The ‘top shelf’ campaign

There is an interesting article in the LICC email newsletter this week, about a campaign by a female politician who is following the the footsteps of Mary Whitehouse in the campaign to reduce the availability of indecent material in the form of ‘lads mags’, and restricting their display in newsagents.

The article is here: http://www.licc.org.uk/culture/the-top-shelf-campaign

I was also suprised lately when looking through Playstation magazines for kids (my son and I both enjoy playing Playstation games) and I saw explicit adverts for services which send pornographic pictures to your mobile, or provide adult chat lines. These are magazines which have no age restriction – in fact their main readership is sure to be young kids. I’m wondering if anything can be done to ban this sort of advertising.

These companies know exactly what they are doing, and young people are becoming adicted to pornography, and being drawn into the world of sexual permissiveness and perversion at an early age. The potential impact on young lives, and on society as a whole is frightening.

I found a related article from John Piper:

“When Unclothed Is Unfitting”

42

It’s my birthday tomorrow.

(That’s awl ah gat ta say about that).

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Luck Or Providence ?

I’ve just finished “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. He is, inevitably regurgitating all of the current theories of modern science – Big Bang, Darwinism etc. but  it’s done in a very down-to-earth and good-humoured way.

The section on “Life Itself” is very interesting and I noted some passages.

For example, he does comment on the remarkable suitability of our planet to sustain life, and how “LUCKY” we as a species are to be here. As a Christian though, I see and marvel at the wonderful providence of God. I found a DVD which gives a Christian perspective on the issue – The Privileged Planet.  

Here’s what Bill has to say -

So far, space scientists have discovered about seventy planets outside the solar system, out of the ten billion trillion or so that are thought to be out there, so humans can hardly claim to speak with authority on the matter; but it appears that if you wish to have a planet suitable for life, you have to be just awfully lucky, and the more advanced the life, the luckier you have to be. Various observers have identified about two dozen particularly fortunate  breaks we have had on the Earth, but this is a flying survey so we’ll distil them down to the principle four.  

1. Excellent Location.

We are, to an almost uncanny degree, the right distance from the right sort of star, one that is big enough to radiate lots of energy, but not so big as to burn itself out swiftly. It is a curiosity of physics that the larger a star is, the more rapidly it burns. Had our sun been ten times as massive, it would have exhausted itself after ten mission years instead of ten billion and we wouldn’t be here now. We are also fortunate to orbit where we do. Too much nearer, and everything on Earth would have boiled away. Much further away, and everything would have frozen. In 1978, an astrophysicist named Michael Hart made some calculations and concluded that the earth would have been uninhabitable had it been just 1 % further or 5% closer to the Sun. The figures have since been refined and made a little more generous – 5% nearer and 15% further are thought to be more accurate assessments for our zone of habitability – but that is still a narrow belt.

2. The Right Kind Of Planet.

I don’t imagine even many geophysicists, when asked to count  their blessings, would include living on a planet with a molten interior, but it’s a pretty near certainty that without all that magma swirling around beneath us we wouldn’t be here now. Apart from much else, our lively interior created the outpourings of gas that helped to build an atmosphere and provided us with the magnetic field that shields us from cosmic radiation. It also gave us plate tectonics, which continually renews and rumples the surface. If the Earth were perfectly smooth, it would be covered everywhere with water to a depth of 4km. There might be life in that lonesome ocean, but there certainly wouldn’t be football. In addition to having a beneficial interior, we also have the right elements in the correct proportions. In the most literal way, we are made of the right stuff. 

