Himmler, Peter Padfield

Christina has just finished "Twilight" about vampires, while I've just finished "Himmler". It got me wondering if you had no knowledge of vampires and no knowledge about Nazi philosophy and the Halocaust you then had to pick which one of these books is true. You would want the vampires.

There where a few things about the Nazis which I really didn't know about. The first was eugenics. A type of Hyper-Darwinism gone mad. Most of the mad Nazi decisions where based on this. Such as the holocaust, sterilisation, euthanasia programs to eliminate the sick and elderly. The Nazis where dedicated to getting rid of bad blood and purify the German blood line. 
I had no idea of the strength of this ideology, in decision making. Himmler was the one who implemented this scheme.

This is different to the Stalin's slaughter of his peoples. Stalin's aim was the preservation of his power.  Not that it makes it any better. (Stalin and his Hangmen)

It got me thinking about modern genetics which could possibly now forefill Nazi's perfect genetics. Without breeding and deaths.

The other interesting thing was operation 'Valkryie' the operation to eliminate Hitler in '44. Lead by Claus Von Stauffenberg. It would appear that Himmler knew of the opposition to Hitler. That it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did without Himmler letting it.

Himmler was a loyal Hitler to his own detriment and blindness. He was the second most powerful person in the Reich. Yet he could see the deterioriation of the war, came quickly to an understanding it was futile. Yet through his indecision was unable act.

Where have all the under 60's gone?

 In the podcast on the ABC's 'Spirit of things' Rachel Kahn asks the question where are all the young people? To a group belonging to  'Progressive Christianity', which originated from the liberal tradition of Christianity. Its a good question and worth considering...

Steve Addison in his blog continually infers that it is the 'liberal' theology which is why these churches are on a rapid decline. I find this answer a bit simplistic with an elitist edge....

He is right, the majority of liberal Churches are in the decline. Yet Overall the church is on the decline. Where there is church growth the majority of it is transfer growth.

My own understanding is that evangelical and Pentecostal churches have been quicker and better at offering a contemporary worship experience. The whole 'excellence', from the music, sermon to the children program makes a difference when done in a contemporary manner.

The other reason is is that 'progressive Christianity' fits better with a latter 'stage of faith', which correlates with age.

Stage 2,3==> Conformity, literalism ==> Evangelical/Pentecostal

Stage 4,5==> responsibility for own faith, acknowledges paradox and mystery ==> Progressive Christianity

I've got to add that what I have put up is a generalisations I've found evangelicals that definitely are in stage 4,5. But on the whole I think it adds up to why there is a lower number of younger people in the liberal churches. Not just because their beliefs are not literal.

Man = God?

An interesting science post on the Sydney Morning Herald

SCIENTISTS have created artificial life for the first time. They have developed a tiny new bacterium, or "synthetic cell", that is controlled by man-made DNA.
The technological advance is the culmination of 15 years of research costing more than $47 million by a team led by Craig Venter, a controversial American biologist and entrepreneur.
The breakthrough promises the creation of new, useful synthetic bacteria that can clean up pollution or produce energy, but there are also concerns man-made microbes could escape the lab or be used as weapons by terrorists.

Man has become the creator of life....

Progressive Christianity

Its strange but I've always had this feeling that I don't fit with Christians and the organised Church. There have been times I've felt at home but this is pretty rare.

One of the things I wanted to do this year was explore "Liberal Theology". The Evangelical/Pentecostal that where peers and mentors automatically bushed them off. It has been impossible to have an informed conversation.

I once had at Ranges a person try to tell me that Rob Bell was a heretic. When asked if that person had read any of his book they said no. I suspect this is the same as my peers and mentors in regards to "Liberal Theology". An opinion without been informed.

My first book and only book on the list was 'Honest to God', by Robinsion. I found it honest by writen at the peak of Christainity. I believe we are now in a 'Post Christian' society, where the church is not a dominant institution.

Then of all things I came across Marcus Borg, "The heart of Christianity" in the Cowes library. This book certainly clarified a lot of areas of liberal theology. A lot of the ideas are well thought through. One prophetic moment as I see it was in the Cowes medical clinic while reading "The Heart of Christianity". A lady from no where came up and said I was on the 'right track'. MMMmmm I think that God interacts with the work, not intervenes and this was one of those times....

The publishers of 'The Heart of Christianity' where a group belonging to 'Progressive Christianity'. I had never heard of it before. I've come to understand that 'Progressive Christianity' is different to 'Liberal Theology'. Liberal Theology had its roots in the enlightenment, where textual criticism was the result. Much of the supernatural and mystery dissappeared. "Progressive Christianity still has a high regard for textual criticism but there is room for 'mystery'. This is a very simplifed explanation and could be expanded upon for sure.

