Dr Paul Allen

Tom Gilson.  It’s always been there. It’s in one of the most famous passages in the Bible. Why hadn’t I seen it before? I had one of those moments this morning, reflecting on Alistair Begg’s message last Sunday in which he explained his advice to a grandmother that she attend her granddaughter’s same-sex wedding. He’s been blasted for it, sometimes far beyond what he deserves, for example, in a blistering condemnation The Christian Post responded to in an opinion piece. (More on that below.) Begg is one of just three pastors I’ve put on my podcast listening list, other than friends of mine who are pastors. I put him there because I consider him one of the three best. I love his commitment to the love and truth of God and his wise teaching of the Scriptures. I’ve never known anything to complain about except the beef I have with every speaker from Scotland or Ireland: His accent gives him an unfair advantage over the rest of us who speak and teach. (Yes, it’s a joke.) So I was sligh...

Much has been made of Andy Stanley’s recently surfaced comments about church leaders and homosexuality—specifically his counsel on how the church must approach this issue if we’re to advance the gospel into the next generation. The comments occurred at his Drive Conference at Northpoint Church in 2022, and they’ve since been taken offline by the church. However, enough YouTube snippets and published notes exist that we can gather the gist of what was said: What does this have to do with the next generation? Everything. . . . As long as they think that we don’t understand that, they can’t hear us. . . . A gay person who still wants to attend church after the way the church has treated them . . . I’m telling you . . . they have more faith than I do. . . . They still love God. You are not a prophet. You are a pastor—very different role. Prophets drop in and drop truth bombs, and then they get on their chariot and go to the next place and drop truth. . . . That’s not what we’re doing. We a...

A recent documentary claims that a “mistranslation” of the Bible is to blame for Christians believing homosexuality is a sin. Directed by self-identified “lesbian Christian” Sharon “Rocky” Roggio, the film asserts that the word homosexual did not appear in any version of the Bible until 1946. Translators for the Revised Standard Version (RSV) used it for the first time then, in their translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9. Rather than haggle over a specific word, I’d like to step back and consider the larger issue at stake, which impacts all of humanity: the issue of idolatry. The LGBT Movement is Based on Idolatry To define oneself primarily in terms of a sexual appetite or inclination is to make an idol out of sexuality and its expression. It is worshipping an aspect of creation rather than the Creator. It leads straight toward treating others as sexual objects for our own gratification or bolstering our ego. It’s one thing to love those we love or to have strong feelings toward those who ...

It’s no secret that sexual mores have changed radically over the past few decades. Certain commonsense and natural beliefs about the purpose and nature of sex and marriage have been uprooted. Given the increase in abortion, our cultural addiction to pornography , and the ubiquity of broken marriages, many people are rightly asking how we can bring sanity back to the conversation. What can we do? We need to show how the ideas of the sexual revolution bump up against reality. In other words, the ideas behind the sexual revolution simply don’t match up with human sexuality. Proponents of the sexual revolution propagate ideas, but reality pushes back. Think about it this way: What happens if you try to push a beach ball beneath the surface of the water? The answer is obvious—it pops back up! Push it down one direction and it will come up another. The nature of the beach ball is to float to the surface, even when people try to keep it submerged. The same is true with human sexuality . P...

We are not living in a season of peace. Thinking Christians must surely be aware that a great moral and spiritual conflict is taking shape all around us, with multiple fronts of battle and issues of great importance at stake. The prophet Jeremiah repeatedly warned of those who would falsely declare peace when there is no peace. The Bible defines the Christian life in terms of spiritual battle, and believers in this generation face the fact that the very existence of truth is at stake in our current struggle. The condition of warfare brings a unique set of moral challenges to the table, and the great moral and cultural battles of our times are no different. Even ancient thinkers knew this, and many of their maxims of warfare are still commonly cited. Among the most popular of these is a maxim that was known by many of the ancients—"the enemy of my enemy is my friend." That maxim has survived as a modern principle of foreign policy. It explains why states that have been at...

I love and care about people – from all walks of life; people with various beliefs, ethics, perspectives and lifestyles. I care that humanity and some within the Christian church can be so quick to alienate and ostracise others who are different than them; those who live differently, think differently, speak differently. I also live by my own convictions, and hold to traditional Christian thought on gay lifestyles and gay marriage. I do believe God’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The writings of the apostle Paul in scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear, as I have mentioned in previous public statements. Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles. Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid. I recognise this one statement alone is upsetting to people on both sides of this discussion, which poi...

Only two days after announcing it would hire Christians in same-sex marriages , World Vision U.S. has reversed its ground-breaking decision after weathering intense criticism from evangelical leaders. "The last couple of days have been painful," president Richard Stearns told reporters this evening. "We feel pain and a broken heart for the confusion we caused for many friends who saw this policy change as a strong reversal of World Vision's commitment to biblical authority, which it was not intended to be." "Rather than creating more unity [among Christians], we created more division, and that was not the intent," said Stearns. "Our board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake … and we believe that [World Vision supporters] helped us to see that with more clarity … and we're asking you to forgive us for that mistake." "We listened to [our] friends, we listened to their counsel. They tried to point out in loving wa...