Incredulous about Idolatry

This morning, as I sat by my daughter eating breakfast, I read some verses that nearly made me choke on my toast. It's in Deutoronomy 18 - and contains warnings about the how the Israelites are to behave once they end up in the promised land, where people worship foreign gods.

Here it is:

When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

What's the first warning in this section? "When you arrive in the land, don't get involved in religions that require you to offer your children as sacrifices." Hmm, because those religions are going be really tempting to join up with, aren't they? I wonder at what point in the 'Baal Explored' course, or 'Alpha Asherah' this bit of doctrine comes up - that you'll have to sacrifice a child to your pagan god. But you would have thought that any rumour about such a practice would sink that religion permanently.

Not so. The Israelites did worship false god. They get involved in all the above practices. Clearly there were demonic forces behind these religions, which is why they were so destructive against human life. That is what demons seek to do - destroy life. Child sacrifice is a part of that. Note also that there is no implication that the evil practices don't work. At times, they probably do. But the first warning is the one you would think is in necessary. But the Israelites turned their back on their God who had led them out of Egypt and through the desert, they had failed to teach the stories and the law to their children, and the ignored the warnings and faced God's judgement - whilst living in a wonderful land that God had given them, with cities they did not build and olive groves they did not plant.

And yet - our own society destroys life on a far greater scale than this. And we live in a land flowing with more milk and honey than we know what to do with. Food has never been more abundant (no thanks to us. Only thanks to God) We are the richest people the world has ever seen. (He is the invisible hand - not the market) And yet we destroy thousands of babies in the womb every week because we are worshipping the gods Convenience, Lifestyle and Self-Determination. And the warning to God's people is 'Do these people live a lifestyle that we envy and want to join?' Only you can answer that question.

Co-Mission Media Forum 2009

The Co-Mission Media Forum is on Saturday 7th Feb, 9.30am - 5.30pm, at The Factory in Raynes Park, London. Find out more here.

It’s a day of talks, seminars and stuff for workers in, and students of, Art, Film, TV, Radio, fashion, comedy, music, theatre and design – and their families. And given that anyone can write a poem, take a photo, use Garageband, or edit a film on iMovie and it on Youtube , we’re all creatives. So anyone is welcome - from within the Co-Mission churches or any church.

Theme: Content
We were told the Medium is the Message. Now Content is King. How do Christians respond to the call to creativity – in film, literature, art and design? Given that we can create whatever we want, paint a picture of anything – real, imagined or abstract – write a story in which anything happens, or design a building that looks like a Gherkin, what are we, as Christians, going to do? What will we create? What stories do we tell? What themes do we represent? Is the limit purely our imagination? Does the Bible have anything to say about the content of our work?

In the Morning
Dr Gavin McGrath will be leading two sessions.

Session 1: Why do we need Christians in Creative Media?

Session 2: How might Christians actually work in Creative Media?

Gavin has worked with L’Abri Fellowship and was a frequent speaker to university groups throughout the UK and Europe. He was vice-Principal of Trinity School for Ministry outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the co-editor of The New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (IVP 2006). He now leads a church in Earlsfield and is passionate about film, jazz, cooking, wine and triathlon. But not all at the same time.

In the Afternoon
In the afternoon, we will break into smaller sessions more specific to different areas of art, media and design. These will be led by:

Matthew Mason on ‘Music and the Nature of God‘: What is it about God, his character and nature, that resounds in music?

Jez Carr on ‘Art, Imagination and Biblical Truth‘ What role do the arts play in both our understanding and our communication of Christian Truth? What is helpful and unhelpful about the arts when it comes to understanding the nature, content and method of truth?

Aly Gordon on ‘The Blank Canvas‘: All artists start with a blank canvas; all writers start with a blank document. Given that we can tell any story we want, or paint any picture, what stories should Christians be telling?

Tim Plyming on the ‘BBC and Public Service Broadcasting‘: What are the BBC’s responsibilities, what is its function and why do Christians frequently have such a problem with it?

Matt Searles on ‘Truth, Beauty and Goodness‘. A work of art can be good but ugly. A Christian can paint a picture of Christ that can be artistically bad. Who decides? And how? What are the links between truth, beauty and goodness in creative arts?

Ed Drew on ‘Using Media with Children‘: Some churches offer children ”entertainment” with little Bible. Other churches work hard to teach the Bible with little concern to tailor it to children’s needs. How can music, art, film and drama help? Or do they just hinder?

