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Over my years in pastoral ministry, I have spoken to many people who have been unsettled by a verse or two from the Bible.  I mean, there are some pretty blunt warnings and, in some cases, quite frightening predictions.  Such is the case with Jesus’ statement in Matthew’s gospel:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you evildoers!’” [1]

Who are these evildoers to whom Jesus refers?  In answer, it’s always essential considering context.  “Take the text out of context, and you’re left with a con!” [2] In Matthew 7, Jesus is teaching on the importance of hearing and acting on, HIS message rather than a message taught by false prophets. Jesus says this is what it means to “enter through the narrow gate” (13-14).  False prophets are easy to pick, says Jesus, by observing the fruit of their lives and teachings – whether it’s good or bad (15-19). He concludes this section by telling The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, which refers to two groups of people who all hear Jesus’ words and teachings.

Group one “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice,” while group two “hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice.”  Group one is “like a wise man who built his house on the rock” while group two “is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”  Both houses (groups) experience the same trials and storms in life, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house.”  Group one’s house “did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”  So is everyone who hears Jesus’ teachings and puts them into practice.  Group two’s house “fell with a great crash.”  So is everyone who hears Jesus’ teachings but does not act on them.

The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke & John – record Jesus’ teachings; and the other New Testament writers expound on them to more fully explain how His teachings apply in everyday life.  One of the things these authors stress is this:

You don’t enter the kingdom of heaven by doing good works; you enter the kingdom of heaven by doing God’s will. 

That’s where the “Many” referred to by Jesus have made a grave mistake.  Their defense of why they should have access to the Kingdom of Heaven is the good works they have done.  They’ve prophesied, driven out demons and performed miracles, but these are displays of God’s power working through a person and not necessarily proof of true faith in Christ.  It is of them that the apostle Paul writes, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” [3]

Entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven is, according to Jesus, for the person “who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  What is God’s will? Jesus taught, “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” [4] It is by faith in Jesus that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven!  It is by faith in Jesus that we hear his teachings and put them into practice.  Good deeds flow out of true faith, but good deeds do not guarantee access to the Kingdom.  The late Billy Graham put it this way, “There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me.  I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ And I asked the Lord to give me peace in my heart, and He did – a wonderful peace that hasn’t left me.” [5]

A man died and went to heaven. Of course, St. Peter met him at the pearly gates and explained, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I’ll give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you’ll get in.”

“Okay,” said the man, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart.”  “That’s wonderful,” said St. Peter, “that’s worth three points!”

“Three points?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.”  “Terrific!” said St. Peter, “that’s certainly worth a point.”

“One point? Gosh. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.”  “Fantastic, that’s good for two more points.”  “TWO POINTS!!” the man cried, “At this rate, the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!”

“Come on in!” Said Peter 🙂

 

[1] Matthew 7:21-23

[2] Anonymous

[3] 1 Cor. 13:1-3

[4] John 6:40

[5] Billy Graham, Cincinnati Crusade, June 24th, 2002

Billy Graham is the most well-known Christian of the last century.  He was a household name, known even to me in my atheist days, although I didn’t give him much thought.  But, since my conversion is 1977, I have had tremendous respect for him and all he achieved in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.  He passed away last week aged 99.

At his final Crusade at Flushing Meadows, New York (June 2005) Billy Graham said, “I have one message: that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Saviour, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins.”  It was the same message he proclaimed to the 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 rallies, simulcasts and evangelistic meetings in more than 185 countries on six continents.  He reached millions more through TV, video, film, online and in the 34 books he wrote.

Billy Graham was born four days before the end of World War I – 7 November 1918.  He grew up during the depression and, like many of his generation, developed character through difficult times that would stand him in good stead through a life of Christian ministry.

Even though his family was Christian, young Billy didn’t share their enthusiasm for the faith: “I detested going to church,” he said when recalling his youth.  However, a few weeks before his 16th birthday, Dr Mordecai Ham, a travelling evangelist, was invited to conduct a few weeks of revival meetings in Charlotte, North Carolina where the Graham family lived.  Billy refused to go and hear Dr Ham until a friend finally convinced him.  To avoid the preacher’s direct gaze and fiery words, Billy and his friend, Grady Wilson, joined the choir so they could sit behind him (even though neither of them could sing in tune).

It was the message of God’s love that finally drew Billy Graham to Jesus.  On one night, Dr Ham’s text was Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Billy responded to the appeal to accept Christ later writing, “I walked down to the front, feeling as if I had lead weights attached to my feet.”  A family friend came and stood beside him, explained God’s plan of salvation, and led him in prayer.  He said, “No bells went off inside me. No signs flashed across the tabernacle ceiling … I simply felt at peace … happy and peaceful.”  This entire experience would later shape the way he conducted his own evangelistic rallies with a message of God’s love.

A few years later Billy Graham studied at the Florida Bible Institute, and later, Wheaton College in Chicago, where he met fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, the daughter of medical missionaries in China. The couple graduated and married in the summer of 1943.  Mr. and Mrs. Graham and their five children made their home in the mountains of North Carolina.  They were married for 64 years before Ruth’s death in 2007.

After two years of traveling as a speaker for the Youth for Christ organization, Billy Graham held his first official evangelistic Crusade in 1947; but it was his 1949 Los Angeles Crusade that captured the nation’s attention.  Originally scheduled to run for three weeks, the “tent meetings” ran for a total of eight weeks as hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children gathered to hear Graham’s messages.  On the heels of this campaign, Graham started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.  Since 2000, Graham’s son, Franklin, has led the Charlotte-based organisation, which employs some 500 people worldwide. [1]

His largest live audience was in 1973 when he addressed more than one million people crowded into Yoido Plaza in Seoul, South Korea.  In the same year, preaching in Johannesburg, Graham said, “Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world … I reject any creed based on hate … Christianity is not a white man’s religion, and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black.”  He also denounced racism in the United States when desegregation was not popular, holding desegregated crusades, even in the Deep South, well before the U.S. Supreme Court banned discrimination on a racial basis.  In 1977 communist-led Hungary opened doors for Graham to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc (including the Soviet Union), as well as China and North Korea.  More than 3.3 million people attended one of his meetings in person during his 1959 crusades in Australia and New Zealand.  Over 140,000 people responded to an invitation to the Christian Gospel.  The impact of those meetings continues in Melbourne’s Churches today, including Bayside Church.

