What dangerous idea has the greatest potential to change the world for the better?

These were my notes when opening this morning’s Easter Sunday service at HBC.


Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!

I’d like to ask you a question this morning:

“What dangerous idea has the greatest potential to change the world for the better?”

Four panellists were asked this question late last year in a Q&A session held in front of a live audience at the Sydney Opera House. There  was an atheist gay rights activist, a feminist historian, a women’s rights advocate, and a Christian journalist.

The first three suggested the following dangerous ideas: population control, absolute freedom, and to do less with our children.

This is what Peter Hitchens said:

“The most dangerous idea in human history and philosophy remains the belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and rose from the dead…

When asked why, he explained:

“Because it alters the whole of human behaviour and all our responsibilities. It turns the universe from a meaningless chaos into a designed place in which there is justice and there is hope and, therefore, we all have a duty to discover the nature of that justice and work towards that hope. It alters us all …”

In John 11, Jesus declares this:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Friends, wherever you’re at this morning: whether you embrace this most dangerous idea as truth, you reject it as a fairy tale, or you’re not sure what to make of it, today, Easter Sunday, is a great opportunity to think deeply about this subject.

Please join in as we read, sing, listen and pray about the most dangerous idea in the world: that Christ is risen!

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You can watch the segment from ABC’s Q&A here.

(Warning: If you choose to watch the full video do so carefully, there’s a lot of vulgar descriptions from one of the panellists).

HT: Philip Jensen