thoughts out !oud

a Christian’s news, views, opinions and occasional poetry …

‘If God says “No”, will I still be happy?’

I saw this question just this morning. I can’t say I know exactly what it is that it’s trying to say, but it did get me thinking a little. (Rare, I know ;) )

When weighing up such a question, I guess we need to consider the implied assumption(s) - if there is one or any. Once we have some idea as to the motivation for the question, we should then be able to best address it. But let’s start with the possible assumption.

The author of the question could be implying that only an affirmative from God will make them happy. (Don’t misunderstand - God is really the only person who can fulfill every deep-seated emotional, physical and spiritual need that a person can have.)… Continue reading 'If God says "No", will I still be happy?'

What’s your ‘christian’ flava?, or ‘Why Christian Creeds are important’

Stemming from a recent online forum debate I was involved in, one of the queries leveled at me was along the lines of: what variant of Christianity do I subscribe to?

Initially, I found this to be a curious question. For to me, Christianity is Christianity - how can truth be varied? But there is an important lesson within this question for those of us Christians who aspire to share and argue for the truth of the Gospel. And the lesson stems from the fact that, to the unbeliever, to ask what ‘variant’ of Christianity you adhere to reveals that the face of Christianity is obscured or blurred at the best of times.

This reminds me of a story of a traveling Christian businessman. One weekend, when… Continue reading What's your 'christian' flava?, or 'Why Christian Creeds are important'

To God the glory (even when difficult)

After my last post, When God says ‘No’, it seemed an obvious step to share some other learnings on 2 Samuel 12:13-23. To some, this passage can be difficult to accept; to the skeptic, it’s a verse they pull to label the God of the Bible as a cruel and unjust God. Why? Well, because God takes the life of David’s son - seemingly without just cause.

In all our Bible reading we must understand that the wages of sin is death and that this entails justice. We see this requirement met for us by the substitutional death of Jesus on our behalf - Jesus paid the full ransom for our sin by taking the punishment we ourselves deserve. In David’s case, is it that… Continue reading To God the glory (even when difficult)

When God says ‘No’

In the last few days, I’ve been reading over 2 Samuel 12:13-23. It is pretty mind-blowing to think that this story of the results of David’s double-sin of murder and adultery has powerful application for us Christians in our lives in the here and now, despite being written approx. 2500 years ago.

Perhaps I say this because I can see a lot of myself in David in this account in 2 Sam 12. There have been some wrongs in my life in recent years that I have committed and did not repent of - always putting them off, putting them off. It is not so much that I’ve committed the same sins as David had in this story, but rather the impact of his sins’ consequences that I’m… Continue reading When God says 'No'

God’s a real ‘devil’?

We look around us and see all the evil in the world and those incited by the mass injustice (whether personally against them, or against groups of others) brings with it a cursing of God. God’s the real devil of it all, apparently. After all, if He is as good and all benevolent as some believe Him to be, how can he let the things that have ravaged human history and cause pain and suffering to millions to this very day?

I was reading an address on this earlier today, and the following proverb was mentioned:

A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD. (Prov 19:3)

This goes as much as to say that our own poor choices are the ones that make our life… Continue reading God's a real 'devil'?

Jesus died as first importance

Have we really any idea … I mean really any idea what Jesus suffered and endured for our sakes?

[youtube]Lq-MmOn3j0Y[/youtube]

1 Corinthians 15:3:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture …

You are the reason for God’s ‘first importance’, that Jesus died for you, in the (only) manner that he did.

We ought to remember the sinner’s prayer … and perhaps pray it, or meditate on it, often …… Continue reading Jesus died as first importance

I’ve got a bad karma about this …

Ok. So maybe I jinxed things with my last post regarding karma, but I couldn’t help but see the humour in what transpired on the way home from the office today. It happened again!

That is, bang on evening peak-hour, our public train system hit another snag - the second in the same day - and this one crippled trains heading into the underground loop. Which of course means that I, along with oh, maybe several hundred fellow, faithful, fee-paying patrons had to make our way down a few city blocks to Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station in order to get crammed onto a train for the ride home.

What made the situation even more funny was the fact that the train I caught at Flinders Street (and… Continue reading I've got a bad karma about this ...

Next stop: Karma Central

It’s a subtle reference, to be sure. Unless you’re in the clutches of the menace that is Melbourne’s public transport system, you are probably blissfully unaware. Fare evasion is nothing new to any transport system, but in Melbourne’s beloved train, tram and bus network, Metlink believe it’s a big deal. A big enough deal to presume guilt on its patrons before innocence. A big enough deal to launch a quasi-spiritual campaign against the ticket evaders and freeloaders that must ’surely be the reason’ for our failed and troubled transport system. A’la karmacentral.com.au.

Their whole campaign revolves around the simple notion that if you don’t buy a ticket or otherwise avoid paying your way on public transport, somewhere, somehow, something bad is going to happen to you… Continue reading Next stop: Karma Central

keep looking »