This weekend, I am having a mini break, which means it’s an opportunity to visit another church.
I love the church where I am a member and belong, but annual leave is an opportunity to visit other churches and be encouraged by what God is doing elsewhere.
We had originally thought that we would visit one of the churches in Melbourne CBD, but knowing police are overstretched and multiple protests were being organised, we thought it best not to go. Why add to the business? And who knows how long we’d be stuck in the city while protesters blocked intersections around the CBD.
So we visited Mentone’s daughter church, Regeneration Church in Clayton. It was lovely to catch up with old friends and encouraging to meet around God’s word and see how the church has grown since I last visited. It was a beautiful sight: a room filled with mostly 25-year-olds and representing so many different ethnicities, from all over the world and yet with one voice praising God and enjoying a deep sense of unity in Christ. I said to the pastor afterwards, ‘here [the church] is the answer to all of the friction and suspicion and anger in our community’.
It’s true, if you want to see a glimpse of what God is doing around the world today, go to your local church. If you wish to have a little taste of what life in eternity will be like, drop into your local church next Sunday and see where disconnected men and women from all backgrounds, jobs, education, ethnicity are finding joy and peace and love and life together through Jesus Christ.
Sometimes the music is happening, sometimes it’s out of tune. Sometimes the coffee is proper Melbourne, most of the time it isn’t. Sometimes the kids are noisy; often they are. The building’s architecture may be plain or striking, the preacher a great storyteller or simple words explaining the Scriptures. In these many different settings, from Clayton to Camberwell, from Pakenham to Preston, and from Mentone to Melton, church is like a breath of fresh air compared to the anx and rage filling our streets.
What a contrast with the clashing protests in Melbourne city today, where protests met with counter-protests, one volume of insult matched with further insult and even assault. Yes, many are probably marching for a myriad reasons, concerns over housing and cost of living, and fear of the unknown. But with the surprise element of boiling water burning you, these protests were already marked with signs of what they were about. When a protest is arranged under the banner, ‘stop mass immigration’, and then days out it’s described as defending ‘white heritage’ and denouncing Chinese and Indians in our country, of course, the march was going to go off the rails. So when a known neo-nazi is given a microphone and addresses the crowd from the steps of Parliament House, to the cheers of people below, what were you expecting to see?
A few days ago, Victorian Police expressed concerns that to deal with these protests, they were forced to take away resources from their search to apprehend a man who murdered two of their own and seriously wounded another only 5 days ago. Why would we create further strain on our police after the shocking week they have endured? And then, at the protest in Adelaide, a poster appeared, supporting the alleged police murderer.
Melbourne’s new Lord Mayor wants to claim the title of the ‘optimistic city’, but Melbourne is anything but optimistic or happy. Melbourne has turned into the nation’s protest capital, with weekly interruptions by protests and marches, often promoting the most insidious of causes. Our city is experiencing tumultuous divisions and doubts and fears. One solution often produces another misstep and further erodes public confidence and our social cohesion is increasingly tenuous. We are no longer the city we once were.
Jesus once warned,
“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21)
Tired of bad news? Exhausted by the negativity and fear? There is someone to whom we can turn. I’ve said it before, and I will keep on saying it: there is good news. There is really good news, and it can already be seen and experienced in Melbourne. There is something beautiful and good and happy taking place across our city where people from all manner of backgrounds are finding not a feeling of optimism but a happy and certain hope. To be sure, it won’t make the newspapers of 6pm news; good news stories don’t sell. But boy, do we need a better story than the ones filling every breaking news. As Jesus explained, what we get to see in our churches is tasted and seen in a million different cities and towns around the world and in a thousand languages and on a billion faces,
“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
“For those who’ve come across the seas We’ve boundless plains to share”
Australia has a rich and wonderful history of immigration. It is not overstating the case to say that our great nation is largely built on the blood, sweat and tears of migrants. Australia also has a mixed and difficult history with immigration; from the treatment of Chinese settlers in the 19th Century, to the Irish and sectarianism, the arrival of Italians, the white Australia policy, to welcoming Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees and more.
Like in the United Kingdom and the United States, there are growing noises here demanding that Australia shut down mass immigration.
A march is being organised across Australian cities for next Sunday. I would never have known about it except for a couple of individuals plugging it on social media. The website claims,
“Australia is changing in ways most of us never agreed to. People are waking up to a country they barely recognise. Endless migration, weak leadership, and political cowardice have brought us here, and it’s time to put a stop to it.
