Confessions of a Shiftless Mind

Solomon once wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

Ever wonder just how true that really is?

Check out Cracked’s compilation of completely unexplained archaeological finds.  Warning: if you don’t like reading foul language, don’t go to cracked.com.  But if you can overlook the language, check out these six unexplained archaeological finds - like batteries from ancient Mesopotamia.  A clockwork atronomical device from Greece.  Complex pipe networks in backwater, uninhabited, ancient China.

Myself, I look at these and I see something that logically fits with the Biblical account.  Just after the flood, God himself marvelled at human ingenuity, and had to confuse language to keep humanity from too much pride.  It makes perfect sense to me that from creation onward, the capabilities, strength and health of humanity have been progressively decreasing, in keeping with the second law of thermodynamics.  It makes perfect sense that mankind has had highly technological moments in the past, but been brought low.  And all these treasures are directly in keeping with that.

Here’s the thing.  There are people whose mountains that surround their homes we can see from ours, who live in rotting, condemned homes.  They live on a reserve at the end of Harrison Lake without connection to the provincial power grid, without connection to regular phone lines.  There are 2 million people that camp, play, and recreate all around them but never give them a second thought.  What is up with that?

One thing I have had a passion for since I first became a Christian at 16 has been actually reaching out and helping people who live near me.  I’ve always known that churches support missionaries to faraway places around the world.  I have seen churches and gone to churches that sent teams of students and teenagers to Mexico and even the USA to build homes for those who need them, as an act of love.  But the needy are right here.  Why aren’t we helping the needy right here?

I used to 4×4 extensively up in the Harrison Lake area, and have driven by their community many many times.  I have kept tabs on the band’s website for information on what is going on up there.  I just found their Windows Live Space, and read an article from the Vancouver Sun just this last June.  In that article it says,

I saw houses with their roofs draped with cheap blue tarps. That’s because the roofs leak and the houses are condemned. At least five are subject to seasonal flooding from the river. Peters last warned the government they need immediate replacement a year ago.

In fact, he tells me, he told the government that the In-SHUCK-ch are now four generations behind in meeting infrastructure and service needs.

I want to find out what the holdup is in getting them new homes.  Is it funding?  Red tape?  Manpower?

I want to find out if this is a project that Habitat for Humanity can get in on.

I want to see if I can organize a team to go and build a house for these people.  They need someone to show them the love.  More, I believe that this community was affected by the residential schools problems, and these people may feel like God has abandoned them or hates them or something.  They have an ancient (historic) gothic-style Catholic church in the little village, but if that is all they have known about Jesus, then we need to go show them the real deal.

Just ran into this umm… well, it’s not really a dating site. It is a marriage proposal site. It facilitates arranged marriages, based on the old testament model of bride price.

It is an interesting idea on a number of levels, if a bit foreign to North Americans coming out of the European pattern of marriage.

The bride price concept is not meant to assign a monetary value to women, so much as to establish how much the husband is willing to sacrifice - a demonstration of his commitment and seriousness in pursuing marriage. It was in the past a nod to the expense of raising a daughter, who could not do as much physical work as a boy could, contributing to the production and wealth of the family. Today, this isn’t as true (physical labour is rarely the primary driver of income in families today), but on the other hand, the cost of raising any child has gone up substantially. If you ask around couples these days how many kids they desire, the answer is always a very low number as compared to previous generations. If you follow up with a why question, the first reason is invariably, “kids are EXPENSIVE!” If that is true, then paying a bride’s family makes a certain amount of sense.

The second major area of discomfort is the fact that the site caters to families who are offering their daughters for marriage young. Some as young as 13, though it is unclear if they actually expect the marriage to be conducted and consummated before a reasonable time has passed and legal ages are attained. This brings to mind some of the bad press around the FLDS, and the commune that made the news in Texas, as well as the Bountiful, BC situation. Certainly nobody advocates such nonsense, least of all me. Coercion is probably the biggest issue in both those news stories.

It is a fact, though, that girls are attaining puberty at earlier and earlier ages. With the onset of adult hormones comes adult desires, and the tremendous volume of teenage sexual behaviour is now a fact of life. As Christian parents, who seek to see their children into marriage without having fallen to sexual temptation, we are faced with two choices: teaching children self-control and modelling proper relationships, and supporting them in remaining celibate until their wedding at whatever age (which is also moving later and later into the twenties on average), or finding alternative ways to help our children express themselves sexually - while maintaining God’s will for us in marriage. Practically speaking, that means marriage.

