<![CDATA[Baranduda Community Church - Horizon]]>Fri, 13 Mar 2026 03:47:29 +1100Weebly<![CDATA[The time Prof. John Lennox was pressured to give up his Christianity  |  GoodBookCo]]>Thu, 17 Jan 2019 00:12:41 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/the-time-prof-john-lennox-was-pressured-to-give-up-his-christianity-goodbookco
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Stephen Weinberg, a Physics Nobel Prize winner once said,

“The world needs to wake up from the long nightmare of religion. Anything we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done, and may in fact be our greatest contribution to civilisation.”

I hope you didn’t miss the rather sinister-sounding totalitarian element in this statement: “anything we scientists can do…”

This attitude is not new. I first met it fifty years ago while studying at Cambridge University. I found myself at a formal college dinner sitting beside another Nobel Prize winner ... He told me, "If you want a career in science, you must give up this childish faith in God."

Read the full article here
(This is also an intro to John Lennox's excellent book "Can Science Explain Everything")
]]><![CDATA[10 Things you should know about ... Sex | Paul Tripp]]>Tue, 24 Apr 2018 04:20:53 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/10-things-you-should-know-about-sex-paul-tripp
"Whether we know it or not, every human being lives in search of a savior. We are all propelled by a quest for identity, inner peace, and some kind of meaning and purpose. And we all look for it somewhere. Here’s the bottom line: looking to creation to get what only the Creator can give you always results in addiction of some kind. The thing you hoped would serve you pulls you into its service. What seemed like freedom ends up being bondage. The thing is not the problem; what you’ve asked of it is." Read more

This is part of a 'Ten things you should know' series which is excellent.

​https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-sex/
]]><![CDATA[I'm a sinner too  |  PlayersVoice - Israel Folau]]>Wed, 18 Apr 2018 04:22:46 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/im-a-sinner-too-playersvoice-israel-folauPicture
"People’s lives are not for me to judge. Only God can do that.
I have sinned many times in my life. I take responsibility for those sins and ask for forgiveness through repentance daily.
I understand a lot of people won’t agree with some of the things I’m about to write.
That’s absolutely fine. In life, you are allowed to disagree.
But I would like to explain to you what I believe in, how I arrived at these beliefs and why I will not compromise my faith in Jesus Christ, which is the cornerstone of every single thing in my life."

It's nice to hear from Folau himself, rather than from a media intent on maligning his words.  And there is a lot to learn from his example

Read more at https://www.playersvoice.com.au/israel-folau-im-a-sinner-too
]]><![CDATA[Jordan Peterson and the Courage of the Counter-intuitive  |  Steve McAlpine]]>Mon, 09 Apr 2018 02:23:24 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/jordan-peterson-and-the-courage-of-the-counter-intuitive-steve-mcalpine
"History is not about other people.  History is about you…"

Steve McAlpine reflects on the event of Jordan Peterson – a clinical psychologist and university professor who makes some interesting, salient, and at times controversial observations. Steve points out the courage of Peterson, and what churches should note.

If you have missed what Jordan Peterson is on about, start with Steve's article here, and then you could go here (ABC 7:30) or here (Conversation with John Anderson).

​https://stephenmcalpine.com/2018/04/05/jordan-peterson-and-the-courage-of-the-counter-intuitive/
]]><![CDATA[Deep Bible Reading Strategies for the Tired and Busy | Desiring God]]>Mon, 09 Apr 2018 02:13:19 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/deep-bible-reading-strategies-for-the-tired-and-busy-desiring-god
"It really does come down to a matter of how desperate we are to get rich with true riches — the riches of Christ and the wealth of his glory, and his wisdom and his power for living the kind of radical Christian life this world so desperately needs. ...  My very practical suggestion is this: find a slot."

John Piper answers a question about his book 'Reading the Bible Supernaturally' – but offers some helpful images / corrections of WHY and HOW we read the bible.  

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/deep-bible-reading-strategies-for-the-tired-and-busy
]]><![CDATA['Don’t be anxious about anything!' Is that all God’s got to say? | Grimmond, Moore College.]]>Thu, 05 Apr 2018 01:16:32 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/dont-be-anxious-about-anything-is-that-all-gods-got-to-say-grimmond-moore-college
"I’ve struggled with anxiety in different ways all through my life. The most significant and obvious episode was a series of panic attacks and hospitalisation in my late twenties in the months leading up to the birth of my first child. It also manifested itself in a period of burnout that saw me leave my job in pastoral ministry for a time. As it turns out, I’m not alone."

Grimmond then considers what God and his good news has to say about anxiety.  Very helpful article. 

https://www.moore.edu.au/resource/dont-be-anxious-about-anything-is-that-all-gods-got-to-say/
]]><![CDATA[The Dignity of Those with Dementia  |  Desiring God]]>Tue, 14 Nov 2017 01:03:55 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/the-dignity-of-those-with-dementia-desiring-god
Q: "Could you speak to the dignity of people in nursing homes with diseases such as dementia?"

Piper replies with a discussion on the Image of God, and the importance of weakness.
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/the-dignity-of-those-with-dementia
“You need to go to nursing homes and remember these people are on the brink of glory and power.”
]]><![CDATA[Quote for the day ...]]>Thu, 14 Sep 2017 05:26:26 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/quote-for-the-day"When Jesus gave a glimpse of the magnificent view of marriage that God willed for his people, the disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19:10). In other words, Christ’s vision of the meaning of marriage was so enormously different from the disciples, they could not even imagine it to be a good thing. That such a vision could be good news was simply outside their categories.
If that was the case back then with the sober, Jewish world in which they lived, how much more will the magnificence of marriage in the mind of God seem unintelligible to the world we live in, where the main idol is self, and its main doctrine is autonomy, and its central act of worship is being entertained, and its two main shrines are the television and the cinema, and its most sacred genuflection is the uninhibited act of sexual intercourse. Such a culture will find the glory of marriage in the mind of Jesus virtually unintelligible. Jesus would very likely say to us today, when he had finished opening the mystery for us, the same thing he said in his day: “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. . . . Let the one who is able to receive this receive it” (Matthew 19:11–12)."
Piper, This momentary marriage, 20.
]]><![CDATA[Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of My Diving Accident – Joni]]>Sat, 05 Aug 2017 01:39:57 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/reflections-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-my-diving-accident-joni
Fifty years ago Joni Erickson Tada dived off a jetty and broke her neck.

"...When it came to my accident, I had to know whether the buck stopped with him, and if it did, why didn’t he prevent my accident?.."

She reflects on her life and understanding of God since then.

"... if I were to nail down suffering’s main purpose, I’d say it’s the textbook that teaches me who I really am ..."

Well worth a read ...
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reflections-on-50th-anniversary-of-my-diving-accident
]]><![CDATA[An open letter to abusive husbands – Murray Campbell]]>Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:35:02 GMThttps://www.barandudacommunitychurch.org/horizon/an-open-letter-to-abusive-husbands-murray-campbell
Dear Abuser…
I want to make it clear that if you want to invoke Bible verses to control and manipulate your wife, the Bible is against you. 
If you harm your wife physically, sexually, emotionally, or materially, Jesus stands against you. ...
​(read more ...)
Murray Campbell penned this powerful letter yesterday, and it is worth reading.
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