Leviticus = Whips and Chains.

I was roaming around on Facebook (Crackbook?) today and found a controversial little group that could be joined: Lets start with just 1,000 people to support Gay Marriage in Australia.

Intrigued I had to take a look at the forum and found the obligatory post from the Fundy Right perspective. You can imagine the run of the mill anti gay banter going on - peppered with 'justifying' scriptures. (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6). (Romans 1:24-27). (Genesis 2:22-24). (Hebrews 13:4).

At the end of this rant theres the obligatory, loveless I know you better than yourself spiel. You'll love this:

If you are homosexual, we encourage you to look deep inside yourself. Are you joyful and happy? Look at your anatomy, what do you see? This is who you are created to be! There is help, just a prayer away. Acknowledge your situation, confess it, and turn to Jesus. He is there. Secure support from others who have been in your situation and have escaped the lifestyle.

Excuse me while I blow some chunks
*Insert Pavement Pizza Sounds here*.

I was ready to stop reading there but I found this gem of a reply:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

Absolute Gold!
I can't top it!
Can you tell I love sarcasm?

Justified.....?

Folks I'm a little worried, a little disenchanted. Apparently I have it wrong. I should be justified when I want to support my country and it's Government as it sets policies that condone war. Apparently it is condoned even by God to invade foreign sovereign countries in the name of "they started it!"

It must be true. A soldier who fought on the ground in one of those foreign countries said so.

This is what he said:
I am a Special Forces Officer and veteran of combat in Afghanistan.

The 6th Commandment of the Christian Bible (and Jewish Torah) is "Thou Shall Not Kill" or "Thou Shall Not Murder" depending on the translation of ancient Hebrew.

I prefer the "Thou Shall Not Murder" as it is the more accurate translation.

I would like to stop it there a moment and mention the convenience of the alteration in interpretation of just one word from "Kill" to "Murder" and the implications of that.
Removal of the word kill which is a blanketing word that encompasses all forms of violence against another causing death leaves no real room for movement and we can't exclude warfare that causes death and begin our justification of that.
Murder is a legal word in our current English language and according to most Western legal systems one must have intended beyond a reasonable doubt to have taken another's life. There are reasonable defenses to the charge - the main being self defense or defense of another under serious threat from the person killed.
So the implications here are that one "is justified" in killing another with some specific conditions.

Let's hear some more:

Becoming a Christian is not a suicide pact. It does not mean that now as I am a Christian that anyone can come and beat me or kill me, rape women in my house and take anything you want from me and I will not fight back. That I will just lay there as a slug (or run away) because of my religion.

Interesting first sentence because Jesus has called many to serve him who have died in his name many quite violently as is attested by the accounts of Christian martyrs through history. I bring to the fore a recent martyr's (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) prophetic words regarding this "when Christ calls a man he bids him come and die."

The rest of this paragraph paints a noble, male supremist picture and builds with it a narrative of the 'enemy that is not in my home' which conveniently slots into that wider narrative of 'the enemy that is not in my country or doesn't follow my superior belief system'.

Let's go on:

Defending yourself is not murder. This is very clear in the Bible.

Also, "Thou Shall Not Murder" ties in completely when Jesus was asked what he thought was the greatest of the 10 Commandments

Matthew 22:37-40 -- Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

And Jesus also said "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31; Luke 10:27 (affirming of Moses) and Matthew 7:12)

If I saw "bad men" breaking into my neighbor's house, I would go and defend my neighbor. I would willingly put my life in danger to prevent my neighbor from getting murdered, raped or beaten. That is also the way I would want my neighbor to treat me. I would be a coward and a very bad neighbor if I knew bad men were killing my neighbor and raping his wife and I did nothing. I would be evil if I justified "doing nothing" because I am a Christian.

I am still scratching my head at the twist of logic here. The scriptures are plainly pointing me in a direction and clearly telling me how to treat my neighbour and how to situate myself in relation to God.
The scenario after the scriptures is going back to the White Night narrative we saw earlier where he is identifying an enemy 'bad men' (obviously pigeon holing a type of person) putting them on a different level to his 'good' neighbour that most likely shares his values and beliefs. He then goes on to paint an unlikely picture that nowhere near fits into the wider scenario he is attempting to justify. Lets not kid ourselves he is attempting to fit this narrative into the invasion of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
If my neighbour America is such a good neighbour I would be expecting that he would not invade me and my home. I would expect that he would consult me on who is and isn't my enemy. I would ask him to assist me in restraining my enemy instead of thrusting his superior beliefs on me and tearing my loved ones and home apart in a vendetta against his self made enemies.

There's more:

What makes murder inherently wrong is not that it feels wrong, but that a transcendent Creator to whom we are answerable commands: "Thou shalt not murder." What makes kindness to others inherently right is not that human reason says so, but that God does: "Love thy neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord."

This doesn't do much for the argument. I would just say that an inner conscience would reflect the Creator's commands of though shalt not kill and usher us toward kindness.

As far as being a soldier in the American Army. The American Army and the American solider does not invade countries for money or booty or for power (as most armies do). We go (and fight and die) in hard places around this brutal world to liberate people and to bring freedom. This is what good neighbors do. I would leave the American Army if we invaded Iraq just to kill or Iraqis or invaded Afghanistan to take all their gold and make them slaves.

We were attacked on 9-11. 3,000 American died. More Americans will die if the terrorists are not confronted. We either go after them or surrender to them. Again, being a Christian or a Christian nation is not a suicide pact. It does not mean you just lay there and let people do whatever evil they want to you without fighting back.

Self defense is not immoral - not by an individual or by a nation.

