Public Prayer Booths

Caught this story on Weekend Sunrise. Artwork meant to engage people in dialogue about prayer. On display in New York City.

Listen To Sceptics

This is an accidental follow on from the post, ‘Be Christian Not Religious.’ Accidental because I wasn’t planning to do a follow on but then I heard a certain podcast from Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope. It was an interview with musical comedian, Tim Minchin. He is a sceptic (most likely Atheist) who has a reputation of being outspoken during his shows with his thoughts on religion .

So how do we deal with such sceptics? Sometimes it is very difficult to listen to them but that is probably the best course of action. By listening and responding in a calm, confident manner you are able to learn so much more about where they are coming from. You may find that their assumptions about Christianity are completely wrong or that what they attribute as Christian characteristics are really religious characteristics. Don't get the two confused. Remember that is was religious people that killed Jesus.

With a bit of knowledge you are able to pick up the mistakes in the arguments of sceptics. Here’s what Tim Minchin had to say to Andrew Denton:

ANDREW DENTON: Let’s talk about an area that you are very confident on that you totally believe in which is religion.
TIM MINCHIN: I’m not really outspoken or raging against religious people, but when I’m on stage I talk about what I think about and I think a lot about people’s beliefs. I never got it. It’s like I’m lacking the gene that makes people think that stuff. I’m not scared of stuff we don’t know.
ANDREW DENTON: What about faith? You and religion and faith can be different things. Do you look at people with faith who have a strong set of moral principles that guide their life, who believe there’s a way to operate?
TIM MINCHIN: I’m very specific about what I’m saying. In my new show I’m talking about the Church’s treatment of homosexuality which I find abhorrent and the Church’s that sort of rather insipid thing that people do where they go, ‘Oh I don’t really believe in God, but I think we need a moral compass’ and it’s just such lazy thinking. Faith has no positive resonance for me. Faith just means I’m going to believe something in the face of all other evidence. I don’t know what that means and a moral code should come from here it’s more valuable when it comes from here.

A few points:

• “religious people” – it is wrong to refer to everyone with a faith in God as religious. Religious people are all about rules and what I can do to get into heaven. There is little or nothing to do with Jesus in the doctrine of the religious people. Jesus came down heaviest on the religious people of his day.
• “lacking the gene….” – no gene is necessary to follow Jesus, just an open heart and mind
• “treatment of homosexuality…..” – would be interesting to ask further questions to ascertain what he finds abhorrent about the church’s treatment of homosexuals. Last time I checked there was no persecution to homosexuals. At least there shouldn’t be any persecution. Churches should be about loving the person, but not the behaviour. Direct them to Genesis as the basis for your belief in heterosexual marriage as the only legal union.
• “need a moral compass” – this is one statement that I would agree with. Jesus isn’t your moral compass. This is to say that Jesus was just a good man and a good teacher. When really he is either God or a liar. No middle ground.
• “in the face of all other evidence” – what evidence would he be referring to? Perhaps Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ which uses dodgy evidence. Perhaps leading sceptics to books like Lee Strobel’s ‘Case for Christ,’ or John Dickson’s ‘The Christ Files’ and see what they have to say about evidence. Or better still invite them to read a bible. NIV’s start at $5 at Koorong.
  

And who knows, by not being judgemental about their scepticism you may just change their whole attitude towards Christians. You just never know.

Mind Your Hypocrisy

For once, someone related to the “Bali Bombers” actually made a good point. He stated that if the three found guilty for the Bali Bombings are to be executed then so should the “Bali Nine”, the young Australians caught with masses of drugs on their person.

I don’t think there are many in this country who condone the death penalty, but if it is Indonesian law to sentence both types of offenses to death by shooting then why is it that we get all worked up about one case and not so much the other? Oh it’s because Australian’s were involved in the drug trafficking offenses. As for those dirty rats that killed all those Australian tourists, well they can die.

Now no one here at Hammer Time is condoning the death penalty. But one needs to be careful of having a double standard. One rule that applies to Australian’s and another rule to apply to foreigners. Anybody who commits a crime in Indonesia should know that there are serious repercussions. This is regardless of your own personal views on the death penalty.

So let’s not get sucked into the feeling of enjoyment at the demise of the three “Bali Bombers”. All that does is highlights our hypocrisy.


Update.......

• Bali Bombers are now obviously dead. Almost immediately Amnesty International Australia is on the 6 o'clock news proclaiming that this should signify an end to the death penalty everywhere. They don't condone the death penalty, of course, as that goes against their mission. But it seems convenient that they were silent on the issue while the Bali Bombers were on death row and only now speak out about the situation.
• People like to get caught in the trap of comparing crimes to justify their position on the death penalty. Three Australians are still on death row for drugs possession and trafficking charges. "But they just smuggled drugs, they aren't terrorists," would be something people might say. Under Indonesian law they deserve the death penalty. So either they should be shot like the Bali Bombers, or the Bali Bombers should live the same way you want the Australian drug traffickers to live. Simple as that, there is no argument, Sin is sin is sin.
  

Media Loves A Crisis

Ever noticed how every problem, big or small, is referred to as a “crisis” by all our news agencies?

Mortgage Crisis
USA stuffing it up for the rest of the world pretty much by giving people credit who had no means of repaying. I heard them called NINJA loans by former treasurer, Peter Costello. NINJA: No INcome, Job or Assets

Credit Crisis
Possibly a different name for the mortgage crisis. The media loves a crisis so much that they would come up with two names to describe the same thing.

Global Financial Crisis
Yes, same again. Although this refers to effect the mortgage crisis and the credit crisis are having on a worldwide scale.

Rental Crisis
Rental prices skyrocketed due to a lack of supply. City properties were virtually being auctioned off to the person who can get the most cash available in the shortest time. However, during the same time I noticed a few properties out my way that struggled for someone to lease.

Housing Crisis
Similar to rental crisis. Low supply meant that prices were high. This inspired PM Rudd to consider some housing schemes. Haven’t heard anything since the proposal.

Education Crisis
We should be getting smarter yet something isn’t working in our schools. Some might say it’s a lack of funding from the government. But perhaps it’s the “lefty” ideology that has taken over much of our school’s curriculum.

Health Crisis
Through great advances in technology we are living longer. Hence our hospitals are filled with old people hanging on to life. As soon as one is discharged another is waiting to fill their place. Elective surgery has ridiculously long waiting lists with no appearances of shortening. Debate is still rife about the effect of the changes in the Medicare levy. Anything that makes more people rely on the already overstretched state health system has got to be a bad thing.

Environmental Crisis
All the beat up about global warming keeps gaining momentum. Actually it seems to be called ‘climate change’ now that we are having some extremely cold temperatures. It's interesting to see how it is being sold to the general public and to business groups.

Confidence Crisis
This one was funny the first time I heard it. It was suggesting that due to the mortgage crisis, credit crisis and the global financial crisis we have a “crisis of confidence” that had to be rectified for our economy to avoid a slide into recession.

Dental Crisis
Apparently our dental health isn’t going too well either.