Last year I spoke to some believers from a former ‘eastern block’ country. They talked about how life had changed for them during the transition from communism to ‘free market’ economy.
One thing that they had said was how, under the previous regime, people like themselves had enough money, but that there were insufficient commodities to buy with it. And they said that, now, there is plenty to buy, but they just don’t have enough money to buy with.
So this article in the news especially intrigued me yesterday.
About the theft of the “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” sign from Auschwitz by our Polish neighbours.
And about how it had been cut into three pieces.
It made me wonder if they were planning on rearranging the sentence.
And if so, what they might want to say.
[1313:4301]
Tuesday 22 December 2009
Saturday 14 November 2009
Individual Body Parts
I was quite concerned about the ‘life choices’ that a fellow believer was making, so we had a conversation along these lines:
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I believe it’s what God wants me to do.”
“Oh… Well, there’s no arguing with that then is there.”
“No.”
Or is there?
I mean, to say that I disagree with them has little authority since they believe that they are simply a part of the body that has a different function to mine.
Maybe they have an Immovable Faith or maybe they have a Foolish and Misguided Pride.
Is there a frightening implication of untamed prophetic belief amongst liberal apostolic Christian movements in that people can, by and large, do what they want in the name of God?
If we are of One Spirit, shouldn’t there be a means by which the Individual Faith and the Corporate Faith collide and align?
[1251:4202]
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I believe it’s what God wants me to do.”
“Oh… Well, there’s no arguing with that then is there.”
“No.”
Or is there?
I mean, to say that I disagree with them has little authority since they believe that they are simply a part of the body that has a different function to mine.
Maybe they have an Immovable Faith or maybe they have a Foolish and Misguided Pride.
Is there a frightening implication of untamed prophetic belief amongst liberal apostolic Christian movements in that people can, by and large, do what they want in the name of God?
If we are of One Spirit, shouldn’t there be a means by which the Individual Faith and the Corporate Faith collide and align?
[1251:4202]
Friday 6 November 2009
Diversity
“ We don’t see light until it hits something …”
“ The church is to display … to equip and release others to display God’s manifold wisdom in diverse ways, through diverse characters …”
“ ‘metanational’ … instead of ‘multinational’ … expressing a desire to bring the contributions of the many parts to the whole, rather than just bringing a single approach to the many ..."
3 thought-provoking blog excerpts from a conference delegate.
[1232:4152]
“ The church is to display … to equip and release others to display God’s manifold wisdom in diverse ways, through diverse characters …”
“ ‘metanational’ … instead of ‘multinational’ … expressing a desire to bring the contributions of the many parts to the whole, rather than just bringing a single approach to the many ..."
3 thought-provoking blog excerpts from a conference delegate.
[1232:4152]
Thursday 8 October 2009
Tools, Weapons and Toys
Sometimes in my line of duty I have to use a gun.
Almost everyday I carry a knife.
My high-carbon steel blade is so sharp that last week it sank deep into my thumb like a warm knife into butter.
I'm not in the security industry.
But the engineering fascinates me.
And engineers need something to engineer.
But whether a device is considered to be ‘a tool’ or ‘a weapon’ or ‘a toy’ is less about the engineering and more about 1) the application and 2) where you are standing.
Here is a prophecy worth pursuing; read the ‘Isaiah Wall’ across the street from the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA. [Isa 2|Yesh 2]
When weapons turn into tools.
Swords into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, military Land Rovers painted white, blades for spreading, guns for building, and nuclear science for freezing our peas.
I suppose that my education and qualifications could be considered to be tools. Except when they have no application, and so they become toys.
[1188:4068]
Almost everyday I carry a knife.
My high-carbon steel blade is so sharp that last week it sank deep into my thumb like a warm knife into butter.
I'm not in the security industry.
But the engineering fascinates me.
And engineers need something to engineer.
But whether a device is considered to be ‘a tool’ or ‘a weapon’ or ‘a toy’ is less about the engineering and more about 1) the application and 2) where you are standing.
