Nicholas Aroney • Credit squeeze • In God's grasp

Nicholas Aroney • Credit squeeze • In God’s grasp

october 2008

OurChristianheritage

OurChristianheritage

AnnualReformation Day

ServiceSunday October 26, 2008

at 3.30pm

Lygon Street Christian ChapelCarlton (Next to the Trades Hall)

speaker:Rev. Ronald Johnstone BA

Moderator: Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster

sermon:“Protestantism – Protector of Freedom”

The Rev. Ronnie Johnstone is the Moderator of the Free PresbyterianChurch of Ulster. He was for over 24 years the Minute Secretary of theFree Presbyterian Church in Ulster. He has preached in Europe, NorthAmerica, South America, Papua New Guinea and Africa. He has alsoparticipated in BBC radio debates upholding the Protestant position.

We are honoured to have him with us for this Reformation Day Service.

enquiries: Victorian Protestant FederationTelephone 9326 9344 Fax: 9326 9180

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

Society’s salt: Nicholas Aroney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Well enough: James Allan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Building Zion: Stuart Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

REFLECTION

Teach the children: J. Ligon Duncan III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

BIBLE STUDY

Dare to be different

20 Bible studies in Matthew 5-7 and Proverbs 20 . . . . . . . . . . .15

NEWS

Across Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

On the Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

FINANCIAL CRISIS

Credit squeeze: Andrew Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

DISABLED

In God’s grasp: Peter Barnes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Vintage Jesus: Mark Driscoll

Children in Church: Lynda Bayne

The Faith Once Delivered: Antony T. Selvaggio (Ed.)

Isaiah: Allan Harman

BACK PAGE

Back to basics: Greg Clarke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

AUSTRAL I AN PR E S BY T ER I AN October 2008 • 3

October 2008

No. 608

The British writer Theodore Dalrymple, in his bookOur Culture: What’s Left of It, points out that theWest is on the brink of cultural disintegration. Heopines that we have far more to lose than we ever

imagined. Driven by a rising barbarism and hostility to anynotion of restriction or responsibility, the postmodern forcesthat are attacking our heritage do not understand thedifference between the monumental achievements of ourforebears and their own more modest efforts.On a visit to Liberia, Dalrymple tells how he experienced

a series of images that typified for him the clash of ignoranceagainst knowledge and the hatred of the higher by the lower.One of these involved a scene in Centennial Hall, whereLiberian presidents took the oath of office. There, in the nowempty hall, were some busts of former presidents overturnedand strewn around the room. Towards the centre of the hallwas a Steinway grand piano, probably the only one in thecountry, with its legs hacked off, lying like a beachedwhale onthe floor. It was surrounded by human excrement. Hecommented: “I saw the revolt against civilisation. I have neverseen a more graphic rejection of human refinement.”Whether we realise it or not, the human order is fragile. It

is far easier to create chaos than to achieve even slenderimprovements. This is particularly so in the area of law. Overthe past 40 years the forces of secularism have taken controlof the process of law reform in Australia. During this periodwe have witnessed a progressive overhaul of some of ourmost precious institutions, such as marriage, and thedecriminalisation of many activities which have onlyweakened our social fabric. Of course, as believers we shouldnever oppose proposalswhichwill lead to genuine reform andsocial improvement. However, this must never be at theexpense of abandoning vital Christian truth.As Australia faces significant constitutional challenges in

the future, it is important to remember that the freedom andjustice that we enjoy in our nation are not the blessings ofmodern secular government; rather, they are the heritage of2000 years of pervasive Christian influence at every level ofsociety. We should do our best to preserve it.

Peter Hastie ap

THE AUSTRALIAN PRESBYTERIAN (ABN 81 498 399 755): The national magazine of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Editorial committee: Peter Hastie (NSW) Themes Editor;Barney Zwartz (Victoria) Production; Stuart Bonnington (West Australia) News Editor; Peter Hastie (NSW), World News Editor. Graphic Design: Sandra Joynt for A&J Moody Design:www.ajmd.com.au. Advertising and subscription inquiries: Michael Timmins, PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137; Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Subscription: $38.50 a year inc. GST; bulk (etc)$35.20 each inc. GST. Office: PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137. Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Fax: (03) 9723 9685. Email: [email protected] Printed by Adept Mail & Print Services,Boronia, Vic. Published: Monthly except January by the National Journal Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Australia; Convener Peter Hastie. Opinions expressed are those of thecontributor and not necessarily those of the PCA, the editor or the committee. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement. Contributions: Submitted articles arewelcome. The deadline is the first of the previous month. Donations are always welcome. Print Post approved 34918100384. www.ap.presbyterian.org.au

editorial

Dr Nicholas Aroney is Reader inLaw at the T.C. Beirne School ofLaw at the University ofQueensland. He has served on

the law faculty there for almost 15 years.He grew up in Sydney but moved toBrisbane half way through his law degree.In addition to his law degree, he has a BAfrom the University of NSW and a PhDfrom Monash University. His book, TheConstitution of a Federal Commonwealth,is soon to be published by CambridgeUniversity Press.Dr Aroney is married to Lisa and has

four children.He is amember of TheGapPresbyterian Church in Brisbane, wherehe serves as an elder.

When Christians think about theblessings of the gospel, they oftenthink of them in a very spiritualsense. Is this too restrictive a way ofthinking?Yes, I think it is. Scripture teaches us

that godliness is profitable in this life aswell as in the next. It’s possible to havetoo restrictive a view of the blessings that

come through the gospel.If we believe that God the Creator

wants us to enjoy everything that He hasmade, then we are in danger of denyingHis goodness if we don’t appreciate someof the benefits we receive because wethink of them as “secular” rather than“spiritual”. Actually, when the Biblespeaks of blessings, it suggests that theyextend to all of life. For instance, think ofthe blessings and curses which are part ofthe covenant in the book ofDeuteronomy. They extend to everyaspect of life.

Well, howdoes the idea ofGod’s com-mon grace encourage us to thinkmore widely? Are political and legalinstitutions part of God’s blessings tous?There is a sense that all of these things

are God’s gift; they all come from theFather. It’s too easy to confine our under-standing of grace to specific events in ourlives such as conversion or new birth.After conversion, there is certainly an out-working of God’s special blessing intoother areas of life too. Christians are com-mitted, for example, to human dignity andjustice in whatever sphere they are work-ing in – whether business, government orfamily life. And their commitment isrooted in their experience of the savinggrace of God.However, we sometimes discover a

strong commitment to these values amongnon-Christians too. When we do, weshouldn’t interpret the relative good that isdone by them as if it is somehow a naturaloutworking of some inherent goodness.God still shows themfavour even though itdoesn’t lead to salvation.We refer to that ascommon grace. Common grace, in thatsense, can encourage us to think morewidely and acknowledge that someonewho hasn’t become aChristianmay still beameans of blessing to others. For instance,a non-Christian judge or politician may

C H R I S T I A N H E R I T A G E

Society’s salt2000 years of Christianity has given the West its savor.

Nicholas Aroneytalks toPeter Hastie

4 • AU S TRAL I AN PR E S BY T ER I AN October 2008


perform his duties admirably and be asource of encouragement to the commu-nity in which he serves.

Is it God’s common grace that we livein a western democracy which guar-antees certain legal rights, freedom ofreligion, equality before the law, dueprocess and things like that, as well asan orderly system of government?Although I wouldn’t want to endorse

everything that goes by the name ofdemocracy, human rights and so forth,yes, I would agree that these features ofWestern society are outworkings ofGod’scommon grace. However, we mustn’tmiss the fact that the development ofWestern institutions over the centurieshas been shaped profoundly by Christianinfluences as well. The fact that we liveunder a political system where we enjoy asubstantial degree of religious and per-sonal freedom is due, in part, to the factthat people have experiencedGod’s savingwork in Jesus Christ and the Spirit’sregenerating power in their lives. This, inturn, has enabled them to think aboutgovernment and law in a new way.God’s common grace is seen today in

the fact that many of these Christian val-ues and traditions in our culture areupheld by thosewhowould not call them-selves believers. So by God’s forbearancewe are able to enjoy the benefits that ourpredecessors fought and died for.

Is modern constitutional govern-ment a blessing that derives from ourChristian cultural heritage?I think that the ideas that lie at the

heart of constitutional government,almost in their entirety, are part of ourChristian heritage. Our institutions ofgovernment have evolved over the cen-turies as the Christian faith has motivatedwestern societies to reform their variousinstitutions.The Christian faith was born into a

predominantlyGreco-Roman culture thatwas collapsing. As Christians encoun-tered this culture they were forced to aska series of inter-related questions: Shouldwe try to reform the prevailing culture sothat it is consistent with such basicChristian values? If so, what are those val-ues, and how should we go about doingthis?Greek philosophy lacked a proper doc-

trine of creation. This was a problem forGreco-Roman civilisation because this leftit without an ultimate explanation for theauthority of law. If there is no Creator orlawgiver, what basis is there for the idea

that there is a standard of higher law – astandard of justice to which human lawsought to conform and from which theyderive their authority?Christianity teaches that God is both

Creator and Sustainer; He rules providen-tially over the world. In that sense, all oflife is under law and is best understood asthe expression of the will of Jesus Christ,the incarnateWord or Logos, themeaningaccording to which the world has beencreated. Western constitutional law wasfounded upon the idea that laws regulat-ing human society should reflect the eter-nal wisdom and law of God. In an earlierage people believed that if a human lawdeparted from the divine wisdom it wasrunning against the grain of the universeand was some-thing less thanlaw in its fullestsense. A devia-tion from law, asAugustine oncesuggested, isreally no law atall. This proposi-tion is funda-mental to theway we under-stand law in thewest, even today.

How did Judeo-Christian politicaland legal theory differ from theoriesthat were held in the ancient world?Basically, other cultures saw their rulers

as gods or divine mediators. This was par-ticularly true in the case of the Romanemperor and the Egyptian pharaoh.As divinemediators, they were granted

all religious and political power in theirsocieties. They governed their societies asgods. They believed they were above thelaw.However, the coming of Jesus Christ,the true mediator, was a profound chal-lenge to this way of thinking.From the Council of Chalcedon on,

Christians realised that what we believeabout the divine and human natures ofChrist has profound social, as well as the-ological, implications. Whereas people inancient Egypt, Babylon and Romebelieved that the ruler was a divine inter-mediary, Christians denied this, declaringthat Jesus Christ is the only mediatorbetween God and men. As far asChristians were concerned, rulers werejust God’s servants. They couldn’t claimto be divine intermediaries. We see this insome of the terms that are used, like“PrimeMinister”. In theWestminster sys-tem of government the Prime Minister is

a servant of theQueen who, in turn, is theservant of God.Christianity has redefined govern-

ment. Office is now seen as an act of ser-vice rather than a position of power. Thisexplains, to some extent, why the theolo-gians at Chalcedon were very carefulabout defining the divine and the humannatures of Christ. It is only in Christ thatwe have a divine and human mediator.Kings and rulers are not in that category;they’re just servants.

In what sense was the institution ofgovernment and law a blessing thatGod bestowed on the world throughNoah?In the beginning Godmade everything

good, including man. Adam delighted inthe law of God and obeyed it. At thisstage there was no sin and therefore noneed for punishment. However, every-thing changed with the fall. At this pointGod introduced retribution for sin.WhenCain killed Abel God intervened and pro-nounced judgment on Cain. Then, by thetime of Noah, as wickedness increased,God introduced formal sanctions for vio-lence against mankind. God said,“Whoever sheds the blood of man, byman his blood shall be shed.” Here Godgives human society a limited but impor-tant capacity to execute judgement againstcrime up to the point of the death penalty.The principle we see here is that the pun-ishment must fit the crime.However, since this judgment is exer-

cised by men with limited capacities, it’snot infallible. It stands in contrast toGod’s judgment which is eternal and per-fect. So, on one hand, there is a need forhuman judgement; on the other, it shouldnot be seen as the ultimate and final judge-ment. Human judgement is necessarilylimited because it is ministerial.

How did the Mosaic law’s require-ment that there must be two or morewitnesses in a trial affect the develop-ment of western legal traditions?You get some idea of that influence of

the Mosaic law upon the West when yousee how leadingChristian theologians likeThomas Aquinas used it in their discus-sions of the civil law. A case in point is therequirement that there should be two ormore witnesses in a trial.Whereas today people see crimemainly

as an offence against the state, in earlyIsrael crime was an offence against a vic-tim and his family. Justice and restitutionwere due to them. So the initiative in theOld Testament was placed upon the vic-

Christianityhas redefinedgovernment.Office is nowseen as an actof servicerather than aposition ofpower.


tim or his/her family to seek justice.Whatthe Bible was very careful to do was toensure that victims did not executevengeance themselves. Vengeancebelonged to God alone.This meant that aggrieved parties had

to go through a process whereby theytook the matter to an appointed judgewho, after he had heard sufficient evi-dence, would make a ruling whichimposed punishment or ordered compen-sation. In proving a case, the aggrievedparty had to produce witnesses, at leasttwo or three, so as to minimise the possi-bility of false charges.The need for witnesses also assumed

that no judge was omniscient with respectto the facts of a case. In that sense, thejudge’s role was limited.He had to rely onwitnesses. The process had to be initiatedby the victim or his/her family, and thejudge could only give judgment once dueprocess had been observed. Of course,this limited the role of the judge pro-foundly.

How about the rules relating to theking and the exercise of his author-ity?When God redeemed Israel out of

Egypt and established them in Canaan,He was their king, their judge and theirlaw-giver. When the Israelites wanted aking like all the other nations, the prophetSamuel saw that they were rejecting theLord as king. As the LordHimself said toSamuel, “They can have the king theywant but warn them about the kind ofking they’ll get”. Samuel tells them aboutall the burdens a human king will imposeon them – conscription, tax and so forth.Nonetheless they appoint a king.Power is always dangerous when the

one who wields it is a sinner.Nevertheless, God uses the events of his-tory and man’s rebellion to further Hisown purposes and glory. Eventually Godfinds a king after His own heart. This isDavid who foreshadows the comingChrist and, despite his weaknesses, revealswhat true kingship ought to be.

Is the confrontation betweenprophets and kings an important ele-ment in thewhole notion of kingshipin Israel?Yes, it is. Israel’s kingwas alwaysmeant

to be a minister or servant of God,responsible to undertake an important,but limited task. Thus, there was a sharpdistinction between the priesthood andthe kingship in Israel. The two officeswere different and strictly separate. King

Saul’s first big mistake was to abrogate tohimself the priestly role in offering sacri-fices to God. He was not allowed to dothis as the king. His role as king was lim-ited. Samuel’s confrontationwith Saul wasa reminder that Israel’s king was alwayssubject to the word of God, andNathan’sconfrontation withDavid was of the samekind.

So is this one of the original cases fora separation of powers?I think so. Running throughout the

Old Testament is a kind of separationbetween the priesthood and those whohave the responsibility for rule and judg-

ment. OliverO’Donovan, aChristian ethicist,argues that gov-ernment only hasa function ofjudgment. It can-not save us fromour deepest prob-lems, which arespiritual. OnlyJesus Christ isequipped to do

this. He alone is King and Saviour. Whenkings such asUzziah exceeded their powerand interfered with the priesthood theypaid a heavy penalty.

Have the great covenants at the heartof biblical religion, setting out theobligations of God and His people,influenced the development of gov-ernment in the West?Yes, they have had an enormous effect

in shaping Western society. In the Biblewe see a succession of covenants betweenGod and His people. We also seecovenants betweenGod and rulers, as wellas between rulers and the people. Some ofthose agreements are reciprocal where theking promises to do certain things for thepeople and the people undertake to docertain things in return. This has led to away of thinking in the West where theking is seen as being in covenant withGod, and the people in covenant with theking. The covenant between them limitstheir powers and defines their responsibil-ities. And this has shaped the way thatconstitutional government has developedin the West.