God sent David to slay Goliath. Did God break his own Commandment?

Just the way I see it.

Best Regards,

The first paragraph reads like a narrative of one who is working against their conscience and needs to somehow justify the actions of their country. I am glad that many are beginning to see America for what it is and the motives behind it's Government's policies. Every aspect that this soldier says that America doesn't do, IT DOES DO!
I don't want to play down the fact that American and other country's soldiers don't go into difficult, horrific situations overseas. They do an extremely hard job under difficult circumstances and often die for that cause.
What I do want to question and oppose is the idea that the soldiers in these places need to be where they are and specifically doing what they are doing. Driven by questionable policies that are in place for the profit of a few and the detriment of many.
I would also question the automatic notion that Terrorists will flourish if not confronted. If internal American and Western policies were to shift away from accelerated corporate gain at the expense of neighbouring countries I don't believe these minority groups would have a reason to attack us.

But hey that's just the way I see it!

Fading.....

I have been reaching back into my metal music archives after recently hearing the latest album from Metallica. This new album is harking back to older familiar sounds of theirs.
As always I'm drawn back to old favorites when I hear the familiar sound and could not help listening to one of their more impacting and enduring tracks - Fade to Black.
Its theme fits well with recent news covering the health and wellbeing of the twenty somethings in our (better? superior? functional? capitalistic)society.
I also remember vividly the church's line on such music. As you can imagine it was not all that well received or accepted.
Inadvertently this line on such music effectively separated church people from these 'sorts'. Hmmm another thing I don't agree with church about. Never mind I would probably find those 'sorts' more accepting, more realistic regarding life's issues and easier to talk to than most church people anyway.
So as I listen again to the words and great music of this song I am reminded of those living on the fringe. Those that are out of most people's sight but never God's. And I ask myself the question...what makes this song so moving, so enduring and so relevant to those on the fringe? I'll let you make up your own mind on that one.
Also as I listen I remember the younger brother of a good friend of mine who used to listen to all this and other great music with us when we were younger. My friend although distant still remains but his younger brother found solace at the end of a rope barely into his twenties. It brings home the grim reality.

Have a listen and as you do have a thought for the kids mentioned in the article:

ONE sixth of Australians aged 23-24 suffer depression or anxiety.

ONE sixth engage in anti-social behaviour.

ONE fifth use marijuana, other illegal drugs, or are regular binge drinkers.

ONE fifth have a long-term physical or mental health problem.

Overall, 40 per cent showed severe signs of problems including depression, anxiety, antisocial behaviour or illegal drug-taking.

The study also found that alcohol use increased markedly for many in their mid-20s - most particularly among moderate drinkers.

I'm having trouble putting the video here i'll post it on my facebook for you

Good Dog - Bad Dog

I am recently reminded, by stories in the papers and blogland, about a story or parable I have heard repeated many a time in evangelical churches. You may know it... the one about the good dog and the bad dog inside us all. Pointing to the capacity of good and evil within the heart of everyone. The line that the church preaches on this subject is simply: The dominant dog will be the one that you feed the most. i.e if you feed bad dog most it will dominate. If you feed good dog most then the good dog will dominate.
Recently after rethinking most things church, I began to think about the idea of the starving dog. This viewpoint seems to be grossly overlooked by the simple feed the good dog or feed the bad dog line.
A starved dog if you have ever seen one is as you could imagine a very formidable beast. Getting more and more nasty the hungrier it becomes. Not necessarily weaker as the Church viewpoint suggests but more dangerous and difficult to deal with.
So following this idea through and applying it to the heart I am wondering if this church line is a healthy one. Does it clearly portray the human heart for what it is? Does it allow for the hearts capacity for evil or does it try to deny it? Does it portray a false idea that all evil can be expelled from the heart by our own action?
I suggest that this simplistic line of thinking is denying the reality of the heart and its impulses toward evil, even for the most 'good' or 'Godly' person. I also suggest that the more a person denies these impulses within themselves the more susceptible they become to such impulses.
So by continually pushing a simple line of: starving the evil dog within; are churches unwittingly forming a culture of denial. A dangerous denial for the capacity for evil and thereby turning a blind eye to it. Much like dropping ones guard, or dropping the armour as portrayed vividly in Romans.
When I read recently about Mike Guglielmucci and his very public and shameful fall from a high place in Australia's AOG ministry. I guess I should not be surprised. I believe the system of church has pushed a small group of hierachy into such an unrealisic pressured lifestyle of perfectionism and 'Godliness' that those chosen few come to a point of desperation that they would do anything to maintain the facade. Under this light the unthinkable acts like: faking disease and; forming a facade of supernatural healing, become understandable and remind me that they are human afterall. I feel that I would be more connected to Mike now that he's 'back on Earth' with us rather than previously when he was cramped into a supernatural and unrealistic lifestyle. A life that he had to lie about just to keep up the lofty expectencies of those around him.
The real shame of all this is that really good people with the best of intentions are continually eaten up by these systems. It's this (church) system that I despise most. I don't think Jesus' idea for his Church looked anything remotely like the systems we have in place these days.
Thank Christ there are movements and leanings to alternatives!

