AP Australia’s reformedevangelical periodical

SUMMER 2016/17AUSTRALIAN PRESBYTERIAN

By designEloquent absence

A frustrated pastor

Staying true

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Editorialindisposed. He records that the Lordcaused his conscience to reflect uponthis query: “Wherefore (meaning “Forwhat reason”, not “Where”) servest thou,unprofitable creature?” Young Blairrecorded – or older Blair remembered:“I, not being able to answer, lookingout at a window, I saw the sun brightlyshining, and a cow with a full udder. Ithought with myself, I know that [the]sun was made to shine and give light tothe world, and that [the] cow was madeto give milk to nourish me, and the like;but being still ignorant wherefore [i.e. “asto why”] I was made, I went pensive upand down that gallery wherein I was.”

Contemplating the place of a cow inthe cosmic scheme of things led the six-year old to think of the kirk where sucha mystery might be disclosed. Thus itwas that not long after this experience,

young Blair found himself in the localkirk where the preacher was an Englishminister who had been censured by thebishops, and was heading for Ireland.His text was “But as to me, it is good tome to draw near to God” (Psalm 73:28).

Blair wrote later: “These words, beingthe text whereon he was preaching, hevery often repeated in his sermon; andevery time my heart was much affectedtherewith. I consented to that truth,and heartily approved it, and thought,verily, the Lord had given me theanswer of the query that my consciencehad made a little before”.

It is not given to all to contemplate acow and to be drawn near to God, butit is yet another illustration of the truththat the creation rightly viewed will pointus to the Creator of heaven and earth.

Peter Barnes

Editor Peter Barnes | Social Media Coordinator Rosemary Timmins | Website ap.org.au | Online Blog apmagonline.orgFacebook facebook.com/apmagonline

Making disciplesacross Australia

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Effective 3 June 2016

Robert Blair (1593-1666) was oneof the 2000 Puritan pastors whowere ejected from the national

church in England in 1662. To be moreexact, he left early, as he was forced toresign his charge in late 1661. His fatherhad died when Robert was very young,and his mother was left a widow fornearly 50 years. He does not seem tohave been raised in a particularly religioushousehold, and his mother onlyprofessed conversion much later in life.

About the age of six, Robert was leftalone in the house in Irvine, Ayrshire,one Lord’s Day as he was feeling

Designer World

SUMMER 2016/17 3

Professor Stuart Burgess isProfessor of Engineering Designat the University of Bristol (UK).

He was an assistant director of researchat Cambridge University where he hasalso lectured. He has published morethan 150 secular papers on the scienceof design and has been co-editor of theInternational Journal of Design andNature. He has received numerousnational and international awards forhis contribution to his field of science.He recently headed the Britishengineering team that redesigned thetransmission chains and chain wheelsfor the British Olympic Cycling Teamthat won six gold, four silver and abronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Professor Burgess has written severalChristian books including Hallmarks ofDesign, The Design & Origin of Manand He Made the Stars Also. These bookscan be obtained from PTC Media (seewww.ptc.edu.au). He is married toJocelyn and has five children.

Stuart, why do you think thesubject of design is such a usefulline of argument to pursue whenengaging people today about theexistence of God?

I think it’s useful because it’s self-evidentthat design reveals a designer. I was

once involved in the design of the world’slargest civilian satellite, Envisat – it wasaround 30 metres in length andweighed about 10 tonnes. It was anenormous and complex project. Tosuggest that a space-ship involving thecomplexity of this satellite materialisedfrom nowhere just doesn’t make sense.It was the result of years of meticulousplanning by highly trained experts.

More recently I led a team oftechnicians, research associates andstudents at Bristol University indesigning the transmission system forthe British Olympic cycling team. Wespent two years designing and testingchains and chain wheels that wouldprovide the team with the mostefficient device. If anyone suggestedthat the design of this transmissionsystem was a purely random processthat would be ridiculous! We spentmore than 1000 hours in the lab alonetrialing and perfecting it. We knowfrom experience that things like thisjust don’t happen randomly orhaphazardly, especially when they arevery complex.

Of course, the world itself is a far morecomplex system than a satellite or atransmission device for a bicycle. Ithink that the sophisticated design and

fine-tuning that we see in the worldpoints convincingly to a designer.

Interestingly, the Bible itself teachesthat we can see evidence of God’spower and nature in the world: “Forsince the creation of the world God’sinvisible qualities – His eternal powerand divine nature – have been clearlyseen, being understood from what hasbeen made, so that men are withoutexcuse” (Rom 1:20). I believe that theBible is correct when it says that thenatural world is like a second book. Ofcourse, the Bible is the most importantbook; it describes everything we needto know about God and His purposes.But the natural world is another book,and it tells us that there is a Creator,and it reveals His attributes too.

So today, with microscopes andtelescopes, the design argument isclearer than it has ever been. In fact, it’sa powerful argument in favour of God’sexistence. Incidentally, it’s not a newargument. It has been around for a longtime and was made famous in the moremodern period by a British scholar,William Paley, more than 200 years ago.

With around 20% of the adultpopulation now claiming to beatheists, do you think that thedesign argument carries muchweight?

I think it does in the light of modernscientific discoveries. For example, inmore recent times microbiologists havediscovered that the living cell has all the

From beauty toDNA, the evidencefor intelligentdesign is growing

Professor Stuart Burgess talks to Peter Hastie

“With microscopes and telescopes, the designargument is clearer than ever. It’s a powerfulargument in favour of God’s existence.”

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evidence of complex design. It consistsof genetic material and many intricatebiological “machines”, all of which arenecessary to preserve the functions andlife of the cell.

When you look through a powerfulmicroscope you can see how all thesesmall machines must act in concert andperform their various functions in acoordinated manner for the cell tosurvive.

Even biologists who believe in evolutionsometimes admit that it takes enormousfaith to believe that those little molecularmachines evolved by chance. There areso many separate processes taking placesimultaneously in each “machine” thatit is impossible to explain how theycould occur randomly, especially whenyou realise that they are far more complexand inter-related than the workings of alarge, fully automated factory.

So, are you suggesting thatevolutionists are the ones withblind faith?

Precisely! It is far more difficult toexplain the operation of their modelthan it is to believe in God as a designer.

It’s important to realise that whateverwe believe about origins is ultimately amatter of faith. The original creation wasan unrepeatable event and only God wasthere to witness it. Further, since wecannot repeat the creation of the universein a controlled experiment, we have noway of obtaining scientific data thatconclusively proves either special creationor evolution. Both positions require faith.

My point is simply this: I think it takesextraordinary faith to believe that thisincredible, beautiful, complex andordered world could come about justby chance. I believe that evolutionistslack convincing evidence for their theory,

particularly in the light of what we arenow learning about microbiology andinformation theory. All that we havelearned about the nature of design inmore recent times makes the argumentfor an intelligent Designer even morecredible than before.

What do you hope to achieve bygoing down this route of arguingabout intelligent design?

First of all, I want to give believersconfidence. There are lots of peoplewho believe that the Bible is theauthoritative Word of God, butsometimes they lose confidence inbelieving. For example, many Christianshave been told either at school or inuniversity that so-called “science” hasproved the Genesis account of creationto be incorrect. So I want to give believersconfidence that what they believe isreasonable; it is not implausible at all.

Second, I also want to challengeunbelievers. I don’t think any of myarguments will convert an unbeliever,but I think God can use some of mycomments on the design argument to

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remove objections to the Gospel andwork in people’s hearts. And so I hopethat people will realise that intelligentdesign is a respectable position that hasboth scientific and biblical support andwarrants their attention.

I also understand that providingpersuasive arguments in favour of aCreator is not the same as showing thatthe Creator is the God of the Bible.However, having said that, I believethat the design of the earth shows thatthe Creator is a “caring” God and thisopens the door for me to show how Hesupremely cares for us through thedeath and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Finally, I want to speak up for academicscientists too, because I’m surprisedhow many of them are actuallysympathetic to intelligent design. Manywill never say that in their lectures or inthe media. They are often scared toadmit it because of the professionalconsequences for them that may follow.

