Baggas’ Blog

Excellent ‘blogalogue’ series here at Beliefnet, between skeptical religious scholar Bart Ehrman and Anglican Bishop N T Wright on the problem of pain and suffering and it’s relationship to the claims of Christianity. Ehrman describes how his struggles with this issue ultimately wrecked his Christian faith. He comes from a Christian background, he knows his stuff, and he raises questions that we should take very seriously indeed. Pat answers just won’t do.

EHRMAN : Suffering increasingly became a problem for me and my faith. How can one explain all the pain and misery in the world if God—the creator and redeemer of all—is sovereign over it, exercising his will both on the grand scheme and in the daily workings of our lives? Why, I asked, is there such rampant starvation in the world? … If God is concerned to answer my little prayers about my daily life, why didn’t he answer my and others’ big prayers when millions were being slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, when a mudslide killed 30,000 Columbians in their sleep, in a matter of minutes, when disasters of all kinds caused by humans and by nature happened in the world?

He even provides a pretty good answer to the question himself, but for him it was ultimately still not strong enough for him to retain his belief in God.

EHRMAN : God himself is deeply concerned with suffering and intimately involved with it. The Christian message, for me, at the time, was that Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to us humans, and that in Jesus we can see how God deals with the world and relates to it. He relates to it, I thought, not by conquering it but by suffering for it. Jesus was not set on a throne in Jerusalem to rule over the Kingdom of God. He was crucified by the Romans, suffering a painful, excruciating, and humiliating death for us. What is God like? He is a God who suffers. The way he deals with suffering is by suffering both for us and alongside us.

Fortunately we have one of the best theologians/scholar/pastors in the world today to try and address these questions, and Wright does a good job - although I (like Ehrman) found his first post was not entirely convincing, in his second entry Tom really starts to approach the heart of the matter :

WRIGHT : If one believes, not merely as an intellectual assent to doctrine but as a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then the dark mystery of suffering can be seen within the context of his suffering, and be transformed by it.

Of course, for its fullness this necessarily generates, as I said, the life of the church in and through which evil is then addressed. Part of the ‘transformation’ is that Jesus’ followers go to work as healers, reconcilers, and so on. That’s why the last two chapters of my book are a small attempt to say that the work of believing people in addressing the urgent needs of the world is actually a part of the biblical answer – if you can call it an ‘answer’ – to the problem.

The beginining of God’s answer to the problems of pain and suffering in the world is Jesus’ own sufferings and subsequent resurrection (which, as Wright points out is the climax of the OT story of Abraham and Israel). But the continuation of God’s solution is through the church - we need to be God’s means of reaching out and addressing the pain and suffering of the world.

But then Ehrman goes on to raise another tricky, and most appropriate, question. What about all the instances in the Old Testament where people’s suffering is blamed on their sin - ie. suffering as punishment? And what about all those instances where God himself, or God’s chosen people, inflict mass casualities (eg Noah’s flood, Joshua’s invasion of Caanan)? Very good questions - ones I personally would struggle to answer (and unfortunately Wright doesn’t really address this stuff in much detail in his reply). A strong come back from Ehrman, and yet again he raises a point about Jesus that I would agree with ( for an agnostic he seems to have some good theological insights, just a shame he doesn’t believe them) - The Kingdom of God is not manifest in Jesus only in his sufferings..

EHRMAN : … the Kingdom is manifest in Jesus’ life and work: in the kingdom there will be no disease, no demons, and no death. Jesus manifests this kingdom in the meantime: he heals the sick, he casts out demons, and he raises the dead. This was not a message about some vague power of God breaking in at some period thousands of years hence. It was God breaking in now

The ministry of Jesus in the gospels gives us a good example how we, as part of his Kingdom, should be working in the world - feeding the hungry, healing the sick, remembering the forgotten. Ehrman touches on this point in the following quote :

EHRMAN : Even if we cannot, in the end, know the reasons for suffering, we can at the least have appropriate responses to it. We ourselves can feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked; we can work to solve problems of poverty; we can give money to agencies finding cures for cancer and AIDS; we can volunteer more often locally; we can give more to international relief efforts. We can, in fact, fulfill the urgent demands implicit in Matthew’s account of the judgment between the sheep and the goats, for “as you have done this to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me.”

