Download Fahrenheit 9/11

From a guy called "Marc Perkel" who calims he is "the most dangerous mind on the internet". Let's hope he stays there. He's not a real video wiz either, asking the ever-so-friendly internet community to " ... help in converting video formats". Sure, any time! And he posts a lovely link of "Bush flipping the bird!" with the comment:

"I'd like to see christian conservatives explain this!".

AS IF giving the finger is as harsh as invading another country on a flimsy pretext in order to be seen to be doing something a bout "terrorism". I've yet to see a reasonable explanation of THAT. Mr Perkel, a sense of persepctive, please. Our current leader of the opposition called our Prime Minister an "arse-licker" regarding his relations with the US. And a former PM called our own country "the arse end of the world". Undoubtably, Christian conservatives in Australia voted for both men in droves. Sorry, Mr Perkel Flipping the bird is quite tame.

BTW Fahrenheit 9/11 here

Frank Devine on Family First

Interesting Reading from the Friday before last's copy of The Australian:

However, I am persuaded to look tolerantly on Family First by the way sections
of the media and the fashionable Left have been squeaking and clutching their
skirts, like neurotic virgins frightened by a flasher, over the party's very
existence.

Nice turn of phrase, although I would deplore it in critics of causes that I admire! ad hominem attacks are just not my bag, baby, although thaey may raise a smile or two. Take note members of the Uniting Church:

The displays they've been giving of cringing and waving sprigs of garlic at
the religious Right betrays their hypocrisy, since they have never felt the need
to ward off the politically activist religious Left, in the form of the Uniting
Church and rebel Catholic clergy and nuns – mainly men and women in their 50s –
who have bestowed on the church its own Woodstock generation

The Uniting Church politically activist religious left. Hmm. Flakey doctrine, heretical hierachy, social justice fanatics. I wonder what percentage of Uniting Churchers voted Green?

Scotland is a foreign country

Another nail in the coffin of American Geographic education! According to Terry Brown of Clark County, Ohio, Scotland is a foreign Country. Don't tell the Scots they have autonomy . . .

(From the ABC's AM program)

TERRY BROWN: Well, as I first read it, I thought, 'Boy this is a piece of junk', and then the more I got to reading it the more I got to realising, 'Hey this is very serious', you know, that there's someone in a foreign country – this one came from Scotland – is trying to persuade me, or my son, or this household, how to vote. I was offended by it, to be very honest with you.

FRAN KELLY: You were offended that someone from another country thought it
was their business?

TERRY BROWN: Exactly right. There are a lot of people lost their lives in this country in foreign wars to preserve the right for a sacred vote, and by golly, I'm going to tell you what – I support that. Foreign people shouldn't try and influence what happens in the United States.

Nice comeback, Terry. It's OK for the US to influence what happens in those foreign parts, and to kill those foreigners "over there" (and lose one's life in this country - the US(!)), but for them to take an interest in how you vote for your President? Nah, they can just stay over there in those foreign places and get killed by the good old Yankee boys. More power to ya.

So "Rocky III" was really a Coptic Pope 1570 years ago...

From Fr Richard John Neuhaus' "Public Square" column in First Things (October 2004) [scroll down].

[…] Good as New, a Bible version produced by John Henson of One, an organization dedicated to “establishing peace, justice, dignity, and rights for all”, along with the “sustainable use of earth’s resources”, and to challenging “oppression, injustice, exclusion, and discrimination” while accepting “one another, valuing their diversity and experience.” So you can see that One is a Very Good Thing. Endorsing Good as New, which also includes the non-canonical Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, says he hopes it will spread “in epidemic profusion through religious and irreligious alike.” The epidemic he wishes upon the masses changes original Hebrew and Greek names into modern nicknames. Peter becomes “Rocky”, Mary Magdalene is “Maggie”, and Aaron is “Ron.” Henson deftly refers to demonic possession as “mental illness”, and references to the “Son of Man” become “the Complete Person.” Mark 1 in the Revised Standard Version (RSV): “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” ” Good as New: “As he was climbing up the bank again, the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. At the same time a pigeon flew down and perched on him. Jesus took this as a sign that God’s spirit was with him. A voice from overhead was heard saying, “That’s my boy! You’re doing fine!’” In 1 Corinthians 7, St Paul says, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman. But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” That was then, this is now. The same text, so to speak, in Good as New: “Some of you think the best way to cope with sex is for men and women to keep right away from each other. That is more likely to lead to sexual offences. My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner.” Later in the chapter, the RSV has this: “To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.” Good as New: “If you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated.” […]

The All-Seeing Lidless Eye of Minas Googhûl...

It is ask-ed of Our venerable brother:

Still wrestling with this one to figure out what it means. Tom got the message as a "Google Alert". I wonder why I didn't get one?

