Salt Shakers Journal
Summary May
2007
Editoral (in full below)
In our article ‘A Time to Fight, Command
and Guard’ in our February Journal, Peter wrote “Christians used to sing ‘Onward
Christian Soldiers’ but today it seems to have become ‘Onward Christian
PACIFIST’!
Little did we know that within a few months those words would become reality.
In the April edition of Crosslight, the Victorian
Uniting
Church newspaper, we were concerned
to see the title of a new ‘song, ‘Onward with non-
violence’, to be sung to
the tune of none other than “Onward Christian Soldiers”.
An Evangelical Litmus test
Roger Birch proposes a litmust test for
evangelicals. He looks at “three issues where different individuals or groups –
all calling themselves evangelical – have demonstrated interpretations of the
Bible significantly different to that of other evangelicals. For example:
• The support of a same-sex relationships register in
Victoria;
• The endorsement by a number of evangelicals and evangelical churches
of Jim Wallis, the ‘king-pin of the American religious left’ and his book God’s
Politics; and
• A Bible College president who told a new lecturer that the College’s
ethos was “evangelical not fundamentalist” adding that fundamentalists take a
literal reading of the Bible – with the unspoken implication that the
evangelicals don’t.”
Surrogacy and ART
The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) has
been considering the question of IVF for single women and lesbians, surrogacy
and adoption for some years. The VLRC has just finished its final report on
Assisted Reproductive Technology and Adoption and handed it to the
Attorney-General on Friday 30 March 2007
News Update
NSW Election; IVF: Saviour siblings; Footy faith;
Smacking
Same Sex Relationships
Why should we oppose ALL legal recognition
of ‘same-sex’ and ‘other’ relationships? Any legal recognition of any ‘other’
form of relationship will directly undermine marriage by encouraging people AWAY
from a ‘life long marriage commitment’. This will create a form of ‘marriage
lite’ that many people will see as a viable option to full commitment marriage.
RT Update
Over the past six months Resistance Thinking has come a
long way- we now have over a hundred subscribers to our monthly email service,
30 registered forum members and our website is expanding!
‘Progressive Christian’
Jenny
Stokes looks at labels of particular views of Christianity,
particularly the term ‘progressive’ asking “hen an organization uses the word
‘progressive’ to describe itself, we need to ask ‘What is progressive?” and
“What are they progressing to?”
States- Embryo Stem Cell research
Following the passing of the
federal ‘cloning’ bill, in December 2006, to allow the creation of embryos for
stem cell research, several state governments are now introducing similar
legislation to mirror the federal law - Victoria,
Western Australia and South
Australia.
Cloning Guidelines
The legislation on cloning and embryo stem cell
research that was passed by the federal government in November 2006 is due to
commence operation on 12 June 2007.
Update: Religious vilification case
Pray for Pastors
Danny Nalliah and Daniel
Scot as they prepare for the vilification complaint case to be
heard at VCAT.
Right to Justice
Barnabas Fund’s ‘Right to Justice’ petition closed
on 30th April. It had over 105,172 signatures by mid-April. The
UK petition will
be handed to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 14th May.
Reaching out to Muslims
“God wants all men to be saved and to come
to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2: 3-5. That includes Muslims!
The Affwan Project
Craig writes.... “Surfers
Paradise,
Queensland. When you hear these words, the
first thing that comes to mind is glorious beaches, high rise apartments, fun,
theme parks and all that comes with it. But do you think Muslims? Well you can
now!
Family Instability and Child well-being
More evidence that the
two-parent biological family is best for children! A new sociology study from
John Hopkins
University (Maryland,
USA) has
confirmed that family instability has a direct correlation to bad behaviour in
children.
Childcare and children
A
US study of the
effect of child care on children has found that keeping preschoolers in long day
care for a year or more increases the likelihood they will become disruptive in
class later, persisting into grade 6.
World News
UK: SORs first
test case; Portugal: abortion
legalised; USA: Golfer acknowledges
Jesus; UK:
Cannabis; UN: Homosexual rights
Editoral (full version)
In our article ‘A Time to Fight, Command
and Guard’ in our February Journal, Peter wrote “Christians used to sing ‘Onward
Christian Soldiers’ but today it seems to have become ‘Onward Christian
PACIFIST’!
Little did we know that within a few months those words would become reality.
In the April edition of Crosslight, the
Victorian
Uniting
Church newspaper, we were concerned
to see the title of a new ‘song, ‘Onward with non-
violence’, to be sung to
the tune of none other than “Onward Christian Soldiers”.
The first verse is, “We can be inclusive, of each faith and race; no
discrimination, each can have their place; We can call for justice; we can march
for peace; demonstrate for captives, call for their release.”
The chorus is “Peace from justice through non-violence, This is where we
stand; ‘Freedom from oppression’, This is our demand.
What does “Inclusive of each faith and race” really mean?
It seems to us this is now an appeasing, multi-faith anthem, not an
evangelical hymn to the God who said “Thou shalt have NO OTHER GOD but me”. (Ex
20)
Can we pray and worship with those who worship false gods? Psalm 1,
particularly verses 1 and 2, are very important here: “Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of
sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of
the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”
This clearly relates to us NOT getting involved with the wrong people or
simply ‘hanging out’ with those whose religion, ideas or lifestyle are wrong.
Despite what is so often said today, that ‘Jesus hung out with sinners’,
Jesus did not simply hang out, go partying or ‘fellowship’ with people of false
religions, drunkards, homosexuals or prostitutes. He went to them with a
singular purpose, to change their lives – to turn them back to God.
We received another appalling example of Christians selling out to ‘other
religions’ and therefore false gods during April.
A ‘news brief’ from ekklesia.co.uk heralded ‘Pluralism Sunday’, taking place
at the end of May “to celebrate religious diversity”. It announced “an
initiative by Christians to dedicate their worship to a celebration of religious
diversity”!
Celebrating other religions? What a complete contradiction of not only the
first commandment but the whole of Scripture.
Yes, as stated in our last Editorial, we must go outside our churches and
engage people, BUT to evangelise people, not to worship their gods or even to
worship with them, and we must never condone their false religions.
At Easter we remembered that Christ conquered sin and death; He died to set
men free. This is the message we must give to all people - our rally cry must
remain...
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus
going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into
battle see his banners go!
“Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng, Blend with ours your voices
in the triumph song. Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King, This through
countless ages men and angels sing.
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus
going on before.”
Yours in His Service
Peter & Jenny
Stokes Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 10 July 2007 |
