Comments on: Post Plebiscite Reflections…

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 09:01:03 +0000

I’m finding it difficult to think of a parallel in Scripture where the people of God, under any covenant, were to follow similar lines of thinking.

Would you encourage a pastor to conduct a same sex wedding to demonstrate love? Would you encourage a Christian counselor to support a same sex marriage? A Christian adoption agency to provide same sex couples with children?

More to the point, can any act of love, met by a world hostile to the things of Christ, purchase the respect needed to foster a positive attitude to Christianity?

For every passage one may use to support this article’s premise, four clearer imperatives may be forward which warn the church not to take part in detestable practises.

It’s the Holy Spirit who warms the heart to the things of God. Not the virtue signaling of guilt-ridden Christians.

By: Elizabeth Bartell

Elizabeth Bartell — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 08:47:15 +0000

We live in such a tolerant society. We value the freedom of man’s conscience. We feel for the suffering of people when we hear their stories. We desire to be loving to the lost. I think if the apostle Paul said in our churches now what he said in Romans 1 (about God’s wrath on unrighteousness and lust and shameless acts) he would be swiftly condemned by many.

By: Rachel Thame

Rachel Thame — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 03:36:22 +0000

Thanks for this gentle and powerful reflection. I keep thinking about the older brother of the prodigal son and how his leagalism made him resent loves generousity and prevented him from attending the banquet.

By: Nyree Summerfield

Nyree Summerfield — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 01:27:58 +0000

Brian
I love this so very much
I think you have a genuine understanding of why people voted yes and I feel that is rare coming from a No case person.
This article speaks of love in the truest sense. It’s obvious that you have a desire to embrace and love others rather than Tighten the hatches and keep these divisions entrenched.
Thanks for sharing. It’s been the most refreshing and encouraging perspective I have read about the plebiscite coming from a no perspective
Hardly any yes people seem to understand why someone would vote no and likewise no people don’t understand why someone would vote yes. Thanks for the reminder that life. Full of being kinder and kinder and kinder

By: Greg Holland

Greg Holland — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 06:52:50 +0000

Brian, another great blogg, thankyou for speaking into this space, a lot of wisdom in your words!!

By: Greg Heard

Greg Heard — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 05:26:09 +0000

Your post and the comments reached me through a Christian friend. I enjoyed and appreciated your thoughts and insights on the challenges that Christianity and ‘the Church’ face. One of your commenters notes that slightly less than 40 per cent of those who expressed an opinion will be ‘unhappy’. It occurs to me that this outcome – electoral unhappiness – is not dissimilar to most recent election outcomes in Australia, except that the proportion ‘unhappy’ has been closer to 50 per cent. I have been a Christian for the most recent one-third of my life (for the previous two-thirds, I was arrogantly ignorant), and I have survived, and moved on from, four ‘churches’ – of people who gathered in the name of Christ and did some things that I think He would have approved of and a lot of other things that would have made Him weep. I have never sacked any member of the Trinity, but I have sacked the regular, organised gatherings known as ‘church’, mostly because of the judgement, lack of acceptance and intolerance (might we call it lack of love?) that many non-Christians have spoken about, not just with regard to marriage equality but a range of issues facing our society. As followers of Christ, as distinct from churchgoers or club members, we can have a much greater impact on the lives of others by understanding and emulating Christ’s compassion in our daily interactions with people than by telling them what to do.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 00:10:44 +0000

In reply to Marion Eveline Stuart, B.D.. Thanks Marion. Good to hear from you. Noel Vose has left a wonderful legacy. We all miss him greatly. He was always an enormous encouragement.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 00:07:40 +0000

In reply to Rudy Labordus. Thanks Rudy. I appreciate your help.

By: Marion Eveline Stuart, B.D.

Marion Eveline Stuart, B.D. — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 21:29:22 +0000

Thanks for that. Wish I could have chatted with you. I met the lovely Mr Vose at Spurgeons College some 20 years ago,and subsequently had dinner at his home a year or so later. Lost touch with him, and an annoyed with myself that I did not see he had died last year (a month later my husband died, so hopefully they have caught up and filled the missing years gaps.). He was a very gracious, humble man and it seems that he has left a legacy of such to the institution which carries his name. Thanks Brian for a good sensible thinking following this vote It is such a shame that those who felt they wanted to vote ‘no’ have been branded all kinds of negative things in their positive need to follow their understanding of scriptures. (No easy task, that!). One does however wonder which ‘love’ is being spoken of. Agape, or erotica or ….?????? I have shared with others how interesting that one of my longest standing friends who spent much time in Australia, and who ha s known he was ‘gay’ since childhood, is fiercely opposed to marriage , . He has no Christian convictions, (condemned by his Christian sister to hell everlasting because of who he is!) but feels strongly that civil partnership is the right course for ‘gays’ but marriage is for a man and a woman. So on what grounds is he condemned as being unloving, and I wonder how many others thinks as he does. Or is he just old fashioned. So now 38% of the population are now unhappy – I do hope they are shown love and understanding by the ‘yes’ voters as they come to terms with the changes that will follow.

By: Rudy Labordus

Rudy Labordus — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 15:52:38 +0000

I really liked this Brian. Well written. People need to read this. I’ll share this on a few forums.