In the mainstream, there has definitely been broad-based support for and creative approaches to the former approach. I have heard of father-daughter balls, and other types of approaches to building strong loving relationships between young girls and their dads. Statistics seem to bear out that the stronger a girl’s relationship with her father, the less likely she will be to seek affection prematurely from young men. On the other side, chastity rings and other ceremonies meant to create and support agreements to remain a virgin until marriage are becoming increasingly popular. The sexual urge is a strong one though in young men, borne out by the entirety of human history. It can be used to drive the young men to prepare, if they believe that they cannot have what they want until they accomplish certain things. There is something to be said for directing boys that way, to prepare for marriage, and to prepare for their future that way.

Every person is different though. Some may find it easier to maintain their virginity and resist temptations while others will find it harder. Paul seems to recognize this in his writings - talking about whether people should get married or not (1 Cor 7:8-9). He also points out that this drive should be given freedom in marriage (1 Cor 7:2-5). Some consideration should be given, in my opinion, to Christian parents endorsing earlier marriages amongst their children. Some will be better served by an early marriage. With rates of some STD infections as high as one in four in the USA, there are serious dangers to not keeping it in your pants until marriage.

Now to consider the negatives to early marriage. First, there is next to no way for teenagers to earn a living wage independently. Sure they could get minimum wage jobs and live in cheap housing, but it would take a lot of discipline to get them ahead, and get them the educations they need to be successful in life. It is possible, but very hard. Most parents support their children financially and in terms of education well into their child’s early twenties. If they are already willing to do this, why would loving parents stop if their child was married?

There is also the maturity factor to consider. I firmly believe that a big reason for the historic rules and customs in cultures around the world that restrict the young from marriage were there is because of the basic fact of life - wisdom comes from experience. There are exceptions, but it is true in the vast majority of cases. Young people make dumb decisions which is why the old almost invariably, are the ones who make the important decisions in culture and society. Respect for elders is a preservative against stupid, rash decisions anywhere. The idea of arranged marriages is premised on this - that your parents because of their experience and wisdom, and their impartiality as compared to the child’s position, are better prepared to make a choice for a life partner for their child.

So is it wise to simply let kids marry younger? Probably not if they are making their own decisions unfettered by wisdom and experience. However, the system that the website seems to support is insulated against that by the tradition of arrangement. People don’t go there to “buy” a girl for their son. They go there to initiate a process of evaluation and examination to see if this is a “good” match. If the two young people have much in common, similar values, similar goals, then there is a reasonable expectation that their marriage can work. As I understand it, once the parents on both side approve of this potential marriage, then the potential couple can commence some kind of courtship to get to know one another and decide if there is the attraction that needs to be there for a successful marriage. Loving and supportive parents will give their children the opportunity to veto the match, so nobody is bullied or pushed into anything. “Arranged” does not need to be synonymous with “forced” or “coerced”.

From reading on the site it also appears that most of the girls listed are consenting to the process. They want to be matched for marriage. Now, as we have seen, this process can be abused, as in the case of the FLDS (if you think that your salvation is based on marriage, you are sorely deceived!) But if the children understand that this is their choice, but informed by all kinds of processes and people who have their best interests at heart, I see no reason why it could not be successful.

So am I in favour of arranged marriages? Mine wasn’t. But there is something desperate, random, and unsafe that comes from the ubiquitous quest for “the one” that has been popularized by romantic writings for the last 400 years. I also think that certain pitfalls that I fell into as a young man, and even while I was dating and engaged to my now wife, could have been avoided had our relationship been guided by such a process. As I understand the process - intiated at the consent of both the son and the daughter, assessed by their parents with the view of long-term marriage, then courtship entered into with the goal of determining for each of the betrothed the suitability of the other for permanent marriage, with the potential for veto of either party, and finalized by a bride price to demonstrate the earnestness of the suitor, certainly seems both practical and efficient.

UPDATE: It turns out the site itself is a fake.  As I mentioned, the site was short on details, and abiguous about when a child can legally be married.  However, I stand by my above comments in the sense that I don’t have a problem with people arranging marriages, assuming that rules of human decency and the guidelines I mentioned above are followed.  Anything else I would have big problems with.

I’ve been dying to write this for a few days. It isn’t often my thoughts cohere to the point of sense, if not accuracy.

