More T-Shirts

About a year ago I made a post on the funny, sometimes really dirty t-shirts that you see the Chinese here wearing.

As it happens this week has been a good week for strange t-shirt spotting. Most of them have been rather dirty. Maybe I've just been getting out more. Maybe it is just the season.

Seen this week, as best as I can remember:

• "If love is the answer my body is the question" (worn by an overweight teenage girl)
• "Love, love, happiness, free sex, me (Worn by a middle aged woman)
• "Donald Dick" (A possible misspelling as the shirt had Donald Duck on the front)
• "I'm the easy one" (Ostensibly a shirt advertising a Japanese beer. But the pretty teenage girl wearing the shirt obviously didn't understand the dirty-old man imagery it evoked)
• A t-shirt with a cartoon picture of a man looking inside his underwear. The one word caption was "Happiness" Worn by a rather pretty young lady who obviously had no clue.)
• A t-shirt that was designed like the ubiquitous I (Heart for love) HK/NY/Shanghai/etc. But that had the heart removed and hand with the middle finger raised and an apostrophe "ed" instead. So "I F--Ked HK" (This was worn by a girl who looked liked a Filipino maid.)

The best of the week?

• "Dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians" (Worn by a old man in the park.)
• "If I throw a stick will you go away?" (Worn by a man who appeared to be a tourist)
  

These just reminded me that you should never wear any thing that has words in a language you cannot read.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The T-Shirt Reading Blogger

Bull-Horns

I went to a restaurant yesterday with my daughter. We were having a wonderful lunch unil a tour group of elderly mainlanders came in. The tour guide was using a bull-horn to get them to their tables and give them instructions on how to get to the buffet.

That's Hong Kong.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The gourmand Blogger

Byzantine Hymns

I ran across this series of links the other day.

I am still away and part of being away means having time to refocus a little bit.

However, this is a cool site of ancient Byzantine hymns. They are in Greek and require a Real Player and a plug-in to play them but they are really worth listening too.

Here is the link

Enjoy

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Musical Appreciation Blogger

Away, away, take me away from it all!

My job has been really hectic the last week. It will continue to be so for the coming week.

I should be able to post regularly again starting the last week of June.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Otherwise Occupied Blogger

Hagia Sophia

This will probably be my last travel-log post about my recent trip to Turkey. It will also be the hardest to write because I am going to deal with some very abstract concepts. I'll try not to ramble.

I will also not respond to those wishing to call me names or who complain about my lack of sensitivity to Muslims in this regard. So, save the hate mail. I won't respond to it.

It is amazing to me how close the emotions of love, hate, joy and bitterness often stand to each other in our conscience. I find the ability to rapidly slide from one to the other to be one of the more uncomplimentary facets of the human condition.

I ran into this while in the Hagia Sophia. While looking at the remnants of the beautiful mosaics and frescoes as well as the magnificent dome and the truly monumental proportions of the church I was struck with what a travesty the Ottomans perpetrated on my culture when they overran the Byzantines. Let us be frank, the Ottomans invaded and conquered a culture that had existed for nearly a 1000 years in its Roman form and much longer as a conglomeration of Greek speaking peoples. As a culture, the Byzantines were superior to the Ottomans in almost every way except the ability to wage the most cruel and barbaric form of war. This doesn't mean that the Byzantines were perfect, far from it, but there is no doubt that the Turks simply stole a country from people who had lived there for millennia and who were culturally and spiritually their superiors.

The Turks then set about destroying all the references to that culture they'd conquered and apparently designed mosque to resemble Orthodox churches. They plastered over they tore down, they changed the language and while slightly more tolerant than the Fatmids in Egypt they forced many to convert to Islam at the point of a sword. The accounts of the atrocities committed upon the people of Constantinople after its fall are difficult for me to read.

The Turks even changed the names of cities so that the Greek heritage of the area was lost or at least submerged beneath a forced veneer of Turkish colored paint. The palace of the last Sultan is a tourist attraction. I don't think the Germans do tours of Adolph Hitler's house. If they do they approach it very differently and the Sultan was a ruthless dictator.

Much of the New Testament was written to churches in what is now Turkey. Much of the best of ancient civilization was preserved by the Byzantines. The Renaissance in Western Europe was possible not because of anything done by the Arabs as is often stated but because the Byzantines had never lost the knowledge of antiquity and Byzantine teachers were hired by Italian merchants and princes to educate their children. The Byzantines were the only state besides China to make the transition from antiquity to the middle ages. Far from being a culture in decline they remained until almost the end, a vibrant culture though reduced in size and influence.

I simply broke down and wept in the Hagia Sophia. I found myself weeping over the loss of what is without doubt, my cultural inheritance. I wept because it is a lie that the plaster over the frescoes preserved the art in the church. The art would have been better preserved if the Hagia Sophia was a working church as it had been for 800 years before the Ottomans converted it into a mosque. I wept and had to quickly leave before I collapsed on the floor. I went outside and waited near the gate for the rest of my group. Outside in the bright sunlight I was able to regain my composure and calm my soul.

Outside I was able to forgive both my myself and the 15th century Ottomans and I sat there and enjoyed the wonderful Saturday morning sun. I waited about 15 or 20 minutes for the rest of my group.

I had to struggle to remember those who committed this great crime are not the same people who are living in Turkey today. I do not hold children responsible for the crimes of their fathers. That said, I don't think that the Turks are able to stand emotionally far enough away from their history to be able to understand why the Hagia Sophia was simultaneously the one thing in Turkey that I felt I must see and the one thing I so dreaded to see.

Other Western nations are somewhat ashamed or at least speak in sheepish tones of their Imperial past and especially the crimes their ancestors committed in the name of their nation. I didn't see that in Turkey. As I said earlier I think that the Turks are still standing too close to their history to see how some of the things they've done look to others. I should also say that the Turks I met were friendly, polite and generally good people. I'd live in Turkey before I'd live in France or Germany or the UK. But, I still had to struggle to not hate the Turks on that day for what their ancestors did to my culture. It is a struggle I won, at least on that day.

I am grateful to the Turkish government for the restoration that is occurring in the Hagia Sophia. I am grateful that they have turned it into a museum. It will only become more spectacular in the future.

I'm planning to return to Turkey someday

I am praying that the Gospel may one day be proclaimed again from the pulpit of the Hagia Sophia.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Philo-Byzanto Blogger

Philosophy of Education

(A Morning Devotion Presented during the 2005-2006 School Year)

I'd like to challenge you today to think about your underlying educational world view. We often think about classroom management, or best practice or curriculum development but we don't think about the philosophy that undergirds what we do. I'd like to raise this issue today. I'd like to challenge you to think about educational philosophy at a very basic level and to consider doing some reading on the subject

I'm going to do this in a strange way. I'm going to quote someone who in some very important areas I disagree with and then hopefully tie what he has to say into some Biblical principles. That person is John Dewey.

Dewey was an apostate, who disavowed his Christianity after reading the works of Darwin. I don't buy nearly all of what Dewey says. However, the fact that I disagree with John Dewey on so many issues makes it even more striking to me when he says something that hits the nail on the head. I believe that while we need to be careful with John Dewey he still has, on the whole, something to teach us.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Letters to Malcolm that the best devotions are those " that you do while reading a pagan philosopher with a pen in your hand and a pipe in your teeth" Well I don't smoke but I understand the sentiment. Some of my best and deepest devotional thoughts over the past three or four years have come reading Kierkegaard the existentialist, Heiddeger the NAZI, Bergson, Popper and Husserl who were Jewish, and John Dewey who was a lapsed Protestant.

In the past several months it has been Dewey who has 52 years after his death stirred my soul and turned my heart and mind to ponder just exactly what is God's concept of education and what is my role as a librarian who is also an educator.

As we talk and sit and hopefully learn in teacher workdays and late start days this coming year I think it might be a good idea to revisit John Dewey who is, after all, without doubt, the most important philosopher of education in the last 150 years and see if he has anything to say us in a Christian school.

