aidanbenbow | Musings

Creation

Aurelius awoke from his deep slumber. He threw back his mantellum, which in colder weather doubled up as his cloak, and sheepishly raised himself to life. After a few quick breathes to get the life blood flowing through him, he stretched and got up on his feet and soon found himself peering out of his fenestram on the scene outside.

It was a fine new spring day. The sun was already shinning down, and the world was blossoming into life. Well, the small cross section of it that was visible to Aurelius in the atrium of his domum. There were various flowers dotted around, gleaning some sunlight through an opening in the roof. Aurelius quickly put his toga and sandals on, as he was eager to get out of his cubiculum and to start enjoying the beauty of the new day. He was in such a hurry though that he stubbed his little toe (one of the hazards of so much sandal wearing!) on the postis of his doorway as he was exiting.

Aside from the brief spurt of pain, it caused him to look down. Part of the floor mosaic which ran throughout the domum came into sight. The mosaic depicted various scenes from the myths of the Roman Gods. The house was inherited and that was his ancestors’ sort of thing.

The mosaic in Aurelius’ cubiculum seemed to show a divine being making a chaotic mess into an orderly scene of sun, stars, moon and the terra on which all mankind is stationed. This was the Roman’s way of explaining where everything came from. Come to think of it, this was each cultures’, or at least the one’s Aurelius knew of, way of explaining things, except that different cultures had different takes on the God’s. Aurelius wondered if people from different places ever reflected on the contradictions that existed. Surely, not everyone could be right.

Take for example, the Greeks. In their version of creation, Gaia appears out of the chaos, produces Uranus and then has relations with him to produce other Gods and the like. In the Roman version, these Greek characters have been given different names, for example Gaia is now Terra Mater, but otherwise many of the details are the same (except for the details which don’t even agree amongst themselves – Terra Mater mated with Caelus or Jupiter or whom, by Jove!).

The Egyptians however viewed Ra, the sun God, to be the creator of all things, although Aurelius had heard from some that Ra was himself born out of an egg. That’s not to mention the various other versions that he had heard from different cultures near and far.

Aurelius’ thought processes had now been stimulated, so he found a comfy cathedra, reclined back and allowed himself the luxury of a few moments of reflection at the beginning of this beautiful day. The idea occurred to him that with regard to the creation of the world there could in essence be three perspectives.

Firstly, that everything was created by some sort of higher being. This was common with every culture having their own version. As he had already noted, there were conflicts between these versions, which means that they couldn’t all be right. Either they were all wrong or one was right and the others wrong. Some tried to reconcile things by saying that there were different Gods reigning in different places, but Aurelius was sceptical. If Egypt’s Ra had created things in one way, that didn’t explain how Rome’s God’s could have created in another. Either we were all Zeus’ offspring, or we weren’t!

Some more forward thinkers even tried to say that it didn’t matter what you believed as there were elements of the truth in every religion and they all went towards the same direction. Well, Aurelius didn’t quite see that

The second option was that things had always been the way they are. Aurelius usually liked the avoid the question approach to things, although this was one way of avoiding things that didn’t sit well with him. Just the very nature of things spoke to him of growth, change and progress. If a baby remained a baby it would be a tragedy contrary to the usual course of things. Humans were born to develop into adults, live out their lives and then pass out of this world. That was the way it was throughout nature. So, how could it be that the creation had simply always existed when its very nature was change? This wasn’t logical as his Greek friends would say!

Thirdly, there was the new-fangled idea of self-creation. Some modern thinkers had come up with the idea that the world had created itself! Talking about logic, this idea sounded very strange to Aurelius’ ears. When walking around you sometimes made unusual discoveries. One time, Aurelius had even found a broken-up sun dial on the floor in some long grass on the outskirts of town. His first thought was that the sun dial had been made by someone for the purpose of telling the time, but at some point, it had been disregarded by its own and was now lying about in disuse. The thought had never occurred to him that some how the forces of nature had combined to bring together in a random process the required materials and then form them into something that happened to be a sundial. He would be interested to know what his Greek friends thought of that!

No, it seemed to Aurelius that everything had a purpose and that purpose must have come from somewhere. There was a new religion about town, although maybe religion wasn’t the right word as it wasn’t so much about certain traditions and ways of thinking as about believing in a certain God, Credo was more the right way of looking at it. In any case, they took their perspective in creation from the Old Testament, the holy book of the Jewish people, and here the very first verse read:

‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’

So, no philosophical arguments trying to justify how things came into being or to confirm the deity or deities responsible. Rather a simple affirmation that God (i.e. the God that would then be presented throughout the rest of the book) had created all things starting from the heavens and he earth. The heavens, not to mention Terra (as Aurelius liked to call it), had then been further developed as this God spoke different things into being: light, sea, land, vegetation, creatures, even humans!

There seemed to Aurelius no logical reason to reject this. It was like a summary of what the different religions believed anyway, although each religion gave things their own spin. He wasn’t sure what his forefathers would think about the absence of Jupiter in all this for example, but why go for a complicated explanation when he had something simple and straightforward written down? His friend Sandus was pretty convinced in any case and he felt inclined to feel the same.

Temptation

Aurelius breathed in deeply and girded himself for one last push. He had been on the way to the local agora and was nearly there. The caseus that he had slavishly, but lovingly made were wearing him down. Caseus weren’t so light you know, especially when they were the well matured kind. In any case, he lifted his saccus full of caseus to his shoulder and he was off again, but not for long.

