Wednesday 27 May 2009

Does Britain Have Talent?


I'm guilty.


I am one of the 13 million people who must hold their hands up and plead guilty to tuning into BGT over the last few weeks.


Whilst I have really enjoyed the dance routines of Flawless & Diversity and a positive, anti-knife crime message from Liverpudlian children, these have been the shining lights in a pile of tosh this week.


Don't agree with me? Well I present to you Darth Jackson... some annoying guy swinging from a rope in a straight jacket... a repulsive, overweight male drag queen miming to a backing track... a shambolic wannabe rapper... and borderline jailbait teenagers prancing around in their under crackers.


And is it just me or has Susan Boyle (who genuinely has talent) morphed from an authentic, shy & retiring spinster into a bit of a show off.


So my question to you is this... does Britain have talent or is it the freakish parade of the dull, the desperate and deluded that attracts the viewers? Is it the fabulous entertainment that draws us in or is it the gratitude that you have more self-awareness than an operatic, flower arranger?

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Freedom

I stop in the middle of reading a book that a friend kindly bought for me.
Here's an interesting, and in my opinion true, paragraph.
Chew it over a few times before swallowing, like a perfectly cooked steak...

"Entering into that freedom, which is Christ's own gift, requires that we be liberated from the wrong idea of God.

We must destroy the idol of God as a big, powerful person, usually thought of as male, who bosses us around and tells us what we must do if He is to like us.

We must get rid of the God who opposes our freedom, and keeps us trapped in infantile submission.

So many people's lives have been crucified by worship of this alien idol. We must discover the God who is the source of freedom bubbling up in the very core of our being, and granting us existence in every moment."

Timothy Radcliffe OP, "What is the point of being a Christian?"