ASCII and it shall be given

How do we let others know we are happy? A happy face emoji is ideal. 😀 Although this picture may not be worth a thousand words, in the era of instant messaging a little happy face says a lot. In fact, it is possible to convey a whole range of sentiments and ideas with these little icons. We may not have reverted to ancient Egyptian style hieroglyphics, but much of our 21^st century communication is pictorial.

In 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary word of the year was 😂 or ‘tears of joy’. Emojis have become commonplace, only a couple of decades after their invention by Japanese technology designer Shigetaka Kurita.

Some emojis have different meanings or are interpreted to resemble different ideas from the designers’ original intentions. For instance, the High Five symbol 🙏 for celebration is often used to mean ‘praying hands’ to express our needs or gratitude to another.  Praying seems to be a fundamental human instinct; we want to appeal to a higher power outside of our circumstances. Christians pray to God to express our dependence on him, and to praise Him. The first prayer a Christian must pray is often referred to as the ‘sinner’s prayer’, when we humbly repent of our sins and ask God to accept us through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.  ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ – Lk 18v13. Have you ever prayed like this?  🙏

Some feelings and emotions do not have direct emoji character representations. For instance, there is no official Emoji symbol for forgiveness. (Official emojis are published and recognized by the Unicode Consortium.) There is a public campaign at forgivemoji.com to produce a forgiveness emoji, since this is such an important concept for life in general and for the Christian faith in particular. ‘If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins’ 1 John 1v9. God fully and freely forgives sinners on the basis of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

When sinners repent, the Lord Jesus explains that there is ‘joy in heaven.’ 😀 is the right response to people being saved by God’s grace.

Slipping Quietly into Heaven

C.T. Studd, the famous Victorian cricketer and christian missionary, has a number of memorable quotes. I encountered this one for the first time today:

"Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ."

 I often feel like I am slipping quietly through life, on my way to heaven, without making much impression en route. A quiet believer in Jesus is not necessarily a bad thing, but true followers of Jesus have a responsibility to be witnesses for Him.

After a particularly quiet few months, I have resolved to speak up when the following three opportunities occur in future (as they often have in the past, when I remained silent).

1. If I'm in a conversation where people mis-quote the Bible, I want to gently state what it actually says, and then see if this goes anywhere more productive theologically. For instance, people sometimes talk about the sun shining on the righteous - whereas Jesus stated God sends his sun on both evil and good people impartially, in unequivocal demonstration of common grace.

2. When the thorny issue of creation crops up, I must not hide my firm conviction in the divine Creator as the ultimate first cause.

3. When friends speculate about the meaning of life, or admit a sense of purposelessness, I must be ready to argue for salvation history as the underlying narrative of the universe, which can (must!) be experienced in a personal sense.

My Post-Truth Post

Post-truth is the 2016 word of the year, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The acrimonious Brexit referendum result and the surprise Trump victory have both been attributed to post-truth debating tactics. Experts are surplus to requirements. Facts are secondary to emotions. Truth is relegated to backstage, if it makes an appearance at all.

The motto of the CIA is:  "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". These are the words of Jesus, from John 8:32. If liberty is founded on truth, then can we be genuinely free in a post-truth world? Orwell's dystopian novels suggest not. Floundering post-truth politicians seem to reinforce Orwell's conclusion.

Christ promises freedom through truth. So how can we know the truth? Christ said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." [John 14:6] He is truth incarnate, quintessential truth. To know Him is to know the truth.

Therefore a post-truth society implies a post-Christ society. Indeed, many would recognise our culture as post-Christian. So how can we know Christ? How can we steer to the truth despite the prevailing winds of post-truth? I suppose the answer is the same as it ever was - by searching the scriptures. "Thy word is truth." [John 17:17]

Show me the truth concealed
Within Thy word;
And in Thy book revealed
I see Thee Lord. 
[Lathbury/Groves]

Earnest Christ-seekers (and all Christians should be included in this company) must scrutinize the Bible to learn of Christ. What an excellent resolution for the new year!

Bigger than Brexit?

Bigger than Brexit?

