From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Apr 12 2002 - 19:26:40 MDT
Good grief. I found this sermon on line:
===============
From: Rowland Croucher (rcroucher@optushome.com.au)
Subject: Preeminence of Jesus
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian, aus.religion
Date: 2002-02-13 14:20:09 PST
Shalom! Rowland Croucher
http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm
~~~
Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 2-031 (Sermon - Expository)
THE PRE-EMINENCE OF JESUS (Hebrews 1:5-14)
by Rod Benson
Novelist Damien Broderick is credited with coining the term
'virtual reality' in 1975. Writing in the September 1998 issue of
Eureka Street about what he terms our "nanotechnological" future,
Broderick speaks of "the Spike" (something like a J-curve in
economics).
"The accelerating trends in computer science, trends converging
somewhere between 2030 and 2100 to form a barrier of technological
novelties blocking the future from us . . . We can only guess,"
says Broderick, "at what lies ahead of us, up the Spike's slope."
In the final paragraph of his article he reminds us that the future
is a journey we've already long since commenced. "The Spike, you
see, isn't really some incredible Apocalypse hovering dimly in the
remote future," he says. "It is the curving gradient which we
already climb, day after day, into an ever-more exotic future.
Start getting ready for it."
As with all change, we have three options. We may pretend nothing
is happening and live in perpetual denial; we may flee to the hills
and live in secluded bliss; or we may grin and bear it, cushioning
the negative impact of this global social and cultural
transformation, and adapting to the new variables in our world.
People who choose the third option will do so in various ways.
Some will use New Age tools; others will soldier on within a
modernist worldview.
But there are others who will, with spiritual and historic insight,
recognise that their best hope for a smooth ride up the Spike's
slope is to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, and build a
lifestyle based on his teaching and example.
Why? Because Jesus Christ is, as the author of Hebrews points out,
"the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
WHO IS JESUS?
Jesus is the creator, sustainer, redeemer and end of history and
humanity. He is the one reliable constant and indomitable reality
in a galaxy of uncertainty and vulnerability.
If you're looking for meaning in a meaningless world, look no
further than Christ. If you're searching for an effective value
system, look no further than his teachings. If you're seeking help
to live in a changing world, choose Christ.
<snip and not a moment too soon >
--------------------
E071 Copyright (c) 2002 Rod Benson.
You can contact Rev Rod Benson by e-mail at <RodBenson@bigpond.com>
==============================
Or not.
Damien Broderick
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