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Sunday, February 29, 2004 GaryGary, wish I had more time (jobs, jobs - piling up; and this thing is threatening to log me off in 9 minutes!).Yes, the BSF strictures can be both a help and a hindrance. And while I have the perfect excuse re the BSF retreat (I'll be in Vienna!), I don't have a great desire to attend (last one was disappointing, personally). So, you've got my support! You don't need to tell our TL that I'll be away, just say it's solidarity! Janice and all, I'm going to invite Robb Klaty & wife Tamra to join us here. I'll do it tomorrow. Robb has just left our home-church group to join with another smaller group. One thing I want to discuss with him is why only the men take active part in their meetings (when Joel says that after the coming of Christ, both men and women will prophesy; and Paul tells us that "there is neither male nor female, we're all one in Christ Jesus"). And yesterday at BSF we heard the importance of the corporate body of believers (the "church") as a temple for the Holy Spirit. What does this mean to us in practice, as we seek out and fellowship with other believers? # posted by geoff @ 4:27 pm 0 commentsFriday, February 27, 2004 reply janiceJanice,I am a discussion leader and started a long time ago but after 6.5 years needed a break. I've been back 7.5 years now after a 3 year break. I've actually experienced 4 teaching leaders. I feel that the present TL is having a happy time getting into the people, baptist style; its easy for him for the prophets got into Israel and Judah, but where is the peace with God, and peace with oneself. He needs a dose of catholicism if not mysticism. All of BSF does. Its the bible study of the rich righteous right. And the pressure is on us to sign up for the Retreat, in Melbourne at the same place as last time. And as I said, I've been there once and don't want the same thing again, (the format does not vary, and I think the last one was a hymn singing festival with 'ordinary' teaching). I'm just feeling under pressure. My church had a theatre night tonight to see the Passion ... and to have supper afterwards, ugh! The gospel writers spared us the horror of how Jesus was tortured to death, but the guilt feelings of Mel Gibson want us to see it all in sickening detail. Go and see a better horror movie, Frankenstein, or The Blob. i have 'a thing' about religious films and paintings, usually sickly sweet but the second commandment says something about no images of things in heaven. Three gospel writers saw the true Jesus and (thankfully) didn't give us a description, but artists and film makers have for centuries. And Satan is a female -- f ...... rubbish. Gary # posted by Anonymous @ 9:29 pm 0 commentsTuesday, February 24, 2004 flat in BSFI'm losing motivation for BSF. Its too much on Baptist righteous viewpoints and I don't want to go to the Retreat. I remember the last one as a hymn singing festival and for its ordinary teaching. If pressured I'll give up BSF.Gary # posted by Anonymous @ 10:12 pm 0 commentsMonday, February 16, 2004 Mysteries of FlightDave, thanks for the inspiration from Amos. Similar flavour to what we got in Perth. Now you must do the same with Joel for me (I will need boosting for when I front up to the ladies' leaders mtg Monday week - musn't let the side down!!). Carol, thanks for your comments, encouraging as always!My only inspiration is about the mysteries of flight - it's 100 years since the Wright brothers, isn't it? Yet we can still be truly amazed over some of the lingering mysteries of flying. Like my amazement on the Lauda flight which landed me in Vienna an hour late at 7 am this morning (it was 41 degC on Saturday when I left Melb, and a relatively mild 4 degC in Vienna - but at least the sun's shining). Actually, my amazement was caused by the map of our flight path which showed the plane leaving Melbourne and heading off on a path for Alice Springs then on to Vienna. And a handful of other cities were marked on the map for orientation purposes, including Geelong, Wagga Wagga and Canberra. And in the big blank space to the east of Melbourne, there was one town alone worthy of being labelled on such a big-picture plot of our path to the other side of the world. Yep, Moe got a gurnsey! The town where the height of fashion is to shop in Safeway wearing one's bedroom moccasins. This is one mystery of flight that probably won't be explained even given another hundred years! # posted by geoff @ 12:57 am 0 commentsSunday, February 15, 2004 2 to go498 drop by's to date...... 2 to go and we reach the 500 mark! Not bad for a little, tiny, courageous site hidden amongst so much on the web!!!Hope Vienna is going fine Geoff? # posted by Caroline @ 10:50 pm 0 commentsWho uses what?Got an interesting thought yesterday while walking:"satan uses our weaknesses and God uses our strengths" (by the way, I never give satan the respect