Just as he was getting going, who should appear across his path but Jason Africanus!

‘Ave! Quo vardis?’ called out Jason.

Aurelius sighed. This was the last thing he needed. Quo vardis he thought tutting to himself. Wasn’t it obvious? Were would someone usually go with a saccus laden down with well matured milk products! It is logicae!

‘I’ve got some business to attend to.’ Replied Aurelius, humouring him.

‘Well, I can see that. You must be off to sell some cheese. Why don’t you give me one? I’ll pay you later.’

Aurelius had heard that before. ‘Well, maybe on my way back, if I’ve got any left over,’ said Aurelius, hoping that he could get out of it.

‘Ok, great! We can meet at Maximus’ tavern when you’re done.’

Aurelius realised that he might be in an even more tricky situation than he had thought. This evidently wasn’t just about caseus. Maximus’s taberna was a place of temptation. Jason loved it, but Aurelius wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea. He did like a game of billiardus but the other things that went along with it weren’t really his cup of tea. Indeed, he would much prefer a cup of tea to the ale and raucous antics that could be served up at the taberna. Not to mention Jason’s dodgy dealings.

‘I’ll probably be quite tired when I’m done, so I might just head off to my domus,’ he squirmed.

‘What? You social reject!’ retorted Jason.

Aurelius remembered why he didn’t really enjoy bumping into Jason.

‘Look, we’ll see each other at the hora decima at maximus’. Don’t be late! It’ll be fun and I want to talk to you about something….’ enticed Jason.

Aurelius began reminiscing about some of the former days and speculating about what Jason wanted to talk about. It all sounded kind of interesting and anyway, we all need a good rest after a long day of work……

There are many things in life that tempt us and often they seem subtle. Little things that don’t appear to pose any real risk. Indeed, this is how temptation began.

In the beginning, we can see that all was good, but something went wrong. God gave humans all that they needed, but there was a condition (Genesis 2:16, 17)

In spite of this condition, we see in Genesis 3 that humans didn’t stay well away from this tree so as not to be tempted. Actually, the other way around. We find them right next to it. This trend exists even to our today, rather than shying away from temptation, humans often ask themselves how close I can get to the cliff without falling off the edge. Eve even enters into a dialogue with a strange serpent.

The serpent questions what God had actually said and causes Eve to doubt God’s words and even add to them ‘and not touch it’. He proceeds to suggest that by eating the forbidden fruit Eve will gain something good that God is withholding from her. The fruit becomes desirable in Eve’s eye, and so Eve takes it and eats it, thinking that no harm will come and that she has something to gain. She even passes it on to her husband who happens to be right beside her and who also partakes of the forbidden fruit without protest.

The consequences of eating this fruit are however catastrophic. We are still feeling them today. Disharmony and brokenness enters the world; the humans seek to blame someone else, their intimacy is disturbed as they make coverings for their nakedness, not to mention try to hide from God, and God gives out punishments, resulting in the humans being exiled from paradise.

This is a good summary for temptation. It is something that looks nice. That fruit certainly looked appetizing in Eve’s eyes. Furthermore, it promised much at low cost. Eve thought that she was going to get a tasty meal, gain wisdom and not have to face any consequences. However, the reality was very different. Fortunately, we also see in this passage God’s rescue plan. Nevertheless, for a time we all have to live now in a fallen world, where temptation is the norm. Thus, the Bible contains many warnings to resist these temptations.

It was indeed a hard day of selling caseus. Aurelius gathered together his things as he packed up his little spot, somewhere forlornly strewn between meat, fabric and spice sellers that tended to litter these sorts of places. It had been an average day’s takings, but the main thing he was glad about was that the load he had to take back home was half as heavy. As he prepared himself to leave, thoughts about Maximus’ taberna began to tantalise him. It wasn’t far from where he was and after all, what harm could a bit or relaxing do? Surely, he had earned it during such a long day selling caseus!

But no, he mentally remonstrated with himself, it would spell trouble if he went there! He knows what sort of things would entice him. He resolved to not go.

As he determinedly began heading away from the agora, which was in the centre of the municipium, he felt his gaze being drawn back. He turned his head and there, in the centre of his field of view, who should it be, but Jason Africanus, of course! Aurelius stopped in his tracks.

He felt unable to continue on his set path. Jason approached.

‘Ave! Where might you be heading, amicum! I thought we had a meeting arranged at Maximus’?’

‘Well, I think arranged is a bit much said. I thought it was more just proposed,’ replied Aurelius, seeking to getting himself out of trouble.

‘Non verum! When I say hora decima, I mean hora decima! By the sun dial just over by the agora, it’s nearly that time, so let’s go!’

Jason was so convincing. Aurelius couldn’t resist. Jason’s hand on his shoulder helped. It couldn’t do any harm though could it? It wasn’t like anyone was waiting for him at his domum was it?

So, off they went, something that Aurelius would regret.

Glossary

Caseus – cheese

Saccus – bag

Ave! Quo vardis? – Hi! Where are you going?

Logicae – logical (!)

Billiardus – pool (maybe!)

Amicum – friend

Non verum – don’t believe it

hora decima – tenth hour domum – house

Leadership

General

Recently at a student event I saw an interesting scene. At the front of the meeting room, a musician was performing some songs. Throughout the room there were a number of tables laid out with students sitting around them, watching the performance.

