God Spot

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God Spot
This Christian Resource Blog has been created by a group of friends from around the world. Our purpose is to provide links to useful resources, some commentary on topical or doctrinal issues, a place where anyone can come with questions and a means whereby we can share our faith. And above all, to grow and encourage each other. As Christians, we believe we bear God's image in this world, and seek to glorify God's name in this endeavour. Any Christian who wants to join with us is very welcome!

Thursday, July 29, 2004

Book "Moses Legacy"

This is something extraordinary - Ive started reading a book! Yes Gary, a thing with pages and words (lots of them), stuck between two covers, which you can hold and squint at, and fall asleep in front of the fire with! A real book!!!

You see (for other non-BSF'ers), BSF never allows you one spare moment for such diversionary pleasures as books. Anyway, it's fun and maybe I'll get half-way through before BSF atarts again (soon).

The book is one my Catholic colleague has loaned me, called "The Moses Legacy" by Graham Phillips (author of "Act of God", the cover tells us). I've only just started, reading ch's about "The One God" (interesting to consider that until the time of Moses, according to Phillips, there is no evidence that anyone in the world had ever considered worshipping just one God - not even the Israelites) and "The Hebrew Bible".

I've also read that the only history we have of the Hebrews before the 6th C BCE is contained in the Jewish Tanak, or OT. And that Phillips believes many of the OT stories, written only relatively recently (late 7th C BCE), were inspired by Babylonian "legends".

Interestingly, Phillips believes there is "compelling evidence" in the form of a huge volcanic eruption on the Mediterranean island of Thera for all of the plagues of the Exodus.

I know I'm not going to find all of Phillips' views acceptable, but it's good food for thought (and for falling asleep).

# posted by geoff @ 4:35 pm

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Sunday, July 18, 2004

What is forgiveness and why does it matter?

Here is a very thought provoking article. See what you think about it:)

http://www.christianity.co.nz/forgive1.htm

One of the most important issues that we all face in life is the question of forgiveness. It is important because, whatever our reputation in moral matters, we will never be free of the need of receiving forgiveness from God and from one another, and also of giving it to one another. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus showed his recognition of this by including our request for God's forgiveness, and our offer of it to others, as part of our regular praying. Without learning something of the meaning of forgiveness, we will never be able to form deep relationships. And yet it is not easy. It has been said that "the most painful question short of our own death is the question of forgiveness."

In his book The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal, the world's foremost Nazi hunter, tells of his war experiences. In 1944 he was a young Polish prisoner on his way to concentration camps. He had looked on helplessly as Nazi soldiers forced his mother into a freight car crammed with elderly Jewish women, and as they shot his grandmother to death on the stairway of her home. Altogether, 89 of his Jewish relatives would die at the hands of the Nazis.

One bright sunny day, in a hospital for German casualties, he found himself alone with a dying German soldier in a dark, musty room. White gauze covered the man's face, with openings cut out for mouth, nose, and ears. "My name is Karl," said a strained voice that came from somewhere within the bandages. "I must tell you of this horrible deed - tell you because you are a Jew."

Karl told of his Catholic childhood and the faith he had lost in the Hitler Youth Corps. He spoke of his service in the army and his recent return, severely wounded, from the Russian front. Finally he told of something that had happened in Ukrainian territory. Booby traps had killed 30 soldiers in Karl's unit. As an act of revenge they had rounded up 300 Jews, herded them into a three-storey house, doused it with gasoline, and fired grenades at it. Karl and his men encircled the house, their guns drawn to shoot anyone who tried to escape. "The screams from the house were horrible," he said. "I saw a man with a small child in his arms. His clothes were alight. By his side stood a woman, doubtless the mother of the child. With his free hand the man covered the child's eyes - then he jumped into the street. Seconds later the mother followed. Then from the other windows fell burning bodies. We shot..."

