Article in Reformation Today

 

I have an article in the latest edition of Reformation Today. Very nicely presented RT. Do check it out.

10 things about the sinfulness of sin

Ralph Venning says these ten things of sin in his Plague of plagues. Numbers 2-6 are from Bunyan

1. It turns his grace into wantonness and is
2. The dare of God’s justice
3. The rape of his mercy
4. The jeer of his patience
5. The slight of his power
6. The contempt of his love
7. The upbraiding of his providence
8. The scoff of his promise
9. The reproach of his wisdom.
10. It opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God.

Carey 2010 5

The second paper of the morning was from John Benton entitled "Going soft on sin?" He had four points

1. The calamity of going soft on sin

He spoke of the biblical understanding as deviation, culpability, rebellion, debt, deviation, etc. It is Satanic
and is the central problem. He took us to Genesis 3 to flesh things out. Hell, of course, shows the seriousness of sin as does the remedy - Christ's death on the cross

2. The causes of going soft on sin ere he sketched some of the way that sin has been redefined in our society. People speak of alienation, break down of relationships, etc, not sin. Victimhood is common. Ecology is emphasised over morality. Over the last 50 years we have moved, he contended, from a moral culture to an emotional one. he had some striking statistics on the how newspapers now speak so often of self esteem, etc. 3. Consequences of going soft on sin.

There is confusion about sin, compromise of the gospel and the emptying of the churches. He spoke about the new perspective which emphasises Lord rather than Saviour, righteousness as a technical term not a moral one, belonging rather than anything moral. Justification re-interpreted in relational terms and what ever the argument for it is from early Judaism it is suspiciously like modern culture.

There were also quotes from M Watts on why the English stopped going to church, which was liberalism. What liberalism began is now being carried on by others. 4. The cure from going soft on sin Our lives must be holy, our theology must hold to creation and fall, our preaching must declare the Law (not just for conviction but also for holiness), churches need to be holy and how we must pray.

Modern Britain 03

I saw this in the Times today

How the middle class are shoplifting to keep up appearances

Middle-class shoppers who have been hit by the recession are stealing hundreds of millions of pounds of expensive food in an effort to maintain their high standard of living, according to a new survey.

Quality cuts of meat, fresh fish and high-priced cheeses are being taken by mostly middle-class women from speciality food and convenience shops, where thefts have risen sharply in the past year. Thousands of retailers have found that luxury foods are being stolen for individual use rather than to be sold on.

The information comes from more than 42,000 shops in Europe with combined sales of £262 billion, who were questioned by the Centre for Retail Research, an independent organisation, for Checkpoint Systems, the retail security specialists.

They found that shoplifting in Britain has increased in the past year by nearly 20 per cent to almost £5 billion, £750 million more than in 2008, keeping Britain at the top of Europe’s shoplifting table. Clothing and fashion accessory shops were hardest hit, with branded designer goods high on thieves’ shopping lists, closely followed by DIY stores.


Neil Matthews, vice-president of Checkpoint Systems, said that he was astonished at the rise of middle-class shoplifters. “We are not simply looking at your traditional shoplifters here. We are seeing more instances of amateur thieves stealing goods for their own personal use rather than to sell on than before,” he said.

“This is epitomised in the recent uprising of the middle-class shoplifter, someone who has turned to theft to sustain their standard of living. I suppose people want to carry on with their lifestyle but cannot afford the expensive cheeses, fresh cuts of meat or nice fish that they used to be able to afford and now they just take it. This is the first year we have seen a huge rise in theft of these items and we are being told it is for their own consumption rather than to sell on.”

He added: “The UK’s retail industry has seen its largest ever increase in shoplifting over the last 12 months, and it comes at a time when the industry can least afford it.”

The report, which surveyed more than 1,000 retailers worldwide with sales of £514 billion, found that 43.5 per cent of all stock that went missing was stolen by opportunistic thieves and organised gangs, but employee theft was on the rise. Britain is behind only the Irish Republic in Western Europe for the most dishonest staff.

Sin

I saw this in Oxford Street the other day. I presume it's a night club or something. What I like is the way the gates are closed and locked and people are passing by. That's how it should be with sin.