Christianity or Bust

Last night was the first time I went to my new small group.

So far, I really like how we have a home cooked meal together before it. Sadly, I didn’t show up punctually because I thought I had left my bicycle lock at home and cycled home to look for it (it was actually at work) then drove there.

The introductions were surprising. Everyone had to introduce themselves by telling everyone their name, their favourite band, their favourite food, what they did and what they expected to get out of it. People’s taste in music was good to horrendous. It was mainly mainstream. I am such a music snob… but if you know me, you already know that.

Last week, my Barneys small group ended. Most small groups at Barneys stop during summer but there usually is a larger group (20+ people) who meet. So I joined C’s Hillsong small group. (I can’t be bothered encoding people’s names)

The people are pretty nice and I got invited to a Christmas party. In some ways, I think Anglicans have a lot to learn from Hillsong’s social program. People are less cliquey. 

 On the other hand, I really don’t appreciate being asked for money for Hillsong’s television ministry. I still put in $5 to not look bad.

This week, I’ve felt emotional and uncontrollably so.

Last week, I didn’t celebrate my birthday but received many phone calls and SMSes. I sent out a bulk email to have celebratory drinks but got very few positive responses and a few apologetic responses. It upset me that I served people with post-service support but the bulk of these people couldn’t be bothered to take a minute to say that they can’t make it. Subsequently I felt those familiar feelings of hating Sydney and Sydneysiders arise again.

Last night, our small group met for the last time. Our leader and her husband are moving to another inner-West church because he’s been offerred his first after-graduation position there. (Congratulations!)

The night was fun as we made our own pizzas! Afterwards, we wrote messages of thanks, encouragement and well-wishing to each other, prayed for each other and had a group photo. Those messages helped deal with my earlier feelings of rejection to some extent. Praise the Lord for the ways He helps us cope with this life!

I probably should make a few final comments about our small group. We had a great small group with a diverse group of students and workers who got along really well. Arguably two people were really good sparring partners. We studied some interesting things and it was great to read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting and with people taking roles. I feel that there are a lot of unanswered questions about the End Times but we’ve received the key points clearly eg be prepared for it will come like a thief in the night, only the Father knows when the Son will return, the sequece of events including Jesus taking control of the world and passing control to His father. From reading Mark, I found that Jesus is unpredictable and is full of emotions.

I’ve decided I’m quitting food ministry.

The number of people who truly appreciated it, I can count on one hand. I can also invite them over to enjoy some food anytime.

No more ungrateful masses to deal with. No more extended sessions of baking that end in people eating and being merry and totally not giving a damn about starting a friendship with the FNG (F#@king New Guy) because they are so keen on being with their clique. No more ice maidens and ice bachelors. No more disappointment that I didn’t start a revolution of people wanting to serve something other than cordial, coffee, tea and dry biscuits. No more trying to start a food ministry called “Land Speed Record” that produces food that is fresh and quick to prepare and thus easy to fit into one’s speed fuelled Sydney lifestyle.

Maybe it’s really time for more focused ministry. Cooking for large groups of people for post-service supper is serving the converted, ineffective and unprecise - like Dick Cheney when he wields a shotgun and shoots a friend in the face. On the other hand, I do feel like making a rhubarb impossible pie to impress someone.

Last night was both awesome and awful.

Bible study was particularly interesting. We continued our study on the Gospel of Mark particularly with the failure in fulfilling the role of the Temple in Jerusalen and how Christ literally and spirtually overturned things. Also Christ restoring God’s intention for the new temple (Christ himself) to be a beacon to all nations.

After the study, I got home, ate dinner while watching The Daily Show: Global Edition… then my night went downhill.

All this week, I’ve been going to bed each night around midnight and getting to work pretty punctually. However, last night, my reoccurring foot pain returned. It was impossible to sleep with that constant numbing pain.

