My contention is that evangelicals have a hard time being heard when discussing homosexuality in our contemporary culture due to constant appeals to authority. As I have written previously, a good portion of Western culture no longer tolerates arguments from authority, and in fact sees that approach to issues as oppressive. If our culture is to hear what we want to say rather than the baggage that inevitably surrounds these conversations, we evangelicals need to re-frame our side of the conversation with culturally relevant biblical concepts such as “liberty” and “oppression”.

What would that look like? I’m not 100% sure. In fact, what I’ve written here is only where I am at the moment, and I’m a little reluctant to post it because I still need to work through so much. We Christians are so used to appealing to authority when it comes to homosexuality that even as skilled a communicator as Tim Keller has said he is still trying to figure out how to effectively present the biblical teaching on homosexuality so as to be properly understood - or at least that’s my understanding of his comments (which is quite different from the negative interpretation given at the blog linked to). But I do think there are some essential ingredients we can begin with.

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Here we are, nary a week from another Australian federal election. I’m fascinated, but frustrated because I cannot vote.

That’s right. I am a New Zealand citizen, and in the common inequality experienced by Kiwi’s in Australia, Australians in New Zealand can vote, but we cannot. So, this post is my brief reflection on an election I cannot participate in, but will be effected by.

First, if I could vote, I would probably vote for Continue Reading »

Denny Burk wrote a second post about the recent decision by a US Federal Judge to strike down a ban on gay marriage in California. In it he makes the following comment:

Another disappointing aspect of this decision is that the judge sided with plaintiffs who brought in witnesses to show how evangelical Christianity in particular leads to abuse of gay people (read about it here). Throughout the trial, the plaintiff’s subtext has been that Christianity promotes bigotry. This idea is gaining traction not just in this court, but in the culture at large. Christians who prize the Bible’s teaching on marriage will likely find themselves in very uncomfortable territory in the not too distant future.

I’d say the majority of Christians would agree with Denny here, but I’m not sure they’d fully appreciate how evangelical Christianity has got itself in this corner. Most, I think, would just say put it down to “persecution we all knew was coming”, but I’m not convinced that Christian voices at all levels don’t actually share some responsibility for their present position by the very way they speak out against homosexuality.

How so?

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Noel Pearson’s column in the Weekend Australian this week called Conservatism, too, is relevant to our culture. In it he argues that the politically conservative have values that are essential to Australian Aboriginal flourishing.

Reading through it, he echoes much of what I believe the church should look like: diversity within unity, appreciation of tradition, cultural change vs. cultural loss.

Recommended.

Voting is not an exact science. The reasons behind the average Australian’s choice of candidate range from the profound to the ridiculous. Take, for instance, one person I knew who voted for a candidate because they met them on the plane once. So, I doubt my gripe here would make any difference even if it were expressed on national TV instead of an obscure blog that less than 50 people know about.

But I’m going to gripe anyway.

What is it with women who indicate they’ll vote for Julia Gillard because she’s a woman? What on earth does that have to do with policy or what is good for Australia? Please! If she has the best policies, then vote for her. If she doesn’t, then don’t.

I’m sorry. This democracy thing has soooo many flaws it’s scary.

Last year I submitted a question to John Piper’s “Ask Pastor John” (basically a question and answer system where people submit questions and John Piper answers them. Really very good). The question was this:

How does “I follow Paul, I follow Apollos” [in 1 Cor 3] differ from “I’m a Baptist, I’m a Presbyterian,” when Paul seems to say that Christians—and, by extension, churches—should identify only with Christ?

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Vinoth Ramachandra has a post called, “Who says “No” to “Mission Trips“? Vinoth lives in Sri Lanka and gives his perspective on those who take a couple of weeks to visit another country as part of a “mission” purpose.

Interesting read. Go on. Read it. I dare you.

While many may disagree with me on this, I have never seen plagiarism in the pulpit as a deal breaker. I would never advocate running a pastor out of town for preaching another person’s sermons. I do object to preachers passing off other people’s sermons as their own, either implicitly or explicitly, but for a pastor to regularly and openly use another person’s material has always been, to my mind, “okay”, even if not the best.

And now I’m of the opinion that it might be a good idea. Continue Reading »

I just preached the Sunday evening just gone, and it was…fairly average. Yes, yes, the preacher is not always the best judge, but I tend to be able to tell whether I’ve represented Jesus in a way that resonates. This time I missed the mark.

