Baggas’ Blog

The focus of the world is on sport over the next fortnight, and the best international sport not being featured in Beijing would have to be cricket. I’m not a huge sports fan but I have always been a lover of cricket. Cricket is huge in Australia, and heroes like the great Don Bradman are honoured like saints… but perhaps cricket is even more saintly than we imagined…

According to an ancient Armenian manuscript, Jesus may have played a form of cricket as a child on the shores of the sea of Galilee. Check out this fascinating story from The Age. It seems Jesus had an unfair advantage in this form of beach cricket though, with his ability to walk on water! Cool.

Occaisionally when surfing channels I’ll wind up on the Comedy Channel watching shows like the Colbert Report. He has some interesting guests but an annoying tendency to continually interrupt them in order to get his jokes in. Anyway, here’s an interview he does with my favourite Bishop, N T Wright, about his latest (excellent) book Suprised by Hope. Good interview, funny in places, annoying in others, but in general Tom holds his own and gets his point across (sort of). Take a look…

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]

‘Suppose brethren, a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for her … Certainly, let her love his gift: but, if she should say, “The ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again” what would we say of her? The pledge given her by the betrothed is just that, in his pledge, he himself may be loved. God, then, had given you all these things. Love Him who made them.’

~ St Augustine

Bible Belt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bible Belt is an informal term for an area in which socially conservative Christian Evangelical Protestantism is a dominant part of the culture. The term “Bible Belt” was coined by the American journalist and social commentator H.L. Mencken in the early 1920s.

In particular, in the United States it is an idiom^[1] for the region where the Southern Baptist Convention denomination is strongest (though many other denominations, such as the Church of Christ and Assemblies of God can be found there as well), usually meaning the South and nearby areas.

Much of the Bible Belt consists of the American South. Ironically, this region was originally colonized not for purposes of establishing a religious haven (as was the case in the Puritan colonies of New England), but for economic reasons - specifically, for the growing of cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, rice, and indigo. During the colonial period (1607-1776), the South was a stronghold of the Anglican church. Its transition into a conservative Protestant Bible Belt occurred gradually over the next century, as a series of religious revival movements, many associated with the Baptist denomination, gained great popularity in the region.

Thus, the region is usually contrasted with mainstream Protestants and liberal Catholics of the northeast, the religiously diverse Midwest, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular western United States, where the percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the nation, reaching its maximum in the northwestern state of Washington at 27%, compared to the Bible belt state of Alabama, at only 6%. [..read more..]

Tzadikim Nistarim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tzadikim Nistarim or Lamed Vav Tzadikim (ל”ו צדיקים) refers to 36 Righteous (or Saintly) people, a notion rooted within the more mystical dimensions of Judaism. (In Hebrew gematria, Lamed is the letter representing “thirty”, and vav represents “six”. Tzadikim is the plural for “righteous” or “saintly”). They are also known as the Lamed vavniks (the “Thirty Six” [people]). They may also be referred to as Tzadikim Nistarim: “Hidden Righteous [Saints]”.

Mystical Hasidic Judaism as well as other segments of Judaism know that there is the Jewish tradition of 36 righteous men whose role in life is to justify the purpose of mankind in the eyes of God; their identity is unknown to each other; if one of them comes to a realization of his true purpose then he may die and his role is immediately assumed by another person:

The Lamed-Vav Tzaddikim are also called the Nistarim (”concealed ones”). In our folk tales, they emerge from their self-imposed concealment and, by the mystic powers, which they possess, they succeed in averting the threatened disasters of a people persecuted by the enemies that surround them. They return to their anonymity as soon as their task is accomplished, ‘concealing’ themselves once again in a Jewish community wherein they are relatively unknown. The lamed-vavniks, scattered as they are throughout the Diaspora, have no acquaintance with one another. On very rare occasions, one of them is ‘discovered’ by accident, in which case the secret of their identity must not be disclosed. The lamed-vavniks do not themselves know that they are one of the 36. In fact, tradition has it that should a person claim to be one of the 36, that is proof positive that he is certainly not one. Since the 36 are each exemplars of anavah, (”humility”), having such a virtue would preclude against one’s self-proclamation of being among the special righteous. The 36 are simply too humble to believe that they are one of the 36. [..read more..]

