More about Madeline

I wrote earlier about the death of Madeline Neumann, whose parents prayed as she died on the floor of their house. She was becoming increasingly ill with diabetes for some time before the end came.

I remarked,

"With the woeful state of public health care in the US, do people turn to "faith healing" cults out of fear that they will not be able to obtain proper health care through the system when they need it?"

I also suggested that the girls' parents' unwillingness to treat their daughter's illness as an ordinary human disease, their insistence that it was a "spiritual" issue, suggested that they didn't really grasp the idea of the incarnation. That is, they didn't fully recognise that God has come among us in the person of the human being, Jesus Christ. Theirs is an inhuman faith, as evidenced by the cruel death of the little girl.

It was reported today that the family was not linked with any denomination. It seems that they practised a private household religion. They called themselves "Full Gospel" Christians, but didn't belong anywhere.

Reading this, I am more than ever convinced that the parents followed a deviant form of Christianity. Their isolation is what you would suspect of people who have little concept of the value of others.

The great 18th Century evangelist and revivalist, John Wesley, remarked, "The Bible knows nothing of the solitary Christian." He is right. We need each other, and people who withdraw to their own house, cut off from others, directly contravene the saying of 1 John 4: 20,

...anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Imagine if those parents had belonged to a properly functioning congregation. Imagine if there had been people around to comment on the little girl's illness before it got so serious. Imagine if someone had noticed that there was a problem in relationships and perhaps helped them resolve it and not let it get all messed up with the little girl's illness. Even a limited community is better than nothing.

A faulty theology is always intimately connected with a faulty understanding of human beings.

The sad death of a sick child

Today's Sydney Morning Herald has a sad item (http://www.smh.com.au/world/mother-of-dead-girl-sickness-was-test-of-faith-20090729-e0eh.html) about a woman whose 11 year old daughter died of diabetes while her parents prayed. They believed the girl's sickness was due to a bad relationship between themselves and another couple from the church.

I am horified when I read such things.

I have seen a small number of dramatic healings after focused prayer in my 45-odd years as a Christian.

• My brother recovered overnight from an infection which had been scheduled for scarring surgery the next day.
• Our former church secretary was on his feet two days after surgery expected to keep him off his feet for ten days.
• I began recovering from pneumonia the night when our church prayed for me at a specially scheduled meeting they forgot to tell me about.
• A woman with diagnosed advanced bladder cancer was found to have no tumours when she presented for surgery the day after extensive prayer for her. She was not a believer herself.

Of course, we have prayed for people and been pleased that their recovery seemed to speed up, but that's not something you can measure. We still pray, trusting that the Lord who loves us will do something good.

Sometimes the "something good" has not been physical healing, but perhaps confidence to get on with life despite the illness, or a better diagnosis, or a seemingly coincidental link up with a different specialist.

Often the only thing we see is that the person feels supported, knowing that people care. I don't think that's an unimportant consequence.

But this news story is an example of lethally evil religious wrong-headedness.

First, why should the child, who had no role in the parents' conflicts, be the one who suffers? Surely the disconnect between supposed cause and consequences should have made the parents think twice!

Second, how could such serious symptoms be proportionate to the offence of bad blood between two families? Why didn't the parents ask themselves this?

Third, even if the relational problem underlay the child's illness, and the parents were convinced that dealing with it would have a bearing on their daughter's recovery,why didn't they contact the other family, make arrangements to meet and sort out the conflict, and take the child to hospital?

A faith which does not include trusting in other people, including professionals, seems to me to be a pretty hollow and meaningless faith for people claiming to be Christian, for all its appearance of "spirituality". Surely the whole idea of the incarnation is that God was manifest in a human being, and our faith is in that human being. Christian faith is not airy-fairy, but about a real human, coming into a precise period of history and being God with us. It is a human faith.

But I can't avoid going further and wondering what role the State itself has in this whole sad issue.

With the woeful state of public health care in the US, do people turn to "faith healing" cults out of fear that they will not be able to obtain proper health care through the system when they need it? I certainly see too many on the religious right in the US who are so vehemently opposed to universal health care that I do wonder where the bottom line lies: who stands to gain and who to lose if such a system comes in?

If my guess is right, that people take to religious answers when the state fails to provide basic common care, then the US itself has to take some responsibility for the death of Madeline Neumann of Wisconsin.

