The Cartoon That Made Me Cry

Drawn by Leunig, this cartoon really struck me. I'm currently a stay at home Dad, mainly due to my wife's ability to earn more money than mean or to earn enough money to keep us living in a house which (like the picture) is full of industry and various refineries (to be fair though we're a long way from the industry). A few days a go we bought our kids a small classical guitar and that afternoon I was making up songs for all of my sons toys and the games they were playing, much to his delight. I could just see him thinking "Gee Dad, you're fantastic", enthralled by a talent that has absolutely no practical economic application. I highly recommend his "When I Talk To God" book of prayer.

Santa's Elves Are Chinese Slaves

It's Christmas and this documentary reminds me of how I get to live such a luxurious life. Watching my wife work so hard (I'm a stay at home dad) and living in one of the lower socio-economic parts of my city it's easy to think that everything I have is purely from my (or my wife's) hard work. The truth is it's not. It's built on the back of slaves. We just can't see them. I'm wondering if, like Moses, it will not be possible to change the system from within. Maybe we to are being called into the wilderness, to disconnect from the luxury of a system built on the back of slavery. Will that be easy? Of course not. We'll be grumbling that it was easier to be a slave in the system than to live in the wilderness. The question of course is where is God calling his people?

9 Reasons I'm Not A Good Evangelical And 9 Reasons I Won't Be A Mainline Liberal Any Time Soon Either

Why I'm Not A Good Evangelical

1. Christian music makes me feel nauseous.

2. I feel like I need to shower after leaving a Christian bookshop.

3. When I hear an atheist debate an evangelical I end up rooting for the atheist.

4. I didn't like "A Purpose Driven Life"

5. I worry about the "values" that could be taught to my kids at their Christian school.

6. When someone says "you know that Hillsong song we've been singing at church every Sunday for last 2 months" have to honestly say "no".

7. Penal substitutionary atonement drives me batty. (Atonement is so much bigger).

8. When I hear an evangelical preacher speak on just one verse from the Bible I quickly open mine to prove that in context the verse is unrelated to what he (OK once or twice it's been a she) is saying.

9. I'm OK with gay.

Why I'm Not A Mainline Liberal

1. Organ music makes me sleepy.

2. I like it when church has people under 55 in it.

3. When I hear an atheist debate an mainline liberal I'm not sure why they are a Christian (apart from growing up that way and now making some sort of living by saying they are one).

5. I think Rick Warren sounds like a great guy, and does some great things. (he gives away 90% of what he earns and works for his church for free. There's a reason he wears daggy Hawaiian shirts and not Armani Suits).

6. Even though they think social justice is more important than evangelicals they still don't give more money or do more than evangelical churches who think it's a minor concern.

7. Giving the bible and Jesus to the evangelicals so they could keep liturgy was not a good idea.

8. I just can't handle watching the newcomers getting completely lost flipping through the book of common prayer.

9. Robes look ridiculous.

Church Buildings And The 11th Commandment

The church I'm hanging out with is building a building and it's painful. To be honest more painful to watch than to be involved in as I would rather be cleaning the toilets every week before I'm on a committee dealing with cost blow outs, money, design and all of the levels of the denomination who'll need to be happy with what's happening. And then there will always be the possibility of infighting about what the church needs, what the building looks like and how much should be spent.

In the midst of thinking about this I was reading the 11th commandment. It didn't make it on to the tablets but it was the first command given after the famous 10.

Exodus 20:24-26

You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it. You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it."

Here God's people are asked to build just a simple alter just out of earth, nothing more, and if we build something out of stone it must be unhewn. That is not cut, just a pile of rocks. It's a directive to meet and worship God outside in the wilderness like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus all did (to name but a few). I know this is "unrealistic" it wouldn't get council approval, people would not come. But I'm starting to not care about all that. As I was walking through the nearest bushland with my son I felt more connected to God than I do in church and I don't think this is an uncommon experience. Maybe outside in the simplicity of the wilderness is where we are meant to meet God. After all when temple curtain ripped in two behind it was... nothing. The Bible doesn't describe how God suddenly escaped, at that point God is outside of the city hanging on a tree.

My Big Gay (affirming) Post

This is a big issue. To assume that the debates about Homosexuality in Christian churches are just about sexuality is, I think, to miss why people argue so passionately about it. Conversely to say that it's all about biblical interpretation is also to miss how deeply our own beliefs about sexuality affect us. For many who believe that homosexuality is a sin, at stake is not whether two people are in a relationship but rather it's reading something in the bible which seems to clearly say something is wrong and then choose to ignore the bible and to ignore what their tradition has said is a sin.

Personally, I take the Bible pretty damn seriously. I grew up not just evangelical but Sydney evangelical. I think it's helpful to start by trying to set aside the passages in the bible and ask if their was to be passages in the bible what might we expect them to say. This will either help you to tackle the issue afresh or tell you which way you are biased towards.

I like everyone have a few underlying beliefs which colour the way I read scripture and I feel I should lay out.

1. Homosexuality is not a choice and especially not at high school, when usually people start to figure out there sexuality. High school people may want to be different from their parents but they desperately want to be like everyone else. I cannot imagine a scenario where someone would choose homosexuality. My own heterosexuality was forcefully thrown upon me by my hormones not by any choice. Three of the guys I hung out with at high school have identified as gay I just can't imagine them choosing that as an option in the same way you might choose what you have for lunch. (sadly, in a poor reflection of my own high school studliness they averaged more girlfriends than me)

2. I had thought of homosexuality a part of fallen world something analogous to say someone who is born blind. Something that wasn't meant to be or not part of the ideal but, none the less in the same way I wouldn't ask a blind person to give up their guide dog and live as if they weren't blind I wouldn't ask someone to give up their homosexuality. Lately, however, I've found it harder to think this way. Partly because I know a few more gay people but probably more because I have son with Autism. Before my son I would have seen autism like homosexuality, as a "disorder", part of this fallen world. As I get to know my son his autistic traits are something that make him who he is. In the same way each person's sexuality is also deeply ingrained in them and makes them who they are. I'm now wondering whether people who are not neurotypical or sexual-typical are just a part of Gods wild and varied creation. (See "theology of pizazz" for more on this text and MP3)

Of course these ideas will colour the way I read the bible as does anyone else's beliefs and ideas.

That said lets jump into the Bible. Very often I've seen gay affirming types dismiss the bible as an old homophobic text that can be ignored because it does not keeping pace with modern western values of what is loving and moral. This, I think is, dangerous. Rather, I'd like to propose revisiting scripture in the same way as people have around the issues of slavery, race and gender equality. Wondering if there are other ways to understand texts that we've always been told can only be understood one way.

Fortunately there are only a very small number of passages. I've done lots of reading around this but to avoid making this post enormous I'm going to look at them in pretty light detail but hopefully enough to give a good outline about my thinking around them.

Leviticus 18:22: this passage is part of a ritual manual for Israel's priests. This prohibition follows after the prohibition of the idolatrous sexuality of worshipping Molech, whose cult included male cult prostitutes and bestiality. Leviticus also has a set of "every sperm is sacred" type passages (no sex during menstruation for example) all designed to keep a small isolated people in the wilderness alive and growing. Like all cultic practices the practice in Leviticus 18:22 is described as an abomination.

Sodom and Gomorrah: Should I bother with this one? No. You can google it. Plenty of conservative scholars will say that Sodom and Gomorrah's sin was not homosexuality. Even Ezekiel 16:49 says "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy."

1 Corinthians 6:9: The NRSV translates this word (used only here in the New Testament) as "Male prostitute". The family that this word belongs to is used in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 where Jesus describes robes as being "soft" (NRSV). The first time word was translated as homosexual was 1958 by the Amplified bible. None the less lets say The NRSV and the more conservative NIV (who also uses male prostitute) translations are correct. If we can see heterosexual prostitution as a sin but not a heterosexual relationship then the same should be true for homosexual prostitution and homosexual relationships

1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10: the Greek word (Arsenokoites) is again rarely used, only twice with no context. The NRSV translates it as "sodomites" which all things considered isn't too bad. The word refers to someone who rapes or dominates someone (male or female) using anal sex. Just like in the Sodom story. Again if vaginal rape doesn't make vaginal sex a sin then logically the same would apply to anal sex.

Romans 1:24-28: For me, this is where the rubber really hits the road. We're not talking about an Old Testament book with laws that Xns mostly ignore (Take almost any random passage in Leviticus) or the the translation of just one word in a list of sins with no other context to the meaning.

Romans 24-28 describes the consequence of something that has happened, that is the people have sinned and this is the result. Romans 20b-23 lets us know what this something is; worship of false Gods. I think (from what I've read) that this most likely refers to the worship of pagan fertility gods. This worship often culminating in ritualistic orgies that involved anal sex with priests and priestesses.

The word translated as natural in the key passage of Romans could also be regular or usual. So that is to euphemistically say men were having anal (unnatural) sex with women and even with other men. These of course were usually men with wives at home, hence the extra astonishment over the sex with men.

What all of these verses have in common is that they are denouncements against domination and abuse as well as against pagan worship. This is, I believe, is why lesbian sex is so absent from all these verses and the rest of the Bible.

This is just my rough thumbnail overview. If you want more detail, gaychristian101.com is not a bad place to start particularly if you're a more evangelical leaning kind of person.

