To be or not to be is a famous question once
posed by Hamlet in the annuals of English literature (I can definitely
recommened being!).
A cheeselover could somewhat rephrase the
question and ask themselves to cheese or not to cheese. A slightly odd sounding
sentence in English, but we could put it another way and ask, when is a cheese
not actually cheese.
The answer to these condundrums is in any
case, Tofu.
Tofu is a product very like cheese, but it
is actually made from soya milk, which in turn is obtained from soya beans.
Tofu is thus bean cheese if you will!
A Vegetable Beginning
Soya beans (or soybeans if you prefer!) are
a crop that originated in East Asia. Interestingly, the beans themselves are
not edible in their natural form, but can be processed in a number of ways to
produce a plethora of different food products.
One such product is Soymilk. This is made
by soaking and then grinding soybeans in water. The mixture is then heated and
the pulp residue from the beans is filtered out leaving a milk like liquid
hence Soymilk!
This Soymilk can then be treated and used just like animals’ milk thus ‚cheese’ can be produced.
Bean Cheese
Cheese is formed when milk is treated in
such a way as to extract the solid protein from the liquid part of the milk. In
much the same way, Soymilk can also be processed in order to extract the solid
protein from the liquid part thus producing something analogous to cheese.
There are three ways to get the solid
protein to come out of the Soymilk solution. One is by adding certain enzymes.
Secondly, some edible acids will do the trick and thirdly, salts can be used
(we’re talking magnseium or calcium chloride or calcium sulphate here, not your
standard table salt, sodium chloride!).
Traditionally at least, salt is used (in
particularly calcium sulphate) and it’s not hard to imagine that an accidental
or experimental mix of Soymilk and one such salt was what gave rise to the
discovery of bean cheese in the first place!
Acids are less popular as they tend to
leave an aftertaste and the discovery of different enzymes that can coagulate
Soymilk is a much more recent thing.
Once one of the above mentioned coagulates
has been added to the Soymilk a gel is formed which consists of solidified
protein from the Soymilk suspended in the liquid part of the Soymilk.
This gel is then drain and pressed in order
to extract moisture and leave the remaining solid. In cheesemaking, this solid
that results from extracting protein from milk is called ‚curd’ so that’s why
the product here is often known as Bean Curd.
Otherwise Known as Tofu
This Bean Curd is better known as Tofu.
The English name Tofu comes from the
equivalent Japanese name for this Bean delight, which in turn comes from the
original Chinese name ‚Doufu’, literally meaning curdled bean (a spot on name
then!).
Soybeans are a very popular crop,
especially in Asia as they are highly nutritious. In particularly, they are
full of protein which makes them an ideal food for a vegetarian diet, which
comes in handy as many of the Eastern religions promote such a thing!
Much of this nutrititive value is passed on
to Tofu. This makes Tofu a good cheese substitute as it contains plenty of
protein. It is also low in calories (fat) and in salt (compared to many cheeses
which are full of salt as this is an important preservative which stops them
going off) not to mention containing other nutrients such as calcium or
magnesium depending on how it has been made.
A Cheese of Many Uses
So the most basic questions is what can
Tofu be used for? Well, you’d be surprised!
Obviously, the most simple answer is that
it can just be enjoyed as it is! There are many different types of Tofu.
Ranging from super fresh, which can be simply the curded Soy milk without even
having the whey seperated out, to soft, firm and very firm versions. It can be flavoured
by adding different ingredients (I can recommened Avocado powder!) There even
exist dried, frozen, dried- frozen versions, not to mention the fact that the
skin formed when heating Soy milk (Tofu skin or Yuba) can also be extracted,
and in and of itself has many uses!
In the west, Tofu is often seen as a meat
substitute because of its high protein content. It is indeed true that firmer
Tofu’s can be used as an alternative to meat in, for example, Kebabs. However,
this is a classic example of Westerner’s giving their own spin to something
foreign. In Asia, Tofu is rarely seen as a meat substitute.
That being said, Tofu can be fried, boiled,
stewed, added to soup or different sauces or even served stuffed. In this
respect, it certainly is a great meat substitute and should be the delight of
most vegetarians. Indeed, it is understandable why it was so popular amonst
Buddhist monks!
In Asia, where Tofu is a big deal, there
are endless ways that it is used, often depending on the country.
It can be flavoured in many different ways.
