4youmagxiipre5

IRELAND: from Bantry to Belfast, Westport to Wexford, this is for you!

Magazine ISSUE XII

KidS: The Growing Years >Stories They Won’t Grow Out Of p4

Trust in God or trust in Atheism?

Surviving Cancer

> Damien from Dundalk offers hope p8

Cover pic: The O’Connell Monument, Dublin

Joni: Me B4 U

Can you Spot Fake News?

ISSUE XII

< Not Quite the 6 O’Clock News p3

Assisted Suicide > A Quadriplegic’s Unique Perspective p6 Big Questions

Irish Opinion

Christianity

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Contents

ISSUE

4you.ie Magazine Published in Ireland

by AONTAS © MMXVII Editor Paudge Mulvihill

aontas

Correspondence to: 4you Magazine, 72 Rowan Drive, Castlebar, Co. Mayo

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

Page 3

Fake News In a Truthless Cluture by Mark Loughridge

Page 10

It’s Not Fair!

Page 4

Stories They Won’t Grow Out Of Nikki Childs

Page 11-12

Arguments with Atheism

Page 5

Hannah’s Funeral

Page 6-7

Assisted Suicide

Page 8-9

Surviving Cancer

by Risteárd O’ Gloineadóir

5 Page 13-14

Do Versus Done

Page 15

Free Offers & Resources

by Seth Lewis

by Joni Eareckson Tada

One Life - Damien Higgins

Phone: 094 9023702 Email: 4youireland@gmail.com Web: www.4you.ie

by Mark Loughridge

by Jason Post

Books, Bibles & Booklets Sports Cartoon Strip

8 Contents

Design: OpenBook Ireland www.oscail.net Printer: Printbridge Ltd. Publisher: www.aontas.ie

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z å 4 you.i e Mag a z ine Issu e X I I E d itor i a l You are very welcome to our twelfth edition of the 4you.ie magazine. In this publication, we seek to answer the big question of life, the ultimate questions. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life itself? And how should life be lived?

We turn to the Bible, God’s Word, for the answers because it is the only reliable place to go with such questions. He created us so He knows best how we ought to live. We will be looking at family life, family tragedies, assisted suicide and surviving cancer and most importantly how we can be sure of heaven when we die? In each case, we will find that God’s Word has so much to say and that it is so helpful.

On page 15 you will find useful booklets offered absolutely free together with the most important book of all, the Bible. May the Lord abundantly bless you.

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Paudge Mulvihill Editor

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4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

Photo: ‘Me Before You’ film © 2016 Warner Bros/MGM www.4you.ie

NEWS

NOT THE

6 O’Clock NEWS

in a truthless culture

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NONEWS@

by Mark Loughridge

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he phrase ‘fake news’ has been bandied around the headlines over the last number of months, ever since the American presidential election. Its companion ‘post-truth’ was the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year for 2016.

Post-truth captures the tendency seen in recent politics from Brexit to the US Presidential elections (and at many other times!) to say whatever it takes to create a feeling to get people to vote whatever way you want.

Truth is irrelevant.

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e are said to be living in a post-truth culture.

It’s portrayed as if we’ve have been caught by surprise by the whole thing. This week Facebook is rolling out new measures to combat the problem of fake news, especially in Germany in the lead up to their election.

Yet for decades academics and self-appointed culturemakers have told us there is no such thing as absolute truth: You make your own truth; That might be true for you but it’s not true for me; Just be true to yourself, etc. etc. It didn’t stay in academia either. It percolated down into the level of pop culture, in song lyrics like “No matter what they teach you, what you believe is true”, or “This is my truth, tell me yours”. It has become how we think and live.

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ut now that a few election results haven’t gone the way culture-makers want, they are suddenly interested in the concept of truth, crying “Foul, that’s not true”. Western society, whilst rejecting absolute truth, is

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suddenly showing a grave concern at the rise of fabricated news stories! If it weren’t tragic it would be comical.

What you sow, you reap.

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ll this goes to show that the ‘truth experiment’ that has been run from the 1960’s onwards has been a colossal failure. What was that experiment? That we could define truth without God. Without God, truth boils down to he/she who shouts the loudest. And that is where the experiment has led us— to an election in one of the world’s leading countries where a man and a woman just shouted their own versions of truth (fabricated nonsense) at each other.

The apostle Paul wrote about the danger of suppressing the truth, and exchanging truth for a lie (Romans 1:18, 25). Part of the danger lies in that God says he will stand back and let us reap the fruits of such folly. I think we are seeing that unfold.

Truth matters; and we need saving from ourselves.

