Almost a year ago my dear old mum passed away at the age of 83.  For about 5 years she had gradually declined mentally and physically because of dementia.  The first time we noticed it was when she was cooking a lovely family dinner and couldn’t remember how to make custard.  Over the next few years things got worse and worse.  My dad was amazing in his care for mum, but eventually he couldn’t cope anymore.  I will never forget the look of sadness on her face when we left the nursing home that day. We walked outside and wept.

Mum spent about a year and a half in the home before she peacefully passed away early one morning.  The nurse had gone into mum’s room, looked at her and said, “Sheila, it’s fine if you want to go now.”  A few minutes later she took her last breath.  I had been with mum every day the week before and had said my “goodbyes.”  I have no regrets.  She was a great mum and I have many fond memories.

I conducted her funeral a few days later and then came back to Melbourne. But niggling in the back of my mind was a fear of getting dementia myself in my latter years, so I started doing some reading and research on what causes it.  I know there’s no known cure at this stage, but some of the current research strongly indicates there are several ways to reduce your risk and slow it down.  Here’s what I found out:

There are six things we need to do to keep our brain healthy, stronger and lasting longer:

The first is exercise that helps to reduce stress, improves memory, increases energy and lifts our sense of wellbeing.  Research shows that exercise can reduce the risk of developing dementia by 50%.  The recommendation is for a balance between cardio, weights and stretching / breathing exercises such as Pilates.

Secondly, it’s important to maintain a healthy diet.  The Mediterranean diet has been found to be the best mix of food to help prevent dementia. Foods to include are fish, nuts, whole grains, olive oil, and lots of fruit and vegies from across the colour spectrum to maximise protective antioxidants and vitamins.  Other foods that help include ginger, green tea, white and oolong tea, black coffee, soy products, blueberries, and other dark berries, lean protein and healthy fats, a glass of red wine and square of dark chocolate, eggs, quinoa, hummus and brown rice.  Drink lots of fresh water.

Avoid full-fat dairy products, fast food, fried foods, and packaged and processed foods and drinks as well as refined carbohydrates that are high in sugar and white flour.  Eating six small meals throughout the day is recommended.

Thirdly, keep your mind active.  Learning new things like a foreign language or a musical instrument, reading, taking up a new hobby, playing strategy games and board games (like Scrabble), memorising Scripture, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku all help.  When you drive somewhere take an alternative route, eat with your non-dominant hand, rearrange your computer file system. Vary your habits regularly to create new brain pathways.  Luminosity gives an excellent brain workout.  Subscribe to it and you’ll receive a daily email reminder.

Number 4: Get at least eight hours of sleep per night.  Go to bed and get up at the same time every day because your brain’s clock responds to regularity.  Avoid taking naps during the day. If you have to nap then a maximum of 30 minutes early in the afternoon is the way to go.  Create a relaxing bedtime ritual and ban TV, computers and phones from the bedroom.  When stress, anxiety, or negative thoughts keep you awake, get out of bed. Try reading or relaxing in another room for twenty minutes then go back to bed.

Next, it’s important to limit the amount of stress you experience especially over long periods of time.  Do things that help you relax, breathe deeply, and engage in prayer, meditation and reflection.

Finally, keep yourself actively involved with other people.  We’re not meant to be alone we’ve been created for community.  Join a church community, attend regularly, make friends, get involved and volunteer.  Wherever possible do some of the above recommendations together – eat healthily with friends, exercise with others, play board games together and pray with others.  Making sure all of these ingredients are in your life will not only reduce your risk of dementia, they will also lead you to living the happiest and healthiest life possible.

That’s just one of the many questions Christie and I have been asked over the last few years since getting to know Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two of the Bali Nine.

It’s been quite a journey – a very difficult one at times – made often harder because we’ve had to answer the same questions several times.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind answering questions if it helps someone gain a better understanding. I’m not looking for everyone to agree with me, but I have been amazed at the amount of hatred poured out even from some quarters of the Christian church – you know, the people who are to “love their neighbour as themselves” – those people!

Firstly, let me make it clear that Christie and I were not looking for something else to do.  We were actually taking a few days in Bali to rest after a particularly busy and stressful time. While we were there we met up with some old friends.  During our time together they told us of the work they were doing inside Kerobokan Prison and would we like to join them for a morning.  Little did we know that meeting Andrew Chan on that morning would lead to all that has taken place since.

So, here are some of the common questions and themes we have been asked along with what I hope will be helpful answers.

 

They’re just drug traffickers. Why bother with them?

It’s true. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were part of the Bali Nine who attempted to bring over eight kilograms of heroin into Australia.  We “bothered” with them because we got to know them and love them.  We were amazed at their sorrow for what they’d done and for the way they were demonstrating that sorrow – not just by rehabilitating themselves, but also in working hard to help reform others.  We “bothered” with them because Jesus “bothered” with us: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

God actually did not wait for you and me to get our act together, He didn’t wait for us to reform or rehabilitate – He demonstrated the full extent of His love for us while we were still sinners.

