Lies, damned lies and statistics

The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.
God looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
Everyone has turned away,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Ps 53:1-3

It´s just a number, but there is a reality behind the number. It´s a percentage, but there are human souls counted in that percentage. That´s why I winced when I saw it, in the lower left corner of the front page of a magazine, 14 % of all Swedes believe that God created Earth. 14 % of all Swedes agree with the second line of the Apostles Creed, “creator of Heaven and Earth”. How many fall off by the third line, the fourth, the fifth, how many stick by to the end of the Creed? Probably not that many, probably a single figure percentage.

More numbers, in 1947 80 % believed in God, in 2001 46 %. In two generations practically halfed. If a marketing guru saw these figures, he would probably say to the Church: “What the fuck are you doing wrong?” I don´t honestly know what to reply, other than Kyrie eleison. Lord have mercy.

The difference between 46 and 14 is not that we have lost another third in just a couple of years, it´s the difference between God being a name and God actually being a person doing stuff. That difference is bloody important. That difference mean we pray to God, rather than just talk about, over, around, concerning God.

Does these numbers mean I´m a dinosaur, antiquated, a relic from past ages? Not so, I have no intention of becoming extinct any time soon. But neither did the dinosaurs, I guess. So what strategy should we devise in order to survive in a hostile new environment? Adapt, become leaner and meaner, change our diet and take smaller prey?

We already have a strategy, and a promise that the Church will prevail. One day, every knee will bow, every tounge will confess that the Lord is King. It will be so. But today we have a problem, or rather, they have a problem and we can help. We´re not the solution, but we are given heavenly bread for the purpose of sharing it. The strategy is simple, let the kingdom of God become real and present in us and among us. I´ll be damned if a kingdom in my soul and in my church doesn´t impress someone. The kingdom of God will not perish by sword, power or wealth, by Big Brother marathons on the telly or page three girls in the evening newspaper. Not even by mindblowing poets or soultouching master painters. It will be so.

My priest wrote something about the demon of comparison, that the success of the church cannot be measured by numbers. Indeed, Jesus, measured by numbers, wasn´t much of a pastor. He had thousands who listened to him, media coverage, good will and buzz in the community. At the way up to Golgotha, how many disciples remained? Not many, but two thousand years later those disciples are counted in billons. There is a world outside Swedish borders, thankfully, and the Church prosper in quite a few places around this beautiful globe. And that success belongs to Jesus. None other.

Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.
Ps 63:3

The shroud of Turin

- Grounds of faith
- or maybe even Did Jesus have a ponytail?


Negative image of the shroud

I like Kierkegaard as much as the next person. Basically I agree that faith at the root is an absurd phenomenon, we believe in spite of a world that mocks and laughs at faith. That´s the way it´s always been, and I´m not going to complain about it. It´s in fact one of the clear promises of the Bible, if one of the more unpleasant. Don´t say it didn´t warn you!

I consider it blasphemy to claim empirical evidence creates or sustains faith, that´s something that´s the unique prerogative of the Holy Spirit. With that said, I would like to take you on a little journey to the mundane and worldly. I guess mostly because I sometimes feel very “harmless” in delivering this or that week´s spiritual essay, as in “to each man a faith of his own”. Because the points I put up here are available to public scrutiny, it´s possible to determine them as correct or incorrect. If it´s bullshit, then it´s at least in theory ascertainable bullshit. But if it´s not, I think it´s intellectually dishonest to just ignore it.

I guess most people have heard about the shroud in Turin, maybe even seen the eerie face in some magazine article from the recent Olympics. Allegedly, it is the face of Christ, exhibiting bleeding from the skull (as from a crown of thorns), from the back (as from flailing), from the side (as from a spear piercing the heart) and from the root of the hands as well as the feet (as from nail wounds).

During my time in catholic Spain I always cringed a bit at the religious bric-a-brac you find in churches there. A tooth of St John here, a pelvis from St Augustine there. Sure. Until I saw a quite morbid medieval painting with some saint having his limbs sawed off post-mortem and sent off as relics to churches. So at least some of them have to be real, I guess...