Colossians 1:13-14 - NASB

13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

A new word has entered our vocabulary. ‘Brexit’ currently dominates newspaper headlines and personal conversations across the nation.The issue at stake is whether Britain should remain in the European Union, or leave it altogether. A referendum will be held in June to determine the outcome to this question. Depending on whether you listen to Barack Obama or Boris Johnson, you might be ‘in’ or ‘out’. There are elements of truth in the argument on both sides, which means it is difficult to reach a definitive decision.

In our Bible passage, we read about a more significant exit - a deliverance from the power of darkness. God is always linked with light in scripture: ‘God is light; in Him is no darkness at all’ (1 Jo 1.5). So darkness is anti-God. If God is good, then darkness is evil (Jo 3.19). If God is wise, then darkness is folly (Jo 1.5).

To remain in the domain of darkness is to be captivated by sin. We are addicted to wrong behaviour, and powerless to break free from it.  Without deliverance, we are prisoners. We are slaves to sin, facing God’s judgment, which results in ‘blackness of darkness for ever’ (Jude 13). This describes an eternity separated from God and His grace.

The good news of the Bible is that we can be delivered from the darkness and gain membership of a different spiritual society - the kingdom of God’s own Son. How? Because a man died on a cross. He was no ordinary man. The officer in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion said this of him, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’ (Matt 27. 54). Christ suffered for sins (1 Pet 3. 18). He soaked up all the wrong of a rebellious, God-despising world, so we can be freed from our sins if we repent and trust in Him.

To belong to this kingdom is to be in the light. The darkness is filled with hatred. The kingdom is filled with love. The darkness culminates in death. The kingdom results in life. The darkness leads to hell. The kingdom leads to heaven. This requires a choice - we must opt-in. Like the Brexit referendum - we need to take a side. To know deliverance from the darkness, we must trust in the risen Christ. The Amplified Bible paraphrases trust in Christ as ‘rely on and have confidence in Christ’.

The arguments in the Brexit debate generally centre on Security, Prosperity and Sovereignty. These same subjects come up with the transfer into God’s Kingdom. Once we turn to Christ and trust in Him, we are eternally secure. He says of those who believe in Him: ‘They shall never perish’ (Jo 10. 28). He gives us all the blessings of heaven: freedom, forgiveness, reconciliation, ‘every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ’ (Eph 1. 3). He frees us from slavery to sin and makes us God’s own children (Ro 8. 21). Which side are you on? Have you left the darkness? Have you come into the light?

God and the Force: Star Wars Theology

There are commercial reasons for the release of the new Star Wars film to coincide with Christmas Holidays. However I think there is also a good opportunity for us to contrast the Biblical God with the Star Wars Force.

Superficially, one might consider the Force to be divine - an immanent, omnipotent concept. But the Christian understanding of God is very different.

God is Good

'The Lord is good' says Nahum. 'Jehovah, merciful and gracious ... abounding in goodness' says God to Moses. 'God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all' says John. In terms of morality, God is unambiguously good. 

The Force is different. While it can be channelled for good, it also has a Dark Side. So the Force appears to be morally ambivalent. Power without morality is a dangerous thing. 

God is Personal

God has attributes. He is Light and Love. He portrays his character as a shepherd, caring for us, as a potter, forming us, as a Father, loving us. Ultimately, God's character is revealed in human form - the Word made flesh - at Bethlehem when the Son of God comes into the world.

The Force never communicates, or conveys any personable characteristics. This mysticism, this lack of ability to be appreciated, makes the Force impersonal and abstract. It is not possible to have a meaningful relationship with a concept.

God is Available

God reaches out to us. He calls Moses with a burning bush, Elijah with a still, small voice, wise men with a wandering star. God is 'not far from every one of us', says Paul to the pagan philosophers at Athens. He is only a prayer away - as the dying thief found out at Calvary - Lord, remember me!

The Force is only available to a select few - Jedi or Sith. General members of the Star Wars public are passed over - the power of the Force is unavailable to them. 'Who(so)ever' is a great evangelical word, entirely unknown in the Star Wars universe.

