No.109     16th October

Hi, 
Hope this finds you well. 

In the mag this week there is the usual range of news and info from various parts of the Christian world, as well as things happening at Mearns Free in Belmont...you'll start to notice special events (like the Christmas Wreath-making afternoon - great opportunity to invite people along and show them where we meet, and to hear a short Advent talk) and services popping up for the Christmas Advent period - before that we have an Afternoon Cafe with stalls etc which would be great to support - speak with Margo or Fiona W about that if you want more info or can help out.

Do you listen to Christian music at home or in the car ? We've included  a blog this with some updates. For instance, it was interesting to read that City Alight (whose songs we sing at Mearns Free, eg 'Mine are Days', 'Only a Holy God', 'Jesus, strong and kind.') has been making non-English recordings of their songs in live settings. They just released the Home EP in Chinese, which was recorded in Singapore.

Lastly, Scott's letter ends with him making clear he wasn't hallucinating when he was writing it -he doesn't always include a line like that, which makes you think...

Enjoy the mag,
MB

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Sunday 18th October

Sunday Morning - 10.30am
Rev Scott Hamilton
John ch17

Sunday Evening (and Monday/Tuesday)

The groups are continuing their studies in 2 Corinthians.
Not too late to start attending a group - speak with Scott K if you would like to be plugged in.

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Letter from the Manse

Dear Church Family,
Desiderius Erasmus was a great Dutch thinker of the 16th century and wrote a treatise on educational method in 1511 (it was published in Latin).

Some of us have heard of him because of the “Erasmus Program” which the European Union created in 1987 allowing university students to live and study across different European countries. They named it after Erasmus because they considered him a European role model for education.  Erasmus had a famous phrase in Latin, "ad fontes" = “to the sources." Erasmus was convinced that reliable knowledge is only gained by studying original texts and not just the views of others on these texts. For Erasmus, this especially included ancient Greek thinkers but also God’s Word. Students of the bible would be best served if they returned to the original Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible and not rely only on the Latin translation of his time and official church declarations about its meaning. “Ad fontes” became fundamental to the Reformation of the 16th century as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and others returned to studying the Bible itself (and in the original languages).

I began to think about Erasmus and the way we grow in knowledge of the bible because of the ubiquitous presence of stories in the news lately about AI (Artificial Intelligence).
We are told that AI could displace between 90 million and 300 million jobs globally over the next decade and also bring direct existential risk to humanity in that same period. Ouch.
I put the question to Gemini (an AI tool) if it would kill us. Gemini replied: “No, I will not kill you, nor do I have any desire, capability, or plan to harm humanity. I am an artificial intelligence designed to be a helpful, safe, and creative assistant.” Whew, that was reassuring.
However, returning to a different source, the Bible, I find that God is sovereign over all things, including AI. That is knowledge to live by. (See the source document for example at 1st Chronicles 29:11–12)

AI can however assist us with our tax returns and it is predicted to help diagnose cancers from scans in nanoseconds and develop therapies for all kinds of illnesses in timescales presently unimaginable. I am left wondering: will AI cure us or kill us first?