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e gravely need a return to integrity, to truthfulness in speech and character. We need truth if we are to function as a society, but where do we get truth from?

The failed experiment has shown us that a self-definition of truth doesn’t work. We need an external standard of truth, something fixed and unchanging. We need the God of truth. We need him as our standard, and more— we need the one who said “I am the Truth” to transform us into men and women who live and breathe it.

Without him, life’s foundations crumble.

HH

“‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked.” -John 18 v38

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S Pic: Models Stock photo

Parenting

Stories they wont

grow out of

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oothpaste all over the bathroom. Every chair sticky with jam. Crumbs on the kitchen floor. I have three young children and variable home management skills.

But they are growing out of it. My 4 and 5-year-olds can now put away toys and clothes when asked. My 2½ -year-old does less puddles on the floor than he did a few weeks ago.

They’re growing out of other things as well. I’m keeping the charity shops in business with children’s clothes. My older two have even grown out of ‘In the Night Garden.’

Children will grow out of ideas too.

Santa. The Tooth Fairy.

Wishing on a star. Fairyland. Superheroes. The teacher is always right.

We put a lot of time into helping them learn life skills that will last. Encouraging every step as they learn to walk, teaching them to share and treat others right. Doing battles over homework (day in and day out) so our children can read, write and get on in the world.

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et’s think about the ideas we spend so long nurturing in them too. Are we spending all our time nurturing the ones they’ll grow out of? What about the ones that will prepare them for a world of teenage suicide and peer pressure? Truth that will give them hope in the onslaught of anxiety, depression, loneliness?

There is truth that they won’t grow out of,

that will prepare them for the real world. So I teach my three little children that God made the world. God made you. You are God’s present to Mummy and Daddy. God loves you. God is perfect and will never let you down. You are a sinner but Jesus came to rescue you. He died on the cross and took the punishment for your sins. Jesus loves

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‘Teach them to your children’ -Deut. 11 v9

you so much he gave up everything for you. All the wrong things you ever did can be forgiven! You can be God’s friend when you say sorry to God. Then God will be with you always. Jesus is getting a wonderful place ready in heaven for all his friends.

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hese are truths from an ancient book, still as relevant today as when it was first written. And there’s more in the Bible for when they get older and face hard times. We can help them understand that people are sinners and will let you down, even those who love you most, but God never will. That death comes to everyone but it is not the end.

That God works for the good of his friends, using even sad things to teach us and make us more like Jesus. Guilt need not get us down – there is full forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

What other people think of us stings less when we know the God of the Universe is smiling at us and we will share his happiness forever. Injustice will be made right one day when God judges the world. Our Holy God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit always loving each other since before the dawn of time and even after the end of time. And he invites us to join his family by having our sins forgiven. Then we can share his forever love and happiness.

So I’d encourage you to get out a Bible

(or send away for one) and start reading some of its great wisdom to your children or grandchildren. The gospel according to St. Mark is a good place to start, with lots of short stories about Jesus. True stories that can prepare us for life here and forever. Stories they’ll never grow out of.

Better than any fairytale.

> See our Childrens book review of ‘The Jesus Storybook Bible’ on Page 11

Now my wife is crying. She is beside me, looking at the floor. She’s not wearing black shoes, either. I don’t think she’s even trying to listen to those nice people who never, ever stop talking about helpful things I can’t hear. I just want to go somewhere where no people are talking so I can look at the floor and let the whole world be as black as it should be. How can the sun not be ashamed? Why do people in the waiting room keep chatting and laughing as if the whole world hadn’t just fallen to pieces? Turn off the lights. Let all creation mourn.

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The precious body is too small to bury. There will be no prepared

Now I understand why Easter is the birthday of hope for humanity. Hope for precious bodies that are too small to bury. Hope for broken fathers and mothers. Hope for liars and thieves and sinners.

Hope for good people who can never be good enough. The steeple bells are tolling again, but not a funeral: a resurrection! Hope is alive because you are.

“The precious body is too small to bury. There will be no prepared funeral. Only this horrid, sunlit, incessant chatter and brown shoes.

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t’s taking too long. That’s how I know my world is crumbling. The midwife can’t find what she’s looking for. She keeps trying, but every new effort is the ringing of steeple bells tolling a funeral. Not a formal, prepared, eulogised, dressed-in-black funeral. No, this is an impromptu affair, with no time to think, and no black shoes to look at as I stare at the floor. But I can’t just stare at the floor, people are talking to me. I have to concentrate to keep looking at them. I have to focus. It’s not their fault. They’re trying to help. I need to be polite and listen. What about my wife? She must be feeling the same as me. No, she must be feeling worse. After all, Hannah is still inside her. Hannah who we weren’t even sure was a girl (But we knew).

