Down-under round-up: 19 August 2015

Issue of the week

Remarkably, on Monday the ABC (Australia’s national broadcaster) managed to:

1. Acknowledge media bias in reporting of the marriage redefinition debate in its Media Watch show
2. Give a voice to not one but two advocates on its Q&A debate program for a more traditional position on marriage and freedoms of speech and religion.

Unusual. Perhaps about time! But credit where credit is due.

Making disciples of Jesus

I preached on 1 Peter 3:1-7 last Sunday. Next day I found this from Erik Raymond—a good follow up to 1 Peter 3:7’s word to husbands: ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say to your wife then…’

Here is an article from Derek Thomas that really resonated with me in March, and is still worth your time: ‘6 advantages of consecutive expository preaching’. Read the lot, but here’s the summary:

1. Expository preaching introduces the congregation to the entire Bible.
2. Expository preaching ensures that infrequently traveled areas of the Bible are covered.
3. Expository preaching prevents preachers from unwittingly shaping the way their hearers read their Bibles.
4. Expository preaching is the only preaching method that exposes a congregation to the full range of Scripture’s interests and concerns.
5. Expository preaching provides variety to sustain a congregation’s interest from week to week.
6. Expository preaching, better than any method I know, aids preachers in thinking and preparing ahead.

‘“Shut up, bigot!”: The intolerance of tolerance’ was the arresting article title from The Public Discourse, capturing the inherent contradiction in modern ‘tolerance’.

Friends, underlying contemporary debates (e.g. on marriage or abortion or religious education in schools), we must keep noting the difference between the old and new tolerance: tolerance of persons vs. tolerance of ideas.

It used to be “Tolerate the person, but not their wrong ideas”. Now it’s “Tolerate the various ideas, and if you don’t you must be rejecting the person. And that’s not allowed!” (Except for ones you judge really bad and beyond the pale…)

Image of the week

I’m a bit late to seeing this one, but another great cartoon from Adam4d: Who is the ‘crazy Christian’?