Sitting here in my office looking at the clouded sky outside, I cannot even comprehend what has happened, I read newspaper articleshttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18690-1419246,00.html and am reduced to tears by what people are going through, Yet numbed by the images. It feels like a Holywood movie, not reality, yet I know it is.
What can we d? Money and prayers seem so inadequate. I want to jump on a plane and go and help these people, yet would I cope.
How does anyone cope?
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Another article
December 18, 2004
The meaning at the very heart of Christmas
GEOFFREY ROWELL
THE TIMESONLINE
“SEASON’S GREETINGS” is the bland message on those Christmas cards sent by those anxious and careful not to offend the supposed religious beliefs of others or impose religion on its cultured despisers. But even a season has a reference, and the “season” is not some politically manufactured secular celebration like those that the French Revolution tried to impose on France or communism on Russia. Those were celebrations without deep human resonance and meaning. They lacked roots and have therefore withered on the branch.
Truly human celebrations can never originate from political pastiche; they are always grounded in a faith which responds and reaches out to God, and so touches in the deepest way the meaning, significance and purpose of our lives. We would not put up lights, or send cards, or give presents, or celebrate with turkey or champagne, without Jesus Christ. It is his birth which Christmas celebrates.
Of course, like all human celebrations, Christmas has drawn into itself all kinds of traditions and customs, threads which run back into the old Roman festival of the unconquered sun, or the German Christmas trees made popular by Prince Albert, and St Nicholas, a Christian bishop in south-west Turkey metamorphosed in America via the colloquial Dutch “Sinter-klaas” into the jolly, rubicund Santa Claus bringing presents with reindeer (and hence providing tourist opportunities for Lapland). All this is unsurprising, just as is the transformation of St Matthew’s magi or astrologers who came to pay homage to the infant Jesus signifying his rule and lordship over the cosmic powers which held humanity captive into “three kings from Persian lands afar”, for the prophet Isaiah had spoken of kings falling down before the promised Messiah. The human imagination is fertile, and is part of the creativity that we were given by God.
But we need always to be reminded of what is at the heart of it all. The birth of Jesus Christ, so movingly recounted in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, is a birth celebrated because of a life and a death, and a victory over death.
For Christians every Sunday is a feast of the Resurrection, and every Christian festival is always an Easter festival — and that includes Christmas. The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary, the village girl of Nazareth, that she is to become the bearer of the Son of God, is a moment of new creation. So too is the birth at Bethlehem, and that is all fulfilled in the new life which bursts from the grave at Easter, a life in which through his life-giving Spirit we share. So the Christmas collect speaks both of the birth at Bethlehem, and of our new birth — of our being made God’s children by adoption and grace by the same life-giving Spirit which overshadowed the Blessed Virgin at the Incarnation. Christ went, as Bishop Lancelot Andrewes liked to say, “to the very ground-sill of our nature”. The God who comes among us is a God who empties Himself, pours himself out in love, comes down to the lowest part of our need, framed, formed, and fashioned as an unborn child, and then weak, helpless and dependent in the muck and mire of the manger, whose pricking straw is seen by St Bernard as foreshadowing the piercing nails of the Cross.
Christmas celebrates and challenges. At its heart is the overwhelming mystery of a God who stoops to us in the most amazing humility, revealing and disclosing Himself in the most human language, that of a human life. St John speaks of “the Word made flesh”, the Logos, or Divine Reason by which all things were ordered being made in our likeness. In that we behold the glory of God, and see and know what God is like, what is the source and origin of all that is, and the end and goal of our human life. That love “so amazing, so divine” is the truth we celebrate at Christmas.
We could want nothing more, and yet, if that is the truth, then that must shape our human lives, and the ordering of our society. It is a love which, as Mary sang, “puts down the mighty from their seats and exalts the humble and the meek”. This is the reality we celebrate, deeper than the time-limited rhetoric of politics It is the true source of life and peace and the measure of all our human rights and duties. This Divine Love draws us to adoration at Christmas, and even more wonderfully is a life which we are invited to share and in which to find the meaning of our lives.
The Right Rev Geoffrey Rowell is Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
The meaning at the very heart of Christmas
GEOFFREY ROWELL
THE TIMESONLINE
“SEASON’S GREETINGS” is the bland message on those Christmas cards sent by those anxious and careful not to offend the supposed religious beliefs of others or impose religion on its cultured despisers. But even a season has a reference, and the “season” is not some politically manufactured secular celebration like those that the French Revolution tried to impose on France or communism on Russia. Those were celebrations without deep human resonance and meaning. They lacked roots and have therefore withered on the branch.
Truly human celebrations can never originate from political pastiche; they are always grounded in a faith which responds and reaches out to God, and so touches in the deepest way the meaning, significance and purpose of our lives. We would not put up lights, or send cards, or give presents, or celebrate with turkey or champagne, without Jesus Christ. It is his birth which Christmas celebrates.
Of course, like all human celebrations, Christmas has drawn into itself all kinds of traditions and customs, threads which run back into the old Roman festival of the unconquered sun, or the German Christmas trees made popular by Prince Albert, and St Nicholas, a Christian bishop in south-west Turkey metamorphosed in America via the colloquial Dutch “Sinter-klaas” into the jolly, rubicund Santa Claus bringing presents with reindeer (and hence providing tourist opportunities for Lapland). All this is unsurprising, just as is the transformation of St Matthew’s magi or astrologers who came to pay homage to the infant Jesus signifying his rule and lordship over the cosmic powers which held humanity captive into “three kings from Persian lands afar”, for the prophet Isaiah had spoken of kings falling down before the promised Messiah. The human imagination is fertile, and is part of the creativity that we were given by God.
But we need always to be reminded of what is at the heart of it all. The birth of Jesus Christ, so movingly recounted in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, is a birth celebrated because of a life and a death, and a victory over death.
For Christians every Sunday is a feast of the Resurrection, and every Christian festival is always an Easter festival — and that includes Christmas. The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary, the village girl of Nazareth, that she is to become the bearer of the Son of God, is a moment of new creation. So too is the birth at Bethlehem, and that is all fulfilled in the new life which bursts from the grave at Easter, a life in which through his life-giving Spirit we share. So the Christmas collect speaks both of the birth at Bethlehem, and of our new birth — of our being made God’s children by adoption and grace by the same life-giving Spirit which overshadowed the Blessed Virgin at the Incarnation. Christ went, as Bishop Lancelot Andrewes liked to say, “to the very ground-sill of our nature”. The God who comes among us is a God who empties Himself, pours himself out in love, comes down to the lowest part of our need, framed, formed, and fashioned as an unborn child, and then weak, helpless and dependent in the muck and mire of the manger, whose pricking straw is seen by St Bernard as foreshadowing the piercing nails of the Cross.
Christmas celebrates and challenges. At its heart is the overwhelming mystery of a God who stoops to us in the most amazing humility, revealing and disclosing Himself in the most human language, that of a human life. St John speaks of “the Word made flesh”, the Logos, or Divine Reason by which all things were ordered being made in our likeness. In that we behold the glory of God, and see and know what God is like, what is the source and origin of all that is, and the end and goal of our human life. That love “so amazing, so divine” is the truth we celebrate at Christmas.
We could want nothing more, and yet, if that is the truth, then that must shape our human lives, and the ordering of our society. It is a love which, as Mary sang, “puts down the mighty from their seats and exalts the humble and the meek”. This is the reality we celebrate, deeper than the time-limited rhetoric of politics It is the true source of life and peace and the measure of all our human rights and duties. This Divine Love draws us to adoration at Christmas, and even more wonderfully is a life which we are invited to share and in which to find the meaning of our lives.
The Right Rev Geoffrey Rowell is Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Where i am at the moment
How is everyone? Well I hope.
Just thought I'd give an update on things going on in my life at the moment.
Dad - He came off his binge a week last Monday, I think anyway. Detox was nothing like what it normally is; shakes, sickness, sweats, hallucinations etc and so I wonder whether he was still on a small amount of alcohol even though he said that he had come off it. I didn't really stay with him when he was coming off the alcohol. I had promised to take a friend to a job interview she had and then drive her back to Liverpool. I also didn't want to help him too much as this would have taken personal responsibility away from him; he would have been doing it because I was there helping him rather than him wanting to do it. I spoke to him the following day to find out what he was going to do about the alcohol as he couldn't carry on like this and his response was "Emma, do you really think I am going to go over Christmas without having a drink?" I knew then that he felt no remorse or realisation of what he is doing to himself and other people.
The Monday evening as he began to sober up he became the overbearing father again, ringing me on the way back from Liverpool to check I was OK and saying that he worries about me and I should let him know I am OK. Firstly, I am nearly 26, secondly I have lived in Liverpool, America, travelled most of Britain, travelled a small amount of America and thirdly HE COULDN'T HAVE GIVEN TO FIGS ABOUT ME WHEN HE WAS LYING IN BED SURROUNDED BY BEER CANS THE WEEK BEFORE!!!! I crave the day when I can I have my independence back but for now I know I am to live at home.
So we are now in the place we have been for the past 3 years. I come in after youth group / bible study / anything.......he's had a few drinks and doesn't want to speak incase I figure out he's had a few drinks (not that I can't figure it out myself!!) so he goes in a mood with me......I think I could handle it better if he were a happy drinker but drink just makes him depressed and feeling even more sorry for himself!
The rest of my family - Probably not best to go there at the moment......there just seems to be argument after argument between my brother and my Dad. My brothers girlfriend and I know to keep out of things like that as it will all calm down and they will be speaking again soon, but there is another member of her family that doesn't keep out of it and so enticed my brother into ringing my Dad and threatening to beat him up and kill him if he saw him the other day. Oh happy days!!! I then had to put up with another member of Amanda's family ringing up and informing me that the reason Dad was drinking so much was that he was lonely and he only really had me as I was his "real daughter" and my brother was adopted so wasn't really my Dads son....I hit the roof when he said this to me and praise the Lord his credit ran out on is phone before I really let rip.
Me - I am doing well at the moment though not a lover of this time of year. A few strange things have happened lately and I am having to put a hold on them as I figure out why they have happened and what they are meant to do with them.
Firstly a guy sent me a box of chocolates in work. He is from our a company that supplies the system we work on and is based in the South of the Country. He came up for the day to install an upgrade of the system. The following day we were in contact by e-mail and they had screwed part of the system up on their end. He asked whether a box of chocolates would make amends, so i replied with yes and I was looking forward to the box of chocolates. to my astonishment a large box arrived on my desk a week later with a huge box of chocolates in their, from a well known and expensive chocolate company and there were about 40 in the box so not cheap. I e-mailed to thank him and then we have e-mailed sporadically over the past few weeks regarding works issues but also including jokey / personal stuff like what we're up to for Christmas. I know for most people this would seem like harmless flirting, but is it a good witness? I don't even know if he is a Christian and would not date him unless he was.....Why did this happen? I know it only seems small to most people but I don't want to get hurt / hopes up, I don't want to hurt someone else and I want to be part of Gods plan not my own. I crave a partner so much but I don't want to fall into any pits where it's not part of the great plan God has for me.
