When I once visited Las Vegas, I was stunned to hear the slogan,‘If Las Vegas is Sin City, then MGM Grand is the Capitol Building.’

This hotel we were visiting for for a family meal took pride in the sin of sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, and of course, gambling.

Yet, this week, Las Vegas experienced the effects of another form of sin that showed itself in the largest mass gun killing in US history.

This was a sin in which the people of Las Vegas did not boast.

Rather, the horrific actions that saw 58 deaths and hundreds of injuries has led people to ask the question, “why?”

But no matter how many clues we get into the depraved mind of shooter Stephen Paddock, his actions will not make sense to us unless we understand the reality of sin and human nature.

The Bible tells us that our world is marred by sin.

We live in a ‘fallen’ world, which will always experience pain, suffering, and death.

This means that the sin of Vegas is tragic, yet expected, as we await the final return of Jesus when he will bring an end to the effects of sin.

In the meantime, this shocking display of sin should naturally lead us to stop and reflect upon the reality beyond our normal, everyday life.

Any one of us could have been in the crowd at the Vegas concert, and any one of us could have had our lives ended without any warning.

As we see this extreme display of the effects of sin, we must all make sure that we are ready to face the coming judgement that faces every human, and the one and only solution to that sin and judgement is through the death of Christ Jesus.

For, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans chapter 8 verse 8)

Jodie

(CREDIT: Mathias Appel via Flickr)

Recently I read someone attack a Christian about the Bible, saying, “that’s fine if you want to believe a bunch of goat herders living in tents from 4000 years ago!”

As Christians, our trust in the Bible as the divinely-inspired word of God is increasingly seen as antiquated at best, and dangerously misguided at worst.

As people say, “what could such an ancient text say to us today?”

The question for us is this: how do we defend our belief that it’s God’s word to us today in our modern society, when it was written in a such different time and place?

There is no doubt that our society has changed, but its worth remembering some things haven’t.

Firstly, God hasn’t changed.

God is eternal, and whatever our society thinks of him or his Word, cannot change him.

One of the fundamental characteristics of God is that he is a God who speaks: from speaking creation into being, to revealing who he by sending his Son, the WORD.

God is a God who speaks, and the Bible is where God’s living words are recorded for us.

Secondly, human nature hasn’t changed.

For all our sophistication it’s hard to see how our society has overcome some of its fundamental problems.

The Bible offers an explanation for that: while God is a God who speaks, we are people who do not listen to him.

The Bible is able to penetrate beyond modern appearances to diagnose our real current problems, and prescribe a lasting solution.

We shouldn’t be surprised at the world’s rejection of his word.

But where do we go to convince our friends that it is true, or even ourselves when we are feeling a little shaky about this? We go to the source, the Bible.

Since it really is God’s word to us today, he has the power to speak to us, overcome our doubts and convince us of the truth of his Son.

As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Defend the Bible? I would as soon defend a lion!”

Simon Chaplin.

This week I was teaching Scripture at our local primary school. The lesson was the prodigal son, and I was once again surprised by how big and radical God’s love is for us. And it wasn’t just me – the students seem to get it too!

The parable you may recall is of a son who treats his father in the most shameful manner, taking off with all his money and then losing it all in equally shameful ways. He is forced to head home with nothing.

He is met by his father who is waiting for him. His father welcomes him home with open arms. He forgives his wayward son, and then does something amazing – instead of exacting a punishment from him, he throws his son a party.

“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found”. Luke 15:24

My scripture kids were trying to work this out – “so he could do whatever he wants and get away with it?” 

It didn’t seem fair. But that is what grace is – our Father’s big “yes” to us! 

However, I asked my class a followup question: When the son came home, and received that forgiveness, and was thrown a party, do you think he would go out and do what he did again? “NO!” they all shouted.

God’s grace comes to us whatever we have done, whoever we are. But God’s grace never leaves us as we are.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:4-5,10

Simon Chaplin.

One of the most powerful arguments used by those who wish to change the definition of marriage is that it is morally wrong to deny someone the opportunity to marry the person they love.

And yet, changing the definition of marriage is not the most loving thing to do for the children of our society.

The ‘What has God joined together?’ booklet by our Anglican Diocese makes the important point that “man-woman marriage is actually at the heart of United Nations documents about the family.”

It goes on to quote Article 23 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which declares that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

It is most loving to the children of Australia to maintain the definition of marriage that says that the normal group unit of our society consists of the biological father and mother of the child.

Even though there are some exceptions such as adoption, foster care, and donor-assisted reproduction, it is still best to have children living in a stable, recognised, relationship with their own biological mother and father.

God created marriage for the benefit of all people, and the move to distort this is unloving to all children of Australia.

For, we should embrace the gift that God has given us all, as we read about in the first chapter of the Bible:

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:27-28).

I encourage you to join with me in voting ‘no’ in the upcoming marriage plebiscite, as an act of love.

Jodie.

Let’s be honest: the debate about same-sex marriage is very personal.

This discussion directly impacts people in same-sex relationships, and it will ultimately determine whether their union should be recognised as a ‘marriage.’

That is why this debate feels personal, even when people try and only address the issues.

Every ethical discussion will directly affect some people, yet we must not walk away from these important conversations.

For example, a discussion about euthanasia or abortion may cause some people to be upset, especially if they are caring for someone who is terminally ill or carrying an unborn child with a serious illness.

Yet, for the sake of good order it is vital that we have a mature discussion about these issues that affect the very fabric of our society.

But remember that people will often pay more attention to how we’re speaking instead of what we’re saying.

That is why we need to do all we can to show love to those we disagree with, even when they might prefer we didn’t speak at all.

When Jesus encountered people with a different viewpoint, he spoke his mind, even though it caused some people to be upset with him.

And the Apostle Paul felt obliged to defend his viewpoint, even though he knew it would cause people to be unhappy.

As Paul says in Galatians:

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

This is the difficult challenge we face: speaking the truth in love.

And above all, we want to keep pointing people to Jesus, who “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…” (Revelation 1:5)

Jodie McNeill