Show Notes
For argument's sake: where we take a debate, cut out the party politics and try to talk it out
Are family values biblical?
What's more important, our nuclear family or our church family? Do we idolise marriage in the church and in society at the expense of other relationships?
Megan and Michael decode the cosy phrase "family values" and look at what the Bible actually says on the topic.
Mentioned in this segment:
Glossary:
Megan and Michael sometimes like to use big words, so here's a glossary of particularly lofty terms in this segment.
- deleterious: causing harm or damage
- raison d'etre: A French phrase meaning reason for being
- sesquipedalian: used to describe a word that's very long (OK this wasn't really mentioned in the segment but you see why it's applicable)
Be our guest
Dani Treweek and a theology of singleness
Our guest this episode, Dani Treweek, has spent a lot of time thinking about singleness and the church – as a single Christian woman, a minister and in writing her PhD on a theological and pastoral ethic of singleness.
"Part of the problem with singleness is that we see it as a problem because it's not marriage," she explains.
Michael and Megan chat with Dani about the biblical view of singleness and marriage, and how the church can better relate to singles.
Mentioned in this segment:
Further reading/ listening:
Marg and Dave: reviews from two people obsessed by stories, but not always the same ones
ABC TV's Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds
This heartwarming ABC documentary raises a key social issue: our treatment of older people. "This is a bit of a weeping sore for us in the West," says Michael.
Megan points out that it also highlights the social isolation and lack of intergenerational contact in our society – experienced by both young and old.
Cue the church: "one of the only institutions left where we do have people of all ages coming together."
While the final live episode of
Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds recently aired, you can watch all episodes in the series on
ABC iview.
Warning: box of tissues needed. (And stay tuned for Michael's suggested new series:
Old People's Home For Teenagers. ABC, are you reading this?)
Further reading/ viewing:
Fact check:
Michael mentions a few statistics in this segment. Here's the research:
Join in the discussion online
Help internally displaced people in Africa!
Disasters and conflicts have led to a record number of over 75 million internally displaced people, or IDPs, around the world. IDPs are people who have been forced to flee their homes but have not crossed international borders.
Almost half of all IDPs - more than the population of Australia and New Zealand combined - are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Most of the displaced have left everything behind: their homes, belongings, and livelihoods. They urgently need food, shelter, clothing, and trauma counselling. So Anglican Aid has launched a Forced to Flee Emergency Appeal to provide essential aid to IDPs in Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, and beyond. This aid will be distributed by local churches, who are sacrificially providing for the needs of the displaced, and pointing them to the God who is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.