The Voters have Spoken

A lot of controversy covered the events following Thursday’s vote, but none so interesting as the requirement Nick Clegg felt to take the result personally. It was as if the question on the ballot read: “Do you like Nick Clegg?” Of which the 3 options were:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Hell No!

I only have a few short comments to make on the matter. The first being it isn’t personal, Mr. Clegg, we just don’t want what you want. The turnout for the vote was higher than usual, and the majority was self explanatory. I’ve already stated my opinion of democracy, but the numbers show what can be done with the power of a vote.

The higher than average turn out shows that people wanted to be heard on the matter. And the margin by which the resounding “NO” was said only further shows that this country will listen when it matters. It actually points to the involvement of the country on policy change as being more effective than voting for a party.

Whatever the motive behind each vote it wasn’t another back stabbing action to the deputy prime minister; he didn’t have enough votes the first time round for that to be the case!

 

Power in Voting

On Tuesday I began to unfold what it is to believe in the sovereignty of God in government.

Today, in the midst of continued strife, and an upcoming vote on the reform of elections, I will address our country.

Alternative voting, or AV for short, is a novel way of ranking our favourite candidates so we give our preference over others, without actually ruling anyone out. You give a ranking and the statisticians do the rest. The summary I’ve heard of it, and I haven’t heard much, is that you vote 1,2,3 etc… for the candidates in order of preference. The candidate with 50% of “1″s will win, otherwise it will move down the ranks until a majority of some kind is found.

Does that make sense? No. It’s confusing. Ultimately, this new proposed voting system makes the results equally as unsatisfying as any other kind of voting. As Jubilee Centre have said “We could spend days and years discussing how to structure government differently and how to determine who should represent us in government, but it will still come down to people with different ideas and values needing to cooperate and negotiate in the interests of the common good.”

Today’s government is designed to give power to the people through their votes. However, true empowering requires facilitating those who have no idea where to begin, to get up and actually do something.

The Jubilee Centre article on “The AV Debate” includes a well thought out discussion, with examples where AV is currently being used (Canada and Australia) but is not giving a fair representation as promised.

Again, the final article Jubilee-Center.org gives to this debate gives these two thoughts:

“The bible repeatedly teaches us that the centralisation of power in any individual or institution increases the temptation for corruption and exploitation. The Old Testament in particular therefore envisages power being balanced across various sources of authority: the individual, family, community, religious bodies (Levites), region (tribe), and nation. Between them they formed a network of concurrent authorities each instituted by God and protected, limited and empowered by the national constitution.”

“Ultimately, whatever electoral system we have, we will still be disillusioned and disappointed with the results, for no leader or team of leaders, however gifted, is able to solve all society’s problems.”

I don’t agree with democracy as a governmental system. But it’s what we have and to not vote is to decide to not use the power you’ve been given. The Apostle Paul lived in an organised empire with all kinds of different out workings from region to region. Tyrants, despots, dictators; along with rulers that would surprise him with kindness and helpfulness. This formed a view of government that God in His supremacy has put in place. To judge that some are from God and some from Satan is to miss the fact that Satan is limited by our Sovereign King.

To conclude I would encourage you to vote “NO” on May 5th when the referendum is opened up to us, the voters. Changing the voting system is irrelevant to the needs of this country. As many have seen, the coalition has been a failure in it’s initial promises, and every attempt to continue is drawing the union of opposing forces to a predictable early demise. What we need is a government showing real change in real places, rather than theoretical change that will not solve any actual problems.

Next week I will go into more detail of my opinion on democracy.

 

The Junk Mail Filter

This is a reaction:

It’s harder and harder for junk mail filters to work effectively. As we enter into a new age of the Internet, the old junk that is kindly removed before we see it is now more prominent than ever, and yet we don’t notice it. Why? Google and other clever corporations have worked on ways to ensure we don’t see the ridiculous pleas to click and win $2,000,000; or have a larger… house.

The new junk is clever and asks for less clicking and more volunteering. That is, volunteering of information. I’ve had the occasional request from HSBC and Halifax to send them my personal details to ensure that, since their security breach, they will be able to verify who I am and lock down my account. These are easy to spot as neither of these I bank with.

However, desperate emails from foreign citizens find their way into my inbox. The trouble with these is you’re unsure if they’re legitimate or not (they’re not) and they use life stories to suck you in. And if that wasn’t enough, they usually offer large cash sums along the way. The last one I was offered $54,000,000. A small proportion of a 17 year old boys inheritance, who was stuck at customs for being under age and carrying a suspicious amount of money.