Secondly the job issue. Where am I going? At the moment I have no idea but suddenly there seems to be a burning desire within me to learn academically more about the bible. I have a sudden craving for either bible school or to do a Masters (grad school) and this seems to have come out of the blue. It is something I have often pondered on but not something I have ever really considered in depth......is it something God wants me to do? I don't know.
Thirdly, I need to get away for a weekend. I am going to try and save me money and then find somewhere to go and just have time out by myself. No phone, computer, TV ,just me and my bible. It's now finding the time and money to do that.
Anyway I hope that this hasn't bored you too much, it' s pretty much where I'm at at the moment.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and all the best for the new year.
God bless
Emma x x
Just thought I'd give an update on things going on in my life at the moment.
Dad - He came off his binge a week last Monday, I think anyway. Detox was nothing like what it normally is; shakes, sickness, sweats, hallucinations etc and so I wonder whether he was still on a small amount of alcohol even though he said that he had come off it. I didn't really stay with him when he was coming off the alcohol. I had promised to take a friend to a job interview she had and then drive her back to Liverpool. I also didn't want to help him too much as this would have taken personal responsibility away from him; he would have been doing it because I was there helping him rather than him wanting to do it. I spoke to him the following day to find out what he was going to do about the alcohol as he couldn't carry on like this and his response was "Emma, do you really think I am going to go over Christmas without having a drink?" I knew then that he felt no remorse or realisation of what he is doing to himself and other people.
The Monday evening as he began to sober up he became the overbearing father again, ringing me on the way back from Liverpool to check I was OK and saying that he worries about me and I should let him know I am OK. Firstly, I am nearly 26, secondly I have lived in Liverpool, America, travelled most of Britain, travelled a small amount of America and thirdly HE COULDN'T HAVE GIVEN TO FIGS ABOUT ME WHEN HE WAS LYING IN BED SURROUNDED BY BEER CANS THE WEEK BEFORE!!!! I crave the day when I can I have my independence back but for now I know I am to live at home.
So we are now in the place we have been for the past 3 years. I come in after youth group / bible study / anything.......he's had a few drinks and doesn't want to speak incase I figure out he's had a few drinks (not that I can't figure it out myself!!) so he goes in a mood with me......I think I could handle it better if he were a happy drinker but drink just makes him depressed and feeling even more sorry for himself!
The rest of my family - Probably not best to go there at the moment......there just seems to be argument after argument between my brother and my Dad. My brothers girlfriend and I know to keep out of things like that as it will all calm down and they will be speaking again soon, but there is another member of her family that doesn't keep out of it and so enticed my brother into ringing my Dad and threatening to beat him up and kill him if he saw him the other day. Oh happy days!!! I then had to put up with another member of Amanda's family ringing up and informing me that the reason Dad was drinking so much was that he was lonely and he only really had me as I was his "real daughter" and my brother was adopted so wasn't really my Dads son....I hit the roof when he said this to me and praise the Lord his credit ran out on is phone before I really let rip.
Me - I am doing well at the moment though not a lover of this time of year. A few strange things have happened lately and I am having to put a hold on them as I figure out why they have happened and what they are meant to do with them.
Firstly a guy sent me a box of chocolates in work. He is from our a company that supplies the system we work on and is based in the South of the Country. He came up for the day to install an upgrade of the system. The following day we were in contact by e-mail and they had screwed part of the system up on their end. He asked whether a box of chocolates would make amends, so i replied with yes and I was looking forward to the box of chocolates. to my astonishment a large box arrived on my desk a week later with a huge box of chocolates in their, from a well known and expensive chocolate company and there were about 40 in the box so not cheap. I e-mailed to thank him and then we have e-mailed sporadically over the past few weeks regarding works issues but also including jokey / personal stuff like what we're up to for Christmas. I know for most people this would seem like harmless flirting, but is it a good witness? I don't even know if he is a Christian and would not date him unless he was.....Why did this happen? I know it only seems small to most people but I don't want to get hurt / hopes up, I don't want to hurt someone else and I want to be part of Gods plan not my own. I crave a partner so much but I don't want to fall into any pits where it's not part of the great plan God has for me.
Secondly the job issue. Where am I going? At the moment I have no idea but suddenly there seems to be a burning desire within me to learn academically more about the bible. I have a sudden craving for either bible school or to do a Masters (grad school) and this seems to have come out of the blue. It is something I have often pondered on but not something I have ever really considered in depth......is it something God wants me to do? I don't know.
Thirdly, I need to get away for a weekend. I am going to try and save me money and then find somewhere to go and just have time out by myself. No phone, computer, TV ,just me and my bible. It's now finding the time and money to do that.
Anyway I hope that this hasn't bored you too much, it' s pretty much where I'm at at the moment.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and all the best for the new year.
God bless
Emma x x
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Where is the church?
I hope you are as challenged by this article as much as I am.
I did much grumbling to my Christian friends regarding the nativity scene at Madame Tussauds but did nothing about it.
I hope that this is a wake up call to us all that we can't just sit back and accept the humiliation and ridicule that Chirsitianity takes in this country but that we as Christians will stand up for what we believe in. If it had been the ridicule of a Hindu / Muslim festival that had taken place I think that members of these faiths would be alot more vocal than we have been.
Please post your comments would be great to know what you think
Emma
Remember Jesus? He's that baby they all forgot in the Parable of Tussauds
Michael Gove
The truth is, we have become inured towards all this cultural hostility directed at Christianity
THE REAL surprise is that anyone was shocked. When Madame Tussauds decided to depict David and Victoria Beckham as Mary and Joseph with Tony Blair, George Bush and the Duke of Edinburgh as The Three Wise Men and Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant and Graham Norton as shepherds, not forgetting Kylie Minogue as an angel, they presumably imagined there was nothing particularly daring in the exercise. Especially when Jesus Himself hardly featured in the tableau.
After all, when Tate Britain exhibited a representation of the Crucifixion made up of discarded Marlboro Light cigarettes, Sarah Lucas’s Christ You Know It Ain’t Easy, in May this year there was no denunciation from the Church of England. Even though Lucas’s work was displayed alongside Damien Hirst’s take on the Passion, a cow carcass entitled The Pursuit of Oblivion, there was no expression of dismay at the distastefulness of it all from the Vatican that I can recall. Admittedly, when Hirst depicted Jesus lying in a cardboard box marked Quality Office Products and entitled his work Jesus is Laid in the Tomb the Evangelical Alliance was moved to comment that these transgressive exercises were becoming “a little tired”. Indeed.
If only, the Madame Tussauds management must be thinking, they had entitled their tableau The Impossibility of Reverence in the Mind of the Heat Generation and asked Nick Serota to contribute a programme note praising them for their subversive reimagining of myth in a way that challenged contemporary establishment views of what we meant by Christmas “stars”, then there wouldn’t have been any trouble.
As my colleague Daniel Finkelstein has pointed out before, it is the events that don’t cause controversy, or provoke news “storms”, that tell you more about Britain than those that do. As he remarked, we got in a frightful tizz about the permissiveness of the prison regime that Jeffrey Archer enjoyed in the final months of his sentence. But the real scandal was that Archer’s treatment wasn’t exceptional. He wasn’t doing anything more than taking advantage of a stunningly lax regime which many prisoners could exploit. The scandal was that no one had objected to the prevailing culture beforehand. So it is with the Beckham Nativity. The really surprising thing is that this calculated offence to Christianity, out of all the deliberate assaults on the Church, should have created such a storm. For the truth is, we have become practically inured towards cultural hostility directed at Christianity.
Indeed, the cheap sensationalism of Young British Artists is no longer, in any sense, boundary-breaking because reverence is the last thing our society appears to accord to traditional Christianity. Consider the coverage of the “Christian Right” during the American presidential elections, and the repeated assumption underlying the reporting that we were in the presence of something dangerous. The casual equation of Christian evangelicals with Islamic fundamentalists, implying moral equivalence between people who want to keep unborn children alive and those who want living Jews and homosexuals dead, did no one a service.
It is, of course, not just legitimate but in certain cases vitally necessary to question the legislative agenda of some Christian groups in the US. Such criticism has certainly enjoyed free rein. But in a spirit of pluralism, I would just ask, how often have the European media given space for a sympathetic hearing to America’s Christian mainstream?
The assumption that possession of traditional religious belief is somehow disabling was, of course, underscored by the treatment of Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian candidate for an EU commissionership. I should say, for the avoidance of doubt, that I profoundly disagree with Signor Buttiglione’s views about homosexuality. I certainly don’t think they should influence public policy. But then neither did he.
He was denied public office in the new EU because he refused to disavow his Catholic faith, even though he explained that it would not, and should not, bear on the performance of his public duties. It’s all very well for us to say that sometimes private acts can prevent someone discharging their public duty effectively. But it has come to something when one of the private acts that debars you from office is taking Mass.
It is in the context of a prevailing cultural hostility towards traditional Christianity that the words last week of Jayne Ozanne, a senior adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, should be read. Ms Ozanne feared that a time would be coming when Christians were “ridiculed for their faith and pressurised into making it a purely private matter”. She may have been guilty of hyperbole when she used the language of “persecution” but the retreat of Christianity from the public square is certainly increasingly apparent. And perhaps nowhere more so than in the failure of Britain’s church leaders to raise their voces against real, and terrible, persecution of Christians across the globe.
In China, Vietnam, Laos, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt and Indonesia, Christians are variously imprisoned for their faith, tortured, have their families broken up, the public expression of their faith banned, their homes and churches burnt and their schools closed. But who champions their cause, and where do we hear of their suffering? Is this not a religious hatred against which we need to bear witness?
One does not have to be a Christian to be grateful for the ethical teachings of Jesus, the cultural glories of Christianity and the charitable work of the Church. Even those who do not attend church can understand how valuable it is to give one hour a week to consideration of our place in the world, reflection on how we have fallen short in our duties to others and association with those who are also pledging themselves to live better lives. Our society has, undoubtedly, been enriched by its Christian heritage. But our passion is now elsewhere. We are in danger, like Madame Tussauds, of being so caught up in our thoughts about Bush and Blair, or Posh and Becks, that we push Jesus Himself out of the picture.
Michael Gore, The Times Newspaper, December 15th 2004
I did much grumbling to my Christian friends regarding the nativity scene at Madame Tussauds but did nothing about it.