At three global conferences held in Amsterdam (1983, 1986, 2000), Graham gathered some 23,000 evangelists from 208 countries and territories to train them to carry the message of Jesus Christ around the world.

In 1996, Graham and his wife, Ruth, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress can bestow on a private citizen. He was also listed by Gallup as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men” 61 times.  During the week of his 95th birthday in 2013, Graham delivered his final message via more than 480 television stations across the U.S. and Canada.  More than 26,000 churches participated in this My Hope project, making it the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s largest evangelistic outreach ever in North America.

Billy Graham, like all of us, made plenty of mistakes.  His biggest, he would later admit, was endorsing Richard Nixon for President.  In 2011, Billy Graham told Christianity Today that he wishes he hadn’t been so political during parts of his career.  Church leaders and pastors would do well to heed this and refrain from aligning themselves politically.

A “private” funeral, with 2,300 guests, is being held tomorrow (March 2nd) at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The service will be livestreamed. [2]  Billy Graham will then be laid to rest beside his late wife, Ruth.  The inscription to be placed on his grave marker states, “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me …” said Graham at his Cincinnati Crusade on June 24, 2002.  “I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ And I asked the Lord to give me peace in my heart, and He did – a wonderful peace that hasn’t left me.”

Billy Graham is survived by his sister Jean Ford; daughters Gigi, Anne and Ruth; sons Franklin and Ned; 19 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren.  One of his most famous sayings was, “When they say ‘Billy is dead,’ you tell them he is more alive than ever. He has just changed his address!'”  I’m looking forward to sharing that address with him in the future.  How about you?

 

[1] www.billygraham.org/story

[2] www.memorial.billygraham.org/live-stream

 

One of the major problems I see in the world today is the politicising of the issues that face us.  Even Christian people get caught in this trap.  Let me give you four examples:

  • Climate change
  • Asylum seekers
  • Conservation
  • Racial and gender equality

When you read those words, it’s quite likely that you perceived them through your political worldview.  For example, when you see the words, “climate change,” some of you went “right,” and others leaned “left” in your thinking.  If you tend “right” politically you may see other issues as much more important than climate change – or maybe you think it’s a big con and not a real issue at all.  If you are more left or “green” politically, you will see climate change as a major issue and maybe even “the great moral challenge of our generation” to quote former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

It’s the same with other issues.  On asylum seekers, some will go “right” while others will lean “left” and so on.  But for followers of Jesus a higher ethos comes into play because “our citizenship is in heaven” and, on earth, we are ambassadors of Christ who are to represent our eternal homeland in the here and now.  That’s why Jesus encouraged His followers (in The Lord’s Prayer) to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).  The focus of the entire Lord’s Prayer is what happens on earth.  Jesus taught His people to pray for God’s kingdom to come and for His will to be done, on earth.  God cares for His creation and He wants His people to care for it too.

The aforementioned is the filter Jesus’ followers are to use when considering their response and actions to life’s big issues.  Rather than making our reaction a political one, we are called to think with a heavenly mindset.  Take climate change as an example.  Instead of making this a political issue that leans to the right or left, why not make it a Biblical issue that reflects our care of God’s creation?  Let me ask you a question, “Do you think it is a worthy goal for humans to pump less pollution into the atmosphere?”  Whatever your political persuasion I’m sure you answered “yes”.  If God has given humanity dominion (rule; control) of the Earth (Genesis 1:28) then surely a Christian would take that responsibility seriously and do all they can to care for the planet God has given us?

Conservation then, is no longer the domain of the Greens but rather the responsibility of everyone.  The ethical use and protection of valuable resources, such as trees, minerals, wildlife and water, protecting their sources, and recycling, is something I do because I take God’s gift seriously, not because I vote for a particular political party.

Some of my early teaching as a Christian was dominated by a certain view of the “end times” that taught Jesus was returning at any moment, the world would end, and God would make a new one – so it wasn’t worth looking after this one.  Imagine if we used this logic in our daily lives?  One day I’m going to buy a new car and so I might as well trash the second-hand one I currently drive!  I have an old house now, but one day I want a new one, so I think I’ll light a fire on the kitchen floor and cook on it!  That sounds ridiculous – and it is – but this is how some Christians act toward the Earth of which God has given us care.

Praying “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” means that Christians will pray and work for peace and justice among all peoples and nations.  We strive for economic justice and equality between rich and poor, male and female; racial equality for people of marginalised communities; and protection for refugees and asylum seekers (and yes, I want secure borders, but that doesn’t give us the right to mistreat some of the world’s most vulnerable people).

These are not merely political issues that don’t affect my faith and me.  They are significant matters that should concern all of us who pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus taught his followers to live this way day-to-day.  In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16).  Jesus’ people are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Treating this world, and the people in it, with kindness, justice, love, mercy, and goodness reflects God’s nature and becomes a powerful force that attracts others to Him.  That’s the way He calls His people to live.

It was a chilly and rainy Saturday evening in the middle of 1984.  I was living in Geraldton, Western Australia, where I hosted the breakfast show on the local radio station 6GE.  I’d recommitted my life to Jesus five years previously.

