Here’s a draft of the label for my new coffee. Any suggestions?

As I look at this photo I have mixed feelings. I remember how excited everyone in Dinthi was to hear the Gospel story in Nyungwe played on the Saber. I remember training two young ladies in how to use the Saber and the flipbook. Though most people said this was just for children I noticed that most of the grownups were listening and following along. For increasing Bible knowledge I think this could be a terrific tool. Still I have concerns. I left that audio player and flipbook in October of last year. The young ladies promised to visit homes and play the audio. But what really happened? It could be a huge success. But my experience tells me that the player and flipbook are probably tucked away in somebody’s house now.

Gadgets like this tend to lack a niche in a culture. They are a novelty at first but if the materials aren’t updated they tend to lose their impact in the immediate area where they’ve been distributed. And for someone to go to another village or even neighborhood is a big commitment and requires breaking across cultural barriers that we can’t even see.

A friend of mine in Tete is doing this a better way. Evangelists from his church distribute the Sabers with only a small number of recordings on them. Then the next time the evangelist visits, the person with the Saber must give a report of who heard the program and when. If it is apparent that the person has only kept the Saber at home, it is taken back and given to someone else. Also, materials are cycled more on the Sabers so that there is quite often new readings available and interest is higher.

One thing I like about the Saber is that it is flexible. You can put any recordings you want on it. Some of the other players use proprietary systems that make them hard to use. Also, the Saber is easy to maintain. I’ve even taken one apart and fixed a belt that slipped off the dynamo inside. If there’s one thing I don’t like about them, it’s the battery pack which seems fiddly and prone to failing. It would be nicer to just have a slot for two AAA rechargeable batteries. Another nice thing about power on the Saber is that it can be charged with a cell phone charger. I wish they all came standard with a charger.

I would love to see these players widely used in Mozambique. But first we need a steady supply of Sabers coming into the country and a stable network of people that can take the players out, distribute them and then maintain accountability and repair of them. This is certainly a project that crosses denominational lines and could plug into the existing church and mission networks. I know that Project Mozambique is doing something like this in the Sofala province. It would be great to see that expand into Tete and Zambezia provinces at least. For long term sustainability we would need to avoid the kind of thing I did in Dinthi as seen in the picture above.

Man, I remember this song so well. Does anyone know who wrote it? It was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on the guitar back in the 80’s. In this recording I’m pretty mellow, but if you ever get me going on this song I can get just a teeny bit out of control. Hilary finally had to close the door because she said I was giving her a headache.

Listen and enjoy.

http://lingamish.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/The%20Lord%20is%20on%20my%20side%20-%20David%20Ker.mp3

From comics

I’m currently fascinated by the iconography of emotions. I’ve read that facial expressions are nearly universal across cultures. I wonder if that’s true for drawings as well. Hilary said this looks like me after eating an entire box of Hot Tamales. 

Want to know how I decide which pictures to post? I show them to my wife and the ones she laughs at* go public.

She especially liked this little critter:

I’m planning to post more about Christian use of the Bible. This time I’m going to be giving a wrathful example from Jesus and Ezekiel. Stay tuned.

* Sometimes it’s not a laugh. More like a light sniff.

Two weeks ago in The Bible is not the Gospel I made the controversial claim that the Gospel is more important than the Bible. We are called to preach the Gospel not preach the Bible. And the overwhelming witness of the New Testament is that Jesus and all preachers after him used the Old Testament very selectively as a launching point for a message about the Kingdom and its King.

I want to return to this topic from a slightly different angle. What do we do about the curses, the bloodshed, and the vengeance found in the Old Testament? The answer is very simple: we skip it. Not first let me back up and say that for context, historical study and an appreciation of life under the old covenants, it is fine to study in depth the full range of behavior and emotion that exists in the Old Testament. Many times the cry for vengeance found in the Psalms is our cry. It is a natural human and even divine response to injustice and oppression. But of course in the Gospel we have the key to human redemption and freedom from the cycle of vengeance which while human and natural is in the end a futile game of “He hit me first!”

Our world is a mess because of vengeance. And the Gospel absorbs vengeance and defuses it, strips it of retaliation (its only weapon) and instead brings peace. Biblical peace is not a sunny day and happy feelings. Instead it is war ceasing because one side refuses to fight. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a pacifist. I believe in the defense of the defenseless and that we should always resist those who seek to shackle the weak. But revenge is not in our mandate. And that is how Jesus changed the world.

Consider Jesus’ method of “skipping” the violence of the Old Testament during the opening quotation in his sermon recorded in the Gospel of Luke:

Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 but has deliberately left out half of verse 2. The full text is as follows:

As you can see, Jesus left out “the day when our God will seek vengeance” (as well as the phrase after it). I think he did that for a couple of reasons. First, pragmatically, Jesus was using this passage to kick off his ministry which was to be about God’s favor. Second, and related, is the fact that under the new covenant that God was making with all the peoples of the world, vengeance was set aside, or you could say transferred to Christ who bore all the vengeance of God’s wrath on the cross in our place.