Christianity and Computer Science: a Compatibility Check

(based on a talk I am giving at Glasgow University Christian Union today)

Are Christianity and Computer Science compatible? Can a Christian happily study and work in the area of Computing without excessive theological gymnastics or veiled hypocrisy? I want to claim the answer is yes, for the following reasons...

First, I give an existence proof. There are some high profile Computer Scientists who openly talk about their Christian faith. These include two Turing Award winners: Donald Knuth and Fred Brooks - essential reading on any CS curriculum!

Next, I want to look at three concepts that are familiar to Computer Scientists, and discuss how each of these concepts has an analogy in Christianity. If something makes sense in a computing context, it should also be reasonable in other contexts too.

1. Right and Wrong

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Boole, the father of symbolic logic.  In boolean logic, we codify true and false as absolute values and use logical operators to reason about truth.

Christianity (along with most religions) has a clearly defined framework of morality - right and wrong. This morality, which correlates strongly with human conscience, is very difficult to explain away with evolutionary biology.

2. Substitution

The notion of substitution is fundamental to the semantics of computing. For instance, term substitution is necessary for beta reduction in the lambda calculus. At higher levels, substitution is an essential part of shell scripting (e.g. sed) or programming (e.g. String.replace in Java).

Substitution is at the heart of the Christian faith. Martin Luther describes it as the "wonderful exchange" (admirabile commercium)- when sinners trust Christ and accept that He died in our place. Paul describes the crucifixion of Christ in these terms: "...made ... sin for us ... that we might made the righteousness of God in Him". [2 Cor 5:21].

3. Reboot

After an operating system software update (particularly one that involves shared libraries .dll or .so), users need to reboot their machines. This is a frequent source of annoyance. This procedure ensures that the old code is removed from the system and replaced by the updated version.

I suppose the Christian analogy is rebirth. Jesus told the premier theologian in Jerusalem: 'You must be born again'. [Jo 3:7]. This is much more significant than a reboot after a software patch---it's a whole new start to life - forgiven by God, trusting in Christ and living with the help of the Holy Spirit. [2 Cor 5:17].

Salesperson or Scholar?

All Christians should be evangelists - sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. I often wonder whether an evangelist is more like a salesperson or a scholar. I see these two as polar opposites: the salesperson is so sure of his/her product - s/he is both inwardly convinced and outwardly convincing, whereas the scholar is never certain - s/he is continually doubting, searching, striving...

Somehow, the evangelist needs to combine the best of both these personality types. Jesus' injunction to Thomas 'Be not faithless but believing' means we should be convinced of our message about the risen Christ. On the other hand, Paul's confession that he had 'not yet reached his goal' sounds much more like a careful, conscientious scholar than a cocksure salesman. Remarkably, this tallies with Bertrand Russell's view of wisdom and folly.

I guess Jesus himself is the perfect role-model for Christians - confident in meekness and meek in confidence [Matt. 5v5].

Joker for Jesus

In 1 Cor. 4 v. 10, Paul identifies himself as a 'fool for Christ'. My dynamically equivalent translation is a 'joker for Jesus'. A more authentic transliteration would have Paul to be a 'moron for the Messiah'.

The reason for this description? Paul is not living for here and now, rather for the hereafter. An atheist's value system considers 'this life only', whereas Paul treats earthly life as a precursor to eternal life. In view of eternity's infinite time and the possibility of infinite bliss, Paul is prepared to resign current prestige and comforts. His reasoning seems to be an early form of Pascal's wager.

As a Christian today, my perspective should be aligned with Paul's. I too should be prepared to be a 'joker for Jesus'.

A coincidence of 50th anniversaries: C.S. Lewis, Doctor Who and JFK

This weekend sees a remarkable coinciding of 50th anniversary celebrations. On 22nd November 1963, C.S. Lewis and John F. Kennedy both died. Just one day later, the first episode of Doctor Who aired on BBC TV. I view JFK and Doctor Who as enduring legacies - one fact, the other fiction - iconic heroes of hope for all humanity. JFK is the world leader whose life was tragically cut short by assassination. Doctor Who is the stranger from another world whose life goes on for ever, thanks to the imaginative plot device of regeneration. Both these themes resonate with us - echoes of a fundamental mythos of dying and rising again, of heroic Saviourhood. This storyline transcends all culture and history.