It was my habit in those days to read the entire Bible every year and I was up to the Book of Ezekiel.  While sitting in my bedroom, I began reading Ezekiel chapter 34 which contrasts true and false shepherds.

At that time, I was part of a small Pentecostal church in town.  The people were lovely, but the pastor was an evangelist.  I’ve learned that evangelists make great evangelists but lousy pastors and that was indeed my experience in that church.  Our “pastor” preached the Gospel and lots of people got saved, but when it came to caring for the flock, he was often harsh and legalistic.  I’d been at the brunt of this on some occasions and so had my friends, many of whom had moved on to other churches.  As I read this chapter in Ezekiel, the tears began to flow, and I entered into an astounding but gut-wrenching time of intercessory prayer asking God to raise up true shepherds in His church.

The prophecy in Ezekiel 34 outlines God’s desire to find a true shepherd for His people, but there was no one suitable so God decided that He would do the job Himself (which He accomplished in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, v. 23; cf. John 10:11, John 10:14-16).  As a result of the finished work of Jesus, God now shepherds His people through the pastors and leaders He places in the local church.  Those called to this ministry must take it very seriously.  God describes His people as precious, valuable and priceless, so we must love them and lead them well.

In this prophecy Ezekiel outlines the qualities of a true shepherd – they take care of the flock, not just themselves, ministering for the benefit of God’s sheep.  A true shepherd fulfils the responsibilities of the ministry (in concert with all God’s people): they strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays and lead the people gently.

Under this kind of leadership God’s people feel safe, “There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture” (Ezekiel 34:14).  Phillip Keller, once a shepherd himself, in his book A shepherd looks at Psalm 23 relates that “the strange thing about sheep is that, because of their very makeup, it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless they are free from fear.”

The false shepherd has the opposite effect on God’s people and eventually scatters the sheep which is what happened to the church in Geraldton the following year when almost the entire congregation left.  The hurt and pain from this were immense.

So here I was, crying out to God with tears and prayer, not thinking for one minute that God would use me as part of the answer to my prayer.

At this time our pastor has taken a sabbatical and while he and his family were away, he left the church in the hands of a delightful 83-year-old Welsh pastor, Edwin Thomas, who had become a Christian as a young man in the flow on effect of the 1904-05 Welsh Revival.  He was a godly, loving, caring man who expounded the Scriptures for an hour at a time and we were all sorry when he’d finished.  I was one of the worship leaders in the church (no, I’m not kidding) and had gone to the church offices to prepare for the following Sunday (i.e., to pick out the overhead transparencies for the songs I would lead).

When Pastor Thomas saw me, he told me that he’d been praying for me and that God had shown him that I was called to be a pastor.  He recommended a Bible College to me and with his encouragement, I applied straight away and was accepted.  The rest is history.  I studied ministry and theology fulltime for three years (1985-87) during which time I also helped to pioneer a church in the western suburbs of Sydney.  This church was an outreach from a relatively new church called Hills Christian Life Centre. It’s now called Hillsong Church (maybe you’ve heard of it).

From there I came to Melbourne (30 years ago this year) to join the staff of a church as a part-time assistant pastor.  I also went back into radio enjoying 15 fruitful years at 3MP followed by over a decade with Melbourne’s Christian radio station Light FM.  In March 1992 I pioneered Bayside Church with a small group of people, and I’m still enjoying leading this marvellous community of believers 26 years later.

I don’t pretend to be perfect, and I’m not saying that I’ve always got it right. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I continually strive to treat people with kindness and grace.  I am so grateful to God for calling me to be a pastor and for the privilege and honour it is to serve Him and His people.

As we approach Christmas, it’s timely to focus on some valuable truth from the original story.  Matthew’s account of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth includes the rather embarrassing predicament Joseph and Mary found themselves in because of Mary’s pregnancy, even though neither of them had been sexually active. How would you explain this and would anyone believe you?

The Bible reports, “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:18-19).

A pledge or betrothal was much more binding than a modern-day engagement, and the couple was already considered to be husband and wife.  Mary’s parents most likely had arranged the marriage with Joseph and Mary’s consent, and Joseph would have paid them a bride price.  It’s likely that Mary would have been in her early teens and Joseph in his late teens.  In Bible days a couple was betrothed to one another for one year before they consummated their marriage.  It’s unlikely that the couple had any time alone together during the betrothal year and sexual activity with anyone else was considered to be adulterous.  At this time Joseph didn’t know about the miraculous conception (that information came later from an angel in a dream).

Notice how the Bible describes Joseph: he “was faithful to the law”.  These words mean that Joseph was a person who obeyed God’s law and applied its rules fairly and without favouritism.  So, what did the law prescribe for Joseph to do with Mary in this instance?  Consider Deuteronomy 22:22, “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”

According to the law, Joseph was within his rights to have Mary stoned to death, along with the man with whom she had committed adultery. “Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet.”  What two marvellous words they are.  Just think of the options if there was no “and yet” in Joseph’s mind:

  • Mary could have been stoned to death thus killing the baby inside her womb – no messiah, no salvation.
  • A public divorce would mean Mary would be a single mother and unlikely ever to be married. When her parents died, she’d have no means of support and it’s would have been likely that her life, as well as Jesus’, would be cut short – no messiah, no salvation.

So what an astounding man of justice Joseph was!  The law declared the death penalty for Mary but he chose a more gracious pathway that became even more gracious once he received all the facts.  We see Joseph’s character of fairness and kindness replicated in Jesus – like father like son – and we are to be like Jesus.

Sadly, I’ve met way too many Christians over the years who are faithful to the law but there is no “and yet” in their attitude.  Their favourite phrase is, “the Bible clearly states,” but their view of Scripture flows through a filter of judgment and legalism rather than compassion and kindness.

Joseph married Mary and then took her to Bethlehem to protect her.  Without Joseph, there would be no Jesus, no Christmas, and no salvation.  Let’s choose to imitate his exceptional qualities all year round.

