Historic fundamentalism rides on the top of some basic presuppositions.  One of those is the existence of God.  Another is that God is both personal and intelligent.  We also hold to the reliability and authority of the Bible.  Christianity is believed to be revealed religion.  This being so, our Bible should have something to say about that.    Perhaps we shall consider an apologetics post at another time, but today we shall simply assume the existence of an intelligent, personal God who has given to us a book (the Bible) that is essentially reliable.  One who has even the slightest amount of respect for the Scriptures would surely desire to look into what they have to say about God and His making Himself known to us.  The purpose of this series of articles is to examine what the Bible says about God’s revelation of Himself to us.

Revelation And General Revelation

The purpose of this article is to examine the Biblical doctrine of revelation, what it means, and to consider its relevance regarding our view of God’s glory and our enjoyment of Him.

What Is Revelation?

“Revelation is the act of God in disclosing or communicating truth to the human soul.” ¹

“The word ‘revelation’ is derived from the Latin ‘revelatio’, which denotes an unveiling, a revealing. In its active sense it denotes the act of God by which He communicates to man the truth concerning Himself in relation to His creatures, and conveys to him the knowledge of His will: and in the passive sense it is the designation of the resulting product of this activity of God.” ²

“..a disclosure of something that was before unknown; and divine revelation is the direct communication of truths before unknown from God to men.” ³

These brief quotations show us that revelation is God making Himself and His ways known to man.

The Logic And Necessity of Revelation

When one begins to consider the issue of God, man, and revelation it soon becomes apparent that revelation is logical. In fact, it would be a strange thing for there to be a god who created all things, but did not reveal himself to his creatures. Christian Theists, do not, however, believe in such a god as that. We are convinced that there is a God who created all things and has made Himself known to man. Man has a tendency to look around and within himself and ask “who am I?” “where did I come from?” and “why am I here?” It is only reasonable to think that God has anticipated these questions and provided the answers. “One would surely not expect the Creator would make us so that we would have these questions about our existence and then provide no answer.” ⁴ “When we think of the nature of God it is reasonable to expect him to disclose Himself to us.” ⁵

Thus it is that we consider revelation to be logical.

When we speak of revelation as being necessary, we must note that we are not speaking that it is necessary for God. The necessity lies with man. James Hastings calls revelation “necessary for man” and “necessary guidance”. ⁶ Alan Richardson said, “Had we no revelation, God would remain absolutely hidden.”⁷ Why is this? What is this issue of God’s being hidden from man? Why do we speak of revelation as being necessary due to God’s being hidden?

God is very different than many think Him to be. Often God is thought of as somewhat tame, controllable, and understandable. Such a god is not the God of all creation, however. The God who made all things transcends time, for He inhabits eternity (See Isaiah 57:15). He transcends space, because He existed before there was space or matter (See Genesis 1:1 cf John 1:1-3). This being so, God is certainly beyond our comprehension. Not only so, but God’s infinite immensity is a barrier to our knowing Him. The heavens cannot contain God (See 1Kings 8:27) and He fills heaven and earth (See Jeremiah 23:24). We also read that He is neither approachable or visible (See 1Timothy 6:15-16;Col 1:15). When we also consider that He is infinite (Psalms 145:3:147:5) and that it is impossible for man to comprehend God’s ways and thoughts (See Romans 11:33-34; Isaiah 55:8-9). When finite man tries to bring the infinite God into his mind, he simply will not be able to bear it. Often I have thought about His statement to Moses, “There shall no man see me and live” (Exodus 33:20, KJV) in respect to the holiness of God. The reality is that holiness comprehends the infinitude of God. We cannot see God and live because He is infinite. Our small, limited minds simply cannot tolerate such greatness. An example of a person’s inability to handle information and greatness is seen in the “Pokemon Shock” that occurred in 1997, when children watching Pokemon experienced seizures or other forms of sickness due to a form of sensory overload.⁸ For sinners such as we are to come face to face with God would provoke a sensory overload far beyond our worst nightmare.

Revelation of God is necessary because we are unable to understand Him, neither do we have the ability to begin to comprehend God. One may as well try to swallow the mighty Pacific as to try to know and understand God in His fullness. Even when God does reveal Himself, however, we do not get the whole story. In fact, that is part of the purpose of revelation; to help us know God by both giving us knowledge of God and limiting our exposure to God so that we can know God because of the revelation.

General Revelation

When we speak of general revelation we speak of God’s being revealed to all people in nature. This is different from special revelation, or supernatural revelation, in which God’s revelation does not reach every person, and is sometimes sent to a specific individual.

General revelation is what provides us with an innate knowledge of God.⁹ This revelation is general in that it is everywhere, and obvious to all. The Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1–3, KJV) The order and beauty of the heavens, as well as the power that is displayed during storms demonstrates to every reasoning person in the world the wondrous beauties of God. Nature as well as one’s natural understanding testify to the fact that God is the eternal God and is eternally powerful. “.. that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: ” (Romans 1:19–20, KJV)

God’s general revelation of Himself is also seen in history. As Paul stood before the people of Lystra, he told them that God had revealed Himself to them by providing for them throughout each year of their lives. “The living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:15-17, KJV) In many other ways, and in many other times, God has revealed Himself throughout history. This could also be spoken of as providential revelation, or God’s revelation of Himself through intervening in the lives of His creatures.

These things being so, man is left without excuse. God has demonstrated His glory to us, and demonstrates that same glory to us with each sunrise. We do not have the 100% empirical proof that the skeptic seeks, but nature’s testimony to God is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that God is. The message given to us by general revelation is that there is a glorious God who is worthy of our worship. Our response to the revelation of God in nature should be to worship Him and to thank Him for every good thing that we enjoy.

We should also be humbled that God has condescended to speak to us. Revelation was not necessary for God. Revelation is given by the will and initiative of God. Let us humbly worship this great God who has shown Himself to us in so great a way as He has.

1 Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol X pg 2, Baker; Grand Rapids, MI

2 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pg 117, Wm. B. Eerdmans; Grand Rapids, MI

3 McClintock & Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Electronic Edition, Ages Software; http://agessoftware.com

4 Swindoll, Zuck, Understanding Christian Theology, pg 17, Thomas Nelson; Nashville,TN

5 ibid pg 18

6 James Hastings, A Dictionary of The Bible, vol 1 pg 296, Hendrickson; Peabody, MA

7Richardson, A Theological Wordbook of The Bible,pg 196, MacMillan; New York

8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Senshi_Porygon

http://animefan25.tripod.com/seizures.htm

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/17/japan.cartoon/

All accessed on 12/07/2009

9http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3512686/Children-are-born-believers-in-God-academic-claims.html Accessed 12/07/2009

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Much is made about rewards/punishments. This “Methodistic” doctrine has crept its way in to most Evangelical churches. But, it denies the very essence of the Gospel. Brian Borgman explains how this teaching wrests out of the control of Scripture verses that were meant to apply to the ministers, that is the teachers in the church, and not members primarily. The result of the errors is a guilt ladden works pragmatic that is in all actuality a destroyer of the temple, the body of Christ, his church:

Exegetical and Pastoral Observations

This divisiveness, based on their “infantile status seeking” and “preacher worship, II is attacked head on by Paul with the gospel itself (1:18-2:5). Paul extols the glory of the cross as the wisdom and power of God (1:18-25). It was the power of the gospel which came to them through the foolish medium of preaching and it has made them what they are (1:26-31). If there is to be any boast, it should not be in themselves or their favorite preacher, it should be in the Lord, by whose sovereign grace they were in Christ (1 :30-31). Paul then gives a wonderous is that it gives ground for people to think they are converted, when in fact they may well be unregenerate and hellbound. My contention is that 1 Corinthians 3:1-15 has been abused by Chafer and others. The abuse of this passage has been tragic and remains with us to this day. It is my purpose in the next section to layout a clear exegetical exposition of the text, and then conclude with some doctrinal and practical implications.

