Heavenly tours?

“Travelling to heaven and back is where it’s at today. Don Piper spent ninety minutes there and sold four million copies of his account. Colton Burpo doesn’t know how long he was there, but his travel diary has surpassed 6 million copies sold …  There have been others as well, and together they have established afterlife travel journals as a whole new genre in Christian publishing…”

– Tim Challies has serious misgivings about popular books you’ll find at some Christian bookshops.

Archbishop Peter Jensen in the Sydney Morning Herald on same-sex marriage

The Sydney Morning Herald has published this opinion-piece by Archbishop Peter Jensen –

“We are in the midst of a sustained and brilliantly orchestrated campaign to radically alter the marriage laws of this country to allow same-sex marriage.

Three slogans carry the message: ‘marriage equality’, ‘marriage won’t change’, ‘it’s inevitable’. Of course, the difficulty with slogans is that they are not arguments and, so, are hard to refute, except by slogans in return…”

– Read it all here, ‘Stylish same-sex campaign glosses over real issues’. Worth reading and passing on.

‘Is David Cameron about to force the Queen to break her Coronation Oath?’

Well-known UK blogger ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ looks at some implications of the British government’s proposals –

“The newspapers today are full of reports of the likely consequences to the Church of England of the Government’s plans to redefine the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions, contra the official teaching of Church, as established by Act of Parliament. The Report has been hyped, selectively quoted, misquoted and misrepresented by much of the media, so His Grace urges you to READ IT for yourself…”

– Read it all here. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)

The brave new world of the media

At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell comments on the media stories of the week:

“I’m fairly cynical about the media, having worked in it for 30 years, but even I was taken aback.”

– See why here. (Photo: Zac Veron.)

The modern marriage ideology

“Marriage has always been ‘discriminatory’. Not everyone can have it: children, siblings, those already married, those with no-one offering to marry them, and so on. But three ‘marriage equality’ bills now before our Federal Parliament seek to leverage a good thing, equality, in a new direction.

I find it sad to write about this matter just as you might find it hard to read about it, for this dispute has become personal. I am acutely aware of those I know with same-sex partners. I don’t want to lose their friendship. On other days, I get angry at how disagreeing with same-sex marriage is portrayed as discrimination, homophobia and hate…”

– Dr Andrew Cameron writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The seduction of pornography and the integrity of Christian marriage, Pt 1

“Not only have we severed sex from marriage, but as a society, we now look at marriage as an imposition, chastity as an embarrassment, and sexual restraint as a psychological hang-up. The doctrine of sin explains why we have exchanged the glory of God for Sigmund Freud’s concept of polymorphous perversity…”

– Albert Mohler begins a two-part series on the pornographic crisis gripping the western world.
Related:
Online safety resources (Communicate Jesus),
Avoiding pornography’s perils (SydneyAnglicans.net),
and Just1ClickAway (from John McDowell Ministry).

Depression and Euthanasia

“I am deeply troubled by the availability of euthanasia to people suffering from depression and mental illness. Recent research from Oregon, USA, where euthanasia is available has not stilled my troubled soul. …”

– from Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower.

An Anglican Conference focussed on the Future

Gav Poole was among the attendees at the FCA Conference in London –

“The crisis has happened, there is impairment within the communion and now we look forward to the renewal of the Anglican communion.”

“The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) leaders conference was held in London, 23 to 27 April. It was made up of 200 delegates within the Anglican communion from 30 countries. The theme of the conference was ‘Jesus the Christ: Unique and Supreme’.

The conference was designed to critique the current state of the Anglican communion and under teaching from the Scriptures move the delegates to a common commitment as to the direction of the FCA and its role within the Anglican communion. The program included Bible studies, services, seminars and networking. It culminated in the adoption of a conference commitment at the end of the week.  Read more

As good as it gets

“‘This is as good as it gets’ the man assured me. I was initially shocked, but then deeply saddened by his statement. It was an astonishing statement but there was no doubting the sincerity with which he was speaking.

It was the night before the Commonwealth Day Service in the Cathedral. Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Edward were all to be present. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column.
(Photo courtesy Ramon Williams.)

The day I took Matthias Media’s money to the casino

“I was in the precinct of Sydney’s main casino on Saturday, and, with the full knowledge and approval of several of my Matthias Media colleagues, I trotted off to the casino with $140 of MM’s money in my pocket…”

– At The Briefing, Ian Carmichael reflects on what he saw.
(Photo: Matthias Media.)

Two holes in our Theological leadership

“With the announcement of Dr John Woodhouse’s retirement, two of the most significant positions in Sydney Diocese will now need to be filled in 2013.

The new Archbishop of Sydney will have the responsibility to maintain the character of the Diocese, especially through his power to make appointments. Since Moore College provides the people appointed, the Principal steers an institution that creates the Diocese.

Both positions require theological acuity and a determination to ensure that Sydney’s long and strong evangelical heritage continues on into the future…”

– The Editorial from the just-released issue 1905 of The Australian Church Record, June, 2012. Read the editorial here. Download the current issue here.

Same-Sex Marriage ‘makes a lot of sense’

“Same-sex marriage makes sense if you assume that the individual is the center of the universe, that God—if he exists—is there to make us happy, and that our choices are not grounded in a nature created by God but in arbitrary self-construction…”

– Michael Horton’s piece at The White Horse Inn is well worth reading. (h/t Tim Challies.)

What I say is who I am!

“When a lot of our time is spent within the Christian community, or when we talk about Christian things with fellow-believers rather than non-believers, we easily get used to what we sound like and it just sounds normal. To us, the words we say mean what we know they mean. But for others, the words we use may be giving a very different signal…”

– Greg Anderson, Head of the Missions Department at Moore College, appeals to Christians to think about how we communicate.

The Working Mother

“If you want to divide a church, cause a rift in a family, ruin a dinner party, and bring hatred upon yourself – raise the issue of working mothers. Few subjects create more heat and antagonism than this one. There are not many more sacred cows, nor more strident voices bullying opposition into silence, than this topic.

So most people keep their wisdom to themselves. And woe-betide any man who cares to venture an opinion. He is not a mother, does not understand, has a vested interest in having somebody to stay at home and serve his needs and never adequately shares the housework, so has no right to speak. Thus, with nervous fingers I approach the keyboard, remembering that there is not much difference between a brave man and a fool…”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen approaches a hot topic in his weekly column.

Evolution’s End? President Obama calls for Same-Sex Marriage

“Is President Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage finally complete? His call for the legalization of same-sex marriage yesterday is an historic and tragic milestone. An incumbent President of the United States has now called for a transformation of civilization’s central institution. And yet, no observer of this president could be surprised. The arrival of this announcement was only a matter of time…”

– Dr Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, looks at the unsurprising announcement from the American President.

Related: New York Times story.

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