China vows to crack down on Christianity and rewrite the New Testament: ‘One more Christian, one less Chinese’
A senior Chinese official who oversees state-sanctioned churches has vowed to purge Christianity in China of any Western “imprint”, calling for further “sinicisation” of the religion. Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), attacked the “Western influence” on Christianity saying, “[We] must recognise that Chinese churches are surnamed ‘China’, not ‘the West.’” “The actions by anti-China forces that attempt to affect our social stability or even subvert the regime of our country are doomed to fail,” Xu told delegates to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in…
Faith and reason are NOT polar opposites, they are connected
In the minds of many people today, faith and reason are polar opposites. Richard Dawkins, for example, maintains that ‘Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument.’ We are meant to believe that no Christian has any reason to be a Christian; it is all a matter of blind faith. And atheists are presented to us as illustrations of Matthew Arnold’s ‘sweet reasonableness’ – or reasonableness at least. Since Dawkins is keen that those with faith should argue, let us do just that. How does reason connect to faith? God is the source of…
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christian Anarchist stand against the faceless collective and the group-think that controls them
While most of us are fans of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘ novels, some of us probably aren’t as up to date on the rest of J.R.R.Tolkien’s work and thought. The majority would know that he was friends with C.S. Lewis, and was part of the Inklings. An Oxford circle of writers, who would meet on an informal basis in order to compare and critique each others’ writing. The group informally (and unconventionally) included the straight-talking, Dorothy Sayers, and is said to have centred around the groups’ shared Christian faith and Christian values. Though Sayers apparently never attended the Inking…
ABC’s Q&A and Labor Senator says: Catholicism is more harmful than Islam.
Over the weekend the ABC’s Q&A asked their Twitter followers if Catholicism had done more harm to Australia than Islam. Attached to the question was an article from The Guardian with the implied answer. The piece, written by Labor’s Kristina Keneally, and published back in February 2017, was titled: “Catholicism has done more harm to Australia than Islam.” At the time, Keneally wrote in defence of the ABC’s Yasmin Abdel-Magied after she was criticised following an appearance on Q&A in which she claimed that Islam was the most feminist religion. Has Catholicism done more harm to Australia than Islam? via…
Three reasons you can’t be a Marxist and a Christian
On ABC’s episode of Q&A this week, feminist columnist Van Badham boldly declared that she is both a ‘Marxist’ and a ‘Christian.’ Whilst many applauded, I sense that deep down a large percentage of viewers were rightly questioning this oxymoronic admission. One of those people was Jordan Peterson. Reflecting on his participation on the Q&A panel in his 12 Rules for Life seminar the next night, Jordan Peterson highlighted the impossibility of being both a Christian and a Marxist due to the inherently contradictory claims of each worldview. While I believe Peterson is right, I am convicted that we must…
Christian social policy should consist of more than just demanding the freedom to say some things in our own little corner of the public space.
As Western society becomes more bullying in its attitude towards Christians, there has been an increasing tendency on the part of many believers to be content with arguing for our space in the public square. There has been a reluctance to call on unbelievers to repent, and even an assumption that unbelievers cannot be expected to hold the same moral views as Christians. It is true that without the Holy Spirit, the Christian message will simply seem to be foolishness to those who hear it (1 Cor.2:14). However, God has written His moral law on the hearts of all human…
Elderly Christian man arrested for preaching ‘Islamophobic’ Christianity says police took him to an unfamiliar location and left him there without enough money to get home.
The elderly Christian street preacher who was arrested for allegedly ‘disturbing the peace’ with his Christian message has said police took him to an unfamiliar location and left him there without means of getting home. According to Christian Concern, “Our legal team have now spoken to street preacher Olu who was arrested at Southgate tube station on Saturday. After being unnecessarily arrested, he was dropped off in an unfamiliar suburb without enough money to get home.” Metropolitan Police reportedly told Premier that an arrest was made “to prevent a breach of the peace.” “The man was then de-arrested and no…
John Anderson, Jordan Peterson & Dave Rubin discuss contemporary challenges in the West.
Australia’s former Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, sat down with Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin to examine their diagnoses and prescriptions for contemporary challenges in the West. WATCH:
Jeff Durbin on Australian culture: Big government is the result of abandoning the Christian foundation.