1. Doctrinal Implications

Click here for the rest of this excellent paper by Brian Borgman on 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-15. (pdf)

It is not uncommon that bubble market participants ignore the lessons from bubbles of times past. If that were not the case, bubbles would never recur. Vancouver RE buyers can thus perhaps be forgiven for ignoring or arguing against parallels with tulips, the South Seas schemes, the 1920’s, or even tech stocks. But history will stand amazed that Vancouverites were unable to link the obvious dots between the US RE bubble and the 2001-2009 Vancouver market, and how they were unable to conclude that they would end in a similar fashion. – vreaa

Some participants have been in the remarkable position of being able to experience both the US bubble and the Vancouver bubble, first hand. This lengthy anecdote and opinion from San Franciscan in Vancouver at vancouvercondo.info 3 Dec 2009 12:06 pm -

“I can’t help but just laugh my guts out about what is happening in this town (Vancouver), province (British Columbia) and country (Canada). To me, this pipedream looks very much like the 2002-2005 hay days of the California housing boom. I have personally experienced this and can probably write a book about it. I think the title of it would be called “Collusion”. It is merely how all bubbles are created. Collusion, on the part of the government by a way of low interest rates, a drive to increase homeownership at all costs in order to extract political dividends including becoming a subprime lender of last resort (e.g. CMHC in Canada’s case), mortgage and real estate broker and borrower fraud, unwarranted government subsidies to certain segments of the economy, i.e. the construction, real estate and financial intermediation sectors , to name a few.
Location exclusivity being touted as miraculous reason for why prices are not where they should really be. Complete detachment from reality when it comes to economic and financial fundaments (e.g. price/rent ratios, price to earnings, population income potential, economic diversification etc). To add fuel to the fire which is destined to inevitably engulf all colluded parties involved, purported “chronic housing shortages”, “multi-decade demand outstripping supply” continuously trumpeted analyses and trends,
“land-use restrictions” or “ lack of buildable land” justifications for why housing prices are so high, “net growth in foreign and inter-state (province) migration”, “the presence of a diversified economy “, and so the list went on, were all symptoms of the bubble mania which took hold in California in the early part of the decade. This was all good until there were no more greater fools left to bid up the inflated housing prices, and so the party abruptly stopped. People realized that they were not buying homes. In fact, they were renting them for the price of the mortgage. Those aforementioned fallacies, and many more others, are some of the principal reasons why the bubble burst in the States and why it will follow suit in Canada. British Columbia is no California, heck, Canada’s GDP is less than that of post-bubble California, with the country’s economy NOT as well diversified as one would expect, BUT heavily dependent on a few industries (e.g. oil and gas, energy, forestry and other derivative commodity industries, heavy machinery, construction etc.). Noteworthy is that Vancouver MSA’s per capita income is half of what per capita incomes are in the San Francisco Bay Area, certain portions of Los Angeles and San Diego areas, where prices have plummeted more than 50% from their peak.
It’s only a matter of time until the bubble bursts. The deflation in the U.S. started when the Federal Reserve began increasing interest rates. This could, however, start sooner than that. One should pay a close attention to consumer psychology when it relates to perceived expectations in the future. Often, this is how contagions, financial panics, great depressions are started. The longer the imbalances persist in the greater economy when it comes to housing, the more painful and protracted the adjustment is going to be when it comes. The Canadian government can keep the last fool from wanting to dump his inflated housing mortgage on the market for as long it provides backstop guarantee. However, financial markets are going to severely punish the Canadian government shortly by dumping its dollar, lowering its perceived credit worthiness (thus increasing implicitly and explicitly borrowing costs in the economy). A scenario just like this is currently unfolding in the U.S. Anyone wanna buy BC, Ontario provincial government bond at 9%? You start printing enough money until the federal currency is eventually debased and has little incremental value left.
After having met recently with “respectable mortgage brokers” who have been in the business for over 25+ years, I am now firmly convinced that this market is going to have a crash landing like one never experienced before. Pre-sales “pink paper” flipping (as what was called in the U.S.) where respective condo owners would trade condos like call options by purchasing condos without any intention of taking possession of the unit(s) and thus procuring further the housing bubble, funky appraisals based on comparable sales only with little to no historical economic fundamentals in place, liar loans (i.e. stated income (NIQ loans), stated assets) etc. are all hallmarks of the impeding and most definitely inevitable collapse of housing prices in Canada.”

With the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen fast approaching (where it was once expected that the member nations would reach a legally enforceable international accord, and where it is now hoped that we may at least reach a politically binding agreement to reduce carbon emissions worldwide), and the U.S.’s role in the talks up in the air due to the stalling of national climate change legislation, we thought it’d be beneficial to write a bit about the current environmental policy developments here in the U.S., and why they matter on the local, national, and global stages.

Currently, there is a bill making its way through Senate committees, reviews, and markups called the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, or the Kerry-Boxer Bill, introduced by (you guessed it) Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California.  This bill is essentially the Senate’s incarnation of a House bill that passed this summer called the American Clean Energy and Security Act, or the Waxman-Markey Bill.

These bills share their fundamental approach to the problem of climate changing carbon emissions, both opting for a carbon cap-and-trade system (as opposed to a straight carbon tax or a direct agency regulatory approach), a market-based environmental solution.  In a cap-and-trade system, a cap on the level of harmful carbon emissions allowed would be set (a limit that Energy Secretary Steven Chu calls the most important element of the bill, because the cap has the greatest effect on long-term, large-scale investment direction), a finite number of permits would be introduced for these emissions, and a price would be set for those permits (also called ‘emission allowances’).  Some of these permits would be given out at the start of the program, some auctioned off; after that, they may be traded, bought and sold, allowing companies that reduce their carbon emissions to make money off of their excess allowances, and forcing companies that continue or increase polluting to pay for it, adding a powerful economic incentive to emit less.

Critics of the Kerry-Boxer Bill call out the increase in the cost of living for citizens that the bill would cause, as the cost of doing business goes up when you require companies to account (and pay) for their carbon emissions and those businesses pass along the increase to their consumers.

Proponents of the bill, including President Obama and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, however, point out that the profits made in the sale of carbon credits would be passed on as consumer rebates, and the bill makes provisions for the use of the revenue created in the sale of emission allowances, provisions like the funding of a direct-to-consumer rebate program, as well a reduction of the deficit and support for clean-energy research.

Solar World has already posted on the connection between the development of green technology/renewable energy generation (with which this bill is also concerned) and the recovery of the American economy, so now we’ll focus on the larger ramifications of passing this bill, and of delay in doing so.

In a joint New York Times op. ed. entitled “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation),” Senators Kerry and Graham present a bipartisan refusal not to lead on climate change legislation, and address the consequences of nonaction by Congress.  The senators discuss instituting a ‘border tax’ on items produced in countries that avoid environmental standards in order to incentivize environmental protection worldwide and to strengthen the  U.S.’s economic position.  They frame climate change mitigation tactics as national security measures.  Perhaps most importantly, the senators point out another cost of failure to act on climate change: the threat of EPA-imposed regulation in the absence of congressional action, which would be much more costly and include no job protections or investment incentives.

Time is of the essence in the fight to pass U.S. climate change legislation; the repurcussions of U.S. action (or nonaction) are, according to experts, of a global nature.  While the Kerry-Boxer Bill certainly won’t pass before the climate talks in Copenhagen are set to begin, in just one week, U.S. leadership remains critical, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, if any binding agreement is to be reached.  This because, as John Broder of the New York Times puts it in this article, “… the fact that Congress has not yet acted on climate change has limited the administration’s ability to negotiate with other nations.”

U.S. legislation, it is widely acknowledged, is in a kind of feedback loop with international regulation.  As such, President Obama recently announced that he will appear at the talks in Copenhagen and present provisional U.S. emission reduction targets (targets based on those suggested in the as-yet-unpassed U.S. legislation).  The targets Obama cited in his announcement are roughly based on the targets set in the Waxman-Markey Bill, which passed in the House of Representatives this summer.  Yet Obama’s proposed 17% cut from 2005 levels is still dramatically less intensive than the cuts from 1990 levels that most other countries are proposing.

