Bill Muehlenberg has written on Culturewatch: One of the greatest weapons we have at our disposal is often not even used. We allow lies and falsehoods to go unchecked, which in turn enslave people, destroy nations, and dehumanise societies. Indeed, the history of the twentieth century is largely one of lies allowed to go unchecked [...]
Stress from outside – distress from inside: we all experience such to different degrees. Internal distress can be harder to accept and deal with and the remedies may not be as effective. Think of the distress of severe depression. Think of the mental distress of Spurgeon, Brainerd and Cowper. There is another kind of mental [...]
Ah! How much we learn from others when we listen… I was explaining my usual analogy of “replacing the tape” in our head with another tape and the advantage of this being a song, when the person in front of me said “REPLANT”. This was in the context of ruminating or worrying thought processes (sometimes [...]
Heard recently from an endlessly exploring seven year-old when given the charge of looking after three younger children on the edge of a campsite creek: “It’s all right – I won’t even let anything come into my mind.” Wow! To be so aware of the dichotomy that we all have in making a choice as [...]
A Grief Observed I watched “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” the other night – now out on video and well worth watching. Set in wartime it is about a German boy who talks and then befriends a Jewish boy inside a concentration camp. The reality is gripping. This is not a movie for children. Yes, there is [...]
The Cove is now showing at The Paradiso in Perth and other Australian theatres. This is a movie about dolphins www.thecovemovie.com Dolphins appeal to everyone with their gracefulness, intelligence, ability to communicate, and apparent sense of family and community. It also seems that they have a natural desire to please, an instinctive trust and, it would seem from [...]
We are urged to use fair-minded speech in the abortion debate. Fair enough, but is telling the truth not fair-minded? How would we have got by without telling the truth on any abuse or social evil over the ages? Would reforms have come? Think of the power of a photograph in telling the truth – there are many thousands [...]
In light of these attacks on conscience and integrity and the specific threats to Christian belief and practice what is our response? Do we deny the reality of the problems? As many of the German people did “no, no, we are German – this could not possibly happen”. Do we just accept the fact that these [...]
How bad does a government have to get before individual MPs wake up and say this is enough? How bad does it have to get before God’s people mobilise and waken the rest of the community to throw such a government out? Surely the overthrowing of liberty of conscience in the abortion legislation was enough. If we [...]
Many of you will be aware of the battle for liberty of conscience in medicine both here and overseas – the latter particularly in USA where President Obama is threatening to overturn Liberty of Conscience legislation protecting health workers. Here of course it has been most evident in Victoria with the legislation last year forcing [...]