SA’s JNGK and SSM
What a sad week it has been for our South African friends! Their largest church, the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) officially approved same-sex marriages (SSM). At the same time their synod also opened the way for their ministers and other office-bearers to live as practicing homosexuals and to even marry their same-sex partners. Previously homosexual office-bearers in that church were permitted to serve on the condition that they lived celibate lives. The moderator of their synod, Nelis Janse van Rensburg…
What’s happening to our sacred songs?
In the last month or so, I have noticed an interesting development in television advertising. I do not know whether this is a developing trend, but it made me take notice. Advertisers are using well known sacred songs to promote their products. The first one I noticed was the ABC, which uses the words of the old and well known song “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” Originally, that song was written about the sovereignty of God, who…
Freedom of Religion
Some time ago the Muslims in our community bought a church building that had been left unused after the church merged with another congregation. The Muslims turned the building into a mosque. Within a short time two unsuccessful attempts were made to burn the building to the ground. There is obviously a faction in our town that does not tolerate a mosque in our midst. The “Weekend Australian Magazine” (26/9/15) contained an article on what is happening in the city…
The Team
On one occasion at a Minister’s Association meeting an Anglican colleague took me aside while we were enjoying a cuppa before the meeting proper began. He asked whether he could “pick my brain”. A strange expression! Were brains up for grabs and he wanted to choose mine? Or was my brain that hard to crack that he needed a pick? We really ought to come up with a different expression for those moments when we want to benefit from someone…
Classcraft…?
One of our regional State High Schools is introducing a new way of teaching their students, using a tool that is becoming increasingly popular around the world. It is called Classcraft and is managed by an on-line company by that name: classcraft.com. Their stated objective is that “Classcraft helps teachers manage, motivate and engage their students by transforming their classroom into a role-playing game.” The thinking behind this latest phenomenon is some statistical data. In the USA 58% of Americans…
Givers and takers
Just two weeks after my sixteenth birthday the late J. F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the US of A. I remember well his inauguration speech – well, at least one line of it, which became famous and has often since been repeated and quoted: “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” That’s a line that more Aussies should take to heart today. The…
Life is short – and so is the seventh commandment
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is sinful man’s ability to make what is sinful and destructive into something that is OK. Over recent weeks we have heard about a website that was ‘hacked’ and as a result, 37 million names have been leaked to the public. The website is called “Ashley Maddison” which seems innocent enough, being named after two popular female names. However, this website is nothing but innocent. Although it is classed as…
Peer Pressure (take 2)
I came across a cartoon that finally answered an old question that has become the butt of many a joke: Why did the chicken cross the road? The answer is: peer-pressure. The cartoon showed a hesitant hen standing by the roadside with traffic flying past. On the other side of the road stood some feathered friends crying, “Chicken!” Perhaps that needs explaining to some. In my teenage years if you were scared to do something that others did, you were…
Peer Pressure
The interviewer asked the man who was celebrating his 100th birthday what the best thing was about turning one-hundred. Displaying some quick wit for someone his age he instantly replied, “No peer pressure”. We often tend to see peer pressure almost exclusively as a teenage problem. Big mistake! Toddlers already demand to have what they see other toddlers possess. And I recall a church I served where one young family after another traded in their car for a 4×4. Was…
The Welfare State
In our book club we’ve been reading Theodore Dalrymple “If Symptoms Persist”. The author is a medical doctor whose territory includes the local penitentiary and public health department. The author relates stories about some of his patients. One of his gripes is how some of his patients have come to have a sense of entitlement to live off the public purse. He sides with the long-suffering tax-payer. It’s wonderful to be living in a country that subscribes to the ethos…