The Right Fight

The Right Fight, 24.02.2008


In over five years living in Canterbury, I have heard many a story about street thugs, but have never actually had to really face-off with any of them, until last Thursday night. This story is amazing to me, and if you would indulge me, I will tell it right here.


I had had a long day: we had taken a group of students on a day trip to Oxford, leaving around 8.15a.m, and due to traffic, we didn't get back to Canterbury until 8p.m. This meant that it was late and everyone was tired, but the students needed to be walked home by their group leaders (since they were twelve-year-old Chinese kids).
I was debating on whether to go to cell group or not, since I was already late upon arrival in Canters, but for some reason, I decided I'd go - passing through Tesco, since I had no food at home – and I started making my way up St. Martin's Hill, where I used to live. As I walked up, I saw a group of my students ahead; my immediate reaction was to think “Oh, no, let's slow down, I'm too tired to start talking to them and on top of that, we're going in the same direction...” (just to show you what a great guy I am), but as I started thinking that, I saw a group of big guys walk through them and push them in the street, a dangerous road at that. My pace quickened as I felt what I can only describe as my first experience of “righteous anger” flow from my heart through my body.
I caught up with the students and they immediately turned to me saying (in Chinese accents): “Oh, teacher, teacher, thank you, teacher is here, those boys...” They explained to me that these guys had bullied them, just as I had seen them do. I asked them where their teacher was; they said “gone home”... I was so annoyed. By this time, these three boys were ahead of us by about 60 metres and didn't seem like they were going to bother the students any more, when suddenly I saw one of them pick up a plank of wood lying on the grass (and by plank, I mean like the side of a barn), and start running towards us! Now, this guy might have been joking, but as I pushed through the students, he slowed down, looking very surprised, until he came to a halt in front of me:
“Hey man, what are you doing?”
“Oh, just carrying this plank...”
“Yeah? Why don't you pick on someone your own size?”(I can't believe I used that line, especially since, by then, I had realised he was about a head taller than me.)
“Yeah? Like you?”(starts pushing me)
“Hmm... Maybe I'll call the police!”
“What, why?”
“Why are you pushing me?”
“Well, you're starting on me, aincha?”
“Why did you push these kids in the street?”
“Well, they wouldn't move, chattin' nonsense and everything!”
“They're Chinese, they don't understand what you're saying!”
By this time, his other two mates had joined our friendly conversation, a fat guy and a little kid on a BMX. The two big ones could easily have been nineteen. The kids stayed behind me as we walked along, but the thing was, we were all going in the same direction, so I had to keep talking to these felons as we walked along, while they threatened to beat us up with their “boys”: one of them was on the phone, pretending to call up his crew. I said to him:
“What are you doing?”
“I'm calling my boys to come over and sort you out!”
“Why would you do that?”
“Well, you're standing up to my boy and everything, you don't even have anything to do with this!” (They always have to say, “and everything”... I don't get it)
“I'M THEIR TEACHER!”
So I kept threatening to call the police, I actually had my phone out and dialled 999 a couple times, but then thought it wouldn't do much good, since this would be over sooner than they could arrive. The fat guy actually said, “You're calling the police? Go ahead, my name's (...)” (Can't remember...)
But he did accelerate his pace.
However, they said “Come on, we'll take you down this dark alley and sort you out!”
When they got to their dark alley, he grabbed a stick and as we walked on, waved it at me threateningly, “Come on then! Where you going?”
“I'm taking them the right way!”, I said.
That's as far as I can remember, the conversation we had...


I would have liked to beat their arses (just to show you what a loving guy I am); I would have liked to have a sit-down and talk about why their attitude was so wrong, their lack of logic so startling, about how they needed Jesus in their lives. I had a lot rushing through my head at that time, but my primary concern was getting my kids home, safe and sound. I texted a friend of mine in the cell meeting to come and meet me at the end of that road, just for safety, but his phone must have been off.
As I walked them on, I thought how brilliant that picture was: these guys trying to lead us down a dark alley in a path of evil and me leading these boys on in a path of light, a path of righteousness. The most amazing thing of all of this is that it had nothing to do with me! I wasn't even going to go to cell group that night! This could have happened a few minutes before and after I showed up and I would have missed it! I remembered that the previous night I had been meditating on how God has prepared good works in advance for me to do, as I walk in faith and his grace operates in me. I believe that it was Jesus who planned it all to happen right then and there, and the result was that there was a peaceful, non-violent solution, because God is a peace-maker and he used me to bring his character in this situation...
As we got into the road where they were staying, which “godincidentally” was the same road where I was going for cell group, in fact, the houses they were staying at were literally opposite my friends' house (except for two who went off to their own house one road up), and I reflected on these things, the adrenaline started rushing out of me, all the confidence built up left me and my emotions started playing up... I told my students: “Next time you're in trouble, ask Jesus to help you, I'm serious... You know why I'm here tonight? Jesus brought me here!” They said: “OK!”, they could see I wasn't joking... Now this might have been wrong for me to say on the work level... But it was true, what else could I say?
So I walked them to their homes, then knocked on my friends' house, where I entered to tell them all the story and marvel in worship at God's faithfulness and sovereignty...