The buzz continues about Fiji Methodist arrests

LOCAL NEWS REPORT

A full news report by the Fiji Times about the appearances of Methodist leaders and a local Chief in court in Suva appears at http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=126012.

GROWING ATTACKS ON METHODISTS

It seems that the Methodist Church in Fiji has been seen as a potential threat to the current regime for some months.

In a blog dated 24 January, widely associated with the Fijian Ombudsman, Shaista Shameem, an anonymous writer railed against Methodist leaders, describing them as The Snake in Priests Clothing, and saying,

"The Methodist Church is a sham. Its leaders (who spend time abusing young children) drive around in expensive vehicles while its members scrounge round for morsels of food. The very existence of this denomination raises serious concerns about the level of involvement the church has in politics and over time, the idiotic priests have stated that politics and religion should go hand in hand. We beg to disagree. People such as Tuikilakila Waqairatu should be strung by their feet and the people of this country should stone these heathens to death for their comments and actions which have led this country to the brink of a racial war. [My emphasis] The leaders of the church preach and promote racial hatred openly. Its members are then forced to give huge sums of money for the leaders benefits. We do not see this as a church of the people. We are certain that the leaders of the church have long given up their role as teachers of good and advocate everything the devil stands for."

On 27 Jan, the blog adds,

"We apologize to our readers that when we asked that Waqairatu be strung up by his feet, we had failed to add cult leader Manasa Lasaro to the whole affair. These two men should be strung up by their feet then set on fire for the world to see what happens when you try to commit seditious acts or incite racial hatred. [My emphasis] These men are not fit for this world and since they worship the devil in secret, they should be sent to his world accordingly."

THE GOVERNMENT LINE

The Fiji Government website (http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_15547.shtml) comments on this case:

"Government and Military spokesperson, Lt-Col Neumi Leweni, today said Government is firm about its decision to cancel the Methodist Church annual conference because the church is clearly pushing a political agenda rather than focussing on its core role of promoting spiritual development [...]

"The decision to defer the Methodist Conference indefinitely was borne out of the inclusion of political issues in the Methodist Conference agenda. This was a clear breach of the Public Emergency Regulation and also not a matter for the church to discuss.

"Government issued a permit for their meeting last week with conditions, and on the understanding that they will help find a way forward for our nation. “Government asked the committee to understand Fiji’s socio-political situation and assist in our nation-building initiatives that promotes, among other things, equal opportunities for all citizens in the country irrespective of race, colour or creed.”

“Instead the committee has chosen to continue to push its political agenda,” Lt-Col Leweni said.

He said some members of the church have now been taken in for questioning and will be released once the investigations are over.

"Also under investigation is Ro Teimumu for a statement released yesterday which could be termed as a form of incitement.

"Lt-Col Leweni said Government continues to appeal to the public to keep the peace and respect the rule of law."

TAIWAN MEDIA REPORT AUST RESPONSE

Meanwhile, the Taiwan News (http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1011649&lang=eng_news) reports, under the heading, Australian FM condemns Fiji church arrests, that the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, said from Thailand, "We absolutely condemn what has occurred," Smith told reporters. "It does show a consistent course of conduct so far as Commander Bainimarama and the interim military is concerned. This is just another very regrettable example of the regime further isolating itself from the international community and further stepping back from democracy and civil and human rights."

The TN report says that Smith added that the move will further isolate the Pacific island nation's rulers from the international community.

TN reports that one of those taken into custody, the Rev. Manasa Lasaro, was also arrested in June for a sermon demanding freedom of speech.

Fiji Methodists Update

The Baptist and Uniting Churches in NSW are now fully aware of the situation, and Church members are being circulated about the serious limitations on the religious liberty of Fijian Christian leaders. The Anglican Church has referred the matter to the Archbishop.

Baptists have been asked to take whatever action their consciences suggest, with the note that "Baptists have historically stood alongside all those who suffer on account of their religious belief/practice, and I would hope some decisive action might be taken by Australian Baptists in the face of the coercive actions by the Fijian authorities." (Rod Benson, Ethicist, Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT)

Whether Fijian Baptists are currently under pressure from the government is unclear. This situation was triggered by Methodist refusal to accept a Government ban on the annual Methodist Conference. This ban was imposed apparently out of fear that the widely supported Methodist Church in Fiji might form a base for opposition to the Government. (See earlier posting.)

