Colossians 2 sermon preached 28/July/2013

DOWNLOAD Colossians 2 sermon  Thinking there is more to religion than can be found in Christ Jesus is like a person dying of thirst in the desert walking past a water pump because they've read about oases.

Heresy: “You can serve God and your old human nature” (Part 1)

This is a really tempting one. The bible talks about us having to “put to death” our old human nature and all its desires. That sounds painful. That is painful. Our old human nature puts up a strong fight. Our old human nature will do almost anything to survive. So the possibility of a “Christianity” that allows our old human nature to run our lives is going to be very, very appealing. Appealing though it certainly is, the Bible says plainly and often that it is also a “Christianity” that will certainly land you in hell.

Let us take this one a step at a time. First: dying to our old self.

This book began with the baptismal promises which included renouncing “the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh”. These are just a concise statement of what the Bible teaches from one end to the other. Here are just a few New Testament passages.

Jesus said in Matthew 16 “²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[f]will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.²⁶ What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Romans chapters 6, 7 and 8 are devoted to this theme and I encourage you to read the whole of it. Here are just two slices.

Romans 6.11 “¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him.”

Romans 8.12 “ ¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.¹³ For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5 is another whole section dealing with this theme. Here are a few verses: “¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷ For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

 ¹⁹ The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

2 Peter 2 is yet another chapter worth careful study. Here are some verses: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.”

¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” ²⁰ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

These are strong and frightening words. Notice that Peter sees that the power of these heresies is that they appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature. I will end this part with Jesus’ warning about the ultimate fate of those who follow these false teachings:

Matthew 7.21 “²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ .”

Next time: what are some modern versions of this false teaching?

2nd Sermon in Colossians series

DOWNLOAD  Colossians1:15-29 sermon preached 21/july/2013
 Jesus IS lord of all the earth, firstly by creation then also by redemption
(PS I quote from Romans and say it is from Romans Ch 6 ... it is actually the second half of Ch 5.)

More Ethics:

On Second Thoughts …

Lets cross that bridge when we come to it !

Yes I know thinkers like Hobbes and Locke started by trying to construct a theory of … well “government” for want of a better word, as their starting point. I recall that I didn't agree with them when I first read their works and here I am about to fall into the same trap!

I also suspect that one of the mistakes we have made for some time in “Western” cultures is to not separate out ethical behaviour as applied to the individual from ethical behaviour (of perhaps even the same individual) when acting in an official capacity – say as a judge.

Just think about that one example for a moment.

The Bible is pretty clear throughout that we should not seek vengeance. From Genesis 50:15ff where Joseph assured his brothers that he was not going to exact revenge on them saying “Am I in the place of God!”. To Jesus teaching on forgiving one another and on to the New Testament letters the message is loud and clear that we are not to take personal revenge! (I will devote a lot of time to this further on as it is a common failing of people who profess to be Christians! But for now I am just doing a quick mention)

Does this apply to a judge in the courtroom? Definitely not!!

The reason once again, I will just mention here leaving detailed discussion to later on. But a clue is given by Hebrews 10:30 “For we know the one who said 'vengeance is mine, I will repay' it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” So it is not that repaying evil is against God's character, just that he reserves it as his prerogative.

Romans 13: 4 gives another clue: “for (the government) does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.”

The judge is (whether he/she acknowledges it or not) acting as God's servant charged with the task of dispensing I little of God's retribution.

That, as I said is so contrary to the popular moral philosophy of our time that I will need to systematically prove it. But later!

For now I am merely putting this up as an example of my belief that what God's character instantiated in our personal lives may turn out to be different to God's character instantiated in government leaders, judges, police, military and so forth acting in their official capacities.

So for now I will sidestep the very important question of the duties of “the government”, the question of the proper role of Christian ethics in a modern democracy, and the role of Christian ethics in framing laws in a society part professing Christianity, part secular, and part professing other religions. As I said, we will cross that bridge when we come to it! By then (I hope!) we will have discovered much about reflecting God's moral character in our personal dealings that will help us tackle these questions.