So does all this mean that Paul thought homosexuality was not "unnatural" in the way we think of the term "unnatural"? Quite possibly not. If Paul's own urges to be heterosexual were as powerful as mine are and given that he was surrounded by ritualistic anal sex as a key part of pagan worship and pederasty a part of Greek and then Roman Culture - which would usually involve heterosexual men dominating or abusing someone beneath their social standing it would be difficult for Paul to imagine homosexuality outside of these pervasive contexts. Having said that I don't think Paul could imagine a world without slavery. Or, could imagine a world where women were not considered property and were educated to the same level as men. That doesn't mean he wouldn't say that in Christ there is no male or female, no slave or free, no Jew or gentile, and no straight or gay.

Now, if you're one of the many people who read this in horror feeling I've watered down scripture and I'm just being a wet liberal, It's worth asking ourselves why do you care so much? More about this issue than say divorce? Divorce being something that's far more plainly written about in scripture, yet we are generally prepared to say "it'd be great if it didn't happen but since it has lets make sure all involved get as much love and support as they need". If you find yourself getting heated up and thinking "but this is different!" it's probably worth asking yourself why. It won't (probably) make you think differently about the issue but it will help you realise what you are bringing to the text before reading it.

I have written this post like all my other posts primarily for myself. To document the thinking that I have gone through and to explain how I can be both Christian, evangelical (as much as I hate Xn labels this is probably still the one that comes closest to describing me) and gay affirming. 

Autism

I have son, a beautiful son who I love more than I ever thought possible. Recently my son was diagnosed with autism. My wife has started blogging about it here. She is insanely articulate and emotive.

Confession: I Support Child Slavery And Animal Torture

It was a Friday night - party night... Well, sort of, with two young kids "party night" means a DVD and some chocolate. The DVD arrived in the mail, the kids were in bed so I grabbed my skateboard to go and get the chocolate. And, there I stood at the supermarket in front of a huge range of chocolate. A huge range but only one had the blue and green fair trade logo on it. It belonged to a boring block of milk chocolate which unlike almost everything else was not on special. Only one piece of chocolate I knew did not have child slave labour involved in it's production. I did not buy it. In my justified that it's not fair that there is only one fair trade option and my wife would be disappointed if I bring back the most boring and expensive chocolate option.

Only hours before I was at another supermarket doing the weekly shopping. There I was faced with the option of expensive free range meat or cheaper innocuously unnamed meat. Meat that surely was produced in factory farming conditions. Chickens in battery conditions and pigs in stalls where they can't move.

So here I confess that I support child slavery and animal torture. I confess this because it feels horrible to write this and confessing is compelling to change my behaviour to match what I say I believe.

The Bible, Historical Events And A Helpful Analogy

You've probably heard people (scholars) say that there is lots of stuff in the bible that is not historically accurate. This is sometimes out rightly rejected but more often than not clarified by a statement along the lines of "well historical biography is not the style that the gospels (or other books) were written in". Which leaves the lay person asking "so what style were they written in? Make it up as you go along style?" Well I think I may have a modern day writing style that is analogous to many of the biblical writings (particularly those dealing with events that have taken place in history) It is the political cartoon.

The political cartoon accurately and often in a very quick way tells exactly what is going on without necessarily being historically accurate. So in centuries to come someone might look back at two cartoons of the historical event of the Australian prime minister meeting the American president, one cartoon might have the prime minister laying prostrate before the president and another might have the prime minister kissing the president's bum. Now a historian might tell us that it is unlikely that either events took place and that the two cartoons contradict each other. But, as 21st centurary cartoon readers we know that these cartoons are actually an accurate telling of what is going on, in many ways far more accurate than a photo of the two leaders shaking hands ever could be.

I've found the political cartoon analogy really helpful. If ever I hear someone say that something in the bible didn't or couldn't happen the way it is recorded to ask is this similar to how a political cartoonist would have recorded this event?

Agents Of Future: Worship Music That Actually Rocks

Last week I downloaded a recent episode of Homebrewed Christianity. An episode on worship music. I was hesitant to listen, decent worship music is very rare to find. Interviewees Angie and Todd Fadel talked about the lack of honesty, lament and anguish in worship music, all good stuff but having a great theology of music and making great music can be two different things (still love you Brian!). Then there was a gap in the conversation and they played the first few bars of "Nothing In The Way". It gripped me and shook me. Todd plays piano line Pete Townsend plays guitar and the vocals were a cross between between Queen and Courtney Love; multiple tracks with vocal passion always trumping precision I'd heard it before, on triple j no less, but would never of picked it as "Worship Music". With that that I downloaded their album Sneak Peaks. It's great. You can listen to the whole thing at the bottom of this post or listen to it here. Best of all you can buy CD quality files for less than the cost of iTunes.

