Ode to Hitachi

I really need to remember to back up important stuff on my hard drive. My dear friend Blayne pronounced it irreversably dead after a few attempts to resuscitate it. It was a very painful moment and I was very grateful for the support I received at then. Not so much for the data I had (I can't remember what crap I have on my laptop) but more because of the pictures I have lost. I have quite a number of pictures and video clips of priceless moments on there which is now gone forever (like of Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings parade) *sigh*.

But I am really, really grateful to get the use of my laptop back. I have missed it a lot the last 3-4 weeks (I think I have an unhealthy attachement to it!). And as Elizabeth so kindly reminded me, I just need to constantly "Back up!!" When was the last time you did a backup??

an Intrepid move

I was watching an episode of Intrepid Journeys where Tim Shadbolt, illustrious mayor of Invercargill, visited Sabah. I enjoy travel shows (I love the thought of travelling and adventures involved), and the style of this particular show interests me. All is fine, until he makes some sort of comment about it being surprisingly comfortable despite being in a third world country (perhaps he was surprised at the use of vehicles and modern buildings in the town he was visiting). Since I grew up in Malaysia, it was needless to say I felt somewhat taken aback by that comment. The rest of his commentary/comments about life and his observations in Sabah were quite tolerable. Then at the end of the show, he talk about being surprised that people were happy in their lives and contented with their relationships despite an obvious lack of wealth (and “stuff”). Seems that our mayor here might equate happiness and contentment in life with progress and wealth.

I’m no rocket scientist, but I thought it was commonly known that wealth and material possessions never equated to happiness and contentment in life. For many people in Asia, community is a part of life, and relationships within that community definitely added to happiness. Thus it was so in the kampungs (villages) he visited. They have enough to live by, and community living was part and parcel of life and added value to life (city folk have a lot to learn from that!). So it was no wonder that they were happy and contented. So, I would contend that ignorance (though may be bliss at times) can be a cause of much trouble. And reading the History of New Zealand at the moment, I am getting a good insight into the kinds of trouble ignorance can bring.

I now live in a first world country, but I don’t think I am any happier than before. No doubt I have more opportunities (maybe because of less competition due to the much lesser population in NZ) but my sense of happiness and contentment in life is still marked by the same things – relationships with friends and family (community). My decision to stay in NZ isn’t due to the thrill of being in a first world country, but more to do with the laid back way of life that I have adopted (and various other related factors). After all, I think life in New Zealand can be considered more ‘hazardous’ to my life – I now face the threat of earthquakes, volcanoes and a thinner ozone layer.

Maybe I was a cat?

On Himalaya on Tues night, Michael Palin went to the place in India where the Dalai Lama and his followers are living in exile. He went to consult one of their astro*something-or-rather guy to get a map of his past life (and future life) by supplying his birth date and various details about his birth. He was told that he was an elephant in his past life and will be reincarnated as a daughter of a rich family in the West. Michael had obvious problems with his reading, esp. the part about him being an elephant. But the Tibetan Buddhists really believe it and it was quite amusing to see Michael's doubt and questions about reincarnation amidst that. They also believe that you can change what you will be reincarnation as through your deeds in this current life (karma). And obviously, you can't change your last life because it has already happened.

It so happened that the Discovery Channel was showing a doco about past-life memories. They would show someone's account of a past-life memory and then some experts (scientists) to talk about it from a scientific point of view. It was quite well done, although it didn't really answer all my questions about it. It is quite baffling when a 4-year-old Indian kid can tell stories and events of a past life. How could he know about fighting in a war and 'recognise' this couple he has never met and address them as "mother" and "father" (they were supposedly his parents in his previous life). The scientific explanation: it seems that those with more of some sort of electrical impulses in the brain seem to have a heightened sense of imagination, and thus more able to come up with stories about "past-life memories". Also, there seems to be a surprisingly small probability of having a combination of 2-3 seeming facts from a past-life memory and these facts matching up with an actual person.

What about those who can give some quite accurate historical details from their past life e.g. the description of certains buildings or places? (and these buildings or places presently don't like how they used to). The experts explained that we store information in our brain that we are not aware of (from reading, hearing information or watching something). At times e.g. under hypnosis (a number of these past-life memories come up under hypnosis) this stored information will be accessed. The experts believe these memories are all imagined. Although there may be bits of factual information, but the memory as a whole is a figment of the imagination.

