Reading can be fun!

Last night I finished reading A.W. Tozer's "Wingspread A.B. Simpson: A study in spiritual Altitude"
I know, the title doesn't seem very exciting and if you're not Steve Carlin, then you're probably asking yourself, "Who the heck is A.B. Simpson?" That's what I was asking when I was par-oozing my friends bookshelf. So, I was bored a few nights ago and I wanted to read something. I had just destroyed a fiction novel that I picked up last time I was in Lusaka and was hungry for more reading. The only reason I picked up this volume was because I've heard much about A.W. Tozer being a great writer and the other books I had either read already, or didn't look interesting enough. That should tell you how interested I was in the other selections, since I picked up a book written 66 years ago about a man that I never heard of.

Wingspread is a biography of the A.B. Simpson, who was a Canadian man born in 1843 and died in 1919. The most interesting thing about Mr Simpson was how disciplined he was and devoted to making a huge difference. He was an amazing speaker and formed a huge heart for evangelism. This brought him to post civil war Louisville, KY. He later moves to New york, NY and starts The Christian and Missionary Alliance. At 37, he becomes very sick and is told his days are numbered. He goes to a healing service and listens to the testimonies of those who were healed. He didn't want to get caught up in the enthusiasm so he prayed about it. One day, he goes on his own into the woods and kneels and prays for healing on his own. By miracle, he is healed and knows that it was The Lord. This causes him to believe and from then on teach on divine healing. Many criticized him for this.

Sorry, I didn't start this to write my own biography about this man. If you're interested, I would suggest picking up the book. It's a quick read, which is an inspiring story. I felt that I was sitting and having a coffee with A.W. Tozer as he was narrating the story because as I was reading the book it was as if I could hear his voice.

That's all.

On a lighter note: Shane & Shane

A couple years ago, I borrowed a Shane & Shane CD from a friend and at the time found it so terribly boring that I changed their name to Boring & Boring. In my mind, I labeled them as one of those dime-a-dozen christian bands that I'll never like. Still, I couldn't figure out why so many people were raving about them. Ok, fast-forward to about two weeks ago. I heard one of their songs coming from my neighbor's room (at the ark you can hear everything through the walls) and I knocked on the door and asked" what music is that?" She said that it was Shane & Shane, I was so surprised that I had to look for myself to be sure. Yes, it was Boring & Boring! My mind was racing "How could what I'm hearing possibly be that bore-you-to-tears band that I listened to years ago and cast aside as no good?" This music has, a deep sound, acoustic guitars that consist of more than GCD and EAB chord progressions. The lyrics are sung with passion. Wow, it was as if I found something new, although it was something that all these other friends of mine have already become tired of. Did I judge the band incorrectly, or did I just borrow the wrong CD? Anyway, this is my formal and public apology to Shane & Shane and the following that may be upset at how I used to think of this band that now I enjoy. Although, I've only been able to borrow one disc of 'An Evening With' By the way, Psalm 13 was what I heard from the neighbor's room, great jam.

Sorry guys. I like your stuff now.

Life and Death

A few nights ago, I was leaving the Ubuntu Campus after having dinner with Jon and Jillian. The distance to the Ark is a short 2 or 3 Kilometers (1.2-1.8 miles) but I'm driving because at night the village dogs roam in packs and can be vicious. Ubuntu doesn't have power yet, so the only lights are the headlights on the Nissan Patrol. Headed towards the hospital, I saw a man walking his bike ahead. From a distance, I saw him switch from the right side of the road to the left side of the road, which is the side people drive on here. In the bush, the "rules-of-the-road" don't necessarily apply, so I easily drifted to the 'wrong' side of the road to avoid a collision with this man walking his bike in my direction. As I was approaching him, he stopped walking and began to wave. I didn't think much of it, we were going in opposite directions and I didn't recognize him, so I just kept on keepin' on.

Minutes after I arrived at the pad, I received a phone call from Jon, He was asking if I could come and get this girl who was trying to make it to the hospital but no longer had the strength to continue. As he asked me, I recalled that there was a man visiting from Lusaka who had a Patrol and was there at Ubuntu, so I advised Jon to ask him if he could help, otherwise I would drive back out as quickly as possible. Less than 5 minutes later my phone started ringing, and immediately grabbed the keys and started out the door as I was answering the phone. When I answered, Jon told me that the other guy took the girl and her brother and I didn't need to come out and get them.

Without much more thought, I brushed the teeth and checked my email and went to sleep. The next day, I saw the guy who had taken the girl into the hospital the night before and I asked him if everything went okay. He looked at me and asked, "So, you don't know what happened?" "No what happened?" I responded. He went on saying that the girl died of heart failure and she was only 15 years old. He said that she was traveling to the hospital from far with her brother on bicycles when she couldn't continue and he went on to the hospital to get someone to drive out, but no one would and so he was heading back to her. I realized that he must've been the one I past when I was driving. Beginning to feel like maybe if I had stopped the girl might be alive, I was thinking over what had happened. When I past the guy on the road, I didn't sense that he was in distress or that there was an emergency. My thoughts went to 'what would I have done?' and I was thinking "If it were my sister, I would've stood in front of the vehicle, anything to get someone to stop and help." In my head, I started asking why didn't he do what I would've done, why did he just wave? Of course, I realize that there is a clash of two cultures here. Maybe if I were Zambian, I would've sensed the need?

