Ashamed, Irreligion, heaven and Juarez

Before I begin this review I want to nominate the 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon’s newsletter The Sword and the Trowel for the title of Coolest Newsletter Name Ever. It captures both sides of the Word of God—the sword of truth and the layer of foundation upon which our lives are built.

I’m a big fan of Christian bookstores, and whenever I’m in a hurry or have errands to run I scoot by them as fast as possible; my presence within somehow triggers a time-contraction effect whereby I can spend what seems like a few minutes inside… and like Narnia in reverse, when I finally step out an hour or two have passed. At any rate I was browsing through some church ministry titles when my eye picked out Ashamed of the Gospel: when the Church Becomes Like the World, by John MacArthur.

It’s always a touchy business pointing out error, and I know from experience that the topics of religion and politics generate far stronger emotion and attachment than any other. (Oftentimes weaker debate too, as views clash that are passionately taken for granted, or someone thinks they can out-argue careful reasoning with a short, witty quip.) AotG is an analysis of current trends within the Christian church and how unsound and harmful they might be. I fully expected to read of other professing believers and to be able to gloat at how spiritually deluded they were and how our orthodoxy and loyalty to the Word was so much better than theirs.

Just kidding; there’s no place for that kind of pride. But there is a place for loving correction of error. Hell. The Virgin birth. Biblical inerrancy. The physical bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ. All these have been denied in whole or part by professing Christians, against the plain language of Scripture, and it’s important that the believer on the ground knows where he stands, why he stands there, and by whose power he does so. As James Braga’s book How to Prepare Bible Messages says, it’s one thing to drag yourself to hell, but another altogether to take an entire congregation with you.

 

You See Bones, Escapist and swearing

I made a promise to myself that the next post on this blog would beat Duke Nukem Forever out the door. Let’s start easy.

I don’t know when I started becoming disillusioned with my church, but the ingredients all seemed to be there; music I didn’t care for being one of them. Plus the fact I could never be bothered into service, and didn’t seem to be growing spiritually. Now I still have very little idea what “growing spiritually” means, but I’m now much further on the way to finding out.

Then I was browsing at Tecman, and saw Floyd McClung’s You See Bones, I See an Army: Changing the Way We Do Church—a book written especially for the disgruntled churchgoer. What if church didn’t have to be so complicated, with programs, formalism and the top-down leadership that characterizes so many denominations and has no grounding in Scripture? I bought and read it.

The title is an allusion to the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a valley of dry bones, which he is told to prophesy over. When he does so they come together, and flesh and muscle grow over them. Then the breath of life fills their new-formed lungs, and they stand on their feet, “a great army”.

My point isn’t the fact McClung appropriates the context differently from Scripture—God identified them as “the whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11), while McClung modernizes it into the people of a broken world the church is called to reach out to. How do we do this? With what he calls “simple church”. Like the early Christians did, as recorded in Acts 2:41-47.

It’s not a big thing; people reaching people, joining together in small groups to study the Bible, serving others and reaching out in the Spirit. Such “churches” would be organically linked by conversions, training and friendships, rather than formal hierarchies. You might say McClung’s seen both worlds for himself; he ran a halfway house in Kabul, Afghanistan before the Taliban came and has pastored a megachurch. Today he works with church planters in Cape Town, South Africa.

It all sounds good. And better than that, McClung provides a guide to doing this; finding your passions and putting them to use in a simple church setting. As I’ve said before, you may not agree with everything he says—I would have appreciated more on how heresy can be avoided the movements he starts, rather than a simplistic “our fight is not with such-and-such”. Doctrinal differences can be serious matters indeed, and I’m disappointed he doesn’t address solutions to legitimate disagreement and the possibility fellowship might need to be broken in some cases.

Don’t let that stop you from pondering McClung’s challenge. Overall, You See Bones is one of the best books on church leadership and individual development I’ve seen. The Christian who gives up on the organised church may simply have been given this discontent by God as a call to serve Him elsewhere—which is a message that should be heard more rather than the guilt-slinging we’re otherwise prone to.

