Category: Archive

A call for a humane Asylum Seeker Policy

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life, Refugees
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There’s lots of talk at the moment about Asylum Seekers, as both political parties released policies to “stop the boats” of asylum seekers, and how they are treated. Both of the policies include mandatory detention, locking up asylum seekers while their claims are processed.

While I can understand why this is necessary to ensure security, the method in which this is done has drawn criticism. Currently, refugees are sent to Christmas Island, to be held in a detention centre which is, in all senses of the word, a high security prison. The asylum seekers are kept here until their claim is approved, in which they get moved to the main land, or declined, in which case they are deported back to their homeland.
Where this plan is currently failing is that asylum seekers can be held in detention for months on end, in a high security prison, on an island where there is no fresh food available, with no guarantee upon when they will know whether they will get out of the centre – either into Australia or back home. Without that guarantee, they run into mental breakdowns, mental scarring that will affect the rest of their lives.

The craziest aspect of all of this is that the politicians believe this policy change will deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia via boat. However, our policy changes make absolutely no difference on what asylum seekers think, mainly because the news doesn’t get through to them, and conditions in their home country are so bad that anything – even detention in a high security prison are much more preferable.

The solution to this situation is to remove the politics from this issue, for the two major parties to sit down and develop a humane policy for asylum seekers that will treat them like human beings, while still being secure about who enters Australia.
The way I think this will look like is establishing a deadline by which a decision must be made on the status of an asylum seeker. While I would prefer that to be along the lines of 3 months, more likely it will be 6 months. If there are too many claims to be processed, then more workers should be employed to process these claims in the time required. Setting this time period will give asylum seekers the knowledge of when their claim will be processed by, and also ensure that detention centers do not get overcrowded.

Remove the politics. Insert humanity.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Good things come to those who wait…

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

… And I’ve waited a long time, so great things are happening to me.

I’m sitting in Soto espresso, a coffee shop in Perth, drinking a coffee that tastes fantastic.
Actually, it would probably taste fantastic if they served me international roast, I’m feeling that good at the moment. Well, maybe not. International Roast is horrible.

Anyway, I’ve had a fantastic week that goes a long way to helping me forget the previous six months. Come back with me on a journey, back to January 2010. I’ve gone on holiday and am just outside Mandurah. I get an e-mail from a school that I taught violin at. It’s a week before term starts, and they inform me that they don’t have any students for me, and I won’t be required to teach in 2010.

Fantastic. Way to ruin a holiday. Knowing that a week out from term I was unlikely to find any work as a violin teacher, I turned my hand to looking for jobs in where I had experience – administration. “Surely, with two years experience as an administrative assistant, I should be able to find an admin job” I thought.

Or so I thought.

Three months in, and not even a glimmer. Not an interview. I eventually asked someone at the salvos if they had a job going, and there was a 0.6 position opening up. I applied, and was chosen for interview. “Fantastic! Finally a chance”
After giving what I thought was a really strong interview, I was really disappointed not to get the job. Like, super disappointed. Since becoming a salvo, I hadn’t missed drinking, but that day I really wanted one. I was strong, somehow, and had a coke instead, but it didn’t help the feeling. And I know a beer wouldn’t have helped either, but sometimes you feel like it can.

So back onto the search, and the jobs kept getting applied to, and I kept not getting interviews. My fiancée and I started to think about getting a house, and after finding one, was about to fill out the application only to discover that we didn’t really have enough to survive. We could make it, but it would be tight.

At this time, I was sending in about 10 applications a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. And still nothing. Until I found this job with the uniting church. It was a fantastic job, doing similar to what I was doing at the council of churches. So I applied, was accepted for interview, and then didn’t get the job. This time, I wasn’t so disappointed. I guess all the rejections had kind of made me expect to not get the job.

Eventually, my fiancée and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and apply for a rental. We found one we loved, and put an application in, not expecting much. How surprised we were to get a phone call later that day, telling us that we got the house!

My good news wasn’t to end there though. God had been with me all the time, and had a plan for my life. Later that day, I got a phone call offering my a job interview for a position at my old church. I accepted, but God had more in line for me, not just a job interview, but a job!

The next day, I got a phone call from the Uniting Church, saying that the person who got the position I applied for earlier didn’t work out, and they were as good as offering me the position pending an interview the next day.
I of course accepted, rescheduling my planned interview time just in case it didn’t work out. I needn’t have worried, after going over the new job description, they offered me the job, and I now start on Monday.

So, in less than a week, I have gone from working two days a week, wondering how and where we were going to live as a married couple, to having a house to rent, and a job which takes me up to full time equivalent! I’m so incredibly happy that I even wrote this long blog post all on my blackberry while sitting under a heater at soto’s getting slightly uncomfortably warm.