Embracing Ambiguities

Yes its been a while since I posted last.
I've been stewing a little.
Stewing on a couple of books I've been reading.
A thinking man's assault on the Christian Right in America
and another on the "New Athiests"
And more recently appreciating a story of an obscure songwriter and poet Bob DYLAN as portrayed by 6 different characters in a recent biopic.
Interestingly enough both books and the film have a similar undercurrent of wisdom pertaining to the ambiguities, the uncertainties, the mysteries that life throw at us.
Late in his book I Don't Believe in Atheists, Chris Hedges makes a very good point about these ambiguities and throws light on them pointing out the book of Ecclesiastes where the author Koheleth saw the pathetic, vain projects we spend a lifetime constructing. Warning man that "all the deeds that are done under the sun; all is vanity and chasing after wind. Nothing is certain or permanent, nothing real or unreal. Koheleth points out that "all things are wearisome, the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing." "What has been is what will be and what has been done is what will be done." The King that asked God for wisdom and got what he asked for (Solomon) reinforced these points with his own life and the story it told.
Koheleth goes on "what is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted." Ecclesiastes points out that it is not so much what we do in life but what we do with what life hands us. We have limited real choices. We carry our human flaws to the grave. Our attempts to become Godlike by denying the emptiness, rythms and cycles of life are vanity. The best we can do is endure with compassion, wisdom and humility and accept the ambiguity and ultimate mystery of existence.
In the film I'm not there the caricature of Dylan played by Kate Blanchette sitting in an old style black taxi driving through city streets answering questions put to him/her?? by an inquiring journalist makes the same point. "the music is full of mysteries." "There are contradictions."

Chris Hedges argues in both books the dangerous practices professed by two differing ideologies (Christian fundamentalism and New Atheism). The expression of fundamentalist certainty. Ideas portrayed by a selected portion of humanity instituting a moral superiority and the omnipotence of human reason. Practices that become dangerous when non believers or the non enlightened are made separate and placed on a lower plateau. The natural progression of this is to suppress the alternate ideas of the lesser, the lower, the unenlightened and when they won't be silenced...use force or more commonly use the more accepted method of drowning them in a sea of irrelevance and obscurity.
The first step of both ideologies is to ignore the ambiguity. To formulate a faith of certainty. Where followers are absolutely right and all outsiders are not. A powerful motivator when you think about it. Tapping into a person's primal drive for control and certainty when facing questions of mortality, spirituality and the supernatural.
Another danger posed by these ideologies is the tendency to externalise evil. Placing emphasis on the perceived evil of the non believing outsiders while ignoring the reality of an internal struggle that takes place in the human heart. The believer of either ideology falling prey to self righteousness.

Another sobering point that Hedges explores is the deadening effect of visual distraction (i.e. TV, internet, video gaming etc) on the Western Capitalist Psyche. He draws an interesting idea from Niel Postman (Author: Amusing Ourselves to Death) contrasting George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books, what Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who would want to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would be a captive society. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture preoccupied with some equivalent of positive feelings, pornographic delusions and an egocentrically generated utopia. In 1984 people are controlled by inflicting pain. In A Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared what we love will ruin us."

With that I'll be off to deaden myself on the PS2 shortly!

Here's a clip of Kate's Dylan performance. The section I'm talking about is in the last 2 minutes. I recommend you check out the full feature.

I Never Signed Up To Be Superman...

It has been some time since I have attended my usual place of worship. I love the people there and it's relatively easy to be accepted there... just turn up on a regular basis with your mask on.

For a little background this church lends itself to labels like: evangelical, fundamental, spirit filled and the main banner of apostolic.

I know I'm going to sound very cynical here but some things need saying.

I was a little unsettled about six months ago in the congregation when a pastor was invited to the front to testify regarding a dream and vision that he had. My ears immediately pricked up because it was a first in the six or so months that I had been going along. The vision was simply of Jesus staggering toward him in a pleading manner with both hands plastered and bandaged. The interpretation of the pastor about that vision was a simplistic idea of the church being recently tied down financially due to the ongoing works on the building.

Once I heard the interpretation my mind was immediately flooded with other problems of hierarchical problems with the clergy there, it's lack of impact on the community, particularly the poor and other minority groups.

My thoughts didn't have much time to develop though when the senior pastor chimed in and gave his interpretation siting recent threats made by some unknown Muslim group toward him due to his public support of a Ps. Danny Naliah. (This pastor had over the previous year been fighting in Victorian Courts for the right to speak 'freely' and accuse Muslims of trying to make Australia an Islamic State and brand them all dangerous. The pastor lost the court case but vowed to continue his public preaching and defamation regardless. ) As soon as this interpretation was said the whole congregation gasped. That gasp was enough to say it all... without a word being said. These Muslim Terrorists are out to get us! Threatening to attack our Pastor!

Needless to say I was choking silently looking around the huge hall in disbelief.

The second choking incident came via a friend who used to be a part of the church. I began wondering why I had not heard from a prominent female pastor who in the past had preached regularly but I hadn't heard of for some time; and I mean hadn't even sighted there for some time. My presumption was that they were on holiday because no one even made a mention of them. When I say them I mean the husband as well who was also a Pastor there and just happened to be the Senior Pastor's own son. Well my friend in the know told me that there had been a falling out between father and son. Son who was a chippy and plasterer by trade had put in a huge amount of time on the ongoing renovations to the church complex. I guess he expected to be put into a senior role in the church along with his wife as his father intended to retire in a short time. Expectations fell short when that role was handed to a prominent young super Pastor who had charged through the ranks and obviously did the spiritual hard yards. It was around this time I was being introduced to alternative concepts of doing church without dominant hierachy and minus most of the politics. It was and still is very appealing. So now I had a few new words in the vocabulary and could brand it the dualistic induced power struggle
that it was.