However, from my conversations withscientists I believe the media give thewrong impression that all scientistsreject intelligent design. It is just nottrue. The idea that all scientists sidewith Richard Dawkins is nonsense. So Iwant to speak up for many academicscientists who acknowledge that it’sreasonable to believe that there must besome intelligence behind the creationof this world and it’s intellectuallyrespectable to do so.

So, are you saying that there aresubstantial numbers of academicscientists who believe inintelligent design?

I am saying there are far more than weare led to believe. Although they maynot necessarily believe in the Bible, theyare nevertheless sympathetic to intelligentdesign. When I was working atCambridge, my supervisor was ProfessorMichael Ashby. He was a Fellow of theRoyal Society and a very famous seniorprofessor there. He was an agnostic.However, about 20 years ago he wrotein the introduction of one of his mainbooks that he knew that there weresome scientists who believed in divinedesign and others who didn’t, and hethought it was fine to have either view.He is just one example of many

academics who are open to the idea ofintelligent design. Unfortunately themedia today don’t portray that reality.

You’ve mentioned one of themajor contributors to the designargument, William Paley. Does hehave anything to contribute tothis debate today, since he livedmore than 200 years ago?

I have read many of the more recentbooks on intelligent design, but I stillthink that William Paley remainsrelevant. I feel that a lot of modernintelligent design proponents do notgive Paley due credit for his impressivework. Paley spoke of irreduciblecomplexity (although not using thatexact term) and the fact thatsophisticated machines have so manyintricate and specific parts that there isno possibility that they could havecome about by chance. He used amechanical watch as an analogy.

However, he also referred to manyother more complex biological systemssuch as the human body, and heshowed a great deal of insight into itscomplexity and design. Paley was alsovery good at anticipating objections.So, for example, he said it wouldn’tinvalidate his conclusion of design ifyou had never seen things designed, orif you’d never seen the designer. So hehad a very systematic way of presentingthe design argument, and I think it’sstill an illuminating text for people toread today.

Where do you start with yourargument on design when you’retalking to people who believe thatwe evolved from earlier forms oflife through natural selection?

I think human beings are one of themost compelling pieces of evidence forintelligent design. Many people don’trealise that human beings are“purposefully over-designed”. We aredesigned for so much more than justsurviving and reproducing. Forinstance, we have hands that aredesigned for much more than merely

hurling a spear or throwing a punch.Human hands have pinch grips and anetwork of very fine muscles. They areobviously designed for very intricatetasks, like playing musical instruments,writing, painting, surgery and doingvery delicate craft work. And that’sexactly what you’d expect if Adam andEve were created in God’s image to be acreative beings and stewards of thecreation. But our great skills andintelligence are not what you’d expect ifwe had just evolved by mere chance tobe hunter-gatherers.

It’s often said today that there’snot a great deal of differencebetween human beings and otherlower primates such as apes ormonkeys, and we actually share asignificant amount of DNA incommon. How do you respond tothat?

The media often say that there’s only a5% or so difference between thegenome of the chimpanzee and ahuman being. But that doesn’t reallymean anything. As a scientist and anexpert in design, I know that you don’tcompare two systems in that way.

It is interesting that the media rarelytell us that we have significantsimilarities in our genome with abanana (because we share some of thesame biochemistry). I don’t recallreading any articles suggesting that weare somehow related to bananas! I thinkwe need to be critically aware of whatwe read or hear in the media.

The same goes for our supposedrelation to chimpanzees. Having somesimilarities in our genome to monkeysdoesn’t really prove anything. If we aregoing to make a meaningfulcomparison between two differentcreatures it is better to look at ourdifferent capabilities. The simple truthis that we are vastly different tochimpanzees in terms of our differentfunctionalities. In some ways, we are100% different to a chimpanzee. InEnglish we have up to one million

“John Maynard Smith, a very prominentevolutionist, once admitted that he thoughtbeauty was the biggest problem for evolution.”

words in our vocabulary. Chimpanzeeshave no words in their vocabulary. Wewalk on two legs; chimpanzees arequadrupeds. We are completelydifferent in many other ways too.

Does this make a lot of differencebetween humans andchimpanzees?

Yes, it makes a huge difference. Theability to distinguish words and tospeak makes a profound difference toour lives. We have an ability tocommunicate abstract thoughts;chimpanzees can’t do this. It meansthey have a completely different life tohuman beings. So yes, when you lookat the functionality of humans andchimpanzees, you see a vast differencebetween the two different species.

What are some of the easiestways to introduce the argumentfor intelligent design?

I find one of the easiest is asking peopleto consider the idea of beauty. It can bevisual beauty, for example, a peacocktail feather, or musical beauty, as withbird song. People enjoy beauty and theycan relate to it very easily. What mostof them don’t realise is that the realityof beauty is an enormous challenge toevolution, so that’s the one I’ve mostenjoyed presenting on.

Why do you say beauty is such achallenge to the theory ofevolution?

First, I think it’s important that peoplerealise that I am not the only onemaking this claim; evolutionistsacknowledge it themselves.

John Maynard Smith, a very prominentevolutionist, once admitted that hethought beauty was the biggestproblem for evolution. The reason isthis: beauty requires a lot ofinformation, a lot of precise planning,and an immense amount of energy andcreativity to produce.

You can see this in the beauty of a

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cathedral or a great painting. And whenyou see embellishment or beauty thathas no physical function at all – it ismerely serving an aesthetic ordecorative purpose – then that becomesa very powerful evidence of design.Evolutionists believe that life hasevolved or developed due to thesurvival instinct. The problem is thatbeauty is unnecessary for survival. Sowhere did it come from? Beauty onlyexists because of the activity of adesigner.

If you look at the patterns in a peacockfeather – the mathematical shapes, thebright colours – such intricate beautyrequires an immense amount ofintelligence, information and planning.It must have come from somewhere.The question is: where? Either it was anintelligent and talented source, or therewere some bizarre accidents of naturethat produced this beauty. However, noone has yet successfully explained howsuch intricate beauty could come aboutby chance. The existence of beauty is aproblem that evolutionists have notbeen able to solve.

So do you think that one of thereasons why people are reluctantto accept the design argument isthat we simply do not thinkenough?

No, I don’t think that’s the realproblem. The desire to understand thebeginning of the universe and humanorigins has prompted an enormousamount of research and thought overthousands of years. So a lack of thoughtdoes not explain the resistance that weoften meet to the concept of intelligentdesign.

From my experience of having haddebates and discussions with mycolleagues and the general public onthis subject for more than 20 years, Ihave come to realise that people todayresist the idea of a Supreme Creator.They want to be free of any outside

control and constraints, and the idea ofa Creator frustrates their plans.

Of course, if there is a Creator and Hemakes something, it is reasonable tobelieve that He does it for a purpose.And if God has a will and a purpose,this also implies that He will judgethose who violate His will. And this isthe nub of the problem: people resentthe fact that God the Creator will oneday judge them for resisting His willand purpose.

The very idea that God is Creator is avery big problem for people whobelieve they are autonomous and havethe right to live as they choose,especially when this belief is theirfundamental driver in life. Thisexplains their worldview and theiratheism. They don’t want to believethat there is a Creator.

A big problem with modern secularscience is that there is a worldview thatsays that God must be excluded fromscience, no matter what the evidenceshows. There’s actually a famousquotation from the Journal of Nature,where a scientist said that even if all thedata in the world pointed to an intelligentdesigner, he would still reject it becausethat is not a naturalistic explanation.

Some atheists are simply not interestedconsidering evidence for intelligentdesign. So I think the ultimate reasonwhy people choose atheism and itsaccount of origins is that they don’t wantto believe in a Creator and a Judge.

Peter Hastie is the principal of thePresbyterian Theological College of Victoria.

“The ultimate reason why people chooseatheism and its account of origins is thatthey don’t want to believe in a Creatorand a Judge.”

