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This Sunday@6 service at Fordham will be a youth service. Yours Truly is doing the talk, on “What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul?” I’m a bit nervous to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve done a talk at Fordham so the pressure is on!

I’ve spoken to Andy [assistant minister at Fordham] about the contents and he had some helpful suggestions. But I still feel like I don’t have enough experience doing these kind of talks. Still, it’s all part of getting experience, hopefully it will be good enough!

I ordered a new laptop yesterday. Phil has had her laptop – an old Sony Vaio – for about six years now, and it’s showing signs of aging. Actually, to be more precise, it was showing signs of aging three years ago (when we got married). It only has 256 megs of RAM, with a fairly small / slow hard disk – which means it crawls along when trying to do anything more complicated than… well, it crawls along no matter what you do.

We’ve been talking about getting a new one for a long time, but I finally decided enough was enough and ordered a shiny new Dell Inspiron yesterday. I managed to get a fairly decent deal (I think) – dual core Intel processor with 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard disk for around £400. OK, I probably could have got a better deal by shopping around, but I like Dell – my old company used to buy loads of stuff from them and we never had any problems. I’ve had a Dell desktop PC for about four years now and, again, had no problems with it.

So, that should be arriving within the next two weeks, rather exciting :)

The other thing I wanted to mention is the BioLogos website. BioLogos was established by Francis Collins (director of the Human Genome project), and contains lots of interesting information about science and faith. I found the questions on the fall of man and Noah’s ark particularly helpful.

So if you have an interest in Christianity and science, I would recommend it! :)

I was meaning to blog about this a few weeks ago but I happened across this article on the BBC news website today and it reminded me.

The BNP are using Jesus’ words in a poster campaign to try and garner support from the Christian community. The exact quote they are using is, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20). Let’s leave behind the fact that this rather ignores the context (Jesus immediately follows this by saying “If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”, and the whole thing is set within the context of people being rejected because they follow Christ).

The BNP just seem to be using the same tactic they use with all their other campaigns: fear and paranoia (or, as geeks like to put it, FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt – what Microsoft like to spread about their competitors. But that’s another story). They bandy about the cry that we are “losing our national identity”. In this case, they claim that we are losing our Christian identity.

Now (to borrow a phrase from Gavin & Stacey) I won’t lie to you – I am a bit concerned about the spread of Islam in this country. But not because it’s somehow eroding our Christian identity and values or what have you.

In my opinion, Christianity should not spread by legislation or force. God’s kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, not made by human hands. Take these words, for example:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)

Which, to me, seems to highlight the problems with the BNP’s approach. On their poster, the BNP conclude with the words “What Would Jesus Do?” (their emphasis). I think we know the answer to that question. And it’s definitely not what the BNP would do.

I just hope that the BNP’s usage of this poster campaign won’t make people think that the Christians in this country actually endorse their message!

We went to a Good Friday service today. I found it quite helpful actually – we had some readings from Mark’s Gospel, as well as a couple of pieces from J.S. Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, and some prayers by Frank Colquhoun (I don’t know who he is, but they were good!)

I thought that in lieu of actually posting up my own thoughts (it’s getting a bit late for that), I’d just post up some rather beautiful words from J.S. Bach. I do love his music, we must go and see the Passion pieces some day. Perhaps the University of Essex choir will perform them – they’re doing Verdi’s Requiem next month which we’re both really looking forward to.

Oh mortal, bewail your great sin;
for this did Christ forsake
his Father’s bosom
and come to earth.
Of a virgin pure and tender
he was born here for us,
willing to become the mediator.
To the dead he gave life,
and dispelled all sickness as well,
until the time came
when he would be sacrificed for us
and bear the heavy burden of our sins
for so long upon the cross.

(Source – San Francisco Bach Choir)

I’ve been having a discussion in the comments thread of Caity’s blog post on Kindness. The discussion revolves around the concept of morality: can we be ‘moral’ if there is no God?