Here is a prophecy worth pursuing; read the ‘Isaiah Wall’ across the street from the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA. [Isa 2|Yesh 2]
When weapons turn into tools.
Swords into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, military Land Rovers painted white, blades for spreading, guns for building, and nuclear science for freezing our peas.
I suppose that my education and qualifications could be considered to be tools. Except when they have no application, and so they become toys.
[1188:4068]
Saturday 26 September 2009
Salt
I have been looking for the ‘best before’ date on the box of table salt in our cupboard.
Does salt really lose its saltiness and if so how?
I know a lot of wonderful ‘salty’ people. Degrees of saltiness might be a concern for the individual, but I see a much greater danger afoot. The salt mine.
“It is always clean and comfortable down here.”
There is a magnetic appeal of church meetings and programs for the like-minded. Where the taste in music and sense of humour are common, where the people will make me feel good and my prejudices will largely go unchallenged. Where my time, energy and resources can be expended outside of the secular reality and all of this attractively marketed in ‘cool’ packaging or religious sensation.
Church group leaders who seek to be responsible hired hands must tread carefully.
[1173:4034]
Does salt really lose its saltiness and if so how?
I know a lot of wonderful ‘salty’ people. Degrees of saltiness might be a concern for the individual, but I see a much greater danger afoot. The salt mine.
“It is always clean and comfortable down here.”
There is a magnetic appeal of church meetings and programs for the like-minded. Where the taste in music and sense of humour are common, where the people will make me feel good and my prejudices will largely go unchallenged. Where my time, energy and resources can be expended outside of the secular reality and all of this attractively marketed in ‘cool’ packaging or religious sensation.
Church group leaders who seek to be responsible hired hands must tread carefully.
[1173:4034]
Saturday 19 September 2009
Rest Or Strength ?
“… those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary [OJB|NIV]
“… He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [OJB|NIV]
“… Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest [OJB|NIV]
I am weary.
Do I ask for rest or strength ?
[1162:4001]
“… He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [OJB|NIV]
“… Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest [OJB|NIV]
I am weary.
Do I ask for rest or strength ?
[1162:4001]
Friday 11 September 2009
Jesus And Stress
In what order would Jesus recommend the following as being suitable remedies for stress?
A. Withdraw from stressful responsibility
B. Consume more alcohol
C. Inhale more tobacco
D. Digest prescription narcotics
E. Digest non-prescription narcotics
F. Do a lot of shouting
G. Hit inanimate objects
H. Other
[1150:3969]
A. Withdraw from stressful responsibility
B. Consume more alcohol
C. Inhale more tobacco
D. Digest prescription narcotics
E. Digest non-prescription narcotics
F. Do a lot of shouting
G. Hit inanimate objects
H. Other
[1150:3969]
Sustainable Worldview
If I do what my parents did, will my kids be able to do what I did?
[1150:3969]
[1150:3969]
Sunday 2 August 2009
Mates Rates
Aristotle wrote, “Usury is detested above all and for the best of reasons. It makes profit out of money itself, not for money’s natural object … Money was intended as a means of exchange, not to increase at interest" (Aristotle 20-1 ‘Politics’ translation by John Warrington for Everyman’s Library London: Dent and Sons)
John the Baptist / Yochanan Ben Zecharyah taught "The man with two tunics (kaftans) should share with him who has none, and the one who has food (okhel) should do the same." [Bible:NIV|B’rC:NT:Luk3]
Lal writes about market advantage in terms of ‘transactional costs’ (p42) “… costs of relations between people (citing Matthews) … and how … institutions are par excellence ways of controlling or influencing the form, content, and outcomes of these interactions.”
So this is why the Baptist guy at the tool hire store won’t give me a drill, even though I have none and he has nine, right?
How clever we have become. Christian Branding, Christian Companies and Corporations, Christian Commercial Charities. The institutions which harbour our iniquities.