Karl described other atrocities, but kept circling back to the image of that young boy with black hair and dark eyes falling from a building, target practice for the SS rifles. "I am left here with my guilt," he concluded at last. "I know that what I have told you is terrible. In the long nights while I have been waiting for death, time and time again I have longed to talk about it to a Jew and beg forgiveness from him. Only I didn't know if there were any Jews left...I know what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace.

"Simon Wiesenthal, an architect in his early twenties, now a prisoner dressed in a shabby uniform marked with the yellow Star of David, felt the entire weight of his race bearing down on him. He stared out the window at the sunlit courtyard. He looked at the eyeless heap of bandages lying in the bed. "At last I made up my mind," he writes, "and without a word I left the room."

Such a story raises in the starkest manner the whole subject of forgiveness and leaves us begging for answers. Ever after, the scene in the hospital room haunted Wiesenthal. He asked fellow prisoners what he should have done. He inquired of rabbis and priests. Finally, when he wrote up the story 20 years later, he sent it to the brightest ethical minds he knew - Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Protestant, and irreligious. "What would you have done in my place?" he asked. "Did I do right?"

Of the 32 men and women who responded, only 6 said he had done wrong in not forgiving the German. Most thought he had done right. "What moral or legal authority did he have to forgive injuries done to someone else?" they asked. Some questioned the whole concept of forgiveness. This booklet seeks to address this dilemma.

# posted by Caroline @ 4:45 pm

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still alive

Geoff and other good folk,

I've ben busy and lazy. I've joined a bible study every Monday night, still in one every second Wednes. been doing tax things, reading a novel, and listening to nearly all of the Sydney International Piano Competition, which finished last night. It was marvelous and won by a New Zealander.

I can't say that about "Dirt Music" and probably will never read another Tim Winton book again.

So we are brave enough to talk about politics!

Christians in surveys show up as conservative and with them John Howard's government would be returned hugely. I live with the spokeswomen for the 'righteous right'.
         Is the nation going to be Christian   --- no only a minority
              Does the nation have Christian laws and ways ---- no
                        Should the nation have Christian laws and morals ---
                                    Should the nation have a Christian voice politely 'getting at' the parties ---

I'll say 'yes' would be nice answers to the last two questions but I need to be told much about Christian rules and morals. I'm skeptical about answers ever clearly coming from my church, and from other churches, or religions groups. Shirley gets her outlook from Saltshakers, who have annoyed politicians with super conservative views and Saltshakers are just not boterhered with in most political offices.

comments people!

# posted by Anonymous @ 6:58 am

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Saturday, July 17, 2004

Faith & Politics in Oz

Three articles in today's Age re our Treasurer's newly-discovered interest in faith:

A "newly patient" Treasurer tells Jason Koutsoukis he has been overwhelmed by the public response to his appeal for a return to Christian values in a time of moral decay. - accompanied by a good Tandberg cartoon!

Then an article on Faith's Demographics downunder:

Treasurer Peter Costello's appeal to the Ten Commandments is likely to resonate with at least seven out of 10 Melbourne voters. Religious demographers say about 65 per cent of Melburnians identified as Christian at the 2001 census. Add to that another 5 per cent in Muslims and Jews, plus secularists who are socially conservative, and family values make a winning formula.

Mr Costello has identified particularly with Pentecostals - speaking at events organised by Hillsong in Sydney and Catch the Fire in Melbourne - who are strong in the marginal outer-east electorates.

Easy to be cynical here, but I'll leave that in case Gary's lurking somewhere!

Finally, another article on Costello's Faith Call:

"I just hope values like abusing women, idolising drugs, approving of suicide aren't sold to young people as if they are cool and hip. "

Acutely aware of the potent mixture politics and religion can be, Costello nevertheless vehemently affirms his belief in the separation of church and state.

# posted by geoff @ 10:02 am

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Friday, July 16, 2004

Gary, Don't Quit Blogging...

...just because you've quit early Saturdays with Dave & myself! Where are you, hibernating??? How do you answer Dave's good question of reconciling politics with our spiritual beliefs?

Stan, you Canadians have just been through an election, I gather - do you vote for those (generally the moral right) who espouse Christianity, or (if Canada's anything like Oz) for the left who don't profess Christiuanity (in general) but whose policies seem more Christian nevertheless?