of a ligher case "s" for his name). Say one of our weaknesses is anger or perhaps jealousy .... thats the very button satan pushes! God picks up on our strengths often and goes with them .... I pray God could use any natural strengths I might have for use in His kingdom. # posted by Caroline @ 3:44 pm 0 commentsFriday, February 13, 2004 BSF in PerthWent to the Perth Evening Men's bible study last Monday night. It was interesting. Within walking distance of where I was staying (now, what was the lesson again from Jonah re favourable circumstances?). And the night we went, all the power was off and so the first part of the evening was done in twilight (which made trying to read answers off the notes an interesting exercise). Maybe that balanced the circumstances thing!?This is for you primarily, Gary & Dave (which means you better post something here soon, 'cos you owe me!) The group is small (about one-third the size of ours) which makes the dynamics very different. Not the same zip. And the hymns suffered by not having a pianist (they are desperately searching for a volunteer pianist). Time has got away, but I'll add to this soon... BTW, the group discussion was slow and lacking in vibrancy compared with yours, Gary - but the lecture by John Hayes was very good - Amos only came alive for me in the lecture (which I'll summarise shortly). OK, the lecture. In ch's 1&2, Amos was speaking powerfully against social injustice and religiosity (a good word!). Israel was enjoying a time of wealth, prosperity and lots of leisure - they would have readily believed that "all's well with the world". Even "God is blessing us richly!" Now Amos was an ordinary, poor hard-working man. But he was called by God! Check out 1Cor1:26-29 (God uses ordinary, insignificant people - and then we see more easily that the glory is all to God!). [John had a good analogy for how Amos's prophesies started with Israel's furthest neighbours, and then got gradually closer to home. He said if some preacher rocked up to Sydney and told them all that they were bad, and in danger of God's wrath if they didn't change their ways, how all of us in Perth would probably applaud. And then if he moved on to Adelaide with the same message, we'd also readily believe that the gentle folks of Adelaide were deserving of what they were about to cop (I think he left Melbourne out because I was there!). But then if he started to say the same things in Perth, we'd probably think he'd gone too far, and send him packing] Anyway disaster was looming (ch's 3-6). I think the references were Deut8:19,20 and Is45:7, which show that disasters are God's doing. The temple was being used for purposes other than the worship of God (shrine prostitutes, etc). We can take the perspective that God graciously sent disasters to encourage the people to return to him. The BSF application was that destruction is inevitable for those who spurn God's grace. Finally, in ch's 7-9, every sin will eventually be punished - whether in Christ or else by us personally. But God witholds his judgement to give time of opportunity. Amaziah the corrupt priest measured Amos by worldly standards. But the book finishes on a high note - beyond the day of judgement will be a time of great blessing. A final take-home thought. God always acts in accordance with his character - he judges sin but restores his people. Now, I'm off for a week in Vienna tomorrow. So I will appreciate the contact through this blog - if there's any of our friends awake out there... (but I don't plan to be at 6.30 am tomorrow morning, Gary & Dave!!!) # posted by geoff @ 5:27 pm 0 commentsThursday, February 12, 2004 Earthquakes in IsraelMust be plenty of good sites on the www, but here's one which lists the earthquakes and their magnitudes since 64 BC."Archaeological evidence suggests that the earthquake "in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel" (Amos 1:1)---sometime between 760 BC to 749 BC may have had a magnitude greater than 7.0, possibly even 8.0 or higher. (Ref 2)." # posted by geoff @ 11:28 am 0 commentsRumblings in the Holy LandHaving just studied Amos at BSF, and seen how that untrained prophet got it right with his prediction of a massive earthquake two years before it happened in Israel at that time, there's a news report today of a tremor of about 5 on the Richter scale that cracked the Knesset.The story begins: An earth tremor shook the Holy Land yesterday, scattering Israelis and Palestinians in panic and sending a reminder of the potential for a destructive quake foreseen by seismologists and biblical prophets. # posted by geoff @ 11:15 am 0 commentsOn The Right Side......which may be the left side??Anyway, thanks for that little gem of wisdom from Lincoln, Carol. Reminded me of Joshua's meeting with that 'angel' in Joshua 5, when Joshua asked the 'man' standing in front of him with drawn sword what is a perfectly logical question "are you for us or against