My Dream For Our Society

What kind of society do we want? Can I share with you the type of society I imagine and dream of? It's a society where everyone has good opportunities. The kind of opportunities where people can dream, set goals, plan for the future, raise a family in a safe atmosphere, and earn the right to see these hopes fulfilled. For this to happen we will have to -

1. Help people broaden their education (not necessarily through formal schooling) so that they learn how to learn and how to think. 
2. Ensure that everyone has access to clean water and a nutritious diet.
3.  Give everyone the privilege of choosing how their society is governed and by whom.
4. Have regulations ensuring equal prosperity opportunities for all, which also prohibit criminal conduct.
5. Honour, protect and support the most vulnerable within our society (children, women, the elderly, the handicapped).

To achieve this kind of society requires a balance between individual freedom and an individual's responsibility to their community. It will also require a deep commitment to common values like-

• Freedom of religion - people are free to express their beliefs in worship in a morally lawful manner.
• Fairness in the market-place - adequate regulation to ensure that businesses have the right to negotiate with the employees about remuneration from a regulated minimum and for employees to have the protection of regulation against unfair work practices.
• Respect for people's well-being and property - rather than tolerating theft disguised as entertainment, or rewarding those who violate this respect. Those who steal should be required to repay their victims what they stole plus 20%. 
• Legislation is not just Law, legislation is education - laws not only define penalties for their breaching, they also serve as a statement of what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, despite whether people respect certain legislation or not, certain legislation should not be converted to regulation because it doesn't have universal support (for example, laws against murder will never be fully respected by everyone and this should not lead legislators to regulate murder instead!).  
• Protection for the vulnerable - on a national scale (with a well resourced Defence Force), on a State level (with a well resourced Judicial System), and on a community level (with a well resourced Police Department). 
• Equitable Taxation System - rather than a Taxation System that is a dis-incentive on enterprise, hard-work, or a fair reward, we should value a taxation system which allows our society members to share collective responsibility in an equitable fashion.
• Family as the basic unit of society - marriage provides the safest and most secure emotional setting in which to raise some of the most vulnerable within our society: children. A strong society needs to relearn how to exercise healthy shame. There are some communities which do this really well so that 'shameful' behaviour is clearly looked down upon and discouraged without the need for governments to intervene with legislation. Societies should prize strong healthy families and discourage those things which undermine them. When families are intact and strong, a society is strengthened (I have written more about this in my book- What Is Family? And Why It Matters!) This is why pornography is so unhelpful for fostering healthy marriages and families. It is also why a caring society recognises that prostitution undermines the value of women and destroys trust within a marriage even before a person is married and even years after it occurred.  
• The importance of classical education - society should prize learning and not be edu-chrono-phobic when it comes to learning from the great books or teachers of the past.

Can you imagine a society where the most vulnerable are honoured and respected rather than abused or neglected? 

Can you imagine a society where enterprise and productivity is rewarded both by society and government without being penalized? 

Can you imagine a society where the market-place, the judicial and legislative systems are free from corruption to administer justice equitably to all?

Can you imagine a society where people seek to understand before being understood so that conflict between ideologies are converted to dialogues?

Can you imagine a society where there is collective care not just individual rights?

The best strategy for achieving this kind of moral, just, equitable, productive, caring society, is found in the teaching of Christ and His Gospel. Historically, when societies have used this as a model they have valued the things we all intuitively prize. To be sure, there are some glaring examples where this has not been done even though those in power claimed otherwise. Upon closer examination though it can be readily shown that the worst examples of "Christian" influence upon a society were actually pseudo-Christian instead.  

Imagine that.

Should We Be Surprised?

The State Attorney General, Lara Giddings, used her Budget Reply Speech to announce that she is going to help Mr Nick McKim (the State Leader of the Greens Political Party) with a Private Member's Bill to legalise Euthanasia. What is so staggering about this is that we have just gone through the process of a Parliamentary Enquiry into Voluntary Euthanasia.