Senator Kerry lauds Obama’s announcement that he will attend the Copenhagen summit as a palpable step toward international agreement and domestic action, in response to Senate opponents of federal legislation like Senator James Inhofe, whose argument against the Kerry-Boxer Bill rests on the claim that unilateral U.S. action on climate change is unacceptable and would be ineffective.

Kerry’s response to these charges draws out the connection between U.S. legislation and international action, reminding us that U.S. action now is far from unilateral: “By announcing a provisional target, contingent on the support of Congress, the president has defined a path to an international agreement that challenges the developed and developing nations to fulfill their obligations.  It lays the groundwork for a broad political consensus at Copenhagen that will strip climate obstructionists here at home of their most persistent charge, that the United States shouldn’t act if other countries won’t join with us.”

It becomes a chicken-and-egg question, a vicious circle in which some claim that international action must be taken before national action can be effective, and others claim that national action is essential in order to begin to take international action; and people use these endless reversals as excuses, ultimately, for inaction.  Fundamentally though, it is clear to us, action must be taken.  And we are prepared to challenge anyone who says that climate policy shifts at any level other than global are necessarily ineffective.

Indeed, a recent study by the NREL clearly demonstrates a link between policy changes at a state level and the implementation of sustainable programs and practices.  The study shows that many environmental policies work in tandem (for example, there was more renewable energy development in states where utilities were required to disclose their fuel mix and were forced to offer their customers the option to purchase electricity from renewable sources), as well as demonstrating a direct connection between policy and energy generation and use (for example, states that put net-metering policies into effect in 2005 had significantly more renewable energy generation by 2007 than states without net-metering).

Climate change policy on a large scale has a chance to make a large-scale difference in the way we make and use energy.  U.S. leadership on climate change is necessary, and currently lacking.  With the Kerry-Boxer Bill stuck in the Senate, a federal program not ready to go into effect for years yet, and a legally binding international agreement postponed until repeat talks next year (delayed, no doubt, partly due to a lack of leadership from large emitters like the U.S. and China), perhaps now is a time to consider your personal power as an agent of climate change aversion.

While we must demand that Senate pass climate change legislation and that the nations assembling at Copenhagen forge a binding agreement on climate change mitigation, questions remain about whether cap-and-trade is the way, and whether the largest emitters will take action.  In the face of regulatory failure, can we not also do something ourselves?  Can you check out your renewable energy options?

More news of disappointment from owners planning to cash in on Olympic rentals, and of the high likelihood of a weak rental market in 2010.

This from blueskies at robchipman.net 30 Nov 2009 10:08 am -

“We have just moved into a penthouse rental unit for $1400 per month as a sublet until August 2010, with an option to renew for a further 2 years. The former tenant rented the unit and furnished it (not Ikea) and advertised it for rent as an Olympic suite asking $7K per month for min 3 months there were no takers and only  a few inquiries. When the tenant could not carry both the Olympic suite and her own suite in the same building she offered it to us for $2400 per month. We went directly to the landlady (a long term buy & holder) and offered $1400 (unfurnished) based on our good rep and solid financials. Our previous rent was $1800 per month for a smaller space with a larger deck on the fifth floor (alley views). Sitting here looking out at a 270 degree North view with a large balcony and 2 parking spots……. life is good! After the Olympics there will be a lot to choose from rental wise.”

I have been talking with a friend who is looking for a job, and is very frustrated.  I understand my friends frustration.  They have almost no work experience, have not completed their education, and has basic computer skills that don’t involve much of the Office products other than Word. 

In a bad economy, where there are multiple qualified unemployed candidates for every opening, it makes my friends efforts doubly tough, and frustrating.

My friend has accepted my council on being patient, and in targeting entry level jobs (my friend had a perception that they were management material with no real experience, it hurt to burst that bubble, but it had to be done).  What they are doing is having a hard time dealing with the non-committal blow offs from hiring managers and recruiters.

This is a pet peeve of mine so first let me address the hiring folks – stop doing it!  No one likes you for doing it, they think you are a bigger jerk for not coming out and being honest, than for just saying “no you’re not a fit” or, “we like you, but we want to see some other candidates and then make a decision, but right now you are not our top choice.”  How about acting like the leader your company is paying you to be.  That’s right, you’re paid to be a leader.  Do you know what the difference is between being a leader and being a follower?  Vision?  Strategery?  Shiny Hair?  No.  The difference between a leader and a follower is that a leader excepts and executes the difficult decisions and discussions.  So to steal from Nike: Just do it!

Now for those of you on the candidate side of the equation I’m going to provide you with a translation of a couple of gems you’ll hear from hiring folks:

“We’ve got some more people to interview and then will let you know” – this means “you’re not bad, but not great; and I really really hope I can find someone better.  But if I can’t then maybe I will settle on you.”  Not exactly the best situation.  In today’s economy the odds of you getting this job are less than 25%.

“We’ll make a decision in the next week or two” – similar to above, but less flattering.  This indicates that they are confident that they will find someone they like much better.  Your odds of getting this job less than 10%.

There is only one way to get a really straight answer, it’s tough to do, it requires some inner fortitude, but it’s worth it.  At the end of the interview, after you’ve shaken hands, begin to turn away, and then turn back around and look the person directly in the eye, tell them you are very interested in the role, and you want to know if they will support you for the position.  First, you have to break eye contact by turning away before you do this, or it won’t work.  Second, if you do that, you will get an honest answer.  You’ve posed a question they didn’t expect, at a time they didn’t expect it and are more likely to answer it honestly.  If you don’t believe me, watch cop shows, the detectives always use this move, and I’ve had training in interrogation techniques so I’ve seen it work.  Try it, although you may not like hearing you’re not the one for the job, you’ll at least avoid the “waiting game stress”.

Toronto Dominion Financial Group have released a Resale Housing Outlook 1 Dec 2009 (pdf). Note that they are talking about the entire Canadian market. Extracts -

“Existing home sales and prices, as provided by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), went through a sharp downturn last year [2008], falling by 40% and 12% respectively from their peak of late 2007. Just as quickly and sharply, a phenomenal rebound kicked off early this year and was still going strong early in the fourth quarter. From their trough sales had surged by 74% as of October, while the average price was 20% higher. “

“The 12% price adjustment seen in the downturn was partly warranted by fundamentals, which leaves the current market in a state of mild overvaluation.”

“How many of the current sales are simply being brought forward on the expectation that interest rates must eventually rise, in effect stealing from future demand?”

“Is a bubble brewing in Canadian housing?”

scullboy at vancouvercondo.info 2 Dec 2009 5:40 am adds the following piece of insider perspective -

“A good friend of mine is a very senior official at TD. I can say with complete certainty he has known about the bubble for years. He said on several occasions he would not buy in Vancouver. [He] makes an extremely hefty salary and and even heftier bonus.”

This from No Money Down at vancouvercondo.info 29 Nov 2009 4:59 pm -

“Just got back from looking at rentals downtown. 438 Seymour, 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom $1500. Sub penthouse unit in 30 year old concrete hi rises,2 bed, 2 bath, 980 sq ft $1400. Palisades X3 asking $1900 for 900 sq ft, all would negotiate lower for a lease today. With the Olympics coming you’d think rent would remain flat or even increase and yet rent has dropped as much as 40% since last summer.”

Here are some thoughts on autonomy and solutions to Southern problems.

First, I don’t believe straightforward approach is going to work, for now it looks like some people thank that if two sides simply negotiate political terms then everything would go away. Terms are not terribly important here – whether they should have elected governors or special administrative region or whatever.

This is a negotiation between two societies, Southern muslims and mainstream Thai. The solution must be acceptable to the societies at large, terms laid out on paper is a very poor approximation of that settlement, and for now it’s the possibility of settlement itself that is in question.

On Thai side we have a very diverse society and vast majority of Thais don’t really care how muslims in the South conduct their affairs, and I can’t think of anything that would ignite their interest. If cultural identity is going to be a possible problem – Thais have a far bigger challenge with their own new generation. Introducing sharia might give them jitters, but it would mostly be a headache for the government, not for the people who’d be totally unaffected.