Immigration poses exciting possibilities. Also, immigration always presents significant challenges. There are genuine questions to be asked of Islam, as there are of Christian Nationalism and other isms. Nations rightly have borders, laws, and citizenship that govern and give shape to a country. To be pro-immigration doesn’t mean zero borders and no caps on immigration. There are real and complex questions relating to social cohesion in Australia. Deciding on intake numbers and who comes into the country and under what conditions isn’t an easy task. If you have ever spoken with an immigration officer, you’ll understand that they take their work with utmost seriousness.
People are afraid, fearful of losing the known, fearful of losing identity, and fearful of the other. But is the answer to fear, demanding the end to large immigration? Is the answer to wrap ourselves around the Australian flag, close the borders and keep out those who look different from us?
There is a major problem with this ‘March for Australia’.
The problem lies both in its starting point and in its trajectory. In short, ‘March for Australia’ is grounded in fear, ethnocentrism, and at times racism. I’m sure many people who’ll be swept up in the march are not racists, they are Aussies concerned about their country, and they’re unduly jumping onto a movement who while willing to give them a voice, is promoting xenophobic and racist ideas.
When your slogan is, ‘Stop Mass Immigration’, you are in fact acting in an anti-Australian way, because Australia is a nation made up from the nations, and we have always been. Who among us isn’t a descendant of migrants? Who among us hasn’t brought our culture into our cities, both good and bad? Have we forgotten sectarianism? It’s more than that, it is this Christian notion of the dignity of every human being, loving your neighbour and welcoming the poor and oppressed, that gave moral impetus to welcoming people to our shores. We do not welcome them because they are like us, but because we are ‘the lucky country’, and, to quote our National Anthem, “For those who’ve come across the seas, We’ve boundless plains to share”.
If your starting place is ‘immigration is bad and we must stop it’, then what follows will almost certainly be unhelpful. If, however, we begin by affirming the goodness of immigration, then we can have a conversation.
The trajectory is already being shown. When I hear a promoter say that ‘Australia has too many Chinese and too many Indians’, that is racism. And that way of thinking is gross and an affront to huge numbers of Aussies of Chinese and Indian descent, and I take it personally on behalf of my family and friends.
As one friend pointed out, this march is essentially calling for a return to the White Australia policy.
Another person alleged that anti-semitism is the reason why we must clamp down on immigration. I have said more about anti-semitism than most Christian leaders over the last couple of years, and while there is an evil anti-semitic undertone among some Muslim people, most of the anti-semitism I see is from university students and old socialists of white European heritage.
To allege immigration must stop is to say something about our character and how we view the other. It is building a society based on fear, not grace, on protectionism, not generosity, on self-actualisation, not sacrifice. In that sense, it’s all law and zero gospel. Now, that may not bother the average unbelieving Aussie, but it should surely concern the Christian. What casts out fear? Not hate, it’s love.
The wonder of the Christian message is that God includes the outsider. God’s only Son gave his life to welcome into God’s Kingdom the very people who do not belong and do not deserve citizenship. God’s Gospel is about grace, kindness, love of neighbour and for the nations.
While the Gospel and the Parable of the Good Samaritan do not outline an immigration policy, they are doing something deeper and broader. If Jesus died to save people from Morocco and Mexico, and from China and Chad, surely this changes the way we will view these image bearers of God.
Yesterday I posted a comment about immigration as a blessing, not a curse. One of the problems with my interlocutors yesterday is that as soon as I said, ‘immigration is a blessing’, they read it as saying I’m advocating for open immigration, even though my very next sentence stated that immigration brings challenges. They can’t seem to distinguish between no borders and generous immigration. But this march isn’t calling for generous immigration, according to many comments I’ve read; they want Muslims, Chinese, and Indians kept out of our country.
We are a nation of plenty. We are a nation of extraordinary wealth and prosperity. We are also a society wrapped up in red tape and layers of bureaucracy that make even simple decisions near impossible (ie solving housing). I find it interesting how Jesus didn’t say, ‘Let me come and help out so long as it doesn’t cost me anything’.
What especially stood out to me was the fact that a couple of Christians think that this march is a good idea. First of all, this protest would require you to skip church. Sure, it begins at midday, but for most people, that means missing church. If a movement or march requires you to miss church, do you think its origins are of God? Second, do they really believe that changing government policy will save our nation? That’s not a Christian answer.
Several years ago, Russell Moore was asked a question about Muslims moving into the community and wanting to build a mosque. Moore not only espoused a Baptist view of religious freedom and toleration, he also said this,
“That doesn’t turn people into Christians, that turns people into pretend Christians and sends them straight to hell. The answer to Islam isn’t Government it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the new birth that comes from that”.
Russell Moore is right.
