I seem to be spending a lot of time (and money!) in Italian restaurants recently! Last night was spent at a little Italian place in Ashford called “Volare”, to eat food and listen to a chap from Focus Radio explain what was wrong with the ‘facts’ portrayed in the Da Vinci Code. I’d already attended a seminar earlier in the month on this subject, but it was interesting to listen to a talk aimed more at non-Christians. With the facts of history laid bare, one could be in no doubt that the Da Vinci Code was nothing more than fiction.

With all this fuss about this book though, I may have to go and see the film to actually know what it says!

This evening was another spent learning the intricacies of the fiddle – complete with a sight read of an Irish folk melody. I think I need to spend time just practicing the things I have already learnt to allow things to ingrain themselves in my brain and so allow me to play the violin as naturally as I play the piano.

As Jesus hung on the cross, he was flanked by two criminals. On one side was one who hadn’t grasped who Jesus was and so mocked him, to the other side was one who knew who Jesus was and so trusted him. He realised that he was a sinner, and his sin needed dealing with. He also knew Jesus was sinless and could forgive sin. The man trusted Jesus with his life, even though he could only see another man dying on a cross. It’s true this man might well have seen Jesus performing miracles and heard reports of Jesus’ sinless nature. There was nothing to suggest any certainty in Jesus rising from the dead.

We know later in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive now. How much less of an excuse do we have for not trusting in him. From the account, we can see that it is never too late to repent and that no one is beyond saving.

This is not to say we should put off repentance until the last minute, for none of us know how we are going to die, only that we will die.

That repentance must be real though. A last minute repentance might not be anything of the sort. How many people have thought they were in their last days and ‘repented’ only to live on and live a life far from God?

The time for repentance is now, for Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jn 10:10

A fine Saturday sitting around doing nothing during the day. A very nice way to recover from a rather hectic week. The day was completed with an evening celebrating Mim’s birthday at a little Italian restaurant, The Amalfi, in Windsor. The food was very good, and I left feeling very full. It was great to be able to spend time with friends, catching up and sharing some happy moments together. We even had a piece of birthday cake with a candle in it brought in with a chorus of happy birthday – albeit with a waiter wishing Marjorie a happy birthday. 🙂

Q: Which is the ninth commandment?
A: The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Q: What is required in the ninth commandment?
A: The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbour’s good name, especially in witness bearing.

Q: What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A: The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbour’s good name.

(Questions LXXVI, LXXVII and LXXVIII from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.)

Played Ed at snooker again yesterday evening. 5-3 frames to me in the end. Whilst the first few frames were atrocious – I put it down to having a new tip on my cue, I improved along the way to go into a comfortable lead with plenty of long pots, and even the odd short one.

Shame my hand eye coordination didn’t persist until this evening, as my fingers had the odd moment in my violin lesson! Spent a while revisiting old scales and pieces. It’s amazing how quickly one forgets details about things!

Sometimes, the little man is forgotten. Regardless of the great deed he has done in saving the city, in Ecclesiastes the poor wise man is forgotten whilst the rulers are remembered. Yet, were it not for this man, the city would have been defeated for it was small with few people to defend it. History is littered with such instances, of course in some cases we may not even know about it. One particular event in history is neglected by many people though.

Whilst the world’s rulers strutted across the world stage, God the Son gave up his heavenly riches to become a poor man, that he might save his people. Whilst the Caesar’s wielded great military might, he didn’t use power and might, but through his death on the cross and eventual resurrection. This may seem to be foolishness to many, but through this foolishness the sins of the elect were dealt with. Through this great sacrifice of love, we can be made righteous before God, and can enter into a relationship with a holy God.

You may have noticed I’ve turned off comments – or you may not… Anyway, it would appear I need to put up some comment checking into my blog, as I was spammed to the tune of around 1300 comments by some online poker spammers. A short moment with a text editor removed those, but rather than spend five minutes every night removing comments, I’ve removed the facility until I implement some comment checking. Many apologies.

I’m slowly getting used to the possibility of living alone. I looked at a couple of flats and could picture myself coming home from work, and doing whatever I liked – play the violin, piano, computer games, cooking, read, watch telly, in the comfort of my own living room. Given enough impetus, I might actually get around to moving.

I met up with the usual suspects in the evening for a walk around Runnymede, to see the Magna Carta monument, the Air Force memorial and the JFK memorial – which sits in an acre of land given to the United States. It was good to have a chance just to chat and enjoy the countryside. The evening even had a moment of excitement as one of our party had become separated and so we spent a not so inconsiderable amount of time trying to find her! Thankfully she found us, although how we didn’t find her first is a mystery to me.

After much public debate, Lord Joffe’s bill was put before the Lords, and defeated.

I think this is a triumph for the notion of sanctity of life. As far as the bible is concerned, we are all made in the image of God

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Ge 1:27

and the taking of life is a very serious thing.

You shall not murder. Ex 20:13

The only time the state is sanctioned to rule on whether someone lives or dies is in the administering of justice.

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Ro 13:3,4

There is no other remit for taking someone’s life. If this bill had passed, life would become more of a commodity, with people’s lives determined more by what they think they’re worth in their ability to contribute to society and family, rather than their actual worth as a loved one – both by their friends and family, and by God.

