Poor Journalism

This is worth a read.

Psst! Don't Tell Anyone...But...

Jono's post prompted me to write about the tongue.

Isn't it funny how when you're in a relationship, everybody seems to have their own ideas about what you should or shouldn't be doing, and instead of talking to you about it, they talk behind your backs! Stories seem to take on a life of their own, and things that aren't true get passed on and around until a fully distorted and factually untrue story finally gets back to you.

Well I'm pretty hacked off about this kind of behaviour, as it should not be seen in Christian circles. Gossip, and slander should be expected in non-Christian circles, but here in the church, they seem to be more common than outside the church.

What is gossip?
Gossip is the spreading of a malicious report about somebody. Oftentimes gossip is actually true, but by passing it on, we could be damaging the person involved. God's word demonstrates how bad gossip is. In Proverbs 11:9, we see that gossip can be used to destroy others. In Proverbs 11:13 we see that a true friend does not gossip. There are also a couple of specific warnings to women in the New Testament telling them they must not gossip.

So what do we do if somebody tells us a delicious piece of gossip? We should not pass it on. But instead, we must reprimand the person who has brought the gossip to us, and tell them to talk to the person they are gossiping about. If you are concerned by what you have heard about the person, go and see that person, and talk to them about what you have heard.

It's a simple biblical and exceedingly obvious principle, that when you are discussing issues in a person's life, you should keep the issue to as few people as possible. The less that know about something, the easier it is to deal with pastorally.

What is slander?
Slander is slightly different from gossip, in that the story that is being passed on is a story that is actually not true. I personally have been the victim of this recently, and it is not very nice at all. How on earth can a story that is not true be passed around? Well there are many reasons for this. What may have started out as a bit of gossip has been exaggerated, and retold so many times with embellishments that it no longer represents the original story. Or perhaps somebody has overheard a conversation they weren't involved in, and misheard the context and passed it on as gospel truth. Sometimes it can also be done with a malicious motive - to hurt another person.

In 1 Peter 2:1, we are commanded to rid ourselves of all kinds of slander. In Colossians 3:8, Paul gives the same command. These are just a few passages that deal with slander. But as Christians, we shouldn't need hundreds of passages for us to make the choice of obedience. God is dishonoured when we gossip or slander others, so we must not do it.

So what do we do if someone is slandering someone else? Once again the first rule is not to pass it on. You may think that someone really needs to know. You may think that you can add the phrase "I heard this but I'm not sure it's true" to what you are saying, but there is no excuse. We must reprimand the person who has slandered someone else, and tell them to talk to the person they have slandered. If we are worried about what we have heard, we should talk to the person involved and tell them what rumour is being passed around.

Summary
What we humorously refer to as the church grapevine, or gossip mill, is not something we should be amused by. Gossip and slander are things that the Lord hates, and we should hate them too. I know it's hard - I struggle, you struggle - we all struggle with juicy bits of gossip we want to pass on - but we must do what is right.

1. Let gossip or slander stop with you.
2. Challenge the gossip and the slanderer.
3. Talk to the victim of gossip and slander.

Buying A Ring

Yesterday I spent some time looking around the mall at jewelry shops with Sarah for an engagement ring. I now know about carats, clarity, colour, and cut. It was quite interesting really.

We got engaged on Tuesday 19th July in the evening at Piha. It was an amazing setting. But - you had to be there, and I wouldn't have wanted that. We delayed telling people since my parents were away, and we wanted to tell our families before anyone else.

As well as being extremely happy, I am somewhat scared. It is a big responsibility to commit to a person for a whole lifetime, and I do take it very seriously. I suppose one would have to be fairly slaphappy to not have some feeling of fear.

Where have all the guys gone?

Check out this.

Salient comments included:-

Education Ministry figures show there are just 355 male primary and intermediate school teachers in the Bay of Plenty compared with 1464 female - meaning males are outnumbered four to one.

and

Nationally, just 10 per cent of about 800 teacher training scholarships went to males last year.

These are terrible statistics, especially in a country which had 161,000 female single parent families in 2001.

I'll leave you with a couple of questions:-
Where are our young men going to learn what a man is supposed to be like?

Do these statistics have anything to do with our guys doing worse in school than girls?

What is going on?

Is this New Zealand?

What is happening to our country? Why is a random van shooting at a stopped police car and motorist not front page news anymore?

Ninjas and Fairies Night - The boys of 58b, and some other shadowy ninja.

Dad and Sarah with Pinnacles in background

Waitete Bay - Early sun on the bay which I stayed the night at.

The Breakdown on Coromandel Roadtrip

Allan - You're a Legend

My computer coughed and died last night.

