If Underbelly is capable of breaking free from the legal quagmire that continues to dog its production, then it promises to be one of the most significant home-grown television releases of the year. The subject matter alone is compelling: the dramatisation of a real-life Melbourne gang-war that resulted in 33 deaths from 1995 to 2004. This tell-all tale will probably engross Australian audiences for months, but the real reasons for this fascination are likely to surprise...

What is unlikely to impress is the series’ delivery. Underbelly, based on the superbly researched book ‘Leadbelly’ by John Silvester and Andrew Rule, has made a perplexing transition to the small screen. A confusing pastiche of melodrama and documentary is unlikely to win it many fans. The Baz Luhrman inspired opening scenes (think Romeo + Juliet) clash strangely with the Caroline Craig narration that reminds me eerily of Lisa McCune’s work for the investigative crime series Forensic Investigators. The result is a less than successful melding of kitsch melodrama and serious documentary.

It’s the subject matter, though, that is likely to overcome the series’ production draw-backs. Evil is interesting. Watching the debauched and murderous activities of the ‘Carlton Crew’ and Carl William’s gang, we can’t help but wonder what brings a person to perpetrate these outrages? How, for example, can a character like Jason Moran callously beat a woman with a pool cue and not dissolve into a pool of self-loathing?

Underbelly offers few answers unless it is to imply that there is a special breed of human being who differs from the rest of us in their capacity for evil, and so needs to be dealt with in a way that ensures their control, if not their removal. Production company Screentime’s executive director, Des Monaghan emphasises this ‘them and us’ division as he reflects on the villains of this 13-part series. “It must be extraordinarily liberating to have no regard or concern for consequences but most of us, thank God, pause and think before we act.” Do we?

Alphonse Gangitano, the slick stand-over merchant who met his demise on the opening night does seem to show some form of remorse, leading to a visit to his local priest and a seemingly penitent conversation with his mistress. “You believe in redemption don't you?” she asks. “I keep wondering whether it’s possible to change myself, my life. How does it work?” “What? Redemption?” Alphonse responds. “Confess your sins. You ask for forgiveness and you clean the slate - that's it … provided you repent – that’s the catch.” “Sounds too good to be true,” she replies. “I hope not,” he says in an undertone.

The conversation indicates a good idea of the mechanism for entering the new life. But this is one leopard that can’t change his loafers, regardless of his promises. Moments before he is gunned down he is planning his next robbery. For the writers evil is clearly a something of a genetic disposition that needs to be selectively edited from the human genome. Certainly there are no real tears at the gang funeral that follows.

But Underbelly viewers aren’t required to understand the source of evil in order to accept that it has its consequences. Alphonse’s seeming change of heart is greeted by his fellow gang-members as still more evidence of a character out of control, and indeed the feel as an audience member is that he fails to understand that there will be an accounting for his actions. In fact, both in the drama and in real life we expect it. This desire is yet another key to the likely success of Underbelly. As human beings we require a level of justice that is often not achieved in the real world. So, as in the case of a drama like this one, we not only want to understand the motivations for evil, we want to see it soundly and comprehensively punished. Bad guys are not allowed to walk away at the end, nor will they in Underbelly.

Viewers will follow Underbelly from week to week because dramas like these help us to some degree to process the problem of evil. It may not provide the historical accuracy we might hope for, but Underbelly will deliver the resolution we crave. However its unnatural division of the world into ‘bad guys’ (the gangsters), ‘good guys’ (the cops), and victims or ‘normal people’ (the rest of us) is ultimately unhelpful. It leaves us witnessing and condemning evil without actually taking any responsibility for it – something the ultimate judge is unlikely to let slide.

Mark Hadley is the Culture editor at Your.sydneyanglicans.net and Christianity.net.au.

Our dilemma this week is in response to a topic we explored last week on the Sabbath, or taking a break from work every seven days.

Heidi called us and said she has two young children, one of whom is autistic.

She works around the clock between Monday and Friday to care for her children.

They’ll often go to bed at 9pm, leaving her with a one hour gap to catch up with her husband and do admin tasks associated with her son’s life, before going to bed herself.