The Catholics, God bless them!, don´t mind mixing science and religion. For instance, miracles in the Catholic church are carefully scrutinized and documented by scholars. Seems far better than the other variety: “A friend of my sister was at a Bible camp were they healed a blind man!” - “If you say so...” The shroud has actually spawned it´s own scientifical field, sindonology. Forensic teams have examined the shroud of Turin, as well as another legendary item, the sudarium of Oviedo in Spain, which is believed to be the wrapping for the head, referred to in the gospel of John. The sudarium in Oviedo shows signs of death by asfyxiation, consistent with crucifixion. Interestingly (and at the risk of starting a Christian fashion trend) the corpse had a pony tail! But back to the shroud in Turin, what does it actually show? The very detailed outline of a man whose characteristics match those of Jesus, and is also quite similar to the arche type of early Christian icons. How this outline in the textile has come into existence is unknown, however it was not painted. There was definitely a real body which caused it, but the mechanism of representation is not known. Biological residue gives the corpse´s blood type, but also shows no sign of decomposure, meaning the wrapping was in contact with the body but for a short while. It was a dead body exhibiting rigor mortis. Analysis of pollen residue matches the alleged history of the ramblings of the shroud, from Palestine, through Edessa and Istamboul in Turkey, France and then Turin, Italy. The sudarium in Oviedo is better traced and further back, and a similar pollen analysis has corrobated the history of that shroud.

4% of all human beings have the blood type AB, which is found on both the shroud in Turin and Oviedo. The chance of that being a fluke coincidence is 0.16 %. That means it takes 99.84 % rational assumption and 0.16 % faith to believe the two stem from the same body. Far from demanding a knight of faith, a mere squire can believe that. Admittedly, that body needn´t be that of Jesus, but I´d say it´s the rational assumption given the evidence, both place and time checks out, as well as medical data corresponding to the Gospel account. And the fact that there are historical accounts of the shroud being in existence from 325 AD should be worth something.

In the year of 1988 it seemed the shroud was suddenly “killed” as an object of historical importance, when a carbon dating indicated it was vowen in medieval time. Various imaginative explanations to this were put forward, but in the public eye, it was a done deal it was all hoax. Until just last year, when it was shown that the fabric had been mended in the medieval period, and in fact the sample that was age-tested was one of the “new” pieces. A bit clumsy they didn´t discover it the first time around, but there you go. The debate rages on...

So what gives if the shrouds in Turin and Oviedo are legit? It shows that the detailed account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the Gospels is correct, and undeniably strengthens the New Testament as an historical source. It shows that the garments which Jesus were buried in did not see his physical decomposure. Forensic experts suggests they could not have been removed from his body without visible signs of tampering. Does that prove a resurrection? Of course not, but it provides us with a mystery that science has not been able to solve. Beyond this point, we´re in the realm of faith. Basically in the same position the populace of Jerusalem were in, they had seen Jesus crucified, laid in a grave sealed with a stone. And now the grave was empty, those who murdered Jesus said his disciples stole the body, his disciples that he was resurrected. They gladly suffered death for that belief.

Naturally people disagree with these points I´ve put forward. I willingly provide a link to the Sceptic Site where they have a piece on the shroud. Some of what I´ve written here is to be read in the the Danish book Mirakler. Møder mellem Himmel og Jord, by Niels Christian Hvidt, a Catholic theologian. Another site you can look into, you can judge for yourselves which of the two sites is the more serious. I found it great fun and fascinating reading about this whole subject, so put down your copy of “The Da Vinci Code“ for a couple of minutes and get the real thing!

An Easter meditation

There´s a grave, and there´s a dead man in the grave. This is the Good Friday, and today there is no resurrection. We rolled the stone on him together. It was heavy, and when it was done, we went home in silence, each on our own to our own home and family. The light of my life – is now darkness. The word of my life – is utter silence.

