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Christians, prejudice and love for ‘enemies': living in the opposite spirit
Last post I looked at how some studies show that many christians are prejudiced towards groups such as gays, atheists and Muslims, and are less likely than other people to show love to members of these...
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Refugee mistreatment makes me sick at heart
These are difficult times. For many in our world, the difficulty is surviving poverty, or escaping from a murderous regime. I live in Australia. I don’t live in poverty, and while our government has...
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If you don’t laugh, you cry!
While we are on the subject of Australia’s attitude to refugees arriving by boat, here is a telling sketch by Aussie satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe. (Actually John comes from New Zealand, but...
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A christian response to refugees seeking asylum
Two posts back I wrote about my feelings of shame regarding Australia’s treatment of refugees seeking asylum who try to reach Australia by boat. But what is a ‘right’ christian response? Is there any...
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Is the church dying? Do we need to be worried?
Many atheists make strong statements about how the church is in terminal decline, and it’s only a matter of time til it is reduced to an insignificant minority in most western countries, and eventually...
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Easter Saturday prayer vigil for refugees
9 of 12 members of our church who attended the vigil. I have blogged before on the plight of refugees from war-torn or unstable countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran arriving in...
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Is anybody listening?
The shaping of things to come by Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch was published more than a decade ago now. It was at the time a revolutionary book which had a lot to say to contemporary churches and...
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Asylum seekers: a long journey for many of us
Desperate people fleeing persecution in their home countries make long journeys, overland and by boat, to reach the safe haven of Australia, hoping to be granted refugee status and residency. They...
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The new Reformation
Martin Luther is examined for heresy. I remember about 40 years ago coming to the conclusion that the church in the western world was, in the next few decades, going to go through changes as...
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Don’t plant a church, plant a mission?
When I was a young christian, most churches were part of a denomination and most people knew what denomination they belonged to, even if they never actually attended. People didn’t switch denominations...
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Interfaith cooperation: compromising the gospel?
I think most christians are ambivalent, or even a little wary, about interfaith dialogue. It seems to compromise the truth of the gospel somehow. But it needn’t. Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders...
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Christmas, christians and a deep sense of foreboding
This last week has been a disturbing one for many Australians. A hostage siege in Sydney, that left two hostages and the gunman dead, made a deep impression. Of course other countries have experienced...
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Does the value of human life depend on where you live?
Terrorism has become an unfortunate fact of life in first world countries over the past decade or two. The Twin Towers in the US in 2001, the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings which affected many western...
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Unbounded church – church as we haven’t known it for a society as we haven’t...
Albert Einstein apparently once said: “The significant problems we face can’t be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Churches in the western world are facing...
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World War 1 – the war to end all wars?
A hundred years ago, World War 1 was being fought across Europe. In a few weeks, Anzac Day, probably Australia’s holiest day, will be the 100th anniversary of the abortive, chaotic, mismanaged attempt...
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If Jesus ran for President would he bake a cake?
It’s the beginning of the presidential “race” in the US, and although I live on the other side of the world, the outcome is important for Aussies. (For a start, if America decides to have another war,...
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Sometimes we need to be reminded
God cares about the poor, the suffering and the victimised. I don’t know why he made a world where so many suffer, but I do know he expects his people to do something about it – to ease the pain and to...
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Learning from an atheist
Apologetics series Many atheists have alleged that great harm has been done by religion, christianity in particular. Even if they have overstated their case, we can, and must, still learn from their...
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Seek the peace and prosperity of the city
In the west we generally live in post-christian societies. Although the majority of people in many countries may list their religion as “christian”, weekly church attendance is down around 5-15% in...
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Christians and abortion
Difficult issues series In the previous two posts I have considered when in human evolution human life began, and when in pregnancy human life begins. In both cases, there were considerable...
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