Atheism for the Incorrigibly Religious

Alain de Botton is a Swiss Philosopher currently in Australia promoting he latest book: On Religion for Atheists.  Dan (who is a philosophy graduate and studying for his Ph D as well as working in University student ministry) went to hear him speak at the Sydney Opera House.


Here is an excerpt from his reflections on the event:

The reason that religions have much to teach atheists, according to De Botton, begins with the insight that humans are basically ‘not ok’: the basic human condition is one of vulnerability, fragility, lostness. For De Botton, this is the fundamental truth behind the Christian doctrine of original sin. And it’s a truth that New Atheism, proclaimed from the High Tables of Oxbridge, abjectly fails to reckon with. The modernist humanistic project has been altogether too quick to leave us to our own devices and what is needed is a thoroughgoing reappraisal of our need for an education in the disciplines of living well. Religions understand this, they understand that education is not about skilling people for tasks, but a process of moral formation and guidance to help us navigate the twin uncertainties of our world and our hearts. The rationalist education produces better hairdressers; the religious, better people.

De Botton’s sampling at the bain-marie of religion is guided by his desire to introduce atheists into these effective practices of moral formation. . . .

Do check out his brilliant review here: Papermind/atheism-for-the-incorrigibly-religious/.

Bible Reading Plans for the New Year

While Christians know that we can make a fresh start with God anytime, the start of a new year can be a good opportunity to change some of the patterns of life and make the changes that we haven’t felt able to make in the busy-ness of the year. I suggested in a recent sermon that two of the habits and patterns we might seek to establish or re-establish for the new year might be our quiet times and our Bible reading programme. Often these two can (and should) be linked.

One of the challenges of establishing a regular Bible reading plan is working out the plan. I find that it helps to use a plan that someone else has put some time and effort into devising. I recently came across a collection of these gathered by Justin Taylor here: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/12/30/bible-reading-plans-2/

Another recent article with a revised Bible reading plan is found here:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/12/29/two-year-bible-reading-plan/

I especially recommend the Bible reading plan originally devised by Robert Murray M’Cheyne in 1842. If you read all four readings for each day you read the whole Bible in a year. It can easily be modified so that you read the whole Bible in two years (just read two readings each day). The plan is reprinted in a book by Don Carson, For the Love of God (Vols 1 and 2) which gives a short reflection for each day on one of the readings. Carson’s introduction, which includes a copy of the plan, can be found here: Carson’s Introduction - For the Love of God

It can be helpful to make some notes as you read - especially to write down reflections, response and action points that come from your reading. You can use your own notebook, or you might like to look at the Youthworks REAP journals (for children, youth and adults). (REAP stands for Read, Explore, Apply, Pray).

For those who would like to have access to a Bible reading plan for their mobile device, I recommend Olive Tree Bible Software, which has the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan free - as well as a few free Bibles (eg. the HCSB is free). The free software is available for iPod / iPhone, Android etc.  (You can also get the ESV free for your device - look for it on iTunes or in the Android market).

Take the plunge and get into a Bible reading plan this year. I pray that God will bless you richly as you listen to his word.

PS. For a nice online version of the M'Cheyne plan, with links to Biblegateway, check out this page created by Karen & Ben Beilharz. http://hippocampusextensions.com/mcheyneplan/
 
(This is a revised version of a previous post.)

Archbishop of Sydney's Christmas Message

The christmas message of Archbishop Peter Jensen - touches on the centrality of Jesus in history, the challenging times we face and the need for generosity - remembering God's generosity towards us in the Lord Jesus.


Christmas message from Sydneyanglicans.net on Vimeo.

Here’s the full text:


Christmas is our big annual reminder of the generous love of God. When Jesus was born, it was God himself entering our story to rescue us from sin.

Some people just can’t stand the fact that he is the most important person in history and our whole dating system revolves around his birth. They even want to change the language to write him out.

It’s sad really. It shows that people are frightened of his influence and will do anything to stop us talking about him.

Sad, because Jesus Christ is the world’s greatest inspiration. We need him in our lives and in our history and in our community.

The signs are that the world is in for a difficult time economically. For some countries it is not just a downturn, they will need to grapple with a breakdown in their economic systems. Already, many people go hungry each day. If times get worse, it will be the poor and disadvantaged who suffer most. We are going to need to be generous, and the greatest inspiration to generosity that the world has ever known is Jesus.

