In the past month we received several communications relating to the alleged execution of Bishop Francois Murad and two of his assistants in Syria.
One of these emails was accompanied by a link to a video of the killings along with a request for me to watch the video, to “wake up”, and for New Zealand Christian Network to not engage further in interfaith dialogues.
“Until the mainstream Western media take up this persecution of Christians in the same way as they take up causes like Gitmo and Islamophobia” said the writer “then I will say you are wasting your time in nothing more than feel-good dreaming. Those same Muslims you would dialogue with are playing you for a fool. And any Muslims who are pure of heart who might talk with you are in no position to change anything.”
I have wrestled over whether and how to share this story. The potential to offend people is huge and that is definitely not my intention.
A report published in the British Daily Telegraph (2 July) establishes fairly well that the victims depicted in the video are almost certainly not the people they are claimed to be. There may be some truth in what the writer says (that persecution of Christians needs to be taken more seriously in Western mainstream media), but there is also an element of error that needs to be addressed (that engagement in interfaith dialogue is a waste of time or based on deception). In fact, the writer himself was party to spreading a deception even if he was unaware of it.
I watched the video. Maybe that was a mistake. I did so in the first instance because most of the emails like this that we receive are amateurish hoaxes (check out www.snopes.com) and we have successfully limited the circulation of many of them in the past by pointing this out. Regrettably, apart from the incorrect identification of the victims. and allowing for the possibility of some expert photo-editing, this one was almost certainly real. It must be said that there is no proof at this stage that the victims were even Christians.
By the time I realised this that the video was likely real I felt a duty to see it through to the end out of respect for what these people suffered and also so that my response to the writer of the email would be done with full knowledge of what the video contained.
One week on I still feel upset and traumatised, and I still feel as intense about my response as when I sent it. Part of that response is copied below (edited only to remove names and abbreviate some details).
Hello <name deleted> – Thank you for sending me this.
… let me assure you I have watched the whole 9 minutes of the video. I forced myself to do this as a gesture of respect for the people whose lives were taken. I am deeply shocked and upset by the content of the video. Even though I have used those words before they never came close to describing the feeling I have right now. The killings shown in the video are shocking and upsetting and disgusting. May God have mercy on each and every one of the people involved, especially the victims and their families, and also on every one of the offenders.
Secondly, let me also say that the horrendous violence of these people “in the name of Islam” does not describe any of the Muslims in New Zealand who I interact with, nor their understanding of Islam.
Are Muslims playing us for a fool? I honestly don’t think so. Do you seriously think that any one of them would not be as sincerely shocked and upset as I am now? – not only by the violence of this act, but also by the fact that it was done in the name of Islam?Do you think any one of them would be secretly gloating that this was done?Do you think that any one of them thinks there is any way this could be remotely justified in a proper understanding of their faith?Do you think that there are not many Muslims being killed in similar acts on a regular basis?(author’s added note – in fact, with the Telegraph reporting that the victims were almost certainly not the people claimed, there is no reason to think the victims in this case were Muslims themselves)Do you think there is not a single one of them who if they could do anything to stop this violence would not do so?Do you think that their statements to the media or to the sort of people who did this would have any effect?Does the fact that they are in no position to change anything mean that it’s OK to describe the actions of extremists as representative of their religion as a whole?
As you can tell from this quite emotional response, the video has shocked me deeply. But it has done nothing to change my view of the Muslims I meet with regularly in interfaith dialogues (… nor the value of those dialogues).
Glyn Carpenter New Zealand Christian Network
This related article appeared on the Breakpoint site a couple of days later. We are posting it because of the interesting comments it makes about the complex political and religious dynamic in Syria. Readers may also be interested to think about the writer’s call at the end of the piece (for American leaders to not engage in the Syrian conflict).
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
Psalm 3:5
It’s one of the “status games” I most detest. Like the “I’m just so incredibly busy” line, the “I survive on less than X hours of sleep a night” ploy is a popular past time – particularly amongst us males. It’s as if our manhood rests (excuse the pun) on how little sleep we require. The inference is that to be really productive and high-performing, I should learn to do with less snoozing and more working.
