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Blokes Bible LunchTimes Christchurch

Oct 20

Categories:

Comment

Okay so I’ve heard it a few times during recent weeks but I reckon we’ve got a pretty awesome national anthem.

Though after a bit of digging I was quite surprised as I came to the conclusion that its lineage is not quite as clear cut as most people think.

God defend New Zealand was written as a Poem by Irish born Thomas Bracken in 1870.

After a range of jobs around the new “colonies” during the gold rush days (an experience which reflected richly on his writing) Bracken ended up in Dunedin and after some of his poems gained some recognition he began working in 1875 for the “Saturday Advertiser” which had as one of its primary aims “to foster a national spirit in New Zealand and encourage colonial literature.”  He ended up as editor.

 

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Oct 18

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Comment

Sorry but it just has to be said - my firm hope is that Israel will make it to the Promised Land this Sunday.

(Go the good guys!)

Oh and glad we don’t have a Moses in the team – (assuming a red card would be in the offing if we did.)

Oct 17

Categories:

Book Review

Don Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

You might find this a bit rich coming from the likes of me but I would say that any book by Don Carson can be trusted to be theologically sound.

Don’t be put off by the fact he’s an academic – he may have been ensconced in academia for quite some time but of late I’ve found “the Don” to have really got into the groove when it comes to writing his books for a wider audience than academic boffins.

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Sep 29

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Comment

Whatever you do please don’t go and tell what I am going to say to the kids.

Now most people know that Santa Claus is basically a fancy name for Saint Nicholas.

You know – the fat guy in a red suit who jumps down our chimneys to give us all presents.

He’s actually a saint – forget about the Roman Catholic version of saints – that’s a croc – a saint according to the Bible is a person who is counted as one of the faithful in Christ Jesus (refer to the start of Ephesians if you want to check me out on that one)….he’s a Christian…

The red suit think apparently comes via Coca Cola – but I’m not going to chew the fat on that one now.

 

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Sep 25

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Comment

I’ve just finished the New York Times best seller by A.J. Jacobs – The Year of Living Biblically – One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible.

It is a light hearted book by a non believing New Yorker of Jewish heritage to follow the Bible down to the nitty gritty.

And although not exhaustive – it was pretty interesting – and very funny at times.

At the outset Jacobs acknowledges he is not a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;

I was agnostic before I even knew what the word meant.  Partly it was the problem of the existence of evil.  If there is a God, why would He allow war, disease, and my fourth-grade teacher Ms. Barker, who forced us to have a sugar free bake sale?  But mostly, the idea of God seemed superfluous.  Why do we need an invisible, inaudible deity?  Maybe He exists, but we’ll never know in this life.P4

I’ve rarely said the word Lord, unless it’s followed by of the Rings.  I don’t often say God without preceding it with Oh My.P21

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Sep 04

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Comment

I recently had the privilege of spending a few days of sitting under the teaching of Anglican Bishop Peter Brain from the Armidale Diocese over in Australia.

Bishop Brain, the author of the fairly well known book “Going the Distance” had an awful lot of wisdom to impart.

Being close to retirement age he had some inter-generational observations on the generation of today which I felt were worth repeating.

 

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Sep 02

Categories:

Comment

An observation of mine with regard to the internet age is that we have an awful lot of information at our finger tips.

I’m not that old but I still remember back in the days before computers were widespread – we had a Pears Cyclopedia in our front room – that was always my first port of call for any reference matters…..I thought it was amazing.

Who could have imagined that within twenty odd years we’d have such things as Google and Wikipedia at our fingertips.…even more amazing.

At the mere keying of a few words we have more information than we can wave a memory stick at.

Fantastic!

 

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Aug 30

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Comment

Just over a month after the Rugby World Cup final there will be a general election.

Regardless of whether or not the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup I reckon National will romp in.

And the main reason I say that Labour won’t get within a “bulls roar” is because, to be frank, I just don’t think Phil Goff is much chop as the leader of the Labour Party.

Sorry to offend any of you “Micky Savage on the wall”, Labourites but the current polls would appear to concur with me on that one.

With this in mind I thought to myself the other day; why on earth doesn’t John Key make a public relations meal of this mismatch?  Why doesn’t he get some mileage out of this?

 

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Aug 24

Categories:

Book Review

How relevant are the ideals of the reformation to the church today?

And while we are there – what actually are the ideals of the reformation?

If these are questions which on occasion have irked you, then here is a book which presents to you the opportunity to act on that conviction.

First published in 2000 this has now been republished in 2011.

This book is really a theological refreshment of the ideals of the sixteenth century reformation.

It was derived from a series of lectures at a conference at the Evangelical Theological College in Wales in July 2000.

In summary it is a good little book and I think is worth reading.

 

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Aug 20

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Comment

To say that this year has been an unusual one for Kiwis would have to be a massive understatement.

For me personally as a Canterbury resident it’s been huge.

In less that a minute I lost my work, ten workmates, my doctor, my home and my church.

I attended seven funerals in a week.  I’d never seen such grief.  It’s been a sobering experience for me personally.

My faith has indeed been sorely tested.

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Aug 18

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Comment

Anyone that knows me will know I like to have noise wherever I go.

If I had a psycho therapist they’d probably have a field day with that.

(I put it down to being the third child).

Anyway we digress.

Here’s the story right.

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Aug 17

Categories:

Comment

A seminal moment occurred during the recent credit crunch when Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve in the US and messiah and champion of free markets, admitted that he had been taken aback by the failure of rational self interest to regulate risk taking in the banks.

Some would say it’s a shame the messiah of the free markets didn’t adopt the argument long put forward by the behavioural school of economics that investors are not rational (being subject to a whole range of emotional biases).

With the benefit of hindsight – it wasn’t clear to many of these fund managers, who’ve since gone down the gurgler, what a “rational” decision should be.  They “had to make choices in situations of overwhelming choice, information overload and information uncertainty.”  While making these decisions, they also found themselves under pressure from clients who were demanding short term success and daily feedback in the form of share price movements that caused even the market professionals to doubt their own reasoning.

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Aug 13

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Comment

I relived a little bit of my youth the other night.

In particular I rediscovered on YouTube one of my old favourite albums from a band called “World Party”.  The album was called “Private Revolution” and even though it came out in 1986 (man I’m getting old) I still quite like it.   In fact I still have it on vinyl in my garage.  (Sadly, in case you are wondering, even though I have the vinyl I don’t have a turntable so I had to resort to YouTube).

Anyways – you may not remember the band but if you’re old enough you may remember what is probably their most memorable song from that album; Ship of Fools.

 

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Jul 31

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Comment

John Stott passed on last week.

His life and passing may not seem like a big deal for you.  I didn’t see any obituaries in the secular New Zealand media about him.  I’m underwhelmed at the media coverage this got even in the secular media in the UK for that matter.  (..then again he wouldn’t care….and he’d be right).

But if you are a committed Christian I reckon chances are his humble hard yards behind the scenes have edified you.

 

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Jul 24

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Comment

One thing’s for sure this sure as hell ain’t heaven….

These are the thoughts that have been rolling round my own head at various speeds ever since I heard creation groan on the 22nd of February 2011 when I lost ten workmates, my workplace, my home (pretty much), my doctor and my church in the earthquake that struck Christchurch that day.

After a frantic initial torrent of prayer – the confirmations of deaths were the standing eight count for me and I sunk into what I can only described as a pool of emotional and spiritual indigestion.  I just couldn’t believe this had happened.  Why on earth was it that I, who had walked out of the building less than an hour before the quake was saved and yet the guy who was recruited to take my job and who was sitting in my desk was taken?  Why was it that I got to go home to my kids yet there were sixteen kids with parents on my floor alone who were denied that privilege from that fateful day forward?

 

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Jun 10

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Comment

I love you guys too!

Let me lay my cards out on the table and state at the outset of this article – if you want to put me in a box – I am an Evangelical Christian.

There you have it – I felt it appropriate to lay it down upfront – If you want to paint me into a corner (and put a bulls eye on me while you’re at it) – then goody for you – but if you could read on a tad I hope it may help.

Anyway let’s move on before things get awkward…

 

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Feb 20

Categories:

Comment

Subordination.

What comes to mind when you think of the word subordination?

The popular perception of subordination is not very nice.

It’s akin to asking a lamppost what it thinks of dogs.

Most people associate the word with some unpleasant experience they’ve had to endure from those in authority.

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Jan 18

Categories:

Book Review

I brought this one a while back – but it sat on the shelf for quite a while before it got read.

That’s odd for me – in the past Tim Keller books have been devoured up within a week of receiving them – he is an excellent writer.

(I don’t know what a psychologist would make of that they’d probably have a field day….thankfully though I can’t afford one)

On reflection perhaps I was a little uncomfortable with the title of “Generous Justice”.

For many congregations in New Zealand it seems that social justice is not just an outworking of the gospel on the believers heart – it actually is the gospel. And it is this misunderstanding that has resulted in many churches (particularly the liberal ones) in New Zealand functionally teaching salvation by works instead of the great protestant bulwark of justification by faith.

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Location 1:
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1 Sir William Pickering Drive
email: cam@blt.org.nz

Location 2:
Parry Field Offices
1 Rimu Street
Riccarton
email: kris@blt.org.nz

Go Brad!