Of all the addictions, one of the worst is gambling. Most chemical addictions are stopped by unconsciousness, but gamblers know no stopping: there is always one more throw of the dice, one more hand to play, one more person to borrow from. Their lives are filled with expensive thrills and deep desperation. (more…)
Archives: phillip-jensen
Problems with the text
I love puzzling over difficult parts of the Bible. I love it, for the difficulty is in my head, not on the page, and puzzling over these difficulties gives me an opportunity to change the way I think.
Power to witness
If the gospel is the true revelation of God’s goodness, then why do we often feel so uncomfortable about speaking it? Phillip Jensen suggests that perhaps we’re looking for empowerment in the wrong place. (more…)
Confusion abounds about spirituality
Up front
It is a word used both inside and outside Christianity. But it covers such a wide range of phenomena, we often don’t know what people mean by it.
Water
Up front
Some symbols are hard to understand and some are arbitrary, but the symbol of water has immediate and obvious impact—especially to a dry continent like Australia. It works as a symbol because it creates the reality that it symbolizes. (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…)
The image of Jesus?
Thought
At first glance, most Christians would dismiss this as blasphemous. The idea that Jesus was controlled by the unjust prejudices of his culture, that he did not understand God’s compassionate love and that he needed a Canaanite woman to teach him God’s ways is an attack on the incarnate Son of God. (more…)
Traditions old and new
Being old is neither right nor wrong. Being new is also neither right nor wrong. Therefore, being either a conservative or a radical is silly: it is neither right nor wrong to want to preserve the past or explore the latest innovation. (more…)
Driscoll and listening to criticism
Recently, Sydney had the pleasure of hearing Mark Driscoll. In a two-week period, he spoke in many venues, including my church St Andrew’s Cathedral, where he twice addressed a packed gathering. His second address challenged our evangelistic ministry in this city: he lovingly told us 18 problems he saw we had. This caused considerable discussion amongst Sydney’s evangelical community. (more…)
Anglican family
You can’t split a marshmallow. You can melt it—you can even cut it—but marshmallows are too malleable to be split. Something has to be brittle to split. (more…)
All my worldly
It was only a silly TV comedy, but it got me thinking—thinking about weddings and divorce, prenuptial agreements and the nature of marriage. (more…)
Dying alone
Couldn't Help Noticing
A recent news item was profoundly sad and troubling. A man who had died in his bed possibly as long as a year ago, has only just been discovered. (more…)
The four judgements of God
Thought
Did S11 make a difference?
It was the end of my first year at University. Having risen early to study, I turned on the radio and heard the news. I remember wondering whether to wake my parents and tell them, but it was such shocking news I decided that they had to know. So I went in and told them of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
This present age: Our struggle not to covet
Life
Last month, Carmelina Read asked whether Christians were in any way distinct from the great Australian materialistic dream. In this article, Phillip Jensen challenges us to think this through in some particular areas of life: gambling, schooling and paying our clergy.