Cheese

To list my weaknesses, the priority would be chocolate and cheese. A Cheesychocaholic would be an apt title. Not that I would eat cheese smeared with chocolate, although cutting cheese with a jammy knife as a child gave me a liking for jam on cheese. That even extended, for no particular reason, to marmalade on bacon.

My father was a great fan of Gorgonzola—a much sharper edition of blue cheese and I loved it, so I can consume blue cheese of any variety. One of the advantages of a trip to New Zealand, apart from a touch of summer in the Canadian winter, is the price and variety of cheese. Many cheeses can be bought in one kilogram blocks for about $7 to $10 Canadian.

On a trip to the local market last Saturday morning I found a stall selling 250 gram rounds of a variety of brie, Camembert and blue cheeses $6 for three. When I went to make a purchase, the Camembert was sold out, so I ordered three brie and blue cheeses. It was not till later when I opened the brown bag the girl gave me, I discovered four cheeses: no doubt an apology for no Camembert.

I guess I know that man cannot live by bread alone, so cheese makes a palatable alternative. In fact, a bread and cheese sandwich is my default for most meals I have to prepare for myself. Of course, I know it would be cheesy to say cheese is a substitute for the Word of God, but it’s still a useful fallback if I can’t turn stones into bread.

You may be reading this a day early, and we are a day (less about four hours) ahead of you. So I guess I’ll just have to enjoy a cheeeeeese sandwich while you catch up!

First to See the Light

Ann and I are in New Zealand visiting our eldest daughter. They live about 10 minutes from the small city of Gisborne on the east coast of the north island. The city’s motto is “First to See the Light,” based upon their location: closest city to the international dateline.

So we see the sun come up before anyone else in the world—although the distinction is rather artificial—that’s where the dateline was placed by the early British “time travelers,” 180 degrees across the planet from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in England.

But it was significant enough for a 30 minute TV segment from Gisborne to be broadcast around the world at the turn of the millennium. And real enough that I get up before any of you on any given day while we are here! Of course, that may be comforting—you get to lie in!

However, that is not the end of the Gisborne light story. The light here is different! I first noticed this as it begins to get light: white surfaces exude a phosphorescent glow. Heather, our daughter, tells me the surrounding grassy hills produce a glow in the half light.

Later, a photographer told me that photographers from around the world come to New Zealand as the light produces enhanced colours. Not something the naked eye or a common photo taker can see, but a sufficient difference to be professionally recognized.

Why? Clearer air; reflections from the south polar icecap? No-one seems to know. A bit like Jesus’ description of the wind—you can’t tell its origin or destination, but you can feel it and see its passage through the trees.

The presence of God is like that—indefinable, unexplainable, but at times unavoidable. It defies empirical evidence, yet is common experience. Above all, the illumination of the Holy Spirit gives insight to spiritual things unobtainable anywhere else.

The Rallying Cry

Historic Christianity has always affirmed the deity of Christ and salvation from sin only through His redemptive crucifixion and resurrection. In fact, non-Christian sects have always been defined by their rejection of the full deity of Christ.

Central to Christ’s identity is the proclamation by Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Paul takes up Peter’s cry: “Jesus is Lord” (Romans. 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12:3).

To call Jesus “Lord” was dangerous. First, it substituted Jesus as the final authority in place of Caesar and was construed as treason—bad for both Christians and Jews. But more to the point for the Jews, the Lord, Jahweh, was their God and Lord of the Old Testament—bad for the Christians.

So right from the start, Christians identified Jesus with the Lord God the creator: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1)—a direct reference to Genesis 1:1, and Jesus as a member of the Trinity.

Those who stray from this concept of Christ, simply deny this testimony of the apostles Peter and Paul, the claim of Jesus Himself: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), and the wider declaration of Scripture.

This denial calls into question the Bible record—which casts doubt on the words, even the existence of Jesus Christ—and encourages—in fact, needs—alternate routes to reconciliation with God. But the greatest loss is the assurance of salvation and peace with God the Bible constantly declares.

This does not make Christianity a private club. God’s message through Jesus the Lord is an open invitation to all humanity. “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). 

You might want to check my book: Jesus: Is He really God? Does It Really Matter? Available at Amazon and www.pebblepress.ca 

The Emerging Church

Over the years, the emerging church has garnered a variety of reactions, seen by many as a drift away from the historic Christian faith. It has grown to a large movement, comprised of a variety of unattached groups of various beliefs across the world.

It is true that much in the emerging church has liberal Christian and charismatic streams coming together under a mottled New Age spirituality—although that is not so new anymore. Especially the “Emergent Church” is a specific organization, that has veered in that direction.

This digression from the Christian faith has been fostered by a postmodernism that maintains there is no fixed truth: we all carry our own truth with us. The idea that intuition is the source of truth is fertile soil for accepting one’s belief about God as relevant as anyone else’s!

However, the common thread in all emerging churches, whether espousing evangelical or New Age views, is seeking ways to engage the postmodern culture with the faith, and disillusion with a church that seems increasingly out of touch and irrelevant to the culture.

So it’s unfair to label all emerging churches as departing from the faith. Do they distort the truth to a package the culture will accept? Or are they endeavouring to address the historic Christian faith in terms a postmodern culture understands.

The first denies the faith, the second retains its integrity. Let’s be discerning and not reactionary!

The Natives are Restless!

Ishmael, the Bible says would be “a wild donkey of a man.” The attitude of Islamists the world over, and their actions in killing and destroying anything that disagrees with the Quran, forcefully fulfill that prediction.

Yet, Ishmael was cared for by God, as He cares for all humanity. The conflict that resulted and continues today was the result of Abram and Sarai’s momentary lack of faith in the promise of God for a son. Whatever shenanigans brought him to be, God cared for Ishmael as He did for Isaac

That does not mean that God approves of Abram’s or Ishmael’s actions then or their descendants now. It simply means that He has no favourites. The nation of Israel is not “teacher’s pet,” but a chosen vehicle to proclaim His glory—which Israel has failed to do much of the time.

The problem now is how to deal with the conflict so produced: by lack of faith in God on the one hand and the ongoing resentment and enmity it causes on the other. But this scenario is not limited to that between Israel and Islam which continues to plague the world.

In fact, Canada is facing the same dilemma. The treatment of Indians by so-called “Christians” and the stigma attached to natives is the root cause of the current conflict between natives and Canada. Now, native resentment outlasts any reparations Canada might make to them.

Although some attempts at reconciliation have been made by both sides, recent actions reveal smouldering anger continues to dominate First Nations’ approach to Canada. It is doubtful that appeasement will placate this. Both anger and its cure come from within.

As long as an aggrieved party considers itself victimised, it justifies its actions, absorbing and demanding ever more to rectify the pain. It will also turn inward, hurting the very people reparations are meant to help.

The fact that hundreds of millions of dollars given to the Indians was not used to improve their living standards is designed to maintain a victimised appearance, which can be used to exact more concessions—something they have learned from Ishmael’s descendants.

A better lesson can be learned from South Africa, where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring healing after a period of violent apartheid. Is it possible this can happen here? I pray so.