The resistance lies in a perceived threat to Nation-Religion-King, and the heart of this resistance lies in a very closed quarters. If muslims can manage to live without threatening that concept, and I believe they can and would, there should be no problem with the autonomy.

It’s like with trying new food – Thais usually shun any unfamiliar stuff and they need to be tricked into trying it, and they need their trusted friends skillful encouragement.

Practically it means the autonomy idea needs to be sold to a few selected individuals first and spread from there. For the sake of convenience let’s say Prem should be that first person, though it could be one of his aides or other members of Privy Council or someone else entirely.

The key here is not the ingredients or the recipe but psychological barrier, and that’s why I think the exact details of proposed autonomy do not really matter.

On the muslim side the picture is a bit more complex. They have the old separatist movement, largely retired, they have new generation of fighters, totally out of control, and they have current set of leaders, largely irrelevant. Ok, not irrelevant, but the formal leadership, MPs, senators, provincial and tamboon elected officials, do not talk about autonomy at all, at least in public. It appears that for them, and for daily governing of the region, autonomy is irrelevant, it won’t offer any clear administrative advantages and possibly reduce the flow of funds from central government. Perhaps for them it would create only more problems as the region is not economically viable to stand on its own feet in the short to medium term.

So there we have the problem of violence by the new generation of insurgents, and two other stakeholders with their own interests – old separatists want the autonomy, current leaders are indifferent.

For some time Thai government strategy was to get the old guard to negotiate and hope that they could somehow reign in the “yawe”. It’s understandable why Thais chose this approach because if it works they’ll get peace with all troublemakers at once, but there’s also a danger that “yawe” would break off any connection with old guard the moment they feel duped into a deal with Thais and we will be back to square one.

As the time goes this new generation of fighters also grows into an old news. Maybe they can still attract new blood for now but as Thais take better control of the breeding grounds and mainstream muslim society grows resentful of their war new recruits will be a lot harder to come by. Also pretty soon the “old hands” will naturally start growing out of it – running around the jungle and cutting people’s heads off is a very “teenage” thing, it might help you score some chicks but you’d better have a real job if you want to marry and get your bride’s father blessings. I’d say the biological clock would run alarm bells in less than ten years, we are five years into the insurgency already so in the next few years the old timers would start settling in and hopefully it would have a pacifying effect on the insurgency overall.

I’m sure Thai planners have taken these considerations in account, and winning the hearts strategy, however imperfect and even counterproductive it might appear, is absolutely necessary, and so are negotiations with whatever party represents the other side, and so is pouring development funds in the region and talking about political solutions, and so is military solution to armed insurgency.

Then, out of the blue, comes Chavalit and declares autonomy for the South in the form of a special administrative region as his party policy. That was an absolute disaster on all fronts. First, as I said earlier, Thai hardliners need a soft and inconspicuous approach, they need to be tricked in considering the idea in a safe and unprovocative enviornment, and Chavalit ruined it all, possibly for good – god knows how much time they’d need to get over this bad impression.

On the muslim side they are not stupid either – they don’t take Chavalit seriously, he’s not in the position to negotiate or promise anything, and they probably see him as an opportunist using the problem to his own political ends, and it also came hot on the heels of Chavlit’s “help” in Cambodia that had exactly opposite effect.

Chavalit’s political benefits are not clear, probably because they were never thought of and he didn’t consult with anyone. It’s not even his party to make electoral promises on behalf of. Autonomy might no go down too well in PTP’s strongholds in Isan – Thai state had long relied on Isanese to defeat the separatism there and many Isanese paid with the lives of their children for that. There could also be an exodus of Isanese who were relocated there years ago to create Buddhist community in the South.

Chavalit himself is also not a new face in the South, local Wadah faction came to prominence under his NAP and later TRT and it didn’t get anywhere and was trashed in 2005 elections. What are the chances of successfully resurrecting them? Perhaps Chavalit was simply afraid that they’d go with Sonthi’s (coup leader) new Matabum party. Either way even his sincerety is in serious doubt, nevermind his abilities to deliver.

Also making autonomy part of a political platform in Thailand’s internal politics effectievly kills any chances of it actually happening – it would become a commodity, stripped of any commitment and traded along with cabinet posts and other political spoils, not to mention the likelyhood of PTP not be able to break up the coalition and assume power after the elections, or keep it long enough to see the autonomy through. It also forced Democrats to take the opposing side even if it’s not where they want to be on the South issue, now they could be easily provoked and manipulated by being asked uncomfortable questions they’d rather not discuss in public.

And that’s why even muslim leaders gave Chavalit a cold shoulder despite being attracted to the idea.

Hopefully Chavalit’s intervention didn’t ruin the negotiations altogether and didn’t spook Prem and Co, and it wasn’t a major blow to the process altogether. Luckly he quickly disappeared from the spotlight without inflicting any more damage.

This is just an attempt at putting some thoughts together to see if they make sense.

First, the background for 1973-1976 developments is Sarit’s regime and Sarit’s legacy. Though there’s not much good to say about him, he nevertheless instilled some very deep values in the generation that played a major part in how 70s turned up for Thailand.

Sarit was a strongman in every sense, completely dominating political scene. In fact he simply outlawed politics altogether. With a man like Sarit in charge there was no need for things like parliament, and there was no need for any checks and balances. He was incorruptible, dedicated, selfless servant of the nation and the King. Whether he lived up to this image is not the point – people believed it and they cherished it. Sarit brought the monarchy back into the center of “Thainess”, making it a symbol of the state and everything good in the world, monarchy was again inviolable and indispensable. Sarit also showed no mercy to “troublemakers”, I think he even executed a few himself. Sacrificing troublemakers lives for the betterment of the nation, in the name of unity and the King, was deemed acceptable and no one gave it a second thought.

Sarit’s reign also coincided with Americanization of the country, when the US made Thailand it’s strongest ally in South East Asia. In exchange Thailand got growing investments, then Vietnam war brought in even more, and good times rolled. The country boomed, Americans built roads to Eastern borders and with that came even more development, spreading deeper into the countryside. Everything was on the up, up, up.

Then Thanom-Prapas took over, continuing in the same vein, but without Sarit’s charisma and public presence.

Middle classes expanded tremendously during those years, people really started to think they could climb up the social ladder and get rich. Education was also booming with university enrollment doubling and tripling every couple of years. Middle classes thought their kids would really really make it big, any moment, aspirations were set really really high.

Then the reality asserted itself.

First there were allegations of corruption against Thanom and Prapas. Perhaps people didn’t want a repeat of embarrassment of disclosure of Sarit’s assets after his demise, perhaps it was toying with democracy in the form of national assembly (Thanom-Prapas staged a coup against their own government and dissolved the parliament), but they were not going to tolerate these two one way or another, then Thanom’s son married Prapas daughter and it became Thanom-Prapas-Narong evil trio.

That brought 1973. While the movement was spearheaded by the students, the vast majority of protesters were middle class, respectable citizens. When half a million of well dressed and well mannered people took to the streets the establishment couldn’t ignore it. So there was “people revolution”, it was exhilarating, but while the notion of benevolent dictatorship has quietly disappeared, people were not prepared to ditch its values, and they had no idea where to go from there, and so from then on it got only worse.

First there was the worldwide oil crisis that drove inflation up and the investments and land speculation down, and the boom as people knew it was basically over. Then Americans started losing the Vietnam war, Thais were left to themselves, and it wasn’t very promising. Then Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia fell into communist hands and Thais were really scared they would be next as communist insurgency was raging through the countryside.

Internally, students who were leaders of 1973 uprising were taking a very anti-American stance, following their counterparts on campuses in the US. That was alarming.

Another major problem is that culturally students didn’t turn out as middle classes expected them to be. In Sarit’s days “student” was a status symbol, students were supposed to enter the sacred halls of bureaucracy and become model citizens. Instead middle classes were confronted with generation of free thinkers who didn’t display any outward respect to the monarchy and analyzed reverent Thai history in terms of class struggles and parallels with Europe. That was shocking. This new generation was very anti-establishment, the same establishment parents groomed them to be the best part of.