Later, I was asked one of the doctors if he knew about this girl. He told me that he did and he went on the say that when she arrived there wasn't much they could've done for her, because there is no life support and such equipment that larger more advanced hospitals have. He said, if she was bleeding to death or dehydrated, they have blood and fluids.

Death here in Zambia is much more part of daily life. The life expectancy is quite lower than in the States and out here in the bush, the resources aren't as readily available to handle every medical case. Often, people have to walk 2 days to get to this hospital and may arrive too late to be properly cared for. This hospital has however, saved countless lives since it was built by the church 50 years ago. Still there is wailing almost everyday at the hospital, where loved ones are mourning the dead not far from where I stay at the Ark. I have to be careful not to become de-sensitized to this, so that I can remember that death is real and life shouldn't be wasted on meaningless activities.

Testing of My Faith

Chioke,

Yes, I noticed that you set out to make some points* about my previous blog post. In this post, my goal is to clear up some of your claims about what I believe and I would like to make some points of my own. I’ve noticed that I’ve missed some things that I wanted to say in my previous responses, so this time I will be careful to hit everything by being a little more systematic about it.

*For those who want to read what Chioke wrote click HERE.

I watched the video that you linked to your previous post “A girl like me” (Doll test). First let me say that I don’t disagree with this video on any particular point. This problem does not only pertain to African Americans, but people in every country that I’ve ever visited, and not just black people but Asians, and whites as well. While in the Philippines I found that guys preferred lighter skinned Filipino women, and in Mongolia girls and guys alike would wear long sleeves and long trousers when it was hot outside, because they don’t want to look like they’re from the countryside. In China, most of the advertisements seemed to have very light skinned Chinese women in the pictures. In Zambia, some women try to use certain lotions to lighten the skin. In America, white people spend plenty of time and money tanning in salons and at the beach, or in their backyard. This problem of one skin tone being valued over another dates back as far as Solomon’s Song of Songs. When one reads Song of Songs 1:5,6 it seems obvious that dark skin was not usually preferred at the time and place of the author.

5 Dark am I, yet lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Dark like the tents of Kedar,
Like the tent curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
Because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the
Vineyards;
My own vineyard I have neglected.

Now, I find it hard to believe that a white Jesus has anything to do with the woman in this story, or with Mongolians who are maybe 1% Christian. Often, people simply want what they cannot have; this is a problem of all humans, even you have admitted to wanting darker skin while you were in Uganda. This problem has existed well before Jesus was born and of course before his image was changed to that of a hippie white guy.

Women want bigger breasts, people with straight hair want curly hair, and people with curly hair want it to be straight. People dye their hair all colors, get nose jobs, braces on their teeth, piercings and tattoos. Africans want to be fatter, Americans want to be thinner, Chinese people go through a painful surgery to be a few inches taller, hoping it will give them an edge over someone else in the job market. Dutch people, well they’re just Dutch and proud of it. Men want to be women, and women want to be men. People get contacts that change their eye color. I believe that every human was born for a reason; purposefully in the time and place they were born. Most of us though want to change what we can’t change, that is who we are. Some go as far as to drastically change their appearance, in hopes to find something, something they believe they need and don’t have.

Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s
Womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret
place.
When I was woven together in the
Depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
Were written in your book
Before one of them came to be.

Now, moving on to the “Let’s work together on this and reference scientific methods less.” First, it seems as though you either missed my point, or just failed to address what I was really getting at. The point was and is, that we live in an unbelieving world (mostly referring to the western world) where we will chose anything over the numinous. I would also like to point out that if Dr. Dawkins is a man who believes that good explanations must have empirical content, then I don’t think he would be so sold out on a theory that can’t be scientifically proven any more than God the Almighty can be. Yes, you read that right; I do believe that God cannot be scientifically proven, on the flip side, I do believe that it’s impossible to prove that He doesn’t exist. I’m certainly not looking for Mr. Wizard or Bill N. the science guy to agree with me so that I can have more credibility. One has to believe or not, accept or reject. I think many scientists and philosophers have come to the conclusion that God cannot be proven or disproven, and yet they chose not to believe. Again, this is because Darwin’s theory, aliens, etc. do not challenge or threaten, so it’s easier to chose not to believe in the God who created the heavens and the earth and then spoke to His creation about Himself and how He would like those who want to believe in Him to live. Instead they put their faith in other theories or truths that can’t be proven.

1 Corinthians 1:18-21
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I
will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

I will have to admit, however that I haven’t read much about the philosophy of the medieval era on into the enlightenment age or even into postmodern, or the information age (whatever you want to call where we are now). So, when you mention cats like Aquinas, Anselm, Augustine, Kant and his homies, then I can’t say too much on the subject. It does seem to me though that since philosophy has left behind Christian theism, that the worldviews have been almost continually shifting as people realize that the current worldview doesn’t quite work. I simply have a hard time believing that “The truth” can just keep on changing from one age to the next simply because we want it to. Again, I apologize; I don’t have my philosophy merit badge (I am an Eagle Scout though). The main question that comes to mind when you talk about that is, what do you mean “Kant and his homies won?” Won what? I hope you don’t mean they won the world to Atheism? Billions of people in the world, including most Africans believe in a spiritual realm and in God or many Gods, yet somehow a few philosophers are smarter than the rest of the world and have some knowledge that the rest of the world doesn’t. Oh, and People writing about what they believe and facing criticisms, no problem, it’s a 2000-year-old problem for Christians yet we are still here.

