A "Black Swan Event" is when the unexpected occurs, causing a huge mindshift and change in how the world works. People never imagined that Black Swans existed, until the discovery of the first Black Swan... (as per book "The Black Swan", by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007, that sold over 3 million copies)

Is a perception change the next Black Swan Event? Consider that by changing perception we might change the world. Look at everyday things from different angles. Find beauty in the unexpected...
Change our thinking, change our actions, change our world!

See that all people are part of God's puzzle and have something to give. Black swans do exist. The ugly duckling was actually a swan who needed to discover himself and where he fitted and be who he was meant to be. To the last, the lost and the least, you are beautiful as you are.
May all who visit this page feel God's touch and experience His blessing...

Monday 29 April 2013

Outward Appearance Versus Ancestry in Determining Culture

I got the topic for this post totally by accident and I hope my thoughts on this do not seem too controversial. I apologise if anyone is offended and please tell me by commenting on this post if I am going wrong and I will make changes.

Yesterday I wrote a post in which I mentioned that someone was accorded honorary white status in South Africa during apartheid, I assume because she looked mostly white. This made me ponder the ramifications of outward appearance as opposed to ancestry in determining a person's culture, and how different countries have different cultural norms in effect. I wonder about the future dynamics of culture and where this will lead us. It strikes me that it is entirely possible that in future what you look like outwardly will no longer be important as to which cultural group you choose to belong to.

The funny thing about the culture in South Africa is that the outward appearance of a person is all important and is what really used to matter in determining whether one was white or not, especially during apartheid. I heard that residents of previously apartheid South Africa used to be given the so-called pencil test, to see if their hair was curly enough to hold a pencil, and other physical features were looked at to see if someone looked white or not. Sometimes people who were white were told they were not, even if they were part of the same family as others classified as white (as in the heart wrenching story of Sandra Laing!), because they had some features that were deemed to be non-white, like too curly hair! This is because many people tried to pass as white to fit in with largely white society, and these people were given privileges over others. In some other countries, for example, in Australia, I have heard that ancestry is used to determine one's ethnic status: if one has any Aboriginal ancestors then the children are considered Aboriginal, even if no-one can tell by outward appearance, but in South Africa if you look white then you are white, irrespective of any of your ancestry.

In South Africa there is a unique cultural group in South Africa, who are now called coloured, made up of people of previously mixed ethnic ancestry. Most coloured people who form part of this cultural group live in the Cape and speak Afrikaans as a first language, though of course not all of them. Many coloured people especially previously wanted to be classified as white, so they could get jobs reserved for white people during apartheid. Nowadays some of the same people who took white status may have decided to change their status back to coloured, so that they can get jobs now! But all of this is down to outward appearance alone. I have known two people who sounded like they were coloured (many coloured people have a distinct accent based on their cultural use of Afrikaans) yet who looked like white people, and one was married into a white family and the other married into a coloured family. It is personal choice as to which culture such a person chooses as their own! Much of this choice may be made due to outward appearance alone. How interesting that in South Africa during apartheid if authorities said you were white, then you were deemed to be accepted into society, otherwise you were not, irrespective of your ancestry. This shows how important it is for leaders to set good examples, as society adopts the framework set by leaders.

I hope to see a future world where we are free of norms bound by outward appearance and where someone is free to choose the cultural group to which the person feels he or she belongs best, irrespective of looks.  For me this translates into having a country made up of people where the culture of the country dominates as an inclusive society, irrespective of what each person looks like. If you live in Australia, then you are Australian, and if you live in South Africa then you are South African; you are all part of one people, irrespective of ethnic looks. You may of course choose to practise a specific culture personally, but I hope to see all people part of and embracing the culture of the country where they live. Let us not be divided based on outward appearance and have to worry about things like the pencil test, even if this is now done on paper only!

This is a video that contains a story of Sandra Laing: a coloured baby born to white Afrikaner parents in apartheid South Africa (ironically, many Afrikaners in South Africa have a percentage of non-white blood (I have Afrikaner ancestry too), but look white, and this probably explains where Sandra's looks came from): Video: Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey - South Africa

Grabbing Opportunity: Evonne Goolagong

Today I happened across a book called, The Evonne Goolagong Story. This looks interesting, I thought. I wonder what it's about? So I googled the woman's name, and discovered that Evonne Goolagong, who came from an Australian Aboriginal background, was a very successful player in the 1970s and 1980s and became the number one player in the world for a couple of weeks in April, 1976--a fact only discovered 31 years later! I used to watch tennis as a young girl, and I played the game a bit too, and I especially loved to watch Wimbledon, when players like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were battling for the crown. Yet I don't recall the name Evonne Goolagong. Perhaps she reached her peak a bit before my interest in watching tennis really started. I see Evonne played in South Africa in 1972, and was accorded honorary white status for her visit so she would avoid non-white discrimination. Yes, that made me cringe! Sounds like what used to happen in South Africa, though things are very different now!

What really intrigued me about this story is that Evonne might never have played tennis if someone had not kindled her interest in the game. A man called Bill Kurtzman saw her watching tennis when she was a young girl and encouraged her to try playing the game and the rest is history. If someone had not given her the opportunity, would Evonne ever have discovered her innate talent for tennis and sport?

I rejoice in her story as much as I can't help feeling a touch of sadness too, as there are many young children like Evonne out there, from widely varied backgrounds, both rich and poor, who might never know the real talent they possess unless they are given their own chance moment of discovery. It worries me that my own children might miss their real calling because I fail to spot their talent, or because I don't take them to try out something that might be their real calling and passion. If Evonne had not played tennis, what would her life have looked like? Probably very different! Maybe she would never have tried another sport, or maybe she would have excelled at something else.

