Jesus or the Bible

Several years ago, around the time when he was President of the Baptist Union of Australia, I recall the Revd Tim Costello writing an opinion piece in response to an article by one of the leading Sydney Anglican heavyweights published in The Sydney Morning Herald.  I can’t recall the issue on which they disagreed, but …

Three men and a mission (sermon)

Sermon by Rod Benson at Faith Bible Baptist Church, Castle Hill, Sydney, 30 September 2012 Acts 12:25–14:28 The last recorded words of Jesus before he was taken up into heaven were these: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea …

Immigration and asylum and Baptists

Address by Rod Benson to a meeting of Encore, Morling College, Sydney 7 September 2012 The world today faces a global refugee crisis with up to 40 million displaced people, the majority of whom are women and children.  Australia currently accepts around 13,750 refugees each year as part of total planned annual immigration of around 182,000 …

The significance of Jesus for faith and ethics

I've been re-reading Glen H. Stassen et al, Authentic Transformation: A New Vision of Christ and Culture (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), a critical analysis of H. Richard Niebuhr's 1951 book, Christ and Culture, and came across this insight into the significance of the life and teachings of Jesus: In a beautiful climactic passage [writes Stassen, …

Take a long view

Sermon preached by Rev Dr Ken Manley at the induction of Rev Keith Jobberns as National Ministries Director, Australian Baptist Ministries, Melbourne, 22 May 2012 1 Corinthians 3: 1-17 Introduction To share in Keith’s induction is a pleasure and an honour. In any case, who could say ‘No’ to our smiling new National Ministries Director? …