It’s amazing how some having received God’s forgiveness can then be so unforgiving towards others.  Jesus addressed this hypocrisy in the parable of the unmerciful servant (see Matthew 18:21-35).  I’ve had people say to me, “Those guys don’t deserve mercy!”  My response to them has been, “I couldn’t agree with you more!”  No one deserves mercy.  By its very definition it is something we DON’T deserve.  Mercy is “compassionate kindness shown toward an offender or an enemy.”

Someone wrote this comment on Facebook, “What sort of a church are you that think these druggies are heroes. They knew what the law was and they broke it. Not the first time they did it but at least it was their last. Get on with life.” 

The answer to that question is that Bayside Church is a church that is doing its best to show mercy, kindness, compassion and grace to all people – even people who make massive mistakes!

 

They knew the risks. They deserve what they got.

Yes, there are BIG signs at Bali airport warning travellers of the penalty for drug trafficking.  The Bali Nine probably did know the risks but they were young.  Did you make any mistakes when you were young?  I know I did!

Recent research into the teenage brain shows some very interesting outcomes.  Consider this quote from the online Health Encyclopedia, “It doesn’t matter how smart your teen is … good judgment isn’t something he or she can excel in, at least not yet.  The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until he or she is 25 years old or so.  In fact, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with the amygdale. This is the emotional part.  In teen’s brains, the connections between the emotional part of the brain and the decision-making center are still developing. That’s why when teens are under overwhelming emotional input, they can’t explain later what they were thinking. They weren’t thinking as much as they were feeling.”

It’s fairly evident to me that Andrew, Myuran, Matthew Norman and the others weren’t thinking of the consequences.

 

What about the people who would have been hurt or killed by those drugs?  Aren’t you being soft on justice?

No, we’re not being soft on justice.  I’m glad every member of the Bali Nine were caught.  I wish all drug traffickers are caught and brought to justice.  I wish those who are behind the trafficking of drugs were caught and brought to justice too – not just the drug mules.  I used to use drugs and I know all about their harmful effects.  I lost some of my closest friends to drug overdoses.  As a pastor I have seen the devastating effects of drugs, not just on the users but also on their families and friends.

In regards to Andrew and Myuran, the request was that their death sentences be commuted to life sentences so they could continue their work of rehabilitating other prisoners.  Soft justice was never considered.  A life sentence in Kerobokan Prison is not soft justice.  If one thinks it is they should visit a prisoner there.

The eight kilograms of heroin didn’t make it into Australia, but many other drugs do.  Those who use drugs need to take responsibility for their habit and seek help to become free of addiction.  Blaming a drug supplier for your habit is like blaming a barman for your drinking problem.

 

You’re a hypocrite. Why are you just advocating for those two? What about everyone else on death row?

This has got to be my all-time favourite.  Apparently we are hypocrites because we only spoke up for Andrew & Myuran and not ALL the people facing the death penalty around the world.

While I personally advocate against capital punishment in all circumstances (mainly though Amnesty International), Christie and I got to know Andrew and Myuran personally.  It was because of our friendship with them that we advocated so strongly for them.  Having said that, the two guys have asked that their deaths not be in vain and that we would all continue to advocate against the death penalty to eventually see it abolished in every nation.

 

What about helping…. (Insert other people in need here)?

Why are you helping drug traffickers? What about … the poor, the asylum seekers, the homeless, the drug addicted, the mentally ill, aborted babies you name it.

One person – who doesn’t know me very well – called me a “one-issue guy.”  If they knew Christie, me and Bayside Church they would know that statement is completely untrue.  As a church community we are very engaged in helping the poor, the marginalised, the disadvantaged, the asylum seekers, the homeless, the orphans and widows.  We can’t solve all the world’s problems but we can make a difference.  Have a read of this article for some very good comments on this question:

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/the-emotion-police-ready-to-silence-anyone-with-the-wrong-feelings/story-fnpug1jf-1227334908980

 

How do you know they are really rehabilitated?

Some have suggested they were just pretending to be reformed so as to get a lesser sentence.  Others have said, “They wouldn’t have changed if they weren’t caught.”  Of course no one knows what would have happened if Andrew and Myuran weren’t caught.  The fact is they were caught and during their 10 years in Kerobokan Prison they demonstrated by their words and actions that they were genuinely changed men.  Christie and me and hundreds of other people have witnessed this rehabilitation firsthand over many years.

A great example is the author of the hymn Amazing Grace.  John Newton was a slave trader – a trafficker of people.  He later became a Christian and a pastor.  There’s not a person on this planet that has met John Newton – he died in 1807.  How do we know that this man who was an infidel and engaged in immorality and people trafficking was genuinely reformed?  How do we know he wasn’t pretending?

 

Are you against the death penalty in all cases?

Yes I am.  I believe I have to be consistent in my belief, which has changed over the years.  I used to be very much for the death penalty but not any more.  There are many reasons for this that I will save for another blog.

Let me give you two reasons here.

Firstly, when Andrew & Myuran and the other guys were executed, a Filipino lady named Mary Jane Veloso was also going to be shot.  The Indonesian government was going to execute an innocent woman – if the guilty person had not come forward at the last minute Mary Jane would be dead now.  The death penalty always risks killing the innocent.

Secondly, the death penalty punishes the innocent family and friends of those executed. Looking into the eyes of Andrew and Myuran’s families was heartbreaking.  Seeing their grief and sadness over the loss of their loved ones was unbearable.  As I said earlier, I am not into soft justice, but I don’t believe that killing a person for their crime is just.