How did Ambrose, one of the earlyChristians, establish the landmarkprinciple that no ruler is above thelaw?The biblical tradition that the prophet

should confront both priest and kingwhen they depart from faithfulness toGod was carried through into the NewTestament. Jesus reminded Pilate that hisauthority came from above; John theBaptist challenged Herod; Paul and theother Apostles spoke prophetically to therulers and kings of their day.In the same spirit Ambrose, bishop of

Milan from AD374 to 397, confrontedemperor Theodosius, holding him toaccount for an excessive use of force thatsaw 7000 people massacred inThessalonica. Ambrose called on him torepent for his abuse of power and threat-ened him with excommunication. Thisbrought Theodosius to his senses and hebecame contrite and sought forgiveness.It was an important landmark in thedevelopment of church-state relations,reminding rulers that the church had aGod-given right to question the use ofpower when it broke the law of God.This tradition has been an ongoing

challenge for the church. On the onehand, the church needs to maintain arespectable distance from those in gov-ernment so that it can be a propheticvoice. On the other hand, the churchneeds to have some kind of relationshipwith the ruler so that it can instruct andguide him.One of the tensions of westernconstitutionalism has been how close thechurch should be to the civil ruler andwhat kind of relationship she should havewith the authorities. This is one of thegreat issues thatChristian theologians andpolitical writers have struggled with.

To what extent was the Magna Cartaa major step on the way to constitu-tional development and how far wasit inspired by Christian values?Magna Carta was another expression –

this timewithin England – of the principlethat the king is subject to the rule of law,which if traced to the time of KingAlfred,originally meant the rule of God’s law.Alfred’s Book of Laws began withextracts from the Mosaic Law and theSermonon theMount, followed by a care-fully selected collection of English lawsand customs. From that time the kings ofEngland have traditionally recognisedtheir submission to God. At their corona-tions they take an oath before theArchbishop acknowledging the Law ofGod as the standard of justice, and therights of the church. They are also urgedto do justice under God and to governGod’s people fairly.Magna Carta was a development of

these themes. Under the leadership of


This has ledto a way of

thinking in theWest where theking is seen as

being incovenant with

God.


Stephen Langton, Archbishop ofCanterbury, the Barons of England forcedKing John in 1215 to recognise the rightscontained in the earlier Charter of KingHenry I. Through Magna Carta, the kingrecognised the rights and liberties of thechurch (such as in the appointment ofbishops and priests), various rights ofunderage heirs, widows, debtors, as well asthe specific rights and liberties of cities,boroughs and towns, and most famously,of trial by jury and habeas corpus.

How did the Reformation itselfinfluence the development of west-ern political and legal theory?The Reformation influenced the devel-

opment of government and the lawimmensely. Luther and Calvin’s emphasison divine sovereignty, human sinfulnessand the importance of God’s revelation inthe Bible made people realise that humanreason, left to itself, can be dangerous.The Reformers made people aware thatsomething more than reason is requiredto determine what is best for society.Rulers needed to look to God’s word forguidance.In addition, Luther believed in a strong

separation between law and gospel. Hebelieved that law, in a practical sense, wasbest administered by the state.He saw thechurch as an institution of grace and free-dom. As a result, while a drive for lawreform at a civil level was growing inLutheran Germany, people also rejectedthe idea that the church had a role to playin this process. This meant that while lawreform took place within Germany, itweakened the idea that the church had aresponsibility to contribute to the processand criticise it.In countries which were more influ-

enced by Calvinist ideas, however, therewas a greater influence on the place of thelaw in directing the Christian life. This ledChristians in these states to realise thatthe church was an integral part of thesocial order. This gave the church a cer-tain jurisdiction over against the state.This idea of multiple jurisdictions – in

both church and state – is fundamental towestern liberty. When people forget this,there is a tendency for the state to becomethe sole lawgiver within a society. This hasled some Roman Catholics to claim thatLutheranism was partly responsible forthe rise of Nazism – not in the sense thatNazism was a Christian movement, oreven that Luther would have supported it,but in the sense that Lutheranism under-mined the church’s role as institution oflaw which placed a check on the preten-

sions of the state. Whether there is truthin this or not, however, this was not acharacteristic of countries influenced byCalvinism.One further contribution of the

Calvinist reformation to the developmentof law and political theory was the doc-trine of the covenant. The impact of thisdoctrine was immense. It led people torealise that the believer’s personal andchurch life are lived in a covenantal frame-work. People also realised that churcheswere meant to be governed by representa-tive councils of elders. These ideas, flow-ing out of the notion of covenant and rec-iprocal obligations, had a tremendousinfluence on western notions of constitu-tionalism.This was especially so in the United

States. The early puritans who settled in

New England understood themselves asre-establishing society by covenant. Theyadopted covenants to organise their rela-tionships within each local church andtown, and federations of towns emergedin New England to form statewide gov-ernments. The covenants upon whichthese federations were based became thebasis of the American state constitutions,which in turn provided the model for theConstitution of the United States. Thistradition of written constitutionalism,especially as it developed in the UnitedStates, has become accepted throughoutthe world. While modern constitutional-ism has drifted from these roots, weshould not forget that the idea developedfrom essentially Christian origins. Theliberties we enjoy in the West today arisefrom underlying biblical principles such asthese.

What was the impetus that led to fed-eralism after the Reformation?The word federal comes from a Latin

word foedus, which means covenant.Federalism is really an outworking of thebiblical idea of covenant, combined withthe international idea of a treaty. These

two words, covenant and federal, areinterchangeable. Scholars have shown thatthere is a clear link between a revival in thestudy of biblical covenants and emergingtheories about the use of covenant to cre-ate societies and federations of societies.For example, in 1603 Johannes Althusius,a reformed Christian jurist in Germany,wrote a book called Politica MethodiceDigesta, which was a methodical digest onlaw and politics from a thoroughlyCalvinist point of view. Today, scholars offederalism, Christian and non-Christianalike, say that modern federal ideas can betraced to Althusius although the ideas heespoused have certainly been modified invarious ways since then.

Are there distinctively Christiannotions that inform the expression ofAustralian federalism?The framers of theAustralian constitu-

tion were conscious that they were con-structing a constitution for what theyexplicitly called a federal commonwealth.If we look at the sources on which theydrew, it’s clear that theywere largely influ-enced byAmerican and Swiss ideas of fed-eralism. Noticeably, in that respect, partsof Switzerland and theUnited States weredeeply influenced by this covenantal,puritan, – and some would sayPresbyterian – view of federalism as a sys-tem of government. So in Australia wehave inherited that Christian federal tradi-tion, although the Christian origins of thetradition were not clearly understood atthe time.

Is it accurate to call Australia a“Christian country” in the sense thatitss political traditions are derivedfrom explicit Christian origins?Yes, it’s possible to use the term

Christian in that restricted sense, withoutimplying that all Australians are Christianor even that the majority of Australianswould regard themselves in that way.We see Christian influence in the

Australian constitution in manifold ways.We can begin with the Queen and hercoronation oath that acknowledges God,His sovereignty and the rule of law. Thereis also her pledge to oversee the adminis-tration of godly justice and righteousnessthrough His law. Or we can talk simplyabout constitutional heritage and thenotion of limited government which itimplies.We can trace this idea toHenry ofBracton, an English jurist, who said thatthe king is always under law because thelawmakes the king. The Presbyterian the-ologian Samuel Rutherford developed this

The libertieswe enjoy inthe West todayarise from theunderlyingBiblicalprinciplesenshrined inour ideas ofgovernment.

important idea in the seventeenth centuryin his famous book, Lex, Rex (meaning,the Law is King).Modern constitutionalism in our day is

essentially a secularisation of these ideas.Thus, there are certain respects in whichthe Australian and American constitu-tions (as the most modern ones) reflect adeparture from that heritage at the pointat which they were drafted. In addition,the highest courts of our countries haveinterpreted these constitutions in the lightof contemporary secular ideas, rather thanin terms of the ideas of the founders.

How do you respond to those whosay that theAustralian constitution isbecoming outmoded?I don’t see any problem with the

amentment of the constitution in generalterms, but each proposal needs to beassessed on a case-by-case basis. I wouldhope that calls for change will be tem-pered by a recognition of the great meritsof our inherited traditions of federalismand the rule of law.Again, many of the calls for change

buy into the secular assumption thatbeing emancipated from the Christianroots of western civilisation is a goodthing. Obviously, I don’t agree with that.So, to the extent that secularisation is amotive for change, I don’t see a need toamend the constitution. Certainly, theAustralian constitution is not a perfectdocument but its imperfections lie actu-ally in the degree to which it had aban-doned earlier Christian federal values infavour of secular ones. I think that thereare certain ways in which some of theframers of theAustralian constitution hadtoo high a view of what the state couldaccomplish. Theywere amixed bunch andobviously had mixed views.

How did their secular views impacton some of the underlying Christianvalues?This is seen in the way that some of the

framers wanted more power ceded to theCommonwealth at the expense of theStates. This desire showed that they didnot fully appreciate the genius of federal-ism. The very notion of having multiplelayers of government at a state and federallevel, just as we do in the PresbyterianChurch, placed a limit on what powersand responsibilities the Commonwealthgovernmentwould be given.On the otherhand, very act of federating meant that incertain respects the Commonwealth wasgiven supreme power over the States. Inthis way, the capacity in Australia forunlimited government is severely cur-

tailed. That has helped to preserve libertyin Australia. Some people see that as out-dated because they want to see govern-ment, in a utilitarian sense, having morepower to solve society’s problems. Theysee a concentration of power as a moreefficient way of finding solutions to ourdifficulties. The down-side to this view isthe faith that it places in government tofind and implement those solutions

Is it possible to do away with themonarchy and still have what wehave got?The first thing to say about republican-

ism in Australia is that it is predominantlysymbolic. Most republicans want to keep

the Westminstersystem, wherethe governmentis led by a primeminister who is amember of par-liament and hasits support. Buteven republicanswho think likethis are splitdown the middlebecause somewant to elect the

president, while others want the presidentto be appointed in a non-elective way.

So what’s the way forward?If we had a non-binding plebiscite of

Australian voters, it probably would showthat a majority of Australians would like arepublic. However, the real questionwould then become, “which republic?”There would still have to be a constitu-tional referendum.I should also mention that if we

become a republic we are likely to becomea very secular republic. The likelihood isthat we will replace a Queen who hastaken an oath before God to uphold Hislaw and gospel in favour of a republic witha president who is not expected to makeany such undertakings

Are there potential problems in a Billof Rights?Yes, the third big issue on the reform

agenda is the Bill of Rights question and,yes, there are real problems with a Bill ofRights. The first is that when you intro-duce a Bill of Rights, even in its mostmoderate form such as in Victoria and theACT, a shift in power takes place from theparliament to the judges. Is this a goodthing? People who defend a Bill of Rightsclaim that it protects the individual’srights and gives judges the capacity to

defend the minority against the majority.However, this overstates the case. A

Bill of Rights never protects countriesfrom oppressive governments supportedby popular, mass movements as occurredin Germany under Adolf Hitler. Even inAmerica with a Bill of Rights theSupreme Court upheld the internment ofJapanese people during the SecondWorldWar. When societies are really underthreat, judges don’t really make a differ-ence. The real effect of a Bill of Rights ina society like ours is that judges will startdetermining the fine points of disputedsocial policy. The problem is that thesesorts of decisions really ought to be madein parliament rather than by non-electedjudges.

How will a Bill of Rights affect thechurches?Well, this plays into the second prob-

lem of a Bill of Rights which concerns thecontent of such a bill. At themoment, ourparliaments have given churches andchurchministries exemption from generaldiscrimination statutes because thesebodies, due to their religious convictions,sometimes have to make decisions whichinvolve discrimination. Parliaments call itan “exemption”, a special case.Now if we have a Bill of Rights, the

judgeswho get to decidewhether there hasbeen a case of discrimination are of a dif-ferentmindset to the average parliamentar-ian. Judges are much more rule-orientedand believe that exceptions have to be jus-tified. Further, remember that those whowill decide these matters in courts and tri-bunals tend to apply anti-discriminationstatutes across the board. So, we can’t pre-dict for certain what will be the outcome.Churches might find that judges will beless sympathetic to them over allegedissues of discrimination in churches,schools and hospitals, to name just a fewofthe places where these issues could arise.

How should we approach reform?Reform is a characteristic of the West.

It is a characteristic of Christianity, espe-cially Western Christianity. It has beenpointed out thatWestern civilisation is thehistory of a succession of Christianreform movements. Christianity teachesself-examination, repentance and personalrenewal. Christians are conscious, there-fore, that they have an eschatological des-tiny; that this life is a preparation for afuture life together in the city of God.Under this influence, the West is veryfuture-oriented. It is our Christian legacy.Thus Christians, of all people, must becommitted to reform. ap



A Bill of Rightsnever protects

countriesfrom oppressive

governmentssupported bypopular, massmovements.

Whenever I ask critics ofAustralia’s constitutionalarrangements to name onecountry anywhere that has a

better set of overall arrangements than wedo, I am inevitably met with dumb-founded silence. Taken as a whole, theywouldn’t swap our constitutional arrange-ments with Canada, the US, NewZealand, Britain or anywhere else.This isn’t too surprising. Canada has a

wholly appointed upper house full ofhacks and political party placemen. It hasa virtually unusable amending procedureand a newish constitution to which oneprovince, Quebec, has yet to sign up.The US has bad gerrymandering as

regards elections to the House ofRepresentatives, political campaigns thatgo on for years and philosopher king-likejudgeswhomake far toomany of the line-drawing calls for society. (The last pointapplies to Canada, too.)New Zealand has about the worst vot-

ing system going, a list-based propor-tional system that earlier this year broughtabout the absurd situation in which theirForeign Minister opposed the free tradeagreement with China negotiated by thePrime Minister and the Government ofwhich he is a member.And Britain is daily handing more and

more decision-making powers toEuropean institutions that are, frankly,undemocratic bodies in the extreme.Even the recent European Union con-

stitution (oops,minor amending treaty, togive it its new name) had to be snuck inthe back door without consulting a singleone of Europe’s 300 million voters. Thatand the difficulties with devolution andthe West Lothian question hardly makeBritain’s constitutional set-up a primecandidate for emulation.

In Australia, by contrast, we have aworld-best voting system; we have

compulsory voting; we have real bicamer-alism with a genuine house of review withan elected upper house; we have anamending process that (unlike those inthe US and Canada) does not bypass thevoters; we have good campaign financerules; and the list goes on. Is everythingperfect here? Of course not. But ask the

sensible question of whether any othercountry has a better set of arrangementsand the answer I and many others would

give you is no. At the very least that indi-cates that any moves to push for radicalchanges in Australia ought to be met with

extreme scepticism.But let’s play a different game. Let’s

have a bit of fun and see if we could bringtogether a group of people who werelikely to think the future of Australiangovernance required some pretty bigoverhauling: one of those newfangled billsof rights that give lots of power tounelected judges, say, and maybe a moveto a republic.What group of peoplemightbe likely to push for change, change,change?To start, you’d probably want three

retired High Court justices. Not just anyretired justices, mind you, but the oneswho gave us the execrable implied rightsjurisprudence. Those were the cases fromthe 1990s where the High Court discov-ered (or, more honestly stated, made up)some implied rights, and it did this eventhough the founders of our Constitutionexplicitly rejected any US-style bill ofrights. And it did this despite Australianvoters consistently rejecting such propos-als in referendums. The trick was to treatthe idea of an implication as divorcedfrom any actually held intentions of anyreal human beings, which is another wayof saying it was judicial redrafting.Anyway, for the purposes of our little


Well enoughWe’d be mad to tinker with our great system – but just wait.

JamesAllan


“Churches arebecomingaware theirimmunity fromanti-discrimi-nation laws –a justifiedimmunity –will end with acharter or abill of rights.”BOB CARR, FORMERPREMIER OF NSW

game, find three of the retired HighCourt justices at the heart of that impliedrights stuff, but make sure you avoid anyretired High Court justices who maybring to the table the sort of interpretivelyconservative outlook that characterisesthe present High Court. We don’t wantany authoritative people who may messup our game.Then find a few legal academics who

strongly support bills of rights.Maybe getone who has had a hand in bringing one inat the state or territory level. And makesure to include a few more strong andvocal supporters. Maybe even get one ofthem to announce in advance that he’sgoing to push for a bill of rights.

