Matthew Hosier

PARENTING, PART 7

2012-11-08T14:57:00.000+00:00

The gospel in the messiness of life

One of the best pieces of parenting advice I ever received was at a parenting seminar I attended as a youth worker before ever I had children. One of the elders of my church told parents at that seminar never to ignore the questions children ask because of embarrassment, but to always answer them and use them as an opportunity to apply the gospel. The example he gave was when walking down the street with his young daughter and seeing a page of a porn mag on the pavement. The natural parent reaction in such a circumstance is to walk quickly on and deflect any questions the child might ask – instead, the gospel thing to do is to listen to the child’s questions without embarrassment and then answer them in the light of the gospel.

It has been especially in the area of sex that Grace and I have found this to be the case. We live in a highly sexualised culture and this means we parents have to be ever-ready to bring gospel clarity to questions about sex. It means we have been far more frank and upfront with our kids at a younger age than I would have wanted to be, but this has been demanded of us because of the culture in which they are growing up – a culture in which they are surrounded by soft-porn on every advertising hording and store front; where many of their friends come from broken homes; and where some of their friends are growing up in homes with same-sex partnerships.

In a culture like this we should never flunk a question out of embarrassment. Instead we should use every opportunity to reinforce what the gospel teaches about the dignity of humans made in the image of God; about the sanctity and goodness of marriage, and of sex within marriage; about the reality and destructiveness of sin.

It’s not just sex of course – that’s just the obvious example. There is much about our society that is messy, but the gospel always has an answer for the mess, so we parents need to become skilled gospel preachers. We need to show our kids how the gospel offers a better way to live – not just a more moral way to live but a better way; one that is more satisfying, more joy-filled and more worthwhile.

In the end, that is what the gospel is all about: Life, and life in all its fullness!

Being clear about the gospel also helps resolve tricky decisions that parents have to make. For instance, our youngest daughter (aged 8) was this year asked to a Halloween party by a school friend – what were we to do? Of course, as Christians we are unenthusiastic about Halloween (and as a Brit I resent the import of another unwelcome American activity!) and our initial response was that she should not go. However, thinking it through some more we felt that it was ok for our daughter to go, and in the result we were glad she did.

How did the gospel influence this decision?

1. We knew that there was an ‘innocence’ about the party – it was just one of the mum’s organising a party for her daughter, not a coven! As gospel people we have a sense of proportion.

2. We knew we needn’t be fearful about occult influences on our child anyway, because “greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.” As gospel people we are confident of God’s power at work in us.

3. We did not allow our daughter to dress as a witch. As gospel people we are free not to conform to the expectations of others.

4. Our value of relationships trumped our natural dislike of Halloween parties. As gospel people we work hard at building connections with others.

Grace went to the party along with our daughter and was glad we made the decision we did as it was an excellent point of connection with other mums and gave her some great opportunities to talk about parenting.

Similarly, we put pumpkins outside our front door (which we would do anyway at this time of year as we grow them to eat and they need to be dried off first) but we carve a cross rather than an ugly face. And we have sweets ready to give to trick or treaters, as they are mostly the children of our neighbours and we want to win them rather than alienate them.

So, approaching Halloween from a gospel perspective transforms it from being an evening to dread or hide away from, to something we can in some measure bring light to. Parenting involves making lots of decisions – let’s make them in response to the gospel!

PARENTING, PART 6

2012-11-07T14:56:00.000+00:00

Our families and God’s mission through the church

Some of the practical things Grace and I have found helpful in catching up our kids in this are:

Take children to prayer meetings

Often parents will use their children as an excuse not to go to prayer meetings (“Oh, I need to make sure little Jonny gets his sleep”). While we have worked hard at making sure our kids have sensible bedtimes, we have found it is worth sacrificing a bedtime every so often for the greater benefit of our children being part of a praying community. Having our kids at prayer meetings does them good, even if they are not fully engaged in the praying, it is good for them just to be there and observe adults praying, and so learn to pray. Also, it is good for the adults present – it encourages them and is a visual reminder that the church is an all-age family.

Practice hospitality

Our kids have grown up being very used to having lots of people through our house. While this can be demanding, it also has all kinds of benefits. It teaches the value of community and the priority of working out what it means to be part of a church. It teaches them to share and be generous – especially if our guests bring their own ‘demanding’ children with them. It gets them used to mixing with people of different ages and backgrounds, which in turn helps them grow in social confidence.

Teach them good manners

I find it disappointing if I visit a home with children in it who do not know how to greet a visitor or hold any kind of conversation. If I walk into a house and the kids stay glued to the TV or their video games and don’t make any effort to acknowledge my presence that is a sure indication that they are the real gods in that family. We need to teach our children to show respect to visitors, especially adult visitors. Basic politeness is a pretty basic part of Christian discipleship and is something all our children should be capable of, regardless of how shy or confident they may be. This politeness should then extend to things like being able to sit at a meal table properly. This is not just me being old fashioned – it is part of our families being welcoming places to the wider family.

Get them serving

Jesus is the ultimate model of what humanity is meant to look like, and Jesus came as a servant. For our children to embrace their humanity fully they need to learn how to serve, and the primary place of serving is in God’s house – the church. So as soon as you can, get them serving at church! Different churches will have different policies and opportunities for this, but there are many different ways our children can serve in church. My three oldest kids (15, 13 & 11) all serve practically on Sundays – welcome team, song projection, crèche. Get them doing it!

Encourage risk

One of the strongest natural impulses for parents is to say, “Be careful! Don’t do that!” Now, obviously we should not do things that deliberately endanger our children, but we need to train ourselves to encourage our children to take risks. Risk-free Christianity is no Christianity at all and if what we train our children in is nothing but caution it is unlikely that they will grow into adults who risk anything for the gospel. This may keep our families nice and cozy and safe, but it does nothing for Christ’s mission through his church.

As a father of girls I have worked hard at encouraging them to take physical risks. (The parents of boys will probably have to work at encouraging other kinds of risks!) I figure that if they have been encouraged to try climbing a tree they will be more likely to take a risk of faith when Jesus asks them to do something that doesn’t look “careful.”

And of course, as well as helping them get caught up in the mission of the church, kids that are not afraid to risk things, are well-mannered, helpful, and socially confident are much more likely to make a success of life generally then those molly-coddled and idolised kids from the family-as-god family.

PARENTING, PART 5

2012-11-06T14:55:00.002+00:00

The gospel rather than the god of family

The next parenting issue to consider looks very different from the previous one of our hyphenated sins. However, it is every bit as much an example of idolatry and the gospel challenges it just as strongly. This is the idolatry of family, where the family itself becomes god to us.

As gospel people we need to understand the primacy of the family of God over our flesh and blood families. The classic biblical example of this is found in Matthew 12:46-50:

While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

In this account we see Jesus placing a higher value on the church than on his immediate family. This is something that is then worked out through the rest of the New Testament story, both in the practical ways the early church was meant to function and in the apostolic teaching about our union with Christ and with one another. What this means for us is not that we should neglect our flesh and blood families (the Bible is clear in its warnings against that too) but that we shouldn’t make a god of our family and should set a high priority on our engagement with our spiritual family, through the local church.

