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NUMBER 41, OCTOBER 2013 CIRCULATION 100,000 ISSN 1837-8447
Hilary Sandeman
The
Relationships Issue
15,172 Australians are on the ♥Christians Online dating site “What is love” was the most ♥ ‘Googled’ term in 2012 36% of Koorong fiction sales are ♥ romance fiction
OCTOBER 2013
OPINION
Christian Book of the Year
Obadiah Slope
Shine Rory Shine: Packed halls, or rather the people in them, watched Christian apologist William Lane Craig and atheist Lawrence Krauss in conversation in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne earlier this year. But when Krauss came to Perth, his opponent was not the internationally famous Craig but a local pastor, Rory Shiner. Here’s how Shiner explained it: “The potential for tonight’s event being something of a mismatch has given me two recurring nightmares over the past month. First, that my efforts would end up featuring on an Atheist YouTube comedy channel, and secondly, the abiding fear that the word ‘Shiner’ will become a neologism in the atheist community—a newly minted verb to describe a wild mismatch resulting in hilarity. To Shiner, or to be Shinered.” Word is that Shiner shone. Not so bad after all: Obadiah was at the Australian Religious Press Awards where there was the normal undercurrent of distress that the mainstream media ignores religion. Although Obadiah agrees that it is getting harder for Christians to find stories about us, it was a bad week to be grumpy about the press: on that same weekend, the weekend of the election, it was almost as though the print media ganged up to prove us all wrong. The Weekend Australian Magazine went with a very positive cover story on Bible translation into Aboriginal languages. It was well deserved recognition for the quiet work of many, but especially the Bible Society’s Paul Eckert. Over at Fairfax, a spread in the SMH Sport section featured the testimony of World Champion boxer Nigel Benn coming to Jesus. Then on Sunday morning a Sun-Herald story about Hillsong planting churches in New York—once again positive.
City of Sydney
Home of Eternity: Once known as the Burton St Tabernacle, the Eternity Playhouse is Australia’s newest theatre after a $7.9 million renovation. It was in the Tabernacle Eternity man Arthur Stace got the call to chalk the word “Eternity” across Sydney as Pastor John Ridley preached on Isaiah 57:15. “Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney,” Ridley preached. “You’ve got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?” So while Obadiah regrets that the building is no longer a church, it’s good that the origin of the 795 lutanda Eternity Press ad 2013 Eternity story is commemorated.
“Tragically the telegrams continued to flow... all died from yellow fever.”
Sophie Timothy One leader with a long ministry: Samuel Adjai Crowther
‘Utter foolishness’ that changed the world David Williams The story of mission is filled with people who have made extraordinary sacrifices in their service of Jesus Christ. In the history of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), two years stand out as being especially painful. In 1823, twelve new missionaries landed in Sierra Leone in West Africa. Within eighteen months, 10 of them had died. When the leaders of CMS in London met, they simply gazed into one another’s faces across the table. Then they knelt together in prayer. One of the leading lay members said in a tone of deep feeling and firm resolve: “We must not abandon West Africa”. By 1894 the gospel had grown in extraordinary ways across West Africa. Thousands of people in what is now Nigeria had professed faith in Christ. The first African Bishop, Samuel Adjai Crowther, had been a guiding force in this gospel growth, a ministry that lasted close to 70 years. His death in 1891 left a massive gap in the West African church. Joseph Hill was appointed to take over the work. He gathered a team to travel with him to strengthen ministry in the region. Bishop and Mrs Hill set off for Nigeria with 12 other new missionaries, arriving in Lagos in December. On January 6th 1894, CMS received a telegram of just six words: “Bishop and FAv3.pdf 1 rest.” 27/08/13 10:31 AM within Mrs Hill at They had died
four weeks of landing in Africa. Back in England, CMS was overwhelmed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who had only recently consecrated Bishop Hill wrote: “I feel indeed utterly stricken by this terrible news.” Tragically, the telegrams continued to flow. They announced, one after the other, the death of the Rev Mathias on January 17th, Rev Vernall on the 20th; Rev Sealey on the 21st and Miss Mansbridge on the 23rd; all died from yellow fever. CMS members in England met to grieve and pray. At one of their meetings, Bishop Bardsley said: “Some of you may ask: might not the men who have given their lives for Africa have done longer and more useful work in our home parishes? Why this waste? Brethren, let us not take up words from the mouth of Judas Iscariot!” History has proved Bishop Bardsley right: these lives were not wasted. Nigeria, the country where so many missionaries died, now stands at the centre of the world church. It is home to tens of millions of Christians. By any human measure, the sacrifices made by these missionaries were utter foolishness. But it was utter foolishness that changed the world. The story of mission in Africa is the story of the foolishness of the cross. This is how our God works in his world. He chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise and what is weak in the world to shame the strong. (Source: Stock, Eugene. The History of the Church Missionary Society, Volumes I-IV. London: CMS, 1899.) David Williams, CMS Australia
A story of hope and faith in the face of tragedy has won Australia’s Christian Book of the Year Award for 2013. Forged with Flames: A true story of courage and survival by Ann Fogarty and Anne Crawford, was described by the judges as “compelling, unforgettable and inspiring” as well as “uniquely Australian”. Forged with Flames traces Fogarty’s experience of the Ash Wednesday fires in Upper Beaconsfield in 1983, which left her with life-threatening burns to 85 per cent of her body. The judges spoke highly of the way her work dealt with questions of faith and doubt. “Where is God when it hurts? This question has rarely been answered more eloquently than Fogarty and Crawford as they tell the story of Ann’s ordeal by fire.” In her acceptance speech at the Christian Literature Awards, Fogarty, who still bears the scars of her suffering, said she only began writing the book because her eldest daughter thought it was a good idea. “There were many, many times during the process of writing when I wasn’t sure it was a good idea at all, and I really wanted to abandon the whole thing. But each time I felt this way I somehow heard that still, small voice that was God urging me on and showing me how to keep going.” Fogarty then read a quote from John Bunyan, reflecting on the journey God has taken her on since the fires. “Although I have been through all that I have, I do not regret the many hardships I met, because it was they who brought me to the place I wished to reach. Now all I have is this sword and I give it to whoever wishes to continue his pilgrimage. I carry with me the marks and scars of battles-they are the witnesses of what I suffered and the rewards of what I conquered. These are the beloved marks and scars that will open the gates of Paradise to me.” Second prize was won by Driven By Purpose: Charities that make a difference, by Stephen Judd, Anne Robinson and Felicity Errington. In his acceptance speech, Judd reminded the audience that 23 out of the top 25 charities in Australia are faith-based, and they should fight to retain their purpose and identity. Third prize was won by A Faith to Live By: What an Intelligent, Compassionate and Authentic Christian Faith Looks Like by Roland Ashby.
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OCTOBER 2013
NEWS
BRIEFS
New senator predicts SSM will not pass John Sandeman Family First’s Bob Day is on course to be a Senator for South Australia when the new Senate takes their seats in 2014. It’s third time lucky for Day who stood as a Liberal in a hard to win seat in 2007, for the Senate for Family First in 2010 (just missing out) and now successfully in 2013. Eternity spoke to the soon-to-be Senator: Why do you think it is important for there to be Christian parties in the parliament? I think it comes down to values. I am not sure who it was who once said that “I’d rather have a competent atheist than an incompetent Christian running the show.” Competency is obviously the most important feature. But it is even better if you have that coupled with strong values that inform the way that you do things. Which issues raised in the last election would your faith make a difference on? There’s no doubt about which ones. I have seen the devastating effect that homelessness and joblessness have on people. Those would be the two areas most affected by my Christian faith and my Christian values. An area raised during the campaign was asylum seekers. What’s your view? First of all we have to acknowledge that there are something like 30 million refugees around the world. All would like to seek asylum and go to somewhere better than where they are. Family First has long had a policy of setting aside one per cent of GNI towards our commitment to foreign aid. The key is that we should set aside the one per cent first. As a young Christian I was taught to tithe. I remember my first pay
Senate results 2010 2013 NSW 3.63 3.8 Vic 5.35 3.62
WA 3.91 2.59 SA 5.00 5.19 Tas 1.69 2.88 For this graph DLP, Family First, Christian Democrats, Rise Up Australia and Australian Christian parties are counted together as “Christian parties”.
