Salt Shakers Journal Summary
May 2008
Editorial (in full
below)
There is an old saying that “imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery”, but today there seems to be a growing amount of imitation that is not
flattery.
Underground church inAustralia?
Peter Stokes examines the future for the
church in
Australia
in the face of
laws that aim to control religious activities and speech.
News and
Action
Tasmania
: Liberals & hate speech;
Cloning: ACT and WA; WA: Human Rights; Vic: Relationship Register; WA:
Prostitution Bill
ACT Civil
Partnerships
Homosexual groups are continuing to lobby the ACT government
and Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, asking them to persist with their proposed
Civil Partnerships Bill.
Academic Independence
?
The independence of our academics is under
threat following action taken by the University of Queensland (UQ). They asked
an academic to ‘apologise’ to a drug company!
Abortion: Legislation and
Numbers
Abortion continues to be on the national agenda, with
Victoria and
Queensland facing legislation to ‘decriminalise abortion’.
Abortion and mental health
problems
The Royal College of Psychiatrists in the
UK
has changed its position concerning the link
between abortion and mental health.
Some good new! Children’s ad
code
A new advertising code, which bans sexualised images of children
under 14 in ads, has been announced by The Australian Association of National
Advertisers (AANA).
Consequences of Cannabis
use
Jenny Stokesexposes the mental and physical health
consequences that result from cannabis use.
Government Changes and
‘Consultations’
Prior to the election we noted some of the consequences
of having the ALP in power at the federal level as well as in every state and
territory.
Family First: Senate Inquiries
Family First Senator Steve Fielding has proposed a number of private
Senator’s Bills - Senate Committees are currently conducting Inquiries into
several of these.
What is
‘Apologetics’
Bill Muehlenbergdefines this important
part of Christianity and exhorts us to continue defending the faith and giving
answers for what we believe.
Planned Parenthood and
Abortion
Last month the Australian government announced funding, through
AusAID, for a program to help deal with sexual and reproductive health.
Lambeth Conference Boycott
Many conservative Anglican bishops have decided to boycott the Lambeth
Conference in July 2008 because of increasing division over the ordination of
homosexuals.
It’s a strange (sick) world
Jenny Stokesexamines the recent news reports on the
‘pregnant man’ and the 60 minutes incest story.
Free speech under attack across
the world
Jenny Stokeslooks at the different bodies
pushing for the limitation of free speech and religion and the increase of
political correctness and tolerance.
World
News
Sweden: Homosexuality;
Mexico: Abortion;
California: Home Schooling;
UK : Blair & homosexuals.
_____________________
Editorial (full version)
There is an old saying that
“imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, but today there seems to be a
growing amount of imitation that is not flattery. Imitation by using Christian
terminology to promote ‘other’ ideas - many of them very unchristian, that would
suggest they were actually mocking rather than complimentary.
When glancing through The Age’s special ‘Earth Hour’ magazine I was
confronted with, “Act now or repent forever”. Wow! How astonished I was to see
an evangelical statement in The Age! But alas, it was not ‘Christian
evangelicalism’ being promoted, it was the new ‘earth religion’ of ‘global
warming’ and the dire consequences of ‘eternal repentance’ were not for sin, but
for not turning your lights out.
Well, we must confess that we did not turn our lights out on Saturday April 5
- But we are now in front for about 75 years because on the following Wednesday,
not only did our lights go out but the whole electrical supply to our home shut
down thanks to a storm. Lights, fridge, TV, microwave, the lot, even the gas
heating because it uses an electric fan, and nothing came back until Saturday
evening.
Were we being punished for not turning off our lights on the previous
Saturday for 1 hour? Do we now need to “repent for ever” as Tim Flannery
suggested?
Was this wild storm, just 4 days after Earth Hour, actually God saying “Look
what I can do - you guys think you can save the planet because nobody else is in
control. Well have a look at this! Wham!x!x! - take that!”
Now I know God could do that, but I don’t think that is the answer
either.
Thankfully, we have a great God who does not make us pay 75 times for one
sin, in
fact we only have to repent once for any sin because He has already done the
rest, on the Cross 2,000 years ago.
He paid the price for all our sins and although confession and repentance are
regularly needed as we walk this degenerating earth, there will come an
eternity, not of repenting but of rejoicing and fellowship with God,
Jesus, and all those who are in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Sadly, today there are those, even in the Christian church, who do not seem
to believe God is in control, that He, “has the whole world in his hand’ as we
used to sing. There are even many who do not believe that there is a Hell
awaiting those who do not repent and believe on the name of the Lord.
In the last month we have seen the Victorian and WA governments pass
legislation to further normalise immorality. In WA they legalised prostitution
and in
Victoria
they passed the
Relationship Register for both heterosexual couples who do not want to commit to
‘marriage’ and, even worse, for homosexual ‘couples’.
What is it that makes some politicians vote for immorality despite mounting
evidence that immorality cannot be contained once given a government’s stamp of
approval?
Money, plain stupidity, self interest or is it that we have simply elected
people who fall into the category described by Paul in Romans 1: 21-23
‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks
to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals
and reptiles.
Let us pray that they will repent.
Yours in Christ Jesus
Peter & Jenny
Stokes
Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 31 July 2008 |
