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.

I’m not saying you need to shell out hundreds of dollars for dictionary-thick, multi-volume commentaries, know your Greek adjectives from your adverbs (believe me, many false teachers do; but that doesn’t stop them from denying what the Scriptures expressly teach in both Greek and English translations), or read your Bible cover to cover, even… though all the able activities certainly help. Especially the last one. It’s a general pattern that a Bible-taught congregation will be far easier to teach and edify, and far harder to fool.

Which is why the customer isn’t always right—I’ve no idea who came up with the idea that parishioners are somehow a potential market and your job is somehow to market the gospel to them. There’s some truth in that; you don’t preach on the nuances of Hebrew grammar in the accounts of the prophet Elijah to a congregation without a working grasp of English, but the ideas MacArthur examines go beyond even that. Who is your ideal congregation, and where do you best use your resources in reaching that group? And are you using the latest church-growth methods to attract people to your ministry?

Some churches use light shows, others wrestling contests (I’m not making this up) and evangelistic carnivals where presentation of the gospel competes with entertainment. I don’t think any of the apostles used this approach; indeed, they sought to avoid using the “wisdom of this world” to spread it. Nowhere in the book of Acts or the epistles are we ever told that recreation and preaching can go together. Neither can we attract people of the world by showing how like them we are; the New Testament correctly states that friendship with the world is enmity to God, and He has used foolishness to shame the wise. The gospel gets its power by being different; as do all who believe it. To reduce it to the level of fun and games and put it in competition for the attention of the unsaved is hence to rob it of its convicting power.

MacArthur shines a light up to these practices and teaches just what should be done instead of trivializing the gospel and following the precepts of fallible men. Now when reading a book or article that sets itself up to correct error, I find it helpful to keep this in mind:

I am NOT bound to agree with everything the author says. The only infallible party in all this is God Himself, and it is He who sees the reins and the hearts. Human beings, on the other hand, disagree, and disagree often—which is why we have so many denominations. I may see a logical flaw here, a little bad reasoning there, but none of this means his entire case should be thrown out. The right approach is to “search the Scriptures, seeing if these things are so.” (Acts 17:11)

So free yourself from the expectation that these books are perfect or that they will argue correctly 100% of the time, and instead see how they support their arguments with logic, Scripture and experience. If you disagree with a legitimate biblical stand, fine. Just make sure yours is too, and consistent with the overall revelation that the Lord has provided.

So what do I think of AotG? MacArthur is no alarmist, and I’ve generally found it to be a useful look at declining biblical literacy, the gathering of teachers to tickle their congregations’ ears, and a gentle correction of the faulty plan that many churches are following. I’m glad I bought it—and whether you belong to the “emerging church” or not, you owe it to your spiritual life to examine this book. Some have said he goes off-topic by emphasizing Calvinism in the eighth chapter… but again, whether that’s really the case is something I don’t think anyone else can decide for you.

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About a month ago I held Oxford University’s Prof. Alister MacGrath speak on the New Atheism. Now for those who haven’t heard of him, here’s his website; plus the fact that’s quite unlikely. He’s written like a million books, or very close to that number; from the standpoint of one who hasn’t written any, 20 and 1 000 000 aren’t very far apart.

Now atheism’s enjoyed quite the resurgence, if the works of such writers as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens (whose god is not great I reviewed in an earlier post) and Daniel Dennett are to be the bestsellers they are made out to be. One remark MacGrath made stands out: “The new atheists are very environmentally-conscious, because they do a lot of recycling.” Many atheistic manifestos are repeats of arguments seen elsewhere… a trend that might be said to include Christian apologists as well.

Yet MacGrath admits that arguments for and against the existence of God have been stalemated for centuries; at the end of the day it’s still a question of faith in His being, or not being. The same old horses are brought out time and again on both sides, which is why a book like mathematician John Allen Paulos is so refreshing at first glance.

I’m especially attracted to atheistic books. Heck, I like reviewing atheistic books; there’s so much more to disagree with I can fill out hundreds of words just critiquing them. For Christian books… no offense, but what can I say, exactly? Spiritually uplifting? A call from God to holier living? If I agree in large part with the writer (which by my reading the book alone I probably will) there won’t be much beyond that to say.

Anyway I was browsing in the Central Lending Library when J.A. Paulos’s Irreligion: a Mathematician Shows Why the Arguments for God Just Don’t Add Up caught my eye. Now he’s certainly no believer in God; like Dawkins and others before him, he’s written this book to say why not. Even more uniquely, it’s from a mathematician’s point of view—a subject I’ve taken several courses on and will likely take still more of. And what I can safely say is that anyone qualified in that field is very, very intelligent indeed.

