Weblog Archive
June 7 - June 10, 2002
Monday 10th June, 2002
Bene Diction posts:
The Burnhams
The Sydney Morning Herald says the US is
embarrassed by the botched rescue attempt of a Martin and Gracia Burnham
and nurse Deborah Yap in the Philippines.
The American missionary Martin
Burnham survived for a year as a hostage of Abu Sayyaf bandits only to die
as he shielded his wounded wife from a barrage of bullets believed to have
been fired by Philippine soldiers during a bungled rescue operation
supported by United States forces.
The botched rescue operation is
an embarrassment for the Bush Administration, which sent helicopters,
sophisticated surveillance equipment and more than 1000 troops to the
Philippines this year to help train local forces - an exercise whose primary
objective was seen to be the freeing of the Burnhams.
Despite initial claims by the
Pentagon that it learned about Friday's operation only when it was informed
of Mr Burnham's death, the Philippine Defence Secretary, Angelo Reyes, said
American forces had been actively involved in "the planning and execution"
of the attack.
Gracia Burnham will soon be
joining her children in the US.
Instapundit Extra
The numero uno of bloggers has put online his
answers to journalists about blogging.
Talking Food
Parkay Margarine has developed
in store theatre.
No need to call the therapist
when that container of margarine starts talking to you at the supermarket -
because it really is.
Strategically placed tubs of
Parkay hitting the shelves this week will be able to shout at you to urge
you to buy them over the competition.
As you pass one of the tubs, a
motion-sensor chip triggers a digital sound device that yells, "Butter!" And
another chip makes the tub wiggle slightly.
The idea stems from the 1973 ‘butter’ ads.
So, do the detectors shut off when you take them home?
This could make the midnight trip to the fridge an adventure you may not
want to have.
Blog Watch
Touchstone’s
David Mills has a convicting post on sloth.
Relapsed Catholic has a nod from the prof today and lots of moral
outrage.
Our Catholic bloggers aren’t the only ones outraged by
the article in the Trente Giorni journal that says the media is
anti-Catholic.
Midwest Conservative Journal weighs in.
Holy Weblog is back and busy.
Meryl Yourish looks at Arafat from three angles today.
Tal G. has a post on the latest attacks in Israel.
Kesher Talk is another Jewish blog worth taking a look at.
Well, well. A weblog
bookwatch.
I haven’t been able to access daypop for a couple of
days. Is anyone else having a problem?
Voids and Expectations
I don’t see much point in telling other bloggers what to
do. Blogging is personal work. Telling
Andrew Sullivan to link more or Martin Roth to use perma links can begin
an insidious arbitrary rules process, and we are already facing enough of
that from media companies and governments. When other bloggers start to
dictate what a blog should be, it isn’t too long before that anal retentive
nonsense becomes what a blog ought to be. Blogs have comment sections, and
email access. If readers want perma links or anything else, they aren’t
afraid to say so. It’s up to the individual blogger to decide how to
accommodate the readers. A lot depends on bloggers’ technical expertise, and
I wish tech bloggers were more patient with the rest of the sphere. As for
other types of rules, I don’t think this crowd is going to comply.
That said, I agree with the blogosphere model. We do
cluster into communities. There is content overlap
between communities. War blogs cover tech issues. Christian blogs cover
political issues. Overlap is good. Blogs are successful because of the
passion, personality and perspiration put into them. And bloggers have
different measures and standards of what success is.
I am a journalist. My broadcast career has colored how I
perceive the world, and how I relate to information and people. I like
giving information as quickly and as accurately as possible. My little black
heart is blessed to pieces when people inform and educate me. I’m secure
when I know, even if it isn’t what I want to hear.
I am also a Christian who does not believe in isolation.
And yet, I am intensely private. That can be crazy making. I am also a
Canadian. Since September I have seen my neighbors to the south begin to
notice in new ways how other countries think, act, interact, and perceive
the US. I traveled a fair bit in the States and was constantly surprised at
how little my neighbours knew about people and places beyond their borders.
I’ve seen them visit my country and not know the first thing about us. When
September shifted American focus, I rejoiced. Sadly, I believe I am seeing a
slide back to the way it used to be.
I agree with
Mark Byron that the Christian blogs are behind the rest of the
blogosphere. I’d say a bit longer than six months, but that is a moot point.
Having followed the Burnham kidnapping, Friday I went to
various news sites first to gather. Then I hit the blogs. I hit, what for
me, was an unexpected void.
I expected war bloggers to mention the Burnham
kidnapping.