Boiled peanuts or almond syrup are two that I would like to give ago!
It can also be combined with Tuna in Tahu
Tuna, an Indonesian dish that also features fried Tofu. Again, one that I would
like to give a try.
As you might realise with the Almond syrup,
it can also be used both in savoury and sweet dishes.
Tofu Total
We could in conclusion say that Tofu is a
total food. It is realtively easy to produce; It is healthy as foods go, with a
high protein content, but low salt and fat; and has very many different uses.
It’s no wonder that it has been popular for so long in Asia, and is well worth being given ago by those of us in other parts of the world!
Ben’s face sank. He looked incredulously at the jolly,
rotund face that was staring back at him, waiting for an answer. Usually, you
would expect such a simple, basic question to receive an equally straightforward
response. However, not in Ben’s case. His living arrangements were complicated
to explain and as such, he liked wherever possible to avoid the question.
Nevertheless, it had been asked, so as always, out of politeness, Ben was going
to answer.
‘Moldova’, straight away bracing himself to see which of the
varied responses he was going to get this time.
A blank expression followed by a slight smirk was this
time’s offering. ‘Oh, I was expecting you to say somewhere like Coventry!’
‘No, I’ve never ever even been to Coventry’, said Ben, glad
at least that there had been no comment about never having ever heard of
Moldova or further inquisitions about its location.
‘I’ve never heard of that. Where is it?’
Ben had jumped the gun with his gladness. He did at least
have his stock reply prepared. ‘In Eastern Europe, sandwiched between Romania
and the Ukraine’.
He hoped that this would be enough information. It usually
was, most people having some sort of idea where those countries are, and the
mention of Eastern Europe was thrown in to sure things up.
Ben had been attending his aunt’s church for a short visit
and conversing with a plump young man at the end of the service. From Ben’s
personal experience most people, except for those who are fans of the
Eurovision song contest or European football, are not too hot on their
knowledge of Moldova. Indeed, questions such as ‘where (or even what) is that?’
were frequently encountered. This young man obviously didn’t fall into the
category of Eurovision or football lovers.
So, for the uninitiated, Moldova is a small country
(relatively speaking as a population of around 3 million could by some
standards be considered as medium sized), located geographically in Eastern
Europe, although politically it has been torn between different empires.
Historically, it would appear that since well before Christ people lived in the area which includes modern day Moldova. There are various archaeologic signs of different peoples and cultures. However, this land is in an area which separates East from West and so there was much squabbling over the years as different groups invaded moving in one direction or the other.
The first signs of a more established settlement are from
the 1350’s. At this time, a Vlach (the precursor people to the Romanians) ruler
called, ‘Dragoș’ came with some of his people and took charge of the area
forming the Principality of Moldavia, a territory which included what we now
call Moldova but was much larger, incorporating much of the surrounding area as
well.
There are various legends regarding this, one being that he
was hunting an aurochs (extinct type of Bull). He pursued it as far as the
Moldova river where he caught and killed it. At the spot where he dismounted
from his horse, he realised this land was better that the Marumureș land where he was currently
living so went back and brought back his people to take over this new
territory.
A sad, but probably not too likely aspect of the story, is
that his dog was called Molda. He was so exhausted from chasing the aurochs
that he collapsed into the river and drowned. Hence the river being named
‘Moldova’ (‘of Molda’ as it were) and so the origin of the name Moldova.
This initial Moldova, or ‘Principality of Moldavia’,
stretched from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Dniester river in
the East and included much of what is now Eastern Romania and a little bit of
today’s southern Ukraine.
As mentioned above, this was a much sought-after land as it
was situated at a convenient location between East and West, not to mention
contained very fertile soil. Thus, Moldavia was only able to retain its
independence for less than 200 years. Indeed, Moldova’s most celebrated figure,
Stephen Cel Mare (Stephen the great) is renowned for exactly that, defending
the Moldovan territory against various attacks and so keeping it together as a
whole.
After, Stephen the Great’s time (1457 to 1504) Moldova’s grip on independence waned and by 1538 it had become subject to the influence of the Ottoman empire. Since then it has had a long history of being ruled by various empires, subsequently being part of the Russian empire, Romania and the Soviet Union. Finally, in 1991 it declared independence again, creating what is today’s Moldova, a much smaller land than the Moldavia of Old, covering just the land between the Prut and Dniester rivers, having lost its western territory to what is now the Moldovan part of Romania and land in the south and North East to Ukraine.
