Adventure in Nunavut

I spent the four weeks working in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The Arctic is a wonderful, unique place in Canada. Everyone is curious what it was like, so let me answer a few of your questions.

Why did you go there?
I went for work. A business in Cambridge Bay was behind in their books and needed an accountant to come in and help them catch up. It was a short term work contract, which is common in the North. I worked two weeks before Christmas and the first two weeks in January.

Where is Cambridge Bay?

Find the border between Saskatchewan and Manitoba . . . and go north. Cambridge Bay is well inside the Arctic Circle. It's as far north as San Francisco is south. You can only get there by airplane.

How cold is it there?

The warmest I saw was -25. Most days it was -30C - -35C, and the coldest was -46. On the few calm days it wasn't too bad. The blowing wind makes it much worse. I'd rather have -35 on a calm day than -25 with a breeze.

One of the greatest experiences was seeing how people respond to the cold. People expect the cold and it doesn't bother them. Really. People wear heavy parkas and snowpants. 14 year old girls never consider that snowpants and toques are unfashionable, and I played fooseball against kids wearing gloves. Dealing with the cold is normal. Life goes on. The only weather-related comment I heard was "Feels warmer today, doesn't it." People don't fight against the cold, they adapt to it.

It is cold though, don't get me wrong. You feel it if you take off your glove to take a picture. Glove off . . . snap, snap, snap . . . glove on. Then your hand is frozen. Not cold, but frozen.

I went snowmobiling one night – in the cold. I was dressed with enough layers to actually be warm. My face was covered up with a neckwarmer pulled up over my nose and my touque as low as it could go, so only my eyes were showing. I ended up with frostbite on that space between my eyes. And do you know what happens when the cold wind makes your eyes water? One day my runny nose froze into an icicle.

Do people ride in dog sleds?

No. I didn't see anyone pull up to their igloo in a dog sled. There are three ways to get around town: The first is big pickups (a few vans, no cars; you couldn't drive a Civic through the snowdrifts). The second way around is snowmobile. There are as many snowmobiles as trucks. They drive down the street like any other vehicle – obeying speed limits and stopping at stop signs. The third way around town is to walk. Town is only about one km wide, so you can walk everywhere. That's how I got around. (I suspect people drive Quads in the summer, but I only saw a few in December.)

A few people still have dogsleds. They're more for recreational use in the spring once it warms up. People with teams keep them out of town since they bark and disturb people.

What are the people like?

Amazing. I love the people there.

There are 1,600 people in town, and 80% of them are Inuit. It's the friendliest town I've ever seen. People are outgoing. The Inuit people are the nicest. I talked to 10 year old kids, teens, and elders. Everyone is friendly. I felt like a celebrity walking around town because everyone would smile at me and say Hello. There's nothing like walking down the -30C street and have an ancient-looking Inuit woman peer out of her fur-lined parka and start chatting.

Most people speak English Inuktituk is common among the elders. I went to one home to buy homemade fur mittens. When the door opened three aged elder women invited me in to see their wares. None of them spoke any English.

The people have more peace. They don't rush around and they don't panic about anything. They're not trying to keep up with an overly-busy life. They're not fighting against life. They relax and let things happen. Because they live in an environment where you can't beat it, they learned to move with the flow of life. At least the Inuit people. The white people don't.

The people are happy too. They're faces are more relaxed and more smiling. The community has lots of social problems too, with alcohol and drugs and family dysfunction. But they have smiling faces.

What do people do?

Cambridge Bay is the government centre for western Nunavut. That's the biggest industry. There's mine development around as well so some workers fly in and out of Cambridge Bay.

I'm convinced that most people drive water or sewer trucks. The ground is frozen granite, so all the services are above ground. Water, of course, would freeze. So water trucks drive around delivering water to all the houses, which have internal tanks. Same for sewage.

Inuit hunt and fish too. They hunt muskox and caribou, and fish arctic char. They do it for their own families, plus there's a meat plant in town that processes smoked char and muskox meat.

Cambridge Bay grew in the 1950 when a navigation radio tower was built. It was for airplanes to use as a locating device. A few years after it was built improved technology rendered it obsolete. Then the Americans built a large radar system to detect Communist planes coming over the North Pole from Russia. It was a large operation for decades giving the town time to become established. Inuit people first built houses from the wood left over from crating materials up for the towers. The town has boomed ever since.

Did you see any animals?

There are a few ravens flying around town, and I saw three arctic foxes – two of them in town. I tried to chase them and catch them, but they ran away. I saw several arctic hares as well. Imagine a rabbit the size of a coyote.

There are very few polar bears around, especially in the winter. Grizzleys arrived 15 years ago and are more popular.