So where to start? I don't know. I expect the thing is to just start somewhere. So starting next post I will look at the Ten Commandments.   

Heresy 2: Syncretism

Syncretism is the technical term for mixing in bits of pagan religion into the worship of God. It was so constantly a problem in the Old Testament that we should expect it to be continuing to happen now. So the Old Testament warnings about syncretistic practices and how much God hates them are still relevant to us today.

Before we look at modern examples, let’s look at some from the Old Testament. It is probably one of the major themes, but I will only give a few references here: in your reading of the Bible you will soon see how much of a problem it was.

Judges 10.

⁶ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, ⁷ he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”

 ¹¹ The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites^[c] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?¹³ But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

 ¹⁵ But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” ¹⁶ Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD.

The cult of the pagan gods would become so much a part village life and get so mixed up with the real worship of God that anyone opposing it risked death. When Gideon was chosen by God to rescue Israel the first task God set him was to destroy his village’s pagan idols. It nearly cost him his life.

 ²⁵ That same night the LORD said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old.^[b] Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole^[c] beside it. ²⁶ Then build a proper kind of^[d] altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second^[e] bull as a burnt offering.”

 ²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

 ²⁸ In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

 ²⁹ They asked each other, “Who did this?”

   When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

 ³⁰ The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

 ³¹ But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” ³² So that day they gave Gideon the name Jerub-Baal,^[f] saying, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he broke down Baal’s altar.

The problem continued over the centuries. Even when the people claimed they were worshipping God, they added pagan practices to their worship.

Jeremiah 6

¹⁶ “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. ¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

 ²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on people and animals, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.

 ²¹ “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. 

Jeremiah 44

 ¹ This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt—in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis—and in Upper Egypt: ² “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins ³because of the evil they have done. They aroused my anger by burning incense to and worshiping other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever knew. ⁴ Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’ ⁵But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. ⁶Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out; it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today.

……………..

 ¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, ¹⁶ “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! ¹⁷ We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. ¹⁸ But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

 ¹⁹ The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

 ²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him, ²¹ “Did not the LORD remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? ²² When the LORD could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. ²³ Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”

The destruction of Jerusalem we know for a historical fact. From the Bible we know that it came as a judgment from God after generations of disobedience by the people and in particular worshiping other gods, including the “queen of heaven”. This act of God in history, among others, gives absolute certainty to the truth of his words through Jeremiah and other prophets that he really hates his people worshiping false gods. Yet they still do it to this day.

I visited Ephesus during a tour of Turkey. As we sat in the ruins of the ancient amphitheater, our guide read out the passage in Acts 19 where there is a riot in Ephesus and a crowd gathered in the ampitheatre and for two hours shouted “great is Artemis of the Ephesians”. The guide had previously been at pains to tell us that the Ephesian Artemis was quite different to the Greek one. The goddess they worshiped had a totally different (and rather repulsive) statue representation. He pointed out that the place had been the site of “mother-goddess” worship from almost prehistoric times, and the goddess had been successively “re-badged”: from an earth-mother-goddess of which 6,000 year old figurines had been found to the cult of Cybele to this distinctively Anatolian Artemis. Our guide notes, written by an Anglican theologian from Melbourne also mentioned this and made the further connection that with the ascendance of Christianity the temple of Artemis was destroyed but that it was then in Ephesus that the cult of Mary worship began.

It seemed that whatever spiritual forces had been worshiped there over the millennia had again re-badged: this time as “the virgin Mary” and got itself added to Christian worship; just as Baal and Asherah worship had been added to the worship of God in ancient Israel.

As we traveled we found that it had invaded Christianity in many countries. We saw so many churches that had large statues in them, richly adorned, of a female figure wearing a crown. Supposedly they were statues of “the virgin Mary”. We noticed that they were often titled the “queen of heaven”. That title itself takes one back to Israel in Jeremiah’s day where the people were worshiping a “queen of heaven” as well as God – and it made God so angry he destroyed them! We appear not to have learned the lesson.