During the week she takes her son Liam to therapy, liaises with teachers and organises her son’s every movement.

When she does have time off on a Wednesday she does the shopping and cleaning and goes to the gym. She says she could give this up, but she doesn’t want to live in squalor.

On the weekend her husband cares for the two children, while she goes out to work - to help pay for the $25,000 that’s needed for her son’s therapy treatment.

Heidi wants to know how keeping the sabbath could ever be possible with the demands of her week.

She says she knows God doesn’t give you things in life that you can’t deal with – but she would like her prayer life to more than cries of help.

How do you fit everything in, when there’s only 24 hours in a day?

The New South Wales Premier is implementing a number of changes to tighten the regulation of political donations, in light of the Wollongong sex for development scandal.

That includes forcing developers to declare how much they donate when they lodge a development application – and MPs who receive the funds declaring the amounts they receive (over $1500) twice a year, instead of once every four years under the old system.

But the state’s premier has ruled out banning donations from property developers altogether.

What do you think? Should donations from developers be banned altogether?

Some believe donations to political parties should be made by individuals only. Do you agree?

Or do you think individuals as well as companies should have the opportunity to contribute to political parties if they so choose?

Lyn Lusi says the hospital she built in the Congo with her husband was completely destroyed by a nearby volcano in the town of Goma.

But wasn’t it interesting that she said when they rebuilt the hospital, it was so much better than what they had originally started with?

It was Spike Lee who once said, "Critics like to build you up, tear you down, and then, if you're lucky, build you up again.”

Has there been a time when something in your life has had to be completely destroyed, in order for it to be built up again?

Maybe it was something tangible like a house that you lost in a bushfire, or a flood, and it gave you the opportunity to start from scratch and build something you’d always wanted.

Or maybe it was something in your life - an addiction for example - that took you to absolute rock bottom - before you could start the process of rebuilding your life.

What’s been destroyed in your life…and replaced by something stronger?

How do you know if you’ve truly forgiven someone? Is forgiveness even that important? Join me this week as author RT Kendall walks us through what he calls Total Forgiveness. When everything in you wants to hold a grudge and point a finger, you may just find that radical forgiveness is the difficult but liberating option.

Plus, the Aussie who moved his family to a Bangkok slum and found life, and the economist whose cost-benefit analysis of speed dating, drug taking and the corporate pay-packets shows the logic behind often illogical choices. 

The government has real concerns about inflation…if you’ve got a mortgage you’d be painfully aware that it does need to be brought under control...with interest rates being raised to 7.25 per cent.

It’s not the only area the government is planning to cut – with the gold travel pass for ex MPs also under threat.

But do you think cutting the bonus payment to people who care for the sick and disabled is a harsh - or a necessary measure?

Maybe you’re a carer yourself…how will losing this bonus payment will affect you from day to day?

Maybe you’re paying extra on a home loan and you can appreciate the government doing all it can to bring down inflation. What do you think?

I’ve just had the most wonderful week in the Philippines. Compassion took me there to record material with our Compassion Day host Vaniza Apostol—you might remember that beautiful voice that captivated us last year. I’m looking forward to an amazing Compassion Day this year, on May 15. We’re aiming to release 1500 Haitian children from poverty and with Vaniza as host, and hopefully your involvement, we will do just that.

I must admit to having mixed motives about this week’s trip, because while I was in the Philippines for work purposes, I also got to meet three of my own sponsor children: Norman, who is 10, very shy, but who insisted on wearing the red shirt we gave him to our meeting; Feliza, who is 13, and who looked just beautiful in her red dress and big bright smile; and Riza—the 16 year old who has forever stolen my heart.

We’ve sponsored Riza for over nine years now, through an organisation called Share An Opportunity, or SAO for short. Over the years our letters to each other have gotten more and more personal and we’ve developed a very special bond. When Merryn and I met Riza for the first time last year I felt like I’d discovered a daughter. There were many, many tears when we said goodbye.

On Thursday I met Riza and her SAO workers at a little restaurant in Bacolod City on Negros Island. We got to talk, laugh, eat and hug. Again there were tears as we said goodbye, but I know we’ll see Riza again. She’s already asking God for that to happen.

Every October Bacolod City holds its famous MassKara Festival. Thousands of Bacolenos (as they’re called) hit the town square wearing brightly coloured smiling masks. The festival symbolises a time when Bacolod City experienced financial depression after a downturn is its main industry—sugar. Back then, locals tell me, the masks were used to cover the sadness on the Bacolenos’ faces. Today the meaning has changed. Bacolod is nick-named the 'City of Smiles', and the MassKara festival is an icon of gratefulness for God’s provision. The tears have turned to smiles.

The Island of Negros still has many trials, and the Philippines still has much sadness. The poverty is acute. But flying back from this wonderful country, my heart overwhelmed at having seen Riza again, I couldn’t help but pull out my journal again and write my thanks to God. What a privilege it is to share your life with a child in a country not your own, and help tears turn to smiles.

www.compassion.com.au
www.shareanopportunity.org

© 2008 Sheridan Voysey is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and author of Unseen Footprints: Encountering the divine along the journey of life (Scripture Union, 2005). Compassion Day takes place on Thursday May 15. www.thethoughtfactory.net

Our dilemma is from Jo - who's getting married and wants to know whether or not to change her name.

She wants to be the one unit with her husband, but at the same time she’s built a career in the legal profession based on her current surname.

She doesn’t want the hassle of having one name for work and another name for everything else - it’s got to be all or nothing. She just doesn’t know which way to go.

Have you ever been through this yourself? What did you decide to do?

Have you been in a position where your existing last name was important to you in your field of work, but at the same time you wanted to take on your husband’s last name?

What did you decide to do and why?

What difference has forgiveness made in your life?

Did you feel a sense of relief? Was a burden lifted from your shoulders? Was a relationship restored?

“Love is Stronger than Death”
Review of The Submerged Cathedral, Charlotte Wood, by Kara Martin

Australian author Charlotte Wood has written just three novels in ten years, following a career as a journalist. Her books tend to have strong biographical elements, and The Submerged Cathedral is based on the love story of her parents, who met on a boat sailing from England: her Mum was a florist starting a new life in Australia, and her Dad was coming out to join a Cistercian Monastery. They fell in love, but John Wood decided to continue with his vocation, at least for a year. Charlotte’s Mother was dissatisfied with the plain letters she received, and travelled across Australia to visit him. The next day he asked her to marry him and left the Order!

There are elements of her parents’ story in this novel but almost in reverse. Jocelyn and Martin meet and fall in love, and are living together when Jocelyn’s elder sister unexpectedly turns up having left her husband in England. Ellen has a young daughter and is pregnant. Jocelyn agrees to Ellen’s demands to be cared for, and is forced increasingly further apart from Martin. Eventually he leaves in grief and joins a monastery.

The theme of the book is from Song of Songs: “See me as a seal on your heart, for love is stronger than death.” In fact Jocelyn has competing loves: for Martin, for Ellen her sister, for Ellen’s troubled daughter Cassandra. Martin looks for the love of God after having his heart broken for Jocelyn. Ultimately they are looking for something that is passionate and fulfilling. The resolution of the story is an affirmation of romantic love.

Charlotte’s writing mentor described the book as paradise and exile with Ellen as the snake! Creation is a really significant motif in the book. As is nature, with the bush used as a metaphor for the wild and passionate love that Jocelyn and Martin initially enjoy. When they are separated Jocelyn becomes a landscape architect, taming nature and designing beautiful gardens. In a way this is a metaphor for the need to harness the energy of love. Ultimately love is only seen as useful when it is fruitful. So, Ellen is demanding and manipulating and destroys those around her; whereas Martin and Jocelyn’s love is creative and freeing.

The Submerged Cathedral is rich in symbolism. Alongside the Creation narrative, and nature, there is the image of a lost child that comes from a newspaper story and is weaved in and out of the story. Another potent symbol is water as baptismal and healing. Martin’s prayers are described as “like swimming in green water”. There are also strong elements of sacrifice and rebirth, and spiritual calling.

