Monthly Archives: July 2008

Blogging from Namibia

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If everything’s on time, we’ll be leaving just about now on a 10-day mission to Rundu Namibia. I’ll be blogging from Rundu, with updates as often as I can. I called the hotel, and we should have internet capability at the hotel. If this doesn’t pan out, there’s an internet cafe downtown, but if I have to go that route, updates almost certainly won’t be daily.

We’re flying Delta from San Antonio to Atlanta (2 hrs), 3:15 layover in Atlanta, then Atlanta to London (8 hrs). After over 13 hours in London, we board an Air Namibia jet nonstop to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. That flight is a grueling ten and a half hours in the most uncomfortable seats known to mankind. We arrive in Windhoek, greeted by George Funk, at 8:45 AM. (There’s 6 hours difference in time from Fredericksburg to Windhoek.)

The trip home is essentially the reverse of the above, except we go through Frankfurt Germany instead of London. Windhoek to Frankfurt is about 7½ hours (leaving at 8:50 PM on August 9), Frankfurt to Atlanta is 9½ hours, and Atlanta to San Antonio is 2 hours. All together for the round trip, that’s roughly 39-40 hours in the air. Just don’t ask us to sit down when we get back home. Standing on the roof of the car for the ride home from the airport will be just fine, tyvm.

Stay tuned for mission trip updates, [hopefully no] injury reports, and other pertinent data from the trip. Keep us in your prayers. See you soon!

Bob

The Golden Rule: Positive or Negative?

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So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

Everyone reading this blog is no doubt very familiar with these words of Jesus, whether you’re a Christian or not. It’s really hard to argue with the idea contained within these short words of wisdom, but there are those who do, and we see it every day (Sudan, Al Queda, …). But that’s not the point behind this post.

For much of my life I had just assumed that this idea originated with Jesus, but it didn’t. It’s a good teaching, but not uniquely His. The idea that it was good to treat people like you would like to be treated yourself had been around for centuries before Jesus came to earth.

Much has been said about the fact that this teaching is a positive teaching from Jesus, and a negative teaching in other religions. Consider…

“Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.” Confucius

“That which is to you hateful do not to your neighbor.” Hillel

There are many other examples, but these will suffice. (Just Google “negative golden rule” and you’ll find more.) So what do we mean by positive and negative teachings? We mean that Jesus’ teaching is proactive, and requires action on the part of the one fulfilling the teaching. If you want people to do something nice for you, do something nice for them first. The other teachings are passive, and don’t require any action at all. If you don’t want people to do harm to you, don’t harm them. You can do that from your easy chair.

Those who support the negative forms of the Golden Rule say the Rule as taught by Jesus is self-focused, and teaches that I should do good to others so they’ll return the kindness and do good to me. They say the “negative Golden Rules” focus on others — don’t treat others badly, don’t harm others, etc.

I don’t know about all of that. I think both forms of the Rule are good teachings, and both forms are how Jesus would expect His followers to behave. I think there was a reason why Jesus chose to state the Rule the way He did, and it wasn’t by accident. If you believe it’s self-focused, and that it teaches doing good so others will do good in return, you need to look at your own motives and focus less on the motives of others. There are just some things we do because it’s the right thing to do. A true follower of Jesus will just do it, without regard for whether the other person responds in kind.

Getting out of debt

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I’ve pointed you to the Christian PF blog before (PF = personal finance). Today they start a 7-part series about getting out of debt. The introductory post was Saturday, so here are the links to the first 2 posts in the series. After that, you’re on your own. (There’s a free subscription option available.)

Introduction

Part 1