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Rescued by God: Kidnapped Nigerian Archbishop Ignatius Kattey has debunked claims that he was rescued by the Police. The Nigeria Daily Post reports Kattey said that his kidnappers released him at their own discretion and attributed it to divine intervention because he knew people all over the world were praying for him. He said his release was by the grace of God. Narnia’s creator: A special website to honour the fifty-year anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ death has been launched this month, with plenty to read and watch at biblesociety.org.au/cslewis Press Awards: Karen Mudge of Eternity won a silver award for her story “Inside Hillsong Music” at the Australasian Religious Press Awards. It’s a media convention to only report the awards that you win, but let’s break it! So congratulations to CathNews and Zadok Perspectives for online and print publications of the year. Southern Cross (Anglican Sydney) and Crosslight (Uniting Church, Victoria/Tasmania) also did well on the night with a swag of awards each. Hail, Ramon: Ramon Williams, a true legend of Christian media, picked up an ARPA special citation. Ramon’s faith-based press release and photo service makes it possible for all sorts of Christian missions to get their words and pictures out. And it is his second career: he and his wife Dorothy were missionaries for Worldwide Evangelical Crusade in Indonesia from 1959 till 1967, until triplets sent them home.
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How “Christian” parties fared: First prefs in Senate %
Qld 4.31 2.07
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Bob Day: from builder to Senator. packet—I got $30 a week. Straightaway you took the first three dollars and set it aside. Family First also supports any policy which will discourage asylum seekers from getting on boats and trying to make it to Australia. Do you think that Australia should take more refugees through an orderly process? Yes, I do. Looking across Australia after this election it strikes me that the Christian party vote actually fell in some states. What is your impression? Yes, it was a bit fragmented. Most of them got about one per cent each. But they appeal to different groups in the electorate. I don’t think it matters a great deal—as long as they each preference each other before the majors. Then
each one’s vote will stay alive until it gets to one of the other like-minded parties. Family First calls itself a conservative party, will it be a good ally for the Coalition? Yes there will be many areas we agree on, but not everything. For example we question the Parental Leave scheme. Do you think same sex marriage will be passed by this new parliament? There is a push within the Coalition, and Mr Rudd who will still be in the parliament has promised to move a motion within 100 days. But I believe that it will be defeated overwhelmingly. We support same sex marriage being put to a referendum, and the Australian people will say they do not want it.
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New double-degree sets a standard in Australian higher education Alphacrucis College (AC) introduces a new flagship program - Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Ministry – the first double-degree of its kind in Australia. “This unique interdisciplinary program has been designed to meet the demand for an undergraduate business program integrated with ethics and theology,” said Professor Paul Oslington, Professor of Economics and Dean of Business at AC; and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Australian Catholic University. “This is the first combined business and ministry double-degree in Australia, and marks a significant breakthrough in Christian higher education.” Commencing in 2014, the Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Ministry will be delivered at AC Central in Parramatta, as well as distance education through AC’s Global Online campus. “The BBus/BMin reflects both the burgeoning growth of the Australian Christian Churches movement and the increasing role Christian institutions play in providing important services in
our education, health and social services sectors,” said Professor Oslington, who’s extensive research framed the design of this four-year program. He has authored numerous academic publications, including Economics and Religion
university-level Christian education across various disciplines. “Our innovation in program content and delivery at AC is contributing to a better standard for both Christian education, and tertiary education in
“...leadership in ethical practice and social justice are in the crosshairs of our focus.” (2003), Adam Smith as Theologian (2011) and Oxford Handbook of Economics and Christianity (2013). Dr. Stephen Fogarty, AC Principal and CEO, says the College aims to provide more study options for students in Australia and abroad who are seeking
Australia as a whole.” said Dr. Fogarty. “Our mandate as a Christian college compels us to widen the scope of our education delivery. This is reflected by our new undergraduate business courses where, much like all our programs, leadership in ethical practice and social
justice are in the crosshairs of our focus. That is AC’s distinctive position.” Along with the business and ministry double-degree, AC launches a suite of new Higher Education courses in 2014 - Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Ministry, Bachelor of Theology, and Master of Theology degrees. Alphacrucis College is the national training provider of the Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God Australia) since 1948. Formerly known as Southern Cross College, AC offers VET and Higher Education awards in leadership, ministry & theology, chaplaincy, education, business, counselling and music.
OCTOBER 2013
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Internet dating: An insider’s perspective
Joanna Hayes ‘Fat Boy’, 24, was the last in a long line of totally unsuitable matches sent to me because of our “deep compatibility”. In answer to the form question, “I typically spend my leisure time [fill in the blank]”, Fat Boy said, “I love to have sex! I am freaky a lot and i am VERY romantic. I also like trying out new positions too ... I love music and money. I’m even thinking about making my own clothing line. I’m very stylish and love a girl who looks good 24/7.” The problem is glaringly obvious: he didn’t make the ‘i’ a capital letter, and his punctuation is all over the place. But seriously, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to figure out if this profile was a joke, experiment or honest portrayal of a Christian guy. But it’s profiles like this that reveal the truth: online dating isn’t all about beautiful people in soft focus planning their wedding. Just like dating IRL (in real life), it can be brutal. The problem is that you sign on with wide-eyed hope. Sure, you’ve not had much success IRL before—those three guys you had a crush on in your early 20s are all married with kids now, and the pool is getting smaller and smaller—but this is the internet! There are boundless possibilities of matches from all over the world! Surely there’ll be someone out there for you. And maybe it’ll be a little easier because you’ll be matched with people who suit ‘the real you’. That ‘you’ all those guys in your life have obviously not been seeing up till now. Cos y’know, if they had seen the real you, they would have fallen adoringly at your feet. This is your chance: millions of members. Rack ‘em up, let’s get going. But then the matches arrive. There’s the alarmingly large proportion of men who want to live and die for the glory of the US of A (and want you to as well).
Avoid internet dating scams Sophie Timothy
$23 million was reported as lost to the Australian Competition & Over the last decade, nonConsumer Commission (ACCC) traditional forms of dating have in dating and romance scams, rapidly increased in popularity, making it the second highest making it more common than category of scam in Australia. ever for single Christians to sit ACCC Deputy Chair, Delia Rickdown at their computer and try ard says Christians are particuto work out how to sum themlarly vulnerable. selves up in 200 words or less. “If someone is going through The biggest reason for the a Christian dating site then I trend is, of course, statistical. As think there’s a greater sense of you widen the net, the chance trust, potentially. And if someof meeting someone increases. body who they meet is professAnd what better way to widen ing to be a Christian, I think the net than to use ‘the net’. As that can lead to a greater sense one person I spoke to said, “Eve- of trust - I’m not out there with ryone is looking for everything just anyone on the general sites, online; banking, shopping, com- this is the community that I municating. Why would you not know and trust. So there may be get into dating online?” a greater tendency to let down But it’s not all lovely emails, your guard.” long phone calls, red roses and She says the telltale signs of white dresses. There are also the an online dating scam are: horror stories. In the past year, (a) the person moves commu-
It seems that apparently every guy in the world likes to keep fit and typically spends their leisure time playing Frisbee. Everyone is most passionate about Jesus, which is great right, until it becomes such a pat answer you want to stab your own eyes out. Are you passionate about anything else? Suddenly the guy that announces his light-saber skills becomes fascinating because at least it sounds like he has a personality! And hey, he’s willing to teach his future spouse nunchuck skills—sign me up! But most depressing of all is that ac-
nication off the site very quickly; (b) they’ve got a sob story: single parent/in the army/ had an accident/have been diagnosed with something/do aid work/want you to pay for a flight to come meet you; (c) odd circumstances requiring the money to be ‘wired’, like being in a remote location away from a bank; (d) they get angry and persistent when you refuse to give money; (e) they don’t want to meet up in person; (f ) their profile picture, when you drag and search in Google images, is not the person they claim to be. If you suspect you’ve been scammed, Delia says you should contact your local police, and report it through the ACCC’s ScamWatch website.
tually, online dating can simply massage discontent into bitterness. That world of possible matches starts turning into a longer and longer list of people who don’t want a relationship with you. Boy is that great for the self-esteem! I find it hard enough to remember that I’m valuable in God’s eyes without the ever more consistent reminder that in the world’s eyes, I’m a risible failure because nobody loves me. Even worse, in the sheer inanity and superficiality of it all, it’s horribly easy to become more and more judgemental.
