Culture
Halloween: Trick or Treat
Glen Scrivener on Halloween. A full script can be found here.
Is civil marriage for gay couples good for society?
Douglas Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, ID, and Andrew Sullivan, British author, editor, political commentator and blogger, debate the question: “Is Civil Marriage for Gay Couples Good for Society?” Peter Hitchens will moderate the debate. Full video of the event will be over at CanonWired.
Whose children are they anyway?
This article by Joe Carter, on whether Christian parents have a fundamental right to homeschool their children, should be read with concern by Christians in the UK. Whether we chose to homeschool our children or not, it is fairly evident that Western secular government believes it has the right to determine what our children are told.
Time to stand up for marriage
David Burrowes MP writes a clear and considered piece on why marriage needs defending rather than redefining for the Huffington Post here. It’s well worth a read, although the conclusions in the report David refers to are difficult to square with the Biblical material on homosexual relations.
Hitchens on the Christianity and the state of the nation
Peter Hitchens has had a couple of excellent articles on the state of Christianity in the UK recently on his blog. Here is the most recent one, written in the light of the European Court ruling against 3 Christians, and here is an article Peter wrote a few months back on how 20+ years of socialist propaganda has done it’s job in changing the moral and religious culture within the UK.
Selling our kids’ inheritance
The newspapers have been full of comment this week on how there has been nothing to support families in the government mid-term review, something that the Christian Institute highlight here.
However the majority of UK Christians have not woke up to the fact that our secular establishment are actively seeking to ensure they do anything but support the family unit, as it’s a huge threat to their own agenda.
The latest move to decrease or remove child-benefits while at the same time increasing the childcare tax allowances to support working mothers by providing for nursery care, is a prime example of this in action.
The government has no interest in seeing parents raise their own children – they may end up becoming free-thinking enough to oppose the very worldview the secular government is frantically preaching.
- Children who spend the majority of their time at home are likely to take on the worldview of their parents
- Children who spend the majority of their time in state funded childcare are likely to take on the worldview of the state.
Far better to reward parents for indoctrinating their children from infancy with the message that the state is their god who provides for their every need, than allow godly parents to nurture young plants that will in time, become the Lord’s oak trees.
Gay Marriage – how should we respond?
So what ought we to do in the face of the likely introduction of gay marriage? Here are some suggestions by FIEC National Director, John Stevens from an article he has written here:
1. We ought to anticipate that gay marriage will be introduced
2. We need to face up to the reality that we are not a “Christian” country
3. We need to take a long-term perspective
4. We need to stand firm on the biblical teaching about homosexuality
5. We need to exercise biblical church discipline against those who support sexual sin and refuse to repent
6. We have no option but to practice civil disobedience
7. We should expect that we will face criticism, investigation and persecution
8. We need to take pre-emptive action to protect our churches against potential threats
9. We need to speak prophetically to our nation about the reality of sin and the coming judgement of God
10. We need to be committed to the work of prayer and evangelism
This is the real big government
And the second thing we are told about His government is that it will continually increase (Isaiah. 9:7). He will bear the government upon His shoulder, and it will be a continually increasing government This increase – unlike the growth of secular governments – will be a blessing, and not a pestilence. This is the real big government. (Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry, 91)
Christmas is a bit like knitting …
The excellent Milton Jones on “What does Christmas mean to you?” for Channel 4’s 4thought.
[HT Timothy Titus]
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