While this approach to Scripture is rather simplistic it does offer a helpful rule of thumb for dealing with large sections of the Old Testament. For example, we can read the beautiful Psalm 63 and not trouble ourselves about the violence of verses 9 and 10:

If I were preaching this Psalm I wouldn’t omit verses 9 and 10. On the contrary I would draw attention to them and use them as an opportunity to confront our human desire for revenge. But that is a perfect counterpoint to an explanation of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. Our clear command from the Savior is to love our enemies and pray for those who curse us.

Another Psalm that frequently troubles Christian preachers is Psalm 137. What do we do about the “dashing babies on the rocks” business? Well, just skip it! Again, I probably wouldn’t wouldn’t omit this verse if I were preaching the passage. But it would be acceptable to leave this verse out from a brief Scriptural reading which wouldn’t allow a full explanation of this verse in the context of captivity and also the context of our new life in Christ.

I hope some of the people who interacted with my first post will also share their reactions to this one.

I tag: Darrell , John, Doug, d. miller, Bob, J.K, (I’d also like to hear what Peter thinks.)

And as always, anyone is welcome to ask questions or make comments.

Update: These friends have already chimed in with their responses:

• Gentle Wisdom: Vengeance is not ours
• Clayboy: Living with texts of terror
• Sufficiency: Vengeance and violence
• Ancient Hebrew Poetry: New Testament Only Christians

Update 2:

• Henry Neufeld: On the Old Testament and Vengeance
• More from John Hobbins:  Jonathan Robinson on silencing the OT on the basis of the NT, Violence in the Bible: A Conversation with Mike Koke (1)
• Jonathan Robinson: But Vengeance IS Good News: A reply to David Ker
• David Miller: The God of Vengeance in Luke’s Gospel
• JK Gayle: Our (Pregnant) Talk about Pregnant Texts of the Bible
• Another from Bob on his Log: The Psalms used in Hebrews
• Mike Koke: Violence in the Canon

Caveat: I’m not advocating “New Testament Only” Christianity. Instead I am advocating the centrality of the Gospel in our sermons as opposed to unfiltered preaching of “The Bible.”

See a large selection of Zapiro cartoons of Obama here.

It’s interesting to see the tension in the US and Canada over caricatures of an African-American president. Political caricatures are brutal. But the concern over being racist has caused a lot of angst in North America. People should head over to Africa and see how African cartoonists caricature Africans. An excellent place to start is Zapiro at the Mail and Guardian in South Africa.

Taylor Jones does an excellent job of pointing out some of the distinctive features of Obama that make him so much fun to caricature: OBAMA 101 with lots of illustrations.

For a nice primer on drawing African faces, you can check out this video.

Finally, did you ever hear about the blue lips controversy?

Daryl Cagle has a roundup about the racist, or maybe not, depictions of Obama with blue lips.

As you might have guessed I’ve been trying to figure out how to draw African faces. One place I probably won’t be looking for technique is Hergé’s Tintin au Congo:

But I was only trying to help…

From comics

Africa is a development project playground. Any crackpot scheme you can conceive will fly here as a prototype if you’re willing to spend the money. Imagine if someone showed up in your neighborhood and tried to get you to do all your cooking on a solar oven? Or wanted you to poop in a bag and use it to grow tomatoes? Or wanted you to power your lights by pedaling on a stationary bike? Would you be grateful? Patronizing to say the least, downright racist in their worst manifestations, our do-gooder attempts to fix Africa have little impact beyond corruption, cynicism and creating dependency. Africa is an overgrown baby sucking the tit of international aid. At some point the whole exercise became embarrassing for everyone involved. The cure is not to increase the milk flow. Instead, you cut the kid off. Let him scream. And eventually he’ll start eating a proper diet.

I shouldn’t be pointing a finger at others who have attempted to “improve” Africa. I’ve fallen into every cycle of dependence, created my share of corruption, and grown cynical as yet one more “great idea” peeters out. But I won’t quit. I’m determined to do my part. But, boy, do I have a lot of learning to do.

For a complete list of my articles on development see the Development category.

Some of the best posts are:

• One Laptop Per Child. And then what?
• Let them eat ice cream
• Aid in Africa: Or “Why do all my great ideas keep flopping?!?”
• New Year’s Resolution #4: Dig a well in Africa

Recently I put out a call for links to “crazy development projects.” Oliver was kind enough to send this list of links that I found very helpful:

• http://www.globalhood.org/casestudies.shtml: Case studies and alternative scenarios
• http://www.uniteforsight.org/pitfalls-in-development/pitfalls-in-development: Case studies and pitfalls
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22380448/: Very expensive mistakes
• http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,539782,00.html: A good three part series on development disasters

Recognizing consumer need the Peepoo is formulated from a bottom up perspective putting the users need first.

From the website: Peepoople

The end of poor sanitation! The puns are flowing so fast that I can’t control the flow. I’m flush with excitement! In the anals of human history… Each man should doo his doody!