Deleting him: he mentioned weightlifting. Deleting him: he said he doesn’t read. Deleting him: he CANNOT spell. Deleting, deleting, deleting. It doesn’t matter what criteria you’re sifting and evaluating by, the smorgasbord system makes it so easy to make a more and more specific and yet impossible list that ceases to reflect the godly desires you started out with (that he loves Jesus and honours him as Lord), and becomes about marginal partialities you wouldn’t notice immediately in person. No wonder discontent can grow and grow. Your search becomes more and more about finding someone who fulfils your desires and preferences instead of someone you can serve, encourage, exhort and minister to. And it can become a bigger and bigger part of your life, eating up precious time with daily emails, profile checking, photo uploading and wondering and wondering instead of rejoicing in the people God has already put in your life and in the many blessings you have in Christ. I know people have varied experiences of online dating (and dating in general). My Bible study leader’s brother is about to marry the second girl he was matched with—hooray! And it’s not as though devoting time to finding a marriage partner is sinful. But for me, for the second time I’m deleting my account and stepping away from the whole palaver. I want to focus single-mindedly on God, knowing that he will provide all I need. Returning to a cliché of my teenage years, it’s probably a good idea to ask, WWJD—what would Jesus do? If Jesus could date online and sort out his whole 33 and living with his mother problem, would he do it? I think his clearest answer is in Matthew 6:33: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
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OCTOBER 2013
RELATIONSHIPS
A friendship across barriers of Sophie Timothy Ministry worker Jane Knowles (63) and oncology nurse Melanie Bogle (30) have been friends for 12 years. This is the story of their inter-generational friendship.
Melanie’s story
I remember first seeing Malcolm and Jane working in the church office when I was involved with high school ministry. A short time later, the pastor at the time prayed for this beautiful couple, as Malcolm had been diagnosed with cancer. I remember being moved in my heart and feeling quite emotional. I wrote a letter to let them know I was praying for them and that was when our friendship started. There was a really precious season early on in our friendship when I would go to the Queen Victoria market weekly with Malcolm and Jane; a little adventure to purchase beautiful fresh and organic fruit and vegetables. It was during this time that our relationship really deepened and strengthened, as we learnt more about each other and had shared experiences. A significant period in our friendship was walking with Jane during the last months of Malcolm’s life and then in the months that followed after his passing. Our friendship of ‘three’ became a friendship between the two of us. Our relationship grew through the grief and has continued to deepen since. I am so privileged to have walked this journey with Jane; I am a much better person because of both Malcolm and Jane and their influence in my life.
“Even in the middle of her grief and after sharing many tears together, she would always take the time to ask after me and was genuinely Jane (63) and Melanie (30) became friends after Melanie wrote Jane and her sick husband Malcolm a letter in 2001. interested.” than ever. Jane is incredibly thoughtful and whom she has invested in and loved. Melanie Her decision to take this time with has a beautiful interest in others. Even I remember being particularly in the middle of her grief (at losing Malcolm) and after sharing many tears together, she would always take the time to ask after me; she was genuinely interested. She is unbelievably selfless. Her life is filled with the many people in
inspired when she took time (after Malcolm had passed away) to seek God and really study the Word and what it means to be a disciple. She didn’t allow her grieving to turn her away from Jesus. I saw her pressing into Him more
the Lord to heal and study his Word (before further potential ministry) inspires me to this day. Her heart is so pure and her godly example is one that I want to emulate. We have the most wonderful of times
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OCTOBER 2013
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generation and illness story “For me, Jane’s In 2001, our pastor prayed for in church, as he had been life without Malcolm diagnosed with cancer. Following that Melanie wrote a beautiful letter younger service, to Malcolm and put it in our pigeon the following week. She took the people hole first step towards our friendship. impression of Melanie was in it would thatMyoffirst a young woman with a beautiful be missing smile and a tender and caring heart. As went by I realised that she was also a very time a very godly young woman who wanted honour God in all she did. She was important towilling to go out of her way to love a much older couple who were struggling ingredient.” with a life-threatening illness. When Malcolm was having chemo Jane treatments in the city, Melanie came
together. We often have a coffee (me) and a herbal tea (Jane) together at a little place in the country. We made our way there every time I went to visit. We play card games, go for long walks, and love to cook new and exciting recipes together. There was even a time when we tried our hand at Pilates with a video, which was rather humorous! We also have a favourite little vegetarian place for dinner where we have many special memories (both Jane and I, and also when Malcolm was with us). We have made a quilt together (mainly Jane but I helped) of different items of Malcolm and Jane’s clothing. At those times of working on the quilt, we would share memories together of times spent with Malcolm (and also earlier stories, as different material would lead to other memories). Jane has journeyed closely with me through some difficult times in recent years. I have never felt judged by her in this time. I never felt like a project or as someone to ‘make better’. She has seen me at my worst and loved me through it. She has been selfless in her prayer, encouragement and even came to stay with me for a time. My life is so rich because of my friendship with Jane. She is a trusted friend and mentor, and an amazing prayer support. She has left a beautiful and indelible mark on my life. I love the definition of indelible: ‘making marks that cannot be removed; not to be forgotten or removed.’ The things she has taught me and our many fabulous experiences will never be forgotten or removed from my heart.
too, to share the experience with us. She was training to be a nurse at that time and was interested in learning what she could about Mal’s treatment and sharing the journey with us. It was precious to us to have someone make such an effort to join us on our difficult journey. In the months that followed, when Malcolm was quite ill, Melanie was our most frequent visitor at home; she endeared herself to us with her friendly and caring ways. A year or two later, when we moved to the country, Melanie came to stay often. She loved to come and we always looked forward to her visits. In those days it was always ‘the three of us’ and we enjoyed long chats over meals in the courtyard and walks to the local café for coffees. After Malcolm died, Melanie continued to visit and stay with me in our
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country home. Now it’s just the two of us. Although we miss Malcolm in the mix, we still have a lot of fun together. We still go for walks, drink cups of coffee at our favourite café and really enjoy playing racing patience until late at night. I used to win in the early days, but now she’s much greater competition and wins more often than I do! We also love to cook together and watch inspirational Christian DVDs. I decided to make a quilt out of all of Mal’s shirts and mine after he died. It was a big project, but Melanie decided she’d like to do it with me. Each time she came to visit for a year or so, we had fun cutting and positioning and putting it together, sharing memories of Malcolm as we went. Now it’s on my bed and reminds me not only of Malcolm, but of the lovely time Melanie and I spent putting it together. Over the last couple of years, Melanie has been struggling with a pretty tough relational issue. Because of the depth of our relationship and some big storms I’ve weathered in my life, I believe that God has allowed me to walk through a tough season with Melanie with some depth of understanding. During this time, Melanie has been an inspiring example of someone ‘living in the Word’. She has reminded me of the importance of putting God above all else in our lives as I have seen her come out triumphant. Living in the country and away from Melanie’s home in the city meant that it took plenty of effort to get together. We both lead busy lives, but we put in definite dates to spend quality time
together whenever we can. Now that I have moved to the city, we see each other more often and we’re both happy about that. God has given me a real passion for young people and an ability to communicate with them and walk alongside them. For me, life without younger people in it would be missing a very important ingredient. I do believe that God wants the church to be family. Families are made up of people of all ages because He knows we can encourage and build each other up across generations. Yes, there is a 33 year age difference between Melanie and me, but we don’t see that our age makes any difference to our relationship. We consider that our friendship is just like any other of our friendships. We are totally at ease with the age difference. I’m sure if I end up in a wheelchair, she’ll still come and take me out for walks to the café for a coffee and long talks. Melanie is a beautiful young woman that I feel so privileged and thankful to be able to spend quality time with. She values my contribution to her life. As I do hers to mine! She keeps me up to date with the latest Christian music: “Jane, listen to this! I love it!” as she plays a new song. My husband, Malcolm, said of her once: “Encourage her Janie, she’s a real gem. She’s one of God’s beautiful children. Maybe He’s sent her to us for us to encourage, for you to encourage, to walk along the path of life with and share in those things that are going to be meaningful for her in her Christian walk.” What a privilege that is.