And with that done, I think I’ll go, have a bit of a walk along beaufort st, before picking up my fiancée from work (whom I now work close to, three days a week) and start a wonderful weekend moving into our house!

Priorities: God vs Man

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive

I was driving to work today, and an odd thought came into my mind. The thought was of priorities, and how we can often have very different ones. One example came to my mind about different priorities my fiancée and I have. I studied music at Uni, and hence have a very different perspective of rehearsals than my fiancee. We’re in the Songsters at my Corps – a choir that gives a message during the morning service. We rehearse each Wednesday, and sometimes, my fiancee has a slightly “less professional” attitude than myself. Where as for me, I can’t stand being late for a rehearsal, let alone missing one without a valid reason. If it were up to me, I would be arriving at least 15 minutes before the rehearsal was due to begin, where as my fiancee would prefer to arrive right when it’s due to start.

My priorities during rehearsal are also somewhat different to those sitting next to me. I pay attention, sing, run through my part in my mind when the conductor is working with other parts, and stop singing when he requests. Others will muck around, not pay attention, and continue to sing for a little bit after the conductor has finished. We have different priorities, based on what we have experienced.

How do we reconcile different priorities between each other? Also, how do we reconcile when our priorities are different to what God’s priorities are? Continue reading “Priorities: God vs Man” →

Recommending Christianity

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, faith

I recently commented on a post on an Atheist’s blog. She went to a Multi-Faith forum, where she discussed Atheism, and got offended by some of the Christian’s comments. And fair enough – the Christian speaker practically described atheists as “rebellious cranky kids who want to be able to run around having promiscuous sex and drunken parties.” In reality, Atheists are people who have seriously thought about their faith and their beliefs, and often have thought about God more than most Christians. As I commented on her blog, I’m not going to get into trying to Convert them there, because it’s not the place.

But a comment following on from my comments got me thinking. Commenter Andre said “You achieve no tangible results by attempting to convert people, and it is frankly crass, disrespectful, and downright insulting.”

Maybe it is. I know for me, I get a little bit annoyed when people try to convert me to another religion. So when talking about our faith with non-believers, should we consider a different tactic?

Christianity as a Band

A long time ago, a friend of mine told me to check out his Cousin’s band, Sounds Like Chicken. We had a listen to the CD, but it didn’t really grab me, so I left it alone. A little while later, while in the local Christian book shop, Koorong, I saw their next EP and thought that I’d give it another go. I had a listen and heard songs such as this one:

I really liked the CD, and started to get into them. Every time they came to Perth, I went and saw them, and really got into their music. They were (and still are) my favourite band, but have since broken up to pursue other avenues.

When we recommend a band to someone, or a movie, we’re telling them that we’ve discovered something we really like, something we’re passionate about, and we think that they might like it as well. If they don’t, that’s cool – we know that everyone has different tastes in their music, and movies, so that’s fine. But also, just like I eventually decided that I loved Sounds Like Chicken, even though I wasn’t really taken by them when I first heard them, we may later rediscover a band and decide that we now like their music, where as we didn’t before.

I feel that sometimes, we need to recommend Christianity much like we do music – especially when we’re amongst our friends. Be willing to tell people about this really awesome thing you’ve discovered – Christianity – but don’t be offended if they’re not interested in it. They may have different values. They may be in a different situation. As is often said – the seed has been planted, and though we don’t know how long it will take to grow into fruition, or even if it will survive, so long as we are planting seeds, the possibilities remain. And remember to allow the recommendations to rest if someone dislikes it. I know for me, the more someone continues to tell me something I don’t like, the more I dislike the idea, and sometimes the person.

For example, I was watching Sunrise one moring, and Howard Sattler, a talkback radio presenter for 6PR in Perth was discussing asylum seekers who arrived by boat. He was saying that we should send all the “illegal” arrivals back to where they came from, despite the fact that Australia has a legal obligation to assess all asylum seekers cases who arrive in Australia under the UN Refugee convention, and that if they are legitimate Asylum Seekers then sending them back to their home country would place them in more danger than they were originally in. The more Howard spoke, the more I disliked his idea, and the more I disliked him – to the point that I’ll switch off if he is on Sunrise now. Likewise, if someone is not interested in Christianity – the more we push it, the less interested they get.

