Thursday, March 31, 2005
How the other fifth live...
The average annual household income of the bottom 20 percent of Australian households is about $12,000. That's just $230 per week.
The dying / living church
I was reading www.signposts.org.au blog and came across this most elequent comment to a thread “Unity Expressed How?”.
The dying church mate is the one who does not breathe the Spirit. The dying church is the one who doesn’t hear the call of God to be the compassion of Christ, the icon of God’s grace in the community.
The dying church can be a fundamentalist church (of which there are both ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’) that spend their days living under legalistic code that they
think is a biblical faith. But, alas has been corrupted by the modernist worldview.
The dying church lives in fear of being corrupted by the sin of others for fear it will affect their own limited view of salvation.
The dying church is like the person who Chesterton referred to as “dead at 25 years old, buried at 75 years old”. The church of modernity is dead, we are just waiting for it to be buried.
The living church is a church that understands that the Gospel is one of hope. The good news that the Kingdom of God is here and that fear has no place.
The living church has discovered that we are blessed by God to be a blessing to all (regardless of what they believe or how they live). We are blessed to bless all of creation. We are sent (apostolic) to carry on with the mission of Christ to bring reconciliation, redemption, and renewal.
The living church knows that the ‘Word of God’ is Jesus Christ - not a book. That to follow Christ means dying to oneself for the sake of the world… not for the sake of if you are going to heaven of not. That discipleship is not about keeping oneself pure or ritual clean. But discipleship is about risking the way of Jesus and touching the person with leprosy and loving the people who have been cast out from the temple because the a considered unclean or have ’sold out’ to the Romans.
The living church knows that to follow the way of Christ is to risk being crucified. A living church knows that it is alive by the grace of God. It knows that without the breath of God it would be no better than the dry bones in the valley, or the
dead at the bottom of the dead marshes. It is God that gives life. Not a persons belief of a doctrinal statement. What separates us from the love of God? Nothing, and thank God that we all walk by the grace of God.
John Shepard: Satan Incarnate or just a very naughty boy?
Well John Shepard’s (JS) Good Friday Address has got lots of people talking. But is he Satan incarnate, just a naughty boy or does he have some good points? Well I’m not going to agree with everything that JS has to say but I think he has got some good things to say.
Okay firstly, so it’s all out in the open I believe Jesus death and resurrection is what achieves atonement (at-one-ment) with God.
Secondly, some history, in the 12th Century a dude called Anselmian basically came up with the Substitution theory. Which is what most modern day evangelicals think is atonement. That is… We have huge debt to pay to God, nothing we do is good enough for God. Jesus substitutes in for us by dying, which is good enough for good and we get forgiven. A classic illustration of this is Matthias Media’s 2 ways to live (if you ever wondered how a non Xn reads 2 ways to live click here)
Now the problem is that when we read scripture having heard or grown up with substitution is we straight away read just substitution (a metaphor) not atonement when we read Christ died for us.
Now this is similar to using the metaphor of a father to describe God. God is not a father, but the father metaphor can be helpful to illustrate some aspects of God. But all metaphors have their limit.
Similarly atonement is not just substitution. It is a metaphor that has limits, some of the most obvious being that God is completely without mercy before Jesus which, if we read the Old Testament, simply isn’t true, and secondly that substitution really sets up Jesus and God at odds with each other. Hence you have people thinking the Old testament God is full of hate but the New Testament God is full of love (after being pacified by Jesus).
Now I don’t think any Xn would want people to view God like this. So the challenge is really to come up with some new metaphors.
JS was also said some stuff about repentance. I think many evangelicals have had a fixation particularly with the sinners prayer. Which for many people has been like a gateway into a relationship with God, and there is nothing wrong with that. For me it wasn’t at about 10 years of age I made a commitment to God I got a bible for Christmas, started going by myself to Sunday school and praying to God. However, I discovered a year later (aged 11) that although I had done all these things I hadn’t prayed the sinners prayer. So I did and it felt really weird because although I hadn’t verbalised it I had already lived it. It’s a bit like asking someone who has come to church for the first time “Do you know you need God in your life?” Of course they do that’s why there at church! JS uses the prodigal son to illustrate this. There is no neat order of saying repentance and then receiving acceptance. It’s messy like a true relationship. Both son and father are running towards each other both, I would imagine, wondering “has my son come back for more money or back to be with the family?” “Is my dad running to tell me go away and don’t come near me or to welcome me back?” Both these questions answered in a simple embrace.
Mmm, maybe instead of asking “would you like to pray the sinners prayer?” we could ask “would you like to give God a big hug?”
So do I think John Shepard theologically right or wrong?
Well I don’t know and I’m going to let God decide that.
Do I agree with everything John Shepard says?
No
Is there lots to learn from what John Shepard says?
Yes
Is slagging him off via the letters to the editor page a good thing to do?