 

Aren’t you just doing this to promote your own ministry?

I could think of much easier ways of promoting my ministry if I ever got an inclination to do that.  One guy wrote this about us on Facebook, “The applause of man will be their only reward.”  I can honestly say that neither Christie nor I am interested in people’s applause.  This has actually been a very difficult and tiring journey with much opposition.  I do, however, appreciate our church community at Bayside Church, many other Christians (as well as lots of people who don’t share our faith) and the media who have stood strong to help Andrew and Myuran and to advocate for their lives to be spared.

 

Isn’t it time to move on?

Look into the eyes of the family and say that!

 

I sit here still in shock at the execution of eight people by the Indonesians.  I had still hoped – against hope – that the authorities would see reason and allow these men to live, in prison, to continue the good work they had been doing since being rehabilitated.  But no, the executions went ahead.

For some people, that’ll be the end of it.  Some people don’t care. Others are glad it’s over because they’re fed up hearing about it in the news, after all, “these guys were hard-core drug traffickers and knew the risks over there.”  “Let’s not forget how many lives they would have ruined if they weren’t caught.”  And that’s true.  I wish all drug traffickers were caught; and I wish they got the people higher up the chain rather than just the drug mules who are often victims themselves.

One guy said, “They would never have come to know Jesus if they were not in this position.”  Really?  So you know the future and what would happen if things were different?

Another person wrote, “I won’t be losing any sleep they were scumbags.” Well those “scumbags” were someone’s son; someone’s brother; someone’s friend.  They were our friends who’d we’d got to know a few years ago and worked alongside to help with the projects that were reforming and rehabilitating 100s – if not 1000s – of other prisoners.  We’ve had the privilege of meeting many of these reformed people over the years – people who are now out of jail, off drugs, holding down good jobs, getting married, having kids and being responsible members of society.

That’s the sad truth here.  You see Indonesia has the death penalty in place for drug traffickers.  Indonesia also has a massive drug problem (so obviously the whole death penalty thing is not working as a great deterrent to the traffickers or users).  Indonesia needs help with its drug problem.  What they had in Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were two men who were helping to reform drug users, traffickers and other prisoners.

So, if you have people helping you achieve your goal of reducing drug crime you get alongside and help them right?  You find out what’s working and develop those projects in other prisons.  You resource them because what they’re doing is helping reduce the drug problem in your country.  That would make sense wouldn’t it?  No, not if you’re the Indonesian President.  You take these men (who were helping you reduce your country’s massive drug problem) out onto a lonely island in the middle of the night and shoot them.  There.  End of problem, right?  Wrong.

Indonesia woke up yesterday morning just a little poorer.  They lost eight people who had reformed under its prison system and because of political pressure and a need to increase political popularity they killed them.

What’s even worse, they were about to kill an innocent woman as well.  Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines had always claimed an international trafficking gang tricked her into bringing 2.6kg of heroin to Indonesia from Malaysia five years ago as she chased a nonexistent job as a domestic worker.  The Indonesian justice system found her guilty and was about to kill her.  At the last minute Cristina Sergio, suspected of recruiting Veloso, turned herself in to authorities in the Philippines.  The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, granted a reprieve to Veloso.  They were about to kill an innocent person.  Right there is a good reason to be anti-death penalty.

And right now there are other innocent people who have been punished by the deaths of eight – their family members and close friends many of whom will live with grief and sadness for the rest of their lives.  In a way Indonesia shot them too.

I am angry at the injustice and hypocrisy demonstrated by the Indonesian authorities, but I will channel by anger into energy to continue to advocate against the death penalty, to help those in prison to reform and reform others, to help people out of poverty that often leads them into crime in the first place, and to give pastoral care to those who are affected by drugs.  I will continue to lead our church community at Bayside Church to show justice, mercy and love to a world so desperate for the genuine love of Jesus.

If you’d like to read more of this subject click on this link: https://baysidechurch.com.au/why-the-death-penalty-is-wrong/

Ever been confused by the way God is revealed sometimes in the Old Testament compared to how He is shown in the New?  If so, you wouldn’t be the first.  In fact, in the first couple of centuries there was a Christian sect that taught that there were two gods – the god of the old and the god of the new.

Let’s face it. There are some amazing things in the Hebrew Scriptures – what Christians refer to as the Old Testament – but equally there are some things that are puzzling or just plain difficult to grasp.  So how do we make sense of the Old Testament?

In the first half of my life I had 20/20 vision. But things started to change when I entered my 40s and there came a time when my arms were just not long enough anymore!  So, eventually, I succumbed to wearing glasses, and the two lenses helped me to see things so much more clearly.  The same is true when we read the Old Testament.  There are two lenses we need to have securely in place.

The first is The New Testament Lens.  We need to read the Old Testament through the lens of the New.  Theologian C.S. Cowles puts it this way: “There were good reasons why the church fathers, in settling upon the canon of sacred Scripture, separated the Hebrew Scriptures from the Christian and gave to the former the designation “old” and the latter “new.”  In so doing, they were following the precedent set within the New Testament itself. Paul drew a sharp distinction between the “old covenant” embodied in the Torah and the “new covenant” personified in Christ. The former “was fading away,” while the latter is endowed with “ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3:7–18). The author of Hebrews goes even further in his assertion that “by calling this covenant ‘new,’ [God] has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” (Heb. 8:13).