Lately in the news there has been an increasing number of reports on microchips placed in humans.  The technology used on our pets since the Seventies is now available to us, and hundreds of Australians, as well as those in other countries, are embracing it.

The microchips are the size of a grain of rice and inserted into the hand between the thumb and forefinger.  Ultimately they will allow the recipient to do away with their car keys & credit cards; they will contain medical data and enable you to control all the technology in your home and workplace and everywhere in between.

In future, “other uses might include children tapping to let parents know they are at school safely, refugees checking in at camps or women at shelters.  It can share diet, exercise and sleep information with you and your doctor, and the next generation could even release medicine as and when you need it.” [1]

One of the people who has already had a microchip implanted has had some messages from certain Christians on Facebook telling her she’s going to hell (gotta love it when God’s people preach the good news right?). And here’s the problem, because some Christians have an understanding of Bible prophecy that is based more on novels and movies than on sound Biblical interpretation.  Consider these verses from the book of Revelation:

“He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.  And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.  Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666” (Revelation 13:16-18).

When I converted from atheism to Christianity in the late 70s, everyone was reading Hal Lindsay books, such as “The Late Great Planet Earth,” which interpreted Revelation in the light of current events.  Movies like “A Thief in the Night” and “Image of the Beast” reinforced our view of the End Times, and there were regular predictions about the end of the world (as there have been since time began).

This same interpretation of Revelation was again highlighted in the 1990s and 2000s when Tim LaHaye co-authored 16 best-selling religious novels known as the Left Behind series.  LaHaye’s book “The Rapture” was released on the 6/6/06 to capitalise on the 6-6-6 connection.  Tim LaHaye died last year aged 90 and Left Behind a loving family and a lot of money!

I don’t doubt that these books (and movies) have brought many people into the Christian faith. They were hugely influential in my early Christian years in good ways and bad. For example, because Jesus was coming back soon and the world was going to end, it wasn’t worth buying a house, so I didn’t. I still regret listening to Hal Lindsey instead of my dad.

The greater problem with this kind of pop-theology is that it is simply wrong.  In fact, a lot of things taught as valid interpretations of Bible prophesy these days show little historical understanding of the Book of Revelation and other prophetic Scriptures.  As a result, much of the church is watching – and sometimes taking a rather gleeful longing – for an increase in war, natural disasters and marks on the right hand and forehead – like the microchips.

This fairly new approach to the interpretation of Bible prophecy is called dispensationalism. It was developed in 1827 by John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren and spread widely with the 1909 publication of the Scofield Reference Bible.  Darby went on to be the founder of the Exclusive Brethren cult after George Mueller (and other Brethren) challenged him about some of his unbiblical doctrines.  Charles Spurgeon also claimed these teachings were false.

We need to remember that the apostle John wrote his Revelation to seven churches in the First Century. When John told THEM to “solve the meaning of the number of the beast” to identify this man, he wasn’t teasing them to try and recognise someone who would exist two thousand years later. He was writing in a well-known code of the day (gematria) that his readers would understand.  They would know that John was referring to Nero Caesar (a Greek form of Nero’s name, when rendered into Hebrew, gives a combined value of 666). [2]

Understanding history helps us comprehend the book of Revelation and the great tribulation, a period that is spoken of as 1260 days or 42 months or “a time, times and half a time.”  All of these refer to three and a half years in the lunar calendar used at that time.  These three and a half years began when the people of Judea rebelled against the Roman Empire in mid-66 AD.  Nero sent Vespasian to bring the province under control.  He was ruthless – destroying villages and crops, massacring people or selling them into slavery.  In AD 68 he captured and destroyed the town of Jericho and then advanced onto Jerusalem, which his son Prince Titus defeated in AD 70.  The Jewish historian Josephus reported the slaughter of some 250,000 Jews, with much more dying of disease and starvation, and 97,000 Jews sold into slavery.

These are the events that Jesus warned of in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived.  Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled” (Luke 21:20-22).

History reveals that Jesus’ followers understood His prophecies:  the believers obeyed the warnings and fled Jerusalem to a town called Pella, and thus saved themselves.  In fact, not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christians left Jerusalem thus escaping what Jesus referred to as the “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).  The destruction of Jerusalem occurred three and a half years later, at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Christians today should not be looking for antichrist or the great tribulation, and we certainly shouldn’t worry ourselves about microchips or the Mark of the Beast.  We should occupy our time doing good works, living productive lives, making the world a better place and sharing the good news of the Christian gospel. Let’s be looking for the real Christ, not the anti-one!

 

[1] http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/wearables/australians-embracing-superhuman-microchip-technology/news-story/536a08003cb07cba23336f83278a5003

[2] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/atheology/2016/09/first-century-coin-of-nero-found-in-jerusalem-the-mark-of-the-beast/#kSyToUFzpo6Q2hKj.99

The recently released IPSOS Global Poll [1] shows that a majority of Australians (63%) believe that religion does more harm than good. The Poll also indicates that we are comfortable, in our multicultural society, in being around people with different religious beliefs to our own; that is of course for those of us who have a religious affiliation.  The Poll also shows that we are a shrinking number, with almost 40% of Australians saying they have no religion or religious attachment.

The statistic that concerns me the most is the number of people in Australia who agree with the statement, “Religion does more harm in the world than good.”  It concerns me, but it doesn’t surprise me.  Religion, of course, includes all faiths and not just Christianity.  Uppermost in people’s minds, no doubt would be the increase in religion-inspired terrorism, as well as religious infighting (think Sunni/Shia; Protestant/Catholic).  Religious persecution and wars, evils committed against others by religious authorities and religions (or religious people) dictating to others how they should live also come into the equation. Some of these undoubtedly resonate with many Australians.