Twice during the nice, I gave up trying to sleep. At around 3 am, on my iPod,I listened to descriptive video serviceversion of The Simpsons episode Thank God For Doomsday, which had a lot of references to the Christian view of the The End of The World.

At around 4:30 am, I listened to Bruce Springsteen’s1997 album Tunnel of Love. It’s still an awesome record.

After that, I finished reading Philippians. In particular, I found the verses 4:10-13,19 talking to me and reassuring me. I know that applies to all aspect of our lives, not just food and money.

Philippians 4:10-13: I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:19: And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Maybe things weren’t bad after all. I did get to listen to excellent television, great music and listen to the word of God. Eventually I fell asleep at around 6 am and got up late.

I haven’t written much about small groups lately.

A couple of weeks ago, we went through the entire Gospel of Mark in one go with each person taking a different character or set of characters. That was pretty cool.

I haven’t written much about what’s been happening in the last two weeks. I’ll go through that in no particular order.

I’m filing this under “small groups” because if anyone has bothered following the program, here is the conclusion of this particular study.

Last week I started going to bed earlier - around 1 am and 2 am. The main reasons for this have been life has been more peaceful after hours. Late night commercial television has not been this bad as far as I can remember - programs such as Enterprise and The Late Show with David Letterman have been largely taken off air. The three major networks have replaced good Aussie cop shows too. From around midnight to 3 am each night, there are stupid insipid so-called “interactive television”. “Interactive television” is basically a scam where viewers call in and try to answer quiz questions to win money and get suckered in and calls are charged. They also seem to be extending the 15 minutes of fame that have already been granted to Big Brother losers. Worst of the batch is Midnight Zoo on Channel 7 which needlessly has its compares parade around in bikinis. Maybe I should think of things more positively - that’s a great sign to turn off the TV.

I have watched the ABC more, particularly Lateline and a program Church of England: The Power and the Glory about Church of England priests that I discussed earlier in the “What’s Going On” post.

I feel my daily quiet time has improved a lot lately. I’ve finished reading Romans and started reading First Corinithians. I do really like the writing of St Paul. I’m praying more consistently each night. In particular, I’m praying for my parents, that Ovnpn will be blessed on her journeys and that Zrt will looked after and her abuser and attempted-attacker will receive God.

I get a sense that this city is a hellhole full of anger. Some of that anger comes from my own heart. Friends have been observing that I’ve been really grumpy lately.

On Saturday, I had an aggravating encounter with some bogans at a Burwood ice cream parlour. I was just waiting in line for some ice cream when some of them started running their fingers through my hair without permission. It was creepy and invasive. The third time they did, I snapped and threatened to “snap” them. I was seething. After that, one of the bogan’s girlfriends decided she would stand behind me because she was capable of behaving herself. Afterwards, Puevfg tried to ease my tension with humour. However, part of me was wishing I beat them up, especially since Hqba was with us and he could kick anyone’s behind. Afterwards #2, I remembered that there’s a place in the Bible were it talks about praying for one’s enemies because it’s like putting hot coals on Satan’s head so I’ve been doing that.

Arguably I was assaulted this week. I’d say it was more of a case of accosting. I was told to put away some dishes but refused to because I hadn’t used them. After walking away, I was grabbed and forced to do it. In hindsight, it was actually fair for me to do that since there are times when I can’t put away the dishes I have used myself and thus somebody else would be doing my role.

Earlier this week, I read an article about London where an expert spoke about how London was like a rat hole: “Putting 10 million aggressive hominids into close proximity and inviting them to engage in serial acts of competitive individualism … for jobs, schools or parking spaces, could not be considered a reasonable idea,” Bayley said. “You put rats in claustrophobic circumstances and they become homosexual, murderous and cannibalistic in no time at all.” Sometimes I wonder how different we are from those lowly creatures. I really really do.

This week, the police reported that a gang rape occurred in the heart of the city two months ago and were seeking public assistance. Thankfully, two suspects have been arrested within the day of that announcement. The human race makes me sick sometimes. I feel a bit torn because I really wish for the Kingdom Come so that mankind’s misery will end yet there are things I want to do before I die such as ask a particular person out on a date and start a band.

