Tuesday, 24 February 2009
The BIG BANG
Understanding that there was a BIG BANG is not a problem, but can anyone tell me what went BANG?
Sunday, 22 February 2009
THE SPIRIT OF OUR TIME
The spirit of our time
It is often said by the older generation ‘….it’s not like it was during the war, when everyone helped everyone else, and everyone sacrificed for the sake of the country, there was a real companionship between folk. It’s not like that now…..’
Is it better or is it worse now? We certainly have a lot more things now. And a lot of people died during in the war. So it would appear better, but we have more crime, a breakdown of family life and values, a drugs problem, anti-social behaviour and the like. So is it any better? Where are we at now and where are we going? Who knows what lies ahead for the future of our world with all its uncertainty?
I believe it is like this: -
Just as mankind is made up of 3 basic parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit, and that each part demands of us at different times its need. So I believe this world moves through different ages coercing us into fulfilling its aims. We can see this progression throughout history where there has been reigned in an age of the sprit, followed by an age of the soul, and eventually an age of the body, before being bought back again to an age of the spirit usually bought about by some form of calamity happening.
The current sequence.
The Age of the spirit
It is true that during the war years there was a great sense of togetherness, on the front lines there was a real brotherhood, people everywhere sacrificed and helped each other out. There was a sense of playing your part, helping the war effort, doing your bit for the good of all. There was a great spirit around. This was in fact an ‘age of the spirit’. (note small ‘s’). My Grandma used to say of those times “ah, you could leave your back door wide open, in them days, and no-one would pinch anything”. Well Grandma you know no-one pinched anything ‘cos you didn’t have anything….. Well you can appreciate what she meant though. The nation suffered, had very little, had food rationed, and was badly bombed, men were dying fighting on foreign lands, some thousands of miles from home, but the one thing that they had was a great sense of comradeship, of brotherhood, a great sense of spirit.
The Age of the soul
As we moved into the fifties the times started to shift, we had rebuilt our cities, we started to accumulate wealth and possessions, and life in general was slowly improving. As we reached into the sixties the age had shifted from the age of the spirit to the age of the soul. These were the boom years, the swinging sixties, the counter culture, the rock & roll years, the hippies, the age of liberty, drugs, and revolution. This was the age of student movements, CND, anti-apartheid and the like. This was the time of freethinking, new philosophies, new religions, the age of new experiences, psychedelics, drugs, rock music, and free love. The rule of the day was ‘if it felt good, do it’. This was the age of the soul. Just as our souls are made up of our wills, our minds, and our emotions, so to was that this time was filled with the gratification of those 3 elements of our soul.
Many of us now look back on those times, and just as the generation before us had said of their younger times, we look upon this time as ‘good’. We say that we had aims, and freedom, something worth living for, and we yearn for those times again just as my Grandma longed for her time. It is ironic that we, the generation that rebelled against our parents, rebelled against society, we are the ones who said that we would never be like our parents, now say the exact same thing as they said. ‘We believed in love’ we’d say, ‘don’t you know that love is the end of all things, I mean God is love’? The problem was that the love we had then wasn’t Godly love. It was self-gratification love. It was love without a price.
The Beatles sang ‘all you need is love’ but then couldn’t even get on with each other. That was the age of the soul. It started in the sixties and it gripped us through the seventies and eighties, and on into the nineties.
The Age of the body
As we moved through the nineties and on toward the new millennium, the age began to shift again. Now we have moved into the ‘third age’, ‘The Age of the body’. This is the age we are now in. This is the age when the body reigns supreme. The age of fitness, gyms, boob jobs, beauty therapies, the age of fast and fancy cars, and nice designer clothes & houses, holidays in exotic places, this is the age of the celebrity, where film stars and football players are elevated to near ‘god’ status. This is a new millennium and a new age. The age of the body.
Those of us that were young in the last age, the age of the soul, can’t understand the youngsters of today, ‘why can’t they see that it is just materialism, it wasn’t like this is our day. I mean we had real music and sang about meaningful things’. We have become like the older generation of our younger days even though we said we never would. And the young from the previous generation, the age of the spirit, well they have given up on the young during the last age so now they can’t see it at all.
This is the age of immense opportunity for us as Christians. Inevitably the sequence will revert back an age of the spirit. History shows that this only ever happens though when the world has a major calamity. The last age of the spirit was hailed in by the Second World War. So what will that calamity be and how is it an age of opportunity?
Just as we comprise of three parts, spirit, soul, and body, so too is there three basic elemental forces at work in the world in which we live. Political, Economical, and Natural, forces. All events that happen are directly the result of one of these elemental forces at work. In the past usually just one of these forces being aroused was enough to change the times, but i believe we are living in a time when all three of these elemental forces are at work and building to a crescendo of unprecedented calamity. The world in which we live is politically very unstable with wars, and unrest almost everywhere. Economically we have scarcer resources and the greed of past years is causing untold damage currently with the gap between the rich and the poor increasing. We all know that naturally we are running out of time with raw materials being used up fast, climate change causing global disasters. We are seeing waves of happenings at the moment but these i believe are just waves and over the next few years we will see more and more of these waves. But as the years go by they will increase in height and length until one tsunami floods the world and untold disasters politically, economically, and naturally will be unleashed. Sorry to sound all fatalistic but this is where the challenge and the opportunity come to Christians. It will be at that time and the time coming up to it when increasing numbers of people will be looking for answers and a way out of the madness. As the impending distress increases let it be us Christians that can show the answer and not one of the other religions which are so prevalent in our society. Lets usher in an Age of The Spirit.