The day will end with a panel discussion - where anything goes and we can address other themes emerging from the day.

You can find out more, or book a place, go here.

Crossword Ends in Violence (5)

As some of you know, I've written a novel called Crossword Ends in Violence (5). It hasn't been published, so it's not available in the shops. You can read large swathes of it the book's website - but some of the chapters are locked behind cryptic codes... If you can't be bothered with codes, and are just curious, I've posted multiple chapters of the book on Authonomy which is here.

I'm not entirely sure what I make of Authonomy as a concept. My overall impression that it's mainly failed novelists like me trying to be nice about other people's work, but not really being all that interested. And then editors, talent scouts and agents stand back and watch. In some senses, I can't see how it could be anything but that. Since who else is going to look at the books on this site? Maybe you will. Who knows? If you like what you read, could you show your approval on the site, somehow? Not sure how you're smart enough to figure it out...

If you want to buy it, incidentally, go here.

The Significance of Planets

The Americans treasure CS Lewis in a way that British Christians do not. Evangelicals find him 'useful' but I wonder how much we appreciate his work beyond the allegorically straight forward Chronicles of Narnia. Beyond Mere Christianity and other short essays, are we really familiar with other works, like his sci-fi series of novels - and aware of his expertise in language and Medieval literature? Probably not. And yet, to him, his role as a Pop Theologian and writer of children's books was only work he did in his spare time. (But still, during the war his voice was the most recognisable in Britain after Churchill's (and possibly Hitler's but perhaps he wasn't one of the options on the survey))

It should come as no surprise, then, that his fiction should be littered with references that most of us are completely unaware of. And Dr Michael Ward has written a book that sounds like a fascinating peek behind the scenes of the Chronicles of Narnia. He has rather compelling evidence that the Chronicles of Narnia are closely linked to the classic view of the Seven Heavens - or the way in which medieval folk, at least - perceived the universe; that is, the Sun, the moon and the five planets visible with the naked eye - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (I think!)

Each of the 'heavens' is more than just an object in the sky. They represent ideas, concepts, and seasons. Just as the dove represents peace, or a ring represents bondage. And yet, because of astrology, modern Christians are intensely suspicious of any study of the planets beyond the physical. Whilst CS Lewis would have deplored 'fortune telling' from what we call astrology, he was quick to understand their literary significance and poignancy - in a way that I simply, regrettably, am not.

He was first made of aware of this when realising that Jupiter represents themes such as The Passing of Winter - which is, of course, the backdrop for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It also explains why Father Christmas rather cloying turns up in the book (Tolkein really hated that bit, apparently). Prince Caspian is a book evoking themes of Mars, the Voyage of the Dawntreader is the Sun and The Last Battle is Saturn.

There's a link to the podcast below so you can find out more, but it's worth noting that the Bible seems far happier throwing around astrological references that we are - which leads me to suspect that we have veered further than we ought. After all, the wise men find the Messiah by following a star. This does not mean that they we, necessarily, fortune tellers in the sense of sorcery or witchcraft. But who knows, maybe they were.

It's interesting that Daniel is effectively Chief Astrologer in Babylon - did he perform this function by simply ignoring the planets completely? That seems odd - although any biblical character that is not Christ is flawed in some way. But another Christian 'type', Joseph, found himself Prime Minister in a nation that was obsessed with stars and astrology.

Does this tell us that Christians can be more involved in matters of this world than we traditionally might think? Does it mean that Christians have a great appreciation for their cultural heritage rather than decry anything and everything other than scripture? Do we wince when we're told to think of Jesus as the Morning Star or the Sun of Righteousness? If we do wince, we shouldn't. (I know I have before!) It's difficult to plotting a course that is biblical, honouring to God and helpful to us - but it's worth at least untethering the ship from the side of the dock, even if one does not make it out of the harbour. With someone like CS Lewis at the helm, who knows where the Dawntreader will take us...

Anyway, have a link to the podcast here.

How to legally swindle the innocent of a £1,000,000

It really couldn't be easier and more legal.

Set up a company. Do you like shops? Why not start a shop selling computers? Easy. Start one shop called 'I AM COMPUTER', then another, then another. Don't build the business slowly. Build it as quickly as possible. Use credit if possible. In fact, not if possible. It's essential. Don't use your own money. That might mean you lose out at some point - and be held responsible for your actions. And we don't want that. So keep opening branches of 'I AM COMPUTER'. Don't worry about hiring people who you might have to fire later. I've thought of that. Order in plenty of stock. Run up some nice big juicy debts on rent and with suppliers. And when you hit, say 10 computer shops, and you're looking at a gaping hole in your finances, with a debt of millions, call in the administrators!

