The Two Sides To Humanity

At times humans are so very impressive, but then at other times so very disappointing. We fleetingly convince ourselves that humans are rather remarkable, but then we come back to earth with a thud.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sounds like an example of humanity working together at its best. In its own words, "The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction”.  Sounds very noble! The IMF is a co-operative effort of 187 countries, serving as a specialist agency of the UN. With research, think tanks and economic surveillance, the IMF monitors national and international economic activity and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. As well as all that, the IMF has the capacity to loan money to help countries overcome economic difficulties and to concessionally (ie. cheaply) loan money to help fight poverty in developing countries.

In 2007 the IMF appointed a new Managing Director, the then French Finance Minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn announced a reform agenda to make the IMF 'better for everybody'. Last week he was accused and then charged in New York for allegedly trying to rape a hotel chambermaid. On a salary and allowance package of over $US 500,000 (tax free), the head of the IMF holds an extremely prestigious world position. Mr Strauss-Kahn has now resigned while he awaits trial for these alleged crimes. There is increasing speculation that he may face further allegations of sexual misconduct.

The alleged tawdry behaviour of the Managing Director seems so at odds with the noble aims and goals of the IMF. But in a snapshot, humanity's central dilemna is exposed. We try to be noble but something within us drags us back down. In essence we want to be better than we actually are. We let people into our lives but fear that if they really discover our moral centre, they will be disappointed that the gloss is at best dull and most often, decidedly stained.

Humans still have many admirable desires and goals, and at our best we even occasionally achieve something genuinely good. But our bias to sin, our deep-seated rebellion against God, and our distorted views of our own innocence continue to dilute our achievement. 

We all walk closer to conviction by human laws than we let on and before the judgement seat of God we are far from innocent.

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”  Romans 7: 24-25  

Logic and Money

I had to pop down to Melbourne for a day or two last week, so I took the cheapest option – Tiger Airways. Tiger is cheap. I think my flight down was about $38 and the one home slightly more expensive. Apart from the planes always seeming to leave late and arrive even later, plus a few other minor inconveniences (like a tin shed instead of a terminal at Melbourne), Tiger seems as good as any. By the look of the crowd on my flight price was the determining factor. No suits, no business attire and hardly a laptop in sight (though no shortage of tattoos). The logic of a cheap flight is hard to beat.

However the guy next to me on the plane exhibited an alternative type of logic. He told me he was heading to the 'G', the Melbourne Cricket Ground, to watch an AFL match. He explained that the plane trip gave him a little time to warm up on the inside. So during the flight my fellow passenger ordered not one, but two Jim Beam and colas costing $18. Now to my logic two drinks costing the equivalent of 47% of the airfare defies reason. Could he not have had the drinks at the airport for half the price? Could he not have gone via Liquorland on the way to the ground? Sometimes the things we do with our money simply defy reason.

Why do people queue for petrol that has been reduced from  $1.40 to $1.36? I guess if the garage, instead of saying 4c discount said save 2.8%, most people would not be convinced that 20 minutes of their time and petrol was worth the wait. Why do people accept the wisdom of a financial advisor who advises them to invest all their savings and super, and sometimes to borrow more, in one scheme? Why do people outbid each other at a house auction, buying that perfect house that needs no work, when down the road there is an equivalent one which needs a lick of paint and can be bought thousands or even tens of thousands cheaper? Why do people camp outside stores for Boxing Day sales and then rush in like moths to a light – all in the name of saving a few dollars on things they probably don’t even need?

In the Old Book there is a story of a young man who foolishly sold his birthright – his status in his family and his right to inherit his father's property – to his younger brother, because he was hungry and his brother offered him a bowl of lentil stew. The logic of selling a future inheritance for the short term enjoyment of a hot meal is slightly less foolish than the temptation we all face of forfeiting our eternal inheritance for thirty pieces of silver.

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Mark 8: 36 

Trust - Better Than Control

Last week at church there was quite a reaction when I read out a list of characteristics of people who we might unkindly describe as 'control freaks'. There were a few people sitting there saying, "Yes, that’s me". What was more evident was the large number of people prodding the person next to them, suggesting that the list of characteristics sounded very familiar. Strangely the temptation to control can affect all sorts of people at different times in their lives. Tragically this sort of obsession can become very hard to live with.

Of course if we really stop to think hard, we will see that no matter how seriously we try to control, we are never going to succeed.

