Core scriptural beliefs and practices
Everyone has a worldview. Our worldview is the way we look at the present world. Our belief systems shape the way that we live our lives.
Christianity is a theistic worldview – We believe God exists and is the source of all reality. The big bang can’t explain how something came from nothing. God tells us what we need to know in the Bible. It sees history as a linear story (with a beginning and end)—under God’s control—rather than a random sequence of events.
The Christian worldview is God-based. (more…)
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Upgrade to heaven
Getting an upgrade, whether it is with a phone, a flight, a hotel room, or something else, can be a moment of great joy. (more…)
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The three heavens
Heaven seems to be a rather neglected subject today. But what do we mean by ‘heaven’? People sometimes say that deceased Christians have ‘gone to heaven’ to be with the Lord (1 Th. 4:17). That heaven is not a created place, yet the Bible’s opening verse states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1ESV). (more…)
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God’s hate speech
When I was young there was a children’s rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names (words) will never hurt me”. We must have been more resilient and tougher then because now the Australian government wants to legislate against hate speech! This could lead to discrimination against Christians and the censorship of Christian views. (more…)
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Comparing people and animals
“Humans once stood on a pedestal: made by God in his image, earthly lords of all creation, categorically distinct from mere animals. That was the belief, anyway. Jane Goodall played a large role on eroding that self-flattering conviction, with her extraordinary study of wild chimpanzees at what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. By discovering unexpected behavioral similarities between chimps and humans, she continued the revolution begun by Copernicus and Galileo and advanced in a great leap by Charles Darwin: taking earth out of the center of the universe and humans down from our holy isolation. Goodall helped us see, long before genome comparisons confirmed it, that the gap between chimps and people is smaller than anyone thought. Gorillas aren’t the closest living relatives of chimpanzees. We are” (Quammen, 2025). (more…)
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Overview of the Bible
This overview of the Bible is based on a video from Christianity Engaged. It is a short walk through the entire Bible to help us understand the greatest story ever told.
The Bible is comprised of 66 different books, but it is a single, cohesive story about a God who made us to love us, and His eternal plan to save us.
The main story arc of the Bible goes like this: creation, the fall of mankind, the global flood, the Tower of Babel, the story of the nation of Israel (which comprises most of the Old Testament), Jesus Christ and the cross, who ushered in a new covenant, the current Church age we are in, and the final eternal state with a new heaven and a new earth. (more…)
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Imagine everlasting happiness
Has there been a moment in your life when you felt truly and deeply happy? What was it that brought you happiness in that moment? How did it end and why? Can you imagine it never ending? (more…)
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The gift of peace with God
I remember Christmas eve as the peak of childhood excitement. I could say it was about family or feasts or celebrating Jesus’ birth, but the truth is it was all about the anticipation of presents. It was a magical feeling falling asleep on Christmas eve… the scent of Christmas pine, the glow of twinkling lights, the promise of presents. (more…)
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Imagine everlasting peace
Do you know that throughout recorded history there has never been a period of complete global peace? Though some consider we have been in a state of “long peace” since the end of WW2 that isn’t the reality for the millions who have lived in Myanmar, Rwanda, Nigeria, Congo, Somalia, Libya, Vietnam, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, Palestine and so many more countries. (more…)
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Giving thanks in everything
A prayer at the end of a thanksgiving service for an aged care provider
The Bible says that Christians are to, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Th. 5:18NIV). And those who are filled with God the Holy Spirit will be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20). We can give thanks in everything because God is in control and He is always with those who trust in Him. That’s why each November we publicly honor God and thank Him for the work done through our organization over the past year. (more…)
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I convinced Grok that God is real
A conversation with Grok about evolution and the origin of life, which comes from a video by Calvin Smith of Answers in Genesis.
