Ian Rees's Blog, page 13
June 6, 2012
Morality without faith
Some years ago the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra wanted to issue new recordings of several symphonies, but the recording company was unwilling to fund such a major enterprise. It proposed instead to issue a CD of the adagios from those symphonies and package them as a heartwarming combination of all the best tunes 'without the boring bits'.In some ways this is also how the secular world thinks of Christian morals, ethics and behaviour. Most people think that Christian teachings about communit...
May 1, 2012
Take a chance on me
independent.co.ukEveryone in footballing circles has been expressing a degree surprise this morning that Roy Hodgson is heading for the post of England football manager. Harry Redknapp, who had been widely touted as Fabio Cappello's replacement, was gracious on camera, saying that he bore no grudges, but was probably reeling inside that he didn't even get an interview. Redknapp had been the popular choice, both in the dressing room and across the country, but the FA thought otherwise. Hodgson...
April 24, 2012
Sweeter out of difficulties
telegraph.co.ukI don't know if diplomat, George Fergusson, is a Christian, but he certainly has something of the mindset. He was attacked while walking through Hammersmith Cemetery on Friday evening and robbed of £50, but lost more than that, as a punch to his face blinded him in his left eye. Yet his comments have been about how lucky he has been, pointing out that there are plenty of things you can still do with one eye and that this will not stop him from taking up his next post as Governo...
April 17, 2012
For the love of gold
I'm not an aspiring art critic, but we went with a couple of friends to the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern this weekend and I couldn't resist further comment on the art world. This exhibtion has been announced with trumpets across the media, as it brings together many of Hirst's most famous and controversial pieces, and the publicity had its effect – there were large crowds at the gallery, and we were among them. The exhibition is as outlandish as the publicity says: the famo...
April 10, 2012
Topsy Turvy
If you want to see the way in which our society's values are upside-down, you need only look at the world of art. I had heard that the world's most expensive painting was to be on show at the Tate so I thought I would go and see it. The last time it was on public display was in 1961 and it was not seen again until it reappeared for sale at Christies in New York in 2010 when it fetched a whopping $106.5 million (£66m). The anonymous owner has allowed it to be displayed for just two years...
April 4, 2012
Being squeezed into a mould
Recently the Radio Times has printed a couple of articles in its "Point of View" column that take a swipe at Christianity and the church. Diarmaid MacCulloch a couple of weeks ago observed that the church is not being very tolerant by protesting about gay marriage and that "bishops and evangelical church leaders" are being left behind by the national mood that has basically moved on. And this week Bettany Hughes wrote in advance of a TV series she will be doing. You can read something of...
March 28, 2012
Blind to the benefits
It was twenty years ago this month that Nathaniel Borenstein first managed to do what we now take for granted: send an e-mail attachment to 100 other computer users. The content of e-mail was relatively unimpressive: a photo of four IT researchers who formed a singing quartet and a recording of one of their songs. What was significant was that the 100 recipients managed to open the attachments irrespective of which system they were using. Previously, opening attachments was only possible if s...
March 20, 2012
Carrying the cross
It is inevitable in the mixed society that we live in that rights are going to conflict. Recently the government has said that Christians do not have the right (by which I presume they mean automatic right) to wear a cross to work. Because the cross is not deemed a necessary piece of religious clothing or equipment for Christian – unlike say the Muslim hijab or the Sikh turban – but rather a personal choice, then employers are at liberty to refuse permission for it to be worn. Both David...
March 16, 2012
A five-word summary
If you were to try to summarise our calling as followers of Jesus Christ in just five words, how would you do it? I came across this company's slogan after a recent short break that we booked online and, although not written with Christian mission in mind, it puts pretty neatly what Christians are supposed to be doing with the knowledge they have of God's great salvation in Jesus Christ:
[image error] You've probably encountered Trip Advisor when you have looked at booking a hotel and read all the reviews t...
March 13, 2012
Leading from the front
The recent death of six British soldiers in Afghanistan has highlighted the cost of our country's involvement in this long-running conflict, but an article in The Guardian last week spelled out one way that this cost is being paid. A side panel (that I haven't been able to find online) gave the breakdown of the rank of the casualties: 37 officers killed, 188 NCOs and 173 at the rank of private before the last deaths. The revealing figure in that sad list is the number of casualties among...