The frustrating thing is that I actually thought I was getting somewhere with this preaching gig. Where do these flops come from?

Well, first off, Continue Reading »

Guess I’d better comment on a new link.

Matthew and Louise Starr are aquaintances - friends of friends. They are spending a year in Brazil on an evangelistic mission. Was directed to this site by the friends whose friends they are. Thought it would be interesting to add to the “link list” and keep tabs on them.

Oh, also added a link to Aesop’s fables - just for interest’s sake.

by Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M.Cap. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995.

When I first heard of Weinandy’s book, I was both excited and frustrated. Excited, because it spoke of the Spirit being integrally involved in the begetting of the Son; frustrated, because the very person I first heard about this book from had rejected a similar thesis I had put to them (the similarities of which were confirmed via a short email exchange)!

Ruffled feathers aside, I began to try to get myself a copy. The first problem: it is out of print. Second problem: the only (three) second-hand copies I could find would cost me over AU$250.00 if I bought the one in America, or over AU$400.00 if I bought one of the two in Britain! Finally I decided on a course of action with a fair amount of cheek – I contacted Father Weinandy himself. Fortunately for me, he thought $400 was too much for 160 pages and managed to get a copy to me for much, much less. Thank you Father Tom.

His book is far better than my thesis, and far better than any of the attempts to explain Weinandy’s views found on the internet - and that will include the present one. Continue Reading »

The evil of abortion has been so close for so long that it is easy to downplay our responsibilities regarding it. That seems to be what some (not all) Christians concerned for other social justice issues are willing to do. But a clear-sighted view of our responsibility as Christians in light of the abortion industry reveals that when the Church puts emphasis on abortion as a major responsibility - even before others - she is completely right. Continue Reading »

It’s been a fairly common complaint that Christians are so against abortion that they are blind to other ethical issues.The most recent person I have noticed saying this is Paul Windsor:

Since when was abortion a bigger ethical issue than the deaths of children caused by global poverty due to an improper distribution of the world’s wealth? There are babies on both sides of the birth event - in the USA and abroad - that need to be protected with equal zeal.

While I don’t want to provide an excuse for ignoring social evils other than abortion, I’ve never been able to shake the idea that abortion is a greater evil than other issues and always has been.

Here are three reasons I come to that conclusion: Continue Reading »

I’ve made a few additions and one subtraction to the list of links in the sidebar. Please note that my linking to a blog or a website does not indicate I agree with all or even most or even any of the things written there! This blog being mainly for my own benefit (it would be for Paula’s too if she ever got on here ) I’m mainly providing a quick way for me to get to certain webpages…basically because I haven’t figured out RSS feeds :).

So here are the additions:

1) Tim Chester. Not really new. I had him there but inadvertantly hid him from public view…which meant he was hidden to my view too. Fixed that problem.

2) Vinoth Ramachandra. Known about this guy since University when he spoke at a TSCF camp. Have read a couple of his books and have been interested in his ideas ever since. A Sri Lankan theologian with a wider worldview than most Westerners.

3) Thomas Jay Oord. An Open Theist, this guy majors on the theology and philosophy of love. I disagree with much of what he says, but he is worth an ear because he’s a great example of engaging with a broad spectrum of disciplines and bringing Christian ideas to bear on them.

4) Kiwi-made preaching. A place where preaching is being contextualised to New Zealand culture.

5) The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. Just find it fascinating. Not a Christian site (though with some Christians involved), these people recognise love as so important that they’ve set up an institute to research it and apply it in different areas of study and life. Speaks openly about love and religion and science.

It seems that the extended silence on Doug’s blog Bounded Irrationality was not the silence before a storm of posts unleashed on the blogosphere, but instead was the silence of a man who doesn’t have time to waste on a blog anymore.

Yes, Bounded Irrationality is no more.

Doug is perhaps the only person close to traditional Lutheran I know and I enjoyed his insights. I hope he still pops his head in here from time to time, but without a blog of his own his foray’s into the world of blogging - even as just a reader - may die out as well. We’ll see.

says Father Des Reid in answer to the question: What would you say if you could give advice to your young self just as you begin seminary. (As recorded on Andrew Denton’s “Elders” series).

Can anyone give biblical reasons why the following steps should not be taken by non-indigenous Australians? Because the whole article these steps are taken from has excellent reasons why they should. Continue Reading »

At The Gospel-Driven Church Jared Wilson has on his sidebar the common “About Me” section, which says this:

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