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Genesis: the real history of the universe
Today we hear a very different history of the universe to what the Bible teaches. This is called cosmic evolution – everything made itself. There was nothing and it exploded and here we all are! But it had no cause – God didn’t do it. It just happened. They believe in magic rather than miracles. Christians believe in miracles, but I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist because they believe in magic, not miracles. Miracles require a miracle worker, and they have no miracle worker. So, they have nothing becoming everything with no cause whatsoever! Has anybody seen nothing do anything? Nothing does nothing! But this is what they have to believe if they don’t want to believe in God. Atheism is rife in Australia. And the basis of it is the idea of biological evolution. Richard Dawkins said that evolution enabled him to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist. So evolution is the creation myth of the atheist. (more…)
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Be ready for whatever the world throws at you
When do you feel at your weakest and most vulnerable? Perhaps it’s when you’re experiencing financial insecurity or if a relationship isn’t going the way you hoped. Perhaps you feel weakest when you’re faced with uncertainty whether it’s uncertainty about your children, about your health, or about your future. Perhaps the everyday demands of life simply leave you exhausted and unsure how you will muster the energy to face another day. (more…)
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Another test series
The recent test cricket series between England and India finished in a 2—2 draw. And the next England versus Australia test series begins on 21 November 2025. A test cricket series involves up to five cricket matches, with each match lasting up to five days. Did you know that Israel went through many more tests on their exodus from Egypt in about 1450 BC? How would they respond to the challenges on their journey? Would they trust and obey God who was leading them? Or would they rebel against God and go their own way? (more…)
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When you’ve got nowhere to run
Australia is a very safe country to live in. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace 2024 report Australia ranks as the 19th safest country in the world. In such an economically, politically and environmentally stable country it’s normal to feel safe. (more…)
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Four lessons from the life of Joseph
I spent last week at a holiday camp for children aged 8-12 years. During this time the children learnt about four lessons from the life of Joseph, who lived about 3,700 years ago (~1680 BC). They also learnt some verses from the Bible (see Appendix). (more…)
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The paradox of the cross
What does the death penalty have to do with love? The crucifix was a brutal means of capital punishment in the ancient Roman empire. Death by crucifixion could take between 6 hours and 4 days resulting from excessive bleeding, dehydration or progressive suffocation. It was an extremely painful and shameful way to die, inflicted upon those considered repugnant. And yet today we hang pretty crosses from our ears and necks, tattoo them into our skin, hang them on our walls – bejeweled, ornamental, celebrated. (more…)
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God knows each star by name
Have you seen those images comparing the size of the earth to the sun and then comparing the sun to other supergiant stars? The size of our galaxy, the size of the universe is beyond human comprehension. In comparison, we, our lives, our whole world, are minuscule… tiny, microscopic specks floating in infinity. It’s the kind of stuff that may bring on an existential crisis. But the Bible makes a different point. (more…)
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Comprehensive outline of the book of Exodus
The second book of the Old Testament, Exodus, was written by Moses. The information in chapter 1:1-2:10 may have come from his parents or his sister, or some other source.
I like having titles on the paragraphs or sections of my Bible. This helps to indicate the context of a particular passage of scripture. A comprehensive outline (section headings) of the book of Exodus is given below. (more…)
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A thanksgiving prayer
A prayer at the end of a thanksgiving service for an aged care provider.
As next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the USA, today has been day of thanksgiving for us. So let’s continue to honor God and thank Him for the work done through our organization over the past year. (more…)
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Our Christian ethos
I’m involved with an aged care provider whose vision is “Christ’s love compels us to care for and enrich our community”. Our mission is “To excel in the provision of loving Christian care for seniors”. And our values include a “Christian ethos”. Our Strategic plan says: “We are a Christian organisation. We believe that all people are created in the image of God and care for those entrusted to us to the best of our God-given ability. Our caring reflects the attitude of service shown by Jesus Christ. Our work is not ‘just a job’ but an opportunity to serve others.” Our Christian ethos can make a difference to the people around us. (more…)
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Don’t forget to remember
How you remember things? Some people use mnemonics like “ROY G. BIV” for the colors of the rainbow. Or in sheet music, “Every good boy deserves fruit” for the treble lines and “FACE” for the treble spaces. And “Good burritos don’t fall apart” for the bass lines and “All cows eat grass” for the bass spaces. Or “Eddy ate dynamite, good bye Eddy” for the strings of a guitar. Or “All stations to central” or “All students take care” or “Add sugar to coffee” for the signs of trigonometric functions. (more…)
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Why a good God commanded the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites
This blog comes from Jonathan Noyes and the appendix comes from Got Questions.
When I was an atheist, I loved causing Christians to doubt God. It was fun for me. One of my favorite tactics was to get them to question God’s goodness. I thought that if I could cause them to doubt God’s goodness, I could eventually get them to doubt God’s existence. (more…)
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Justice questions
Life is marked by events of suffering, both great and small. At present there is great suffering due to wars in Gaza, Sudan and the Ukraine. Some of these events are the products of a natural disaster impacting entire communities with grief and loss. Others are the fruit of human evil that has a profound effect on the world. Still others are private, affecting a person of a family. In all these cases people struggle to understand why it happens. And they question God’s goodness or His justice. (more…)
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