No
Okay firstly, so it’s all out in the open I believe Jesus death and resurrection is what achieves atonement (at-one-ment) with God.
Secondly, some history, in the 12th Century a dude called Anselmian basically came up with the Substitution theory. Which is what most modern day evangelicals think is atonement. That is… We have huge debt to pay to God, nothing we do is good enough for God. Jesus substitutes in for us by dying, which is good enough for good and we get forgiven. A classic illustration of this is Matthias Media’s 2 ways to live (if you ever wondered how a non Xn reads 2 ways to live click here)
Now the problem is that when we read scripture having heard or grown up with substitution is we straight away read just substitution (a metaphor) not atonement when we read Christ died for us.
Now this is similar to using the metaphor of a father to describe God. God is not a father, but the father metaphor can be helpful to illustrate some aspects of God. But all metaphors have their limit.
Similarly atonement is not just substitution. It is a metaphor that has limits, some of the most obvious being that God is completely without mercy before Jesus which, if we read the Old Testament, simply isn’t true, and secondly that substitution really sets up Jesus and God at odds with each other. Hence you have people thinking the Old testament God is full of hate but the New Testament God is full of love (after being pacified by Jesus).
Now I don’t think any Xn would want people to view God like this. So the challenge is really to come up with some new metaphors.
JS was also said some stuff about repentance. I think many evangelicals have had a fixation particularly with the sinners prayer. Which for many people has been like a gateway into a relationship with God, and there is nothing wrong with that. For me it wasn’t at about 10 years of age I made a commitment to God I got a bible for Christmas, started going by myself to Sunday school and praying to God. However, I discovered a year later (aged 11) that although I had done all these things I hadn’t prayed the sinners prayer. So I did and it felt really weird because although I hadn’t verbalised it I had already lived it. It’s a bit like asking someone who has come to church for the first time “Do you know you need God in your life?” Of course they do that’s why there at church! JS uses the prodigal son to illustrate this. There is no neat order of saying repentance and then receiving acceptance. It’s messy like a true relationship. Both son and father are running towards each other both, I would imagine, wondering “has my son come back for more money or back to be with the family?” “Is my dad running to tell me go away and don’t come near me or to welcome me back?” Both these questions answered in a simple embrace.
Mmm, maybe instead of asking “would you like to pray the sinners prayer?” we could ask “would you like to give God a big hug?”
So do I think John Shepard theologically right or wrong?
Well I don’t know and I’m going to let God decide that.
Do I agree with everything John Shepard says?
No
Is there lots to learn from what John Shepard says?
Yes
Is slagging him off via the letters to the editor page a good thing to do?
No
Saturday, March 26, 2005
What would you do if church was closed?
I stumbled upon this article on small ritual where this question was asked...
"If all forms of church were closed down for ten years, what would you do to maintain and express your faith?"
This is a great question for all Christians to ask particularly Christians of the evangelical missional emerging church varirty. I think often the drive for doing unorthodox or emerging church has been from a "how do we get more people to become Xns at this time in this culture" mind set, and not so much from a "How do I be a Xn at this time in this culture?" mind set. Which, is a much larger question that encompasses the first question anyway and has a stronger connection with the question.
Secondly I think it's worth asking... "Are you doing those things now and if not what would happen if you did and you stopped participating in all forms of Church?"
"If all forms of church were closed down for ten years, what would you do to maintain and express your faith?"
This is a great question for all Christians to ask particularly Christians of the evangelical missional emerging church varirty. I think often the drive for doing unorthodox or emerging church has been from a "how do we get more people to become Xns at this time in this culture" mind set, and not so much from a "How do I be a Xn at this time in this culture?" mind set. Which, is a much larger question that encompasses the first question anyway and has a stronger connection with the question.
Secondly I think it's worth asking... "Are you doing those things now and if not what would happen if you did and you stopped participating in all forms of Church?"
26 Statistics on Global Poverty everyone should know
1) Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day.
2) The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined.
3) Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
4) Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.
5) 51 percent of the world's 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.
6) The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.
7) The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.
8) 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the worlds goods.
9) The top fifth of the world's people in the richest countries enjoy 82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct investment -- the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%.
10) In 1960, the 20% of the world's people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% -- in 1997, 74 times as much.
11) An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
3 to 1 in 1820
11 to 1 in 1913
35 to 1 in 1950
44 to 1 in 1973
72 to 1 in 1992
12) “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels”
13) The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.
14) A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's poorest 2.5 billion people.
15) “The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of global exports.”
16) “The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.”
17) “Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread across the world's nations and large numbers of people.”
18) “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”
19) “7 Million children die each year as a result of the debt crisis. 8525038 children have died since the start of the year 2000 [as of March 24, 2001].”
20) For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.
21) “Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity.”
22) The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. “The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%.”
23) The world's 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity.