I think C.S. Lewis would have approved. In his essay 'Myth Became Fact' [1] Lewis argues that "The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history." Jesus is literally the desire of all nations - whether or not they realize it. That desire is expressed in our contemporary admiration of shadows - both historical heroes like JFK and fictional heroes like Doctor Who.

To quote Lewis' 'Myth Became Fact' again, "We must not be nervous about parallels and Pagan Christs: they ought to be there - it would be a stumbling block if they weren't."

Finding Christians in Unexpected Places

Like Philip Yancey, I feel it is always a privilege to discover God in unexpected places. However I have recently encountered Christians in unexpected places too.

I am not a particular fan of stand-up comedy, but according to my reputable sources Milton Jones is a moderately bright star in the comic cosmos. Hence my surprise to learn that he is a Christian - and more than that - one who is prepared to be 'out' about his faith. Milton Jones is a stand-up Christian as well as a stand-up comedian - good for him!

I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. 'It takes all sorts to make a world' as the saying goes. Indeed, God will take all sorts to make up his heaven: 'From every nation, tribe, people and language'. [Revelation 7]

Is my God too small?

On a recent transatlantic flight, I got through several good books. The first was 'Your God Is Too Small' by J.B. Phillips. This book is as provocative as its title suggests. Phillips enumerates different ways in which people diminish the appreciation and influence of God in their personal lives. It left me wondering whether my God (or at least, my personal understanding of God) is impoverished.

In the terminology that Phillips uses, my too-small God is probably the Second-Hand God. I know God on other people's terms, based on other people's experiences, filtered through other people's lives. While it is valuable to read books, listen to others and learn from them, Phillips has encouraged me that I need to get closer to God personally and to start enjoying Him. Another book that I read on my travels was C.S. Lewis' Perelandra. As the hero Ransom converses with the green lady on Venus about obeying her God Maleldil, she utters the best line in the book:

All his biddings are joys.

I wish I could claim the same sentiments for my relationship with God! This would make my devotion feel far more first-hand than second!

Unexpected Kindness

The tale of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most well known stories. Indeed, the phrase ‘Good Samaritan’ has entered everyday idiom to describe a helpful person. The Samaritans organization is one example: they are well-known for providing emergency support to people in trouble.

Jesus always used stories to teach important lessons. There are several points in the Good Samaritan story which resonate with contemporary themes. (1) Assisting other people when we can is the principle underpinning the political notion of the Big Society. The Good Samaritan himself seems to epitomize the Big Society ideal. He suffered inconvenience and incurred expense because of his willingness to help someone in need. (2) Disillusionment with traditional religion is currently strong, as it was in Jesus’ day. The priest and temple worker in the story were disinterested and skirted round the problem as quickly as possible. They were unwilling or unable to help. (3) Attitudes of suspicion and resentment against foreign immigrants linger now, as in Bible times. Jewish people in general did not respect Samaritan immigrants; however Jesus’ love reached out to people of all races, impartially.

In my opinion, the enduring theme of this story is that help comes from unexpected sources. This idea crops up so often in novels and films: Think about Pip in Dicken's Great Expectations, the eponymous heroine in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or Polish Jews in Schindler’s List. In each case, the people in need are astonished when they discover the identity of their benefactors. In the Biblical narrative, the most surprising and most radical help of all comes from Jesus’ intervention in human history.

Jesus Christ came from heaven to be a stranger in the world he had created. During the years of his public teaching and travelling, he helped thousands of people yet he was homeless and penniless. Finally he died, hanging on a cross outside Jerusalem. His body was bruised and beaten. His blood was shed. His life was laid down. How could he help us – the ‘Lord from heaven’ who became a ‘man of sorrows’?

We must recognize that we desperately need help. Like the wounded man in Jesus’ story, we have been battered by the storms of life, disappointed by broken promises and deceived by the devil. We are sinful creatures, often unwilling and always unable to improve our condition. Religion may appear to promise some respite but it eventually proves utterly powerless to help, like the priest and temple worker in Jesus’ story.