Instapundit seems to have had it first. All of us in the northern
hemisphere woke up to the information, didn’t we?
Maybe not. Big media in the US is notoriously blinkered.
I got most of the early information on the Burnhams from overseas papers.
I grieved. I didn’t think or believe the Burnhams would
escape with their lives. Fifty-five thousand people have been murdered by
the Aba Sayyaf terrorists. The kidnapping wasn’t going to end the way I
wanted it to. But over the past year the Burnhams had been noticed by the
USA media, and I naively assumed I’d see more of a mention on the net. I had
my feelings to deal with because I followed their kidnapping from day one. I
have prayed for them, their family, their church, their community and their
captors.
The biggest thing I had to wrestle with was my
expectations of the Christian blogs. Honest and hard questions have been
asked the past year about the kidnapping. I have questions back. Are we
bloggers ready to step forward and answer? Can we engage in intelligent
discussion? Do we care? Do we have opinions? Does the world outside our
borders engage us?
Martin Roth is a faithful steward of the semi-definitive
Christian blog list. As I went through it Friday my heart sank. Many are
personal blogs. I read about what movie was going to be seen this weekend,
about last night’s barbeque, or the latest acquired tech toy. Some are
Catholic blogs that deal exclusively with Catholic issues. Some cross-over
blogs that post current events missed the Burnham story. I moved from
sadness into irritation, which is why I posted Friday’s Blog Watch the way I
did. I think now I was seeing the glass half empty instead of half full. It
isn’t the first time. It won’t be the last.
Martin Roth deserves a great deal of credit for letting
an encamped canuck go on a tangent. This is his blog. I don’t have the
courage or energy to start my own. The north-south hemisphere thing suits
what I think believers on the web are about. It fits my personality and
privacy. I believe God has put Martin Roth and me together in this time and
space and outside the USA borders for good reasons. One event does not make
or break the Christian community of the blogosphere. The gang linked at the
left is a diverse group. So no, Bene Diction, bloggers aren’t going to post
what you want them to, the way you want them to, when you want them to, or
why you want them to. Thank God.
An honest atheist had the post that clarified my thoughts
for me. Captain of the
USS Clueless, I salute you.
Note Bene, a catholic blog, you were salve to a wound.
EslerFried, I like your heart for the world.
Brothers Judd, on the mark. I’ve been stopping by comments sections. If
I missed any of you, thanks from Martin’s space. Blog on.
-posted 9:30am, by Bene Diction
Saturday 8th June, 2002
Martin Roth posts:
More from My Book
“Virtue died in Australia on 23 May 1994,
at 4:30 in the afternoon.”
That was how I started the Introduction to
my book
Living Water to Light the Journey, published in 1999. It’s now out
of print and I’m steadily placing it here on my website.
What did I mean?
Simply this: I believe a point arrived
when it became clear that our society’s premier institutions no longer
viewed moral education as a necessary component of the upbringing of our
children. That was one of the themes of the book.
You can read the Introduction
here. Also online
are Chapters seven,
eight,
nine and
ten.
-posted 4:05pm, by
Martin Roth
Bene Diction posts:
Blog Watch
I wanted to see what blogs mentioned missionaries,
martyrdom, kidnapping or any kind of political or military comments or
analysis of the Burnham kidnapping and attempted rescue.
So far……Instapundit
The Corner
C-log
Mark Byron
ladydusk
joyfulchristian
In Between Naps
Nota Bene
EslerFried
Christdot
Brothers Judd
Book of Joshua and
Relapsed Catholic.
Of those blogs, only 3 have any commentary so far. I’ll
be checking this weekend and popping into comment sections.
Heal Your Church has been googling himself and getting mentioned on some
major blogs.
I’ve been to about 200 blogs today. I think I have a rant
coming on. However, my twin and I celebrate a milestone birthday this
weekend, Martin is taking a deserved day off, so think and link on your own.
The rant will wait.
Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant
Martin Burnham, 42, the New Tribe Missionary kidnapped a
year ago by the Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, is dead. His wife Gracia
is in hospital with gunshot wounds after Philippine troops attempted a
rescue. There are conflicting reports on whether nurse Deborah Yap,
captured with them a year ago, is alive.
Christianity Today has
complete and thorough coverage
here.
He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain
what he cannot lose.
Jim Elliott died
1956
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come
and die.
Dietrick Bonhoeffer died
1945
Background on the Burnham’s long ordeal is at
Christianity Today.
Gospelcom.net has front-page resources on grief and unanswered prayer.
Mission and aids groups estimate 160,000 Christians will
die for following Jesus Christ in the year 2002.