My contention is that without the concept of God, there can be no absolute morals. By that I mean, no morals which would apply the world over. So, to take a topical example, suicide bombers could not be said to be acting immorally because they believe that it is right and moral for them to do so. There is no ultimate standard by which we can make value judgements on morality, therefore claiming that someone else’s action is immoral is actually illogical because you are only making judgements based on your own standard.

All of this hasn’t yet reached the point of Christian morality: all I’m doing is pointing out what I perceive to be inconsistencies in atheistic morals, and not defending Christianity as such.

However, Caity pointed out this quiz on Biblical morals, and I suggested that the writers of the quiz have got their theology wrong. She invited me to follow up this comment with something more detailed, so as a result that’s what I’m going to try and do.

Read the rest of this entry »

… Now stop worrying and enjoy life. This is the slogan from the atheist bus campaign – although it’s been in the news for a while, it is starting today. It was brought to my attention my Anne-Marie’s excellent blog post earlier today.

I always found this statement to be quite funny. “Probably” no God? Most atheists I’ve talked with on the matter are more convinced than that. Although I believe the original wording was supposed to say something like ‘almost certainly’ but for some reason they had to change it. The other thing is, it implies that people who do hold religious conviction are worrying and not enjoying life. That doesn’t seem to be my experience – but maybe I’ll come onto that.

It does seem ironic that the bus campaign should be starting now, when we are in the midst of a financial crisis. The slogan brings to mind the parable of the rich fool. This parable tells the story of a man who was rich in this life, but spiritually poor. He selfishly stored up goods for himself, and didn’t worry about God.

Does this sound familiar? I think a lot of the problems we’re in have come from greed. Too many individuals and companies have acted greedily, trying to make as much money as possible. Storing up goods for themselves. The thing is, I think this is a consequence of not believing in God and “enjoying life”, as the bus campaign puts it. OK, so the financial crisis is a very exaggerated version of it, but it still remains that if there is no God and no accountability then people can pretty much behave exactly as they want and there are no repercussions other than what you might have in this life. So, really, if you’re the right kind of person you can get away with murder (sometimes literally), and there will be no justice.

I don’t think a message like that is going to go down too well in the current climate. And it certainly doesn’t provide a reason for us not to worry and enjoy life! But this is what I found interesting: immediately after the parable of the rich fool, Jesus says these famous words:

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
…
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”

That’s strange! People of religion are apparently worriers and don’t enjoy life. But Christians are told not to worry! That God will provide! (Surely a much more appropriate message given the financial situation). Of course, we are not promised riches, or lots of material goods – but we do at least have the hope of heaven, and that justice will be done (“will not the God of all the earth do right?”).

Jesus came not to make us feel guilty and force us to do things we don’t want to do. He came to liberate us, to give us hope. I think the Christian message is the most powerful message in the world, and it’s more relevant than ever. Hope is a powerful thing, and I think the atheist bus campaign is rather underestimating it.

Hmmm, this blog post has ended up being a tad different to how I envisioned it. Guess that’s why it’s a bit rambling and incoherent… like every other one of my blog posts :p Apologies to Anne-Marie for nicking her idea.

Had my work Christmas meal at lunchtime yesterday. We have our Christmas Eve carol service at Fordham tonight. I feel like Christmas has finally arrived!

Aaanyway. I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas this year, and do spend some time reflecting on the Christmas story. Remember, despite all the cute pictures of Joseph and Mary and the baby in a manger, Jesus is so much more:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:15-20

The reason for Jesus’ coming to earth? To “reconcile” us to himself – to make us friends with himself, instead of enemies!

Take care and I’ll probably update sometime over the Christmas period.

It’s been my experience that a lot of people who work in the IT and general technology sector are atheists. For example, The Register seems to adopt a fairly passive anti-religious tone in its articles (and a lot of the commenters follow suit, except they are usually less passive).

In technological circles particularly, bashing religion seems to be de rigeur. However, I’ve come across a lot of Christian people – some in fairly influential positions – who work in the field of IT and Computer Science. It is my contention that there are actually just as many Christians in IT as there are in other disciplines.