Ephesians ch. 2 makes it clear that God’s reconciliation plan isn’t accomplished through Government or political means, but through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This kind of Jesus reconciling brings disparate people together; it unites the great divide between Jew and Gentile.
“remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household”
If you think Australia will be saved through less immigration, you have missed the gospel, you probably won’t enjoy heaven, and you’re behaving more like the Levite than the Samaritan.
Jesus didn’t side with the Sadducees (who might be described as Roman conformists) nor with the Zealots. Modern-day Australian religious zealots may be feeling and seeing social discord, but rather than bringing reconciliation, they add to the discord.
Next week’s march is no more Christian than many of the protests that belong to the left-edge side of culture. Those already caffeinated on rage and scribbling out their placards for the march, will probably not like what I have written. If anything, the rage temperature will increase; perhaps it is a self-fulfilling prophecy!
However, if you’re one of those followers of Jesus who are troubled by social divisions and the fracturing we are witnessing in our streets and suburbs, press closer to the gospel of Jesus and believe God’s purposes through his son.
If you have issues with Islam, as I certainly do, love your Muslim neighbours, don’t hate on them; invite them over to your home for a meal with the family, don’t ostracise them. Invite them to Church and make them feel welcome, because they are.
Our Church is hoping to begin a ministry next year to migrant families in our community. Why? Because we want to serve them and we want them to know the good news of Jesus, just as someone once shared with us.
I love how yesterday in Western Sydney, a Sydney Anglican Church hosted a conference. It was given the name, ONE FOR ALL, and Archbishop Kanishka Raffel preached on the gospel that crosses cultures. Australia needs more of that.
If you hear people saying that there are too many Chinese or Indians or whoever in our country, call them out.
On Sunday, 31 August, go to Church as you ought, worship God with his people from among the nations, love each other, and hear again how the gospel of grace is our answer.
Update: the Melbourne march was attended by people from many different persuasions. However, the march was led by a group of self-identifying neo-Nazis, and a prominent neo-Nazi spoke from the platform to address the crowd.
I love the footy. AFL is part of Melbourne’s DNA, and it’s one of our most successful exports to the rest of the country. But I don’t love AFL that much that I want to sell my soul. Our streets are awash with domestic abuse, where women (and children) live in fear and where indescribable things take place. As a society, we are meant to be learning and improving, even with the likes of Andrew Tate and Doug Wilson espousing their grotesque language and imagery. And then the AFL announces with pride,
‘I know what we need: let’s display our sport to the world and entertain the masses with a man who raps about demeaning women.’
Last month, the Carlton Football Club wore orange on their match-day jumper to promote gender equality and the prevention of violence against women. Well done, Navy Blues, our season may be a failure but this one was a win. Two weeks later, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon announced that Snoop Dogg would headline the AFL Grand Final entertainment.
How does the AFL square their stance on violence against women while inviting Snoop ‘let me find another vile word to say about women’ Dogg, to be the headline act on Grand Final day?
Bewildering is one word. If the rapper has genuinely repented and changed his life around, that’s one thing. We should and do believe in forgiveness. However, Snoop Dogg is on the record saying that while his attitudes towards women have changed, he doesn’t regret the songs he once wrote (and which continue to be played millions of times every month).
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. is one of the biggest names in the music industry, and the sporting world seems to love him, from the Super Bowl to the Olympics, and to the world of Menulog!
He certainly has charisma and a thing for wearing sunglasses, but I doubt these are the reasons why the AFL is paying Snoop Dogg a truckload of cash to perform at this year’s Grand Final.
The dude is a singing misogynist, with lyrics so explicit in their sexism and degradation of women, if the AFL paid me what their paying the Dogg, I still wouldn’t share the words here. Those who know his songs know exactly what I mean, and those who don’t are better off. The issues don’t end with his songs, but with a litany of allegations and cases that have been brought against Snoop Dogg since the mid-1990s.
What kind of artist could we promote for families on Grand Final Day? What kind of music will help younger men think well of women? What kinds of songs tell us better stories? Is there no one available in our big big world who can sing, dance and perform? Even silent Snoopy the Dog would be a better choice.
Andrew Dillon, we’re not pooping on the party; we just don’t need Snoop Dogg, or a 100 other hip hop gold wearing, pyjama wearing artists who make Pablo Picasso look like a PG rated artist.
This is yet another example of our sex confused culture. It’s kiss cam all over again, with Coldplay singing, ‘I used to rule the world’. Condemn the CEO…but love is love…The poor wife…but he’s embracing his inner self…such betrayal….but this is a consensual relationship…
We don’t want to give up on the sex hype and yet it is leaving behind a very long trial of harm.
