Eternity - May 2014 - Issue 47

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NUMBER 47, MAY 2014 CIRCULATION 100,000 ISSN 1837-8447

Evangelism needs

Free speech

The Australian towns that read the Bible most Changing lives: the joy of being a missionary

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MAY 2014

NEWS

Obadiah Slope We don’t live in the USA Take these tests: can you think quickly of any Asian Christian leaders or writers? Last time you read up on a question of doctrine, were there only ‘Euro’ authors? Think of all the Christian conferences this year with a US or UK keynote speaker. Don Carson, John Lennox, Bob Kauflin, Bill Hybels, Louie Giglio, Matt Redman are the big names to feature in the next few months. Is Obadiah the only one who goes along and finds the local speakers the most interesting? Surely not.

One guy with an Asian name is Francis Chan at the “Oxygen” conference in Sydney, but he comes from the US and founded something called the Eternity Bible College. Obadiah probably should check that one out. But Obadiah’s challenge is for a conference to headline with an Asian speaker. (Kudos to Family Voice Australia who toured India’s Vishal Mangalwadi in 2013, Hillsong who featured Singapore’s Joseph Prince in 2012 and Bible Society who are touring Anthony Lamuel from Pakistan this month.)

Time to slow down Slow Church is the title of a new Christian book (also from the US—sigh). It has been doing very well. It is also the final chapter title of local writer Bishop Stephen Pickard’s new book, Seeking the Church. Pickard’s book has been around long enough for Obadiah to have got it as a Christmas present.

It’s a fair bet to suggest Pickard had the idea first. But there is an irony in being concerned about who thought up “slow church” first.

Two lots of musical creeds Last month Eternity reported that Hillsong put The Apostles’ Creed to words (at the request of our sister organisation Centre for Public Christianity’s John Dickson). It had a big performance in front of 17,000 women at the Hillsong Colour conference. In the same week the Parsons Affayre renaissance music group put on the Australian premiere of the complete Credo in G minor by Venetian Baroque composer Antonio Lotti (1667-1740). So two musical creed premieres within days of each other.

The Lotti premiere (which took 274 years at least to come to Australia) probably qualifies as slow church.

Jesus’ wife the sequel The Jesus’ wife papyrus fragment controversy resurfaced last month. As John Dickson points out on biblesociety.org. au, this document is dated too late to be theologically significant. But it’s the headline at Christianity Today that caught Obadiah’s shallow brain. “How to Date Jesus’ Wife”. Am I the only one who read that the wrong way? It sounds like a weird online romance site to me.

Stories are a good way Like Jesus, we to get the message out love mothers Tim Costello

A new conference will look at different ways to tell Bible stories.

Kaley Payne Khanh Le likes to tell stories. She tells them to her taxi drivers when she travels from her home into the city, which takes about two hours. That’s plenty of time in which to weave a tale.

And Khanh’s got heaps of those. She gets them from the Bible.

“I sometimes tell stories to the drivers to share Christ,” says Khanh. “It engages them and I can share about Christ without being preachy, when I’m not supposed to.”

Khanh is working in South East Asia, in a country where evangelism and talking about your faith is restricted.

She’s been there for 12 years, using Bible stories to reach out to the community with the gospel, and training others to do the same as part of Simply The Story.

“Bible storytelling makes the story come alive; the people become real and the time factor kicks in. Just reading allows a person to quickly glide through the story without consideration of the real emotional and spiritual impact of the character’s actions and choices.

Storytelling helps people slow down and go deep into each story.”

Khanh has committed to memory many stories from the Bible, filing them away to pull out in the taxi or at a moment’s notice, when the opportunity arises. She likes to tell the stories in Jonah 1, Daniel 6 and Joshua 5-6.

She teaches her students of oral storytelling to continuously go back to their source (the written Bible or the audio Bible, for those who can’t read), as they’re working on their facial expressions, tone of voice and the physical actions that accompany the story.

“I always skim over the Bible story before I retell, to double check my memory for accuracy,” says Khanh.

Biblical storytelling will be the focus of a new conference, Bookends, looking at oral communication techniques that can be used to communicate the gospel.

Hosted by a group of Australian Bible agencies including Bible Society Australia, Wycliffe, Scripture Union, Bible League, CWCI and the Pocket Testament League, Bookends Conference is on May 31, presenting the opportunities, successes and challenges of biblical storytelling. biblesociety.org.au/bookends

Jesus, as God in the flesh, reflected God’s love for mothers.

More light dawns in the Torres Strait Suzanne Schokman

On July 1, Torres Strait Islanders will hold their “Coming of the Light” celebrations for two reasons this year.

Firstly, it’s 150 years since the London Missionary Society first landed at Erub (Darnley Island), bringing Christianity to the region. Secondly, they’re waiting eagerly for the arrival of the newly-completed Yumplatok New Testament (with selections from the Old Testament). While there have been Scripture portions in the language

G N I H C T A M E N U J E: G N E L L CHA p to

ar u l l o d y r tched Eve a m e b ill AUD w 0 0 of 0 , h t n o $85 m the during 14 June 20

For many, Mother’s Day is a celebration of the extraordinary commitment that mothers make towards their children and families. For millions of others it is a reminder of the unbearable pain that losing a child brings.

Women who have either lost children or been unable to have them can feel ostracised on Mother’s Day, whether they’re in Australia or elsewhere.

There is something unique about a mother’s love that reveals the character of God. The bond a mother has with her child, the sacrifices she will make to protect that child, and the nurture she provides, all show a glimpse of the love God has for each of us.

It is so tragic then that millions of mothers still suffer. It upsets me that mothers in Australia’s neighbourhood continue to die during pregnancy and childbirth, mostly from preventable causes.

The fact is that having access to maternity and basic health services could reduce maternal deaths by 80 per cent. Yet the poorest mothers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vietnam still lack access to basic healthcare.

Jesus, as God in the flesh, reflected God’s love for mothers. He was adored by the common people, among whom were women, generally considered inferior to the so-called important people in society.

An example of this is in Luke 11 when, as Jesus was teaching the crowds, a woman yelled out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” This woman’s response to Jesus was typical, as his dignifying attitude towards them was new in that culture.

This Mother’s Day World Vision is running its Child Health Now campaign, calling on the Australian Government to: 1. Spend 20% of our country’s overseas aid budget on health services, with a focus on reaching the most vulnerable women and children in our region.

2. Fund proven, cost-effective strategies that achieve healthy births and prevent deaths from pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and malnutrition.

On May 11, let’s call on our government to do all it can to show mothers around the world the love that Jesus shows. worldvision.com.au/mothersday

before, this is the first time people will be able to hold the entire New Testament in their hands.

Yumplatok is a creole spoken by over 30,000 people in the Torres Strait Islands, in southwestern coastal Papua, parts of Cape York, and in Islander communities in North Queensland.

It’s one of the largest Indigenous language groups in Australia, and Bible Society hopes to publish 3,000 copies of the AuSil translated work. The June Eternity will have more on the Yumplatok New Testament.

It’s Time.

Partner with Leading The Way today and help take the gospel to your neighbour and the world.

All donations to the Australian ministry over $2.00 are tax deductible.

To find out more visit us online at www.leadingtheway.com.au or call 1300 133 589

MAY 2014

NEWS

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BRIEFS

Bible reading in Australian cities RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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CITY Sydney Brisbane Adelaide Canberra Perth Melbourne Hobart Newcastle Gold Coast Wollongong

Page views per resident 2.67 2.54 1.62 1.55 1.55 1.52 1.45 0.53 0.47 0.32

2 Soure BibleGateway.com, McCrindle Research, Picture: Charater design/istock

The Aussies who read the Bible McCrindle Research Sydney and Brisbane top the list for Bible engagement across Australia’s largest cities, with BibleGateway.com, a Bible reading site recording 2.67 page views per Sydney resident and 2.54 page views per Brisbane resident in 2013.

McCrindle Research combined BibleGateway.com data with Bureau of Statistics and National Christian Life Survey material to compare the Bible reading habits of Australian cities, based on the number of online Bible page views for each location divided by the city’s number of residents.

Sydney’s Bible readers accessed the online Bible tool almost seven times

more than those in Darwin (where page views per resident were only 0.39).

