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Our new home

Eternity has a new home, at http://www.biblesociety.org.au where we can post serveral news stories at once in our own section. We hope you enjoy our new site. come on over. 

www.biblesociety.org.au

Coming soon a new web home for Eternity

John Sandeman

We want to be able to display a lot more of the material that the Eternity team produces on the web. For the past few months we have been preparing a new home for Eternity newspaper that will do just that. Watch out for a greatly improved web presence for Eternity. Coming very soon!

Eyewitness report from Egypt

Bishop Mouneer Anis, of Egypt writes

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I am sure that you are following the news of our beloved country Egypt. I am very grateful to all of you who wrote to assure us of your prayers. This means a lot to us here.

The situation now is very serious. In the last few days, demonstrations have been going on and continue in Tahrir Square and other locations all over Egypt (Alexandria, Suez, Fayoum, Upper Egypt, etc...). 41 people have been killed and over 2,200 were injured as a result of these demonstrations and violent clashes between the demonstrators and security police. There are rumors about other unknown groups who are provoking this violence.

Red frogs at schoolies

By Joshua Maule

More than half of the revellers at Schoolies weeks on the Gold Coast this year will hail from Christian schools. And standing among the wash of alcohol and parties are the Red Frog Crew, offering a non-judgemental Christian witness. Holding bags of lollies donated by Allens - 10.1 tonnes of them - some 1300 “froggers” act as guardians at the coming-of-age event. “The guys,” says founder Andy Gourley, “are super popular. It’s like you’ve just won Australian Idol to walk out on the street in a Red Frogs shirt.”

Religion and ethics to be discussed for the national curriculum

Joshua Maule

If it were to be taught effectively, a religion and ethics component in the national curriculum would need to be more than a simple description of practises and beliefs, says Dr John Collier.

The Chairman of the Association of the Head of Independent Schools in NSW and the ACT also says it is vital religious schools remain free to teach "adherence" - not "indoctrination" - to a particular religion.

Responding to a Fairfax Media report that religion and ethics would be discussed by Barry McGaw and the board responsible for the national curriculum, Dr Collier expressed mixed feelings.

Evangelist shot dead

KARACHI, Pakistan,  (Compass Direct News) – An evangelist was shot dead here on Wednesday (Nov. 16) by an unidentified gunman in what his family believes was a radical Muslim group’s targeting of a Christian.
 
Zahid Jameel, 25, told Compass that his father, Jameel Saawan, and a helper were opening the doors of their cosmetics shop in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi on Wednesday morning when a young man appeared and shot his father, first in the neck and then in the face.

Why Christians give Goats, Cows and Toilets for Christmas

Steve Bradbury

What was it that prompted TEAR to launch the “World’s Most Useful Gift Catalogue” upon an unsuspecting world? Little did we realise at the time that it would prove to be such an exceptional tool for encouraging people to respond to the needs of poor and vulnerable communities; so exceptional, in fact, that it has been cloned by many organisations around the world.

A good Bible translation makes you WORK

Rowan William on the King James Version

What is a good translation?  Not one that just allows me to say, when I pick it up, ‘Now I understand’.  Of course, if I’m faced with a text in a strange language, I need to be able simply to read it; but a good translation will be an invitation to read again, and to probe, and reflect, and imagine with the text.  Rather than letting me say, ‘Now I understand’, it prompts the response, ‘Now the work begins.’

The great comeback story of the Bible

David Mansfield

I was the guest speaker at a Saturday breakfast for men at a church in a New South Wales country town.
After the talk, I returned to the table I’d been sitting at for breakfast. Most of the blokes were mingling around the coffee urn or catching up with friends at other tables. There was one man left at my table. As I sat down he smiled at me, leaned forward and said in a whisper, “Thanks for the talk and the stuff you said. I nearly gave this morning a miss but I’m glad I came.”
“Why’d you nearly give it a miss?” I asked.
He said, “I find it really hard coming along to church things. I feel like I don’t belong. The men here are really good people and I just feel so out of place. But I really enjoyed your talk.”
I was at a loss to know what to say next. There were about 50 men at the breakfast and I had been invited to the church for the weekend to give a series of talks about Christianity. There were lively conversations around the room. The men seemed at ease with each other and the setting they were in. 
All men are … more or less the same.
I asked my friend to take a good look around the room. I paused while he scoped the place from one side to the next and then I said, “I’ll bet every last one of these men have, at some stage or several stages in their life, felt or feel the way you feel right now.”
“Do you really think so?” he asked.

Special Religious Education “strengthened” by Fred Nile’s determination

Karen Mudge

Minimum class times  and an annual celebration of special religious education (SRE) have been introduced by the NSW government in order to “strengthen” the teaching of special religious education, says Mr Piccoli, Education Minister.

The government will mandate that Scripture be made available for a minimum of 30 minutes a week of ''meaningful teaching time'' in primary schools and a minimum of one period a week in secondary schools, since current policy sets only maximum time for SRE classes.