I pick on this one because it is the most recent and the most convincing. Yet it is also the most disgusting. Why? The setting of the boys background was the Libyan crisis, of which he managed to escape with his fathers inheritance who was killed by Gadaffi’s forces.

This pulls on our conscience. We know what’s going on out there, to a degree, and now it has found it’s way onto my doorstep. Surely I should help (regardless of the large sum of money being offered).

I leave this open. But here are some tips I’ve used to check if the email is from a legitimate source:
1. Check the spelling. Simple spelling mistakes will crop up where the claim is false.
2. Check grammar and punctuation. As point 1.
3. Check the “From” email address. This is usually a random set of letters and numbers. If the email is coming from a lawyer you would expect a simpler email address somehow relating to the name given in the email.
4. Check the “To” or “Cc” fields. Either your email will not appear at all. This means you have been “BCc’d” on the email, meaning it could have gone to thousands of others. Or there are a few other email addresses that appear randomly generated in the same fields.
5. Finally, if in doubt delete it. If it’s truly important but you don’t know what to do, they will be in touch again. And if they have your email and they are legitimate they should have got it from a legitimate source. If they don’t give any good reason as to why they have your contact details then it is highly suspicious.

 

Explosive Preaching

Ron Boyd-MacMillan shares an imaginary correspondence with a preacher just starting out, in his book ‘Explosive Preaching’. I was recommended this book about 2 years before I read it. That was mostly down to it’s out-dated, and unappealing front cover. (Even though I was proven not to judge a book by it’s cover, I still do.)

The content is a one-sided set of letters, which are written well enough for you to know what was written back without needing to see it. He covers the progression of preaching techniques over the ages; from moralistic lectures, to narrative preaching. He shares his passion for good preaching, without limiting you to a style, or method. By the end of the book there is a feeling of freedom to find your voice, while also having some very instructive guidelines on how to move from average to good.

The highlight for me is Ron Boyd-MacMillan’s description of the Chinese preaching school. The curriculum is lovingly referred to as “the 66, the 33, and the 1″. The requirement is writing 100 preaches ready to preach whenever necessary. It shows both how China is so passionate about hearing the word of God and illuminates the British tendency to make our training over academic.

The breakdown of this Chinese preaching school is as follows:
66 one hour sermons covering each book of the bible. This needs to be memorised. At the point of assessment they pick a random card and ask you to preach on whichever book is on the card.
33 half hour sermons covering the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You are allowed a page of notes per sermon.
1 sermon on the text, or topic of your choice; for as long as you want. This is the sermon you prepare for heaven.

The whole book is full of wisdom regarding style, technique, preparation, the use of technology, and more. If you think you might preach one day, read this book to kindle the passion. If you preach and haven’t read it, you simply must.

 

Jonathan Edwards on Revival

I read this in the summer last year. It was great to read and covered three main periods of the Great Awakening of the 18th century. It was an enlightening read as the pages told of similar occurrences as are found in Acts; hearts burning with conviction to repent, all manner of people coming to know Jesus, the poor being ministered to, the generosity of the rich.

I would highly recommend reading it, and I’m not a particular fan of church history. To entertain this tangent, the excitement people get for church history is lost on me. There are many amazing things that were done through the centuries in the name of Christ, and there are amazing theologians who carry much weight in today’s understanding of scripture. But, there is a lot of reliance on practices and interpretations that aren’t the Bible, and whether they agree with scripture or not, there is far more emphasis on something that is not authoritative, or apostolic in the way the Bible is. It is my firm belief that to depart from historical Christianity is not to depart from scripture. Sometimes it is necessary to do so to remain faithful to scripture. However, church history can teach much, raise faith, and ultimately confirm much for the future of the Christian expression. Rebuilding orthodox belief from the ground is always to be encouraged, but we are influenced in many ways, the are kept in check by historical theology from the like of Calvin, Luther and, in this case, Edwards.

The story that stuck in my mind after I put the book down was of a young girl convicted by the spirit of her sin, and, in exploring and seeking for redemption would be found missing for much of the day where it later turned out she had found a secret place to pray and seek God. She wouldn’t entertain children’s ministry as she wanted to hear Mr. Edwards preach. The story is a wonderful picture of revival. In each narrative given by Edwards, the variety of God’s spirit settling on whomever He chooses is most obvious, and young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, spoke especially into where my wife and I are called in Islington.

I would recommend this book, however archaic the language, for the sheer relevance an awakening of the spirit is in all generations. We apply the revival in Acts to ourselves. Why not join in Edwards experience, and even have our own to boot?