Meanwhile as all this was going on the Super Pastor was in full flight. Letting us know in one fully fledged sermon that Jesus the man was not poor at all. He was the son of the father who has the 'cattle on a thousand hills'. He wore an extremely expensive garment and other similar arguments. Letting us know (inadvertently) that it's okay to be rich in our already rich society even if our neighbours and our neighbours in other countries experience horrendous poverty. I found that problems in his sermons came up not in what he said but what was inferred and left unsaid.

As I kept going I felt like I just didn't belong. I didn't cut it. I wasn't enthusiastic at 'worship' time. I thought more and more differently than the people there. I found myself picking the eyes out of sermons and disagreeing more and more. I was beginning to roll my eyes at the never ending stream of Super Speakers visiting the church. Each with their super plan to follow: what I needed to be all that I could be in Christ. Along with their super testimony of how they were saved from whichever huge pit that they found themselves in and how they were powering on. Letting me know loud and clear (again inferred) how I wasn't being all that I could be and not powering on at all. I began to look around to see if there were any folks like me. On the fringes, not with the 'in crowd'. I found they came and went sporadically (like I was) and I never had opportunity to connect.

Mostly I was beginning to become disenchanted. I could see more and more of the picture this church was painting of Jesus. It was beginning to look exactly like the one at the top of this post. A super Jesus that expects some sort of plastic perfection from me. A need to be rich, powerful, desirable, beautiful etc. in order to be accepted. It just doesn't wash anymore. It smells more like empire than the Jesus I know.

I never signed up to be Superman.

A Manifesto for Church

Being pushed into a box is not my idea of comfortable. So to pigeon hole my idea of what church should be and create some sort of formula for it irritates me a great deal.

For this reason I will have my headings under "Church could" rater than "Church Should."

So here goes:

Church could be inspired by Christ's exhibition of unconditional love and desire to live it out.

Church could endeavour to exhibit and live out the ideas of "Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven"
Church could strive for "forgiveness of those who trespass against us just as Christ has set the example of forgiveness toward us."

Church could paint a picture of longsuffering and service to those who starve, who are ill, who are in prison, who are in need and who are broken hearted.

Church could be active in resistance to war and all forms of violence.

Church could actively oppose policies and power structures that maintain poverty and slavery while enriching a minority i.e. exhibit and desire Jubilee.

Church could move through the tribes, communities, societies and nations leavening, salting and lighting up with the love, wisdom and inspiration of the example of Christ.

Church Could desire and live out humility, meekness, hospice, creating safe space and being last toward others in an effort to subvert the dominant empire that desires the opposite.

Church could say "stick the rules (that hurt and don't help and don't promote the kingdom) where the sun don't shine."

Now some recommendations for the tagged.
1. Feel free to post to your blog on the subject “A Manifesto for Church”, outlining your thoughts on what an ideal church would/should or could be like. Posts can be as detailed or as short as you like.
2. You might like to include a copy of these rules.
3. A link to your post in the comments to this post could be helpful.
4. Tag others as you feel inspired!

Heather you know I hate rules
so I've turned your rules into
recommendations so the tagged
can feel free and inspired.

I tag:
1. Simon

LEGGOFORD Wives

Thanks Heather for the inspiration for this one. It's nice to be tagged.

I had to stick with my original ideas for this post because I must admit Heather's and Abmo's
ideas gave me too much to think about.

My original ideas for this concept of a city being taken for Christ took two paths.

The first centered around the inception of Roman Catholicism through Constantine. It was then and there that idea of take or taking for Christ began. Where Christianity could be enforced through the blade of a sword. Where the idea that Christianity could marry empire and live deplorably (for what feels like) ever after. Where kings and priests found power so addictive that to keep it those cornerstone concepts of love, peace and non violence of the early church could be overlooked. So when I take these ideas and envision a City full of those imperialistic Kings and Priests living together some dark thoughts come to mind. Firstly the wall around the city would have to be impenetrable to keep the undesirables and rejected out. Inside the mix of power hungry dominants competing with one another for command over one another brings disturbing visions of bloodshed and betrayal. The cycle of violence would be unending as individuals and groups compete for dominance. Women and children would be scarce; the quickest to fall during the infighting. With the male dominance of the society the natural progression would be to sexual immorality. So the city would look pretty similar to those twin cities of old Sodom and Gomorrah. When I think of that type of city I think of a prison without guards. Where rape, torture, violence and vengeance are the order of the day. Where the most horrific of crimes are condoned by the strongest, dominant overpowering leadership. A terrifyingly scary place where a mutual loving same sex relationship would be the least of ones troubles.

The second train of thought is a lot less sinister. It involves the ideas of plasticity and masks so prevalent in many mainstream churches today. The idea that Christians are just perfect, perpetually happy servants of everyone! The vision of a City full of these types is well...sickening to be polite. All the streets are perfectly paved and every building and park is pristine clean. Everyone has perfect bodies, teeth, eyes, hair and skin. Every face wears a perpetual grin. There are no sad or angry people in this city. Children skip to school and love and perfectly obey their parents and teachers. Mothers stay at home and clean the perfect mansion. Fathers go off to work the perfect job that pays more than the family ever needs. The policeman and fireman work perfectly together to get the neighbour's cat out of the tree. You know the place it's a cross between Stepford and Leggoland. It's LEGGOFORD and it's that place that Utah strives for but hopefully won't reach!

Please Lord don't let them take my city!

