Thoughts On Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

I just read about how Gandhi led approximately a fifth of the world’s population to liberty, with a very unconventional approach: meekness. His commitment to non-violence later went on to inspire people like MLK.

Even though Gandhi didn’t at all identify himself a Christian, and clearly never really grasped the concept of grace or God’s forgiveness, Jesus’ sermon on the mount was one thing he strove to model his life after. In fact, he followed Christ’s teaching to such a degree that most Christians would call him radical. His life mimicked Christ’s in many ways (just read his biography next to a gospel account).

As he went on to transform an entire nation, armed with nothing but the humility of Christ, he read about every morning (in addition to his Hindu scriptures), the evidence of the power of Christ’s gospel of reconciliation is, in my mind, made overwhelmingly clear.

Now, here is what I am thinking. If to be “Christian” means to follow Christ in teaching and practice, is it possible that an “unbelieving heathen,” a Hindu even, could actually have been a more authentic Christian than many who name themselves Christian?

Just so the conservatives won’t accuse me of blasphemy, let me simply ask the question this raises: Which is more important, how correctly we believe or think about God (orthodoxy); or how we live and act in relation to God (orthopraxy)?

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The New Us

I've finally gotten around to updating the About Us section of our website, which I've neglected ever since we made a major life transition. You know how easy it is to put these things off.

Try to describe to the world all that you've been through, and all that went into the difficult decision. You can't really do it, so you let it lay. Well, eventually you have to do something.

I didn't really write so much about that actually, but at least the new About Us section describes what we're doing now a bit more accurately than before. Give it a read!

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Our Pilgrimage to Turkey

See more pictures here

What an amazing country Turkey is! I must admit how naive and clueless I was about the "other holy land" and the incredible millennia of history from that region. From the Hittite empire, to the Greek Hellenists, the Roman Empire and the early churches of Acts and Revelation, the Byzantine Empire of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, to the Ottoman empire; there is just so much to discover there.

See more pictures here

Walking down the streets of Ephesus, Pergamum, Laodicea and so many other places where Paul the apostle walked and preached the Kingdom, was like taking a stroll through time. To see the ancient and mysterious city of Troy was like being immersed into the Greek Iliad. Getting lost in the underground cities of Cappadocia was seriously like stepping into a J.R.R. Tolkien novel.

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Watching Whirling Dervishes, listening to Turkish music, enjoying Turkish nargila, indulging in Turkish delight, sipping Turkish coffee, experiencing Turkish rugs and pottery, marveling and the most magnificent ornate, inlaid Ottoman treasures, climbing on ancient ruins in Aphrodisias, gaping at the vast expanses of the Aya Sofia, inspecting Christian frescoes dating back to the 3rd century, admiring the incredible architecture of the Greeks and Romans, and the beautiful designs of the later Ottomans--all of this and more made this trip one of the best I've ever been on.

See more pictures here

Turkey is certainly one of the most beautiful and fascinating countries to experience. The majority of the New Testament was written either from there, or to people there. All the 7 churches of the book of Revelation are in Turkey. It is a birthplace and crossroads of entire civilizations. I would love to go back, and I highly recommend visiting there at least once.

The next WorldChristian tour is in August if you want to see and experience it for yourself.

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Wedding Slideshow

I finally found time to put together a music accompanied slideshow of our wedding. I posted the short one on YouTube, and here it is. I'm quite proud of the music transitions that I had to edit in Audacity myself =)



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Set Your Mind To It!

I can fix water pipes. Who knew? I just repaired my grandma's copper piping that provides water to her garden. I'm not a plumber, I'm just a guy with a will to get things done.

Actually, I've been doing all kinds of handy stuff lately. Remodeling, installing floors and shelves, running cables through buildings, putting up light fixtures, working on cars and bikes, fixing enormously complex computer problems, setting up Linux servers. I have no training in any of this stuff.

People always tell me it's so amazing that I am able to manage the IT department considering I've had no training at all. My instinctive reaction is to say, “you could do it too!” All it takes is a little patience and perseverance.

All I know about computers, or about any other handy work, I learned by trial and error, critical thinking, logical deduction, reading and research, lots of inquisitiveness, and simply continuing to have at it until it's done.

People tell me I have a special gift for figuring things out. I suppose that is possible. But I think it has to do more with the mere willingness to set your mind to it. I think all of us are far more capable of doing things than we know. We far too often give up, or don't try at all, because we assume we won't be able to do something.

Here is a good example: I started getting so many requests to fix peoples' personal computers, I was overwhelmed. So I decided to start charging €3 per 10 minutes. Very soon, all the requests stopped! People, at least in most cases, were suddenly, as if by magic, able to fix the problems themselves!

If you're reading this, I want to challenge you. You know that problem that you're waiting for the repair man, or your dad to come over and fix? The kitchen sink... or the computer? Try giving it a go yourself... Be patient, be inquisitive, and set your mind to it. I bet you'll be surprised!

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Jehova's Witless Witnesses

I talked with a Jehovah’s Witness today, and was shocked to discover that their bible is basically identical to mainstream Christianity's, and yet they don't acknowledge that Jesus is in fact God. Of course they have donzens of bizarre beliefs, but this one I just find ridiculous if they do indeed believe in the accuracy and inerrancy of the bible.

Just in case they come back, I decided to do a brief study about what the New Testament has to say regarding Christ's divinity. Here are some scriptures.

- Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...”

Paul's claim in Colossians is that the fullness of God is contained in Jesus.

- John 1:1-3,14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made... 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John clearly states that the word was God, and later that the Word became flesh (reffering to Jesus).

- John 8:58,59 “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am! 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. ”

Here Jesus himself claims to be God, alluding to Exodus 3:14 where God refers to himself as “I AM.” The Jews understood exactly what he meant and went to stone him for blasphemy.

- John 10:30-33 “I and the Father are one. 31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him...”

It doesn't get much more clear than this one!

- John 20:28 “Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus doesn't rebuke Thomas for calling him God.

- Mark 10:17,18 “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

If A = B, and B = C, then A = C. Basic logic. If God = good, and good = Jesus, then God = Jesus! Jesus is a smart guy.

- Phil 2:6 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage...”

Paul says again that Jesus is in his very nature God.

- Acts 20:28 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

God bought the church with his own blood? God = Jesus.

- Titus 2:13 “...while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ ...”

Titus also confirms God and our Savior, Jesus Christ are the same guy!

- Revelation 19:10 “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he [the angel] said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

Several times in Scripture Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:11, 14:33, 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38), and yet Jesus never rebukes the worshipper.

I don't know how anyone can believe that the bible is the word of God, and at the same time deny that Jesus is God.

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Testimony

I was filmed giving my testimony by a video crew that makes television programs for a Christian station here in the Netherlands. How cool to see it on youtube!