This Parliamentary Committee had received overwhelming evidence that Voluntary Euthanasia would be socially destructive. Faced with very clear findings, the Committee presented a Report to Parliament which demonstrated that in the few overseas jurisdictions where Voluntary Euthanasia had been legalised it had led to utilitarian tragedy. The Report also identified the deep concerns that medical practitioners had for the potential abuse of their patients. The Parliament stood to reject Mr McKim's "Dying With Dignity Bill" as a result. 

I was present during the hearings and heard firsthand the submissions given by doctors and palliative care workers. I was also engaged with supporters of Mr McKim's Bill prior to the hearings. What was disturbing during this engagement and even the hearings themselves, was the dire ignorance regarding palliative care. In fact, the one Greens member of the Committee seemed perplexed when doctors described how they cared for those suffering 'intolerable' pain.

Firstly, these professional carers challenged the fundamental claim behind the proposed Bill - that there were people in intolerable pain. Several doctors working in palliative-care emphatically stated they had never encountered any patient in intolerable pain. Secondly, they described how they treat with great dignity those in incredible pain who are dying. Hearing that the dosage of morphine increased as the pain increased, the Greens politician queried whether this actually hastened the patient's death. The doctor responding to her constrained his annoyance at the veiled allegation by making two points-

1. Morphine was not given with the intention of ending the patient's life, but with the motive of relieving their pain. 
2. The overall effect upon a patient in such a condition in hastening their death was negligible (minutes, perhaps hours).

But Ms. O'Connor, the Greens member, put it to the doctor that this kind of treatment was what the Bill was trying to legalise. It was at this point that many of us attending the hearings realised that the Proponents of this Bill did not understand what Palliative Care was.

In fact, I had received emails from supporters of the Bill arguing that Voluntary Euthanasia legislation would allow doctors to do just what this Palliative Care doctor had reported as the general procedure for caring for the dying who were in incredible pain! In other words, what most supporters of this Bill thought the Bill would allow, was actually legal - NOW.

It appeared that most supporters of the Greens' radical Bill did not appreciate how the legislation could be used to end the life of anyone (not just the deceased, the infirmed, the injured, or the deformed). This is what happened in the Northern Territory when they had similar legislation. This is why the Bill there was withdrawn soon after it became obvious how it was being used.

I applaud what I hope is Mr McKim's motive for such legislation: compassion for the suffering and dying. But there is a general myth in the public arena that the current legislative regime means that dying people are kept alive against their will. This general myth is not true. It is also a myth that it is illegal for doctors to treat dying patients in a way that indirectly hastens their inevitable death. I would appeal to Mr McKim and Miss Giddings to not proceed with this radical, dangerous, legislative agenda.

http://andrewcorbett.blogspot.com/2009/07/dignity-of-euthanasia.html

Is the New Jerusalem Here Yet?

The dividing line between Classical Preterists and Full Preterists is how the Biblical references to the New Jerusalem are understood. Full Preterists, who argue that all of the Book of Revelation is fulfilled, contend that the New Jerusalem has already (spiritually) come 'down'. Classical Preterists, who argue that only Revelation chapters 1-19 are fulfilled, on the other hand contend that the expression New or Heavenly Jerusalem while indeed alludes to the New Covenant, will one day have its full expression after the Second Resurrection.

Full Preterists approach the Book of Revelation as if it is all fulfilled. Naturally then, the reference to the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven described in Revelation 21 is considered fulfilled. A supporting reference for this Full Preterist approach is allegedly found in Hebrews 12:22-.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

The writer to the Hebrews seems to be referring to the same New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. In this Hebrews reference, the writer is clearly stating this as a present (therefore, a past) event. This would then seem to be cased closed for the Full Preterist. But there are some serious problems with this interpretation. . . [read article]

Perfect Peace

In the midst of national turmoil, the prophet Isaiah gave an amazing promise that perfect peace was available to those who followed a very simple strategy. Today, the "Peace Industry" is booming. There are therapists, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, life-coaches, and even online relationship directors who all attempt to help people find lasting peace. People spend billions trying to find peace for their soul in toys, holidays, eXtreme sports, computer games, and illicit contraban. Added to this, we have much of the world in turmoil (I even read one commentator describe the Arab World as "The Muddled East". Yet the amazing promise announced by the Prophet Isaiah over 2,500 years ago was that God was offering 'perfect peace' to those who did two very simple things.

