Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a dude. I’m currently working on an essay on his theological ethics, probably my favourite essay of the year. Here’s a quote on ‘Cheap Grace’:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace… Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheap jacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion thrown away at cut prices… Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – 1937

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The NSW Education Department have recently trialled Ethics classes as an alternative for students who are not currently part of SRE (Special Religious Education) classes. Lots of Christians and other providers of SRE have been lobbying for this to be reconsidered, seeing it as a potential threat to the ongoing provision of SRE in the school timetable.

While I agree with much of the lobbying that has been undertaken, my primary concern with the proposed classes is to do with the already existing school curriculum.

I have a double degree in Bachelor Arts/Bachelor of Teaching (Primary Education). For my major research project at University, I focused on ‘Morals, Values and Ethics in the HSIE (Human Society in its Environment) Syllabus’.

Providing the HSIE Syllabus has not changed since my studies and time as a School Teacher, at its core HSIE is already supposed to be teaching students morals, values and ethics. So to propose Ethics classes as an alternative to SRE is a failure of teachers and/or the system to adequately follow through on the ethical framework already integral to the HSIE program.

Those who are currently down with the HSIE documents, is this a fair call?

Filed under: culture | 2 Comments

Ok. This blog hasn’t become a political blog, but you must watch this video. It’s from Taiwan in the lead up to the Australian Federal Election from this past weekend. If you still don’t get the Australian political scene, this video pretty much sums it all up. Brilliant!

(h/t Peter Pilt and Guy Mason via facebook)

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If you want to make a website, go to wordpress.com and set one up for free. It’s easy. If you’ve done that and want greater flexibility, buy some web-hosting from bluehost and upload your own template. There are 100s and 1000s of free templates available for wordpress. Some a pretty average. The best way to sift through them all is to:

1. Pay for a premium template. Start here for some good ones
2. Check out the new gallery of 100 free themes over at Smashing Mag

Filed under: design, wordpress | 3 Comments

“Men must have the political courage to work to end all forms of violence against women, especially the commercial sexual exploitation that is fueling sex trafficking. Male leaders have an enormous task, because their work will be done in a cultural context that has constructed their manhood around the pornification of human sexuality. Click on the link at YouTube [below] to watch an example of this leadership: Jonathan Walton reading his poem, “I’m Sorry Anna Nicole”, at a recent CATW event in New York on December 2, 2009.”

Find out more about the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)

(h/t ben via twitter)

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It’s time to get you vote on, tomorrow! I’ve posted a bunch of politics related posts in the last few weeks. You can read them here. I know lots of Christians who aren’t quite sure how to think through who to vote for. I think this is particularly for younger Christians who are voting for the first time and working out if they will vote for their parents party or a different one. It’s not too late to take an hour or two before you vote to think things through. My 3 tips for first time (or undecided) voters are the 3 recommended reading lists below.

1. Centre for Public Christianity | Federal Election 2010 – CPX regularly do a killer job at showing how Christianity intersects with all areas of life and society. I’ve only had a look at a few of the articles and videos, but their election 2010 coverage is comprehensive and very useful. They include the following areas of discussion:  Christians and Politics; Economics; Education; Environment; Family and Community; Justice; Refugees; and Politicians. Read/view more here.

2. The Box Pop | On Voting and Jesus – Steve Boxwell is one of my peeps from College. He single handedly coached our whole year through Philosophy 1, Philosophy 2 and Philosophy 3. He’s also the “politics guy”. Because lots of people regularly ask him questions about politics etc, he thought it would be good to punch out some blog posts this week with some thinking on “voting and Jesus”. Steve puts his cards on the table and says how he will be voting. Regardless of whether you come to the same conclusions or not, this series will help you think through lots of the issues. It kinda feels like that year 6 trip to Canberra! Read them all here.

3. FERVR.NET | Series on Voting – let me be honest, I only read the first post in this series, so the whole series could be a lemon for all I know! But I’m guessing it’s useful. FERVR.NET is a youth website I help write for, so these 5 articles might be the simplest and first stop for younger punks.

Happy voting.

