The Trial that still must come

“Such celebration points to the danger of revenge as a powerful human emotion. Revenge has no place among those who honor justice. Retributive justice is sober justice. …

The second troubling aspect is just part of what it means to live in a world in which true justice is always elusive. …”

– Albert Mohler adds perspective to the news everyone is talking about today.

Easter Eggs in the Year of Our Lord

“I love chocolate. I don’t think I’m unique in this respect. Most people I have met share this love. So the popular celebration of Easter with chocolate suits me. It combines so many loves at the same time – holidays, chocolate and Christ.

Jesus should be associated with chocolate, for he made every good thing for our enjoyment. He created the world, including chocolate, to be received with thanksgiving. If you like chocolate then eat it with gratitude to the creator of all good things – Jesus Christ our Lord…”

– Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Phillip Jensen writes on Easter and “the lowest common denominator of public agreement” – on the Cathedral website.

The Unseen God

“[W]ithin weeks of the crucifixion, Christ was being proclaimed to the world as Saviour and the cross as the very proof of the immensity of God’s love. And to this day, it is the form of the cross which visually declares the presence and influence of Christianity.

But despite this, even Christians find it hard to keep the cross in focus, often treating it as a mere passing phase: tragedy giving way to triumph, shame giving way to glory, darkness giving way to dawn. This is understandable. We serve a living Lord, a risen Saviour, a reigning King. But when we relegate the cross to the margins, the result is as undesirable as it is unexpected. For the more we seek to find God truly in triumphs, glories and light, the less we find of the true God. And the demonstration of this is always found in our encounter with suffering…”

– John Richardson writes in his book “The Eternal Cross: Reflections on the Sufferings of Christ” — posted at The Ugley Vicar.

‘Dirty, rotten lies’

“The Clubs industry in Australia has just launched a $20 million lie – if we believe them, we will miss a once in a generation opportunity to radically transform the way we care for those who are addicted to gambling…”

– Over at SydneyAnglicans.net, Anglicare Sydney CEO Peter Kell doesn’t mince his words on poker machine reform.

ANZAC Day more important than Easter?

“This year Anzac day and the Easter Monday public holiday coincide. For the first time since 1859 (and for the last time until 2038), Easter Monday falls on April 25th – the ANZAC Day public holiday.

For almost 2000 years the Easter ‘Holy Days’ have been the central religious event in the calendars of the Western world, but the clash this year is timely for it signals a deeper reality. ANZAC Day is increasingly staking a claim to replace Easter as the major religious holiday in 21st Century Australia.”

– At Defence Anglicans, Chaplain Andrew Grills asks how Christians should view ANZAC Day.

Congregationalism – real, radical, or imaginary?

“The attacks on the Anglican Diocese of Sydney will probably never go away. It is  almost certainly right that they don’t. We are far from perfect and our mistakes will always leave us open to criticism. Yet I’m convinced there’s much more to rejoice in than to criticise.

What is more, often the most virulent attacks come from the most predictable places…

Nevertheless, it is worth engaging with the criticism rather than dismissing it out of hand…”

– Mark Thompson asks if the picture that’s painted of Sydney Diocese is a fair one – at Theological Theology.

New Moore College Faculty blog

It’s called Thinktank, and is on the Moore College website.

A Theological Conversation worth having: Al Mohler’s response to Brian McLaren

“…a recent essay by Brian McLaren helps us all to understand what is at stake in the controversy over Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins.

Beyond this, his argument reveals a great deal about the actual beliefs and trajectories of what has become known as the emerging church. As such, his essay is a welcome addition to this important conversation.”

– Albert Mohler responds to Brian McLaren’s critique of Mohler’s review of Rob Bell’s new book. (Photo: brianmclaren.net)

Anglican Entropy

“The second law of thermodynamics tells us that as energy is expended over time, order in the universe inexorably gives way to disorder. The fundamental physical truth behind the cycles of birth and death is that things fall apart, leading ultimately to a static and random state known as entropy.

In the spiritual realm, there is no such necessity. St Paul affirms that ‘Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.’ (2 Corinthians 4:16), yet entropy irresistibly comes to mind as a metaphor following Dr William’s Lent Letter to the Primates and Moderators of the Anglican Communion.

Here we have carefully crafted verbal camouflage for what is actually one more step in Lambeth Anglicanism’s descent into spiritual and institutional entropy…”

– Charles Raven writes at SPREAD.

