Month: July 2007

Gapminder World

Post author By john
Post date 19 July, 2007

Are you sick of looking at tables of numbers in books, and trying to deduce relevant information from them about, say, the relationship between income and infant mortality rates? Sometimes the statistics are dressed up in bar charts or pie charts, but it still tends to be tedious stuff. But now Gapminder has come up with a completely new way of presenting statistics which is far more useful and informative than any method I have ever seen.

The Gapminder charting tool is hosted by Google, and it’s free for anyone to use. Gapminder is a non-profit venture for development and provision of free software for visualising human development. One of its founders was Hans Rosling, a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. He was also a co-founder of Médecins sans Frontièrs (Doctors without Borders) Sweden.

Hans has given two amazing presentations at TED conferences in 2006 and 2007, demonstrating his software in a very entertaining manner. Both of these are available for free viewing online. The 2006 talk was entitled Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen, and his 2007 talk was entitled New Insights on poverty and life around the world. The TED website has many other videos which are worth watching.

Future

Enjoy change because it’s unavoidable

Post author By john
Post date 18 July, 2007

Less that two percent of the atoms in your body were there 12 months ago. 98% of the atoms in a living human being get replaced each year, through the body’s natural building processes including breathing, eating and drinking. So no matter how hard you try to be the same person you’ve always been, you are constantly changing, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

You can choose to make change your enemy, or you can choose to make it your friend. If change is your enemy, then your life will be filled with a continuing series of unpleasant surprises. If change is your friend, then each day is an opportunity to experience something new, to learn something new, to meet new people, and embrace more of the good things God has provided.

If only followers of Jesus were less conservative and more future-focussed and change-friendly. Then we could imagine a world in which poor people really are hearing good news, prisoners really are being set free, blind people are seeing, oppressed people are being released from their oppression, and the favourable year of the Lord is arriving.

Present

Fighting Terror with More Terror

Post author By john
Post date 17 July, 2007

The magic words “War on Terror” seem to justify the abrogation of centuries of hard-won rights – the rights of citizens not to be tortured by the government, the right to a fair trial, the right of an accused person to know the evidence against him or her, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and the right of an accused person not to be imprisoned without being charged with an offence.

It is a disgraceful day for a supposedly civilised country when the government deliberately mistreats a person for political ends. Dr Haneef was arrested about two weeks ago, and held for 12 days without being charged with an offence. It now appears that he has been charged with recklessly aiding a terrorist organisation because he gave a relative a mobile phone SIM card with unexpired credits. For this act, he is threatened with 25 years in jail.

The magistrate yesterday granted Dr Haneef bail, but the government immediately revoked his visa and sent him to an immigration detention centre on the ground that he is illegally remaining in Australia – although against his will! How unjust is that? How can we claim to be the good guys if we are acting like the bad guys? Is it any wonder that the government’s chances of re-election later this year are minimal?

Past

The Book of Common Prayer

Post author By john
Post date 16 July, 2007

I visited an Anglican church yesterday, and that caused me to reflect on the old prayer book which we used in services when I was a child. It was the Book of Common Prayer, published in 1662, and one of the three seminal works of English literature (the others being Shakespeare and the King James Bible).

The contents of the Book of Common Prayer were largely derived from Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII. Cranmer led a team which produced a prayer book in 1552, but he was burned at the stake in 1556 while Mary (who was a Roman Catholic) was Queen. A revised version of Cranmer’s book was published in 1559 under Queen Elizabeth, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer was a further revised version.

In addition to being a great work of literature, the Book of Common Prayer contains some inspiring words. One of my favourites was a verse often spoken before the offertory: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.” If only Christians today would take this to heart!

Faith

What if Christ-Followers Really Were Different?

Post author By john
Post date 14 July, 2007

What is it that distinguishes Christians from everybody else? Most people would say that Christians are more conservative than others, and they place a greater emphasis on enforcing moral rules relating to such issues as sexual practices, abortion, and decency. In other words, most people seem to think that Christianity is primarily about following the rules.

For some reason, Christians are giving out entirely the wrong signals. Following Jesus is supposed to be about grace, and not about law. Eric Bryant says that followers of Jesus should be practising the Art of Woo. He says that deep down, we long to be part of a loving and diverse community, to be part of a church know for caring for those the world has forgotten. Wouldn’t it be amazing if people saw our lives and wanted what we have?

I think it’s something to do with control. We want to control other people, and get them to conform to what we consider to be acceptable behavioural patterns. However, the Bible tells us to exercise faith, rather than control. Our job as followers of Jesus is to be agents of grace in the world. It’s not up to us to be making rules for others to follow. We’re here to reflect the image of Christ in the way we live our lives.

Books

The Art of the Start

Post author By john
Post date 13 July, 2007

Not many people have the courage or inclination to swim against the tide. Our need for the approval of others is too great to allow us to act differently from everyone else or start something new. So it takes a rare combination of skills to dream dreams about what could be, and then to bring those dreams to fruition.