George Barna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Barna is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. He leads seminars for church leaders, speaks at ministry conferences, has taught at seminaries, and has been a pastor. He has also written more than three-dozen books on contemporary Christian issues, with topics ranging from children to leadership. Barna has coined several terms, including Mosaic Generation, which he uses to describe those born between 1984 and 2002; theolographics, used to describe the theological perspectives and applications of people; and spiritainment, which describes the blending of spiritality and entertainment toward influencing people’s spiritual perspectives.

Polls produced by The Barna Group are the most quoted polls within Evangelical circles. They are generally interpreted from an evangelical perspective. His research has revealed “a radical gap between what we heard Christians professing they believed and the values and the lifestyle that grew out of the values.” [..read more..]

Methodism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Methodism or the Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity. The Methodist movement traces its origin to the evangelistic teaching of John Wesley. It originated in 18th century Britain, and through vigorous missionary activity, spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond. Originally it appealed especially to workers, agricultural workers, and slaves. Theologically most Methodists are Arminian, emphasizing that Christ accomplished salvation for every human being, and that humans must exercise an act of the will to be saved (as opposed to the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement); and low church in liturgy (although this varies greatly in individual chapels; the Wesleys themselves greatly valued the Anglican liturgy and tradition). There are also a number of Calvinistic Methodists in Wales. In 2006 Methodism claimed some seventy-five million members worldwide.  [..read more..]

Archbishop of Uppsala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until early 20th century) has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.

There have been bishops in Uppsala from the time of Swedish King Ingold the Elder in the 11th century. They were governed by the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen until Uppsala was made an archbishopric in 1164. The archbishop in Lund (which at that time belonged to Denmark) was simultaneously declared primate of Sweden, meaning it was his right to select and ordain the Uppsala archbishop by handing him the pallium. But to gain independence, Folke Johansson Ängel in 1274 went to Rome and was ordained directly by the Pope. This practice was ever increasing, so that no Uppsala archbishop has been ordained in Lund after Olov Björnsson, in 1318. But not until 1457 was the archbishop Jöns Bengtsson (Oxenstierna) allowed to declare himself prima Suecia. [..read more.. ]

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

Now I’m probably not legitimately qualified to be critical of the Left Behind series of religious novels, since I haven’t read a single page. I’ve heard they can be semi-entertaining in a comic book kind of way, yet all I hear of their theology and it’s ramifications is quite disturbing. But someone is is qualified to comment is the Slacktivist, a well educated American Christian blogger and writer, who is slowly working his way through the first book on his blog, in addition to his other insightful and sensible comments on US politics and other subjects. Following his blog is like getting the Left Behind novel in serialised form - I’m able to follow the story while at the same time Slacktivist mercilessly demolishes it - his criticisms are not just theological, but also ethical, logical, and above all literary. He has a large following and gets plenty of comments, the majority of which agree with him, so I’m not sure how the Left Behind fans would find his site. For me, I’ve found it very entertaining (quite humorous at times), thought-provoking and illuminating, and will continue to keep a regular eye on it.

On a related issue, the book I’m currently reading by Ben Witherington III (who also has an interesting blog) called The Problem with Evangelical Theology systematically debunks the theology behind Left Behind. His arguments are relatively easy to follow and make a lot of sense, despite the depth he goes into in his detailed analysis of scripture. A little denser (and perhaps more unsettling) is when he takes on some more theological heavyweights in his criticisms of the theology of Calvin, Luther, and Augustine. Once again his arguments are logical and seem to make sense, but I feel out of my depth in making any judgement as to who’s right about these things. As a layperson dipping fingers into the deep well of theology, it’s important to remain humble and not just blindly accept whatever I read. However much I wish otherwise, I just am not well enough educated or qualified to make these sort of judgements (and will probably never be). All I can do is say to myself what feels right and logical and scriptural and say what system seems best to me, whilst acknowledging that I don’t know for sure. For example Witherington’s views on perseverance and apostasy are quite challenging and confronting and his exegetical reasoning seems to make sense - but I am not in a position to confidently conclude whether I believe him or not. The sensible reaction for me is to ask myself not “Is he right or wrong” but “what if he is right? what ramifications does that have for the way in which I conduct my life?” and thinking in that way is both sobering and worthwhile. Some might say it’s dangerous ground for a layperson to go exploring in matters of theology, but I think as long as I maintain a healthy level of “epistemological humility” and realisation of my own limitations, it can be a valuable enterprise.