I do believe God guides us along our path, but sometimes we miss what He is saying to us. Thinking back, I wonder too about the many opportunities I may have missed when I was a young girl, due to a variety of complex factors. Try not to overlook your own children's real passion. Sometimes the window of opportunity is small! Try to kindle passion. Try to see where their interest lies. They may never be number one in the world ever at anything, but make sure they are happy doing what they love to do!

I hope you are listening and watching out so you may spot talent others may be missing in those around you!

Saturday 27 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 6: Words Versus Actions)


Have you noticed how we pay a huge amount of attention to what is spoken? Even to what is written down in words. But are words truth or may they present a facade? For example, I once attended a church where, judging by people's actions, it seemed that I was not welcome as part of the volunteer team, yet I heard sermons a short while after that at the same church exhorting all individuals in the congregation to become fully part of the church family and to help out wherever possible in roles that suited each person's gifts. A possibility is that the pastors may not have been aware of the problems people faced in integrating into church life as volunteers, hence the open call for volunteers from the pulpit. Another possibility is that the actions which I felt were displayed towards me formed the true underlying culture of the church and that volunteers were selectively being chosen from open calls for people; perhaps the pastors were fully aware of this behaviour. Of course another possibility is that the difficulty I experienced volunteering was my perception only and perhaps I did not understand the cultural norms of the church. I would have only really known which of these options was true by testing the open call for volunteers when this was made, for example, by approaching a pastor if I was unsuccessful once more and by doing some further investigating. But then again, I thought to myself, did I really want to force my way into volunteering for a place where I was not totally welcome from the start? This would be an uphill battle! And if my difficulty was a perceived difficulty only, then perhaps I needed to take a step back until I understood things more.

A stated culture or motto may not be fact, though of course one hopes it is! There are many examples of this in life, for example, a school where the principal stands up and says each child is valued, yet a few days after enrolling a child may be terribly miserable and may tell his or her parents that the teachers are horrible to many of the children. The only  way to tell for sure is to measure actions against words, but truth may take a while to be uncovered.

Words and actions which are in accord are key in what is meant by integrity. When words and actions are not in accord then this is hypocrisy. (I suspect this article will spawn a few more topics sometime!)

Thursday 25 April 2013

Limiting Behaviour Patterns: Not Recognising Changed Situations

A beautiful little child I know experienced problems making friends recently, after she was put into a new class with children she did not know. She told me she went around asking the other children if she could play with them, and they said no. So I told her to try to just join in, not to specifically ask, and it went a bit better. I then happened to bump into her at her school a few times after that, and on one occasion watched as a particularly friendly girl walked up to her and said, come and play with us this lunchtime. She shook her head and walked away. I asked her why she didn't go with the girl who invited her, after all, the girl was giving her an open invitation! This is often how God works: He gives us an invitation and gently guides us along a certain path and it is up to us to follow. No, she said, I don't know the other girls she plays with and they won't want me to play with them. But you know her, I said, and she is inviting you! The little girl did not look sure about this and still refused to go and join the other child. Then it dawned on me that this child was so used to rejection that she did not recognise a changed situation. She was conditioned to expect people not to want to be around her, so that when someone did want to play with her, she expected the same pattern of rejection to play out. How sad, I thought! Already her mindsets are limiting her from freely being herself. I know she is a lovely child, but the more she says no and does not follow the other girl's invitations, the less she will be asked.

Do you recognise your own opportunities or are you so used to things seeming to follow one path that you miss opportunities for change?

Tuesday 23 April 2013

God Invites Everyone to His Table

Have you ever been asked to complete a Bible study at a church and then run into problems when you disagreed with some of the beliefs of the church? Or maybe others disagreed heavily with your beliefs? Maybe you even left the church or were kicked out due to a difference of beliefs? Yet, God has invited everyone to get to know Him and this is a freely given invitation. What would He think of the barriers we put amongst ourselves? My ideal church would be one where the beliefs merely state, Christian church, we follow God as per The Bible. I think The Message Bible, Romans 14, gives a good synopsis of why I mention this, and this is the relevant chapter from this Bible:

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

Six Days You Shall Do All Your Work, the Seventh is the Sabbath Day (A Day of Rest)

I have been mulling over the question of the Sabbath day for some time now. Should I keep the Sabbath day? What does it mean to keep the Sabbath: is it a day of rest or of worship or both? And does it matter which day is set aside as the Sabbath day, as long as society works for six days and rests on the seventh day? This is a somewhat rambling post, but hopefully you will see the complexity I see posed by this matter. And, no, I don't know the answer!

I have read that the concept of a week consisting of seven days derives from God's creation of the world in seven days and the corresponding Sabbath commandment, and each day of the seven day Jewish week is named for the day it is, for example, first day, second day. The seventh day is Sabbath day, which in English in known as Saturday. It is difficult to honour the Sabbath in our modern world, though of course important is not what is easy or difficult, important is to do what is right. What makes keeping the original Sabbath especially difficult is that the day of worship observance was changed from Saturday to Sunday by the Roman Catholic Church many centuries ago, and most of the other Christian churches then followed this example. Much of western society is structured around Sunday being a day of complete rest, and even though Saturday is part of the weekend, it is more and more being seen as an ordinary day of commerce. Incidentally, I have heard a few Christians criticise the Catholic Church for not being entirely Biblical, yet most Christian churches followed the Catholic Church's example in changing the day of worship to a Sunday! Personally I have no qualm with the Catholic Church and my experience is that most Catholics follow the Bible, though I have seen some cases where additional doctrine has crept in, as I have seen is the case with many other churches too. It is best not to find fault with others, and to rather make sure one's own conscience is clear.

