Is Christianity ‘plummeting’ around Australia?

March 30, 2024March 30, 2024 / MurrayCampbell

Yesterday at church we enjoyed our biggest Good Friday service yet. That’s not a message for boasting, but rather one of thankfulness. Other churches are reporting similarly.

Over this Easter weekend, our friends at The Age newspaper decided on taking a different angle. They want readers to feel a disenchantment over Christianity and the merit of alternative faiths.

One of Australia’s worst-kept secrets is how nominal Christianity is declining. Naturally. Even the Bible speaks of the inevitable slow death of empty religion. The story is not new so why is it a feature story over the Easter weekend?

Society is at pains to honour and respect the sacred days of various world religions. Football Clubs produce special messages. Politicians offer the now obligatory salutations, often accompanied by a visit to the local Temple or Mosque, with a news camera or six! I’m knocking not them, but simply observing. We ought to respect our neighbours (even when we disagree with them) and be thankful for the religious toleration that still exists in our country.

The Age has chosen to commemorate Christianity’s most ‘holy’ days with 2 articles speaking of the rise of world religions in Australia and of Christianity ‘plummeting’.

“Meanwhile, Christianity has plummeted by more than 26 per cent during the same period, and once grand houses of worship are battling a mass exodus and shrinking congregations.”

Whether this is designed to be a kick in the gut or they naively thought that this is a suitable way for the newspaper to celebrate Easter, I can’t help but see a parallel with the first Easter. Of course, the two are dissimilar in very big ways, but nonetheless, the jab in the side is noticeable.

Don’t get me wrong, sociological studies exploring the beliefs of Australians is an interesting and important task, and worthy of media reporting. I am simply noting that the data is not new, the research isn’t recent. I have engaged in conferences and conversations about the waves and currents of religion in Australia for many years. The timing for The Age’s expose is ironic to say the least. Like a Pharisaical jibe at Jesus as he hung on the cross, it’s open season for slamming Christianity.

In our reading at church yesterday,

“they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.”

And this,

“Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!” In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Like a gambling addict, these sceptics were far too quick to claim Jesus had failed. Two days later, the earth erupted when Jesus physically rose from the dead. The world has never been the same. And even if Western nations like Australia convince ourselves that Christianity is on the way out, Christianity worldwide has never been bigger. Praise God! It is we who are missing out.

Unlike Jesus, Christians sometimes react to social movements with the angry rant of an American President or the rage of the latest mob blocking traffic in the city. Christians respond to negativity with hateful words need to be called out.

Like Jesus, Christians can respond to critics with kindness and grace. He didn’t retaliate. He didn’t hate on them. He absorbed the wrath of God in their place.

The Age expose includes this observation about the chessboard of Australian religious affiliation,

“Andrew Singleton, associate professor of sociology and social research at Deakin University, says the growth of religious minorities is tied to migration trends in Australia.”

I am a big supporter of migration. Our nation is largely built on the blood and sweat of millions of migrants. Come along to Mentone Baptist one day and you see the nations represented in just one small Church; it’s fantastic.

This is one major difference between Christianity and world religions. Christianity grows by conversion. Yes, I know ‘conversion’ is an ugly word in Victoria, even an illegal one, but if Jesus and the Apostles preached for conversion, so do we.

Conversion isn’t our society’s great sin; it is the great moment of liberation: God in Christ brings forgiveness. He justifies and reconciles. The Good news of Easter isn’t religions offer of enlightenment to those who work hard enough and who acquire sufficient levels of holiness, far from it. The good news of Easter is a gift; God’s loving gift of redemption. Jesus isn’t about merit, he is mercy.

We are seeing a plethora of reports tabled by Government and legislations produced, designed to further limit religious freedom. Hardline secularism opposes healthy pluralism, which values freedom to preach and persuade and engage. Christianity grows via conversion and conversion is about reasoning and persuading and people coming to believe the gospel for themselves. How different is the approach of authoritarian secularists who create laws to force-convert what Christians may and may not teach and practice. It is as though they googled Emperor Domitian or Communist China’s Sinicization program and concluded, that’s what we need here.

Of course, such opposition to the Christian faith is doing little more than reinforcing the Bible’s anthropology and the significance of the cross. Those who mock the cross are not undoing Christianity but simply exposing the human condition and thus our desperate need for divine mercy.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Australia has yet reached peak secularism; the reigns of power are rarely loosened without struggle. We are however beginning to see cracks appear and falling through these holes are real people whose lives have been promised much by life without God, and the results are often catastrophic: Not peace, but narcissism. Not freedom but bondage to self-realisation.

The one fact that The Age hasn’t explored is why and how classical evangelical churches are growing. I’m not referring to the super cool tribe who have the resources to stage a concert every Sunday, but churches who believe, open and teach the Bible, who preach about Christ crucified, who love to sing and praise God, and who are actively loving and serving the other.

It is important to differentiate between churches that hold to orthodox Christian beliefs, and those who don’t. I suspect the major fault line between churches that decline and those that grow is this one. Yes, there are other factors, changing demographics and sociological phenomena, and individual preferences that play into service styles. But there are too many ordinary churches where music is possible and the preaching okay, but who experience a work of God and more people becoming Christians.

Whereas, the churches that face most decline are those that move away from classical Christianity. Churches that embrace each latest iteration of sexology, who erase the Bible’s tricky bits, who explain away the resurrection, who argue against the penal aspect of the atonement, these are churches who race their congregations off a precipice and into a spiritual grave.

As Tom Holland famously quipped,

“I see no point in bishops or preachers or Christian evangelists just recycling the kind of stuff you can get from any kind of soft left liberal because everyone is giving that…if they’ve got views on original sin I would be very interested to hear that”.”

So thank you to The Age for interesting and poorly timed articles. And next time, dig a little deeper and you’ll notice the stronger currents that are at work in Christianity around Australia today.

England’s Ban should lead to rethink in Australia

March 15, 2024April 12, 2024 / MurrayCampbell

As an Aussie, I’m bound to knock and mock the English, but just occasionally we should pay attention. During the same week as England banned puberty blockers on minors, the NSW Government introduced legislation to ban ‘conversion practices’. The irony isn’t lost.

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has banned prescribing puberty blockers for children and teenagers. A report states,

“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of [puberty blockers] to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”

This report came about a pressure mounts from past patients at the Tavistock Clinic. Most notable is the High Court Case of Bell vs Tavistock.

In 2020, Keira Bell won a landmark High Court ruling against Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, for its dangerous treatment of children who have gender dysphoria. Ms Bell was prescribed puberty blockers at age 16. As an adult Ms Bell sued Tavistock, alleging that young people do not have sufficient awareness to make an informed decision to undergo invasive treatments that will have long-term effects on their physical and mental state. Three judges ruled in her favour

Notice the clear language quoted by the The Times,

“under-18s in gender clinics need “far better mental health services to help them to reconcile themselves to their (sex) — not life-changing physical interventions that might alleviate short-term distress at the price of long-term trauma”.

Tavistock Clinic has since been shut down, and this week the NHS announced that such treatment for children suffering from gender dysphoria is banned. England is following other European countries who’ve recognised the same dangers. This is but the latest red flag signalling a fundamental problem with the way our society views gender and sex and the way we care for the vulnerable.

