aidanbenbow | Musings

Hearsay

Ben sat eagerly awaiting. He was struggling to communicate in a meaningful way to his Asian companion who sat alongside him. Neither of them was very fluent in the same language, which is of course a problem in conversation, however they had been muddling along as best they could in a combination of broken English and Russian. ‘Russglish’ as one might say.

Above Image by John Hain from Pixabay

The reason Ben had got himself into this situation was starting to play on his mind. Earlier that morning, he had been sitting quietly, waiting for the first session of the conference he was attending to begin. His newfound Asian friend, also a conference participant, had approached him with a proposal, ‘Two of the girls at the conference want to meet us outside during the break.’

Ben wasn’t used to such offers and didn’t know how to react. He hadn’t had much time actually, as straight after the proposal, his friend had withdrawn to his seat and the conference had begun. He felt a nervousness grow inside himself, and an uncertainty well up inside. Was this a good idea? How could he get out of it?

He did his best to concentrate throughout the first session, but it was hard with such a tempting offer awaiting. When the break finally came, he sheepishly made his way towards the refreshments table, conscious of the fact that his friend had said for them to meet there. Sure enough, just as he was vainly looking around for some milk for his tea, his friend appeared.

Ben being an amiable sort of fellow, who found it hard to refuse, found himself being whisked outside, still undecided if it was what he should really be doing. After all, he’d come to the conference for spiritual growth, not marriage! He comforted himself with the thought that at least he had managed to a nab a good selection of biscuits, including chocolatey ones, before exiting and so had some emotional support.

His companion was very determined, suggesting that he was not unfamiliar with such occurrences and gave the air of knowing what he was doing, which was reassuring. They sat down on a low wall, which offered a token barrier between the paved area just outside of the conference room and the ensuing sports zone. Then they waited.

Ben’s understanding of these things was that the man should take initiative, but he himself hadn’t been very successful with that, which was why this situation was tantalising. In essence, it was an opportunity to meet someone without the hullabaloo of trying to find a way to organise things himself plus the added bonus of not spending endless hours in his mind debating about whether she would be interested or if it was even a good idea!

After his initial reservations, Ben had begun to warm to the idea and began to think to himself that as long as he approached things in a sensible, calm, Godly manner, he couldn’t go far wrong. What could the worst thing be to happen?

To pass the time as they waited, a conversation had struck up between the romantic hopefuls. A challenging one for sure, but using the Russian he knew, Ben had managed to ask a few things, and received Russian replies with some English words mixed in, that he at least partially understood. At first this seemed cumbersome, but as time passed by, he began to realise and appreciate the uniqueness of the moment. He was having fellowship in a language he barely knew with someone from a distant land that he had never been to and indeed had only vaguely heard of. Now, that was something special!

Nevertheless, impatience began to grow. The fellowship was great, but it didn’t stop the butterflies that by this time were churning around in his stomach. He was getting worried that there would be butter inside him soon! Where were the ladies? Maybe they had got confused about the meeting point or were being held up by something? Maybe they had changed their minds, or it had all been a prank to begin with?

Glancing at the time, it began to dawn on Ben that this rendezvous probably wasn’t going to happen. The break was almost over and there wasn’t any sign of those who were supposedly interested in meeting up. The butterflies began to die down and be replaced by a combination of a slight disappointment, but an overwhelming relief that the moment had passed without anything tricky or awkward occurring.

Deflated, but also in some ways elated, Ben and his companion silently accepted that their hopes had been dashed and rose from their stony seat, returning to the second session of the conference, ready to fight another day.

In life, situations often arise where it is hard to know what to think or do. One such example is the Coronavirus. There are two distinctly different schools of thought. One is that it is just a bad case of flu, the other that it is much more contagious and dangerous than other bacterial. Most of us don’t know much about these sorts of viruses so we based our opinion on what we have heard. But often what we hear from others is not necessarily accurate or has a certain bias. Thus, our expectations can easily be mistaken.