[1112:3914]
John the Baptist / Yochanan Ben Zecharyah taught "The man with two tunics (kaftans) should share with him who has none, and the one who has food (okhel) should do the same." [Bible:NIV|B’rC:NT:Luk3]
Lal writes about market advantage in terms of ‘transactional costs’ (p42) “… costs of relations between people (citing Matthews) … and how … institutions are par excellence ways of controlling or influencing the form, content, and outcomes of these interactions.”
So this is why the Baptist guy at the tool hire store won’t give me a drill, even though I have none and he has nine, right?
How clever we have become. Christian Branding, Christian Companies and Corporations, Christian Commercial Charities. The institutions which harbour our iniquities.
[1112:3914]
Saturday 25 July 2009
Evolutor God
Creation v Evolution. But they’re not really opposites at all, are they?
Creationism offers 'who' but not 'how'. Evolutionism offers 'how' but not 'who'.
[1100:3894]
Creationism offers 'who' but not 'how'. Evolutionism offers 'how' but not 'who'.
[1100:3894]
Sunday 5 July 2009
Bridging the Bridge That We Burnt
Understanding, historically, at what point our paths divided feeds my desire to live appropriately amongst our Glocal neighbours.
Deepak Lal has recently scratched some of my proverbial itches. He writes (p45) " The Great Divergence of Western Europe from the other Eurasian civilisations occurred because of a change in cosmological and material beliefs, mediated by the Catholic Church … by Pope Gregory I in the sixth century on family matters (Goody 1983) and the second those by Gregory VII in the eleventh century on property and institutionally related issues (Berman 1983) … to put the west on a different economic trajectory than its Eurasian peers ".
Was organised Christian religion really the root of the individualism that separates the West from more communalist cultures?
Is the notion of exporting the Pursuit of Jesus and the kingdom of God across this divide, without exporting Western Individualism, an atavistic fantasy?
[1083:3846]
Deepak Lal has recently scratched some of my proverbial itches. He writes (p45) " The Great Divergence of Western Europe from the other Eurasian civilisations occurred because of a change in cosmological and material beliefs, mediated by the Catholic Church … by Pope Gregory I in the sixth century on family matters (Goody 1983) and the second those by Gregory VII in the eleventh century on property and institutionally related issues (Berman 1983) … to put the west on a different economic trajectory than its Eurasian peers ".
Was organised Christian religion really the root of the individualism that separates the West from more communalist cultures?
Is the notion of exporting the Pursuit of Jesus and the kingdom of God across this divide, without exporting Western Individualism, an atavistic fantasy?
[1083:3846]
Sunday 7 June 2009
Entitlement
They are principles that we try to impart to our children from an early age: “Your turn, his turn, her turn, give it to him, give it to her, share it, it’s hers, it’s his, it’s mine”.
I have found excerpts from a recently discovered book to be quite enlightening on the subject.
“… A free society cannot be built on mishpat, the rule of law, alone … Tzedakah, by contrast, refers to distributive justice … from the theology of Judaism, in which there is a difference between possession and ownership … all things are owned by God …”
“Making Globalization Good: The Moral Challenges of Global Capitalism” John.H.Dunning et al. Oxford University Press, 2004
I’m looking forward to reading a hard copy this summer.
[1063:3782]
I have found excerpts from a recently discovered book to be quite enlightening on the subject.
“… A free society cannot be built on mishpat, the rule of law, alone … Tzedakah, by contrast, refers to distributive justice … from the theology of Judaism, in which there is a difference between possession and ownership … all things are owned by God …”
“Making Globalization Good: The Moral Challenges of Global Capitalism” John.H.Dunning et al. Oxford University Press, 2004
I’m looking forward to reading a hard copy this summer.
[1063:3782]
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Google Church
I often wrestle with the apparent tensions between ‘local’ and ‘global’.
Last November we arrived home from a bonfire night party to find a man lying motionless in the road with his head covered in blood.
I discovered retrospectively that the assault had followed an argument in the local bookies. Anyway, it was late and raining and it seemed that all other characters lurking in the dark were either ‘turning a blind eye’ or were unaware of the situation.
Less because I am a good Samaritan and more because he was lying in my parking space, I attended to the man finding him drifting in and out of consciousness due to several blows to the head. I called the emergency services on his behalf.
