And two very nice ones on the Bible, including our own Mike Doyle I believe, both in the SMH:
The Bible is a book of truth, not mythology
Richard McCarthy (Letters, July 3) shows a simplistic and bigoted view of Peter Jensen and those who take the Bible seriously. Not only has he refused to listen to what Dr Jensen says about life in Genesis, but he misrepresents the Old Testament as mythological untruth. This is patently false, as many an ancient historian will tell you, no matter what you believe about the Bible’s theological claims. It would be nice for those who disagree with Sydney Anglicans to at least listen to, and fairly represent, their opposition.
Mike Doyle, Darlington
Richard McCarthy makes a common mistake. The Bible is not a history book (although often relied upon by archaeologists), and nor is it a science book. It is a book about God restoring a relationship with humanity. To view it in any other context totally misses the point.
Matthew Adams, St Ives
The initial letter by McCarthy left itself wide open.
The health crisis in Queensland may have a while to run yet, extraditions from Oregon notwithstanding, according to David McKay, of Bathurst, who writes: “Both times my wife Joan gave birth in the Brisbane Royal Women’s Hospital, we heard this announcement over the intercom: ‘Paging Dr Slaughter. Calling Sister Slack’.”
Peter Jensen says “Some in Australia will say, what has this to do with me? That has never been the way of the Anglican Communion …” Nor has it been the way of the Communion to refuse to meet those with whom one disagrees. I, with more than 1000 Sydney Anglicans, petitioned the archbishop and his fellow Sydney bishops earlier this year not to boycott the Lambeth Conference. I repeat that call publicly. We need our bishops to be part of that conference to contribute to and benefit from its rich, complex and diverse engagement with fellow bishops. We are told that after GAFCON there is no split in the Anglican Communion. Not attending Lambeth leads to the perception that there is.
Um, just wondering if anyone had picked up on this article in today’s SMH?
The Anglican s have been bitching about homosexuality ever since the United States arm decided to appoint Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop and allowed services for same-sex unions
Um, just wondering if anyone had picked up on this article in today’s SMH?
The Anglican s have been bitching about homosexuality ever since the United States arm decided to appoint Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop and allowed services for same-sex unions
(my emphasis added)
Ouch. I hadn’t noticed that bit - nice pick up Kristen…
Hendry now subscribes to “The Daily Telegraph”. In today’s “Short & sharp” letters column on page 19 we read ;
“Recently I saw a church billboard in Maroubra proclaiming “There is one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus”. With the way the Catholics seem to view the Pope and priests as mediator, it’s just as well the anti-annoyance laws do not come into power before the World Youth Day.
Hendry Wan Matraville ”
I’m not certain if this letter’s from a Sydney Anglican, but it’s a good response to the Keith Austin article in Saturday’s SMH:
It’s a Christian lament, too
Secularists such as Keith Austin ("In God’s Name”, July 5-6) are not alone in lamenting that they are “compelled to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which they disbelieve”. For years, Christian taxpayers have been compelled to fund opinions, ideologies, curriculums and programs in our public education system that run contrary to and undermine our beliefs, and to which we may strongly object. We could, like Thomas Jefferson, deem this state of affairs “sinful and tyrannical”, or simply accept that in a secular democracy our every tax dollar won’t always be spent how we would wish it to be.
Cathy Robertson Gymea
Annette Spooner (Letters, July 23), just because someone is young does not mean they do not like Gregorian chant, Latin prayers or similar “old-fashioned” things. When I was in my early 20s and an Anglican I was constantly annoyed by comments that I should enjoy “modern songs” and “hip choruses”, when what really spoke to me were old hymns and chants and, yes, even pieces and prayers in Latin. I am now Orthodox, where the 15th century appears modern - and I love it.
N RESPONSE to yesterday’s Heckler, I have been to lots of good funerals lately and I felt better for it at the end. But, of course, I am a little biased.
I am a Church of England clergyman, and my heart aches when I read of the nonsense that some people go on with at funerals. I am sorry that funerals have become onerous for some and that the message from the person leading the service is that permission to grieve is denied. I want to know from those who apply such rules, when then is the right time to grieve?
The Anglican prayer book says that time is at the funeral and before and after it. In it we read that we gather together at a funeral to mourn a departed friend, honour them and show sympathy to the bereaved. Is this not acknowledgement of grief and permission to have a sniffling, blubbering release?
Perhaps the problem is that too many ministers, though they have a word of hope, have sold out to the politically and socially correct Aussie emotional lie: real men don’t cry. What rubbish! I have wept while leading a service on more than one occasion. A bit more of that would not go astray.
Of course, when face to face with death there are so many questions and so many unknowns And it is part of our human nature that we want to know, we want answers. So it is easy to fill the gaps, and it is easy to point the finger at yourself or someone else. This stops the grieving process but we all make mistakes. Some of them are big and some are small. So, at these times, it is neither right to take the blame nor lay the blame. But it is the right time to love one another. It is the right time to cry together. It is the right time to grasp hold of the good, and leave disputes and troubles and hurts behind. It is the right time to start afresh with family and friends.
I don’t know about screaming and getting drunk, but funerals are an opportunity for you to put your loved ones on display and for you to display how much you loved them.
Funerals are an opportunity to make contact with the realm beyond us and a time for people to consider their own destiny and what this life and the next might hold for them.
And if the minister is a bore and sprouts an impersonal homily, let him know. We love feedback.
I thought it was for the folk who were not quite au fait with that new-fangled Anglican church
But when I, out of force of habit, sing “Be Thou my vision” I get looked at oddly. Hmm, maybe I should find one of these “C of E” churches. I might appear progressive!
But when I, out of force of habit, sing “Be Thou my vision” I get looked at oddly. Hmm, maybe I should find one of these “C of E” churches. I might appear progressive!
My pet hate is ”Yours be the glory”. It’s completely unidiomatic English. By all means write new music in modern language; but please do not mutilate old favourites like this.
My pet hate is ”Yours be the glory”. It’s completely unidiomatic English. By all means write new music in modern language; but please do not mutilate old favourites like this.
My pet hate is ”Yours be the glory”. It’s completely unidiomatic English. By all means write new music in modern language; but please do not mutilate old favourites like this.
Amen to that Alan. Amen !
I’ve heard (and sung ?) ‘Yours is the glory’.
I think that it works better, but maybe still not perfect.
MICHAEL Gawenda’s depiction of Irina Sendler and her contrast with Radovan Karadzic (Comment & Debate, 1/8) is moving and stark. But does her bravery and virtue really redeem humanity and give us hope as Gawenda argues?
From one perspective, the reverse is true. If there were no moral heroes then we might be able to claim that humans were simply too weak to be blamed; the few like Sendler indict the rest of us by proving that we are indeed morally responsible but mostly choose to do the evil or easy thing.
Irena Sendler is an inspiration but she cannot redeem me. She cannot pay for my sins nor does she have the power to change my selfish hard heart. The only one who can do that is Jesus, the Jew who died to save Sendler (a Christian) herself.
Andrew Moody, Blackburn South
What a great gospel presentation in the last paragraph.
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Mark Driscoll burns his plastic Jesus at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. For full video see jesus.kcc.org.au.
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