Salt Shakers Journal
December 2007
Summary
Editorial (in
full below)
It’s official - the Godwit makes the longest non-stop
migratory flight in the world. A Bar-tailed Godwit has been tracked from its
Southern Hemisphere summertime home inNew Zealand to its breeding ground in
Alaska - and back again. A female
known as E7, landed in New
Zealand
after taking just a week to fly 11,500 km from
Alaska.
Jesus Hope of the
World
Jenny Stokes exhorts us to consider Christ this Christmas and to
make Him a focal point of our celebrations.
Election Reflection
It has
only been 48 hours since Saturday 24 November changed the political landscape
and we have to send this journal to the printers. What follows is a ‘first take’
on the election result.
Update Abortion: Queensland and
Victoria
Queensland: Bonny Barry, the MP for Aspley in
Queensland
, is preparing to
introduce a Private Member’s Bill to remove abortion from the criminal code
within the next 18 months.
Victoria: With
Victoria
considering the
decriminalisation of abortion early next year, fewer Victorian teenagers are
actually seeking abortions.
Flight from Reason II
Dr.
Murray Adamthwaite analyses more logical fallacies in argument such as ‘special
pleading’, ‘guilt by association’, ‘circular argument’, and ‘complex
questions’.
Bella (www.bellathemovie.com)
Bella is the touching story of two people who find each other and spend the
day together in
New York City
. Jose, a former Mexican international soccer star
working in his brother’s restaurant meets Nina, a waitress who has just received
unexpected news of being pregnant and losing her job.
The Golden Compass: A movie to
avoid!
One movie to avoid is The Golden Compass, a new children’s movie starring
Nicole Kidman. It will be released in the
USA on December 7 and in
Australia
on December 26, just in time for holiday
movie-going.
Truths about Mohammed and
Islam
Andrew Lansdown looks at the truth behind Mohammed and Islam,
particularly focusing on Robert Spencer’s work.
Dhimmitude: Islamic Finance and
Teaching
Increasingly, Islamic ideas are infiltrating into our society.
As those are accepted, a form of dhimmitude results, where we end up adopting
Islamic customs and practices.
Mother demands porn free streets
A Palmerston North, New Zealand, mother has launched a “porn-free
streets” campaign in reaction to a large billboard advertising an erotic
lifestyles event, which stands just 300 metres from her son’s school.
The power of prayer
In a small midwestern
USA
conservative town, a
new bar/tavern was being built. The local church started a campaign to block the
bar from opening with petitions and prayers.
Building Houses on the
Sand?
Peter Stokes analyses two recent events and encourages the church
to ensure we are not building on weak foundations.
Resistance Thinking
Update
Emma Hughes looks at the progress of Resistance Thinking since it
started one year ago.
UK: Multiculturalism and Religious Festivals
How do you boost race relations? According to the Institute for Public Policy
Research, a liberal think tank in
Britain
favoured by Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, you celebrate ALL religious festivals.
UK: Foster Care discrimination
A Christian couple in the
UK
, Vince and Pauline Matherick, have been told
they will not be re-registered as foster carers.
World News
USA: More PC
over flag and God;
USA: Teen Pro-life
Club;
Vietnam
: Abortion; Cloning
- about
turn!
Editorial
(full version)
It’s official - the Godwit makes the longest non-stop
migratory flight in the world.
A Bar-tailed Godwit has been tracked from its Southern Hemisphere summertime
home in New Zealand
to its breeding
ground in Alaska
- and back again.
A female known as E7, landed in New Zealand after taking just a week to fly 11,500 km from
Alaska .
Unlike seabirds, which feed and rest on long journeys, Godwits just keep
going. E7 set her first record on the way north, when she flew non-stop for
10,200 km to Yalu Jiang in
China
. She then
flew a further 5,000 km to the Godwit breeding grounds in
Alaska
. And on the way back to
New Zealand
, her
electronic tag still working, E7 set another record of 11,500 km.
As if that is not amazing enough, any chicks E7 produced during her two
months in Alaska will make the
same journey. At just two months of age. “Some might fly down in flocks with
adults but other ones will fly down without any adults involved at all which is
pretty amazing,” said Dr Battley,
Massey
University ecologist.
What an amazing thing! No map or compass - no jet engines, just an amazing
design that man can but stand in awe of because she, E7, is so wonderfully
made.
Why is there such a bird? Why does it need to fly so far?
Accident? Random chance? This bird just happened to find its way? No.
Very intelligent and creative design and great aerodynamics by a very
Intelligent Designer. She was purpose-built to fly because the designer wanted
us to know how wonderful He is.
The Bible says that through His Creation we know Him in our hearts. Romans 1:
18-20 states, “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God
has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Science is now revealing so many new and wonderful aspects of God’s creation.
We might ask the same questions about man. Why did You do it? Why bother
making man, especially when we were going to cause so much pain and suffering?
Because He is a God who cares and wants to have a relationship with His
creation.
At this time of the year we are reminded just how much He does care, because
we remember that He sent His Son to show us a way out of our own
foolishness.
Now we know that He holds little E7 aloft for 11,500 km - just imagine how he
wants to care for us too.
Yet we so easily forget, or some reading this might not even know, that He
not only sent his Son, as a little baby, to love us but that He would love us so
much He would die for us too. In one of the cruelest deaths man’s hardened heart
could devise - the slow agonising death on a cross.
Why do men and women today not see Him? Because their hearts have been
‘hardened’ against Him through the teaching of evolution which has stopped us
seeing Him through His amazing creation.
As Christmas comes may we soften our hearts so that we can see His love
through His creation all around us and long to share Him with others.
We trust you will all have a happy and blessed Christmas.
Peter and Jenny Stokes. Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 19 February 2008 |