For those who are unfamiliar with John Dewey let me quickly give you an overview. Dewey believed that the best education was education that comes from experience. He was struggling against an educational system that believed that knowledge and wisdom were external things that could be inserted into the minds of children through repetition and drill. Education in his time was strict and taught that there must be a strict adherence to to facts and a preset curriculum.

Dewey was not the first but was the most influential thinker to say that education should be child centered not curriculum or teacher centered. He invented the lab school. He advocated cooperative learning and was an early and vocal advocate for better special education as well as planting the seeds that would become the inclusive education movement. He pioneered smaller class size. He advocated such now standard ideas as group learning and relating lessons to everyday experience.

In many respects his criticism of the educational establishment of his day was well founded and accurate. The problem was that the educational system of late 19th century America had grown out of the Sunday-school movement, catechism schools and the efforts of Protestants to improve literacy so that people could read the Bible.

When the established educational system of Dewey's time opposed his reforms it was, in part because they saw those reforms, I believe, incorrectly as an attack upon Christianity. I must stress that while Dewey abandoned his Christian roots he consistently refused make overt attacks upon the church or Christianity as he saw the great good that Christian social missions had provided to the poor of the industrial revolution and exhibited great respect for his Christian colleagues throughout his life.

I believe that the schools of Dewey's times missed an opportunity to reform the idea of education and to retrieve a wandering and back-sliding man. For as the schools opposed Dewey his position against them hardened and he was forced to ally himself with the secular and socialist elements in society and it is these groups who have become the champions of a better education in the world not the church. Education has been poorer every since.

Thus, without further explanation; I've re-printed some excerpts from John Dewey's book Experience and Education. As you have time today or tomorrow, I'd like for you look at these quotes and see if you can put them in a Christian perspective. Think about how you can refine, clarify or improve your philosophy of education and discover how that philosophy is based or grounded in your faith.

Mankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites. It is given to formulating its beliefs in terms of Either-Ors , between which it recognizes no intermediate possibilities. When forced to recognize that the extremes cannot be acted upon, it is still inclined to hold that they are all right in theory but that when it comes to practical matters circumstances compel us to compromise. Educational philosophy is no exception. The history of educational theory is marked by opposition between the idea that education is development from within and that it is formation from without; that it is based upon natural endowments and that education is a process of overcoming natural inclination and substituting in its place habits acquired under external pressure. (Experience and Education p.1)

Now, all principles by themselves are abstract. They become concrete only in the consequences which result from their application. (Experience and Education p.20)

When external control is rejected, the problem becomes that of finding the factors of control that are inherent within experience. When external authority is rejected, it does not follow that all authority should be rejected, but rather that there is need to search for a more effective source of authority. (Experience and Education p.21)

This last quote is one of my favorites. It can be paraphrased as change does not equal progress.

We shall operate blindly and in confusion until we recognize this fact; until we thoroughly appreciate that departure from the old solves no problems. (Experience and Education p.25)



Lastly, read Hebrews 5:14

Shouldn't one of our objectives as a Christian school be to help our students find the Truth? I think John Dewey had a lot to teach us about finding the Truth.


The complete text for Experience and Education can be found HERE

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Educational Philosopher

More Moral Outrage

Just to be fair to those who think I am a bigot and pick on Muslims.

Here is a link to a story about a family in Texas that starved a child to death.

I am morally outraged by these people as well. However, look at the difference. What these people did is not sanctioned by society and their church or religion (assuming they had one) does not support, sanction or condone it. If the neighbors had known they would have probably intervened or at least called the police. This just doesn’t seem to happen in Islamic societies where the entire society seems to look the other way and life is devalued. (Turkey may be an exception)

I hope the mother and her boyfriend who did this are given the death penalty. I cannot imagine anything that child could do that would deserve being staved to death.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Morally Outraged Blogger

I'm So Weird

I messed my sleeping schedule up on the way back from Turkey.

It isn't that I am jet lagged. It is just I'm not sleeping right. As an adult with ADHD I don't sleep much. Normally 3 to 5 hour a night. However, since returning I have been sleeping about 9 to 10 hours every OTHER night. If you average the week I get about the same amount of sleep but now I am just dog tired about 1/2 the time.

Most people when they can't sleep lay there and try to think of calming things. I don't know that I've ever met anyone who actually counts sheep; but, you know what I mean. They clear their mind. They focus on breathing slowly. They listen to soft music through headphones. Somehow, these types of activities never work for me. Last night I found myself arranging all real numbers into the smallest number of discrete potentially infinite sets. Then through extrapolation I set about proving the existence of God through the existence of numbers and then showing that it is possible for evil to exist in the same universe as an infinite God because they are in mutually exclusive sets that exist within the same super set just like different numbers. They neither contradict nor conflict with each other.

I finally got up about 2:30 and took a pain killer that makes you sleepy. Now I can't remember how I formed the argument last night. I remember that I had the argument formed through about 15 logical steps but I can't remember the steps. I can only remember that I did this and what the outcome was.

I guess I need to learn how to take notes in the dark.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Sleepy Blogger

Stumbling towards the finish

Summer break starts June 15.

Parmukkale

14.	"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15.	`I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16.	`So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
17.	`Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
18.	I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
19.	`Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
20.	`Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
21.	`He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22.	`He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' " Revelation 3:14-22 When I was in Turkey last week one of the places I visited was the spring of Parmukkale, This was probably one of the most interesting places that I've ever seen. There is a hot spring there, right outside the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis. It was a famous place in ancient times because the water has a high mineral content that was thought to have healing properties and was used as an antidote for various poisons and parasites. Indeed, the city of Hierapolis used the springs as its main source of income. People would come and pay to bath in the pools and drink the water. Because so many people came to be healed the city's ruins are dominated by a vast necropolis of tombs and sarcophagi. You had to pay for your funeral in advance if you came for healing and the payment was not refunded if you didn't die. It is easy to see that death was a very lucrative industry in Roman times. As the spring cascades over the cliffs to the valley below the water begins to cool. At the top of the mountain it is 127 degrees Fahrenheit of about 51 degrees Celsius. By the time it reaches the valley it is cool mineral spring that can be used for drinking or even in swimming pools. As the water cools it is able to carry less minerals and the calcium carbonate percipitates out. Over 1000's of years the rocks have aquired a think and beautiful coating of cystalized calcium carbonate. The rocks are a snowy white that looks like ice. Another interesting bit of trivia about this spring is that while the hot spring was used for medicinal purposes and the water at the bottom of hill for drinking, the water half way down is not used for anything. It still had too much salt in it for drinking but not enough for medicinal purposes and was bitter. It is also luke warm. Fun to wade about in but that's about it. It was probably this spring, that Jesus is referencing in this passage because Parmukkale is only a few kilometers from Laodicea and the two cities would have been familiar to each other. I'd never understood this passage until last week. Jesus is saying that we should be good for either healing or refreshment. Not simply good for soaking or wading. I don't think I'd ever understood this pasage before. Until Next Time Fai Mao The Historical Theology Blogger

The Paradox of Living

I am, in general quite critical of the Roman Catholic Church. I find RC theology to be flawed in many ways and wonder how anyone claiming to be a Christian could believe it? I disagree with almost every aspect of RC theology from the three tiers of devotion to the near deification of Mary, the sacraments that lead to salvation (rather than grace), I disagree with the whole nine yards of it. I understand what they believe and I reject it. I am also bothered that the RC church would allow the worship of obviously pagan idols like the Virgin of Guadalupe to be done openly in the churches in central America. In short, I am probably as committed an anti-Catholic as you will ever find.

Yet, two of my favorite colleagues are Catholics. They are two of the most Godly people I know. Over the time I've worked with them I have grown to appreciate their insight, counsel and obvious faith. They will be returning to their home in Canada at the end of the school year. I will miss them.

