Thursday, January 31, 2008

Write this down...

Nearly finished Shane Claiborne's book. In it yesterday I was reminded of one of my favourite quotes, from some dude called Brennan Manning:

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians
who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
then walk out the door
and deny Him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable"

"Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"

James 2:14-17 (Message)

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

2008 will be a great year if...

So last year I got all excited on New Years day and made a bunch of goals for 2007. I did really well with them too. For a while, then May happened, and it all fell apart! I completed the year having achieved none of my six main aims! Although I did get close on a couple...

Well this year I took a bit longer to work them out, but finally (almost a month into 2008!) here they are. I believe for me, 2008 will be a great year if I:

1. Read one Christian book a month (the last book I read was the Da Vinci code and it took 14 months to finish. I am a bad reader, but want to improve!)
2. Get involved more in social justice and poverty issues (by reading up, donating more, writing letters, encouraging others to get involved, praying, keeping my eyes open)
3. Re-commit and adhere to my soldiers covenant (I signed mine in 1995 and its meaning has profoundly changed for me since then)
4. Take up cooking as a hobby (I wanna be better than Jamie Oliver!)
5. Reach my savings target (which I won't disclose here)
6. Live a healthy and environmentally responsible lifestyle (eat well/exercise/recycle stuff/use less power and water etc...)

Anyone who reads this is welcome (nay, encouraged) to keep me accountable to these!

Cheers - Nath

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Heath Ledger vs Westborough Baptist Church


Like most Australians, it was shocking and sad for me to hear the news of Heath Ledger's death. Even worse was the revelation that a so-called Christian minister from the US, Fred Phelps (who gives himself the title, Reverend) planned to gather members of his "church", Westborough Baptist Church, and stage a hateful protest at his funeral in Perth. They planned to preach against his appearance as a gay cowboy in the film, Brokeback Mountain. The location of the funeral was not disclosed to the public, prompting WBC to hound Ledger's family with a letter (displayed on their website, www.godhatesfags.com) in hope that they could travel to demonstrate. 

Fortunately, the funeral details were never revealed. Four members from WBC did however, protest at the recent Screen Actors Guild awards against Ledger's role in the movie, displaying placards with hateful and anti-gay slogans. My reaction to that news report was a mix of anger, sorrow, and shame that I too, profess to be a Christian. The whole thing is wrong on so many levels:

- The attempt to deprive Heath and his family of a dignified funeral
- The fact that the subject of their protest was not alive, therefore unable to receive the message anyway, only his grief-stricken family
- Ledger wasn't gay at all, he only depicted a gay character once
- The theory that watching a movie depicting homosexuality will cause the viewer to also become gay
- The twisted theology of Phelps and his church
- The embarrassment caused to Christians worldwide who are by default associated with Phelps, and the subsequent judgement which will no doubt result from non-believer observers

I saw Brokeback myself, including the intimate "man-love" scenes. Two years later, I still remain not-gay. To be honest I found the movie slow-paced and unremarkable, and have no desire to view it again. But that's beside the point.
 
I did some preliminary research into WBC and Fred Phelps. Be warned, those of you considering visiting www.godhatesfags.com - don't go there unless you are relatively strong in your faith. Or if you are easily offended. It's an ugly, unjustified vehicle of hate which left me shuddering for the first few minutes. There are significant holes in their theology which they defend viciously, passionately, and often with intelligent reasoning. At other times, they are simply profane and offensive. It's all very misleading, and before long I left the site, concerned that I might too, fall victim to the brainwashing so obviously involved.

Interesting to note that the Phelps wikipedia article reports two of his sons regard the church as a cult, and four (out of a total 13!) children "insist that Westboro actually serves to enable a paraphilia of Phelps, wherein he is literally addicted to hatred". Something's obviously wrong if his own family is against him.

I just really think that this is the type of media coverage the worldwide Christian church body can do without. Let's spread a gospel of love, mercy and forgiveness, and always be on guard against false teaching. Matthew 7:15-16 says:

15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.

Cheers - Nath

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Please Eggsplain?!


I see the chocolate eggs have already appeared in the supermarkets at over-inflated prices, heralding the beginning of the Easter profiteering period for the confectionery companies...
I defy anyone to give me a good reason why Easter Eggs should be available to the general public so early in the year. I can't think of one.
Now we already know that something like 43% of the world's cocoa comes from Africa's Ivory Coast, where human trafficking is rife (some 12,000 slaves working in this region alone - that's just the ones we know about).  It also appears the major companies like Nestle (shudder!) and Cadbury won't guarantee their cocoa is not sourced from traffic-free areas. How then, can any of us accept these products being offered as early as 3 months prior Easter to such an oblivious public? (see here for a guide to buying Fair Trade chocolate)

As a former Hobartian, it was rare for 3 months to go past without a tour of Cadbury's Claremont factory. You got to pig out on free samples along the way as the nice tour guide lady went on about how good the company is. And at the end of the tour there was the seconds shop where you could stock up on enough reject product for the next 3 months! Spent many happy times there...


Can't bring myself to buy the stuff now. And reading this confirms it.


Would be sweet to see the Chaser's or some crazy Salvo sneak a camera on one of those tours and ask those nice tour guide ladies where they get their cocoa from, non-stop for the entire tour! 


It really does make you sick. But how do we inform the rest of Australia and make the rest of the nation equally ill???