Which is why Paulos has turned his attention to the arguments for God’s existence, and analysed them to show that presto! they are logically unsound. To name a few:

- the argument from design

- the argument from experience

- miracles

- prophecy and the Bible Code

Don’t worry, we’re told. It’s short. There isn’t a single mathematical formula in the book. All the easier for the average reader to understand, right?

Not really. I think I got the flow of his logic well enough, but I doubt Paulos has actually talked to many Christians willing to confront the points he raises…

And there’s quite a bit about Paulos’s mathematical background, due to Irreligion being in the same series as his other Mathematician works, like A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. Fine; but I neither know nor care what his area of expertise is. The question is, does he succeed in overturning what Christians and other religious groups have believed for millennia? Regardless of whether it comes from an angel or a scientist or a labourer, the same rules of logic still apply.

Several arguments he raises need careful analysis, while others are frankly quite weak; when dissing all religious prophecy, for example, no instances from the Bible, Quran, or any other text are given. Instead he uses a probability-based estimate… where random chance just might cause something mentioned beforehand to come true.

Here’s a general outline:

1. There have been attempts to predict the future.

2. Some of these attempts have come true, against extreme odds.

3. These events can be explained by natural causes or the laws of probability.

4. Therefore God is unnecessary in explaining these events. Which might be of use if you assume supernature doesn’t exist in the first place! (The probability that my computer mouse will be on the floor in five seconds is pretty low, but it shoots up dramatically when I actually drop it.)

Irreligion raises some interesting points and shows us a side of atheistic debate that would be new to most. However, in this short book Paulos discusses too little, assumes too much, and glosses over what he can’t address. All the same, as a summary of where atheists stand and the support for their position, it’s hard to beat for portability and the personal side of the issue. Borrow it from the library… why buy it when the government’s already done that for you?

My recommendation before reading any atheistic text is get a firm grasp of the Christian side of the issue—other theistic resources may help, but not so much. Are the New Atheists dangerous to faith? I would answer that a faith that allows human beings to tear it apart with a few logical tricks was not worth having in the first place—you are free to accept or reject said logic, however well-formed, as you choose.

But the more you look at both sides of the issue, the wiser your choice will be. “As for me and my house [I hope; it’s a long story here], we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

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Okay, what was the last sermon you heard on the afterlife? You know, that eternally long period you experience after the silver cord and golden bowl break (it’s in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12; don’t ask me what they mean) and your body finally breaks down enough for it to stop supporting your animating soul.

Indeed, I’ve rarely heard the topic addressed in church; why talk about what happens afterward when there’s so much to do in the here and now? Because it would be a poor traveler who didn’t, on following his route on a map or a GPS, didn’t check where he was in relation to his destination. Scripture is full of exhortations to “count it all joy” in trials, and says that Jesus Himself “for the glory that was set before him endured the cross”. And the same Lord and Saviour promises that in His Father’s house He will prepare a place for us.

Fortunately, that sermon has come in the form of 19^th-century evangelist D. L. Moody’s classic Heaven Awaits. (Its original title was Heaven: How to Get There, in case you see another cover on it.) Page after page resounds with the glories of heaven and what a great day the true Christian’s death will be. Not so for the false, and Moody provides plenty of warning about who will enter and who will be shut out. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?”

But if you’re discouraged, weary from what seems like a never-ending journey through life, or just want a solid yet loving biblical exposition on what heaven will be like, you can read a lot worse than Moody.

And in my opinion, few better. Rare is the book that left me with tears in my eyes; this one did so with a joy that nothing in the world can take away. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Now if someone at Whitaker House could’ve fixed all the typos before sending it to press…

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Some years ago there was talk of computer game narrative. How they were coming into their own as a storytelling medium, and the player’s experience shaped accordingly. Games like 2000’s The Longest Journey and its 2006 sequel Dreamfall were cited as representatives of this new trend. Unfortunately someone—it could’ve been marketing, the writers themselves or someone high up in their publishers’—chose to lop off their endings. Faced with the Great Cliffhanger, the well-drawn, cared-for characters for all those hours of gameplay facing an uncertain fate, players would have to buy the sequels to “save” them, right?

It’s not a sentiment shared by most movies or books, and you don’t hear much about game narrative these days. I guess such discussion is much less interesting than just shooting things… or writing games that tell damned good stories. For while the industry played around with this new, ultimately ruined (for now) idea, Polish developer Techland was actually going out and making the first-person shooter Call of Juarez.