Many Christians believe that the Sabbath commandment was done away with and may say we now find our rest in Jesus alone. I have written previously on this blog how Jesus told us to still honour and teach the Ten Commandments, and I concluded by saying we are not under the law but we live by the Spirit, and the Bible says the Spirit leads us to keep the commandments. Assuming one does believe in keeping the Sabbath, what does keeping the Sabbath mean? The Bible says it is a day of rest where we stop our own pursuits and rest from our labours and keep the day holy. If this is the case, then I believe no buying or selling should take place on this day, and included in this formula, I include no collection of money in churches (1). In Jewish Synagogues, money is not carried on Sabbath at all, and collection of money is done at other times. Perhaps this is why the Bible speaks of money being collected on the first day of the week, not because churches necessarily met on that day, but because it was the day after Sabbath and the first opportunity money was allowed to be collected: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." (1 Corinthians 16:2 KJV) Jesus said, "Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" (Matthew 12:5 KJV) Jesus pointed out that priests and pastors work on the Sabbath, yet are blameless. Perhaps this is why the church was inspired to change the day when worship was done from a Saturday to a Sunday, as most churches tend collect money on the day people come to church? I know a few Christians who rest on Saturday, keeping to the original day of Sabbath rest, and then go to church on Sunday.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 5: Knowledge is Power)


I love getting to know all aspects of a specific topic. I love joining patterns and knowing the whole as well as the detail. Perhaps this is the reason that I noticed a reluctance on the part of many people to part with knowledge and I often felt I was kept in the dark, with enlightenment just out of reach. Of course, keeping knowledge to oneself is a necessary self protection tactic, especially in this cut throat world we live in. How much better it would be if we could all share information freely, sure in the knowledge that our colleagues would not use this knowledge for their own ends, or would give us credit where credit is due? So, as with most of the topics I write about, there are various sides to see a situation, and what may be good may also be bad, or have varying degrees of good and bad, depending on how the topic is approached.

Take the example of retrenchment which I wrote about in the previous blog article. The people planning the retrenchment have knowledge of what is being planned, but will not relay this to the victims. The victims may have an inkling of what is coming but cannot do much except wait and see and react once they know for sure, but by then it may be too late. Knowledge is withheld. People planning retrenchments may themselves be on the receiving end as people above them may be planning their demises too.

Saturday 20 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 4: Retrenchment Exercises)

Previous blog article:
Underhanded Tactics (Part 3: The Waiting List)

I have been amazed at some of the ingenious lengths people will go to to ensure their ends are met; take the example of retrenchments. I have heard of people who were given promotions into new positions and who were paid more money and their new pay bracket put them into a more expensive and more at risk of retrenchment categorym so their promotion was short lived as they were retrenched a few months later --was this planned or by chance? I know of someone whose job profile changed from permanent to contractor when he got a promotion, and the company then easily removed this person later as he was no longer a permanent member of staff. Another person who was a contractor had the promise of being made a permanent staff member right up until the day his access card no longer worked and he was unable to come into work. Or people may only be told on the last day that their contracts will not be renewed, previously renewed year after year, but they could see this possibility coming as there was delay after delay in approving them. Perhaps you are told these people decided to retire. I have come across cases where whole departments were restructured, changing reporting lines, and a few months later it was said that managers should not report to managers and some people were then retrenched. Hmmm, I thought to myself, but the restructure recently done caused the change to this structure; was the restructure therefore done in anticipation of the coming retrenchment, effectively deciding beforehand who would be targeted? Likewise, you must have heard of the common retrenchment exercise of a department being downsized and people then needing to reapply for their jobs, but of course only a limited number of jobs are then available to reapply for. Call me suspicious, but I am certain most departments undertaking this exercise know full well who they plan to rehire long before the applications to reapply for jobs are given in! Another common tactic seems to be to hire a few new people before a retrenchment exercise happens--is this bad planning, or is this done consciously, either wanting to protect existing staff if the new people are the ones to be retrenched, or else deciding new staff are a better proposition than existing staff? What cases of possible retrenchment deception are you aware of?

Next blog article: Underhanded Tactics (Part 5: Knowledge is Power)

Thursday 18 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 3: The Waiting List)

Previous blog article:

This morning I was mulling over what to write for the third topic about underhanded tactics used by people. Hmmm, you know, I thought to myself, I could probably write a whole book full of these tactics! Thoughts in this vein are woven in amongst much of my writing, especially my thoughts on bullying and racism. In my moments of inspiration, I think I must have enough succint thoughts on this topic to go on for days, then I stop as I think I have covered all of this already, and maybe I only have a few more thoughts. Let's see where this all leads! I do believe human ingenuity can be limitless, especially as regards deception, but there are some high level patterns!

Seriously, life is full of deception. Often we call this being polite. How honest are you in your everyday dealings with other people? We don't like it when we are caught out by others, but we may do the exact same things ourselves when we interact with other people, especially people we have difficulty getting along with. For example, you might attend a church, or a sports club, and you like what you see and decide you would like to become a member. Then, unexpectedly, you hear you will be placed on a waiting list if you would like to officially join. You weren't told there would be a waiting list! You think to yourself, was the waiting list created because you want to join, or has it always been in place? You realise you might sound a bit paranoid if you ask about this! How does one become a member, you wonder: is it first on the list, first to become a member, or is there some other secret selection criteria? You then find out that some people have been on the waiting list for months, but they know of others who have jumped the queue.