Answer: You need to sign up for these alerts at Google, under"News Alerts". They're free, and extremely useful, although you have to delete a lot of them. I personally recommend you set your preferences to "News and Web" and "As It Happens". (Of course, if you have different preferences, they are valid).

Indy 300 2004

Went to Indy on Thursday.

A real focal point for degeneration - and the Qld State Gov poured $11 million into this dissipation this year alone.

I would estimate the crowd was about 90% male, and the 10%female were promo girls paid to be there.

The guys got drunker and sleazier as the day progressed.

Please, take your Indy somewhere else!

(And I'm still cutting the video I took - might post a shot here soon)

Make a new website by Strong Bad!

Blogs4god

Finally got a listing at Blogs4God

QUOTE:

I know, I'm sooo bad. I've been spending all my time on my new job in North Carolina. Fear NOT! I have a huge stack of submissions I get to go through each day for the next couple of weeks that should give you a steady stream of new guys (and gals) on the blog. Here are some very patient people who've been waiting to have their questions answered. Why not visit them and show them your love by answering their call:

[snip]

Who in the heck is Father McKenzie? Certainly not these playful pundits.

[snip]

UNQUOTE

Still wrestling with this one to figure out what it means. Tom got the message as a "Google Alert". I wonder why I didn't get one?

Get More at Moore

Just catching up on this incident (it happened in May!)
This post is all about the demise of the Evensong choir at Sydney's St Andrews cathedral. and it being replaced with students from Moore Theological College:

Parents in tears as choir's 130 years of tradition wiped out

A group of young Bible scholars being groomed by Dean Jensen would take over the cathedral on Sunday nights in the coming months, Mr Moroney said. The group would be bringing in its own ministry and contemporary music. The new
congregation, called The Bible Talks, had outgrown its Sunday night venue at
Sydney Boys High School and the cathedral was eager to make "a change of
direction in style".

From a letter writer to the SMH:

I am a member of the second (all-adult) choir at St Andrew's Cathedral. We are an ecumenical group, a few, like me, being Catholics. Since the installation of fundamentalist clergy, we have been subjected to preaching which is anti-gay, anti-Catholic, in fact anti- most other hues of Anglicanism.

There has even been verbal abuse of choir members by a minister. Now we, like the 130-year-old boys' choir, are being largely dumped from singing at services. Evensong will be replaced by guitars and clones of the incumbent Calvinist-style clerical gentlemen. I wonder how long rank-and-file Anglicans will tolerate what is being done to their beautiful cathedral.

From Ann Ramsay, radio annoucer at Sydney's 2MBS-FM who hosts a show called Evensong:

And also I have to say, please, could these students that come from
Moore College tell us something really important when they give us the
sermon... Well I think you want 10 minutes of something that you can grasp
and come away with and think about. I don't think you have to go through the
various verses of the Old Testament, taking 1-6 one week, and 6-13 the next. Anybody can read a Bible.... I think they're taught at
Moore College that they've got to talk for 20 minutes. I have to say I think
it's rather boring, and it shouldn't be boring, it should be inspiring.

Yes. ANYONE CAN READ A BIBLE. BUT FEW PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO.

I finally found a website covering just exactly what is going on at St Andrews. BTW, I was just there maybe a month ago now on a Wednesday night and heard one of Phil Jensen's sermons, which IMHO was excellent, and quite a treat when on holidays. The Bible Talks website is here:

http://www.thebibletalks.org.au/

The Bible Talks is a bible believing, evangelical, christian church that is committed to teaching the good news of Jesus as found in God's word, the Bible, and to encouraging each other to live our lives according to what we have learned. Free parking is available under St Andrew's House. Enter via Kent St.

Sad but true too many people who feel they are committed christians lose sight of Christ and focus on the customs and traditions of their religion. While it is nice to have cathedral choirs and such these must not be allowed to get in the way of the gospel. Christianity is not abpout singing nice songs or performing religious rituals. For example, I read about a description of a Year 12 student artwork depicting two siblings washing dishes painted like a religious icon. "The ritual of washing the dishes was a religious experience for me". Get the point?

I find it even more interesting to see Phil Jensen using his Two Ways To Live series as a springboard for a 6 week sermon set. I have used this resource and found it very helpful, however, I always begin with, "Ladies and Gentlemen . . . there are Two Ways to Live". This inevitably builds up the excitement of the moment (LOL).

On and on go the ABC and the SMH about the Jensen brothers and the cathedral - it seems that what these media outlets love to do is take a little cup of controversial tea stirred up into a storm. Maybe the media would prefer a tame church that bit its tongue, sat on its haunches and bided its time while the world went to ruin, so they could then turn to it and demand why it isn't doing anything or why it doesn't have any answers.

Christiany: Boring, untrue, irrelavant? Hardly.

