Dr Manhattan project

About a week ago I watched the Watchmen at the movies.

This isn't a review of that movie. (But suffice to say, if you've never heard of it before, it's probably not for you).

In the movie there is a character called Dr Manhattan. He is a genuine superhero, thanks to a failed science experiment. He glows blue, he can breathe in space, he can teleport, he can see through time.

In short he becomes the closest thing to a god around, and even manages to get worshiped at one point.
He is also totally not like God, at all.

The most well-known (and cliched) verse in the bible is John 3:16:

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life..."

Christians know that God is ultimate never-ending love. Sometimes we forget to tell everyone else, amidst all our guilty finger-pointing, but it is a fundamental truth (see also Mark 12:28).

Dr Manhattan is not this. As the years have gone on he grows increasingly dispassionate; until he almost forsakes humanity (and all forms of life) altogether in order to live alone on Mars. Superman he is not.

Now, you probably don't know any blue superheros living on Mars; but I bet you've wished a few people you knew (or yourself) acted with love a bit more often; after a long day at work; when the baby has been crying for an hour; after driving together in the car for 4 hours.

"Love others as well as you love yourself."

It sounds so easy. Right?
Forget the finger-pointing for a while. Try something new.

Gateway to India.

Welcome to my first post of the year. Yes it is March, time moves on. Back to the travel diary this time, while I think of a theme for next time.

In that lost three months after Christmas I had the opportunity to see a part of India for two weeks. Mumbai mostly, but a quick side trip to Delhi and Agra (Taj Mahal).

Everyone asks: "How was it?"

To answer that requires quite an unraveling of emotion and imagery. Especially for someone from New Zealand, the population of which is a quarter of Mumbai (forgetting the other 1 billion people).

India. It is extreme.

• The largest democracy in the world. Everyone has an opinion, and someone is bound to disagree.
• Food has Flavour. Spice is inherent in everything, unless it's super-sweet.
• Infrastructure is overloaded - water stops, power goes out.
• A few people are extremely wealthy, and a lot of people are very poor. Beggars are prevalent almost everywhere, only slightly outnumbered by the taxi drivers, or balloon salesmen.
• It is Hot. 30+ degrees C during the day in Mumbai. In winter.
• The Bollywood industry makes hundreds of movies a year, almost stripping Hollywood; most of the films never leave the country.

India. It is a paradox.

• Officially a secular state, religion is part of everything. A large proportion is Hindi, but it's not hard to find Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jain...the list goes on.
• The Taj Mahal is truely a wonder of the world (it is amazing), yet rubbish lines the nearby city streets.
• Women dress in colourful, beautiful saris; while the men are plain in their shirts, pants and shoes.
• Modern ideals and freedoms (particularly for women) are in conflict with a traditional India lifestyle. Valentines Day this year was particularly heated.
• A movie about India, directed by an Englishman, and courtesy of America won the Oscar Best Picture award (Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire).

It has taken me a while to get my head around it, and if I went back I imagine it would hit me again.
And why did I go at all? If you've seen any photos of the trip then that should be clear; the best reason there is.

What's next? Who knows.
The future is unwritten.

Khudahafis

Tradition... tradition

The Sunday just gone (30 Nov) signaled the beginning of Advent.
Advent is an important tradition in the Christian church, as it marks the start of the lead up to the birth of Christ (and hence Christmas).
For everyone else (and many Christians too) Advent also marks start of the calendar that has little chocolates behind each door; and is otherwise a good word to use in scrabble.

Advent is commonly observed (at least in Baptist NZ), by the lighting of five candles, one each week till Christmas itself (week 1- Hope, 2 - Peace, 3 - Love, 4 - Joy), and the fifth is the Christ candle (white coloured) and lit on Christmas day.

It's all very pretty and really adds something to the weeks before Christmas (otherwise overrun by endless advertising and jingles).

Of course; it never actually happened in the bible.

Mary was a bit preoccupied at the time to think about lighting candles (with all the riding the donkey, and looking for a place to give birth going on), Joseph was more concerned about getting back home safely, and the wise men hadn't arrived yet.