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OCTOBER 2013
RELATIONSHIPS
Singleness and studying Joshua Maule
Eliza McEwin shares her experience of being single. Interview by Kaley Payne. I’ve known people who say they’re “single for the sake of the Gospel”. That’s not me. I’m just single. I’m 40 years old, not married, with no children. And that’s okay. When I was in my mid-twenties, I found out I couldn’t have children. Couldn’t conceive, and couldn’t carry. So I’ve known for a long time that my life wouldn’t look like most of my friends. Looking back on it now, I think it was a blessing to find out then, rather than later. In your early twenties, you’re young; your ideas about what your life will look like aren’t fully formed or set in stone. But when I got the news that I could never have children, it still turned everything I thought upside down. I had to rethink everything—what does this actually mean for me? I believe children are a gift from God: that God has given women a desire to nurture and to mother. I think that’s how we’re made. So finding out I wouldn’t be able to do that got me thinking: I won’t have children. And it’s possible I might stay single. Christian men, in my dating experience, find it very hard to think beyond the biological child. There comes a point in the relationships I’ve had where I’ve had to say that I can’t have kids. And in my experience, that’s a deal-breaker. It’s happened several times. Each time I say it earlier—I’ve learned not to get emotionally invested until it’s been said, and there’s been a response. I can’t afford to do anything else. Eventually, I had to decide how I would respond to this news, and this possibility of being single. Will I live well or will I be bitter? I wanted to accept what God had given me, and find a way of being godly where he’s put me. At the same time I was figuring all this out, my friends were getting married, and starting their families. It took a while to go from thinking ‘this is just so unfair’, to ‘Okay, I can manage this’. I’d become aware in my church life that children could be an idol. And even the pursuit of marriage can be idolatrous. Bible college for me was the worst example of this. There was a notion in the student body that if you’re single, you need to get married and have children. There was a lot of pressure – ungodly pressure I think. I’ve been engaged, and I called off the wedding because he was not being honest about himself. I knew at the time I called it off that I may never have another opportunity to get married. But I knew too it would be better to be single than marry this man. It was painful, but I’ve never regretted that. The pressure to be married can’t be as strong as the
I don’t feel there are nearly as many assumptions made about my relationship status outside desire to do what is right by God. I won’t lie and say all this was easy. It the church was really hard. But eventually, I started as there to think outside the box: I’ve got this God-given desire to nurture and mother and to love, so what are the ways I can are within use this gift that might be helpful to it. other people, and helpful to me?
Marcos Santos
Churches have a lot to say about marriage; as do endless volumes of Christian literature; as does God himself. It would be impossible to think about Christian ministry without thinking about Christian matrimony. As my peers and I study, questions of God’s plan for marriage can’t be separated from questions about God’s plan for us. In this respect, nuns and priests have a simpler deal. Us single protestants can’t help but wonder: will I experience this “profound mystery” that Paul speaks of? Or is God going to send me off preaching to a lost tribe as a single, single-minded servant? God made marriage when he made human beings. Under the new covenant a marriage is shown to be a walking example of Christ’s commitment to his bride, the church. That is why Paul can say: “A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it” (Eph 5:25). If we are drawn towards marriage, it is not primarily because it sounds like fun or our lives lack adventure. And it’s not for the reasons Mr Collins proposed to Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: “My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it is a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself ) to set the example of matrimony in his parish.” As an outcome, marriage will be an example to the parish. But so will singleness. Jesus and Paul both set an example despite being unmarried. The Christian community is promarriage and pro-family—and that is how it needs to be. But God also has a huge plan for singleness. He uses it in people’s lives to declare the message of the cross. It is the Bible that transforms singleness from a despised position into a viable and celebrated ideal in the kingdom of heaven. This may seem to be adding a contradiction. But as G.K. Chesterton said of the ordinary person: “If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them.” That is what we are trying to do when it comes to questions of marriage, singleness and the future. Joshua Maule is a first year student at Moore Theological College.
Being single is more than ok
My favourite thing in the whole world is meeting in a small group or one-onone to read the Bible and pray together: discipling women, walking alongside them and sharing our lives. I get to do that in a far greater capacity now than I would have if I was married and had children. I have the time to spend doing that stuff. From when I was 19 and led my first small group, to now meeting up with lovely women from my church several times a month, I can see how God has provided lots of opportunities over a very long time, to express love and my nurture/mother desire in different ways. I can see how God gives me opportunities even in the smallest of ways— like at church, where I’m free to move around and talk to people, without wondering where my child is. Or the blessing of sitting alone and noticing a new person at church sitting alone too, that I can welcome and sit with. I love to do that, and I’m always looking for opportunities to use what God has given me.
One thing I struggle with is the assumptions people make about me. I find people project onto me what they would think if they were single. People assume I’m unhappy to be single. That I must be this, or I must be that. Christian people in particular do this a lot. In my ‘secular world’—at work, or at university—long-term monogamy is not the norm. I’m not weird or strange or anywhere near the minority. I’m single, yes, but so are a lot of people. I don’t feel there are nearly as many assumptions made about my relationship status outside the church as there are within it. I’ve never wanted my singleness to be the elephant in the room. I’m quite open about my life. Sometimes, though, if I’m tired, questions like “But don’t you want to be married?” can grate on me. I think it’s God’s way of teaching me that I need to learn to be more patient with people, to love them and understand that a lot of the time, it’s not actually about me. It’s their own insecurity that they haven’t dealt with. I have, and I’m okay with it. Many of my friends have been around for a long time. They saw me go through the hard times, and my struggles. Since then, they have been generous and share their families with me. Being part of their lives—as a godmother, a close ‘aunt’ or just a friend—is their way of helping me be godly in my own life. I’m very happy for them, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out, because they’ve made me a part of it. Do I want to get married? Sure, if the right guy comes along, who loves Jesus, and is an honest and faithful man. I’m open to that possibility, but I’m not looking. And it’s not what defines me. My relationship with God has benefitted from being single. I talk to him more because I live on my own. I read my Bible more too. There is great comfort in the Bible. We meet so many different people, which is one of the things I love about the Bible. Some people in the Bible are married, some are single. Some have children, some do not. But they’re all human, they all sin and Jesus died for them all. The Bible is honest—it doesn’t gloss over anything. But God manages it. And there’s always a way, even if we don’t get it. My goal in life is to be like Jesus as much as I can. Whatever state I’m in— and at the moment, that’s single with no children—there’s still a place for me in God’s kingdom. So, I’ll try to be like Jesus and love whoever is around me at the time. I’m God’s child, and I’m part of God’s story. I will be if I get married. And I will be if I stay single. That’s more than okay. That’s the only thing that matters.
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RELATIONSHIPS
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Why do we read Christian romance? Simone Richardson
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The Bad
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Christian romances explicitly teach that God has a special someone lined up for each of us. This theme is so prominent that you could be forgiven for thinking that God’s main work in the world is as matchmaker! But God never promises us the perfect romantic relationship—or even a romantic relationship at all. Christian romances feature Mr Perfect. The unrealistically dreamy hero is a problem of the romance genre generally and Christian romances take him even further into unreality. He’s commanding, handsome, thoughtful, unselfish, wise, ridiculously in love with the heroine and he’s a Christian! This is the kind of guy that a Christian woman knows she needs! He would build her up in her faith. Living with him and submitting to him would be bliss! Reading about this man does not help Christian women feel satisfied with the life that God has given them. Christian romances are too ambitious in what they set out to do. Christian romances aim not only to tell a love story, but also to teach about God’s sovereignty, instill Christian values and promote godliness. This is a big ask for any author, and I
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The Good
Christian romances are a light, entertaining read. Who doesn’t enjoy a love story? They’re not Shakespeare, but that doesn’t matter. Many find them relaxing, engaging and even moving. Christian romances legitimise many of the things women do every day. Housekeeping, daughterhood, sisterhood, wifedom, motherhood and serving others are central to their settings and plots. As such, they legitimise the everyday lives of women and infuse the mundane with meaning and romantic possibilities. Christian romances teach that God works in our lives, bringing good from bad and joy from hopelessness. Many Christians report them to be a great help to their spiritual lives.
“36 percent of Koorong’s fiction sales are romance fiction. ”
Hilary Sandeman
Though many scoff, Christian romance novels are big. Together with Rick Warren, they are keeping Christian bookshops in business. Thirty-six per cent of Koorong’s fiction sales are romance fiction. Author Janette Oke boasts 23 million in sales and Beverly Lewis has sold 17 million books. In my experience, most Christian women have at least a couple and many have had to buy bigger bookshelves to hold their collections. So what are we to make of Christian romances? Are they good, bad or indifferent? Do they espouse godliness or just dress worldliness in spiritual garb? Here are four good things and three problematic ones about Christian romances novels.
Christian romances value marriage and family and uphold the biblical idea that sex is for marriage. In a world that screams at us that chastity is unhealthy and impossible, Christian romances are a breath of fresh air. They are appropriately reluctant to take us into the bedroom and so parents feel that they are safe for their daughters to read.
doubt that many since Charlotte Bronte have had the gift mix—faith, imagination, insight and writing skills—to accomplish it. The results in Christian romances are often quite dreadful. The stories can be thin, the characters unbelievable and the Bible misused. Women may feel that they are learning wisdom and godliness, but I suspect that when trials and temptations come, many readers will find themselves illequipped. So should we read Christian romances? The best advice I have ever been given is this: read two chapters of the Bible a day and then read whatever else seems right. When we read God’s word, he changes us. Over time, we start to long for what is godly and edifying and we lose our taste for what is unhelpful. Simone Richardson lives in Cairns with her husband Andrew, three sons and two dogs.
