Friday Funny

Bible Verse of the Day

Behold I will create a new heavens and a new earth.  The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.  I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.  Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be considered accursed.  They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.  For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.  They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.  Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food.  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.
Isaiah 65:17-25

666 And All That

With a title like that, this book is bound to get some attention!  It sure jumped out at me when I saw it sitting on the table at a camp bookstall.

John Dickson and Greg Clarke are two fantastic, down-to-earth writers and this book is no exception.  It dares to delve into the topics that divide or confuse many Christians and offers easy-to-read and biblical explanations.  To those Christians who are attracted to the 'weird and wonderful', it will plant your feet back on the ground.  To those who are afraid, it will help you realise that end times is not as scary as you may think.  To those who have very rigid views on the topic already, it will rebuke and challenge you.

Here's what the blurb says:
As we look together at what the Bible says and doesn't say about the future, we expect many readers will be disturbed, comforted, humbled and hopefully thrilled.  Some cherished beliefs may be rattled, some confirmed and others discovered anew.

Some of the topics it covers are:

• The different views on the millennium in Revelation - including looking at where beliefs such as the Rapture came from.
• Jesus' return
• Hell
• God's judgement, including hard questions such as the fate of those who have never heard the gospel.
• Life after death
• Renewed creation

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog may remember last year I asked the theological question, What happens after you die?  Soul sleep or straight to Jesus?  in Calling All Theoblogians #9.  Dickson and Clarke provide a pretty good answer.  They believe that a believer rests in God's presence until their body is raised physically on the last day and they live forever with God in the renewed creation.  It fits with verses about bodies being raised and also with Jesus telling the thief that today he will be in paradise.

I won't say anymore.  I don't want to spoil it.

On the downside, I did find the sequence of chapters a bit hard to follow.  The authors do say in the book that they arranged it that way for a reason, but I found sometimes it felt like the subject matter was jumping all over the place a bit.  Personally I would have arranged the chapters differently, but that's just me.

What I will say though is: read this book!  If you are not sure of your beliefs in some of these areas and it has been too confusing and hard to explore, have a read.  If you've grown up with your parents' or church's view of the end times and not questioned it, have a read too.  The book is controversial and the authors don't shy away from stating their beliefs, but they do it in a friendly manner.

The Pendulum: End Times

I'm trying not to make this post too controversial...but here goes...

I find it hard...VERY hard... to have meaningful fellowship with Christians who are OBSESSED with end times.

It's not that they aren't nice people, it's just that it's hard to steer the conversation away from their favourite topic.  It's all some Christians want to talk about.  Whether it's debating whether Barack Obama is the antichrist or being glued to the TV when anything about Israel comes up in the news, I get thoroughly sick of hearing about it.  I don't know whether to be offended or amused when some people just assume I agree with them.  If I'm silent, it doesn't mean I agree - it means I don't see any point arguing.

Why is it when I see some people they are always telling me about how they're studying Daniel or Revelation?  Umm there are 64 other books in the Bible that are worth a look too.

Oh and don't get me started on the Left Behind series!  I don't normally destroy books, but for that I made an exception.

It's funny I'd never even heard of the terms premillennialism or amillennialism until Duncan and I started dating.  He was telling me that he knows many strong premillennials and I asked, "A pre-what?"

I came from a church in Perth that spoke very little about the various views on end times.  Although my views on the end times probably most closely resemble amillennialism, they can really be summarised in a few points:

• Jesus is coming back one day, but no-one except God the Father knows the date or hour.
• We have been given the task of reaching people with the gospel.
• Therefore, we need to be ready for Jesus' return, but not in an obsessed, star-gazing, current affairs-analysing kind of way.  We need to make the most of our time to tell people about Christ because we do not know how long we have.

I went through a stage when I thought that the end times didn't matter at all (I called myself an I-Don't-Give-A-Toss-Mill), but I listened to a sermon series on Revelation a couple of years ago challenged my perspective.  This stuff is in the Bible so it does matter.

Although I don't consider myself a hardcore amill, I disagree with the premillennialist view.  I think it's a wrong interpretation of Scripture and that we are given glimpses of the future, but cannot say emphatically, "It will happen like THIS."

Having said that, I would never EVER not want to have fellowship with people who have differing end times views.  It is not an important issue so it should not cause divisions between Christians and churches.  It is not a test of whether someone is a true Christian or not, and it should NOT be a requirement for church membership or choosing a pastor.

I have some great friends who I know have different end times views to what I have (or aren't sure what they believe) and that's fine.  It only becomes a problem when divisive, argumentative people come into play who want to make grey areas into black and white ones.  It is pointless to split hairs over it because there is a lot we DON'T know.

There are things in which Christians should stand their ground on.  I do not believe this issue is one of them.

Bible Verse of the Day

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.  Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time.  After that, have nothing to do with him.
Titus 3:9-11

A Timely Rebuke

There has been a fair bit of discussion about the end of the world lately. American Harold Camping predicted the earth's last day would be the 21st May 2011, and now there's Alan John Miller and Mary Suzanne Luck from Queensland who are claiming to be Jesus and Mary Magdalene returned to earth (and have atttracted a number of followers).

While we can say those people are nutcases, Carolyn McCulley from Radical Womanhood offers a timely rebuke to those who of us who claim to be Christians and say we believe Jesus will return.....but live like He never will.

Read her post here.

The Winner is Sydney

The countdown is on!  Duncan and I fly to Sydney this Friday.

When deciding where we would like to go this year, Sydney was the winner for a number of reasons.  Neither of us have been to Australia's most populous city before, plus we have friends who moved there from Perth at the start of the year.  They are studying at Bible college and we want to encourage them and give them the joy of seeing some familiar faces.

We will be gone for about five days and will be staying with our friends on campus at the college in their tiny apartment.  That's one reason why our trip will be short.  We can't afford hotels and eating out all the time, and we figured our friends might get sick of us if we stayed any longer.

But don't nobody go nowhere.  Scheduled posting will be in full swing (I hope).

So Sydneyites or those who have been to Sydney.....where should we go and what should we do? 
What are the must sees (besides the bridge and Opera House) in a short period of time?

Image is from http://www.freestockphotography.com.au/