EIB Blues

So, is it just me, or am I now the only one in Indiana who things that global warming might, perhaps, not completely sure, but maybe could have something to do with what humans have been doing with pollution for the past 150 years? I mean, I could be wrong, but I just have a hard time ignoring the possibility when most people who hold PhDs in the world think that we could have something to do with it. I guess I feel a little dumb when I try and agree with Garison in the Morning when he uses the "volcano-pumps-as-much-green-house-gas-as-all-our-cars-combined-argument," for the nth time.

Listening to conservative talk radio has been a breath of fresh air, no pun intended...when they talk about pro-life issues. But on most other topics, the radio personalities just don't have a whole lot to say...unless you call creating straw man arguments, label them as "Obamametrics" and then proceed to knock 'em down with with a bunch of hot air.

It's not culture shock, at least I hope not. It's just that when you try to use those "arguments" across the pond people don't really respond to you, they just roll their eyes. I'm not saying I want to be a Euro-liberal, I just want to hear real arguments, a real line of reasoning that I could use if I wanted to actually have an intelligent conversation with someone who might think a little differently. Maybe I just want the Excellence in Broadcasting network to be a little more, well...excellent. Is it a bad thing that I prefer NPR to conservative talk radio?

Being the Foreigner...

So, I'm exactly two weeks away from departure, and I'm regretting the fact that it's been a whole 4 months since I posted last. I hope I kept a good journal...oh wait, I didn't. oh well. Most great writers draft their memoires when they're about 70, so I got some time...to become a great writer that is. Anyway...

Foreign cultures are always more complicated than you think. We talk about the food, the sterotypes, and the different ways of dressing- and even when you actually live there, you feel like you could boil everything down to about 10 pages of do's and dont's. That's true for about the first 4 months.

After Christimas, when my French skills finally started kicking in, things started changing little by little. You pick up more during dinner conversations. While you're waiting in line for lunch, you overhear more bits and pieces of conversations. When you are sitting on the tram, you can understand a conversation between a mother and her child. And when you wake up to the radio every morning, you can actually understand what the weather is going to be like that day. The language adds a lot, but I think there's a lot more.

...

I was with my mom in Paris a month ago and I was suprised at how I acted when I was with her in public. Of course my mom wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. If I had seen her in the street, I wouldn't have necessarily thought that anything was abnormal. But for some reason I felt that way. I had no problems translating stuff and ordering food at the restaurants. But there was something different. I was seeing how people were treating her. Don't worry, we didn't get robbed, and everyone helped us get what we wanted... but I could hear it in the tone of their voice.

I apoligized to her for being so up-tight and fearful of other people. But I also learned a little more than just the fact that I was too prideful for my own good.

...

Understanding how people in other cultures view foreigners is as essential to understanding who they are as understanding how they view themselves. Of course most of us say, duh, because we all know how French people view Americains: naive, manichean, shoot-first-ask-questions-later, anti-environment, and obeise. That's the first layer- basic stereotypes. We have our own for the French, don't worry. Then you spend a couple months in France and forget about how they see you because you learn how to evade those basic stereotypes. You spend all your time trying to figure out who they are, and then one day you come full circle. I think that experience with my mom was just that. Instead of seeing how the French view Americans according to my preconcieved stereotypes, I saw it in real time. When someone takes a tone with your mom, it get's a little more personal, what can I say.

It started making me think about how I treat the foreigners I see at home. With 15 million Mexicans, among millions of other emigrants, it's kinda hard to evade the question. Although I'm ashamed to say it's not a question I've really asked myself before. I see them in the grocery store, on the side of the street pushing lawn mowers, and right next to me as I'm washing windows each summer. Cultural immersion isn't that hard if you only have to do it for 8 months, especially when you have a nice host mom who gives you cheese every day. I can't imagine leaving my family for 5 years at a time- much less doing it without signing up for some English courses- mainly because I can't afford them. How many times has my situation with my mom been the reverse while standing in the grocery store back home? How many mexicains have I upset because I simply didn't take the time to understand that they want to fit in just as much as I do? What does that say about who I am?

Take the Bus

So, I've decided I'm going to seriously look into public transportation when I get home to Indianapolis in this summer. Now that I live inside I-465, I'm thinking that traveling en commun is definately do-able.

Here are six reasons why public transporation is a good thing.

1. You save lots and lots of money. For 25 euros a month (student rate), I can ride all the trams and the busses in Grenoble. I can go wherever I want in a relatively short amount of time within the metropolitan area and not have to think about gas prices while I'm doing it.