Yes, there’s a place for biblical correction—but to the disgruntled who still love Jesus but see little in His church, give McClung’s ideas a try. Heck, the Fellowship of Evangelical Students could use some of these, for what are we at heart but simply “friends serving Jesus together”?

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Some news in gaming is positive; like the cheering announcement that Ubisoft had scrapped the downloadable content for the new Prince of Persia game’s PC version—releasing it only on consoles instead. For “business reasons”. When the lifelong PC gamer I am read it, I was immediately thankful for the fact I didn’t sacrifice 60 bucks on the altar of the capricious deity that is computer game production.

(I was able to save it for Tom Clancy’s HAWX, from the same publisher. Here’s a prayer they don’t likewise play us out.)

Other news is very bad, still others just plain stupid; apparently Call of Duty: World at War is animal rights group PETA’s latest target thanks to a section where the Nazis unleash a wave of attack dogs at you.

Dog charge + automatic weapon + neck-breaking mini-game = canine carnage.

Now I don’t know about you, but I find an MP40 submachine gun a better defence against attack dogs than hugs and a few biscuits. It’s the principle of the thing, they argue; games shouldn’t be promoting such cruelty to our animal friends! All this at a time when my brain’s shrivelled out from a steady diet of differential equations, biomechanics, cell processes and signal analysis (argh) to come up with rebuttals, but thankfully I don’t have to.

Because the writers at The Escapist have done it for me. You’ll find good gaming journalism here, and whenever some lawmaker or activist group seeks to demonise interactive media you’ll find coverage and (often) a brief rebuttal. On a lighter note, over a couple of years now their columns have cheered me up with a chuckle, a few laughs and maybe some full-blown guffaws here and there.

The way my life’s going, my sense of humour has devolved to the point my laughter is a very hard thing to win.

Like games and care about things beyond the visceral thrill of disembowelling the next Locust in your path? This mag’s for you; and best of all, it’s absolutely free.

Comprehensive game reviews. No charge for reading special content. Open to submissions all around the world. A bevy of wacky features that brighten your day. What’s not to love?

A word of caution. There’s some mature content here; the f-bomb gets thrown around a lot. I personally don’t mind, but if you actually play this stuff I’m guessing you won’t let a little ear-screening get in the way.

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Ah, swearing. I wish I could speak plainly and say I don’t give a <censored>, and to be honest I don’t. But is this how people who’ve been redeemed by God and light an unbelieving world with His presence should speak? St. Paul is very clear on the issue:

“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”

– Colossians 3:4-8

When I’m with my brothers or (very) close friends it’s far easier to let a swear-word emerge, often as a superlative—for example, “that was <censored> awesome.” But in school, when the reputation of the National University of Singapore itself is at stake, the homefront vocabulary simply doesn’t exist at all.

Different words for different occasions, that’s all I’m saying. Under the right conditions I can let loose a <censored>-load of language straight out of a Warren Ellis comic book. I’ve often said the only thing I can do in 2 language is swear; it makes up most of the Hokkien I know. But in church and school I consciously put a lid on it.

I’m still myself. It’s not hypocrisy; just decorum. (I don’t wear T-shirts and boxer shorts to wedding dinners.) And the world has far bigger problems than one man using a four-letter word every now and then. Of course, if everyone were to think like that…

 

Good Friday and Exams

“Man’s maker was made man, that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak, that the Healer might be wounded, that Life might die.“

- Augustine of Hippo, Sermons 191.1

With apologies to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, perhaps the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and the nature of the Godhead might be eternal questions our minds can never fully comprehend. As such they will likely outlive the universe along with the last question that remains.

It’s “Where shall we have dinner?“

It’s that time of the semester again; pray for us all in our quest for exam marks, for a spot on the Dean’s list, or at least not too far below it.

More during the hols, I promise. Lord, they seem so far away…

 

Bum glue, Bad Things and HAWX

OK, so I happened to be at the computer and trying to figure out which assignment to tackle next. Then I realised I hadn’t done much of anything for a while—university students need a lot of bum glue, which I’m unfortunately in very short supply of. What I do have in surplus is toe jam, but let’s not attempt to link the two.