Firstly we forget that this world we are living in is actually spinning at a speed of about 1500 kms per hour, while traveling through space at a little over 100,000 kms per hour. We convince ourselves that we are standing still but nothing could be further from the truth. We also forget that our five and a half odd litres of blood flows about 19,000 kms throughout our body every day! Our heart pumps that blood around its long journey about 35 million times a year, again without the slightest bit of control from us. We cast off about 4 kgs of unwanted skin a year and behold, our bodies replace it again without any thought or control from our minds. We all enjoy eating and we think we at least control that, but once in the mouth we again become spectators of our amazing bodies. Our saliva and teeth begin the process that includes a journey of about 7 or so metres through our oesophagus, stomach and intestines. Along the way, again without a thought, our body extracts the nutrients we need to live, while over a period of two or three days slowly getting rid of the excess (lets not go into the detail). All the while our kidneys and liver and a few other things merrily go about their work. Meanwhile an incredible defence system within us made up of special cells, proteins, tissues, and organs, defends our bodies against germs and micro organisms every day. This immune system again operates independently of our command.

If all that is not amazing enough, we are reminded that the very best things that happen to us in life are also beyond our control. Most of us work in jobs that other people decided we could have. If we are blessed with a marriage partner, we are reminded that we only had one vote when two were required to start and sustain a marriage. Even our children are surprising blessings of a reproductive system that we enjoy, but hardly control.

In fact, control is an illusion.

Life was not meant to be controlled, but lived. Trusting God may require faith, but it’s wiser than the illusion that we control our own destiny.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3: 5-6

Royal Wedding

Can you imagine what last Friday's wedding would have been like, if Kate and William had followed the way of most people today and chosen a civil wedding service?

1.    A civil ceremony would not have begun with that wonderful hymn, sung both inside and outside the cathedral – "Guide me, O thou great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand; Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore". In fact, without God people don’t even bother to sing, or worse, singing is reduced to a performance of the gifted, rather than a people's choir bound together by our need to worship and praise. There is something very good about the powerful and mighty of a land joining their voices with the nobodies, to share their common status before God. 

2.    There would have been no grand cathedral. Maybe they would have got married on the banks of the Thames (maybe not), or at Albert Hall or in William’s grandmother’s back garden. Something would have been lost. For 1000 years that building has inspired people to look beyond their earthly struggles, to look up to a grand and majestic God who rules, even over kings.

3.    There would have been no choir to remind us that "This is the day that the Lord has made". Sure a pop star or two might have sung a love song, but the reminder that all our days are a gift from a loving God would probably have been missed. 

4.    Whatever you think of the whole idea of royalty (I will leave that for another day), on Friday you could not have missed that the royals also bow in prayer to the ultimate King of Kings. Human rulers, whatever their style, will only ever be held accountable by the ultimate Ruler of this world. Take God out of the picture and kings and despots are answerable to no one.

5.    The Bishop of London’s sermon has been criticized by believers and unbelievers alike, but much of what he said would never have been said by a civil celebrant. Only a preacher with the authority of God could look the greatest wedding fairy tale in decades in the eye and say this is not enough - "As the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the West, there has been a corresponding inflation of expectations that personal relations alone will supply meaning and happiness in life. This is to load our partner with too great a burden. We are all incomplete….."

6.    Sure at a civil wedding there would have been readings – poems about love or something that someone found on the net. But when Kate’s brother so beautifully read those words from the Bible, it was hard to miss their power and authority.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12: 1-2

God save our gracious Prince and Princess and save us all if we ever completely abandon God as a culture.

No One Likes A Prophet Of Doom – Unless?

Karen Maley must be a bear to live with - or so her detractors must fear. Karen Maley is a journalist who writes regular articles in all sorts of places about the economy, investment and finance. She certainly belongs to the camp who would describe themselves as bears, as she is, by and large, quite pessimistic about the world economy and its prospects. Here are a few of the headings of articles that she has written recently in an online finance news site called Australian Business Spectator.

·      Gold glitters and America dwindles (An article warning of the demise of the US economy)

·      US Economy gets Standard and Poor’s slap down (Reminding her readers of the significance of the warning to downgrade US AAA debt rating)

·      Will collapse follow Greek's debt marathon? (Warning that Greece’s debt has not gone away)

·      Goldman hears the QE2 music stop (Explaining that when and if the US stops printing money, things may seem a lot worse than they look at the moment)

·      Will Iceland’s austerity chill spread? (Reminding that when countries are so heavily in debt, cutting back spending may prove politically unpalatable)

·      America’s dance with default (Quite self explanatory)

And the list goes on.

To some, Karen Maley is a pessimistic scaremonger. But if you wake up one day and discover the Global Financial Crisis has not been solved, just postponed (and made worse), then remember that Karen Maley will be writing 'I told you so’. Karen Maley and a few friends like Nouriel Roubini, Ken Rogoff and Steve Keen continue, in the minority, to warn that all the warning signs that worried them before the GFC are still there – only it’s now much worse. Of course most of the central bankers, respected economists and politicians of the world believe that these prophets of doom are alarmists, whose depressing message should be ignored at all costs. Time will tell who is right.