Mathew 5:11-12
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with the way people search for truth. I believe that we are all searching in one way or another and that search may consist of a number of styles. Some seek to find their truth through success, money, drugs, alcohol, academia, the bible, the Quran, philosophy books, University, Scientology, Science, traditions and culture. Never have I judged one process of investigation into the nature of truth better or worse than others. We are fallible creatures and we learn and grow from our experiences and mistakes. Remember Chioke, I wasn’t raised in the church, and two thirds of my life I didn’t believe in Jesus. I thought it was all a joke. Karen broke up with me after high school, because I wasn’t a Christian.

The collection of books that you hold on to may not claim to be the authority, but anyone who sits down and publishes a book on a certain subject must believe he has some sort of authority on the topic. So, you go to the library and find books, read them and then decide if you agree with or not what that author is talking about. When you chose to believe, whether it is after further investigation or not, then you hold on to that idea and your reason and understandings of the world are shaped by that, so that is what I meant by you hold on to your own collection of books as well. The collection is simply compiled by you your professors and colleagues. I do read more books than the bible and I read books that don’t agree with my worldview, hence the reason we’ve started this series of written conversations since last year when I read Song of Lawino. The bible as you know was written by a number of authors over a stretch of at least a thousand years. Dr. Walter A. Elwell writes about the New Testament Canon, “The formation of the New Testament canon is no less enigmatic than that of the Old Testament, also being a process rather than an event.” He also mentions “In 380, we find our twenty-seven books in the familiar arrangement (taken from the Latin Vulgate) listed in the writings of Amphilocius of Iconium.” So the process of the Canon formation in the west, was pretty much wrapping up at the end of the 4th century. What’s interesting to me about his article on the matter is that as early as the 2nd century there was already collections of these same writings being formed, they were just limited and not official yet. Probably because the cost of producing such letters, we didn’t have Canon copy/fax machines yet. I’m not sure what you mean when you say “I might be talking to a straw man” but you are right, I agree that the bible does not seek any justification outside of itself.

John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

What is “every good work?”

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

And on to my friend’s point, who is also your friend Drew. The conversation only stops at that point, because I believe something that he does not, and I guess he was not able to handle that (we did continue to talk anyway). Unreasoned belief? Why would you say that? Here is what I know to be true, and no one that has known me longer than 10 years can disprove it. My life was a wreck, my car had been wrecked and was no more, I was living in Va. Beach with no friends to speak of and then I met a person at work who was just cool with who I was. Angry as I was, complaining all the time, nothing really to offer but a draining relationship and that girl was a Christian (no romance was involved). When Anna and I decided to hang out because we both played a bit of guitar, I asked her if he boyfriend would mind because she was wearing a small diamond ring on her wedding finger. She told me that she was not married but the ring was there as a symbol of purity, that she was waiting for marriage. I laughed at her and told her straight up that she was out of her mind. That didn’t seem to shake her at all and after a year of being friends, this girl gave me a book for my 20th birthday “Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennon Manning. I read it in July of 1999, about half way through the book on an airplane ride to my next job; I just knew that what this guy was talking about was true. I can’t explain how or why I knew and accepted it, but I did. Since, then my life has only become better each year. It has not been easy the whole way, far from it. Challenging, but I’m more free than I was last year, and as I grow more mature, I’m sure that I will be more free than I am now. Before that I was on my way to being an alcoholic, perverted, abusive man, possibly on my way to prison for the bad decisions I was making. Unreasoned belief? I have too many reasons to believe. What I am talking about is a transformed life. Am I perfect now? No, it’s a process, and an event.

There is no way that I can understand what you feel or have to deal with when talking about the history of your ancestors. I think for the first time, I realize why you’re so adamant about preserving the traditional African cultures. The faint echoes of your heritage are precious to you, and I’m truly sorry for what has happened. I have to say though that I am not cool with slavery as a vehicle for evangelizing. I don’t read Phyllis Wheatley’s song and feel at all at ease with what happened to her or anyone who has had to undergo such a travesty. She chose those words for her own personal reasons and I can’t even begin to understand it.

I have to agree that there are forces over and above a person’s autonomy that pushes them into adopting different perspectives. You seem to think that the only force is that which is coercively spurring people into believing in Jesus Christ. Along with the Christian religious perspective is a wide range of forces; gangster rappers convincing hundreds of millions around the world that Gold chains, huge ass diamond rings, guns and violence are the way, Islam, Mormons, Atheists, Communists, advertisements, pornography, Governments, Traditional cultures that not only contain that which should be preserved but also that which oppresses and subjugates women and children, Movies (not just Hollywood, but many from Nigeria which commonly circulate the continent of Africa), and demonic forces, that which the witch doctors and traditional healers often tap into, social pressures, etc. You seem to think that because I have access to more money than the average Zambian, that I am more powerful, like being an “economically superior missionary” somehow makes me a threat to all that is Zambian culture. I realize that the color of my skin automatically brings certain thoughts upon my arrival on the scene, but I’m not out to just throw around some money and force people to change everything about their lifestyle. I believe that every culture has good, bad, and amoral in it. Just as an example, I would not tell a Tonga man that he cannot engage in polygamy, but I am not cool with the often-found neglect and abuse of women and children at the hands of men, which is socially acceptable here in this culture. I wouldn’t suggest marrying more than one woman, because my culture doesn’t readily accept it, but I assume that you would not be able to roll with spousal and child abuse as acceptable. Just a quick question, how exactly did the British force Christianity on the Zambians? If you have any sources on that, I would be interested to look into it.