Other locations outside of Australia’s largest cities that make it into the Top 15 Bible-engaged locations in Australia include Victoria Point in QLD, Armidale NSW, Launceston TAS, Moe VIC, Murray Bridge and Gawler in SA. But it’s Richmond and Cranbourne, both suburbs of Melbourne, that bear the Australian record for Bible engagement (with 3.86 and 3.15 page views per resident).

Australians are less engaged with the Bible than residents of the US and the UK. The Top 10 online Bible-reading cities in the US have an average of 14.2 page views per resident and the Top 10

Legal aid goes global Three intrepid Australian law students will embark on a CLEAR (a charity supported by Christian lawyers) legal mission trip to Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya in June and July 2014. They will be seeking greater understanding of how justice and human rights operate in the developing world and will assist with legal aid clinics, conducting prison visits to interview clients and teaching human rights.

Shooting another arrow Emerging business leaders are the targets of a new program by Arrow Leadership which has mentored 300 pastors around Australia. Peter Stone, who has worked in the Australian Tax Office, AMP and Scripture Union will steer Arrow’s new Executive Leaders Program.

In God They Trust? ABC TV’s Compass has picked up In God They Trust? a book about the religious life of Australia’s PMs

by Roy Williams and published by Bible Society Australia. Two episodes called God in the Lodge will air May 4 and 11.

Hymnbooks wanted A Brisbane northside group is seeking copies of the Alexander and Sankey’s Hymnbooks. Please contact Eddie Free on ejfree@tadaust.org.au or (07) 3204 8582, and he’ll arrange transport. They are especially looking for the large print Alexander’s. (Keen groups that still sing the songs of the 19th century revivals are found around the world.)

Mr Eternity Elizabeth Meyers is seeking stories of Arthur Stace who wrote “Eternity” on the footpaths of Sydney for decades.

She is the daughter of the late Rev L.M. Thompson, Baptist Minister of the then Burton St Baptist Tabernacle, where Stace heard the sermon that sent him on his quest. Meyers has been writing a biography since 2008 and seeks to fill some gaps. eternity@biblesociety.org.au

in the UK an average of 11.5 page views per resident, compared to Australia’s Top 10 cities that average just 2.1 page views per resident.

Australians who access BibleGateway spend an average of 6 minutes and 57 seconds on the site per visit.

The location in which Australians spend the most time on the BibleGateway.com per visit are Warrnambool, VIC (13 minutes 40 seconds) and Albany, WA (11 minutes, 13 seconds). The shortest visits were recorded in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Gladstone, QLD. The most-searched Bible verse in Australia in 2013 was John 3:16, followed by Jeremiah 29:11.

Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, has the record for Bible reading.

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MAY 2014

Offended?

As Australia debates whether causing “offense” should be illegal under the Racial Discrimination Act, free speech is a key issue for Christians.

In this Eternity we look at Christians who do walk up evangelism, taking full advantage of the right to free speech. It’s a high risk activity with the risk of offense always present.

“The offense of the Cross” is something that should not be removed, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:11. Simply by being Christians who bear witness to our Saviour we will offend some.

“The Cross offends men ... because it goes clean contrary to their ideas of human merit,” is how the Baptist Charles Spurgeon put it.

We feature Bill Muehlenberg and Jarrod McKenna, Christians putting their viewpoint to our wider society from very different perspectives. And journalist Scott Monk tells us about why the media finds it hard to hear us.

John Sandeman

The offense of the Cross can never be removed

Walk-up evangelism 1

The ‘Jesus Loves Muslims’ stand

Sophie Timothy It’s a warm Saturday afternoon in Melbourne as trams and people crisscross the city. At one of the busiest junctions, people swarm around shops and buskers. But amidst the continuous foot traffic stand two street stalls.

The first is run by Muslims from the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia (IISNA).

Handing out pamphlets and having conversations, they are doing what they call “street da’wah”—calling people to the way of Islam. The most prominent of their signs reads: “Jesus: A beloved prophet of Islam”.

On the other side of the street, a stall is run by a group of Christians led by Dr Bernie Power, a lecturer at the Melbourne School of Theology.

They too are doing street evangelism— handing out tracts and speaking to people about Christianity. Their sign says “Jesus loves Muslims. So do we”.

The story of the two stalls goes back to some Christian street preachers who set up on the same corner of the city in 2012. Their preaching attracted opposition from some Muslims and the conflict escalated to the point where the

police were called, and the Christians were asked to stop preaching.

According to Bernie, a few weeks later, the Muslims set up a stall on the same corner of the city, handing out pamphlets. Frustrated with their lack of voice, the next year, some Christians sought to have their own stall.

“After some prayer and consultation, we contacted the Melbourne City Council to ask permission to set up our table,” says Bernie. “They told us that no permission was required if we were giving away religious or political materials, due to freedom of speech requirements. However we should not block the traffic or cause trouble.”

The Jesus loves Muslims stand has been there since August last year.

The day I visit, I meet Nadia, a recent convert to Christianity—she’s handing out tracts and speaking to people passing by. Originally from Iran, Nadia knows her decision to convert from Islam puts her in great danger if she ever returned to Iran, where apostasy can see you executed. And yet she says she is not afraid, because of the certainty of her hope in Jesus.

“It is really dangerous, but I will never go back to Islam, because I grew up

with Islamic teaching, so I know what it is like. Even, I would die because of my new faith. Because Jesus is the only one who says he will forgive my sins. I know that after death, I will have peace,” Nadia tells me. She says few Muslims are brave enough to speak to her, but for those who stop to chat, she tells them her story.

“Many Muslims, visiting or studying in Australia, have requested and taken Christian literature because it is not available in their own countries,” says Bernie.

“Street outreach can be hard work— most of the passers-by, intent on shopping or sight-seeing, are totally uninterested and they ignore us. But every Saturday, we have dozens of spiritual conversations with those who stop and talk.”

“Amazingly people will open up about their deepest questions and needs, and we often pray for and with them. Since August last year, three people have committed their lives to Christ at our table.”

You can find Bernie, Nadia and their friends on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets in Melbourne CBD every Saturday from 10am.

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The ‘Jesus Loves Muslims’ stand could not be in a more public place than Swanston Street in Melbourne.

Faith, friends and football

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Kaley Payne

Playing football in the park is a universal language in your typical Australian suburb. Kick a ball and they will come. Nowhere is that more evident than in Willmot, a rough and tumble suburb in Sydney’s greater west.

Willmot, and its equally tiny neighbouring suburb of Shalvey, are two places you’ve probably never visited. In fact, there’s a saying of the greater Mount Druitt area to which they belong: “Mount Druitt; drive straight through it.”

But for Jordan Chan who’s planning to start a church in the area, there’s a lot to see. In his eyes, there are a lot of people who need to hear about Jesus, and a lot of kids who like to play sport.

Willmot and Shalvey are two of Sydney’s most disadvantaged suburbs.

Made up predominantly of public housing, the population of around 6,000 has a high percentage of Pacific Islander and Indigenous people and is plagued by generational welfare troubles.

“It’s a pretty rough area,” says Jordan.

“There’s a massive amount of alcohol consumption—at all hours of the day.

There’re always burnt out houses as you drive past.” It’s the type of suburb that bus drivers don’t like driving through.

In 2008, local bus drivers boycotted the area after a string of rock and bottle attacks from reportedly “drunk and disorderly youths”.

“But when you chat with people about how they got into the situation they’re in, it’s not like they’ve made a few mistakes and ended up here,” says Jordan. “For most, it’s all they’ve ever known. Their parents were here; their grandparents.”

Jordan and a group of people from his current church, Hawkesbury Valley Baptist, did a three day mission trip in Willmot three years ago. They supplied

Sophie Timothy

gospel on your mobile Tony McLellan of Business Life, a group that uses Alpha and other evangelistic tools to reach business leaders, talks to John Sandeman

three meals a day on big barbecues, mowed people’s lawns, and staged a massive clean-up.

The next week, Jordan found himself back in the area with a smaller group, catching up with some of the people he’d met. They started playing football.

“We just kept going back every week.

And it ended up that people expected us to be on the field on a Wednesday afternoon.”

They don’t just play football; some days it’s soccer, another, ultimate frisbee. When it rains, it’s handball.