The sign at a door may say all are welcome, but you are beginning to wonder if that is the case at this club. Maybe you should find another club, you sadly think to yourself.

Link to next blog article: Underhanded Tactics (Part 4: Retrenchment Exercises)

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 2: Inciting a Reaction)

Link to previous blog article: Underhanded Tactics (Part 1: Diverting Attention)

Imagine the following scenario: From a distance you hear a person ranting in anger in a shopping centre, and when you get closer you see it is a female customer trying to hit a salesperson over the head with her large soft handbag and she is screaming at him to watch his mouth. Next you know, the woman is surrounded by security guards and is escorted away, still shouting. What you might not have seen is the salesperson make an initial few disparaging remarks to the customer, telling her that maybe she shouldn't buy clothing she is too fat to wear and then she wouldn't need to return it. You don't know the salesperson said this very quietly to the woman, with a polite grin, knowing his actions were being recorded. The female customer saw red as the comments pushed her hot buttons and she flew into a fit of temper and the salesperson then called security, saying he feared for his safety.

Bullies may use quiet means to egg a victim on, and then they sit back and watch their victim explode, which may only happen after months of bullying. Sometimes of course a person is not intentionally a bully towards someone, it is just a complex set of personal dynamics which unravels and creates situations where a person may react in excess to what they see as inciting behaviour; maybe a person has a hot button due to previous trauma.

The lesson of course is not to allow temper to get the better of one. If you are angry and out of control, people don't say, oh dear, what did the person say to you to make you so angry, they see someone raging in anger and that is the only problem for them. You may one day find yourself physically manhandled, or sexually assaulted, or verbally incited, but if you react badly, you will be the one at fault and may give impetus to any allegations against you and you may then be seen as the bully. Don't ever react in a way which will make you a target, for example, if someone manhandles you, don't call the person bad names or hit them or scream at them or make a racist comment against them. This does not help your cause. Remain calm and speak your truth quietly and clearly. Jesus said to turn the other cheek and to bless our enemies, and His advice will go a long way to defusing a problem situation.

Link to next blog article: Underhanded Tactics (Part 3: The Waiting List)

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Underhanded Tactics (Part 1: Diverting Attention)

People are ingenious and gifted with intelligence. The world embraces creativity and invention, and when intelligence is put to use for good, wondrous things are possible, but beware when intelligence is used for evil, devious tactics.

The following examples of underhanded tactics are inspired from stories I have read in the news or from my own life experiences.

Diverting Attention

You write an on topic reply to a post on the Facebook page of a political party. A few people respond in support and add to your train of thought and communication flows and it seems solutions may be possible. Then you notice a few people posting off topic or irrelevant comments, at odds with the topic being dealt with. When next you look, people are no longer on topic as many have jumped in and are commenting at random to the diverting posts that now intersperse the page. Your conversation is lost in the noise of diversion. Was diversion a tactic undertaken on purpose to divert attention from the communication and from coming up with valuable solutions? Think of other places where this might happen, for example, in discussions at work. The more people make comments or ask questions which divert, the more difficult it is to stay on topic and to use a group's time wisely to deal with one matter at a time. Often diversion may not be done on purpose, people are merely interested in where their thoughts lead them, but the end result is the same, in a weakening of focus. Stick to the topic at hand and park all side conversations until the main issue has been dealt with and only then move on. Conversation will be much more effective. It is always better to concentrate and to stand united than to divide energy and attention.

Sunday 14 April 2013

One Christian Body

I've been searching for the right church, one that follows Biblical principles and also one which has an awesome worship service, as I love singing praise and worship songs. The Bible says, "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." (Psalm 95:1 KJV)

I love hearing sermons in church, and I have my favourite Pastors, but more than anything it is singing to God which I look forward to. I have attended churches where people sway and dance and lift up their hands and sing boldly. Oh how I enjoyed this worship, as I was one of the enthusiastic worshipers; perhaps a bit too enthusiastic at times! I used to be such a quiet, sedate person! Yet the church I have chosen to attend is one where people stand politely. No hands are usually lifted, though I had a hard time keeping my hands down at the service this weekend just past! It was a wonderful service and during the sermon I found myself praising God spontaneously and silently inside my head. It felt to me as if a light had been switched on within a few people within the congregation, as the Pastor spoke of worship during his sermon, and I think he gave the Bible verse above.

I have attended churches where the service seems forced and cold and where God's presence seems far away, and where people are attending church because this is something they do weekly, not necessarily because they seem to truly want to worship God. Of course, I cannot see inside people's hearts, so the silence may be a facade for a wondrous internal experience with God. I have realised myself that I don't need to lift up my hands to feel God's presence, so it has been really good for me to attend a church where this is not the norm. After all church is not a disco! But still, I enjoy being able to sing in vigorous praise to God. He seems really close when I do this. Yet I know God is always around us, available to us, and if I feel God is far away it is because I am being distant, not because He has left me. He is always there! I feel praise opens up a doorway to Heaven.