Evidence is mounting; the real and dangerous conversion therapy involves pumping children with hormones and chemicals that stall or prevent puberty, alter the physical appearance, that may bring about infertility and often lead to the surgical removal of healthy body parts. While England and Europe begin to move away from these experimental treatments, Australia is doubling down.

Enter NSW. The NSW Government this week released its conversion therapy Bill. The NSW proposal is not as extreme as the Victorian Laws that were introduced in 2021, but they prove that there is both political pressure and capital by submitting to groups of gender theory activists. No one disputes that among a few marginal religious groups, there were some weird and harmful practices. These practices do not have their origins in the Bible but were influenced by secular education taught to psychiatry students in the 1960s. Origins aside, Victorians were led to believe that there was a major and evil problem going on in Churches around Victoria, but when reports were published and evidence presented, it was clear that almost no one knew of let alone practised these so-called therapies. The real target was mainstream and normal religious activities such as talking and praying.

What is going on is that the latest self-appointed preachers representing ‘expressive individualism’ have a clear agenda to destroy what it is to be male and what it is to be female, and therefore what it is to be human. Hence, in part, when the Victorian laws were being debated, groups behind the legislation and some of the most vocal proponents, targeted Christian churches, and in effect created laws to prohibit 2000 years of orthodox and classical Christian teaching and practice about gender and human sexuality. Remember, that it is illegal in Victoria to discuss with an individual the Bible’s presentation of gender and sex, lest the individual is somewhere influenced.

Abigail Shear (who is not a Christian), has highlighted the sociological phenomenon that is fuelling the extraordinary rapid rise of gender dysphoria in Western societies. In her book, Irreversible Damage, she shows that before the 2010s, the number of people with gender dysphoria was incredibly small. The percentage amounted to roughly 0.01% and that group consisted almost entirely of boys. Today, transgenderism has become commonplace, with somewhere between 4-10% of children now identifying with the opposite gender (or identifying with one of the now 70 possible gender identities that apparently exist), and girls, in particular, are being affected by this. Shier notes,

“Between 2016 and 2017, a number of gender surgeries for natal females in the U.S. quadrupled with biological women suddenly accounting for, as we have seen, 70% of all gender surgeries. In 2018, the UK reported 4400% rise over the previous decade in teenage girls seeking gender treatment. In Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the UK, clinicians and gender therapists began reporting a sudden and dramatic shift in the demographics of those presenting with gender dysphoria from predominantly school-aged boys to predominantly adolescent girls.”

This new trend has become trendy. A uni student shared with me how they feel socially lesser and out of touch because they are not experimenting with their sexuality and identity. That is not to say gender incongruence isn’t a real and very difficult thing for some individuals, but there is more going on.

At the time of the ‘conversion practices’ debate, clinics in Melbourne saw a drastic rise in the number of children undergoing the very kinds of treatment that took place at Tavistock. Instead of reasoned debate and reasonable laws, the Victorian Government under then Premier Daniel Andrews shouted down concerns as belonging to bigots of the worst kind,

“Cruel and bigoted practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity will soon be stamped out across Victoria, thanks to new laws introduced to Parliament today.

The Bill denounces such practices as deceptive and harmful, reinforces that the ideology behind these practices is flawed and wrong.”

Here lies a major obstacle in Australia. We are not permitted to have the necessary conversations and inquiries to examine what is going on in the clinics and what kinds of long-term impact treatments are having on our children. Last year, a senior staff psychiatrist was stood down in Queensland after raising concerns about ‘best practice’ for caring with gender dysphoric children.

In Victoria, anyone challenging the new orthodoxy faces threats of re-education programs and even criminal charges. Even reluctance can be deemed ‘suppression’ and see children taken from the home. Any conversation or prayer with an individual about these issues can result in allegations and a visit to court.

Progressive activists and politicians have effectively stifled conversation and today the law is a live weapon that’s held over anyone who dares present an alternative. Instead of caution, it’s full steam ahead in Victoria, with school programs designed to encourage children to question their bodies and doubt their biology. We’re yet not witnessing the end of this tragic chapter; in the meantime, real people and children are being used.

What cost are we willing to pay before we end this horrific abuse of vulnerable children? There have been recent attempts made in both the Victorian and South Australian Parliaments to open an inquiry into the medical treatment of children suffering from gender incongruence; both were blocked. Shouldn’t England’s decision at the very least validate a real and thorough investigation into the process, practices, and ethics behind what is going on?

In the meantime, The Victorian Premier has backed a public ‘performance’ coming to a Melbourne theatre where a female actor will ingest a cocktail of tranquillisers to fall unconscious and is then sexually assaulted by fellow performers, live on stage. Yes, this a criminal act, but because it’s a performance somehow it is morally acceptable.

May I suggest, that when it comes to sexual ethics, we have a problem.

It’s another reason why I am so convinced by the person and promises of Jesus. He doesn’t manipulate or abuse. He can love without affirming. He can empathise and help. He doesn’t diminish the individual, but came ’to seek and save the lost’.

This week I have the privilege to explore these amazing words from the book of Hebrews. When we fail to understand each other whether deliberately or ignorance, even parents or friends or teachers or Governments, there is one who does get us,

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

The NSW Parliament adopted the conversion practices legislation on March 22

Going Bananas in Melbourne

December 3, 2023November 22, 2024 / MurrayCampbell

One of the world’s most (in)famous works of art has arrived in Melbourne, ripened just in time for Melbourne’s glamour event for art: Melbourne Gala 2023.

Without peeling away the bare naked observation that many of us have these curvatured pieces in bowls at home and an entire reel of duct tape in the cupboard, nothing communicates ‘wow’ like the real thing sticking to a wall in Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria.

As people study and gaze upon the yellow plantain, there is one further sticky observation to make: the original didn’t make it to Australia. Presumably, it became banana pulp; all $120,000US of it! Even then, the world’s second most famous banana (let’s not forget bananas in pyjamas), was substituted out when the original was eaten as an unofficial piece of performance art! Let’s not worry about details.

I first wrote about Maurizio Cattelan’s banana back in 2019 and never dreamed that one day we could view and goo and ga over (and maybe gobble) it here in Melbourne.

As our artistic geniuses examine and ponder the significance of a banana stuck to a wall, let me throw in my 2 cents worth. My opinion may not be worth the prized $120,000 or the $395 that bought you a ticket for opening night, but then again, neither was the bag of bananas I purchased from the supermarket.

Joking aside, I think there is something to this work by Maurizio Cattelan’s work, titled ‘Comedian’.

The Italian satirical artist has created art from real life and sometimes zany objects. His most famous piece was stolen and presumably melted down: a $10 million toilet! Comedia uses two common objects: an overripe banana stuck to a wall with a strip of duct tape. The work was originally exhibited at the Miami Gallery, Art Basel, before being sold for $120,000US.

Before the mockers mock and critics criticise, it is worth observing the success of this Cattelan original. Some might say that the work itself should be subject to ridicule. Add a $120,000 price tag, and the jeering and sneering is more than audible. But the story of this captivating banana isn’t yet finished. A performance artist by the name of David Datuna visited the Art Basel and while admiring ‘Comedian’ up close, he committed the great heresy of reaching out and touching the banana. He didn’t stop there. He ripped the banana and its duct tape from the wall and then proceeded to peel the banana and eat its flesh. Onlookers gasped while others laughed. A security guard appeared, horrified. Datuna exclaimed that his was a work of art and he gave it the name, ‘Hungry Artist’.

