Friday, January 29, 2010

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 05

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 05 (January 31 to February 6, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The Content of Scripture
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

The Greatness and Miserableness of Man
An Article
By: Herman Bavinck
Webpage PDF Word

Inability
An Article
By: A. A. Hodge
Webpage PDF Word

The Authority & Power of the Word upon the Heart
An Article
By: J. C. Philpot
Webpage PDF Word

The Iniquity of the Fathers visited Upon Their Children
An Article
By: Edward Payson
Webpage PDF Word

Selected from the Writings of Martin Luther
An Article
By: Martin Luther

The Bondage of the Will
ERASMUS’ SCEPTICISM, Part IV
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Paul Long's Keep in Step

My blogger friend Pastor Paul Long is back with another installment of his lectio divina with my book. Paul's meditation and 'ramblings' are always insightful and interesting reading. His blog is Paul Long Ramblings. Paul has generously allowed me to repost his post here.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Keep in step (spiritual formation on the run).

It's been a while since I last posted a reflection from Alex's "Spiritual Formation on the Run" ...

For this post I have chosen Chapter 25: Keep in Step.
First, the chapter in blue italics, and followed by my reflections and of course ramblings :-) Please be forewarned about the ramblings! :-)

Look at a herd of sheep. You may be able to get them to move together in one direction, which farmers in Australia use sheep dogs to do. The sheep dogs will herd the sheep, but the sheep will never be able to march in a precise and coordinated manner. They will trip over and run into each other, and make a lot of noise. A herd of sheep does not exhibit teamwork.

An emperor of China decided to see if his people could work together. Were they capable of teamwork? He issued a decree that everybody must eat with four-feet long chopsticks; they were not allowed to eat with their hands. The decree must be obeyed on pain of death. After six months, the emperor wondered how his people were responding to the decree. So he sent out his great captain to see what was happening. In the first village that he visited, the captain saw that the people were starving. They had a lot of food, but were unable to get the food into their mouths with the long chopsticks. The captain visited other villages and encountered the same situation. People were starving and dying, even though there was an abundance of food. One day, he came upon a village that was happy and well fed. He asked the people, "How is it that you are happy and well fed while others in the country are starving?" The villagers smiled and said, "When we first tried to eat with the long chopsticks, we just could not get food into our mouths. One day, we decided to feed each other." That was teamwork.

Teamwork is working together - whether you are feeding each other, or marching together in drill, or doing a project together in school. We need each other. To succeed in any enterprise, we must work as a team.

Even Jesus Christ had a team. His team was made up of 12 men called disciples. He told them, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:19).

I remember that I first read the chopsticks story many years ago in Readers Digest (a filler humorous (?) story of a dream). In this version, it was a story about heaven and hell. It was about how the situation in both realms were the same. There was plenty of food but in hell people were selfish, so everyone was miserable and starving. No one was willing to feed the other. In heaven, because people were selfless and caring, everyone was well fed because each would feed the other.

As I reflected afresh on contents of this chapter, and the chopstick story (both versions), a very "unspiritual" thought came to my mind. "What if I were to feed the other person, but when it came to my turn, he refuses to feed me?" It was a hypothetical question of course but the mere fact that I though of that question made me realize how sinful my heart still is. (Although I did try "arguing" with myself that I was just being "realistic" as I have been taken advantage of way too often when I am nice to others.)

It has been an interesting "lectio divina" exercise for me. Upon deeper reflection, I then felt that if I were ever in such a situation, I would do the right thing and not think so selfishly. That was a relief. But then later upon even more further reflection, I thought that I would probably want to come to an agreement first with the "other party" so that it would be clear that "I will first feed you, but I am doing this with the understanding that you will then also feed me." Oops ... my selfishness and insecurity wells up again! :-(

*sigh* Jeremiah 17: 9 comes to mind! "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Yes, I know some of you might be asking, "Isn't this chapter / meditation about teamwork?" I haven't forgotten ... this is just one of my rambling tangents. I will get to the teamwork part later ... or eventually ... :-)

Anyway ... it was back and forth and back and forth as I tried to examine closer my motives and attitudes, and entered into the old debate of whether human beings are born essentially good or essentially evil. Then it got more complicated as I revisited the problem of many Christians not living the way they know they should ... should not a good tree bear good fruit? And even back to 1990 to my B.Th thesis topic that was part of my wrestling with the then "LORDSHIP SALVATION DEBATE".