What does this tell me? Well, firstly, God can be found in any and every church. I have felt a strong presence of God in most, if not all, of the churches I have attended. And when I say attended, I mean sometimes attending a specific church once or twice only in my search to find what seemed like a church which followed Biblical truth. An analogy would be when I was buying a car and I was not willing to pay money for any of the vehicles I looked at as there was always something small that seemed I could not compromise on. With each car it seemed I had found the right one until I noticed, what was for me, the flaw. Either the colour or the price or the transmission, yet everything else was perfect. If only I could take parts of one car and overlay characteristics of another car; why couldn't there be one that had everything I really wanted! In the end I ended up buying a car, of course, and I had to go with my gut feel as to the one that would work best for me, even though it was not perfect. It was the same in finding a home church. Each time I did some research and found something I disagreed with, which I felt was not Biblical. I was skeptical about some parts of the doctrine of the church I currently attend too, but in spite of my initial misgivings, this is the church I have chosen. I may wander on in my journey sometime, but I feel I am at this church for a reason, maybe to rest in my constant search and to allow God to lead me, instead of always questing to find Him, yet always missing what He is saying as I rush on to investigate the next denomination.

I wish all churches would state that the Bible is their doctrine, and that this forms the basis of their beliefs. I wish all churches would state they are part of one Christian body, and the denomination is secondary. Of course each church will be different and will have different nuances of culture, which some do even within denominations, but I wish we could see ourselves as one global Christian organisation. As an example, I have heard some Christians say the word Catholic as if this is a totally different religion. Yet Catholics follow Jesus! How can they not be Christians! I may not believe in all that a Catholic church says and does, but I cannot say they are not Christians--I feel this is for God to decide. Perhaps some people who attend Catholic churches may say other churches are not truly Christian! I do believe there are churches which might have deception sown into their beliefs, but if all were to say that, first and foremost, the Bible is what matters, then I believe the differences of doctrinal interpretation would not present such a barrier, which they currently may.

Secondly, I disagree with the reasoning where churches tell people to first complete and agree with their own internal course, before obtaining membership in a specific church. The Message Bible says, "For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help." (Romans 14:2-4 MSG) Why not allow all to join, and people who disagree are bound to leave of their own accord? (See related blog article: Culture As a Form of Self Regulating Management) I feel one should allow and encourage robust debate and discussion as this leads to truth.

Thirdly, change can happen. The culture of a church may be largely static, but I have seen that hearts can change and in so doing some practices one may disagree with may change too. God will lead the way. It is not about the building and the coffee and the people, it is about finding God. There may be no perfect church, but in all follow God and set small differences aside. After all, isn't that why churches exist, to glorify God and to allow His Kingdom to spread?

Saturday 13 April 2013

Always See the Person, Not the Stereotype

Recently the news has reported a few incidents of racism on public transport: A person on a bus is hounded by blanket comments from a spectator alluding to his or her race group, saying get off the bus you <insert race group expletive>. Bystanders may look on for fear of getting caught up in a racist argument, or perhaps because many agree with the shouted sentiments. Sometimes the person who is being villified may even look like many other people on the bus, but speaks with a different accent and is from a different culture. Sometimes of course the person being taunted has a hand in egging people on, maybe touching an arm or making a provocative gesture or using sly words said with a smirk, but the response towards such people should never be a blanket racist statement, for example, you people are all alike; people can be shouted at in general instead, for example, hey you, leave me alone or I'm calling the police.

I have seen examples of racist behaviour reported about widely divergent ethnic groups, showing that this tendency can occur along the entire race spectrum and that any group can be targeted by any other group. Racism towards others is colour blind in a sense, as people from all races groups can discriminate and hold racist attitudes, and people who are targeted may themselves target others, especially their persecutors.

How do we avoid racism? Firstly, I believe racist attitudes should not be taught. Never accuse an individual's bad behaviour as being due to their race! Don't tell your children that such and such a group is dangerous because of their colour. This can be easy to do if one grows up in an area where the majority of a group look a certain way, as one may hold prejudicial mindsets if one has experienced untoward behaviour which seems to emanate from the group. For example, if one is constantly the victim of crime and perpetrators always seem to be of the same colour, this can imply that the group as a whole is to blame and that individuals from the group are all the same. Yet consider that this may be because the individuals concerned are from the same majority group or societal community. It is never the group as a whole that is dangerous, it is individuals only, as a group of people from a certain race who seem dangerous to residents in a particular country may not pose a risk as a group at all in another country. Why is this the case? I have lived in a country where crime seemed to largely emanate from a non-white sector of society, and these people were the majority, and I have lived in another country where crime seems to emanate mostly from the white sector of society, and in this case these people form the majority.

I initially thought this precedent must be due to poverty and the more downtrodden sector of society in each country, then I stopped my thoughts as I remembered that I have been in very poor parts of countries where poorer people are wholly ethical and polite and friendly. I have, for example, seen poor people in Africa warmly greeting people of other colours and cultures. I have also seen people in Africa who are more wealthy, who look the same as the poorer people mentioned, who seem to be career criminals instead, and who rob people violently at gun point and sometimes will kill someone for less than a dollar. One should never generalise. What causes some people who lack resources to turn to crime and hate, whereas others remain polite and upstanding? I put this phenomenon down largely to the upbringing of individuals concerned. It is possible that lack of ethics and lack of love drive some criminal behaviour, as well as learnt behaviour and peer pressure, especially where people are largely uneducated and lack a sense of self and a sense of purpose. I wrote a blog article recently titled, Learning Bad Behaviour By Example As Demonstrated by Bella, the Dog. Role models in society are vitally important, to teach upstanding examples of behaviour. We do learn from our peers and the example society presents to us as a whole. Are our teachers caring and friendly, for example, or do they ignore stragglers and do they lack empathy? The overriding culture may dominate and spread the overriding message within the community. Change needs to happen in all sectors of society to uplift communities, and the easiest place to teach this is with children in schools and in our homes. This may take a long time for good to spread, if bad is entrenched, but sometime tipping point will be reached and good will take hold.