But ultimately Ehrman’s view is that the Kingdom never did come, and presumably never will. Wright begs to differ, and brings it back to what is the central issue in much of his work - the resurrection.

WRIGHT : But the real dividing line, still – and you still haven’t addressed it – comes with the resurrection. I do think, and I think the early Christians thought, and I think the evangelists (yes, in their different ways) thought, that the kingdom did come through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not ‘come’ fully, of course; but, in the usual language, it was radically inaugurated … For the early Christians, God’s new world – the world where God’s writ runs – had already begun, and they were living in it by the power of the Spirit. Things did change. The early Christians did make a difference. Yes, of course, earthquakes and tsunamis still happen. The NT writers knew that as well as we did, and they went on saying that Jesus was already Lord, not simply that he would become that one day. They weren’t mostly offering, either, an analysis of ‘why evil/suffering happens,’ but they were implementing Jesus’ kingdom-work of challenging evil/suffering in the power of God – not in a sudden all-powerful theocracy, banishing every evil at a stroke, but in their continuing work on the model of Jesus himself and his parables.

All up a great series of posts. Ehrman provides some challenging questions an Wright coming back with some excellent (although perhaps not decisive) answers. Although my heart sides with Wright, I think I’d have to call this debate a draw. If you’d like to read through the posts (and it’s well worth doing) you can start here and just click the right arrowed links at the top of the page to follow them through.

[thanks to Ben Witherington for the link to this debate]

Ben Witherington: Hermeneutics– A Guide for Perplexed Bible Readers

Great post this from Ben Witherington, giving a few basic principles to keep in mind for Biblical interpretation. His three main guidelines are :

1) ‘What it meant is what it means’.

2) ‘Context is king’.

3) Genre matters.

Very sensible stuff and well worth reading through. He gives some entertaining illustrations along the way. Be prepared to be motivated to do more in-depth bible study though rather than settling for a superfical reading.

Laridian Electronic Publishing » PocketBible for Windows Now Available

Laridian are my favourite Bible software company. I used their software on my Palm, now I have it on my PocketPC, and now I can have it on my Windows PC also, with the release of PocketBible for Windows. The beauty of this is that all the various Bible versions, commentaries, dictionaries and other books I have purchased from them can now be viewed on my PC without having to pay for them all over again. All I have to do is login to their website and re-download the versions for Windows, saving me hundreds of dollars.

Also they have a version for the iPhone coming out next week. No word about a Mac OS version though…

EDIT : I’ve also created a file which contains our church Bible reading plan for use with Pocket Bible. This is a great plan which takes your through the OT once and NT twice each year. You can download the installer file for Pocket Bible for PocketPC here . There is no installer for Pcoket Bible for Windows but you can get the plan in there by copying the “lbk” file in this zip file into the directory where your other Laridian Books are installed. I’ve also discovered this can be done for any other Laridian books for PocketBible for PocketPC, even the ancient ones which don’t have a Windows installer available for download…

Here’s a parable that’s been on my mind lately :

The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8 NIV)

 1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

 4“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”

 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Now the first thing I want to note about this, as a bit of an aside, is that we should be wary of trying to read deep significance into every little detail or aspect of a Biblical passage. In this parable obviously the old woman represents praying believers and the judge stands for God - but he’s not a direct substitute for God. God is not a grumpy old man who only answers prayers if we nag him so we will shut up. Jesus was telling his story to make a point, and as always he would have used things which his audience would have been familiar with. Maybe there was a judge in that town just like that, and hearing the story the people might have had a bit of a chuckle, thinking “Yeh that sounds like grumpy old judge Hezekiah” Jesus may have used the details in this way to engage the audience a bit more.

But leaving aside the details, what is the lasting message of this story? Is it that the way to get answers to our prayers is to continually hound God about that same thing day and night until he finally gives in? Actually the interpretation is given in verse 1 - the disciples should always pray and not give up. It’s not a recipe for how to pray, but rather an encouragement to those who are already praying, in the midst of an unjust situation, saying keep it up - if even an unjust judge like this will finally grant justice to the petitioner, how much more so will our God, who loves us, grant justice and mercy to us? The central point of the parable is a comparison, with the same effect as this passage in Matthew 7:9-10 :

9“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The parable paints a picture of how things are on earth, and then says how much better than that is God. And if this is the sort of God we are praying to, then we should be persistent and not give up, because he will come through for us in his time.