He was quickly taken away but later emerged as a free man; free to perform and eat again.

Posting on Instagram he said,

“Art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan artwork and I really love this installation. It’s very delicious,”

The director of the gallery, Lucien Terras, told the Miami Herald,

“[Datuna] did not destroy the artwork. The banana is the idea”.

The $120,000 banana has since been replaced with a fresh banana.

I don’t recommend anyone trying the stunt here in Melbourne. But as thousands flock to admire…or scorn, let me ask this question, who is acting the fool? At the time of the infamous art meal, I recall friends rolling their eyes all over social media and decrying the waste of money. People were quick to point out the foolishness And now Melbourne has bought the banana…for $1.20 from Coles on Elizabeth Street!

Who is the fool? Maurizio Cattelan? After all, all he did was take a banana and stick it on a wall. Far from acting the fool, Cattelan is looking at us and laughing with a $120,000 wry grin, shaped like a banana. More significantly, Cattelan’s genius lies in successfully drawing us into conversation and debate about a slightly smelly piece of fruit. We are the suckers, falling into Maurizio Cattelan’s world of satire. The banana isn’t the subject, we are the subject. Even eating the art piece forms part of the ever evolving expression that has been set in motion by the artist.

So are we the fool? Well, we are certainly silly monkeys for eating into his artistic expression, and then, of course, there’s the fool who paid $120,000 for old fruit and a strip of duct tape!

In the world of commonsense, we are the fool as we offer up our half-digested opinions about a piece of fruit stuck to a wall. However, the world today isn’t ruled by reason. We have become eager participants in Cattelan’s pantomime. In this upside-down world where right is now wrong, and wrong is lauded, and where such divisions are even removed altogether, the only fool here is the security guard who dared assume that eating the banana was an act of vandalism. And yet, as Lucien Terras has declared, even the guard has become an aspect of the artist’s expression.

Art has merged into life. Or should that be, life has merged into art? Everything becomes art. We are the artist’s subject as much as that banana, and all the subsequent bananas that will replace the mould and smell.

As far as originality is concerned, Cattelan’s object is little more than a spin-off from Andy Warhol’s portrait of a banana. He is simply replacing a painting with the object itself. And yet, here we are, talking about a banana.

Now that we’ve established that all of us are fools and yet none of us is the fool, is there a right way to be looking at ‘Comedian’? Is there any single interpretation of ‘Comedian’ that is the right one? Indeed, should we even be talking in such categories?

The sculpture isn’t designed to elucidate a set response but to create an entire spectrum of reactions. It is a portrait of the absurd and the absurd is us. There is no fixed meaning, just meanings. There is no primal purpose, just a bunch of ripening and then slowly rotting contributions.

I’m not quite sure whether ‘Comedian’ is mocking today’s avant garde or is an example of its stupidity (apologies Melbourne). Either way, it is reveals something rather sad and disillusioning about our society. What if the real world is also without overarching meaning and design? What if all we have is 8 billion opinions and convocations and divisions? It would be a truly satirical place to live. In such a world, why shouldn’t we eat and destroy an expensive work of art? Why shouldn’t we deride or laugh or even destroy? Why not spend $120,000 on a banana instead of giving the money to charity?

A universe without God is such a world. In such a closed material construct the only fool is the one who stands up and says “no, you mustn’t do that”. Instead, let people be, to steal, to take, to laugh, to admire, and however else we choose to express ourselves.

If Cattelan’s ultimate objective was to communicate the irreverence and heresy of particular meaning, the joke rests finally on him, for it was after all necessary for Cattelan to image the idea in his mind and then to make it with his hands. There is no art without the artist. Even in the aleatoric movement of John Cage and company, the author could not fully remove himself.

The universe God created and the place in which we live are not such places. It is filled with careful design and purpose. Not all opinions and reviews are equal. Not every action is good. Not every investment is wise or useful. The scary thing is that this world’s creator takes an active interest and he expresses concern for how we treat his creation including one another. As Psalm 2 indicates, he is a God who laughs and scoffs at us for deluding ourselves into pretending that our speculations and philosophising can subvert and replace his revelation.

“The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

He rebukes them in his anger

and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

“I have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain.” (Psalm 2)

How much better is the portrait God has given us of his creation. How much more stunning and meaningful and satisfying is the Creator’s plan for the canvas on which you and I exist and have our being. Indeed, it involved the artist entering his own creation for the purpose of redeeming and reconciling us to His Divine purpose. This doesn’t end with the loss of creative freedom, but with finding greater freedom where we are no longer consumed for the value of an overripe banana.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

How we speak does matter

November 29, 2023December 1, 2023 / MurrayCampbell / 1 Comment

Kevin De Young has written an important critique of the Moscow crowd led by Doug Wilson. Kevin’s offering is both irenic and castigating.

Kevin’s stated purpose is less to address theological concerns coming from the Moscow of Idaho, but to explain the success of Moscow and why this ought to concern Christians.

A biting cold in Moscow

De Young explains,

“I’m convinced the appeal of Moscow is visceral more than intellectual…people come to those particular intellectual convictions because they were first attracted to the cultural aesthetic and the political posture that Wilson so skillfully embodies. In short, people are moving to Moscow—whether literally or spiritually—because of a mood.”

“My bigger concern is with the long-term spiritual effects of admiring and imitating the Moscow mood. For the mood that attracts people to Moscow is too often incompatible with Christian virtue, inconsiderate of other Christians, and ultimately inconsistent with the stated aims of Wilson’s Christendom project.”

“The Moscow mood provides a non-stop adversarial stance toward the world and toward other Christians who are deemed (or caricatured to be) too afraid to “tell it like it is.” Moscow cannot become the American Redoubt for conservative Christians if it is too similar to other places, with basically the same kinds of churches, schools, and institutions found in hundreds of other cities. Differentiation is key, and this can only be sustained by a mood of antagonism and sharp antithesis…

“I fear that much of the appeal of Moscow is an appeal to what is worldly in us. As we’ve seen, the mood is often irreverent, rebellious, and full of devil-may-care playground taunts. That doesn’t make us better Christians.”

It is worth reading Kevin De Young’s piece in its entirety. Behind this mood is a set of theological assumptions about the relationship between Church and State, Gospel and culture. These assumptions are often known as ‘Christian Nationalism’, a position that De Young thinks is problematic, as do I (as I’ve written earlier this year ).

Language really does matter

De Young is rightly concerned about the type of speech Wilson regularly employs to convey the mood. This includes,

“Wilson’s deliberate decision to use uncouth (at best) and sinful (at worst) language, especially language of a sexual nature.”

Angry speech and coarse speech. As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As the article was shared on social media the very issues Kevin highlighted were being played out in real cyber time. Supporters of Wilson were soon defending his use of vulgar language, as though the times require such vocabulary to come from the lips of pastors. As others expressed thankfulness for Kevin’s article, Moscovites were eager to zoom in and add their own filthy language and derogatory words, presumably as an instrument to silence people.

Take, for example, the abuse Karen Prior was subjected to when she tweeted, ‘thank you for speaking up’,

I wonder if the people pause long enough to realise that they simply reinforcing the very issues Kevin has outlined in his critique of Doug Wilson and Moscow?

