At the last federal election I put up my hand to help out at a local polling booth.  That experience gave me a new appreciation for the integrity of Australia’s electoral process.  It also made me aware that to do the job that I did it helps to have a liking for names.  I sat behind a table with a huge book containing the names of every voter in the electorate.  The list not only included people names but also place names.  Every voter had their street address and suburb listed. At times it was rather challenging.  Occasionally I had to...

I’m taking a guess that you know what guilt is.  I’ll also take guess that you know about guilt from personal experience.  No one has to describe guilt for us.  You don’t need to be told what guilt feels like.  We experience guilt already as three-year olds after raiding Mum’s bikie barrel; and as teenagers after stealing $5 from her purse.  And there’s little in life that is more wretched than guilt. Let me tell you of a time when I was wracked by guilt.  In the 1970s, as young adults, my brothers and I had obtained permission from a land-owner...

One often hears that we sometimes need to ‘draw a line in the sand’ or if you will, ‘nail our colours to the mast’. In other words, there comes a time when we must let people know where our Christian values and morals will not allow us to participate in ungodly action. The seven Manly Sea Eagles (Rugby league players) took a stand this past week and said they would not play if the club insisted they wear a specially designed guernsey displaying the club’s support of the LGBTQIA+ movement. Unlike some other sporting codes, the NRL has up until now...

Some of the sayings of Jesus recorded in the Bible don’t seem to make much sense when we first read them.  Take, for example, these words of Jesus from the ‘Sermon On The Mount’: “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Blessed are the poor!  Think about that for a moment.  Doesn’t it seem as if Jesus is saying: “Congratulations, on your poverty”?  Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?  “Happy are the poor!”  Happiness is having next to nothing and scrounging for one’s meals.  Happiness is living year after year on government handouts and even...

The sunset was absolutely spectacular.  The Lord God certainly paints beautiful colours in the sky.  Lots of other folk thought it was a glorious spectacle too.  How did I know that?  Well, on our usual evening walk along the breakwater of Coffs Harbour, every man and his dog was taking photos of the sunset.  Okay, I exaggerate.  The dogs were merely waiting patiently for their humans to get off their phone-cameras and back to the business of walking.  Later I noticed it wasn’t only here on the East Coast of Oz that we had a great sunset.  An acquaintance of mine...

Was it my imagination or was I reading the body language correctly?  The commentator from our national broadcaster was talking about some newly released results from last year’s national census.  Okay, maybe it was not being reported with smug delight... but it certainly didn’t come across as a sad lament either... that Aussies are apparently less religious now than they were at the previous census. The figure that triggered the comment was that Aussies who indicated that they had no religion had increased to 38.9 percent; up from the 30.1 percent in the 2016 census.  The Sydney Morning Herald crowed, “Australia...

God’s displeasure and solution Do you ever stop and wonder what God must be thinking of his world, especially when one considers the evil and moral decline of sinful mankind?   This past week while watching the news it struck me again how far society has deteriorated in perpetrating evil and in their morals when compared to God’s revealed will for mankind. Let me give you some examples. This past week the American Supreme court reversed the “Roe v Wade” abortion decision which eliminates the federal constitutional right to have access to abortions nationwide and now allows the various states to determine...

There’s an interesting line at the end of the story of Jonah that illustrates the wonderful compassion of God.  Mind you, many folk dismiss the book of Jonah as a morality lesson that some clever writer put together.  Hey, can you really believe a story about a man being swallowed by a huge fish and then spat out on dry land?  A friend of mine once commented: I’d believe it even if it said that Jonah swallowed the whale, because it’s in the Bible and the Bible is God’s inspired Word. Well, right now it’s not my purpose to defend the...

Jesus once taught us that if we want to be admitted to His Kingdom we have to become like a little child.  Let me tell you why I had reason to reflect on that again recently.  A good friend of mine had lost his wife.  He asked me to conduct the funeral.  He particularly asked me to speak on that text in Matthew chapter 18 where Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  That led me to do some thinking about why Jesus demands childlikeness...

I’ve sometimes met folk who are keen to move on from basic Christianity and from the fundamentals of the faith.  In some ways I can relate to that.  Babyhood is wonderful.  Staying there isn’t.  The whole aim of childhood is to grow to maturity.  No one likes an immature adult.  The apostle Paul once lamented the immaturity of some of his readers.  They were not ready for a diet of meat but were still on a diet of milk.  He too wanted to see people move on and mature.  We talk about this as ‘growth’ and, ideally, every Christian ought to...