Bush started his so I'm starting mine... All stops are out

5 to 6 years ago the Ruler of the most dominant Empire of our current age began a war. He over threw a relatively minor player in a media beat up. A media beat up that I admit I was sucked in by at the time. I still shake my head when I think of myself back then.
What have we come to in this messed up world when a simple overthrow of one man has turned into 90,000 + verified irrefutable civilian deaths with realistic estimates putting the body count at over 700,000 (taking into account those simply not found and not able to be accounted for)?
This ruler I speak of called his war a war on terror. It's kind of a Clayton's war if you like. The kind of war you have when you don't have a real enemy but you need a scapegoat.
Yes it makes you angry doesn't it? So I submit to you an alternative war. The WAR ON TERRIFIC. It's a kind of antiwar if you like. Just a type of vision, a type of purpose to oppose all that which sets itself to commit war. In my image above I have singled out the concept of Empire of course because through the ages Empires have been the prime movers of war and oppression of the weak/poor/less fortunate.
This idea/proposition of antiwar is not an easy concept to grasp and is infinitely more difficult to act out. It brings to mind the idea of beating swords and shields into ploughsheers (or warheads and Abrams tanks into Windmills and water wells). It expects love for one's enemy. At the same time it begins with the smallest and simplest acts of kindness acting as small mustard seeds in the unterror movement. It looks for simple ways to find alternatives to violence and hatred in all forms beginning where it is closest and spreading ideas like yeast through bread.
It also proposes that the insatiable greed of the dominant empires of today require intense doses of 'slowing down' and 'evening out'. Drawing down from the accelerated fortunes of the rich so that all wealth can be spread more evenly and every person can have enough for their need because there isn't enough for everyones greed.
This idea identifies what empire desires - those things that are perfect, beautiful, rich, successful, sexy, powerful and well...TERRIFIC. It seeks to undermine these concepts as they present a false guarantee of happiness and fulfillment.
So I encourage those who have such desire to think on it and act on it in their own measure and begin their own war on Terrific and subvert the dominant Empire today!

Todays blog was inspired by a tag from my more subversive sister Heather.
(See Subversive Blog Award Above)

Special mention must be made to Geoff McQuilkin the instigator of the Subversive Blogger Award.

Here are some tagged persons I nominate for this award:

1. Simon
2.Jarrod
3.Chris
4.Danielle
5.Heather coz I've run out of people Okayy?!?! :)

I See Homeless People.....

This past couple of weeks and in particular have been a bit of an eye opener at my work. For those not from Victoria or Australia: the western suburbs of Melbourne are predominantly the working and lower class . So as I work there I guess I shouldn't be surprised at running into a few homeless here and there. I guess I ran into a few more than I'm used to this last fortnight. Here's a few of their stories from my brief encounters with them.

Jim: has been recently kicked out of his brother's place that was part of the high rise ministry of housing block. He's temporarily staying in an abandoned building about 50 yards from the housing block. All the windows are smashed no front door and a lot of the floorboards are ripped up. No need to say there's no plumbing or electricity. He was sleeping on an old mattress in a rear room. Earlier that day that room was the last one without smashed windows. A visit from his angry brother who came around for some money he owed obviously wasn't happy with the response he got. The windows are all smashed now. There was a nasty stench coming from a room adjacent the bedroom . My partner who was searching the place checked under the sink. There in plastic bags was the replacement toilet. Yes that is faeces in bags. I guess my offsider was probably looking for drugs. I didn't bother looking because I figured that if he had drugs at any point they would be in his arm a minute later. He wouldn't have the money to have enough to keep for later. The rest of the house was littered with assorted junk and painted with graffiti. On the way out we were pressuring the man for proof that the owner of the place gave him permission to be there. A pointless task that I later regretted saying.

Fred: Lives in a caravan park in Laverton. He's a fork lift driver. I think his work has been scaled back recently as he's only earning a little over $300 a week. The rent, car payments and food prices were getting to an impossible point to juggle. He picked the wrong day to head to Coles for some five finger discount on some meat so he could eat until next pay day. That day Coles had about four undercover loss prevention operatives scoping the store. After we interviewed him back at the station for the theft I was asking about his situation. I asked him if he has tried approaching the Salvos. He said he did and he also tried the local council but both knocked him back because 1. he didn't have a health care card and 2. he had a source of income. I just shook my head and said "your shitting me." He said "No. That's fair dinkum."

Lance: is an Aboriginal bloke in his 20's he has moved away from his people in Country Victoria because he found he had worse problems drinking with them than he did away from them. He moved in with a girl in Melbourne but that was turning sour and she turfed him out that day. Alone and without direction he went looking for grog. He found it in someones backyard shed fridge. He was stocking the person's own eski when the owner of the property sprung him, threw him to the ground and held him. As everyone waited for the police Lance was very apologetic. The family that owned the property sat him up, gave him a seat and brought out some coffee to him! Not surprisingly it was that act of kindness that made him regret what he did the most. It seemed to change his perspective and even his attitude even as he spoke about it to us. It was amazing how much a little bit of grace made a difference to this messed up guy!

So all in all its been an interesting night shift.

Comparing Framing Stories

For the benefit of those who don't know me I have this tendency when talking or debating topics to not come up with immediate responses or rebuttals. That stuff always comes later after careful thought and consideration. So I'll apologise to Ron (my other Dad) for the lame conversation we tried to have the other day at the Peace Rally we attended.

We found ourselves on the topic of Jesus/God and theology in a roundabout fashion. Which was great because I always enjoy discussing these things but I began to get the feeling Ron was getting a little frustrated. I am trying to recall his most potent questions to me on the day. They went something like this: How come you need to have belief in God? Why can't you reach your concept of right and wrong by yourself and through your own deliberation?

Great questions that I could probably answer sufficiently to my own satisfaction but, I suspect not to Ron's.