God is still holy and what you learned in Sunday School is still true: A review of ‘Love Wins’

Kevin DeYoung:

“Instead of summoning sinners to the cross that they might flee the wrath to come and know the satisfaction of so great a salvation, Love Wins assures people that everyone’s eternity ends up as heaven eventually. The second chances are good not just for this life, but for the next. And what if they aren’t?

What if Jesus says on the day of judgment, “Depart from me, I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23)? What if at the end of the age the wicked and unbelieving cry out, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16)? What if outside the walls of the New Jerusalem “are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15)? What if there really is only one name “under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)? And what if the wrath of God really remains on those who do not believe in the Son (John 3:18, 36)?”

– Kevin DeYoung has written a comprehensive and very helpful review of Rob Bell’s Love Wins. Read it at his Gospel Coalition blog, or as a PDF file.

‘Love Wins’ – A review of Rob Bell’s new book

Tim Challies:

“Questions matter. They can help you to grow deeper in your knowledge of the truth and your love for God—especially when you’re dealing with the harder doctrines of the Christian faith. But questions can also be used to obscure the truth. They can be used to lead away just as easily as they can be used to lead toward. Ask Eve.

Enter Rob Bell, a man who has spent much of the last seven years asking questions in his sometimes thought-provoking and often frustrating fashion. And when he’s done asking, no matter what answers he puts forward, it seems we’re only left with more questions. This trend continues in his new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, where Bell poses what might be his most controversial question yet:

Does a loving God really send people to hell for all eternity?

The questions you probably want answers to as you read this review are these: Is it true that Rob Bell teaches that hell doesn’t exist? Is it true that Rob Bell believes no one goes to hell? You’ll just need to keep reading because, frankly, the answers aren’t that easy to come by…”

– Respected Canadian blogger Tim Challies has read Bell’s book. This review is essential reading.

Related: Denny Burk’s post, “Rob Bell Outs Himself” gives clear, biblical answers to the questions Rob Bell asks in his promotional video.

An Exposition of the Theses — 3

“I turn now to the third of the twelve theses which I posted as a way of giving shape to a new reformation of the Anglican Communion.

If the Anglican Communion is to be reformed again it needs to hear and heed these crucial truths:

3. The most urgent and important need of every human being is to be reconciled to God. We are all naturally God’s enemies (Rms 5:10) with the result that we stand under the wrath of the God who loves us (Rms 1:18; Eph. 2:1–3). Our natural disposition is to insist on our own autonomy, to repeat the folly of the Garden of Eden where the goal was to determine right and wrong without reference to God and the word he had given (Gen. 3:4–6). If we are to be reconciled to God, then the cconsequences of our rebellion against him — our guilt, corruption, enslavement to sinful thinking and behaviour, and death — must all be dealt with in their entirety. A gospel which does not explain this most basic need is no gospel at all.…”

– Read Mark Thompson’s full post at Theological Theology. (Part 2, Part 1, ‘Theses for a new reformation in the Anglican Communion’.)

The Lesson of David Swing

“While the internet has rocked with information about a prominent minister who has denied the reality of hell, being more historically minded, I couldn’t help but think about David Swing.

Most people don’t know who David Swing was–but in the 1870s and 1880s, David Swing was the most popular minister in Chicago: bigger than D. L. Moody, more significant than anyone else. As Swing’s New York Times obit put it, at one point, he had the largest church and the largest salary of any minister in Chicago…”

– Sean Lucas writes at Reformation21 with a valuable history lesson.

UK: Should Christians be allowed to keep children?

“Apparently, according to the High Court, Christians who are not willing to commend homosexual acts ought not to be given other people’s children to foster.

If this is what was said, and if it is a valid judgement, is it therefore right that Christians should nevertheless be allowed to keep their own natural children, if they similarly will not commend homosexual acts to them?”

– John Richardson wonders about the logical outcome of a controversial court case in the UK. Story from the BBC – and many more linked at Anglican Mainstream, including this one from The Spectator.

‘Brilliant expositions of Colossians and Philemon’

“What do you get when one of the finest Bible teachers in the world slightly modifies a brilliant series of sermons on Colossians and Philemon for publication as a commentary? You get John Woodhouse’s latest book, a commentary in the Focus on the Bible series. I can’t wait to work my way through these two New Testament letters again, aided by John’s expositions…”

– Mark Thompson commends John Woodhouse’s commentary on Colossians and Philemon in the Focus On the Bible series. (Available from Moore Books.)

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