Category Archives: Uncategorized

→ When you feel resentful about homemaking

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Jean Williams, with 5 reasons she’s identified that leave her feeling about her role as a homemaker, and 6 practical suggestions:

Last week I shared my friend’s question with you:

I was wondering if any of you have any advice, or could recommend a talk or book, that could encourage me in my role as homemaker.

I have been becoming increasingly irritated and resentful about doing all the housework lately (as well as finances, admin, handy man stuff etc). I’m also the one who is training the children to do it. Maybe I need to share it with my husband more, I don’t know.

(My friend has several young children, and every week she has 2 child-free days that theoretically free her up to do housework. She says, “I am hesitant to add more to my husband’s workload when I have ‘extra time’.”) Here’s my response, with a few suggestions from mutual friends scattered through.

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Editorial: 168 hours

Editorial

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Last weekend I had the privilege of preaching at a friend’s church on chapter 13 of John’s Gospel, in particular these verses:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) (more…)

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Deadly, dull and boring

Pastoral Ministry

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My early preaching disasters all followed the same deadly pattern. Parishioners would shake my hand at the door with a thin smile and a kind word, but the unvarnished truth always came out in the car trip home. (more…)

Crucifixion Historicity

Thought, Sola Panel

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I have heard the claim that Jesus never died on the cross many times over the years, in person, in the press, on the web and via social media. Here is my reply. (more…)

What separates us from the Bible?

Sola Panel, Sola Panel

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I was suggesting last week that the Bible is not written from an alien, different world, but addresses the world we live in. But there is something that stands as a divide between us and the Bible; something that prevents us from grasping hold of the Scriptures and applying them rightly to our lives. (more…)

Bookstall on Holiness

Life, Review, Sola Panel

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I’m compiling a reading list for the bookstall on our church conference (camp, house party or whatever you call it!) on the topic of holiness and santification. (more…)

The alien world of the Bible

Sola Panel, Thought, Sola Panel

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In a good quality book manuscript recently submitted to us at Matthias Media, I came across the following sentence: “The world of the Bible is not our world—its context, language, customs, knowledge, beliefs and social systems are far from those we experience in the twenty-first century. It is in many respects an alien world, where it is easy to become lost or confused.” (more…)

Wordwatch: Martyr

Word Watch

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Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was published in 1559, running to a total of 732 pages (in Latin). The first English edition appeared in 1563 and was followed by steadily enlarged editions in 1570, 1576 and 1583. The author, John Foxe (1516-1587), was one of those ministers who fled to the continent during the reign of Mary Tudor when Protestants were being burned at the stake, returning only when the first Elizabeth ascended the throne and the persecution ended. (more…)

Man of Sorrows

Bible Brief, Life, Sola Panel

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My favourite Easter hymn is “Man of Sorrows” by Philipp Bliss (1838-1876). Its first line and title comes from the most famous Old Testament prophecy of all, one of Isaiah’s so-called Servant Songs. (more…)

On second thoughts

Sola Panel, Thought, Sola Panel

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I am having second thoughts about my recent post on playing the ball and not the man.

The first stirrings of misgiving came from Tom’s comment, when he suggested that ‘to play the man and not the ball’ originally related to soccer, where it is far more obvious when you are playing the man not the ball—that is, because the ball usually runs somewhat free of the man. And so it is theoretically possible in soccer (although still uncommon) to have contact only or mainly with the ball, and avoid contact with the man. In fact, making contact with the man is often a ‘foul’. Does this better present the kind of lofty ideal that I proposed in the first half of my article: that it is desirable where possible to discuss ideas on their own merits, without reference to the person putting them forward? (more…)

→ What is the Greatest of All Protestant “Heresies”?

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Sinclair Ferguson gives a short history lesson on certain views of Protestant theology by the Roman Catholic church, and counters them with some reflections on Hebrews:

How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies? Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords?

Those answers make logical sense. But none of them completes Bellarmine’s sentence. What he wrote was: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is…”

I won’t spoil it. Go read the post to find out.

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Editorial: Expounding evangelism

Editorial

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“Hi, we’re from the local Anglican church, and we’re…”

“No thanks, we’re Orthodox. [Or Catholic.]”

[Door closes. Evangelists exit stage right.]

So went the bulk of conversations on my first day of door-knocking during a mission in Sydney’s south a few years ago. (more…)

Memories of Chappo

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When a great one like John Chapman goes home, we struggle to express our appreciation and sense of loss. Words like warrior, champion and hero come to mind. (more…)