The growth in student population during economic crisis also meant many of them were unemployed, or even unemployable.

Another disturbing feature of post 1973 period was tremendous growth in labor strikes. In Sarit’s days unions were outlawed, strikes were unimaginable, and punishment was death. Instead middle classes were forced to endure personal inconvenience, losses in profits, increased wages, absolute impunity, and some unkempt, good for nothing layabouts arguing that this is the way it should be.

It’s in this soil that the right-wing establishment planted the seeds of 1976 crackdown. They came up with their own propaganda – people should unite around Nation-Religion-King triplet and good old values so that the country can pull through the crisis together and fight off communist malaise.

There was nothing scientific or rational about it – the country was supposed to be saved through faith and sacrifices, the country was punished and it needed to be put back on the straight path.

It worked brilliantly. It appealed to people’s core values and memories, and it strengthened itself by offering a “full package” in form of various Village Scouts, Red Gaurs, Nawapon and other popular organizations. Many of those groups were acting as social clubs where disillusioned people got their doze of nationalism, monarchism, traditional culture, songs and stage performances etc. The leaders were local pooyais and hi-so and I suppose membership was somewhat prestigious.

When crisis fully hit and they were told horror stories about what’s to come, and there was a need to blame someone for it, guess who was at the top of their list, edging out Chinese and Vietnamese? Students and the leftist movement in general.

That strategy assured middle class support for the crackdown. The muscle itself came in the form or Nawapon and Krating Daeng (Red Gaurs).

For Nawapon the establishment recruited vocational students, playing up on their second class status and higher unemployment rates. They were offered a chance to get back at their “superior” university counterparts, and they were enticed with the offer of the same goodies their parents wanted them to enjoy – money, booze, brothels, good life. For some reason violence was in these guys nature, when not fighting leftists they were busy bashing each other (and they still do, in 21st century).

Red Gaurs were established by Border Patrol Police, had people close to royal family, and they were driven by pure ideological hatred.

Nawapon and Red Gaurs were armed to the teeth and between 1973 and 1976 they attacked and killed a number of students and leftists, and the police couldn’t touch them. They were practically flaunting their untouchable status.

Ideological connection with middle classes prevented any serious public backlash, and so the right wing was fully prepared to unleash the horror of 6 October, 1976.

People like Samak, with unquestionable loyalty to the Nation-Religion-King, resolute and merciless to enemies were the heroes, and people voted for them with their hearts, and it stayed in their memory for decades – Samak won over a million of Bangkok votes in 2000 elections, people still don’t care about several hundred dead students.

Samak was literally the voice of their hearts back then, and he was no doubt articulate, witty, and intelligent, and they couldn’t accept that he might have been wrong.

After 1976 Nawapon and Red Gaurs were sent off to fight communists, and Village Scouts disappeared themselves, as far as I know. The whole massacre episode was rather embarrassing and was left unspoken, a quiet admission that it was a mistake. Thais don’t do soul cleansing very well, it’s not Christianity with it’s value of confessions, people deal with sins in a different way here.

It seems that the Manhattan Declaration has somewhat in common with extreme fundamentalism.  Both obscure the gospel through moralism.  God and country seem to be getting much attention these days.  Sadly, though that is a good thing, God gets the short end of the stick so-to-speak.  The gospel gets muddled so that those who believe in justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and those who believe in a sacrament or works based justification are all considered Christians.  That’s right, the Manhattan Declaration says, “We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united…”  Though there are different gospels proclaimed among these groups, MD mixes them together, thus compromising the true gospel.

While most fundamentalists would not do that, they do spend far too much time trying to change people from the outside in, rather than plainly proclaiming the gospel as God’s saving power that will change people from the inside out.

With this in mind, I decided to post this exposition of Galatians 1:1-10.

Here at Fundamentally Changed, we love Christian morality.  We love the USA.

More than that, we love the gospel, and will not compromise it for any of the other.

(Here are two other posts that speak to this issue:  Bob’s post, Dan’s post. This article was originally posted on Fundamentally Changed.)

No Compromise

Gal 1:1-10

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Gal 1:1-5)

Wasting no time, Paul identifies himself. His identification, however, is more than just a name. He is not Paul, but an apostle as well. Neither is he an apostle of men, but an apostle of Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. In other words, Paul is stressing to the people that he was both called and sent of the Father and the Son. He was neither chosen by the vote of any assembly, nor sent by any man. Usually when one speaks in this manner the hearers should beware, because abusive leaders are characteristically quick to assert their authority while humble leaders are slow to do so. Authority is easily and quickly abused. Paul, however, is not of the sort to do so. In fact, Paul is somewhat reluctant and cautious when asserting his authority. This is evident in his letter to the Corinthians (2Cor 11:30;12:11). Paul would rather rejoice in having been made weak rather than in the fact that God had honored him with the gift and office of the apostolate. It is indeed true that Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ and the Father who sent Jesus. Luke’s account of Paul’s conversion confirms that truth (See Acts 9:1-22).¹

Why does Paul speak of himself in this manner? When one considers the epistle to the Galatians as a whole it is seen that Paul had preached the gospel to them and they had believed it. Sadly, there were those who corrupted the gospel and misled the people. While doing so, it seems that Paul’s authority, calling, commission, and status as an apostle was called into question. Some have come saying that angels had given them another gospel (See Gal 1:8,9), and others probably had asserted that they had more authority and knowledge than Paul, as they were from Jerusalem and were associated with the Jerusalem church.² Reluctant though he might have been, Paul was forced to present his credentials and explain his authority for the sake of the gospel.

Paul uses his normal greeting by expressing his desire that his readers receive grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is necessary that we notice Paul’s stating that grace is not from the Father alone, but from Jesus Christ who is our Lord.³ He continues his greeting while laying a foundation for the whole of the letter by stating that grace and peace comes through the redemptive work of Jesus who died for our sins, and to deliver us from this present evil age. He makes a similar statement to Titus telling him that Jesus “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Tit 2:14) Paul mentions Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection here both to show us that we receive grace and peace through Him as well as to establish from the beginning his own confidence that we are set free from sin by God through Christ’s redemptive work. This is a corrective to the legalism that was prevalent in the Galatian churches. We can only stand in awe of such inspired wisdom that enables a man to write an introduction that both wishes his readers well and establishes such a strong and firm theological foundation for his letter.

Paul states that the redemptive work of Christ was according to God’s will. This, too is a statement calculated to help the Galatians see that God’s way of salvation is through Jesus alone, and not through the works of the law. God planned for Jesus to come and die for our sins. Jesus Himself said as much when he said, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” (Jn 12:27) Peter would later speak of Jesus’ life, ministry, and redemptive work as being God’s plan (See Acts 2:22-24;4:27,28).⁴ Paul is serious about expressing to the Galatians the fact that Jesus is God’s ordained way of salvation. If he can establish this truth from the beginning, he will be able to build on it for the purpose of destroying legalism.

While the final part of Paul’s greeting may seem to be simply an expression of praise, it is actually much, much more than that. While he says, “to whom be glory for ever and ever”, Paul is not only praising God, but also stating God’s plan and purpose in sending Christ to die and rise again for our redemption. God’s goal in all that He does is for His glory. In the letter to the Romans, Paul expresses awe and adoration when contemplating God’s glorious plan, saying, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom 11:33-36) Everything was made by God for Himself and for His glory.⁵

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Gal 1:6-10)

Without further ado Paul plunges into his message to the Galatians. Normally, Paul gives thanks for the ones to whom he writes. He does this even for the carnal Corinthians (See 1Cor 1:4-9). There are no thanks, however, for the Galatians. Neither does Paul commend them for any good in the lives. Instead, Paul immediately says, “I am SHOCKED at you!”

