Late Friday afternoon is traditionally the time of the week in Aussie when the workload slows down, and thoughts turn to... well... almost anything else but work! For some years now we have regularly circulated Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy to people we have e-contact with – sometimes thought-provoking, other times topical, sometimes reflective. Our aim is not to get agreement from everyone to a particular viewpoint, but rather to stimulate serious thinking about significant matters of interest. And occasionally we circulate something humorous to lighten the journey! After receiving several requests to make past FFT's available online, we have now begun to list some highlights here of the not-so-serious ones in date order.
go here for a world-weary look at some overdue therapy.
We circulate with considerable alarm the latest report on the reaction of Japanese Bank CEOs to the recent Bank bailouts in Japan....
In the last seven days Origami Bank has folded, the Sumo Bank has gone belly up, and the Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that the Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will probably go for a song, the Fuji Bank has a mountain of debt, while shares in the Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. Meanwhile the Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, and the Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but at least they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at the Karate Bank got the chop, and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at the Sushi Bank, where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal. Sake Bank executives whined about the share price drop – a drop too much, perhaps. The CEO of the Cetacean Research Bank was seen blubbering in his office (after the Bank was resumed for “scientific purposes”).. The Sayonara Bank is no longer listed on the stock market after announcing it was moving into more secure markets. The Hara-Kiri Bank senior executives have fallen on their swords at lunchtime, and several Toyota Bank employees were last seen leaping out of high-rise windows shouting in broken English, “Oh what a feeling!” Finally, if you are tempted to abandon the Japanese banking system completely… “please consider” the Mitsubishi Bank!
Last week’s Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy elicited quite a number of responses from our friends in cyberspace who have struggled with the idea of stoning people to death to fulfil Old Testament commands…. Since then, it’s been a pretty tough week for us – the High School across the road from our gate erupted in a rampage on Monday morning. A photo even appeared in several New Zealand newspapers depicting me as a “concerned parent waiting for his child”! Several other things went wrong during the week too, which we won’t bore you with….
So what do you do when you carry a Seniors’ Card (over 60 for our non-Aussie readers), and the waves are mounting up? You retreat back into your distant past and reminisce about better days…. But, were they really better times, or the same as now, or (Lord help us!) worse!?!? You be the judge…
Clark Taylor wrestles with the Devil in Parramatta
This story was passed on to me many years ago by an eye-witness of this not-so-glorious chapter in (non) deliverance ministry. It took place in the late 1970’s when Clark Taylor (an ex-Methodist preacher) was promoting the concept of people falling down “under the power” as a sign of being met mightily by God.
He was preaching at the old Parramatta Foursquare church building in downtown Parramatta. I remember it well myself as at the time the Banton family were very influential in the broader Charismatic / Pentecostal scene in Sydney. The floor was made of lightly-sprung wood, with a fair bit of “bounce” (this is crucial to help understand the ‘manifestation’ that took place one Sunday night). Clark Taylor called for people to come forward to receive the ‘anointing’ from his touch. One very – ahem – well-built, late-middle-aged, female saint (who was well-known to us Latter Rainers as she used to ‘float’ around our network of churches in Melbourne and Sydney too) went out to receive the ‘touch of God’. We’ll call her Mrs X….
Taylor laid his hands on Mrs X - and back she went, hitting the floor, backside first, with a mighty wallop! Unfortunately, it turned out she was wearing a large, black, curly wig, and the sheer force of impact of her large derriere on the springy floor violently released the wig, which flew through the air, and landed (still wriggling from the release of kinetic energy) in the lap of a young mother sitting in the front row, who was paying more attention to her baby than to what was happening as the ‘power of God’ went along the prayer line.
She looked down at this mass of black curls wriggling in her lap, screamed her lungs out, threw the writhing mass in the air, jumped up, and sprinted from the building – convinced that a demon had manifested as it left dear old Mrs X….!!
The congregation was surely wide awake as they left the hallowed precinct later that glorious night. It’s not every Sunday night you actually get to “see” the works of darkness so visibly manifest… Sadly, not everything has changed for the better….
From time to time, we have looked at the importance of exegetical and hermeneutical principles so that we do indeed “correctly handle the Word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The need to apply these principles to the Old Testament law requirements in the era of the New Covenant has been humorously highlighted by an American replying to an admonition by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, an observant Orthodox Jew and radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. This is part of what he wrote… Enjoy! Learn!! Take care!!
I do need some advice from you… regarding some of the… specific laws and how to follow them: When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
And should we check every man for the condition of his “manhood” before he is allowed to worship (Lev 21:18,20)?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging…..
The meaning of a language can change in subtle and not-so-subtle ways... In the mail-out we highlighted cross-cultural glitches, etc, but there is a no-go zone called "gender" where the mystery of the difference between the way God created male and female thinking (and especially "married" thinking!) is best exemplified by some appropriate cartoons... Be brave! Go there! Have a look!
Gender-speak 1 - Gender-speak 2 - Gender-speak 3 - Gender-speak 4 - Gender-speak 5 - Gender-speak 6 - Gender-speak 7 - Gender-speak 8.
We went broadband at our church office over January, and this meant we had to get a second (broadband) connection at home – through our own communications company (AAPT). This has made for ongoing complications when trying to send stuff out on some of the sender e-addresses we use, which vary according to the particular hat we’re wearing when the SEND button is hit….
Upside? Broadband makes sending and receiving larger files easier. Downside? Attachments fly around cyberspace at an alarming rate – both in number and size!
We hate to think what this does to our e-correspondents still connected to the Internet via a 56k modem, and especially in Africa, where the connections can be extremely slow (it once took us one hour to download the main page of Hotmail in Zimbabwe in 2003!)….