3. We’re A Twin

Not many of us normally think of the Moon as a companion planet, but that is, in effect, what it is. Most moons are tiny in relation to their master planet. Our Moon, however is more than a quarter the diameter of the Earth, which makes us the only planet in the solar system with a sizeable moon in comparison to itself. Without the Moon’s steadying influence, the Earth would wobble like a sying top, with goodness knows what consequences for climate and weather. The Moon’s gracitational influence keeps the Earth spinning at the right speed and angle to provide the sort of stability necessary for the long and successful development of life. The Moon is slipping from our grasp at a rate of about 4cm a year. In another 2 billion years it will have receded so far that it won’t keep us steady and we will have to come up with some other solution, but in the meantime you should think of it as much more than just a pleasant feature in the night sky.

4. Timing

The universe is an amazingly fickle and eventful place and our existence within it is a wonder. If a long and unimaginably complex sequence of events stretching back 4.6billion years or so, hadn’t played out in a particular manner at particular times, – if, to take just one example, the dinosaurs hadn’t been wiped out by a meteor when they were – you might well be a few centimeters long with whiskers and a tail, and reading this in a burrow.

More Unity

It's hard to judge just by word of mouth, but it sounds like the church in China could teach us a lot about unity. They don't seem to have hit the problems with denominational splits that we have in the west. It's wonderful what a dose of persecution can do to make believers realise what they have in common, and stop bickering about secondary issues.

In the biography of Brother Yun "The Heavenly Man" he mentions the subject of unity.

"Throughout the 1970's, there had been just one house church movement in China. There were no networks or organisations, just groups of passionate believers who came together to worship and study God's Word. The leaders all knew each other. God had brought them together during times of hardship. They learned to have fellowship and trust one another while shackled together in prison. After being released, they worked together for the advancement of the gospel. In those early days we were truly unified. Suffering had broken down all denominational walls in the Chineese Church.  When China's borders started to open up in the early 1980's, many foreign Christians wanted to know how they could help the church in China. The first thing they did was smuggle Bibles to us from Hong Kong. These gifts were greatly appreciated and so desperately needed! However, after a few years these same mission organisations started putting other books at the top of the bags of Bibles. These were books about one particular denomination's theology or teaching that focused on certain aspects of God's Word.   We read all these booklets and soon were confused! The churches started to split into groups that believed one thing against groups that believed another. Instead of only speaking for Jesus, we started also speaking against other believers who didn't conform to our views."

2 Chronicles 20:4 "Jeshoshaphat Defeats Moab and Ammon" – tells us about the power of unity in the face of adversity.

The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.  

2 Timothy 2:22-26 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Hamed

I've got my sponsorship form and Direct Debit all filled in for Hamed. Compassion sent a lot of interesting background information about him and his family and village and a factsheet on Burkina Faso. I'd like to write a letter to him to send with the forms, and also enclose a photo of me, Sharon and Sam.  

Holiday Bible Club

We got our training for the Holiday Bible Club this week. We're all a bit apprehensive about how it will go, but we have a good team of helpers and we are all praying hard.

The CEF training was excellent. They made it seem so easy and they covered a lot of very practical tips and pitfalls to avoid. We're all really looking forward to it.

Unity

The following is a quotation from Richard Baxter.

Keep right apprehensions of the excellency of charity and unity among believers, and receive nothing hastiky that is against them; especially take heed lest under pretence of their authority, their number, their soundness, or their holiness, you too much addict yourself to any sect or party, to the withdrawing of your special love and just communion from other Christians, and turning your zeal to the interest of your party, with a neglect of the common interest of the church; but love a Christian as a Christian, and promote the unity and welfare of them all.

Read and well consider the meaning and reason of those many urgent passages in Scripture, which exhort all christians to unity and love.

Psalm 133

    ¹ How good and pleasant it is
       when brothers live together in unity!

    ² It is like precious oil poured on the head,
       running down on the beard,
       running down on Aaron's beard,
       down upon the collar of his robes.

    ³ It is as if the dew of Hermon
       were falling on Mount Zion.
       For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
       even life forevermore.

John 11:52 

John 17:11,20-23

1 Corinthians 12

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Philippians 2:1-4

1 Peter 3:8

Romans 16:17