First the doggy bag… now the doody bag.

OK, slow news day, folks. But this one really got me going.

Here poor people in the developing world, poop in this bag. It will make your life so much better!

HT: New York Times

For bunches of my rants about development in Africa see: The A-Freakin’ Series

The kinds of things I’m interested in are:

• Unsustainable technologies
• Culturally inappropriate practices

Some examples I’ve heard of:

1. Russian snowplows sent to Kampala
2. Solar ovens in a region where everyone cooks at night
3. Merry-go-round water pumps
4. Yellow corn flour for people who only eat white flour
5. Collective farming

I’d like to tag some of my African buddies but anyone is welcome to participate: Eddie, Rob, Paul, @HASH, @Rombo, @Daniso, Tim… who am I forgetting?

Help me out!

How about you? How have you changed Africa and vice versa?

If you like this, please share it.

So Philip started speaking, and beginning with this scripture proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.

(Acts 8:35, NET)

This is my fourth year teaching exegesis to Mozambican Bible college students. I walk a fine line between getting the students to interpret the Scriptures properly on one hand and to not apply it incorrectly on the other. It is a given among my students that the Bible is God’s Word. It is inspired. All of it is profitable. Every passage and verse has wisdom and application for us today. But this high regard for the Bible frequently leads to nonsense and often downright heresy. That’s because, simply put, not everything in the Bible is applicable to us today. As Christians we read the Bible “christianly,” that is we reinterpret some parts and ignore others. This sifting process takes a couple of forms. First, some Scriptures are there as warnings, not showing good behavior to emulate but bad behavior to avoid. Almost every narrative in the Old Testament can be read as a bad example that we shouldn’t follow. Whether it is David’s adultery with Bathsheba or the Israelites’ recalcitrance in the desert, these are cautionary tales. In other cases, something from the Old Testament can be seen as a “shadow” of New Covenant realities. The sacerdotal practices and the civil laws highlight the “better things” that we have in Christ.

I worry while teaching exegesis that I’m finessing the Scripture so much that the average preacher doesn’t have a chance of following my moves. I have struggled over the years to find a straightforward exegetical method that allows the expositor a fighting chance of rightly dividing the word of truth. There are a few verses that I point to when trying to help exegesis students get off on the right foot.

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

(Heb. 1:1-2, NIV)

I use this verse to show that Christ is the culminating messenger and message of the Bible. The Gospel should be our central message, supported by “the prophets” of old. I frequently say that if you begin in the Old Testament you should end in the New Testament. And that every sermon should have one point: Jesus. While some might argue that a sermon doesn’t necessarily have to “end in the New Testament” I would respond that the majority of examples from the book of Acts and even the epistles do just that: “beginning with this scripture” (and sometimes with only the most tenuous of connections) early church preachers talked about Jesus using the Old Testament as a springboard.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

(1 Cor 10:11, NIV)

This is a controversial point. What I’m asserting is that the Old Testament can’t stand on its own. And that until Christ there are no examples to follow but rather failures to avoid. And regarding the commands and laws of the Old Testament, they are set aside as being inadequate in comparison with the new law and the new Lawgiver. This was Paul’s concern in the letter to the Galatians: “No one will be justified by the Law.”

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming–not the realities themselves.

(Heb. 10:1, NIV)

The question is, what laws of the Old Testament still have effect today? While the textbook I use for exegesis advocates distinguishing between moral, civil and ritual laws, with only the moral laws (in essence the 10 commandments) still having direct application today, I think we can conservatively set aside all the Old Testament laws and replace them with Jesus’ new commandments to love God and our neighbor. I don’t mean to suggest that the moral force of such laws in the Old Testament is set aside. What is called a sin in the Old Testament is still a sin today. But the difference has to do with punishment and atonement.  The textbook case for this is Jesus’ encounter with the adulteress in John 8. He didn’t say that she hadn’t sinned. Instead he acknowledged her sin and refused to condemn her. This is the essence of the Gospel of grace. And shows how Jesus could flippantly disregard Old Testament prohibitions regarding ceremonial cleansing and the Sabbath as well as civil punishments that even in his era were ignored as barbaric and instead took religion into a realm that was at once narrower and broader. Narrower because religion was no longer to be mixed with politics and broader in that the laws of love encompassed all of life, every relationship and even our inner attitudes.

To summarize my approach to exegesis, this diagram is helpful. It has several characteristics:

1. Christ is central
2. We look at the Old Testament through the screen of the cross.
3. Everything in the OT is either a warning or a shadow.

While I’ve spoken mostly about the Old Testament, much of what I am saying here also applies to the New Testament. The words and deeds of the 12 disciples, the early church and even the apostle Paul have to be interpreted through the lens of Christ the only perfect man. These guidelines are meant to guard against legalism and ritualism and also allow us to make the most of the Scriptures while keeping the focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My first color comic. I am such a moron at GIMP. But having fun. It’s slightly more complicated than Paint.