Professor Stuart Burgess

SUMMER 2016/17 7

The headlines are rarely silent forlong these days on the subjectof man’s origins. Missing links

seem to be the holy grail of palaeoanthro-pology, as if we are desperate to showthat we arrived on this planet by purechance. Of course, the Christian willrecognise that God is Sovereign over allthings, so many will assume that Godmust have used the processes of timeand chance to create. Others argue thatthe Bible says God created in six daysand since He is all-powerful-and-all-knowing, the Christian should simplybelieve it. But doesn’t that put scienceand faith in conflict? A key element ofthis debate is the so-called “missinglinks”.

The story of evolution attempts toexplain the existence of the entireuniverse by natural processes throughcosmic evolution (formation of starsand galaxies), geological evolution(formation of planets and earth inparticular), chemical evolution (originof first life), biological evolution

(diversity arising from the firstprimordial cell) and finally, humanevolution (the development of humansfrom a common ancestor with the apes).

But any account constrained to naturalprocesses a priori excludes thepossibility of a supernatural cause forthe existence of everything. In otherwords, it is inherently atheistic becauseit assumes there is no God and thisassumption becomes the axiom onwhich the entire philosophicalconstruct of evolution rests. Christianswho assume God used evolution do sobecause it is assumed that the science isirrefutably established. Surely the fossilrecord shows clear evidence of a gradualdevelopment of life forms from simpleto complex over vast periods of timeculminating in the arrival of humanbeings? If this is true, the Christian hasno choice but to try and fit this historyof life into the Bible. But is it true?

Charles Darwin’s proposed mechanismfor biological evolution, if correct,should have produced an unmistakableseries of transitions from lower forms oflife to higher forms preserved in thefossil record which is assumed to be a

record in stone of the history of lifeover aeons of time. However, Darwinwas well aware that the fossil record didnot support his theory. He wrote: “Whythen is not every geological formationand every stratum full of suchintermediate links? Geology assuredlydoes not reveal any such finely graduatedorganic chain; and this, perhaps, is themost obvious and serious objection whichcan be urged against the theory.”

Darwin assumed that the incompletenessof the fossil record was the reason for thislack of evidential support but he assumedthat as more and more fossils were found,the gaps would be filled. One hundredand fifty years later, millions of fossilshave been found and catalogued andmany classifications proposed to revealthe gradual development of living thingsover geologic time. Countless books andpapers have been published including onewhere the author, British Museum ofNatural History senior palaeontologistColin Patterson, subsequentlyacknowledged to a reader: “I fully agreewith your comments on the lack ofdirect illustration of evolutionarytransitions in my book. If I knew of

The evidence we observe in the present isalways interpreted in the light of what webelieve about the past.

An eloquentabsence

The missing links in the fossil record are a muteendorsement of Genesis

Mark Harwood

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any, fossil or living, I would certainlyhave included them. …I will lay it onthe line — there is not one such fossilfor which one could make a watertightargument.”

So the fossil record stands as a silentwitness against the claims of biologicalevolution to this day. The anticipatedlinks are conspicuous by their glaringabsence! So why are there “missinglinks”? Could it be that the model ofslow gradual development of living thingsfrom simple to complex is not true?

The answer lies in understanding whatscience is actually capable of telling usabout our origins. All scientificexperiments are conducted in thepresent. We are not able to makeobservations and conduct experimentsin the past, particularly the distant pastof so-called deep time where peoplespeak of millions and even billions ofyears. The evidence we observe in thepresent is always interpreted in the lightof what we believe about the past. Weneed to remember that the evolutionarystory, as usually told, begins with thenaturalistic assumption there is noGod. But why should we believe theconclusions reached when they startfrom a faulty premise?

The Bible’s account of history in thebook of Genesis tells us that Godcreated the heavens and the earth andall that is in them in six normal-length

days a matter of a few thousand yearsago. Man was created on the sixth dayof the Creation Week and so had noanimal ancestor. The first man, Adam,rebelled against God and brought sin,suffering and death into the once “verygood” creation. Evolution says deathbrought forth Adam, but the Bible saysAdam brought forth death.

Every kind of living creature wascreated to reproduce after its own kind,according to Genesis. One kind ofcreature has never been observed tochange into another kind. Indeed, thefossil record affirms that fully formedorganisms “appear” abruptly withoutany transitional forms. Organisms dochange in response to changingenvironments but only through the lossof genetic information and neverthrough the gain of novel geneticinformation not already present in thegenome. Adaptation, as this process isrightly called, is a downhill process, notan uphill one as required for one kindto change into another.

Genesis then devotes three wholechapters to describing a global waterydisaster that wiped out all creatureswith the breath of life in their nostrilsexcept for those with Noah on the Ark.Massive sedimentary rock sequences onevery continent of the globe stand assilent testimony to the truth of theGenesis account. And embedded inthose rapidly laid sedimentary rocks are

the remains of once living creatures,not arranged in the order in which theylived but in the order in which theywere buried as a result of the Flood.The fossil record is mute testimony tothe truth of the biblical record of history!

But why does all this matter? If thefossil record shows millions of years ofdeath, disease, suffering, thorns, painand extinction then that would meanGod is the author of such things. Butthe Bible reveals that He is a God oflove, mercy, compassion andfaithfulness – hardly the god ofevolution with its breathtaking cruelty,randomness and bold thirsty ways. AsProfessor David Hull observed inNature magazine: “The God of theGalápagos is careless, wasteful,indifferent, almost diabolical. He iscertainly not the sort of God to whomanyone would be inclined to pray.”

No. Death and suffering are the resultof Adam’s sin and are an enemy thatwill ultimately be defeated. Christianscan join with Paul when he says “I amconvinced that God is able to guardwhat I have entrusted to Him for thatday”.

The missing links are conspicuouslymissing and their eloquent absence isconsistent with the historical record ofGenesis.

Dr Mark Harwood works with CreationMinistries International.

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Martin Luther in1516 and the

coming Reformation

Campbell Markham

a frustratedpastor

In 2017 we will celebrate amomentous milestone, the 500thanniversary of the Protestant

Reformation. On October 31, 1517,Martin Luther, Augustinian monk anddoctor of theology, nailed his 95 Thesesto the door of the Wittenberg CastleChurch. This was to shake church andsociety to its foundations, and theworld has never since been the same.

Protestant Christians are Luther’sgrateful beneficiaries. And the widerworld too can be thankful, for Lutherdid much to free humanity fromsuperstition and fear, and to recover thenobility and vocation of all humanbeings as made in God’s image.

To get the most out of celebrating theReformation next year, it would be goodto prepare now by asking: “What was theworld like 500 years ago, in 1516, theyear before the hammer blows of theReformation?” For the better weunderstand Luther and his world in1516, the better we understand hisactions in 1517.

First, what was happening in the worldin general? In 1492 ChristopherColumbus landed in the Americas, and

Europe was forced to think about theearth in a larger way. In about 1512Copernicus printed his Commentariolus, apamphlet given to his friends proposingheliocentrism, the hypothesis that theearth orbits around the sun instead ofvisa versa. This would likewise bring aradically new vision of the universe.

In the church, the “warrior-Pope” JuliusII, who as Pope had led his troops intobattle against Italian cities, had died in1513. The extravagant Giovanni deMedici was crowned his successor, andas Leo X (1513-21) he bankrupted theVatican and accelerated Luther’s rise.From 1512-17 the Roman Catholic FifthLateran Council tried to reform themore obvious abuses of the church, butsucceeded only in banning the printingof books without Rome’s authorisation.

Luther’s own timeline is well known.Born in Eisleben in 1483 to areasonably prosperous mine owner, in1502 he began studying for the legalprofession. A thunderstorm in 1505drove him to call out to Saint Anna forhelp, and finally, against his father’swishes, to enter the Augustinianmonastery of Erfurt. His first mass was

celebrated in 1507. In 1510 he visitedRome, where he was scandalised by theinsincerity and immorality. By 1511 hewas transferred to WittenbergUniversity in eastern Germany to teachtheology. His first lectures were on thePsalms in 1513, to be followed byRomans in 1515, and Galatians in 1516.