“We just hang out, play sport … the kids in the area just wander around; they do what they want most of the time. So if they’re coming down to play a game with us, at least it’s a fairly safe place for them to be.”

But it’s not just about sport. Jordan says he and his small team have always been upfront about why they’re there: to introduce people to Jesus.

“We usually have a barbecue after the game, and people stand around and have a chat. We get to know people better—the boys are always bringing new people along—and we say grace and usually someone shares something about what God’s been teaching them.

But the most effective is one-on-one conversations, and we’ve had no trepidation trying to love and care for people and tell them about Jesus.”

Jordan works at the high school in Shalvey as a teacher’s aide. He’s been turning up on the football field every Wednesday for three years now, and kids at his school recognise him. He also likes to walk around Willmot and Shalvey to see who he’ll meet, and catches up with them on the street.

“The community knows us and trusts us ... Kids who I’ve never met at school run up to me and say, hey, you’re down at the fields every Wednesday. And I say, ‘Yeah, that’s me. Come along, and bring a friend.’”

So they tell us what is on their mind and that gives us ... the opportunity to reveal what is on our minds.

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JS: Tell me a story.

TM: Recently I was on a plane going to Melbourne and I had an unexpected change of seat and ended up in the exit row. I am sure God was in it.

I found myself sitting next to this lovely young lady and she turned out to be a Muslim lady—she was not wearing a hijab. We got talking and I soon discovered she was the cousin of the same fellow who had been in my office.

That opened a whole door and I was able to read to her extensively from Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 which she thought was absolutely beautiful.

Then we went over to Isaiah 53 and I helped her to discover how the prophet had announced this lamb who was slain to redeem all men by his blood.

She just thought it was entirely beautiful and as a result she wanted a copy of The Way of Life (a gospel presentation) which I showed her on my mobile phone. She wanted a copy of the book The Touch of His Hand.

She was drawn to the truth. What work God will continue to do in her life, I will hear about it down the track.

My colleague who led all these CEOs to the Lord (at a Business Life course in Melbourne), helped me develop a presentation called The Way of Life. It’s a combination of the good thinking that has gone into things like Evangelism Explosion, Alpha, Introducing God—in a format where you are interviewing a person in a non-manipulative way, because you are genuinely interested in what they believe.

(Tony shows a series of pictures on his phone as he talks.) So you might ask the question, “So what’s the point of life?” and these little mnemonics that appear prompt you to ask the question.

One person said, “Happiness, that is the point of life.”

I said, “What happens to happiness when someone dies?”

They said, “They go to a happy place.”

I said, “How do you know that is the truth?” She said, “Well, I don’t know really because that is what we have to believe”.

So we start to question the person; they tell us what is on their mind and that gives us—after a little while—the opportunity to reveal what is on our minds.

For example, if you are talking about whether it is possible for a person to know whether they are going to heaven when they die. Some people say “How could you ever know that?”

Or, you ask “If you would stand before God and he says, ‘Why would I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?”

Most people will say “Well, I try to do my best?” Then we make the point that we can’t make ourselves good enough for God, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We show this picture of a cake—I’m told it is a black forest cake. The only problem is that someone has stirred a teaspoon of kerosene into the mixture before putting it in the oven. So you ask the person, ‘Can you eat that cake?’

And what about this omelette? (Tony shows another picture) There are nine good eggs and one rotten egg. Can they serve it up to their friends? This illustrates the big gap between people and God—they don’t know him, they don’t feel his presence. They imagine he’s out there somewhere. There’s something stopping them.

You’ve obviously tested this product?

Hundreds and hundreds of times.

And people become Christians?

People come to Christ. They open their hearts to Jesus, they pray the sinner’s prayer.

I sat around with three relatives and they all prayed the sinner’s prayer. It started off with a big argument, and I took this out and used it to engage them.

And because it is there on the phone, they could see it and suddenly it was not me talking against them. It was not just words in a book—certainly the word of God is built into it—but it was communicating with them in a way they could relate to.

So in quite a number of instances I have seen people come to Christ.

Can people get the Gospel outline you were using?

The easiest link is if people contact me on tmclellan@bl.org.au and I will send it to them.

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MAY 2014

FREE SPEECH

Christian voices of dissent Bill Muehlenberg: Conservative critic of cultural decline

Kate Ausburn

Bill Muehlenberg’s Culturewatch blog is read around the world. It’s a conservative blog that discusses “critically and soberly where our culture is heading”.

Consider a remark I received from a friendly, believing, critic. He said that the activities I am involved in were not what believers are supposed to be involved in. He said, “I am concerned that Christians are distracted in their allegiance to Jesus when they believe they must ‘stand up against’ the sin of not-yet Christians while the church still reeks of the stench of its own sinfulness.

Our only mandate is to love as Jesus loves. He never stood against the prostitutes or tax collectors etc., publicly or privately, only the self-righteous Jewish leaders (and there he had the right as he was also a rabbi).”

Now let me say that there are at least one and a half things said here that I agree with. The first concerns the church: it certainly is in a mess. No quarrels there. It does reek at times, and there are major problems in the church.

We have much to be ashamed of.

But what is this critic suggesting?

That it’s only when the church gets its act together that it might be allowed to speak to the rest of the world? If so, I humbly argue that it never will.

The second idea is that we are only called to love as Jesus loves. What exactly does this critic mean by loving as Jesus loved? I am not sure. From the rest of this critic’s email, it means something about being compassionate and non-judgmental.

Was Jesus non-judgmental when he cast out the money-changers? Was he being non-judgmental when he challenged the leaders of the day—both religious and non-religious?

And is it true that Jesus never challenged any lifestyle or behaviour of non-believers? It seems he did on many occasions. He could say to the woman caught in adultery, “go and sin no more”.

He made it clear that the condition for forgiveness was repentance.

My critic thinks that when believers stand against the immorality of the day they are being judgmental and unChristlike. We must not do this, or we will be out of the will of God, my critic in fact implies.

Is a believer out of the will of God and un-Christlike when he seeks to oppose the slave trade as Wilberforce did?

Is a believer out of the will of God and un-Christlike when he seeks to oppose

a brothel being opened next to the local kindergarten?

Is a believer out of the will of God and un-Christlike when he seeks to oppose drug dealers peddling their wares in the local schoolyard?

Is a believer out of the will of God and un-Christlike when he seeks to oppose laws which would mandate that unbelievers teach in the Sunday school?

Now is this all the Christian is called to do? Of course not. But it is a part of it. It is part of obeying Jesus when he said we should be salt and light.

But some believers just do not approve of such involvement. Indeed, Wilberforce was criticised almost as strongly by fellow believers as unbelievers. They felt that what he was doing had nothing to do with the gospel. Lord Melbourne for example told Wilberforce, “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life”.

Having said all that, has the church at times come across as too harsh and too unloving and too judgmental?

Yes, at times it has. But some of these complaints are justified, some are not.

If a believer pleads for the life of the innocent, whether the slave, or the unborn, some will always find that judgmental. That is the nature of the case. Indeed, if a believer proclaims the unique salvation that comes only in Christ, the non-believer will find that to be intolerant and judgmental.

In one sense, the Christian will never be free of charges of being judgmental or divisive. Jesus was accused of being divisive and narrow. His whole ministry was one of division and separation, wherein people either were attracted to him or repulsed by him. That must be the case with believers as well, as we seek to proclaim truth, live lives of integrity, and act as salt and light in a corrupt and broken world.

A protester is arrested and taken away after staging a prayer vigil with nine others in Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office in March.

Jarrod McKenna: Pastor and refugees activist and advocate Jarrod McKenna recently attracted media attention taking part in a pray-in at Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office. McKenna founded the First Home Project, a community of welcome.

Recently an innocent young man, Reza Barati, was murdered and 77 others injured in one of the indefinite concentration camps that have been condemned by Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, Amnesty International, Australian Medical Association, Australian Psychological Society and other expert groups.

It’s a political issue, yes. And that’s

Miroslav Volf: Theologian While lecturing in Australia recently, Yale University Theologian Miroslav Volf argued passionately for democratic pluralism and free speech.

Both religion and secular humanism can try to be exclusive, Volf pointed out. Religion, he said, has a long history of trying to exclude other voices. But so too has secular humanism in its attempts to exclude religion from the public square throughout the 20th century.

