The Utopian Dream

Well, the Winter Olympics are over. I must admit that I enjoyed flicking on the TV to watch a ice-skating or Slalom events. Hey, I love watching sports.

But there is more to the Olympics than sports. There is the promise of a better future. Let me share some of the official Olympic Charter:

 2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

4.The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 7 February 2014.

Wow! That’s fantastic. Except, the Olympics have never delivered. Let’s think about Sochi for a moment:

Racism- Irina Rodnina sent a questionable tweet with an image of President Obama

Politics- The US didn’t send the President of Vice-President. They sent openly gay Olympians in protest against President Putin’s anti-gay laws.

Drugs- Five athletes tested to positive to drugs and were sent home.

Sportsmanship- questions were raised when nearly half of the men’s field did not finish the race. American Ted Ligety called the course “borderline unsportsmanlike.”, and thought it was interesting that the designer’s son got a silver medal.

The Olympics don’t deliver.

But it gets worse. After spending 51 billion dollars, you’d expect the country to be in a better place with facilities that will serve long into the future. History tells us that this isn’t the case (http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/news/12-forgotten-olympic-venues-fallen-into-disrepair#slide-1).

Olympics are great as a sport, but not as a Saviour.  

Christmas Hope

I have a distinct recollection of a Christmas when I was 10 years of age. I woke up at 2am. Excited, and unable to think of anything but presents, I went out into the lounge room. There I discovered that my brothers were also too excited to sleep. We stared for hours at the presents under the tree. We discussed what may be in each parcel. As the hours past we knew that the time was near for Mum and Dad to awake (actually, we went in about 5:30am to speed up the process).

Isn’t this hope? It’s where we long for something, we desire something. Christmas holds out hope (Of course it also holds out disappointment for children who don’t get what they want, and I’ll leave you to look at YouTube for this)

Once again though, our hope is rather reduced to what is inside a box and envelope. It’s reduced to what will make me happy.

Christmas hope is about longing, is about desire, but for a better world. And we have the example of people, such as Mary, Elizabeth, the shepherds and a widow named Ana who longed for a new beginning.

If you hope for a momentary experience of joy, place your hope in gifts. If you want a world where no-one suffers, where things are fair, everyone is cared for, animals are protected, armies aren’t needed, where people live with purpose, have integrity, will go to great lengths to help, then place your hope in Jesus. That’s the future He has come to bring. His birth marks the beginning. Now is the time for people to take up the offer of new life and be filled with anticipation of Jesus’ return.

This Christmas as you open the present, remember that there is a bigger one yet to arrive.

Christmas in Australia

If any event should bring offense to a secular, multicultural country, it should be Christmas.

Here, we focus on the birth of the Son of God, the one who comes to provide salvation. The event calls for people to respond by worshipping the newborn king. (Just in case you missed it, Christmas claims that Jesus is God, that He is the authority on heaven, that we are sinners who need saving and that we can’t live as however we choose). So why aren’t people offended?

I think it’s because Australians have the capacity to reinterpret cultural events. Take the Queen’s birthday or Labour Day. Christmas is celebrated because of the significance it brings to Australians.  Let me outline what I think Christmas means to Australians:

1) Time to get out

Summer starts in December, but it is a busy month. It’s only as Christmas draws near that we take advantage of daylight savings. I think this is why external Christmas lights have become popular. They invite people to go out after dinner and walk around the neighbourhood (Carols events also get people out).

2) Time to catch up

Australians try and fit a lot into their lives, often at the sacrifice of relationships. Christmas provides the space where we can catch up with family and friends and express our appreciation for the relationships we enjoy.

3) Time to look forward

After the winter months, the helter skelter of November, we can finally lift our heads above the daily grind. We can start to think about the year ahead. More importantly, we cast our eyes forward with a positive anticipation of what could be (what political campaigns fail to do, Christmas delivers).

So that is the focus of Christmas in Australia, and it means that any Australian can embrace it. Dick Gross commented that the “God of Sun, not the Son of God, is at the heart of the Aussie Christmas.” SMH December 12^th, 2013.

As nice as this is, I think it lacks. The Australian Christmas gives us hope (which motivates us to get up and get out) but lacks substance. I remember thinking that 2012 was bad (hurricane Sandy, Pakistan floods) and that this year would be better. But then I reflected on this year- the Blue Mountains bushfires, Typhoon Haiyan, Sichuan earthquake, Boston Marathon Bomb, Newtown shooting in US, Textiles company in Bangladesh… and I could go on.

We hope for a better year, but with no reason to think it would be any different. The Sun God rises and sets. Things go on as they always have.

The hope of Christmas is that the Son of God has come to change things. He has come to bring a new creation without the disaster, death and disease we see each year. He hasn’t returned yet, allowing as many people as possible will place their trust in Him, and find their home in the kingdom of God.

This Christmas, don’t reinterpret hope. Embrace it.

Ethic of consent

Christians seem to out of kilter with the rest of society. Issues such as same sex marriage, euthanasia and gambling raise the question- what's wrong with Christians?

To answer that we need to understand the dominant principle in modern day ethics- consent.

Now if there is no morality (only values), then it is unlikely that we will have a common ethical basis.
So it seems that we now have an agreed procedure:
                              If no third party is affected, the consent ethic is implemented.

It really is a procedural ethic of giving permission to do what you would like.

So what's the problem with this?
Let me share some:

1) Radical individualism
It nice that you have freedom to do what you want to do, but it also removes any communal obligations that you might have (remember, Kantian ethics are also void).

The ethic of consent remove the need to care for family members, volunteer at the local school or give to those in need.
The choice to do these actions engages another ethic.

