Awakened Conscience

Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience, Christopher Ash, Part 2

At a mission conference I attended in January this year I noticed there was a bit of discussion around the idea of whether ‘Western’ society has moved from a guilt/innocence to a pain/pleasure worldview. There is much to make me want to agree with this idea, particularly in thinking about what it is that motivates people. However, while superficially it looks as though we have moved to a pain/pleasure worldview I think it is not quite so great a paradigm shift from guilt/conscience. In part, it has been Ash’s book that has convinced me of this, but also that conscience, a concern for whether our behaviour is ‘right’, is still very much a part of our contemporary culture (just see the Cohen brothers’ latest film, Hail, Caesar! and you’ll see what I mean!).

BooksEQUIP Book ClubMarch 15, 2016Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience

A Clear Conscience

Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience, Christopher Ash, Part 1

It struck me, while listening to the radio in the car the other morning, how important this seemingly innocuous book by Christopher Ash is to our context. A radio station was reporting on a Labor Senator from Western Australia who had taken the extreme measure of quitting parliament because he would not be allowed a conscience vote on Same Sex Marriage. A fellow member of the Labor Party guffawed the very idea, suggesting that given this Caucus voting rule was only to be enacted in 2019 and that the “majority of Australians” support same sex marriage that it was ridiculous that he should be quitting parliament. That the senator was quitting parliament because of his own conscience was neither here nor there.

BooksEQUIP Book ClubMarch 8, 2016Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience

Jesus Is The One To Watch

Holiness, JC Ryle, Part 4

I finished the last post with some stickers for the Christian’s diary - one of those stickers was the word ‘watch’. In this final post on J. C. Ryle’s, Holiness, I want to tell you the best way that we can watch our actions is by fixing our eyes on the one worth watching. According to Ryle, there is one man to watch. One human being who has shone more brightly in human history than any other. His name is Jesus of Nazareth and he is worth watching endlessly.

EQUIP Book ClubFebruary 21, 2016Holiness

A Sparkling Word

Holiness, J.C Ryle, Part 3

Sometimes a meditation on a word or phrase can really alter the way we see it. Since our new minister arrived he’s spent time each week unpacking our ‘vision’ phrase. It’s not anything new, it’s written on the newcomer and prayer card that we handle each week. It existed before he came, but he’s been dusting it off for us. As it comes up on the overhead each Sunday and he explains it, the word disciple and the phrase ‘make disciples for Jesus’ has been plunged into a pool of fresh water for me. It’s shiny and new, and full of meaning. When I hear it now, it makes me thankful someone made me a disciple of Jesus and renews my desire to make more. This book has done the same thing for me with the word holy. Holy is now for me a sparkling word.

EQUIP Book ClubFebruary 14, 2016Holiness

Looking Back

Holiness, JC Ryle, Part 2

She Must Dig Down Low If She Wants To Build High

Chapter 1 is an astonishing chapter. When I first read it, many years ago, I was struck by how much more sinful I was than I realised, "The slightest outward or inward departure from absolute mathematical parallelism with God's revealed will and character constitutes a sin, and at once makes us guilty in God's sight." I think it was the first time I’d heard of sins of omission as well as deliberate sins - that made me feel doubly bad. And I have to admit it made me terrified to read the rest of the book. What I didn't realise then was that "the best way out is always through." (Robert Frost)

EQUIP Book ClubFebruary 8, 2016Holiness

Holiness

Holiness, JC Ryle, Part 1

Introducing J. C Ryle’s 'Holiness'

If you have this book in your hands, you have a treasure. Take and read it. It contains spiritual medicine. This book, written more than a hundred years ago, has clarified for me huge points of Christian doctrine, has encouraged and warned me, (sometimes at the same time) and most importantly has helped me read the Bible afresh with the solid and reliable view that Jesus is the golden key unlocking all the Biblical texts.

EQUIP Book ClubFebruary 2, 2016Holiness