"Perfect peace". There have many times even this year when I have applied the Prophet's promise of peace. I have discovered that these time-tested sacred words are still effective. With perfect peace a person can navigate change. With perfect peace a person can triumph through tragedy. With perfect peace a person is able to view life's jolts as God-ordained refinements to His perfect plan for them.

The next time life throws a curve-ball, consider the Prophet's promise of perfect peace found in Isaiah 26:3. More urgently, when life becomes comfortable and then suddenly flows more rapidly without your permission, stop everything and run after your Bible and as fast as can open to Isaiah 26:3 and apply it immediately.

Dear God, whatever You ordain for my, and despite how I react,
please fill me with the wisdom to apply the Prophet's promise of perfect peace
described in Isaiah 26:3.
Lord, don't let me fret. Please be the Object of my obsession. I need Your perfect peace more than ever.
Amen.

Finding The WIll Of God

Finding the will of God requires a walk of faith. In this video, we discuss some of the aspects involved-

James Part 7 - Faith & The Will of God from Andrew Corbett on Vimeo.

Led By The Spirit

I remember shortly after I was converted to Christianity that I was amazed to read the teaching of Christ in the Gospel of John about the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke of the Spirit leading, guiding, filling and teaching His followers. My amazement grew as I read the account of the Church's birth and growth in The Acts of The Apostles (which some scholars refer to as The Acts of the Holy Spirit). Jesus made the staggering claim that His followers would be better off without His physical presence because they could then experience the gift of the Holy Spirit. Wow!

After I discovered this, I began praying and seeking what Jesus offered. I had had a born-again experience, but what I read Jesus teaching seemed to be supplementary to this. It wasn't long before I did indeed experience a new dimension of the Holy Spirit's presence in my life. I knew that when I committed my life to Christ and received God's gift of saving faith that this was made available to me by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is only possible when the Holy Spirit enters a person's heart. But there is a life in the Spirit that is punctuated by a spiritual upgrade where we begin by humbly openning ourselves up to a fresh experience with God's Spirit. I believe this is revealed in the Feasts of Israel mentioned in Leviticus 23. 

After the Feast of Passover (which foreshadowed our salvation due to the death of Christ) came the Feast of Pentecost (which was the namesake of the history making event recorded in Acts 2). You'll notice that each of the Feasts ("festivals") dramatically forecasted the progression from the Old Covenant to the fullness of the New Covenant in sequential order.

After my experience of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, I found that the Bible came alive. As a teenager I would read between 10 and 20 chapters of the Bible a day. My hunger for God's Word increased dramatically. I began to devouring teaching tapes from the world's best preachers. I read books and books and books. And I found a growing desire to pray - to talk with God. I began praying spontaneously. I prayed for seemingly trivial things. I read the biography of Dawson Trotman (the founder of the Navigators, a disciple-making organisation set up to help Billy Graham to follow-up new Christians). There was one comment in this book that changed my life. The book described the short life of Dawson up until his conversion to Christ and through to the period of him setting up Navigators and ending abruptly when he died 'prematurely' saving a drowning person. The book contained a record of Dawson Trotman's deepest regret just before he died. "I didn't pray for enough! I didn't pray for enough!" he lamented.

