photo credit: SuperFantastic

.

Give up a coffee a week and support the training of the next generation of gospel workers.

.

For more information click here.

^{photo credit: Alex E. Proimos}

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5

 Sometimes it seems like I can’t do anything right. I can’t find the words to write an assignment, my room looks like a bomb exploded in it and I turn up to class only to discover that I should be at a group meeting in the library.

On days like this I need more than a bag of minties to encourage me to keep going - I need parts of the Bible like this one.

As I read through Ephesians 2 I find that I’m dead in transgression, that I’m separated from God because of my sinful nature (Great, yet another thing to add to the list!). But then I come to the verses above and everything begins to look up.

For it’s in these verses that we see that, although we were dead in transgressions, God still loved us. It is because of this great love  for us that God sent Jesus to the cross to die and take the punishment for sin. Then, as Christ was raised again, we were also able to be raised with him and made alive again.

So when everything seems to be turning out for the worst I can always find comfort knowing that I’m not saved by my own ability to do anything right but rather it is by this amazing act of grace that I have been saved.

What is more satisfying: only doing the few things that you can do perfectly all of the time? Or living with the knowledge that while failure is imminent, God’s grace has been displayed on the cross for your salvation?

In the last TNT for the year we’re thinking about what we should pray for. Is it wrong to pray for parking spaces, your sick rabbit, or your exam marks? Or is it wrong to neglect praying for these things? Come along and find out! 5:306:30pm this Wednesday (after NCS).

Next week we’re going to Jeso Park for a picnic after NCS!

photo credit: Carly & Art

But Propitiation is even better!

photo credit: Jasmic

“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”

.

Jesus’ words in the parable of the sower remind us of the many small things which can call on our attention, diverting our eyes from eternal glory. It’s interesting that the “good” things in life (riches and pleasures) can stop us from maturing, but around exam time I don’t think that riches and pleasures will be our main distraction! Most of us will be bunkering down for the next week or three, trying to cram in thirteen weeks worth of knowledge. Whilst it’s good to work hard, and we ought to be studying diligently in order to learn our various trades, we need to be careful that our study patterns don’t grow thorns. Don’t let them choke your life!

.

Since lectures and tutes are over, you may have more time to decide upon your own routine. Why not use the next three weeks to develop a great quiet-time routine alongside your study patterns? Perhaps you could start each day by reading and reflecting on God’s Word, before opening up your textbook?

.

On the other hand, if you’re one of those lucky student’s who has no exams, or you finish early, beware the pull and distraction of life’s pleasures. Enjoy your time off and use your holidays – make them a great time of refreshment, and a reminder of God’s great promises in Jesus.

.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

.

photo credit: Tatters:)

.

Evil confronts us not in abstract only but through bitter personal experience. It meets us in the cancer ward, the nursing home and the crematorium. It assaults us through the carnage of the evening news; it saps us through the daily monotony of failures, feuds and fading hopes. Every one of us knows evil.

.

You may have realised that I am using the word “evil” very broadly to include moral evil (deceit, cruelty, pride, etc.), natural evil (disease, tsunamis…) and that last enemy, death. In the truest sense all these “evils” are unnatural, for they are disrupt the peace (shalom) of God’s good creation. They are all signs that things are not they way they ought to be.

.

Not surprisingly, people find the experience of evil difficult to reconcile with the existence of a benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent God. For many atheists this philosophical “problem of evil” is a compelling argument against belief. Eighteen of the essays in 50 Voices of Disbelief at least mention the problem of evil, and for five of these it is their main topic (the essays by Russell Blackford, Nicholas Everitt, Christine Overall, Stephen Law and Gregory Benford).

.

It is unfortunate that some atheists wave around the problem of evil like a winning lottery ticket, just as it is unfortunate that some Christians dismiss it with flippant theodicies. (A theodicy is an attempt to justify God’s actions. I do not mean to imply here that all theodicies are flippant, merely that theodicies of the flippant variety are particularly regrettable). However, many other people, atheist and Christian alike, demonstrate a real sensitivity to suffering, often amplified by personal tragedy. Gregory Benford’s article ‘Evil and Me’, for example, is more a sigh of despair than a carefully reasoned case. Many atheists grieve at the injustice and suffering of our world, which seem so clearly to deny God and his goodness.

.

So how ought Christians respond to this?

.

First, we must respond with tears and compassion, with knees bent in prayer, and arms outstretched in charity. Evil is not an intellectual conundrum; it is a dark and terrible perversion of God’s good creation. If evil seems to atheists to deny God’s goodness that is because it does deny God’s goodness – a quality evident from the time sin first entered the world (Genesis 3:1-5). The whole creation is groaning, and is in bondage to decay (Romans 8:21-22). The present experience of creation is one of futility (Romans 8:20) – a word that evokes all the confusion and frustration evident in the book of Ecclesiastes. We do not understand all the evil in the world, and nor should we expect to. So rather than argue with your atheist friends who are distressed by evil and suffering, why not weep with them?