Scot McKnight - Embracing Grace

In this wonderful book, Scot McKnight provides a fresh picture of a gospel of restoration. Humans were created as images (”eikons” is the term Scot prefers) of God, and the gospel is the message of Jesus acting to restore “cracked Eikons” to their original state. According to McKnight in the introduction,

“The gospel is the work of God to restore humans in union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world”

This restoration is an active process, intimately entwined with living a ‘Kingdom lifestyle’ in line with the life of Jesus and his teachings, summed up in the “Jesus Creed” of loving God and others (see Scot’s other excellent book for more about that.) Hence the restoration also involves the healing of relationships with God, other people, and creation as a whole, and thus cannot take place in isolation. McKnight identifies western individualism as one of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing us from completely embracing this gracious gospel. Individualism is essentially a process of exclusion, diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus which is one of embrace, towards God and others. Scot quotes quite a bit from Miroslav Volf’s “Exclusion and Embrace” a book that I’ve had on my wishlist for quite some time, but have now finally gotten around to ordering, as a result of reading this book.

This is a very powerful, deeply thought out, yet easy to read book. Scot McKnight has the knowledge and depth of a theologian (which he is) with the heart of a pastor - actually more than that - the heart of an eikon being restored to it’s true state. His writing style is engaging and never bogs you down. In fact he’s almost too down to earth at times (what on earth is “tohu va-bohu” Scot?? My only slight frustration with this book was seeing this strange unfamiliar word written over and over again! lol)

Anyway read this book. And then read it again. Let the concept soak into your mind. One can only imagine the sort of results we might see, personally and communally, if this kind of wholistic gospel was embraced by many more Christians.

Dallas Willard - The Spirit of the Disciplines
I picked up this book expecting another book along the lines of Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, yet it was nothing of the sort. The actual description of the individual disciplines was confined to a fairly brief section in the middle of the book. Leading up to that was a quite intense and valuable exposition of a theology of discipline, clearly stating how essential the practice of disciplines is to a fulfilled Christian life. Willard as always expresses the idea that being a Christian is more than just a “ticket to heaven” but rather should be a complete turnaround in our mindset, actions, and purpose in life. And it is through the practice of the disciplines that we co-operate with God making these changes in us, as we imitate Jesus.

“Once the individual has, through divine initiative, become alive to God and his Kingdom, the extent of integration of his or her total being into that Kingdom order significantly depends on the individual’s initiative.” p68

It was the final part of the book where I got a bit lost. In this section Willard details what he sees as the sociopolitical consequences of a mass renewal in Christian disciplines. He paints a picture of a Christian Utopia, a system of government which is almost a mix between the book of Judges and Plato’s Republic. I won’t immediately say that I disagree with it (needs a bit more processing) but it certainly isn’t the sort of concept you come across every day.

As with all of Willard’s books the writing style is very dense, dripping with meaning in every sentence, yet at the same time of variable clarity. There are some parts which shine with a powerful meaning that hits you right in the face, and there are other sections which feel a little like wading through thick marshland - the value is still there, but you need to concentrate a little harder and take it a bit slower to appreciate and understand it. Overall I would heartily recommend this book to all Christians. The message of the first half of the book is well worth it, leading us to a wider, deeper understanding of “salvation” replete with both increased power, and increased responsibility.

Genealogy — Adam, King David, the Queen - bizarre website this. It traces the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II back through to King David of Israel and then on back to Adam, via a bunch of Irish monarchs with unpronounceable names. It would be interesting to see if this Irish-Jewish connection has any validity to it at all. Also interesting are some of the eschatological conclusions the owner of the website (the aptly named “David King”) draws elsewhere on his site…

Queen Elizabeth II is of the House of David, of the tribe of Judah. Her throne in London will eventually be taken over by the Son of David, Jesus Christ the Messiah, when He returns to the earth in power and glory

Discovered this interesting quiz over at Phil Baker’s blog. Seems I’m not all that heretical after all. Wish I could say I knew exactly what all those heresies were though, might need to spend a while in Wikipedia brushing up on them…

Are you a heretic?
created with QuizFarm.com

Below is an image I found quite humorous, but it’s the sort of think you’d probably get only if you are familiar with both author Brian McLaren and the Veggie Tales TV show. If so, then click the link below, if not then please ignore this post…
Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who are into podcasting I thought I’d highlight a couple of good podcasts.
1. Conversatio fide - this is a good ‘emergent’ podcast which collates files from a range of sources, in addition to their own material. At the moment they are featuring some talks from the Generous Orthodoxy Conference held recently in Washington D.C. The messages all look pretty good so I’ll be listening to all of them over the next few days.

