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Makes you think... MAKES YOU THINK...

A series of 'thoughts' written by members of St Augustine's, designed to...well...make you think! This page will be updated frequently so please keep coming back!

 

Mobile phone versus the Bible

Author unknown - submitted by David Allison - November 2008

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our mobile phone?   

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?    
What if we flipped through it several time a day?    
What if we turned back to get it if we'd accidentally left home without it?    
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?    
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?    
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?    
What if we used it when we travelled?    
What if we used it in case of emergency?    

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?    

Oh, and one more thing.  Unlike our mobile phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!

Makes you stop and think "where are my priorities"?  And no dropped calls!

 

Little Ruby got it wrong - or did she?

By Christine Regas - October 2008

I heard this little tale from my mother many years ago; and she heard it from an older cousin even earlier. It must have happened about the turn of the century – the 19th/20th that is. Little Ruby (cousin Ruth’s baby sister) was about 4 or 5 at the time, and she was very happy because she had just learnt a new chorus at Sunday School. She skipped home singing it at the top of her voice – only she did not quite get it right. Perhaps it was because a shiny new commodity had recently appeared by the back gates of all the houses in the street, and this confused the little girl. Anyway the version of the chorus she sang on her way home that day was "A dustbin, a dustbin, Jesus wants me for a dustbin!  ……..  I’ll be a dustbin for him!"

She should of course have been singing about being a sunbeam – but her mistake made me think. Dustbins are not to be despised – how could we do without them today? People have to have somewhere to put their rubbish, and this is also true, not just of physical household waste, but of all the pains and hurts which form the ‘rubbish’ of our lives. It is good, is it not, to find a shoulder to cry on;  someone we can trust to be a ready receptacle for all our troubles? So people too can be dustbins. But remember too that the best dustbins have lids. Human ones need to keep lids on as well so that our friends’ hurts don’t get let out. So perhaps little Ruby was right after all. Will you be a dustbin for him?

(Sadly little Ruby died of meningitis a few years later, but what a lovely memory to leave behind).

Christine R Regas

 

The mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee

Author unknown - submitted by David Allison - October 2008

This thought-provoking item was sent to me by a friend so I can't claim the credit for it, nor am I able to acknowledge its author, but I would like to share it with you.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous, 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions - and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

'The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.'

'The sand is everything else - the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the 'small stuff' you will never have room for the things that are important to you.'

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.'

'Take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

'The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

 

 

Prof. Richard Dawkins makes you think
... the way he wants

By Peter Edgley - August 2008

Darwin (who wrote 'The Evolution of Species') is practically a Bromley hero, so we had a special reason for watching Prof. Richard Dawkins' recent series about him.   It was really interesting, as long as it stuck to Darwin and his revolutionary scientific ideas;  but it was sadly disappointing when it turned into one of his anti-Christian rants.   It was far from the sensible discussion on science and religion the BBC had promised us.
 
Dawkins caricatured Christians as people who took the Genesis story of God creating the world in seven days as the literal truth;  and trotted out spokesmen from some fundamentalist American sects to prove it.   Some of them also averred 'the world wasn't more than about ten thousand years old' as well, reflecting the calculations of a certain Bishop Ussher, who in 1654 added together all the generations mentioned in the Old Testament to 'prove' the world must have been created in 4,004 BC.  
 
Dawkins of course had no trouble making  such a total denial of Darwin's work on evolution look pretty silly.   He could easily have found leading Christians - including distinguished scientists - to put a more representative viewpoint.   But he didn't..   Even when the Archbishop of Canterbury was allowed to make an appearance, and things started getting more interesting, that interview was quickly terminated.
 
Scientific knowledge itself evolves, of course, and is always being corrected and extended.   So it should never pretend to have the whole truth;  but equally it would be silly for non-scientists to dismiss any scientific discovery, or theory, just because it challenges their own ideas.
 
So, what do modern Christians really think ?
 
To put it briefly:  we prefer to see the Genesis stories as a poetic allegory in which pre-scientific thinkers tried to make sense of the world around them.  To us, the Bible is the product of human minds and reflects the understanding (and limitations) of its writers.  They were the filter through which God's inspiration had to percolate.   If you read the 'seven days of creation' as an allegory with that in mind, taking it as a poetic account of the stages - each thousands and thousands of years long - by which the world emerged, you will be impressed by its broad similarity to the scientists' account of evolution.  
 
I could go on - after all issues don't come much bigger than this! - but I hope I have said enough to show that there is an intellectually respectable Christian answer  to Dawkins' allegations.   It's just a pity that most Christians' reaction to them is merely a weary  "Oh no, not that old rubbish again!"
 

 

Suppose they hadn't bothered?

By Christine Regas - June 2008

As a Church we repeatedly emphasise the need for prayer, yet so often prayer meetings are the least attended of all gatherings.   Recent emphasis on prayer reminded me of a story I heard many years ago which is worth sharing:

On the North West frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan was an isolated mission hospital. One day the doctor there needed to visit the nearest town to get money for the hospital and he set out on the long journey with a companion.  They got the money, but unavoidable delays meant they could not make it back to the hospital before nightfall, and the region was notorious for robber bands in the hills.

Soon it became too dark to risk further travel, so committing themselves and their precious money to God, they lay down and slept.  They awoke next day to find their savings intact, and thankfully made their way back to the hospital.  About a week later, the leader of one of the robber bands was brought to the hospital sick, and recognising the doctor he exclaimed:  “We saw you out on the hills last week;  we were going to rob you, but we couldn’t get anywhere near.  You had an armed guard all round you!” 

“Armed guard?” the doctor replied; “No, there were only two of us; we had no guards.”

“Oh yes you did. I counted them. There were 27 men surrounding you.”

The doctor was mystified, yet realised that they had experienced God’s miraculous protection.

About three months later, he was on leave in England, and at a meeting at a supporter’s house he recounted this amazing story.   Suddenly the hostess asked: “What date did you say this happened?” On hearing the date, she rushed to find her diary: “Yes,” she exclaimed, “I thought so. That night we had a prayer meeting especially for you, and there were just 27 of us there!”

I have often wondered what would have happened if even half of those 27 people that night had found they had other things to do, - or it was too cold, - or there was football on TV!  Perhaps the robber band could have overpowered only a dozen, or less, guards?  

God indeed works the miracles, but he needs our faithful co-operation to do so.


 

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