Hannah who was a world of new life and dreams. Hannah who we have the little dress waiting for at home in a room right across the hall so we can hear her if she cries...

Seth Lewis

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S

Hannah's

fu neral e

But the dress... The little dress is still in the room across the hall at home, waiting... ”

funeral. Only this horrid, sunlit, incessant chatter and brown shoes.

But the dress... The little dress is still in the room across the hall at home, waiting for the precious body that is too small to bury. If my wife sees it, she will cry. I have to put it away before that happens.

I have to put it somewhere deep in a wardrobe, somewhere dark where there is no sunlight and all the clothes look as black as they should be. This is the funeral. The burial of my dreams. The flowery dress is the casket, as empty as my heart. The wardrobe is the grave, with darkened coats standing in for mourners. And when the door is closed, my world is forever changed.

And now I begin to understand. I understand why the sky turned

black and the earth shook in heaving grief as you breathed one last ragged breath from your place on the cross. Except it wasn’t your place. You were innocent. Creation was right to mourn it, as I mourned for Hannah. The world is broken by sin, and death is the result. I know that. But it wasn’t Hannah’s sin, so why should it be her death? Neither was it your sin, so why should it be your death?

She didn’t have a choice, but you gave up your life willingly. You did it because you knew that only your wrongful death could break the power of our sin once and for all, and begin to undo the horrible result of our sin - making death itself begin to work backwards for those who belong to you. So you died our death. And when you walked out of the grave, the world was forever changed.

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‘ It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him’ -Acts 2v24

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

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Assisted Suicide: A Quadriplegic’s Perspective

b y J o n i E a r e c k s o n Ta d a

Culture is so easily influenced by the entertainment industry. This is why I am sounding an alarm about a very dangerous message in a film released last summer. The movie? Me Before You.

I went to see Me Before You the first week it was out. I was curious because the story is about a young man named Will who became paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. The filmmakers did a great job of conveying his emotional struggles in facing a life without use of his hands or legs. As you might expect, Will falls into suicidal despair. That is until his mother hires Louisa, an upbeat young woman who sees it as her job to cheer him up. In time, they fall in love.

One part of the movie really gripped my emotions.

Will gets dressed in a tuxedo and Louisa in a bright red dress, and they drive to a symphony concert. That night when they drive back home and she starts to get out of the car, Will stops her. From the passenger seat, he says softly, “Wait next to me for a moment.

I just took a beautiful woman in a red dress to a concert, and I want the moment to last.”

into a suicide clinic to kill himself. What a tragic ending!

It’s especially tragic that Will’s family calls his decision “courageous.” To me, a quadriplegic, that is revolting. Courage isn’t throwing in the towel and checking out of life because things are too hard; rather courage is staying engaged in life and remaining in the battle when life is difficult. A courageous choice like that can have an even greater impact on culture—after all, “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Rom. 14:7). Make no mistake, our choices have a powerful influence on others.

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A Dangerous Message:

I have nothing but disdain for the “you’re better off

dead than disabled” message in Me Before You. It can’t help but have a negative impact on young, impressionable moviegoers who already have fundamental fears about disability. It can pull at their emotions, further weakening their convictions about who has the right to doctor-assisted death. Audiences may leave the theater saying, “Why t that point, tears were flowshouldn’t a despairing quadripleing down my face—I’ve been gic have the right to kill himself?!” there; I know what that feelRight now there are five states in the ing is like. As a quadriplegic, I United States (California, Oregon, have experienced many happy Washington, Vermont, and Monmoments like these. I call them tana) that have legalized assisted “almost being on my feet” mosuicide for terminally ill people. ments, and they are priceless.

Additionally, bills modeled on the Pics: ‘Me Before You’ film © 2016 Warner Bros/MGM California law have been submitted es, Me Before You pulls strongly at your emotions. in eighteen states and the District of Columbia. New But that’s not good in light of its ending. Despite havYork could be next to legalize assisted suicide. All of ing fallen in love with Louisa, Will nevertheless asks these state bills and laws limit—or they at least prohis parents to take him to Switzerland where he checks

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”Courage is staying engaged in life and remaining in the battle when life is difficult.”