Filed under: culture, politics | 2 Comments

Scripture Union are again running Young Christians Day Conference, it’s coming very soon!! YCDC 2010 is on Saturday 4th September, 2pm-830pm at St Paul’s Chatswood (map). This year we’ll be looking at 1 Peter 4. If you’re in high school (or just out of high school) get your butt there! It should be a sweet sweet time.

Featuring: Toby Neal, Dave Miers and Chasing Light.

Check out the website for more details and to register.

Filed under: Jesus, youth ministry | 1 Comment

The Castle (here’s a snippet) is the greatest film ever made. It was brilliantly parodied this week at the Moore College Revue 2010. Check out The Castle on King:

My highlight is Keith Condie ‘just passing on a message’…

Filed under: culture, Moore | 5 Comments

A couple of guys from College are kicking off a new conference next weekend looking at the lives of some Puritan dudes. Each year they’ll feature two Puritans, this year it is John Owen and Richard Baxter. Check out the website for info & to register.

Time & Date: 9:00am – 1:00pm on August 28th 2010

Venue: Village Church, Annandale NSW

Speakers: Marty Ford & Keith Condie Cost: $25

Website: www.devotedconference.org

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I disagree with both major political parties regarding refugees and asylum seekers. Many Australians probably selfishly agree. Here is a short animation from GetUp Australia attempting to discard with popular myths surrounding asylum seekers.

What do you think? What would you do?

Filed under: culture, politics, youtube | 7 Comments

Australia is about  to vote for a new Prime Minister. When it comes to campaigning, both Captain Underpants and The Ranga (and their respective parties) pander to the selfish vote. We want more stuff, less tax, more money, less inconvenient boat people, more comfort, less travel time. It’s all about me. Show me that you’ll maximize good stuff for me and minimize bad stuff for me… And you’ve got my vote!

Maybe it’s time to stop and think about someone other than me! I need to.

Hey politician, tell me what you’re going to do to:

• make the world a better place
• help alleviate world hunger & poverty
• fight for the rights of the unborn
• put an end to the trafficking of girls as sex slaves
• give Indigenous Aussies the same opportunities as Anglo Aussies
• stop the state government preying on the weak & vulnerable addicted to poker machines

I was really glad to see the way that the Micah Challenge crew have been asking politicians (from both sides) to “ask the poverty question”. Good stuff. Looks like it has been effective too.

Filed under: culture, politics | 5 Comments

If you haven’t heard of Humble Orthodoxy, now is your chance. I’ve posted on it a bunch of times, you can read those posts. Or even better you can download Josh Harris‘ chapter on ‘Humble Orthodoxy’ from his new book Dug Deep Down. Basically, Humble Orthodoxy is all about believing and living the truth of the gospel without being a jerk.

Link to the chapter | Link to Josh’s blog post

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Check out this great sermon on Mark 12:13-17 from Tim Keller. Here’s the description: The Pharisees pose a controversial question to Jesus when they ask him if they should pay taxes. Jesus responds with a revolutionary answer: He refuses political complacency, political simplicity, and political primacy. Jesus then models a revolutionary idea, showing his followers that the way to gain power is to give it away. Get your politics on!

It’s from a whole bunch of free sermons at the Redeemer Presbyterian website. You can also subscribe to all of these sermons via iTunes podcast.

Arguing About Politics MP3 – Tim Keller (right-click to download)

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Protecting your marriage matters. Normally, Row and I read the bible together at night. But one of the things we’ve done in the last few of years is – for a period of time – replaced our nightly bible reading with a different book that will help us to protect our marriage. It’s been a really useful practise. The latest book we’ve been reading is brilliant! It’s called, What Did You Expect?? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage.

It’s written by Paul Tripp. He’s a dude. I’ve recently started following him on Twitter and most of his tweets are retweetable (for non-twits, that’s a compliment!!). Here’s how the publishers Crossway summarise the book:

Read more…

Filed under: Jesus, books, review | 2 Comments

Getting young people to pray is a good thing, yeah? Dave Buster and Ed Sowden are two young punks who are keen to get other young punks praying. Sounds good. They’ve just begun a ministry called THE TIMOTHY STRATEGY. Worth checking out.

Go read more about it on fervr: tts.fervr.net. Join the group, pray, and encourage other young punks to pray. (You can also hook up on twitter).

