MARCH 2019
MAKE SURE SOME
PATHS ARE DIRT unicef photographer gets off the beaten track
TASTY, HEALTHY & CHEAP the Mediterranean diet
AUSTRALIA AND THE BIBLE
A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD TODAY
IN THIS ISSUE
MARCH 2019
MAKE SURE SOME PATHS ARE DIRT PAGE 32 UNICEF photographer Simon Lister tells his story
6 CURRENT
WHAT IN THE WORLD PERFECT STORM Our actions affect people on the other side of the planet 12 STREET SIGNS The public speaks out about climate change 4 6
WELLBEING
14 BREAKING THROUGH
Being a positive father—even after separation 18 THE TASTY, HEALTHY & CHEAP MEDITERRANEAN DIET 30 GO HEALTHY FOR GOOD News snippets for every body FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 2
SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • MARCH 2019
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54
50 NATURAL WAYS TO
REDUCE INFLAMMATION Top tips for fighting back 52 RECIPE Roast vegetable tart 58 POSITIVES OF FAILURE Lessons from a baking disaster
CULTURE
54 AUSTRALIA AND THE
BIBLE Book review: The Bible in Australia—a cultural history by Meredith Lake
FUN
62 CROSSWORD & SUDOKU
FAITH
24 THE JESUS PARADOX
The power of powerlessness 38 GETTING ALONG LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE United in adversity and on a mission! 44 CONSOLING FAITH The critics are right— but there’s more . . . /SIGNSOFTHETIMES
Test your brain; test your Signs recall!
FROM THE EDITOR
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life without challenges would be boring. Who doesn’t relish the prospect of planting a garden, restoring a classic car or learning a new language? Yes, the process may be hard, but we know that the sweat, mis-steps and long hours will all be worth it in the end. The vision of our eventual success drives us on. That’s one reason why I reject the cliche of heaven as a place where people waft about aimlessly on clouds, strumming harps. Read the first two chapters of the Bible and you’ll catch a glimpse of a creative God joyfully at work and the humans made in His image also given important tasks. If God’s original vision involved us getting our hands dirty in the damp, fragrant soil of Eden, surely His plan for our future is no less practical and attractive. (If you don’t find gardening any more exciting than harping, don’t panic—God has challenges organised that will totally work for you.) Having said that, clearly it was never part of God’s plan that children should spend long hours slaving in factories, as UNICEF photographer Simon Lister has documented (page 32). It was never part of God’s plan that families would separate and hearts be broken (see page 14). And it was never part of God’s plan that the beautiful earth He created would be threatened by its human caretakers (see page 6). These are challenges to be overcome rather than relished. This month’s Signs suggests that, despite the destruction and sadness around us, there are ways through these challenges—hopeful glimpses of justice accomplished, suffering ended and Eden restored.
Kent KENT KINGSTON Editor
VOL 134 NO 3 ISSN 1038-9733 EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brad Kemp EDITOR Kent Kingston ASSISTANT EDITOR Daniel Kuberek COPYEDITOR Tracey Bridcutt GRAPHIC DESIGN Nerise McQuillan Theodora Amuimuia PHONE +61 2 9847 2222 EMAIL info@signsofthetimes.org.au WEBSITE signsofthetimes.org.au ADDRESS Adventist Media PO Box 1115, Wahroonga New South Wales 2076 SUBSCRIPTIONS Kelli Geelan PHONE +61 3 5965 6300 Australia, $A26; New Zealand, $NZ26; South Pacific countries, $A41; Other countries $A51 Published since 1886, Signs of the Times is printed 11 times a year by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is registered as a periodical. Seventh-day Adventist Church (SPD) Limited ABN 59 093 117 689 NOTE The inclusion of a person or their image within does not imply their endorsement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church or its beliefs. Unless otherwise stated, Bible verses are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved worldwide. COVER PHOTO: Simon Lister
@Kent_SignsMag MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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WHAT IN THE WORLD
