Defender or Explorer

For those who think that maybe, just maybe, this blog is too serious sometimes you may want to jump to another blog now as I'm about to try and explore a thought that's been nagging away at me for about the past two months.

Having been a theology student for about five months now I'm begining to recognise some worrying trends in the form of Christianity I've been exposed to so far in my life. One of the most disturbing is the inability to admit that there may just be another viewpoint than your own and it may just be worth listening to! In short, the question we have to ask ourselves constantly is this "Am I a defender of the faith or an explorer of it?"

So, you may ask, what's the difference? Let's look at some of the characteristics of both:

Defenders

The name says it all really. These are the sort of people who find their patch of ground, dig their trenches, build their walls, and prepare to repel anyone trying to, as they see it, 'storm' or 'undermine' their position. They are certain about what they believe, so certain in fact that only they have the answer and all other positions must give way to them. And this is not just on basic issues but also on most points of Doctrine. They often feel that they are 'under attack' from the immoral and secular world, the devil and a whole host of wicked forces, and even from others in the Christian community. They are also usually very reactionary and 'evangelistic' - not in the narrow sense but in the wider sense wishing to convert everyone. One final characteristic is a general unwillingness to enter into any kind of dialogue with science, the media, politics, or the arts unless it as an opportunity to make converts since they are generally suspiciousx of intellectuals and 'new ideas'.

Explorers

Apart from the opposite of everything said above, explorers are generally certain of the basics of what they believe but have a thirst for greater understanding. They would freely admit that they do NOT know everything and are usually willing to give new ideas a respectful hearing even if they don't agree with what is finally being said. They recognise the value of dialogue and believe that understanding comes through many 'voices'. Their method is co-operation (as long as this doesn't involve compromising their faith) and influence by demonstration rather than confrontation. Some of these people can appear to be a bit 'wooly' at times but others are highly principled.

In reality we probably all fall somewhere between these two stereotypical ends of the spectrum. However, what has disturbed me recently is the vast numbers of Christians who find it comfortable to be at the defensive end of this spectrum where things are 'simpler' and they don't have to think for themselves. This is worrying because as the church becomes more and more like this it inevitably becomes less and less relevant to society and consequently loses it's effectiveness - at which point it has fulfilled it's own prophecy of being under attack! It's attack does not come from the world though but rather from within because it inevitably turns in on itself searching for the reason for it's ineffectiveness. The tendancy to withdraw from society causes the church to become more and more focussed on 'heaven' which causes a hightened state of unreality and an abdication from it's true identity as a community of love to demonstrate the love of God through the Holy Spirit. This 'escapist tendancy within the church means it no longer focusses on solidarity with those who suffer and disengages from any meaningful social action.

I believe that this kind of 'church' already exists in the UK and, while this would have been a minority aspect of the UK church at one time, is becoming a more and more significant part of what society perceives as 'church' in the UK. Some may celebrate this, seeing in it the emergence of a 'strong', vocal, antidote to moral decline, but I do not think so.

It's getting late and I'm running out of sensible things to say so I'll leave it their for now and will return with part 2 another time.

Goodnight

p.s. sincere apologies to anyone reading this who feels got at! It's not my intention to offend and I have deliberately stayed away from mentioning any groups or denominations in particular in order to avoid scapegoating and thus alienating anyone.

Home of the Not So Brave!

Well, it's been a month of long times of reading and trying to write essays but I thought it was about time to put fingers to keyboard again and blog!

The last few days have contained the proverbial Good, Bad, and Downright Ugly!

Good

Watching the magnificent Wales rugby team defeat the fickle French - always a pleasure.

Finally managing to clean my room and re-arrange it - or start to at least!

Bad

Watching Liverpool throw away the League Cup Final via a Steven Gerrard own goal - words fail me!

Hours of financial wrangling with blood-sucking banks who seem to think that any money going into my account is rightfully theirs - I haven't got the emotional energy to rant on about this, it's just too painful.

Failing to get enough reading done to write essays due, in no small measure, to the amount of time taken withj the blood-sucking banks! (hence I will need to apply for an extension for my esays again)

DOWNRIGHT UGLY!!

