No Campaign
Several weeks ago a postal survey was sent out to all eligible voters. It was a postal plebiscite to gauge voter views on legalising same sex marriage. Tress and I have been, in the last couple of years, to several events where various speakers have spoken on this issue. Most of them have been from a faith perspective.
On Saturday night however, the event we attended wasn’t from a faith perspective. The Coalition for Marriage organised a rally at Jeff’s shed in the city and although many participants were from churches, it was a secular event. At least one of the speakers – a mum who spoke on the Safe Schools program – wasn’t of any religious persuasion. Another mum, whose facebook posts on Safe Schools have picked up a lot of exposures, said there was an unholy matrimony between same sex marriage and safe schools, who are joined at the hip. I thought that was a very clever phrase and I think few that night had any doubts the two streams were from the same source.
A number of same sex marriage proponents gate crashed the event and unfurled grotesque banners on stage. A couple of them even demonstrated a public display of affection in a manner calculated to shock and challenge the participants. I don’t think I was the only one who was utterly dismayed by such action. I thought if I had a chance to say something to any of them, I’d say to them God loves them and wants them to live life as He intended for them – and everyone – to live.
Tigers and Old Friends
On the train home after that rally, we joined a bunch of happy Tigers fans. We have been following, on my phone, the game at the G and we were glad at least one Victorian team – a Melbourne team no less – will be at the Grand Final this Saturday. Back at Blackburn, we saw Paul Whitehead walking. We had bumped into him while waiting for the tram in the city and it was good to see someone we knew, at the rally. We met a couple of old friends there too, and we’re glad there are many who feel the same way as us.
Forbidden Fruit
I genuinely fear for a western liberal democracy such as ours here in Melbourne Australia, where we seem to be intent on burning our own house down. The devil must be laughing at how we are dismantling, one piece at a time, the Lord’s kingdom on earth in such democracies. I believe that’s what it boils down to. Big ticket issues like abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality is ultimately about telling God we want to be the arbiter of what is right and wrong. We want to be God in so many ways every single day, telling Him we don’t want Him running our lives, telling us what to do. That is the biggest idolatry, the biggest sin. The autonomy we seek in such big ticket issues are just very big screens, displaying this fundamental rebellion against God. The forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was said to enable us to know right from wrong. Knowing as in deciding. We want to be the ones to decide what is right or wrong, what is best or not. That is as old as Adam and Eve.
My Jedi FIY – Grom BT3 Fixed
Earlier in the day, it was very warm. It was almost like a summer’s day and Tress busied herself weeding. I spent some time fixing the radio on the Mx5. I had bought a Grom BT3 unit, after scouring various forums on what is the best way to connect a phone and stream music through the Bose Mx5 system. The Grom wins everytime but although relatively inexpensive, it required a DIY mini project of sorts and I had been on You Tube for some weeks to learn how to do it. All that online research paid off as the unit now sits in the Mx5, connecting the phone to the sound system and even allowing the steering wheel controls to manage calls and music on the phone.
I also took the hardtop off, tried to clean the drain hole of the soft top, before deciding to put the hardtop back on as it was going to remain a bit wet. Tress had to help me put the top back on as it was impossible to lug the unwieldy component over the top of the car all by myself. I’m glad we got the hardtop back on as it was raining heavily this morning and I wasn’t sure the drain holes are in the clear. I had broken the brush ends of the “trombone brush” I tried to use to clear the drains and it may still be a little clogged. A clogged drain would have resulted in a wet interior of My Jedi.
Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017
At St Alf’s on Sunday, John Buchanan – a very experienced and highly qualified doctor – had spoken about the proposed euthanasia law in Victoria. He said the two main issues were pain management and autonomy. While in many ways we should exercise autonomy, I’m not sure striving to be autonomous should mean displacing God. So it was a same sex marriage opposition rally on Saturday and listening to a talk on Sunday, on risks of the proposed euthanasia law in Victoria.
Rich tapestry
It had been a busy weekend. Bookending those big events were more general living activities – we spent Friday night catching up with the Chews and Hipos over dinner in Doncaster, I started to work the garden – applied some lawn food, weeding stuff, bought mulch (but didn’t put them on was it was such a windy weekend), cooked, spoke to Kiddo and Mic on the phone and Tress spoke to her dad too.
In the midst of a very stormy setting, ordinary life events chugged along, bookending as well as interspersing those buffeting gusts. I prefer this take on the rich tapestry of life.
Ante 