One Aussie Pastor, defending Doug Wilson, summed up well the ‘mood’ concern De Young is highlighting. He said on a friend’s Facebook page,

“We can lament the state of the church and culture all we want, and natter amongst ourselves about what the right tone to strike is. Maybe it’s just time for haymakers and door slamming.”

Over the last 5 years, I found that the ‘truth and freedom’ brigade is quick to fend off voices calling for considered speech and tone. They don’t see the times as one for making peace but waging war against the culture and against all those weak knee Christian groups who don’t buy into the angry mood. Failure to reach the same heated temperature is viewed upon with suspicions and probable complicity with all that is wrong with culture.

If Jesus overturned tables and made a whip that’s what we’re going to do. If Jesus can call Pharisees ‘vipers’, then let’s make sure we stick that in our rhetorical rifle and fire off a round every day. After all, if we do it often enough we will aim true at some point. Friend, not every word is meant to sound as though we’re Elijah or Ezekiel in their boldest moments.

There are many issues in our society that grieve Christians and that we understand are serious missteps that will lead to further harm to people in our suburbs and streets. There are occasions for godly anger. But surely this cannot be our only sustained note in public. We mustn’t gather around rage and all we find problematic, but around the Gospel of grace. If the moral and spiritual sitz im leben of our community is concerning, how much more therefore must we pay attention to the godliness within the church and how we speak with not only truth but also kindness and grace. Are we seeking to persuade people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or whacking them with a rhetorical blitz?

Gruff doesn’t equal greater faithfulness to the gospel. Using strong language doesn’t equate to greater love or persuasive power? And coarse language contravenes God’s message of grace and righteousness.

Tone does matter. Tone is about godliness. Tone chooses words. Tone is about conveying truthfulness in love. Our models for public speech shouldn’t be Donald Trump or the anti-semitic sloganees who are marching through the streets at the moment. Loud and brash may grab attention and win the cheers of devotees, and also betray the very Gospel we are claiming to represent.

The Bible warns us about our tongues.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… (James 3:6)

“Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.” (Eph 5:4)

“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” (Matt 12:36)

The Bible urges us to speak not only truthfully but with a tone of grace and respect and kindness.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph 4:29)

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Col 4:6)

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

“A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The soothing tongue is a tree of life,
but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” (Prob 15:1 & 4)

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” (James 1:9)

The Bible identifies a correlation between speech and the heart.

“A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.” (Prob 16:27)

Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly (2 Tim 3:16)

What is tone? It is the sound attuned to God’s melodic line. Paul wrote that one’s words amount to noise if not spoken in the right manner. When the music score says legato, do I play staccato instead? When the composer indicates pianissimo, do I bash triple forte? When the composer asks forte, should I play in a whisper?

Tone is more than a choice of which key to sing, it is a sound of godliness that we want to faithfully match God’s melodic line. Our tone is a heart issue, and only the Gospel of grace can cure it. Kevin De Young has sounded a warning, and it is one that has its roots in the pleas and corrections offered up by James the brother of Jesus. While I feel no gravitational pull toward Moscow, this is nonetheless an opportunity to consider the words I use and how. If that’s the takeaway, then I think Kevin has served us well.

Merri-Bek Council ought to be ashamed

November 9, 2023November 9, 2023 / MurrayCampbell

I am truly shocked. A local council in Melbourne yesterday adopted a motion about the conflict in Israel and Gaza. To describe it as an anti-Israel manifesto is probably a dilution of the actual words and intent.

The Merri-Bek City Council has passed a resolution with 11 separate points (which I’ve included below). In summary, Israel is to blame for all the events of the past month, including the slaughter of 1400 Israelis and the 200 hostages taken. And because Israel is responsible, the people of Melbourne (and they call on the Prime Minister) need to take sides with Palestine against Israel.

There is no word affirming Israel’s responsibility to defend its people against terrorism. If anything, the document would have us believe Israel is the evil perpetrator of genocide.

You may ask, but what about Hamas? The Council doesn’t attribute culpability to Hamas. Not once does the Council condemn Hamas; they don’t even mention the terrorist organisation. Why not? Is Hamas not responsible for the attack on Israel? Are they not responsible for the ongoing suffering of people in Gaza and are they not responsible for the continued fighting in Gaza today? It seems that admitting these facts doesn’t fit the narrative that the Merri-Bek Council wants to spin.

We are not obliged to agree with every policy and decision made by Israel over the decades. No nation is immune from legitimate criticism and concern. But these Councillors are either ignorant of what is taking place in the Middle East and ignorant of the religious and cultural history of the region or something far more sinister is going on. No wonder Jews in Melbourne are nervous and feeling a heightened sense of insecurity.

What is staggering about the Council’s resolve is that they are not even trying to hide the undertones. They are playing the discord openly and without hesitation.

The Merri-Bek Council wants to step further and introduce both symbolic and practical support of Gaza and against Israel. The motion includes a call to boycott businesses connected with Israel and the Council will be “raising the Palestinian flag on the fourth flag pole at Council’s Coburg Civic Centre for six months in recognition of the specific situation of a genocide being carried out against the Palestinians in Gaza.” Notice, that there will be no Israeli flag.

I’m not a supporter of flying flags of other nations (and causes) on our Government buildings. So don’t hear me saying that the Star of David should be flying in Coburg. But, flagrant distortion of what is happening and the gaslighting toward Jewish people beggars belief. And it gets worse, the Council then has the gall to insinuate that Israel is akin to Nazi Germany! Are they so ignorant of history?

The Herald Sun is reporting that one Councillor who voter against the motion has subsequently received death threats*. I guess those calls for peace don’t include those people who wish to stand up for Jews.

No one wants to see civilians in Gaza suffering and dying. It is a horrific state of affairs. It is however sheer ignorance and arrogance for this Council to lay all responsibility at Israel’s feet and none with the very people who perpetrated the evil on October 7, and who, by the way, have subsequently told the world that they will do it again and again until from the river to sea until Israel is no more.

We can weep and grieve for innocent Palestinians. We pray for peace. But will Merri-Bek Council not grieve for the countless Jews who have experienced the most horrific day since the Holocaust? Will Merri-Bek Council not offer one word of solace to Jews and word of assurance that they will stand by them?

Who will weep with Rachel and for her children?

We said never again, but today those words are sounding increasingly hollow.

May I propose a new motion and Merri-Bek Council takes a break from pontificating and instead read Jeremiah ch.31. If we are genuine about seeking peace, not only in the Middle East but here in Melbourne as schisms grow, then this is a word we need to take to heart.

———-

* I originally said that only one counsellor voted against the motion. Correction, there were four objections, with one of those for receiving death threats

—————————————–

That Council,

1. Mourns the tragic and horrific loss of civilian lives in the current conflict and condemns all attacks that target civilians.

2. Recognises that the constant bombing and the total siege of Gaza is traumatising for many Merri-bek residents who have relatives in the region or have come from war-torn countries. We express our solidarity with these communities.

3. Notes that the current conflict did not begin on 7 October 2023 – it began with the Occupation of Palestine, and the forced displacement of millions of Palestinians from their homelands as a result.

