Articles by Rev Smith

The articles below are intended to stimulate and challenge the reader and to aid her/his faith journey. To discuss the issues raised in these articles, you are very welcome to contact the St Andrew's minister or to come along to a service!

Confessions of a Saboteur and Subversive Agent of the JLM

Submitted by admin on Tue, 26/11/2013 - 6:45am

Today I have decided to confess that for the last 50 years I have been a covert, subversive revolutionary for the outlawed organization JLM (Jesus Liberation Movement). I was recruited to this organization in 1956 at the tender age of 16 years with the promise that I would become a vital agent of change for this revolutionary body.

Oh My God

Submitted by admin on Tue, 23/04/2013 - 8:41am

We all embark on tasks then wish that we hadn’t, because it becomes all too hard. You try to walk away from the whole thing, but you find that it continues to nag at you until you go back and take up the cudgels again. When I first began to explore the historical Jesus and tried to define what I believed God was it all seemed so exciting and straightforward, however I quickly discovered that this wasn’t the case.

The Future of Faith: Being an Authentic Christian in the 21st Century

Submitted by admin on Sun, 07/04/2013 - 8:51am

A presentation to ‘A Future for Faith? Conference’ (sponsored by Progressive Spirituality Network) held at Merthyr Road Uniting Church, Brisbane, 8 – 10 March 2013, in conjunction with the Queensland launch of Why Weren’t We Told? A Handbook on Progressive Christianity.

What does Salvation (Soteriology) mean for Paul?

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/09/2012 - 12:14am

For Paul ‘salvation’ means being saved from something - from sin; which is a demonic power that enslaves people. In Romans 7:25 Paul writes that nothing good dwells in the flesh and Paul is controlled by the sin in his body. Paul is, “rescued from the law of sin and death .. I am a slave to the law of sin”. Perhaps this tells us more about Paul’s emotional state than about Jesus’ saving power.

The Saving Power of God

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/09/2012 - 12:07am

As we approach the Easter season we will again celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Again the question, “Why did Jesus die?” will be raised. “Did Jesus die so that we can be brought into a right relationship with God?” “Did Jesus see himself as the sacrificial lamb?” The Christian doctrine of atonement is based on the belief that Jesus should die as recompense for the sin of Adam’s disobedience, so that we can be brought back into a right relationship with God. So we would be “at-one-ment” with the divine.

Divine necessity or human inevitability?

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/09/2012 - 12:01am

“DIVINE NECESSITY OR HUMAN INEVITABILITY?

Progressive Theology Beyond Atonement”

Workshop Presentation:

“Common Dreams Melbourne - Living the Dream.”

Presenters: John Smith and David Clark

Introduction

Discovering Jesus in the 1st Century – the contribution of scholars

Submitted by admin on Sun, 02/09/2012 - 11:56pm

Firstly to respond to this topic and in particular “the contribution of scholars” requires me to present an introduction into the scholarship that I will be referring to. Secondly this will be a brief examination of the scholarship that has been documented and published in the last 30 years. I will in this paper concentrate only on the scholarship from North America, this is not to deny the scholarship of people in the UK or Australia such as Holloway, Armstrong, (although she works more out of the US than the UK), Keith Ward and Richard Swinburne.

A Reinterpretation of the Gospel Healing Narratives

Submitted by admin on Tue, 28/08/2012 - 7:15am

The Healing Narratives are those stories recorded in the gospels as examples of Jesus healing ministry. My research indicates that there are at least 20 such narratives in the canonical gospels or 23 if you include the three stories of the ‘Raising of the Dead”. Many of these stories, some with variations, are repeated. In all there are 47 stories of healing recorded in the gospels. These can be divided into a number of categories such as physical and sensory disabilities, leprosy and chronic illness, demonic possession or mental illness, fever and raising the dead.

The Bible – What is its Importance?

Submitted by admin on Tue, 28/08/2012 - 7:10am

In this article we are going to explore the question: Is the bible written by humans reflecting their understanding of the sacred or is it the inerrant word of God?

Intellectual integrity

Submitted by admin on Tue, 28/08/2012 - 7:07am

The search for ‘intellectual integrity’ within the Christian faith has taken a much higher profile in the last generation. Whilst one would imagine this would be attractive to the under forties somewhat surprisingly, in Australia at least, it has attracted members of the older generation. Intellectual integrity has been a driving force behind the development of the Progressive Christian movement particularly among the older generation who now recognise the importance of “spin” in thinking straight.

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