Category: Culture

Bear Grylls a wild man of faith

Peter Hallett2 Comments

A few young Christian men I know got together recently with the big highlight of their evening being watching Man vs Wild featuring Bear Grylls.

Turns out it was a more spiritual activity than they may have realised with Grylls revealing this month in Relevant magazine that he is a strong Christian.

The wild life adventurer who allows himself to be dropped in remote locations so that he can be filmed attempting to survive, says that he had a ‘natural’ faith as a child, although hasn’t always found believing easy.

‘It’s been kinda a wiggly, messy journey which is still continuing,’ Grylls told Relevant, a description that might also suit his TV show.

‘Christianity is not about religion – it’s about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It’s about finding joy, finding home.’

Turns out Grylls is an avid supporter of  Alpha, a 10 week introduction to the Christian faith, written and presented by Nicky Gumble of Holy Trinity Brompton.

Gumble, a mentor and friend, says of Grylls, ‘I think Bear has a very simple faith. And simple in the good sense of the word.  It’s a strong personal faith and he lives it out in his everyday life.’ PH

PS. Man vs Wild screens on SBS Mondays at 8.30pm and SBS says ‘the program has performed strongly since its debut with an average audience of 535,000 metro viewers.’

How atheism led me to faith…

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If several billion God believers can’t dint the unbelief of an atheist, perhaps just one family member’s faith might make the difference.

Christopher Hitchens is famous for his book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and is one of the poster boys of the new atheism secular liberalism. He was a special guest of this month’s Sydney Writers Festival as he promoted his memoir Hitch-22.

But while Christopher has been busy debating Christians and even threatening to have the Pope arrested, his brother Peter has rediscovered faith and published The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.

As the Hitchens brothers’ books battle for bookstore ascendency, we see a microcosm of the struggle between belief and unbelief in the world.

While most atheists will cite logic and reason for the reason of their non-belief in God, behind this for many is a personal religious atrocity that has led them from grace. For Christopher Hitchens it may just have been the brutal, even sadistic regime he encountered at a church boarding school from the age of eight.

And while brother Peter went through his own atheistic ‘revelation’ it was not to last and his book now attacks the blind spots and flaws of atheistic argument.

There is no doubt much more to run in the story of these two men’s lives, and it is a reminder that wherever darkness seems to flourish, a resilient light is close at hand. Pray for Christopher and Peter Hitchens, that both would find themselves beneath the grace of God as they play a part on the world stage.

An excellent article on the belief and unbelief of the Hitchens brothers appears in the Fairfax media today . It is written by Simon Smart, the head of research and communications at the Centre for Public Christianity. PH

Dear CheapBranded, thanks for your caring email…

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My computer makes a doorbell sound, ‘ding-dong’, that used to be associated with Avon calling but is now better known as Windows default for a new email.

A shadowy preview of the new message appears in the lower right of my laptop screen and tells me it is from someone called ‘CheapBrandedViagra’.

(Just mentioning the word Viagra in my blog will send the spam protection software for this site into overdrive, such is the inter-connectedness – euphemism for lack of privacy – on the internet.)

A train of thought begins, thanks to my new friend CheapBranded, and I wonder if many of us realise how often we turn to the latest email, Facebook status, Twitter tweet or blog comment to fill deep emotional needs and stave of dreariness.

If our dearest friends are those who connect with us electronically, I have an amazing friend in CheapBranded as he has shown incredible determination to bypass not only my own spam protection, but that of my internet provider.

(I thought you should know I have worked with great commitment to avoid any unfortunate Viagra puns in this posting…)

But wait, perhaps CheapBranded is just that, not a caring friend who searched me out today with a loving email as my life faces precipitous change, but a cheap charlatan hoping to profit by pushing his brand at some perceived need.

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God drives the bus to his own defence

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God gave a clue to his reality during our bus trip to the ‘In defence of God’ session of the Sydney Writer’s festival today (May 23).

Running late due to bus delays, we were worried about missing the session until our bus driver got lost in the Rocks and pulled over randomly to let us out – right in front of our destination, Sydney Theatre, instead of the actual bus stop two streets away! God is providential, generous and has a sense of humour…

As we gathered with the unfaithful – the session was chaired by an atheist and featured a lapsed Episcopalian – we found we had more in common with the other speaker, the Iranian-American author and scholar, Reza Aslan.

While Eric Lax, author of Faith Interrupted, lamented his fall from faith (I believe he’ll be back though), Aslan launched an attack against the new atheists. He described their behaviour as being as fundamentalist as some of the religious people they hate. He also reminded the audience that despite a century of violent secularism, the number of religious adherents  had risen from half to two thirds of the global population.