Last night I watched the first in what promises to be a shocking series on Channel 4 - Torture. This programme shows up the complete barbarism of the US government's 'detention facility' at Guantanamo Bay and will go on to show that this is not a one-off extreme but part of a shocking global industry sponsored by those engaged in the 'war on terror'.

No-one seems to have told those involved in this 'war' that using terror to defeat terror doesn't work! Unfortunately, I have to report that Britain (not Great in this instance) is also involved in the torture and sadistic treatment of prisoners and stands by and condones what the US is doing.

As a Christian I find it totally intolerable that anyone should be treated the way the detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere are. What makes it worse is the constant stream of 'religious allusions' in the language of Bush, Rumsfeld, Blair and others, nothing justifies torture and brutalisation on the scale that the US is involved in and God certainly doesn't condone it or turn a blind eye to it.

One final thing to think about. The war in Iraq was eventually justified by politicians as a necessary regime change to prevent further brutalisation of the people of Iraq by Sadam Hussain. It now appears that the roles have been reversed and the ones doing the brutalising are.... oh yes, the ones bringing freedom and democracy to the world! I'm sure the thousands of 'terrorists' arrested but never charged and now languishing in Iraqi jails are celebrating their new-found freedom every day while millions of politically ignorant and apathetic Americans and Britons still think the whole War On Terror is real and not just a way of maintaining power for the rich western world.

And tonight, as every night, in the 'land of the brave' the screams of torture victims will ring out, unheard by most but God hears them all!!

Invention of the Week - Number 1: The Egg Box

Here on It's A Small World we introduce to you a new feature - Invention of the Week (note: this is a non-serious feature, intended to lighten the mood occasionally!)

We start our journey through some of the more unusual inventions with an item I'm sure we all pretty much take for granted - THE HUMBLE EGG BOX! Most of us are probably too young to even know how eggs used to be carried around without the inevitable breakages. This gives us an opportunity for wild speculation and conjecture as to how this humble device might have been invented! No doubt somebody, somewhere knows the truth of this matter but frankly we're not interested and would prefer to stay in ignorance and content ourselves with the knowledge that how we got here isn't really important since we now have egg-boxes and eggs 'broken in transit' are nearly a thing of the past.

So how did we arrive at the egg box? Was it born out of frustration at yet another wasted journey to the shops which ended in tragic and messy circumstances? Was it the result of some great egalitarian gesture to prevent the waste of a valuable commodity at a time of great food shortage (post WWII rationing?) Or, was it simply a freak accidental use for something originally developed for the military, maybe a scaled down version of a hand-grenade carrier!?

Well, any one of these reasons could be put forward but since we're not interested in accuracy at the moment we can choose whichever suits our purpose best! But here's a few things to think about: why did we arrive at disposable egg boxes and not a system where each household had their own egg box , which would of course be tough and washable (for those little accidents)? why are cardboard egg boxes more rekiable than polystyrene ones - which have a tendancy to split and thus become useless? why do all egg boxes have a picture of a REALLYhealthy looking hen on them even whenwe know that most eggs are laid by scrawny, battery farmed hens in conditions more remenissent of an early 19th century cotton mill than a farm!? (is anyone really fooled by this?) why are we still buying eggs in quantities of 6 or 12 in the UK when every other 'imperial measurement' has been transformed into metric one?

WQell that's a lot of random thought for this time of night, especially about something as simple as the egg box! I gaurentee you'll never look at one the same way again though!!

Future posts on this new feature may include such noble items as 'the table tenis ball', 'the rubber band', and 'the shoe lace' (shoeists take note!). Any suggestions please post a comment.

Iraqi Elections

This should be a quick post to provoke thought and perhaps even prayer. In just a few hours time the polls will open in Iraq and the attention of the world will be on what happens and what difference it will make. This day, if we believe everything we (in the UK and USA) have been told, should mark the "Regime Change" that the whole war was about ultimately. BUT the big question is will it make any difference to the lives of ordinary Iraqu people?