The year 1516 was also momentousbeyond the walls of Wittenberg. Theteenage Archduke Charles was crownedKing of Spain. Later, as the HolyRoman Emperor Charles V (1519-56),he would seek to crush the Reformation.Henry VIII’s eldest child Mary was bornin 1516. As England’s Queen (1553-1558), “Bloody Mary” had 283Protestants burnt at the stake for theirfaith. Selim I (c.1465-1520), the Sultanof the Ottoman Turkish Empire,conquered Egyptian forces near Aleppo,and thus brought Syria, Palestine, andEgypt under Islamic Rule.

In the arts in 1516, Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519) joined the French court ofFrancis I; Michelangelo (1475-1564)finished his giant sculpture of (thehorned) Moses; Raphael (1483-1520)painted The Sistine Madonna; Ariosto(1474-1533) wrote his influentialOrlando Furioso, celebrating Christianknightly chivalry over against Islamicaggression; and Thomas More (1478-1535) published his Utopia. In Italy,music was engraved on to plates for mass

“The better we understand Luther and hisworld in 1516, the better we understandhis actions in 1517.”

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“It was his pastor’s distress for the plightof his beloved German people that droveLuther further.”

printing for the first time, and the HolyRoman Empire’s mail service wasextended to Rome and Naples.Furthermore, the Dutch HumanistErasmus published his scholarly editionof the New Testament with parallelGreek and Latin texts.

Back in Wittenberg, still in 1516, Lutherwas frantically busy, so wrote to a friendin October: “I could use two secretaries.I do almost nothing during the day butwrite letters. I am a conventualpreacher, reader at meals, parochialpreacher, director of studies, overseer of11 monasteries, superintendent of thefishpond at Leitzkau [58km fromWittenberg!] , referee of the squabble atTorgau [69km distant], lecturer onPaul, collector of material for acommentary on the Psalms, and then,as I said, I am overwhelmed withletters. I rarely have full time for thecanonical hours and for saying mass,not to mention my own temptationswith the world, the flesh, and the devil.You see how lazy I am.”

Philip Schaff has described the lectureson the Psalms as “exegetically worthless,but theologically important”. Mostvitally, Luther came to see that theMessiah who cried out in agony in the22nd Psalm was bearing the sins ofothers. Luther’s lectures on Romansbuilt on this. God is the one who is

“just and the justifier of the one whohas faith in Jesus” (3:25).

Luther later described his discoveries onthe eve of 1517: “Night and day Ipondered until I saw the connectionbetween the justice of God and thestatement that ‘the just shall live byfaith’. Then I grasped that the justice ofGod is that righteousness by whichthrough grace and sheer mercy Godjustifies us through faith. Thereupon Ifelt myself to be reborn and to havegone through open doors into paradise.The whole of Scripture took on a newmeaning, and whereas before the‘justice of God’ had filled me with hate,now it became to me inexpressiblysweet in greater love.”

As a result, his Galatian lectures weredelivered with evangelical passion, “withthe energy of intense conviction andthe freshness of personal experience”.Luther also read the sermons of theGerman mystic and preacher JohannesTauler (c.1300-61), and was struck bythe Dominican preacher’s vision of aninward and practical Christian life, sodifferent to the mechanical religious lifeof his contemporaries.

It was his pastor’s distress for the plightof his beloved German people thatdrove Luther further.

The 16th century Roman Churchhawked indulgences across Europe,certificates that purported to shortenthe agony of the named recipient inpurgatory. The power of the indulgencewas linked to the supposed merit ofrelics: purported pieces of the bodies ofJesus and His apostles and saints, andpieces of the cross and crown of thornsand other paraphernalia. Luther’spatron, Frederick the Elector, had anenormous private collection of thisrubbish. Leo X didn’t hesitate to takeadvantage of the fear and ignorance ofthe people to raise millions from thesale of indulgences, and Saint Peter’sBasilica was built on this giganticfraud.

The misplaced trust that people put inindulgences grieved Luther, as did theflow of wealth from hard-workingGerman people to Rome. In 1516Luther worked to expose and preachagainst this false gospel. He wasknowingly biting the hand that fedhim, for some indulgence moneyflowed back to Wittenberg to supportLuther’s own church and university, buthis pastor’s passion drove him forward.

And so this was Martin Luther and hisworld in 1516, the year before theReformation. Rome still ruled. Lutherstill prayed to Mary, still relied on theintercession of the saints, and stillcelebrated the mass.

But the 1516 frustrations of Luther theGerman, Luther the theologian, and,not least, Luther the pastor, wouldbreak out in 1517 with his posting ofhis 95 Theses.

In 2016 let’s remember Luther thefrustrated pastor, as we look forward tothe half-millennial anniversary of theReformation that he sparked, to thethanks and praise of God.

Campbell Markham is pastor ofCornerstone Church in Tasmania

SUMMER 2016/17 11

World news

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A joyful noise – or not

In a problem many Western churcheswould like to share, Nigerianauthorities are closing some churchesbecause they are too popular and toonoisy. Mosques too are being closed ina clampdown on noise pollution in acampaign to make Lagos free of noisepollution in just four years.

Many Nigerian churches are inenormous buildings, are well resourced,employ a large staff and have largerobed choirs full of singers. They holdjoyous worship celebrations with loud,compelling gospel music, oftenaccompanied by live bands, that last forhours. The churches being shut down,however, are generally those meeting inmake-shift buildings where there hasbeen little attempt made to sound-proof buildings and services.

garments were lost when Jerusalem wassacked by the Babylonians. There were12 stones mounted on the breastplateof the High Priest and two sardonyxstones fixed in gold settings on theshoulders of the High Priest (Ex. 28:12).

Experts believe this is one of the stonesmissing for centuries. If restored to theright hands, it could play a role inreturning the priestly caste to serve inthe Temple, according to BreakingIsrael News, which revealed the story.

Assist

Campus group backs marriage

InterVarsity, an evangelical organisationthat works on university campuses, haspublished a statement requiring itsemployees to hold evangelical beliefs onmarriage in keeping with the Christiantradition.

Bola Shabi, general manager of LagosState Environmental ProtectionAgency, said that 70 churches, 20mosques and about 11 hotels, clubhouses and beer parlours had beenclosed. He said mosques, where the callto prayer is broadcast from minarets byloudspeaker, were more compliant thanchurches, and most would reduce thenoise level as soon as they were asked.

Christian Today

Stone may be high priest’s

A small onyx stone, said to be a gift to aKnight Templar more than 1000 yearsago and handed down within a family,may actually be what the owner asserts:a gem originally worn by the HighPriest in Jerusalem 3000 years ago.

According to the Talmud, the preciousstones worn on the High Priest’s

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The decision has made news in secularnews media, with Time magazinereporting that the organisation has toldits 1300 staff members they will be firedif they publicly support same-sexmarriage. InterVarsity denies the claim,but says it will ask staff to come forwardvoluntarily if they disagree with thetheological position.

Christianity Today says the Time articleburies the most relevant info, which is thatthis was a four-year process that wastelegraphed and communicated to staff.InterVarsity said in a statement that “noone was caught flat-footed or surprised.Recognising that some staff felt this wastheologically contested ground, we openedup a time of 18 months for them to researchand discern their convictions on this issue,as well as learn about our convictions. Thegoal was to clarify our position while alsoproviding ample time for those whoseconvictions differed to seek out better-fitting ministry opportunities. Parts ofthis process were hard and painful, but itwas not abrupt, or a shock.”

Christianity Today

Scroll gives up its secrets

A charred ancient scroll found nearly50 years ago in the ark of a synagogueon the western shore of the Dead Seahas been revealed by new technology tobe the first two chapters of Leviticusidentical to the Masoretic text. At 2000years old, it is the earliest instance ofthe text, the authoritative version of theHebrew bible.

When found, the lump of carbonisedparchment could not be opened orread. Its curators did nothing butconserve it, hoping that newtechnology might one day emerge tomake the scroll legible.

