Martin Luther Exhibition at St. Andrew’s Cathedral

Don’t miss the free Martin Luther Exhibition, on at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, until Friday 29th September.

For opening times, see the Cathedral website.

Faith in a time of crisis

“This is a book written by people of gospel conviction who are calling all those with gospel conviction to stand for that gospel. And it is not just for Anglicans.”

– ACL Council member Nigel Fortescue reviews “Faith in a time of crisis” by Vaughan Roberts and Peter Jensen – on the GAFCON website. (Originally published in Southern Cross, August 2017.)

See also this earlier review by fellow ACL Council member Dan McKinlay, published in June.

The book is available from Matthias Media (AUS), The Good Book Company (UK) and Amazon (for fun, click on ‘Peter Jensen’ in the Author line at Amazon, to see other books written, or nor written, by Peter Jensen.).

The Reformation’s Continuing Legacy and Relevance

“Moore College has published a significant collection of its 2017 Reformation papers through Apollos an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press. The book was launched at morning tea on the second day of the two-day 2017 School of Theology conference held this week, which had 80 people in attendance. All copies of the book sold out in minutes at the launch. …

You can purchase the book in paperback through the Wandering Bookseller here, or the Book Depository here, or hard copy or Kindle at Amazon here.”

– Read all about it at the Moore College website.

Gems from Leon Morris

The Australian Church Record team have been digging into their archives to republish classic articles by Leon Morris.

Here are excerpts from some of the recent posts –

Three in One – And One in Three.

“Some people seem to think that the doctrine of the Trinity is the result of a concerted effort by the theologians to make it difficult for ordinary men to understand the nature of God. So far from this being the case history shows that theologians tried every alternative they could, and the Trinity is simply man’s effort to say what he can about the deity in the light of Scripture and the history of Christian thought.

Moreover, it is a doctrine of practical importance for every-day living, and ought not to be relegated to the position of a piece of unimportant theological lumber, as so many Christians do. …”

God and “The Wrath”.

“C.H. Dodd prefers the translation ‘the Wrath of God’ to Moffatt’s ‘God’s anger’ in Rom. 1:18, ‘because such an archaic phrase suits a thoroughly archaic idea,’ while Nicolas Berdyaev writes ‘Anger in every shape and form is foreign to God.’ And again, Sydney Cave speaks of law and Wrath as ‘almost personified powers, which, owing to God their origin, act on in partial independence of God, and are hostile to men as He is not.’

In such words many modern writers give expression to their conviction that God cannot be thought of as exercising wrath towards men, so that where the Scripture speaks of “the wrath of God’ it must either be explained away or abandoned. …”

Unless you see Signs & Wonders.

“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe,” said Jesus to a well-educated man of the first century, but in modern times the situation seems to have reversed. Whereas in earlier days the miracle authenticated Christianity, to men of our day they often present a stumbling-block, so that they find it difficult to accept a Christianity which speaks of the miraculous. …

‘O Come, Let Us Worship’.

“O come, let us worship,” sang the Psalmist, and it seems certain that he found a more ready response among his fellows than his modern counterpart would among the men of this generation were he to sing a similar song. Whereas in earlier days it was usually accepted without question that man must worship, to-day this is often doubted even among men who have some idea of the existence of God. …

Free speech and vilification in the marriage law postal survey

“Australia is involved in a debate about whether same sex marriage should be introduced. The question is being put to the electors in the form of a voluntary postal survey, the question in which is simply: ‘Should the law be changed to allow same sex couples to marry?’

The original intention of the current Government had been to put this question to the people of Australia in a compulsory plebiscite. This option being defeated twice in Parliament, the postal survey has been designed to be run without explicit authorising legislation. However, once it was decided that the survey would proceed, concerns were expressed that the debate might contain misleading and deceptive advertising, which would usually have been dealt with under the electoral laws (but since the survey was not being run under those laws, no such protections applied for the survey.) In addition, concerns were expressed about hateful and harmful speech on both side of the debate.

In response to these concerns, the Commonwealth Parliament today (in a rare example of swift bipartisan action) saw the introduction and enactment of the Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Act 2017(which has now received the Royal Assent, and become Act No 96 of 2017). The Act will come into operation on Thursday 14 September, 2017 (tomorrow, as I write.) …”

– Associate Professor Neil Foster has published some important information about legislation coming into effect tomorrow.