Perhaps there’s a market here for some tee-shirt slogans: “Proud to be an insomniac!” “Sleep is for lazybones!” Or maybe “Real men don’t sleep!”
In a twisted and ironic way, to proclaim that we comfortably get by on less shut-eye than the average person, is something many feel proud about.
The “Christianized” version of this might well be built around an over-emphasis on a number of Proverbs warning us of sleeping too much. Like:
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?[1]
It’s the kind of goading a teenager might hear from his mother. “Sleep all day, son, and you’ll end up poor.”
But is a lack of sleep really something to aspire to or even boast about? Maybe for many of us, it’s not getting enough sleep that we should be most concerned about?
Born to sleep
When I was born, two activities dominated my time: eating and sleeping. In fact, I started life sleeping up to twenty-two hours a day. I can’t remember anyone accusing me of being lazy. (Actually, I can’t recall much at all from those early days!)
Of course, if I were still sleeping my life away a few years later, my parents would have been very worried. Through the growing up years, my need for sleep – indeed my whole sleep patterns – changed dramatically.
Eventually, like most maturing humans, I came to spend around a third of my life sleeping. Which brings us to a very important question:
Why have we been made to need sleep? Why did God make us this way?
While you were sleeping
In spite of huge advances in science over the past century, sleep remains one of the more mysterious aspects of our lives. I guess that shouldn’t surprise us too much – we are, after all, comatose through these vital hours of potential research! So most of what has been discovered about our sleep is a result of measuring brain and body activity while subjects are asleep. David Randall, author of the book, Dreamland, posits that: “Sleep isn’t a break from our lives. It’s the missing third of the puzzle of what it means to be living.”[2]
So here’s some of what we do know:
There are five stages or levels of sleep (drowsiness, light or true sleep, two stages of deep sleep and REM).
Most of our dreaming occurs during REM (Rapid Eye Movement).
REM sleep is often described as a “waking brain in a paralysed body”, prompting some scientists to speculate that this is nature’s way of us not acting out our dreams.
The two stages of deep (or Delta) sleep are when our bodies and brains are least active – everything slows to a crawl.
When sleeping healthily, we go through these stages several times a night – in roughly ninety-minute cycles.
It is normal to wake up several times a night (or at least return to semi-consciousness) at the end of each cycle – though this may be as brief as turning over or changing position.
Why we need sleep
So why do we need sleep? Maybe it’s because God just needs a break from us?
While there are still no definitive answers to this question, there are lots of clues as to why sleep is critical.
Some of these stem from our knowledge of what happens if we don’t sleep – or at least, get enough sleep. Our memories suffer, we develop significant concentration lapses, and our bodies and minds age faster. Worse still, ongoing, chronic sleep deprivation eventually drives us mad and kills us.
There’s good reason to believe that sleep allows our bodies to repair, rejuvenate, and restore themselves. However, it’s not just our bodies that need the sleep. Clinical psychologist, Dr. Archibald Hart, notes that, “…the major beneficiary of sleep is [actually] our brain.”[3] Dr. Rosalind Cartwright, a professor of neuroscience who has studied sleep for decades, puts it this way, “The brain doesn’t turn off when we go to sleep; it just switches channels.”[4]
I like that imagery. It helps give me a sense that something very important is going on in my brain while my body sleeps. Whatever it is, it’s really critical to my well-being. Perhaps it’s a bit like what a parent does once all the kids have gone to bed. They get to do all the work that isn’t possible the rest of the day because there is now energy available to focus on other important tasks. Pack away all the books and toys, review and debrief what’s gone done that day, plan what is going to happen the next day …these are critical tasks that, if not done, will over time seriously erode the family’s well-being. Not that the kids are aware of this. When they wake up in the morning they probably won’t have a clue that Mum or Dad have been working while they were sleeping! Just like me and my brain.