The Anniversary of Tiananmen Square
Pan Hu has a story of survivors in the National Review Online.
A Different Kind of Mission
Christians and Jews
help the IDF.
-posted 11:55am, by Bene Diction
Friday 7th June, 2002
Bene Diction posts:
Blog Watch
Tim Blair can now go
here, and create Martin Roth, the
Cartman of Christianity. Link via
Sgt. Stryker.
The captain of the USS Clueless
asks, Do you prefer unpleasant truths or pleasing falsehoods?
The younger generation explores community and worship at
antithesis.com
Country Keepers has a link to a site that encourages and helps people
who want to be Christian writers.
Shark blog is a welcome new addition to the warblogger crowd.
Midwest Conservative Journal had a great take down of bummed-out
Episcopalians who just returned from the Middle East. Now he tackles the
WCC.
Mark Byron gets
interviewed for an article in FaithWorks magazine on blogging. He has
some good things to say in his post.
-posted 7:45pm, by Bene Diction
Martin Roth posts:
Bomb Kills Four Indonesian Christians
By this week’s standards it wasn’t a big
bus bombing. I guess that’s why I wasn’t even aware of what had happened in
Indonesia.
Here’s the text of an email I received
last night from
International Friends of Compassion, an Indonesian Christian
organisation:
A bus travelling from Palu to Tentena, Central Sulawesi, with about 45
Christians on board was bombed yesterday, killing 4. Dr Jeff Hammond, IFC
Indonesia, reports that one of the dead was a Pentecostal pastor who was
sent from Palu to assist IFC in rebuilding homes in the Poso region. Another
17 others were injured in the attack, including a mother and child who are
among those on the 'critical list'. The bomb was planted at the back of the
bus. A second bomb under a seat at the front of the bus failed to detonate.
This attack comes just five days after the Indonesian Military began
withdrawing troops from Poso, Central Sulawesi. The military commander had
been quoted in last Friday's Jakarta Post as saying, "the pullout showed
that the situation in Poso had improved greatly."….
Laskar Jihad boasts that 600 of its fighters are still active in the Poso
region and Christians now fear a repeat of the terror which led to attacks
on 21 Christian villages late last year. The presence of Laskar Jihad, and
their ability to arm themselves with firearms and bombs places the "Malino
Peace Agreement" in a tenuous position. This latest attack has placed the
large Christian town of Tentena on high alert….
Dr Jeff Hammond, further reports that just ten days ago 2 Christians were
killed in Masane, 10 km from Poso. These were refugees coming from Tentena
to harvest their fruit trees. Both were shot and one beheaded. Meanwhile,
there are unconfirmed reports of further bomb attacks in the Poso region in
the last 48 hours. These reports are yet to be confirmed.
-posted 11:35am, by
Martin Roth
Opinionated
I was interviewed this week (via email) by
a reporter for a Christian news agency, on the subject of Christian
blogging. One interesting question was: How can blogging be beneficial to
Christians as a communications tool?
I think it can be useful in all kinds of
ways. I cited an idea that was once suggested to me, that a missionary could
start a blog to communicate with supporters at a home church.
And a church could start its own blog to
allow its members to communicate ideas with each other and with a wider
public. That’s one of the aims of the
Opinionated blog from Sydney’s
Toongabbie Anglican Church.
The blog is described as “a
collection of thoughts, views, observations and opinions” with the purpose:
* to encourage considered thought on issues relating to the
Christian’s walk;
* to encourage our church to be dwelling on the word of God
beyond an hour each Sunday;
* to bring to the greater world a new view of Toongabbie
Anglican, and clear godly-, gospel- and Bible-focussed thought.
Anyone looking to ways in which blogging
could play a role in the life of the church should examine this site.
It Can’t Get Any Worse, But It Will
In the distant days (two months ago) when
I was a novice blogger I sent out emails to lots of other bloggers asking if
they might give me a mention on their sites. Some were exceedingly generous.
I hope I will always be generous to others
who contact me.
Edward Kim emails to say his
Veritas webpage is a neat Christian site, and it really is. Here is how
he describes it:
This site mines the internet for spiritual gold. To assure a well-balanced
mind and soul, we add two or three materials a day from a wide variety of
sources so that the philosophers of the church will further develop their
emotional health and the artists will further develop their intellect. There
is no greater need in Christ's kingdom today than for well-rounded believers
to meet a dying world with the gospel.
So feel free to peruse, download, or print these must-read articles at your
leisure. I've made it a happy ritual to print out the latest article and
read while eating breakfast. It's my spiritual vitamin for the day.