So far our little game is going prettywell.Maybewe should throw in awell-

known newspaper and magazine colum-nist and broadcaster with a long-standingpreference for the political party in power,one who uses a photo that may make youthink of the sculptor Rodin.Of course, you’d need to throw into

the mix a few figleafs of balance. So makesure you get a conservative who is also astrong republican: for the flavour, asDeanMartin used to sing.Then you can fill out the numbers and

sit back andwait forwhat you knew you’dget going in. There’ll be calls for a bill ofrights. There’ll be calls for Australia tobecome a republic. And such authoritativecalls could prove mighty useful down theroad, especially if that was what you

wanted before you started this little cha-rade. Of course, when we play this game,we would have to concede, were we hon-est, that the group we had assembled wasnowhere near being representative of theviews of Australians as a whole.Whenever Australians have been

asked, they have recognised that the con-stitutional status quo is, as I noted above,comparatively excellent. But with any

luck we can finesse that uncomfortabletruth.There’s another point worth making.

The issues of whether to have a home-grown head of state, or whether to handlots of decision-making power to an aris-tocratic judiciary, are not issues on whichexpertise should trump numbers. Lettingthe numbers count is a dumb way to picka top physicist or malaria expert. But let-ting the numbers count is a supremelyexcellent way to decide whether we paythe costs involved in moving to a republicor whether we want to take power awayfrom our elected representatives and giveit to committees of ex-lawyers (which iswhat judges are and which is why there issomething so self-serving about judgescalling for a bill of rights).Now some of you may well think this

little game was all my own invention. ButI can assure you I have copied the idealock, stock and barrel. If you don’t believeme, just check out who was on the panelon the future of Australian governance atthe 2020 Summit.

James Allan is Garrick professor of law at theUniversity of Queensland. This article,which has been edited, first appeared in TheAustralian. ap


1 0 • AU S TRAL I AN PR E S BY T ER I AN October 2008

WheneverAustralianshave been

asked, theyhave recog-

nised that theconstitutionalstatus quo is

excellent.

‘The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is thesingle most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of theBody of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewaland revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else – notcrusades, outreach programmes, para-church ministries, grow-ing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor churchrenewal processes – will have the consistent impact of dynamic,extensive church planting.’ (T. Keller)

Perth is currently growing at an unprecedented rate. People aremoving to the Capital of Western Australia from all over Australiaand the world. The West Australian General Assembly hasdeveloped a METRO-WIDE STRATEGY which seeks to respond tothis growth and has as a key component, the planting and estab-lishment of at least five new congregations. The West AustralianGeneral Assembly has declared that under the METRO-WIDESTRATEGY, the next area for church extension work will be in theRockingham district, half an hour drive south of Fremantle on thecoast. The Presbyterian Church in Western Australia is mar-shalling its own resources to launch a new effort in churchplanting but it also needs the help of the wider PresbyterianChurch in this great task. (More details on the METRO-WIDESTRATEGY can be obtained from the Clerk of WA Assembly, Mr.Glenn Muskett on 08-9339 9400 [email protected] )

I would invite you to pray especially for asuitable church planter to be raised upand for a suitable, committed and support-ive core group to come together.

The 2007 General Assembly of Australia authorised theModerator-General to coordinate an annual appeal during 2008,2009 and 2010 to raise funds from across the PresbyterianChurch of Australia to provide for the opening, staffing anddevelopment of a new church planting congregation in metropol-itan Perth. The new church (the Lord willing) in the Rockinghamdistrict will be the recipient of the funds raised. Gifts can be sentto ‘GAA WA Church Planting Appeal’ c/- PO Box 2196,Strawberry Hills, NSW, 2012 with cheques made out to‘Presbyterian Church Funds’. A covering letter should state thatthe gift is for the ‘WA Church Planting Appeal’. The GAA WAChurch Planting Appeal will be placed before the Lord’s peoplein our Church in a number of different forms.

Thank you for taking time to read this Communication. I wouldask that we work together to ensure a very generous responseto this call for gospel partnership with the Presbyterian Churchin Western Australia.

ROBERT BENN, Moderator-General

FROM THE MODERATOR – GENERAL IN REGARD TOCHURCH PLANTING IN PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

John Fairfax (1805-77) was an evan-gelical Christian who started themedia company that still bears hisname. The flagship of the company

is the Sydney Morning Herald, establishedin 1831 and the oldest continually pub-lished newspaper inAustralia. Formost ofits history theHerald was owned or con-trolled by the Fairfax family. This articlelooks at Fairfax’s life and influence incolonial society and reflects on our under-standing of the Christian faith and itsclaim upon our lives.John Fairfax was born in 1805 in

Warwick, central England. He trained as aprinter and in 1827 entered into a happymarriage with Sarah Reading that was tolast forty-eight years and include five chil-dren.Fairfax produced newspapers and sold

stationery and life insurance. He helpedestablish a Congregational church inLeamington where he was a deacon andlay-preacher. Then disaster struck in aseries of libel suits. Although acquitted,legal costs bankrupted him. With £5Fairfax migrated in 1838 to Sydney, whichthen had a population of 25,000. Fairfaxworked as a typesetter for theHerald anda librarian.However, in 1841 the owner ofthe Herald, Frederick Stokes, sold it toCharles Kemp and John Fairfax for thethen princely sum of £10,000 (Kemp soldhis share to Fairfax in 1853). These twolargely penniless but capable men bor-rowed a deposit from wealthier friendsand Stokes agreed for them to pay the bal-ance over five years.

Fairfax attracted quality journalists andeditorial staff to theHerald and main-

tained technical superiority over his rivals.Boosted by the discovery of gold inNSW,by 1856 it had a daily circulation of 6600,the third largest in the British Empire.Fairfax became Australia’s first pressbaron and a prominent figure in theSydney commercial scene.Hewas a foun-dation director of the Australian MutualProvident Society (AMP) and held direc-torships of other major banking, insur-ance and commercial concerns, includingtheAustralianGaslightCompany (AGL).He was appointed to the Council forEducation in 1871 (which oversaw the

development of state schooling through-out NSW) and the NSW LegislativeCouncil (Upper House) in 1874. Fairfaxwas also a founding deacon of the influen-tial Pitt Street Congregational Church,foundation president of the YMCA inNSW, and a key supporter of the SydneyRagged Schools,which fed,clothed and edu-cated impover-ished children.In Fairfax’s

time the PittStreet churchwas evangelicalin theology. Itwas committedto the gospel asarticulated at theReformation andre-emphasised inthe 1700sthroughmen likeJohn Wesley and George Whitefield. Itsevangelicalism inclined towards the mod-erate Calvinism of most Congreg-ationalists of the time.Second son James described his father

as having “trusted and believed in the sav-ing and redeeming love of Jesus”. His life-long friend and Congregational minister,JosephBeazley, described Fairfax’s faith asbeing characterised by “a most simpletrust in Christ as his Redeemer. His pietywas of the old Puritan stamp”. Fairfaxdescribed Jesus as the one “who died forus — the Just for the unjust”.At his 50th birthday celebration

Fairfax said to his children, “some of youhave decided forChrist, and are fellowpil-grims to Zion ... I beseech you suffernothing to stand in the way of an earlysurrender ... to Him, who is both able andwilling to save”. His wife, Sarah, in an1855 letter to son James, then 20,implored him to “secure those lastingtreasures which Christ alone can bestow”.John and Sarah knew real personal

grief, with three of their five children pre-deceasing them. Richard died in infancy in1839 and eldest son Charles, 34, and onlydaughter Emily, 40, were both killed inaccidents.OnCharles’s death, Johnwroteof the “hopes of... parents, wife and chil-dren” being “laid in the grave” and howtheir “poor broken hearts come withtrembling faith to Him who wept at thegrave of Lazarus”.At the Pitt Street church Fairfax was

one of a diaconate of godly merchantsthat included close friend David Jones,another famous name in Australian com-mercial history. The activities of the PittStreet church illustrate the natural blend-ing of evangelistic and social concern of19th century evangelicals. From onechurch came a savings bank, a day school,an employment agency, the distributionof clothing, and direct evangelistic andteaching ministries.This unconscious ease with which

evangelicals, before the devastatingimpact of theological liberalism, com-bined a commitment to proclaiming thegospel with social and political reform isnoteworthy. They believed that Godrequired them to seek the improvementof society. This was famously exemplifiedby evangelicals like British politicianWilliam Wilberforce (1759-1833), whocombined assisting in the formation ofthe Society for Bettering theCondition ofthe Poor (1796) and the securing of lawsagainst blasphemy, prostitution and slavetrading, with explicitly evangelistic min-istries such as the Church MissionarySociety (1799) and the British andForeign Bible Society (1804).

It is also noteworthy that the theology

AUSTRAL I AN PR E S BY T ER I AN October 2008 • 1 1

Building ZionLessons from the life and legacy of John Fairfax.

StuartJohnson


The missionof the pressis a high andsacred one,and he whomakes a baduse of its powerand influencecommits hightreason againstsociety.JOHN FAIRFAX

Visiting Ballarat?Worship with us at EbenezerPresbyterian Church.Every Sunday 10.30 am.

214 Armstrong Street South.Rev. Dr JohnWoodwardPhone: (03) 5334 2909

under-girding this social engagement wasbiblical, based upon a simple commitmentto love God and neighbour. They did notmake the mistake of claiming that the“kingdom of God” was present whereverany social good had been achieved,whether Christ was acknowledged or not.To understand the Herald under

Fairfax, we need to understand the dis-senting evangelical Christianity of hisyouth. “Dissenters” were non-Anglicans(they dissented from the Church ofEngland). They were also termedNonconformists (i.e., they did not con-form to the 39 articles of the Anglicanchurch). The Anglican Church was theestablished church inEngland. Thismeanthaving state support. For example, tax-payers helped to maintain Anglicanchurches and pay for Anglican ministers.Moreover, you needed an Anglican minis-ter to preside over your wedding orfuneral. And although able to study atOxford and Cambridge, you would notbe awarded a degree without affirming the39Articles, nor could you be aMember ofParliament.

Nonconformists were at the forefrontof the vastly influential political

movement termed “liberalism” (nothingto dowith theological liberalism). Liberalswanted the end or curtailing of privileges

associated with aristocratic, hereditarygovernment and an established church. Byabout 1860 most of this had beenachieved. They also promoted free trade.Most liberals believed that the mutualinterdependence of nations that free tradepromoted better expressed a Christianunderstanding of humanity as a “brother-hood of mankind”.

Fairfax claimed that “themission of thepress is a high and sacred one, and he whomakes a bad use of its power and influencecommits high treason against society”(and back then newspapers were themedia – it was before radio, TV, internet).And in Fairfax’s day there was no twaddleabout “editorial independence”: youowned a newspaper to influence society.

How Fairfax’s own heritage in religiousNonconformity influenced his journalismwas seen in things like:• In NSW the main churches wereoffered state support. Congregationalistsrejected this offer, believing instead thatvoluntary giving should fund churches. SotheHeraldwould have preferred no state-aid but did respect that it was offered to allplayers, a form of multiple-establishment.• Although not liking Catholic doctrine,the Herald defended the civil rights ofCatholics. It opposed fellow Protestantswho argued that Catholics ought to bedenied state support or who argued forProtestant-only migration schemes.• The Herald defended the rights ofChinese workers during the gold rush.There was much popularly accepted race-based violence against the Chinese.Counter-culturally, the Herald stridentlyopposed this on the basis that it was illib-eral, unlawful and un-Christian: theChinese had lawfully entered the colony,were thus entitled to the protection of thelaw, and were as much “creatures of God”as Europeans.• The Herald supported the rise of“national, free, secular, and compulsory”state primary education in the 1870s.Here ‘secular’ meant non-sectarian (i.e.,free of denominational control), ratherthan anti or non-religious. Significant pro-vision was made for religious instruction.• The Herald vigorously promoted freetrade.• The Herald promoted temperance.However, they were not teetotallers!Instead, as the word suggests, they pro-moted the temperate use of alcohol.Indeed, the deacons at Pitt Street wouldnot allow their facilities to be used by tee-totallers, who later dominated the temper-ance movement.

As for Fairfax beyond theHerald, thereis little material relating to his exten-

sive involvement as a company director.But we do know that his business associ-ates admired him for his wisdom andintegrity. This was a time when evangeli-cals had a positive view of work. In an1856 address to the YMCA Fairfaxdecried the Christian who “is early atchurch, but late in business”. And theywere not coy about wealth, viewing it as avaluable resource to be used for God’sglory. Indeed (for good or ill) details of allchurch giving were published. Everyoneknew exactly how much money othershad, or had not, given!Alongside serious engagement in busi-

ness and journalism, Fairfax’s life was



Manyministers wereable to persistin the colonyonly due to

the encourage-ment, financialgenerosity andwise counsel

of John Fairfax.


marked by his commitment to theCongregational church. One aspect ofthis was the NSW Congregational HomeMission Society, which Fairfax servedfrom its inception in 1850 to his death 27years later. This was a church-plantingsociety, working to place gospel ministersthroughout NSW. It was incredibly hardwork. Infrastructure beyond Sydney wasminimal. Overland travel was arduous.There was much disease and death, espe-cially among infants. The society wasentrusted to both find and placeministers,and to help fund them until established. Itis probable that in the last 20 years of hislife Fairfax put more time andmoney intothis work than any other single activity.Many ministers affirmed that they wereable to persist in the colony only due tothe encouragement, financial generosityand wise counsel of John Fairfax.

There are several striking characteristicsof Fairfax and the evangelical

Christians of his generation. One was thedepth of their conviction about the gospelof Christ. This was vividly seen in afuneral sermon of Pitt Street pastorRobert Ross, who in 1853 remarked:“What is aman if he is not converted?Hissins are unpardoned ... and if in this statehe should die ... he must remain a guilty,condemned, degraded, and wretchedbeing forever”. Consequently Rossdeclared conversion to be “the one thingmore necessary”.But another striking characteristic less

evident today is what historians termevangelical activism. To illustrate, JohnGraham, a successor to Ross as pastor,declared in 1868: “Jesus went about doinggood...Our religion, whilemerely the reli-gion of believing and feeling is imperfect... Think of the ignorance and sin allaround in the world, the world that Jesusloved and died for, and can you be idleduring life’s short but precious day?”Graham again, in 1869: “Every faculty,

affection, and influence we can exercise isa talent entrusted, and of which accountmust be given ... Faithful stewardship...implies personal service to God, in theservice of men”. Graham added that noone could delegate “his personal service tohis generation”. Their activism gainedexpression in sheer hardwork and creativeendeavour to promote the gospel andoffer practical help to others.Another remarkable characteristic was

what might be termed ‘evangelical opti-mism’. At an intercolonial conference in1855, leading Congregational ministerT.Q. Stow said exuberantly: “Surely the

pure, simple, spiritual Christianity webring demands a fresh consecration to itsholy interests, a heroism of our zeal, andall but prophetic visions of the gloriousthings to come in our Southern Zion.”We know Fairfax liked it. He was pre-

sent and later had 10,000 copies of Stow’saddress printed. Few evangelicals todayhope for “glori-ous things tocome” forAustralia. Andmuch populare v a n g e l i c a lthinking is pes-simistic andconspiratorial inits depiction ofthe future ofhuman society(as in the LeftBehind novels).Without ques-tion, Fairfax’sg e n e r a t i o nreflected the optimistic mood of widersociety at the time.Although this optimismwas faulty, and

for many non-Evangelicals was basedupon false premises (such as a denial ofhuman depravity), it still leaves us withcause to question the absence of optimism

in our day. To what degree might wemerelymirror (in addition to poor biblicaltheology) the privatised apathy and cyni-cism common to our society? The horrorof the first half of the 20th century guttedWestern society. Intellectually, nihilismand irrational post-modern ideology pre-vails.Marriage and other long held institu-tions that reflect a Christian worldvieware under great strain and all manner ofsexual perversity has been normalised.Consumerism has become cultic.This is our inheritance, and we live in a

vastly different world from 1850. Yet of allpeople, Christians of every generationhave cause for optimism, and not onlyregarding the sure hope of eternal glory.For Christ is risen andHis Spirit has beenbestowed upon His church. Surely thereis a link between optimism and engage-ment, hope and effort: the belief that inGod’s grace and power people’s lives canbe changed for the better, even in ourindolent and apathetic age!