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Less than two weeks until the two big RICE Youth Events for 2010! Youth Leaders and Young Punks – get your butts along!! RICE Fever 14 August includes: Garage Hymnal; Chasing Light; Jake Nauta; Road to Canaan; Krosswerdz; and Sam Chan speaking. RICE Rally 21 August includes: New Empire; and Steve Chong speaking. Promo vid:

Get the full deets over at riceyouth.org

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Youthworks have just launched a monthly newsletter, Growing Faith. This is essential reading for all Christian parents and I think it’s useful for those involved in ministry, youth ministry and children’s ministry. The first issue looks great, including the blue jeans and white t-shirt uniform worn in the header pic below! Go sign up for this great resource | Go read the first issue | Pass it on to others…

Here’s the introductory quote:

We have a vision of parents and carers equipped and energised to fulfil their responsibility to raise their children in ‘the fear and instruction of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6:2).

Our prayer is that families would grow in faith as the Church in Thessalonica did (2 Thessalonians 1:3) ? trusting in the promises of God’s word and living as missional disciples of Jesus to the glory of God.

Each month you will receive useful information, practical tips and helpful resources. Each issue will contain an interesting article on the privilege and responsibility of discipling our children, short tips from other parents and carers with ideas they have found helpful in this task, plus reviews and links to other useful resources.

Please forward this to anyone you know who shares the responsibility and privilege of raising children to know Jesus.

Go sign up for this great resource | Go read the first issue | Pass it on to others…

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Last month I failed to post any design related gear. Not this month. The following are 3 videos that are well-made and if you’re a creative, they might give you some inspiration. Or not. Two stop animations, then a film clip. 1) The PEN Story (h/t ragamuffin soul):

2) PEN Giant:

Read more…

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Some Christians say some dumb stuff when it comes to politics. In this article Greg Clarke (from Centre for Public Christianity) shows that he is NOT one of them! There has been a very small kerfuffle regarding whether Julia Gillard’s atheism means that she’s unsuitable to be Australia’s Prime Minister. Clarke’s article is worth reading.

Here’s a snippet:

Nowhere in the New Testament is there any concept that a Christian ‘prophet’ might be given word from God on who should govern the land. The arrival of Jesus changes all of that theocratic language, and the role of ‘prophecy’ changes: it becomes a call to recognise the authority of Jesus, and to follow his teachings and his call to turn back to God.

The New Testament famously calls on Christians to “be subject to the governing authorities” (in Romans 13:1) but it certainly does not say, “go and appoint the governing authorities yourself”. In fact, it says quite the opposite. The very next verse suggests that if you resist an authority, you are in fact resisting God, because God is in control ultimately of who leads and who doesn’t.

Read the rest here.

Filed under: culture, politics | 6 Comments

July has kinda been a blur. I’m now over the sleep deprivation from the month-long World Cup; I think Spain played well and deserved to beat the Netherlands, but I also think that Germany and Argentina played well AND also scored lots of goals. Tip for 2014 World Cup? Australia to beat Brazil in the final. Germany to beat Nigeria in the 3rd place play-off… you heard it here first! I’ve been able to speak at some great camps and events throughout the month; I’ve really enjoyed meeting lots of young punks keen to follow Jesus with their life. Irrelevanten Wörtern zu füllen dieses Absatzes ein.

July also witnessed my first broken bone, an amusing academic injury! August has now kicked off, what a beautiful day in Sydney!! I’ve got a light speaking load this month. We’ve just begun Romans at college; no exam, just an essay. I appreciate the time to learn from the book without the stress of an exam at the end. Above is my selection from a pretty lame set of August Desktop Wallpapers from Smashing Magazine.

Here’s the best of July (according to clicks) and some other stats:

• Most popular Jesus post: The Joy of Knowing Christ
• Most popular Life post: I broke my toe wrestling a lion
• Most popular Culture post: FIFA World Cup Review Show with Jeff Vuvuzela
• Most popular Design post: (no posts in ‘design’ category)
• 3% less hits than the same month last year
• 6% less hits than the previous month

Ich liebe google übersetzen!

Filed under: life, Pinch + Punch | 1 Comment