We explored ideas like: if you sat down a group of devout followers of the different main religions of the world and had them list their notions of right and wrong logic would dictate that they would look fairly similar and have a great deal of common ground. (we both agreed on that idea)
I did not conclude however that this meant that having a religion or a framing story has no value; which is where I think Ron was headed with that line of conversation.

We also explored an interesting slant on one of the stories of Jesus that I thought was funny and interesting. It's that one that many a socialist type use to paint Jesus the violent type: the whipping of the money changers in the temple. There is no denying that Jesus was very violent in this story. Looking squarely at the historical account of this event he was pretty fierce toward people he did call his own i.e, the religious Jews in the temple. I think he was pretty ticked off with those that were changing money there. It must have hit a real nerve and probably points to something quite deep and profound, going by the reaction. So when Ron went on to point out this event as an assault by Jesus on his fellow countrymen and beyond that as a treasonous act; I wasn't dismissive because it forced me to think harder about it. Ron put a good modern slant on this story by branding this type of act as terrorism. Taking his line of thought I can't completely discount how some people could come to this conclusion. Jesus the terrorist?! There must be something deeply disturbing about money changing in the temple (deeper than face value) that I haven't grasped yet if Jesus was willing to become a terrorist to overthrow it!
For those who don't know all Victoria Police members are now required to provide a list of known associates/friends that could be considered criminal or of ill repute.
Ron and I had a laugh when we considered I may have to put Jesus the terrorist at the top of the list!

We broached the topic of Jesus death at one point. Ron made it clear that he contests the idea of Christ's death. He argued that some historians have put forward that Jesus had a "whipping boy" that died in his place. He also pointed to other historical evidence of a man that was known as 'the fisherman' who joined the zealot offshoot of the Jews in Jesus' day the Escenes (I don't know if I spelt that right). Apparently this 'fisherman' lived to a ripe old age and is believed by some to be Jesus.
As you may suspect it took me a while to digest all this and I had no immediate answers for Ron at the time. Thinking on this over the past week or so though I started to get a picture of where these ideas of Ron's were headed. The main thing I gleaned was the contention between two framing stories. I could see that Ron had formed a framing story around this Escene movement. Some may know about these religious Jewish zealots. They were very hard core and virtually lived for the violent overthrow of the dominant Roman Empire. Their violent terrorist type activity against Rome saw them driven into the mountains where they lived like outcasts for many years before a big showdown with the Roman army. This last pitch battle where the Escenes knew they would be overthrown, led them to "take the victory from them (the Romans)" by taking their own lives. So in their rock fortress in the mountains every Escene man woman and child slit their own throats rather than face any type of rule under Roman Empire.
I think I've seen fruits of this type of framing story played out in more recent history in the form of Jonestown and David Koresh's commune (suicide) and even certain branches of the Mormon and Jehovas Witness movement's (isolation).
Jesus on the other hand provided a pretty potent and hopeful type of framing story of his own. A framing story that funnily enough also has elements of subversion of dominant Empire but which intends to fulfill that subversion through service, love, peace, longsuffering and sacrifice etc. Through ideas and actions that are diametrically opposed to violence and the hoarding of power over others. I had the feeling Ron was a little frustrated with these concepts as we explored them with a couple of scriptures like: if one asks for your shirt, give him your coat also and; if you are commanded to walk one mile, walk two. This kind of passive submission to Empire did not sit well with him and he concluded that these scriptures were the result of the rewriting of scripture by Emperical authorities 400 years after Christ i.e. Constantine.
On one hand I do believe that Constantine and the Roman Empire did put an Emperical stamp on Christianity and made it their own via a vision that Constantine had.
On the other hand however I am not convinced that the core concepts of the life of Jesus were altered in this 'stamping process.' In fact I think that these core concepts have been stamped and re stamped over and over by different theologies and denominations through history and even to this day. Still the base life of Jesus remains the same and his ideas of the Kingdom of God and 'The Way' are as dangerous, provoking,beautiful, terrifying, exasperating and ultimately fulfilling now as they were when he walked around telling us about it. Nothing I have yet found trumps it as a framing story. It's the framing story that Ghandi took ahold of and smashed the Commonwealth with and almost pulled off peace between Muslims and Hindus in India. It was the framing story Mother Theresa lived out in simplistically caring for so many of the lowest and downcast in such inspirational fashion in that same country. It was the subversive framing story that Martin Luther King Jr took along against the dogs, guns, batons and hoses of the biggest empire we know today. The inspirational stories of these people and their movements are still echoing today. All because of a simple framing story of one bloke.

So In response to Ron's idea about the Escene framing story I want to draw particular attention to the Outcomes of following these different framing stories. On the one hand we can follow a story that isolates us from our surrounding community and forms around a desire to overthrow the prevailing Empire by using the same violence that Empire lives by. On the other hand we can follow a story that has proven itself (when followed accurately and unstamped) to form the most potent and inspirational, positive life changing movements of our time. Potent and inspirational through its opposition to violence, its desire for justice and peace, its hope of another kingdom not of this world, but still meant for this world.

Many thanks to Ron for the deep and troubled thinking I went through over the past weeks. Its curious and ironic how the most challenging folks in our lives provoke the better and deeper thought.

Stuff you think you need....

Here's a fun picture to kick things off. Yes I know its not Christmas in fact its closer to Easter really but the point is the way our society spends - who needs an excuse?

