Canadians donated $8.19 billion to charities in 2008

The statistics for 2008 have been released which show that Canadians donated $8.19 billion to charity in 2008. This is a drop of 5.3 per cent from 2007. It was also the lowest annual donation figure since 2005 when $7.9 billion was given. Of course the recession is being blamed for this drop in giving. Personally I think that rising costs for everything from food to gas to housing had a lot to do with it. Here in BC our giving was down 5.6% with the median amount being $340. For a break down by province check out this CBC article.

How well do you see colour?

How well do you see colour?; Or perhaps how good is your computer monitor? This website allows you to arrange colours in order and then scores your ability to distinguish them. It will display which colours you had trouble with and then rate you according to your age and gender. I scored a 24 on my laptop with 0 being a perfect score and 99 being poor. Either me or my monitor has trouble in the green spectrum and the middle of the purple spectrum. Given that I was perfect elsewhere I will blame the monitor .

Happy arranging.

Quote of the day – Ralph D. Winter

Today’s quote refers to William Carey’s book published in 1792: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens In Which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practicability of Further Undertakings, Are Considered. It is available for download on Archive.org.

Ralph Winter states: “By helping to tap the immense spiritual energies of the Reformation, Carey’s book has probably contributed more to global mission than any other book in history other than the Bible itself!”*

If this is the case, why has no one required that I read it? It is only 87 pages long but unfortunately hasn’t been updated into modern English which means it will be a little tough to read.

*From “The Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission.” In Perspectives Reader 4th ed., p251.

Syria needs Elijah

I was reminded of the story in 1 Kings 18 today as I read about north-eastern Syria where not a drop of rain has fallen for three years. Fittingly the article ends by quoting a local woman: Turkya says all she can now do is pray: “Pray for help, pray for the children, pray for the rain.”

Perhaps Syria could call all its clerics together to build an altar to Allah and his prophet Mohammad and then Elijah, John the Baptist, or someone else could build an altar to the God who provides living water. The God who answers with fire…and water would be the True God.

City=evil // countryside=good ?

I read the following poem in a collection of Oswald J. Smith’s poetry entitled Poems of a Lifetime. It encapsulates the idea that many people have both, Christian and otherwise, that cities are man’s invention and thus dark and filled with evil, while the countryside and nature are God’s invention and therefore good, pure, and wholesome. Is this dichotomy true? More after the break.

Back to the Prairies

I want to go back to the prairies,
Away from the bustle and din;
I’m tired of the noise of the city,
I long for God’s presence within.
Then take me again to the prairies
And leave me alone with my Lord;
His voice I can hear in the silence
And there I can feed on His Word.

The fields with their distant horizons,
The skies up above me so high
Remind me each day of His goodness
And bid me in faith to draw nigh.
The cattle that roam in their thousands,
The wheat as it waves in the air
Proclaim all His riches in Glory
And tell of God’s wonderful care.

I want to go back to the prairies
Where all is so peaceful and still;
The home that I knew in my childhood,
The place I discovered God’s will.
‘Twas man who constructed the city,
The prairies are God’s own design;
They tell me of infinite mercy
Where all God’s treasures are mine.

I’m thinking tonight of the prairies,
The days of the long, long ago,
The home where I prayed with God’s children
And learned the dear Saviour to know.
The world may pronounce me a dreamer
And leave me alone by the way,
But once I am back on the prairies
God’s presence is with me each day.

To Redd Harper
Herbert, Sask., 1952. (p 173).

I can certainly sympathise with Smith’s thoughts on this subject as I spent four years in Saskatchewan and truly loved the prairies. However, we need to remember that heaven is pictured as a city in the book of Revelation, not as a renewed garden of Eden/prairie. Why is that? I believe it is because in heaven all human relationships will be perfected and thus we will enjoy one another much more than the bald prairie. We will desire to be in the city with others rather than alone with God “out there.” There is certainly a place for taking retreat in the country but let us not dichotomise between God’s design and Man’s design.

Hug a book today!

Come on, you know you want to! And then surf over to LibraryThing and input your library so others can know what you are reading as well!

HT

Mormon Mirage on Scribd

Chapter 8 of The Mormon Mirage is now on Scribd. You can check out the blurb and link over on Zondervan’s Koinonia site. The book is definitely worth buying if you come across Mormon missionaries or have a Mormon in the family. If you missed my review of the book you can check it out here.

Quote of the Day – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Today’s “quote” isn’t a short pithy statement but a 36 page book published a hundred years ago. I stumbled across The Celestial Railroad on archive.org today and it is well worth a read. It is an allegory based on John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. If you aren’t familiar with Bunyan’s work, shame on you – read it immediately!! Some of the allusions are dated as even this edition was published in 1899 but the book is well worth our time. You can download it here.