So it’s clear something quite profound is happening to us while we sleep. David Randall speculates that, “All of those things that add up to what you consider you – your creativity, emotions, health, and ability to quickly learn a new skill or devise a solution to a problem – can be seen as little more than by-products of what happens inside your brain while your head is on your pillow each night. It is part of a world that all of us enter and yet barely understand.”[5]
How does sleeping allow all this to happen? We’re not exactly sure. But the more science discovers about sleep, the more we realize there’s a lot more to our “shut-eye” than can be observed with the naked eye.
I don’t know about you, but these little insights into what goes on in my sleep are fascinating – and they remind me how incredibly put together we are as humans. We are truly complex beings. The Psalmist says it well:
“You know when I sit and when I rise…You discern my going out and my lying down…I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! …[and] when I awake, I am still with you.”[6]
God has made us to sleep. Therefore we can safely assume that he has done so for some very important reasons – even if we are only mildly aware of its significance in our lives. The prophet Jeremiah gains a taste of what God intends for our sleep when he writes: “I’ll refresh tired bodies; I’ll restore tired souls. Just then I woke up and looked around – what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!”[7]
Sleeping disorders
Sadly though, a lot of people don’t sleep well. In fact, tiredness is a perpetual state for many. Some are sleep-deprived because of their life stage or circumstances – parents of young children, menopause, shift work, old age, etc. Others suffer from various recognized sleep disorders such as sleep apnea. However, increasingly many experience acute sleep deprivation because of their lifestyle and habits. And it’s not just a problem for adults. A recent study discovered that schoolchildren in NZ are among the most sleep-deprived in the world. 69% of 9 and 10 year olds were identified by their teachers as being adversely affected by not getting enough sleep![8]
So how much sleep do we need? While there is no magic number, studies indicate that most adults require between seven and nine hours sleep a day. The truth is that each of us needs however many hours sleep ensure we don’t feel exhausted or tired. While this will vary from one person to the next, it’s likely to be more than many adults think they need. Dr. Thomas Roth of the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders Center contends that, “The percentage of the population who only need five hours of sleep per night, rounded to a whole number, is ZERO.” My experience is that many of us underrate how much sleep we really need. (Though I think it’s also true that we can easily underestimate how much sleep we actually are getting. Sometimes it can feel like we’ve been awake all night, when the truth is that we’ve been out to it for longer than we imagined.)
Insomnia (the inability to sleep well and regularly) affects an increasing number of people, though not all sleeplessness is acute – ongoing and seriously debilitating. This alarming growth in insomnia and the myriad of diagnosed sleep disorders,[9] suggests that something is not right with our lifestyles.
At least some of the blame can be fingered at our “24/7” culture, that has all but decimated the natural work/rest rhythms of life. It started with that wonderful invention – the light bulb, which enabled us to do things at night that previously could only be done while the sun was still up.
However, it all escalated with the technology revolution, which introduced a multitude of electronic devices into our lives – accessible at the drop of a hat. As a result, night and day have become even less differentiated, so that now we can be watching a movie into the early hours of the morning, checking our emails at 3am or texting at the oddest times of the night. We burn the candle at both ends, without realizing the huge cost to our physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being. This inevitably leads us to be in “sleep debt”, which is as bad for the body and mind as financial debt is for the bank account.
Scientists tell us that we have an in-built “circadian clock” that drives the 24 hour cycle we are designed for. Melatonin is a chemical in our bodies that regulates our clock. Its presence brings on drowsiness. How much melatonin the body produces is somewhat dependent on our exposure to light. So during the daytime, levels of melatonin are generally low.[10] But get this: artificial light has the same effect as natural light, meaning that if our bodies are exposed in the middle of night to significant brightness, melatonin will be suppressed and we will fail to feel tired. It’s like the data we are feeding our brains is scrambling and confusing them.