What we need is a personal intervention, a rescue – spiritual first aid. This is what Jesus offers us. He is the true Good Samaritan; the stranger who has every reason to pass us by but instead he stops and makes every effort to help us. He died to win us forgiveness. He rose again to guarantee our acceptance with God. He lives for ever to care for us. One day he will return to take those who trust him back to heaven.

As we listen to politicians extolling the virtues of a Big Society, let’s remember that Jesus came from heaven and died on the cross to enable us to be citizens of heaven. If we trust in him, we become members of the Biggest Society of all!

The cadence of Christmas

We all have Christmas traditions and rituals. At this time of year we dig out the carol sheets or dust off the Christmas vinyl. We contact people we haven't been in touch with for the past twelve months. We replace all the blown bulbs then hang up our Christmas lights. An old friend of mine used to read Dickens' Christmas Carol every year. All good things to do, but we must not let familiarity dull the splendour of Christmas. My great concern is that we might lose the wonder of Christmas because of its regularity. I feel this particularly as I listen once again this year to the remarkable lyrics of some Christmas carols. Wesley springs to mind: Pleased as Man with man to dwell / God with us Immanuel. Also The holly bears a berry as red as any blood / And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good. Timeworn words for Christmas, but they express timeless truths for Christians.

Is Christianity conservative?

Is Christianity conservative? (That's with a small 'c', i.e. non-political, but thoroughly traditional.) I know that certain wings of the church are labelled as conservative, including the Christian fellowship I currently belong to.

But here is an interesting thought. Jesus Himself was entirely non-conservative. In His day, He was seen as an ultra-radical, a perceived enemy of the establishment. His message of life-changing, joy-filled, sin-forgiven relationship with God shook contemporary religion to the core. How can the church He founded retain its radical origins?

Inertia avoidance is a difficult practice. We humans are good at organising, codifying, regularising - effectively setting up our own teetering towers of tradition on top of the principles of Christ. Every now and then, God uses people to demolish these towers. I think of great people like Hugh Latimer, Martin Luther, Hudson Taylor, George Muller... in effect, true Christian radicalism is simply a return to first principles, as elucidated by Jesus - and transposed effectively into a new contextual setting.

What about today? How can we be 21st century radical Christians? We need to get back to the Bible, and prayerfully see how it applies to us and our society today. Personally, I am challenged by the following points:

• Early disciples were never ashamed to speak about their Master - I rarely represent mine.
• They lived and breathed the Bible. 'Remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said' [Paul] was a common prefix to many of their remarks.
• They had little regard for possessions, career prospects and social status. In our materialistic Western society, Christians are unduly influenced by the value everyone else (especially the media) places on these things. 'Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' [Sermon on the Mount]

The Wedding Planner

Spring is in the air, and the wedding bells are starting to ring. My family and I are really looking forward to a friend’s wedding in a few month’s time. We have RSVP’d and started thinking about presents and outfits and so on.

Jesus tells a story about a wedding reception in Luke 14:7-11. In those days, the bride and groom didn’t draw up a careful seating plan to avoid awkward Great-Uncle Angus having to sit next to miserable Cousin Margaret. Instead, people raced into the banquet hall and grabbed the best seat they could, as near to the top table as possible.

Jesus suggested a different tactic. ‘Sit at the back,’ He said, ‘Then you will get a pleasant surprise when you are called to a better seat, and everyone will respect you.’ If you start in last place, you will be called to the front sooner or later. This is a wise observation that resonates with our culture. Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare? Who won the race eventually? More recently, Bruce Springsteen sang about, ‘Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last.’ So many popular novels and films are based on ‘rags to riches’ storylines, whether fact or fiction.

However the greatest example of this starting-in-last-place principle is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was so humble: a poor carpenter, a homeless Rabbi, an innocent prisoner, a submissive victim who was ‘obedient unto death, even death on a cross.’ Why did He take the lowest, worst place? Because He loved a lost world of sinners, and died to ‘take away the sin of the world.’ [ref]

Where is Jesus now? He is alive from the dead, in heaven on God’s throne. He has been exalted ‘far above all’ by His Father. He has gone from the lowest place to pole position in the universe.