The swiftness with which they arrived to nurture his recovery reinforced my appreciation for both the global technologies - like the mobile/cell phone - that we have at our fingertips, as well as for those who persevere stressful or lonely global lifestyles to bring them to us.
But in another respect, the episode reminds me that ‘local’ can mean responsive, hands-on, tactile and connecting in a way that ‘global’ cannot.
Global definitions of friendship - like as the veneer of a one-click-covenant according to one popular 'social networking' website - are a far cry from the teachings of Jesus/Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.
I am unconvinced of the idly used notion of loving our ‘global neighbours’ from afar. Would our passions not be best exercised by moving into their neighbourhood?
If the church is confident in her identity, is our best response to globalisation that of riding the waves of global capitalism as a bunch of shallow virtual networks?
[1030:3694]
Last November we arrived home from a bonfire night party to find a man lying motionless in the road with his head covered in blood.
I discovered retrospectively that the assault had followed an argument in the local bookies. Anyway, it was late and raining and it seemed that all other characters lurking in the dark were either ‘turning a blind eye’ or were unaware of the situation.
Less because I am a good Samaritan and more because he was lying in my parking space, I attended to the man finding him drifting in and out of consciousness due to several blows to the head. I called the emergency services on his behalf.
The swiftness with which they arrived to nurture his recovery reinforced my appreciation for both the global technologies - like the mobile/cell phone - that we have at our fingertips, as well as for those who persevere stressful or lonely global lifestyles to bring them to us.
But in another respect, the episode reminds me that ‘local’ can mean responsive, hands-on, tactile and connecting in a way that ‘global’ cannot.
Global definitions of friendship - like as the veneer of a one-click-covenant according to one popular 'social networking' website - are a far cry from the teachings of Jesus/Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.
I am unconvinced of the idly used notion of loving our ‘global neighbours’ from afar. Would our passions not be best exercised by moving into their neighbourhood?
If the church is confident in her identity, is our best response to globalisation that of riding the waves of global capitalism as a bunch of shallow virtual networks?
[1030:3694]
Friday 22 May 2009
Prisoner Or Free ?
Today I reached a wall.
I cannot get over it. I cannot get under it. I cannot get around it.
There is not much to see on either side of the wall, except a few people. Some are on this side (us), and some are on the other (them).
How do I find out if it is them or us that are free ?
[1017:3660]
I cannot get over it. I cannot get under it. I cannot get around it.
There is not much to see on either side of the wall, except a few people. Some are on this side (us), and some are on the other (them).
How do I find out if it is them or us that are free ?
[1017:3660]
Friday 8 May 2009
Justice v Grace
These days I work as a barber. Today a long-haired customer walked in and asked for a short cut. So we chatted and I snipped. Snip snip. Anyway, suddenly he said “stop!”. I said “what’s wrong?”. He said “it isn’t short enough”. I said “I know, I haven’t finished”. He said “and it’s wet”. I said “yes, I had to wet it to cut it straight, your hair was all ruffled”. He said “this is not good enough, I’m not paying”, stormed out of the shop and slammed the door.
The trouble is, right now, I badly need that revenue.
So here is my dilemma:
From my standpoint in the marketplace I want justice.
I think he is in the wrong and I want to make him pay.
From my standpoint in the church, I wonder if I should exercise grace, and this is why:
Jesus said “… if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also …” [B’rC|NT:Luk6]
Paul said “… why not rather be wronged? why not rather be cheated? …” [B’rC|NT:1Cor6]
So justice or grace?
If grace, then must the perpetrator first be shown his error?
[988:3581]
The trouble is, right now, I badly need that revenue.
So here is my dilemma:
From my standpoint in the marketplace I want justice.
I think he is in the wrong and I want to make him pay.
From my standpoint in the church, I wonder if I should exercise grace, and this is why:
Jesus said “… if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also …” [B’rC|NT:Luk6]
Paul said “… why not rather be wronged? why not rather be cheated? …” [B’rC|NT:1Cor6]
So justice or grace?