There is evidence that some U.S. fundamentalists are strongly supporting the military dictatorship in Fiji, and some leaders in the current Government claim to be Christian.

So far, the President and General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Fiji have appeared in court in Suva facing charges under the Public Order Act due to alleged non-compliance with conditions of a Police Permit for a meeting of the Methodist Standing Committee. Why Police Permits are deemed necessary for a Church leaders' committee meeting is not explained.

The two ministers have been bailed  subject to travel restrictions and a conditions that they must not contravene the Public Order Act. Two others arrested with them were not charged.

The Chief of the Rewa Province was also charged under the same Act over a letter supportive of holding the Annual Conference.  The case has garnered considerable public interest in Fiji despite clamps on the media and on dissemination of information.

When the church gets political

News has just emerged (http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/fiji-church-leaders-arrested-by-regime-20090723-dumg.html) that the Fijian dictatorship has arrested about a dozen Methodist leaders who had threatened to go ahead with the annual conference despite a Government ban.

Self-appointed president, Frank Bainimarama, claims that the conference is a political move and those within the Methodist leadership who make decisions are all politicians.

The well-established Methodist Church in Fiji is one of the few institutions capable of providing a base for opposition to the coup leadership.

We should -- must -- pray for, and, where possible, act on behalf of, the Christians of Fiji.

Republicans and evangelicals

A friend recently referred me to an article, "My GOP: Too old, too white to win" by Bill Greener at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/20/gop_math/
Greener argues that the Republican party in the US is headed for disaster, unless it figures out how to be less Caucasian. It is not, he claims, a matter of revamping the "brand", but a matter of fundamental mathematics. "The numbers simply do not add up to the GOP prevailing in a national election any time soon," he writes.

There is no point in repeating the article: it is on line, after all. But the sum of it is that the party depends on older white voters, and they simply do not make up as large a section of the American voting public as they did, for example, in 1976, when non-Hispanic whites cast 90% of presidential votes. Last year, this group was down to 75% of voters.

Greener points out that Republican voters are increasingly in favour of policies unattractive to the minorities they wish to attract. For example, a Republican position on immigration might not be particularly attractive to Hispanic voters who will be thinking of its impact on friends and relatives who may sometime wish to immigrate.

He writes, "A recent poll shows Republicans, at the national level, are viewed favourably by fewer than 10% of all Hispanics." He calls this "a disaster."
The reason I have quoted Greener so extensively is not that I particularly favour the Republicans in the US. But many of the issues he mentions are issues Christians also face. Greener comments, "...debates about whether conservatives or moderates need more of a voice in the party strike me as completely missing the point. The debate, for now, should begin and end with asking and answering how it is that we can remain true to our basic principles and grow among these key voter groups that are needed to win elections." He might as aptly apply those sentiments to churches.

Far too often, we debate questions of whom to elect, and which doctrinal statement will be the norm, and forget that it is far more important to communicate a life-changing gospel message than to fine tune the machinery once more.

What kind of fine-tuning could we defer to a more convenient day, and what do you think we need to do to "grow among key voter groups"?

About writing

I have been a writer most of my life, whether writing reports as a Town Planner, writing my weekly sermon, or editing The Australian Baptist magazine in the late 1980s.

When I became a "non-stipendiary pastor" in 2000, I was no longer meeting people around my town day by day, attending community meetings, and looking for different ways of communicating Christian faith. So I thought I should look for ways to communicate during the times which were available to me -- early mornings and late nights.

I write letters to the Editor, mainly of the Sydney Morning Herald. It's a place I regularly go and "meet" people like myself. I could try The Telegraph, or The Tribune, or any one of hundreds of newspapers and magazines, but I have mainly stuck in the world I know best. Not very "missionary" of me, but not everyone crosses all boundaries equally well.

I occasionally contribute remarks to on-line blog discussions. I also write this blog and try to post things on line from time to time (www.atsilverstreet.com)

I suppose that getting approval from readers has been one of the things which kept me going.

My first published letter in the SMH was a mock indignant one about Lorena Bobbitt and her creative use of a knife. Everyone was talking about the Bobbitts, and the verb, "to bobbitt", threatened to enter the language.

