Little River Big Bike Day

This post has little to do with most of the other topics I have done, but it's still about "living my faith; sharing my life".

Oct 31st a group of friends are planning a cycle ride that will be a big challenge for us. I thought I could share this with others.

Yes for those who enjoy the outdoors and an increase in your heart rate then this is for you.

This is open to everyone who has a bike and likes to bike.

When: Oct 31
Time: 8.30am
Where: Little River
What to bring: Mountain bike, all whether clothing (layers), plenty of energy snacks and drinks.

Format: We meet at Little River and leave at 8.30. Those who want a smaller challenge could base themselves at Little River cycle the Rail Trial and enjoy some good coffee.
• The rest will leave our comforts and head on a gentle flat ride along Wairewa Pa Rd, Kinloch Rd, and Okuti Valley road; all sealed with some nice bush.
• Then we turn into Reynolds Valley Rd for a good uphill puff, from the flat up to 680m! Along Bossu Rd to Jubilee Rd.
• A quick downhill slide till we reach Wainui and for some wonderful harbour vista we amble round till Barry’s Bay.
• Now as we value your safety we have decided not to go up to Hill Top by the main road.
• Travel on towards Duvauchelle but turn off at the Duvauchelle Stock Route and again climb from about 100m to 450m to the Summit Rd.
• Around some undulating rods to Harman’s Track and it’s all down hill to Little River for a coffee.


This should cover approx 50KM. Rain or shine.

Now you might say “I can’t do this, my little legs will not go round and around that many times, my bum is too soft.” Well don’t despair we have almost two months to get into shape

Now I hope to get some photos on the page at some future time, just to wet the appetite.

Christianities versus Christianity

Came across this post by Brian Mclaren the other day thought it was worthy of pondering on....

September 15, 2010
Christianities versus Christianity
I think David Gushee gets it right:


I remember the first time it became crystal clear to me that there is no such thing as Christianity, but only competing Christianities. It was when I was working on my doctoral dissertation on Christians who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. During that time I attended a most remarkable conference in New York on hidden children of the Holocaust. This gathering brought together the now-grown adults who had hidden from the Nazis to survive. Some of these children were saved by Christian families.

The most memorable speaker for me was a hidden child, and now a sociologist, named Nechama Tec. A Polish Jew, she survived the war hiding with Christians. She was asked after her address whether it was Christianity that motivated her rescuers. Her unforgettable response went like this: “It wasn’t just any kind of Christianity that would motivate a rescuer. Only a certain kind of Christianity would lead someone to risk their lives for us.”

A certain kind of Christianity -- the phrase stayed with me. It is enormously helpful. From hard experience, young Nechama Tec learned the difference between versions of Christianity that teach hatred of the religious/ethnic other and versions that teach sacrificial and inclusive love. Her very survival depended on being able to tell the difference between these competing Christianities and the people who embodied them.


Of course, this is what was in my mind when I wrote A New Kind of Christian and A New Kind of Christianity. It's also at the heart of my upcoming book, the title of which will be released soon.

Gushee adds this important note, reflecting on recent tensions among Christians of competing Christianities and Islaams:


So the Christianity of “International Burn a Koran Day” exists. It is a sorry version of Christianity, but it exists. It must be defeated by better versions of Christianity. Maybe some progress has been made on that over the last week.

Could it also be that there is no such thing as “Islam,” but only competing versions of Islam? Could it be that those who are casually declaring that al Qaeda’s Islam just is Islam are about as accurate as those who would say that Terry Jones’ Christianity just is Christianity? Could it be that we need a moratorium on people who know nothing about the competing Muslim traditions making blanket declarations about the eternal nature of that religion?

An Earthquake - sent by God?

Many people will know that Christchurch has recently experienced a major earthquake; causing a lot of damage to older buildings, some roads and a few newer homes. Overall we escaped very lightly. There was no lose of life and only a small part of the city was damaged.

What I would like to look at is how to see this as people of Faith. How much is God involved in this, what should our response be to tragedies like these?

The usual response from Christians, after something like an earthquake when they escape injury or death is to 'praise God' for 'saving' them or 'protecting' them. We see God as proactively stepping in looking after us, keeping us from danger. This attitude is so prevalent in Old Testament, God intervening in human history; bringing judgment down on sinful people, rescuing those he wanted to. Natural disasters were the responsibility of God, if you got killed then you were most probably doing something wrong. However God also seemed to spare people even when they disobeyed him; David is a key example of this. He lusted, wanted, committed adultery, lied, killed and got caught out, then confessed.

So we see different reactions on Gods part. He used disasters to bring judgement down on people but he saved people even though they sinned, their 'salvation' had nothing to do with their actions. Sometimes when God took action it was instantaneous, like the giving of the 10 commandments and the disobedience of the people. God judged them at the moment but he gave the nation of Israel and Judah repeated warnings before allowing them to be taken into captivity.

The greatest example of God stepping into human time is when he became a baby and lived on this earth as Jesus. Does this mean that from that point on God has stopped using disasters to punish us directly, because Jesus has taken on all the anger and judgment of God?

Now I also know that when sin entered this world it not only infested humans but also corrupted this world. The earthquakes are part of that 'groaning' of the world, it is the 'natural' consequence of our sin (Gen. 3:17).

So let us come back to the question of God's involvement in this world.I should however state some foundations of my belief; I do believe in a personal God who created this world and has revealed Himself through Jesus. Our God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God. He is both imminent and transcendent, he is Love in it's fullest sense.