No wonder I struggle to sleep with a host of light-emitting devices around me – computers, cellphones, TV’s and digital clocks. Too much light-stimulation at the wrong time can throw my circadian clock out of equilibrium.
God made the natural rhythms of night and day, work and rest, winter and summer, for a reason. We ignore or run roughshod over them at our peril.
Of course, our chronic sleeplessness can’t all be blamed on over-exposure to light and electronic devices. There are several other factors that “wire” us – including anxiety, stress, and caffeine. Then there are external ingredients such as restless partners, sleeping in rooms that are too hot or not ventilated enough, uncomfortable beds, and noise. They can all make a big difference to the quality of our sleep.
And then there are erratic sleep patterns. Like the presence of artificial light, not settling into a regular bedtime can have devastating effects. It throws our circadian clock out of kilter. For the spontaneous and free-spirited among us, I realize this is not something we really want to hear. The idea of becoming more regulated in going to bed and getting up may not appeal, but the key point is this: erratic sleeping patterns aren’t good for us. If God has made us to function best through a regular cycle of work, rest and sleep, then we owe to God (and to ourselves) as his trustees, to manage our patterns as well as we’re able.
God never sleeps
What I do find comforting is the knowledge that while I sleep, God continues to be fully alert. Interestingly, the very first mention of “sleep” in the Bible is in Genesis 2 and it tells the story of God’s ongoing creative activity while Adam is “out to it”:
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.[11]
The Psalmist tells us that God “…will neither sleep nor slumber.”[12] The Message puts it even more starkly – “…your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life!”
While humans are made for sleep and rest after a day’s labour, God is always actively working on creation’s behalf. This means we can have confidence that God will take care of us, even as we sleep. The Psalmist picks this up when he notes: “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.”[13]
Numbers of time through the scriptures we see this activity reinforced. One example is found in Acts 12:6-8, where, “Peter…was sleeping between two soldiers” when God caused an angel to rescue him from the hands of Herod and likely execution.
So if we were designed for daily sleep, but God never sleeps how should this affect the way we go to sleep and wake up?
Again the Psalmist expresses it well by declaring that, “If God doesn’t guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?”[14]
We see this perfectly displayed in the incident where Jesus is sleeping in the boat while a storm rages and the disciples fret.[15] The fishermen are beside themselves with anxiety and can’t understand why Jesus would be so calm and unperturbed.
At its core, going to sleep is an act of trust. Can we put aside the concerns and unfinished business of the day, believing that God will continue to work on our behalf and to protect us? When the stress of unresolved issues and impending deadlines are buzzing round our heads at a fast pace of knots, it is a real challenge to leave them for another day. However, could it be that one very tangible way God looks after us while we rest is by designing us so that our minds and emotions can be restored and rewired.
Two evening prayers express simply this act of trusting God for our sleep. One is an old prayer from the Book of Common Prayer: “O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.”
The other, a more recent one, is written by Vicki Hollander: “As I close this day I come before You, Lord. I now release all my fears, all my concerns from this day. Soothe my body, my mind, my spirit. Aid me move into deep and renewing rest.”
Is there a time to resist sleep?
There is a time to sleep. But there’s also a time to stay awake. Several times in Scripture we are made aware that sometimes we encounter situations where snoozing needs to be put aside for working and praying. The most obvious example is Jesus’ request to Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemane. Faced with the ultimate test of his obedience to the Father, Jesus asks them to pray for him while he prepares for the battle of his life. However,
When [Jesus] came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.[16]
In an eerie precursor to Peter’s subsequent denial of Jesus, Matthew notes how three times Jesus finds Peter, James and John asleep. They simply don’t seem to comprehend the magnitude of the moment. Jesus is left to prepare for his impending arrest, trial and death, alone.