Just such a technology has now beenperfected by computer scientists at theUniversity of Kentucky. Working withbiblical scholars in Jerusalem, they haveused a computer to unfurl a digital imageof the scroll. The writing retrieved bythe computer from the digital image ofthe unopened scroll is amazingly clearand legible, in contrast to the scroll’sblackened and beaten-up exterior.

New York Times

Police terrorise Christians

Religious leaders say that the recentkilling of Christians by police during anoffensive against Maoist rebels ineastern Indian Odisha state is part of astrategy to terrorize the Christiancommunity.

Six people were killed, three of themChristians, when police opened fire inOdisha state to counter an attack byMaoist insurgents.

“It is a well-planned strategy to createterror among poor villages” in the hillydistrict of Kandhamal, said humanrights activist Father Ajay KumarSingh, a Catholic priest based in thestate capital Bhubaneswar.

UCA News

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STUDYINGREVELATION “IT WAS AWESOME TO GET INTO SUCH A BIG BOOK. IT CHALLENGED AND ENCOURAGED ME. IT CREATEDA SPARK TO GET INTO IT MORE AND SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE.”

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“WE LEARNT TO HAVE PATIENCE DESPITEOUR DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES.

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SUMMER 2016/17 13

Indian Muslims reject IS

Nearly 70,000 Indian Muslim clericshave signed a fatwa against IslamicState and other terror groups sayingthey were “not Islamic organisations”.

Around 1.5 million Muslims visiting ashrine dedicated to a Sufi Islamic saintnear the city of Ajmer in north westernstate of Rajasthan during the Ursreligious festival have signed a petitionagainst terrorist attacks.

Independent

Pakistani Christians seek rights

Pakistani Christians have held publicgatherings calling for constitutionalreforms to ensure equal rights for allcitizens. “Our hearts are crying. Thereis nothing to celebrate. Unless theconstitution is amended, there is noother way to end religiousdiscrimination,” said Samson Salamat,chairman of the interreligious RawadariTehreek (Movement for Tolerance).

“The laws which are being misused toinstigate violence should be reviewedand a judicial commission should beconstituted to re-investigate the

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Editorial Committee: Rev. Peter Hastie (convener), Rev. Dr Peter Barnes (editor), Barney Zwartz (production editor),Rev. Stuart Bonnington, Rev. Mark Powell and Duncan Parker.

Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the National Journal Committee

incidents where settlements of minoritycommunities were mob attacked,”Salamat said at a seminar in LahoreAug. 11 to mark the NationalMinorities Day.

Pakistan is ranked sixth on the list ofcountries where Christians are mostpersecuted, according to World WatchList 2016.

UCA

Fanatics sever man’s arms

A Christian man in Lahore reportedlyhad his arms chopped off after refusingto denounce Jesus and convert to Islamwhile in the hands of fanatics.

According to Legal EvangelicalAssociation Development (LEAD), aChristian organisation in Pakistan,Aqeel Masih, who worked at a petrolstation in the LDA quarter area ofLahore, was kidnapped by Islamistsbefore having his arms severed.

“[The] extremists exerted pressure on himto abandon Christianity and convert toIslam,” LEAD said. “Aqeel however, didnot give up on his Christian faith andrefused to comply with their demand.

Notwithstanding...his rebuttal, theychopped off his both arms, andabsconded.”

Christian Today

Al Shabab murders continue

Somali terrorist group Al Shabab haskilled six Christians in an attack inNorth Kenya at 2.45am on Octrober 6.The group’s own radio station said thegrenade and gun attack on a residentialcompound in Mandera, on the Somaliborder – an area known to have Kenyanmigrant Christian workers – targeted“Christianity’s power in the region”,and that it was part of a series of attacksover the past few months.

The terrorists entered the housingcompound wearing Kenyan armyuniforms, pretending to be securityofficers on patrol. They plantedlandmines all around the compound.

Al Shabab has regularly attacked buses,to the point that the region has losthundreds of migrant teachers who saythey no longer feel safe to work in theSomali-majority region.

World Watch Monitor

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Turkish killers re-arrested

The five men who were convicted onSeptember 28 of the murders of threeChristians in Malatya, Turkey, in 2007,were re-arrested on September 29, amidconcerns that they might flee thecountry.

According to UK-based human rightsgroup Christian Solidarity Worldwide,the First High Criminal Court inMalatya on September 28, 2016,convicted and sentenced the men tothree aggravated life sentences each forthe premeditated murders of Turkishcitizens Necati Aydin and U�ur Yüksel,and Tillman Geske, a German national.

A total of 21 defendants stood trial inconnection with the “MalatyaMassacres” some of whom were militaryofficers. Retired Colonel Mehmet Ulgerwas sentenced to 13 years and ninemonths in prison for “violation ofconfidentiality of communication andforgery of official documents”, whileMajor Haydar Yesil received 14 yearsand 10 months.

Assist

China fights Catholics

Chinese authorities have cranked uptheir propaganda machine regardingthe “sinicisation” of religion. Efforts toincrease the influence of the rulingCommunist Party in Han-Chinesesociety are clear in a campaign thoughtbe aimed at the Catholic Church evenas talks with the Vatican continueabout a historic deal over theappointment of bishops.

The Party’s main print mouthpiece, thePeople’s Daily, published three articleson July 10, reiterating the importanceof sinicisation and asking religiousgroups to “resist control from a foreignversion of the same religion”.

Roman Catholicism is seen as “foreign”by the Party while Catholics in Chinathemselves are not.

UCA News

Christian welfare cut

Christians who attend church activitiesin central China have reportedly hadtheir welfare benefits cut, says a US-based rights organisation citing

mainland sources.

Local officials in Guizhou provinceannounced anti-Christian measures viawelfare cuts last month, which ChinaAid says mirrors a comparable incidentthat transpired two years before.Officials said on July 2 that Christianscould not have welfare or any old-ageinsurance, said Mou, a house churchmember, according to China Aid.

China Aid says the events in Guizhouare similar to ongoing pressure appliedto Christians from the Miao minorityethnic group in Sichuan province. Fortwo years 36 Miao Christians have notreceived any welfare payments afterthey were detained for practicing theirfaith on Sept. 28, 2014.

UCA

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“Being true to yourself ” hasbecome the defining pieceof advice for living well in

the 21st century. It is also one of themost overused phrases in popularculture. If it’s not Disney declaring the“follow your heart and be true toyourself ” mantra, then you canguarantee talk show hosts, musicians,celebrities and self-help gurus will.

And people are buying into it. We are asociety obsessed with authenticity. Wehave become preoccupied with discoveringand expressing our “authentic” selves.

It’s not hard to see why being true tooneself has such wide appeal. In ourincreasingly pluralistic society, wherethere are few agreed standards ofbehaviour, “being true to yourself ”essentially allows people to live as theyplease. That is the logical end-point ofembracing this kind of moralrelativism. It encourages people to actupon what they feel or believe to be true,not necessarily what is objectively trueor right. Essentially, “I’ll decide what’sright for me, and you decide what’sright for you.”

“Being true to yourself ” may at firstglance seem noble and courageous. The

world applauds those who defy societalnorms and “march to the beat of theirown drum”. But it is a philosophy thatultimately prioritises self over the welfareof others. And this is problematic in aworld populated by selfish sinners.

All too often people justify inconsiderateand harmful behaviour to themselves orothers simply by claiming they are beingtrue to themselves. The adulterousspouse, the abusive boss, the spitefulgossip, and the dishonest friend can allclaim: “But I’m being true to myself!”When authenticity becomes the moralideal, other virtues like faithfulness,kindness, and humility are deemed lessworthy than “being genuine”.

Furthermore, to be true to yourself, youmust know who you are. But we cannotknow who we are because self-deceptionlies at the very core of our being. Theprophet Jeremiah wrote: “The heart isdeceitful above all things and beyondcure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).

Our minds cannot illuminate us to whowe are any more than our feelings can.No amount of psychoanalysing ortranscendental meditation will help usunderstand ourselves, for when we rejectour Creator our thinking becomes

muddled (Rom. 1:21). Self-knowledgecan only come from God, when theHoly Spirit unveils to us the true stateof our hearts and what the law of Godrequires (1 Cor. 2:15-16).