Prayer is a tricky subject. We pray and pray and pray for something and if we get the answer we hope for, we are immediately and correctly thankful. And if we don’t get the answer we want then we rationalise it by saying it must not be God’s will or God’s timing. What we are afraid to do is question why, to get angry with God and “argue it out” (Is 1:18  -MSG) And prayer where we don’t do that is tame prayer. Bold prayer, risking disappointment, and not being afraid to ask why, is the sort of prayer God calls us to - just look at the Psalms and prophets. These guys were not afraid to really get deep and express how they feel.

My next book is C.S. Lewis “Letters to Malcolm - chiefly on prayer” - I’ll be interested to see what insights Lewis has on the topic, and will try to post some quotes here if I get the chance amidst our travels.

Just came across the most recent statistics for Bible sales from the Christian Booksellers Association of America, which is based on the number of Bibles sold in January in the USA and Canada :

I must admit I’m a bit stumped by this. Why on earth is the KJV so popular? The language is so archaic that it’s virtually impossible to read, and it’s textual basis has been significantly eroded by more recent discoveries. I guess there are plenty of cheap KJVs out there so price might be a factor, but then again it’s possible to score a decent paperback NIV or other more modern version at a very low price so I doubt that’s a major reason. Could it be due to the influence of weirdos like these people, who believe that the KJV alone is the infallible and inspired word of God in English? I always thought these sort of people were more fringe fundamentalists and would never have imagined that they held enough sway to drive a 400 year old almost unitelligible book to the top of the sales lists! I don’t think I even own a KJV aside from the one on my Palm Pilot, which I downloaded for free when I got my Bible software - but I rarely even look at that version. I do have a couple of NKJVs in print form, but although the ‘Thees’ and ‘Thous’ have been removed I still find the style a bit old fashioned and hard to follow at times.

I guess the sad thing is that millions of people are buying (and reading?) Bibles which they would probably find difficult to understand. Could the language be a major barrier for them to be getting the most out of what they are reading?

Read the rest of this entry »

I haven’t seen it feature in the mainsteam media much as yet, but reports are beginning to circulate on the net about Titanic director James Cameron’s latest documentary, about a tomb unearthed in Jerusalem which they claim is that of Jesus and his family. For some reason this doesn’t seem to be garnering the kind of attention that the Gospel of Judas got last year, even despite the Hollywood clout of Cameron. Perhaps because their premise and logic is so far-fetched that it simply smacks of a pseudo-controversy drummed up to sell books and videos.

Anyway, before this story gets any more attention, let me point you in the direction of some good blog entries on the subject by some reputable New Testament scholars :

• Ben Witherington: THE JESUS TOMB? ‘TITANIC’ TALPIOT TOMB THEORY SUNK FROM THE START
• Darrell Bock : Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus’ Family Tomb, What Do They Share?
• Scot McKnight : Was Jesus Married? One More Time

The Beloved Disciple?

Traditionally the character of the “beloved disciple” in the gospel of John has been identified with the apostle John the son of Zebedee, who was held to be the author of the gospel. In more recent times this has been a less popular theory and a range of alternatives have been proposed (such as the Da Vinci Code’s suggestion of Mary Magdalene).

Ben Witherington, in the above linked blog post, has an interesting idea - that the Beloved Disciple may be in fact be Lazarus of Bethany, the guy who Jesus raised from the dead. Ben’s article presents a quite plausible argument to advance this idea, and is a fascinating read. Identifying Lazarus as the Beloved Disciple really makes sense of the gospel material about this character. Check it out.

slacktivist: Parable

In this modern retelling, Slacktivist brings an ancient parable to life. Brilliant!

“The Christian faith grows out of and is sustained by the conversation between the church and its Bible. From this engagement, generation after generation, come the beliefs, the ethics, the liturgy, the purposes, and the relationships that define the Christian faith. To be sure, other voices enter the conversation, invited and uninvited, affecting the language used and the conclusions reached; but the primary and most influential partners are the community and the book. Of course, not all persons in the community are equally engaged in the conversation; some prefer to be silent, and some are silenced. Neither do all the books of the Bible participate equally. The reasons for this unevenness usually lie in the contents of the writings themselves, but not always. Sometimes there is quite a distance between what a document has to say and the church’s willingness or ability to hear it. The Letter to the Hebrews is a case in point.”