Ben looked at his new acquaintance, who stood opposite him,
obviously not really longing to become too immersed in the history of land that
he had never even really heard of and certainly never thought about. Ben had no
intention of foisting too much information upon him, although a brief history
lesson couldn’t do any harm and indeed, knowledge of the past helps us
understand the present and gives wisdom for the future.
So, Ben endeavoured to give a brief summary of the above-mentioned
history, which was outwardly well received at the very least.
‘Ok, so I know a lot more about Moldova now than I did five
minutes ago,’ was the reaction that Ben received to his brief history lesson.
Indeed, one way or another this was the reaction he always received.
His discussion companion now turned to attend to other business and so Ben let him go without further ado, at least partially fulfilled that he had educated him in at least a little of what he knew about Moldova. He himself also turned the other way to look for another vict..…..er……willing student.
Ben surmised the fare before him. The table was well spread with
what you might expect for a continental breakfast; bread, butter, sour cream, a
sort of runny, fruity, homemade looking jam, a kettle containing boiled water,
surrounded by the necessities for making a cup of tea (except of course for the
milk!), and the centre piece of a large plate, piled high with pancakes. Not
the thick, stodgy kind, but rather what some might call crêpes, neatly rolled
up, suggesting a delicious filling.
This was not the first time in Moldova that Ben had encountered pancakes for breakfast and so without hesitation, due to a keen appetite that had been worked up during the previous day’s exertions, he heartily filled his plate with a good selection of them. Without further ado, he smothered them in jam, adding a little sour cream, although with measure, partly because at times he suspected that it was responsible for stomach discomfort, but also in an attempt to cut down on the calorie count of what appeared to otherwise be not the lightest of meals. These type of pancakes were invariably filled with fresh white cheese, not dissimilar to ricotta, and although Ben loved dairy, he was conscientious that you could have too much of a good thing!
After his host from the church that he had been helping at
gave thanks, Ben tucked heartily into the tasty looking breakfast before him.
However, he quickly drew his ingestion to a halt. What he had taken for granted
to be cheese pancakes, where actually potato pancakes! Ben had nothing against
potato pancakes, although he wasn’t used to them, especially not covered in a
homemade black current jam, with a little sour cream for good measure. The
sweetness of the jam complemented the cheese in cheese pancakes well, but
somehow didn’t seem right when combined with potato.
Ben took a moment to contemplate what to do. He slightly
regretted his bull in a china shop approach and realised that he would have
been much better off sampling the pancakes before adding the jam. Potato
pancakes wouldn’t have been all that bad on their own, however Ben’s presumptuousness
now meant that he was confronted with the unfortunate situation of having to
eat potato mixed with jam! Not a usual combination, but it was too late and so
Ben, not being one to waste food, or indeed wanting to upset his hosts, decided
that he would just have to plough on.
He scraped off as much of the jam as he could, casually so
as to not attract too much attention from those around him, and then he tucked
in. At first, he suffered some unusual sensations in his mouth, but as he
pressed on, he found to his surprise that the potato jam mixture wasn’t so bad
after all. Well, this just gives a new meaning to the term ‘sweet potato’ he
though to himself. By the end, the sweet potato had started to grow on
him, although he felt like in the future, he would stick to eating ordinary
potatoes in the more traditional savoury way, rather than creating his own play
on a theme.
Cheese is a product that is not often substituted by potato,
although as Ben learnt to his cost it can be! When we talk about cheese substitutes,
we usually could have one of three things in mind.
The first would be substituting one particular cheese for
another. A simple example is using Grana Padano instead of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Why would we want to do that? Well, Grana Padano and Parmigiano are two very
similar cheeses, but the former is usually a little cheaper as it is produced
in larger quantities and in a more industrialised way than Parmigiano, and
hence also more readily available.
The second way of looking at substitute cheese would be in
terms of so-called processed cheeses. As the name suggests, this is cheese that
has had other products added to it and then via various industrial processes
been converted into a new, man made product that resembles cheese. A classic
example would be single cheese slices or spreadable cheese. Processing cheese
in this way has a number of advantages. The properties of the final product can
be controlled, for example many cheeses don’t melt well, but by processing them
a final product can be achieved that melts uniformly as can be seen by cheese
slices, which make possible the world-renowned cheeseburger. Not only this, but
the quality of the final product can also be assured, something important with regard
to a food like cheese, which in its natural state is widely susceptible to
environmental influences and thus the final cheese produced can potential vary greatly
in terms of taste, self-life and so on.