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‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away’ -Job 1v21

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movie commentary M e B e f o r e Yo u

About the author:

Joni Eareckson Tada is the Founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, an organization that promotes Christian ministry in the disability community. Joni hosts the short-feature radio program “Joni and Friends,” has written over fifty books, has received the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement, and has been inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Follow Joni & Friends on Twitter @JoniandFriends.

pose to limit—assisted-suicide only for people with terminal illnesses. But Me Before You pushes even that envelope, laying the case that assisted-death should be extended to anyone who finds his medical condition intolerable. According to the movie, you don’t have to be terminally ill, just have a disability you don’t want to live with. After all, if terminally ill people have the right to end their lives, why not anyone who finds their life circumstances unbearable? That’s the law in Switzerland and Belgium.

All life is created in the image of God and worth our

greatest efforts to preserve and protect, and He alone is the One who should order the length of our days.

The movie also communicates that there is no virtue

in suffering. It feeds the sense of entitlement so prevalent in our country—the notion that we are entitled to healthy lives of ease and comfort and nothing less.

That affliction is to be avoided at all costs. That nothing of any good could possibly come out of a serious disability, even if you are deeply in love.

“...power shows up best in weakness”

As a quadriplegic who has

been married for thirty-four years, I can say for certain that my husband, Ken, and I have a deep and satisfying relationship, mostly because of—not in spite of—my severe disability. It teaches us patience and self-sacrifice, endurance, respect and joy, even when—and especially when—times are hard.

The Bible says God’s power shows up best in weakness, so any marriage that has a disability can potentially be a powerful blessing to both spouses (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Regardless of the context, the taking of one’s own life or enabling a loved one with a disability to do so is never the answer. All life is created in the image of

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God and worth our greatest efforts to preserve and protect, and He alone is the One who should order the length of our days.

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An Opportunity

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aving said this, if you go and see the movie it provides a timely opportunity for you to share your convictions about life worth living. Too many Christians are buying into the premise that life isn’t worth living if it involves awful suffering. So this movie is a prime opportunity to not only share how films glamorize death and gloss over the facts, but it’s a chance to raise culturally-sensitive issues with your friends and neighbors, helping them understand a biblical worldview on living and dying with suffering.

Many young people have called Me Before You the best romantic film of the summer. Well, this is your chance to engage them in conversation, sharing your beliefs over a cup of coffee at Starbucks, in a college cafeteria, or over your backyard fence. Culture can only be influenced and shaped by our convictions when we voice our opinions . . . when we argue a case persuasively . . . when we speak, write, and vote our principles.

Tell your friends that life with quadriplegia is supremely preferable over three grams of Phenobarbital in the veins. Yes, there is virtue to be found in suffering. Most of all, suffering is what can drive a hurting person into the arms of their Saviour. And that is the best argument against cutting your life short—there is no greater suffering than facing a Christ-less eternity on the other side of your tombstone.

‘Me Before You’ film (2016) available on DVD/streaming.

1h 50min | Drama, Romance. Production: MGM / New Line Starring: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin. Writer: Jojo Moyes Parental Guidance: Rated: 12A. Thematic elements include euthanasia, bad language and some suggestive material.

See: www. pluggedin.com for a christian movie review.

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One life surviving cancer

Surviving

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Interview with Damien Higgins, 65, native of Dundalk Co. Louth.

Damien, who served in the Irish army for 23 yrs, has been married to Mary for 40 yrs and has three grown-up daughters. His first brush with Cancer came in

HIGGINS

2004…..

“The surgeon explained that I had a malignant growth on my lymph node” 8

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

CANCER CVNCEB “ was at work one morning and was loading furniture onto a lorry when I got this sharp pain in my groin which I thought was just a pulled muscle at first, but when it was still paining me later that evening, I felt the area and there was a lump. I wondered if it was a hernia, which is what my doctor thought too but he sent me on up to the hospital, where the young doctor who examined me there immediately brought in the surgeon to examine me. The surgeon’s words: “Tell the team we have an emergency” surprised me as I was thinking, “It’s only a hernia, how big an emergency can this be?!” They operated that very day and the next morning the surgeon came in to me and told me that what they had removed wasn’t actually a hernia but a very badly inflamed gland which they had sent to the laboratory for checkup. I was free to go home and he’d see me in ten days or so. I was thankful Mary was with me when I back for the appointment….I could see on my notes, a big red circle around my name and I could tell it wasn’t going to be good news but I wasn’t prepared for what he was about to tell me - the three words people hate to hear: “You’ve got cancer”. The surgeon explained that I had had a malignant growth on my lymph node which they had successfully removed. I just froze while he questioned, very kindly, if I understood what he had just told me. It all happened quite quickly. A fortnight or so later I had a week and a half of tests in the Mater hospital in Dublin - examinations, x-rays, scans, the whole lot. The professor warned me of what lay ahead with the regime of treatment and that it would take every ounce of strength out of my body, that I would lose my hair (I’d a great big crop of hair) and that I would go through Hell, but he also reassured me that I would come out the other end and that I would be a stronger person. I looked at him and asked,