Unfortunately, many people take this approach to other important questions in life such as what we believe. Which ever way you look at it, an example of an important question is whether Jesus was who he said he was. If he truly was the Son of God, then we need to listen to what he had to say. On the other hand, if he was something else than the Son of God, that means it’s optional as to how much attention we pay to his teaching.

People resolve this issue in different ways. Some just ignore it, while others say that Jesus didn’t even exist. A middle ground is to accept that he existed, but to say that he was anything from a prophet to a magician who deceived people. There are many arguments that can be given, and much debate to be had for each one. The bottom line though is that it is hard to deny that Jesus existed. There is much written evidence, both Christian and secular, and it is also had to believe that a fantasy figure could have had such a huge impact on the world.

In any case, it is important that we don’t base our opinions on something simply on what we have heard from others. It is worth investigating the evidence for ourselves in order to develop an informed idea of the truth. It is possible that the reality might turn out to be different to what we had thought.

Ben spent the rest of the day in a quandary. Had he done the right thing going outside to meet the girls? Had it even been true that they wanted to meet? This seemed to him to have been wishful thinking, a vane hope that someone would have wanted to meet up with him. Maybe a rouse to the enjoyment of others or perhaps they just had second thoughts. After all it wouldn’t be the first time!

Ben’s judgement on the matter was hazy for a while, until after much deliberating he reached the conclusion that the girls must have thought better. After all, maybe he looked alright at first sight, but it didn’t take much to spy out his weaknesses.

He resigned himself to this cloudy conclusion until he arrived for dinner. After entering the dining hall, where all the conference participants congealed together (strangely without the tardiness which often pervaded the seminars) to await the evenings sustenance, he began to search for a free seat. It was always a trying task to find the right place to sit at mealtimes, so he usually just allowed himself to be taken by the spirit to the spot that had been ordained for him at each respective mealtime.

On this occasion, he felt himself being drawn to a table where there were two free seats opposite one another. When one of the girls who was sitting on this table saw him, she gleefully and invitingly urged him to occupy one of these places. Not being one to refuse an invitation, he sat down. Hardly a minute had past when all of a sudden, the unexpected happen. Opposite him an attractive, blond lady took her place, and without introduction began firing questions at him. Where are you from? What do you do? What’s your opinion of this and that…..

It was quite an interview and it continued throughout the three courses of soup, potato pancakes and funny little pastry desert. Ben had tried to be polite and open with his answers, but it was hard, especially as some of the questions touched on sensitive issues, Why are you here? Where do you get finances from? and what are your future plans? Not that it was bad to discuss such things, but nevertheless a little uncomfortable seeing as they had only just met.

Eventually, just as the last flakes of pastry were being ingested, did the interrogation come to an abrupt end. The blond lady excused herself and she was gone as fast as she had appeared. Overall, Ben was relieved although there was something quite nice about someone being so interested in finding out about him.

That evening, as he reflected on the day before entering the land of nod, Ben realised that this was probably the lady that he had been due to meet earlier on in the day. Either by design or divine intervention, his meeting with her had been delayed to the mealtime. It hadn’t been by any means what he had expected or indeed hoped, although he was now at least sure of the realities of the situation and no longer fumbling around in his mind in the darkness of vague possibilities.

молитва

‘Здравствуйте! Могу ли я заинтересовать вас в личностном тесте?

Бен прогуливался только по Хай-стрит во второй половине дня и, конечно, не искал какой-либо глубокой внутренней ретроспективы. Однако солидный мужчина средних лет, стоявший перед ним, не выглядел так, будто не собирался принимать ответ «нет».

«Это займет всего двадцать минут, и это абсолютно бесплатно», – настаивал мужчина.

Бен, не отказавшийся от халявы, согласился. Мужчина радостно поманил его, чтобы последовать за ним, и вылетел на улицу. Это было не совсем то, чего ожидал Бен, поэтому он был немного озадачен. Мужчина обернулся, осознав, что Бену непросто понять, куда они направляются, и ободряюще подбодрил его приятным выражением лица и вызывающим движением руки.

