Hostility & Peace
This afternoon I was listening to one of 1100 tunes (shuffle mode was a great idea) I have ripped & saved on my notebook - it happened to be Narrow by Nathan Tasker. Everytime I listen to this song there's 1 line in the lyrics that I can never make out. I never have the cover notes with me (because I ripped the CD ages ago and leave the original at home) and each time I hear that line I think "I should look it up in the lyrics when I get home". This time, for some unknown reason, it bugged me enough to Google 'lyrics "Nathan Tasker" narrow' and, sure enough, hits came up for Nathan's website (www.nathantasker.com). So, in one of those typical tangents you find yourself on, I soon found myself flicking around Nathan's site - I used to go to church with him so I thought I'd see what he was up to these days, and the short version is he's a very busy boy (this blog wasn't supposed to be all about Nathan...another of those tangents).
Anyway, there was a reference to a Sydney Morning Herald article (Radar:In God we trust) in which Nathan made a few comments about today's youth and an apparent increase in church attendance over the last few years. I read the article and was interested in reading what some readers' responses would be, so I started trawling through the article comments that had been posted. The thing that struck me the most was the hostility the subject evoked (almost exclusively from those on the "religion is a crutch" side of the discussion). I've read and engaged in plenty of Christianity debates on forums and newsgroups before and it's almost always the same so I don't know why I was surprised...but I was. Perhaps because most of the internet discussions I read on the subject usually involve a large percentage of Americans (who, by reputation/stereotype, usually hold strong opinions) but rarely do they involve many Australians (as far as I can tell). But the comments I read today, being on the smh.com.au website, I'm assuming, were mostly from Australians - probably even mostly local Sydney folk. I just hadn't considered that the same reactions would be evoked from my own community - naivity perhaps.
I know that Jesus himself said he had not come to bring peace but a sword (Matt 10:34), essentially saying that, because of him and what he was preaching, nations, communities, even families, would be divided and sometimes quite violently. This has been most obvious in the Middle East over the last few decades with relations between Palestine & Israel (and also with the recent Muslim unrest, particularly in Indonesia). But I find it hard to reconcile the fact that such a faith, that is mostly about restoration, seems to spark such hostility. One of those oddities of human nature perhaps or part of God's divine plan? I can see how the Christian Gospel would be hard to swallow for many people (1 Co 1:18) and how those that spread the Gospel (ie. evangelists) would be downright offensive for many others (1 Co 2:15-16) primarily because of the ramifications of their message, although it's true some evangelists can really get in your face. It just seems strange to me that this should be part of God's plan, but I know there are some, or rather many, things I won't be able to figure out (not that that should stop me from trying) and I just have to trust in God's wisdom. It's like Nathan says in God's Plan: "I'm glad I don't know God's plan because He holds me safely in His hands."
(And now that I'm at home I've looked up in the lyrics the line I can never understand...but I'm sure the next time I hear the song I will have forgotten again. C'est la vie.)
Anyway, there was a reference to a Sydney Morning Herald article (Radar:In God we trust) in which Nathan made a few comments about today's youth and an apparent increase in church attendance over the last few years. I read the article and was interested in reading what some readers' responses would be, so I started trawling through the article comments that had been posted. The thing that struck me the most was the hostility the subject evoked (almost exclusively from those on the "religion is a crutch" side of the discussion). I've read and engaged in plenty of Christianity debates on forums and newsgroups before and it's almost always the same so I don't know why I was surprised...but I was. Perhaps because most of the internet discussions I read on the subject usually involve a large percentage of Americans (who, by reputation/stereotype, usually hold strong opinions) but rarely do they involve many Australians (as far as I can tell). But the comments I read today, being on the smh.com.au website, I'm assuming, were mostly from Australians - probably even mostly local Sydney folk. I just hadn't considered that the same reactions would be evoked from my own community - naivity perhaps.
I know that Jesus himself said he had not come to bring peace but a sword (Matt 10:34), essentially saying that, because of him and what he was preaching, nations, communities, even families, would be divided and sometimes quite violently. This has been most obvious in the Middle East over the last few decades with relations between Palestine & Israel (and also with the recent Muslim unrest, particularly in Indonesia). But I find it hard to reconcile the fact that such a faith, that is mostly about restoration, seems to spark such hostility. One of those oddities of human nature perhaps or part of God's divine plan? I can see how the Christian Gospel would be hard to swallow for many people (1 Co 1:18) and how those that spread the Gospel (ie. evangelists) would be downright offensive for many others (1 Co 2:15-16) primarily because of the ramifications of their message, although it's true some evangelists can really get in your face. It just seems strange to me that this should be part of God's plan, but I know there are some, or rather many, things I won't be able to figure out (not that that should stop me from trying) and I just have to trust in God's wisdom. It's like Nathan says in God's Plan: "I'm glad I don't know God's plan because He holds me safely in His hands."
(And now that I'm at home I've looked up in the lyrics the line I can never understand...but I'm sure the next time I hear the song I will have forgotten again. C'est la vie.)
posted by Mike Hodgson | 21:49
2 Comments:
waitwait, what was the line you were trying to figure out?
Ha! Amazingly I still remember the line:
So I make this vow & decision
To get lost in divine romance
It was the "vow & decision" bit I could never understand.
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