Love your neighbour enough to speak truth
“If this were 1999—the year that I was converted and walked away from the woman and lesbian community I loved—instead of 2016, Jen Hatmaker’s words about the holiness of LGBT relationships would have flooded into my world like a balm of Gilead. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Rosaria Butterfield responds to some comments by a ‘best selling author’ (whose books have just been pulled from LifeWay Christian bookshops).
Make the time to read Rosaria Butterfield’s observations about the nature of sin and the Christian life. (Image: Desiring God.)
‘Dad got the death he wanted’
“A Vancouver-based doctor with nearly four decades experience in family medicine, Wiebe has lately become one of Canada’s leading advocates for medically assisted death.
Since the new laws came into effect in June, she has provided dozens of people with lethal doses of sedatives, all by intravenous injection. …
She discusses with the patient for the last time their wish to die. Once confirmed, she administers a muscle relaxant. Then, she injects the lethal dose of sedatives; it usually takes the patient about 10 minutes to die.
The funeral home is then called, and someone comes to pick up the body. Wiebe signs off on the death certificate. The mood can be solemn or happy, even ‘uplifting,’ says Wiebe. It all depends on who is around. If friends and family are grieving, the emotional impact can take a toll.”
– Like a wedding planner, only different. Story from The National Post.
(h/t Albert Mohler. Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)
The Ashers “Gay Cake” appeal — one of these things is not like the others
“When our children were watching Sesame Street one of the regular clips featured the song “one of these things is not like the others“, training children to look carefully and make distinctions where things are different. In a case involving Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal has shown that it is not very good at making distinctions between things that are different. …“
– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster considers the latest ‘gay cake’ court case, this one in Northern Ireland.
Related: Many links on stories related to the case – at Anglican Mainstream.
Legal implications of same sex marriage for Christian life and ministry
“I was privileged today to present a paper on issues from a Christian perspective raised by the possible introduction of same sex marriage – at a seminar on the topic held at the Lower Mountains Anglican Parish centre at Glenbrook. …”
– Neil Foster from Law and Religion Australia provides a link to the paper he gave.
Letter to the Church of England’s College of Bishops
“I am publishing here, with permission, a letter that has been sent to all members of the College of Bishops prior to their next meeting to decide what proposals to bring to General Synod in February. …
First, this is not a PR exercise. Although the sending of the letter has been reported in Christian Today, it has not been circulated to media outlets, unlike some other previous letters. It is intended to be an honest communication to the bishops of the concerns of the signatories and others like them.
Secondly, it attempts to give a clear outline of the major theological reasons why this is felt to me such an important issue. …
Thirdly, it is striking that the signatories come from the whole range of the evangelical constituency, including ‘open’, ‘charismatic’ and ‘conservative’ evangelicals. These are people involved in key initiatives in the Church at the moment, and although they do not claim to represent the groups they work for, there will be many others who share these concerns. …
The Church of England is at a crossroads in her calling to bring hope and transformation to our nation. The presenting issue is that of human sexuality, in particular whether or not the Church is able to affirm sexual relationships beyond opposite sex marriage. But the tectonic issues beneath, and driving, this specific question include what it means to be faithful to our apostolic inheritance, the Church’s relationship with wider culture, and the nature of the biblical call to holiness in the 21st Century. …
We do not believe … that it is within our gift to consider human sexual relationships and what constitutes and enables our flourishing as sexual beings to be of ‘secondary importance’. What is at stake goes far beyond the immediate pastoral challenges of human bisexual and same-sex sexual behaviour: it is a choice between alternative and radically different visions of what it means to be human, to honour God in our bodies, and to order our lives in line with God’s holy will.
At this crucial juncture, as our bishops pray and discern together regarding how the Church of England should walk forward at this time, we urge them not to depart from the apostolic inheritance with which they have been entrusted. …”
The letter has now also been published at GAFCON UK’s website.
Synod approves gay marriage booklet
“Sydney Synod has expressed deep concern about moves to remove gender from the marriage act and has authorised the distribution of a booklet outlining the consequences of same-sex marriage for families and society.
Debate on the third night of Synod was led by Bishop Michael Stead, who chairs the Archbishop’s Plebiscite Task Force and the Dean, Kanishka Raffel. …
‘… the Task Force was convinced of the need to provide resources for Sydney Anglicans. The booklet “what has God joined together?” is the first such resource. The booklet aims to engage, equip, and embolden Sydney Anglicans to be a part of the debate on same-sex marriage.’…”
– full report from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Draft Australian Same Sex Marriage legislation unveiled
“Today the Federal Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, released an Exposure Draft of the legislation that would, if it were to pass the Federal Parliament, introduce same sex marriage to Australia- the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill. There is a good summary of the provisions of the legislation in a press release issued by the Attorney-General. This follows the introduction on 14 September 2016 of an enabling Bill to allow a plebiscite, a popular vote, on the matter to be put to the Australian public, the Plebiscite (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill 2016. That Bill has not yet received any substantive consideration by the Parliament.
Earlier today the leader of the Australian Labour Party Opposition, Bill Shorten, announced that his Party would be voting against the enabling Plebiscite Bill when it reaches the Senate…”
– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster takes a look at the draft Same Sex Marriage legislation.
A world without God
“Wow. How did this one get past the censors? It was incredible. And moving beyond words.
What am I talking about? Sally Phillips most extraordinary documentary, A World without Down’s Syndrome, which screened on the BBC this week.
