News from February 2010
An atheist believes Africa needs missionaries, not aid money
Posted on February 24, 2010 by Pastor Tom
I recently listened to a message by Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias. In it, he mentions an article by Times of London columnist Matthew Parris. In the article he explains his African upbringing and recent observations. A devout philosophical atheist, his conclusions might surprise you.
From The Times
December 27, 2008
As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset
Matthew Parris
Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it’s Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.
It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.
Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
I used to avoid this truth by applauding – as you can – the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It’s a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.
But this doesn’t fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.
First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world – a directness in their dealings with others – that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.
At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.
We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.
Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers – in some ways less so – but more open.
This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.
It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man’s place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.
There’s long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.
I don’t follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.
Anxiety – fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things – strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won’t take the initiative, won’t take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.
How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds – at the very moment of passing into the new – that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it’s there,” he said.
To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It’s… well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary’s further explanation – that nobody else had climbed it – would stand as a second reason for passivity.
Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I’ve just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
And I’m afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.”
Now that's an apology
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Pastor Tom
Tiger Woods apologized today for his behavior. So often in “apologies” we hear statements like “I’m sorry that people got hurt” or “If what I did caused hurt, I’m sorry.” Those statements don’t really take ownership for wrong behavior. It’s apparent he has received good counsel on the essence of a true apology – owning up to wrong behavior; not looking for others to blame; taking responsibility for one’s actions. I pray these are not mere words. I’m saddened he’s turned to Buddhism for strength. I pray someone leads him to the One who paid for sins like his. But for a first step, I applaud you Tiger.
The following is the complete transcipt of Tiger Woods Statement on Friday.
“Good morning, and thank you for joining me. Many of you in this room are my friends. Many of you in this room know me. Many of you have cheered for me or you’ve worked with me or you’ve supported me.
Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.
I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish. People want to know how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and to my children. And while I have always tried to be a private person, there are some things I want to say.
Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my behavior. As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time. We have a lot to discuss; however, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us.
I am also aware of the pain my behavior has caused to those of you in this room. I have let you down, and I have let down my fans. For many of you, especially my friends, my behavior has been a personal disappointment. To those of you who work for me, I have let you down personally and professionally. My behavior has caused considerable worry to my business partners.
To everyone involved in my foundation, including my staff, board of directors, sponsors, and most importantly, the young students we reach, our work is more important than ever. Thirteen years ago, my dad and I envisioned helping young people achieve their dreams through education. This work remains unchanged and will continue to grow. From the Learning Center students in Southern California to the Earl Woods scholars in Washington, D.C., millions of kids have changed their lives, and I am dedicated to making sure that continues.
But still, I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you. I have made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did. I am embarrassed that I have put you in this position.
For all that I have done, I am so sorry.
I have a lot to atone for, but there is one issue I really want to discuss. Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that. Elin never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage, ever. Elin has shown enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal. Elin deserves praise, not blame.
The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.
I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them.
I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife’s family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me.
I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I’ve done. My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before. It’s now up to me to make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I’ve made. It’s up to me to start living a life of integrity.
I once heard, and I believe it’s true, it’s not what you achieve in life that matters; it’s what you overcome. Achievements on the golf course are only part of setting an example. Character and decency are what really count.
Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to say to them that I am truly sorry.
It’s hard to admit that I need help, but I do. For 45 days from the end of December to early February, I was in inpatient therapy receiving guidance for the issues I’m facing. I have a long way to go. But I’ve taken my first steps in the right direction.
As I proceed, I understand people have questions. I understand the press wants to ask me for the details and the times I was unfaithful. I understand people want to know whether Elin and I will remain together. Please know that as far as I’m concerned, every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me. These are issues between a husband and a wife.
Some people have made up things that never happened. They said I used performance-enhancing drugs. This is completely and utterly false. Some have written things about my family. Despite the damage I have done, I still believe it is right to shield my family from the public spotlight. They did not do these things; I did.