So where did Advent come from? The early church - people made it up (arguably with God's influence). History otherwise regarding Advent is a bit vague, it may have started as early as the 4th century but that is still 300-400 years later than the birth of Christ.

There are many traditions that are sourced directly from the Bible - communion (Matthew 26:26-) and baptism (Matthew 3:13-) being two significant ones that spring to mind. These traditions were acted out by Jesus and are therefore given serious weight in the church today (even if you don't believe in Jesus, I hope you can respect that for those who do, following His actions is really important).
And there are these other traditions that have developed over the centuries (for good or bad), and have merged with the originals. Funny how humans do that.

Does it matter?

As with most things, the answer is yes and no. There's no point blindly repeating something that you don't understand or believe to be true; so it's at least worth asking some questions as to what it all means (Christians strangely enough ask questions all the time, because we often don't know the answers).
If you don't understand a Christian tradition (or any tradition) I suggest you investigate further.

Tradition has its positives as well:
My family has for many years assembled the Christmas tree in the first week of December (sadly I have missed out recently, being in the wrong city). Each time we play the same (often terrible) Christmas music, and place the dozens (or hundreds) of ornaments on the tree, and at the end we get to turn on the lights and look at the twinkling glow.
Our tradition is associated with good times, and family bonding. It may only be a tradition for my family, but it's a good one.

So, this December I invite you to think about Advent - even if for the chocolate - as it might add new dimensions to your lead up to Christmas.

Hope. Peace. Love. Joy.

Merry Christmas.

It's election time, who brought the pizza?

I find myself sitting at my computer, at 9.30pm the day before the New Zealand general election - completely mystified as to who I will vote for tomorrow.

I am a strong believer in democratic process (and currently a public servant*), so I will be voting; but currently I'm thinking about flipping a coin - or since there are so many parties - rolling a die.

The issue I have is that policy 1 from Party A is quite good, but I don't agree with policy 2; so I look at Party B and quite like the look of policy 3, but worry about policies 1 and 2; and so on.

It would seem that no party is quite leftcentredright for my ideals.

I can think of two possibilities why:

1. I'm highly unusual and/or strange: Definitely a possibility, but if that's the case I'm unlikely to change in time for voting tomorrow;
2. I don't fit party policy: Also likely, as regardless of your political leaning, I'll bet you have never heard a speech on 'supporting the up-trodden well paid, educated, middle class, single, white male minority class'. Because if you did, it would be either for comedic value, or that person would be being booed off stage.
   

I also find myself slightly saddened by the plethora of placard waving volunteers (or are they?), that have stood on traffic islands, across Wellington city, braving gale force winds, to proudly proclaim their chosen political party on a cardboard sign**.
It seems, after over one hundred years of democratic process, New Zealand's political parties have finally managed to rise to the lofty levels of pizza street advertising.

Could I have some policy with my pizza please. Hold the tomato.

Please excuse me while I go find a die to roll.


* As a public servant I am constrained by the Public Service Code of Conduct, hence no actual political parties mentioned in this post
** At least four political parties did this

Election time, hand me a sparkler

For many, this week is one of the most significant of the year, I refer to of course:

1. Guy Fawkes, and
2. The beginning of Christmas retail.

If you were expecting me to say:

1. The election of the leader of the free world, and
2. A small election in the USA*

Then you are sorely mistaken, as nothing beats market desire to sell sparklers, cards, and chocolate Santa Claus's to all and sundry - even Barack Obama's reportedly $700 million campaign budget.

We (New Zealand) are in day two of the four days we are able to purchase fireworks legally each year; although each year that period gets shorter and shorter, and what we can buy gets less and less.
This year the dreaded sparklers can only be purchased as part of a pack of 'normal' fireworks; you know the ones:

"Shoots flaming balls and reports. Light fuse and get away"...

...Because sparklers are the dangerous ones.

And I hope the (double) irony isn't lost this year, as during Guy Fawkes we celebrate:

- The ending of a plot to blow up the government by the man Guy Fawkes (and some others who didn't get to go down in history);
- by purchasing explosives;
- three days before a nationwide election.

