I think itโs so easy to go through married life, taking each other for granted. Andy and I spoke with a dear friend recently who lost his wife a few years ago. He was musing about how he would love her so differently, if he could. Listening to him I want to learn from his loss, and not miss out on the lesson in my own marriage.
Hereโs some of what he shared:
He said, โI think back on all the emotion and time we both wasted having conflict over things that are meaningless. I would get “angry” with her and whine when she’d lock her keys in the car for the umpteenth time. Now I see that instead of an annoying waste of time, it was an opportunity to serve her and show her how much I loved her.
Dozens of stupid conflicts . . . when she’d dry a piece of clothing I told her not to, and now it fits my son instead of me. Big deal. Leaving the gas tank empty. Big deal. She’d occasionally leave the oven on all night. Big deal. I’d get mad at her over . . . nothing!
Almost all our conflicts (like leaving the lights on, missing the rubbish truck, leaving the gas tank empty) were almost always rooted in hurting my pride, making things harder for me, wasting my time. Ya, right, like how much time am I getting with her now?
Seriously, giving time and energy to all that kind of pettiness was just a freaking waste. I’d give anything to have those times back and just love her instead.
Secondly, I would concentrate on not taking her for granted. I would try to recognize as many of the “normal” things she did for me, acknowledge them, thank her for them, reward her more often for them. I’d end every phone call, email and text with “Love you” and mean it.
On the same line, I wouldn’t take life so much for granted either. We just don’t know how much time our wife has, ourchildren have, we have. I wouldn’t postpone special times, trips etc. because it was an inconvenient time, or would stretch me financially. I’d make a marriage and family “bucket list” and pursue it with Kathy whole heartedly. Sadly, I have time now, money now, but not Kathy.
Now that I’ve actually written this down and not just mused about them, I’m dreadfully saddened. I was such a fool.โ
Wow. Amazing insights. Precious words. And a great lesson for us all to heed.
As for me, Iโm going to try and lift my โlove gameโ.
What about you?
Oh….one more thing….please pray for our friend Bob as he continues to do life without his precious Kathy.
By DAVID BROOKS Published: July 8, 2013 on NYTimes.com
I might as well tell you upfront that this column is a book report. Since 2007, when it was published, academics have been raving to me about Charles Taylorโs โA Secular Age.โ Courses, conferences and symposia have been organized around it, but it is almost invisible outside the academic world because the text is nearly 800 pages of dense, jargon-filled prose.
As someone who tries to report on the world of ideas, Iโm going to try to summarize Taylorโs description of what it feels like to live in an age like ours, without, I hope, totally butchering it.
Taylorโs investigation begins with this question: โWhy was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say 1500, in our Western society, while in 2000 many of us find this not only easy but even inescapable?โ That is, how did we move from the all encompassing sacred cosmos, to our current world in which faith is a choice, in which some people believe, others donโt and a lot are in the middle?
This story is usually told as a subtraction story. Science came into the picture, exposed the world for the way it really is and people started shedding the illusions of faith. Religious spirit gave way to scientific fact.
Taylor rejects this story. He sees secularization as, by and large, a mottled accomplishment, for both science and faith.
Advances in human understanding โ not only in science but also in art, literature, manners, philosophy and, yes, theology and religious practice โ give us a richer understanding of our natures. Shakespeare helped us see character in more intricate ways. An improvement in mores means we take less pleasure from bear-baiting, hanging and other forms of public cruelty. We have a greater understanding of how nature works.
These achievements did make it possible to construct a purely humanistic account of the meaningful life. It became possible for people to conceive of meaningful lives in God-free ways โ as painters in the service of art, as scientists in the service of knowledge.
But, Taylor continues, these achievements also led to more morally demanding lives for everybody, believer and nonbeliever. Instead of just fitting docilely into a place in the cosmos, the good person in secular society is called upon to construct a life in the universe. Sheโs called on to exercise all her strength.
People are called to greater activism, to engage in more reform. Religious faith or nonfaith becomes more a matter of personal choice as part of a quest for personal development.
This shift in consciousness leads to some serious downsides. When faith is a matter of personal choice, even believers experience much more doubt. As James K.A. Smith of Comment Magazine, who was generous enough to share his superb manuscript of a book on Taylor, put it, โWe donโt believe instead of doubting; we believe while doubting. Weโre all Thomas now.โ
Individuals donโt live embedded in tight social orders; they live in buffered worlds of private choices. Common action, Taylor writes, gives way to mutual display. Many people suffer from a malaise. They remember that many people used to feel connected to an enchanted, transcendent order, but they feel trapped in a flat landscape, with diminished dignity: Is this all there is?