For more relationship articles, go to www.biblesociety.org.au
Good sex in Godly marriage
Christian sex therapist Patricia Weerakoon on the ins and outs of sexual intimacy in marriage. Why are so many couples unhappy or discontented with their sex lives in Christian marriage? And how do you turn that around? Read more at biblesociety. org.au/eternity/good-sex
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The stories of pastors and others involved in conflict resolution that will help you navigate through your own conflicts at church. biblesociety.org.au/eternity/conflict
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RELATIONSHIPS
Michael Jensen Is the teaching of the Bible on human sexuality even possible to fulfil? Is it simply inhuman to say that the only context for human sexual expression is a lifelong marriage between a man and a woman? In her new book Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin, author Nicole Hardy tells the story of her struggle with the life of celibacy demanded of her by the religious community in which she grew up. It was particularly difficult to be told to remain celibate by those who themselves were married: “People stand at the pulpit or they come to my house and tell me not to need what every human needs.” This seemed to make no sense to her. The only way she could find to live was to shut down her feelings altogether, and become numb; to will herself to depression. ‘What every human needs’: is she wrong about that? She’s not just talking about sex as a sensation, but the whole notion of sexual intercourse—that extraordinary shared bodily experience of affection and belonging, where for once we are not simply enclosed as beings but open to another person. It is the nakedness of it—the personal, (almost) spiritual, emotional and physical nakedness—that we seem to be made for. Or at least for the majority of us, there is the deep, deep longing for union with
another person which it seems impossible to deny, or to simply divert by suggesting another outlet. So is Christian teaching on sexual abstinence unreasonable and unachievable? Is it simply nonsensical to tell the young couple in their twenties to wait for marriage to have sex when they can’t keep their hands off each other? Is it unreasonable and unliveable to tell a married man with a sick wife that he needs to be faithful to her, despite his growing awareness of his needs? Is it cruel to tell a single woman in her thirties that waiting for a Christian husband is better than the alternative— even if this means not having a husband at all? Some of the ways we speak about sexual purity in the Christian community are in fact completely counterproductive. For example: we will say something about our sex-mad society and suggest that people’s sexual longings are a result of social pressure. Now, there’s a half-truth here: the sexualisation of nearly everything makes sex very hard to forget. However, blaming society implies that sexual desire for people in other eras wasn’t a problem, and that if it is a problem for you now then it is because you are a victim of society’s anti-Christian way of thinking. Or, the way we speak about sex is to say ‘wait till you are married’ as if marriage is inevitable for everyone. The celibate life, then, means ‘just wait until someone comes along’. Abstinence becomes something like holding your breath underwater. But marriage is not everyone’s destiny; and the New Testament doesn’t make marriage normative as we do. Related to this is the absurd promise that people sometimes make that ‘God’s got a special person in store just for you’. Actually, no, you don’t know that he does. That’s not a scriptural promise. In fact, someday your prince may not come.
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Is chastity But too often, by holding out the promise of marriage as a carnival of raunch it is just doing what porn does... Or again: we speak about marriage as if it is like some kind of no holds barred festival of sex and sexual intimacy, without sexual frustration or failure, and without the discovery of mismatched desire. This puts an unreasonable level of expectation on marriages and intensifies the feeling that to be single is to be missing out. We rightly want to celebrate sex as God’s good gift, to show that the Christian understand-
ing of human sexuality is not a form of horror at the sexual. But some preachers are beginning to sound more like sex therapists than prophets. Preaching about sex is sexy. It will get you attention, if you are a preacher. But too often, by holding out the promise of marriage as a carnival of raunch it is just doing what porn does: offering a fantasy of sex instead of the real thing. Or, we become consequentialists
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So is that it then? Is the Christian ideal of preserving sexual intimacy for marriage simply impossible? Well, yes. Yes it is.
y possible? cranach
when trying to justify the Christian ideal of sexual purity. What I mean is that we try to explain how keeping sex for marriage is right because it is better for you. A favourite, vague statistic that people often raise is something like: ‘Studies say that Christian married couples have more sex’. Or we try to find ways to say that sex outside of marriage is bad for you. The trouble with this line of reasoning is that it stands or falls
on whatever studies the scientists are running at the present time. They could very easily argue that sexual abstinence has deleterious physical effects. Or, we introduce abstinence campaigns. I haven’t seen these so much in evidence amongst Australian Christians, but critics never tire of saying that the success of True Love Waits and other abstinence campaigns is virtually nil when surveys are taken. In fact, there is
some evidence that the abstinence vowtakers are more likely to have sex before marriage. This is because, however well intentioned, the abstinence campaign demands that you rely on your own strength to stay sexually pure—either expressly or implicitly. Its strategy is far too optimistic, and as above, makes promises about sexual fulfillment in marriage that are unreasonable. So is that it then? Is the Christian ideal of preserving sexual intimacy for marriage simply impossible? Well, yes. Yes it is. Remember—just in case anyone is feeling a bit smug—that when Jesus taught about sexual purity he didn’t stop at what you do with your genitals. He included your inner world: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28). It is impossible; but, as Jesus also said, ‘with God everything is possible’. He was talking about the rich young ruler, the one who went away from Jesus disappointed because he was called upon to sell all his material possessions. The disciples, staggered at what they had witnessed, exclaimed ‘who then can be saved?’ And the answer is, of course, that as human nature now stands, there is no one at all. It is like that with our sexual natures, too: we know our sexual selves as something deep within us and capable of much blessing to ourselves and our partner. But we also know full well the sexual brokenness within us. We know full well how our worst defects as people come out in our sexual behaviours. We know how little patience we have, and how overwhelming our appetites are. But the answer is not to just try harder, or take cold showers, or make yourself numb. The first lesson of the New Testament when it comes to discipleship is the lesson of Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It
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teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” It is the grace of God that is the key to sexual purity in and out of marriage, just as it is the key to all discipleship. God’s grace means his undeserved favour to us in Jesus Christ. We have from him forgiveness of sins—including our sexual sin—and healing of our broken selves. We learn from God’s mercy to say “no”, and to truly wait: not for our knight in shining armour or for our princess from the palace, but for the return of Jesus, our blessed hope. We have the promise of God to which our lives are to point. What does this look like in practice? Firstly, it means we don’t have to deny that as human beings we deeply crave intimacy and union and especially sexual intimacy and union. We are often frustrated in our longings for these and other things with the world as it presently is. The grace of God teaches us that these are real longings. Secondly, it means our sexual brokenness is not beyond the restorative power of the gospel word; a word of mercy, even to our sexual beings. Our failures are not final. Thirdly, it tells us the promise of God is not that we will have sexual fulfillment in this life, but that we will know deep union and intimacy of the kind we long for. An unmarried person’s role is not to prepare for marriage, but to prepare for life together with God—which is the same as the call that comes to a married person. Our deepest longings are usually for something that will be fulfilled in the world to come.
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OCTOBER 2013
Thanks For Sharing Review by Mark Hadley Do we need another movie to tell us that men are addicted to sex? How about one which discusses the destructive ‘disease’ of sexual addiction? Talk about counter pop-culture. We have come to presume films and TV shows will present the sexual activity of men as a rowdy encouragement of promiscuity. That to be addicted to sex is not only right but normal, good and just how blokes are. Boys will be boys. Thanks For Sharing disagrees. The sexual appetites of men are not always healthy and high five worthy. This dramatic comedy focuses upon several sex addicts and reveals how their consuming condition shatters relationships and lives. Adam (The Avengers Mark Ruffalo) has been ‘sober’ for five years,
attending a support group to help him cure his ‘disease’. His mentor is Mike (Tim Robbins), a 10-year recovering addict who describes giving up as ‘like trying to quit crack, with the pipe attached to your body.’ The behaviour of twenty-something Neil (Josh Gad) is a clear demonstration of what Adam and Mike have been battling to resist. For example, Neil secretly films up the skirt of his boss. She finds out. He is fired. “I’m out of control and I need help,” Neil announces. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow and singer Pink, Thanks For Sharing homes in on extreme cases of sexual obsession. It’s easy to object though that not all men are pressing their groins against random women on trains, like Neil does. As such, this is just a movie about dudes who take it way too far. So, if you believe that’s not you, there’s nothing for
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you to learn, or be challenged by. Writing off Thanks For Sharing like that is to dismiss what it’s saying to all men. Any man will damage intimate relationships when his sexual urges overrule commitment, feelings and integrity. The real problem Adam, Mike and Neil face is that their insatiable lust destroys the foundations of solid, monogamous couples. How can they be trusted to stay faithful? Can these afflicted men truly love one woman? Since the ‘free love’ cataclysm of the 1960s, the separation of sex from intimacy has become the status quo. Sex is widely viewed as an activity of physical and sensual gratification. Intimacy doesn’t have to be a factor. Sex is not personal devotion to the other. It’s just fun and pleasure, right? However, as Thanks For Sharing
As Thanks For Sharing indicates, sex and intimacy are inseparable bedfellows.
indicates, sex and intimacy are inseparable bedfellows. The conjoining of two bodies is intimate. Pain experienced by Adam, Mike and Neil flows from the incompatible assertion that sex can be detached from emotions or connection. We might believe that’s the case. But when we stop to think about it, can such an intimate act be anything else? “The two will become one flesh,” is the way Jesus described a married couple (Mark 10:6-8). He was teaching how, since the dawn of humanity, God intended sexual relations to be the domain of marriage (cf. Genesis 2:24). Why? Because sex is the ultimate physical expression of unity between man and woman. Sex should equate to singular devotion and deep relationship. Thanks For Sharing shows us the damaging consequences of using sex for anything less.