The point is that bad news is never popular and rarely listened to.

In the Bible the greatest exponents of bad news were a bunch of unhappy, unliked and almost universally ignored guys like Jeremiah and Isaiah. They preached a bad news message that the foolishness, the greed, the selfishness and the idolatry of their age would result in economic, political, spiritual and national devastation. By and large no one listened until it was way to late.

In spite of the repeated notion that Christianity is good news, the reality is that good news only makes sense if you first accept the bad news.

To be saved you have to accept that you are drowning.

Ignoring God is dangerous.

Believing that we don’t need God is arrogant and fatal.

Knowing that one day we will have to face the judgment seat of God is, sadly, not a message that sells. But it still might be true!

Jesus said. ““Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”  Matthew 7: 13

When Easter and Anzac Collide?

Am I the only one who is complaining about the lateness of Easter this year?

An eleven-week school term and then an Easter celebration at the end of the school holidays seems rather weird. In fact Easter 2011 is being celebrated in the western tradition on the latest day in nearly 70 years – the last late date was Easter Day 25th April 1943.  This year in Australia Easter is followed the very next day by Anzac Day. Though inconvenient in a number of ways, the seemingly divergent messages of Easter and Anzac Day may actually have a great deal in common.

To be honest it is tempting to attempt to draw the parallels:

·      Both are celebrations of sacrifice over selfishness

·      Both appall us by their waste and injustice

·      Both remind us that defeat is not always final

·      Both speak of a desire to pay a price for freedom

·      Both give hope and provide us with identity

But they are different and deserve to be kept so.

Anzac Day is at best a national commemoration and remembrance of war. It can remind us of the pain of the past. It can give a chance for old comrades to gather and remember those who paid the ultimate price. But we need to beware when politicians or clubs turn commemorations into days of national pride. So easily a commemoration can become a victory march. So quickly we can forget that killing in war is never noble and is rarely just. National celebrations of war rarely question the motives of political leaders, the tactics of generals, or the morals of soldiers. Remembering is essential. But national memorials can so easily leave us feeling that someone else always causes the evils of the world. When our freedom is defined only as victory over an enemy, we fail to see the enemy within that poses, at times, an even greater threat.

Easter challenges us to remember the injustices that led to the crucifixion of an innocent man and then forces us to face our own sin and guilt. Easter highlights the battle between man and God, when God allows men to have their way. The crucified Jesus makes us weep even more when we see that He bore the sins of all the world – including our own. Easter exposes the folly that nations and people can save themselves. Easter stamps us all with the failure of crucifixion, calls us to repent and then offers us the hope of resurrection. Easter leaves us with nothing to celebrate in our own strength, but points us to a God whose holiness, justice and mercy know no bounds.

Easter offers freedom from our greatest threats and our most ferocious of enemies - sin and death.

“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  Luke 23: 34

Bible and Newspaper?

Word4Life is a ministry committed to explaining truth, with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. That is, the aim of this weekly note is to explain how the truth of God relates to the world in which we live.

For many people in a place like Australia the newspaper speaks the truth, while the Bible is at best a quaint, irrelevant but historically interesting religious book. I can leave the defence of the Bible for another day, but today just let me rattle the cage a little about the fact that we might all be a little better off if we had a little bit less faith in newspapers.

Newspapers are still bought physically by the millions of people each day and are now increasingly read online as well. They are trusted, quoted and in many ways still set the media cycle. But anybody who has had any personal experience knows just how inaccurate, biased, ill-informed and at times corrupt they really are.

"Corrupt? Surely that's a bit harsh", you may be thinking. 

Newspapers are corporate entities often owned by large, profit making companies. In the past there has rightly been concern that the powerful owners of these newspapers have used their papers to push political and social agendas. It still happens. Murdoch's papers still read as Murdoch papers.  Advertising is the lifeblood of these operations and editorials and advertising are not always completely separate. The colour supplements that fill up the average newspaper are not about information but about advertising. The profit motive is probably better than having state owned newspapers, but those motives colour what we read.

Saddest of all in modern newspapers is the fact that the profit motive is squeezing journalism on all fronts, such that journalists increasingly do not have the time to research, check facts and really understand an issue. It's much simpler to just re-work a press release or a story from other news services.

In many ways online news is more disturbing, even in the supposedly reasoned broadsheet newspapers. Click on your favourite newspaper any time of the day and there are increasing numbers of pictures of beautiful people (mostly women), with an inordinate number of stories that in some way mention sex. The reason is simply that, not surprisingly, we are tempted to click on these stories and read more. The old page three girl has given way to a media that is trivialized by glamour and what draws the eyes to see. 

I still remain committed to the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

I just don’t want to give the impression that they are in any way equal. 

“For,  “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.”  1Peter 1: 24-25