us?". To which he got the surprising answer "Neither, but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." A lesson I keep learning is that my reasoning usually gets things wrong by about 180 degrees. # posted by geoff @ 11:07 am 0 commentsSunday, February 08, 2004 Carl Sandburg on Abe LincolnSaw this on another site and it really arrested my attention and gave me lots of food for thought this week:Carl Sandburg, the noted Lincoln historian, records that during a meeting in the White House during the Civil War, a local preacher said to Lincoln, "It is my prayer that God is on our side in this war." Lincoln responded that he believed that prayer to be wrong. He said, "It is my prayer that we are on God's side." # posted by Caroline @ 11:50 am 0 commentsMonday, February 02, 2004 Room for God at School(Glad to read this in today's Age, because there was no room for him in the inn!)No, really, some sensible comments from an archbishop re God in school. And he's Anglican to boot! The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has weighed into the education debate from the pulpit, arguing that government schools should not keep God out of the classroom. "Religion is a part of everyday life, and when we expel religion it leaves a vacuum for ignorance and it doesn't help us to relate to each other," he said outside St Andrew's Cathedral yesterday, after delivering a sermon on secular public education. An interesting debate, especially for those of us involved with the chaplain (David Horne, who's a member of our blog - albeit a shy one!) at St Helena SC. Jensen goes on: "God created the world, it belongs to him and our daily life in the world is secular," he said. "But if we cut God out of the picture and are only interested in this world, that's really called secularism - the philosophy that there is no God." While parent-approved scripture lessons and studies in comparative religion came under this definition, it could also include government-paid teachers taking it upon themselves to read the Bible to their students, he said. # posted by geoff @ 10:43 am 0 commentsJonahGary, thanks for your lucid comments, you especially made me think vividly how those three days must have been for Jonah (ugh!). What does it all mean for us? Indeed. Maybe we'll get some answers tonite - Gary, Dave, be good if you could share what it means for some of your guys. And then Grant will give us the Official BSF Doctrine!# posted by geoff @ 10:37 am 0 commentsAndrew in NZGary, maybe Andrew could meet up with Caroline and family (of boys)? Just a quick thought, but you would need to exchange details...# posted by geoff @ 10:35 am 0 commentsImpossibleI read once that in fact it was physically impossible for anyone to be swallowed by a whale (which is a big fish anyway!) and live alive for 3 days.This it is either a miracle, or it wasn't 3 days and the story isn't quite right. I like what you said Gary about some things being non-important and some interesting things. And this can be put into that category indeed! I take the miracle thinking in my case, because I enjoy believing the Bible, and hey, faith does the trick:)) Have a nice Monday folks:) # posted by Caroline @ 10:27 am 0 commentsSunday, February 01, 2004 thanking GodI do a fair amount of it, usually walking the dog. Well 'dogface' is cute, but around here people have marvelous gardens, with color all the year.I have a lot to thank God for, and Andrew's job is certainly one, today, Sunday, he's between Auckland and Wellington. Shirley watched the boat go out of Auckland yesterday on the webcan on the bridge. # posted by Anonymous @ 6:04 am 0 commentsJonah and bsfGeoff,There are interesting things and non-important issues, and that's where I put the idea that Jonah actually died. I doubt it, (that Jonah died). He did get close to death, and from his prayer he says that he was thrown overboad the current dragged him down he was nearly drowned and caught among seaweed the fish then swallowed him, -- it reads as if a couple of minutes elapsed! Seamen in those days saw the sea as a very dangerous place and the boat may not have been too far from shore. However are we missing some points Jonah was in the fish alone, alive, quiet for 3 days facing up to the fact that so far he is still alive and God has rescued him therefore he has to think and pray about his relationship with God, really three minutes is bad enough for me Jonah then goes off to Nineveh and, probably some days later, does a mighty job proclaiming God's message he's human and realised that these pagans have believed and been saved, his own nation won't, he looks a fool or thinks he's a fool, and the God of the Israelites is sending prophets to, and sparing pagans. Its not fair, he wouldn't be the first or last person to tell God that! Geoff what does it all mean for us? Gary # posted by Anonymous @ 5:59 am 0 comments |
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