Month: January 2011

Genesis 8:1-19

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But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters had abated; and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.’ So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

This part of chapter 8 gets more confusing as the two sources have been comingled again. Both P and J have pieces in this part of the flood story.

Apparently after 150 days the water abated and the ark came to rest upon Mount Ararat.  Okay, sounds good.

But it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, after which Noah sent out a dove to look to see if the flood was over, but it found no place to land so the dove returned.

Noah waits another seven days and again he sends out the dove.  This time the dove returns with a freshly plucked olive tree leaf. But Noah brings the dove back in and waits again another seven days.

Again Noah sends out the dove.  This time it does not return.

At this time Noah removes the cover of the ark and God commands him to leave the ark….after 40 days and nights, plus 14 days of waiting for the waters to subside.

Obviously the math does not calculate properly here. How can Noah leave the ark after 54 days, but the ark has not come to rest upon Mount Ararat, which is due to happen 96 days after the flood began?

So was it 54 days or 150 days?

It may in fact have been both. The reason I say this is there is much archeological evidence to support a great flood that occurred roughly 10 000 years ago. Many of the costal regions flooded, never to return, when the ice caps began to melt and sea levels rose.

This type of cataclysmic event would naturally be documented in the sacred texts of many people, which could explain why the days do not line up.  But just because the days do not line up does not mean there was not a “Great Flood”.

For instance, here is an example of a 10 000 year village in the English Channel. http://www.livescience.com/history/070809_aqua_dig.html

There are also other examples, a 10 000 year old pyramid off the coast of Japan, another temple complex off the coast of India from the same time period. There obviously was a great flood that people interpreted as an act of God.

So does it matter then that the Great Flood may not have happened, at least not according to the biblical version? Does it matter that the flood can be shown to be the melting of the ice caps after the last ice age?

Maybe it matters to some, but not to me. It doesn’t matter to me whether this story is “true” in the historical sense, it still carries with it many truths that God wishes us to know and understand.

Stewardship of the earth is vital, as we learn from this passage, because the earth is a delicate balance. And if we continue down the current path, then we may see another great flood as the ice caps melt from global warming and New York city disappears, along with many costal towns and cities

Looking beyond the history or interpretation of history, it is always important when reading the Torah to remember that God preserved this story not because of its scientific factual-ness, but because within it is a truth that He wishes us to understand.

So let’s sit down and keep reading our way through the Torah and eventually through the rest of the bible.

Copyright and Fair Dealing

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I couldn't resist the temptation (or the irony)....

Copyright is an issue discussed in many churches far less than it ought to be. I have seen countless examples of churches breaking or ignoring copyright law, mainly for one of two reasons:

  1. Ignorance of the copyright laws
  2. The belief that because of its non-profit status or overall ‘good intentions’ the church is somehow exempt from certain laws

Of course, it should go without saying that neither of these are valid reasons for breaking copyright law or any laws for that matter. But somehow this one seems to slip through the cracks.

So what can we, as a church, do to protect ourselves and protect and honour the producers of materials that we wish to use? How can we use materials fairly while respecting those who used their time and talents to produce them? How can we understand what copyright law covers and what is available for Fair Dealing?

At the root, education is the key. Ignorance of the laws simply cannot be an excuse. I for one have unfortunately broken copyright laws because of my personal lack of understanding. As such, I have recently taken it upon myself to begin to educate myself about copyright law. Realizing how little I know, I was inspired to write about the experience and share the knowledge that I discovered.

Why Copyright Law?

Copyright laws exist to protect content creators and ensure that they receive fair compensation for their work, which may also be their livelihood. The term Fair Use is an American term and is often used in explaining copyright law, but Canada has a slightly different approach called Fair Dealing.

When considering Fair Dealing, there are a number of things to keep in mind:

  1. The Purpose of the Dealing Is it for research, private study, criticism, review or news reporting? It expresses that “these allowable purposes should not be given a restrictive interpretation or this could result in the undue restriction of users’ rights.” In particular, the Court gave a “a large and liberal interpretation” to the notion of research, stating that “lawyers carrying on the business of law for profit are conducting research”.
  2. The Character of the Dealing How were the works dealt with? Was there a single copy or were multiple copies made? Were these copies distributed widely or to a limited group of people? Was the copy destroyed after being used? What is the general practice in the industry?
  3. The Amount of the Dealing How much of the work was used? What was the importance of the infringed work? Quoting trivial amounts may alone sufficiently establish fair dealing as there would not be copyright infringement at all. In some cases even quoting the entire work may be fair dealing. The amount of the work taken must be fair in light of the purpose of the dealing.
  4. Alternatives to the Dealing Was a “non-copyrighted equivalent of the work” available to the user? Was the dealing “reasonably necessary to achieve the ultimate purpose”?
  5. The Nature of the Work Copying from a work that has never been published could be more fair than from a published work “in that its reproduction with acknowledgement could lead to a wider public dissemination of the work – one of the goals of copyright law. If, however, the work in question was confidential, this may tip the scales towards finding that the dealing was unfair.”
  6. Effect of the Dealing on the Work Is it likely to affect the market of the original work? “Although the effect of the dealing on the market of the copyright owner is an important factor, it is neither the only factor nor the most important factor that a court must consider in deciding if the dealing is fair.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_dealing#Canada

Individuals, churches and other organizations may use these categories determine whether they may use copyright materials. Although during my time in the church, I must admit, I have witnessed many obvious violations to these rules due to either ignorance or arrogance.

To help individual churches and priest conform to copyright law in Canada, what follows is some general infractions that occurs and some general information of how to comply with copyright law.