If grace, then must the perpetrator first be shown his error?
[988:3581]
Sunday 26 April 2009
Calvin v Arminius
This post from a theology student:
Calvinism sees the atonement as limited, while Arminianism sees it as unlimited. Limited atonement is the belief that Jesus only died for the elect. Unlimited atonement is the belief that Jesus died for all, but that His death is not effectual until a person believes.
Calvinism includes the belief that God’s grace is irresistible, while Arminianism says that an individual can resist the grace of God. Irresistible grace argues that when God calls a person to salvation, that person will inevitably come to salvation. Resistible grace states that God calls all to salvation, but that many people resist and reject this call.
Calvinism holds to the concept that a person who is elected by God will persevere in faith and will not permanently deny Christ or turn away from Him. Arminianism holds to the notion of 'conditional salvation' - where a believer in Christ can, of their own free will, turn away from Christ and thereby lose salvation.
Which are you ?
[939:3384]
Calvinism sees the atonement as limited, while Arminianism sees it as unlimited. Limited atonement is the belief that Jesus only died for the elect. Unlimited atonement is the belief that Jesus died for all, but that His death is not effectual until a person believes.
Calvinism includes the belief that God’s grace is irresistible, while Arminianism says that an individual can resist the grace of God. Irresistible grace argues that when God calls a person to salvation, that person will inevitably come to salvation. Resistible grace states that God calls all to salvation, but that many people resist and reject this call.
Calvinism holds to the concept that a person who is elected by God will persevere in faith and will not permanently deny Christ or turn away from Him. Arminianism holds to the notion of 'conditional salvation' - where a believer in Christ can, of their own free will, turn away from Christ and thereby lose salvation.
Which are you ?
[939:3384]
Saturday 11 April 2009
Signing My Life Away
Agreements, contracts, covenants. Sometimes they are written, sometimes they are verbal.
They are sure to constitute two aspects: Content, and A Sign.
Regarding the content, we cannot exercise justice (claiming ‘rights’) without it because this is where ‘what is right’ is defined. We cannot exercise grace (showing undeserved favour) without it because this is where ‘what is deserved’ is defined.
Once the content is defined, a sign is required to show that the agreement exists:
In business it can be a signature, or a handshake. In marriage, a ring.
In the Torah, God first used a rainbow as a sign for the ‘I will not flood the earth again’ covenant [Bereshis9|Genesis9]
The sign of the ‘covenant with God’s people’ was circumcision. [Ber17|Gen17]
The sign of the ‘new covenant’ is blood - Jesus’ blood - because “… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness …” [B’rC:MJ9|NT:Heb9]”. Jesus tried to explain this to his disciples with the cup of wine [B'rC:Mark14].
So when I drink communion wine, what is the agreement that I am remembering?
[912:3319]
They are sure to constitute two aspects: Content, and A Sign.
Regarding the content, we cannot exercise justice (claiming ‘rights’) without it because this is where ‘what is right’ is defined. We cannot exercise grace (showing undeserved favour) without it because this is where ‘what is deserved’ is defined.
Once the content is defined, a sign is required to show that the agreement exists:
In business it can be a signature, or a handshake. In marriage, a ring.
In the Torah, God first used a rainbow as a sign for the ‘I will not flood the earth again’ covenant [Bereshis9|Genesis9]
The sign of the ‘covenant with God’s people’ was circumcision. [Ber17|Gen17]
The sign of the ‘new covenant’ is blood - Jesus’ blood - because “… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness …” [B’rC:MJ9|NT:Heb9]”. Jesus tried to explain this to his disciples with the cup of wine [B'rC:Mark14].
So when I drink communion wine, what is the agreement that I am remembering?
[912:3319]
Saturday 4 April 2009
People Or Human Resources ?
I observe how the church is robbing our town. How, as eager ambassadors of our charitable God, we romanticise the trampled-on through well-marketed programs, and then fund these same programs by piling heavy taxes on the trampled-on.
A convenient circle of piety.