Instead, convert with your actions. Live your faith, in every aspect of your life. People will see how you live and wonder “what makes them so different?” My beliefs brought me many opportunities to talk about my faith on Tour. Because I wasn’t drinking, it gave rise to a number of questions as to why. While I may not have pushed conversion on them, just by talking to them lets them know about Christianity – and the seed is planted. What they do with that seed, that is for the Holy Spirit to work on – whether through myself, or another person, or through the person themselves. The important thing is that we show respect, and not be, as Andre put it, “crass, disrespectful and downright insulting.”

A Christian Gamer’s Guidelines

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, faith, Life

I’ve been thinking more about the post I wrote a little while ago entitled “A Christian Gamer” where I walked through some of the issues I was being challenged with at being a Christian, and a gamer, and how to reconcile those things. With most of the games that I play at LAN’s being violent games, how was I to reconcile that with my views as a Christian. And when you take into consideration the Salvation Army’s reasons to abstain from Alcohol, Cigarettes and Gambling because it harms other people (as well as yourself), how can I reconcile my gaming, which appears to harm some people?

As I have been thinking about it, I have decided to come up with some “Guidelines” – I don’t want to use the word Manifesto or Creed, as these are not necessarily beliefs. These guidelines are just some observations that I want to use to try to shape my gameplay into a more Christian role.

Firstly, I would call my beliefs Moderate to Liberal. I don’t believe that we should abstain from everything that is not in the bible. I feel that there are Christians who take what is written in the bible so seriously that it scares people away from Christianity. Yes, I believe the Bible is the word of God, and that we should read it, and embrace it, and know it fully (something that I am still striving to achieve), but I also believe that we need to read the bible in context – in the context of when it was written, and the context of how we apply it today. I believe that in reading the bible in the context of today, how we apply it to our lives, we must be willing to step back, and take a more general look at the meaning of the passage, of the chapter, of the book, and of the Bible in general.

With that in mind, here are my guidelines.

1. Get my priorities sorted.

Love the LORD your God with all your heard and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:9

I have heard, in relation to becoming a priest, that your priorities should be “God First, Family Second, Church Third.” This way, you serve God, you provide for your family, and then you look after the church. It’s a matter of determining where your priorities lie, what you feel is important. This is reflected in the scripture above. Jesus said that this was the great and first commandment. Love God first, then your family (Ephesians 5:25; Proverbs 22:6), then the Church (Galatians 5:13). For me, while I enjoy Gaming, it shouldn’t come at the expense of more important things. If I haven’t spent time with God today, then surely my time can be spent better than playing some game. If I haven’t spent time with my family, then gaming surely can wait.  This then leads onto the second guideline:

2. Don’t  Get Obsessed

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God

Exodus 20:4-5a
I have heard all too many stories of people becoming obsessed with games, particularly MMORPG’s such as World of Warcraft. I have even heard of Game Addiction Rehab Clinics in places such as Amsterdam. If I am not careful, I could be drawn into these games, and not realise it. Therefore I must remain vigilant so as not to become obsessed. Exodus 20:4 talks about false idols. In the context of the day, these were idols, statues that the people would make and worship, believing them to be gods. But in today’s society, our idols are much more secluded in nature. We don’t have physical golden idols, but we do have TV, computers, magazines, celebrities – things that take our focus away from God. The first guideline helps with this, ensuring that I remain focused on God and Family. I will never rush home to play my game (this includes searching for a computer because I forgot to water my Farmville farm – which won’t be a problem as I don’t play that).

3. Game in Community

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, heal the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
One of the great things about gaming is that it brings you into a community. For me, I have a group of about 4-5 friends that meet up semi-regularly to play. For some of these guys, they might not go to Church regularly. By gaming with them, it opens up opportunities to chat with them about Christianity, and also to maybe invite them along to church one day. Gaming by yourself is fun sometimes, but that community aspect is one of the real joys of gaming. At the end of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he gives the final instructions above. It all boils down to respect in your community. Verse 14 says “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” For me, in relation to gaming, this verse is vital. For in community, we can chat to others about their issues, we can encourage the timid, be patient with everyone. We can make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, and try to be kind to each other and to everyone else (Verse 15). It is in community that we can follow God’s word. Hence, when we game, as often as we can we should try to aim to do so in community.

This also goes into helping others make sure that they don’t get obsessed with their gaming. Remember, the reason why this issue spoke to me was because there are people out there who are affected by games. People who do get obsessed, who can’t distinguish the difference between a video game and real life. By gaming in community, we can look out for the signs of these people, and – as Paul writes – “help the weak,” we can help them through any issues that they have, either through a chat, through possibly bringing them to Christ, or through getting them in contact with people who can help.