But even that is nothing compared to the fact that Christmas advertising has begun, a full two months early. I personally find it very difficult to contemplate Christmas shopping outside the month of December, and seeing blatant product placement, fake snow (in NZ!), and hearing incessant jingles far far too early does put me off. And I haven't even begun on the true meaning of Christmas (maybe closer to the time).

Nevertheless what is known that on that key day, millions of children will be looking forward to an elderly, jolly, white haired man turning up to fulfill their greatest wishes.

Or will it be Barack Obama?


*Ok, a small election in NZ :-)

A quick rant on spelling. And a plea.

(Apologies in advance to Americans, you won't understand)

It is official, I am turning into my father as I get older.
The most recent proof this week was as I read the new Christmas advertising on the Duxton Hotel's signage (one of the larger hotels in Wellington), and became incensed, due to:

'Organize Christmas Function'

This is obviously a to-do list for getting something done for Christmas. Fair enough, it's getting to that time of the year after all.
There is just one problem - 'organize' is not a word.
The word you would use (being a New Zealander, speaking English, language originating from England) is 'organise'.

Alas, we have merged American 'English' into our language, so we have -ize and -or; and no longer have -ise and -our.
It's logical if you think about it - which word processing software do we write with? MS Word probably. And what does it always (incessantly) default to? English (U.S.)

Even as I write the word 'organise' it is marked as incorrect by the browser; a polite little red underline telling me something is wrong.
It is inescapable.

So I implore you to stay eternally vigilant and keep New Zealand safe. Save me from becoming my father (though if you've met my father you might say that it is far far too late).

PS:
I have recently noticed my bible to be written in American English too! I'm sure St Paul didn't spell organise with a 'z', he did things properly. Yeah...

לארגן

Confessions and Marian Keyes

In my last post I mentioned a change of tone, so be warned there are "Christian Themes" at some point in this post.

I picked up the Whitcoulls Top 100 books list this week, it's something I like to review from time to time and use it as a guide to read something new. I tick off books I've read and total them up in the aim of feeling self-righteous because I am so incredibly literate.

Twenty three.

That's how many books I ticked off. Out of one hundred. Lit-er-ate.
That includes all 6 Harry Potter books too. High brow reading.

In my defence there are books on the list that I don't actually ever want to read:

• Anything by Marian Keyes,
• Same goes for Diana Gabaldon,
• The Notebook, Chocolat, Captain Corelli's Mandolin - forget it.

That removes ten books (Marian Keyes to blame there), but even so twenty three from ninety is hardly a sterling record; a fraction over 25%. Fail.

I could cheat a little, as there are books I have started but never finished, and usually only a few pages in. I could almost count them. Almost.
I am quite content to stop reading a book if I am getting nowhere (unlike my mother who forces her way to the end of everything; including Marian Keyes).

But if I decide to cheat, I run into problems. There are two books on the list (every time!), that cause considerable issue:

1. The Edmonds cookbook. Yes it's a classic. It is also a recipe book. I am not tempted to absorb it from cover to cover, but yes I do turn to it to perfect a lasagne cheese sauce.
2. The Bible. For the unobservant, this is where the entire post has been heading (Christian themes...), because as a Christian I obviously place the Bible as the most important book written, bar none*.
   

But I must confess:

I haven't read it all.

I have certainly read a lot of it, and that amount is slowly increasing (currently quite well, other times not so much); but there are many passages that I am completely in the dark over - Old Testament books mostly, for whatever reason.

Does familiarity breed contempt? No; but familiarity does breed apathy.
It's like the teddy bear you have had since you were a child; it's been there for thirty years and you like having it around because it's a piece of your life; but it isn't like you need to look at it, just know it's around...somewhere.

So it's time for the confession. Because recently it has become obvious that in order to be a 'better' Christian a sound knowledge of the Bible is not just important, it's essential. Essential.
It doesn't sound like an amazing revelation, and it's not, but that's how it goes; better to do something about it now than leave it longer. It might take time but it is worth it.

So, all going to plan the next time the Whitcoulls Top 100 list comes out, I should still have twenty three books ticked off; but at least I can say I've read them all cover to cover.

Well, except that Edmonds Cookbook...



*collection of books to be more precise