Peter and co had a lot in common with the Old Testament character, Jonah. Seeking to avoid and run from God’s instructions, he ends up sleeping in the midst of a great storm that threatens to break apart the ship he is on. Jonah’s actions (or lack of) are symptomatic of his avoidance of responsibility and unwillingness to do as God has commanded him.[17]
Unlike Jonah, David was able to sense when he needed to be alert. In one of his psalms he writes, “I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD.”[18]
Of course, knowing when to break our regular patterns of sleep is not easy. When should we go to bed trusting God to continue working on our behalf while we rest, and when does the importance or urgency of the situation demand that we be alert and active in prayer and work? The Bible doesn’t present any clear answers to this ongoing tension, all of which suggests that we are to exercise discernment, as watchful and responsive disciples.[19]
Wayne Kirkland is married to Jill and they live in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. They have three adult daughters. In previous lives Wayne has been a youth worker, part-time car dealer and writer and administrator for Signpost Communications. Wayne is the author and co-author of several books, including “Light from a Dark Star”, “Where’s God on Monday?”, “Soul Purpose” and “Just Decisions”.
[8] The international study was conducted by Boston College. See “Technology a factor in keeping young people awake longer” in NZ Herald, 10 May, 2013.
[9] There are now an estimate 75 identifiable sleep disorders!
[10] Though interestingly, a “circadian dip” occurs in early to mid afternoon – which is why we often feel a little sleepy then, and why in some countries a midday siesta is encouraged.
[11] Genesis 2:21.
[12] Psalm 121:4 (NRSV).
[13] Psalm 3:5.
[14] Psalm 127:1-2.
[15] Matthew 8:23-27.
[16] Matthew 26:40-41. Luke, in his account, is a little more sympathetic to the three disciples when he adds, “sleeping because of grief” – see Luke 22:45. Mark also records the incident (Mk 14:32-42).
[17] See Jonah 1.
[18] Psalm 132:4-5 (NRSV).
[19] Some Christian traditions have developed practices such as prayer vigils, to coincide with particular times of the church calendar.
The announcement came in an Executive Response to a review conducted by the BBC Trust into the breadth of opinion that is permitted to be heard on the BBC. This included a review of the BBC’s religious output.
It’s simply unbelievable how unreasonable some secularists can be
NZCN director, Glyn Carpenter
“By my reckoning 3 minutes amounts to 0.2% of the day’s airtime – and this for a viewpoint reflecting the belief of significant sized groups of the population of most Western countries.
“That means that predominantly secular or “non-religious” comment, articles, programmes, etc already account pretty much for 99.8% of airtime. And these secularists are not happy with that. They want to either eradicate the last 0.2% or else have their views included within that 0.2%, when they already dominate virtually all of the airtime.
“Doesn’t seem very tolerant to me. Good on the BBC for standing up to this sort of bigotry”.
In fact, perhaps we should start a campaign for half of the programming to be religious comment, including half of the reporters, etc, based on simple population numbers?
Ron Brewer, NZCN Regional Advocate in Northland. This story was published in the Northern Advocate 1 June 2013
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest of these; It might have been.”
Those famous words written by John Greenleaf Whittier, have a fascinating appeal for most of us. Somewhere in each of our lives is an “If only”
Arguably, one of the most important inventions in history was the telephone. In 1875 while experimenting with the idea of transmitting speech by electrical means, Alexander Graham Bell discovered the basis principle that made the telephone possible. The next year on March 7th 1876, Elisha Gray of Oberlin, Ohio, applied for a patent for a telephone—two hours after Bell patented his invention! If Only!
If Only the captain of The Rena had been paying attention his ship would have never landed on the Astrolabe Reef. At the age of 76, Henry Fonda, the extremely gifted Hollywood actor of yesteryear, made this observation about himself;” I’ve been married 5times and are ashamed of myself. My life has been peppered with suicides—(two of his former wives) and I don’t like to look back at them. I don’t like myself. I never have. People mix me up with the roles that I play” If Only!