By the way, if you’re wondering how men should relate to women, it wouldn’t hurt to pay more attention to the old book. The old book isn’t so old. Its relevance is just what we need in our age of utter confusion about gender, sex and relationships. Take ,for instance, this advice that the Apostle Paul gave to a young bloke named Timothy, “Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”
Or these age words written to a man named Titus,
“encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned.”
I guess it’s not sexy enough, not enough risk and hormones letting fly.
Or take the story from the book of Judges, when Israel responded to the horrific incident of a woman being raped and murdered: they went to war against the offending tribe.
Will wise heads prevail? Will the allure of profit win the day? Or will we pay and praise a misognist in front of our daughters, mums and wives?
Melbourne has been rocked this week with 2 men charged with abusing little children. 1200 children are now required to be checked for STDs. Imagine the horror for these families? How do people begin to process what has happened?
In this episode of my new podcast, I want to address the question of evil, and needing a God who judges and who hates evil even more than us.
A Melbourne influencer has created a public controversy this week following her announcement on Instagram that she spent $45,000 on gender selection treatment in the United States.
Nine News reported,
“A Melbourne influencer has publicly defended her decision to go public with her choice to fly to the US to select her baby’s sex.
Caitlyn Bailey, who has two boys and a girl, flew to the US and paid $45,000 to ensure her next pregnancy, conceived through IVF, would be another girl.
The single mum has a following of more than 60,000 users on Instagram and uses her platform to promote her lifestyle and parenting journey.
‘”I chose to share my story and my journey purely because I thought if there’s people out there that it could potentially help and not feel so alone, that’s why I shared it.’
“I didn’t share it to start online arguments or have you know troll conversations, it’s just, it makes me feel sick to my stomach to think about the negative side of things, I’m all about positivity.”’
What are we to make of this woman’s choice? If there is no moral dilemma, then why has her personal decision created such public consternation?
To say that our society is confused about the unborn is an understatement. A child in the womb at 8 weeks brings excitement and joy to one mother and despondency or disappointment to another, and a child’s life is measured by the woman’s inclination and decision. Gender selection is illegal in Australia, and yet if the mother waits a matter of weeks, the child can be aborted; delayed gender selection.
We know more about pregnancy today than ever. Through science and technology, our knowledge of little ones and from the earliest moments of life is staggering. Whether it is seeing the first heartbeat at 6 weeks or the baby moving to music at 16 weeks; the old trope that he or she is nothing more than a ‘clump of cells’ can no longer be sustained. And yet, the fight for abortion rights is as loud as it has ever been.
While our society is confused about the value of the unborn, this Melbourne influencer is at least trying to be consistent. If carrying through with a pregnancy is the woman’s choice, why is it unethical for her to have that choice taken from her so early in the process and not later on? Is there something about the gender of a child that is outside the woman’s authority? I happen to think this mother’s actions are appalling, but is she not simply following through with the logic routinely applied to how we view the unborn? Yes she is, and yet her choice sits uncomfortably; we know intuitively that choosing the gender of your child is unethical and unloving and more.
Sometimes this is known as ‘designer babies’. Let’s use the older word, eugenics. And that word should cause us to shudder. And maybe that’s one reason why the consciences of many Melbournians has been pricked by this particular news story.
One reason why gender selection is outlawed in many countries is because it would lead to the mass killing of girls. Prejudice against females is as modern an issue as it was an ancient one. Modern technology gives license to patriarchal societies to eliminate unwanted girls and to preference boys as the eldest or only child. The method may have changed, but there is little moral distinction between these practices and what the Ancient Romans did when unwanted girls were born.
One of the facts that the influencer doesn’t speak to is what happens to all the embryos that don’t fit her preferred child. The typical IVF process creates multiple embryos (it doesn’t have to be done this way), and those that are male are either discarded straight away or are frozen and probably discarded later on. It’s not just a matter of choosing the gender of your child, but letting die those with the wrong gender.
The incongruity of our view of the unborn is further displayed in that this IVF procedure is known as ‘gender selection’. But aren’t we told with absolute authority that gender is not determined by biology but is about personal preference and social conditioning? It’s interesting to see how language shifts when it suits. Of course, divorcing gender from sex is a furphy and just occasionally, like today, we are reminded that this is the case.
The larger point that this case has exposed is that the argument, ‘it’s the ‘mother’s choice’ doesn’t wash when it comes to gender selection. This point is important because we are admitting that even as an embryo this life has a dignity and value already separate to that of the mother.
There are a range of emotions and expectations surrounding pregnancy: joy and fear, love and nerves. The child however is not the sum of these emotions and expectations. Every baby is a gift, whether they are a boy or a girl. Should it so matter to parents that they can assume a right to choose or dispose of a child because of their gender? Gender selection is immoral and I’m grateful it’s illegal in Australia. This law is one of those little reminders that pierce through our incongruous age.
