On Phil Johnson and same-sex attraction
Phil Johnson recently began stirring the pot on the non-neutrality of same-sex attraction (SSA). You can read it here and here. It's the sort of cantankerous monologue you'd expect from a hard-line fundamentalist like Phil. But he's finally provoked me enough to get me writing. So that's something. First, let's clarify that this isn't about the conference that got Phil so wound up. I have no comment to make about that conference since I know
Why I still believe in the local church
An old friend recently asked my thoughts on the local church and it occurred to me that I'm odd. If anyone should hate the local church, it's me. I grew up in an extreme wing of Christian Fundamentalism. My childhood pastor—my Dad—is currently in prison. My world is full of casualties of the unspeakable evils that occurred, not just in the church, but because of the church. And I can honestly say that the greatest
The independence of the IBs and why Australia’s not buying it
Independent Baptist (IB) Kevin Harris recently came under public scrutiny in Australia for his dangerous views on rape and child abuse. The responses from IB leaders have varied from enthusiastically rallying around him to reticent disapproval. One of the key arguments that I've heard many times over the last two weeks is the notion that IBs are independent, and therefore not obligated to take any sort of stand against this evil. But few, if any,
The statement from Kevin Harris; Charlie Haddad
At 9.25pm on Thursday evening, Charlie Haddad, pastor of Grace Bible Baptist Church (an IB church) put a statement "by Kevin Harris" up on his facebook wall. You can read Kevin's statement here. It's odd to me that the statement has been released in this way. I would have expected it to be put up on the Illawarra Community Baptist Church website. Or released to the press. Instead, a buddy in the movement puts it
Yes, there IS a problem
I've just been through a very intense 48 hours since the airing of the 60 Minutes report on my family. The last thing I want to do right now is sit down and analyse the response to this programme, but it needs to be done. Links First, let me give you the links you need to know about. The 60 Minutes programme (Part 1, Part 2) The Files Extra Minutes (more of Kevin, women in
To the VFBT church family
Scott Wendal was interviewed for the 60 Minutes programme last night. He came out looking fairly good. Unfortunately, his behaviour behind the scenes has been a demonstration of the sort of behaviour that put him and the Independent Baptists in the spotlight in the first place. He wrote an email before the programme aired which can only be described as disturbing. This was distributed to the Valley Forge Baptist Temple leadership (to be distributed throughout
60 Minutes: “Scripture doesn’t say to ring the police”
Tonight at 8.45pm Australian EST, 60 Minutes will be telling my mother's story which is really ultimately my family's story. I encourage you to watch it. I was interviewed for the story, but have not yet seen it. I will wait until after the story airs to comment further. 60 Minutes Australia The Files Grace to you.
13 Reasons Why: My take
I appreciate entertainment which achieves the level of art. And 13 Reasons Why is art. I just finished watching the show and I'm pretty sure I need therapy. But then that's the point I think. And the reason I'm going against my better judgement in posting about the show here. Should I watch 13 Reasons Why? Of course 13 Reasons Why has been a controversial show. Basically a school girl kills herself, but before she
What’s so good about being nice?
Nice isn't good; mean isn't bad. There. I said it. You've long suspected my heresy. Now you have proof in black and white. But it's true. Nice isn't good and our unshakeable conviction that it is, is making us bad. Let me explain what I mean. Imagine you're walking down the street and you see a guy manhandling a woman. You have several options. One of your options is to be nice. Nice might do
What is marriage?
I sat down this afternoon to consider a question of increasing importance in modern life. What is marriage? What exactly is marriage? What follows is a collection of my thoughts on that question. It is not my goal to outline what a marriage should look like. Or what is Christian marriage per se. But rather, my goal is to get to the very fundamental core of what constitutes a relationship as a marriage. Biblically. These