.

Secondly, it is helpful to recognise that the problem of evil actually consists of several problems. There is a philosophical problem – how can we reconcile God’s existence with the existence of evil? There is an experiential problem – we all live under the shadow of death. And most fundamentally of all there is a moral problem – we are culpable for evil, we are guilty. Indeed, the moral problem precedes the experiential – “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17). We are perpetrators of evil before we are its victims.

.

Thirdly, and most importantly, we must respond with the gospel. We may not have a complete explanation for evil, but we do have something even better – a God-given solution to evil. This solution is both Christ-centred and future-oriented.

.

It is Christ-centred: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Jesus’ substitutionary death and resurrection deliver us from the guilt, penalty and power of sin. God the Son entered our world, took on our moral evil, and drank the full cup of suffering that was its due. Through his resurrection Christ has conquered death and brought the new age forward into the present.

.

But the gospel is also future-oriented: But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13)  We still wait for Christ’s return, for the final day of judgement which will establish universal justice and peace, and for a new creation free from the taint of sin and death.

.

The gospel, therefore, invites both faith in Jesus and his past achievement, and hope for the glorious future he has already secured. And so, with our future secure in his hands, Jesus enables us to live with love in the present, acting in small but significant ways to alleviate the suffering of others.

.

But all of this is something quite different to giving an explanation in answer to the philosophical problem of evil. That is, none of this means trying to reconcile God’s existence with the existence of evil. I, for one, am comfortable with that. After all, why ever would we want to reconcile the two? In the final analysis, one of them must go. The atheist’s mistake is to decide which it will be too soon.

.

The experience of suffering and evil drives some people away from God. But it also drives many people to God – as it did with me when I became a Christian as a teenager. When I groaned with creation then, and when atheists groan today, we express the very problem for which the gospel itself is the solution. Don’t withhold it from them!

.

.

For further reading:

• Habakkuk – read and see how it moves from the philosophical problem of evil to hope in a God-given solution to evil.
• Romans 1-8
• Byron Smith’s discussion of the problem of evil has greatly informed my thinking on this question. Check it out on his blog.

.

.

photo credit: allspice1 – Consolation

photo credit: hdptcar – African rebel camp

.

Consider the words Jesus spoke to Peter at the time of his arrest: Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword shall perish by the sword. (Matthew 26:52)

.

Taken in a strict, literal sense, this is of course not accurate. Sometimes violent men die peacefully. But Jesus’ saying does capture something that is more generally true of the world. Violence incites further violence, and so its perpetrators often become its victims. Carl Williams comes to mind.

.

More significantly, Jesus is beckoning us toward an even more profound insight. Peter’s actions stood in stark contrast to Jesus’. Peter drew a sword, and struck out to defend Jesus. But Jesus himself submitted to his arrest, humiliation and crucifixion. Jesus overcame evil by yielding to its fury; Jesus brought peace by suffering violence. In the same way Jesus’ followers are to be “peacemakers” who “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:9, 39). On this theme, you might also like to reflect on Hebrews 12:24 together with Genesis 4:10, 14-15. Jesus’ blood speaks a word of grace which breaks the cycle of vengeance!

.

However, not all generalisations are windows into wisdom; some act as shutters to a sham. Take this quote by philosopher A. C. Grayling:

.

The distorted lives of the victims of religion are plain to see from the Bible belt of the United States to the veiled and shrouded women of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan; genital mutilation, “honour killings,” forced marriages, and dozens of other abuses are perpetuated in the name of religion and tradition contrary to rationality and humanity; the toll is great, and constitutes an indictment of religion as by far one of the least happy inventions of human ingenuity.

.

These words comes from Grayling’s essay in the book 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, edited by Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk.

.

In one sentence Grayling is guilty of two questionable generalisations. First, he lumps American Christianity together with Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, implying all are equally guilty of genital mutilation, “honour killings,” forced marriages and other abuses. (Incidentally Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are countries, not religions, although Grayling’s intention seems clear.) Secondly, Grayling groups together “religion and tradition”, and then, forgetting he has included the latter, blames the miseries just mentioned entirely on the former.

.

To be fair, it is possible that Grayling meant to attribute this list of evils only to Islam, having already critiqued Christianity for teaching doctrines which lead various people to feel “apprehension and doubt because of their sexual feelings”. But in any case, I am not certain that causing “apprehension and doubt” about sexual temptation warrants the same condemnation as mutilation or murder.

