Month: September 2007

Categories
Faith

Faith Against the Flow

TouchdownIn last week’s post, I said that true faith isn’t about blind belief contrary to all the evidence. It’s about what you believe based on the evidence. However, there’s more to faith than that. Faith is about deciding what is true when you have time to consider all the relevant facts objectively, and then sticking with that truth during the tough times when the busy-ness of life and voices of the crowd and the heat of the moment urge you to abandon that truth.

Faith is something exercised by scientists when the rest of the world is telling them that their theories are wrong. Faith is something exercised by a child in a schoolground who stands up for what is right when all the other children want to do what is wrong. And faith is something exercised by a follower of Jesus when all around are saying that there is no God, and that only weak-minded people need the crutch of religion.

The Bible is a collection of accounts of the faith exercised by God’s servants, from Abraham through to the early New Testament believers. Many of these faith stories are summarised in Hebrews 11. In each case, the person of faith made a conscious rational decision to trust God, and then stuck with that decision when the going got tough and the immediate circumstances tempted them to abandon their trust.

Categories
Books

Liberia’s Civil War

MaskStephen Ellis’s book The Mask of Anarchy is a fascinating exploration of the little known history of the Liberian civil war. From 1989 to 1997 war raged across Liberia in West Africa, fuelled by child soldiers wearing women’s clothing and wigs for “spiritual protection”, while high on marijuana and cane juice. The war was characterised by mindless brutality, relentless looting, and constant quests for greater power provided by spiritual forces, such as through tearing out and eating the hearts of conquered warriors.

The book provides important insights into the causes of violence and war, and it provides a well-researched source of information. However, the content is at times repetitive and some of the author’s opinions are puzzling. For example, he seems to consider it politically incorrect to talk about cannibalism, but it is fine to talk about human sacrifice. Both practices have been engaged in extensively by those seeking to obtain power from the spiritual world.

The civil war essentially ended when the most powerful of the warlords, Charles Taylor, defeated the others, thereby obtaining a monopoly on violence and looting. In 1997 he was elected apparently legitimately (the people didn’t want him to keep fighting for power), but the war started up again in 2000. Taylor is now on trial for war crimes, and the country is trying to recover from the devastation of the past 25 years.

Categories
Poverty

Libyan-Sponsored Poverty

VoodooOne of the most obvious causes of poverty is “instability”, usually in the form of armed aggression by people who seek political power or wealth. A significant proportion of the poverty in Africa today is caused by “instability”, and a remarkable proportion of the instability is or has been perpetrated by persons trained at “World Revolutionary Headquarters” in Libya.

Charles Taylor, the Liberian warlord who became president of Liberia and is now on trial for war crimes, was trained and sponsored by Libya. Kukoi Samba Sanyang, who briefly became president of The Gambia after a coup in 1981, was another trainee. So was Laurent-Desire Kabila, who became president of Congo. Libyan-trained fighters were sent to fight for Yoweri Museveni in Uganda and John Garang in southern Sudan. Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the bloody Sierra Leone civil war, was another Libyan protege.

It is astounding to see how much of the misery and poverty which devastates Africa today is attributable to violence and terrorism perpetrated by people trained in Libya. It seems that a small amount of sponsorship in the wrong hands can have a bitter effect which lasts for many years.

Categories
Future

Too Many People?

CongestionAccording to an article in yesterday’s issue of The Age, the population of Melbourne is growing at a significantly faster rate than what has been allowed for by the government, and new figures show that the population will be 5 million soon after 2030, an increase of 1.2 million over the next 25 years. The population of the State of Victoria is growing by more than 1400 people per week.

What issues arise as a result of increased population? Firstly, there will be an increase in urban sprawl. Secondly, there will have to be an increase in population density, probably through more high-rise living. Then there will be issues associated with increased traffic congestion, added strain on public transport resources, added strain on water resources, and even greater pressure on housing and accommodation prices.

Although many aspects of the future are impossible to discern, the changes which are happening to Melbourne are gradual and predictable. The question we need to be asking ourselves is: How can the church most effectively respond to those changes and position itself for serving people in the future?

Categories
Present

Civilian Uprising in Burma

TankWhen your country is ruled by corrupt oppressors, how do you get rid of them? One way is to answer them in the language which they understand: violence. But bloodshed leads to more bloodshed, bitterness, and grievances which live on for years. Another way is through a non-violent civilian uprising. After a while there is usually a limit to the number of unarmed civilians that the oppressors can murder in cold blood.

The classic example of a successful non-violent civilian uprising was the struggle for the liberation of India from British rule, led by Mohandas Gandhi. Another example was the peaceful Philippines uprising led by Corazon Aquino in 1986, forcing President Marcos into exile. Another example was the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004/2005, in which the corrupt government was ousted.

Now, over the past few days, we have had massive anti-government protests in the streets of Rangoon. Only time will tell whether these protests will be successful in ousting the unlawful military dictatorship. In the past the Burmese government has shown little compunction in slaughtering peaceful protesters, but perhaps there comes a time when no government can withstand the onslaught of a massive non-violent movement.

