Challenge Literature Fellowship - AustraliaBy Alan Bailey
Getting married is still fairly popular but not as popular as simply living together. We have husbands, wives and partners. And who should question it? After all, what people do in relationship is their business.
Well now, if the de facto position is defensible, why should it all be a taboo subject? Let’s take a quick look at two sides of the question.
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
WHAT a great range of stories we read in this paper! The life journey of people varies so much depending on where you were born, what kind of upbringing you had and a host of other factors. So failure and success, happiness and sadness, wealth and poverty, acceptance and rejection all have a part in the fabric of ordinary lives. What is common to all is the desire to find contentment, an answer to the questions and problems we face as individuals and communities.
Those who read these pages regularly will know that the solutions people have found over and over again have been in a new relationship, finding Jesus as Lord and Saviour and friend. Past mistakes have been wiped out and a new strength experienced. Lives have been turned right around.
The cry is often heard that this is just religion which takes various forms. It is popular to believe that all religions say much the same thing and that they are equally unbelievable. But is this a true assessment?
A GREAT DIFFERENCE
An honest examination of even elementary things will show that Christianity is very different from all other faiths. To deny this is to show lack of understanding. Here are three truths that reveal a huge contrast.
ONE: Religion is the result of mankind seeking God (or some equivalent). This has resulted in the invention of deities and their rules and demands, which are then laid on the backs of devotees. Christianity is based solely on what God has revealed. He gave the Ten Commandments; He became man and lived among us to teach us truth. So Christianity is God seeking mankind.
TWO: The message of all religions and cults is summed up in the word ”do.” The individual must save himself or herself. All destinies rest on performance. Only when you pass the tests will you have any hope at all. Sink or swim. It’s all up to you. Your good must outweigh the bad.
The Christian Gospel is summed up in the word “done.” At the centre of the message is Christ on the cross. He cried before He died: “It is finished.” The price was paid for sin, the door into God’s presence and favour was opened. Jesus rose from death and is able to save all who come to Him in faith. The good news is that the work is done; what we do is receive the benefit. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)
How can He be compared to the various religious leaders? He is utterly beyond them.
THREE: Followers of religion have no certainty about their status. The teachings themselves disallow any assurance that they are right on track to some future heaven. All that can be done is to keep trying, hoping and inevitably doubting.
Christians can rest on the promises of God’s Word. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1John 5:11-12) No wonder Jesus could say “I am the way, the truth and the life.” ●
Tips or Life
By Alan Bailey
HAVE you ever wondered why so many people are bored, lonely and dissatisfied? We hear about this problem even with young folk who seem to have everything. Surrounded by good things to enjoy and people to share with, and yet feeling empty. In their hearts is the unsaid question, “What’s the use?”
It must be because they are looking in the wrong place for what truly satisfies their deepest longings. Nothing new about that. It is as old as the human race.
Where do we most commonly look? Four main places come to mind.Continue reading
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
JUMPING off the top of a cliff or a bridge with a long piece of rubber around one ankle is not my idea of fun. Bungy jumpers, as they are called, seem to like it. You’ve seen them on TV undoubtedly, and they scare the daylights out of me.
They plunge downwards, then, like a yo-yo suddenly change direction. Of course, the tether is anchored up there somewhere and they know before they jump that all will be well; they won’t hit the ground but will live to tell the tale.Continue reading
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
It’s a bit disconcerting to realise that the thing we trust most to deliver truth, that is science, can be wrong. Indeed, history is full of examples of things once believed but now thrown out. Sure, it’s all part of the development of knowledge, but alas, lies and half-truths are in the mix and are embraced even by the masses, who are then unwilling to let them go.
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
DO you ever wonder where the human race is heading? Is it flat out going downhill to its own destruction or is there a bright peaceful future on the way? Opinions will range between these poles but I fancy pessimism is in the majority. There are so many signs of civilization coming apart at the seams. Acts of cruelty, oppression and war are on the increase. Weapons are becoming more frightening as technology advances. We look to national leaders to navigate the way forward, but agreement is hard to find. Hatreds, prejudices and cruel ideologies keep getting in the way.
Do you wonder if anyone is in charge, in a sovereign way, ruling over everything? The reports we see and hear from the media day after day don’t encourage the idea. All seems so random, outcomes seem so unsatisfactory, human wisdom and human nature disappoint—let’s face it. We are not able to rescue ourselves.
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
PEOPLE seem to be flying off the handle in all directions today. Have you noticed it? There’s road rage that seems to show up almost every day. People are often irritated by small things, such as being beaten to a parking spot or being upset by a queue jumper. In the home, short fuses cause untold damage with words and even fists flying to make a point. Alas, weapons are used for vengeance and murders are committed out of anger. Why have we become an angry society?Continue reading
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
INSECURITY abounds. Lack of money has a lot to do with it for many in our society; they are constantly threatened by the inability to have enough to cover the many demands for their cash. How worrying!
Insecure relationships can make life awkward and slippery. How many wonder how long they and their partners are going to stay together. The signs of breakdown are coming up all too frequently. It’s hard to sleep at night when you wonder how long the security you have enjoyed is going to last.
Job security has an unfriendly look about it to another percentage of people. Will the boss call me in and tell me not to come in on Monday? If he does, where to next? Am I past getting another position? Will I join the unemployed who have no job security whatever?
Tips for Life
by Alan Bailey
THE BEST THINGS are the latest things—or so the modern mind thinks. Notice how that wonderful mobile phone that was made three years ago is now despised, almost, because later ones, smarter by several degrees, have hit the market. Whatever the cost, one must keep up with the best.
This way of thinking has very wide implications. Old is bad, backward, primitive. New is improved, advanced; hence, much to be preferred.
Of course, there is evidence for this everywhere. Discoveries are continually being made that take us forward. Old, inferior ways are continually being discarded.
HOLD ON, NOT SO FAST
Tips for Life
By Alan Bailey
Anger can lead to tragedy. The case of an alleged murder before a Brisbane court is a sad example.
A father-of-three from New Zealand, who was due to marry in a week’s time, had an altercation with an older man who was aggressively following him on a Queensland highway on December 1.
The accused allegedly pushed the man who fell into the path of an oncoming garbage truck.
The man, a father of four, was killed.
Apparently, the accused had no past record and lived a normal life. In court it was revealed that the victim was a former professional driver and had an alleged history of road rage incidents. The case will be re-heard in April.
A cool head would have saved all of this.