Category: Faith
Step Out 2007, Week 1
Many of you will be aware that I do some work for the Baptist Union of Scotland with regards to their youth website, and occasionally their main website too. However, I am working on their Step Out mission teams over the summer.
About 50 people take part in Step Out mission teams over the summer, but there are 5 of us who are on the team for the whole summer. On the far left at the front of picture is Laura Hart, with Cindy Nelson in the middle and Rachel Findlay on the far right. There is, for the observant, myself at the back on the right, and on the left at the back, Jillian Annan, and both of us were on the summer team last year.
However, unlike last year, where the summer team were together all summer, we are split up this year. In fact, I am not on the same team as Jillian at all this year! This week, Jillian and Laura were working with children in Alva, whilst the other three of us were in Thurso, where Rachel is from, working with both children and youth. The week has gone very well, with 15 children choosing to become Christians during the week in Thurso. I even got a wonderful photograph of the sun setting over Thurso and Scrabster on Tuesday, for your enjoyment.
That is, quite frankly, a wonderful picture. Oh, and don't you just think that the first photograph looks like a Christmas card picture?
Muslim Police Officer Refuses Handshake
A Muslim PC refused to shake Sir Ian Blair's hand in a passing-out ceremony for training recruits who had successfully completed their initial training. According to the woman, her faith prevents her from touching any man other than her husband or a close relative, but this wouldn't prevent her from doing her job.
Sir Ian Blair, hardly surprisingly, challenged the validity of her claim - as would I. How would she arrest someone? Answers on a postcard, please.
Exeter University Christian Union
The issue of Christian Unions clashing with Student Unions first came to prominence at the beginning of last year, with the Birmingham Univeristy's Guild of Students freezing the accounts of the Christian Union. Not every evangelical Christian I know saw this as something to kick up a fuss about, and to a point, I agree - if Christians are pushed off campus, it is not necessarily the end of the world, although it is rather an inconvenience - but at the end of the day, the local churches are still there, and tehy can and should be used.
However, this is not to say that Christians should allow themselves to be pushed from their campuses without a fight, and this is exactly what the Exeter University Christian Union are doing, by launching legal action against the Students' Guild. It is quite wrong that in a nation that professes to be Christian in nature, that organisations such as this which seek out to teach and live by Christian teaching should be thrown out from their Guilds for following Biblical principles.
It is quite improper that the Christian Union should be removed for not allowing non-Christians to be members and committee members. Would anyone consider it wrong to ban members of one political party from being on the committee of another? Of course not! Would it be right and proper to enforce Islamic societies to have non-Christians on their committees? No, of course not! Although it does seem that the Students' Guild in Exeter are claiming that they do allow this, strangely - but if they want to do that, let them do it. Christians will not sell out their faith in such a way.
Christians in Britain need to stand up for the faith they hold. There can be no "compromise" on beliefs merely on the basis that others don't like what they hear. The Gospel is unchanging - it is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Bible is not something that is subject to "update", just fulfillment. It's not the Bible that's the problem - it's our fallen world.
Edit: A quote from a listener on BBC Radio 2 on the Jeremy Vine show: "They'll be saying kennels should accept cats next". Brilliant :)
Another one: "It's like a vegetarian complaining that they cannot join the carnivores' society because they are eating meat". Alas, poor, hard-done-by souls they would be!
Quote Of The Day
Having played my first game of football in 10 months tonight, I was later watching the second episode of Inspector Morse, Series 1 (The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn). At the end of the episode, Morse is talking to someone from the case who had been to see a soft-porn movie at the local cinema and discussing that tough question: should he tell his wife? What does Morse say? Only this:
Adultery of the heart is not the same as adultery.
Of course, strictly speaking, he is right, in a literal sense. However, if Morse were a theologian, he'd struggle to back up his point, for it says, in Matthew chapter 5:
27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
31 "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery."
Oh dear, old Morse: you need to read your Bible more! This does not in any way "reduce" the sin of physical adultery, but instead remind us that it is the result of our sinful desires - seeking what we can't or shouldn't have; what is not good for us and will bring us down; reducing other people of things for our own gratification; exalting ourselves above others. Whilst I am not guilty of going to see movies such as those at the cinema, I am guilty of desires in my heart which are contrary to the teaching of the Bible and, therefore, what is best both for myself and others.
