I recently wrote a short article for Fuller Theological Seminary called “Fundamentalists, Traditionalists and Progressives: Reflecting on the Bosnian Islamic Mosaic.” It’s basically my master’s thesis in 600 words!
If for some bizarre reason you’d like to read my thesis, contact me and I’ll email it to you.
Last week we played a concert for 60 EUS students from our English classes. We picked a variety of songs in English, Spanish, and Bosnian, and put the text up so students could follow what we were singing about. Through and in between songs we shared how Jesus has changed our lives.
Here’s one of them, and old Caedmon’s Call song, All I Know. (The actual song begins 1:25 into the video, after we explain what it’s about.)
…and yet, not. I am trying to close up all of my EUS office work this week, so that we can begin packing to depart for the States. That means staff reviews, documents to hand off, reports, and many, many emails. Yet no matter how much I get done, more seems to keep appearing to prevent me from getting to the end.
On Monday I had a great day in the office, and felt like maybe I’d finished all of my to-do list. Ha. On Tuesday morning, I was hit by about 6 new items. Seems those emails I sent the day before while I was being so productive all earned responses, which then required more work. It’s a vicious cycle!
Many emails and reports, one staff review, an expense report, and an all-day team meeting later, I think tomorrow I can start packing up my desk. But I’d better not speak too soon. We’ll see what the morning brings.
What do you think? Is getting to the end of your to-do list possible, or just an illusion? Seems extra-important when you’ll be out of the office for a year.
Here’s a short video with our co-workers David and Irena, in the northern Bosnia city of Banja Luka:
Our topic for a recent English Class was “Ethics & Morality”, and the conversation was very animated! I gave the students three case studies, and they agonized over not just what to do but why. I’ve reprinted them here, and welcome your comments! Part 1 is here, and Part 2 here.
Ethics Case Study #2: It’s all relative…right?
You visit a far off country, and while traveling among small villages you come across a local tribe. You learn that they are about to begin a local ceremony where three families will sacrifice their firstborn child by throwing them into a large fire. You protest, saying it’s wrong! But the chief of the tribe says that in their culture it’s perfectly acceptable, and you can’t impose your own culture’s morality on them or anyone else. Who is right, you or the tribe? On what basis?
…
This is the classic challenge to relativistic worldview. It’s hard to find a person who would not object to this horrifying scenario. Yet if you take a stand and claim that the tribe can’t go forward, you are appealing to a universal moral code, applicable to all people regardless of their cultural norms or perspective. Such a code could only come from an objective power…ie, some type of god.
This is where most self-proclaimed relativists I know lose their nerve, and many of my students did. They said they would protest “because it’s clearly wrong”, yet could not give a reason why. I shared an interesting story related by Tim Keller where an anthropologist working with some remote tribes was confronted with blatant abuse of women allowed by local social mores. Yet she correctly recognized that as an atheist, she had no foundation for objecting. After much agonizing, she devoted her life to fighting for those womens’ rights, even though she acknowledged not having a basis for that fight.
For those who claimed that we should use the utilitarian “maximal happiness” scale to determine what is right and wrong, I presented the example of Peter Singer. Singer is a well-known bioethicist at Princeton who, following his atheist beliefs to their final destination, advocates euthanasia and infanticide of those less likely to aid the greater happiness.
Interesting, I pointed out: like the anthropologist, many atheists fight battles for which they have no basis. And when in Peter Singer we see an honest picture of where relativism leads us, we are horrified. For many, it’s easier to live with a major inconsistency in you than to be accountable to God.
And that’s strong evidence from our internal moral compass for the existence of that God…
Our topic for a recent English Class was “Ethics & Morality”, and the conversation was very animated! I gave the students three case studies, and they agonized over not just what to do but why. I’ll reprint them here, and welcome your comments! Part 1 is here.
Ethics Case Study #2: the test
You are in the middle of an important test that you need to pass in order to complete a university class. The course is difficult, but the professor is fair and honest. But when you get to the last problem, you don’t know how to answer it. You studied hard for this test, and have done well on all previous tests. You know that if you can’t answer this question, you will fail the test. Your very smart classmate is sitting just to your left, and you know that if you just glance over to their paper you’ll be able to see the answer. No one would see you, and the professor is not looking in your direction. It seems unfair that you would not pass the entire course, when you’ve worked so hard to get this far. Would you look?
My follow-up questions for during class discussion included the following:
Once again, the conversation was heated. At first, most of the students simply laughed. “Of course I would cheat!” many of them said. “I already have, many times!” (Unfortunately, this scenario plays out during every exam period here, and a majority of students cheat. Professors are also quite corrupt, and do a lousy job teaching the material in the first place.) Some used the corruption in the system, or the unfairness of most professors, as their reasons.
