Post 121--Bieber the Believer

I’ve had the following document on my blog waiting list for a long time, since December 15, 2015.  There have always been reasons, usually good and valid reasons, I pushed it out of the way to make space for other concerns. I decided today to share it with you, old as it is, simply because I think it such an interesting document. I know next to nothing about this Bieber while you probably do. This issue here may be an old one for you, something like “been there, done that” kind of thing. Nevertheless, here it is, straight from the Denision Forum of the above date:

BIEBER THE BELIEVER: THE FAITH OF JUSTIN BIEBER

·                                    Written by Nick Pitts

In Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a young Lucio observed that "our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt." These doubts, Lucio describes, are often silently underscored by the axiom that appearances are deceiving, what you see is not what you get. So it is necessary to proceed with caution—if at all. However, could doubts be more of a hindrance than a help?

In the October/November issue of Complex Magazine, Justin Bieber was an incubator for doubts when he boldly came out with his faith. One person expressed a common sentiment, writing that it was a "publicity stunt, shameless little twerp." The ladies of The View, a daytime television talk show, expressed hesitation over his overt and bold comments. Fox News commentator Juan Williams even skeptically weighed in, saying: "Do you really believe… that he's studying the Bible; that he cares about the Bible; that he cares about anything but Justin Bieber?" 

Williams and company were not alone, joined unexpectedly by Justin himself. "I think that people, as soon as they start hearing me say I'm a Christian, they're like, 'Whoa Justin, back up, take a step back.'" 

Why the doubts and hesitation? Justin has a long history and a longer list of fans affectionately known as 'beliebers' who have followed him through his antics. Who can forget how Bieber first came on to the scene, informing audiences that his end goal would be to make "One Less Lonely Girl"? His primary subject matter interest would be the "Baby," some girl he met "One Time." Singer and rapper Usher joined him for a time as he tried to find "Somebody to Love." He wanted to be that "Boyfriend" that could make her "Smile." However, this litany of chart topping hits may have created reasons to celebrate, but they also caused some problems.

Such problems include those with the police. He has been arrested twice, once for DUI while allegedly drag-racing the streets of Miami and another time for assaulting a limo driver. Then there was the video of a sleeping Bieber, filmed by an alleged prostitute.  But that video was overshadowed to a certain degree by another video in which Justin was heard making racist comments and jokes. 

So how does Justin respond to these individuals and their comparison of his past life with his present direction? "I do not want to shove this down anyone's throat. I just wanna honestly live like Jesus." 

Bieber, like the Apostle Paul to the church at Galatia (1:13-15), is not running away from his past, he is embracing it. In Bieber's words:

"If we can understand that we're all imperfect, let's come to God and come for his help. You're not weak by doing that. I think that's a common misperception of Christians, that you're being weak because you can't handle it. None of us can handle this world, dude! It's eating us alive. But, man, I don't wanna have to do it on my own." 

Instead of dwelling on the past, Bieber is in love in the present and wants to tell everyone about it. Describing his relationship with God like that of a girlfriend, Bieber told Complex: 

"If I have an awesome, bomb girlfriend, I'm gonna wanna show her off and go around and tell people my girl is the sh** [editorial censorship]. I'm not gonna cheat on her because she's the best. It's like with God: The whole thing with religion is you present yourself holy and bring your offerings so that God can bless you, when the whole point of the relationship [should be], 'No, I'm gonna do this because he loves me. I'm gonna do this because he's amazing and not because [I] have to, because [I] want to.'" 

Unconventional in his approach and candid in his appeal, Bieber is raising eyebrows and causing heads to turn. He is offering the world another, albeit unusual, example of Christ. "I think that with Christians, they've left such a bad taste in people's mouths. Just like, overly pushy with the subject, overly churchy and religious." Instead, he is offering a different approach, one in which he is "sharing what I'm going through and what I'm feeling."