Before answering this question I needto make something clear. On this site we have often taken the stance that the war in Iraq should not have happened - and that remains our position. Not that I believe Saddam Hussain should have remained in power, he was clearly a vicious dictator whose days were numbered, but the methid used to remove him was illegitimate and devious. There was clearly another agenda at work, which is still at work and is one reason why I don't think much will change following the elections. The country is still not stable and shows little sign of being sta\ble enough to allow the occupiers to withdraw. In reallity I'm not sure it ever will be - in the eyesa of the neo-conservatives in the US.

There is another side to this drama though. These elections are NOT for the benefit of the world's media to gawp at and analyse to death, they are for the people of Iraq aren't they? On Friday night I was speaking to a friend of mine who is an Iraqi, now living in the UK. I asked him "do you think the elections will have any stabilizing effect on the country, do you think they will make a difference?" His answer shocked me as with deep sadness he said "...it won't make any difference, in fact it may be worse. I think there will be people killed, important people, either before or after the election makes no difference. There are too many separate peoples who don't get on, they will never live in peace, civil war will come."

This , I hear, is not an isolated view. Many in the West have said that the different tribal groups within Iraq cannot live together in peace and that a situation resembling that of the break-up of Yugoslavia is a high probability. So it would appear that the country will not be stabilized by elections and the ordinary people of Iraq will be drawn into an increasingly bitter and sectarian wayh of life - something we should seriously think about in the week of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

I wish I could be more optimistic but the logic of the situation is this:
1. The American-led forces will not leave until they believe the country is sufficiently stable.
2. Insurgents,as they are called, will not stop fighting until the occupying troops leave and don't recognize any elected body working with the occupying forces.
3.If America pulls it's troops out without the country being stable there will be civil war and America will stand accused of creating a bigger mess than existed before the war.
4. The cycle is self perpetuating unless a bigger conflict requires troops to be withdrawn, leaving the new Iraqi army to deal with the mess.

Of course things could just settle down or political presure caused by the increasing casualties could force the US to pull out.....hmmmmmm.... I'm sure this happened in another pointless conflict, ah the lessons of history not yet learned!

Sorry it's not more optimistic but it's amazing what one conversation can start you thinking!

Goodnight....

Insanity Prevention!!

What's this? I hear you cry, a new post from Dangermouse! Well, Buckle Up cos this could be either brilliant or, on the other hand, it could be complete doodoo! The reason for such a statement should be obvious to anyone reading the time this was posted! .... all I will say is if insomnia is a contageous disease I must have caught it from Sven after spending some time round at his house on wednesday ... though on the other hand it could be that his house really is haunted!!!!! Maybe I picked up a stray demon while I was there, time to write to Dear Pat I think, not that it'll do me much good. see World of Sven for more on this

Anyway, while we're in such a jovial mood, or is it just delirium (I just know I'm gonna regret this big time later today), have you heard the one about the man who had a $200billion overdraft and went to the bank to ask tor a further $80billion to spend on securing 'long term stability'? (of course he promised the bank manager he'd pay it all back when the promised rewards came in!) Well, in case you hadn't heard, this actually happened this week! The man was 'W', one of our favourites here on Small World, and the 80 billion dollars is for cleaning up the mess caused by spending the original 200 bilion!!!!! screams insanely then remembers the time....ooops!

Now anyone who's ever had to deal with a blood sucking institution like a bank will know that under normal circumstances this request would be refused, denied, thrown out etc and you'd probably be sectioned under the Mental Health Act for even attempting such a manouvre. I can't imagine my bank even giving it a seconc thought....

Derek "Good morning, I'd like an extension to my overdraft please"
Bank Clerk "Oh, lets have a look then" fiddles with computer awkwardly, then with an icy stare "I'm afraid that's out of the question sir, you're already at your agreed limit"
Derek pauses, thinks of something semi-intelligent to say before resorting to violence!
Bank Clerk "Is there anything else sir?"
Derek unable to think of anything remotely intelligent to say, slides down the counter and sliks out of the bank in utter humiliation.......

