Camelot and Narnia and the myths of our time
“There are still those who feel a stirring in their heart before an image of the young couple with the movie star good looks frolicking with their children on the beach at Hyannis Port or in the Oval Office. But even the most devoted of Kennedy supporters these days must admit that the story is at best a tarnished and tawdry version of the original.”
– In this opinion-piece for the ABC, Simon Smart looks at the legacies of President John Kennedy and C.S. Lewis, both of whom died 50 years ago today. (Photo: NASA.)
Evangelical Theological Society 65th Annual Meeting
“I have been spending the last couple of days in Baltimore at the 65th ETS Annual Conference. This year’s theme has been Evangelicalism, Inerrancy, and ETS. It has been a fascinating time with upwards of 2400 people in attendance. It has also been a great opportunity to meet with old friends and to make new ones and to discuss an important aspect of the evangelical doctrine of Scripture. I am very glad I’ve come. …
It has been great to see spirited, well-informed, humble and scholarly accounts of the absolute truthfulness and trustworthiness of Scripture. It was also terrific to hear testimonies from around the world (certainly not just the USA — Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Australia too) of the importance of biblical inerrancy and the necessity of giving a clear and unambiguous account of this doctrine to a fresh generation of Christian men and women.”
– Moore College Principal Mark Thompson writes at Theological Theology.
Why I ran to Confessionalism
“So, in August of 2013 I ran to confessionalism. Specifically my ordination was transferred to the Presbyterian Church in America and I became the Lead Pastor of a PCA congregation.
The experience has been like finding an oasis in a desert. It has been like discovering a GPS after meandering blindly through an unknown country. Too dramatic? It does not feel that way to me. It is nearly impossible to effectively put down error and nurture unity within a church whose minimal statement of faith is only able to identify the grossest of heresies.”
– Todd Pruitt, who blogs at 1517, and co-hosts The Mortification of Spin with Carl Trueman, shares his discovery.
Related: The Thirty Nine Articles.
J. I. Packer: Fighting Heresy in Churches and Small Groups.
Grounded in the Gospel – J I Packer on The White Horse Inn.
Chappo’s splendiferous life
“As I reflect on Chappo’s life, a year after his death, my mind floods with so many splendiferous memories.”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, David Mansfield remembers Chappo.
The Eclipse of Freedom
“Like most in my generation, I recoil from Doomsday preaching. the announcement of impending disaster, the prediction of the widespread persecution of Christians just around the corner, the naming of this or that group as the antichrist or as an enemy set upon the absolute destruction of Christianity, still makes me wince.
… The dilemma for Christian communities is not to be alarmist while at the same time identifying clear trends in the public debate and the legislative programs of governments in the West. …”
– Mark Thompson writes at Theological Theology.
Stay in Noah’s Ark — or get into the lifeboat?
“I’ve just completed four years of training for ministry in the Church of England, and, God willing, have ahead of me many years of gospel ministry in the Anglican Church.
However, there seems to me to be more pressure than ever to doubt the integrity of that position. How can an evangelical who takes seriously his stewardship of revealed truth, ever with a good conscience take office in the Church of England? …”
– At The Church Society, Oak Hill graduate Matt Graham asks if it’s worth sticking with the Church of England. (PDF file.)
Related: Audio files of talks from the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference.
Your spiritual appetite
“This day was the best that I have seen since I came to England.… After Dr. Twisse had begun with a brief prayer, Mr. Marshall prayed largely two hours, most divinely, confessing the sins of the members of the Assembly, in a wonderful, passionate, and prudent way. Afterwards, Mr. Arrowsmith preached an hour, then a psalm … Dr. Twisse closed with a short prayer and blessing.”
‘So wrote Robert Baillie, one of the Scots commissioners at the Westminster Assembly, about one of the best days he had in England.’
– Food for thought. Read the whole post by Jeremy Walker at Reformation21 for a challenge, and then, over at the Proc Trust, see Adrian Reynolds brief words.
(Image: University of Glasgow.)