A third reason why cheese is often processed is that cheesemaking
is a very involved endeavour, needing a big investment in order to produce the
milk that is then treated and matured to result in the final cheese. In many
cases, this means that cheese is an expensive product. Processed cheese on the
other hand, means a way of producing a good amount of product with less
investment and so makes more economic sense.
Overall, one might think that processing cheese lessens its
nutritional value, but actually, as has already been mentioned, processed
cheese can have some advantages over natural cheeses, especially uniform
quality, low fat versions and long self-life. Most cheese have a large amount
of salt added in order to make them keep, so in some respects it boils down to
whether we trust more the salt or the alternative preservatives.
The third approach to cheese substitutes are cheese
analogues. This is where the word substitute really comes into its own. Here,
we are talking about non-dairy products that completely replace cheese. An
archetypal example would be vegan cheeses. These are plant-based products that
have some similarities to cheeses in the way they are made, and the appearance,
taste and possible uses of the final product.
Vegan cheeses can be made from a variety of sources, but
soybeans, nutritional yeast and various nuts, such as almonds or cashews are
common ones. It could be argued that
these are not cheeses in the classic sense, but their similarities to real
cheese, is what confers to them the title of cheese. In any case, there are a
number of benefits of substituting real cheese for these plant-based versions,
in particularly health benefits as these products can contain much of the
nutrition of actual cheese, but with less fat or salt. Also, they are good for
those who have problems digesting the lactose from dairy products and there are
of course many who for moral or religious reasons prefer non-animal based
products.
Evidently then, there exist sufficient alternatives to cheese inasmuch that only those who want a particularly different experience need substitute cheese with potato!
‘Hello! Can I interest you in a personality test?’
Ben had only been out for an afternoon stroll along the High
Street and certainly hadn’t been looking for any deep internal retrospection. However,
the solid, middle aged man who was now standing before him didn’t look like he
was going to take no for an answer.
‘It’ll take just twenty minutes and it is absolutely free,’ the
man insisted.
Ben, not being one to turn down a freebie, agreed. The man
gleefully beckoned him to follow and took off done a side street. This wasn’t
quite what Ben had expected and so he was taken slightly aback. The man turned,
realising Ben’s uneasy about where they were headed and reassuringly encouraged
him with a pleasant expression and a summoning hand motion.
Ben felt strangely captured and couldn’t resist. He followed
until the man stopped, opened a door and ushered Ben in. As he entered, he glanced
the words on the door ‘Church of Scientology.’ This raised some questions in
Ben’s mind, but it was too alte to turn back.
Once inside, Ben discovered a well laid out facility with a
central table area surrounded by bookcases and side rooms. A bit like your
local library. A few other people were milling around, perusing various
resources which at least created a more friendly atmosphere than if Ben had
been alone there. The man showed Ben a seat and put before him a couple of
pages which were full of all sorts of questions.
‘I’ll wait in my office until you’re done.’
So, Ben plonked himself down and got on with it. There were
all kinds of questions about Ben’s behaviour in different situations. In
conflict situations I always…… give way and get myself into problems thought
Ben!
Ben wasn’t one to beat around the bush, so he polished the
questions off in just under the aforementioned twenty minutes and then handed
them in to be graded. He then spent an uncomfortable further twenty minutes
waiting for the result. At last, the man called him into his office.
‘You are very bad at communication and that’s not good
because communication is life,’ was the man’s rather blunt verdict. ‘But don’t
worry, I have a selection of books for sale on how to communicate better.’
Ben understood that communication is important, although it
seemed a bit much to say that communication is life. Surely, it’s just an
important aspect that facilitates our relationships? In any case, Ben was
already aware that he wasn’t the best communicator. Handy, that the man had
some books for sale on the topic, but also somewhat suspicious.
‘Thanks, but I am reading my Bible and some other books at
the moment.’ Was Ben’s polite refusal.
‘Well, I also have a seminar on how to communicate better
next week.’ Ventured the man, not giving up.
‘Thanks again, but I’m a but busy at my church.’