Believing in God does not make one a good person. Memorizing the bible, going to church, or praying does not make one a good person any more than living a morally good life. There is no way that I am able to evaluate or judge the morality of your or anyone else’s lifestyle for that matter. You have asked me not to morally evaluate others’ life situations, yet it seems to me that you have done just that towards me and anybody like me, even to the point that you are asking me to stop living the way I live. Chioke, you have obviously deemed yourself fit to judge approximately a billion people who are alive today, not to mention all those who lived and died believing as I do in the past 2000 years.

Romans 2:1
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

I believe you can live a very morally good life, probably even more morally good than I might be living mine. That is not beyond what I can accept. No matter how good one lives his life though, It’s not enough.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Believing in Christ isn’t about being perfect; it’s about recognizing that we can’t reach our fullest potential without help. It’s about recognizing that the creator of the universe loved us so much that he sent himself in the form of a man to be sacrificed for our iniquities so that we could be good enough, so that we could reach our fullest potential.
Isaiah 53:1-ff
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord Makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

So, I hope this helps with some of the assumptions that you ‘ve had to make and if there is any assumptions that I’ve made about what you believe and they are not right, please set it straight. I think everyone needs to be challenged as to what they believe and why.

James 3:3
Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Proverbs 12:1
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

Later

Dangerous or not?

The first time I've ever seen a Chameleon with my own eyes, was last year when I was driving and one about the length of my forearm was crossing the road. He was doing his little pimp walk and seemed to be almost the same color as the orange dirt of the road. I almost ran over him, but I managed to stop in time and was able to take him out of the road and release him in the bush. Since then, I've seen about 3 or 4 others alive, and a few dead. After telling some of my Zambian friends about my encounter with the Chameleon, they began to brush off their skin as though ants or something very undesirable was crawling all over them and they went on to tell me that these animals are extremely dangerous. I asked how they were dangerous, and some told me that if the tail of the creature wraps around your finger, you could be dismembered. Also, I was informed that when someone comes across this particular lizard that they either run away, or stone it to death. This didn't sit well with me, because these creatures only eat insects and are quit nice to see around. There certainly is a superstition about these creatures, frogs, and many other animals. The picture posted above is the smallest one that I've seen so far, and I will continue to catch and release these animals in the bush so that they have a stronger chance to survive.

The Shack

I just finished reading a book that I heard a lot about and was a little reluctant to start, but let me tell you this was one of the best fiction books that I've read in a long time. It's not even my type of book. If you haven't read this, my suggestion is get it, read it, love it. After reading this book, I think the way I understand God will be changed forever. I cried a couple times too, I will admit.

Wm. Paul Young writes an amazing story of a man whose daughter was brutally murdered, and how God helps him deal with his pain, the judgement he has of God and others, and forgiveness. This book takes God out of the box and allows us to have a more open mind, less cluttered with traditions, religiousness and more freedom. I love it.

If you want to look more into it, check out the website. www.TheShackBook.com

All I needed was some screws

Please read this post and then read the comments. A friend of a friend makes a good point about how ignorance can possibly be detrimental.
Today, I was helping putting some desks together for the LITA classroom and so I went to get some screws. While I was there in this little storage shed asking the guy in charge if he had what I was looking for a huge swarm of bees came into the building where we were and they were all over outside as well. We were in the little office and only a dozen or so bees came in there. I don't know what they were doing but it was apparent they weren't going to leave real soon and so I asked the guy " How do we get out of here?" One other guy that was with us took the only heavy Jacket and covered his whole self and walked through the massive swarm and the other one looked at me and said "just walk backwards as you're leaving" So, I looked down and walked through maybe thousands of African Killer bees and came out with out being stung at all. Although, I didn't find the screws I was looking for, I still came back with a story.

Dinner and a Football Match at the Ark

Last night was a great night of catching up with those that I knew last year from the Ark and building friendships with those who are new to the Ark. When I arrived at the ark this week, I was a bit sad to find that many of those I lived with last year had moved out of the ark for various reasons. So now, I have a whole new group to be friends with. Last night after Nshima and Kapenta for dinner, about 7 of us squeezed into a 6'X6' room with a bed, a chair, and a 12" color TV and watched Chelsea and Liverpool battle of the soccer field. About half the guys were rooting for Liverpool and the other half Chelsea. It was an action packed game that ended 4-4 but each goal would bring text messages to different cell phones and usually someone else coming to the door to cheer in another's face and then run through the halls cheering.

Philosophy or Confusion?

This is an ongoing conversation between an old friend and I. You may want to start from the beginning. If you have already been following then please, read on. If not, then check out these;

Uno

Dos

Tres

Cuatro

Cinco


To Chioke,

Well, I have read and re-read your blog post and I think I’m ready to respond.

Here we go…

All right, when I said that “Jesus isn’t white”, I wasn’t really talking about God not having a racial identity, although I do believe that God transcends racial context, He’s not even human. I was talking about Jesus, Son of God, born a man somewhere in Bethlehem. Basically, Jesus comes from a town that is right between Northern Africa and the Middle East. So, if I were to try to imagine how Jesus actually looked I would guess much less like me, and less like most of the pictures and statues that portray Jesus Christ. However, If someone came up to me and said, I’m going to say one word and you need to tell me the first image that comes to mind, then that person said “Jesus”, the first image that came to mind probably would be the hippie version of Jesus with a beard, robes, sandals, and maybe looking like a tan white guy. So, I will agree with you that the image of Jesus has obviously been changed and for that I believe the world has been done a disservice.