Images

General

When looking for images for a website, blog post, sermon series or poster, the first instinct of many churches is to do a google search and take the first image found. This is easy, but it’s also a violation of Fair Dealing.

Many artists are willing to allow free use of their images but require acknowledgement of their work. This creates traffic back to their portfolio and can increase sales and provide for their livelihood.

Something also to consider, is some artist will allow certain organizations to use their materials for free but not others. Artists are allowed to determine the “moral” use of their images. For instances, an atheistic artist may allow free use of his/her image except for religious organizations.

Even when an image is free, it is best to check with the artist or read the parameters that govern the use of the image.

Images in Sermons

Using a photographer’s pictures or a designer’s Photoshop files in a sermon PowerPoint presentation, may be allowed, but only if acknowledgement of the artist is sited at the end of the presentation or the artist has given permission for its use.

Images in promotional materials

Using unauthorized images in church flyers for a parish event would constitute copyright infringement even if acknowledgment were given to the artist. In this case permission from the artist is needed or the image needs to be purchased.

Solution

When it comes to images, there is a wealth of free resources online. http://www.christianphotos.net/, http://www.creativemyk.com/ and sxc.hu are excellent starting points for churches looking for royalty-free images.

If you have an image that you want to use but don’t know where it came from, http://www.tineye.com is a website that can help find the original source of the image. Once you know that, you can ask permission or determine if using it would be considered Fair Dealing.

Films

Pizza and Movie night or Film and Discussion groups are a common educational tool in many churches. But often, these are in direct violation of copyright law and Fair Dealing.

These free nights affect the market value of the copyright work.

Solution

Fortunately, there is once again a simple solution. A licence to show many movies at church events will cost only between $60-205, depending on your church’s size. http://canada.cvli.com/main.cfm

Music

Most churches though do purchase a One License or CCLI. (http://www.onelicense.net/ or http://www.ccli.com/). Somehow, music copyright has been impressed in us more than other forms of media. However, infringements still occurs when a priest or pastor wants to add in a new piece of music or make changes to a piece without due diligence.

For instance, changing content (substituting words) to appeal to a particular theology violates copyright law. The new piece of music would be considered derivative work.

Solution

In this case, awareness is key. Understanding the terms of use of the licence that the church owns and following it will solve most if not all of the music broadcast issues.

For recorded music, a SOCAN licence can be purchased from http://www.socan.ca/. This license will allow previously recorded music to be played at your event, such as WOW Praise music played during a dinner or such.

Why it is important

Why is it so important for churches and church leaders to adhere to the Canadian Copyright Law? Aside from protecting the rights of the artist, it becomes an issue of hypocrisy. If we wish to speak ethically about the world then we simply must comply with the laws and not circumvent them when it becomes burdensome.

The Christian life requires constant diligence and this is especially true for the leaders of a Christian community. After all, if we can’t bother to adhere to the law, then why would the parishioners listen to our message? As Christ lived as an example, so to must the church.

The longer that the church compromises copyright law the more damage is done to our reputation. We begin to lose our credibility to speak ethically to a society, about how we ought to be as a people, a culture and civilization. In many cases we quickly begin to resemble the Pharisees that Jesus denounced. And once our reputation begins to suffer, the more irrelevant we become.

Genesis 7

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Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’ And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. And Noah with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. And after seven days the waters of the flood came on the earth.

In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark, they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind—every bird, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

The flood continued for forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.


We have arrived at the Great Flood in Genesis. This is an intricate story that needs to be broken down to see the various parts, namely the different sources or editors of the text.

The first thing we should notice is that in the previous chapter (6:19) Noah is told by God to bring two of every kind of living animal, male and female. Yet at the beginning of this chapter in verse 2 Noah now is to take seven pairs of the clean animals and only a pair of the animals that are not clean.

This discrepancy is due to the first part of chapter 7 is written by P (the Priestly source), while chapter 6 was written by J (the Yahwist source). And if you remember there was some 5 or 6 centuries between those two sources.

But why add to the story and scripture? Well for the priestly source, which is concerned with their worldview, the Temple and sacrifice at the Temple is central to the worship of God. The extra clean animals would therefore be needed for sacrifices, while the pair of unclean animals was brought on board the Ark to keep them alive. A slight revision.

Something for us to consider then is how does our world and our worldview affect scripture? As language evolves, do we change the meaning of scripture and re-interpret or translated it in new and perhaps misleading ways? Should we only read scripture then in its purest form or translation, like the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) and ignore all copies of the Message (scripture in today’s vernacular?)

There definitely seems to be a longing in humanity to twist scripture to their own ends, as did the Priestly source. If we can add, or alter scripture just enough then the more difficult parts can be removed and it can be sanitized for us. But then it is obviously not the word of God anymore, or at least not entirely.

We are also introduced to the number 40 in this passage. 40 is important because it comes to signal the amount of time required for trial and/or testing. For example the Israelites wondered in the desert with Moses for 40 years, Jesus is tempted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights and likewise God makes it rain for 40 days and nights, causing the flood.

Perhaps the 40 days and 40 nights as a time of trial and testing for Noah may also be a time of trial and testing for us also. We are after all approaching Lent soon, and using those 40 days that are designed for us to walk with Jesus in the desert would be a good time for us to sit down with scripture and really dive deep into the word of God.

40 days to sit with scripture, whether that is one passage that you have always struggled with, or one chapter each day, the time of trial and testing that we endure, like Noah can help us come to understand what the word of God is truly saying aside from what our own worldviews and desires would prefer.