But wait! Here's the clever, legal part. Before you pick up the phone and say its all over (I did promise you a million pounds, don't forget), make sure you familiarise yourself with government legislation from the last few years. Don't worry about the sad faces of people you'll have to fire, because you won't. What you can do is arrange to buy the shops and keep the staff through ill-thought government insolvency legislation. So you 'rescue' the business (that you ruined. Hush now! People might talk), called it 'I ARE COMPUTERS' and look! You've got a brand new company, some shops, some fresh-faced staff and a lovely bright future. Where's the million? Oh, that's in all those debts that you just legally walked away from. (Don't go to their shops as you will see some sad faces, redundancies and all that stuff - but that's not your problem. You're in the clear!)

Isn't it amazing that our prudent Chancellor-turned-PM allowed this legislation to go through on his watch (oh, and failed to regulate ten of billions of city transactions that barely anyone understood, let alone regulated)? In one sense, we are chronically over-governed as MPs grandstand to spend our money in ways designed to make us grateful for the sacrifices they're making with our money. But in other sense, I'd actually welcome something in the way of government, governance and a legal/finance system that holds the rich accountable, rather than walk away from obligations and debts. Did I say walk? I meant leave in expensive cars.

Just thought I'd share that tip. See you in Monte Carlo by the pool.

Redundancy

We have an odd relationship with work. We seem to be slaves to work, but many people take early retirement as fast as possible. And then spend much of their time doing voluntary work. Or being bored by leisure. Before we even think about redundancy, it’s worth asking ourselves why we work at all. And I think we have this odd relationship with work because we operate between three extremes. Only you know which you gravitate towards.

Me and My Work
The first extreme is the view that Work is Everything to me. It’s the Alan-Sugar-I-really-want-this-and-I’m going-to-give-it-110% model. If we work this way, we’ll work for hours on end and do anything and say anything that furthers our career. And once we’ve taken on an all-consuming job, we’ll find that soon it’s controlling us. That makes it a god. Or an idol. Whether we’re Christians or not Christians, it’s worth asking – do I worship my job?

Another extreme view, which is similar, but different, is that Work is Me. Our work may not be all controlling in time and energy, but it’s part of our identity. We love our job because it gives impressive status either to friends, family or colleagues. In this case, we’re not being controlled by our work, but our pride – and the opinions of others.

If we can see veering to either of those extremes, redundancy will be crush us. We’ll take it very hard indeed. We’ll feel betrayed by our employers for whom we work so hard. Or we’ll humiliated in front of our friends an colleagues as our status has been taken away. And that’s because we’ve been working for the wrong reasons.

A few of us, though, don’t fear redundancy at all. And that’s because we veer towards the third extreme. The view that Work is Nothing to me. Maybe we work in a job, earning enough to get buy and enough to spend at the weekend, doing the thing we really like. We live to go climbing at the weekend. But you can’t get paid to do that, so we work a job that we probably hate to give us the money to do that. In which case, our leisure is controlling us. Or we work a job we don’t like because it pays well and affords us a good standard of living. In which case, our comfort is controlling us.

Christians can fall for this too. Maybe we like to think that we’re spiritual people – citizens of heaven, not earth. Maybe we’re highly motivated Christians, keen on church planting and evangelism. And our work is just a way of earning money to live and give away. Or it’s just a way of meeting non-Christians to tell them about Jesus. The work itself is neither here not there. But if we’re made redundant, we may still find it painful, but we won’t know why. And it may cause us great anxiety and we won’t know what to think.

Why do we Work?
Work is not a way of earning respect, or a chore that simply has to be done, or even a divine punishment but a noble task given to us by God. We need to understand that work is part of God’s plan. In Genesis 1:26-28,we can see what it is to be made by God and in his image. Man is made in God’s image and in the very next breath God says to let them rule over the fish, birds, creatures and all the other. Part of being in God’s likeness is ruling and governing. Because that is what God does. He rules and he governs. And he works. He calls his process of creation ‘work’ What’s more Jesus tells us in John 5:17 that God is still at work! And so Jesus says he is working too. And of course Jesus was not born and raised a philosopher or king or someone who didn’t work – but a carpenter. Probably at least half of his life was spent working with his hands. Our God works. Jesus Christ works.

