The Attractiveness of Sin
One of the most startling insights into sin and the nature of this world comes from the French Jewish philosopher, Simone Weil, who died in 1943 but not before she was converted through reading George Herbert’s poem, ‘Love bade me welcome’. She observed: ‘Nothing is so beautiful, nothing is so continually fresh and surprising, so full of sweet and perpetual ecstasy as the good. No deserts are so dreary, monotonous and boring as evil. But with fantasy it is the other way round. Fictional good is boring and flat, while fictional evil is varied, intriguing, attractive and full of charm.’…
There are no atheists.
Have you ever etched something into the trunk of a tree? I wonder about the people who come along at a later date and attempt to decipher our primitive code language for who hearts who. Suppose you stumbled across a tree etching, a simple straight line for example. Now, you might conclude that it was an unintentional mark, a random scratching from an animal’s claw perhaps. Now suppose that line was followed by a love heart. The likelihood of that etching being the result of a random wild creature decreases drastically. There is an obvious level of intentionality behind that…
Are We Preparing the Way for Tyranny?
Ultimately, the only thing that will matter is who has sufficient power to exercise his or her will…
The Hedonist’s Guilt
In 2014, I got great pleasure from watching Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, the celebrated sci-fi led by Matthew McConaughey. Inspired by my father, I had read Arthur C. Clarke and H. G. Wells in my youth, and to me, Interstellar was a return to the purest sci-fi. It really understood the modernist spirit. Star-wars scarcely rates as the same genre, being much more of a fairy-tale, really (a long time ago, in a land far away, a young princess got kidnapped, by a nasty wizard…). Unlike fantasy fiction, in which power is super-natural and has some basis in past history, a…
Hillsong’s Brian Houston hits back at Israel Folau after the rugby star criticises the prosperity gospel
Last year Brian Houston, the founder of Hillsong Church, commended Israel Folau’s bravery for his stance on Same-Sex Marriage. Well, it seems now the rugby star may have fallen out of favour with the mega-church pastor after a series of Instagram posts criticising prosperity preachers. Houston, author of ‘You Need More Money,’ took offense to at least four of Folau’s recent posts. The first stated, “The mega church preaches happiness not holiness. Without holiness no one shall see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14).” In the comments section, Houston replied, “The message [is] not holiness or happiness. The message is JESUS. And its our focus…
CrossFit executive fired for calling LGBTQ ideology ‘sin’ and ‘intolerant toward any alternative view’
Senior CrossFit employee, Russell Berger, was fired after defending CrossFit Infiltrate’s decision to cancel an Indy Pride event organised by coaches. In an email to gym members, the owners said, “We believe that true health forever can only be found within humility, not pride. As a business we will choose to deploy our resources towards those efforts and causes that line up with our own values and beliefs.” The decision to cancel the event sparked backlash and as a result, the gym was forced to permanently closed their doors. Responding to the criticism, Russell Berger, chief knowledge officer and head…
A tale of two photos
In order to drive home something of the horror of the Nazi regime in Germany (1933-1945), it is fairly commonplace in textbooks and presentations to include graphic photos of Nazi brutality. One of the most piercing is this one of a Nazi soldier shooting a Ukrainian Jew, with the attendant picture of a mass grave. We have all seen photos of Belsen and Auschwitz, as well as horrors from the Burmese railway project supervised by the Japanese. One of the few films I have sat through was one based on Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The…
Positive Diffusion Coefficients
Like many young men who are inclined to the right, I have recently become a fan of Jordan Peterson. I’m a Christian, so I find his scientific analysis of the world a bit too morally disinterested, but his clarity in presenting his scientific view of the human psyche and the dangers of ‘pathologised’ ideologies… well, it’s poignant and relevant. (And the fact that so many youth are drawn to his lectures shows the true hole in our education system of the past 30+ years, which a money injection will do nothing, in my opinion, to fix). Only a small portion…
Rod Bower on Q&A: At odds with God and science
During his recent appearance on Q&A, Rob Bower of Gosford Anglican Church was asked how he reconciled his stance on same-sex marriage with the biblical view of homosexuality. The question was put to Bower by an audience member who referred to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in particular. The verse reads: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” …
The lie of euthanasia is that in some instances suicide is the best option
Euthanasia: the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. The word literally means “good death.” It’s considered good to many because assisted suicide is viewed as a solution and a legitimate means of ending suffering and escaping what feels inescapable. But is this a helpful or even moral portrayal of suicide? People don’t usually choose to end their life while in a right state of mind. They only ever reach that point because they believed the lie of “good death.” The lie of “euthanasia” is that in some instances, suicide is the best option, or even…
