Category Archives: Family & Society

The ethics of evangelism

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I found the following helpful outline of the ethics of evangelism in an unexpected source.

(1) We are Christians, called by God to honor Jesus Christ with our lives, abiding by biblically defined ethical standards in every area of life, public and private. This includes our efforts to persuade coworkers and others to believe the good news about Jesus Christ.

(2) Wherever we live and work, we seek to follow the mandate, motives, message, and model of Jesus, who still pursues and reclaims those lost in sin and rebelling against Him.…

1 Tim 6:3-10, 17-19 – Living simply – sermon notes

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Could we be contented with less in order to give away more?

We probably have items – cutlery, crockery, baby equipment, clothing, furniture, toys – that are in good condition but we don’t use or need them. We know that The Besom is able to pass them on to vulnerable people who really do need them.

We could easily identify one area in our everyday lives in which we could practice conservation (water, paper), sharing (books, tools, transport) or recycling (plastic, aluminium).…

Restorative justice

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I’ve been scratching my head about what it means to forgive and to be forgiven.  We hear of people who, after having been terribly wronged, say, “I forgive that person.”  We hear of others who say, “I can never forgive that person.”  And what of the other person, the person who is considered to be ‘in the wrong’?  Do they need to ‘accept’ the forgiveness in order for it to work?  What of the person who refuses to believe that they are in the wrong? …

Children need fathers

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A recent change in UK law means that women in same-sex relationships can now register both their names on the birth certificate of a child conceived as a result of fertility treatment.

Instead of the usual allocation of one mother and one father, one would suppose that the child would therefore have two mothers in the sight of the law.  However, this will not be the case: a birth certificate will be used which, instead of having a ‘mother’ and a ‘father’ section, with have two ‘parent’ sections.…

Is the Old Testament ethical?

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Is the Old Testament Ethical?

Here is an interview with Dr Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House.  With the criticisms of Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion, ch. 7) particularly in mind, Williams gives a cogent series of responses to some of the more difficult and pressing worries that we (whether we are believers or not) may have about the morality of some of the things we find in the Old Testament.

Of course, Williams cannot offer, in the limited time afforded by an interview, a comprehensive set of answers. …

CMS rethinks Greenbelt seminars

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This year’s Greenbelt festival is causing concern in some quarters because of the plans to welcome as a speaker the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson. Greenbelt will also give a platform to other gay rights campaigners such as the Rev Giles Fraser and worship groups OuterSpace and Journey.

By way of response, the Church Mission Society is considering holding seminars in which the orthodox view of human sexuality will be promoted.

One thing that intrigued me about all of this was a comment by the Rev Sharon Ferguson, spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.…

The friendship of Jesus

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The Puritan writer John Flavel says, ‘there are certain things in which one friend manifests his affection and friendship to another, but there is not one like Christ. For,

1. No friend is so open-hearted to his friend as Christ is to his people: he reveals the very counsels and secrets of his heart to them. Jn 15:15. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.…

Watching the English do Religion

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Kate Fox, in her book Watching the English (Hodder, 2004, pp 353-357), offers a fascinating account of the ‘rules’ underlying English behaviour.  The book is full of witty and insightful observations.  After all, Fox writes as a trained anthropologist (which she defines as a being a professional ‘nosey parker’).  She talks engagingly about how we English converse about the weather, the way we approach humour, the rules that govern our behaviour regarding driving, work, dress, sex, and so on.…

Sir Edward Downes and assisted suicide

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Distinguished conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife Joan died last Friday at the Swiss right-to-die centre, Dignitas.  She was suffering from terminal cancer.  He was not dying, but was losing his sight and hearing.

I have admired Sir Edward’s work from a distance, acquainted only with a number of his recordings.  He had a special interest in Russian music, and I have particularly relished his championship of the cheerfully and unprogressively tuneful Rheinhold Gliere.

I don’t have anything particularly profound to say about this latest instance of assisted suicide, but I do think it’s both sad and alarming.…

The Gospel – its content and communication

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J.I. Packer explores this topic with cross-cultural evangelism in mind.  Here’s a summary.

1. Three preliminary thoughts

(a) The communication of the gospel must be determined by its content

The content includes a diagnosis of the human condition, value-judgments on the life that is, and the life that might be, lived, and a call to respond in radical commitment.  Now this content must be verbalised, and it must be preached (i.e. explained and applied).  Such media as instrumental music, pictures, sculpture, or dance may reinforce the message, but only preaching can communicate it. …