Beware the Rule Makers

Mentioning “church” in tabloid journalism such as channel 7’s ‘Today Tonight’ manages to get attention. It got mine, but like most other religion based stories the facts were highly sensationalised. Should we expect anything less from a current affairs program proven for fudging facts?

The headline went, “Talent show finalists banned from church, we’ll tell you why”. Provocative headline, very emotive, I was hooked in. I had to see whether this was a ‘real’ church that was involved or an institution more resembling a cult.

In typical ‘foot in the door’ style we met the pastor of the offending “church” (I use that term rather loosely here), the Geelong Revival Centre. The leader proclaimed to be spreading God’s word, despite the revelation of many strange rules made up by him and him only. These have no origins in the bible and I am sure none would be upheld by any bible believing Christian Church.

Unfortunately there are those that would see Today Tonight as the ultimate vessel of truth and could easily come to the conclusion that this is the norm of all ‘churches’. When it’s just not the case.

The only comment against this assertion was a throwaway line that a member of the Geelong Revival Centre had “escaped” and was now at a “nice Baptist Church”. We are left to assume that he is happy there. It’s only by pure miracle that he didn’t throw in the towel on a faith in God after experiencing what can only be described as a cult, as so many do after poor experiences with so called Christians.

Today Tonight could have hammered the point home on cults but didn’t, for whatever reason. Perhaps to them calling them a church gets a better response than evil power tripping egotist led Cults.

A Keen Observation

Of all people it was surprising to hear a rather keen observation from David Koch during channel 7’s live telecast of the leadership challenge. Surprising because ‘Kochie’ doesn’t do the best job of hiding his leanings when commenting on issues or when interviewing politicians.

He observed that perhaps the axing of Kevin Rudd showed an “immaturity in government”. That is, they are showing an inability to tough out situations when things are going against you.

After all it was some of the same people that rushed Rudd into leadership that have now turned on him. At a time when he was still preferred PM according to many polls, albeit by a slender margin.

Making History

So, Julia Gillard has become Australia’s first female Prime Minister, and Kevin Rudd has fallen on his sword.

Much is being made of the historical occasion to have our first female PM. All except Gillard herself by the sounds of it. Graham Richardson predicted “there’s a million women ready to vote for Gillard”. Why? Because she’s good at her job, or because she’s a woman. If it’s the latter then by Richo’s prediction we have at least one million very shallow women.

Everyone was ready to bury Rudd yet now applaud Gillard as the Labor saviour. She’s so deep in Rudd’s failures she is struggling for air. She still has a lot to prove but because of this history in the making people gloss over all that.

It really doesn’t matter about gender. Is she competent? Rudd wasn’t, and Gillard contributed to that incompetence. She has already taken steps to disassociate herself from the old regime. There’s a long way to go and Abbott definitely has a challenge on his hands. It will be fun to watch.

Christianity For Dummies

Channel 7’s Sunrise program showed a series of segments titled ‘Religion for Dummies’. By pure chance I saw the first instalment on Christianity.

To assist Mel and Kochie in giving a brief overview was Guy Mason from the newly planted ‘City on a Hill’ church in Melbourne and Jo Geeling from Australian Christian Churches (Assemblies of God).

The first question was very general. What does Christianity stand for? There wasn’t much time, Guy had to be quick and to the point.

“We stand for Jesus, He is our King. We look to Him, we trust Him, we follow Him. That’s because in Jesus we meet God. A God who came to us and a God that ultimately died on a cross that we might be forgiven of our sins. He then rose to new life, that we might have freedom and a future with Him.”

Good start, next came the hyped up controversies of the church, How does Christianity accept gay people? Guy again,

“God is a relational God. He has gifted us with marriage that the bible reveals is to be between one man and one woman. So any sex outside that context ….. falls short of God’s ideal. That being said it’s important to know that the gospel is for everyone….”

Good response given the very secular audience. Perhaps Mel was expecting something a bit scathing of the alternate lifestyle. She seemed flustered and asked for clarification. Guy repeated, “Yes they are accepted but God’s ideal is one man and one woman.” Perhaps for expediency Mel moved on. I suspect she still didn’t understand.

Along the same vein Kochie asked how Christianity viewed sex before marriage? Jo answered with sentiments similar to Guy’s response on homosexuality, “We believe in fidelity, we believe in chastity, and we believe that sex in marriage is a gift to be enjoyed.”

