How the Church of England should compete with Wonga

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Wonga makes short term loans to people at exorbitant rates. The idea is that the loan is repaid on payday: it is a payday loan company.

Justin Welby wants to “compete Wonga out of business” by creating church assisted credit unions. The problem is, it will take ten years to accomplish; meanwhile Wonga is approving 10,400 loans a day and makes £1.2million a week in profit now.

After lending more than a £1billion in a year for the first time, it now plans to expand by encouraging customers to buy luxuries they would otherwise struggle to afford.

Its ‘Pay Later’ deal allows borrowers to buy ‘higher value goods’, such as furniture or a dishwasher, for up to £1,000, with an up-front charge of 7 per cent of the price.

The idea of buying luxuries we “would otherwise struggle to afford” was not a problem that afflicted my family as I was growing up. Post-war rationing made ½ a pound of butter a luxury, afford it or not; my parent’s lives were not so devoid of meaning that they felt the need to fill the emptiness with “luxuries they would otherwise struggle to afford.” Not so for many people today, I fear.

In trying to set up competing credit unions, the Church of England is foolishly engaged in trying to beat the world at its own game: for some reason, it will keep doing this – possibly because it has forgotten what its own game is – and it always fails.

If Justin Welby really wants to compete with Wonga, preach the Gospel – the real Gospel – and give people meaning and purpose in their lives so that they don’t have to yield to the impulse of attempting to fill their vacuous existence with luxuries that they don’t need, can’t afford and won’t satisfy.

We were out for a quiet stroll in the country and…..

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All of a sudden, we were confronted with this:_29U3933A large mobile rocket isn’t something I usually encounter when ambling through a conservation area. We had accidentally wandered into a film-set for Nikita:_29U3934_29U3929

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_29U3935I believe this is the young lady that plays the lead; I’m no expert but I think it may be pre-makeup:_29U3937

I asked what exactly the large rocket was for and was informed that it was there to repel zombies; I suspect this wasn’t entirely true – perhaps the crew didn’t want to reveal future episode secrets. I also asked it it worked and received a non-committal response. Still, the film crew all liked my dog, so they were OK with me.

We meandered through the set from one end to find a policeman, hired specially for the occasion to prevent intruders like us gaining access, at the other. On the way back he was reluctant to let us back through until we pointed out that we were parked at the opposite end of the conservation area so we had to go back to return to our car. Evidently there should have been two policemen.

He admonished us with: “you can’t go through there, they will be shooting – it will be too dangerous.” I replied: “surely they won’t be using real bullets.” He didn’t even smile. Clearly a man with no sense of humour; still, I am getting used to that.

Anglican Communion Alliance statement on the Anglican Church of Canada’s intent to vote on same-sex marriage

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You can read the whole statement here on page 5. It would be remiss of me not to mention that, to reflect the importance it assigned to the missive, the Anglican Journal has given the ACA’s statement a prominent column in the letters section. Still, at least it was published.

The statement makes a good point: if we attempt to bless something that God doesn’t, we are not doing those who supposedly are being blessed any favours:

The ACA doesn’t view the preparation for changes to the Marriage Canon as a loving gesture towards those with same-sex attraction. To bless and even sanctify what God has not blessed is to lead people in a direction that cannot promise flourishing.

Moreover, the ACA has noticed that the ACoC, after years of vehemently denying that it intends to marry same sex couples, is now talking about marrying same-sex couples:

We are thankful for the pause that slows down the move to adopt sexual innovation in the process dictated by a canonical change to doctrine. We draw attention to the shift in emphasis from “blessings” to “marriage” that occurred incrementally without discussion and is now before us.

Having spent decades in conversations, consultations, dialogue and faux-Bantu indabas with the ACoC about same-sex blessings, the ACA is now proposing a radical new strategy to combat the drift towards same-sex marriage: conversations, consultations, dialogue and faux-Bantu indabas:

We endorse heartily the four-part amendment of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews, Bishop of the Algoma, to Resolution C003 to change Marriage Canon XXI to accommodate same-sex marriage, and we look forward to participating in the “broad consultation” process that determines if a theological rationale exists for gay and lesbian marriage. May God’s grace and truth be our guide.

Diocese of Niagara: “Jesus had two Dads and he turned out just fine”

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A Diocese of Niagara parish, St. John the Evangelist in Niagara Falls, is displaying the following billboard:

reddit-church-signThe idea is hard to miss: there is nothing wrong with a same-sex couple being parents.

The billboard doesn’t get into any tricky details such as the fact that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and a woman not two men. Or that the liberal clergy who occupy the Diocese of Niagara delight in calling the third person of the Trinity “she” when it suits them – why not two Mums on the sign? Or that, while they are not busy calling the Holy Spirit “she”, liberal clergy are studiously engaged on expunging all references to God as “he” from liturgies and hymn books because, as they keep telling us, God is genderless. Or that Jesus was raised by a man and a woman, not two Dads. Or that two men can’t conceive, try as they might. Or that a majority of Niagara clerics don’t even believe in the Virgin Birth. I know: picky picky picky.