Christianity in the world, part 2: Political Participation

Having set the scene in the first part of this series I wish to continue on discussing the involvement of Christians in politics. As mentioned in the previous part, Christianity is neither left nor right, nor central for that matter; it separates itself from the mainstream political scene, by its completely different set of priorities and values. Having said that, I am often worried by a strange attitude that some Christians have of not participating in the political life of their nation.


I'm pretty sure that if we took a poll, the political participation of Christians would reflect the rest of the population's, showing a great degree of apathy, since in the last forty years there has been a verified decrease in political participation across EU countries (David Broughton, Developments in West European Politics 2, ed. by Heywood et al), going down in the UK from 75% in the seventies to 69.9% in the nineties and then 59.4% at the 2001 national elections. This also has to do with the general sentiment of people concerning politics and the way it impacts their lives: in 1997 an average of 75% of European citizens thought that corruption among politicians was increasing. But surely this sentiment would draw people to do something about that? It seems not.


A phrase which I keep hearing and makes me mad is “the lesser of two evils”, which is what a lot of Christians and non-Christians say, even people I respect: “the choice between the lesser of two evils is no choice at all, that is why I won't vote!” Because there are policies that I disagree with on either side, I won't vote for either! May I say, that is a ridiculous statement and not a good reason not to vote; why instead of focussing on the negative policies, not look at the good ones, the ones that will have positive consequences on society as a whole, maybe look at the priorities of the candidates, see what they have to say that is worthwhile. The last thing we need to do is separate ourselves from the world and become some kind of fundamentalist group of people who don't want to have anything to do with it. That is an effective washing of hands, saying that we take no responsibility for the way our nation goes, but right then, we become guilty of not doing what ought to be done. Need I remind us that democracy has been set up in our nations through lots of social and military battles?


It is indeed frustrating to hear so many American presidential candidates claim to do this and that thing in the name of Jesus, to hear them shamelessly use his name to push their own agenda, but I don't believe that is a good enough reason not to go to the urns. It is also very frustrating to hear of pastors and bible teachers, even very good ones, who tell their congregations to vote for a particular candidate because they are against or for the issues which they consider priorities. I think that a good pastor should not tell his congregation who to vote for, but give good guidelines on how to make up one's own mind about who to vote for: look at what they say, what does your conscience draw you to do, etc. John Piper (a prominent bible teacher) made the brilliant statement in a preach that all candidates are sinners, all are flawed, and that is why democracy is the best system for men and women to live in, apart from Jesus coming back and ruling perfectly like only he can do: because there is at least a consensus over which one of these flawed individuals gets the place of president. On top of that, this person cannot exercise complete authority and in the end, if we don't like them, we can vote them out at the next elections.


As I write this, the campaign race is going on in the US and Italy has lost its Prime Minister, the only man who could steer that crazy boat. I am seriously worried about the future of that country, of which I am a citizen. On top of that, the archbishop of Canterbury has bizarrely declared that Muslims should have the right to be run by their traditional law, thus implying, I imagine, that Christians should be allowed to run themselves, which clearly goes against what Jesus and his apostles say about honouring the government (Luke 20:19-26, 1 Peter 2:13-17). The political world has significance in our lives, though I find it sad that so many are caught up in everything political at the loss of what is more important.


If your conscience draws you not to vote, there's nothing more I can say, but when it comes to it, I would say that Roberto Benigni's (Italian actor, director and intellectual) words are worth considering: “vote for who seems most honest, most truthful”... As simple as that.

Christianity in the World, part I

What I have been reading these days is very thought provoking, and combined with my experiences of the last few months, particularly the time I spent in Italy in November and December, is provoking me to express in written form things that are going to open up cans of worms all over the place, since they have to do with world views that are common to most people, but I think that's a good thing, since one of the worst things I can do for someone, in my opinion, is not tell them why I disagree with them, because then I'm not loving them, not respecting them.

