Have Your Say
Nightingale and M.L.King Jnr join the movement for a new faith.
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Donald of Killin
23rd February, 2010
9:34pmHolytoledo, your deprecating reference to me as a "self-appointed carrier of the sword of truth" both demeans yourself and rather indicates that you need to resort to ad hominem hyperbole to make a childish and dishonest point.
I suspect you full well know what real faith refers to - in this case, an absence of heresy.
Perhaps you should think of exchanging your sword of truth for the Bible - yet I wonder still if you would then mock anyone who carried it? I would not be surprised.
I have no idea if you can receive a flash of words from a billboard - I hope you don't, but it may be more informative to note the absence of words of faith from your dear leader's doctrine.
It might be my Church of Scotland heritage which instructs me to put little faith in Popes, Prelates, or revisionist Macnabs, and rather more in an educated understanding of the faith outlined in the Testaments.
There seem to be two flocks of sheep here, Holytoledo, Macnab's, with wool growing dangerously close to their eyes, and the flock of followers of Christ. I'll try to keep up with the latter, very poor specimen though I am.
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John Abbate
23rd February, 2010
6:40pmIt is not everyday that a billboard that occupies one of the hallowed advertising spaces above our freeways provokes us so cryptically, and with what appears to be something of a "high concept" message. Clearly, the message is not particularly well-honed, as it is obvious to anyone who has heard Macnab on a Sunday that self-aggrandisement is not one of his particular goals; it in fact conflicts directly with his oft-repeated sentiment that too much is made of Jesus the person, and not enough of "what he was pointing to."
Setting aside this interpretation then, what message are we left with? Paul Fowler is right: it is "certainly open to interpretation." The meaning is not instant, whole or easily digestible, but the invitation is there to dig deeper to find the missing information. The sign presents one clue to solving the riddle: "Sunday at St Michael's". -
Holytoledo
23rd February, 2010
10:38amDonald of Killin - as the self appointed carrier of the sword of truth, you appear to say that the wrong doing here is that there is no \"real faith\". I wonder how you came to this conclusion.... Is it the flash of words, or lack of, on the billboard that gave you this message, or have you actually heard the messages of Dr Macnab and found him wanting? -
Donald of Killin
23rd February, 2010
10:23amHolytoledo, you appear to have misinterpreted my meaning.
Generosity and openmindedness are shared by people of a number of faiths, and by some without much faith.
That is not some guilt to "admit ", but rather something be pleased about, and most certainly those traits do not blight the world !
It is when a moral vanity of generosity and openmindedness becomes blind to wrong-doing, and refuses to question that wrong-doing, that trouble flourishes.
Some may characterise it as the "live and let live" chestnut, but many good people have woken up to find themselves the spear carriers of the less scrupulous. One needs only to think back to 1933.
I would question the heresy of the so-called "new faith" most vigorously. There appears little but shallow vanity in it. And no real faith. -
Holytoledo
22nd February, 2010
5:50pmTo Donald of Killin
The ...'spirit of generosity and open-mindedness" is not something particularly allied to Christianity' - its good to hear you admit to this though a pity to have to let the world live this way.
I think it is time to change this awful state where religion is so unkind and unrelated to compassion. Dr Macnab might not have this 'promotion gig' working in his favour at the moment but I do heartily agree with the sentiments and sense he puts forward each week. -
Donald of Killin
22nd February, 2010
4:32pmFelicity Harkness seems easily satisfied by a shallow new ' faith ' which strays deep into heresy. I hope she recovers her wit very soon.
One suspects a dose of Liberation Theology and some of Alf Dickie's (or more likely, his wife's) old ratbaggery would top up the bill nicely !
How long before these non-Christians are meeting in a tin shed to worship their founder, and are being told they are suffering the tribulations of the righteous?
Of course, the new faith does have an advantage - it can mutate overnight to fit the next fashion. And fashion it certainly is, as the blog moderator describes, it is self-focused and all about 'me', in much the same way as a hundred West Coast sects have proclaimed before.
In fact, the last paragraph of the moderator's summary of Macnab's philosophy looks like it was lifted from some remaindered self-improvement book - what a trite and secular little piece of drivel.
To "accept others in a spirit of generosity and open-mindedness" is not something particularly allied to Christianity, but here reeks of an unhealthy lack of discrimination, lazy acceptance, and perhaps a hope that Macnab's heresy should be unquestioned.
I'm not sure that Communion is part of this new religion, but if so, I would be checking the cups very carefully, Felicity.
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Felicity Harkness
21st February, 2010
11:12pmI haven't seen the actual billboard, but read about it in Saturday's Age newspaper(20/2/10). After reading that, I felt a tad embarassed. I was concerned that St. Michaels, and Dr Macnab had gone a bit too far in self promotion. However, having now read what is written by St Michaels on this website, I understand the context better.
Nevertheless, I am concerned that people who don't attend St. Michaels church, and who aren't aware of this web site, may be offended by Dr Macnab's seeming self promotion.
I personally admire, value and appreciate
enormously what he has to say.
He absolutely feeds my hunger for a greater understanding of my spiritual life, my sense of faith in the broadest sense.
I feel privileged to be able to attend St Michaels regularly. I have never felt so fulfilled in my life before.
I know he is not about self promotion, but I think he is passionate about trying to engage as many people as he can, to live a happier, more peaceful, fuller, compassionate life. -
Jillian
21st February, 2010
1:47pmMacnab is a 'HERETIC'. -
Donald of Killin
21st February, 2010
12:58pmI'm not sure if Dr Macnab is a McNab of Killin, but I'm sure there would be considerable unease in the old burial ground over this self-aggrandisement, and his heretical stance.
A "new faith" is not some renewal of faith but a different faith. Dr Macnab may see himself in the same mould as the two people he chooses to be billboarded, but what a pity those two did not have the chance to decide whether they wished to be corralled with him.
There seems little doubt about whom we should now regard as the most important in this trio. The "new faith" man takes enough from the old faith to fool the more vapid in a congregation. Perhaps they should go across the road and help strengthen an old faith, rather than serve this Macnab fellow.
Delusions.. -
James Riley
21st February, 2010
11:40amThe billboard is a disgrace. It is a self-serving waste of money that could have been put to far better use, i.e. aiding the needy. We do not need radical new-age beliefs; we need more of the old ones. - Showing comments 11-20 of 22
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