~ Fred B. Craddock - Introduction to Hebrews - New Interpreter’s Bible Vol XII : Hebrews - Revelation

 

A Bible for Our Times - purgatorio

As I’ve said before I don’t personally have a problem with Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible paraphrase. However I did find this version from the eternally humorous Purgatorio pretty funny, as I’m sure will those who are less keen on The Message - check it out.

Now I’m sure this verse I just read doesn’t actually mean what it seems to, but I’d be surprised if some US Republican (or Australian Liberal) politician hasn’t made use of it at some point…

The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of a fool to the left.

~ Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NRSV)

Or maybe it’s the reason why Americans drive on the wrong (right-hand) side of the road - perhaps they see it as being more biblical! Can anyone illuminate me on what this verse is really trying to say?

PS : I love the actual name of the Hebrew author of this book - Qohelet - now there’s one you could call your kids. Almost as cool as Og!

I’ve been reading a bit of Ecclesiastes recently so this quote from George Orwell I came across today was timely. It’s his transalation of Ecc 9:11 into “modern English”…

I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Here it is in modern English:

Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

Now that proves that big words aren’t always best. It’s almost like a complete opposite of The Message - an anti-Message if you like. I’ve noted online, in reading, and in conversation recently quite a bit of antipathy towards The Message. While I accept the reservations about it being one person’s paraphrase, rather than an accurate translation, I still think it can be quite a useful adjunct, to help get a fresh spin on things. You wouldn’t want to use it as your sole version of the Bible though. Personally for me I’ve been combining the NLT and NRSV of late which is a nice mix.

Anyway you can read more about the Orwell quote and the writing principles it illustrates on Steve Addison’s excellent blog World Changers (yet another one to keep an eye on…)

» Orwell on writing Steve Addison’s blog » World Changers

There are few phrases in our culture more blasphemous than that of the “self made man.”

Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

~ Psalm 100:3 (NKJV)

Good Friday. At a simple level, giving it a brief thought, it’s a bit of a silly name. How can this Friday be good? The name is as paradoxical, as nonsensical, as the events of the day itself. How can the execution of an innocent man be a positive thing? How can a crucified man be the Messiah? The answers to these questions may seem straighforward to us who live in the world after Sunday, but put yourself in the position of the people of Jerusalem that day, especially the followers of Jesus - to them the day would be anything but ‘good.’ Indeed, put yourself in the shoes of someone in that world hearing the gospel message for the first time - it would sound completely crazy. Utter foolishness! (1 Cor 1:21-25)

We’re so used to the day being “good” it sometimes helps to remember just how “bad” it must have felt that first day. So many times I’ve heard it spoken that “We don’t need to be sad today remembering the crucifixion. We don’t need to be sombre and quiet, because we know the secret of what happens next. We know what happens on Sunday. Therefore, even though today is Good Friday, we can still celebrate the risen Jesus!” Now that’s all true but I think that approach misses something, something that the historic church with it’s liturgical calendar etc still appreciates. It doesn’t hurt to be sad on Good Friday. In fact it’s probably a healthy thing for us to try and appreciate just how serious, how awful, how painful and tragic this day really was. Remember the disappointment and brokenness of the disciples - their leader betrayed and murdered, their dreams shattered. Remember Mary, at the foot of the cross, her own heart pierced watching her son suffer. And remember the physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish of Jesus, forsaken by men and by God. Sure, we know the good news that comes after, the joy of the resurrection, but it helps to remember part of why that news is so good, and part of that is the contrast with the badness of Friday. So there’s nothing wrong today with a little dose of sorrow, brokenness and mourning (which I can relate to following the funeral of my grandfather this week) Good Friday is a day of power, a day of change, a day of fulfillment. I hope that many people stop and remember that today.

It’s often said that in answer to prayer, God will give answers along the lines of “yes”, “no”, and “wait.” Yet sometimes he might also give us the things we ask for, even if they are things that are not really good for us. An answer along the lines of “well I think this is a bad idea, but here you go - if it’s what you really want…” (Parents, does that sound familiar?)

