I have been a CS Lewis fan since my youth. So I remember being impressed by his argument, in Mere Christianity, that Jesus was divine. He could not have been merely a great moral teacher, Lewis argued, for his claims were such that either he was mad, or evil, or truly the Lord.
These days, the argument, often called the trilemma and abbreviated (and changed a little) to Liar, Lunatic or Lord? is not so effective. It is important that we understand why.
Every year the Queen records a Christmas message for those of us in the British Commonwealth. I think the idea of a Queen and the Commonwealth are somewhat anachronistic and I usually don’t watch the Queen’s message when it comes on at the end of the ABC 7:00 pm Christmas Day TV News. But I saw it this year – and it was worth seeing.
Whatever christians disagree on, we all pretty much agree that Jesus’ life on earth was pivotal in world history. But what was the purpose of his life? On that, you’ll get some different answers.
Back in November I reported on exploitation in the world cocoa trade in My pleasure, their misery?. At that time I wrote about this to two prominent chocolate manufacturers.
I subsequently reported (Fair Trade chocolate – report 2) that I had received a reply from Cadbury indicating their ongoing support for Fair Trade products. I think they could do more, but it is encouraging that they have come this far.
Now, more than a month after I wrote to Darrell Lea, I still have not received a reply. Of course, Christmas is probably their busiest period, so I may hear from them in January. We shall see.
Anyone want to join in writing to Darrell Lea, and also to Nestle, Lindt or others?
Photo courtesy of World Vision.
I’ve never used Twitter. I’m not really interested, and I doubt anyone would want to read my tweets anyway. But many christians use it, especially well-known ones – writers, leaders, entertainers and bloggers.
But I’m beginning to wonder whether a lot of this christian tweeting is counter-productive.
Some people read the Bible nearly every day. Some people feel guilty that they don’t read it every day. Some people read it only to criticise it, while others never read it.
What effect does Bible reading have on the reader? Some recent surveys have some interesting findings.
Over the years I’ve read a lot of books about changing the church. Probably out of desperation, I think. Things really must change, and they are, but too slowly. I’ve read a lot of good books in that time, and bypassed a few that didn’t look so good.
But here’s four books I can recommend wholeheartedly. If you read them and take notice, they can hardly fail to challenge you and lead to your church being at least a little more effective in carrying out the mission Jesus left for us.
A couple of weeks ago, I outlined some facts about exploitation in the growing of cocoa for chocolate (see My pleasure, their misery?) and at the same time wrote to two prominent chocolate manufacturers expressing my concerns and asking them to make more concerted moves to only source cocoa from growers who were paid a fair wage and were not exploiting children.
I have had one answer back.
The Australian Labor Party, which forms the present Australian Government, is having its national conference, where policy ideas are discussed and decided. This year, one of the “hot” topics for discussion is gay marriage. (Technically, I think the proposal is a change to the Marriage Act, which currently specifies marriage is between a man and a woman.)
The main opposition comes from the churches, especially the Anglican and Catholic churches, and Labor party officials with church links. Are they right?