I was reading through the book of Revelation again, and I hit upon chapter 12. It’s a pretty neat chapter, featuring a flashback through prophetic eyes to the events of the world, in symbolic terms, around 2000 years ago.

I’ll work through this piece-by-piece. Let me know if you see any problems with my understanding. I know there are a couple of places where it gets iffy, but the picture that is drawn is kind of cool.

The Woman

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. (Rev. 12:1-2)

Not sure about the clothed with the sun, and moon under her feet, but the crown of twelve stars is a tipoff. Twelve stars is a tell for the twelve tribes of Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel is often symbolized, sometimes unflatteringly, as a woman. There are more signs that this woman is a representation of Israel.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (Rev. 12:5)

She gives birth to a male child who will rule all nations. All nations is the key here. The Bible is clear that the one who is to rule all nations is Jesus. So, who is the mother here? Well, literally we could say Mary, but given that this woman is crowned with twelve stars, I think it’s pretty clear we are talking about Israel bringing Jesus into the world, as was foretold in the Old Testament - see the promises to the patriarchs.

The Dragon

Who is this dragon?

Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. (Rev. 12:3-4)

This first look at the Dragon points out two clues: the description of seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns is made elsewhere of the beast who is bound. It is associated with antichrist prophecies. But more importantly is the second clue: his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth. Isaiah discusses Satan’s fall. Jude talks about his followers - that third of the host of heaven who followed Satan to earth and thence to the Abyss. Even more clearly is the dragon identified later in chapter 12:

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. (Rev 12:9a)

The Action

Having established who the Woman, the Dragon and the Baby are, we can now discuss the action.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. (Rev. 12:5-6)

The birth of Christ, awaited by Satan, to end the plan of humanity’s salvation. He was snatched up, as detailed after his resurrection, as detailed in Acts 1:9. After this event, the woman, Israel is driven into the desert or wilderness. Interestingly, this came to pass with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, commencing a period of exile which has lasted until 1947, with the re-creation of the state of Israel by the United Nations. This exile was prepared by God!

The challenge for me in this passage is understanding the 1260 days. How does 1260 days fit with recorded history? We have already established the symbolic nature of a number of parts of this chapter. The 1260 is symbolic as well. 1260, based upon a 360 day Jewish year, is exactly 3.5 years. Set in the Book of Revelation, which details many aspects of the Tribulation period, also clearly demarcks the Tribulation as a period of 7 years, split in half by some unique events. Other parts of Revelation are more specific about this period, but I don’t think that this chapter is part of that. This chapter reads like a step back, an overview of history, to fill in the gaps in the story. If it does relate to the Tribulation, and the 7 years are figurative, then the end of Israel’s time in exile equals the end of the first half of the Tribulation. I don’t think that is right though, for reasons I won’t get into here.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev. 12:7-9)

What a picture! I can’t imagine what a spectacle that must have been for John to witness. These events take place upon Christ’s victory over death. In Job we note that Satan, as accuser, had access to God at that time. It is evident that he lost his temper with that role after Jesus pulled off the crucifixion and resurrection. Before, he had free access to heaven, even though he had lost the privilege of being the leader of the heavenly host long ago. Verses 10-12 hammer home the reality that this is the result of Christ’s seating on the throne of God, and also that Satan’s presence on earth now will be used by him to work harder than ever because “he knows his time is short”.

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. (Rev 12:13)

Certainly apparent from the massive anti-semitism that has characterized the last 2000 years of earth’s history. What has made the Jews so unique a people that for one, they are able to retain their nationhood and identities in the face of exile in dozens of different countries over the course of 2000 years? How many other cultures or people groups have been able to do this? The answer is none. That alone speaks volumes to me of the uniqueness of God’s chosen people, Israel. But even more uniquely, is how everywhere they have gone, they have been driven out, sooner or later. They have been subjected to gross persecution over and over again, certainly culminating in the death camps of the Third Reich. No question remains in my mind that Satan has been pursuing them.

The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. (Rev. 12:14)

Here’s where things get hairy. In the last 2000 years, it seems to me the only place that has given Jews consistent, sustained relief from persecution (thought not perfect relief, by any means) is the United States. Other places have provided peaceful respites for periods - Poland is one example that springs to mind, though the denouement of that sojourn was with the decimation of their population from millions to a couple of thousand. America seems to be the most natural fit in history so far - and coincidentally, their national symbol, known around the world, is the eagle.