DON’T CONDONE THE PHONE The Russian Orthodox patriarch has claimed that smartphones are being controlled by an antichrist. Patriarch Kirill warned about the rise of online media, claiming the internet can be used for “universal control over humanity”, and that the “devil acts very wisely”. “You should remain free inside and not fall under any addiction, not to alcohol, not to narcotics, not to gadgets,” he warned.—The Telegraph 4
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GEOVANNI HERRERA—UNSPLASH, BOSLAND CORP—FLICKR, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, @HAYARPI_3—TWITTER, FREEPIK.COM
FUELLING CONCERNS
Australia’s fuel stockpiles are just above half the minimum legally mandated supply, putting the country at risk in a crisis situation. Currently, onshore storage of crude oil would only last for 56 days if production ceased. The country is obliged to stock at least 90 days worth of crude oil in case of an international disruption to supply.—NewDaily
The world’s
SURFACE TEMPERATURE has RISEN by
0.9 °C
CLIMATE STRANGE 2018 was New Zealand’s secondhottest year on record, according to an annual summary. The country had a mean temperature of 13.41 degrees, 0.8 degrees above average. January 2018 was also the country’s hottest month, averaging at 3.1 degrees above normal. Climate scientists say the changes are indicating significant global warming. “It is very concerning, and politicians are not yet doing anything about it,” said Dr Jim Salinger. New Zealand recorded its hottest ever year in 2016.—NZ Herald
since the 1800s. —NASA
119 BILLION TONNES of ice has been
LOST
from Antarctica between 1993 and 2016.
?
—NASA
Global sea levels have
RISEN by
7.5 cm in the
PAST DECADE. SANCTUARY
A church in the Netherlands is (at the time of writing) conducting a non-stop church service to protect an Armenian refugee family from deportation. The service has been continuing since October 26, 2018, as Dutch law does not allow for police officers to enter a church during a religious service. Pastors and volunteers have reportedly rostered shifts to continue the service.—CNN
—WCRP Gobal Sea Level Budget Group The World Meteorological
Organisation (UN) says EARTH is up to
80% LIKELY
to face a
CLIMATE-WARMING
El Nino
event by this month. MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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STOCKTREK IMAGES—GETTY IMAGES
PERFECT STORM
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Climate change threatens to wipe large swathes of humanity off the map. How do we even make sense of this? And what should we do? BY CLAUDIA HOUSTOUN MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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creep over the coral, its life drained by bleaching. Many of the fish have disappeared. 2017’s mass-bleaching event, the second in two years, affected 93 per cent of Queensland’s reefs. Some areas lost more than half their coral. It’s all been largely caused by a water temperature rise of just 1°C , yet the ocean is predicted to warm another three degrees by 2100. “Coral reefs . . . are threatened with complete collapse under climate change,” warns the International Society for Reef Studies. Climate change is hurting more than the Reef. On land, all of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred recently, between 1999 and now. Drought has become the “new normal” for Australians, but geological evidence shows that lengthy droughts were unprecedented for at least the last 400 years. Decades-long
VELVETFISH, CHUYN—GETTY IMAGES
y 10-year-old lungs gasped a few shallow breaths as we sank down into the ocean. Mum and I were first-time divers at the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns, Queensland. The underwater city of clownfish, delicate pink corals and sleepy, cat-like turtles quickly calmed my nerves, though. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of diving around Australia and been wowed by gentle sharks, kaleidoscopic nudibranchs, giant tree-fan corals and the symbiosis between them all. Reefs are functional, not just beautiful. Globally, they feed the one billion people who rely on fish as their main protein source, many of whom are among the world’s poorest. Reefs also protect coastal cities from storm damage by absorbing wave energy. In the last few years, though, I’ve watched white, bony fringes
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Devastation after a Florida hurricane. The evidence points to an increase in extreme weather events.