Every child is a little miracle and deserves every chance at life and to be loved. A parent may forget, although I suspect many do not when their conscience kicks into gear, but these little ones are not forgotten by God. They are loved and welcomed by God.
We have become rather effective at playing God with children. How different does the ancient Psalm depict the worth of the child, those who are wanted and those unwanted,
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
I’m aware that any time I write about an issue such as this, there will be readers who have in the past made decisions regarding their unborn child that they know were wrong and to this day the decision haunts them. The God of the Bible shows us that he can outdo with good our worst decisions. Our wrong choices, don’t curb God’s commitment to see life win. And as the Gospel of Jesus shows us, His grace and mercy is able to forgive and heal the deepest shame and guilt. That’s the thing with our society’s doublespeak, we need to be told that we’ve done nothing wrong and yet there’s a part of us that knows otherwise.
One final word, the woman has expressed her fears of trolls. Trolling is not acceptable. Trolling masquerades as righteousness but it’s a little more a cowards way of venting and causing others to fear. It’s not the way to respond to this story or to any. Don’t be a tool. Offer a comment or critique and sign your real name to it.
“Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. (Romans 16:12)
Why spend another few minutes writing about this ‘sin of empathy’’? Because like its partner in crime, Christian Nationalism, the sin of empathy mood is making way into different corners of Australian Christianity. Opening the doors and letting it inside is only going to make an unnecessary mess, so I’m hoping we leave it outside for the wind to blow away.
Are many men feeling emasculated and shamed for being men? Sure. Are many women threatened by the genderless thinking that is today impacting safe women’s spaces and sports? Absolutely.
The notion that macho-masculinity is somehow the answer to the Church’s woes and that feminine characteristics are the primary sin of the church is theologically shallow and pastorally dangerous. Indeed, the ‘sin of empathy’ crowd is as theologically and pastorally flawed as those who see church as a gender free zone. The danger with the latter is that it’s easy to spot. The world’s values aren’t the church’s, and good old-fashioned evangelicals realise that we don’t get our tune from the culture at large. The danger with the former, patriarchy, is that to the reactionary evangelical type, this can come across as a solution. But why exchange one set of faulty thinking for another? Jumping from one house on fire to setting another light is no way forward.
Men blaming women doesn’t sound particularly masculine to me. It’s Adam 2.0 rather than the Second Adam.
For example…
In the latest online defence of his book, Joe Rigney made this claim,
“in my book The Sin of Empathy, I call Feminism “Queen of the Woke,” because of the way that feminism takes a female strength and pathologizes it by deploying feminine compassion where it doesn’t belong.”
Dani Treweek responded with this,
“Let me translate for y’all.
“Deploying female compassion where it doesn’t belong” = women making any meaningful contribution to the life and ministry of the church.”
I have now read enough of Rigney’s position to know that Dani Treweek is representing him fairly. In fact, the more he doubles down online, the less his views resemble complementarianism and instead suggest a neo-patriarchy.
Rigney then replied,
Once again Dr. Treweek misrepresents the argument of the book, but in the process reveals how deeply influenced she is by feminism.
And yet Joe Rigney says things like this,
“There is a reason that the empathetic sex that women are barred from the pastoral office, they were barred from the priestly office in the Old Testament for the same reason. Because priests and pastors, priests in the Old Testament, pastors and ministers and elders in the New Testament, are charged fundamentally with guarding the doctrine and worship of the church, of setting the perimeter for what is in and out. That’s the calling. And therefore the sex that is bent and wired towards care, nurture, compassion and empathy is ill-suited to that role. So it’s no surprise that in a culture that has become dominated by feminism, it’s deep in the American system at this point, that in that same timeframe, you would have an outbreak of empathy that would become the steering wheel by which every institution is hijacked.”
Back on X (Twitter), Rigney then proceeded to outline how he values the contributions of women in the church…which he then outlines as having babies and cooking meals.
I’m not joking.
‘I’m forced to conclude that, for Dr. Treweek, raising children, managing households, and caring for hurting people are not “meaningful” ministry in the life of the church.
Which is the fundamental feminist lie.’
Ours is an age that often downplays the role of mothers and ignores the tireless love exercised in the home. Our society isn’t the most friendly and affirming for women who make the decision to sit out of the workforce to help raise a family. Is this, however, the sum of women’s contribution to the body of Christ?
It seems that poor Phoebe and Priscilla and a host of women in Romans 16 didn’t get Rigney’s memo.