You will notice that the photographer was leaning heavily to the left when he took the photograph.

More here:

A church billboard that affirms homosexuality has gone viral. After Reddit user Reeb0k posted a photo of the sign online, it quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views. The controversial text on the placard reads, “Jesus had two dads and he turned out just fine.”

Not much information is provided along with the picture, but the sign on which it appears belongs to a “St. John’s Anglican Church.” According to the Reddit user, the house of worship is in his home city, but the name of that city isn’t mentioned in the post.

In addition to the pro-gay message, a portion of the church’s address is present on the sign (the number “3428″ appears). After a quick web search, TheBlaze discovered that the church is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in Canada.

In an effort to confirm that the sign is, indeed, posted, we called the church office and phoned the Rev. Duncan Lyon, a member of the St. John’s clergy. His wife answered the phone and confirmed that the pro-gay message is posted outside of the church.

When we asked for more information about the motivation behind it, she referred us back to the church office, adding, “I’m sure you can sort it out yourself.”

A strange week

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Scientists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have grown miniature human brains from skin cells. The diminutive organs are providing a unique insight into how those equipped with pea sized brains –  Anglican Church of Canada bishops and atheists, for example – still manage to think.

One of the qualifications for being a Canadian politician seems to be to have smoked marijuana. A new study suggests that smoking marijuana as an adolescent may cause permanent brain damage; this explains the state of Canadian politics. Luckily a pea sized replacement may soon be available.

President Obama is considering bombing Syria for using gas against Syrian “rebels”, thereby hastening the takeover of Syria by rabid Islamists bent upon the destruction of the West. This is the same gas that, according to Andrew White the Vicar of Baghdad, was hastily moved from Iraq to Syria in 2003. So Obama is planning on attacking Syria for using WMDs that he believes don’t exist. Meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld, an Iraq war hawk, is denouncing Obama for contemplating military action in Syria. Sometimes I long for the days when people were more predictable.

The Oxford English Dictionary has added a definition of “twerking” to its online (not print) version. It means to “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance”; for those who, unlike me, wish to perfect the “dance”, there is an instructional video here. As I am sure everyone knows by now, the gyration – which is not unlike a manoeuvre my dog performs when his rectum is itching – has been rendered mainstream by Miley Cyrus, née Hannah Montana, the last hope of Western culture and someone my daughter-in-law really doesn’t want her daughter copying. Not to worry: by the time my granddaughter is a teenager there will be something worse to emulate.

While we are on the subject of dictionaries, my built-in Firefox dictionary has “Osama” in its database but not “Obama”. At least we know who is sinking into obscurity faster.

Drive-through prayer

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Sorry, “drive-thru prayer’; in my headline, I inadvertently diluted the superficiality of the concept.

To be serious: if this is an attempt to employ Chesterton’s unseen hook and an invisible line with the intention of reeling in the catch, I am all for it.

If it is the church’s version fast food, pretending to offer nutrition while really peddling artery clogging spiritual fat, then I’m not for it at all.

From here:

A church in northwest Georgia has started offering Sunday prayer services for worshippers on the go.

Members of the Cedar Valley Cathedral of Praise on Cleveland Highway in Dalton have been hosting a weekly drive-thru prayer mission Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. Anne Keith told the Dalton Daily Citizen she’s been visiting the drive-thru Sunday service for more than a month now, and it’s become something she looks forward to every week.

“I start on Wednesday thinking, ‘It’s three more days,’ then ‘two more days,'” Keith said. She added that she finds the service uplifting and that it reinforces her hope.

Church members gather under their building’s awning to wait for a driver and distribute prayer cloths to visitors. Members say they welcome visitors from all denominations, and visitors are encouraged to come as they are.

Ontario Human Rights Tribunal rules that atheism is a creed entitled to protection

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From here:

Atheism is a creed deserving of the same religious protections as Christianity, Islam, and other faiths, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has ruled in a new decision.

“Protection against discrimination because of religion, in my view, must include protection of the applicants’ belief that there is no deity,” wrote David A. Wright, associate chair of the commission, in an August 13 decision.

The ruling was spurred by a complaint from self-described secular humanist Rene Chouinard, who was opposing the District School Board of Niagara’s policy regarding the distribution of Gideon bibles.

[….]

Three years ago, in a protest move, Mr. Choinard, a Grimsby, Ont. father of two school-age children, offered to similarly distribute the Atheist text “Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children.”
When, as Mr. Chouinard expected, the board rejected his offer, he took his case to the Human Rights Tribunal, alleging that the school district has “discriminated against them … because of creed.”

A creed is a formal statement of beliefs, something that today’s anti-theists would claim not to have; they don’t believe anything, rather, they rely on evidence and reason. At least, that is what they would have us – believe. It is nonsense, of course since even atheists believe in the efficacy of reason and evidence.

