Everyday ethics: Exposing The Divide

At the gym this morning I was listening to a BBC Radio Ulster programme entitled "Everyday Ethics" a weekly programme discussing as it suggests the ethics of the modern day world. Last weeks edition focused largely on the decision of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to ban from membership all of those who did not have a credible profession of faith.


I have to say that I largely enjoyed the programme and the back and forth nature of the debate but it did expose some of the divisions that exist within the P.C.I and to be fair any broad church and that divide focuses on scripture and God's revelation of himself.


One of the contributors Rev. David Latimer made the following statement "that the great commandment of the Christian faith is that we love our neighbour as ourself." This is of course quoting the very words of Jesus himself I mean what could be wrong with that? Well that is the whole problem isn't it? The words of Jesus just quoted above are divorced from their original context.

A teacher of the law has just asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the law and Jesus answers you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

Focusing on the second commandment that Jesus gives here removes the focus from the first our love for our neighbour is an expression of our love for God. By nature we are creatures who seek our own good we are selfish the only way this can be changed is when we love God who reached out to us in His son Jesus Christ.

Rev. Latimer also makes the astonishing claim that the bible did not know anything about homosexuality which is just a staggering claim. The law makes clear that the bible knows about homosexuality:

Leviticus 18:22 states "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination." Now there are several things to say about this firstly this command comes amidst a long list of sexual sins all of which are condemned. Sometimes as evangelicals we can be focused on same sex marriage and ignore perhaps our own sexual sin or the sexual sin of others.

It should also be stated that this is an Old Testament text and some will say that the New Testament has nothing to say about same sex relationships yet again that is just basically not true. We see Paul is Romans 1:27-27:

"For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their woman exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."


Whatever we want to say about this we can say that basically same sex attraction is condemned here it is a symbol of God's judgement, it is a symbol of God giving them over to their passions, it is a symbol of God's judgement on their suppression of truth.


Again we quote Paul in 1st Corinthians 6:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

What does Paul say here? That some in the immoral city of Corinth were men who practiced homosexuality and yet they were washed, they were cleansed in Jesus Christ. Notice Paul doesn't say to them keep on doing what you are doing, keep on living in this sinful lifestyle. Rather he says no now that you have been washed and cleansed now you must live a different life.

Whatever we say it is simply erroneous to say that the bible doesn't mention homosexuality both the New Testament and the Old Testament are clear that homosexuality is something that God condemns. Which brings us to the central problem here.

Is the Bible the word of God or not? Is the Bible the revelation of God or not? If it is then we are bound to live by it however society says the church should respond. If it is then it doesn't really matter what we think it matters what God thinks. If the bible isn't the word of God then we can live any way we want.

However if the bible isn't the word of God then we have no hope of right relationship with God, the bible stands or falls as a whole we cannot say that we want the bits of the bible that talk about Jesus and talk about love of God but not the bits that call us to to repentance. 

Book Review: A Preachers Catechism

I am grateful to netgalley.com and Crossway for an advance review copy of this book. This is a great little book covering some 200 odd pages and sets out for preachers the questions which they ought to be asking themselves week by week as they preach.

This book follows the traditional style of catechism with a question and answer. The questions themselves are largely taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the answers and sometimes the questions slightly altered to reflect that this book is primarily written for preachers.

There are 43 questions in the book split into four sections and each chapter would take maybe five minutes to read but those five minutes do pack quite a punch. I have been preaching now for around 10 years and each of the questions spoke to me and challenged me. Who am I preaching for? Who do I want people to see? Me or God? Do I sometimes use the pulpit? Do I sometimes abuse the pulpit?

The most helpful thing in all of this book was for me the emphasis first and foremost the preacher himself must know God and must remember that he is loved by God regardless of the sermon that he has just preached. He must remember that the sermons he preaches however good or bad make him no less or no more loved in the eyes of God than if he weren't a preacher at all.

One slight issue I did have with the book came towards the end of the book when the author talked about the supper and how often we come to the LORD's table at the end of the service when people are full of the word. Whilst I can see the point that he is making my understanding would be that we come to the sacrament through the word, the sacrament without the word has no meaning and would just be an empty symbol. That however is nit picking in an otherwise excellent book.

Who would benefit from reading this book? Young ministers who are perhaps setting out on the journey to give them a realistic expectation of what ministry will be like. Slightly older ministers who have been preaching for a while and are perhaps becoming weighed down by the day to day of sermon prep. Even ordinary church members in the pew week by week will get something out of reading this book.

Whilst I read this book over one or two sittings I think the book would be better enjoyed perhaps once a week with time to mull over and think about the things the author says.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

So said Mark Twain allegedly quoting Benjamin Disraeli of the three kinds of lies there are, or perhaps if you are less well educated you may prefer the Simpsons version that you can make statistics say anything you want...83% of people know that.

Sunday 13th May was the annual day of Free Church congregational statistics collection and on the surface of it our results look quite encouraging. Our biggest age profile of members is under 35 which given the bigger picture of ageing congregations is quite remarkable. When we consider where the congregation was a few years ago this is all the more remarkable.

How can we explain this rise? What things have we done differently in the past while that we haven't done before? Quite simply nothing we have preached the word, tried to get to know people in the community and share Jesus as best we can.

At the deacons court meeting last night we read this passage and it was such an encouragement to us:

"Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:8 ESV) Truly as we look back over the past year we can say the LORD is our help and he has richly provided for us as a congregation.

We have had seven baptisms in the past year which has been another tremendous blessing to us as a congregation and we value each of the six children baptised and the one adult. Whilst this has been a great blessing it does present some challenges as household which were formerly D.I.N.K.Y.'s (double income no kids yet) have been reduced to one salary and therefore understandably their ability to contribute to the church has gone down. As a congregation we face significant financial pressures in the year ahead.


Our next biggest age category is the over 70'  of whom we have 8 it is great to have these faithful saints with us but again looking forward this reliance on older believers is not sustainable. The category of member we are missing are those from 35-60 who perhaps are empty Nester, who have more disposable time and income they could share with us.

On the surface of things our statistics are not impressive, we are a small fellowship in a small denomination but given where we were truly we can say the LORD has been good to us. But are we happy to rest on our laurels? I hope not we haven't begun to scratch the surface yet we are 30/40 people in a town of 30,000 we live in the council area with the joint lowest church attendance in Scotland. So quite simply we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, quite simply we need to keep multiplying and making more disciples.

That is where you come in...how can you help us? 3 ways:

i) Pray intercede on our behalf before the God of the universe the God to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. Ask that resources would be found, ask for blessing our work and witness within the town itself. You may not be able to give you may not be able to go but you can certainly pray.

ii) Give as was mentioned our congregational income v expenditure remains a challenge however given the age profile of our congregation I think there is reason to be hopeful for the future. If you feel led then you can give money to our Stewardship account which would be a tremendous encouragement to us.

iii) Come I know its a big ask to move to a new town but don't underestimate the encouragement that one family could be to the congregation, don't underestimate the difference that one or two people in the age category we are missing could make to the life and witness of the congregation. The gospel as we are told in Acts turns the world upside down and our desire is to see Dumfries turned upside down with the gospel, could you consider serving by moving here? By coming and sharing what God is doing with us.

If you would like any more information please don't hesitate to contact me on trevordkane@gmail.com .