When we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating the generosity of Jesus, who left his heavenly home to live amongst us and to die for us on a Roman cross to reconcile us to God.

When we are reconciled to God, it affects the whole way we think of others. We reach out in care and forgiveness.

It’s a glad and generous season of the year because our God makes us glad with his generosity.

Dr Peter F Jensen,
Archbishop of Sydney,
Christmas, 2011 AD.


May you enjoy the blessing of God's generosity this Christmas.

The King of Assyria, God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility



Detail of wall relief from the palace of
King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria at Nimrud
c. 875 BC. 

 We have been looking at the early chapters of Isaiah this term at church and recently came across a passage in Isaiah 10 which highlights the relationship between God's sovereignty and human responsibility.

The big questions many people ask are: 'How can I be responsible if God really determines what happens?' or 'If I have free will how can God be completely sovereign?' These are great questions and worth considering at length, but the Biblical attitude is summed up quite well in Isaiah 10.

In the early chapters of Isaiah the nation of Judah (under King Ahaz) faces firstly the threat of invasion by their northern cousins in Israel and the nation of Syria who have made an alliance and decide to invade Judah to remove Ahaz and place a puppet king on the throne (see especially Isaiah 7). This alliance is all about standing as a united front against Assyria – the great superpower of their day.

Under the reign of Tiglath Pileser III (744-727 BC), the Assyrian empire expanded significantly. From their capital in Nineveh on the Tigris River, they came to rule over Babylon to the south, around the fertile crescent and pushed down toward Palestine and Egypt. By 734 BC the consequences of this expansion led Syria and Israel to attack Judah and forced Ahaz to decide where he would turn for security.
In Isaiah 7 the prophet confronts Ahaz and challenges him not to lose heart because of the invasion of Israel and Syria but to trust the LORD. Isaiah tells Ahaz to ask for a sign and when Ahaz refuses Isaiah tells him that the Lord will give a sign anyway – the sign of Immanuel. The Lord promises that within a few years at most he will "whistle up" invaders from Assyria as if they were insects that will lay waste to the nations of Syria and Israel. He goes on to say that 'In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River – the king of Assyria – to shave your head and the hair of your legs and to take off your beards also.' (7:20) Again in chapter 8 there is the prophecy of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (meaning 'quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil'), that before the child knows how to say mother or father the nations of Syria and Israel will be carried off by the King of Assyria – a prophecy which was fulfilled in 732 BC and 722 BC respectively. The records suggest that the Assyrians overran Judah and surrounded Jerusalem, but withdrew before conquering the city.

The point Isaiah makes is that in all this Assyria is an instrument in the hands of the Lord – fulfilling God's will of punishing Syria and Israel and even Judah. But does that mean they are not responsible for their actions? The answer in Isaiah 10:5-19 is clear:

⁵ ''Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

⁶ I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

⁷ But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. . .

 ¹² When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, ''I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³ For he says: '''By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. . .

 ¹⁵ Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up, or a club brandish him who is not wood!

¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; . . .

 The Bible here makes a claim for God's sovereignty – Assyria is an instrument in his hands – and yet the King of Assyria will be punished for 'the wilful pride of his heart'. He is still responsible. Somehow God's sovereignty does not contradict human responsibility – but it over-arches all.

While we may find it difficult to reconcile these two ideas, this is the consistent view of the Bible – we are responsible moral agents who will one day be accountable to God for all we do. Yet at the same time it is God who 'fore-ordains' or 'pre-destines' the rise and fall of nations and kings and all the detail of every human life. Yet we do not become fatalists, because God does not (usually) tell us the details of his plans beforehand – we are left to live trusting his word to us and seeking to respond in the obedience that comes from faith. We also rejoice that when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus we receive forgiveness for our sins and the gift of eternal life.


For an interesting account of the building of Sennacherib's palace in Nineveh early in the 8^th Century BC see this site: http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/palaces/story/sto_set.html

Memorising Scripture - 2 Timothy

One of the great ways to allow God's word to dwell in us (Colossians 3:16) is to memorise parts of scripture. This video shows two guys from a student Christian group at Harvard University reciting 2nd Timothy (such an awesome book to memorise too!).




