In the first instalment of a five-part series, Lionel Windsor ponders what astronomy has to teach us.

I'm a fan of space. I don't actually know much about the details of astronomy or cosmology or astrophysics; I just think that the space is really cool.

If there are any real scientists reading this, I want to say thanks. I know that most of your work involves boring and tedious searching, collating and number crunching. Thanks for doing all that stuff so that I can see those fantastic pictures of nebulas on the internet and wonder at it all.

For example, I'm a fan of millisecond pulsars. A gigantic star, millions of light years away, explodes in a huge supernova. It creates a fireball ten million billion billion times bigger than Hiroshima. In its ashes, it leaves behind a neutron star made of dense atomic nuclei, squashed together at a density 10 trillion times greater than steel. A teaspoon full of neutron star weighs about the same as Sydney Harbour. Sometimes this neutron star will steal stuff from a nearby star and start spinning. Some neutron stars spin hundreds of times a second—a whole star rotating as fast as an idling car engine. Many of these super-dense, revving stars send out pulses of electromagnetic radiation, milliseconds apart. And we might be able to use these millisecond pulsars as standard cosmological clocks to help us detect gravitational waves, explore space-time bending, and understand more about the tiniest particles in the universe.

But apart from the wow factor, what's the point of learning about space?

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As our beloved convenor Paul Grimmond has now left us, I shall be taking over the Saturday posts, where, in keeping with our usual practice, we present some Briefing ‘blasts from the past’. Because one of my other hats is Briefing staff editor and because we are currently working on our April issue, which is on the Holy Spirit, I thought it fitting that we look over what else The Briefing has had to say about the topic.

Our lead feature article in the April 2010 issue is a very lengthy but important essay by John Woodhouse, Principal of Moore College, on Cessationism and Continuationism. Broadly speaking, Cessationism is the view that the miraculous parts of the New Testament ceased with the New Testament era, while Continuationism is the view that those miraculous parts continued beyond the New Testament era.

John Wimber and Jack Deere are just two examples of those who subscribe to a continuationist viewpoint. So from Briefing #45, I present to you part of the discussion that took place between John Woodhouse, David Cook and Phillip Jensen, and John Wimber and his colleagues back in 1990—a discussion that illustrates John Wimber's position on healing and miracles:

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There are very few Mexicans competing in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Well, that is what I assume from the complete lack of coverage here. At least we are being spared the scandals, tears and fashion disasters that usually accompany such an event!

So with no curling to enjoy when I need a brain break, my remote has led me to watch a bit of basketball. Here in Mexico, we get both kinds of basketball: NBA (professional, LA Lakers, Boston Celtics, absurd amounts of money, etc.) and college (university, 18-21-year-olds—many of whom will in a few years be making absurd amounts of money). Now I'm the sort of guy who will watch just about any kind of sport. I've also played a bit of basketball in my time, so it's been interesting to me to observe the difference between NBA and college. Strangely, reflecting on that has helped me understand 1 Corinthians 3.

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Anthony Caruana shows why Australian Christians should be concerned about Stephen Conroy's internet filter.

It is imperative that Australian Christians make themselves aware of legislative changes being proposed by the government. Under the guise of measures to “improve safety of the internet for families”, Senator Stephen Conroy recently announced that mandatory filtering of content that has been refused classification, or rated ‘RC’, will be enforced through legislation.

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Across the 12th and 13th centuries, the noblemen of Europe conducted a series of ‘Crusades’ in the Holy Land. Over six or seven centuries, this period history was largely neglected, but then the 20th century saw a resurgence of (negative) interest in these Crusades, which generated a number of myths that took over popular opinion.

I don't know how many times over the years I have found myself flummoxed in evangelistic conversations when the question is thrown at me, “What about the Crusades?”

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In the circles I move in, the issue of preaching is, perhaps, top of the list of things churches need to change in order to lift their game. The feeling is that there is a need for more passion, more authenticity, more engagement, and more confidence that God is here, that he speaks, and that his word is powerful to move and change people—whole people, that is, not just their expertise in how to read the Bible.

Now, there may be some truth in these observations. But that's not my concern here. I want to turn the spotlight around 180 degrees. My concern, as someone who spends my time in the pews, not the pulpit, is that what goes on in our pews is also in need of more passion, more authenticity, more engagement and more confidence that God is here with us as we meet on Sundays.

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It's probably a bit grandiose to call it the end of an era since, in this case, the era only lasted for about 12 months, but the legendary days of Paul Grimmond's ‘convenorship’ of The Sola Panel have drawn to a close.

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Our final WordWatch in this series is about that rather ugly word in the field of relationships: ‘partner’.

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American evangelical giant Carl Henry was also in favour of saying nuttin'.

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I was thinking of writing a post on global warming and climate change, but there's an insistent voice in my head that keeps saying, “No, don't do it! Tell 'em nuttin'!”

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