What you do or who you are

Here is an interesting paradox: Wouldn’t you agree that in the Western world, what you do in this life is more important than who you are? Achieving something, building a career for oneself, making a mark in this world, that is the underlying force that drives our society. We idolize those who have accomplished something of real value, we vicariously read about those who triumph in the literary, music or art scene. This is not to say that character traits such as kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness are trivialized, they have their place too, but surely they feature a long way behind realizing our goals and ambitions. Isn’t it curious, then, that when we remember someone who has died, we tend to focus on the kind of person that s/he was, on the very character traits that may have been neglected during that person’s lifetime?

 

The idea behind this is from “Life of the Beloved” by Henri Nouwen.

 

Brokenness

“The deep truth is that our human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it.”

Henri Nouwen.  “Life of the Beloved”.

The brokenness that surrounds us on a daily basis in the form of homelessness, poverty and urban decay is clearly demonstrable, but isn’t it the inner brokenness that comes in the form of emotional, mental and physical suffering what really brings us as human beings together? In the course of our lifetimes, we will not be able to avoid periods of pain and suffering, the main issue that we are all forced to deal with, is how we view both the suffering in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.

Henri Nouwen states that instead of seeing suffering as an unwelcome interruption in our lives, something that has to be overcome as quickly as possible, we should step towards it, embracing it as something that is uniquely ours.

Do we all suffer in exactly the same way? When I am going through a painful time in my life, I find it some comfort to know that others can empathize with me because they might have endured a similar experience, but also want my pain to be uniquely mine. No-one else has lived my life before. I think I would agree with Nouwen that each person suffers in a way that is inimitably his or hers.

In the Western world, the answer that we readily have for the existence of God is that there is no need for Him; everything is just fine as it is. In this case, it could be true that God whispers to us in times of joy, but uses a megaphone in times of suffering [1]. In my experience, it is only when I have undergone times of suffering that I have been able to grow in small part both spiritually and as a human being who is a little more aware of other peoples anguish. It is only then that I can understand the call to stand with others in their pain as we are all bound together in our brokenness.

1. C.S Lewis. The Problem of Pain.

To reveal or to conceal belief

“Forcing a religion on your children is as bad as child abuse” Richard Dawkins

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” King Solomon, Proverbs 22 verse 6.

If you believe in God, should you share that belief with your child? The famous quote above from Dawkins has made its way in to public sentiment and I think there is a general societal perception that when it comes to religion, parents and educators have a vague duty to inform the child about the existence of the distinctive world religions, and then leave it up to her/him to decide what s/he does with that information. One should keep her/his personal convictions to her/himself. To go explicitly further and begin to share those beliefs with the child could be akin to a form of indoctrination.

If I believe, however, that God has actually made a profound difference in my life, then it becomes problematic to attempt to step back and allow my child to choose from the differing religions or non-religions on option. Indeed, if something deep and meaningful happens to anyone, then isn’t it within our human nature to want to communicate that experience or incident to other people?

A further difficulty with keeping one’s personal conviction to her/himself, is that an underlying principle of faith is that it is something that has to be lived out on a daily basis, it has an inextricable influence on one’s words and actions. If, therefore, I want to sincerely share my own faith with my child, then he will first need to see what affect that profession of faith has on my life, how it influences my behaviour. If he does not see this, then any words that affirm belief are simply empty, unsubstantiated and meaningless.

Going after

Modern man: When I have finished my current piece of work and that long awaited side project, when this venture has finally been completed and I eventually get round to starting that job and seeing it through to the end, then I will find myself once again at the mercy of whatever life throws at me next.

To its great cost, society places little value on sanctuary. Silence is considered to be for the monks, meditation to be Eastern, and prayer an act of desperation. We are totally dependent on background noise. Something has to be happening, all of the time. Society’s ultimate tool, the internet, is great for information, but is an enemy of thought.

I am not yet going to propose a radical solution. For the time being I just wanted to reflect on this state of affairs and encourage us to consider the consequences that this has on our lives.

Ultimate Justice?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Can this question be posed by an atheist true to his / her beliefs?  In a world where there is no underlying reason for our existence and moral actions are subjective, surely it should come as no surprise or hold no tension with the atheist that ‘bad’ things befall people who spend their life doing ‘good’ things.