However, Volf made the case that whereas secular humanism in the form of Marxism and other regimes of the 20th century clamped down on democratic freedoms, religious people during the same period were profound supporters of human rights, including free speech.

“The world religions carry the kernel of human rights ...

The idea that God respects each person is the beginning of human rights.”

On the question of separation of religion from power, Volf said there should be a distance between the two. Christian politicians have a hard job, and Volf used the analogy of a judge who has to discard their personal beliefs and apply the law. In the same way a politician should govern for all.

why we need to talk about the church as ground zero for the practice of the politics of Jesus.

Church in the New Testament is unquestionably political. “Messiah”, “Lord”, “King”, “kingdom”, “church” are all political terms. What do they mean?

Here’s the cheat sheet for Christian theology: they all find their definition in Jesus. Look at his nonviolent-Calvaryshaped-life-of-love and you’ll find what these terms mean and how Jesus’ politics of love are different from the politics of all sides.

Messiah: A greater miracle than Jesus changing water into wine was how Jesus changed the meaning of Messiah. Jesus changed the meaning of ‘Messiah’ from violent conqueror of his enemies into suffering servant, who loves, dies and raises from the dead for his enemies.

Lord: Maybe as miraculous as the raising of Lazarus is the early church’s use of the word ‘Lord’. The New Testament writers radically break with their cultural context, taking the term ‘Lord’—used for Rome’s Caesar— and using it for their risen, nonviolent Messiah who was crucified on a Roman cross.

King: The violence of kings is rejected by the King of Kings. We worship a God who is coronated as the world’s true King with a crown of thorns on a cross.

This side of the resurrection we now see clearly that God reigns with Christ-like, Calvary-shaped power and love.

Kingdom: As Bonhoeffer put it, “a king who dies on the Cross must be the king of a rather strange kingdom.” A kingdom whose land is anywhere his love reigns, whose people are anyone who lives that love, whose policies are the empowering love of the Holy Spirit.

Church: The Hebrew term for church is ‘qahal’, meaning a public meeting of God’s people. But the Apostle Paul of course writes his letters in Greek and chooses a loaded term, ekklesia.

Ekklesia was the term used of political gatherings where male citizens of the ruling class would gather to take part in these early experiments in democracy and decide political matters.

This is the term Paul chooses to use of the church. But even more radical, this term in the New Testament refers not to a gathering of just elite male citizens of Rome, but women, the poor, former prostitutes, outsiders, slaves and free people who are all bestowed with the same dignity and privilege of being the politics of Jesus together. Filled with the Spirit, the early ekklesia lived Christ’s Calvary-shaped love as a real political alternative.

You can’t follow Jesus without giving a damn about injustice.

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$272 can teach eight Pakistani women to read

the Bible and give them an Urdu New Testament Samira* grew up in rural Pakistan and never had the opportunity to go to school. She never learned to read – and said it was like “being blind”. But, since starting a Bible Society literacy class, Samira has been learning to read Scripture for herself. She said, “I feel I came into light from darkness. By the grace of God, I myself will be able to read the Bible.” *name changed to protect those involved

Your tax deductible gift today can teach Pakistani women to read and bring the light of God’s Word to their families.

Tel: 1300 BIBLES – 1300 242 537 or visit: biblesociety.org.au/beacon

8

MAY 2014

FREE SPEECH Scott Monk reports from inside the newsroom on why the Ruler of the Universe can't get a run.

T

hose quick meet-and-greet breaks during church services can be daunting at the best of times, but what happens if the person you shake hands with suddenly looks like they want to perform an exorcism on you?

A decade ago, at a North Sydney church that I’d started attending, a married Christian couple sitting beside me introduced themselves, shared their occupations and then asked the same in kind.

“I’m a newspaper journalist.”

“For which company?” they replied.

“News Limited.”

Their eyebrows raised in unison.

“That’s owned by Fairfax, isn’t it?”

“No, Rupert Murdoch.”

Immediately their backs arched and their eyes blazed with terror. “How could any Christian work for the antiChrist?” they breathed, eyes flitting for the nearest basin of holy water.

Normally reporters laugh off such exchanges, except that the week before, in almost the same pew, another offended couple sniffed, “How could a Christian ever be a journalist?”

Indeed, how could a murderer lead God’s people to the promised land? Or write the most beautiful of psalms? Or be steered off the road to Damascus and become one of the greatest intellectual minds of the faith?

Like those aforementioned couples, most Christians’ aversion to the media is understandable—and in a lot of cases justified. The enemies of the faith are many and their voices seem to blare

from print, radio, television and social media ad nauseam, while Christianity is presented as anti-intellectual at best, and homophobic, misogynistic and a haven of paedophiles at worst.

This leads to perceptions that newsrooms are directed to hold bias against or censor Christians. As a journalist with 18 years experience and an evangelical Christian with 24 years experience, the truth is far more refined than that.

First, the media are secular. Sounds obvious, right? But this is always overlooked in the debate. They have no allegiance to the Church or to be its mouthpiece. Their goal is to make money for their shareholders, or in the ABC’s case, present a diversity of Australian voices. (For the latter, this is where a journalist would insert that wonderful word “allegedly”.)

The secular will always rub against the religious, and hence the friction.

Second, the overwhelming majority of media staff isn’t Christian. In my workplace, there are six out of about 300 employees (including photographers, artists and editors) who are known Christians. No way does that reflect society.

Importantly, most journalists are in their 20s and 30s—the height of disbelief, according to statistics—and have next to no contact with Christians in their social circles. What they see or hear about the faithful is shaped by the caricatures formed by other media.

However, a sizeable number have gone through schools with religious ties that

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Does the media gag God? have left them with resentment towards Christianity. One journalist told me that she’d been turned off Christianity because the nuns who preached love had also used the cane on her.

Subsequently, any knowledge they have of Christianity—let alone Jesus or the Bible—is one of antagonism or

limited to a junior high school level.

This leads to the third point: there may not be official agendas specifically against religion in newsrooms, but there is personal bias. Eventually, this moves upwards into leadership and then trickles down to become acceptable practice. Journalists are committed to

MAY 2014

9

Photo: Drestwn/iStock

A few years ago, when Melbourne hosted the first Atheists’ Convention, Channel 10’s The Project presented a story favouring the irreligionists but still put forward a so-called Christian to at least look even-handed. However, the minister they selected didn’t even believe Jesus is God. A network insider later told me that one of the decision-makers then involved on the show hated religious people because of their own personal sexual preferences.

There’s a danger of expecting God—and let’s be honest, even ourselves as Christians— to be glorified through the media when that’s not the biblical pattern

reporting the truth, even if they don’t agree with what is being said. In theory, they are required to interview all sides of an argument and give equal time or newspaper inches.

In recent years, with the blurring of the lines of news and entertainment, especially in TV, this has been eroded.

Selecting poor opponents to ridicule and favour the other side is an old trick and one played regularly by the ABC’s flagship Q&A program. When New Atheist Richard Dawkins made his maiden appearance, who was presented as the face of Australian Christianity? Senator Stephen Fielding, whose background before politics was in electronic engineering and superannuation.

The first question was—wait for it —about science, specifically about the age of the planet. Predictably, Fielding melted from the get-go and never

recovered any respect. The vuvuzelas of social media—tweets—trumpeted across the bottom of TV screens, lampooning him and all Christianity.

The danger here is to think all journalists are biased. They’re not.

There are more even-handed reporters in the industry than those with their own agendas.

The problem is the biased ones normally end up running programs or are given megaphones because they stir up controversy and conflict—the bread and butter of the media. That’s why so many Christians have problems with Peter FitzSimons and his ilk.

Fourth, developing from these is the core issue of fairness. Why aren’t Christians represented fairly in the media?

For centuries, newspapers covered the day-to-day events of a city, including Bible Society meetings, the appointment of new ministers and the opening of churches.

However, too much modern day reportage has drifted into the realm of the abnormal and grotesque rather than the good. It’s why Justin Bieber and Lindsay Lohan get so much airspace as opposed to a youth group rebuilding a flooded church in Thailand.

It’s why Westboro Baptist Church and their horrific “Thank God for dead soldiers” placards receive worldwide coverage. And why the bling-heavy Preachers of L.A. is a TV show.