At one of the tables, there was a group of guys. They sat, soaking up the atmosphere and gazing admiringly at what was going on. All of a sudden one of them looked down at a leaflet on the table containing the lyrics of the songs that were being sung. The other guys also looked down. This one guy then lifted up the leaflet. The others followed suit. He perused it. His colleagues began perusing too. Finally, he put it back on the table. The other guys also put it down.

Once the evening was done, this central guy got up, putting his jacket on and prepared to leave. Then, he headed out of the room. You can imagine what the other guys did!

One of the topics that is very popular in this day and age is leadership. Left, right and centre, there are courses, seminars, books and all sorts of nuggets of wisdom on this topic. All of us human beings are one way, or another, affected by others and in turn involved in have influencing on those around us, which explains the popularity and relevance of the topic.

We could define leadership as the ability to influence the actions of others. Above we see a good example, whereas when I organise children’s activities, a less than successful leadership attempt can be witnessed!

There are probably many different styles of leadership, some better than others, although much depends also on the abilities of the person leading as well as the circumstances in which leadership is being attempted.

Many leaders prefer an authoritative style. This has the advantage that it can motivate people to get things done, but the disadvantage that it depends a lot on the whiles and whims of the leader, who could easily abuse the situation for personal gain or mistakenly lead people in a wrong direction.

Thus, a second leadership style is group leadership. A good example (hopefully!) is democratic government. Here, although things are often led by one person, a prime minister or president, they are subjected to scrutiny by their own political party, which is then in turned scrutinised by opposing parties. In other words, not just one person is deciding what to do.

A third style is relaxed leadership, or ‘pandering to the people.’ This involved making decisions simply based on what others want. Otherwise said, letting the people being led dictate to the leader what to do, rather than the other way around. In a measured way, it is important to let the people being led have a say, which is at the basis of democratic government, but it’s probably still necessary to have someone making the decisions because it will be chaos in any organisation if everyone can have their say. As they say, where there are two Baptists gathered, there are three opinions!

There is a much-loved Bible verse in Genesis 2:18, which says that ‘it is not good for the man to be alone…’. Obviously from the context this is talking about marriage as God then proceeds to create Eve. Nevertheless, throughout the Bible we can see examples which show the same principle applied to Christian ministry.

One such occasion would be at the beginning of Exodus when God appears to Moses in the burning bush and tells him to go to Pharaoh and request that he let God’s people go. Moses is not too keen on such a daunting task, so we see in Exodus 4:14 God sending Aaron along as well. They form a team that undertakes the difficult work of freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh’s grasp.

In the New Testament, we find Jesus choosing a group of men to be His apostles, that were with Him and went out to preach (Mark 4:14). When He sends them out, He sends them out in pairs (Mark 6:7). Thus, even Jesus didn’t work alone.

There is much debate and different opinions to church leadership, but from what we have seen, it can nevertheless be said that some sort of team leadership is favourable. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul describes both church overseers and deacons thus suggesting more than one person in leadership. From both personal experience and scripture, it is clear that Christian leadership is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:11), so it is logical that those in leadership need support and hence a team leadership model is a good idea.

As alluded to above, team leadership can eliminate some potential problems when one person becomes too dominate in leadership. It offers the chance for accountability, which can help things remain on track and prevent things becoming one person building their own empire, for their own ends. It also shares around the burden of a work or ministry and means that things don’t all depend on one person. This can be particularly important as things can often be great if there is a charismatic leader leading the way, but if that leader grows tired or goes off the rails, they can then fall apart.

Team leadership thus offers longevity to ministry as it enables leaders to keep going for longer and gives rise to the possibility of followers who will take things on at the right moment. A good leader will also want a group of people to share their vision for what is going on, as that way people will be more inclined to get involved, if the vision is group owned.

One other advantage of team leadership is that it guards against the extreme of a leader simply pandering to the people and not actually leading anywhere.

A good text to illustrate Christian leadership is Mark 10:42-45, which compares leadership in the world to leadership in the Kingdom of God. Here, we see that in the world people lead by dominating others for personal gain whereas this is contrasted with serving others. Indeed,

‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ Mark 10:45

Thus, in the world as someone progresses in leadership their rights and privileges grow. On the other hand, in Christian leadership as someone progresses their rights and privileges decrease, and their responsibilities increase. This can be illustrated by an example that I heard of the General Secretary of IFES queuing in a long line for food at a large student conference, rather than skipping to the front of the queue!

In conclusion then, we can say that team worker is when a group of people make a coordinated effort to fulfil a task. Team leadership is when a group of people coordinate that effort. From a Christian point of view, the aim of team leadership is to build up and serve those around through the activities carried out, rather than profit from them.

Inspired from ‘CURS Baza biblică a conducerii şi lucrului în echipă

de Mihai Dumitraşcu, Cristi Petricioiu şi Mihai Ciucă’ BIG impact Romania

Why me?

Meditations

One of the big questions in life is ‘Why do things happen the way they happen?’

There could be many and endless answers to this question, but for what its worth, here are my thoughts.

One way of looking at it could be to say that there is no God or higher beings that exist, so everything that happens depends on me and my circumstances. In other words, I have to take the cards that life deals me and try to make the best I can out of them. If I want to achieve something in this life, I need to get on and do it, hoping that sickness, crime, natural disasters or other forces out of my control don’t get in the way.