I hope that this is a wake up call to us all that we can't just sit back and accept the humiliation and ridicule that Chirsitianity takes in this country but that we as Christians will stand up for what we believe in. If it had been the ridicule of a Hindu / Muslim festival that had taken place I think that members of these faiths would be alot more vocal than we have been.
Please post your comments would be great to know what you think
Emma
Remember Jesus? He's that baby they all forgot in the Parable of Tussauds
Michael Gove
The truth is, we have become inured towards all this cultural hostility directed at Christianity
THE REAL surprise is that anyone was shocked. When Madame Tussauds decided to depict David and Victoria Beckham as Mary and Joseph with Tony Blair, George Bush and the Duke of Edinburgh as The Three Wise Men and Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant and Graham Norton as shepherds, not forgetting Kylie Minogue as an angel, they presumably imagined there was nothing particularly daring in the exercise. Especially when Jesus Himself hardly featured in the tableau.
After all, when Tate Britain exhibited a representation of the Crucifixion made up of discarded Marlboro Light cigarettes, Sarah Lucas’s Christ You Know It Ain’t Easy, in May this year there was no denunciation from the Church of England. Even though Lucas’s work was displayed alongside Damien Hirst’s take on the Passion, a cow carcass entitled The Pursuit of Oblivion, there was no expression of dismay at the distastefulness of it all from the Vatican that I can recall. Admittedly, when Hirst depicted Jesus lying in a cardboard box marked Quality Office Products and entitled his work Jesus is Laid in the Tomb the Evangelical Alliance was moved to comment that these transgressive exercises were becoming “a little tired”. Indeed.
If only, the Madame Tussauds management must be thinking, they had entitled their tableau The Impossibility of Reverence in the Mind of the Heat Generation and asked Nick Serota to contribute a programme note praising them for their subversive reimagining of myth in a way that challenged contemporary establishment views of what we meant by Christmas “stars”, then there wouldn’t have been any trouble.
As my colleague Daniel Finkelstein has pointed out before, it is the events that don’t cause controversy, or provoke news “storms”, that tell you more about Britain than those that do. As he remarked, we got in a frightful tizz about the permissiveness of the prison regime that Jeffrey Archer enjoyed in the final months of his sentence. But the real scandal was that Archer’s treatment wasn’t exceptional. He wasn’t doing anything more than taking advantage of a stunningly lax regime which many prisoners could exploit. The scandal was that no one had objected to the prevailing culture beforehand. So it is with the Beckham Nativity. The really surprising thing is that this calculated offence to Christianity, out of all the deliberate assaults on the Church, should have created such a storm. For the truth is, we have become practically inured towards cultural hostility directed at Christianity.
Indeed, the cheap sensationalism of Young British Artists is no longer, in any sense, boundary-breaking because reverence is the last thing our society appears to accord to traditional Christianity. Consider the coverage of the “Christian Right” during the American presidential elections, and the repeated assumption underlying the reporting that we were in the presence of something dangerous. The casual equation of Christian evangelicals with Islamic fundamentalists, implying moral equivalence between people who want to keep unborn children alive and those who want living Jews and homosexuals dead, did no one a service.
It is, of course, not just legitimate but in certain cases vitally necessary to question the legislative agenda of some Christian groups in the US. Such criticism has certainly enjoyed free rein. But in a spirit of pluralism, I would just ask, how often have the European media given space for a sympathetic hearing to America’s Christian mainstream?
The assumption that possession of traditional religious belief is somehow disabling was, of course, underscored by the treatment of Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian candidate for an EU commissionership. I should say, for the avoidance of doubt, that I profoundly disagree with Signor Buttiglione’s views about homosexuality. I certainly don’t think they should influence public policy. But then neither did he.
He was denied public office in the new EU because he refused to disavow his Catholic faith, even though he explained that it would not, and should not, bear on the performance of his public duties. It’s all very well for us to say that sometimes private acts can prevent someone discharging their public duty effectively. But it has come to something when one of the private acts that debars you from office is taking Mass.
It is in the context of a prevailing cultural hostility towards traditional Christianity that the words last week of Jayne Ozanne, a senior adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, should be read. Ms Ozanne feared that a time would be coming when Christians were “ridiculed for their faith and pressurised into making it a purely private matter”. She may have been guilty of hyperbole when she used the language of “persecution” but the retreat of Christianity from the public square is certainly increasingly apparent. And perhaps nowhere more so than in the failure of Britain’s church leaders to raise their voces against real, and terrible, persecution of Christians across the globe.
In China, Vietnam, Laos, Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt and Indonesia, Christians are variously imprisoned for their faith, tortured, have their families broken up, the public expression of their faith banned, their homes and churches burnt and their schools closed. But who champions their cause, and where do we hear of their suffering? Is this not a religious hatred against which we need to bear witness?
One does not have to be a Christian to be grateful for the ethical teachings of Jesus, the cultural glories of Christianity and the charitable work of the Church. Even those who do not attend church can understand how valuable it is to give one hour a week to consideration of our place in the world, reflection on how we have fallen short in our duties to others and association with those who are also pledging themselves to live better lives. Our society has, undoubtedly, been enriched by its Christian heritage. But our passion is now elsewhere. We are in danger, like Madame Tussauds, of being so caught up in our thoughts about Bush and Blair, or Posh and Becks, that we push Jesus Himself out of the picture.
Michael Gore, The Times Newspaper, December 15th 2004
Psalm 27
The LORD is my light and my salvation-
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
One thing I ask of the LORD ,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD .
Hear my voice when I call, O LORD ;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD , I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
One thing I ask of the LORD ,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD .
Hear my voice when I call, O LORD ;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD , I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
You have been my helper
You have been my helper
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
Teach me your way, O LORD ;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD ;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD .
O God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
Teach me your way, O LORD ;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD ;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD .
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Thought for the day
Am sure that these apply more to women than men, but I think they're great for everyone.
Enjoy
Think about these one at a time BEFORE going on to the next one...IT DOES MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, especially the thought at the end.NATURAL HIGHS
1. Being in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No queues at the supermarket.
5. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
6. Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
7. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
8. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
9. Chocolate milkshake ... (or vanilla ... or strawberry!)
10. A bubble bath.
11. Giggling.
12. A good conversation.
13. Finding a £20 note in your coat from last winter.
14. Running through sprinklers.
15. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
16. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
17. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
18. Waking up and realising you still have a few hours left to sleep.
19. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
20. Having someone play with your hair.
21. Sweet dreams.
22. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
23. Holding hands with someone you care about.
24. Running into an old friend and realising that some things (good or bad) never change.
25. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much-desired present from you.
26. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
27. Knowing that somebody misses you.
28. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
29. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
30. Knoing above all else there is God who cares deeply about you, has a plan for you and sent your son for you.
Enjoy
Think about these one at a time BEFORE going on to the next one...IT DOES MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, especially the thought at the end.NATURAL HIGHS
1. Being in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No queues at the supermarket.
5. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
6. Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
7. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
8. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
9. Chocolate milkshake ... (or vanilla ... or strawberry!)
10. A bubble bath.
11. Giggling.
12. A good conversation.
13. Finding a £20 note in your coat from last winter.
14. Running through sprinklers.
15. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
16. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
17. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
18. Waking up and realising you still have a few hours left to sleep.
19. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
20. Having someone play with your hair.
21. Sweet dreams.
22. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
23. Holding hands with someone you care about.
24. Running into an old friend and realising that some things (good or bad) never change.
25. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much-desired present from you.
26. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
27. Knowing that somebody misses you.
28. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
29. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
30. Knoing above all else there is God who cares deeply about you, has a plan for you and sent your son for you.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Update
Just a quick note as I am in work and about to finish as I am only doing a half day.
Sadly Dad is still on the alcohol. He hasn't realyl left the house , or his bed, for a week no apart from going too and from the off licence to get more alcohol.
I arrived home at around 10:45 last night to find him still drunk but no alcohol around him. I couldn't figure out what he had drunk. Inbetween the ramblings and the vacant stares I managed to understand that the alcohol I had hidden in my room (I know hindsight is a wonderful thing) he'd drunk 2/3rds of my litre bottle of 14 year old Glendfiddich whiskey!! That wound me up as in a way that constituted stealing even if it was only from me! Well, there was around 1/4 of the bottle left, plus some Baileys, plus some Glenfiddich liquer and it all went down the sink. I would rather not have any in the house.
Am angry, despaired, guilty, mad, lonely and at my witts end at the moment. A lady from my church e-mailed me the other day and talked about me feeling like an orphan and for the first time it had been put into words how I was feeling, exactly like an orphan, even at the age of 25.
It is trusting that my heavenly father will never abandon, orphan or mentally abuse me with names, swear words and emotional blackmail.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers. Psalm 145 has been a great source of strength and peace over the past few days.
Blessings
ELJ
Sadly Dad is still on the alcohol. He hasn't realyl left the house , or his bed, for a week no apart from going too and from the off licence to get more alcohol.
I arrived home at around 10:45 last night to find him still drunk but no alcohol around him. I couldn't figure out what he had drunk. Inbetween the ramblings and the vacant stares I managed to understand that the alcohol I had hidden in my room (I know hindsight is a wonderful thing) he'd drunk 2/3rds of my litre bottle of 14 year old Glendfiddich whiskey!! That wound me up as in a way that constituted stealing even if it was only from me! Well, there was around 1/4 of the bottle left, plus some Baileys, plus some Glenfiddich liquer and it all went down the sink. I would rather not have any in the house.
Am angry, despaired, guilty, mad, lonely and at my witts end at the moment. A lady from my church e-mailed me the other day and talked about me feeling like an orphan and for the first time it had been put into words how I was feeling, exactly like an orphan, even at the age of 25.
It is trusting that my heavenly father will never abandon, orphan or mentally abuse me with names, swear words and emotional blackmail.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers. Psalm 145 has been a great source of strength and peace over the past few days.
Blessings
ELJ
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Hmmmm.....
Don't know what I am going to write at the moment. It's 1st December and meant to be such a happy time. Christmas is on the way......celebration time. There are so many things that I am thankful for; friends, e-mail, a job, a knowledge of what Christmas truly means, my health.
While I recognise these blessings I am feeling very low at the moment. I always begin to get pent up before Christmas; it's the season where my disfunctional family become even more disfunctional. My brother, his girlfriend and my nephew have decided that they are not coming up to ours at all on Christmas day. We can go there in the morning but because I have church this will mean I get to see my nephew for no more than 1/2 an hour on Christmas day. I never know where we are going or what we are doing on Christmas day as it is only Dad and I. This year we are going to my Aunt and Uncle's which will mean it will be over with by 2pm and it will just be Dad and I for the rest of the day. There is always the fear of the amount that Dad is drinking over the Christmas time. In the UK this is what it seems to revolve around....how much drink you can over the holiday.
