An online survey of issues, events and ideas
Gordon Cheng / 7th June 2007
/ Media Watch
Michael Ruse is the man quoted in our current issue of The Briefing as saying “The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist”. (The God Delusion is the book by Richard Dawkins that is in the vanguard of a number of recent and strident attacks by prominent atheists on religions of all sorts.)
Who is Michael Ruse? He is professor of philosophy at Florida State University, and is the sort of man that you would have expected to battle right alongside a Dawkins or perhaps a Christopher Hitchens. He thinks Creationism is a ridiculous notion, and he's been battling against its representatives for the last 30 years, so to find him arguing on a different tack is slightly surprising.
Yet in this article he is bold enough to suggest that many evolutionsts are just as religiously ridiculous in their zeal as the most swivel-eyed creationist could ever be. It's a fascinating interview: in it, he confesses that evolutionist W D Hamilton's view that we should commit infanticide to remove disabilities from the gene pool “makes [his] hair stand on end”.
Most creationists and evolutionists tend to distract themselves away from considering the man Jesus Christ, the only son of God, by turning to debate minutiae of sub-amoebic proportions. Small things are not unimportant, but when they stop us thinking about the gospel, they start to matter out of proportion to their size.
Karen Beilharz / 6th June 2007
/ Media Watch
Our very own Gordon Cheng will be participating in a live blog discussion on stem cell research at The Daily Telegraph from 12:30 to 1:30 pm today. Watch this space for further details (and the right URL!).
Update: Here's the correct link.
Gordon Cheng / 6th June 2007
/ Marriage
Jim Ramsay, in the same marriage seminar, reported a conversation he'd overheard between Larry Crabb (author of a book on Encouragement, but not the Matthias Media one) and Broughton Knox, the principal of Moore Theological College at the time. Knox had asked Crabb what the foundation of his approach to psychology was. Crabb replied “Justification by faith alone”. Knox, whose doctorate was on this subject, was naturally interested to hear the answer: “Tell me more.”
Crabb explained that without the doctrine of justification by faith, true forgiveness was not possible. And without true forgiveness, there could be no reconciliation in relationship.
No doubt the full answer contains more nuance than this brief report suggests. But the upshot was that, in Crabb's view, some couples had placed their relationship beyond help because they rejected this most foundational of doctrines: justification by faith alone, through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. They didn't understand forgiveness, and so they couldn't forgive each other.
Gordon Cheng / 5th June 2007
/ Marriage
I went on an overnight marriage seminar by myself. (Weird, I know.) The explanation is that I was one of the people who was supposed to give some input, but as is often the case with these things, one of the best parts of it was being able to sit and learn from others.
At the seminar, Keith Condie pointed us in the direction of researcher John Gottman, a man who's run a Love Lab for the last 30 years. This isn't as sleazy as it sounds. He's invited couples to this place—an ordinary house—where all conversations are recorded except for those that happen in the bedroom or the bathroom.
After 30 years of this work, Gottman is convinced that he can predict with 96% accuracy the way in which a conversation is going to end up just by listening to the first three minutes of interaction.
The key is that the conversation will end badly with an almost terrifying inevitability, if the first words spoken are harsh. For example,
“Why are you wearing that?!”
“So, you decided to come home at last.”
“Where do you think you're going?”
“I can't believe you said that in front of everyone.”
An angry start-up leads to a defensive reaction. The defensive reaction leads to a further accusation. The spiral continues downward.
A harsh start-up involves more than just words. They include tone of voice, (sarcastic, heated) facial expression (eyeball-rolling, glaring, grimacing) and a great range of nuances that only careful observers, such as the parties in the relationship, might be aware of.
There were at least two things I learnt. One was the obvious one: I should watch how I start a conversation—with my wife, or with anyone. The writer of Proverbs, not surprisingly, knew this a long time ago, when he said
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
(Prov 15:1)
The other thing I was reminded of was how much we need to pray to the Lord Jesus to give us his Holy Spirit, and to give us a spirit of self-control and gentleness. Anger may or may not be justified, but my human nature is such that anger almost always leads to sin.
Karen Beilharz / 3rd June 2007
/ Gospel opportunities
Because we're so trendy here at Matthias Media, in response to popular request (well, maybe not that ‘popular’), we now have these cool little buttons and banners that link to Two ways to live, The Briefing, and the Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth conference that's taking place in the USA later this year.
Use them on your church website, on your personal blog and in your email signature. Add them to your tagline when you post on forums. Make one them your avatar in your instant messaging program. Get creative: I'm sure you can think up many more uses than these!
