I’m with Adrian Warnock on this: I want it all too! (And, I now have name for what I am: reformed charismatic)

Last night I rocked out with the rest of CCEC NiteChurch at NiteChurch Live. It was awesome! I’m now losing my voice. Massive shoutout to all the musos and sound guys who gave heaps of their time to make it happen.

Former-atheist Antony Flew reviews future-former-atheist Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. (h/t Craig, and yes, this post does contain one tongue-in-cheek hyphenated string.)

Lach posts a great prayer by Frank Houghton.

Three reasons from DesiringGod.org .

What has been the main message out of World Youth Day? I reckon it has been “Come back to the church”

That’s not the gospel! With the church’s history, both recent and distant, it’s just as well.

You don’t need the church to be saved. Come back to Jesus! He said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10:27-28)

David asked in a comment,
“To use a like example, why would you ask a friend to pray for you when you can simply pray to God directly?”

Hmmm…. Never thought much about it. Anyone got any ideas?

You could hardly miss hearing about, if not watching, the massive Stations of the Cross that took over Sydney today. (1/6th of the world did) What was it all about? Why do we celebrate the gory execution of a rebel?

We celebrate because on that day, Jesus, God’s son, died in our place, as a sacrifice for my sins, and yours. On the third day, he rose to life again.

It should have been me and you on that cross. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Find it in the Bible; or read more here.

The full headline of the two-page spread reads “Pope warns against the lure of false idols”. By an unfortunate coincidence, when the spread is separated, the phrase  ‘the lure of false idols’ sits conspicuously above a photo of Pope Benedict XVI, “resplendent in red silk cape” (to quote a reporter heard on the evening news), waving to crowds of hundreds of thousands as he walks down a red carpet.

Quotes down the right-hand side are also unfortunately positioned. (One suspects an editor with a sense of humor:)

“Everybody was screaming his name.”

“You just feel the Holy Spirit is with him, that he is no ordinary person. When you touch him it’s like your heart is burning.”

Several pages deeper, a letter to the editor sums it up:

“I’m getting a little queasy at the quasi-worship of the Pope. He is only a man, for goodness sake. As for his infallibility, he has obviously never argued with a woman.”

“Back in the 1960s, the woman had been told that “life was basically coming to an end for her”, according to Sisters of St Joseph spokeswoman Sister Monica Cavanagh. But she recovered after asking the Josephite sisters to pray to Mary MacKillop on her behalf and being given a relic of Mary’s clothing to wear.”

… The Age reports. Jesus said “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9)

Why do Roman Catholics pray to Saints? (Or not-even-Saints, for that matter…) Do they think God can’t hear them directly? The curtain is torn, He is listening! We don’t need to pray to anyone else, nor does it honour the true mediator:

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5)

Craig asks.

… to the Blue Mountains. Back Friday =)