2. I am more productive during travel time. Let's be honest: everyone eats and does stuff when they travel to economise those precious minutes lost just sitting in front of a wheel. It's more efficient and a lot safer to do those things when someone else is doing the driving.

3. It's better for the environment! I'm not a tree hugger, but let's be honest. 5 tanks worth of carbon emissions for each person, each month is not a good thing whether it's causing global warming or not.

4. You realize there are other people on the world. When you have to stand next to a guy who hasn't showered in a couple of days while you wait for your bus to arrive, this idea starts to sink in. It's good to remind yourself that when you travel, you are never alone (I think people tend to forget that when they pick their nose waiting for the light to turn green).

5. You become more purposeful and efficient when you go out. Transport en commun takes more time than driving your car somewhere, so you combine errands and only go out when you need to. After you do this for a month, you realize you could use your time a lot more wisely if you thought a couple errands ahead.

6. As a nation (as a state, in the case of the US) you pay less taxes in road construction and repair because they aren't used as frequently due to the fact that more people ride the bus and less people drive their car each day.

Europe is a little more compact than the big US of A, and the cities here are in some sense built for public transporation. While this makes riding the bus a little less practical in the United States, I am hoping that it's none the less do-able. I guess sometimes you have to try something to realize it's not that bad.

Not of This World: Seeing the "Change" from Afar

So, let's just say I have some mixed feelings about the results of the election over in the states. Well, I had mixed feeling. Let me explain.

After I stayed up till 2:30am (France time) watching the first results come in, it really made me want to be home for just a couple of days. Before I left my house the next morning, I was greeted with an enthousiastic "Obama a gange!" from my host-mom. Reading the French headlines during lunch, and then coming home and talking to my two host-family brothers had a real affect on me. Pierre-Antoine told me he has a friend who's Korean American, who told him that she's no longer ashamed to call herself American anymore. Talking with my family at the dinner table made me realize that we are the first nation to really get racial integration. Watching a video on the internet of Kenyans dancing in the streets shouting "Obama" and then a bunch of other words in Swahili really does something to you. Especially when you haven't slept much.

To get what I'm saying you have to understand that Europe and much of the rest of the world doesn't like the United States. We are the ones who still believe global warming is a myth. We are the ones who messed up international affairs by doing things as we want, when we want. And we are the nation that let runnaway capitalism ruin the world economy because we didn't stop lending companies from giving away one too many sub-prime mortgages. Just in case you didn't know. Don't get me wrong, they like our movies, TV shows, music, sports, big cities and clothes...our accents...just not our politics.

Today was the first time that I felt proud of my country since I've been over here in France. But not only that, as I watched the Obama acceptance speech, I felt for the first time like I was an American. I wasn't a white Republican college student from Indiana. Obama called the country to be a nation. Now, with a black president-elect, the whole world believes us when we say we are one nation.

But there's something wrong with that. Sure, I'm thinking through my economic policies, my views on welfare are being shaken, and I'm praying that the Lord would help me make sense of the differences between France the the US. So, I'm not saying I've become a socialist, therefore, I like Obama. Let's just say I miss America a little.

The other American who's living with me played a bunch of his favorite folk bands for me today on his iPod. It was nostalgic, and I found myself remembering all the times I've played the fiddle at school and parties, and all the time I've spent enjoying campfires in my backyard. You don't do that kind of stuff in France.

We talked about thanksgiving at the dinner table tonight. The French don't put all their food on the table at the same time and then pass it all around, piling their plates with food as they go. You have meals in courses over here. You don't have meals with cranberry sauce in France. You see where I'm going with this?

You get nostalgia on one hand and the whole world saying, "good work," on the other, and it's a little hard to feel depressed about the change on Pennsylvania Ave. I looked at all of my friends facebook stauts and kept wondering, "why is everyone so down today?" Why does everyone think the world is coming to an end? It's just Obama guys... come on, now Europe likes us.

Obama's success has come from his ability to pinpoint the common cause, the values that every American has in common: a love for democracy, a desire for opportunity, and an ability to have hope even in hard times. He won because he made everone's differences the very thing that makes America "one." You are able to look at your community and say, "that's American not French." But at the same time you can see the Latino lanscapers, the Japanese biology students, and the black kids on the playground, and also say, "that's just as American as my fiddle."

So what do you do...how are you supposed to feel?

