When in Cambodia fifteen months back I visited a remote community where the organisation I work for, Baptist World Aid Australia, was funding a community development project. The project will make a huge difference in the lives of the villagers through things like improved crop yields and better...
Christian Horror Movies. Scaring and Scarring Kids in the Name of Jesus
It was during the 1970’s that I saw my first horror movie. I was still in primary school and it scared the life out of me. Bizarrely, it was a Christian movie, A Thief in the Night, and I saw it at church. The movie centers around a woman named Patty Knight, a half-hearted Christian who wakes...
Dark Energy, Quantum Physics and Demons. Do You Have to Be an Idiot to Believe in Malevolent Spirits?
Dark energy is a strange reality. We know it’s there, but we can’t see it. Scientists try to measure it; it defies their instruments; but they know it’s there. It makes up 75% of the universe and is a key reason the galaxies continue to rush apart. But it’s a mystery. There...
52% of the World’s Evangelical Leaders Believe a Wife Must Always Obey Her Husband. The Unfinished Gender Debate
In 2010 the US based Pew Forum surveyed over 2000 Evangelical leaders present at the Lausanne Conference, seeking their views on issues of faith, church and ethics. When asked whether “a wife should always obey her husband” fifty-two percent said “yes”, either fully agreeing...
Two Ends of the Train Carriage
I’m sitting in the middle of the first carriage on the train from Central to Newcastle. It’s 8.30 am and every twin seat is occupied by at least one person. At the first stop a lady gets on and politely asks the gentleman sitting in the three person seat at the rear end of the carriage...
Australia is a “Developing Country” Too. On Development
Australia currently ranks as the second most developed country in the world according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Cambodia, from where I write this, ranks 139th. With its high levels of poverty, underdeveloped infrastructure, and corrupt government, Cambodia is often described as...
Meeting the Spirit Caster
The realm of spirits is not one I have had much to do with, but last night I heard a story that sounds like it came straight off the pages of the New Testament. I am in the far north of Cambodia visiting some community development projects. We have been transported by tractor along a dusty dirt...
I Hate Tee’s with a Message
I hate wearing T-shirts with messaging all over them, even more so when the messaging is nothing more than branding. But I write this post wearing a T that features an image of Martin Luther King and his comment that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” To purchase...
The Boy in the Photograph
I wonder what he was feeling, the boy staring at me from the black and white photograph. He must be about twelve years old. The number ‘1’ is pinned to his shirt, signalling he was the first to be processed on the day he was brought to the prison. Did he have any inkling about what lay ahead? It...
You Are Not Special
High School graduation speeches are supposed to be inspirational. Last year Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, Jr, took a different tack. He told the students [quote]You are not special. You are not exceptional. Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing...