Rabbit Musings

Enjoyed remembering this cool extract from The Velveteen Rabbit in cell tonight:

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled.

We become real as we learn to love and be loved.

There but for the grace of God...

It's funny (only as in the case of mockingly tragic).  How easy it is to assess others' experience and firmly opine that you will never be like that.  Then one day you wake up and you are that person.

Problem is none of those people are writing books about what to do...

Best served cold?

What an interesting day yesterday was with announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden.  Mostly I was saddened.

Saddened that it was seen as a cause for celebration by Americans who flocked to ground-zero chanting USA, USA.  I thought for a moment I had been transported to an Islamic fanatic rally

Saddened that while President Obama (who I like) held back from jingoistic sabre rattling, he did view the death of bin Laden as "justice"...I get it, but there was no trial I am aware of...

Saddened by the media circus that will once again pimp human tragedy as a means of selling its viewing audience to advertisers

Saddened that a man of such promise would elect a path of such destruction - what does that to a human life?

Saddened for the people - of so many backgrounds, including Moslem, who have been killed by Al Quaeda

Saddened for the backlash that will demonstrate the insane spiral that is revenge, even revenge served cold...

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.


17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:


“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;


if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.


In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12

I Can't Help Myself

Heretic?

The Tamaki show hit the headlines his week with Cultwatch's Mark Vrankovich revealing an expose on Tamaki teaching that he says went awry in 2010.  Vrankovich is no stranger to Destiny-baiting despite Tamaki's disingenuous "who is he?" put down in his subsequent press release.  So these 2 have history.

At issue is Tamaki's statement in a sermon in 2010:

"You must get out of your mind that, that Jesus Christ is now, ah, is still Jesus of Nazareth ... But Jesus did not come out of the tomb. The flesh Jesus died in the tomb."

Vrankovich says that this amounts to a denial of the resurrection.

Tamaki's response has been to affirm the bodily resurrection of Christ and he has done this both publicly through the newspapers and more privately with other Christian leaders.

But what is curious in all this are Tamaki's statements that the teaching under scrutiny amounted to something new that required preparation of the congregation and would disturb theologians.  What's more it would require special revelation for Destiny people to "get it" because of "too many forces and too much teaching and too much backlog of religion".  It seems that he was expecting a backlash and yet his actions in the media suggest he is sensitive to the thought that this new teaching might be might amount to heresy.

"Theologians would have great difficulty with me. A lot of reverends, pastors, vicars, bishops, and Pentecostal pastors would all curl right now, um, because they would have difficulty with this. The first thing they would do is that they would immediately move into a spirit of condescension. They, they would say, 'you cannot say that'."

Odd.

What Tamaki actually said - well what he says he said was:

"The body of Jesus was definitely transfigured at his resurrection into a glorified body, same body that was Jesus of Nazareth that died, but different substance."

There are many recorded instances of Jesus' bodily activity after the resurrection that suggest in some way his body changed - for example, he seems able to walk through walls!
Which is mostly what the Catholic church has taugh forever on this subject...that Jesus was not merely resuscitated or brought back to life, nor that his body was relaced but rather that it was glorified - the same body transformed.

And plenty of other theologians from all across the spectrum would say similar things.  So.  Am I missing something here?  Well it all depends on whether what he said back then, is what he is saying he said, now!  Cos he also said,

"So, so Jesus of Nazareth had to put off his flesh body, so the Christ that was always there could now be a life giving spirit."

Which does rather give the impression of a non-bodily resurrection.  And may take us to the Nestorian heresy.  Google it, you know you want to...

You can listen to the whole thing on Destiny's website for a small sum.  Having looked at a bit of what he said and is saying now, I'm happy to take him at his word that he is not denying the bodily resurrection of Christ - I suspect he is actually a poor communicator and says things that he doesn't mean to - thats certainly how it seems to come across.  And there's a lack of sophistication in these areas, simply because it is genuinely difficult to not accidentally utter heresy about the nature of Christ's divinity/humanity, because language is limiting when it comes to explain mystery.

What might be more interesting in what he said in the same message about us all being little Christs...that sounds a lot like...perhaps another post?

Maybe you don't care?  Maybe its not really relevant?  I just get asked a lot what do you think...so here's my thoughts so far!  Disclaimer: I haven't footnoted or put links cos this is not wikipedia and you can research it yourself if you really want to..basically I'm just too lazy to do it today...

Tortilla Thriller

This week I have fallen in love (perhaps again) with the tortilla.  Amazingly versatile and surprisingly easy to make at home.  Flour, water, olive oil and salt.  A rolling pin and frying pan and you're done.

This week has been tortilla week!

Fiesta Lime Chicken - Chicken breast marinated in lime juice, liquid smoke and tequila!  Flame grilled and then grilled with a salsa/mayo-based sauce, cheese and tortilla strips.

Breakfast Burrito - Ham, scrambled egg, jalapenos and cheese...