The second thing I noticed is the time, times, and half a time. This is very hard to interpret. There are two other occurrences of this phraseology, and both are from the book of Daniel.

The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. (Dan. 7:24-25)

The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.” (Daniel 12:7)

Traditionally, these phrases have been pointed to as reference to 3.5 years. Time = 1. Times = 2. Half a time = 0.5. I wonder if perhaps it could better be understood as “a time - times and half a time”. In other words, times could still be a group of 2, but the total could be 2.5 times instead of 3.5 times. The thing is in both Daniel 12 and Revelation 12, this phrase also has a fixed number of days in close proximity (both of which sum to about 3.5 years). But I wonder if they are talking about different things, which is why they are presented differently?

Which brings me back to the Eagle’s wings protecting the woman for a time - times and half a time. My thought is if the eagle’s wings are America’s protection - which seems plausible given America’s relationship with Israel, really since its inception - then how would an interval of 2.5 fit? My suggestion is that a time equals 100 years. I have no basis for this other than the fact that given current world events, it is plausible that America could cease to support the state of Israel in the short term - and the 250th anniversary of Independence Day will be in 2031 - only 17 years from now.

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. (Rev 12:15-16)

Now, this is all symbolic language, and we know that Satan will act through proxies. It certainly sounds like a flood of armies will come against Israel at this time. However, the earth somehow stops this attack, completely nullifies it. What immediately came to mind was Ezekiel 38-39. A massive attack, united against Israel, with nobody to help Israel - except God. God completely thwarts and destroys the attackers. With the graphic and uncanny description of Ezekiel, dealing with describing nuclear-powered war machines, fallout, nuclear cleanup, it is a stunning passage. But yet many scholars have had a hard time placing it in the chronology of the end-times. This would seem to pinpoint it.

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. 12:17)

Satan’s reaction to this is to shift attention from persecuting Israel to persecuting Christians. The offspring of Israel is Christianity - made even more clear as the offspring who “hold to the testimony of Jesus”. So this appears to mark a major shift in Satan’s plans. At this point, after failing to eliminate Israel, he will become truly “anti-Christian”.

Final Thoughts

It is fun to speculate - and that is really all this is. I do believe that the church will be caught up to heaven before the tribulation begins, though I am ok with understanding the rapture to occur mid-trib - that is, before the final 3.5 years of the tribulation. From what I have read in this chapter, I don’t see a clear indication as to the timing of the rapture, nor do I expect to. If there is one thing clear from Scripture, is we will not know when it is that Jesus withdraws the restrainer and removes the faithful from the earth. However, I do believe that the Bible can and does give us waypoints to let us know the plan of God is progressing. We may not know exactly when we are to check out, but the plan remains.

I’ve been trying to figure out whether, or how, or how much to write about where God is leading me in my life.  Because I have this blog linked up to my facebook account, I know that family and friends that I have made over the years could read this at any time.  I still have lingering fears about acceptance that stem from my high school years.  They carry over into all kinds of aspects of my life, much as I hate to admit it.  This is an attempt to trace the origins of what I believe is a calling on my life, by God, to plant a church.

I am not ashamed of Jesus and what he has done in my life.  I can’t be.  Even though those scars in my past seem to keep me feeling like I am.  And now, this Easter 2008, I am looking forward to the next 10 years as being the most challenging, most rewarding, most bizarre, most scary, most peaceful, most amazing chapter of my life.  Why?  Because God is directing my life, and preparing me to work for him.  He really is.

Somehow, some way, waaay back when I was in Grade 11 and 12, I remember sitting in Jiro’s basement bedroom with him, playing Crib until who knows when, and talking then with him about how we both felt that we were born for something cool.  That something amazing was going to happen in our lifetimes and we were going to be a part of it.

I didn’t know how that was going to happen, but I did follow where my heart was leading - back to BC, where I was born.  That call led me down to the coast where I met my wife and for the first time took upon myself the task of learning more about this Jesus who I gave my life to back at Fort Saskatchewan Fellowship Baptist when I was 16.  I was being fed before, but in stepping into paying for myself to go to Bible College, I was taking ownership, for the first time.