We can experience God’s forgiveness when we trust in Him. This is the only way to the top table in God’s kingdom. We get to know the riches of God’s grace when we humbly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a personal application of the rags to riches transformation: God ‘lifts the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes.’ [ref]

Surprised by 'Surprised by Joy'

This week I began to re-read C.S. Lewis' spiritual autobiography - Surprised by Joy. As I go through it, I am re-discovering its insights with pleasure. Do I mean pleasure? Lewis distinguishes carefully between that and joy. Whereas pleasure is merely gratification of some personal desire, joy is more impersonal, transcendent. An aching loss is more joyful than greedy feasting upon something. The longing, rather than possession, is the joyful experience. In this sense it is an other-worldly sensation - a hankering after heaven. 'God has set eternity in their heart,' Eccl 3:11.

Recollections from Lewis' private life make interesting reading. His lonely, cruel childhood is described. Indeed, it is almost suggested in the title, from a Wordsworth sonnet describing the loss of a child, his 'heart's best treasure'. Each discovery Lewis makes on the path to God is described so clearly and rationally, it is almost like I am making the same discovery, reaching the same conclusion, as he does. Does this suggest a good writer or a gullible reader? Lewis touches on a similar theme as he recollects, in his atheist phase, his encounter with the works of G.K. Chesterton.

Another amusing task is to trace pictures from Lewis' fictional work back to their sources in his personal experience. For instance, the old professor from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe might be his tutor in Surrey. The masked mourners in the Pilgrim's Regress seem reminiscent of the stiffly dressed people at his own mother's funeral. The recalcitrant parent in the Screwtape Letters might recall his father, with whom Lewis had trouble engaging.

There are several aspects of this book that I found most encouraging.

1. The diverse ways in which God draws wandering souls to himself.
2. Lewis' description of the utter emptiness of self-gratification (particularly of the fleshly kind) for the sake of the act itself.
3. ...and I'm looking forward to his conversion, on the top deck of an Oxford bus - but I haven't got that far in the story yet!

Is Salvation Selfish?

One of the major Biblical characterizations of humanity in its natural, default state is that we are selfish. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves." [2 Tim 3:2] This is in radical contrast to the two great commandments highlighted by Jesus - love God and love your neighbour. [Matt 22:37-40] Not only Jesus' teaching, but also his life, was characterised by selflessness. He took a towel and washed his disciples' feet. He always looked after other people's needs and concerns, [Phil 2:4-5] giving his life as a sacrifice for his enemies. [Ro 5:10]

So, here's a question. To obtain salvation (by grace alone through faith alone) is to accept eternal life from God. Isn't this the ultimate act of instinctive self-preservation? Surely this act is motivated by selfishness? I agree in one sense - becoming saved is the last selfish act we perform, since once we are Christians, our lives should become living sacrifices - given over in service to God and others.

But actually, we really need to define what we mean by selfishness. To take what we need to survive is only selfish if we are depriving others: Hence we breathe, but there's enough air to go around so that's not selfish. On the other hand, we in western society consume more than our fair share of world food, etc - perhaps this is selfishness?

Returning to the topic of salvation - when we accept what God gives us, are we preventing anyone else from getting it? The answer is a resounding no! God's gift is infinite - the world is His scope. In fact, when we become Christians, we might be starting a spiritual chain reaction, resulting in other people being saved. The apostle Paul is a good example of this. So no - while salvation may be self-preservation, it's not selfishness.

Happy Birthday KJV

The King James Version of the Bible is 400 years old. The Oxford English Dictionary and the BBC have been celebrating this milestone, and tracing the influence of the KJV on the English language.