I must say that I value these conversations for certain reasons. Although, we have different worldviews, I learn a lot from you and take what you say into account. Anyone that wants to help, especially in another culture or country would be wise to seriously consider one’s motives and methods. In no way, do I consider myself above doing wrong, or damage because I’m a follower of Christ Jesus. Being aware of that, I also know that there is a nasty history to consider and lessons to be learned from our history.

How can one man, even a ruler of some kind, declare that everyone in his nation is Christian? Would that mean that everyone residing within those geopolitical borders, suddenly believes in Jesus? Believing in something has to happen on a personal level. Of course there are many cultures, which are less individualistic than most Americans, and they will decide together as a family or a village. Even then, I think that each person chooses to believe in one way or another.

What do I believe? I believe that when one accepts Jesus Christ, that person then comes into God’s kingdom, a citizen of heaven. This does not simply make one perfect, and usually it takes many years for that person to understand and act according to his true citizenship, if at all. Often, one who has come into covenant with God and stepped into the kingdom of God will still operate out of their old self and old culture. This includes even me; I am just as susceptible as the next human. So, I will seriously consider what I am doing, and how I am doing it so that I will not coerce anyone to accept my culture or my ways over their own. The choice is one’s own, and I believe that the Kingdom culture is compatible with all other cultures.

As one reads through the New Testament, one might find that Jesus never forced anyone to choose. He simply said I am the only way to the Father. He never said that one must go to the Father. Also, as far as I can recall, the only times Jesus spoke harshly was to those who were the religious leaders, and his disciples. Jesus said that he came to testify to the Truth. This leads us to believe that there is one truth. One truth, that makes sense. The whole “no absolute truth” is confusion, smoke and mirrors, like a bad magic trick. I thought the point of philosophy is to search for truth, yet many philosophers subscribe to such confusing things. Philosophers read books from a hundred different men, written over hundreds of years and just begin to form their opinion from that. So, I guess even you have your collection of books that you hold on to.

It is astonishing, the unbelieving world that we live in, especially in the United States of America. I had an interesting conversation with a good friend earlier this year. He and I talked about many different things, politics, religion, and so on. After many hours of talking, he asked me if I really believed what the Bible says. I said “yes.” Then he said, “Do you really believe that a man named Noah built a boat and put two of each animal on it and survived a flood?” I had to think about it for a second, because when it is asked in such a way it sounded crazy, still I said, “Yes, I do. He then told me “If you believe that, then I can’t have a rational conversation with you.” This statement struck me a little funny, because we had been having many hours of discussion, over the past couple days. Then we continued for a bit, and later in that same sitting, he talked about the huge temples that the Mayans, had built long before the proper technology was invented to build such structures. He said that he couldn’t believe that they built these temples. I asked him “How then, were they built?” He said, “I think that had help from Aliens.” That night, I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, as I was processing the long conversation that we had, and before I went to sleep I realized one thing. We live in an unbelieving world. Here was a guy, who thought I was crazy for believing in Noah and his ark, (which isn’t so hard to believe after believing that God spoke the universe into existence) yet couldn’t believe that an ancient tribe couldn’t build a temple that is still in standing for us to see with our eyes, so he thinks it must be aliens. If something doesn’t readily make sense to us the way we understand it, we throw it away and make something even crazier up. Maybe this is philosophy?


Scientists and Philosophers chose not to believe and have tried to explain away God, as though the idea or belief in God is far inferior to their own thinking. It’s funny to me that people say they don’t believe because it’s not true, yet those same people can’t really explain a better way. Scientists haven’t been able to figure out where the first living cell has come from, and will consider anything before God. Richard Dawkins, the author of “The God Delusion” abandoned his faith in God while studying Darwin’s theory, and believes completely in the theory of Evolution. Yet, in an interview on the documentary with Ben stein called “Expelled” is asked how he thinks the first living cell came into existence and he says it’s possible that a far more advanced life form come to earth and seeding this planet with the first living cell. What? This guy is anti-anything that could be considered intelligent design. This to me is incredible, and I ask why would a scientist consider that over the existence of a God, or even many Gods. The only thing that I’ve been able to come up with is that they are threatened. The aliens who supposedly seeded our planet, or helped Mayans build a temple haven’t spoken to us in any way, and therefore we can do, say, and think what ever we want without accountability. Same thing goes with the first living cell coming from a primordial soup, there is nothing threatening about it, but a God who is real and has spoken, well that would mean something altogether different. We might actually have to be accountable for what we do, say and think.

I hope to hear back from you on this.
Peace,
Nic

Learning the art of blogging?

This really is a boring video but I was having fun as Isa was showing me how she made her very nice looking, creative blog. Hope you don't waste your time on this video as it was also my first time using iMovie and I basically couldn't figure it out. So I give it an over all low score for editing, content and educational value.

What is truth?

I have in my hand a twelve lesson set of DVD's called "The Truth Project" This project comes from an organization called Focus on the Family and the founder and chairman is James C. Dobson, Ph.D.

"Focus on the Family's The Truth Project is a DVD-based small group study designed to equip believers witha comprehensive biblical worldview."