So when the world is telling us to betrue to ourselves, how should werespond? For Christians, we shouldremember that our ultimate authority isGod’s Word and not our feelings. Andour ultimate example is Jesus Christ.We are not called to be true toourselves. Why? Because we are sinfulby nature (Rom. 7:14); our naturalmind is hostile to God (Rom. 8:7-8);we consider the things of Godfoolishness (1 Cor. 2:14); and our livesare hopeless without Him (Eph. 2:1,12).

Rather, we are called to “put off [our]old selves” and to “put on the new self,created to be like God in true righteous-ness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). If weare in Christ then we are a new creation(2 Cor. 5:17). We are to put to death oursinful nature and former way of life.

And we do so because in Christ our oldnature has already been defeated,destroyed and replaced. God is calling usto live in step with what we already areand have – a new spiritual self (Col. 3).Perhaps then, the question we should beasking ourselves is: Are we living “true”to our new identity in Christ?

Madeleine Turner worships at AshfieldPresbyterian Church.

“We are not called to be true to ourselves.Why? Because we are sinful by nature.”(Rom. 7:14)

Why the modern mantrais so misleading

True to

ourselvesMadeleine Turner

SUMMER 2016/17 15

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In this, the final of four articles, wewill sum up what the NewTestament teaches about prayer. To

put it succinctly, we should ask God todo what He has already promised to dothrough the gospel. The core of thegospel is that we have nothing,contribute nothing, bring nothing toGod. It shouldn’t come as a shock thatprayer, which is made possible by thegospel and shaped by the gospel worksexactly the same way!

The gospel tells us that God gives to us,we don’t give to God. So we need toask. We need to ask for help tounderstand what God has done for us,to live in the light of what He has donefor us, to hold on to what He has donefor us, to show other people what Hehas done for us….

Now in one sense, we don’t need to gettoo uptight about this – in a marvellouspassage in Luke 11, Jesus makes it clearthat we are free to ask our Father for stuffknowing that He won’t give it to us ifit’s bad for us, or bad for His kingdom(or plain stupid!). So what should wedo? Get on with asking! We can cast allour anxieties on Him (1 Peter 5:7),which presumably includes praying.

But that’s not actually the burden of theNew Testament when it comes toprayer. It is actually very explicit intelling us what we should be prayingfor – or at least on what the focus ofour prayers should be. That’s becausethere are, of course, some prayers whichGod has said He will always answer.And the prayers which God has said Hewill always answer positively are thoseprayers which explicitly ask God todeliver on His new covenant promises –or to put it more generally, God willalways answer when we ask Him to doHis work through His word. So weshould pray for God to do His newcovenant work through the gospel.

I can find six basic prayers on whichthe New Testament encourages us tobelieve God will always come through:God will always answer our prayerswhen we ask Him to do His newcovenant work through His word bythe Spirit.

1. If we pray for God to glorifyHimself (Lord’s Prayer, John 17);

2. If we pray for forgiveness (1 John1:9, James 5:13-20, Lord’s Prayer);

3. If we pray to know God better (John

17, Ephesians 1:15-22);

4. If we pray for wisdom, to know howto live for God (James 1:5-6);

5. If we pray for strength to live for God(Ephesians 3:14-21, the Lord’s Prayer);

6. If we pray for the spread of thegospel (Luke 10:2, Acts 5, Col 4, theLord’s Prayer).

How do we know God will answerthese prayers? Because He says He willin the first place, but also because theseprayers sum up the work of the gospel.This is what God has said He woulddo, this is what He does, and this iswhat He will do! These are all prayersfor God to do His new covenant workthrough His word.

So do you want to become an“advanced pray-er”? You don’t need tolearn new contemplative methods. Butyou do need to become an expert asker;this is gospel-driven prayer. To realisethat the gospel yells at us “You are weakand sinful and flawed, but He is strongand gracious and good’ – so ask Him todo what He has already promised to do.And above all, pray for the spread ofthe gospel, and God will answer,because this is how He displays Hisgoodness and glory in our brokenworld. Keep doing it, until that daywhen we won’t need to pray, because wewill see our God and King face to face.

Gary Millar is principal of theQueensland Theological College.

Six prayers God will always answer

RediscoveringPrayer

Gary Millar

“This is what God has said He would do, thisis what He does, and this is what He willdo! These are all prayers for God to do Hisnew covenant work through His word.”

SUMMER 2016/17 17

William Cowper (1731-1800;pronounced “Cooper”) wasa contemporary of John

Wesley and George Whitefield, leadersof the Evangelical Revival Movement inEngland and, as he grew up, embracedWhitefield’s Calvinism rather thanWesley’s Arminianism. Cowper’s fatherwas rector of the Church of Englandparish in Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire.

His mother died when he was six, andhis father sent him to Dr Pittman’sBoarding School. From 10 to 17, heattended Westminster Private School,within the precincts of WestminsterAbbey. There he was well-educated,becoming a writer of hymns, a poet, aletter-writer, and a translator. However,for most of his adult years he led atroubled life, suffering a number of boutsof severe depression and spending asignificant amount of time in asylums.

Cowper was a popular poet in his time,and one of the forerunners of the EnglishRomantic Movement. At school, helearned French, Latin, and Greek to asufficient standard to spend the last 50years of his life translating Homer andMadame Guyon (1648-1712). The latterwas a French mystic who was aproponent of “Quietism” – a RomanCatholic branch of theology that placed“contemplation” above “meditation”and whose followers devoted themselvesto quiet prayer and to self-annihilationwith a view to absorption of the soulinto the Divine, and to withdrawal of

the mind from worldly things.

Cowper became attracted to thatphilosophy. Consequently, when hisfather wanted him to practise law, andwhen he was apprenticed to a solicitorin 1749, he merely “dabbled” for thenext 10 years. His heart was not in it.

In 1752, he experienced the first onset ofdeep depression. He began reading thepoems of George Herbert (1593-1633),an Anglican priest, and a metaphysicaland religious poet, and overcame hisstate of depression. It was also duringthis period (1749-1756) that he fell inlove with his cousin, Theodora Cowper(who became the ‘Delia’ of his poems).They were engaged, but her fatherforbade the marriage, and the twonever met again after 1756. She nevermarried; but she did send him moneywhen he needed it, and Cowper wrote19 poems about or for her.

From 1759, things seemed to be lookingbetter for Cowper. With his legalbackground and his father’s influence,he was able to gain the position ofCommissioner of Bankrupts in London.He left Olney and, in 1763, he wasabout to be made the Clerk of the Houseof Lords. However, under the stress ofthe coming examination, he had asecond break-down, making threeattempts at suicide, and was removedby his brother from his lodgings to DrCotton’s Asylum at St Albans. Cottonwas both a poet and a Christian, and

Cowper responded to him. Six monthslater, in 1764, Cowper found a Bibleon a bench in the garden. He opened itat John 11, where Jesus raises of Lazarusfrom the dead. He also read Romans3:25: “… [Jesus] whom God set forthto be a propitiation by his blood, todemonstrate the righteousness, becausein His forbearance God had passed overthe sins that were previously committed.”

He wrote of his conversion experience inhis Memoir, an autobiographical accountthat also contained in-depth discussionsof his innermost thoughts, and whichwas published in 1816, after his death.There he wrote of his conversion:“Immediately I received the strength tobelieve it, and the full beams of the Sunof Righteousness shone upon me.”

From the middle of 1765, there wereseveral people who became influentialin Cowper’s development as both aperson and a poet. He left St Albans inJune, and moved in with the Unwinfamily in Huntington. Mary Unwinand her husband, Morley, invited himinto their home. Though only a fewyears older than Cowper, Mary (1724-1796) became a mother-figure to himand, even though Morley Unwin diedtragically from a fall from his horse in1767, Cowper remained in her home asa permanent lodger.