What I suspect is that a group who seems persecuted when they are the minority may become the persecutors when they are the majority group, or when they hold power. All people have the capacity to do this! This is why it is important, I believe, to try to eliminate mindsets where we form groups and it's best to only look at individuals. Of course one wants to honour one's own culture and ethnic roots, but we should strive to see all citizens of a country as individuals with equal rights who are all part of one nation. As soon as one group bands together against others, or one group is given more human rights or privileges than others in the same country, this tends to lead one down the slippery slope of discrimination and tends to create classes of advantage levels.

Change should not be about counting the numbers of different groups of people to make sure quotas are reached; change should mean we are all colour blind and we see only individuals, not stereotypes.

Friday 12 April 2013

Lessons From a Children's Art Class

Yesterday I was the parent helper at a grade one class, only for the first hour of the day. My task was to supervise a small group of children as they painted their choice of picture from a story book. First they donned their art smocks, to avoid getting paint on their school clothes. Then they selected paint brushes. I explained about some of the different size brushes, when I saw one child select the biggest brush, but no, he insisted, he needed a big brush to paint a swathe of colour across his white A4 page. The children poured out different colours of the washable water colour paint into small paint trays. Splosh. Yellow, red, green, blue, white and black. One child found a premixed pink, which still had smears of red and white. He held up a dab on his paint brush and laughed and said, look, lolly colour.

I watched as a big patch of green colour was boldly and deftly applied across the bottom of one page, and grass appeared. Another child carefully dabbed small patches of colour. He announced that he needed grey, and so he tried mixing black and white until he found the right shade of grey. Paint sloshed over the edges of grey's container, escaping its bounds and spilling into nearby colours. This happened with orange too, a mix of red and yellow. I noticed one child smeariing thin water streaks of faint paint lines onto his paper, so I explained about patting the brush down on the edge of the water dish after the brush had been washed, to remove excess water. It is important to correct little mistakes if one notices them, as I could have left him and he would have discovered what to do on his own eventually, but a little help along the way speeds up the trial and error journey. Another child kept putting his paint brush back into the paintbrush jar still coated with paint, and I explained a few times about washing the brush before putting it back, and when next I looked I saw him washing his own brush and I smiled at him and he smiled back happily. Many children left their story books lying on the viewing table after they finished, and I walked over to them and handed them their books so they could put them back. It's important to remember to pack away and clean up afterwards. Some children almost put their storybooks down on the wet newspaper surrounding their blank paper, forgetting these would get damaged. This is not wilful damage, it is innocent ignorance, and a reminder will hopefully ensure this mistake is not repeated.

The Supremacy of the Son Over All

I wrote a blog post recently called A Different View of Baptism and the Trinity (the word trinity is not in the Bible). Then I read Hebrews 1 (see verses below), which I thought was a wonderful chapter showing the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God, and the Angels.

What this chapter seems to be saying to me is that God used to speak to people in times long past through prophets He appointed, and in the last days, He speaks to us through His Son, Jesus. This is bearing in mind that Hebrews was written shortly after Jesus had risen from crucifixion and was therefore written close to the time of Jesus here on earth.

In the verses, God says the Son is His Heir appointed over all things and that the worlds were made through Jesus; we know Jesus is called the Word (see the blog article mentioned previously). The Bible verses say His Son has the brightness of His glory and is the express image of His Person (which could be translated to His Being or His Persona) and Jesus sits at the right hand of God, God who is the Majesty on high, and says Jesus is so much better than the Angels.

The verses say God brought Jesus into being; Jesus is first begotten, and all the Angels are to worship Jesus. The verse "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" implies to me that Jesus is not an Angel, as the Father by no means called any other Angel His Son. Jesus was begotten of the Father. Begotten implies birth to me, and I see that Jesus was the first born of God, and Jesus being perfectly righteous and holy, inherited the throne of God as His Heir apparent.

The verses say it is only to the Son that God the Father said, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Jesus is referred to as "O God" here. The verses say Jesus inherited all this because He loved righteousness and hated evil (iniquity) and that Jesus, "Lord", will endure forever, even though the world may fade away, the very foundations of which were laid by Jesus' hands. The verse "But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" implies to me that Jesus is not at all an Angel, as He sits at the right hand of the Father, and His enemies will become His footstool.



Thursday 11 April 2013

A Simple Explanation of How I See God

I think of a Heavenly Father, a reigning King.

I think of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does the Father's will. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.

I think of the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit as being in perfect accordance. They have an infant, a first begotten Son. He was called the Word, and this was before time began.

The world as we know it was made by God the Father, through His Word. Man was made in the image of God, both male and female. God is Spirit.

The Word was sent to earth, to take human form. Mary was chosen to be the woman who would give birth to Him. The Holy Spirit placed the Word as a human baby inside Mary's womb, thus the Word became flesh. He was called Jesus.

Jesus was crucified, but rose again after three days. He ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, to the Father. When we believe in Jesus, we are baptised with the Holy Spirit, and become part of God's Kingdom.

The Father gave Jesus, who is His Heir, the throne. Jesus is King of King and Lord of Lords and He will return and judge mankind at the appointed time, the day of which only the Father knows.

Note: I have been researching the gender of the Holy Spirit and in a number of places I have found that the Hebrew for the Holy Spirit denotes a feminine gender, but a few other places mention a male gender, and others mention a neutral gender. It makes sense for me to think of the Father being married to the Holy Spirit, because this emulates the concept of marriage here on earth, but I have no Biblical basis on which to make this assumption, and I continue to strive to find truth in this matter.