This approach can be modified using a phrase that a Greek man once described to me as apparently being a Greek saying (anyone?) ‘συν αθήνα και χείρα κίνει– the sum of Athena and my hands’. This I understood to mean that what I have in life depends on a combination of what the God’s (i.e. Athena) give me and what I manage to achieve with my own hands.

Both these points of views have something in common. They emphasise me and what I am able to make out of life. The first one however suggests that other factors that influence my life are merely dependant on the nature around me, whereas the second recognises that there could be divine beings but implies that their involvement in my life is limited.

Personally, I believe in the exists of just one God, the God of the Christian Bible. Much could be said about this, but I have explained my reasons simply elsewhere. This then gives rise to two other possible perspectives about why things are the way they are.

The Bible contains the concept of sin, which can be simply though of as humans not doing as they were created to do. Over the centuries many peoples and cultures have had an idea along these lines. Thus, we can consider the things that happen as a consequence of this sin. A simple example would be the Canaanite people who lived many centuries ago in what is today Israel. They believed that humans had to offer certain sacrifices to the God Baal. If he was pleased, he would then send rain so that crops would grow. In other words, in their thinking, the weather depended on the mood of Baal.

In a Christian sense, we can take things a little further and say that the world is the way it is due to the consequences of sin, which Christianly speaking is disobedience to God. The first humans didn’t obey God’s command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the result was that suffering and death entered the world. Hence, in a general way, everything that happens is connected to that.

However, as human beings, we are more interested in the question of why certain things happen to me. ‘Why me?’ is an age-old refrain. Here, there would be three possibilities.

The first would be that things have gotten out of God’s control. Similar to the Athena example above, some people might say that although God set the world in motion, he is no longer influencing what is happening, whether intentionally or he is just not powerful enough.

Secondly, there is the idea of karma. The things that happen to me are proportional to the good or bad that I have done. This means that good things in my life are a reward from God, but bad things are a punishment for my sins.

In the Old Testament in the Bible, we do indeed find this sort of idea. An example is Deuteronomy chapter 28, where the blessings for obeying God and curses for disobeying Him are described.

However, there is a third idea, which springs from the fact that we have both the Old and New testament and so have to interpret them together. The point is how to do we define good and bad? In Romans 3 from verse 10 we see a number of quotes about how humans aren’t actually good. Maybe we are based on our own standards, but we fall short when compared to God’s standard. Interestingly, these quotes are all from the Old Testament and remind us that this isn’t a new concept. Just reading the Old Testament stories we can see how often Israel, God’s chosen people, failed to keep God’s laws.

In our own day and age, we just have to look at the world around us, or to think about our own personal experiences in life, to see that something’s not right. This is all to say that God doesn’t deal with us on a merit system because if this was the case, we would all merit punishment as we have all done at least something wrong in our lives.

This all sounds pretty gloomy, but it’s just leading up to the third perspective which is that God is in control and the things that happen are permitted by Him so that in His grace and love, His good and righteous plans can be fulfilled.

That’s all well and good when we are talking about positive things in our lives. We want good things to happen to us even though we don’t deserve them, but what about the bad things that happen? Here the question of our faith in God enters the equation. Do we trust Him that the bad things that happen are ultimately fulfilling a good purpose?

One example is John Newton (1725-1807). He was a slave trader, but after experiencing a storm at sea, he decided to seek God. Eventually, after ill health, he gave up slave trading, became a Christian minister and eventually was involved in working for the abolishment of the slave trade. He also wrote amongst others the famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace.’

So, we see that out of two bad things, near shipwreck in a storm and illness, good came. He gave up slave trading, served many as a minister, wrote hymns and helped to abolish the slave trade.

In conclusion then, there are in essence two responses to the things that happen to us. One is to focus on ourselves, seeking an introspective explanation and solutions based on our human abilities. The other is to focus on God and ask Him what He wants us to learn and do as a result of what has happened in our lives.

Socrates Club

Moldova

For some, the name Socrates Club will conjure up images of a fan club devoted to a certain Brazilian footballer. For most though, it will give rise to thoughts about one of the world’s most famous philosophers. Indeed, this is the origin of the name (sorry, football fans!)

The Socrates club however is not so much named after the man himself, but a method of analysing things to reach a critical conclusion, the Socrates method as it were. This basically involved someone presenting an idea, ‘the world is round’ for example and then by a process of question and answer, with someone representing an opposing point of view, investigating the idea to try and get to the bottom of it as it were, ‘But why don’t we fall off?’, ‘Have you seen it’s shape?’, ‘How does it rotate?’, ‘Isn’t it supported on the back of a tortoise?’ etc.

The idea of Socrates clubs was probably first made famous by the Socratic club at Oxford university. This particular version of the Socrates club had a big help in creating its fame due to the fact that one C. S. Lewis, a renowned Oxford University professor and darling of those who like to share insightful Christian quotes on the internet, was the first president. It met from 1942 until 1972, but its most popular period was inevitably up until 1955, the years when C. S. Lewis was an active participant before his move to Cambridge.

Since then, many have endeavoured to take this Socrates club concept and create their own version. Such attempts have even made their way to the Republic of Moldova! Hence since the beginning of 2018 the IFES student ministry here (otherwise known as CSC, the community of Christian Students) as been organising their own version.

