Wilberforce Academy for students and young professionals

Calling the next generation of lawyers, politicians, journalists, civil servants, and all who want to make a difference in public life. The inaugural ‘Wilberforce Academy’, March 21st to 26th 2010, will be a residential week of lectures, seminars, worship, devotions, and interactive discussions, designed to help students and young professionals become a generation of men and women who ‘Passionately Demonstrate Truth’. Please do draw this to the attention of anyone in your congregation you think might be interested – full details at

http://www.ccfon.org/docs/Wilberforce_Academy_Flyer.pdf

Something to Think About

The following was written by Ben Stein (pictured above) and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events... Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.

I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it... No one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and Respectfully, Ben Stein

God Hears

Frenchman Lluis Colet took his gift of the gab to extremes in January this year after setting a world record for the longest talk. The local government worker spoke non-stop for 124 hours (five days and four hours) about the Spanish painter Salvador Dali and Catalan culture. Pity the judges who had to sit through it—and stay awake.

With nearly 6.8 million people on the planet there are a lot of words being spoken. But do you ever feel sometimes that no one’s listening? That everyone’s so busy that friendships have been reduced to text messages, e mails and diary entries?

Well, please know that, in amongst all the speaking, texting, twittering, emailing and junk mail… in amongst all the electronic buzz and crackle… God still hears you. When you feel overwhelmed, or misheard, or not heard at all, God knows your needs. He loves you and when you come to him in frustration or desperation or just quiet despondency, he is there. He is listening.

If you’ve never spoken to God then God is ready to listen to you right now. And even if you do know God as a friend but have been out of touch for a while, God is still ready to listen. The Bible has this to say about the wonder of communing with God:

“In the same way, he (Holy Spirit) helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26)

Sometimes when things are really, really bad we just don’t know what to say to God. All we can do is groan in our inner being as we come to Him in prayer.

Jesus groaned too when he was crucified upon the cross—bearing the weight of all our sins on his shoulders. That’s an intensely loving and caring God who is personally affected by the troubles of this world. God who is personally affected by the troubles of this world. God is not distant and unmoved by your situation. He sent Jesus into the world to help you.

So you don’t need fancy words. You don’t need to wait until Sunday. You don’t need a prayer book. Instead, speak from the heart. Be honest. Take your troubles to Jesus, put them at His feet and trust that He is in control.

Prayer: Dear God, you know my troubles, they are too many to list. Please forgive me. Please help me.

Letter sent to Archbishop of York

Dear Archbishop,
The PCC have met and also the church congregation. The following is the considered prayerful response to the DVD issued to us a month or so ago. It is the unanimous response of the PCC to which the church congregation is very happy to agree.

Conclusions of Christ Church Bridlington PCC

1. How we relate to practising homosexuals in the church.
Our church mission is based on three important premises Belong, Believe, Behave. We will continue to relate to homosexuals in the same way that we relate to those heterosexuals who have an immoral lifestyle . We will welcome and be open to all, but we will not entrust any church responsibility, which has leadership or pastoral responsibility to those who may belong, believe but not behave. We expect those in any leadership role to hold to the values of Christ Church in general and in particular the traditional teaching of the Bible.

2. Our comments on the DVD
We heard with concern the stories told, but find this has also increased our anxiety that there is a hidden agenda to change the doctrine of the church and dismiss important teaching in the scriptures defining same sex sexual relationships as sin. We would have liked testimonies by those who used to be homosexuals but are now no longer in that orientation after prayer or counselling, and those who have suffered at the hands of the homosexual lobby (lost jobs, broken families, etc).

In addition the church has asked I table to you some further questions which I have. The Church congregation felt these were important questions which deserved an answer, but desired that they should be distinct from our response to the DVD as they fall outside the listening process brief. I and they would like a written response so your answers can be published for them to read.
.(a) Would the church be in breach of the European discrimination act if it continues to hold to biblical teaching on homosexuality. Are we allowed to preach what the bible says?
(b) Are bishops able to discipline immoral clergy (whether heterosexual or homosexual)? Is there both the will and the power to do it?
(c). Why is the church not exposing the flaws in the Kinsey report and the variance of views even within the homosexual community? *.
(d) What guidance is the church giving to those who want to steer a moral path in their sexual behaviour? The PCC view is that once we drift from the Bible teaching, we have no basis to define as wrong other sexual practices which the practitioner feels is right, and we are not able to state the truth which brings people to repentance and life; nor can we be the salt we need to be in the communities of our land where there is so much brokenness and confusion. We need clear affirmations of the biblical truth so that safe clear places of refuge can be found for those searching for spiritual life and truth in our land.
(e) Are we able to refuse to teach homosexuality as a lifestyle alongside heterosexual lifestyle in our church schools? Is there any plan for our teaching in schools to openly teach the traditional teaching of the Bible in the area of sexual behaviour.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Couper
Vicar Christ Church Bridlington

Notes

* (a)Alfred Kinsey published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male in 1948, firmly in the pre-modern era. His “scientific” findings were likened to the Atomic bomb in effect -that 98% of men and roughly half of women had had premarital sex, 95% of American men were legally sex offenders and 10% or more of men were largely homosexual. And, while no one noted that 317 infants and children were "tested" for Kinsey's child sex data, educators repeated his conclusions that children were sexual from birth, hence school sex education should be mandatory.
That his 5,300 research subjects included 26% sex offenders, 25% prisoners, 4% prostitutes and very worryingly children This seemed not to be noticed at the time.His investigators included known paedophiles, as revealed by Kinsey himself: “Better data came from adult males who have had sexual contacts with younger boys and who, with their adult backgrounds, are able to recognize and interpret the boys' experiences”. Judith Reisman, Kinsey, Sex and Fraud (Lafayette, Louisiana: Huntington House, 1990).

(b) Various views:-
Homosexuality is a biologically determined orientation and is a justice issue, not a moral issue. – e.g Gene Robinson and ECUSA –.
Homosexuality is a biologically determined orientation and is a moral issue.
Homosexuality is a practice motivated by psychological issues, not an orientation as defined above and is a justice issue eg. Peter Tatchell
Homosexuality is a practice motivated by psychological issues, not an orientation as defined above and is a moral issue e.g. African church