Render unto Caesar or unto God? Government funding and the crisis of Conscience
“There is truth in the claim that Sunrise Children’s Services, along with thousands of similar organizations and institutions, will have to face a hard choice: serve Caesar or serve God. This becomes inevitable once an entity becomes dependent on financial support from the government …”
– Albert Mohler writes about a local (to him) example of the crisis coming to many Christian organisations.
Blessing same-sex relationships in the Church of England?
“I have now confirmed from a number of sources what the Pilling Report is going to recommend. The final draft is ready and it will propose that the Church of England introduce some form of liturgy that will bless same-sex relationships. There is absolutely no doubt that this is what the outcome of the committee’s deliberations will be…
Once that happens we will have formally declared same-sex unions to be holy. In the Church of England our liturgy is our doctrine and the moment we have a rite that in any way affirms same-sex relationships then we will have fundamentally changed what we believe. …
The entire College of Bishops, not just Diocesans but every Suffragan as well, will meet on 27 January 2014 to discuss the report. This is likely to be an emotional event but it will be the first collective opportunity for Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Bishops to clearly, gently but firmly say that they will have no part in this.”
– The Rev. Peter Ould in the UK sounds an ominous warning.
Background:
“05 January 2012. The membership of a group to advise the House of Bishops on the Church of England’s approach to human sexuality has been announced. The Group will be chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling…” – The Church of England website.
Don’t make The Reformation History
“…The Reformation did more than reform the abuses of organised religion.
It was a recovery of the gospel that transformed the very nature of the church. Thus it became the foundation for our Protestant pattern of church life.
We cannot truly understand ourselves without a proper grasp of the events of the Reformation.”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes on the crucial need to understand the Reformation today.
Catching Eggs
“When my father-in-law fell on an escalator in a shopping mall, he was proud of his ability to catch his carton of eggs. “Not one of them broke”, he told me from his hospital bed. A true son of the Depression, breaking eggs was more significant than a damaged back.
But as he stayed in hospital, two competing attitudes were expressed by staff and visitors. …”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen, writes in his weekly column.
Falling on deaf ears? — Why so many churches hear so little of the Bible
“It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out.” That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity — an impatience with the Word of God.
– Albert Mohler on a malady which too easily affects churches on this side of the Pacific as well.
The Religion of the Self
At Jesmond Parish Church in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Rev. David Holloway explains why the church-sponsored brownie and guide units are refusing to make the new Girl Guide promise.
“There was a problem at the beginning of last month. On 1 September 2013 the Girl Guide promise, “the beating heart of guiding” according to the Chief Guide, was to change. The promise that was being discarded was as follows:
I promise that I will do my best
To love my God
To serve the Queen and my country
To help other people
And to keep the Brownie/Guide Law
Instead it was mandated from Girlguiding’s central authority that from the 1 September every girl and leader must say these words:
I promise that I will do my best
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve the Queen and my community
To help other people
And to keep the Brownie/Guide Law …”
Read it all at the JPC website.
How Pornography works
“We are fast becoming the pornographic society. Over the course of the last decade, explicitly sexual images have crept into advertising, marketing, and virtually every niche of American life. This ambient pornography is now almost everywhere, from the local shopping mall to prime-time television.
By some estimations, the production and sale of explicit pornography now represents the seventh-largest industry in America. …”
– Albert Mohler looks at understanding how pornography works in the male brain – and how that knowledge can be used in the battle against sin.
Related: The Porn-free family – Tim Challies.
Australian Church Record — October 2013
The latest issue of The Australian Church Record is now out.
“Every now and again ancient institutions can be forgiven for indulging in a little public self-reflection.
On January 1st, 1914, the first issue of ‘The Church Record: A Church Paper for the Commonwealth, Catholic, Apostolic, Protestant, and Reformed’ appeared, sixteen months after a Sydney group first met to float a company to run a federal paper.
As the centenary of this issue draws nigh, it seems fitting to reflect a little on the Australian Church Record as it is poised on the edge of its next one hundred years.”
– as well, there are articles on the General Synod, GAFCON, Archbishop Welby, and there’s a tribute to Bishop Dudley Foord. Downloadable from their website.
And in a reprint of an article from 1972, Bishop Donald Robinson looks at the names behind The Record in the early days.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…