Fixing the Problem: Part 2

Personal notes:
Lockdown in prison today, no acess for us, so I'm blogging. I will be in Mpumalanga for most of the week, trying to gain a spot on the South African wrestling team in freestyle and greco. I have no idea what to expect, but it will be tough. As always I love emails and comments, but it might be some time before I have computer acess again.

‘Does HIV cause Aids? Aids is an acquired immune deficiency syndrome. I don’t believe it is a sensible thing to ask if a virus causes a syndrome. A single virus cannot cause a syndrome. A virus causes a disease. Aids is a syndrome … including 29 different diseases. When you ask the question, does HIV cause Aids, the question is: does a virus cause a syndrome? It can’t.’
- South African President Thabo Mbeki

If you do not realize why the above statement is re idiotic, please read up on HIV/AIDS before reading the rest of this post. (In short, HIV does cause AIDS!)

If part 1 of FTP is brutal right-wing conservatism (better policing) part 2 is the epitome of left-wing liberalism. Education. Educated people make better decisions. I have a double stake in promoting this education: as a teacher by profession, I've been trained (indoctrinated?) to value education. As a worker for the YMCA, I've chosen education as my volunteer labor. My main job involves going into schools and prisons, helping programs that teach people self-control and good decision making skills. I've also gone on Christain radio and offered "advice" to the listeners. Education rules.

Lack of knowledge is killing South Africa. Not just intellectually or financially, but also physically. While our doctors work their fingers to the bone combatting AIDS, lobbying for cheap antiretroviral drugs (the drugs that keep HIV+ people alive)and and running education programs our polititians make stupid statements like the one above. (Stay tuned for the 'politics' part of FTP, when I will discuss more stupid politicans). Idiots. Mind boggling, rage-inducing idiots. It would be hilarous it if weren't so tragic. AIDS is a miserable way to die. When our politicans act backwards and stupid that makes other countries want to avoid dealing with us.

Educatiors fight against more than just lack of knowledge. We fight against "culture". It is always a sensitive subject, trying to change someone's historical or traditional beliefs, but sometimes protection of life must rule over cultural ideas. It is NOT okay for a man to have sexual rights over his wife or girlfriend (ie she can't say no) in an HIV-flooded land. It is NOT okay for people to believe that raping a virgin will take your AIDS away. (Of course, people who choose to follow those cultural ideas conveniently forget that traditionally, black African culture was sexually conservative.)

There actually are many education progarms in South Africa, working with mixed sucess. Reading over questionaires filled in by students in low-income areas, most kids seem to understand the basics of AIDS. This makes me happy. Prisons are flooded with education programs. Even the government spends money educating. The YMCA seeks teach people "how to think" rather than just how to act. We target gang leaders in prison, and train "peer educators" in schools. We teach students how to deal with their emotions, differentiate fact from oppinion, say no to peer pressure, and strongly suggest abstinence until marriage. Many groups follow the ABC plan in AIDS education: Abstain, Be faithful to one partner, use a Condom. with each step safer than the one below it. Slowly, painfully slowly, messages get through. People change and make new lives for themselves.

Of course, the problems with education are two-fold:
1) There is dispute over what is "good" to teach. (Example: do we emphasize condom use or complete abstinence?) I've been told by medical students that professors made fun of them for not experimenting sexually. This seems silly- all religous or moral reasons aside, there are damn good MEDICAL reasons to be sexually conservative in Africa. Not all ideas are good ones, and not all knoweldge is helpful. South Africa would be a much better place if no one knew how to make Cryztal Meth.

2) Knowing something and doing it are two different things. South Africans are notorious for not acting on their knowledge, or for ignoring obvious truth. Thabo MBeki HAS to now what the global consensus on AIDS is. Willful ignorance is easy enough, especially when surrounded by so much real ignorance.

Prisoners are more than willing to tell long, reasonable stories about the mistakes they made in their past, the wrong paths they went down, the wasted years, and how they are changed people now. Once they get out onto the streets (or even out of the YMCA meeting) it's a different story. Many of them have been in prison repeatedly. Who is to say this stint, this class, makes a difference? There are social and economic reasons why people reoffend, of course, and we need to deal with those also, but you can't underestimate the willingness, or unwillingness, of human beings to make good choices for themselves.

Talking to medical students in South Africa, they are driven to total frustration by the unwillingness of patients to follow simple doctors orders. "Take these antiretrovirals, at X dosage, at Y time each day, and it will extend and drastically improve your life." And the patients take them sparodically, only when they happen to feel like it, and then the ARV's do nothing except make you sicker. How can you help people that won't take a bloody pill to curb horrible suffering? Tuberculosis, almost unknown in the west, is reaching epidemic proportions in South Africa, partly because people don't take their medicine to completion, creating drug-resistant TB.