There is much to love about this book: the richness of the imagery, the honest exploration of human relationships... There are some frustrations as well. Marriage is portrayed very negatively in the book; and the sense of spiritual calling that Martin has is never fully examined. For him it is a running away from rather than a running to. However the strength of the book is that it raises such a variety of significant questions. I strongly recommend it.

Open House fiction reviewer KARA MARTIN is a lecturer with Macquarie Christian Studies Institute (www.mcsi.edu.au), and is an avid reader and book group attendee.

What can we know for certain about the life of Christ? Has legend and tradition buried the real Jesus, as the critics claim? This week historian Dr John Dickson explores the facts and fables surrounding the most influential figure in history.

Plus, Eduardo Verástegui, the man behind the beautiful movie Bella, and we'll review the gains and losses of the Iraq war five years on.

I began this week with a conversation with Michael, a solid Christian tradesman and family man, who was concerned about how the media shaped the way we saw ourselves and each other by the way it portrayed sex on television. He was particularly concerned about the Nine Network’s Underbelly, a series that is rapidly earning itself a reputation for graphic sex scenes. “Men need to be warned about the effect watching those images is going to have,” he told me. No argument there!

But as always scratching the surface reveals a somewhat larger, subtler problem beneath. It’s not just the portrayal of sex that has the power to reshape our self-image. Fantasy story-lines centering on power and money are just as likely to undermine our characters as alluring images erode the surface.

Take the two new American releases Dirty Sexy Money and Cashmere Mafia for example.  In the first we’re introduced to the members of an obscenely rich New York family with little or no sense of social responsibility. Tripp Darling, the family patriarch (played by Donald Sutherland) manipulates the world from a leather armchair in penthouse or private jet; the Rev Brian Darling rages over the arrival of his love-child on his doorstep; and Patrick Darling, the senator-in-waiting wonders why people won’t let him and his cross-dressing boyfriend be. Cashmere Mafia is only slightly less incredible. Four highly successful women, friends from business school, beguile the opposition as they pursue their lucrative careers. Juliet Draper, the chief operating officer of a successful hotel chain (played by Australia’s Miranda Otto) places her wealthy husband on notice that if he doesn’t reform his philandering ways, she will shame him by selecting a lover from their high society clique. Now she struggles to choose between two equally rich and attractive men.

In both series the characters’ clothes, personalities and hair-styles are ridiculously larger than life. No-one would seriously claim to model their life off them. But they might be the people we would day-dream about being if we had no restraints, much like men who still fantasize about being the cool and conscienceless James Bond. Power stories are just as seductive and destructive as sexual voyeurism.

Like Bond, what makes the cast of Cashmere Mafia and Dirty Sexy Money’s are their unlimited resources. In short, their money. Think about it: what woman who has been married for 20 years could seriously consider trading in their husband for their lover without fear of loss? But Juliet Draper can because she is a woman of independent means. Money is her freedom.

If I were Screwtape, C.S. Lewis’ famous senior devil, I would advise my junior tempters that this was the real goal of this television genre. Programs like Cashmere Mafia and Dirty Sexy Money don’t exist to create role models for the petty humans. They’re too bold, too ridiculous and so too easy to mock. Anyone can see their characters wouldn’t stand up to the wear and tear of everyday life. No, the real goal is to make the assertion that ‘money = freedom’ seem credible – at any level. Plant the thoughts, “If I only had more money then I could finally do that,’ or “I wouldn't have to put up with him - I would have options.” Get them to bend their minds towards this false god and the damage is done. The scale of their acceptance, whether it be in the millions or the few thousand more a year, is immaterial. The sin itself is all that really matters.

Under the influence of the ‘money = freedom’ delusion people can be coaxed into giving up fulfilling jobs for worse ones with bigger pay packets. Alternatively they can be encouraged to add that extra part-time job with its deceptively small time commitment. The goal in either case is to earn just that bit more to afford the trip or the family essential that will broaden everyone’s horizons. In fact the result is the worker has even less time to enjoy whomever it was they are supposedly slaving for. We tend to smile on such behaviour because it can be described in terms like ‘responsible’ and ‘hard working’. But the sin is no different than if they were to go out and apply for multiple credit cards to feed their perceived needs. Avarice has found a place in their souls, it just entered by a different door.