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OCTOBER 2013
CULTURE
Viewing the vulnerable through the small screen Review by Mark Hadley Television affects the way we relate to the world. It’s as undeniable and recurring as the nightly news. We turn on the box and we see that there’s another famine or outbreak of violence in Africa, and before long we come to believe that this is all the continent has to offer. Television just as powerfully affects the way we relate to people closer to home. The 2005 riots that erupted in Sydney following the assault on two off-duty lifesavers arguably affected our national impression of suburbs like Cronulla, Punchbowl and Auburn. For a time they became locations populated with racist thugs or violent immigrants, according to your channel of choice. But a social group doesn’t have to appear on A Current Affair to skew our opinions. This month two television series with the potential to transform our social relationships will come to an end and be released to DVD. Both demonstrate the way television works to shape the way we relate to those living at the margins of our society. Ricky Gervais’ new production Derek introduces us to the staff and residents of a British aged care facility that is being threatened with closure. It’s pitched as a bitter-sweet comedy about awkward people. Most of all we learn about Derek, Gervais’ take on an unattractive, uncomfortable staff member with developmental disabilities … maybe. As the writer, director and star of the series Gervais has shrugged off criticism that he has produced a cruel satire about the disintegration of a disabled man by denying Derek has any disabilities: “There is no argument. Derek is a fictional character and is defined
by his creator. Me. If I say I don’t mean him to be disabled then that’s it. A fictional doctor can’t come along and prove me wrong.” But it’s a hard position to defend when Gervais-as-Derek enters a room with a shuffling gate, fixes characters with a wide-eyed stare, speaks in stilted, nonsensical sentences and displays an inability to comprehend the replies he receives. On a bus ride into the city Derek sits too close to the driver, prattling constantly in his ear, “Why does Hampstead sound like hamster? Why has hamster got ham in it? Why isn’t a pig called a hamster?” The unfortunate effect of so many uncomfortable characteristics is to provide ‘normal’ Australia with a patchwork composite of what the disabled must be like. Well thought out adults like Gervais might be able to discern the differences and sympathise but for many 16-year-olds ‘Derek’ is likely to become a label for anyone with disabilities. Television excels at converting stereotypes into the norm and so making the marginalised even more vulnerable. But it can also turn the tables on the comfortable viewer. Take Upper Middle Bogan for example… Somewhere in the well-to-do suburbs of Melbourne Dr. Bess Denyar (Annie Maynard) is juggling a family, a medical career and an opinionated mother. When a collapse puts Bess’s mum into hospital, a simple blood test reveals the snobbish old woman is not her biological parent. Bess sets off to find her natural parents. Enter Julie and Wayne Wheeler (Robyn Malcolm and Glenn Robbins), the mum and dad managers of a family drag-racing team. Her wish is granted; she’s discovered the family she’s always been missing, just not the
The cast from Upper Middle Bogan one she thought she’d find. Upper Middle Bogan has sexual references to be cautious of and it does drop the F-bomb when we venture into bogan territory. But the comedy diminishes rather than increases the difference between the families on the small screen. The insight it offers is pretty clear: there’s not as much distance between life in upper class locales and lower class suburbs as real estate agents would have us believe. The clue to relating well to people removed from us by culture and ability is to hold on to a clear picture of who they are. This has less to do with our television reception and more to do with our ability to open a Bible. Jesus had a way of seeing people that overlooked what most considered to be their defining characteristics. When four men brought a crippled
friend to see him, and began ripping up the roof in order to accomplish the task, Jesus didn’t make any wisecracks about bogans from suburbs of Capernaum not knowing how to use a door. When they lowered their friend on to the floor Jesus probably shocked even them by looking past disability. Instead, as he frequently did with rich and poor, able bodied and crippled, Jesus saw a person whose primary need was spiritual. Jesus was surrounded with public opinion at least as powerful as any offered on television—his disciples downplayed the value of children, his social superiors questioned the low-life company he kept. But the characteristic that clearly coloured his vision with rich and poor alike was a person lost without God. Can we say the same?
There’s not as much distance between life in upper class locales and lower class suburbs as real estate agents would have us believe...
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Charles Sturt University
A Tale of Two Journeys: into theology and ministry Suzanne Cullen
Sofilisi Hakeai
For Sofilisi, singing hymns last thing at night and awakening to the sound of hymns first thing in the morning was a way of life. As members of the Free Tongan Church, though faith was strong, the people were poor, living in the most rural village on the small island of Tonga. As the eldest of seven siblings there was little opportunity for Sofilisi, so at 21 he sought a new life and travelled to New Zealand where he met his wife. In 2000 they made their way to Australia travelling to many parts of the country where they undertook farming. Eventually in 2006 with a growing family, they arrived in Sydney to find work and to study. Taking an active role in lay ministry is traditional for men in Tongan culture, so mindful of this responsibility Sofilisi decided to explore his faith. Undertaking a Bachelor of Theology with Charles Sturt University, he says what he most values is the knowledge he has gained which has broadened his perspective. He has developed “a great respect for the different views that others hold and that God works through all of these. I am hungry to learn more.” Sofilisi has found his growing love of theological study to be a delight, “I think it has always been in me – but I didn’t see it. Now I see wider.” Unsure of where this may lead, Sofilisi is open to what the future may hold - perhaps a Masters degree is beckoning him or a more formal role in ministry - certainly he knows he has a strong desire to help the community in some way. For the
“...not to take anything for granted— rather to be thankful Sofilisi Hakeai (L) and Nathaline El Saliby (R) for all God’s present he enjoys attending his local Nathaline El Saliby blessings.” Uniting Church with his family and Running for her life with her mother studying. He excitedly speaks of the expansion of his mind as he continues the exploration of his faith through the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University.
and brother is one of Nathaline’s earliest memories. Born the youngest of six children, Nathaline’s Christian village in the mountains of Lebanon was destroyed
by the Druze. With the constant threat of war, the family moved to Beirut - although to their great distress, Nathaline’s brother was killed by the military there. Throughout these trials, their church, the Christian Alliance, was a constant support. As a church volunteer, Nathaline worked with young people and reached out to the Muslim youth. Later as a secretary she supported the church, its orphanage, Bible college and library. A desire to travel led to her meeting her husband in Germany and five years on, with their two daughters, the family moved to Australia in 2010 on international student visas. A chance meeting saw Nathaline connect with a friend from her past, Rev Gaby Kobrossi. With his encouragement, Nathaline entered the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University, enrolling in the Bachelor of Theology program. Nathaline says that what has been most significant for her at CSU has been the tremendous support and encouragement she has received from faculty. This was particularly so in her first semester when sadly, her father passed away. Growing up with war, Nathaline reflects on the importance of family and the gift it is from God. Her mother, though uneducated and rarely venturing beyond her village, “offers great wisdom and hospitality - there is always someone invited to Sunday lunch.” Imitating her welcoming nature, Nathaline is currently volunteering with Uniting Aged Care, and is hopeful of becoming a chaplain. “My experience tells me not to take anything for granted – rather to be thankful for all God’s blessings.” And studying theology is certainly one of them.