But these downsides are more than made up for by the upsides. Taylor can be extremely critical of our society, but he is grateful and upbeat. We are not moving to a spiritually dead wasteland as, say, the fundamentalists imagine. Most people, he observes, are incapable of being indifferent to the transcendent realm. โThe yearning for eternity is not the trivial and childish thing it is painted as,โ Taylor writes.
People are now able to pursue fullness in an amazing diversity of different ways. But Taylor observes a general pattern. They tend not to want to live in a world closed off from the transcendent, reliant exclusively on the material world. We are not, Taylor suggests, sliding toward pure materialism.
We are, instead, moving toward what he calls a galloping spiritual pluralism. People in search of fullness are able to harvest the intellectual, cultural and spiritual gains of the past 500 years. Poetry and music can alert people to the realms beyond the ordinary.
Orthodox believers now live with a different tension: how to combine the masterpieces of humanism with the central mysteries of their own faiths. This pluralism can produce fragmentations and shallow options, and Taylor can eviscerate them, but, over all, this secular age beats the conformity and stultification of the age of fundamentalism, and it allows for magnificent spiritual achievement.
Iโm vastly oversimplifying a rich, complex book, but what I most appreciate is his vision of a โsecularโ future that is both open and also contains at least pockets of spiritual rigor, and that is propelled by religious motivation, a strong and enduring piece of our nature.
The New Zealand Herald has recently highlighted the on-going debate about religious instruction in classes. Specifically, Bible in Schools.
Nicholas Jones, NZ Herald journalist, states that, “One in three state primary and intermediate schools teaches religious instruction, according to a survey which has triggered a debate over what children are being taught – and the value of it.
The survey, sent to more than 1800 schools, reveals 578 have religious instruction classes.
Of these, 56 say they do not know the content of those lessons.”
Please read his stories here and participate on survey if it is still active:
Following are some of the reader’s views submitted to the NZ Herald website:
โข Richard Clark: “Religion is a personal choice – it has no place in state-funded schools. Simple really.”
โข Christine Richardson: “While some kids already will get some of this education at home, some kids aren’t and this is a positive input into their lives and can only be a good thing.”
โข Brian Lehtonen: “Children do not need supernatural instruction in school. The values that the church sees as their own are not. These are universal human values. The world needs more adults who do not indulge in make-believe.”
โข Stefan Nogaj: “The content being taught is always positive and if anything instils beneficial life skills. And remember, the mention of God is in our national anthem so naturally children have the right to understand the context of God’s inclusion.”
โข Andrew Robson: “The issue as I see it is they teach the Bible as fact. This leads to major confusion when my kids get home and I try and tell them that the Bible is a story that some people believe and some don’t. If they are going to teach Bible in class they should teach it hand in hand with evolution and Darwin’s theory.”
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 โwake upโ, and for New Zealand Christian Network to not engage further in interfaith dialogues.
โUntil the mainstream Western media take up this persecution of Christians in the same way as they take up causes like Gitmo and Islamophobiaโ said the writer โthen 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.
โฆ 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 dialoguesย (โฆ 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 writerโs 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
Itโs one of the โstatus gamesโ I most detest. Like the โIโm just so incredibly busyโ line, the โI survive on less than X hours of sleep a nightโ ploy is a popular past time โ particularly amongst us males. Itโs 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 thereโs a market here for some tee-shirt slogans: โProud to be an insomniac!โ โSleep is for lazybones!โ Or maybe โReal men donโt sleep!โ
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 โChristianizedโ 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?โจHow long before you get out of bed?โจA nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,โจsit back, take it easyโdo you know what comes next?[1]
Itโs the kind of goading a teenager might hear from his mother. โSleep all day, son, and youโll end up poor.โ
But is a lack of sleep really something to aspire to or even boast about? Maybe for many of us, itโs 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 canโt remember anyone accusing me of being lazy. (Actually, I canโt 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 โ indeed my whole sleep patterns โ 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 shouldnโt surprise us too much โ 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: โSleep isnโt a break from our lives. Itโs the missing third of the puzzle of what it means to be living.โ[2]
So hereโs 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 โwaking brain in a paralysed bodyโ, prompting some scientists to speculate that this is natureโs 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 โ everything slows to a crawl.
When sleeping healthily, we go through these stages several times a night โ 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 โ though this may be as brief as turning over or changing position.
Why we need sleep
So why do we need sleep? Maybe itโs 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 donโt sleep โ 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.