Over the past few years we’ve witnessed Islamist terrorism at home, and overseas; we regularly hear about religious wars; we see people of one religion’s brutal treatment of those whose faith is different (like the actions of the Buddhist Burmese toward the Muslim Rohingyas).  In Australia, we’ve had the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that has highlighted the awful treatment that thousands of children have suffered at the hands of priests and religious ministers.  Almost 2,000 Catholic Church figures were implicated in the child sex abuse report, where seven per cent of Australia’s Catholic priests were accused of abusing children in the six decades since 1950. In total, between 1980 and 2015, 4,444 people alleged incidents of child sexual abuse relating to 93 Catholic Church authorities. The abuse allegedly took place in more than 1,000 institutions. [2] And that’s just one denomination in one religion.

On top of all this is the weariness I hear from many of my non-religious friends of being told how they should live – or not live – by people of faith.  Add all of these things up, and it’s no surprise that 63% of Australians believe religion does more harm than good.

The words “religion” and “religious” are used sparingly in the Bible.  Sometimes the Bible refers to religious people who are superstitious (as in Acts 17:22; 25:19).  Other times religion denotes self-imposed restrictions or human-made faith (Colossians 2:23).  But James, the half-brother of Jesus, gives the most interesting insight into what it means to be truly religious, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” [3] Notice the contrast between “worthless religion” and “pure and genuine religion.”  I dare say what Australians are referring to when they say “religion does more harm than good” is the incompetent, impure and spurious kind that even the Bible condemns.

Consider the three things that James says define religion that is pure and genuine: (1) people who control their tongue; (2) people who care for orphans and widows; and (3) people who are “free from censure, irreproachable, free from vice, unsullied.” [4] If you’re a religious person, does this describe you?  Does it define the religious people you know?  A principal reason why there are an increasing number of people in Australia who have no religion or religious affiliation is that they’ve seen way too much false faith rather than the real thing.  They’ve heard religious people argue & condemn. They’ve read the nasty blogs and heard about the abuse of orphans and widows. They watched on while people who professed a faith have been found incorrect, corrupt, perverted and disgraced.

What the world needs to see is a genuine religion where they hear kind words of inclusion, not exclusion; where they appreciate our good works directed to the poor, disenfranchised and marginalised people of society (you know, the ones Jesus hung out with). They’re not looking for us to be perfect but they are disappointed when we pretend to be but then don’t live up to the pretence.  As Andrew F. Dutney of Backyard Theology puts it, “Religious organisations need to get on with doing what they do – developing communities, practicing their faith, serving their own members and the wider community at real points of need. And they need to do what they do with integrity, fairness and transparency. That will be more than enough for Australians.”  [5] I agree!

 

[1] https://www.ipsos.com/en-au/ipsos-global-study-shows-half-think-religion-does-more-harm-good

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/06/4444-victims-extent-of-abuse-in-catholic-church-in-australia-revealed

[3] James 1:26-27 NLT

[4] Kenneth Samuel Wuest (1893 – 1962), a noted Christian New Testament Greek (Κοινή) scholar

[5] https://andrewfdutney.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/religion-does-more-harm-than-good-in-the-world-agreed/

 

Assisted dying legislation in Victoria will be debated next week when Parliament returns.  No doubt there will be some robust discussion over the next few weeks until a conscience vote by the end of the year is reached.

I will write a blog on the Assisted Dying Bill next week, but the focus of this blog is The Right to Try rather than the right to die.  In the USA some states have laws that allow terminally ill patients to TRY experimental treatments (medication, procedures and other possible cures) that are unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  These treatments have passed basic safety testing but are not freely available.

I believe in the right to try for two reasons.  Firstly, if I were dying from a terminal illness, I would want to be given every possible opportunity to beat it – not because I’m scared to die but because I have so much for which to live.  As a husband and father, I want to be around for my family for a long time to come.  One of my long-term prayers and goals has been to grow old with Christie.  So far so good!  I also have a wonderful relationship with our three daughters.  I love being “there” for them and want to be there for many more years.  I want to walk them down the aisle one day, should they choose to marry.  I want to meet my sons-in-law and my grandkids.  I want to spoil them rotten (the grandkids that is) and be a hip old pop.  I still have so many dad jokes up my sleeve too.

I also believe that God has so much more for me to accomplish.  I love leading our amazing community that is Bayside Church and I’d like to stay around longer to see what God has in store for us.  I have books to write, sermons to teach, people to love, disciples to make, places to visit and battles to win.  Longevity runs in my family (my gran was 101 and my great gran 103), and I hope I’ve picked up that gene or whatever it is.  Should I however succumb to a terminal illness I’d want to have the right to try anything that would help me beat it and stick around longer.

Lest you should think my motivation was only selfish, my second reason for believing in the right to try is to engage in experiments that could benefit others.  Yes, I would put my hand up and volunteer to be a human guinea pig.  Even if the treatment were unsuccessful for me, I’d hope that those behind the trial would gain useful information that would help other people and save their lives.

There are some who are against the right to try legislation because they say it opens people to elevated risk.  What could be riskier than having a terminal illness?  Of course, any right to try legislation would need to provide drug companies some legal protection if a treatment resulted in harm, but let’s not use that as an excuse to deprive people of a possible cure and an extension to their quality of life.

For a human face to this issue read Deborah Sims’ recent article in the Herald Sun.

