Deception and belief

April Fools Hall of Fame (from A girl for All Seasons Camilla Morton) contains records of the following april fools pranks:


1962 Swedens TV network promised instant colour tv if you twiddled your aerial in a certain direction tricked thousands!

1977 Guardian printed a supplement to celebrate the tenth aniversary of Sans Serriffe(a country they created)

Usa Today in 1998 story about Burger Kings Left-handed Whopper-left handed food?

BBC 1957-Panorama did a special report on Swiss Spaghetti Harvestfootage of locals pulling fresh pasta off trees as if they were picking apples-the story was so believable that BBC phone lines were jammed by callers wanting to know if they could grow thair own trees!

It’s a funny thing deception; it seems in order to receive something that you want, people will gladly throw common sense to the wind.

There was a large group of followers of Jesus, of varying levels of belief, To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

In the market place of ideas, our students will come to us seeking the truth – some sceptically and some believing anything you place in front of them. We have an obligation to present the truth as best we know it, but what truth do we know? We should cautiously acknowledge our own beliefs and scepticism and as best we can offer truth, and perhaps even freedom to the minds of those many young women we will influence today.

The Shack VS Mark Driscoll

I watched today a Youtube response by Mark Driscoll to the high selling book, The Shack.  Mark Driscoll is grounded heavily in doctrine, which I respect, but I don't agree with him that we should put aside anything and everything that is doctrinally problematic.  He points out the flaws in the book very easily, and rightly too, might I say.  The treatment of The Trinity in The Shack is nice, beautiful even, but not very accurate - BUT it doesn't try to be.  Nowhere does the author state:  "These views are my understanding of God, and by reading this book, so too do they become yours!"

If you want to see his message, follow this hyperlink to his youtube chanel and video:  MARK DRISCOLL

My response to his video can be found below.  Peace to all, Ian.

"Who do you think you are to stop people from exploring these things in their search of who God is? We can and should guide peoples thinking and engage them in conversation and instill into them (in time) the value of scripture and doctrine, but this book treats God with greater respect than most of the other market stalls that people go to for answers these days (internet..TV...Youtube...atheist family...The Simpsons...). No, I do not believe the theistic nuances of The Shack, but it doesn't try to answer all things...unlike you are trying to do here - which is, I suppose, a little uncharitable, but I suspect is the truth."