Views, Visions and Values.

Wednesday 30 April 2014

What Does Jesus Really Think About Same-Sex Marriage?

One argument in favor of gay marriage made by professed Christians and unbelievers is “Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality.” Is this statement true? Yes and no.

It’s true that we have no record of Jesus specifically mentioning homosexuality during His earthly ministry, but He didn’t mention bestiality or molesting children either. Does this “argument from silence” (a logical fallacy) prove that Jesus was OK with these things? Of course not.

We do know, however, that Jesus affirmed marriage as between one man and one woman in a one-flesh relationship for life by appealing to creation. (Of course, Jesus is God the Son incarnate. He affirms the entire Old Testament. Yet even if I grant that Jesus’ words, the red letters, during His earthly ministry are more authoritative than the rest of Scripture, the argument still fails.) He essentially said, “It’s Adam and Eve, and not any other definition.” Thus, Jesus rejected every other so-called definition of marriage beyond what was given in Genesis 1:27 and 2:23-24.

Tuesday 29 April 2014

PM rejects Clegg’s calls to disestablish Church of England

David Cameron has rejected calls from the Deputy Prime Minister to disestablish the Church of England.

Nick Clegg, who is an atheist, was speaking on his weekly radio phone-in programme. He said: “In the long run it would be better for the Church, and better for people of faith, and better for Anglicans, if the Church and the state were over time to stand on their own two separate feet.”

But Cameron disagreed, explaining that “our arrangements work well in this country”.

pm-rejects-cleggs-calls-to-disestablish-church-of-england

Christian Band Drums Up Support for Gay Marriage

Christian band Jars of Clay was supposed to be setting out on a 20th anniversary tour—but if the latest controversy is any indication, not many fans will be celebrating.

Lead vocalist Dan Haseltine made sure of that last week by singing a different tune onsame-sex marriage. The firestorm is just the latest evidence of Haseltine's slow walk away from orthodoxy that made the band famous.

Words for the Wise, James 5, Christian Patience and Prayer

James 5

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,[a] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.[b] 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

The Bible Panorama

James 5

V 1–6: SINFUL STORING Those who sinfully store riches, especially where they have been gained by taking advantage of others, and concentrate on pleasure and luxury, will be judged. This shares, with murder, the evil root of trampling on the welfare of others.

V 7–11: PATIENT PERSEVERANCE God’s people should patiently wait for the Lord to come, just as the farmer waits for the seed to germinate and be harvested. Such patience is an antidote to grumbling and an encouragement to perseverance, knowing that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

V 12: STRAIGHT SPEAKING The Christian does not have to dress up his everyday language with oaths and assurances. He should tell it as it is, and have a reputation for telling the truth.

V 13–18: PRUDENT PRAYING Prayer should be made with and for people in all states of life and emotion. Those suffering and sick should be prayed for and church leaders should be ready to respond to a call to go and pray with someone who is suffering. Confession of sin is a prerequisite for restoration spiritually and may even affect the way we feel physically. The pattern of Elijah’s patient endurance in prayer is an encouragement to all who feel that their prayers are ineffective.

V 19–20: SINNER SAVED James tells the twelve scattered tribes that if someone among them wanders from the truth and is turned back from sin, the person responsible for that turning will save a soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins. God, who is sovereign in salvation, expects us to be actively involved in the privilege of seeing lost sinners being saved, including those who keep company with Christians.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

Franklin Graham Answers: Can Gay People Go to Heaven?

The Rev. Franklin Graham recently participated in an ABC News panel discussion on the religious right and mainstream American views, along with Russell More, Ralph Reed and Cokie Roberts.

When gay marriage was brought up, Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, said: "Maybe gays that are watching want to know, 'Can God forgive me? Or can I go to heaven as a gay person?' Absolutely. But the same for any of us. We have to repent of our sins in turn. A person cannot stay in adultery and be accepted by God. You’ll have to repent.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Words for the Wise, James 4 Christian Conduct

James 4

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbour?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

The Bible Panorama

James 4

V 1–3: WARS All wars and fighting come from wilful and wayward human hearts. How different is submission to God which seeks for what pleases Him, rather than what pleases us

. V 4–5: WORLDLINESS Those who are friends of the world and its standards, pastimes and entertainments show that they are enemies of God. This is equivalent to spiritual adultery, and God yearns jealously for His people, as a husband would for an unfaithful wife.

V 6–10: WEEP Benefiting from God’s grace enables us to resist the devil, to draw near to God, and to weep over our sins and double-mindedness. God thus enables us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts and minds. As we humble ourselves, God will exalt us

. V 11–12: WRONG It is always wrong to speak evil of Christian brothers. Christians should obey God’s law, not use it to judge other Christians. Who am I to make myself the judge?

V 13–17: WILL We should live in dependence on God’s will. We should not boastfully count the future as ours, but realise that God can take away the vapour of our lives instantly. To think otherwise is sin. In fact, whenever we fail to do what we know to be good, we sin.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside.

'God and the Gay Christian': Southern Baptist Leader Objects | Advocate.com

Matthew Vines's new book, God and the Gay Christian, hit shelves just this month, but one evangelical leader has already lashed out in an e-book against the young writer's views.

Vines first made headlines for an hour-long lecture he posted toYouTube in 2012 called "The Bible and Homosexuality," filmed at a church in Wichita, Kan. The video went viral, and it's now had 700,000 views.

Vines, a onetime Harvard student, writes in his book that "it is not gay Christians who are sinning against God by entering into monogamous, loving relationships. It is we who are sinning against them by rejecting their intimate relationships."

But Albert Mohler Jr., president of the largest Southern Baptist seminary in the U.S., disagrees.

In a lengthy blog post and e-book, Mohler wonders if "evangelicals will remain true to the teachings of Scripture and the unbroken teaching of the Christian church for over two thousand years on the morality of same-sex acts and the institution of marriage."