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.

For the Australian among you, Destiny will likely bring to mind the ministry Destiny Rescue. That’s not what this post is about.

In NZ there is a church called Destiny Church which has some really extreme Pentecostal characteristics. Recently a journalist called Garth George called Destiny Church out as a cult after revealing that 700 men from the Church had made a lifelong covenant with the Pastor, Brian Tamaki, including agreements to stand when Tamaki enters the room, to be quiet when Tamaki begins to talk, to not listen to criticism of Tamaki and so on.

In amongst the discussion, Michael Duncan has an interesting perspective in his ePistel called, The “class” of Destiny.

Have a read for an interesting perspective.

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

Stem cell research doesn’t seem to get as much press here as it does in the States, so it’s important to be informed…even if the information comes from the States! Have a quick look at this article which covers 9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story and learn a bit about stem cell research as a subject.

HT: JT

This is the kind of thing I’ve been talking about developing with people in our Church. Continue Reading »

Barnabas Fund has reproduced a column written by `Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar for a Palestinian daily paper.  In his column, this Muslim speaks out against the persecution of Christians. Here’s an excerpt: Continue Reading »

Look, I believe in evil spirits.  Continue Reading »

Do NOT read this article from the NZ Herald if you are of a sensitive nature.  It tells of the treatment of a three year old girl that led to her death at the hands of two “men”.  I put the word men in quotes because their actions show them to be very low on the spectrum of human existence. Continue Reading »

My penetrating political analysis in the last post forgot one very important piece of information.  I call it “The John Factor”.  Very simply, it goes like this: Continue Reading »

Well, will you look at that. Continue Reading »

Well, President-elect.

My immediate reaction is one of sadness.

Don’t get me wrong… Continue Reading »