Blogaround

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1. How to Bake Scientifically Accurate Cake Planets (posted March 27) I have a new goal for my life.

2. Artist Makes A Vehicle That Prints Propaganda Phrases On The Ground As It Moves (posted March 31) This is so cool- a bike that uses water to write Chinese characters on the ground.

3. The Pokeymans Project. Badly-drawn pokemon. This is hilarious!!!

4. Christians don’t abandon 10,000 children (unless we’re standing up for our beliefs?) (posted April 3) Lord have mercy.

5. Oldest Case of Cancer Discovered in Ancient Skeleton (posted March 18)

Tomb-Sweeping Day

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Today, April 5, is 清明节 (qīng míng jié), Tomb-Sweeping Day, in China.

On Tomb-Sweeping Day, people visit the graves of their ancestors, bringing flowers, fruit, and other food. They burn fake money for them, and sometimes other fake stuff- paper houses and cars and whatever else their ancestors might need in heaven. Because when you burn it, it goes to heaven. (Or maybe we should call it "the other world" instead of "heaven"- it isn't quite the same as the western idea of heaven.)

It's a serious day, about respecting one's ancestors.

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While asking people to tell me about Tomb-Sweeping Festival, I realized that my ideas about religion in China were totally wrong. I thought, you know, China is officially an atheist country. I thought that meant most Chinese people were atheists like the atheist friends I have in the US- they believe there is no god and no spiritual anything and no heaven and when you die you're just dead.

And I was really confused about Tomb-Sweeping Day because it sounds to me like a religious holiday.

But now I realize, although most Chinese people don't follow a specific religion and don't do religious practices, they believe in stuff like a god or heaven or ghosts. (And a ton of superstitions.) They're "not religious," but not like my friends in the US who are not religious.

And now all those times I've heard little comments about God here in China suddenly make sense.

I'm pretty happy about this, actually, because it means they're more similar to me than I thought. And I can talk to people about those shared beliefs. For example, in conversations about Tomb-Sweeping Day, I've mentioned that I also believe people go to heaven when they die, but I think heaven is super-nice and they don't need us to send them anything. And my friends agreed, yeah heaven should be super-nice! But we send stuff to them to show that we care about them.

One last thing: I've heard Christians say that Chinese people worship their ancestors and therefore it's BAD. But this holiday sounds more like respecting and remembering. Yeah, it involves bowing down (because that's a way to show respect in China), but it doesn't seem to me like it's "worship." Either way, how about we learn about it and why it's meaningful to Chinese people rather than just saying IT'S BAD?

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Jesus' Time Management

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Upon learning about John the Baptist's death, Jesus goes off to "a solitary place," according to Matthew 14:13-36. He probably wants some alone time because wow, a really messed-up thing happened and it's not okay, and he needs to grieve/pray/question the goodness of God (maybe?).

But a huge crowd of people found out where Jesus was. And "when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." Did he feel like, "oh geez, I have to deal with this right now? Well I'm Jesus so I have to stop and help them... ah man..." or did he actually want to help the sick people? Because, you know, we all feel like that sometimes, right? Someone really needs help, and oh man it's just not a good time at all but you know it's the right thing and you have to...

I'm not sure how I feel about Jesus thinking helping people is such a drag...

So then we get to the part about the feeding of the "5000." I have no idea why Jesus first told his disciples (who had only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish) to feed them all. Please discuss in the comments section.

So Jesus takes the loaves and fish and somehow there's magically more, enough for everyone, with leftovers. Let's talk about that. Did that food just materialize out of nothing? What DNA did the fish have? Isn't it kind of creepy that Jesus created a fish that had never even been alive? Were the new loaves and fish just copies of the original ones?

Did the new fish and loaves bear evidence of things that never happened? Like a flat spot on the side of the loaf that had rested on the pan during cooking- except there never was a cooking. Or food in the stomach of the fish and oxygen in its blood.

Were these new fish and loaves really just like real ones, or would there be some test that would expose them as having just popped into existence? Why would God go to all the trouble of making a 100% lifelike fake fish if it was just going to be eaten 2 minutes later?

Also I'll just leave this here: Last Thursdayism. Okay now we can go on to the next part of the passage.