It may surprise you that I’ve been reading. And gaming. And reading some more; not nearly enough of Lodish et. al.’s Molecular Cell Biology, the latest pain in the not-seated-enough bum. Here are hundreds upon hundreds of pages proclaiming the glory of God, and for all its invaluable worth it now occupies a role as a distinguished paperweight on my telephone table. My other textbook, Berne and Levy’s Physiology, is only faring slightly better.

I use it as a very nice-looking coaster.

Six modules. One week to catch up. And I don’t even know where to begin.

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How about here? Or here? I’ve written before that we should indeed submit to earthly authority… except where such would specifically disobey the word of God. Even if they have decidedly different priorities from us, or put political expediency over the Right Thing to do. What are governments, councils, and other authorities doing barging into the faith of a seeker and her caregivers?

I’ll let the relevant parties sort that one out—I may have more to say if the issue develops, but I figured we’re impoverishing ourselves if we refuse to acknowledge what is indeed happening to our brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Keep them in your prayers. As our Lord said to Christians in disturbingly similar circumstances: “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Revelation 3:11)

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I’ve always been curious about British science fiction writer Brian Aldiss—then again, British SF has that odd thrill to it. Take Anthony Horowitz’s thrillers, Warren Ellis’s work in comics, for instance—or even George Orwell’s powerful novel 1984. I’ve been meaning to read Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta for some time, compare it with the movie… just another one of those Things I’ll Get Round To When I’ve The Time. Into the drawer it goes with scuba diving, advanced guitar lessons, working on new SF novels, editing an old one, and trying the food at a ton of restaurants I haven’t been to in years.

But I can review one of Aldiss’s books Right Now, especially since it seems so relevant for our time. His 2007 novel Harm imagines a British Muslim imprisoned by the Evil Western Authority writers these days love to attack.

(The hatred and intolerance of many places in Africa and the Islamic world seems to have gone out of fashion.)

The hero’s crime? It isn’t much of a spoiler to reveal; a satirical novel he writes is translated and favourably reviewed by a known terrorist, and it is on this pretext that the Western Armed Alliance (probably a veiled reference to NATO) decides to have him arrested and tortured. In his dreams he’s a very different person; a settler on a distant planet in the future that is sliding towards totalitarianism. The novel cuts back and forth between both parts of the prisoner’s consciousness, and both the realistic and SF portions are handled with the skill Aldiss has honed over a near-lifetime of writing.

But I was hoping for a novel that treated the very real subject of torture of the innocent; I fully agree that the truth and basic humanity of your cause is crucial. When you force information out of somebody you’d better make sure you have the right man. I hoped for a novel that combined informativeness, compassion and a sense of genuine justice.

 

[Guest post] What does Slumdog Millionaire have to say to us?

A friend of mine (who’s actually been among slum-dwellers in the Philippines) had this to say about the recent movie Slumdog Millionaire. With his permission, I’ll share it here with you:

While most of us were touched by the faithful romantic love demonstrated by Jamal (the protagonist), I hope we did not miss the underlying yet foundational theme of social injustice and poverty.

Due to this mission trip experience, I feel compelled to share some of my thoughts regarding the film:

1) Children in the Slums:

We are first introduced to the young Jamal and his friends running away from policemen when they were playing cricket at the airport runway. This was accompanied by an exciting chase scene through the Mumbai slums. The camera captured many poignant scenes of slum life, which I hope we all noticed. There were cramped houses, polluted drains, litter-filled alleyways and housefly infested rubbish piles. Perhaps you also noticed a skinny man trudging through a disgusting drain picking out recyclable cans. Maybe you even saw some people idling around with swatting irritating houseflies.

 

Buried in work…

… but more soon. We’ve got dead-tree copies of our latest print issue, and there’s another book review in the pipeline. I guess commentary will have to take a backseat to physiology, cell biology, signals and whatnot; but I’ll be back when I can.

These couple of weeks have been busy ones; I’m rushing a term paper, preparing for midsem tests, and changing church all at once. Bear with us awhile…

 

“Offensive” Tracts: Who is Really the Enemy?

