Daily Archive

If there’s one thing in this world which is in no short supply it’s good advice. Long ago, I assume, good advice was something precious and rare and accessible only to those with wise parents, grandparents or gurus and carefully preserved. Nowadays we can all, fairly easily, subscribe to famous quotes via RSS or get forwarded chain letters with all manner of tips and motivation, buy self-help books and even read wise sayings from ancient or distant religious teachers…

…and yet, somehow we are unaffected. We read a wise saying, think “that is so true”, nod meaningfully and click or page on to the next news story. Which brings me to the next item in apparently endless supply today: Bad News. This week has been particularly full of natural disaster (China, Burma), xenophobic violence (South Africa), general mayhem (Iraq) and hunger (Somalia, Zimbabew, Haiti etc.). But this is business as usual and even local papers are filled with stories of accidents, rapes, murders and hooliganism. No News may be Bad News but apparently so is All News. But even bad news, really bad news, fails to affect us. We page on to the adverts and look for stuff to buy…

As far as I can tell, good advice does not change the world, and neither does bad news because it fails to move the heart, the center of a persons being. What I do know is that good news has and does change people and lives because of the power of hope which it brings. The word “Gospel” is just a synonym for “Good News” and if you understand the difference betwen Good News and Good Advice you understand the difference between Christianity and all other religions.

Good advice is information about something good and beneficial you should do but have not yet done. Telling a ship’s captain to “mind the icebergs” would be good advice. Good news is information about something good and beneficial which has already happened like “the ship arrived safely”. The tragedy is that many have turned the Gospel (Good News) into a religion (Good Advice) and modern people know good advice is cheap and easily available without sitting through a sermon on Sunday and have given up seeking true good news as a dream, some sort of wish-fulfillment.

But Jesus of Nazareth proved once and for all that ultimate Goodness (Love) is also ultimate reality (God) and thus we have reason to hope. This is not some warm, fuzzy, feel-good hope but a real, evidence based, experiential hope in a person who said he was God’s Son and the solution to all our problems and whose miraculous ressurection provided the final proof of these outrageous claims.

If you think you need to make a huge leap of faith to believe that Jesus existed and is accurately reflected in the New Testament then think again. Don’t let a TV mini-series or popular pseudo-wisdom hide the real facts of the matter from you. The historical evidence is reliable and undeniable – Jesus was not just a sage but the Son of God and the future King of all who died to pay your debt and save you from destruction. He’s done it all (that’s the Good News) and all you have to do is accept the gift he offers today.