Last week Mearns Castle High School featured on the national BBC news at 6pm because it is the first school in the UK to appoint a dedicated teacher on the subject of AI.
I hear you saying, “so what?”.
Well, I am concerned that some of you may begin using AI as a tool to better understand the Bible. You may ask a question and assume that the answer given is correct. AI tools like Gemini may even give you the “source” that it has apparently referenced and this may seem like a reliable source.
I have a considerable collection of physical theological textbooks and biblical commentaries and I have access to an online library which I pay for called Perlego. I wanted to put AI to the test in a way that I could verify the results.
I chose a particular verse of the bible and asked if Gemini could provide me with explanatory illustrations, but I only wanted them from "Reformed Evangelical thinkers".
Gemini gave me an illustration from John Calvin and told me the specific commentary (source) from which the illustration came. Gemini said, “Calvin likened…” and went then on to share an illustration about a cushion and a granite wall.
Suspicious of this illustration, I asked Gemini the question: “Did John Calvin really use an illustration which compared a cushion to a granite wall?”
The answer Gemini gave was: “No. John Calvin did not use the specific image of a 'cushion vs. a granite wall' in his commentary… it is a modern homiletical illustration.”
AI also gave me illustrations on the same verse of the bible from specific men it rightly considered as "Reformed Evangelical thinkers”. Gemini quoted Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Charles Spurgeon. I asked Gemini the same follow-up question which I had asked of John Calvin. The answers came back: “No. Martyn Lloyd-Jones did not use a specific illustration involving…” and “No. Charles Spurgeon did not use the specific image…”
Catching the drift of my line of questioning, Gemini then volunteered a summary of the truth and falsehoods of the illustrations it had initially attributed to these various men. I have cut & pasted the summary from Gemini below:
❌ Calvin's "cushion vs. granite wall"  Modern illustration of Calvin's concept of epieikēs.
❌ Lloyd-Jones's "£100 debt dispute"  Modern illustration of Lloyd-Jones's "spiritual logic."
❌ Spurgeon's "train engine on a turntable"  Modern illustration of Spurgeon's teaching on unproductive worry.
❌ Spurgeon's "ferment into worry / material for peace"  Modern patchwork quote synthesizing Spurgeon's sermons.

The detail of the above is not important. The important point is that not one of the illustrations attributed directly to these men were truly of these men! Calvin never gave an illustration about a cushion and a granite wall in the commentary Gemini first said the illustration came from. 
I pushed Gemini to explain what Calvin actually said in that commentary. Gemini responded;
“Calvin defines epieikēs as moderatio (moderation) and aequitas (equity)—the conscious yielding of strict legal rights and refusing to retaliate when wronged. This underlying concept gave rise to a modern preacher's illustration of a cushion absorbing a blow against a stone wall.”
A cushion and a granite wall may well be a helpful illustration, that is not the point. The point is that it is significantly different to Calvin’s original words and the worrying thing is that Gemini told me initially that the illustration came directly from Calvin and from a particular commentary (similarly the illustrations from Lloyd-Jones and Spurgeon).
My little foray into AI and biblical studies tells me you are not safe to assume the answer from your AI platform is either correct or even truthful. Listen to this.
I asked Gemini: “Might you sometimes make up an answer to a question which is not traceable to any real source?”
Gemini responded: “Yes, absolutely. As an AI language model, I can sometimes generate answers that are factually incorrect or completely untraceable to any real-world source. In AI research, this phenomenon is known as 'hallucination.'”
How can we tell if the answer our AI tool gives us is true? We need to do the background research. Erasmus would say, ad fontes! Go back to the sources!

• Go to the Bible itself, with the help of God the Holy Spirit, seek understanding from Him.
• Pray
• And if you want other people’s help, read actual books / articles of real reliable men and women who have themselves faithfully studied the Scriptures and written truly on them.

Please, do not blindly rely on AI, whichever your favourite AI tool might be!

I should confirm to close, the letter above was truly thought-out, typed by me, Scott Kirkland and includes no self-generated untraceable content and no “hallucinations” were involved.
Warmest regards,
Scott K

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Sandra has been writing Wee Scoops on a whole range of topics and over the Summer turned her mind to Ecclesiastes as we worked through the book on Sunday mornings... below is an extract and you should click the link to continue reading.

What’s that Latin…? #Ecclesiastes9

This is my favourite chapter so far – despite the ESV’s choice of subheading: “Death comes to all” which seems a bit of a downer. However, it takes a turn halfway – so stay with me. 

The Preacher has figured that God’s got the whole world in His hands, as it were, in terms of sovereignty – and that the human experience is the human experience whatever your wisdom rating, morality rating or social status: death “is the same for all” – obviously not the manner of death or the timing of death but the fact of death. Death is the ultimate leveller. Death and taxes and all that. But in this case, death. There’s no way round it. 

But the pessimism suddenly lifts with a change of perspective: “…he who is joined with the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion”. 

The living dog and dead lion thing resonates with me. (A terrible first draft is better than a non-existent perfect essay… but… I sense that my analogy is a little off the point.) But the moment we have and are living through right at this second is to be savoured, in comparison with all of the moments that we aren’t alive on this earth – the spell of history before we were born and the spell of history unfolding after our death – unable to do anything – the real is better than the hypothetical, not matter how disappointing, mediocre and meh the real is. When you see reality as reality – and the blink of an eye that a life is, each moment becomes a privilege and a treasure – even if it is difficult. 