Бен чувствовал себя странно захваченным и не мог сопротивляться. Он следовал до тех пор, пока человек не остановился, не открыл дверь и не ввел Бена внутрь. Когда он вошел, он взглянул на слова «Церковь Саентологии». Это вызвало у Бена некоторые вопросы, но было слишком трудно повернуть назад.

Оказавшись внутри, Бен обнаружил хорошо продуманное помещение с центральным столом, окруженным книжными шкафами и боковыми комнатами. Немного похоже на вашу местную библиотеку. Несколько других людей слонялись вокруг, просматривая различные ресурсы, которые, по крайней мере, создавали более дружескую атмосферу, чем если бы Бен был там один. Человек показал Бену место и поставил перед ним пару страниц, которые были полны всевозможных вопросов.

“Я подожду в моем офисе, пока ты не закончишь.”

Итак, Бен опустился и продолжил. Были разные вопросы о поведении Бена в разных ситуациях. В конфликтных ситуациях я всегда …… уступаю и ввязываюсь в проблемы, подумал Бен!

Бен был не из тех, кто бил вокруг куста, поэтому он отполировал вопросы буквально за двадцать минут, а затем передал их для оценки. Затем он провел неудобно еще двадцать минут в ожидании результата. Наконец мужчина вызвал его в свой кабинет.

«Вы очень плохо общаетесь, и это нехорошо, потому что общение – это жизнь», – был довольно тупой приговор этого человека. «Но не волнуйтесь, у меня есть выбор книг для продажи о том, как лучше общаться».

Бен понимал, что общение важно, хотя казалось, что говорить о жизни – это много. Конечно, это просто важный аспект, который облегчает наши отношения? В любом случае, Бен уже знал, что он не лучший коммуникатор. Удобно, что у человека было несколько книг на продажу по теме, но тоже несколько подозрительно.

«Спасибо, но я сейчас читаю свою Библию и некоторые другие книги». Это был вежливый отказ Бена.

«Ну, у меня также есть семинар о том, как лучше общаться на следующей неделе», – рискнул мужчина, не сдаваясь.

«Еще раз спасибо, но я очень занят в своей церкви».

Это было бы концом дела, за исключением того, что человек явно не пытался поймать Бена, чтобы легко позволить ему ускользнуть. Затем последовало двадцатиминутное возражение, когда человек пытался убедить Бена в его необходимости в его услугах, и Бен изо всех сил старался убедить его в обратном. Когда этот человек впервые заговорил с Беном, он не упомянул эти другие двадцатиминутные периоды, его немного не устраивало, но в любом случае Бен сохранял свою решимость и сумел избежать дальнейших двадцатиминутных периодов в его присутствии.

Общение — Это жизни вполне может быть преувеличением, но, тем не менее, ясно, что это важный аспект нашей повседневной жизни. Это объясняет популярность мобильных приложений, таких как Whatsapp, которые загружаются более 5 миллиардов.

Если мы читаем Библию, как Бен, мы видим, что общение было важно с самого начала. Многие люди считают, что у Бога есть отдаленная сила, которая, возможно, приводит вселенную в движение, но в любом случае не участвует. Другие видят Его как силу, которая пронизывает всю природу. Однако на первой странице Библии мы видим, как Бог создает вселенную и использует слова, чтобы сделать это! Он сказал, и это было!

После этого Он затем общается со Своим творением. Он разговаривает с Адамом, Евой и даже с Каином. Даже после их изгнания из Его присутствия мы все еще видим, что это не конец общения между людьми и божественным. В Книге Бытия 4:26 упоминается, что после рождения сына Сифа Еноса люди стали призывать имя Господа. Другими словами, мы могли бы сказать, что они начали пытаться восстановить связь, которую они потеряли со своим создателем.

Эта идея также подтверждается в Екклесиаст 3:11, где нам говорят, что Бог установил вечность в человеческих сердцах. Часто люди живут так, как будто этот мир – это все, что есть, но в действительности у нас есть стремление к чему-то большему, помимо материала, который мы видим вокруг нас, и, следовательно, все различные религии и философии, которые развивались, когда люди стремились понять мир, в котором мы живем.

