Challenge Literature Fellowship - AustraliaWith the world melting down over Covid-19 and multiple countries in lockdown, people losing their jobs and memes about social isolation abounding, there is one aspect of this whole situation that I find both encouraging and very interesting, and which has not been pointed out in all the many stories, graphs and vlogs I’ve seen.Continue reading
I read today that doctors suspect a link between Covid-19 and Parkinson’s disease. Apparently the inflammation caused by Covid could have long-term effects on the body and lead to more serious repercussions later in life.
The longer the pandemic progresses, I imagine that may prove to be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ripple-effects of the scourge. Who knows what else one might be susceptible to after surviving Covid-19?
Continue readingOn TV recently was a show where a family, who live in a chateau in France, celebrated Christmas in the most elaborate and beautiful way. Homemade decorations, sumptuous food, loving extended family, huge sacks full of presents and lots of laughter and candlelight. It looked idyllic.
And yet, I wondered if, when they were washing up the dishes in the cold light of day with a food hangover the next morning, whether they thought, “What was the point? Why did we do it?”Continue reading
People might think that being a Christian is easy, a crutch that gets you through your traumas, a Father Christmas in the sky to pray to, a list of dos and don’ts that you do your best to follow but get forgiveness for when you fail.
However, as a Christian of several decades, I can tell you Christianity is not for cowards; being a Christian requires you to do some very, very hard stuff. Some of the things I find hardest are: forgiving over and over again, submitting to authority, waiting with patience and coping with suffering.Continue reading
Dear Child, I heard when you said today
That your life has no purpose or worth,
And I cried because it’s had meaning
Since before the foundations of earth.
I knit you together in the depth of the womb
And I’ve numbered the hairs on your head.
I’ve cherished each smile, I’ve caught every tear
I’ve heard all the words that you’ve said.Continue reading
If Jesus had chosen to come to earth in modern times, some of His parables may have been a bit different. He used stories and pictures that the people could readily identify with from what they saw around them. For instance, maybe John 15:1-8, instead of being about vinedressing, would have sounded something like this:
Continue readingHave you heard people say ‘I like the Jesus of the New Testament but I don’t like the angry God of the Old Testament?’
Are they two different people and, if not, then why is the Bible even divided into the Old and New Testament?Continue reading
What do the Babel fish of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the movie Apocolypse Now and U2’s The Joshua Tree album have in common? They all refer to things found in the Bible.
So maybe your interest is piqued and you might like to dust it off and check it out, but where do you start?
And there are so many versions! Does it matter which one you read?
Continue readingWhen we try to imagine God, so often we think of some sort of superhuman. That, if God exists, He must be like us but stronger, faster and invincible. Maybe like some sort of Father Christmas or Father Time, old, bearded and benevolent. Or like Zeus, angry and vengeful like a warrior.
However, the Bible tells us that God is not human. We are made in His image – we are like Him in some aspects – and He revealed Himself to us as the man Jesus, but God the Father is not a man, He is a spirit (John 4:24). God does call Himself in the Bible a Father and there is mention of His hands and eyes and hears. But the Bible also uses animal imagery to try to describe God, it talks about God’s wings and Jesus is compared to both a lion and a lamb. And God also uses inanimate things to convey information about His attributes, like God being a pillar of fire and the cloud that the Israelites saw in the wilderness.
Continue readingMercy is not really a word used in modern language – except maybe in the US South as an exclamation, “Have mercy!” It is not a concept we bandy about in conversation, although I imagine most people generally know that it is similar to the legal idea of clemency – getting off or getting a lighter sentence when you deserve punishment.
Continue reading