What Justin is feeling is something intensely personal and less transactional. Bieber finds, "That's the whole thing with religion that's been throwing off the people. It's not a 'have to.' It should be just like a personal relationship. Like, 'Hey, I love you because you first loved me.'

Post 120--Secular Missionaries of Democracy

Promises, Promises!

Well, here I go breaking the promise I long ago promised I would not break! Once you’re into a promise-breaking mode, you may as well go at it, right?   And here’s one more: I will no longer pretend I can write blogs or anything else without both making and then breaking promises I just made. I’m simply going to make one whenever the need arises without any guilt feeling.  Making promises is definitely an inescapable part of the human condition; breaking promises is not far from that one!

Secular Missionaries

In the second to the last paragraph of Post 119 I noted that Western nations export their wild electioneering campaigns to non-Western nations. The term “export” in this context is really a secular term for “missionizing.”  Yes, Western nations and their people, secular as they tend to be and as disapproving most of them are of missionaries, are themselves missionaries in the sense that they seek to convince the peoples of other regions to adopt their democratic ways of electing their governments. Secularists are missionaries, short and simple, though they do not recognize it and will vehemently deny it when confronted with it. This denial is based on the fact that they are blind to their own faith or worldview.

Secular Democratic Imposition

I have met a young lady hardly beyond her mid-twenties, who was commissioned by the US Government to teach democratic ways to African politicians. Though she was sweet enough, I was shocked to think that such an inexperienced person would have the gall to travel all over Africa to recommend, among other things, the “art” of political campaigning. I was shocked even more by the fact that she was actually commissioned to do so by the sophisticated US Government! What brazen imposition! What a brazen superiority complex—a youthful American teaching African leaders the ways of American political campaigns?  Please reread some of the paragraphs of Post 119. Would you even think about exporting those ways? And please remember, much of the same holds true for Canada as well.

Christian Electioneering Shenanigans

Well, the West has been most successful in their political mission to Africa. In my book Christians and Muslims: Parameters for Living Together I describe a situation in central Nigeria where three contenders for the position of State Governor all belonged to one and the same Christian denomination.  Officially, these contenders were brothers in Christ.  They were all taught human relations from a Christian perspective—love, mutual respect, dignity, speaking the truth, etc. etc., but none of this came through in the course of their campaign. Like those in Post 119, “they fought with each other like everyone else, berated each other, accused each other; lied to and about each other.” It’s too bad I cannot give you more juicy details, the reason being that the documents underlying my statements were deposited in a Yale archive. In short, they made mince meat of everything the Bible teaches in terms of positive human relations. And they all thought of themselves as Christian gentlemen! (The full text of that book is available on the Islamica page of my website <  www.SocialTheology.com  >, vol. 8-2, p. 144.)

I do hope the above paragraph will not make you think me racist.  After all, I say much worse things about American politicians. I should correct this last statement. I don’t say worse things about American politicians so much as more grimy details.  Those documents now at Yale contain similar grimy details about these Nigerian politicians.

The Disconnect

How is it possible that these prominent American politicians, some of them icons of US history and at least some of them Christians, could so defame and defile the name of their most prominent citizens and not be called on it, at least, not enough for them to cease the practice?  And how is the same thing possible with Nigerian Christian politicians?  How could they square such behavior with the Bible and their religion?  Probably the dominant reason is the disconnect between their official religion—Christianity—and their actions.

Dualism

A major theme in all my writings is “dualism,” that is, separation not of church from state, but of religion from state as well as religion from politics. The way missionaries in Africa brought the Gospel has lead to Africans disconnecting these pairs. Though many missionaries did not actively reject ties between these two entities, their failure to encourage building ties between religion and both state and politics led to a separation. The result is the attitude of religion is religion; business is business; politics is politics-- and never the twain shall meet, the “twain” being religion on the one side and business & politics on the other.