And this is normally the end of the matter... unless you have a good reason why the bank should extend your credit facility (to use the horrible jargon). Much more I could say on this (Yoda?) but it's too late so here is a Top Ten for 'W'

1. Fool on the Hill - The Beatles
2. Money' Too Tight to Mention - Simply Red
3. It's the End of the World As We Know It - REM
4. Rock the Kazbah - The Clash
5. With God On Our Side - Bob Dylan
6. I've Got the Power - Snap
7. Twso Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
8. With A Little Help From My Friends - several
9. America, **** Yeah - from 'Team America'
10. "I've got the brains, you've got the looks, let's make lots of money" - Pet Shop Boys
(can't remember the proper title to no. 10, if anyone knows let me lnow and I'll edit accordingly)

Enjoy!!

Askig Difficult Questions

A few weeks ago I was asked to preach at my church on January 2nd. Not a difficult proposition as there won't be that many people there and it's only for 20mins. That was before the devastating earthquake and tsunami in South East Asia! Now the prospect looks somewhat more difficult and I've been wrestling for days now over what to speak on. I had planned to speak on the subject of Hope but it seems like this may be inappropriate now - or does it? Allow me the liberty of using this post as a sort of notepad to jot down some random thoughts which might make it to the final preach! Comments would be appreciated and are invited (don't worry if they're too late to be included on sunday, I don't think this subject is going to be off the agenda for a while!)

So then, where to begin?

In chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews the writer exhorts us to draw near to God with sincere hearts, hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, and provoke one another tolove and good deeds (v19-25 is the whole text here and is all one sentence in the Greek). The writer has already explained the basis on which we can draw near to God and he now exhorts us to do it with sincere hearts. Here the writer is challenging the motivation of the readers, it's no good coming before God with all the right words when our hearts are troubled with all kinds of questions and worries! Neither is it any use our singing our songs of praise when in reality we are hoping for answers to our prayers - if this is our approach we are simply treating God like some kind of divine supermarket in which we pay for the goods by singing nice songs about God and go away having got what we came for!! In these troubling days maybe our approach should be more like the psalmists or the prophet Habakkuk who was very concerned about the things going on in his day and was not afraid to ask difficult questions of God!

Of course coming to God in such an honest way - which, by the way, God is not at all discouraging of - has its risks, we may not get an answer (at least not straight away) or we may get an answer but not the one we wanted! Both of these eventualities can cause problems, which is why many of us simply don't bother to pray these kind of prayers. This has serious implications for our ability to show the love of God at this time. Firstly, it means we definitely don't have any understanding of God's perspective on a situation - this means his heart and mind not just a list of proof texts! Secondly it means we are not changed by the process of wrestling with God in these situations which, in turn, means we are unlikely to have the compassion of Jesus for the helpless victims of disasters such as we have witnessed recently. Therefore any response we make will probably be harsh and ill-conceived.

Hope is a vital component of the Christian life but what is it?

Hebrews mentions hope a number of times, important because those the letter was written to lived in a volatile and dangerous world where life was cheap, especialy if you were different to the majority of people around you. The writer portrays hope as something tangible, something which can be held onto, even as an anchor in one place. It is not the wishful thinking or last-gasp optimism of today's use of the word. Neither is hope what we want it to be, we are not holding unswervingly to the hope of something we would like to see happen but rather that which has been promised. Our hope is not based on anything other than what God has promised through Jesus Christ, for he himself is our hope! The promise which the writer refers to is the promise of Jesus return at which point all things will be made new and we shall receive the fulness of our salvation as guarenteed by Jesus death and resurrection - death is not the end! Obviously this was very encouraging for a people who could face death at any time but what of us now?