 

Book Reviews — Coming Up

I read books. Sometimes I feel like I don’t read enough, but that is down to my reading speed. I can read a book in days, but the average is usually a month. As a result I have a repertoire of books I’ve read that I’d love to flag up as recommended to you, the readers of the content on this blog. Some of you may find no relevance in it, but that shouldn’t discourage me. If I though I had to write what interested everyone I wouldn’t write anything. Imagine convincing yourself you had to learn every language to make content accessible to all?

No, I read books that interest me. If you think that rather self centred, then the tangent I’ve found myself in is as far as anyone will ever read.

Back to the main theme: I have read 3 particular books I will attempt to review in the next 3 posts.

1. Jonathan Edwards on Revival — Jonathan Edwards
2. Explosive Preaching — Ron Boyd-MacMillan
3. Ministries of Mercy — Timothy Keller

The first I was reluctant to read due to the archaic language.
The second I was put off by the cover.
The 3rd I was cautious to read as the content is far too challenging to my own lifestyle.

Sometimes you should dive in regardless of the content. Like stepping on a train you have no idea where it’s going. These books both changed and encouraged me. I hope I can do them justice.

 

Bell’s Hell

Rob Bell has caused a stir. I haven’t read the book.

“Love Wins” has become the latest topic of debate among Christians on Twitter, Facebook, the Christian blogosphere, and anything else that allows freedom of speech and those that believe in Jesus (primarily on the internet). I could wait for the book to find it’s way into my library, but after reading preliminary reviews I don’t think I want to own my own copy. Giving money to the cause won’t help it disappear, will it?

Of course, I shouldn’t have anything to say until I’ve read it, but my reaction has caught me off guard as I read prominent evangelicals discuss the impact this book could have. This isn’t another “The Shack” moment, where, regardless of the wobbly theology, the heart seems to be in the right place, and it is about helping people understand and improve their relationship with God, even though we have seen the trinity explained better using an egg. This is an individual with a MASSIVE following, asking questions (and providing his own answers) about a doctrine that is fundamental the Christian message.

Rob Bell is single-handedly, in the western Christian church, causing a shake up that is not dissimilar to what is happening in Japan right now.

This isn’t restoring the true message of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, this is removing the foundations and watching what happens.

As much as I’ve tried to stay out of it, it brings me close to tears as I watch this gifted individual, who has upset people, but remained faithful to Jesus, to suddenly rubbish the work of the Cross, take the God of Justice we know and love and cripple Him. The heaven and hell he is talking about is not the same as that of the bible. The future of every individual he describes is his own construction.

Rob Bell has got a lot to do to show me how it is possible the teaching of this book is not heresy.

Kevin De Young puts it well in his comprehensive review: If he’s right, most of church history has been wrong. If he’s wrong, a staggering number of people are hearing “peace, peace” where there is no peace.

 

Back to Blogging

Over the past 2 years I’ve been involved in seeing a church grow from 2 to 12 to 20 to 30 and now we’re pushing that. It’s meant a step back from posting as often as I was, along with family, work, church, life-in-general balance. Now I’m hoping to get back into the swing, and I know that I am a good deal wiser, and experienced than I was a year ago. This should be a good exercise!

I will likely share stories from the church planting adventure. If you want to get involved or visit our family of faith we are beginning meeting in the Vue Islington, screen 4, 11am from 13th of March, followed by our 2nd birthday celebration. This Sunday is our final Sunday in our current venue, 11am, Stage Door, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Khan Lecture theatre. I happen to be preaching the last message in the venue, continuing our series on the parables.

More information is available at The Well Church London

 

Either God and Ethics Exist, or Atheism is Our Way of Pretending That Any Rationality is Negative

Religion exists, in part, precisely because humans aren’t at home amid these cruel rhythms. We stand half inside the natural world and half outside it. We’re beasts with self-consciousness, predators with ethics, mortal creatures who yearn for immortality.

This is an agonized position, and if there’s no escape upward — or no God to take on flesh and come among us, as the Christmas story has it — a deeply tragic one.

Pantheism offers a different sort of solution: a downward exit, an abandonment of our tragic self-consciousness, a re-merger with the natural world our ancestors half-escaped millennia ago.

But except as dust and ashes, Nature cannot take us back.

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/opinion/21douthat1.html

On Avatar; and put better than I could.

 

Time to disappear… perhaps

I’ve been under the illusion that I’m a lot more popular than I actually am. Why else do I check my phone every 2-4 minutes? I half expect a message, missed call, voicemail, notification from Facebook, email, whatever, to fill my screen simply forcing me to check, respond, draft, react, to the information. I want to be connected.

How would I survive without this plugged-in lifestyle? I haven’t unplugged in a long time.