In true post-soviet cultural style and taking heed of Isaac Newton’s famous idea of standing on the shoulders of giants, the Socrates club (Sokratov Klub as it’s locally known) in Moldova is based on a combination of three concepts. There is the aforementioned Oxford Socratic club, but to this is add the modern-day TED talks concept and mixed in with a Russian idea of 15 by 4 talks, and hey presto ‘Сократов Клуб’.

TED talks involved a speaker giving a short talk on a topic of general interest. The 15×4 format is popular in the Russian speaking world. As the name would suggest it refers to an event where four speakers have 15 minutes to present a topic of interest (as opposed to 15 speakers having four minutes – that would be quite an event!). Finally, the element of the Oxford Socratic club that has been carried over to Moldova is the fact that he talk is analysed using a question and answer methodology (in the Moldovan case, thus far, the audience serves as the questioners rather than an invited expert).

Hence the average Sokratov Klub evening in Moldova addresses four different topics with four different speakers. The speakers are free to choose their topic, but the evening’s moderate discusses with them beforehand to make sure the topic is suitable. Because the Sokratov Klub is organised by the previously mentioned CSC student group, the speakers are often, but not exclusively, students. Other speakers have included politicians, Catholic priests and even famous footballers! Following are some examples of talks that have been given by students:

–The awkward Czech language.

–The History of the Evolution of Learning

–Spirited Away by Comics – I am the ruler of the world!

–Two Kettles

One important aspect of the original Socratic club from Oxford that has been partially carried over is that this first Socrates club was created with the aim of discussing ‘the intellectual difficulties connected with religion and with Christianity in particular’ Thus, our Moldovan version includes at least one presentation that addresses a topic connected to Christianity.

Just as the first Socrates club at Oxford university has spread to other places and developed different guises, so to has our Sokratov Klub in Moldova spawned a relative. The things written above related to the first club in Moldova which was started by the CSC group in Moldova’s second biggest city, Balti. However, since then the student group in Chisinau, the capital city has also started up their own version of the club. The format is similar with the main difference being that they have a theme for the evening and all the talks are related to it.

Some quotes from students who have been involved in the Sokratov Klub in Balti:

“The Socrates Club has helped me become less shy and given me much knowledge that I didn’t have before. I have learned to be more eloquent, succinct and responsible. It has also helped me find like-minded people, with whom you can have interesting conversations and share your life experience.”

‘’It was interesting, and the atmosphere was relaxing after a hard day. The subject presentations were exceptionally interesting. At Socrates club, there is always something new and instructive. New in the sense that although we know many things, often we haven’t discussed or touched on their nuances. Socrates club however does.’’

“I enjoyed being here. I found out a lot of things. It was interesting. There was a pleasant atmosphere where I could find out the answers to my questions”

“It was very interesting. Thank you for the evening!”

Support Socrates Club

Introduction

Romania Reminiscences

Ben was on a journey that he would never forget. He’d heard about the country of Romania for sure. Unfortunately, a lot of it was negative, connected to Communism and all of its consequences. And then, of course, there was football. Without football, Ben’s knowledge of the world would have been poorer. But as it was, he was well clued up on geography having watched matches from all sorts of places. Bucharest was one of them. He had vague recollections of Rapid Bucharest, whose players, fortunately, weren’t so rapid as to give West Ham the run-around.

And then, there was the World Cup. Ben was old enough to remember red-shirted players giving some Columbians a few problems. Lăcătuș was one of them if Ben wasn’t very much mistaken. A funny name if ever there was one, Ben had thought at the time. Ireland had put pay to their progress in the end, though.

Next, there was the World cup in the USA. This was a golden time for the Romanians’ golden generation. There had been a flaw though. They’d allowed some players into the team whose surname didn’t end in -escu, which had obviously disrupted team unity and led to their quarterfinal exit. I mean look at Bulgaria, hardly anyone whose name didn’t end in -ov ever got into the team and they made it to the semi-final and, by Ben’s reckoning, really deserved to be in the final, which they could have won. They even beat Germany on the way.

Such football reminiscences could have gone on for a long time, if it were not for a sudden jolt. This woke Ben out of his deep football-related meditation. It was probably a good job too, as he was getting close to ’98 and 2000 in his thoughts, not happy years for English football fans as far as Romania is concerned.

The jolt was from the train coming to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Well at least to Ben it seemed like nowhere. The train spent many a minute standing still for apparently no reason and with no announcement to illuminate the passengers as to what was going on. Gradually, Ben was to learn that this was not an uncommon occurrence, but no problem, Ben was from Britain after all. And maybe it was better to not know that you are waiting because there are the wrong type of leaves on the line.

While he was waiting, it gave Ben a chance to reflect on his surroundings. The train looked like it had seen better days. Ramshackle was a word that came to mind. Sadly, the same could be said of many of the passengers. Old people who looked like they’d had hard lives and young people who looked like they were having hard lives. The man sitting beside Ben was typically plump and middle-aged with not so designer stubble and an ominous-looking bottle by his side, the size of a large coke bottle, but brown and three-quarters empty.

