Noah - A Film

Elli and I went to see this latest cinematic offering last night.

The main similarities with the biblical text are the following:

1. There's a guy called Noah (and another named Methuselah and another named Tubal-Cain who is a forger of iron, but I don't see him playing any of his brother's nice musical inventions - Gen. 4:21-22).
2. There's a boat.
3. There are a lot of animals.
4. There's a lot of water.

If you take a snapshot view, of the film other similarities occur, but when set against the flow of where the Bible has come from and where it is going. The film's portrayal of the original story is simply unintelligible and bizarre.

That said, I thought two sentiments were well expressed and helpful to me.

Firstly, the way that wicked king Tubal-Cain twists the commands of God to his own advantage - using "the Creator's" blessings not as an opportunity for service and self sacrifice, but for domination and self aggrandisement. He views his actions as not only his right, but his duty and he is justified in his own eyes - no matter how morally depraved he actually and clearly is.

Secondly, Noah's insistence that all should perish including himself and his family. The wickedness that he sees in humanity, he sees in himself and his family, so why should he / they escape? The rest of his family move too quickly (for my liking) to the glib humanist cliches about guilt and innocence, justice and mercy.

Salvation is not a right. It is never earned. It will never be merited. God doesn't see a glimmer in our unregenerate eyes and think - he could turn out a good'un. Our benchmarks of justice, mercy, guilt and innocence are far too skewed by our own over optimistic assessments of ourselves.

Mercy is, by definition, undeserved.

In the film, Noah is an inhumane, mystical eco-warrior charged with saving the creator's creation. The aim is preservation.

In the Bible, Noah is a picture of Christ who preaches to all, but who is reviled and ultimately saves only those who are made like him, transporting them with him through the waters of judgment and death to a renewed world. The aim is transformation.

Postscript. 
I'm not on Facebook atm, but my wife told me that a friend of mine posted this excellent article which blows my well meant, but stupid little review out of the water!

Trip to China

Courtesy of Wikipedia

On the date of our first anniversary, Elli and I will be on a plane to China. We are going with a group of teachers to experience and find out more about how the Chinese education system works. Our destination is Luzhou in Sichuan province. We fly direct to Chengdu from Heathrow.

With the media going on about how amazing Chinese maths teaching is, it will be interesting to see where the dividing line is between truth and spin, and see first hand what is replicable back home here and what is not.

Will also try and wangle some business class seats, at least for our flight out... :-)

We're back on 14 Apr.

Our problem is that we are far too easily pleased...

“Man cannot live without joy; therefore, when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.”

Read more here.

An International Comedian on the British

It's always fascinating to see what foreign comedians make of us.  Here is the "German Comedy Ambassador" Hemming Wehn making fun of the very people he is performing to! I can't work out if the laughs are comfortable or not - I certainly think he fires some home truth at us! Indeed, is the fact that they are laughing a peculiar British response?

Warning - contains some offensive language.

Lent: Preparing the Soil of the Heart for Fresh Seed and Rain

Whilst the 24/7 "always on" principle may work for certain types of businesses and services, it isn't one that is good for the soul as it can leave us feeling disconnected, distant and without any real sense of the passing of time.

Back in Genesis 1, on day four, God created the sun, moon and stars as signs to govern "days and seasons." There's nothing here about creation being the same 24/7 all year round - life is liturgical, it's about rhythm and repetition and growth. The word we have translated as "signs" (yowm) in Gen 1:14 is particularly related to sacred time / religious festivals. (e.g. yowm kippur - the day of atonement). Israel ran on a lunar calendar and God told them that they were to set their religious festivals by that lunar calendar "The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month..." (Lev.23:5) etc.

This is why, for many centuries across the world, the church has observed Lent. Forty days of humbling and self denial. Like a farmer turning the soil, ready for the new plantings, Lent is a season for preparing the heart, with no obvious benefit, to receive again the message and the power of that first resurrection morning.  It's nothing to do with superstition or ritual, it's because God has made us rhythmic (liturgical) creatures.

Yesterday, many friends of mine ran the Reading half marathon. They went in to strict training, so that they would know the joy of crossing the finishing line and accomplishing something meaningful for them. There was no moral requirement for them to do it, but they chose endure the pain of training for the joy of victory in running. Those who watched from the sidelines will no doubt have felt a good vibe from the event, but spectating is nothing like taking part.

Lent is like this, there is no moral compulsion for us, but, if done with a right heart, then after the humbling and self-denial there is joy and gladness! Watching someone else do it, is nothing like taking part yourself. So some pointers...

1. Give up something meaningful that creates time in your day e.g. social media, TV (maybe all  TV or just a particular programme e.g Eastenders), a sport that you do, a meal.
2. Give up something that may have come to have more of a hold on you than is good. e.g. coffee, wine, beer, chocolate, cheese, meat etc
3. Use the time / cravings created by what you have given up to drive you to bible meditation, prayer (a great resource is here if you want it) and serving others in all the spheres God has given you influence.
4. Time with God costs you nothing financially, why not use any money saved from all that booze and those chocolate bars and mocha-choca-frappacino thingamajigs for blessing someone in need.

