Australian media has been drowned in discussion of the Labor leadership lately. Who will win the leadership struggle? I don't know. Does it matter?
There has been a lot of talk about trust. Who do you trust? Does Julia Gillard's track record inspire trust? What about Kevin Rudd's? Have either shown themselves to be people of principle and integrity?
Mr Rudd said he thinks it doesn't matter what kind of person the Prime Minister is, as long as they're going to do stuff that's good for everyone. "In the national interest" are the words he used. Ms Gillard has talked about all that she has achieved so far as Prime Minister.
I don't know who will win, but I do know that the future for our country is bleak as long as we care most about who will do the most for us. Our future is bleak as long as we think character doesn't matter, as long as we see results. Our future is bleak as long as we are a house divided against itself. Our future is bleak as long as we care more about the economy than the actual people in the economy.
Back when it was "Kevin in '07" there was a lot of talk about the need for a change. Well, we got the change, but children are still dying in state care. We got the change, but are you happier for it? I'm not suggesting that the alternative would have been any better, but that the government is part of something much bigger - the direction of our nation as a whole.
Are we going in a positive direction? Towards peace and unity? Towards equity and opportunity for all? Towards God?
As long as this house is divided, it doesn't matter whether Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott or Barney the Dinosaur leads our country, the results will ultimately be the same. And it won't be good. The only way towards unity is towards God - is that a step you're willing to take?
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Confidence in What?
It seems to be the catch-phrase of the moment - "consumer confidence". I hardly hear a news report without some mention of consumer confidence thrown in. According to the experts, it seems that consumer confidence is the glue that holds our world together. A fall in consumer confidence is apparently a dire emergency worthy of all our attention.
But confidence in what? What is it so desperately important that we have confidence in? The value of our dollar? The stuff we buy with our dollars? Our ability to earn lots of dollars?
Has our world truly become so extraordinarily narrow that the value of our lives and our selves is measured purely in dollars? If the nightly news is anything to go by, it seems that it has.
Confidence in money and stuff is sure to lead to disaster and disappointment in the end. As the Bible reminds us: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19) No currency or thing has any truly lasting value.
We can have confidence in God alone. That's it. Nothing else is worthy of our confidence, because nothing else is solid, sure and Eternal.
But confidence in what? What is it so desperately important that we have confidence in? The value of our dollar? The stuff we buy with our dollars? Our ability to earn lots of dollars?
Has our world truly become so extraordinarily narrow that the value of our lives and our selves is measured purely in dollars? If the nightly news is anything to go by, it seems that it has.
Confidence in money and stuff is sure to lead to disaster and disappointment in the end. As the Bible reminds us: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19) No currency or thing has any truly lasting value.
We can have confidence in God alone. That's it. Nothing else is worthy of our confidence, because nothing else is solid, sure and Eternal.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Kingdom of God Seminars
Thursday, February 2, 2012
They Were People Just Like Us
How does one start writing about the Holocaust?
In fact, how can I write about it at all? I wasn't there. I can't even begin to know what it was like. I can only know that it had to be horrible beyond my imagination.
There is something I do know about it, though. It can happen again.
Nazi Germany wasn't a freak accident of nature. Those who participated in the torture of millions of people were often "good" people, by all accounts. In the famous Milgram Experiment in the 1960s it was found that the majority of subjects - ordinary people - would shock a person to death (they thought) in the name of Science. A repeat of this experiment forty years on led to similar findings.
Ordinary people are capable of being extraordinarily cruel under the "right" circumstances.
That means ordinary like you and I. Make no mistake, "good" people like you and I have the potential to plunge to the absolute depths of depravity unless we have the right kind of "goodness". They (the Nazis, the Milgram experiment volunteers) were people just like us. Not raving psychopaths accidently released from maximum security prison - just people... just like us.