 

 

 

Social media is abuzz with yet another prediction of the end of the world.  There seems to be no end to prognostications of the end!  This time it’s because of a mysterious planet called Nibiru (or Planet X) that apparently will crash into the earth this Saturday. Nancy Lieder, the founder of the website ZetaTalk, first mentioned Nibiru in 1995 after she received messages from extra-terrestrials through an implant in her brain [1].  Nibiru was supposed to destroy the earth in May 2003 and then December 21st, 2012, and here we go again!  According to Nasa, Nibiru does not exist.[2]

The forerunner event is said to have been the Great American Eclipse on August 21st, with September 23rd being 33 days after the eclipse. 33 is significant because it was Jesus’ age when he was crucified, the eclipse featured a black moon which occurs every 33 months, and the eclipse was the first of its kind in 33 years – 33 times three – three being the number of completion in the Bible.[3]  The only problem here is that the three things this prophecy is based on are not true. Jesus could have been much older than 33 when he died[4], black moons occur every 32nd month, and total eclipses happen every 18 months somewhere in the world.[5]

Those who are making this forecast of doom are quoting Revelation chapter 12 along with Luke 21:25-26, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”  The video has had over 2 million hits and is intentionally disturbing.[6]

Why is it that some people are preoccupied with the end of the world?  Of course, it’s not a new phenomenon.  For centuries people have been prophesying the end of the world.  Many of them have given exact dates; all of them have been wrong!  More recently, people have been deceived by American radio evangelist Harold Camping who said that judgment day would be on May 21st, 2011 when God would raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes would ravage the whole world, as the earth would no longer conceal its dead.  Once again the prophecy was based on numerological “proofs” that proved incorrect.[7]

And then there was John Hagee’s now-defunct Blood Moon prophecy of the end of the world. Hagee, another American preacher with a huge following despite his numerous false prophecies and false teaching, taught of massive upheaval in the world between April 2014 and October 2015 when the sun and moon eclipsed creating a red (blood) moon (an unscientific term by the way).  The fourth blood moon was on September 28th, 2015 a time when Hagee suggested America and the world would face another economic crisis, perhaps as a result of a war in the Middle East or an economic crash. Hagee even wrote a book on the subject, Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change and made a movie of the same name.  Nothing happened except the author made a bucket load of money from gullible church people – and he still is.

Last year was going to be the beginning of the end, with World War III starting in June 2016, according to Pastor Ricardo Salazar, a Peruvian lawyer who now resides in Japan.[8]  He has put together his very own timeline of events from 2015 until the second coming of Christ by 2023.  He prophesied that China would attack Japan in February last year; an asteroid would strike Earth on May 16, and shortly after the Yellowstone volcano in U.S. would erupt, obliterating a large part of California.  As a result, the profoundly weakened America would suffer an attack from Russia and China who would win the war on October 25th, 2016 resulting in the Chinese Yen becoming the new global currency by March of 2017. In late 2018, Russia will attack Israel. The Anti-Christ will arrive on Earth by 2020 and the Second Coming of Christ will rescue people in 2023. I think Pastor Ricardo had too much cheese on his pizza before going to bed!

All of these predictions should sadden us greatly because they cause people to harden their hearts to the truth of God’s Word just like the people who heard the boy cry “Wolf!” Jesus IS coming back but making endless predictions based on dates, numbers, times and seasons is pointless and counterproductive to the Gospel.[9]

It’s interesting to note that the vast majority of Bible prophecies concerning the end of the world deal with how we are to live in the here and now.  The Bible teaches that the world will end one day, so it’s important that we live pure and productive lives in the present.[10]

In the meantime, share the GOOD NEWS about Jesus with people who are open to hearing it; live a genuine and consistent life that makes this world a better place and love your neighbour as yourself. Resist getting sucked into these baseless and pointless predictions and look for the real Christ, not the anti one!

 

[1] http://www.paranormality.com/maya_prophecy.shtml

[2] https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

[3] http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/no-world-not-september-23-article-1.3504874

[4] The Church Father Irenaeus claimed that Christ was about fifty when he died (Against Heresies II 22:5). His primary argument was that this information has been passed down to him by way of John and the other apostles (Courtesy of internetmonk.com)

[5] https://www.space.com/25644-total-solar-eclipses-frequency-explained.html

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoNp8dkyYWU

[7] https://baysidechurch.com.au/the-end-of-the-world-not/

[8]https://www.reddit.com/r/WWWIIIPredictions/comments/3wl4w5/pastor_ricardo_salazar_predicts_wwiii_june_2016/

[9] Acts 1:7-8

[10] Matthew 24:36-44; Luke 19:13; 2 Peter 3:11 & 14; 1 John 2:28; 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Philippians 1:9-11; Titus 2:11-14

 

McCrindle Research’s Faith and Belief in Australia Report was published in May this year and gave some excellent insights into the spiritual state of the nation.  A part of the paper that particularly interested me was the things that attracted and repelled people from religion or spirituality.

Attraction To Faith

The main thing that draws people to a religion, or to investigate spiritual things, is observing someone who has a genuine faith. Other attracting factors include experiencing personal trauma or a significant life change, or by hearing stories or testimonies from people who have changed due to their belief.  One the biggest turn offs is the telling of miraculous stories of healings or supernatural occurrences.  In other words, Australians are interested in hearing about someone’s life that has changed because of their faith, but they are not interested in everything working out miraculously.  Why?  It doesn’t reflect what life is like; it’s not genuine faith.

The Honesty of the Bible

The good news is that the Bible is full of stories where not everything works out well, and the book of Psalms is a particularly valuable resource of stories just like that.  The 150 Psalms can be divided into three main groups:

  1. Everything is wonderful, praise the Lord, hallelujah!
  2. Everything is not wonderful, I’m struggling like crazy, but the Lord is going to rescue me.
  3. Everything is not so good, I’m trying like mad, I’m praying hard, but God’s not listening, in fact, I think He’s gone missing.

A Psalm that fits into the last category is Psalm 88 – a contemplative song or poem set to a familiar tune from 645 B.C. titled “The suffering of affliction”.  Take some time to read Psalm 88, and you’ll be surprised at how honest the author (Heman) is.  He’s overcome with troubles, is feeling weak and overwhelmed, his friends and neighbours have deserted him, and he’s grieving as a result.  He’s praying to God every day, but he feels like God is hiding from him or just not listening.

