This whole bear business has been the topic of much discussion lately in many social circles and I appreciate that it causes a lot of conflict.  I have struggled greatly reflecting upon it myself as it even draws conflict within my own mind as to how it was dealt with, the issue at stake and how that relates to my own life.

Initially I thought that the whole situation was completely ridiculous (I am just being honest).  However, not wanting to be entirely judgmental I decided to mull it over and try to understand the following; why should there be such offence taken at a slightly careless, but nonetheless mistaken gesture?  Now I know that in Islam, the name of Mohammad is not to be trivialised in any manner.   However, if we look to the jolly old UK, we find small dogs called satan in order to heighten home security, Jesus as a swear word, a vodka bar in the centre of town in an old church building with an image of Jesus, arms outstretched, overlooking the bar, illuminated by a glitter ball cross etc.  Is this an insult or an opportunity?

Do people walk into that bar, see the image of Jesus and make a connection with God?  Maybe they do.  I would never rule out what God can do to connect with those who do not know him, especially if us Christians can’t open our mouths and share our faith with them.

Or should we be offended by the trivialisation of the powerful name of God?  I mean, not using God’s name in vain is one of the ten commandments - it must be pretty important to Him.  He also says things like “You know not of whom you speak” and “I AM who I AM” “At the name of Jesus every knee must bow” - at His NAME!  So maybe there is more to a name than we would care to admit.  Traditionally (such as in the Bible), children were named for the significance of that name’s meaning, such as “pain of my labour” or “after God’s own heart” etc.  Why are names so important?

There is a sense in which in the Bible, people were named as a sign of what they were, or would be.  God said “I have called you children of God”, meaning ‘therefore you ARE children of God’.  We don’t tend to think of names in the same way now, i.e. “I have called you Chardonnay, therefore you ARE chardonnay” because we don’t see many bottles of wine wandering the streets do we?

Mary was told that the Son of God would be called Jesus.  Many other mothers were told what to call there child.  Children learn to call their parents ‘mother’ and ‘father’.  This sort of implies that God/parents would say “This is who you are” in a name.   Therefore when God says “I AM who I AM” it is even more significant.  This is who you are, but… I am who I am. When I thought about this I thought about who I was.  I remembered that God is a theocracy, not a democracy - that we cannot make Christianity fit comfortably within society or even within our lives.  It is not convenient, it is often difficult to understand and offensive in human terms, but God is Lord.  He is either real or not.  I believe that He is real.

I am still not sure about the bear Mohammad…  Or satan the dog.  I am definitely not sure that going to a health spa and gazing at a fat cross-legged man named sid-arthur (however you spell buddha’s first name!) is going to detox my skin and cause me to feel relaxed.  But our society is odd and we have forgotten the significance of names.  Is this good or bad?  Are names prohibitive or sacred?  Either way, I feel a bit sorry for the poor bear.