Conclusion

As I said, these are by no means a manifesto or creed – just some guidelines. So I would encourage others to suggest things that I might like to include. I haven’t tackled in this edition what games to play, as I feel that by following the above guidelines that it’s not so necessary – but perhaps you disagree. Does “Thou shalt not murder” include killing in video games? Comment. Discuss. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Easter Camp 2010

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, faith, Life
Easter Camp 2010 Poster

Over the weekend, I had the amazing blessing of being a leader on the Salvation Army Easter Camp. Running from Thursday Night until Monday Morning, we had an awesome time having fun, learning about God, and making new friendships. The theme for the weekend was Torn, based on the part of the Gospel story that when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the temple that shielded the Holy of Holies was ripped in two from top to bottom. Continue reading “Easter Camp 2010” →

Has Twitter decreased our Internet Safety?

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life

There is no doubt that Twitter has taken the world by storm. The micro-blogging phenomenon has led us to communicate more to whoever is listening about anything and everything. Most major TV events will have twitter abuzz, there are even some TV shows that will hit the twitter top trends when shown in the US.

However, with the increased use of Twitter, has this lead to a lapse in Internet Security practices?

My main concern is the use of shortlinks, or URL Shortening Services. These have sprung up over the last year or so, and now there is a large number of these services out there – and often you can run one from your own website with very little technical knowhow. Even WordPress has one now, so that this page address which is

http://benclapton.id.au/2010/01/19/has-twitter-decreased-our-internet-safety/

becomes:

http://wp.me/pve12-55

Much shorter, and easier to put into a twitter message of 140 characters.

However, has this service made us lapse about our own personal internet security practices? Continue reading “Has Twitter decreased our Internet Safety?” →

Prayer

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, Life, Uncategorized

I was recently on an orchestral tour which ended in tragedy, with the death of a tour member and the hospitalisation of another. I’m not going to go into details, but I’d like to share some thoughts.

We were called down to the lobby around 6.40am, being told an accident had occurred. After we were told the news, we were told to call our parents to let them know we were ok, as names had not been released. At that point, I realised that the only thing I could do was pray. I had a quick prayer in the lobby, then headed up to my room to call my parents and fiancee. I then sent a message to a number of people in Perth, asking them to pray. I then prayed myself.

For about half an hour, I prayed forhealing for the boy still in hospital, I prayed for the boys families, I prayed for everyone on tour. Over the course of the day, I felt God’s arm around me continuously, feeling strongly his presence with each prayer sent his way from Perth.

I would pray often through that day, each time feeling a strong sense of peace through Christ.

It cemented in my mind that prayer works. Whether petitioning for healing, or other concerns, or just entering into communion with God, prayer can have incredile effects – sometimes what we want, sometimes what we need, sometimes an answer in a different form.

I will continue praying about this event, and would ask that you do as well.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, remembering the real reason for the season – Christ was born, who came to die for our sins so that we can have a full relationship with God.

A Christian Gamer?

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, faith, Life

I’ll freely admit that I’m a bit of a nerd. Actually… a lot of a nerd. And what do nerds do to have fun with friends? Game. I’m what you would call a casual gamer – I don’t really play computer games all that often by myself, but will generally try to get to a LAN at least once a month with a few mates to have a gaming session. What we play at these nights are often an RTS – Real Time Simulator – such as Supreme Commander, Red Alert, or Warcraft 3 (if we’re feeling old school) and a FPS – first person shooter – such as Unreal Tournament 3, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, etc. We’re all mature gamers – I’m the youngest at 23 – and I don’t think that any of us would be affected by the violence of such games.

However, I’ve been challenged in my thinking just recently. It was all sparked by the refusing of classification in Australia of Left 4 Dead 2. I was discussing this with my mum, arguing that I felt we needed an R18+ rating for games, especially considering that the average age of gamers in Australia is towards the mid-20’s and growing older all the time. I was saying that the people of are affected badly by violence in video games are in the minority, and generally have some underlying mental illness. My mum then used an argument on me that I had used to help me understand some new commitments in my faith. Continue reading “A Christian Gamer?” →

Global Poverty

by Ben Clapton, posted in Archive, faith

Biblical Truth

Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Exodus 22:21-27, Faith in Action Study Bible

Musical Offering

Ben’s Offering

In September 2000, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets – with a deadline of 2015 – that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals. There were three goals related to eradication of global poverty:

  1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the number of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
  2. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
  3. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

It is sad still, that in 2008, 80% of the world’s population lived on $10/day, and half the world’s population lived on $2.50/day.

Find out more: Check out the UN’s Millenium Development Goals, and write to your local MP, asking what they are doing to ensure that they meet the 2015 deadline.
Edit: 16 Oct, 7.35pm. Forgot the Video. Now included. Wonderful song, People Need the Lord