Tag: western society

Walking wounded
(March 11, 2016)

I must admit it jolted me a little. I was walking slowly through a local shopping centre when I was confronted with the sign shown above. 46 Australian soldiers have been killed on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, since 1999. But more than 5 times that number of returned soldiers have committed suicide […]

Are you an extremist?
(February 28, 2016)

The dictionary defines an extremist as “a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action.” Search for photos tagged as “extremist” (as I did for this post) and the majority of the photos are of Americans protesting against their government, especially their President. The one […]

A short rant
(February 3, 2016)

aka “a simple desultory philippic” a We interrupt this series on difficult questions for a short rant. Please move along quickly!

The shocking behaviour of God!
(January 10, 2016)

Spiritual principles series We don’t know much about the prophet Habakkuk, but he probably lived around 600 BCE when the Babylonians were becoming powerful and a threat to Jerusalem. Habakkuk is shocked by the violence around him, and asks God how long he will tolerate it. He gets a shocking and surprising answer, but one […]

I remember when the world was very different
(November 18, 2015)

This is an adapted re-blog from Is there a God? I’m not sure if I was a normal boy, but I always loved maps. So one of my favourite books was the Oxford University World Atlas. I loved it because of the diversity of its maps – it even included details on the solar system […]

Truly a great alternative
(October 15, 2015)

Book review I wonder what comes into your mind when you read the word “Anabaptist”? Or the word “Mennonite”? Perhaps, like me until a few years ago, you might remember these words from the time of the Reformation, when Anabaptists were a loose collection of idealistic “fringe” christians persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike for […]

What you sow, you will reap – or perhaps someone else will?
(September 29, 2015)

MennoNerds SynchroBlog on Refugees There have always been refugees – people fleeing from oppression and death that they cannot fight. And there has always been oppression and killing, as greed or fear or power lust drive people to destroy, enslave or oppress those who belong to another tribe, another belief or another power grouping. But […]

Christians and abortion
(September 25, 2015)

Can christians find a loving and ethical response in the abortion debate?

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city
(August 18, 2015)

In the west we generally live in post-christian societies. Although the majority of people in many countries may list their religion as “christian”, weekly church attendance is down around 5-15% in many countries, and somewhere around 30% in the US. It seems that in many cases, churches haven’t really adjusted to the end of Christendom […]

Learning from an atheist
(July 10, 2015)

Apologetics series Many atheists have alleged that great harm has been done by religion, christianity in particular. Even if they have overstated their case, we can, and must, still learn from their criticisms. And if the analysis is fair, we have all the more reason to listen and repent. Keith Parsons is a US philosopher […]