Normal Christianity won’t get fair coverage because both the old and new media rarely reflect normal society.

Rather than despair at this, there’s a

chance for Christianity to cut through the falsity of the world and shine.

However, there needs to be culture change within our own ranks.

A

ustralian Christianity is devoid of an apologetic culture. If no one with a high profile is willing to go on the front foot regularly and speak up for the faith in a Christ-like manner, then opponents will always set the agenda. That is why so much coverage of Christianity is reactionary. A scandal occurs and the Church suddenly is in damage control.

Lastly, should we even be surprised that the media are attempting to gag God? Of course not. There’s a danger of expecting God—and let’s be honest, even ourselves as Christians—to be glorified through the media when that’s not the biblical pattern. Christ’s word will be opposed wherever and whenever it is preached or lived.

We know this in practice from reading Acts. The Jewish leaders tried suppressing the word of God, and when they couldn’t, they jailed the apostles, scattered the disciples and persecuted the Church. And what was the result?

The gospel spread, regardless of world opposition.

What happened in Jerusalem is happening today. God cannot be gagged, even though his people can be. His kingdom is unstoppable because the words of Jesus are far more powerful, treasured and ageless than that of journalists.

Scott Monk is a journalist, sub-editor and novelist based in Sydney.

10

MAY 2014

John Sandeman Richard and Sue Davies came into the Eternity office to talk about audio Bibles for Indigenous people. But the conversation soon turned to the joys and challenges of being a missionary based at Canteen Creek in the Northern Territory. Members of AIM (Australian Indigenous Ministries, formerly, The Aborigines Inland Mission of Australia, which began in 1905), they spent most of the time talking about the lives they’ve seen changed by the gospel.

Here is one of their stories: Sue and I were posted to the Tennant Creek church in 1985 after leaving theological college.

It was in Tennant Creek that we got to know Richard Driver and his family. He told us of his past and how the grog had been really bad for him. It was in 1984 while he was drunk with his wife and others in a house that a man jumped through the window and slashed Richard’s throat. The man also stabbed his wife Phyllis and two others.

One man who was stabbed in the stomach stuffed his intestines back into his stomach and ran to the hospital to get help. Richard ended up in Alice Springs Hospital where the doctor told him he was a quarter of an inch off dying. At that moment, all the Sunday School teaching from when he was a kid at Ali Curung flooded into his mind and he knew that if he had died that night, he would be going to hell.

So he made a promise to God that if he survived he would serve him for the rest of his life. He and Phyllis committed their lives to Jesus in 1984.

During 1986 we noticed Richard was losing his eyesight. When he finally went to the hospital they told him he had optic atrophy.

The joy of being a missionary A senior man in the church came to see me and mentioned that he had had his eyes fixed by a “nice man” in Sydney who let him and his family camp in his backyard. I rang the “nice man” in Sydney who turned out to be Professor Fred Hollows. He agreed to see Richard. By the time we managed to get Richard to Sydney he was very sick. Prof. Hollows was very respectful of Richard, and a CT scan revealed a tumour on his pituitary gland causing the optic atrophy. Fred gave Richard two choices. He said, “If we don’t operate, you will go mad with the pain and die within six months. If we do operate you could still die!” Richard replied that he was not worried because he knew where he was going. Fred was amazed.

Because Richard’s metabolism was out of control due to the pituitary gland’s destruction, the doctors had to keep him in hospital until it was safe to operate. Prof. Hollows made sure that Richard had a top neurosurgeon.

Sue, the boys and I were staying in Sydney during this time awaiting the birth of our fourth child. I went to visit Richard at Prince Henry Hospital near La Perouse. As I approached his bed a white man called me over to his bed and asked if I knew that “blackfella” over there. I said that I did and that he was a good friend. He responded with, “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met!” To which I replied, “ Yes, he is pretty amazing!”

“You don’t understand,” said the

There’s great opportunity for people to come and use their gifts.

Richard Driver man. “I am the Police Sergeant at Redfern and I never thought that I would praise a Blackfella! I have been calling the station and telling the constables to come and meet him.”

This man went on to tell me that Richard had been feeling his way around the very large ward talking to all the patients. He went on to say, “He came and visited me yesterday and we had a good yarn for about an hour. When he was about to return to

his bed, he said ‘Can I pray for you?’

I have a back problem and he has a brain tumour that could kill him and he wants to pray for me! What’s going on?” To which I replied, “He is a Christian, and has let Jesus into his life”. He exclaimed, “That’s obvious! Are there many more like him?”

“Yes. Biggest mobs!” I replied.

“What can we do?” he said. And I replied, “Treat them better and give them a go”.

It seemed to me that Richard was not only blind, he was colour blind. He wanted to talk to anybody that he could about Jesus.

Since then, Richard, though blind, has become an able Bible teacher.

He memorises scripture and often preaches in more than one language.

Even the man who stabbed Richard has committed his life to Christ and often sits next to Richard in church. They are great mates!

Richard and Sue Davies are looking for the next generation to take on the work in the Territory, whether in vocational ministry or as lay people.

“We are looking for people who are able to be ancillary workers, Bible teachers, encouragers, helpers. People who are sensitive to Aboriginal culture as well as led by the Holy Spirit to enable the Aboriginal people to run their own churches the way they want to. We would also like to see people with secular skills who could get employment in communities and be part of the local church.” australianindigenousministries.org.au

Thank you, Australia!

We praise God for your faithful support over the past 60 years.

Since 1954 Australian Churches and Christians have supported 740 Australians serving in Bible translation and support roles in 126 languages, worldwide.

Today almost 180 million people in 1,919 language groups still require Bible translation to begin, but praise God that work is already underway in a further 692 languages for which there is no known Scripture. Workers from the Wycliffe Global Alliance are active in the majority of these programs.

To support Australian members or projects please visit www.wycliffe.org.au.

To celebrate Wycliffe Australia’s 60th Anniversary in your Church or small group please visit www.wycliffe.org. au/60th-anniversary/.

Vision: To see people from every language group living as disciples of Jesus Christ through the power of God’s Word in their Heart Language Member of Wycliffe Global Alliance Member of Bible Agencies Australia Member of Missions Interlink Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia 70 Graham Road Kangaroo Ground 3097 VIC ABN 22 004 705 953 Statistics: www.wycliffe.net

wycliffe.org.au

60th Anniversary

MAY 2014

BOOKS

Pieces of Eternity

by Michael Jensen.

Published by Acorn Press $24.95 from shop.biblesociety.org.au Reviewed by John Sandeman Is Eternity (the newspaper, not the final state of Christians) worthwhile?

As editor, I am probably the worst person to ask. But one good test of a newspaper or magazine is if anybody ever wants to reprint it in the shape of a book.

Eternity has now passed this test. Or at least a key component of Eternity has. A selection of the regular columns

by Michael Jensen is now available as a handsome book Pieces of Eternity published by the Melbourne based Acorn Press.

Michael’s column has been eclectic— ranging from cricket to confession (both of which are good for us).

In the book, Michael recounts me telling him to be another Alan Ramsay, the now retired columnist of the Sydney Morning Herald who would harass the government of the day each Saturday.

As it turns out, the column could be given something like the title “As I please,” a column by George Orwell in which the contents of a well stocked mind surprised readers each week in The New Statesman.

For example, Michael tells us to welcome the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

What is especially helpful about his approach is that he helps us think out why we should welcome it—he connects our instinct to welcome it with our theology. And he makes it clear that the easy path of thinking that it’s about some other brand or denomination of

Bridge to Haven There’s material for a million conversations in this book.

Christians is not open to any of us.

In this book, The Gruen Transfer, Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook fame), John Foxe (who wrote about martyrs), philosopher Alvin Plantinga and theologian John Calvin rub together reasonably well.

On Zuckerberg, Jensen notes Facebook is bigger than porn on the net. It seems “we need relationships even more than we want sex.”

TV, that “radiant glow against which we warm ourselves” is a challenge to Christians not be guided by easy rules.

Certainly not by a plan to watch only the best.

“ABC TV’s The Gruen Transfer actually helps us to be alert to the seductions of advertising. But it is also the case that TV’s use of visual short cuts and titillations can deaden us to the real world.”