Looking through Old Testament lenses Martin Luther wrote about “the dark side of God.”  But when we put on the New Testament lens we see more clearly that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  John goes further to state categorically that “God is love” (4:8; cf. James 1:16-17, John 1:17)

One of Jesus’ biggest challenges was teaching His followers to look at life and people through new lenses.  In Luke chapter 9 we read of one such challenge: “And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him … when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” Jesus’ disciples had their Old Testament lenses on.  Jesus’ response teaches them their need to look at people differently: “But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”  In other words, start looking at people differently.  James and John were ready to consign all of Samaria to destruction because of the inhospitality of a few men.

Jesus made it crystal clear that the “manner of spirit” that would exterminate people was totally alien to his heavenly Father’s character. The vengeful spirit that dehumanises, depersonalises and demonises a whole town or nation or type of people is not of God.

The second lens is The Jesus Lens.  John Wesley said, “As the full and final revelation of God, Jesus is the criterion for evaluating Scripture, the prism through which the Hebrew Scriptures must be read.” (See John 14:9; 2 Cor 4:6; Col 1:15, 2:9; Heb 1:1-3)

In the New Testament, God does not define Jesus; rather, Jesus defines God. Jesus is the lens through whom a full, balanced and undistorted view of God’s loving heart and gracious purposes may be seen. Philip Yancey says, “To see what God is like simply look at Jesus.”

No longer should Christians define God as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6), as important as they were in salvation history, but as the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3).

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches a radical new way to live a life of love – and not just a life that loves the lovable but a life that loves our enemies. He abolished the “eye for eye, life for life” law of the Old Testament and replaced it with the law of love – the only law that now exists for Christians (Romans 13:8-10).

Jesus practised what He preached.  Consider Judas. Jesus loved him to the end. His love was expressed through gentle warnings; by making him the guest of honour at the Last Supper; in offering him first of all the cup of forgiveness; and by greeting him in the garden of betrayal as “friend.”

Consider also how Jesus treated sinners: “neither do I condemn you” He said to the woman caught in adultery, contravening the clear injunctions of the Old Testament calling for adulterers to be put to death. “Go in peace” He said to Mary Magdalene the prostitute.

Unfortunately, church history is blighted because people lived with an Old Testament understanding of God rather than a New Testament revelation. As a result, Christians took up the sword during the crusades against Muslims, Jews and others who were considered infidels. Protestants and Catholics slaughtered each other in the “holy wars” that tore Europe apart following the Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church tortured, burned, drowned and flayed hundreds of thousands of supposed heretics and witches across more than five centuries of the Inquisition. Christian Europeans not only forcibly seized native lands, but also destroyed 80 percent of North and South America’s native populations by genocide, disease and drunkenness during the colonial era. It was supposedly the most Christianised nation in Europe that systematically shot, gassed and burned six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust.

It’s this same problem of Christian people looking through Old Testament lenses that has, over the centuries, also justified slavery, the suppression of black people, subjugation of women, persecution of scientists, banning of interracial marriage and unkind treatment of minority groups. Sadly we still have “Christians” around today who are reading the Bible with Old Testament lenses. They blame hurricanes on gay people, bush fires on abortion laws and an earthquake on a two hundred year old “pact with the devil.”

It’s time to get new glasses. Make sure one lens is the New Testament and the other lens is Jesus and start looking at life – and people – in a brand new way!

There are over 100 references of the word “gospel” mentioned by several authors in the New Testament.  But it wasn’t a new word that they made up to describe what was accomplished and offered by Jesus.  It was a well-known word in classical Greek (euangelion) referring to a message of victory, or other political or personal news, that caused joy!  It was a word that was commonly used by people in the Roman Empire.

When Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44BC in the Theatre of Pompey, a period of political unrest followed.  The Roman Republic struggled for a time in civil war until Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian (later called Augustus) took the throne in 31BC.  Caesar Augustus is the earliest figure of the Roman Empire mentioned in the New Testament as he was the emperor during the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2).

Caesar Augustus was called the “son of god” who was the great “Saviour” of the whole earth through bringing an end to civil war and ushering in the Pax Romana (200 years of “peace” to Rome).  The themes of freedom, justice, peace and salvation permeated his reign. Whenever the great deeds of Augustus were proclaimed, they were presented with the Greek term euangelion.  His deeds were celebrated with poems and inscriptions, coins and images, statues, altars and structures.

An imperial quote stated, “All the cities unanimously adopt the birthday of the divine Caesar as the new beginning of the year … the birthday of the god [Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of good news (euangelion) concerning him [therefore let a new era begin from his birth].”

Caesar is depicted as having been born, and therefore as human, but also in some mysterious way, he is also divine.  The poet Horace put it this way: “upon you [Augustus] however, while still among us, we already bestow honours, set up altars to swear by in our name, and confess that nothing like you will arise hereafter or has ever arisen before now” (Epistles 2.1.15-17)

So to summarise: Augustus was seen as a god in human form who ushered in a new era of peace. He was called the son of god and the Saviour. His birth changed the calendar and his deeds were celebrated as good news, or gospel, that brought joy to people.  In the midst of this, Jesus was born – the one referred to as the Saviour, the Son of God who would bring peace and good news that will cause great joy for all the people (see Luke 1:35; 2:10-14).