4. Condemns the words of senior Israeli politicians and military officials that seek to dehumanise Palestinians in Gaza to justify their war crimes. For example,

On 8 October 2023, Nissim Vaturi, member of the Knesset for the far right and governing coalition party, Likud, called for “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth. Those who are unable will be replaced.”
On 9 October 2023, Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, stated: “We are imposing a complete siege on [Gaza]. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly”.

5. Notes that many global organisations and institutions, including Amnesty International, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Occupied Palestinian Territory, have documented systematic evidence of war crimes committed by Israel and its army against Palestinians, including:

a) sustained bombing of residential neighbourhoods

b) the bombing of schools, health facilities, mosques and churches where civilians are sheltering

c) the use of white phosphorous (a chemical weapon which burns the skin)

d) the denial of food, water, fuel, electricity, internet, and medical supplies to the people of Gaza.

6. Notes that 800 scholars of international law, conflict studies, Holocaust and Genocide Studies declared in a public statement on 15 October:

“We are compelled to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

7. Writes to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister calling on the Australian government to:

a) Strongly condemn the war crimes being carried out by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza.

b) Call for an immediate ceasefire and end to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing.

c) Call for the immediate lifting of the siege on Gaza to allow Palestinians in Gaza to have unlimited access to food, water, fuel, electricity, medical supplies and construction materials to repair damaged homes and civilian infrastructure.

d) Advocate for all Palestinian and Israeli hostages to be released.

e) Advocate for a political resolution to the decades-long conflict which includes an end to Israel’s illegal Occupation of Palestine in order for there to be a just and sustainable peace.

f) End all military, economic, political and diplomatic ties with the state of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international law.

8. Notes that boycotts, divestment and sanctions are legitimate, non-violent tactics used by individuals and organisations to pressure foreign governments over human rights abuses and war crimes, including Israel’s brutal and illegal colonisation of Palestine.

9. Receives a report to explore options for council to cancel contracts with companies that support Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine or profit from it, especially companies which supply equipment to the Israeli Defence Force.

10. Amends the Community Flag Schedule outlined in Council’s Flags Policy by raising the Palestinian flag on the fourth flag pole at Council’s Coburg Civic Centre for six months in recognition of the specific situation of a genocide being carried out against the Palestinians in Gaza. That this decision be communicated to the communities who were expecting their flags to be flown on other dates after six months the decision will be reviewed by Council.

11. As a diverse, multi-cultural, and multi-faith community, Merri-bek City Council deplores and actively stands against all forms of racism, including Islamophobia and Anti-semitism.

Never Again

October 24, 2023October 7, 2025 / MurrayCampbell

The world said, ‘Never again’. Following the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were slaughtered, guilt, conviction and repentance led much of the world to exclaim, ‘Never again’. Most people believed the words, and yet today, in the year 2023, that promise is losing confidence and support.

Two weeks have passed since the terror attack on Israel killed 1400 people and left thousands injured, and more than 200 as hostages. It is not the condemnation of Hamas that surprises, but the support for Hamas that is rallying voices in cities worldwide, including Australian cities.

A friend of mine, as she tries to make sense of what is happening, made this remark,

“Over the last week or so it’s dawned on me how much I’ve domesticated Satan in my own thinking. Yes he is the subtle tempter. But he is also the blatant protagonist of violence, clamour, hatred, cruelty & death. And he’s currently having an absolute field day. God have mercy.”

Indeed, Lord have mercy.

What we are witnessing around the globe, from Melbourne to New York, Sydney to London, are scenes that harken back to the darkest moments in 1930s Germany. Of course, the geopolitical situation is not analogous, and yet a deep and vile hatred toward the Jews is manifesting. These are not quiet murmurs but public and vocal, and at times the anti-semistim is lauded by crowds and even by political and so called ‘erudite’ groups.

We can try and explain away some anti-semitism by suggesting it’s just the fringe. When the forecourts of the Sydney Opera House witnessed a mob shouting, ‘Gas the Jews’, and when young Jewish men were threatened on the streets of Melbourne with ‘I’ll kill you’, our minds calculated that these are the words of the tiny few.

The world has seen footage of children in American schools chanting, ‘“From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free”, a saying that means eradicating Jewish people from the land of Israel.

Bari Weiss’ office was defaced over the weekend with ‘F#ck the Jews’.

There is story after story.

Lest we think that the awful language is limited to a few thugs, there are politicians and academic institutions supporting Hamas against Israel. Many Universities and Colleges in the United States have produced statements in support of the Gaza ‘uprising’ and condemning Israel.

Harvard University, for instance, is considered one of the world’s leading institutions of education. Yesterday, the halls of Harvard were filled with students supporting Palestine against Israel. This followed a letter that was signed by 30 student groups at Harvard blaming Israel for the atrocities on October 7. They didn’t even wait for the dead to be counted before asserting,

We “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.

So, Hamas terrorists are not responsible for raping, kidnapping, and murdering innocent civilians but somehow they are justified or simply victims being swept up in a moral fight against their oppressors? Apparently, a few of these student groups have since rescinded their support of their letter, saying that they hadn’t read the letter carefully.

Sydney’s Town Hall plays to all manner of social causes and lights up to display solidarity, and yet the Mayor of Sydney has blocked the attempt to show the blue and white of Israel. These are not examples of antisemitism, but this is not a time to play the argument of moral equivalence and to sidestep what took place in Israel. But to make clear, ‘never again’.

It isn’t helpful to exaggerate how wide or deep the anti-Jewish sentiment runs through our cities, for large portions of our populations see how vile such dehumanising is. It is becoming clear, however, that antisemitism exists and it is perhaps more commonplace than we realised, and it is event present in our elitist institutions with noise and clanging. We didn’t believe it. Perhaps we still refused to accept it. But for all our sophistry and hubristic self-belief, we are not immune from profound ugliness and distaste.

Contrary to the wistless historical positivism about history’s arc turning toward justice, the 20th century blew that idea out of the water.* The early decades of the 21st century have further reinforced that the saying is vapour. History is more like a Wagnerian cycle; prolonged agony with an audience gasping for resolution amidst near-eternal dissonance. Yes, we see progress and good in many spheres and yet none removes that basic instinct to sin.

My friend is right to attribute the evil of recent weeks to Satan. Satan is a cunning foe, and he is also a powerful ally in the ambition of hatred and death. It is not as though people are helpless victims in his hands, but rather he exploits our pre-existing heart condition. Lurking in all our hearts is far more sin than we are prepared to admit. It was Jesus who made the diagnosis,

“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

That is what we are seeing spillover around the world. Deep-seated views and convictions are sensing opportunity to come out and be expressed. Anti-semitism is but one example of many blots on the human heart, but it is a fearful one.

I still cannot fathom how a Melbourne Anglican Minister went on Twitter (X) in support of Hamas’ violent and bloody attack on Israelis. It is beyond belief.

Never again.

It is difficult to overstate the seriousness of the unfolding situation in Israel and Gaza. It is impossible to fathom the anxiety and fear overwhelming people in Israel and Gaza. National leaders and diplomats are pressing to control the situation and to find ways to release the pressure valve while at the same time acknowledging Israel’s right to destroy Hamas. For 3,000 years, Jerusalem has magnetised world history, and it remains so today. What happens in Israel doesn’t remain in Israel. We live in a global community, and when a stone is thrown in one part of the world, the ripples spread wide.