What, then, are the danger signs that we are making our family into an idol? In practice we see this happening when everything revolves around the kids. This is not hard to spot – it is when your conversation is always about the children; it is when you do not attend church activities because the children have got other activities that you are taking them to; it is when all your hopes and fears seem bound up in your kids; it is when the whole of family life is organised around the desires and whims of the children; it is when the kids priorities dictate family priorities; it is when other people at church begin to assume you will say “no” to anything that might in any way impinge upon what your children want to do; it is when your Facebook status updates are normally about the kids. (Another top tip here: Don’t post about your kids achievements on Facebook. If your kids are doing better than your friends kids then it will only make your friends feel fed up; and if your kids achievements are not so impressive as those of your friends then they will feel smug. In both cases the sin of your friends hearts is being exposed, but you have a responsibility not to tempt them to sin!)

Here’s the thing, even if you are blind to it, your idolatry will be clear to others. Just ask them!

Instead of succumbing to this idolatry we should catch our kids up in God’s mission through the church. We should help them to see the priority and primacy of the church and the fact that while we will not always be part of our flesh and blood family, we will for all time be joined into Christ’s great family, through his flesh and blood.

PARENTING, PART 4

2012-11-03T15:44:00.000+00:00

The gospel rather than hyphenated sins

Being a parent is about dying to self. Children have a way of constantly intruding on our lives and in doing so expose the idols of our hearts. They make it very clear what our ‘hyphenated sins’ are – those things where we put ‘self-‘, ‘my-‘ or ‘me-‘ first. Things like these:

· Time

· Comfort

· Energy

· Respect

· Money

Very often there will be sin in the actions of our children, but the reaction this provokes in us reveals much about the state of our own hearts. For example, if our kids constantly intrude upon ‘me-time’ there may be a discipline issue that needs to be worked on; but equally our own sin is being exposed if the reality is that we are making an idol out of having time to ourselves.

Our society very often views children as a lifestyle accessory. This is one of the reasons why people tend to delay having children to later in life than has historically been the case. We do this in order to do the things we want to do without kids ‘getting in the way’, which itself reveals the idolatry of self in our hearts. Then when we do have children we expect them to perfectly fit in with our will and wishes and to merely compliment our lifestyle choices. Instead, we find that children have a will and wishes of their own, and make all kinds of uncomfortable demands upon us. What we find is that being a parent is to be a servant, and we don’t like this!

This position of servanthood is merely an extension of what we experience in marriage, in which we are called to serve one another, “For better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer.” Sure, where our children are sinning we need to help them see their sin and find forgiveness in Jesus. We need to help them apply the gospel in their own lives. But the first thing to deal with is our own sin, our own idols.

So, which hyphenated sins are you prone to? And what does the gospel say in response?

PARENTING, PART 3

2012-11-02T15:40:00.000+00:00

What does Christianparenting look like?

My practical parenting top tip is to build regular points of regularity into family life. This advice is good for all parents, Christian or not. In fact, lots of the practical parenting advice available is helpful, whether you are a believer or not. This is because parenting is simple, and a lot of it can be worked out by the application of simple common sense. It is a role God designed humans to be able to handle, not something this is alien to us. This being the case, what does specifically Christian parenting look like? In what ways is it different from any other kind of parenting?

The obvious distinctive of Christian parenting is the obvious distinctive of all Christian life – that we live by the gospel. This means we need to consistently trust Jesus as our Saviour and apply the demands and claims of the gospel to every circumstance; including parenting.

Parenting is a constant test of our commitment to the gospel as there are often occasions when we will be tempted to ‘fix’ things through other means, or to respond to challenges in a way that does not reflect the gospel. As Christian parents we need to live as those who have ‘come out of Egypt’ – we have been set free from slavery to sin and death and are to parent in the light of this. Fundamentally, this means that we are to worship Jesus and no other gods. The challenge of parenting is that we are presented with many idols which will demand our worship. Sometimes these idols are obvious, but often they are subtle, and we need to become adept at identifying them, in order that we might destroy them!

The gospel rather than idolatry

Think back to the question I asked earlier about what are currently your greatest parenting joys, challenges, hopes and fears. What does the gospel have to say to each of these things? One way to answer this question is to think about the sin potential for each, because each does hold the potential for sin. If we are to identify the sin we need to identify the idolatry that lies beneath it, and the gospel disbelief that underpins that. Then we can think about how the gospel can overcome our sin.

Here are some examples of what I mean…

Issue	Joy: Pride in a child’s accomplishments at school
Potential idolatry	Making the child an object of worship
Gospel disbelief	I don’t believe that no matter how my child performs I am counted as worthy by God. I am looking for ‘salvation’ through people complimenting me on how talented my child is.
What part of the gospel do I need to believe?	That God’s grace is sufficient for me no matter how my child performs. That Jesus is truly God and is to hold the centre of my affections.

Issue	Challenge: Child’s refusal to truly repent when they do something wrong
Potential idolatry	Maybe the need to always receive respect and be acknowledged as being in control
Gospel disbelief	I don’t believe that as a parent I am God’s representative – rather, I think I am God! Or, maybe, I don’t believe that I am as bad as my child, and have been hugely forgiven by God, because if I did I might be more forgiving to my child.
What part of the gospel do I need to believe?	As someone who has received grace I need to give grace. I need to believe that Jesus is ultimately in control, not me, and that he can be trusted.

Issue	Hope: That my child will ‘do well’ in life
Potential idolatry	Worldly success
Gospel disbelief	I don’t believe that true greatness is found in emulating the humility of Christ
What part of the gospel do I need to believe?	That there is a great and eternal reward for those who are faithful to Jesus, that far outweighs any earthly achievement – that Jesus truly is the pearl of great price.

Issue	Fear: My daughter will end up getting pregnant when she is a teenager
Potential idolatry	My need for social respectability
Gospel disbelief	I don’t believe that Jesus has dealt with all my shame at the cross and that no charge against me can stand
What part of the gospel do I need to believe?	Firstly, that there is no reason why my children are fated to make bad decisions, but that I can trust Jesus for my family. Secondly, even if my kids do make bad decisions Jesus is not ashamed of me, but calls me his brother (Hbs 2:11)

Having seen my examples, do the same exercise yourself for your parenting joys, challenges, hopes and fears.

PARENTING, PART 2

2012-11-01T16:23:00.000+00:00

Our parenting top tip

There is loads of practical (and often helpful) advice available to parents. Because there is so much of this material available already I don’t intend to spend much time on it here but will just give one tip that Grace and I have found works for us.

We have found it very helpful to build points of regularity into our days, weeks and years. We are not slaves to routine but do think it is necessary to have fixed points in family life. These fixed points have been essential for us in holding things together through all the shifting tides of life – they are important anchors that help keep the boat of our family from being dashed against the rocks of life.

For us, these points of regularity have included:

Breakfast: Food is important, and meal times are important, so we are committed to eating at least one meal together every day, and for us breakfast is that meal. (Normally we will also eat dinner together, but inevitably that has to be more flexible.) It is not as though we always experience high quality, in depth communication at breakfast, but we do need that regular point of contact, with all of us together, and mum and dad setting the scene.