Everyone in this world, eventually, in one form or another, chooses a team to be on, be it political, religious, cultural, often it's a combination of these categories, and interestingly, all these teams of people have something to say about Jesus, who they think he is, and what they think about his Church. They also usually either totally reject Jesus and the Bible, or they pick and choose passages and images from it to push their own agenda, because after all, one can interpret the Bible any way one wishes to, isn't that right? (Rhetoric question, just in case you're confused, the answer to that is a screaming “NO!” coming straight from my mouth)
One of the things I wish to clarify here (in this series, if I manage to write more than one) is the question of Christianity and politics, because a lot of people are rightfully confused about it, since all sorts of people claiming to be Christians do all sorts of things in the name of Jesus.

The first thing I need to do before I start out proper though and before anyone switches off, because they just read the word “politics” is that Christianity and the Bible are neither “left” nor “right”, though they have something to say about all the issues on the political boards across most countries in the world. However, I have never come across a political party that had 100% Christian values as I have never come across a political party claiming to be Christian in whose members there were the visible spiritual fruits of character and behaviour I would expect to see in Christians. Those who know me, probably know my political leanings, which I do not wish to express here, but they might very well show as I continue to type.

As I have mentioned earlier, people have to react to Jesus and to the Bible, there's no way around it, and they usually either reject all of it, or they use what they think they know about it in order to push their personal agenda and world view.
One of the world views which has highly influenced modern history and politics is communism. As a young man (I mean younger) I tried to see Christianity and communism as working hand in hand, but at a closer look, the most obvious thing is that Christianity is not communist (and it is not capitalist either).

The premise of Marxist communism is that every nation of the world is in a constant social struggle of classes: the poor, oppressed, working class against the rich governing class, and the dream of communism is that one day the proletariat (literally, those who for riches have only their children) would overthrow the leading class and change the nations into a government of equality, complete financial redistribution and mutual respect. The inconsistency of communism within itself is this: everyone is equal and deserving of the same respect, unless they disagree with me. The inconsistency there is between communism and Christianity is that communism identifies evil with the rich minority and sees everyone else as oppressed victims, while the Bible tells us that everyone is evil and all need to repent.

In his film called “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo” or “The Gospel according to St. Matthew” (which I admittedly have not seen), Pier Paolo Pasolini depicts Jesus as a Marxist preacher who attacks the powers of his day in favour of the poor people. This would be a perfect example of someone who uses the name of Jesus to push his own agenda, because in no gospel is Jesus rooting for anyone but his Father in heaven. Jesus was telling the religious people of his time that they had distorted the truth of the Old Testament, and never did he say anything against the Roman Empire, which was the real political power at the time; on the contrary, he told his disciples to live peaceably in the world, but that's something we'll talk about later. Pasolini, in his understanding of the world and probably to some degree his respect for the person of Jesus, saw something that was not in the text.

That interpretation, however enticing for those who hold a similar world view, is not shared by all communists, since most of them outright reject the Bible and its teachings, because they see that it is not consistent with their world view, but at least that's an honest reaction and they read the text right. However, I would point them to some places in the Bible they have obviously not read.

The Bible does actually talk about poverty and social iniquity: the purpose of the Law which God gave Moses was primarily to govern a nation effectively and in Deuteronomy we see probably the first mention in the whole of history of the need for social welfare (Deut. 15:7-11). This was revolutionary and that behaviour would indeed shock onlooking nations. The purpose of Israel as a nation was to be a light unto other nations, for them to see that the God of Israel was the one true God and glorify him as such. I add this parenthèse because most people will then say that God was unjust in choosing one nation above others and I would say to you, think about it as God's starting point in redeeming mankind (I would also say, you're not allowed to judge God).

About social and political injustice, the Bible cries out, particularly in Psalms 14 and 73, and the gist of them is this: God will judge those who commit these things, in this life or the next. The scary thing here is that people will say “that's not enough!”, because they look at these people and judge them, then look at their own lives and, making that comparison, declare themselves righteous, and thus doing, they sin, because instead of humbling themselves and repenting of their own pride and self-righteousness, they elevate themselves to the place of God and bring judgement upon others.
The Bible also talks against the rich capitalists who accumulate money and greedily do not pay proper wages to their labourers (James 5:1-6), but it generally talks against loving money instead of loving God! (Matthew 6:24) (Just in case people thought I was communist-bashing.)