In our hotel in Civitavecchia there was a booklet about a local jeweler. He was apparently famous for making richly adorned crowns for “queen of heaven” statues. Some of his crowns had even been blessed, the booklet said, by the Pope. I was terribly saddened to read this as it indicated that pagan idolatry was condoned and even given false legitimacy by people who should know much better.

Nothing could be less honoring to the memory of Jesus’ earthly mother than these pagan goddess idols. Nothing could be less like following her own good example than the whole “Mary” cult.

The real Mary was a woman who loved God. Look at her response to the angel Gabriel. Told that she was to bear the long awaited Messiah, even though she was not having sex with her fiancée, she says simply “may it be as you have said”. That is faith! Not just belief that God could do the “impossible” but also trusting that God would save her from the consequences. She would have been acutely aware of Joseph’s (and the community’s) likely reaction to hearing she was pregnant when he knew he had not had sex with her.

Then we read of that beautiful moment when Mary and Elizabeth are together. God’s plan to save all humankind is about to break in on the world, and here are the two key women the only ones who know – Mary who is to bear the Messiah and Elizabeth who is to bear John Baptist who will prepare the way for him – and these two women are filled with excitement and supporting each other. They are seen here as truly great women of God.

From there to the grief stricken mother at the foot of the cross and on to the Mary we are told in Acts was one of the worshiping community before the day of Pentecost. The real Mary was a woman of great faith in God. A woman who was there praying with the early believers soon after Jesus was raised from the dead. A woman who, as a devout Jew, would have thought it utterly wicked to worship or pray to anyone or anything other than the one true God.

To the real Mary this cult of “the blessed virgin Mary” would be utterly abhorrent. The real Mary would revile these “queen of heaven” statues as the pagan idols they really are.

One point I should perhaps add before I leave this subject. The Roman Empire, as you know, became officially Christian under Emperor Constantine who gained power in 306AD. Under him the seat of government moved from Rome to Constantinople (modern Istanbul). The empire was mostly Greek speaking in these eastern parts, but clung to Latin in the west. The Greek speaking part started using the term “theotokos” literally “god-bearer” for Mary. That was half right – she was the human being through which Jesus who is both God and Human was born. But she had only to do with the human side of the equation. Jesus was God before the world was created and came into his creation through the power of the Holy Spirit in his conception. As the Bible says (Romans 1) ² the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³ regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life^[a] was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power^[b] by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 

As to his humanity, Mary was Jesus mother because she was human, but not in respect to his divine nature.

As Jesus himself said in John 10 “³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? .

In John 8 Jesus stresses his pre-existence “ Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 

And remember the wonderful beginning of John’s Gospel where he says about Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Jesus was “God-the-Son” before Mary was born, before Abraham was born, before the universe was created, even before time existed.

So even using the term theotokos “god-bearer” was really shaky ground. When the term moved to the Latin speaking west it lost something in the translation and became even more inaccurate: “mother of god”. This is wholly false! God, Father Son and Holy Spirit is eternal and has no mother! Mary was a human being: a devout and faithful human being, but just a human being; a very important human being in God’s plans, but just a human being; a human being who was very dear to Jesus, but just a human being.

So, do not be deceived into this idolatry no matter how cleverly it proponents try to camouflage it or “explain” it to you.

Colossians 1:1-14 Sermon 14/July/2013

Colossians 1:1-14. Love as a mark of a faithful church  and the role of faith & hope in this.
(P.S. the other readings set for that Sunday were Amos 7:1-17 and Luke 10:25-37 and I make a passing reference to these without saying what the readings were)

"adding to the Gospel" Heresy - final (for now)

5. Prohibiting certain foods and/or emphasizing Sabbath keeping.

You are less likely to come across this, although as I said earlier it was a problem for the denomination I grew up in. But just in case; I will give you some relevant scriptures.