So, we try to be very circumspect about the size of what we send, as well as the quality, endeavouring to carefully put anything forwarded on through a vetting process first – one that involves size, layout, and relevance (we never do a blank broadside emailout)…. And the right to request (in a polite way), “go away and leave me alone!”.
We
have had several e-correspondents encourage us to set up space on our website
for earlier helpings of Friday Food ‘n’ Therapy, where earlier material can
be accessed again. We have finally started the process, and hope it’s a
blessing and helpful to many of our cyberspace friends and acquaintances!
In the meantime, to set the tone of “broadband can send you stir-crazy”, we attach a cut-down jpg to make you groan at what the future might hold for us all…. Yes, the bell tolls for thee….
The following article is a fair-dinkum transcript of an interview in Auckland last year, immediately after the Australian Netball team beat New Zealand (the Silver Ferns) in the world netball championship final. It is loaded with subliminal messages, and covered truly significant areas which can lead us all to a deeper understanding of the meaning of life…. Or possibly, to the deeper meaning of the phrase, “get a life!”….
Which is what Leonard Nimoy is reputed to have uttered to 5000+ Star Trek fans who turned up to hear him speak at a Trekkies’ reunion in LA some years ago, as he cut short his keynote speech and walked off the stage….
In sport, we say (but only after we have lost), “ah well; it’s only a game”….. For me, it hit home in September 2006, when the euphoria of embracing a total stranger next to me at the MCG on that glorious day in September 2005, moments after the Sydney Swans had finally broken through with their epic, 73-year drought-breaking Grand Final win…. gave way to the narrowest of losses a year later. After the siren sounded, and our players sank to their knees, I rose, with feigned nonchalance, to address the other stunned Swans’ fans gathered in our church hall, with those immortal words, “ah well, it’s only a game”… Yes, I knew then how the whole nation of Aotearoa would feel for the whole of 2007…. (Notice the word “tear” hidden in this Maori name for New Zealand….).
Kiwis reeling after year of sporting defeat - 25/11/07 Lateline – Peter Lewis http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2007/s2100069.htm
ELIZABETH JACKSON: As 2007 draws to a close, New Zealanders are coming to terms with the disappointment of a sporting year that promised so much and delivered so little. One Kiwi hope after another was dashed in international competition, from the Caribbean cricket pitches to the Mediterranean waters off Valencia and the rugby fields of France. And the final indignity - a loss to Australia in netball's World Cup final. Here's our New Zealand correspondent, Peter Lewis.
PETER LEWIS: On game day, one of the local newscasters summed up the hopes of a nation that were inextricably bound with its netball team, the Silver Ferns.
NEWS PRESENTER: Well, the team left flying the flag for world glory. In a sporting year that promised so much, the Silver Ferns are our last remaining hope of gold.
PETER LEWIS: And after a bruising hour or two on the Waitakere courts in Auckland's western suburbs, some of the fans were waving plenty of gold - green and gold.
AUSTRALIAN FAN: Lizzie Ellis just saved our bacon. She sent it back time and time again. We couldn't buy a goal. You saw that by how many changes we had in the goal end. They just couldn't get them on. But Sharelle McMahon, to her credit, come back on and just blitzed in the goal end. But if it wasn't for Lizzie Ellis, we were gone.
(Sound of the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair)
PETER LEWIS: Some Kiwis reckon the one good thing about being dressed head to toe in black is that you're appropriately dressed to go straight into mourning if things pull up a bit short in the score department.
VOX POP: We're feeling down, but we thought it was a fair go. Australia are awesome.
VOX POP 2: But I mean the best team won. You know, it's one of those things. Somebody has to win.
VOX POP 3: I think the Australians had a sign up in the circle.
VOX POP 4: Australians played really well.
PETER LEWIS: Broadcaster Martin Devlin actually predicted a loss in the netball, and the soul searching and psychoanalysis that followed.
MARTIN DEVLIN: Yes, I did. And, you know, I think it's a simplistic attitude to take that they, all of these sports fans are - and they are our most popular participation sports, lost this year - and you look at it, you know, what is wrong with us, what to do? Are we mentally strong enough? You know, it is a lot more difficult to actually tell the truth, which is on each and every occasion, we just haven't simply been good enough.
Our girls were never actually in a position, you know, to win that game apart from a couple of seconds when we got within one. Australia controlled the game right from the very outset. I mean, if they had lost it, we would have been talking about them choking.
PETER LEWIS: To be fair, the netballers actually made it to the finals, unlike the cricketers and rugby players eliminated much earlier in their tournaments - where certainly in the case of the footballers, they'd been unbackable favourites.
MARTIN DEVLIN: I find it incredible we can't admit that in actual fact we weren't actually good enough.
PETER LEWIS: Martin Devlin reckons if you're looking for an explanation maybe it's because New Zealanders tend to perform better when they're underdogs.
MARTIN DEVLIN: You know, we always seem to get into trouble when we sweep in on this wave where we actually believe that we are world's best team and therefore have it by right.
PETER LEWIS: And he gives short shrift to those touchy-feely fans who reckon the loss should be dealt with like a death in the family.
MARTIN DEVLIN: They were just quicker, slicker, faster than us. What we've got to do is get away from these snake charmers coming out, recommending grief counselling afterwards.
MAN: Absolutely, I agree.
MARTIN DEVLIN: It used to be called a few beers at the after match and a laugh with your mates, you know.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Grief counselling. Broadcaster, Martin Devlin - surely it's not that bad - with our New Zealand correspondent, Peter Lewis