This would have been the end of the matter except that the
man obviously hadn’t gone to the trouble of catching Ben in order to easily let
him slip away. There followed a twenty-minute remonstration as the man tried to
convince Ben of his need for his services and Ben doing his best to convince
him otherwise. When the man had first talked to Ben, he hadn’t mentioned these other
twenty-minute periods, a bit amiss of him, but in any case, Ben held his
resolve and managed to escape spending any further twenty-minute periods in his
presence.
Communication is life may well be an overstatement but
nevertheless it is clear that it is an important aspect of our daily lives.
This explains the popularity of mobile applications such as Whatsapp, which has
over 5 billion downloads.
If we read the Bible like Ben, we see that communication has
been important since the very beginning. Many people view God has a distant
force, who maybe set the universe into motion but now isn’t involved in anyway.
Others see Him as a force that pervades throughout nature. However, on the
first page of the Bible we see God creating the universe and using words to do
it! He said and it was!
After this, He then communicates with His creation. He talks
to Adam and Eve and indeed Cain. Even after their exile from His presence, we
still see that this is not the end of communication between humans and the
divine. In Genesis 4:26, it is mentioned that after Seth’s son, Enosh, is born people
began to call on the name of the LORD. In other words, we could say that they
began to seek to re-establish the connection that they had lost with their
creator.
This idea is also reinforced in Ecclesiastes 3:11 where we
are told that God has set eternity in human hearts. Often people live like this
world is all there is but in reality we have a longing deep down for something
more, beyond the material that we see around us and hence all the different
religions and philosophies that have developed as humans have sought to make
sense of the world we live in.
So, in one, simple sense, we could define prayer as trying
to communicate with the divine. Throughout the Old Testament we see that God
communicated with His people, so knowing, consciously or subconsciously, that
God is a personal God makes it logical for us to try and interact with Him.
Over the centuries, different people have approached this
communicating with God in different ways.
Simeon Stylites was born in what is now Turkey around 390
A.D. Like any young man he made plans for his life, although in his case his
plans were a little different to most youngsters. At the age of 13 he decided
to dedicate himself to Christianity, which he understood to mean spending his
time in self denial and prayer. For example, he is said to have spent at least
a year and a half shut up in a small hut, much of this time spent standing in
prayer. Eventually, he moved onto a new method which was to sit atop a column
that he found amongst some ruins of an old building. It is said that he spent
37 years sitting atop such columns, spending his time in prayer.
Alternatively, a lady from Romania made the observation
once, ‘In the hospitals in Romania everybody prays!’ This could be taken not
just as a negative comment about the standard of health care in Romania but
also as a remark that reflects the human tendency to turn to prayer when we
have a serious problem. It’s interesting that whenever something bad happens,
celebrities often put messages on the internet which include the icon of two
hands clasped together in prayer.
For Christians, the person who is our example of how to live
is Jesus Christ. Thus, if want to know how to pray, we need to learn from him.
In the gospel of Mark 1:35-39, we see an example of when Jesus prayed.
The first thing we learn from here is that Jesus prayed!
Even though he was a part of the trinity, he still needed to pray, and if He
needed to pray to maintain His relationship with God the Father and Holy
Spirit, how much more must we, imperfect human beings, need to pray to keep a
good relationship with God.
Indeed, we know from our own human experience that by
communicating with people we develop relationships and that we suffer when we
don’t communicate with those we love.
Henry Martyn was a missionary to India just over two hundred
years ago. In order to go out on the mission field, he left his girlfriend
behind, hoping that at a later stage, once he had assessed the scene, she could
join him to be his wife. Shortly after arriving in India, he wrote her a letter
to propose marriage. He had to wait fifteen months for a response, and it was
negative!
One can only imagine the suffering of waiting those long
months for an answer. It’s natural that we want to communicate with those who
we love. Thus, as Christians who love God, it’s normal that we should desire to
spend time with Him in prayer and if we don’t desire this, we should start
thinking about why.
The second thing that we can take from this example of Jesus
is that even though He was very busy, He still made time for prayer. We see in
verse 34 of this first chapter of Mark that many people were coming to Jesus
for healing. Indeed, towards the end of the chapter we see that so many people
were looking for Him that He couldn’t enter towns anymore. And in the beginning
of chapter two there are so many in the house listening to Jesus that the men
can’t get their paralysed friend through and have to take him up on the roof
and lower him through the ceiling!