I have always tried to maintain a private space for my wife and children. They have been kept separate from my sponsors, my commercial endorsements. When my children were born, we only released photographs so that the paparazzi could not chase them. However, my behavior doesn’t make it right for the media to follow my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to school and report the school’s location. They staked out my wife and they pursued my mom. Whatever my wrongdoings, for the sake of my family, please leave my wife and kids alone.
I recognize I have brought this on myself, and I know above all I am the one who needs to change. I owe it to my family to become a better person. I owe it to those closest to me to become a better man. That’s where my focus will be.
I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.
As I move forward, I will continue to receive help because I’ve learned that’s how people really do change. Starting tomorrow, I will leave for more treatment and more therapy. I would like to thank my friends at Accenture and the players in the field this week for understanding why I’m making these remarks today.
In therapy I’ve learned the importance of looking at my spiritual life and keeping in balance with my professional life. I need to regain my balance and be centered so I can save the things that are most important to me, my marriage and my children.
That also means relying on others for help. I’ve learned to seek support from my peers in therapy, and I hope someday to return that support to others who are seeking help. I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be.
I don’t rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game. In recent weeks I have received many thousands of emails, letters and phone calls from people expressing good wishes. To everyone who has reached out to me and my family, thank you. Your encouragement means the world to Elin and me.
I want to thank the PGA TOUR, Commissioner Finchem, and the players for their patience and understanding while I work on my private life. I look forward to seeing my fellow players on the course.
Finally, there are many people in this room, and there are many people at home who believed in me. Today I want to ask for your help. I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again.”
What are key components in a loving relationship?
Posted on February 15, 2010 by Pastor Tom
Valentine’s Day raises the issue of love. So another important question is “What are key components in a loving relationship?
I just read your question asking what the 3 components to a loving relationship are, and I thought I’d respond.
Not in any order:
1. Honest communication
If there’s no communication in a relationship, there will be no shared joys, and no shared pains. There will be no opportunity for growth or forgiveness.
2. Self Sacrifice
Just as Christ teaches us to put to death the self nature, I believe it’s just as valuable in a human relationship as well.
3. Based on Truth (Christ’s truth)
Ultimately if a relationship isn’t based on Christ’s truth (Salvation, sanctification and the fruits of that process) then it will never reach the potential that God intends for us, or loves to see.
“trust, honesty, putting the other person’s needs ahead of your own (a relationship can be AMAZING if both parties are doing this!)”
Hey Tom… here are some thoughts on your status questions.
Along with a multitude of other qualities… trust, communication and humility are high on my list. One thought that I heard once that has always stuck with me is this… a perfect marriage (relationship) shouldn’t be 50/50 instead it should be more like 90/10… sometimes you’re the 90 and sometimes you’re the 10!
“Collaboration, respect, and laughing together. I like all of Catharine’s answers too!”
“All of the above…and deep friendship, trust and intimacy.”
“I’ll go with trust, intimacy and grace.
What do you think of Valentine's Day
Posted on February 13, 2010 by Pastor Tom
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I saw Valentine’s decorations out in the stores about 2 days after New Years. Insane. Yet tomorrow it arrives.
So I thought it would be interesting to ask what people thought of Valentine’s
Day. Here are some full text responses.
“I am a man, and as such do not ‘feel’ anything. It lightens my wallet a little bit. And it brings up lunch.
Not what you were looking for?
It makes me feel that we have too many commercialized holidays that used to mean something, and it makes me more interested in the actual history of St Valentine. That kind of answers questions 2 and 3.”
“I think V Day is way over-rated and commercialized (as voiced above) However, it does make me stop and take stock of how blessed I am in my marriage and it amazes me when I realize just how God knew how perfectly we would fit together as a couple – despite all of our weaknesses and shortfalls as human beings.
” And – it doesn’t take chocolate or flowers or going out for dinner once a year to show your spouse how much they mean to you. Love should be communicated at a much deeper level than that and it should be a daily occurence!!!”
“It makes me feel sad, not for being single but for how commercialized love has become. Its sad to me that couples need a day to force them to be romantic and to share their love with one another. I dont think its very special to be receiving gifts on a certain day simply because the other party feels obligated.
