Down-under round-up: 29 July 2015

Issue of the week

The Planned Parenthood commodification of body parts from aborted infants continued to grab attention. Doug Wilson’s brief defence of righteous video sting operations caught my attention. In part it was because I noticed the midwives’ deception in Exodus 1 the prior Sunday at church. But with his customary vigour, Wilson pushes us beyond simplistic biblical analysis or business-as-usual responses.

Unsurprisingly, this scandal has hardly been reported in the mainstream Australian media, but conservative Catholic columnist, Miranda Devine was one exception, naming it as evil.

Making disciples of Jesus

Josh Bovis took aim at the half-truth of the invitation to “come as you are” to Christ’s welcome. He says the full truth is “Come as you are and go as the Lord Jesus says”.

I think this is a very helpful explanation, of why there must be more to the story, for well-meaning Christians who want to be personally non-condemnatory and welcoming to their unsaved Christian friends. No, we are not called to judge to world. But it is misleading to let people think they can come to Christ on their own terms and be unchanged. Repentance isn’t optional.

By no means original, but I find we need these reminders often: '5 ways to win an argument (by not arguing!)' from ScribblePreach.

The quick summary…

1. Clarify their terms: “What do you mean by _______?”
2. Clarify their main point: “So in essence, what you’re saying is _______?”
3. Clarify the supporting points: “Why do you think that way?” or “What’s your main evidence for saying that?”
4. Clarify their sources: “How do you know that?” or “What are your sources?”
5. Once you understand all that, you don’t need to respond.

For more on this, check out an early article I wrote on Q&A evangelism, or Greg Koukl’s book Tactics from which I learned much. (Though one of my Facebook friends says it all goes back to Socrates and the examined life! Personally I just keep noticing Jesus was good at asking questions of different kinds.)

Image of the week

More and more people love Adam4d’s cartoons. This one—The first great and primary business—came to me as a rebuke as the last bit of social media I read one recent morning before turning off my phone!