If you are alive, you are in a state of blessing. As we say in Scotland, “You are a long time dead.” For literally everyone, it will be GAME OVER at some point. What does that truth do to you? 

Continue reading here.

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Congratulations!

It was great to celebrate with Daniel and Rachel O'Brien last Saturday at their wedding. (Rachel is Murray and Margo's younger daughter.)
I think we have 5 young people from MFC marry this year and we want to pray for them, that they are given grace to maintain their vows in love.
This short Puritan Prayer though is a proper corrective (and a reminder of how much we need God's grace) for all our relationships - but especially for those who have found their Mr or Mrs Right. Our prayer is that it will be the Lord Jesus who is the person who is ultimately the person they will seek to please in these marriages, head of each household, calling the shots on the direction their lives take.
Lord of all being, 
There is one thing that deserves my greatest care, 
that calls forth my ardent desires,
That is, that I may answer the great end for which I am made - 
to glorify thee who has given me being...

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If there is one thing to cause heated debate in any church it will be Music.(In Mearns Free that may be overtaken by things like 'Did you see how many of Priscilla's meringues that person ate?!')...but it's usually Music. So here are 2 articles to consider...
Music 1

The first one is about music in church in a broad sense - ie not about dodgy lyrics or unsingable melody lines - The Christian blogger, Tim Challies was writing about how we view the words of songs we sing at our services. There was a poll to take part in and you can see from the image above that Mearns Free are with the majority in having the words on the screen.
However, I mention this because we do also have song sheets, and large print song sheets available too, and these are used each week by a small number of people - would you like to be added to those who prefer to sing from the sheets rather than the screen?
If you are happy with having the words on the screen but would like to see something introduced or improved then please do give feedback. eg. are some things not as legible as they could be? Is there anything in particular you struggle with seeing which you would like us to investigate? Use the office@mearnsfree.org email or speak with me or one of the door team if you have any comments. 
Martin B
Music 2
Tim Challies has also put some new Christian music in a list for you to peruse. Read/Listen HERE
Tim writes: "I like to keep tabs on new Christian music releases. While most of the music that interests me falls under the categories of hymns or worship, I also appreciate some straight-up contemporary Christian music albums. This (use link above) is a roundup of some of the music I have been listening to lately. I have linked to the songs and albums on YouTube since it is the most universal platform, but you should be able to find it all on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or any of the other apps."

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Scottish Prayer Day event
CHANGE OF LOCATION:
The UFM Scottish Committee have decided, due to some practical considerations, to change the location of the Scottish Prayer Day event, which was originally advertised as taking place at 11 Newton Place, Glasgow.  The location has been changed to Abbeygreen Church, Lesmahagow, ML11 0DB.  The date and times remain the same, Sat 14th Nov, 10am-12.30pm.

Please pass this information on to others who may have been considering attending.
For those without cars the following public transport options from Glasgow are available (among others):
-Direct Bus: x74 (Dumfries) bus from Buchanan Bus Station. The Abbeygreen stop in Lesmahagow is just round the corner from the church on School Road.
-Train/Bus from Glasgow Central to Hamilton Central Station then the Whitelaws bus 253 (Stance 3 at Hamilton Bus Station which is immediately beside Hamilton Central Station.) (Alternatively one can continue on the train to Larkhall and walk a couple more minutes to catch the 253 bus there on Union Street.) At Lesmahagow use the School Road (Abbeygreen) stop, as above, or the next stop (Bloomfield Road) which are about equidistant from Abbeygreen Church. 
If you require assistance in getting from Glasgow to Abbeygreen let us know and we will do what we can to assist.

If there is demand we will also look into providing a Zoom link by which folk can connect remotely. If that is of interest to you or you require assistance in getting there drop us an email at scotland@ufm.org.uk

Ruairidh MacLean
Area Director

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Ready to Jig

A few weeks ago we had a mystery pair of legs at the kitchen hatch.
Continuing in that theme, can you tell who has decided that their formal kilt attire could do with a makeover with the help of a pair of trainers?