I am on a journey to find God, and this is the point where I am at now, a snapshot of my beliefs.

Monday 8 April 2013

A Change in Reasoning May Not Change the Outward Expression

Have you ever read something and thought you understood, and then read the exact same thing a bit later in time and understood it differently, yet the words still said the same thing? 

I've recently been struggling with concepts about God and this phenomenon has happened with me, for example, when reading Bible verses. And I have even written about concepts previously and thought I knew what I meant, and then I have revisited my writing as my thoughts have changed, and I have realised that the way I phrased my writing initially still meshes with my changed beliefs. Uncanny!

This is akin to motive. One may do good, for example, by volunteering, but in one's mind may expect monetary reward, and life then takes one on a journey, and in the end one may end up doing the same good, but one's heart has changed and one now does it for a different reason, which may be because one wants to and loves to.

The outward expression is the same, but the underlying reasoning has changed.

Sunday 7 April 2013

Elohim (God): Does Begotten Son Imply an Infant Baby Born in Heaven?

Note: in this article I write about the Christian God, my God, as other religions believe differently.

Link to previous related blog article: A Different View of Baptism and the Trinity (the word trinity is not in the Bible) 

I have been on a journey to find the truth about God and this morning my thoughts took a paradigm shift. I am of course not totally sure if what I write here is true, but it is a possibility that occurred to me. The name Elohim is frequently given as the name of God, particularly in Jewish translations of the Old Testament. Elohim may be singular, but usually indicates the plural. God is referred to as us in Genesis, and this obviously implies more than one being or persona.

Genesis says that man was created in God's image, and it says both male and female humans were created, and if God is referred to as us, is God therefore both male and female? Who exactly does us refer to: Father and Son and Spirit, as all three were involved in the creation of the world?

In the Bible we read the term first begotten. Isaac was said to be the first begotten son of Abraham and Sarah. Begotten in this context implies bringing into being via reproduction, and I've read of this being the promise. This is not creation as such, but a child is begotten via the child's parents.

Today I read Hebrews 1, which mentions that Jesus is the first begotten of God, and is God's heir. Then too, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:" (John 15:26 KJV) (I have read that the Hebrew for Holy Spirit in the Bible denotes that the Holy Spirit is feminine, but this is not the case in other translations, where the Holy Spirit may be male or neutral)

Was Jesus begotten in heaven first by the Father as God's infant Son, the Word, and all things were then formed through Him as God's Heir to the throne in the very beginning, before He was ever begotten on earth?

Matthew 1:18 says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Mary was Jesus' earthly mother here on earth and there are many Bible verses stating that Jesus said He was the Son of Man when He was on earth, and I think He meant He was sent to earth in human form. The verse says Mary was found to be with child of the Holy Ghost, and I used to assume this must mean the Holy Spirit caused conception to occur in Mary, and was the necessary male counterpart, because this is how we conceive and reproduce, but I now believe the verse is stating literally that Mary carried the Holy Spirit's baby, and the Holy Spirit literally placed this baby, an infant Son, in Mary's womb. Mary's DNA might never ever have featured in baby Jesus being created and perhaps Mary was a surrogate mother only. This also implies to me the possibility that the Holy Spirit may be a feminine counterpart, though I have no Biblical basis to say so and this is a possibility only. The Bible does say Mary was blessed amongst all woman to have been chosen to carry Jesus: "And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." (Luke 1:42 KJV) Jesus Christ was the first begotten Son of the Holy Spirit and the Father, as both are mentioned in relation to Him, and He is the begotten Son of God. Somehow seeing the relationship in this context makes me weep for Jesus, God's Son, so much more.


My musing makes me see the phrase, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Godhead Three in One, very differently. I picture a Heavenly family, with the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Son, and they reign together forever as a Heavenly Head of Hosts, with the Son inheriting the crown to be King.

I wonder, is there to be a first begotten daughter at a time of God's choosing? Or maybe this is Jesus' bride referred to in the Bible? I don't know and of course only time will tell, and God will show the way.


A verse in the ancient text called, the Gospel of Hebrews, considered a lost apocryphal book, has Jesus saying, "Even did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away to the great mountain Tabor. (Origen, Commentary on John 2.12.87)" (taken from the topic called Gospel of Hebrews in Wikipedia)

Saturday 6 April 2013

A Different View of Baptism and the Trinity (the word trinity is not in the Bible)

"yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him." (1 Corinthians 8:6 WEB)

Isn't it interesting how we take many things for granted as fact, because this is how we have been taught? We may not even realise we do this.

Take the example of baptism. I have fleetingly wondered before about the way in which Christian baptism is undertaken. Jesus said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" (Matthew 28:19 KJV) Many Bible translations word this verse slightly differently, and say to make disciples of all nations. When I hear the word disciple, I think of someone who follows Jesus and who actively evangelises the gospel, and this may be what is meant by teach. Are all people who are Christian therefore disciples? That is debatable. Christians do follow Jesus and Christian denominations do teach Christians to spread the gospel, but whether each Christian is a disciple, which I see as a rigorous discipline, or not, I am not sure.