In the midst of all this busyness nevertheless we read in
verse 35 that Jesus got up early, when it was still dark, to go to pray. This
shows that it was a priority for Him. A great Christian leader of the past is
quoted as having said, ‘I am so busy that I need to pray for three hours before
I start the day.’ We tend to think differently, something like ‘I am so busy
that I only have time to pray for three minutes.’ However, we usually find time
for the things that are important to us.
Recently, at a Ski camp with Moldovan students, I decided
spontaneously on the second day to go skiing (having rested on the first day).
This meant I was slightly delayed as I got my equipment together. I felt that
this wouldn’t be a problem as Moldovan students are not renowned for their
punctuality. However, as I came out of the chalet to go to the bus, I saw it
already pulling away and leaving for the mountain. In other words, usually
tardy students, were right on time when it was about getting the bus for skiing!
Hence, if prayer is something important to us, we will make
time for it.
Thirdly, we see that through prayer Jesus clarified God’s
will for Him. Jesus is Himself also God, but He nevertheless submitted to the
Father’s will (Mark 14:36). When Simon and His companions find Jesus, they are
probably expecting and hoping that He will return with them to get on with work
in Capernaum, but Jesus has other ideas. He informs them that His plan is now
to move on to ministry in other places. This plan seems to have formed after
His time in prayer. Thus, prayer is one way in which we conform our wills to
God’s and discover His plans for us.
More so, it also shows our dependence on Him as instead of
getting on with what we think is best, we stop and seek His guidance. Indeed,
in the busyness of life, just as Jesus took time out here before making His
next step, it seems like a good principle that sometimes we need to withdraw to
deserted places to be free to reflect and search for the way forward.
George Mueller is a great example of someone who depended on
God in prayer. He was from Germany but became a minister in Great Britain. He opened
one and later other homes for Orphans. It is said that he never directly asked
for money but trusted in God’s provision. One evening he confessed to a visitor
to the orphanage that although 2000 orphans were staying there, they had no
food for the next day’s breakfast. He began to pray. The next day they found
that the necessary food was there! How? Overnight a Christian in the city
hadn’t been able to sleep and had felt that God was prompting him to get food
and bring it to the orphanage, something that he did. Indeed, it is said that
he provided enough to last for a whole month!
Assuming we understand the necessity of prayer, another
question would be what should our prayers contain? There are different ideas
about this, but a basic model would have four points.
The first would be adoration. To adore someone means to be
focused on their qualities and to give them glory for them. How often do people
for example give praise to a footballer for scoring a great goal that helps his
team win the cup. Being there in the mountains of Romania it is hard to not to
be in awe of the God who created it all.
Next there is confession. This is where we recognise our
weaknesses as human beings and openly say in our own words what we have done wrong.
A well-known Biblical example is Psalm 51, where David confesses his sin after
having committed adultery.
Thirdly, comes thankfulness. This is similar to adoration,
but it focuses on what God has done for us, rather than on who He is. In
Ephesians 5:20 Paul tells us to give thanks for all things.
Finally, there is supplication or requesting things. In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says to ask and we will receive, although this needs to be understood in the light of what has been said above about seeking God’s will in prayer thus what we ask for might not be according to God’s plans so we might not receive it!
Summer camp wasn’t exactly Ben’s favourite activity of the
year. He took a deep breath, trying to summon the energy to confront some of
the young campers from his group as they ran riot.
‘Hey, get down from there!’ he called to a little terror as
he did his literal Fiddler on the Roof impression. The summons was not
heeded.
‘I mean it right now!’ The little boy continued to fiddle
away.
Ben sighed, wishing that he was elsewhere. Suddenly, he was
aware that a number of the other little terrors…er, boys, had rushed in from
playing outside. He overheard one saying, ‘the badest boy is coming!’ (no care
for grammar!)
This announcement caused panic. Boys, who up until then had
been all over the shop, began ordering themselves, arranging clothes and other
items that were strewn everywhere. Each one took up position by his bed and
stood shaking, but trying to look inconspicuous. Then he arrived.
In strutted a lean, tall young man with slicked back hair. He
surveyed all before him. The little boys remained nonchalant, endeavouring to
not attract attention. The young man who had entered, the ‘badest boy’ if you
will, paced some around the living quarters, and then began to speak. All ears
were wide open….