Daddy trips: Name drop alert – this is a tip I picked up from John Piper when I was fortunate enough to interview him when my oldest daughter was about three years old. It has served me well. Almost inevitably, especially when children are young, a lot of the day by day hands on parenting is done by mum and I have found it invaluable to schedule regular time for each of my kids so that I too stay in close contact with them. When they were younger we would do this on a Saturday morning; now they are older we do it on Monday, after school. What this looks like is that they get to choose what they want to do (go for a hot chocolate or ice-cream, go shopping) so long as it is something we can do together, and talk while we are doing it. As this normally costs money it is also something I factor in our household budget and set money aside for. As we have four kids it works on a four week rotation, and it is great!

Family nights: My life is pretty full, and most nights I have something happening, but we have tried to keep Saturday nights free for us as a family to spend time together. We have let this slip a little now, as the older girls are teenagers and often have other stuff happening, but we still do it as often as possible, and it has been good.

Holidays: Holidays are high priority for us. Many of our best memories are holiday memories, which means that holidays have meaning beyond the holiday itself – building that store of positive memories is vital in building a happy family. So we plan our holidays in advance, make sure we book the time out, and don’t let other things impinge upon them.

Without this rhythm of regularity I’m not sure how we would have got on.

PARENTING: AN EXERCISE IN APPLYING THE GOSPEL

2012-10-31T19:20:00.001+00:00

A few weeks back Grace & I gathered some of the parents from Gateway to talk about parenting. It was helpful for us to do this, as it made us think again about how we have raised our four girls, what we have done well, and what we could do better. I have pretty much given up posting on this blog as my efforts now tend to be more focussed on What You Think Matters, but for anyone out there who still visits here, and for my own benefit, I thought I’d post some of my parenting reflections.

Parenting is very simple!

This is certainly the first thing to say about parenting. It needs to be said because so often the message we receive is that parenting is very complex. We are awash with parenting advice – just check out the list of books available on Amazon – and what I am posting here is just one more tiny contribution to an Everest of material. Even though much of it is helpful, the huge quantity of advice available can tend to form the opinion that parenting is difficult, and that without close and careful guidance it is beyond us. Also, the often negative media portrayal of children and young people, coupled with the frequent assertion that our society is going to the dogs, adds to the perceived challenges of parenting. Added to this is the reality that most people are having fewer children, and having them later, and this means that there isn’t the same communal knowledge about child rearing that there is in more traditional societies; so if you reach your 30’s without ever having to care for a child then becoming a parent can seem daunting.

However, at its most basic, parenting is very simple! People have been doing it since the dawn of time. Our parents did it, as did theirs. We survived. Making a baby isn’t complicated (you may have noticed that that was the fun part!), and then raising it isn’t complicated. There is no more natural human function. We were designed to produce babies and raise children; it’s not rocket science. Having children is not like having a disease. It is a good thing. It is easy. There’s nothing to it.

Parenting is very difficult!

Having said that, parenting does have its challenges. There is an awful lot to work out, and difficulties that have to be overcome. Having a baby is not like having a disease, but it does change things. Becoming a parent brings with it many responsibilities and demands – responsibilities and demands that tend to increase as the child gets older. There are times when I feel like the worst parent in the world and times when my kids do not feel like a blessing. All this can be difficult.

So, before we go any further, take a couple of minutes to think about what – at this moment in time – is your greatest parenting…

Joy?
Challenge?
Hope?
Fear?

(It would be a good idea to write your answers down, as we will be coming back to this subject.)

MITOCHONDRIAL MANIPULATION

2012-09-23T17:51:00.000+01:00

The rate of advance in the understanding of genetics is astonishing. In many regards this is wonderful – the more we know the more we can do. However, this growth in knowledge is not simply a morally neutral equivalent to computing’s Moore’s Law. Developments in genetic understanding open up the potential for genetic manipulation, and this potential has direct bearing on how we understand and value human beings. The potential upsides are tremendously exciting, with incredible benefits for human health. The potential downsides are troubling, with the pace of new technologies often running ahead of thorough ethical reflection about their potential societal consequences.

A potential new therapy currently under review is mitochondrial replacement, which is the subject of a public consultation being undertaken by the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA). The HFEA’s description of mitochondrial replacement is straightforward enough, even if the issues surrounding it are complex:

UK researchers are working on new medical techniques that could allow women to avoid passing on genetically inherited mitochondrial diseases to their children. As they involve modification of human embryos or eggs, these techniques are at the cutting edge of science and ethics.

Advances in genetics will increasingly generate situations such as this one where there is a clear upside (potential elimination of genetic disease) but also a clear ethical discussion to be had (in this case the modification of human embryos or eggs). It is tempting for non-experts to be scared by these kind of consultations and feel we have nothing to say. This would be a mistake. Genetic technologies will affect us all, and we should all feel free to express our opinions.

I have already responded to the consultation, and here want to explain how I attempted to answer the questions it asks, in the hope that doing so will encourage others to take part. It is important that we begin by understanding something of the emotion attached to these issues. It is completely understandable why a couple who have suffered the loss of multiple babies as a result of genetic disease would jump at the chance to use a technology that would deliver them a healthy child. According to the BBC, “About one in 200 children are born with faulty mitochondria - the tiny power stations which provide energy to every cell in the body. Most show little or no symptoms, but in the severest cases the cells of the body are starved of energy. It can lead to muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and in some cases can be fatal.”

A cure for this would be wonderful. However, the apparent miracle mitochondrial replacement might present needs to be weighed against the wider implications. May we neither fail in offering compassion to those affected by illness nor abrogate our responsibilities to the health of society as a whole – but this is going to be an increasingly difficult line to tread.

Researchers are working on two mitochondria replacement techniques – maternal spindle transfer (MST) and pro-nuclear transfer (PNT). Of these, MST is preferable to PNT as it does not destroy embryos. The science of this is explained on the HFEA website but the particularly contentious issue is that both techniques require the involvement of a third 'parent' donating genetic material. Hence the “Three parents, one baby” headlines that greeted the launch of the consultation. I am not convinced that the plus of those affected by mitochondrial disease potentially being able to have children outweighs the negative of the (and I appreciate this is a freighted word) unnatural nature of the conception of those children.

The ethical implications in the use of donor material from a third parent are significant because of the way this will result in human beings whose origins are fundamentally different from those of any previous human beings. Whether or not this will create substantive psychological issues for those involved is speculative, but I am not convinced the pros outweigh the cons. The 'winners' should these techniques be licensed are the parents who would not otherwise be able to have viable offspring - but whether this benefit to a relatively small number of people should outweigh the natural ordering of all human society is highly questionable.

I am loathe invoke 'the slippery slope' arguments but fear techniques such as these, if permitted, will lead to further techniques being developed that are essentially eugenic; as well as deeply confusing at a personal and societal level. It seems likely that having three biological parents will be confusing for those it affects personally, as well as being a fundamental re-ordering of normal human interaction and society. I am not convinced this is an experiment in social engineering it is worth taking - the risks seem too great. Fundamental to human society and personal identity is the knowledge that everyone of us has a mother and a father. This is the case even if a parent is absent and unknown. To change this most basic description of human identity is not only novel but unwelcome. It is significantly different even from the case of children conceived as a result of donor eggs or sperm - at least in this case it is clear who ones genetic parents are, and that a mother and father were involved in the process. Were a third parent to be involved confusion would abound.