Response from Bernard Zuel

I sent a copy of the previou posts to the Sydney Morning Herald. Bernard Zuel, author of the article about the POlyphonc Spree, offered me this reply:

My reference wasn't to Peter Jensen being a "stodgy old pulpitthumper who prefers pointy hats with buckles and abhors buttons as a sign of vanity". It was connected to the decision by Jensen to cut the Sunday night Evensong tradition at St Andrews, including the choir, and replacing it with a gathering and talk or somesuch. It's a story which got plenty of coverage as choirmembers and their parents complained etc so I figured some of our readers would remember the incident and connect it to the story I was writing about this strange old choir.

Regards

Bernard Zuel

You can read more about the trashing of evensong through the SMH's letter pages here

Unfortyunately I can't get hold of an original article as the SMH charges for the privelege. But there's always Google to help overcome such obstacles.

Even more Evensong complaints can be read here, from Ann Ramsay, a 90-something-year-old announcer at Sydney's 2MBS-FM, who also has complaints about Moore. Fuel for a new post.

The Polyphinc [Killing] Spree

Article from the SMH about a fab new group called "Polyphonic Spree". Interesting enough in itself, but the article itself begins:

It could be Dr Peter Jensen's worse Evensong nightmare. Here they come in identical robes, singing songs of praise, wonderment and celebration in uplifting tones. All 25 of them in this choir-cum-band known as the Polyphonic Spree. This is a choir most definitely visible.

Why the implication that Peter Jensen be offended? the SMH is rather obviously constructing the leader of Sydney's Anglican as a stodgy old pulpit thumper who prefers pointy hats with buckles, and abhors buttons as sign of vanity. Ha-ha jokes at the expense of the Archbishop of Sydney just don't cut it, I'm afraid. Imagine a similar slur aimed at the Imam of the Lakemba Mosque. This is hardly cutting edge journalism, but is rather low-brow stuff better kept for the tabloids . From the SMH comes liturgical laughter, aimed at a religious leader (Christian, conservative, evangelical) near you.

Anglican obsession - a rejoinder

Hi Andrew

I think it is I who had a skewed memory of the numbers. It was some time ago - actually when the Interim Report on Sexuality came out (pun!) and Michelle and I went Church hunting for a while before returning to the mother church (StD's)

Obviously if there is a split then there will be sharp divergence of opinions in both groups - the reason why they split in the first place!

In terms of loyaties etc, of course our first loyaty is to Christ. But as I heard another Anglican say (again on the ABC), there is a tendnecey to desire unity above all which is of course a false god.

Liberalism as I understand it appears even earlier than the 50's - the late 19th Century I believe - and has played around with ideas such as the 'historical' Christ etc. The horrors of the first world war should have nicely done away with the supposition that everyone is basically good.

In any case denominations for me are really a much less accurate means of understanding where a person is coming from theologically than they used to be. I remember recently visiting a cemetery in Casino (NSW), and finding people were variously buried in parts of the cemetery labelled "catholic", "methodist", "presbyterian" etc (although the methos and the pressies were co-located, perhaps implying a future unity?).

Movements like liberalism or evangelicalism tend to cut across denominational boundaries - although within Anglicanism there are the "highs" who tend to be liberal and Anglo-Catholic and the "lows" who tend to be evangelical (in my experience). I wouldn't think that dissolving and reforming along theologically lines would be very helpful. I imagine more likely following splits there might be "Federations" or similar of like-minded churches. Both streams obviously would claim to inherit the traditions, customs and beliefs of their forefathers - strange for both liberals and conservatives!

In the UCA as I read it, it is the parishioners and parish ministers who tend to be much more theologically conservative than the church hierachy. This has been explained to me in terms of ministers who are theologically liberal are generally not suited (by self-selection or otherwise) for parish work, while those of a more traditional, conservative bent are (and are also a better match for their conservative congregations). What are your views on this issue?

Cheers

Stephen

Anglican obsession - Reply

A reply to my post from Amdrew Demack:

Stephen

The Presbyterian lady you talked to had a skewed memory of the numbers ... Two thirds of Presbyterians joined the Uniting Church, one third continued / did not join.

Certainly the leftovers were more conservative than the Presbyterian Church had been previously.

From conversations I've had over the years with ageing radicals such as Bob Griffiths and Noel Preston, it would seem to me that this conservative/liberal issue has been on-going within the protestant church for at least this last half century, and probably longer.

And its true that conservative protestant Christians of any type -- whether UC, Anglican or Baptist -- often feel closer to their conservative brethren in other denominations than they do to the liberals of their own stripe.

But would we all be happier / more united / less likely to squabble if instead of UC, Anglican and Baptist instead we had the Bible-Believing Protestant Church of Australia and the Progressive Protestant Church of Australia?

I don't think so.