Crazy really as earlier this week I watched an episode of FRASIER that I taped. (The sitcom with the psychiatrist brothers, Frasier and Niles Crane) and one of the debates they had (weaved into the storyline) was over their conflicting beliefs. For fans, Frasier held that people are essentially good, while Niles thought otherwise...

Then I had a conversation a couple of days ago during a pastoral visit to a church member in which we discussed (among many other things) a problem she faced where after years of trying to be nice in her approach to getting a solution about a defective service (which has been causing her so much inconvenience and money), she has had to go to court to rectify the problem. Fast disappearing are the days of a person's word being his or her bond. Then it made me think of the few courses I took on Law. Isn't a verbal agreement / contract still considered a binding contract? I think so but then I guess the problem is not the verbal contract but proving that there was such a verbal contract and how one interprets the contract.

So many questions, so many turns. Though in the end all these thoughts gave me a bit of comfort in that I do have a good reputation of being a man of my word. Not sure if I have a final conclusion to my messy thoughts but Romans 7:18-25 sure helps!

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.


Now back to the teamwork part ...

I think about teamwork very often. Stuff like how the many parts of that make up the body of Christ should function, the spiritual gifts Christians have been etc. And I do agree wholeheartedly that to succeed in any enterprise, we must work as a team.

And I like the chopstick story as it made me think of what I think is an oft neglected aspect team work - that of "taking turns to feed and be fed".

Anyway ... as I reflected on aspects of team work, I realised that some of the best experiences has been when other team members cheerfully cover for a team member who is temporarily unable to function due to illness, needing a break etc. It means a lot of extra work for the rest but when the unwell team member gets better and returns, he / she is even more energized and the contribution is amazing. I have noticed that this happens often and in the long run it results in greater team work and stronger relationships. Many examples come to mind.

For example, on our last short term mission trip, one of our members was not well for the first two days. We covered for her and made her rest. We were down one key person and we had to do more work but when she recovered, it was almost as if she was doing the work of two.

Last year, a key ministry person asked for time off (one year) from some of the areas he was doing so well in. It was tough to let him take time off especially since we lost a number of key ministry leaders and active people due to migration. His year off meant a key ministry area would suffer. But some of us felt it was the right thing for him to take time off. This year he is back, re-energized and taking on bigger roles and doing such a greater job!

There are so many more stories like those above! It made me realize too that my "policy" of allowing or even asking people to take time off from ministry and taking over for them temporarily has been the right thing to do.

This year a few people have stepped up to spearhead some ministry projects that I helped start and so have normally taken charge of. They are taking these projects to a new level by their own initiative and it is exciting. And so now the "chopsticks" are in their hands and I am getting some much needed food (and rest) in those areas.... and allowing me to spend more time in other needful areas.

Feed others and you will be fed by them! :-)



Other Paul's reflections

Why the Hulk should be red not green
How expensive is your church?
How heavy is your burden?
Shout to the world
The silence in the noise
Omission and Commission
A Burning Bush

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Preaching is Soul on Display

From Leadership Journal online, a wonderful article by Gordon MacDonald about preaching and spiritual friends.

Soul on Display
Eventually your preaching turns you inside out.
Gordon MacDonald | posted 1/25/2010



Soul on Display

He's not well known today, but in his time—the 14th century—John Tauler was the premier preacher in all of Europe. Each time he stood in the pulpit at the Strasburg Cathedral, large crowds gathered anticipating a great sermon. Rarely were they disappointed.

Tauler was described as "a learned and eloquent man [with] a loving and tender heart. He spoke from his heart, not from his head only." Who wouldn't be pleased to be described that way?