Dawson Trotman had prayed for many things. Many of these outlandish prayers were either witnessed or journaled. He would get a large map and lay his hands over nations and pray for them. He would pray for God to change that nation and then made himself available for God to use him in answer to these prayers. Before he died, Dawson had experienced amazing answers to his 20 year old prayers. So amazing were these answers that he began to realise that if he had only asked for more in prayer, God probably would have answered those prayers as well! Just before he died he marvelled that prayers he had been praying for 20 to 30 years had eventually been divinely granted. Thus, his deep regret that he hadn't prayer for enough.

After I read this, I began to pray for more. I discovered that there are some prayers that God will always answer-

Dear God, change my life however You want...
Lord Jesus, have Your way in my life...
Oh God, help me to live for You...
Lord, speak to me and help me to yield to You...
Holy God, bring people into my life who will help me to grow into Christ's image...
Oh God, speak through me and don't even let me know You're doing it...

After I learned to pray in this fashion, I began to sense more clearly the Spirit's leading. I continue to learn what it means to be led by the Spirit. In recent times I have experienced answers to these prayers that has increased my realisation of being led by the Spirit. The other week I was in Los Angeles and was driving to meet some seriously smart Christian scholars at Reasons To Believe. On the way there I was praying for God's guidance. I began to feel that I needed to film an interview with these guys. Then I felt that I needed to do this creatively. Then I weird idea popped into my head. I got there and shared the idea with these guys and they ran with it. After I had completed the filming, one of the admin staff made the comment that this was amazing timing because the one I had particularly honoured was not usually the focus of their ministry and that it was his birthday next week. When I completed the project I sent it to him as a birthday present. He was rapt!

Just this week I felt to ring my brother just before we left for our holidays. I spoke with him at length and encouraged him that God was working in his life. The next day, after we had started our vacation, he sent me a text saying that he had just been sacked. I was able to remind him again that God was working in his life. That same day I felt to pray urgently for someone in our church about 5AM. I did so. Then about an hour after that I received a text from this person asking for prayer.

The more I read God's Word, the more I want to fuel being led by His Spirit and to discover more about what it means to be led by Spirit. Are you reading His Word every day? Are you being led by His Spirit? Do you take all your concerns to Him in prayer- even the trivial ones?

People led by the Holy Spirit... 1. Learn the language of the Spirit through reading the Bible 2. Pray for God to have His way in their lives 3. Are prepared to act on godly promptings. 4. Bring to God even their trivial requests, heart-aches, or thanksgivings. 5. Regard guilt not as condemnation but as the gift of conviction and a message from the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

When I read First Corinthians 12 and 14, I read of an early Church that was led by the Spirit. When I read the Book of Acts, I read of apostolic leaders who were led by the Spirit. I want our church to be led by the Spirit. I hope that we each deepen our knowledge of the Scriptures and thus learn the language of the Spirit. I hope that we increasingly open ourselves to the Spirit and exercise the gifts of the Spirit- but most importantly, that we will bear the fruit of the Spirit as we are led by the Spirit. This will be test of the claim that we are genuinely Spirit-led.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Father, help us to be led by Your Spirit. Prompt us to pray. Cause people to come into lives who will stretch us, challenge us, correct us and encourage us. Increase our hunger for Your Word. Help us to hear You and please You. In Jesus' Name,

Amen

Finding Happiness

Happiness is contagious. You catch it from others. That's why the happiest people on earth are those who are blessed with others. When they are with others they spread and catch happiness. Yet for many people happiness is an allusion- it alludes them. They buy books, attend seminars, go on retreats, hire life-coaches in an attempt to remedy their unhappiness. But the remedy to this allusion can often end up leaving them sadder (as well as out-of-pocket).

Happiness is a wonderful gift from God. Those who have it have learned how to share it. They have learned that it is not caused by circumstances, but by their own responses. They have quickly discovered how to ensure that it disappears and have made certain resolutions that would ensure they are more likely to be in a happy state than an unhappy one.