Jensen does not parade his considerable academic credentials in this book. In fact he goes to jail to see if the gospel can work there.

When I first heard about this book I was worried that even the best bits of Eternity were not so long-lasting that they should be a book. But I shouldn’t have worried.

There’s material for a million conversations in this book.

Pre-paying your funeral

11

doesn’t have to be complicated.

by Francine Rivers $18.95 from shop.biblesociety.org.au Reviewed by Karen Mudge Abra Matthews longs to feel loved and wanted.

Francine Rivers weaves the story of a baby girl abandoned under a bridge in her first hours of life, incorporating themes of belonging and worth with the glitz and glam of 1950s America.

Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, on his morning prayer walk around the town of Haven, rescues the baby and names her Abra. Throughout her childhood Abra is cared for by the people of Haven, and yet never truly feels loved.

Turning her back on all those who she feels don’t love her, she sets out for Los Angeles to become someone else.

Woven into the story is the power of prayer and the importance of trusting God with those whom we love. When at 16 Abra is lured to Hollywood by a fast-talking charmer, those who love Abra are left without knowledge of her wellbeing. Unable to do anything to rescue her from her own choices, they turn repeatedly to God, who loves her more than they do.

When Abra runs away, Pastor Zeke says to his son: “Letting go isn’t giving up. It’s trusting God to do whatever He has to do. He loves her more than I do… more than all of us put together…All you can do is trust in God’s unfailing love.” “I have to do something, or go crazy.” Joshua sank onto the couch again, covered his head, and wept.

He felt his father’s hand firm on his shoulder. “We will do something.” His hand tightened. “We’ll pray for her.”

Feeling the characters’ helplessness, knowing their suffering and watching them consistently seek God’s peace

is a powerful demonstration of trust in our heavenly father.

Meanwhile, Abra’s journey away from Haven to Los Angeles reveals the danger in succumbing to the lure of appearances.

As she moves from one situation to the next, becoming part of the enticing world of Hollywood in the 1950s, Abra learns the hard way that success comes at a price. Bruised and battered, she longs even more to be loved for who she is, yet believes all her bridges are burnt and that she cannot return to those who loved her in Haven.

When she hits rock bottom, Abra finally begins to realise that to move forward, she needs to return to the past and mend old wounds. The message of God’s love for her, which she was never able to accept as a child, reveals itself to her in full measure as she comes to understand the reality of forgiveness, amazing grace and the love of God and those who were in her life from the beginning.

“Yes, her mother had abandoned her, but God hadn’t… ‘You love me, Lord.

In spite of my stubborn and rebellious heart.’”

The book takes inspiration from Ezekiel 16, where God speaks of his chosen people as an unwanted newborn whom he cared for, watched over, and eventually chose as his bride, despite her rejection of him.

Abra’s story brings to life this image of God’s love for his helpless, rebellious people, and we are left to reflect on the amazing love God has for us.

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12

MAY 2014

Suzanne Schokman At sixteen, the average Aussie girl has read Jane Austen and is looking for a teenage Mr Darcy. Her counterpart in Pakistan, by contrast, is already married, has become a mother, and has most likely never been to school.

The 2012 Taliban attack on activist Malala Yousafzai drew global attention to the status of women in Pakistan.

Sadly, the same nation that elected a woman Prime Minister 22 years earlier than Australia also has one of the worst statistics for women’s literacy. Three out of five women in Pakistan can’t read.

In rural areas, where three quarters of Pakistanis live, only one in ten people gets an education, and that one person is unlikely to be female. Families prefer to educate their sons, hoping to marry their daughters by their mid-teens.

So what does the average Pakistani rural homemaker do? She takes care of her family as well as the family goats or buffalo, and at harvest time she helps in the fields. She knows some other women who supplement the household income by working in textile factories.

In Christian communities (just 1.6 per cent of the population) she’s also part of a local church. She shares her knowledge of Bible stories with her children, but cannot actually read the Bible to them. The children may attend Sunday School, but Anthony Lamuel, General Secretary of Bible Society Pakistan, says many Sunday Schools aren’t effective.

Lamuel also says that children who attend government schools are exposed daily to Islamic influences, with school textbooks bearing some religious inscriptions. He recalls meeting children who were familiar with the stories of Abraham, Noah and Moses, but linked them to the Quran. While these patriarchs are mentioned in the Muslim holy texts, it isn’t unreasonable to expect that children from Christian families would first quote the Bible as the source.

This makes sound religious instruction at home all the more imperative for Christian families in Pakistan. For over 15 years, Bible Society Pakistan has run The ‘Beacon of Light’ program, helping women learn to read and write using Bible-based

I’m so grateful God opened my mind.

Writing a different destiny materials. Thousands have been able to overcome a lifetime of illiteracy, learning how to read signs, manage their home affairs better, and also read the Bible with their children.

56-year old Samira* is one such woman. Growing up illiterate, she says, was like “being blind.” When a literacy class started in her village, Samira was the first to sign up. “Now I feel like I have come out from darkness into light.”

While some are quick off the block , others like Laila* take a little persuasion before joining the classes. “At first I was very negative about the literacy program in my neighbourhood,” she says. “When someone came to my house to discuss it, I didn’t even let her in. I shut the door on her, saying, ‘I’m not interested.’ I was quite harsh.”

Laila lives in a largely Christian community in north Pakistan. She says now she didn’t have any real reason for opposing the program, and is so grateful that “God opened my mind”.

“My husband allowed our daughter to attend the class. After just two months, she started to read the Bible and I saw she was also praying regularly. Her attitude at home changed too; she spoke very politely and started helping me with the housework”.

That had an effect on Laila, because

The ‘Beacon of Light’ program is helping many women with literacy skills, just like Laila (above) and Pakeeza (inset).

she soon decided to attend the literacy class herself. “I found the teacher very encouraging. So I decided to stay on, and soon I could feel my life start to change. After a while I started reading the Bible. The first time I read from the Bible, I was so happy I invited my classmates and my teacher home for tea and a celebration!

“Now I eagerly attend classes. I’m hoping to soon read and write well in Urdu, as well as a little bit in English. ” The Beacon of Light program continues to bring the light At a glance: of literacy and • $34 will help one Pakistani Bible knowledge woman to read as well as to thousands of receive an Urdu New Testament women. Nasira • $272 will empower eight women used to look • $680 will fund a full class of 20 longingly at her • $1,020 will reach 30 women children’s school books, until she enrolled in a literacy class in her diocese.

Nadia used to feel jealous of women her age reading and writing, but can now read Urdu books and road signs.

Bemla wanted so much to read the Bible for herself, and will soon realise her dream. What’s more, these women go from only recounting Bible stories to their children to actually reading the

texts to them. In traditional Pakistani families, the mother’s role is pivotal, so reaching one woman means reaching her children too.

Justus Nasir, who’s the Literacy Project officer with Bible Society Pakistan, says that their first mission is to help women read the Bible, so they can then take it to their family and read it to their children.

But change within homes usually brings change within a community too.

Empowered Pakistani women go on to help others come out of darkness into light. Pakeeza,* who went on from the literacy course to become a teacher, plans to go to Bible school. “I believe Jesus changed my life for this purpose.”

This year, the Bible Societies of Pakistan and Australia are committed to starting 350 literacy centres and helping 7,000 Pakistani women learn to read and write. It’s estimated that over 4,000 families will benefit from the program.

Will you be a beacon, and help bring the light of knowledge and of the Scriptures into Pakistani homes?

Please make your tax-deductible donation by visiting biblesociety.org.au/ eternityappeal or calling 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 537).

* Names changed to protect them

30 years on the road Three of the pioneer team joined fiftyseven others on Bible Society’s Bike For Bibles 30th Anniversary Ride in April. The team went from Sydney to Melbourne, just like the original ride in 1984, to commemorate 30 years of raising funds—a cool $13 million in total—for Bible distribution worldwide.

Pioneers Bob Forrest (centre) and John Ansell (left) rode the first leg.

Nothing stops Bike For Bibles, except perhaps the country train.

Photos by Chris Girvan

A new generation of riders has taken up the challenge of biking for Bibles and carrying on the good work.

890km from Sydney to Melbourne is a long way to go, but it’s all good.

13

MAY 2014

CULTURE

Her is an imaginative challenge to the essence of who we are.