Secular Intolerance

Of course we Canadians have only recently suffered the same electioneering shenanigans for the same reason. In our country secularism has achieved such a majority position that the very idea that religion should be out there in the halls of power and in the market place is considered plain primitive and uncivilized. A current example is the legal battle over the proposed law school at Western Trinity University right here in BC.  It’s a pure example of secularism’s viciousness and intolerance.  But, hey, that’s how the establishment mind operates, whether it’s Islam or secularism—or Christian even.  But don’t let that intimidate you, for that secularism is so ignorant that it does not know itself.

The Gospel Alternative: Love and Respect

The bottom Christian line in all this is the plain Gospel recommendation—no, more than recommendation: demand,  prescription—that we love and respect one another, build up each other, the very opposite of our current culture of berating and destroying.  

Post 119 Election Mudslinging

US Campaigns in the Media

The media, especially TV, have inundated us poor Canadians with election rot. There’s this interminable US presidential campaign that’s been going on for ages--for years it seems, especially if you’re not particularly enamoured with that kind of public engagement. Though we don’t have a voice or any influence whatsoever in this process, even our own TV stations bombard us with talk shows and news talk about that drawn-out procedure, if you can dignify it as such. Of course, our stations are nothing compared to CNN and its competitors. With CNN it seems it’s 24/7. 

Canadian Campaigns

And in the middle of all that, we had a double doze with our own Canadian road show that ended with Harper out and Trudeau Jr. in, this boy who, the Harper wordsmiths continually maintained, was not ready for such elevated office as Prime Minister of the world’s second largest country. In hindsight, there’s a lot of evidence that this claim may well have been right on. As to the rest of their claims and the opponents’ counterclaims, it was at the same sordid sewer level we still suffer daily from down south.   

Campaign Levels 

The language political opponents use to describe each other is really out of control. In any other cultural segment the insults and outright lies would end up in legal suits and in the courts of the land, with our friendly lawyers having a hay day. What’s unacceptable in every other segment seems to be the thing to do or say in the realm of political campaigns. Of course, that should not surprise you, since the segment is laden with lawyers in whose realm half truths and outright untruths appear to be the daily diet. 

You, readers of this blog, have witnessed the Canadian show and continue to witness its prolonged American variety. You probably shake your head occasionally in consternation at the level to which our honourable leaders can sink. Just now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a US Supreme Court Justice, one burdened with the awesome responsibility of speaking and judging the truth of things told CNN that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is not consistent and says “whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego.”  Of course, Republican leaders disagreed, while some on the other side agreed.  However, even some left-leaning newspapers called the justice on it. As a Supreme Court justice, she is expected to maintain an impartial stance and not sink into the sewers of politics. The Washington Post commented, “There’s a good reason the Code of Conduct for United States Judges flatly states that a ‘judge should not . . . publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for public office.’ Politicization, real or perceived, undermines public faith in the impartiality of the courts.”  That may be true, but such public comments are an indication of the low level to which participants in the race and their henchpeople sink today. (Sorry for the awkward neologism. “Henchmen” would not do it today and a bare “hench” is not acceptable to the Webster crowd. I’m caught between the linguistic “devil and the deep blue sea.” I am open to suggestions here, please.)

Fathers of the Nation

But if you think this is a recent phenomenon, think again. You may have a surprise coming.  People identified as fathers of the United States used the same kind of language. The Denison Forum shares the following shockers:  

The 1800 election pitted John Adams against Thomas Jefferson. A Jefferson surrogate labeled Adams a "repulsive pedant" and "gross hypocrite" who "behaved neither like a man nor like a woman but instead possessed a hideous hermaphroditical character." An Adams surrogate warned that electing Jefferson would create a nation where "murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced." Stephen Douglas claimed that Abraham Lincoln was a drunk who could "ruin more liquor than all the boys in town together." (Actually, Douglas was a heavy drinker, while Lincoln abstained from alcohol.) Lyndon B. Johnson ran an ad against Barry Goldwater claiming that the latter would bring about nuclear destruction, killing America's children.