I am always humbled by small Muslim kids who will fast food and water for Ramadan especially when it takes place as it does, this year in July when the hours of daylight are LONG!! I have so much more to be thankful for - so much more to gain and yet so often I am so dull of heart to get going.

May God make us valiant and courageous, for indeed, these are strange days we live in.

On Baptism in Water and the Spirit

One of the convictions about the Bible that has slowly solidified in my heart over the years is that if you cannot clearly ground a New Testament teaching in the story and/or imagery of the Old Testament then you are barking up the wrong tree and need to start again. If it isn't clearly foreshadowed in the Old Testament then, however fashionable it may be in the modern church, it is at best misguided and at worst heretical.

Now of course, my last paragraph could sound like overweening arrogance, I don't mean it to be. I don't have all the answers to complex theological question, but I do believe deeply that this is the standard to apply to any aspect of church teaching (doctrine) or church life (ecclesiology).

Take the controversial baptism of the Holy Spirit - to put it simply, conservatives say he is given fully at conversion, charismatics say he comes fully with the laying on of hands after conversion / water baptism.

So which is it?

The New Testament describes believers as, amongst other things, a royal priesthood (1Pet.2:8). In order to understand that term, we need to know how the Bible defines it, and there is very little on it in the New Testament, but plenty about it in the Old, so it is to the Old we go.

In Leviticus 8 God gives instructions to Moses as to how Aaron and his sons are to be ordained as priests in the service of God.

Lots of symbolism goes on with Aaron being set apart as high priest (see similarities with Jesus own baptism in Matt.3), but cutting a long story short, first they are all washed Lev.8:6...

Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water...

Then they are all anointed (v30) with  special oil that is strictly forbidden to be used in any other context except the ministry of the priesthood (Ex.30:22-33).  To anoint anyone else with this oil was punishable by death / banishment...

...Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.

Setting these men apart for service to God happens in two distinct stages (hooray for charismatic position and boo to the conservative position), but those two stages happen at the same time, (hooray for conservative position and boo to the charismatic position).

If Leviticus 8 is the starting paradigm, then I don't get why many conservatives don't lay hands on Christians after they have been baptised in water and pray for them to receive the Spirit. It feels like they publicly testify to half of the Spirit's work.

Equally, I don't understand why many charismatics seem happy after baptism in water to allow new Christians to wander around in what they would consider a spiritual wilderness for a couple of weeks (or perhaps months or even years) before suddenly announcing in a meeting that they need to be baptised in the Spirit by the laying on of hands. It seems like an unnecessary (unbiblical?) delay. Imagine Moses sending Aaron and his sons away after washing, telling them that at some point in the future, at his convenience, he will call them back again and anoint them.  Why wait? The apostles didn't. As soon as they heard of the "unfinished business," they were quick to rectify it, Acts 19:1-5. (Note to those who think about these things, I therefore think that the book of Acts is both prescriptive and descriptive.)

Now, if one were to adopt a position that feels a bit more like an echo of Leviticus 8 then, there are two obvious and opposite dangers to avoid:

1. Clearly the whole thing could become a ritualistic "batch" process where we go through the motions and don't expect the Spirit to take hold of someone and give them a life changing experience - and besides that kind of thing can be messy and awkward especially when we want to get home and eat lunch / dinner / supper / watch TV / check social media etc!
2. Praying for someone to receive the Spirit after they have come out of the water and when everyone's eyes are boring into them could be a terrifying prospect for some and a devastating prospect for others if the Spirit doesn't appear to come to them at that moment in the way they hoped he would. However, he is not a spell or formula and he comes and ministers as he sees fit. Whilst I see no reason why he would not want to bless the person in question, we can never assume his motives for him.

Both these pitfalls need to be handled with great wisdom and sensitivity for the sake of the whole body of Christ.

A final thought...

God has also placed this "Leviticus-8-ordination-of-the-priesthood" paradigm at the heart of our daily rhythms. Most of us, every day, before going out to work or at the very least, before going to a special occasion - like a wedding feast (Rev.19:7-8), wash ourselves with soap and shampoo etc then and anoint ourselves with deodorant, perfume/after shave etc.

This too is a (daily) echo of both our once for all salvation and our day by day dependence on the risen Christ and his Spirit - to confess our sins (1Jn.1:8-10) to hear and receive again the eternal word of  the cleansing Christ and to be clothed with his anointed power to live the Godly life (Eph. 5:18).

Inside Mecca - A Fascinating Insight into Muslim Pilgrimage

I can't remember if I've posted it before, but this documentary is a fascinating insight into what goes on during Muslim Hajj (pilgrimage) - probably the largest single annual mass participation event on the planet. And it can help you understand some of the Old Testament rituals in a new way. For example, the Kabbah in Mecca is the representative of the house of Allah. In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle, Temple is representative of Heaven - the house of Yahweh (Hebrews 9).