A few months ago, Apologia Studios visited Australia and New Zealand as part of their End Abortion Now conference. During their time in Sydney, Jeff Durbin, Luke Pierson, and Zach Conover reflected on the state of the culture in the West. Jeff Durbin: “One of the interesting things to note, both in American culture and in Australian culture — and really with any culture that was once started by Christians, or the Christian worldview was in the atmosphere — is when you look at how those cultures have abandoned their foundations now, you don’t just get things like the culture…
Actress Ellen Page goes after Chris Pratt’s ‘infamously anti lgbtq’ faith
Actress Ellen Page has targetted Chris Pratt, following his recent appearance on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert. During his appearance, Pratt opened up about his “spiritual side”, prompting Page to suggest the Guardians of the Galaxy star should have to address his church’s “infamously anti lgbtq” position. “Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?” Page tweeted in response to the episode. Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too? https://t.co/meg8m69FeF — Ellen Page (@EllenPage) February 8, 2019 Why? Because like most of the vocal…
Misleading ‘Christian’ slogans are dangerous when they are a substitute for solid biblical truth
There is a strong element of disguise and deception in the spiritual battles that we face. In Paul’s day there were false apostles who disguised themselves as apostles of Christ, following Satan who does great evil while appearing to be an angel of light (see 2 Cor.11:13-15). The covenant people of God are thus warned against slogans that appear to be spiritual truths but which turn out to be false or at least misleading in some way. In the dark days of the Babylonian exile, a proverb was repeated: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are…
Be a Good Hater: Righteous Anger and the Rule of Christian Love
The provocative quote of the week goes to, Charles Spurgeon: “Be a good hater.” The statement, “be a good hater” is a challenge to resist evil (James 4L7). To resist the morality of the tyrant or the ‘crowd which has no hands’ (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth) In context, it means: to abhor evil: to regard it with extreme repugnance. [In Latin, “abhor” is Odium: with hostility; “repugnance”: resist, be an adversary of evil.] Our present age has an almost absolute fear of hate, yet most would agree that “let love be genuine. Hate what is evil, cling to that…
Epiphany 2019: His great joy will be our strength.
Since 2014 I’ve been committed to considering what different things God might have to say at the close of Christmas. Traditionally this is Epiphany, the 6th January, marking the end of the twelve days of Christmas. Magi from the East (Persia), following the star (likely to be the well-timed rare alignment of three planets in our Sol system; a Nova or Super Nova) find confirmation of Micah 5:2: “but you, O Bethlehem who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin…
Banning the Holy Spirit and chaining the Word
As Western societies lurch from one disastrous fad to another, there have been increased efforts to ban what are called gay conversion therapies. Hollywood has naturally offered its obligatory contribution with the movie Boy Erased, Academia chipped in with a report from La Trobe University – the institution that birthed the Safe Schools Coalition – which joined with the Human Rights Law Centre and Gay & Lesbian Health Victoria to produce research to show that ‘LGBT conversion therapy remains a real problem in Australian religious communities.’ The Victorian government over 2016-2017 banned such therapy, and the Conservative government in the…
How to uproot the Christian church, a masterclass from Louis XIV
By 1685 Louis XIV had from the age of four been the King of France for 42 years, and he still had another thirty years to reign. From birth his mind and heart had been thoroughly trained to believe that God had anointed him to be France’s absolute ruler. His Huguenot subjects, the French Protestants who refused to submit to his Roman Catholic beliefs and practices, offended him. They stood outside of his thought-world. They stood against the beliefs that he cherished as true. Ultimately, he sensed that they stood outside of his control. The Huguenots offended the abysmal totalitarian…
Queen Elizabeth Says, Jesus Is “Never Out of Date,” His Message Is “Needed as Much as Ever”
The Queen has delivered her 2018 Christmas Message to the Commonwealth, saying Jesus Christ and his message is still relevant today and needed as much as ever. “The Christmas story retains its appeal, since it doesn’t provide theoretical explanations for the puzzles of life. Instead, it’s about the birth of a child and the hope, that birth 2,000 years ago, brought to the world. “Only a few people acknowledged Jesus when he was born, now billions follow him. I believe his message of peace on earth and goodwill to all is never out of date. It can be heeded by…
There are only two religions.
Every religion outside of Christianity basically says the same thing: You must do such-and-such in order to earn your way to “heaven.” Where they differ is in what things you ought to do in order to earn your way to that promised eternal bliss. The idea that we can earn our way to heaven is as common to mankind as pride. And it’s tied to pride because it’s the refusal to acknowledge the fact that we have already failed the test. In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam if he ate of the forbidden fruit he would die (Genesis…
The sheep and the goats: The distinction between a Pilgrim’s Progress and a Progressive Pilgrim.
With over 2000+ years of thought, action and in some cases really good ideas, that simply just crashed and burned, Christian history is rich and vibrant. If we ignore this history and the theological enquiry attached to it, we turn our backs on faith, heritage and hard lessons learnt along the way. The old saying still reigns: “I believe in order to understand.” Unfortunately, we live in a ‘Just get me to the chorus’ era: “Give me the theological truth – but if it doesn’t fit in a MEME that I can like, share or wave passive aggressively at my…
WATCH: Leftist warring on free speech becomes a Christian, admits she was completely wrong.
Artist Bindi Cole Chocka, one of the individuals who took Andrew Bolt to Federal Court under the racial discrimination act has admitted she was completely wrong. The realisation came when Bindi became a Christian and found her Leftist, identity politics, victim-complex was incompatible with her new faith. In an interview on The Bolt Report, Bindi said: “It’s only in the last few years that I’ve come to realise what I’ve done. Which was, set a precedent with a law that’s limiting free speech and giving an over-reach to government. And I regret that now. I regret that part of it.”…
A good reputation is not proof of good character: substance trumps appearances.
God is love. It’s his character revealed – Love is His language – peace, long-suffering, patience, joy, kindness, it does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude, it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Among the three top things rated in life: faith, hope and love – love remains the greatest. (1 Corinthians 13) Sex is not God. Money is not God. Love is not God. Things we own? Not God. Social status? Not God – the…
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