I could go on and on... How do you educate against laziness? Against a person who would rather beg than get a real job and contribute to society? Live off government handouts rather than make an honest living? The lack of commitment to doing a good job, being punctual, backing up your commitments, ideas we take for granted in North America, are comically lacking in Africa. Really. Not all South Africans are like this, of course: many, many people are hard-working, honest, and dedicated. However, negative trends are easy to see. These are not the rants of a crazy Ann Coltour-type conservative. These are honest observations made by many people from different racial, social and political backgrounds. You really can teach a man to fish, but you can't make him get on the boat.

Education is great. Education is necessary. Education is hope for the people of Africa. But without motivation, Eucation will fail. We must continue to educate the people of South Africa. However, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that it will solve all problems by itself.

An Ode to Stupid

A South African recently chided me by saying that "you westerners think too much". I bit my tongue and didn't ask him if that was why we didn't live on the continent most riddled with crime, disease, civil war and starvation. Turns out you dont' need to reasearch a history of colonialism, go into local culture, or discuss the impact of environmental conditions to understand why Africa is in such a bad way. All you have to do is try to register a car. After repeeated attempts I have discovered that:

Not even jr. high boys can lose, misplace, destroy and otherwise screw up paperwork like people here.

There's about 5 different traffic and police departments. The reason for existence for each of them is to ensure that another department helps you with what you need. They probably bet on it: "hahaha, you provided accurate information, less funding for you."

A mechanic that declares a car is ready to drive, and pass a government road test, when it has no brake lights, no gas gauge, a very loose muffler and a brake situation best described as "murderous" should hang his head in permashame.

On my first day driving on the left hand side of the road, with minimal braking ability and no knowledge of where the streets head, it is not helpful to follow someone who:
a) Runs 2 yellow lights in a row, behind both of which I am stuck.
b) Cuts across a heavy stream of traffic, in which there will be no gap to follow for several minutes
c) takes off through 2 corners while I am still in the freaking parking lot.

I hearby declare South Africa the incompetence capital of the entire world. I, too, am getting into the act. This post is taking forever, since I keep hitting the "crash computer" button, conveniently located next to the "delete" key, and by the time I get back to the laundromat my clothes will probably be stolen.

The Bible on Hell

Sweet moses, I loathe Africa time. I truly and utterly despise it. Nothing works. Everything takes forever. "Quick" meetings take two hours (in Afrikaans, of course), 9 AM means 12:30, and "we'll get your car ready" means "we'll tell the mechanic to start working on it, and we couldn't possibly get it registered before he's done." I've decided the problem in this country isn't racism or poverty, it's boredom. I mean, if you had absolutely nothing to do for your ENTIRE LIFE, wouldn't you be tempted to do drugs or have casual sex or join a gang? On top of that, if it's possible to get too much "God" I'm all over that. Comes from staying with charismatics, I guess, but in between gospel music, long Afrikaans church services, Christian radio and discussions on the Bible (not to mention truly loathsome Christian television) I'm really Spiritual-ed out.


Anyway, speaking of endless misery and the Bible, I finally found a computer where I can upload my study on hell in the Bible. It may not interest everyone. Here it is...


THE BIBLE ON HELL

What is not hell?

Most of the Bible does not mention hell. We might think of faith as mostly “escaping hell” but the Bible doesn't seem to. The “wrathful” Old Testament does not clearly mention hell. The afterworld in Old Testament thought, “Sheol”(Hades in Greek) is a shadowy place, which may not be consciously experienced at all. It is described by Ecclesiastes: “the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered..” Old Bibles mistranslate Sheol/Hades as “hell”. In one surprising parable in Luke, much beloved by hellfire preachers, a rich man IS tormented by flame in Hades. Was Jesus trying to change beliefs about what Hades is really like? Was he accommodating emerging Jewish ideas (which evolved in the time between the 2 Testaments) about the afterlife into a story about something else altogether? I’m not sure. In any case, Hades/Sheol is a temporary before-judgment holding place destroyed in Revelation.

Paul and John, the big New Testament theologians, don’t talk about hell (except in Revelation) and always present the Gospel as a glorious new plan, not as fire insurance to escape a horrible fate. Christians who grew up believing in hell can read it into a lot of scripture where first-century Jew or Pagan would not do so. When Paul writes he often sounds downright Universalist. This lack of hell in most of the Bible leads me to think hell is a sad backup plan, perhaps banishment for those who refuse to enjoy God’s grace, not a default torture chamber for all who don’t understand theology the right way. Perhaps, if we want to please God, the afterlife will take care of itself.