No wonder the introduction of the Christian faith brought such a clash of cultures that resulted in Rome persecuting Christians for the best part of 300 years.  Author Edward Gibbon put it this way: “By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred.”

Throughout the centuries the radical teaching of grace and love by Jesus and His followers has continued to create a clash with the culture of the day – and life today is no different.  In this age of entitlement, the “like me” generation that is looking for its “best life” clashes severely with the teaching of Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself.”  Emphasising only the internal aspects of the gospel has raised up a generation of selfish consumer-Christians who stop at Jesus being their “own personal Saviour,” while neglecting the fact that the gospel is not just something you experience – it’s something you live!  The gospel of Jesus is not just about “me” – it’s about “us” and it’s about “others.”

When Jesus began His ministry He did so by reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in a synagogue on the Sabbath Day.  He presented the gospel – a message of victory that caused joy!  Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Jesus taught that living the gospel message would mean that He and His people would bring:

  • Good news to the poor
  • Freedom for the prisoners
  • Sight for the blind
  • Freedom for the oppressed

He finished the reading by saying that the gospel was a proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favour.  Interestingly enough Jesus stopped reading halfway through a sentence.  The next line says, “and the day of vengeance of our God.”  Jesus announced that this was the time when God is willing to accept people.  The original word refers to an amnesty – a general pardon for offenses, often granted before any trial or conviction, as well as an act of forgiveness for, and the forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.  What wonderful news Jesus proclaimed for all people.  All of us who have been changed by the gospel are carriers of good news that should bring great joy to others.

It is no secret that Christie and I, (and many others), have been advocating for many years against the death penalty that was passed down on Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.  In the light of this, it was no surprise that last week a friend of mine sent me a link to a conservative Christian blog that agreed with the death penalty being carried out on these two men. According to the blog writer to disagree with his viewpoint was to be guilty of “kneejerk reactions, emotional outpourings … fuzzy thinking, unbiblical thinking, and downright anti-biblical thinking.”  He goes on “to state once more a few basic biblical principles which we must not lose sight of as we think about such cases.”  He then proceeded to give a predictable list of “cherry-picked” Bible verses to support his harsh view, starting with Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”

This was a command, under the Noahic Covenant, to a fledging community of eight people as they began to repopulate the earth.  Human life is precious and should not be taken by another human. This is a clear authorisation of the death penalty in cases of premeditated murder.  But just because something is permissible does not mean it is beneficial or constructive (1 Corinthians 10:23).  Consider the first murder recorded in the Bible – that of Abel by his brother Cain.  God Himself did not see it as beneficial to take Cain’s life (Genesis 4:10-16).  He punished him by banishment from the community (like prison), but also protected him from others who would wish to kill him.

Those who attempt to justify the use of the death penalty by using selected Bible texts need to deal with the plethora of verses that endorse capital punishment for reasons that we find abhorrent.  For example, stubborn and rebellious children who would not receive correction could be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 21:18ff), the man who has sexual relations with his wife during her monthly period also has to die for such a sin, as does the person who breaks the Sabbath (Ex 31:14, Numbers 15:32-36).  If we still enacted such laws most of the human race would have to die!

There is no explicit command in the New Testament scriptures for the use of the death penalty, just a reference to the fact that the Roman Empire used capital punishment in certain cases, and so the Christian would do well to obey the law of the land, “But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason” (see Romans 13:1-4; Acts 25:11; 1 Peter 2:13-14; John 19:10-11).  This does not mean we can’t challenge and question the law of the land.

The New Testament views capital punishment in much the same way as it does slavery – it doesn’t endorse it, it merely gives instruction because of its existence.

There are many reasons why the death penalty is wrong:

  • Capital punishment carries the risk of executing someone who is innocent, and once they are executed nothing can be done to make amends.
  • Some criminals cannot be reformed because they are mentally ill, brain damaged or mentally retarded.  Is it right to take their life because of a handicap?
  • The death penalty does not act as a deterrent – it is incorrect to think that those who commit heinous crimes rationally think through their actions before committing them.  The death penalty is actually a deterrent to rehabilitation. Why should an offender change their life if they’re going to die anyway?
  • Capital punishment is not a more cost-effective option than prison.  In fact in western countries like the USA it is cheaper to keep someone in jail for the rest of their life than to have them executed.
  • The death penalty doesn’t just punish the offender.  It’s been heartbreaking to watch the threat of the death penalty punish the Chan and Sukumaran families and their friends – innocent people!

The blog I refer to above concludes with this statement: “Those Christians who bitterly oppose capital punishment must deal with God about this, and not me. This was God’s idea, and we have to deal with what God has revealed to us in his word about such matters. Yet sadly I find so many Christians ignoring God and his word on this, and just making things up as they go along.”

There is so much pride in this assertion, “I’m right and if you disagree with me and my interpretation of the Bible you’ll have to deal with God!”  Jesus constantly came up against this picky, proud, religious attitude and dealt with it head on: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Matt 23:23-24).