The question can only be presented by someone who is distressed at the perceived injustice in the world and also holds the notion that a loving God exists. If any consolation is to be found, then it could be through the unconscious or instinctive idea that either a) some form of karmic retribution must also exist, or b) there will be some kind of ultimate justice.

Although the notion of karmic retribution has its roots in Eastern religions, from my perspective it also permeates Western thought processes to a large degree. It is clearly false if one believes retribution will transpire in the course of the wrong-doers lifetime; one only has to look at the many dictators who have died at an old age with little sense of reprisal or justice for their malicious deeds.

We are left with the idea that after this life has ended then justice will be paid, and the balance will somehow be corrected.

For further thought: Is the threat of punishment for a justifiable act of revenge the only thing that restricts people from committing such an act when they are wronged?

North Korea

“There is no ‘human rights issue’ in this country, as everyone leads the most dignified and happy life.”

North Korean Central News Agency.

“North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. These camps are clearly visible in satellite photos, yet North Korea’s government denies they exist.”

Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. By Blaine Harden.

Blaine Harden’s book ‘Escape from Camp 14’ details the true life story of a young man who was born into a North Korean prison camp and 23 years later became the only person known to have escaped. The first half of the book describes the unbearably harsh conditions that he was exposed to as a child, the second part depicts his escape into China and subsequent years of gradual rehabilitation up until the present day and his current role as a human rights activist working in South Korea.

I do not intend to review the book here, instead I imagine it is suffice to say that I easily read it in a day, and then immediately wanted to tell others about it.

I simply wanted to promote awareness about the political prison camps in North Korea as I believe they warrant our attention and prayer.

More information:

Blaine Harden’s website: http://www.blaineharden.com

Wikipedia page on human rights in North Korea:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_North_Korea

Trust?

I want to briefly deviate from the proposed apologetics / social concern / human rights theme and shortly write about what has been happening at home recently. It fits in quite well to my first blog about prayer.

Last week both my wife and son were consecutively admitted to hospital with suspected food poisoning. I was naturally fearful about it and started to pray that they would both be ok. However, shortly after I prayed for their well-being, I realized that I was still just as worried as I was before.

If one does not sense some kind of peace of mind or reassurance from prayer, then one could deduce that s/he does not fully trust in whom s/he is praying to.

I cannot claim that after several days of hospital visits, anxious moments and earnest prayers that I now feel completely at ease with a still ongoing situation, but can state that I have found genuine encouragement and belief through several verses written thousands of years ago by people going through some considerable troubles of their own.

A few memorable ones:

“But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you… I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?    

Psalm 56 verses 3-4. Written by King David when his enemies had captured him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3 verse 5. Written by Solomon, the third King of Israel, between 971-931 B.C.

Prayer?

The statistic that less people go to church nowadays is surely irrefutable, one only has to visit the local shopping mall or high street on a Sunday morning to verify it, but does that imply that the number of people praying has also fallen? A handful of studies carried out by the Christian charity Tearfund a few years ago produced some interesting figures in relation to this question. Tearfund claimed that although the amount of people attending church in the UK has dropped to around one in ten [1], the number of people praying on at least a weekly basis was a significantly higher one in four. [2]

Although it may sound a bit clichéd, we do live in a society which never sleeps. We have advertisements that quite literally sell impatience as a virtue, we think of silence as something otherworldly and unnatural. To discover that the inner reflection that inevitably accompanies prayer is still valued by a healthy amount of people is encouraging, but I think a more pertinent question for a study would be to explore whether or not all of us have felt the need at some point to try to communicate with a God of our understanding. Very few people in the Western world can plead ignorance regarding the possibility of the existence of God. Is not the desire to pray something that is profoundly, inherently in us? Although it may be a final act of desperation or insincere at best, have not we all tried it at least once in our lifetime?

As I am kicking my first blog off with an extolment to prayer, I also wanted to provide a link to a great two minute clip of Francis Chan discussing our societal need for financial security that dramatically clashes with a gem of wisdom that is offered in one of the Proverbs.

1.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6520463.stm
2.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7089139.stm