Middle-east conflict: an arab christian perspective

There is important dialogue occuring on christianitytoday.com between a middle-eastern Christian leader and american christian's concerning the current situation in the middle-east. i have read through briefly and recommend it to everyone who wants a good insight into the situation and has a desire to seek peace and not war.

'Who Is My Neighbor' in the Lebanon-Israel Conflict?
We Risk Not Just Suffering, But Annihilation
Another Point of View: Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon
The Middle-East's Death Wish - and our's

Our faithful Christian citizenship means that we cannot be naive to world issues. I hop that these 'open letters' are encouraging and enlightening to all of you.

God's Politics

I am reading a new book called "God's Politics - Why the American Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It". Here is an excerpt from the introduction.

We are not single-issue voters.

We believe that poverty – caring for the poor and vulnerable – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ budget and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for poor families? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt cancellation for the poorest countries? (Matthew 25:35-40), Isaiah 10:1-2)

We believe that the environment – caring for God’s earth – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ policies protect the creation or serve corporate interests that damage it? (Genesis 1:15, Psalm 24:1)

We believe that war – and our call to be peacemakers – is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ policies pursue “wars of choice” or respect international law and cooperation in responding to real global threads? (Matthew 5:9)

We believe that truth-telling is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ tell the truth in justifying war and in other foreign and domestic policies? (John 8:32)

We believe that human rights – respecting the image of God in every person – is a religious issue. How do the candidates’ propose to change the attitudes and policies that led to the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners? (Genesis 1:27)

We believe that our response to terrorism is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ adopt the dangerous language of righteous empire in the war on terrorism and confuse the roles of God, church, and nation? Do the candidates see evil only in our enemies but never in our own policies? (Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 8:12-13)

We believe that a consistent ethic of human life is a religious issue. Do the candidates’ positions on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS – and other pandemics – and genocide around the world obey the biblical injunction to choose life? (Deuteronomy 30:19)

We also admonish both parties and candidates to avoid the exploitation of religion or our congregations for partisan political purposes.

By signing this statement, we call Christians and other people of faith to a more thoughtful involvement in this election, rather than claiming God’s endorsement of any candidate.
This is the meaning of responsible Christian citizenship.

Wallis, Jim [God's Politics (2005), pp xxix-xxx]

Discerning world issues - crisis in the middle east

A recent post at SignPosts prompted me to make a similiar post. As Christians, we can not fall simply offer support to wars, and relax in complacency and be ignorant to the world around us. I like the way Jim Rice from Sojourners has put it.

"As Christians committed to the cause of peace, our role is not to "take sides" in the struggle, in the traditional sense, but rather to constantly stand for the "side" of a just and secure peace. We can ignore neither the horror of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians (including direct attacks on school children) nor the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (with all its "collateral damage" to Palestinian children). We must have the vision and courage to stand against the acts of violence by terrorist organizations, as well as the massive state violence by the region's military superpower, while avoiding the trap of positing a false "equivalency" between actions that are not equal.

We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the political, strategic, and moral complexity of the situation to stand back and do nothing."

I don't know all the answers, but I do know that our ignorant complacency is unacceptable.

New Links

I have added two new links to my blog side bar. Here is a bit about them.

Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid), an ex-president of Indonesia, is a combination of many professions: an intellectual, author, columnist, public speaker, cleric, politician, activist, peacebuilder, artist, and soccer commentator. He is also a charismatic leader of Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, which boasts a membership of more than 45 million.

"I have been called ‘Chrislam' because I am so close to Christians," Abdurrahman Wahid is quoted as saying.

LivingRoom - A space for life, is an emerging missional community in the Inner North of Melbourne. "We are a small group of people seeking to live life to the full and to join Jesus in his life giving process in the inner north of Melbourne. We call ourselves LivingRoom because we want to be a life giving space where people connect with the teachings of Jesus in natural and culturally relevant ways." This is their blog.

Desparate boy scout

This picture took my attention, and I thought I would share it.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was surprised Sunday by a desperate boy scout, who slipped through the presidential security detail and asked for money to pay his tuition fees. The scout, 17-year-old Dhimas Gumilar Taufik (left in photo), said financial difficulties drove him to challenge the tight security and give Yuhoyono a begging letter. (JP/Abror Rizki)

Stress

My ability to handle stress was tested today. I don't know what happened, but systems were down at work and I was responsible for getting them running again. I won't divulge too much details about this system, but it had the potential to affect thousands of people.

Long story short... I was not a very nice person to those who did not cooperate with me. I need to work on this.

Thought 1: The Kingdom – Capitalist or Socialist?

My thought is, do you believe that God’s kingdom is a Capitalist kingdom? That is, a kingdom that encourages everyone to become wealthy? Do you believe that this kingdom encourages people to use their talents to make a lot of money at the expense and exploitation of others? Okay, let’s remove the extremity “at the expense, or exploitation of others”. Do you believe that this kingdom encourages people to use their talents to become very rich so that we can grab every luxury that this Western nation has to offer? Would you say that is the kingdom principle of finance and economics?