What really sets ones like Screwtape laughing is that the assertion ‘money = freedom’ is so obviously false, so easy to disprove, that it won’t stand up under even the most cursory examination, let alone the thorough going over a book like Ecclesiastes gives it. Real life, dispassionately observed, provides enough evidence. Consider how chained to their empires the Murdochs and the Packers are. Or on a more personal scale, observe how big the insurance bills become the more we step up our incomes. Money = less freedom, less security in the end. The worship of wealth only knits a person closer to the world. It is in fact the chief weed that threatens to choke the growth of the Gospel in our lives. That is why these philosophies are buried in light entertainment rather than declared in documentaries. One real market crash would reveal the reality of the situation. But the idea is to fuddle the audience, not cause them to think. Get into their day-dreams and slowly establish ‘money = freedom’ as the unquestioned basis for their daily decisions, and their daily betrayals.

Open House TV reviewer Mark Hadley is the Culture editor at Your.sydneyanglicans.net and Christianity.net.au.

This week’s dilemma is from Anne, who saysshe doesn’t know how to forgive herself.

Before she became a Christian, she had four abortions.

She says she knows in her head that she’s forgiven, but she can’t allow herself to move on and forgive herself.

She now has one child, and says she feels guilty every time she sees babies or young children.

She doesn’t feel she’s in a position where she can move on.

Is it possible to undo the impact of something you regret doing?

How is it possible for Anne not to feel guilty when she sees babies and young children?

What do you think of the government’s attempts to tackle binge drinking?

Do you think positive sporting role models and scary ads will make a difference to tackling the problem?

The government says it wants to create ‘in your face’ ads that warn of the damaging effects of drinking…
 
Do you think advertising even influences a person’s decision to drink?

Or are there stronger pressures to drink coming from a culture of drinking embedded in perhaps a sporting club, workplace or friendship group?

How do you think Australia’s culture of binge drinking could be turned around?

On this week's show we heard from Eduardo Verastegui, the lead actor and producer behind the touching film Bella. He mentioned how, as a rediscovery of his faith, he refuses to act in films that offend “his faith, his family or his Latino culture.” That decision meant he went without acting work for four years. But now Bella has been born.

What are the non negotiables that you’ve decided on? What 'lines in the sand' have you drawn in your own life? Like Eduardo, have you ever put a stop to something that was going on in your life, out of principle?

• Maybe like Eduardo it’s to do with refusing certain roles in the entertainment industry
• Maybe it’s to do with maintaining relationships – turning your back on a busy lifestyle and taking one full day off each week to spend with family or friends
• Maybe, like Eric Liddell, you’ve drawn a line in the sand about working on Sundays
• Maybe you refuse to conduct business in a certain way, selling a product etc
• Maybe it’s to do with sexual boundaries.

When have you taken a stand about something…and how did it work out for you?

On another angle - when have you regretted not drawing a line in the sand?

On our Easter edition of Open House, we’ll talk to a man who knows what it means to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Actor Bruce Marchiano lived and breathed the words and deeds of Christ while shooting the popular video film The Gospel According to Matthew. He’ll tell us how living Jesus’ life changed his own.

We’ll also examine the counter-cultural Jesus Movement, continue our series on Spirituality for Busy People, and singer-songwriter Nathan Lee Jones will sing live in the studio.

The issue of an Olympic boycott has been raised by some, to send China a message that the world is not happy with its violent crackdown on Tibetan dissenters.

Another issue is China’s support of Sudan, in light of the violence going on in the country’s Darfur province, some international groups are calling this year’s Games “The Genocide Games.”

Last week, the Foreign Minister of France - Bernard Kouchner caused a stir when he said the European Union should consider boycotting not the entire games,  but the opening ceremony of the Games.

However our PM Kevin Rudd, the U.S President George Bush and other European leaders say the Games shouldn’t be boycotted. They are urging the Chinese government to show restraint, and calling on all sides to exercise caution.

But does this send a strong enough message? Do you believe western leaders should be taking a stronger stand against China, because of its actions in Tibet?

This week’s dilemma is from Erin

She isn’t quite sure what to do about a noisy new dog that’s new to her neighbourhood

It’s keeping her awake until 1am in the morning, and the lack of sleep is starting to affect her well-being.