It is often said by the older generation ‘….it’s not like it was during the war, when everyone helped everyone else, and everyone sacrificed for the sake of the country, there was a real companionship between folk. It’s not like that now…..’
Is it better or is it worse now? We certainly have a lot more things now. And a lot of people died during in the war. So it would appear better, but we have more crime, a breakdown of family life and values, a drugs problem, anti-social behaviour and the like. So is it any better? Where are we at now and where are we going? Who knows what lies ahead for the future of our world with all its uncertainty?
I believe it is like this: -
Just as mankind is made up of 3 basic parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit, and that each part demands of us at different times its need. So I believe this world moves through different ages coercing us into fulfilling its aims. We can see this progression throughout history where there has been reigned in an age of the sprit, followed by an age of the soul, and eventually an age of the body, before being bought back again to an age of the spirit usually bought about by some form of calamity happening.
The current sequence.
The Age of the spirit
It is true that during the war years there was a great sense of togetherness, on the front lines there was a real brotherhood, people everywhere sacrificed and helped each other out. There was a sense of playing your part, helping the war effort, doing your bit for the good of all. There was a great spirit around. This was in fact an ‘age of the spirit’. (note small ‘s’). My Grandma used to say of those times “ah, you could leave your back door wide open, in them days, and no-one would pinch anything”. Well Grandma you know no-one pinched anything ‘cos you didn’t have anything….. Well you can appreciate what she meant though. The nation suffered, had very little, had food rationed, and was badly bombed, men were dying fighting on foreign lands, some thousands of miles from home, but the one thing that they had was a great sense of comradeship, of brotherhood, a great sense of spirit.
The Age of the soul
As we moved into the fifties the times started to shift, we had rebuilt our cities, we started to accumulate wealth and possessions, and life in general was slowly improving. As we reached into the sixties the age had shifted from the age of the spirit to the age of the soul. These were the boom years, the swinging sixties, the counter culture, the rock & roll years, the hippies, the age of liberty, drugs, and revolution. This was the age of student movements, CND, anti-apartheid and the like. This was the time of freethinking, new philosophies, new religions, the age of new experiences, psychedelics, drugs, rock music, and free love. The rule of the day was ‘if it felt good, do it’. This was the age of the soul. Just as our souls are made up of our wills, our minds, and our emotions, so to was that this time was filled with the gratification of those 3 elements of our soul.
Many of us now look back on those times, and just as the generation before us had said of their younger times, we look upon this time as ‘good’. We say that we had aims, and freedom, something worth living for, and we yearn for those times again just as my Grandma longed for her time. It is ironic that we, the generation that rebelled against our parents, rebelled against society, we are the ones who said that we would never be like our parents, now say the exact same thing as they said. ‘We believed in love’ we’d say, ‘don’t you know that love is the end of all things, I mean God is love’? The problem was that the love we had then wasn’t Godly love. It was self-gratification love. It was love without a price.
The Beatles sang ‘all you need is love’ but then couldn’t even get on with each other. That was the age of the soul. It started in the sixties and it gripped us through the seventies and eighties, and on into the nineties.
The Age of the body
As we moved through the nineties and on toward the new millennium, the age began to shift again. Now we have moved into the ‘third age’, ‘The Age of the body’. This is the age we are now in. This is the age when the body reigns supreme. The age of fitness, gyms, boob jobs, beauty therapies, the age of fast and fancy cars, and nice designer clothes & houses, holidays in exotic places, this is the age of the celebrity, where film stars and football players are elevated to near ‘god’ status. This is a new millennium and a new age. The age of the body.
Those of us that were young in the last age, the age of the soul, can’t understand the youngsters of today, ‘why can’t they see that it is just materialism, it wasn’t like this is our day. I mean we had real music and sang about meaningful things’. We have become like the older generation of our younger days even though we said we never would. And the young from the previous generation, the age of the spirit, well they have given up on the young during the last age so now they can’t see it at all.
This is the age of immense opportunity for us as Christians. Inevitably the sequence will revert back an age of the spirit. History shows that this only ever happens though when the world has a major calamity. The last age of the spirit was hailed in by the Second World War. So what will that calamity be and how is it an age of opportunity?
Just as we comprise of three parts, spirit, soul, and body, so too is there three basic elemental forces at work in the world in which we live. Political, Economical, and Natural, forces. All events that happen are directly the result of one of these elemental forces at work. In the past usually just one of these forces being aroused was enough to change the times, but i believe we are living in a time when all three of these elemental forces are at work and building to a crescendo of unprecedented calamity. The world in which we live is politically very unstable with wars, and unrest almost everywhere. Economically we have scarcer resources and the greed of past years is causing untold damage currently with the gap between the rich and the poor increasing. We all know that naturally we are running out of time with raw materials being used up fast, climate change causing global disasters. We are seeing waves of happenings at the moment but these i believe are just waves and over the next few years we will see more and more of these waves. But as the years go by they will increase in height and length until one tsunami floods the world and untold disasters politically, economically, and naturally will be unleashed. Sorry to sound all fatalistic but this is where the challenge and the opportunity come to Christians. It will be at that time and the time coming up to it when increasing numbers of people will be looking for answers and a way out of the madness. As the impending distress increases let it be us Christians that can show the answer and not one of the other religions which are so prevalent in our society. Lets usher in an Age of The Spirit.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Mid week cell group
If you would like to attend a mid week 'cell' group that aims to bring life and friendship, and have a real laugh together - why not join our christian group on a Wednesday evening.
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