A Questionable Corollation 

So, if these greats did not shun such language and, apart from Johnson, they left us with the legacy of a great nation, I guess we should not worry about the low level of our Canadian politicians. There’s hope for us. Is this a case of the deeper the filth the greater the legacy?  Who knows what greatness lies ahead for us in Canada! Hmmm. This conclusion somehow does not have the ring of truth about it. Can anyone point out the logical fallacy I employ here? 

Exporting Democracy

Apart from the legacy question, one of the problems I recognize here is that the nations who practice this kind of shenanigans are also the nations who export “democracy” to the “primitive” nations of other continents and, by so doing, destroy the unity of ethnic groups. I will try to bring some details of this in the next post.

If you have been with me long enough, you may remember previous posts in which I promised not to make any more promises to you, my readers. You may have noticed that in the previous sentence I have just sunk back into the morass of promises, a place where long ago I promised not to descend. I retract that promise. I just can’t live without making promises. But if that’s true for politicians, perhaps I should loosen up as well and just fly with them. If I can’t live without promises in this blog, then I will just have to break that one promise. Just that one!

Post 118-- Muslims and Peace

First of all a notice: I also operate a blog called ChristianMuslimWorld.blogspot in which I discuss stuff related to that subject. Any post on this particular blog that deals with Islam will also be found on that blog.  End of notice.

Some of my Christian friends try to make me feel guilty and may even consider me a traitor when I say or write anything positive about Muslims or Islam, especially if it is about Muslims and peace. As far as they are concerned, these subjects don't belong together; they are opposites. For Muslims, peace is one of the major aspects of their religion and life. That’s what their religion is all about they claim time and again. Of course, peace can mean and does mean different things to different people, different religion and to different ideologies. During the Cold War, both West and East claimed to be promoting peace, while their goals were diametrically opposite to each other. Everyone claims to be for peace, Christians, Muslims, Secularists and all the rest.

It is also true that some Muslims practice terrorism in the pursuit of “peace,”  but this has been true for the West and for Christians as well. I only make this claim without substantiating right now, for that is not the major point of this particular post. I would like to say that this was true of Westerners, including its Christians, only in the past, but the wars and incursions the West has waged over the past few decades in the Middle East under the Bush regimes and in which Obama is still caught can only be described as terrorist, even if they have government sanctions, even international sanctions. Only a few days ago a British report states those wars were not necessary and had no good reasons!  Ach, let me get back to my intended subject for the day.

Muslims and peace.  Muslims against terrorism.  (Before continuing, let me credit Bethany Linsay of Vancouver Sun [VS] for the substance of the rest of this article—July 6, 2016, A10.) That’s the spirit in which BC Muslims are celebrating Ramadan, their annual period of fasting. Ahmed Yousef, President of the Islamic Society of Ridge Meadows makes no bones about it. Ramadan 2016 has been marred by an unusual amount of terrorism and violence by groups such as ISIL and others. In fact, in Yousef’s memory, this has been the bloodiest Ramadan ever. A truck bomb killed 250 people in Baghdad; dozens were killed at the Istanbul airport; 20 hostages were slain in Bangladesh; suicide bombings hit Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi; four met their death in Medina, one of the holiest of all Muslim cities. Yousef calls the perpetrators of all this violence “TB: terrorists and beheaders.”  They are, he says with a voice rising with anger, “a disease, a plague that is taking hold throughout the entire universe. They have no affiliation of any kind to anything.”

This situation has left BC’s Muslims “feeling sad and frightened.”  “It depresses us Muslims, it takes the wind out of our sails.” I’ve looked into the eyes of some of our Muslims “and it’s taken away their spirit,” he says. Yes, those terrorists hit everyone, “Christians, Yazidis, soccer fans, police officers and even members of their own organizations, but Muslims…are the most frequent target.” (Boer comment: The same seems to be true of the Boko Haram [BH] crowd in Nigeria.)  He goes on, “For people who think that these idiots have anything to do with Islam, please consider the fact that most of their victims have been Muslims…. They are thugs, they are criminals, they are mentally unstable individuals who continue to commit these horrid acts under the name of one of the most peaceful and most loving religions that there is out there.” Yousef “feels compelled to speak out and condemns all violence committed in the name of Islam, calling it a responsibility of his faith.”  So far Yousef.