Such is the nature of life. Such is the nature of friendship. Such is the nature of tolerance that we over look disagreements and enjoy our friends for the good that is in them.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger Who is More Tolerant Than He Thought Was

17 years

Last night was the protest remembering the 17th anaversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. There were two or three soccer pitches worth of people in Victoria Park. It is amazing to me that this event is still remembered and the attendance is so good. The PRC government and their Hong Kong toadies just pretends that they don't see or that it never happened but, in Hong Kong it is remembered every year.

As I stood there with my candle, I couldn't help but quietly think that one day the students who died there will be considered to have been the first martyrs of the new and free China. It is my prayer today that China will become a free nation soon.

"There ain't no funerals, there ain't no prayers, there ain't no blood in the government square. Reign of terror, true and tried, dried the eyes before they'd cried! And how many tears must fall down? Oh, how many tears must fall? How much blood must soak this ground and how many tears must fall?"
Mark Heard

Pray for China today


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Chinese Patriot Blooger

Here we go again

About two months ago I posted a long essay titled "Evil Depraved Barbarians" on the abuse of an 11 year-old girl in Afghanistan.

Last week I received a very angry e-mail calling me all sorts of names and basically saying I had no right to be morally outraged over this situation.

Well, here is another article about the kind of culture that exist in the Muslim world.

I'll say it again.

If this the type of culture that exist in the Islamic world I'd rather not spend blood and treasure saving them.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Still Morally Outraged Blogger

Of Wolverines and Men?

Just read an AP article that says the X-man character "Wolverine" is the most popular comic book super hero.

Who'd a thunk it?

Fai Mao

The Counter

After my last post I got to thinking it might be nice to know how many, if any people actually find my blog. So I looked up a counter. I am not quite comfortable with this "Service" because I don't want people to get spammed by Online Viagra drugstores or refinance schemes. However, it seemed to be the most forthright company that offered these things. I have noticed that it bumps the number up everytime I make a post so If nothing else It will tell me how often I update. As if I needed to know that.

I guess I should be grateful that none of the companies that put out these counters were founded by a princess from Nigeria who needs my bank account number to regain her fortune.

If it turns out that this company is bothering the few readers I have I'll remove it.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Number Fixated Blogger

Traffic

It is sometimes a bit deflating to my ego to look at the lack of comments by viewers, assuming that there are more than one or two who ever see this blog. I guess it really shouldn't be that unexpected as there are probably 100's of thousands of blogs. However, it seems that the comments I do get are generally when I venture into the realm of politics. Since I make an effort to avoid overt political themes then maybe this explains the lack of readers.

When I do touch on politics I almost never mention US politics. So, Bush haters or Bush lovers or the Dick Cheney is the antichrist crowd probably don't have any reason to either praise or bash me.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger with an Easily Bruised Ego

Alvin Plantinga

I've been reading the book The Nature of necessity by Alvin Plantinga.

The basic problem is that I started reading this book on an airplane. I'm going to have to start over. This isn't a book that you can read in 15 minute whacks.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Slow Reading Blogger

The Turkey Trip

It is strange that for a man as traveled as I am I hate to travel. I hate planes. I wish it were a law that you had to travel by ship or train. But, then I'd have to have a month to take a 6 day tour in Turkey from Hong Kong.

I just spent 6 days in Turkey on a death march tour. A death march tour is one that you do in 6 days that should take 9 days. We stepped off the plane and onto the tour bus with no time to recover from jet lag or get acclimated to the climate or country.

In 6 days I saw Ephesus, Pergamon, Parmukele, Heropolis, Izmir, St. Johns basilica, The Red basilica, swam in the pool of Cleopatra, shopped at a Gypsy market in some small town, shopped the Egyptian bazaar (Twice) toured the Blue Mosque (actually I stood outside while the rest of my group went in), the Sultan's summer Palace, St. Sophia, the Underground water cisterns, took a cruise up the Bosporus, spent two evenings in Taksim (A restaurant and night club area), The spice market and generally saw the sights of Western Turkey and Istanbul. There were a total of 4 three-hour bus rides on this tour.

I came home with a kilo of olives, two-kilos of cheese, a big box of Turkish Delight candy, a kilo of mixed nuts, and big bag of Turkish coffee.

I can almost without reservation recommend Turkey to anyone looking for a really unique vacation. The people are friendly, the food is good and most things are reasonably priced. The mass transit system is usable even if the streets are unpronounceable. It is the best of Europe without the European snobbiness and attitude.

Both my wife and I are academics and one of the nice things about being an academics is that you can often find work on a one or two year contract. Turkey is a place, the only Islamic place that I would feel comfortable working in.

Not that everything was perfect and I'll talk about my experiences more in another post but, considering that I was thrown into this trip at the last moment when another teacher had a family emergency I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Reluctant Tourist

I'm Back

After a week in Turkey with no access to the Internet I am back at the computer.

I'll have more to say about Turkey in the next several days but need to catch up on my job right now.

I also received a rather scathing comment on a post from a couple of months ago that I'll need to respond to as well.

So, I'll be busy posting over the next week or so but that will have to wait.

For now all I'll say is that I'd rather live next door to a Turk than a Brit and I'd work in Turkey before I'd work in France.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Globe Trotting Blogger

One is the loneliest number

President Bush signed a Tax reform package this past week that removes the housing allowance deduction from expat US citizens. The US is the ONLY developed nation that taxes expats. What Mr. Bush just did is create about three million tax cheats or ex-Americans

Until Next time
Fai Mao
The over taxed blogger

Spring into Summer

I always enjoy the first couple of days after a spring typhoon in Hong Kong. The typhoon blows all the air pollution out to sea and the sky is blue and my eyes don't itch.

The government is beginning to look into ways to reduce the air pollution but the problem is they are just "looking."

They know what needs to be done. It doesn't take a Ph.D. to know that when 70% of your air pollution is from coal burning power plants that you need to put pollution controls on your power plants. But, they don't have the spine to say it. That would mean standing up to Li, Kai Shing or CLP or Hong Kong Electric. The power plants here have absolutely no pollution control. The busses have only minimal pollution control.

Heaven forbid that some shareholder in the UK should loose a single penny because the public utilities and transportation system has to abide by the same environmental regulations that other modern nations require.

The government officials don't want to have to tell their golfing buddies that the electric companies cannot make a measly 17% profit anymore.

If I were Donald Tsang, I'd tell China Light and Power, Hong Kong electric and the buss companies to "Clean up in 18 months or we will nationalize your assets and sell them to someone who will. In the mean time you will not have a rate increase and all of your stock is frozen. It cannot be bought or sold." The shareholders who have allowed these companies to put profit over the well being of Hong Kong citizens should be made to bear the cost of the clean up.

I am in no way, shape, or form a socialist. A socialist would do this because they think the government would do it better. I think if the government kept the utility companies the problem would get worse. What I am suggesting is that the government nationalize these industries and then sell them to another corporation that would do a better job.

Oh well, I'll enjoy the clear days while they last.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Breathing Easy Blogger

Hypocrisy

A Sermon presented in High School Chapel
Chapel May 18, 2006

C. S. Lewis once said: “that if you ask a middle-aged moralist to speak you shouldn’t be surprised if he engages in middle-aged moralizing.” Well, I’m middle-aged and with a Ph.D. Educational Philosophy my credentials as a moralist are firmly established. So, you will have to forgive me if, true to my age and training, I sound like I’m moralizing.

Once again following Mr. Lewis, I believe that moralists like to talk about one of three subjects that the King James Bible calls “The World, The Flesh and the Devil.” I could probably pontificate all day on any of these; but, because we have limited time and I know that many of you have somewhere to be today after chapel, I’m going to choose only one and be brief and to the point.

In fact I’m only going to speak about a very specific part of one of these. I am going to speak to you today about the sin of Hypocrisy of the heart which I think should be placed under the general rubric of “The Flesh.”