Perhaps its human nature (part of our fallen-ness?) to need an "other" to define ourselves against. There would still be squabbling.

I might conclude by quoting one of the recent works of the prophet Paul Simon (found for me by Google, I couldn't do this from memory)

"We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day
And Buddha found Nirvana along the Lotus Way
About 1500 years ago the messenger Mohammed spoke
And his wisdom like a river flowed
Through hills of gold
Wisdom is old
The Koran is old
The Bible is old
Greatest story ever told

Disagreements?
Work 'em out"


Hilarious.

-- Andrew

ABC Anglican obsession

It seems the ABC is obsessed with all things Anglican - they even have a reporter in London filing briefs on what's happening as a report from an Anglican Commission is expected.

Does the ABC see Anglicanism as a kind of "national church" that it has a mandate to report on, or is an obession with all things queer the reason why the GayBC monitors the Church from the old Dart so closely? Perhaps they take their cues from the Beeb, and follow the trdaitionla suit. Maybe the Jensen bros. are the closest things to national celebrities who get any air time in the UK (apart from Kylie Minogue). Maybe the ABC wishes it could produce an Aussie "Songs of Praise" but just can't sem to muster the courage to beg the government for a few more pennies (although I thimk Johnny would be up for it, if you ask me).

In anycase we have the stereotypical ABC story of "conservaive Anglicans feud with Liberal Anglicans over something gay" . Read all about it.

What caught my ear was this line:

"So it appears the split may more be a case of the liberals leaving than the conservatives forming new allegiances."

This reminded me of a conversation I once had with a Presbyterian (who shall remain nameless (I have forgotten her name!)) whom I met once and was discussing the perseverance of the Presbyterian saints considering all were to have been subsumed by the 1977 merger of the Congs (-gregationalists), Methodists and Presbyterians in the Uniting Church.

She described the merger as the best thing that could have ever happened. The Uniting Church absorbed all of theirliberals, leaving them with a two-thirds majpority who were committed to traditional christianity.

Perhaps there is a future direction for the Uniting Church in Australia - do Anglicanism a similar favour.

Diamonds aren't forever - Star Wars is

From the Star Wars Homing beacon, on the destruction of sets to make room for more sets, also predsetined for destruction:

Continues Hajdu, "It's a shame, but it doesn't matter because it's been created. The set has already been captured on film or on tape. It exists forever."

Right. That's why the Ancinet Egyptians made movies instead of pyramids. And why Walt Disney is in cryogenic freeze instead of in a cartoon. And why George Lucas and his movies will ultimately join the sets in the big industrial bin in the sky.

From the confessing Evangelical

Cross post c/- Tom . . .

The Church of England is advertising for nominations for the next Archbishop of ork. Think I'm going to start a write-in campaign for the job to go to Phillip Jensen, especially given the recent news report in the Guardian in which he was misreported as describing Rowan Williams as a prostitute. That would liven up Primates' Meetings and General Synod no end.

[more]

Clasic stuff from the Euro-trendies

Those Europeans - too clever by half!

Check out the row erupting in Brussles over the appointment of Rocco Buttiglione as Europe's justice and security chief.

Mr Buttiglione infuriated the European parliament when he said at his confirmation last week: "I may think homosexuality is a sin but this has no effect on politics, unless I say homosexuality is a crime."

Mr Barroso (European Commission president) said it was important to distinguish between a person's beliefs and the policies they would implement.

A bit like the Archbishop of Canturbury, eh?

Phil did not call the Archbishop a prostitute

Read his letter for yourself. I wonder if this one will hit the airwaves after coverge in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and on your ABC?

Probably, and sadly, not.

In my speech I described the situation where holders of high office in the Church of England publicly subscribe to the Church’s official set of beliefs but privately pursue a different set – while still in the pay of the Church. That is what I described as the prostitution of ChristianMinistry.

Evangelicals call Williams a prostitute

Evangelicals [Phil Jensen] call Williams [the Archbishop of Canterbury] a prostitute [of a theological and intellectual nature].

See the artcile from the Guardian here

Conservative evangelicals flexed their muscles yesterday by denouncing the Church of England and its leader, the Most Rev Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, as sinful and corrupt, and threatening to refuse to recognise the authority of liberal bishops.

Phil Jensen goin' off, eh?

According to the ever-reliable Sydney Morning herald, Dean Jensen lays into Prince and church leader . . .

[snip]

He condemned Archbishop Rowan Williams for his liberal views about homosexuality..."That's no good. That's total prostitution of the Christian ministry .... "He should resign. That's theological and intellectual prostitution. He is taking his salary under false pretences."

[snip]

The Very Reverend Philip Jensen . . . attacked Prince Charles as "a public adulterer" and Kings College Chapel as "a temple to paganism" for selling recordings of its famous choir in the ante-chapel.

[snip]