Back after holidays

So here I am, back after the holidays. Summer is over in Kiruna, there is chill in the air and the first autumn colours are coming. We made a hike of 5 days in the mountains the last few days. Along Giebnegaisi (Kebnekaise), the highest mountain of Sweden (still - the ice summit has been melting from 2121 meters in the eighties to 2101 last year. Another 12 meters and it is no longer the highest). On we went through Siellavaggi to Singi. A walk through a roadless land and through a beautiful landscape.

But now I am back at work. Starting a new job, as Regional Secretary for Asia at the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, still the other half of my time working as pastor for the Sámi in that same church.
Now I sit in a warm and summer-like Stockholm, quite a change after the last few days in the mountains!

Don't show you are a Christian!

That is the advice of the Swedish special court for immigration, when they want to send back a Christian couple to Iran, according to Dagen . According to the newspaper, the Court (and apparently the Immigration Service itself, as they want to sent the couple back) thinks it is no big problem being a Christian in Iran, as long as you hold a low profile. They seem to know little about Christianity, as Christ calls upon his followers not to keep a low profile. The Great Commission and the central place that has in Christian faith seems to be unknown for them. How can one be a Christian and not talk about what changed ones life with friends, relatives, collegues, not gather in places to pray and worship?

There is no freedom for Christians in Iran. I thought everybody knew that. If Sweden thinks freedom of religion is important (as politicians say all the time) it seems clear to me that people like this couple should be granted to stay. While Sweden as a nation should do all that is possible to support democracy in countries like Iran.

Sending back people who fled because of their Christian faith to a country where they can be sentenced to death for their conversion from Islam to Christianity could be seen as helping third part to persecute people for their faith. Let us hope that Sweden will be more decent than so.

Bugging a pastor

Swedish Parliament has recently passed a very controversial law giving FRA (National Defensce Radio Establishment) more possibilities to bug telephone and internet traffic passing the Swedish border. The law is controversial indeed.
Today, Dagen reports that already in the 90-ies FRA has bugged the leader of the Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Ulf Ekman, because of his missionary contacts with Russia. Apparently, FRA does not need a law at all, they seemed to think they can do whatever they like to.
Stefan Swärd, leader for another church, EFK, has put questions to FRA boss Ingvar Åkesson. Relevant questions. Why was this bugging done? Who ordered it? Have more christian leaders/organisations being bugged? What does the new law mean for the future concerning religious institutions? We wait for some good answers, if they exist.

In Sweden there is freedom of religion guaranteed. There are also laws protecting personal integrity and guaranteeing pastors and priests the right to be silent about things they have heard in confidence. How then can it be possible that FRA is bugging a pastor? Apparently they have been violating the constitution. What does this mean for missionary organisations in Sweden? Can we speak freely on the phone with our partners, or do we have to be more careful - not because of some other regimes, condemned by democratic Sweden, but because of our own governmental organisations?

Freedom of religion and protection of personal integrity are cornerstones of our society. I would hope they will remain so in future. FRA needs to be controlled in a better way. Apparently.

Extinct colours

A problem for those reconstructing a world long gone (paleontologists, trying to reconstruct extinct life forms) is the fact that their reconstructed world tends to be in black an white. Sure there are colour reconstructions - many, in fact. But colours are sophisticated guesses inthe best case, based on the world of today. We can imagine the colour of an extinct seabird, perhaps, to be greyish and white beneath. That is functional and many sea birds ghave that today. But the colour of a dinosaur or a trilobite is less easy to guess. And who would have guesses the colour pattern of a malayan tapir or an okapi or giraffa, only having bones at hand?

It is very interesting therefore that scientists have been able to show that certain pigments fossilize. Paleontologists at Yale have been able to analyse pigmentation in a 100 million year old bird feather (Lower Cretaceous, Brasil). They could see the striped pattern of the fossil woodpecker, caused by the pigment melanine. Similar patterns were found on an Eocene bird from Denmark. (see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708182536.htm). This opens possibilities for looking for melanine in more fossils.
Perhaps feathered dinosaurs and even other animals long extinct will cet colours and patterns. New techniques give a thrilling insight in lost worlds.

Missing link between Christianity and Judaism?