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OCTOBER 2013
Rev Lois Nadjamerrek and other Kunwinjku speakers can hardly wait for 2015 when the NT will be published in their language
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his Corden, recently completed the NT and language, selections from the OT, and translathat goes tion consultants have completed their checks. The work’s been approved for to his publication by Bible Society in early 2014. With your help we’ll print 3,000 heart.” volumes for one of Australia’s largest Indigenous language groups. Nelson Bible translation work is necessarily slow and painstaking. Bible Society has Mandela partnered as consultants with Wycliffe,
Translations go to the heart Suzanne Schokman It’s interesting that the Bible itself shows how people react to the word presented in their mother tongue. Acts 2 tells how on the day of Pentecost, Jews from every nation were excited “because each one of them heard the believers speaking in his or her own language.” Perhaps Nelson Mandela explained this best when he said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Bible Society Australia wants to help people everywhere read the Bible in their native language, starting in our own backyard. We currently need prayer and financial support to complete and publish three significant Bible translation projects in the languages of Eastern Arrernte, Kunwinjku, and the creole trade language of the Torres Strait. Eastern Arrernte is spoken by about 2,000 people living in Santa Teresa and around Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It’s taught in local schools, used in media as well as in local government, and is the first language for many people in the Alice Springs area. Translation of the Eastern Arrernte
New Testament and parts of the Old Testament are close to completion. Bible Society translation consultant Dr Carl Gross is doing the final checks with Australian Society of Indigenous Languages (AuSIL) translation adviser Neil Broad, as well as with Eastern Arrernte speakers. Neil Broad recalls a conversation with an Arrernte woman who’d read from the translated Arrernte scriptures one Easter in church. She said she’d taken a long time to read the passage because she kept crying and having to pause. She had heard these same readings many times in English, but was so moved hearing the Passion story in her own language for the first time. Her mother, a regular churchgoer for 25 years, told her daughter it was the first time she had fully understood a reading of that passage. About 2,500 people speak the Kunwinjku language, primarily in western Arnhem Land and especially in Oenpelli, 320km east of Darwin. Coordinating translator, Dr Steve Etherington reports the whole NT in Kunwinjku has been completed, along with several OT books. He says many Kunwinjku Christians have worked with CMS Bible translators in the past 30 years.
Reverend Lois Nadjamerrek has been involved from the start. Today, she is the Anglican priest for Kunwinjku speakers in west Arnhem Land. Asked how it felt when she began translating the Bible into her own language, she says, “It was so good to understand it better… it touched me more. When the Kunwinjku speakers came together to discuss the wording, we would ask ourselves, ‘Have we used the right word? We want the best word, to help the people understand.’” In the next 18 months, Dr Carl Gross will join a team of Kunwinjku Christians and translators for intensive “final check” workshops, before the work is published. With financial support, they hope to have the Kunwinjku NT published and distributed in 2015. Rev Lois can hardly wait. “When I hold that Kunwinjku New Testament in my hands, my tears will be flowing.” The Torres Strait trade language is an English-based creole spoken by over 30,000 people. They live on several Torres Strait Islands, South Western Coastal Papua, a number of places in Cape York, and in Islander communities within the cities and towns of North QLD. A team, coordinated by AuSIL translators, Michael and Charlotte
CMS (Church Missionary Society) and local translators, working together for many years to complete the task. Bible Society is ready to publish and distribute the translated work, to the many who are waiting for the word of God in their own language. Will you help us finish the work? “We praise God for the faithful Christians who have prayed and given financial support over the years,” says Steve Etherington. “The published scriptures will be a huge encouragement to our Indigenous and Torres Strait Island friends who have no access to the extravagant riches of English language scriptures that we take for granted in the mainstream churches.” Make this work a reality. Call 1300 BIBLES (1300 242 537) or visit biblesociety.org.au/rims to donate.
Goal to reach 100 Bible translations in 1000 days United Bible Society and Suzanne Schokman
There are about 7,000 languages in the world. Over 2,500 of these have some part of the Bible translated but only around 500 have the full Bible. Hundreds of millions of people still don’t have access to a full Bible in their own language. And many people are waiting for new translations or revisions so they don’t have to struggle to understand translations that are decades or sometimes even centuries old. Bible Societies around the world, working in fellowship as the United Bible Societies, are currently working on 100 full Bible translations which
are close to completion and could be finished within the next 1000 days. Twenty-four of the translation projects are already funded. To achieve the 100 goal, United Bible Societies needs to raise a further US$450,000 so that 29 projects can be completed on time in 2013. A further US$2.7 million is needed so the remaining 47 translations can be completed by the end of 2015. These 100 Bible translations have the potential to reach well over 500 million people. Please pray for the fundraising efforts of Bible Societies worldwide, that the goal of publishing all 100 translations will be achieved. Pray also for the translation teams working on the different projects.
Many have worked on projects for years, to produce translations that are accurate, concise, and which go straight to the heart. For many people worldwide, a Bible translated is their opportunity to “hear God speak in our own language”.
RUNNING FOR GOD: Norman, Salma and Hugh in training
Love for community inspires run
They came to Jesus and pleaded earnestly with him, “He really deserves to have you do this, for he loves our people – in fact, he built the synagogue for us!” (Luke 7:4-5)
Inspired by the Centurion in Luke 7, a multi-talented Messianic musician is staging a gruelling 220km run around Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay to help fund a project to build the first custom-made Messianic centre and synagogue in the Southern Hemisphere. Norman Frazer, who is part of the Beit HaMashiach Messianic Congregation, will swap his violin for a pair of runners, shorts and a singlet in an act of love for the Jewish community of Caulfield and beyond.
Norman, a 55-year-old Aussie, will be joined by a 52-year-old Scotsman, Hugh, and Salma in her 20s from Morocco, for the approximate 36-hour run starting Friday night 25 October 2013.
Norman has drawn inspiration from the Roman Centurion of Luke 7 who, because of his love for the Jewish people, built them a synagogue. “A few years ago, when the idea had been birthed to build a Messianic community centre in amongst the Caulfield Jewish community, it made something in my heart jump with the idea of having a special run to inspire funding for the building from like-minded people here and around the world, who also have a love for God and the Jewish Community.” Norman said that Jesus commended the Centurion for his great faith.
CREATING COMMUNITY: Concept plan by Studio B Architects
The Centurion’s Run will start outside Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park, at 10pm Friday night 25 October and finish about 12 noon on Sunday 27 October, back at the stadium. Everyone is welcome to a celebration concert and bbq from noon. And for a spectacular finale: “Hugh plans to run into the stadium in his kilt – a must see,” Norman said. To find out more about the project, how you could be involved, or to make a donation, visit the website at www.caulfieldmessianiccentre.org.au. For more information please contact Lynne on 0439 336 759 or Jeanette on 0406 428 228.
Sharing Gospel with Jewish people Celebrate Messiah Australia’s mission is Bringing the Message to the Original Messengers; to share the Gospel with God’s ancient people, the Jewish people, the first messengers of the Good News. The ministry was established by Lawrence and Louise Hirsch in 1995, and in 2000, Celebrate Messiah joined in partnership with Chosen People Ministries, a worldwide ministry that started when Rabbi Leopold Cohn, came to faith in Messiah in 1894.
Centre for future generations of believers The Centurions’ Legacy – The Caulfield Messianic Centre Project is a partnership between Celebrate Messiah Australia and Beit HaMashiach Messianic Congregation. The project aims to create a facility that will be a worship centre (synagogue), community centre (proximity space), creative hub, providing a place of outreach, education, hospitality, and training for local, national and international missions amongst Jewish people.
Together with Chosen People Global Ministries it has mission work amongst Jewish people in 16 countries. Celebrate Messiah’s particular focus is in Australia, as well as ministry to Jewish people in New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and Israel. Celebrate Messiah has three main strategies in reaching out to Jewish people. • Making Disciples through Creative Outreach • Loving Jewish People in Yeshua’s Name • Planting Communities of Believers in Yeshua
It will provide a place of identity and refuge, giving validity and dignity to the Messianic community, and leaving a legacy for future generations and make a public declaration that Yeshua (Jesus) is Israel’s Messiah and the Saviour of Jew and Gentile alike.
In October 1998, Beit HaMashiach (House of Messiah in Hebrew) Messianic Congregation was officially established and the congregation took up ministry in the heart of the Jewish community of Melbourne, Caulfield – a suburb that we affectionately call the ‘holy land’ of Australia because it has a community of over 75,000 Jewish people, the largest in Australia.
The centre will feature a 250-seat auditorium and synagogue as well as a café and outdoor area for community events. A fully functioning art gallery will provide an effective way to engage with the community by exploring issues about life, faith, culture and the Bible.
The ministry provides a place of refuge and outreach to a large group of Russian Jewish people, and through benevolent arm, Tikkun Olam, provides food parcels to the needy, enabling them to participate in Jewish festivals.