Итак, в одном простом смысле мы можем определить молитву как попытку общаться с божественным. Во всем Ветхом Завете мы видим, что Бог общался со Своим народом, зная, сознательно или подсознательно, что Бог — это личностный Бог, и поэтому нам логично пытаться общаться с Ним.

На протяжении веков разные люди подходили к общению с Богом по-разному.

Симеон Столпник родился в нынешней Турции около 390 г. н. э. Как и любой молодой человек, он строил планы на свою жизнь, хотя в его случае его планы немного отличались от большинства молодых людей. В возрасте 13 лет он решил посвятить себя христианству, что, как он понимал, означало проводить свое время в самоотречении и молитве. Например, говорят, что он провел, по крайней мере, полтора года в маленькой хижине, большую часть времени провел в молитве. В конце концов он перешел на новый метод, который заключался в том, чтобы сидеть на колонне, которую он нашел среди руин старого здания. Говорят, что он провел 37 лет, сидя на таких колоннах, проводя время в молитве.

В качестве альтернативы одна женщина из Румынии однажды сделала замечание: «В больницах Румынии все молятся!» Это можно воспринимать не только как негативный комментарий о стандарте здравоохранения в Румынии, но и как замечание, отражающее склонность человека к Обратимся к молитве, когда у нас возникнут серьезные проблемы. Интересно, что всякий раз, когда случается что-то плохое, знаменитости часто выкладывают в Интернет сообщения, которые включают в себя значок двух рук, сложенных вместе в молитве.

Для христиан человек, который является нашим примером того, как жить, — это Иисус Христос. Таким образом, если хотите знать, как молиться, нам нужно учиться у него. В Евангелии от Марка 1: 35–39 мы видим пример, когда Иисус молился.

Первое, чему мы здесь научились, это то, что Иисус молился! Несмотря на то, что он был частью троицы, ему все еще нужно было молиться, и если Ему нужно было молиться, чтобы поддерживать Его отношения с Богом Отцом и Святым Духом, сколько еще мы, несовершенные люди, должны молиться, чтобы сохранить хорошие отношения с Богом.

Действительно, мы знаем из собственного человеческого опыта, что, общаясь с людьми, мы развиваем отношения и что мы страдаем, когда не общаемся с теми, кого любим.

Генри Мартен был миссионером в Индии чуть более двухсот лет назад. Чтобы выйти на миссионерское поле, он оставил свою девушку позади, надеясь, что на более позднем этапе, когда он оценит сцену, она сможет присоединиться к нему, чтобы стать его женой. Вскоре после прибытия в Индию он написал ей письмо, чтобы предложить брак. Ему пришлось ждать пятнадцать месяцев ответа, и он был отрицательным!

Можно только вообразить страдания ожидания этих долгих месяцев ответа. Естественно, что мы хотим общаться с теми, кого любим. Таким образом, как христиане, которые любят Бога, это нормально, что мы должны желать проводить время с Ним в молитве, и если мы не желаем этого, мы должны начать думать о том, почему.

Второе, что мы можем извлечь из этого примера Иисуса, это то, что, хотя Он был очень занят, Он все еще находил время для молитвы. В стихе 34 этой первой главы Марка мы видим, что многие люди приходили к Иисусу для исцеления. Действительно, ближе к концу главы мы видим, что так много людей искали Его, что Он больше не мог входить в города. И в начале второй главы в доме так много слушающих Иисуса, что мужчины не могут пройти через своего парализованного друга и вынуждены поднять его на крышу и опустить его через потолок!

Тем не менее, среди всего этого беспокойства мы читаем в стихе 35, что Иисус встал рано, когда было еще темно, чтобы пойти помолиться. Это показывает, что это было приоритетом для Него. Цитируется великий христианский лидер прошлого, который сказал: «Я так занят, что мне нужно помолиться за три часа до начала дня». Мы склонны думать иначе, что-то вроде «Я так занят, что у меня есть только время молиться три минуты.» Однако мы обычно находим время для вещей, которые важны для нас.

