Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Marty Foord on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Dianne Howard on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia
The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more
Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more
Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more
A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more
A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more
Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more
One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more
Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
Is Kel a “fount of wisdom” or a “font of wisdom”? Perhaps he could tell us.
Unless you’re of the Nick Minchin School of Climate Theory, this doesn’t adequately describe our society. I doubt many of our leaders (let alone ordinary people) are either Christians or environmentalists. They’re the same hedonistic materialists they were 20 years ago, though I’m sure there are parts of the soggy middle class who feel all spiritual and superior when they plant a tree. Kel probably knows them through the ABC social club. But these people are probably less serious about environmental issues than (say) Landcare, the Australian Plants Society etc. Personally, I see opportunity: people can see there is something wrong with the world, and accept that there are morals beyond having a good time (hence Fair Trade coffee and FSC timber), and that ethical behaviour costs more. There’s plenty of room for Christian ideas to be introduced there. Try that with a merchant banker’s world view!
Like all idolatries, environmentalism takes something good and treats it as God. In doing so, by trying to make something good into the centre of life, it ends up distorting all of life and ultimately, failing to love even that which it tries to worship. But the solution is not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but to show how loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength gives us a <i>greater</i> capacity to love our neighbour and to respect the beauty and integrity of the living spaces of the planet. Christians ought to be more humane than the humanists, more wealthy (in the things that matter) than the capitalists, more concerned about glory than the celebrities, more free than the liberals and more green than the greenies!
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