“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there,” wrote L.P. Hartley in his 1953 novel “The Go-Between.” And so as we take our first steps into the “new country” of 2023 it may feel a bit like emigrating – frightening, yet exciting at the same time.
Continue readingCategory: Thoughts on life
Marriage is a Go(o)d Design
Recently The West Australian published an article opining that now that people in de facto relationships can claim superannuation benefits from their partner’s fund, that the institution of marriage has been rendered redundant.Continue reading
Mad Hatter Faith
One of the most convincing arguments for Christianity for me is how bizarrely counter-intuitive it is. It is a crazy Alice in Wonderland religion that turns “normal” ideas on their head!
What person would have been able to invent a religion where paradox is paramount? Where the more you give, the more you gain? Where the rich are poor and the poor are rich? Where dying (to yourself) is living and living (to yourself) is dying? Where you have to give everything up to gain the whole world? Where you treat your enemies like your friends, instead of exacting revenge on them? Where you love those who hate you and hate those who love you? (The last in the context of loving Christ Jesus so much that you are willing to disregard or abandon those you love to follow His will.)
A mapbook through the madness
I saw a headline yesterday that made me want to both laugh at its absurdity and cry for the state of our civilization: Trans Male YouTuber’s New Complaint: Feminine Hygiene Products ‘Very Female Oriented’.
Is it just me, or does it feel like we have fallen down the rabbit hole and are now at the Mad Hatter’s tea party? Even 20 years ago could you credit that such a bizarre headline would ever be possible?Continue reading
Love is a doing, not a feeling
Soon it will be Valentine’s Day and the shops will be filled with red heart cards, chocolate gifts and flowers for us to give to our nearest and dearest.
But even if you write the whole thing off as a commerical con, most of us understand that the principle behind Valentine’s Day holds true – if you love someone you want to give them things. You want to do stuff for them.
Think of your closest relationship – whether it is romantic or familial – if that person tells you that they love you but never acts on that feeling, how loved would you feel?
Continue readingLifeboat
My teenager was asked by a boy at school this week “I’m an atheist does that mean that I am condemned to hell?” She wasn’t sure what to say – as a Christian she knows that the Bible teaches that apart from belief in the atoning death of Jesus on the cross we all go to hell, but how to say that in a way that doesn’t sound harsh and judgemental?
Continue readingIt is all about how you finish
Are you in prison? Have you done a lot of stuff you’re not proud of? Hurt a lot of people? Broke a lot of laws? Do you think you have done too many bad things for God to forgive you or make your life right?
Let me tell you the story of Manny.
Continue readingWhat does ‘Jesus loves you’ mean?
Most of us have heard the phrase “Jesus loves you”. It sounds ‘nice’, non-judgemental and kind, but what does it actually mean? If God loves everyone, no matter how you behave or what you believe then does it matter how we behave or what we believe? “Jesus loves you” is a phrase that does not actually appear in the Bible and, although it is true and seemingly simple to understand, the word “love” has been so diluted and redefined by our culture that saying “Jesus loves you” is often either meaningless to people or misunderstood.
Continue readingScary power
I recently watched a series on Netflix (Marvel Comic’s Jessica Jones) where the villain had the most terrifying superpower I could imagine: to be able to mind-control people and make them do anything he tells them to.Continue reading
Grace and Jeffery Dahmer
Grace. You might know it as a girl’s name or a prayer at meal times, but that is not the amazing kind of grace I want to talk about here.
Grace is a Biblical concept that basically means getting something we don’t deserve (sometimes paired with the term mercy, which means not getting what we do deserve). For instance, getting a promotion when we deserve to be fired, or getting a prize when we deserve a fine.
Christians talk about the grace of God in terms of us receiving His undeserved, free forgiveness which is not earned by moral living, but accepted as a gift, through faith.Continue reading