Essentially it's 12 lessons of Dr. James Dobson teaching on Christian worldview, but that is not all. The vision is to have a small group of people meet together regularly (i.e. 12 weekly meetings) watch the video, discuss the topic for that week, and then pray for one another. The focus, isn't to sell DVD's but to see Transformation, Fellowship, and Multiplication. It is very similar to the model we use for Life groups at New Life Providence Church. We live in a world where most people would not know how to answer the question "What is truth?" Understanding what a worldview is and even being able to understand your own world view is very important for each and everyone of us. Although, these are supposed to be watched in a small group setting, I am watching them on my own and I will probably run through all 12 in a weeks time, because the DVD's are not mine and I'm leaving for Zambia very soon. I do hear, however, that there is and will be more groups from New Life that will meet and feature this series. If this interests you at all, I suggest you look into it a bit more.

The wesite is http://www.thetruthproject.org/ Check it out, there is a short trailer and more information. Also, if you are connected to New Life at all, ask someone on staff about it and see if there is a group you can get connected to.

In Response

This is a response that I wrote to a dear friend of mine, Chioke. He and I graduated from the same High school in Jacksonville Fl, and although we have different world views, we enjoy having an open discussion about said views. I am just straight up copy and pasting what I wrote to him, in response to what he wrote (I believe he posted it on his blog), which was a response to my Okot p'Bitek blog entry. So, if you are reading this and have not read the first two, I strongly suggest that you not rad ahead and start from the beginning.

Here we go...

Chioke,

I hope it isn't too late to respond to this letter. If I remember correctly, I told you that I would respond within a week of writing this, and I apologize for not coming through in the time that I said I would. When I first read it, I needed time to really soak it all in, to try to understand what you are saying without letting my thoughts cloud the point that you were so elegantly making. When you sent that email, it was my last few days in Zambia and when I got home i think I kind of forgot about it, till now. So, I have re-read it and am responding many months later.

May I first start out saying that I am not as skilled as you are at putting my thoughts into words to articulate exactly what I want. My writing skills are weak at best and I attribute that to my being unread and that I don't write very much at all. So, after re-reading my own blog entry on Okot p'Bitek's Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol, I realize that what I wrote didn't express exactly what I was trying to say, which explained why your response was in part the way it was. Let me clarify, I did not and do not believe that Okot's work was an attack on my identity, I believe that the thoughts in my head were an attack on my identity. I no way did I just throw out what I read as though it was not important, I just had to get those thoughts out of my head that I'm worthless because I'm white, that all I can do is harm because I'm white. I still think about what I read in that book. By the way, Drew gave me a copy of "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon. I haven't began reading it, but do plan to get to it.

Next, I would like to ask you, what is the deal with this "white Jesus" thing? Come on, I know that you are more aware than that, and I'm sure Okot p'Bitek was as well, yet both you and he refer to Jesus as white. I just think that makes it easier for you to wrap Christianity up with colonialism. I know that you think that they are the same thing, but I do not agree with you on that point. It's strange to me that people are so mad at Christians, because hundreds of years ago there were people who claimed to be followers of Christ started wars and did a lot of killing. In my mind, as soon as they did that they were no longer following Christ, they were doing something else. Maybe they used God to gather people together on their side to excel their campaign? That would be using God's name in vain. Besides, I don't really see people getting mad at atheists because Hitler believing in Darwin's theory to begin what he thought would be better for the human race, by exterminating the "weaker" humans? No, they get mad at Nazi's. I'm just tired of Christians being the scape goat.

About me helping; I do want to help people. I'm not sure that I understand when you say "... pattern of interaction between the empowered and the powerless" fully, but I do not like the idea of setting up the powerless to only be able to rely of the empowered. I think that it's kind of like that in this country with welfare. I don't think that there shouldn't be welfare, I've seen what happens in countries that don't have it, but I think there should be a very strong encouragement and empowering for people to help themselves. A big part of what I want to do in Zambia ( I am going back at the end of this month for another 8 months) is live among these people, learn their tribal language and basically become as Zambian as I can possibly be in order to understand where they really need help and how to help in a way that doesn't disrupt the culture that I have become a part of. I'm talking of committing and not just being ready to go as soon as things don't go my way. I do realize that it is still an "option" for me to be there, but I don't know how else to help. You did mention that those you were with in Uganda found a good way to help, maybe you can help me understand their ways, or how they differ from mine?

Well, I hope to hear from you soon.
peace,
Nicholas

What is Intelligent Design?

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I did was stumble over to my laptop and check my email. This isn't necessarily my routine, but what is? Upon opening my Gmail account, I found an email from a friend Bob, among other emails. I have a bad habit of receiving emails from friends that are forwarded or have links to other sites and information, and not really looking into it. This morning for whatever reason I felt compelled to actually read and take a look at the links within this particular electronic message. One of the links took me to a web page promoting a documentary titled "Expelled" subtitled "No Intelligence Allowed." I looked into it, and found that Ben stein was not only featured in this documentary, but also had a hand in writing it. The site is filled with more than just a "buy our DVD" but also has very good questions and definitions regarding the Intelligent design and Evolution. Now here is the kicker, I did not only read that email and visit the site, but I also stopped at Block Buster on my way home and picked up the DVD and watched it.

I have to say that I was very surprised that not only is this documentary done well, but seems to be genuinely non-biased. If you're thinking that the documentary is supporting religious or political views, I would say that it is not. I would find it hard to convince someone that I am not biased, because I do believe in the bible, in Jesus Christ, and that men were created in the image of God, but this DVD supports freedom. Freedom to ask if Darwinism can explain everything, or if there is more. Freedom to research the possibility that there could be an intelligent designer.

