Paul Tripp • Wesley’s legacy • Hitchens on Narnia · 2019-05-28 · parts: the outer man – which is your earth-suit, and the inner man – which is your spiritual self. The

Paul Tripp • Wesley’s legacy • Hitchens on Narnia

ju ly 2003

5-7 September 2003FIRE ON

THE MOUNTAIN

2003Held at the Tamborine Mountain Convention Centre

Beacon Road, North Tamborine

A Christian Worldview conference providing:• biblical teaching for the mind and heart• a weekend for teaching, discussion and renewal.

Topics for 2003-The Architecture of Redemption: Patterns of the NewCreation in the Lord’s Unfolding Plan of Redemption; ABiblical View of Crime and Restorative Justice; ChristianCounselling; Discovering God’s Way of Handling Money

Registration, brochure & information:Chris Wilson– 07 5545 3508, Kim Dale– 07 5545 2041or [email protected] visit our website: www.fireonthemountain.net

GAA

Christian

Education

Resource

Centre

621 Punt Road South Yarra 3141 03 9867 4637 [email protected]

(Please make allcheques payable to GAA ChristianEducation Committee)

Rejoice!The Hymnbook for today’s church.

• contemporary• Christ-centred• suitable for all ages• more than 43,000 copies sold since 1987...

Editions available:Organist: $40.00Words Only: $16.00Melody Line Only: $16.00

Also available:HymnBase for Windows $80.00

WorshipThe Book of Common Orderof the Presbyterian Church of Australia• Book $29.95• CD-ROM Version $34.95

(CD-ROM includes Worship Bookin Adobe Acrobat format and all RTF type files that allow editing of text to suit individual needs. Suitable for PC and Mac users.)

All prices quoted in this advertisement are inclusive of GST.All orders plus postage and handling.

Available From:Miss Mary Beavan, PO Box 190, Portland NSW 2847 Phone (02) 6355 5063 Fax (02) 6355 5783

Email: [email protected]: Presbyterian Resource Centre

156 Collins St, Melbourne, 3000 Phone (03) 9527 3270 Email: [email protected]

The Certif icate of

Christian Studies

Old Testament (G.Goswell), New Testament (K. Martin), Church History (P. Barnes), Biblical Theology (D. Geddes) being offered in 2002 at $60 ea.

The best selling Westminster

Confession

of Faith for the

21st Century —

Study Edition

$15 + $3 pp — prepared by DJW Milne, Principalof the PTC Melbourne.The Six Pack: forSessions/Bible study groups6 copies of the WCF-21Cfor $92 posted!

Walk With The Lord

Daily Bible Reading Notes, currently written by Rev Dr GregGoswell, Old Testament lecturerat the PTC, Victoria.

PARENTING

Teen terrorists?: Paul Tripp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Driving them mad: John Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Bubbles in the pond: Colin Buchanan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

REFLECTION

All day with God: Matthew Henry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

BIBLE STUDY

The covenant family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

NEWS

Across Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

On the Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

HISTORY

Horseback hero: Barney Zwartz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

CULTURE WATCH

From oratorios to Elvis: Chris Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Labour of loathing: Christopher Hitchens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

BOOKS

The Next Christendom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Shepherding a Child’s Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Ruth and Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

BACK PAGE

Seeing God: Peter Barnes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N • 3

July 2003No. 550

Probably the hardest job in the world and the one forwhich we are least qualified is being a good parent.While we can have impressive degrees and qualifica-tions from leading educational institutions, there is

no formal course that prepares us for being a successful fatheror mother. People who enjoy spectacular achievement in theirbusiness or professional life can be lamentable failures on thehome-front. The stories are legion. One that I remembercame from Newsweek in September, 1972. It was a tragicaccount of parental failure.

“When West German industrialist Friedrich Flick died, heleft a personal fortune estimated at 1.5 billion dollars, a busi-ness empire that embraced all or part of some 300 firms and areputation as perhaps the crustiest, craftiest magnate ever tooperate on the German business scene.

“Flick was wholly dedicated to his work (he buried his wifeat 3:00pm one day in 1966 and was back at his desk two hourslater), but unlike such German industrialists as Alfred Krupp,Robert Bosch, and Ernst van Siemens, he never really madeanything: he simply put companies together. “He alwaysmade the right moves,” summed up one awed observer. “Hewas the Bobby Fischer of the industrialist world.”

At his death, the Flick empire generated annual sales inexcess of $3 billion. But for all his enormous power andwealth, the old man had one very human shortcoming: hecould not control his family. By last week a Flick family fightover the old man’s empire had employees, bankers and politi-cians alike shuddering over the eventual impact it might haveon the West German economy.”

The failure of Herr Flick as a parent serves to remind usthat while we may enjoy extraordinary success on the busi-ness front, in the even bigger business of being an effectivefather or mother, we can be completely bankrupt. Flick wasable to cobble companies together; but he couldn’t do it withhis own family. He was materially rich but relationally poor.

In this issue of Australian Presbyterian we explore what itmeans to be a good parent. It requires a discerning knowledgeof the human heart, reliance upon God’s grace, humility, andan acute awareness of the shaping influences of our sur-rounding culture. We hope you enjoy 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 (Victoria) News Editor; Tracy Gordon (NSW), World News Editor. Graphic Design: Sandra Joynt for A&J Moody Design,www.ajmd.com.au. Advertising and subscription inquiries: Walter Bruining, PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137; Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Subscription: $35.20 a year inc. GST; bulk (etc)$31.90 each inc. GST. Office: PO Box 375, Kilsyth 3137. Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Fax: (03) 9723 9685. Email: [email protected] Printed: PostScript Printing, Eltham Vic.(03) 9431 3414. Published: Monthly except January by the National Journal Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Australia; Convener Peter Hastie. Opinions expressed are thoseof the contributor and not necessarily those of the PCA, the editor or the committee. Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement. Contributions: Submitted articles are welcome. The deadline is the first of the previous month. Donations are always welcome. Print Post approved 34918100384. www.ap.presbyterian.org.au

editorial

COVE

R IM

AGE:

EST

HER

. LIT

HO

GR

APH

BY

MAR

C CH

AGAL

L, 1

960.

Dr Paul Tripp is a lecturer inPractical Theology atWestminster TheologicalSeminary in Philadelphia and is

director of Changing Lives Ministries. Hehas served as a pastor, principal of aChristian school and faculty member ofthe Christian Counseling and EducationFoundation in Glenside, Philadelphia.

He is also the author of Age ofOpportunity: A Biblical Guide to ParentingTeens, War of Words: Getting to the Heart ofYour Communication Struggles andInstruments in the Redeemer’s Hands:People in Need of Change Helping Peoplein Need of Change. He is a frequent con-tributor to the Journal of BiblicalCounseling. Dr Tripp and his wife, Luella,have four children. He has had first-handexperience as a father of teenagers.

What sort of goals should a parenthave as their children reach theteenage years?

Unfortunately, western culture has hada terribly cynical view of the teen years.It’s a view that is largely biologically

based. People tend to see teenagers as acollection of raging, rebel hormonesencased in skin. Of course, the idea is thatyou can’t talk to a hormone. I read some-one who put it very well. He said that ifyou add the word “teenage” to any otherword, it becomes a negative. Take“teenage driver”. That’s a simple instanceof how this particular age-group attractscynicism.

The problem with this way of lookingat teens is that it’s a subtle denial of theGospel. Actually, what we’re really sayingis that there’s a class of people for whomthe Gospel won’t work. That’s a devastat-ing theology. My experience is that whenparents buy into that view of the Gospelfor their teenagers, it begins to bleed overinto other relationships. They begin tohave doubts about whether Christ canreach all sorts of people.

That means that simply surviving yourteenagers is not enough of a goal. In asense, having survival as a goal is selfishbecause it’s focused simply on gettingyourself through a difficult time. Theother problem with having survival as agoal is that, as parents, we tend to settlefor external, behaviourist sorts of goals.We try to deal with our kids according tothe Nike way … “Just do it!” Childrenwho have only had parents who want toregulate and control their behaviour don’thave much when they leave the home.

In America, for example, we have had ahuge number of kids from Christianhomes who go off to college and forsakethe faith. Actually, I suspect that theynever had it in the first place. In fact, whatthey had was the faith of their parents. It’sjust that they never internalised it forthemselves. All that the college situationdoes is reveal the true heart of theteenager which had been masked byparental control and regulations.

Naturally, all parents need to have reg-ulations which control the behaviour oftheir children, but it’s not enough of a

P A R E N T I N G

Teen terrorists?Parents often see their children as junior al-Qaeda. It’s wrong – and unnecessary.

Paul Tripptalks toPeter Hastie



goal. The sort of rule-keeping that wedescribe as behaviourism, which is discon-nected from the heart, is repudiatedthroughout the Bible and was the peculiarsin of the Pharisees. Christ roundly con-demned it. And yet Christian parents canbe very successful at creating a new gener-ation of young Pharisees who live with nosense of need for the Gospel at all, becausethey’re quite good at keeping externalrules. That’s pretty scary to me.

We need to see that the final years of achild’s life at home are a time of unprece-dented opportunity. As a child’s worldunfolds before him and he experiencesgreater freedom, his heart gets revealed.This means that we have to take everyopportunity to be part of the final stage ofpreparation. Being involved with ourteenagers at a deep level is something wemustn’t avoid.

What’s the real problem thatteenagers face? Is it their hormonesor is it their hearts?

The world says it’s their hormones; butthe Bible says, in literally hundreds ofways, that human beings live out of theirhearts. We like to think that it’s other peo-ple and circumstances that cause us to dowhat we do. However, this little bit ofblame-shifting comes straight out of thegarden of Eden. The Bible says that oursituations and relationships are merelythe occasions in which our hearts expressthemselves. I really live out of my heart.The heart is the directional system foreach one of us.

What do you mean when you use theword ‘heart’?

The Bible has a very simple anthropol-ogy. It says that people consist of twoparts: the outer man – which is yourearth-suit, and the inner man – which isyour spiritual self. The Bible uses a num-ber of words – mind, emotion, will, spirit– to describe the heart. In a sense, “theheart” is one, big basket term; it’s reallybiblical shorthand for the inner man andall its functions.

The Bible attributes many importantfunctions to the heart. It tells us that wefeel, think, purpose, desire, believe withour hearts. We also receive or reject God’snew covenant with them too. This meansthat if the heart is the steering wheel of thehuman being, if it’s the thing that causesus to do what we do, then it’s quite obvi-ous that the focus of parenting has to bethe heart.

Christ, as you know, uses the exampleof the tree to explain the function of the

heart. You look at the tree and its fruit andyou say: “That’s an apple tree, because ithas apples.” Now we know that the rea-son it has apples is because it is apple-isticright down to its roots. If it wasn’t anapple tree by nature, it wouldn’t produceapples. In Christ’s example, the treeequals the heart, and the fruit equalsbehaviour and its consequences.

I often use this example. Imagine thatyou have an apple tree in the backyard.Now this particular tree produces horribleapples year after year. So I say to my wife,“I think I can fix our apple tree.” So I goout with a big ladder and cut off all the oldapples. Then I nail delicious red apples allover the tree. I stand back…and from 50feet it nowlooks like agood apple tree.But we all knowwhat’s going tohappen, don’twe? Thoseapples are goingto rot too,because if thetree is consis-tently produc-ing bad apples,then there’s something wrong with thesystem, right down to its roots. We allrealize that we won’t solve the problem bynailing apples onto the tree. But this is theproblem with much of modern child-rear-ing, even in Christian circles. A lot ofwhat we call biblical parenting is nothingmore than apple-nailing. And what hap-pens is that six weeks later, or perhaps sixmonths or six years, the child or youth isright back to where they were before.

So you’re saying that many Christianparents are behaviourists?

Yes, that’s right. But the problem isthat they don’t realise they are. And muchof the time it’s because they’re untaught.

If you go to the average Christianbookstore, unless it carries Shepherding aChild’s Heart by Ted Tripp or my book,Age of Opportunity, you won’t even hearthe word “heart” mentioned in books onparenting. They are all about techniquesand strategies for controlling behaviour.They are behaviourist, even though theyappear in Christian guise.

The scary thing about these books isthat they often have a temporary effec-tiveness. It’s true – I can control a child’sbehaviour through a variety of means. If Ilay enough guilt on my child, it will movehim. Or if I manipulate him with some-thing he wants, a new car or a new bike,

that will be temporarily effective. Or I canthreaten him. That may be of limitedeffectiveness too. However, the problemis that none of these things last. Theminute the threat’s gone, the inner manhasn’t changed. And the child goes rightback to where he was. And that’s what’shappening all over the place, not just inthe culture, but in the church as well.

Why do parents usually find theteenage years of their children themost demanding and threatening ofall?

I would like to be able to say, as thefather of four children, all of them nowgrown up (although one is still a teen),that the only time I got angry was whenone of them broke God’s law. However,what is in fact true, and I think it’s true ofall of us, is that often I wasn’t angrybecause they had sinned, but because theirsin had gotten in the way of somethingthat I wanted. And what often gets in theway of parenting teenagers is the idolatryof their mother and father.

As a father, I too live for comfort,appreciation, success, respect, and con-trol. Now none of those things, in and ofthemselves, is wrong. But they must notrule my heart. If they do rule my heart,then in a moment of teen trouble, I will belikely to personalise what is not personaland be adversarial in my approach to you.I’ll turn a moment of God-given ministryopportunity into a moment of anger,rather than going after your heart. I’ll set-tle for quick situational solutions becauseI just want to get in and out of the roomand get it over with. At that moment, Iwill be enraged with you because you havestopped me from realising what is reallyimportant to me.

That’s why the key to being used byGod with your children is to start withyour own heart. Try this as an experiment.Imagine someone shooting a video ofevery waking moment of your life overthe last six weeks. What would it revealabout the things you are serving? Whatwould you say is really important to you?

You hear parents confess their idolatryin roundabout ways all the time: “I do allthis for you and this is the thanks I get?”Or a father says “How dare you do this tome!”, as if the child has plotted againsthim. I guess it feels personal to a parentbecause the child has prevented him fromserving the idol that’s ruling his life. It canbe a huge struggle for the parents at times.But the teenage years are a time ofunprecedented opportunity. I’ve foundthat the most important thing I can do to

Christian parents can bevery successfulat creating anew generationof youngPharisees.

help parents is to get them to begin thesearch for idolatry in their lives. Then,when they find it, to confess it and forsakeit.

If parents do not deal with their per-sonal idolatry first, then all the strategies Igive you are not going to help. In fact,goal-setting won’t help either. Why?Because, you always end up serving whatrules your heart. It’s like the law of grav-ity: it’s always operating. That’s why Ilove reformed theology because it gets tothe heart of the problem through its rad-ical view of human nature. Reformed the-ology declares that worship isn’t first anactivity for human beings; worship is firstan identity. We are worshippers; you can’tnot worship. We are always in the serviceof something. And if I’m not serving Godin the life of my teenager, then I’m servingother things. It’s just an inescapable prin-ciple.

What are the most important oppor-tunities where parents play a strategicrole in their teenage children’s lives?

Let me begin by saying that I amalways struck by how transcultural andtransgenerational the Bible really is. Wetend to divide human beings into all thesesubcultures, believing that we are very dif-ferent from one another. In some ways wemight be, but I should add that the Bibleis able to cast its net in a way that catcheseveryone.

This means that the Bible speaks to thetypical struggles of young people in everyculture. It works in a situation when a sonsays to his dad “Father, I need to beddown the camel”, and it works when a sonsays “Dad, I forgot to put gas in the car”.It spans those generations. So it’s nothard to look at Scripture and realise thatthe Bible is right when it defines the typi-cal struggles of a young person. Thosestruggles are the opportunity for discern-ing parents.