trends show loss of rainfall beyond the natural variation of weather. With current drying trends, parts of Western Australia will lose up to half their seasonal rainfall by the end of this century. Life in rural Australia will not be for the faint-hearted. It’s well-supported that climate change exists and is being caused by human activities. Changes in the atmosphere can be mathematically tracked by measures like atmospheric carbon and temperature, carbon in the layers of sea-ice and global snow cover. This evidence has led to 97 per cent consensus among scientists that climate change is human-caused. This is an encouraging statistic, because it gives us a clear problem to solve. According to the Climate Institute of Australia, 77 per cent of us accept that climate change is
real and most (65 per cent) think we should be a world leader in finding solutions. Yet I look at our engorged consumer lives and wonder: will we actually stop climate change? Many of us have adopted climate friendly technologies like solar- powered homes and energy-smart devices. Various schemes to reduce carbon have been floated, such as the Gillard government’s star-crossed “carbon tax” emissions trading scheme. Greater effort is needed to truly neutralise our carbon emissions, though. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified that, to minimise the worst effects, we need an annual emissions reduction of 4.9 per cent per year between now and 2050. Instead, emissions have steadily grown by 2 per cent almost every MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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downsize my car, cycle to work, eat local food and buy fewer consumer goods. Other things would be more inconvenient: climate activism would cost time, and I’d have to seriously reconsider travelling overseas. Yet, these first-world problems are trivial compared to those faced by poorer people already dealing with climate change. Some Pacific island nations’ land is being swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Kiribati has an average elevation of two metres above sea level and its leaders are seeking agreements with larger nations to accept their citizens when the time comes. According to community leader Eria Maerere: “[The sea] comes in . . . it reaches the unreached spots. Who causes it? Our brothers and sisters in the big countries. I’m asking God to work with the big
HADYNYAH—GETTY IMAGES
year for the past few decades. Overall, our attempts to decouple emissions from economic growth have not worked. Economist Tim Jackson calculates that, at current rates, combined population and economic growth will lead to a global emission increase of 80 per cent between 2009 and 2050! He says in Prosperity without Growth that “. . . by 2050, the carbon content of each dollar has to be . . . 130 times lower than today.” In a world of constant emissions growth, can any amount of technology and re-forestation achieve this colossal reduction? In our fractured world, will we find the political will for the coordinated, global action that it will require? It seems obvious that we’re unlikely to stop climate change. The land and sea are melting. Blissful ignorance seems the preferred choice. I am one person, of relatively limited means and influence. I could ride a bike to work and convince a few others to do the same, but these small gains seem laughable. In the coming decades, wealth and competent governance will probably shelter me from severe, climate-induced discomforts like food scarcity, coastal inundation and freak weather catastrophes. A few good decades is just enough time to buy ignorance, if I want it. But, alternatively, what would I have to change about my lifestyle to meaningfully address climate change? Some things are obvious:
Fetching water in Rajasthan, India. The UN estimates that, if climate change continues at its current rate, water scarcity will displace up to 700 million people by 2030.
countries to show mercy to us . . .” Famously, in 1995, half a million Bangladeshi people became homeless when the river delta rose and covered more than half of their home island of Bhola. Bangladesh could have as many as 20 million such climate refugees by 2050 if trends continue. Their pain seems remote from ours, immense and incomprehensible. Ironically, the people losing the most to climate change are the ones contributing the least to it. The average developing-world lifestyle is much more eco-friendly than mine, with locally-grown food, sporadic access to electricity and no personal car. It is supremely unethical to continue my comparatively luxurious lifestyle as-is and wilfully forget that others pay for it. Climate change presents a suite of
challenges that seem insurmountable. It’s a perfect storm. Our reefs and oceans are collapsing; land is becoming dry and disaster-prone. This will cost the livelihoods of millions, make life difficult for the remainder and potentially cause wars. For Bible-readers, this calamity shouldn’t be a surprise. Jesus explained that if He wasn’t going to return, “no one would survive” the disaster-ridden last days of Earth (Matthew 24:22). This foreknowledge shouldn’t allow us to breathe easy and trash the planet while we wait. God warns that He will “destroy those who destroy the Earth” (Revelation 11:18)—a tough response, for sure, but a fair one. Climate change unfairly affects the poor. If I’m wealthy and I consider myself a Christian, I am called to actively improve the lives of the disadvantaged: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17). In the 21st century, this surely includes trying our best to alleviate the impacts of climate change on others. On a drying planet, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (Matthew 25:35) has the ring of relevance. Perhaps cycling to work isn’t so laughable, after all. Claudia Houstoun is a secondary English teacher in Brisbane. She is an avid reef diver and amateur naturalist. Visit the online version of this article to see the author’s sources: <signsofthetimes.org.au>. MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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STREET SIGNS “In here [Australia], the sun is really hard for our skin. If you sit for one or two hours, you can burn your skin. I’m from Sao Paolo [in Brazil]. In Australia it’s an amazing country . . . but the weather in summer is really dangerous. In Brazil it’s not like here, you can stay for a long time on the beach and you have a good tan.”—Meinon