Somehow, the legitimacy of the Catholic Church has come up a lot this week or it just seems like that.

For starters, I’ve been listening to various podcasts from the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) website where talkback radio host Matt Slick is willing to debate with Catholics and other groups that believe in faith by works.

There have been a renewed push to have Sister Mary MacKillop recognised as Australia’s first saint because 5 year old Sophie Delezio survived two separate incidents where she was hit by cars and has recovered well (article). Particularly strange to me is the idea that McKillop’s spirit floats around doing miracles: “The Catholic Church believes her spirit cured a woman with terminal cancer in the 1950s, but it needs to find one more miracle before she is declared a saint.”.

Lastly, Fgrir and Puevfg came around after Bible Study to have pizza and watch a little bit of Constantine so I could return the DVD to Puevfg. Fgrir commented about how bits of the movie were Biblically unsound and based on Catholic doctrine.

My Barneys small group has finished its series on the End Times.

It was a good series but part of me feels the Bible doesn’t answer all our questions on the topic. I can accept that.

The last two weeks, we had a good change of routine by including more prayer for each other and people we care about. Family came up a lot.

Also in the last two weeks, I’ve been going to InterNet, the mission that seeks to spread the word of God to people from overseas (Asian students in particular). I think the group is starting to bear fruit!

Praise the Lord for this group! For the excellent support from people who lead and cook for the group and the excellent teachers there. Last night, Ian gave a really good sermon about how Christ took the burden of our sins.

One of my old university friends, Oryvaqn is visiting Sydney from Melbourne.

I really admire her. I probably should have written a post about her by now since I consider her a pretty gutsy servant of God by going to countries I’d never go to. I’m just not into that Kenyan/India/Uganda thing which involves risk. Today, I found out one of her friends, who is still in Uganda, has malaria.

In particuar, when I lapsed, it was her and another friend* that prayed to God to look after me and save me.

Note: * = I really can’t use her coded name here because when her name is coded, it becomes the five-letter name of a very famous virus.

Speaking of saving, things haven’t gone well with my lapsed Catholic co-worker Cnhy. Last Friday, I asked him to consider going to church again. I wasn’t as smooth and cool as I could have been. I also feel he is in a form of deep denial by feeling he is okay because he doesn’t break the Ten Commandments. Nothing I could do was adequate to him admitting things aren’t perfect. Maybe he does need time apart from God. However, I felt really unimpressed when he said that at one point in time he knew chunks of the Bible by memory.

This week, I haven’t had lunch with him. I also lost my temper with him once - after our boss had gone home, he kind of snuck up on me and said “let’s bludge” or something. I told him to get lost (in not polite words and tone of voice) because he had surprised me and I still had heaps of work to do. After that, he hasn’t come around my cubicle when he’s wanted to bludge off. I wish he’d just learn to use the Internet when he bludges off. There’s enough non-pornographic non-sinful stuff on the Internet to keep a person entertained for a lifetime.

On a more positive note, I have invited him to yum cha on Sunday. He accused me of setting up a Christian trap then gave a bunch of other excuses about why he’s not interested then finally said he might come.

Penn and Teller’s Bullsh*t! (that’s censorship on my part) is a television series where Penn and Teller express their scepticisms of many things - it’s openly not fair and balanced. (They are also sceptical of the Bible but that episode hasn’t aired in Australia yet. The series started in 2003.)

As expressed in the first episode, they named the series that way because they can’t call people fraudsters without getting sued and they certainly felt that way about the people who claim to be able to talk to the dead (eg John Edward and the natural medicine practioners in episodes 1 and 2.) Howver, they can get away with calling this “BS”.