Stuart Johnson is the Assistant Director,Centre for the History of Christian Thoughtand Experience, at Macquarie Universityand completed a PhD on the colonial Heraldat UNSW. He attends ChatswoodPresbyterian Church where he serves as anelder. ap

ASSOCIATE PASTOR POSITION:Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bull Creek, WA

is seeking to call a man to join our ministry team in full-time work.His primary responsibility will be to lead our congregation in ministry tochildren, youth and young adults; however, the work will include otherpastoral duties. Our current children’s ministries include crèche, Christianeducation (Sunday School) and Boys and Girls Brigades. Our youth ministryincludes a large group weekly meeting and some small group Bible study.The young adult ministry consists of weekly Bible studies plus coordinated

fellowship and prayer times.

WPC Bull Creek holds to the Reformed Faith as embodied in theWestminster Confession of Faith (WCF). Applicants must be able tosubscribe to and uphold the WCF. We are a multi-ethnic church with

separate Indonesian language services. We long to serve parents & youthin a Covenantal model by building up of every believer in the Faith and

pointing all to Christ Jesus as Lord over all things.

Would you like to know more or request an application? Contact the churchoffice on (08) 9332 6300 or e-mail: [email protected]. You can find outmore about WPC Bull Creek from our web page: www.wpcbc.net.

To what degreemight wemerely mirror(in addition topoor biblicaltheology) theprivatised apa-thy and cyni-cism commonto our society?

Ihad the privilege of teaching the Life-learners Sunday School Classrecently, and talked about the waythat technology is challenging our

parenting, particularly in the area of purity(and the exposure to readily availablepornography). It brought to mind a goodarticle on this subject written by myfriend (and web guru) Tim Challies. Ifreely excerpt here what Tim observed.First, Tim commented on a new

American Psychological Associationstudy that shows that both boys and girlsare hurt by porn. It says the saturation ofsexualised images of females is leading tobody hatred, eating disorders, low self-esteem, depression, high rates of teenpregnancy and unhealthy sexual develop-ment in our girl children. It also leads toimpaired cognitive performance. In short,if we tell girls that looking “hot” is theonly way to be validated, rather thanencouraging them to be active players inthe world, they underperform at every-thing else.This APA report went on to say: “The

sexualisation of girls is not just shatteringthe lives of girls and women, it is prevent-ing boys and young men from relating togirls and women as complex humanbeings with so much to offer them. It ispreventing boys from forming healthyfriendships and working relationshipswith girls and women.”Tim went on to say that pornography

does prevent boys from forming normaland healthy relationships with girls.Implicit in pornography is the under-standing that women exist to beexploited, and exist primarily for the plea-sure of men. They do not need to beembraced as friends or wooed oradmired. Rather, they are to be con-quered, used and left behind. Boys thatimmerse themselves in pornography arenot able to fulfill their God-given roles asleaders and protectors. They are, instead,exploiters.Then Tim shared some analysis from a

second study, based on information from13 and 14-year-olds. He said theresearcher asked about their exposure toand use of sexually explicitmaterial onTV,DVDs, movies and the internet, as well as

about their interaction with their parentsabout such material. She found that 35%of boys and 8% of girls had alreadywatched pornography more times thanthey could count. Even more alarmingly,the parents of these children were com-

pletely obliviousto their kids’addictions.This is the

culture we livein. Our childrenwill be exposedto this; if notthrough school,it will be throughthe church. Itmay be througha seemingly-innocent Googlesearch. But

sooner or later our children will seepornography movies and images. It isgoing to happen. Andwe, as parents, needto be prepared. Here are just a few sug-gestions:

Prepare to take preventive measures onbehalf of your children. The best

thing you can do is to ensure that thecomputer is in a public, high-traffic area.Password the computer so the childrencan only use it only when other people arearound. I have found most porn-preven-tion software to be utterly useless (eitherit blocks everything or it blocks nothing)but you may be able to find some that isuseful. Do not allow your children to havea computer in their rooms and do notallow them to have their own televisions.Monitor the use of instant messenger

software and web browsers. Let your chil-dren know that you will be monitoringwhat they see, do and say on the com-puter and that they will not be able toview pornography without you knowing.Be sure you know how to look through acomputer’s history to see what your chil-

dren have been looking at.Be especially careful with sites like

Google Video and YouTube. In manyways these sites, which can seem innocent(and most often are) feed the porn indus-try. It is a small step from videos of girlskissing and other exploitive videos topornography.Many of the videos on thesesites exist only as a bridge to other sitesthat are far less innocent.Talk to your children about pornogra-

phy and do so before they encounter it forthe first time. In my generation, mostboys were probably 13 or 14 before wewere introduced to pornography, andeven then it was usually hard to get. Todayit is as close as a Google search, and mostchildren will be introduced to it far earlier.Teach your children about real sex, and

about pure sex, and about God’s plan anddesire for sex. Talk to them about pornog-raphy, not leaving it as “pornography isfilthy and disgusting”, but discussing whythey might be interested in it, what it willdo to them, and how they should reactwhen (not if) they are exposed to it. Thisis not a traditional “birds and bees” dis-cussion that you can have once, but anongoing conversation you need to havetime and again. Continually talk to yourchildren, know your children, and chal-lenge them.Model purity and love and respect in

your own marriage. Let your children seehealthy relationships in action so yourwords about the devastation pornographyand the objectification of women bringswill be set against what is good and trueand natural.Pray for your children. This is a strange

and awful and topsy-turvy culture we livein. We are reaping the “rewards” of gener-ations of feminism run amok and are see-ing with clarity that we cannot continueto exploit women and allow boys toexploit girls, without suffering seriousconsequences. Our children are at risk,and onlyGod has the power to save them.

Dr J Ligon Duncan III is Senior Minister ofFirst Presbyterian Church (PCA), Jackson,Mississippi. This “Pastor’s Perspective”appeared in the church’s weekly publicationThe First Epistle. ap


Teach the childrenChildren will encounter pornography. Prepare them for it.

J. LigonDuncan III

R E F L E C T I O N

Talk to yourchildren aboutpornography

and do sobefore theyencounter itfor the first

time.


E V A N G E L I S MB I B L E S T U D Y

Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” has beendescribed as one of the best known and mostloved parts of the whole of Scripture and yetthe least understood! We glibly refer to it

without taking time to think about how little ourlifestyles are changed by it. Western culture hasbeen significantly influenced and impacted byChristianity at one level, and yet how greatly thissame culture, and the lifestyle it embraces, iscondemned by Jesus’ radical teaching here. It isironic that this is exactly what Jesus is saying inMatthew 5-7!! He is condemning a culture that inits own eyes sits comfortably with God’s Law, buthas missed the whole point of what that Law issaying.

Jesus wants followers who will dare to be different,who will rock the boat, who will challenge thecomplacency of their society, who will risk alien-ation and persecution for taking God and sin andthe New Testament and the Old Testament andobedience seriously; He wants followers who willtake hold of His grace and mercy with tremblinghands but who won’t then just “sin that grace mayabound” (Romans 6:1).

May these studies this month shake us out of ourcomfort zone and help us to be authentic followersof Jesus who are salt and light in a rotting anddarkening society!

Bruce Christian�

Dare to bedifferent20 daily Bible studies in

Matthew 5-7 and Proverbs 20


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:1-10THE POINT Jesus was a teacher who drew many to Him, notonly because of who He was, but because of the integrity, hon-esty, frankness, compassion, relevance and practical wisdom ofHis words. The people did not just come to listen, but to bedisciples (1-2). Jesus describes just what His followers willlook like in the world.THE PARTICULARS• Only by recognising our utterly destitute, helpless conditionbefore God can we share in the blessings of His Kingdom (3).• Unless we experience how broken our world is (and howmuch we have contributed to it!), we can’t truly experience theblessing that comes from God’s comfort (4; cf 2 Cor. 1:3-11).• True fulfilment is found in humble submission to what He

calls us to, not in manipulating everything to our own advan-tage (5).• True contentment is found when God is the focus of our life(6).• Realising our sinful condition before God (cf 3) we cannotbut be merciful to all our fellow sinners (7; cf 6:12,14-15;18:21-35).• True sorrow for sin (4) will always lead to holy living (8).• If I am content in God (5) I won’t be striving against oth-ers(9) ...• ... but godly living (6) can bring hostile reaction from them(10).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•How closely do you fit this description of a follower of Jesus?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:11-16THE POINT Jesus has just described what His followers willlook like. NowHe tells us the inevitable consequences of beingeffective as salt in a world that is rotting to death, or of beinglight in a world that is groping in darkness. God’s faithfulprophets were never popular in the past, so can we expect any-thing different today?THE PARTICULARS•We don’t like opposition! We don’t like being unpopular fora start, but nor can we understand why others don’t share ourjoy over the Gospel’s positive, life-changing power. But Jesussays the link between godliness and persecution is always soclose that the latter is a reliable measure of the former – so we

should really rejoice in it (11-12; cf 1 Peter 4:13-14; James 1:2)!• Persecution is not just physical abuse but often takes theform of misrepresentation, rumour-mongering, slander, insult,etc (11).• Salt is only effective if it is different from the medium intowhich it is placed, otherwise it serves no useful purpose at all(13).• We must openly profess Christ, back it up with a godlylifestyle, and make sure all the glory for it goes to God alone(14-16).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•Why don’t Christians in our society suffer much persecution?Does a “user-friendly” gospel really achieve God’s purpose?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:17-19THE POINT God revealed His Law through Moses so we arein no doubt as to howHe expects the members of His familyto live; over many years He sent prophet after prophet to call adisobedient people back to this path, but to no avail. Hefinally sent His Son, Jesus, to do two things: to be the newAdam, the true Israel, doing all the Law requires perfectly; andto die in our place in order to give God just grounds on whichto forgive (cf Romans 3:22-26).THE PARTICULARS• Grace/forgiveness is not about God discarding the Law; it isabout His meeting all its just requirements in Christ (17-18),and then transferring all the benefits of this to sinful man,

gratis.• Jesus had a strong view of verbal inspiration of Scripture (18).• Although the basis of our standing as sinners before a holyGod can only be the righteousness of Christ and nothing wecan do, once we are forgiven by Christ we have an obligation tomake obedience to God’s Law a top priority in our daily lives(19). We are saved by grace, but we will still be required togiven an account to God for the way we have lived this out (cf25:31-46).

TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•What is the difference between trying to be good in order toget to heaven, and being good because we are going to heaven?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:20-26THE POINT The Pharisees were trying to be good for thewrong reason (cf Rom. 10:1-4); and they failed to see that theLaw itself held the clue that pointed everything to grace andChrist (cf Rom. 10:5-13). Once they set out on this wrongpath they then had to interpret the Law in a way that at leastmade it possible to get to heaven by this means. So Jesus givesa series of examples that first prove the necessity for a Saviourand then set guidelines about how we should live in order toplease this Saviour.THE PARTICULARS• Our very best efforts to please God can never satisfy Hisrightful requirements (cf Luke 17:10); we need a righteousness

that we receive as a gift by grace alone (20; cf Eph. 2:8-10).• The 10 Commandments are about attitudes of theheart/mind as much as actions. The long-establishedPharisaic/Rabbinic tradition had totally missed this point (aswe often do also)!• Anger in the heart/mind directed toward another humanbeing, even in name calling, is like murder, carrying the samepenalty.• More than that, Jesus’ followers must lose no time in forgiv-ing and seeking reconciliation with adversaries (23-26; cf 6:14-15).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are you “murdering” someone at present?What must you do?

DAY 4 Looks can kill.

DAY 1 The “Be” Attitudes.

DAY 2 User-friendliness and persecution.

DAY 3 Gracious goodness – me?.


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:27-30THE POINT Technology has not made the human heart moresinful, but it has given the already sinful heart greater opportu-nity to feed itself, and easier access to the “food” it craves.Pornography is now up there with alcohol/gambling/tobacco/drugs as an addictive disease affecting our individual souls andour society. Jesus knew that keeping the 7th Commandmentbegins in the mind, and unless we face it there we will fail.David’s sin with Bathsheba was well advanced long before hegot into bed with her.THE PARTICULARS• Lustful thoughts are built into our sinful nature – that’s whywe need a Saviour, and why we need to nip them in the bud.

• Men, we can work hard at justifying why it’s OK to admirethe beauty of the female body, or why we need to watch an R-rated movie or browse in the magazine section of thenewsagency or visit that particular website – but in the end weknow it is not helping us apply Jesus’ teaching here. What Jesussays about the right eye/hand is exactly to the point: things inour lives may be OK in themselves, but they may not help usto guard our hearts and minds. My “right eye” could be the TVset, or the Internet, or ...

TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are you familiar with an instance of moral failure? Wheredid the problem start? What could have been done to avoid it?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:31-37

THE POINT As we have seen, the mistake the Jews weremaking in relation to God’s Commandments was that outwardcompliance was the end of the matter; they had no concept ofthe utter sinfulness of their hearts before God. With such amindset they could manage to avoid any pang of conscience byjust shifting the goal-posts a little bit. For instance, wivesshould have been protected by the vows made in the marriagecovenant, but, in fact, were placed in a more vulnerable positionby the misuse of an escape clause intended by God to protectthem (cf 19:3-9); or they argued that if a vow was taken bysomething other than God’s name it was not as binding. Jesusshows the fallacy of their reasoning. In God’s new society of

people totally committed to Jesus’ way of seeing things every-thing must be straightforward, honest and true.THE PARTICULARS• The marriage bond is absolutely binding for life, and there-fore divorce becomes an attempted legitimisation of adultery;the one exception is if the bond has already been broken byadultery.• As followers of Jesus we must be people whose word alonecan always be trusted. Satan is effectively destabilising oursociety with contract infidelity – so let us be salt and light (cfPsalm 15:4)!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Read Psalm 15. Is this a good description of your lifestyle?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 5:38-48THE POINT Jesus now comes to the heart of the matter. Forjustice’s sake, I should be allowed to “get even” with anyonewho hurts. The OT applies this principle of justice, but in sodoing also limits my “revenge” to what is fair. But the OT alsoreminds me of 2 other important truths: that ultimately, theexacting of justice belongs to God alone (cf Deuteronomy32:35); and that I, like God, must also be motivated by mercy(cf Proverbs 25:21). In setting down the manifesto for HisKingdom, Jesus insists that His followers must try mercy first– and have a good reason doing otherwise!THE PARTICULARS• In the light of other parts of Scripture (eg to be wise stewards

of all the resources God has entrusted to us), other factorsmight move us to be circumspect in situations where just givingthings away is not in the best interests of the other person, orwhen letting evil prevail unresisted is detrimental to the advanceof God’s cause, but we should always make sacrificial mercyand forgiveness the default option, and pursue it for all we areable.• God’s common grace, undeserved and usually unacknowl-edged (45), must motivate us to selfless service regardless ofresponse, going far beyond even the best examples of humani-tarianism.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How does vs 48 help us to get the grace/works balance right?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 6:1-4THE POINT In Chapter 5 Jesus showed us what happens ifwe treat God’s commands superficially instead of getting to theheart of what they are asking of us. Superficiality has alwaysbeen one of our biggest problems, from when we overlookedDavid in the choice of a king (1 Samuel 16:7) to our modernobsession with “image” in every aspect of life. He now goeson to show what happens when we do the same thing with ourpiety, examining the habits of the Pharisees in terms of theirgiving, praying and fasting. He gives us a clue as to His assess-ment: He calls them “hypocrites”!THE PARTICULARS• Giving to the poor, praying, and fasting are called “acts of

righteousness”; they are the outward expression of our desireto live lives that will please God and reflect His character toothers.• Jesus is at least fair: there should be no “double dipping”,every good deed done attracting only one reward. If I wantthe praise of men, that’s what I’ll get – nothing more, nothingless; if I want the praise of God, that’s what I’ll get – nothingmore or less; but the one thing I can’t have is both thoserewards together!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•What was the point Jesus was making in verse 3? What moresubtle ways than trumpet blowing do we tend to use when wewant to let people know that we’ve been a good Samaritan?

