Christians and Homophobia

I was at a gathering a long while ago, it was filled with some significant Christian leaders one of whom had his hand up for pre-selection in a major political party. Most where friends who had let there guard down with some the social lubricant; alcohol.
One of the topics that came up was the times they had been propositioned by the same sex. I could see the humor in this, there was though a darker side. A subtle and even blatant disdain for same sex orientation. It was a humor that the school yard bully would use as his mates stand around laughing at the victim.

It was not until latter with reflection that I wished I'd stood up, and said this sort of talk was wrong.

Here on earth:: Tim Flannery

Just a quick note really to say that I've finnished reading Tim Flannery's 'Here on earth'. It was a real up and down book to read emotionally. I feel at time rather hopeless more so when I think of what we are leaving for future generations. The book really started to head and pick up steam in this direction. The effects of pollution, be it the amount of Carbon pumped into the air, deforestation, the declining of biodivercity due to modern farm practices....
One thing that fascinated me was the Gaia theory, I had never really heard of this before. From wikipedia

a broadly inclusive term for related concepts that living organisms on a planet will affect the nature of their environment in order to make the environment more suitable for life. This set of theories holds that all organisms on an extraterrestrial life-giving planet regulate the biosphere to the benefit of the whole. Gaia concept draws a connection between the survivability of a species (hence its evolutionary course) and its usefulness to the survival of other species.

I do think that we are all connected in some way especially with the Earth but this is the first soild thinking that I've heard relates to this. It sounds as if Flannery is a believer in this.

Yet the last couple of chapter there was beams of hope.  That population and planning is starting to take effect, that each generation is becoming more aware of humans impact on the environment. I probably wouldn't have kept reading if there wasn't. This stuff just gets me down after a while.

Good book and well worth reading.

Food

 

After watching "Food inc" and also reading Tim Flannery's book  'Here on earth' to a lesser extent, sourcing the type of food and how it has been produced has become important to me. 

Some options in Cowes which we are utilizing are ::

• Phillip Island food fanatics, Organic Veges which come in a box every Monday. Organized by a collective of like minded people. So far you get some interesting things. Never had persinnon... 
• Phillip Island primary produce, chemical free pasture feed beef and sheep. Just needs to be poultry to be perfect.

The Vegetables are probably about the same cost but its pot luck a lot of the food is seasonal. Hopefully in a year or so the garden will be able to supplement this. Meat is more expensive but we never really ate much anyway but its a nice treat.

Miracles?

Image via Wikipedia

On Brian Mclaren's blog he answers a question regarding miracles:

Thanks for your questions. I spent many years in charismatic/Pentecostal circles, and although I saw a lot of prayer, I can't say I saw physical, visible miracles. Through my years in ministry, I prayed for many people with various diseases, but again, my track record for seeing clear, visible physical miracles was not very impressive at all.
When I've seen God at work in powerful and visible ways, it has almost always involved people acting in compassion, people using their skills and gifts (including medical skills and gifts), people become the "hands and feet" of Christ to love and serve others.
I never shut down the possibility of more dramatic miracles occurring, but I do doubt any claim that they are available on demand. (BTW - if you can point me to a bona fide case, with sufficient evidence, of an amputee whose hand was miraculously restored, I'll gladly report it here. Sadly, through the years, many reports I've heard from a distance turn out not to be real when you track them down.)

I'm a probably a bit more optimistic than Mclaren. The strange thing is that I've seen miricles outside of Christianity and the Church than inside. When it occurred in the Church I'd say it was one of those statistically rare one in a couple of million, not an improbability. Working inside palliative care I've seen people taken off our books because they seem to be cured. It was rare but happened once or twice. 

Marcus Borg, The heart of Christianity: Ch3 The Bible The Heart of Tradition

The Bible The Heart of Tradition

In this Chapter Borg affirms the place of the Bible in Christian tradition. Borg writes that the way the Bible is treated, as infallible has cause many to question and even leave the church and Christianity. Borg suggests three adjectives as an alternative to Biblical literalism these are historical, metaphorical and sacramental.

