.
Related:
Gafcon Australia moves ahead — plans for new Australian diocese – 19 July 2021.
Anglican bishop: ‘No-religion’ census campaign is quite ‘frankly bizarre’
“Anglican Bishop of South Sydney Dr Michael Stead says he finds it ‘bizarre’ that there needs to be a concerted campaign by the Rationalist Society, atheists and the like to try and dissuade people from saying they are religious in the census. …”
– Story and video from Sky News Australia.
Five Foundations that Lead to Compromise on Sexual Ethics
“Even if all roads eventually lead to the sexual-ethics-line-in-the-sand, they don’t all originate in the same place. It’s helpful to consider some of the different, subtle shapes Christianity can take that at first might seem benign – but will later set up a Christian for compromise.
From what I’ve observed, most deconstructing Christians who shift on sexual ethics come from a faith background that has one (or more) of these precarious foundations…”
– Brett McCracken at The Gospel Coalition seeks to help Christians stand against the tide.
John Anderson with Carl Trueman on Hedonism and the Modern Psychological Self
In his latest “Direct” interview, John Anderson speaks with Carl Trueman:
“They discuss the modern self in an age of culture wars, including the societal shift of the perception of happiness and gratification, the technological revolution, and the sexual revolution and its ties to authoritarianism.”
– At johnanderson.net.au.
(The video file on YouTube is indexed to allow you to jump to the various topics covered.)
Related:
Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman.
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney on ‘Alex Greenwich’s Kill Bill’
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher has released a statement about the assisted suicide legislation being introduced into NSW Parliament by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich:
“There’s never a good time to introduce laws that sanction the killing of vulnerable human beings such as the terminally ill, elderly, frail and suffering. But to introduce such a bill in the middle of a pandemic and amidst lockdowns adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions seems especially insensitive.
The people of NSW are currently accepting significant restrictions on their personal autonomy in order to protect those most at risk – particularly the elderly. In response to the latest wave of COVID-19, we’ve had a month of lockdown already and more is likely. Many of us have been unable to visit our elderly parents at home, in hospital or in aged care. Our sick and elderly have already suffered 17 months of increasing isolation and right now that is being intensified. Meanwhile, people are losing their jobs, businesses are going under, families are under the pressures of schooling and working from home, people’s movements are severely restricted, and depression rates are up. The last thing we need to hear from our leaders in this situation is a pro-suicide message or any suggestion that the elderly and dying no longer deserve the resources or protections given to the rest of us.
The NSW Government is rightly focused on getting us safely vaccinated and out of lockdown as soon as possible, and leading the process of social and economic recovery.
The NSW Health System is rightly focused on keeping the elderly and sick safe, and ensuring the system can cope with the increasing pressures upon it. Our health professionals do not want a bruising controversy that will further disrupt their already very pressured work environment.
In the face of our present emergency precious parliamentary time and health resources should not be diverted to other causes, and especially not to a bill that would enable a small group of highly autonomous people to make their doctors complicit in their suicide. The state-sanctioned killing of the sick, elderly and frail of New South Wales is the last thing we need right now! I call on the Government to keep us focused on the present challenges and once they have been met, let us focus on medicine at its best and not its most lethal.
Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP
Archbishop of Sydney.”
Source (PDF).
Related:
NSW assisted suicide bid must fail – Australian Christian Lobby, 15 December 2020.
Assisted suicide opposed – SydneyAnglicans.net, 08 September 2017.
Palliative Care It’s More Than You Think – Palliative Care Australia.
A significant apology from the UK
“As the ominous tide of cancel culture continues to rise in North America, Europe, and other parts of the world (such as Australia), it is all the more important to point to significant victories on behalf of freedom of speech.
We can now report on one such victory from the U.K., a victory that is not just legal but also morally substantive. Put another way, what was said by way of apology was just as important as the victory won in court. …”
– Michael Brown at Christian Post reports on an apology from Blackpool Council in the UK. (Link via Anglican Mainstream.)
Methodist Church and the way of the world
“Following prayerful consideration by the whole Church, the Methodist Conference has voted to confirm provisional resolutions on the principles or qualities of good relating, understanding of cohabitation and same sex marriages conducted on Methodist premises or by Methodist office-holders.
A report on marriage and relationships, ‘God in Love Unites Us’, was received by the Conference in 2019 and the local District Synods were asked to consider the provisional resolutions and report back to this year’s Conference which is being held this week in Birmingham. The Conference received a report on the results of the local conferring which showed that 29 out of the 30 Synods confirmed support for the provisional resolutions.
The Revd Sonia Hicks, President of the Conference, prayed ahead of the main debate on Wednesday morning in Birmingham, asking that the Conference’s ‘words may be imbibed with your grace, with tenderness from on high.’
A range of views were expressed on the resolutions, in particular on cohabitation and same sex marriages. The Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler, spoke to the Conference acknowledging the ‘depth of feeling, pain and anxiety that there is’ with a commitment to work across the Connexion with District Chairs to heal divisions. …”
– from this news release from the Methodist Conference in the UK.
The discussions can be seen here – scroll down to “Wednesday 30 June 2021 – Session 3 14:15 – 16:15”.
Living in Love and Faith — a Quick Guide
At Church Society’s website George Crowder gives a brief introduction to the Living in Love and Faith process. He encourages everyone to be involved – but will the Bible’s message be heeded by those evaluating the responses?
Related:
The Church of England’s guide to hearing God’s voice through the Bible, according to LLF – Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream.
Handling the Bible in Love and Faith – Kirsten Birkett, Church Society.
St Helen’s Bishopsgate announces “Broken Partnership” with House of Bishops – ACL.
Should the church ‘let the world set the agenda’ on ethics and doctrine?
“Paul Bayes, currently the Church of England’s bishop in Liverpool, has made his clearest call yet for the Church to change its understanding of marriage and sexuality, in his address to the MoSAIC group …
He does not disguise the reasons for his views, where he thinks the Church should go, and what that would mean. Along the way, he makes some extraordinary comments for any Christian, let alone for someone appointed as a bishop…”
– Ian Paul at Psephizo takes a look at an address by Bishop Paul Bayes given to the National MOSAIC (Movement of Supporting Anglicans for an Inclusive Church) Conference on the weekend.
See also:
Albert Mohler speaks with Carl Trueman on ‘The Triumph of the Modern Self’
A conversation with Dr. Carl Trueman on the modern self and the sexual revolution.
‘The Marriage Madness in Methodism’
“The annual Conference of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is meeting in Birmingham this week and next, other things it will debate a report entitled ‘God in Love Unites Us’.
The report will be endorsed, unless something spectacular (or miraculous?) happens, as it has already been approved by 29 of the 30 Methodist synods.The report recommends that the Methodist Church approve of cohabitation and extend its understanding of marriage to ‘two people’ rather than ‘a man and a woman’. …
Rather than regard Scripture as authoritative, the report tells us that it relies for ‘authoritative commentary’ on sexuality from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which it naively describes as ‘independent’. And among other things, the report commends ‘queer theology’; tell us that sex is assigned at birth, based on ‘perceptions’ of biology; and that sexual desire is a part of the wider desire for just and loving relationships. …”
– David Robertson writes about the Methodist Conference in the UK.
Related:
Albert Mohler speaks with Carl Trueman on ‘The Triumph of the Modern Self’
A conversation with Dr. Carl Trueman on the modern self and the sexual revolution.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…