And from this basic work of horticulture and agriculture we see in these early chapters of Genesis comes all other forms of culture. Agriculture gets more efficient to provide for increasing population, which in turn moves to mechanisation, industrialisation etc – as we build towns and cities and need people to do things other than food, like teach the Bible, be a magistrate, looks after children and run the internet and air-traffic control and so on. God always intended that. Why else does the New Jerusalem come down from heaven in the book of Revelation – and it’s a city? Man goes from a Garden to a City.

The problem is that work is hard. Working to produce things we’re proud off - that honour God - is difficult, tiring and often frustrating. And if we’re Christians, we may wonder what we’re doing wrong. But in Gen 3:16-19, we read about a curse God puts on the earth. The mandate work is still on. Man is to fill the earth. To do that women will have babies. They still will – but it’s going to hurt. A lot. Man is to work. To do that men will still have to go out into the fields. They still will – but there’ll be thorns and thistles and it’ll make you sweat. So Work is not a punishment. But it is hard because of sin.

Why is Redundancy so painful?
Redundancy hurts. I’m self-employed, but I remember when a radio show I was writing was about to go into its fifth series, or so I thought, when the BBC said ‘No more thanks. Enough’. And it hurt. Why does redundancy hurt? Because our desire to work is part of being in God’s image. It’s part of who we are. It’s something we were created to do. When we’re stopped from doing that, when we’re made redundant, it hurts. It’s a rupture in the fabric of our being. If we’re upset, that’s understandable. And normal.

To be made redundant is not just an end of an income, and removal of function, or even a prevention of purpose, but an affront to our image! We need to understand this because we might think that if we’re Christians, setting our minds on things above, being upset by redundancy is somehow unspiritual. We’ll feel bad that we feel bad, put on a brave face and live a double life, suppressing our pain because we think it’s just weakness on our part.

So, let’s not pretend that ‘it’s no big deal’ because work is for suckers, or we never liked the job anyway. Or that our work has no value because it’s going to be burnt up on the last day. The world won’t be replaced but redeemed. But even though it hurts, if we’re Christians, we need to remember we’re not defined by our work, but by being in Christ. In Romans 8 Paul reminds us that Christians are not slaves, but sons and heirs. Co-heirs of the whole world with Jesus Christ himself! So we don’t need to derive worth from our job status. We are valuable because we are image-bearers and children of God.

In the 1990s, at the age of 22, James was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers. Impressive for a 22 year old. What was the most important for James. His title? Or his status. He was James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, heir of the Murdoch media empire. If we’re Christians, we are sons of the Most High God and heirs with Christ. So, even though redundancy might be painful, we can be sure we’re being looked after by God, who is not only completely in charge but has a plan. And a much more benign one than Rupert Murdoch. Remember God has a plan!

God's Provision
God knows what he’s doing. He’s working out his purposes for our good and His glory. In Romans 8, Paul says that God works for the good of those who love him. God is working things out for our good. That’s not a platitude but a promise! And God is faithful and keeps his promises. We can trust in him for his provision, even when we’re feeling hurt by redundancy and frightened by mounting bills. Paul goes on to remind us that God did not hold back his own Son! It’s hard where we’re staring at mortgage repayments and food bills, but do you really God will he’ll hold back anything else? He will give us what we need so we don’t need to fear hardship, hunger and poverty because he is a good, kind and gracious God – whose goodness, kindness and grace we may experience all the more in redundancy.

Postcode Lottery and the Quest for Uniformity

The newspaper love to talk about 'Postcode Lotteries'. (There's one in the Times today that I refuse to link to for reasons I shall set out below.) For those unfamiliar with tedious, lazy, UK-hack-speak it's 'The quality of the service you get depends on where you live'. It is most often applied to the NHS and the fact that service is variable in difference parts of the country is considered a national catastrophe and an affront to the taxpayer.

It's insane. Let's approach this from both angles. If you're a really good doctor, better than average (I'm sure that includes most doctors, obviously), you have just created a post-code lottery. Someone in a different part of the country will get worse care than the care you provide. There is no way this can be avoided.

