Eternity - April 2017 - Issue 79

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Number 79, April 2017 ISSN 1837-8447

Brought to you by the Bible Society

Is the Bible good for women?

Losing Anne Lim compassion The Bible unites Made in China

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NEWS

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Celebrating the Bible together

Obadiah Slope

ETERNITY: Street artist Banksy instagrammed this picture of a man erasing “Eternity” handwriting while creating murals in New York. Because Banksy’s identity is a secret, we can’t ask him if he was referencing the signs Arthur Stace wrote on the streets of Sydney.

Jon Love

Archbishop Glenn Davies, left, and Brian Houston, right, join forces to celebrate the Bible at Hillsong Church on March 5.

During a special celebration of Bible Society Australia’s bicentenary last month, Hillsong’s morning congregation in Baulkham Hills, Sydney, gave a warm welcome to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, and BSA’s CEO, Greg Clarke.

We thought Eternity readers would enjoy these excerpts from the opening address

by Clarke, and the sermons by Davies and Hillsong Global Senior Pastor, Brian Houston.

GREG CLARKE Thanks to resources online, God’s word races around the globe faster than ever, taking us closer to fulfilling the Great Commission that every tribe and every nation would be saved by the knowledge of God. You’ve got to remember the Bible is good if you can get it. Five hundred million people around the world have no Scripture in their language. There are only 500 complete Bible [translations] and there are 7000 languages in the world.

We’ve got work to do. We pray for translators as they work. They are working on hundreds of projects as we speak. It would be nothing if we didn’t believe the Bible transforms lives. I know this; it’s transformed mine. I was given my first Bible when I was seven by my mum and dad. That’s what we want to do for every person on the planet.

GLENN DAVIES Brothers and sisters, whenever you pick up the Bible, you hear God speaking.

It’s God’s word to us. All Scripture is God breathed.

But what is its purpose?

The purpose of the Bible, Paul says to Timothy, is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God might be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

It teaches because it transforms our mind. It enables us to think like God – because we have so many stray thoughts, our own sinfulness sometimes distorts things. It’s also for rebuking. God wants to rebuke us of our folly; he wants to rebuke us out of our unbelief. He

BRIAN HOUSTON I believe in the value and the power of the word of God. I love the fact that through God’s word we can reach so many people with the answer and the truth and, of course, his name is Jesus.

There’s something like 40plus authors in the Bible and they tell a myriad of stories and yet that multitude of stories all feed into the same narrative. And the narrative, of course, is the power of God, the beauty of Jesus, the wonder of the Holy Spirit.

I thank God that the Bible is not just literary, even though it’s so powerfully poetic, but it is the power of God unto our salvation. I thank God for the way he can use the word to speak into all our lives.

Ultimately, I love that the word reveals Jesus ... We can know the light of Jesus Christ. We can lead others to him. We can grow because of him.

I love the fact that through the word of God, we have a moral code at a time when morals become shifting sands. I love the fact that through the word of God we have direction and guidance for our lives when many times confusion is all around us. I love the fact that through the word of God we can grow and mature in our relationship with Jesus. I love the fact that through the word we can know the wisdom of God, and we can know how it is to live with conviction in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

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wants us to bring that rebuke to a nation in which we live, which has gone astray from God’s word, and we need to bring that word into the marketplace, as the Bible Society has been doing for 200 years in this country.

Then correcting, changing behaviour – recognising that there are mores within the Bible which are God’s gift to us.

Well, if there’s teaching and rebuking and there’s correcting, that is with a goal of training in righteousness, that we might be complete, fit for every good work ... that will sometimes take hard work.

It will mean delving deep into God’s word.

Dig deep into God’s word so the riches of his word might fill your lives and bring you the comfort and the joy that belong to him, that you might be perfect, equipped for every good work.

Open Night

May 8 7:15pm – 9:00pm

Open Week

Monday 8 May – Friday 12 May

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ANNE LIM

BSA Queensland smile at turning 200

PROMISES, PROMISES: The Briefing “will highlight important stories that are being overlooked.” Obadiah hopes they keep that promise. He likes journalism. But many important overlooked stories are more likely to appear here and in other Christian media.

• ts

Special service in Tasmania

SECOND TIME AS FARCE: The Briefing magazine was a strong defender of conservative theology that shaped the views of a generation of a certain sort of pewsitters.

A daily online The Briefing is about to be launched, but by the company that brings out The Saturday Paper and The Monthly.

Obadiah thinks a diet of liberal-lefty stuff won’t fill the gap for those pewsitters.

n Even

Birthday balloons in South Australia

MULTIPLYING: The number of Christian denominations formed each day is 2.4, adding to the 46,000 denominations recorded in early 2016. (This estimate by Church Times is based on research from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in the US.)

Come along to check out the College, be involved in classes and get a taste of Moore’s in-depth theological training.

moore.edu.au/open • (02) 9577 9999

NEWS

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Christians want more aid

News 2-3

ANNE LIM

In Depth 5-7

A baby is immunised at an AusAid-supported clinic in Papua New Guinea.

Catholic, Chinese Methodist, Congregational, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Salvation Army and Uniting churches also pressed for: more urgent domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; greater support of regional communities affected by natural disasters and climate change; and more active support of the needs of refugees.

Since 2013, when the Coalition walked away from a bilateral commitment to lift aid spending to 0.5 per cent of GNI, the government has cut development assistance to a record low of 0.22 per cent of GNI. “The aid budget has actually had massive cuts over the last few years, and every time it happens children will die because they’re not being

Commonwealth of Australia/Roger Wheatley

Twelve church leaders from across the spectrum of churches have written to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop urging the government to significantly lift the foreign aid budget as a key indicator of a more compassionate foreign policy.

“Hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths won’t be prevented unless Australia’s aid programme is lifted,” said Ben Thurley, national coordinator of Micah Challenge, who drafted the letter as a submission to the government’s foreign policy white paper – the first comprehensive review of Australia’s international relations for 13 years.

“Jesus’ call to love our neighbours as ourselves reminds us that a concern for the needs and rights of others must not be an afterthought nor the accidental byproduct of a unilateral pursuit of self-interest.

Rather, we must apply the same concern for the rights and interests of others that we apply to our own,” the letter read.

In the first statement by such a wide group of church leaders on a diverse range of foreign-policy issues, the signatories called on the government to take “concrete steps” to increase overseas aid towards the internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI), which has already been met by countries such as Britain.

The leaders from the Adventist, Anglican, Apostolic, Baptist,

immunised, they’re not having access to food programmes, they’ll be missing out on education,” said Janet Woodlock, federal coordinator of Churches of Christ.

Keith Jobberns, national chair of Australian Baptist Ministries, said millions of people living in poverty had been affected by the cuts.

During just one year (2015-16), the cuts led to cancellation or reduction of many programmes, including primary education in Bangladesh, HIV prevention in Indonesia, prevention of avoidable blindness in Pakistan, and provision of safe drinking water in Vietnam.

“The continued cutting in foreign aid is having a significant impact, particularly in the lives of women and children in some of our nearest neighbours, and particularly in the Pacific region,” he said.

Stuart McMillan, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, said leaders across the Christian church were trying to frame a more holistic approach to engaging with the government on foreign policy.

“Hopefully, then, that allows us to have a different kind of conversation with the government ... about the way Australia should engage with the world.”

While the leaders urged the government not to be driven by narrow definitions of the national interest, McMillan commented: “It’s in our best interests as Australians to be good global citizens and to operate with those values that we hold dear globally.”