This type of Hypocrisy is a sin of the flesh because we treat our hypocrisy as though it were an adulterous lover not a spouse for this Hypocrisy is both unfaithful to us and causes us to be unfaithful to our true love. Hypocrisy of the heart brings us nothing but sorrow and tears while promising pleasure and love. It leads us to misery and ruin; yet, we are blind to our love’s faults and wait eagerly for even the most casual of glances or roughest of touches because we long for the security and praise that we hope our love will provide.

The type of hypocrisy that I want to speak of today is the hypocrisy of the heart that we commit when we selectively compare ourselves to the weaknesses of others to make ourselves look better, morally superior or to justify our sinful lifestyle. I am not speaking of the hypocrite for whom there is merely a behavioral disconnect between belief and practice. But, the Hypocrisy that allows us to believe the lies we want to believe about ourselves.

This is the true reason we love Hypocrisy. It allows us to ignore the ugly truth of our sin.

You, I, and everyone else in the room are this type of hypocrite at some point, probably many points everyday. Hypocrisy of the heart is, in fact, our first love, and the love we need to leave. Because we treat Hypocrisy as our love it would not be amiss to label hypocrisy a form of spiritual adultery. Indeed that is how I am approaching the subject today.

I am not moralizing about hypocritical Christians per se, but the hypocrisy all of us engage in, regardless of our religiosity to boost our own self-esteem or as an excuse for our own moral failures. This is the most basic of human flaws and has been committed by almost everyone throughout all time

We not only love Hypocrisy, we are jealous paramours who actively seek out and expose others who are involved with our love. We do this because we need our love to tell us that we are unique, special or better than all the others who seek our love’s favor. We are always willing to excise the love of hypocrisy of others but never deal with our own. Because taking Hypocrisy as our love allows us to sooth our conscience, sanctify our failings and ignore our guilt.

A prominent example of a hypocrite in this regard is actually the Apostle Paul. Look at the different picture that Paul paints of his actions before he became an apostle and the picture that Luke paints of some of those same actions.

Paul says of himself in Philippians Chapter 3:

“If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

The career of Paul in a slightly less rosy light in chapter seven of the book of Acts where Luke writes:

“When they had driven Stephen out of the city, the Pharisees began stoning him; and the Pharisees laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

Paul, or Saul as he is known in the Passage, was a hypocrite of the worst kind. We can, perhaps have some respect for the actual Pharisees. They were obeying the precepts of their religion as they understood them. As murder was against the law in the Roman Empire it took some courage to stone a man to death in public. But, it is hard to respect Paul in this. He just held the coats. He wasn’t even a diligent Pharisee. I can just hear his thoughts. “If the Roman soldiers come and arrest someone for murder I can say, ‘Hey, I wasn’t helping, what could one man do to stop this anyway? But, if they don’t come I can say I helped kill this guy’”

Paul was not only a hypocrite, he was a coward. So, even as a Pharisee, much less as an apostle Paul was a hypocrite. He wasn’t blameless; he wasn’t even as good as the Pharisee’s. To be honest, I am taking Paul’s words in Philippians slightly out of context but the point is still valid.

This first love, our hypocrite nature, deceives us even when we are doing evil. Hypocrisy allows us to believe that we are both better and worse than we really are. What vile companionship hypocrisy actually provides us!

All of this, while important is secondary to my point today which is: we don’t want to find non-hypocrites. We don’t want to find them because we know how badly both we and our love would look in comparison. Non-hypocrites reveal our love as self-centered, cruel and untrue. They would reveal us as weak, trite and immature. We also suspect that if we find a non-hypocrite we will be compelled to leave our hypocritical love but, are too afraid to because we enjoy the comfort we wrongly think that hypocrisy provides.

Luckily for you and me the non-hypocrite is a rare breed indeed.

In the whole of the Bible there are only three people, that I know of who were not hypocrites. Each one of them has something to tell us and, if taken chronologically, each one makes us more uncomfortable than the last.

The first non-hypocrite mentioned is Enoch. He appears for only a few verses in the chapters four and five of Genesis. The last mention of Enoch is in verse 24 of Chapter five:

“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

Enoch never died. He was taken to Heaven and as lovers of hypocrisy, this bothers us. We don’t want to meet a non-hypocrite because they remind us that while Hypocrisy may be our love here; that love cannot continue beyond death. We are, as the philosopher Martin Heidegger reminds us, utterly and irrationally afraid of death. Heidegger understood that our fear of death is part of what defines our humanity. Indeed, it is one of the things that sets’ us apart from animals. What Heidegger did not understand is that we are afraid of death because we are hypocrites not because we cannot understand it. As hypocrites, we understand the nature of death far too well.

We know, at a very deep level that this lover in whose arms we sinfully lay will not protect us from death. We find it disturbing that there are, or might have been people like Enoch who have not experienced death which shows us how weak our love really is. We are afraid that there is a love more permanent than ours and we are, by turns desperately wishing to find that new love and terribly afraid to discover that we may have to abandon Hypocrisy when we do.

While this is a significant reason to avoid the non-hypocrite it is the least of the problems that the non-hypocrite causes us. Enoch makes us uncomfortable. The next person, Elijah doesn’t just make us uncomfortable, or remind us of our fear of death; he simply puts us to death.

Like Enoch, Elijah didn’t die but was taken directly to heaven. Unlike Enoch, the life and works of Elijah are described in some detail. In the first chapter of 2nd Kings we find one of the strangest stories in the Bible and this story shows us the power of the non-hypocrite. We will pick up the story at the point where Elijah is being summoned by a company of soldiers who have been sent by King Ahab to fetch him for an audience. Elijah’s response is frightening:

“And the captain of fifty went up to Elijah: and, behold, Elijah sat on the top of a hill. The captain spoke to him, “Man of God, the king hath said, come with me, you are summoned to the Palace.” Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your men.” And, fire came down from heaven, which consumed the captain and his men.”

This happened three times before Elijah finally went to see the King.

Elijah also prayed that it would not rain in Israel for 3 ½ years and there was drought that killed thousands, he called down fire from Heaven upon 450 prophets Baal and killed them, and prayed for what can only be described as a curse upon queen Jezebel so that her servants threw her to her death from a an upstairs window of the palace and her body was eaten in the street by feral dogs.

In Elijah we see that we do not want to meet a non-hypocrite because they have the right to judge us. We look for any flaw, any duplicity, any event in the life of a Godly person that will allow us to claim “See, they are no better than me! They can’t judge me!” We cling to our love and live in our sin because the comfort our hypocrisy seems to provide. We know our hypocrisy will not save us from the judgment of the non-hypocrite but we prefer to not think about it.

I think that many of us, me included are secretly happy there are not more non-hypocrites like Elijah around.

Elijah also frightens us because we see that our first love doesn’t die with us or aid us when we are threatened. This love of ours, to whom we would ever be true, simply moves on to someone else. Indeed, Hypocrisy has always been unfaithful, and never loved us at all. In the end, we are not even mourned by our love; Hypocrisy abandons us cold in the grave with no remorse and moves on.

Lastly, we come to Jesus. In many ways He is the most troublesome non-hypocrite of all. Jesus doesn’t bring our fear of death into stark and utter relief because unlike the other two he did die. But, He rose from the dead which is something done by neither Enoch nor Elijah. Jesus shows us that the non-hypocrite can conquer death and not merely avoid it. Worse, Jesus shows us that His love is stronger than the love provided by Hypocrisy.

Jesus disturbs us because He does not show us how to not be hypocrites. Instead, He was judged for our hypocrisy. In doing this He reveals how untrue Hypocrisy, our love is. Hypocrisy would never die for us but would have us die instead. Hypocrisy never saves us from judgment but brings us to ultimate judgment. The price that Jesus demands for saving us is high; for Jesus demands that we forsake our first love and follow Him. In exchange for giving up the cruel, weak and self-centered hypocrisy; Jesus offers us a love that we can neither deserve nor understand.

