Journalism ...

Tuesday, June 28, 2011. I have just been reading the news. Today, that is possible online, and it is fun to look into various newspapers. There are more serious journals, politically oriented. And there are others, which bring a broad variety of social stories.

What is in todays news? …

Today I also read an article about a prominent figure of German protestantism. It was a quite negative article. The author wrote in a quite dismissive way about her, with many invidious words. He also wrote about her faith and her theology in the same way. What could you take from the article? You could adapt the opinion that this type of faith is really awful, and needs to be refused.

There is some particular attitude sometimes in Journalism, which writes very negatively about things. It seems that the authors think that they entertain with this - which is indeed the case sometimes. And they try to stop some particular idea or person or movement. They are pointing out mistakes, but do not have a constructive alternative. They are just negative. For the particular article I read, the author did not seem to have any alternative, the article was just destructive.

So how do we deal with this? I think there will always be various opinions about faith and about different types of faith. It is good that different opinions can be written. We accept the opinion and will listen to the arguments. We will have our arguments as well and we will learn from what is said, by a critical analysis of all the bits and pieces. I think that taking part in the public discussion will strengthen and deepen our faith!

God can be found …

There is still one key point I have to make here. The article I read implicitly assumed that you cannot know about God. But the biblical position is different, as is the position of any Christian church I know. Of course God can be found. He has showed himself in the biblical texts. He has spoken through the prophets of the Old and New Testament. And he comes to us in Jesus, in his human son.

God can be found. He can be met. We can live with him. These things are important, since the alternative is a life without God. It is like missing something wonderful. It is like having a father, but not knowing it. It is like having a home, but living without the knowledge of it.

The invitation of Christianity is to meet God through Jesus and to live with him. It is an invitation to come home. It is an invitation to start some interaction, which leads to deeper insight into who God is and what life can be. It is like starting a journey, which ultimately leads to a life with God, a life called “heaven”. ... more texts