There are: "six sins, all of a public nature, which combined to kill Jesus. He bore their crushing attack in his body and soul. He bore them, not by sympathy, but by direct experience. In so far as the personal sins of men have contributed to the existence of these public sins, he came into collision with the totality of evil in mankind. It requires no legal fiction of imputation to explain that 'he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.' Solidarity explains it."
"Religious bigotry, the combination of graft and political power, the corruption of justice, the mob spirit (being "the social group gone mad") and mob action, militarism, and class contempt-- "every student of history will recognize that these sum up constitutional forces in the Kingdom of Evil. Jesus bore these sins in no legal or artificial sense, but in their impact on his own body and soul. He had not contributed to them, as we have, and yet they were laid on him. They were not only the sins of Caiaphas, Pilate, or Judas, but the social sin of all mankind, to which all who ever lived have contributed, and under which all who ever lived have suffered."
of kindness on Mondays, her own most difficult day. Then friends soon suggested she post these activities on a website, and DoOneNiceThing.com was born.As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
It's Mental Health Week in the UK from the 23-29 March. They've bought out a new booklet called Cool Down, which you can download from their site.The NZ Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2008-2012 was released on Monday 17 March.
The Action Plan builds on the NZ Suicide Prevention Strategy 2006-2016 released in 2006, and provides more detail about how the high level goals of the Strategy can be achieved over the next five years. The Action Plan is made up of two companion documents, which are best read together:
The Summary for Action outlines what the actions are, who will do them and by when.
The Evidence for Action discusses the evidence and context underlying the actions
- read Action Plan
- read Hon Jim Anderton's speech at the launch of the Action Plan
This effective 'road' sign comes from a campaign being run by SANE Australia. There's a brief video ad on the site from a campaign focusing on mental health. One of the main messages SANE is promoting is that often close family members see the signs even before the person who's having mental health problems. This leads to them needing to encourage the person to get help. The campaign is similar to the one shown in NZ in regard to depression. Recently you might have noticed people wandering about wearing white ribbons in solidarity with the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Men wear them to show that they do not tolerate or condone violence against women. Presumably if you don’t wear a ribbon, it shows that you do condone and tolerate it, in which case Auckland males must be wickedly violent because I never saw any of them wearing a ribbon.
In New Zealand, White Ribbon Day was just one of the 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence that finish on December 10. The gender violence it refers to is violence by the male gender against the female gender.
It's an interesting essay on how statistics can be manipulated by people with different agendas, and while Ralston certainly doesn't condone violence against women, he wants the figures to be looked at a little more carefully.
Reinventing Paradise: How In this accessible and fascinating collection of columns, Oram reveals how New Zealand has fared so far in the global market, the unique challenges that lie ahead, and the opportunities for us to earn a bigger, better, more sustainable living.
Oram is known for his direct and prescriptive commentary and for his ability to make complex concepts understandable to the average reader or listener.
This isn't a book about the Christian view of things, but it's worth checking out for its general perspective on New Zealand.
Speidel stresses: passion for Christ, inspiring worship, loving relationships & quality programmes. This book will help pastors have “God eyes” for big possibilities in their churches by focusing on visualizing goals; worship; creating a loving environment; passion and commitment; prayer; witness; time management; leadership recruitment; hospitality; assimilation of new members; and managing change and conflict.
A post from the blog The Website of Unknowing on how atheists (or other nonbelievers) see Christians, especially in terms of how Christians can hate others and have done so regularly throughout history. It’s seems to be a well-argued piece, in general.
A follow-up post regarding the way some atheists get very angry about Christians. The author says that that sort of anger only entraps the atheist. If you’re going to be an atheist, be a joyful one, just as Christians should be!