Nevertheless, there must have been a time when something—not easily discerned by a crowd—was lacking in the popular preacher. Humility, perhaps? Perhaps there was too much Tauler and too little Jesus in his preaching.

The only person who cared to speak into Tauler's life was a mysterious Christian layman known as Nicholas of Basle who, many years later, would be burned to death in Vienna as a heretic. Apparently Nicholas and Tauler often visited.


readmore

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James Sire's Naming an Elephant

James W. Sire (2004) Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept, Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic

James Sire, Christian author and philosopher in this interesting book shares an interesting view of worldview. Aptly titled as naming the elephant, it goes back to the familiar story of three blind men and their perception of an elephant. How will they name the parts of the elephant they felt without knowing the whole animal?

The history of this book goes back to 1976 when Sire published The Universe Next Door where he describes seven types of worldviews. He defines a worldview as

A worldview is a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of our world.


When I first read the book then, I find his definition very cognitive and cerebral. Very chim-lah.

28 years later in this book, Sire offers us his hopefully definitive definition

A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being. (p.122)


I like his new definition better. Sire acknowledges here that knowing is not just a learning a set of presuppositions but also there are other ways of knowing such a learning through the heart by a story. The constructed reality in which we live in is not just cognitive or cerebral but also involves living out our understanding and commitment to it.

In other words, building a worldview is learning , assimilation and commitment to live out the reality that we build. There is a lot of similarities between worldviews and spiritual formation. Spiritual formation also involves learning, assimilating what we learn to build a reality to guide us to live it out in the real world.


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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Ron Choong's Question of Origin

Ron Choong's new book is available. I have not read it yet so I cannot offer you a review. Ron is the founder-director of ACT (Academy for Christian Thought)





Title: The Question of Origins (Special 3-in-1 Edition)
By: Ron Choong, PhD
Price: RM49.90
Description:
When you read any book with a title such as The Origin of the Universe, or The Origin of Life, or The Origin of Man, you end up with a single conclusion – we have no scientific idea. Cosmogony, biogenesis and anthropogenesis are relatively new fields of research that depend on the findings of many other fields.

On the question of origins, these sub-fields of physics, chemistry and biology all hit their epistemic limits and enter philosophical speculation. While the sciences and philosophy help theological reflection, they cannot themselves be the basis of truth. They function to explain what we can observe: the sciences offer the best explanations drawn from testable hypotheses and philosophy considers coherent possibilities. But theology offers the most comprehensive framework because it is methodologically inclusive and has always been informed by other fields of human inquiry.

Truth corresponds to reality. But we have no cognitive access to its fullness - both natural and non-natural realities - this side of heaven. Theology has two advantages over science and philosophy. It draws from the Word of God and with insights from science and philosophy, achieves an increasingly holistic understanding of reality. As this book explains, this is especially so in the question of origins.

Dr. Ron Choong's new Book is now available for sale online! BUY ONLINE NOW for our exclusive price of RM49.90. (you will be directed to Canaanland website for online payment)

Alternatively, you can buy it from any Canaanland stores, or at MPH 1 Utama (new wing).

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Monday, January 25, 2010

Extraordinary Measures - the Movie

From Summer Johnson on blog.bioethics.net, a review on the movie.

"Extraordinary Messiness"

Hollywood has taken up orphan diseases before--remember "Lorenzo's Oil"? And bioethics movies generally have been increasingly common, even just in the last year. Think "My Sister's Keeper". So why all the fuss about "Extraordinary Measures"?

