some comments and questions
it's a good thing christianity doesn't operate on a
merit system, because i'd be losing points with my
total lack of patience in using the internet rightnow,
not to mention this blasted sticky keyboard which
forces me to typein every word twice and smash down on
each letter in order for it to show up on the screen.
aaaarrrggh patience is definitely my weak point. i've
been gently reminded that it's high time i wrote
somethinginthis journal, so here' what's beenhappening
over the past few weeks.
we've just finished Lebaran holidays, so everyone has
stopped fasting and you can buy food on the streets
and eat and drink in public again without being
extremely rude to those trying not to think about how
hungry/thirsty they are. i went to the beach with some
other English First teachers, it was enourmously
crowded, but still managed to surf and eat gado-gado
and get horribly burned. i've never been in such bad
traffic, it was blocked up for kilometers, and we
stopped altogether for 2 hours without moving cos
there had been a landslide or something up ahead and
everyone was stuck while we waited for whoever it is
to sort it out. anyway, the trip that usuallytakes 4
hours took 14,we were rather grumpy upon arrival as
you might expect. then i also wentto jakarta to seemy
old kupang friend, Debby. it was great to catch up
with her again. we went to see the national monument,
Monas, which you can take a lift up to the top and see
the smoggy gridlock insane view of Jakarta (10 million
people, 20 million cars), Monas was built by the first
president of Indonesia (Sukarno) who wanted an Eiffel
Tower-like structure in his capital city too, its an
ugly old thing and is irreverently known as "Sukarno's
final erection". (he was a famous womaniser and
hadsomething like 5 wives during his tenure.)
now i'm back at work in Bandung, still enjoying
teaching and gettingless busy with work as i get used
to things. my co-workers are great and we have a lot
of laughs. some of my students are awesome,others are
so ADD you wonder if they have a Red Bull drip
attached under their clothes. i cant decide whetheri
like teaching adults or kids best, it more depends on
the class. nikki called me today and filled me in on
all the hobart goss, so now i REALLY miss you all and
tassie, i would do just about anything to breathe some
northwest coast tassie air. pls bottle some up and
send.
my church is good, on sunday my friends and i all got
together for a big cook-off, and cooked different
foods native to our backgrounds. i tried to make dutch
mashed potato but theres no gravy mix to be had heren
and i used the wrong potatoes so it turned into a huge
gloppy mess. the other stuff was good, though, but i
hope i didnt poison anyone. i've beengoing to these
seminars on islam also, which teaches about what the
qur'an says and compares it to the bible, its
interesting but i'm still trying to learn more before
i agree with that "culturally sensitive" method of
reaching people. basically it shows muslims from their
own scripture that they should read the bible, and
that jesus gives them salvation, all which i'm fine
with, but it seems people who are muslim and who
believe in jesus can still follow all the traditions
and cultural practices of islam (the peci hat, going
to mosque, studying the holy books etc) and still call
themself a muslim , and yet be a christian on the
inside because of their belief in jesus. i guess the
argument is the islam is a culture/identity as well as
a religion so its difficult for a muslim to convert
because you're asking them to give up their culture
and identity as well. i understand that bit and dont
think it matters whether one person "eats meat or
only veggies" or wears muslim garb, but basically
christians get on side with their muslim friends so
they are trusted and good friends with eachother, then
share the gospel, but i'm not sure yet whether they
call themself muslim or not. it seems a bit weird,
like you are pretending to be one thing and then
sharing what you really believe with the person, a bit
secretive and dishonest? the argument is, that muslims
will avoid you if you go straight in to a comunity
calling yourself a christian. they will be your
friend,but since you are labelled with thh word
'christian', the wall is already up so no amount of
good living is going to make them look into
chrisianity (they put us to shame in terms of a good
life, anyway, whichis humbling and a rebuke to
christians). so if you go into the community saying
you belive in Allah and want to do what he says, you
are more likely toget a hearing , but this assumes the
same Allah that both parties believe in,problemis the
Allah/God of the bible and the Allah of the Qur'an say
different things and contradict e.o. at times,even
though the Qur'an also talks about how people should
listento Jesus and that he'll be sacrificed for people
and raised up againetc (except then there's that
switcheroo at the cross) so i just dont know whether
the whole Allah/God thing is just semantics and
quibbling over tiny doctrinal points that hinder the
work of the gospel (like the man i talked to seems to
think) or whether it is worth taking a different stand
on, (well, actually i do lean more towards this side.)
this "contextual evangelism" is certainly more
effective cos it starts with what muslims already know
and believe from thier Qur'an , but just cos its
effective doesnt neccessarily meanits right. especialy
since Jesus said we will be persecuted and killed/,
have to leave neighbours and family for his sake if we
are christians, and this other way i'm learning about
basically lets christians still appear as muslims to
their family and friends so they dont get kicked out
of the community and have a chance to share the gospel
withtheir loved ones...just doesnt seem to gel. but
i'll keep learning more just in case i've
misunderstood the whole method,i've only gone to one
long seminar and heard about the others so far and
talked to a couple people. but let meknow what you
guys think, i need some good reasons and advice on
this. i bettergo, this has been long, and i have
french conversation at 10 (yep, i've found someone who
wants to practice french in indonesia!) . God bless
you all, thanks for your prayers and i'll be praying
for you too (if you have requests send themin ) and
your churches. keep reading them bibles, we are lucky
to have so many for so cheap!
heidi
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