It's a dilemma.

And what thinketh thee, of this new Blogger template for posting? No more exzcuses for poor spelling!

# posted by geoff @ 3:20 pm

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Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Debate Around Relevance of Ten Commandments

Here in Oz, we are gearing up for a federal election, sometime prior to the US election (the PM can call one anytime now, with 33 days notice). Interestingly, a debate has begun about the relevance of the 10 commandments to modern society, all started by our Treasurer, Peter Costello, attending a Hillsong revival meeting in Sydney.

In yesterday's Age, there was an article "Abide by Commandments: Costello", followed by this article by Pamela Bone "Disregard the gospel according to St Peter".

Here's some quotes from the Costello article:

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday repeated his call for people to abide by the Ten Commandments. Mr Costello said the moral code laid out in the Ten Commandments were universal values, which people should not be ashamed of talking about.

Mr Costello said a community focus on faith and the values of the Ten Commandments remained relevant and contemporary. "Times will change, but I think respect for life, respect for property, respect for your neighbour, I think these are universal values and I don't think we should be ashamed to speak about them," Mr Costello said.

Mr Costello said a visit last week to Sydney's evangelical Hillsong Church had been inspirational.

"I think in a society where young people are looking for direction and values, the values of the faith are very important and to see 20,000 people in Sydney engaging in a church service, mostly young people, was quite inspirational actually, quite inspirational - showing the kind of enthusiasm that you normally only see at a football match," he said.

University of NSW law professor George Winterton supported Mr Costello's view that the Ten Commandments were the basis of modern criminal law.

"Not killing, not stealing, these are fairly universal foundations in any society . . . but certainly much of criminal law today has been built upon the basic principles set out in the Ten Commandments," he said.

By contrast, Bone's article is a classic case of the man-centric thinking that John Piper defined so well.

# posted by geoff @ 2:28 pm

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Monday, July 12, 2004

Something AMAZING

Geoff, my husband and I are sitting here on our respective computers after our dinner guests have left, and all the dishes washed and cleaned up! We put on a lovely hymn cd I picked up the other day, and just as I was reading about Fanny's hymn "To God Be the Glory", it was playing on the cd!!!! Just had to pass that on!

Enjoyed your post (two down) and will have a think about it!

Makes a difference to how we think of ourselves and our strengths when we think about them being blessed to us to use in some way for the glory of God!! A responsibility??

# posted by Caroline @ 10:22 pm

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From the Deaf to the Blind...

Stan's comments about the deafness of Beethoven brought to mind another musical talent, the blind Fanny Crosby (writer of over 8000 hymns). She was blinded by an incompetent doctor at 6 weeks, yet wrote this about her blindness:

It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.

Here's her great hymn to the glory of God:

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

# posted by geoff @ 11:27 am

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Glory to God

Stan, great article and post on Beethoven. We can look forward to hearing more of him, in heaven, I feel sure! (BTW, we must teach you to insert url's into the text someday - I inserted it above so any readers can click and read!)

Carol, really interested in your comment about the purpose of God being that our talents bring glory to Him, because I've been thinking similarly. The article I posted (it's in the list at left too) about the vindication of Christ, is actually titled "Did Christ Die for Us or for God?" and talks about the great gulf between the secular and spiritual mindsets. It defines the secular mindset thus:

It's a mindset that begins with man as the basic given reality in the universe. All of its thinking starts with the assumption that man has basic rights and basic needs and basic expectations. Then the secular mind moves out from this center and interprets the world, with man and his rights and needs as the measure of all things.

What the secular mindset sees as problems are seen as problems because of how things fit or don't fit with the center – man and his rights and needs and expectations. And what this mindset sees as successes are seen as successes because they fit with man and his rights and needs and expectations.