Again, yes, we ought to esteem and value marriage and children. Ephesians 5 is a wonderful godly model that remains so today. If the totality of women contributing to the church is sex, children, and meals, may I contend that you have wandered a long way from the Scriptures. If Rigney appreciates that it is more, why not include it?
More urgent, how pastorally insensitive and even dangerous, is Rigney’s assumption here? What do Rigney’s words say to single women in our churches? What does his sweeping generalisation communicate to women who are unable to have children?
I know The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a lefty dystopian myth, but sometimes one can imagine where they got the idea from.
To the young men who might be tempted to buy into the Moscow method, it’s only a matter of time before you trip over your beard. If you think that the answer to gender slippery slides is to stand at the top cleaning your rifle and asking when dinner is ready, I humbly suggest that someone ought to push you off the slide.
If men want to know how to lead and serve and love, look to Jesus. Follow his example. We don’t encourage faithfulness in our churches by making gender redundant or by making men sound and smell just a little bit like Andrew Tate.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced a new set of laws under the banner ‘social cohesion’.
‘Social cohesion’ when attached to government and laws has a touch of the Machiavellian about it. One doesn’t know whether to think it’s more like George Orwell or Monty Python!
The Government’s initiative includes a new ‘social cohesion pledge’. Any community group applying for government funding will need to make the pledge, promising to support social harmony and inclusivity.
No doubt this is a testing time for any government. There are pressures applied from all kinds of directions, and at times this leads to inaction or delayed resolve. As we have seen over the past year, this has given more oxygen to antisocial, and in this case, antisemitic voices.
I think this specific set of government measures are sensible and necessary, but I cannot but help think that it may open the door to future measures that are unreasonable and damaging.
There is a cowardice hiding behind masked protesters. There is an ugly hatred being propagated by some of the protests we have seen on Melbourne streets. If you can’t protest without wearing masks, carrying threatening objects, and using disgusting slogans, maybe that should signal that you or your cause is a problem.
Victoria was never the perfect State, but we have witnessed developments over the past decade that are injurious and bring grief to many. We are less peaceful than we were. We are less inclusive and kind. There is more personal and social distress and with little sign of a turnaround. Melbourne has become Australia’s protest capital (not a title to boast about). Ever since 2020, when the government turned a blind eye to certain marches while slamming others, every Jane, Nguyen, and Bob has seen fit to grind city streets to a halt. Not a week goes by without banners and angry faces blocking traffic.
I support these particular measures because antisemitism cannot under any circumstance be allowed to fester. If we think that our society is beyond and above 1928 Germany, we are suffering from a greater dose of egomania than I thought.
However, I am not comfortable with Jacinta Allan’s language of ‘social cohesion’. I get it; they are trying to address a specific problem without naming the elephant in the room. Why not call it ‘Rules for Safe Protests’ or something like that?
The reason why I’m uncomfortable about the Government’s language of ‘social cohesion’ is because the task of social cohesion doesn’t belong to the government, but to the people. When government sees itself as the answer to every social ill and when the people demand government to fix every crisis, we are obfuscating personal responsibility and creating systems of governance that cannot bear the weight of such responsibility.
This is one area where the work of Dr Christopher Watkin is worthy of consideration. Monash University’s Dr Watkin articulates a positive and important work on contract theory. He says,
“Civil society is sometimes the neglected dimension of the social contract, the “missing middle” as it has been called. We have a tendency to jump straight from government and law to the individual.
These civil society relationships across different visions of the good are a glue that holds our social contract together.”
From his book, Biblical Critical Theory,
‘the vague and sporadic measures taken by contemporary governments to shore up the social contract with well-meaning but half-hearted attempts at “civic edu- cation” have little effect, when all the while billions of advertising dollars and a destructive paradigm of competition in all areas of society expertly catechize individual consumers to be little predisposed to the civic duties a strong social contract requires. No rewriting of the social contract can be complete without giving serious attention to its cultural and liturgical infrastructure.’
No Government is up for the job, and it’s not designed to be. Part of the problem embedded in any Government setting the rules for social cohesion is that this is never a natural space. This is one of the heresies attached to secularism. Secular may be preferable to Sharia Law and Christian Nationalism, but it is no more epistemologically and morally neutral. Secular is the sum of the worldviews present in and controlling the moral impulses of the day.
There are wonderful pockets of social cohesion is found in all kinds of places and communities across our State. There are sporting clubs and men’s sheds, and there are temples and synagogues. It is certainly experienced in local churches.