Jesus offers us, the singer T-Bone Burrett puts it; the true power of love that is the name of names; Who burns away our pain. The love Jesus can make a coward brave and a hero afraid a strong man weak and make a blind man see. The power of love can make a miser give, a skeptic believe and made this dead man live.

Isn’t it time we ceased looking at the hypocrisy of others and using it as an excuse to continue in our own hypocritical misery? I think so. I hope that after today you will too.

Thank you for letting this middle-aged moralist speak to you today. I’m always willing to talk about these things; so, if you’d like to talk more then simply come by the library.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Sometimes Chapel Speaker Blogger

Typhoon

There is a rather big typhoon bearing down on Hong Kong.

I know it is getting close because I had students in the library at lunch. They were holding a prayer meeting to pray for a typhoon day.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Tattle Tale Blogger

Turkey.

I will be a Chaperone for a high school trip to Turkey.

We will leave this weekend and return on the 28th of May.

I will post tomorrow and Friday. But I will be gone for a week

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The World Travelling Blogger

Day 6

I had to break the fast today.

It is a 15 minute walk through Walled City Park from where I get off the bus in the morning to work. I started getting dizzy as I walked and was afraid I was going to fall. The dizziness didn't stop when got in the building and sat down.

Babies

Simon World has a good post on the cost of having children in Hong Kong.

I haven't seen his blog before but if you are from Hong Kong or lived here for any length of time you'll know that he is right on the mark.



Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Reads Other Blogs Blogger

Day 5

I am really hungry today. Today is the first day that I've been tempted to eat. I guess that until now I was running on emotion. I kind of expected this to happen at some point.

I've had a headache since about 8:00PM last night; I don't know if that has anything to do with the fast or not.

I get dizzy when I stand up, that is probably low blood sugar and has everything to do with the fast.

Sleeping is another problem. Hunger is a good conversationalist. It keeps you interested in what it has to say and makes it hard to sleep. But strangly enough, I don't seem to need as much sleep. I toss and turn and think and plan and hope and dream of better things. I pray and weep and pray some more. Then the alarm goes off and I wake refreshed not knowing that I'd fallen asleep.

I don't understand. It is a strange sensation and if I'm not careful I could lose perspective on reality. Am I awake or dreaming? I am awake. Dreams don't last this long.

I'm not giving up.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Fasting and Hungry Blogger

Day 4

The fast is into day four.

Yesterday was still a tough day. Not because I was that tempted to eat but because the burden on my heart.

However, it got better as the day went on. I had an appointment with the Chinese bone-setter for an acupuncture session. During these sessions I have to lay face down on a massage table and not move while the acupuncture needles and heat treatment do their work. After the needles are taken out comes the massage of the affected areas. This all takes about 45 minutes to an hour. In a strange way it is a good time to pray. I can't move, I have to keep my mind off the pain from the needles and have nothing to look at except the floor under the table.

I've had a very heavy burden on my heart recently. The fast is part of helping me pray for that burden. Yesterday, while praying on the acupuncturist table the burden was lifted. Not lifted in the sense of removing but made bearable. It was as if God was saying: "Silly Fai Mao, why are you so worried? Don't you know I see, I know and I am concerned about this? Because I am worried about this you don't have to be"

I didn'?t break my fast. I am still fasting and praying but I no longer mourn. I still do not know how this situation will end. But, I now know that I can bear this burden.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40: 31

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Fasting Blogger

(Please not that several post regaurding this fast have been temporarily removed because they were too personal. They will be reposted at a later date as the situation resolves itself.)

Prayer and Fasting

I am in the third day of a time of prayer and fasting. I am taking no food. I am simply drinking water or other non-caloric liquids such as plain tea or diet soda. I will maintain this fast until God answers my prayer or until it becomes physically impossible for me to fast any longer. I can do nothing else but pray.

Before I moved to Hong Kong, for many years, I did a three day fast from dawn Good Friday until Sunset Easter Sunday. I’ve not done that in Hong Kong. I find that Hong Kong is a tough place to fast in. According to the South China Morning Post Hong Kong has more restaurants per-capita than almost any other major city. Wherever you go in Hong Kong you smell food. That I have not maintained my Easter fast is probably to my detriment but is simply the way things are. The busy pace and crowded streets are not conducive to quietude, contemplation or fasting for personal spiritual growth.

Fasting is a strange spiritual discipline. It is difficult to see or understand how it works or why it is effective. Does God listen more closely to my prayers simply because I’m hungry? Fasting seems to go against the very nature of the promise of Jesus that I would have an “Abundant life.” How does having the distraction of hunger make you better able to pray without distraction?

I don’t know the answers to all of those questions. But, I’m beginning to have some answers.

Before, when I would fast, it was always because I was seeking some spiritual benefit for myself. This fast was undertaken because someone I know and love, someone close to me is in desperate trouble. They have made some lifestyle choices that are not just sinful but physically destructive. They have betrayed my trust. They have, evidently abandoned their faith. At this moment, all I can do besides pray for them is to fast. They desperately need some intervention which I cannot provide. Yet, I desperately want to do something. I can only do two things. I can pray and I can fast. Fasting may not help directly but it is what I can do. That may not sound like much. It certainly doesn’t sound like much when I write it down. It is huge. Fasting gives me control of a situation where I otherwise have no control. It makes the situation bearable. My hunger is comfort to my soul. What a blessing

Fasting also allows my physical body to mirror my spiritual state. We can sort of see this idea in the sixth Psalm:

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away;
Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed.
And my soul is greatly dismayed; But You, O LORD --how long?
Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness.
For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?
I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.
My eye has wasted away with grief; It has become old because of all my adversaries.


Fasting is a way to channel my mental anguish into physical action. It allows me to control my grief by bring my physical state into alignment with my mental state. I am in mental aguish over this situation. I feel like I am going to die. Fasting brings the feeling home in a real and obvious way. It focuses my attention on the object of my prayers. What a blessing

Fasting reminds me that my prayers have a goal. I think that sometimes our prayers are too amorphous, jello like. We tend to try and cover the water front. “Dear God, bless us bla, bla, bla- rescue the perishing oh Lord, bla bla bla. How much more effective would our prayer be if we kept the goal of our prayers in sight? How much more fervent would our prayers be if we knew that each prayer weakened us physically? What a blessing.

Fasting keeps my grief from turning into self-righteousness. I am seeking the restoration of a loved one; not recompense or retribution for a wrong done. Jesus told us that:

"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

My fast is a secret, known only to a few people who need to know. By maintaining it in secret I keep my prayer pure. What a blessing

As can also be seen from the passage above, fasting in private prevents me from allowing my grief to control my life. In this case it is the only way that I could function in society. I cannot weep at my job. People depend upon me being at work. I am commanded to go about my business. Fasting keeps me from being consumed by bitterness, grief and sorrow. What a blessing

Fasting reminds me that prayers have answers. The fast will eventually end, even if at this point I cannot see when. God may or may not answer my prayers the way I wish. But, I will have an answer and I will rejoice in the graciousness of the Lord. When David’s first son with Bathsheba sickened David fasted and prayed. When the child died he rose and washed himself and broke his fast. I have always found this passage to be remarkable but I don't think I ever understood it until now.

2 Samuel 12: 16-23
16. David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. 17. The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18. Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, "Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!" 19. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" And they said, "He is dead." 20. So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate. 21. Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." 22. He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, `Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.' 23. "But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

I will, God willing kept my fast until this situation is resolved or until I am physically unable to keep it any longer. But, I must understand that God may not answer my prayers in the way I would wish. The person I am praying for might or might not repent and be restored to fellowship with both God and my family. The situation may get better or it could get worse. But, when the time comes to break the fast then God will give me either comfort in full measure or reason to celebrate. What a blessing

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Fasting Blogger

Pins and Needles

I managed to tear a ligament in my elbow several months ago. This was a rather severe tear and almost required what is sometimes called “Tommy John Surgery” but luckily or perhaps unluckily didn’t. However, it does require some physical therapy and pain management. I’ve tried the standard physical therapy stuff for other injuries and while it worked it was a lot of trouble and rather expensive; our health insurance didn’t want to cover that much either. So, I took the alternative medicine route.