This is the mindset we were born with and that our secular society reinforces virtually every hour of the day in our lives. The Apostle Paul calls this mindset "the mind that is set on the flesh" (Romans. 8:6-7), and says that it is the way the "natural person" thinks (1 Corinthians 2:14, literal translation). It is so much a part of us that we hardly even know it's there. We just take it for granted – until it collides with another mindset, namely the one in the Bible.

Here is the alternative:

The Biblical mindset is not simply one that includes God somewhere in the universe and says that the Bible is true. The Biblical mindset begins with a radically different starting point, namely, God. God is the basic given reality in the universe. He was there before we were in existence – or before anything was in existence. He is simply the most absolute reality.

And so the Biblical mindset starts with the assumption that God is the center of reality. All thinking starts with the assumption that God has basic rights as the Creator of all things. He has goals that fit with his nature and perfect character. Then the Biblical mindset moves out from this center and interprets the world, with God and his rights and goals as the measure of all things.

What the Biblical mindset sees as basic problems in the universe are usually not the same problems that the secular mindset sees. The reason for this is that what makes a problem is not, first, that something doesn't fit the rights and needs of man, but that it doesn't fit the rights and goals of God. If you start with man and his rights and wants, rather than starting with the Creator and his rights and goals, the problems you see in the universe will be very different.

The author, John Piper, talks about the ascendancy of God's glory:

David (when he sinned) demeaned God's glory. He belittled God's worth. He dishonored God's name. That is the meaning of sin – failing to love God's glory above everything else." "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Seems to my recent thinking, that having God as centre of our thinking and living will engender a desire to glorify Him in everything - perhaps the ultimate purpose of mankind (God's creation)!

# posted by geoff @ 11:12 am

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Saturday, July 10, 2004

Beethoven in Heaven

Stan what a magnificent article.
I am blown away by this, and encouraged!
I am sure God gave him this talent and Beethoven passed it on to us.. the results of it. I am going to go and take more special notice now of his music!

Talents: Did I mention once how God spoke to me about that. How he gave every man their own personal strengths ... and the reason He have them was to glorify HIM! But us humans have taken these wonderful, God-given strengths and used them for self gain!

To some He gave the talent of music (not all to the degree of Beethoven!); to others the ability to have a brain to make finances grow; to others, to be a wonderful way with people communication; others, a writing ability and so on. He is wanting us to use these strengths to comply with those two commandments:

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

We might say, "I do not have any talent", but if we stop being modest (or falsely modest) and think about it, we should try and see it from God's point of view. He gave us a strength (or more) and the reason He gave it was to use it with that second commandment (which supports the first!.

I wrote this in a hurry ..... hope it has come out as I meant it to!!!!

Might have to edit it later when I have more time!

# posted by Caroline @ 11:49 am

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Friday, July 09, 2004

Miscellanea

Carol, we've just finished school hol's today. We spent the first week sight-seeing in Canberra (which was fascinating - heaps to see, educational for us as well as kids, and good eating and shops! Weather was kind too).

Stan, the q. re Beethoven was not so much about his personal faith (altho let's know what you turn up in that regard), but IF he died a believer, where is he now (in heaven, or in some heavenly waiting room)? (I trust the music in that waiting-room is high-brow, if that's where he is!)

Dave, re the printing problem with the new, wider blog. You can go to FILE - PAGE SETUP and make the left and right margins smaller before then clicking PRINT. Try 9 mm for each one and let me know.

Gary, another precious Saturday morning for me - no alarm, no getting up at 6 am. But of course, it's like that constantly for you now. Must feel like heaven on earth for you?

# posted by geoff @ 2:47 pm

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Thursday, July 08, 2004

I like it too

Thanks so much Geoff. Now I don't have to go hunting for my health shop reading glasses!!!!!!
I really like it!

Thanks for popping that music site on the side here.

Not much new to relate from this neck of the woods!!

It is school holidays here in NZ and I am "doing things" every day with the kids. Today we did a really nice walk. Great way to take some of the excess steam out of the boys!

Later.....

# posted by Caroline @ 10:18 pm

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Inspired Musicians...

Stan, you wrote:

It's interesting to note how the works of many great composers were influenced by their faith. J.S Bach comes immediately to mind.

