Solitude With a Camera

I remember the day I took these photos. It was Saturday 15th February 2014, not a good day.  In fact it was one of many bad days, but this one stood out from the others.

Rose Bay,Sydney's first international airport

We had spent the Christmas 2013 January 2014 period with family in New Zealand. At the time I was somewhat depressed but it didn’t stop me enjoying the break, I was just excessively tired. But by the end of January I was struggling to cope. I was still turning up at work most days but the term ‘presenteeism’ describes well the place I was in - being present but accomplishing little.

It was worse on weekends because then there was no pretension of work. Without an excuse to get out of bed it was all too easy to stay there. Saturdays were the worst, because that is my day for Church and rest. I had tried attending Church but found I just couldn't handle sitting there while others prattled on.

Flying time to London, 9 days

I was determined not to just lay there, to do something. That ‘something’ was to grab my camera, catch the train into Sydney, and follow my nose. I have many photos from that time. I also learned a lot of the city's history from the historical plaques on the buildings and other information provided. Google also came in handy, allowing me to find further information as I worked through my photos.

Of all those days, February 25th was the worst. There I was, sitting on the ferry to Rose Bay, feeling absolutely miserable and asking myself why I was doing this. Despite that, I ventured out again the next Saturday.

Memorial to our women pioneers

Looking back I value those days. First, I didn’t let my depression beat me. I saw and learnt about a lot Sydney I probably would not have otherwise. And most importantly, alone on the streets of a crowded city I had time to let my mind wander. In those times I often found myself reflecting on Scriptures and communing with God, something that would not have happened if I had stayed home in bed or sat in Church feeling sorry for myself.

I still struggle with depression and probably will for the rest of my life. But I have found photography provides an interest that I can pursue when little else keeps me going. In 2014 my photos were taken automatically on different camera settings. Now I take the vast majority manually, selecting my own ISO, shutter and aperture settings. Many of my shots are now taken as ‘raw’ files, which means I need to convert them to .jpg to share with the use of Adobe Lightroom. Now, after taking the shot, I can play with it, experimenting with exposures, colours, light and shade to create different effects for the same photo.

Depression is not an easy thing to live with. For me that time alone with a camera helps keep me occupied. As I found 2014 it motivates me to get out of the house, allows my mind to wander, and I often find myself reflecting on Scripture and communicating with God. Things I would not do laying in bed.

Looking over Haymarket from Central Station, 2017

When God Moves House

For many years I have attended the annual Church camp conducted by the NNSW Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. Many times I have sat through presentations made by keynote speakers in the Big Tent. Too many times I have become frustrated at the narrowness of the presentations.  To me they are simply a form of escapism. We are getting ready for Jesus to come and our task is to warn the world of the nearness of this event and invite them to join us. That, of course, means understanding those important Bible doctrines that form the basis of our faith and coming apart from the world.

This year has been no different. This morning we were told time and again that when Jesus comes again He will take the faithful home to live with Him in heaven. Great. He is going to take us out of this corrupted, evil, mixed up world. Except, that is not exactly what the Bible says.

The next to last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 21:1-3, has this glorious vision.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

This paints a different picture to the one presented by this morning's speaker, and I believe the difference is significant. In the words of Revelation humanity does not relocate to live with God as Cosmic refugees. God relocates to the earth made new to live with us. This is clear from the rest of chapter 21. In Genesis 1 and 2 this earth is made as our home. In Revelation God returns to His plan that we should enjoy this, our home, for eternity.

The New Testament in particular makes it clear Christ’s redemptive act is not simply about us. It goes way further. In fact it is universal in scope. In John 3:16 we read, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.’

‘World’ is translated from the Greek ‘cosmos’, which can refer to the universe, the world in totality, or in some places the people of the world. I see no reason in this place to limit it to humanity, especially when I look at some other New Testament verses.

Romans 8:19-23 looks forward to the day when creation itself will be released from the curse of sin and join with God’s children in release from pain and suffering.

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Then we have Colossians 1:15-20:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see -- kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.

Not only was the Cosmos created by Christ, it was created for Him. Sin has caused the creation to fragment. We see this in the world around us, not only in wars, crime and conflict, but in the degradation of the natural world. Spreading deserts, increasing rates of species extinction, and environmental pollution are some examples.

The Lord’s Prayer includes these words: ‘May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10). This prayer should cause us to ponder what that will is, for if we pray it sincerely we are committing ourselves to live out His will for us in this life. The way we live today must anticipate the Kingdom to come.

God’s will in Christ as we have seen is to reconcile all Creation to Him. This means in this world we cannot ignore the world around us. Sin destroys. God restores. God's will is that we demonstrate by the way we live our concern for all Creation. Jesus gives us hope for a better future, but that is not a call for separation from the world. Rather He calls us to be engaged with it.

One day He promises us a ‘new heaven and a new earth’. As part of this promise He will move the control room of the Universe to this planet, for Earth is our home, and it is here that He will live.

Bible quoted: New Living Translation.

Written 19 April 2017.

God Doesn't Buy Followers

Early in my Christian walk I became exposed to the ‘Prosperity Gospel’, particularly that  version promoted by Robert Schuller and his Hour of Power. Perhaps I am oversimplifying it a little, but it says in essence that if we are good, trusting Christians, claiming God’s promises and faithfully returning our tithes and offerings, we will be blessed, with a big emphasis on financial blessings.

There is some Biblical basis for this, but it is not the full picture. My own denomination often exhorts the flock to be faithful in its return of tithes and offerings, quoting similar promises of the blessings that will flow back from God.