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Charity Feature 10 Bible Society 12 Opinion 13-16

In brief MOST WATCHED: The Jesus Film, a widely used evangelistic tool, has now been translated into 1500 languages. The 1979 film, produced

by Cru (formerly Campus Crusade, and known as Power to Change in Australia) has been shown 7.5 billion times. It is the most watched film in history, according to Assist News. For more, visit jesusfilm.org SORRY: A apology from Christians to the LGBTIQ+ communities has been launched by a group called Equalvoices. The apology is to “LGBTIQ+ friends, and to all who have been adversely affected by the teachings and behaviour of Christians and their churches.” The group seeks to make amends for “the ways in which you have been hurt by me, and by other Christians and churches.”

PILGRIMS: Last year, more than 3000 young Catholics from Australia travelled to World Youth day in Krakow, Poland.

APRIL 2017

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Growing business to give back The funds management and finance industry has the greedy reputation of focusing only on profit and bonuses. A fund manager breaking this mould – one which is making money to give to those in need − is ethical funds manager UCA Funds Management. Through its 32 years in the industry, the company has not lost sight of the Christian roots at its foundations.

Beginning in 1985 as a social enterprise for the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania, the company now manages funds for thousands of ethically minded personal investors, churches and charities. Each year it gives its entire available operating surplus to the work of the Church – supporting much needed community services, advocacy and mission-based activities.

UCA Funds Management’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Walsh says the heart of the Uniting Church is with people − helping those that need it most and being a light in the community. When UCA Funds Management began, the Uniting Church built this outward focus into the enterprise.

“We are governed by an integrated ethical investment policy that is based on Christian values and the Uniting Church ethos. It focuses on love and enhancing life,” said Mr Walsh.

“For example, the policy references loving the natural environment which, in turn, shows love and support for our

UCA Funds Management gives all available operating surplus to support Uniting Church community services, advocacy and mission-based activities. neighbours’ life and for the next generation. It speaks to supporting that which enhances life by seeking to invest in companies that are doing good - such as those in health care, recycling, education, sustainable agriculture or medical research.”

Since 1995, UCA Funds Management has given more than $54 million to support Uniting Church community services,

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also involved in industry-based advocacy groups focused on speaking out against practices that harm society and the environment.

During the past 12 months, UCA Funds Management has been an active voice in the community about the negative social impacts of credit cards used for online gambling. The company has been working with a group of institutional investors and community organisations to have the practice banned, and has been engaging with the four major banks on the issue. UCA Funds Management is encouraging the banks to restrict customers’ abilities to use their credit cards for online gambling.

“Online gambling is becoming a major social issue. When it’s operated on credit, it can create a debt cycle that many cannot get out of, with gamblers essentially borrowing money from the banks to place a bet,” said Mr Walsh.

“Sadly, large gambling debts impact families. It has been linked to family violence and, in some cases, people feel so trapped they commit suicide.

“We believe providing a person with credit to gamble does not fit within a responsible lending ethos.

The banks, which essentially control the payments system, have a social responsibility to not facilitate, extenuate and profit from the financial hardship of problem gamblers. As such we are encouraging banks to ban credit cards for gambling purposes.”

As well as being involved in advocacy to foster ethical business conduct, the company continually reviews its portfolios to ensure investments align with its Ethical Investment Policy.

UCA Funds Management excludes companies with practices, services or products that cause harm to society or the environment. This exclusion means UCA Funds Management removes a company from all portfolios and places it on an excluded stocks list. This ensures portfolios will not invest in those companies on ethical grounds.

Last year, UCA Funds Management excluded Nine Entertainment Company, which owns the Nine television network, from investment due to the amount of revenue received from gambling advertising. Upon exclusion, UCA Funds Management wrote to the company advising of the action, the reason why, as well as concerns regarding the predominance of gambling and alcohol advertising aired in G-rated and prime-time sporting time slots.

“Knowing that we are growing the business to give back and be an active voice in the community on social issues is what makes me feel most proud of being a part of UCA Funds Management,” said Mr Walsh.

“We – and our investors – are a part of something bigger and we aim to be an example in the finance industry.”

APRIL 2017

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Children suffer as India kicks out charity

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TESS HOLGATE Almost 150,000 Indian children face returning to a life of debilitating poverty due to a decision by the Indian government to restrict the operations of Compassion International.

The global charity has been working with local churches in India for 48 years to support children and their families living in poverty. Compassion International wound up its operations in India on March 15.

In July 2016, Compassion was alerted by local partners that the Indian government had, several months earlier, frozen funds critical to its operations. The government was not releasing the money to the 589 church partners of Compassion who run projects which support Indian children.

Tim Hanna, CEO of Compassion Australia, told Eternity, “they didn’t tell us [they weren’t distributing the money]. When we made enquiries, they said that they were freezing the funds and that [we weren’t]

able to distribute. There hasn’t been a clear reason given. I think the government itself is clamping down on foreign NGOs and we’re one of the larger ones.

“We presume it has to do with religious reasons, with a government that’s less and less

sympathetic to specific Christian ministries. We can only assume that’s the reason as well. [But] they haven’t said that clearly to us.”

Compassion supporters around the world support 147,000 Indian children, the largest in-country project run by the organisation.

About 6000 of those Compassion supporters are Australian.

Hanna hopes that Aussies who have sponsored Indian children will consider sponsoring a child elsewhere in the world, because “that would mean that the fight against poverty doesn’t even take

Aussie sponsor parent grieves Bek Thielemans has sponsored two teenage girls in northern India since 2012, but has recently lost contact with them.

Bek elected to sponsor two 12-year-old girls to protect them from child marriage and “ensure they’d stay in school and be given the best chance at life.”

“I’m pretty devastated that the sponsorship programme has come to an end,” Bek told Eternity.

“The girls have both really thrived during the programme so it’s sad that it has been cut short.”

Both girls are nearing the end of

their schooling and Bek says, “I really hope that they’re able to complete it.”

“I’ve enquired about what options there are to continue supporting them both but I was informed that, unfortunately, Compassion were unable to do anything or refer them to another [assistance] programme.”

Speaking of one of her sponsor children, Bek sounds like a proud mother: “She is consistently first in her class, has led disaster relief efforts in her local area following both cyclones and floods, and

wants to be a police officer when she leaves school. She is a strong follower of Jesus and is a great advocate for him in her community.

“She is someone with undoubtable leadership qualities and who would absolutely thrive with the opportunity for further educational opportunities.

“Over five years of correspondence, I developed a real bond with both girls, so I’m sad for this to end. However, there are obviously many children in need worldwide and I’ll be looking to sponsor other children.”

OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE VALLEY

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For orders, please either: • Contact Mike on (02) 9686 8632 or 0417 312 712 • Follow the prompts at www.barnabasnetwork.com Cost $20 + $9.10 packaging and postage.

one small step backwards.”

While Compassion officially withdrew last month from the world’s second most populated country, local churches will continue to serve Indian children and their families.

“We trust that the local church will keep looking after them, but with less resources,” says Hanna.

“We trust that the local church is still alive and well in India, and Jesus is still alive and well in India, even though we might have to pull out.

“It’s a setback, but we always have hope. We would hope to be back into India making a difference again as soon as possible. Whether that happens in the near future, we can’t predict.

“We take hope in the fact that already now there’s young people who are doctors and lawyers and nurses and teachers and pastors who’ve been through our programmes.

“We know we’ve made a difference; we’d love to get back in and make more of a difference.”

eternitynews.com.au A national newspaper for Australian Christians, Eternity is sent free to any church upon request. Eternity is published by Bible Society Australia (ACN 148 058 306). Edited by John Sandeman. e: enquiries@eternitynews.com w: www.eternitynews.com.au po: GPO Box 9874, In your Capital City For general enquiries: (02) 9888 6588 Advertising sales: Wild Hive Studios p: 0414 291 273 e: advertising@eternitynews.com a: Level 7, 99 Macquarie St, Sydney, NSW 2000 Print post number PP 381712/0248.

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Compassion Australia

John Sandeman on Bibles coming back to China

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How the Bible came back to China JOHN SANDEMAN In the loft above the old Bible Society offices in Beijing, China, abandoned in 1952, someone had hidden a Bible. When China was later coming out of the cultural revolution, a period when owning a Bible had been forbidden, that hidden Bible was remembered and retrieved. It was photographed and became the camera-ready copy from which millions of Bibles were printed as recently as 1989.

In an amazing turnaround, China has gone from being a place where Bibles had to be hidden, to the place where more Bibles are printed than anywhere else on Earth. There is a good chance any Bible you buy, especially from Bible Society, has been printed in China.

A young Australian, David Thorne, had a key role in this transformation. Thorne had a conviction God would use his print production skills for the kingdom.

“I began my life in newspapers in Melbourne, suburban newspapers at that,” recalls Thorne. “But all through that process I was aware that I really had God’s leading hand on my life.” His hunch came true.

In 1976, he set out for Asia – India, not China. “I went to India to assist a Christian publisher in the north and I actually built a printing press for them,” he tells Eternity.

“It was as an income generator.” He was tapped on the shoulder to help the Indian Bible Society, which had a “dramatic leadership change,” to manage its print production.

By 1982, he was helping the Bible Societies of the Asian region run their printing operations – including Australia. In media, being in the right place at the right time is important, and that is where Thorne found himself.

Based in Hong Kong, in the aftermath of the cultural revolution, Thorne describes how he “became very quickly aware of the impact it had had on not only the church but on all educated people. Both libraries and personal possession of books were frowned upon and many books were destroyed including, as we found out later, most Bibles that existed in China.”

Gough Whitlam and Richard Nixon crossed the ocean to reopen relations with China. It is often said it took an ultra-conservative like then US president Nixon to reopen relations between the US and China. Within Christianity, the Bible Society movement took on the role of breaking down barriers.

David Thorne and his wife Ruth at Amity Printing’s plant, China The cultural revolution was the era in China of Bible smuggling, and other innovative ways to get Scriptures in. This culminated in mass distributions of Scripture.

Some were by balloons launched from Taiwanese islands to the mainland. At that time, Bible Societies sponsored radio broadcasts of Bible readings.

Thorne is keen to emphasise that the breakthough came from within China. From 1981, local print runs of Bibles began to be produced in China and a copy was brought back by a Japanese Bible Society delegation. The Bible Society movement, sensing change, decided to drop the radio broadcasts and seek to build relationships with Chinese Christians directly.

Thorne recalls: “One of the decisions that the Global Council [of UBS] made at that time was to cease radio broadcasting in favour of having a localised partnership,

which they believed, and we now see, was the best way to go. They believed it would enable us to actually produce and distribute Bibles on the ground, rather than operating from without.”

There was no guarantee it would work and “they received enormous criticism” from other Christian agencies, says Thorne. “Hand in hand with our decision was a China Christian Council invitation to join in (very quietly, of course) the process of producing locally.”

But it was not straightforward: “It was challenging to be able to enter into any financial donation process with the Christian Council ... They wanted to preserve the sense of the church in China being local and not influenced by foreign activity. But they were happy to receive a donation in kind.

“They were about to place an order for 100,000 Bibles with the People’s Liberation Army press.

“They said, ‘Well, look, why don’t you supply the paper. We are hoping to start the production in six weeks time.’

“At that time I was ordering paper for various Bible Societies collectively. So I just diverted a shipment of 100 tons to Nanjing.

And from within six weeks of receiving the green light they had their paper to get started.”

The paper Thorne organised was critical. “It accelerated the opportunity, because at that point the Christian Council had very little working capital. Basically, it was a huge injection of working capital.

They could sell at a subsidised cost because they did not have to pay for paper.” Bible Societies still provide the paper for Bibles in China. These days, it ensures poorer people can afford to get Bibles.

The People’s Liberation Army press, Thorne remembers, was one of only three web offset presses in China, the sort needed for that sort of print run. “During the ’70s, I guess they had been sustained by printing the Little Red Book. So they were looking for new work.”

Back in the early ’80s, demand for Bibles was enormous. This led quickly to the idea of setting up a printing plant specialising in printing Bibles and Thorne was key to setting up the new plant. “I developed the original specification for approximately 600,000 to one million Bibles a year. But even the idea of printing 600,000 Bibles a year was untested waters. Because of whether permission would be given; even today, approval for quantities produced each year have to be obtained prior to printing.”

Thorne says he deserves the epithet “oh ye of little faith” because his targets turned out to be too small. Last year, in a newer plant, “output was touching 14 million.

“All of the machinery configuration was set for – if we pushed 12 or 15 hours a day – a capacity for about one million,” remembers Thorne. “Very quickly, we exceeded that. Within the first year, it was 880,000, then the next year was about 1.4, 1.5 million.”

The printing operation Thorne helped set up, Amity Printing Company, turned 30 at the end of last year. It now occupies a modern building the size of several football fields, that opened in 2004. (Amity was forced to relocate from its earlier site and was generously compensated, which meant they built a new plant with capacity to print 20 million Bibles per year.)

But there had been a lot of opposition from Christian groups to the idea of a printing plant.

“There was a lot of scepticism and stories floating around that Bibles were just being printed and put into warehouses. They said that the wool was being pulled over our eyes. That continued into the 90s.”

Just after the printing plant was announced, Thorne got a phone call. “I was having a quiet spell after church and the Hong Kong leader [of a mission society] called me and said ‘David, you are deluded, it will come to nothing.

The authorities will take advantage of your financial input and not one Bible will get to the public.’”

The opposition did not go away quickly. “The big pressure from other agencies was ‘Okay, you have got something good going here.

But you are ... not serving the home churches, therefore there is still an enormous need for additional Scriptures.’ That message still exists to some extent. It is only as testimony from the home churches became clear enough to people elsewhere, where they said ‘We do not have trouble obtaining Bibles.

We might have to go to a registered church to obtain them but we are very happy to do that.’”

“Even today, some foreigners and overseas church groups still think China does not allow Bibles, and some churches in the West still raise funds to smuggle Bibles into the country,” Mr Qiu Zhonghui, Amity’s General Secretary, said in a Financial Times story. “They don’t realise those Bibles are probably made here in our factory in China.”

The printing company is jointly owned by Amity Foundation, a Chinese charity set up by local Christians, and the United Bible Societies. At a 30-year anniversary celebration last year, Elder Fu Xianwei, the head of China’s Three Self Protestant Church, said, “We remember the dream of Bishop Ting and Dr Han Wenzao that every Christian in China would have a Bible of their own. That dream has now been fulfilled and our hearts are full of joy and thankfulness to God.” Ting and Han were the key players in getting the Amity Foundation off the ground and remain heroes to Thorne. He adds that as the Chinese church grows the demand for Bibles grows still.

“New generations need Bibles.” The days of an absolute drought of the word of God in China are over, but millions of Bibles are still needed.

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Jesus is good news for women ANNE LIM

“

Christ subverts sexism.”