Equally, if you live in different parts of the country, you will enjoy different benefits. If you live in the Highlands of Scotland you get clear air, stunning views and poor public bus services. If you live in London, you get buses, tubes, trams and trains. You get nightlife and a feeling of being at the centre of things. But you get dirty air, often vile cityscapes and proximity to the National Opera, Ballet and Theatre. Well, this has to stop. I live in Fulham. Why shouldn't I have clear air and a view of Loch Lomond? Why should I have to go without that excellent doctor who practices in Middlesborough? Why should I have Melton Mowbray pork pies made on my doorstep? Isn't this the 21st Century? Why is society so grossly unfair?

It's daft, isn't it? And yet we, as British people, will give limitless power and money to Westminster so that they can 'even everything out' spending zillions of pounds making everything fair. Please don't let them do that. It can't be done. Especially not by them. And their attempts are uniformity imply that the state can create a fair society with taxation and legislation. They can't. They really can't. The only way for Britain to be happy is a right understanding of grace, humility and contentment. And the only way Britain can achieve that is with the Gospel - and a Church of gracious, humble and content disciples of Christ.

Christ, Culture and Christendom (and Constantine)

I thoroughly recommend that you listen to this podcast episode of the White Horse Inn. Dr Michael Horton talks to Dr. Craig Carter, author of Re-thinking Christ & Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective.

It sounds a bit boring at first, but as it gets going it's really interesting. Some people get confused about what Christendom is. It can imply a merging of Church and State in a way that it unbiblical. But some get worried about distinctions because the secular state can sounds like an endorsement of secularism - and the elimination of all religion from the public square, which is just as disastrous. So Carter makes useful distinctions, for example, between 'Christendom' and, what he calls, 'Constantianism'. The latter is the worrying fusion of Church and State in one Priest/King leader (who isn't Christ!).

Maybe this is boring to you - but actually it's really important. Our devolution of all power, and 'national management', to the state is both unbiblical, damaging to the church and devastating for the world. And Carter, here, helps us understand why.

Joshua 24 - Service and Idolatry

I regularly come back to Joshua 24 - not least because it was the reading at my wedding. It's a wonderful, inspiring speech. What's remarkable about it is that it is not designed to stir up the Israelites for one final battle, like the Shakespearean Henry V speech (which I read the other day and it almost brought tears to my eyes). The speech is about how to live long in the land that God has given them. The climax is in v14-15:

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

There are three imperatives - Fear the Lord. Serve the Lord and Throw away false gods. I preached this passage on Sunday and here's what struck me the most.

The second command, 'Serve the Lord' is so good he says it twice. Once in the first sentence. Then again at the end of the verse.

Now what is service? How do we serve the Lord? Serving is being a servant. And maybe we might start thinking back to Henry V and being part of a great moment in history. We may wonder what great act of service can I do? Can I be a missionary to country hostile to the gospel – like CT Studd or William Carey? Can I become a great preacher and call this nation back to repentance like Wesley or Whitefield? Can I become that parliamentary reformer who brings about social just like Wilberforce or Shaftesbury?

It's certainly good to aim high, but for most of us, our lives are based around nine or ten hours in the office, sitting in meetings, and trying to keep off Facebook.
Or whole days spent at home with babies, feeding them every three hours and doing piles of laundry. Or weeks spent in laboratories waiting for things to happen, writing up experiments.

Serving the Lord is a daily, hourly, decision. That's what Joshua was telling them about. The exciting battles are in the past. Now it's the far small battles in everyday life. PJ O’Rourke says ‘Everybody wants to save the Earth, but no-one wants to help mom do the dishes.’

So it’s worth thinking now, how can I serve people in my office? How can I encourage a colleague? How can I help out my secretary or team assistant? How can I be kind to my boss? How can be a friend to someone who’s struggling? How can I serve my husband? Or wife? How can I take some of their work off them so they can relax for half an hour? How can I get home from a work twenty minutes earlier so I can spend time with my flatmate who’s got some problems at the moment? How can do something for my neighbour that I hardly know? How can I show my parents that I honour and respect them, even though I’m far away from them?

And then it's worth thinking, why don't I want to do those things? What's stopping me? Sometimes, we have other commitments or authorities given to us by God. I can't help others after work - or even evangelise as much as I'd like - because I have a wife and small daughter at home and I need to be with them. It's no good being disrespectful of our boss by turning up an hour late every day because we're helping old ladies across a street. But in general, we decide against works of service because we have idols.