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Matthew writes, "The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children." And wouldn't it be great if he had written that in a different, non-sexist way. But oh well.

So in the next part, Jesus finally gets some alone time, and he goes up on a mountain to pray. Ah man I want to do that.

And when he's done, it's the middle of the night, and the disciples are all in a boat in the middle of the lake. Because Jesus told them to go. So wait, he planned it this way. He wanted to walk on water.

That's a little odd. You'd think Jesus would have a good reason for doing every miracle he did. This one just seems like he did it because THAT'S SO FREAKIN' COOL! I mean if you could walk on water, you would do it just for fun too, right?

Was it to show his power over nature and impress the disciples? Maybe? Was it because this was the most convenient way for him to get his alone time?

And at first the disciples are terrified. Because, obvious reasons. And then Peter asks Jesus to ask him to also walk on water, and there must be some sort of cultural thing I'm missing there, because "if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water" doesn't make much sense to me, at least as a way to find out if it really is Jesus.

But it's pretty cool that Peter got to do that.

And when he panicked, Jesus called him "you of little faith," but he had more faith/guts/impulsiveness than the other people who stayed in the boat.

And when the boat landed, another massive crowd came with their sick people, and Jesus healed them too. Again, I wonder if it was like a chore or he actually wanted to.

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Okay those are my thoughts as I read Matthew 14:13-36. Now to try and pull out some "take-home message"...

I've heard Christians say isn't it great how Jesus, even though he was kind of emotionally exhausted, still took time to heal those sick people. And we should do that too.

But Jesus also took time for himself. When he went up on the mountain to pray, was it because there were no more sick people in the world? Isn't it a little selfish to take time for himself when there are people in need out there?

In this passage, Jesus spends quality time with crowds of strangers, with his disciples, and alone. All of these are important.

But... are they really all important? Wouldn't it be better for him to just run around healing all the sick people he could get his hands on?

And wouldn't it be better for me to never ever buy anything nice so I could donate all my money to help people who don't have clean water?

Jesus took time for himself. Of course he spent tons of time helping people, but he also took time just for himself. Where is the balance? And where is the balance for other things like how much money I should give away? Maybe the answer is different for each person.

Maybe it's something to think about and pray about, and there's no "right answer."

Discussion questions:
Any ideas on how that whole materializing-food-from-nowhere worked?
Why did Jesus walk on water?
How do we find a balance between taking care of our own needs and helping others?
Any other cool observations about this passage? I'm sure I missed a lot of stuff.

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This post is part of a series on the gospel of Matthew.

Previous post: Pro Tip: Beheading People is Wrong (Matthew 14:1-12)

Next post: But where's your Scripture to back that up, Jesus? (Matthew 15:1-20)

Click here to go to the beginning of the series.

"We are the people of his pasture..."

Did I ever tell you I totally love Chinese? Here's what I made this week for Psalm 95:

"Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care."
Psalm 95:6-7

"来啊，我们要屈身敬拜，
在造我们的耶和华面前跪下。
因为他是我们的神，
我们是他草场的羊，
是他手下的民。"
诗篇95:6-7

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This post is part of a link-up on the topic of Psalm 95. To read other people's posts, click here: Come. Notice. Worship.

Blogaround

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1. On World Vision, gay marriage, and taking a stand on the backs of starving children (posted March 24) "It is unfathomable to me that people would choose to punish and drop the child they sponsor over a difference in doctrine."

2. Urban Church P̶l̶a̶n̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ Plantations (posted March 18) "I’m amazed at how quickly majority-culture pastors with no urban ministry experience acquire a passion for urban ministry and then automatically assume that they are qualified for the job."

3. The Day Evangelicalism Died (posted March 26) "As a result, Evangelicalism as we knew it, died. Instead of affirming the trinity and the inspiration of scripture in order to be called an evangelical and leaving all other theological debates open for charitable disagreement, the New Evangelicals have now added neutrality on same sex marriage something that must be disavowed before signing on. When leaders wished World Vision “farewell” and declared this “apostasy“, they made the lines dark and clear: you can’t be an evangelical if you don’t agree with them."