2. Warnbro Church - continues to produce great podcasts, which are now listed in the iTunes directory. Today’s message from Mark O’Brien is a great one on the feedings of the 5,000 and 4,000, especially good coming so soon after I read those passages in Tom Wright’s Mark for Everyone. What was good about both these guys is the way they took the passages in their context, rather just as isolated stories, and thus bring out further meaning and application that might otherwise have been missed. Wright is a master at doing this, and I’m getting a huge amount out of this book. I’d definitely encourage you to get a hold of it, and the others in the commentary series - it will really enhance your reading of the NT. If you are in Australia you may find it hard to find - Koorong in Perth have one copy on display, wedged in amongst a huge pile of thick older NT commentaries, but you can get them cheaper shipped from Amazon, and they are newer nicer editions too (see this Amazon list for these and more of Tom Wright’s books). Sorry that was going off on a bit of a tangent to the podcast theme but I’m just so enthused about these books

Generally I have 2 or 3 (or more) books on the go at any one time. I’ll often have a combination of one or two religious books and a fiction (like the Patrick O’Brian novels) or non fiction book (like Freakonomics, which is next on my shelf) My current reading is a little different in that the two books I’m reading are extremely complimentary, perfect to read together, although I didn’t plan it that way.

The first is N T Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God (JVG). This is a heavy duty scholarly tome that explores the historicity of Jesus. It begins with a discussion of a range of different schools of thought over the past hundred years (eg. Jesus the failed eschatological prophet, Jesus the Cynic, Jesus the wandering sage, the works of the ‘Jesus Seminar’ etc) and then proceeding to lay the case for his own synthesis of the evidence to paint a coherent picture of Jesus. Wright’s picture of Jesus ends up being (mostly) in agreeance with orthodox Christian belief, although deeply rooted in the Jewish culture, religion, and politics of his day. Wright is careful to develop his thesis beginning with historical data and setting aside (for the moment) matters of dogma and Christology. Although I’m as yet only halfway through the book I’m finding it both fascinating and sensible, and not especially difficult to read (much easier going than it’s prequel, New Testament and the People of God)

Of course the danger in placing Jesus so firmly within his historical setting of first century Judaism, and hence reading the primary significance of Jesus’ words and actions as being related to this context, is that it risks lessening the relevance of Jesus’ words to us today, as in fact Wright quotes Albert Schweitzer in acknowledging. This is where the second book I am currently reading comes in, Mark for Everyone, by Tom Wright. The interesting thing about this is that N T Wright and Tom Wright are one and the same. He uses the former name for his more academic books and the latter for his books written for laypeople. Mark for Everyone (MFE) is a part of a commentary series on the New Testament, which includes Wright’s own translation of the books, plus extensive practical comments on the passages. This book makes Jesus real and accessible, and helps the reader see him ‘from the ground’ in his original setting. Reading the two books together, you can clearly see how Wright’s historical treatise in JVG forms the foundation for his commentary, which then leads on to very practical 21st century applications. Both books help shed light on the other. MFE helps me see the practical value and application of the detailed research in JVG; and reading JVG I can see the depth of the foundation beneath the practical picture in MFE that would not be readily apparent to someone only reading the commentary. Both books stand alone as useful for their respective audiences, but for a Christian with an interest in “objective” history (for want of a better word) the combination is invaluable.

For more information about N T Wright, see his unofficial homepage the N. T. Wright Page and this review of Mark for Everyone.

It seems that blogging is now the in thing amongst New Testament scholars. I’ve mentioned here a few times Scot McKnight’s blog, which is one of my favourite reads (actually I’m currently finally reading his Jesus Creed book, which is excellent..) Anyway here’s another NT scholar and author whose blog I stumbled across today whilst once again waiting for patients to arrive - Ben Witherington. It’s a very interesting and insightful blog, covering a range of topics, and is well worth checking out. All we need now is a blog from N.T. Wright and my blogroll will be complete.