The Religion of Diversity
If love and marriage go together as a horse and carriage, so too do diversity and progressive thought. To counter any opposition to anything, all one has to do is to claim that it promotes diversity – and no one dares to speak against it. Everything is now about diversity – in football, Anzac Day celebrations, in education, and the media. Apparently, there is nothing that should not be hijacked to celebrate diversity. People may not hope in Christ, but they have a blind faith in diversity. How should the Christian respond? First, diversity hardly ranks as a virtue in…
Israel and You at the (New) Aeropagus
Reflecting on the reality that God was sovereign over his life, Israel Folau sought to reason this point to others on Instagram and Twitter. Speaking to others in this new marketplace of ideas where pithy soundbites win, he was queried, “May we know how homosexuals fit within this teaching that you are presenting?” He responded: “HELL… Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.” Eleven words was all it took. Many scorned, and the nation was inflamed against Folau. Well, not the nation, but certainly that which touts itself as the proverbial mouthpiece of the nation – the…
The Myth of Scandinavian Socialism
Bernie Sanders has single-handedly brought the term “democratic socialism” into the contemporary American political lexicon and shaken millions of Millennials out of their apathy towards politics. Even if he does not win the Democratic nomination, his impact on American politics will be evident for years to come. Sanders has convinced a great number of people that things have been going very badly for the great majority of people in the United States, for a very long time. His solution? America must embrace “democratic socialism,” a socioeconomic system that seemingly works very well in the Scandinavian countries, like Sweden, which are,…
God’s Great Rainbow
Many years ago, recorded for us in Genesis chapter 6-9, God destroys the whole earth, save 8 people and 2 of each animal. It was the wickedness of man’s heart that led to this destruction. “When the LORD saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created, together with the…
A nation guided by the moral fashion of the day
This article was originally posted on The Spectator. The whole same-sex marriage debate involved a lot of talk about right and wrong. Whether someone voted “yes” or “no” depended largely on what that individual considered the most moral choice. We were told that “love says ‘yes’,” and that human rights, justice, and equality were at stake. Almost the entire issue was framed as a wrong that desperately needed to be made right. In other words, the language and arguments used implied the existence of a real moral measure – a standard that would be violated if one were to vote “no”. Either morality is…
Religious liberty and Australian culture
Roughly 40% of Australians voted No to same-sex marriage and, according to a recent Newspoll, roughly 40% also reject the legitimacy of religious protections for Australians who disagree with same-sex marriage. The debates taking place in Federal parliament regarding religious liberty are culturally significant. The cultural reformation of the 1960s has transformed social views on sex, marriage, family, and, increasingly, gender. And yet clearly not all have gone with the tide. What became increasingly obvious during the same-sex marriage debate and now with the debate over religious protections is that culturally Australia is shifting back to the acrimonious sectarianism that…
Man Must Either Know Everything or He Knows Nothing
“Either man must then know everything or he knows nothing.”
What was the Sin of Sodom?
In the article titled, To Christians arguing ‘no’ on marriage equality: the Bible is not decisive, Robyn J. Whitaker suggests the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, as recorded in Genesis 19, has “nothing to say about homosexuality.” The destruction of the two cities is rather attributed to “sexual violence and rape.” But is Whitaker’s analysis correct? The story of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction begins in Genesis 18, when Abraham is met by the LORD and two angels. After the LORD told Abraham, “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave” (v.20), the two angels departed in the direction…
No one should want to separate church from state
Think of the worst and most cruel act imaginable. Take a minute if you have to… Now think of a situation in which that same act might be regarded as morally good. It’s not easy. Some things aren’t justifiable. Some things are evil regardless of context. But many hesitate to admit that. We don’t want to live our lives governed by laws and standards that we can’t define ourselves. The notion that God defines morality is often ridiculed. The proposed alternative for those “enlightened” enough to do away with Christianity is: If it feels good, do it. If it hurts…
For we are dumb and policed
“For we are Young and Free.” What a lovely line. I think of swimming at the beach, a cheering crowd at a concert, a happy family eating Christmas lunch. Or we might think of the freedom to live where we want, to study what we want, to work where we want, and to buy what we want. Below these delightful tip-of-the-iceberg freedoms, lie the four foundational freedoms of conscience, assembly, religion, and expression. Freedom of conscience is your freedom not to be coerced to act against your convictions about what is good and what is evil. Mel Gibson’s 2016 movie Hacksaw Ridge, for…
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