If you don't have the patience to listen to the whole podcast this you tube club is a good introduction.

Stream the "Agents Of Future" album "Sneak Peeks"

You can get more of their stuff from agentsoffuture.bandcamp.com

Relationship or Power

A great zoologist has been working with apes for years. She has finally made a major breakthrough with an ape she has been working with and knows that the next baby ape she starts with she will be able to unleash it's mind and give it the power to think reason and love to so the same degree as any human. Will she do it?

A computer programmer has been working on artificial intelligence for years finally he has cracked it he has designed a robot with software that lets it have independent choice and the ability to learn new things just like a human. Will he build the robot?

The question in the two scenarios is the same. If you could create a human like being would you? It’s a dilemma because by creating a human like being you are relinquishing control of that being. They will have the power to love you or leave you or do things or be someone you don’t like. Once you train the ape or build the robot to be like a human you are no longer “all powerful”, they control how you relate to each other.

Xns will often describe God as “all powerful” without even a moment’s thought. As humans if we were to give something the some human qualities that will reduce our own power, but also increase the possibility for relationship. Having created two children in my own image (so to speak) I am very aware that although I maybe powerful I am not all powerful and once they become adults (completely in my adult image) I will have virtually no power what so ever, only possibility of relationship. If we believe that God has created us in God’s image and desires to have a relationship with us, maybe we need to stop calling God “all powerful”.

Scripture Classes and Chaplains in High Schools

If you are one of my friends who sends me save our chaplains or scripture classes you may be disappointed by this post so maybe just stop reading now. Also, this was supposed to be a short pithy post but it's not, Sorry.

When I went to high school we didn't have a chaplain and we hardly ever had scripture classes. Twenty years ago, as far as I knew It was only private Xn schools who had chaplains. Public high schools were supposed to dedicate one period a week to scripture classes. The school I attended finished one period early every Friday because a previous principal had just got rid of scripture altogether. By the time i was attended the school scripture happened once every six weeks or so much to the annoyance of the teacher who's class scripture cut into. Most people did not turn up to scripture and I always sighed a small sigh of relief every time my non Xn friends wagged scripture because at a time when being cool was really important nothing made Xy seem more uncool than scripture.

Without scripture and a chaplain Xy thrived at our school. At one point 10% of the school attended the weekly lunchtime meeting for ISCF (Inter School Christian Fellowship) a student led Christian meeting that was overseen by just one teacher. As great as Mr Bradley was the real key to the large number of Xns at my school was, I think, the strength of the local churches. My church for example had a weekly high school youth group with 24 volunteer leaders (split over 2 groups) who would faithfully turn up every week. This was not a mega church but a medium sized parish church. With that kind of role modeling by the time it was my turn as 16 year old to be one of the ISCF leaders it didn't seem daunting at all.

If you had asked me if I wanted scripture to be taught every week I would have said “no”, asked me if i wanted a chaplain at the school I would have said “no” too.

For me the beauty of the Friday lunchtime ISCF meeting was that it was "opt in", purely the students own choice. Scripture on the other hand was "opt out" (if you could convince your parent to write a note) otherwise it was compulsory.

Fast forward 20 years to now and the same well-meaning daggy scripture teachers are doing their best to jump the generation gap (for those 23 and over) or the credibility gap (for those 23 and under) and I'm still unsure if it's the best thing people could be doing, especially without a really well people resourced youth ministry at the local church.

Perhaps another fact of the current debate that I struggle with is that pro scripture / chaplaincy people often talk as if either program is a constituted right and not an absolute privilege. Anyone who knows me knows that I've done quite a lot of Xn stuff in schools but I have always done those things with an absolute sense of privilege to be invited onto school grounds.

Chaplains, is another fascinating and different issue. As soon as the policy was introduced I was sure it wouldn't last longer than one election cycle. I was wrong. The Dictionary definition of a chaplain: A member of the clergy who conducts religious services for an institution, such as a prison or hospital. The Government definition of a school chaplain: is a basically a youth worker who will not engage in religious activities. General public definition of a chaplain: Well that'll depend on who you speak to... It'll be some combination of the above.

Personally I'm off the opinion that mixing Xy and government is like mixing ice-cream with dog poo. The dog poo (government) stays pretty much the same but the ice-cream (Xy) gets ruined.

At the moment we have someone chosen to do a job on religious grounds (although recent legislation has been passed to change this) and then instructed to do nothing religious. The political idea is that church wins because it gets to feel like it's doing something by having a "Xn presence" in every high school and the government hopes that non-Xn voters don’t mind as the chaplains are not allowed to do anything religious.

If were to rename chaplains "under paid Christians happy to help out an under resourced over stretched education system" I'd have no problem with that. The problem is that we are calling these workers chaplains and misrepresenting what they are actually doing.

The point of the chaplaincy program is to buy votes and the Xn community is buying up big because we can see how disconnected young people are from Xy and from church. We think that sticking chaplains in schools or keeping scripture compulsory will get kids back in church. Of far more value would be 24 adults willing to commit to meeting weekly with a group of high school aged young people once a week every week of the school term. This is highly unlikely as we (voting Xn adults) are so committed to other things. This is what I think really needs to change.

Jesus Dojo, Mark Scandrette - Review

About a month ago I was lucky enough to win a copy of Mark Scandrette's new book Jesus Dojo care of the great guys at Homebrewed Christianity. Jesus Dojo is one of those rare magical books where once you've read it you give it to your spouse demanding she read it too. It was a radical yet gentle challenge to change my life and follow Jesus in a far more practical (rather than esoteric) way than i have for a long time. The kind of meaningful changes that you have to bring your spouse along with you on.

The book is part a guide on how to do church differently and part personal story as Mark and his church try to live it out a new way of being Xn. The book is based around the idea of a dojo. A karate dojo (where you've most likely to have heard the term) is just the place where you learn the way of karate and obviously it's very hands on. So there won't be lots of singing about karate followed by a long talk about karate. The Jesus Dojo is based around a series of experiments that participants do that come out of reading the gospels. So when John the Baptist challenges his followers to give up half of what they own that's what the participants do. Importantly the experiments are experiments they are not permanent changes or a set of guidelines, but they may lead to these. Sometimes experiments work wonderfully other times they don't. Either way there is plenty to be learnt.

So if you find yourself sitting in church thinking "Is this it?", "Has choosing to follow an incendiary revolutionary come down to badly singing some songs listening to some guy talk and then eat tea and biscuits?" Then this book is for you.

In short this book is friggin' awesome not just for what's in it but for what it will propel you to do in the future. The only downside is you'll have to convince some friends to join you on the journey.

Carry Us Over - Valley Song

I've got a bad habit of constantly being on the look out for "worship music" the kind of songs you could sing in church. Every so often I get to introduce a new one to the church I hang out with, but lately I've been singing and playing Xn songs a lot and since I really just can't stand Xn songs of the Hill Song variety that kind of makes looking for those songs a whole lot harder. I recently, care of Homebrewed Christianity, came across The Agents of Future who I will post on later. They recommended Kelli Schaefer and I came across the song "Carry Us Over". I love it and can't stop playing it.

Here is a some what beautifully shambolic playing of the song - shambolic because it's very much anyone with an instrument can play and "the band" is not turned up loud enough to drown out anyone who isn't singing perfect pitch or clapping exactly in time. It's friggin' great.

If you want a nice studio recording of the song go here

And the chords and lyrics...

Carry Us Over

C G Am
Jesus turn this wine back in to water
C G Am
So we can quench our poor thirsty souls
C G Am
This dessert's dry as hell and getting hotter
C G Am
And the truth is only your love makes us whole

C G
So carry us over the finish line
Dm F
we can see the end but our feet are so tired
C G Am
It's Obvious we're useless on our own
C G
So carry us over the finish line
Dm F
We can see the end but our feet are so tired
C G Am
We don't know how to be sober
C G C
So Jesus Carry us over

But if this wait is gonna kill me
well kill me then and bring me home to you
But if my destiny’s amongst the heathen
Well tie me to your rope and pull me through

C G Am
We want to come home
C G Am
We want to come home
C G Dm F
We want to come home
C G C
We want to come home

© Kelli Schaefer

Oh and when there is no one else around she sounds like this...

Passion Gone

I'm loosing the passion for blogging. I had a big break not so long ago and now i feel like I'm going to do just what a blog shouldn't do, slowly fade away. I think a few things are happening. 1. I'm feeling less and less like i have ideas that are worth other people reading. 2. Too much other stuff is happening in my life... Kids (one with autism and one with a language processing difficulty), uni and the usual stay at home dad stuff. These are obviously way more important than a blog and while my brain might be processing stuff anyway it's just too much effort to formulate those ideas into a coherent blog post. 3. I just am a little bit more comfortable living in the grey and the unknown at the moment.

So you may never get to read the following half thought out posts...

Chaplains: Why i think they, under the current arrangement, they are not such a great idea.

Confession: About the the slavery and animal torture I'm involved in.

Relationship Vs Power: where I continue to muse around the idea that God is not "all powerful" and why that makes relating to God possible.

Big Gay Post: where I outline all the thoughts and reasons as to why I am Gay affirming.

It was twenty years ago today...