‘I called to the LORD in my distress,’ -Psalm 18 v6

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HOPE

“Are you guaranteeing me that?” He said he was so I said, “Right, let’s get on with the job, I’ve no fear” .The guy was amazed but I told him that as a Christian, “I’ve another man who is on my side who is going to help me through this-my God will be with me through this journey” I shared Psalm 23 with him: “Though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil……” I’ve always kept this in my heart.

Although God is with me, I’m not immune to suffering, but I definitely know the person who can carry me through - the Great Physician. My courage and strength come from God above.

When you put your trust and hope in God, that’s what carries you through.

When I’m anxious about

anything, I can pray to him about it, explain how I feel and read his promises in Scripture. Then I feel the burden taken off my shoulders and it’s much better than carrying it on my own and he’s the one who can solve it.

No better person to share it with than the Lord

The chemotherapy was very hard (the CHOPR

regime).They infused me intravenously with a pretty toxic cocktail of chemicals every 3 weeks for 6 hours at a time! The nurse who administered the first dose said to me that I’d lose my hair in fifteen days, but I laughed and said that it would take more than chemotherapy to get rid of my mop! However, on the 15th morning after the first round of chemo, I was in the shower, and it happened: I looked down and sure enough, there in the suds lay what looked like a white hedgehog in the tray and I could feel all the bald patches on my head…..I was shocked, really shocked, even though she had warned me. Luckily enough for me, my brother-in-law is a barber and he www.4you.ie

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One life surviving cancer

was able to pop round that evening and shave off what was left. After that, I was okay with it although a bit cold and loads of friends came in with hats and scarfs for me! It must be very hard for women when they lose their hair….10 times worse….

When I finished my treatment and fully recovered, I wanted to help others and give something back. I got involved with Relay for Life in Dundalk in 2009 after contacting the Irish Cancer Society and then in Peer to Peer support (now called Survivors supporting Survivors) which involves talking with other survivors who are going through treatment and may have lots of questions. You get paired up with someone who has gone through the exact same treatment as yourself and it’s great to be able to alleviate someone’s fear. It’s two-way support as you understand each other. I did the community based Cancer Awareness Programme as well so I could go out into the community and educate others on how to prevent Cancer through better diet (more vegetables and fruit, cutting down on fatty foods and alcohol), avoiding smoking, 30 mins exercise a day……

For me, following God and maintaining a positive attitude are equally important too. Thankfully, a Cancer diagnosis today is not the end of the road as it used to be, due to the developments in treatments available in this country. Leukaemia, which used to have a 20% survival rate, now has an 80% survival rate –a fantastic achievement. It’s fear that actually thrives on Cancer and it’s great to be able to get out there and help people,

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding’ -Proverbs 3 v5

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

911

surviving cancer

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One life

trust

chat with people and alleviate their fear. Early diagnosis is key and the chances of surviving today are really high.

When I was diagnosed a second time, just after Christmas

in 2016 (I had found a small bump in my neck and was experiencing night sweats) I contacted my haematologist and he took me in to James’s Street hospital straight away. Biopsies, blood tests and bone marrow density tests followed, but I remained very positive even though my diagnosis changed from a low-grade lymphoma to a very aggressive high-grade lymphoma. The Cancer was spreading rapidly so this time I had a stem cell transplant (from my own cells to reduce the possibility of rejection: they removed my own cells, cleaned them up and grew new ones from these!)The transplant built me up to withstand the massive dose of chemotherapy which followed, which literally killed every cell in my system. The second transplant was successful too although I was so, so sick for a few days. I went back to the promises of God’s Word and asked him to carry me through once again.

He blessed me with great support from friends in my Church

and they prayed faithfully for me. I concentrated on Scriptures that would keep my spirits high. The kids from the church prayed too and sent me beautiful cards which they made for me. I surprised the doctors by the speed of my recovery and I was allowed home early. My own cells started to re-develop very quickly. When I commented to my haematologist that I had one of the best physicians on my team, he said “Oh, thanks very much” but I smiled and explained that it was God above I was referring to! As long as we rely on Him and not try to do it on our own, things will always come out the best. He gives us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to find our way through it.

