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nelson mandela bay's family lifestyle
author:
theunis pienaar
organic faith
issue:
6, winter 2008
A few years ago - we were still living up on the Botswana Border and came down to Nelson Mandela Bay for some summer holidaying - we had supper at a wonderful restaurant. Living in a Kalahari Border Town you do not get the opportunity to eat out that often, so it was always quite the occasion. I ordered one of my favorite dishes – Pork Schnitzel. I enjoyed four or five very tasty bites and then suddenly disgusting itchy boils started popping up all over my body. Not a very tantalizing image! Needless to say, the lovely evening came to an abrupt end. Two days of many cold showers and lots of calamine lotion later I had somewhat recovered, but was perplexed as to what had caused this outbreak. Then the family had a traditional braai and shortly after grace was said the same thing happened again. Being of male gender I did not verbalize these thoughts very eloquently at the time, but deep inside, far beneath the very itchy infected skin, I was thinking: “O, no! What terrible disease has taken hold of me, destroying my immune system, slowly strangling the life from my body?” I would drink a glass of milk and the horrendous boils would start popping vigorously. For weeks my fragile body was sustained only by black tea and marmite toast, for fear of the illness prematurely taking me away. Perhaps it wasn't that bad, but not knowing when the next attack of the “demon boils” would be, unnerved me. Then I stumbled across an article on organic farming and organic food. It spoke about hormones that were utilized to make live stock grow faster and produce more meat or milk or eggs. Apparently even fruit is often subjected to these “hormonal” treatments in order to create fruit that are larger in size and more appealing to the eye. Immediately Zuko dashed off to the market, procuring an abundance of organic produce. Milk, eggs, chicken, beef – whatever she could get that was guaranteed organic. She prepared a fantastic meal - the calamine lotion on high alert, should the organic food not be my salvation. After weeks of tea and toast I was like a prisoner of war, miraculously saved by a crack special-forces team, finally allowed to dine in civilization. The most fantastic taste sensation, without the attack of the boils. I was cured! Or rather - the disease was never in my body – it was in the food I digested and my body said it had enough – it would not have any more of these genetically engineered hormone induced mutations violating it. My intention, though, is not to send you rushing to the store in search of organic food, although that might not be such a bad idea. My intention is to talk about faith – and organic food serves well as metaphor. Most food you'll encounter in supermarkets cannot be labeled organic, since most of it has been tampered with and in the process became poisonous. It still looks like food, but achieves the opposite of what food should achieve, killing your body instead of nourishing it. The same could happen to faith – once tampered with, it might still look like faith, but when exposed to it you find it achieves the opposite of what God's intention is. In my opinion God's sole purpose with the creation of faith is to enable people to get to know Him and develop a relationship with Him. It is not about controlling people's behavior and wealth or instilling morality or separating good and evil or judging and measuring. It is definitely not about filling people's lives with an over-abundance of activities that make it virtually impossible to nurture a family life, separate from “church”. Organic faith enables any individual to live with God and enjoy Him. It is the door to a life that is progressively lived, intimately connected to the Divine Who is very different from the material reality we are so familiar with – allowing me to become familiar with Him and grasp some aspects of His character while being perplexed by most of Who He is. Organic faith enables me to find worship for five continuous days, without interruption, as we take a weekend to the Kromme River, boating, canoeing, taking long walks along the river's edge and playing board games. Making love to my wife, reading mystery novels and meeting new friends. Organic faith is real and sets free. It allows me to see the brokenness of our existence and revel in it. Accept this brokenness not only in myself, but in every aspect of everything I do and every individual I meet. It plants in me an ability to love without expecting anything back. To fight and not expect praise for the honorable victory I have won. To be without fear and become more with every day that passes. The Proverbs of the Christian Old Testament teaches: as iron would sharpen iron, so friends would influence each other. Organic faith brings me in relationship with God, with such fierce intimacy, that I cannot be anything but influenced by Him. This is what I would like you to rush out in search of, even if you've tried the non-organic perversion of something that was dished up as faith – you will be like a prisoner of war, miraculously saved by a crack special-forces team, finally allowed to dine in civilization.
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