Archives: thought
The torn curtain
Thought
When Jesus breathed his last and died, the curtain of the temple tore in two, thus symbolizing that the way is finally open for all believers to enter God’s presence. By Christ’s sacrifice, the barrier has been removed, and all who rely on that sacrifice have open access to God. Or so I used to think. But a look at the Old Testament understanding of the tabernacle and temple has made me think again. (more…)
What about respect for women from other women?
Thought
Okay, so we Australian footballing types (that is, men) need to improve our sexual behaviour by learning to respect women. But it makes you wonder whether the non-footballing types (that is, women) also need to respect other non-footballing types. Would that improve their sexual behaviour too?
While we are newly respecting women, why not newly respect men too?
Thought
The thing about western individualism is it is just so individualistic. If I remember my ethics properly, there is an underlying ‘ethical egoism’—that is, ‘I’ (the ‘ego’ in ‘ego-ism’) make my moral decisions on the basis of what is best for me.
Apparently, if Australian men (with footballers as the focus and pinnacle of that group) learned to respect women, then they would have better sexual behaviour. I’m not sure of the connection between those two things myself, but, as I mentioned in the last post, it is certainly difficult to object to.
But perhaps there is another way out of my confusion. Rather than objecting to it, why not adopt it, and then demand some of the same treatment?
Is respecting women an ethical maxim or just a political slogan?
Thought
I don’t know what happened in Christchurch. I have never watched The Footy Show. And I missed the interviews on the television.
But I did hear a lot of conversations in the weeks after the latest football ‘kiss-and-tell’, both on talkback radio, in the press and (amazingly enough) even in real life.
It struck me as rather odd that the feminist lot seemed to expand it to all Australian men (of whom the footballer is apparently a subclass) needing to learn to respect women.
God did it. Have I missed something?
Thought
The double cure
Thought, Sola Panel
Grimmo’s post on changes to the words of Wesley’s famous hymn put me in mind of another equally significant change to an equally famous hymn.
In the first verse of ‘Rock of Ages’, we are used to singing:
Be of sin the double cure: cleanse me from its guilt and power.
But this is not what Augustus Toplady wrote.
The Bible doesn’t say
Thought, Sola Panel
A few weeks ago, Bobby died. It happened quite quickly. On Thursday, he was sitting merrily on his perch. On Friday, he was shivering and looking pretty unimpressed with life. On Saturday morning, he was standing on the floor of the cage with his eyes half open, rocking back and forth. At lunchtime, when the kids and I took him to the vet, he had decided it would be best to have a little lie down. The vet was kind but decisive.
We took Bobby home in a very small plastic bag. There were tears. My wife’s former history teacher (that’s a whole other story) dug a hole in the backyard, and another friend of ours found a little mournful-looking stone dog to act as headstone. Family, friends and the former history teacher prayed together that God would comfort us in our loss.
Then came the inevitable question from the 6-year-old: “Is Bobby in heaven now?” Hmm. I know that there will be a new, physical creation (Isa 65:17), and it seems like the new creation will contain, at the very least, contented wolves, baby sheep, lions, cattle and humiliated snakes (Isa 65:25). But will there be a spiritual continuity of identity between the Bobby we knew and a particular budgie in the hereafter? There didn’t seem to be enough biblical data to form a meaningful answer. So I answered as I only could: “The Bible doesn’t say”.
Women and the Bible (Reflections on reading the Bible with my kids part II)
Thought
We read the Bible as a family each night after dinner. On this particular night, the story is the feeding of the 5000. Well, more specifically, the feeding of the five thousand men.
My daughter’s face told a story that her question confirmed: “Dad, why did they only count the men? Didn’t they care about women back then? Were women less important?”
What’s a dad to say to that?
Jesus changed heaven forever
Thought
I’ve never been one for thinking about angels much. Nor have I thought much about how Jesus changed life in heaven. I mean, I’m sure it’s all very interesting; it’s just not very practical really.
Wrong!
An offensive God
Thought, Sola Panel
Why does the second half of Isaiah 30 have to be so offensive? It starts with God marching out to war against Israel’s enemies, his face furious with anger, his sleeves rolled up for battle, his breath a stream of sulfurous fire. This is challenging enough in a primitive-wrathful-deity-of-the-Old-Testament kind of way. You’ve heard these objections. You might even have made them in your own heart.
But Isaiah then adds a detail that is even more objectionable.
Sexual immorality: Some thoughts from Corinth
Thought
Pornography, sexual temptation and sexual failure are one of the great issues for God’s people as we learn to live in the always-connected age. It’s a problem that’s not about to go away any time soon. In the face of such a massive challenge to Christian living, it is important for us to learn how to talk honestly with each other about our struggle to live pure lives. Our churches need to provide places for Christians to support each other in this struggle. That’s the essence of what James Warren’s excellent article is about. But instead of running it as the first feature in this issue, we decided to start with Gordon’s piece on lessons learned from Corinth. The final and ultimate solution to dealing with our sexual sins is not community (although that is vital), but the death and resurrection of Jesus. As you spend some time thinking about these problems, don’t jump straight to the second article; we need to hear everything both articles have to say—over and over again. (more…)
Timothy: timid or tough?
Thought, Sola Panel
Recently, in our staff meetings, we discussed John Stott’s excellent book The Living Church: Convictions of the lifelong pastor. I say ‘excellent’ despite Stott’s fondness for citing former Church of England Archbishops—not all of whom were uniformly reliable guides to the truth. I must admit that Stott’s love of ‘balance’ reminded a colleague of the old joke
Q. Why did the Anglican cross the road?
A. To get to the middle! (*Groan*)
An abominable word
Thought, Sola Panel
When I hear the word ‘abomination’, a vivid image comes to mind. Perhaps it was from a comedy sketch on TV. I see a man dressed in old-fashioned black clothes, with a black hat and, in reference to some aspect of modern culture (perhaps homosexuality), he declares in a slow, but passionate voice, “It is an abor-min-ay-shon”.
‘Abomination’ is not a nice word. It reeks of censoriousness and wowserism.
But then Jesus had to go and say this: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
How to steal another man’s wife
Thought
It’s not so hard to steal another man’s wife if you’re a king:
And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.” And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.” Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.” And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned. (2 Sam 3:12-16; emphasis mine.)
I put it to you that King David ended up as a nasty, sleazy piece of work because he always was (1 Kgs 1:1-4, 2 Sam 11). (more…)