The greatest tragedy of the sexual revolution is the mass killing of unborn children through the decriminalisation and legalisation of abortion.

Whilst the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be a painful choice for the parents, the impact is undoubtedly greatest upon the human whose life comes to an end in order to benefit his or her mother and/or father.

The reason our society accepts the sacrifice of the life of an unborn child for the sake of his or her parents is because we have adopted an ethical framework that seeks the greatest pleasure or benefit for the individual.

But because the unborn child is not able to express feelings or claim rights, they are not able to defend themselves against their unwilling sacrifice for the sake of their parents.

Yet, those who advocate for abortion will often defend their practices by choosing not to define a foetus as human until the moment the child is born.

However, if we choose to listen to the word of God, then he makes it clear that embryos and foetuses are as human as a fully-grown adult.

There are many times when the Bible speaks of how God relates personally to unborn children.

Psalm 139 speaks of the personal relationship of God to the foetus, and in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, God says to Jeremiah that “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

In God’s sight, the life of a foetus is equal to the life of a grownup, and this is why abortion must be seen as the killing of a human.

There are plans next week to introduce a bill before the NSW Parliament that will make abortion legal right up to the moment of birth.

Let us pray that our politicians do not vote to permit doctors to kill the very babies they should be caring for.

Please also consider signing the petition at our church in order to add your name to the voices seeking to oppose this legislation.

Jodie

Last year was the worst year on record for persecution of Christians worldwide.

According to ‘Open Doors,’ each month 332 were killed for their faith, 772 suffered serious violence and 214 churches were destroyed.

Once there was a network of Christian churches spreading east from Jerusalem through “Mesopotamia” and on into India.

Though not recorded in the NT, this missionary spread eastwards from Jerusalem must have started very early. When Marco Polo reached the court of Kublai Khan in 1266 in nowadays “Peking,” he was surprised to meet Christians there.

We sometimes forget that Christianity is a Middle Eastern (i.e. Asian) religion, that Jesus was a Jew, and Paul a Syrian or maybe a Turk. Armenia was the first ever officially Christian nation.

The buildings of the Eastern Christians in those early days typically had gold-painted domes on the roof, and this is no doubt the origin of the domes on mosques, since the churches were simply converted into mosques as Islam displaced the Christians.

And this process is being implemented in a vicious manner today.

Jakarta’s Christian governor Basuki Ahok is on trial for blasphemy for “insulting” the Koran. There are few who cannot see this as an attempt to bring a Christian leader down by any method that might work.

Coptic Christian Bahgat Zakhar, 58, refused to deny Jesus before being gunned down in cold blood in the Sinai region.

We can recall that these following words of Jesus apply to us as well as our persecuted brothers and sisters, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44.)

Hard though it be to love organisations like ISIS, we should pray for their change of heart.

We should find ways to identify with persecuted Christians for as Jesus said, “I was in prison and you came to visit me… truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:36 & 40.)

Graham 

When I was nine years old I was invited to a Christian holiday camp by a friend from school.

It turned out that my friend, Julian, was a regular, churchgoing Christian, and he reached out to me to invite me to join him for a week of horse riding, canoeing and even air guns (back in the day!)

I still remember the campfire, the awesome leaders, and even the potatoes we peeled in the kitchen.

But what I’ll never forget was the message of the speaker about how to become friends with Jesus.

And at that camp I remember asking Jesus to forgive me and to let me follow him all my life.

Camps are a very special place to know Jesus and experience his love in a special community of believers.

Next weekend, our church is going away for a whole weekend together, to live, learn, love and laugh.

And we are set to be greatly blessed by the teaching of Peter Jensen, as he opens up God’s word to us in a practical and powerful way.

Peter’s four talks are, ‘The Birth of Culture,’ ‘The Gift of Community,’ ‘The Promise of Justice,’ and ‘The Power of Words.’

If you’ve never been on a church camp or weekendaway before, then there’s still time to join us.

And if you’ve been before, you’ll know that it’s an occasion not to be missed.

If you’re short of time, money, or transport, then there are ways to get you along.

But whatever you do, don’t pass up this opportunity to be with people of all ages and stages, from both Oak Flats and Jamberoo Anglican Churches, as together we meet Jesus, clothed in his word, present by his Holy Spirit, bringing glory to God.

See you there, God willing!

Jodie

I was recently watching a program that was taking a light hearted look at the claims of ESP (extra-sensory perception).

The show didn’t hold my interest for long, but what was interesting was the way the host explained his scepticism.

He said “ I’m an atheist… I don’t believe in that kind of thing at all.”

Notice his reason for not believing: he said he was an atheist, as if that proved the point.

What lies behind this statement is the claim that atheists only believe in that which is provable by reason and science. 

To believe in God, so they say, is to believe in something without evidence and so is unprovable, and ultimately unknowable.

So you have to take a leap of faith, given that believing in God is on the same level as believing in ESP.

How do we respond to such a characterisation?

Christian apologist John Lennox gives us an example of why this thinking is both mistaken and inconsistent.

In a debate with the atheist Richard Dawkins, the following exchange occurred:

Dawkins: We only need to use the word ‘faith’ when there isn’t any evidence.
Lennox: No, not at all. I presume you’ve got faith in your wife — is there any evidence for that?
Dawkins: Yes. Yes, plenty of evidence.
Lennox: Hmmm.

Dawkins expresses the same view: belief in God is in the realm of blind faith.

But Lennox challenges that.

Faith is a word that expresses a relational trust based on evidence.

The next question then is this: are there reasons to place our faith in God in the same way we trust a faithful wife? And the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’

To be a Christian is not to take leave of one’s senses, but to respond in faith to God who has revealed himself.

God reveals himself in His word – where we find carefully written and researched accounts of Jesus.

He invites us to listen, reason, investigate and respond.

Simon Chaplin

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As you might have heard, this year marks the 500th anniversary of The Reformation.

This really is an important event in the Christian calendar, but its importance lies not in the nice round number of 500, nor in the fond feelings it might arouse.

The significance of this anniversary is not so much about looking back, but it’s about a call to continue what was begun.

It is in the nature of man to take the loftiest of things and turn them around for the worst.

This is perhaps most true of religion.

There is no higher or loftier subject than that of God, and yet given enough time all religions seem to displace God from the centre and replace Him with man.

We shape God in our own image… we speak of what man can discover about God… we create the works that man must do to reach the God we have invented.

When the Incarnate Son became man He exposed the corrupt nature of man-centred religion.

This was God become flesh, revealing God to us.

Man, a finite sinful creature, has no hope to reach up to God and take hold of Him.

But in Jesus, God reaches down to us: in his Word he reveals himself to us. 

What’s more, we have no ability to work our way up, as if somehow we could erase the debt of our sin.

And yet it is grace, all of grace, that Jesus pays our debt for us. We simply accept this gift by faith.

The Reformation exposed what the church had become: man-centred religion… and it sought to take us back to God. 

The five “Solas”, (which just mean ‘alone’ in Latin), are the the catch-cry of the Reformation.

And these five statement capture this so well: ‘Scripture Alone,’ ‘Faith Alone,’ ‘Grace Alone’, ‘In Christ Alone’, ‘To the Glory of God Alone.’

And the call of the Reformation continues today, to turn from man-centred religion to Christ alone.

Simon Chaplin