It’s time for the release of the new British Social Attitudes Report which makes interesting reading. Of course it doesn’t really tell me anything that I didn’t already know or at least suspect. I guess this kind of report challenges the church to consider how much influence it actually exerts in modern Britain (in my experience most Clergy have an overinflated view of how much influence they think they have over society).
Whenever I am surprised by something the U.K. public says I remind myself that these are the same people who vote on the “X” factor (Britain’s Got Talent, etc) and then it all makes sense.
However, I’m not one of those who looks at such surveys and then feels sad (or even worse mad) at the way everyone is ignoring the teachings of Jesus. It’s not a vicious plot against the teachings of Jesus and everyone should be berated for ignoring them, instead I believe much of it is down to ignorance and lack of interest.
So the challenge to Christians is how do we get people interested? This is made especially hard when the majority in the U.K. have a pretty comfortable life (notice I didn’t say happy life because other research I’ve read suggests that people in the U.K. are less happy than many other people in underdeveloped countries). A comfortable life now seams to mean that people are less bothered about thinking about what life might be like after death (one of those things that makes people think about God).
Personally, I would love people to explore what they believe more. It is hard to get people to understand the importance of trying to understand who Jesus is but if what Jesus claims is true then Jesus is the single most important person to listen to. If what Jesus claims is true then the best education in the world is insignificant compared to listening to Jesus.
Thoughts
Plans are under way to stage a Passion play of the easter story in London’s Trafalgar square.
You can see the story here
News, Thoughts Jesus, Passion Play
Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti as they work hard to cope with the devastation caused by the recent earthquake.
I was watching the news on the T.V. this morning and I found it interesting to compare the news from Haiti to the more local U.K. news. In the U.K. we are currently thinking about the increase in accidents due to some icy weather and also how there are more pot holes in the roads than usual. I don’t want to devalue the problems faced by people in the U.K. but it really does seem insignificant compared to this earthquake.
We all have problems and they don’t go away just because someone else has a bigger problem, but then our problems shouldn’t stop us helping those who are in need.
I’ll be praying, as well, for those who are going to help the people of Haiti, both now and in the future.
Thoughts
Wisdom has always been highly prised. We even find a lot of talk about wisdom and being wise in the bible. Then in the stories just after Jesus is born we read about some Wise men who came to see Jesus. We don’t know how long the gap was between his birth and them turning up but we are encouraged to think about at this time of year (also known as Epiphany in the church calender).
Who do you think would be considered a wise person in todays world?
I think we tend to think of wise people as those people who know lots of stuff. We might consider University Professors or Scientists for instance to be the wise ones. Or then again we might think that wise people are those who gain the most in a material way – business leaders, entrepreneurs, etc. Or what about those who can make a clever argument – philosophers or politicians, etc.
However, if you consider the wise to be those we take advice about life from then we might have to consider people like popular singers and film stars as being the wise in our world today (gulp). Or what about journalists – they are forever telling us what’s what?
I find that the list of people we tend to consider wise a bit disturbing and doesn’t fit with the bible’s idea of what a wise person is.
So what are the features of a wise person?
Here are some of the things that the book of proverbs tells us about wise people:
- they help others with good advice
- they cautious and like to think things through from all angles
- they seek knowledge and more wisdom
- value wisdom above money
- respond positively to correction
- control their anger
- keep peace
- avoid doing bad things
- welcome good advice
You see it’s not so much what they know but the way they apply it.
Elsewhere in the bible we are also told that the first step in being wise is to seek a good relationship with God.
So if you are looking for a wise person to help you with your life then I suggest you look elsewhere than the celebrity lists (not that it’s impossible for a celebrity to be wise).
Thoughts epiphany, new year, wisdom, wise men