God Bless the Queen

Today the Queen is visiting our city of Melbourne (October 26).  I am sorely tempted to join the crowds even just to get a glimpse of Her Majesty.  If I were to shake her hand or converse with her I would be beside myself!  I have great respect for our Queen, as I’m sure most Australians do.  It would be amazing to meet her.  (I’ll stick with my sermon preparation though.  Right priorities, or just laziness about going in to the city?  Not sure!)

Many years after becoming a Christian at University I realised something about the ‘mother-country’ England.  I realised that I would probably not be a Christian if it were not for the British Empire.

Australia could have come under the French or Spanish instead of the English.  In my view, Australia would not then have become a Christian country.  The first chaplains to come to Sydney and the first settlement were sent out by British evangelicals.  The British Empire saw to it that the gospel would come to Australia.  For that I am profoundly grateful.

No doubt the British Empire did many things wrong in its various colonies.  However it also spread the gospel far and wide throughout the world, and of that I am a beneficiary.  And no doubt Australia is now moving rapidly away from its Christian roots, but they are still there enough for people like me to have heard the gospel and become a Christian.

I am not a monarchist as such.  However I am grateful to Britain and to the Queen.  I have heard her speak of Christianity and the gospel in her Christmas messages in the past.  I am glad that she is a Christian.  I am grateful that Britain brought the gospel to our shores.  There is much for which to be thankful to our ‘mother-country’.

God bless the Queen.

The Shocking Truth About Abortion in Australia

I can keep silent no longer.

I’m amazed at how mute many, if not most evangelical churches in Australia are about the tragedy of abortion. It’s akin to many Christians^† in Germany who, after the Second World War, stated that they new nothing of the extermination of six million Jews right under their noses.

I’ve started conversation with fellow Christians about the abortion issue in Australia. Most respond uncomfortably about the subject and it’s clear they would rather not talk about it. When I point out that we live in a state that is reported to have the most draconian abortion laws in the world, the response is incredulity. The Australian Family Association suggests that the church is “intimidated by the feminist rhetoric”^‡.

The Victorian abortion law legalises abortion to occur at any time, even right up to birth. It allows inhumane partial-birth abortion. It also compels Victorian doctors to refer their patients to other doctors who will perform abortions despite their opinions on abortion. The personal conscience of