Phone/Fax: 03 9563 5544 www.celebratemessiah.com.au enquiries@celebratemessiah.com.au
For more information please visit www.celebratemessiah.com.au
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OCTOBER 2013
OPINION
We can all play the role of the prophet Tim Costello I recently returned from visiting a number of countries including Uganda and Russia. The trip highlighted for me the different ways we can all play a prophetic, Christ-like role in our culture. The question is, do we try to build a better world from the grassroots or do we try to do it from the inside with access to power? My time in Uganda included seeing World Vision’s Citizen Voice and Action process. Its advocacy approach allows people to speak up to their governments for their rights to education, health and clean water. The change Ugandans have been able to affect have been through community organisation and grassroots campaigning. These have traditionally been the main tools of the activist. Russia was different. I was there with the G20 and it involved meeting with the powerful. As representatives of civil society, we emphasised that economic growth has to be inclusive. If it only goes to the top five per cent, then even when there is growth in the world and functioning markets, the poor still miss out. Thankfully, the G20 agreed with us and has now added inclusive growth as one of their main pillars. What my trip showed me was that our prophetic role as Christians can include both grassroots activism and making change by meeting with and speaking truth to those in power. This
... consumer society reduces our humanity by taking Illustration of Isaiah from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company in 1904 away our is what we see in the Old Testament cessive pagan governments. by taking away our capacity to imagine capacity prophets, as Philip Yancey points out in As Christians and citizens we can all a better world. his recent book, Christians and Politics: play a prophetic role, whatever it may Our Christian faith is to be charac- to imagine Uneasy Partners. Elijah actively oplook like. It is easy, as theologian Walter terised by a holy dissatisfaction with a better posed Ahab’s rule while Obadiah ran Brueggemann says, to be so comfortlife—knowing that hope in Christ drives Ahab’s palace. Amos and Hosea spoke able in our culture that we are numb to us on to good deeds, including being a world. out powerfully against kings while the realities of poverty and injustice in prophet. And you can do it in whichever Isaiah acted as a type of court prophet. And Daniel held high office in two suc-
the world. Brueggemann says that our consumer society reduces our humanity
way God calls you. As God told Joshua, be strong and courageous!
Commentary by Verna Rudolph Available from Australian Church Resources www.acresources.com.au or from Verna Rudolph PO Box 3, Horsham Vic 3402 Cost $20 plus $3 postage
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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. Email. eternity@biblesociety.org.au Web. www.biblesociety.org.au Post. GPO Box 9874 In your Capital City Advertising. Paul Hutchinson M: 0423 515 899 E: paul.hutchinson@biblesociety.org.au 5 Byfield St, Macquarie Park NSW 2113. Print post number PP 381712/0248. Printed by Fairfax print sites across Australia.
Letters
Proverbs 31 at home?
I disagree with the opinion article by Greg Clarke in Eternity, September 2013. Greg takes the passage Proverbs 31 that is about a hardworking woman who fears God, who diligently cares for her family, supports her husband and turns it into support for women working in global corporations. I don’t think that the writer of Proverbs 31 had this in mind when they wrote it. Many years ago I heard a testimony on a Focus on the Family program by a woman who was CEO of a large corporation. Her testimony was about the realisation that she was called by God to quit her position of prestige and power in the world’s eyes and to go home to teach her own children and raise them to be godly people. In Greg’s article, we find a symbiosis with the world’s view that women should be great corporate workers and the Bible ‘apparently’ confirms it. Many other parts of the Bible confirm that mothers are to be working primarily in the home and have a responsibility along with their husbands to raise and disciple the next generation for God.
(1 Tim 5:14, Titus 2:5) You shouldn’t read a secular book and then look for a correlation with the Bible. You should ask, “What does the whole Bible have to say about the role of women and their work situations”? I think Christians have been lured into the world’s way of thinking with the promise of a little more material wealth and have swallowed the idea that separation from parents for most of their waking life is not detrimental to the spiritual wellbeing of their children. Mark Stay, Brisbane, Qld.
Quiet Times
Having just read the August edition of Eternity, I saw the note on p. 15 about the old-fashioned quiet-time. I just though you’d like to know that having been a Christian for 61 years I still have a quiet time, very nearly every morning. I only miss out if I am unwell or in a mad rush. I started out with Scripture Union, but then changed to Every Day With Jesus and still get those notes all the time.
Please excuse my awful writing—it’s ‘cos I am 84 years old. Marianne Moller, Somerton Park, SA.
Daily Encounters
A little book [of Bible notes] was handed to me at the Scripture Union camp in 1950 where, as a schoolboy, I came to know Jesus personally. The daily discipline helped me...during difficult army days, and then difficult uni days. The little books were there again in Kenya during my 14 years as missionary. Then, in Australia, SU was there again, for family prayers with the kids, and for us in a greater variety of choice—the basic Daily Bread and the more academic Encounter with God. All the time these precious books led us quarter by quarter, book by book, through the whole Bible every 5 or 6 years, with clear and thought-provoking comments, written by experienced Bible-teachers from all over the world, helping us to apply the words and pray. Truly still a constant rich blessing! Harry Cotter, by email.
Year of the Micro-party For the first time in decades there are two senators for “Christian” parties in the upper house: John Madigan from the Democratic Labour Party continues to represent Victoria, while Bob Day, Family First, SA, will join him next year.
They may well vote together on some issues (abortion, same sex marriage) but will also vote differently (for example, on asylum seekers). Is it a good thing that we don’t have one big Christian party—which might have got more
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seats? On the whole maybe yes. But large Christian voting blocks turn some people off the gospel in some nations. This would be a high price to pay for having more MPs with a “Christian” label. John Sandeman
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OCTOBER 2013
Healthy, wealthy and functionally illiterate Greg Clarke off. This is a crisis in central Australia, but the crisis seems to be much more widely spread and not limited to remote locations. Many children in remote locations can’t access regular schooling. But many who can still aren’t becoming functionally literate adults. What is the problem? I have three potential answers. First, it is a class problem. It is the so-called ‘lower’ classes who struggle with literacy. We are still wrestling to get beyond this basic social division. As the ultimate boundarycrossers (“all things to all men”), Christians need to do better here. Second, it is an incentive problem. We value and reward the success of high-performing kids more than lowerperforming kids. We celebrate peaks rather than progress. That’s a classical, rather than Christian, approach to life. And third, with the decline of Christian belief and influence, we have seen a corresponding decline in literacy. This third claim needs more support than a newspaper column can offer, but let me make a start. There is a strong historical link between the spread of Christianity around the globe via the missionary
David Morris
The state of functional literacy in Australia is shocking. We are a wealthy nation, a healthy nation, arguably a wise nation—but we apparently are not a literate nation. New research has shown that half of Tasmanian adults cannot read in a way that serves them well in ordinary life.1 The rest of the country is not that much better off.2 To be functionally illiterate means that you cannot read a letter sent to you by a doctor about your illness. It means you don’t understand the voting information you were given at the recent federal election. And it means that you can’t sign a bank loan with any certainty about what you are getting into (Okay, that might be most of us). You certainly won’t be enjoying Eternity. This research runs counter to the argument that, like other developed countries, Australia has solved the problem of literacy with a comprehensive education system that begins in early childhood. If the statistics are correct, something is going wrong. Indigenous literacy is far worse. Campaigns such as the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation’s ‘Wall of Hands’ have brought to the public’s attention the enormous needs of remote indigenous communities. According to the Wall of Hands website, only around 20 per cent of indigenous kids can attain the minimum NAPLAN standard. Indigenous adults are no doubt worse
The Wall of Hands campaign raises awareness for indigenous literacy movements and the growth of education (especially for women and the variously disadvantaged). In Australia, the ‘reading culture’ of the Anglican Church was highly significant in the shaping of the school system. Learning to read with the assistance of the Bible was commonplace. With declining church attendance, less people would read from at least one book (the Bible) each week. One of the original impulses behind Australian literacy was the desire to give people access to the word of God. There will be plenty of other explanations for our low functional literacy rates, but the diminishing influence of the Book is certainly one of them.
Australia’s literacy problems have huge implications for Christian ministries, especially to the ‘lower classes’. There’s no point starting a Bible reading group if the group members can’t read. We have to take these functional illiteracy statistics seriously. Fortunately, Christians have always risen to challenges such as this with creativity, energy and compassion. Our Book tells us to do so. Footnotes: (1) http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/2013-09-22/4962902 (2) You can find out more at the Australian Bureau of Statistics by searching for ‘literacy’. After all, 2013 happens to be the International Year of Statistics (74 per cent of Eternity readers think I’m joking, but I’m not).
There’s no point starting a Bible reading group if the group members can’t read.
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