GeckoFocus: Shakeup

By Nicholas Jones

This is a collection of 12 articles which in hindsight have a common theme of causing us to question our own personal philosophy and to challenge understandings that the Church has evolved. Why should you take on this challenge? Well, perhaps you will end up finding Trust more beautiful than Understanding and Hearing better than Knowing. I also believe a shakeup is on the Lord’s agenda for these times, (Hebrews 12:26). Well, here they come, I hope you are ready.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicholas Jones
• Release date: Apr 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463616154

Nicholas Jones

The author has Bachelor degrees with distinctions in Physics and Electrical and Electronic Engineering; a Master’s degree in Communication Systems. He has worked at Adelaide University as a Research Officer and as a Limited Term Lecturer in Engineering. However, the majority of his professional life has been in software engineering of radar and communication systems. He is currently retired.

Book preview

GeckoFocus: Shakeup

By Nicholas Jones

Version: 1.01

ISBN: 9780463616154

Copyright 2018 Nicholas Jones.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This author allows excerpts of up to 10 pages to be printed for personal use or in discussion groups and teaching classes, as long as it is provided without cost. Quotes may be reprinted for purposes of review and critique.

Previews of this eBook can be found at the author’s website GeckoFocus.com, along with copyright conditions and supplements.

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Scripture quotations not otherwise specified have been taken from:

The New American Standard Bible®,

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

I wish to express my appreciation for making this translation available.

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Cover photo taken at Cockatoo Downs Farm-stay by Alison Winter.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Living in a vacuum:

We all have a personal philosophy.

2. Kill Eat:

Peter’s shakeup. This is later expanded in What went wrong in Acts

3. What went wrong in Acts:

Where the Church in Jerusalem lost the plot.

4. Imminence:

The early Church was empowered by an imminent expectation of Jesus return.

5. Innocence:

The early Gentile Churches possessed an innocence before God.

6. Remember me:

Everyone’s shakeup.

7. Do you love me?:

Peter misses the point again.

8. Love misunderstood:

Lots of good stuff but don’t go here without the Holy Spirit.

9. Power misunderstood:

Plain talk from Jesus, but we miss it.

10. Conception is not Life:

When does God say life starts?

11. God’s Anatomy:

God reflected in our Anatomy.

12. God above the Bible:

A preachment and warning.

Follow-up:

Version history

Preface

The From me to you series of books are a compilation of articles that I initially published on my personal website, GeckoFocus.com. All the articles in this book, Shakeup can be found on the site in the section titled: A little shakeup. The other books in this series are:

• GeckoFocus: Images from Genesis; and

• GeckoFocus: The Way Back.

In hindsight it seemed to me that these Shakeup articles have a common theme of causing us to question our own personal philosophy and to challenge understandings that the Church has evolved. Why should you take on this challenge? Well, perhaps you will end up finding Trust more beautiful than Understanding and Hearing better than Knowing. I also believe a shakeup is on the Lord’s agenda for these times, (Hebrews 12:26). Well, here they come, I hope you are ready.

I don’t know how long I will be able to maintain the GeckoFocus website, so I wanted to preserve these articles here. Please feel free to read them at no cost at GeckoFocus.com. However, it is often nicer to read in an eBook format.

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1. Living in a vacuum

This article is a logical start point for the Shakeup articles. It talks about how we all get it wrong. It contains an interesting warning about copying rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. But I don’t know how long I will have your attention, so I would prefer you to read the other more radical articles first.

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We all need a personal philosophy (PP) but we live in a world that demands definitive answers. It seems that when we see something we don’t understand, we should be able to say just that. But the absence of an explanation is a bit like a vacuum, which sucks in all sorts of rubbish to fill it.

Science is surprisingly similar. Many scientific theories are just approximations or models. The same could be said twice over for Engineering. They work in part so scientists and engineers continue to use them even though there are situations where they are known not to apply. Sorry if I don’t elucidate examples here, but I’ve done a Science degree and an Engineering degree and just trust me, there are a lot of approximations and fudge-factors under the hi-tech facade. But it works in part and lacking anything better, scientists and engineers persist with them.

The moment we start hearing a preacher or reading the Bible, we start building our personal philosophy. Then we pray for healing (or should we have commanded healing?) for someone dear to us and they don’t get healed and so we adjust our personal philosophy about healing. One day I shared a testimony about being healed and an elder of the church effectively told me I couldn’t have been healed. Her husband had died painfully of cancer and if God was in the business of healing today then he would certainly have healed her husband. You can see how her personal philosophy reconciled the problem.

Some people would refer to such thinking as a strong hold which has to be pulled down. I agree with this in many instances but pulling down is just part of the problem. We have to put something back. Jesus said that we could ask anything and He would do it. How many things have you asked and not seen answered? So we all develop some personal philosophy to explain that one away. The church has been doing this for centuries. Huge bodies of understanding has been built up which, in places, is sadly like the traditions of the elders. So the Holy Spirit keeps bringing us back to the word of God. Then God chooses to be sovereign and do something we don’t understand, expect or like, and personal philosophy cuts in.

How often do you hear a preacher with some exciting testimony. He was doing such and such and the Holy Spirit spoke to him and in response some really cool thing happened. And there is always a Scripture to go with it to give precedence. Now this is an encouragement to the body of Christ and