Barabbas

There is an incredible story in the Bible, repeated four times, about a crowd of people deciding which of two prisoners on death row they will set free. It was custom every year on the Jewish festival of Passover, for one prisoner to be unconditionally released. The Roman official in charge of this region of Israel named Pilate agrees to bring two condemned prisoners before the crowd for them to choose between. So picture this – two guys in chains; one of them is notorious criminal Barabbas who is a murderer and a thief. He is unrepentant and will probably go back to what he knows and keep committing violent crime; the other is a guy called Jesus who has walked from town to village healing the sick, loving indiscriminately and preaching a message of hope and life. He's had crowds of people following Him all over the country listening to His teaching and marveling at his miracles but the Jewish leaders have seized and imprisoned Him, charging Him with blasphemy because He's messing up their religious system. You'd think it'd be a straight forward decision for the crowd, yet the story takes a strange twist.
Pilate says to the crowd “You have brought this man to me accusing Him of misleading the people. And indeed having examined Him in your presence I have found no fault in this man...What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call 'King of the Jews?'”
So the crowd cried out, “Crucify Him!”
Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?”
But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”
So Pilate, wanting to please the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus to be whipped and then crucified.
If you could imagine yourself standing as part of the crowd, I'm sure you'd be sickened to see a good and innocent man sent away to suffer a violent and prolonged execution and horrified to see a violent criminal released back into the community. I'm sure you’d ask what kind of people would make this kind of stupid decision, hating and rejecting a man who had only ever done good. Yet the sad reality is millions of people all around the world make a similar decision every day. They gladly welcome the presence of evil into their lives, their homes and their community while rejecting the same Jesus who only offers what is lovely good and true. It’s just crazy.
So maybe there's a hundred reasons why even the name of Jesus causes you to flinch or recoil just like the crowd, but like the Jewish people 2000 years ago, do you really understand the choice that you are making and the implications it has for your life? Jesus, who is the exact representation of what God is like, loves you ferociously and only has good in store for you. Maybe it’s time to take the case to the Supreme Court and see the decision reversed. Let Jesus go free in your life.

Is God fair

No matter where you are from or what your believe in, we all want to be happy. We want to live a good life, for things to go well for us and those we love, and we deeply desire to be loved, understood and treated fairly.
We have inside us a very strong sense of justice and feel clearly that people should get what they deserve. If someone has done the wrong thing, they should not escape punishment and if someone has worked hard to do the right thing, they should receive what they are entitled to. As Aussies we really get upset when criminals walk free, and lazy freeloaders get something for nothing.
So where does God fit in the mix of things? I mean is God fair and does He give us what we deserve? Most people seem to think they've got a better chance at getting a fair go if they distance themselves from God, take control of their own destiny and try to work the power of karma in their favor. I'm a big “My Name is Earl” fan...very funny stuff, but honestly whats the go with “karma?” Everyone loves it and apparently it makes so much sense. Do good - get good in return, do bad- look out because bad is coming your way. It seems to be the fool proof cosmic justice system that ensures we all get what we deserve.
The problem with karma is that while we genuinely want fairness and justice for others, we honestly want what is better than fair for ourselves. We want to be given the benefit of the doubt and another chance to do things right. We want to get lucky and receive more than we are entitled, but when these things happen to others, we complain that its not fair.
U2 front man Bono said in a recent interview;
“The thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma. At the center of all religions is the idea of karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you...And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that...Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff. I'd be in big trouble if karma was going to finally be my judge, It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, so I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.”
Grace is better than karma every day of the week. The idea of karma is hopeless because for every good thing you do, you'll end up doing 2 stupid things to undo the good you feel you deserve. Grace is God extending love, freedom, choices, power to change, forgiveness and mercy to you with absolutely no reference to what you deserve,
The truth is that God is not fair and he doesn't give people what they deserve. That's good news.

Can a person change?