Sadly this has already started. Dad has been drinking a lot of alcohol lately. He started before we went on holiday even though he had been off it completely for 5 weeks after our visit to the hospital when he last had a blow out with copious amounts of alcohol. I went home yesterday lunchtime and he was drunk. He couldn't stand without swaying. When I returned from youthgroup last night he was very drunk. I think in the day he had had 5 - 7 litres of beer. I went upstairs to write a letter to a friend and I heard him come up. He was then shuffling around his room and then I heard an almighty bang as he fell over. He was so drunk he couldn't get himself back up. He then went off to work this morning but returned 45 minutes earlier than normal. He is a Cleaner / Caretaker so what he has done is left work at 7:55 before all the office workers arrive at 8 and realised that he had been drinking. Once again when he came in at this time he was swaying from side to side so had obviously drunk the last few cans he had this morning.
I cannot even exlpain how I am beginning to feel at the moment. I ask God why....when is all this going to end. There is a feeling of responsibility for dad, that if I were a better daughter this wouldn't be happening. There is also so much guilt involved. How can I think about moving out, he has no one and if I do that he will really hit the bottle. Also the guilt that this has to be hidden. I want to hide it from my Aunts as according to them it is my fault, I should be staying in more and not doing so many things in church and then he wouldn't be doing this. Hide it from the outside world.....what must people think when he goes to buy alcohol at 8:30 in the morning. Hide it fom so many peoplebecause though this is killing me inside, he is still my Dad and I hate people condemning him. I have a desire to get away but where to? And how? I honestly feel that people think I am being over dramatic and that things can't be this bad, but I feel that I am a piece of wood that has been slowly but surely sanded down to hardly anything. I feel tired and worn and know that the only thing that can get me through this once again is God. I just feel as if I am trudging through mud and mire at the moment in no particular direction but just wanting to get through this situation. I feel lonely, which is only amplified by my struggle with singleness at the moment.But....
I will praise you, O LORD , among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.
Psalm 108: 3-6
Don't know what I am going to write at the moment. It's 1st December and meant to be such a happy time. Christmas is on the way......celebration time. There are so many things that I am thankful for; friends, e-mail, a job, a knowledge of what Christmas truly means, my health.
While I recognise these blessings I am feeling very low at the moment. I always begin to get pent up before Christmas; it's the season where my disfunctional family become even more disfunctional. My brother, his girlfriend and my nephew have decided that they are not coming up to ours at all on Christmas day. We can go there in the morning but because I have church this will mean I get to see my nephew for no more than 1/2 an hour on Christmas day. I never know where we are going or what we are doing on Christmas day as it is only Dad and I. This year we are going to my Aunt and Uncle's which will mean it will be over with by 2pm and it will just be Dad and I for the rest of the day. There is always the fear of the amount that Dad is drinking over the Christmas time. In the UK this is what it seems to revolve around....how much drink you can over the holiday.
Sadly this has already started. Dad has been drinking a lot of alcohol lately. He started before we went on holiday even though he had been off it completely for 5 weeks after our visit to the hospital when he last had a blow out with copious amounts of alcohol. I went home yesterday lunchtime and he was drunk. He couldn't stand without swaying. When I returned from youthgroup last night he was very drunk. I think in the day he had had 5 - 7 litres of beer. I went upstairs to write a letter to a friend and I heard him come up. He was then shuffling around his room and then I heard an almighty bang as he fell over. He was so drunk he couldn't get himself back up. He then went off to work this morning but returned 45 minutes earlier than normal. He is a Cleaner / Caretaker so what he has done is left work at 7:55 before all the office workers arrive at 8 and realised that he had been drinking. Once again when he came in at this time he was swaying from side to side so had obviously drunk the last few cans he had this morning.
I cannot even exlpain how I am beginning to feel at the moment. I ask God why....when is all this going to end. There is a feeling of responsibility for dad, that if I were a better daughter this wouldn't be happening. There is also so much guilt involved. How can I think about moving out, he has no one and if I do that he will really hit the bottle. Also the guilt that this has to be hidden. I want to hide it from my Aunts as according to them it is my fault, I should be staying in more and not doing so many things in church and then he wouldn't be doing this. Hide it from the outside world.....what must people think when he goes to buy alcohol at 8:30 in the morning. Hide it fom so many peoplebecause though this is killing me inside, he is still my Dad and I hate people condemning him. I have a desire to get away but where to? And how? I honestly feel that people think I am being over dramatic and that things can't be this bad, but I feel that I am a piece of wood that has been slowly but surely sanded down to hardly anything. I feel tired and worn and know that the only thing that can get me through this once again is God. I just feel as if I am trudging through mud and mire at the moment in no particular direction but just wanting to get through this situation. I feel lonely, which is only amplified by my struggle with singleness at the moment.But....
I will praise you, O LORD , among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.
Psalm 108: 3-6
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Josh Groban - You raise me up
I ordered his album and it arrived yesterday. It is great and if you have a chance to hear this song I'm sure you'll fall in love with it as much as I have! He is classical / pop if that is possible....a fantastic album!
The words of this song are just amazing and with the ochestral music in the background it is awesome....try and listen to it.
Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
The words of this song are just amazing and with the ochestral music in the background it is awesome....try and listen to it.
Josh Groban - You Raise Me Up
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Morning
Well what a different day to this time last week.
We had snow and it was that cold that you can see your breath in. The sun was shining and it was thought winter was here.
Today it is 10 oC warmer, wet and feels like normal Britian....how sad!
Am glad it is the weekend and this week seems to have flown by. It has been one full of mixed feelings and emotions, v difficult to explain, but would love some peace, quiet and an oppurtunity to get off this merry go round of weekly activities and commitments. I would love some time out alone, but then I fear lonliness.
I think that has been the overwhelming emotion and feeling this week, loneliness. I know that God is with me whereever I go but there are those times (and they seem to be a little more frequent lately!!) when the walk would be so much easier with someone physical beside me......*sigh*....never mind.
We had snow and it was that cold that you can see your breath in. The sun was shining and it was thought winter was here.
Today it is 10 oC warmer, wet and feels like normal Britian....how sad!
Am glad it is the weekend and this week seems to have flown by. It has been one full of mixed feelings and emotions, v difficult to explain, but would love some peace, quiet and an oppurtunity to get off this merry go round of weekly activities and commitments. I would love some time out alone, but then I fear lonliness.
I think that has been the overwhelming emotion and feeling this week, loneliness. I know that God is with me whereever I go but there are those times (and they seem to be a little more frequent lately!!) when the walk would be so much easier with someone physical beside me......*sigh*....never mind.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Winter has arrived
Woke up this morning to find 2 inches of snow had fallen over night. How exciting!!! Winter has definintely arrived earlier this year. It is one of those crisp days outside with the sun shining and the snow still covering the hills behind us. Our caretaker is walking around the building at the moment whistling Jingle Bells!
I was eating an orange before and all things Christmas / winter were coming back to me,
Christmas day church service and the true knowledge of why we celebrate this time of year
Cinnamon tea (which by the way I still can't find over here!!!)
Warm fires
Videos
Blankets
Walks through frost covered fields bundled up in winter clothes
'Seeing' your breath
Home baked cakes
Decorating the house in Christmas decorations
Candles
Hmmm...to be more than just 2 people in a family again.......
What are your favourite Christmas / winter activities / memories?
I was eating an orange before and all things Christmas / winter were coming back to me,
Christmas day church service and the true knowledge of why we celebrate this time of year
Cinnamon tea (which by the way I still can't find over here!!!)
Warm fires
Videos
Blankets
Walks through frost covered fields bundled up in winter clothes
'Seeing' your breath
Home baked cakes
Decorating the house in Christmas decorations
Candles
Hmmm...to be more than just 2 people in a family again.......
What are your favourite Christmas / winter activities / memories?
Thursday, November 18, 2004
10 objections to Christianity and how to respond
Thought that this was a very interesting article. Especially as I am one of those poeple who gets tongue tied when people ask me about my faith and come away feeling despondant because sayign "I believe it in my heart" and "I know God is in my life" doesn't seem to cut it.
Hope everyone finds this interesting!
Blessings
Emma
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10 Objections to Christianity and How to Respondby Frank Harber
Recently someone approached me with the following problem: "Nobody can talk me out of being a Christian, but I can't talk anyone else into it. Can you help me?"
Perhaps she thought she was the only one struggling with this, but I've been asked this question hundreds of times. You see, I was once an atheist who set out to prove Christianity was untrue. But during my investigation, I discovered overwhelming evidence that demonstrates the validity of Christianity. And because of a dedicated Christian who was prepared to answer my questions, my heart was reached.
Are you prepared to answer the spiritual seekers in your world? Are you wondering if Christianity's really true? Here's a look at 10 objections skeptics pose toward Christianity—and how to respond.
Christians are hypocrites.A hypocrite is an actor, a person who pretends to be something she isn't. Jesus' harshest words were reserved for hypocrites.The reality is, there always have been and always will be some hypocrites in the Church. But Jesus doesn't ask us to follow others; he asks us to follow him.Although Christians can represent Jesus either poorly or well, the real question isn't whether there are hypocrites in the Church, but whether Jesus is a hypocrite. If someone can prove that Jesus was a hypocrite, then the whole structure of Christianity falls into ruin. The Bible, God's Word, presents Jesus as nothing less than perfect. Jesus' disciples testified that Jesus was without sin (1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). Even Jesus himself challenged others to prove that he'd ever sinned (John 8:46).
What about the atrocities Christians have committed?Some blame Christianity for religious wars, the Crusades, burning witches, the Inquisition, slavery, even the Holocaust.The issue of atrocities is simply an extension of the question of hypocrites. So-called believers who didn't practice true Christianity have perpetrated evil. In reality, these people were Christian in name only.Focusing on their atrocities is a smoke screen to avoid the real issue. Christianity has far more positive achievements than negative influences. It's been instrumental in the formation of countless hospitals, schools, colleges, orphanages, relief agencies, and charity agencies. No other religion in history can compare.
Christianity is a crutch.Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." Critics such as Marx have charged that religion is an invention designed for people incapable of coping with life's pressures. Some critics respond that they don't need this type of emotional comfort, as though that fact falsifies Christianity. Such individuals often claim to be "stronger" because they're brave enough to face life without a "crutch." To imply non-religious people don't need a crutch is misleading. Dependence on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex, money, power, other people, and material possessions demonstrates some people's need for a crutch. Atheism—the belief that there is no God—can become a crutch for those addicted to a lifestyle contrary to God's standards of morality.Rather than being weak, Christians are strong—not because they depend on themselves, but because they depend on Jesus.Everyone needs assistance. The question is, what will you lean on? Christianity provides what atheism or other religions never can: spiritual fulfillment, peace, and forgiveness.