In God’s image Mark Hadley Her is the most provocative film of the year. 12 Years A Slave tested our tolerance for witnessing cruelty done to humans. By humans. The Wolf Of Wall Street did the same, but with a crude excess of sex, drugs and financial scammery. But, unlike Her, these studies of selfishness didn’t explore the vast complexities of relationships.

While not honing in on how terrible we can be to each other, Her memorably tackles even deeper issues.

Issues which fuel many social concerns, from same-sex marriage to ‘designer’ babies. The deserved winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Screenplay, Her calmly provokes thought about what makes a human being, a human being.

The biblical definition of a human being—“creatures made in God’s image”—is not Her’s boundary. Out now on DVD and Blu-ray, Her focuses upon one man’s relationship with his computer’s operating system. Software which has feelings, opinions and jokes.

Software... with a soul? Software that operates like a human being.

Before writing off Her as dumb, hear how this is a movie about now, for the future. Her combines our innate

need for personal connection with our obsession with technology, creation and control. But it’s not a statement about multi-media mania. Her is an imaginative challenge to the essence of who we are.

Set in the near-future, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is an average guy whose life is overseen by an operating system he is in constant contact with.

He buys new software, equipped with artificial intelligence. ‘Samantha’ (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) quickly becomes a lively, inquisitive and concerted companion for Theodore.

Theodore and Samantha’s believable relationship is largely developed through everyday conversation, sharing thoughts, emotions and experiences, but the occasional sex talk will confront some viewers. Although Samantha has no physical form, she seems to be a conscious entity—entitled to relationship like you and me.

Surrounded by tantalising concepts and ideas, a core question of Her is: can something manufactured be human?

Writer/director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) doesn’t provide a neat or fashionable answer.

Instead, emphasis is upon the innate human need for deep, meaningful

relationship. In our real world, who or what can be part of a valid human relationship is a simmering stew of opinions. Among other viewpoints, Her presents the widespread idea that any relationship is fine as long as those involved are cool with it.

But Her isn’t promoting a particular type of relationship. It’s honing in on what is really sought by humans in relationship: the meeting of our requirements.

Theodore is a terrific representative of our yearning to control relationships, to have them provide us with what brings us love, satisfaction, happiness and none of the bad stuff.

To be human is to want perfect relationship, as each of us sees perfection. But Her’s unsettling jigsaw of relationships reveals how humans can’t create perfection.

While humans are involved, controlling relationships perfectly is impossible.

Where Her should point viewers, then, is not to the who or what of relationships. The issue is understanding why humans are created with a need for perfect relationship and whether that essential part of being human can be realised.

316 TREASURES

Indigenous drama Mark Hadley The Gods Of Wheat Street portrays a distinctly Australian form of spirituality that many will assume represents Indigenous beliefs. But does its creed more closely resemble modern Western faiths—the New Age Movement and Tony Robbins’ power of positive thinking?

Living in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Odin Freeburn is struggling to faithfully lead the remnants of his family. As a teenager ‘Odie’ was involved in a terrible car accident that killed his mother. With her dying breath she makes him swear he will be strong for her other children; that he will ensure that they don’t get split up. The spirit of Odie’s dead mother reappears to him at crucial times to guide him towards his family’s best future.

The Freeburn family are named after mythic figures, mainly deities.

The demigods of Wheat Street are actually there to help us, much like Tony Robbins, to be all we can be.

This is the sort of spirituality that no-one need feel threatened by. The spiritual world has no instructions only advice, and certainly no condemnation.

Positive affirmation is what passes for spiritual insight here.

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14

MAY 2014

OPINION

Do humans have a free will?

Michael Jensen We do rather cherish the idea that, when it comes to making decisions— and especially ethical ones—that we operate with a kind of reasonable control over our preferences. We receive and observe the information in front of us and then we use our reason to evaluate each course of action.

And then we decide. Freely.

Or so we imagine. Recently I saw a documentary in which a man was invited to lie in an MRI machine while being presented with a series of ethical decisions. The scientist monitoring his brain activity declared that the man’s brain had subconsciously made the decision up to six seconds before he was aware of choosing.

Now, we should be wary of scientific experiments performed for TV. What goes on in an MRI machine is not the same as what occurs in lounge rooms or in offices, or in any of the normal spaces in which we have to make choices.

Nevertheless, the experiment suggests that our choices, including our moral ones, are not as ‘free’ as we would like them to be. If we understand ourselves well, we will know that we are a bundle of instincts, genes, impressions, influences and brain waves, over which we have almost no control. Our preferences and decisions emerge out of this complex tangle of processes. We are not like a blank slate, not at all.

For the leading ‘New Atheist’ Sam Harris, this means that human beings do not at all have anything like a free will. In his book Free Will he announces that, “The facts tell us that free will is an illusion.” What then? How can we hold anyone responsible for their actions if their decisions are not their own? If a person is compelled to act by factors extrinsic to them, then they cannot be held liable for any consequence that results. Moral judgment becomes impossible.

Given that, like almost all theological systems, the Christian Bible describes a moral universe in which human beings are agents called to act in the light of God’s character and in accordance with God’s judgments, it naturally follows that Christian theologians have been attracted to the notion of human free will and have sought to expound it at great depth.

Yet there’s a theological conundrum here too. It has two aspects. The first has to do with God’s control over events.

If God controls and even predetermines everything that happens, then in what sense are his creatures at all free when they act? Then, in what sense can they be held accountable for their actions? If God condemns us simply for doing that which he had predetermined we would do, then it would seem very difficult to escape the conclusion that God is a monstrous being.

The second difficulty is to do with our own condition. Why, if we are ‘free’ to do the right thing, do we so often fail to do it? Human beings cannot resist sin, and indeed, there is none that avoid sin. In Romans 6, Paul calls us “slaves to sin”, by which he means that we are helpless to avoid sin and its consequences for us. We cannot, by something from within our own nature, somehow pick ourselves up and get sin-free.

In Pauline terms we are possessed of a fallen sarx—“flesh”—by which he means that there is something unavoidable about our lapse into sinful behaviour because of something about us. We are imprisoned by our sinful desire. The metaphor of slave-bondage, chosen by Paul the Apostle and revisited by the African bishop Augustine and later by the German reformer Martin Luther, reflects the profound corruption of the human will, to the degree that no simple and unaided decision of the human will can overcome it.

The will itself is a broken instrument, so appealing to the will won’t work to change people.

But if we cannot do otherwise, can we really be held accountable for sin?

Augustine of Hippo was loathe to reject the term “free will”, and wanted rather to say that even though the will is free, men and women freely but “inevitably choose” to sin. That is: we sin not because we have no option, but because that is what we actually do.

At every point, we could do otherwise.

The fact is that we very often don’t.

Even though we can understand what is the right thing to do and can see the consequences of doing the opposite, we nevertheless listen instead to our appetites. Our desires for independence, for pleasure, for significance and for possessions are louder in our ears than our consciences. To borrow from Robert Palmer somewhat: we might as well face it, we’re addicted to sin.

It is not simply a matter of coaxing human individuals to choose differently, or educating them; a wholesale renovation of the human person is what is needed from the inside. Even the capacity to say “yes” to God does not lie within us.

Is this such a dark view of human nature that it leads to despair? Does

it make the whole business of urging people to do the right thing pointless?

That’s the accusation that humanism levels against the view I have just outlined. Surely we rob humanity of its dignity if we say that human beings inevitably sin? We need to tell people to be better, and teach them how to change, and expect them to rise to the occasion. If we expect them to fail, and we give up calling them to be better people, we will end up with a very grim view of society indeed.

It is important to recognise that the Bible doesn’t describe human beings as always choosing sin over doing good. Not at all. In fact, as Paul notes in Romans 2 and 7, we are much more of a mixed bag. But this observation proves that we are still responsible agents, not simply sinning automatically, but actually in principle capable of choosing for good at any given point.

Let’s see if we can think through the problem in another way. One of our assumptions in thinking through the idea of free will is that the free person is an independent one. We tend to imagine our freedom as giving us a God-like independence.

But we need to remember that we are God’s creatures, first and foremost.

