Contents
Editorial
Letters
Reviews
Life
The meaning of life; it’s an illusive concept, don’t you think? Nihilists (and Radiohead) have been telling us for years that life has no meaning, Hindus have proclaimed that our lives are actually part of an endless circle, and certain supercomputers have calculated its value as the number 42. Meanwhile, Christians have muttered something about Jesus Christ being the meaning of life, but aren’t that clear on how exactly this works.
This apparent indifference suggests that we simply don’t care; and why should we? The world will keep turning, our lives will continue to plod along, students will continue to study, universities will continue to charge exhorbitant fees, and Christis editions will continue to be churned out by the team whether we know the meaning behind it all or not. The question is merely a challenge to our accepted patterns of life, a threat to our content minds that is perhaps on a par with the words of one 2000 year old Nazarene carpenter.
In his article, James Porter looks at the views held on this thorny issue by people of different faiths, and what the Christian perspective has been over the ages, examining the thoughts of the preacher in Ecclesiastes, Paul’s letter on the subject, and more recently, CS Lewis’ thoughts, proceeding to add his own thoughts on the matter, while admitting himself that he is far from certain that a full answer is even possible to come to.
David Jones goes on to ask “What are we going to do with our lives?” Considering the opportunities we have all been given, are we really putting our lives to best use? In the scheme of things, are we actually significant at all, and do we place too much importance on the wrong parts of life? Could a God as powerful as we make Him out to be ever care for, or make time for, such sordid little beings as ourselves? The fact that he went through pain we cannot even understand in order to do just that makes the question more confusing still. When you consider how most of our race seem to carry on regardless of, and ungrateful for, this sacrifice, the mind boggles. I’ll leave it up to him to continue…
Greg Melia
Sordid Little Lives
The Meaning of Life
Belief
We have a bumper crop of no less than five articles to do with doctrine in this issue of Christis and, quite coincidentally, three of those five articles talk of the importance of God’s grace and of God’s unconditional love. Plagiarised Grace looks at the phenomenon of Life Mechanics and points out that what makes Christianity special (apart from God becoming man) is God’s unconditional love for each of us no matter what we do. In Obscuring Grace we read about how the media attention on the Church tends to focus on peripheral issues, such as morality, and tends to obscure fundamental issues such as grace. Our article on Free Will and the Coke/Tango Debate looks at how some of the choices we make go against our impulses and temptations. This is as a response to God’s unconditional love for us and, because we receive unconditional love, we try to respond to others with the same unconditional love. In the excellent Interfaith Dialogue article we read about the difficulties and challenges of interfa ith dialogue, but ultimately, of its benefits and its importance in the developing of a mature faith. Lastly, but by no means least, Apocryphal Tales looks at those books of the Old Testament that Christians of the Reformation do not see as Scripture, and shows how those books can still be beneficial. All in all these articles provide much food for thought and reflection.
Anthony Armstrong
Plagiarised Grace
Aprocryphal Tales
Interfaith Dialogue
Obscuring Grace
The Counterintuitive God
Love
Valentine’s Day is approaching once again, and Christis is proud to present a special Love themed section of the magazine.
Chris Charlton has managed to track down Saint Valentine himself for an exclusive interview, and quizzes him on how he spent his life and whether our modern celebration actually has anything to do with him.
We also have Kate Harper’s Valentine’s Day quiz for you to try. Are you a hopeless romantic, a hardened cynic or could you be destined to spend life as a nun?
And of course there’s the eagerly awaited, infamous Christis Good Sex Guide, outlining the Seven Christian Positions (it’s not as dodgy as it sounds, honest).
Rachael Stephenson