I argued that we were dismissing the pioneering work of Valmaila Loisi several years earlier, and suggested that it was either an American attempt to take over the culture, or a racist dismissal of the work of an islander.

The Letters editor at the time wrote to me that he had found it quite amusing.

So, like politicians who are encouraged by people voting for them, I got onto my computer from then on.

I am not a permanently serious writer of potted sermons. Life is about all kinds of interesting things. I have written about cults, I have written about public transport, I have written about the ethics of Section 94 contributions under the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (my original professional qualification is in Town Planning) and even about milking cats.

Over this time, I have been learning. Sometime I get things kind-of right, other times I try something and mess it up. I have tried blogging a number of times and dropped out, but I have returned. A former workmate got me onto Facebook, Steve Hinch (@stevehinch) suggested Twitter to me... there are so many options today.

We all live with restrictions and limitations, but we live in a world where there are so many options available, there are few reasons why we should sit back and say, "I can do nothing to change my world."

There is so much you can do! -- it's a matter of putting your will to it and finding the options.

Religion in marriage

Dewi Cooke writes in The Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/national/religion-less-crucial-in-wedlock-20090719-dpla.html, July 20, 2009) that more Australians are marrying outside their religion. The article is based on Monash University research which has found Christians have the highest rates of intermarriage, particularly with other Christian denominations. On the other hand, "emerging religions" such as Hinduism and Islam have the lowest.

Among Christians, Presbyterians (60%) are most prone to marrying someone of another faith, with Catholics down at 37%. Anglicans and Uniting Church members were a little higher at 41% and 43%.

Hindus and Muslims fitted in under the 10% level.

This does not necessarily mean that Hindus and Muslism are not good mixers, but reflects their more recent arrival in Australia. Succeeding generations may be more relaxed about intermarriage, according to researchers.

The newspaper report does not distinguish clearly between real inter-religious marriage (Christian and Hindu, for example) and mere inter-denominational marriage. A Presbyterian and a Baptist may see themselves as differing only in preferred style of worship service, for example, while the gap between a Pentecostal and a Muslim is necessarily vast.

With what Reformed historian, Martin Marty refers to as the "baptistification" of the church, denominational boundaries, never particularly strong, have weakened even at points such as that between Catholics and Protestants. This was once a very difficult barrier to cross.

Many more Catholics talk openly about their conversion experience or being born again, language previously often limited to evangelical Christians.

Evangelicals would often consider that experience a more important thing to share than a denominational label.

Another factor not addressed is the distinction between nominalism and genuine adherence to a faith community. An Anglican who attends church at Easter and Christmas may, in practical terms, be little different from his or her atheist partner, who doesn't see the point when it comes to God, but is willing to live and let live when it comes to believers.

Although the research is interesting, and may have implications for newly arrived religions in Australia, it does not answer many of the basic questions about faith in a secular society.

Church planting in Waterloo

I don't think of myself in church planting terms. Someone described me this morning as "...kind, patient and understanding... filled with useless facts." I'm a resource person and more inclined to encourage someone to do what he or she has already felt called to do than to direct a person into a project.

I like the Quaker idea of the "bundle of responsibility." We all have a duty to find and fulfil that responsibility in life. If I can help you find that, well and good; but I am unlikely to try to tell anyone what it is.

And, last night, I was involved in the first night of what, I pray, might be the launch of a Christian fellowship, maybe even a Baptist fellowship, at Waterloo, a southern inner suburb of Sydney.

In 1998, the denomination considered encouraging our little church at Marrickville to close down so that the money could be used to plant churches on the expanding periphery of Sydney.

I considered that a crazy idea, and my opinions were justified when I plotted the "reach" of existing churches onto a map and found a large wedge south of Sydney where there was little evangelical and no Baptist work. It also happened to cover the Green Square urban renewal project. I argued that opening gaps in inner city work to expand on the periphery was counter productive.

I approached this as a Town Planner (my former profession), not as a church planter.

After many discussions with different people, I concluded that it was unlikely that any outreach would commence here in a hurry. But I was pleased when a couple with church planting skills tried to start something, and saddened when it failed.