Well, people will only squash to a certain thickness and still remain human. So what was our town is now one enormous care-home. It is run by people who do not live here and it is full of people who either will not, cannot, or believe that they cannot, fend for themselves.
In order to fund the care home we are to build a new, adjacent, income-generating town.
One difficulty is to find products and services that will actually make the new town a net contributor. The town will provide jobs, products and services for all; healthcare, security, education, energy and communication, multimedia, opportunities to both serve and be served, opportunities for mission, preaching and taxation.
I am responsible for recruitment.
With the right team we can pump our profits into the old town.
I was struggling to find employees who were both willing and able to meet the incredibly challenging demands facing us, when I stumbled across this advertisement:
… recruiting workers who will work 24/7 … never on sick leave … never absent … do not require a pension … will not join a union … low maintenance costs … see them in action …
It works for me. But here lieth a challenge for both preacher and taxman.
[895:3268]
A convenient circle of piety.
Well, people will only squash to a certain thickness and still remain human. So what was our town is now one enormous care-home. It is run by people who do not live here and it is full of people who either will not, cannot, or believe that they cannot, fend for themselves.
In order to fund the care home we are to build a new, adjacent, income-generating town.
One difficulty is to find products and services that will actually make the new town a net contributor. The town will provide jobs, products and services for all; healthcare, security, education, energy and communication, multimedia, opportunities to both serve and be served, opportunities for mission, preaching and taxation.
I am responsible for recruitment.
With the right team we can pump our profits into the old town.
I was struggling to find employees who were both willing and able to meet the incredibly challenging demands facing us, when I stumbled across this advertisement:
… recruiting workers who will work 24/7 … never on sick leave … never absent … do not require a pension … will not join a union … low maintenance costs … see them in action …
It works for me. But here lieth a challenge for both preacher and taxman.
[895:3268]
Saturday 28 March 2009
Family Adoption
“… just as He picked us out to be part of Hashem's Bechirim (Chosen Ones) before the hivvased tevel (foundation of the world), that we should be Kadoshim and without mum (defect, VAYIKRA 22:20) before Him in ahavah [VAYIKRA 11:44; 20:7; SHMUEL BAIS 22:24; TEHILLIM 15:2] Having provided the yi'ud merosh (predestination) for us to be chosen as adopted bnei brit through Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua to Himself, according to the chafetz (good pleasure) of His ratzon (will) …” [Bible:OJB:B’rC:Eph1]
I am of gentile descent.
Is this adoption available to me?
Who are the host family that I am ‘adopted’ into?
1. My local group of believers
2. Jews
3. Christians
4. Messianic Jews
Should my behaviour reflect that of my host family?
[876:3200]
I am of gentile descent.
Is this adoption available to me?
Who are the host family that I am ‘adopted’ into?
1. My local group of believers
2. Jews
3. Christians
4. Messianic Jews
Should my behaviour reflect that of my host family?
[876:3200]
Tuesday 24 March 2009
£25000 Down The Drain
"... he was in Beit-Anyah at the bais of Shimon the leper, reclining at tish, and an isha (woman) came, having an alabaster flask of costly perfume, pure nard, and having broken open the alabaster flask, she poured [it on] the head of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. Now some were there who in ka’as (anger) said to one another, for what reason has this waste of ointment taken place? For this was able to be sold for more than three hundred denarii and to be given to the aniyim ..." [Bible:OJB:B’rit Chadasha:Mark14]
300 denarii was considered to be over a year’s income. Today, the equivalent might buy a 20 second commercial advertisement on prime-time TV. Or it might make a significant contribution to a charity for the homeless.
What would you spend it on?
[Thread courtesy of Nemo, thanks.]
[863:3177]
300 denarii was considered to be over a year’s income. Today, the equivalent might buy a 20 second commercial advertisement on prime-time TV. Or it might make a significant contribution to a charity for the homeless.
What would you spend it on?
[Thread courtesy of Nemo, thanks.]
[863:3177]
Thursday 12 March 2009
No Net Burden. Really?
