The Anglican Church is a highly regulated organisation with constitutions, ordinances, canons, resolutions of synod etc. etc. The positive side of this is that it provides a mechanism that provides checks and balances, is very difficult to rip apart by whim or fad, and allows quieter voices room to be heard by resisting being shaped [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Relationships’
Review: Wired for Intimacy
Friday, April 2nd, 2010William Struthers’ Wired for Intimacy: How pornography hijacks the male brain is one of those books that can only be reviewed in comparison. In this case to Allan Meyer’s From Good Man to Valiant Man. Both books deal with the topic of sexual integrity in men. Both books take a holistic approach – dealing with [...]
Review: Not Under Bondage
Saturday, March 27th, 2010Barbara Roberts’ book is subtitled “Biblical Divorce for Abuse, Adultery & Desertion.” It is a thorough consideration of how issues surrounding divorce and remarriage are handled by Scripture. While there is a definite pastoral aspect to this book (Roberts herself has been through an abusive marriage) it’s main approach is exegetical. After setting the scene, [...]
On Porn, Poor Parents and Chaperones
Friday, March 12th, 2010A piece by Penny Marshall in the Daily Mail [Caution: contains a mildly offensive screenshot] (and considered in other places) unpacks research and inquiry into the effects of social sexualisation and pornography in teenage relationships. Normally I wouldn’t bother linking to yet another article about the prevalence of naughty stuff on the Internet to a bewildered tut-tutting [...]
Review: Twilight
Thursday, March 11th, 2010So I read it. For the same reason I read Harry Potter ten years ago – I need to have an opinion on it, and I can’t form that opinion without reading it. I’m talking about Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight of course. It’s an immensely popular, bestselling, movie-spinning mega-book. My comments below will only be about [...]
Review: Pure Sex
Sunday, February 7th, 2010Unlike recent books on sex that I have read, which are based on pyschology and some mild theology, Pure Sex, by Sydney Anglican stalwarts Tony Payne and Phillip Jensen is a solid historical and doctrinal look at the topic. The negatives first. Firstly, it seems a bit dated – concentrating more on newspaper commentary more [...]
Appealing People
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010We are running an evening series at church at the moment focussing on men, women, relationships and community. Googling around for some material I came across a rather fascinating article from, of all places, the research department of a dating site. The research was about the effectiveness of the profile picture of their clients. If you [...]
Review: From Good Man to Valiant Man
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010We use some of the Careforce Lifekeys courses in our church. They are a useful tool for discipleship and the promotiong of a practical spiritual engagement with real life. From Good Man to Valiant Man has been written by Careforce’s Allan Meyer and is closely tied to the “Valiant Man” Lifekeys course which concentrates on [...]
Endurance and Gentleness
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009This is somewhat related to a previous post. One of this morning’s readings in our Bible-reading program was 1 Timothy 6. Paul warns Timothy about those who are conceited and unsound in doctrine, who cause quarrels and strife, who are involved in church for some self-centred reason, unable to see “godliness with contentment” as a [...]
Oh, Honey, Honey
Friday, October 9th, 2009It’s been one of those times when from different people in different places in different situations you hear a similar phrase and have cause to ponder on it. The phrase in question is, to use my inexact wording, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” The point of the comment is that when [...]