“Religion is tied to the deepest feelings people have. The love that arises from that stewing pot is the sweetest and strongest, but the hate is the hottest, and the anger is the most violent.” – Orson Scott Card, Children of the Mind

 

So Tecman Christian Bookstore’s been raided, with 11 ‘objectionable’ tracts seized by the police. If you’ve read the papers recently you might’ve seen coverage of a related event; the ongoing trial of Ong Kian Cheong and his wife Dorothy Chan for “distributing seditious publications, and one each of distributing an objectionable publication and possession of seditious tracts.” Apparently they have the ability to “cause hatred and ill will between different religions,” according to the MDA’s senior assistant director of publications.

In the short time I patronised Tecman it quickly became my favourite bookstore, and I think I spent more there on books than any other joint in my life. (The Co-op shops in NUS where I bought my textbooks don’t count.) And I had the good fortune to read Chick Publications material on the Internet before its complete ban on Singapore ISPs; try accessing www.chick.com if you don’t believe me. But I can safely say that the tracts at Tecman were the tamer ones of the lot.

But they were banned materials nevertheless, and Tecman was carrying them openly—and apparently the couple were arrested and the raid ordered following complaints from Muslim readers. Islam, they said, had been insulted. They were offended and angered by the tracts’ messages. As religious harmony is indeed a major priority in this country, it isn’t surprising a law exists to ostensibly maintain harmonious relations between faiths and punish those who are perceived to threaten it.

Don’t get me wrong. I have an uncompromising stand that Ong and Chan had the right intentions and a true cause. They were trying to fulfil a direct command of our Lord Jesus—as it’s recorded in the gospel of Matthew[1]:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

– Matthew 28:19-20

Christ charges His disciples to reach all nations, even the “uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8), without exception. There’s no getting away from Christianity (and Islam, too) being missionary faiths, but when the Government directs what you can and can’t do in the process… what response should we give?

 

Guilt-stricken?

From my blog:

One Sister-in-Christ asked a very good question during CG today.

“According to Hebrews 4:15, Jesus can feel sympathy with our weaknesses, because He was tempted in every way, right? How can Jesus sympathize with us when we feel guilt-stricken?

While it is true that Jesus indeed felt guilt – a feeling that follows sin – because when He hung on the Cross more than two thousand years ago

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2Co 5:21 NIV)

Since Jesus bore our sins, he experienced the feeling of guilt, condemnation, shame, abandonment (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) that came with the sins, He indeed has felt guilt-stricken, and hence understand what it means to feel guilt-stricken. However, what rang in me deeper within me was that Jesus went through feeling guilt-stricken more than to simply be able to sympathize with us when we feel that kinda feeling, but to liberate us from feeling guilt-stricken!

This is because at the Cross, Jesus bore all your sins, past, present, future. Your sins were judged in Him at the Cross, and in your place, Jesus received the full extent of God’s fiery wrath on your sins. Today, there is no more wrath, no more condemnation left, as Romans 8:1 says

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
(Rom 8:1 NIV)

Yes, we still stumble from time to time, sin here and there, but you know what? They’re all forgiven! (I want to be able to emphasize it the way Ps Prince did lol) So since all your sins are forgiven, there is no more guilt to be felt in the first place. In fact, you should be feeling gratitude that your sins are forgiven! Hallelujah!

If you want more confirmation, here goes.

You see, the feeling of being guilt-stricken was not part of the package of temptation that Jesus went through, if you are observant. While it is true that Jesus indeed felt guilt, it was when He was paying your sins at the Cross, not when He was living His sinless life on earth. That feeling guilt-stricken was part of the consequences of your sin that you should have borne, but Jesus, who loves you so, so much, took them all in at the Cross.

In fact, the very righteousness that He is, is now yours, because your life is now hidden in Christ with God. (Col 3:3) Do you see how Jesus has always walked guilt-free and at peace in life? That life is now yours! It is Jesus who lives in you! (Gal 2:20)

Beginning to see how much He loves you?