You may not be ready for such a big challenge, but why not start with key verses from your regular Bible reading??

(Hat tip to Ray Van Neste at http://www.pastoralepistles.com/)

..

Paul and the Law - The 2011 Moore College Lectures

In August of 2011 Dr Brian Rosner gave the Annual Moore College Lectures on the Topic of "Paul and the Law: Keeping the Commandments of God." (Brian Rosner is a Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Ethics at Moore College.) I only got to one of the lectures, but I have enjoyed listening since they have been available on the Moore College website.

The lectures are a great resource for reflecting on how to understand the role of the law in the New Testament in general and in Paul's letter's in particular. They tie in nicely with previous posts on the role of the law according to the letter to the Hebrews.

Since the files on the Moore College Library site are a little hard to access, I thought I would post the links here (in order). The first lecture was a public overview (which I will call Lecture 0). Each lecture had an accompanying handout which is available as a PDF. The lectures were:

Lecture 0: Paul and the Law: Keeping the Commandments of God.   PDF Here.

Lecture 1: Circumcision is Nothing: Paul and the Puzzle of the Law.   PDF Here.

Lecture 2: "Not Under the Law": Paul's Repudiation of the Law as Legal Code.  PDF Here.

Lecture 3: "Under the Law of Christ": Paul's Replacement of the Law.  PDF Here.

Lecture 4: "Witness to the Gospel": Paul's Reappropriation of the Law as Prophecy.  PDF Here.

Lecture 5: "Written for Our Instruction":  Paul's Reappropriation of the Law as Wisdom.  PDF Here.


The Moore College Library online resource page is here.


Please let me know if there are any problems with the links.  Enjoy ...

The Case For God

I've recently been doing some preparation for some outreach meetings on campus where we have asked people what questions they have for God. In doing this thinking I find the CPX website invaluable.
I came across a series by Greg Clarke written in response to the Atheist convention held in Australia early in 2010. His article on 'The Case for God' is very helpful (and a good length!)
Here are two (brief) arguments for God:

1. An originating capital-M Mind is the best explanation of why there is something rather than nothing, of why the universe is here at all. A more complicated statement that might also hold true is that our observance of the natural world leads us to conclude that it looks like a capital-M Mind was involved in its structuring, and furthermore, rationally, a capital-M Mind explains very well why the conditions of the universe are so finely tuned for life.

2. It is very hard to convince a human being, whether religious or an atheist, that the universe is without meaning, without values and without purpose. We are all pretty much agreed that it is full of these things: meaning (our lives matter), values (we can recognise with some finesse the difference between good and bad), and purpose (history is going somewhere). The hypothesis that there is a God does a better job of explaining these things than its alternative, the naturalist hypothesis, simply because with God these things are then real rather than illusory, as they are in the naturalist worldview. Real meaning, genuine values, lasting purpose. God is the best explanation of these elements of existence.

Greg also makes the important point that very few people are ever argued into the kingdom of God. Much more helpful is an encounter with the Lord Jesus through the scriptures, however this kind of article can be helpful in laying down the philosphical background and framework that helps Christians (and not-yet-Christians) understand the philosophical underpinnings of faith.
It is certainly worth reading the rest of Greg's article, here: http://publicchristianity.org/library/response-to-global-atheism-conference-a-short-case-for-god.

..

John Lennox on Science, the Bible and Belief in the 21st Century

John Lennox is currently in Australia. He is Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Oxford University. I went to hear him this week speak to a packed auditorium at a school in Southern Sydney. He particularly spoke about the arguments of the 'New Atheists' (who include Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Peter Singer - all of whom he has debated) and some of the flaws in their arguments.

It was a helpful talk that also presented clearly some of the arguments for Christianity and the basis of Lennox's own belief.  Unfortunately it was all-too-brief and has motivated me to continue reading his book (which I have just started): God's undertaker: Has Science Buried God (2009).

This interview from CPX was recorded on a previous visit to Australia, and discusses some of the issues in a helpful way:


Science, the Bible and belief in the 21st Century from CPX on Vimeo.


You can find more Lennox videos at:  http://www.publicchristianity.com/lennoxvids.html

...