20 years ago my musical world went from this...

to this...

Kurt, Chris and Dave. Thank you.

To be completely truthful I spent most of my high school years listening to sixties and seventies rock, but that Kylie and Jason kind of music was always there in the background.

Honest Worship Music

The YouTube title is wrong worship. Maybe it's just honest worship. I can remember seeing a church service where the band was at the back if the congregation, something about it felt very right. More like the congregation was worshiping God and not watching a concert. As I always say to fellow nervous church musicians. "Don't worry were only the backing band, the congregation is the lead singer."

After 9 11 We Need An Angry God - Some Thoughts 10 Years On

The usual wisdom is that it was belief in an angry god is what caused a handful of people to get into planes and crash into skyscrapers and then caused a much larger group of people to get into many more planes and drop bombs on to people who lived in countries which were kind of close to the country where most of the first handful of people came from.

Furthermore, an often remarked criticism of the Bible is that in the God of the Old Testament is full of anger but the god of the new testament is full of love. This criticism is supposed to be a debate clinching argument because we, as a society, believe that you can't be both full of anger and full of love and that anger is an altogether bad emotion. If you were to hear someone say "my child has anger issues" no one will turn around and say "that's great you must be so proud". Instead there might be a bit of consoling about similar issues in their own children and how that anger might have been subdued through a combination of therapy and medication.

Our ideal citizen does not have "anger issues", our ideal citizen swims with the tide of the way the world is and learns to accept things as they are. Less than ideal citizens would include Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero and Jesus. All angry. Angry about the way their people had been treated by the ruling authorities. All full of anger and full of love. Key of course is that that they were angry and non-violent. And it is non-violence that is key to understanding the gospel.

As I look around at the litany of injustices in the world I am angry and I am sure God must feel the same. I contend that God did not just pour out Gods anger on Jesus making God satisfied and unmoved by the events of our world. Maybe instead God has channelled God's anger into an act of non-violence. The act of becoming a man and laying down his life for others in the crucifixion. An act that would be a window into a new paradigm a paradigm where violence loses and love wins because the grave could not hold Jesus.

God is still angry and God is calling us to follow the Jesus path of non-violence. Our anger is to fuel loving acts of non-violent action.

Like the terrorists on 9/11 I sense that something is unfair in the world and I want that to change. We both believe that God is angry about these injustices. The difference between us is that the anger of my God causes God to humble God's self to the form of a man who would act out love and not violence even if that meant death on a cross.

Ten years on if you are angry about 911 or about the west's response or that the 911 anniversary will receive more attention than starving millions in the horn of Africa, then join God and follow Jesus on the path of non-violent action in a new paradigm where violence loses and love wins.

Why Women Should Not Wear High Heeled Shoes

Looking 2 Inches taller: 2% increase in attractiveness.

Looking like you haven't yet learnt to walk yet and definitely couldn't run: 15% decrease in attractiveness.

Overall: Bad idea.

Fred Nile And Wishful Thinking

Fred Nile has been in the media of late holding the NSW government to ransom, wanting the removal of optional ethics classes in exchange for the passage of other unrelated bills before parliament.

Nearly twenty years ago I got to see Fred preach to the choir, quite literally, as he addressed a conservative Baptist church.

Fred started by reading from Romans (Romans 13). It’s the famous passage were Paul says that the rulers and authorities have been put there by God. Fred then went on to explain that what Paul meant to say was that all people in authority or government should be Christians. He gave no reason for why Paul meant to say something completely different to what he actually said and it seemed like he just really wished that's what the text actually said.

At the time I had a strong urge to stand up and yell "are you Friggin' serious?!? The foundation for your ministry is based on what you think Paul meant to say?!?" But, I was sitting next to my new girlfriend's parents and at the time impressing them seemed more important than yelling out and getting stared at by a hundred ticked off Baptists.

None the less since Fred was famous and it's the only time I've heard a justify a ministry by basing it on something that was meant to be in the bible (but wasn't actually there). So it's something I've not forgotten.

I like to think of myself as some who diligently tries to follow Jesus and takes the bible very seriously. The problem is that I'm pretty sure Fred does too and, we have very very different ideas about what this means.

I suspect that Fred's attitudes, actions and his parties policies are not based on what Jesus said and but rather what Fred wishes he said and did. They are not based on what the bible says but on what he wishes the bible "meant to say".

Poor People Ain't Like They're Supposed To Be

According to an article in the West Australian last month (Thurs 27th) I live in the only "affordable" shire in Perth. In other words I live in the crapiest shire in Perth, the one that no one else wants to live in. Now I could get all high and mighty about how Jesus walked amongst the poor and all the Christians reading this should do the same by moving into my shire. But the honest truth is if I had the means I too would move away from the poor performing schools, crappy playgrounds, cars doing burnouts and the sounds of AC-DC and Cold Chisel blasting out of the backyard stereo at 2am in the morning.

