The first of God’s incommunicable attributes (attributes that we do not share with God) that we will explore is his Simplicity: that God’s existence is identical with his attributes, or to put it another way, that He is not the sum total of his attributes but is simultaneously everything that all of his attributes reveal. One good way of understanding this is…
Posts by Jonathan Hamer (Page 3)
We have spent the last two months considering the so called ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and using them as a tool to evaluate our own lives. In this next series, we are going to shift our focus from ourselves and turn instead to God. We are going to consider God’s character and in particular his incommunicable attributes and the effect of these for…
Not many of us would think that we have a problem with slothfulness, or laziness. In fact, it does not seem to be a problem that Australians as a whole struggle with – on the contrary, Australians are known for being hardworking and diligent, with some studies even suggesting that we are the most hardworking people in the developed world. This is…
Anger is scary. As a sin, its effects are immediate, serious and scarring. It involves a loss of control – a blind, all-consuming fury that envelopes them, causing them to lash out at those around them, often for the most trivial of reasons. Those on the ‘receiving end’ fear this volatile, indiscriminate, and unreasonable anger. Maybe you’ve been the victim of such…
Gluttony is perhaps the strangest and least likely of the Seven Deadly Sins; if we had to cull the list to six, it would be the first to go. Food is something that is good and to be enjoyed -who wants to label the Christmas roast the most sinful activity of the year? Furthermore Jesus loved a good banquet; his very first…
If there was to be a prize for the greatest of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, then pride would surely win the day. One only has to look inward for a moment to discover it alive and well, thirsting for another opportunity to self-glorify. It is the master of disguise, with any number of faces, that sneaks up when you are least expecting…
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, it is envy that is the most widely condemned by society. Lust, gluttony and slothfulness all have an appeal in the moment, anger also allows for a release of pent up frustration and pride means that you are feeling good about yourself. It’s easy for us to see why people fall into those sins; they promise fulfilment…
On a recent camp for high-school kids we did a seminar for boys on pornography. At the beginning we ran an anonymous survey; the first question was ‘have you ever seen pornography?’ The results came in – 100% had. The second question in the survey was, ‘have you ever actively searched for pornography?’ This time the result was slightly less – 98%.…
Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. This line from the 1987 film Wall Street aptly characterises our society’s attitude towards greed.…
Over the next seven weeks we will be looking at the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’: Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Anger, Pride and Slothfulness, exploring their relevance in today’s society and for our lives. For most of us though, the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins seems old and out-dated, something to be caricatured and laughed at or used as a marketing tool to…