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.
Good start, next came the hyped up controversies of the church, How does Christianity accept gay people? Guy again,
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.
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.
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2 comments:
Thanks for the link Tim. Like you I thought Guy and Jo did a great job in the time they had to focus on Jesus.
It seemed to me like Mel was trying to get a controversial soundbite (why was sex the only thing they were interesting in?) but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt - if you're expecting a "gay is bad" or "gay is good" answer, you're probably not expecting someone to talk about how marriage is a gift from God.
Well said by all.
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