Kim Hill interviews Oxford Professor John Lennox. Here is the MP3:
Update: The Pilgrim’s Progress Book donations to NZ Prisoners
Society (SPCS) members donated $4,950 in 2010 towards the printing of multiple copies of John Bunyan’s classic work – The Pilgrim’s Progress, and donated $5,245 in 2011: – a total of $10,195 donated over two years (see advertisement for donations on homepage of website). In addition SPCS has raised thousands of dollars from non-members towards this Books in Prisons project via an effective advertising campaign through its newsletters. Donations were used just for printing costs.
The Society has arranged and paid for the distribution of hundreds of the books to prisoners in all 20 NZ prisons. Within the last two weeks it dispatched 26 copies to the Otago Corrections Facility and 20 copies for distribution to the Christchurch Mens Prision.
One prison chaplain recently reported that once word is out that the books are available within the prison, they “fly off the shelf” – snapped up by prisoners seeking spiritual answers found a book that chronicles in timeless allegory the journey of a man – Pilgrim – from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City of God (Heaven).
Pilgrim’s burden of guilt and shame for his sin is lifted from him at the Cross of Christ where he finds forgiveness, God-given faith and the new joy and hope that is the fruit of a true conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ – and is accompanied by genuine repentance.
Author John Bunyan wrote the book while serving time in prison himself and the work is a truly creative expression of his own spiritual journey. It is deeply and richly ingrained with the biblical insights and wisdon he gained after he became a committed believer and follower of Jesus Christ.
The Society executive wishes to thank all its members and others who have contributed so generously towards this Books for Prisoners Project. The work is ongoing and we are heartened by your support and the positive feedback we have received from those working with prisoners who have gained access to the books (Prison Fellowship, Chaplaincy Services etc).
This project in part serves to fulfill the Society’s primary charitable purpose: the promotion of the spiritual and moral welfare of society. In addition it constitutes a public benefit (i.e. it is beneficial to the community) in a number of self-evident ways (e.g. education and/or rehabilitation of prisoners, relief and/or redemption of prisoners, and aiding the poor etc).
In order to be considered charitable as “any other matters beneficial to the community“, purposes must be beneficial to the community and must be within the spirit and intendment of the purposes set out in the Preamble to The Charitable Uses Act 1601 (the Statute of Elizabeth).
The purposes must benefit the community in a way that the law regards as charitable. The Books for Prisoners Project most definitely qualifies as such and has been positively commended by officials of the Charities Commission when they have met with SPCS executive members on two occasions at the Charities Commission Offices in Wellington.
Britain Launches War on Multiculturalism – Stonegate Institute
The government says it will work to restore the Christian faith to the center of public life in Britain. This article from the Stonegate Institute is food for thought …………..
“We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values. … I believe a genuinely liberal country… believes in certain values and actively promotes them.” — David Cameron
The British government has unveiled a new “integration strategy” designed to “champion a united British identity.”
The new policy will require immigrants seeking admission to live in the United Kingdom to learn English and adhere to “mainstream” British culture and values such as democracy and the rule of law.
The measures represent a continuation of recent efforts by the government to reverse decades of state-sponsored multicultural policies that have allowed Muslim immigrants to avoid integration and establish a parallel society in Britain.
The new strategy document titled “Creating the Conditions for Integration” was published on February 21 and states: “We will robustly challenge behaviors and views which run counter to our shared values such as democracy, rule of law, equality of opportunity and treatment, freedom of speech and the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution of any kind. We will marginalize and challenge extremists who seek to undermine our society and we will neither engage with nor fund such organizations.”
The document continues: “The long-term presence of a highly diverse population is generally an indicator of good integration and a strong sense that different people get on well. But this can be undermined and even reversed by a range of factors, for example if groups within the local community work and socialize separately.”
Among a series of other measures, the government says it will reform laws on immigration and settlement by increasing the requirements on those who want to settle in Britain. Those coming to the United Kingdom to work, study or marry will be required to demonstrate an ability to speak English, and those wishing to remain permanently or seek British citizenship will be required to demonstrate their knowledge of language and life within the United Kingdom.
The new strategy also promotes the teaching of British history and culture in schools and encourages the flying of flags in public places. In addition, the government says it will work to restore the Christian faith to the center of public life in Britain.
For full article by Soeren Kern dated February 24, 2012 go to: http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2876/britain-multiculturalism
Help us get a copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress to prisoners in NZ prisons
What better way to fulfill our Society’s charitable aims of “promoting moral and spiritual welfare” among this sector of society, than to supply a high quality and easy-to-read book to each of our 8,800 prisoners: one that promotes spiritual and moral values!
Pro-life testimony – celebrating Christian tradition
World renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who has sold more than 70 million albumns worldwide, in an interview with Bryony Gordon of the Telegraph Group, told her that religion has “first place in my life. I do not think anyone can ever do anything without the help and will of God”.
Speaking in pidgin English,via a translator, he stated: “I am a very passionate man,” and “I do haf a verry beeg reeespect for sex.”
Gordon writes:
He is passionately pro-life, and last year filmed a video expressing his views which, when posted on the web, was hailed by anti-abortion campaigners as “one of the most beautiful, authentic things ever seen”.
In it, Bocelli sits at a piano and tells the camera that he wants to recount a “little story” about a young pregnant woman who is admitted to hospital with a misdiagnosed case of appendicitis. After tests, “the doctors advised her to abort the child. They told her that would be the best solution because the child would doubtless be born with some kind of disability. But the courageous young wife decided not to terminate the pregnancy, and the child was born. The woman was my mother, I was the child”. [Read more…]