Dale Appleby

The Bible and the Expansion of Christianity 3 Jan 10

The Bible and the Expansion of Christianity

2010 marks the centenary of the famous Edinburgh Missionary Conference that gave rise to the modern ecumenical movement  - and to various  gloomy forecasts of the decline of Christianity.  Africa, especially, was soon expected to be over-run by Islam.

Yet, strangely, it is the west that has been over-run by a post-Enlightenment secularism with a serious decline in Christian numbers. Denominations that have embraced Enlightenment views seem most at risk of extinction.

By contrast Christianity is booming in Africa, Asia and South America. The old colonial outposts have blossomed with Christians.

In 1900 Africa had 8.7 million Christians  and 34.5 million Muslims in a total population of 108 million. In 1962 there were 60 million Christians and about 145 million Muslims. According to Lamin Sanneh*, a Professor at Yale, by 1985 there were about 16,500 conversions a day – about 6 million a year. Around the same time about 4,300 people were leaving the church each day in Europe.

Read more: The Bible and the Expansion of Christianity 3 Jan 10

Christmas for Adults 25 Dec 09

Christmas for Adults

What would an adult version of Christmas look like? What would we celebrate and how would we celebrate it?

I think the party would have to be ambiguous and mixed. Real grown-ups behave like that. I think there would be a kind of sombre joy, a kind of serious happiness.  Tears and laughter would run together. Like those profound moments when a baby is born. The sheer wonder of a birth defies a simple response.

It is like that with the birth of Jesus. It is quite sobering to think that things got to such a state. That God himself had to intervene in human affairs in order to rescue a bunch of humans  who would love him and treat him like God. The sheer hubris of humans is staggering, and God’s response to it is quite humbling for those who are grown-up enough to admit it.

Read more: Christmas for Adults 25 Dec 09

An Adult Christmas? 20 Dec 09

An Adult Christmas?

Do you feel sometimes as though “Christmas” has hijacked Advent?  A church festival that is supposed to run from Christmas Day until Epiphany now runs from about the second Sunday in Advent until Christmas Day.  Actually the church festival no longer runs.  What happens in most churches in the last three weeks of Advent is usually neither one thing nor the other.

This is because “Christmas” has also hijacked the celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God. “Christmas” is such a loaded, memory-laden event now. For many of us it is full of pleasant memories and lots of excitement – usually to do with family meals and children opening presents. And also memories of the celebrations.  Favourite carols, memories of us or our kids in sheets and towels in one of the annual re-enactments. For others it has a grey sadness mixed with it.  Increasingly it has the tension of the politically correct secularists trying to remove the few remaining Christians elements from the public  version.  And there is the quite overt commercialism – perhaps the strongest player on the field in the “Christmas” celebrations, providing, as it does, the fuel for the excitement of the presents.

Read more: An Adult Christmas? 20 Dec 09

Explaining Advent

Explaining Advent

Advent is the beginning of the church year in the Western church. It begins on the Sunday closest to St Andrew’ Day (November 30). The origins of the season can be traced back to approximately the 4^th century. One tradition had the season starting on St Martin’s Day (November 11) which the Greek church still follows.  Some traditions regarded it as a fast leading up to Epiphany (January 6).

The colour for advent in churches that use seasonal colours is purple, the same as Lent. In the Roman church Advent included a period of fasting similar to Lent. But the royal symbolism of purple also fits the season that looks forward to the coming of the King.

The word “advent” means coming, and refers to the coming of Christ. Traditionally there have been two main focuses, one on his first coming and the other on his second coming.  Although the incarnation is part of the story of his first coming, Advent is not a celebration of the birth of Christ. That season begins on December 25 and continues for 12 days until Epiphany.

In recent times the Christmas season has been put in reverse with  the season of Advent being used as a period of celebrating and anticipating the birth  of Christ, culminating (instead of beginning) on Christmas Day.

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Explaining the Death of Christ 6 Dec 09

Explaining the Death of Christ

Two other people were crucified with Jesus. What makes his death different to theirs? Why do we not worship either of the thieves? Why is Jesus’ death different? What is the meaning of his death?

One of the simple ways the Bible says it is, “Christ died for our sins.” (1 Cor 15.3). Another simple statement is, “We are convinced that one died for all.” (2 Cor 5.14).  So here are two simple ways of starting to understand: he died for our sins; and he died for us.

“He died for our sins” means he died because of our sins. He took away our sins from us (Heb 9.28) and carried them himself (1 Pet 2.24, Isaiah 53.4-6). He did not have any sin himself but he was made the sinful one for us (2 Cor 5.21). He died because he had our sins. That is what happens to people who sin. Death comes as God’s judgment on sin (Rom 5.12; 6.23).  Jesus offered his life so that we could go free from God’s judgement (Rom 3.25). This means that we will not stay dead, but we will be raised to eternal life with Christ.

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Please don’t label me. Good idea 29 Nov 09

Please don’t label me. Good idea

New billboards have been set  up in the UK to coincide with Universal Children's Day. The slogan: "Please don't label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself".

The new billboards have been put up by the creators of the Atheist Bus Campaign. Richard Dawkins, the Vice President of the British Humanist Association, is quoted as saying that children should not be labelled. "Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a "Marxist child" or an "Anarchist child" or a "Post-modernist child". Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents," he said.

Presumably the billboard campaign is directed at infant baptism and other religious ceremonies that purport to give a child a religious identity without their say so. It is perhaps an attempt to promote one of the myths about bringing up children.  Maybe a myth of the tabula rasa, the idea that children can maintain an innocent and neutral mind until they are old enough to think for themselves. Like the idea of the neutral upbringing: that the child can be influence-free until it is mature.  Or the myth of value-free education.  In reality it is a trick to discourage parents from passing on their values and beliefs to their children.

Read more: Please don’t label me. Good idea 29 Nov 09