In spite of its compulsive grovelling before the altar of political correctness, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has correctly identified atheism as a creed, a system of unprovable, a priory beliefs that have to be taken on faith.

It also highlights another compulsion: Christendom’s determination to hasten its own demise.

Clergyman says that Anglican Church is not taken seriously because it is ‘out of step with society’

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Unlike so many clerics, at least Reverend Glynn Cardy is clear about who he thinks should be the arbiter of our moral values. Not God; not the Bible – perish the thought; not the church; and not traditional societal mores accumulated over centuries. The guardian of our ethical boundaries is the society one happens to find oneself in as it exists now; tomorrow it could all change.

So today, in the West, since gay marriage is legal the church must get in step with society and accept gay marriage; according to Cardy, this demonstrates that the church has “a strong moral compass.”

If Cardy really insists on taking his moral cues from societal surroundings, in Egypt he would be favour bombing churches, in Iran hanging homosexuals and in Saudi Arabia not allowing women to drive.

The fact that churches holding fast to revealed truth are growing and churches which have surrendered to the Zeitgeist are floundering on the precipice of extinction – in step with their societies – seems to have escaped Rev. Cardy.

CardyFrom here:

An outspoken Auckland vicar says the Anglican Church is in danger of becoming a moral dinosaur and is increasingly seen as irrelevant with the passing of the Gay Marriage Bill.

Reverend Glynn Cardy said that with the passing of the law, the state had moved well ahead of the church.

[…..]

The vicar said his comments were in relation to the church’s position on gay and lesbian people getting married or ordained when they have partners.

“It’s really about when the church gets out of step with society and society loses confidence in the church as having a strong moral compass.

“I think the church for many years has been seen as a model that tries to promote good values in society and I think the church has done that well in times in pointing our different issues of justice and promoting honesty and kindness,” he said.

“I think that society and science have said that gay people should be treated like anyone else and if the church continues to discriminate the confidence society has in it will diminish.”

He said the church could be left behind “as a relic” and needed to change to have society’s confidence as a moral body to be listened to.

Bishop apologizes for Franklin Graham’s mission to Iceland

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Franklin Graham is going to Iceland not to talk about gay marriage but to preach a “message of God’s hope and unconditional love for all people”, and “to renew, encourage and strengthen the people of Iceland through the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The Festival of Hope “is open to everyone and is about the good news that unites us through Jesus.”

One might be forgiven for falling into the trap of thinking that a festival intended to save souls would be welcomed by a Christian bishop, even a bishop of the Evangelical – never was a word less applicable – Lutheran Church of Iceland. Not so!

The Rt. Rev. Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir doesn’t want anyone spreading God’s unconditional love in Iceland unless they also promote homosexual marriage.

Once again, the liberal church’s obsession with the ecclesiastical legitimisation of gay sex overrides every other consideration.

BishFrom here:

The Bishop of Iceland the Rt. Rev. Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir, has apologized to the island’s gay community for the participation of the Church of Iceland in next month’s Festival of Hope meeting in Reykjavík due to the presence of U.S. evangelist and missionary Franklin Graham.

Anna Pála Sverrisdóttir, chair of Samtökin 78, an Icelandic gay activist organization told the news website Ruv.is she was angered by the state Lutheran church’s participation in the Christian rally as Graham opposes gay marriage.

The Anglican Church is drunk man staggering ever closer to the edge of a cliff

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So says the Archbishop of Canterbury:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that the Anglican church is tottering on the brink of disintegration amid disputes between liberals and traditionalists.

At last someone has noticed. Sadly, although the prognosis is probably accurate, the diagnosis isn’t.

The cause of the Anglican malaise has never been the fact that there are disputes between liberals and conservatives; the cause is simply that liberals have got it wrong.

Justin Welby went on to note:

In his most stark comments yet about divisions over issues such as homosexuality, the Most Rev Justin Welby said the Church was coming perilously close to plunging into a “ravine of intolerance”.

“Intolerance” isn’t the problem either; misrepresenting Christianity – and that’s what liberals in the homosexuality debate tend to do  – is intolerable.

Yet he added that many of the issues over which different factions in the Church were fighting were “incomprehensible” to people outside it.

Undoubtedly true; but the incomprehensibility of the debate doesn’t mean – as Welby seems to imply – that both factions must be incorrect.

“On one side is the steep fall into an absence of any core beliefs, a chasm where we lose touch with God, and thus we rely only on ourselves and our own message. On the other side there is a vast fall into a ravine of intolerance and cruel exclusion. It is for those who claim all truth, and exclude any who question.”

The first sentence is a suitable epithet for North American Anglicanism. The second is a sure sign that Welby has been conned by liberals into believing that conservatives are intolerant and that making any demands of anyone renders a church exclusive. The third appears to be a concession to contemporary relativism: truth is unknowable.

At least one thing is correct: we are staggering close to the edge of a cliff.