People can command authority for different reasons. In the
example above, maybe the older boy was viewed with respect by the younger ones
due to his demeanour and way of handling things. Other times, it can all just
be about brute force. In any case, we all have people who we submit to in our
lives, but also would like to have a certain air of authority over others.
Biblically speaking, we see that Jesus was a man who had authority. When he spoke, people took note, although not all obeyed. Indeed, it was probably His authority that got Him into trouble as the Pharisees realised that due to Him, they were loosing their own dominant position in society (Mark 1:22). He not only had authority in His teaching, but also over evil spirits, sickness, the weather and even death.
Obviously, in His case the source of His authority was more
than just His swaggering style; He was God come to earth. This is the only
possible conclusion if we take the Gospels at face value and that explains why
there exists so much debate about them and who Jesus really was, as people look
for other explanations, which allow them to discredit Jesus, so they don’t have
to submit to His authority.
One line of attack against His authority is with regard to
the authenticity of the gospels themselves. Who wrote them? Can they be
trusted? Is the text reliable? Well, Jesus passed His teaching, and the work of
spreading it, on to the apostles (13 men including Matthias who replaced Judas
and Paul).
After, their many years of verbally transmitting the message
to those around, towards the end of their lives they assured that the Good News
about Jesus would remain accessible to the coming generations by either writing
it down, or liaising with others who subsequently wrote it down.
In terms of what has become known as the Gospels, there are
two that fall into the former category and two that belong to the second one. Both
Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel doesn’t explicitly
name him as the author, but his identification with authorship of the gospel
arises from early church tradition. Likewise, John’s gospel doesn’t clear state
an author, although in its case there is at least an internal note at the end
which claims that it was written by the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (John 21:20,
24).
In the case of the other two gospels, the claim is that they
were written by men who were closely associated with the apostles. Indeed, Luke
at the beginning of his gospel says he has carefully investigated everything
that has happened concerning Jesus, using those who were ‘eyewitnesses and
servants of the word’ as sources.
Luke himself was not one of the apostles, but he seems to
have been closely linked to the apostle Paul. For example, in Paul’s letter to
the Colossians (4:14) he is mentioned as being a ‘dear friend’ and a ‘doctor’. Furthermore,
some of the passages in the Acts of the apostles include the pronoun ‘we’ thus
suggesting that the author was present during the events. An example is in
chapter 16 verse 11, where we see the author of Acts setting sail with Paul and
his companions. If we accept that Luke was the author of Acts, a probability
due to the similarities, such as both books being addressed to ‘Theophilus’.
Finally, with have the gospel of Mark. He also was not an
apostle himself, but in his book, there seems to be an autographical note in
chapter 14 verses 51 and 52. Here, we see a young man fleeing naked after
witnessing Jesus’ arrest. Could this have been John Mark as he was also known?
It is a possibility, especially seeing as that in Acts 12:12 we discover that
there was a prayer meeting in the home of John Mark’s mother in Jerusalem. This
fact gives rise to the speculation that maybe Jesus ate the last supper in the upper
room of Mark’s home, and then Mark followed Jesus and His disciples to the
garden of Gethsemane. There is an early church tradition that this Mark was a
helper and translator for the apostle Peter, something that is supported by
Peter’s first epistle which contains at the end the words ‘my son Mark’.
So, when it comes to the authority of the gospels it all
boils down to whether one excepts that those who wrote them were genuinely connected
to Jesus, be it as His disciples who were with him since the beginning of His
ministry, learning from Him and then being sent out as apostles with authority
(Acts 1:21, 22) or as those who were closely associated with these apostles.
Ben watched as the so-called ‘badest boy’ departed. He had
given the little boys a bit of a chastising. Something about an incident
involving a balloon and water. In any case, for all his air of superiority, as
soon as his back was turned, the boys began once again their giggling. Indeed,
on the ‘badest boy’ had been out of ear shot, choice words had arisen, some of
which Ben didn’t even know.
Ben was glad for the temporary order that had been instilled, giving him a little respite. It hadn’t lasted long though. He surmised that this was the problem with human authority. It was always limited. If only he could have some authority from above. That would certainly have a lasting impact!
It seemed like the much-anticipated moment had finally
arrived.