I stumbled across an interesting project today at the Signposts blog, where songwriter Geoff Bullock has posted revised lyrics of several of his famous worship songs from the early 90s. These include classics like ‘The Power of Your Love’, ‘Just Let Me Say’, and ‘The Great Southland.’ Have a look at the re-written versions here if you are interested. I must say as far as I’m concerned most of the rewrites are unnecessary and actually detract from the original songs, although a big part of the reason behind that is just simple familiarity (can you imagine if Paul McCartney came out with revised lyrics of some of his songs from The Beatles? This feels the same) - perhaps if these were the original lyrics I wouldn’t have a problem with them, although they seem a bit more halting and there is a less natural flow to the new versions. It’s interesting to read some of Geoff’s replies in the blog comments and get inside his head a little, but the overall tone of this is fairly standard for the Signposts blog, which from what I’ve seen tends be to a rallying point for disgruntled Christians who have had issues with mainstream evangelical and pentecostal churches (for whom I could imagine Geoff might be seen as a bit of a poster-boy.) I’m not sure where Geoff is at in his spiritual journey, but it is an interesting glimpse into his psyche. Personally, although I enjoy singing some of Geoff’s old songs, I’m glad he’s not putting much out anymore (at least not for mass consumption), because they certainly aren’t particularly guitar friendly to play - too many tricky piano chords. Anyway good luck to him, wherever his future may lead.

Edit : just found this interview with Geoff from 2004 where it says that some of these rewrites are going to be released on a new album (not sure if it’s been released yet or not) and he explains the change in lyrics. I can appreciate his point but I’d still prefer the originals I think. Anyway, he concludes with this quote, which I think is quite good, about changing the emphasis on worship :

We would enjoy our musical arts as an expression of faith, an expression of celebration, a creative expression of grace but when we thought of (God’s) outworking in our lives, we thought of rolling our sleeves up and getting committed to physically meeting needs and to loving people and accepting people and allowing God to reveal Himself to them…I’d love to see an inclusiveness where this whole culture was broken down

Over the course of the many books I’ve read over the last year, perhaps the author that has touched me the most has been Brian McLaren. Although he’s generally perceived as being a big part of the ‘emerging chuch’ movement, he’s actually the Senior Pastor of a sizeable church in Maryland in the US. His style is often to ask more questions than give answers, and you often don’t always end up knowing for sure what his own views are on a subject, but he always makes you think, challenging and stretching your understanding of faith and life. Anyway he’s just put up a very good little autobiographical piece entitled Becoming Convergent which is well worth checking out. It gives a good understanding of where he’s coming from and the motivation behind his writing. I think if people had read this before tackling his books it may have helped reduced the misunderstandings and criticism to which he has been subjected, often unfairly. Anyway check it out.

US evangelist wants Chavez assassinated - it’s guys like this that give Christians a bad name. US televangelist Pat Robertson has suggested that the US should assasinate the democratically elected president of Venezuela. Whatever happened to the ten commandments? These kind of guys want a big sculpture of them in front of every courthouse yet seem to have no knowledge of simple principles like not committing murder. Let’s just hope this gaffe results in the termination of this guy’s career.

Survey Shows That Physicians Are More Religious Than Expected” href=”http://www.emaxhealth.com/24/2754.html” target=”_blank”>General Health Articles > Survey Shows That Physicians Are More Religious Than Expected - this is some very interesting research, published recently by the University of Chicago, on the religious beliefs of doctors in the US.

The first study of physician religious beliefs has found that 76 percent of doctors believe in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife. The survey, performed by researchers at the University of Chicago and published (early online) in the July 2005 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that 90 percent of doctors in the United States attend religious services at least occasionally, compared to 81 percent of all adults. Fifty-five percent of doctors say their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine. These results were not anticipated. Religious belief tends to decrease as education and income levels increase, yet doctors are highly educated and, on average, well compensated. The finding also differs radically from 90 years of studies showing that only a minority of scientists (excluding physicians) believes in God or an afterlife.

Certainly I would anecdotally concur with these findings. In my experience there is generally a significant group of Christian doctors or students in most kind of practice situations, whether it be the university, the hospital, or community practice. In the study family physicians (GPs) and paediatricians were more religious than doctors in other specialties, while unsurprisingly, psychiatrists were the most secular. The contrast between doctors and other types of scientists was quite striking :

only 39 percent of all scientists declaring a personal belief in God. Belief among “leading” scientists, however–defined in this case as members of the National Academy of Sciences–was far lower: only seven percent in 1998. Curiously, among scientists, mathematicians were the most likely to believe in God and biologists the least likely.