Now when it comes to film review, I'm no Tom Sebo, but I just watched the movie “Ghost Town” on DVD, and I liked it! There's a great line given between the two leading actors that really caught my attention. “...What do you think I'm just going to change?...In all your life, have you ever actually known anybody who has changed at all...ever?”
What a great question! Can people change for the better? Can addictions be broken? Can patterns of living and thinking be radically altered? Can an angry person find peace? Can an arrogant, self obsessed individual learn to love and live for the good of others? Can manipulative and controlling people overcome their insecurities and learn to let go? Can inner demons be confronted and overcome? Or are we stuck with our lot in life, trying at best to manage, mask and justify our dysfunctions?
It seems that for the vast majority, their pattern of living is almost set in stone from the time of their youth. Once people reach their 20's, most of their decisions about attitudes, lifestyle and world view are locked away. So to look inside and understand who you are and why you do the things you do, and then to choose to confront, address, and change the things that are unhealthy is a monumental thing. Yet this kind of change is not only very necessary but absolutely possible. The evil we struggle against is not external but actually inside us in the form of bad habits, insecurities, fear and lies that have been believed. Unless this evil is confronted it will destroy us and those we love.
Deep and lasting change takes place in someone's life, around the wholehearted pursuit of three things: To genuinely seek to know and understand God; To understand the Good news about what God offers us right here and now; and to pursue a deep and honest understanding of yourself. These three must be pursued together and continuously, because to stop pursuing any of the three, makes change impossible. To do the hard work of the soul and be willing to face up to who you really are is a very rare thing, but it allows the whole process of change to begin and shines the light on the broken parts of you that need intensive surgery. To understand God connects you to radical love that fuels and resources all change in your life. To discover that He has genuinely good news for you stirs within you the desire to live and reach for more.
The people in this world that we admire the most are not necessarily those who have achieved great things, but those who have faced their demons, dealt well with their stuff and have emerged out the other side bigger, deeper stronger and with something to say. These people are the real heroes. Personal growth and change is necessary, possible and beautiful.

Climate Change

I finally got around to watching Al Gore’s “An inconvenient truth” and it really affected me. I felt so much that I was part of the problem instead of being part of the solution. I was then astounded this week to see all over the news that so much of the scientific research has been discredited and exposed as downright untruthful. The figures now seem to show that global warming has stopped in the last decade, and that the planet may even get cooler again!
In response to the global warming hoax if you want to call it that, I’ve read some articles that celebrate the fact that because “the sky is no longer falling in”, we’re all off the hook now and can go on living however we want.
To be honest, I really don’t know what to make of the scientific findings, but whether the planet is getting warmer or cooler, I’m pretty sure we’re still trashing it. To say that even though there are 6.5 billion of us running around destroying eco systems and native habitats, pumping tones of greenhouse gases and toxins into the environment, chopping down trees like there’s no tomorrow and raping the earth of all its natural resources – and then conclude that there’s no way we are effecting the climate is ridiculous. It’s like saying I’ve got 13 Zebra’s in my kitchen, but I’m sure they won’t break anything!
The fact is - warmer or cooler, there is still a crisis. It may not look like it here in sunny Goulburn, but all around the world the environmental destruction caused by our addiction to consume more and more stuff, is causing massive suffering and oppression of the world’s poor majority. They are paying for our unsustainable lifestyle. God has given us this world to look after and the Bible says that God is against those who destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18).
God has plenty to say about the state of the world today, starting first with the state of our hearts. It is so easy to feel that the problem is, “Out there in the big bad world somewhere, so what difference could I possibly make?” Yet even deeply antireligious people believe that something is seriously wrong with our world, and that wrong is nowhere more present than in the human heart. The problem is not out there, it's inside us and its killing us. We are selfish, greedy and in love with being comfortable. So all of a sudden, global issues become very personal and personal issues become very global.
The hope then for our planet lies directly with our relationship with God. Jesus said that if we want to really live, we'd need to let go of our lives and let Him lovingly lead us. In doing so, He sets us free to be part of the solution instead of the problem because we no longer have to worry about what is best for us. Jesus saves us from ourselves. That is incredible

The Bible

I recently read an article in the Telegraph about Nobel Prize-winning Potuguese author, Jose Saramago. Apparently he had created quite a stir by saying that we all would be different and better as people if it weren't for the bible, denouncing it as a "handbook of bad morals." While I totally disagree, I can sort of understand where he's coming from, because over the centuries people have used the Bible to endorse almost every kind of evil behavior imaginable: slavery, male dominated societies, antisemitism, war, killing of native peoples and hating homosexuals for example. Yet it has also inspired countless others to start schools, universities, hospitals, charities, clothe and feed the poor, care for the sick, bring justice for the oppressed, and bring freedom, peace and love to the world. So what are we to do with the Bible?
The Bible never refers to itself as the word of God. It couldn't since the Bible is a collection of 66 or 72 books compiled in 382 AD. In fact the words that some Christians use to describe the Bible ( infallible, inerrant, absolute) it never once uses of itself. Even if every single word is divinely perfect, people cannot agree on what it is that God is actually saying and still have the ability to make it say what they want it to. Many want the Bible to be an answer book with exact details for every question we may have; or a rule book that makes objectively clear what behaviors are right or wrong for all time, in all places and amoung all cultures. But the problem is, to “Just do what the Bible says” is a far too simplistic and ignorant approach. It must be wrestled with, questioned with humility and understood in the context of the time, place and the reason it was written.
The Bible is true and to be trusted, but as Brian McLaren says “We need to reclaim the Bible as a narrative. The Bible is a story, and just because it recounts (by standards of accuracy acceptable to its original audience) what happened, that doesn't mean it tells what should always happen or even what should have happened.” Reading the Bible as a narrative helps us see the ongoing story of God at work in a violent, sinful world, calling people beginning with Abraham into a new way of life.
To read the Bible for what it is, is to realise that it is inspired by God to benefit us in the most important way possible: helping us relate to God and to benefit others, so that we can play our part in God’s ongoing mission on the earth. It is certain that God speaks to us through the Bible, and it is the most valuable resource we have in forming a relationship with Him. It is a treasure above all others not because it is perfect but because it leads us to the real "word of God" which is Jesus.