DAY 8 Blowing your own trumpet.

DAY 5 The sinful heart of man.

DAY 6 Promises, promises.

DAY 7 Justice and mercy.


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 6:5-8THE POINT Prayer ought to be the intimate pouring out ofour hearts to God and ought only to involve others at all if it isa genuine unity of hearts seeking God’s face together. Thisshould be the nature of our prayers in public worship or inprayer meetings. Our times alone with God should be of sucha nature as to make it quite inappropriate for there to be “spec-tators”. There is something quite oxymoronic about prayingto impress people, or to try to impress God by flowery speechor meaningless repetition.THE PARTICULARS• The hypocrisy of the Pharisees at prayer (cf Luke 18:9-14)gives an insight into the sinfulness of their hearts and how far

they were from a meaningful relationship with God. We mustall do some real heart-searching about this and make sure weare not thinking, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like thatPharisee”!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How is your prayer life going? What precautions do youtake to avoid being a hypocrite at prayer? At public worshipor in prayer meetings, what distinguishes a genuine, humble,edifying prayer from an impressive performance? Whichpleases God?• If my Father knows what I need before I ask Him, why do Ineed to pray at all? What difference is prayer making to yourlife?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 6:9-15THE POINT Jesus’ own prayer life showed His disciples thepaucity of their own (cf Luke 11:1). He gives us a “template”for prayer, not just words to use – but we may find His wordshelp us to express our feelings, as long as we don’t just recitethem as a mantra (cf 7). His pattern covers praise, petition,penitence and protection.THE PARTICULARS• God is to be praised as wholly holy (separate/pure – cf Ecc.5:1-2), yet He encourages us earthbound sinners to call Him“Our Father”, reminding us of our solidarity in both our sin andour redemptive privilege as His chosen children (9). Amazing!• Our first and greatest desire should be that God’s rightfulrule over all things is recognised and responded to in obedience

(10).• Our second petition should be for the gracious daily provi-sion of everything we require fromHim – no more, no less(11) ...• ... while confessing how far short we fall of what He requiresof us! ... and so seeking His forgiveness of this crushing debt(12).• I can’t expect God to forgive me unless I have first forgivenanyone and everyone who has wronged me (12, 14-15; cf18:21-35)!• We can never win the battle against sin and Satan alone (13).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is your prayer life regular, structured, meaningful and satisfy-ing?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 6:16-18THE POINT What is the point of fasting? By denying our-selves some of the basic necessities of life in limited bursts weacknowledge our total dependence on Him, and we are betterplaced to focus our full attention on Him. It is a spiritual exer-cise of the heart: how contradictory and worthless such anexercise becomes if we use it to impress others! Fasting isbetween me and God alone.THE PARTICULARS• Jesus doesn’t say, “If you fast ...”, but, “When you fast ...”.He assumes that fasting would be a normal part of His disci-ples’ spiritual journey (16; cf 9:14-15), just as it was of Hisown.

• Fasting is an inward, spiritual exercise, but it necessarily hasoutward, visible effects. It is the height of hypocrisy to fakethe latter in order to create an impression about the former, andit’s hard to imagine whom the Pharisees thought they werefooling!• Hypocrisy is a clear indicator of spiritual blindness.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How can we encourage each other in individual or corporatefasting without falling into the trap Jesus warns us about?• What other things might we be guilty of doing in order togive the appearance of spirituality? What about going toChurch or Bible study or prayer meetings? What aboutaffected speech?


THE POINT Perhaps the most defining characteristic of oursociety is our obsession with the accumulation of materialthings (try moving into a smaller house after 30 years in theone large house!). But these things don’t last (especially withplanned obsolescence as a marketing tool!); pests, corrodingagents, thieves, throw-away packaging , fashion, and the lure ofadvancing technology – they all help us fill up our waste binsand attics and make us more dissatisfied with life. It is clearly aspiritual problem: we are blind to our stupidity, as the book ofEcclesiastes spells out. If it is a spiritual problem it needs aspiritual solution: our heart needs to be in the right place; ourspiritual eyes need to be opened; we need to make a life-chang-

ing decision to choose God’s way and to reject totally theways/values of the world. Jesus challenges all who would fol-low Him to make this decision, once for all.THE PARTICULARS• Our treasure is the indicator of where our heart is, and notvice versa (21); if I’m not prepared to get my value system rightI am only kidding myself about a professed loyalty to Jesus asLord.• The clue to getting this right is to have my eyes focussedfirmly on Jesus (23-24; cf Heb. 12:1-2) and all else falls intoplace.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•What practical steps must we all take to do better in this area?

DAY 12 Tough call.

DAY 9 Behind closed doors.

DAY 10 Pattern, not patter.

DAY 11 When you fast....


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 6:25-34THE POINT In today’s passage Jesus builds on the principleHe laid down yesterday. If we focus on what really matters,the things that are more appropriate for someone preparing foreternity with God in heaven than for someone who thinks thatthis world is all there is, then we will be less worried and fretful.The God with whom we will spend eternity is the same onewho runs the world now, and He has an excellent track recordin caring for the birds and flowers if sinful man doesn’t inter-fere. (After all, it is man’s sin that mucked up His creation inthe first place and introduced death and decay into it – cf Rom.5:12, 8:18-25.)THE PARTICULARS• A moment’s honest reflection makes it clear that there is

more to life, health and happiness than food and clothing; buteach day my letterbox is fed brochures encouraging me tothink otherwise. We have lost sight of the God who loves, caresand provides.• God cares about the whole of His creative handiwork, butmost of all for us because we are created in His image and like-ness.• Worry is senseless: it does nothing for our physical well-being.• God is challenging us to prove the truth of His promise in vs.33.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Does your attitude/lifestyle prove there is a God who cares?


THE POINT I’ve had verse 1 quoted at me on several occa-sions when I have had to stand up for truth against error. Iknow my sinful heart allows me to have 20/20 vision when I’mlooking around me, but somehow mists my eyes over when Ilook in the mirror, so I do have to be sure to listen very care-fully and obediently to what Jesus is saying in verses 1-5. ButHis warning in verse 6 implies that I must also be discerning,that I do have to assess whether the actions of others are hon-ouring to God or not, and to have nothing to do with thethings that aren’t. The tricky thing is to be discerning (whichwe must be) without being judgemental (which we must notbe)! The secret is to be aware of the sin in our own hearts, but

also of Satan’s ploy to render our witness ineffective by eitherjudgementalism – or by falling for anything!THE PARTICULARS• God alone is the judge of men’s hearts (cf Rom. 14:1,4, 9-13).• One of the most damaging effects of sin in our hearts is thatwe are quick to find fault but slow to recognise our own fail-ings: 2 Samuel 12:1-10 and Romans 2:1-5 illustrate this pointclearly. I may plead ignorance of God’s requirements onJudgement Day, but my “mental” condemnation of others isenough to convict me!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Do you tend to be too judgemental, or insufficiently discern-ing?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 7:7-12THE POINT God our heavenly Father is good and kind andgracious to us; that is how we should be in our relationshipwith one another.THE PARTICULARS• Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-8 is a good commentary on Hispromise here in verse 7. The parable is holding 2 truths in ten-sion: God’s eagerness to bless us with everything we want; andHis desire to perfect us by withholding blessing enough toreinforce our faith and our resolve to gain His blessing, as Hedid with Jacob in Genesis 32:22-32. Christian maturity is abouthandling this tension. The 3 commands in the Greek of verse7 are in a form that really means, “Keep on asking ... seeking ...

knocking”.• Jesus had encouraged us to address God as “Our Father”(6:9); in all our prayer requests we should be trusting Him toanswer in the way that is perfect and therefore best for us, asmost of us try to do, albeit imperfectly, with our own children(9-10).• Because our hearts and motives are affected by sin we can’tbe sure what is in others’ best interests. So, Jesus gives a help-ful “golden rule” that automatically cancels out the sin bias:How do I want them to treat me? That’s how I should treatthem (12)!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•What do you do when God seems not to answer your prayers?

THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 7:13-23THE POINT Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount confronts the cul-ture of Western Christendom today at every point; but perhapsno more than in this challenge to our “age of tolerance”. Evenevangelicals are embarrassed by His narrowness and exclusive-ness in a society that wants everything to be “acceptable” anduser-friendly. There is sad irony in the fact that all this onlybears out what Jesus is saying! Although there will be count-less millions in heaven (cf Rev. 7:9-10), in any local situationHe does not expect His truth to be popular or His Churchlarge (cf John 6:2 with 6:66f).THE PARTICULARS• The essence of sin is not wanting to submit to God’s rule, as

is clear from Genesis 3. Sinful man wants to satisfy his spirit-ual hunger, but he wants a religion that gives him freedom tomake his own rules about morals and money, sex and marriage,church and worship, fashion and prosperity. Church growth isgood, but at what cost? Jesus’ stern warning here is verysobering (13-14).• Satan’s most effective strategy is not opposition, but imitation!He can do much more damage to God’s Kingdom by posing asan angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) than by opposing it (15-23).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are we so frightened and obsessed with not turning peopleaway that we fail to warn them about how “narrow” the Gospelis?

DAY 16 Truth... and its fruit.

DAY 13 No worries...?.

DAY 14 Egotism and eggshells.

DAY 15 Faith... and its fruits.

E V A N G E L I S M


THE PASSAGE MATTHEW 7:24-29THE POINT Jesus has not pulled any punches in His Sermonon the Mount. He leaves us under no delusion about the costof belonging to His new society and therefore being alienatedby the world. But the Church today has become too comfort-able in the world. Just as the Pharisees had become too com-fortable with the Law, we have reduced Matthew 5-7 to just the“Golden Rule” in 7:12! So Jesus concludes His discourse witha strong warning about the danger of being “hearers but notdoers” of His word (James 1:22).THE PARTICULARS• In this closing parable Jesus is not drawing a contrastbetween people who follow Him and those who don’t want

anything to do with Him; He is contrasting followers who takeseriously the practical outworking of the Sermon on the Mountin their daily lives with those who are nominal “Christians”,giving Him lip-service while still walking in the ways of theworld (24, 26).• We are saved by grace through faith alone (cf Ephesians 2:8-9); but subsequent total obedience to our Saviour in everythingis foundational, it is not an optional extra (cf Ephesians 2:10).• All present were in no doubt as to Jesus’ true identity (28-29).

TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• How will your “house” fare when the testing storms come?

THE PASSAGE PROVERBS 20:1-10THE POINT The next chapter of Proverbs where we left offlast month has some interesting things to say in the light ofJesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and in the light of our constitu-tion/culture which, if we go back far enough, have their rootsin God’s Word. We can see the foolishness of our own soci-ety’s thinking highlighted here.THE PARTICULARS• Binge drinking among young people is now a massive andcostly social problem; we’ve ignored the warnings of God’sWord (1).• Our society has also ignored to its peril the warnings in God’sWord about God’s absolute rule in His world, the reality of Hiswrath against sin, and our accountability before Him (2, 8-10).

• As life becomes more complex and stressful, we seem lessable to keep our emotions under control – with disastrousresults (3).• We should be more concerned about the dangers of morepeople relying on investments instead of hard work to gainwealth; we are seeing the consequences of this in a failing USeconomy (4).• Humanism is undermining our whole society; only by know-ing God can we hope to understand our complex inner being(5).• We can see the effect on families of false, empty promises (6-7).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are we concerned and prayerful enough about our society?

THE PASSAGE PROVERBS 20:11-20THE POINT As we interact with an evil world it isn’t alwayseasy to know how to respond in every situation – which is whywe must read God’s Word every day. Jesus recognised thistension: “... be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”(Matthew 10:16).THE PARTICULARS• “Actions speak louder than words” is the point Jesus wasmaking in Matthew 7:24-27. This is so much a part of the wayGod made us that it is evident even from our earliest days (11).• God designed us in His image with the ability to communi-cate with the outside world through sight and hearing. Thisreminds us that He also “sees and hears” everything we do or

say (cf Psalm 94:9), and that all we watch and listen to shouldhonour Him (12).• God designed us for honest work: the Bible warns us againstlaziness (13; cf 6:6) and shonky dealing (14, 17; cf Amos 8:5-6).• Solomon warns against those who try to “use” us (16); butJesus balances this with His call for mercy/kindness (Matthew5:40)!• Our sinful hearts have a built-in bias that isn’t helpful; to off-set this we need to seek advice from trusted friends (18) andnot “write off” the “oldies” (20) ... while being wary of gossips(19).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY•What priority does group Bible study have in your busy life?

THE PASSAGE PROVERBS 20:21-30THE POINT God’s “new society”, the manifesto of which welooked at in the Sermon on the Mount, is secured by His “loveand faithfulness” (28). These qualities are what He expects ofus, His Church, even more as we see our society disintegratingthrough lack of them!THE PARTICULARS• There is ample evidence in Western society of the truth ofverse 21 – the fragility of our whole greed-based economy bearsit out. Jesus warns us about the “deceitfulness of wealth”(Mark 4:19), and Solomon reminds us of how God views dis-honesty (23).• If we reflect on the fact that God is sovereign over every partof our life (24), and that He knows us through and through

(27; cf also the comment on Mt. 6:23-24 on Day 12), itbecomes a lot easier to forgo seeking revenge (22), or to avoidmaking rash promises (25; cf Mt. 5:33-37), and humbly toaccept God’s discipline as an expression of His love and care(30; cf 3:11-12).• Verse 26 contains a warning of what the true King will do onthe Day of Judgement, as well as the hint of an instructionabout howHe expects us to deal decisively with sin in our ownlives.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Verse 29 speaks of young and old working together, theyoung providing strength and vitality, and the “grey-power”providing wisdom. Are we losing something valuable by nichemarketing?

DAY 20 On for young and old.

DAY 17 True faith... and its fruit.

DAY 18 When God is forgotten....

DAY 19 Pointers for godly living.

B I B L E S T U D Y


Fellowship finding

The Clerk of the General Assembly ofAustralia, the Rev. Dr Paul Logan, sentthe following letter to every Presbyterianparish in Australia on 30 September.The Commission of the General

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church ofAustralia has issued the following state-ment to be read in all Presbyterianchurches by 31 October 2008 concerningthe group known as The Fellowship.1. Following examination of the teach-

ings of the group commonly known asThe Fellowship, declare that the followingshall not be taught in any congregation orby any office bearer in the PresbyterianChurch of Australia:(a) acceptance of feelings as extra-bib-

lical revelation which provide detailedguidance in matters of life, and/or ascrib-ing authority to such revelation ratherthan allowing freedom in matters whichare not dictated by scripture;(b) that contact with those who are

not in The Fellowship leads to defilement;(c) that The Fellowship can claim a

higher loyalty than a person’s family;(d) that a person who has faith in

Christ may yet be subject to the enduringand controlling influence of generationalcurses or evil spirits;(e) that forgiveness by God depends

on detailed confession of sins to othersand close personal fellowship with elders;(f) that forgiveness by God depends

on ongoing personal holiness.2. Declare that those teachings of the

group commonly known as TheFellowship, as summarised in the forego-ing resolution, are contrary to the Bible,the Westminster Confession of Faith(read in the light of the declaratoryStatement) and the belief of thePresbyterian Church of Australia.

Ward of court

Julie Ward (Monteith) of the St Ives(NSW) congregation has been appointedto theNSWSupremeCourt. She told theSydneyMorningHerald: “I feel very hum-ble because I have a lot of respect for themembers of the court. It’s a very big hon-our for a solicitor to be appointed directto the SupremeCourt. I feel an enormoussense of responsibility but I’m very muchlooking forward to it.”

