Ventnor re-zoning...

Great Article just put up by 'The Age' on the Ventnor re-zone decision by the Balieu government.
It reveals more questions about Mr Mathew Guys initial decision....

On a positive side great that our liberal federal member Greg Hunt lobbied against the decision. Representing people in his electorate.

But what is more of a concern is how quite Ken Smith liberal state member and Speaker of the house has been. I haven't heard him speak at all on the topic.....

goodbye car, hello bakfiest!

  On  the weekend we received our new bike a dutch cargo bike, a 'bakfiest.nl'. We have tripped about Cowes almost exclusivley in it and few things stand out

1. Its a heavy beast, unlike normal bikes where you can just lift the front wheel, its impossible on a bakfiest. Its like a motorbike when you wheel it around.
2. With this sort of weight I still havn't got the hang of taking off on an elevation going up, even with e-assist. Will need some practice.
3. The bike is great on the flat or downhill but going uphill, it is really hard going; I'm glad we added the e-assist. Going on the flat with e-assist you fly along.
4. Don't look at the front wheel and steer, this only puts you off; you need to look ahead.

Hopefully without the car we will be able to save a bit of money, get fitter, and lower our greenhouse footprint.

Re-zoning, Mily Cyrus and infrastructure....

Phillip island was surprisingly in the international news with Milly Cyrus tweeting her sadness at the liberal planning minister Mathew Guy pushing through re-zoning without community or council consultation. Some of the concerns that I noted from the community and council were that services were already stretched and that there are already multiple new housing estates in production.

It interests me that commercially business know that Phillip Island is a growing area. Dimmy's has opened a shop, Safeway is opening, Target is opening. Yet local, state and federal governments don't seem to see this.

Public infustruture is a real problem. Phillip island is growing faster than the rest of the region yet looses out consistantly to other towns get the projects.

Phillip Island has no public swiming pool: Wonthaggi has a pool and looks like getting a new heated one!
Phillip Island: medical services are horrid; no bulk billing clinics, no 24 hour medical service, no hospital: Wonthaggi has all of these.

Population

Wonthaggi 6529 people in 2006
Phillip Island 7071 people in 2001
 

Yep something is wrong, and I think that it will bite the Liberal party on the bum. So watch out Ken Smith or who ever replaces you when you retire!

Dwell

One of the things that I constantly struggle with is singing worship songs which make me uncomfortable.
 I have never particularly felt great emotions. I can appreciate friends who have great passion, burst of anger, joy, love. I have these feeling as well, but they are mear bumps on the richter scale. Yet it seemed to me that the worship songs writen are for those who can reach these peaks of emotional highs. Take for example the Vineyard worship song 'Mercy is Falling'; It just left me wondering what it was all about. If there was anyone who could actually ascribe to the repetitiveness of these lines.

mercy is falling, is falling, is falling
mercy it falls like a sweet spring rain
mercy it falling its falling all over me

  It reminded me of the Paul Kelly song 'Summer Rain' which made more scene, were I could imagine, the taste and smell of summer rain. A real blessing from God.

Theologically worship was also was one of those things which I struggled with. While I could appreciate writers following a doctrine, for me; especially now, I don't follow a necessary black and white understanding. Often I felt I almost felt I was singing a lie. The mouth was opening, yet the mind didn't know or disagreed. You almost felt like it was a brain washing propaganda meeting.

On a positive note, there are songs where non of these things mattered. "Dwell", I heard this in Alice Spings under the shadow of the MacDonnell Ranges. We were at a pastors conference and Casey Corum was there and singing this song. There was something; it had to do with space and presence where the mind and heart collide. A rare occurrence, especially for me. Even now I can sing this whole heartedly, turning off my brain is not necessary.

Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, Ch 5, Jesus the Heart of Reality (Part 2)

Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, Ch 5, Jesus the Heart of Reality (Part 2)

The second part of the chapter involves the theology of the Cross; which I thought needed a post by itself.
Borg doesn't deny Jesus execution. He believes that the reason for it was primarily because Jesus of 'his Politics- a passion for God's justice'. Where Borg differs radically from Evangelical scholars is the how the 'post-Easter' early Christians interpreted his death. One of the most well known is the 'atonement' theology'; 'Jesus died for your Sins'.  Borg finds Atonment theory problematic

...atonement theology doe not go back to Jesus himself. We do not think that Jesus thought that the purpose of his life , his vocation, was his death. His purpose was what he was doing as a healer, wisdom teacher, social prophet and movement initiator. His death was the consequence of what he was doing, but not his purpose.