2) Problem of akrasia (weakness of will)
The assumption is that you will choose what is best for you. But what if you don't (or can't)? Take dysmorphia (a person can't stop thinking about one or more perceived flaws with her appearance).
They could choose to consent to surgery, an eating disorder or removal of a limb.

We don't allow the ethic of consent to shape our actions because they don't know what is best for them.

3) Problem of environment
The ethic of consent is only concerned with the moment of decision. It doesn't consider background factors (ie abuse), cultural factors (peer-pressure) or power factors (ie doctor/ patient relationship).

4) There are virtues
In essence, Christians disagree with the ethic of consent being the primary guide to our actions because there is a way that thing are meant to work (a created order). We don't live in a world where people can hold their own values (ie terrorists). There is a way things work.

Does this help you understand where Christians differ?

Freedom- for what?

"You can be anything you want to be".
"I'd like to be a duck"

So the gag went on a skit show. It shows how ludicrous the claim is. What is strange is that we've swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

A lot of people see freedom as removal of all restraints. That's the holy grail which everyone pursues.
But it is unobtainable. Let me explain why.

Our life is full of constraints. We were born into a certain family, at a particular point in history with unique body shape and genetic defects. Try as you, you cannot become a duck. You are a human who exists at a certain point of time and space. So is freedom a myth? Perhaps.

You see, the original concept of Freedom depicted by John Stuart Mills begins not with an abstract concept, but the reality of where we live. The goal was individual freedom, but not for the purpose of following your own path. There was a recognition of individual responsibility. Judith Brett argues that consumerism has pushed away from life as it is towards life as we would desire it to be (the abstract ideal).

So how does this help?
Well, we're not free to be whatever we want (like a duck), but we are able to become what we are meant to be- fully human.

Of course, to achieve this, we need to overcome some major  obstacles. Our propensity to make poor choices, addictions and more importantly, our confusion about what a true human looks like.

The true human reflects God on earth (we're image-bearers). Of course this is done with restrictions (ie we're not God). But when we recognise that humanity can display God's character and merciful rule, now we know how to live.

Often people think, "Our freedom is curtailed by our responsibilities" But that's not right. Responsibilities, goodness and circumstances do not curtail freedom; they are the conditions under which freedom operates, the tracks along which freedom runs.

Freedom is not the goal. To be truly human is. Our life, in relation to God, other people and the environment is where I comprehend my life. True freedom for this reason is found in Christ.

Sport

We’re a sporting nation. We watch, play and discuss what has happened on the weekend. What is interesting is the changing expectations around sport. Let me explain.

The modern games evolved out of the 18^th and 19^th centuries with the purpose of human competition in a civilised society. Cricket and boxing first represented this ideal, followed by football and tennis. This led to the phrase “Football is a gentleman's game played by ruffians”

In fact, some have argued that sport has a civilising element.

Yet I think that it is Christianity that shaped the way we approached sports.

You see, in the 19^th century England, character mattered more than achievement. The way the game was played was more important than the outcome (“That’s just not cricket”).

So how has sport changed? The focus is on results.

Ancient Roman had sports, where the strong thrived and the weak perished. They performed armed combat entertaining audiences in grand outdoor stadiums. Crowds cheered as they watched gladiators compete in violent confrontations with other gladiators. Is this not the National Football League?

Ivan Cole argues that “The proper purpose of sport in a healthy culture is transcendence. To transcend is to surpass or exceed ordinary limits” The focus is not on character but on achievement, over and above what would normally be expected.

Norbert Elias argued that the modern game has become a re-enactment of hunter gatherer. It is here that our primitive tribalism is displayed (including chants, threats and euphoria).

With sport becoming professional the focus in on achievement. This is not just for the sportsperson. The crowd have expectations too. The athlete is viewed as an employee and the effectiveness, and if possible the spectacle of the performance is all that counts.

 Now sport has followed the culture of the day (Nietzsche’s theory of power, Macintyre on values and Satre’s existentialism). And yet we are saddened when sports people are flawed. Could it be that we are tacitly aware of the value of character? Or do we see ourselves in sport, warts and all?

Boldness

I watched two clips recently and both made an impact:
1) Lord of the Rings (Return of the king)- the choice to give Frodo more time by fighting the orcs
2) Persecution- the choice to confess you follow Jesus despite physical beatings

Now I thought to myself, "I'd love to be that brave". Then I reflected further, and was saddened that I didn't think I could. My contemplation asked the question, "What's wrong with me!!!"

Boldness is a characteristic that is admirable. Yet it is lacking today. Fear grips us (consider how effective terrorism is and the billions of dollars spent to stop a possible attack).

I think that cowardice begins with an awareness of the cost to you. Whatever the pain is, you don't want it. Now in an age of self-satisfaction, self fulfilment and general narcissism, sacrifice is an odd concept. But bravery requires it.

So I think that the key to boldness is self-forgetfulness. That is, you have an awareness of the needs of others or God's glory as greater. This is seen in Acts 4 and 5, when the disciples are threatened with violence. They see the need of others as worth the pain. Consider the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks was willing to be intimidated, humiliated and imprisoned because she wanted a different future for African-Americans.

For Christians, we are meant to be self-forgetful. Galatians 6:19-20 says
 ‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It is possible to suffer because we identify with Christ. It's not that we want to, it's that we see acknowledging Him as Lord is more important than responding to someone's command to be quiet.

Boldness comes from a change of focus. When we focus on the risen Lord Jesus, then we see things differently, what matters is different and what we are prepared to sacrifice also changes.