The scientists could give some evidence or studies they have conducted or some plausible physiologocal/phycological explanation to disprove these past-life memories, but to me there were still little gaps in their explanations. They did answer most of my questions, but not enough as it still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. I don't believe in reincarnation because I find it not logical or plausible. What little I understand about science doesn't convince me it can happen. Also, it doesn't fall in line with what I understand about theology and humans. But, I haven't found a concrete explanation to totally purge it from the "mysteries" box. So, maybe there is another explanation outside of science (maybe it is supernatural?)... and if there is, what could it be?

money, money, money

Money is one of those touchy topics. On Friday night I was helping a friend raise money for a mission trip to Thailand where she will be involved in doing some charity work in some villages and also helping out with Christian efforts. I think if people have their perspectives right, a short mission trip will do them lots of good. No doubt they will have a chance to dabble in some charity work and thus help others, but I think it does more for the person themselves by opening their eyes to a different reality that other people live in.

Anyway... I was going around getting people to pledge money to her. I know its wrong to judge and all and its hard to know peoples' motives but, I think the way people react when approached for money can be telling of their attitude towards money and/or mission). Everyone was familiar with my friend and thus the cause for collecting money, but still I got a few seemingly grudging givers. Maybe I jump to conclusions to quickly, and maybe because exams are looming it was more reactionary to stress than anything else. I don't know.

I am thankful for all who gave, but I am convinced that we can be better givers. We always think we need more money (for ourselves) than we actually do. I don't people think about sacrifice when giving anymore. Many give out of abundance (which is not a bad thing at all), but at times, can we give up certain luxuries - shopping or eating out or movies - in order to give more money to a cause? Just because we don't have enough money to buy stuff that we want, does that make us poor? (That was how I used to think as a student! And I think many students still think like that.) But I had a decent place to live in, three decent meals a day plus snacks, and enough money for entertainment every week. But because I couldn't buy certain items and didn't have a lot of money I thought myself poor. Money will be an issue that will continue to plague me and I am sure many other people. I hope that my eyes will be open enough to the realities of the world around me so I can have a good perspective on being poor, and remember the values that Jesus taught - that there are other people or causes that are more important than me or indulging my luxuries.

saying "the prayer"

Yesterday we had our last study in DJ (the post entitled "DJ" explains what this is). We looked at the resurrection from John's account (in chapter 20). We pitched the resurrection as important because it was a unique point of differentiation between Jesus and other religious figures esp. those who claim to be god. Being the last study, one of our aims was to find out where the seekers were at. And someone wondered if they were at the point to pray "the prayer". I find this an interesting concept. Does someone become a Christian because they have prayed "the prayer"? I remember doubting my own 'salvation' after my prayer because I didn't really understand it all. So is there some kind of line that is crossed from unbeliever to believer? And the way to cross that line is to say "the prayer"? I guess the question that then begs to be asked is 'is there such a line to be crossed?'

I see faith as a journey and there are landmarks in that journey. Choosing to believe in Jesus is one such landmark. Some people would distinguish landmarks through various ways. A prayer can be a way to acknowledge that landmark but I think it has been hailed too much as the point of conversion. I think the more important thing is a conscious decision and an understanding of what it means to have made the choice to become a follower of Jesus. Maybe it would be more significant if the person were to be asked as to how they would like to acknowledge their choice of following Jesus. As individuals, people may want to express it differently - by declaring it to others if it happens in a public meeting, sharing a meal with significant people to commemorate the decision, writing a song, painting a picture etc. By enforcing "the prayer" norm, we are taking away the person's creative individuality which is God-given and enforcing a practice that is human formed. It is high time we put many practices into question, and ponder where they originated from.

the place of the Word

We were talking about missions today and how the use of the Bible fits in to it. I guess a person's opinion about that depends on the importance they place on the Bible in their Christian worldview. I use the Bible as a basis of evangelistic Bible study, particularly the gospels, because Christianity is centred about the person of Jesus. And it is the gospels that we meet Jesus through the eyes of those who lived around his time. This gives the seeker the opportunity to learn more about Jesus from the very same text that Christians use to learn more about Jesus. Also, the Bible gives the reader a chance to form their own opinions about Jesus. No doubt a pre-written Bible study nudges people to look at the text in certain ways, but it still somewhat open to the reader's interpretation. A formulated approach (e.g. black book or Alpha), starts off by giving the recipient/reader someone's interpretation of Jesus' story. These are effective and I am sure they have their place, just not my preferred choice. I lean towards using the Bible (or the gospels) as a platform to discover Jesus because it allows the reader a chance to understand the text (and thus, Jesus) on their own time and also the chance to ask questions that arise from it.