There is also the status of the donor to consider, and it is difficult to imagine what the status of that 'parent' would be. In the end much of this debate comes down to whether we view humans as essentially plastic, to be treated as an organic machine to which parts can be added or removed without issue; or whether we consider humans to have a greater inherent dignity and value than that. I incline to the latter.

As well as the ethical issues attached to donor material, the potential health risks associated with both these techniques need to be carefully weighed. As things stand, evidence seems to be mounting that 'conventional' IVF results in a higher incidence of health problems than does natural conception. These effects are very hard to predict prior to a technique becoming established - so the question that must be asked is whether we are willing to conduct the long-term, real life experiment of creating people by these techniques and only discovering 10, 20, 30 years later the potential negative health impacts that result? I am not convinced this is wise ethical procedure.

I really do dislike the slippery slope argument - it is often very intellectually lazy and empirically unsupported, but in this case I think it has validity. It is only a short leap (of the imagination as well as in technique) from mitochondrial replacement to more substantive, eugenic, genetic manipulation. I feel that this undermines the way in which a healthy human society should operate, where people are valued simply for who they are, rather than because they are 'genetically improved'. These techniques seem to be driven at least as much by our consumerist mentality as they are by positive health moves, and as such I feel they should be resisted.

BOOK REVIEW: A CROSS-SHATTERED CHURCH

2012-09-04T16:22:00.001+01:00

A Cross-Shattered Church by Stanley Hauerwas

There is so much I disagree over with Hauerwas, and this book contains some real howlers. Let’s just get that out there. Now we can move on, because overall I just loved this.

As a preacher, it is interesting to read other preachers sermons. Of course, reading a sermon is a rather different experience from hearing one, but until relatively recently it was a common experience amongst Christians. Listening to a recording of a sermon helps communicate something of the inflections and passions of the preacher – things that can be helpful in truly ‘hearing’ him. Reading a sermon has advantages though – providing time to stop, reflect and think. Reading sermons is not simply anachronistic. It has real value.

I read this collection of sermons as part of my normal morning devotions and (caveat in my opening sentence noted) I found them repeatedly worth stopping, reflecting and thinking on. As preaching I’m not sure how satisfied I would be with these sermons – from the perspective of the pew I would want more gospel and more exegesis – but as aids to devotion they are very helpful. Hauerwas is an engaging thinker, with a nice turn of humour and some profound insights. These sermons are littered with thoughts that I found worth pondering.

I like the way Hauerwas helps sets things around the right way, when all along we’d thought the cart was meant to be in front of the horse. For instance, in the introduction he states that, “Our task is not to explain ‘the meaning’ of the text, but rather to show how our lives are unintelligible if Jesus Christ is not the Lord.” I like that, just as I like the opening paragraph of the first sermon in the book:

Christians are often tempted, particularly in this time called modern, to say more than we know. We are so tempted because we fear we do not believe what we say we believe. So we try to assure ourselves that we believe what we say we believe by convincing those who do not believe what we believe that they really believe what we believe once what we believe is properly explained. As a result we end up saying more than we can know because what we believe – or better, what we do – cannot be explained but only shown. The word we have been given for such a showing is “witness.”

There is much more like that.

Like these:

To be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (a species of bird that seems to me to be terminally stupid) is a formula for ongoing self-deception or, at least, false consciousness.

Do not worry about being dead because when you are dead you will not know you are dead.

Why are those who run medical schools able to form students to be physicians in a manner we are not able to train students in divinity schools? I think the answer is quite simple: in this day few think that an inadequately trained minister can damage their salvation, but we do believe an inadequately trained doctor may hurt us. Accordingly we often care a great deal more who our doctor is than who our priest may be.

Paul does not think that the church has to make a difference. Rather, for Paul, Christians must learn how to live in the light of the difference Jesus has made.

Christians are revolutionaries, but we believe the revolution has happened and we are it.

You did not know what you were doing when you promised life-long monogamous marriage, but Christians are going to hold you to promises you made when you did not know what you were doing. That is why Christians demand that marriage be a public act: because you will need witnesses to remind you of you promises.

As I say, there are some howlers, but there is much that is worth thinking about. There was much that helped me to worship.

FEVERISHLY HUMAN

2012-08-12T20:53:00.000+01:00

So its all over, bar the closing party, and what a fortnight it has been. Yep, I’ve been completely swept up by Olympic fever.

Right up to the opening ceremony the British media were more cynical than enthusiastic about the games. The last minute problems over security, the Zil lanes in the capital reserved for games traffic, ticketing issues, the commercialism of the big sponsors, and the plain old British propensity for whingeing meant that enthusiasm certainly seemed restrained. But then the success of the opening ceremony (which I have yet to see) suddenly swept that cynicism away, and as the gold rush began for Team GB we have become intoxicated with sport.

I am not as hostile to football as many of my friends imagine. It is a beautiful game. Watching the way Spain won the Euros at the beginning of this amazing summer of sport was sublime. It is footballs oafishness and self-regard and hegemony that I object to. In these Olympics it has been so refreshing to be plunged into a greater sporting world. The contrast between the demeanour of Olympic athletes with professional footballers has been stark. (An interview with the 19 year-old Kirani James, winner of the 400m was a standout for me. Such maturity, such grace.) Often it has been the minority sports that have captured the imagination – we are all taekwondo and BMX fans now; and handball (surely one of the revelations of the games) is at least the equal of football in terms of what the ideal team sport should be.

I went to London on Tuesday and all the much stated superlatives were true. The police, very present, but very friendly. The terrific support of the military, which rather than being oppressive somehow added to the British-ness and colour of it all. And the incredible army of “games makers”. Never has London worked so well, looked so good, or been so happy. British people were talking to strangers on the Tube! The transport system worked! Everyone wanted to help!

We had tickets for the beach volleyball. This wouldn’t have been my first choice of event, but we were given them, and so could not refuse. Beach volleyball is fluff and flim-flam, but you know what? It was great! Horse Guards Parade was a simply stunning venue, the entertainment was fun, and – no doubt about it – the players themselves were unarguably athletes.

Thursday we went to Weymouth, for the Dorset end of the Olympics. Even though this was the one day that sailing was cancelled because of lack of wind this was again a terrific day. Weymouth looked superb, and watching other sports on big screens on the beach was a treat.

What a fortnight it has been.

I’m listening to the radio now, as things gear up for the closing ceremony and the question being asked is “Why has it been so good?” There are the obvious answers: Some very clever people have worked very hard and pulled off an unfeasibly complex logistical operation with incredible aplomb. But over and above that, I think the fundamental reason is that the Olympics have revealed what should also be very obvious: We were made to worship.

We human beings want something bigger and grander than ourselves to delight in. We want to be part of something that pulls us into relationship with crowds of other applauding, cheering, crying human beings. We want to celebrate and we want things to work just as they might in heaven.