My friend over in the West Nathan Hobby drew to my attention that the ABC's 'Spirit of things' Two podcasts on 'Progressive Christianity'.
Part 1
Part 2

Both surprised me by the size of the movement in Australia. There is also an Victorian web page
Hope you enjoy....

Podcasts, Tickle, Spong and Mclaren

I just got back into listening to podcasts again. We are very much broadband limited so downloading is a bit of a bonus...

The first podcast that I've saved up, is from "The Nick and Josh podcast" interviewed was Phillyis Tickle, "Jack" Shelby Spong and Brian Mclaren.

There were a few interesting insights especially Spongs words and I paraphrase. "Religion is the seeking of truth", somthing in that ran true for me.

Its worth a listen. What surprised me was how McLaren was so quite, while Spong and Tickle where definitely the most engaging (I'm not sure this is a good thing...).

Dinner plus A New Kind of Christianity

Wednesday we are having Dinner with out neighbour and going through Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christianity". It should be an interesting affair, our neighbour new to the Island like ourselfs has a Sydney Anglican background so it will be good to hear his points of views on things.

Anyway Mclarens book looks pretty good. I've already read the first two chapters and the basic premis of the book is 10 questions which he believes the Church needs to examine much like Luther and his questions which he banged on the door.

They are....

1. The Narrative question
2. The Authority question
3. The God question
4. The Jesus question
5. The Gospel question
6. The Church question
7. The Sex Question
8. The future question
9. The pluralism question
10. The what do we do now question

house building ::15

A few things happened this week. The house got a paint. 'Sea Mist' Bit hard to pick up on the crappy iphone camera.

Shower basin!

Insulation

Next week should see the kitchen going in as well as finishing the plaster.

Spirituality and Sexuality

Tabor has a new subject this term called Spirituality and Sexuality which I discovered from there 'tabor talk' which gets emailed to me. (I couldnt find it on there web site yet).

What interested me was the variety of speakers.

Anthony Venn-Brown, who comes from a Pentecostal background resigned from ministry after 'coming out' as a gay man. He heads up Feedom 2(e) which work with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, from pentecostal and evangelical backgrounds.

Alan Myers, I'd heard him give his talk on relationships and sexuality once before at tabor. He used to be the pastor of carefore when it was at its prime.

Nexus one on its way...

Good news from the Australian Android blog. The Google Nexus One looks like it will be coming to Australia. Vodafone looks like the carrier. This is the phone which I've been keeping a close eye on.




Lets just hope the plans are reasonable!

Tony Abbott

Yesterday in my brief summary of how I saw politics at the present I gave Tony Abbott this for a round up::

Tony Abbott:: Poo Poo man. Poo poo this, poo poo that. That's all I can hear. I never anything positive. Its all a government conspiracy. The reason why: We are the opposition.

 To be fair I thought it needed some greater explanation. For me as a voter, and one who does swing between parties at election I find it very hard to evaluate him on his current performance.

When all you get from an opposition is a negative response, it is very hard to know which policy the government has which has genuine merit. Whatever government in power, they put out a small or a large amount of bad policy but I don't believe all of it is bad policy.

The opposition if good, needs to be able to see government legislation which is good and then review it and make it better. Take the credit of making good legislation better. Not bag everything.

The opposition needs to be able to put forward new policy which will be there next election platform.

Tony Abbott is the opposition, he is fit, but he is very predictable in his response to everything the government puts out.
For the short term it will encourage tradition liberal/national voter's but that will be all. But he needs more than that to win.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cinephobia/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

toxicity of vision

One of the things which I think sucks the life out of individuals in the church is "Visionary thinking". It rife. It comes from a corporate culture which runs on goals and objectives. It acecpts 'collateral damage' for the sake of the cause. 

Its interesting how when you set yourself aside from this type of church driveness, you begin to see its toxicity. You can see it in yourself. Everything is evaluated by it. Should I have tea with this person. Mmmm Better to have tea with these people they have more of the skill mix the church needs. It starts to rot to the core.

Its interesting for me that when we dropped the 'vision' stuff at Ranges The place took on more of an organic feel and even more interesting people seemed to grow.  Peoples own vision where encouraged and the Churches place was just to blow air, to encourage the flame.

Naked pastor has written 'frustrate visionary thinking' on how to frustrate vision thinking in the church. Here is a snippet::

1.  It is one thing for individuals to have personal visions and dreams. It is the application of these to a community that is dangerous.

2. Don’t see the church group as an entity, but primarily a voluntary gathering of free individuals.

3. Similarly, the church as an entity cannot fix people’s problems or make their lives happy. It is their own responsibility that other individuals can assist in.