Acupuncture.

Wow, 10 sessions each about 45 minutes to an hour long. It would be hard to get this amount of attention for the cost from a traditional physical therapist. However, if the treatment doesn’t work then I’m still paying too much. To be fair, I can’t actually say if the acupuncture has worked or not. It is possible that the elbow and hamstring he is working on would have improved anyway. But, they have improved and the acupuncture does appear to be working. So, I can, I believe, rate the procedure at least a qualified thumbs up for pain relief

I’d heard that Acupuncture was a painless treatment. I heard wrong. Acupuncture, at least the treatments I’m receiving really hurt. Once all the needles are in, about the time I’ve managed to relax, the acupuncturist twist them for effect or possibly for fun so he can hear me howl; since he doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak a whole lot of Chinese I’ll never know .

Something that is kind of strange is that when all the needles are in my arm the arm is paralyzed. It hurts, I can feel it, but I cannot move it. The leg can still be moved.

Anyway, I have about 4 more treatments and am looking forward to a pain free arm.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The on pins and needles blogger

Global Warming?

Want to see why I don't trust Newsweek?

Follow this link

We're all gonna freeze!

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Never met a Journalist He Couldn't Despise Blogger

Why I am Not A Pacifist Part 2 (Edited Version)

I must apologize for the length of this post. It is longer than I'd like but cannot be avoided.

Also, if some of the language in this post offends you I'm sorry. Please see the earlier post "Why I am not a Pacifist" to gain the context.

I feel that I need to provide more information on why Dr. Kimmey’s statement made me change my position on pacifism? I need to explain what made the statement so profound.

The statement was simply the beginning of the answer, not the whole answer and as I looked at the question with, as it were with new eyes, I saw a different answer.

Others may disagree with my belief at this point but it is important to realize that we are discussing beliefs. Beliefs are based upon either assumptions or presumptions. The trick is to base beliefs upon assumptions rather than presumptions. Assumptions are something that are either not proven or are un-provable but for which some evidence or rational exist. Presumptions, on the other hand are things that are believed when there is no supporting evidence or in spite of contradictory evidence. Pacifism is generally based upon presumptions. So, what are my assumptions that force is sometimes an appropriate response?

The First Justification: An Innate Desire for Justice
The fact that both Dr. Kimmey and I sometimes meet people who deserve some form of punishment rather than simply being rehabilitated speaks to an innate and universal sense of justice which realizes that sometimes it is not enough to say “I’m sorry.” There are, or so our conscience seems to tell us, some crimes or sins that demand punishment rather than recompense. It can be argued, perhaps that our sense of justice has become corrupted. Indeed, I would agree with that statement. However, has it become corrupted from a sense of legitimate use of force to an illegitimate use of force or has it become corrupted from a non-use of force to a use of force? We need to realize that we, as humans, are part of a fallen nature that is not warm and fuzzy but “red in tooth and claw.”

Thomas Hobbs was correct when he said in the Leviathan that “the natural state of man (Humans) is war” I believe as a Christian that it isn’t meant to be this way but became this way because of our sin. I believe that in an unfallen world violence would be unnecessary just as in an unfallen world clothing was unnecessary However, we do not live in an unfallen world and I don't see many, if any Christian pacifist advocating nudity to bring in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, I think the answer is that force is, at times a legitimate option.

I believe the use of force is at times, as stated above, an expression of what I believe to be an innate human longing for justice. We all, every one of us, have this desire in us. The problem is that often we let our desire for justice melt into a desire for vengeance. However, they are not the same thing and those who cannot or refuse to see the difference are morally color blind. To forswear the use of force because some people have perverted their sense of justice is as illogical as forswearing underwear because strippers and prostitutes wear it.

In short, there are people who deserve to have the shit beat out of them because they deserve to have justice meted out upon them.

The Second Justification: Social Necessity
I find it untenable to say that if someone is threatening me I do not have the right to at least sometimes, oppose that threat in a reciprocal fashion. I reject what could be called the moral equivalence argument that is sometimes phrased “hitting back makes’ you just as bad as them” out of hand. It doesn’t because I am not instigating the injustice. I am preventing injustice. Therefore, I am not as bad as them. I believe this right extends to coming to the aid of others. If I see a violent or even non-violent crime being committed I have, not only the right, but the civic duty, to go the victims’ aid.

Do I have the right kill a man who was beating his wife? Probably not; unless I was preventing him from using deadly force; but, I have the right and duty to use as much force as needed to stop the beating. Do I have the right to go to that man the next day and beat him senseless for what he did to his wife the night before? No, I do not.

If I see someone being assaulted I have the right and duty to stop the assault if I can. In this case, using violence could even be considered the polite thing to do. I believe that it is a right and duty to intervene with force, if needed to stop a crime. I believe that in such cases the use of force is not simply a necessary evil but a positive good. To save the life of an innocent from the hands of the wicked, even if the wicked dies is a good thing.

The assumption involved is one of social necessity. I am not a pacifist because I live in a world where there is danger present from evil and wicked forces that use violence to gain control of life, property and liberty. It is an assumption that I feel fits within the framework of the world today. If I do not believe this I cannot be said to truly “Love my neighbor.”

In short, there are people who deserve to have the shit beat out of them because they want to beat the shit out of someone and steal their stuff and I have a right to maintain the life, liberty and property, of both myself and my neighbor from evil doers.

The Third Justification: The Biblical Mandate
I believe, as a Christian, that the God of the Bible has sanctioned and used war and violence as a form of chastisement and punishment. Indeed, it is difficult to read the Old Testament and come to any other conclusion

If God has not only allowed but commanded certain nations to invade other nations and make war upon them the use of force or violence cannot always be sinful because God does not command people to sin but to be righteous.

I cannot, reconcile the Old and New Testaments if I cannot find a place for violence in the world. People change but God doesn’t. If war is always wrong then why did God command the Israeli’s to capture their land by war? Why didn't He simply make the land vacant in some non-violent miraculous way? Not only did they capture their land by war but they slaughtered the entire population who had previously lived in that land. Did Joshua sin? If he did it was because God commanded him to.

Make no mistake, this wasn’t just war, this was genocide. God instructed Joshua to go to war and kill every man, every woman and every child.

My first assumption here is that you cannot separate these events from the rest of the Bible. There is no progressive revelation in this passage; God was not bending His true will to allow for the lack of morality in Joshua’s society. If the pacifist is correct then God caused His chosen people to sin because He directly instructed them to go and wipe out another group of people and then appropriate their possessions. The alternative, which is my assumption, is that the ancient peoples Joshua was confronting had been judged by God and their culture was being exterminated because of its extreme sinfulness.

Even Christians who are pacifist have to accept this assumption or they have to believe that God told Joshua and the Israelites to commit sin or possibly that only Jews may murder. If that is what a pacifist believes then they believe in a God who is not holy and cannot be trusted. Or they have to believe that the truth has somehow changed and that is a world too scary to think about.

My second assumption here is that there is one God, with an unchanging nature and that if He told Joshua to invade and slaughter people back then that He could possibly do the same today because there are people who come under the judgment of God.

My third assumption here is that I believe that if Christians were supposed to be complete pacifist then both the New and Old Testament would state so clearly. They do not. What I believe you see in the Bible is a distinction between individuals and government action. To be fair, I think that this was the position my Mennonite riend maintained and claimed that Christians should not be part of government. I cannot see that but it at least made her position almost livable if you ignore the historical account of Joshua, and the Jewish kings. I believe what we see in the New Testament is a separation of the powers between government and the individual. Governments act as the hand of God to administer justice. Individuals normally do not.