4. This seems relevant... (posted March 27) Yeah.

5. There is no such thing as ‘holiness’ apart from love (posted March 26) "What, pray tell, is the content and substance of this loveless holiness? What are these other laws that Jesus and Paul forgot about when they both told us that love is the fulfillment of the law?"

6. In which this is for the ones leaving evangelicalism (posted March 29) "Evangelicalism doesn’t get our loyalty: that fidelity is for our Jesus." Amen, amen.

7. And this baby elephant:

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Have a good week!

Go ahead and say I'm not a Christian. I don't care anymore.

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I don't want to be an evangelical anymore.

Remember when Jesus said, "Come, you who are blessed by my father, receive your inheritance. For I was hungry, and you refused to partner with people who believe same-sex marriage actually counts as marriage, rather than give me something to eat."

You guys, I don't even know what to say about this whole thing with World Vision. The loudest voices in evangelicalism have made it quite clear that hating gay people is much much MUCH more important than helping the poor. And they were so loud and so powerful that World Vision ended up reversing their decision.

I guess it's not some extreme minority of evangelical Christians. And so I don't want to be evangelical anymore.

I know people criticize Christians for making LGBT issues the most important thing, but man, I always thought that was an exaggeration.

And I've tried to argue and I've tried to explain to other Christians how it's possible to support gay rights and love the bible, but now I think I'm done. Fine, I don't care, whatever.

Because it turns out I was trying to reason with people who would abandon their sponsor children rather than consider the possibility that maybe it's okay for different Christians to have different views on gay marriage.

Dear God please please please let that be just a small minority. Please God let it be all talk. They wouldn't really do that, would they?

Fine, say whatever you want about me. I won't argue any more. It's no use. Perfect Number's not a Christian. Perfect Number abandoned her faith. She was led astray. She hates the bible. She just wants to take the easy way. She's rejected God.

Whatever.

I know it's not true, but why should I bother trying to correct them? These are the same people who declared everyone should quit supporting the great stuff World Vision is doing to help poor children- because World Vision is okay with hiring gay Christians.

Is this a joke? Is this really what evangelical Christianity is about?

Seriously, I can't even imagine a more extreme example than this. Like if you wanted to make up a story to make evangelical Christians who oppose gay rights look really bad... Did somebody make this up as a joke, just to criticize Christianity?

Yeah, I'm done. I don't want to be evangelical anymore. And I don't care what anyone says anymore.

Go ahead. Say I've fallen away. Go ahead and pray for me. Whatever.

I hate God? Yeah sure, okay.

I don't value the bible? Okay whatever.

I'm not a real Christian? I'm going to hell? Fine.

This week I saw the true face of evangelical Christianity, and I am so done.

So I cleaned my shower...

When I moved into my apartment, the shower looked like this:

See that loofa hanging there? Yeah that belonged to the previous resident.

Then I cleaned it and scrubbed it to get rid of the nasty black mold, and now it looks like this:

Where was God? 上帝在哪儿？

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God, you could have f***ing saved them. What the hell?

You should have.

I am soooo angry. So so so angry. Last night I heard the news about the Malaysian flight- how it crashed in the goddamn Indian Ocean with no survivors. All of China has worried about it for 2 straight weeks- worried so much that I got tired of worrying.

Why did this happen? The world is stupid.

God, why did this happen?

It hits me hard because those people were all just like me and my coworkers and my students. People who have the money to travel internationally. Maybe for a vacation or a business trip. People who shared photos on social media and posted about how excited they were for the trip. And worried about their luggage exceeding the weight limit. And got stopped at security because of a water bottle.

The majority of the passengers were Chinese. The ones who were my age were their parents' only child. And I don't even want to think about what happened on the plane, and the extra confusion thrown in by language barriers.

This is so stupid. The world's not safe, you guys. WHERE WERE YOU, GOD?

What can we do? Just keep praying, keep living our lives- value every day because life is so fragile. And look forward to the day when God will save us all, and there will be no more crying or pain.

But until then, God, WHAT THE HELL?

Yeah, this post was supposed to be about Psalm 94. It's not. But if there's one thing the psalms have taught me, it's that you can tell God exactly how you feel. He can take it.

