Category - Faith

I was reminded today of an excellent article titled Doing the Lucozade Thing by Kathy Hasler that I read some time ago.

It comes from a back issue of The Bible in TransMission published by the British Bible Society.

Part of the article says, “The painful truth is that within the sophisticated world of lifestyle media – and arguably much of secular culture – Christianity is so hopelessly disregarded as to be virtually unmentionable in its raw state. Use our buzzwords like “Jesus”, “prayer”, “church” and “Christian” at your peril – easier to suggest we all buy our working wardrobes from Woolworths! By stark contrast, however, mention spirituality and you’re likely to generate a frisson of interest in even the most elevated of media circles. The PR challenge (at least in the minds of the media) is how to link genuine Christian faith and belief with the urbane and sophisticated subject of emerging spirituality. Because emerging it is – from Feng Shui to monastic retreats, Zen gardens to Buddhist-inspired dietary regimes, spirituality is on the journalists’ agenda in a big way.”

Read through the rest of the article and let me know what you think.

If you’ve never read any of The Bible in TransMission I’m sure you’ll find plenty of very interesting articles there. In the introduction to the magazine they say, “Surrounded by change, the Church cannot afford to stand still. The Bible in TransMission’s editorial committee aims to stimulate thought and discussion to meet the changing needs, to push professionals to extend their insights and understanding, sometimes to take a new direction. We commission practitioners and creative thinkers in varied spheres of church ministry, as well as those who bring insights from other disciplines, to ignite thought and discussion.”

Enjoy some reading time browsing the articles.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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How would you feel if your pastor stood up in the pulpit this weekend and told you there is no God?

For the life of me I cannot work out why anyone would want to be a pastor if they didn’t believe in God or why anyone would want to go to a church that preached that message.

Never the less, this article tells me that it’s happening in Denmark.

A PASTOR in Denmark’s state Lutheran Protestant Church who caused a stir last year by saying he did not believe in God has been suspended from his duties for a second time, Bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel said on Thursday.

The bishop said pastor Thorkild Grosboell had sown “deep confusion within the Church” with his comments, which were first published in a newspaper interview in May 2003 and which he has continued to express since then.

In the interview he was quoted as saying that he did not believe in God, resurrection or eternal life.

While he later said that his comments were misconstrued and oversimplified, he refused to take them back and was suspended. Several weeks later he repented and was reinstated.

Rebel had however kept a close and watchful eye on all of Grosboell’s sermons for the past year, where he repeatedly reiterated his controversial remarks.

Read the rest of the article here.

If I didn’t believe in God, I certainly wouldn’t be going to church to reaffirm my disbelief.

If I didn’t believe in God I certainly wouldn’t choose ‘pastor’ as my career path.

What on earth does he find to preach about each week? What kind of songs does the congregation sing? It’s mind boggling.

Many people choose not to believe in God – it’s their choice – but why remain part of a church?

It’s all a bit confusing for me.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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Benny Hinn’s on his way back to Australia but not everyone’s happy about the self professed pastor heading down under.

This article in the Courier Mail tells us that a group of people wants Benny’s ‘faith healing’ put to the test.

A MODERN Christian “crusade” led by American television evangelist Benny Hinn, a self-professed miracle-worker and faith healer, will be unleashed on Brisbane later this month.

More than 30,000 believers hoping for some kind of healing of body, mind or spirit, are expected to raise the roof of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for two shows – sandwiched between shows in Chicago and Ohio – on June 25 and 26. They are his only shows in Australia.

Apart from those watching television during the vampire hours, relatively few Australians know of Hinn although his Orlando Christian Centre ministry, founded two decades ago, earns up to $100 million a year and is said to have a weekly world TV audience of more than 50 million.

In the US “disbelievers” have marred his church and concert hall performances by protesting outside venues and accusing the 51-year-old Lebanese-born tele-minister of preying on the sick and elderly.