Historical:

• This is the easiest for me to grasp. 'The bible as a product of the ancient Israel's and the early Christian movement.
• Through human authors during these two periods it was there response to God
• It reveals God in there everyday lives.
• Not 'absolute truth' or 'God's revealed truth' Rather relative truth to the authors time and place, how they saw things.
• When the Bible is approached like this issues such as the conflict between science and faith disappears. Laws of the bible are not seen as laws of all time, eg the difficulties of Leviticus.

Sacred Scripture :

The Holy Bible is a result of historical process not due to its 'divine origin' It is sacred due to its status and function.
To be a Christian means that the Bible is foundational to our identity and vision.

Illuminating Power of Historical Function

The new paradigm uses a 'historical-metaphorical' interpretation.

Historical- The historical context is of utmost importance. What the words means for the community it was originally written for.
Truth as a metaphor- 'a more than literal meaning of language'
[This really stuck me as a way that I could re-read the Bible, certainly it has enlightened the way I read scripture and apply it for myself. Interestingly when people use illustrations in there sermons they are actually using the 'metaphorical approach']

Borg goes onto briefly suggest the major reading of Scripture using a metaphorical approach. One example of which there are a few.

'The story of Gentile wise men coming to the birthplace affirms that Jesus is the light not only for Israel but for all nations, for everybody, Jew and Gentile'

A major point that Borg makes is that the metaphorical interpretation is beyond just a historical factuality.

The Bible as sacrament.

This  way of seeing the Bible I had not really come across before, and I could imagine myself thinking it was some sort of Catholic thing. I think it is important see Borgs definition of 'Sacrament', as once you read it you can see how the Bible is a Sacred.

'... a finite, physical, visible mediator of the sacred, a means whereby the sacred becomes present to us. A sacrament is a vehicle or vessel of the sacred'

Digger's, Earthquakes, tsnamis and nuclear explosions

Our family is part of the the Digger's club, in which you get a gardening magazine every couple of months. The heriloom himself 'Clive Blazey' writes an opinion piece each issue. I found it fasicinating  his last paragraph in 'Winter Garden 2011' 'Earthquakes, tsnamis and nuclear explosions'

In Havana, where Cubans make an abrupt move out of the fossil fuel economy [fall of the Soviet Union?], their footprint is 85% lower but their life expectancy is the same (77 years) as that of the US and their expenditure on health is a fraction of that of an American. The pollutants associated with burning coal are also a health hazard. Being independent of Middle Eastern oil and the wars it entails would ensure a healthier  lifestyle and a sustainable economy wouldn't it?

It is fascinating that it reveals that the capitalist economy doesn't mean better outcomes! In light of Clive Hamilton's books Growth fetish', it would be interesting out of which country also has the happier citizens? It would seem to me that we are been fed a lie with marketing, the true root of all evil.

Related articles

• Garden of St Erth (fondufork.wordpress.com)

Osama bin Laden

It was a bit of a shock to me that today Osama bin Ladan was killed by elite American forces.  I had like many thought that he had died. Some thoughts....

• I was suprised that it had taken so long to get him considering his house stood out. It makes you think that a few people in Pakistan knew about him... I thought he may have just lived in a cave.
• The rumors of him having medical treatment may well have been true
• I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't put on trial. One of the amazing feats of the Israelies was the capturing with Mossad the Nazi Adolf Eichmann in South America and bringing him back to Israel for trail. It seems to me the right thing to do as a western nation. Even Saddam Hussein had a trial!
• I really like what Brian Mclaren had to write::

I can only say that this image does not reflect well on my country, especially in contrast to the images that have been so strong here in recent days ... revelers celebrating a wedding.
Joyfully celebrating the killing of a killer who joyfully celebrated killing carries an irony that I hope will not be lost on us. Are we learning anything, or simply spinning harder in the cycle of violence?

• I wonder how this will reflect on the Arab Spring we are seeing at the moment with so many dictators been thrown out?

Here is a bit of a reflection I wrote a while ago on the book
The Osama bin Lan I know , by Peter Bergen  

This book was disturbing. After reading it I decided that Al Qaeda was the Muslim equivalent to the Christian Klu Klux Klan. In one line they talk about a merciful God and killing the infidel. What the book did bring to my attention was ‘the Islamic awakening’ which I had never heard of before. In a nutshell, it refers to the corruption and poverty in Muslim nations combined with rising education in some of these countries. Bin Laden in many ways was able to bring together the people that struggled in poverty and oppression at the hands of governments and rally them against the West.