Born in Newcastle, Ms Ward studiedarts/law at the University of Sydneywhere she won the university medal. Shewas admitted as a solicitor in 1982.One ofher first roles was as an associate to thethen chief judge of theFederal Court, thelate Sir Nigel Bowen. Ms Ward joinedMallesons Stephen Jaques, achieved firstclass honours atOxfordUniversity, thenbecame the youngest-ever partner ofMallesons.

Vale Dr Miller

Dr J. GrahamMillerwas called home toglory on 6 September, aged 95. Amongmany other ministries, Dr Miller wasparish minister inNew Zealand, and a sig-nificant leader in the WestministerFellowship.He was principal of the Teachers

Training Institute in Vanuatu, and firstmoderator of thePresbyterianChurch ofVanuatu. In Australia he was the principalof the Melbourne Bible Institute, andparish minister of St Giles Hurstville(NSW). He wrote many books, includingseven on the history of mission inVanuatu, LIVE.Moderator-General Robert Benn

said: “How we praise God for Dr J.G.Miller, church and missionary statesman,teacher and mentor for many of us.”

PRES-Aid continues

Since its inception three years ago,PRES-Aid has distributed more than$275,000 to various causes including

HIV/AIDS orphans in NamatetePresbyterian Church, Blantyre, Malawi,for scholarship assistance for studentministers of the Presbyterian Church ofSudan, re-settling displaced people fromthe slum clearances in Zimbabwe andbuilding the framework and roofing ofthree Presbyterian Churches inZambia. Other causes to benefit includethe Presbyterian Church in Pakistan forrebuilding after earthquake, twoPresbyterian orphanages in Dehra Dun,India, and drought relief assistance formembers of Church of Central Africa,Presbyterian, Blantyre Synod, Malawi.One hundred per cent of funds donatedto PRES-Aid are passed on, as the PCVoffices handles all financial transactionsfree.

$3m fund in Queensland

The Presbyterian Church ofQueensland Assembly in Juneapproved the establishment of “FurtherMinistry Initiatives” using an extra $3million for the resourcing of ministry,primarily within congregations. Theassembly requested the Committee onHomeMissions to investigate the possi-bility of developing a chaplaincy min-istry to the mining communities in thestate.The assembly approved in principle a

Ministry Training Network, which con-sists of a two year ministry apprenticeshipscheme and encouraged allCommissioners to the Assembly to setthemselves the challenge for 2009, of

N E W S

AcrossAustralia

readingThe Institutes, as a way of markingthe 500th birthday of JohnCalvin (whichfalls on 10 July 2009).

Queensland appointment

TheQueensland assembly appointed theRev. Peter John Barson to the position ofdirector of Home Ministry andChristian Education for an initial term offive years. The assembly congratulatedMrRay Cullen, elder from the Charge ofSpringsure, on his election as nationalpresident of Gideons and congratulatedMrDon “the builder” Lewis on the nam-ing of the new library at the TaluaMinistry Training Centre as The DonLewis Pacific Partnership Library.The assembly thanked the Rev. Gary

Tosh, who is retiring, for his pioneeringwork both as chaplain and chaplaincy co-ordinator for PresCare.In other decisions, the Queensland

assembly approved the change of namefrom the Presbytery of North Brisbaneto the Presbytery of Moreton, termi-nated the Heads of Agreement betweenthe Presbyterian Church of Queenslandand the Westminster PresbyterianChurch, noting that the PresbyterianChurch of Queensland Faculty and lec-turers are able to cover all subject areasrequired.

60 years as elder

Sunshine Presbyterian Church (Qld)held a lunch on 31 August in honour ofMr Gilbert Bell, who has completed 60years as an elder at the church. A largenumber ofmembers together with a num-ber of former members were present onthis special occasion.Sunshine minister John Cho presided

and former session clerk Colin Phillipsspoke of the work done byGilbert, whichextended much further than being anelder. He has been session clerk and a laypreacher, Presbytery representative for 31years and Moderator several times, asses-sor elder at Melton for about 10 years andassembly representative for many years,both at state and federal levels.

Logan at ceremony

General Assembly of Australia clerkPaul Logan represented Moderator-General Robert Benn at the swearing-inceremony for new Governor-GeneralQuentin Bryce on 5 September inCanberra. Dr Logan said: “It was a greatexperience to represent the PresbyterianChurch of Australia on this historicoccasion as Australia’s first womanGovernor-General was sworn in. It wasan opportunity to meet with some of theleaders of the nation, ambassadors fromother countries, members of parliamentand others and show that the church isalive and well in the community.”

Chatswood inducts two

Chatswood (NSW) session hasinducted Mr Stuart Johnson andordained and inducted Mr RayWarburton into its membership. Thecongregation held its annual weekendcamp from 12 to 14 September at theYarramundi Conference Centre, featur-ing guest speaker Rev. Craig Tucker,senior minister at DrummoynePresbyterian Church. Chandra Smith,home on leave, from Ecuador gave a pre-sentation on her four years of missionaryservice.

Creationism casualty

The Royal Society’s director of educa-tion has resigned last night after his com-ments on creationism last week kicked upa storm of controversy among anti-cre-ationists. Professor Michael Reiss, a biol-ogist and ordained Church of Englandminister, said that science teachers shouldregard creationism “not as a misconcep-tion but as a world view” and be open todiscussing it during science lessons ifpupils raised the issue.Royal Society Fellows andNobel Prize

winners SirHarry Kroto and Sir RichardRobertswere among those who called forProfessor Reiss’ dismissal saying that hisreligious views made him unsuitable forthe job of education director at the RoyalSociety, the oldest scientific organisationin the world.The Royal Society initially defended

Professor Reiss, saying that his viewswere“completely in keeping with those of theRoyal Society”. In a statement announc-ing his resignation, however, the RoyalSociety said that the professor’s com-ments had been “open to misinterpreta-tion”.The row broke out after he told a con-

ference of theBritishAssociation for theAdvancement of Science that teachersshould respect pupils with sincere cre-ationist beliefs.“I realised that simply banging on

about evolution and natural selectiondidn’t lead some pupils to change theirminds at all. Just because something lacksscientific support doesn’t seem to me asufficient reason to omit it from the sci-ence lesson ... There is much to be said forallowing students to raise any doubts theyhave — hardly a revolutionary idea in sci-ence teaching — and doing one’s best tohave a genuine discussion.”

Christian Today

More holy

A lager-loving punk rocker with sixpiercings and hot pants has landed a job asa Church of England curate. Sex Pistolsfan Skye Denno, 29, is a month into herappointment as curate at the Church ofSt James the Great in Dursley,Gloucestershire.“It’s been great,” she told the Daily

Mail. “My clothes and how I look haven’t

N E W S


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been a problem. I think itmakesmemoreapproachable and I haven’t heard anygrumbles. At the most people have been alittle surprised.“I did walk down the street in biker

boots, hot pants and dog collar and got afew looks. I don’t do it to be difficult – it’sjust me. The church can be quite cliqueyand it’s important for me to keep it realand not be another stuffy, middle-classvicar.”Miss Denno wanted to be a missionary

and went to the Redcliffe ChristianCollege for Bible and Mission Trainingin Gloucester, before realising her naturalcalling was to become a vicar.

‘Gospel before buildings’

Church leaders must set aside sentimen-tal attachment to buildings and concen-trate on delivering the Gospel message,says one of the Presbyterian Church ofWales’s leading figures.The Rev. Dafydd Andrew Jones,

director of Life and Witness, saidchurches were guilty of spending toomuch time and money on traditionalchapel buildings at the expense of invest-ing resources into other needs within thechurch and reaching society with its mes-sage.He warned Presbyterians against frivo-

lous spending in an address at the church’sgeneral assembly last month.“It is easy to understand that attach-

ments to buildings can develop throughlife’s grave and exciting experiences – butthe necessary expenditure on buildings isenormous,” he said.The Presbyterian Church of Wales has

more than 30,000 members in more than700 churches.

Christian Today

Prejudice in the arts

In a lecturemarking the 30th anniversaryof the Sandford St Martin Trust lastmonth, Scottish composer James

MacMillan argued that religious peoplein the arts, culture and media face igno-rance and prejudice about their beliefs ona daily basis as a result of a “new secular,liberal orthodoxy” in which “to be reli-gious is to be reactionary, bigoted andnarrow”.He said: “The time has come for

Christians in the public square to bemoreforthright in resisting the increasinglyaggressive attempts to oust them from it.To do this they must continue to speaktruth to power and express their insightsand creativity from a firm and confidentunderstanding of their traditions and theirbeliefs.”The chairman of the trust, Bishop

Nigel McCulloch, said: “In his lecture,James MacMillan asks whether our cul-ture has finally given up on religion. I forone hope not.”

Christian Today

Death for apostasy

The Iranian Parliament has voted for abill mandating the death penalty for apos-tasy. The bill was approved by 196 votesfor, seven against, and two abstentions.According to a news release from

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW),news of the approval was withdrawn fromthe Iranian Parliament’s website justhours after it was published. CSW saidthe progress of this bill through theIranian Parliament is a cause of grave con-cern for increasing numbers of Iranianswho have left Islam for another religion,and a significant backwards step forhuman rights in Iran.The draft bill will add a number of

crimes to the list of those resulting in exe-cution, among them “establishingweblogs and sites promoting corruption,prostitution and apostasy”.CSW said that recently, twoChristians

from Muslim backgrounds, 53-year-oldMahmoud Mohammad Matin-Azadand 40-year-old Arash Ahmad-AliBasirat, were charged with apostasy at

the Public and Revolutionary Court inShiraz, Iran, and are awaiting the court’sverdict. The men have been in prisonsince May 15.

Assist

Iran crackdown continues

Five arrests in three cities across Iran inAugust suggest a continued crackdownon Iranian Christians by authorities. Themost recent of the arrests took place on21August, whenRamtin Soodmand, sonof martyred Assemblies of God pastorHossein Soodmand, turned himself inafter repeated calls from the Ministry ofInformation in Tehran. His father wasexecuted by the state in 1990 for leavingIslam.The week before, another Christian in

Mashhad, Iman Rashidi, was arrested. Inthe city of Kerman in south central Iran, acouple identified as Darioush and Shirinwere reportedly arrested on 8August, andthe next day a Christian member of Iran’sKurdish community, Shahin Zanboori,was arrested in the south-western city ofArak.Secret police detained Zanboori while

he was evangelising, sources toldCompass.While in prison hewas torturedduring interrogation and suffered a bro-ken arm and leg, but he told sources that


N E W S

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he “feltGod’s presence in spite of the hor-rific treatment he received.”

Compass Direct

Interfaith for families

Senior representatives of the Vaticanhave used the annual Pontifical Councilfor Inter-religious Dialogue message toMuslims for the end of the month ofRamadan to urge the two faiths to worktogether in promoting family life.The message bears the signatures of

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran andArchbishop Pier Luigi Celata, respec-tively president and secretary of the coun-cil, and has as its theme this year:“Christians and Muslims: Together forthe dignity of the family.”Themessage has been published in var-

ious languages. It identifies commoninterests in family and community issues.

Ekklesia

Guide for journalists

A new reference tool to help journalistsand broadcasters get up to speed on bibli-cal issues has been released by the BibleSociety.The Bible Style Guide is an 80-page

book packed with facts, figures, explana-tions and overviews to help media profes-sionals report Bible stories with confi-

dence. It answers basic journalistic ques-tions such as the number of books in theBible and howChristians deal with violenttexts in the Bible.It also has a 20-page glossary of biblical

terms and ideas going from Abraham toZionism, taking in creation, JudgementDay and Satan on theway. Aswell as tack-ling controversial issues, the style guidealso includes terms that are often misun-derstood.The Bible Society has launched an

accompanying blog for journalists andbroadcasters which tracks and commentson coverage of the Bible in the mediaaccessible at www.bitemybible.com.

Christian Today

Take a pew

A unique scheme that will ensure thefuture of historic church pews as house-hold furniture is being put in place in theEnglish Anglican Diocese of Hereford.The ground-breaking Take A Pew projectis being set up in partnership withHerefordshire Council, working withpeople with learning disabilities, andEnviroAbility, a local not-for-profitcompany.The project enables a church to re-use

pews and for members of the congrega-tion and others to buy a pew cut to theirown requirements for use in their ownhomes.“The result will be a unique and func-

tional piece of furniture that incorporatesan element of local history,” said MartinNeicho of EnviroAbility, who will admin-ister the scheme.Churches will be able to sell their

unwanted pews to those who want themat a reasonable price, rather than the pre-sent system which forces parishes to sellunwanted pews often at less than theirmarket value and to companies that go onto make a big profit.

Christian Today

Pop star supports gays

Leading evangelical Christian celebritySir Cliff Richard, 67, thinks the churchshould be supportive of committed gayrelationships and says he is sick of intru-sive speculation about his own sexuality.In his new autobiography, titled My

Life, MyWay, Sir Cliff has also spoken forthe first time about his friendship with aformer Roman Catholic priest withwhom he now shares his home and whohelps him manage his estate. The singerexplains in his book that he met John

McElynn seven years ago while on a tripto New York.“John and I have over time struck up a

close friendship. He has also become acompanion, which is great because I don’tlike living alone, even now. People oftenmake the mistake of thinking that onlymarriage equals happiness. I may sud-denly meet someone and feel differently,but right now I am not sure marriagewould enhance my happiness.”

Ekklesia

Hope for Pakistani Christians

By Melanie Menkevich

A landmark ruling in Pakistan hasallowed two Christian sisters to return totheir family, having been kidnapped andforcibly converted to Islam.Saba Younis, 13, and Aneela Younis,

10, were kidnapped on June 26 while ontheir way to visit their uncle. Their father,YounisMasih, is currently in a legal battleover their kidnapping.His case was initially presided over by

Main Naeem Sardar District andSessions Judge Muzaffargarh. Hegranted the girls’ custody to Falak SherGill, a known criminal, who allegedlyforced them to convert to Islam.The girls were then sent to “darul

aman” in Multan, Punjab, a place foryoung woman who are in need of safety,on July 29.

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On theAgenda


The family’s lawyer,Khalil Tahir, whois a fellow Christian and human rightsactivist, suspected that the girls’ had beenraped and sold. He asserted that if MrMasih’s case was not registered in his sec-tion soon, he would take “immediateaction.”The girls were present in court on 4

August, and the ruling was to be deter-mined by their account of the situation,and whether they were coerced into con-verting to Islam.On 9August, JusticeMalik Saeed Ejaz

ruled that Aneela be returned to her par-ents, while her sister Saba, who testified incourt that shewas 17 years old, was free tochoose between joining her sister andstaying with her new husband. Saba choseto stay with her family. According toRashid Rehman of the Human RightsCommission of Pakistan: “It’s normalbehaviour. She was tutored and brain-washed by the family of her husband Ali,and naturally they made up her mind thather parents will hurt her and treat herinhumanely. In fact that will never hap-pen. Her family is really peaceful, andremained so peaceful the whole time thecase was heard in high court.”Justice Ejaz’s ruling is a victory to

Christian families in Pakistan. “In myexperience they have not given us the cus-tody of minor girls even as young as nineyears old that have been declaredMuslim,” said lawyer Akbar Durrani. “Itis a legal victory.”According to Aftab Alexander

Mughal, editor ofMinorities Concern ofPakistan, religious minorities are only 3percent (Christians are only 1.5 per cent)of the total population of Pakistan and donot have equal rights.

Religious Intelligence, Assist

Jewish evangelism

By Eric Young

The theological arm of the WorldEvangelical Alliance has released a state-ment on Jewish evangelism in Europewith the hope of renewing commitmentto take the gospel to the Jews.