Although I have been brought up reading the KJV, in my personal readings I often prefer to use more recent translations such as the RSV or the NEB (for) (against). CS Lewis agreed - it's helpful to read the Bible in an accessible and contemporary linguistic setting. After all, Koine Greek (the language of the original New Testament manuscripts) was the vernacular. Again, William Tyndale (the pioneer of English Bible translation) wanted the ploughboy in the field to be able to understand the words of Scripture. So I feel a modern translation is following an age-old (and theologically sound) precedent.

Often I feel slightly embarrassed quoting Bible passages directly from the KJV, especially to people who are unfamiliar with the style. I generally paraphrase as I go - turning "whosoever believeth" into "whoever believes", "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" into "You shall love the Lord your God" etc.

So it was interesting to listen to various media, thespian and religious celebrities expressing their admiration for the majestic and simple language of the KJV, in the recent BBC Radio 4 broadcasts. I enjoyed listening to the various readings, which were spoken with clarity, passion and a suitable level of dramatic emphasis.

However when I reflected on the comments people made about the KJV, I was struck by the fact that people extoll its virtues as literature, influential upon the development of the English language. However they appear to give little thought to the underlying message of the Bible. Things haven't changed much since Ezekiel's day - we are quite prepared for cultural, high-brow entertainment from the Bible, but we don't want the sharpness of its message to pierce our hearts. What a tragedy! Let's get back to the Bible and read it "as it is in truth, the word of God". [1 Thess 2:13]

Mud and Stars

Two men looked through prison bars:
One saw mud and the other saw stars.

I recently re-encountered this couplet in a Christian article. It brings back a guilty memory, from when I furtively borrowed my sister's Trebizon boarding school stories. In the very first novel, the school headteacher encourages the heroine with this mud/star two-liner.

Apparently, it's a quote by Frederick Langbridge, although wikipedia wasn't too forthcoming with information about him. Anyway, it's the thought that counts - any situation is what we make of it. Do we see that the glass is half-full or half-empty?

As a Christian, I find that I have plenty of causes for optimism. I see the stars, twinkling gleams of glory, and anticipate a wonderful future - rejoicing in hope.
Of course, I'm not unaware of the mud. Most of the time I'm trudging through it, or perhaps assisting others. But the stars help put things in perspective.

Richard Dawkins mentioned something similar in a recent debate with John Lennox. He conceded that Christianity offers a real hope for the future, and a purpose for living in the present. Dawkins could offer neither. Unfortunately, the atheist's horizon does not extend beyond the mud.

Obviously, I believe that Christianity is more than wishful thinking. However star-gazing (literally and metaphorically) is a good pastime for citizens of heaven, as Paul reminded his friends at Philippi (Phil 3:20-21). At the same time, there should be some star-light luminosity exuding from our lives too (Phil 2:15). Perhaps we could be a means of bringing hope to other muddy people?

Natural Disasters



Whenever catastrophes occur, like the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, we often ask why an Almighty God would allow such disasters to happen. I have read some thought-provoking articles from other authors. Perhaps I take a slightly different view.

The Bible talks about creation groaning and travailing in pain [Ro 8] - very literal, if anthropomorphic, language to describe plate tectonics. We live in a fragile world, a fractured universe, a fallen creation. Why?


Jesus' plaintive words, "From the beginning, these things were not so," apply contextually to ruptures in society, but they ring true for the sad state of the cosmos. Originally, God deemed His creation to be "very good." [Gen 1]. However a perfectly innocent creation has been spoiled by mankind's rebellion against God - initiated by Adam's disobedience.

Here is my main thesis - just as God did not intervene directly to prevent Adam's choice of evil, so He does not intervene today to curtail its consequences. Our world is a dangerous place, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Does God operate on a passive, non-interfering basis? Not at all! God has moved to rescue humanity from sin. This rescue-mission was effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, when he gave his life "as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time". [1 Tim 2]. However, salvation requires an opt-in - God's grace and our faith are both necessary salvific ingredients [Eph 2]. Once we receive "the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" [Ro 6], we become part of God's "new creation." [2 Cor 5].

Ultimately, God will re-create the physical world we inhabit. There will be "no more sea" on the new earth [Rev 22], which symbolises the end of restlessness, transience, groaning and travailing. I don't see any cause for plate tectonics in the new creation...