C’mon now, as much as God meets us at our points of need, so Jesus is able to sympathize with you when you feel guilt-stricken, simply Jesus sympathizing with you does not solve the problem at the root: the feeling guilt-stricken. Jesus has borne your sins, your judgment, your guilt, so that you no longer have to feel guilt-stricken! He has solved your problem right at the root! (Reminds me of one sermon by Ps Prince “The Root Of Your Problem Is Condemnation”. I only know the excerpt though.) Stop living in guilt and start living out the righteousness of God in Christ that you are! Any feeling guilt-stricken, any condemnation, any unworthiness, is not of God; it is of the devil! Confess the truth against him and watch him flee; to hell with the devil, all praise be to Jesus!

Whew, I know it’s getting late, but really need to get this off. =)

 

Ox, Answer Book, the Future, Redemption and Dell

Have a blessed Year of the Ox, everyone! Xin nian kuai le, gong xi fa cai, and may good health and prosperity come your way! Just remember, you can’t serve both God and Money…

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I love FAQs. There are fewer other places where so much knowledge is distilled into so little space—and the queries of those who’ve gone before you are comforting in themselves. You aren’t alone in your ignorance, nor your quest for cures; and an answer to do just that or at least point you along the right direction is a very valuable thing indeed.

There’s a book I want to share that provides just such an FAQ database on Scripture and the Christian life. R.A. Torrey’s The Bible Answer Book is by no means a new work, for Torrey was the successor to the great 19^th-century evangelist D. L. Moody. But the issues he puts Biblical truth to remain relevant today, and the edition I got from Tecman reprints the original book Practical and Perplexing Questions Answered. I’m sure you’ll agree TBAB is a much better title—but don’t judge a book by its cover. There’s practical advice from a godly teacher of the Bible here, and besides treatment of such topics as heaven, hell, alcohol, original sin and effective soulwinning, there are plenty of Scriptural references for you to make your own study.

This work combines in one book practical advice for a solid Christian life, and an excellent starting point for topical Bible study.

And let me encourage anyone reading this: it is NOT a bad thing to be known as a “Bible Answer Man”! Indeed, God’s Word excels all the riches of the earth; it is known as a sword, a hammer, a fire and a mirror into the soul. To know it intimately should be the goal of every Christian, for it is where the heart is revealed, the lost given the gospel of salvation, and the redeemed one is secure in his faith. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV)

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It’s a familiar sight; just ask any grandparent alive during the Second World War. Fat bombers stuffed with deadly ordnance black against the sky, bay doors opening and raining death from the skies. The result, if you were lucky, was a shaken relief and a quick check if neighbours and family made it through OK. Often they didn’t—fear and terror that you might be next was the norm, rather than the exceptional circumstance we almost never find ourselves in today.

If you weren’t… well, you were just on the wrong side, in the wrong place that day.

From World War 2, Korea and Vietnam, there’s no shortage of film reels showing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Luftwaffe Ju-88s, B-29s and then B-52s pumping many tonnes of iron into the ground below, a long chain of explosions dotting the jungle or towns under them. Before the advent of laser-guided munitions, GPS navigation kits and ground designation, bombing was largely a matter of guesswork and strategic targeting, based on not-always-reliable intelligence. Bombs had only one guiding force—gravity—and as such the more you had in the air, the higher your chances of hitting that enemy depot, supply dump, command post or factory. The fact so many of such facilities were in civilian population centres meant loss of life in the hundreds, if not thousands—four raids in February 1945 by Allied bombers destroyed most of the German town of Dresden, killing between 25 000 and 40 000 civilians in one of the most controversial actions of the war. Indiscriminate area bombing led to major civilian losses (or “collateral damage”) for minimal military gain.

 

Spiritual lesson from Nanowrimo

It’s November 29^th, 2008. I’m slaving away at my Nanowrimo manuscript and trying to get my hero out of the grinder I’ve put him in. I’ll keep it as spoiler-free as possible—suffice it to say he’s captured and explosively broken free when a standoff goes bad. Anyway I’ve made a discovery so terrible, it’ll change my life (that day, anyway) forever.

Microsoft Word 2007 tracks lone punctuation marks as words.