Extraordinary-Measures.jpgBut maybe its the star power, maybe it's actually that it's a decent movie (although very few have said so except New York Magazine), but Extraordinary Measures is getting a great deal of attention as the father-turned-biotech startup investor-turned underdog against the pharmaceutical industry story has hit the big screen.



read more

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 04

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 04 (January 24 to January 30, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The Inspiration of Scripture
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

Give us Faith So We’ll Be Safe
A Theological and Pastoral Response to the Tragedy in Haiti
By: Michael Milton
Webpage PDF Word

The Fall of Man
An Article
By: J. Gresham Machen
Webpage PDF Word

The Active Obedience of Christ
An Article
By: J. Gresham Machen
Webpage PDF Word

Free Will and Man’s Four-fold State, Part II
An Article
By: Ernest C. Reisinger
Webpage PDF Word

The Guilt and Consequences of Parental Unfaithfulness
An Article
By: Edward Payson
Webpage PDF Word

THE IMPUTATION OF THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST
An Article
By: John Owen
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
ERASMUS’ SCEPTICISM, Part III
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

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Tony Siew Seminar on Revelation

SFI Seminar 2010/2


REVELATION & THE END-TIMES


Speaker: Dr Tony Siew


Date : 2.00pm- 9.30pm, Saturday 6 February 2010


Place : Berea, Holy Light Church, Jalan Gertak, Johor Bahru


A. Synopsis Of Training


Revelation is one book that understanding the form is vital in interpreting its contents. Like no other book of the NT, form and content fuse as in the book of Revelation. If we follow the literary markers used by John, then these patterns are not difficult to figure out. If we follow the temporal and chronological markers throughout the book, it is not difficult to figure out that John is concerned not only with the what (events) but also with the how and when these events will unfold leading to the coming again of Jesus Christ (cf. Rev 1:19; 4:1; 8:13; 9:12; 10:6-7; 11:14-15).


B. Areas to be covered


i ) Structure of Revelation, 7 Letters to the 7 Churches and the 7 Seals [Rev 1- 6]

ii ) 7 Trumpets and the Final 3 1/2 Years) [Rev 7-14]

iii) The Last Things - The 7 Bowls, World Economic System, Return of Christ, Millennium, Final Judgment and the New Jerusalem).


C. Speaker


Dr Tony Siew is an ordained pastor with Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah, East Malaysia and has served the Church since 1994 before joining TTC as Lecturer in New Testament in July 2008. He holds degrees in law and theology, graduating with a PhD in New Testament from Otago University (NZ) in 2003. His dissertation on the book of Revelation has been published as The War between the Two Beasts and the Two Witnesses: A Chiastic Reading of Revelation 11:1-14:5 (LSNT 283; London & New York: T & T Clark, 2005).

Dr Tony Siew is an ordained pastor with Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah, East Malaysia and has served the Church since 1994 before joining TTC as Lecturer in New Testament in July 2008. He holds degrees in law and theology, graduating with a PhD in New Testament from Otago University (NZ) in 2003. His dissertation on the book of Revelation has been published as The War between the Two Beasts and the Two Witnesses: A Chiastic Reading of Revelation 11:1-14:5 (LSNT 283; London & New York: T & T Clark, 2005).


Registration Form


Spiritual Formation Institute Seminar 2010/2

Endtimes

Name: …………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………….. Church…………………………………………

Tel : …………………………………………………………………………………. Email:………………………………………………………………………………………..

Please register with Sister Grace Soon of HLCE (Tel:607-2243285)

Seminar cost RM20.00 (includes refreshment,dinner and seminar notes).

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Pastoral Concern for Migrant Communities



The latest from Thinking Faith...


A ministry of welcome
Why does our faith demand of us a pastoral concern for migrant communities? Bishop Pat Lynch introduces the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in which the Church’s mission to migrants is grounded. As we mark the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on 17 January, we are encouraged to welcome and accompany migrants as our brothers and sisters.
Read >>
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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Interview Denzel Washington

From Chrisianity Today online

Top Story
INTERVIEW
Keeping the Faith
Denzel Washington is more than just an Oscar-winning superstar. He's a Christian who's serious about his roles ... even when they get a bit bloody, like in the Book of Eli.