But I can see a glimmer of hope. It is a team effort. Jan, who moved into Waterloo, is a true evangelist, able to say, "I was lost, but now am found." She brings her neighbours and friends to church, and she saw the needs and found some on-the-ground opportunitites in Waterloo. She also arranged for us to use the Department of Housing meeting room, and organised refreshments.

Jay and Mouy picked up my suggestion that we take fellowship out to our people instead of expecting them to come in to us, and interpreted that in terms of a roster to go to different locations.

I put together a program; Nick suggested that this might be the time to roll it out.

So we got there, the same people who have met for over a year in Marrickville, but it's a start. We met some people and told them what our plans were. We waved to one or two who looked in but didn't come in. We smiled at the chap who ducked in for a biscuit and dashed off again.
It's all relationship-building.

Maybe we will eventually need a real church-planter. Meanwhile, we trust God and depend on your prayers!

Where do the children go?

RESEARCH by Australian researcher, Gary Morgan, reveals that Australian kids watched less TV in 2008 than in 2005, while internet use increased by 50%.

This is not surprising, considering how the multi-computer household has grown in that period, as computers have moved further and further into the realm of consumer electronic devices.

What is more surprising is that they are spending slightly more time in sport.

On average, kids spent 6.2 hours per week online in 2008 — more than two hours more they did in 2005. The study involved over 20 000 Australians aged between 6 and 14.

Norman Morris, of Roy Morgan Research says, “While much has been made of the fact that children today are less active and more TV focussed than they used to be, research proves that this is not the case. Kids are spending similar amounts of time using media and engaging in sport as they used to, but the activities and the media have changed.”

Perhaps because we feel responsible for kids, we often look critically at what they do, but we often react emotionally rather than on the basis of fact, and it is easy to be critical of perceived failings rather than appreciative of their achievements. Yet, when we see how passionate they can be about the environment, how pro-active socially, and how much they achieve in things like the Schools Spectacular, we can see how much there really is to appreciate.

Jesus' disciples tried to block children from coming to him; he rebuked them and encouraged a positive interaction between himself and the young. He was scathingly critical of those who might cause a child to stumble.

This report reminds us that kids are, by and large, not under-achieving obese slobs who do nothing but play video games in darkened rooms.

But this doesn't mean we should be complacent, either. There are fewer places for children to go to to climb a tree, play on a swing or just walk. Parents have less time for their children in their busy and economic-necessity-driven lives. Stranger danger is a far more pervasive fear than it once was.

The children are obviously willing; are we enabling them to make the most of their willingness?

Jesus was scathingly critical of those who might cause a child to stumble...

Marriage and happiness

A recent Sydney Morning Herald article (http://www.smh.com.au/national/love-and-loathing--2500-couples-reveal-clues-20090713-dih4.html) says that, while age differences can be a good predictor of likely divorce, religious differences generally are not.

An earlier article on the same study suggested that living together before marriage is not a predictor, contrary to several other studies I have seen.

The irrelevance of religious differences doesn't particularly surprise me, though.

A Catholic friend once told me that, in 50-odd years of marriage, she had never once contemplated divorce -- though she had often considered murder.

The fact is that most religions discourage divorce, and encourage extra efforts to make the relationship work So it is to be expected that a couple having different religions would tend to struggle through.

However, what this study does not reveal is happiness in such a relationship. As a pastor, I am all too aware of the plight of the person who does not share a faith with her or his partner. The woman sitting alone in a back pew, or struggling with the kids while her husband sleeps in; the man who does what he can, but can't take too many responsibilities because his wife expects him home.

I am also aware of the difficulties that can occur when you have one of each in a congregation, of similar age and background, who might never do anything questionable, but it is clear that they sometimes wish that they were married to each other.

St Paul was wise to warn against being unequally yoked with an unbeliever, because, in a marriage, it can be a cause of many tensions and much unhappiness. It will also -- and this is probably Paul's main concern -- mean that the Christian partner is unable to devote his or her time adequately to ministering to others and serving Christ.

The fact that something may not fall apart doesn't necessarily mean that it really works.

Starting this blog

Blogging of one kind or another is the go these days, and this is another of my attempts to make it work properly and communicate something about Jesus and what it means to me to be a Christian.

This is a first go on this site, and I expect to write more in future posts.

Love,

Peter