Shocked? Indeed. The Galatians had removed themselves from God the Father, the One who had called them into the grace of Christ.⁶ They had fallen away from the Father. Thinking to have improved themselves, they had actually deserted God. How is it that they had deserted the Father? The Father had called them into the grace of Christ, but they have now abandoned the truth of grace for a legalistic self-righteousness. They had traded gospels.

Paul’s complaint against the Galatians is that they had left the Father for another gospel- message of glad tidings.⁷ That message, however, was not gospel. There was simply no good news to be found it that message. As a matter of fact, it was only a perversion of the true gospel. The true gospel is about Christ, but this gospel is about self effort instead of Divine grace in the person of Christ. Remember, “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1:17) Thus the gospel of grace is the gospel of Christ. We cannot have gospel without Jesus and the grace of God given to us through Him. Sadly, there were those who were changing the good news into something that is of an opposite character than that of grace.⁸ The Galatians had fallen away from the Father by accepting this pseudo-gospel that rejected His grace.

Notice that Paul knew that the Galatians were neither experiencing and enjoying God’s grace, nor the new “gospel” that they had received. They Galatians were being troubled and agitated by those who changed the gospel of Christ. The gospel is the power of God to save those who believe (Rom 1:16), and it is the good news of God’s glorious happiness that He chooses to share with us (1Tim 1:11;Mt 25:21). To change this gospel of grace and glory is to take all of the joy out of it. It is no wonder that the Galatians were troubled. They now stood in doubt and fear about their souls. No longer were they standing securely in the grace of God⁹, but were dependent upon themselves for their acceptance before God. They were troubled indeed with heart trouble. They were unsettled, insecure, doubting, and struggling to conform to the demands that this pseudo-gospel placed upon them. By accepting this perversion of the good news, rejecting grace, and moving away from God the Father (Isn’t is precious to think of God as a caring Father instead of as a harsh taskmaster?) the Galatians had allowed these false teachers to agitate their once peaceful hearts- hearts that had once had peace because of the grace of God in Christ.

As we read verses eight and nine we see Paul pulling off the gloves to fight with bare fists. He simply states that he had warned them in the past of false teachers, and now warns them again. His warning is also a command: excommunicate the false teachers. Let them be anathema! They do not love the Lord Jesus, so they are accursed by God¹⁰, and should be removed from the fellowship of the church. Should they protest that they had seen a vision, or received their teachings from an angel, Paul emphatically states that they would still be accursed and should be excommunicated. He understands that Satan and his angels often disguise themselves as the angels of light and ministers of righteousness.¹¹ Paul demands that the Galatians not even have fellowhip with him if he changes and does not preach the gospel of grace. Salvation by grace is that important. Apart from grace there is no salvation; neither is there salvation apart from Jesus. (The writer recommends that the reader pause at this time and read John 14:1-6, Acts 4:12, and Eph 2:1-10.) It is for this reason that we should take a no compromise stance when it comes to grace and the gospel. To allow any tampering with the gospel of grace will be to allow the perversion of the gospel. When the gospel is perverted the souls of men are jeopardized.

Paul now asks, “am I now trying to please men, or am I trying to please God?” He is, of course, trying to convince men of the truth while seeking to please God by speaking truly. Sadly, it seems that the false teachers had claimed that Paul was a man-pleaser. He admits that he was in the past by saying, “if I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ”.¹² His former life as a Pharisee was indeed a life of pleasing men. That had changed, however. Now Paul seeks to please God. One cannot charge him with being a men-pleaser, as he has just declared accursed those who preached contrary to grace. This would by no means please men. It would anger them instead.

This passage tells us much about the heart of the apostle as well as the heart of God. God simply is not pleased when the gospel is distorted in any manner. Whether it is by grace being used as an excuse to sin¹³, or by grace being replaced by works, God despises the perversion of the gospel. Too often we are prone to be men-pleasers. We want so very badly for people to think well of us. We desire to allow the world the opportunity to do as they please and still profess Christianity, so we lead them to believe that they can live as they please and still be saved despite warnings to the contrary¹⁴. On the other hand, we may seek to show our fellow Christians how much that we agree with them and impose on people rules and regulations that are either unBiblical or extra-Biblical, and tell them that they must observe these things if they are to please God. In so doing we are often found guilty of transgressing against grace. How truly sad this is. It is time for those who preach and teach the Word of God to sound a blast of the trumpet against false teaching and false teachers. It is time to stand firmly for the gospel of the grace of God which is designed to give glory to God. Let us accept and proclaim God’s grace in His Son Jesus Christ and preach the gospel.

Let there be NO COMPROMISE!

1See also 1Cor 15:9,10;2Cor 11:21-33;12:1-13

2We do not definitely know this, but can reasonably infer that something similar to that must have happened, because Paul emphasizes that he had a relationship with the apostles in Jerusalem although he was not dependent upon them for his theological knowledge (See Gal 1:15-24;2:1-10). In fact, having heard of Paul’s conversion to Christ, the Judaean churches glorified God because of him.

3See 1Pet 5:10 cf Jn 1:16,17 God is the God of all grace, but Grace came through Christ.

4Paul also notes that Jesus’ redemptive work fulfills the Scriptures. Cf Rom 1:1,2;1Cor 15:1-4

5See also Col 1:15-17;Rev 4:9-11. Also, notice Jesus’ words in Jn 12;27,28;13:31,32. Of special significance is John’s statement that our sins are forgiven for His name’s sake (1Jn 2:12).

6The Father calls us to the Son by the Spirit. See Gal 1:15;Jn 6:44;Mt 16:13-17;1Cor 12:1-3

7The gospel is glad tidings, or good news. See Lk 2:10,11;Rom 10:15

8 It seems to be a trivial matter to teach the Law and affirm works, but this does more damage than human reason can imagine. Not only does it mar and obscure the knowledge of grace, but it also removes Christ and all His blessings, and it completely overthrows the Gospel, as Paul says in this passage. The cause of this great evil is our flesh. Steeped in sins, it sees no way to extricate itself except by works. This is why it wants to live in the righteousnesses of the Law and to rest in trust in its own works. Therefore it knows nothing or nearly nothing about the doctrine of faith and grace, without which the conscience cannot find peace.

Luther, M. (1999, c1963). Vol. 26: Luther’s works, vol. 26 : Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther’s Works (26:vii-55). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

9In Rom 5:1,2, Paul states that we stand in grace. Not only are we saved by grace through faith, but we are secure in that grace. Our very standing before God is “in grace”, not in works of our own.

10See Jn 3:19-21;1Cor 16:22

11 If he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Cor 11:4) Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2 Cor 11:13-15)

12See Mt 6:24;Eph 6:5-8;Col 3:22-25;4:1

13See Jude 1:4

14See Mt 7:21-27;Gal 5:19-21;Heb 10:24-31

3014760    พื้นฐานอาชีวอนามัย    Fundamentals of Occupational Health

การเปลี่ยนแปลงของประเทศสู่ความเป็นประเทศอุตสาหกรรมใหม่ ผลกระทบของสิ่งคุกคามจากงาน อาชีพและสิ่งแวดล้อมต่อสุขภาพอนามัยของคนงานและชุมชน ขอบเขตและความสำคัญของชีวอนามัยบุคลากรที่เกี่ยวข้องและหน้าที่ของบุคลากร ระบบบริการอาชีวอนามัยในสถานประกอบการขนาดต่างๆในประเทศไทย

(Evolution of Thailand to a newly industrialized country; impact of occupational and environmental health hazards on the health of the health of workers and community; scope and significance of occupational health; occupational health professionals and their functions; occupational health hazards; occupational health service systems in various sizes of the workplace in Thailand.)

(3014760 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

We are currently waiting for 2010 events ,services, trainings and activities to be published

The date if the disco or dance is arriving when?

Have you informed the parents? The police?  The District Leader?  What about other leaders from the area.

Made invitations for a bring a friend night several weeks before the even?

That way the Guides have people coming anyway who in turn may also bring a friend on the night too.

Follow up for interested Girls / adults who would like to join Guides too.

What about invitations for the night?

Are the Guides registered?

