‘A better story’ – 11

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Who am I?  People today are obsessed with the question of self-identity.

But a coherent sense of identity is under threat:-

In the past people settled into relatively stable patterns quite early on in their life cycle – a long-term job, getting married, bearing children. Now the transition from adolescence to adulthood stretches into the early thirties, with an ever-widening range of possibilities offering vastly increased options for how to be ‘me’ today.

The problem is magnified by the rise of hyper-connectivity, with the proliferation of social networks and streams of information. …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 10

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And so to the tenth and last chapter of Phillip Gulley’s book.  If the church were more Christian, he says, ‘this life would be more important than the afterlife.’

To many people, the church offers an alternative reality, an escape from the real world.  A big part of this is its obsession with our ultimate destiny in heaven or hell, contemplated without due regard to living well in the here and now.  And this obsession stems from a need to control – to control who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’. …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 9

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If the church were Christian, writes Phillip Gulley, ‘It would care more about love and less about sex.’

The church, apparently, is obsessed with sex.  It frowns on sex outside marriage, divorce, dancing and (especially) homosexuality.  Indeed, it finds the whole subject distasteful.

This anxiety about sex probably has two causes: Victorian mores and ‘the apostle Paul’s obvious aversion to marriage’.  Contrast Paul’s ‘sour assessment of intimacy’ with the delight and joy of the Song of Solomon.…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 8

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If the church were Christian, writes Phillip Gulley, ‘peace would be more important than power.’

A lust for power is found in Christian as well as secular organisations, in small as well as large.  Such power-lust can be deeply injurious.

Those bent on power so often lack the ability to see their own need for spiritual transformation and growth.

Frequently, such people insist on dominating others and yet will not bow to the wishes of those to whom they themselves are accountable.…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 7

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If the church were Christian, says Phillip Gulley, ‘meeting needs would be more important that maintaining institutions.’

Phillip Gulley has come across people within the church who, while ostensibly meetings the needs of others (for example, by running a food bank), are really putting their own needs first (the need for control, for appreciation, or whatever).  We’ve probably come across such people ourselves.

We must wonder if many Christian organisations and entire denominations are primarily interested in self-preservation. …

‘A better story’ – 10

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The sexual revolution has, in effect, declared war on the weak, namely, our children.

As our communities become more fragmented, our education system more unequal, and our families more broken, the gap between the more privileged and the less privileged is becoming ever wider.

Here’s a stark fact: by the time they start pre-school, children from professional families will have heard 19 million more words than children from poor backgrounds.

Although many factors are at play, the stability of home life is a critical one. …

The blessings of Immanuel

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According to Matthew 1:22-23, Jesus received the name ‘Immanuel’ (‘God with us’) in fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14.

Wonderful blessings are associated with the name – and character – of ‘Immanuel’.  Gerald Bilkes offers the following outline:-

1. He is God-with-us to reconcile sinners to God. Man is born alienated from God, and God can have no fellowship with him because of sin. But Immanuel came to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). He gave His life as an offering for sin so that sinners can be brought back into fellowship with God (1 John 1:3).

…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 6

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If the church were Christian, writes Philip Gulley, ‘Encouraging personal exploration would be more important than communal uniformity.’

Professed followers of Christ – from Jehovah’s Witnesses to Quakers – have their ways of disowning those who step out of line.

Such shunning seems far from the character of Jesus (though less so from that of Paul, 1 Cor 5:11; Rom 16:17).  It was Jesus who was shunned, not he who shunned.

Of course, some form of correction may be needed for those who tarnish a group’s credibility, but too often the ‘solution’ is more damaging than the ‘problem’. …

Virgin Birth – scriptural attestation

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The Virgin Birth (more precisely, the virginal conception) is attested in a number of ways in Matthew and Luke:-

  1. The sharp contrast between the long series of verses that use “begot” and the statement that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born” (Mt. 1:16) clearly implies that a man was not involved in the procreation of Jesus.
  2. Mt. 1:18 states, “Before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.”
…

50 maxims for men

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Full title: ’50 Maxims for Men in an Age of Toxic Masculinity and Identitarian Craziness’.

Michael Bird has created/collected a set aphorisms by way of advice that a father might give to his son.

Unusually (for me) I’m reproducing the list as it comes from the pen (or typing finger) of Michael:-

# 1: Marriage is a lot like a US airport, by law it must always be under construction and improvement.

# 2: Real men do not hit women.…