A definite feeling of deja vu this evening. I’ve spent most of the past few Friday evenings explaining that justification before God is by faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Imagine my dismay when I touched on the ten commandments this evening and, when I asked why the ten commandment exist, I got the response that if we tried our best to keep them, we’d go to heaven…. :crazy:

Well, I’ve started looking for a property to purchase. I’ve never done this before, so it’s all a bit new to me. I’ve talked with a lender about a mortgage, found out how much I can borrow and I had a look around some flats last night.

Afterwards, I discussed the ins and outs of the property markets with many friends and have a much better idea about what I’m doing.

I’ve come to the conclusion this could be long and protracted, and possibly slightly stressful. I’ve also decided that houses converted into multiple flats is not for me, purpose built flats – either small blocks or maisonettes – are the way to go.

Fortunately, I spent this evening away from the property market, with a violin lesson and a few frames of snooker. I revisited a piece I’d learnt a while ago, the theme to Star Wars, and was pleasantly surprised at how well I played it – ok, the fourth note of the opening took a little time to accomplish, but the rest was all good. I guess I must be improving, at least something good has happened today. 🙂

As Christians, we are all at different stages in our Christian life. In his first letter, John addresses Christians in all the stages.

Even the youngest child of God is forgiven on account of Jesus Christ. There is no further qualification than faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. These children are also encouraged to know God as their Father, for this is their right and their joy.

After each referral to the children, the youngest Christians, John then moves to the oldest Christians, those who know the Father and his word. They are those who know the Creator, to one who is from the beginning and are acknowledged for their knowledge.

Finally John refers to those who are young, but strong in the faith. They are reminded not to rely on their own strength, but that their strength is found in Christ through his word, that they might overcome the evil one.

Of course, this only applies to those who have put their faith in Christ and have become children of God.

Learnt some interesting facts about the book The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown this morning at a talk given at Feltham Evangelical Church. Whilst the book itself is a work of fiction, it does tread the line between fact and fiction in the minds of many. It doesn’t help that the book is prefaced with the following

all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

With such a preface, many people will have trouble separating out the fact from the fiction, especially as it uses the names of many non-fictional organisations and documents, with a very fictional twist to them.

This fine line between fact and fiction causes many Christians (and non-Christians) to wonder how much of it is true, especially as the book blatantly questions the Christian view of Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, both fully God and fully man, and also attacks the authorship and validity of the Bible. Instead, it puts forward an age-old heretical Gnostic view of the world, where Jesus is merely a man and that the gnostic writings are more truthful than the New Testament. It becomes even more significant when you realise that if this gnostic view is correct, Christianity as we know it is false.

Initially this might seem to be an interesting challenge, but on inspection, the “facts” the book is based on are very fictional indeed. All of the gnostic writings quoted in the book, which form the very basis of the main plot of the book, are written long after the New Testament was written, yet alone the time of Christ and are almost certainly not what they claim to be. Whilst the New Testament can be shown to be written by eyewitnesses to the events they claim to document, the gnostic writings – the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene are written so long afterwards, they cannot be what they claim to be, they cannot be eyewitness accounts.

With this linchpin gone, the claim of being based on facts disappears and the whole book can only be really seen as a complete work of fiction, without any basis in fact at all. This is not to say the Da Vinci Code is not a gripping read, many people who’ve read it have thoroughly enjoyed it as a work of fiction. If anything though, once you scratch the surface of its factual basis, you realise how reliable and factual the Bible is compared with other books, both factual and fictional, in this world.

For the curious, there’s an interesting article on Wikipedia about the ‘facts’ of the Da Vinci Code. A more indepth analysis can be found at ‘the truth about Da Vinci‘.

Well, today was the warmest day so far this year! A rather pleasant (when outdoors) 26 degrees celsius. Rather unpleasant indoors without airconditioning though….

Ah well, after surviving a day of scorchio (the Fast Show – thanks Andy), I went along to the polling station to do my civic duty. The only qualm I would have is that some of the candidates on the ballot paper I’d never heard of! The major parties had all stuck bumpf through my letterbox, but some of the others hadn’t made a peep. How do they expect to win votes if the voters have no idea who they are and what they stand for? Tip for next time – give yourself a fighting chance, inform the voters who you are before they vote!

Went down to Salisbury with some friends to meet up with more friends and wander around the city and the surrounding area. We started off in Great Wishford, and went into Salisbury for lunch and a tour of Salisbury Cathedral. I must admit, I’ve never been there but I’d heard so much about the cathedral. Angie was an intermittent guide, although despite her roots, I think she might’ve learnt as much as me about the cathedral. As cathedrals go, it lived up to the hype in my opinion – it was imposing yet graceful, although the warning signs for loose stones didn’t do it any favours. Of course, it’s effectiveness as a pointer to the God to whom its builders dedicated it, is hard to quantify, but I hope that all those who visit it will be caused to consider God.

We spent the afternoon at Moors Valley Park, with me mostly taking photos of my friends attempting the various contraptions dotted around the park!

The evening was spent at Andy’s in Salisbury eating food, playing games and generally catching up with old friends and making new ones.

On the way home, I even managed to get some photos of Stonehenge by dusk. 🙂

A cool day!