Peter Barnes

Heresies do not appear as mushrooms overnight. The Presbyterian Church in America – a body whom we would regard as a sister Church – has gone through a few disturbances, especially since the Revoice conference of 2018 which appeared to remove same-sex attraction from the Christian list of sins. Yet it may be that we […]

Those who know the Scriptures – or Scripture in Song – will recognise the heading as coming from Peter’s words to the lame man who had been lying by the Beautiful Gate, as part of the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 3:6). Not possessing any money, the apostle could not help him in the way the

Our response to the world needs to embrace more than lament, but a deep malaise has descended upon contemporary Western society. There is a hardness of heart, but a softness in the head; a trivialisation of life, yet a lack of humour; and a coarsened culture but a distorted sensitivity concerning giving offence. Any example

To the congregations of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, February 2021 The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill has now passed through both houses of the Victorian parliament. It forbids any attempt to change or suppress, or induce any person to change or suppress, his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. Prayer or

The book of Isaiah is commonly understood to contain four Servant Songs, the best-known being Isaiah 52:13-53:12, which is that of the Suffering Servant. However, Isaiah 61 is surely a fifth Servant Song. Amongst other things, it prophesies that the Spirit-anointed Messiah would proclaim liberty to the captives (Isa.61:1). In His first recorded sermon in

October 31 is remembered in some places, not as the wretched Halloween Day, as the date when, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses in Latin to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg in Saxony. In doing so, he unwittingly, to some degree at least, triggered off the Protestant Reformation. It was not the

If anyone is looking for suitable reading in lockdown – or in wild freedom, for that matter – Blaise Pascal’s Pensées is indeed food for the soul and for the intellect. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a distinguished French scientist who sought to write an apologetic for the Christian faith, but death took him before the

Christians always want to understand the world better than it understands itself in order that we can comment on it with light and understanding. However, we are members of another kingdom (Phil.3:20-21) ruled by a king who is not from our earthly world (John 18:36-37). For sinners, one of our first issues must be that

There are seasons in life when the light shines a little more brightly, and all looks rather clearer, even if all is not peace and tranquility. As Jesus came to the home of the sisters, Mary and Martha, in Bethany, Martha became distracted with the practical things of service. This led to her complaint to

There is still a strange eerie feeling about the community at the moment. It was present during the bushfires, and it is still here with the coronavirus. If normal life was all about parties, crowds, and living it up, then normality has yet to return. Everything remains disrupted, although to varying degrees. To some, it