Excellent meeting tonight with about 70 attending and 19 people volunteering to form the organising committee for the Friends of Seven Kings Park. We heard from similar groups that have run at Goodmayes, South, and Valentine's Parks, as well as Ian Sheppard from the Vision Trust which now runs leisure facilities in Redbridge, including the parks. Issues raised included among others: improvements to the skate park; parking fees; closure of the toilets; improvements to rose beds. Encouraging developments which were announced included use of Orange RockCorp and Training4Transition moving into the park.
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The Rembrants - I'll Be There For You!
Showing posts with label arts and faith community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts and faith community. Show all posts
Monday, 20 June 2011
Saturday, 14 May 2011
The ethics and limits of atheistic evolution
On Tuesday I heard Anna Robbins (Senior Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture, London School of Theology) speak at the Christian Resources Exhibition on Using the Bible in Ethics.
As an example of the application of the Bible in ethics, Anna contrasted the ethical implications of the Christian story of creation (as opposed to Creationism) with those of the story of atheistic evolution, which she argued is the current dominant story told in Western culture.
Atheistic evolution, she suggested, sees the development of life as a closed system requiring no external divine intervention in which the purpose of life is the transmission of genes through procreation. The ethical implications of this story then lead, she argued, to the sexualisation of our culture, something which can be seen, for example, in the lyrics of the Top 5 downloads (currently in the UK - 1. Where Them Girls At (feat. Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida) David Guetta; 2. The Lazy Song Bruno Mars; 3. Party Rock Anthem (feat. Lauren Bennet and GoonRock) LMFAO; 4. Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer) Pitbull; 5. Beautiful People (feat. Benny Benassi) Chris Brown) and the premature sexualisation of children through such things as retailers selling items of clothing inappropriate for the age they're targeting, sexually provocative music videos and newsagents stocking lads' mags in the eyeline of toddlers, among other examples.
I've preached on this theme on several occasions, particularly at baptisms, mixing the following poem by Steve Turner, the understanding of the 'world' which Stephen Verney argues is found in John's Gospel, and Switchfoot's New Way To Be Human:
"These are your first lessons in living.
To begin we drag you head-first from your shelter,
away from your food, from your warmth.
We cut you apart from your only known friend.
We take you and beat you until strange gases
rush your lungs and pain jerks your frame.
These are your first lessons in living.
They will stand you in good stead."
In this poem life is portrayed as something hard and painful. It says that we are being born into a world where, if we don’t look out for ourselves, we will dragged from everything we enjoy and beaten up. And it says that our first lessons in living when we emerge from our mother’s womb, the placenta is cut and the nurse strikes us on the back to get us breathing are important lessons for us in survival. The lesson to learn is that in a world like this we need to put ourselves first, we need to look after No. 1, otherwise someone else will take what we have and hurt us in the process. It is what scientists describe when they talk about us having selfish genes which get us ready to live in a world that is about the survival of the fittest.
John the Baptist talks about this way of understanding life when he says that Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. The word used for ‘world’ means a way of life centred on our egocentricity. In this way of life “the ruling principle is the dictator ME”. My ego is all-important. The world revolves around me, my needs and my wishes. I do what I want when I want and to whom I want. When society is organised like that people spend all their time competing with each other, manipulating each other and trying to control each other. It’s called the survival of the fittest and it is what scientists say the world we are born into is like.
John the Baptist says that that is a sinful way of life and that Jesus came to take it away. Jesus shows us a new way of being human. His way of being human can be summed up in the words of John 15: 13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”. He looks at all of us, at all human beings, and says, “You are my friends”. Jesus allowed his own life to end so that all people could know what it is like to really live. Not to live in the old, selfish, self-centred way of being human but to live in his new way of being human, loving God with all our being and loving our neighbours as ourselves.
Similarly, in a recent post I used the recent Royal Wedding as an example of the way in which the language of what Robbins calls atheistic evolution is inadequate to capture our experience of the relationality of love:
"Instead of being about the mutual celebrations of love and affection which we saw between the couple themselves and also between the people of this country and the royal family, on the basis of measurable scientific knowledge what occurred Friday simply becomes about the survival of the fittest through the passing on of selfish genes in procreation. Our experiences of love and faith cannot be adequately captured through the language of scientific measurement. Instead, we need the languages of belief and imagination to give voice to what we truly experience of love and faith. As the Bishop of London said in his sermon, 'Faith and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life.'”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Switchfoot - New Way To Be Human.
As an example of the application of the Bible in ethics, Anna contrasted the ethical implications of the Christian story of creation (as opposed to Creationism) with those of the story of atheistic evolution, which she argued is the current dominant story told in Western culture.
Atheistic evolution, she suggested, sees the development of life as a closed system requiring no external divine intervention in which the purpose of life is the transmission of genes through procreation. The ethical implications of this story then lead, she argued, to the sexualisation of our culture, something which can be seen, for example, in the lyrics of the Top 5 downloads (currently in the UK - 1. Where Them Girls At (feat. Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida) David Guetta; 2. The Lazy Song Bruno Mars; 3. Party Rock Anthem (feat. Lauren Bennet and GoonRock) LMFAO; 4. Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer) Pitbull; 5. Beautiful People (feat. Benny Benassi) Chris Brown) and the premature sexualisation of children through such things as retailers selling items of clothing inappropriate for the age they're targeting, sexually provocative music videos and newsagents stocking lads' mags in the eyeline of toddlers, among other examples.
I've preached on this theme on several occasions, particularly at baptisms, mixing the following poem by Steve Turner, the understanding of the 'world' which Stephen Verney argues is found in John's Gospel, and Switchfoot's New Way To Be Human:
"These are your first lessons in living.
