Halloween

Well Halloween is nearly upon us and we have been chatting in my house about how we handle this with Max.

There are some parts of Halloween that I very much dislike, one of them being the trick or treat around the doors. My main objection is the encouragement of children to go knocking on strangers doors for cash / sweets. I think if this is done with adults in a a supervised manner - its probably not that bad although I am not sure it is giving a good impression to young people. The other is probably the imagery used can be frightening - and I know this from experience.

When I was young (less than 10) I was taken on a ghost train. The experience has scarred me for life and I actually will not go on one today nor down any sort of dungeon (like at Norwich Castle). Therefore I know the experiences at a young age like this can have an effect.

I know some Christians will be jumping around and praying for peoples salvation from the devil for participating in Halloween. However I cannot help find myself think "hold on -what a load of cack your spouting". Yes, we need to be careful with imagery and what we are showing young children, and yes, we need to ensure careful handling of trick or treating. But at times we give the Devil too much credit I believe.

I do wonder how much of it is about fantasy and fear. I don't think there is particularly anything wrong with either of these, but like life in general, too much of it can have a negative effect. Sometimes, on the odd occasions, Christians need to take a chill pill. The Harry Potter books are an exact same argument as in Witchcraft and Wizardry and its hand in hand with Christianity. And yes, probably fair, witchcraft and wizardry plays little part in Christianity - likewise James Bond play little part in Christianity. One could argue that Harry Potter may lead to kids trying to perform spells, chants etc etc - could you not then also argue if kids read / watch 007 they might try and kill people? The answer is clear and is no - but for me proves how ridiculous an argument of whether Christians should read Harry Potter or not. Its fiction and likewise Halloween must be treated with a smile, some realism and some careful parental guidance as to what it really means.

ps - should you wish to send me sweets, chocolate or money for Halloween I can provide my addy.

Emerging Church and Culture

The post title is a little bit deceiving possibly as I am not going to talk about emerging church / culture truly but about how people make it (to me at least) appear bizzare.

Around the local web (I mean local as in I have a bunch of blogs I read based in East Anglia) that have an element of church / christian based content. A lot of these seem for some reason to focus on emerging church.

However more than not I find myself getting completley irritated by most of them because they speak a language, write in a style and present in a manner that I think is probably more alienating generally. Often its not humble and can come across rude. There are exceptions, Paul and Heather for example, where they present in a manner which is less pressing and less covered in a fashion that prevents that alienation. At times I struggle to understand what even they are talking about - however they two of only a handful that generally make emerging church a little more appealing in my eyes. This may also have more to do with that fact I know them and can feel comfortable saying I don't understand.

But I have read so much stuff that assumes arrogance and a forthright attitude that I struggle to understand how any of it can be deemed as Christian in the least. Under the banner at times of church and emerging generation all other stuff I have seen people say that we should not love gay people, we should shoot people that have done something wrong, that people who appear threatening to our culture should be made to conform. All this presented in a banner of emerging church. Anyone who tries to claim this is church or an aspect of church are wrong.

The other thing is the language used. Words tend to be long and complex and probably beyond the understanding of the general person on the street. I understand that at times this is someones journey, and that the words used are their expression on that journey - but does it need to be alienating to others? If emerging church is in the process of deconstructing and reconstructing Christianity to engage with a western society (wikipedia) I wonder if it is really only achieving a self satisification in engaging with the Christian western society.

I am not knocking emerging church - its probably good and have little experience of it - but so far many blogs around me that claim to be poponents of it, more often than not draw me further to a conclusion that for most its a means of self satisfication. I fully understand the need to make church relevant and to de-bore that general attitude there is - and to engage in things the general western society understands. But it needs to be done careful (and reverently) that an emerging generation is not something seperate from the current generation.

Store Wars: Attack of the Clause

Lost

For those that care and are interested - there is a third series of Lost. Yeaahhhh

If you're not subscribing to sky for sky one - then you will be waiting a while as sky have bought the rights to the next series. boooooo

Thought I would let you know.

Pop

Got the following from http://seehere.blogspot.com/ - its truly scary.....

http://axiomsun.com/home/video/how_much_sugar_is_in_a_can_of_soda.html

I will be wanting to try that on beer next.

