Grimmo’s post on changes to the words of Wesley’s famous hymn put me in mind of another equally significant change to an equally famous hymn.
In the first verse of ‘Rock of Ages’, we are used to singing:
Be of sin the double cure: cleanse me from its guilt and power.
But this is not what Augustus Toplady wrote.
I’ve just wandered upstairs to my desk, leaving the teenagers in front of a new inter-generational quiz show that pits the Baby Boomers against Gen X and Gen Y. It seems like harmless enough fun. Hey look, 3D movies were big in the 50s! Roller blading was the 90s! Who can do the robot?
But the programme brought back to the surface a subversive thought that I’ve been harbouring for some time. Is it just me, or does anyone else out there suspect that the broad generalizations that are flung around about the supposed characteristics of Gen X and Gen Y are basically vacuous?
Why does the second half of Isaiah 30 have to be so offensive? It starts with God marching out to war against Israel’s enemies, his face furious with anger, his sleeves rolled up for battle, his breath a stream of sulfurous fire. This is challenging enough in a primitive-wrathful-deity-of-the-Old-Testament kind of way. You’ve heard these objections. You might even have made them in your own heart.
But Isaiah then adds a detail that is even more objectionable.
Try this mental experiment. Imagine that a swine flu pandemic swept through your part of the world, and that all public assemblies of more than three people were banned. And let’s say that, due to some catastrophic combination of local circumstances, this ban had to remain in place for 12 months.
How would your congregation of 120 members continue to function—with no regular church gatherings of any kind, and no small home groups (except for groups the size of three)?
If you were the pastor what would you do?
I have a reputation both at home and at work for being affable—imperturbable—phlegmatic, even. However, like most people of serene disposition, there are some events guaranteed to perturb my phlegm—three-putting from ten feet, for example, or spillages at the dinner table—particularly those involving milk. (more…)
When I hear the word ‘abomination’, a vivid image comes to mind. Perhaps it was from a comedy sketch on TV. I see a man dressed in old-fashioned black clothes, with a black hat and, in reference to some aspect of modern culture (perhaps homosexuality), he declares in a slow, but passionate voice, “It is an abor-min-ay-shon”.
‘Abomination’ is not a nice word. It reeks of censoriousness and wowserism.
But then Jesus had to go and say this: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
Following my post on being generous to fundamentalists and not so generous with others, I’ve had some interesting conversations about its implications. A good friend asked me whether my suggested attitude towards non-evangelicals of ‘supping with a long spoon’ meant that certain authors should not be read. Should we have a book burning in the Moore College courtyard? And would my friend be a heretic by association if, for example, he found reading Karl Barth a stimulating and a positive experience, even though he disagreed with Barth at a number of points?
Nicole’s challenging thoughts on appreciation and approval have motivated me to finish off a little post I’ve had sitting in my file for several weeks. It’s about the same topic, but from the opposite side—not so much the praise and approval of man, but the fear of man. (more…)
Whenever I look back over the history of The Briefing—all 366 issues, all 21 years—I find it almost impossible to resist thinking about my eldest daughter, who (like The Briefing) was born in April 1988. In fact, I’ve used the image so often in the past, I’m sure long-term readers are heartily sick of it by now. (more…)
Tony Payne speaks to The Briefing’s founder (Phillip Jensen) about Evangelicalism, church, preaching and the essentials of the Christian life. (more…)
These three words are the secret to success in a multitude of circumstances. It’s certainly true of writing. When someone comes to me (as they quite often do), indicating their desire to be a writer, and then asks me how to go about it, I have only these three words to say to them: actually do it. (more…)
There’s no doubt about it: this 21st birthday Briefing has put me in a nostalgic frame of mind. I’m finding myself daydreaming about the late 80s when New Zealand wore beige and brown body shirts in one day cricket, when U2 was a young, emerging supergroup, and when the book to give away to a non-Christian friend was John Chapman’s bestselling A Fresh Start. (more…)
Over at Sydney Anglicans, Dominic Steele has kicked off a discussion about the Jesus, All About Life (JAAL) campaign—in particular, focusing on the follow-up material that is sent to enquirers who see the JAAL ads on TV. (more…)
I keep hearing calls for a ‘generous orthodoxy’—one that is kind and open-minded towards those who differ, and that doesn’t come down hard on every mistake or variation in doctrine. This is a useful and attractive idea, as well as a dangerous one, of course (Carl Trueman has commented insightfully on the issues over at Reformation21). (more…)
The movement for truth in labelling reached another milestone in my state recently. Supermarkets are now required to itemize the unit cost of goods rather than just the total—so that, when faced with a 437g pack of Weaties for $4.23 and the super-bonus-jumbo-econo-family 714g pack for $6.41, consumers don’t have to do the maths for themselves. Each price label will tell you how much it is per 100g. (more…)