For instance, the book of Proverbs isvery clear in reminding us that teenagersdon’t usually hunger for wisdom and cor-rection. I’ve never had one of my kids sayto me “As I was riding the bus home fromschool I was thinking, ‘Dad, you’re areally wise man. I’d just love to sit at yourfeet and drink in some more of your wis-dom’ or ‘Dad, I realise that when you cor-rect me you are showing me your love.Would you like to correct me somemore?’ ”. So what should be my goal here?As a parent I realise that wisdom is crucialto pleasing God, and yet it’s not the thingfor which my teenager tends to hunger.

So now I’ve got my job description. It’s

to sell my teenager something that he isnot seeking. And so I decide that I’llmodel being a wise man. I want to showhim that wisdom is a beautiful and won-derful thing. And I want to sell wisdomto him so that he becomes a really keenconsumer. The point I’m making is that ineach area of teenage struggle there’s won-derful parental opportunity.

Another characteristic of teenagers isthat they tend to be very legalistic. Theydon’t particularly love God’s law, they fre-quently debate the boundaries, andthey’re very boundary-oriented. I tell peo-ple that if God’s law is like a fence, then

my kids grew up with fence-marks ontheir faces. As teenagers they were alwayspressing against the fence. Now you don’tsolve the problem of teenage legalism bydebating where the boundary is. Why?Because a child who is pressing his faceagainst the fence is believing a very signif-icant lie. The lie is that the good stuff isout there and God is keeping him from it.

What I need to do is turn his body tothe inside of the yard and show him theglory of what God has called us to. Canyou imagine living in a town where every-body was gentle and kind, no one everstole, there was no such things as envy,murder or adultery, no one coveted,everyone was always patient? That’sGod’s world! So in each one of those areasof teen struggle there are wonderfulopportunities for parents.

You’ve said that if parents don’tregard the teenage years as a time ofunprecedented opportunity, it’sbecause they’ve got something wrongwith their own hearts. What’s theproblem with adult hearts when theybegin to resent their teenage chil-dren?

What happens in the teen years is thata dynamic relational change takes place.When my child is young, he is prettymuch the slave to whatever my agenda is.

I am totally in control. He goes whereverI tell him; the only friends he has in thehouse are the ones that I approve.However, the more my teenager’s worldwidens, the less that’s true. And what hap-pens is that this adolescent sinner has aremarkable ability to mess up my world.

He can’t help himself. Every one of hischoices collides with mine. I tell parentsit’s like this: you can’t stand next to a pud-dle for too long without being splashed byits mud. The fact is that every parent of ateen is dealing with a person who is strug-gling to come to terms with life. We mustalso realise that every teenager is a sinnerand is trying to learn how to live in God’sworld, learning what it means to be godly,and learning the dangers of sin. There’s nopossible way that that won’t have a hugeimpact on my life. And that’s why peopledon’t like their teenagers.

Teenagers are completely differentfrom the babies that we held in our arms.We loved to hear them coo and they smeltso fresh. It seems so ironic that the tinyperson who brought us so much joy is thesame young man I now resent. In fact, I’mso mad with him, I don’t even want to sitdown and have a meal with him. Why?Because he’s made my world uncomfort-able. That’s it. And I don’t like my worldbeing turned upside-down. I like a worldthat’s predictable and controlled. And Ideeply resent the fact that I have lost thatlevel of comfort and control that I previ-ously had.

Actually, what my teenager reveals inme when I get angry and frustrated withhim is a depth and consistency of self-lovethat is one of the horrible effects of sin.Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:15 thatJesus came that those “who live, shouldno longer live unto themselves but forhim who for their sakes died and wasraised.” Jesus is saying that selfishness isthe endemic result of sin. It makes youtotally self-absorbed.

And so what do I want? I want pre-sanctified, self-parenting children. I wantchildren that I can always take to a restau-rant without being embarrassed. I wantkids who will do their homework withoutme being on their backs. I want an easylife for myself. And frankly, I neverexpected that becoming a parent meantthat I would have to lay my life down formy kids. But that’s exactly what God callsme to do. My redemption cost Christ notonly His glory; it also cost Him His life.That’s the model.

What sort of attitudes and approachshould parents have to the family if


P A R E N T I N G

What oftengets in

the way ofparenting

teenagers isthe idolatry of

their motherand father.


they are to be in the right frame ofmind to deal with their teens?

First, we need to understand how themodern workplace has devalued theimportance of family relationships. Thistrend began with the modern industrialrevolution. Two hundred years ago, whenindustry was cottage-based, if the familywas in crisis the shop shut down to settlethe problem because the family ran thebusiness. But if you remove men from thehome and relocate the place of work, all ofa sudden industry begins to dictatelifestyle. What man today would call hisboss and say, “I’m going to be two hourslate because I’m sorting out a difficultproblem in our home and it needs to bedealt with now.” What you do is say toyour wife, “I can’t talk about that nowbecause I have to be at work.”

As work and family life became sepa-rate, men began increasingly to definesuccess in terms of their performance onthe job rather than on their success in thehome. Then along came the further prob-lem of women leaving the home to travelto their work. Now women are also defin-ing their personal success in terms of jobperformance. Today we are generationsdown the road from our Christian for-bears on thinking about the family. Sadly,we don’t think nearly as much of the placeof family relationships when we think ofthe definition of a successful life. But weneed to. We must come to a positionwhere we say: “There is nothing that I willever be that will rival the importance ofGod’s work in the formation of my chil-dren’s souls.” There is nothing moreimportant than that. And that demandssome hard choices.

When I go out to speak, I’ll make thatchallenge to men in the congregation. I’llpoint the finger and say: “There are someof you that are so busy in your careers thatyou’re seldom home, and when you are,you are so physically exhausted that youhave nothing to offer your children. Thereare men here who actually don’t evenknow your own kids. And I want to offera radical challenge to you. Go to your bossand ask for a demotion. Take less pay.Move out of that dream house and into asmaller one. Sell your brand new car andbe willing to drive an older one. And bewilling to do what God has called you todo in the life of your children.”

What are the most helpful ways tounderstand teenagers if we are to playa vital role in their spiritual develop-ment?

I think the most helpful thing to

remember is that your teenager is morelike you than unlike you. Unfortunately,we have this view that teenagers are in aseparate class as though they’re alienswho’ve dropped from the sky.

One humbling thing that I’ve realizedis that there are few struggles in the life ofmy teenager that I don’t recognise in myown heart as well. For instance, imaginemy child has gotten into trouble becausehe’s procrastinated on a school assign-ment until the night before and he can’tpossibly get it done. But haven’t I donethe same? Of course I have. And when Irealise that, I don’t come to him and say“How dare you!How could you?In my day Iwould havenever thought ofdoing this!”Instead, I comeas a fellow sin-ner.

It’s at thispoint that mydealings withhim are based onthe gospel ratherthan law. Here’s my opportunity to pointhim to Christ. So I say: “Son, there’s a res-cue provided for us in the person and workof the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s hope forboth of us. I need it every bit as much asyou do. And I stand with you. However,don’t expect me to write a note to theteacher to get you out of the assignment.”

So you see, it’s a whole differentapproach. I actually think that the self-righteous, ‘I’m more righteous than you’approach closes down teenagers; it does-n’t open them up at all. That’s whyChristian parents shouldn’t use it.

Is the wisdom literature of the Bible,especially the Proverbs, helpful inpreparing us to meet the challenge ofthe teenage years? How does it helpparents get ready for their responsi-bilities?

Yes, it’s vital for dealing with teens. AsI have read the first few chapters ofProverbs it’s often hit me that what wehave here is a father giving advice to hisson. “Son, pay attention to my wisdom”,“Son, give heed to my instruction.” So Idecided that I would keep reading the firsteight chapters over and over again. I liter-ally read them hundreds of times.Interestingly, what happened was that anumber of themes started rising to thesurface – a theme being something that’srepeated over and over again.

Now, I know enough as a parent that ifI have to repeat something several timesto my children, it means I have identifieda struggle within them. So the themes thatare in Proverbs give us a wonderful pictureof what are the typical temptations orstruggles of a young person. And theygive me a nice template for thinking aboutthe kinds of things I am going toencounter as I go through the teen yearswith my children.

Rememberthat yourteenager ismore like youthan unlikeyou.

The Williamstown Presbyterian Congregation

is celebrating150 years of Presbyterian worship

in Williamstown, Victoria

on Sunday 14th September this year.

Our moderator general, Rt.Rev. Jack Knappwill conduct the service and preach on that Sunday.

At 2.00pm that afternoon, there will be a recital on our beautiful pipe organ by our organists.

There will be an anecdotal history of the congregation and its members available both on CD and in book form.

We hope to see you there and then.

What should be the basic spiritual goalsfor parents in dealing with their teens?Should I be simply trying to regulate theirbehaviour? Is that a worthy aim, or shouldI be trying to achieve a lot more? Myproblem with a lot of parenting is that it isreactive; it’s not goal-driven. Somethingcomes up and I react to it. However,Scripture expects us to move well beyondreactive parenting. It sets us heart goals.And so when I am helping my teens dealwith issues of dating, or use of the car, orbehaviour at school, their individual situa-tion gives me a God-given opportunity tohelp them advance in one of these areas ofheart goals. So, for each of my children, Ihave tried to look through the individualsituation to the goal for their hearts thatI’m seeking to achieve.

One of these goals is to teach my childto understand and participate in the spirit-ual struggle. The Bible tells us that themost important things to happen in lifeare unseen. It also tells us that there’s areal enemy who wants control of myheart. And that war goes on in every situ-ation of life. I want my teenager to getbeyond clothes and sports and see thesignificance of sin and temptation whichis there in every situation of life.

The issue of what rules the heartinvolves the issue of idolatry. Teenagersneed to be challenged about what is gov-erning them. Here are three idols of theteen years: appearance, possessions andacceptance. And so I want to take them tothe level of the heart so that they can under-stand what is really going on in their lives.

Why is it that Christian parents areoften frustrated in their efforts to cul-

tivate a heart for God in theirteenagers?

Because it’s the hardest work a humanbeing could ever do. We have to get to thepoint where we realise that there is nohope apart from Christ. If I could turn thehuman heart by the force of my voice, orthe strength of my personality, or thelogic of my argument, or the wisdom ofmy parenting strategies, then Jesus wouldnever have needed to come. So, as a par-ent, I’ve hit something that I can’t do by

myself. And itmakes me angry.It frustrates me.It discouragesme. You see, whatI want is some‘instant fix’…giveme the threesteps to produc-ing godliness inkids. The Bibledoesn’t do that. It

doesn’t give us a system of redemption; itgives us a Redeemer.

And here’s the really scary news. Nomatter how righteously I act with myteenager, he must deal with God or therewon’t be any hope for him. And I can’t dothat. So what I do, in my frustration, is tryto do God’s job on my kids.

Many teens leave home because theirrelationship with their parents is sobad. What can parents do that willensure that when they leave homethey’ll be grateful for the life prepa-ration that they’ve received?

Parents should remember that the bestclimate for a relationship is a climate of

honesty and humility. I have watchedrestoration take place when parents arewilling to begin to be honest about theirown struggle. One of the things that drives teenagers crazy is parents who areall talk but no action. They hold up stan-dards but never keep them themselves. Imean, how can you talk about grace butbe bitter and angry? After a while, thechild just can’t wait for that first momentto make his exit.

One of the ways I preach the Gospel isdeclaring my own need for it. And thatcan be done casually. I was talking to my17-year-old son recently. I felt I’d beenimpatient with him. And I said: “It’s notgoing to be any surprise to you that I’mgoing to say I’m a sinner”. Well, helaughed at that, because I also said: “Youhave a robust experience of the same.”Then I said “You know there are timeswhen I think of myself more than you,and last night was one of those times.”And he said, “I do the same thing withyou Dad, and I forgive you.” After thatexchange there was a warmth between us.However, there would have been a verydifferent outcome if I had said : “Youknow, you really ought to be glad that youhave a dad like me. I’m always going outof the way for you. Why do you mess upall the time after all I’ve done for you?”You see, it would’ve been a whole differ-ent ball game.

The point is this: if I’m willing to admitmy need of Christ, then I come before mychild with the evidence of what he alsoshould do. He has not only seen his need,but he has seen the changes Christ is ableto do in me. I’m preaching the gospel justby living my life. I think that’s a very pow-erful thing. And I think it’s an opportun-ity that we miss, because we believe thatif we admit sin, then we compromise ourauthority. My authority is representativeanyway, it’s not based on my righteous-ness, it’s based on Christ. And I thinkthat’s the way that I can be an instrumentin Christ’s hands.

Peter Hastie is themes editor of AP. ap

P A R E N T I N G


Here are three idols of

the teen years:appearance,possessionsand accep-

tance.

The Westminster Presbyterian Church, Belconnen (WPCB) which islocated in Canberra, is seeking a pastor. We are seeking a man with the ability tolead and work comfortably with a ministry team. He must have skills in preach-ing, teaching and equipping the saints.At WPCB we believe that God’s word, the Bible, is relevant and authoritative forus today. We believe that Christ is the head of the Church and that the Church isthe body of Christ founded for worship, discipleship, fellowship and service.

WPCB is a dynamic and growing Church. We want someone who has a passion forGod’s excellence, who can help build the people of God to live lives that glorifyHim and to influence the society in which God has placed them.

If you would like to find out more about WPCB and this position, pleasesend a 2 page CV, including information on positions held, educationalqualifications and references to Donald de Vries: email [email protected] 27 July 2003.

WPCPastor sought for a Reformed Congregation

Isuspect I really annoy my children!But then I’m still on L-plates. Oneday I’ll learn how to parent, but fornow I’m just trying hard.

There’s not a lot in the Bible on how toparent teenagers. Principles, yes, but littleof the detail. Which is helpful because wecan rest assured on the principles and thenuse personal intuition and spirituallydirected creativity to carry out the task.

Though there’s not much in Scripture,it’s paper warfare on the subject in book-stores. Probably there’s more been writ-ten on parenting in recent decades thanthe world’s bookshelves have room tocontain them. There’s a healthy debateand review of these taking place on thepages of The Briefing.

Paul’s word to fathers has alwaysintrigued me: “Fathers, do not embitteryour children, or they will become dis-couraged.” (Col. 3:21). The NIV word“embitter” means to stir up, the sameword used by Paul when he commendedthe Corinthians for their generosity andenthusiasm – saying that their example“stirred up” others to action (2 Cor. 9:2).The word can be used for stirring up forgood or for evil – the context of the versemaking clear the meaning.

There’s a parallel verse that also catchesmy attention: “Fathers, do not exasperateyour children; instead, bring them up inthe training and instruction of the Lord”(Eph. 6:4). This word “exasperate” meansto provoke to anger. The same form of thisword is used as a noun in Ephesians 4:26 inthe sense of “an angry mood”. There is lit-tle difference between the two words Pauluses (Colossians/Ephesians), whetherwe’re embittering or exasperating – we’restill getting our parenting wrong!

Exasperation comes easily in my home.There are some things I seem to be

good at. Progress in holiness … 3/10;exasperating children … 9/10!

Exasperation comes when I fail to takeinto consideration age distinction. I needto change my parenting method accordingto age (theirs, not mine). To state the obvi-ous: somewhere in the pre-teens corporalpunishment ceases; somewhere in the teenyears direction and correction must giveway to advice and counsel. My children,

thankfully, aren’t to become replicas ofmyself and my wife, and I need to allow forindividual differences and degrees of inde-pendence during the teen years. I don’tcontinue to parent in the same way or I willreally annoy my children!

Exasperation comes when I don’t lis-ten to my children without interruptingand correcting. Conversations are delicateepisodes with teens. Often they just don’texist (especially when forced or expected,say, at mealtimes) but then they will oftenerupt at most unexpected moments orlate at night. I must be able to seize thesemoments even though the body clock ofmy children has switched into nocturnalmode (whereas mine is closing down) andlisten and share without impatience andwith a generous heart. Not everything hasto be corrected. Not every issue has to bechallenged and sorted out on the spot.Some issues can wait for another day.

