Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:23

Notice what Jesus actually says here: “whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea’…” In other words, Jesus is actually telling us we can talk to inanimate objects and tell them what to do!

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Before we begin, let me say I am not writing this as a warning to those who share my views on marriage. We live in a democratic society where people are expected to present their case publically with the view to sway public opinion. That is the way a democracy works. Proponents of same-sex marriage have as much a right to do this as Christians have to present their own views.

What I am doing in this post is taking the home page of the Australian Marriage Equality website and the recent article about a poll on Australian attitudes to same-sex marriage to point out how they are going about it. (And it really is quite clever). Continue Reading »

A recent news report says that 60% of Australians support same-sex marriage. This figure was taken from a poll conducted by Galaxy Research for Australian Marriage Equality (details of the poll are found here).

The results suprise me. I confess I wonder if the poll was taken by another group whether the results would be the same. Looking at the questions themselves, there are a couple of minor quibbles I have that I think bias the respondents toward affirming of same-sex marriage. Continue Reading »

A handful of powerful corporations such as Cargill, Ciba Geigy, Dow, Monsanto and Zeneca dominate agricultural research today, and they also control the global seed and agricultural chemical markets…Many of the seeds developed or modified by American corporations were collected in the southern hemisphere, but no royalties are ever paid to local farmers in that hemisphere nor claimed by their governments. But when those farmers use germplasm over which American seed companies have patents, or even seek to reuse the seeds in new plantings, they are immediately accused by the U.S. government of piracy and of violating intellectual property rights.

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Jeremy over at From Eden to Zion has a very worthwhile post for parents called, Controlling Chaos vs. Obedience Training for Young Children.

Do I need to say any more? The title gives you the gist of it.

Give it a read.

Ben Myers has a brilliant post on the recent outcry against a very black skit on the show “Chasers War on Everything”.

In a typically insightful peice on hero worship and holy emulation, John Piper encourages people to reject hero worship but to instead emulate godly examples for the sake of Christ. (HT: JT) He takes that straight from the Bible: Continue Reading »

I’m very grateful for my wife and daughter and child on the way.

Families truly are a wonderful invention.

Russell Moore has written a series of short posts looking at a hypothetical situation where a transgendered person accepts the gospel and how the gospel then ministers to their sexuality.

I confess, I have wondered about this question on and off for a good number of years now, and I think Russell Moore’s response is a good one. Of course, there are people for whom this is not hypothetical which makes it all the more important.

Have a read: Continue Reading »

This war will not be won by bullets. It will be won by brokenness and humility and sacrifice. It will be won when we identify with the children in our suffering rather than with the abortionist in his killing.

John Piper in his sermon Fasting for the Safety of the Little Ones.

I’ve really grown in appreciation for Doug Wilson over the last few months. It all began Continue Reading »

“At every stage, Timothy’s career violates everything we think we know about the history of Christianity…” To see whole quote Continue Reading »

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Corinthians 7:1-5

My motivation for writing this piece actually comes from a recent “Taste and See Article” written by John Piper called, Sexual Intimacy and the Rights Over a Spouse’s Body in Marriage, in which Piper offers excellent pastoral advice that he mistakenly reads right into the text.

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Now if you will stop here and ask yourself why you are not as pious as the primitive Christians were, your own heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but purely because you never thoroughly intended it.

William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout & Holy Life.

I really struggle with small group Bible studies (an essential part of our Church’s weekly Home Groups), which is ironic since I was until recently “Home Group leader to the Home Group leaders” in our church. Continue Reading »

I rarely read Pyromaniacs, but stumbled across this post by Dan Phillips. Worth reading.

HT: Challies.

Sam Storms has had this book out since 2005 and, being a Charismatic Calvinist, I succumbed to a moment of weakness and bought it. Continue Reading »

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

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