Amy Orr-Ewing

“

The whole of Luke’s Gospel really draws on Mary’s testimony.” group of women who are disrupting services and he’s asking them to be silent, but in general he’s saying when women do teach or prophesy in the church they should cover their hair. And the reason he says that is your hair was incredibly seductive; it would be like saying don’t wear an incredibly short skirt when you get up in front of people in church today. He’s not saying ‘don’t get up in front and prophesy.’”

She said this is a classic example of people taking a verse out of context and applying it to everyone for all time.

“It’s absolutely clear if you read the letter in its entirety that it doesn’t mean that,” she says.

“Women clearly taught in

Pixabay / geralt

Young, vibrant and Spirit-filled, Christian apologist Amy OrrEwing is the perfect example of her personal thesis that Christianity is good news, rather than bad news, for women – and anyone concerned about sexism or the value of women in culture.

As director of the UK’s Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Orr-Ewing often speaks out against the increasingly potent cultural consensus in the West that religion in general, and Christianity in particular, have held women back or kept women down.

Based in Oxford, where she pastors at Latimer Minster with her husband Francis (Frog), OrrEwing contends that Christianity is overwhelmingly good news for women and “what the Bible has to say about our humanity and potential is really good news.”

While acknowledging that Christ’s followers haven’t always lived out his values or priorities, she believes Christ subverted the cultural norms which led the gospel writers not to count the women when Jesus fed the 5000.

“Actually, the Bible provides a coherent intellectual foundation for the value of women and Christ specifically subverts sexism,” she tells Eternity.

“If you look at Christ himself and what the gospel writers record about Christ, he teaches women directly – women are the major recipients of doctrinal and historical truth … and even in his teaching, he draws on the kind of life experience of women as well as men.”

Orr-Ewing, who spoke on this subject last month at meetings in Sydney and Melbourne staged by the Centre for Public Christianity, believes the church should fight these misconceptions about what the Bible has to say about women.

Even the apostle Paul, who is often seen as a key obstacle to women’s progress in the church, accepted that women could teach and prophesy, she points out.

“What’s interesting in 1 Corinthians, where Paul mentions about women being silent in the church, two chapters earlier he’s talked about how women should behave when they prophesy, which means get up and speak in front of everyone.

“So obviously, when he says ‘be silent,’ he doesn’t mean all women for all time should never say anything. He turns to a specific

the New Testament and Paul understood that and actually records that in the Bible.

“So we know that Priscilla and Aquila together were teachers and there’s a woman called Phoebe, who at the end of the letter of Romans is called the president of the Roman church, the leader, and she was clearly commended

by Paul for doing that; so women were to prophesy.

“The whole of Luke’s Gospel really draws on Mary’s testimony; her incredible song, The Magnificat, contains amazing Christian teaching, so I would say we see all sorts of examples of women being involved in that.”

She adds that women were the primary witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, “so in terms of Christian tradition, it’s absolutely integral [that] if we want the resurrection, we need women.”

Mary and other women were also the primary witnesses to the incarnation and to Jesus’ death on the cross because the male disciples had deserted him.

“It’s actually incredibly counter-

cultural when you look at the evidence,” she concludes.

Amy Orr-Ewing has made a practice of speaking the gospel in a counter-cultural way. In 1996, when she and “Frog” were 19-year-old students in love, they and a friend made a mission trip to Afghanistan under the guise of being journalists.

At that time the Taliban controlled three-quarters of the country and would go on to capture the capital, Kabul, shooting or kidnapping those who flouted their harsh enforcement of Sharia law.

“A group of us went there as journalists to interview them about their ideas and theology,” recalls Orr-Ewing.

“We took Bibles with us in the local language and we got into the military headquarters of the Taliban.

“At the end of our interview, we gave them Bibles and we expected to be shot – I mean, they were all massively armed with Kalashnikovs and obviously at that time they were renowned as the most violent and intense Islamic group although

they didn’t have any political power in the world at that time.

“So we met the education minister, the foreign minister and the religion minister. And the religion minister, who styled himself the keeper of the Holy Koran, kept the Bible and said ‘thank you for this, I’ve been praying to God for years that I could read the Bible, I’ll read it every day.’

“So my experience is that all over the world and in surprising contexts there are people who are wanting to hear the truth and wanting even to read the Bible.”

Orr-Ewing’s visit to Australia last month was the first since she left here at the age of three, having been born in Sydney while her father was working as a lecturer in politics at the University of NSW. “My parents were converted from atheism in their 30s. My father hadn’t been raised as a Christian at all, in fact, raised as an atheist (his father was an East German scientist). It was only as an adult, well into his career as an academic, that he was converted.

“My sister and I were children but we were very much encouraged to investigate for ourselves and to make our own decision, and explore whether this was really true or not.

“I’ve absolutely come to those conclusions for myself, and found wonderful grace and liberty and truth in following Jesus for myself as well as a rational intellectual foundation for life and truth and goodness and beauty and all of those things.”

As well as directing the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Orr-Ewing has been involved with Ravi Zacharias Ministries since 1998 and is now its European director. She has written two books: Why Trust the Bible? which was short-listed for the 2006 UK Christian Book Awards, and But Is It Real? She writes a column for Christianity magazine, is a regular commentator in the media on theology, and is on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Task Group for Evangelism.

Because of her job leading RZIM in Europe, she preaches in other churches more often than in her own but she does lead youth work.

She also spends a lot of time taking her three energetic sons, Zachary, Elijah and Benjamin, to sporting matches.

“We are a very close family; they’re close to each other and they’re the delight of my life, really,” she says.

APRIL 2017

E PEOPLEAID SPONSORED PAGE 8

Wells Of Life For India Clean water is a basic necessity for life and people simply cannot exist without it. The World Health Organisation estimates that around 700,000 Indians die each year from waterborne diseases.

Several million more suffer from multiple incidents of diarrhoea and still others fall ill as a result of enteric fever, hepatitis A, intestinal worms, and eye and skin infections caused by unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene.

It is horrifying to think that every eight seconds, a person dies of a disease caused by the consumption of contaminated water. Lack of clean water is seen as a key factor in causing and perpetuating poverty.

Safe drinkable water is one of the greatest needs in India, especially in poor rural areas.

However, only 26 per cent of the slum population has access to safe drinking water. Only 25 per cent of the total population (1.3 billion) has drinking water on their premises. One flush of a Westerner’s toilet devours as much water as the average person in India uses for a day’s washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking.

In India, millions of litres of clean, life-saving water lies deep below the earth while, on the surface, multitudes of people suffer and die unnecessarily from these deadly waterborne diseases.

This is the sad reality of life in so many impoverished locations around the nation.

Enjoying clean fresh water.

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To date, 650 life-giving wells

A village rejoices as pure fresh water is struck 170 feet below them.

have been provided for stricken Indian communities. However, hundreds more are desperately needed. The simple provision of clean, fresh water wells to poor communities, significantly reduces child mortality and dramatically improves the health of everyone.

The sparkling, fresh water that is retrieved from uncontaminated aqueducts below the earth’s surface is truly a gift from God for these impoverished people. Wells also provide income as people

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When you sponsor a Well Of Life, you are sent photos of the people in the village, with their new life-giving well along with its Water Purity Certification and the GPS location - so that you can view it using Google Maps.

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“What’s brought us together?

The Bible.”

Relive the day Aussie Christians came together – and showed the Bible is here for good.

Were you at the National Celebration?

Christians from almost every tradition gathered at Hillsong Hills Campus and around the nation.