Here is the link to the website http://www.expelledthemovie.com/ I suggest you look at it no matter what you believe. This documentary is compelling. If you know me personally and you're reading this, I have the DVD till March 13th and would be more than willing to lend it to you for an evening. Check it out, the movie has a 95 min run time and will not put you to sleep.

Churches and the market economy

This is a paper that was written some time ago by Zhao Xiao. At the time that he wrote this, he was a member of the communist party in China, and an atheist. For those of you who are more read, I know that this paper has been around for some years now, but considering the spiritual and financial state of which both China and the United States of America are in now, makes this paper much more interesting to me.




Market Economies With Churches and Market Economies Without Churches
by Zhao Xiao
Roaming in North America was for the purpose of reading a wordless book, to have the chance to gaze at the heavens from a foreign land. In the country that has the most prosperous material civilization in the history of human society, the question that frequently occupied my thoughts was this: where does the greatest difference between China and America lie?

The greatest difference between China and America
What makes the deepest impression on our countrymen about the US is the forests of skyscrapers that this country puts up, representing the high development of America's material culture. But skyscrapers are no longer scarce in China! It is evident that skyscrapers are not the greatest difference between China and the US.

Then, what about wealth? Without a doubt, the US is the world's richest country. In 2000, China's per-capita GDP was US$840, while America's was US$34,100; there is great disparity between the two. But considering that China's personal income levels are swiftly increasing, the wealth gap, though large, does not amount to the greatest difference between China and America.

Perhaps someone may suggest the gap in science and technology. However, China also possesses a great deal of high technology: for some time it has had the hydrogen bomb and the atom bomb, it sends rockets to the heavens, and it is developing a spaceship. So while a gap remains between the science and technology levels of China and the US, it is not an astronomical one.

Perhaps someone will suggest the financial gap. The pinnacle of the market economy is finance, and this is a weakness of China's market economy. In comparison, the US has the world's strongest financial system, and was the earliest to implement relaxations of financial controls to invite financial innovation. To date it has attracted 75% of the world's financial resources, making finance one of America's three superlatives (the others being sci-tech and political power). However, while China's financial system lags behind, looking across the country one finds banks as common as rice shops, securities firms promoting themselves everywhere, and ads for funds airing one after another during prime time on CCTV. So the financial gap between China and the US, while large, still does not amount to the greatest difference.

Then it must be a difference in the political and legal system. To be sure, there is a noticeable difference between China and the US in this area. However, the particular national conditions of the US and China are not very similar, and China is currently involved in a rapid transition and transformation. It is possible to imagine that a modernized China will inevitably move in the direction of an improved political and legal culture, and the prodigious experience and techniques of the US, as the the world's most developed country, have been taken as a model by the Chinese, who absorb everything. From this perspective, though reference can in fact be made to many areas in politics and law in China and the US, this still cannot be called the greatest difference.

Then where does the greatest difference between the US and China ultimately lie? My personal opinion: churches. Only in this area is the difference between China and the US not a question of numbers, but rather an essential difference between presence and absence. In the US, the spires of churches are more numerous than China's banks and rice shops. On a street near Harvard Square, I once stood and looked around to find that in three different directions there were three churches. Truth be told, from the east coast of the US to the west coast, from towns to cities, in any place you look you will find that this country's most numerous structure is none other than the church. Churches, and only churches, are Americans' center; they are the very core that binds Americans together.

Churches and the market economy
Americans are not idiots. Their need for churches is overwhelming, and churches provide something in answer to their call — there is definitely some principle at work. During my time in America, the relationship of churches with America's economy, society, and politics became the issue that most often occupied my mind. I came up with many interesting ideas; because of length, I will only address economic issues here. At its heart the problem could be stated as a comparison between market economies with churches and market economies without churches.

Ultimately, why is it that we need a market economy? It is because the market economy has one major advantage: it discourages idleness. The planned economy is different — its faults are faults of having no system of encouragement. Good work and poor work are identical. Under a free market system lazy people cannot live. So the market economy will force competition; it is an efficient economic system. However, the market economy can only discourage idleness; it cannot discourage people from lying or causing harm. This brings to the market economy a certain danger; that is, it may result in an unsavory situation: it may entice people to be industrious in their lies, industrious in bringing harm to others, and to pursue wealth by any means. Some people may say that this is because the market economy is imperfect, and that a perfect market economy would not be this way. However, a market economy that relies solely on the individual will never be perfect, since it can only call people away from idleness but cannot discourage lies and injury.

Indeed, repeated game-playing in the market may minimize dishonest and injurious actions, and legal punishments may be beneficial to normal trading actions. However, in conditions where information in the market is unbalanced and incomplete, contracts are forever deficient. Completely relying on repeated gaming and legal punishments to achieve normal market actions is not only impossible, but is possibly even uneconomic — the implication here is that the market may have unlimited costs, so expensive as to be unusable, and may ultimately come crashing down. To a degree, China's market economy currently has fallen into this trap. In the mind of a majority of Chinese people is a simple understanding that the market economy means getting rich, and to get rich any means may be used.

Hobbled market ethics have already lead to two chronic ailments in Chinese society. First, becoming rich without relying on labor or on the creation of wealth for society, but rather relying on collusion between government and business and the malicious repurposing of public finances to gain wealth. Second, dishonesty in market trading: backing out of promises and gaining wealth through swindles. So we can see that the market economy in China has brought out a group of "freaks": day and night they ceaselessly seek personal profit through lies and harm. Naturally, this kind of market economy has a exorbitant cost. And naturally, what causes the exorbitant cost of these market operations is the widespread lack of self-restraint among Chinese people.