However, with Allan's expertise, and a little program I had, we were able to fix it, and save the pretty maiden, I mean my data. And it only took until 1:30am or something. Anyway, thanks Allan - you're an awesome dude - always willing to help out when I'm in a fix, so cheers.

Comments on Government Control of Education

I am real anti government control of education. Really. And their control of preschool education is terrible. Check this out.

Basically, a preschool is closing down, because the preschool teacher, does not have a Diploma of Teaching. Tammy Tangaroa, the preschool teacher who can no longer run the preschool centre, has had 23 year experience preschool teaching. She also has a childcare qualification.

In 2000, the Ministry ruled that by 2004 teachers in charge of early childhood centres must hold a Diploma of Teaching (ECE), regardless of any other qualifications or experience. - The NZ Herald

Well for goodness sake! Why on earth does the government make decisions like this? Last time I checked, it was not compulsory to send your children to preschool. So why does the government feel it has to legislate preschool activities and business to death! If parents are unhappy with the way a particular preschool works, they will vote with their feet....or children.

Furthermore on a practical side, we must get away from this ridiculous notion that to be able to do something, you need a qualification that says you can do it. Little pieces of paper have never rid our education system of plonkers. Why on earth should people who are going to teach preschoolers need a three year diploma anyway? We allow parents to look after and train their preschool kids without having qualifications. And from recent experience with ERO, it seems like the government doesn’t have education in mind for preschoolers. So why on earth is there so much legislation around preschools?

Answer: Governments will always attempt to gain control of more and more. We must be wary of new legislation – because invariably it will affect our freedom.

Fiddling

I fiddled around with my template - particularly the sidebar last night. I think it looks good. Check out the difference by visiting this.

News In Brief

Man and Woman?
It has been discovered that my guinea pig's names are rather inappropriate. To be exact Man's name is inappropriate, for Man is actually a woman. Oh dear. I shouldn't have just taken the pet shop guys word and checked for myself.

I had wondered why children were not forthcoming.

Welcome
A welcome goes out to some of my newish readers! Hi Paul, Rod and Cherry, Dad, and Sarah!

Boys Hike
A week or so back now, Peter Boyd, Ethan and myself took the young dudes, up Clevedon hill for a night hike. We had beautiful but salty fish and chips from the famous Clevedon takeaways shop. You know folks! The one that has the sign "Always open, till we close."

Anyhow, it was a good time of fellowship and relationship building with the boys of the church. Fitness levels however were somewhat distressing - perhaps due to a more sedentary lifestyle led by youngsters in the age of PS2, computers and dvds.

The Pinnacles
Last Friday and Saturday, I went with two of my favourite people to one of my favourite places. Dad Sarah and I took off to the Kauaeranga valley. We cruised up the Billy goat track in a good time, and I broke my coffee fast with nice espresso coffee made with the gas stove up at the hut.

We enjoyed a nice mince curry with pasta, and spent the evening on a crossword. Frustratingly we ground to a halt on it. However, sleep proved to be useful, because in the morning, Sarah had worked out another clue. We climbed the Pinnacles, which was great fun, although to my disappointment, they have roped off the place you used to stand on at the top, and built a gaudy platform. However, we had beautiful views and weather on the Saturday.

We took off down the Webb creek track, and had Curry/Steak and Mushroom pies as a reward at the Thames Bakehouse.

Leader's Dinner
Last night, our leadership team for C.I.A. had dinner and hung out playing a cool version of Cranium. In this version, you make up the answers to questions about yourself, and the others have to guess them. Hillarity ensues.

Tax on Tax!

A further investigation on the petrol tax example from the other day reveals that our gst for petrol is taxed on the cost of the petrol, plus the other taxes. Bad.

We Are Overtaxed!

Here is just another example.

AA recently broke down what we are paying in tax on our petrol. Here is an example on '91 at 132.9 cents/L.

* Crown account 18.71c.

* Land transport fund 22.49c.

* ACC levy 5.78c.

* Petroleum fuels monitoring levy 0.025c.

* Local authority petroleum tax 0.66.

* GST (based on 132.9c pump price) 14.76c.

That's a total of 62.43c tax per litre on our '91 petrol at the moment.

THIEVES!

Edit 8/7/5
Corrected typo in GST price.
Corrected total tax per litre.

Have a Laugh

Peter Warner handed me these at our last pastoral meeting. Thought you might enjoy them, and since my last post deleted itself (don't ask; I don't know) I wasn't in the mood to be creative.

Thoughts For Those Who Take Life Too Seriously
1. Save the whales. Collect the whole set.

2. A day without sunshine is like, night.

3. On the other hand, you have different fingers.

4. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

5. Honk if you love peace and quiet.

6. Remember, half the people you know are below average.

7. He who laughs last thinks slowest.

8. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

9. I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.

10. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.

11. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.

13. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

14. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

15. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

16. I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.