Anyone who plans to comment publicly on the plebiscite and related issues would do well to read it.

Praying together this Sunday

“Archbishop Glenn Davies has urged churches to set aside this Sunday as a day of Praying together for Marriage.

The Archbishop foreshadowed the initiative in this month’s edition of the Diocesan magazine, Southern Cross, which includes a prayer Dr Davies wrote for the day.

The Australian newspaper last week reported the initiative, set down for this Sunday, September 17th. …”

– Read the story from SydneyAnglicans.net, and please be encouraged to pray.

Related: Archbishop Davies’ prayer.

Church Society launches a Podcast

The first episode includes an interview with the Church Society’s President, Bishop Wallace Benn.

Reformation Rally 2017 — Dr Gerald Bray

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Dr Gerald Bray spoke at Moore College’s Reformation Rally held at St Andrew’s Cathedral on 26 August 2017.

His topic: The Way the Reformers looked at the Work of The Holy Spirit.

Reformation Rally 2017 sermon — Dr Glenn Davies

Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, preached the sermon at the 1552 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer Service. He speaks of the Scriptures as the very bedrock for understanding God.

It was part of Moore College’s Reformation Rally held at St Andrew’s Cathedral on 26 August 2017.

John Chapman Preaching Conference, September 23

The next John Chapman Preaching Conference is coming up at Moore College on Saturday 23rd September.

Dr Bryan Chapell is considering the topic Application in Expository Preaching.

Details from the College.

Praying Together for Marriage

Archbishop Glenn Davies has written a prayer for marriage, and is also calling on Anglican churches in Sydney to pray.

The prayer was was printed in Southern Cross, September 2017, and we reproduce it here with permission:   Read more

Neil Foster on the Media release from the Wilberforce Foundation

“In the ongoing debates about same sex marriage in Australia (shortly to be the subject of a voluntary postal survey conducted by the Australia Bureau of Statistics, if it survives a High Court challenge), a number of professional organisations have decided to weigh in, in support of the ‘Yes’ vote.

The most recent such statement was issued by a combination of lawyers and doctors (see a press report of August 19 here, and the full text of the joint statement, by the NSW Bar Association president Arthur Moses, president of the Law Society of NSW Pauline Wright, and president of the NSW division of the Australian Medical Association Brad Frankum, is here.)

A number of lawyers around Australia, myself included, were concerned that this statement was not made after consultation with members of the various organisations, and in fact was misleading precisely at the point where one would expect a statement from lawyers to be accurate, in its statements about the law. …

Finally, speaking of a lack of consultation, as I prepare this post I see that WordPress seems to have decided to add a “rainbow banner” to the top of my page, without asking me if I would like such.”

– Associate Professor Neil Foster gives some background to the Wilberforce Foundation, and the Media release they have issued (PDF file).

(The header seen by WordPress users who are logged in to wordpress.com.)

Key posts from August 2017

Here are some key posts you might have missed. Not surprisingly, most of them are relevant to the postal plebiscite on proposals to change the definition of marriage:

CBMW releases Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality

“The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) announced August 29th the release of The Nashville Statement, an evangelical coalition statement on biblical sexuality. …

The statement, comprised of 14 affirmations and denials, addresses issues related to human sexuality, ‘in the hope of serving Christ’s church,’ according to the statement’s preamble.”

– Announcement from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Read ‘The Nashville Statement’.

From the Preamble –

“Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being.

By and large the spirit of our age no longer discerns or delights in the beauty of God’s design for human life. Many deny that God created human beings for his glory, and that his good purposes for us include our personal and physical design as male and female.

It is common to think that human identity as male and female is not part of God’s beautiful plan, but is, rather, an expression of an individual’s autonomous preferences.

The pathway to full and lasting joy through God’s good design for his creatures is thus replaced by the path of shortsighted alternatives that, sooner or later, ruin human life and dishonor God. …”

Related:

In today’s issue of The Briefing, Albert Mohler commends the statement and gives some background.

He explains the huge importance of speaking clearly about such matters. He also relates some of the early responses, and how they demonstrate the worldviews of the commentators. Take the time to listen.

Moore College and Cornhill Sydney in gospel partnership

In a new video from Moore College, Principal, Mark Thompson, chats with Gavin Perkins, Director of Cornhill Sydney.

They share how their organisations work together in helping form and equip gospel workers.

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