Caribou have mostly migrated south for the winter. Muskox are still around but I didn't see any. It's not like they lay down outside the meat processing plant for the night.

Summer is a different story. There are thousands and thousands of migratory birds. There are lots of fish too – ocean and fresh water. The Inuit name for the area means "place of good fishing."

Is it dark all the time?

Cambridge Bay experiences Polar Night – a time when they don't see the sun. The sun set on November 30, and didn't rise again until January 11. So you think it might be dark all the time.

Actually, no. The sun doesn't rise, but they experience twilight. It is light out from 10 am until 2 pm, as light as Edmonton during a snowstorm. The rest of the time it's dark.

People seem accustomed to the darkness. It's a bit of a night culture, it seems. At least the arcade is full of school kids until it closes at 11:00. People snowmobile in the dark as well.

Seeing the sun finally rise was something else! It comes up, hugs the horizon in the southern sky, then goes down again. It's a sunrise & setset at the same time.

Did you eat whale blubber?

Yes. I was in the North, how could I resist?

Muqtuq is actually the skin of the whale and the attached blubber/meat. You can eat it raw or cooked. It's actually not bad, but it's much better cooked than raw. The taste is similar both ways, but it's hard and chewy when it's raw.

People eat normal western food. There are two grocery stores in town, which sell all normal food, and everything else you might want. (One store had a skidoo displayed in the produce area.) Because everything has to be flown it food is quite expensive. I paid $12 for 4L of milk. (I'm writing on a 737 jet carrying only 24 people, because the rest is cargo space.)

How do people get to Cambridge Bay?
There are no roads to Cambridge Bay. It's on an island isolated from other communities. People have to fly to get there. Supplies come in on a plane, or by barge in the summer.

People drive around town, and to areas outside town. Vehicles arrive by barge. Supplies are shipped from Yellowknife or Hay River on Great Slave Lake.

What is the community like?

There are two schools, an elementary and a high school, with 200 students. There's an ice rink in the winter and swimming pool in the summer. There are three churches, a community hall, health centre and really nice visitor centre. Three hotels, fire hall, and a community college. Lots of water trucks. Electrical generators, and large diesel storage tanks – used to generate electricity. There are historical points of interest near town, like the old Catholic church, whose stones were mortared together with clay and seal fat.

The town is busy over Christmas. There are activities and games every day – usually two or three events per day – for two weeks starting Dec 18. I attended the first night of community games in the school ("Kullick") gym. There were about 300 people of all ages packed in playing games together. I've never seen 20 elders – and I mean elders – playing the game where two people are blindfolded and one has to feed pudding to the other. The community is very social.

There are several artists in town. Ladies sew various crafts and clothing with leather and fur. Men carve soapstone, muskox antlers or bones. Two carvers and one sewer approached me to peddle wares while I was there. I bought an inukshuk necklace and beaver skin mitts.

Is God there?
I went to a Pentecostal church. The pastor is an Inuit man who grew up in Cambridge Bay. Inuit people gravitate naturally to experiential, expressive forms of Christianity.

Inuit people are naturally spiritual. Us southerns are too rational and skeptical. They pray earnestly for family members who struggle with alcohol and drug problems, and actually pray like God hears them and will answer prayers. When a household asks them to come and pray for them, they go prepared to see manifestations of the spiritual – demonic activity or deliverance. It was a inspiring to my faith to be with them.

What was the most exciting thing that happenned while you were there?

The most exciting thing actually centered around me, but I missed it entirely.

I went for a hike one day – three hours long, across the bay and on to the barrens. I wanted to experience the vastness of the land. My boss asked where I was going and when I would be back so he could come find me if something went wrong. I was back at 3:00, our appointed time. He got tied up and didn't show. His phone was busy for the next two hours so I wasn't able to let him know I was ok. I had to leave to go to dinner with someone, so I just left a note.

At 5:00 my boss drove by, saw that my office was dark, and didn't check for the note. He checked my hotel, which was empty. Then he phoned a few people to see if anyone had seen me. No luck. So he thinks I'm two hours late coming home, the wind is blowing, and it's dark out. So he called out the search party.

Meanwhile I'm relaxed, having dinner, and enjoying wonderful conversation with new-found friends. I didn't leave their house until 7:30.

My boss has reported my absence to the RCMP. A half-dozen of his friends had been combing the land on snowmobiles for two hours, and the formal, full-fledged search party is forming at the town office. When someone goes missing in the Arctic winter people take it seriously. A year ago two people got lost and were found frozen the next day. The town went into a frenzy.

I left the house and started walking up the street. A red Hamlet truck stopped and a person stuck his head out the window. "We're looking for a visitor named 'Wayne'" he says. "There's a search party forming to go looking for him."

He was glad to find me. So glad, in fact, he drove me to my office, and I quietly went back to work.

