Recently, I wrote about the Easter Message of the Dean of St George’s Anglican Cathedral in Perth, in which he strongly asserted that the resurrection of Christ need not be understood as physical. I reported that I’d asked the Archbishop of Perth whether this was an acceptable view for a senior Anglican clergyman.
Preaching hell to depressed teens
I’ve been thinking about hell quite a bit recently—not because I enjoy it, or because I’m obsessed with morbid subjects, and not even because I’ve been reading Peter Bolt’s excellent new book Living with the Underworld (which, perhaps surprisingly, given the title, looks away from hell rather than towards it).
An interview with Lionel Windsor
How did you come to Christ?
Various ‘Scripture’ teachers taught me over the years in my local public school. In Year 6, a wonderful lady named Mrs Round explained to me the great truth that Jesus’ death on the cross means that I can have complete forgiveness and an assurance of a relationship with God forever. At that point, I put my life in the hands of Jesus.
Coming to worship?
Not so long ago, I preached on Psalm 95, which raises the topic of worship in verse 6. (Download the MP3.) In passing, I made the standard (well, ‘standard’ in our circles) point that the word ‘worship’ is never really applied to church gatherings in the New Testament; it’s much broader.
Smell the coffee
A recent edition of Southern Cross (our diocesan newspaper here in Sydney) featured an extended and very positive series of articles on the Fairtrade movement. Fairtrade is a ‘think global, act local’ sort of initiative which involves consumers in the West attempting to improve the lot of poor and exploited farmers in the third world by buying ‘Fairtrade’ products. By buying certified ‘Fairtrade’ coffee, for example, you ensure that a higher income flows to the cooperatives that produce it (usually 10% or so above the market price). There were stories about Christians who have become involved in the Fairtrade movement, and strong encouragement for churches to get involved—not only as a means of adding valuable momentum to the whole movement, but as a culturally attractive way of building links with our community and sharing the gospel.
Wreck-conciliation or reconciliation?
Reconciliation is a hot topic. It always has been and it always will be. In the first century AD, Paul wrote about reconciling Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:11-22). In the 20th-century, the nation of South Africa created the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ to deal with the atrocities of apartheid. The Australian Government is only now ‘reconciling’ with the indigenous population.
An interview with Tony Payne
Physical resurrection
At Easter, like many Christian pastors, I had the privilege of preaching the resurrection. I stated that Christianity was pointless without the true, historical, physical, bodily resurrection of Christ (download the mp3 of the sermon). Basing these comments on 1 Corinthians 15, I pointed out that Paul took great care to outline the early conviction that Christ had died, was buried, rose again and appeared to many witnesses—many of whom were still then alive for cross-examination 20-25 years later.
Can Western Christians even think ethically any more?
To escape from drowning, you have to swim in what you are swallowing. Churches in the West are drowning in Western values, drinking deeply without being able to swim in the muck they are drinking, let alone being able to escape.
Comment moderation and other housekeeping
Sharp-eyed Sola Panel readers will have noticed that the evil spam monster has, just once or twice, crept through our defences and left us inadvertently advertising the latest—well, less sharp eyed readers don’t need to know. We’ve also had a rash of posts (from just a couple of people) that we had to delete, according to our ‘be godly’ and ‘stay on topic’ guidelines.
Why we must be seeker sensitive
The phrase ‘seeker sensitive’ has dropped out of fashion recently. For those who haven’t heard the phrase, the idea of a ‘seeker sensitive service’ is a church gathering that focusses on the desires and needs of ‘spiritual seekers’—non-Christians with a thirst for knowing more about God. It aims to do everything possible to make it easy for them to come to church and enjoy the experience so that they come back and learn about God. Yet the Willow Creek Association, for example, once a champion of the ‘seeker sensitive’ model of church, has recently had a major rethink of some of its key values. In their book Reveal: Where Are You? by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, they speak frankly about the failures of an approach that was too heavily oriented towards growth in numbers rather than growth in maturity.
Is it possible for Western individualists to even think ethically any more?
If generalizations are permitted, western individualists, ethically speaking, are ethical egoists. That is, their morality is simply self-serving. They behave to help themselves. That is a version of what the Bible calls ‘sin’.
Underworld resurrected
One of the job hazards associated with working as an editor is that you sometimes have to read things faster than you would like to in order to make a quick and dirty assessment of it. Peter Bolt’s Living with the Underworld (Matthias Media, Sydney, 2007) suffered this treatment recently when, as a matter of conscience, I flicked through it at a great rate of knots to determine whether or not I could recommend it to people who asked about it.
Is it possible for Western liberal journalists to even think ethically any more?
As the new Australian Federal Government, freshly painted in Labor colours, busily abolished a whole range of laws and practices deemed discriminatory to homosexuals, the issue of gay marriage was never on the table. High quality ethical argument may be rare amongst western journalists, but two of the worst responses I heard made me shake my head.