Weeks ago when the Olympic Torch relay began I tweeted about how I love the Olympics but hate Olympic pseudo-religion. And I really do. But the innate human need for the religious has been made very plain in these games – a need that transcends the icky religiosity of the Olympic hymn. We want to worship.

Whatever sporting legacy these Olympics leave in the UK the euphoria of a triumphantly staged games will quickly fade. When the sun is no longer shining and the back pages are again dominated by the tantrums of overpaid footballers and the British transport system again grinds to a halt our need to worship will remain.

Without worship, we are nothing.

EVERYTHING TURNS YELLOW

2012-07-21T11:53:00.000+01:00

After weeks of endless rain the sun is at last coming out and the forecast is for summer to at last arrive.

And tomorrow there will be a Brit standing on the top of the podium in the Champs Elysees.

Britain is slowly waking up to cycling. It has not historically played a large part in our sporting culture, but a combination of British cycling success at the Olympics, the ‘Lance Armstrong effect’, and an increase in people cycling to work in order to beat traffic and high transport costs means that cycling is cool in a way it has never been before. But probably a majority of Brits still do not get the scale of what is going to happen tomorrow.

For Bradley Wiggins to win the Tour (which he will, barring some extraordinary accident) is a much bigger deal than it would have been for Andy Murray to win Wimbledon. It is a bigger deal than it would have been for England to win the Euros. For non-cycling Brits the scale of the Tour simply isn’t understood. A million people will line the Champs Elysees tomorrow, and millions more have stood at the side of Belgian, Swiss and French roads these past three weeks waiting for the blur of colour as the peleton screams past. The Tour is the largest annual sporting event in the world. It is carnival and national icon and physical test sans parallel. And I love it.

The bike is a very simple machine. A small child often gets their first real sense of freedom wobbling along on a bike. A rusty old jalopy can be a helpful way of nipping to the shops. Or thousands of pounds can be spent on a race ready carbon beauty. But it is all basically two wheels suspended from a frame of two triangles. I think it is this very simplicity that makes competitive cycling what it is – that something so basic can create (in David Millar’s words), “beauty, suffering, grandeur and panache.”

When Wiggins wins the Tour it will be a moment of incredible individual achievement. It will also be a result of phenomenal teamwork. This is perhaps the least understood aspect of cycling by non-cyclists – that it is teams that compete in the Tour, and an individual can no more win the race that a lone footballer can win a game. This means that there is a psychological appeal about cycling which other sports often lack – and perhaps that is why the French are so drawn to it, whereas we more black and white Anglo-Saxons prefer more straightforward games. The politics of the peloton, with deals struck, friends and enemies made; the significance of aerodynamics; the different specialisations of domestique and climber and sprinter – all spread out over three weeks of torture and beauty make the Tour uniquely compelling.

It is because of this psychological depth that cycling has generated a rich seem of profound and painful and beautiful writing. The peculiarities of cycling seem to lend themselves to an artistry of description. (Try The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton or The Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell.)

And then there is France. Probably the most beautiful country in the world – an unfolding tapestry of mountain and coastline and vineyard and sunflowers. It’s the sunflowers of course. That defining image of the Tour de France, as the peleton pours through field after field of sun-turned yellow.

Everything is turning yellow.

GLAD TO BE HUMAN

2012-07-18T09:31:00.001+01:00

I've already tweeted a link to this, but it's so uplifting I wouldn't want anyone to miss the joy!

THE RIGHTS & WRONGS OF REPRODUCTIVE ETHICS

2012-07-03T17:27:00.000+01:00

Two articles in yesterdays Daily Telegraph caught my eye for what they reveal about rapidly shifting assumptions regarding reproductive ethics.

The first described how, worldwide, five million babies have now been born thanks to IVF. The article quotes Dr Simon Fishel, a fertility expert, as saying: “The five million milestone not only justifies all the legal and moral battles, the ethical debates and hard-fought social approval, it is also a testament to the great scientists and doctors who have worked so hard to improve treatment.”

That is interesting. How, I wonder, does a particular number “justify” IVF? A large number of births as a result of IVF might demonstrate its success, but whether it justifies anything, especially the “moral battles” is suspect. That sounds rather like a restating of “might is right” to me. As the article also reveals, 68 per cent of IVF treatment cycles are unsuccessful, so the technology is by no means fool proof. And while the delight that those five million babies have no doubt given their parents is in no way to be denied or begrudged there is also the reality of the huge amount of pain (physical and emotional) involved in the IVF process. The prevalence of multiple conceptions and associated premature births, still births and health issues that result from IVF are well documented, and the ethical issues that arise when donor eggs or sperm are used should not be discounted.

Over the page was the second article – this one describing how St Thomas’ Hospital, London, is now screening embryos from parents whose families have a history of breast cancer. What the article does not mention is that inherent to the screening and “selection” process is the discarding of any embryos displaying the wrong genetics. This article does not contain even a hint of any moral issue about the selection and discarding of embryos. The ethic is entirely utilitarian.

As evidence that our society is terribly confused about sex, marriage, family, and human dignity and value these two articles are stark. They are not merely reporting science, but telling a story of remarkable, and disturbing, moral shift.

A CRACKED LID, BRUISED RIBS & A PINK TOENAIL

2012-06-24T11:36:00.001+01:00

On Friday morning I was cycling into work when I suffered a classic smidsy (“Sorry mate, I didn’t see you”) accident. Our church building is at the top of a hill, and before tackling the up, there is a fast down. I ride defensively down the hill, occupying the centre of the road to stop cars trying to push past me, and on Friday there wasn’t a car particularly close to me anyway, so I would have been very visible. But at the junction at the bottom of the hill a motorist pulled out without seeing me and collision was unavoidable. I could see what was going to happen and in the split second available tried to get into a position which would cause me the least amount of damage. So, rather than ploughing head-on into the car, I managed to twist the bike round somewhat and then kind of leapt over the bonnet before smacking down onto the tarmac.

My first thought was that this was not good, and that a number of things I had planned for the day would now no longer be happening. Also, that my participation in the Three Peaks Challenge (climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours) which I was due to begin this evening was going to be unlikely.

My next thought was a desire to get up and thump the driver, but that was impossible as I was not able to move. (Probably just as well!)

An off-duty policeman was on the scene almost immediately and took charge of things. An ambulance was there within minutes and an off-duty intensive care nurse also appeared and got involved helping to hold my head as the ambulance guys put me in a neck brace and strapped me to a board. All this took a while and I was lying on the road for about 50 minutes – acutely embarrassed by the scale of traffic jam I was causing.

Once in the ambulance my shirt was cut off, and shoes and socks removed, and it was at this point that my embarrassment increased. A couple of weeks back my daughters were painting their toenails and ambushed me, painting one of mine. It was very well applied, and hadn’t chipped or come off at all, and throughout the rest of the day I had to explain to nurses, doctors and assorted other passers-by exactly why it was I have one pink toenail.

If I had known I was going to get hit by a car I would have got the nail polish remover out.