She’s moved rooms in the house to see if that makes a difference, she’s installed sound limiting blinds on her windows and she’s tried ear plugs - none of which make a difference.

Erin is a dog person – she loves dogs and wouldn’t want to ask the neighbours to silence it.

But at the same time, the noise is affecting her ability to get a good night’s rest and function properly at work.

She owns her home so and so do her neighbours - so it’s not a question of packing up and living somewhere else either…

What can you do when you’re in this situation?

Should she continue to try out different measures to ease the noise from her own end, using ear plugs, sound reducing blinds etc

Should she confront the neighbours? What should she ask them to do? Is it unreasonable to ask them to keep their dog inside?

• Are there other ways to sleep through noise?

‘Who do people say I am?’ It’s the famous question asked by Jesus of his disciples. Back then the popular answers were that he was John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the ancient prophets returned from the dead. ‘What about you,’ Jesus then says to his followers. ‘Who do you say I am?’

It’s an ancient question with contemporary relevance. Everyone has a view of Jesus! Scholars, historians, mothers, businessmen. The great religious traditions all have a view about Jesus. So I thought tonight would be as good a time as any to Open Up discussion on your view of Jesus.

What are the popular answers today?

• Some see Jesus as a Jewish mystic, proclaiming a message of universal love and peace.
• Some see him as a political revolutionary, who was killed for challenging the system.
• Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, later superseded by Mohammed.
• Buddhism sees him as a wise man, an enlightened being.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses see him as the archangel Michael in bodily form.
• Some see Jesus as the Son of God, God-in-the-flesh, who came to die for our sins.

So, who do you say Jesus is? Put it into your own words and tell me. 

If you’ve been with us for a while you’ll know that Open House explores life, faith and culture from a Christian perspective. If you’ve been with us for a while I hope you’ll also have recognised that we talk to anyone irrespective of beliefs. I’d also be interested to know if your view has changed over time too.

Who is Jesus to you?

Professor Graeme Clark is responsible for one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in history—the bionic ear. Today over 100,000 people have regained their hearing thanks to his work. This week hear Graeme recount the trials and joys of creative triumphs and how his Christian faith kept him searching for answers.

We’ll continue our series on spirituality, review the latest on our TV screens, and talk to the front man of one of Christian music’s super bands—Peter Furler from the Newsboys.

How is the housing affordability crisis affecting you?

Maybe you’ve had your home repossessed, or you’ve voluntarily given up your mortgage and moved into a rental situation…what was the tipping point for you? In hindsight, what would you have done differently?

Were you buying, perhaps at the wrong time in the property cycle?
A fear of ‘missing out?’
Was it successive interest rate rises that you didn’t anticipate?

What you would do differently, with the benefit of hindsight?

Wendy Harmer’s new foray into the life-style focused documentary is a surprisingly considered approach to our obsession with ownership and the objects that give our lives meaning. But at what point do we stop possessing and start to become possessed?

I’ll admit that I thought I was tuning into a series on a celebration of our collective obsession. The sort of program you expect to see elderly women with staggering collections of egg cups and aging men standing at the doors of garages crammed with 19th century type-writers. Wendy Harmer is both the presenter and writer of the series and, after all, she is better known for her lengthy career revelling in the ridiculous on breakfast radio. But I was comprehensively mistaken.

Harmer does bring her light-hearted sense of humour to the topic of the possessions that cram our homes, but the examination is every bit as informative and insightful as you would expect from an ABC documentary series.
The grand question under discussion is, ‘what do we get from all of our stuff?’

It would be very easy, looking out on our consumption-driven society, to conclude that stuff was in fact the problem and we could all just do with a lot less. I’m not going to argue the point, and neither does the series. What Wendy Harmer does draw to our attention though is the multitude of roles that ‘stuff’ serves within our society.
Enter Esther, the expectant mother who is also expecting a gaggle of friends to arrive on her doorstep at any moment for her baby shower. As Harmer points out, “Even in the womb we are starving to accumulate a great big pile of stuff.” But accumulating baby products here is not just about having the latest Elvis-styled Quadruple-0 jump suit. In this context, the presentation of stuff is an essential part of the fabric of relationship. “We want to give support and the way we tend to do that is not just emotionally but by giving materially. By giving stuff,” the episode informs us. In fact, for those familiar with the popular Christian book ‘The Five Love Languages’ author Dr Gary Chapman identifies the giving of small gifts as a primary means of communicating love for a significant number of people.