Both these things were commanded in the Old Testament as you will notice reading through it. However the New Testament makes it clear that they no longer apply. As Colossians rather cryptically says they were shadows of the things that were to come but the reality is found in Christ.

Colossians 2.16

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

Stressing as a religious duty things that God does not command turns these things into a human addition to the Gospel. As I said earlier any human addition to the Gospel ends up taking our attention away from Christ just as surely as carbon monoxide saturates our blood and prevents it absorbing oxygen.

Jesus also spelled out how these human additions actually manage to take over from God's commands – what I have been comparing to carbon-monoxide poisoning – and can end up with people doing the very opposite of what God desires. Both Matthew and Mark record the following event when Jesus made this quite clear:

Mark 7 1-13

(New International Version)

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honour me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and mother,’and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

The part where Jesus talks specifically about food regulations follows:

Mark 7 : 14-22 (esp v.19) (emphasis added)

 ¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside you can defile you by going into you. Rather, it is what comes out of you that defiles you.”

 ¹⁷ After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸ “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters you from the outside can defile you? ¹⁹ For it doesn’t go into your heart but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

 ²⁰ He went on: “What comes out of you is what defiles you. ²¹ For from within, out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile you.”

So beware of human “traditions” and human additions to the Gospel.

Next post I will start looking at the other main sort of heresy - mixing Christianity with a bit (or a lot!) of some human religion. The technical name for this is "Syncretism". 

Galatians 6 - sermon 7/July/2013

Galatians 6 (first half of the chapter) ... were these some "throw-away lines" or does Paul here give us a cameo of what life could and should be like in a Christian congregation? Listen and find out!

Morals Post - a qualification

On the Other Hand, Maybe I should qualify that !

I've just been reading Justin Welby's (Archbishop of Canterbury and whilst not the head, definitely a leading light in the worldwide Anglican Church) address to the English Anglican general synod. The link is

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5098/archbishop-justins-presidential-address-at-general-synod

Reading his speech I really thank God that he has got Justin to be in that leading position. However one cultural difference struck me.

His English background is one where the “Church of England” was very closely linked to the government of England. Even in the olden days when Kings of England ruled without a parliament the church wielded a great deal of power. So the idea of the Anglican Church through its committees or bishops directly influencing government policy is part of their inherited culture.

As an Australian born and bred (my forebears came here in the early 1800's – some as free settlers, some in chains as convicts {one stole a sheep!}) I have a different cultural inheritance. From its inception as a colony, Australians refused to have any “established church”. This was to be a free country where no denominational church had the government in its pocket (or vice versa!). Well that was the stated intent. In practice human nature being what it is there has been “argy-bargy” and horse trading between government and denominations.

In Australia today there is a paradoxical situation. Denominational leaders do try to push their own political views – which are not necessarily those of their adherents, or particularly “Christian”). Often they try to tell the people who really have been elected to run the country how they should do their job. (which in my previous post I said was not how I thought churches should act).

On the other side we have very vocal groups who oppose Christianity and everything it stands for. They push the idea that “separation of church and state” means that people who hold Christian beliefs should be gagged and not allowed to make public comments or if elected to parliament not allowed to let their Christian faith influence how they run the country. This is an even worse situation!

My arguments leading up to this point have been aimed at this false secularism ideology. This is the ideology which has been infiltrating the western world. I suppose its effect is strongest in Europe – especially the “Eurozone”. Closely followed by England. Australia seems to be about 40years behind England in this influence.

I am not supporting an “established church” as a political power. Historically that has worked out very badly. I am not advocating the sort of regimes we see now being imposed by Islamists with their draconian “Sharia Law”. The military intervention we have seen this week in Egypt with the army deposing a “Muslim Brotherhood” president who was not ruling in the best interests of the majority Egyptians, has shown that even Muslims do not necessarily want this sort of state.

So I had better spend the next few posts examining what I do want to propose as a model for Christian ethics in a modern democracy.