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February 2004 |
Stimulus Vol 12 Issue 1 February 2004 |
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The lamp and the light |
Table of ContentsThe lamp and the light Rushing into the kingdom of heaven The Gospel and our culture(s): Good Friday Can we trust Israel’s sacred history? St Imulus: To smite or not to smite, that is the question What’s wrong with euthanasia? Muse-ak: Report from Parachute 2004 The mystery and paradox of Jesus “The sin of Adam, in eating...he was too hasty” Christianity without God Romans 1 and Sodom: A response to Stimulus 11:4 Book Reviews Jesus in Disneyland: Religion in Postmodern Times Communicating God’s Word in a Complex World: God’s Truth or Hocus Pocus? The Lion Histories The Penguin History of New Zealand Dialogue |
EditorialFear is funny – definitely not funny ha! ha! of course; but certainly funny peculiar. Peculiar because a basic response, vital for survival, can become, in at least some of us, so all-powerful that it stops us dead in our tracks with potentially disastrous consequences. Like a possum caught in the headlights, unable even to run and hide when, sure as hell, that’s just what one wants to do, fear can paralyse. Yesterday I rushed my 85 year old father to the coagulation clinic to check his warfarin level. He’d had a bleeding nose for 36 hours; not a lot, but enough to be really worrying. Since his stroke, he’s been on warfarin to thin his blood. Yes, dangerously high, so into A&E we go. I’m not saying he wasn’t frightened – he doesn’t say much – but, if he was he had it under control. Maybe he didn’t realise the danger; maybe resignation kicks in when you’re his age. Perhaps it was old fashioned guts. But I reckon faith, trust, had a lot to do with it. In the waiting room I read a June 2000Time article about anxiety disorder. Our "fight or flight" response, central to the fear mechanism, is triggered by stimuli signalling a potential threat, well before cognition of it occurs. In a split second a pea-sized part of the brain, the amigdala, sends a cocktail of hormones, including adrenaline, to the heart and other muscles, priming them for action. Only then does the hippocampus – the area in the brain concerned with contextual memory – catch up with processing whether or not the fear is justified. If the stimulus is really, say, a stick instead of a snake, the hippocampus puts the brakes on the amigdala and one calms down. But what of those who don’t – what about when the stress builds and builds? While the hippocampus is the brake, the amigdala is the accelerator; imagine an accelerator jammed down when one’s brakes have failed! Sooner or later you’ll crash! Recently, I nearly crashed. Burning the candle at both ends amounted to a lack of trust, a lack of faith, a lack of Sabbath rest. Theological theory lacked saving practice. Our married daughter grabbed me saying she was about to pray for me; not what I wanted to hear. Nor did the prayer change anything, in spite of her prophetic word that all would be well soon. In the end, a minister friend gave me wise counsel, but only to confirm my fear that there was no unproblematic way out. I felt crap, but that night I slept like a log. When I woke I looked in all the places where I kept my fear, but it was gone! It was as if someone had un-jammed and stepped on the brakes. Not long after, at a baptismal service, I heard a song sung to the woman who arose from the water. God sent His son, they called Him Jesus At Easter we learn to trust in the hope of the resurrection. At this time Peter Dennison considers the wisdom of God’s light incarnate in Jesus Christ and seeks a purity that illuminates all of life. Jenny Beck reminds us about the incarnation in whom both God and humanity are revealed. Bridget Jennings bowls a straight line but with some spin on Good Friday and Simon Perris, in spite of his via negativa, tells us a lot about Parachute. David Cashmore contributes a useful article concerning the Deuteronomistic history of Old Testament writings, while Gerald Baker ponders Christianity without God. Lyall Perris asks: What’s wrong with euthanasia? Bryan Gilling revives the memory of William Taylor and Don Geddes responds to the matter that formed the theme of our last issue. Gavin Drew Douglas Maclachlan |
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“...to be part of the gospel imperative to transform minds and put faith in God into practice.” |
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STIMULUS THE NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND PRACTICE |