Dr Paul Allen

The Queensland Government of Australia has passed a law requiring pastors to violate and report any confession and report any instances of confessed child sex abuse or face up to three years in prison. The legislation arose as a result of recommendations from the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which recommended in 2017 that clergy and confession no longer be exempt from mandatory reporting. Similar laws have already been passed in the states of Victoria and South Australia as well as in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Australian media reports that the legislation received bi-partisan political support but that one elected Queensland politician, Stephen Andrew an MP with the One Nation party, spoke out against the new law. “The bill poses a real danger for public trust and cohesion in our community,” Mr Andrew said. “Many priests and bishops have publicly stated that they will go to jail before obeying these laws,” he conti...

Use of pornography and other sexual sins are rampant in our culture and in the church. Many have concluded that such behavior or at least the lust that drives them is fundamentally an unsolvable problem, a sin that will not be defeated in the lives of God's children. But this response is unacceptable in the face of the severe and incalculable damage that lust inflicts upon lives, families, and fellowships. If we want to overcome lust, we need to recognize what we are dealing with. A good place to start is to understand the "sexual buzz"—the electric feeling of pleasure that makes sex so enjoyable. The psychobiologic sexual buzz involves our emotions, our bodies, and our cognitive functions. God designed these feelings for good. The sexual buzz occupies an essential role as an early phase of intimacy within the sexual union of marriage. Without it, we would not become aroused and sex probably would not happen enough to keep reproduction going or marital ties bindin...

The Wounds of Mercy (Photo credit: Lawrence OP ) Frequently in his epistles, the apostle Paul goes to great lengths to describe what we call Christian liberty . In these matters God allows us freedom; he doesn't set down laws prohibiting something or commanding something. The apostle warns us against being judgmental toward our brothers, giving as an example in the Corinthian community the question about eating meat offered to idols. Paul says this has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. He says, "Those of you who have scruples about it, don't judge those who don't" and vice versa. This is a case in which we just have to respect one another. In those admonitions, Paul uses as his basis this statement: "We are not to be judging people for whom Christ died." He reminds us that "your brother or your sister belongs to Christ. God has forgiven them. Who are you to withhold forgiveness from someone whom God has forgiven?" If somebody sins...

Psalm 13:5 (Photo credit: [Share the Word] ) Psalm 119 stands as an invitation to us to approach God ’s word with our whole minds ( Psalm 119:113 ) and our whole hearts ( Psalm 119:2 ). It commands us to think rightly and feel deeply about God’s word. It leaves no room for a clean division of the intellect and emotions, but rather demands a response from both the mind and the heart. Whether we hear God’s word in a call to worship, a confession of sin , an assurance of pardon, an exposition, or in the benediction — every time we hear the words of Scripture, God is speaking to his people. There is no space for yawning when God is speaking. His word commands our attention, our affection, and our obedience. We see in the 176 verses of Psalm 119 an unbreakable chain of knowing and feeling. The psalmist has tasted the word of God, and has developed an unquenchable appetite for it. His passions have been fixed on knowing and experiencing God’s word. He has what Harold Best would descri...

English: The Last Supper of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” ( Proverbs 28:13 ) Every person, even the most godly Christian believer, at least occasionally commits acts of sin —sins of omission, if not sins of commission. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” ( 1 John 1:8 ). When a Christian does sin, the remedy is available. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” ( 1 John 1:9 ). This forgiveness is based on the fact that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” ( 1 John 1:7 ). The problem is that the very compulsion that caused the believer to commit the sin in the first place will often lead him to try to justify the sin. If that is not possible, he will try to hide it, or even to deny it. The antidote for this situation, of c...

King David in Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord ,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32:5 David ’s grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible upon his outward frame: “ his bones waxed old ”; “ his moisture was turned into the drought of summer .” No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow. He fashioned excuses; he endeavored to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew no rest. At last it came to this, that he must return to his God in humble penitence, or di...

Jesus meets John the Baptist (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Repent sounds like such a religious word, like street preachers shouting, like moralists wagging fingers. But I learned a long time ago that the literal translation of " repent " is to turn around. "Hey, buddy, you're headed in the wrong direction"—that sounds like a helpful, kind word, not a scathing correction. I think it's this type of encouraging word that Jesus himself offers when he begins his ministry with a proclamation: "The kingdom of God is among you. Repent, and believe the good news." If to repent is to turn around, to turn towards God and start walking with God instead of on my own away from God, then confession is a starting point on the road to the kingdom. Confession is the starting point on the road to the kingdom. Try to envision it with me—imagine yourself walking towards something you want, even though you have a nagging sense that the something you want might no...

What is truth? Deutsch: Was ist Wahrheit? Français : "Qu'est-ce que la vérité ?" Le Christ et Pilate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Then he said, “ Jesus , remember me when you come into your kingdom.” [ Luke 23:42] As Jesus was hanging between the two criminals one of them hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you supposed to be the Messiah? Why don’t you save yourself!” This is what everyone was saying. The people were saying it (Luke 23:35), the Roman soldiers were saying it (v. 36), and Pilate had a notice put on the cross: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (v. 38). The criminal added, of course, “And save us, too!” But the other criminal rebuked him: “Aren’t you afraid of God? We deserve what we are getting, but this man has done nothing wrong.” This is an amazing testimony to the grace of God. It is not natural for a guilty person to admit his or her guilt and to admit that punishment is deserved. Beyond this, consider the agonizing pain this man was experiencing. Wh...