Not White enough: The census tells us that Australia is now a majority migrant nation.Obadiah can’t help but remember back when he was too Asian to come to Downunder.
The white Australia Policy kept my family out because they had adopted half-Japanese twins. One was me, and the other my twin, whom Obadiah will call by another Trollope name, “Francis Arabin”. (I have pinched “Obadiah Slope” from the pages of novelist Anthony Trollope’s satires on Church politics)
Thanks to lobbying by Tom Playford’s (Liberal and Country League) government in SA we were allowed in. Eventually.
When I get to heaven, I will thank the Apple-grower-turned Premier.
Obadiah loves a multi-coloured Australia. You might say he has skin in the game.
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Putting God to the test: Awful news that a group of twelve Toowoomba Christians face murder charges over the death of an eight-year-old girl denied insulin by the twelve.
” They will also allege in court that instead of calling paramedics, the parents gathered members of their church to pray over the dying girl and, eventually, her body,” the SMH reports. They prayed for six days as she died. The parents had already been charged.
The twelve bad apostles, members of a stand-alone group of Christians, are quoted as saying that the child would be resurrected.
Apart from this alleged murder, what else was happening? They were putting God to the test, convinced they had him in a box. The box of their exaggerated “faith,” included the idea that God must do what they wanted. In Luke 4:12, Jesus answered Satan’s temptation by quoting scripture, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”
Toowoomba has many good churches; the town is famous for being a city of churches. I – it is a sign that something is wrong when no church is good enough for you.
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Getting it wrong: Sometimes coming up with the wrong answer works for the best.
Having left the Eternity website, Obadiah supposes that he might be in a job interview (just a maybe)., bringing back memories of one I stuffed up.
It was in the now-demolished pile that housed the Adelaide Advertiser, the first of a few cadet interviews journo.
They asked, “would I be happy to write copy for advertising supplements.”
It was a test of my humility. I failed.
Instead, I ended up at the old National Times^ in Sydney.
If I had given the correct answer, I would never have had the weird career I have had. I would never have met Bronwen, and had my daughters Hannah and Hilary and all that has led to.
Never have started Eternity.
And never have interacted with everyone likely to read this.
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^ I should have learned the lesson that Newspaper jobs do not last forever
Another good article John. Even if you had given the right answer and gotten that job-maybe it would have been short-lived and you would have still gone on the path to start Eternity. God was/is always guiding you. But He wasn’t guiding those ’12 bad apostles’. All too often bad things are done using the Bible as a cover. Then we have non-Christians crying loudly about how a good and loving God would never allow bad things to happen. But they don’t see that the badness is never from Him. On a side note..can you do something about this font colour? It’s so hard to read.
I an q hooked follower of Obodiah (John) a differrnt path…
Following O
My grandmother ruptured her hernia. Her and my grandfather were part of a small Christian sect that did not believe in seeking medical help. For three days, grandma writhed in agony. Grandpa could stand it no longer and went to get help. Grandma passed away just before he arrived back with help. Grandpa effectively died with her that day – survived, but barely functioning until he passed away at 40, eight years later. My mum and her sister were effectively orphaned that day. Dad’s folks died when I was very young so I have no experience of grandparents.
None of us have ever considered it murder and I was furious when I heard that family was charged with murder. There was no “mens rea” (intention to kill). It will leave a very frightening precedent and I am praying that they will be acquitted. They have committed a crime but it ain’t murder. Surely the equivalent of culpable negligence causing death is what the charge should be.
Steve, good point about “mens rea.” I wonder if manslaughter is a more appropriate charge. However the alleged insistence that the child would be resurrected might have played into the police decision.