Exasperation comes when I live withhypocrisy in my life. When my childrensee my inconsistency between what I pro-fess to be with others and what I’m like athome in front of the TV, or at meal times.

This is an acute test for pastors, we are sogiving, forgiving and generous with ourhigh-maintenance people in the parish,yet so short and tight with our family.

Children notice that we drop every-thing to answer the phone and engage inlong and helpful conversations with aparishioner and yet are offended becausewe are uninterested and selfish when itcomes to conversations within the family.Sometimes, as pastors we behave as if ourlife is the most important in the family, andwhen our role takes priority. Children areoffended when we treat a parish caller withmore courtesy than we treat their mother.

Exasperation comes when I don’t taketime off to spend with my teen chil-

dren. The kinder nativity play is easy toattend (especially for the first child, thenless so with the others). We take notice ofthe first day at school, the school musical,netball, aerobics – events which are allnoticed and commended. But later, thetest is, will I still be available for them. Itcan be harder to celebrate and to share intheir older, more subtle, less obviousachievements and special moments. Stillable to praise the older teen, have a dayout with them. Enjoy driving lessons withthem; take them out for coffee, to a film,the footy.

Neglect hurts, and children are exas-


Driving them madThere are so many ways for fathers to get it wrong.

JohnWilson

P A R E N T I N G

A U S T R A L I A N P R E S B Y T E R I A N • 1 0

There’s that faint predawn washlight and the new day has justannounced itself with the call ofthe honeyeater in the brushbox

outside our bedroom window. I roll over,the alarm clock smugly reads 6am ... theyare new every morning, new every morn-ing...

Up, into the exercise gear and tiptoepast the kids’ rooms and out the door foran early morning jog through the busharound our home. ... gonna keep my –eyes on the Lord and I’m – gonna run,diddy oh... A wallaby thumps its wayacross the path ahead and into the bush.Overhead, the lazy caw of crows, driftingout of the forest, off to peck their waythrough suburbia’s scraps ...there’s a Lordwho cares for the old black crow... Do theloop that takes me past the station wherethe commuters wait for the train to town...people get ready, there’s a train a-comin...

By the time I’m home, the household isawake. ...this is the day, this is the day... Forthe kids, it’s empty the dishwasher, makethe bed, anyone seen my sports shoes?where’s my drink bottle? who ate the lastbit of Nutri-Grain? she’s hogging theheater ... in the Bible, in Ephesians, chapter4 verse 32, God says be kind to one an-ooooottthhher...

The intensity builds until, like a steamvalve, the kids explode out the door and wemake the 10 minute march to the bus stop... I’m too young to march in the infantry...

We always pray as we go, taking it inturns to commit the day to the Lord. Andit’s simple cares, children’s cares, a mix ofprayers for teachers, siblings, friends, thepoor and the sick. ...casting all your cares– upon Him – for He careth for you...Prayers of thanks for the new day, thanksfor simple mercies. ...thank you Lord forthis fine day, right where we are...

It’s a kiss, an “I love you!” and a wave asoff they go, into the adventures of anotherschool day. ...in all your ways acknowledgeHim, and He will make your pathsstraight...

In Deuteronomy 6:7, God tells parentsto let His truths season all of life –“Impress them on your children. Talkabout them when you sit at home andwhen you walk along the road, when you

lie down and when you get up.” Musicplays such a big part in the spiritual life ofour little family.

It seems that, like the inexplicable bub-bles in a still pond, psalms, hymns andspiritual songs keep unexpectedly burstingthrough the surface of our lives – at home,along the road. They’re God’s little time-delay reminders, waiting for the rightmoment, then popping into the middle ofour hurley burley lives to turn ourthoughts to the timeless truths, the realsubstance of living. So how do the bubblesget in the pond?

Last weekend, my six-year-old son andI were doing a spot of gardening together.And as Riley dug holes for the gardenias,he spontaneously burst into the refrainwe’d been singing at church that morn-ing, “...This is our God! This is our God!”Ah ha! A culprit! The people of God!Can we underestimate the profoundimpact that a group of people (in ourchurch’s case, 60 or so) can have on a lit-tle lad as they sing with all their hearts“This is our God!”?

The richness of hymns (we sang twocracking good ones on Sunday that

were written in the 1600s), the contempo-rary sensibilities of good modern spiritualsongs that marry our musical culture withspiritual and biblical substance, the simplesongs for kids with words and tunes thatseem to stick like prickles. Add the com-munity of believers – worshipping,encouraging, teaching, celebrating – andthere you have a portal into the subcon-scious for God’s musical time bombs.(And the singing time in Sunday School isone of the highlights of our week!)

Music seems to ring through our home(and in our cars) pretty much constantly.Not just Christian music, but we’realways on the lookout for albums thatsing of the Lord and His works. Cookingthe dinner, doing the dishes, going aboutthe duties of family life to the strains of

perated when they see attention given toall the cute things of childhood, and yetscant attention to events and issues thatare even more important to teenagers;issues admittedly that are harder for us tounderstand, at least initially.

Exasperation comes when I fail toappreciate the goal – to see my childrenas productive, capable and mature adults.I want to visualise my children as able(through practice) to make lots of gooddecisions without reference to me any-more. Able and willing to take the conse-quences of decisions and work throughthem. Risk-taking is part of life’s training– calculated risk-taking, like the motherbird encouraging her young to leap outof the nest in order to learn to fly. Over-protection and constant referral to myvalue system and self made parameters isexasperating.

So, what’s my advice on parenting?What’s the best method? There’s no

definitive answer. But I do have a finalword. Enjoy your children and love them.John Newton, the great preacher andhymn-writer of the evangelical awakeningin Britain said of his father: “I know thatmy father loved me – but he did not seemto wish me to see it.” How sad!

I’m not a good father, I make lots ofmistakes, but I love being a father and Ienjoy my children’s company – always.I’m never too tired or distracted to seethem or to listen to them or to speak withthem. I love to share in their life and theirlife’s achievements. It is well documentedthat fathers spend, on average, 20 minutesa week (aside from collective mealtimes)in direct contact with their sons! Onewonders how these surveys reach conclu-sions, because I read of another that says:fathers spend an average of 37 seconds aday with their children!

Let’s err on the side of caution andtake the 20 minutes a week survey – whythe distance between ourselves and ourchildren? Don’t we like them anymore?Is our work more important?

On our retirement day, whenspeeches are made I’m sure I won’t beingsaying: “My one regret is that I didn’tspend more time at the office.” What doyou think it might be?

Enjoy being with your children, theirconversation, their friends, their achieve-ments and delight in their future.

John and Paula Wilson are parents ofEmily (19, P&O student at uni);Bethany (17, doing year 12 at PLC) andCarey (12, fellow Swans supporter withDad). ap

P A R E N T I N G

Bubbles in the pondThe musical way to Christian parenting

ColinBuchanan


“...I will sing the wondrous story...” or“...Make my life a prayer to you...” or “Andwe sing Holy, Holy Begotten Son ofGod!” is a little like an eternity-scented airfreshener. It’s possible to not notice, butthe scent is still there and truths seep in.Sometimes it’s kids’ music, very often itisn’t. But the things of God ring aroundthe nooks and crannies and lodge them-selves within.

Although the kids love it, I must admitwe don’t sing in family devotions as muchas we might. We usually read the Bible (ora devotional book) and pray together afterdinner is all cleared up and “FatherAbraham” (now there’s a chestnut!) isn’texactly a calm-down-before-bed sort ofsong! But singing together around the gui-tar does happen from time to time and it’sanother way to depth-charge our mindswith songs about the Lord.

We try to give music plenty of opportu-nities to sow the seed and add momentumto the spiritual intent of Christian parent-ing. We have a good collection of “kids’stuff” but there’s a certain universalityabout good, substantial Christian songs.On the one hand, I really believe deeplyrics have the ability to be “grown into”by our kids. The words stick in their headsand lie dormant, perhaps for many years,until their own maturity, an experience orsituation wakes the words within them.On the other hand, for us as adults, thesimple, deep truths of a well-crafted kids’song may contain a comfort, encourage-ment or rebuke deeper and more potentthan many words. So much to be gained bysomething as simple as singing!

But it’s not like the world doesn’t realisethe potency of music and song. ...Oh

what a feeling... I’m Louie da fly... Heeeeybaby! I want to knooooowww, if you’ll bemy girl ... Hoooowwww-Howzat? Youmessed about, I caught you out, howzat?....Advertising, pop songs, jingles, muzak.Lodging the un-truths or the brand namesor the rumpty-tumpty nonsense of thisworld into our ponds, into our minds,waiting to bubble out unannounced. Andthey do. Just think of the countless prod-

uct endorsements (...install a Rheem,install a Rheem...) lover’s laments (...hon-esty is such a lonely word...) rock anthems(...o mamma mia, mamma mia, mammamia, let me go...) and lyrical polystyrene(...I remember when rock was young, meand Suzy had so much fun...) taking upbrain space and not a lot else, waiting tobecome the next thing we hum or whistleas we wait for the kettle to boil.

And beware! Tune in to Saturdaymorning music video clips to witness firsthand the promotion and celebration of

sexual sin, anger, hopelessness, defiance,slavery to fashion, appearance, beauty, tobeing cool, wrapped in the best and slick-est, most beautiful (and talented) packag-ing the world can muster. Music can carrypoison, just as it can carry the very wordsof eternal life. We need to be on our guardand as our kids grow, they’ll need dis-cernment to see the rotten core from thegood fruit and not let the devil get afoothold.

I love music, I love listening to songsand get enormous enjoyment from God’scommon grace that has blessed humanitywith the marvellous mercy of music. Buthere’s a question for Christian parents,kids and families: who’s going to make themost bubbles in our ponds? The world orthe Lord?

Colin Buchanan is an award-winningAustralian country singer/songwriter who,for the past 13 or so years, has been writingand recording songs about subjects as diverseas going to the tip, rural hardship, the ancientEgyptian embalming process and fishing onFraser Island. His five Aussie Praise for Kidsalbums have become firm favourites acrossAustralia and he is currently putting the fin-ishing touches to two new CDs – “God ofWonders”, a collection of worship songs and“Baa Baa Doo Baa Baa”, a compilation ofhis catchy memory verses for kids, both duefor release in late August. Colin and his wife,Robyn, live with their four children in south-ern Sydney and worship at EngadineCongregational Church.

See www.colinbuchanan.com.au ap

Remember!a church history day

10:30 am Coffee/Tea and Book Table11:00 am Dr Allan Harman – ‘An Introduction to the life and work of

Matthew Henry: English presbyterian bible commentator’12:15 pm Lunch – Bring and Share1:30 pm Dr Rowland Ward – ‘Hector Ferguson: A forgotten

presbyterian heretic’3:00 pm Dr Mairi Harman – ‘Scottish presbyterians and Australian

aboriginals – early interaction’

saturday 26 july 2003

RTC Biblical Preaching Workshop 2003Geelong,

Thu 2nd & Fri 3rd October–––––––––––––––––––––

“Preaching Christ from Old Testament Stories”(The Gospel from the Book of Judges)

–––––––––––––––––––––An in-depth support event for

ministers, pastors, lay preachers,senior elders, other Christian

workers.Accommodation available

on campus.–––––––––––––––––––––

Reformed Theological College125 Pigdons Rd Waurn Ponds

Geelong 3216For early enrolments contact

Heather on ph (03) 5244295, email: [email protected]

Who’s going tomake the mostbubbles in ourponds? Theworld or theLord?

Church Records Management and Archives Committee andThe South Yarra Centre for Contemporary Christian Discipleship

present

South Yarra Presbyterian Church 621 Punt Road South YarraThe Rev Stuart Bonnington 9867 4637 – The Rev Andrew Clarke 5443 6189

l l

l l

It is not enough for us to begin theday with God; but during the day weare to wait upon Him.

The devout believer waits on Himas the beggar waits on his benefactor oras the diseased at the pool of Bethesdawaited for the stirring of the water andthe expected cure. The idea is mostfully conveyed in the psalmist’s words:“O God, you are my God, earnestly Iseek you; my soul thirsts for you, mybody longs for you, in a dry and wearyland where there is no water” (Psalm63:1).

To wait upon God is to live a life ofdevotion to Him, as the servant waits onhis master, to learn his will, and to do hiswork, and to advance his honour andinterest. As the eyes of a servant are tothe hand of his master, so must our eyeswait upon the Lord, to do what Heappoints, to take what He apportions tous. “Your will be done.” “Lord, what willYou have me to do?”

We must wait on God every day; noton Sabbath days only, but on weekdaystoo. The Lord’s day is especially to bedevoted to waiting upon God, in the sanc-tuary, in the family, when alone; but on allother days also it is our duty to wait uponHim. Every day of the week, as well as onthe Sabbath, we stand in need of thedivine mercies that are to be thus secured,and have work to do for God in whichHis assistance is thus to be sought.

Whatever changes of employmentthere may be in the course of the day, itmust be the invariable attitude of oursouls to attend upon Him, and to regardHis will and His glory in whatever weundertake and pursue.

In the family. When we meet membersof the family in the morning, we are towait upon God for the bestowment of

His blessingupon them, andto thank Him forthe mercies expe-rienced by themduring the night,and to implorethe bestowmentof what may beneedful in thefuture.

In the educa-tion of a family.

We need to ask assistance from God, anda divine blessing upon our efforts andupon the efforts of our children, not onlyin those matters which pertain to godli-ness and salvation, but even in thosewhich belong to the present life. Themembers of the family, also, that are inchildhood or youth, should be taught towait on God in all their daily studies andefforts at improvement, that they may fitthemselves for usefulness in life, be goodexamples of their families, comforts totheir parents, and benefactors to theircountry and to the world.

In our places of daily business. We areto wait on God for His presence andblessing here. When buying or selling, weare to remember that God’s eye is uponus, observing whether we are just andhonest in our dealings, and do no wrongto those we deal with. In all business oper-ations, it honours God to look to Him forwisdom which leads to success, and forthat honest profit which may be expectedin the way of honest diligence.

In our reading. We are to wait on God

to guide us in our selection of books orperiodicals, and to aid us in turning themto a profitable account. The HolyScriptures are, of course, to occupy a por-tion of each day’s reading, both alone andwith our families; and we need to waitupon God to assist us so to meditate uponthem and apply them, as to derive thelargest benefit in the way of religiousimpression and impulse.

In our social visits. Whether made orreceived, we are to wait upon God withthanksgiving for valuable friends. In socialcircles, we must so regulate our conversa-tion that it shall be productive of good,and not of harm, to our friends and toourselves. We need wisdom from God, torender our conversation edifying, andsuch as may bring honor to God and sal-vation to our fellow creatures.

In acts of charity to the poor. We areto wait on God by performing thoseacts as unto Him; not to secure praise ofothers, but the approbation of God; andby asking God to accept what we do forthe good of others, as done in obedienceto His will, and from love to His crea-tures, and in imitation of His benignexample.

On reading the news. We are to wait onGod with an eye to Him as governing

in the affairs of humankind; we are tomaintain an habitual concern for the inter-ests of His kingdom in the world and toobserve its prosperity, or the reverse. Weare to read the news, not simply to gratifyan idle curiosity or to pass a pleasant hour,but that we may be better prepared todirect our prayers and our praises, and toregulate our own conduct in reference tothe kingdom of God and the welfare ofour fellow humans.

Such a life of communion with God isa heaven upon earth. It is doing the workof heaven and the will of God as they doit who are in heaven. It is a foretaste of theeverlasting blessedness of heaven and apreparation for it.

This is an edited excerpt from MatthewHenry’s The Bible Method of Daily Living(Colorado Springs: American TractSociety-Navpress, 1998). ap


All day with GodWait on God, all day, every day.