My dad has a big problem about the fact that supposedly the Bible does not denounce slavery, which was a big social issue at that time, a very good reason for not believing it to be the Word of God. But what does the Bible say about slavery? Paul says to slaves: “obey your masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart”. Oh my goodness! So does it condone mistreatment of humans? No! Paul says to masters: “Treat your slaves in the same way” (that is, with respect and fear and sincerity of heart!) (Ephesians 6) The fear he talks about is that of God. Why? Because God says “Love your neighbour as yourself”, and Jesus qualifies your neighbour as meaning everyone! (Luke 10:25-37)

So the Bible doesn't talk outright about whether slavery is right or wrong. Well, this is one of those cases in which we must say, “those were different times” and there were people who were slaves, that was their job and they were happy about it, if their masters treated them well. They were like full-time staff and I make no excuses for the analogy, because the way we think of slaves in our time is not the same as the way people thought back then and when we bring our own thinking to a text that has a different historical and cultural background, we automatically do a disservice to our understanding of it. God made every human being in His own likeness and wishes that all be treated equally. It's not because one's job is to serve another one that they are not equal and deserving of the same respect, it's their response to that that will show what is in their heart. *

But the point I want to get across here is that the Bible, though it sometimes does talk about social issues and social injustice, is not a book about social issues, it's not a book about the struggle of social classes, and it makes no apology for it, because it is talking about things that are far greater than the communist and capitalist world views!

Here's an interesting quote from Paul: “Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.” (1 Corinthians 7:21-22)

If you can gain freedom, do it, since in Christ you have freedom, but the one who was free when he became a Christian is a slave to Christ. This might seem very confusing to some, it's talking about being free but a slave at the same time, how does that work? Here's where the vision widens: it's not whether you are a slave or not, it's who you are a slave to! The Bible declares that the whole world is a prisoner, a slave to sin, but that if you trust in Jesus, you can become slaves of righteousness! In God's eyes there are only two teams: the World, a prisoner to sin and Satan... And the Church, those who have been rescued from their sin, by no merit of their own, thanks to Jesus' works and sacrifice! The problem with communism is that it says that when the working class gains power everything will be fine, but the truth is, those who are then in charge will become corrupt, because that is the condition of man's heart! But the great thing is that Jesus can change men and women's hearts by his power, granting them repentance. And the final outcome of the whole of history is going to be a new government, a monarchy, whose king is Jesus, but who will reign righteously forever and his people will all be equals, enjoying one another forever! And that is a far greater hope than any other.

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* On a side note, when the Emperor Constantine came to power around at the beginning of the 4th Century and the church started getting some influence over his opinion and decisions (which also marked the beginning of the decline of the church, but that's for a different post), one of the things that happened was that they influenced the laws on slave-trade, to the point that people weren't allowed to be branded in the face any longer, which of course is wrong and barbaric, and parents were discouraged from giving up their children as slaves, by giving them a family allowance from the imperial treasuries, a practice way ahead of its time (similar to welfare state laws)! (ref.: F.F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, p.296) Now, that doesn't seem like much, but the church didn't have all that much influence on matters outside of itself, and that seems like one of the first examples in history where Christian ethics influenced for the better the laws and practices of the Roman Empire, whilst only a few years previously they were getting persecuted by the same empire.

Arsenal VS Fulham, pensées

This is going to be mean, but I said I'd write about it...

Two weeks ago, for work I was invited to accompany our students on an excursion to see the Fulham - Arsenal game in Fulham Stadium... I honestly thought I would get into the atmosphere of the game but...

If I believed in evolution, I would say that evident proof for it is seen in the crowds of supporters at a live football match; I have never seen so many apes together in one place at the same time, standing up and sitting down at random moments, flinging things erratically, making odd hand gestures and sounds that would suggest there might be intelligence in there, to the hopeful scientist...
I mean, come on there is clearly a type of football supporter that is loud, hairy and overweight, with the man-titties that those apes have too, though I couldn't help notice a pair of twin gibbons, sitting fairly close to me, skinny and bald, the sounds they made were more like imitations of everyone else, rather than spontaneous... They frustrated me more than anyone else because they wouldn't shut up! On top of that they started swearing at the goalkeeper from the other team, who was just playing and doing his job!

I honestly tried to enjoy the game, but it was one of the most boring things ever! The players themselves were clearly unevenly matched, Fulham was getting rinsed and I couldn't believe that its supporters were getting angry and frustrated, their team was so far inferior to Arsenal. In truth, apart from the three goals, nothing much happened and actually, being so close to the game just helped me realise one of the saddest things ever: these men here were just playing a game and 25,000 people were watching them. Worst of all, the people watching were there to make a sacrifice to their idol, by spending money, time and standing up to chant nonsensical things and swear at the players of the other team.
That night, over half of those people went home unfulfilled by their religion.


Post-Scriptum: Admittedly, many football supporters are not the way I have just described them, these are just my humourous thoughts about this experience (sorry if you don't appreciate the humour). However, it is a sobering truth that many in this country and abroad organise their lives around football and it becomes their idol and their worship, detracting their attention from far greater things...