Surely we are gripped with sadness, grief and diminishing trust in man’s ability to overcome.

Never again.

Among the stories that gripped attention for more than a week is the speed to doubt and disbelieve. As reports were given to journalists and to the public of atrocities in Israeli homes, towns, and fields, many said, no. This isn’t true. We don’t believe you. Show us the bodies. Yesterday Israeli Defence Force representatives invited journalists into a room and played video footage of the dead. Films taken by Hamas show their members torturing, killing, burning and yes even beheading Israelis. The media are now reporting what ears refused to believe but eyes have now seen and witnessed now through flood of tears.

Andrew Neil retells,

“Journalists in tears as IDF shows them body cam footage of massacres by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 with civilians and soldiers being shot, stabbed, tortured and burned merely because they were Jewish.

Their corpses were bound, gagged and riddled with bullet holes and knife wounds.

In one clip, a Hamas terrorist throws a grenade at a father and his son. The blast kills the father, while the young boy is covered in his blood. The child is dragged inside and forced to sit next to his brother, whose eye is a bloody mess after being subjected to horrific torture. One of the boys sobs: ‘Why am I alive?’

Other footage shows IDF soldiers beheaded with their headless corpses left splayed in the streets, while a contingent of female soldiers were injured by a grenade then shot at point blank range.

A Hamas gunman brags on the the phone to his parents about ‘killing 10 Jews’. He is using phone of a Jewish woman who has just been murdered and boasts that he ‘is a hero’ after killing Israelis with his ‘own hands’.”

Never again?

Unlike the waves of self-appointed Middle Eastern experts offering their opinions, I am not an expert. It does not, however, require a PhD in political science to understand that Hamas’ attack on Israel was evil and that Israel has the right to defend herself and her people and to agree that Hamas must never again have the ability to repeat these atrocities.

We can also and ought to affirm the protection of civilians across borders and people groups, regardless of their religion and ethnicity. How damnable are Hamas for preventing their own people from fleeing south. That Israel’s Defence Force gives prior warning and urge people to move away from targets, is demonstrably more than what a nation at war would normally do.

We pray and call for the protection of innocent Palestinians and Israelis. Speak up and stand against anti-semitism. We pray for justice. We pray for peace. Surely, we can give up our godless pretensions and take God at his word,

The Lord is angry with all nations;

his wrath is on all their armies.

He will totally destroy them,

he will give them over to slaughter.

Their slain will be thrown out,

their dead bodies will stink;

the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

All the stars in the sky will be dissolved

and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;

all the starry host will fall

like withered leaves from the vine,

like shriveled figs from the fig tree. (Isaiah 34)

Never again.

As it happens, I don’t believe that the modern state of Israel is the fulfilment of Biblical promise. I think that view misses the point about how the person of Jesus Christ fulfils all of God’s ancient promises. And yet one cannot ignore the Apostles’ teaching in the New Testament about how God loves Israel (the people); therefore we must also. This is a part of the Bible that Christians have sometimes ignored or abused. Sadly, the history of Christianity in Europe is marked by chapters of persecuting Jews. There are also positive moments, whether Oliver Cromwell welcoming Jews to return to England or the posture of preachers like Charles Spurgeon who insisted, ‘a Christian must be the last person who ought ever to speak disrespectfully or unkindly to the Jews’.

Never again.

Political and military courses have a place and imperative. However, the ultimate answer to justice and mercy, peace and reconciliation is the Christ whom we in the West are trying to remove from the story. Indeed, the world has tried that approach before. The world once famously rejected the Messiah. They arrested him under false pretences. They accused him of all manner of wrongdoing. The soldiers then had him tortured and forced him to carry the implement of his own execution. They crucified him, hands and feet until dead. And yet as Peter explained to the crowd in Jerusalem at Pentecost, it is through that very cross God was winning redemption for us. To confirm this ultimate victory, God raised Jesus from the dead.

Many of us remain sceptical today and others quietly go about thinking, maybe. In Gaza today and scattered around Israel too, are small groups of Christians, believing the world’s only hope is this Jesus.

In my previous and initial reflections on what happened on October 7th, I quoted an Old Testament Bible passage, and I do so again, because of how fitting it is. These words were written by a Jewish man who rested his hope on the promise of God. As he spoke of looming disaster and chaos and suffering, because of sin, Isaiah also gave words of comfort and hope. How the world today needs this kind of concrete hope.

“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

A friend pointed out the origins of the ‘arc of history’ quote, which is from Martin Luther King and posits a faith in God who will make all things news. This differs from how the phrase is commonly used today, unfortunately

World Cup players explain how gender difference is harming players

August 2, 2023August 3, 2023 / MurrayCampbell

Melbourne came alive 2 nights ago as the Matilda’s turned around their World Cup by defeating Canada 4-0 in their final group stage match). As exciting as it is to see Australia progressing and finding form, there was another different story making news this afternoon from the Soccer World Cup.

The Herald Sun is reporting that a significant number of professional women’s soccer players have missed the World Cup due to knee injuries or have sustained injuries during the early parts of the competition. It is not just the numbers that are concerning but the fact that the numbers reflect a failure to recognise the difference between men and women athletes.

The paper quotes this interesting observation from England’s Captain Leah Williamson. She says,

“There’s so many things (different between men and women). Our hips are aligned slightly differently, hormones and stress all contribute.”

In one sense, Williamson hasn’t said anything outrageous or controversial, but in another way, she has just kicked a goal against a big social heresy: she’s admitted that men and women are not identical. Contrary, to the mass verbiage that seeks to downplay and even deny difference, sometimes reality spills out and scores on the counterattack.

We are conditioned to believe there are no differences between men and women. Men and women are identical and even interchangeable. Try suggesting at work that that’s not the case and see how long it is before the HR Department invites you in for a special meeting. If there is ever any difference that can be admitted, it’s that Ken is bad and Barbie is good.

Built into many of these conversations is a flawed premise. These days ‘difference’ has become a trigger word, a slur implying inferiority or lesser status. Of course, that’s not the case. Genesis, for example, declares an inherent goodness in the distinction between male and female, and together they share the imago dei. Different bodies and different hormones and psychological differences in no way indicate degrees of worth, but rather, a beautiful complementarity (yes, I did use that word!).

A sense of equality between men and women doesn’t derive from chasing the evolutionary wheel of the strongest and fittest, or from the imaginings of Greek myths, but in those ancient words which Jesus upheld and which remain powerful today, informing and providing Divine meaning for men and women alike,

“So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.”

The Herald Sun story goes on to point out,

“The little research there is suggests that female players are at least three times more likely to do an ACL than men.

Williamson wants to see an immediate improvement for how young female talent is prepared before professional to ensure their bodies are not shocked by dramatic changes in training regimens.

“The women’s game, my generation; one day we’re a kid playing football and the next we’re a professional,” she said.

“We got form training a few times a week to training every day, playing Champions League, World Cups, European Cups etc.

“Until it changes to be more like the boys where they’re literally bred for it from day one of being signed at six years old, this will happen more.

“We’re not ready for that. There’s so much now that we need to make more focused to women or this will happen over and over again. Our bodies are completely different, the studies around professional sports women are few and far between.”