MatthewHenry

R E F L E C T I O N

VisitingMelbourne?Worship with us atSouth Yarra Presbyterian Church621 Punt RoadEvery Sunday 10 am. & 6.30 pm.Minister: Rev Stuart BonningtonPhone: (03) 9867 4637(Less than 3 kms from CBD)

We are to read the news

that we maybe better

prepared todirect our

prayers andour praises.


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 12:1-9THE POINT God’s call of Abram would dominate the course ofhuman history for countless generations; Abram’s unquestioningresponse to it would become the model of true faith until the end of time.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD (God by his covenant name) gave Abram a hard call:to walk away from everything that represented security – his home-land and people with their familiar ways and customs, and hisantecedent family circle – trusting God to lead him step by step.• The LORD promised Abram four things: a land, offspring thatwould become a great nation, his blessing, and a name that was tobecome the ‘password’ by which others would be blessed.• Abram, aged 75, took only his acquired possessions, not hisinherited ones. Presumably his nephew Lot went as a proxy son.• The land God had chosen for Abram was already occupied, but hestaked his claim to each part by building altars to the LORD.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Are there any comfort zones you would find it hard to leave ifGod called you to do so? How does Abraham’s faith challenge youin the outworking of your commitment to follow Jesus? A mission-ary once testified, ‘There’s no blessing in disobedience.’

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 12:10-20THE POINT After such a good start, Abram’s failure stuns us.We had just seen him trusting God for everything; now we find himtaking matters into his own hands and making his own choices,with, apart from God’s gracious intervention, disastrous results.THE PARTICULARS• There’s no mention of Abram seeking guidance when faced withan obstacle in the land to which the LORD had clearly led him.• Abram’s premeditated plan to deceive Pharaoh concerning histrue relationship to Sarai was wrong on several counts:

– it involved telling a lie (regardless of his later attempt to justifyhimself in a similar situation with Abimelech in 20:12!);

– it shifted the danger from himself to his wife;– it demonstrated his failure to trust God for protection.

TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Do you think Abram’s decision to go to Egypt stemmed from:

– a failure to trust the LORD to provide in this particular case;– a doubt that he really was in the place God wanted him to be;– assuming there was no need to consult the LORD on this one.

Do you sometimes make one or more of these mistakes?• Is deception ever justified (say, in hiding refugees in wartime)?

L ast month we looked atEphesians from the perspectiveof what it means to be part ofa family and, in particular,

God’s family. This month we will start to look at the beginnings of thecovenant family from its source inAbraham, “God’s friend”. Thiscovenant family will eventually reachits highest point in the birth of its mostsignificant member, Jesus Christ, thesingle “seed’” or offspring of Abrahamto whom all the promises point (Gal.3:15-16). The process of getting fromAbraham to Jesus involved the estab-lishment of a large and powerfulnation which was then progressivelypruned, tested and refined until ahumble Jewish virgin conceived theMessiah by the power of the HolySpirit.

Yet the beginnings from Abraham (who was then Abram) were painfullyslow and arduous, and we find out alot about God’s dealings with familiesand individuals along the way. We also discover a lot about faith, and sin, and grace, and mercy, andpatience and perseverence, and familyrelationships, and pain and trial, andjoy and fulfilment, and God’s faithful-ness to His promises.

Bruce Christian

DAY 1 Big God, big call, big promise. DAY 2 Earthen vessels; jars of clay.

20 daily Bible studies in Genesis 12-21

The covenantfamily

B I B L E S T U D Y


THE PASSAGE GENESIS 13:1-9THE POINT Again we see Abram’s good qualities coming out.In Egypt he had risked Sarai’s welfare to protect himself and per-haps saw the LORD’s deliverance then as a valuable lesson. Now,back in the ‘promised’ land, he averted a potential lose-lose conflictby putting Lot’s interests ahead of his own. Peace was more impor-tant than the amassing of worldly influence and power.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD was fulfilling some of his promises to Abram as hebecame rich and began to possess the land. (God even turnedAbram’s wrongdoing into a source of blessing in Egypt – 12:16.)• Abram acknowledged the LORD’s authority wherever he went. • Worldly possessions can very easily become a source of bittercontention in families. It seems that the richer we become theharder we find it to share with others (cf 1 Timothy 6:9-10).• Abram’s contentment (cf 1 Timothy 6:6-8), his desire for peace,and his godly generosity were evident in his dealings with Lot.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is there a connection between Abram calling on the name of theLORD wherever he went, and his generosity towards Lot? Do wetoo often act as owner of our possessions instead of steward?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 13:10-18THE POINT Agreeing to go our separate ways when we can’t geton well together solves some problems, but it can also create others,as we will see in chapters 14 and 19. The ‘I-want-things-my-way’attitude that causes the tension in the first place and leads to divisioncan lead to behaviour and lifestyle that takes us away from God.THE PARTICULARS• Given first choice, Lot chose for himself the land that looked themost fertile and prosperous; he was also attracted to live near a citynoted for its godlessness. There is a hint, too, that Lot was glad tobe free of his uncle’s (restricting?) influence. • Abram’s self-sacrificing generosity was richly rewarded by theLORD’s renewed promise of the land of Canaan as a gift, and ofcountless offspring to possess it ‘for ever’. • Abram’s first priority as he moved around and settled in a newplace was to build an altar to the LORD (see Hebrews 11:9-10).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is there a lesson here for the Church today that we ought to beworking harder at doing things together for our mutual benefitrather than too quickly splitting up into special interest groupsbased on age, taste in music, education, etc, for worship, etc?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 14:1-16THE POINT Apart from God’s gracious intervention, Lot’sattraction to the godless city of Sodom would have led to his down-fall. This was the first of two times when he had to be so rescued. Wesee God, not only as the God of all grace, but as the sovereign Lordover all human affairs and politics. He is not affected by numbers.THE PARTICULARS• Tribal warfare was part and parcel of human history as men popu-lated the earth. The area Lot had chosen for its fertility was also inthe sights of many others. After 12 years the local kings were sickof paying homage (=taxes) to foreign powers and, thinking theyhad the numbers (5 to 4), decided to rebel.• Lot and Co., themselves recent arrivals, were caught up in thepolitical crossfire and were taken captive as a consequence.• God had equipped Abram with the resources needed to conquerthe capturing forces and return the captives with all their goods.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• What do we learn from Lot about the danger of worldliness?• Do Abram’s military capability to rescue Lot and his action indoing so give a Biblical basis for maintaining adequate defenceforces and participating in a just war?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 14:17-24THE POINT Meet Melchizedek! His name is mentioned only tentimes in the Bible: once here, once in Psalm 110:4, and eight timesin the NT in Hebrews 5-7. The writer of Hebrews makes a specialpoint of the abruptness of his appearance and disappearance on thestage of history: he is a preview of Christ! He affirms God’sinvolvement in and blessing of Abram’s victory. In offering breadand wine and receiving a tithe from Abram he anticipates Christ asour Great High Priest in God’s new order .THE PARTICULARS• Lack of mention of Melchizedek’s earthly lineage (before or after)establishes him as a unique person in the Biblical record.• Abram’s giving of the tithe to Melchizedek signifies his utterdependence on the only true God as the source of all things.• Abram was typically generous towards the undeserving King ofSodom and was very careful not to become indebted to him.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Read Hebrews 7 to discover the full, eternal significance of thishistorical event. In our pluralistic society, what does all this teach usabout the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,the God of the Bible and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 15:1-6THE POINT Abram’s totally hopeless and theologically confus-ing situation concerning God’s promise and the reality of his ownchildlessness provided the ideal setting in which he could expresswhat came to be the epitome of saving faith. The Bible never talksabout true faith in the context of a life of ease and prosperity. Theexponents of Prosperity Theology would do well to note this.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD communicated to Abram in words through visions.• The LORD left Abram in no doubt that he could and would pro-tect him, provide for him, bless him, and in all things be with him.• Abram shared with the LORD his perplexity about the promiseof many descendants in the light of his age and apparent sterility.• The LORD reconfirmed the vast promise in no uncertain terms!• Abram took God at his word without questioning and the LORDaccepted his profession of faith as the righteousness required if hewas to have fellowship with a holy God (see Romans 4).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Read Hebrews 11:11-12. What is the essence of saving faith?How was Abraham put right with God (justified) 2000 years beforeJesus died (see Romans 3:23-26)? What about you?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 15:7-21THE POINT God wanted his covenant people, the descendantsof Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to know for certain that he had allo-cated a specific area of land (Canaan) as their eternal inheritance. Todemonstrate this he made (literally ‘cut’) a covenant with Abram.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD had just confirmed his promise of descendants toAbram; he now confirms his promise of the land, this time with acovenant ‘sign’ using visible and tangible objects as symbols.• Walking between the divided carcasses was like saying, ‘Such willhappen to me if I don’t keep my promise.’ The LORD was repre-sented by the smoking firepot and blazing torch (like the later sym-bols of the pillars of cloud and fire in the desert).• The promise would not be without antagonism (the birds ofprey) or hardship (the 400 years exile in slavery), but it would standfirm in spite of these (‘your descendants will come back’).• The ten nations would be expelled by Abram’s descendants aspunishment for their own sin when God’s patience ran out.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Why has Israel today lost its ‘eternal inheritance’? Has it beengiven to the Church, the New Israel? Where is our ‘Canaan’?

DAY 3 Blessed are the peacemakers.

DAY 4 Seek first God’s kingdom.

DAY 5 A Lot of trouble.

DAY 6 A blessing out of the blue.

DAY 7 Justification by faith alone.

DAY 8 The Promised Land.


B I B L E S T U D Y

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 16:1-4THE POINT How often does lack of patience and trust lead to ourtaking matters into our own hands – with disastrous results? God’sway is always the best; shortcuts can never bring ultimate blessing.Surrogate parenting was never in the LORD’s revealed plan forAbram and Sarai – as the outcome of Hagar’s involvement shows.THE PARTICULARS• Sarai’s plan seemed a good practical solution to her frustration ofnot being able to have children with all its associated shame. • The timing of Sarai’s proposal is significant: the LORD had justrenewewd his promise of a child to Abram, and Abram had believedhim with the sort of faith that qualified him for salvation!• Hagar had nothing going for her to qualify her to be the motherof Abram’s privileged descendants: as an Egyptian she was outsideof the LORD’s covenant; and she wasn’t Abram’s wife.• Sarai’s rationalising is typical of what we all do when God’s provi-dence isn’t working for us: she blamed God for the problem (2a);and she offered a solution that seemed quite logical (2b).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• What do we learn about human nature from Hagar’s initialresponse to finding she was pregnant? Can we trust ourselves?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 16:5-16THE POINT Both women were at fault: Hagar for the conceitthat led her to despise Sarai; Sarai for the too-late jealousy of herhusband’s affections and her harsh, unforgiving attitude to Hagar.Human sin was creating a very ugly situation; but God intervenedwith grace by restoring the destitute, pregnant Hagar and ‘seeing’ toher needs with the promise of a generous future blessing.Nevertheless, judgement is not revoked and 4000 years later we seenightly the outworking of the prophecy of v.12 on the TV news!THE PARTICULARS• There is a subtle re-run of Adam and Eve in Eden in Sarai’s hasteto shift the blame (cf Gen. 3:12-13, and our own litigious society)and in Abram’s failure to exercise family headship (cf Gen. 3:17, andour own feminist society). The Fall was far-reaching indeed! • The conflict between Hagar and Sarai presents a strong case forthe Biblical view of marriage as a monogamous relationship inwhich absolute faithfulness is maintained (unlike our society!).• God’s care of Hagar and Ishmael shows the extent of his com-mon grace as they would finally turn their backs on his covenant.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Does it give you comfort or concern that God sees everything?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 17:1-16THE POINT Abram is now 99, Sarai is 89 with her conceptionequipment no longer functioning, God has been promising them alarge family for 25 years, and still nothing has happened. And nowGod renews his covenant promise with a very permanent sign. Thesign requires a specific commitment of obedience from Abramwhen all he has from God in return so far is the spoken promise – ithardly seems fair. Yet Abram presses on in faith, trusting...THE PARTICULARS• In this new covenant renewal the LORD introduces a new namefor himself, ‘God Almighty’ (El Shaddai). He also gives Abram(Exalted Father) and Sarai (the LORD is Prince) new names:‘Abraham’ (Father of Many) and ‘Sarah’ (Princess). The new nameswill all have special relevance in the fulfilment of the promise.• Circumcision is a very ‘one-way’ process – by its nature an ever-lasting sign! Significantly, it involves ‘cutting’ (the verb always usedfor ‘making’ a covenant) and the shedding of blood.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Have you ever felt that God has let you down on a promise? Beencouraged by what Abram had to contend with for 25 years. Godknows what he is doing and he always keeps his word!

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 17:17-27THE POINT How strange yet profound is God’s providence:two dynasties will come from Abraham, in many ways similar yet inessence entirely different. Both will have the promise of God’sblessing and both will have 12 (a covenant number) subdivisions;but their world-views will be so different and divergent that 4 mil-lennia later they will still be at each other’s throats! Only the Isaacdynasty will carry the true covenant blessing through to its ultimatefulfilment but Ishmael receives the covenant sign before Isaac iseven born! Can God have made a mistake? No! (NB Paul’s empha-sis on their difference in Galatians 4:21-31. )THE PARTICULARS• Abraham is so confounded by God’s latest specific endorsementof his previous promise, and so convinced that it can’t possibly hap-pen, that he tries to find an ‘out’ for God – Why not Ishmael!• The counterfeit (Ishmael) is so like the real thing (Isaac) only thespiritually enlightened will avoid deception (cf how Esau and Jacobwere actually twins; and see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Why do you think God’s providence is so often not as black-and-white as we would wish it to be? Can you see some connectionwith Jesus telling Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again’?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 18:1-15THE POINT The LORD remains faithful to his promises evenwhen we might fail him in different ways. The LORD comes to uswhere we are.THE PARTICULARS• Abraham knew that the visit of the three men was no ordinaryencounter. He was even aware that one of the three was the LORDhimself (ie a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus – compare Isaiah 44:6with Revelation 1:17-18 for this identification).• Abraham (‘God’s friend’ – see Isaiah 41:8) was typically hos-pitable but on this special occasion even more so (cf Heb. 13:2).• Once again the LORD was quite specific about his promise of ason of whom Sarah would be the mother, but this time even thetiming was pinpointed, leaving no room for doubt or ambiguity.• Sarah’s sin of disbelief expressed in her laughter was inexcusablesince she had known about the promise for 25 years. It led to a sec-ond sin of lying. But the LORD’s grace prevailed and she was notdisqualifed from participating in the promised line.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• We are conditioned by modern thinking to question everything.Are we guilty of committing the same sin as Sarah by questioningthe Bible’s authority/infallibility in the light of ‘science’?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 18:16-33THE POINT Verse 19 is the key to this passage. It is one of theclearest statements in Scripture of the way God’s sovereignty andman’s responsibility interact together (another is Philippians 2:12-13). Between the 2 ‘sovereignty’ statements, ‘I have chosen him’and ‘so that the LORD will do what he promised’, there is insertedthe ‘responsibility’ statement, ‘so that he will direct his children (toobey)’. God will do what he has promised no matter what, butsomehow man is indispensably involved! Amazing.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD was going to destroy Sodom as part of his eternalplan (albeit because of their sin) but he still involved Abraham. Italso gave the opportunity to show how wicked the city was.• The dialogue between the LORD and ‘his friend’ brings out thedepth of God’s love and grace, and the extent of his patience.• Even in his ardent pleading Abraham recognised God’s preroga-tive as the just Judge to do whatever he chose in his world, and hisown lack of privilege even to express an opinion.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Have you learnt the secret of working/praying hard while at thesame time recognising God’s absolute sovereignty over all?

DAY 9 It sounded OK at the time....