Possessions also play a healthy role in forming identity. Again, this is not to say that ‘we are what we own’ but that what we own helps us know which communities we belong to (from the tribal Masai to the urban teen) and puts us in touch with our personal histories. “We document for ourselves our lives in terms of our objects,” says sociologist Dr Beryl Langer. The toy car was the one we received when we went to school; the football our gift from Uncle Trevor, and so on. But what happens when our life becomes only about the stuff we have or hope to accumulate?

There are few better times to observe the vast accumulation of useless stuff than in the days that follow a marriage ceremony. Who amongst us married people has not looked down at the sixth quiche dish and wondered what passes through people’s minds when they stand in a shopping centre and consider how best to convey their affection for you and your beloved? As I said above, the temptation would be to say that a drastic reduction in giving was the answer. However Jesus Himself was not adverse to handing out wedding gifts – the wedding at Cana ended in an exorbitant gift to the newly weds – He just made sure they were appropriate and appreciated. Consider how valuable a saleable supply of fine wine would be to a couple in a poor village whose expenses had not stretched to covering their own required celebrations?

The chief problems with ‘stuff’ from the Christian’s perspective are context and ownership. The Barbie in one setting is the valued and meaningful present whereas in another it is just doll number 28 to be barely glanced at. In that respect, we have to value the things we have more not less, and seek fulfillment from the love they may represent, not simply their quantity and frequency of arrival. Furthermore, ‘stuff’ can be a great source of joy – it can be beautiful, meaningful, encouraging etc – but how tightly we hang on to it says a lot about the state of our hearts.

Jesus warned people to “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” (Luke 12:15). Harmer does a good job of drawing out the problems associated with the unnatural and forced value we put on ‘abundance’ because of the directives of transitory fashions. However it is this concept of ‘possession’ that also causes problems. Karl Marx said the problem began not with objects but with ownership and moved from this to communism. You don’t have to go that far, however, to recognize an intrinsic truth. As faulted humans we move very easily from having to holding to withholding. CS Lewis was keen to point out that we as humans couldn’t ultimately claim ownership of anything, even our bodies. Everything came to us as a gift. The writer of Ecclesiastes was just as keen to point out that we could barely control our possessions during our lives and certainly not after our deaths. Clearly there is nothing wrong with enjoying what God has given, but we might better see ourselves as custodians rather tha owners. Seen in those terms, every object becomes an opportunity to serve someone else.

Open House TV reviewer Mark Hadley is the Culture editor at Your.sydneyanglicans.net and Christianity.net.au.

Talking to Professor Graeme Clark this week, inventor of the bionic ear, got me thinking about restoration, and what it would mean to have something as significant as hearing restored in your life. Just imagine what it would be like to be deaf one day, and then able to hear the sounds that most of us take for granted, the next.

Has there been an invention, a breakthrough, or just something outside of yourself that’s assisted you in restoring something that wasn’t quite complete in your life?

• Maybe you’re the recipient of an artificial limb that’s allowed you to walk again
• Maybe attending counselling of some sort has allowed you to restore a broken marriage/or relationship
• Maybe taking up exercise allowed you to get your weight under control and restore parts of your life that were otherwise left unfulfilled.

Tell me what you had lost, how it was restored, and how you felt the day you got it back.

Pornography. It’s a 57-million dollar a year business, worldwide. This week we speak with an insider. Craig Gross is a church pastor who’s taken the unusual step of making the adult industry his parish. What he’s seen and heard from those he’s befriended and counselled will open your eyes to the reality behind this fantasy world.

Plus, choosing a direction at the crossroads of life—we’ll talk about career, calling and the making the most of your working days. We'll have singer-songwriter Ana Laura with us, talk spirituality, explore the latest in fiction and more.