Friday, January 25, 2008

Consulting the Oracle


It seems when God wakes us up from a period of being spiritually asleep, we become ever more aware of his voice and direction in our life. This has been the case for me over the last few days. When the same verse or topic pops up multiple times in the same day, you know it's God, not coincidence. I find I'm hearing the same themes come up in conversations with very different people. I'm reading the same verses that are popping up from different sources. The topics that seem to be on my heart the most are being confirmed as I read other Salvo blogs. 
It seems God has a way of telling us exactly the right thing at the right time that we need to hear it. We don't necessarily get the whole big picture revealed to us on a silver platter. And sometimes when I hear these things more questions arise that I want explained. But then upon reflection, I discover I needed to hear it precisely at that time. If it came any other way I wouldn't have recognised or received it at all, and my life would have taken a much different course.
Sometimes I liken these encounters with God to Neo from the Matrix visiting the Oracle. Watch the Oracle scenes alone and they are pretentious nonsense. Watch the scenes in context with the whole movie and she tells him exactly what he needs to hear for his journey. Nothing more, nothing less.
Today God spoke to me in this verse from TC Jim Knaggs blog:

James 3:18 (MSG)
18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Honestly, at the moment I read that (in the context of Reservoir and looking for accommodation) it was exactly what I needed to hear. Nothing more, nothing less. 
Cheers - Nath

Origins of Radspank

I feel an urgent need to explain something. Actually it's not really that urgent at all, since nobody appears to be reading this. Rather un-urgent, in fact. But nevertheless I will proceed to ramble on as if people were listening, for the purposes of my own personal amusement, if for nothing else.

I've explained this matter on a previous blog but for new folk reading I will do it again. Perhaps you noted the URL of my space and are wondering what on earth radspank is? For those of you who know me, that is my nickname. Well one of them anyway. Other things I have been called include Nath, Radders, Raddish, Raffido, Ratty Radspank, Maxie-Locks, Spanky, Sir Spankalot, and other less mentionable ones which I will make every effort to shield my children from hearing. If I have children that is. More on that in a later entry.

So the nick, Radspank, came about when we were designing a unifrom for our basketball team, the Hobart Hangers, and we had to come up with court names for the back of our tops. Rad came from the fact that I am indeed and most certainly, rad. NOT from my surname as some would have you to believe. And spank came from one of the members of the band, The Bloodhound Gang (remember "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire..."?), whose stage name was Spanky G Q-Ball. It didn't come from my alleged preoccupation with spanking people, as some would have you believe. That is only for mums and dads who love each other very much.

For those who need help connecting the dots, Rad + Spanky turned into Radspank. It was only meant for the team, and was intended to stay exclusively on court. As fate would have it, the name stuck. So there you go, hope that answers all your burning questions.

Cheers – Nath

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Small things with great love


"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" - Mother Teresa

I set myself a goal this year to read one book a month, for personal and spiritual development. Sound easy? Well, consider the last book I read was The DaVinci Code 2 years ago. Then consider that book took 14 months for me to complete! And I only really came up with that goal last week, leaving around 12 days to complete my first book for the year. Now I'm really up against it, because on a friend's recommendation I chose "The Irresistable Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. Weighing in at a mere 358 pages, and with 6 days left in the month, I still need to read about 40 pages a day to meet my self imposed deadline.

It's going well though. It's challenging my world view and messing around with my thinking. I'm left wondering why I don't really meet and care for poor people on a daily basis. I'm feeling more compelled to get by with less stuff. And I'm seeing Jesus in a new light as well. All this after only finishing 4 chapters!

The third chapter was to do with Mother Teresa's work with the destitute and dying people of Calcutta. What an incredible example of a follower of Jesus! The quote above about doing small things with great love resounds within me (Read more Mother T quotes here). We touched on similar themes at a Salvo camp last week, and I'm pretty sure I remember it emblazoned on the walls of my cousin's mission house in Doveton. You know God is speaking to you when he tells you the same thing three times. If only the ears of my heart were receptive to the significance of these things the first time! Makes me wonder what other whispers of God I am missing with all the noise and junk in my life.

If I had to pick a verse for the day, I guess it would be:


20 My old self has been crucified with Christ.[a] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 (New Living Translation)

Cheers - Nath

Baby on Board!


Greetings, I am proud to open Ranting Radspank with a topic which has left me befuddled for quite some time...
Why do people insist on displaying those annoying yellow "Baby on Board" signs on their rear car windscreen? 
Is it (a): a light-hearted and quirky method of drawing attention to one's much-loved infant? 
Is it (b): a warning for following motorists to adopt a greater level of caution on the road?
Is it (c): the secret sign of an evil underground terrorist organisation?
I would assume a combination of (a) and (b) is true in most cases. However if (b) is correct, then further questions arise:
Why would I show additional caution just because a baby is reportedly in the car?
Why wouldn't I exercise maximum caution at ALL times, baby or otherwise?
If I did drive hazardously behind such a vehicle would penalties apply?
Would it leave me open to verbal abuse and physical beating?
If an accident happened, is the vehicle displaying said sign absolved from blame?
Is fault directed  solely at the person not displaying the sign?
Is there a legal requirement to actually have a baby in the car in order to display the sign?
If I purchased and displayed such a sign, could I myself expect more courtesy from fellow road users?
Can anybody shed some light or opinion on this matter?