It's narrow-minded to think Jesus is the only way to God.Jesus claimed he was the only way to God (John 14:6). Such a claim is either totally true or totally false. Some people claim to be Christians, yet ignore Jesus' claim to be the only Savior. Critics argue this view is exclusory.But if Christianity is true, then we must accept Jesus' own teachings. If one believes Jesus' assertions to be true, then the issue is settled.
Being a good person is all that really matters.Some argue that even if a person's religion is false, what really matters is that she's sincere about being a good person. This notion is based on the mistaken belief that God is pleased by "religion."Sincerity doesn't determine truth, however. One can be sincerely convinced of the truth—and be sincerely wrong. For example, many evil men such as Hitler were very sincere in their beliefs. God judges people based on truth, not opinions—and that truth is Jesus Christ.
What about those who've never heard about Jesus?Such a question implies that God lacks compassion because he's imposed his plan of salvation on us. Often such inquirers seem to imply that they're more compassionate than God!An important biblical principle to understand is that no one has ever remained lost who wanted to be found. Just as God sent the apostle Philip to the seeking Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-39), Jesus promises all who seek will find (Matthew 7:7-8).
The Bible is filled with errors.Because the Bible is God's Word and God cannot lie (Isaiah 55:10-11; John 17:17; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 4:12), it's totally trustworthy, free from any error. God's Word is described as "the word of truth" (2 Corinthians 6:7; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). Inerrancy isn't a theory about the Bible; it's the teaching of the Bible itself.What most people claim as errors in the Bible aren't errors but difficulties. People think they've stumbled upon apparent inconsistencies when they haven't taken the time to find out all the facts, or made an in-depth study of the passage. Many Bible questions have been answered as new discoveries have been made in fields such as language, history, archeology, and other sciences.Regardless of the kind of difficulty found, not a single irreconcilable error can be found in the Bible's pages.
If God is so good, why is there evil?The thrust of this charge is that evil's presence disproves God's power. But is the presence of evil consistent with the God of the Bible? Consider:
God didn't create evil. Sin entered the world through Adam's disobedience (Genesis 3).
Evil is necessary for a free world. Freedom, or free will, gives humans the opportunity to make wrong choices.
God hesitates to stop evil for an important reason. Just as parents often allow their children to make mistakes and suffer the consequences, God acts in a parental fashion with his creation.
God has the solution for evil. Jesus accomplished the ultimate defeat of evil on the cross. But just as we don't yet have eternal bodies, evil has yet to be removed from the world.
Why is there suffering?Many hold that pain is evidence against God's concern for humankind. However, pain can be used for good and bad purposes. Not all pain is bad. Pain is an essential mechanism for survival. Without pain, the body is stripped of vital protection. Pain is an important signal to warn of even greater danger.Suffering is a signal. It also can be a spiritual signal that reminds us of the fragile balance of life and our mortality. In The Problem of Pain, Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes, "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."Some suffering actually helps to bring greater good. This is best seen in Jesus' own suffering. Jesus traveled down the road of pain, loneliness, and death—a road that led to the cross. Jesus isn't just a Savior, he's our suffering Savior. The cross is the ultimate example of innocent suffering.At the heart of this issue is the underlying challenge that God isn't fair. The problem is, society holds pleasure as its chief goal in life. This philosophy is known as hedonism, and those who live by this philosophy find any form of suffering offensive. To say God isn't fair is an extremely dangerous charge.If God gave us what we deserve, we'd be in trouble. It would be foolish to ask God for justice; what we need is mercy. God's mercy and grace are so taken for granted that suffering and pain shock us.
If there's a hell, why would a loving God send people there?God hates evil, and one day, evil will cease. While evil and suffering and pain are very real, they are also very temporary.The day God deals with evil, he will deal with all evil. In the meantime, God strives for as many people as possible to accept Jesus' death and resurrection as payment for their sins, so they can live eternally with him. The sad fact is, many will make the decision not to be a part of God's heaven. God won't send them to hell; they'll send themselves.For God to force people to go to heaven against their wishes wouldn't be heaven—it would be hell. Atheist author Jean-Paul Sarte noted that the gates of hell are locked from the inside by the free choice of men and women.
First appeared in On Mission (September/October 1999). Used by permission of the North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, Georgia. Frank Harber, evangelist-in-residence and professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, is author of Reasons for Believing (New Leaf Press).
Taken from http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2000/002/7.62.html on 18/11/2004
Hope everyone finds this interesting!
Blessings
Emma
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10 Objections to Christianity and How to Respondby Frank Harber
Recently someone approached me with the following problem: "Nobody can talk me out of being a Christian, but I can't talk anyone else into it. Can you help me?"
Perhaps she thought she was the only one struggling with this, but I've been asked this question hundreds of times. You see, I was once an atheist who set out to prove Christianity was untrue. But during my investigation, I discovered overwhelming evidence that demonstrates the validity of Christianity. And because of a dedicated Christian who was prepared to answer my questions, my heart was reached.
Are you prepared to answer the spiritual seekers in your world? Are you wondering if Christianity's really true? Here's a look at 10 objections skeptics pose toward Christianity—and how to respond.
Christians are hypocrites.A hypocrite is an actor, a person who pretends to be something she isn't. Jesus' harshest words were reserved for hypocrites.The reality is, there always have been and always will be some hypocrites in the Church. But Jesus doesn't ask us to follow others; he asks us to follow him.Although Christians can represent Jesus either poorly or well, the real question isn't whether there are hypocrites in the Church, but whether Jesus is a hypocrite. If someone can prove that Jesus was a hypocrite, then the whole structure of Christianity falls into ruin. The Bible, God's Word, presents Jesus as nothing less than perfect. Jesus' disciples testified that Jesus was without sin (1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5). Even Jesus himself challenged others to prove that he'd ever sinned (John 8:46).
What about the atrocities Christians have committed?Some blame Christianity for religious wars, the Crusades, burning witches, the Inquisition, slavery, even the Holocaust.The issue of atrocities is simply an extension of the question of hypocrites. So-called believers who didn't practice true Christianity have perpetrated evil. In reality, these people were Christian in name only.Focusing on their atrocities is a smoke screen to avoid the real issue. Christianity has far more positive achievements than negative influences. It's been instrumental in the formation of countless hospitals, schools, colleges, orphanages, relief agencies, and charity agencies. No other religion in history can compare.
Christianity is a crutch.Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto, said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." Critics such as Marx have charged that religion is an invention designed for people incapable of coping with life's pressures. Some critics respond that they don't need this type of emotional comfort, as though that fact falsifies Christianity. Such individuals often claim to be "stronger" because they're brave enough to face life without a "crutch." To imply non-religious people don't need a crutch is misleading. Dependence on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex, money, power, other people, and material possessions demonstrates some people's need for a crutch. Atheism—the belief that there is no God—can become a crutch for those addicted to a lifestyle contrary to God's standards of morality.Rather than being weak, Christians are strong—not because they depend on themselves, but because they depend on Jesus.Everyone needs assistance. The question is, what will you lean on? Christianity provides what atheism or other religions never can: spiritual fulfillment, peace, and forgiveness.
It's narrow-minded to think Jesus is the only way to God.Jesus claimed he was the only way to God (John 14:6). Such a claim is either totally true or totally false. Some people claim to be Christians, yet ignore Jesus' claim to be the only Savior. Critics argue this view is exclusory.But if Christianity is true, then we must accept Jesus' own teachings. If one believes Jesus' assertions to be true, then the issue is settled.
Being a good person is all that really matters.Some argue that even if a person's religion is false, what really matters is that she's sincere about being a good person. This notion is based on the mistaken belief that God is pleased by "religion."Sincerity doesn't determine truth, however. One can be sincerely convinced of the truth—and be sincerely wrong. For example, many evil men such as Hitler were very sincere in their beliefs. God judges people based on truth, not opinions—and that truth is Jesus Christ.
What about those who've never heard about Jesus?Such a question implies that God lacks compassion because he's imposed his plan of salvation on us. Often such inquirers seem to imply that they're more compassionate than God!An important biblical principle to understand is that no one has ever remained lost who wanted to be found. Just as God sent the apostle Philip to the seeking Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-39), Jesus promises all who seek will find (Matthew 7:7-8).
The Bible is filled with errors.Because the Bible is God's Word and God cannot lie (Isaiah 55:10-11; John 17:17; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 4:12), it's totally trustworthy, free from any error. God's Word is described as "the word of truth" (2 Corinthians 6:7; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). Inerrancy isn't a theory about the Bible; it's the teaching of the Bible itself.What most people claim as errors in the Bible aren't errors but difficulties. People think they've stumbled upon apparent inconsistencies when they haven't taken the time to find out all the facts, or made an in-depth study of the passage. Many Bible questions have been answered as new discoveries have been made in fields such as language, history, archeology, and other sciences.Regardless of the kind of difficulty found, not a single irreconcilable error can be found in the Bible's pages.
If God is so good, why is there evil?The thrust of this charge is that evil's presence disproves God's power. But is the presence of evil consistent with the God of the Bible? Consider:
God didn't create evil. Sin entered the world through Adam's disobedience (Genesis 3).
Evil is necessary for a free world. Freedom, or free will, gives humans the opportunity to make wrong choices.
God hesitates to stop evil for an important reason. Just as parents often allow their children to make mistakes and suffer the consequences, God acts in a parental fashion with his creation.
God has the solution for evil. Jesus accomplished the ultimate defeat of evil on the cross. But just as we don't yet have eternal bodies, evil has yet to be removed from the world.
Why is there suffering?Many hold that pain is evidence against God's concern for humankind. However, pain can be used for good and bad purposes. Not all pain is bad. Pain is an essential mechanism for survival. Without pain, the body is stripped of vital protection. Pain is an important signal to warn of even greater danger.Suffering is a signal. It also can be a spiritual signal that reminds us of the fragile balance of life and our mortality. In The Problem of Pain, Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes, "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."Some suffering actually helps to bring greater good. This is best seen in Jesus' own suffering. Jesus traveled down the road of pain, loneliness, and death—a road that led to the cross. Jesus isn't just a Savior, he's our suffering Savior. The cross is the ultimate example of innocent suffering.At the heart of this issue is the underlying challenge that God isn't fair. The problem is, society holds pleasure as its chief goal in life. This philosophy is known as hedonism, and those who live by this philosophy find any form of suffering offensive. To say God isn't fair is an extremely dangerous charge.If God gave us what we deserve, we'd be in trouble. It would be foolish to ask God for justice; what we need is mercy. God's mercy and grace are so taken for granted that suffering and pain shock us.
If there's a hell, why would a loving God send people there?God hates evil, and one day, evil will cease. While evil and suffering and pain are very real, they are also very temporary.The day God deals with evil, he will deal with all evil. In the meantime, God strives for as many people as possible to accept Jesus' death and resurrection as payment for their sins, so they can live eternally with him. The sad fact is, many will make the decision not to be a part of God's heaven. God won't send them to hell; they'll send themselves.For God to force people to go to heaven against their wishes wouldn't be heaven—it would be hell. Atheist author Jean-Paul Sarte noted that the gates of hell are locked from the inside by the free choice of men and women.
