Getting the Gospel Right
R. C. Sproul
Grand Rapids, Baker, 1999.
How can we know if a doctrine or issue is worth splitting a church or denomination over? R.C. Sproul claims to address this very issue, by expounding the essentials of the gospel in which evangelicals are to find unity.
There is no longer any stigma attached to premarital sex in our society. Pop stars do it, sports stars do it, politicians do it. Hormone levels are raised by advertising, television, cinema, music and magazines. What is discussed is not so much premarital sex, as non-marital sex, or even non-‘heterosexual monogamous life-long relationship sex’.
A Westerner reading the Qur’an may find many familiar names and events. Most of the prophets from the Bible are mentioned. There is clearly a strong relationship between the two books.
Tony Payne speaks with Mark Strom about his new book, Reframing Paul, and the issues that it raises.
You highlighted two particular problems for modern evangelicalism in your book: the influence of Greek thought on our systematic theology, and the social influence of rank and status and such ideas on church life. On the first, you seem very down on systematic theology generally. Can you explain why?
This article was adapted by James Wackett, Greg Clarke and Tony Payne from an address given at the Australian Forum on Evangelism in 1992.
Bill Muehlenberg is National Secretary of the Australian Family Association and teaches apologetics and ethics at several Melbourne Bible Colleges.
After two millennia of church history, the Christian church is at a crossroads. For the first time in human history, contemporary culture is seeking to build a kingdom with no thought or recognition of God. Secularism has triumphed in the late twentieth century, and as the twenty-first emerges, a great challenge faces the Body of Christ. Simply put, will the church allow itself to be seduced by the culture it finds itself in, or will it reemerge as a genuine counter-culture, fully upholding the values and worldview of a kingdom that has held sway for nearly 2000 years?
An e-mail dialogue with Don Carson
From: Tony Payne
To: Don Carson
Subject: Worship
Dear Don,
Don’t you just hate it when you have a conversation and think afterwards of all the things you wish you’d said? After our interview on worship, I had just this experience. In particular, I wish that I had explored with you further about whether we should think about church in the categories of worship. Seems to me that we were in thorough agreement whilst ever we were talking about what we should actually do in church, etc. I remain deeply puzzled, however, about your fondness for retaining worship language to describe the endeavour. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing. Or perhaps there is more to it.
Natasha Langford is a student worker in Melbourne, Australia.
These studies can be used by anyone wishing to explore the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality. They may be especially useful for people dealing with same-sex attraction and seeking to understand God’s word on sexuality, suffering and sin. Following the studies you will find notes for group leaders to help them with the logic of the studies.
Originally published in Briefing #295 (April 2003).
Thank you for the stimulating essay by Joshua Ng on the Sabbath (Briefing #293). I especially appreciated the reminder that as Christians living under the law of Christ, the fourth commandment points us to the heavenly rest for which we were created.
“Australia is a secular country.”
“We live in a secular society.”
Such statements are generally part of the Australian identity, at least as defined by most of our newspapers. The adjective is generally taken to exclude talk of God—a fancy way of saying we aren’t religious. But it wasn’t always like that.
A black and white view across La Perouse Bay on a gloomy evening, the sea vast and incomprehensible, the shoreline harsh. The old photo on Professor Philip Mitchell’s wall in his office at the School of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital in Sydney, reflects something of the experience of being depressed. The future seems bleak, dark, vast and unreachable; the situation seems hopeless; loneliness presses in.
I asked several men in our church if they were willing to speak on the topic of ‘leading your family spiritually’, and I got the same reaction from everyone: “Why me? I don’t know if I am qualified to speak on that. Our family Bible reading and prayer times are well, er, erratic. I need to come and listen, not talk on it!”