As for what it does for me, not too much. I do remember really enjoying it as a kid, trading valentines with my classmates, but now that im older it seems like just another “Day” (like presidents day or victoria day)”
“I also think VDay is way overrated. Its so focused on the chocolate, flowers, dinners, and diamonds that nobody can see past the materialism and look at what love is really all about. Not that I know much about love being a single university student :) But in my opinion its about serving others before looking after ourselves, following Jesus’s example at the deepest level. ”
“To me it is simply a good reminder to reflect on the blessing of being loved – by God, my wife, my kids, my family, my friends and my brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow! It’s too bad that the commercialism of the day has often made it another reason to feel obligated to spend money we may not have. Spending time with the ones we love, and thinking of other ways to bless them, is so much more important. It’s great that VDay is on a Sunday this year – a great chance to spend time with the One and ones we love!”
“I tell my little students that Valentine’s Day is a special day where we get to tell our families how much we love them and tell our friends how much we like them. It is a day to be happy and spend time with our friends being extra nice and special to each other. We can tell people we love them or like them, we can show them we love them by giving hugs, being nice to our brothers and sisters and by making a special valentine’s for them, (and cleaning up after we make one!) haha!”
Re: Valentine’s Day
“It’s been too commercialized and I personally think it doesnt mean as much if you get the stereotypical valentines day gifts on a day that you expect to get something. It would be more meanig-ful if you got/gave something on a day that wasnt valentines day. umm… thats all I got for now, if I think of anything else I will post it.
P.S. I have been dumped for not doing anything on Valentines Day, even though I surprised her the day before. So FYI if you do something like that and then the lady dumps you…probably not the woman that your suppost to be with
“Hi Tom
Here’s a poll that was in the online edition of our local paper (Fort Frances Times).
Poll
Is Valentine’s Day an important occasion to you?
Yes
19%
No
81%
Total votes: 170
I would have to agree with the results. I see Valentines as a marketing scheme to get us to spend more money by making us feel guilty if we don’t do something for our sweethearts. I’d much rather make a big deal out of my wife’s birthday and our anniversary as they are much more personal than everybody having to do it. That being said, I’ll probably still give into the pressure and do something.”
“Valentine’s means cinnamon hearts, and I (with emphasis) get to pick the movie – so no zombies or spaceships.”
What authority did Paul have to talk about suffering?
Posted on February 6, 2010 by Pastor Tom
I find it risky talking about the purpose of suffering with someone else. I know when I’ve hurt, it doesn’t help for someone to explain why I’m suffering unless they’ve taken the time to try to understand what I’m going through. Or if they have a credible “resume of suffering,” I might be more inclined to listen.
Tomorrow, I’m talking again from Romans 8. Paul says quite a bit about suffering in this chapter. Perhaps his most outrageous verse (at first glance) is 18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed to us.”
It might seem like Paul hasn’t suffered much or minimizes other’s sufferings. But later in the chapter, he gives us a little glimpse of some of what he suffered. Thank goodness he shared.
Check out Justin Taylor’s piece today that talks further about the “treasures in jars of clay” and suffering passage from 2 Corinthians 4.
Thanks Lord for inspiring Paul to share his life with us!
Doubts about God
Posted on February 5, 2010 by Pastor Tom
This past week in the Edmonton area we saw another family tragedy. Two young boys are now dead because of an apparent domestic dispute.
(Check out the latest here -
When things like this happen, questions often arise about God. Where was God when this was happening?
Doubts about God can have a philosophical origin. (Does God exist?) They can arise because of circumstances like this tragedy in our city or in our own lives. (Is God for us). They can come from a bad experience with a Christian or church. Our enemy (the devil) loves to seed doubt about our Loving God. So what can we do?
When doubts about God come to me, I go to the One I’m doubting. I ask Him for His help, His wisdom and His understanding. I ask Him to bring people across my path who can help me. If you’re doubting Him today, turn to Him. And pray for that family.