Aslan was challenged by a few questioners but was able to mount a good defence for God before the brief question section was wound up. He even began his talk by referring to the blogs that had questioned why an atheist, lapsed Episcopalian and Muslim were leading this session, with no Christian authors present. I take it from this, that he has read Utterance!

In the long run, however, there was inability of all panelists to consider a God who is a personal, tangible reality in our lives with the chair Louise Adler asking for a more concrete definition of faith and God. It wasn’t forthcoming and this was because no one had been invited to speak who actually believes in God this way. It was a timely reminder that atheists and agnostics are searching for something to lovingly but powerfully challenge their unbelief.

A good place to start might be to invite New York minister and author Timothy Keller to next year’s Sydney Writer’s Festival. In the meantime, read his book, The Reason For God – Belief in the age of Scepticism. PH

Listen to a short section of Reza Aslan’s defence of God:

Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan.mp3
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Parents encouraged to switch from scripture

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Trial ethic classes competing with Special Religious Education (SRE) in 10 NSW Schools appear to have caused a drop in SRE attendance of between 30 and 70 percent.

Suburban schools such as Hurstville and Baulkham Hills North are at the higher end of these figures with the explanation that parents at inner city schools had long before withdrawn their children from scripture, while in the suburbs it is a new phenomenon.

As an aside, this is another example of how the intellectualism and ideas of the inner city filter through to the rest of society, by one means or another. This is a good reason for the existence of strong, robust, authentic inner city churches that engage intelligently with their community. Not surprisingly, seven of the 1o schools in the trial are in the inner city with three of these in the electorate of Balmain whose local member is Education Minister Verity Firth.

Bishop of South Sydney, Rob Forsyth, said he was ‘not surprised’ by the result, saying it proves that the ethics classes will be far more contentious in the suburbs than in the inner-city.

‘It proves that the P&C and St James Ethics Centre were wrong when they claimed they were merely providing an alternative to SRE for non-religious parents. This course is genuine competition for SRE. We are losing parents who claim to be Christians but are somewhat ambivalent and easily swayed by the directions given by school authorities,’ Bishop Forsyth told Anglican Media.

He said his most substantive concern is that the Department of Education has been using its authority to encourage parents to ditch Christian SRE in order to recruit more students for the ethics classes.

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Jesus keeps buzzing around

Peter Hallett1 Comment

Waiting to cross Parramatta Rd, I innocently checked the posters for upcoming bands at the Annandale Hotel.

Tucked away as support band for The Meanies is the triune named Stumblin Jesus Mosquito.

Last week it was Jesus as a giraffe in a contemporary art exhibition, this week… I’m not quite sure…

And then while trying to work out who the Stumblin Jesus Mosquitoes are (rumour says it’s the Wollongong band, Tumbleweed, incognito) I came across an ad for an album by Brisbane band, Violent Soho. The album title – Jesus Stole My Girlfriend (probably not a bad result).

Deep into underground band territory, it’s comforting to find that Jesus is still omnipresent. Just as well he is unconditional in his love as well. PH

Giraffe art for Jesus’ sake

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Christian themes and characters dominate classical European art. Think The Last Supper, Madonna and Child and a thousand other amazing images. And while the treatment and frequency of Christian themes may have changed, artists of all kinds still find themselves returning to the universal impact of the Christ narrative.

A recent example is Jaye Early’s Giraffe Jesus (pictured) which featured at the recent opening of Monstrosity Gallery.

Perhaps he drew his inspiration from the oddly (some would say blasphemously) named ‘Jesus was actually a giraffe’ Facebook page which suitably has a meagre 24 followers. (Jesus has a couple of billion more…)

What this shows, once again, is that whether you are Madonna, or Lady Ga Ga or Salvador Dali or some attention seeker on Facebook, Jesus cannot be ignored. As a result, his name and story are often used for ulterior motives – artistic attempts are the least of our worries in that regard.

So before we feel too much heat about a young artist depicting Jesus as a giraffe, let’s be glad that Jesus is still being discussed and worry more about how we portray Jesus in our daily lives. 

As for Monstrosity Gallery, it is a new contemporary art space ‘nestled between debauched Kings Cross, beautiful Woolloomooloo Bay, and Sydney’s CBD, just 4 minutes walk from the world-famous Art Gallery of NSW’.

‘We are dedicated to championing the cause of young emerging artists working in painting, sculpture, illustration, new media, photography, jewellery, wearables, installation, street art and everything else, by supporting them and bringing them to the attention of the general public.’

For the record, Jesus made giraffes, but is actually the Son of God. PH

‘I was born blind… because he love me so’

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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s album, Gurrumul, is one of the most significant Australian recordings of recent times.

