One Geek

I’ve been reflecting on Mathew 25 and the Sheep and The Goats.

31″When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

41″Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44″They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45″He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46″Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I am trying to work out whether I am a goat or a sheep by this catagory. I’ve heard it said that this passage referers only to Christian’s. To give myself a sporting chance of not going to hell I’ve decided to accept this narrowing of scope.

To be a goat I need to of done the following to a Christian, “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’”.

I know I must of failed to give someone food and drink. One example of this failure is that I’ve failed to do all I can to feed the hungry Christians in Africa and provide them with clean water.

I have passed homeless people and failed to invite them in.

I have passed beggars in India who had need of clothes and failed to clothe them.

I have not visited many people in hospital.

I have not visited anyone in prision.

So far I have 5 out of 5 for being a goat.

Now lets see if I am goat.

37″Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

1) I have given food and drink to hungry people on a number of occasions.

2) I have been inviting to strangers but not into my own home :-(. (I’ll give myself .75).

3) Clothes.. Hmmm.. I sometimes put my old clothes in those big bins.

4) I have visited some people when they have been sick.

5) I have not visited anyone in prision. I did go to Villawood once but never ended up going again. I think that counts for (.25)

So I have 4/5 for being a sheep and 5/5 for being a goat.

I still have some time left. I wonder how God does his maths.
Do you think he rounds up in our favour??
Does he give conceded passes?

The interesting thing is the areas of gray when at comes to salvation. By this passage I believe that most of us could either be sent to hell or heaven.

Is judgement based on a simple adding up of the good and the bad? Where then is grace?

Are we simple judged on attitude? This seems a bit more in accordance with grace.

Is it just a cautionary tale reminding us to take social justice seriously?

I don’t know. What I do know is that if we took this teaching seriously life on Earth would be far better for many people.

I am reading The Last Week by Borg and Crossan. It is an interesting look at the last week before Jesus’s death and resurrection. It is a book which seems to be leaning heavily to liberation theology. It takes what I am finding a challenging look at Mark.

It argues that atonement sacrifice is not really what Mark is writing about. That it is more about Jesus calling to participate in death and resurrection. It is interesting reading about the Bible placed in a political and historical light. An example of this is Jesus entering on a donkey into Jerusalem from one side and Pilate entering on the same day in a pomp procession. I really am wondering how much of the truth of Jesus we have neglected over the centuries as Christianity has lost its place as a radical movement.

Whenever I read the gospels I can’t help but think that I am selling Jesus short in His radical mission for personal and collective change.

One question I am thinking about is how many layers of meaning can the gospels and the Bible have. If it is the living Word of God then does this mean that the message and interpritation changes in light of historical evidence and new theological thought are simply part of God’s continuing revelation to us. Can one reconcile literal and non-literal interpretations of the text? Is the Bible about Questions or Answers?

Bangladesh made 427 runs in their first innings against Australia!
The underdog is alive and well.

Another underdog Stuart MacGill got 8 wickets.

This weekend has been a fairly good. Yesterday I went to the movies and then out to dinner with a family I know. I saw “The New World” the first half was much better then the second. It’s funny they have intermissions mid-scene at the cinemas I go to in Delhi. It’s a bit funny and it kind of ruins the intensity of the film.

Today I went to church again for the whole day. The minister was away so members of the congregation gave the messages. I like lay preachers. A group of us went out to lunch after the morning service. We went to a Tibetan place which was fun. I had momos and fruit beer.. They make a rather good combination.

I am still finding clicks at church hard to break into. Then there is the whole concept of whether or not I should.

I feel pretty tired.

Today I was really challenged to be a better person.
I wish it came easier.
I so need to learn Hindi so I can relate better to people of a lower socio economic status.

I heard two stories today that made me reflect on how mean and cruel men can be to their wives. Make me MAD!

Got the new Bevis CD today. Lots of fun, I had given up on it coming, thinking that 2 weeks was too long for airmail..

I don’t understand that kind of delay. Maybe I am just impatient.

I am listening to it at the moment. I am quite enjoying it.

Just read this in the smh. Why does the US need to manufacture more nuclear weapons? If terrorism is the biggest threat to national security why do you even want more nuclear bombs? Do they really need more up to date bombs?

Update..
And why can I still not do a html link properly.

Maybe I should become a professional web surfer.
So much of my work even here is based on reasearching on the net.
The amount of webpages I visit in any day is scary.

I spent most of Sunday with people at church. It was quite good fun. I was hanging out with Rob some locals, and some miscellaneous white people. It was kind of weird. There was a woman who had just got back from Duncan Hospital and then another guy who was off to Duncan Hospital. I had spent a reasonable amount of time in Duncan on my last trip to India.

So anyway I went to the 11am service, went out for lunch, then hung around church until the 5pm service. After that we went out for coffee. It was all good fun. I’ve found a few people with whom I can express my somewhat sarcastic humour with. My views though on church and theology still leave me feeling a little lonely.

I read a bit of a book on “being a woman” and it offended my feministic ideals. I so think that this whole Eve created out of Adam bit from the Bible is taken way too far. I just can’t abide by an argument about a woman’s purpose being to serve a man. I have no problems with a mutual support argument. I almost prefer the Greek myth about how man and a woman used to be formed in one being. Then the god’s were jealous and split them in two.

I am finding sermons here hard to deal with. I really am so in a different place then where most of the sermons are targeting. It’s interesting I have problems culturally and theologically with them as well. I think I want to explore two areas of spirituality. I want to find more on liberation theology and explore more of the mystical side of the Christian walk.

I miss renevore, I’d like to set one up here.. I don’t have enough friends to do that though. I’d like to setup some kind of commie dinner too but I have no stove and no table.

I’m thinking about doing some volunteering in a children’s slum project. I feel like it might be a practical way of addressing some of the issues I face living here. I feel that I should do something to help. So I think I’ll knock on a few doors and see if they open. Though I am a bit unsure if I really have enough time to be of any use.

Not much else to report really. Life is going well. I miss people from back home.

I have had an a lot of time to myself this past week. It’s interesting that I am coping as well as I have been. I’ve been doing lots of reading and film watching. I have now watched extended lord of rings with commentries. So far on this trip I have finished 3 books. And should be finished a 4th tonight and a 5th tommorow.

It’s nice that I am experience peace when I am by myself. As an extravert (which I think I probably am) it can be hard to deal with being alone for extended periods. Some how I’ve been doing alright at it. Of course I have been calling people almost every day back home and that’s fun.. Not sure how sustainable but you get that..

I have few friends here in Delhi at the moment. I had dinner at one of their houses, which was great.

I’m a little sick at the moment but that’s to be expected..

This is turning into a very random string of sentences. The cohesiveness of this text leaves something to be desired.

Wes is back on Friday I think.. So we may be sharing a room again soon.. I am making the most of playing my music loudly.

I went and saw V for Vandeta today. That was fun. Had a Dosa, Vada and Idle combo for lunch. Being in the land of dosa is good.

This so isn’t going anywhere. Right this post is finished.

The music here is actually quite good. Counting Crows would you believe.

Last night I went to Cafe Mocha and discovered that they have a Chai Late. That is the first place in Delhi I have seen with one. However I wasn’t quite in that vibe last night so I just had a sickly sweet berry blast, and a bite to eat.

I have a bit of a cold but otherwise things are going fine. I am planing on going and watching a movie soon. But first I must indulge in a coffee. I am drinking so much coffee here in India.