Недавно на лыжном лагере с молдавскими студентами я во второй день спонтанно решил покататься на лыжах (отдохнув в первый день). Это означало, что я немного задержался, когда собрал свое оборудование. Я чувствовал, что это не будет проблемой, так как молдавские студенты не известны своей пунктуальностью. Однако, когда я вышел из шале, чтобы сесть на автобус, я увидел, что он уже отъезжает и уходит в гору. Другими словами, обычно опоздавшие студенты, были как раз вовремя, когда собирались сесть на автобус для катания на лыжах!

Следовательно, если для нас важна молитва, мы уделим ей время.

В-третьих, мы видим, что через молитву Иисус разъяснил волю Бога для Него. Сам Иисус также Бог, но Он, тем не менее, подчинился воле Отца (Марка 14:36). Когда Симон и Его спутники найдут Иисуса, они, вероятно, ожидают и надеются, что Он вернется с ними, чтобы продолжить работу в Капернауме, но у Иисуса есть другие идеи. Он сообщает им, что Его план состоит в том, чтобы перейти к служению в других местах. Этот план, кажется, сформировался после Его времени в молитве. Таким образом, молитва — это один из способов, которым мы подчиняем свою волю Богу и раскрываем Его планы для нас.

Более того, это также показывает нашу зависимость от Него, поскольку вместо того, чтобы продолжать то, что мы считаем лучшим, мы останавливаемся и ищем Его руководства. На самом деле, в суете жизни, как Иисус потратил время здесь, прежде чем сделать Свой следующий шаг, кажется хорошим принципом, что иногда нам нужно уходить в пустынные места, чтобы свободно размышлять и искать путь вперед.

Джордж Мюллер – прекрасный пример того, кто полагался на Бога в молитве. Он был из Германии, но стал министром в Великобритании. Он открыл один, а затем и другие дома для сирот. Говорят, что он никогда напрямую не просил денег, но верил в Божье обеспечение. Однажды вечером он признался посетителю детского дома, что, хотя там находилось 2000 сирот, у них не было еды на завтрак следующего дня. Он начал молиться. На следующий день они обнаружили, что там была необходимая еда! Как? Ночью христианин в городе не мог спать и чувствовал, что Бог побуждает его достать еду и принести ее в приют, что он и сделал. Действительно, говорят, что он предоставил достаточно, чтобы продержаться целый месяц!

Предполагая, что мы понимаем необходимость молитвы, возникает другой вопрос: что должны содержать наши молитвы? Есть разные идеи по этому поводу, но базовая модель будет иметь четыре пункта.

Первым будет обожание. Обожать кого-то — значит быть сосредоточенным на его качествах и прославлять его. Как часто люди, например, хвалят футболиста за то, что он забил отличный гол, который помогает его команде выиграть кубок. Находясь в горах Румынии, трудно не быть в восторге от Бога, который все это создал.

Далее идет признание. Именно здесь мы признаем свои слабости как человеческие существа и открыто говорим своими словами, что мы сделали неправильно. Хорошо известным библейским примером является Псалом 51, где Давид признает свой грех после прелюбодеяния.

В-третьих, приходит благодарность. Это похоже на обожание, но оно фокусируется на том, что Бог сделал для нас, а не на том, кем Он является. В Ефесянам 5:20 Павел говорит нам благодарить за все.

Наконец, есть моление или запрашивая вещи. В Евангелии от Матфея 7: 7 Иисус говорит, что просить, и мы получим, хотя это нужно понимать в свете того, что было сказано выше о поиске воли Бога в молитве, поэтому то, о чем мы просим, может не соответствовать планам Бога, поэтому мы можем не получить это!

Tofu: A cheese like no other!

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!

Moldova History

‘So, where do you live?’

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.

Cheese Substitute

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!

Prayer

‘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!

Authority

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!

Marriage

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.