Give it a rest

This week some of my social media acquaintances have been circulating the Plandemic documentary, which claims that the Coronavirus pandemic is a conspiracy. I choose to avoid conspiracy theories because of the latent anti-Semitism behind some of them.

Because it's too offensive to overtly mention Jewish people in these conspiracy theories, those who promote them will sometimes use euphemisms such as "international bankers" or "global elites." No Christian should be anti-Semitic, or spread anti-Semitic ideas, especially considering the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and the Bible itself. Christianity has been tainted by anti-Semitism for millennia, as an honest examination of its history clearly shows. It is tragic that this persists to the present day.

Also, in God's economy, those who defy His purposes for His creation are destroyed, as both the Old and New Testaments consistently affirm. He is sovereign over evil. He will deal with it. Do Christians who believe in conspiracy theories need to ask themselves, do they truly trust Him do fulfill His clear promise to destroy evil? In the meantime, isn't our core business as Christians to know God and make Him known? Obsessing over conspiracy theories undermines our witness to the outside the church, and is also a distraction from living an effective Christian life.

In response to these conspiracist Christians, blogger Joe Forrest has issued a passionate and timely plea to them to stop their activities. I didn't find much to disagree with here. They would be better off helping their families, friends, and communities in this difficult time for the entire world.

https://instrumentofmercy.com/2020/05/07/why-your-christian-friends-and-family-members-are-so-easily-fooled-by-conspiracy-theories/?fbclid=IwAR3IzwPzzmgwUFN-5C-YNyOwshkZ84hZxiOBGOzoYiYLeEIFhkka_ZLGYWg

https://global.ajc.org/files/ajc/upload/AJC_Glossary.pdf

Please bring a plate

Happy Resurrection Sunday to my reader. A friend forwarded this video to me, Falling Plates. When I had cable television, one of the channels used to run episodes of The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show, a compilation of highlights of the American variety show , which ran on American television for 23 years from 1948 to 1971. If you didn't like musicians, dancers, comedians, acrobats, or ventriloquists, perhaps plate spinning would tickle your fancy. It takes the plate spinner a lot of skill to balance the plate on the end of a pole without it falling off.

Think of your life as a spinning plate on the end of a pole, and the pole as a wobbly foundation for your life, based on the temporal things of this world. Temporal pleasures cannot fill the deepest longings of the human soul for meaning, significance, a sense of purpose in life, for certainty and stability in a tumultuous and uncertain world. Only Jesus can offer this. Through his sacrificial death on the cross, in which he took the punishment for our sins, and his resurrection from the dead, he made it possible for humanity to be reconciled with its creator. The peace that only he can offer with God brings rest to the restless soul.

People with self respect and respect for others need not apply

Years ago when I first inflicted this blog on a largely indifferent populace, my very first post was on the lowbrow reality television program, Big Brother Australia. Now we come full circle, and with the imminent premiere of its 2014 season, it would seem it's time for me to write about it again.

As a Christian, I'm offended by the latest Big Brother promo. It opens with a shot of Earth from space. The camera then zooms to an aerial shot of the Sydney skyline. To the strains of a reworked version of The Animals Went in Two by Two, we then cut to a shots of the various housemates, including a couple in semi-formal attire, some country types wearing Akubra hats, an Indian woman in traditional dress, some hipster type with a beard and the top button of his shirt done up, and a dread locked surfie dude, all walking along a footbridge to a ship modelled on Noah's Ark.

Some of them smile at each other flirtatiously and hold hands. If previous seasons of the show are anything to go by, this hints at things becoming hot and spicy in the Big Brother house. One of them has a digitally inserted snake's tongue. Is this inspired by the serpent in the garden of Eden?

Then we cut to a shot of host Sonia Kruger. She's standing on top of the ark, wearing a white dress and carrying a wooden staff, with which she strikes the ground. Then a voice from the heavens speaks to her. The clouds part, and she sees a giant eye. This is the Big Brother logo. Ms Kruger speaks directly to camera telling the viewer that this year things will be "stormy, very stormy..."