In short, there are people who deserve to have the shit beat out of them because they are under the judgment of God. That doesn’t mean that every crackpot who claims to be acting as the avenger of God really is.


The Fourth Assumption: Governments have the responsibility To execute God's Justice
In the book of Romans, chapter 13 we are told that "rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil."

This is very clear, the state or rulers have the obligation, under God to administer justice and sometimes justice requires violence. Otherwise there would be no need of a sword. A sword is a lethal weapon and implies the use of violence. Thus some people deserve to have the shit beat out of them because the have broken the law and the state is administering justice to them.

The Fifth Assumption: The Argument from Impossibility
Christians are told that they not be aggressive or warlike in Romans 12:18: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. The implication of this verse is also clear. There will be times, hopefully few, when it will not be possible to live in peace with all men. If it is not possible to always live in peace then there will be times of war and strife.

Thus, there will be people who deserve to have the shit beat out of them because it is not possible to live in peace with them.

Conclusion
I cannot as a Christian, be a pacifist. The only exception to this is when confronted PERSONALLY by someone who is persecuting me for my faith. Whether another entity, either individual or corporate could come to my aid in such a an event is another question.
This is a very long post for me. But, it is a post that I needed to make.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Non-Pacifist Blogger

The MLA - Redux

My stunningly attractive and intelligent wife informed me that the purpose of the MLA or the APA was to make sure that everyone in the "field" formatted their research in the same way. Well, I think that proves my point in my previous rant. There was already a format. They didn't have to make another one just for them.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Footnote Using Blogger

The MLA Format

Wow, its been almost a month since I posted something. That is too long. I didn't intend to take a break that long but sometimes things are different than planned.

I've been helping a history teacher grade the formatting and quality of citation on a big history project his students were working on. What a pain. The school requires students to use the MLA format. Because my background is not in English I learned a different format and indeed refused to use a parenthetical system for my PhD. Never-the-less, because it is necessary for my job, I've learned enough MLA to check the formatting. It really isn't that hard. Especially since there are web sites like The Citation Machine that will create the citation by just plugging the information into the right place. The students really have no excuse for not having all of the citations right.

As part of the process I went to the classroom and talked to the students about how to get everything formatted. After these sessions I'm generally asked why it is necessary to place references in a certain formatting system. This time a student had a great twist on that question.

He asked "Why did they develop the MLA?"

My only answer was one provided by an otherwise forgettable exposition teacher at the University of North Texas. It is the general party line when it comes to the MLA; I told him that "The MLA was developed to make the process of citing documents as easy as possible."

It was his follow up that tripped me up.

"How is it easier than other systems?"

I had a hard time answering this question truthfully because I actually believe, that in this case, the party line is wrong. The MLA is not easier. It is confusing, it is cumbersome, and it is, I believe, un-scholarly. I wonder if the letters MLA" don't really stand for "Moronic Losers Association" rather than the "Modern Language Association."

I think that when we have the annual teachers meeting where we discuss such things, I am going to suggest and push for a change to a foot-noted or end-noted system.

The MLA is confusing because it cuts researchers off from 100's of years of foot-noted and end-noted citation systems. I've actually had students ask me "Who was Ibid?" This may be more of a theoretical rather than actual complaint in some academic fields as they tend to rely upon recent research; but by making it harder for students to grasp the depth or trace the references of older material the MLA is un-scholarly.

The charge of un-scholarly may also be unfounded because grammarians, linguist and literature people don't normally study anything that is particularly scholarly in the first place. So in effect "Who cares if it isn't scholarly because the research isn't life changing anyway?" Tell me, who besides a few Volvo driving, tweed jacket wearing, pipe smoking egg-heads gives a rip about the development of existential themes in the poetry of the sub-arctic European Renaissance, or whether John Dunn was influenced by T.S. Elliot? Even if we did care, is the world going to stop turning if don't study these type of things? No. Therefore, unlike say, genetics, engineering Home Economics or Library Science it is OK for the MLA to be somewhat un-scholarly because it is used in fields that don't have life or death issues involved.

I digress

More to the point, why is it easier to put a (Smith) at the end of a sentence as a citation reference than a super scripted "1"? This is especially true if you have more than one work by the same author? It simply isn't any easier. It is easier, less confusing and requires fewer key strokes to input a notation for and end-note or foot-note system; period, full stop, there can be no argument.

If you have multiple works by the same author or different authors with the same last name it gets worse. Here is an example of what I mean

Smith, John. "Silly things English Teachers Do." Ivory Tower Quarterly 4.12 (2006): 66.

and this article

Smith, John. "The phonetically-linguistic-Time-Share Language Approach." Journal of Pseudo-Education 2.1 (2006): 23.

According to the Citation Machine the parenthetical reference for the first of these two articles would be:

(Smith 33-99)

and the second would be
(Smith 1-24)

The numbers after the name are the page numbers of the article in the journal. However, the page numbers do not appear in the citation, only the total number of pages. To figure out which of these two articles are being referenced you must subtract 33 from 99 to get 66 and then look and see which of the two article have a total length of 66 pages.

If, on the other hand, the articles were placed in a bibliography (As opposed to a reference list) in order of appearance and NUMBERED then the first one would have the note listed as a simple "1" and the next as a "2". You'd simply find article number 1 or 2 on the list. This means that a foot-not or end-note system is easier to use, simpler, less confusing, faster, and less intrusive in that you don't have awkward parenthetical sentence fragments or words salted throughout the text. (It also allows you to use the parenthetical statement to make snide comments, asides or obscure jokes about your text, readers or subject; which is what the idea of a parenthetical statement originally was.)

The MLA as far as I can determine was formulated in the late 1970's or early 1980's. The object was to make it easier to write a paper by eliminating footnotes which at that time required a great deal of work and planning to place at the bottom of the page.(Though end-notes alleviated this problem in a simple, user friendly and elegant way) As shown above it failed to do this.

Because the morons in the MLA, living as they did in their Ivory towers, didn't look around and see that typewriters were improving into word processors on home computers the MLA also fails in another area. By the 1980's the work of inserting the notes was rapidly being assumed by a machine which freed the researcher up to write. A computer as simple as an old Commodore "VIC-20" or "Apple 2B" can run a quite competent word processing program that will automatically place the foot-notes or end-notes for you. The MLA, on the other hand is not and cannot be made simpler by technology because you still have to type the parenthetical note and the citation at the end. The MLA is no less difficult using a word processor but because the drudgery of placing footnotes has been automated a foot-noted system is now very easy. In fact, writing a paper with foot-notes is now easier than using the MLA.

By the mid 1980's typewriters were dinosaurs which were if not extinct then well on their way to becoming fossils. Thus the MLA was formulated to solve a problem that was being solved better in another way. The Modern Language association should have ditched the MLA like an ugly girl-friend at that time before it was so firmly entrenched in schools, they didn't and we're stuck with it. It is the only system English teachers know and so they foist it on everybody else!

So I was left having to admit to this student that the MLA isn't really easier but in fact more cumbersome to use than a foot-noted system.

I always had the ultimate teachers fall back position. "We want you to do it this way because that's the way that college English departments want you to do it and that will help you in college." Or, in other words, We're training you in an inferior research system simply because some academic fat-ass has too much intellectual capital invested in this inferior system to let you use something better. But, that is is a kind weak position once you are dealing with High School students. But, never fear, I didn't say it quite that way.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger Who Still Uses Foot-Notes

Oh no, not a vacation!

My Easter break starts on Monday. We have a long break this year because it is combined with the Chinese holiday "Ching Ming" or grave sweeping day. It is a day to go honor the memory of parents or siblings who have died. The Chinese ancestor worship is involved but it is possible to celebrate the holiday as a Christian and not sin as the ancestor worship is optional. My wife will go to her mother's grave in China on Sunday.

My wife has also informed me that I'm going to get back on my exercise program over the break. She wants me to run, walk or ride my bike 3 hours a day. I guess she has confused me with an over achiever.