None of this comes as a surprise to me, having 3 children who have played a lot of sports over the years, including a daughter. I hope Football Associations and medicos take note of these players pleas. But I suspect like a harmonic clash, we’ll keep preaching one message and practicing another.

It is possible that we overplay differences between men and women (let’s be honest, this can sometimes leads to harmful outcomes), but as these professional footballers are informing us, rejecting difference also produces injurious outcomes.

There is something good and vital about valuing the substantive overlap between men and women, and there is something good about respecting and honouring where difference exists. Instead of playing foosball with sex and gender, in the real world biology does matter and does shape our physical and psychological activities.

As women and men take note of important differences, there will be frustration. Sometimes it’s because there is lurking misogyny. Sometimes it’s moral or intellectual laziness. The cause is just as likely to be something else: We live in a highly defensive culture. Our sexular age doesn’t score many goals but its fervour for defending dangerous tackles and throwing out creational rules is second to none. You can receive a yellow card for admitting any gender difference, and be disqualified from the tournament altogether. The problem is, who suffers? Women do.

It may not be today, and probably not tomorrow, but a time will come when we can say without hesitation, embarrassment or fear of repercussion,

“There’s so many things (different between men and women”…so praise God for we are wonderfully made.

Listen to Jesus and not the Archbishop of York

July 8, 2023 / MurrayCampbell

While England’s cricket team is battling it out against the Aussies in Yorkshire, the Archbishop of York has picked a fight with God. Stephen Cottrell yesterday addressed the General Synod of the Church of England, arguing that praying to God as ‘our Father’ is problematic.

Understand, unlike the Aussies who play cricket within the rules of the game, Cottrell thought it smart to break the rules of both the Bible and society. As Cottrell would surely know, refusing to use someone’s preferred gender pronouns is paramount to heresy in today’s Western culture. More than that, God gets to choose how he is addressed, and yet the Archbishop of a church has announced that he is stepping outside the crease and he is proud of it.

“For if this God to whom we pray is ‘Father’ – and, yes, I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us have laboured rather too much from an oppressively, patriarchal grip on life – then those of us who say this prayer together, whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, even if we determinedly face away from each other, only turning round in order to put a knife in the back of the person standing behind us, are sisters and brothers, family members, the household of God.”

Yes, Stephen Cottrell hasn’t downright rejected Jesus’ call for us to address God as Father; doing so is a step too far for a Church of England Archbishop…for now. Nonetheless, the Archbishop has denigrated the idea of praying ‘our father’ and maligned Jesus in the process.

The Archbishop of York offers 2 reasons why we may (or should) be reluctant to ascribe God as Father. First, he says that some people have terrible fathers. This is sadly true. It is also the experience of many that they have had cruel, abusive, or difficult mothers. As we minister to people we certainly don’t wish to ignore the fact that in our congregation and in the wider community, many people have been mistreated by their Dad. God as Father is unlike them. He is perfect in love and trustworthiness and care and goodness and strength. Praying to ‘our father’ isn’t problematic, it is the ultimate resolution to every need and hint of longing for a good father.

Cottrell’s second objection is more concerning. He asserts that father language smacks of patriarchy. Is the Archbishop implying that Jesus lacks pastoral awareness and that Jesus was complicit in advocating a system of injustice? Patriarchy has become shorthand for sexism, misogyny, inequality, and abuse. In drawing such a close connection between Jesus’ words and patriarchy, the Archbishop comes perilously close to calling Jesus a blasphemer. On this, he doesn’t quite step outside his crease, but he is tempting both keeper and umpire. How far can he go and what can he get away with?

Of course, it was not uncommon for the religious leaders of the day to call Jesus a blasphemer, especially as Jesus identified God as Father and he as God’s Son. On one occasion, Jesus called out his opponents,

“what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.” (John 10:36-37)

Jesus wouldn’t be defined by the theological position of Jerusalem’s religious mafia, including their progressive teaching on sexuality. Let’s remember, the Pharisees justified their own sexual inclinations by trying to rewrite the Scriptures whereas Jesus reaffirmed the goodness of God’s design and pattern that is laid out in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

That’s the thing, when you play with the Bible’s teaching on sexuality and gender, you end up fiddling with the doctrine of God. Stephen Cottrell is among the majority of English bishops who supports the introduction of prayers of blessing for same-sex couples.

A distortion in our anthropology naturally leads to ripping apart the doctrine of God. In recent times Australian politicians have employed a vague and boundary-less concept of a loving God to justify all manner of gender and sexual proclivities. It is one thing for political representatives to fudge God, but it is quite another for a church leader to mislead the people of God.

The pressures to give in to current waves of sexual and gender attitudes is tremendous and standing on Scripture can cost you friends, family and work. The Church should be the one sanctuary where believing God and trusting Jesus isn’t debated and where you’re not called names for sticking with the Bible. Sadly, not so in many cathedral walls and brick parishes.

It shouldn’t surprise us to see ministers who reject Jesus’ teaching on marriage, also cast doubt on what Jesus teaches us about God.

If we think that our understanding of humanity doesn’t interfere with our understanding of God then either, we haven’t been paying attention to ecclesial debates or we’ve convinced ourselves that these matters are not so important.

In order to sustain the view that God is pleased with same-sex marriage and that any gender distinction is arbitrary and even immoral, pastors, and theologians, eventually know that they have to deal with the question of God’s self-revelation. Of course, there is nothing new in Cottrell’s comments. These have been circulating around liberal theological circles for decades, like the boos from a drunken crowd at the Ashes. There is nothing original in his remarks, but they reinforce the perilous state of the Church of England.

The Triune God is revealed to us in the words of Scripture as Father and Son and Holy Spirit. While there are a few examples in the Bible where a feminine simile is used to describe God and by God, there are no feminine metaphors or names used, whereas masculine ones are found frequently.

The Holy Spirit is spoken as he, ““When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.” (John 15:26)

The Son of God is the son and not the daughter, and the Son incarnate became a man, not a woman.

God the Father is the Father.

On the question of similes and metaphors, it’s important to observe a linguistic distinction. For example, someone says to me, ‘Murray you’re as slow as a snail.’ Such a statement is not intending to convey something ontologically true about me, as though I am a snail, but that my walking habits remind them of this slumberous creature. However, God’s self-disclosure as the Father and as the Son is making a statement of ontological reality. That is not to say that God is male or female. God is neither man nor woman (although the Son became a man and is to this very day, fully man and fully God), for sex and gender are tied to biology. God is Spirit and does not have a body. And yet, God reveals himself in his word with gendered language and attributes.

None of this denigrates femaleness in any sense. Both male and female share the imago dei, indeed, Genesis seems to say that it is in the male and female distinction that we together are made in the image of God. As the Bible’s storyline develops, familial language is used by God to describe himself and his love for his people. For just as a son and daughter are equally loved by their earthly father and have equal dignity and worth, so boys and girls and men and women are loved by our heavenly father.

The Archbishop went on to talk about unity and mission, as does every denominational leader who is trying to keep the sinking ship afloat with one hand while drilling a hole with the other. Gospel unity and Gospel mission are sublime, vital, life-giving and God-glorifying realities. But redefine sin and you’ve redefined the atonement and you’ve removed the message of God’s mission. Redefine God and you’ve created a new religion and walked away from the Spirit-given unity as the body of Christ.

