Highlights of links to online news and opinion pieces from November and December 2019
Category Archives: Spirituality
Book review: The Madness of Crowds – gender, race and identity
As the grand narratives of religion and secular political hopes collapsed over the last century, we have moved to a culture of aggressive identity politics where disagreement has become ‘hate speech’. How can we learn to be generous outside our own tribal group, to listen respectfully and forgive indiscretions?
Dealing with loss at Christmas
For many people, Christmas is the hardest time of the year. Thankfully, the joy of Christmas can only really be known within pain.
CULTURE WAR SERIES PART 16: The Only Solution
In the history of peoples and nation-states, conflict comes in two forms: internal and external. Which do you think is more deadly?
One prime example comes from church history. During the early years of the church, it was considered ‘counter-cultural’ and an enemy to the occupying Roman empire. Christianity was called a religio illicita, meaning ‘an illegal religion.’ There were periodic and savage outbreaks of deadly persecution. Yet, during heat of these dangerous days, the church did not diminish – it thrived. It is the proverbial principle of the diamond. As long as it is strong internally, it can withstand the mightiest of blows. Tertullian was quoted as saying ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’
However, there was a mortal threat to the church: the enemy from within. The Bible rightly warns against ‘false brethren,’ ‘false christs,’ ‘false prophets’ and ‘false teachers.’ They are the proverbial ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing. With their false doctrine and divisive heresies, they posed a greater threat to the Church than what any external foe could do.
The goal of the far left, including extreme progressives and cultural Marxists, is to alter, if not destroy, western civilisation. They have managed to do more damage to the West in just 50 years, than external foes have done in centuries. Because the culture war is a ‘conflict from within,’ ‘westerner pitted against westerner,’ in every respect it is a civil war. Remember, the American civil of the 1860s killed more Americans (655,000) than two world wars combined (116,000 in World War I and 406,000 in World War II).
How can we bring this long, protracted culture war to a close? There are several options:
1. An armed conflict: Defeat the other side in a military engagement. With 350 million guns, there is plenty of ammunition. This, of course, is a horrible option, though not totally out of the realm of possibility;
2. An economic depression: This would ‘wipe the slate clean’ regarding mammoth debts, discredit utopian ideologies, and bring us back to square one and hopefully some common sense. This option is not only simplistic, it is dangerous and destabilising. The cost is simply too great;
3. Give it some time: If we give ourselves enough time, all of these issues will be sorted out. How much time do we need? At least 200 to 300 years! Well, we don’t have that much time to begin with. Besides, the destructive nature of this war precludes lengthy waiting – there might not be much left to sort out if we do wait.
None of the above are even remotely good solutions for our societal conflict.
What is the answer?The key is in remembering that at its core the cultural war is spiritual. It is not merely flesh and blood that are in disagreement. Thus, the person you see on the other side is not the true enemy; indeed, the real enemy is the one you cannot see. According to Ephesians 6:12 we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities, powers, and hosts of wickedness in high places. As has been shared already, the culture war is spiritual and the solution is equally spiritually. TO BE CONTINUED
Link Highlights | October 2019
Highlights of links to online news and opinion pieces from October 2019
Book Review: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Peterson’s book has been described as profound and practical. Christians will be disappointed that it is ‘sub-Christian’. But there is much that can be learned from it. The children of this world can sometimes be wiser than the children of light.
Link Highlights | September 2019
Highlights of links to online news and opinion pieces from September 2019
Greta Thunberg and prophetic utterance
There were three kinds of responses to Greta Thunberg’s UN speech on climate change. But none of these responses seem appropriate. What should our response be?
… Habits of the Heart
Recently, for the second year in a row, Tom and Sue Kimber and I spent a week at the Worldview Centre for Intercultual Studies campus in Launceston, where we taught a residential intensive subject entitled “Patterns of Spiritual Formation.” It is now one of the required courses for students undertaking study at MST.
And as was the case last year, it was a richly blessed and quite profound week. As we shared together on the last day, virtually every one of the 23 students who made the trip to Tasmania reflected on the unique, indeed profound ways in which God revealed Himself in fresh and transforming ways during our time together. No doubt a key element in the unique nature of this particular week is the setting itself; being physically away from home or the workplace, in a place of dedicated spiritual retreat, living together in community, sharing meals, playing games, interacting socially, talking late into the night around an open fire, praying for one another, and of course participating in a quite intense, learning environment, searching the Scriptures and reflecting on the ways in which the Spirit of God, through the Word and people of God, shapes the lives of His people.
“God is about the transformation of His people. Not simply in mind, but in heart.”
For many of those who studied at MBI, or BCV in years gone by, such experiences of ‘community living and learning’ were actually normal. Sadly, perhaps, it is now actually quite a rare and precious opportunity, offering classes in a brief but nonetheless very meaningful ‘community life’ context. But the impact is significant. And we are so grateful to God for our partnership with Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ (WEC), and Worldview, enabling MST students to now benefit again from the availability of a live-in community learning environment.
One of the Core Values of MST describes our passionate commitment to the topic of “spiritual formation.”
Our prayer and hope is that every student … will be profoundly impacted in heart and soul; that they will experience not only spiritual growth, but spiritual renewal, and develop habits of the heart that will see them continue to grow more and more like Jesus throughout their lives.
Why do we view this as such an important part of our curriculum? Because in an era in which there is almost relentless pressure on people, including followers of Christ, to focus on performance, and external, outward appearances, the Scriptures remind us that “while men look at outward appearances, the Lord looks at the heart.”
In other words, God is about the transformation of His people. Not simply in mind, but in heart.
Calling and Obedience
Are you waiting for God’s call, or is God waiting for your obedience? This is an interesting question particularly as we consider how language about one’s “calling” has attracted a certain nuance regarding our expectations in our relationship with God. We speak of being called into ministry or being called as a missionary as if it were a vocation limited to a select few. While this is not intentional, we create a scenario where we must know what God has planned for our lives. We may even live out this scenario by planting ourselves and not moving forward unless we have a clear call from God.
“Are you waiting for God’s call, or is God waiting for your obedience?”
The way we use the word “calling” today does not give a complete picture of what it means to be called by God. Calling in Scripture has more to do with our status, that is, our identity in God rather than a decision-making process. We can’t deny that biblically and historically God calls people for tasks, however the sequence in which this takes place is important. God calls people to firstly be something. The doing follows.
Our issue is that we live out this sequence in reverse: we spend more time focusing on what God will have us do than understanding the implications of what type of people He has called us to be.
Examples in Scripture (Rom 1:1, 6; 1 Cor 1:2, 9; Gal 1:6; Col 3:15; 1 Thes 4:7; 1 Tim 4:7; 6:12; 1 Pet 2:9; 2:21) address our limitations on how we use this word “calling”. The picture we see here is broader, yet fundamental to our identity. As opposed to our emphasis on receiving direction for what to do next, we read that our calling is our status in Christ. The former amplifies an individualistic approach to ministry and mission, the latter reminds us that our identity is locked in the context of community. The reason I am called to fulfill a kingdom task in God’s eyes is the result of my status in Christ’s community.
This brings us back to the earlier question regarding God’s call and our obedience. Rather than waiting for an experience where God calls you for something, consider the implications of obeying what God has already called you to be. A good place to start is to address the needs that are in front of you. May we continually seek to obey Him who has already called us because of Christ