My Letter to Paul Harriss MLC about the Abortion Bill
The Honourable A. P. Harriss MLC, Member for Huon Legislative Council PO Box 252 Huonville 7109 Dear Mr Harriss, I am writing to you, as a very concerned constituent, regarding the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013. A number of things concern me about this bill, not the least of which is the radical expansion of the conditions under which abortions can be performed. It cannot be denied that “social and psychological” conditions for abortion are essentially the same as having no conditions or restrictions at all. Any number of things could qualify as a current or future social or psychological factor that would permit a termination under the law. By approving this legislation you are effectively legislating for abortion on demand at any stage...
Letter to Michelle O’Byrne Regarding Tasmania’s Proposed Abortion Bill
Dear MHA Michelle O’Byrne, I am writing to you regarding the the proposed changes to Tasmania’s abortion legislation. My wife and I are unable to conceive. We have been married now for over 7 years and have not had so much as a false positive. I love children and yearn for the day when I can hold a little child I can call ‘my son’ or ‘my daughter’ yet in all likelihood this will never happen. My wife is chronically ill and so we have decided against adoption and other options that infertile couples often pursue. Two things have struck me through this time of waiting in vain for the birth of my child; 1. Nothing on this earth could stop me from being overjoyed from the moment of my wife telling me she’s pregnant. I would fight for that little one’s life with every...
And Who are You to Judge?
With the announcement that Tasmania may be the first state in the country to legalise same-sex marriage it has come to me rather forcefully that I need to have my arguments polished and I need to know how to use them. I was talking with an office staffer for one of the two unions in my workplace. We were having a robust discussion about the appropriateness of union involvement in issues like ‘gay marriage’. She indicated that the union is a socially progressive organisation that has seen fit to involve itself at different times in politics. She pointed to successes such as medicare and superannuation law as victories of the union movement and that marriage equality was just another opportunity to end discrimination, just like the union’s...
A Letter to Phil Pringle of C3 Church
Dear Pastor Phil Pringle, Just yesterday I found myself watching the following video. If you ignore the intro graphic and overlaid text, which are clearly from someone who does not appreciate your ministry, what is left is a video of you giving the Presence Conference attendees some pointers on engaging unsaved people in worship. I say ‘unsaved’ (or ‘unchurched’, whichever) but to be fair, this was not clear from the video. It could have been that you were speaking about disengaged Christians although that seems a stretch from the way you portrayed him sitting in the back pews not really wanting to worship and leaving before the altar call etc. You said a couple of things in this video that left me with some questions. 1. Would you agree...
Hell on Trial on Trial – A Book Review
We have a problem, Hell has disappeared. It had seemed that Hell would just go on forever, that the ‘worm’ would indeed, never die. But one day it just ceased and its memory all but forgotten. Certainly, some people refer to it from time to time but when they do it’s in the manner one reserves for an embarrassing Uncle. At other times it is mentioned with a nervous cough and a sideways glance, avoiding the nasty ‘h’ word itself and pressing a worn cliche into service instead. Robert Peterson, boldly printing the very ‘h’ word on the cover of his 1995 book Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, seeks to “resuscitate” our theology of hell. Robert Peterson is Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri and a...
Why I Love Jesus… and Religion
You’ve seen the video of Jefferson Bethke, a 22 year-old from Tacoma, Washington, saying how he hates religion but loves Jesus. 17 Million views on youtube can’t be wrong, the guy has made an impact, but I’m not sure all of it has been good. If you haven’t seen it, here it is: If you are like me then you liked it. It was well produced and well spoken. The theology was sound and it was edifying. There’s just one, small, problem. Words have meanings. Call me a nit-picker but I’m not a fan of when people go to such pains to say they hate religion but love Jesus. It’s like the people who say that Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship. While these people are motivated by pure motives and I...
Proclaim – Church Presentation with Awesomesauce
If you are like me you have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft PowerPoint. It’s gotten to good place in the last two iterations and it does a good job of presenting slides in a linear fashion. However the rage has built against this product because of how hopelessly inept it is as church presentation software. Now, I can’t really blame PowerPoint, it isn’t designed to do what churches want it to do. You want your slides to be somewhere accessible in little slide packs for each song and then as you need them you place them into PowerPoint and off you go. The problem with this is that it is so messy and prone to mistakes. Enter Proclaim church presentation software from Logos. Proclaim takes presentations to the cloud, allowing groups of...