A Vancouver Muslim outreach worker with the Muslim Association of Canada, Tarek Ramadan, says, “Those are trained groups who actually hate (fellow) Muslims or even… claim to be Muslims and to love Allah, but hate what He has brought. They (are) hypocrites who get their stomachs filled with cash, from who knows where, to do these acts in the name of whatever.”  “He’s tired of outspoken politicians and members of the media mixing up terrorist groups and ordinary Muslims.”  Tarek “blames anti-Islam rhetoric from public figures for a reported rise in Islamophobic incidents across Canada that prompted the National Council of Canadian Muslims to launch a campaign against hate crimes this week.” So far, Lindsay’s contribution to this article, with thanks.

The real distortion and perversion in all of this is that ISIL and BH tell themselves they are committing all this heartless violence in the name of peace! Since mainstream Islam has become so heretical and so secular and does not listen to good Islamic reason, there is no alternative to violent methods to force them to return to the fundamentals of the faith. Even they claim to favour peace and are working towards its establishment!  I have heard/read it said quite often that while millions of Muslims agree with the fundamental aims of these terrorists, they reject the methods they follow towards reaching it. I am quite sure that is the case. They want to arrive at their salama in a peaceful, that is, non-violent way, that is physically non-violent way.

Whether that is the case with Yousef or Tarek  Ramadan, only they would know. I am sure they want peace; I just don’t know how they define it and what form they would like to see it take on ultimately and what their approved method of achieving it might be. Yousef is president of his local society. I take it that means he represents their general orientation. The family picture in the VS seems to indicate his is an average Canadian family with nothing to particularly identify them as Muslim. Whether that is a hopeful sign, I do not know. 

Post 117--Neo-Calvinism and Islam

This is a post with a difference. Well, actually every  post is unique, but this one is "more unique" than any other so far on this blog, the only one of its kind. It is an announcement of a conference that lies very close to my heart.  I am one of those Neo-Calvinists and I have published almost profusely as a Neo-Calvinist on Islam in Nigeria. So, I cannot resist the temptation to share this info with you. I only wish I had found out about it in time. I might have foregone our trip to The Netherlands I have told you about in the last two posts and used that travel budget to get me to Istanbul. Alas!  Money gone!

But here's the info anyhow. Perhaps some of you have the dough to fly there and attend. If you do, share your conference experience with me, please. If you wish, you should write it in a style that can be used on this blog and I will publish your report or comments.

                                                                          ===========


                                                        ANOTHER RELIGION? 

                                     Neo-Calvinism and  Islam 

                                                        at

                             Istanbul, Turkey 25-56 August, 2016 

 Theme: At the end of the nineteenth century, military and economic expansion in Africa, the Middle East and Asia brought Europe into contact with Islam. This interaction sparked European political debates on how to deal with different religions and cultures. 

The study of Islam was encouraged within the contexts of missiology and the science of religion, and missionaries were sent to the Arab world. A range of opinions on Islam within emerged within European Christianity, varying from a comparative view to radical rejection, from the need for conversion to the search for dialogue. 

The late nineteenth century was also the context for the development of neo-Calvinism: a movement that attempted to articulate an orthodox Reformed faith in the modern world. Which views of Islam were held amongst neo-Calvinist theologians, missiologists, missionaries and politicians? How did these views work out in the encounter with Islam? 

The conference will focus on the theological, ecclesial, philosophical, political, historical, social and cultural interactions between the two religions: in what ways did they approach each other? On which aspects did they continue to differ, and why? How could their relationship over a century and a half best be described? 