And he feels all our pain.

But this is still not okay.

It matters so much to me because there's a freakin' planet and a 12-hour flight separating me from my family. I'm already afraid of flying.

Oh God...

God... why?

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This post is part of a link-up on the topic of Psalm 94. To read other people's posts, click here: What do we do with vengeance Psalms? Here are 4 ideas.

Blogaround

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1. Big Bang breakthrough announced; gravity waves detected (posted March 17) "Scientists believe that in the fabric of space-time, there are tiny ripples called quantum fluctuations. If you could look at space-time on the smallest scale possible, you would, in theory, see them, even today." Sounds like Star Trek.

2. Respecting Every BODY (posted March 12) "Thinking about it, I realized something. Bobby wanted back in the bucket because he trusted me. He knew I would listen to him and get him out as soon as he was done. He knows I respect him and his body."

3. Lies, Damn Lies, and [Church Divorce] Statistics (posted March 14) "Think about it. You and your wife both attend church faithfully. You have your marriage difficulties and get divorced. The chance of both of you still attending the same church are pretty much nil."

4. The Particle Zoo: Subatomic Particle Softies. So cute.

5. Finnish reindeer now have glowing antlers to protect them from cars (posted February 18) "Bonus: Now ANYONE can guide the sleigh!"

6. Setting the record straight on Jesus, ‘the friend of sinners’ (posted March 20) "I asked him about the notions espoused by Carter and others that the 'sinners' with whom Jesus fellowshipped were actually followers. Burge replied, 'I’m surprised that someone would actually say that.'"

7. Poke2048, another variation on the game I linked to last week.

8. India beats the odds, beats polio (posted March 22) Great!

9. Guy Sings Katy Perry's Dark Horse in 20 Different Styles and It's Awesome (posted March 21) Wow.

Don't drink the water! (A bit of clarification)

If you've never been to the wondrous land known as People's Republic of China, I highly recommend it. BUT the most important thing you must know is this: Don't drink the water!

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Tap water in China has bacteria, so it's not safe to drink. But don't worry, it's completely fine for the following:

• Showering (even if you get a few drops in your mouth, don't worry about it)
• Brushing your teeth- surprisingly enough, this is safe. One of my friends even told me he takes a gulp of water to rinse his mouth, and spits it out, and he's fine.
• Washing dishes
• Washing fruit/vegetables
• Giving water to my cat. He's a cat. Whatever.
• Cooking, if you're making soup or something that requires boiling it.

A couple drops is no problem. But if you actually drink a bunch of the tap water, you might get diarrhea.

(If a restaurant gives you a drink with ice, well, that ice is also a bit suspicious...)

So then, what do Chinese people do for water?

Option #1: Boil water.

If you're making soup or noodles or whatever, it's fine to use the tap water- you just have to make sure it boils first.

And for drinking water, you can use one of these electric pitcher things to boil the water first, and then it's safe to drink:

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Almost every hotel room I've stayed in in China had one.

Also, China doesn't have water fountains. Occasionally you'll see a hot water dispenser, which gives you boiled water for your instant noodles or whatever. I've seen these on trains and in waiting areas at the airport.

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Be careful because the water is super-hot.

Option #2: Buy bottled water.

So you can buy bottles of water, just like in America. That water is safe.

Also, these water-cooler things are really common in China:

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My apartment is furnished, so it already had one of these. Whenever I'm at my home and I want to drink water, this is where I get it. The office where I work also has one, along with some free paper cups.

And what do you do when your huge jug of water is empty?

Well you could do what I did, the first time it happened to me, and go into the office for your apartment and start asking incredibly confused questions in broken Chinese.

But here's what you're actually supposed to do: There's a phone number to call, and you just tell them your address and what type of water jug you want (??? I had no idea what to say when they asked me this question- water is all the same, right?) and then some guy will show up at your door with a full one, which is incredibly heavy, and take away your empty one. And you pay him 15 kuai.

From time to time I see people (must be the water-delivery people) riding around on mopeds with like 6 of these giant water jugs.

Maybe the average American would be shocked at the idea of living somewhere where you can't drink the tap water, but really, it's not that bad. It's normal to me now. It's not a problem at all.