... and also G.F. Handel, especially his Messiah (the link gives the scriptural inspiration behind the 3 parts - OT prophecy concerning the coming Messiah, story of redemption, and the resurrection and reign of Christ!

And Carol, thanks for that music site (your post 30th June); I haven't checked it out thoroughly yet because we can't download music midis at work, but I'm adding it to our resources at left, especially because it contains printable sheet music. What a find!

# posted by geoff @ 9:38 am

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Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Bigger Blog!

Stan,

Originally, using my newer and flashier work computer, I widened the blog to occupy the whole screen (excluding a bit down the side for "Favorites"). But then when I got home and logged on, it was too wide for the screen. Something to do with Internet Explorer setup I imagine, but I don't know what to do to alter the home view to match the work one. I will play with a few settings; meanwhile, how do others see this version of the blog now on your computers? Is it too narrow (like Stan's and my work one) or just fits snuggly (my home computer)?

Thanks for the John Piper commendation; that's assuring. Now, where is Beethoven at this very moment?

PS I've just widened the blog to what seems ideal width for my work computer (just for reference, the template width settings are now 880/250/610 rather than the 730/200/510 which seemed ideal for my home computer). OK for everybody??

# posted by geoff @ 3:34 pm

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Tuesday, July 06, 2004

New Look!

OK, I was a bit bored today, so made some changes to our blog template. Stan, you know how we sometimes hear that God gives one of 3 answers to our prayers - "yes", "no", or "wait awhile"? Well, back on 22nd April you complained about the narrow column width of our blog, and the small font size. You no doubt thought the response was a resounding "NO!" Instead, you have simply had to wait (quite) awhile... and I trust the result is worth the wait!

Please, give me any feed-back; how does this look on your computer, is the top heading too large, etc etc. While I'm in the mood, I might try to improve anything a little more, before going back to sleep!

# posted by geoff @ 8:24 pm

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Vindication of Christ

There are some good internet resources on this topic, I'm finding. Again theologians amongst us - any advice or links to other good articles would be appreciated (I'm doing a little study of the topic, just now).

Here's one I enjoyed, called "Did Christ Die for Us or for God?" Seems sound. I will add it to our permanent list of web-resources at the left.

Another on-line article is The Mystery of Godliness (Jesus Christ God) 1Tim3:16 by Cooper Abrams, and also The Exaltation of Christ by Scott Grant, picking up the theme from Phil2:5-11.

And another on 1Tim3:14-16 by, of all people, Ron Graham!

# posted by geoff @ 12:10 pm

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Q&A's for Gary

Gary, Dave asked you a good question which I'm interested in too - along lines of what impressed you from the BSF Acts study. Can you give us your overview & impressions, please?

Interesting, so much in Acts will speak of the church meeting in homes (eg. in ch.12 they were praying for Peter in Mary's home - maybe she was a BSF area-leader and it was the BSF headquarters' house where they stored the notes?? Does BSF go back that far???). And it's quite possible that I will get the flick as a discussion leader (irony being that I am part of a church that meets in homes!).

And your question, Gary .... Is Beethoven already there (in heaven)? I don't know; theologians amongst us? (Dave, Stan???)

# posted by geoff @ 12:01 pm

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Thursday, July 01, 2004

Skills

I'm sitting here nice and warm with my lambswool ug boots on doing computer things and listening to the Sydney International Piano Contest streamed in and its very nice for I have a very good sound card and quite good speakers with my computer. The competitors are aged from 17 to 30 all playing so technically well; playing such difficult pieces. The 17 year old Russian fellow was excellent today, playing with real flair, and very good too was the 17 year old Australian guy from Queensland. Not much more needed ... a glass of red .... (pause) (the wine obtained).

There is beauty and skills all around us. I just quietly take it in.

Beethoven said, "In heaven I'll be able to hear"! He will, and we will at a higher level of excellence.

Question .... Is Beethoven alread there?

# posted by Anonymous @ 8:20 pm

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