Here was a group of religious people who cherry-picked their brand of truth but neglected the most important themes expressed in Scripture: justice, mercy and faithfulness.  In this context justice means, “being fair and even-handed in judgment.” Mercy refers to “being compassionate and kind in action,” and faithfulness (or trust) means, “being loyal to God and His Word”.  Jesus applied these concepts in confronting the Pharisees because they had reached a tragically wrong conclusion regarding the intent of God’s laws.  The Pharisees had corrupted the intent of God’s Law by making it harsher than it was ever intended to be.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I believe in tough justice for those who break the law.  I believe that Australia needs tougher sentencing including life sentences that mean life without the possibility of parole.  Our judicial system is often far too soft on hard criminals, and the media are guilty of glorifying them as seen on the Underbelly TV series and the more recent media glorification of Carl Williams and other gangland characters.  There are times when it is right to lock someone up and throw away the key, but Jesus made it very clear that “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” was a law that belonged to another era and not to the age of grace.

Regarding Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran what is being requested of the Indonesian Government is that they would use their sovereign power to grant clemency to two reformed and rehabilitated men (and others on death row in Indonesia) and commute their death sentence to life imprisonment. Yes these men did do the wrong thing ten years ago; they trafficked drugs, they were foolish young men; they’ve “done the crime” and would like to “do the time” – they are just asking not to be executed.  Andrew and Myuran are doing an amazing job inside Kerobokan prison of helping to rehabilitate hundreds of prisoners who will one day get out of jail. Why not let them continue this work?  Shouldn’t rehabilitation be the ultimate goal of any good system of justice?

Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.  It occurs 40 days before Easter (excluding Sundays).  Ash Wednesday is observed by many Christians.

Lent had its origins in Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert, where he overcame three key areas of temptation (Matt 4:1-11): denying Himself with instant gratification, the approval of people and a shortcut to the plan of God.  John the apostle summarizsed these temptations as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).  Jesus’ fast was in preparation of the ministry He was on earth to complete – the salvation of all.  The purpose of Lent is to fast for 40 days as preparation for Easter.  Sundays are not included because Sunday is seen as a commemoration of the Day of Christ’s resurrection and so it should be a feast day and not a fast day.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year’s Palm Sunday, and placing them on the heads of participants to the accompaniment of the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  Both of these statements are vital truths in the Christian faith in which we are reminded of our sinfulness and mortality, and thus our need to repent and get right with God before it is too late.  The simple good news is that through Jesus’ death and resurrection there is forgiveness for all sins, all guilt and all punishment.

Ash Wednesday was originally called “the day of ashes”.  It is first mentioned in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates back to at least the 8th Century.  One of the earliest descriptions of Ash Wednesday is found in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon abbot Aelfric (955-1020).  In his “Lives of the Saints” he writes, “We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth.  Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.”

Sackcloth and ashes (or dirt/dust) are mentioned 23 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and four times in the New Testament.  As Aelfric suggests, the pouring of ashes on one’s body (and dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material made from goats’ hair) was an ancient practice as an outer manifestation of inner repentance or mourning.  In the New Testament, Jesus mentions the practice in Matthew 11:21: “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

The practice of the Ash Wednesday tradition – or the season of Lent – is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in Isaiah 58:5-7 when God says,

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

The true fasting that God requires is that His people would go without something in order to give to others who have little or nothing.  Fasting is not just self-denial but rather a way of bringing equality into a world where the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider.

And so with that in mind I encourage you at this time of year to remember what Jesus has done for each one of us.  He has paid the death penalty on the cross; He took the punishment for our wrongdoing upon Himself; He rose again – defeating death, giving eternal life and offering a full pardon to all who place their faith in Him.

During this 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting draw close to Jesus and look for ways in which you – by denying yourself – can bring some life and joy into the lives of others and provide for those who are doing it tough.  As Jesus said, “when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters [the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the prisoner, the foreigner] you were doing it to me!’ (Matt 25 :40)

As with many of the “Christian” festivals, Valentine’s Day probably has pagan roots deriving from Lupercalia – a very ancient rural festival, observed on February 13 through 15, to prevent evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia included Februa, a spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February its name and is probably the origin of Spring Cleaning.

Another theory of the origins of Valentine’s Day is that while the Roman Emperor Claudius II was trying to bolster his army, he forbade young men to marry.  In the spirit of love, St. Valentine defied the ban and performed secret marriages.  For his disobedience, Valentine was executed on February 14, 270AD.

Legend has it that before Valentine was executed, Claudius imprisoned him.  While in prison he fell in love with the Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius.  He is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia.  As a result of the miracle Julia, and the entire household, came to believe in Jesus and were baptised.  Before he was executed, he allegedly sent a letter to Julia signed “from your Valentine.”

J.C. Cooper, in The Dictionary of Christianity, writes that Saint Valentine was “a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for succoring (aiding) persecuted Christians.”  It is likely that Valentine was himself persecuted when interrogated by Emperor Claudius.  In Bede’s Martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century, it states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian.  Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman Paganism in order to save his life.  Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Due to this, he was executed.