On Tuesday night, Channel 9 finally showed episodes 3 and 4 of “BS”. Gee I hate the annual coverage of Wimbledon - it always interrupts better TV shows… and for two weeks. Channel 9 seems to be showing “BS” in batches of two episodes so this makes the second time they’ve bothered to show it.

Anyway, episode 3 dealt with alien abductions in a secular manner. Well, there seems to be a Christian perspective on this (read Alien Intrusion by Gary Bates from Koorong for more information).

Episode 4 dealt with people who claim to have knowledge about the end of the world including Nostradamus and people learning to survive in the event of the end of the world. They also spoke to Christians who flip-flopped in their predictions. Somehow, I can’t find the episodes on YouTube!

That’s the main reason for this half of the post… and that there are lots of people who believe that Israel has an important role in the End Times. I know nothing about that. I just wish people would stop killing each other in Israel and Lebanon and that the people profiting from the sale of weapons and the sale of death stop or face God’s wrath. Well… I also think that Israel has a pretty bad attitude problem for thinking they are so special when their people are so secular.

On Thursday, our Bible study group continued its study of End Times, focusing upon the resurrection of believers.

It was really interesting examining what will happen to us and the importance of believing in the resurrection of Christ. importance of believing in the resurrection of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 were particularly potent:

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ as lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (my emphasis added)

This reminds me of two people:

• In Latin class in year 12, the guy who sat next to me, who is/was an atheist, said that it’d be a great joke on Christians if when everyone died, noone was resurrected and there was no Heaven. (Of course, if there’s no one around, then there’s no one around to enjoy the joke.) However, St Paul is right: it’d be pitiful. We’ve all sat through some boring sermons at times (as much as that’s unkind to say) - what we could have done with that time!
• A friend of C and I never believed in the resurrection of Christ. However, she found that God kept sending Christians into her life to make a difference. She’s no longer a Christian and is involved in Hindu studies or something in Melbourne. So sad. However, one could live in hope. This story is here because I’d like to emphasize believing in the resurrection of Christ.

Another interesting aspect of the study was its emphasis on that Christ’s resurrection is part of God’s way of defeating the power of both physical and spiritual death caused by sin. OK. We all know that resurrection defeats physical death. I guess I appreciated the emphasis that the spiritual death caused by sin will be over and that in addition to entering Heaven, there are many things to look forward to.

At this point, I had an embarrassing and strange cause of the giggles. We were talking about not having to fear physical death and subsequently, I found myself thinking of the Blue Oyster Cult song (Don’t Fear) the Reaper. Well, I’ve never actually heard the whole song. I’ve only seen the fictional and cult-classic Saturday Night Live skit about the recording of the song. It features Will Farrell and Christopher Walken. You know the one! Walken’s character keeps demanding “More Cowbell!!!”.

This is probably not important to anyone else but resurrected bodies can eat.This is important to me! I’d be awesome if there’s still Italian and Chinese food in the afterlife but I don’t know if there are any passages that confirm that there is food in Heaven! Here are some relevant passages:

Luke 24:41-43:
And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it intheir presence

Acts 1:4a:
On one occasion, while he was eating with them…

In case you’re wondering, I actually wrote this post at home while multi-tasking:

• Converting flv files (downloaded from YouTube) into QuickTime (to play on an iPod)
• Cooking and then eating dinner
• Watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Special Edition). Coincidentally, did you know that Arnie, Linda Hamilton and Robert Patrick trained with IDF personnel or ex-personnel to learn how to shoot realistically for this film or something like that.

Seriously: YOU CAN’T JUST GO AROUND KILLING PEOPLE!

Well, I bumped into someone from my UTS small group at Wednesday lunchtime and she’s been away from the Uni for awhile.

We still didn’t meet on Thursday.

Our Barneys small group has started studying the End Times.

The most interesting part of that night’s study was examining the sequence of events that will take place. However, the main thing we focused on were the circumstances around Christ’s return - and these are things people really ought to know already. Of course, for some insane reason, there are always people who claim to know the date He will return.