Don’t take the Archbishop of York at his word. Listen instead to Jesus. God defines God. Jesus reveals God. Jesus invites us to know God as ‘our Father’. There is beauty and joy and confidence in such prayer, not a problem.

Praying, ‘our father’ isn’t problematic, it is the greatest joy. To ascribe God as ‘our father’ is to hallow his name. It is to be secure in his love and care.

Adoption is the greatest of all Christian gifts given to us through the Lord Jesus. The privileges of being sons and daughters and knowing God as our ‘Father’ is the height of the Christian experience.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:14-15)

The Bible is dangerous and more

June 6, 2023 / MurrayCampbell

A school district in Utah has banned the Bible. This isn’t exactly a big news story for Australia, nor the United States for the matter, and yet the New York Times is reporting it. Even The Age has published a piece via AP. Perhaps a Fairfax Editor thought the story warrants sharing here in Australia. Or maybe, if the suspicious part of me speaks for a moment, the aim is to work up a little outrage in Australia and motivate a Bible ban in our schools.

When I initially came across the story I didn’t think much, but now that it’s considered newsworthy for an Australian audience, let me explain why I think the ban is ridiculous and yet, let’s admit that the Bible is a dangerous book.

Yes, the Bible is dangerous. The words of the Bible are not designed to merely inform or tell a story, they are written to transform those who read, and yes, even to change the world.

The Bible is honest about its aims. It doesn’t seek to hide or manipulate the author’s intention. For instance, the book of Hebrews explains,

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

The Bible is many things. The Bible is history, law, and poetry, it is prophecy and preaching. The Bible is also a story; from Genesis to Revelation the Bible tells the greatest story the world has ever known. The Bible is a human document and it is a Divine word. The Bible can be studied and analysed, and it can be admired and sung, it can confuse and anger, it can nourish and give life and joy.

The Bible is confronting. Let’s not pretend that the words and message aren’t provocative and uncomfortable. These Scriptures challenge the status quo and confront assumptions and life commitments. The Bible exposes our deepest inclinations and desires. The pages have the ability to stimulate thought, stretch the intellect and breathe life into the soul.

The Bible is without doubt the most influential writing in all history, and the most vital. Civilisations have risen and fallen on account of these words: the notions of equality between men and women find their origins in the Bible. The concept of ultimate justice and that this justice is good and fair, believing in a distinction between church and state, the idea of emancipation, and even ‘secular’ all find their roots in the Bible.

The Bible doesn’t mimic any given culture but has the remarkable ability to speak into every time and place. Just as the ministry of Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Daniel each confronted the cultural and spiritual norms of their society, it is also the case with the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles, and this remains so today.

The Bible is confronting because it is real to life. The Bible doesn’t provide us with religious escapism. We are confronted with the reality of evil, and the truth of human sinfulness, and the nature of a God who judges. There is of course an irony at work here: School libraries are filled with stories about sex and violence and racism and bigotry. I’m still shocked by some of the books my children have studied in English classes. The messaging and moods of some English texts is confronting and sometimes disconcerting. It’s not just the English novel, but I remember the non fiction books that I would pick up in the school library with images of warfare or social unrest. Think of the horrifying images of the holocaust or the Vietnam war. And let’s not forget the internet and how (at least in the State of Victoria) school kids are given access to ‘educational’ websites that contain pornography and all manner of harmful ideas.

The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat the human condition, as we might find in many a classroom psychology book (and even some churches!) The Bible is real and raw, and that is a good thing. The Bible healthily counters the ‘she’ll be right’ mentality and the ‘you be you’ sloganeering that dominates today. We need a story that is honest enough to explain that there is a major problem in this world and we can’t fix it, and suggesting so does little more than play into the hands of the very narrative that is diminishing lives and relationships and even the environment.

While the current story is coming out of Utah, this board decision isn’t completely unheard of in Australia. For example, the Victorian Government squeezed out Bible lessons from school classrooms several years ago. More recently, if specific Bible teachings are presented to individual persons (about sexuality and gender), you can fall foul of the law and face criminal charges with 10 years imprisonment.

The Bible does more than confront and challenge. The Scriptures have a remarkable ability to comfort and bring peace and healing. The Bible is God’s word of love to a messed up and sinful world. The words are written so that our conscience might be aroused and restored, and convinced that God is both right and good, holy and merciful. We won’t understand the great bits of the Bible without reading the hard bits. At the heart of the Bible is a message of reconciliation. God is, as Jesus wonderfully explains in the parable of the prodigal son, the Father who longs for the wayward to come back to him. The Bible is a word of reconciliation.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

By removing the Bible we may live off its memory for a little while. The fact is, the air we breathe is filled with Bible truths:

‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’.

“For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”

“Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”

“Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth”

Banning the Bible will hardly protect the younger generation. All this does is breeds a temporary dishonesty about where our greatest ideas and values come from. The longer we cut off the oxygen supply, the faster we will lose the very key ingredients required for living and civil society.

The banning of books is as old as literature. Hate is a strong motivator, as is fear. To be honest, there are plenty of books that I believe are dangerous, and I’m happy to warn people about their messages. There is a vast difference though between informing people about a book’s content and removing those same volumes from libraries and blowing their ashes into the wind.

In 2018, the Chinese Government began work on a new version of the Bible, to ensure that the Bible affirms ‘socialism’ and doesn’t contain ideas that might subvert the Government. One can imagine how distorted the Holy Scriptures will become once this atheistic, militant, and totalitarian, regime has finished their rewriting project. In many regions of China, it is already difficult to own and read a Bible, let alone teach this book in a semi-public setting. Preaching ‘Jesus is Lord’ is likely to end in arrest and possible imprisonment.

As one Chinese Pastor shared,

“without the permission of the authorities, you can’t organize a Bible study. And if you do get permission, you’d better hold it in a Party-approved religious venue, at a Party-approved time, with a Party-approved leader and using the new Party-approved Bible, which contains quotations from Confucius and, of course, Xi Jinping.”

Not even Christians are permitted to change the words of Scripture, let alone a Government or school board that wishes to change and control its message.

“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)

“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)

Banning the Bible, or any part of it, is absurd. Its literary contribution is without parallel, and its historical import is paramount. The Bible isn’t just a book from yesterday, it is for today: the Bible’s power to persuade and present a reality greater than ourselves and yet including the self, is stunning and one worth our younger generation reading for themselves.

No doubt there will be a spectrum of reactions to the Utah school story. There will be people who strongly support the prohibition and hope that the ban will spread further. There will be some Christians and some libertarians who will go into full-on meltdown. I suspect many more, both Christians and non Christians alike, will view the school’s decision as overreach and a pretty juvenile response to the uncomfortable words of Scripture.

Yes, the Bible is dangerous, confronting and challenging. That’s pretty amazing, for who wants to believe in a God who does no more than parrot back our own thoughts back to us? If we want our children to better understand the world and to find answers to the greatest questions, surely it makes sense to let them read the text that has achieved such great good. As Jesus says,

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

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7. Every act of injustice and evil in 2023.

6. Christians chasing lesser things that distract from ultimate things.

5. Grief over churches abandoning the Gospel and Christians deconstructing the faith

4. Growing holiness in the face of suffering

3. Thousands of churches are planted

2. The salvation of millions of people

1. Welcoming home all who finish the race

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