.

Grayling has conjured up a powerful piece of rhetoric, which is nonetheless completely devoid of the clarity and precision necessary for sensible thought and debate. But then again, that’s the danger with generalisations.

.

I have just finished reading 50 Voices of Disbelief, and over the next week or so plan to post a series of reflections on atheism. 50 Voices is only one entry in a recent spate of books attacking religion, but this particular volume attracted my attention because it has an Australian editor (Blackford) and a number of Australian contributors. And for all the indiscretions of some of the essays in this book, I’m glad to say that Blackford himself is aware of the risk of overgeneralising.

.

In a recent talk at the University of Newcastle Blackford stated that it is difficult to discuss what is wrong with religion because religion is not really a unitary thing. This is a crucial observation, with which I am in full agreement. Christianity is not the same kind of thing as Islam, and neither is the same kind of thing as Hinduism or Buddhism. Different religions must be evaluated individually. If critics aim to sweep away everything in one stroke, they will end up demonstrating nothing except the weakness of overgeneralisations. That said, most of the essays in 50 Voices sidestep this danger by focusing their sights particularly on Christianity. So it seems appropriate to offer a particularly Christian response.

.

However, in making a response, I want to acknowledge that Blackford’s caution cuts both ways. Religion is not a unitary thing, but neither is atheism. So my general reflections on atheism may suffer the same weaknesses as general critiques of religion: they will not be true of every atheist, and in fact may be vast caricatures of some.

.

So please don’t use these reflections to bludgeon your non-believing friends. Instead, as we search for deep truths and try to expose deep deceptions, please receive these thoughts in a spirit of dialogue and feel free to add your comments.

.

Stay tuned…

.

.

photo credit: foxypar4 (sheep)

photo credit: xJasonRogersx (man)

I have great privilege of teaching two scripture classed each Tuesday. I just got home from them now. I love scripture. If you’re a Uni Student and have time to take a class I commend it to you highly. (Especially if you’re a teaching student, good GREAT practice!) This week I taught them about the establishment of the Israelite Monarchy from 1 Samuel. As I was prepping for it I came across an oddity. Let me explain.

The Prophet Samuel who has led Israel as God’s spokesman all his life is old and the people are afraid of what will happen after he dies. So they ask for a king. More like demand. They reject God as their rightful king and demand a king like all the other nations have… (1 Sam 8:5)

Surprisingly God gives them one even though they’re rejecting & replacing him.
This struck me as really strange. Why does God do that? Why does God give in to their demands? He gives them all the reasons why they don’t actually want a king (they”ll have to pay taxes, their sons will  have to join the army & work in his fields, their daughters will become his cooks and servants & the whole nation will end up being his slaves). But Israel don’t want to listen and so God gives in. He gives them what they want. WHY?

As I pondered this suddenly the AWEfull truth struck me. As Paul points out (Romans 1:24-28) sometimes when people reject God, he gives them what they want and all the consequences that go with it. In Israel’s case they wanted a human king and all the horrible things that will entail. So God gave them a king. And they had to live with it.

I can’t help but think how it’s just like today. All around our world people reject God and despise him. So God gives them what they want, a life without him. And he’ll continue giving them what they want for all eternity. That’s Hell. Life without God and all the good things he gives.

Father please protect us from sinfully demanding from you things that will harm us.
Father please do not grant our sinful requests.

photo credit: frankblacknoir ]]> http://www.newcastlechristianstudents.org/2010/05/18/we-want-a-king/feed/ 1 http://www.newcastlechristianstudents.org/2010/05/11/hello-cousin-fish/ http://www.newcastlechristianstudents.org/2010/05/11/hello-cousin-fish/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 23:00:51 +0000 Steve Watt http://www.newcastlechristianstudents.org/?p=1314 Continue reading →]]> So I caught up with a mate of mine the other day to read through Genesis 1. I was again struck by the awesome power of our God. To create he simply speaks. Isn’t that amazing?

.

And our God declares the purpose of the things he makes.
The Sun and Moon are to separate the day from the night, to serve as signs of days, seasons & years and to cast light on the earth.
The fish are to teem in the waters, the birds to fly and humans are made in God’s image to rule over every other creature.

.

But then something curious caught my eye. God creates everything just by speaking, but he only speaks to his creation twice.

Once to humans (v28-30) & once to the fish & birds (v22). He commands both to be fruitful, to increase in number and to fill the earth (or sea).Check it out for yourself.

.

This got me wondering. Is there some similarity between people and fish or birds?

Why doesn’t God speak to the animals?

I don’t have any answers; I just found it curious and thought you might too.

If you’ve got an idea, why post a comment below?

photo credit: laszlo-photo