To anyone who reads it, the end of Mark seems like an enigma. While there are longer endings, the oldest and most reliable manuscripts come to a stop at verse 8.
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Author Archives: The Briefing
VJ
Life
Pre-dawn-destination
Life
I woke up a bit earlier than usual the other day. Why? I don’t know. But sitting there at the kitchen bench was Isabella, my 8-year-old daughter. Despite the darkness, the fatigue and the time (5:30 a.m.), we had the most wonderful conversation. (more…)
Lies, damned lies, and … (#3)
Life
After posting twice recently about the nature of ‘facts’ and ethical argument (see #1 and #2) and in particular about the difficulty in moving from ‘is’ to ‘ought’, I noticed an article in Friday’s paper that underlines the importance of these issues again. ‘Straight and narrow’ by Katrina Fox is about an openly and proudly gay woman attending a Christian conference on dealing with sexual sin. In particular, she talks about a workshop she attended on dealing with homosexuality. (more…)
Eating and drinking to the glory of God
Life
The weekend before last I had the great privilege of spending a weekend away with a group of students from Cumberland College thinking about God’s mission for the world and looking at 1Corinthians 8-10. (I also spent the weekend with possibly the largest mosquito population that I have ever seen, but that’s a story for another time). Preaching through those chapters from Corinthians has left me breathless and challenged once again by the example of Jesus and his apostle. (more…)
Do not judge!
Life
What do you think is the best known verse in the Bible? Without a second thought, most of us would say John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Almost every Christian knows this verse. There are organizations named after it. In the 1980s, there was a man named Rollen Stewart (aka Rainbow Man) who donned a rainbow wig, wrote the verse on a sign and held it up at various prominent American sporting events. (more…)
Worldly passions, holy affections: How to cultivate a discerning mind
Life
In Briefing #366’s first feature article “Do not judge”, Stephen Liggins points out that while judging others is condemned in the Bible, discernment is encouraged. But how do we go about gaining it, and how can we encourage our fellow Christians to grow in it too? With a little help from Jonathan Edwards, Archie Poulos investigates. (more…)
Preaching the gospel from Ruth
Pastoral Ministry
Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther
Barry Webb
Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, 2000, pp. 192.
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Engaging with Barth
Review
Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques
Edited by David Gibson and Daniel Strange
UK edition: Apollos, Nottingham, 2008, 416pp.
US edition: T&T Clark, New York, 2009, 408pp. (more…)
Redundant prayer?
Up front
The Church of England in the UK has released a prayer for those who have been made redundant (along with other prayers for people affected in other ways by the financial crisis).1. It has been fascinating to hear various clergy on the radio here in the UK answer the question ‘why?’ as people have queried how this prayer can be of any benefit to anyone. The impression left by most of the sound bites I’ve heard or read have gone along the lines of “We need to give people the words to share with God how they are feeling”. (more…)
Review: “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” by Tim Challies
Review
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment
Tim Challies
Crossway Books, Wheaton, 2007, 208pp.
Here is an exercise for you: open your purse or wallet and remove a banknote. Now rub it between your fingers. Look closely at the various markings. Hold it up to the light. Is it genuine, or is it counterfeit? How can you tell? This is the analogy Tim Challies uses in his book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment to set up the task of Christian discernment. Christian discernment, he says, is “the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong” (p. 61). Doctrine and practice, like currency, can be the real deal, or they can be ‘funny money’. Only the discerning person can tell the difference. (more…)
Censorship, art and pornography
In May 2008, a Sydney art gallery featured some nude photographs of 12 and 13-year-olds by artist Bill Henson. The papers were flooded with unflattering images of police action against the artist. The intelligentsia rushed to the barricades, all chanting the same mantra. The politicians and other community leaders were caught expressing popular, but indefensible sound bites. As usual, the question of censorship arose. How should we think about it as Christians? (more…)
For us or against us? Working out who to work with
Pastoral Ministry
Now that we’ve had a look at judging others, discernment and what the two entail, how do you put these things into practice? For example, how do you figure out whether or not you can work with someone? Guan Un finds some answers in the Gospel of Luke. (more…)
The ethics of a balanced life
Sola Panel, Up front
Should we be extreme or should we be balanced? You know what I mean by ‘balanced’: be generous, but not too generous; take Christ seriously, but don’t be a religious fanatic; tell the truth, but not to a fault, and so on. This approach is as old, at least, as the ancient Greeks. Lots of voices in our lives call out for this balance: parents, colleagues, work, talkback radio, novels and academia. But are these the voices of wisdom? (more…)
‘Just how sovereign is God?’ and ‘Doing little things well’
Interchange
A couple of things ‘got me started’ in Up Front (January 2009). Jean Williams (‘Just how sovereign is God?’) wrote a timely reminder of how vital it is to immerse oneself in the knowledge that God is sovereign, and I agree with most of what was written. I did find myself wondering, however, if there was a more nuanced way of understanding God’s sovereignty over the ‘big history’ events and over “the small, everyday occurrences of life”. God’s ultimate purposes cannot be thwarted, but God’s sovereignty does not necessarily mean that every event in our lives is pre-ordained (as seems to be suggested by the quote from Spurgeon with which the article begins). God’s sovereignty does mean, however, that he is able to work all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). This applies equally to the ‘big’ and the ‘little’ things of life. Sometimes we mess up: we sin, we fall short, we rebel against his will, we find ourselves in a quandary, or out of fuel miles from a petrol station with young children in the car. We become ill (whether from a cold or cancer). Tragedy strikes. I take comfort not in knowing that God necessarily meant such things to be, but that he is able to make even these things work together for his glory and my eternal good. (more…)