Some bits really reminded me of nuclear holocaust - the bits about fire and stuff.

I’m reading Romans at the moment in my quiet time. Of the many verses that stick out as revelant to our lives, 9:22-24 really sticks out to me: “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

I guess it sticks out to my life because He’s been really patient and merciful with me and my addressing of my problems.

I probably should delete this post. There’s nothing much of interest that I say here.

Last Thursday, we had another communication breakdown.

Following that, I needed to #1. The men’s toilets in the Multi-Faith area have areas for people to wash specifically designed for the Muslims. The Muslims also have a “Brother’s Entrance”. Yes dear, segregation still exists in the 21st century.

That night, our group finished Ephesians. This was a pretty interesting study - we covered the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). That was one (Godly) inspired piece of writing by Paul. The metaphors were well worth the discussion time.

Afterwards, I drove Steve, Tim and Chris home. Chris lent me too many DVDs and a case of computer games. My sleep cycle isn’t going to improve at this rate.

I think I’ll give Chris all his stuff back on Thursday. Computer games and DVDs are ruining my life. Somehow, despite of all this, I’ve actually been reading a lot. Last week, I finished reading “Stories from China” and am getting close to finishing “Guided by Voices: A Brief History”.

Our UTS group seemed to have a communication breakdown. None of us emailed the others asking who is in. Noone else showed up today.

On a different note, yesterday, I bought a 2Gb memory card for my digital camera and am trying to fill it. Here are some photos of the room we use.

Inside the Multi-Faith Room: nothing particularly interesting except the shoe shelf bought by the Muslims

The sign outside the Multi-Faith Room

Superficial stuff first, we had a feast of food tonight at our Barneys small group. I think there was some misunderstanding about who was on supper duty and/or people compensating for the weeks they were missing.

I think I’m starting to develop a lazy attitude to my small group. I need to correct this - I’m usually turning up 15 minutes late each week.

One of the great things that our study leader does is using different ways ofstudying passages. Tonight, we started with a straight forward comprehension task. This makes me think of school in a positive way. Jess also finds important but simple and direct questions for us to answer and discuss. I really don’t have any complaints about things. I think of a person who I once was in a Bible Study group with and how she complained privately that she felt that we dealt with too basic things (I think she felt above us all; ironically, I’ve come to think of her as shallow; strangely she was really excited about The Da Vinci Code because she has an interest in 1st Christianity - weird that she’d go looking for truth in a book filled with historical inaccuracies.) I can’t complain about discussing basic things - people do need a solid understanding of the basic principles of Christianity. Although there is a mixture of new and old Christians in our group, there seems to be a balance such that people aren’t bored or over-extended. I wish I could say that the older Christians are greatly benefitting the newer ones but that will happen later.

I’m not sure if it’s deliberate or not but Jess named tonight’s study “Walk This Way”. I wonder if she’s taking after my occassional tendency to name posts and emails after songs.

Our study is up to Ephesians 4:17 - 5:20. These passages deal with how we are to behave, with a few areas that particularly point to us becoming Christ-like in behaviour. Some of the verses feel quite directed towards me.

There are still some areas of the passage that I feel confused about. This was particularly Ephesians 5:3. The translation we used in the study (I have no idea which one it was) states that there mustn’t be any mention of sexual immorality. The NIV translation uses the word “hint”. I don’t understand how mentioning what’s immoral is so wrong. Well, there seem to lots of Christian books written to guide people on how to live proper lives and they include examples of how not to live proper lives. I think there has been some misunderstanding about what can be discussed and be exposed as wrong.

After the study, Tim and I headed home togetherish. We live roughly in the same area. Our post-study discussions are good.

The gas bag was on TV again last night. I really need a sample of his speaking - it’s weird.

Later on, I watched The Late Show with David Letterman. Does anyone else think Jennifer Aniston is trying too hard now that she’s lost Brad Pitt?

If you actually want to watch the interview, you can go to YouTube.