when life matters

Good things

2011-07-12T17:58:00.000+10:00

It's good to know "that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (I John 5:14).

It's good to know the "the Spirit of God intercedes for us according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27) even when we pray things that aren't part of God's will.

It's good to know that "even our prayers are a gift from the one who "works in us that which is pleasing in his sight" (Hebrews 13:21)" - John Piper

Why pray for the lost when God has predestined the saved? I like how Piper says that to have people hear and believe without evangelism is the same as having predistined salvation without predestination. Read this

Back to Basics

2011-04-13T14:00:00.002+10:00

After reading this: "No Ultimate Meaning Without Immortality and God" William Lane Craig, it reminded my of why I believe in God and where it all started for me as just another person living on just another planet.

Ignorance is bliss they say... and in this case it surely is. I'd rather be ignorant than have to live with the idea of living a meaningless life. "What's the point??!" People say it all the time. If there is no God, I really don't know. Even living selfishly amounts to nothing. You can gain nothing from this world that will be lasting and meaningful.

Back to the point - So this is why so many people choose to turn a blind eye to the bigger picture. Ironically, it seems to be easier to bury yourself in the busyness of this world, looking for the next big highway to riches, fame and fortune, than to just sit back and take in the reality that nothing we spend our precious time cultivating will go with us into the afterlife (if any ignorant person believes there is one?). Hence, the justification to be lazy... almost.

How sad. On another note, I can't exactly wish for everyone to see the light. Imagine how many more suicides there would be when so many realise they've been working their whole lives for nothing.

those governing authorities

2011-01-04T22:22:00.001+10:00

I was having a read around BeThinking.org and stumbled upon another Christian website called Centre for Public Christianity. It covers a whole bunch of topics concerning Christianity and how it fits in with the events of this day and age. One article that got my attention was titled; Do Christians need a Christian Prime Minister?

A (probably Christian) reader commented that they would rather vote for a Christian candidate any day over a non-Christian competitor. It seems only logical that you would vote for those that shared similar views. At the end of the day, being a Christian means God is control of all things political and non-political. Regardless of who is voted into parliament, the Christian belief is that God put them there. An atheist, such as Julia Gillard, has been a part of God's plan as the preivous PM and Christian, Kevin Rudd.

It deeply bothers (annoys!?) me that people are so naive to think being labelled a Christian suddenly makes a person without fault and of good family values. Nothing could be more from the truth. With at least 67% of Australia claiming to be Christian (according to that article), from memory probably only 5-10% of the Australian population practice their faith, so to speak, on a regular basis. There's evidence of that somewhere around the internet, but I have heard it said so many times.

It's still amazes me how Christians get it wrong, myself included and it is a worry that the general view of Christians are that they can do no wrong, ultimately labelling every Christian a fake. How Christians get to voicing skewed or 'incorrect' views based on Christianity is far more interesting and disturbing at the same time. Because the faith rests on interpretation of the Bible, it allows for so many different views. There are all of it. It takes a bit of effort but we can and will continue to learn much from the Bible. The world has not changed. It may have gone high-tech, but it is still essentially the same. Humans still have the same flaw they started out with and the fix is still written in the Bible. basic central truths that hold Christianity together and give it credibility among other things. But when we go about making decisions about day-to-day events, such as politics, many appear to go 'off the Biblical page' with their views and label it as Christianity. The Bible still applies today as it did many years ago. And not just part of it, but

I have found many Christians tend to come off a little rash, ignorant and pompous when expressing their views. It is always wise to be humble and considerate of others; to be as if they do not know what it means to be a Christian, because people do not (and oddly enough, even those that claim to be Christian). As history has shown, it is so much harder to rid yourself of a bad name than gaining a good one.

in the new year

2011-01-01T01:01:00.001+10:00

The first hour of the new year has just passed. Why am I up? No reason. It doesn't feel any different. I thought about making some new year's resolutions but somehow I think all these will be long-term lifestyle changes, not just a couple for the year. After twenty four years, I guess it would get that way.

Who has ever really met all their new year's resolutions anyway? It seems a bit silly to have to wait until now to make them when the changing should have started as soon as we see a problem. So what do I need to change for the rest of my life? Many things I can bet.

The main change will be to avoid coupling procrastination with electronics. This mostly involves watching movies, TV series and gaming. An endless supply of distraction comes from that alone and that just reminds me why it is a trillion-dollar industry. I don't even have to try to procrastinate. It just happens! Being married now, there are blatantly so many other things that just need to be done. It seems like there is never enough time these days. Working eight hours a day, five days a week is too much as it is. How do those that work ten hour shifts cope? No time for themselves and definitely no time for family. Life just seems to get busier as you get older... until we all retire of course. Then it will turn into an eternity of ever trying to find things to do rather than ever doing all the things that need to be done.

It is funny how it works. We work for the most part of our younger lives to spend the older half of it having fun. But by then, we are too old to really enjoy it and ideally would need to be younger to see it as fun. Everything turns into dangerous or frightening and beyond our years. I will be aiming for a bit of both though it seems hard when the last year has gone by so quickly and for the most part, it felt like a lot of time spent at work.

So there's my new 'life' resolutions. Now when do I need to see if I have lived up to each one and reevaluate?

a new blog for a new year

2010-12-29T17:47:00.001+10:00

Welcome to my new blog!

It has definately taken me a good two days to figure out how to fiddle around with the CSS and XML to get my own blog design but I am finally here. It feels so fulfilling just to have completed a somewhat acceptable design and now I can lay back and relax a bit. I will be planning to add a few more links underneath the header if the coding will let me do it. Hours have been spent finding the smallest bit of code which, if I now knew what I did not know then, would have taken about three seconds.

It will soon be time to make some new yea r's resolutions but I'll save that for later. I am still wondering how I will use this blog and what will come out of it after all it is the content that makes it good not just the design - however much I like it.

I think I'll leave it there for now. More in a couple of days!