I’ll leave it to ob1 to speculate on why mathematicians buck the trend, but I can offer a few ideas why this may be the case with doctors. The reasons probably fall into two main categories - the nature of the job, and the motivation of the people who become doctors. I’ll start with the latter of these. When asked why they wanted to be a doctor, most people would give an answer along the lines of “to be able to help people.” Although this is a major oversimplification I’d still say that helping others is at least part of the motivation for people to decide to become doctors, and certainly to stay in the job. And of course religious teaching, in particular the teachings of Jesus, helps inspire people with the motivation to help the sick and the needy.

Secondly the nature of the job itself, although at times challenging, can be a fertile soil for the development and growth of religious faith. Unlike other fields of science, once we have passed beyond our initial basic education, doctors don’t usually get the luxury of seeing things in concrete, black or white, provable ways (although many still try). Once the human element of dealing with individual people with their own unique combination of personality, environment, beliefs, and genetics, is introduced, things are never as clear cut. Dealing with people in the midst of illness, life, and death will often lead the doctor towards questions for which science has no answer. And for many, it is religious belief that helps fill this gap. Please note that I’m not trying in any way to devalue the importance of other fields of science, I’m just offering suggestions as to why the different levels of religious belief have been found. As I said earlier, it’s very interesting stuff.

Maybe it’s just my perspective, but the impression I get is that here in Australian churches we don’t get quite as excited or involved in discussions about eschatology or the ‘end times’ as they seem to in the US. It’s something we rarely talk about in church. In fact I don’t think I’d ever heard that word until the last year or so. And I don’t think that that is necessarily a bad thing.

This morning I just finished reading “Speaking My Mind” by Tony Campolo. This is a great book in which this “evangelical prophet” tackles a range of current issues from the starting point of an orthodox evangelical faith, but reaches quite differing conclusions to the general consensus of Christian conservatism. These issues include the Iraq war, poverty, gay rights, Islam, universalism, and many others. I found myself generally aligned with Campolo’s take on most of these things. The one issue he raised which I had previously not really considered, was the (possibly dangerous) influence of “Dispensationalist Theology” on American evangelicalism and especially fundamentalism. This is the sort of theology that is the rationale for the Left Behind books which are hugely popular in the US. Basically it leads to the view that we are living in the “end times” and Jesus might come any day soon, so why worry about helping the poor or protecting the environment or things like that. It tends to lend itself to pro-war, pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian politics and gives a rather pessimistic view of the current world. Interestingly, this sort of thinking is relatively new in the history of the church, gaining prominence through the footnotes of a popular study Bible called the Scofield Reference Bible which was first published in the early 20th century. Now I don’t purport to have much knowledge on this subject, but it all sounds a bit paranoid conspiracy theory type theology. Campolo’s take on it makes sense to me. This page gives a brief synopsis of the chapter on the subject in Speaking My Mind.

On a similar topic, this article from one of my favourite Christian bloggers professor and author Scot McKnight, gives his alternate eschatological framework, which seems a lot more reasonable. If you haven’t seen his blog then be sure to check it out. He tackles some heavy duty subjects in a fairly easy to read way, even for novices like me. Current series include lists of important books on various subjects, and an upcoming dialogue with Brian McLaren’s important book “A Generous Orthodoxy“

I’m sure ob1 (with whom I’ve just had an enjoyable lunch) would appreciate this story from The Age. According to Oxford professor Richard Swinburne it is 97% certain that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead based on sheer logic and mathematics, not faith.

This conclusion was reached after a complex series of calculations. In simplified terms, it began with a single proposition: the probability was one in two that God exists.Next, if God exists, the probability was one in two that he became incarnate. Further, there was a one in 10 probability that the gospels would report the life and resurrection of Jesus in the form they do. Finally, the clincher: the probability that we would have all this evidence if it wasn’t true was one in 1000.

97% is the sort of odds I like. I wouldn’t be basing my life on the other 3%. Would be interesting to take a look at the Professor’s book, The Resurrection of God Incarnate where he argues in favour of the resurrection based on these kind of stats, and a philosophical discussion of the character of god - on to the wishlist it goes (by the way, did I mention it’s my birthday?? lol) Looks like that book would make a nice counterpoint to another book which I’ve already bought (but not yet read) N. T. Wright’s “Resurrection of the Son of God” which argues in favour of the resurrection from an historical and cultural perspective.