There were also beggars. One little child had a sign with her, ‘Mor de Foame’. With the help of his bi-lingual dictionary, Ben had worked out that this meant starving. He’d compassionately given her his last cheese sandwich, although she obviously wasn’t quite that hungry and instead of scoffing it down, had put it in her pocket saying ‘mersi’. Well, Ben thought it was quite a merciful act, although he would have been happier if she’d eaten it ‘cos he had slaved ages to make those sandwiches and now he too was quite hungry.

Part 2 – The Journey

The Journey

Romanian Reminiscences

As the train chugged along, Ben found it increasingly hard to stay in the little compartment that he was cooped up in. In this sense, the train seemed kind of old-style. Rather than a big, spacious salon type wagon full of seats, these Romanian trains were compartmentalised. Ben reckoned that eight people could fit in his compartment that of course depending on their personal dimensions as it were.

His compartment was only half full, but that still meant spending an uncomfortably long period of time, crammed together with complete strangers. Ben had thought that maybe he should initiate some meaningful conversation, but due to the fact that those with him were not fluent in the same languages as he, it had proved difficult. In order to get some respite from this incommodity, he had decided to leave the compartment and stand in the hallway that ran along the side of the compartments, starring out of the window. He was slightly concerned for the safety of his things that were stuffed into a modern style suitcase and a couple of industrial strength carrier bags, not to mention his go everywhere rucksack that contained his laptop, but there wasn’t a lot of value. Even the laptop was not by any means the most newest or best performing type around (you could easily get some odd jobs done, while windows was loading up), so probably nothing too much to worry about and in any case it was unlikely that anybody could slip anything out without others noticing, so unless the whole compartment were to hatch a plan, he thought it highly likely that everything would be just fine, in spite of the worry that was niggling him.

As he peered through the window, he was enthralled by the scenery that laid itself out before him as the train sped along; luscious meadows, sown with all sorts of intriguing crops; fields populated by cows, sheep and even goats; different villages, many of which reinforced the ramshackledness that he had meditated on earlier, but nevertheless gave an air of simple, communal living; and hills and other contours that built up to areas of extraordinary mountain beauty. Some of the mountains that they passed as the train rumbled on to its destination were simply breath taking. The windows of the train were large and closed except for a small panel running along the top that could be tilted open. This added an extra dimension to the viewing experience as cold air rushed in and swept over Ben with a refreshing blast.

At one point, while Ben was submerged in this viewing experience, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning to see what it was about, an older lady, face worn from the stresses of many years, but adorned with a headscarf which offered dignity a sense of humility, stood there.

,Să aveți grijă să nu te curentezi!’, she said.

Ben starred at her. His Romanian lesson hadn’t gone quite that far, and he had no idea what she was saying.

, Să aveți grijă să nu te curentezi!’, she repeated as if, maybe, Ben hadn’t quite caught what she was saying and needed to hear it once more. That however wasn’t the problem.

‘Eu nu…’, Ben spluttered then stopped. Now what was the rest of that phrase he had painstakingly learnt, he thought to himself. Actually, there were two good phrases for moments like these and it was time to pluck one of them out of the bag. How else would he learn Romanian?

He reflected for a moment as the old lady looked at him, thinking about repeating her words for a third time, but then realising something was up. Ben on the other hand, was reflecting on whether to say that he didn’t understand or that he didn’t speak Romanian. A third option would be to ask the lady if she spoke English, but he felt that that was unlikely. He decided to go for the one about not speaking Romanian.

”Eu nu vorbesc limba Romana’’, he said triumphantly, but with a stutter.

The lady looked a while at him and then replied with a smirk on her face, “Pai nici eu nu vorbesc limba Romana, puiule, eu vorbesc limba română!”.

The discussion was going beyond Ben’s head. Nevertheless, he could tell that he hadn’t quite said something right. He started racking his brains to try to think how to ask the lady to repeat what she had just uttered. ‘Repeate vouz’ came to mind, but that sounded like something an English tourist would say, so he thought on. Fortunately, he had studied diligently his book of ten basic Romanian lessons from his local library and after a while it came to him, ‘din nou’.

He broke the uncomfortable silence by saying to the lady, “din nou”.

She looked at him, seemingly smirking yet again, “Bine, puișor, limba română se spune, nu limba romana”.

Aha, this time it clicked. There were different types of vowel sounds in Romanian due to accents that you put on them. In particular, a can be soft or hard. He obviously hadn’t quite mastered that lesson yet. He felt like he could give it another go.

“Eu nu vorbesc limba Romănă’’

“Aproape, dulceața, dar o să te inveți!” were her final words before turning and leaving to return to her compartment, obviously feeling that that was enough language teaching for one day.

Ben also decided it was the moment to go back to his seat and have a sit down, language learning was tiring after all. Little did he know, that in more ways than one, this was going to be a theme over the foreseeable future.

More here: Part 3 – The Arrival

Accused

Ben looked nervously at his conversation partner sitting opposite. The conversation had taken a not unusual turn and he knew what was coming. Ben steeled himself.

‘So, why aren’t you married?’

This wasn’t the first time that Ben had received this question or a version thereof. He quickly calculated in his mind which of the possible approaches to use this time in his defence. The man sitting opposite him was a relatively young family man from church, so Ben thought he would go with the direct spiritual angle.

‘Well, God hasn’t led me to the right person yet.’

He threw the yet in there to offer a glimmer of hope and emphasis that he was working on it. This didn’t have the desired result though of offsetting further interrogation.