24) A mere 12 percent of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
25) Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998
Global priorities in spending in 1998
Global Priority
$U.S. Billions
Basic education for everyone in the world 6
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Water and sanitation for everyone in the world 9
Ice cream in Europe 11
Reproductive health for all women in the world 12
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world 13
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
26) Number of children in the world 2.2 billion
Number in poverty 1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide 121 million
Survival for children Worldwide,
10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children Worldwide,
2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
For more info and sources see http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp
2) The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined.
3) Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
4) Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.
5) 51 percent of the world's 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations.
6) The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation.
7) The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.
8) 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the worlds goods.
9) The top fifth of the world's people in the richest countries enjoy 82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct investment -- the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%.
10) In 1960, the 20% of the world's people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% -- in 1997, 74 times as much.
11) An analysis of long-term trends shows the distance between the richest and poorest countries was about:
3 to 1 in 1820
11 to 1 in 1913
35 to 1 in 1950
44 to 1 in 1973
72 to 1 in 1992
12) “The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year [2000] because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels”
13) The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.
14) A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's poorest 2.5 billion people.
15) “The 48 poorest countries account for less than 0.4 per cent of global exports.”
16) “The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.”
17) “Of all human rights failures today, those in economic and social areas affect by far the larger number and are the most widespread across the world's nations and large numbers of people.”
18) “Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.”
19) “7 Million children die each year as a result of the debt crisis. 8525038 children have died since the start of the year 2000 [as of March 24, 2001].”
20) For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years [of the current form of globalization, from 1980 - 2000] have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades [1960 - 1980]. For each indicator, countries were divided into five roughly equal groups, according to what level the countries had achieved by the start of the period (1960 or 1980). Among the findings:
Growth: The fall in economic growth rates was most pronounced and across the board for all groups or countries.
Life Expectancy: Progress in life expectancy was also reduced for 4 out of the 5 groups of countries, with the exception of the highest group (life expectancy 69-76 years).
Infant and Child Mortality: Progress in reducing infant mortality was also considerably slower during the period of globalization (1980-1998) than over the previous two decades.
Education and literacy: Progress in education also slowed during the period of globalization.
21) “Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity.”
22) The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people. “The slice of the cake taken by 1% is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57%.”
23) The world's 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion, well over the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa ($929.3 billion) or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa ($1.34 trillion). It is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity.
24) A mere 12 percent of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
25) Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998
Global priorities in spending in 1998
Global Priority
$U.S. Billions
Basic education for everyone in the world 6
Cosmetics in the United States 8
Water and sanitation for everyone in the world 9
Ice cream in Europe 11
Reproductive health for all women in the world 12
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world 13
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan 35
Cigarettes in Europe 50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105
Narcotics drugs in the world 400
Military spending in the world 780
26) Number of children in the world 2.2 billion
Number in poverty 1 billion (every second child)
Shelter, safe water and health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
Children out of education worldwide 121 million
Survival for children Worldwide,
10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
Health of children Worldwide,
2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)
For more info and sources see http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp
You are the poetry of God
"You are the poetry of God"
I read this on a wall today. I think I shall put this on a T-shirt. I don't own any Xn slogan t-shirts.
I read this on a wall today. I think I shall put this on a T-shirt. I don't own any Xn slogan t-shirts.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Incarnation @#%& !
Incarnation in four easy steps...
1) Move into a community
2) Become a part of that community
3) Be Christ like in that community
4) See what happens and work out what to do next
So what happens if you move into a "community" on the outer fringes of suburbia where the one thing that everyone has in common is that that place is not where they would ideally like to live.
Like many people I live right next to a freeway (and soon next to a railway) and the big selling point of the suburb was that it is only however many minutes away from where ever you really want to be. There are no shops near by, the park (big open grassy bit) is always empty. The closest thing we have to a communal hang out is the set of lights at the end of our suburb as you turn on to the freeway.
Any one with any thoughts?
1) Move into a community
2) Become a part of that community
3) Be Christ like in that community
4) See what happens and work out what to do next
So what happens if you move into a "community" on the outer fringes of suburbia where the one thing that everyone has in common is that that place is not where they would ideally like to live.
Like many people I live right next to a freeway (and soon next to a railway) and the big selling point of the suburb was that it is only however many minutes away from where ever you really want to be. There are no shops near by, the park (big open grassy bit) is always empty. The closest thing we have to a communal hang out is the set of lights at the end of our suburb as you turn on to the freeway.
Any one with any thoughts?
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Piano
Well I wanted to learn piano when I was younger and now, 20 years later, I'm going to try and teach myself.
Tying to treading lightly
I did the survey at www.myfootprint.org the other day and although I did better than the average person in my part of the world I am still walking way to heavy on this gift from God that we call earth. So, after a couple of times hiring a petrol mower I've decided it's time to get a push mover, and my little flymo is a thing of great beauty, all the very best of sweedish design.
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