I advise anyone who receives a Cancer diagnosis not

to be afraid, but to trust that God won’t let anything happen to you which shouldn’t. A positive mental attitude, and obviously early diagnosis are important, but for those who receive the news that they have only days or weeks to live, I feel that relationship with God is vital, as only His forgiveness and love release us from the fear of Death and bring the peace we need to help us pass from this life into Eternity and be ready to meet our maker. The Lord will lift us and carry us home…..

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4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

“I went back to the promises of God’s Word and asked him to carry me through once again”

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It’s Not Fair!

Childrens Book Review

Mark Loughridge asks the question:

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‘Is God Fair?’

wo men live radically different lives. One is morally good, reasonably honest, seeks to help those around him—an all-round nice guy. The other is a rogue: utterly depraved, vilely immoral, with a string of convictions, and a litany of broken people and promises trailing behind him.

Jesus Storybook Bible

On his death-bed the second man asks God for forgiveness. The first sees no great need. According to Jesus, one man gets Heaven, the other Hell. The repentant degenerate finds forgiveness; the other man finds judgment.

Published by ZonderKidz.com 2007 illustrations by Jago Silver Age Range: 4-10 years

It doesn’t seem fair. How can God be a God of justice if that’s the case?

How you frame the story defines how right the answer feels. Ask any parent or teacher. How often have you asked a child what happened, and you hear a story that makes you think that they have been unbearably hard done by, yet when you take a step back and see the event without spin, in its wider context, it all makes sense. We are exceedingly skilled at telling a story in a way that highlights our best endeavours—yet it is often only half the story.

Let me frame the story of the two men differently. Two men are both given their lives by God. One man lives his life with himself at the centre in an incredibly wicked way—ignoring, defying and disobeying God all his days.

The other man lives his life with himself at the centre in a vastly different way. He serves the things which please him—work, reputation, family, money.

Both men dethrone God in vastly different ways, but both have the temerity to sit on his throne themselves.

At the end, one man acknowledges the awful mistake he has made, and gives God his rightful place in his life. The other man never bothers his head. Which man should God forgive?

We have a propensity for framing the story in the way that shows us up best. What we are doing here is saying “Look I’ve kept commandments 5-10”, hoping God won’t notice that we blithely ignored commandments 1-4.

Or to put it another way, Jesus did say that “love your neighbour as yourself” was one of the greatest commandments. But he said it was the second greatest—after “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”.

So we need to start asking the right question: not “How good have I been?” but “Is God at the centre of my life?”

Our great problem is that we are inherently rebels—we either rebel politely or obnoxiously, but we rebel nonetheless.

We de-god him and deify ourselves.

Yet the incredible thing is, the God whom we seek to dethrone, got up off his throne, came down here, put on a crown of thorns and went to the cross so that we could be forgiven for our cosmic treason. He offers to pay for my rebellion—and people want to accuse him of not being fair!

Fairness is the last thing we want—mercy from

by Sally Lloyd-Jones

The ‘Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name’ is a different kind of childrens bible.

It covers the major biblical narritives retold by award winning author Sally Lloyd Jones with a warmth and creativity that weaves together God’s overall message from every chapter.

Colourful illustrations by Jago are a perfect match for the lively text.

‘The Jesus Storybook Bible tells that Story beneath all the stories in the Bible.

From Noah to Moses to the great King David, every story points to a Child.

The one upon whom everything would depend…

There are lots of stories in the Bible. But all the stories are © ZonderKidz telling one big story. The story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.

The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to discover for themselves the one who is at the center of God’s great rescue story — and at the center of their story, too.

Because the Bible isn’t a book of rules. Or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a story.

And at the center of that story is a baby. And every single story in the Bible whispers his name.’

-from the Publishers

To purchase a copy of this book see: www.sallylloyd-jones.com or contact your local Christian Bookshop

the King is what we need.

‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people’ -Titus 2v11

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

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By Risteárd Ó Gloineadóir

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am writing this from the perspective of an atheist-turned-christian, who, on occasion, has argued the case for Christ with atheists. In my experience there are several common objections to our faith such as religious wars and the negative influence of religion on society and military conquest, suffering, the problem of obvious evil in this world, Hell (how can a loving God send people to eternal punishment?) and Scriptural inerrancy (whether the Bible can be trusted). It seems that the objections to Christianity have become more of an issue in recent years because of the rise of the new atheists, who actively ridicule Christians.

is: is Christianity true, based on irrefutable fact?