Two world–class preachers, Archbishop Glenn Davies and Pastor Brian Houston, spoke passionately about the Good Book and the good it has brought our nation.

Enjoy it all over again, from the Bible messages, to a deeply moving video story, to the powerful praise and worship. A day of thanks for the Bible and the work of the Bible Society, over an amazing 200 years, so far...

It’s yours to enjoy FREE and to use anytime in your own church services or communications.

Download or stream the National Celebration of the Bible at bible.com.au/relive

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CHARITY FEATURE

APRIL 2017

Shared stories of young hope in India PUDENS ISABEL AND SONJA KAMA Jyothi is packing her belongings before heading off to tertiary nursing school. Just like any young adult transitioning to college, she is both excited and nervous - and a little nostalgic.

Life here has been happy. At the Asian Aid-supported school in Bangalore, India, Jyothi has gained an education alongside other children from many different backgrounds, and enjoyed playing music, taking care of animals and helping in the gardens. It is a tightknit community of young people that is rich in friendship, learning and caring.

Jyothi, and her two sisters, came to the school when she was six years old, after their mother died of cancer. Jyothi dreamed of becoming a nurse and has always wanted to care for people. Now, her dream is coming true. A new adventure is about to begin, and she is eager to start studying and build a future for herself.

Jyothi’s is a story of change. Of hope. She now has the opportunity to transform her community through her chosen profession as a nurse.

The younger children mill around their older “sisters” at the school, trying to make the most of the little time they have together before Jyothi and her friend Zenia

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leave. What has life at the school taught them? Jyothi gleefully lists all the talents she has developed: singing, learning instruments, and sports. Zenia says she has learned to be independent. “In five years, after I finish my degree in nursing, I will remember these times fondly,” Jyothi adds.

In another part of the diverse city of Bangalore, lives a young boy called Lohit. Despite living in different parts of a city with nearly nine million people, Jyothi and Lohit have much in common.

They each have a desire to create change, address some of the big issues that impact their lives, and reach their potential.

In Lohit’s community, illiteracy rates are high, family incomes are low and early-age marriage is prevalent.

Asian Aid is actively working with a local organisation to address root causes of these problems.

It also aims to strengthen the ability of families and communities to protect, nurture and support their children and young people as they develop.

“In my community, people fight with each other; there is murder, robbery and suicide. People are poor and drink a lot.”

“Many children don’t go to school and sometimes we have water shortages,” says Lohit when describing his community.

But despite the challenges and

uncertainty Lohit and his peers face in their community, they are hopeful about their future.

Senthil Kumar, a staff member of Asian Aid’s partner in Bangalore, shares the hope he has for the Child Sponsorship Program.

“Children will learn to make decisions and feel like an essential part of the community. They will take responsibility and stand up to address problems around them, whilst learning leadership qualities.

They will also motivate others to stay in school and be instrumental in identifying and addressing child labour.”

“

I’d like to teach people and help them see that only if they change, we will have a better future.” - Lohit

Lohit hopes to influence change, and make decisions that impact his future. “I’d like to teach people and help them see that only if they change, we will have a better future. If people change, more children will study, and our roads will be safer and clean. People won’t smoke, or drink, or fight and we can be safe.”

However, Jyothi, Lohit

Jyothi looks forward to becoming a nurse so she can help others in her community.

and their peers continue to need our help to face their daily challenges. This is where you and I - their global family - can assist.

The needs are many, but so are the solutions. And as we share their desire for a better life, improved health, quality education and family saftey, we share in their hopes and dreams too.

What can you do to help Jyothi, Lohit and their friends become change agents?

You can donate to Asian Aid’s Meet-The-Need fund – by visiting asianaid.org.au, or calling (02) 6586 4250 – and help address some of the underlying issues facing thousands of children and communities in Asia.

Based in NSW, Asian Aid is a Christian not-for-profit organisation motivated by Jesus’s love for others, compassion for the poor and his example of giving.

Since 1966, Asian Aid has been changing lives and giving hope by fostering permanent positive change in the lives of disadvantaged children and their communities.

What began with limited resources, local volunteers and compassionate donors has grown into an active and life-changing organisation that addresses issues related to education, health, community empowerment and advocacy.

Each month, Eternity will highlight a charity from the group bringing you this special page.

ST U C K ? C O N TA C T C H I L D S A F E TO F I N D O U T H O W

CHILDSAFE.ORG.AU 03 9037 6415

YOU CAN HELP SAVE CHRISTIAN LIVES IN KENYA AND UGANDA

Spreading the good news of Christ in remote and regional Australia

Donate through barnabasfund.org to help feed starving Christians in the worst drought for decades

James & Brittany Daymond have moved to Narromine to reach unchurched people in Central Western NSW

PROJECT

JOSEPH

Reaching Australia for Christ since 1919 To support the Daymonds ministry visit bushchurchaid.com.au/daymond

VICTORIA / TASMANIA

APRIL 2017

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The past and future of CityLife ROB WARD

Composite Image: Citylife church facebook / Richard Wong

During the past 50 years, CityLife church in suburban Melbourne has grown from about 12 people on a Sunday to more than 10,000 members within its active community. CityLife has not only achieved such growth during decades which have seen the reputation of Christianity and churches diminish across Australia. It also has done so without major scandals or church splits, a notable feat for such a large and longstanding church.

At the same time as reaching the 50-year milestone, Senior Pastor Mark Conner has stepped down and Andrew Hill has taken over one of Australia’s largest and most influential Pentecostal churches.

Eternity caught up with Conner and Hill, who shed light on what has helped CityLife to grow and how that might impact future ministry. Conner spent nearly 37 years of his life serving at CityLife.

Reflecting on this period during which he served as volunteer worship leader for five years and was on staff for 32 years (22 as Senior Minister), Conner made it clear that he saw no “formula” for church flourishing. However, he suggested some principles and keys which can contribute.

These included stability in leadership. CityLife has only had three Senior Ministers in 50 years.

There have been no scandals or no church splits.

Another key principle Conner

Mark Conner (left) has handed the leadership of CityLife Church to Andrew Hill (right). outlined was stability in theology, but being flexible about how that impacts the church as a whole.

Team ministry was another factor in CityLife’s “success”, according to Conner. He explains that a church is not built on one person – “Nobody has that much to give – so it is about empowering everyone in the church to serve.

One interesting insight from Conner related to discipleship in

a large and growing church. This often is seen as a challenge but he suggested that just as parents are always parenting, so churches are always discipling.

While making points about some of CityLife’s keys to “success”, Conner was quick to point out that while some sow, and others water, it is God that gives the increase and all glory goes to him.

As Conner heads off for a well-

deserved break, waiting to see what God has for the next chapter of his life, Hill prepares to write the next chapter at CityLife.

Hill is the former Executive Pastor at another large Melbourne church, Crossway Baptist.

So, what is a Baptist pastor doing leading a Pentecostal church? Hill says he has long seen himself first as a Christian and not identified himself denominationally.

As for Hill’s plans for CityLife, he wants to “honour the past by stepping into the future.” But what will that look like?

When asked the “$64,000 question”, a mix of humility and godly confidence shaped the answer. “God has formed in me something of the ‘prophetic pastor gifting’. I expect as we listen together for His leading and follow His voice, all will become clear.”

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APRIL 2017

BIBLE @ WORK He just wanted to read his own name.

Now he reads the Bible.

Sun Sovann discovered the love of God as he learned to read in a literacy programme run by Bible Society in Cambodia.

