Is the universe a friendly place?

“So, the accuser went out from the presence of the LORD and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:7-10)

Hi Fighter,

We’re beginning a four-week sojourn into the Book of Job. If the Bible as a whole is God’s word to us, Job might be our word to God. Job questions God on our behalf, asking God to explain the great scandal of human life – why good people suffer.

In 1945 Albert Einstein wrote, “I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’” This is really the same question Job was asking 2,500 years earlier. The fact that Einstein had to ask it again, and the fact that we continue to ask this question, suggests that Job wasn’t able to resolve the issue.

I find myself struggling with this question on a daily basis. I was rocked last week by the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. I saw him as a force of moderation, holding back the dogs of war. I fear what will happen now.

I attempted to share my fears through an article that I entitled, “With Nasrallah Gone, the Gloves Will Come Off!” When I shared the article on Facebook, the post was taken down almost immediately. I’d been interpreted as supporting terrorism!

I immediately appealed the decision, saying that I’d been misunderstood. The next day I was informed that the decision was upheld! This increasing suppression of free speech disturbs me deeply, though perhaps I should see it as a good sign. It may be an indication that the dominant narrative is unravelling.

We’ve been told repeatedly that the State of Israel is only defending itself, that all the civilian deaths are unintentional, and that only terrorists oppose the destruction of Gaza and its allies. More and more of us are seeing through these lies. If they can’t fool us, they will try to silence us. When they can no longer silence us, truth wins!

Sorry … back to Job.

Job is a good man, yet all his beloved children are killed, his wealth evaporates, and his body is covered in sores! It doesn’t make any sense, just as so much of what is happening today doesn’t make sense. This is not the way a God-governed universe should work. Good people should be rewarded, and only evil people punished!

The back story to Job (which we get a glimpse of here) has ‘the Satan’ deliberately torturing Job to test the depth of his piety, and he’s doing so with God’s permission! That sort of explanation for human suffering isn’t likely to bring us much comfort.

As the book progresses, Job receives various other explanations for his pain from his friends and, ultimately, from God. Even then though, questions remain. Hence, thousands of years later we are still asking, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ 

Einstein believed that how we answer that question will determine our future:

“For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.”

Einstein’s words seem eerily prophetic. There are powerful people in our world who seem to be steering us into an abyss from which we may never return. These people are indeed driven by a lust for power that is rooted in fear and mistrust of the created order. Our lack of faith is threatening to destroy us!

“Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil?” (Job 2:9)

It is hard to make sense of it all, but Job is our example. Job struggles, gets angry, and questions God. At the same time, Job never lets go of his conviction that God is ultimately just and is ultimately in control. God grant us the faith and integrity of Job.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Eucharist last Sunday. A big thank you to my fellow panelists – Rev. John Jegasothy and Craig ‘Shorty’ Sutton. Thank you too to Tiny, Shorty’s faithful hound, who spent much of the broadcast on his lap, and to Mystery, Shorty’s Red-Whiskered Bul Bul (pet bird), who wasn’t seen but was certainly heard.

As per usual, I’ve pasted a couple of highlights below. To see more of these one-minute video snippets, head over to our Sunday Eucharist Instagram page.

This coming Sunday, being the first Sunday of the month, I’m looking forward to having David Baldwin and Tom Toby with me on the panel. Unfortunately, Dr Stephen Sizer is travelling, and won’t be able to contribute a pre-recorded reflection for us. Stephen will be back with us for the November 3 broadcast.

Please join us when we go live this Sunday from noon at TheSundayEucharist.com and on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard. Please join us.

Let me work your corner

If you’d like to see my work continue, please click here to make a one-off donation, If you can afford a monthly contribution, sign up at Patreon.comand choose either:

Middleweight – $10/month (community mentoring)

• Enrol in the Fighting Fit training program
• Access member-only training videos
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• Get free access to silver level membership at SurefireWealth.com

Super-Middleweight $50/month (remote mentoring)

• All of the above +
• One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype

Heavyweight – $100/month (in-person mentoring)

• All of the above +
• Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy

Superheavyweight – $200/month (intensive in-person mentoring)

• All of the above +
• One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.

Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning – the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club and the bush camp. Even so, it’s not a one-way process. I want to support you in return, so please fill out the Physical and Spiritual Fitness Assessment form and get it back to me, and then sign up at Patreon.com.

What’s On?

• Friday to Monday, October 4^th to 7^th – @Binacrombi. Please join me
• Sunday, October 6^th – Our Eucharist from midday via thesundayeucharist.com (or through Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn or Streamyard).
• Tuesday, October 8^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Thursday, October 10^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Saturday, October 12^th – Boxing at Fadi’s Gym in Fivedock from 8.30 am
• Saturday, November 9^th–Father Dave vs. Tony Brazier. NSW Professional Master Title (6 rounds) @Cowra Showground

Some of you may remember my ‘How to Change the World’ course that I published ten years ago. I suggested then that if we’re passionate about changing the world, we needed to avoid investing in social media platforms that we can’t control. As these organisations grow more powerful, their interests will likely conflict with our values, meaning that we will almost inevitably end up being deplatformed.

The solution, I suggested then (and still suggest), is to set up your own independent blog, hosted on your own dedicated server. I’m very glad I took my own advice back then as it means nobody today can easily shut down israelandpalestine.org nor any of my more controversial sites.  These sites get hacked all the time, and as mentioned above, when I do a Facebook post linking to an article on one of these sites, that Facebook post may get taken down. Even so, the article remains!

I appreciate that most people wouldn’t know where to begin with setting up their own server, but I still have quite a bit of space left on mine that I am happy to share with the right people (especially if you’re willing to contribute to the monthly server fees).

Another way forward is to work with alternative social media platforms that are independent of the major corporations and, ideally, have a commitment to free speech, such as Telegram and Rumble. I’ve been dialoguing with representatives of another such independent social-media platform this week – namely, InFaith.

InFaith initiated contact with me after seeing our broadcasts on Facebook. I ended up chatting with a member of the InFaith team on a video call for more than an hour! InFaith was started by a Christian woman who came to America from China and wanted to build an online environment where spiritual truth could be freely shared. I’m keen to work with these people and hope to soon be adding InFaith to the channels through which we broadcast our weekly Eucharist.

You’ll see an image of a barcode. Scan it with your phone to download the InFaith app. InFaith is all app-based at the moment, though they’re working on an integrated web-portal. As it is, the phone app is pretty impressive and allows us to set up our own community space where we can message each other and share events. In truth, I’m not sure exactly how well it will serve us, but it is a work in progress and I’m keen to get on board and help build it. So …, please scan the QR code and download the InFaith app. Then message me through it.