The Bible - which incidentally recounts many examples of humanity at its very worst - tells us that "there is none that it good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:3) The prophet Jeremiah, who had the unlucky privelege of witnessing a Judah hell-bent on it's own destruction, wrote:
Even now, as men direct their own steps, little girls are sold as sex slaves, small children are chained to machines to make carpets, babies in the womb are cut in pieces at the command of their own mothers, child soldiers are trained to kill other children, third-world farmers are reduced to abject poverty for the sake of first world profits...
Did I say the holocaust could happen again? Look around, it is happening. And the people driving it are people, just like us.
In fact, how can I write about it at all? I wasn't there. I can't even begin to know what it was like. I can only know that it had to be horrible beyond my imagination.
There is something I do know about it, though. It can happen again.
Nazi Germany wasn't a freak accident of nature. Those who participated in the torture of millions of people were often "good" people, by all accounts. In the famous Milgram Experiment in the 1960s it was found that the majority of subjects - ordinary people - would shock a person to death (they thought) in the name of Science. A repeat of this experiment forty years on led to similar findings.
Ordinary people are capable of being extraordinarily cruel under the "right" circumstances.
That means ordinary like you and I. Make no mistake, "good" people like you and I have the potential to plunge to the absolute depths of depravity unless we have the right kind of "goodness". They (the Nazis, the Milgram experiment volunteers) were people just like us. Not raving psychopaths accidently released from maximum security prison - just people... just like us.
The Bible - which incidentally recounts many examples of humanity at its very worst - tells us that "there is none that it good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:3) The prophet Jeremiah, who had the unlucky privelege of witnessing a Judah hell-bent on it's own destruction, wrote:
O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;We each face the choice of either attempting to direct our own steps towards our own idea of goodness or of submitting ourselves to God's guidance. The words that Moses spoke to the Israelites were written down for all people to read:
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. (Dueteronomy 30:19-20)
Even now, as men direct their own steps, little girls are sold as sex slaves, small children are chained to machines to make carpets, babies in the womb are cut in pieces at the command of their own mothers, child soldiers are trained to kill other children, third-world farmers are reduced to abject poverty for the sake of first world profits...
Did I say the holocaust could happen again? Look around, it is happening. And the people driving it are people, just like us.
There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Kids Are Not Resilient
"Kids are so resilient." This is the line that seems to go with a divorce. Somehow, kids are meant to rise above the mess that their parents have created, and thrive.
Yes, some do. But what makes us think that just because they get on with life, their hearts haven't been ripped wide open? Is it because they don't say it?
Sometimes, I know, there is genuine cause to end a marriage. My heart bleeds for anyone who can truly say that divorce is the best decision.
Let's be honest about divorce, though. So often it isn't the result of devastating betrayal - it's about two people who have grown apart - who have fallen "out of love".
The love that holds a marriage - and, in fact, a world - together, is far more than a warm and fuzzy feeling - it's a determination to hold on. The love that holds a marriage together is not something you fall into, or out of, it's a decision. It's a decision to give when there's nothing to gain. It's a decision build someone else up, even if you've been torn down. It's also impossibly hard without God in the middle.
Kids are not resilient. The rising number of troubled and depressed children teenagers is proof of their fragility. If you think that depression in children isn't increasing, look it up for yourself. Childhood resilience is another lie to justify the idea that divorce isn't really hurting anybody.
The Bible, the ultimate authority on the human condition, says that God hates divorce, and warns that God will eventually punish societies that allow and even promote the breakdown of the family.
My husband and I are about to celebrate our eleventh wedding anniversary. It definitely hasn't been an easy road to get to this point. We have had to work through serious disagreements and disappointments, but it has been worth all the hard work. We don't know what's around the corner, but we do know that God's intent is for us to stick together, for better or for worse, till death us do part... and that's just what we plan to do.
For more of a Bible-based perspective on divorce and marriage, try watching the Beyond Today program, Before You Divorce.
Yes, some do. But what makes us think that just because they get on with life, their hearts haven't been ripped wide open? Is it because they don't say it?
