The debate over whether to legally recognise gay relationships with a marriage continues in todays Sydney Morning Herald. Read the article here http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/gay-unions-accepted-but-not-symbolism/2008/05/07/1210131061925.html
There are a number of interesting points
1. He continues this stream of thought that there should be a wall between church and state and that the two should never cross paths but remain like train tracks. He needs to read Andrew Cameron's lecture on this topic. Read it here http://www.newcollege.unsw.edu.au/fileadmin/user_upload/pdfs/NCLs05Cameron1.pdf
2. He struggles to see that marriage is a institution that is for all people but was given to us from God for the proper expression of a man and woman's relationship. This objective reality of marriage continues to hamper those who want to make it something it isn't. They have not grasped the purpose of marriage. Those who want to change it want it to be something that it is not - how could a chair be used as a microphone? A chair's purpose is for sitting! The purpose of marriage is for a man and a woman.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
On the issue of relationships
There is an interesting article in today's herald about families being strangers to there teenagers by not seeing them for a year while they are at boarding school. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/families-becoming-strangers/2008/05/05/1209839554193.html
A quote from the article
'The problem was not PLC's alone but shared among schools throughout Sydney and around the world, he said. "To earn enough money to make it, we haven't stopped to think what we are losing to do that," he writes. "If we are losing family values and community welfare, something needs to be done about that.'
It is a great thought, what are we prepared to lose to make it in the world? We are sacrificing relationships in order to be successful in the eyes of the world! It begs the question of who we are trying to please in the world? It also reminds me of a verse - What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? (Mk 8:36) Relationships are not the only thing that are being left by the roadside, it seems the soul has been trodden on and run over by the Range Rover!
A quote from the article
'The problem was not PLC's alone but shared among schools throughout Sydney and around the world, he said. "To earn enough money to make it, we haven't stopped to think what we are losing to do that," he writes. "If we are losing family values and community welfare, something needs to be done about that.'
It is a great thought, what are we prepared to lose to make it in the world? We are sacrificing relationships in order to be successful in the eyes of the world! It begs the question of who we are trying to please in the world? It also reminds me of a verse - What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? (Mk 8:36) Relationships are not the only thing that are being left by the roadside, it seems the soul has been trodden on and run over by the Range Rover!
The Environmental Divorce Rate
Having dinner with some friends on the weekend and we were talking about global warming and climate change and he commented, 'if we spent as much time trying to fix the climate as we did trying to repair relationships, in particular the divorce rate, that would be a better world to live in.' True, true...
Reading Revelation Right
Last Tuesday night at Bible Study we read through the whole book of Revelation in one sitting. It was a really valuable exercise (well at least I thought so!). I'm assuming when the recipients of the letter received it they didn't sit down over 9 weeks to read it but read it out in one hit. It helps to give the big picture of the book even if you don't understand everything John is writing about. It is an exciting book that is aimed at giving great hope to anyone by unveiling, revealing to the reader a marvellous vision of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1 'The revelation of Jesus Christ'). It is ONE revelation it is not the book of revelations (it bugs me when people ask about the book of revelations!). Why not take an hour to sit and read it? I promise you it will be a worthwhile time spent......
Sunday, May 4, 2008
I've lost something
And so ends an enormously frustrating day! Lots of people talking to me but alas I was unable to talk back, my voice resembling the Godfather gone wrong i.e. LOST, gone, vanished, nowhere to be found. It did show me just how valuable a resource my voice is in ministry and how important it is to take care of it. Not that I think I was abusing my voice by attempting to imitate a Jimmy Barnes or Chris Cornell scream or anything like that. It did also make me appreciate my voice in general and how much I take it for granted, I can only imagine what it would be like to not be able to speak for a lifetime and the constant frustration that must be - I mean I couldn't even go and order take away after church tonight!!
It also makes me appreciate that God is someone who does communicate to us through his Scriptures. He is not dumb, he SPEAKS! But not only does he speak but does so with clarity. After all he invented language and what God would he be if he was unable to communicate to us using the language he invented?
It also makes me appreciate that God is someone who does communicate to us through his Scriptures. He is not dumb, he SPEAKS! But not only does he speak but does so with clarity. After all he invented language and what God would he be if he was unable to communicate to us using the language he invented?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)