The Berlin Declaration, as the 1200-word document is called, came soon afteran August meeting on how the Christiancommunity might express genuine lovefor the Jewish people, especially inEurope.The consultation in Berlin involved 13

scholars from the WEA TheologicalCommission, key seminaries and otherorganisations. It also included practition-ers engaged in ministry among Jewishpeople, andChristians fromGermany andMessianic Jews.“It is our prayer that the Berlin

Declaration 2008, signed by the 13 mem-bers of the Task Force, will prove to beequally useful in supporting the work oftaking the gospel ‘to the Jew first’ and alsothe rest of the world,” said the WEATheological Commission’s executivedirector, Dr David Parker.He said the European setting of the

statement is particularly significant. “Wehope that this declaration will encouragemany Christians to see the importanceand biblical warrant for this importantministry,” he said.The declaration emphasises four main

points – the need for repentance, theproblemof sin, the solution to sin, and thecall for action.“We deeply regret the all too frequent

persecution of Jewish people in Jesus’name,” the declaration begins. “Duringthe genocide of the Holocaust, when theJewish people were in their greatest peril,most Christian believers were silent.

“Many more today feel embarrass-ment and shame for the general failure toprotest. As a result, there is an evidentinsecurity about relations with Jewishpeople. Also, there is a tendency toreplace direct gospel outreach withJewish-Christian dialogue.”But more than a Christian problem, it

is a problem of sin, which “affects allhumanity, both the persecutor and thesufferer”. And the solution, the task forcenoted, is found in recognising the unique-ness of Christ as the crucified, resurrectedand divine Messiah who alone can savefrom death and bring eternal life.“Christians are called to share this

good news, with sensitivity and humility,”the task force said.

Christian Post

Google in abortion backdown

By Jennifer Gold

The Christian Institute has welcomedthe decision byGoogle to allow religiousgroups to place adverts on the issue ofabortion after legal proceedings againstthe world’s biggest search engine weresettled “on amicable terms”.The group took legal action against

Google after it rejected an advertisementin March with its search related advertis-ing system, AdWords, which read: “UKabortion law: Key views and news onabortion law from The ChristianInstitute. www.christian.org.uk.”Google rejected the advert on the

grounds that it constituted “inappropriatecontent”. Although Google allowed non-religious websites to place adverts on theissue of abortion, it had at the time of thecourt proceedings a policy of not advertis-ing sites which combined “abortion andreligion-related content”.TheChristian Institute tookGoogle to

court in April, arguing that its decisionviolated the Equality Act 2006 which pro-hibits discrimination on grounds of reli-gion in the provision of a good or service.The court action led Google to recon-

sider its AdWords policy to enable TheChristian Institute and other religiousbodies to advertise on the issue of abor-tion in a “factual and campaigning way”.The new policy will apply worldwide

with immediate effect.The Christian Institute welcomed the

change. “This is an important issue of freespeech and religious liberty and we arepleased with Google’s constructiveresponse to this matter,” the group said.

Christian Today

Indian violence spreads

Awave of brutal attacks on Christians inIndia’s eastern state of Orissa hasunleashed yet more violence against

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believers in other parts of the country.The crisis in Orissa is the worst anti-

Christian violence in India since indepen-dence 60 years ago. It began over themur-der of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, alocal leader for the Vishwa HinduParishad (VHP), a radical Hindu group.Saraswati had campaigned against the con-version of Hindus to Christianity. Hinduextremists have dismissed a claim ofresponsibility from Maoist militants forhis murder and have blamed Christians.They have also refused to condemn thekillings of Christians.According toGospel for Asia (GFA),

churches are under attack in Jharkhandand Karnataka, a state on India’s westcoast.On one Sunday, at least 11 churches in

Karnatakawere destroyed byHindumobs.OneGFAmissionary reported that his

church had been set on fire by a mob ofextremists, while another GFA mission-ary said that extremists had smashed win-dows, lights and broken musical instru-ments in an attack on his church.“India is in a scary situation,” saysGFA

president, K.P. Yohannan. “But we knowthat, in the end, the future is brightbecause Jesus is with His church.”The Evangelical Fellowship of India

said that Hindu mobs had shot dead fourpolice officers and set fire to a police sta-tion inOrissa’s riot-hitKandhamal district.Christians continue to hold prayer

meetings and protests against the vio-lence. Thousands have sought refuge inmakeshift government camps.The Secretary General of the All

India Christian Council, John Dayal,said that the “military precision” ofattacks on churches in Mangalore,Karnataka, implied “meticulous” planningby the extremists.According to the Barnabas Fund, the

violence must be set in the context ofnumerous incidents of anti-Christian per-secution in India.It is feared that hard-line groups are

seeking to mobilise support before theelection that is due by May 2009. DrPatrick Sookhdeo, international directorof Barnabas Fund, said: “The shockingoutbreak of violence against Christians inOrissa draws our attention to the persecu-tion faced by many Indian Christians.There is a grave danger that this will inten-sify in various places as the national elec-tions approach.”

Christian Today, Barnabas Fund

Hamas figure converts

By Ethan Cole

The son of a topHamas leader has con-verted to Christianity and prays some dayhis family will also accept Jesus Christ astheir Saviour, according to an Israeli news-paper.Masab Yousef, son of West Bank

Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef,revealed for the first time in an interviewwith Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that hehas left Islam and is now a Christian.Before the interview’s publication inAugust, Yousef ’s family did not know ofhis faith conversion even though he is inregular contact with them.“This interview will open many peo-

ple’s eyes, it will shake Islam from theroots, and I’m not exaggerating,” saidYousef, who now lives in the UnitedStates. “What other case do you knowwhere a son of a Hamas leader, who wasraised on the tenets of extremist Islam,comes out against it?”Yousef, 30, was first exposed to

Christianity eight years ago while inJerusalem, where out of curiosity heaccepted an invitation to hear aboutChristianity. Afterwards, he became“enthusiastic” about what he heard andwould secretly read the Bible every day.“A verse like ‘Love thine enemy’ had a

great influence on me,” Yousef recalled.“At this stage I was still a Muslim and Ithought that I would remain one. But

every day I saw the terrible things done inthe name of religion by those who consid-ered themselves ‘great believers’.“I studied Islam more thoroughly and

found no answers there. I re-examined theKoran and the principals of the faith andfound how it is mistaken andmisleading.”But with Christianity, Yousef said he

could understand God as revealedthrough Jesus Christ. He said he couldtalk about God and Jesus for days, butMuslims are not able to say anythingabout God.“I consider Islam a big lie,” said Yousef.

“The people who supposedly representthe religion admired Mohammed morethan God, killed innocent people in thename of Islam, beat their wives and don’thave any idea what God is.”Four years ago, Yousef decided to con-

vert to Christianity but did not let hisfamily know. He still helped his fatherwith his political activities, and his fatheronly knew his son had Christian friends.Yousef described his father as a moder-

ate Hamas leader. But even before hisencounter with Christianity, Yousef hadalready become disenchanted withHamasand Islam after being imprisoned at theage of 18 years old for heading a youthIslamic movement at his high school.He described the Hamas leaders he

met in prison as people with “no morals”and “no integrity”, although they hidetheir corruption better than Fatah partymembers.“Nobody knows them and how they

operate as well as I do,” Yousef said, recall-ing how the family of Hamas memberskilled by Israel were forced to beg forfinancial assistance while the leadership“abandoned” them and “wasted” tens ofthousands of dollars a month only onsecurity for themselves.Hamas is considered a terrorist group

by the United States, Israel, and manyWestern countries. The group has publiclyvowed to destroy Israel.

Christian Post

N E W S


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It is interesting that the churches havehad little to say about the globalfinancial crisis and the behaviour thatcaused it. After all, it has put at risk

the lives of people throughout the worldno less than do abortion, euthanasia orgambling. And Christian faith, with itsinsights into sin and salvation, offers somerich material for reflection.Sin is popularly seen simply as the

breaking of God’s laws. But at a deeperlevel sin is the pursuit of values that sellyour humanity short. That pursuit typi-cally both corrodes your humanity andundermines the conditions that permityou to pursue cheap values. This processcan be seen in the financial crisis.The root of the financial crisis was

greed — seeking individual financial gainin ways that did not respect the commongood. The symbols of greed were spectac-ular. Monstrous salaries of CEOs, forexample, and takeovers that transferredfees to the engineers and debt to the com-panies.But greed was not confined to the top

end. Funds demanded that companiesproduce short-term profits, led in turn bytheir members who wanted spectacularsuperannuation growth.The way in which greed saps the

humanity of the greedy and injures thewelfare of ordinary human beings and ofsocieties is evident enough. It is lessrecognised that unfettered greed destroysthe conditions under which the marketitself can function and under which thegreedy can reward themselves.If they are to function, financial mar-

kets require confidence. They are basedon credit, and we give credit only to peo-ple whom we believe to be credible, andonly if we believe creditable the processesby which we give credit. If we believe thatpeople in the market are trying to rip usoff and can rely on shonky processes todo so, we shall refuse credit. Withoutcredit financial markets collapse.Greed alone does not destroy trust and

confidence. But it breeds a fatal lack ofresponsibility. We accept responsibilityfor our own gains but refuse responsibil-ity for others’ losses. The evasion ofresponsibility creates bad process. Wemake a legal and commercial framework

that diffuses responsibility.Whenwe needto reckon our debts and our credits, weshall be unable to do so. Confidence andcredit will disappear from the market.In this financial crisis evasion of

responsibility has been refined into an artform. The slicing of debt into instrumentsthat make it impossible to determine who

has responsibility is a clear example. So isthe propensity of banks to press moneyon those who cannot repay and the failureof boards to resign after approving poli-cies that gutted their companies andemployees.

So the wage of sin is the death of themarket and consequent real deaths in aworld that relies on credit. That is wherethe parallels with Christian theology getinteresting. There too the cycle of sinbegets irresponsibility, and irresponsibil-ity begets a doomed world. Salvationneeds to come from outside by the inter-vention of a beneficent Creator. He musttake responsibility for debts owed in analtruistic and painful way. Thus is theworking of greed and irresponsibilityhealed, doom averted, and credit restored.Sinners will be inspired to another andbetter way of life.It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The

Reserve takes on all bad debts, andmarketplayers are freed from the consequencesof their greed and irresponsibility. So sal-vation comes to the market whose devo-

tees henceforth eschew greed, are respon-sible, and look to the common good. Themarket can be trusted to regulate itself.Sound likely?Or in themarket does sal-

vationmerelymean that the greed and irre-sponsibility are spectacularly rewarded?In Christian faith, of course, there is

the little business of original sin. Peoplecontinue to sin, so that even after theycome to faith life is a school for learningaltruism. That experience suggests thatfinancial markets will continue to encour-age greed. So they need to be carefullystructured in order that they don’t foultheir own nest of confidence as well assmearing those who depend on them.Churches have a lot to say about mar-

kets. They ought to humour as childrenthose who tell us to trust the markets toregulate themselves. Greed is part of thehuman condition. It does not offer salva-tion. That is something altogether differ-ent and better.

Andrew Hamilton is the consulting editorfor online magazine Eureka Street, wherethis article first appeared. He also teaches atthe United Faculty of Theology inMelbourne. ap


Credit squeezeGreed exposed, the market’s credibility has plunged with share prices.

AndrewHamilton

F I N A N C I A L C R I S I S

So the wageof sin is thedeath of themarket andconsequentreal deaths ina world thatrelies oncredit.

:Worship with us atCharlevilleSt James Presbyterian Church76 Galatea St, Charleville, QLD

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Qeensland?

The Westminster Confession inchapter X on Effectual Callingdeclares that “Elect infants, dyingin infancy, are regenerated, and

saved by Christ, through the Spirit, whoworketh when, and where, and how Hepleaseth: so also are all other elect personswho are uncapable of being outwardlycalled by the ministry of the Word”.This is dealing with people – notably

infants and intellectually impaired persons– who cannot reasonably be expected tocome to an understanding of what itmeans to come to faith in Christ for sal-vation. Robert Shaw comments: “TheHoly Spirit usually works by means; andthe Word, read or preached, is the ordi-nary means which He renders effectual tothe salvation of sinners. But He hasimmediate access to the hearts of men,and can produce a saving change in themwithout the use of ordinary means. Asinfants are not fit subjects of instruction,their regeneration must be effected with-out means, by the immediate agency ofthe Holy Spirit on their souls.“There are adult persons, too, towhom

the use of reason has been denied. Itwould be harsh and unwarrantable to sup-pose that they are, on this account,excluded from salvation; and to such ofthem asGod has chosen, itmay be appliedin the same manner as to infants.”In other words, if we are justified by

faith in Christ alone, what does that meanfor an infant who dies at six months, whocannot exercise faith in Christ? And whatdoes that mean for someone who hasdementia, or whose intellectual facultiesare so damaged that he cannot understand

the simple gospel, or to someone who hassuffered brain damage, perhaps in a caraccident? Can God reach such persons?In the ruthless quest for perfection –albeit often clothed in the language ofbenevolence – modern society discards

thosewho do notmeasure up, andso practises theelimination ofthe unfit.Thankfully, theGod of the Bibleis the God whoreaches down tothe lowliest ofpeople to liftthem up into theheavenly places.There are

plenty who haveministered more effectively in this areathan I have, but it might be worth tellingsomething of what I have learned over theyears. Three things can be said with theutmost certainty:

First, God’s Word can reach where wecannot. In the region of the

Gerasenes, Jesus cast demons out of aman who was completely demented. Helived in the tombs, ran about naked, andwould shriek day and night. He cut him-self with stones, and was unfit for any

place in human society, but after our Lorddealt with him, he is described as “clothedand in his right mind” (Mark 5:15).Dealing with such a person is beyond

my experience, but over the Christmasbreak of 1976, I worked as a student pas-tor in a country town in New SouthWales. I was asked by one woman to visither mother who was living in a nursinghome in a town about an hour’s driveaway.Off I went, thinking that I would read

the Scriptures to a little old lady, and thenreturn to base. What the woman had nottold me was that her mother had demen-tia of some kind, and spent the whole dayin a room, jabbering away to herself.When I arrived, the rest of the people inthe room were watching television, andthe old woman was jabbering away, mak-ing no sense at all, and notmaking any eyecontact with anyone. I introduced myself,to no avail, and then looked around theroom for some help or guidance – or per-haps just a little sympathy.The woman continued to stare ahead

and talk nonsense at a rapid rate. Finally, Idecided to read the Scriptures.Immediately, she stopped jabbering, andstarted to nod her head in agreement.When I tried to explain theWord, she jab-bered again, so I went back to reading theScriptures without comment. All the restof the residents in the room stoppedwatching the television – a minor miraclein itself – and watched and listened to uswith deep intensity. The episode went onfor some time – I read chapters and chap-ters from John’s Gospel, and she wouldnod agreement and say “Yes”. If I tried to


In God’s graspDisability or incapacity does not put people beyond God’s grace.

PeterBarnes

D I S A B L E D

Modernsociety

discards thosewho do notmeasure up,

and sopractises the

elimination ofthe unfit.

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do anything else – like explain theScriptures or pray – she returned to herincoherent jabbering.Finally, of course, I had to leave, and

the woman returned to her full-time jab-bering. But I had witnessed a vividdemonstration of the truth that God canminister His Word in circumstanceswhere we can do nothing. The Word ofGod is living and active, sharper than anytwo-edged sword (Heb.4:12); it haspower from another world.

Second, the sacrament of the Lord’sSupper can minister where we cannot.God has left usHisWord as onemeans ofgrace, but He has also given us the sacra-ment or ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.Horatius Bonar writes of the Christian’sexperience of the Supper:Here,OmyLord, I see Thee face to face;Here would I touch and handle things

unseen.Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal

grace,And all my weariness upon Thee lean.Further on, he says:Feast after feast thus comes and passes by,Yet, passing, points to the glad feast

above,Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,The Lamb’s great bridal feast of bliss and

love.In the Supper, Christ uses physical

emblems to point us to spiritual truths –including the truth of the resurrection ofthe body.Sometimes the Supper can speak in a

surprising way. I once celebrated a homecommunion with a wonderful Christianman struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.He seemed to follow the Word okay, butafter the sacrament he suddenly put hisarms around the other elder and myself,and prayed that within his limitations hewould be able to love and serve God, andthanked Him for all the precious memo-ries of past friends and fellow believers.The Supper played some part in minister-ing to this Christian man, and bringingsomething of heaven to him.Christ left uswith this permanent memorial of Hisdeath for good reason. We proclaim theLord’s death till He comes again – and doso in the ministry of the Word to the ear,and of the sacrament to the eye and taste.

