Mark Keown

The Black Caps loss to England this morning is the worst performance I have ever seen from a NZ team. They got themselves through a brilliant Ross Taylor innings with help from Mills and How into a great position. Vettori bowled beautifully to knock England over. A team with a lead of 170 or so should never be lose on a turning track. To capitulate as they did in the second innings was a disgrace. It was a stunning performance. The performances of Taylor, Oram and McCullum is not appropriate for that level. Taylor can be forgiven. The others needed to bat with some test sense. They only needed to bat sensibly as they did in the first innings and they would have batted England out of the game. Having said that, they should have been able to bowl England out on that track. I am a great fan of Vettori but he failed. Mills, Oram, O'Brien and Martin should have locked up one end and Dan should have bowled England out on a turning pitch with variable bounce. It is a long time since he bo...

I hear today that the South Africans have decided that they will pick players from the European rugby competition. I think this is a huge decision. I think it is bold and common sense in a professional world. I think we need to join them in this, but not quite yet. What we need to do down here in NZ is get the Super competition and test program sorted and then we will be in a position to open the door. We need to have a Super program that runs from Feb until June, double round. This is the professional program. We need to open it up to private backing to increase the wealth in the program. We need to set in place very good regulations so that the AB's can have the players they want for their program. We need to let players play anywhere in the world and be available for the World Cup. It will weaken NZ rugby to an extent but who cares. The tests between world cups mean nothing, the last world cup proves it. We need to go the way of soccer. Our best players will get better playing i...

Interesting program Survivor. I admit I love it. I love it because I imagine myself playing it and would love the challenge. I love it because of the psychology of the program. This one was unique in many ways with the girls banding together to get rid of the guys one by one and then battle it out. They were helped by two competitors being knocked out through injury including crowd favourite James. Two competitors were utterly blind-sided and sent home with immunity idols in their bags unplayed. Mad! Then Erik handed over immunity to one of the girls to show his commitment to her; only for the girls to vote him out. He was both naive and mad! The final showdown came down to the Parv and Amanda. I would have liked Amanda to win but she blew it in the final speeches failing to impress with her speeches. On the other hand Parvati demonstrated that she had played the better the game and deserved to win. The Fans vs Favourite format was inspired. The Fans were never going to win though as m...

Christians and porn: OK or not OK? Copyright: DrMarkK The purpose of this brief discussion is to enquire as to whether there is a problem with a Christian (usually a male), or anybody for that matter, engaging with porn; whether it be through movies, internet, magazine or other source. Some would argue that it is not a problem as it is just another form of entertainment, does not involve actual adulterous relationships and is about visual experience and fantasy. I would argue strongly that this libertine approach is flawed at a number of points and that if we understand God, Christ, humanity and biblical revelation accurately, we would take the position that porn and engaging in porn is dehumanizing and a sin against self, others and God. 1. Porn and adultery Jesus in Mt 5 says this of adultery: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye cau...

The heart of Christianity is the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is through the death and resurrection that we are saved. In some mysterious way that transcends our ability to explain, this death of a man saves those who will believe in Jesus. There are many ways of understanding this. It is a reconciliation of God and humanity. It is the justification of humanity, in which those who believe in Jesus are declared righteous before God, not on the basis of their merit or goodness in any way, but because Jesus has taken their punishment and their separation from God on their behalf. It is a propitiation in which the wrath of God is averted. It is an expiation in which those who believe are cleansed of sin. He is our representative, standing in the place of humanity as God the man and we are saved "in Christ". He is our substitute, dying on the cross in our place, taking our punishment. It is our adoption, in which we are adopted as the children of God. It is our regeneration...

Yesterday the NZ Herald reported that a trial was beginning to make the morning after pill available free over the counter ( http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10508753 ). Theoretically this is to reduce teen pregnancies. This is a shocker! The morning after pill is simply another form of potential abortion. Of course the recipient does not know whether they are pregnant, so it is not active abortion; but, it is potential or passive abortion. This is an astonishing decision. It shows that we have absolutely no concern for the unborn child. It is another example of child-abuse! Sure, teen pregnancies are a problem, a big problem. But the answer is not to respond to one problem with legitimising the killing of the unborn child! I am disturbed that the main response I am hearing is a concern that this will lead to more promiscuity. It may well do so, but that pales in comparison to the problem of killiing babies! This is another example of the horror we face...

Wow, a 45 second PB for Kimberley Smith in the States over 10k. This can be read in one of two ways. One way is to party because she has come of age and is now a true medal contender. Another possibility is that she has enhanced performance in some way. I hate to think this, but when someone wacks out a 45 second pb, you can't help wondering??? 45 seconds is astonishing! So which way will I go? I will go for the first response in the hope that there is no enhancement happening! So, way to go Kimberley! You rock! Astonishing. Bring it to them in Beijing and win a medal. Woo hoo!

Fantastic news about Esther Keown winning the World Secondary School Cross Country Champs in Algeria. She won by 6 seconds from two Belgian girls with NZ also winning the team's gold. This is an amazing effort for a Kiwi girl. Esther said that she felt good on the day. She took the lead early after being held back by an Algerian girl. She was concerned that she went out too quick leading through the first lap. However, by the end of the second lap she had a good lead and extended to win comfortably. She also said that she could have gone quicker if the pressure had come on. She held back because she was concerned that there may be someone who would sit on her and come through quickly at the end. We really do have some promising athletes at present, particularly among the girls. So, go KIWI! Awesome stuff. Another great day in Kiwi sport. Here's hoping Esther and the other girls can come through into senior athletics and perform at the top winning medals for NZ at World Champs a...