The abudance of his possessions

Back in February 2001 London 'conceptual' artist Micheal Landy decided to create a piece of art work which he called 'Breakdown'. The work was to be based on the destruction of everything that the artist possessed! He decided to shred and granulate all his earthly possessions in what he called ' an examination of society's romance with consumerism'. He was to exhibit the finished product in a disused department store on Londons Oxford street. Now Mr Landy wasn't making a token gesture, when he said everything thats just what he meant. From his Saab car right down to his last odd sock and including his record collection, his kitchen appliances, his valuable art collection and his personal things like family photos etc. In all he destroyed 7,227 listed and labelled objects with the help of 10 assistants. Afterwards the rendered material was put on display. They said that all he had left in the end was his girlfriend and his cat called 'rats'. Many might think he was completely 'barking', it certainly was a very radical thing to do even in the name of Modern Art. Mr Landy said: ' its about the am mount of raw material that goes into making objects and about the lifespan of things. But the title also reflects the emotional breakdown' the artist added. At a press viewing of the finished work Landy was asked how he felt as the deconstruction of his possessions took place. Its 'the happiest day of my life' he said and added that it is not an attack on consumerism but a consumer experiment in identity to find out what it felt like and to find out how much of his life depended on what he used and what he owned.
While not being the greatest fan of conceptual art, this experiment got me thinking about a verse in the Bible. Jesus said in Luke 12v15: '.. a mans life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions' Landys experiment almost proves the scripture true when he basically said that getting rid of all his possessions was the happiest day of his life. In truth getting rid of all his earthly goods was the defining moment in his life. Although known for his work before and after 'Breakdown', this was the work that he is still best known for. So why do we continue to be driven by rampant consumerism? Why do we still judge a man by the things he has? Why is success seen in terms of goods and prosperity? Why do we think and act in direct opposition to Word of God and the warnings of Jesus? covetousness is the main reason. maybe we can learn a good lesson from Micheal Landy. If he can shed the weight of worldly possessions in the name of Modern Art then as Christians cant we do the same in the name of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

green and pleasant land

Well the our 'bbq summer' has not materialised yet and its now August the 6th in fact many places have had their wettest July on record. Bristol in the West of England has had its wettest July for over a hundred years. The truth is that you cannot rely on the climate in this country to deliver some settled, sunny holiday weather. much as we kid ourselves that climate change is going to bring us mediteranian type weather its always going to be sensible to pack much more than your shorts and t-shirt if your going to holiday at home. sadly many who have decided to holiday in the U.K. this year for economic reasons will be heading back to the beaches of Spain, Italy and Greece again next year after they have had there annual breaks interupted by thunderstorms, floods and galeforce winds. The consolation is when you do return from those sun parched corners of the Med you realise when you fly in that we live in a beautiful green and pleasant land and its all thanks to the vast ammounts of rain that fall on it! Oh Jerusalem!!

are you kidding us?

July 29th 2009. The News today told us that the 'Society of Friends' better known as the 'Quakers' have decided that they will marry same sex couples. Actually the rs nothing to surprising about that. The Quakers are now probably the most liberal and heretical so called Christian group you could wish to find to say that they don't know what they believe would be about right! its an organisation where it doesn't matter what you hold as true, most don't believe the Bible, some don't even believe in God. This is a far cry from solid scriptural foundation that was laid down by George Fox, the original Quaker way back in the 17th century. The truth is that George Fox was a Bible believing Christian, the words of scripture were paramount in everything he did and in everything he taught. He went to jail on many occasions for his convictions. The sad thing today is that the Guardian Newspaper in its editorial about the Quakers decision trys to make out that George Fox the great dissenter would have endorsed
this move to marry same sex couples. It tries to link today's decision with the great Quaker reformers of the past, those who were in the vanguard when it came to the abolition of slavery and who fought against the exploitation of labour. The truth is that Fox along with those other earlier Quakers would be appalled beyond imagination at the very thought of two people of the same sex being married to each other. Lets not kid ourselves, if George Fox walked into to the Guardians offices today they would mock and pillory everything that he believed and probably throw him out. The liberal deception continues.

Not Darwin again?!!!