Thereโs good reason to believe that sleep allows our bodies to repair, rejuvenate, and restore themselves. However, itโs not just our bodies that need the sleep. Clinical psychologist, Dr. Archibald Hart, notes that, โโฆthe major beneficiary of sleep is [actually] our brain.โ[3] Dr. Rosalind Cartwright, a professor of neuroscience who has studied sleep for decades, puts it this way, โThe brain doesnโt turn off when we go to sleep; it just switches channels.โ[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, itโs really critical to my well-being. Perhaps itโs a bit like what a parent does once all the kids have gone to bed. They get to do all the work that isnโt 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 whatโs gone done that day, plan what is going to happen the next day โฆthese are critical tasks that, if not done, will over time seriously erode the familyโs well-being. Not that the kids are aware of this. When they wake up in the morning they probably wonโt have a clue that Mum or Dad have been working while they were sleeping! Just like me and my brain.
So itโs clear something quite profound is happening to us while we sleep. David Randall speculates that, โAll of those things that add up to what you consider you โ your creativity, emotions, health, and ability to quickly learn a new skill or devise a solution to a problem โ 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.โ[5]
How does sleeping allow all this to happen? Weโre not exactly sure. But the more science discovers about sleep, the more we realize thereโs a lot more to our โshut-eyeโ than can be observed with the naked eye.
I donโt know about you, but these little insights into what goes on in my sleep are fascinating โ and they remind me how incredibly put together we are as humans. We are truly complex beings. The Psalmist says it well:
โYou know when I sit and when I riseโฆYou discern my going out and my lying downโฆI praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully madeโฆHow precious to me are your thoughts, O God! …[and] when I awake, I am still with you.โ[6]
God has made us to sleep. Therefore we can safely assume that he has done so for some very important reasons โ 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: โIโll refresh tired bodies; Iโll restore tired souls. Just then I woke up and looked around โ what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!โ[7]
Sleeping disorders
Sadly though, a lot of people donโt sleep well. In fact, tiredness is a perpetual state for many. Some are sleep-deprived because of their life stage or circumstances โ 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 itโs 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 donโt feel exhausted or tired. While this will vary from one person to the next, itโs likely to be more than many adults think they need. Dr. Thomas Roth of the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders Center contends that, โThe percentage of the population who only need five hours of sleep per night, rounded to a whole number, is ZERO.โ My experience is that many of us underrate how much sleep we really need. (Though I think itโs also true that we can easily underestimate how much sleep we actually are getting. Sometimes it can feel like weโve been awake all night, when the truth is that weโve 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 โ 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 โ24/7โ culture, that has all but decimated the natural work/rest rhythms of life. It started with that wonderful invention โ 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 โ 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 โsleep debtโ, 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 โcircadian clockโ 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. Itโs 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 โ computers, cellphones, TVโs 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 canโt all be blamed on over-exposure to light and electronic devices. There are several other factors that โwireโ us โ 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 arenโt 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 weโre 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 โsleepโ in the Bible is in Genesis 2 and it tells the story of Godโs ongoing creative activity while Adam is โout to itโ:
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 โโฆwill neither sleep nor slumber.โ[12] The Message puts it even more starkly โ โโฆyour Guardian God wonโt fall asleep. Not on your life!โ
While humans are made for sleep and rest after a dayโs labour, God is always actively working on creationโs 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: โI lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.โ[13]
Numbers of time through the scriptures we see this activity reinforced. One example is found in Acts 12:6-8, where, โPeterโฆwas sleeping between two soldiersโ 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, โIf God doesnโt guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. Itโs useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Donโt you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?โ[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 canโt 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: โO Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadowsโจlengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is โจhushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.โจThen in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,โจand peace at the last. Amen.โ
The other, a more recent one, is written by Vicki Hollander: โAs I close this day I come before You, Lord.โจ I now release โจall my fears, all my concerns from this day.โจโจSoothe my body, my mind, my spirit.โจโจAid me move into deep and renewing rest.โ
Is there a time to resist sleep?
There is a time to sleep. But thereโs 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 Jesusโ 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, โCanโt you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you donโt wander into temptation without even knowing youโre in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But thereโs another part thatโs as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.[16]
In an eerie precursor to Peterโs subsequent denial of Jesus, Matthew notes how three times Jesus finds Peter, James and John asleep. They simply donโt 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 Godโs instructions, he ends up sleeping in the midst of a great storm that threatens to break apart the ship he is on. Jonahโs 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, โI will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD.โ[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 doesnโt 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” andย “Just Decisions”.
[8] The international study was conducted by Boston College. See โTechnology a factor in keeping young people awake longerโ in NZ Herald, 10 May, 2013.
[9] There are now an estimate 75 identifiable sleep disorders!
[10] Though interestingly, a โcircadian dipโ occurs in early to mid afternoon โ 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, โsleeping because of griefโ โ 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?