The Kingdom of God is NOT a Democracy

As I write this Iraq is still in shambles after the transfer of power and US troop reductions. Last month there were “only 600 attacks.” Afghanistan is in turmoil over concerns of election fraud and continuing successful militant attacks on foreign troops and local infrastructure. Many Canadians and Americans are asking, “What are we fighting for?” The answer is “freedom” or “democracy.” The fact is that neither of these values are being implemented as our culture conceives them. Afghanistan recently passed their controversial wife “obligation” bill which would allow a husband to refuse his wife monetary support and even food. Although it was objected to by all those western leaders attempting to assist Afghanistan there is nothing they can do because how to you attack the democratically elected government you helped implement? If you want “true” democracy then you had better be willing to accept the will of the majority regardless of what it does to the minority. This is only the first and most evident problem with the idea that democracy is the value worth fighting for. Democracy is only a viable option is the people have moved beyond living ‘according to the flesh.’ Our society still functions on the vestiges of its past but the signs of decay are all around.

Everyone is agreed that the goddess of democracy is to be worshipped:

Republicans:
“Ours is the cause of human dignity; freedom guided by conscience and guarded by peace. This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it.” George Bush, Remarks to the Nation, Ellis Island, September 11, 2002. [But who guides the conscience? Who is the Prince of Peace?]

“There’s power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people” George Bush, State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003. [Where is the power? Is it not in the death of Jesus and the servant nature of those who follow him?]

Democrats:
“You know, people outside of this country are expressing disappointment because they got high expectations for America. And they want America to lead, they want America to lead through our values, and through our ideals and through our example. But they have high expectations of us because, I think, that this country is still the last best hope on earth.” Barack Obama, The Late Show with David Letterman (April 9, 2007). [Those values which led Letterman to start talking about your suit? click through to read further...America=triviality]

“The American military has succeeded. It is the Iraqi government, which has failed to make the tough decisions that are important for their own people.” Hillary Rodham Clinton, June 20, 2007. [Those tough decision need to be backed up by wonder-working power, not notions of democracy. Who has the power to change lives and nations?]

Lest we think it is only Americans who put their hope in democracy to save the world, here is a quote from the UK’s former Prime Minister:

“There can be no debate about the rights and wrongs of what is happening in Iraq today. The desire for democracy is good. The attempt to destroy it through terrorism is evil.” Tony Blair, February 21, 2007. [The desire for the Kingdom of God is good. Christ warned that the world would attempt to destroy his body but his body is not a democracy, it is led by a head that cannot be outvoted]

The second problem with the notion that democracy trumps all else is that Christians and churches and whole denominations have attempted to outvote God. The body of Christ is not a democracy, it is a benevolent dictatorship in which the dictator went to the cross and died so that his subjects might live in true freedom – freedom from sin and death! A single person or even an entire denomination cannot vote to overturn the dictates of God. I have heard agitators state that they will call a vote and after the ballots are counted they expect the losing side to accept the will of the majority in order to keep unity in the church/denomination. If the subject under debate is that important then the losing side cannot (in good conscience) remain in fellowship with those who (they know) are violating the will of God. If the subject is not that important then there is no reason to have a contentious vote in the first place. If we accept the premise that the Kingdom of God is not a democracy but a dictatorship in which our duty is to obey the will of Christ our head the question of decision making remains. Who speaks for Christ? The Catholic Church had that question answered centuries ago but our Protestant solutions have varied. We currently embrace democracy but generally it has reflected the political leadership of the era. Luther answered “Scripture alone” is our guide and most would accept that but the problem is that both (or more) sides of an argument claim to have scriptural support. Who decides the meaning of scripture? Which hermeneutic do we engage it with? What manner of exegesis will give us God’s will for today? The answers are difficult to come by but one thing should be clear: we cannot count on the democratic paradigm to save us for “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim 4:3f). Doesn’t that sound like democracy?

In other news: BC minimum wage remains at $8

I just read that effective October 1 the minimum wage in Manitoba will be increasing to $9 per hour. This was done to “keep Manitoba near the middle of the pack when it comes to minimum-wage rates among Canadian jurisdictions.” I wonder what that says about BC with its $6/hour training wage; its $8 minimum wage and all its abused immigrants and international students working illegally for less than that. I imagine there are lots of farmers’ families in Manitoba making less than that but at least they don’t need to pay the outrageous rents demanded in Vancouver.