I need to keep telling myself that I'm a Christian before I'm an American. Regardless of anyone's views on economics, welfare, civil liberties, or the environment, nationalism and patriotism are the demons of the modern era. You combine that with a sense of rugged individualism, and now you have all the wood you need to fuel the burning pride of a nation. I need to keep telling myself that I ought to be more concerned about what the world thinks of Christ's kingdom, and pray that I would have the privilege of sharing in Christ's sufferings.

The solution for Republican letdown is not to hope for another candiate in 4-years. The letdown is the result of being too outspoken about conservative politics and not outspoken enough about the nature of Christ's kingdom. I hate to break it to you, but there are at least a couple of Christians, real Christians, over here who are really excited that Obama won. Republican politics are not by fiat, Christian. The citizens of heaven have an identity more fundamental than nationality or political orientation. Societies have been ordered hundreds of ways throughout the centuries. The gospel is more fundamental to our needs, even the need to be an ordered society.

When you hope and pray that you don't have a President who bumps up the redistribution of wealth, you are bummed when that prayer doesn't come true. When you hope and pray for a President who will ban abortion and gay marriage and then you hear Obama use the word "homosexual" like it's a race of people rather than a sin, you are going to be dissapointed. When you want a President who respects "liberty" and the "original intent of the founders," you are never going to be happy with your government. Change actually does and will come to America.

Men change. Nations will come and go. Today is not a day to feel patriotic. That's huberus: an identity crisis for the Christian. Today is not a day for mourning: all things are from the Lord. Today is a day for Christians to quit placing their hope in government. Whether your hope is in Obama or in the ability of the Republical party to regroup, it is fundamentally misplaced.

Christ has come and will come again. I will be the Christian who happens to be living in France, not just the American who voted for McCain.

Protestant Community in the Alps

I visited a tiny village, tucked away in the south of France near Briancon. There was a little church, a dozen houses, and nothing but beautiful hillside as far as you could see. During the early 1800s, a protestant pastor came to the village and preached the gospel, during a time when Protestantism was all but extinct in France due to the dominance of Roman Catholicism. Safe in the Alps, this little community was able to thrive under the leadership of Felix Neff. It was a blessing to see the faithfulness of the Lord in preserving his gospel and the heritage of his people even during dark times.

A First Attempt

Before I left, some of you asked me to try and find out why French politics is the way it is. Or, you could say, why are they socialists and why do they hate the way American's do things in foreign affairs? After a couple of conversations with my host family and some time to think about what they've said, here is my first attempt to explain some of the differences between these two countries and make some obervations in the process.

Comparing the world outlook of two different countries is like comparing apples and oragnes. You can't really compare fruit that has come from two separate trees. America and France are two countries with two drastically different histories, and today they enjoy two drastically different cultures. However, the scriptures allow us to compare them because countries are made up of people, and all humans share the same human nature. Liberals will claim that America is backward compared with the advances of Europe, and conservatives will say that Europe has abandoned liberty and freedom. But the Christian has to say that both of our counties have been shaped by idols of our day. America and France just happen to have two different idols. Well not two different idols, the same one, just two different expressions.

I make this statement because I realized I would not be able to understand the differences between the two countries if I stated my question like this, "what are the differences, and why doesn't France get it?" I think this is the response of most Americans. But we are foolish if we don't believe the Scriptures when it says of the nations, "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them." (Psalm 2:4) America is included in this statement.

Both America and France were founded on the basic principles of the Enlightenment: reason and human automony. The Enlightenment held that human reason can solve any problem, and humans must be free from the bonds of authority, be they God, the Church, or even the restraints of gender differences. Both of our constitutions were written with these two basic assumptions. So, here is our idol. Our different expressions of the god of human reason and autonomy are the result of the differing responses that the French and the Americans have had to the problems they have faced over the years.

Essentially, these two countries are what they are because of how they have responded without the gospel and God's law. I'm only going to give one main example of this, and I hope to give more as I spend more time in France. But let's start with America.

As a nation, America was made up of a bunch of people who fled from oppression. As a result, we worship liberty: the virtue that has justified our fleeing from our problems. (That may be a little to harsh, but hear me out) Liberty has remained the chief virtue because as problems continued in our nation many of us just packed our bags and headed out west, or hid behind the fences of our cotton plantations. (Notice the irony of our joke that the French always surrender) Protected by water on two sides, and with no hostile neighbors (minus the the little excursions with the Indians and the Mexicans), we have forever enjoyed a country without invaders. Moreover, we have always been the product of our decisions. We didn't have to enter WWI and WWII, we didn't have the privilege of being the home the first Emperor of the Modern Era, and today we still don't have to sign the Kyoto agreement. Because of our geography, we have dealt with our problems through isolation and the doctrine of imminent domain. This explains why we feel that we can do whatever is best for America on the world front, and why the American Dream is still a legitimate illustration of our way of life.