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Friday, January 15, 2010

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 03

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 03 (January 17 to January 23, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The Canon of Scripture
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

1 Timothy 6:13-16
A Sermon
By: Scott Lindsay
Webpage PDF Word

Free Will and Man’s Four-fold State, Part I
An Article
By: Ernest C. Reisinger
Webpage PDF Word

The Guilt of Indifference to Divine Threatening
An Article
By: Edward Payson
Webpage PDF Word

Human Sinfulness
An Article
By: Gardiner Spring
Webpage PDF Word

Calvin on Christ’s Active Obedience
An Article
By: John Calvin
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
ERASMUS’ SCEPTICISM, Part II
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The Challenge of Fixed Hour Prayers

An article about fixed hour prayers with link to some resources from Leadership online. Are you game to try it?

This Week in LeadershipFinding Myself in Fixed-Hour Prayer
How praying the Daily Offices is uniting a church in the Spirit.


I stumbled on fixed-hour prayer about eight years ago. After my father passed away, I found my energy levels really low, and I couldn't sustain my usual devotional life. I did all the regular things: the ACTS acrostic and extemporaneous prayer. I replicated prayer meetings on a one-on-one basis. But nothing seemed to work. I had heard a priest talk about the Daily Office, so, even though it sounded like cheating to me, I thought I would try reading other people's prayers.

| Finish this article |

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch

An interesting interview from Christianity Today online

Top Story
THEOLOGY IN THE NEWS
Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch
Powerful endorsements bolster John Sailhamer's new tome on the Bible's first five books.

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SFI Seminar on Small Groups (2)


SFI Seminar 2010/1


Making Your Small Groups Better




Small group has been an important part of church life. It helps the church to be lively and maturing the congregation.



Speaker: Rev. Dr Jennifer Turner

Date : 2.00pm- 9.30pm, Saturday 9 January 2010

Place : Berea, Holy Light Church, Jalan Gertak Merah, Johor Bahru


A. Synopsis

Whenever churches have been alive and maturing, small groups have been an important part of their life. Small groups can help us to grow spiritually and care for each other in ways that satisfy our deepest longings as human beings. But it doesn’t happen automatically. There is much we can learn from experience about how to have good groups and make good groups even better.


B. Areas to be covered

i) How can I expect to benefit from being in a small group?

ii) Building community and caring in a small group

iii) Helping my small group to be a good learning experience


C. Speaker


Rev. Dr. Jennifer Turner has been faithfully serves the Lord in the field of teaching and lecturing for more than two decades. She lives in Perth, Australia. She was born in Australia but lived and worked in various places, such as U.S.A., Scotland, India, Germany, Philippines, Kenya as well as Australia. She obtained her doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary, California, U.S.A. in 2000. She is married to Neil, a scientist. They have three married sons and six grandchildren.




Most of us take small groups, cell groups or bible study groups for granted as part of our church activities. It will come as a surprise that the small group movement started only about 30 years ago. Jennifer and John Mallison were instrumental in starting the Small Group Network in Australia. It was a pleasantly paced seminar with Jennifer sharing her past experiences with small groups and giving us pointers on how to make our small groups better.

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Sunday, January 10, 2010

More about Church Torching in Malaysia

Response from Rev. Ong Sek Leang, Senior Pastor of Metro Tabernacle Church. The administrative office of Metro Tabernacle in Desa Melawati was completely gutted.




HT: Sivin Kit's Garden

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -
Sat Jan 9, 2010 11:57pm EST

Arsonists in Malaysia struck at a convent school and a fifth church on Sunday amid rising tensions between majority Muslims and Christians over the use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God.

Police in the sleepy city of Taiping, around 300 km (185 miles) from the capital Kuala Lumpur, said a petrol bomb had been thrown at the guard house of a Catholic convent school but had failed to go off.

They also said they had found several broken bottles including paint thinners outside one of the country's oldest Anglican churches, All Saints, Taiping, and said one of the building's walls had been blackened.

read more and watch the video.

Washington Post
By EILEEN NG
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 10, 2010; 12:37 AM

On Sunday, men, women and children from the Metro Tabernacle parish assembled in the cavernous, 1,800-seat meeting hall of the Malaysian Chinese Association party for the service. They lifted their hands and sang "We put all our faith in you," and "You are the God of love and peace" during the Sunday service.