Churches are frequently more culturally diverse than the communities surrounding them. Where I have the privilege of serving and belonging, we have people from China and Uganda, families from Vietnam and India, Nigeria and Columbia. Young and old mix together, single and married are friends and serve one another. Of course, Churches have their failings and blindspots, (after all, the very point of Christianity is that there is only one perfect saviour and we’re not him!), and yet there is profound togetherness and other person-centredness.
The Victorian Government is also currently working on expanding anti-vilification laws, which some are concerned will tighten the noose of faith groups from teaching and practising in accordance with their convictions. It’s amazing how often the State has assumed the bishopric role when Christian praxis hasn’t supported their social agenda. There is a mine of irony in Victoria where Government identifies a growing social disorder and yet clamps down on one of the few societal groups who are truly exhibiting positive social health and life. If we are interested in civil society, maybe we ought to return to the worldview that created the ideas and values from which this vision derives: Christianity.
Well, it’s Christmas time, the ultimate day of truce-making, although that first holy night was filled with peril. Nonetheless, the hope born that night in Bethlehem really is the only hope we have today. Come, check out a local church and see that hope in action.
Let me leave you with the great Messianic promise of Isaiah,
“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”
Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?’
(Jeremiah 8:15, 18-22)
Photo from X
Adass Israel Synagogue is located up the road from where I live and the church where I serve. The Synagogue is located in the Council area, adjacent to mine, which, in Melbourne distance, makes us pretty much neighbours.
What took place yesterday was pure unadulterated evil and has tarnished our city, perhaps in ways we may not comprehend for some time to come.
In the early hours of Friday morning, 2 men set fire to the Synagogue, causing extensive damage and injuring two people who were inside at the time. The perpetrators went about their deed, hiding their identities as the cowards they are. There is no courage or moral fortitude in attacking a place of worship.
Melbourne is home to more Holocaust survivors than any other place in the world, apart from Israel. Between my home and the city, stand many Jewish schools and synagogues. My kids regularly played sports with and against local Jewish schools, such is the vibrant community in this part of Melbourne.
William Cooper is one of our great Australians. A Christian man and Aboriginal leader, William Cooper stood in solidarity with the oppressed. With foresight, Cooper understood the unfolding evils in Germany and spoke up when most world leaders remained silent. On December 6 1938, William Cooper led a march in Melbourne to the German Consultant, in response to the infamous Kristallnacht, and condemned the “cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government in German.”
86 years later, to the day, my Melbourne, our city, witnesses a burning Synagogue.
For all our pseudo-sophistry and boasting in our cosmopolitan and cultural greatness, travelling in our DNA is the same iniquities that have tainted all cities of old, including what was once considered the most ingenious and advanced culture in the world: Germany. We Melbournians love to sing our own praises, in this gleeful myopia that sometimes has more in common with Nero than William Cooper.
Of course, this chromosomal thread appears in all kinds of ways; sometimes we call it out and other times we call it good or choice. The unnerving fact is that Melbourne has not decided where we will fall.
Today, Jewish families around Melbourne are less certain about tomorrow. They are less confident and free. That ought to bring great sadness to our city and shout a loud warning.
Two millennia ago, an elderly Jewish man lived in Jerusalem. We are told in Holy Scripture,
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him” (Luke 2:25)
May the consolation of Israel pour out His grace and peace.
This year I’ve received 2 phone calls at the church office this year from young women reaching out to local churches and offering to help us engage with young people and help them navigate life and follow God. I suspect there have been more, but we didn’t answer the phone.
On both occasions, the callers were young women who were incredibly polite and gracious. Straight away, their smoothness raised questions in my mind and their offer to look after or help out the young people at church was certainly strange. Their spiel very quickly turned to Bible study groups that they offer which will apparently save a generation from all the pitfalls of today’s society.
Maybe I’m suspicious by nature, but something didn’t sound right, so I asked what organisation they represent. Their tone changed immediately and became nervous and defensive. It’s like they were reading off a script and didn’t know how to handle the question. On both occasions, the callers weren’t keen to share the name of their organisation. Alarm! In addition, I asked them for a website that provides information about who they are and what they’re about. After trying to avoid an answer, one of the women gave me a website (which turned out to contain zero information). Another alarm was triggered.
It was fairly clear that they were representing a religious cult or sect of some sort; the only question was, which one. Eventually, they gave me their name, Zion Christian Mission Centre’. I hadn’t come across that name before, so I asked the Elders at my church and the pieces came together. The ‘Zion Christian Mission Centre’ or ‘Zion Church’ is a front name for the Korean cult, ‘Shincheonji Church of Jesus’.
I knew about this group because they have been targeting university students across the country for several years. In particular, they are effective at taking vulnerable international students who are wanting to learn about Christianity. Christian university groups have given specific warnings about this cult.