2 lists

Last month I was privileged enough to get to hear my all time favorite author speak while he was in Australia. I was most challenged by a story he told centering around his experience at a Christian youth camp. He had asked the kids to tell him all the issues their friends were most concerned about and their response was things like: Climate change, extinction of species, aids, terrorism, world food shortage, etc. He then asked them to tell him all the major issues their church was focused on. They said things like: How and when the world was going to end, style of worship, electric guitars and drums in church, speaking in tongues, ordination of women, getting people to come to church, money etc. Ever since, he has been greatly troubled with the fact that the second list has absolutely nothing to do with the first. His point to the audience was “How is this possible when the mandate given to those who follow God was to be a blessing to all nations? Surely if Jesus was here today He would have something to say about the things that most concern the people of the world.”
He went on to show us the 4 major crises in the world at the moment:
1.The crisis of the PLANET – We live unsustainably and are destroying the earth as a result;
2.The crisis of POVERTY – The small percentage of those who have the resources are getting richer, while the majority who have nothing are getting poorer;
3.The crisis of PEACE – Tensions are mounting between the “have's” and “have not's” resulting in increasing conflict around the world;
4.The crisis of PURPOSE – Instead of actively resolving the above crises, the worlds main religions are actually making them worse.

President JFK once said, “We have the means to end world poverty...all we lack is the will.” Religion has let us down in this regard because instead of painting an incredibly compelling and beautiful picture of the way life was meant to be, it has become distracted and consumed with pursuing selfish things which has only added to the worlds problems.
We need to understand that Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, but to tell a very different story about how this life was supposed to work. The simple reality is that the message of Jesus really is as relevant and needed today as it has ever been and it speaks straight to the heart of all 4 crises. Jesus transforms hearts and minds and so deals with the core issues of pride, greed, consumerism, materialism, selfishness, and evil...not by condemning us, but by appealing to who we were meant to be and calling us into a higher place where we have the opportunity to join Jesus' revolution of love to the ends of the earth. This leads people not to do what is best for themselves but what is best for everyone. This is the hope for the world

God v science

At some stage most young people will have to face the issue of what to do with God when the theory of evolution is presented in high school . Has science ended the need for Christianity? Are we now so smart that we can answer all life's questions out of our science text book? Is religion for dummies? - These all become very real questions
It seems that most people approach the subject just like the state of Origin – you can go for the Cockroaches, or the Cain Toads, but not both. If you believe in science, then that rules out God and if you believe in God, then scientific understanding is seen as some kind of evil.
Are these really the only 2 options available to us? a) The world was made by God in 6 literal days, 6000 years ago and God created all life just as we know it today. or b) The universe originated from a cosmic “Big Bang” billions of years ago, and all life forms have slowly evolved from a single cell, by nothing more than chance and survival of the fittest.
Both extremes seem somehow empty. To look at the wonder, complexity, and beauty of all that is around us and then conclude that it is a giant, random coincidence surely is beyond all logic. It seems equally as bizarre to read the start of the Bible as though it was a science textbook, and to assume it is giving us the precise time and date of the origins of the universe. The bible is true and to be trusted, but it's primary goal is not to inform us of biology, physics or astronomy. The bible must be read for what it is, not made into something it was never intended to be or do. Genesis tells us “Who” and “Why”, not “How”and “When.”
There must be a middle ground that acknowledges and understands God to be the creator and sustainer of all that science can discover. Science could never disprove God and in fact every new discovery simply proves how amazing He is.
Psalm 19:1 says
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
The skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Surely science and faith must work hand in hand. We should definitely cheer on scientists to find out as much as they can and tell us all that they know, but we should also allow an understanding of God to answer the questions of purpose and meaning that is forever beyond the realm of science. Science and faith both present aspects of the truth and so should dance with one another instead of fighting. Both are hopelessly incomplete without the other. Albert Einstein once said “ Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”. To believe in God does not mean you have to cut out your brain and feed it to the dog! God is not threatened by scientists, nor should Christians be.