Can you train a sheep to come?

Study notes, John 10.1-5

Believe it or not, you can train a sheep to come.

This is still the main way of raising sheep in some parts of the world.
Instead of putting up fences to contain sheep, or using dogs to chase sheep, a shepherd will walk ahead of the sheep. He will talk or sing, and the sheep will follow him.

At night different flocks of sheep will all be mixed together in a common pen. The shepherd will arrive in the morning, Starbucks in hand, and start calling his sheep. "Come Flossie, come Bossie, come Mossie." The sheep hear the voice of their shepherd, hear their name being called, and come. The other sheep will stay in the pen, and only that shepherd's sheep will come out. Then the shepherd will walk out for the day, leading his sheep.

The sheep know the voice of the shepherd, and the shepherd knows his sheep.

Jesus used this same illustration: He knows his sheep. He knows your name, he knows what you like and don't like, everything. After all, he made you.

And, we can learn to recognize his voice. He calls us by name; often we're too scattered or distracted to hear it. But we can slow down, listen and hear: the voice of God speaking. And somehow, you just know it's God. And you know what he's saying.

John chapter 10

(Print version)

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
1 "I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.5 They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't know his voice."
6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant,7 so he explained it to them: "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.13 The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.
14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
17 "The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded."
19 When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him.20 Some said, "He's demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?"21 Others said, "This doesn't sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God
22 It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.23 He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade.24 The people surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father's name.26 But you don't believe me because you are not my sheep.27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.30 The Father and I are one."
31 Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.32 Jesus said, "At my Father's direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?"
33 They replied, "We're stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God."
34 Jesus replied, "It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, `I say, you are gods!'35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God's message were called `gods,'36 why do you call it blasphemy when I say, `I am the Son of God'? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.37 Don't believe me unless I carry out my Father's work.38 But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don't believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."
39 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.40 He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.41 And many followed him. "John didn't perform miraculous signs," they remarked to one another, "but everything he said about this man has come true."42 And many who were there believed in Jesus.

John chapter 9

(Print version)

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.2 "Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?"
3 "It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins," Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world."
6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes.7 He told him, "Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "sent"). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"9 Some said he was, and others said, "No, he just looks like him!"
But the beggar kept saying, "Yes, I am the same one!"
10 They asked, "Who healed you? What happened?"
11 He told them, "The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, `Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.' So I went and washed, and now I can see!"
12 "Where is he now?" they asked.
"I don't know," he replied.
13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees,14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him.15 The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, "He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!"
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath." Others said, "But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?" So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, "What's your opinion about this man who healed you?"
The man replied, "I think he must be a prophet."
18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents.19 They asked them, "Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?"
20 His parents replied, "We know this is our son and that he was born blind,21 but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself."22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.23 That's why they said, "He is old enough. Ask him."
24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, "God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner."
25 "I don't know whether he is a sinner," the man replied. "But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!"
26 "But what did he do?" they asked. "How did he heal you?"
27 "Look!" the man exclaimed. "I told you once. Didn't you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
28 Then they cursed him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses!29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don't even know where this man comes from."
30 "Why, that's very strange!" the man replied. "He healed my eyes, and yet you don't know where he comes from?31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind.33 If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it."
34 "You were born a total sinner!" they answered. "Are you trying to teach us?" And they threw him out of the synagogue.

Spiritual Blindness
35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36 The man answered, "Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him."
37 "You have seen him," Jesus said, "and he is speaking to you!"
38 "Yes, Lord, I believe!" the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
39 Then Jesus told him, "I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind."
40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, "Are you saying we're blind?"
41 "If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty," Jesus replied. "But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

Does Christ(ians) hate Sin(ners)?

Study Notes, John 8.1-11

This story is a little provocative and stunning. The religious elite-nuts (we'll call them the "Baptists" for short) dig this woman out of bed where she was sleeping with her lover. As most people who are adulterating, she was probably naked. They throw her in front of Jesus as ask him what to do with her. Adultery was a sin, and the Old Testament law said to stone anyone caught in adultery. The Baptists were more interested in tricking Jesus than in stoning a woman, so she becomes a helpless pawn in their scheme.

The predicament for Jesus is this:

• If he says, "Let her go free" then he contradicts the Old Testament scriptures (which, as God, he wrote).
• If he says "You're right, stone her" then he loses his reputation as being compassionate and caring; he will then fall out of favour with the people.

Either way, the Baptists think, he will lose, and they will win. With a little luck, they might get to condemn the naked girl too.

So how does Jesus see sin?

Here's another story:
A man is in jail. After some time the judge comes to him and says "You can go free." The man in jail says, "What do you mean free? I am free. I have an 8x10 room with a bed and a toilet. I get up at 7:00 every day, eat, and make license plates. I have a whole three hallways I can roam, and on nice days I go outside. I am free, and I want to stay."
Is a condemned man really free?

