A FAITH SCARED!!

My interaction and talks with friends and students has revealed an attitude towards the Bible, that makes me rather uncomfortable. Why am I uncomfortable you ask? First I wouldn't be writing this blog is the attitude was from non-Christians. Secondly is the way I have grown up as a Christian in Kenya. Authority is something valued, appreciated and respected in that part of the world. Whether it is your Boss at work, Pastor at church, a parent at home there can be no denial that authority is respected. I remember as a Primary school pupil being told to stand up whenever a grown up was passing or stop playing when a grown up was passing as a gesture of respect to the figure of authority.

Of course this does not answer the question why I am uncomfortable, yet I am trying to lay the foundation so that you see where my discomfort comes from. Norway is a country where equality is celebrated and I must say there is no problem with that. It is an environment where all religions are equal and no particular religion should raise its flag high and declare itself to be the true one. It is an environment where everyone is a boss or an authority to themselves. The general tendency is for people not to have anything outside of them that tries to control them or show them what to do.

My question is, if you have come to a reasonable conclusion that God exists, don't you think you are responsible to Him?My problem which a little bit scares me; is challenging of the authority of scripture (Bible) as the word of God.You know it is one thing to for a non-Christian to question the authority of scripture and totally another thing for a Christian to question it. I am not saying that as Christians we are not suppose to ask questions regarding what the bible means in a given situation, but to the extent that a Christian says I don’t agree with what the Bible or what the apostle Paul says about this and that, makes me wonder which parts of scripture are we to agree with and which ones are we not to.

Does it mean that Christians should read scriptures selectively? I bet that will be a religion of our own creation such that we will want to hear only that which is pleasant to us and dismiss that which is not pleasant (usually intended for our discipline and correction) as personal opinions of the writers.

How do you preach to Christians of this calibre? Why is it that some reject the authority of scripture while the Bible is the most reliable book of all History?

Well, I will try to answer this question using my limited knowledge.

• My observation is that there is an abundance of biblical illiteracy among the young people here. Many it seems to me know the book by its cover and not by the content of its instructions.
• Secondly there has been a circulated rumour that the bible contains lots of mistakes. This is carried around being handed from one person to another without the recipient caring to found out for themselves.
• But thirdly which according to my experience through talks and interactions could be the major reason, is the types of Christians that I have come to categorize into three categories.

1. Those that believe in the Existence of God
2. Those that believe in God and Jesus
3. Those that believe in God, Jesus and the Bible

The first group are the type that have logically come to the conclusion that the complex design of the universe must have a designer and that designer is God. They neither believe in the claims of Jesus and the Bible is just any other ordinary book. They could also be born in a Christian family.

The second Group also have come to the Logical conclusion that apart from the universe having a designer, the claims of Jesus being God are worth considering. To them the Bible has a lot of moral lessons to learn, but since it is written by human beings it contains many mistakes and personal opinions that can be challenged and dismissed. The Bible also is an old book which has to an extent lost its relevance. They are also born in Christian families.

The third group is what you may call staunch Christians. To them God has revealed himself through scripture and Jesus Christ. These are ther kind of Christians you may refer to as committed who are obidient to what scripture says and are willing to search for more information to clear the discrepancies they may come across.

Myself I haven't read the whole Bible to say that it doesn't have discrepancies or “mistakes”

as the usual sceptic would say, but I am convinced that the central message of the Bible is one and the same. Well, there could be discrepancies, which we may not understand of now but if we are patient; in the light of new information we may just discard the discrepancies.

IMPRESSIONS AND THEORIES ABOUT NORWAY

Norway is  a rich country owing its wealth to oil and natural gas. It has been voted by the UN as the best country to live in, for eight years running. It is a full fledged welfare state where citizen can get a monthly stipend even without working. It has beautiful landscape adorned by mountains and fjords. Technologically it is an advanced state where machines do every kind of work. The culture here egalitariansm where every individual is regarded as being equal irrespective of sex, religion, social status etc. The youths here are quite informed courtesy of free internet acess and easy information flow.

Living in Norway is an exciting experience and a challenging one especially when you come from a culturally different environment. A book by the name "Foreign to Familiar" categorizes cultures into two vast categories-Hot climate cultures and cold climate cultures. The book in a way helped me not be frustrated about tendencies and way of life here in Norway.

At this point you will allow me to put down my impressions and theories about Norway.
Independence-Norwegian are raised to be independent. From a very early age a child is taught to think for him/herself. If a child falls down for example, it is upon him/herself to get up and not be assisted.
A number of times i have felt that it is almost impossible to offer help to someone here. It can easily be thought as a sign of weakness to accept help since your are supposed to manage it by yourself.This in turn breeds individualism where as the child grows he /she tends to think of himself and what can benefits them.

I also think it will be a little difficult for a man to be a gentleman towards a lady. For the small things that make   up gentlemanness like pulling a chair for a lady, seeing a lady off, helping carry some stuff for a lady don't find a place most of the times. The usual response from the ladies could be something like "thank you but i can manage"


Loneliness-This is a major social problem in Norway. Almost half of the population is lonely. My theory for this is simply.People have internet and as such they can almost transact anything on the internet. Information is in plenty, talk of maps to give direction. All this easy access to information makes it even easier to be independent. You don't need to ask a person about directions, read it in the map, you don't need to ask when the bus iis leaving, find from the internet. At least in Kenya you would have to talk to people to find some information which makes human interaction possible. I find this lacking here which in my opinion would be contributing to the loneliness.

The cheese theory- This is a theory that partly explains loneliness. The equality culture makes it hard to distinguish between the rich and the poor. While not everyone is on an equal footings, there are slight differences which are hard to recognize unless you have thoroughly investigated. since equality is such an important aspect of this culture some people may be tempted to live their lives in pretence just to keep up the social pressure of being equal. There seems to be a silent competition. People are closed up not wanting to reveal who they are, everyone wants to fit even when they are not equal.  A friends tells me of a lady he met in a Bus dressed like professionally, when my friend asked  where she was coming from she immediately answered "julebord" which is translated christmas table. Now this is common for companies to have Christmas tables(christmas celebration characterized by a lot of partying) for their employies. When my friend asked where she worked she felt embarassed becaused she wasn't employed. If you don't fit people tend to compansate for the gap by pretending to be who they are not, as such this leads to a cheese like life where from the outside it may look like its full but inside it is full of air bubbles. For how long a person manages to maintain this kind of life only time will tell, since any slight pressure on the outside may result to crumbling of the whole cheese of a person due to the incapacity of the airbubbles to support the weight of the pressure. Thus people can easily die with their problems rather than sharing them.

Honesty and trust- Whether this is a generalization or a theory, i may never tell. But i am thoroughly impressed by the kind of honesty i find here. People or rather students are open to stating the facts as they are including even the bad ones about them that people would always like to hide.
I have been going to a football hall where people are required to pay to use the facility. I have never seen a person standing there to ask people for money, people just come and pay. Even when they don't pay that specific day they still pay it later.
Though it may be costly in terms of fines to be found travelling in a bus without paying, i don't see policemen walking around in buses demanding evidence for payment. People are honest whether they are using bus cards of Cash, they still pay for it. Ordinarily i would expect that people would take advantage of this but Norwegians seem to be Honest. Whether it their individual conviction to be Honest or it is the trust in the system that makes them honest, it is evident that they are Honest.
If a Norwegian told you something or offered to show you how to do something, you can count on their word. Apart from the Jante-law that creates an inferiority complex for them, i find that Norwegians are only able to say they can do something when they are thoroughly sure they have master the art of doing it.
More reflections on impressions of Norway next time. I need to sleep now.