Once I got to hospital the treatment was great. X-rays revealed nothing was broken, but there were concerns I had internal bleeding as my blood pressure kept plunging and I blacked out a couple of times. In the end this was put down simply to the fact that I had been on my back a long time, was dosed full of morphine, and that sitting up too quickly threw my blood pressure out of whack. I was admitted to a ward and thought I would have to spend the night in hospital, but by 10.30pm they said I could go, and I limped my way out.

I am still in a lot of pain – getting in and out of bed is agony – and am feeling pretty woozy, but that probably has a lot to do with the amount of meds I am taking. My bike needs some attention, but I have the drivers details so should be able to sort that out on his insurance. (Rather than wanting to hit him, I now feel rather sorry for him – it must have ruined his day too.) And I have the frustration of not doing the Three Peaks, which is doubly frustrating having had to pull out of the Brighton Marathon two months ago because of illness and injury.

Oh, and I still have a pink toenail, which I really must do something about.

But perhaps the main lesson for any cyclist reading this is, “Always wear a helmet.” I don’t like wearing one, but it did exactly what it is meant to do, taking the impact and cracking practically in half. I need a new helmet now, but at least it was the lid and not my head that got cracked. Without it things would have been a lot worse.

LEAVING NANCY

2012-06-12T15:00:00.001+01:00

A global financial crisis, torrential rain and floods in the UK, the European Football Championships just started and the Olympics soon to begin – it’s all big news, but not quite so big as David Cameron leaving his daughter in a pub.

Opinion on this one seems pretty evenly split between those who say, “Poor bloke – been there, done that myself,” and others who say, “I always knew he was incompetent.” I guess this split reflects personal experience, as well as pre-existent attitudes towards the Prime Minister.

Like the PM I have a daughter called Nancy. (Although mine is older than his, so it definitely wasn’t a case of copying his & Sam’s example in name choosing.) We’ve never left her in a pub, but we did once lock her in the car when we came to church – it was for no more than a couple of minutes, but she’s never quite forgiven us for it! Mrs Hosier claims to have left another of our offspring in the car while she went shopping, thinking that the child was actually attached to her in a baby sling. When she realized the sling was empty her first thought was that the child had somehow slipped out into a freezer compartment at the supermarket, which – thankfully! – was not the case. My own mother tells a story of how she once left me parked in my pram outside the shops (as people still did in the 70’s – it wasn’t all beige and dodgy haircuts back then you know; you could leave a baby lying about and not get reported to social services or be in terror of a paedophile. Happy days!) and then headed for home forgetting my existence, before realizing she was missing something.

So there is nothing particularly unusual in losing a child without realizing you’ve done so – although I do wonder why the Cameron’s security detail didn’t run a more comprehensive headcount. It wouldn’t happen on The West Wing. Of course, the most famous example of this is Mary & Joseph losing Jesus in circumstances not unlike the Cameron’s – “I thought he was with you!” No, I thought he was with you! That situation turned out ok too.

All of which simply goes to show that we should perhaps be more relaxed about our kids than sometimes we are. Chances are they’ll be ok. And in the PM’s further defence, I would like to point out what an exceptionally cool name he chose for his daughter – you just know that anyone called Nancy is going to be able to look after themselves, wherever they get left.

AS I WALKED OUT ONE MIDSUMMERS EVENING, Pt II

2012-05-29T14:41:00.000+01:00

I like walking at night time and every so often decide to go for a longer walk in the dark. A couple of years ago I did an overnighter around the Isle of Purbeck and this Sunday evening went for the repeat; although this time around I went in the opposite direction, starting from Sandbanks and then to Kimmeridge, via Corfe Castle, and then on the coast path to Swanage.

I recognize that many others consider it a little eccentric for me to go wandering around the countryside at night, but I do enjoy it. In our crowded island it is the only time to experience real solitude – after stepping off the ferry at Studland at 11pm I didn’t see another living soul until I reached Swanage at 7.30am. I like the wildlife – I saw a badger, and deer, and heard a nightjar. I like the smells of a summer night – the wild garlic, and elderflower and general greenness of sap and flower. I like to see the moon set (which it did at about 1am) and the sun rise (at about 5am) and hear the first lark sing (3.40am). And it makes my dogs very happy!

You should try it sometime.

BOOK REVIEW: TEN MYTHS ABOUT CALVINISM

2012-05-12T11:26:00.000+01:00

Ten Myths About Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition by Kenneth J. Stewart

Last week I attended the “Think” Conference organised by Andrew Wilson on behalf of the Newfrontiers Theology Forum. Our subject was, “Is Calvinism Incoherent?” This book could have been written as a direct rebuttal of that charge.

Calvinism tends to get a bad rap. It is widely viewed as a sect pursued by dour white men in service of a dour white god. At the same time, there is the phenomenon of the “New Calvinists”, to such an extent that in March 2009 Time magazine listed New Calvinism as one of the “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.” Both these views are somewhat overblown, and help perpetuate the myths that Stewart deals with. As it says on the tin, the book tackles ten myths, the first four being those which “Calvinists should not be circulating (but are)” and then six which “non-Calvinists should not be circulating (but are).” By way of review, I’ll simply offer a quick chapter-by-chapter comment…

1. One Man (Calvin) and One City (Geneva) are Determinative

A simple historical survey demonstrates that this is a myth. Other men (Zwingli, Bullinger, Bucer, Vermigli) and other cities (Zurich, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Emden) had at least equal significance to Calvin and Geneva during the Reformation. Which means that “Calvinism” is much more variegated than we might think.

2. Calvin’s View of Predestination Must Be Ours

Predestination was not a novel idea dreamed up by Calvin. Indeed, it had been a significant theological strand running back to the teaching of Augustine – and was taught by men as diverse as Aquinas and Wyclif. Calvin’s own theology developed, from a place where predestination barely featured at all, to the 1559 edition of the Institutionsby which point it can fairly be described as “double.” However, other key leaders of the Reformation did not hold to this view of double predestination. For example, Vermigli wrote, “I separate the reprobate from the predestinate because the Scriptures nowhere (that I know of) call men that shall be damned, predestinate.” Other Reformers, such as Beza, went even further than Calvin in stating the “double” nature of predestination. So there is a spectrum of thought, and as Stewart points out, the Reformed standards of the Canons of Dordt and the Westminster Confession of Faith take a softer view on this matter than Calvin.

3. TULIP is the Yardstick of the Truly Reformed

This is perhaps the pivotal chapter of the book, demonstrating as it does that the TULIP acrostic used to sum up Calvinism (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints) is an invention of the last century, and hence relatively novel, and not especially helpful! Stewart quotes Spurgeon as giving a better example of how to summarize the “five points of Calvinism”:

I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called.

Amen!

4. Calvinists Take a Dim View of Revival and Awakening

Another historical survey demonstrates that while some Calvinists have been (and are) hostile towards revival there has been (and is) a strong tradition of Reformed revivalists.

5. Calvinism is Largely Antimissionary

The evidence in this chapter is a logical extension of the previous one, and again the historical evidence undermines the charge.

6. Calvinism Promotes Antinomianism

A great concern of Arminianism is that a belief in “once saved always saved” has an inevitably corrosive effect on holiness. But again, the historical evidence simply doesn’t support the accusation that Calvinists fall into antinomianism more than anyone else.

