Peter’s Corner
I fitted another piece to an empty spot in my jigsaw puzzle, and marvelled at finding the only piece that perfectly fitted the shape and picture required for the empty spot. That reminded me how marvellously our universe is put together. It is like a jigsaw built not from cardboard pieces, but from physical and mathematical laws and numbers.
Did you know that scientists have discovered stunning coincidences between the values of some physical constants and the requirements for life? The numbers have amazingly exact values. This is called “fine tuning.” According to Michael Turner, famed astrophysicist, the fine-tuning of some of the constants is as unexpected as throwing a dart across the universe and hitting a precise one millimetre wide target.
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Author: Jody Bennett
Believing six impossible things before breakfast
I had a discussion with someone the other day who liked Challenge News but disagreed with our stance
on creation. He felt that six days couldn’t be taken literally and that, in the light of textual criticism and evolutionary science, we should take those verses as instructive myth, rather than history. It got me thinking. Christianity is considered a religion of history, full of actual places names, dates and backed up by thousands of archaeological finds. So, if we discard the first bit of Genesis as not historic, at what point do we then agree that history begins?
Holiness
Holiness is not really a concept bandied about much in our culture today. If the term is used, it would most likely be negatively, as in “Stop being so holier-than-thou!” Meaning, “stop being so self-righteous”, or “stop judging me for my bad behaviour”.
‘Holiness’, as far as our culture understands it, is something we think we ought to avoid in order to make others feel better about themselves. Even exercising a free choice, like not drinking alcohol, not swearing or not sleeping with someone can be construed as some sort of super-spiritual behaviour depending on the company, and elicit an accusation of being too ‘holy’.
In the Bible, however, the word ’holy‘ in the Hebrew language means ’things belonging to God‘.
Things and people are ’made holy‘ by dedicating them for use by and for God.
When God shows up somewhere, like in the Jewish temple or at Moses’ burning bush, He transforms that space into a holy place. Even coal shovels and candlesticks can be holy, because they are set aside for use in God’s service.
Other words that convey that special use for God’s purposes are ‘sanctified’ or ‘consecrated’.
The New Testament calls Christians “a holy people”.
Looking around at those who follow Jesus that you know, you might disagree. But the point is that they are not holy because of what they do, they are holy because they belong to God and God is using them for His purposes.
Christians should indeed act in a manner that is upright and sin-free, but that comes out of the identity of holiness that God has already given them by forgiving their sin and accepting them as His children, not out of a striving on their part to become ‘good enough’ for God.
The Christian God, Yahweh, is perfect, sinless and all good. God’s standards are high and holy. Apart from Jesus’ atoning [paying the debt] sacrifice on the cross there is no way humans could meet them.
However, with Jesus as both Saviour and Lord of their lives, Christians are empowered to live holy lives — not sanctimonious lives, but lives full of humility, love, kindness, patience and self-control.
You too can be holy and live holy, no matter how you have lived up to this point. You can change the script of your life by committing yourself to God by means of a simple prayer such as the one on this page.
Becoming a peacemaker
by Rob Furlong
You don’t have to look very far in our world today to see how lacking we are in peace and peacemakers.
Right now, as you read this, there are 22 wars being waged around the world, on five separate continents, resulting in the deaths of 120,151 people in 2022 alone. Some of these conflicts have been going on for decades.
Closer to home, many of us have no peace in our personal lives or relationships. Perhaps a friend at school has turned against you or you are no longer speaking to a relative because of an argument neither of you can resolve.
Many people perpetually live their lives with a profound sense of deep sadness, emotional hurt and estrangement from God and people.
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Becoming a piece of world peace
By Rob Furlong
“A smile is the beginning of love.” – Mother Teresa
Agnes Gonxha was born in Skopje, the capital of modern-day North Macedonia and at the age of 18 entered the Order of the Sisters of Loreto with the intention of becoming a missionary to India – she arrived there in 1929. Known then as Sister Teresa, she was deeply moved by the overwhelming poverty and destitution of people living on the streets of Calcutta and sensing the call of God, in 1948 began working to alleviate their suffering.
Eventually joined by a group of young women, she founded the Missionaries of Charity with the vision of providing “wholehearted free service to helping the poorest among the poor.” They worked with AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis sufferers, allowing them to die with dignity in the Mission’s hospice, provided food, and founded orphanages, schools, and mobile clinics. In time her ministry grew to 4,500 nuns serving in 133 countries.
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Life Hacker
“One of the greatest tricks the devil ever pulled was making people believe he didn’t exist” says Kevin Spacey’s character, Kaiser Soszay, in The Usual Suspects.
Of course, today it seems ridiculous to believe in a bad guy in red tights with horns and a trident. But that was just an image Middle Age artists developed to try to convey evil in a way that spoke to their audience; what if we use an image for evil that speaks to us today? What if I said Satan is a hacker.
Imagine him as a spiritual hacker – looking for weaknesses in your life to exploit and using your personal information against you.
Testing teens can teach a thing or two
AS the mother of three teenagers I am learning many lessons about my parenting, and about my faith, through them.
For instance, one of my biggest issues with one of my teens is the lack of common courtesy, including please and thank you.
The lack of those two little words turns our relationship from parent/child to lackey/entitled ingrate. I don’t mind vacuuming floors, ironing clothes, making food or picking kids up from school, but a simple ‘thank you, Mum’ gives me great pleasure and the impetus to keep doing these things day in and day out. It says my child sees me, and acknowledges my small act of service as something I chose to do, not ‘had’ to do. It affirms my dignity.
I don’t need gifts or gushing praise, or even a hug (although they’re a rare gift from a teen) but just two or three words said sincerely is enough.
Meeting Jesus on your couch
Published June 2020
IF you have never the read the Gospels (the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible) or have read them but found them hard to imagine as history and difficult to picture as real life events, then may I encourage you to watch the free series The Chosen about the life of Christ on The Chosen app?
With a 8.5 user score on IMDb with over 5,000 user reviews, making it the highest-rated faith project of all time, and 100% critic score and 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, this is not some painfully acted, poorly crafted Sunday school project.
The Chosen has surged into IMDb’s Top 250 All-time series list. It joins other prestigious series like Netflix’s The Crown and HBO’s hit series Band of Brothers and Chernobyl as the most highly rated historical dramas. Dubbed into Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, besides its original English, it is currently being watched in nearly every country on earth. Continue reading
Don’t worry!
Published April 2020
BE anxious for nothing. This is one of the strangest commandments in the Bible.
First of all, there is an awful lot to be anxious about – coronavirus for a start; climate change, child abuse, domestic violence, North Korea, species extinction, incoming asteroids, financial disaster, difficult relationships, online bullying, weight gain … You name it and we can worry about it!
Do you have what it takes?
Published April 2020
IF you are not a Christian but are thinking of becoming one, there is something important you should know: it may cost you your life. Not just figuratively, either – literally. Christianity is not for weaklings, do you even have what it takes?