“I would like to say ‘definitely yes, climate change is going to kill us all’. Or ‘it’s hogwash’. I don’t know who to believe. It makes you even more cynical about politicians and people in power, they’ve got agendas to follow. . . . I’ve worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 35 years, so I know how people can skew things in their favour.”—David
“I think [my kids] are so much more aware and grow up being educated about it. Whereas my generation certainly weren’t. . . . My parents are in their seventies and they certainly don’t believe that climate change is real. . . . Perhaps that generation is looking for excuses why weather patterns are changing. The younger generations are taking a bit more responsibility.”—Sue 12
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CLIMATE CHANGE: Myth or fact? “Back in the day when I was a kid [in the Netherlands] we would have snow in November/December and we would go ice skating. And now the seasons have changed. So we still have snow but it’s in February/March. And the same is for the summer holidays, because for us that’s in June/July. We would have really good weather but now it’s changed . . . the good weather comes around in August/ September.”—Stephanie
“I found that climate change has always happened for probably millennia from what I’ve been learning on YouTube. But I would say that pollution has contributed. . . . Whilst climate change would have happened anyway . . . people [have] started to wake up and realise we have to do something about our pollution. We’re killing off the earth, we’re killing off the oceans. What are we leaving to our next generations?”—Rita MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
IMAGES BY DANIEL KUBEREK
“I think I’m only worried because there are animals that need to be helped. Polar bears, they’re struggling because ice is melting rapidly. So their habitat is slowly going. It’s scary because water levels are going to rise.”—Jade
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ELL B EING
BREAKING THROUGH FATHERHOOD AFTER SEPARATION
A marital breakup is hard on kids—and parents. What can dads do to ensure they continue to be a positive influence?
DGLIMAGES—GETTY IMAGES
BY PATRICK O’NEILL
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You say mum’s standing in the way And all she wants is for you to pay. Maybe that’s true, But what can I do? I’m your daughter, And you’re supposed to be my father. ~from“Daddy Why” by Heidi A Hopson
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our children need you. Never give up on them. Do everything you can to be significantly involved in their lives in a healthy and loving relationship, even if your marriage is over. And never ever disrespect the mother in front of the children—she is half their DNA. There is nothing the child can do about that. Sadly, parental conflict is a negative predictor of child wellbeing. Statistics reported in the UK’s Daily Mail in 2013 make interesting reading about parents’ perceptions versus children’s perceptions. In answer to a survey asking divorced families how they’d fared, 75 per cent of the parents stated that their children coped. But 72 per cent of the children stated they did not cope at all. It was revealing that while 35 per cent of children said one parent had tried to turn the child against the other parent, only 8 per cent of parents admitted that they’d done so. Sadly, 25 per cent of the children surveyed stated they had not seen their father since the separation. I see so many tragic stories of kids separated from parents. However the
custodial parent must realise that it’s always the children who suffer. The poem (left) is just an example. In Australia, Parliament tried to alter this situation legally, ruling that the court must apply a presumption that it is in the child’s best interests to have a relationship with both parents, except in circumstances where there has been sexual abuse or violence. The idea was to encourage parents to co-operate in child-rearing in the hope that this would lead to less acrimonious disputes, which are spiritually and financially costly for all parties and affect a child’s right to know and love both Mum and Dad.
what’s so special about dads?
A father’s involvement, long term, in children’s lives is significant. Through my many years fostering children as well as my studies in psychology, I’ve come to believe that, as mothers are significant in their child’s lives through nurture, a father’s significance is through autonomy and competence. Let’s take a look at some of the research in psychology and family studies that suggests why this is the case. DADS GET ROUGH
Canadian psychologist Daniel Paquette proposed in an article on rough-and-tumble play that fathers have a tendency to excite, surprise and momentarily destabilise children. Fathers also tend to encourage children to take risks, while at the same time ensuring their safety. This MARCH 2019 • SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU
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