I found myself a bit irritated by a story on the front of today’s West Australian newspaper, with the inflammatory headline “New sex virus jab for kids aged 10” Basically it’s a story about how the HPV vaccine, which can prevent cervical cancer and possibly obviate the need for regular pap smears, could be available soon within Australia and is planned to be given to primary school age children. A good thing I would think, since cervical cancer is a terrible thing which kills many women of all ages, and causes a lot of health dramas for countless more.
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Jesus Creed: Post Partisanship - Scot McKnight’s blog is one of my favourites. He always gives a reasoned analysis of what ever topic he is discussing, but expresses things in a way that plebs like me can understand and resonate with. And I find myself generally in accord with his opinions on things much of the time. The above article is no exception - Scot touches upon the subject of partisan-politics with a sensible Biblically based approach that transcends party lines. Yet another valuable insight into this fascinating subject.

Scot also has a book entitled The Jesus Creed, that is amongst the growing pile sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. If it’s anything like his blog material then it promises to be very good. I believe it was one of Christianity Today’s top books of the year.

HOPE:Rwanda - just came across this on Phil’s Blog, and after recently having watched Hotel Rwanda, it’s definitely touched a nerve. I’m not sure exactly what this project entails, but it will be something to keep an eye on as 2006 approaches to see if there are any ways I can be of help in bringing hope to this ravaged nation. Wish I was free to go and see Mark Zschech talk about this at Riverview next Saturday night.

After having had it sitting idle on my shelf for a few months, I’ve finally gotten around to starting reading Jim Wallis’ book, God’s Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. This is an American book, so it’s direct relevance to the Australian scene will be limited, but I’m sure it will be a very interesting and thought provoking read. Jim Wallis seems to have a very moderate, if slightly left leaning point of view, and I’ve found the articles in the regular email newsletter I get from his Sojourners Magazine to be very valuable and challenging, so I’m looking forward to this book.

Part of the reason why I’ve finally been inspired to pick this book up at last has been the flurry of media reports of late regarding the Hillsong conference this week and the large number of politicians attending. For those who are overseas or not familiar with Hillsong, it is the largest church in Australia, with over 18,000 attenders. It is a pentecostal church in Sydney, but it’s annual conference attracts tens of thousands of people from across all denominations and across the country and the world. Anyway there’s been a bunch of media reports from a range of news sources this week about Hillsong, the politicians attending, and the general mix of politics and religion in Australia. I’ve been compiling a bit of a list of these reports, which you can check out here.

Although I’m starting Wallis’ book, I’ll still be continuing to read my other current book, N. T. Wright’s New Testament and the People of God. This is a brilliant book on the people and literature of New Testament times, but it is very in-depth and scholarly, so non-academic novices like me will find it very heavy going. Best to slow down and space it out so I get the maximum benefit out of it I think. It’s also one that will be worth re-reading at some point in the next year or so for the same reason.

I’ve written about this previously a long while back, but there was another story in today’s West Australian (I won’t even bother linking to their website since it’s so useless) about the new religion of the 21st century - Ikea.

Not only do more people visit Ikea on a Sunday morning than go to church (in Britain at least, and I’m sure it would be the same here if it weren’t for our crazy trading laws…) but now the worldwide circulation of the Ikea catalogue is over 5 times greater than the Bible. And I liked the response of Australia Institute deputy director Richard Denniss to the point that perhaps comparing the Ikea Catalogue to the Bible is drawing a long bow : “Both, he said, gave suggestions on how to live.”

So what’s next? Will you soon be able to be married in Ikea? Or shop there for your funeral casket, which of course will be given some weird Scandinavian sounding name like Koffin? It is a bit funny to think about in some ways, but in other ways it’s a signal of the serious challenges confronting the 21st century Christian church. Perhaps the next idea will be for some innovative emerging house-church type person to start holding meetings in Ikea itself - there’s certainly plenty of comfy places to sit there, and as an evangelistic outreach it’s best to go where the people are. Though as I’ve said before (see The New Cathedral), perhaps the Australian equivalent would be the massive hardware store Bunnings, which at least is open on Sundays here. Compare the Bunnings carpark on a Sunday morning to virtually any church and you’ll see what I mean.

The Athens NEWS: Catholics prepare for Cold War with evangelicals : this is an interesting article, written from a Catholic perspective, about the expansion of evangelicalism worldwide, and the “threat” this poses towards the Roman Catholic church. While it’s kind of sad that some catholics regard the growth of another segment of Christianity as competition and as a threat, I guess you can understand why they might feel that way, particularly when they are losing numbers in countries where they have traditionally had a strong presence.
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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.