John Newton (1726-1807) was curateat the church in Olney, close by theUnwin’s home. He, too, had lost his

Fighting depression, Cowperwrote beautiful poetry and hymns

a closerwalk with God

Sandra Percy

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mother at an early age. He sailed withhis father, and became a slave trader,but was converted to Jesus Christ and,in 1764, God called him to the churchin Olney.

There, Newton met Cowper,recognised his melancholic illness, andintroduced him into the ministry ofvisitation in the church. They spentmany hours together, walking andtalking while Newton encouragedCowper to agree to write a book ofhymns with him. The result was TheOlney Hymns which were published inJuly, 1779. It has been said thatNewton wrote 208 of them (AmazingGrace is possibly the most famoustoday), and that Cowper wrote 68. Themost well-known of Cowper’s poems inthe collection include:

God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants his footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm

and:

There is a fountain filled with bloodDrawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plung’d beneath that flood,Lose all their guilty stains

and:

Oh! For a closer walk with God,A calm and heav’nly frame;A light to shine upon the roadThat leads me to the Lamb!

Cowper’s “melancholy” (depression)reappeared in 1773 when he was atOlney. He called it his “fatal dream”,and saw it as an omen of his death. Heseems to have been engaged to marryMrs Unwin, but she broke off theengagement and married the Rev.Matthew Powley, which led to Cowper’sthird nervous breakdown. However, fromthe middle of 1765, as Cowper maderepeated attempts at suicide, Newtonstood by him. When Newton, in 1780,left Olney for a new parish in London,he maintained a friendship with Cowperby means of letters; and Cowper wasable to leave Olney in 1786 after 18years, and to move to Weston. However,in 1787, he experienced anothernervous breakdown – his fourth.

In 1785, Cowper published one of his

major literary endeavours – The Task – a100-page poem in six books that set outto prove the virtues of rural retirementas against the imperfections of what hecalled the “active world”. (He wasindeed a precursor of the Romantics.)Over the next few years – from 1788 to1790 – at Weston, he translatedHomer’s Odyssey, he revised histranslation of the Iliad, and he wrotevarious poems. In 1791, he publishedhis work on Homer (a second editioncame out in 1793) and accepted anoffer to translate Milton’s poetry.

In that same year, Mrs Unwin suffered aparalysis which was followed by a secondstroke in 1792. She later died in 1796.

From 1797, Cowper lived at EastDereham, Norfolk, where he continuedto revise his work on Homer, completingit in 1799. He died there on April 25,1800. So ended the earthly life of a sadman who wrote the most wonderfulChristian poetry.

Dr Sandra Percy has been both asecondary school teacher and a tertiarylevel lecturer in literature.

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J. I Packer: An Evangelical LifeLeland Ryken

Crossway, 2015

Peter Barnes

It is appropriatein many waysthat thissubstantialbiography of JimPacker should bewritten byLeland Ryken,who wasprofessor of English formore than 50 years at WheatonCollege. As a Christian scholar, Packeris better known as a writer than as apreacher – and rightly so. Ryken’sbiography is clearly written andprovides a comprehensive view ofPacker’s life, particularly his life-longcommitment to the full authority of theBible (e.g. Fundamentalism and theWord of God) and the example of thePuritans (e.g. the helpful collection ofessays gathered together as A Quest forGodliness).

Although an irenic character, Packer isnevertheless known for his involvementin a number of controversies. His 1955attack on Keswick “victorious Christianliving” theology was fierce to the pointof being extreme. His Keep in Step withthe Spirit (1984) tended to upsetconvinced charismatics and ardentcessationists while edifying others. AnAnglican, he continued to argue againstthe ordination of women presbyters,even when the cause seemed lost. Healso continued to believe in thetraditional doctrine of hell, as opposedto modifications suggested by JohnStott and Philip Edgcumbe Hughes.

At other times he was open to thecharge of being inconsistent. In thedisputes of 1966 to 1969 he essentially

took the side of John Stott againstMartyn Lloyd-Jones, and remained verycommitted to Anglicanism. In 1994, he

signed the famous or notoriousdocument Evangelicals andCatholics Together which goesbeyond co-belligerence to comeclose to mutual recognition.

A further and somewhat ironictwist in his life of controversiescame when he denounced theAnglican Church of Canada asapostate for its acceptance of thehomosexual lifestyle. Noah’s arkapparently had too many leaks in it.

Packer’s life story is illuminatingand fascinating, and worthy of studyand meditation.

The Challenge of AbortionBill Muehlenberg

CultureWatch,2015.

Peter Barnes

In about 100pages BillMuehlenbergfromCultureWatcheffectivelydismantles 15mythsassociatedwith abortion; discusses the biblicaland theological considerationsinvolved; and cites three very pertinenttestimonies to put human faces onthose harmed by what takes place in alucrative industry. Abortion is onlypossible after people have firstrationalised that the baby to besacrificed is just a jumble of cells or elsewould lead a life not worth living. Butas Jean Garton has reminded us: “Wecannot dehumanise others withoutbecoming less human ourselves.”

The work is full of citations – perhapsover-full – but the result is a mine of

information. The most cogent partcould be the first section, on thetreatment of common myths, from“abortion is a woman’s issue” to“abortion opponents are only religiouspeople”. These myths do not readilysurvive an encounter with reality,common sense, and a modicum oftender feeling. One can only commendthis, and trust many read it.

Peter Barnes is editor of AP

Prostitution NarrativesStories of survival in thesex tradeCollated and edited by CarolineNorma and Melinda TankardReist.

Spinifex Press, 2016

Campbell Markham

Dr Caroline Norma lectures atMelbourne’s RMIT university, andMelinda Tankard Reist is thefounder of Collective Shout, acampaign “against theobjectification of women andsexualisation of girls”. I have heardMelinda speak a number of times,and she is remarkably well-informed,reasoned, and fearless.

Our community harbors the vagueand comfortable idea that prostitutionis a soft problem, something more to

snigger about than rage against.Brothels have been legalised inQueensland,NSW, Victoria,and the ACT,and thepressure isconstantly feltby other statesto follow suit.

ProstitutionNarratives is acollection of19 first-

Books

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person accounts by prostitutionsurvivors. I could only stomach the firstfour. That was enough to learn that theindustry preys on vulnerable girls andwomen, and locks them in a nightmareof violence, disease, drug-addiction,poverty, fear, degradation andexploitation.

This book is a sharp reminder of ourloving duty to speak out against thisviolent and dehumanising institution,and to do what we can to help the girls and women who have beenimprisoned by it.

Campbell Markham is pastor ofCornerstone Church in Tasmania

How toRespond toMarriageRealityBill Medley

Whine Press,2016.

Peter Barnes

Sometime in thenot too distantfuture, Australiansmay possibly bevoting in a plebiscite to venture theiropinions on the legality or otherwise ofsame-sex marriage. We shall besubjected to more sound bites and

slogans than reasoned arguments, butBill Medley has done his best to supplyus with clear and compelling reasonsfor voting against same-sex marriage.For those outside the church, herecommends arguing that same-sexmarriage will harm children, for, toquote Julia Gillard (!): “The mostprimal and sacred bond there is is thebond between a mother and her baby.”Another stolen generation will becreated, where children are raised notknowing their biological mothers orfathers.

For those inside the church, he urgesthat homosexual sexual activity beopposed for the same reason thatheterosexual sins are wrong – God has

said so. There can be no doubtthat freedoms are now underassault because of this kind oflegislation. Bill points to theworld’s hatred of Christ (John15:18-25) and so writes: “Oursociety’s problem is not same-sex marriage; it’s a culture thathas turned away from God.”But God’s Word remainseffective (Isa.55:11), and thereinlies our hope.

This is a well-argued and easilyunderstood work which deserves thewidest possible readership in theseperilous times.

Inventing the IndividualLarry Siedentop

Penguin Random House, 2014,

Ruth F.G. Williams

This bookspans asweeping1800 yearsof thehistory ofthe ideasthat haveenabledthe West.LarrySiedentopis anintellectualhistorian at Oxford University, and heargues compellingly for the West, as anunprecedented form of society. Thebook is a defence of the Westerntradition, albeit unfashionable.Inventing the Individual turns variousover-stated negative claims about theWest upside down.