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Cafe Connect

The Cafe is back on this week - A Harvest theme!  We are looking forward to Jaan bringing us the Bible 'Connect'
Tuesday at 2pm - do you need a lift there or back? Speak with  Sandy H

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Wednesday, 7th October
Our weekly prayer meeting  on Wednesdays is at 7.15pm
Meeting in the Merrimans' throughout October.

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Thursday 22 October

Prosecuting Parents and Pastors

How you can help protect family life and the ordinary work of churches from plans to ban ‘conversion therapy’

The Joint Committee scrutinising the Westminster Government’s draft conversion practices Bill will meet for the first time in private next Monday (12 October).
The membership of the Committee is weighted against us. Several Committee members have already publicly backed the draft Bill and former Equalities Minister Olivia Bailey, who wrote the legislation, has been appointed to the Committee to effectively mark her own homework.
This makes it all the more important that we speak out. As part of the scrutiny process, the Committee will shortly issue a call for evidence. This is a crucial opportunity to demonstrate our opposition to the plans.
To help you to do that, we’re holding a lunchtime webinar with The Christian Institute, Greater Love and the Evangelical Times on Thursday 22 October from 12.30pm – 1.15pm.
To join the webinar, click here or go to christian.org.uk/ct
Read HERE to read more,

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Ladybird Book of Mearns Free

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Put this date into your diary as we host a Fundraising Afternoon Cafe Event for the Preshal Trust.
Who could you bring along to support this afternoon, and introduce them to where we enjoy church each Sunday.

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We enjoyed having David Nixon as a guest speaker at our event in Eaglesham a few weeks ago and as associate speaker, writer, and apologist with the Solas Centre for Public Christianity he contributes to their resources page.
​
Have You Ever Wondered If You Were Made For A Purpose?
This video is something you can watch and gain from, but David encourages us to send to others as it answers such a key question.You can watch it and/or read the transcript here

And the same Solas webpage has short Question and Answer videos too which give you confidence when sharing the Gospel or talking about Christian beliefs in what can be a negative, or even hostile, environment. You can see them here.

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Speak with Val Forgie for more information about this event - the Christmas Wreath-Making Afternoon was run last year and proved very popular - can you come along and bring a friend? Book up quickly to get a space!

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Govan Free Church

Jack Geddes writes:
Mearns Free Church has developed a really positive relationship with Govan Free Church. Our main area of cooperation is their foodbank every Thursday when we have four members of our congregation involved – Sue A, Martin B, Mary R and Jack C. Govan Free are delighted with our support and our folks are enjoying this practical ministry.
After a suggestion from our team, and further to discussion with their minister, David MacPherson, we are now looking at the possibility of a small number of us attending worship at Govan at 11am on a Sunday from time-to-time. Depending on interest from you, our members, we anticipate this would be on an ad hoc basis with no strict or prescriptive attendance.
Interested? If so, please email me at jgeddes0802@gmail.com and I will be happy to coordinate the visits so that two or three of us can go along together.

FOOD BANK

It's always great to be able to take some groceries with us down to the FoodBank - 
Things like sugar, coffee, teabags, pasta can be split into smaller bags for families so don't worry about bringing large bags.
Speak with Sue A, Mary R or Martin B for more info.

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CAN YOU HELP?!

If you are on Facebook or Instagram please engage with the Mearns Free pages.
One of the ways we would like to raise the profile of Mearns Free is by using social media. We have been highlighting our services and the teaching on Ecclesiastes recently on social media, above is an example from Facebook a few weeks ago (we did the same for the Easter day earlier this year and the Community Weekend).
However, we really need YOU (if you use social media) to like, comment or forward etc these posts in order for as many people in the area to notice them. Can you help!?

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COFFEE AND TREATS AFTER CHURCH

BAKING  - it's great that so many people are on the baking rota - this means that it is around every 7-8 weeks that they are called on. Can you join this group - or know someone in your family who is a great baker, who could make something which you can pass off as your own work? Speak with Margaret Boyd
CUPS - already a lot of people bring their own cup along - this does save on costs for paper cups so if you can bring your own along that would be great,  and the team will almost certainly speak about you behind your back less than they currently do!

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