7. Calvinism Leads to Theocracy

Wrong again! Roman Catholicism in medieval Europe promoted theocracy, the Reformation undermined it. Key to this myth is the notion of “Calvin’s Geneva” which purports Calvin as virtual dictator of that city, but this is simply untrue. Instead of the church governing Geneva, the political leaders of the city very clearly had authority over the church.

As this is starting to sound repetitive, I’ll cover the final three chapters in one hit.

8. Calvinism Undermines the Creative Arts

9. Calvinism Resists Gender Equality

10. Calvinism Has Fostered Racial Inequality

In each of these cases Stewart recognises that Calvinists have been guilty, but that there is nothing about Reformed theology that justifies such positions. As Calvin records in the Institutes “Sculpture and painting are gifts from God.” And, for his era, Calvin had a relatively progressive approach towards women. On the question of racial inequality we need to tread carefully and honestly appraise the attitudes and actions of the western nations of all theological stripes during the colonial era, and up to and including American slavery – in doing so we will find the ugly fact that while the Reformed churches were by no means exemplary, no-one else was either.

So there we have it. Ten myths, unpacked, faced up to, and dealt with. This is an extraordinarily helpful book, and should be read by Calvinist and Arminian alike, as it helps show how we have all tended to get things wrong!

SHOULD THIS BE INVESTIGATED?

2012-05-11T17:05:00.002+01:00

Top blogger Cranmer is being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority for carrying the following advertisement on his blog (which I reproduce here merely for the purpose of illustration):

Apparently, "24 anonymous complainants...challenged whether the claim '70% of people say keep marriage as it is'. However, His Grace is not required to respond to that point, since he did not conduct the research. But it transpires that 10 of these 24 complainants objected that the ads were ‘offensive’ and ‘homophobic’, and he is requested to respond to these allegations ‘under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 4.1 (Harm and offence)’."

As might be expected, Cranmer is getting lots of support from outraged readers, including those who are gay but think the case ridiculous. And, inevitably, a lot of people are now copying the ad onto their own blogs, merely as illustration of course. Quite apart from the issue of whether or not gay marriage is a good idea, the really interesting thing here is on what grounds such an advert could be described as offensive and homophobic, and what that says about the nature of free speech in the UK.

I've no doubt that the ASA investigation will fail to get anywhere - I guess they are simply following protocol - but that they are investigating it at all is beyond parody.

EPIC RUNNING

2012-05-08T21:44:00.000+01:00

Last weekend my brother did a marathon double, running one race on Saturday and another on Sunday. Pretty impressive – and restoring some honour to the Hosier name after my failure to even make it as far as the start line of the Brighton marathon the other week.

52.4 miles is a lot more ground than most of us would contemplate covering in a couple of days, but there are masochists out there who do rather more. At the total insanity end of this spectrum is Sam Boatwright who is currently running 50 miles a day for 50 days (yep, you read it right – that’s 2,500 miles total) around the coast of Britain. I’d had some twitter contact with Sam and got a message on Sunday asking if I could drive his support vehicle today, so I stepped in for a few hours of the Dorset leg.

My job was to drive Sam’s van a few yards behind him as his safety vehicle and it was great fun. As Sam ran through Poole I had a big cheesy grin on my face as other motorists beeped in support and as I got to play a small part in what is a quite extraordinary endeavour.

When I was marathon training I found running 50 miles in a week tough enough and I still can’t quite get my head around how someone can do it every day, day after day. It’s taking a toll though, as Sam confessed in todays Facebook update:

My left ankle is swollen and is iced every night, my right hip hurts with the constant thud of the road, an old break in my foot is now a massive lump and rubs hard against the top of my trainer, my left knee is twisting due to the camber of the road making a small bone in the front pull hard against the tendon, my elbows ache constantly, my right knee burns at the slightest undulation in the road, I have one toe nail left on my left foot and my right achilles has swollen twice the size it should be and grates when I move. Other places are sore but I know children read this and so does my mum. Lets just say, one day I wore the wrong boxers!!

Sam made it to Bridport after I said goodbye to him, and over the next couple of days will be continuing west through Devon and Cornwall before turning north and heading for home in Skipton. Keep a check on his progress and if he’s passing anywhere near where you live go and give him a cheer.

Lots of things get described as “epic” but this run definitely deserves the description.

Such a gent - he even stops for red lights at pedestrian crossings!

BOOK REVIEW: THE GOOD GOD

2012-04-21T10:08:00.000+01:00

The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son & Spirit by Michael Reeves

This is a delightful little book!

Trinitarian theology has seen a huge surge in interest in academic circles in recent years, but – sadly – is often functionally absent from the life of local churches and individual Christians. This is a disaster, not because every Christian should be able to complete a tick-box survey demonstrating their theological competence, but because a lack of understanding of God as Trinity is to be fundamentally lacking in understanding about who God is. Period.

The trouble is, discussions of the Trinity can soon become massively complex, and deeply abstract, and very dry. None of these things are failings of which The Good God could be accused. Mike Reeves has written something which is, truly, delightful. I would strongly recommend this book to be read as an aid to devotion and worship, for that is what it produces. You could do a lot worse than to start each morning by reading a couple of pages of this and letting it direct your heart and soul in worship to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One of the features of the book I most enjoyed are the panels which delve into historical examples that help illustrate the significance of the doctrine of the Trinity. These range from a brief description of Yodo Shin-Shu Buddhism to the joyful theology of St Hilarius to the ‘lust for life’ of William Tyndale. This is all very illuminating and enjoyable stuff.

But the key thing about this book is the way it stirs worship. Clearly and winsomely Reeves describes the nature of the God who lives in eternal, delightful, loving relationship – a love that has overflowed into the creation of all things, and a love into which we are invited to join. The God Reeves describes is very good, very delightful – a God you want to be close to! As Reeves expresses it in a description of the work of the Holy Spirit, “How great and lovely, then, is the work of the Spirit! He unites us to the Son so that the Father’s love for the Son also encompasses us; he draws us to share the Father’s own enjoyment of the Son; and he causes us to share the Son’s delight in the Father. What could be more delicious than to keep in step with a Spirit whose purpose is that?”

What indeed! A delicious God – that is what Trinitarian theology is meant to bring us to, and it is where this book will help draw you.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it!

A GOOD NEWS DAY

2012-04-20T14:11:00.000+01:00

News from the British Geographical Survey revealing vast water supplies under Africa are fascinating. Apparently there is oodles of the stuff down there, with a 75m thick band of water lying under much of northern Africa. Getting it out of the ground is more of a challenge, but I'm sure not beyond the wit of man.

As well as the survey itself being interesting, the response it has generated is telling. A quick look at the comments on the BBC news site reveal sentiments that seem to regard the discovery of water as just one more thing to be depressed about. This comment is typical: Like all other "fossil" resources, once this 70 years of water is gone, it's gone. Africa has the same problem as the rest of the world - unsustainable levels of population which continue to grow at an unsustainable rate. African governments could take a lead in showing that population reduction policies are the pragmatic and compassionate solution to most of the worlds most serious problems.