The most graphic and scary images of hell are presented by Jesus in the synoptic Gospels. He gave them for a reason, and we must not take them lightly. At the same time we should remember that Jesus, our final judge, welcomed sinners who showed the least spark of repentance, promised eternal life to criminals, and forgave soldiers even as they nailed him onto a cross. He also mixes hell warnings with those about the fiery destruction of Jerusalem (which happened 69 AD,I think), so sometimes it’s hard to tell what he’s talking about and how it applies to us.

It is argued by some that the word “hell” should not appear in Scripture at all. When English Bibles say :”hell” Jesus really said “Gehenna”. Gehenna was a disgusting garbage dump in Israel where Pagans had once sacrificed children, a symbol of shame and defilement. Garbage was burned there constantly. Was Jesus speaking about after-death punishment at all in when alluding to Gehenna, or earthy disgrace, or a literal death in the garbage dump upon Jerusalem’s fiery destruction? In some instances he does seem to be speaking of the afterlife, but other “Gehenna” teachings make more sense if they mean “you will be a moral garbage dump” (does anyone really think calling someone a fool will get you thrown into hell?) Interestingly, later Jewish teachings do equate “Gehenna” with after-death punishment, but only for a limited time.

What is hell?

Most “hell” teachings in the Bible are found in the first 3 Gospels, as warnings and parables of Jesus, and in Revelation. Neither parables nor Revelation lead to easy, clear theology. It might be heretical to suggest that different New Testament writers had different ideas about hell, but they certainly expressed them differently. To summarize…

Hell is where the “damned” go after final judgment by Jesus at the end of time, the “Lake of Fire” and “second death” in Revelation The verses that speak of the post-judgment situation are generally found in parables or apocalyptic literature, so it is hard to tell where (if ever) metaphor ends and tangible reality begins. Flame, darkness, eternal death and total destruction are often described, and may be metaphorical because they are somewhat mutually exclusive. All of them suggest hell is very unpleasant place.. Hell is frequently described as exclusion from, and contrasted with, God’s presence, people and rewards.

While some people do believe in a literal hell of fire, some theologians argue the exclusion from God’s goodness causes emotional pain graphically symbolized by flames. After all, when condemning child sacrifice, the Old Testament says that it “never entered God’s mind” to burn children in fire.

People are sad and angry in hell, weeping and gnashing their teeth People feel shamed in hell, and some feel tormented. Satan and his demons are fellow prisoners, not rulers. The punishment of hell is proportional to the evil a person has committed, and the amount of truth they rejected. Hell is not an either-or, one-size-fits-all punishment. Some theologians believe that this is a natural outcome; the more you love evil and reject God, the more miserable you must naturally be if God is in charge. Others believe that God directly administers punishment.

Who goes there?

Those who consciously reject God’s truth and choose evil instead. I was surprised at how clear the Bible is on “conscious rejection”, as shown by an unwillingness to repent and a desire to do evil. Once in hell, they try to argue their case instead of pleading for mercy. The parts of the Bible that stress salvation by “faith” and “belief” in Christ (Paul’s and John’s writing) don’t describe after-death punishments for the "unsaved".. Jesus threatens after-death punishment (and Gehenna) for the willfully disobedient. His strongest threats are to the biggest “conscious rejecters” in history- the Pharisees, who see Jesus’ miracles in person, and chose to crucify instead of believe Him! Jesus warns those who refuse to do good (especially helping the less fortunate) and in Revelation the condemned are defined by their evil deeds.

Belief in Jesus allows one to face final judgment without fear (though his followers still need to give account of themselves), but “faith” is often described in terms of love for God resulting in good deeds, not in the neat "say the prayer of salvation" package usually presented by churches. A person with “faith” who that does not show it in some way has no real faith, and one with little knowledge of Jesus can still show faith. The Bible is unapologetically vague about who goes to hell among those to who have little opportunity to become Christians (especially those who are loving people, which the Bible says comes only from God). However, it is clear that punishment is directly proportional to what was revealed and entrusted to a person. Surprisingly, people who are not conventionally “Christian” are referred to as believers, (in one case, Paul meets some “believers” and then tells them about Jesus!) having faith, pleasing God, and even accusing the more religious but less godly on judgment day.

Is Hell Permanent?