DAY 10 Grace and judgement.

DAY 11 Promises, promises...?.

DAY 12 Perplexing providence.

DAY 13 No laughing matter.

DAY 14 Abraham, God’s friend.

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 19:1-11THE POINT Sodom stands in history as the epitome of humanwickedness and immorality. The noun ‘sodomy’ has come into ourlanguage to depict debased homosexual practice. The rescue of Lotis a demonstration of God’s saving grace. We find it hard to warmto Lot. We saw his sinful nature in choosing the best for himself andin being attracted to ‘city life’. We are sickened by his offer of hisown virgin daughters to shield his visitors. We will see his indeci-siveness in leaving Sodom and his moral weakness at the hands ofhis daughters. Yet Peter refers to him as a ‘righteous man’ (2 Peter2:7) relative to the men of Sodom! Evil ruled.THE PARTICULARS• Why was Lot sitting at the gate? Did he have a feeling that thespecial visitors might come? Did he always sit there because of theevil in the city in case a friend came? We don’t really know.• Why was Lot so keen for the visitors to go straight to his houseand leave at first light? What was he ashamed about? Why?• It is hard to imagine the utter depravity of what happened next!• God can graciously protect all those he loves in this evil world.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Do you have associations you would rather were kept secret?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 19:12-29THE POINT Our society today laughs at the thought of Godbringing judgement on us. Any talk of the drought or the bushfiresor the Bali bombing or Sept 11 or AIDS or SARS as divine judge-ment is ridiculed. But when Jesus returns it will be far worse formost people than any of these things. The destruction of Sodom,the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, and ‘natural’ disasters gener-ally are all God’s merciful warning shots to prepare us for that Day.Sadly, the reaction of his sons-in-law to Lot’s warning is typical ofmost, and with the same result. Jesus himself spoke of thisJudgement Day (cf Matthew 10:11-15). God is not joking.THE PARTICULARS• The LORD’s messengers extended the arm of mercy to the limit.• The destruction of Sodom was not a flash decision; it came afterthe exercise of much patience by the LORD (cf 2 Peter 3:3-9).• The LORD continued to deal with Lot and the 3 ladies with muchlongsuffering and proactive grace as they argued and dilly-dallied.• Lot’s wife ‘forfeited the grace that could be hers’ (cf Jonah 2:8).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is the Church today failing to give a strong enough warning ofGod’s Judgement because we are afraid of ridicule/rejection?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 19:30-38THE POINT This passage would not be popular bedtime readingin the tents of Moab or Ammon. But then Ruth, the Moabitess, andNaamah, the Ammonitess, can both be found in Jesus’ family tree(cf Ruth 4:9-22, 1 Kings 14:21, Matthew 1:5,7)! Desperate timesrequired desperate measures. The behaviour of Lot and his daughtersis reprehensible and morally abhorrent to us, but it is yet anotherreminder of the exceeding sinfulness of man and the even greatergrace of God in Jesus in identifying with us in the sewer of life.THE PARTICULARS• The failure of the betrothed ‘husbands’ of Lot’s daughters to takeadvantage of the gracious offer of rescue from Sodom not only costthem their own eternal salvation but had far-reaching consequencesfor God’s people for many generations to come.• If it was an honourable motive to preserve the family line inextenuating circumstances, why did they have to get Lot drunk?• The Moabites and Ammonites had a very strained relationshipwith Israel and they were excluded from the LORD’s assemblydown to the tenth generation (Deuteronomy 23:3-4).TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• God’s grace can quash any skeletons in your family cupboard.

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 20:1-18THE POINT We are uncomfortable reading this chapter. Twoquestions concern us: How can women and marriage be treated soinsensitively? How can such a good man as Abraham (God’sfriend) make the same mistake again (cf 12:10-20)? But a moment’sreflection on our own society and our own spiritual pilgrimage pro-vides the answers. We like things to be black and white. It would besimpler if everyone was either totally bad (like Genesis 19) ortotally good (like we want Abraham to be). But the Bible is muchmore honest and realistic about its heroes. They too have a heartthat’s ‘deceitful above all things and desperately wicked’ (Jeremiah17:9). What people of God are they are by God’s grace alone; andGod continues to love, protect and care for them.THE PARTICULARS• If even Abraham is able to make the same stupid mistake twicewe need to keep especially on guard (cf 1 Corinthians 10:12).• God did not give up on his covenant promise. He intervened toprotect Abraham and Sarah (and even Abimelech) from their ownfoolishness and sin. And he went still further and blessed them!TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• Is there any sin where you are prone to make the same mistake?Can we always presume on God’s grace? See 1 Corinth. 10:13.

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 21:1-7THE POINT Abraham and Sarah had been clutching onto theLORD’s specific promise of a son and heir for at least 25 years.Most of us would be inclined to give up in despair after 25 months.It is a time of great emotion for the aging parents and laughter (ner-vousness? amazement? happiness? joy? embarrassment? all theabove?) is their spontaneous reaction – so ‘Isaac’ is an appropriatename. It is surprising how short and matter-of-fact the narrative isat this point when other less significant events are given muchdetailed and lengthy treatment. That’s often how God’s ways are.THE PARTICULARS• God’s macro-timing remains a mystery; his micro-timing wasexact. The birth of Isaac was entirely a miracle of God’s grace andperhaps the delay and the parents’ ages serve to highlight this.• The longer we have to wait for our prayers to be answered thegreater we rejoice in our experience of it.• Abraham was obedient in every detail of the LORD’s commandconcerning the covenant sign of circumcision.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• What would be some of the consequences if God answered ourprayers immediately? Would it make us more, or less, grateful?

THE PASSAGE GENESIS 21:8-21THE POINT The response of 15 y-o Ishmael to the arrival ofIsaac into the household does not surprise us. The attentiondemanded by younger siblings irks the most well-adjusted childrenat times. But Isaac is not just a sibling; he hijacks the whole inheri-tance! What does surprise us however is that, although Ishmael andHagar are excluded from the true covenant line God still cares forthem and gives promises of future blessing.THE PARTICULARS• Sarah was always going to have trouble with Hagar after the sur-rogate arrangement with Abraham. Anything other than God’s planfor marriage and procreation is bound to cause strife.• The arrival of Isaac brought both joy and sorrow. The Gospelbrings great joy to believers but condemnation to unbelievers.• Getting Ishmael an Egyptian wife sealed his covenant rejection.(Cf the trouble taken to find the right wife for Isaac in Ch.24.)• God’s differentiation between Isaac and Ishmael in the eternalscheme of things is driven home by Paul in Galatians 3:21-31. TheCovenant of Grace is exclusive as well as inclusive.TO PONDER ... AND TO PRAY• What does this account teach us about God’s grace and mercy?

B I B L E S T U D Y


DAY 15 Downtown Sydney Sodom.

DAY 16 They thought he was joking.

DAY 17 Skeletons in the cupboard.

DAY 18 No, Abraham, no!.

DAY 19 Laughter at last.

DAY 20 Exit Ishmael.


New moderators

Rev. Peter Thorneycroft of St.Andrew’s, Launceston, has beeninducted as Tasmanian Moderator. Rev.Peter Richardson of the ReformedCollege of Ministries, Brisbane, has beeninducted as Queensland Moderator. Rev.Dr Reg Mathews of Norwood-Para Hillshas been inducted as South AustralianModerator.

Presbyterian medals

The Australian Government establishedthe Centenary Medal in 2001 to com-memorate the centenary of federationand to honour the contribution made toAustralian society by its citizens. Thoseamong members of the PCA to receivethe award are Rev. John Nicol, directorof Christian Education and HomeMission in the PC Queensland “for dis-tinguished service to the community andto religion”. One congregation –Mudgeeraba (Qld) – had two memberswho recived the medal: retired elder AlecMcWhinnie for “service to the BoysBrigade” and the minister, Rev. GlennSamuel, “for distinguished service to thecommunity through religion as the localminister”.

Spencer Gear, coordinator of thePeirson Adolescent Support Service inBundaberg and the Peirson Youth andCommunity Program in Hervey Baythat forms part of the ministry of thewider Ann Street congregation ministry,was awarded a CM “for support to localyouth with behavioural, family and drug-related problems”.

Scholarships available

The Elizabeth S. Swinney MemorialTrust grants scholarships to help educateAboriginal students studying theology.Application for this scholarship is madeby the college to the trust administrators,the Presbyterian Church (New SouthWales) Property Trust. The PWMU ofVictoria can offer scholarships toPresbyterian women in Victoria for themissions course at the PTC Melbournethrough its Todd and Campbell Trust.

Growth at Ann Street

At morning worship on 1 June, 17 peo-ple were admitted into membership at theAnn Street congregation in Brisbane.

New elders

Mrs Olga Hetherington and Mrs GayMcGeorge were ordained and inductedon to the session at the Temora (NSW)congregation in March. During April MrDavid Jennings was inducted and Mr BillLoderwijk ordained and inducted on tothe Session at the Dromana-Mornington(Vic) congregation.

Go north, young man

‘Senior” presbyterians (those over 50)are being invited to supply religious edu-cation and after-school programs for pri-mary-aged children in indigeneous com-munities in Aurukun, Mapoon andWeipa in Cape York during a visit beingplanned for May 2004. The cost is around$900. Further information can beobtained on (07) 3890 5769.

Ministry updates

Rev. David McDougall, colleague atCreek Road (Qld) since 1999, wasinducted into the John Calvin (Qld) con-gregation in April.

Rev. Matthew Oates, minister ofMudgee (NSW) since 1998, has beenappointed as assistant to Rev. Dr PaulLogan at North Sydney-Greenwich. MrOates will have primary responsibility forthe Greenwich congregation with a viewto developing it further.

Rev. Conrad Hor-Kwong has beencalled to Gladesville-Hunter’s Hill(NSW). Rev. Keith King, minister ofArgyle (NSW) since 1988, has been calledto Upper Blue Mountains. Peter Flowerwas ordained and inducted to Forster-Tuncurry (NSW) in April. StevenSoldatos was ordained and inducted toKempsey/South West Rocks (NSW) inMay. Jason Summers was ordained andinducted to Alstonville in May.

Cup of Salvation weekend

Rev. Stuart Bonnington of South Yarra(Vic) was the guest speaker at six meetingand services associated with the Para Hillsand Norwood Presbyterian Churches inAdelaide over the May Adelaide Cupweekend.

Hood to Westminster

Rev. Jarrod Hood of Moe (Vic) andfamily will travel to WestminsterTheological Seminary in Philadephia tostudy for an M.Th. from August 2003 toFebruary 2004. WTS has granted a schol-arship to cover the cost of the fees.

N E W S

Cath Ritchie grew up in Gippsland inthe east of Victoria. Under the lovingguidance of her parents and their localChurch her faith in Jesus Christbecame personal and real.

After graduating from theUniversity of Melbourne (BA) sheaccepted the challenge to become amissionary in Korea. She completed adiploma in education and at RollandHouse, the Presbyterian Deaconessand Missionary Training College, shestudied basic theology. In 1937 shewent to Korea where she remaineduntil she was forced to return toAustralia with the outbreak of war in1941.

In 1945 Cath was appointed prin-cipal of Rolland House, a position sheheld until 1968. She gave wise leader-ship. Her loving care and wise disci-pline, reflecting her love of Christ,helped many a student through diffi-cult times. She took an active interestin the work of deaconesses worldwidebefore and after retirement.

In 1994 the Melbourne College ofDivinity conferred on her the degreeof Doctor of Sacred Theology inrecognition of her contribution to thetheological education of women. Amember of the Uniting Church fromits inception in 1998 she published awell-received history of deaconessesin the Presbyterian Church to markthe centenary of their first settingapart.

Cath died on 14 February full ofyears, having lived out the deaconessmotto “non ministrari, sed minis-trate”, not to be ministered unto, butto minister.

Mary Moodie

Catherine I. Ritchie1909 – 2003

AcrossAustralia

Torrens advances

In January Mr Damien Carson wascommissioned assistant pastor to Rev.Dr Reg Mathews at the Para Hills con-gregation. Rev. Dr Graham Lyman hasbeen appointed for three years to a 2/3appointment at the North Adelaidecongregation. The Lymans are on threemonths’ holidays in the UK and willtake up the appointment when theyreturn.

The Mt Barker congregation justoutside Adelaide reports a period ofspiritual growth and developmentunder the ministry of Pastor RupertHanna.

The minister of the Seacliffe congrega-tion, Rev. Stefan Slucki, has been unwell,and prayer is requested for his full recov-ery. Seacliffe has received Pastor Ian andMrs Jan Smith from Portland in Victoriato assist Mr Slucki as well as to begin tore-establish a Presbyterian witness atSeaford Rise.

At the Largs North congregation, Rev.Norman Carter has been appointed part-time for one year. Rev. Robert Burns,who has served the congregation for anumber of years, has been declared hon.senior minister.

Pentecost Sunday

Nearly 250 people drawn from variousPresbyterian, Christian Reformed andother Christian congregations gathered inWesley Church, Hobart, for the annualcombined Pentecost Sunday on 8 June.The guest speaker was the much-travelledRev. Stuart Bonnington of South Yarra(Vic). He spoke from John 14-16 on themission of the Holy Spirit in the churchand to the world.

CMP on the web

The Christian Media Project (CMP), aproject of Bible Society NSW, is now onthe web. “Our website contains key infor-mation about the project, sets out ouraims and lists those organisations whohave already partnered with us,” saidCMP manager Martin Johnson.

The web site address is: www.christianmediaproject.com.au

The CMP is a prime-time, mediacampaign to encourage non-Christiansto find out more about Christianity. Itis based on the successful Power toChange campaigns run in Canada andIreland by Campus Crusade forChrist.

Taking the gospel

At least 578 million pieces of Scripturehave been distributed worldwide lastyear. They were provided by 137national Bible Societies. The figures areup by 22.5 million over 2001, accordingto the United Bible Societies inReading, England. The figures do notinclude Scriptures distributed by otheragencies.

Religious statisticians David B. Barrettand Todd M. Johnson calculate that 62million full Bibles, 132 million NewTestaments and 4750 million Bible por-tions are distributed in one year.

United Bible Societies

Terror in Uganda

Fifty members of The Lord’sResistance Army (LRA), an armed rebelmilitia fighting the government ofUganda broke into the Catholic LacorJunior Seminary in northern Uganda.They killed one and abducted 44 youngseminarians aged 12 to 18, although threelater escaped. The LRA is a blasphemous,terrorist cult-militia, comprising mainlylightly armed foot-soldiers (presently300), and drugged, conscripted child sol-diers (presently 600). Yet for 16 years, theLRA’s campaign of terror has beenunstoppable in northern Uganda andSouthern Sudan.

They have kidnapped more than10,000 children for front-line fighting.

They claim to want a government builton the Ten Commandments. However,their trademark is unrivalled cruelty, bru-tality and raw, sadistic evil.

The LRA receives support from thedefeated and exiled Holy Spirit forceestablished by the Catholic heretic andself-proclaimed prophetess, AliceLakwena. However, the bulk of LRAfunding, training and arms has come fromthe National Islamic Front in Khartoum,Sudan.

In Gulu, Noah’s Ark Children’sMinistry Uganda (NACMU) has set upa haven for children at night. Many chil-dren walk up to eight kilometres fromtheir village to Gulu, just to get a night’ssafe sleep, before walking home the nextday. On 7 May, the LRA raided a village akilometre from Gulu, taking 26 children,

as well as a Catholic mission and villagetwo kilometres from Gulu, where theytook 30 children. The same day, theNACMU had a record influx of 1203 ter-rified children seeking protection fromthe LRA. Set up to cater for 300 childrenper night, Noah’s Ark is straining at theseams.