In the last century, due to Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the red shift of light

‘The evident fine tuning of the Universe is another stumbling block for atheism’

I believe there are two arguments to counter. The first is: can a case be made for God or another ‘creator’? And the second

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from galaxies moving away from us, the general consensus amongst astronomers and physicists is that the universe had a beginning. That has had huge implications philosophically for atheists, many of whom believed that the universe was eternal and therefore an influence from outside of space and time was not needed. The Bible states that the universe had a beginning and that the universe is expanding, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”( Genesis 1:1) and several times God is said to have “stretched out the heavens”. The evident fine tuning of the Universe is another ‘In the beginning’ -Genesis 1

stumbling block for atheism; we live in a “just so” world where virtually all the laws of nature are tuned to an amazing degree for life. This has led to the formulation of a multiverse theory, that there are billions of other universes that do not share our universe’s parameters.

This theory has not one shred of evidence, but it is widely accepted.

I would recommend that you look into this as the degree of “tuning” is truly remarkable. The book and documentary called “The Privileged Planet” detail just how many factors are essential for complex life such as our own to exist.

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n biology, the question of how life came about has been challenged by new discoveries of the complexity of life at cellular level. When Charles Darwin developed the theory, Origin of Species, he and his contemporaries believed that the basic cell was simple and perhaps easy to replicate in the classic primordial soup situation. As we now know, this could not be further from the truth - modern understanding of the cell suggests it is more akin to the complexity of a well run city, with a digital code (D.N.A.) for building proteins that is vastly more complicated than computer code, which would need to be present in order for the cell to replicate in the first place!

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Dr Richard Dawkins, often seen as the

figurehead of the New Atheists, when interviewed for the film “Expelled”, even suggested that panspermia (the seeding of the planet by alien life) could have occurred, but he argued that the alien life would have to have evolved using the process of natural selection and random mutations. Although ongoing research has endeavoured to explain some of the complexity of cellular biology, Dr Michael Behe has argued that various irreducibly complex systems (machinery in the cell that cannot work without all of the component parts being present) give a serious challenge to the purely materialistic viewpoint. The fact that the code exists in the first place suggests that an intelligence had to create it, and for someone coming from a theistic world view, this is obvious.

Biologists will generally say that the design in nature exists as a result of time, natural selection and random mutations.

However, the gaps in the fossil record are common knowledge and Darwin’s famous “Tree of Life” model is under fire, with animals appearing only at the nodes and tips of the branches.

The lack of intermediary forms of life is also common knowledge. I am a Creationist. I believe that various fields of science provide compelling evidence to support my position. There are various differing beliefs that Creationists hold, from Theistic Evolution to Young Earth Creationism.

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ou might be surprised to learn that considering someone to be intellectually unfulfilled or unscientific because they happen to believe in Creation is a very new notion. Newton, Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Faraday, Leeuwenhoek, Jenner, Pasteur, Lister, Koch, Roentgen, Fleming (scientists whom our children learn about in their school text books today!) were all convinced Creationists, many of them committed Biblebelieving Christians. Even Wernher von Braun, often regarded as the father of rocket science, and the founder of the National Space Institute and widely known as the man who took America to the moon, was himself a fully convinced Creationist.

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These Scientists were Creationists because of the evidence they observed and researched. They did not speak of aliens or molten random blasts which might lead, contrary to science itself, to the detail and order we see in every living thing.

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ith the rise of the new atheists, the profile of world-view arguments has grown, with countless debates, documentaries, media point scoring and almost “evangelical” atheists waiting on every comment board to take down anyone who dares believe differently.

Ok, maybe I am being slightly unfair, but if you have been caught in the post Goddelusion crossfire, you may know what I am talking about. I admit that at times I have had my faith shaken by arguments - I have been angry, sad, unable to sleep, prayerful, vulnerable and engrossed.

Someone who reflects the love of Christ and is not afraid to meet their maker is a far more powerful argument than the highest of human knowledge.

Therefore, in conclusion, I would encourage you to explore the truth for yourself.

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he good news about all this is that there are plenty of resources to counter militant atheism.

I personally rely on the work of others to answer many of the questions thrown at me: while researching the Bible’s integrity, I have read the work of Dr Peter J Williams, Dr Dan Wallace and Gary R Habermas. In response to the moral objections to Christianity, Dr William Lane Craig is a philosopher who has been participating in various debates for decades and his logically coherent, well thought out arguments I find easy to grasp. Dr John Lennox is kind-hearted and gracious, with a brilliant mind. His lectures are always worthwhile.

A great resource for compelling scientific evidence is www.answersingenesis.org.

For me personally, the argument that changed my world view from atheism to Christianity was a much simpler one: meeting someone who had been radically changed from the person I had known.