These days Chinese people do not believe in anything. They don't believe in god, they don't believe in the devil, they don't believe in providence, they don't believe in the last judgment, to say nothing about heaven. A person who believes in nothing ultimately can only believe in himself. And self-belief implies that anything is possible — what do lies, cheating, harm, and swindling matter?

However, market economies that have churches are different. Perhaps it is difficult for Chinese people to understand what Christians are like. Here, I can only say that they are rational beings, just like ourselves, and it is sufficient for you to avoid thinking of them as monsters.

It cannot be denied that there are swindlers who go in and out of churches, but the majority of people are not going to church to fill their stomachs. The majority of followers go to church because they truly have a devout faith. Confucius said, "A true gentleman seeks out wealth according to the Way." To the average person, this may be difficult to achieve since the average person is not a true gentleman. In comparison, it is people who turn their eyes to church spires who generally respect financial norms and integrity. Why? Here is the secret: Puritans, though they may be called the most fervent people in the world in their drive to accumulate wealth, nevertheless do not pursue wealth for personal benefit but rather "to the glory of God," and to ensure that after they die they can enter heaven. This monetary ethic renders inseparable the motive and means of the Puritans' pursuit of wealth, and those whose only thought is to create wealth for God will naturally be able to become true gentlemen — gentlemen among gentlemen. In passing, the following thought occurred to me: I suddenly have a new understanding of why Bush required his CEOs to swear according to the Bible when signing their financial statements: Bush was not only raising the the Damoclean sword of the law over his CEOs, but he also placed them under the threat of hell's lakes of fire. The sword of the law together with the eyes of God is evidently more effective than the law alone. For this reason, the unity of means and method in acquiring wealth is able to remedy the market's insufficiencies. From this standpoint, the market economy has an instinctive need for some kind of matching market ethics before its true force can come into play, just like horses have an instinctive need for the whip. From the perspective of human society, the most successful model is church + market economy. That is to say, the happy combination of a market economy that discourages idleness together with a strong faith (ethics) that discourages dishonesty and injury.

Is it not integrity that you are pursuing? Then you ought to know: places with faith have more integrity. For China's crawling economic reforms, this ought to be an important inspiration. Market economies with churches are different in another respect from those without: in the former, it is much easier to establish a commonly respected system. The reason is simple: a people that share a faith, compared to people who only believe in themselves, find it easier to establish mutual trust, and through that to conclude agreements. However, where is the cornerstone for the American constitution? In fact, as early as the first group of English Puritans who came over to the New World on the Mayflower, there was the Mayflower Compact, which would become the foundation of autonomous government in the separate states in New England. Its contents comprised civic organizations as well as working out just laws, statutes, regulations, and ordinances, and the first line of the covenant was "In the name of God, Amen." So shared faith is the foundation for shared law. Otherwise, a legal system, should it arise, will not be respected.

Market economies with churches are comparatively open. The reason for this is perhaps explained thus: In the sight of God, all people are equal. It is easier for a core spirit of fraternity to extend to outsiders openness, acceptance, and respect.

Are there other uses of market economies with churches? Yes, and they are relatively important: guiding spending and modulating the close relationship between the poor and the rich.[**] In the case the wealth of a devout Puritan, the situation may be different. This is because his religious faith will tell him: gaining wealth is only for the glory of God; personally, he must use that wealth reasonably, for being forever humble is a virtue favored by God. So in the United States we can see that people with money must donate 10% of their wealth to the church for other church members to share. We can also see that the ranks of the richest people and the ranks of society's largest donors overlap; the relationship between rich and poor is fundamentally unlike the antagonism found in mainland China. Some of the spending and handling of wealth on the part of the rich may violate the law, while others may not violate secular law, making legal oversight difficult. But I know that this malconduct does not please God. However, in the absence of God's oversight, all of this is possible and even common.

Faith: the soul of the market economy
Modern economics—modern politics—modern culture form the trinity of the market economy. Seeking the fruits of the market economy, Chinese society ultimately will travel the road of cultural reconstruction, investing in market ethics. It is fortunate that in Chinese society there is already recognition that integrity is the cornerstone of the market economy, but establishing a good cornerstone is no simple matter.

Looking back at China's recent history, what China has learned from the West stretches from superficial to deep, from externals to internals. From the power of the gunboats we learned to understand the enemy's technology to defeat him; from the continual improvements to their military might we understood that we needed to develop our science, technology, and education; and because government-directed sci-tech and economics failed, we took a new road to the market economy, one that we have been on for 160 years now. However, this road to modernizing transformations is still far from finished. From the groans of present-day China's market economy, we can see that danger draws near: we have already bid farewell to humanity's most costly planned system, but because we lack a reasonable set of market ethics, we may be trapped in humanity's most costly market system.

Reality unquestionably requires us to move forward another few steps. The first is cultural transformation. We must find a cultural framework compatible with the modern free market economy. To achieve this, we may unearth from our own long-standing traditional culture a set of ethics that are compatible with modern economics, or we may use absorption and introductions from elsewhere to recreate our cultural DNA.

From Boston to Indiana, traveling through North America's vast lands, I could hear the serene sounds of church bells ringing in every church, and I recalled a poem by an angry poet that I wish to adapt as follows:

Be in awe of the invincible might,
Be in awe of the lightning,
And be in awe of the thunder in the sky;

Only through awe can we be saved. Only though faith can the market economy have a soul.