A couple of years before I left the air force I was introduced to the concept of multi-level marketing. Amway, Herbalife, and other companies operate on this basis, although my connection was with another company. The promise is that if you work the system, and this means recruiting and training new members to work under you, within a short time you will have a great income and lots of free time.

I saw this as an opportunity. Work hard, follow the rules, lots of positive thinking, and I could end up with a self-supporting ministry. I could work my business a couple of days a week and commit the rest to working for God sharing the Gospel with the masses.

It all seemed so easy, but it didn’t work. When I left the air force I could cash in a part of my superannuation, a significant sum. I thought this would see me through, but I ended up losing it. It didn’t help when I read in our Church magazine or heard stories of people who had trusted God, stepped out in faith, and their businesses had been blessed by God. It almost destroyed my faith.

God, it seemed, had deserted me. I was angry, frustrated and hurting, but I could not bring myself to express doubt, for that amounted to a lack of trust. Finally, when it was getting too much for me, I prayed something like this: ‘God, you know how I am feeling. I feel as if you are deserting me, not listening to my prayers. Yet Lord I know you are there and that you do care.’

That prayer didn’t change everything, but it was perhaps the most important prayer I have ever prayed. Now I was being honest with God. The blessings didn’t flow in any monetary sense, but they did in other ways. I was at peace with God, and that was all that really mattered.

The Bible tells me I am not the only one to have a similar experience. For example, I read the anguish of David in Psalm 13.

1 Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?

   How long will you look the other way?

2 How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,

   with sorrow in my heart every day?

   How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

3 Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!

   Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.

4 Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”

   Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love.

   I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

6 I will sing to the Lord

   because he is good to me.

This was also the experience of Jesus as He was about to die; ‘At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’ (Mat. 27.46). What wonderful assurance to know that Jesus’s experience was in some ways similar to mine.

As the writer of Hebrews says in Chapter 4:15; ‘This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.’ So the writer can then confidently proclaim in the next verse ‘So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.’

God doesn’t buy followers by handing out ‘freebies’, by giving us all we ask or demand of Him. My experience was a hard one, and I have been through other hard times since. Yet God has always come through in the end. I am reminded of Hebrews 11. This chapter has a long list of those who are considered faithful, many of whom were martyred for their faith.

The chapter finishes with these words; ‘All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.’ (39, 40).

Ultimately God’s promises are fulfilled in the earth to come, not this one. Faith is not, and never was, easy. It is the most challenging and demanding walk we can ever take. 1 Corinthians 10:12,13 contains both a warning and a promise:

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We are both warned against over-confidence and assured that we do not take the walk alone. For Jesus Christ, our great and faithful High Priest, is beside us at every step.

Quotes from the New Living Translation.

God's Will for the Canaanites - Confronting Genocide Part 10

In part 9 I concluded that genocide was neither commanded nor carried out in the Book of Joshua. There were clearly some battles and people were killed, but that is not the same thing. Most battles were launched by the Canaanites. At the end of Part 9 I provided a link to a Paul Copan article I believe is helpful and I don’t aim to repeat his thoughts.

Part 2 touched on a constant theme that runs through Scripture, albeit presented in different ways - ‘God invites humanity to enjoy all the benefits He provides; the offer is extended freely, it is not earned by our moral purity or anything we may do; there is a condition of obedience; and the penalty for unfaithfulness is exclusion from the benefits of the covenant.’ That theme is played out in the story of the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan.

Parts 6 and 8 also showed that despite what appears to be a clear, unmistakeable exclusion Canaanites were welcomed into the congregation of Israel with God’s blessing. As I have reflected on this story I have remembered many themes I see played out in different ways throughout the Bible. But I will conclude for now with two thoughts, covenant and evangelism. I may intermittently return to those other themes.

In Judges 2:20-23 God explains He did not drive the nations out in order to test Israel, to see if they would be remain faithful to His commands.

So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, 21 I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. 22 I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.”23 That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.

As seen in Pt 2, and restated above, God's covenants generally include a test of obedience.  Now they were in the Promised Land the Israelites were faced with a choice, obey God or follow after the religious practices of the Canaanite tribes. Judges records their sorry history of failure.

Part of God’s will for Israel, and by implication, the surrounding nations, is seen in Deuteronomy 4:5-8.

"You must obey these laws and regulations when you arrive in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The LORD my God gave them to me and commanded me to pass them on to you. If you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, 'What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!' For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as this body of laws that I am giving you today?

This reflects God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:18, ‘... through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.’ God intended His people to demonstrate through their faithfulness to Him the attractiveness of His way. As they marvelled at the wisdom and fairness of God's way the surrounding peoples would be drawn to Him. Like Rahab, the Gibeonites and later Ruth, they could also forsake their gods for Israel’s. God had delivered Israel from the oppression of Egyptian slavery and in the process demonstrated to them His power to protect them and to provide all they needed and more. What a story they could have told.

It was not God’s intention to destroy the Canaanite nations. In Joshua we see not hatred and genocide, but God’s plan to bring them under the protection of His love.

After the death of Solomon the nation was divided into the Kingdom of Israel in the north and Judah in the South. Both were ravished by their enemies. Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the survivors were taken as captives to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

At this time the Canaanite peoples were still living in the land and were still living there after the Jews had returned from their captivity in Babylon (Ezra 9:1,2). It seems that their fate was better than that of Israel's.

Bible Quoted: New Living Translation