To me comments like this seem perverse. Rather than, "Hey - this is great news! Just another example of the earths potential to surprise with the abundance of its provision," we get a gloomy, "This will only make things worse." You know what will happen if the aquifers are tapped and then in the best part of a century run dry? Everyone will die? No - we'll find some more water somewhere else! There is no shortage of water on the blue planet - its just that some of it is in places where we can't get at it easily, or is salty. Those are problems that can be overcome. But in the meanwhile, 70 years of water security could be instrumental in transforming a dry region.

The perversity of negative reactions to good news is just one more example of the reality of the doctrine of total depravity. There is a grain of truth in the negativity - a recognition that, in the end, the problem is people. However, this honest recognition is twisted so that people are then made the enemy - whose numbers need to be reduced. (And the eugenic, colonialist mindset this reveals when such comments are directed towards a continent like Africa always leave a sour taste in my mouth and should sound a note of alarm for us all.) Apart from the demonstrable fact that when standards of living improve the number of children people have decreases, and therefore exploitation of resources that will increase standards of living should be welcomed rather than feared, the doctrine of total depravity shows us where the problem is actually located. Rather than fewer people, what we need is less sin! The worlds most serious problems are problems of human sin, so it is sin that needs to be fixed.

All of which is rather good news because, 1. Sin can be fixed, thanks to the power of Christ over sin, and, 2. There is plenty of water under Africa! So I am left in the place of struggling to see the cloud to this particular silver lining. It looks like good news all the way to me!

A BIGGER PLAN

2012-04-15T12:29:00.000+01:00

If things had gone as I planned them, I would right now be about 2 miles from the finish line of the Brighton Marathon. Instead, I am stuck at home, feeling ill, and the rest of the family are at church. However, I have redeemed some of the time by just listening to an incredible sermon by David Platt -
Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions (HT Justin Taylor).

I am starting a series on mission at Gateway in a couple of weeks time (God willing!) and Platt's sermon would be a fantastic scene-setter for that - and for anyone else who wants fresh vision for God's plan to reach all peoples with the good news of his Son.

Go on - listen to it; it is terrific.

Praise God that his plans are not only bigger than ours, but can never be thwarted!

A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...

2012-04-13T17:54:00.000+01:00

While I'm busy puffing Andrew's book, if there is anyone out there who has read mine it would be a tremendous help if you could stick a quick review up on Amazon. Amazon reviews carry weight, so all contributions would be welcome.

Via the wonders of self-publishing Sex Talks is now available on a number of Amazon platforms (although, sadly, not yet as an e-book or in translation). You can find it here:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.fr
Amazon.de
Amazon.es
Amazon.it

Those who prefer to use a proper bookshop should be able to access it via those channels too, and it is certainly available at my local - and outstanding - Christian bookshop, Keith Jones, both direct from the shop and via their online ordering.

Thank you!

BOOK REVIEW: IF GOD, THEN WHAT?

2012-04-13T09:48:00.001+01:00

If God, Then What? Wondering aloud about truth, origins & redemption by Andrew Wilson

The other day I found myself in the somewhat surreal context of lying on a physiotherapists couch, with needles being stuck into my backside to release a muscle spasm, while engaged in a fairly intense conversation about Jesus.

It is funny how often ‘divine appointments’ occur at the most inconvenient of times, so it is good to be forearmed with some cogent things to say when you are caught on the hoof (or in the butt). In If God, Then What? Andrew has provided us with a brilliant example of how to do this.

However, before going any further with this review I should of course confess my predisposition to be positive about Andrew’s latest book, as we know each other personally, and collaborate on the What You Think Matters blog. Moreover, Andrew has previously written a very kind review of my book Sex Talks so I owe him one. But this will not be a positive review simply out of friendship, but because I think If God, Then What? is very, very good.

Generally I am somewhat unenthusiastic about apologetics, and have posted to that effect on WYTM (although this was in part, at least, a tongue in cheek attempt to provoke Andrew). Too often what is labelled ‘Christian apologetics’ comes across as boring, and rather than raising Christ up, lowers him in the dust of hollow philosophical and pseudo-scientific arguments. Andrew avoids these mistakes and has succeeded in blending together something that is like Tim Keller’s The Reason for God meets Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz into a very satisfying apologetic whole, which I devoured in one sitting. (Although this mental gluttony, combined with my current somewhat feverish state, meant I then lay awake, mind buzzing, until 3 o’clock this morning – thank you Andrew!) In fact, the only thing I managed to get myself even a little irritated about was the fact that by having been an undergraduate at Cambridge Andrew got to meet a lot more interesting people than did those of us who attended lowlier institutions!

If God, Then What? leads on us a journey, packed full of anecdote and winsome observation, that travels over territory exploring how we can know anything about anything, to what that might tell us about the likelihood or otherwise of the existence of God, and then into much more explicitly Christian claims about sin and death, resurrection and life. Throughout, Andrew exhibits a light touch, penetrating insight, and considerable humour. Perhaps the riskiest chapter in the book is one on origins, in which it would have been all too easy for Andrew to slip and slide into the murky tracks of so many other apologetics books, and – as Andrew himself puts it – “quote a long list of prize-winning scientists who agree with me, produce great quotations about fine-tuning and the Creator’s aim, and misquote Stephen Hawking a few times to make it look like all scientists basically believe in God.” Thankfully, Andrew sidesteps this pitfall and proceeds in a way which casts light, rather than merely more obfuscation, on the debate.

In terms of audience, I should imagine that this book will appeal in large part to those who – like me – are already convinced of Andrew’s case. Christians will enjoy reading this because it will help them to see some things in a new light, and because it will help equip them for those God conversations with skeptics. However, I think it will also be read and enjoyed by those who are not Christians, or even necessarily theists, as it is engaging, and far from patronising or aggressive. An intelligent 16 year-old could probably handle it (I will try it on my intelligent 14 year-old) and anyone with genuine interest in discussing the big questions of life would find it accessible and interesting. In fact, I would hand it around to my friends in preference to Keller’s The Reason for God because it is more accessible, and more fun. And I think I might give a copy to my physiotherapist!

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

2012-04-12T10:29:00.000+01:00

If I believed in fate I might think that I had tempted it by blogging about my marathon training a few weeks ago.

At that point I had done three months of incident free, quality training. Never before had I strung so many weeks of good effort together without being interrupted by illness or injury. Confidence was high.

But that very week I developed an ankle problem that meant I couldn’t train for a few days. And then, two weeks ago, a few days after I had started running again I developed acute pain in my lower back and could barely walk, let along run (probably as a result of compensating for my ankle) and I thought the marathon was off. But I then went to see a physio last week, who helped considerably – a butt muscle that’s in spasm apparently. (If you are in the Poole/Bournemouth area and need a physio I would recommend BWT).

I thought I was back up to 60:40 for running the marathon, but this week have gone down with a bug which has left me completely washed out and useless, and because I’ve spent the last 36 hours lying in bed my back/leg has got worse again.

So it’s off. No way I’m going to be up to speed for Sunday.

Very frustrating.

If you have already sponsored me I am very sorry to let the side down.

All rather embarrassing really…