Here are a few people I’ve found. Some of them you may have heard of, some of them I’ve just sort of stumbled upon because I’ve been searching for something computer-related and browsed through the rest of their website, only to find out they were Christian!

• Jon Skeet. You have probably never heard of him, but he’s a bit of a legend over at Stack Overflow.
• Larry Wall. The creator of a language called Perl, you may have heard of it…
• Simon Cozens – speaking of Perl, Simon used to run perl.com and has written several books on Perl.
• Donald Knuth. This guy is the godfather of algorithms, his seminal “The Art of Computer Programming” is a classic, and he is respected by many programmers the world over.

I have found many such examples when searching the internet for help on computer-related problems, or browsing the biographies of famous programming people. Just goes to show, God loves everyone – even computer scientists!

On my post about confirmation (amongst other things), Matthew asked about my reasons for getting confirmed given my Baptist / FIEC background.

The short answer really is – there’s not actually a spiritual reason! I feel like over the past few months God has been pushing me towards ministry. Possibly ministry in the Anglican church, even. As such, I think that if in the future I did train to become an Anglican clergyman, I think me not being confirmed would present an issue for some people…

I do, of course, already count my baptism as a visible acknowledgement of my faith – which confirmation is also supposed to be – but simply as a matter of church order I thought confirmation would be a wise move on my part.

However, in terms of my theological position on infant baptism / confirmation… well although I was brought up and baptised (not as an infant) in an FIEC church, I do think there is some merit to the Anglican way of doing things. I heard a talk by Andy Saville at Fordham called “Why I am not… a Baptist” (it was part of a series. It’s not nearly as controversial as it sounds, and is available on the Fordham website – which is how I listened to it). Basically, the talk was about infant baptism – the arguments for and against it, whether it’s justifiable from the Bible and church tradition.

It does indeed seem that there is a good case to be made for infant baptism. It’s probably got a bad name because it has been abused – a lot of parents seem to want to have their children baptised but then don’t ever come back to church! But that doesn’t mean it’s a reason not to do it in proper circumstances.

And confirmation is really just a follow on from Baptism, allowing someone to confirm that they want to be part of the Christian faith as well as the church (and God!) confirming their acceptance into the church and wider Christian family. I love the actual confirmation part of the service, where the bishop presiding over the ceremony says “God has called you by name and made you his own”.

Finally, I should make clear that this is not at all a criticism of nonconformist churches! I still look back at my baptism and think that was an important day for me, that is when I publicly declared my Christian faith. I just wanted to say that I think confirmation is no bad thing for those who have grown up in the Anglican tradition, provided that people don’t see the act as more important than the state of the heart.

So, I’ve been thinking about this a bit recently. At Uni, a friend of mine (Phil P) used to contend that secular music was better than Christian music. To prove this, we listened to a few Christian songs which sounded vaguely like their secular counterparts. Guess which ones were better (in our opinion)?

I came across another example of this a few weeks ago. ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ by Matt Redman uses pretty much the same chord sequence all the way through the song. I discovered that ‘With or Without You’ also uses the same chord sequence all the way through the song – it’s in a different key, but the same chord sequence.

Out of those two songs, ‘With or Without You’ is a clear winner – at least in terms of the arrangement. Why can’t more Christian music be like that?

I admit that I’ve probably picked a bad example, because ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ is really a worship style song, designed to be sung by a congregation of worshippers. ‘With or Without You’ is designed to be performed by U2, and as such they don’t have to worry about the average Joe’s limited vocal range (or the average skill of a worship band guitarist, which – to be fair – is probably less than The Edge’s guitar playing skills).

The other thing is, I often find that Christian bands are… well, too Christian. U2 are actually a good example in some ways – I believe that three out of four of the band members are Christian, and a lot of their songs reflect that. Why define yourself as a ‘Christian’ band?

What we need is some good music by Christian people, some of which is about Christian things. But not in a “three point sermon” kind of way.

Do any such bands exist? If I was any good I would form a band like that, but unfortunately I am both a pretty rubbish musician and a rubbish song writer. So I wouldn’t exactly be a great advert for “Christian” music ;-)