The point I wanted to make today are the problems of greed and envy. Just a couple of inconvenient factors required to make the market, the economy and capitalism work.
I see that unfortunately this system we have established requires these two to be central factors. Creating demand through advertising, establishing a customer base etc. Basically convincing individuals that they require something in order to be normal, accepted, desired and so forth. Creating images in the individuals mind of what normal, accepted and desirable are (like they know?)
So in letting all this run wild in our capitalistic society have we stopped to wonder about the costs involved in any of it? Do we factor in the costs of the discarding of the poor, and as time wears on, the middle class as our rich become astronomically out of reach. Why aren't we we asking questions like: why does the reserve bank blame base consumers for over inflating an economy (and forcing interest rates higher) when the richest one percent easily spend enough to outspend the other 99% just because they can afford it? Why then does the reserve bank then penalize those in debt to attempt to counter the overspending of that rich minority to 'stabilize' the economy and counter inflation?
The system is pretty sick and I don't see it getting better any time soon.
So long as most are convinced that this capitalism is the only option and continue to allow themselves to be bombarded and permeated in advertising and marketing, bowing and worshiping the market's version of the perfect person.
So long as we stop thinking for ourselves and finding alternative choices outside that all enveloping image.

Here's a song for you to listen to as you absorb these questions and ponder.
A Perfect Circle's - Hollow fits the bill nicely; the lyrics reflect the ideas of the perpetual capitalistic need of being fed and filled up over and over again only to be temporarily pacified.
Enjoy in reflection.

A Storm in the Distance.

I seem to be getting stuck on the concepts of inequality and greed at the moment. I've been reading a commentary on inequality in the U.S called Greed and Good by Labor Journalist Sam Pizzigati. An extremely interesting read. If you are curious about how corporate executives operate and acquire their outrageously huge fortunes this is the gloves off no holds barred version. I didn't know anything about stock options before reading this so it has been a big eye opener. This book rides pretty rough shod over Corporate America showing in layman's terms how the fortunes are made at the top at the expense of the companies themselves, the workers in them and consumers. Trust me if you weren't angry about CEO pay packets before reading this you will be spitting chips afterwards (Corporate Executives exempted of course).
The bigger picture this book paints however is of that storm in the distance. That's the more worrying part. The storm of huge corporations being gutted from the inside as Executives continue to merge smaller companies into bigger corporations and then downsize them by laying off hundreds of thousands of workers. The storm of these corporations shuddering and convulsing internally because merging and combining of ideas and people doesn't actually improve productivity - its just a bigger mess that's harder to manage. The storm that is fed as CEO's jump from one corporation to another using merges and downsizing as tools to manufacture quick fortunes that further eat away at the companies and their workers from the inside.
So here's a picture for you. Just to help you envisage that storm as it rages on through. Fittingly this picture is for that recently released film about an 'unseen' monster. Trust me when I say that the 'monster' is already present. It does its damage socially and economically. The problem is that the damage is harder to immediately see.

P.S the words next to the picture are from another A Perfect Circle song called Pet. Fitting words if you can imagine Corporate America patting the general public on the head saying: "stay with me safe and ignorant" "pay no mind to the rabble" "step away from the window and go back to sleep."

Counting Bodies Like Sheep.....

This picture spoke volumes to me when I first saw it. Remarkable symbolism even down to the cuff links and breast pin! As soon as I saw it I immediately thought of a great song I had been listening (and still listen) to by probably one of the forefront subversive bands of the moment (behind Rage Against The Machine - of course) A perfect Circle. The lyrics of their song - The Noose really brought this picture alive. Here's some of the lyrics:

THE NOOSE

So glad to see you well
Overcome them completely silent now
With Adams Help
You cast your demons out

And not to pull your halo down
around your neck and tug you off your cloud

But I'm more than just a little curious
how your plannin' to go about making your amends
to the dead.....to the dead

And not to pull your halo down
around your neck and tug you to the ground

But I'm more than just a little curious
how your plannin' to go about making your amends
to the dead.....to the dead

Yes your halo's slippin' down
Your halo's slippin'
Your halo's slippin' down
Your halo's slippin' down

Your Halo's slippin' down (but I'm more than just a little curuious)
Your Halo's slippin' down (how your plannin' to go about making your)
Your Halo's slippin' down (but I'm more than just a little curuious)
Your Halo's slippin' down (how your plannin' to go about making your)

Your Halo's slippin' down
Your Halo's slippin' down
To choke you now

It says a lot more on its own than I ever could here. I recommend listening to the song and as you do cast your mind back over the activities of the Bush administration in recent years. While doing so ask yourselves: is it appropriate that this man and his administration has worn the cross as a breastpin and hoisted it as a flag? and: in doing so has he not underpinned the justification of a war that recent body counts are indicating is another genocide?

53.4 bloody per cent

This was a picture I saw a few months back (I made a few of my own additions) The idea behind it is based around the surprising recent statistic that 53.4% of global arms production is produced by the United States. I guess it's not hard to figure out who gets paid the most when war breaks out. It depicts of course one of the more fierce symbols of the U.S. armada being the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. Each of which can make an instant misery of a place within a 2km radius of wherever it's parked. Interestingly the cost of one of these could easily: feed 100,000 starving folks; shelter 50,000; or perhaps dig life giving wells for 1000 villages.

But no lets go on driving fear into the hearts of people with these things because after all: if you don't have enough enemies or terrorists - who will we sell arms to? and how will we justify the outrageous expense of our own security? and keep folks like Abrams, Lockheed and Mcdonnel/Grumman in the business of finding ever more efficient and devastating ways of killing people?