I pushed them deeper, trying to get beyond justifying and to talk about what they would be saying “yes” to. We discussed the classic anti-cheating argument of “would you like to be operated on by a doctor who cheated his way through med school?” In truth, this is the reality in Bosnia. One student argued that he would cheat “for my parents’ sake, because it’s not right that they would have to pay for another year at the university for me.”
Only two students out of about 16 said they would not cheat. When I pressed for why, one said it was because he feared getting caught. I pointed out that this (idealized) case study specifically says you would not be caught, and he promptly changed his stance and said that in that case, he would cheat. That left my most dedicated Muslim student, F. His words were right on, but did little to change the mood of the room: “The circumstances don’t matter. This isn’t a question about what you can get away with. It’s a question of integrity.”
*For my part, I didn’t offer many of my own opinions on this question. Similar to the war, it’s very difficult for me as an American to comment on this specific issue. My university experience was nearly opposite of my students’ here. Mine was marked by honest professors who didn’t take bribes and actually knew and taught the course material, quality textbooks and materials made available, and fellow students who weren’t paying professors for grades left and right.
Gabi, growing like crazy!
Favorite activities these days are dancing, clapping, and bopping mom and dad in the face with a pillow.
Our staff team, at last week’s training.
Our topic for last week’s English Class was “Ethics & Morality”, and the conversation was very animated! I gave the students three case studies, and they agonized over not just what to do but why. I’ll reprint them here, and welcome your comments!
Ethics Case Study #1: the brother in need
You are the director of an organization that fights drunk driving in Bosnia. It’s late at night, and just as you’re about to go to sleep you get an urgent phone call from your brother. He’s very upset, and says that he was driving on a dark road and accidentally hit a man and killed him. Your brother was in a panic because he was drunk, and thus knew he’d get into trouble with the police. So he threw the body in the trunk of his car. He asks you to help him bury the body deep in the forest. “Please,” he says, “If you don’t help me the police will find out and I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life!” The two of you live in a remote town, and you know that no one would ever find out what you’ve done.
Would you help your brother, or report the situation to the police?
My follow-up questions for during class discussion included the following:
At first, several students said they’d do nothing and try to pretend it didn’t happen. A few said they’d bury the body. But in this case, their classmates’ persuasion won them over (or silenced them!) Overall, most students said they’d try hard to talk their brother into turning himself in, but if he wouldn’t they’d make the call themselves. But if that seems simple, wait until you hear about the next two case studies’ discussions…
*That’s a song title from the early 90s, if you’re curious…
In my weekly conversational English classes, I try to choose themes that will open the door to deeper conversation during and after class. Each week I intro the theme, then give the class a bunch of questions to discuss in pairs. Soon we come together for whole-group discussion on the topic, and I play devil’s advocate and offer thoughts as appropriate.
Last week our theme was sex. Here are the questions we discussed:
I had prepared two songs to listen to afterward, with very different perspectives on sex, but the discussion was so good we didn’t have time for them. Here and here are the songs.
The discussion was lively, but I was pretty surprised by the lack of “why” behind their opinions on sex. I know they’re almost all having sex, or want to be. But from a group of 16 students, almost all of them Muslims, I expected at least some to say that their opinions were formed by the Qur’an…or at least that they knew what their holy book says about the topic. Nobody mentioned a thing to that extent. Rather, their opinions were formed by the run-of-the-mill modern relativistic thinking of “everybody’s doing it,” “sex is just a physical act unless you ascribe deeper meaning to it,” etc. It seems there is a lot of this going on with this generation, even in Bosnia.
You find strange things when hiking in Bosnia
If I’m honest, this was my favorite day of the entire summer
Beautful Bosnia! Come visit!
Students discussing Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 5
At camp, the best conversations happen around the edges
Trying to stay young to keep up with these students
When you look this good, you’re always the life of the party
Worship together at camp
Students stayed after this night’s message for a 2 1/2 hour question/answer session!
Throughout the week, students learn and grow together in small groups
Translating for David, co-worker from Banja Luka
Awesome intern Miranda with awesome co-worker Enisa
Saturday hike to a beautiful waterfall just outside Sarajevo
Getting excited about nature/camp/Jesus/life/friends
Ice cream is an important part of all ministry
Deron preaching the Gospel at camp, using Luke 15 and the parable of the two sons
Students from one of the English Classes in Banja Luka, our first time having a team there!
Make it to the end of these photos, and you get a reward. 🙂
Notes from the Edge 