Frightening.

Private Education

Now I wish to point out that in general I don't favour private education over state education, likewise private health over NHS health for all the reasons you can argue about.

Nonetheless for a lot of people, including Heather and her post on the subject of choosing schools, is a hot topic. As I understand it applications for primary schools need to be submitted so a few people are looking around, checking ofsted reports and finding out whats what.

In a drive to cover all areas, we all trundled off to Notre Dame Prep School last Saturday. Notre Dame Prep is a private school over near Dereham Road. On first inspection the overall feel (in terms of building) was that is was no different than any other school, nothing special. We were presented with students doing some drama and some singing. We were then escorted around the building by two charming young girls. We then saw a demo of football and some more singing. We were told that students per class were currently about 8 which I understand is excellent. However our overall impression for a private school was somewhat dissapointing. Furthermore they made it clear that a lot of the education was aimed at a private school exam (or whatever it is called). This didn't really impress us too much either.

On Tuesday we trundelled along to St Johns Roman Catholic First School - in between Dereham Road and Earlham Road. The difference was stark. As soon as we walked into the first classroom, which was down a rainbow covered walkway, I knew this was the place. It was fantastic. The kids there seemed happy and it was geared up to be a place where you would learn about Christianity (as well as other religions too!!). The dilemma we have is there priority is Baptised Catholics, which neither myself, Max nor Amber are. However we didn't feel it right getting him baptised for the sake of a school. So we went and explained who we were, about our faith and the importance of an education with a christian input. They told us that they only took 60 people in each term, but had never rejected anyone so far. The school received an Ofsted mark of Outstanding last year.

SO there we go - goes to prove private education may give smaller class rooms but doesn't mean its the best education.

Advertising, damn it, really annoys me

Apologies for the swearing in the blog (don't get me started though on what is and isn't swearing - thats another posting).

I was watching a recording on Sky+ tonight from Wednesday. On here I noticed an advert for Anadin - Double Strength.

http://www.anadin.co.uk/products/ultra/double/

What annoys me is its advertised as a wonder product but the truth of the matter is that it simply is 400mg of ibuprofen tablets where the recommended dose is 1 tablet (1 x 400mg)- compared to normal ibuprofen that is 200mg tablets where the recommended dose is 2 tablets (2 x 200mg).
Essentially the same amount and probably costs more. Just find it irritating really.

Furthermore, I wonder if there is any difference from a boots own brand 400mg tablet and this anadin double strength apart from the price difference being massive.

Charitable Giving

I read with interest Heathers posting on bottled water, see http://heathercracknell.blogspot.com/2006/09/bottled-water-saving-world.html

Essentially the purchase of this water means that some money goes to worthy causes.
I think its good Heather points this out and I know her heart for these sort of things.
So thats cool.

But what annoys me is this - that this is seen as giving. I think its great that something you buy or purchase helps people out but the problem is there is no understanding about how much markup the selling companies like Tesco or Waitrose are making on this. Ultimatley if there is no benefit to them they won't sell it - I truly believe it. And I am fairly sure this is seen as a marketing opportunity more than anything else.

I choose to buy fairtrade coffee. Why? because I think or am led to believe that coffee farmers are poor and need support where possible. But do I see this as giving? - no - I see this as supporting an attitude of mind and of business. It it were giving I should give the money for the coffee straight to the coffee makers, then go and buy at an additional expense my coffee.

I have always ( and it might sound cocky ) seen giving as an action that deserves nothing in response. In some circumstances the long term results of your giving may or may not benefit you (I am thinking of such things as cancer appeals etc). If I give money to a friend, I don't expect them to want to be nicer to me, nor return the money or change in behaviour. I give it because they need it. The frienship is something else I invest in. There is a temptation to think that if I get nothing out of the giving I have made, its a worthless investment.

Giving is a one way channel and not a supermarket promotion or supermarket profit making excersise.

(PS: to make it very clear - I heartily respect Heather for her attitude in this area - she sets an example for us all to lead - I am not critiquing her, she's great - its our attitude to what is and isn't giving).