Ben spied out of the corner of his eye a figure moving
towards him. It didn’t take much for him to realise that it was Nina. She was a
tall, dark haired young lady of much beauty. Ben speculated that it wouldn’t be
long until she was married, and he had made his own hopes of who she might want
to marry. Indeed, he had prayed many a time for and about her and had even
attempted more than once to approach her and talk to her but to no avail. She constantly
slipped through his fingers. It looked now though like things were going to be
different.
The lighter side of things!
Ben was standing next to the refreshment table as people
mingled after the end of the church service. Ben wasn’t accustomed to doing
much mingling, so he stood alone enjoying the atmosphere and waiting to help
with clean up once people had enough of socialising and began leaving.
However, things were now changing and as a long-awaited
moment approached. Ben had been unable to enter of his own initiation into a
meaningful interaction with Nina, but now it appeared that after much prayer
she herself was moving towards him. Ben allowed himself a brief glance as she
came closer, lapping up a little of her considerable beauty, but the more he
looked, the greater his heart began to pound. What would he actually say when
she arrived in his presence?
This dilemma was though short lived. Nina came within a
whisker of him, causing Ben’s emotions to reach fever pitch, however they were
quickly diffused as Nina veered to the right to avoid collision with Ben, then
opened her hand and tossed the waste paper that she had from the snacks that
she had consumed onto the refreshment table, finally heading onwards and
exiting the room without saying a word to Ben, not even giving him a glance of
recognition.
This experience made Ben review his marriage plans!
Marriage is indeed a tricky issue. There’s the old adage
that who you will marry is the second most important decision you will
make (for some it might even be the first, but from a Christian point of view the
decision to accept and follow God’s plan for our lives could well be considered
the most important decision). In a cross-cultural setting the complexities
increase as different cultures have different perspectives.
The place to start is singleness because everybody is born
single and lives for at least a while as an unmarried person (even if they are
betrothed!). In the western world this can be seen as a good thing as it allows
the person freedom to enjoy life and invest time and energy in career and
friends. In other places such as Moldova this is not the case. Here singleness
is not generally viewed as a good thing and there is a lot of emphasis on getting
married from a young age. This is maybe at least in part due to economic
reasons as there are not many opportunities to develop a career here, so it is
seen as better to invest in forming a family and it is also easier to get by as
a couple, especially if agricultural work is the order of day. In addition to
this, due to economic migration, the country’s population is declining, so it’s
important for families to be forming and producing children to maintain the
population level.
Of course, marriage is not just about practical concerns and
the importance of values, companionship, love and romance probably also play
their part in making marriage a prevalent aspect of a society.
In Moldova, something else that probably plays a role in attitudes to marriage is the influence of religion and faith. Christianity at both a traditional and living level is very active and widespread and it’s clear from the Bible that God’s plan is for people to live in families of one man and one woman. Admittedly, and tragically, some churches may well promote the importance of marriage as they have something to gain by it, whether financially or by affiliating an outsider to an existing church member. However, once again, beyond such practical concerns there is a Biblical teaching that God created us to have companionship and, as it says in the much-quoted words of Genesis 2:18 ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.’
In the New Testament, Paul echoes this idea at the beginning
of 1 Corinthians 7, where he talks about the fact that it is good for husbands
and wives to come together regularly as a way of protection from certain
temptations and for unmarried people likewise to get married to avoid burning
passions. He throws though something extra into the equation. The first verse
of this chapter contains the words, ‘It is good for a man not to touch a
woman’ and later on in verse 7 ‘For I wish that all men were even as I
myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another
in that.’ Thus, we understand that
he is not promoting marriage as the only option.
In the Old Testament, marriage was very much the thing as
the world needed to be populated and indeed, it was God’s plan for his people,
the descendants of Abraham, to become ‘as numerous as the stars in the sky.’
By the time we reach the New Testament though, this need has already been
fulfilled and the perspective begins to change.
In Genesis 1:28 God tells humans to ‘Be fruitful and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it,’ however inMatthew 28:19
Jesus says, ‘go and make disciples of all the nations’. Hence, the
emphasis from the Old to New testament has moved from being on physical to
spiritual reproduction.
The result of this is that a Christian’s main goal in life (or at least should be!) to spread the gospel so that people convert and become disciples of Jesus. Christians can be meaningfully involved in this work, whether they are single or married thus the issue of getting married or not is more to do with our calling, as God’s plans can be served in both states, than other practical or personal considerations.