Siedentop unravels received wisdom.He corrects the narrative in 25chapters, a prologue and an epilogue, inan historical account of the origins ofindividual freedom, equality and otherliberal values. Liberal values, havingbeen won in the West over nearly twomillennia, are more than moral truths:they are complex social achievements.Even the freedom that the West affordsto a person to be secular owes itself toChristianity.

For Siedentop, the notion of a person,an individual, is due to a moralrevolution in the West enabled by acurrently discounted radical: Paul theApostle. “Paul’s conception of theChrist introduces the individual bygiving conscience a universaldimension” and the “God-givenchallenge to humans to transform theirconception of themselves”. The singleidea is profoundly liberating, oiling theframework of moral equality with “themotivating power of love”.

I fear portraying Siedentop as sayingnothing new – true in one sense – andyet his book authoritatively delivers apowerful 21st century message. Somemay even find it astounding.

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Puritans were morbidly introspectivewhen it came to the issue of assurance.Goodwin is, in fact, very balanced in hisapproach to the subject, and writes:“Now to rectify this error, the way is notwholly to reject all use of such evidences,but to order them, both for the season,as also the issue of them.”

Goodwin did not identify faith andassurance in the way that theTorrance brothers tended todo, and believed that theReformers had done. Heaimed at what he called“vulgar capacities”, althoughsome of the sentences willseem a little clunky tocontemporary readers.

For all that, it is a mostthorough and heart-warmingwork, and so is to becommended to a new generation

of readers. Goodwin is one of the mosthelpful of the Puritan writers, and this isone of his most helpful works.

Many of these books are available atReformers Bookshop, phone:(02) 9564 3555 web: reformers.org.au

The present era seems to haveforgotten, or some have never heard,that Christianity invests everyindividual equally with the God-givencapacity for individual moral agency.The concept of the individual that weknow in our own era was bornehistorically of hard labour over twomillennia and today we benefitenormously on political, legal andeconomic fronts.

This is a meaty book, perhaps for smalldoses or some may omit denselyhistorical material. Though challengingjust to read, Inventing the Individual isengrossing, courageous, rigorous,articulate, timeless.

It is also a moving account of why JesusChrist is liberating for humankindpersonally yet at all levels for a nation,by enabling “society” to be “anassociation of individuals”. Otherwise,the small decisions of each of us cancause a tyranny for all of us.

Oh! that we alive in this era wouldhumbly read the Bible for what it says,so that we see ourselves and each otherthrough God’s definitions, not our own,

and would get to know Jesus, as He isthe universal hope through the ages.

Ruth Williams is honorary senior fellow(Economics) in the Department ofMathematics and Statistics at La TrobeUniversity, Bendigo.

Christ Set ForthThomas Goodwin

Banner of Truth,reprinted 2014.

Peter Barnes

This treatise of some240 pages first saw thelight of day in 1642, asan extensive treatmentof Romans 8:34.Goodwin set aboutseeking to strengthenChristians in need ofassurance, who were looking toomuch to evidences of grace withinthemselves rather than to the perfectwork of Christ.

It is received wisdom in some circles –notably Karl Barth, R. T. Kendall andThomas and J. B. Torrance – that the

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NEW

He was one of the most infl uential men of his day. The

movement that began with his posting of the Ninety-Five

Theses reshaped Europe, redirected Christian history, and

recovered the truth of God’s Word. Five hundred years

later, what is Luther’s legacy? In this volume, R.C. Sproul,

Stephen J. Nichols, and thirteen other scholars and pastors

examine his life, teaching, and enduring infl uence. Meet

Martin Luther, the audacious Reformer who, out of love

for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, set the

world ablaze. Now available in digital and print editions

wherever books are sold.

MEET MARTIN LUTHER

Now available through: Koorong Books (Australia)

LegacyofLuther.com

SUMMER 2016/17 23

Almost aChristianSo many are so close, yet so far from salvation

One of the many powerful sermonspreached by George Whitefield was onHerod Agrippa’s words to the apostlePaul: “Almost thou persuadest me to bea Christian” (Acts 26:28; KJV). The NIVand ESV translate the verse in terms oftime: “Do you think that in such a shorttime you can persuade me to be aChristian?” F. F. Bruce has: “In short, youare trying to persuade me to act theChristian.” Darrell Bock has anexclamation: “In a little while you trywith persuasion to make me a Christian!”

However it is read, it is clear that Paulwas pressing Agrippa, and Agrippa wasevading him. The evidence of prophecyand verifiable history is clear, but Agrippais blinded by sin. On the verge of beinga Christian, but not at all convinced!

Kenneth Clark once felt quite sure thathe had a mystical experience where he“felt the finger of God”, but then fobbedit off for years, until just before his deathwhen he entered the Roman CatholicChurch. How close can a person getwithout actually becoming a Christianand entering the kingdom of God? KingSaul was not once but twice so movedby David’s mercy to him that he wept,acknowledged the righteousness ofDavid, confessed his own evil, professedgood will to David, and pronouncedhis blessing on his “rival” (1 Sam.24:16-22; 26:21-25) – yet seems neverto have repented.

Balaam the prophet could pronouncethat “God is not man, that He shouldlie, or a son of man, that He should

change His mind. Has He said, and willHe not do it? Or has He spoken, and willHe not fulfil it?” (Num. 23:19). Helooked ahead to the Coming One: “I seeHim, but not now; I behold Him, butnot near: a star shall come out of Jacob,and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel”(Num.24:17).

His repeated claim was that he couldonly speak what the Lord put in hismouth (Num. 23:12, 26; 24:13-14), andthe Bible testifies that the Spirit of Godgave him utterance (Num. 24:2). Yet hehimself was false, being one who “lovedgain from wrongdoing”‘ (2 Pet. 2:15).Jesus warned against those who calledHim ‘Lord’ and who prophesied in Hisname and did many mighty works inHis name, yet He never knew them(Matt. 7:21-23). Judas went out as oneof the 12 disciples with authority to castout demons, heal the sick, raise the dead,and teach the word (Matt. 10:1-15),yet he was “the son of destruction”(John 17:12).

Herod Antipas heard the preaching ofJohn the Baptist gladly (Mark 6:20), butthat did not stop him from having Johnbeheaded. Many Jews in the time ofEzekiel heard him gladly, but they heardGod’s prophet in the same way as theywould listen to a singer or a musician(Ezek. 33:32). Benjamin Franklin usedto love to hear George Whitefield preach,but he did not become a Christian. Heappreciated the oratory, but did notembrace the gospel. It is not altogetherunusual to meet people who seem to likeChristian preaching or music, while

sidestepping the claims of the gospel.

Paul says we can have prophetic powers,and understand all mysteries andknowledge, and have all faith so as toremove mountains, and yet be nothing(1 Cor. 13:2). Wondrous acts are notnecessarily decisive. Albert Schweitzerwas a distinguished Lutherantheologian, philosopher and musicianfrom French-speaking Alsace who wentto Gabon in central Africa to domedical work. It makes for a mostmoving story – but Schweitzer did notbelieve the Christian gospel.

To be converted is to repent of sin andto put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christalone. However, this can becounterfeited. There is a worldly sorrowover sin (2 Cor. 7:10), a faith whichdoes not justify (James 2:19), and anobedience which is feigned (Acts 5:1-11).

Who in heart not ever kneelsNeither sin nor Saviour feels.

So wrote George Herbert. TheChristian struggles and wishes he or shewere far better, but says with Paul: “Ihave been crucified with Christ. It is nolonger I who live, but Christ who livesin me. And the life I now live in theflesh I live by faith in the Son of God,who loved me and gave Himself forme” (Gal. 2:20).

If you are disturbed at the thought ofbeing an almost Christian, take hold ofthe words of William Bridge: “If youlay yourself at Christ’s feet he will takeyou into his arms.”

Peter Barnes

the WORDLAST