A great piece in The Age from Michael Leunig gives this reflection on our society:
‘Like in many situations elsewhere in the culture, what is valuable and original is being most obscured or overlooked, and what is most lurid, feverish and foul in the human condition is lavishly displayed.’
If you’re following the election debate in Australia it is hard to pick what are key issues or what will really make any difference. The things that are really important in life are not decided by how we vote but how we treat God and how we treat the person next to us.
Okcupid is claiming that iphone users have more sex (see here), a closer look at the data they are presenting reveals a fairly fatal assumption in their analysis. They have assumed that more partners equals more sex. If you look at the articles attached previous posts (here and here) better sex is not related to quantity or diversity but quality of relationship. If it is quality of relationship that creates the best sex, then as they have on average more partners, iphone users have the most unstable relationships and hence the worst sex.
There you go, with a small shift in assumptions there are good statistical reasons to avoid an iphone.
Who would have thought that the choice of phone could change you life that much?
Yes, my old friend from school, Kamal, who is a Presbyterian minister in Western Sydney, has been lecturing with his mum in Melbourne in the last week. Great to see you made the news Kamal!
With all the hype around the ipad’s release in Australia I am wondering what is driving all of this. Is it merely the love of gadgets and technology? Is it fashion and the status it can bring? Is it the need to have the most convienient, up to date information or some way of connecting in the urban jungle?
I love my gadgets but I have not yet gone and camped out for the release of one. Trying to scratch below the surface of these phenomenon is difficult. Perhaps grabbing an ipad is how you can become part of a new type of community, I certainly know that not having such devices can make you feel almost obselete at times. In modern society Community and connection are increasingly hard to find and establish. People are more mobile than ever and it is hard to establish local communities with the diverse demands on people’s time today. While devices such as mobile phones, and the next generation including the ipad seem to promise connection it is hard to see how it will be anything but superficial. Often the complexity of technology can lead you to spend more time playing with it than working on meaningful relationships. The ipad is designed more for communication of information and entertainment than any real connection. Admittedly when it comes to the ipad there is more behind it than merely connection, I suspect the novelty value and the perceived power of instant information are big factors too.
As I continue to look for connection I am reminded that through Jesus that God wants more than a superficial connection with us and calls us to find something deeper with Him. Knowing God gives us more reason to get involved in the inefficient process of getting to know others. In my suburban context I think for now I will be better spending my money on coffee at my local and enjoying life connected face to face.
Mark Sayers has a good reflection on his experience of running a missional church here. I have reflected on the question of ‘Is the church missional?‘ in the past.
Theologically speaking the church cannot be fundamentally missional for the church is eternal and mission is not. However I do not want to diminish the importance of mission in the present context. The helpful reflection Mark brings is that mission comes out of our experience of God. I would want ot push this to say that it is as we gather and are discipled around the word of God that we then look out in mission. God helps us to see the things he is doing in Christ which then gives us a deep concern for others and God’s world.
“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” – Charles Spurgeon
Here is a great article by Dan Kimball on speaking to people about Hell.
Andrew Katay also talks about how not to preach about Hell here.