Watchdog groups have been lobbying US Congress to pass legislation making it illegal to hawk anything that cannot be proven to deliver what it promises, and authorities have also been investigating his growing wealth.

His visit, along with that of fellow millionaire faith healer Kenneth Copeland next month, have been pre-empted by Australian church authorities who believe claims of miracle healings should be investigated by government.

I’m sure that one of the things that is worrying people is the huge wealth that Benny and his ministry has amassed. I find the following paragraph from the article of particular concern.

Currently Hinn is requesting donations to enable him to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Three years ago he was asking for $30 million to build a “World Healing Centre” and although the funds were raised the plans were abandoned.

I don’t know what accountability there is in his ministry but it worries me that they can collect money for a non-existant project.

I have read a lot of stuff that worries me about Benny Hinn. Just do a quick Google search on his name and you’ll be flooded with sites pointing out his alleged excesses and eroneous teachings.

My question is, can God still be using this man? He still uses me with all my faults. Is Benny Hinn a healer or a false prophet?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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It stands for What T-Shirt Would Jesus Wear? I was just wondering about that after seeing this article.

(AgapePress) – A San Diego school district is being sued after a student was suspended for wearing a T-shirt displaying the messages “Homosexuality is Shameful” and “Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned.”

The Poway Unified School District is accused of violating the 16-year-old sophomore’s civil rights. The federal suit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) claims that Chase Harper was suspended for expressing his Christian beliefs during the pro-homosexual “Day of Silence” observance in April. During that national event, high school and college students were urged to show support for homosexual, bisexual, and trans-gender students.

It seems that this guy is trying to claim that he’s expressing his Christian beliefs.

Is it his Christian belief that Jesus would have him condemn people openly without compassion? When I read scripture I see Jesus pouring out his anger on the pharisees who practised outward acts of religion without an inner yearning for God.

When Jesus finds people in sin, even in sexual sin, he speaks very differently. When he spoke to the woman at the well did he wear a T-Shirt saying, “Adultery and Fornication are Shameful”? No, he told her about living water. A new start for a woman who had a very sordid past.

When he stopped the woman caught in adultery from being stoned did he have a T-Shirt saying, “Adulterous Women Have Embraced What God Has Condemned”? No, he reminded the gathered crowd that they all had their own struggles with sin, then offered the woman a new start.

Jesus never once condoned sinful acts but he always acted with compassion and mercy while offering a better way. He told people to, “Go and sin no more”.

The article said, “During that national event, high school and college students were urged to show support for homosexual, bisexual, and trans-gender students”.

How would Jesus have shown support for these people? By wearing a T-shirt that condemned them?

How could this student have shown support for homosexual, bisexual, and trans-gender students?

I am the first person to admit that I don’t have much of an idea of what homosexuals, bisexuals and trans-gender people go through or what they need to help turn their lives around, but I know that it’s not hate from conceited Christians who think that they’re better than them. The scriptures say that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, not just homosexuals.

I have absolutely no problem avoiding homosexual sin, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t struggle with other sins. We are all broken people and pointing the finger at others who have ‘what we consider’ as a ‘worse sin than ours’ is only letting Satan have his way.

Maybe it should be this guy’s legal right to wear such a T-Shirt, freedom of speech allows all kinds of things, but let’s not try to pass it off as expressing a Christian belief.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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You’ve heard of ‘prayer warriors’, now how about ‘prayer worriers’?

A couple of praying pastors have worried authorities enought to turn a plane around according to this article.

Two preachers grounded a flight leaving Buffalo, New York, after they frightened passengers by declaring the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were a good reason to pray, officials said on Thursday.

One preacher told fellow passengers as the Continental Airlines plane taxied down the runway, “Your last breath on earth is the first one in heaven as long as you are born again and have Jesus in your heart,” according to FBI spokesman Paul Moskal.

I don’t know that they did themselves or their cause any favours.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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