Of course the Christ follower has many obvious reasons to be happy. We have had our true condition revealed to us and it is desperately pitiful. Of course this is not a reason to be happy, except that it makes the solution to our dire and critical condition all the more wonderful! There is the line in a hymn that says,

My shame was deep
But His mercy was deeper still

The ageing and by then blind John Newton, who wrote the classic song Amazing Grace, became quite vague toward the end but on his deathbed he said conceded and gloried-

There are many things I cannot remember, but this I can never forget-
I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour!

But not all Christ-followers realise their wonderful reason to be infinitely happy. This is why the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians that he was praying that the eyes of their understanding would be opened to what Christ had really done for them.

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, Ephesians 1:18

If someone introduced themselves to you as "your protector" you might be mildly thankful - but you would be greatly more thankful if you had seen what they had just protected you from! God is our Protector! We have cause to be happy!

Happy People Know That... 1. Happiness is contagious - you don't find it in isolation - good friends go with happiness 2. Excessive inactivity and idleness eats happiness away 3. Setting and assessing regular goals helps happiness 4. Everyone feels unhappy at times, and that's OK 5. Their own happiness grows as they give it away 6. When things are good there is Someone to thank!

Even in the midst of phenomenally negative circumstances the Apostle Paul was happy. He lists some of the hardships he had recently endured and then said-

Romans 8:37 ¶ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Wow! "More than conquerors"...Wow!!!! Not just conquerors - more than conquerors!In the ancient era in which Paul wrote, Conquerors would make their vanquished enemies their 'footstools'. That is, they would have to bow down before their conqerors. But to be "more than a conqueror" is not to just have your enemies bow before you but to have your enemies serve you. Paul saw that trials, distress, deprivation, pain and even the death of loved ones, actually served us! It's not that we just overcome these things, we are not just conquerors, we are more than conquerors! It's not our circumstances which determine whether we can be happy or not. We can be more than conquerors in the midst of pain, trials, and difficulties and therefore enjoy life and be happy! 

Father, help us to be happy. Open our eyes so that we can see why we really have great cause to be happy. Thank you that You have shown us our true condition so that we can sense just how infinitely pitiful we really are. And thank You Lord God for Your infinite mercy extened toward us by sending Jesus Christ to suffer and die in our place . We give You thanks for the Holy Spirit Whom You have sent into our hearts and minds. So Lord, despite our circumstnaces please fill us with great joy and help us to be happy. In Jesus' Name,

Amen

The Heavens Will Be Set On Fire

The story goes that an educational experiment was conducted to test the impact ofpreconceptions. Two classes of children were carefully selected to ensure that both groups of children were of near equal intellectual and academic abilities. Then two teachers of near equal ability and experience were selected to be the classroom teachers for these two classes of children. But both teachers were given wildly different information about their classes. One teacher was told that they had been selected to teach this particularly difficult class of children. This class, they were told, were disrespectful, unwilling to learn, hard to manage, and years behind the academic averages for their age group. The other class teacher was told they were selected because of their outstanding teaching abilities with gifted children. These children, this teacher was told, were the exceptionally gifted and needed to be stretched academically. The story goes that both teachers fulfilled their preconceived ideas about their respective classrooms of children. The alleged difficult learners proved to be very difficult learners and the gifted students seemed to indeed display all the traits of academically gifted children. The point of this story is that expectations deliver different results. Perhaps a similar point can be made about the way in which we approach Scripture...

I've been teaching the Art and Science of Biblical Interpretation for several years now for two Colleges. I've also been privileged to be a guest lecturer in this subject in several overseas colleges. The technical name for this field of study is "Hermeneutics". One of the first objectives I give my students is to get them to appreciate the overall message of Scripture. By understanding the "Big Picture" of the Bible, it better helps the student to correctly understand the particular details of a Bible passage. The other objective I give them is to then try and dispense with their preconceived ideas about what the Bible says, or at least to become open to other points of view, and to then learn how to test these interpretations of the text.