Pope Gelasius 1 adapted Lupercalia as a Christian feast day around 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine’s Day.  It wasn’t until the 14th century however, that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love when, in 1381, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English literature, composed a poem in honour of the engagement between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.  As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day – in this case it was St. Valentine’s Day.  In 1537, England’s King Henry VII officially declared February 14 the holiday of St. Valentine’s Day.

By the 18th century, gift giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine’s Day had become common in England and eventually spread to the American colonies.

Over the years February 14 has been celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day by various church denominations including Anglican, Lutheran and Roman Catholic.  However, in 1969 the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the casualties.

Today Valentine’s Day is a time to express our love to the one most special person in our life – or the one who we would like to be the ONE!  As love is the overarching Christian theme it is appropriate for Christians to celebrate this day, but not to be limited by it.  Every day is a day to express our love for others.  I tell Christie several times a day that I love her – and she does the same. And we do our best to express our love for each other in many ways. We don’t wait for February 14th to show our love, but Valentine’s Day can be a special day to remind us of the importance of our loved ones and to give thanks for them.  Let’s not miss the opportunity.

I’ve always had a fascination for archaeology – especially when it reinforces the truth of the Bible – so a recent article in the Christian Post really caught my attention.

The article reported:  “A team of scientists and scholars claim to have discovered the world’s earliest-known version of the Gospel, dating back to the first century A.D., which was found on a sheet of papyrus used to make an ancient mummy’s mask in Egypt.”  It is thought to be a written portion of the Gospel of Mark, that possibly dates back as early as 80 A.D.

The mask was discovered by Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia.  He explains, “that most ancient Egyptians, that were not pharaohs nor part of ancient Egypt’s elite social class, were mummified with masks made out of used sheets of papyrus because that was the most cost efficient way for the families to preserve the bodies of their loved ones.

“Because papyrus itself was so expensive, the families often used sheets of papyrus that had already been used to write on.  Evans further explained that many pagans, who had no respect for Christians, often used Christian writings to mask their dead loved ones, because they deemed the Christian writings as “trash.”

As a new technique was discovered that allows scientists to undo the mummy masks without destroying the centuries-old ink, scientists have been able to uncover many different secular and religious documents.”

Evans explains, “It was from one of these masks that we recovered a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is dated to around 80 A.D.  We could have a first century fragment of Mark for the first time ever.”  Also in the discovery are some first-century Christian sermons.

Presently, the oldest surviving copies of Scripture are dated to the second century, between the years 101 to 200 A.D.”

Evans said Brill Publishers would publish the documents uncovered later this year.

The exciting thing about this discovery – and many others like it – is that it backs up the credibility and reliability of the Christian faith.   As archaeologists make further discoveries, it will encourage our faith to know it rests soundly on truth that was articulated two millennia ago or even longer.  It also helps us to “defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people” (Jude 3).

I want you to imagine something.  People arrive in your country and pretend that it’s not owned by anyone.  In fact they declare it “Terra nullias” – a Latin expression from Roman law meaning “land belonging to no one.”  They then proceed to set up their own colony, laws, rights and customs giving little or no thought to you – and others living in your country – and to your laws, rights and customs.  Have you imagined what that would be like? How did it make you feel?  Outraged I hope!

Well, that’s what began to happen to the Indigenous peoples of Australia on 26 January 1788, when the first fleet arrived from Great Britain.  Twenty years later, in 1808, are the first historical records of celebration occurring on that day – the day we now “celebrate” as Australia Day.

Timing is everything

Can you imagine how the celebration of Australia Day on January 26 could be an annual event that rubs salt in the wounds of our Indigenous peoples?  Now don’t get me wrong.  I believe we should have an annual day to celebrate this wonderful country. I just don’t think January 26 – called Invasion Day by some – is the best day to celebrate.

I love this country.  I’m so glad that my parents were bold enough to make the big move here when I was 12.  We were Ten Pounds Poms!  Mum and Dad paid 20 pounds and my sister, brother and I flew free.  I will always appreciate my parents for having the courage to leave family, friends and familiarity in the UK for the great unknown of Australia.  I love this country with all its diversity, warmth and welcoming; its freedoms, generosity and compassion.  And on the subject of compassion – it would be a good move if we demonstrated a bit more of it towards the original owners of this land.

In 1788 Australia was not a “land belonging to no one.”  It was inhabited by about 700,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were made up from between 500 and 700 tribes.  The Aboriginals tried to protest the colonisation of their land but the Europeans either drove them from their lands or killed them, sometimes both.  Due to massacres, plus the introduction of disease and alcohol, the indigenous population decreased by almost 87% by 1900.  These are hardly things worthy of celebration.

Rethinking the day

Many dates have been suggested for Australia Day as an alternative to January 26.

Federation Day, 1 January which would also coincide with the celebration of the New Year; the opening of the first Federal Parliament, 9 May; the anniversary of the 1967 referendum, 27 May, with changes made that enabled Aborigines to be accounted for under federal law, and to be included in the national census. The event was a milestone in the recognition of Indigenous rights in Australia.  February 13 has also been proposed in more recent years in response to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generation in parliament in 2008.  Another suggestion I heard recently was the Monday of the Melbourne Cup “Long weekend.”

Whatever the day I believe strongly that we need a national drive to move Australia Day away from January 26 out of love and respect for Australia’s original owners.