Go from that assessment of one man’s life, by himself, to that of another man. I’m sure that you are familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba, how Israel’s king committed adultery and then murder. Because of David’s failure, the name of God was blasphemed throughout Israel’
If Only was probably high on the lists of things that David said to himself; “If Only I’d have been with my troops where the king should have been. If Only I’d had stopped with the first look and not progressed to lust. If Only I hadn’t sent the order to kill Bathsheba’s husband”
David could have spent the rest of his life moaning his condition. He could have gathered a crowd after crowd and told them” You should have seen me when, Oh, the man I could have been!” Instead he cried out to God. Psalm 51; 16-17 reveals the answer…. God required a willing spirit, and will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for its sin. There are many other Bible heroes who made some bad decisions that resulted in regret. It was Paul, just to name one, who had painful memories of watching Stephen crumble beneath the vicious stoning that took his life. It was Paul—as Saul the persecutor who held the killers coats. Paul often recalled his former day’s as tormentor of Christians, If Only. Malachi 2; 13 observed the agony of regret. His words have a familiar ring about them for all of us travellers who walk the road of Grace in a broken world. There’s no pain so intense as feeling God’s disappointment and of wishing you could turn the clock back.
If Only my home life, upbringing had been different, If Only I had had a good dad, If Only my mother had not been a drug addict, If only my parents hadn’t divorced, If Only I hadn’t been abused as a child, If Only we had been rich instead of poor, etc etc.
If Only keeps us tied to the past that we can’t change, If Only keeps us from learning from the past, If Only keeps us from moving on to a productive future. If Only is fantasy thinking that only makes us miserable and makes nothing better. If Only keeps us blaming and focusing on the past we can’t change, and keeps us from focusing on the future we can change. We cannot move forward until we drop the If Only from our lives. Matt7;7 “Ask and it will be given you…….Jesus was saying to His disciples in effect “ If you need directions through the twisted roads of life, ask me, I know the way”
Today, if you will surrender your to God and bury them, God will resurrect a new life full of possibilities. After following Him for nearly forty years, He has never ever let me down. Will you trust Him with your life? Ron Brewer
Ron is President of the Whangarei Regional Ministers Association and Pastor at Onerahi Christian Community Church. He also serves as NZ Christian Network’s Regional Advocate for Northland
Kelvin Deal – accountant and Chairman of Liberty Trust
The business of ‘the world’ is buying and selling. The business of “the Kingdom” is sowing and reaping
Jean Boudou – South African barrister and world speaker
During the summer holidays I achieved a personal goal – a study of all the major Bible passages which teach on Sowing and Reaping. To my astonishment I found that there are none which teach directly on the subject. Always it is mentioned as a proof of some other principle being taught. I was left asking myself “Why?”
The conclusion I came to is that in Bible times, Sowing and Reaping was considered so obvious that it didn’t need to be taught. Living in an agrarian economy, they understood that unless people sow, they simply couldn’t reap.
How different our culture has become. Today at school, children are taught differently for the sake of their self-esteem. They are taught that they are ‘number one’. The world owes them a living. Consequently they leave school thinking that they are free to do what they please. Then at about age 30-40 they come to us, holding hands, and asking: “can Liberty Trust help them buy a home?” They are finally coming to realise that they have been sold a lie. Life is really about responsibilities and relationships. They have just talked to a bank lending officer and are shocked at what they have learned. Unfortunately they have just lived 20 years of spending on themselves, and made no provision for the future. They have never understood what was fundamental in Bible times – that unless you sow you won’t reap (Gal.6:7-10).
We tend to think that Sowing and Reaping is principally about money, but we are wrong. It is a natural rhythm that is fundamental to all of life. Yet today many of us still carry ‘the world’s’ thinking into our lives. For example, adolescents spend years looking for a partner who will give them what they want – a partner to enjoy life with.
Jesus however taught that life a matter of Sowing and Reaping.
“Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
We tend to give only ‘so much’ into our marriages, still believing that our life is our own. We retain our rights. We even call our spouse our “partner”, as if the marriage relationship is a 50/50 partnership where each should only give 50%. Jesus would reply that if we only give 50% – we will only get 50%. The more we give – the more we will ‘reap’.
