"Speaking the Truth in Love: The Church and the Challenge of the New Morality" Jan 18-20
This is from my notes- my apologies to the speakers for my faulty hearing and understanding, but nonetheless, this is what I heard and jotted down:
Session 1 Dr. D. A. Carson Scripture as Prescription for Human Flourishing
- Isa 3- Their sin; they do not hide it.
- Col 3, Col 6:12
- [Sorry- could not quite follow]
Session 2 Dr. Carl R. Trueman Age of Faulty Anthropology (I will be buying his book in that I think there is greater depth to his talk that I would like to explore.)
- We as a culture are indulging in the following:
- Rejection of Limits
- Rejection of Teleology
- Rejection of societal obligations
- Nietzsche
- God stands in the way of Human Freedom
- The enlightenment has failed.
- The 'self' gets in the way of Human Freedom
- The ober-man are those who break with the past.
- Those committed to overthrowing the values of the past.
- the politically anti-establishment
- Critical Theory is about negating.
- Limits/boundaries are things to overcome.
- the body is material/and instrument for releasing the real self.
- Darwin obsoleted teleology.
- Sex is for the moment and has not a causality, such as glorifying God or pro-creating.
- How should the Church respond to the rejection of limits, destiny, and obligations?
- Don't look at the symptoms but at the root causes.
- Know that Christian ethics is no longer carried by society, but only by Christians.
- Need to teach first principles- Human nature, Creation, etc.
- instruct not just on what the Bible teaches but why it teaches it.
- Liturgy
- Naturally limits by binding us to each other in worship.
- Causes us to use our imagination.
- It is teleological and points us to our destination.
- It is where our covenant God communes with His covenant people.
- Reminds us that we are a teleological people- for instance, the Song of Semion in Evening Prayer.
- Make it relevant- emphasize the Gospel drama in liturgy.
- Structure and content of the liturgy, such Confession, remind us that we are a hospital for sinners, a place that loves sojourners, and a place to make friendships.
Session 3 The Rev Calvin Robinson Critical Theory: Antithetical to the Gospel
- Critical Theory is designed to undermine the Church [not to mention all other western cultural institutions]
- Based on race, which is a human construct, and is not a Gospel construct.
- Feminism has broken down the [God given and Biblical] distinctions between the sexes.
- The tenant of inclusivism in the Christian sense is that we are all welcome to be changed by Christ.
- It smashes of the Patriarchy and looking to our elders for wisdom.
- Liberalism and Marxism have infected the Church.
- Marxism seeks to replace God with self and liberate humans from God and the Church.
- Marxism presses us toward secularism.
- Luther and the Reformation replaced faith in the church with faith in the individual conscience.
- Liberalism is idolatry of self, which is sin.
Session 4 The Rev. Sam Allberry What We Do with Our Bodies Matter
- Mark 6:34- having compassion and seeing people through Jesus' eyes.
- 1 Cor 6:13- The body is meant for the Lord- temples of the HS.
- Ps 139- Fearfully and wonderfully made.
- We are spiritual and physically crafted by God.
- But nonetheless we all struggle with some aspect of our bodies.
- Gen 1:27- Our sexuality is grounded in creation and us as creatures of God.
- Our discipleship is grounded in the physical in that we must be physically present with one another, and spiritual gifts must show up for the building up of the Body.
- Rom 6:12-13 - We are given the privilege and opportunity to offer our bodies as instruments of righteousness.
- We should cherish God's voice speaking into our lives above all other voices, including our own.
- We need to know we have the power to use our voice and actions as instruments of righteousness.
Session 5 Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin
- Following Jesus is not safe and means denying to self.
- What is at the heart of Christian sexual ethics?
- Eph 5- [walk in Love Chapter]
- Someone coming out of the LTGBQ community should find more love, not less.
Session 6 Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing Right Thinking: Gospel Truth in a Culture with a Secular Creed.
- Also speak in truth and love in our personal relationships
- Conversational Evangelism
- Public proclamation is important, but the faith is most effectively spread by lay Christians in their everyday lives, both by words and in the Gospel quality of their lives.
- And by infectious enthusiasm for the Faith.
- Rom 5:5 The message is that sexuality has a transcendent source.
- Empathy
- Know why others feel and think the way they do.
- What are the wrongs they are trying to right?
- Materialism alone cannot account for the rage people are feeling. What else?
- Do they sense that life is sacred?
- [Do they feel life is oppressive]
- Know their Traumas and pain.
- From a secular perspective, promiscuity is supposed to make one happy.
- How is that working?
- Transcending boundaries is supposed to help. Does it?
- Does it lead to life in the full.
- Today, there is rage coming out of transferred hurt.
- Intersectionality- People exhibit victimhood from a number of perceived experiences of oppression.
- To disagree with a person is to cancel them.
Session 7 The Rev Dr. John Dickson Gospel Hospitality in a Fractured World
- The word Hospitality comes from
- Philo- welcome
- xenia - the stranger
- Hospitality and Gospel go together.
- Welcoming and loving the stranger- Eph 2:1, Lk 7:34
- Jesus preached judgment for the sinner but nonetheless hung out with sinners.
- Jesus did not place boundaries between Himself and sinners.
- Matt 9:10-11
- Luke 19:1-7 [Jesus and Zacchaeus].
- Loved even the extravagant sinner.
- Luke 19:8-10
- Jesus ate eating with sinners- Commune first; conversion second.
- John5:30-31
Nuggets from the panel discussion:
- Hospitality is grace to the outsider
- 1 Cor 8
- Even taking meals with them
- Our culture now equates disagreement with bigotry and narrow-mindedness.
- Our empathy should not lead to agreement when it does not align with Gospel living.
- Anglican liturgy highlights the transcendence of our Christian worldview.
- Tim Keller was good at empathy and articulating the other person's position.
- Always
- Know to whom you belong.
- That the Christian worldview is true and healthy.
- Affirm the sacredness of life.