Quesadilla - Mexican pizza!

Throw away your bread and rice!  Tortilla is where its at!

Tron: Legacy or Let-Down?

In 1982 I was 15 and at the peek of my adolescent sci-fi/fantasy hunger, especially with the movies.  The previous years offering "Exacalibur" had whet my appetite not least because it was R13 and really gory!

Then came Tron.  It never really made it as a movie, I suspect cos it was a bit ahead of its time.  And in a slightly ironic take on today's CGI industry, this was a movie that didn't use computers to stimulate real life, it used real life to simulate a computer world!  At the time, we just thought it was awesome!

Which is where the latest movie promises to deliver - in the area of special effects.  I wonder whether it will lose its Tron-ness as a result?

One area in which the followup movie is said to be similar is around the storyline...they've apparently kept to the Disney foolproof approach of not really having one.  This will sit happily with the first movie...

That said, the original idea kept me and my friends talking for days about what it would be like to be in a computer!  I probably won't have those conversations nearly 30 years later, but I will go see it for sure...maybe I'll review it?

To Be Or Not To Be...

So it is at least ironic in this fortnight of extraordinary convergences that Paul Henry's comments regarding the (ethnically Indian) Governor General "looking like a New Zealander" has been trumped by New Zealand Indians asking whether Jacinta Lal, Miss India New Zealand (Central) is Indian-looking enough!

I have to say on the day in question, I was not offended by Paul Henry's questioning.  It seemed to be he was being deliberately ironic - putting a patently absurd question that IS on the lips of the functionally racsist New Zealander, into the spotlight.  The reason I saw it this way was because on the same programme Henry was overtly supportive of another New Zealander who was in the spotlight for similar reasons.  This was the day that Irene van Dyk's appointment as Commonwealth flag bearer was being debated.  Henry was quite clear in his view that someone like Irene who had chosen New Zealand was surely to be even more admired than someone simply born into the privilege.

I simply assumed he was having a dig at those who question New Zealanders by immigration.

Anyways, he hasn't explained himself in that way, perhaps because in causing offence he simply wanted to apologise rather than explain himself.  Or maybe he is just a racsist?

For me, I am more dismayed at the wave of reaction - righteous anti racsism which erodes what I saw as an exercise of free speech albeit a provocative and satirical one.  How does a person lose their job for something like that?  Because of popular pressure and diplomatic pressure from one of the most rascist countries in the world (don't get me started on the caste system). 

Henry's biggest problem is sometimes he is just a bit too clever for his audience.  I am often criticised for using big words so I empathise and say "down with the thick"!  But then the whole media machine would creak to a halt so i guess that definitely probably might not happen...

No More Holidays

I have decided to never go on holiday again!  It is the devil.

How else to explain the chain of events and trips to the doctor?

It started 24 hours before we were due to leave - a regular activity at church helping with set up - the back starts to tighten...and tighten until...it doesn't work anymore.  I hobble home hoping that a cocktail of prayer and drugs will get me through 2 sermons!  It normally works for the listeners...

That night I wake with the chills and an apparent resurgence of the annoyingly persistent viral cough that has plagued me in recent weeks.  Panadol and suggestions from the other side of the bed that we will stay home produce a miracle cure (till I crash round 4pm the next day).

At the end of day 1 on holiday an innocent bruise turns out not to be a bruise at all...by day 2 I am at the Dr's in a foreign city receiving treatment for an outbreak of cellulitis the shape of Australia on my shin. 

I am popping 16 pills a day to enjoy any remaining semblance of holiday!

Needless to say I spent much of the week with my feet up being waited on by family and our splendid hosts...and it wasn't a terrible holiday, but REALLY!

Obama's Declaration

“I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family didn’t -- frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn’t raise me in the church.”


The president said he “came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead -- being my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me. And I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes, and that we achieve salvation through the grace of God. But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people and do our best to help them find their own grace.”

The president said “that’s what I strive to do. That’s what I pray to do every day. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith.”

Read the full article

Sola Scriptura

Ben Witherington has a typically balanced post on Sola Scriptura on his blog.  The ripe (and I guess obvious) insight is that the church existed for hundreds of years without a canon of scripture which it could be solely committed to!  Thus the importance of tradition as Witherington notes.  But also you'd think the same argument could be made for Reason and Experience as these early Christians grappled with the parameters of their faith.

A Perfect Balance

One of my (underdeveloped) passions is cooking.  I like to create, but more importantly I like to eat!  I have however set myself the task of finding the perfect Pad Thai, a Thai noodle dish.  So far in New Zealand the best Pad Thai money can buy is at the little Thai place just back from Eastern Beach.  In Thailand, the best I have ever tasted was from a street vendor near my friend Yang's old place.  Needless to say the Thai version was better than the NZ version.

But now, I have set myself a new task - cooking the perfect Pad Thai.  Like most things in Thai cooking its all about balance - balancing the sweet, salty, sour and spicy...