Or, would you say that Kingdom economics more resembles a perfect Socialist state in which every person uses their talents to make a sustainable living? Where excesses of grabbing everything that promises to satisfy (but rarely delivers the answer to that promise) is refused? A study of the Old Testament (especially the Jubilee laws contained in Leviticus) would give an insight to God’s heart on this matter. Entering into the NT, I am certain that you will not find any meaningful example of scripture to support the ‘Capitalist’ kingdom. Indeed, just from a surface reading, the Gospels and Acts support (I believe) the ‘Socialist’ economic model for the Kingdom.

The message of Jesus has been irresponsibly aligned with big business, capitalist excesses, and the pursuit of wealth. The teachings of Jesus do not support this. I believe that the Kingdom teachings of Jesus called for radical commitment, to the extent of heavy sacrifice so that the least fortunate may have an enhanced quality of life.

Some clarifications: First, There is a difference between socialism and communism. I do not suggest for a moment that the Kingdom reflects a communist model. Nor do I suggest for a moment that the current models of socialism do justice to the true ideology of socialism. If the word ‘socialism’ has negative connotations to you, please make up a new word. The thought that I want to convey is that, in my eyes, the kingdom is far from capitalism – therefore any attempt by the church to follow a capitalist model themselves is, in no better words, unfaithful to the idea of finance, economics, and social justice as conveyed in the Bible. Also, I do not relate the concept of consumerism and capitalism (although, in some ways the two are inseparable). The church lives in a consumerist society, we should neither attempt to withdraw from it nor should we attempt to adhere 100% to this culture. (We are to be in the world. The world is not meant to be in us.)

Second, I do not have a “poverty” mentality (as some modern Pentecostals would like to suggest). I have a view / mentality of the kingdom as a flourishing, prosperous kingdom. A kingdom wherein social justice exists. Social justice must be paramount in order for the now marginalised, outcast, and oppressed to enter into the plans and purposes of God for their life. Social injustice (in all of its shapes and forms, usually resulting in poverty) strips people of their inherent dignity that is theirs by being made in the image of God. Many Christians are co-partners in the area of social injustice simply by their career choices. An example of this is, a CEO of a large production company that uses 9 year old children in Chinese sweat shops to assemble their products, risking death, suffering very low quality of life etc. But of course that CEO would make statements like “I am blessed. I am blessed to be a blessing.”

Third, I am not naïve to the fact that anyone with a bible could point out that God blessed Solomon and King David with great riches. But I stress the need to study scripture a whole. Do not isolate one sentence from scripture to the rest of the bible. Look at the flow through scripture. Jesus heart went out for those who were downtrodden and oppressed. The King himself associated with them daily – even eating in the houses of the untouchables (the lepers). He made statements to people like the rich young ruler (when he tried to justify his righteousness) to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. We can not neglect the poor and needy in our profession of our faith. How do we use the resources and talents that God has given us to further the kingdom? When it comes to finances, are we being kingdom minded? Some peoples concept of the kingdom resembles corporate America, bigger is better is richer. Be honest with yourself. I will be honest – it used to be my view. My theology is not complete, but I have had a paradigm shift. I am looking at this through new eyes now.

Articles of the week

Weekly, I come across very interesting articles written by an assortment of people in our global society from professionals, missionaries, activists, etc. Some of these articles help me alot in my journey. My knowledge is constantly expanding due to the great research and thinking that these writers have done.

So, I thought that I will post a weekly list of the best articles that I read each week. Let me start with this one - "Hybridity or The Third Space and How Shall We Describe the Kingdom of God". This article, written by Dr Jonathon Ingleby (Head of Mission Studies, Redcliffe College) has some interesting insights into our current culture, and how cultural identity is established. I have not fully read this article yet, but plan to on my trip home from work this evening.

Dr Ingleby poses this question: "Is it really possible to build identities beyond cultural and national boundaries?" It is a good question, and a good article, particularly for those people, like myself who are not part of any particular ethnic group, but mix. Am I Australian, or am I Portuguese? Or am I the culture that I spend most of my time with (Indonesians/Filipinos)? Or am I neither? Although I can identify with these cultures, I do not feel at home in any of them.

If you read this article, I would like to know your thoughts.

The Kingdom

I have been absent from blogging for quite a while. I am working on a project at my company currently. I am writing code for a new CRM system that will soon be implemented. It's at times difficult to stay focused since I have many job roles here. I am constantly being torn between each of them.

I am doing alot of study lately, mainly concerning the Kingdom of God. I am learning more than I thought possible in this area. Many of my supposed beliefs have been turned on their head, and its as though I am experiencing great refreshing as I receive these truths.

Among my current readings are 'The Secret Message of Jesus (Brian McLaren)', 'Make Poverty Personal (Ash Barker)', and the Gospel of Luke. I am reading the Gospel of Luke with "new eyes". That is, I am reading it out of the context of 'church' and in the context of 'culture'. I am seeing Christ's message in the context of his immediate society, and the universal society over all.

The more I read, the more I come to believe that we have missed the true message or infact, only focused on one part of that message - His death and resurection (no small feat i might add). What about the rest of the message? The Kingdom part of the message? No, not Kingdom as an after life thing, but the Kingdom that Jesus said "is at hand"? The Kingdom that is "within us"? Parable after parable in Lukes Gospel speaks of this Kingdom, and I believe that we need to revisit this for what it is worth.

Are we prepared to think and pray long and hard about these things? We ought to be. Otherwise we are liable to miss the greatest story every told - a story that we are a part of.