Plenary speakers-- Among others: 
             Prof. George Harinck, Theological University Kampen                    Prof. Kees van der Kooi, VU University Amsterdam 
             Prof. Richard J. Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary,                               Pasadena 

Call for Papers--The conference organisers welcome proposals for short papers. Proposals (approximately 300 words) should be sent to g.harinck@vu.nl by April 30th, 2016. Conference papers will be in English. 

Registration-- The conference registration fee is €100, which includes two lunches and drinks. Conference places must be reserved by email (g.harinck@vu.nl) by May 30th, 2016. 

Location and Accommodation--  Participants are responsible for finding their own accommodation. 

The conference will be held on invitation of the Deputy Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Istanbul at: Palais de Hollande Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Istiklal Caddesi 197, Beyoğlu, Istanbul Turkey 

Host Institutions: 
      Historical Documentation Centre, VU University, Amsterdam         New College, University of Edinburgh 
      Kampen Theological University Archive and Documentation                 Centre, Kampen

Post 116 Extreme Hospitality

Nigerian Hospitality

If there is anything I have learned during my 30 years in Nigeria it is hospitality.  Nigerians have been so generous to us when it comes to hospitality, as they are to their own people. One can drop in on Nigerian friends and you are immediately invited to join them in a meal if that happens to be their agenda at the moment. This is true not only of the well-to-do, but just as much of the poorer among them. Now, there is a downside to that. Extending such hospitality to an unexpected guest can be at the expense of family members who may have to do with leftovers, especially children.

Any Nigerian who reads the above paragraph may object to it. Nigeria is a square box containing 400 different nations, cultures and languages. There is no way you can say anything about traditional culture that will hold for all of these cultures. Expatriates who have lived in other parts of the country sometimes marvel at our stories from the country’s Middle Belt. They have not always experienced such hospitality.  But for us, we have always been deeply impressed by that cultural feature.

And, of course, after being exposed to that for 30 years and having benefited from it so many times, it could not help but rub off on  us. My wife and I have also become very hospitable, so much so that the people among whom we now live in Vancouver, Canada, are amazed at how open our door is and how readily we have people we did not expect join us at our table. Thank you, Nigeria, for teaching us such a Christian virtue. 

Western Hospitality

Yes, hospitality is a Christian virtue, though not only Christian. Plenty of other people share that virtue.  But Nigerians tend to laugh at us in a kind of derisive way. They joke that, according to their experiences in the Western world, we are so inhospitable that if we want to visit our grandmother, we have to make an appointment at least two weeks in advance! I had become somewhat estranged to Western ways and denied that “accusation.” 

However, upon our return to the West, more specifically, to Vancouver, I found they were not that far off. Since I immigrated from my birth country, The Netherlands, at age thirteen, I have had little experience with my own grandmothers during my adult years. None whatsoever in Vancouver. However, I was surprised at how inhospitable Vancouver really is. Vancouverites will entertain you, but very seldom in their house. It’s just about always in a café or restaurant by which we are totally immersed here in downtown. It’s even true of the near-by church we attend, though, I am happy to report, not of my other church, the Christian Reformed Church.

And not only Vancouver.  When my wife and I were RV-ing through the American South and attended a city church, they welcomed the guests among them and assured us that they were very hospitable. If we needed a good restaurant for dinner after the service, all we would have to do is ask and they would point us to the good ones in town!  Hospitable?  Yea, right!  In contrast, when we attended a rather conservative Reformed type of church in BC’s “Bible Belt,” we ended up at the dinner table of a large family of seven children. We had never had any contact before. 

Dutch Hospitality--Stories

Why do I write of hospitality in this post? Because of the “extreme” hospitality we experienced in Lutjegast, my birth village in The Netherlands (NL) with a population of around 1,000.  It’s a follow-up to the previous post that I feel compelled to write; it was that surprising and extreme—but not everything extreme is negative. My parents lived in Lutjegast from 1929-1951. My father ran a barbershop, while my mother ran a growing family and, for a few years, a hair salon for ladies. I was thirteen when we emigrated to Canada in 1951.  By 2016 pretty well all memories of our Boer barber family had been erased in the village except among the elderly. 