I´ve said to others: Trust in this man, for he have never failed me. Look at me, what am I without him? Everything I have, I have in him. And now it´s all gone. I am reduced to nothing, I´ve followed a dream, I´ve waken up, and I´m dead.

It is true I needed him, for there´s a hole and an absence where my heart should be, and was until he left us. It is true I needed him, for he was not done with me yet, and there is no one that can do what he did for me, and yet he didn´t finish it and I blame him. You´re not done, finish it and be gone, if it be your will, but finish it.

Every little darkness and each ray of sunshine which has passed through my life, I´ve told him about it. And now it is as the dead talking to the dead, and I´d rather be silent. Some don´t see it that way, they don´t mind talking to the dead, because the dead don´t talk back. They are indeed the most pitiable of creatures. Let the dead bury the dead, your time will come.

We stood a while before the stone. We said nothing, we sang nothing, we didn´t even pray. To whom? Go home, there´s nothing to see here. There´s a grave, and there´s a dead man in the grave. And yet his death – gives me life. This is the Good Friday, and today, today there is no resurrection.

“Wir sind Bettler. Das ist wahr.”

Martin Luther dies in the year 1546, leaving a note behind with a few words that could sum up his theology: “We´re beggars. That´s the truth.”

460 years later I walk down a street in central Malmö with a couple of colleagues. We´ve been to a conference, unclear which, and while away the hour until our train leaves with some window-shopping in fancy furniture stores. In front of a cinema-turned-fashion-shop there stands a beggar, or rather kneels, hands outstretched, no note, no words, just hands outstretched, which in universal language means “Give me!”

The rational Swede thinks, we´re in the welfare state, no one should need beg. There´s social services, charity organizations (I gave plenty last Christmas!) and employment to be had for willing hands. The rational Swede walks on by, just like all the rest of the street. Comes home, and is reminded of the Luther note. And of the Church that´s the mother of faith, how we all support each other in loving-kindness, how we pray for each other, sing praise together and strengthen our brothers and sisters with words of reassurance and maybe even the odd word of reprovement. We go on retreats, we have priests who hear our confession, saints write books to guide us and inspire us, we have the Bible and maybe read it with fervour. We have an environment solely dedicated to our spiritual welfare. We should be OK. Still we´re beggars. That´s the truth.

So I guess we´re quite alike, me and the kneeling man in Malmö, but there´s a difference. The people he begged of walked on by, some ignoring him, some tossing him a coin that wouldn´t buy him even a cup of coffee, some feeling a sting of bad conscience, maybe even returning home writing a spiritual meditation on the subject. But no one really acting out true mercy. The difference is a merciful God.

Begging sounds humiliating, as weakness and to be in need has always been contempted. But I´m proud to be a beggar at the throne of Christ. This is what matters. Others may enjoy having their photos taken with a rifle in arms and a foot on the prey, thinking themselves a Hemingway of sorts. He shot himself eventually, and what they´re chasing after is just as empty. They´d rather conquer and steal pointless, worthless and meaningless death, than pray for, beg, and receive life abundant and free.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:19-23

Why beg? I agree with Pauls diagnosis of the sinful nature, I have seen plenty of it in mine own life. Not all, but that´s not much of an excuse. I could take comfort in (I don´t) that most everyone I know fail in at least a couple of these departments. Frankly, dear friend and reader, I doubt you´re an exception.

Why beg? Because it´s rewarded. Sure, when I hear the whole list of the fruits of the Spirit, it sounds distant. But take them one at a time, and examine myself, and I can honestly say there´s been a change. Not in all of them, to lesser and greater degrees, but then God´s not finished with me yet either. Ultimately, even that is of a lesser interest. I´d rather be a sinner with Christ in heaven, than a saint with the devil in hell. He says: “Better to reign in hell, than to serve in heaven.” Luther says: “Wir sind Bettler. Das ist wahr.”