Join the Resistance!

Article by Cameron Spink

The Punch is a great website to dialogue on many different issues. You get journalists on the opposite sides of the fence to each other heatedly debating so many different topics. One such topic is abortion which always brings a lot of controversy. Tory Shepherd, staunch atheist and editor of The Punch fired the first shot writing an article in March last year declaring herself as a "pro-abortionist" and blaming "pro-lifers" as the reason why so many women feel guilty about aborting their babies. You can read her article here.

It took some time but eventually, yesterday, there was a response from Tim Cannon, the media spokesman for the Australian Family Association. Thankfully, it is worth the wait. Cannon fires back with strong scientific opinion that "human life commences at the time of conception". He also compares the plight of the unborn babies as similar to the fight for freedom for slaves. Apples and oranges, one might say, but the resemblances are worth considering. Click here to read his full article.

Article by Cameron Spink

Peter Costello has created a huge storm with his comments that:

"Footballers are not chosen for their moral principles. They do not go into a national draft for budding philanthropists.... What are the clubs thinking when they send them to schools to give guidance on life skills? Any right-thinking parent would quake with fear to hear that footballers were coming to their daughter's school to give a little bit of inspiration."

Article by Cameron Spink

It seems in fashion for a celebrity to claim that "what you see is what you get". Lady Gaga recently went out of her way to show that she is living by this philosophy. Unfortunately, in all her honesty, she reveals that she smokes weed and abuses alcohol as she writes her music. Some honesty causes great harm and sometimes ripping the sugar-coating off a celebrity reveals many scabs. In this regard, Gaga has sent a very profound message to aspiring young musicians. The message is "do drugs". However, she cannot lay claims to being the first rock-n-roll star to regularly use drugs. The last fifty years is littered with rock artists who, very openly, used substances as their inspiration.

Musical artists seem to feel that when they do something controversial it is fine because it is artistic. Say for instance, Rihanna's new single S&M. The title is obviously referring to sadomasochism which is an enjoyment in violent sex. Such blatant sexual references in the name of her new song is certainly not the first attempt by a performer to gain attention by incorporating sexuality into their songs. Even her whole act of "good girl, gone bad" falls flat. Why is she trying so hard to convince her listeners that she is a legitimate "bad girl"? After all, this mask has been worn many, many times by women parading their stupid and immoral choices with great delight.

Article by Cameron Spink

This is my favourite time of year as footy is about to start and yet my boys haven't lost yet. So it is like having the anticipation while the disappointment is still around the corner (hopefully we can wait until April to get too crushed).

Anyway, the footy off-season can't have finished too soon as another off-field scandal is "dogging" the Western Bulldogs into their pre-season. This is certainly not the first scandal to have made headlines over the off-season with St Kilda's captain Nick Riewoldt coming in the fire line after photos of him exposed was published on the internet.

Bill Muehlenberg provides us with a fantastic article about how God is provident in the time of Esther while not even getting a mention in the book. This is a encouraging article which is a reminder that God is always in control.

Esther and Providence

Article by Bill Muehlenberg

The Old Testament book of Esther is much loved by many, especially by Jewish readers. For in it we learn about the remarkable preservation of the Jewish people. It is an altogether providential occurrence, although rather oddly, God never gets a mention in the book.

Indeed, it seems rather strange to talk about the theological message of the book, given this apparant divine absence. Not only is God not mentioned, but neither is prayer, the law, the temple, or other clear religious themes. But both Jews and Christians consider the very heart of the book to be about God's providence.

I was struggling to write a constructive article about how God is in the floods. Thankfully, Bill Muehlenberg has written an article that deals with God's providence in things like national disasters.

God, Providence and Natural Disaster

Article by Bill Muehlenberg

"The broad issue of God and his providential rule over his creation is a major theological topic. And with yet another national disaster occurring - cyclone Yasi in Queensland - even more questions arise as to God's relationship to the created order. This latest disaster will again push thinking Christians into asking some hard questions.

The good news is that at the time of this writing, the cyclone has been a lot less destructive than first predicted. So far no lives have been lost, and no one has been injured. This is amazing. Of course plenty of trees are down, and many roofs have been ripped off buildings, but thankfully the damage has so far been much less than imagined. And of course many prayers went up for exactly such an outcome.