Under this title the newspaper Dagen reports on Israel Knohls (prof of Biblical Stdies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem) presentations concerning Gazon Gavriel, a recently discovered Hebrew text on stone from shortly before the birth of Christ. Dagens source is an article in New York Times. The text, found near the Dead Sea, is an apocalyptic text ascribed to the angel Gabriel. According to Knohl, the text confirms his theory that the thinking of a suffering and slain Messiah, raised again from the death, was already found in Judaism before Christ became active as a teacher. The text reads at a point: “In three days you shall live (an idiom for come to life again), I, Gabriel, command you.”, adressing a "Prince of Princes". The new thing in Knohls interpretation is the word live (hayeh), which is spelled in an unusual way, but in a way occurring just in this period of time. The original publishers could not read this particular word.

Knohl thinks the text in this case may be about a certain Simon, killed by Herods army, an interpreteation apparently challenged by others. But that is not the important point. The important point for him is, that the concept of a slain an resurrected messiah was not unknown at Christs time. According to him and others, this should shake our basic view of Christianity, and, as Daniel Boyarin from Berkeley says in the articles, see a threat to the uniqueness of Christianity, others may have another view.

I find the stone very interesting a look forward to more discussions about it. By the way, one may wish to read Knohls own article in Haaretz which came already in April (apparently missed by both Dagen and NY Times) which is far more elaborate than the other two articles. If Knohl is right and the concept of a slain messiah was already more or less common in (parts of) Judaism I see no problem for Christians. No threat. Contrary, many theologians recognize the concept of a suffering messiah in Old Testament texts, the most wellknown being Isaiah 53 (Yes I know there are other interpretations as well). Many texts are interpreted as prophetic texts pointing to Christ. Of course, one can explain the texts in different ways, they may well have more than one interpretation at the same time. But if Christians are right saying that the suffering and death of Christ as well as his resurrection are foresaid in the Old Testament, it is not at all suprising to discover that the concept of the slain messiah was alive within certain parts of Judaism. It would rather be expected.
I cannot see that the discovery would pose a problem for Christianity as a swedish blogger states (http://omreligion.blogspot.com/2008/07/jesus-en-i-mngden.html). It rather clarifies a connection between Judaism and Christianity that many of us already knew is there.

Mosquito land

The last week, warmth has come to Kiruna and Lapland, after much rain. With summer, also the mosquitos have come - as usual. A nuisance, I admit, but we get used to it. It seems to be much worse for visitors. And of course, they are a part of the arctic ecosystem. They are needed as much as any other animals. As someone has said, Kiruna is fantastic - 100 million mosquitos think so, so it must be true.
Nooit meer slapen - Never sleep again - the title of a book by the Dutch author WF Hermans. He describes a visit to Lapland, writes about the mosquitos, the midnight sun and the main character in the book does not like it, to use an understatement. Don't read the book before you have been to Lapland, I tell the Dutch - because after reading it you won't come. And that would be a pity.
Really, the arctic is beautiful in summer. Long days, and the small but beautiful arctic flowers are really exploding. Summer in the mountains is beautiful and I already look forward to a week in Hemavan (flora and geology week, see http://www.smufjallgard.nu/ - you are welcome to join in).

The tetrapod link

The evolution from fish to tetrapod (four-legged animals, land animals) has always been a subject of debate, not the least in the creationist discussion. The last few years, much has become clearer about the transition from fish to tetrapod (amphibian). Classical Ichthyostega from Greenland, which is a devonian aphibian with a number of fish characteristics, is nevertheless a clear tetrapod. It is no longer however the most fish-like one. Nature reports new findings on Ventastega curiona, found in Latvia. (See Science Daily) The species has been known for some time, but newly described fossils (by among others Per Ahlberg from Upsala) shedsnew light on the animals limbs. This devonian tetrapod can be considered the most fish-like of them all. From the fish side, a very tetrapod like fish Tiktaalik was described from the devonian of Canada in 2006. Thus, the gap between tetrapods and fish is closing as we have more intermediate forms and better understand the development from fish extremities to tetrapod limbs.
Creationists may find that difficult, but I would say that my admiration for the Creators creativity only grows.