4. Embrace diversity of thought and expression. Do not set goals for the church.

5. Do not measure success in terms of numbers, money or reputation.

6. See that mission is expressed individually. Each person is salt and light.

7. Any corporate mission that is genuine will seem spontaneous and have an “of course” feeling to it.

8. Share the oversight of the church. Avoid autocratic rule that provides the richest culture for visionary thinking.

9. Don’t pretend to know the future of the church prophetically, statistically or otherwise. You don’t!

10. Respect the pressure the people are under to want a king, to desire favor, and to think in terms of marketing to promote success. Almost all the literature available is written by successful pastors of successful churches. But don’t bow to this pressure.

Two more months and a new phone...

Two more months and we change over and get a new mobile phone. Christina looks like sticking to her iphone. But me I'm going android. I've had it with all Apples litigation over anything.
So what will I do with the old iphone. Look like I can put android on it!

Australian politics::

Havn't put any political musing for a while so here it is.


Kevin Rudd:: He looks like he is in a spot of bother. Not only is his usual opposition upset but so are his supporters. It does look like he weaseled out of the Emisions Trading Scheme. Doing so he has lost credability.

Tony Abbott:: Poo Poo man. Poo poo this, poo poo that. That's all I can hear. I never anything positive. Its all a government conspiracy. The reason why: We are the opposition.

Malcolm Turnball:: I'm glad he is back. It seems that there is a moderate now back in the liberal party. (Jo Hockey, seems quieter now, it must be fatherhood) If or I should say  when he gets back on the front bench the Liberals will look a bit more balanced. I dare say the media will go to him for some constructive conversation. (I bet they already know what Mr Poo Poo Abbott would say).

Overall the next couple of months should be rather colourful as the election looms.

House Building ::14

Hit an important milestone with 'Lockup', now complete.

Front. Upper deck fence needs finishing.

Back, the sliding doors are in place. The deck fence is up.

A Bath!

Polygamy and Homosexuality...

Scot Mcknight over at the Jesus Creed points out a readers letter and asks the following question::

...if polygamy was wrong and polygamists both remained within the people of God and were even seen as super saints (like Abraham or David), why not the same with homosexuality?

There are a lot of comments and as usual a great range of views. Some worth reading others not...

Reimargining Church, Frank Viola

 

At last I've finished the book. I did set out to summarize each chapter but....

The end of the book Viola makes an important statement::

If you have understood and accepted the message of this book, then you have drawn two significant conclusion:

1. The institutional church as we know it today does not reflect the church that God originally intended.
2. The church that Scripture envisions is organic in its nature and expression, and the Lord desires to recover it today.

Agreeing or disagreeing with this statement is a good way of summarizing this book.

There are a number of responses to this statement.

If you an evangelical who takes the majority of scripture as literally then I think you have to agree with the statement. Churches as we know it are not scriptural but have been shaped by humans.

If on the other hand you are a Christian of a "progressive" or "liberal" bent. Then Viola's forceful argument does not sit as well. The traditions and sacrements in the Church in themselves have value and significant Spiritual significance.

Personally I think the small group is a better way in which community develops. I also like the idea of the 'priest-hood of believers'. I also find meaning in a lot of the traditions and sacraments within the church

One last comment on the last Chapter, which I don't think was neccessary in the book. Viola has a go at most of the main large grouping of evangelicals. He has a go at the 'Vineyard', through the 'Third wave, restoration' label. (Who would know what 'third wave' meant why not just say who the churches are....).

....most third-wave-restoration churches have put the cart before the horse. Namely, they have sought to possess the power of the Spirit before they have gone under the flesh-severing knife of the cross.

I'm not sure what he is trying to get at. There are plenty of examples of the Spirit coming along doing stuff prior to any knowlege of the cross eg pentescost. Anyway what anoys me is 'I've got friends in this movement, blah blah blah. I think he should have just left the chapter out instead of grand genralisations.

Otherwise its a great book if you are in the evangelical camp.

If you want to see my chapter summaries they are here

Stages of faith and extreme politics

I'm currently slowly plowing my way though 'Himmler' by Peter Padfield. Just as a background Himmler was the head of Hitlers SS and the prime archtect of the concentration camps. A firm believer in eugenics. Very nasty.
Himmler got involved with the Nazis very early in life 19 years of age. He worked his way to the top very quickly. He was a 'believer' in the cause.
What has stuck me as I'm reading the book is the overlap between the spiritual development and his career. I write this in reference to a latter post which I did What's happening when what I believe is not what I used to believe', based on 'Fowlers Stages of faith'.

It would seem to me that Himmler's god was Nazism, that he was stuck in stages 2 to 3. He was an absolute fundamentalist to the Nazi cause.

• Stage 2 – "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly in school children), stage two persons have a strong belief in the justice and reciprocity of the universe, and their deities are almost always anthropomorphic.

• Stage 3 – "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence) characterized by conformity

Maybe the most dangerous Fowlers Stages of faith is an idol of extreme politics while in stages 2-3...Himmlers god was Nazism of which he was one of the ultimate fundamentalist.