Sally is well known as the TV comedy actress from TV shows like Miranda and the Bridget Jones films. She is also a Christian and her oldest son Olly has Down’s syndrome. …
I’m not ashamed to admit I wept – not just a wee cry, but sobbed. I don’t know when I last saw something so moving, profound and world revealing.”
– David Roberston (Minister of St. Peter’s Free Church in Dundee) writes at The Wee Flea. The documentary is available here.
Related: Mom of baby with Down syndrome sends remarkable letter to doctor who recommended abortion.
Findings from the New Atlantis Report on Sexuality and Gender
“I would like to draw your attention to one of the most important research events in recent history, and that is the publication in the Fall 2016 issue of the New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Society, of a special report on sexuality and gender, subtitled, ‘Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences.’…
In this huge issue of the New Atlantis, Mayer and McHugh go right at what they considered to be the scientific basis behind the claims of the modern sexual and gender revolutionaries. The point of this research, however, and of the two authors, is not so much to make a moral point, but a scientific point. And in order to do so, they’ve looked at the major scientific claims of those who had presented the research on LGBT issues, and in particular issues of gender and sexuality.”
– Albert Mohler outlines some of the key findings of this landmark publication.
And for the relevant issue of New Atlantis, see: New Atlantis Number 50.
Some of Victoria’s ‘inherent requirements’ amendments may be unconstitutional
“The Victorian Government introduced the Equal Opportunity Amendment (Religious Exceptions) Bill 2016 into its Parliament on 30 August 2016. It has passed the Legislative Assembly without amendment, and is presently before the Legislative Council. …
I have commented in a previous post as to why I think this is poor legislation from a policy perspective. In that previous post I briefly noted that an argument could be made that some of the amendments, at least, would be unconstitutional. Since that previous post I have looked into the area further and am fairly sure that this is the case. Here I want to develop the case a bit further. …”
– In his latest post at Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster sheds light on the proposed Victorian bill.
No need for a censor if we censor ourselves
“It happened again this week. It will doubtless happen many times in the weeks and months and years to come.
A Christian dared to elaborate publicly on why he thought homosexual practice was morally wrong, and was greeted not with counter-argument or rebuttal, but outpourings of abhorrence and anger, as well as regret and apology on the part of the event organisers (that such a view had come to be to be expressed on their platform)…”
– At Moore College’s Centre for Christian Living, Tony Payne writes about the strong temptation for Christians to ‘self censor’.
Related: “Can we talk about same-sex marriage?” – Wednesday 19th October at the Centre for Christian Living.
LGBTI threats against Mercure Hotel show ‘poison’ in public life
“The poison in Australia’s public life has reached a point where a casual bystander now can fall victim to the tactics used to win a fight at all costs.
The latest sign of the illness came when employees at a Sydney hotel answered the telephone last week to hear threats of physical violence. Their crime? The Mercure Sydney Airport Hotel had taken a booking for a conference room for four Christian groups.
This was not an isolated threat. The phone calls kept coming. …
Threatening phone calls to a Sydney hotel may seem like a minor test of these principles, yet the affair is instructive all the same. When the campaign went too far there was a reluctance to call it out. Australian Marriage Equality refused to condemn it. The Greens have declined a request to comment. The early response from the ‘progressive’ side of politics was to deny the problem. The message is that rights are not always worth fighting for.”
– from The Australian. (via SydneyAnglicans.net.)
John Howard and the Myths of the 2004 Marriage amendments
“The debates over redefining marriage in Australia have acquired in recent years some high profile “myths” or, to use the modern parlance, “memes”, which are regularly repeated.
One of the most enduring is that the battle for same sex marriage is impeded by a supposedly shocking set of amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 which were made by conservative Prime Minister John Howard in 2004.
To take some recent quotes which illustrate the points:
“It was the Howard Government that in 2004 changed the Marriage Act to specifically refer to marriage being “the union of a man and a woman,” locking out any possibility to include gay couples in the definition without a change in the law.”
“[T[his weekend marks the twelfth anniversary of John Howard’s amendments to the Australian Marriage Act. You know, those amendments that didn’t require a plebiscite? Those amendments that made it a legal requirement for celebrants to remind champagne-tipsy wedding parties around the country that marriage was between a man and a woman at the exclusion of all others?”
There are two ‘myths’ being presented here…”
At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster tackles two oft-repeated myths –
“Myth 1: the 2004 amendments redefined marriage” and “Myth 2: Celebrants reading out the words”.
‘Printer bans book against gay marriage’
“First we saw two commercial TV stations ban an ad backing traditional marriage. So did SBS. Then we saw a Catholic Archbishop taken to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission for defending traditional marriage. Next, we saw a meeting of Christian opponents of same-sex marriage bombarded with abuse and threats, forcing its cancellation. And now a printer has refused to print a book arguing against same-sex marriage …”
– Andrew Bolt writes in The Herald Sun.
See also The Australian Marriage Forum blog.
The Intolerance of Tolerance
“It was only in 2012 that Don Carson published a book with the title The Intolerance of Tolerance.
It is a book that traces the development of so-called ‘tolerance’. How far we have come from the days of ‘I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ The philosophical shift has happened so quickly, and it looks set to impact many areas of life.
The matter is worth contemplating afresh in the midst of the current discussion about same-sex marriage in our country. Or rather, the current discussion about whether or not our country should even have a national discussion!…”
– Over at SydneyAnglicans.net, Raj Gupta reminds Christians of the huge shift taking place around us.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…