I just finished listening to Archbishop Peter Jensen being interviewed on the ABC. I posted the following review on my blog -
I just finished listening to our Archbishop’s interview on the ABC. It was really fascinating, and you should check it out. One of the interesting things is that the interviewer was Richard Fidler, and if you know anything about the Doug Anthony All Stars, you would not expect him to be particularly sympathetic to evangelical Christianity! So it was great hearing Peter field the sort of questions we might encounter when talking about our faith with a typical unbeliever.
I thought Peter did really well. He was interesting, and he made his theological points concisely and with clarity. How amazing to hear, on national radio, a sober and respectful discussion about the nature of Hell. Fidler asked the classic question about homosexuality - “Leviticus condemns homosexuality, but it also says we should stone our children to death if they abuse their parents. Aren’t you picking and choosing?” I hear this question ALL THE TIME! If you are a preacher, and you don’t have a good tight credible answer to this question, you deserve to be flogged. Peter did well.
He only fumbled the ball badly once. The subject of the apocalypse came up, and he began talking about now/not yet eschatology but it was way too complex, and you could almost hear him mentally shifting gears down, trying to simplify it. But the end result was that what he was saying didn’t sound all that credible, and didn’t really answer Fidler’s question.
He came across as a compassionate and respectful man, deeply committed to Jesus and the Bible. The final section on judgment and hell was especially interesting, as this subject still comes up all the time. Hell is still a hot topic with unbelievers, we need to know how to speak about it in a way that gets us beyond the inane and absurd concepts many people carry around. Tim Keller’s sermon on the subject was perhaps the best attempt I’ve come across to present the concept intelligently and compassionately to an unbeliever.
Some will be disappointed that Peter was unwilling to say, when pressed, that all Muslims and Hindu’s will go to Hell. But journalists are always looking for the sensational sound-bite, so I don’t blame him for not wanting to comply. But some will see it as a bit weak.
Overall, we are blessed to have this gracious and thoughtful man leading our diocese…
Mark Driscoll burns his plastic Jesus at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. For full video see jesus.kcc.org.au.
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