Third, Christian songs canminister in away that we cannot. In 2004 John

Wessells published a book entitledConversations with the Voiceless: FindingGod’s Love in Life’s Hardest Questions.JohnWessells has a ministry to those whoare comatose and brain-damaged in hospi-

tal wards. He carries this out by reading,speaking, praying, and singing and playingChristian songs. Wessells tells a numberof heart-warming and touching storiesfrom his ministry. For example, acomatose man once tapped his foot inperfect time to Wessells’ guitar-playing,and another youngman later toldWessellshow he had become a Christian while in a

coma, and had heard every word thatWessells had said and sung to him. Music,says Wessells, is “one of the languages ofthe voiceless”.Every Monday during school term, I

teach Scripture to a class of very disabledchildren. Most cannot speak at all, andnone can wield a pencil or a crayon. AScripture lesson along normal lines is sim-

ply out of the question. I play the guitarand sing Scripture songs to them, taking aminute or two to explain each song. We –or to be more accurate, I – sing Wide,Wide as the Ocean; The Wise Man BuiltHis House Upon the Rock; I am the Way,the Truth and the Life; and other suchsongs.I am never sure what sinks in and what

doesn’t, but one day news came that oneof the children had died. I talked aboutdeath, and how Jesus rose from the dead.Then we sang Jesus loves me, this I know,for the Bible tells me so. The children werenot at all articulate but they knew some-thing, and I do not expect to experiencesuch a song again till I hear the 10,000times 10,000 angels sing in heaven,Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, toreceive power and wealth and wisdom andstrength and honour and glory and praise!(Rev. 5:11).Therewill be situations in life wherewe

may be tempted to think that God cannotrenew the mind of a fellow human being.We ought to remind ourselves that God isfar greater than our conception of Him.His Spirit can minister to the spirits ofHis elect, byHisWord, byHis sacrament,and by music.

Peter Barnes is minister of RevesbyPresbyterian Church, NSW. ap

I do notexpect toexperiencesuch a songagain till Ihear the10,000 times10,000 angelssing in heaven.

OCTOBER 200821 Scottsdale charge Tas. including

Bridport, with about 80 c&a (commu-nicants and adherents), 30 yf (youngerfolk – Sunday School and youth) and ,5 e (elders); Greg and CatherineMunro.

22 Ballina charge for northern NSW withabout 185 c&a, 65 yf and 4 e; Hamishand Jo Burke, Jeff Keighley.

23 Presbytery of Bass, north Tasmania –4 charges and 3 special (home mis-sion) charges totaling 16 congrega-tions with about 700 c&a and 135 yf,1 retired minister and 1 under jurisdic-tion. Muriel Bissett clerk.

24 Warwick and Natalie Short missionpartners (APWM) workers fromBundoora, Vic. going to Niger, westAfrica with SIM International to workamong Fulani and Wodabe people.

25 Creek Road (Carina) charge Brisbanewith about 285 c&a, 270 yf and 14 e;Jens and Louise Norved.

26 The pupils, staff and council ofFairholme College, Toowoomba, Qld.Mr J. S. Klan principal, Richard Jessupchaplain.

27 Mark Smith recently ordained andDrouin, eastern Victoria charge, andDanielle, with about 220 c&a, 78 yfand 16 e.

28 Mark Mitchell recently inducted, andLyndal, at Strathfield charge Sydneywith about 80 c&a, 30 yf and 4 e.

29 North Links home mission station,Helensvale, Qld Gold Coast withabout 70 adherents; John Evans.

30 Praise God for the rediscovery of thegospel and renewal of the church inthe reformation on the 1500s; praythat the Lord may renew the churchagain in the 2100s.

31 Pray for the Western AustralianAssembly today and tomorrow, Stuart

Bonnington, Moderator, GlennMuskett clerk, all office-bearers teach-ing, fellowship debates and decisions.

NOVEMBER 20081 Para Hills, Norwood charge, Adelaide

with about 100 c&a, 40 yf and 6 e -includng the work of Prezra trainingclasses; Reg and Elaine Mathews.

2 Ararat charge western Vic. with about30 c&a and 4 e; Ian and Ann Hutton.

3 Presbytery of the Hunter NSW – 9charges and 5 home mission stationstotaling 24 congregations with about1450 c&a and 325 yf, 2 missionaries, 1defense chaplain, 1 hospital chaplain, 5retired ministers and 1 under jurisdic-tion. John Seaton clerk.

4 Pittwater charge Newport, northernSydney with about 55 c&a, 5 yf and 8e; Philip and Helen Rawlings.

5 Richard and AnnWilson mission part-ners (APWM) workers fromAnnerley, Brisbane. He is pastoralcoordinator for Indian ReformedFellowship – Australia assistingreformed church in India.

6 Wilston Newmarket-Windsor charge,Brisbane with about 75 c&a, 20 yf and4 e; Stuart and Cathy Atkinson.

7 Mr K S mission partners (APWM)worker from Tasmania in South EastAsia with Asian OutreachInternational involved in outreach andtraining ministries.

8 Lesleigh Hall and Sharan as he takesup the role of Administrator Managerat Queensland church offices, forti-tude valley Brisbane after 20 years inpastoral ministry in the Gatewaycharge.

9 Nicole Linklater mission partners(APWM) worker from Epping,Sydney with WEC Internationalinvolved in evangelism through story-telling, literacy and community healthin Chad, West Africa.

10 Michael and Katie Woodruff missionpartners (APWM) workers fromBlaxland NSW in East Asia withOverseas Missionary Fellowshipinvolved in teaching and physiother-apy.

11 Bassendean home mission stationPerth with about 50 c&a, 10 yf and 1 ethe need for more elders, the Englishcollege; Ross and Sue Fraser.

12 All our defense force chaplains – fulltime and part time. Allan Harmanchaplaincy convener.

13 Presbytery of Melbourne East – 15charges totaling 18 congregations withabout 1335 c&a and 450 yf, 1 mission-ary, 1 defense chaplain, 2 school chap-lains, 3 retired ministers and 4 underjurisdiction. Kevin Childs clerk.

14 Noel and Catherine Carpenter missionpartners (APWM) workers fromHobart with Wycliffe BibleTranslators involved in aviation.

15 Capricorn Coast home mission sta-tion, Yeppoon near Rockhampton,Qld. Michael and Annita Campbell.

16 Manly charge Sydney with about 180c&a, 25 yf and 23 e; Derek and Bullenincluding the Brazilian congregation –Wilson Fernandez.

17 Ian and Dorcas mission partners(APWM) workers from Albury areain South Asia with Red Sea Teaminvolved in medical workand encour-aging Bible study.

18 The production, circulation andimpact of church periodicals such asthe Australian Presbyterian, Pulse(NSW) andNew Directions (Qld).

19 John and Kairine Woldhuis missionpartners (APWM) workers fromRandwick, Sydney in Ecuador withSIM International involved in assistinglocal churches.

20 Chester Hill charge Sydney with about40 c&a and 5 e; Luke and Hae Ja Yoo.

E V A N G E L I S ME V A N G E L I S MP R A Y E R

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Vintage JesusMark DriscollCrossway: Illinois, 2008.Reviewed by Mark Powell

No matter what I say next about thisbook someone’s going to strongly

disagree. Unfortunately that’s the kind ofeffect that Mark Driscoll has on the evan-gelical community and his latest book,Vintage Jesus, will be no exception. In anattempt to be “balanced” I’ll make twopositive and then two negative comments.First the positive. Driscoll is in my

opinion one of the most gifted (andfunny) Christian communicators in theworld today. Coupled with that, beingbased on a series of talks he had originallygiven, the book exhibits the same lucidstyle and fast pace for which Driscoll hasbecome renowned.Second, the book is theologically accu-

rate and insightful. Driscoll covers mostof the core doctrines of theChristian faithwith an exemplary clarity. Each chaptercontains much to be edified and chal-lenged by, although I don’t think he hasconvincedme of every false understandinghe dismisses as to what some have taughtregarding the virgin birth.Now for the negative.ManyChristians

will find the language Driscoll uses attimes to be extremely offensive. (So thatthe editor of AP is not inundated withcomplaints I will refrain from giving spe-cific examples.) Nothing would have beenlost if he had simply been more circum-spect in how he expressed himself.What’s more, in the light of all of the

present confusion and controversy sur-rounding the issue of justification by faithalone I was disappointed that he com-pletely ignored the subject. When speak-ing about the fundamental beliefs ofChristianity I was surprised that thisaspect was not specifically addressed.Instead, Driscoll clouds the issue byrepeatedly asserting that “most Catholicsare Christians”.In the end I came away from reading

Vintage Jesus both greatly encouraged andat the same time feeling a little uneasy. Iwas on the one hand tremendouslyuplifted because the truths he was pre-senting were laid out in such a clear andcompelling way that I don’t know howanyone could not be moved and strength-

ened to trust and serve Jesus. Butmy feel-ing of unease would not go away becausehe uses certain phrases and illustrationsthat I just don’t think God’s Holy Spiritwants us to use (see Eph. 4:29 and 5:4).This is a great shame because for many

this otherwise excellent book will be sig-nificantly damaged as a result.

Mark Powell is associate minister atCornerstone Presbyterian CommunityChurch, Concord, NSW.

Children in ChurchLynda BayneReviewed by Stuart Bonnington

Lynda Bayne is a member of theAshburton Grace Presbyterian

Church ofNewZealand and was in atten-dance with her husbandDavid (theminis-ter of that congregation) at the 2007meeting of the General Assembly of thePresbyterian Church of Australia.Children in Church covers why we

teach children in worship and how we goabout it. It is filled with practical hints toencourage children in worship and inchurch. This booklet has a very gentle andloving tone and is highly recommended.To obtain a copy go towww.gracepresbyterianchurch.org.nz.

Stuart Bonnington is minister of Scot’s Kirk,Fremantle.

The Faith OnceDeliveredEdited by Antony T. SelvaggioPresbyterian and Reformed, 2007.Reviewed by Stuart Bonnington

This book is the first in a series entitledThe Westminster Assembly and the

Reformed Faith, with Dr Carl Trueman asseries editor. This series is being gener-ated by the work of the Craig Centre forthe Study of the Westminster Standardsestablished by Westminster TheologicalSeminary in Philadelphia. On the basis ofthis current volume it promises to be amost helpful series of books indeed.The Faith Once Delivered has been

published to mark the retirement of oneof the leading modern Reformed system-atic theologians, Dr Wayne Spear. He isnot well known here, but his TheTheology of Prayer is simply fantastic.The Faith Once Delivered has 10 chap-

ters dealing with various aspects of thegreat themes and theology of theWestminster Confession by such distin-

guished writers as Richard Gaffin, CarlTrueman, Joel Beeke, (Australia’s own)Rowland Ward and Dan Hart. In broadterms chapters 1, 8, 11, 12, 20 of theConfession are dealt with, but surpris-ingly there is no index of the sections ofthe Confession touched on.

IsaiahAllan HarmanFearn: Christian Focus, 2005.Reviewed by Peter Barnes

This commentary sat on my shelvesfor rather too long before I got

around to reading it. That was my loss.This is the most helpful work on Isaiahthat I have read. It picks up the flowof the book in a way that is most illu-minating, and which is not always pre-sent in other commentaries.Instead of viewing Isaiah as a series

of wonderful but isolated texts – as weso often do – Allan Harman takes usthrough the sections on judgment(Isa.1-35) to the book of comfort (Is.40-66), with a transition in between (Is.36-39). Beginning with the brokencovenant with Judah in chapter 1, weend with Zion triumphant in chapter66. Like Barry Webb, Allan sees Isaiah61 as a fifth servant song, to go withIsaiah 42, 49, 50, and 53. This is all donewith a sure hand. There is deep schol-arship and understanding here, but alsoclear explanations along the way.Harman on Isaiah is to be recom-

mended most heartily. One can onlypray that there will be more commen-taries of a similar standard to come.

Peter Barnes is books editor of AP.

All books reviewed are available from theReformers Bookshop – Phone: (02) 95699857 or visit www.reformers.com.au ap

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Listen & buy at www.mmusic.com.au


Fewer and fewer people know theBible, even among those with reli-gious commitment. The latestNational Church Life Survey of

500,000 people across 22 denominationsshows a whopping 59 per cent of respon-dents read the Bible only occasionally,rarely or never at all.But whywould you bother reading it if

you didn’t have some belief that thewords of the good Book were true?Whatcould motivate you to wade your waythrough those strange, cigarette-paperpages?To my mind, there are still plenty of

reasons to bother with the Bible. But atleast one is indisputable, and it reveals agaping hole in the Australian educationalexperience. You need to know the Bible inorder to understand the history, literatureand arts ofWestern culture. In fact, it is aneducational and cultural tragedy that theBible has quietly disappeared from theschooling experience of manyAustralians.

In the US, a major project to restorebiblical literacy is under way, called theBible Literacy Project. It is a joint ven-ture of Jewish and Christian educatorsintended to “encourage and facilitate theacademic study of the Bible in publicschools”. In a country where religion and

public education mix like oil and water, itis no mean feat they have got their text-book, The Bible And Its Influence, intothe curriculum in 40 states, and count-ing.

The projecthad its own sta-tistical ground-ing. AGallup Pollfor the projectfound only 37 percent of Americanhigh school stu-dents couldrecognise any ofJesus’ wordsfrom the Sermonon the Mount(Australia wouldhave to beworse). And yet

98 per cent of English teachers surveyedagreed that knowing the Bible delivered adistinct academic advantage in the studyof English literature.I know it first-hand. I was the only one

in my first year tutorial who understood

what the title of John Bunyan’s book,Grace Abounding To The Chief Of Sinnerswas about. (You need to be familiar withthe first letter to Timothy, chapter one,verse 16, to get it.) And I laughed alone atthe joke inWaiting ForGodotwhenone ofthe tramps says, “One of the thieves wassaved. It’s a reasonable percentage.” (SeeJesus’ crucifixion in the Gospel of Luke,chapter 23.) Two ticks to the boy with theSunday school upbringing.We need something similar to the

Bible Literacy Project, something thatenables the teaching of the Bible in theEnglish, art, music and history class-rooms. An Australian version of the pro-ject would see discussion of Les Murray,TimWinton and John Coburn in place ofEmerson, Melville and Abraham Lincoln.But the backbone is there in theAmerican work: a textbook that respectsthe content and structure of the Bible,Hebrew and Christian, and then seeks tocommunicate to students its vast signifi-cance for understanding the Western tra-dition, and more.

There’s no need to be sidetracked bysix-day creationism, or Zionism, or

the subtleties of denominational differ-ences. This is about teaching the Bible inthe same way that you teach scales forlearning a musical instrument, or thecolour palette for painting. It’s necessaryto the whole task of understanding whatis going on in our culture, literature, andhistory.I have a vested interest in biblical liter-

acy; after all, I’m a Christian and I thinkthere’s something to the big, unfoldingstory it tells. But I’m also a literary acade-mic, and I can’t bear the biblical ignorancestudents display. Regardless of whetheryou find something alive and kicking inthe Scriptures, there is a strong argumentit should be somewhere near the founda-tion of Australian education.

Greg Clarke is a director of the Centre forPublic Christianity in Sydney and the direc-tor of the Macquarie Christian StudiesInstitute at Macquarie University. This arti-cle first appeared in the Sydney MorningHerald. ap

B A C K P A G E

Back to basicsWhy we should teach the Bible in all our schools.

GregClarke

This is aboutteaching theBible in the

same way thatyou teachscales forlearning a

musicalinstrument.

Documents

Nicholas Aroney • Credit squeeze • In God's grasp