I read threw the gospel of Mathew the other day and again it struck me how odd it is that we have made Judas into this horrible man. If you look carefully Peter and the other disciples betrayed Jesus in even bigger ways than what Judas did.

Judas actually regretted what he did and went back to the religious leaders with his money. In other words he withdrew his testimony about Jesus. If things had been done according to the book the accusations against Jesus should have been delayed and withdrawn.

This was not done,so the wrong was in the end not Judas fault but the religious leaders! Peters betrayal was on the same level as Judas betrayal too..

I read a fictional story about Judas which touched me when i first read it in Time magazine 1999. Click to read the story about Judas and Jesus!

Time magazine named Jan Egeland one of the 100 “people who shape our world”. I recomend his newly released book ” a billion lives.”

You can read more about Jan Egeland here.

Shane Claiborne

I have been asked a few times about the connection between Shane Claiborne and the Emerging Church. Now th at m

ay also be a new questio

n to some, but an interesting one none the less. Claiborne recently visited Gothenburg and is becoming a well known personality also on this side of the Atlantic. So how can one answer the question? Well first of all it is hard to define the emerging church. How can one take a whole movement and then put Claiborne in it. So lets forget about emerging church and look at Shane Claiborne and emerging church personalities.

Brian Mclaren and Rob Bell

Brian Mclaren writes the following in his lastest blog post for sojourners:

“That prayerful hope came back to me the other day when I read a post by a good friend. He suggested we should advise everybody and endorse nobody.”

The good friend he is referring to is Shane Claiborne.

Lets look what Rob Bell says concerning Shane Claiborne. In his book SexGod, Bell writes the following in the footnotes:

“I call him for my friend, but he is also a hero and a profet. Shane Claiborne lives in Philadelfia and wrote a book called “the irresistable revolution.” (my translation from the Swedish edition)

So just based on these two examples from two of the most influential Emerging Church Leaders, we see the freindship between Claiborne and emerging church.

The same theology

If we look at the theology emerging in Claibornes two books; Jesus for presisdent and Irresistable revolution, it is clear that it has its roots in Brian Mclarens and Rob Bells theology. I could also draw the similarities between Claiborne and other Emerging Church personalities such as Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. But that I will in some other post.

If familiar with Claiborne what are your thoughts on his theology and do you see the connection to Emerging Church?

The world is unfortunately far from a peaceful place like its easy to end up thinking where I live. Having traveled to many places, I have come to see the consequences of brutal leadership and government have for people in general.

Omar al-Bashir, Sudan

One of my favorite blog writers Nicholas D. Kristof made a list of the top 3 worst dictators in the world and why he feels this. The list is as follows

Top three

“1. Kim Jong Il, North Korea. This is the most ruthless and totalitarian regime in the world, by a good margin. I’ve been to North Korea and all the other contenders for nastiest country, and it is simply in a class by itself. Every home has “the speaker” in the wall, to dish out propaganda all day, and radios can be only tuned to preset stations. If someone makes a political mistake, the whole family is sent off to a political concentration camp, and in the late 1990’s Kim Jong Il presided over the death by famine of some 2 million people. When the wife of one of Kim Jong Il’s bodyguards complained about the Dear Leader’s womanizing, she was arrested and brought out before the guests at one of Kim Jong Il’s parties. Everyone denounced her and then Kim Jong Il allowed the bodyguard the opportunity to execute his own wife — and he did so.

2. Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Bashir launched the genocide in Darfur, but he also engaged in the slaughter of southerners in the north-south war in Sudan, as well as mass killings in other parts of Sudan. He backed the Lord’s Resistance Army to invade Uganda and organize mass rapes and initiate children by having them kill their parents. Lately, he has tried repeatedly to invade and overthrow Chad, and in his spare time he sent a force to invade Central African Republic.

3. Than Shwe, Burma. In Burma we’ve seen a brutal repression of the Karen and other ethnic groups and most recently the suppression of the democracy movement led by Buddhist monks.

The regime stifles the country and destroys the economy, and it didn’t lift a finger to help people in the aftermath of the recent cyclone — except that it blocked foreign assistance.

Which are your top three?

Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Chad, China, Cuba, Syria, Turkmenistan and other central Asian countries all are autocratic and repressive, but I don’t think they compare to these three.”

So which are your suggestions for the top three dictatorships ?

Munich Airport

Top ten 2008

Media (like Norwegian aftenposten or, Swedish dagens industri) all over the world have commented on the fact that “skytrax” once again have voted the top 10 best airports in the world.

This year the list was as follows:

1. Hong Kong 2. Singapore Changi 3. Seoul Incheon

4. Kuala Lumpur KLIA 5. Munich 6. Kansai

7. Copenhagen 8. Zürich 9. Helsingfors 10. Cape Town

I have been to 8 of the 10 and cannot understand how an airport like Cape town international even made the top 30. Its quite small, and certainly far from the standards of others on the list. Bad internet connection, a small amount of eating and shopping options, not great check in and info structures. I first thought it was a spelling mistake with the newer and far better Johannesburg airport in South Africa, which I now realize it is not. How Cape town is going to handle the Fifa 2010 world cup is a mystery to me.

Seoul Incheon

Hong kong not the best

Hong Kong is close to being a worthy winner. I have traveled through the airport several times, but what would takes it off the top in my books, is the fact that its too big and impersonal. Its super modern and people are super friendly but everything nearly turns static because of the perfectness. That is also where the Kuala lumpur and the Singapore airports miss their mark.

Airports like Munich or Copenhagen are more in my taste, traveling through them both last month was an enjoyable experience, the staff were friendly and both airports have great atmosphere (esp Copenhagen). I would even like to put Schiphol in Amsterdam on the top 10, and a couple American airports.

The best one is…

So what is my favorite? Well it is actually Oslo, Gardemoen, Norway. I know I am a bit bias, being Norwegian, but it is a magnificent building with a complimentary great atmosphere. Maybe because its close to home?

What is your favorite ?