After writing the last post, I picked up my reading of Richard Sibbes, and immediately came across this:
" Truth is truth, and error, error, and that which is unlawful is unlawful, whether men think so or not. God has put an eternal difference between light and darkness, good and ill, which no creature’s conceit can alter; and therefore no man’s judgement is the measure of things further than it agrees to truth stamped upon things themselves by God. ... [Wise men] are usually immovable as the sun in its course, because they think and live and speak by rule." (The Bruised Reed, chapter 12).
Saturday, 29 March 2014
No homosexual marriages have yet taken place
Contrary to what you might read in the media, no homosexual marriages
have taken place today, or will at any point in the future.
This is because, a thing is what God says it is - and not what man, in
his aspirations to dethrone God and re-make the world in his own
corrupted image, wants it to be.
Marriage itself remains what God says marriage is - a binding covenant
union between a man and a woman - and has not changed to become two
people with state-approved bedroom activities for as long as they feel
like it.
The challenge for Christians now is to hold this line. It is not an
unusual situation. Man is always attempting to redefine the meaning of
God's creation. Christians have always been called to honour the Creator
and his creation, instead of man and his de-creations. It will cost
something; perhaps very much. But in the end it will cost nothing; what
gain is it to lose your soul in return for a temporary slice of the
world? And what loss is it to lose a temporary slice of the present age,
and inherit all the fullness of the age to come?
have taken place today, or will at any point in the future.
This is because, a thing is what God says it is - and not what man, in
his aspirations to dethrone God and re-make the world in his own
corrupted image, wants it to be.
Marriage itself remains what God says marriage is - a binding covenant
union between a man and a woman - and has not changed to become two
people with state-approved bedroom activities for as long as they feel
like it.
The challenge for Christians now is to hold this line. It is not an
unusual situation. Man is always attempting to redefine the meaning of
God's creation. Christians have always been called to honour the Creator
and his creation, instead of man and his de-creations. It will cost
something; perhaps very much. But in the end it will cost nothing; what
gain is it to lose your soul in return for a temporary slice of the
world? And what loss is it to lose a temporary slice of the present age,
and inherit all the fullness of the age to come?
Friday, 28 March 2014
The Digital Puritan
http://digitalpuritan.net/
Lots of Puritan writings are archived/linked here. I found this site whilst Googling for a copy of the works of Richard Sibbes.
Lots of Puritan writings are archived/linked here. I found this site whilst Googling for a copy of the works of Richard Sibbes.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
The message of 2 Timothy (John Stott) - free ebook
http://www.thinkivp.com/9781783590698 (not available in North America)
I read the paper version about 15 years ago, and it was very good.
I read the paper version about 15 years ago, and it was very good.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Ending support of World Vision
[ 26-March-2014 : World Vision later reversed their decision ]
An email I have sent to World Vision (info@worldvision.org.uk). If you are a World Vision sponsor, then I encourage you to do the same.
An email I have sent to World Vision (info@worldvision.org.uk). If you are a World Vision sponsor, then I encourage you to do the same.
Hi,
In view of these issues...
http://tinyurl.com/o5cx6qj
... I have cancelled my direct debit for child sponsorship to World Vision (ref: X) with immediate effect, after around Y years. I will be re-allocating the funds via a different body that upholds Christian ethics.
I hope that World Vision will re-consider the words of Christ and his apostles, and turn back to him in future. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." - John 14:15. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality" - 1 Corinthians 6:9.
Best wishes,
David Anderson
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
The War on Humans
Having recently read the author's "A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy" (about animal rights and animal welfare - the title is taken from an infamous proclamation by the head of PETA), this looks worth checking out: http://www.waronhumans.com/
Freely you have received...
The copyright statement from the books of Loraine Boettner, an American Presbyterian theologian who was a student of Benjamin Warfield:
"Any one is at liberty use material from this book with or without credit. In preparing this book the writer has received help from many sources, some acknowledged and many unacknowledged. He believes the material herein contained to be a true statement of Scripture truth, and his desire is to further, not to restrict, its use."
Some undeveloped thoughts:
a) How unusual.
b) How Biblical.
c) I wonder why it is so unusual?
d) Each must give an account of himself to God. Our position is not to judge another man's servant (Romans 14). But, the "big picture" in the world of evangelical publishing is disturbing. Did you know that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns half of the evangelical publishing market in the US? ( http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2011/october/harpercollins-buys-thomas-nelson-will-control-50-of.html). What makes it attractive to him, do you think? Obviously, the profits to be made from the sheep.
e) No doubt there are lots of complexities in the "market". But who's actually *trying* to put Matthew 10:8 ("Freely you have received, freely give") into practice, in some way? (I'm not saying "gimme free stuff!" - I'm asking how the principle is playing out, in the big picture. Are evangelical authors widely known for giving away their royalties? For assigning them to the churches on whose time they wrote the books? Or is the answer mostly "we have no idea - this all sounds a bit new and odd to us". Note again: this isn't pointing the finger at one or two people. I'm trying to discern which way the wind is blowing in general and what it means, not whether this or that gust has knocked someone in particular's flower-pot over).
"Any one is at liberty use material from this book with or without credit. In preparing this book the writer has received help from many sources, some acknowledged and many unacknowledged. He believes the material herein contained to be a true statement of Scripture truth, and his desire is to further, not to restrict, its use."
Some undeveloped thoughts:
a) How unusual.
b) How Biblical.
c) I wonder why it is so unusual?
d) Each must give an account of himself to God. Our position is not to judge another man's servant (Romans 14). But, the "big picture" in the world of evangelical publishing is disturbing. Did you know that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns half of the evangelical publishing market in the US? ( http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2011/october/harpercollins-buys-thomas-nelson-will-control-50-of.html). What makes it attractive to him, do you think? Obviously, the profits to be made from the sheep.
e) No doubt there are lots of complexities in the "market". But who's actually *trying* to put Matthew 10:8 ("Freely you have received, freely give") into practice, in some way? (I'm not saying "gimme free stuff!" - I'm asking how the principle is playing out, in the big picture. Are evangelical authors widely known for giving away their royalties? For assigning them to the churches on whose time they wrote the books? Or is the answer mostly "we have no idea - this all sounds a bit new and odd to us". Note again: this isn't pointing the finger at one or two people. I'm trying to discern which way the wind is blowing in general and what it means, not whether this or that gust has knocked someone in particular's flower-pot over).
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