Ministry and pornography: some practical help

Everyday Ministry

As Tony Payne mentioned in his ‘Couldn’t Help Noticing’ column, the Australia Institute has published a report—Youth and Pornography in Australia—the first survey of Australian teenagers’ exposure to pornography on the internet. It shows that 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls aged 16 and 17 have stumbled onto sex sites on the internet. In addition, 38 per cent of boys and 2 per cent of girls say they have sought out sex sites. For boys, 73 per cent report that they have watched X-rated videos, with 20 per cent accessing these monthly. 11 per cent of girls have watched an X-rated video.

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The living and the dead

Thought

Contacting the dead—entertaining game, dangerous deception or forbidden magic? With his Bible open and his TV tuned to John Edward, Peter Bolt explores the abiding human interest in hearing from those who have ‘crossed over’. His conclusions may surprise you …

The John Edward phenomenon is gaining momentum. His television show Crossing Over is a regular on cable and has caught the interest of the networks. As an indicator of his rising popularity, apparently Time will soon feature this modern day medium who receives messages from the dead on behalf of the living who happen to turn up in his audience. (more…)

There’s no place like home: the marvellous land of Christian parenting books

Review

Sandra had just become a mother. Though she had been a Christian for many years, she was completely shell-shocked by the continual demands of her new baby, and felt quite out of her depth. There was so much she didn’t know, and she felt like a failure, even though Kyle was only three weeks old. Other people’s babies were sleeping through already, but Kyle wasn’t. It was the following Sunday that one of the other mothers at church lent Sandra a book, which hinted that if she just followed The Program with Kyle, he would not only sleep through, but become a Christian when he grew up …

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The theology of the Promised Land

The Land of Promise

The Land of Promise: Biblical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives
Philip Johnston & Peter Walker (eds)
IVP, 2001, 240 pp.

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is constantly in our headlines. To whom should the land belong? What does the Bible say? The promised land is a difficult issue. There is much said about it in the Old Testament, but very little in the New Testament. Why is that?

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