Courtesy: Tim Challies, challies.com
Mightn’t it be true that sometimes God lowers our standard of living to raise the standard of our giving!?
This meme is one where I feel very ambivalent (see original at end of this post). I normally like Tim Challies‘ illustrated quotes. And I understand Alcorn is a solid evangelical. And I know nothing of the context of this thought Challies has featured from Alcorn’s works. [* see below for update.] No doubt he says much that’s good. (more…)
Sort of related to my ‘ignore-the-outrage’ post, a good number of my dear Christian Facebook friends keep sharing a very 1950s picture of a nativity scene… (more…)
Sometimes the best strategy is to say nothing. Ignore the offence. At least be careful how you share your digital outrage! (more…)
Lun ellin Jehovah an pornum an Narrinyeri: pempir ile ityan kinauwe Brauwarate, ungunuk korn wurruwarrin ityan, nowaiy el itye moru hellangk, tumbewarrin itye kaldwamp.
You have just read the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3:16. It’s most likely the sentence translated into more languages than any other sentence ever written. (more…)
In the last 24 hours, I’ve received notification via several church members regarding an “URGENT PRAYER REQUEST” to do with systematic beheading of children in Iraq. (more…)
I always love Joy Horn’s annual round up of Christian anniversaries for the coming year. Great ideas for introducing a bit of church history into bulletin articles, blog posts, and occasionally even sermons. (more…)
All sorts of people have claimed to see visions of God, of Christ, of Mary or of the saints over the centuries. And, from time to time, the Roman Catholic church has endorsed such visions and used them to encourage people in their allegiance to the Roman church. But Martin Luther, the great Reformer and opponent of Roman Catholic teaching, also saw visions— sometimes in considerable detail. Here he describes one such appearing:
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In the fascinating rise and rise of Barack Obama, we see a resurgence of what the Americans call ‘liberalism’ and what we Australians don’t really have a decent name for, apart from the vague designation ‘leftist’. It’s a moral and political philosophy that takes an optimistic view of mankind and the human heart, and believes that if we all start afresh, work together, and change the way we do things, then together we can build a better America, a better Australia, a better world. Yes, we can. (more…)
Gene Robinson is apparently upset that he has not been invited to attend the Bishops’ conference at Lambeth this year.1 The theological differences between Bishop Robinson and evangelical Anglicans over homosexuality are well-known and well-traversed. But what I find interesting is what this report reveals about the different way he views Anglican polity. He refers to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as his “chief pastor and shepherd”. I seriously doubt you’d ever hear Peter Jensen or any evangelical bishops from around the world referring to Rowan Williams as their “chief pastor and shepherd”. For a start, that’s not how they would understand the official relationship between their church and Canterbury. But secondly and more importantly, I think they’d probably think that there is someone better qualified to be their chief pastor and shepherd—someone who sits on a heavenly throne, not a throne in Canterbury. Where might they get suchan idea? Well, one place would be The Book of Common Prayer service for the consecration of a Bishop where Jesus is referred to as the “chief Shepherd”. They’d also get it from the Bible (e.g. Ezek 34:15, John 10:11). (more…)
In August 2007, Victorian Premier John Brumby initiated a legislative process which will almost certainly result in the decriminalization of abortion in Victoria, Australia.1 This process allowed community groups and churches to write to the state’s Law Reform Commission, expressing their views and wishes concerning the issue. (more…)
How times have changed. When I first went on beach mission *umphh-murmur-cough* years ago, we lived in tents, built a beach pulpit, put up with an appalling ‘amenities block’, got washed away when the inevitable rain came, and spent at least some part of every day whooping and hollering through the caravan park dressed in weird costumes to ‘scoop’ in the kids. That was then. After a very lengthy break, Ali and I have recently gone back to beach mission—this time with a family in tow. Now I am that old guy who used to hang around the place, and try a little too hard in the competitive games: the Camp Dad. And that’s not all that’s changed: the mission we are part of now runs in mid-January rather than straight after Christmas, it is located in a school rather than a caravan park (there’s covered concrete walkways and carpet on the floor!), and it is aimed at the locals rather than the holiday-makers. However, even though some of the surface details have changed, in all other respects everything that was wonderful about beach mission in the old days still applies—even for the Camp Dad. There’s the fun, challenge and joy of mucking in together and working hard with 40 or so other keen Christians for a week; the priceless opportunities for training younger Christians to have a go at things they never would have dreamed of doing at home; and the scary but vastly encouraging experience of telling kids and adults about Jesus. And here’s the kicker: you get to do all this alongside your own kids. It’s tiring (of course!), and Camp Dads don’t sleep as easily on camp mattresses as they once did. But let me testify to the fact that it’s one of the best Christian things we’ve done as a family in years. If you’re keen to give it a go, it’s not hard to sign up. Just let it be known quietly that you’re thinking of going back to beach mission. Word will quickly reach the ears of a Team Member near you. You will be pounced upon! (more…)
With the help of The Reformed Pastor (written by Richard Baxter) and the Bible (written by God), and in no particular order, I have thought of nine good reasons why Christian leaders and preachers should work hard at one-to-one ministry.
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They say that the psalms are the hymnbook of Israel. I don’t know if this is true, but if it is I sometimes wonder what the atmosphere in ‘church’ was like back then. (more…)
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…)
As a linguistic pedant, I’ve grown to love the precision of Kel Richards and his WordWatch column. As a Bible-believing evangelical, I can see the merit in calling myself a ‘fundamentalist’ in the more literal sense of the word. So imagine my horror when Kel Richards took such a term to task some time ago (Briefing #301, 2003). But he was right that “words don’t stand still… in the ever-flowing river that is the English language”. Hence I have reluctantly relinquished the label—at least for now. (more…)