The shootings at Charlie Hebdo are inexcusable.  Resolving a disagreement or offence by ending the life of another is never right.  The outpouring of grief and demonstration of solidarity with the French at this time is inspiring and brings out the best in humanity – although we obviously don’t feel the same level of grief over the hundreds of people killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria this week or the 37 killed by al-Qaeda in Yemen.  But I’ll save my thoughts on that for another blog.

Not only were the terrorists who attacked Charlie Hebdo vicious, but they were also stupid.  Muslim extremists killing people over insults to their Prophet and what were they trying to achieve?  Justice for Islam?  Honour for Muhammed?  The end of Charlie Hebdo?  None of these things was achieved.  You see Charlie Hebdo was already in serious difficulty.  In fact last week they were in danger of folding.  But not now!  Before the attacks, they printed 60,000 copies of each edition.  This week they’re printing over 3 million copies in 16 different languages.  Charlie Hebdo is now a household name around the world.

In addition to that The Press and Pluralism Association donated $360,0000, ordinary citizens through crowd fundraising gave $150,000, while French Culture and Communications Minister Fleur Pel­lerin pledged $1.45 million to the magazine.  Charlie Hebdo now has more power, reach and influence than ever before and they will continue to do the same work of satirizing religions, cultures and politics.  Nothing will be out of bounds.  So, stupid terrorists, you would have been better off ignoring Charlie – just like those of other faiths did.  Sure, there may have been blogs and media articles expressing concern at the distasteful cartoons in the magazine.  Even Barrack Obama condemned them in 2012 and the French Government itself asked them to be more restrained.  But it took two Islamist extremists to make sure Charlie Hebdo now has a bright future.

In 1988 there was a Canadian-American film released called The Last Temptation of Christ.  I never saw it but I know people who did.  It was an average movie that would have been a Box Office flop except for the free publicity given it by “Concerned Christians” who protested about the perceived blasphemous themes in the film.  The movie should have been ignored.  Hollywood must have sat back and rubbed its hands together in glee as the money rolled in.  Incidents like this have occurred far too many times.

It reminds me of a quote by Elbert Hubbard: “Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”  In other words, there are times when ignoring something or someone is the best course of action.  Jesus did it.  Sometimes he just remained silent.  Other times he answered a question with another question.  He was never defensive, he never tried to justify himself and he certainly never resorted to violence to prove a point.  He overcame evil with good because good is more powerful than evil and he encourages us to do the same.

This morning we awake to the news of yet another terrorist attack – once again inflicted by Islamist extremists. In Paris, twelve people are dead and eight are injured (four critically) by the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo; a weekly French satirical newspaper. The newspaper has become well known throughout the world over the years for featuring cartoons, reports, jokes and aggressive attacks on religions, politics and culture.  It seems nothing was held sacred or out of bounds.

For some English translations of their more provocative material click on this link:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/01/07/charlie_hebdo_covers_religious_satire_cartoons_translated_and_explained.html

Two thoughts immediately spring to mind when I consider the horrendous events that took place in Paris yesterday.

Firstly, how far should free speech go?  Now I’m not suggesting the extremist anti free speech of some Communist and Muslim countries. What I am asking is where does self control, respect and decency limit what we say, write and publish? If I know that saying something is going to offend or hurt someone else I practice self control out of respect for that person.  Jesus encapsulated this when He taught people to “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  The French government had requested restraint of Charlie Hebdo several years ago when it published drawings, some of which depicted Mohammad naked and in demeaning or pornographic poses.  These were met with a swift rebuke by the French government, which warned the magazine could be inflaming tensions, even as it reiterated France’s free speech protections.  Charlie Hebdo went ahead and as a result France had to increase security at its embassies across the Muslim world.  Protests occurred across the Muslim world like the violent protests that targeted the United States over an amateur video produced in California that left at least 30 people dead.  In 2005, Danish cartoons of the Prophet sparked a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world that killed at least 50 people. Many innocent people have died because of the sacred cow of freedom of speech.

This leads me to my second thought. As I’ve watched reports on various news networks it is almost laughable to watch reporters side-step the “M” word.  One reporter said it was too early to attribute this attack to any particular ideology. Really?  The assault was carried out by two masked men brandishing AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, with at least one shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic.  When are the media going to rise above some distorted sense of political correctness and state the obvious? Several reporters also went to extremes to explain that Charlie Hebdo also mocked Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and various political persuasions.  And that is true.  But other religions don’t riot and shoot people.  We don’t hear about Buddhist suicide bombers.  Jews don’t put car bombs outside hotels.  Christians turn the other cheek although we are just as offended by the constant mockery and insults to our faith by the media and Hollywood.

It is true that the vast majority of Muslims are moderate, pious people who suffer more from terrorism and violence than non-Muslims. Ninety-three percent of Muslims do not support extremist views of terrorism according to a conservative Gallup poll.  But that means that 7% do.  Current estimates suggest there are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.  That means there are about 112 million Muslims who hold extremist views – and they are obviously living among us, as has been made painfully clear by the recent events in France, Australia, Canada, America and many other nations.

So, out of love and respect for others let us limit our freedom of speech but, at the same time, let us call Islamic extremism what it is and work in unity with all peaceful people to see an end to it.