Reading the last few days in 1 Samuel 8-10, there’s a great example of this very thing. The people of Israel are crying out for a king like all the other nations, despite God’s repeated warnings that this is not what is best for them. And so God gives them exactly what they ask for, an impressive, tall dark and handsome king who also happens to be an airhead and a coward. It’s a pretty comical story. When we first meet Saul he is out unsuccesfully hunting down some lost donkeys (he never does find them - God sends them home for him) and needs to be pushed every step of the way by his resourceful servant. This guy seems to have no initiative or leadership skills whatsoever. Next up, when the ballots select Saul as king (as he had already been foretold that they would) where is he? Hiding amongst the baggage! What a wuss. But they found him and crowned him king anyway. The most you could say for Saul is that he was humble at least, but even this quality didn’t last very long. So God gave the people what they asked for - an impressive good looking king like all the other nations. But not only did they get what they asked for, they also got what they deserved. In the ensuing chapters (and indeed the whole of the books of Samuel and Kings, with a few notable exceptions) you can almost hear the echo of the words of God hanging in the background - a great big “I told you so!” So be careful what you pray for - you just might get it!

Still fiddling around with this blog - there sure are heaps of cool plugins available for Wordpress.

The newest one I’ve installed is the Scripturizer, which automatically creates links of any Bible references in posts, to the translation of your choice (and they have a huge number to choose from). Just to test it out here’s a few (random) verses :

• Romans 12:2
• Rom 4:9
• 1 Sam 9
• Isa 55:4-12
• Jude 7
• 2 Chr 7:11
• Matt 12-15
• Rev 12:3,11

The gospel according to iPod - The Other Side - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au - yet another iPod story. This time news.com.au are reporting the upcoming release of some software from Zondervan and Talking Panda Software which will allow you to listen to an audio Bible on your iPod whilst at the same time being able to read the text on the iPod screen. This will go on sale in February and will cost $US49.99.

I hate to burst their bubble, but this product isn’t so innovative as it seems. My favourite PDA Bible software company, Laridian, a few months back released iPocketBible, which does exactly the same thing. This is one of the few Laridian products that I don’t own (since I already have an audio Bible on my iPod) but it looks very good, as you can see in the screenshots below. So if you don’t want to have to wait til February to hear and read the Bible on your iPod, then check out iPocketBible (the cost is the same).

The one thing that did amuse me from the news article above is their little pun, “The product, which wits have dubbed the Book of Jobs, after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, will cost $US49.99 ($66)” It’s a pretty lame joke but it gave me a smile. Speaking of Job, check out this cool passage from Job 22:23-30 that I came across earlier today.

Just to further comment on an element of chapter 2 of Celebration of Discipline, where Richard Foster talks about meditatio Scripturarum, the meditation upon scripture. Foster talks about personalizing what we read, imagining ourselves as first hand observers or participants in the narrative. When I read it I thought it was a good idea but didn’t give it too much thought after that, however this morning in church we had a great message from Jason Gray which really brought this principle home to me. In it he really vividly described how he would have felt if he was there in Gethsemane, or there with David as he fleed Absalom. And he even took it the next step, not only imagining himself into the biblical story, but transporting one of the biblical characters Shimei into his own life, mocking him as his car broke down after a long bad day. Now that’s a great way to apply the Bible to your life, not simply trying to extract abstract principles which you can try to live by, but by immersing yourself in the narrative, using your imagination to try and get what it’s all about, as St Ignatius of Loyola encouraged “to apply all our senses to the task. Smell the sea. Hear the lap of water along the shore. See the crowd. Feel the sun on your head and the hunger in your stomach. Taste the salt in the air. Touch the hem of his garment.” (Celebration of Discipline p29)

Anyway if you want to have a listen to this great message by Jason for yourself you can download it here from the Warnbro podcast.

Also for more links on the topic of Christian meditation try the wikipedia article. As always with wikipedia there’s a lot there to explore and I’ve barely scratched the surface of it yet.

A few weeks ago I commented on the fact that we have at least 14 Bibles in our house, and that in spite of that I spend far too little tme reading them (actually the tally now is at least 15, and I’ve got my eye on another one…) Well the author of this article from Christianity Today describes a similar situation in his home. The Living Bible Reborn - a history of the New Living Translation. The NLT is my current favourite version so this article was very interesting describing how it evolved from the Living Bible, and contrasting it with other versions like the NIV. He also mentions just how lucky we are now to have so many different translations on offer, in contrast to the “bad old days” when all they had was the King James Version (how horrible would that be?)