Two days we wandered around in Lutjegast, partially by car, partially on foot. We came to the church where I was baptized as a baby and met someone living near it. We introduced ourselves, but he had never heard about us. Nevertheless, he invited us into his house for a coffee. There we sat in the dining room, surrounded by the entire family, drinking coffee and chatting about past when we lived there. That was the first one. An hour or so later, as we were looking for a niece who, I had reasons to believe, lived in the town. In the course of the search, we knocked on someone’s door. A lady opened the door and, after our brief introduction, again invited us inside for a tea with her and her husband. They had vaguely heard of some Boer family, but that was all. 

Our second day in the village, a Saturday, we were supposed to meet a cousin of mine who lived elsewhere. We would meet at the church in the centre of Lutjegast. We arrived early to find a spot where we could visit, but did not find anything. The only thing open was a hair salon. We entered to ask them about a place in the village where we could have a coffee. The lady told us that the village really does not have a suitable place for that, but she immediately invited us to visit with our guests around the table in her shop and she would serve us coffee!  We did not accept the invitation since it was not really a suitable environment for the kind of visit we envisioned. But it was another amazing hospitality event.

Soon my cousin and husband drove into the church yard. The custodian met us and after the by now customary introduction, he not only showed us the inside of the renovated church but also invited us for a coffee and cooky in the church hall, where we could sit as long as we wanted. 

Personally, I think that pattern of hospitality to strangers is remarkable. My appreciation for my birth village soared. I am in the process of writing a more detailed report of this hospitality in the Dutch language to be published in the local village paper to express our appreciation not only, but also to make sure they enjoy a positive self-image. They are not just some village duds as some city slickers may think; they display the image of God in their hospitality. 

But we ran into this trait throughout our trip.  We had three main hosts in three different parts of the country and all went far beyond the normal standards of hospitality. Two of these were friends from different phases of our history, but they were absolutely superb. One of them housed us for ten days and nights. The most unexpected was the owner of Hotel Friesland. He took a liking to us and several times invited us privately for a tea and cooky.  A hotel owner! 

Concluding Comments

All in all, I am still a bit dizzy about all this hospitality. Can’t get over it. That’s why I write about it in such glowing terms.  Thank you, my Dutch friends, both old and new. And to my Nigerian friends I can only caution them that whatever unpleasant experiences they may have had in the West, their description of hospitality certainly does not resonate with my Dutch experience. I should probably close with a preemptive admission that race may at least partially account for the difference.    

Post 115—Our Dutch Trip--Reflections

I’m back!  And if I get this post online today, I’m back even earlier than promised on May 27.  And let me tell you, as wonderful as our trip was, there’s still nothing like home, which for me is downtown Vancouver BC.

Canada--My Home

Yes, home for me is in Canada, but I continue to have a strong feeling for two other countries. There is my birth country as well as Nigeria, the country where my wife and I spent 30 years in ministry, where we raised our family and, even after having left there 20 years ago, is still uppermost in my mind and affections. But for today, it is my birth country, NL—The Netherlands.

My Affection for Nigeria

My many Nigerian friends who read this post should not be jealous at my “divided” affection. Many things in life diminish when you share or divide them. When you give a $100 to one person that recipient gets more than when you divide it over two persons. But when you give love to one or two or a thousand persons, it does not diminish, each gets an equal share. Money divided diminishes; love or affection divided increases. That’s the nature of the beast. (I should probably call it “the angel” rather than “the beast.”) 