Religious Liberty

Mixed marriage

Mainline Protestants, evangelicals, andCatholics in America agree that marriageis in trouble and that churches can help fixthe problem. Leaders who haven’t beenknown for agreeing on much else haveannounced the signing of a ChristianDeclaration on Marriage. It was drawn upby representatives from the NationalAssociation of Evangelicals, theNational Conference of CatholicBishops, the Southern BaptistConvention, and National Council ofChurches.

“Our nation is threatened by a highdivorce rate, a rise in cohabitation, a rise innon-marital births, a decline in the mar-riage rate, and a diminishing interest inand readiness for marrying, especiallyamong young people,” the documentstates. “With three-quarters of marriagesperformed by clergy, churches areuniquely positioned not only to callAmerica to a stronger commitment tothis holy union but to provide practicalministries and influence for reversing thecourse of our culture.”

The document urges churches to prayfor and support stronger marriages,encourage people to marry, educate youngpeople about the meaning and responsi-bilities of marriage, and prepare engagedcouples to be married. Churches are urgedto influence society to uphold the institu-tion of marriage.

American Council of Churches

Fear for Iraqi Christians

The US Commission onInternational Religious Freedom hasurged President Bush to maintain hiscommitment to religious freedom for allIraqis. “Now that Saddam Hussein hasbeen ousted, the US Commission onInternational Religious Freedombelieves strongly it is essential to ensurethat the Iraqi people can exercise theirreligious freedom in full accordance withinternational human rights standards,”commission members wrote in a recentletter to the President.

N E W S


Around the World


The commission expressed its concernthat US leadership is needed to preventethnic and sectarian violence and otherhuman rights violations against Iraq’sdiverse religious communities. “Therecent murders of Shiite clerics could bethe harbinger of further violence withinand between religious groups,” theywrote. “Now is the time to prevent suchan outcome.”

Religion Today

Saudis arrest Christians

Two African men jailed in Saudi Arabia’sport city of Jeddah for “Christian activi-ties” were told that they would bedeported. Girmaye Ambaye, 44, ofEritrea, was arrested at his sponsor’soffice in late March. EthiopianEndeshawe Adana Yizengaw, 32, wastaken into custody on the street near hishome in late April.

Saudi police first revoked residencepermits for the two men, active in theministry of Jeddah’s Ethiopian-EritreanChristian congregation, then placed themunder arrest. “I think in two days I willreach Ethiopia,” Yizengaw told Compass.

Saudi authorities have questioned atleast a dozen members of Jeddah’ sEthiopian-Eritrean congregation in recentmonths and warned them to stop attend-ing the church.

Compass Direct

Malaysian U-turn

The Malaysian Government has revokeda previous ban on the Iban language trans-lation of the Bible. The Iban Bible hasbeen freely available in the country for 15years.

Ibans comprise 30 per cent of the pop-ulation of Sarawak (the largest ethnicgroup in the state) and the majority ofIbans are Christian. The ban on BupKudus, the Iban-language Bible, was liftedas a result of the Council of Churchesand the Association of Churches inSarawak appealing to the MalaysianHome Ministry (KDN).

Following this, the deputy PrimeMinister, and head of the KDN, DatukSeri Abdullah Badawi, met the churchleaders and was satisfied with their expla-nation as to why the ban should be lifted.Despite this good news, the translationsof 11 other Christian books that werebanned at the same time remain illegal.They are in Bahasa Malaysia, the nationallanguage.

Barnabas Fund

Bomb kills Christian

A Jordanian convert to Christianity hasbeen killed by a bomb planted outside thehome of a missionary couple in Tripoli,North Lebanon.

Initially the Police stated that JamilAhmad al-Rifai, 28, had himself plantedthe bomb; but it is now apparent that hewas killed when coming to the aid ofDutch missionary Gerrit Griffioen, 52,and his family.

At 11.30pm on 6 May, Griffioen’sGerman wife, Barbel, 44, realised therewas an intruder in their garden. TheDutchman called to al-Rifai, his next doorneighbour, to help; by the time theyentered the garden the intruder had fled.

Griffioen proceeded to extinguish thefuse and then gave chase. Meanwhile al-Rifai was carrying the couple’s three chil-dren out of the house; after that hereturned to the garden. The 2kg bombdetonated when he was either trying todefuse it or simply move it further away;the blast made his body almost unidentifi-able.

The family survived the blast withoutinjury, though according to Beirut’s DailyStar one of their children, a 9-year-oldboy, was slightly hurt. Griffioen has beenrepeatedly threatened during his 20 yearsof work in Lebanon. He is a widelyknown and well respected Christianleader.

A man going by the name ofMohammad is being held in connection

with the bombing. Recently he had beenattending meetings run by the Griffioensclaiming that he wanted to become aChristian.

Last November American missionaryBonnie Penner Witherall was shot deadby an unidentified gunman in Sidon. BothSidon and Tripoli are known to be centresof radical Sunni Islam.

Barnabas Fund

Pastor deported

Pastor Nemencio Bonton, a seniorpastor with Qatar InternationalChristian Ministry and an electrician,has been deported from Qatar to hisnative Philippines. No reason has beengiven for his deportation that wasenforced despite an alternative sponsorbeing found who met with senior Qatariofficials. He has been in Qatar for 20years and has had no previous troublewith the authorities.

Qatar International Christian Ministryconducts services and other church activi-ties for Christians among the estimated450,000 expatriate workers in Qatar.

This is the second confirmed deporta-tion of a Christian minister from Qatarfor religious reasons this year, followingthe deportation of Pastor StanislasChellapa, an Indian, in January. In a thirdcase, a Christian minister was deportedbut this is unconfirmed as being for reli-gious reasons.

Middle East Concern

N E W S

Hills Family FuneralsOffering Christian Care & Concern

• Christian Funeral Directors• David is an Ordained Minister

of the Presbyterian Church• Australian family owned and operated• Kindness and understanding• Bereavement counselling• Serving all Sydney suburbs• 24 hour service• Pre-Paid and Pre-Arranged Services

(02) 9838 7711Email: [email protected] Web: www.hillsfamilyfunerals.com.au

David & Josie Brand

Cohabitation: a bad habitBy Tracy Gordon

According to the Australian Bureau ofStatistics, in 2001 103,000 couples married,and 55,300 divorced. And divorce is beingblamed, both in Australia and overseas,largely on the increase in cohabitation.

Research conducted by the British-based Institute for the Study of CivilSociety (Civitas) shows that children suffergreatly when they are raised in single-parenthomes, and says that cohabitation is one ofthe main routes into lone parenthood.

Between 15 and 25 per cent of all lone-parent families are created through the

break-up of cohabiting unions, states thereport, Experiments in Living: TheFatherless Family. Children born into mar-ried unions are estimated to be twice aslikely as those born into cohabitingunions to spend their entire childhoodwith both natural parents, 70 per centcompared with 36 per cent.

“It becomes irrational for the govern-ment to pretend that family structure isno business of policy makers, and that allfamily structures are equally to beapplauded and supported,” said DavidGreen, director of Civitas.

The figures reflect the growing individ-ualism in our society, says Pat Nollerfrom the University of Queensland’sfamily centre.

But marriage and stable families remainthe building block of our society andshould be strengthened with pre and post-

marriage courses, she says. Marriage isgood for health, finances, parenting andsex lives.

“We can’t afford to say we don’t reallycare who sleeps with whom and who ishaving children with whom,” ProfessorNoller added.

Cohabiting relationships are scruti-nised by international researchers, whohave observed that in most Western coun-tries in recent years, cohabitation hasreplaced marriage as the first “live-in” rela-tionship. And, whereas these relationshipsonce led to marriage, this is now lesslikely. The Australian Institute of FamilyStudies has found that two-thirds ofcohabiting couples married within fiveyears in the early ’70s. The rate in the ’90swas only 40 per cent. A further 20 per centremained living together and the restbroke up.

One characteristic of live-in relation-ships is that the couple often avoid thehard questions. Author Barbara DafoeWhitehead says: “People can slide intoliving together, without any serious dis-cussion or mutual understanding as to itsmeaning, purpose or likely duration ... Asa consequence, cohabitation-as-courtshipcan contribute to confusion, misunder-standing, miscommunication and faultyassumptions. It is easy for a couple todecide to live together and, at the sametime, harbour very different expectationsfor the relationship.”

Given this ambiguity, it becomes easyfor a woman to think the relationship isprogressing towards marriage while herpartner is content with the status quo.

So there are women, as well as men, shy-ing away from long-term commitment, andthere are also couples living together inlong-term relationships who share a mutuallack of interest in marriage or children. TheAIFS recently finished research which hasfound that fewer than half of couples whohave lived together for more than five yearsexpect to marry. Other AIFS research sug-gests many of them are committed to along-term relationship and have no interestin tying the knot.

Indeed, increasing numbers are havingchildren in such relationships. But this is farless common for educated women: among30 to 49-year-olds who have never marriedand who live alone, only 13 per cent havehad children from live-in relationships. Thiscompares with 59 per cent of those whohaven’t finished school, according to datafrom the Household, Income and LabourDynamics in Australia Survey (conductedfor the Commonwealth Department ofFamily and Community Services).

N E W S


On the Agenda

Reformed Theological College Distance Education

The CD-ROM based subject offered in 2nd Semester 2003 is:

(DM210) Foundations for Youth Ministry

taught by Jonathan Vandenberg

DM210 is an A.C.T. accredited elective subject for both the Diploma of Theology and Diploma of Ministry.

Subject Content: Foundations for Youth Ministry is a comprehensive overviewof ministry to youth in the local church. Subject matter includes biblical and his-torical reflections on youth ministry, practical ministry and theory in evange-lism, discipleship, counselling, programming and more. The course seeks to edu-cate and equip people in the local church to better build their church by buildingyoung peoplesÕ lives in Christ.

Subject format and requirements:¥ The subject consists of 12 lectures. Study materials are presented on CD-ROMor email. ¥ Students will be posting assignments onto, and interacting in a virtual classroom.

¥ A final exam will be held in or near the studentÕs hometown.

¥ Library books, if not available locally, may be borrowed from the RTC library,at the cost of return postage.

¥ Students will be linked to a mentor in their area

¥ Tuition Fees for CD-ROM based subjects are $A400 (inclusive of StudyMaterials, A.C.T. Registration Fee , Library Fee). Deposit $A100 is requiredwith the completed Enrolment and Registration Forms. The balance of $A300 ispayable upon receiving the study materials

Enrolments close on 29 July T&SITEMS Ô050603 F IN F

Enquiries: ph 0352442955, fx 0352436055, eml [email protected] Theological College 125 Pigdons Rd Waurn Ponds Geelong Vic 3216

The bare-breasted mother slumps,stupefied, on the the steps, skirtsdrawn up to reveal suppuratingsores on her legs. Her baby is

falling over the rail into the open sewerbelow, while at her feet a dog tends acorpse.

An old woman being pushed in awheelbarrow swills gin, a man in an upperwindow has hanged himself, and the onlybuildings not collapsing as part of the gen-eral decay are S.Gripe pawnbroker,Kilman Distillery, and the undertaker.

This scene, in William Hogarth’s etch-ing Gin Lane, cruelly captures an 18th-century addiction that easily outstrips thehorror of today’s heroin plague.

In parts of London, every secondhousehold distilled and purveyed the poi-

son also known as mother’s ruin or cuck-old’s comfort. It was also available frompeddlers, barbers, grocers and marketstalls. Signs read “Drunk for a penny, deaddrunk for two’’. Crime and other socialcosts were horrendous.

Into this society 300 years last monthwas born John Wesley, the man creditedwith helping save England from gin-soaked ruin and revolution. The founderof Methodism is one of the gigantic fig-ures of history: preacher, publisher, pro-

lific author, educator, scientist andreformer. By the time he died in 1791, thegreat evangelical revival he began hadtransformed the nation.

Wesley preached and wrote against gin,not only because it destroyed individualsand families but because it was a misuse ofgrain, a staple food.

But it was his biblical balance betweenpersonal piety and social concern, hisbelief that people could and shouldimprove their lot, that had the most pro-found impact at the time, and which stillcarries the strongest message today.

One thing common to pre-WesleyanEngland and modern Australia, accordingto renowned Methodist scholar ProfessorNorman Young, is that Christian teachinghas little impact on most people’s lives.

“Most people in England didn’t feel athome in the church, and didn’t feel theChristian message was for them,”Professor Young says. “Wesley said, ‘OK,I’ll go where they are’, and so he did. Hespent 50 years on horseback going towhere people were and speaking to thema language they could understand. Thiswillingness is profoundly important now.”

Wesley’s influence was also creditedwith saving England from the revo-

lution unleashed on France in 1789, butWesley scholar Professor Robert Gribbensays this claim is overstated.

“England had its revolution in the 17thcentury under Cromwell, and the mem-ory of that did as much to divert Englandfrom further revolutions,” says ProfessorGribben, from the United Faculty ofTheology in Melbourne.

Even so, Wesley’s emphasis on socialjustice made him an unwitting social rev-olutionary. For example, Methodism wasvital in developing working class move-ments, such as trade unions.

“That led land owners to try to silenceWesley, sending agents provocateurs to hismeetings and having him attacked,”Young says. “They were concerned thatworking class people could start to thinkJack’s as good as his master, and that didhappen.”

Once, according to Young, Wesley wassaved at an outdoor meeting by abutcher’s wife, who stood in front of him


Horseback heroHow a man for all seasons helped transform a nation.

BarneyZwartz

H I S T O R Y

Hogarth’s Gin Lane

and told the mob they would have to getpast her if they wanted to harm him.

It’s no coincidence that the firstMethodist chapel in Bristol has a pulpittwo stories high, with a direct exit downthe stairs to a back door.

Wesley was born to the pulpit. Hisfather was an Anglican priest, as wereboth grandfathers – though both, as puri-tans, were casualties of the restoration ofthe monarchy in 1661 when all clergywere forced to conform to the entirepackage of church, episcopacy, liturgy andBook of Common Prayer. Both lost theirlivings.

When John was six, the rectory burntdown but he was dramatically rescued, “abrand plucked from the burning”.Neither he nor his mother, the beautifuland formidable Susannah – along withAugustine’s mother Monica, perhaps themost famous mother in church history –doubted that he was saved for a purpose.

At Oxford, with his brother Charles,the famous hymn writer, and a fewfriends, Wesley founded the Holy Club in1729 to pray and study the Bible but alsoto distribute food and clothing to thepoor. They were called Methodists as aterm of derision, and the name stuck.

The changing point in Wesley’s life washis return from a bitterly unsuccessful

stint as a missionary in the new colony ofGeorgia. He met some Moravians, apietistic group, and was impressed bytheir inner peace.

On May 24, 1738, he went to a meet-ing where Luther’s Preface to the Epistle onRomans was being read. Wesley wrote inhis journal: “About a quarter before nine,while he was describing the change whichGod works in the heart through faith inChrist, I felt my heart strangely warmed.I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone,for salvation; and an assurance was givenme that he had taken away my sins, evenmine, and saved me from the law of sinand death.”

This gave him spiritual and emotionalassurance. Henceforth, head and heartwere aligned.

Wesley fell out of favour with theAnglican establishment, which scornedhim as an enthusiast. Forbidden the pulpitinside the church, he realised he wouldhave to preach outside it. Over the next 50years he travelled about 400,000 kilome-tres across Britain, mostly on horseback,reading as he went. He preached 45,000sermons, often to thousands of people ata time.

This arduous program didn’t preventhim keeping the publishing company heestablished – Epworth Press, nowEngland’s third-oldest – more than busy.

He wrote 50 books of theology for hislay preachers – what Professor Gribbencalls “a Reader’s Digest of divinity” – pluscarefully researched pamphlets on socialissues, Latin and Hebrew grammars, hun-dreds of letters, his journal, and PrimitivePhysick: A Natural and Easy Method ofCuring Most Diseases, which wentthrough more than 20 editions in his life-time.