If we say that we are 'most blessed' because God has saved us from harm through this earthquake, if we believe that God heard our prayers and kept us from danger; then what does that say to the people of Haiti or Chile or Pakistan or China? Does that mean that those people who lost life in these other countries were not so 'blessed' of God that God didn't judge them to be so worthy? This is my problem and it arises every time there is a car accident or some other tragedy. Has God actually protected us and not the other person (Matthew 5:45)?

Could it be something like this: God has created this world, he has set in motion certain laws and he has allowed sin to corrupt this world. There are consequences to sin and death is the major one. Natural disasters are also part of the consequences (Rom. 8:19). God is not standing over us and manipulating the earth so that certain people are killed and others live as a rule. I wonder if he just lets things take their natural course. Now I should add here that I do believe that God does sometimes protect people for a special reason and that he does sometimes interrupt the natural order of things to accomplish his purposes but these are exceptions more that the norm. Are we not also to blame for natural disasters or their severity; we build on unstable land, we strip land of trees, and we pollute our rivers and air.

So we were not more blessed than Haiti in the eyes of God with our earthquake, we were not more important than the people of Pakistan to God. No we were saved because we have a higher level of educated people, we have implemented better rules for building and we have a less corrupt government that keeps the rules for everyone. We were more fortunate to have fewer people packed into our city and they don't live in a high density area. We had an efficient Civil defence programme that worked pretty well.

Can we thank God for being alive? Yes we can because God loves us and he has work for us to do now. Perhaps disasters should challenge our perspective on life and eternity and join Paul when he said "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Rom 14:8.

This is not my full and final thoughts on this subject, I am open for others to share their thoughts. This is really just my questions set out to help me make some sense of all this.

Homosexuality/Homosexual

Are we the subject of social engineering? I think we are especially in our attitude to Homosexuality. We are continually being told that it is a fact that Homosexuality is part of our DNA and a valid lifestyle choice. However I should make the comment that there isn't complete agreement amongst the medical profession or the scientific community as to the reason for someone being Homosexual; is it DNA, our genes, social conditioning, environmental or a sickness or moral deviation? Although the ‘experts’ do not have undisputed facts the media, and community groups certainly think they do. They say Homosexuality is definitely not a sickness or a ’sin’ and most probably not social conditioning. Because we are a tolerant society we can not speak against Homosexuality. In fact in our tolerant society we are very intolerant towards anyone who deems to say it is anything but our DNA.

People are tagged as Homophobic if they dare to criticise Homosexuality or question popular opinions on it. I would like to post my thoughts on this subject, when I look at Homosexuality I see three things that help form my view on Homosexuality; evolution, Biblical morality and common sense speaking against this lifestyle, in other words it’s ‘wrong’ behaviour. But it is no worse than other sexual sins. In our moral bereft world our attitudes to sexuality have been tipped up side down; young people are bombarded with conflicting messages but the strongest one is ‘to do what feels best for you’ or ‘be happy’ because that’s what really is important. Take condoms with you and don't deny your desire for pleasure, any time or any cost. How you express your sexuality is yours to choose and actually it is a 'mature person' who is able to experiment with different styles.

Now I believe that there are certain things we do that are wrong and always will be. Sexual immorality is wrong; such practices as cheating on your partner, sex before a committed relationship, child sex, homosexuality and others out there. They are wrong and eventually will destroy our lives and families. What I am not saying is that people, who would be known as homosexual, gay, and lesbian or what ever, are evil or bad people. They are just as bad or good as I am, because I have and will do wrong things. People who do wrong things are nice, every day people. They are not criminals and should not be discriminated against and in fact I don’t need to know about their sexuality. What people do in their private moments is between them, God and the person they are doing it with. I have friends who have cheated on their wives and I have friends who are homosexuals and that is not a problem as far as them being my friends. I may not agree with their choices, if I know of them.

What I find frustrating is that where ever we look, the message is being subtly and blatantly pushed on us that Homosexual lifestyle is a normal and valid alternative lifestyle choice. Newspapers, magazine, radio programs, TV plays and novels all seem to need their token and not so token references to homosexuality as normal. It is not though! The message is carried by the media and a strong Gay lobby group. We cannot speak against it; we live in a tolerant and inclusive society that says that everything is okay if it doesn't hurt the other person, that what one person might think as wrong someone else thinks it’s right. When people do say that homosexuality is wrong then tolerance disappears, they are 'homophobic'!

The problem is not just ‘them’ but also those that have spoken out against Homosexuality, usually from within the Christian community. They have ended up speaking against the Homosexual person, seemingly lacking any sense of love or tolerance or acceptance. They become hung-up on the outward sinful acts of people but often forget the many other sins. They forget to treat people with respect, dignity and love. They become homophobic in their attitudes and lose sight of the person.

What causes people to be Homosexual? I don't really know but I suspect there are different reasons; some choose this lifestyle through environment, upbringing, peer pressure maybe especially with young people unsure of their sexuality, engaged in a permissive society, ready to experiment with different practices but not really Homosexual. Maybe some who are born with this disposition have an illness like for example; Depression or schizophrenic. I don't know, but if so they need help not condemnation.

Lets tell people to ‘sin no more’ but to welcome the person into our arms, just as Christ did. We should not discriminate against people based on their sexuality but just love them.