First appeared in On Mission (September/October 1999). Used by permission of the North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, Georgia. Frank Harber, evangelist-in-residence and professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, is author of Reasons for Believing (New Leaf Press).
Taken from http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2000/002/7.62.html on 18/11/2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
Weekend
What a mad weekend!
I finished work on Friday at 3:30. Drove through to Holywell via a friends school to drop some things off, to pick Esther up. We left there around 4:30 and eventaully made it to Southport by 7pm for the youthwork conference we were attending, the journey should only have taken 1 and 1/2 hours!
The conference was great but I feel a little bombarded now. I feel as if I need another week away at a place on my own or with the other youth leaders to figure out how what we heard applies to us and our little group. It was great to feel that we weren't alone in our work. There were others who came across the same problems as us, felt the same disheartedness and sadness when it appeared our actions got us nowhere and great to hear that others just felt like they were wading through treacle at times....but also about the great things that are happening right across this country with the youth and how God seems to be rising a group that a raw and passionate about Him!
What was great was at the end, the guy said he was sick to death of hearing about the decline of the youth and the church. It can become disheartening when people are seeing only buildings being shut down, youths hanging around the street and intimidation being the youths main weapon. This is not the whole story and it is sad that at times that is all people especially the media focus on. There are some great kids about. Do we not think that the blame may lay with the generation before these kids, that the barriers have been lifted so much for freedom of speech etc. that they no longer have the boundaries that are needed to grow as adults. What was great to see so many young people there. These ones that society were righting off had a heart for their own generation and those younger than themselves. They'd seen the impact their youthworkers had had on them and wanted to impact the youth below them in the same way.
Another thing that it made me realise was that I had subconciously gone there looking for a man! I honestly hadn't realised this and it was not that I was there on the prowl, just that you do think "I won't date anyone but a Chrisitian, I am going to a Christian youthwork conference where there maybe some nice young, single Chrristian, men.....I wonder!" I came away a little deflated in that sense I suppose because there was of course no one there. The most depressing part was that Esther was still able to tick the 18 -24 age group box, I had to tick the 25-34 one! Many of the organisations that were advertising gap years were with the 18 - 25 age groups! It's a realisation now that I am in that age bracket where it is assumed you are in a stable job, stable relationship and that investigative / spontaneous / travelling stage of your life is over. So if the age is here, where is the man?!?! I know that God's plan does not work like man's plan and we cannot put him into tick boxes. It is only by resting, trusting and strengthening myself in Him by reading his word, praying and trusting that His plan is so much better than the one I could ever come up with by myself that I can know I have not been 'left on the shelf' and that whatever may come, He knows best. Does that make sense?
Anyway it was a great time. One of worship, learning and sharing and sadly far too much money was spent on books!!
I finished work on Friday at 3:30. Drove through to Holywell via a friends school to drop some things off, to pick Esther up. We left there around 4:30 and eventaully made it to Southport by 7pm for the youthwork conference we were attending, the journey should only have taken 1 and 1/2 hours!
The conference was great but I feel a little bombarded now. I feel as if I need another week away at a place on my own or with the other youth leaders to figure out how what we heard applies to us and our little group. It was great to feel that we weren't alone in our work. There were others who came across the same problems as us, felt the same disheartedness and sadness when it appeared our actions got us nowhere and great to hear that others just felt like they were wading through treacle at times....but also about the great things that are happening right across this country with the youth and how God seems to be rising a group that a raw and passionate about Him!
What was great was at the end, the guy said he was sick to death of hearing about the decline of the youth and the church. It can become disheartening when people are seeing only buildings being shut down, youths hanging around the street and intimidation being the youths main weapon. This is not the whole story and it is sad that at times that is all people especially the media focus on. There are some great kids about. Do we not think that the blame may lay with the generation before these kids, that the barriers have been lifted so much for freedom of speech etc. that they no longer have the boundaries that are needed to grow as adults. What was great to see so many young people there. These ones that society were righting off had a heart for their own generation and those younger than themselves. They'd seen the impact their youthworkers had had on them and wanted to impact the youth below them in the same way.
Another thing that it made me realise was that I had subconciously gone there looking for a man! I honestly hadn't realised this and it was not that I was there on the prowl, just that you do think "I won't date anyone but a Chrisitian, I am going to a Christian youthwork conference where there maybe some nice young, single Chrristian, men.....I wonder!" I came away a little deflated in that sense I suppose because there was of course no one there. The most depressing part was that Esther was still able to tick the 18 -24 age group box, I had to tick the 25-34 one! Many of the organisations that were advertising gap years were with the 18 - 25 age groups! It's a realisation now that I am in that age bracket where it is assumed you are in a stable job, stable relationship and that investigative / spontaneous / travelling stage of your life is over. So if the age is here, where is the man?!?! I know that God's plan does not work like man's plan and we cannot put him into tick boxes. It is only by resting, trusting and strengthening myself in Him by reading his word, praying and trusting that His plan is so much better than the one I could ever come up with by myself that I can know I have not been 'left on the shelf' and that whatever may come, He knows best. Does that make sense?
Anyway it was a great time. One of worship, learning and sharing and sadly far too much money was spent on books!!
Test for fun!
Okay, here's what you're supposed to do...and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it onto a new e-mail that you will send. Change all of the answers so that they apply to you. Then, send this to a whole bunch of people you know (including the person who sent it to you). The theory is that you will learn a lot of
little facts about your friends. It is fun and easy. Remember to send it back to the person who sent it to you!
1. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING CURRENTLY?
Adrian Plass, The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, on Tour: Age Far Too Much to Be Put on the Front Cover of a Book. It is wet your pants funny!
2. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?
10:15, Monday morning!
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD
Just a wrist rest in Wimbledon tennis colours!
4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?
Articulate / cranium / trivial pursuit…can’t choose just 1!
5. FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?
Don’t read them that much
6. BABIES?
None, but adore my nephew Osian
7. FAVOURITE SOUND?
Laughter / babies gibbering
8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
That you have hurt someone
9. FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IN THE MORNING?
Is it the weekend?
10. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE?
I just answer it when I hear it.
11. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME:
Noah, James, Joshua, Hannah, Holly, Grace
12. FAVOURITE COLOUR?
At moment, pink
13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE?
God, friends, family
14. FAVOURITE FOOD
Duck pancakes…..mmmm!
15. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Cello
16. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST?
Not bothered really!
17. SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No, sadly they all end up on the floor
18. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY?
Cool as long as I’m inside
19. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Still on it, Ford Fiesta. First one I drove was my Dads Austin Montego
20. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?
My mum
21. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Glenffiddich whiskey
22.WHAT'S IN THE BOOT OF YOUR CAR?
Youthwork stuff, boxes, map
23. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?
Yes
24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A foster mum
25. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL?
All, I’m the bored one in work!
26. EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
Yes, everyday
27. IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL
Half full
28. FAVOURITE MOVIE
At moment Shrek 2
29. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
I try to!
30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Do you really want an answer to that! Shoes, boxes, teddies, photo albums, un-filed mail!
31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE NUMBER?
Hmmm… don’t really have one.
32. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Don’t have one but enjoy the Olympics and a good game of football.
33. SAY AT LEAST ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
She has a radiant smile
34. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Marthas vineyard, Cape Cod
35. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?
Hmmm….way I’m feeling now my PJ’s and Hope college hoodie.
36. BEACH, MOUNTAINS OR CITY?
mountains
37. TECHNOLOGY OR ART?
Art
38. COMEDY OR HORROR?
Comedy
39. FAVOURITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes, Smile
40. FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY?
Home time!
41. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Soul Survivor – Living Loud. Festival we took our youthgroup to over the summer.
43. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED?
Don’t have one.
44. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY?
Strong in mind.
45. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
6:30 week days, weekends, depends if anythings on but normally by 8:30
46. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KITCHEN ITEM?
George Foreman grill!
47. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY?
People treating others like dirt
48. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR 4WD?
4 wheel drive definately
49. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?
I believe in heavenly eternal life available through belief and faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
50. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SEASON?
Hmmm, I like the warmth of Summer, the colours of Autumn, the crispness of Winter and the newness of Spring, so I can’t really pick just one!
51. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Don’t know, never really thought about it!
52. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
Don’t have one
53. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
No
54. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DAY?
Friday, weekend is ahead
55. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Hamburger definitely!
56. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND
None
57. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?
Catherine Williams
58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CARTOON?
Hmmm…..I loved Bugs Bunny but as said I now love Shrek!
59. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MEAL?
Hasn’t this question been?!? I’ll choose another one…..Anne Jones’ roast dinner!
60. IF YOU COULD TAKE A VACATION ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Martha's vineyard, Cape Cod.
61. DO YOU HAVE PETS?
My dad has 2 cats and a dog
62. MOST FREQUENTLY USED SWEAR WORD?
Pants on fire or big knickers!
63. WAS THIS THE SINGLE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME IN YOUR LIFE?
All the times when I have watched random filmsand television programmes, even though from the first 10 minutes I’ve known it’s rubbish but I have continued to watch them all the way through.
little facts about your friends. It is fun and easy. Remember to send it back to the person who sent it to you!
1. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING CURRENTLY?
Adrian Plass, The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, on Tour: Age Far Too Much to Be Put on the Front Cover of a Book. It is wet your pants funny!
2. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?
10:15, Monday morning!
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD
Just a wrist rest in Wimbledon tennis colours!
4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?
Articulate / cranium / trivial pursuit…can’t choose just 1!
5. FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?
Don’t read them that much
6. BABIES?
None, but adore my nephew Osian
7. FAVOURITE SOUND?
Laughter / babies gibbering
8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
That you have hurt someone
9. FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IN THE MORNING?
Is it the weekend?
10. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE?
I just answer it when I hear it.
11. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME:
Noah, James, Joshua, Hannah, Holly, Grace
12. FAVOURITE COLOUR?
At moment, pink
13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE?
God, friends, family
14. FAVOURITE FOOD
Duck pancakes…..mmmm!
15. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Cello
16. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST?
Not bothered really!
17. SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No, sadly they all end up on the floor
18. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY?
Cool as long as I’m inside
19. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Still on it, Ford Fiesta. First one I drove was my Dads Austin Montego
20. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?
My mum
21. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Glenffiddich whiskey
22.WHAT'S IN THE BOOT OF YOUR CAR?
Youthwork stuff, boxes, map
23. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?
Yes
24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE?
A foster mum
25. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL?
All, I’m the bored one in work!
26. EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
Yes, everyday
27. IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL
Half full
28. FAVOURITE MOVIE
At moment Shrek 2
29. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
I try to!
30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
Do you really want an answer to that! Shoes, boxes, teddies, photo albums, un-filed mail!
31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE NUMBER?
Hmmm… don’t really have one.
32. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Don’t have one but enjoy the Olympics and a good game of football.
33. SAY AT LEAST ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
She has a radiant smile
34. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Marthas vineyard, Cape Cod
35. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?
Hmmm….way I’m feeling now my PJ’s and Hope college hoodie.
36. BEACH, MOUNTAINS OR CITY?
mountains
37. TECHNOLOGY OR ART?
Art
38. COMEDY OR HORROR?
Comedy
39. FAVOURITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes, Smile
40. FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY?
Home time!
41. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Soul Survivor – Living Loud. Festival we took our youthgroup to over the summer.
43. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED?
Don’t have one.
44. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY?
Strong in mind.
45. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
6:30 week days, weekends, depends if anythings on but normally by 8:30
46. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KITCHEN ITEM?
George Foreman grill!
47. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY?
People treating others like dirt
48. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR 4WD?
4 wheel drive definately
49. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?
I believe in heavenly eternal life available through belief and faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.
50. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SEASON?
Hmmm, I like the warmth of Summer, the colours of Autumn, the crispness of Winter and the newness of Spring, so I can’t really pick just one!
51. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Don’t know, never really thought about it!
52. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
Don’t have one
53. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
No
54. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DAY?
Friday, weekend is ahead
55. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Hamburger definitely!
56. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND
None
57. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?
Catherine Williams
58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CARTOON?
Hmmm…..I loved Bugs Bunny but as said I now love Shrek!
59. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MEAL?
Hasn’t this question been?!? I’ll choose another one…..Anne Jones’ roast dinner!
60. IF YOU COULD TAKE A VACATION ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Martha's vineyard, Cape Cod.
61. DO YOU HAVE PETS?
My dad has 2 cats and a dog
62. MOST FREQUENTLY USED SWEAR WORD?
Pants on fire or big knickers!
63. WAS THIS THE SINGLE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME IN YOUR LIFE?
All the times when I have watched random filmsand television programmes, even though from the first 10 minutes I’ve known it’s rubbish but I have continued to watch them all the way through.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Faith in a God who can sometimes be silent
“Faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it.” - Max Lucado
Hmmmm. Faith is really carrying me through this morning.
I went for a job interview on Monday to a neighbouring county council. It was much better pay, it was a lot more responsibility and i would have been in a managerial role. The interview didn't go as well as i'd hoped (on reflection do we ever feel as though we have done well in an interview) and I came out with this peaceful knowledge that I hadn't got the job, I was still meant to be in the job I'm in and that God had it all in hand.
I think I would have paniced more had they rung me yesterday and told me I had been successful than the response I expected. So the guy from Human Resources rang back yesterday afternoon and duly told me I had been unsuccessful, another guy had had more experience than me but I had done very well in the interview and presented myself very well. He then proceeded to offer me another job. It is basically the job I am doing at the moment but with less responsibility and the same pay. This threw me into a complete quandrum, a response I had not been expecting.
I asked for the evening to think it over and that I would get back to him this morning. I prayed lots and searched my bible. Sadly to no avail from God.....He was pretty silent on the subject. After hearing many people's opinions I sat quietly and said to God "OK, you called me to this job and place, I will not move until you call me out of this job. I need a sure sign that you want me to move into this job". Isn't amazing that when God is silent satan yells at the top of his voice. I woke this morning with a million and one fears in my head that if i didn't take this job I would always be stuck in this county council, that if I did take this job I may be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. It was such conflicted messages that I knew they weren't from God. Yet He has continued to be silent on the subject. So I have decided to stay where I am and not take the job.
One strength I have found is that although He is silent, that silence speaks volumes compared to the clammerings in my head. That silent tells me that He has it in hand. That He has the full picture and knows where I am going. That although I may never know the reason I was offered this job, He does and I do not need to worry about that.
Amazing that silence can bring peace, strength and hope for a situation unknown.
Hmmmm. Faith is really carrying me through this morning.
I went for a job interview on Monday to a neighbouring county council. It was much better pay, it was a lot more responsibility and i would have been in a managerial role. The interview didn't go as well as i'd hoped (on reflection do we ever feel as though we have done well in an interview) and I came out with this peaceful knowledge that I hadn't got the job, I was still meant to be in the job I'm in and that God had it all in hand.
I think I would have paniced more had they rung me yesterday and told me I had been successful than the response I expected. So the guy from Human Resources rang back yesterday afternoon and duly told me I had been unsuccessful, another guy had had more experience than me but I had done very well in the interview and presented myself very well. He then proceeded to offer me another job. It is basically the job I am doing at the moment but with less responsibility and the same pay. This threw me into a complete quandrum, a response I had not been expecting.
I asked for the evening to think it over and that I would get back to him this morning. I prayed lots and searched my bible. Sadly to no avail from God.....He was pretty silent on the subject. After hearing many people's opinions I sat quietly and said to God "OK, you called me to this job and place, I will not move until you call me out of this job. I need a sure sign that you want me to move into this job". Isn't amazing that when God is silent satan yells at the top of his voice. I woke this morning with a million and one fears in my head that if i didn't take this job I would always be stuck in this county council, that if I did take this job I may be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. It was such conflicted messages that I knew they weren't from God. Yet He has continued to be silent on the subject. So I have decided to stay where I am and not take the job.
One strength I have found is that although He is silent, that silence speaks volumes compared to the clammerings in my head. That silent tells me that He has it in hand. That He has the full picture and knows where I am going. That although I may never know the reason I was offered this job, He does and I do not need to worry about that.
Amazing that silence can bring peace, strength and hope for a situation unknown.
Monday, November 01, 2004
My plan v's His plan
Hmmm.....interesting night last night.
We'd arranged to take some of our youthgroup to an event in a nearby town where there was going to be a live band and a comedian. It was going to be (or so I thought) a mad day for me anyway as I was going to meet one of the youth for lunch, then take Rachael back to Liverpool and then return for a worship meeting in church and go onto the youth event. We went to the youth event and I have to admit that I couldn't be bothered. The music was loud (I'm getting old I know) there were about 70 people there, but in a huge cathedral they were lost so it looked like there was about 20 and the guy who was doing the sound appeared to be determined to trash any music that was being played. So Emma stood there and grumbled for an hour and half, focused more on what I thought were the bored looks on the faces of the 4 kids we had with us rather than thinking and pondering what God was going to do that evening. As my feet began to kill and I spotted one of our kids mums sitting at the back I decided to goa dn join her. We sat there giggling and chatting like naughty school girls while the comedian was doing his stuff. We'd promised to have our kids home by 10:30 and as the clock ticked by I became aware of the slim chance we'd have them home at this time! I was about to give Esther the nod to leave when the guy started his last magic trick. As he was doing this trick he spoke about choices and the proclaimed the gospel saying people had a choice to live seperated from God from eternity or the choice to confess sin, live with God and have eternal life. Me still focused on my watch nearly fell over when at the end 2 of our youth made commitments and went to the front to get some information on God and Jesus! I was bowled over and spent a long period of time apologising to God this morning for focusing on the things of this world and not having an expectant heart as to how he can move.
On the way home one of them that had made the commitment asked to be baptised as soon as possible and said that he fully understood the commitment he had made......he was going to do it in the club that Esther leads every Tuesday in the school but apparently this guy described it better and he understood it more!!!
What a fab evening!.......definately need a more expectant heart!
ELJ
We'd arranged to take some of our youthgroup to an event in a nearby town where there was going to be a live band and a comedian. It was going to be (or so I thought) a mad day for me anyway as I was going to meet one of the youth for lunch, then take Rachael back to Liverpool and then return for a worship meeting in church and go onto the youth event. We went to the youth event and I have to admit that I couldn't be bothered. The music was loud (I'm getting old I know) there were about 70 people there, but in a huge cathedral they were lost so it looked like there was about 20 and the guy who was doing the sound appeared to be determined to trash any music that was being played. So Emma stood there and grumbled for an hour and half, focused more on what I thought were the bored looks on the faces of the 4 kids we had with us rather than thinking and pondering what God was going to do that evening. As my feet began to kill and I spotted one of our kids mums sitting at the back I decided to goa dn join her. We sat there giggling and chatting like naughty school girls while the comedian was doing his stuff. We'd promised to have our kids home by 10:30 and as the clock ticked by I became aware of the slim chance we'd have them home at this time! I was about to give Esther the nod to leave when the guy started his last magic trick. As he was doing this trick he spoke about choices and the proclaimed the gospel saying people had a choice to live seperated from God from eternity or the choice to confess sin, live with God and have eternal life. Me still focused on my watch nearly fell over when at the end 2 of our youth made commitments and went to the front to get some information on God and Jesus! I was bowled over and spent a long period of time apologising to God this morning for focusing on the things of this world and not having an expectant heart as to how he can move.
On the way home one of them that had made the commitment asked to be baptised as soon as possible and said that he fully understood the commitment he had made......he was going to do it in the club that Esther leads every Tuesday in the school but apparently this guy described it better and he understood it more!!!
What a fab evening!.......definately need a more expectant heart!
ELJ
Friday, October 29, 2004
Daughter
"My daughter, I HAVE plans for you,
And in freedom you're sent.
Wait a little while with Me,
Wash your hands within the bowl,
Take My body and My blood,
And you will be made whole.
I'll refine the words you speak,
And I'll help your steps be firm,
For all the promises I've made,
I'll bring words to confirm.
Don't despise these small beginnings,
I have it all in hand,
My wisdom is eternal,
The universe, it spans.
Where you have not been parented,
I'm your Father God,
I also am you Mother,
And when life feels like a 'plod',
Remember I can lift you high,
And we can soar together,
I'll be there your whole life long
And also your forever!"
By Mairi Jane
By Mairi Jane
Monday, October 25, 2004
Holidays
Well,
Am sitting back in the office now, looking out of my round window at a black sky full of clouds and the trees being battered by the rain.....back to the British autumn after a beautiful week on the island on Kos in Greece.
Hmmm.....an interesting and very revealing holiday.
Firstly I went with my Dad. He hasn't been on abroad for about 3 years as he has no one to go with so thought it would be a nice break for him. After this holiday though we both decided that the time has come where we won't go away just the 2 of us again. It would have been fine had my brother and his tribe come but it is the lack of conversation (my dad is a man of few words!) the looks as people try and figure out the relationship between you (are they partners, friends, father and daughter) and the different types of holidays we both enjoy. It just felt like the end of an era and the closing of a chapter as we were there on holiday. It was good that he realised it as well as I myself.