KALEY PAYNE All Sun wanted to do was to write his own name. He got much more than that. Sun never went to school.

In Preah Vihear, one of Cambodia’s poorest provinces, it’s a hand-tomouth kind of existence. Sun is a field labourer. Growing up in the north under the Khmer Rouge, education was more than a luxury.

It was unheard of.

Like so many of Sun’s neighbours, he took up drinking to wash away a hard day’s labour. Palm wine is the “poor man’s drink” in Cambodia.

It’s everywhere and it’s cheap. Many field workers brew it themselves.

Alcohol abuse is commonplace.

The rough, red roads to Preah Vihear have kept the far north province and its villages extremely isolated. Border disputes between Cambodia and Thailand have seen some investment in infrastructure

in recent years, to provide the army access to the border. While the dispute kept locals wary, it did bring better roads. It has also meant Bible Society and other organisations have penetrated the jungle province and started muchneeded programmes in the area.

Sun has a wife and son. They both go to the small village church, but Sun was never interested in that. In 2016, when Bible Society started a literacy class through the church, his son joined. And it sparked something in Sun too. He remembered his desire to be able to write his name. So, he sat in his son’s class. And he learned to read.

It’s not just his name that Sun can read. Bible Society’s literacy classes use Bible-based resources to teach. While learning his alphabet, Sun became interested in the biblical stories his wife and son loved so much. He started going

to church with them. He stopped drinking so much wine.

This is Sun’s name in Khmer: សុវណ្ណ. He knows what it says.

But more important than that, he says, he knows that God loves him.

Hundreds of kilometres away, in Tomnup village along the Tonle Sap River, Heap and Pol’s marriage looked a lot like Sun’s used to. They had been arguing for decades.

Home life was scarred with conflict and alcohol. “I caused a lot of problems for my family,” Pol says.

Sometimes, it got violent.

Heap made friends with her neighbour, Vuth, whose family looked very different. “They seemed like a good family, who loved each other,” says Heap. Vuth went to church. She told Heap about Jesus.

“I saw that [Vuth’s] family was grounded in this belief,” Heap tells me. She too started going to church and became a believer. Vuth

shared Bible verses with Heap and Pol. Neither Heap nor Pol could read. They relied on Vuth to tell them what the Bible said. Pol, a fisherman, wasn’t sure he believed what Vuth was telling him. He wanted to read it for himself.

In their village, Vuth was also a facilitator of a Bible Society literacy class. The class was full of children, some aged only five years old. Heap and Pol are almost 60. Yet when I visited the class in Tomnup, they were sitting at the back of the class with their paper, eager to learn.

Heap says she understands more about the world, God, good and evil. Learning to read has given her this wisdom. Her new faith has also given her hope. “If we didn’t have faith, life would still be really hard.”

Pol says their marriage is more peaceful. He no longer drinks.

Reading the Bible is something Pol is particularly proud of. Now

he can read, he particularly likes to read Hebrews as it teaches him more about Jesus every day.

“Jesus has come to save us. Jesus has come to be with us. And the Bible says that God will never leave us.” Pol and Heap know this for sure. They read it themselves.

For more than ten years, church volunteers trained by Bible Society have facilitated literacy classes in remote villages across Cambodia.

All the teaching is contained in an MP3 player, so volunteers can just facilitate the classes (many volunteers only having basic literacy themselves). About 46,000 previously illiterate people have learned to read using Bible-based text books. In 2016, 600 classes were run in the Khmer language.

+ Can you help Bible Society fund this important work? Go to biblesociety.org.au/skill

Bible Society’s literacy classes in remote areas of Cambodia are so effective, they want more. The Listen and Learn MP3 player used in class is preloaded with Biblebased literacy lessons, and eager students follow on their textbooks. Church leaders only need to facilitate, and many are asking for the programme in their villages knowing of the change it will bring to their churches and to their villages.

46,000 Cambodians have learned to read so far - please, will you help us grow more classes in Cambodia, and start the programme in Laos too?

All this teacher needs is a battery

$30 provides a Listen and Learn MP3 player for use in a literacy class.

Learning Through Listening Appeal | 1300 BIBLES – 1300 242 537 | biblesociety.org.au/skill

OPINION

APRIL 2017

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OPINION Easter: the reality beyond the cliches

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Michael Jensen on the true beauty of beauty

Pixabay_raheel9630

John Dickson on what it means to be saved The Gospels provide many fascinating portraits of Jesus – as teacher, healer, prophet, judge and so on – but I would give them all away just to know him as Saviour.

The cliche of salvation Because “salvation” is so central to the Christian faith, it is prone to being seen as an embarrassing cliche. “Are you saved?” seems like the question of the televangelist, not a grown-up modern spirituality.

But things only become cliches when an originally sound idea gets overused and misused. It’s important, then, to strip back the regrettable accumulations and look again at the original. And there’s no better time to do this than Easter.

The early history of our convict colony was not quite the godless wasteland we imagine. And one remarkable incident underlines perfectly why the theme of Jesus as Saviour is far more than an uncomfortable piece of jargon.

The convict and the Saviour In 1785, the 17-year-old Londoner Samuel Peyton was found in possession of a stolen watch. He was sentenced to “7yrs transportation” and in May 1787

he set sail for Sydney Cove with the 700 or so other First Fleet convicts. When he arrived eight months later, he was set to work as a stonemason building the hospital, prison, governor’s house and so on.

Within a few months, Peyton was in trouble, caught in an officer’s quarters stealing “a shirt, stockings, and a comb.” He was tried and sentenced the next Monday, and on Wednesday June 25, 1788, he was hanged before the entire assembled colony. He was just 21 years old.

Samuel Peyton would only be another name in a convict log were it not for a letter he wrote the evening before his execution. It provides an extraordinary example of the central meaning of Easter: My dear mother!

With what agony of soul do I dedicate the few last moments of my life to bid you an eternal adieu: ere this hour tomorrow I shall have entered into an unknown and endless eternity. Too late I regret my

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inattention to your admonitions, and feel myself sensibly affected by the remembrance of the many anxious moments you have passed on my account. For these and all my other transgressions, however great, I supplicate the Divine forgiveness; and encouraged by the promises of that Saviour who died for us all, I trust to receive that mercy in the world to come, which my offences have deprived me of in this.

Commend my soul to Divine mercy.

I bid you an eternal farewell.

Your unhappy dying son, Samuel Peyton, Sydney Cove, 24th June 1788.

The old-fashioned language of this letter isn’t the only striking difference between Peyton’s day and ours. His open admission of fault – his “transgressions” – seems almost quaint today. But for much of human history, people were so acutely aware of divine judgment it was difficult to convince them of the love and mercy Jesus taught.

Today, people are so accustomed to the notion of divine love it is difficult to convince anyone of sin and judgment. But talk of it we must, if we are to understand the history of Jesus and Christianity.

Judgment for what?

Any casual reader of the Gospels will notice Jesus did not teach that God loves us because we are lovable. He insisted that our loving of the stuff of creation while ignoring the Creator is the very picture of a “sinner” (Luke 15:1114), and that the standard by which we are all to be judged isn’t “Am I better than my neighbour?”, but do I “love God with all my heart” and “love my neighbour as myself ”?

(Matt 22:36-44).