To begin we drag you head-first from your shelter,
away from your food, from your warmth.
We cut you apart from your only known friend.
We take you and beat you until strange gases
rush your lungs and pain jerks your frame.
These are your first lessons in living.
They will stand you in good stead."
In this poem life is portrayed as something hard and painful. It says that we are being born into a world where, if we don’t look out for ourselves, we will dragged from everything we enjoy and beaten up. And it says that our first lessons in living when we emerge from our mother’s womb, the placenta is cut and the nurse strikes us on the back to get us breathing are important lessons for us in survival. The lesson to learn is that in a world like this we need to put ourselves first, we need to look after No. 1, otherwise someone else will take what we have and hurt us in the process. It is what scientists describe when they talk about us having selfish genes which get us ready to live in a world that is about the survival of the fittest.
John the Baptist talks about this way of understanding life when he says that Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. The word used for ‘world’ means a way of life centred on our egocentricity. In this way of life “the ruling principle is the dictator ME”. My ego is all-important. The world revolves around me, my needs and my wishes. I do what I want when I want and to whom I want. When society is organised like that people spend all their time competing with each other, manipulating each other and trying to control each other. It’s called the survival of the fittest and it is what scientists say the world we are born into is like.
John the Baptist says that that is a sinful way of life and that Jesus came to take it away. Jesus shows us a new way of being human. His way of being human can be summed up in the words of John 15: 13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”. He looks at all of us, at all human beings, and says, “You are my friends”. Jesus allowed his own life to end so that all people could know what it is like to really live. Not to live in the old, selfish, self-centred way of being human but to live in his new way of being human, loving God with all our being and loving our neighbours as ourselves.
Similarly, in a recent post I used the recent Royal Wedding as an example of the way in which the language of what Robbins calls atheistic evolution is inadequate to capture our experience of the relationality of love:
"Instead of being about the mutual celebrations of love and affection which we saw between the couple themselves and also between the people of this country and the royal family, on the basis of measurable scientific knowledge what occurred Friday simply becomes about the survival of the fittest through the passing on of selfish genes in procreation. Our experiences of love and faith cannot be adequately captured through the language of scientific measurement. Instead, we need the languages of belief and imagination to give voice to what we truly experience of love and faith. As the Bishop of London said in his sermon, 'Faith and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life.'”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Switchfoot - New Way To Be Human.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
The Arts & Faith Top 100 Films
This comes from Image Update:
"Just in time for this years Oscar awards ceremony, Image has released its 2010 Arts & Faith Top 100 Films list.
Showcasing top films and directors from around the world and spanning cinematic history from a 1927 silent film to films currently in theaters (the Coen Brothers Oscar-nominated A Serious Man), the list is the culmination of years of discussion and debate among the ArtsandFaith.com online community.
Last published in 2008, previous incarnations of the Arts & Faith Top 100 List have been featured in the LA Times, VH1, Christianity Today, and on Jeffrey Wells Hollywood Elsewhere blog. The list has been called an incomparable resource for anyone interested in exploring transcendent themes in the movies.
In his blog post accompanying the Arts & Faith Top 100 Films list, film critic Jeffrey Overstreet (Through a Screen Darkly) defines the list as being characterized both by artistic excellence and a serious wrestling with questions that at the root might be called religious or spiritual.
Overstreet notes that this list will come as a surprise to those who think they know what a religious community might select. Films like The Ten Commandments and The Passion of the Christ did not even make the list, while a host of foreign-language films with subtitles were selected.
Many Christians, Overstreet explains, have become so concerned about the usefulness of art as a tool of ministry and evangelism, theyve forgottenor never known in the first placewhat art really is, and how it works. We hope this list will remind you of the powerful and multifarious ways that film can convey matters of faith, and suspect you may find a new personal favorite among the 100 final selections.
Click here to view the list, here to visit or join the Arts & Faith community, and here to read Jeffrey Overstreets Good Letters blog on the significance of this list."
Which films would be in your Top 10? See Philip Ritchie's Reel Issues post for some other useful film-related resources from the Bible Society.
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Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow.
"Just in time for this years Oscar awards ceremony, Image has released its 2010 Arts & Faith Top 100 Films list.
Showcasing top films and directors from around the world and spanning cinematic history from a 1927 silent film to films currently in theaters (the Coen Brothers Oscar-nominated A Serious Man), the list is the culmination of years of discussion and debate among the ArtsandFaith.com online community.
Last published in 2008, previous incarnations of the Arts & Faith Top 100 List have been featured in the LA Times, VH1, Christianity Today, and on Jeffrey Wells Hollywood Elsewhere blog. The list has been called an incomparable resource for anyone interested in exploring transcendent themes in the movies.
In his blog post accompanying the Arts & Faith Top 100 Films list, film critic Jeffrey Overstreet (Through a Screen Darkly) defines the list as being characterized both by artistic excellence and a serious wrestling with questions that at the root might be called religious or spiritual.
Overstreet notes that this list will come as a surprise to those who think they know what a religious community might select. Films like The Ten Commandments and The Passion of the Christ did not even make the list, while a host of foreign-language films with subtitles were selected.
Many Christians, Overstreet explains, have become so concerned about the usefulness of art as a tool of ministry and evangelism, theyve forgottenor never known in the first placewhat art really is, and how it works. We hope this list will remind you of the powerful and multifarious ways that film can convey matters of faith, and suspect you may find a new personal favorite among the 100 final selections.
Click here to view the list, here to visit or join the Arts & Faith community, and here to read Jeffrey Overstreets Good Letters blog on the significance of this list."
Which films would be in your Top 10? See Philip Ritchie's Reel Issues post for some other useful film-related resources from the Bible Society.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow.
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