The problem with approaching a particular text of the Bible with a preconceived notion of what it means is that it can hinder us from appreciating its actual meaning. I think this might be the case with the Second Peter 3:12 text.

There are some things in Scripture that are deduced by reasonable implication. That is, there is consistent and sufficient evidence within Scripture to be able to conclude certain acceptable doctrines, even though the particular doctrine may not be discussed exhaustibly in one Biblical passage. This is the case with the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine is deduced by appreciating the overall message of Scripture. But there are some 'doctrines' that have been formulated on the basis of preconceived ideas. This approach to Scripture is known as "eisogesis". But then there is a more subtle form of eisogesis which takes a Biblically deduced doctrine and falsely reads it into texts which do not support it. This type of preconceived Biblical interpretation is far more difficult to discern because it attempts to endorse a legitimate doctrine but does so with inappropriate texts. I consider Second Peter 3:12 to be such a text. [Read full article]

Being Negative Is Attractive

I was reading an insightful article in Christianity Today by Collin Hansen who noted that great movements are often founded on negative campaigns. Negative people attract a following. Hansen points out that it's easier to identify the problem than it is to offer a solution.

A quick survey of movement building reveals that many groups struggle to shift from destruction to construction. The Tea Party movement hates taxes and wants to defeat President Obama. But what's their shared vision for governance? Who knows. The Democratic Party built large congressional majorities and recaptured the White House behind unified opposition to President Bush. But less than two years later, polls indicate widespread voter dissatisfaction with Democratic policies amid intraparty squabbling. Strategists now suggest that Democrats—who control two of three government branches—should blame the minority Republicans rather than try to campaign on their own accomplishments.

Yet, who wants to be known as "negative"? We nearly always denounce politicians when they are negative- but notice what we generally do in response to negative people? "Denounce" is negative. But it almost sounds "positive" to denounce negativity. Indeed this psuedo-postive strategy worked for one of our State Political Parties during our last election. He denounced the other two major parties for being "negative". People were attracted to this negativity- just ask Brett.

But why do we all default to the negative? Why are we drawn to those who find fault? Whatever the reason, Gossip magazines don't care. They thrive on this attraction to the negative.

Collin Hansen wonders whether any movement can successfully transition from being built fundamentally upon negative ideals, to being a movement promoting a positive agenda? But I wonder if you can even do one without doing the other? That is, if a movement is positive, it must also be negative. The moment a movement identifies what it is for it automatically declares what it is not for. In fact, the more positive a movement becomes the more negative it has to be. This is unavoidable because the clearer a movement's direction is, the clearer and more obvious it becomes where it is not going.

For the Christian and the movement he belongs to, the Church, there is certainly a lot to be negative about. But this negativity is entirely because we are for something else. We are against sexual immorality because we are for marriage-for-life because marriage between a man and a woman reflects the Holy Community of the Trinity from which life springs. We are against the taking of innocent human life, despite its size, age, condition, parents, or location, because we are for the dignity of life because all human life is created in the image of God and has instrinsic value. We are against man-made-religion because we are for God's offer of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

As a Church, we at Legana will be necessarily negative - and we should not be daunted by pseudo-positive denouncements for being so - because we are just as positive about our mission to proclaim the life-saving, life-changing message of God's love and grace through Christ and summon people to repent, flee the wrath to come, and become a part of the New Covenant Community Christ is gathering.

Ephesians 4:13-15 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Someone has put it this way- Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.

Father, help us to be courageous and bold for you. Help us to be positivelyfor the things and issues You want us to be for. May we love our spouse selflessly. May we parent our children with intense care. May we get involved in their lives so that we live the extra-mile to those who should matter most to us. As a church, may we be strongly united and committed to our mission of preparing/praying/proclaiming the eternal need to accept Christ as Saviour. Father, we thank You for saving and continuing to change us into the image and likeness of Jesus. Give us a heart to grow and to reach out beyond our comfort zone so that those who have not yet received Christ, will. In Jesus' Name,

Amen