PRAY FOR THE PERSECUTED

In our recent series on Hebrews we spent a week thinking about Hebrews 13:3:

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

This Sunday (November 14th) has been billed as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Whether you spend this Sunday as a special time of prayer or find some other time, I believe it is important to be informed and to pray (regularly) for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted.

As if on cue, this article appeared in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald, telling the story of Pakistani woman Asia Bibi (Pictured above), who has been convicted of Blasphemy and sentenced to death.

There are too many similar stories in various parts of the world. Helpful websites to find out more about persecution around the world are:

http://www.persecution.org/         International Christian Concern

http://www.persecution.com/       Voice of the Martyrs

http://www.persecution.com.au/   VOM Aust

Fun and Safe Social Networking for Kids

One of the challenges most parents face in the 'internet age' is walking the line between 'access' and safety. When we hear the terrible stories of people abused by 'friends' they have met on social media sites we are rightly cautious about what our kids are doing online.

There are of course precautions we can take when kids are younger, including filtering or blocking software, physical location of computers (in the family room, not the bedroom) and parental supervision. But where do we allow them to go online when they want to start using social networking.

In our house the teenagers use 'facebook'. We rely on their maturity and good judgement - but their parents are also among their FB 'friends'. The pre-teenagers are more likely to be interested in Club Penguin, where each person has a penguin avatar that can interact (to a limited extent) with others. They especially like the races against other penguins (that earn them points).

But what if you want something in between? This review by Sarah Kessler of five 'fun and safe social networks for children' on mashable could be the answer. For the record the five are:

1. Togetherville
2. What's What
3. Scuttlepad
4. Giant Hello
5. Skid-e Kids

While none of these will be perfectly safe, there will probably be something here you will find acceptable. Just remember to keep talking with your kids about what they enjoy (or dislike) about the site.

A Christian Response to Global Warming

I recently took on the challenge of preaching two topical sermons on current ethical issues. The first was Euthanasia (see here) and the second was 'A Christian Response to Global Warming'.

I have to say that the first topic was much easier to tackle - mainly because the Bible has more to say about the topic. But how to tackle the topic of 'Global Warming' (GW)?

I began by doing some research on the scientific views on GW. With some background in science (B Sc in 1986!) I was confident I could get a handle on the issues. What I discovered is that it is not as straightforward as I had thought!

If we accept the argument of Al Gore and friends (from the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth') then an increase in pollution caused by human activity has led to an increase in greenhouse gases - especially Carbon Dioxide. This has led to an increase in the average temperature of the earth by about 0.6 - 0.8 degrees C in the last 40-50 years, or about 1.5 degrees over the last 100 years. The concern is that this increase in temperatures is already having significant negative effects, and that if it continues we could see an increase in the world's temperature of 4-5 degrees in the next 50 years - with catastrophic consequences. (A Short Video by national geographic explaining Global Warming can be found here: Global Warming 101.)

Al Gore claims that the scientific facts are not disputed - which is only partly true. The fact of global warming - the rise in the average temperature of the earth - is generally not disputed. What is disputed more is the cause. More specifically, whether humans are the main cause. There actually seem to be quite a few scientists who have alternative explanations (see for example the arguments of Bob Carter, an Australian from Townsville who does not deny the facts, but the conclusions drawn. His new book is called Climate: The Counter Consenus). The 'international consensus' on human induced global warming is presented here (Australian Government Dept of Climate Change) and here (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change).

In a short period of time I went from being fairly convinced for Human-caused global warming to very sceptical, and then back to cautiously accepting.

Another side of the issue is to consder the political organisations that are pushing the for an integrated international solution - which generally involves heavy taxing of carbon emissions. Led by the beauracracy of the UN, it is strongly supported by many socialist organisations around the world who are keen to see this as a way to redistribute the world's wealth. At this point we can get into any number of conspiracy theories - many of which I consider crazy! However, there is at least a grain of truth coming from those who warn against handing over power to an unaccountable world-wide beauracracy.

Taking all this into account, I then tried to consider the Christian response. I decided that perhaps the most  important passages are in Genesis 1 and 2 which remind us that God is creator of our world and he has given us an authority over the creation - not an authority to exploit, but rather an authority that involves caring for his creation. Very important is to remember that we are to worship the creator, not the creation, and that in whatever we do we are to see to love both God and our neighbour.

So, I asked, how should we love our neighbour who is possibly affected by Global Warming? I think the answer is that we as individual and as societies ought to take 'reasonable means' to lessen our impact on the creation. Having said that, I am sure that there are more significant issues of exploitation (of people as well as the environment) and pollution that ought to be addressed as a priority over 'carbon emission'. Nonetheless, I believe that in this we ought to err on the side of caution and begin to implement measures that will reduce our the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Here is the outline of my talk: