nextchurch

Andries, that sounds very exciting and something I want to be a part of. The next church sounds like THE place to get involved in. I think the next church needs to:
be a place where anyone is welcome,
where there are no committees, synods, and 100-steps-before-a-decision-is-endorsed,
where the Holy Spirit leads,
no unneccesary clutter,
where children are welcome.

Thanks for your vision!

Interessant. Julle gaan deur waar ek en my man 10jaar gelede was, die soeke na Christus. Die ortodokse kerk het toe nie geglo aan sendelingwerk nie, ons moes gaan soek en ons het gevind. Baie gelees oor verstand en geloof, wanneer ons doodgaan verteer wurms en mikro-organismes hierdie geweldige brein van ons tot stof – dit se veel oor ons verstand ne? Religion is not against our human intellect, it is above it. Sterkte met julle soektog.

I have responded to your invitation to write something on your blog (see the thread about my suspension last year from the CSIR). That got me to looking at what you stand for, and all I can say is that the very issues you grapple with have been a deep burden to me for almost my entire life. As I read about you I got to see more about myself.

Today I stand attacked by some in public for science that I did to the very best of my ability. The reason for that attack, is not the science, but the fact that I spoke out – the fact that I took a moral position on the type of science we should be doing as a young democracy – what I called science in the service of society. I also served as a soldier in the so-called Apartheid Security Forces and therefore my detractors have a convenient stick to beat me with. I must be evil by association. By implication this means that my science is rubbish.

At the heart of this is what I am as a human being. I have grappled with this for my entire life, and now find a release for that through writing and poetry. The attacks on my integrity have meant that I need to defend myself, and part of that defence is my new website anthonyturton.com that will show those who are interested, the many different facets of me as a human being. It will show details of my complex family history, which is probably shaed with many readers of this blog.

The bottom line is that I am a 12th generation African, the product of a complex history with roots in the Trekoers, the Huguenots, the slaves and the British settlers. But I am an African and will always be deeply proud of that. My oldest traceable relative was murdered in front of the Cape Town Castle. Another one of my oldest relatives, a French Huguenot called Charles Marais, was also murdered and his death became the first known autopsy in which a given action – the throwing of a stone – was linked to a specific death. My family has co-evolved with violence for 350 years, and in my memoirs I write that “my personality was forged on the anvil of Africa by the hammer of endemic violence”.

It was the burden of my generation to serve as soldiers. We never asked for that role. We never relished violence. We never created the cause for going to war. We simply responded to the call of our country and we did the very best we could under the most horrific of circumstances. I accept full responsibility for everything I have ever done, either as a soldier, a scientist, or a simple citizen of this country. Sadly, that period of my life has caused me to be deeply skeptical about the church. We were blessed before going into combat and we were told that God is on our side …. now go and kill my son! I have still not managed to come to terms with this and therefore avoid church.

But your notion of a Next Church appeals to me.

Maybe this is what elements of the Next Church should be about – personal accountability and responsibility for actions taken under trying circumstances. Basing actions on morality. But above all about understanding and forgiveness. I have found, in my personal journey through life, that I was liberated the instant that I forgave others – the day that I empathized with those who had been hurt (even my so-called “enemy”). So today I am liberated, and even if I am being attacked by unenlightened people, for doing what I merely considerd to be my job, which I tried to do to the best of my ability, I still have the inner strength to endure. To move forward, as a proud African with a cultural heritage that is significant even if it is not fully documented and understood. But more importantly I sleep with a clear conscience.

I encourage you in what you are trying to do. I never get involved in Blogs, but your invitation stirred something in me and I responded. My response is thus a first for me ever….

Keep it up!

If you are a follower of Jesus then please do not go ahead with this unethical adoption.

Die boeke waarna ek verwys het is:
Alan Hirsch
“The Forgotten Ways” en
“The Forgotten Ways – Handbook”
Sy blogsite is by:
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog-2/
Groetnis

Ek blog nie, ek post nie, ek ‘tweet’ nie en het nie ‘n black berry nie.

Maar ek weet van dit alles en min of meer hoe dit alles werk want ek is:

– With it
– Into die lewe
– Andries Louw se niggie
– Lief vir die lewe en vir Andries

En DIT is die enigste rede hoekom ek my comment hier ‘post’ – vir my, nes Anthony Turton, ‘n absolute eerste en waarskynlik laaste.

Luv u cous’!

En SO trots op jou!
Mar

Andries lekker om te sien wat julle doen. Dis groots. Alle heil en … tonne seën. Wimpi Burger