Photos…what about a non -registered person having a form of release paper signed?

Whose catering?  What are the ingrediants?

Checked the first aid box and equipment.

Emergency response and action plan up?

Costs.

Prizes, – best what ever, door prize.

Sign in book,

Adult supervision.

Police Checks,

Working with Children Checks.

Having made their Guide Promise members of the Gipps Guides are choosing to begin their journey through the Olave Baden-Powell Award.

These 18 to 29 year olds are challenging themselves to that both their Guiding Promise and their Guiding into the wider community.

Quite often bringing back to those around them different lessons and influences that they have experienced. Often not realising just how much influence on other peoples lives, thoughts and interests that being involved with activities, events and programs which appeal to them can have.    Part of the Olave Award progress is to present what you have done to your peers.   If you are working in any youth organisation/ work place as a Leader/ teacher or Adult Carer your experiences will transfer to others.  When an event/activity/ service is described, it’s successes, and flops along the way, the struggles/ surprises and things that go right all combine to challenge others in how different to do their chosen things.

Setting out to do something is often a challenge rewarded and supported by others already travelling or who have travelled along that path too.  There are many friends you meet and make within this Olave Program.  people you may have met at school, work, camps or round the block even.

Who ever thought that having a silly old flag flying was boring does not know what we do!

Things we have done  and learned about flags

• Flags can be incorporated into games.
• Chosen the colour of different meeting times flags
  • Churchill Guide Unit Flag (now the flag for the 5 to 8’s [Purple])
  • Hazelwood Guide Unit Flag  (now the flag for the 8 to the 13 Guides)
  • Churchill Guide Unit Flag (now the flag for the 13 to 17 Guides [ mid blue with light purple trim])
• Raising the Flag,
• Protection of Flag.
• Why a flag. World Guide Song has our Guiding flag unfurling.
• Carrying our Flag.
• Ceremonial flag preperations.
• Colour Party
• Giving instructions.
• Different games and challenges.
• Different Cermonies attended

1. Melbourne Guide Parade through Elizabeth Street….for B.P and Queens Guide reciepents.
2. Australian Day Celebrations at Morwell and Churchill
3. A.N.Z.A.C. Day celebrations at Morwell and Yinnar.
4. Victory in the Pacific (VP) 50th Birthday Celebrations.
5. The return of the Hazelwood Roll of Honour to the Hazelwood South Hall.
6. Camp Flags.
7. Parade
8. Presentations.
9. Where the Units all meet together at District Functions.

• .

Thank you all for trying to attend and to those who could make it to the 2009 End of year Formal Meal.

Every one is busy

The Guides chose the this years theme to be Christmas.  So when the arrived out came the decorations and they got busy to work on the inside and entry to the building.

Many hands make light work.  So every body just pitched in to get everything ready.  The tables were put into place, the settings done beautifully. Table decorations were made.  An angle brought by a Guide graced the table.  Serviettes and fans were placed all around.  The Guides had made place mats too.  At the last minute a parent wisked off the un-laminated ones and thankfully these were done.  Spares were in the office so guests and leaders had these. The tables had sparkles and streamers along the middle.  The walls had streamers, tinsel and decorations all around.  The main door had a welcome poster – which was a really good idea.  One I had not thought of.  And the outside doors and windows were decorated as well.  There were even the Units Flags and the World Flag out on display at the head of the table settings.

We had to guess at how many people were coming as until the last minute we really did not know.  How ever there was enough food thankfully as many people brought deserts, cakes, chips and snacks. Not enough place settings and chairs.  But everyone was happy and any blotch ups were worked around.

Hot or cool drinks were served by the Guides to Guests.  The older Guides helping and serving the smaller Guides and guests.

The main course was beef and chickens.  The meats were slow cooking … the beef got microwaved as well to finish

A picture says a thousand words.

the meet cooking process.  The chickens were brought down piping hot.  We ended up with a basic red and orange salad and oven cooked big chips / wedges as a main meal.

The food ended up being placed on the side tables buffett style.  The refreshments, then the main course, and lastly the cakes, little merranges, chips, dip, scones/jam and cream,

The youngest got served the main course first.  The invited guest (oldest first!!!) and leaders were served the deserts and nibbles first the second time around.

The dish washers were glad that the plates were plastic ones and the dishes just kept being done through out the preparations and dinner.  Another advantage of everyone bringing something from home…when you’ve got roped into the general clean up and dish washing jobs.  Which the Guides and friends and family worked together and did very well.

Food on the side

Many times through out the years activities have had left over products.  These are saved and recycled for another time.  Hence the meal costs were down as we did not have to purchase serviettes, plates, cutlery, cups, table cloths, tea towels (we ran out and more were simply  brought along), place mats, cordial and decorations.

So anytime you have spares of anything think of us.  We will utilize them.

At the end of each year there is a Formal Meal.  Begun by Debbie for the Unit it was previously organised by the Unit. At the end of September there were two Guides asked to speak to a restaurants chief .  Discussed were menus, colour schemes, times and dates, dress codes and preparation of food.  The meal was paid for by each Guides family  before the end of October. At home dresses were chosen, hair do’s and shoes sorted out weeks before the event.

2009 saw this change late in the planning procedure.  Firstly we had to get everyone registered.  By this time earlier plans had to be changed. The formal meal is now a District Event. With help the 2010’s Formal End of Year Meal is now Saturday – December 4th 2010.

• Notice of the Formal Meal will be in the District Calendar on the web. The Units calender – which in turn are created by the Guides.
• Activities will be throughout the year.  ie  place mats, invitations, table decorations [mugwomps], serviettes, grace and vespers sheets, serviette holders, place cards … These will be stored in a large plastic container [somewhere in the office]
• Invites to family, friends and people who have helped throughout the year will go out weeks before to this meal. The invites will be hardcopy cards, posters and emails.
• RSVP needs to be received by mid November.
• Please send a suggestion or two of the meal preparation  you are to bring with the RSVP.
• Your RSPV will be confirmed to you by mid November.
• Confirmation of what part of the meal preparation your family has offered  to bring will be sent to you as well.
• The District will supply the meat varieties and preparation.
• All parts of meals to have the actual ingredients within them printed / written out.
  
• Please supply the recipe.
  
• The Formal wear is good clothes for those attending the meal.
• The setting of tressel tables is to be in a horse shoe .
• Decoration of the main area will begin at 10.30.  All decorations will be made prior to the day so that all needing to be done is to place them up and around.
• Activities for free time sorted out well in advance.  A kitchen fly for shelter set up on the day at the back of the office grounds.
• Kitchen fly to be in place for erection by 10.30.
• First Aid kit and safety preparations will be made prior to the event. [as per every event]
• A Risk Analysis  Plan (created for the event [as per every event])  is to be on display in the entry hall.
• Sign in book to be in the entry hall.
• Photo release forms to be in the entry hall for those who are not members of the Girl Guides {Associate Adult, Adult or Youth members]
• Photos taken will be sent to each persons email address if indicated they would like a copy of their/ their Guides photos sent directly to them.
• Meal will begin at 1pm.

We are in need of:

• a kitchen co-ordinator,   [position filled]
• a hostess/ host co-ordinator.
• a decorator co-ordinator,
• an outside activities person  {will be taught about kitchen flies]
• a craft / artist and music coordinator.
• a Public Relations person for the event.
• a Photographic co-ordinator.
• a clean up co-ordinator.

Please note the adult coordinators job is just to make sure everything is there. Every so often check on progress.  The Guides are able to run things from this point.

Hugs can Heal

When our kids were very young we were living far from family and had traveled back to  Minneapolis for a visit.  While shopping at a local mall, with one stroller and three tired children, I turned to talk to our oldest little guy, and found that he was not with us.

In near-panic we searched everywhere, retracing our steps, looking in bathrooms, checking displays where a curious seven-year-old might stop to play.  Nothing.  He was gone, and I couldn’t think what to do next.  Had he been taken by someone?

Just as I was about to report a missing child to security, I noticed a shopping cart coming out of one of the department stores.  Pushing it was our son.