As if you hadn't had enough of Charles Darwin the BBC rolled out another 3 part, hour long offering called 'Dangerous Darwin' presented by one of the beebs big guns, Andrew Marr. It turns out that Marrs' interest in everything Darwinian goes back 20years and in an interview with BBC 'five live' Marr talks about evolutionary theory like some sort of Religion and Darwin as a saviour type figure, quite scary. For me Marr is one of the best commentators around when it comes to politics and his recent series on the political legacy of post war Britain was 'must see' as is his Sunday Morning Show. So it was quite an eye opener to listen to his 'five live' interview and hear how he has an almost evangelical passion for Charlie D and his writings. The programme, 'Dangerous Darwin' was quite clever in that it sought to distance the real or pure Darwinian thought from the less acceptable political, social and philosophical results of those who used Darwin's theories as a basis for there darker and more extreme actions. i.e. Nazism or apartheid. Marr tries to dismiss such things as an abuse or false interpretation of what Darwin was really all about but he cant be allowed to get away with sweeping aside the mayhem that Darwin's godless theory has spawned in the wicked heart of mankind. Its crush or be crushed. 'The survival of the fittest' as the weak and sickly go to the wall . Those who adapt live, those who don't die off and if man gives a little helping hand so what? euthanasia, abortion, ethnic cleansing maybe that wasn't in Darwin's mind as he searched for an alternative answer to creation but its certainly the awful and logical direction that fundamental Darwinism leads us in and that's a fact of history. As soon as we step away from the Bible and start to interpret things around us with our own understanding then it all starts to get confused and things start to unravel and degenerate. Scripture says: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. acknowledge him in all of your ways and he will make your paths straight.

giving

The good people of these great islands (U.K.)dug deep in to their recession hit pockets this past week and parted with not far short of 560 million pounds. It was divided between two institutions of British life, Red Nose Day/Comic Relief and the Cheltenham Festival. Red Nose Day/Comic Relief is a charity event organised by the comic community and promoted heavily in the media culminating with an evening of prime time T.V. entertainment and appeals on behalf of those in desperate need around the world because of famine, draught, war or some such things. The Cheltenham Festival is a four day horse racing event and is the premier National Hunt meeting in the racing calendar. When it comes to investing in projects to help our fellow humankind who are in desperate need or sticking fifty quid on the horses; there is only one winner - so to speak! the horse wins every time. The split was fifty seven million pounds to Comic Relief and an cool £500 Million estimated to have been gambled on the Cheltenham Festival. What does that tell us? Well it tells us that at a starting price of 10/1 the Great British Public are more inclined to fritter away there money on the back of a horse than bother helping their fellow man in his time of greatest need. Perhaps it also confirms to us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

partner!!

A BBC radio presenter recently described the thirteen year old girlfriend of a sixteen yr old boy, who incidentally he had got pregnant, as his partner. Are we serious? Can we really use the term 'partner' to describe the illegal relationship between a sixteen yr old and his under age girlfriend and then use exactly the same term to describe the 25 yr marriage of another couple? The truth is that no one wants to call a relationship what it really is anymore. Once upon a time two men who lived together in a sexual relationship were called Sodomites, a man who lived with another mans wife was called an adulterer and someone who had sex with an under age person was called a paedophile but in our new age of equality and enlightenment we mustn't let people feel any discomfort or feel that they may be doing something that's wrong and damaging for themselves and society so we must now call a spade a partner or we'll be in big trouble with the equality police. Actually in the eyes of those who desire the truth any sexual relationship outside of the marriage of a man and a woman is wrong full stop. Marriage is the only relationship that God ordained where a sexual relationship is allowed. 'Marriage is honourable' says the Bible. And so it is!

Carrying the Bible

Whilst taking my daughter to the stables this Sunday morning I was really encouraged to see a man carrying a Bible on his way to Church. Now that might not seem to significant but really it is. why? because most people are actually embarrassed by the Bible and would avoid carrying one in public at all costs The Bible is such a ridiculed book in our age that people dont want to be associated with it let alone carry one in the street. So I say hats of to this man for taking a stand in this Godless and faithless generation. It seems strange that in a nation that sacrificed so much to bring The Bible, Gods Word to the masses by publishing it in English ,that we should now disregard that same book as not worth the paper its written on. Its sad that we have forgotten that men were burnt at the stake in times past just so that you and I could have access to Holy Scriptures in language that we can understand. Lets pray that the value of the Bible is restored and that once again it will be seen as a book worth defending.