In Pad Thai the salty is fish sauce which sounds disgusting and actually is if you know how its made...the sour is Tamarind which is not disgusting but is quite a strong flavour and hard to mask if you overdo it!  The sweet accent comes from palm sugar which has an interesting taste similar to brown sugar (which isn't a terrible substitute).  Pad Thai is not always served spicy but IMHO everything tastes better with chillies!  Getting the balance between these ingredients is key to making the sauce which coats the noodles.  Right now I have it about right...so working to refine it to perfection!

I'm sure its a metaphor for something, this balancing of extremes...

We Won 1-1

Now I don't want to rain on anybody's parade...but the nation's euphoria at drawing with Slovakia underlines why I find soccer a frustrating game to watch.  How is not losing a good result?  Or as I like to think of it "not winning".

The number of draws at the World Cup so far is amazing.  If I were a betting man: I'd back the draw. 

And whether its the ball or the climate or the those annoying horns, something is acting as a leveller at this World Cup.  Germany's win over Aussie was astonishing not because they won, but because it is one of the few blow outs in the pool play.  Now of course they have themselves been levelled by Serbia and highlighted another factor in the levelling - the number of red cards being handed out.  It's definitely been a factor.

The reality is that soccer people and even soccer refs are more concerned with "not losing" than winning.  For the refs it is better to be seen as a bit over zealous with cards in order that they make it into the next round as well.  For the teams, a draw is better than nothing, which it is mathematically, but a draw-mindset leads to boring and safe soccer.

So congrats to the All Whites for not losing.  In a normal world cup Italy would do us by 4 or 5 goals.  And likely they will to the relief of Australian fans everywhere.  On the other hand, it took NZ 93mins to score a single goal against Slovakia and I don't think the 3 goals we scored against the Italians in that pre Conferation Cup game will come as easily.  But maybe the levelling we are seeing at this world cup will continue and we can win through with another draw...

2010 First AB Squad

Its time to start to draw some conclusions from Super 14 form, the areas we struggled in through 2009 and the need for depth for the 2011 World Cup.  In some areas, its very tricky with little back up as was revealed when Dan Carter fell over last year and Maa Nonu has demonstrated this year.  There have also been some big form slumps - what do you do with that?  My initial thought is to treat the June tests as a bit of a one-off and play some players into form.  So anyway, here it is...

Props

Ben Franks (can play both sides), Owen Franks, Tony Woodcock, John Afoa.  I am over Tialata.  Crockett is good around the field but is not there for the scrum.  I would start Owen Franks and Woodcock, with Ben Franks on the bench.  If Woodcock doesn't front up then Ben Franks gets a start.

Hookers

Keven Mealamu, Hikawera Elliot (he has the most promise...)  You've got to like the attitude of a guy like Jason Rutledge but at 32 you can't pick him - de Malmanche can't throw so unless you go back to Flynn what can you do?

Locks

Brad Thorne, Anthony Boric, Tom Donnelley, Sam Whitelock (for the future)

Flankers

McCaw, Thompson, Kaino

No 8

Reid, Messam

Half Backs

Cowan, Fotuali'i (this guy is great...)

1st V

Carter, the hardest selection is for the back up - Donald and McAllister have been tried and found wanting - so you have to go to the best of the rest.  So its down to Cruden and Robinson.  Cruden has had the best of the selection opportunities with the Highlanders using Berquist and Hobbs as well as Robinson.  So on that basis, pick Cruden now.

2nd V

Who ever you pick here is warming the bench for Nonu.  But you have to have someone who is part of your long term plans in order to build depth.  Ditto the above comment on Donald and McAllister.  But the remainder is not great either.  Bowden appeals but has been swapping the role with Bateman and Crotty all season position and is heading overseas.  Stanley is solid and wouldn't be a bad option.  If Toeva is fit he'd get the nod for me as he would be in my wider group.  There is no standout for this role so I would go with Toeva to start as one of the likely bench players in a fully fit team, with Stanley as backup in the squad.

Centre

Conrad Smith with Toeva as back up

Wing

Joe R, Zac Guildford with Jayne as cover

Fullback

Mils, Jayne

Alright it ain't perfect but it shows the lack of depth right now in some key positions.  It would help if Super 14 teams with some talent would give some of the guys a decent run.  I am thinking in particular of Highlanders rotating Hobbs, Robinson and Berquist and Crusaders rotating Crotty, Bateman and Bowden.  Same goes for Chiefs - give Hika a decent go so he can push for the AB's.

It would also mean the forward pack I pick would have 4 Crusaders which isn't going to hurt...still prepared to be swayed on selections...

Both Franks?

Wow, could the Crusaders be parading a new look AB propping combo this weekend?  Both Frank's brothers?  It appeals if it can work.  These boys are strong and take no prisoners.  With Woodcock underperforming and Tialatte just not there for me...a double Franks option could be just what we need for the world cup...