Trying to extract students from the ‘Shincheonji Church of Jesus’, is no easy task. Sadly, they are also manipulating people in the general community and targeting churches as well. One friend of mine has watched someone they know swallowed up by the Zion Church, like seeing a friend swept away by a flood and not wanting to be rescued. It’s really sad and dangerous.
The Herald Sun published today an article warning about Shincheonji Church of Jesus and how they’re weaving their way onto the Australian Catholic University campuses. Well done HS.
The ABC published an exposé back in 2021 which is worth reading.
Another AI attempt to depict a cult. Instead, think t-shirts and jeans in a lounge room
There is no point mucking around with this; cults are dangerous. Cults have existed across cultures and societies since ancient times, and despite the bad rap they receive, cults are alive and active today. I ask AI to give me an image of a ‘cult’. The first showed a ‘colt’ outside a barn. On the outside a cult may appear friendly and furry, but inside they are quite something else!
Some cults, because of their success and size, are no longer considered such, and we find they are recategorised and morph from cult to ‘sect’ or even a Christian denomination, even though they are not such. It’s part of the difficulty of defining such things.
Cults (and much like religion) latch onto human vulnerabilities and hopes. They offer community. They promise hope, security, or that thing which are affections are wanting to be met. We shouldn’t be surprised by such groups. Jesus warns that errant and self-seeking groups will come about to confuse and steal and destroy people’s lives.
On the surface, they may appear Christian-like and caring. Who doesn’t want to find a caring community? And studying the Bible is a great thing to do. How can we discern between a cult and a genuine Christian Church?
Their teaching doesn’t reflect the Bible doctrine (which is affirmed and articulated in historic Christian creeds and confessions), but they add to or subtract from orthodoxy. For example, they might deny the full and eternal Divinity of Jesus Christ. They often have a leader who gives prophetic words that contradict Biblical teaching about God or heaven/hell or spirituality.
In the case of the ‘Zion Church’, it started with a man in South Korea named Lee Man-hee. He claims to be a last-day prophet and even Messiah-like figure. Apparently, the book of Revelation is written in code and only a special prophet like Lee Man-hee is able to discern its meaning. To be saved and have heaven you must be a member of Shincheonji Church of Jesus and abide by the teachings of Lee Man-hee.
Second, despite the warmth and acceptance you receive at first, the more engaged you become, the deeper the tentacles of control become. Do they recommend you leave home and join a shared house with their members? Do they urge you to cut ties with your family? Do they claim to be the only true church?
Third, they offer false promises. Like a tongue that’s been sliding in gallons of castor oil, cult are slippery and we offer your promises and deals that they are unable to deliver and is not theirs to make.
Of course, a religious group (even a Church) might have one or more of these elements but when all three are present, the language of ‘cult’ is not amiss. While cults in the West traditionally take on a Christian favour, they do exist in other cultural and religious settings.
Cults are like gangs; once you’re hooked into the mob it is very difficult to separate yourself. They are secretive, controlling, and legalistic. There are hidden truths that tantalise and can only be revealed as you commit more of yourself and ascend the leadership structure. Soon enough, you find that more of life becomes controlled by the group leader, and rather than hearing a grace-filled message (which is the Christian Gospel), it is a spirituality of laws and rigorous requirements that determine spiritual health and success.
Over the years I’ve dealt with people from all kinds of places, and so I have experience in asking questions and discerning real from fake. When I took those phone calls, I might have smelled a rat in the first 30 seconds (or wolf), but I couldn’t name which one straight away. Even then, sometimes a fraud is sophisticated and convincing and sway pastors. We can all be taken in by a good story.
Beware of ‘Zion Christian Mission Centre’ and whatever other names they might go by. Here is some advice:
Should you receive a random message or call, or walk up at uni or knock on the front door by a stranger, ask questions.
What is the name of your organisation?
Tell me your website and socials so I can look for myself.
Don’t agree to anything on the spot.
Don’t hand over personal details.
When unsure, ask a mature friend to see what they think.
If you’re part of a church or Christian group on campus, go to one of the leaders and ask for them for wisdom.
Warnings:
If a so-called Christian group is unable to or reluctant to provide basic information about their name, website, what they believe.
They offer to meet with you 1-1 to read the Bible intensely and with high commitment.
They misdirect when you question them and what they teach.
They use guilt to control you and draw you in further.
They distance themselves from mainstream churches, thinking they alone are right and true
Does their teaching contradict key Christian beliefs and practices?
Do they require a ‘special leader’ to rightly interpret the Bible?
Finally, if you do find yourself entangled in a cult, there is hope and there is a way to be freed. Don’t feel shame, ask for help.
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