I was unable to get a consistent answer from Scripture, so the best I can do is present evidence for several viewpoints.

Eternal Hell: The majority viewpoint in most Christian groups. Hell lasts forever, and once you are there you are stuck. A believer in this view would point out that hell is sometimes described as “eternal fire” or punishment, and often contrasted with “eternal life”. The flames are “unquenchable” and there is no clear doctrine of escaping hell after death in the Bible. Once the door is closed, the gap can not be crossed, and you are separate from God forever.

Annihilationist: The punishment of hell ends with total destruction, without consciousness (or the damned are simply not resurrected). A believer in annihilation argues that Adam’s sin, and the wages of sin in general, are said to lead to “death”, not eternal punishment. Jesus was killed, not eternally punished, to pay the price for sin. The metaphors describing hell often refer to total destruction, and the burning up of sticks or chaff. “Eternal” refers to the permanency of annihilation, not conscious suffering.

Eventual Universalism: The belief that everyone is eventually saved. A Universalist sites the many verses proclaiming Jesus as the Savior of “all men” and “the world” and glorious prophecies about everyone worshiping God at the end. They also claim that the Greek words calling hell “eternal punishment” are better translated as “age-long correction”, a miserable but temporary condition meant to bring forth repentance and eventual salvation. (The Greek word, “aion” is often used Biblically to describe non-permanent things). In some parables on judgement, people are punished for a set number of blows or until their debt is paid, not forever. Peter talks about people being saved “through the fire” and Paul’s discussion in Romans on the big conscious rejecters of the time, Israel, ends with all of Israel being saved. Revelation can be interpreted as saying that people are excluded from heaven as long as they want to be evildoers instead of “washing their robes” so they can “drink from he river of life”. In the end, death is destroyed and suffering ends. Could this include the “second death?”

References (sort of)

I can’t find all the websites I used but Wikipedia and saviorofall.com’s links were common. Works by C.S. Lewis, J.P. Moreland and Rob Bell and others, as well as discussions with many of my friends, were helpful. Thanks, guys.

I used a “New Living Translation” Bible, but read other versions for some of the verses. It’s daunting to realize how much the theology of the translator shapes what our Bibles say.

Not Part 2!

No, this is not "Part II". This is totally unrelated to anything.


So the new thing in schools is to... wait for it... ban tag. Now that the lethal terrors of dogeball have been conquered, several administrations are turning their gaze on the blood sport that is running around tapping each other gently. TAG!

Back in my day, we had snowball fight bans in our school, and they were looked upon with dreadful seriousness. Packing a snowball was treated like toting an AK-47, and carried with it an instant suspension. Every lunch break we would play a pretty vicious game of backyard football, where the emphasis was less on the score than on the tackle (trips, hits from behind and all that were quite common) and there were even some fights... but man, how we hated that snowball rule. (I suppose a snowball might actually put out an eye, though I've never heard of it actually happening). And now educators think it wise to ban friggin' tag. Lawsuits about kids getting injured, I think... and not just in the lawsuit crazy U.S., but also right here in Edmonton!

During my APT, Ii learned how unreasonable and agressive parents can get, and so I sympathize with the administrators... but just a little bit. Our population is getting fatter by the minute (man, it's hard to stay in shape when you don't have to make weight anymore) and we want to ban games that promote... gasp... moving around? ("Let's get our kids more active.. but only by running on a treadmill.. in a padded room... with supervision by trained doctors, and a life coach... wait, you can fall of a treadmill?")

Maybe some kid will slip and fall? Awww... Comment from some parent: "I'm glad. I've seen too many near collisions". What kind of wussy tag is that? You should be having actual collisions... .

"But Jens, you're a tree planter. You like to wrestle. You don't understand. My child is sensitive." I'm sure it is, but I do know what I'm talking about. When I was little I was always picked last at games, I sucked in gym class, and I was actually tested because my coordination was so poor. (My attempts to play basketball are too poor to even be funny) .

News flash parents... think back on your childhood.... I imagine you had bumps, bruises, scratches, maybe even shed a little blood, and yet you did not die. It might have even prepared you for a world where everyone is not in the business of trying to make you feel good. The "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" cliche may not apply to, say, crippling car wrecks but is sure as heck applies to running around on a playground. But no, the band-aid police is out in full force, protecting their children from the nicks and scratches of a healthy, fun-filled childhood, so they can go home, eat donuts and play "Lethal Carnage of Naked People 3" on their playstation without so much as a sliver because they aren't allowed to have normal fun anymore.