My idea of a vacation is a recliner, a big screen TV with lots of DVD's, a Computer with some new games and telephone that only calls for pizza.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Lazier than the Average Bear Blogger

Rain

It has been raining for a week.

I once heard Hong Kong described as the city of 6 million eye level umbrellas. Boy is that apt!

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Almost Got His Eyes Poked out On The Way To Work Blogger

Evil, Depraved Barbarians

Here is a link to a story about a girl that was married at the age of four in Afghanistan.

AS IN 4-Years OLD!!!!!

It gets worse. They made her do hard labor, denied her any form of education and beat her almost daily.

What kind of society marries grown men to four-year old little girls? A society of misogynist child molesters that's what kind.

She ranaway from her husband and in-laws after enduring years of torture and abuse at the age of 11.

As IN 11-YEARS OLD!!!!!

Limped away is probably a better term. When she left they'd broken her right arm and foot. She hide under a rickshaw and was taken to the city of Kabul where she was able to get help.

She has huge, ugly scars all over her back and legs. She has a bald spot on her head where they poured boiling water over her head.

If you are female can you imagine being a victim of spousal abuse for 7 years by the time you were 11-years old?

First Abdul Rahman and now this.

If this is indicative of the type of society that exist in Afghanistan and the rest of the Islamic world then I say they are not worth saving from the dictators they've allowed to rule them. If this is what Arab society has become, and it apparently is, as this sort of thing seems to be very wide spread; then Arab society is beyond redemption. If these are examples of the "Moderate Muslims" that the US went into Afghanistan to rescue from bin Laden and the Taliban then I say they are not worth saving.

While it is true that such things happen in the West; it isn't true that they are tolerated by neighbors and people who do such things are DENOUNCED in church and synagogue. Child molesters are not allowed to openly abuse children or spouses for years. They must do it in secret. This happened and many people knew, they made the girl sleep outside, in the cold without a blanket. It isn't enough that after she was discovered by the authorities they arrested the father-in-law. They should executed the whole family and put the neighbors in jail.

I am almost, not quite ready to say that the kindest way that the world could deal with Muslims would be to simply kill them. Every man and every woman and every child over the age of 12. As cruel and hard as that sounds it would alleviate so much misery, hate and violence it might be worth the price. I'd not want to be the person that gives the order to do that.

Islam is a death cult. It is maintained by evil depraved men and if non-Islamic nations really believed in justice they would take steps to abolish Islam, by force if necessary. Islam makes the Nazi's look good. The sooner it goes extinct the better.

If some Muslim reads this and wants to call a Fatwah on me go ahead. But, before you come after me go kill the men that did this to a little girl and caused me to defame Islam. If the god of Islam condones this type of behavior or thinks it is ok because, as one Muslim has told me, "Women are more sinful than men" then I am a proud unbeliever. Allah is not the God that I believe in. Allah is at best, a demon. More probably Allah is a creation of a man who had a deep seated need to control and abuse women. I wouldn't treat a dog or cow or horse way that this girl was treated and if these people had lived next door to me I'd have taken whatever steps were needed to have stopped this abuse. But, then I'm not a Muslim am I? Kind of makes those Muslim men in Abu Gharib look like pansy-assed whinners too. Geez, wouldn't it have been nice if they'd only made this girl where underwear on her head?

I am appalled that I would write this. I am more appalled that a religion as barbaric, backwards and evil as Islam could deceive so many people of the world. It is apparent that Islam is a cancer devouring a large portion of humanity. It takes people and turns them into monsters. I also hate what Islam does to me and I'm not Islamic. It tempts me to hate a whole group of people. It causes me to wish for the deaths of millions. My God, what a monstrous evil. It even causes those who don't follow it to sin.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Horrified at Islam and His Visceral Reaction to it Blogger

Free Abdul Rahman

If the government of Afganistan imprisions or execute Abdul Rahman then the United States should IMMEDIATELY withdraw all of its troops from that country.

The men and women of the US military did not liberate Afganistan from a brutal tyranny only to have the new governmant allow brutal tyranny to be practiced

Until Next Time
Fai Mao

The Holy Vacuum Cleaner

This past weekend my stunningly beautiful wife convinced me to go see what the Chinese call a “bonesetter” or Chinese traditional doctor. These should not be confused with the Chinese herbalist who boil various plants to make a medicinal soup. The bonsetters are more like physical therapist who treat trauma where as the herbalist treat things like colds and flu.

I’ve had chronic hamstring pain, especially in my left leg since I tore, not merely pulled the muscle when I was 13 running track in Jr. High School. I’ve spent countless hours stretching and swallowed countless numbers of aspirins to relieve pain and reduce swelling. But mainly, over the years, I’ve just gotten used to the pain.

I must admit, I’m not the biggest believer in alternative medicine. In this case I was skeptical because of the explanation of the doctor as to what she was doing. Supposedly, she was replacing the bad air or spirit in the leg. To do this she combined a very vigorous, painful message with a heat and suction treatment using a machine that can only be described as a combination vacuum cleaner, hairdryer and Plumber’s Helper. This suction heat device had an official seal of the Tibetan Medicinal Medicine Society on it so, I guess, it must have been a high quality device. Kind of a Holy Tibetan Vacuum Cleaner.

I also figured, devious man that I am that if something went wrong and I lost my legs as a result of this treatment then my wife would have to be nice to me and buy me what ever I want for the rest of my life.

The treatment consisted of alternating sessions of applied heat, massage and suction. She’d use this thing that applied heat to the muscle in either a contact mode or by blowing hot air over the area she was working on. It felt like it was going to bake my leg. I mean this was uncomfortably hot and very concentrated. The purpose of this was to place good air or spirit into the leg. I was sure I was going to have burns on the back of my leg.

She would then massage the affected, but now very warm muscle. Massage is perhaps the wrong word. The idea of massage to me means relaxing, pleasant and enjoyable. This hurt. She would sort of pinch the muscle and lift and twist it. It felt like a dog was taking bites out of the back of my leg. The purpose of this was to both work the good air into the leg and loosen the bad air. I just knew I was going have bruises on the back of my leg when she was done.

After burning and twisting she applied suction with that device that looked like a vacuum cleaner hose with a plumber’s helper on the end. We aren’t talking about the little suction cups that physiotherapist sometimes use. This thing was big and powerful. I bet the people at Kirby, Rainbow, Hoover or Eureka would be envious of the airflow this thing produced. We are talking about feeling like this thing was going to eat the part of my leg that the dog hadn’t taken! This was suppossed to suck the bad air out of my leg. At the very least I thought I was going to have vacuum cleaner hickies all over the back of my leg

This whole process took about 40-45 minutes as she repeated the process several times.

She said I need to go back several more times.

As I said, I was skeptical. Having been a bicycle racer and long distance runner I know that doctors do not recommend applying heat to an injury but rather cold. Also, the goofy Buddhist philosophy explanation was absolute hokum and made me think that this was going to be a worthless, though expensive waste of time.

Amazingly, I have neither burns nor bruises and I don’t have vacuum hickies either. My hamstring hasn’t felt this good since I was 13 years-old.

What I decided was the therapy works but not for the reason the Chinese bonesetter believes. I think it is kind of like Ptolemaic astronomy. If all you are interested in is finding the time of sun rise tomorrow it works just fine. However, the reality behind the theory is wrong. But, if a Ptolemaic astronomer predicted an eclipse over Hong Kong, I would probably be safe in believing that an eclipse would occur. I have to separate the goofy from the therapy.

I think I’m going to go back and get some treatment.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Nearly Pain Free Blogger

The Rain in Spain

It got chilly and rainy overnight.

This is strange weather and it should be warmer than it is. I don't like chilly weather.

I guess if I were in Spain I could move to the mountains or the coast and avoid the rain on the plain. In Hong Kong when it rains it rains all over.

I want some hot dry weather.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
Who wishes he was in a desert.