Sometimes, I know, there is genuine cause to end a marriage. My heart bleeds for anyone who can truly say that divorce is the best decision.
Let's be honest about divorce, though. So often it isn't the result of devastating betrayal - it's about two people who have grown apart - who have fallen "out of love".
The love that holds a marriage - and, in fact, a world - together, is far more than a warm and fuzzy feeling - it's a determination to hold on. The love that holds a marriage together is not something you fall into, or out of, it's a decision. It's a decision to give when there's nothing to gain. It's a decision build someone else up, even if you've been torn down. It's also impossibly hard without God in the middle.
Kids are not resilient. The rising number of troubled and depressed children teenagers is proof of their fragility. If you think that depression in children isn't increasing, look it up for yourself. Childhood resilience is another lie to justify the idea that divorce isn't really hurting anybody.
The Bible, the ultimate authority on the human condition, says that God hates divorce, and warns that God will eventually punish societies that allow and even promote the breakdown of the family.
My husband and I are about to celebrate our eleventh wedding anniversary. It definitely hasn't been an easy road to get to this point. We have had to work through serious disagreements and disappointments, but it has been worth all the hard work. We don't know what's around the corner, but we do know that God's intent is for us to stick together, for better or for worse, till death us do part... and that's just what we plan to do.
For more of a Bible-based perspective on divorce and marriage, try watching the Beyond Today program, Before You Divorce.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Love Grows Cold
Did you hear in the news about the eight-year-old girl who died after being alone in the desert with a known, convicted pedophile?
I am shocked, horrified, and furious when I think about it. I feel like my heart is being ripped in two. If it would help, I would cry a river for that poor little girl, undefended and alone. But my tears are not enough. This story should - as should every story of another child abused or neglected - bring our entire nation to its knees in grief and remorse. But see, the cricket and the tennis are on right now. Our Australian sporting "heroes" are more "interesting" than unnamed eight-year-old little girls.
How is it that, as a nation, our love has grown so cold for others that we hide behind the wimpy excuse of "cultural differences" in refusing to interfere when children are treated like cattle? Why is it morally acceptable to us to allow "other cultures" to systematically oppress women and children?
Let's be warned as a country that our rejection of all moral absolutes is making us repugnant to God. When we refuse to defend the helpless in our midst from exploitation and annihilation - when we systematically obliterate the basic rights of the unborn, the disabled, the disadvantaged and the elderly, then we become a stench in God's nostrils. Huge sections of the Bible are devoted to warning us of the consequences of such behaviour.
We have already set the timebomb for our own destruction. The only way to stop it is to turn whole-heartedly and humbly to God.
To hear about what the Bible says about calling evil good, try watching the Beyond Today TV program, Calling Evil Good.
I am shocked, horrified, and furious when I think about it. I feel like my heart is being ripped in two. If it would help, I would cry a river for that poor little girl, undefended and alone. But my tears are not enough. This story should - as should every story of another child abused or neglected - bring our entire nation to its knees in grief and remorse. But see, the cricket and the tennis are on right now. Our Australian sporting "heroes" are more "interesting" than unnamed eight-year-old little girls.
How is it that, as a nation, our love has grown so cold for others that we hide behind the wimpy excuse of "cultural differences" in refusing to interfere when children are treated like cattle? Why is it morally acceptable to us to allow "other cultures" to systematically oppress women and children?
Let's be warned as a country that our rejection of all moral absolutes is making us repugnant to God. When we refuse to defend the helpless in our midst from exploitation and annihilation - when we systematically obliterate the basic rights of the unborn, the disabled, the disadvantaged and the elderly, then we become a stench in God's nostrils. Huge sections of the Bible are devoted to warning us of the consequences of such behaviour.
We have already set the timebomb for our own destruction. The only way to stop it is to turn whole-heartedly and humbly to God.
To hear about what the Bible says about calling evil good, try watching the Beyond Today TV program, Calling Evil Good.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Kingdom of God Seminars are Coming!
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