Although all these things might be irritating my real problem is that poor people ain't what they're supposed to be. Poor people are supposed aware that they are in need, they are supposed to see how that i could help them and they are supposed to ask for or accept my help when i offer it. But they don't. there's as much chance of that happening as you (dear middle class reader) asking for mechanical help from your one bogan neigbour even though you know he completely rebuilt an engine from scratch. The problem is my neighbours and I just don't have that much in common. So it's hard to sustain a chat in the street let alone do anything practical. They don't want my help or my friendship. For now I'll have to settle for being the guy who gives away eggs, can tie a tie for, has a computer that connects to the internet and can print, photocopy documents.

Jesus Is Too Hard So I'm Trying John The Baptist Instead

Jesus once said "if you have two wah wah pedals give one to someone who has none. If you have two TVs give one away" Actually he didn't say that he said "sell what you own, and give the money to the poor" although I suspect this wasn't meant to be exclusively about outer garments. Inspired by an interview with Mark Scandrette on his new book "The Jesus Dojo" I'm trying* to divest myself of half of everything I own, John the Baptist style (Luke 3:11).

Fortunately for me a lot of the stuff I own is broken useless crap that may one day be useful for fixing something else that is broken. So this year might not be to hard, especially when I'm keeping the really good wah wah and TV and getting rid of the crappy ones. However next time I read Luke 3:11 it's going to be much tougher to get rid of half of the remaining half, the time after that even tougher and the time after that I'll be thinking why didn't I just go straight to Mark 10:21.

*For all of you thinking wow good on you please note the word "trying" and I have not yet successfully given away half of what I own.

Christians Picking And Choosing Bits Of The Bible

If someone is a Xn it's a safe bet that they pick and choose which bits of scripture to read and learn from and which to ignore, particularly from the Old Testament (OT). Look at any Xns bible and I bet that while Genesis and Exodus might be well thumbed the pages of Leviticus and Numbers will be pristine. We reinforce our theological bent by reading particular bits and leaving out others.

The question shouldn't be whether we pick and choose but how we pick and choose or what lens we read through. Selecting just a handful of parts of the bible it's easy to get a war mongering judgmental God or a peace and justice loving God. The same bible has the call to turn our ploughshares into swords and then our swords into ploughshares.

As Xns followers of Christ who take the Bible seriously (not followers of the bible who take Christ seriously) it is Jesus who frames how we read the bible. So, for that reason I'm more of a swords into ploughshares kind of guy because, I think Jesus was like that. Just because something is written in the bible it isn't necessarily a command to go and do the same. God sticking with Israel no matter what (through wars and kings) is not the same as tacit approval for everything Israel did.

I'm a big fan of the Bible and take it very seriously. But, i follow Jesus and that is what taints, filters and shapes how I read the Bible.

Bible Belts, They're In The Wrong Place

I don't know what it's like in other parts of the world but Australia our Bible belts are firmly in the middle of middle class suburbia. Middle class suburbia home of the moralists and the intellectuals, the people who can tell everyone what is right and that they are right. To my ears this echoes the teachers of the law really loudly. They were as close as you might get to a 1st century Jewish middle class - under the ruling Romans but above all their own people. We need to ask ourselves where are the prostitutes, the drunkards (addicts), the sinners, the indebted. These are the people that Jesus was hanging out with and they are from the typical church goer in Australia. I wonder if this is the gospel we tend to talk about is one of just salvation (without need for real change) and not liberation (liberation both personally and structurally).

I've Accidentally Become A Pacifist

I'm sure there was a time when I used to believe in the need for armed forces and that at times these would be the best way to resolve conflicts. As I’ve grown older I’ve grown even less conservative and now I’m a pacifist. I don't when this happened I only really thought about it the other day. It just crept up on me. As Toni Campolo puts it “I can’t think of a circumstance where Jesus would pick up a bayonet and run it through someone”. If we are called to be like Jesus then why would we live differently. Jesus with all the supernatural power of God was murdered like any garden variety insurrectionist. His passive resistance resulted in his own death and that, is the danger of deciding to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to walk to the cross.

Why I think Conservative Christians Shouldn't Care About Gay Marriage

When Xns talk about gay marriage and homosexuality they could talk until the cows come home about whether homosexuality is a sin or not. In this post I'd like to address those sisters and brothers who do think it's a sin and have assumed this means that they should be against making gay marriage legal. Below is why i think that even if you think homosexuality is a sin gay marriage shouldn't bother you...