You’ve probably read this Psalm but underlined little.  You may have wondered why it’s in the Bible, but I’m so glad it is because it reminds us that life is not always fair, and God seems to be completely comfortable with the author’s expressions of injustice.  Think about it, the Holy Spirit inspired Heman to write this Psalm, and the Israelites kept it for hundreds of years so that it’s in the Bible.  God wasn’t ashamed to have this Psalm included in His Holy Scriptures.  He wasn’t yelling out, “Oh, you can’t say that about me; I’m God!”

In the Bible, God challenges people over many things including idolatry and their failure to show justice towards the poor and marginalised.  He gets in the face of the hypocrites and the tightwads, but not once does he correct those who vent their frustration at him when they feel he’s disinterested, far away or has abandoned them, or when life is just not fair.

Jesus’ Struggle

Jesus could relate to Heman in that he too felt abandoned by God while he was on the Cross.  As he was dying, Jesus quoted a Psalm that he would have memorised when he was younger.  He thus used someone else’s experiences to express his own; that’s why Psalm 22 is “The Psalm of the Cross.”  It begins with, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?”  It’s encouraging for us to know that Jesus fully experienced the human condition including what it is like to feel abandoned by God and for things not to work out the way he wanted them to – that life is not always fair.

Our Struggles

The Bible tells of many great men and women of faith who experienced life’s unfairness.  For example, in Hebrews 11, the author takes the first 35 verses to tell great stories that all had miracle endings.  If you stopped there you’d feel that your own life was completely inadequate because you just don’t match up to these amazing people.  But life is not always fair, so he goes on to tell about “the others” “who were tortured … faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.”  All these people faced gross unfairness, significant difficulties and challenges in life.  They died without receiving the answer to their prayers, but they are all referred to as people with strong faith.

The people’s lives mentioned in Hebrews 11 didn’t finish well, and neither does Psalm 88, “You have taken from me friend and neighbour—darkness is my closest friend.”  The end!  Ever felt like that?  Ever blamed God?  Ever felt guilty about feeling like that and blaming God?  I have and I imagine I’m in good company.

Genuine Faith is Honest Faith

The fact that life is not always fair enables us to be honest and realistic about our faith and remember that people in Australia are looking for people of genuine faith, not a faith where everything works out miraculously.  One of the most honest conversations I’ve ever had was with Myuran Sukumaran in January 2015.  I was in Kerobokan prison, visiting Andrew Chan for his 31st birthday, when I found out that Myu’s appeal had been denied.  I asked him if he’d like to talk about it, and the next morning we spent about three hours talking this through.  During our conversation, I asked him how his faith in God was going, and he told me he was angry with God.  I said that I didn’t think that was a problem and that God was big enough to handle his anger.  I encouraged him to read the Psalms in which so many of the authors express their anger towards God.  Myu took me at my word, read the Psalms and started his journey back to faith in God over the next few months before his execution.

As Peter Enns states: “Expressions of abandonment aren’t godless moments, evidence that something is wrong and needing to be fixed.  They relay the experiences of ancient men and women of faith, and were kept because those experiences were common  … for us they signal not only what can happen in the life of faith, but also what does happen.” [1]

People are looking for a genuine faith that is honest and realistic, not one that always has to have a Disney ending.  I encourage you to be authentic in your faith and, if you’re considering finding out more about Christianity, realise that you’ll be coming to God who loves you just the way you are and that you can be completely honest with him.

For more on this topic listen to my message When Life Is Not Fair.

 

[1] The Sin of Certainty, Peter Enns (P. 60)

I realise that a joyful Jesus is not everyone’s experience.  I mean, I’ve met some of his followers and joy wasn’t the first word that sprung to mind.  When I was in Grammar school, my divinity teacher was Reverend Harry – the meanest guy in the school.  I came top in his class with 63%, and it looked like he’d been baptised in lemon juice.  Atheism seemed like a good option to me for some years afterwards.

Since converting to Christianity, I’ve met Christians who, in my opinion, are not necessarily good representatives of a joyful Jesus.  Maybe they are joyful, but it seems the joy was buried quite deeply!  It’s a shame because the Jesus we read of in the Bible is anything but joyless. 

Sorrowful Jesus

Now it’s true that Jesus was “a man of sorrows”.  He was despised, rejected and familiar with suffering[1], but that only applied to him concerning his work on the cross, and even that he endured with joy.[2]

The problem is that some Christians and churches emphasise Jesus as the man of sorrows and forget joyful Jesus.  Someone may object to this by reminding me that “Jesus wept.”  That’s the shortest verse in the Bible and one of my favourites because it’s so easy to memorise!

The Bible records that Jesus wept because it was news that is an unusual event rather than a daily occurrence.  The Bible doesn’t record that Jesus laughed because it wasn’t news; he did it all the time.

Joyful Jesus

The Bible tells us that Jesus was a happy man; in fact, he had the oil of joy poured out on him more than anyone else.[3]  He was filled with the Holy Spirit and thus had the fruit of the Spirit including joy.

Jesus attracted people, especially children, and no one finds a sourpuss attractive.  Jesus told people to be of good cheer.  Surely He practised what He preached!

Humourous Jesus

Jesus gave his joy to others,[4] and you can’t give what you do not have!  Jesus used humour in his teachings.  Although his humour doesn’t come through into English translations, statements like “take out the beam from your eye” or “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” or “a camel going through the eye of a needle” would have been hilarious to his audience.[5]

The overly serious Pharisees accused Jesus and his disciples of being gluttons and drunkards.  Of course, they were neither, but in the eyes of the stern religious people of the day, they were guilty by association.  The first miracle Jesus did was turning water into the best wine at a seven-day wedding feast.  Unfortunately, some Christians over the centuries have tried to reverse the miracle.