Guy Kawasaki is an expert in innovation, and his book The Art of the Start is a “time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything”. According to Guy, the five most important things an entrepreneur must accomplish are: 1. Make Meaning (create a product or service which makes the world a better place); 2. Make Mantra (make a mantra out of your meaning); 3. Get Going (start creating and delivering your product or service as soon as possible); 4. Define your Business Model (work out how to make the innovation sustainable); and 5. Weave a Mat (compile lists of milestones, assumptions and tasks, to keep you on track).

We live in an age where every follower of Jesus is called to be an entrepreneur, a missionary, finding ways to relate and communicate the good news to people who have no understanding of its relevance or importance. While we’re not necessarily starting up businesses for profit, we are constantly encountering new challenges and experiences, and Guy’s book provides a number of handy hints.

Poverty

Poverty and Corruption

Post author By john
Post date 12 July, 2007

According to a World Bank report, the extent of corruption in Africa is decreasing. I’m not sure exactly how you measure corruption — Transparency International creates an annual Corruption Perceptions Index based on surveys and expert opinions – but if the report is accurate, it’s good news for the people of Africa.

Aid organisations often talk about poverty traps. People are trapped in poverty because of systemic forces which are beyond their control. No matter how hard they work, they are unable to escape from poverty. Corruption is one of the major systemic causes of poverty traps. A few years ago a survey in Nairobi revealed that small businesses were paying around 30% of total turnover in bribes. Even in the wealthiest nations, very few enterprises have profit margins over 30%, and accordingly it is almost impossible to run a profitable business in a corrupt country.

Corruption is an issue which cannot be solved by increasing aid. The more aid money provided to a corrupt country, the more corruption there is, and the more local market forces get distorted, thereby damaging the incentive for people to work diligently and productively.

Future

The Hillsong Way

Post author By john
Post date 11 July, 2007

We’ve all heard about megachurches in the US that attract 20,000 people each weekend. But we know that could never happen in Australia. People in Australia are not sufficiently religious / gullible / conformist / idealistic / respectful of leadership (pick your preferred reason).

So how is it that the Hillsong Church in Sydney does manage to attract 20,000 people each weekend, despite the irreligious non-conformist style of Australians when compared with Americans? I was at the annual Hillsong Conference last week, and I observed a high degree of vitality and commitment amongst rank-and-file church members. Over 4,000 people had voluntarily taken a week off work to help with the conference. These weren’t people acting under compulsion. These were people who felt they had a significant part to play in changing the future of the world.

Maybe the “barrenness” of Australian spirituality isn’t such a big factor in preventing the spread of the good news after all. Maybe all that is required to ignite a spiritual revolution is a group of gifted leaders who are ready to follow Jesus with all their hearts, casting a bold and compelling vision, and inviting others to step into the roles which God has created them to fulfil.

Present

Making Carbon Footprints Personal

Post author By john
Post date 10 July, 2007

We’ve just had the Live Earth concerts to raise awareness of climate change, but some people are claiming that there is an element of hypocrisy in those who are leading the charge. Madonna has apparently invested in some environmentally-unfriendly companies. Sting has advertised Jaguar sports cars. Al Gore lives in a 20-room eight-bathroom home which consumes well above the average amount of power.

Almost everyone agrees that the overuse of energy is a bad thing, and many people are happy to demand that the government do something about it, but very few people are willing to start with themselves. We’re happy to attend a concert and make a bit of public noise on the subject, and then we sit back and congratulate ourselves on having done something.

We seem to have fallen into the delusion that by feeling sympathetic towards the environment we are actually doing something useful. It’s like thinking that you are helping to make poverty history simply by attending one of Bono’s concerts. If you want to make a difference in the world you have to actually do something yourself. Install a solar hot water service and solar electricity panels. Reduce your use of air conditioning and heating. It costs money and requires sacrifices, but if you’re not doing anything which requires sacrifices then you’re not doing anything at all.

Past

The Miser of Headingley

Post author By john
Post date 9 July, 2007

Robert Arthington was known to his neighbours as a miser. He lived and slept in just one room of a large house in Leeds, England, and did everything he could to keep his personal expenses to a minimum. He was saving up his money for something which he considered more important.

During his lifetime (1823-1900), Robert Arthington invested heavily in British and American railways. Then he re-invested the proceeds in global mission. His particular passion was investing in spreading the Gospel as widely and rapidly as possible. Many of his investments were anonymous, but others were usually conditional on the recipients advancing into areas where the good news had never been told, particularly in Africa.

On his death in 1900, Robert Arthington left over one million pounds to missions. His expressed preferences were pioneering Bible translation work and pioneering evangelism amongst unreached people groups. Most of his bequest went to financing the work of hundreds of missionaries in Africa and Asia. Today there are more Christians in Africa and Asia than there are in Europe and the USA.