Overall I thought it was a good performance by the two Christian respondents. Of course they could have said more but considering the time constraints they really brought forth a good overview without embarrassing themselves or the Christian faith, as so many manage to do. If you have the inclination follow the link to see the video of the Christianity segment and the rest of the ‘Religion for Dummies’ series that includes Islam, Buddhism, New Age and Scientology.

Mission Teams

Went on a mission fundraiser and was interested to find out that of the eight or so going on the trip there was only one male, and his main reason for going was that his wife was on the team. I was wondering whether this says something about the trip, the group, or maybe the church that was sending them.

Questions surfaced, such as: Where are the men? Do we really have a 6:1 female: male ratio? Are there features of this trip that inherently appeal to females? Is that a good or bad thing?

So many questions. Probably more than there are answers. Yet some clarity was reached after a conversation with a male friend on the topic.

Generally speaking males are task oriented and have a need / want to accomplish something and see results of labour. These activities include building and fixing things. It’s the way males are wired.

Males also have a natural desire to be the provider for the family. This creates some conflict when opportunities come to be involved in mission work. Quitting a job could be deemed unreasonable. But then if you were truly called into ministry you would do whatever was necessary.

Mission trips primarily about engaging, teaching and relationship building are then naturally going to appeal more the females. Males shouldn’t avoid these mission opportunities although we do build relationships better with other men when “doing”.

I heard a man speak from Opportunity International who was using his skills in finance to provide microloans to small businesses in India. Just like my friend working with Global Recordings using his skills in electronics. Both great examples of “doing” in ministry and good uses of their own interests and skills.

The Defection

A couple of weeks ago it was hard to avoid the news about Israel Folau’s signing with new AFL franchise, known as Team GWS.

I was actually hoping that the rumours would not come to fruition and he would continue to play rugby league. But he will be an Aussie Rules player as of 2011 and I hope he realises the enormity of the task.

There will be a pressure on him to perform from day 1. He is on pay similar to the biggest stars in our game, yet he is foreign to most of the core skills and will have to severely get out of his rugby league tactical frame of mind. Karmichael Hunt will prove just how hard it will be to adjust.

The high marks he takes out on the wing from a cross field kick are celebrated in rugby league. In Aussie Rules they are nothing special. Anyone can leap over a stationary defender to mark the ball, it’s regulation stuff. Although of all the league players he does get the most height.

Time will tell whether the money was worth it. I can see him going back to rugby league in four years time, and he will be welcomed back with open arms despite what some commenter’s will tell you should happen. They have done as much for many rugby union returners.

I wish him well, the success of the team is riding on him.

Not Free At All

Saw this sign outside a local primary school

Free delivery

Quality education

No conditions

I wasn’t impressed. The idea of “free education” should not be pushed. By free they actually mean no direct cost to the public, it’s all taxpayer funded.

Saying the education is “free” followed by “quality” is really an oxymoron, those two terms just don’t go together. Whatever you get for free out there is of low quality.

Plus having a service advertised as “free” doesn’t place any value on the product. Education is the greatest thing we can attain. So have it as “free” if you must but don’t push that angle. One should gladly pay the minuscule voluntary fees charged by our public schools, especially if you expect continued “quality” education.

The Mens Room

“The Mens Room” By Toby Green

This book was written in 1999 and purchased at that time, I would have been 18. I’m not sure my motivation for such a purchase, perhaps it was mum’s idea. I tried reading it then but found it hard to soak in. Maybe after years of maturation have made it easier to understand.

Don’t be confused by the name, Toby Green is a woman, a psychologist and an author. As a woman it is refreshing that she takes a swipe at feminism and condemns the damage it has done to a generation of men confused about their role – real men or pseudo women?

She doesn’t leave blokes off the hook though as it implores that men still have to lift their game. She doesn’t pander to the men as victims. There is a nice middle ground achieved in her book. Like all good relationships her advice is about give and take.

The dysfunction in the relationships Green deals with seems to centre around two themes: communication and control.

Perhaps a reading of “Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman would solve most of the communication problems illustrated. When communication was a problem it’s not that either party was not communicating at all it’s that they were not communicating in a way that the spouse liked. They never thought to talk about how they like love to be communicated until the relationship had spiralled out of control. More often than not the relationship was irreparably damaged by that time, even with expert counselling from Toby Green.

The need to be in control seemed to be a manifestation of a childhood event that wasn’t properly dealt with, but it could happen to anyone. It shows complete disregard to God who is ultimately in control. Although our culture does push a premise of being in control of our lives. Unfortunately a controlling person in a relationship does not behave rationally when they perceive they aren’t in control of all facets of their life.

I’m glad a finally read it and enjoyed that these insights came from a female perspective.