Salt Shakers Journal Summary June 2008

Editorial (in full below)
We were recently at a family camp beside a small river and after dark everyone sat around a large fire. Yet, sadly, most people took little notice of that wonderful source of light and heat. . .

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The threat of Anti-Discrimination laws
Jenny Stokes outlines the latest decisions by anti-discrimination Tribunals against Christians and indicates future developments planned for the area of law.

Justice Michael Kirby and Homosexuality
High Court judge Justice Michael Kirby is continuing to promote the homosexual agenda. With his retirement due in March 2009, his recent public statements have focused on aged care and judicial pensions as well as church doctrine.

News Update
Tax on alcopops; ACT: Civil partnerships; WA: Cloning Bill defeated; NSW: Lesbian rights

Gambling-related fraud
Some of the losses due to gambing-related fraud have been calculated and published in a report by Warfield and Associates, a firm which specialises in forensic accounting and the investigation of fraud and corruption.

2020 Summit: Bill of Rights and Republic
Two of the most ‘popular’ ideas to come out of the 2020 Summit were a republic and a Bill or Charter of Rights.

Victoria: Abortion
The government has to release the Report from the Victorian Law Reform Commission by June 11, 2008. Although the contents are not known, it is expected that the Report will recommend the decriminalisation of abortion.

Update: King and King
Do you remember the parents in the USA who complained because their child was forced to read a book at school called King and King about a prince who was looking for love? Instead of finding a princess he ‘married’ a man.

Cannabis: Risk Factors
Jenny Stokes reveals the risks associated with cannabis use including physical and psychological ones.

Escape from Reason III
Dr. Murray Adamthwaite continues his discussion on reason, this time focusing on formal fallacies.

UK Hate Speech law
A Bill to ban ‘homophobic’ hate speech has just been passed in the United Kingdom . Stonewall, a homosexual activist group assisted in drafting the Bill.

Free Speech and Islam
When Dutch politician Geert Wilders made a 15 minute film about the Qur’an, called Fitna, no TV station would screen it and he had trouble getting it hosted on the internet.

Real Choices Australia
Jane Power writes on the vision and values of the not-for-profit organisation ‘Real Choices Australia’ which aims to promote healthy lifestyle choices, which affirm life and the uniqueness and value of every human being.

Influence of Islam: University Prayer Rooms
The influence of Islam in Australian universities continues to grow. Most universities in Australia provide handbooks for Muslim students and special prayer rooms that include washing facilities.

Countering the Sexualisation of Girls
The proliferation of Bratz dolls and Barbie dolls for girls promotes the sexualisation of girls. A new range of dolls which emphasises the innocence of childhood is now available.

World News
UK: Cannabis; California - same-sex ‘marriage’; USA: Activists visit churches; New Zealand : Morning after pill; NZ: Anti-smacking law.

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Editorial (full version)
We were recently at a family camp beside a small river and after dark everyone sat around a large fire. Yet, sadly, most people took little notice of that wonderful source of light and heat.

Having taken some photos of the fire, it was fascinating to see the different flame shapes and colours - fire can be devastating but it can also be devastatingly beautiful; it can destroy but it can also produce new life.

One of the most amazing stories about fire concerns our own Australian bush.

Although we tend to panic when bush fires erupt, especially near houses, and we spend a fortune in man-hours and money putting them out, they are an essential part of the ecology of the eucalyptus forest.

The aboriginal people who lived here before the arrival of the British knew how important a bush fire was. About every 7-10 years they would deliberately set the bush alight if it had not happened naturally through lightning strikes.

They knew that if they were to continue to live off the forest it needed a refining fire or they would lose a valuable source of life- giving food. Without fire, the debris from leaves, bark and dead fronds from ferns would stop any new growth. They also knew that vines would suffocate the gum trees until they died but that after a fire thousands of healthy green shoots would sprout from the ground and the trees.

Our scientists have since discovered that the fire not only opens up the gum nut, allowing the seeds out, but that the heat also ‘cures’ those seeds as they fall. Even more surprising was the discovery that the best fertiliser to give those seeds a healthy start in life was the ash left after fire.

As the first refreshing rains arrive the burnt forest springs into new life. The animals and birds return for a feast on roasted seeds which are eaten and later deposited throughout the forest and the green shoots give vital nutrients to the animals.

Have you ever asked yourself why our native Australian animals are marsupials?
A unique collection of animals with pouches in which they raise their young. It is all connected to living with the imminent threat of fire. If the baby is “on board” the mother can take off - if the babies were in nests, delays would occur and many lives lost.

What an amazing God we have, and as Paul explains so clearly in Romans 1, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

The Bible also talks of the Holy Spirit “burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3) The ‘refining fire’ needed to purge the rubbish out of our lives to give us new life through Christ. The organised Church, over the centuries, has also needed the same refining fire to burn up the rubbish that enters through man’s desire to control, his greed and lust for power.

Today we see too many of these things in the church as well as a lot of revisionist theology, mostly for self justification of sin that abounds in the church. We see Christians calling evil good (like supporting homosexuality and abortion) and good evil - opposing discernment of right and wrong.

The only thing that will save our nation is for us, the Church, to humble ourselves before God, to allow His refining fire to sweep through us, and then the church.

Lord, let your fire refine and renew us.
Peter & Jenny Stokes