Blind since birth, he plays right-handed strung guitars left handed and sings with a clear, pure voice in Gälpu, Gumatj, Djambarrpuynu and English.

Also known as Gudjuk, he is from the Gumatj nation, his mother from the Gälpu nation, first nations peoples from North East Arnhemland.

Listening to the album again today, these words encouraged me from the song Gurrumul History:

‘I was born blind, and I don’t know why
God knows why, because he loves me so
as I grew up, my spirit knew…’

Gurrumul hopes that ‘Yolngu people enjoy and celebrate these songs forever, and Balanda (non-indigenous) not only enjoy but learn from them.’ PH

Influence the future of Christian radio

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Back in the bad old days of Christian radio in Sydney, you were more likely to hear a polka than a Christian song on Sydney’s only Christian radio station, then known as 2CBA-FM.

The station, now known as Hope 103.2, has come along a way in the past five years and has a strong ‘listenership’ – Christian and otherwise.

Still, a city the size of Sydney might well have deserved a second Christian station but tough competition for radio licences had restricted the number of stations to one – until now.

With the launch of digital radio in Australia, Hope 103.2 has the chance to create a second Sydney Christian radio station for the first time.

The station is offering supporters the opportunity to ‘be a vital part of creating this history making event’  by responding to an online survey and ‘letting us know the kind of music and teaching programs you would like to hear’.

So if you are opposed to the return of polka, or have other constructive suggestions, visit the survey now. PH

Lady goes ga ga over ‘Jesus’ Grace

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When Lady Ga Ga sought a way to heap praise on her musical inspiration, Grace Jones, she said the 80’s singer and model was like her ‘Jesus’.

This might indicate that beneath the provocative (euphemism) performances and costumes, Lady Ga Ga is still within reach of her Catholic upbringing, even if unconsciously. Lady Ga Ga (Stefani Joanne Angelina) was educated at New York’s Sacred Heart school.

Once again, Jesus finds his way into the most unlikely of places.

As for Grace Jones, apart from the fact that Jesus has everything to do with grace, it is unclear as to what other similarities can be drawn.

In any case, Jones wants nothing to do with Ga Ga and turned down an offer to perform with her. ‘I’d just prefer to work with someone who is more original and someone who is not copying me, actually,’ the 61-year-old said.

She was not heard to comment that no one has been able to copy Jesus, because he is ‘the only Begotten’ and worthy of our worship. 

Lady Ga Ga’s last brush with Jesus was when she wore her hair in a kind of Son of God halo effect with a skimpy blood-red outfit and was widely reported by celebrity magazines as ‘looking like Jesus’. I think not… PH

Writers’ festival ‘undefends’ God…

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Read, Rethink, Respond... catch-line for Sydney Writers' Festival

At first glance, Christians might be gratified to learn that the Sydney Writers’ Festival in May will feature a session called, In Defence of God. Closer examination though suggests a name change is in order – God Thrown to the Lions… Media reports say festival director, Chip Rolley, felt that ‘God deserved some time’ after recent visits to Australia by high-profile atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

Good one Chip, are you having a joke with us? The session will be chaired by atheist and publisher-in-chief at Melbourne University Press, Louise Adler, and the two speakers are Eric Lax, a lapsed Episcopalian, now described as a ‘hopeful unbeliever’; and Reza Aslan, an acclaimed Muslim scholar and writer. Reza’s surname is the only (accidental) positive reference to Christianity (think CS Lewis). 

The plot (pun intended) thickens when it is realised the session will be held on Sunday 10am (May 23). Now, where would most Christians usually be at 10am on a Sunday?

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My hair like Jesus wore it, hallelujah I adore it

Peter HallettLeave a comment

God-spotting, yeah man.

I’ll admit I’ve never seen Hair, the musical. Too young for the sixties, too old for the remakes. So I’ve never come across these lyrics from the musical:

My hair like Jesus wore it,
Hallelujah, I adore it…
Hair, hair, hair, hair…
As God can grow it, my hair 

I do know that you wouldn’t usually describe Hair as a musical encouraging  belief in God so it is nice, all these years later, to notice that He made an appearance and did receive credit for growing hair. As I recall, His Son also said that he even knows the ever-changing numbers of hairs on our heads. A sign of His care for us.

This all started when I saw ‘my hair like Jesus wore it…’ as a link and heading to an article on body image in various newspapers. Oh, and it was spotting Jesus in such a context that got my attention, not the body image topic, as important as that is…

Anyway, I’ll quit while I’m ahead (or, more correctly, while I still have a head of hair…) PH