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.

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.

The Kingdom of God Seminars are Coming!

The United Church of God will be hosting free Kingdom of God Seminars, focused on the hope of God's coming Kingdom in various locations soon.

For information about dates and locations in Australia, click here.

Recordings of past Kingdom of God seminars around the world are available here.

Should We Be Optimistic?

I heard a radio interview with an economist yesterday. The interviewer asked the economist: "should we be optimistic?" The interviewer, of course, was just talking about the economy.

I wonder, though, are you optimistic? Should you be optimistic? Apart from lots of money still flowing through the country because of a "mining boom", what do you have to look forward to? Is the future of this country really just all about money?

Is the ability to buy huge TVs and innumerable gadgets really a source of hope when neglected kids wander the streets in gangs? Is having a roof over your head really a comfort, when that roof isn't over the heads of those you love as well? Are payrises for politicians really compensation for children dying in state custody?

Isn't it about time you took off the blinkers and actually really looked around you at the world you live in? Can you be optimistic about it? Does what you see inspire hope? Go on, tell me - are you optimistic?

The Great Identity Theft

I can kind of understand where atheists are coming from.

If I had been taught from birth that I could earn my way into heaven by doing penance for my sins, I probably wouldn't think much of God either. If I believed that I could buy my way into heaven I would be completely disgusted with Him.

Billions of people who have lived lives of horrific suffering have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Many don't really understand who He is. Many fear of rejection or even torture at the hands of their friends, family or government. If I believed that those billions would ultimately be further tortured in ever-burning-hell by the God who calls Himself Love, I would turn my back on Him too.

On the other hand, if I believed that babies who couldn't speak a single word got to go to heaven just because they had water sprinkled on them in a mystical ritual, I would think that was really unfair. How could God know those babies would actually want to be there? What if they decided they didn't like God? Would He "force" them to like Him and do things His way - turning them into some kind of glorified robots?

Thankfully, I believe what the Bible actually says about God instead.

God has been subject to the greatest identity theft in the history of the universe. Over and over throughout history, God's name has been falsely stamped on acts of cruelty, ignorance and stupidity - on wars and crusades, on superstition, lies and trickery.

Thankfully God knew right from the beginning that this would happen and He has a Plan - a great, big, huge, enormous Plan, far greater than we usually give Him credit for.

You can either get to know God now through His Word - reading the Bible for what it actually says, not what other people say it says. Or you can sit back and wait and see what happens. Either way, you'll get to know who God really is eventually - that's all part of His plan. But the "wait and see" approach will definitely end up being more painful in the short term. Read the book of Revelation and you'll see why.

The Season To Be Jolly?

It's that time of year again.

Time when there is talk of presents and trees and ornaments, and - very occasionally - the birth of Jesus Christ.

Only. It's really nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. Shepherds were in the fields when He was born - not likely in the middle of winter. And what do holly and decorated trees and lying to children about old men in red suits riding flying reindeer have to do with the birth of Jesus?

Nothing.

But they have a lot to do with the pagan Roman festival of Saturnalia. A festival devoted to worshipping false gods.

When you attend a church service on Christmas, are you sure you know who you are worshipping? Search the Bible, search history and the Truth may surprise you... or upset you. Are you really prepared to live for the Truth?

To find out more about the origins of Christmas and what God really thinks about it (based on His Word, the Bible), you can watch The Day After Christmas on Beyond Today.

Medicated Morality?

I recently heard a well-known researcher, Julian Savulescu, suggest that we should use drugs or genetic modification to make us better people. Researchers have found that drugs can make people cooperate better and less prejudiced among other things.

But can drugs make us better? Drugs interact with our brains and alter chemical reactions, but when God created man in His own image, He gave us something beyond our mere chemical makeup. He gave us a mind. If altering our chemical composition to make us "better" would truly work, God would have done that from the start. He didn't because He created us to have free will, not to be robots.

A drug to make people cooperate won't make a better world. We have a very short memory if we think cooperation is always a good thing. One psycopath plus a bunch of cooperative people equals Nazi Germany and the holocaust.

It really would be better if we tried morality God's way.