Back in John chapter 3 it says this: "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son."

Jesus doesn't have to say "I condemn you!" because we are already condemned. "Everyone who sins is a slave of sin." (John 8.34) Take a look at what we do to a beautiful world, and what we do to ourselves, and you quickly realize this ain't no paradise. Jesus abhors sin, because of what it does to that which he made beautiful. But he does more than condemn; he rescues. He frees.

"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

Did James Cameron really find Jesus' bones?

John 7 study notes
This week James Cameron announced that he's found the bones of Jesus. Ok, not the actual bones, but the crypt that once held the bones. And he didn't find them, he just shot a movie about them; the crypt was found in 1980 and the original story circulated back then.

Anyway, it made quite the headline. Could it be true? Could Jesus have really married Mary Magdalene and had a child? And then instead of dying on a cross, die . . . some other way? And if we have his bones, then could it be that his resurrection wasn't true?

Historically it's not something that we'll ever prove. Jesus wasn't an uncommon name 2000 years ago (it's actually the Greek form of Joshua). So a tomb marked "Jesus" isn't that conclusive. (Google "Joshua" and see how many responses you get.) If his bones were buried 2000 years ago, we're not likely to find them now; and if they ascended into heaven with the rest of the body, we're not going to prove that today either.

The controversy is amazingly not new, and it's not even the most enflamed. Jesus was actually surrounded by the same controversy. And it wasn't good people vs bad people, or religious vs non-religious; it was much more personal than that.

Jesus' own family didn't believe in him. Imagine that! He walked and taught, and his brothers thought he was a fraud. They went to a festival in Jerusalem and taunted him: "Go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can't become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!" It wasn't merely powerful filmmakers who said he wasn't true, it was the brothers he grew up playing soccer with and fishing with and working with who wouldn't believe in him.

There was a three-way debate on his credentials: Some called him a good man, some nothing but a fraud. And there were whispers in the crowd: "Could this one be the Messiah?" This one who's name means "The Lord is salvation?"

Jesus didn't set out to prove his credentials either. If he was Hollywood, he would have said, "Watch this! It will prove that I'm the messiah!" and then raised some dead people and fed a crowd from a boys lunch and heal the sick. But he didn't. He was more intriguing than that.

He said, "Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own." No flashy miracles, no demonstrations of power, no scientific proof. Only pointing to the spirit of God as confirmation.

If you sincerely want to know God and follow his will, God will confirm it in your heart. It's something beyond science, beyond archeology, beyond even history. It's something eternal that descends on all that you are. Somehow God communicates with us directly to settle the question. To those who sincerely want to know.

And to those who chase wonders and hypothesis and find it easier or more convenient to sit on a fence and speculate about both sides, James Cameron isn't the first to raise the question. Some believed at first sight, some believed after much consideration and thought and seeking, and some never did. And to be honest, Jesus wasn't threatened by any of them.

(Curiously, Jesus' family did eventually become believers in who he was. But it took a resurrection to prove it.)

John chapter 8

(Print version)
A Woman Caught in Adultery
1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 "Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
11 "No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
—————

Jesus, the Light of the World
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."
13 The Pharisees replied, "You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid."
14 Jesus told them, "These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don't know this about me.15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me.17 Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact.18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other."
19 "Where is your father?" they asked.
Jesus answered, "Since you don't know who I am, you don't know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father."20 Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.

The Unbelieving People Warned
21 Later Jesus said to them again, "I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."
22 The people asked, "Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, `You cannot come where I am going'?"
23 Jesus continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not.24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins."
25 "Who are you?" they demanded.
Jesus replied, "The one I have always claimed to be.26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won't. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful."27 But they still didn't understand that he was talking about his Father.
28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I AM he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him."30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.

Jesus and Abraham
31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 "But we are descendants of Abraham," they said. "We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, `You will be set free'?"
34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there's no room in your hearts for my message.38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father."
39 "Our father is Abraham!" they declared.
"No," Jesus replied, "for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.41 No, you are imitating your real father."
They replied, "We aren't illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father."
42 Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.43 Why can't you understand what I am saying? It's because you can't even hear me!44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don't believe me!46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me?47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don't listen because you don't belong to God."
48 The people retorted, "You Samaritan devil! Didn't we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?"
49 "No," Jesus said, "I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me.50 And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge.51 I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!"
52 The people said, "Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say, `Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!'53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
54 Jesus answered, "If I want glory for myself, it doesn't count. But it is my Father who will glorify me. You say, `He is our God,'55 but you don't even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him.56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad."
57 The people said, "You aren't even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!"59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.