What would George do? (Part 2)

G. H. Morling on the causes of suffering One unforeseen development in the present pandemic is the rise of the coronavirus meme, from the hilarious to the deplorable, shared like viruses on social media. Laughter is an important and effective stress reliever in these times, and many of these memes are extraordinarily good at lightening …

The fountain of private prosperity

Open a Bible near the centre, and you will find the Book of Psalms. In many ancient manuscripts, the first psalm in the collection was apparently unnumbered, untitled, and printed in red ink to indicate that it frames and prefaces the whole Psalter, Israel's primary songbook. Psalm 1 is both a wisdom psalm, showing us …

Should Christians support the death penalty?

As I write, Australian citizens Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two of the infamous “Bali Nine,” face imminent execution by firing squad in Indonesia on drug trafficking convictions. Other Australians have faced similar fates, including Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, executed in Malaysia in 1986 for drug trafficking; Nguyen Tuong Van, hanged in 2005 for …