Cue the cheap looking visual effects, thunder, lightning, and torrential rain. The housemates hurry, pushing and shoving each other to get inside the ark, then the storm suddenly stops, the ark rumbles, and a rainbow appears above it. She continues with a knowing look in her eyes, "...on the inside." Then the Channel 9 voiceover man says words to the effect of "Big Brother; the eye of the storm is coming to Nine."

I surmise that the idea for this came from the recent Hollywood Noah movie. Am I alone here in finding this offensive and blasphemous? The flood narrative of Genesis 6 to 9 is one of the most confronting stories in the Bible, and not something to treat irreverently. All in the name of ratings, Big Brother shows human nature at its worst. They try to dress it up as a sociological experiment, but contestants lie, manipulate and use each other to play the game, and are encouraged to be sexually promiscuous to titillate voyeuristic viewers.

God flooded the earth as judgement against humanity because of the depth of its depravity and sin. Only Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal were spared. After the flood, God covenanted with humanity never to flood the earth again, as symbolised by the rainbow, but the problem of sin remains. The only solution to this problem is reconciliation with God through Jesus (Matthew 11:27, John 3:18, 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 John 5:12).

If Big Brother Australia is any indication, reality television has sunk to new lows. This promo unashamedly mocks God and the flood, and that show celebrates all that He abhors. It thumbs its nose at the virtues of decency, respect for others, integrity, and fidelity. Jesus died for everyone involved with this show. I hope they understand that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmhrjiQvJW8

Sanctify my tongue

For the benefit of my reader(s) I submit some of my reflections from chapter 3 of the epistle of James,  verses 1 to 12.

The key thing that James wanted to put across was how important it is to be careful in how you speak. Our words are a good indicator of the condition of our hearts, or our character. This could be good or bad. If we had time we could also do a thematic study and find the same idea put across elsewhere. The first thing you might think of is that it's unChristian to use coarse or obscene language. There's no reason to think it should stop there.

When was the last time you gossiped, spread rumours or slander about others, putting others down, bragged, tried to manipulate someone, exaggerated, complained, used flattery, or lied? None of these things should have any place in a Christian’s life.

We see also that James uses the metaphors of a horse’s bit and a ship’s rudder. Even though both of these things are small, they have great power. Our words are no different. For good or bad, they can influence the course of your entire life, and they also have power over others, with one disclaimer. In no way does any of this support the erroneous idea of positive confession, popular in some Christian circles.

Even so, carelessly spoken words can cause a lot of damage, so this is a stern reminder to us to be careful about what we say, and to choose our words carefully. Speaking of words, James doesn’t mince his words here (verses 5 to 6). The wicked tongue has its source in hell. Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against each other. Like the fire that James writes about, idle words are damaging because they spread destruction quickly, and no one can stop the results once they are spoken. Words spoken in the heat of the moment can cause a lot of damage. Words are like fire. You can’t control or reverse the damage they do.

What James is saying here (verses 7 to 12) is that if no human being can control the tongue, why bother trying? We must learn to control our tongues. But this isn’t something we can do in our own strength. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. We should want him to work in us so that our words will please God.

Our words, whether good or bad, reflect what is in our hearts. Set aside time to come before God and ask Him, are your words those of someone who is walking in the Spirit, whose heart is given over to God, or perhaps you might have some things to sort out with God.

Mind your p's and q's

I'm not posting this article to condemn people, but I liked it because it's one of the clearest presentations of the gospel I've read in a long time. In a recent sermon, Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill church, set out clearly the need for every person to respond to Jesus. God doesn't want anyone to go to hell, but as he explained to his congregation, there will be consequences for you if you reject Him. Thinking and writing on this topic makes me feel uncomfortable. I have never been an overbearing, in your face Christian, but I have recently been challenged about how selfish it is to keep my beliefs to myself, hence this post.

Don't look at God in isolation from Jesus

Can we get rid of the Old Testament God? | Eternity