‘Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord’ -Isaiah 1v18

Recommended Reading: If you would like to read more on this subject consider purchasing the book:

‘Does God Believe in Atheists’

by John Blanchard This award-winning title traces the development of atheistic and agnostic thought from ancient times up to the present. Blanchard outlines how thinkers from Kant to Russell have shaped many people’s thinking today. He exposes the errors of secular humanism, materialism, relativism, determinism and existentialism. Fundamental errors in religions are also examined.

The book pinpoints the flaws in Darwinian evolutionism and in claims made for it by Richard Dawkins, Atkins and others.

It explains why secular humanism selfdestructs and discusses why here is no conflict between science and belief in God Publisher: EP Books, Welwyn 2011 updated edition 720 pages Paperback / Hardback Regular Price €24.99 / €29.99 Available from your local christian bookshop or online at www.amazon.co.uk

4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

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Do

Vs

Done

by Jason Post

Often in life it’s the small things that matter. Take, for instance, how

the absence of a small comma completely changes the meaning of the sentence, “Let’s eat, Grandma” (It’s even more important if you are Grandma!). Small things matter.

There is not much difference, on the surface, between the words “do” and “done.” Two simple letters, in fact. Under the surface, however, the difference is vast - even eternal. These two words represent two completely different ways of thinking about Christianity.

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“Let’s eat Grandma.....oops!”

hroughout history, people have tended to view religion as a quest to please a higher power by doing certain things and/or not doing others.

Whether acts of sacrifice, offerings, things abstained from, acts of penance; people have, for millennia, attempted to “do” their way into the good graces of deity. In fact, every religion on earth can be characterized by this mentality: “do” in order to “be.”

Even some who come from religious traditions that affirm the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles Creed can fall into this trap.

Many churches are filled with people who are present in order to work their way into God’s good graces. While the trappings may look different, this is still, ultimately, a religion of “do.”

But the “do” approach raises the question: How much “doing” do we have to do? The prob-

lem as the Bible sees it, however, is that we can never do enough because everything we do is ultimately tainted by sin and, thus, inadequate. That’s because the standard in the Bible is absolute moral perfection. That’s a standard we can never meet, no matter how much we do.

“How much ‘doing’ do we have to do?”

True Biblical Christianity strikes a different note altogether. It is built on “done.” After acknowledging that no amount of “doing” can make a person right before a holy God, the Bible doesn’t leave us without hope.

Rather, it shows us One who has done what we could never do. The reason His doing is sufficient is because He was, as God’s Son Himself, perfectly pleasing to God. He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin, and in His resurrection from the dead He conquered sin’s penalty and power over us. In Him, everything has been done. There is nothing left to do except to reach out and receive this gift through faith; turning from trusting in our doing to trust in what Jesus has done.

Some might argue that this opens the door for us to accept the done and then do as we please; like a spoiled child. But that

belief minimizes what is on offer in the Gospel, and it is a misunderstanding of the way the Bible speaks about the Christian life.

The Gospel is not simply the promise of an eternity outside of Hell. It is certainly that, but that is not all it is. The good news of the Gospel is the promise of a new, transformed life in eternity with God; a new life which has its beginnings in this life as God begins to work in people of faith through His Spirit This is the core distinction between do and done. The Bible never reasons from what we do to who we are. To dust off some grammar, it never moves from the imperative (command) to the indicative (proclamation). Rather, it begins with the proclamation of who we are in Jesus on the basis of faith in what He has done. And it is that sense of who we are, fueled by grace, that radically transforms the way we live. What we do arises from who we are; not the other way around.

Do and done. The one you give yourself to will impact everything in this life as well as the one to come. Will you give up the doing and place your trust in the done?

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4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’ - Acts 16 v31

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Limitations are simply: one copy per person (aged 18 and over) of up to 3 items, while stocks last, and delivery is only within the island of Ireland. We will endeavour to meet every request.

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Gospel of John Personal account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the apostle John.

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Grieving the Loss of Your Child Comfort for Your Broken Heart when the unthinkable has happened.

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The Dishonesty of Atheism Roger Carswell examines the flaws in argumentation of the neo atheists.

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Reaping RACE Sports-fun comic strip

‘A cheerful heart is good medicine’ -Proverbs 17v22

(References: Pixar/ Luxo jr. short film/’Lamp imac’)

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FIND The Scripture:

In John chapter 3 verse 7 Jesus tells us that we must be born

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4you.ie Magazine Issue XII

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“My Words will Never Pass Away”

xJesus Christ

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-: R E A C H I N G O U T :- with the Love of God