Here's just one link to an editorial that conveys it's annoyance far more articulately. I know the Edmonton Sun is a right wing trash rag bla bla bla but this one time they got it right. http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=32606743

Passport Details

Here is the step by step process for getting acess to India, as outlined by the internet: 1) Apply for Visa 2) Get Visa 3) Fly to India. Unless, of course, you are me (which, by the way, you are not, unless I'm reading my own writing, in which case I should get a life). Then the play-by-play goes something like this.

1) Download Canadian Passport Application forms because my passport has expired
2) Fill them out- twice, because my handwriting is too messy the first time
3) Realize that, for some reason known only to a mythical being that resides in a tower made entirely of paperwork, Birth Certificates issued in Quebec before 1994 are not suitable for passport applications. (I was born in Montreal in 1983. For those of you who are math impaired, that makes me 50 years old).
4) Sit on the phone for a long time trying to get around the Birth Certificate issue without luck.
5) Call Quebec, which tells you to order a new birth certificate- for money, of course. Also, another mythical being (this one sitting atop a fountain of purest bull manure) has forbidden them from telling me when said birth certificate might arrive.
6) Download forms and order birth certificate.
7) Wait a month
8) Call Quebec again, and ask them what's going on. Have them tell you it should have arrived last week. "We'll accelerate your request and call back in two weeks if you still don't have it."

I am now in still in the waiting stage, and time is running low. It sucks. I envision myself flying to Vancouver, where you can get an Indian visa overnight, just to make my plane.


Oh yeah, applying for the South African Passport was fun too. I sent in all my forms, and when we called back a month later (because my mom was having "evil dreams" about my passport, which turned out to be quite prophetic) the consualate "never saw the forms." I'd like to introduce the jerk who tossed my forms into the garbage to a rabid hyena and let them fight it out, but anyway, moving on... We had to get new forms (apparently the old ones were outdated anyway, which involved 3 passport pictures, siugnatures from every human being who is a serial killer (and to qualify for serial killer status you have to make at least three kills, all for the purpose of pleasure), and a full set of fingerprints. Also, a single thumbprint on my other form, which I naively thought wouldnt' be a big deal.

I was partially right, It took about 5 seconds.. and 25 extra dollars. I wish the police would stick to fleecing speeders. Pick up some potheads and find them if you need cash. Then I found out a policeman I know woulda been more than happy to thumbprint me free of charge. Yay.

So ya, I am sitting here waiting for things to arrive in the mail. As to my volunteering in South Africa, I may be working with the South African YMCA. They show great interest (as told to my my sister) in having me volunteer for them. Contacting them, however, is a whole new exciting story, that you'll have to ask me about in person.

That then is the state of my travels... frustrating and incomplete.. hopefully things work out. If you are reading this and am a praying type person, please spare a minute to ask the Big Guy to speed up the Birth Certificate office. I really wanna go to India.

Beauracrapcy Sucks...

So it turns out that due to a bunch of mistakes made by a bunch of people, including but not limited to myself, my South African Passport will not be ready by November. After a week of running around, making phone calls (and many thanks to my parents who made a bunch of calls and reaserch while I was working), getting a billion pictures taken, and cursing the pettyness of the Canadian passport office ("all birth certificates from Quebec must be post 1994, and no there is no good reason why") the general inefficeincy of Quebec ("no we are not allowed to tell you when your birth certificate will be ready") and the South African embassy's amazing paperwork-losing capabilites I am pretty much sick of it all. No plane ticket, no set dates, no nothing... gaaaa! My date of leaving has been pushed back probably to January.

However, I do know the following...

Before going to South Africa, I am going to India with my mom and sister on Nov. 10th, and staying for 3 weeks. We will volunteer at a children's home and touristerize. I also want to ride a tiger.

In South Africa I hope to volunteer for the South African YMCA, which does work in prisons and hard-done-by school, the very type of thing I want to be doing. I hope they email me back soon. I also want to do more prison ministry, catch more wildlife, and perhaps wrestle in the South African nationals. Good times...

Oh yeah, and I am doing a liquids-for-a-week contest, in which we are only allowed to consume foods that can be sucked through a straw. Basically it's been smoothies, soups and chocolate milk all week. Blenderized ravioli, when mixed with soup base and hot sauce, actually makes a great drink! I have yet to work up the nerve to try "meatcream", which sounds gross and only becomes grosser when you describe it- a meat milkshake... but I will try it soon, I think, which reminds me... my brother Nils wants to do a meat-week soon, a week of eating only the flesh of dead animals, and we need participants, so let me know if you're interested. You can eat a pack of bacon for supper and still lose weight!