In doing so, though, I was opening myself up to something bigger than I had ever thought.  I visited my grandparents on my Dad’s side the following year, and told them about the school, and how I had transferred to the Seminary.  My grandmother said, “Oh, you’re going to be a pastor?”  I said, “NO!”  Of course I wasn’t!  I am a history buff, I like the outdoors, I don’t feel like I make friends easily, how could I be a pastor?  I didn’t believe in myself enough to be one.  I thought, maybe a teacher, but not a pastor.

Flash forward 5 or so years.  No longer in Seminary, couldn’t afford to finish with a baby on the way.  God had some plans for me to start overcoming my own stupidity, and grow me up.  My next transformation was in terms of responsibility, and priority.  I put it all on my wife and kids - they were number one (actually number two, just behind God).  I started seeking more wholeness with respect to my relationship with my wife.  I just began to hate the selfish crap I had wrapped myself in for so long.  The progressive realization that seeking after Jesus and following in his footsteps over my own selfish ideas just makes me happier and everyone around me happier.  Every step I take away from that hurts me or others around me.

Then there was the trip to Mexico.  God had blessed us financially, and enabled us to take a trip to Manzanillo for a week.  It was a lovely time of rest and exploration (I love visiting new places), but we both came back feeling like something was amiss, vacationing at a resort surrounded and staffed by very very poor people.  This led us to considering, the next year, when we were thinking of another break, how we could enjoy a trip like that while giving back to the community we visited.  This led us to look at short term missionary opportunities, and ultimately, to Rwanda where we helped construct a school and visited with a number of people who were full-time missionaries.  We came back with opened eyes, for how we could participate in God’s plans.

I don’t want to downplay this mind-change.  It is a different as night and day.  Before, we looked for what we would like to do, what pleased us.  We both thought a sign of God’s will for our lives was a certain amount of satisfaction in what we were doing.  When we came back, we began to look for ways to please God with our service.  This is a major shift.  We began to look for where God could use us next.

That fall, we met a church planting couple.  They were missionaries - to our town!  Canadians don’t think of their own towns as mission fields, but that is what they are.    This is something that has bugged me, nagged me at the back of my mind, ever since my early days at Fort Sask Fellowship Baptist.  I remember looking at the “missionaries” corkboard, with pictures of nice people deployed all over the world, I was thinking, why are we paying people to travel all around the world when there are people right here who need to know Jesus?  The statistics that say 60% of Canadians believe in “God” - they are meaningless.   God wants people who love him and follow his teachings.  There are many many people who are living a lie, believing that because their parents had them baptized as infants, or perhaps in their youth they prayed a prayer, that they are “in”.  But they don’t know God.  They don’t know how much Jesus loves them, and they fool themselves into thinking that their own choices will earn them a place in heaven.  Most Canadians are like that.  Even in churches.  They need to understand the truth.

We stepped into involvement with this church plant, and it has been amazing!  Never before have we seen God work so up close.  I love watching the people who have joined us, those that came broken, needy and having those needs met by God in our presence.  It is great.  At the same time, about a year ago too, Cheryl and I both recognized in our hearts that there is something coming, that we will be going somewhere, in the service of God, soon.  We began to feel like we need to prepare ourselves for it.  It is becoming more and more clear that we will be involved in planting another church.  For the first time in my life, I have people around me who see this too.  Their vision feeds mine.  I am getting to the place where I am really starting to believe that even though I fear judgment and inadequacy, it’s God’s project, not mine.  If he wants me to preach, then he will see me prepared to do it.  If he wants me to lead, all I have to do is worry about following him, he will provide the followers.  If he wants me to build a church, he will give me the skills, or provide me with the help I need.  I just have to wait on him.

It kind of takes the pressure off.  But most of all, and I think this is what everyone is looking for, he’s given me something to live for, work for.  I am not dropping everything.  God’s got me in a great job that pays well.   I am thinking this job is here right now to help get us prepared financially.  Plus, I have a lot to learn before I am ready to do anything on my own or as part of a team.  Probably a couple of years out still.  But it’s going to be a ride!

Shake Hands with the Devil was released to DVD last week.  It is based on the autobiographical book by Lt. Gen Romeo Dallaire, now a sitting Senator in Canada.  I had been anticipating its release since we were in Rwanda in 2006.  The movie was being filmed in Kigali while we were there.  A friend of ours was actually cast as an extra for several scenes.

It is my understanding that it was filmed by a Canadian company, which makes it one of the few examples of Canadian cinema that I have actually enjoyed.  But more on that later.