Slogans abound... you find them everywhere.  They are the company tag-lines that have come to be identified with certain products or brands.  There’s Nike’s catchphrase: Just do it!  Or MasterCard’s famous line: There are some things that money can’t buy; for everything else there’s MasterCard.  Even the confectionary makers have got in on the act.  M&M’s slogan is: Melts in your mouth; not in your hands. Having just gone through another Federal election most Aussies are aware there are political slogans too.  There’s everything from the Australian Labour Party’s ‘A better Future’... to Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party with its ‘Save...

What does the Bible mean when it tells us that God is with us?  The Bible has many remarkable promises about God’s constant presence with His people.  In the Old Testament God often assured His people that He was with them.  Just before his death, when Moses spoke his final words to Israel on the doorstep of the Promised Land, that promise of God’s presence was reaffirmed: He will not leave you or abandon you.  In the New Testament the writer to the Hebrews quotes that promise when he warns his readers against greed and to be content with what they...

Someone asked his congregation to raise their hands if they were looking forward to heaven.    To nobody’s surprise, hands went up everywhere.  He then asked a follow up question whether they would like to go to heaven that very afternoon.  To nobody’s surprise, not too many hands were raised.  The reality is that the gift of life that most of us enjoy this side of heaven is sweet, as our Creator designed it to be.  The beauty of creation, the wonderful fellowship we can have with fellow human beings, not least our spouse, children, and grandchildren, are a wonderful blessing.  Of...

Normally the antics of Hollywood stars don’t rate highly on my radar.  In my opinion too many of them are self-absorbed with an unhealthy sense of entitlement.  However, the names of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been in the news so much lately that my curiosity got the better of me.  It seems that both these Hollywood actors walked away from their previous partners and married each other in 2015 but a year later Heard filed for divorce and applied for a restraining order.  In 2018 Heard wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which she mentioned speaking...

We live in changing times and that is certainly true in the way we do church today.  Intead of the ‘one-man’ show, we now have some very capable worship leaders, bible readers, children section leaders, and those who lead in congregational prayers and that has been a blessing.  However, from time to time, there are some things we do in worship that we need to perhaps revisit and see whether the way we are doing and saying things align with Scripture. One such important part is how we address God and how we end our corporate prayers.   Some ‘modern’ preachers and others who...

It’s a blessing to learn some difficult lessons early in life.  That can save you much grief and pain later on. I reflected on that when reading the rants of a friend on social media.  His issue was that for many years he had followed the teachings of a certain church leader.  I think it would be fair to say that he was a disciple of this particular church leader.  He devoured the writings of this man, listened to nearly every podcast from him, quoted him often and defended him against all criticism.  But this leader had been stood down after...

Miracles can be either an aid to faith or a stumbling block.  Our Bible Study group recently considered the story of Peter, James and John being called by Jesus to be His disciples.  The story begins with Jesus borrowing their fishing boat in order to more effectively teach the crowds that have gathered on the seashore.  He then tells these men to move into deep water and cast out their nets.  Peter tells Jesus that they’ve been fishing all night without success – hey, he’s the fisherman, Jesus is only a carpenter.  However, with a shrug he tells Jesus that they’re...

One of the things that has fascinated me for years is the study of the universe. I am often struck with awe at each new discovery, especially the ones that show the immeasurable vastness of the universe and the intricacies of creation in general. At one time (some still do apparently) people thought the earth was flat. However, when scientists and explorers discovered that the earth was round, we were amazed that all the water didn’t run to the bottom. Yes, we know its gravity, but it’s God’s gravity. Still others thought that the sun revolved around the earth. When astronomers...

Human foibles and character faults are easy to detect.  The problem is that we see the shortcomings of others more readily than we do our own. Pick up a daily newspaper and there’s plenty of evidence that human character leaves a lot to be desired.  There are accusations of bullying and abuse.  There are revelations of extortion and corruption. But why bother with the newspapers if we want to see character faults?  Look around you!  There’s the strident voice in the office of the young man who always wants to be the centre of attention; or the critical young woman in...

The peasant farmer had yet another disappointing crop.  It looked like it was going to be another year of tightening the belt for him and for his family.  Talking to the village rector one Sunday morning after church, the man, who was known for being lazy, lamented that once again God had not seen fit to bless his crops this season.  The clergyman said to him, “Brother, the Lord doesn’t usually bless farmers who don’t make the effort to spread manure on their paddocks.” Bingo!  What a delightful response to a man who expected God’s blessing without any effort on his...