‘Don’t blame God! You need to be out there doing something about it!’

Ben wasn’t sure exactly what he should be out there doing. ‘I’ve asked a few girls, bjt they weren’t that interested.’

‘Yes, but how did you ask them?’

Ben refrained from answering, assuming that the reply ‘with words’ would come across facetious.

‘A girl that’s worth having, doesn’t give herself easily,’ continued the romance lesson.

Ben was aware of that!

‘You’ve got to insist! They’re playing hard to get!’

Some of them were certainly good players, although his recent experience when he approached a girl after church and asked ‘How are you?’ to which she looked the other way and went to talk to some one else, seemed like more than a game. In any case, Ben wasn’t good at insisting. He was English!

‘I have prayed about it and am waiting for God’s plan,’ was all he could think to say, hoping this wouldn’t been seen as clutching at straws.

‘Well, it’s about time you took action. God won’t send her to your front door. You need to go out and get her. It’s like any gift, you need to accept it!’

The straws had evaded Ben’s grasp. Maybe Ben’s adversary was right. Maybe he should be doing more. Maybe he should be more active. He began to contemplate how the search features of facebook worked.

‘I’m waiting for a wedding invite this autumn!’

All of us encounter at times Bildad, Zophar or Eliphaz. These were the friends of Job, a man mentioned in the Bible has being one of the greatest men to live. However, God allows a time of testing to come on him. Satan is able to take away all that he has and furthermore, even inflict him with boils on his skin.

Job is then visited by the aforementioned friends. We might expect that they would offer words of encouragement but actually their interpretation of the situation is that Job has done something wrong and thus everything that has happened to him is a punishment from God. Eliphaz says for example ‘’ Job 22:4,5.

It is also common today that people interpret bad things as being a punishment from God. Thus the cause of suffering is that we haven’t been doing what we should and the solution is to correct our ways. Hence someone who isn’t married hasn’t been trying hard enough, but if they correct this, all will be well. Job however puts a different perspective on things.

He argues that actually he hasn’t done anything wrong that deserves what he is going through (Job 9:21) and that no one can present themselves innocent in comparison to God (Job 9:2) thus suffering can’t be a direct punishment for wrong doing because in that case everyone would be suffering. Indeed, the reader knows the reason why Job is suffering because the heavenly discussions between the Lord and Satan are presented in the first two chapters, where we learn that Job’s suffering is actually a test permitted by the Lord to prove his faith genuine.

In this day and age many people promote the idea that our deeds equate to either the quality of our life in the here and now, and/or our final destination. If we do good now, we will be blessed and if the good outweighs the bad, we will have the hope of heaven. However, this sort of thinking gives rise to wrong theology such as the prosperity gospel.

In this false gospel, we are told that God has earthly blessings for those who have faith in him. He who prays the right way has a nice wife coming his direction, as it were. This is far from the case though.

Job debates for a good number of chapters with his friends, before we eventually arrive towards the end of the book. God reveals himself and clarifies things. In chapter 42 verse 7, we discover that Job’s friends are indeed wrong in what they have been saying. There is no prosperity gospel or right and wrong karma in operation in the universe. Rather we see in the preceding verses the way things are; God is in charge (I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 42:2) and everything that happened was to enable Job to truly come to know God (My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.’ 42:5,6).

Ben lay prostrate in bed. His head hurt, but even more so his heart. He had been rejected once again. Thoughts raced through his mind about what might have been. Maybe he should have asked a different way? Maybe he should ask again? Maybe he should have asked someone else?

As he was tormented by these thoughts, he just about mustered the energy to roll his head to one side and spy his Bible that he usually left beside him when he slept. Knowing that it was the only hope, he raised himself to sit upright and then reached out. Taking the Bible he opened it to Psalm 43. So far there wasn’t to be any invite, but what did it matter? God was his delight. Anyway, things weren’t done and dusted yet.

Who Am I?

‚Who am I?’ is a common question that most of us ask ourselves sooner or later in life. Indeed, if we don’t think about this issue, at least subconsciously, if not more openly, we will just float through life, tossed about from right to left by each and every wave that comes our way.

Gradual Formation

Over the years, we have all actually formed some ideas about this question due to our experiences as we have grown up. The circumstances around us influence our thinking whether we like it or do. As a simple example, someone who has grown up in England will probably develop the idea that he or she is English, unless of course they have parents or extended family from elsewhere that might give rise to other ideas. In Moldova, many people’s families moved there during former days from Russia or the Ukraine and so have kept the language and traditions from whence they came, thus children born into these families can often feel more Russian or Ukrainian than Moldovan.

Obviously, there are many areas of life where we need to make a decision about who we are, not just our nationality, but also with regard to our careers, characteristics, religion and lifestyle to name a few important ones. Some of these things are given us, for example our personalities are something that we can not control or the country where we are born. Others of these we can work on and influence one way or another.

Jekyll or Hyde?

There is a well-known story about a man who actually had two identities.

In a small town, a mysterious stranger appears, Mr. Hyde. He is not the most pleasantly behaved individual ever, and so a certain negative feeling grows in the townspeople with regard to him. There also appears to be some connection between him and the town’s respected physician, Dr. Jekyll; Mr. Hyde is seen around Dr. Jekyll’s home and they both seem to have similar handwriting.