Paul wrote to followers in Thessalonica “…Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you …” [bible:niv:nt:1thess2]
If he really worked both day and night, when did Paul find time to ‘preach’? Did he have any time to ‘prepare’? Or was this a different kind of ‘preaching’ to that which is familiar to western middle class Christianity?
If he was a ‘self-sufficient’ visitor, how did Paul abstain from receiving hospitality without robbing his host of the ‘gifts’ of giving and of community?
Did he work for money, and if so, what was the hourly rate of a tent-maker relative to that earned by his hosts, in the services that they provided? Or did he trade his services directly with his hosts, and if so, was a day of Paul’s labour equal to a day of their labour?
If he did tent making for the Roman military then was Paul actually contributing to the tax burden on the people?
After fending for the needs of my dependants, and for myself, and after contributing my tax obligation, how hard exactly do I need to work in order to ‘not be a burden’ to my community?
[835:3117]
If he really worked both day and night, when did Paul find time to ‘preach’? Did he have any time to ‘prepare’? Or was this a different kind of ‘preaching’ to that which is familiar to western middle class Christianity?
If he was a ‘self-sufficient’ visitor, how did Paul abstain from receiving hospitality without robbing his host of the ‘gifts’ of giving and of community?
Did he work for money, and if so, what was the hourly rate of a tent-maker relative to that earned by his hosts, in the services that they provided? Or did he trade his services directly with his hosts, and if so, was a day of Paul’s labour equal to a day of their labour?
If he did tent making for the Roman military then was Paul actually contributing to the tax burden on the people?
After fending for the needs of my dependants, and for myself, and after contributing my tax obligation, how hard exactly do I need to work in order to ‘not be a burden’ to my community?
[835:3117]
Saturday 17 January 2009
Jesus Is The Dot. What ? (Part 2)
Thanks to a gift book from my brother, my attention has recently returned to the helpful perspectives associated with ‘bounded sets’ and ‘centred sets’ as expounded in this discussion with Dave Schmelzer:
http://www.nycvineyard.com/training/Schmelzer_MinistryInOurCulture1.mp3
I firmly subscribe to this way of thinking. I understand that any kind of corporate believers’ meeting is ‘bounded set’, and I am increasingly aware of the presence of various ‘set perimeters’ which exist amongst groups that I either meet with or know about. This is of continuous annoyance to me.
I consider many aspects of ‘the kingdom of God’, as described by Jesus in my NIV bible, and indeed the nature of my personal journey of faith, to be best modelled as ‘centred set’.
Now this is something that gets me down;
I live in a culture where, for sanity’s sake, progress has calibrations, performance is measured and success is awarded. By very nature, bounded sets are highly measurable and there is a 'feel good' factor associated with the measurement of growing head-counts or of reaching fund-raising targets.
But if faith and the kingdom of God are centred set, and if progressing in the pursuit of God/Jesus is calibrated by ‘motion towards God/Jesus’, then how can that be measured ? Is it not depressingly subjectively immeasurable ?
[763:3002]
http://www.nycvineyard.com/training/Schmelzer_MinistryInOurCulture1.mp3
I firmly subscribe to this way of thinking. I understand that any kind of corporate believers’ meeting is ‘bounded set’, and I am increasingly aware of the presence of various ‘set perimeters’ which exist amongst groups that I either meet with or know about. This is of continuous annoyance to me.
I consider many aspects of ‘the kingdom of God’, as described by Jesus in my NIV bible, and indeed the nature of my personal journey of faith, to be best modelled as ‘centred set’.
Now this is something that gets me down;
I live in a culture where, for sanity’s sake, progress has calibrations, performance is measured and success is awarded. By very nature, bounded sets are highly measurable and there is a 'feel good' factor associated with the measurement of growing head-counts or of reaching fund-raising targets.
But if faith and the kingdom of God are centred set, and if progressing in the pursuit of God/Jesus is calibrated by ‘motion towards God/Jesus’, then how can that be measured ? Is it not depressingly subjectively immeasurable ?
[763:3002]
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