 

Party Jesus

Jesus let Matthew throw him a great feast along with all of his sinful tax-collector buddies (Luke 5:27-39).  The happy party caused the religious leaders to criticise, complain and talk about fastingand prayer (obviously because that is more spiritual than eating with friends).  Jesus responded with humour, sarcasm, a story, and then a sigh that despite his presentation of truth they, like fools, will stick with their old glum ways (see The Humour of Christ). Even the morose and peevish John Calvin (known for burning opponents at the stake) had to admit in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (III: 19:9): “We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or to be satisfied with food, or to be delighted with music, or to drink wine.”  Thanks, John, we were hanging out for your permission!

Rethink Jesus

I understand that a joyful Jesus may mess with your theology.  If that’s the case, I suggest your theology could do with it.  When I imagine Jesus, it is not merely as a person who healed the sick, raised the dead and preached the good news. It’s also as a man of considerable goodwill and compassion, with a zest for life, someone unafraid of controversy, free to be who He knew Himself to be and brimming with generous good humour and a playful and fun demeanour.  So let’s set aside the idea that Jesus was a humourless, grim-faced, dour, unsmiling killjoy and let’s choose to be just like him – joyful!

 

[1] Isaiah 53:3

[2] Hebrews 12:2; John 16:19-24

[3] Hebrews 1:9

[4] John 15:11

[5] In his book, The humour of Christ, Quaker author Elton Trueblood examines in detail 30 humorous passages in the Gospels.

 

 

 

In last week’s blog I highlighted something that the church needs to beware of, that is, outraged Christians.  They write blogs and social media posts that others share with little or no fact checking.  All they do is distort the truth, create fear and lead to further outrage which creates an attitude of culture wars.  Outraged Christians see themselves as a minority that has to lobby and campaign for their rights.  How different this is to the way the first century Church conducted themselves in even more adversarial circumstances than we face today (read the Book of Acts).

In recent times, I’ve noticed another falsehood being shared and re-shared by the outraged.  This time it’s about the Doctors in Secondary Schools program introduced by the State Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews.  The outrage goes as follows:

Daniel Andrews’ government has launched a program that will allow students to bypass permission from their parents and receive medical treatment, including the pill, without their parents’ or guardians’ knowledge.  The quoted example is of a girl as young as 11 being able to get a prescription for contraceptives from school without the parents knowing about it.

As the father of three daughters, I’d certainly be concerned if this were true. So instead of sharing the outrage on social media, I did some homework and here’s what I discovered:

The people who are outraged are missing the primary purpose of this program that is all about improving the mental health of youth in Australia.  The Doctors in Secondary Schools program is not about providing an oral contraception service to adolescent girls.  As suicide is the leading cause of death for the 15-19-year-old age group in Australia (which accounts for 31% of deaths in this age group), this program aims at removing a barrier and improving the mental health of this vulnerable population.

Regarding the issue of whether a doctor can prescribe the oral contraceptive to a young person without the parents’ consent, the concept of “mature minor” comes into play. [1]

This idea of “mature minor” was first adopted in England after a famous court case in the 1980’s when a mother of five daughters (Mrs. Gillick) took the family doctor to court.  The court rejected her claim, and it was at that time the law was changed in England to reflect this.  Australia followed suit shortly after.  So it has been legal to prescribe the oral contraceptive to “mature minors” for more than 30 years.  This practice goes on in Australian general practices every day.  It is not a new thing.

What this looks like in practical terms is that very few adolescents under 16 would satisfy the definition of mature minors.  They often do not have a thorough understanding of the risks of entering a new sexual relationship (unwanted pregnancy, STIs, etc.) or the consequences of their actions.  What most GPs do is spend a lot of time trying to persuade the young person to talk to their parents and include them in the decision making process.  They also screen to make sure that someone is not coercing the young person into a sexual relationship.  Older teens would still need to satisfy the GP that they have a complete understanding of the risk and consequences of entering into a sexual relationship.  It would only be if the GP felt that the young person was definitely going to engage in sex that they would prescribe it on the grounds that the risks of pregnancy were greater than the harms of being on the pill.

The concept of mature minor also comes into play in schools.  It is the Department of Education policy that principals can declare a child to be a mature minor and to make decisions about their education.[2]  In the same way that principals would always have the young person’s best interests at heart, so too do GPs.  It would be a very rare circumstance that it was not in the best interests of the adolescent to have their parents involved in decisions about their education or medical care.  GPs want parental involvement too.

Have people been getting up in arms about the Department of Education policy?  NO!  Has it been the policy for years now?  YES!

So this outrage that’s been doing the rounds online is just another example of people getting upset about a new initiative that is not so new but has been occurring for years in a different form.  And maybe this new initiative might save a few lives as doctors, parents and the education department work together to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse, self-harm, and suicide as well as to diagnose and treat mental illnesses.

So how should we deal with outrage when we see it?

First of all, rather than respond to or repeat the information, check it out.  Get the facts and see if the outrage has any foundation.  Secondly, how about we (Christians) get outraged about the genuine injustices we see around us?  Where’s the outrage from the church about the mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers?  Where’s the outrage that leads us to help those who, for whatever reason, find themselves homeless on our city streets?  Let me hear some Christian outrage about domestic violence, human trafficking and the injustices faced by Australia’s Indigenous people.  Let’s start being incensed by the things that anger God.  Maybe then Australians will sit up and start to give some value to the Church again (instead of leaving it in droves) because they will see us not just looking after our interests but also the interests of others. [3]

 

[1]http://www.racgp.org.au/download/documents/AFP/2011/March/201103bird.pdf

[2]http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/safety/Pages/matureminor.aspx

[3] Philippians 2:4