Saturday, 9 February 2013
God's day - the best day
Tomorrow is Sunday; the Lord's Day; the day of holy rest; the day when Christ arose and made all things new.
What is the week without Sunday? It's an endless churning; a restless toil; effort without space to step back and enjoy or reflect.
There is no rest for the wicked; and since most of our world is wicked, they reject God's rest and receive back the "reward" of unending toil. Those who teach that there is no God-appointed day of rest for believers now are, whether advertantly or inadvertently, encouraging us to join the wicked in their dreary restlessness. No thanks.
But godly toil that is punctuated by godly rest is enjoyable toil, punctuated by enjoyable rest. It's not wrong to enjoy either toil or rest. It's not worldly to enjoy God's world, because that's the same world which Jesus now rules, and not another.
Jesus made all things new, and so his day comes first, not like the Old Testament Sabbath. Man's rest is not on the basis of his completed toil, which can never come up to the mark, but of Christ's completed and perfect toil, which is then the basis and motivation for us to rise up afterwards to follow after him. He has subdued the devil through his work on the cross; we celebrate and rest in that fact, and then go out to complete the mopping-up operation.
What is the week without Sunday? It's an endless churning; a restless toil; effort without space to step back and enjoy or reflect.
There is no rest for the wicked; and since most of our world is wicked, they reject God's rest and receive back the "reward" of unending toil. Those who teach that there is no God-appointed day of rest for believers now are, whether advertantly or inadvertently, encouraging us to join the wicked in their dreary restlessness. No thanks.
But godly toil that is punctuated by godly rest is enjoyable toil, punctuated by enjoyable rest. It's not wrong to enjoy either toil or rest. It's not worldly to enjoy God's world, because that's the same world which Jesus now rules, and not another.
Jesus made all things new, and so his day comes first, not like the Old Testament Sabbath. Man's rest is not on the basis of his completed toil, which can never come up to the mark, but of Christ's completed and perfect toil, which is then the basis and motivation for us to rise up afterwards to follow after him. He has subdued the devil through his work on the cross; we celebrate and rest in that fact, and then go out to complete the mopping-up operation.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
The UK government says that its own schools will shock you
" Parents would be really shocked to know this is happening in pretty much every school in the country." - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/9828589/Children-and-the-culture-of-pornography-Boys-will-ask-you-every-day-until-you-say-yes.html
Those are the words of Claire Perry MP, special advisor to the British Prime Minister.
Those are the words of Claire Perry MP, special advisor to the British Prime Minister.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
In which we indulge in some advanced bigotry
Change is difficult, saith the politician; and us who don't agree with it may need some assistance and gentle leading.
Dear politician: I'm afraid, it's not just us. Unfortunately, the order of creation itself seems to need some change.
Yer see, men and women are sexually complementary. Men and men are sexually the same, hence incapable of being complementary.
Does the politician have plans to lead the order of nature itself through this process of painful change? Or ought there to be a point at which even politicians have to admit that their legislative powers do not exist?
When King Canute ordered the sea to stop, he did so in full knowledge that he had no such powers - and he wanted his subordinates to realise the same truth.
In our day, sadly, the boot is on the other foot. It appears that the populace largely realise that nature can't be re-written at our whim. It's our politicians who feel otherwise. Or is it now advanced bigotry to point out the facts of how human beings are actually constituted?
From what I see in the news, the next stop is that our brave, mostly male, leaders will be courageously attempting to defend us in future conflicts by sending out our daughters to fight on the front line. Totally outrageous. This is the sexual revolution's bitter, bitter fruit.
Dear politician: I'm afraid, it's not just us. Unfortunately, the order of creation itself seems to need some change.
Yer see, men and women are sexually complementary. Men and men are sexually the same, hence incapable of being complementary.
Does the politician have plans to lead the order of nature itself through this process of painful change? Or ought there to be a point at which even politicians have to admit that their legislative powers do not exist?
When King Canute ordered the sea to stop, he did so in full knowledge that he had no such powers - and he wanted his subordinates to realise the same truth.
In our day, sadly, the boot is on the other foot. It appears that the populace largely realise that nature can't be re-written at our whim. It's our politicians who feel otherwise. Or is it now advanced bigotry to point out the facts of how human beings are actually constituted?
From what I see in the news, the next stop is that our brave, mostly male, leaders will be courageously attempting to defend us in future conflicts by sending out our daughters to fight on the front line. Totally outrageous. This is the sexual revolution's bitter, bitter fruit.
Saturday, 2 February 2013
What next for the secularists?
A newsletter touching upon the suffering of Christians in North Africa reminded me that in the last week, the UK's prime minister was saying that Islamic militancy poses an "existential threat".
That raises the question - granting that reality, what answers do secularists actually have? I don't mean "we'll send the boys over to keep them at bay for now". I mean, what do we have to offer by way of world-view, of better and higher things to bring long-term solutions? What forces and powers can we unleash to solve the problem in the ultimate analysis?
According to the secularist/humanist narrative, the spread of democracy is one of the major carriers of peace and prosperity to the nations. When the people can choose their leaders freely, all shall progressively be well.
The problem is, that it seems that the growing Islamisation of much of that part of the world is actually a result of increased democracy. The people (the demos) have been voting for it. The chaos is partly the result of the increased freedom for the people to choose.
That was rather predictable; since modern democracy basically boils down to rule by whoever can organise the most persuasive electoral coalition every few years. The belief that the demos will always choose what is ultimately wisest or in their best long-term interests is an obvious fallacy.
So, what does secularism have to say now? Their belief is falsified by reality. So, where's the solution? If democracy can bring less peace, then where should we pin our ultimate hopes instead? Secularism has no real answers, because it simply doesn't reckon with the facts about corrupt human nature. The demos, when lifted up to fulfil this kind of role, being prospectively all-wise and all-benevolent, are ultimately another false God. As such, they will and must let us down.
What's the answer? Jesus Christ alone can change the corrupt human heart - because that's where the root of the problem really lies.
That raises the question - granting that reality, what answers do secularists actually have? I don't mean "we'll send the boys over to keep them at bay for now". I mean, what do we have to offer by way of world-view, of better and higher things to bring long-term solutions? What forces and powers can we unleash to solve the problem in the ultimate analysis?
According to the secularist/humanist narrative, the spread of democracy is one of the major carriers of peace and prosperity to the nations. When the people can choose their leaders freely, all shall progressively be well.
The problem is, that it seems that the growing Islamisation of much of that part of the world is actually a result of increased democracy. The people (the demos) have been voting for it. The chaos is partly the result of the increased freedom for the people to choose.
That was rather predictable; since modern democracy basically boils down to rule by whoever can organise the most persuasive electoral coalition every few years. The belief that the demos will always choose what is ultimately wisest or in their best long-term interests is an obvious fallacy.
So, what does secularism have to say now? Their belief is falsified by reality. So, where's the solution? If democracy can bring less peace, then where should we pin our ultimate hopes instead? Secularism has no real answers, because it simply doesn't reckon with the facts about corrupt human nature. The demos, when lifted up to fulfil this kind of role, being prospectively all-wise and all-benevolent, are ultimately another false God. As such, they will and must let us down.
What's the answer? Jesus Christ alone can change the corrupt human heart - because that's where the root of the problem really lies.
Friday, 1 February 2013
Why it is not unscientific to say "Darwinism is impossible"
As eloquently explained here, lots of scientific and mathematical puzzlers actually have no solution. One such puzzle is how to explain how disorder ordered itself into life as we know it today. There is no solution, because it didn't happen.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/some-problems-can-be-proved-unsolvable/
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/some-problems-can-be-proved-unsolvable/
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