Roy Dupuis as Gen. Dallaire was uncanny.  Not only does have more than a passing resemblance to the man, but from the very first scene, a cut of Dallaire in a counselling session, where only one question is asked and is not answered until the end, “Do you want to live?”  The depth of inner turmoil and struggle conveyed through his silent visage had me riveted through the rest of the movie.

The genocide that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda is something that I think everyone should be more aware of.  It has so many lessons to teach us even today about how we allow the media others to tell us what is important and what is not.  It illustrates how little intervention is necessary in many hot-spots around the world to actually save lives.  And it stands as a finger of condemnation to the world of how callous we can be when the blood being spilled is “not our own”.  It is all our own.  It is humanity’s blood, no matter the nation, no matter the reasons for conflict.

But perhaps the most important reason in my mind for this reccomendation is the story of Dallaire himself.  Here was a man who never really knew where he was going, and was never given the resources to do anything to help.  He was blocked at every turn with procedure and red tape and was rendered a nearly helpless witness to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocents.  I cannot imagine how that would affect a person to be a witness of that.  This movie perhaps gives the most insight possible without actually going through it yourself.  The flash-forwards to his counselling session where the ghosts of the dead taunt him, reason with him, and sometimes salve him are intense and moving.  The scene of Dallaire sitting alone in a room in his briefs, slicing into his arms and legs with a little razor and describing how the physical pain of the cutting brought welcome relief from the emotional pain he felt in seeing death and pain at every turn, and being helpless to prevent it - it was so visceral, but yet I could understand how he could feel that way.

In the end, I had so much respect for this man.  From my time in Rwanda, walking and driving through the locations where the film was made (which are all the real places where the genocide happened), I recognize now much more what really happened there.  Like the Rwandan people, who in their national genocide museum have a large tribute to all the good he accomplished despite his bureaucratic shackles, I salute his bravery and his effort to save those whom he could.  He might feel like he failed to this very day, but his victory was assured in the faces of the thousands of Rwandans that are alive today because of him.

I don’t know how to end this except to say, watch it.  It is an incredible movie.

A new book that explodes the myth that Christians of the Middle Ages and Renaissance believed that the earth was flat.  There were only two ancient writers who we have documented believing that, and one was condemned as a heretic for it.  The other “…was and is so obscure that a graduate student may easily finish a degree in medieval studies without ever coming across his name.“  It was only Darwinian apologists in the late 19th Century who attempted to make all who came before them look like fools and benighted barbarians, who took this non-starter and passed it off as history.

Something interesting I came across.  There is an organization called the Temple Institute in Israel, dedicated to preparing for the Hebrew Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem.  They’ve been reconstructing all the old temple equipment and clothing according to the specs listed in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  Just a few days ago, they finished the High Priest’s crown.

It is definitely something to keep an eye on.  The Bible does talk about how the temple will be rebuilt before the end.

The National Post did an interesting piece on Aimee Semple MacPherson. I’ve taken a few courses on Church History, so I was aware already of her significant influence on the growth of the Charismatic movement in the early part of the 20th Century. What I didn’t know was her substantial influence over the development of Evangelicalism as a political force, or the fact that she was a Canadian!
I join the author of the article in amazement that in a sense, Canada is responsible for the social conservatism of american evangelicals and the intensive involvement of Christians in politics in the USA. The very thing that Canadians often mock and frown upon in American politics was farmed and grown by one of ours from rural Ontario.

Cross NecklaceChasing the Wind talks today about some earthy people on a flight, one of whom wears a cross. To those who take their faith seriously, we lament that a symbol of Christianity can be worn as a fashion accessory. It pains us to see people in open sin and rebellion identified with Jesus in this manner.

I occurred to me that this is not a new issue though. In the days of the church fathers (700-800AD) the issue of Iconoclasty was commonly disputed. People argued over whether it was right to depict God, Jesus, or even saints. The question raged as to whether images or even symbols of Christianity resulted in idol worship - worshipping a thing instead of the omnipresent invisible God. Now, that isn’t really what is at stake here.

The question arose again during the Reformation. Many branches of protestantism rejected the use of any symbolism, even considering it a sin to wear a cross on one’s person. Again, I don’t think that the issue was necessarily sinners wearing them, but I think that could be an undertone to the whole debate. The more symbols, images, etc. enter common use, the greater the chance that symbol or image could be used to associate the holy name of God and Jesus with the base, the sinful, the worldly.

I think we as Christians must be aware of this at all times. Continue Reading »