Besides, if you check my website ( www.SocialTheology.com) , you will find that I have paid much more attention, energy, time, money and, yes, affection on Nigeria than I have on the NL. At the same time, the background and perspective I utilized in my Nigerian ministry, including my many publications, have a definite Dutch philosophical and theological colouration, based as they are on the Kuyperian or Reformational school of thought. So, a nice mixture of these two cultures in my life with no need for either party to be jealous! Actually, I don’t believe anyone will be jealous in this situation, but there is nothing like  pre-emptying a negative possibility! But for this post and the next, it will be NL.

Flat and Green

Living as I do in BC (British Columbia, Canada), there is one thing that particularly strikes me every time I visit the “Old Country” is its flatness.  When I lived in Nigeria and visited the country, I was struck by its greenness. So fresh and green everywhere as soon as you leave the city. And that, in contrast to Nigeria’s seasonal green, all year round. But coming out of BC, it is the flatness of the country that is impressive, especially when combined with the green. It is interrupted only by the many man-made “hills” that serve as approaches to bridges or as overpasses.  Now such unending flatness may sound dull to those who prefer rolling hills or towering mountains, but in combination with the green, it creates beautiful breath-taking scenery wherever you go. I am not sure which of the two I would prefer to live in, flat or mountainous, but for a change, I simply loved it as my wife and I rolled through it all by means of train, bus, rental and even bike. The flat lusciousness of it all.

The Bike Culture

Living as I do in North America (NA), another thing that made my eyes grow green with jealousy is the large presence of bicycles (from here on referred to as “bikes”).  What a different love affair from NA’s love of cars. Bikes everywhere, no matter where you turn, except, of course, along express ways. Not being used to such heavy bike traffic, it was more challenging for us as pedestrians in the city to avoid collisions with bikes than with cars. They even have single-floor parking garages for bikes but often store them two high above each other, especially at bus and train stations. Bikes are used for most local trips as well as farther afield. They are used for serious transportation even more than for recreation, but their vacation use is the greatest demonstration of the Dutch love for the bike. Our hosts took us out biking into the country along a network of crisscrossing bike paths everywhere.

Various features of the bike culture struck me. Most people wear ordinary street clothes on their bikes; no special attire, even women in minis. No helmets and, not infrequently, no hands either, for they are needed for the smart phone as you negotiate traffic!  

Single bikes are good for transporting entire families!  A parent in/on the saddle doing the peddling, with one child on the back carrier and one in a special seat mounted on or behind the handle bar. Our main hostess told us that this is a major time of intimacy with your little tike at your front on your bike. And if your children are not on the actual bike, they could be sitting comfortably in a box mounted on the front of the bike, an arrangement called “bakfiets” or “boxbike,” two or even three at a time, but now we have graduated to three-wheelers.  

Another sociable feature of the bike culture is that with separate bike paths, people often ride side by side, chatting amicably as they go, so different from the sparse biking in Vancouver where it is always behind instead of next to each other. As to the bakfiets, it is also used to transport goods, sometimes in open, sometimes in covered boxes.

You’d think that flat country would make for effortless biking, but there is a hitch—strong winds that are as challenging as steep hills. From my own childhood I remember regularly coasting up one of these artificial hills, pushed along by strong winds, but peddling hard on the way down. I also remember peddling a bakfiets to deliver bread for a neighbouring bakery. So, as fascinating as I found the bike culture, it was not altogether new to me. I experienced all the above features at one time or another way back then. Though other forms of transport have greatly proliferated since then—cars, buses, trains—the bike has not lost its popularity or omnipresence in any way.  In fact, the bike has increased along with the country’s population.  

Mayor Robertson's Bike Challenge

I’m sure our Vancouver mayor’s eyes must be as green as mine were. I wish him all the success, luck and blessing he needs to make our city more bike friendly.  He has courageously pushed ahead in his bike programme in the face of much ridicule and opposition. I hope he will not relent. I believe he represents the future of our city when it comes to biking.  We once thoughtlessly embraced the car without considering many of its negatives or even being aware of them. It will take a lot of planning and politicking to undo the damage we have inflicted on ourselves and our environment.