There are two types of sin 1. Sins that affect just the sinner (envy would be an example) 2. Sins that affect the sinner and other (innocent) people around them. (murder and gossip would be examples).

You'll notice that almost all of the sins in group 1 legal and most of the sins in group 2 are illegal. Even something like gossip can morph into slander and public deformation. My contention is if you are going to call homosexuality and gay marriage a sin then you'd have to put in the first group as the only people affected by it are two consenting adults.

I know that some conservative Xns will say that gay marriage will affect the "institution of marriage". I cannot see how it will affect the institution of marriage any more than divorce or taxes spent poorly on an corrupt organizations would affect the "Christian" institution of charity.

So if you're a "gay is not ok" kind of Xn don't worry about gay marriage, there are plenty of other things to write to your local MP about. If you want to make sins illegal maybe just concentrate on those that will affect non consenting people around the sinner. Or, you could curl up with a copy of the King James Bible comforted in the fact that you will not come across the word homosexual (that word doesn't appear in Bible translations until 1958).

Slumdog Millionaire Review

In the 10 months I had off from blogging I finally got around to joining the rest of the world and watching Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't like it. All fiction happens in a universe that the story teller creates and it's the job of the story teller to draw us in to the world of the story so everything that happens becomes believable. Dan Brown's the Davinci code does a great job of this, so much so that I was disappointed when I came across the gaps in the story’s theological and historical explanation. Slumdog is built on these premises: If someone just gets lucky enough then they too can get out of their situation. The implication is we're all in control of how are life turns out regardless of the where we are born.

It's classic American dream mythology. The evils that the characters face were not inequality, poverty and disease resulting from the systemic injustice that created the slum (which is really the great evil that slum dwellers face). Instead, the evil was a handful of gangsters. To me it felt like the slum setting was not necessary almost like an elephant in the room. Maybe for me feel good movies are a time to forget about systemic injustice for a while and I just couldn't do it in this one. Not when that injustice isn't being confronted in some way. I can hear my mum saying "for goodness sake, It's just a story!".

In my opinion Kevin Mcloud's documentary Slumming It did a much better job of capturing the beauty and horror of the slum. He walked away wanting to make the slum more sanitary and the work practices safer, but there was a joy and community amongst the people that the first could learn a lot from.

Back!

After doing a "final" post almost a year ago I've decided to start blogging again. I have been tempted to start blogging again...

Temptation 1. I was asked a serious of questions by a reader. These were questions she'd asked ministers and the public centre for Xy. Although she received praise for her questions she didn’t get without a decent answer. I was both disturbed that she couldn't find a decent answer to her a questions through these channels and that she asked me, author of an obscure blog with no official endorsement.

Thought 1. I could have all the answers some one's theological questions. Mmm I'd like to be a Guru.

Temptation 2. There have been a slow drip of expressions of disappointment, that I've stopped blogging.

Thought 2. I could be a really important part of people's lives. Mmm I'd like to be important.

Temptation 3. I've actually had more people visiting the blog since I've stopped writing. Primarily due to being high up on the AOL search for Tommie Zitto.

Thought 3. I could be famous. Mmm famous.

Fortunately for everyone I have resisted all of these temptations. As much as I tempted by all of these things I don't want to be a guru, I don't want to be important and I don't want to be famous. But I do have ideas, lots of them and the blog has always been a great way to wrestle with, flesh out and clarify those ideas.

Since I've stopped blogging those ideas have just blocked up like a big pile of theological snot. I need to blow my nose bad and this blog will be my handkerchief.

So, if you're reading this thanks for coming back and I hope you find my ramblings somewhat useful.

This Is The End Beautiful Friends The End

I started this blog a confused gen exer trying to find a place in the Xn church. I'm still a confused gen exer but I feel like I've found my place. In many ways I suspect I've just become more comfortable about being on the edge of church and, care of the good folks who make up the church I currently call home, that edge feels very comfortable. This comfort is reflected in my lack of posts in recent times. So for the foreseeable future I'm going to call it a day. Thanks to everyone who has read any of the posts and to anyone who I've disagreed with or has disagreed with me just remember "heresy is just truth overstated".

God bless.

Podcasts

Sometime ago I started doing 101 things to do as a churchless Xn. One of the most consistently important things for me has been listening to Podcasts. These are my favourites...

• Homebrewed Christianity
• Nick and Josh
• Father Bob
• Sunday night Safran
• Praxis
• Iconocast
• Emergent Village
• Tom Wright page (not a podcast but links to loads of Tom Wright talks)
• CCDA

You should be able to find them straight through iTunes too.

Apologies

Apologies for the lack of posts. I'm working on a talk for church. "Messiah: Justice and Friend of Sinners" is the title I've been given. So it'll be a long post / mp3 on August 22nd but not much up till then.