Jesus further illustrated the principle in John 12:24 when teaching of His imminent death. He said: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds.” Jesus gave His everything (John 3:16) so that we might live.
I have always likened contributions given into Liberty Trust, or elsewhere into God’s Kingdom, as Sowing before Reaping. While this is correct, my vision has been too small. While financial giving will result in financial blessing, the blessings far exceed just financial blessings. If we are to reap the life that Jesus meant for each one of us in John 10:10: “I am come that they may have abundant life”, then we have to lay down our old lives completely and take up His. Jesus said to the rich young man who asked him how to inherit eternal life: “Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor”. Yes, Jesus’ heart ached for him, but he could accurately see that he was living for himself. As Jesus also said in Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
It reminds me of a story told of a rich man who died and asked St Peter (at the gate) if he could bring it all in with him. “You can only bring in that which you have given away,” replied Peter.
Unlike the agrarian economy of the day, Jesus taught in His parables that good seed always multiplies when it is planted in good soil. I see an obvious example of Sowing & Reaping in families. The amount that parents give in training their children up to about age 12, and the example they set them after that, will have a huge influence upon their children’s lives. Nevertheless, no matter what they sow, it is finally the children’s own choice which will determine what they reap. We simply have to teach this to our children. Paul says in Gal. 6:7: “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Unconsciously the world today still understands that sowing is necessary before reaping, “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things, come in and choke the world” Mark 4:19. Training in finances has to start as young children (Prov. 22:6) or the world’s message will later choke it. This is why we are so earnest in our cry to parents to introduce their children to sowing into Liberty Trust at a minimum, as part of their training for life. As parents we know it from first-hand experience.
Best wishes,
Kelvin
Kelvin Deal is an accountant, married to Kathleen and living in Whakatane. He is also Chairman of the Liberty Trust.
PROFESSOR JOHN LENNOX, PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY, SPEAKS AT THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST IN WESTMINSTER HALL, 25TH JUNE 2013. PHOTO BY CLARE KENDALL.
(republished from EAUK 25 June 2013)
Christians need to have courage to talk about the Bible in public life, a leading academic told a gathering in the British parliament this morning.
Professor John Lennox from Oxford University was addressing around 600 people in the Houses of Parliament at the annual National Prayer Breakfast organised by the Bible Society.
Professor Lennox described atheism as a “delusion” and a “fairy tale for those afraid of the light”.
He urged Christians to have the courage to speak out about their faith in the public sphere and cited the example of Tyndale’s translation of the Bible into English 400 years ago.
Professor Lennox regularly speaks out against an atheistic worldview, calling Richard Dawkins “wrong”. He blamed new atheism for “the moral drift” in today’s society and rebutted claims that science and religion are opposed to each other.
“God is not the same kind of explanation as science is,” he said. “God is the explanation of why there is a universe at all in which science can be done.”
He added: “The playing field is not level since atheism has become so dominant – and is often regarded as the default position in the media.
“If we teach people that morality is an illusion, they will begin to believe it. Many already have with the result that our institutions are awash with scandal, families are increasingly fractured, people are lonelier than ever and trust is at an all-time low.
The Evangelical Alliance’s (UK) general director Steve Clifford, who attended the prayer breakfast, praised the organisers for another sterling event and added: “It was fantastic to be there in Westminster with hundreds of people. The highlight for me was hearing John Lennox’s unapologetic defence of the Christian faith. It was one of the best talks of its kind I have ever heard.”
Earlier this morning, in a statement, prime minister David Cameron, said: “It is encouraging that Christianity still plays such a vital role in our national life. We are a country with a Christian heritage and we should not be afraid to say so.”
Matthew van Duyvenbode, head of campaigns, advocacy and media at Bible Society, said: “In a society searching for deeper meaning, a compelling witness to hope is required. Within the Scriptures, we find a tantalising vision of hope one which stimulates, provokes and invites us to become the signs of hope for others.”