I don’t remember what I said to him but I do recall opening my arms and saying, “Come here.”  Grabbing him in a bear-hug, I literally poured my relief and love into him.  He didn’t have a clue.  He had just gone to find a cart that his brother could ride and seemed surprised that we had been worried.  That moment did something to me, and I can still feel the emotion of the hug.

Among other things, hugs are expressions of affection and some kinds of hugs have healing powers.  I am not talking about the brief, three pats on the back, hi-g’bye style of hug.  I mean the kind of hug that reaches your soul with comfort.  The nonromantic kind that calls you to an embrace that says, “I know.  I understand.  I am with you.  Count on me.  You are a person of great value.”

When Jesus says, “come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 19:14 ESV), I think of that kind of hug waiting for me.  It is an emotional, powerful, nurturing, invitation to come that is quite different from the way we often use the word.

Come Down, Tigger!

“Come here!” you may say in a commanding way to a child, or to an animal – your dog, for instance.  Implied: “Now!”  It’s all in the tone of voice.  “Come on now,” you say sarcastically.  Or, with the same words you may protest, beg, or plead with someone to join you, agree with you, or stop doing something.

You might use it by way of a promise to attend, as in, “Yes, I will come.”  You might express a hope, “He will come.”  Perhaps a fear, “to come before the judge.”  It might be the order of a superior officer to, “Come, follow me!”  Jesus used this latter as a beckoning call to one who refused him (Mark 10:21).

Clearly, the meaning of the word come bounces all over the place, based upon the context and even the tone of voice.  Its significance is something else again.  When used as an invitation, an imperative, or a persuasive device, it requires the hearer to exercise great caution and discernment before responding.

It was Aristotle who defined the three main forms of rhetoric:  Ethos - appeals based upon the perceived character of the speaker, Logos - appeals to logic or reason, and Pathos - appeals to emotion.  The call to come might fall into each form.  Are all such calls honorable?  Well, what about the indirect call of greed that we discussed in Part 1 of this reflection?

The Bible uses the word in a number of interesting ways, which ask us to consider the character of the speaker, the logic of the call, and the emotion of the situation.  We will look at some Biblical examples in Part 3.

Strength and Honor

Bill

Speaking of the question of the Great Word of God – Come -  do you have a comment or a question?  Please feel free to make a comment entry – just click immediately below this note, on the phrase “Leave a Comment” at the end of the tag lines.

During asset bubbles, it is relatively easy for participants to almost imperceptibly leverage themselves into more and more exposure to the inflating asset class, thus putting themselves at risk of complete wipe-out when the bubble pops. Participants actually believe that they are being prudent, and their ever expanding paper-profit bottom line reassures them and reinforces their behaviour. The fact that they are taking substantial risk and speculating on ongoing price appreciation may not be obvious to them. -vreaa

The Bill Good show on CKNW Friday 27 Nov 2009 at 10.30 am featured discussion with Garth Turner (greaterfool.ca) and realtor Tony Ioannou of Dexter Realty Vancouver (author of ‘Buying and Selling a Home for Canadians For Dummies’). These excerpts -

Tony Ioannou – “[We are] dealing with a lot of people who think that they have to buy now because the market is running away from them. Most of the people we are dealing with are buying a property to live in… a principle residence… very little speculation in the market.. Very few of our clients are going to ‘the end’ of what they can afford.. They might be approved for a 500K mortgage, [but] they’re taking out a 300K mortgage.. They’re not overextending themselves as they might have done a couple of years ago… We still have some off-shore money coming into Vancouver and the lower mainland but much, much less than in the past. Most of the people we are dealing with are local people just upgrading, mostly move up buyers from a small apartment to a townhouse, townhouse to a house, or up to a bigger house. We’re still dealing with a lot of first time buyers.. [they are] very cautious,… they’ve worked hard to make a downpayment they’re not going to throw it away… So they’re very very cautious and slowly entering the market.”

Garth Turner, in response to the above, said that there was a “giant argument that interest rates would not stay low”. He also pointed out that the average abode cost “between 7 and 10 times the average family income” in Vancouver which was “by world standards, severely overpriced”.

Tony Ioannou continued – “A lot of our clients do have a huge amount of equity, especially if they are in the market, trading up. One quick example, I’d sold a property to a young couple in 2000, a $300,000 townhouse, [with] conventional financing, I went to meet with them last week, they now have paid off their mortgage, [their property is] now worth about $500,000 , they now have a half-million-dollar down payment to go and buy their first house”.

Garth Turner retorted – “Well, that’s exactly what scares me about this whole thing, when you have people who are taking… and in the case of that couple, I’m sure that constitutes the bulk of their net worth… anytime I see people taking the bulk of their net worth and dumping it into one asset and then trading up exactly the same asset class, and increasing their exposure as they go on and on and on…// If we do have an interest rate increase,.. if we have taxes go up,.. I cannot see the Vancouver real estate market sustaining its value going forward.”

Following up on my last post, here are a few thoughts on Gordon Van Gelder’s benchmark for excellent fantasy:

“A fantasy story that reaches the level of myth.”

For me, successful fantasy always at least brushes along the borders of myth, and the best fantasy plunges right in.  What does that mean? Let me start by defining what I mean by myth.

A myth is a sacred story that has significance that is far deeper and more meaningful than its surface events and characters. Joseph Campbell once called myth the doorway through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos enter human consciousness (paraphrasing because I can’t find the exact quote; sorry!). Myth or sacred story is the way we humans try to understand the nature of the universe and the divine (God or gods or the Way or chi or whatever), as well as our own nature and our relationship to the cosmos.

While good science fiction tends to deal with matters of technology and society,  good fantasy goes right to the meaning-of-life stuff: “Who are we?” “Why are we here?” “What is God or the universe trying to do to us?” and most interesting in many fantasies: “Who are those other creatures, and what does it mean to share the world with them?”

(Bad fantasy or science fiction often just sets the characters down in a stereotypical fantasy/Sf environment – dragons! elves! space ships! ion cannons! – for some kind of adventure that’s supposed to be a big sweeping epic. Nothing wrong with this approach for popcorn entertainment as long as it’s executed with some style. However, failing to lay a solid conceptual foundation will always limit the scope of the story.)

I think achieving myth starts with reading a lot of myths and stories, and from there, being able to put mythical beings or objects into a story, or being able to invent good ones of your own. But it only starts there.

For me, the real benchmark is to capture the otherness of mythical elements: the unexpected, the unexplainable, the weird and sometimes frightening and completely beyond rationality; an otherness that you can recognize but can never completely assimilate even to the reality of the world you’re building, let alone the one we all seem to live in.

So here’s a short list of some fantasy creators that achieve myth on a regular basis:

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. I’m long overdue to be writing a “Reading” post on the Discworld. No one is better than Sir Terry at combining contemporary genres (mystery, horror, satire, romance) with comedy, folklore and genuine myth. My favorite Discworld novel, Hogfather, has more layers to it than the Tooth Fairy has teeth.

Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion is inhabited by gods, demons and animal spirits that interact with, and sometimes possess people in ways that you’d never expect but that feel absolutely true. (I discussed these books in more depth in an early post that you can find by following my Reading tag)

Nina Kiriki Hoffman. In the short stories and novels I’ve read so far, the main character has some natural magical power; that is, the power is closely related to the natural world.  And what is more mythical than nature?

Greg Keyes. His first pair of fantasies drew on Northeast Asian mythology; his latest tetralogy, Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone is supposedly “Northern European fantasy” but you won’t find any of the familiar fantasy creatures in it. The world feels enormously old, with powers and forces sliding by in the shadows, or breaking into the light to scare you to pieces.

Charles de Lint writes urban fantasy about people whose hometowns overlap with ancient worlds: the gods and spirits of Native American myth, the fairy courts of the Celtic lands, or even stranger characters that, as far as I know, spring from his own imagination.

I’ve already posted a great deal about my favorites, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K Le Guin, and of course Tolkien. Just follow their tags to see what I’ve already said about how each of them uses myth in their writing.