A short video of a few clips I took at Portballintrae with my digital hero 3 camera strapped to my helmet…
It’s a bit choppy, and I’d like to find a few other mount points to see if it helps, perhaps on the front of the boat for some surfing action…
Here is the low quality version at 8.28 MB, Windows Media format
Here is the high quality version at 38.5 MB, MPEG 2 format
(Right-click and “Save As” to download)
Another weird kids video from Japan…
I never thought I would be still doing this when I was 25…
Today Union started back again, I was slightly late for my first class due to stationary traffic and the usual horrendous parking… But it was OK because Patton was late as usual and class hadn’t kicked off yet.
My modules for this semester are Old Testament (Theology and History), New Testament (Johannine literature and Hebrews) and Advanced Hebrew (More Squiggles and Dots).
I didn’t choose the Systematic Theology module, but was considering auditing it for a bit and seeing which drew me in most, but I’ve abandoned that idea. I think I would do better to have more biblical grounding and theology based on that, the rest I can read about and delve into at my leisure… Right?
I have also been thinking about my dissertation. I had kind of settled on doing my dissertation on church planting in the new testament. I had heard a lot of stuff along my way through Japan about this method of biblical church planting and that method of biblical church planting… So I thought this would be a good opportunity to take the time to study the cultures and histories of the new testament churches and see what in the methods adopted by Paul and co were cultural responses and which were directly applicable methods etc.
But last night at “Nothern Ireland Japan Christian Network” (I think) meeting at the Hamilton’s house Sam was talking about shame and how it is a major part of asian cultures. Western cultures tend to focus on what is right and what is wrong, but eastern tend to judge what to do and what not to do by what is shameful and what is honourable. He talked about several people he had met during his years of homeless ministry in Osaka who had been so deeply affected by the shame attached to things they had done wrong in their past they had left their families to avoid bringing that shame upon them. It is also one of the major things leading to suicide in Japan (there are 600 suicides per week in Japan). Sam was thinking about how Christ addressed shame in His sacrifice and how Christians can approach those plagued by shame.
But I am not sure if this is a suitable topic for a dissertation, particularly as I’m not taking any Systematic Theology modules this year. Further it would really need to be set in a cultural setting, perhaps Japanese or other eastern setting, and I am not sure if there is an avenue to do that at Union.
I will give it some more thought and get back to you :wink_ee:
This year, once again, we headed south to Dublin / Kildare to take part in the Liffey descent rough water marathon. It runs for 18-odd miles from Straffan to the Dublin Boat club.
This year four canadian (open) canoes went down carrying 8 “First Antrim Canoe Club” members.
PC and I took the same boat we did last year, with a little more covering to keep water out. Last year I had just returned from Japan and neither PC nor I had been down a river in an open boat before.
This time we had been down two rivers in an open boat (albeit a year ago!), had been kayaking all year and were much more familiar with being on the water and more prepared for what lay ahead.
As a result, we beat last years time by 50 minutes!
We spent less time (none!) at the top of weirs wondering which way to go down, more time paddling hard and less time running into things (other boats, trees, frogmen etc etc). As a result of this we were able to keep up with the water that was released by the power company to allow the race to take place (only happens once a year!) and so made up a lot of time; coming in 43rd instead of 71st!
For some impressive pictures check out the official photographers site.
There may be some more and even a video or two up in the future…
I’ve been thinking a bit about baptism recently. It all kicked off while I was in Japan and I was asked to give my testimony at the church we went to on the first Sunday.
Now in Japan there is no (or very little) infant baptism, the “traditional” churches that are rife (kind of) here in the UK, the presbos, methodists, anglicans etc who practice and believe in the validity of infant baptism are scarce in Japan. Most churches are independant and linked through an association rather than denomination. Mostly they take a credobaptist view and baptise adults. This is, at the very least, simpler and more practical in a country where Christian families are rare and the majority of baptisms are new adult believers who have come to faith out of little or no church background.
So anyways, when I was giving my testimony I mentioned I was baptised as a child and then talked about being confirmed as a believer at the Lord’s table, as is the traditional way in PCI. A japanese woman said “だめでしょ？” (meaning along the lines of “That’s not allowed, right?”) to which the pastor, who had very little knowledge of presbyterianism said “I’m not a presbyterian so I don’t know”… So I carried on, I found confidence in my baptism a good few years ago, but this got me thinking about how I was going to explain it to Japanese people who have no real concept of it and understand Baptism from the credobaptist POV without ever really engaging with other ideas, interpretations of scripture or views of the covenant sacrament.
Then when I got back to NI I was at a presbyterian young adults conference, the day before I arrived there had been a debate between a Baptist pastor and a Presbyterian minister about peado/credobaptism and which is biblical etc. I missed it but caught the buzz afterwards. Mostly from my not at all biased friend Tim who said that the Baptist guy proved that infant baptism was unbiblical. This always concerns me slightly as I was baptised as an infant.
My own personal view has been heavily influenced by the Presbyterian church and talking with ministers, my lecturers etc etc.
Ultimately biblically there is nothing that excludes peadobaptism. There are texts to confirm that new, unbaptised believers should be baptised, no one disputes that. There are texts that seem to point to an “order of salvation” but they are always specific cases being made to people who could not have been and were not baptised as infants.
But the key revolves around what baptism is. Why do it and what is it for?
Credobaptists (at least the Baptist based Japanese churches) say that is signifies the washing in Christs’ blood, going in signifies being “buried with Christ” then coming out signifies being “raised with him through faith”. Pretty much that baptism is a public profession of faith. A ritual sign to show you are a Christian.
Presbyterians take it a little differently however. Presbyterians see Baptism as the initiation of the new covenant. By being baptised the baptisee is entering into the Covenant God has made with his “visible Church”, the covenant body. This puts baptism, with a differing interpretation of the verses in Colossians alluded to above (Col 2:11-12), into the same category as circumcision. It basically is an interpretation of baptism that includes the entire scriptural revelation, rather than just focussing on the New Testament. Infant baptism is an extention through the understanding that God’s covenant, like the old covenant with the israelites, extends to children. It is not exclusive to the currently believing. Just as an 8 year old boy did not have the faith of his fathers bestowed on him by some amature surgery in the covenant of Abraham, so a child does not have the saving faith of his/her parents bestowed on him/her by baptism. Rather it is to welcome the child into the covenant body of Christ and the beginning of that child’s nurture and care through to, God willing, faith.
However, I do not believe that infant baptism is a necessity at all. Rather it is largely the result of the tradition of a Christian culture. It requires long standing Christian families, Christian culture established in the community to bring understanding, and it requires a deep understanding of scripture that young believers will find difficult to grasp, it also requires full committment from both parents in an understanding of the covenant that they are bringing their children into.
I think that, if I end up in Japan and if I ever produce offspring, they will probably not receive an infant baptism.
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