Malala Yousafzai has become famous for her fight for women’s education, her courage in the face of threats, and her recovery after a shocking gun attack. Her story has inspired many. And she can teach christians a thing or too.
Black Stump is a christian music and arts festival that has been held near Sydney for the past 25 or so years. I have just come back from my 15th Stump, and it was one of the best ever.
So, we have seen that the structure of our brains can be changed by what we focus our attention on, and that this can lead us to “harden our hearts” and be inflexible in our thinking, especially as we grow older. What can we do to prevent this?
The Bible occasionally talks of people hardening their hearts, or having hard hearts (e.g. Pharaoh in Exodus chapters 7 to 10). This concept is now common in the English language. Brain plasticity suggests it may be closer to literally true than we might have imagined.
I’ve been reading a couple of books on the human brain recently, and have been especially impressed by new discoveries about ‘neuroplasticity’. I think they help understand some christian practices I learnt many years ago.
I have written many times on this blog about problems I see with the way most churches operate. So it is a pleasure to be able to write about a community of christians who seem to be doing things ‘right’.
Last post I blogged about atheists at US universities, many of whom grew up in ‘fundamentalist’ churches. This post, we look at conservative christians who went through a period of examining their faith, but chose to continue to believe in Jesus, albeit their beliefs about God changed somewhat.
We christians are nearly always talking. Our pastors encourage us to be out there talking about Jesus at every opportunity. Even if no-one is listening. But maybe we should try listening more. Maybe I should try listening more!
Although I am rather straight and conservative, I have always appreciated those who are creative, alternative and ‘out there’. Recently I came across (on the web) someone who is all of those, and more. And loves Jesus too!
Another way in which Christianity is changing is the number of churches that are getting involved in their local communities, offering help and counselling services to those who need them and finding ways to make their community a better and more caring place. We can learn from three different churches in three different continents.