Monday, April 21, 2008
x3church
These are the most relevant guys out there dealing with the hugest, darkest secret out there: pornography.
Wilders & Fitna
Have you heard of Geert Wilders and his uber-controversial web-movie Fitna? What do you think? Is it alarmist? Is he Europe's saviour or another Hitler?
Friday, April 18, 2008
Afrikaner Scapegoat
A new insult word has arisen to disparage Afrikaans people.
Well, perhaps it was there all along. Have you ever referred to someone as a 'farmer' in order to mock or insult them or to put them down? I have heard others doing it, and I started wondering what the origin on such a seemingly arbitrary term is.
Then I remembered a conversation I had with a black work colleague not so long ago. He confided in me that 'boer' or 'boertjie' is a massive insult term used in his community intended to put down Afrikaans people.
What we have now is non-Afrikaans-speaking (as you can see I invented that term) white South Africans (probably motivated by fear of retribution or rejection) distancing themselves from the predominantly Afrikaans predecessors, and insulting the surrounding Afrikaans culture and people.
It's sad how things have turned around in South Africa that it has become commonplace to freely insult one group's language/ethnicity/job, but illegal to do it for anyone else.
The Afrikaner has become the persecuted minority and no-one is speaking out for them.
Well, perhaps it was there all along. Have you ever referred to someone as a 'farmer' in order to mock or insult them or to put them down? I have heard others doing it, and I started wondering what the origin on such a seemingly arbitrary term is.
Then I remembered a conversation I had with a black work colleague not so long ago. He confided in me that 'boer' or 'boertjie' is a massive insult term used in his community intended to put down Afrikaans people.
What we have now is non-Afrikaans-speaking (as you can see I invented that term) white South Africans (probably motivated by fear of retribution or rejection) distancing themselves from the predominantly Afrikaans predecessors, and insulting the surrounding Afrikaans culture and people.
It's sad how things have turned around in South Africa that it has become commonplace to freely insult one group's language/ethnicity/job, but illegal to do it for anyone else.
The Afrikaner has become the persecuted minority and no-one is speaking out for them.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
White African
I live in South Africa, on the very tip of the African Continent. Am I African? Whenever I have to fill in a form stating my skin colour, I find the following options:
African
Coloured (ie. mixed heritage)
Indian
White
The implication is clearly that black = African whilst the rest of us (Coloureds, Indians and Whites) are second-class strangers on this continent.
Are we not all Africans?
African
Coloured (ie. mixed heritage)
Indian
White
The implication is clearly that black = African whilst the rest of us (Coloureds, Indians and Whites) are second-class strangers on this continent.
Are we not all Africans?
Salvo Magazine
This magazine is worth subscribing to. It deals fairly, beautifully and wittily on controversial subjects.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Mind, Brain & Language
Is the mind equal to the brain? If they are not the same thing, how do they relate?
When humans communicate both verbally and non-verbally, are we encoding our mind or brain? When someone listens to our words or observes our behaviour are they decoding our mind and/or brain? Or is it only a part of our brain or mind that is encoding and decoding itself in communication?
When humans communicate both verbally and non-verbally, are we encoding our mind or brain? When someone listens to our words or observes our behaviour are they decoding our mind and/or brain? Or is it only a part of our brain or mind that is encoding and decoding itself in communication?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Talking Heads
When we create a communication network online, in other words by blogging or email, etc. we encode ourselves and represent ourselves to others who then decode us and interpret us. Is this different to any other communication? Are these our real, encoded 'selves' or merely social 'masks' relating to one another?
Head in the Cookie Jar
If you were captured by an evil scientist who systematically removed all of your body parts but was able to keep you alive until you were only a brain without any nervous system, then what would your reality be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Cross-cultural ministry is at your doorstep.
Everyone in this world is in direct contact with someone who has a different cultural background from them and can do much about this.
I come from South Africa where we have 11 (that's right, 11) official languages and people who don't adapt to this multiracial situation drown. Here you cannot hold onto your own culture too stringently, which is an excellent way to smooth relations.
One way to reach out to others is free Bible Distribution.
1 - Never assume someone has a Bible in their own language or that they can afford one.
2 - Go out of your way to find out exactly which one they want and then you go and buy it for them. You will change the world more than anything.
3 - After you see the joy on their face at this random act of kindness, give them a list for 12 people they know to fill in for free Bibles in their own languages that you will supply as well.
4 - Make sure to get all their personal information and create a database.
5 - Once you have bought the 12 Bibles with your own money and given it to your distributor, give your distributor a study Bible or some kind of expensive Bible in their own language and you will have changed the world.
6 - Start again at 1 or carry on from 3.