Categories
Past

How Foreign Aid Bankrupted Liberia

BankruptThe seeds of decay in Liberia had been sown well before 1980. President William Tolbert’s government was weak, corrupt and unpopular. However, things went from bad to worse when Samuel Doe became President after a military coup. Doe quickly discovered that all that was required to maintain power was to take a pro-American stance. This kept the CIA happy, and they helped to keep him in power.

Doe’s ten years of presidency were marked by brutality, genocide, corruption, kleptocracy, rigged elections and just about every form of bad government. Economic activity – particularly international trade – fell away, but the money which was lost as a result of Doe’s mismanagement was replaced by US foreign aid. The US aid enabled Doe’s cronies to continue merrily on their paths of embezzlement while the rest of the country went to ruin.

This leads to a significant moral question: to what extent are donor countries morally culpable for financial mismanagement and human rights violations committed by the government of a country to which they give foreign aid? This is a major dilemma, because of the high correlation between countries with bad governments and countries which are foreign aid recipients.

Categories
Faith

The Nature of Faith

BlindMany people say that faith is something which takes over when there is no evidence. In olden times, people had no scientific explanation for how the sun moved across the sky or how the seasons worked, so they attributed those natural events to the gods. As scientific knowledge has advanced, the need for faith in the gods has receded, because everything can have a rational, scientific explanation. It is no longer good scientific practise to posit a “god” who fills in any gaps in science.

However, this is a misconstruction of the nature of faith. Faith isn’t something “religious” or irrational. It’s something that everyone exercises every day. Faith is simply what you believe based on the evidence. When you drive your car, you have faith that the petrol gauge correctly indicates that you have enough fuel in the tank. You have faith that the wheels won’t fall off. You have faith that the road won’t collapse. You don’t know these things for sure, but based on past experience and all the relevant facts, you have faith and you are happy to stake your life on that faith.

It’s the same thing with faith in God. True faith isn’t about blind belief contrary to all the evidence. It’s about trusting in God based on all the evidence. As the Bible says, the heavens declare the glory of God. Christians put their faith in God, and stake their lives on it, because they have experienced God’s faithfulness and blessing in their lives. To them it’s much more rational than believing that there is no God.

Categories
Books

Exiles from the Church

ExilesMichael Frost’s strength of character and personality shines through each page of his book, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture. Michael isn’t afraid of offending anyone, and he boldly takes on the contemporary church, blog writers, and even some of the finest Christian musicians of our time including Matt Redman and Steve Fee.

Michael is a great story-teller, and the book is full of stories about life on the edge as a beer-drinking crowd-defying follower of Jesus. Most of the stories are effective in calling us back to a truer reflection of the lifestyle of Christ. However, Michael’s story-telling style requires him to display extensive details about his subjects, and his ruminations in the fields of economics and corporations could have benefitted from more detailed research.

What Michael has to say is important and deserves to be heard. Nonetheless, in my view it does not present a complete picture, and the critiques which it presents are for the most part more convincing than the tentative suggestions which it makes. If you want some original insights into what’s wrong with the church, read the book; if you want to know how to fix the problems, look elsewhere.

Categories
Poverty

Fast Track to Poverty

GroceriesAccording to Zimbabwe’s latest figures, inflation in the country was back under 7000% in August, after hitting a high of 7635% in July. The decline is due to a slow-down in the prices of food and alcoholic drinks, as a result of President Mugabe’s price-control program, which includes jail terms for anyone who raises prices or wages.

Unfortunately, conventional economic theory suggests that these types of price control measures have significant harmful effects. In an environment of rampant inflation, retailers must set their prices at a level sufficient to make a profit after allowing for inflation up until the anticipated date of sale. If legislation prevents them from doing this, they are unlikely to want to sell anything, and the shelves of the shops will be bare.

According to the International Crisis Group, Zimbabwe is close to complete economic collapse. 80% of the population are living below the poverty line, 25% have left the country, and food and fuel shortages are acute. Meanwhile, 83-year-old Mr Mugabe has vowed to “crush” his opponents in the elections due in 2008 – as if that is going to solve the crisis.

Categories
Future

Licence to Dream

BattleWe’re now two weeks into the AFL football finals season, and the Grand Final is less than a fortnight away. Four teams are still in the competition, and if your team is one of them you have a licence to dream about the glory which might be yours this year. The big day will come, and the big men will fly. Deeds of courage, athleticism and sportsmanship will be done, and one team will get to celebrate victory at the end of the day.

Then, once it’s all over, it will be time to start preparing for next year. If your team’s already out of the competition, you’re probably already looking ahead to next year. The problem is that, once the mighty deeds have been done, and once the cheers have died away, the prize doesn’t seem to have much lasting value. No matter how well you did this year, everything is still up for grabs next year.

That’s how it is with most things in life. You look forward and imagine in your mind how great things will be when you achieve a particular milestone. Then, once you have achieved it, it no longer adds any purpose to your life, because it is no longer something you can look forward to. The reward is more often to be found in the heat of battle, rather than in the celebration of victory at the end.  Car’n the Pies!