Jonny Solari

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The Bullhorn Guy

March 21, 2012 in Bible, Church, evangelism, God, society with 0 Comments

I went into town today for a couple of hours, I had a few things that needed done so i was in a bit of a rush. In the small amount of time that i was in town, i got handed several “christian tracts” and was subjected to the sound of a rather dull “street preacher” who was standing outside Belfast City Hall, accompanied by his set of megaphones.

I know it has been said before that there has to be a better way of communicating what it is that they are trying to say, but it annoyed me more today than it ever had previously. Has anyone ever got to know God by reading a verse on a piece of paper? Further down the road people were handing out leaflets for a new burrito bar. They were both doing the exact same thing, doesn’t it seem strange that some people are trying to tell others about God in the same way that the promo staff were trying to get some burritos sold. Advertising God using flyers doesn’t seem like the best idea.

I believe that the christian message is a highly interesting one and it deserves to be told in a way that does it justice. It is frustrating to see people trying their best to fight the stereotypes that the church has been given and let people know that God and dullness don’t go together, while there is someone in the street taking away from all the hard work they are putting in, by condemning the street to hell. Most people don’t have an experience with God but they do have one with christians, sometimes we don’t do the best job of representing him, and in some cases it would be better to just get out of the way.

Working in a call centre

March 20, 2012 in society with 0 Comments

A couple of years ago i worked in a call centre for about 6 months. It was far from being my ideal job, but hey everyone needs to earn a living. Call centre staff are probably among the most unpopular people that the public would like to talk to, but here is a few things i learnt while working there.

1. Surrounded by talent - I’m sure a lot of people have a preconception about the kinds of people who work in call centres, i’m not going to lie, before i got the job i had an idea that was very different to the reality. I worked along side people who were in the process of writing TV shows and books, or who were making their steps towards a career in sports. The call centre was full of people who had big ideas, and needed some easy money to back them.

2. Out of my hands – This is something that i said more in the 6 months that i worked there, than i had ever said in my entire life before. I constantly had to tell customers that there was nothing more i could do for them, and their problems were out of my hands. Next time someone on the other end of the phone tells you this, believe them. They may be the one you are speaking to about your issue, but from experience they have about as much responsibility as the vending machine.

3. Wireless internet - Before working there, i had no idea how few people understood the concept of wireless internet. I had to tell customers that they had to pay to have a phone line fitted, only to hear them retort that they thought it was wireless internet. I heard this everyday for 6 months…

4. No one looks this happy -

Paul vs Jesus

March 9, 2012 in Bible, Church, God, society with 9 Comments

Firstly, i want to state that i personally see no reason at all why woman should not be able to fulfil the same role as a man, in the church, in fact i am fully supportive of it, however this post is not about that question, but another that it raises. I came across an article on Relevant Magazine that you can read here. It talks about how a lot of woman leave the church because they are unable to fulfil their potential. It says that Jesus treated woman equally, and uses that as an argument for why the church should do this today.

Obviously i can see the logic behind this, but then what about what Paul says?

Paul

(1 Cor) ³⁴ Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.

^{(1 Tim 2) 12} I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner

(1 Peter 3) ⁷ Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Jesus

It’s a fact that Jesus did not choose a woman to be one of the Twelve, but it’s just as true that He did not choose a man to be the first person to witness and announce His Resurrection. It’s also a fact that no women were included in the inner circle of three who were present with Him at Gethsemane and the Transfiguration, but it’s just as true that no women followers bear the shame of having denied Jesus publicly. (Taken from Resignation of Eve: What if Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing to be the Church’s Backbone? by Jim Henderson.)

The argument here is that Jesus was happy to work along side women while showing no prejudice, so we as the church should do the same. If this is the case then Paul strongly disagrees, he clearly believes that Men and Women have very different roles in the church. Now i am left with the problem as to what we do from here. I would be likely to side with Jesus as he is Jesus, but does this mean that what he says is important but the rest of the bible should be taken with a pinch of salt? Any ideas?

BBC Mock Jesus But Not Mohammed

March 8, 2012 in God, society with 0 Comments

Most of us will be aware of the controversy that was caused over the cartoons of Mohammed, that were posted in a Danish newspaper last September. Muslims believe that there should never be any images depicting Muhammed, and so they obviously found these cartoons offensive. There was a huge response from the Muslim people, it was obvious that they were offended and they were going to make themselves heard.

The head of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has admitted that the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed in the way that it mocks Jesus. He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed might have the “emotional force” of “grotesque child pornography”.

Former BBC news anchor Mr Sissons, said: “Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.”

How can it be ok to offend people from one religion but not another?

Have christians brought this reputation for being pushovers on themselves?

Should anything be done about it?

Lot’s of questions that i don’t have answers to at the minute…

Making Bradford British

March 5, 2012 in society with 0 Comments

Channel 4 television recently aired the first instalment of a 2 part series called “Making Bradford British, which you can watch here. The aim of this program is to try and find out what it means to be British in 2012. It started out interestingly enough as they asked all of the potential participants to take a UK citizenship test. In most cases 90% of people taking the test failed, this included people from all over the city, even people who have generations of british relatives.

Eight of the few hundred candidates were then asked to spend sometime living in a house together, seemingly to get to understand and appreciate the other kinds of people that are living in Bradford. You have all kinds of people in the house and it is definitely interesting to see how they interact with one another.

The thing i found most interesting about this episode was the interaction between a muslim man called Rashid and the rest of the group. There had been some objection to Rashid having to leave the house 5 times a day to pray at mosque, so eventually they came to a compromise which involved him taking the whole group in a mini-bus to a local park, so that he could pray there. A couple of the christians were deeply moved by how devout he was to his faith, and Maura, one of the other participants even found herself praying into herself as she watched him.

Even simple things, like them all saying “grace” in their own way before they eat their meal were very interesting to watch.

There are many different groups of people living in Belfast and truthfully i have come into contact with very few of these. In a city were it is still accepted that there are Protestant and Catholic areas, i cant help feeling that we are pretty far off having an integrated society.

Anyone else watching it? Thoughts?