One day there is a murder in the town. Evidently, suspicion turns towards Mr. Hyde. The investigation progresses and the conclusion of the matter is that Dr. Jekyll is found dead with a letter of confession. He admits, not to harbouring Mr. Hyde, but to being him!

He explains that he had discovered a potion that when taken frees him from his restraints thus allowing him to indulge his passions, in other words becoming Mr. Hyde. Initially, things were under control, but gradually he started turning spontaneously into Mr. Hyde. Hence, he was living as two people in one, something that proved complicated and ultimately fatal.

This fictional story nevertheless serves as a warning to us. There are indeed psychological conditions where people medically don’t know who they are. Even if we are not afflicted in this way, we can still suffer from confusion with regard to our identity.

Bad Influences

Our perception of who we are can be greatly influenced by different factors. For example, if I want to be accepted by a group of people who use bad language, I will probably start using the same language. Alternatively, if when growing up, my parents instilled in me the thought that it is important to study science, then probably I will have gone in that direction in my life.

The point is though that it is necessary for our perception of reality to correspond to reality. I may believe that I am a great football player, but if I make it my life’s goal to play for Real Madrid and invest all my time and energy in achieving that aim, I might be disappointed when I go to Madrid for a trial and find that they are less than keen to include me in their first team.

In other words, what we believe about ourselves will direct our lives thus it is essential for us to think carefully about our beliefs.

Will the Real Ben Step Forward

As a result, we can say that two things are important.

Firstly, to seek things are true, both about ourselves and also the world around. Some people claim that truth is relative, so instead of seeking it, we can just develop our own. There would be much to discuss on this point, but a simple observation would be that there are some absolute truths. For example, I know that it is not a good idea to jump out of my flat window because I can be sure of what will happen (barring miracles of course!).

For Christians, our reference point for truth is the God of the Bible. He created all things and so only from Him can we find out the truth about everything around us. We can glean some information by analysing His creation (after all this is what science is) but the ultimate picture we can only understand in the light of His revelation of it. To this end, we have the Bible which contains all the things that God wants us to know about ourselves and the world around us.

Thus it is important for us to be getting to know the Bible, otherwise we will be groping around in life in the dark.

Secondly, it is necessary for us to put into practice what we know from the Bible. There are many people who claim to be Christians, but who never do what the Bible says, which is like me claiming to be a great footballer, but never playing football!

As mentioned already, finding out who we are is a gradual process. Indeed, we could say that maturing is exactly that; over the years discovering out more about ourselves. This is why it is important in life to get involved and try out different things. Only by trial and error can we find ourselves. However, if we want to find our true selves, it is necessary to look from God’s perspective through the prism of the Bible. Otherwise, we will be drawn to the darker elements of our sinful nature and the sinful culture around us, missing out on the real person that God created us to be, and potentially sharing in Dr. Jeykll’s fate.

Meaning

’To be or not to be?’ is a question that many have asked over the years. It is indeed a question that I have asked myself. When you think about it logically, if this life is all there is and nothing awaits beyond, then you could argue that there is a certain meaningless to all we do. Whether someone is successful or not here on earth, they just end up in nothingness and will soon be forgotten.

To counter this, many people say, ‘well, I find meaning in the aspects of my day to day life, work, family, relationships etc.’ This may be the case but the hard truth is that this is only a temporary meaning that doesn’t last. Indeed, a book has survived and comedown to us from ancient times which discusses this very problem. It is called ‘Ecclesiastes’ and after its opening sentence that presents to us the author of the book (a teacher, a son of David and a king) it presents to us the problem that we are all confronted with:

‘Meaningless, Meaningless!’ says the teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’

Not the best way to get people into reading your book, you might think! However, as often seems to be the case with ancient writings, this is actually a simple and brief introduction to what the author wants to talk about. ‘Couldn’t he have taken a more positive approach to things?’ I hear you cry. Well, actually, in at least one of his other books he did (just try reading song of song!). Anyway, once you get beyond this slightly depressing opening, the author of Ecclesiastes (i.e. the teacher) starts to explain how he’s come to his conclusion.

We learn in the following chapters that he has tried everything. In the first part of chapter two we see that he has indulged himself in all kinds of pleasure; he has drunken wine, undertaken all sorts of building projects, enjoyed various relationships, acquired possessions and position in society. Yet his conclusion is still that ‘everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun’.

In the second half of chapter two, we see that he has also tried hard work. Here, he also has some gripes, both that work (or toil as he puts it!) causes grief and pain and also is meaningless because one day he will be gone and who knows who will then benefit from all that he has done!

Here in this chapter 2 though, we see the first glimmer of hope and a solution to this problem of meaningless. After this musing on the meaningless of work, the teacher suddenly comes to a surprise conclusion; that a person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. How can this be if everything is meaningless?

Well, actually for the first time we see that the teacher offers a way of finding true meaning, and it’s from the hand of God (no nothing to do with Maradona!). It’s about the fact that God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Only sinners have the problem of meaninglessly gathering things to have to pass them on to others!

In the pages of the book, he muses on some of the situations that we face in life; wisdom and folly, oppression, life and death, loneliness and riches (supposedly, someone asked a rich man home much money is enough and he said, ‘One more dollar!’) He like any human being has different moments of reflection and struggle, but what’s interesting is the conclusion that he reaches fear God and keep His commandments.

So, when all is said and done this is what it is all about and what gives true meaning to our lives!