Then I began researching churches that do not believe in the trinity, because I read that nowhere in the Bible is the trinity expressly stated as such, though we may often think of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as being a trinity, which means one God, three persons, all equal and eternal making up one God, as we know these names are mentioned in the Bible, and we use them together. I discovered that there are Christian churches that do not believe in the trinity, but that they are few in number. And then I found one church, the United Pentecostal Church International, that baptises people in the name of Jesus Christ only. I was about to dismiss this out of hand, because after all I thought, baptisms are always done in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But then I began reading a few verses that were listed to substantiate these beliefs. For example Acts 2:38 (KJV) says, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." What, I thought, in the name of Jesus Christ only?! And there were a few more examples of verses like this, for example, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27 KJV).

It felt as if I was on the point of breakthrough, but not quite understanding, akin to something being on the tip of one's tongue, just out of reach of thought. Hmmm, so perhaps baptisms may be done in Jesus' name only, and not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I thought. And maybe the latter type of baptism is reserved for evangelising the gospel, I wondered.

Friday 5 April 2013

Uncanny Coincidence

Coincidence. Have you ever experienced coincidences that make you gasp in wonder or cause you to ponder life's bigger meaning and the existence of God?

For example, have you ever been thinking you must call a friend for coffee, and a few minutes or hours later the same friend calls you to invite you to coffee? Does spirit unite us in ways we can't even begin to imagine?

I picked up a friend at the airport. We were going to meet him in the CBD, as he was going to catch a bus, as the plane's arrival coincided with the end of the school day, and it was therefore impossible for us to make it to the airport on time to pick him up. I prayed he would arrive safely, and a bit later I checked his flight details. The flight was delayed for an hour and a half, and would arrive at the exact time I had said I would be able to pick him up, making allowance for the end of the school day. How amazing is that?!

Take another example; I have been mulling over the question of the Sabbath. Do Christians need to honour the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, or not? And what does honour mean? I can't answer all of that, but again, coincidence pops up, as I dropped a friend off at a busy restaurant strip on a Friday late afternoon, and paid for parking, and only then remembered that I might have paid for parking when the Sabbath had already started. I checked my parking ticket and it said the parking expired at 6:54pm. Oh well, I thought, I made a mistake and must have encroached on Sabbath time. I checked the time of sunset when I got home, as Sabbath lasts from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, and I saw that the Sabbath started at 6:55pm. My paid parking ended the minute before Sabbath started!

I have been experiencing coincidences recently where something happens in my life and then the same thing happens in a friend's life. Uncanny. I have yet to discover what this means though. And of course, is there a meaning, or is it just, yep you guessed it, random coincidence?! Or I might have a discourse about a subject with someone, and then read a newspaper article dealing with the exact same topic, which aids my understanding. There have been occasions when I have metaphorically kicked myself because I have read an article that showed me how I might have better dealt with a particular topic and I've wished I had read it sooner, but at least it was a lesson learnt.

What about happenings where we might disregard advice or follow through on something in spite of our first experience. This is not quite coincidence you might say, yet perhaps it is, as the first incident was a moment of coincidence, pointing the path one might have taken. Take the example of a man arrested for a murder, using a gun that he obtained a license for earlier in the year, yet on further investigation the police discover the first application for the gun was turned down. If the first experience had been accepted, would the murder have ever happened? What about the example where police are called to a domestic dispute hours before a murder, and might have prevented the murder from ever happening if strong action had been taken at the time of the first call? Chance moments of opportunity may be wasted. Unfortunately it is often only with hindsight, if ever, that we may realise an opportunity was forfeit. Do we sometimes follow our own paths so strongly that we disregard gentle moments of guidance, often disguised as coincidence?

Watch out for coincidences in your life. You may be surprised at how often coincidence pops up. Are there lessons for you to learn from your own moments of coincidence?

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Unexpected Goodbyes

I walked into my child's classroom this morning, expecting to see her usual teacher. I knew her teacher was only supposed to be working there for the first term, and then my daughter would be getting another teacher, but my daughter  told me unexpectedly yesterday that she will  have a new teacher after the Easter break, a few weeks before term one ends. I thought she must be mistaken and somehow I still expected to see the same teacher standing there this morning, the one I have gotten used to, but there was this different teacher. Hopefully her first teacher is off for some reason today, not because she is never returning, but maybe she has already spent her last day at the school and I missed it.

Why does this bother me? Well, I will miss the teacher and I do not know what happened to her. I will have to ask where she is, perhaps this afternoon when things are not as rushed, and especially now that I have had a moment to think about it. I have had a few chats with the teacher during the year, and have grown to really like her. She knows my daughter and her personality quirks.

Most importantly though, I did not say goodbye. Did anyone else in the class say goodbye to the past teacher? I like to know when people are leaving. I would have liked to get her a farewell card or a gift. I hope my daughter said goodbye. Or will the teacher just disappear, without a goodbye, as happens so often these days in society? It really bothers me.

It's a lesson that we do not always know when we may see another person. Even if we see someone regularly, the next visit may not be guaranteed. People say goodbyes all the time, and sometimes there is no tangible goodbye. When I moved countries I shocked a few people with my unexpected news, but at least I did say goodbye. In the case of the teacher, I do not know what has happened to her, or if she will be waiting there tomorrow so we can still say goodbye. I hope she is there tomorrow.

My advice is, firstly, to appreciate people while you have them around you, and secondly, to digress somewhat, never ever base your decision on whether to stay or leave somewhere because of a person, especially a decision regarding where you work and where you live, unless it's really close family or someone you are marrying. The person you stay to be with, or move to be with, may decide to leave you sometime, for example, the manager you adore working for may emigrate or resign when a new job offer comes along. You may still be able to remain in contact with people who leave, but don't live your life clinging to other people. Try to say goodbye when you can, try to stay in touch when you can, but appreciate people while you have them around as they may leave you unexpectedly.