Convert Your Computer
Ah, the things one comes across when browsing the web. On Thursday, I came across Christian Ubuntu and Linux for Christians.
Christian Ubuntu is built upon Ubuntu's 6.06 LTS "Dapper Drake" and features, on top of Ubuntu's default installed programs, GnomeSword Bible-study software, Dan's Guardian for stopping people looking at what they shouldn't and a daily Bible verse feature. Best of all, you don't have to install afresh, as there is a script to convert your Ubuntu installation to Ubuntu CE v.1.3.
For a real laugh, visit Christian Ubuntu on Blogspot, a completely unofficial spoof blog with witty remarks about the release. Here are some of the great remarks from it:
For 40 days before Easter, Ubuntu Christian Edition works in text mode only.
Ubuntu Christian Edition uses Enlightenment for its windowmanager/desktop.
Dual boot is not possible in Ubuntu Christian edition. "Thou shalt have no other operating systems before Me...".
To install wine in Ubuntu Christian Edition, you simply enter apt-get install water.
After some idle time, Ubuntu Christian Edition starts praying to save the screen.
Ubuntu Christian Edition's chmod doesn't allow 666 permission to be set.
Ubuntu Christian Edition won't run on Apple computers. He said not to touch them.
And so it goes on :)
Ruth Kelly and Homosexuality
Firstly, it always amazes me that I don't post anything for a couple of days (or 5) and people start pressing me to write because 'you haven't penned anything for ages, Noel'. It's good to know people love my writings so much that they can't wait for the next one. Enough of the inflated ego, methinks...
Iain Dale launched in to Ruth Kelly this morning after she appeared on the Radio 5 Live today about her new job as Equalities Minister. According to Mr. Dale, because Ruth Kelly refused to support homosexual civil partnerships or a reduced age of consent for gay people, she is unfit in her brief as Equalities Minister. When asked this morning whether homosexuality is a sin, she didn't answer directly, saying it was a 'conscience question'.
I really don't see why it's a big issue. Well, actually I do. You see, Ruth Kelly is a Catholic, and Iain Dale isn't a Catholic's best friend. But the fact is this - being a Catholic is no bar to office and I see no reason at all why sincerely held faith should just be shunned to the side in Government departments. It is a part of Ruth Kelly's politics.
And for the record, I think she is quite right. Homosexuality is sin - it's not the way God intended man or woman to be in creation. It goes right against the order of creation and, like anything else that goes against the way God intends things to be, anything which reinforces it as acceptable should not be encouraged by Christians. After all, she's not trying to persecute homosexuals (that would be wrong), but she is perfectly entitled to say that they are in the wrong. I fully support her stance both against a lower age of consent for homosexuals and civil partnerships. I believe both are seen as wrong by God.
It's not about persecuting people who are gay. It's about wanting to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Polly Toynbee On Faith Schools
Polly Toynbee, renowned for her wonderfully impartial views on faith and faith schools, has written an article on why faith schools breed superstition and are an affornt to reason.
Of course, as usual, it is not impartial in the slightest. As is the norm with Polly Toynbee, her commentary on faith schools adds up to "I don't like them, I am right, why doesn't everyone agree with me?" - not impartial in the slightest.
She talks of the British as having an 'ignorance of basic Christian myths', and goes on to say:
On Easter Day the National Union of Teachers votes on the same motion debated by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to end the growth of religious state schools and ban the teaching of "intelligent design" as a valid alternative to evolution. How craftily the creationists have hijacked the word "intelligent" for something so dumb.
Ah, yes, that 'dumb' version of 'intelligent design'. Yes. It's easier to believe we all come from monkeys. About half way through the article, her 'balanced' onslaught continues:
This is indeed a clash of civilisations, not between Islam and Christendom but between reason and superstition. The wake-up call came with a BBC/Mori poll showing that, even in this least churchgoing nation, science is on the run: 48% believe in evolution, against 39% who believe in creationism/"intelligent design". If even scientists aren't believed then here is fertile territory for any mad and dangerous theories to take hold.
