responsibility

We're working on responsibility in our family at the moment.

Here's our working definition:

Responsibility is doing the right thing without having to be told, especially when Mum and Dad aren't around.

it's graduation tomorrow

There'll be about twenty students graduating tomorrow to go throughout Vanuatu as Pastors in the Presbyterian Church or Priests in the Church of Melanesia.

There'll be another eight or so graduating as mission workers.

There are always lots of tears at Graduation as we say good-bye to people who have become close friends.

Pray it will also be a celebration of a new beginning and of a momentous day in the work of the gospel throughout Vanuatu.

Have a listen to this talk to hear about how times have changed!

anthropology according to the gods

Have you seen the movie, the Gods Must be Crazy? You might remember at the beginning there is a documentary-style introduction to the lives and behaviour of the Kalahari bush-men. You might then also remember that they lived together in perfect harmony, sharing all their possesions, without complaint or argument; even their children played together without fighting or bickering. Truly wonderful.

Until of course, western civilisation dropped from the sky (in the form of a coca-cola bottle) and corrupted everything.

This is typical of the anthropology I grew up with. I don't know where it comes from or how it got to me. It's what was imbibed through television, books and school. It's the anthropology that suggests not just that all cultures are equally good, but that the more primitive the culture is, the less influenced by western civilisation it is, then the better it is and the more morally superior it must be.

I don't know anything about the culture of the Kalahari bush-people except what I saw in the Gods Must be Crazy and an extremely different picture gleaned from the Number One Ladies Dectective Agency books (neither a very credible source!) in which a young girl rescues her baby brother from being buried alive on the death of his mother.

This is what I do know about the Kalahari Bush-People.

They are sinful.

Western Civilisation, as evil as it can be, does not make people or cultures sinful. They do that on their own.

It's not just the Kalahari. It's man-Santo, in the middle of this pacific island, still never to have seen a white-man. It's the Nepali on the slopes of the Himalayes. It's Indians in the Amazon.

Nor do I mean that their music is not beautiful; their craftmanship not skillful and their dance not incredible. Nor that there is not much that we can learn from them. There is.

However, I do mean this. All cultures are equal in this regard: they are full of people who,  though all equally made in the image of God, are all equally sinful. Any anthropology that leads you to believe that "untainted by western civilisation" is the same as being innocent or pure is naive, mistaken and ultimately, evil.


After I wrote this I found this interesting article which explains a few things. Unfortunately the link "anything but innocent" doesn't seem to work.

men of whom the world was not worthy

I recommend the talks listed below which have been given by John Piper over the years at a Pastor's Conference.  They are the talks I listened to when Matthew was awake and unsettled in the middle of the night and early hours of the morning for so many nights when he was very little.  I loved the talks and learnt so much about history, about Calvinism and about God.  I often was tempted to lay in bed awake listening even after Matthew had finally fallen asleep.  I haven't yet listened to the most recent three, but will download them I soon as I am finished here.  (You can also find them all here.)

George Whitfield (2009)

Bill Piper (2008)

Andrew Fuller (2007)

Athanasius (2005)

George Meuller (2004)

Adoniram Judson (2003)

William Wilberforce (2002)

John Newton (2001)

John G. Paton (2000) John Paton was a pioneering missionary in Vanuatu.  You might find this one particularly interesting.

John Bunyan (1999)

St. Augustine (1998)

John Calvin (1997)

Martin Luther (1996)

Charles Spurgeon (1995)

John Owen (1994)

J. Gresham Machen (1993)

William Cowper (1992)

Martin Lloyd-Jones (1991)

David Brainerd (1990)

Charles Simeon (1989)

Johnathan Edwards (1988)

I am a Christian

Some of you, especially in Christian circles may have been sent this short movie which claims to provide evidence that Barak Obama is a Muslim.

If you have already seen it, or see it because I have linked to it here, then I recommend that you also watch the speech that Barak Obama made at Cairo University on June 4 earlier this year.  You can download it from here (or lower quality video here). It's 54 minutes, but I think it's a significant enough speech in our times that it's worth taking the time to listen.

You will see that much of the video evidence in the first movie is cut, completely out of context*, from the second in such a way as to give a very different message from the one Barak Obama himself was actually giving. 

This will hopefully cause you to be sceptical of much of the rest of the short movie because it will be clear that little attempt is being made to present reasoned and fair arguments.  Whatever your opinion of Barak Obama (and I myself strongly disagree with him at some points), he should be treated justly.  I expect this particularly of Christians who ought to be concerned with truth.

The short movie fails to mention that most of what Barak Obama is quoted as saying is said as a prelude to confronting serious issues in the Islamic world.  It leaves out the small yet significant statement in which Barak Obama stands in front of a Muslim audience in a Muslim country and says, "I am a Christian".  And if we were better students of history ourselves, we would realise that what he says about history in his speech is true, not a glorification of Islam.

Other parts of the 'evidence' provided is simply laughable.  I certainly hope no-one will ever accuse me of being a Christian because I take a tour of Westminster Abbey.

In my opinion, the short movie is political propoganda aimed to turn people against an opponent by using existing fears of Islam.  It is misleading, deceptive and slanderous and Christians would do well to disregard it, especially if they wish to maintain a credible witness in the world.

* both the context of the speech and the context in which it was delivered are important considerations.

another little promo

And my brother-in-law has started an interesting new ministry with a friend serving coffee.  They are...

Bean Served Baristas

If you love great coffee, check out his story here and keep an eye on their blog.

a little promo

Oh the things one misses while away... Over the years we've been in Vanuatu, it seems my sister has turned into quite a good photograper!  Have a look here...