Down-under round-up: 20 May 2015

A more concentrated list this week, since I’ve been extra busy…

Issue of the week

The issue last week was the book banning placed upon NSW SRE (Special Religious Education) in schools. The good news is that the ban has been overturned. This has been an early skirmish in a potentially long battle, as enemies of religion in general and Christianity in particular try to get it removed from public schools and the public sphere more generally.

Making disciples of Jesus

In a super-useful article, City Bible Forum’s Robert Martin uses standard newspaper usage of the word to show why atheists are wrong to insist ‘faith’ means ‘belief without evidence’ in Faith in Fairfax. Gotta love a solid evidence base!

Matthias Media author Dave McDonald reminds us of why Ecclesiastes 7:2 is true in his reflection Cancer, death, funerals, hope.

In Is the Original Text of the New Testament Lost? Michael Kruger outlines recent research indicating literary manuscripts in the ancient world often lasted much longer than previously realized. He suggests it’s plausible that some of our earliest existing New Testament manuscripts were copied from an original or a direct copy of those originals (rather than copies of copies of copies of copies).

Relevant to the various ‘culture war’ debates, Carl Trueman writes In Praise of the Dying Art of Civil Disagreement.

Ross Douthat asked Do Churches Fail the Poor? His answer? No, and yes.

A ‘no’ quote:

The belief that organized religion is organized around culture war is largely a conceit of the irreligious.

In other words, Christian churches spend much more money and effort on things like helping the poor than on opposing same-sex marriage or abortion.

But thinking of the church I serve, I was challenged by his ‘yes’:

There is a case that churches are failing poorer Americans. But the problem isn’t how they spend money or play politics. It’s a more basic failure to reach out, integrate, and keep them in the pews.

Ouch! Something for prayer, thought and action.

Image of the week

The process of history is not haphazard.
There is a purpose in it all.
And the purpose is the purpose of God.
—Leon Morris (via Challies)

I’d love to know what articles or sources people are finding most helpful. Let me know via Facebook or a tweet to @SandmanGrant!

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