....Jesus kept up what he doing even though he knew it could have fatal consequences.

Borg summaries five differnt interpretations of the Cross which scholars have had through the ages.

1.  A 'Regection-and-Vindication understanding of Good Friday and Easter'. Authorities regected Jesus but God Vindicated Jesus. This understanding stays the closest to the political message.
2. The 'Defeat of Powers' , again this is close to the political message of Jesus. Not only is it against the Romans and aristocratic rulers (I presume aristocratic rulers he means the Jewish ones of the time) Borg refers to Walter Wink as the 'dominion system which is built into human institutions. 
3. The Cross as 'the way'. To die to old ways and raised in a new ways of been.
4. A revelation of Gods love for us.
5. Lastly the sacrificial system where Jesus died for our sins. Borg writes that

..."Jesus died for our sins"  was originally a subversive metaphor not a literal description of either God's  was purpose or Jesus vocation. It was metaphorical proclamation of radical...

It is interesting to reflect that at certain times I have had an understanding of the first four mention. Yet the last, the sacrificial system I've previously looked at as literal. Borg's understanding has been a revelation to me.  I like his understanding 'Jesus is a metaphor for God', and in many ways looking at Scripture through this grid.

Exploration....

Its interesting but the further you look into things often the deeper you go with idea that interest and resonate with you. One of the few podcasts which I do subscribe to today is called 'Homebrew Christianity'. I suspect why I like it so much is that participants in the podcast have had a similar experience as myself. Usually coming out of an Evangelical/Pentecostal background. One podcast which interested was on 'process theology', which I had never heard before. It was described as the 'Cousin' of 'Open theology'. I liked some of the thoughts of Open Theology and have read a few books from Clark Pinnock. So next year I'll read a bit more Open Theology to try to get my head around the ideas a bit more.

Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, Ch 5, Jesus the Heart of Reality

Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, Ch 5, Jesus the Heart of Reality (Part 1)

One of Borg central tenants of been a Christian is Jesus. But how he understands Jesus is quite different from a typical Evangelical/Pentecostal understanding. 

Borg makes the claim that Christianity is unique in that it reveals God through a person Jesus. While in other religions this is found in the Torah or Qur'an.

Borg has five reasons why he believes seeing Jesus with a new paradigm matters.

1. The historical-metaphorical approach matters because a Jesus and the Christian life based on literalism are 'unpersuasive' to  many many people.  The historical older paradigm emphasizes the literal and the unbelievable which goes with it.
2. The importance of a Pre-Easter and Post-Easter Jesus. 
1. Pre-Easter is before Jesus Death
2. Post-Easter is after his death or 'what Jesus became' after his death. This is important and something which I hadn't really thought about before. Post-Easter his disciple and ourselves continue to experience Jesus even after his death.
3.  One you get your head around the pre and post Easter Jesus they have a profound effect on how you understand the Gospels.  Some of Borgs conclusions are::
• The Gospels are a continuation of the Post Jesus Tradition witten decades after Jesus actual death.
• Gospels have two stories, the pre Easter Jesus and then other traditions and understanding of the community afterwards.
4. The historical-metaphorical approach matters because it helps with our understanding of Christological language. 
5. The last and fifth reason the historical-metaphorical study of Jesus matter is because in Jesus we get a glimpse of what a full life of God is like. Borg gives us what he thinks with a fair bit of certainty to be what we know of Jesus Pre-Easter. (Much of what Borg writes about the historical Jesus can also be read in Dominic Crossan's book 'The Historical Jesus', both have very similar ideas even if the terms they use are different)
   

• He was a Jesus Mystic, who had 'vivid and typical frequent experiences of God.
• He was a healer. Healers were also found in Jewish history.
• He was a wisdom teacher, 'they teach a way, a path, a life'
• He was a social prophet, much like many of the Old Testement historical figures
• He was a movment initiator, a movment came about because of his life.

Stay tuned for part 2....