Though some cures – such as rubbinga raw onion on the pate to cure baldness –might seem implausible, Wesley did try totest his prescriptions. A child of 18th cen-tury rationality, much influenced by con-temporary philosopher John Locke,Wesley saw the need for empirical testing.He experimented with static electricity,using a primitive shock treatment on peo-ple with nervous disorders.

An important contribution to thechurch was introducing hymns, whichtransformed worship – previously onlypsalms were sung. Professor Gribbensays: “Isaac Watts (a congregationalist)and Charles Wesley showed it is possibleto put doctrine into good poety and putthem into good music. A sung faith is aremembered faith. The illiterates, likeDurham miners, Cornish fishermen andBristol brickmakers, gained a theologicalunderstanding they wouldn’t otherwisehave had.”

Wesley developed a strong network oflay preachers and social workers, whichhelped the Methodists flourish in theUnited States – where they are the biggestsingle denomination, numberingPresident Bush among their members –and Australia. Methodists became part ofthe Uniting Church in 1977.

Their influence was strong in earlyVictoria, according to Professor Young.“Wesleyans were among the first whocame to the gold fields, and didn’t have towait for priests or ministers to get thingsgoing – the lay leadership took over.”Melbourne can thank Wesley’s interest ineducation and medicine for the Epworthhospital, plus Wesley College andMethodist Ladies’ College.

He was tireless, always balancing spiri-tual concerns with good works. This wastoo much for some. Samuel Johnson,himself no laggard, said: “The problemwith John Wesley is that we no soonerstretch out our legs for a good conversa-tion than Wesley must be up and aboutsome other good thing.” ProfessorGribben says: “He was a driven man. I’mnot sure I’d have liked to work with him.”

A humble man, Wesley died with virtu-ally no possessions. A tax letter exists,asking him how much silver he had. Hereplied that he had one silver spoon inBristol and one in London, and he had nointention of getting more while so manywere starving.

For all his intensity of purpose, Wesleyhad a sharp sense of humour. He is

reputed to have met society dandy BeauNash and friends on a canal towpath.Nash arrogantly demanded: “Give way,Mr Wesley. I never give way to fools.”With a bow, Wesley obeyed, replying: “Ialways do.”

However, he had a blind spot when itcame to the doctrines of grace in theWestminster Confession. He liked themso little that he founded a magazine, TheArminian, to oppose them.

Wesley’s enduring power is admirablysummarised by its effect on RobertGribben. “The tradition certainly had apowerful influence on me – a simple per-sonal relationship with God which comesout in prayer and regular public worshipand association with other Christians, butwhich at every point must issue in practi-cal care of the marginalised and the poor,whatever is the condition in your own ter-ritory.”

This is an expanded version of an articlethat first appeared in The Age, for whichBarney Zwartz is religious affairs writer. ap

H I S T O R Y


Wesley travelledabout 400,000kilometresacross Britain,mostly onhorseback, and preached45,000 sermons.

O Worship the King!St John’s

Forest Street

Bendigo

invites you to worship when

visiting Victoria

The Lord’s Day10:30 am

Minister: Rev Andrew M Clarke(03) 5443 6189

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis hasentered the (church) building.

Imagine a mutton-chop-whiskered, white-jump-suited

Anglican priest, posed dramatically onone knee, arm raised skyward, beltingout, before a cheering crowd of the piousand the curious, the Elvis hit WhereCould I Go But to the Lord. (Yes, Elviscovered that song in 1968. His Majesty isnot in the Gospel Hall of Fame for noth-ing — he garnered all three of hisGrammies for gospel hits, not rocktunes.)

The priest then regales his riveted audi-ence with Christian rewrites of such secu-lar Elvis perennials as “Blue Suede Shoes”(“Well it’s one for the Father, two for theSon, three for the Holy Spirit and yourlife has just begun.”)

That’s the Rev. Dorian Baxter — “ElvisPriestly”, he likes to be called. Earlier thisyear, Baxter held the inaugural service ofhis “Christ the King, Grace-Land,Independent Anglican Church” in a hallin Ontario, Canada. Two hundred poten-tial members showed up, along with abevy of paparazzi.

Baxter uses the hyphen in “Grace-Land” to emphasise “Grace”. (He alsorecognises that the King lived a less thansaintly life, but he insists the rock’n’rollstar held firmly throughout his life to faithin Jesus and died with a pure heart.)

He uses the “Independent” becauseCanadian Anglican officials have foundhis shtick “in poor taste”, and demotedhim to “priest-on-leave” from the Dioceseof Algoma in Ontario.

This kind of reaction is a familiar onefor those through the centuries who havedrawn on secular cultural forms in theirefforts to bring sinners from the worldinto the church.

In their defence, such churchly pop-cul-ture innovators have pointed out that

Jesus always showed up where the peoplewere and ate and drank with them. As aresult, the Saviour, too, suffered harsh cri-tiques (“winebibber and glutton”) fromthe religious folk. The innovators havealso looked to the consummate evangelist,Paul, as a model. After all, he preached tothe Greeks, quoting their own pagan

poets, and avowed he would become “allthings to all men” in order to win even afew.

Then there’s the oft-told tale of howMartin Luther used tavern-songsmelodies for some of his hymns, defiantlydefending his actions by saying, “Whyshould the devil have all the good tunes?”Alternate versions of this story haveCharles Wesley trolling the public housesfor usable melodies and offering up thesame question in his defence.

In fact, though it is possible Luther andWesley both borrowed tunes from thepopular songs of their days, bothLutheran and Methodist scholars haveinsisted these stories are legendary.

What is more certain is that the Englishevangelist Rowland Hill (1744-1833) didindeed ask why the devil should get all thegood tunes, and did use popular music inhis meetings.

In both the use of that phrase and thepractice of adapting pop music to evange-listic settings, Hill was followed evenmore famously by the 19th centuryfounders of the Salvation Army — theBooth family.

Ian Bradley, author of Abide with Me:The World of Victorian Hymns (a wonder-ful source on these matters and, believe itor not, a ripping good read), tells thestory. When the patriarch William Boothwas told that certain kinds of music were

too much “of the world” to be used inevangelistic meetings, he retorted crustily,“Not allowed to sing that tune or thistune? Indeed! Secular music, do you say?Belongs to the devil, does it? Well, if it did,I would plunder him of it ... Every noteand every strain and every harmony isdivine and belongs to us.”

Another story places Booth at a revivalmeeting in a Worcester theater, enjoying apopular Christian chorus titled Bless HisName, He Sets Me Free. Booth was sur-prised to discover that the song’s tunecame from a music-hall ditty, ChampagneCharlie is My Name. Turning to a familymember, he delivered Hill’s famous line,“That settles it. Why should the devil haveall the best tunes?”

The Army proceeded to adapt for theirown use such popular music as StephenFoster’s minstrel songs, music hallfavorites, and — yes — even drinkingsongs.

In doing so, Booth and his followerswere tapping a tradition that dated back atleast to the 16th century origins and 17thcentury elaboration of the sacred “orato-rio” form. This form borrowed muchfrom secular opera and chamber pieces inorder to attract people to church.

Whatever the roots of the practice,Booth could soon testify that songsadapted from the streets often triggered“overpowering scenes of salvation”, bothin England and in America.

Hmmm. OK, so there are historicalprecedents for Baxter’s Elvis songrewrites. But surely the dramatic elements— the costumes, the poses — are some-thing new.

In fact, the rousing Salvation Armymeetings of the 19th century featured

not just upbeat popular music but innov-ative uses of “illustrated sermons” anddramas. This tradition, too, had venerableroots, dating (despite the church’s oftenviolent objection to secular theatre) backto medieval “mystery plays”.

Nor was this highly effective practiceconfined to the Army. To give just oneexample, when near the turn of the 20thcentury a young girl attended SalvationArmy meetings in Canada with familymembers, a new era of evangelistic pop-


From Oratorios to ElvisPop culture has been coming to a church near you for hundreds of years.

ChrisArmstrong

C U L T U R E W A T C H

Aimee SempleMcPhersonwowed herHollywood-savvy audienceswith lavishdramatic productions.


Whatever the atheist equivalent ofcanonisation is, they are doing itto the children’s author PhilipPullman. The full power of sec-

ular liberalism is being deployed to mag-nify his glorious name. In 2000 he won theWhitbread Prize, normally reserved foradult authors. In 2001 Radio Four handedover three of its precious Saturday after-noons for an adaptation of his trilogy, HisDark Materials. His works were preparedfor the stage of the National Theatre, andHollywood is hoping to do for him what itdid for Tolkien. Why is he suddenly soimportant?

Here is the reason: Philip Pullman is theman who may succeed in destroying acountry that the liberal intelligentsia loatheeven more than they despise Britain. Thatcountry is Narnia, discovered long ago bymillions of English-speaking children, andstill beloved by many of them. Narnia is aconservative sort of place – religious,undecimalised, unmetricated, patriotic andhierarchical.

But Narnia cannot be corrected, mod-ernised, devolved or forced to join theeuro. As a country of the mind, it remainsdefiantly independent for as long as thebooks are sold and read and their storiesremembered. The creator of Narnia, C.S.Lewis, though dead almost 40 years, is themost influential Christian in modernBritish culture, not because of his faithbut because his stories are so good.

Parents and grandparents, uncles andaunts, seeking literate and well-craftedstories for their young, have been all butcompelled to turn to this oddUlsterman’s works for the last half-cen-tury. They know that these gifts will actu-ally be read, despite the archaic slang usedby the 1940s children who are theirheroes and heroines.

Most, regrettably, do not care or evennotice that the seven Narnia books conveya Christian and conservative message, butamong the enlightened classes many adultsare unhappy about Lewis’s confident andpotent faith, unashamed and unfashion-able, conveyed through parables and alle-gory and perhaps destined to stay with hisreaders all their lives.

The cultural elite would like to wipe outthis pocket of resistance. They have

successfully expelled God from theschools, from the broadcast media and, forthe most part, from the Church itself.They would much rather He was not sit-ting on the bookshelves of their offspring.Philip Pullman allows them to removeHim, and replace The Lion, the Witch andthe Wardrobe with Pullman’s very differentcountry of the mind – rebel angels,friendly daemons and witches who are notwicked but good (though Pullman also hasa wardrobe).

Pullman’s stories are crammed with thesupernatural and the mystical, and takeplace mainly in alternative worlds, mostcaptivatingly of all in an Oxford recognis-ably the same place while utterly different.But while Narnia is under the care of abenevolent, kindly creator, Pullman’schaotic universe has no ultimate goodauthority, controlling and redeeming all.God, or someone claiming to be God, diesmeaninglessly in the third volume of his

culture absorption was launched. Thiswas Aimee Semple McPherson, founderof the Church of the Foursquare Gospelin Los Angeles, California.

From the founding of her AngelusTemple a block from Sunset Boulevardin that city, on January 1, 1923,McPherson wowed her Hollywood-savvy audiences with the lavish dramaticproductions she offered under itsvaulted dome.

These included everything frompunchy vignettes (“Sister” oncebrought a motorcycle on stage with herto make a point) to glittering extrava-ganzas presented on a stage festoonedwith flowers and illuminated with bat-teries of lights (Read Edith L.Blumhofer’s Aimee Semple McPherson:Everybody’s Sister).

And so it has gone, in every imagin-able area of artistic expression. Thechurch has eagerly borrowed from themost popular forms offered by theworld.

Chris Armstrong is managing editor ofChristian History magazine, from whichthis article is reprinted. ap

PeterHitchens

CHRISTIANBOOKS

For Sale/WantedWe stock a wide range of

new& secondhand Evangelical& Reformed titles

Catalogues available Hours:

Open Tue-Fri 2:00pm-5:30pm & Sat 10:00am-1:00pm

RockdaleChristian Books

11 Watkin Street Rockdale NSW 2216Tel (02) 4887 7024 Fax (02) 9599 5371

Email [email protected] visit our web site at:

www.rcb.com.auRCB is supported by Bexley-Rockdale

presbyterian Church

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and TheWardrobe

C U L T U R E

Labour of loathingAuthor Philip Pullman has set out to destroy Narnia.

He will fail.


trilogy. There is life after death, but it is adark, squalid misery from which oblivion isa welcome release.

Pullman puts forward a complex theoryof man’s true destiny, and his stories are apowerful epic that everyone should read.But many who buy these books for chil-dren and grandchildren would be sur-prised, and even shocked, if they knew justhow vehemently Pullman despises theChristian Church, and how much heloathes his dead rival, Lewis. He is, in fact,the Anti-Lewis.

He has described the NarniaChronicles as grotesque, disgusting, ugly,poisonous and nauseating. Yet, as MichaelWard, an expert on Lewis, has pointed out,Pullman’s saga begins just as Lewis’s doeswith a girl hiding in a wardrobe and find-ing more than she bargained for. It isalmost as if he wants to turn Narniaupside-down and then jump on it. WhileLewis portrays rationalist atheists as com-ically ghastly and joyless, Pullman depictspriests as evil and murderous, drunk andprobably perverted, and the Church as aconspiracy against happiness and kind-ness.

Challenged about his assault, Pullmanprofesses enthusiasm for something calledthe Republic of Heaven, whatever thatmeans. He also says that he draws many ofhis ideas from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Nodoubt he does, but much of his thinkingcould also have been taken from the pagesof the Guardian, or from politically correctstaff-room conversation in a thousandstate schools. Among the good charactersin his trilogy are gypsies, an African prince,a homosexual angel and a renegade nunwho abandons her faith but who willinglyobeys orders from another angel (orienta-tion unknown) who speaks to her througha computer screen.

The bad are to be found among the reli-gious, the respectable and the well-off.

A particular villain is discovered at his opu-lent home. Pullman writes with feeling,“Everything Will could see spoke of wealthand power, the sort of informal settledsuperiority that some upper-class Englishpeople still took for granted.”

Pullman has also assailed Lewis forbeing racist, a charge that simply doesn’tstick. One of Lewis’s noblest characters isthe dark-skinned Calormene, Emeth,while the vilest is the White Witch. He alsosuggests that Lewis is monumentally dis-paraging of women. As Michael Wardpoints out, this, too, is absurd: “LucyPevensie is unquestionably the most

prominent and morally mature character inthe narrator’s eyes. Lucy is the first of thechildren to discover Narnia, and isdescribed as more reliable and more truth-ful than her brother Edmund. She is theone who most often sees Aslan, the Christ-figure.”

His other angry charges against Lewis,that he sends Susan Pevensie to hellbecause she likes lipstick and nylons, andthat he kills all the children because heprefers death to life, are equally question-able.

It is a sore pity that Lewis is not here todefend himself and Narnia against thisangry foe and his supporters. In hisabsence, both sets of books will have tospeak for their authors. In an age wheremost stories written for grown-ups areabout nothing very much at all, Lewis andPullman have addressed the great issues ofthis time and all time, and both deserve tobe read by adults.

But Pullman would have made betteruse of his dark materials if he had sought toco-exist with Lewis rather than to attackhim. Narnia may have no weapons of massdestruction, but it has a powerful guardian,and I have a suspicion that it will find waysof defending itself.

Peter Hitchens is a columnist for the Mail onSunday in London. This article is reprintedfrom The Spectator magazine. ap

Pullmandescribed the NarniaChronicles asgrotesque, dis-gusting, ugly,poisonous andnauseating.

ST ANDREWS CHRISTIAN COLLEGEENROL NOW FOR 2004, PREP –YEAR 10Are you looking for a school that will support you in your God given duty as a par-ent? Our ethos is to support parents by offering a sound, traditional, academic edu-cation within a Christian framework. At St Andrews Christian College we want to grow God’s kids, God’s way!If you are looking for a Christian education for your children, come along and see StAndrews Christian College — Melbourne’s best kept secret! Our aim is to provide atraditional, academic education within a Christian framework. Find out about our special Primary/Secondary transition programme in the MiddleSchool, the new computing laboratory, Accelerated Reading Programme and ourLEM phonics scheme.For further information, application forms or an appointment with the Principal, Mr.Bob Speck, please telephone (03) 9808 9911.