Having a hope in the return of Jesus can lead to some errors if that hope is not worked out properly in everyday life. Some have the approach that since our salvation is secure and Jesus is going to wrap up this world anyway why bother to do anything since this life is not important? This is clearly a wrong approach and one for which the church at Thessalonica was rebuked by Paul - we are not just called to wait around for the end of the world and do nothing to help those in need! Ohtersa have said that all that is important is to 'save souls' and what we need to do is preach the gospel leaving humanitarian works to governments and charities. Once again this position misses the point - we are not just called to talk about Jesus and hope people understand what we mean and that our time is far too precious to spend on actualy caring for them. Acts 10:38, a verse loved by 'evangelists', says that Jesus went around doing good aswell as healing people. once again our motives in 'doing good' have to be sincere, the world is sick of Christians trying to win their loyalty through social action only to discover the 'hidden agenda' of soul winning behind it all. Also, I'm fairly certain that Christian releif organisations are sick of their work being judged on the basis of numbers of people 'coming to Christ' rather than on the number of lives saved from famine or disease!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against evangelism, I just think it's about time we realised we need to be something before we ever have the right to talk about it or make demands of our hearers - raise your hand now if you agree with me, thank you, I see that hand.........

So, the concluding exhortation of the three I mentioned way back at the start is what I've just been talking about - provoking one another towards love and good deeds. This should be the natural outworking of our drawing near to God and holding on to hope in the face of doubt and opposition. At this time many will be looking for a response from Christians or will have difficult questions to which we can rightly say "I don't have all the answers right now but in the meantime lets work together to help who we can". And we don't have all the answers but we do have a God who is full of wisdom and love for the world, maybe if we will draw near to him with our honest questions he will share it with us so we can be more effective in our giving, prayhing and actions .

Thanks for reading if you got this far, I hope to blog more regularly in the New Year :)

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Anyone Remember What A Blogg Is?!!!!!

Yeah, I know, it's been a long time etc etc!!!!
Anyway, contrary to popularbeleifI haven't curled up in a cornerand died or fallen down an 'accidentally' open drain on my way to college....ah yes, college, hmmmm I knew there was something I should be doing right now (don't worry, I'm havin a break for a few minutes from the 5 essays FIVE!!!!!!!! AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!.....which I've I'm trying to write before the end of term).

So, a lot's happened since I last wrote on here BUT it seems like nothing's really changed....Oh yeah, thatreminds me, a word to our readers in the U.S., (you may wish to stop reading here for a short while, it's nothing personal honest)

America! WHY?

Surely that many people can't be that easily led, how much more blood do you wanton your hands, electing a garden gnome would've made more sense - at least everyone knows a garden gnome doesn't have a coherent foreign policy!! From a purely selfish point of view I'm actually quite mad about this. Like a lot of other people I stayed up to see if 'W' would somehow get elected again, and sure enough, much to my disappointment, hedid. So now the whole world will be subject to the 'New World Order' aka whatever is good for the U.S. is good for everyone. Well what if we don't want it? I didn't vote for 'pretzel face' and I'm pretty sure there's a few billion other people who didn't either 'cos we weren't allowed to but we'll all suffer for Uncle George's vision of world peace and harmony.
The problem I have with the U.S. election is that everyone outside America knows this was an election fought on paranoia and fear which will now be self-perpetuating because having started re-shape the world you can't stop in case it starts to unravel around you - I wonder just how many people will die, most of them inocent of any terrorist intent, before somebody says ENOUGH! Sadly I fear it may well only be when the cost is too great for America that anything will change.

Of course the real tragedy of this whole episode is that it appears that the decisive votes in many states were cast by 'conservative evangelical christians' most of whom care more about moralising than about the heart of God for the poor in the world. Well here's something to think about for all thoose moralists who were so fired up by the prospect of 'gay marriage' or 'abortion' YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY WITH THE BIGGEST PORNOGRAPHY ENDUSTRY IN THE WORLD so before you start lecturing other people on their apparent lack of morald why don't you do something about that? Could it be that the tax revenue and export business generated by this 'industry' (which by the way promotes the very things you were so anxious to avoid, and worse) is so immense that the government would be bankrupt if they clamped down on it!!! The same could be said for the arms trade and the huge industrial giants who happily 'fuel' a president who has no intention of ever signing the Kyoto treaty - but of couurse that's not your concern is it since this world will'pass away' and we don't need to look after it anyway..........

Just by way of balance I should point out that the images of America portrayed in this blogmay appear extreme and are probably not true of all Americans but are there to make a point.