"My wife was worried, but we want to be here to support the church," said Michael Chew, 40, who came to the service with two children, aged 1 and 6.

The service was in English, as are most Christian services in mainland Malaysia though some are in Chinese and Tamil languages. Such services do not use the word "Allah." Only the Malay-language prayers for indigenous tribespeople in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak use "Allah," as they have for decades.


The Allah ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.


read more and watch the slide show


.

Mr. Zam who’s the president of the Parent Teacher Association of an Islamic School next to the Metro Tabernacle Church was very kind to share some of his thoughts in relation to church arson on Friday, January 8, 2010.



HT: Sivin Kit's Garden

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Friday, January 08, 2010

Why? Why the Need to Resort to Violence?


Malaysia churches firebombed - Aljazeera.net

Two Christian churches in Malaysia have been firebombed amid tensions over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims in the country. ...

Two Christian churches in Malaysia have been firebombed amid tensions over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims in the country.

Attackers threw a petrol bomb at church in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and tried to set another ablaze in a nearby suburb in the early hours of Friday, witnesses and officials said.

A Malaysian court had last week overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah" in their literature, allowing Roman Catholic newspaper, the Herald, to use the term to refer to God in the Malay language.

The judge has since suspended the implementation of the ruling, after the government appealed the ruling and the Catholic church agreed to the suspension.

The fire in Friday's first incident gutted the administrative office on the first floor of the three-storey Metro Tabernacle Assembly of God church, shortly after midnight.

"There are witness reports two persons on a motorbike came near the entrance and hurled in something looking like a petrol bomb," Kevin Ang, a church spokesman, said.

Separately, Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, said a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the compound of the Roman Catholic Assumption church in Petaling Jaya, just outside the capital, around 4am on Friday.


other links from Sivin Kit's Garden who call for Mourning for Malaysia

Malaysian church fire-bombed ahead of Muslim protests

KL church torched

Malaysia church torched amid Allah row

Church damaged in midnight fire

Malaysian church set on fire: officials

Is this the right approach? When the due process of the law do not give you what you want, you resort to violence to get what you want? Then these "respect" you give to the "due process of the law" is just so much empty words. And the issue is about? The content and context of a word.

It is a sad day for Malaysia.

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Brian McLaren's Losing Faith



This video is an interesting way to promote his new book "Losing Faith." However it contains many controversial statements. I cannot wait to read the new book to see how Brian explains them.

He writes,
i think we all go through a process of leaving childish things behind ... and embracing a bigger picture as we grow and mature. this is a central theme of my upcoming book, "a new kind of christianity: ten questions that are transforming the faith," which will be released February 9, 2010.


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Theological Hospitality

With Christians moving from church to church for whatever reasons, and the decreasing emphasis on denominationalism, it is not unusual to find within a a single congregation, many different theological stands. How does the leadership maintain a unity within the church? Often these theological differences are potential time bombs and may lead to churches to split.

Dr David Dunbar from Biblical Seminary writing in the online Missional Journal issue January 2010 tells of theological hospitality.

The biblical exhortation to hospitality provides helpful imagery when thinking about the pursuit of unity. Christian hospitality is rooted in the character of God who welcomes us into his family through Christ. Various texts encourage believers to extend that same hospitality to one another and to the stranger in their midst (Romans 12:3; Heb. 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9). This was a virtue already commended in the Old Testament.
Denver Seminary professor David Buschart uses this image as a guide for exploring eight different families or theological traditions within Protestantism. Theological hospitality is the practice of welcoming other Christians whose understanding of Scripture and theology may seem strange or challenging to us. This welcome is appropriate, says Buschart, in light of the ontological reality of the church's present unity in Christ and the assurance of complete unity at the return of Christ. Thus his examination of each tradition (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, etc.) is an exercise in careful listening and friendly (but fair) evaluation...