Edward is also editor of
The Chosun Journal, which is dedicated to “informing, provoking,
mobilising consciences for the sake of human rights in North Korea”. That’s
a cause I support. My wife is Korean, born in Seoul to parents who had fled
from the North.
There’s a huge amount on the site. Go
there, explore and be appalled that the plight of the North Koreans is
almost certainly far more desperate than you imagined.
On the site I read a
Newsweek article by Christopher Hitchens. Here is his conclusion:
On the one hand, the country is marked by rigid and fanatical
militarization, complete censorship and total party control. On the other,
it continues to be plagued by galloping underdevelopment, scarcity and
social implosion. No food and no culture. No future and no past. Just an
unbearable present, both predictable and unstable. It can't get any worse
than this, except that it will.
MaryLinks
David Kopel asks if I might consider
mentioning
MaryLinks, which he describes as
an extensive categorized collection of web links about the Virgin Mary. It's
a solid starting point for surfers who want to investigate any of a wide
variety of Marian topics.
BlogTrack
Joshua Sargent of the
Book of Joshua notifies me of
BlogTrack. I haven’t tried it, but it sounds neat.
Here is his description:
Found a vital app for all bloggers and those who just read them! You
need to go to BlogTrack and sign up and add your favourite 20 blogs (like
The Book of Joshua) and go login whenever you want and it automatically
checks your 20 favourite blogs in like 30 seconds and lets you know which
ones are updated. I no longer have to check out
Jordon's blog,
Andrew's, or
any of my other favs 3-4 times a day to see if they're updated, I can just
let BlogTrack do it for me!
-posted 10:50am, by
Martin Roth
Bene Diction posts:
This Isn’t Just About Cows!
Oh good grief! Many of us have been following the story
of the Masai’s gift of cows to the American people. The insensitivity and
stupidity of this American diplomat is outrageous! There could be a
happy ending. Go
here. If the Masai can make an effort, so can other ordinary folk.
It’s Not the Cold War Any More
India’s military is actively seeking
war as thousands of Westerners flee the region. Diplomatic efforts may
be insufficient to prevent further escalation. This paragraph hidden in this
report reveals a sobering truth.
India's military believes that
it now has political backing for war. An officer said the beleaguered ruling
coalition was "fully aware" that backing down at this juncture would mean
political suicide.
While army personnel know exactly what they are saying
and doing, Pakistani and Indian villagers really
don’t understand what a nuclear explosion means. Westerners are
relearning that concept in a new and chilling way because of computers.
Still Afraid to Speak
Even Chinese writers that have found freedom in the west
find it
difficult to write about Tiananmen Square. Only about four novels have
been attempted, and the literary world can’t quite figure out why. Notre
Dame Professor Howard Goldblatt thinks part of the problem is a sense of
shame and failure.
"My sense is that it's with
them deep down in their guts, but that they don't write about it, partly out
of self-protection but also because it's a hard thing to analyze," he said.
"It's hard for them to say,
'I'm writing a novel about how our government killed perhaps thousands,
certainly hundreds, of our people for demonstrating for democratization.'"
See Martin’s post yesterday and his article on the right
side.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
And while Chinese authors are trying to find their voice
an award winning British author doesn’t know when silence his.
Phillip Pullman has been trounced all over the world for calling C.S.
Lewis a propagandist and racist at a literary festival this week. He has
written the Dark Materials Trilogy that celebrates atheism. He has been
called the C.S. Lewis of his time. Buddy, you don’t even come close.
And While We Are on the Subjects of
Writers, War and Stupidity
A Christian Science Monitor reporter has discovered that
using his credit card overseas is not a good idea.
Here is his tale of misfortune. He just wanted waffles. What he got was
a lot of waffling from agencies that are supposed to investigate theft, arms
sales and other activities that have nothing to do with breakfast.
One
Truth Doesn’t Cancel out the Other Here
Italy is in an uproar over Antonia Socci’s book,
The New Persecuted. Socci says the untold story of the 20th
century is the murder of 45 million Christians. He is under attack from
Muslims, Jews and academics.
Others said Mr. Socci was part
of a rightwing revisionist effort to distort history and promote a hawkish
response to perceived threats.
What am I missing? The Masai probably don’t even read,
and they grasp basic concepts of human nature, conflict, religion and
sacrifice better than diplomats, academics, and generals. Rather than spout
hyperbole, this small tribe acted, and gave freely. Come to think of it, so
did a Nazarene carpenter and His Father 2000 years ago.
-posted 9:40am, by Bene Diction