I found the link to this article on a new blog I discovered this morning - These Infinite Spaces. I like a lot of what CraigS has to say so it’ll be another good one to keep an eye on. Just as an example of some of his wisdom here is a great quote from his comments on the discussion to one of his other posts :

“Evangelicalism has often responded to pastoral needs with a “take two verses and see me in the morning” approach, which I believe to be quite damaging.
How many times have christians with clinical depression been told “Rejoice in the Lord always” - as if that would somehow cure their illness.”

As a Christian, and a doctor, I appreciate the analogy. Complex problems need complex answers, not just simple knee-jerk reflex prescriptions of verses. Anyway I have to go to church now so there’s no time to discuss that more, but well worth reading his blog.

“Those who put their trust in God will come to understand the truth of his ways. Those who have been faithful will live with him in his love for he is kind and merciful to the ones whom he has chosen.”

Whilst rearranging some of our bookshelves last night I decided to do a count and discovered that we have at least 14 different copies of the Bible in our house! And that’s excluding Children’s Bibles, audio Bible, PC Bibles, and the 13 different translations I have on my Palm Pilot (and Jenni’s Palm also.) Sounds pretty impressive doesn’t it?

But what’s the use of that when I still spend more time reading the newspaper each day than reading any of those Bibles? Or when people in countries like China and other places still struggle to even get one Bible to read? So there’s a bit of a wake up call to appreciate how lucky we are in that, and to spend a lot more time making use of all this, rather than letting it sit idly on the shelf (or on a memory card or CD) all the time.

It’d be interesting to see what the average number of Bibles is in “Christian households” Wonder if anyone’s ever done a survey on that?

Discovered an interesting verse today :

Ezekiel 16:49
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom : she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and the needy.”

Now the word Sodom is one that is often associated with homosexuality, and many would leap to the conclusion that this was the sin that led to the destruction of Sodom. This verse makes it clear that this is not the case, and that God’s priorities and concerns with regards to sin may be quite different to what some might think. How many of us today, even within the church, are guilty of the sin of Sodom, sitting with arrogant, judgemental attitudes, overfed (both materially and possibly spiritually as well - overfed with knowledge) and unconcerned about the poor and needy and hungry in the world around us? We need to address this sin in ourselves before worrying too much about sins in others, because this is what God cares about - just look at the teachings of Jesus and you’ll see what I mean.

Ragamuffin Ramblings: Just how shocking is the Gospel?

I found the above link via Roo’s blog this morning - it’s John 4 retold in a modern (or postmodern?) setting in which Jesus asks for water from a gay man, whilst his disciples are off getting Subway (mmmm Subway) - a very thought-provoking (and humorous) read. Check it out.

EDIT : it seems like this John 4 retelling is generating quite a bit of discussion around the blogosphere at the moment. Joel at The Bench has made some excellent comments about it, which are worth reading, particularly his personal note at the end.

Happy Christmas!

Wishing all who read this a joyful, safe, and happy Christmas Day.
Hope you get lots of nice presents, consume plenty of yummy food and drink, and enjoy yourself and relax in the presence of your loved-ones.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness of the day and not take time to reflect on what it’s all about, so here’s a couple of brief passages from The Message just to give us something to ponder. The first tells us what happened on the first Christmas, and the second passage gives us an insight into the significance of it…

So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiance, who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.” At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
~ Luke 2:4-14 (MsgB)

Read the rest of this entry »

“Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation.”
~ 1 Timothy 2:2 (The Message)

This passage is often quoted with an exhortation that we should pray for our government leaders, even if we disagree with them, so that we will be governed wisely. And certainly this is true, and I should pray for whoever gets voted in as our next leader, even if it’s not the man I would have chosen.

But what’s the role of prayer in a democratic election? Is it valid to pray that the candidate you favour wins? This is something that bears thought as we are approaching crucial elections in both Australia and the USA. Like the many other selfish prayers I offer up, I’m tempted to pray that the leader I favour is elected as PM, especially since I really can’t stomach the thought of the other guy winning. I’ll pray for the other guy if he wins, sure, but I’d rather not have to. I’d be really interested to hear what other people think about this. Is praying to influence the result of an election a valid thing to do, and does it make a difference anyway? Or do we just get who the voters (or God?) have chosen for us irrespective.

What do you think??

PS - the second half of that verse almost sounds like an argument in favour of ’small government’. I wonder how much of Eugene Petersen’s political leanings are infiltrating there.