We should understand, therefore, that commitment to a particular theological position or tradition is not in itself a hindrance to the faithful practice of hospitality. A crucial determinant is attitude. Do we see our tradition as a fortress (to be defended against the enemy!) or as a home (in which to welcome friends)? The latter requires us to practice humility, and this "entails admitting that one's theology is neither complete nor free of errors.... Such fallibility is often acknowledged, at least in principle, but theological hospitality requires acting upon this humility."



read more

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Thursday, January 07, 2010

Sex after Marriage

From Christianity Today online

Top Story
Illustrations by Tim Baron
THE VILLAGE GREEN
Help That Makes a Difference
What's the best way to encourage people to save sex for the covenant of marriage?

Mark Regnerus: Focus on Calling
Richard Ross: Make a Promise to Jesus
Donna Freitas: Stop Talking Marriage

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Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 02

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 02 (January 10 to January 16, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The New Testament as God’s Written Words
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

Lust
An Article
By: Scott Schuleit
Webpage PDF Word

Obedience
An Article
By: J.I. Packer
Webpage PDF Word

The Consequences of the Fall of Man
An Article
By: J. Gresham Machen
Webpage PDF Word

Sinners Welcome To Come To Jesus Christ, Part II
An Article
By: Archibald Alexander
Webpage PDF Word

The Mortification of Sin
An Article
By: Christopher Love
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
ERASMUS’ PREFACE REVIEWED, Part I
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

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Abraham Heschel's God Needs Man

The Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Judaism is not a doctrine but a life—the continuation of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Or so Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) often said. To learn Jewish theology, then, is to relive the history of God’s encounter with the Jewish people, for theology and history are inseparable. What God revealed to Israel through the prophets, the sages, and the mystics is the “bold and dangerously paradoxical idea” that God needs man.

Much of academic Jewish scholarship finds conflicts between biblical Judaism and the rabbinic Judaism of late antiquity as well as between rabbinic Judaism and later kabbalistic-hasidic teaching. The academic consensus sets up dichotomies between the legal and the spiritual and between the rational and the mystical. Heschel instead integrates biblical, rabbinic, and kabbalistic sources into a unified vision of God’s continuing dialogue with the people of Israel. Indeed, Heschel’s scholarship, rightly understood, is inseparable from his theology, for his scholarship seeks to re-create the dialogue of the Jewish people with God.


God needs man may sounds heretical. Kilmelman explains it as

One might think of the divine–human relationship as analogous to that of a general and soldier where the power lies with the general and the soldier merely follows orders. In reality, every command implemented by the soldier extends the general’s power. The growth of the power of the general thus corresponds to the increase in compliance by the soldier, and vice versa. An order that commands no compliance is a voice in the wilderness.


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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

SFI Seminar on Small Groups

SFI Seminar 2010/1


Small Groups




Small group has been an important part of church life. It helps the church to be lively and maturing the congregation.



Speaker: Rev. Dr Jennifer Turner

Date : 2.00pm- 9.30pm, Saturday 9 January 2010

Place : Berea, Holy Light Church, Jalan Gertak Merah, Johor Bahru


A. Synopsis

Whenever churches have been alive and maturing, small groups have been an important part of their life. Small groups can help us to grow spiritually and care for each other in ways that satisfy our deepest longings as human beings. But it doesn’t happen automatically. There is much we can learn from experience about how to have good groups and make good groups even better.


B. Areas to be covered

i) How can I expect to benefit from being in a small group?

ii) Building community and caring in a small group

iii) Helping my small group to be a good learning experience


C. Speaker


Rev. Dr. Jennifer Turner has been faithfully serves the Lord in the field of teaching and lecturing for more than two decades. She lives in Perth, Australia. She was born in Australia but lived and worked in various places, such as U.S.A., Scotland, India, Germany, Philippines, Kenya as well as Australia. She obtained her doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary, California, U.S.A. in 2000. She is married to Neil, a scientist. They have three married sons and six grandchildren.


Registration

Please register with Sister Grace Soon of HLCE (Tel: 607-2243285)

Seminar cost RM20.00 (includes refreshment,dinner and seminar notes).


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