SPECIAL BENEFITS OF ST ANDREWSComprehensive curriculum & consistently excellent academic resultsJunior and Middle School organizationStrong Creative Arts programmeParental involvement program that ensures a working partnership between staff, stu-dents & parents.Before and After School CareEasy access via public transport

St Andrews Christian College,

333 Burwood Highw

ay, Burwood 3125

Tel: 9808 9911 Fax: 9808 9933 Em

ail: saintandrews@

bigpond.com

Bethel FuneralsThe caring Australian alternative––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––A unique Christian Funeral Company supporting the work of missions24 hour 7 day service Pre-arranged and Pre-paid FuneralsPhone: 03 9877 9900 (all hours) fax: 03 9877 0544 SERVICING ALL SUBURBS

JULY 200321 Rokeby special (home mission)

charge, Hobart; about 50 c&a (com-municants and adherents), 25 yf(younger folk – Sunday School andyouth) and 4 e (elders). NeilMackinlay and Scottsdale parishnorthern Tasmania including Briportand Nabowla; with about 60 c&a, 20yf and 3 e. Greg. Munro; both work-ers are in the early months of min-istries there.

22 Robin Watson APWM/SIM workerfrom South Toowoomba serving inBurkina Faso west Africa in FulaniBible translation.

23 The new Palm Beach-Elanora parishon Queensland’s Gold Coast with 50c&a, and 4 e and Donald and NoelaGeddes as he ministers part time.

24 Effective Christian outreach and nur-ture to teenagers and young adults inyour own and neighbouring parishes.

25 Norah Gibson APWM worker fromHobart serving in Japan teachingEnglish.

26 The boys and staff of Scots CollegeBellevue Hill, Sydney. Robert Ilesprincipal; Conrad Nixon chaplain.

27 Dalby parish on the Qld DarlingDowns including Cecil Plains; withabout 245 c&a, 225 yf and 13 e.Roland and Joanne Lowther.

28 The vacant Gladesville parish Sydneyincluding Woolwich-Hunters Hill;with about 85 c&a,10 yf and 12 e.

29 Presbytery of Gippsland, Vic. with 4parishes and 2 home mission stationstotalling 8 congregations with 530communicants and adherents; 1retired minister; Jared Hood clerk.

30 Batemans Bay home mission stationon the NSW south coast; with about45 c&a, and 2 e. Geoff Webber.

31 TEAR Australia as it is involved inproviding relief and development aidin the less privileged two thirds of theworld.

AUGUST1 Millicent parish South Australia

including Rendelsham; with about 90c&a, 10 yf and 6 e. Vacant.

2 Richard and Linda Buchanan ofRedcliffe church Brisbane WBT /APWM workers in the youth ministryof Wycliffe Bible Translators in Qld.

3 David and Elizabeth McDougall as hebegins ministry at John Calvin parish,Thuringowa, Townsville, Qld; withabout 105 c&a, 85 yf and 7 e.

4 Queensland Moderator PeterRichardson and Jenny as he gives lead-ership and represents the PCQ; andassembly officers and committees asthey implement the decisions of therecent assembly.

5 St Pauls, Brisbane parish Spring Hill;with about 145 c&a, 30 yf and 16 e.Andrew and Elaine Gardiner.

6 The work of the ReformedEcumenical Council linking 40denominations including ouir own;Kadarmanto Hardjowasito(Indonesia), President; Richard vanHouten (Grand Rapids USA) GeneralSecretary.

7 Koroit-Port Fairy parish includingWoolsthorpe and Hawkesdale; withabout 160 c&a, 20 yf and 12 e. Ian andNarelle Leach.

8 Hallelujah Korean congregation,Ashfield, Sydney with about 100 c&a,and 30 yf. Byung Geun and NamSoon Kim.

9 Presbytery of Wide Bay – SunshineCoast north of Brisbane; 6 parishesand 2 home mission stations totalling10 congregations with 820 communi-cants and adherents; 2 retired minis-ters, 1 under jurisdiction, 2 theological

candidates; Charles Kennedy clerk.10 Paul and Carol Lukins APWM / SIM

workers from Condobolin NSW serv-ing in Ethiopia at Makki among theMursi people; they have had troublewith their 4WD.

11 Peppermint Grove parish, Perth; withabout 80 c&a, 15 yf and 2 e. Keith andAnn Morris.

12 Cronulla parish southern Sydney;with about 105 c&a, 25 yf and 7 e.Russell and Threse Stark.

13 Michael and Ulrike Safari APWM /Operation Mobilization worker fromBurwood NSW serving in ministry toethnic people in Sydney.

14 Newcastle Samoan parish; with about70 c&a, 105 yf and 13 e. SetuandFaasinoala Amosa.

15 Robert Taylor of Mt Gambier SA andhis wife as they prepare to take a lead-ing role in the administration of theAboriginal Evangelical Fellowship ofindigenous congregations.

16 The vacant north west Sydney CastleHill parish; with about 155 c&a, 12 yfand 11 e. 17 Geelong West parish Vic;with about 65 c&a, 25 yf and 8 e.Dave and Tanya Assender.

18 METRO evangelism workers as theywork alongside ministers in NSWparishes including Jason Smart withStephen Cree at East Lismore andPeter Charles with Scott Donnellan atPort Macquarie.

19 Presbytery of Illawarra south ofSydney; 7 parishes and 2 home mis-sion station totalling 20 congregationswith 1540 communicants and adher-ents, 1 RAN chaplain, 9 retired minis-ters, 1 under jurisdiction; Peter Currieclerk.

20 The Christian presence in stateschools (especially those in your ownarea) through Christian staff, pupils,visiting teachers and organizations.

P R A Y E R

✃

Please send me Australian Presbyterian magazine ...

1 year subscription ($35.20 inc. GST)

2 year ($60.50 inc. GST) 3 year ($82.50 inc. GST)

Overseas: $A43 per year. Donation.

Magazine Missions

Deliver to: Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . City/Suburb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P.code . . . . . . . . . . . .Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Payment DetailsPlease find enclosed

Cheque/money order to Australian Presbyterian for: $__________Please debit $__________ from my

Visa Bankcard Mastercard

Account number:

Expiry date:____/____ Name on Card__________________________

Signature________________________________

Please send completed forms to:Australian Presbyterian PO Box 375, Kilsyth VIC. 3137Phone: (03) 9723 9684. Fax: (03) 9723 9685. Email: [email protected]

Subscription form



The Next ChristendomPhilip JenkinsOxford University Press, 2002.Reviewed by Douglas Milne

The main message of this book is that inthe 21st century Christianity is going tobe a largely non-western, southern hemi-sphere and developing world movement.Gone are the days when the strength ofChristianity lay in centres like London,Geneva and New York; its centres are nowin places like Kinshasa, Buenos Aires andManila. This is a global change that hasbeen overlooked in the world reviews ofthe 20th century that took place at the endof the second millennium.

Jenkins argues strongly against theview that Christianity was always a west-ern religion. He shows instead that for thefirst millennium the strength ofChristianity lay in countries like Africa,the Middle East and Asia. It was not untilthe end of the 18th century thatProtestant missions in the West reallytook off in evangelising the world.

Most evangelical Christians in theworld today read the New Testament in away different from their western counter-parts. They can identify, in a way we can-not, with the poverty, the persecution andthe demonic world that the earlyChristians experienced. Is it significantthat their churches are growing and oursare not?

This is a reputable publication fromOxford University Press by a professor ofreligious studies in a state university inAmerica.

Douglas Milne is the principal of thePresbyterian Theological College,Melbourne

Shepherding a Child’sHeartTed TrippWapwallopen: Shepherd Press, 1995.Reviewed by Tracy Gordon

Parenting in this day and age is a difficultjob. Not necessarily because children havechanged all that much, but because there

is such a seemingly endless range of dif-fering opinions on how to raise children“correctly”.

This is where Dr Tedd Tripp (no rela-tion to Paul Tripp) differs from manyothers. Instead of giving advice on howto shape or constrain behaviour, DrTripp teaches what a parent’s goalsought to be and how to pursue thoseends practically. It teaches how toengage children about what really mat-ters, how to address your child’s heartby your words and actions.

Dr Tripp examines the foundations forbiblical childrearing, explores the heart-issues, and spends some time workingthrough the stages of childhood. Heexplores how children are the product ofboth shaping influence (their physicalmake-up and life experience) and God-ward orientation. And he shows how par-enting involves providing the best shapinginfluences you can and the careful shep-herding of your children’s responses tothose influences.

He stresses throughout the book thatthe heart determines behaviour. “Learn,therefore, to work back from behaviourto the heart. Expose heart struggles. Helpyour children to see that they were madefor a relationship with God. The thirst ofthe heart can be satisfied in truly knowingGod.”

I have found Dr Tripp’s book refresh-ing and challenging, not because it pre-sents material and information which isnovel, but because it applies the biblicaltruths in helpful and clear ways. One ofthe strengths of the book is that it encour-aged me to constantly search out my heartas I seek to address the issues in my child’sheart.

Tracy Gordon is a Sydney journalist.

Revelation: Study NotesAndrew WongPrivately published, 2002.Reviewed by Stuart Bonnington

Andrew Wong is an elder emeritus ofthe Chinese Presbyterian Church inSydney. He has a great love for and inter-est in the Book of Revelation. One of theresponsibilities he had within the CPCwas running a Bible study group, thenotes of which form the substance ofthis book.

He follows popular 20th century evan-gelical interpretations of the last book of

the Bible, some of which need to be testedin the light of the teaching of fuller com-mentaries such as D.E. Johnson’s Triumphof the Lamb (P+R, 2001).

It is encouraging to see Elder Wong’slove for Jesus Christ and the HolyScriptures on every page. Even if one doesnot agree with every explanation/inter-pretation offered here, there is much thatwill provoke thought and hopefully gen-uine action. The many biblical cross refer-ences offered on nearly every verse are areal strength of this volume.

Stuart Bonnington is minister of SouthYarra Presbyterian Church.

Ruth & EstherBoyd Luter & Barry DavisFearn: Christian Focus, 2003.Reviewed by Peter Barnes

The Focus on the Bible series, fromChristian Focus, seeks to be readable,reliable, and relevant. As such it com-bines real scholarship with a colloquialstyle of writing, and sometimes the twosit oddly together. A. Boyd Luter israther fond of dealing with Ruth in anarrangement of verses which differssomewhat from that of the original. Itwas not always immediately obvious tome that this was a helpful approach, butthere are plenty of insightful commentshere which make up for the disruptionsin verse order.

Barry Davis on Esther also has plentyof helpful material, but his interpretationis marred by his negative treatment ofEsther and Mordecai. He regards them asneither particularly righteous nor particu-larly spiritual. It is true that it is difficultto be enthusiastic about Esther’s involve-ment in the beauty pageant to find a newqueen, but even in her resolution toapproach the king on behalf of her people(“If I perish, I perish” in Esther 4:16),Davis sees more resignation thancourage.

He is also critical of Mordecai’s firmactions in Esther 8, although it is not clearthat Mordecai had many other options. Imust admit that I found some of thesnappy headings a bit corny, and more irri-tating than illuminating.

For all that, there is much here to helpthe Bible reader, and the work is com-mended.

Peter Barnes is books editor of AP.

B O O K S

Books

The second commandment forbidsus to make images or pictures ofGod (Ex. 20:4-6). The main rea-son for this, no doubt, is that God

is Spirit, and so must be worshipped inspirit and in truth (John 4:24). The desireto see God by means of an image is thusungodly.

At first sight (so to speak), it thereforeseems strange that the Bible still speaks ofGod’s people “seeing God”. Moses, forexample, wanted to see God’s glory (Ex.33:18-23). God’s response was to allowHis servant to see His back, as it were. Thewarning given was: “You cannot see Myface; for no man shall see Me, and live”(Ex. 33:20). Later, Manoah was to fear thathe and his wife would surely die becausethey had seen God (Judges 13:22).

If we, in our abject sinfulness, saw Godin the fullness of His holy glory, we wouldbe destroyed. In that sense, because of oursin, we cannot hope in this fallen world tosee God. Even the seraphim cover theirfaces before the glory of the Lord (Is.6:2). As Thomas Binney realised:

Eternal Light! eternal Light!How pure that soul must be,When, placed within Thy searching sight,It shrinks not, but, with calm delight,Can live, and look on Thee!

That is not something that sinful mancan simply decide to do. Only the

perfect can look upon the Perfect.Yet that is not the end of the story. The

Old Testament tells us that we cannot seeGod and live, but it also records the hopeof the saints that they would actually seeGod. David writes in the Psalms: “As forme, I will see Your face in righteousness; Iwill be satisfied when I awake in Your like-

ness” (Ps. 17:15). Isaiah records thepromise: “Your eyes will see the King inHis beauty; they will see the land that isvery far off” (Is. 33:17).

In the midst of all his troubles, Jobaffirmed his certain hope that in his fleshhe would see God (Job 19:26). Even onthis earth, in the Old Testament period,wondrous things happened. When Jacobwrestled with the Angel (the pre-incar-nate Son) atPeniel, he wasamazed: “For Ihave seen Godface to face, andmy life is pre-served” (Gen.32:30). It is a lit-tle bewildering –we cannot seeGod and live, yetbelievers will seeHim, and some did see Him. How canthis all be true?

The answer is found in the NewTestament. The apostle John tells us ofChrist: “No one has seen God at anytime. The only begotten God, who is inthe bosom of the Father, He has declaredHim” (John 1:18).

No one has seen the Father, except theSon who is from the Father (John 6:46).This means that Jesus could rebuke Philipwhen he asked Jesus to show the Fatherto the apostles. Jesus declared: “He whohas seen Me has seen the Father” (John

14:9). In Christ we see God becauseChrist is “the image of the invisible God”(Col. 1:15). In coming to earth, Christemptied Himself of the fullness of Hisglory so that sinful human beings couldindeed look on Him and live.

It is true that in this present life we seein a mirror, dimly, but Christians knowthat in heaven we will see face to face (1Cor.13:12). Even in the Old Testament,Moses “endured as seeing Him who isinvisible” (Heb. 11:27). Faith gives usinward sight. As Thomas Brooks put it: “Agracious soul may look through the dark-est cloud and see God smiling on him.”

The glorious promise is that in heavenwe who are Christians will no longer

walk by faith, but faith will become sight(2 Cor. 5:7). John whets our appetite forthis: “We know that when He is revealed,we shall be like Him, for we shall see Himas He is” (1 John 3:2). The pure in heartwill see God (Mt. 5:8).

At the end, there shall be the consum-mation of all things. “And there shall beno more curse, but the throne of God andof the Lamb shall be in it, and His servantsshall serve Him. They shall see His face,and His name shall be upon their fore-heads” (Rev. 22:3-4).

Peter Jackson, who became blind whenonly 18 months old but became aChristian as well as a preacher and agospel pianist, once told John Blanchard:“If I remain as I am, the next person I seewill be my Saviour.”

Yes, sinners will see God, and live – butonly in Christ.

Peter Barnes is minister of RevesbyPresbyterian Church, NSW. ap


Seeing GodThe Father is visible only in the light of the Son.

PeterBarnes

B A C K P A G E

In heaven wewho areChristians willno longer walkby faith, butfaith willbecome sight.

Arncliffe Studios––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Third generation since 1906

Stained Glass Windows/Leadlights Design and Restoration

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––K J Little, 17 Barden St, Arncliffe, NSW, 2205 Phone (02) 9567 7348

Documents

Paul Tripp • Wesley’s legacy • Hitchens on Narnia · 2019-05-28 · parts: the outer man – which is your earth-suit, and the inner man – which is your spiritual self. The