Which Way to God? 20 June 10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
Which Way to God?
A recent edition of the Colbert Report featured professor Stephen Prothero from Boston University. According to a report on BeliefNet his new book (God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter) sets out to oppose the idea that all religions are just different paths to the same goal.
According to the report, ‘the author explained that, contrary to atheists (who see all religion as the same and bad) and multiculturalists (who see all religions as the same and good), he sees them as "going up different mountains with different techniques and different tools."’
Christians have long heard the claim that Christianity is not unique, just one of a variety of ways to God. The most annoying objection to my mind is that all religions basically say the same thing. No doubt there are significant common ethical elements, but when it comes to ideas about God the differences are fundamental.
Another new start? 13 June 10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
Another new start?
June seems a strange time to be starting a new year, but it is one of our new beginnings. In this case the start of a new Church Council’s work. The new financial year began on May 1. It feels a bit like New Year in Indonesia where they celebrate three official New Years (with holidays): the Gregorian calendar New Year, Chinese New Year and Islam’s New Year. Although the latter two are lunar years they seem not always to coincide.
Maybe that is like modern life. New beginnings are happening all the time. If you believe the hype about the latest electronic gadgets, wonderful new beginnings are happening more and more often.
Some think that the motto of the Anglican Church is “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be”. But that belongs to a past age. Nothing stays the same. Churches that want to maintain their life as it was are losing it. Churches don’t remain constant any more. They atrophy and die, or else they change and grow.
Who can keep the Ten Commandments? 6 June10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
Who can keep the Ten Commandments?
Why do Christians make so much of the Ten Commandments? Or they used to. Many ancient cultures had laws similar to the last five or six. And until recent years few societies would have imagined condoning behaviour that went against these rules.
So do Christians own the trademark on them? Or Jews perhaps? Is there something unique about the Ten Commandments (even though there are two slightly different versions of them)? One of the things that makes them unique is the first four. These commandments centre obedience not in social theory but in the person of Yahweh the God of Israel.
It is a common trend in modern Christian religious discourse to focus “sins” on the horizontal, social plane, as though the essence of sin had to do with social disruption and discrimination.
What makes us peculiar? 30 May10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
What makes us peculiar?
What makes Christ the King different to other churches? It is not completely different of course, in fact it is pretty similar to many others. But it does have its own peculiar character. Churches do have their own kind of personality I think. It is formed by the people in the church, especially influential ones, but everyone contributes to the kind of church it is.
What do we contribute? Personality, enthusiasm, energy, help? In our Ephesians Bible School this week we came across this: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” That gets closer to the mark. Each of us contributes the graces or gifts Christ has portioned out. Christ is the one who lies behind the kind of church we are. He gives the gifts that each of us bring to the whole.
But for what purpose? What is the use of these graces?
No Rules Giving
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
No Rules Giving
(Part 6 in a series about Giving in the Bible)
So what did the Christians in the New Testament do with their money and wealth? If there were no rules about giving what did they do? How did they know how much to give and to what needs or purposes?
Not surprisingly they followed the Old Testament ways. Not by carrying forward all the rules, but by adopting the heart of the Old Testament. They had thankful and generous hearts. They gave food to the hungry, shared their possessions, sometimes sold their assets to be able to use the money for those in need, they offered hospitality, sent people to help others, and gave money.
They gave to help those in material need, especially groups who were suffering from a famine. They looked after certain kinds of widows and orphans, they gave to support apostles and evangelists so that others could hear the gospel. They also supported ministers who worked among them as pastors and teachers.
Tithing? 16 May 10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
Tithing?
(Part 5 in a series about Giving in the Bible)
Of course the people of Israel did not always give what they were supposed to give. One of the reasons for the exile to Babylon was the failure to do what God had commanded (Neh 9.32-37). After the exile in the time of Ezra, the people repented and entered into a written commitment to keep the commands. You can see a wonderful list of all the things they were committed to contribute in Nehemiah 10.32-39: wood for the sacrifices, first fruits, tithes, offerings and so on - a very comprehensive list, of which the tithe was only a part.
A tradition has developed within a section of the Christian church that the tithe was somehow the main or whole offering that the Lord required.
Gifts for the Lord? 9 May 10
- Details
- Last Updated: 20 March 2014
- Written by Dale Appleby
Gifts for the Lord?
(Part 4 in a series about Giving in the Bible)
Some of the rules for looking after the poor sound a bit like “spare change” giving. Not all of them of course, though they would have the effect of restraining those who wanted to count every penny. But there is more to giving in the Old Testament.
The first-fruits were to be given to the Lord. This included their first-born – both human and animal. The sons, donkeys and unclean animals could be redeemed – all the rest were consecrated to the Lord. The first-fruits of the harvest also belonged to the Lord – to show the people’s thankfulness for the Lord’s goodness (Deut 26.1-11).