churchless faith

I can't seem to find a lot of resources on the Web on post-church or churchless faith or even blogs for that matter. They all seem to point to Alan's book (which happens to have the same title) which I am reading at the moment. There's a lot of stuff and blogs on emergent church - which is resources and discussions on how to do church in a post modern setting and mission and evagelism in a post modern world. I am wondering whether post-church would be part of this emergent phenomena. Fascinating stuff this post-church thing. It is a concept that would have been very hard for me to understand not very long ago. But it is, no doubt, something that the Christian community and the church itself needs to look at.

after Friday

The discussion on suicide and euthanasia was just great. Everyone was honest about their viewpoints on it or their questions about it and accepted what others had to say even if it conflicted with theirs. Definitely a stimulating discussion and we all learnt much from it and from each other.

The talk after that wasn't that great. I think I didn't bring it to a proper close. Life after uni is such a huge topic and I really struggled to prepare it and to pinpoint what were the important points to highlight. Just hope that it was of some help to those who listened. Had a couple of really good and contructive comments on it which will hekp mould the next one (whenever that will be). Was completely shattered after that (not surprisingly) and famished. One more formal meeting to go and then its exams. Will probably spend that time preparing for SLC.

unusually early morning

Had to get up early this morning for the Capital City Prayer Breakfast. Soooo not my thing. It was kinda good - about 350 in attendance - but a good use of the thing is migling and networking which wasn't what I was up to doing at 7.30am! I was there to support a TSCF student who was asked to do one of the 2 public prayers. She crafted a stellar prayer - one of the best I've heard and one which I could even whoheartedly say 'Amen' to! The short talk was good too. Unfortunately I think I was a bit too sleepy to really take anything into short or long term memory. In short it was about human rights but from a Biblical point of view. He said something about rights not appearing in the Bible yet it was full of preserving life and dignity and celebrating humanness. Instead of rights, there was a notion of duty. And "rights" as such didn't exist purely for the individual as such, but exists in the context of community. Made me reflect on the "love mercy, act justly and walk humbly with your God" verse. I think I need to 'meditate' more on that verse.

a hot topic?

On Friday, I’ll be joining the girls’ cell group to talk about suicide and euthanasia. Hard topic for students to deal with but I’m glad they are talking about it so it doesn’t become a scary thing or a “taboo”. Be interesting to hear what they’ll have to say though. If any readers would like to comment, please feel free. We were given 4 questions as a guide:

• Why is it an issue?
• How do people in general think and feel about it?
• How would you deal with it if it happens to or around you?
• What does the scripture say about it?

Scripture is actually silent about it (unless you count the stuff on murder which some people equate suicide and euthanasia to). I think its not right (I’m don't mean its wrong, though). Perhaps better phrased as not a wise choice. Also, I think they are the same thing (except assisted euthanasia - you can’t have assisted suicide). Euthanasia is putting an end, through death, to an intensely painful physical condition which causes deep suffering, and suicide is putting an end, also through death, to an intensely painful mental condition which causes deep suffering. It is not right because a purposeful choice to end a life always leaves a huge black hole behind. Yet it is not wrong because who would blame them for choosing to end their life in the midst of intense suffering that never seems to end.

From a ‘Christian’ point of view, judging the person for the choice is wrong. Jesus always went to the crux of the matter, so there we must go too. Empathising (or trying to) with their pain - be it mental or physical is a start. Allow them to voice it, even though they may repeat it over and over again. But that is the reality they face – pain and suffering – and they can’t see a way out that is life-giving at that point in time. Empathise and try to realistically optimistic. Don’t promise the world if you can’t deliver it. Sometimes I wonder if the negativity that people in general (especially Christians) feel towards it has a negative impact on those on the brink of it.

DJ

Stands for Discovering Jesus - the discussion group for those who want to know more about Jesus (funnily enough!). This week we looked at the passage on Nicodemus and what it means to be born again. Brilliant discussion. Found out that people use that passage to support re-incarnation! Had to try and explain that was not what Jesus meant and that we are 'born from above' in the this one and only lifetime. One of the girls there was lapping it all in and seemed quite excited about this concept after coming to understand it better. Quite refreshing to see such enthusiasm whenlearning about the life that Jesus offers. She was immediately concerned for all the people in China (her homeland) who don't have the chance to hear about Jesus and thus not have the chance to be born again (and that topic of course is another theological mystery). We have one more week of DJ (exams coming up soon). Its been a brilliant group. Not sure how to end it but hope we end it well since the students have learnt so much about Jesus and the life he offers. So do keep that in mind (and prayer) and let me kow if you have suggestions (besides going out for a meal - we've got that sussed!)