Not really the answer.... but what is?

Euthanasia is back on the Australian political landscape.

I also spent a long time on the phone with a lady last week who has a chronic illness and was considering suicide.

Mix the latest news from Belgium - euthanasia for terminally ill children - in to the mix and we have a complicated, emotive situation.

From the linked article: In the words of the late Dutch euthanasia opponent Dr. Karl Gunning,'Once killing is seen as the answer to one problem, it soon becomes theanswer to 100.'

The problem with euthanasia being considered an answer is that it removes all incentive for better answers. Killing is cheaper than funding medical research into pain management, cures and certainly cheaper than palliative care.  But in a situation where parents will be able to have their sick children killed......... I do not think we are capable of understanding the complex emotional and mental consequences of such an action.

An 'answer' it is not.

A thought around Easter

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. (John 20:1)

While it was still dark....

Her Christ had risen
The price had been paid
Death had lost it's sting
Yet Mary was unaware
For where she stood

it was still dark...

Explaining God

When an 8 year old boy was given an homework assignment to "Explain God" this is what he wrote!

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think that's because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.

God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK.

His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore - He could stay in heaven. So He did.

And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God. Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And, besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.

If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.

But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.

And that's why I believe in God."

more to think on

Speaking at last week's National Pastors Convention in San Diego, John Ortberg related a conversation with Dallas Willard in which John posed the question: How do I determine how my spiritual life is doing?

Willard responded by saying you should ask yourself two questions:

Am I growing more or less irritated these days?

Am I growing more or less discouraged these days?

If your answer to those questions is "more," it may be that you have allowed your own ego to become the driving force in your sense of personal and ministry identity. Instead, our lives and ministries should be centered on a vision of God. As Willard observes, "Our life is not an object of deep concern" when we have abandoned ourselves to a vision of the Kingdom of God.

A lovely quote from "Googling God"

This was just sent to me by my sister and is lovely...

 

"God, for me, is like someone who's already up when you've come downstairs in the morning and you're stumbling to get that cup of coffee and he's already there with his. And you sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and the sun is just starting to rise over the horizon and he says, `It's a beautiful sunrise!' And I say, `Yeah.'"