Week 10 2012 -The dawn of a new age

The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a complete printing system, which perfected the printing process through all of its stages by adapting existing technologies to the printing purposes, as well as making groundbreaking inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made for the first time possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities, a key element in the profitability of the whole printing enterprise.

From a single point of origin in Germany, printing spread within several decades to over 200 cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became so synonymous with the enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press. As early as 1620, the English statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon could write that typographical printing has “changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world”
If Bacon was alive today would he say the same thing about the Internet or the computer?
I think it’s too new to tell. It’s only been around for 10-15 yrs (mainstream and its probably going to evolve a lot more before it becomes the final internet. We are in the dawning of the Age of the Internet.

The invention of the printing press transformed the way people learnt and as a result church changed in how it operated because of a massive culture shift. We have to gear up to hear what’s in store for the church post Google and how we can take church and discipleship into a digital age because we are at the dawn of another major culture shift.

There are of course some experimental out-workings of this shift in church, sometimes we are hitting it some times we are missing it. There is no doubt though that the new culture will continue to emerge – we can’t stop it. It is therefore crucial that the church catches up with and embraces this new culture in order to reach the younger generations and I’m talking about any one under 60!!

Jon Phillips

Week 9 2012 – Superstition

You know about the old rabbit’s foot don’t you, that thing that you keep in your pocket, and maybe you rub it, and it brings you good luck, and maybe even something you’ve really longed for.  It doesn’t have to be a rabbits foot, it could be any thing that takes your mind in that particular direction.

There are a lot of people in this world, and sadly, a lot of people in the church that treat God this way. They attempt to manipulate God in various ways to get what they want in life. But alas for all this,  God will not be manipulated.

We cannot say to God, as the Godfather once said to one of his Mafia lackies “I will make you an offer you can’t refuse.” God, is in charge,  and his arm cannot be twisted. Remember the parable of the rich fool and its context in Luke 12? There is a debate going on between two humans over money or property, and one of them wants Jesus to intervene on his side of the dispute.  Jesus’ response is unequivocal— “who set me to be arbiter/judge over you and your dispute?” Jesus refuses to be used, especially for petty purposes.

The basic definition of magic is the use of objects, rituals, rites, in an attempt to force some kind of divine action. Sadly, even prayer has been used this way. Yet no matter how pious our prayer, no matter how sincere our prayer, no matter how correct the form of our prayer, praying with all faith and in the name of Jesus,  if we are asking for something that is not God’s will for us, we can pray until we are blue in the face, and what we want to happen will not transpire. God will not be manipulated.  Prayer is not about our getting God to do our will, it is about God getting us to do his!

It is true that there are some examples of rabbit’s foot religion in the Old Testament— for instance laying out a fleece to try and figure out what God’s will is in a certain circumstance. What the New Testament suggests about such practices is that this was seeing through a glass darkly, and Christians should be beyond such immature practices which are indeed manipulative. Remember the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18-19? God’s will could not be discerned in the earthquake, wind or fire. No natural phenomena, not even natural disaster provided a clear glimpse of God’s will. It was only by listening intently to God’s voice, his Word, that God’s will could be discerned.

But the practitioner of rabbit’s foot religion is impatient. He wants an answer, indeed he wants an outcome right now! God however is not our cosmic waiter/waitress and he does not exist to fulfill all the wishes of our materialistic little hearts. The health and wealth Gospel is a travesty of the real Gospel, precisely because it not only denies the value of suffering and the call of Christ to take up one’s cross and follow him, it also tries to manipulate God to give us ‘the desires of our hearts’, whether they are good for us or not.

To these sorts of requests, God has an answer—-NO! A loving God,like a loving parent will not give us things that will spoil and destroy our Christian character.   And by the way— NO is definitely an answer to prayer. The wrong sort of prayer.

Blessings,

Jeff Reynolds