Jesus’ teaching leaves the religious hypocrite and the moral agnostic in exactly the same precarious position. Our culture is accustomed to criticising the religious hypocrite. However, if continued page 14

Twelve Months in the Saddle - Reaching Tasmania for Christ Hear The Rt Revd Dr Richard Condie, Bishop of Tasmania at the BCA Victoria Annual Meeting & Dinner Friday 5th May at Brimbank Anglican Church Corner Ely Court & Keilor Park Drive, Keilor East Also, Revd Steve Weickhardt, BCA Church Planter, Strathfieldsaye 6.15pm drinks for 6.45pm Annual Meeting followed by Spit Roast Dinner Only $35.00 per person • Child Minding available (please advise) RSVP Friday 28th April - 03 9457 7556 or victoria@bushchurchaid.com.au

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OPINION

14

Easter

Eternal love

Tim Costello on the resurrection Shortly before the crucifixion, Pontius Pilate, a Roman bureaucrat stuck between a rock and a hard place, looked at Jesus standing before him and asked: ‘’What is truth’’? No answer to the question is recorded, because Jesus probably didn’t give one. He must have thought His life and imminent death were answers enough.

Not that many understood it at the time. Even His disciples were confused. The disciples wanted a long-living, victorious Jesus and the zealots wished for a Jesus who would take up the sword and smite their enemies. It was never going to be that easy. The grace we live in didn’t come cheap.

At Easter, we celebrate historical events that happened to real people at a real place and time – the centrepoint of time. There are no comparable events in history.

The apostles who were so afraid after the crucifixion ended up as martyrs for their faith in the resurrection of Jesus.

From that uncertain beginning sprang the Christian movement, which today numbers over two billion people.

Christianity stands and falls on Jesus walking out of his tomb. Without that, Christianity should and would have disintegrated into a thousand pieces.

Why did Jesus have to die and be resurrected? He said the world was in chaos and someone had to pay. He understood his own death as a ransom for many.

Easter is at the centre of our faith.

The resurrection gives us an eternal perspective of death.The extraordinary power of the cross serves as the bridge between a broken people and God. After the resurrection, the risen Jesus was seen by some, but not by others. Some got the meaning of the resurrection and it changed their lives. Others were indifferent or chose not to see. There are still those who will ignore the evidence because it is too challenging.

Millions of Christians will celebrate the resurrection this month as an act of faith.

If Easter indicates anything, it is that truth and love are eternal.

You can nail them to the tree, wrap them up and seal them in a tomb but they will rise again.

APRIL 2017

from page 13 there is a Creator of this universe, ignoring him could hardly be less scandalous than neglecting our neighbour. That’s the logic of Jesus.

It is only against this background that Jesus’ role as “Saviour” makes any sense. He did not come to “save” humanity from Roman rule (in the 1st century) or climate change (in the 21st century).

He came to save us from the punishment that our sins deserve. It is one of the first things the Gospels tell us: “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you” (Luke 2:11), “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” By title and by name (“Jesus” means the Lord saves), Jesus was the Saviour. It is a theme that reaches its climax in Christ’s death by crucifixion. As the young convict observed, Jesus is “the Saviour who died for us all.”

Doubting Jesus’ crucifixion One of the most famous atheists has questioned whether Jesus could possibly have been crucified. Prolific French philosopher Michel Onfray declares: “Another improbability: the Crucifixion.

History again bears witness: at that time Jews were not crucified but stoned to death.”

In fact, as any historian at Onfray’s university in Caen, France, could tell him, it is probably truer to say Jews were among the most

crucified people in the ancient world.

We have documentary evidence of thousands of Jewish crucifixions – in one text, we hear of 2000 Jewish crucifixions in one day. In any case, the testimony of the nonChristian Jew Josephus puts Jesus’ crucifixion beyond doubt: “Pilate, upon hearing Jesus accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, condemned him to be crucified.”

But the history is not the most significant part of this story. The meaning attached to this history is wonderful beyond compare.

Mocking the Saviour Luke’s Gospel draws our attention to the salvation theme in an unexpected way. When we come to the crucifixion narrative itself, the whole scene focuses on whether Jesus really has the ability to save: The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

(Luke 23:35-39) The significance of this scene has been described well by one of the late-twentieth-century’s foremost historians of ancient Judaism and Christianity, David Flusser of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (an observant Jew not a Christian).

He describes Luke’s account of Jesus’ death as essentially reliable, including the threefold mockery.

The one who claimed to save people from the coming judgment could not even save himself from the wrath of Rome. The irony brings us close to the point Luke wishes to emphasise: it was precisely by not saving himself that Jesus was able to save others.

Receiving the Saviour The centrepiece of Luke’s account of the crucifixion is the salvation of one of the criminals crucified along with Jesus. Having declared his own unworthiness and guilt, the other criminal turns to Jesus with a plea: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” I love the simplicity of the request. And I love the extravagance of Jesus’ reply even more: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Curiously, although the criminal was the only one not to use the word “save” that day, he was the only one to be saved. Others mock Jesus as “saviour.” This man humbly receives him, and receives “paradise.” It was mercy for the criminal but condemnation for Jesus, heaven for the criminal but the equivalent of hell for the Saviour. For on the cross, Jesus bore the judgment we all deserve.

Christianity has always declared that Jesus died for Jewish rebels like the man crucified with Jesus, petty thieves like Samuel Peyton, neglectful materialists, thankless atheists, and even for the morally self-righteous. This is no mere cliche but a reality of eternal significance. For any who sincerely turn back to God, Jesus is the “Saviour who died for us all.”

Dr John Dickson is an author and historian, and the Founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity.

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OPINION

APRIL 2017

15

Pixabay / AdinaVoicu / Hans

The promise of beauty Michael Jensen on who beauty guides us to “I would classify myself as an agnostic, at the moment.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, you can’t be an atheist when you see the beauty of the world. I can’t reduce my experience of beautiful things to some random evolutionary side-effect.”

“So, you believe in God then?”

“I don’t know. The world is so deeply beautiful that there must be something more. But what is that?

I don’t know. I guess I am waiting for that ‘aha’ experience. Hasn’t happened to me yet.”

This is the summarised version of conversations I’ve had recently.

Beautiful experiences, cultural and natural, have awakened in people a sense that there is something more to the stuff we grasp than the stuff itself. The extraordinary pink sunrise over the harbour is more than just a trick of the light: it is artistry. It isn’t just a subjective sense experience. It’s an act of communication from … well, who?

And what are they trying to say?

This response to the beautiful intrigues me. Clearly, reductive and polemical explanations of atheists aren’t proving to be compelling.

People can’t square their deeply felt experience of the world with that.

To the people I’ve been speaking with at least, the world simply cannot be reduced to its material components, nor its coherence explained by resorting to chance.

But I have been puzzled, as an evangelist, what to do next. What’s the path from here to the gospel?

I don’t wish to sound too pragmatic here, as if the only point of having a conversation about beauty is to get off that topic and onto something more important.

But since the experience of beauty has led people to this point – of acknowledging the existence, if not of God as such, then at least of a higher power – then what can a Christian say in response?

First of all we have to think about what beauty is and why it has this power in human experience.

In the words of the English philosopher Roger Scruton, “beauty demands to be noticed.” Beautiful objects and people draw our attention, it’s true, although you also could say that of a car accident.

When we see something beautiful, and we give attention to it, we have awakened in us a longing for the thing – a desire for it.

Now, of course, people always say about beauty that tired old cliche: “it’s in the eye of the beholder.”

I don’t think we really believe that. We say it because there is an element of taste and culture when it comes to judging the beautiful.

But just because we don’t always agree on every instance of beauty doesn’t mean we should ignore our powerful agreements that sunsets, Beethoven symphonies and Audrey Hepburn’s face are instances of true beauty. Just as disagreements about what is good and what is true don’t mean that truth and goodness are simply matters of opinion.

Okay, but what gives things beauty? The great theologian of the 13th century Thomas Aquinas said something which is beautiful contains three attributes: wholeness (integritas), harmony (consonantia), and radiance (claritas). We recognise in the beautiful thing a completeness or a unity. We see the way in which the parts of the whole work together.

But this mysterious element of

“radiance”: what of that? We might think of that as the “glory” of the thing. Something about a beautiful thing simply shines.

There’s an added extra that can’t be simply explained by an inventory of the components. I can’t explain why the sound of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis’ Sketches From Spain album is beautiful just in terms of the unity and the harmony of its composition. There’s a glory to it, as well. It comes, you’d have to say, from the unique personhood of its creator. Like a bottle filled with wine, the wholeness and harmony of that work give shape to the creator’s genius, his radiance.

But who created the beauty of nature that human artists attempt to copy in their work? Whose glory shines from the stars? Interestingly, it is this language we hear from Paul in Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” The world, as the poet Hopkins puts it, “is charg’d with the grandeur of God.” God’s glory finds its physical form in the things he has made. From his creation, human beings should see his glory – not the glory of the things themselves, but the glory of the one who made them.

It makes sense then, that our experiences of beauty have this electric effect on us. We feel that something is aligned between ourselves and with something bigger than us when we are in the presence of beauty. As Scruton says: “In the experience of beauty the world comes home to us, and we to the world.” If we hear what Paul is saying, this is because in experiences of beauty we are coming into the realm of the holy.

God’s character shines through the world that he has made.

But to experience beautiful things is not to know God. There are some things that obscure him.

“

In the experience of beauty the world comes home to us, and we to the world.”

The first is that there’s a beauty deficit in the world. We live in the presence not just of the beautiful but of the ugly and the decaying and the crass and the truly hideous.

The world is full of disharmony and disintegration, and full of things which have no glory. Or, we have the use of beauty for other ends – to sell things, to exploit sex, to avert our gaze from suffering.

If we are seeing rightly, in fact, we’ll see the contrast between the beautiful and the ugly is an insight to the good and bad in this world.

Secondly, people who plunge into the beautiful soon discover that beautiful things do not satisfy.

Beautiful objects and people convey the transcendent to us, but are not the transcendent, bigger “thing” that we are reaching out for.

The hunger for the beautiful is really a desire for what beauty points us to: the wholeness, harmony, and glory that can only be found in God. And here’s what I think I want to convey to the beauty-awakened searchers. God reveals his glory most fully, not in the heavens or the tops of mountains, but in Jesus Christ. As it says in Hebrews, “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory

and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus of Nazareth is the embodiment of the beauty which comes from God. The glory of God fills him like the genius of Miles Davis fills his music, only much more intensely so. But, still, how does this work?

In Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, we see the miraculous fulfilment of the plan of God in making the world. We find human being perfected. We see the glory of the one who humbled himself for our sakes. We see the excessive superabundance of divine love pouring down upon the earth like rain. No more intensely and radiantly did God shine his glory than through the wholeness and harmony of his son made man.

One of my favourite writers, the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, once said that in the beauty of Jesus Christ we find apologetics and doctrine combined.

That is to say: the question that arises from beauty leads us to tell the most beautiful story of all. We move beyond asking about whether the Christian message is rationally plausible to the gospel itself.

If a person asks where the beauty they experience comes from, we have an open invitation to explain the gospel – since in Jesus, the transcendent beauty that permeates all the world shines most brightly. So, in my discussions with people who are recognising that the beauty of the world comes from a source beyond, I should confidently take them to the one in whom the beyond came near.

Michael Jensen is the rector of St Mark’s Anglican Church in Darling Point, Sydney, and the author of several books.

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OPINION

16

APRIL 2017

Greg Clarke on how God’s Word shapes life.

Forgive my headline—it is entirely self-indulgent. These are the third Christian names of the five children with which my wife and I have been blessed. We thought we’d give them something to live up to — someone, in fact, sometimes more than one person. Luther for our firstborn, the fearless but flawed Reformer. Lewis, as in famed author C.S., for our second son, again a real and complex man with a lovely imagination.

Mary and Elizabeth for our daughters, to say they could be beloved mothers like their biblical namesakes, but also leaders worthy

of deep admiration (and there are too few Protestants called Mary!).

Elizabeth II Regina, the patron of the original Bible Society, is a model of grace and servant leadership. And that comes from parents inclined to Republicanism.

Then there’s St. John for our fifth, pronounced sinjin if you are in the know, perhaps a tad pretentious but so be it. The great apostle, the friend of Jesus, the author of the glorious fourth Gospel, along with plenty of other Johns we like. That includes St John of the Apocalypse, the incredible visionary who has shaped people’s thinking about the future of the world for the past 1900 years or so.

What’s in a name? An awful lot.

Only six of the top 20 girl’s names, and three of the top 20 boy’s names in Australia in 2016 can reasonably be connected to the Christian faith.

Our nation has changed. Whereas once the obvious inspiration and source of family tradition in the Western world was the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, along with church history and literature, now that is no longer the case.

Even though, as I have written before, Australia is still ‘roughly

Christian’, with a majority identifying with the faith rather than any other position, the loss of biblical impact is starting to show. The emblems and signs of Christian influence are fading fast.

Steeples are harder to see behind skyscrapers. Bibles occupy the back shelf, bottom corner, in most bookshops (not Koorong, I hasten to add!).

These are physical expressions of a problem of the heart and mind — and our nation’s hearts and minds are less connected to Christian faith than ever before.

In the 500th year of the Reformation in Europe, we do well to pause and consider what role Christianity can have in society for good. Because Christianity has always worked itself out in social structures; it has never been just a private thing, even when small and struggling.

Martin Luther not only led the 16th Century Reformation in the Church, with all of its complex doctrinal battles, but he also translated the Bible into the German of his people. He enabled generations of ordinary folk to access the ethical guidance, divine encouragement and social vision of

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Luther, Lewis, Mary, Elizabeth, St. John: what’s in a name?

Role models: C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther and Queen Elizabeth II. the Scriptures. At the same time, the technology of the printing press made this book physically available and physically visible.

To be able to see, hold and read the Bible has changed everything.

It has an impact on how families operate, how people approach their everyday working life, how citizens respect government, where people place their hopes and aspirations (God or mammon?), and the list goes on.

These are all attitudes and perspectives gleaned from engaging with the Bible at your pace, with your issues in mind, and in the language of your heart.

The Bible touches on almost every area of life. Even just to be able to read one Proverb per day in your native tongue will change the way you live. To read the words of Jesus for yourself will change the way you think forever.

In Australia, these biblical hopes for humanity are more hidden than they used to be. We need to explore creative ways of making them more visible. Some great examples exist in recent times of doing just that, such as Hillsong’s “cross = love” campaign, and the Mandorla Art Award in Western Australia (which Bible Society is pleased to support).

We need more of it. Maybe even a baby-naming campaign.

This is an Australian problem, we should remember. God’s Word is living and active, just not always where you can see it for yourself.

In Nigeria, the top baby names at the moment are Emmanuel, Michael, Samuel for boys; and for girls, Esther, Abigail and Blessing.

The Word of God is on the move around the globe; let’s pray for its revitalisation here in Australia.

Greg Clarke is CEO of Bible Society Australia.

Bible Stat 3426 free Bibles were given away last month to celebrate 200 years of Bible Society.

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