Normally I'd say forgive my sarcasm but stuff it I'm not apologising

Equity, and a Maximum Wage

I remember vividly watching a segment on 60 minutes (Ausie Version) about 6-8 months ago. It showcased the booming economy of South Korea and in particular a massive tanker shipbuilding company there. One of the biggest things that drew me into the story apart, from the fact it is the second fastest growing economy behind Japan, was the prevalent (and active adherence) to the concept of equity amongst the workers in the company. Most notably the fact that the highest paid CEO's and directors in the company were paid fairly compared with those lowest paid in the same company. The ratio between highest and lowest paid was around the 10:1 ratio with the lowest paid laborers earning around $80,000p.a.
More recently in the past 5-6 months I was introduced to the concept of large Corporations via the Canadian doco of the same name (The Corporation). Now I'm sure many would accuse and dismiss this doco as exaggerated and left wing biased but many of the concerns regarding inequity and the exploitation of slave labor from targeted countries are by and large very accurate.
So when I read in an interesting article, on another notably left wing news site called Alternet, (When The Rich Make Too Much Is It Time For A Maximum Wage - 13/09/07) I guess I should not have been surprised to see the mention of the concept of a maximum wage notably brought forward by a respected Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardiner.
What brought all this concept home to me recently was the Emphasis Brian Maclaren placed on this concept as he named it: the equity crisis - In that book I was reading - Everything Must Change. The stuff he mentioned in there regarding the idea of a maximum wage really jumped out at me. In particular when he made note of, perhaps now not so respected, economist in the U.S. Hermen Daley who points out the bonds of community begin to break at a ratio of 50:1. Speaking again of the ratio between highest and lowest paid workers.
After growing up in the 70's and 80's and perhaps only being slightly shocked by movies like Wall Street. (Remember Michael Douglas's rant: Greed is Good, Greed is Right) And then later in the 90's and to now; as the silent juggernaut of global Corporations have rolled over us entirely unchecked. The question has to be asked: How long can this capitalist system be sustained without a ceiling? Forget days and weeks - the gulf between Bill Gates with his fortune 500 friends and the third world grows astronomically by the second. Not thinking too hard about it I'm pretty sure that Bill with his Trillions has enough wealth, with it's intrinsic self perpetuating power, to single handedly lift the poorest and starving on our planet out of poverty enough to be fed and sheltered in a sustained manner without altering his affluent lifestyle.
When are enough people going to take notice of things like the Equity Crisis?
It's not like it isn't there its just that not many talk about it.
Perhaps it is just that we are too worried about losing our own chance at the dream of affluence without a ceiling...and not so worried if it comes at the expense of our neighbor.

Yes I know I'm harsh sometimes but it's things we need to start thinking and talking about.

Superituality!

I was in bed reading last night. A good book: Everything Must Change - Brian Mclaren. My mind often wanders during reading. It tends to do that when good, previously unexplored ideas are put forward. Anyway the thoughts were surrounding two words being Spirituality and Superior. As my mind was combining the words to Superituality a definition was kind of flowing with it.... Work with me here.
It came as: "Superituality" (n) treading on another's dearly held personal beliefs by spouting superiority complexified 'spiritual' crap.

Yes I've seen the action plenty of times before in many a different church setting but there's never been a definition for it. Might make for a good T-shirt. Just a thought. Just an idea.

While on ideas for T-shirts: Mclaren has a lot of quality lists he brings out in his writing. With a little plaguerism here's the idea:

Front: Me Issues:
My soul, My eternal destiny, My blessings

Back: Real Issues:
Systemic Injustice, Inherent Poverty, Global Ecological Catastrophe

I'm sure there's plenty to add to either list but you get the drift.

T-shirts for the subversive minded to wear to church!!

Isn't night shift a pain?

I'm genuinely convinced it is not natural and the body was not designed to endure it. It's simply another product of consumer driven capitalism, corporate necessities and the like. A despicable spawn of the industrial age.

A story from last night: a group of young bucks in Mum's Rav 4. Just had their fill of Maccas and are hanging out in the open spaces behind a local school - at nearly 4am. I pull up in the Div van and the Rav 4 takes a sharp diversion in the distance. Travels no more than 30 yards and stops suddenly. all 4 or 5 jump out but only two stay at the car, the rest scatter away from us. My partner is off in a flash over a nearby fence and into the night. These kids are not much more than 16. The 2 who stayed are polite and courteous.
So I ask the obvious question: why are your friends running? No real answer. "you are cops so they just ran." You weren't doing anything wrong were you? No they were just scared and took off.
My partner heads back after a few minutes empty handed. Names for the escapees are offered freely by their friends anyway. The unnecessary run and chase can often happen in this line of work. The idea of authority possibly finding something wrong when there is nothing to find creates a doubt and a fear I guess.
Funnily enough I only tend to find such a fear in those who are honest. It is easily pushed aside and covered up after a few dishonest acts.
The driver - to his detriment owns up to his driving to the Sergeant who arrived a short time later. It turns out he's only a Learner and he didn't have a fully licensed driver with him.
I'm not sending him to court for it. Why? because discretion is one of the few positive aspects we have in this job and I don't waste it. Because I see the rare honesty in a kid who had the guts not to run with the rest when fear took hold. He was owning up when the easy way out is to cut and run. I respect that. Its a quality in people, especially the young, that should be encouraged, not trampled on.

Ah the beginning

The commencement, the start, the beginning is an interesting time. This seems like as good a place as any to step back and re think those things told or expressed to us - analyze a little and express back.

Today I have a thought for a song: The Peacebreakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers
You could have fooled me

The harborer of destruction
injustice sits with a crown
on the back of a child slave

And I'm wondering how many have to perish,
before a decent alternative is found

Every greed inspired action
has a ripple effect - the tsunami hits
poorest of women and children first

Hmmm more thoughts later.