Right. So Christians are superstitious and scientists are always right, even though their theories are often disproved down the line.
Oh, please, Polly. Do grow up. Or at least think about what you write before you drop yourself right in it.
Churches Urged To Back Evolution
The BBC reports that American scientists want a stop to the undermining of evolution in American schools.
You know what? They can stuff it. If they want to teach secular nonsense, they can set up the "School for secular bollocks". I couldn't give a monkeys about whether a intelligent design undermines evolution, because:
- 1) Evolution is bollocks (at least macro-evolution is);
- 2) Intelligent design isn't - it's the truth.
Who for one minute can truly believe that a massive explosion caused a load of particles to smash in to each other, and then of their own accord, they formed an ape - an ape which then turned in to a human being. Yeah, I'm Mother Theresa.
Let's take a closer look at the article:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) hit out at the "intelligent design" movement at its annual meeting in Missouri.
Teaching the idea threatens scientific literacy among schoolchildren, it said.
Its proponents argue life on Earth is too complex to have evolved on its own.
It threatens scientific literacy? If it's so convincing, why are scientists running scared - and yes, life IS too complex to have evolved by itself.
Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, which campaigns to keep the teaching of evolution in public schools, said those in mainstream religious communities needed to "step up to the plate" in order to prevent the issue being viewed as a battle between science and religion.
Parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, won a court battle over evolution. Some have already heeded the warning.
"The intelligent design movement belittles religion. It makes God a designer - an engineer," said George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory.
Yes he bloody well is, amongst other things. It's not like he was wandering around the universe, stumbled across the Earth and thought, "right, I'm 'aving that! 'ow much is it, Del Boy? Two an' sixpence? Bargain!". How does reinforcing an omnipotent God belittle religion faith? It doesn't.
"Intelligent design concentrates on a designer who they do not really identify."
So that discounts the original design? Flawed argument.
However, Mark Gihring, a teacher from Missouri sympathetic to intelligent design, told the BBC: "I think if we look at where the empirical scientific evidence leads us, it leads us towards intelligent design.
"[Intelligent design] ultimately takes us back to why we're here and the value of life... if an individual doesn't have a reason for being, they might carry themselves in a way that is ultimately destructive for society."
Amen! If there's no creator, there are no morals, and I may as well kill the lot of you - for we are reduced to a bunch of competing particles.
Among the most high-profile champions of intelligent design is US President George W Bush, who has said schools should make students aware of the concept.
But Mr Omenn warned that teaching intelligent design would deprive students of a proper education, ultimately harming the US economy.
"At a time when fewer US students are heading into science, baby boomer scientists are retiring in growing numbers and international students are returning home to work, America can ill afford the time and tax-payer dollars debating the facts of evolution," he said.
At least George doesn't get everything wrong. Surely hiding your own science from criticism will hurt American science more than tackling criticism.
Basically, scientists seem afraid to show that their science isn't bollocks. Why? They can't prove it.
Bollocks is bollocks, and you can't change that.
Christian Voice
I came across the Christian Voice website tonight from one of the many blogs that I read. The website itself focuses on issues such as Jerry Springer the Opera, Corpus Christi, gay marriage and abortion. It's a very interesting read, though the language is explictly emotive. It certainly makes some eye-opening points. I don't necessarily agree with it all, but I admire the lack of political correctness :)
*I should point out that it does have a very narrow focus as a "Christian" website. It doesn't in any way give a true picture of the Christian message, but that said, it does make some interesting arguments - although as an instinctive "liberal", I would contest many of the conclusions it makes and, as far as I am concerned, your private life is your private life: so long as that doens't encroach upon others, it's not the state's business.
The 'Miracle Of Forgiveness'
Urban Faithscape has blogged about the miracle of forgiveness following the trial of the murderers of Anthony Walker.
I find it incredible that Gee Walker has managed to bring herself to forgive the murderers of her son so quickly, saying, "I have to forgive them... we don't just preach it, we practise it". However, she also said this:
"I believe that all kids are innocent and something went wrong along the way. Someone planted a seed of hate in their minds. Kids don't decide 'I'm going to hate'. It's got to come from somewhere and it's down to all of us to find out where and why."
Amen to that.