So, why don’t I want to go home on time to be with my wife? Because I want to work as hard as possible, because if I don’t I’ll lose out, or get fired and we’ll lose the house and starve – in which case, my idol is self-provision. I’ve ignored God’s promises of provision in favour of self-sufficiency at the expense of loving my wife.

Or what else might be the reason that I don’t want to go home on time to be with my wife? Because I don’t want the guys at work to think I’m soppy or controlled by my wife or my God. In which case, my idol is popularity. The opinion of my colleagues is controlling my actions above and beyond the opinion of my wife. And God.

You get the idea. Those works of service we know we should do - what's stopping us from doing them? Let's identify those idols, and throw them away in 2009.

Proclaiming the Trinity on a 14 Bus

On Monday morning, I found myself in a public disputation with a Muslim on the top deck of a 14 Bus. I merely share this because it was an odd event - and I have no moral or punchline as I type this. I boarded the bus on the Fulham Road, went upstairs and sat down, and I heard a man at the back of the bus explain why Islam was great and how decadent London was, he talked a bit about Jesus - and then he started on about the Trinity. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular. He was just preaching. Not shouting. Talking. Incessantly.

One thought was that I understood how it might feel as a non-Christian when a Christian starts to preach in a confined space. I resented it, I winced at some bits that sounded anti-semitic, and I found him to be very self-satisfied and self-righteous. As he spoke, I wondered if he had any idea how he was coming across, and how offensive and alienating it sounded. And then wondered how often I - or something who believed the same things as me - sounded the same.

When I judged that I had about ten minutes of my journey left, I turned and began to talk to him. Some passengers were bemused, some amused, others sighed heavily. But I felt it worth challenging his claims on Christ and especially the Trinity. Muslims hate the Trinity. The problem is that most Christians find the Trinity difficult and rather embarrassing.

It does, in fact, hold the key to the difference between the faiths. Christians can only understand grace because the persons of God submit to each other's wills. The Son obeyed the Father. The Spirit shows us the Son, etc. I think he was a little surprised to hear a fairly robust defence coming back at him. But he wasn't terribly interested in dialogue. I tried asking him how 'Allah' could forgive. On what grounds? Only a Christian God can do so because that God can take the sin upon himself - because of his triune nature. I didn't understand his answer, but things degenerated.

He got off the bus at Piccadilly - clearly hating the commercialism of the place, but no doubt delighted that he is afforded wonderful liberty in free speech because Britain is an historically Christian country. I wonder how far I would get proclaiming the Trinity on a bus in Tehran. Anyway, we all went back to reading our newspapers and the moment passed. Make of that what you will.

Huckabee talks sense

Many thanks to Stephen for making me aware that the Republicans should probably have backed Huckabee. (Well, that's to say I would have done...)

Here he is talking a sense, whilst signing books.

300 Up - Some reflections and propositions

The last post on this blog was my 300th. As memorable anniversaries go, your 300th isn't the big one. (Is it because it doesn't have many factors? 1,2,3,6,10,25,30,50,100,150, 300? Who knows?) But since it's the beginning of a new year, now is as good as time as any to reflect, draw some threads together and look forward.

Here are the long-running themes of this blog:
1. I am happy to be an Evangelical Christian. This means saying 'sorry' quite a lot, but that's okay. No-one said we were perfect. And the World is happy to remind us again and again of our failings. But this does not mean we should apologise for everything and retreat. Equally, we should be careful about how we engage with society, the world and the community outside our church families. In this, we can be schizophrenic or double-minded.

Firstly, Evangelicals often swallow wholesale whatever is fed to us by the television, whatever we read in best-selling books and see on big cinema screens. And we often think that the government can fix everything, if only we could give them more money and power. These are grave mistakes, as we shall see.

But not only do Evangelicals pop cultural pills all the time without looking at the label, they/we also take against things with an angry passion, lining up to condemn a whole host of societal evils - and calling for the government to step in and take action.

This is a tension I have been forced to deal with, since I'm an Evangelical (Reformed/Calvinist/Anglican) who works in television and radio. The use of media often functions as the tinder box for discussion. More and more literature is being written on this subject - and area left largely untouched, as we thought Francis Shaeffer had it all covered. But it turns out that it's all a bit more complicated than that, as this blog and the comments have hopefully shown.