We are limited and finite. Whatever freedom we are given must mesh with our human nature. A fish is not free to fly like a bird; nor is it free to lactate like a mammal. It is most free when it is most itself, operating within its Godgiven limits.

So it is with humankind. We are most free when we recognise God’s authority over us; when we recognise that we are made in his image; and when we hear his call to be like him in the world.

For that freedom we were made. We flourish in it.

The will itself is a broken instrument, so appealing to the will won’t work to change people.

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And the opening pages of the Bible show God inviting human beings to exercise their free will in their mission to order the creation. They are to give names to the animals—their names; and they are given freedom to eat from every tree in the garden, bar one. They are not simply acting out a script that God has given them; they are, rather, improvising on his themes. Their true freedom is not an alternative to his rule: it exists because of, and under, his rule.

The fall of humankind looked like a free choice for freedom. But it was in fact a choice for enslavement—like the heroin addict’s first injection.

All of this shows us how extraordinary the grace of God is. Even our response to God in faith is the gift of God, as Paul says in Ephesians 2: “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”.

But remarkably, the Holy Spirit works in us to renovate us as the creatures we were meant to be. Which means we still operate in our limited way, influenced by our genes and our parents and our peers and our habits and our instincts, but now with the aid of the Spirit of God renewing our minds. As Paul says in Romans 12:2 “be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you will be able to know what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”. Was not the most extraordinary moment in the history of human freedom the moment when Jesus prayed “not my will, but yours”?

Do human beings have a free will? I think it is better to say: human beings were given the dignity of a freedom to live as God’s creatures according to his gracious will. That will is now distorted, and not powerful enough to overcome our desires. We lapse. In the gospel, though, we have the offer of a return to the true freedom of life with God.

www.biblesociety.org.au

MAY 2014

Letters

15

Relief for farmers

I was greatly encouraged to read Stephen Everist suggest churches ‘adopt’ farming families through the drought (Letters, April Eternity).

Of course, the drought is not only hurting farming families, but also the rest of rural communities, from retailers, farming services and agents, to townspeople who have lost their employment. As a church in the centre of the drought, we have been greatly encouraged by some generous financial gifts from other churches that we have been able to pass on in liaison with our local rural financial advisor who is aware of those in most need.

At the moment we are putting together hampers for farming families to the value of $150. These include staple foods and items, some special treats, a letter of encouragement from ‘city folk,’ a Two Ways To Live gospel tract, and details about our church services. We buy this locally to support our retailers. Hampers are then delivered by a member of our church, who has a cuppa and prays

with the family. If anyone would like to contribute to such a hamper, or partner with a local church in providing drought help, I’d be happy to talk!

Tory Cayzer (vicar) Barwon District Anglican Churches, Walgett, NSW.

Church for the Disabled I am over 80 years old and find Eternity a fine read indeed. That makes it a good newspaper.

In 1973 I had a fall at home and I have used a wheelchair since then.

From that wheelchair I have become a solo activist for better access for the tens of thousands of step-handicapped people in the community... quite successful sometimes and unsuccessful others. I soon found that large funded organisations will not “bite the hand that feeds them,” hence I go solo.

In Eternity March 2014 on page 14 is an advertisement for a ‘Family Medical Centre’ with a picture including seven steps to climb, up to a gate.

My first impression was: “Surely not.

There must be a rear or side entrance for all the ‘step-handicapped’ people who use this Family Medical Centre.”

After all, it is 33 years since the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, which had the theme ‘break down the barriers’.

In addition, if you would allow it, can you get readers to respond to the barriers? I mean, how many churches have easy wheelchair access? How many people in wheelchairs regularly attend your church? Does your church truly welcome disabled people...or is it only surface deep? And finally, does your church really take notice of the needs of the disabled person and carrythrough on fixing those needs?

You see Sir, for years I have remained sort of silent and put up with being treated, too often, as someone who is disabled and therefore his/her needs are not of real importance.

I hope you don’t bin this letter...but consider a Christian response- even if a few find it difficult to handle.

Peter Harris, Ferndale, WA.

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Grace plus I would like to comment on the article “Grace and the Ten Commandments”

by Michael Jensen, in Eternity November 2013. The law in Romans 7:6 is not God’s holy moral law, but the law of our inherited sinful nature.

Romans 7 is all about our battle.

When I was a heathen, I had peace.

But when the Holy Spirit of God came into me, the war began and in Romans 8 Paul gives the answer and victory in Jesus. We need to become partakers of the divine nature [2.Peter 1:4] in order to escape the corruption inside us and crucify the old man of sin in us as Paul puts it.

Another thing in this article is the picture. Wonderfully done! Our Lord Jesus is shown with the two tables of stone in front of Him and surrounded by a big heart. The New Covenant is seen like this according to Hebrews 8 where God Himself writes the love for Him and His holy law into our hearts.

Rolf Vaessen, Kilcoy, QLD.

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16

MAY 2014

Ten encouraging reminders for Christians who are feeling ordinary Easter is over, the hot cross buns that we have been eating since January are finally disappearing from the shelves, and churches sometimes feel like they have “passed a peak”. In the church calendars of the various denominations, the weeks not defined by a particular event or feast bear the description “Ordinary Time”. In a 24/7, noveltydriven culture, anything ordinary isn’t going to get much attention!

But there is nothing ordinary about taking Easter seriously. If, having commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are feeling ordinary, perhaps you need to take stock of the difference those beliefs make in your ‘ordinary’ life. Here’s a list of ten encouraging, day-shaping, mind-satisfying, heart-filling truths to remember, if (like me) you believe that Jesus of Nazareth died for our sins and rose from the dead.

You have a hero. Most of us are looking for someone worth admiring, someone we can live up to, someone to guide our lives.

Christians: you have found him! In the teachings of Jesus, his character, his devotion to God the Father, and his ultimate loving sacrifice, we know exactly whom to follow.

You know that people are very important. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “There are no ordinary people… it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit

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Greg Clarke —immortal horrors or everlasting splendours”. Those who believe in the resurrection have a very serious view of the importance and value of those around them. This is a profound motivation for all kinds of compassion and care—or, at least, it should be.

You believe in the value of the universe. Unlike some Eastern faiths, where this world is illusory and unimportant, those who believe in the resurrection know that the opposite is true. By raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated the value of this life, that it should not be left to decay and corruption, but should be renewed and returned to what its Creator desires it to be. This is huge motivation to be mindful of all creation, to treat it as special to God, and valuable to us.

You treat sin as “on the way out”. Jesus has already beaten it. Although we Christians live in remorse for our sins and wrestle daily with the fallen world we brought about, we know that it is dealt with, passing, and destined not even to be remembered by God. Sin is so last era; the resurrection era will in time do away with it altogether.

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The kingdom of rest awaits.

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You make plans, but sit lightly to them. Knowing that death is not the end, you feel less anxiety and pressure around everything you plan.

“If the Lord wills” is about the most Christian thing you can say. You know that God’s grand plan, introduced by the resurrection of Jesus, is unfolding before our eyes, and our plans are merely subplots.

You build something that will last.

U2 once sang about “all that you can’t leave behind”, the thing that must be taken into the next life: it’s love. Love expresses the eternal nature of God, a trinity of persons perfect together. Christians are building such love when they speak of Christ to each other, when they care for those in need, when they cast off the old self, and when they treat others as they want to be treated themselves. Love lasts.

You can be clever with money.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, you have more financial freedom than Bill Gates. You can apply your money to things that last—the things of love. Money is to serve the things that last, not the things that are

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fading away. You can be shrewd, wise, generous, sacrificial, kind and lavish with money. You use “worldly wealth for eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).

You have hope. This most basic of human psychological needs is available to you in bucketloads, if you will but dwell for a few moments on what Christ has won for you in his resurrection. Hope should spring!

You can work your guts out. You have every reason to expend yourself in your working life, because you serve an eternal boss.

You are also allowed to rest. Unlike the secularist, who must constantly create meaning and significance to stave off despair, you see a long future of joy, contentment, satisfaction, happiness and fearlessness ahead of you. You don’t need to ‘perform’ to get there; you are already there, in the resurrection of Christ. The kingdom of rest awaits.

As an ordinary, post-Easter, resurrection-believing Christian, you should be the envy of everyone.

Ordinary, wonderful, everlasting you, loved by the Risen Jesus.

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