Although the French boast of a similar political philosophy, they have experienced a much different history. Ruled by the Emperor of Europe shortly after the 1st Republic, humiliated by a first ever unified Germany in the 1870s, stuck in the trenches from 1914 - 1918, humiliated again by the Germans, and then facing devastating conflict in their African colonies during the 1960s, France has felt the sting of war in a way that America never has. It's people have not been able to just pack up and leave town when the Germans invaded. They have had to learn how to live together in crowded cities without the prospect of moving out west. The French cannot cling to liberty alone because much of what they are is what the rest of Europe has made them. We cannot say the same thing in America. Although the French are responsible for what they have become, they are more of a by-product of post WWII than a product of a collective "American Dream." When you have basically been at war, on your own turf, since Charlemagne, your priorities become a little different.

So, at this point we could say we are all the product of our environment, but this would not be an appropriate response for the Christian. Both of these countries faced God's providence and both responded with the wisdom of man and not the Gospel or His law. Americans have raised the banner of human autonomy a little higher than reason, while the French preferred a little more reason as a way to deal with their circumstances.

The welfare state that France enjoys is their attempt to ensure that Europe remains safe, healthy, free, and most importanly, at peace. But, because the system is man centered, France is not able to see the real needs of other countries around them, or even the real needs of its citizens. In many cases it neglects the obvious while giving the unecessary.

In America, we think that because we have enjoyed peace, that our system of government is to thank, and not God's providence. What would we have done if Hitler had turned to attack America before he turned on Russia? I doubt our depressed economy could have handled it in 1940. With pure naievity and pride we seek to parade our way of life all over the world, claiming that our privileges are universal rights. Our system of goverment works and we enjoy its benefits, but we must remember that it too has human reason and autonomy at the center. In too many ways we think that we are justified in letting our neighbor suffer the just consequences of his actions. But we often do this to the neglect of the order our society needs and we neglect the fact that God has made us a nation, just like he has made every other nation. We have duties to our neighbors that do not allow us to live the American Dream at someone else's expense. And, we must respect the heritage of other countries. We are foolish to think that everyone wants to be just like us.

What allows this comparison is that both America and France has responded to providence with the same idol of reason and human autonomy. The difference in God's providence has produced the differing outcomes of the two countries, but both countries have had the same response to providence: human reason and autonomy above the gospel and God's law. As we examine the differences, we will only understand them properly if we see them as a product of sin on a national scale. Otherwise, we are caught in the enless debate of who has it right and who doesn't.

I have seen that explaining away the differences is no solution, and neither is trying to pick the country with the best form of government. All the nations of the world are what they are because of what the depraved human nature of their leaders has made them in response and rebellion to God's wisdom in providence. The job of the Christian is to recognize the faults of his own country and of those around him in light of the gospel and God's law, and then seek to avoid them himself and affect change if the Lord gives opportunity.

I've attempted to explain some of the differences between France and the US. But the goal isn't mutual understanding, the goal is to see ourselves for who we are, and to see our nation for what it is in light of God's word.

Grenoble's Medieval Baptistry

Near my house there is an old church which was build in the Middle Ages. The original foundations were build at the end of the Roman Empire during the 4th -6th centuries. The centerpiece of the original building was a baptistry, filled by a natural spring. I was able to see it today and was really excited to experience a site where Medieval Christians recieved this blessed sacrament. Like any historic site that's been made a tourist attraction, there were numerous signs explaining the history and significance of this baptistry. I was suprised by the content of a couple of them.

"In the ritual of baptism, the water is the center of the ceremony. The future Christian would be baptised after having 'been plunged in the water.' That is the sense of the word 'baptize.'"

"To indicate entrance into the Christian life, the catecheumen, received a course in the ceremony of the administration of baptism. It was essential to the baptism."

"The candidate declared that he had renounced Satan and proclaimed his allegiance to Christ."

Although many of the signs missed much of the spiritual signifiance of the sacrament, they highlighted the historical fact that the mode and practice of baptism at this site was the same as that of the baptists today. At least for the initial decades of this baptistry, 1. only converts who had professed obedience to Christ were baptised and 2. only those who were able to comprehend what was actually happening during the ceremony were baptised and 3. the mode was clearly immersion.



- A model of what the baptistry looked
like during the 4th-6th centuries.