Secondly, I met the man of my dreams.....the sad thing was he met the woman of his dreams 3 months ago....God has a sense of humor! He was a gorgeous guy, with a eyes that concentrated on you as you spoke as if he was really interested in what you were saying. He wanted to settle down, he took his girlfriend horseriding on the beach and to see beautiful sunsets. All of this mixed with him telling me I had beautiful twinkling eyes and a zest for life made me turn to jelly!!! (I know he sounds cheesy but he wasn't!) When I regained my thoughts(!) I really had to think, why I have I met this guy, why has God placed him here for me to meet him. Firstly I wouldn't date him. The God I put my faith in and my life orientates around this guy knows knows nothing about. In effect we both worship 2 different things, how could I spend the rest of my life living intimately with someone who didn't understand a large chunk of my life. On this holiday though I really needed a guy to say something nice about me. I've never been one to be paid compliments and looking back, I went on holiday at such an emothional low point (the dread of Dad's drinking / the issue of singlenees that I think many of us are battered with on a regular basis) that I really needed a guy to make a comment like that about me, that I could be physically attractive. It also got me thinking about the things I would want in a man. Of course he would have to be a Christian, there is no questiona about that. But when he was saying about the horseriding, the sunsets and the compliment he paid me, I realised that I would want to date and marry a guy who would realise that those are the types of things that touch me. To be able to share a beautiful sunset with someone and know to attribute it to our Father in heaven, to pay me compliments when sometimes I'm feeling a little low, or just beacuse he appreciates me and recognises God working in me, to be romantic and for us both to keep that romance alive for years to come.....does that make sense?
Anyway the physical part of the holiday was OK, Dad didn't drink too much.The island was beautiful and a wonderful place to go to chill with friends or as a couple. We toured the island, went over to the island of Nissos to see the volcano and over to Bodrum in Turkey shopping as well as spending 3 days just sitting by the pool and enjoying the sunshine.
So now it is back to the office, back to everyday life? For now sadly yes.
ELJ
Am sitting back in the office now, looking out of my round window at a black sky full of clouds and the trees being battered by the rain.....back to the British autumn after a beautiful week on the island on Kos in Greece.
Hmmm.....an interesting and very revealing holiday.
Firstly I went with my Dad. He hasn't been on abroad for about 3 years as he has no one to go with so thought it would be a nice break for him. After this holiday though we both decided that the time has come where we won't go away just the 2 of us again. It would have been fine had my brother and his tribe come but it is the lack of conversation (my dad is a man of few words!) the looks as people try and figure out the relationship between you (are they partners, friends, father and daughter) and the different types of holidays we both enjoy. It just felt like the end of an era and the closing of a chapter as we were there on holiday. It was good that he realised it as well as I myself.
Secondly, I met the man of my dreams.....the sad thing was he met the woman of his dreams 3 months ago....God has a sense of humor! He was a gorgeous guy, with a eyes that concentrated on you as you spoke as if he was really interested in what you were saying. He wanted to settle down, he took his girlfriend horseriding on the beach and to see beautiful sunsets. All of this mixed with him telling me I had beautiful twinkling eyes and a zest for life made me turn to jelly!!! (I know he sounds cheesy but he wasn't!) When I regained my thoughts(!) I really had to think, why I have I met this guy, why has God placed him here for me to meet him. Firstly I wouldn't date him. The God I put my faith in and my life orientates around this guy knows knows nothing about. In effect we both worship 2 different things, how could I spend the rest of my life living intimately with someone who didn't understand a large chunk of my life. On this holiday though I really needed a guy to say something nice about me. I've never been one to be paid compliments and looking back, I went on holiday at such an emothional low point (the dread of Dad's drinking / the issue of singlenees that I think many of us are battered with on a regular basis) that I really needed a guy to make a comment like that about me, that I could be physically attractive. It also got me thinking about the things I would want in a man. Of course he would have to be a Christian, there is no questiona about that. But when he was saying about the horseriding, the sunsets and the compliment he paid me, I realised that I would want to date and marry a guy who would realise that those are the types of things that touch me. To be able to share a beautiful sunset with someone and know to attribute it to our Father in heaven, to pay me compliments when sometimes I'm feeling a little low, or just beacuse he appreciates me and recognises God working in me, to be romantic and for us both to keep that romance alive for years to come.....does that make sense?
Anyway the physical part of the holiday was OK, Dad didn't drink too much.The island was beautiful and a wonderful place to go to chill with friends or as a couple. We toured the island, went over to the island of Nissos to see the volcano and over to Bodrum in Turkey shopping as well as spending 3 days just sitting by the pool and enjoying the sunshine.
So now it is back to the office, back to everyday life? For now sadly yes.
ELJ
Friday, October 15, 2004
Morning
How is everyone today? Hope that you are all well.
Even now I am not entirely sure how much I am going to write, just feel that I need to put something down!!
I was reading Job this morning. Am trying to read the bible in chronological order. I never knew that Job came after Genesis so this is quite interesting. One thing that really struck me is that in life the only thing that we can be sure of is the goodness of God. If we know that He is good, His plans are perfect and He has control then what ever calamaties we are presented with we can get through them. The other thing that struck me is even when we humanly know everything that is going on, we can never fully know what is going on in the spiritual world. We can never fully discover the reasons for certain events happening and that is why all we can do is trust in Him.
Trust that He is in control and knows what is going to happen around the corner or 30 years down the line; trust that our future is secure in Him; trust that although we may kick and scream His plan is perfect.
Am learning a lot about this at the moment in so many ways!
Hope you all have a fab day
Love and blessings
Emma x x
Even now I am not entirely sure how much I am going to write, just feel that I need to put something down!!
I was reading Job this morning. Am trying to read the bible in chronological order. I never knew that Job came after Genesis so this is quite interesting. One thing that really struck me is that in life the only thing that we can be sure of is the goodness of God. If we know that He is good, His plans are perfect and He has control then what ever calamaties we are presented with we can get through them. The other thing that struck me is even when we humanly know everything that is going on, we can never fully know what is going on in the spiritual world. We can never fully discover the reasons for certain events happening and that is why all we can do is trust in Him.
Trust that He is in control and knows what is going to happen around the corner or 30 years down the line; trust that our future is secure in Him; trust that although we may kick and scream His plan is perfect.
Am learning a lot about this at the moment in so many ways!
Hope you all have a fab day
Love and blessings
Emma x x
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Friday nights
Another friends post really!
I had some friends come over from Liverpool for the weekend and it was great. We went out to an Italian for dinner on Friday evening and laughed our way through 3 courses and coffee afterwards.
It really struck me how blessed I am to be in the position I am in at the moment. I know there are many things in my life I wish were different; I'd hoped I wouldn't still be living at home, I wish I was in a job that challenged me more and was more people orientated and I struggle with my singleness. But then I sat there thinking about the fact that yes I am single, but that means I am not having to consult with someone when is a good time to go out. Yes I am living at home but that means that I do not have the financial burdens that some other people do and that I am able to go out with friends and have a really nice meal (though bless her a friend actually paid for my meal!)
It just struck me that though these have been a tough past few weeks, Gods plan is really much better than my own. The only issue is whether I decide to see those blessingsand be thankful for them or whether I decide to focus on what I don't have and what I want.
I had some friends come over from Liverpool for the weekend and it was great. We went out to an Italian for dinner on Friday evening and laughed our way through 3 courses and coffee afterwards.
It really struck me how blessed I am to be in the position I am in at the moment. I know there are many things in my life I wish were different; I'd hoped I wouldn't still be living at home, I wish I was in a job that challenged me more and was more people orientated and I struggle with my singleness. But then I sat there thinking about the fact that yes I am single, but that means I am not having to consult with someone when is a good time to go out. Yes I am living at home but that means that I do not have the financial burdens that some other people do and that I am able to go out with friends and have a really nice meal (though bless her a friend actually paid for my meal!)
It just struck me that though these have been a tough past few weeks, Gods plan is really much better than my own. The only issue is whether I decide to see those blessingsand be thankful for them or whether I decide to focus on what I don't have and what I want.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Interesting article
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/010/18.152.html
Hi guys,
Just read the above article regarding the West's decline of morality being linked with fuelling muslim extremists in their terrorist expolits.
Very interesting, would be glad to hear your opinions....I'm just finishing work so will post mine later.
Blessings guys
Hi guys,
Just read the above article regarding the West's decline of morality being linked with fuelling muslim extremists in their terrorist expolits.
Very interesting, would be glad to hear your opinions....I'm just finishing work so will post mine later.
Blessings guys
Cuddle parties?
Hmmm.....I was reading in the paper yesterday about a craze that is apparently sweeping the USA....it's called cuddle parties. Basically you go to this place with your PJ's and pay £20 to get changed into them and have a cuddle with people. There are rules that there is to be no sex or anything like that, it's meant to be purely a-sexual and more of a 'pick-u-up' as it is thought that adults don' cuddle enough. I find this quite random and maybe it's because of my Britishness. I personally would rather have a hug from a person who knows me and the situations I am in and can therefore sympathise with me.
What are your thoughts?
What are your thoughts?
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Just as I have spoken about these 3 people a lot to you guys...(especially you overseas who will not be able to put a face to the name) I wanted to post a piccie and to include one of me (hopefully you will see the change in weight!). That is Jon, Esther, myself and Rachael the day after we returned from Soul Survivor. Very tired yet no longer smelling!
Open
Well after one of my friends has set one of these blog things up I thought I may also. Just something to while away those hours.
I will post more a little later. I feel I have so many thoughts going around in my head at the moment that this will be good for me to write them down yet no worry whether they make sense.
I will post more a little later. I feel I have so many thoughts going around in my head at the moment that this will be good for me to write them down yet no worry whether they make sense.
Friends - Hmmmm
Something I've had to rely upon a lot for the last few weeks.
Isn't it weird how when you see the name of a friend in your inbox and there is new mail there your heart leaps. I find that I try and read it slowly so I don't 'use' it all up too quickly but another part of me wants to devour this new piece of information on my friends life. We are strange creatures aren't we.
Anyway here is a huge big thank you to all my friends, forgive me if we haven't spoken in a while I think about all of you lots and so wish that for many of you we lived within driving distance of one another.
PS, Otisto, how do I publish a picture on here, am having great difficulty figuring it all out at the moment!! : )
Isn't it weird how when you see the name of a friend in your inbox and there is new mail there your heart leaps. I find that I try and read it slowly so I don't 'use' it all up too quickly but another part of me wants to devour this new piece of information on my friends life. We are strange creatures aren't we.
Anyway here is a huge big thank you to all my friends, forgive me if we haven't spoken in a while I think about all of you lots and so wish that for many of you we lived within driving distance of one another.
PS, Otisto, how do I publish a picture on here, am having great difficulty figuring it all out at the moment!! : )
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