What's your theological worldview?

I took the quiz, and not really surprisingly came out...

"You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. "

For those interested, here is the link for the quiz.

You will always have the poor among you

I'm not sure I can fully understand what Jesus says here. It appears in context of the woman who annoints him with the expensive bottle of perfume, and the disciples were commenting on it being a waste of money. But what I am increasingly beginning to grasp is Jesus' call to his followers and also his example of caring for the poor. In fact, al the way back in Deuteronomy there was instructions on caring for the poor. The poor have always had a special place in God's heart.

It seems the world's rich boys'club have made a decision on debt relief (click here for the BBC report). I think that is a great start, but I think it is the responsibility of the richer nations to help the poorer nations of the world. OK. That sounds like an ideal situation. But it is simply an extrapolation of the responsibilities of the rich towards the poor.

In saying that, I hoping these nations wouldn't feel too smug about themselves and pat themselves on the back too much. Its about time they did something about debt relief. But a much bigger issue hangs in the balance. Trade. Giving money (or dropping debt for that matter) do help. But if rich countries don't work towards fair trade, then the poor nations are back in square one. They are not able to make a living for themselves. They are already on the backfoot - technology, systems in place etc. But if the US or EU don't cut subsidies to their own producers, then poorer countries like Africa will be dumped with cheap food surpluses. Food that the rich don't need, but sold at prices cheaper than the African farmers can produce. Let's see what the rich boys put on the table after this debt relief offer.

Does evil exist?

We had a discussion about in this in one of our Uni SE meetings. Well, it wasn't really the topic but seeped into the discussion. Some people don't think that evil exists. I wasn't very sure about it, but then I went to the Human Rights Film Festival and watched a movie about innocent Burmese girls, taken from their villages and tricked into a life of prostitution in Thailand. They usually come form poor families and are told that they will get work in the city - washing dishes, cleaning etc. - and thus be able to earn some money to help their family. So scared, but optimistic about the prospect of supporting their family, they go along with these smugglers and are taken to brothels and similar such places. They don't really understand what is happening. Some of them eventually contract STDs.

After watching that, I was pretty sure that evil exists. And its not just a force, but some people are evil. They knowingly trick and manipulate innocent people to lead life of misery so they can profit from it. It is beyond just greed and selfishness. There has to be an element of evil in it. And that is just one example.