2. Here is a question that I've mentioned a few times on this blog, but highlights the issue rather well, I think. If a twenty-something JRR Tolkein attended an Evangelical church in London in 2008, what would he be taught to do? What would pastors suggest he do with his gifts and talents? Spend 35 years writing, rewriting and perfecting the Lord of the Rings? I sincerely doubt it. The Lord of the Rings is not an exact Christian metaphor, so what use it for the purposes of evangelism? That is, after all, the reason for being, isn't it? No. It is not. I used to think it was, but have realise that Scripture, being lengthy, complex and revealed over hundreds of years, is slightly more nuanced.

Being an Evangelical, one prioritises evangelism - and that is good and right. We have a gospel to proclaim. But is everything else relegated in importance? Including the right worship of God? I fear that often it is. But the warning signs are there. There have been serious problems in churches in America that pioneered Seeker-sensitivity (ie. church that exists primarily to evangelise the lost, not serve its Christina members). The command to fill the earth, subdue it and work it still stands. Christians are to be salt - to stop the rot. Christians should be those who work hard - in whatever field they are placed. Law, medicine, PR, media, education, horticulture, mathematics, aviation, management - as well as evangelism, pastoral care and discipleship. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings was not something that was designed to be used in evangelism. Lord of the Rings was Tolkein's worship. Tolkein wrote one of the greatest works in the English language (which includes the great Christian themes). Praise God! (And say 'Well done, Tolkein')

Why do we work? We work because the world will be redeemed. Not replaced. God uses out work to build his eternity.

3. Evangelism itself is more than 'winning an argument'. There are some great apologists emerging in the church - not least Tim Keller, who's wonderful Reason for God will undoubtedly be a blessing to many. But he knows that no-one is won for Christ by argument alone. All discussions take place in a context of relationships. Church Evangelism intermingles inextricably with church community and covenant life together. Sometimes, churches can worry so much about being inward-looking that they neglect relationships with their Christian brothers and sisters. Non-Christians don't want to join an organisation who's sole purpose is expansion and new members. That's called Pyrmaid Selling. Sometimes it's called a Cult. Church is community. The Kingdom of God - starting here, looking forward to redemption when Christ returns.

4. The final thread is the British Evangelical's strange relationship with the State. We shriek in horror when the government passes laws we don't like. We shake our heads when the government give yet more money to groups, projects, ministries and organisations we don't like. We're shocked when government ministers say that the state is secular now and needs to move on from it's overtly Christian origins. Just what sort of state are we expecting? Christians - and their pastors - seem very confused about what the state should look like according to the Bible. Instead, we've settled for a soft small 's' socialism in which the government picks up the tab for everything, legislates in every area of life and continues to fail the poor.

The answer is simple. Stop asking the government to help the poor. It's not their job. It's our job. The Church's job. And the people's job. The government's job is to govern. (Clue in title). The government's task, according to biblical teaching and precedent, is to ensure civil law and order, to prosecute and punish criminals, operating in a sphere outside of the church (but naturally influenced and informed by the Church). Instead, we have a government that simply has no idea what it's role is, but continues to plunder the savings of it's people in order to spend it on whatever project or plan seems politically expedient.

That is why this blog will continue to espouse the deeply unpalatable view that the government should only collect enough taxation to pay for the judiciary, the police, the prisons, border controls, the army (if you like) - and a few embassies around the world. That's it. No NHS. No National Curriculum. There'll be plenty of schools. And plenty of hospitals - funded in a myriad of different ways, depending on local population and preference. There'll be hospitals for the super rich that most of us can't afford. There'll be John-Lewis/Tesco middle-income hospitals that most of us will use (and be able to afford since top rate tax will be 10%). And there'll be hospitals for the poor, broadly managed and manned by Christians - who have a mandate to help the poor. (And there'll be one or two charity hospital run by secularists that will also be perfectly decent places to receive treatment.) Once we've stopped looking to Westminster and start looking to each other - and churches - things can change considerable. Obviously, this can't, and won't, happen overnight. But is it not something worth aiming for? Or do we prefer an over-mighty state that continues to take money from those on a minimum wage, and uses to pay for the sins of greedy bankers that have costs the nation hundreds of billions of pounds in pursuit of quick profit?

Clearly this vision rules me out of any kind of political career. It's completely unthinkable at the moment. Which is interesting as it was the norm in Britain for hundreds of years. It was certainly the norm 300 years ago in 1708. And it may be again in 2308. Let's look beyond the next twelve months, shall we? Even beyond the next 12 years? What could Britain look like in 120 years if the gospel spread?