It’s some things a mega-budget, big-name FPS is not. One of them is being a Western; not many of these are made, and even fewer are good ones.

Another thing is having a story that actually stands on its own. It’s the 1860s, and the MacGuffin is a lost Aztec treasure rumoured to be hidden in the hills near the Mexican border town of Juarez. It’s also rumoured that said treasure is cursed, and anyone seeking it will be driven mad. Not that it’s stopped many from trying; it’s this greed for the gold that gives the game its title.

But Techland, and fortunately publishers Ubisoft, understood the treasure of Juarez is not important at all. It’s the interaction between characters, and how we grow to care for those we’re playing as. In the first game we play the fiery, gun-toting preacher Reverend Ray McCall and his on-the-run nephew Billy. In the prequel (2009’s Bound in Blood) we get a younger Ray and his brother Thomas in their gunslinging days.

Now CoJ and Bound in Blood aren’t triumphs of storytelling by novel or movie standards, but in the gaming world we tend to laugh off claims that their storylines are “epic tales of greed and honour, jealousy and betrayal, violence and redemption.” Well, these two games earn every word of it, and in a genre (shooters) not known for its deep narrative threads.

Very refreshingly, Christianity is actually treated positively; in the first game you could wield Scripture readings as a stun weapon, and in the second the cruel, murderous Ray is led to faith by his seminarian brother William. Religious characters are realistic, not everything-will-be-okay idealists, nor fitting the ranting bigot stereotype so common to movies.

(I mean, if you need a frightening, well-motivated villain, the Christian-fundamentalist card is too often the lazy writer’s way out.)

Thankfully the CoJ games are not the work of lazy writers. Design choices and top-notch production values make Bound in Blood more immersive than any game I’ve played in a long time; you feel like you’re really taking down mobs of gangsters, storming through the Old West and participating in two-men-enter-one-man-leaves shootouts (the last part isn’t all that realistic, but it’s fun and satisfying).

Excellent work, Techland. You’ll have my following for a long time to come.

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…

- 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…

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.

Harm, disappointingly, is not that novel.

The plot about a Muslim whose heritage is mocked as he’s beaten up and insulted day in and out by guards ostensibly fighting a “war on terror”, and a world where freedom of speech and religion are smashed in the name of destroying radicalism… but I don’t know where in the West such a trend is taking place—if anything, freedom of speech is quashed in exactly the other way. “Hate speech” is defined and stamped out as anything critical of Islam as a religion; yet far worse things are said about Christianity. The Western—especially the British—position is exactly the opposite of what Aldiss imagines it to be. I have never seen any indication of the Muslim ‘persecution’ Aldiss warns about in his book; the fact that many inmates remain in ‘torture prisons’ around the world has been stressed to not have anything against their Muslim faith per se.

At first I read it as an actual satire, what practices in the Islamic world would look like if transported to a near-future Britain. Aldiss actually does an excellent job of vividly bringing out life in prison for crimes you didn’t commit; where the slightest excuse and the wrong heritage combine to make your life a hell of injustice.

Then he smashed all my expectations in an interview with his publishers. Indeed he had written it about the Evil, Almost-Totalitarian West. Tony Blair and President Bush simply crave Power. The war in Iraq is a Disaster. Our Freedoms are Being Taken Away. In answer after answer Aldiss simply repeats the same politically-correct condemnation of the West for militarily defending itself; and he hopes that the Democratic Party, having taken power, will resolve the situation. But rarely, if ever, did alternative courses of action against radical Islam emerge from the Bush-bashing. Coming from a writer of Aldiss’s stature, it’s very likely some of his readers will come away with a skewed picture of political reality. The landscape is far more complicated than he portrays, and in simplistically casting President Bush as the Big Bad Guy and the Democrats as the possible saviours of the day he does his readers no favours. I think Harm is a fictionalised sermon of the Right Way To Think, not the great SF we’ve come to expect from Aldiss and other writers in the field.

An addressing of all the issues is too big a topic to cover in this review, but the fact that Aldiss wrote so well about a non-existent situation kind of spoiled the novel for me. Were it to stand on its own I might have enjoyed it more; but his interview answers that accuse the US and Britain of the very things theirs, and our, enemies do on a daily basis was simply a show of ignorance. Not once is there a mention of Christian persecution, the death sentences in Afghanistan for such acts as asking questions about women’s rights and translating the Qu’ran into a local language, and many other acts of barbarism that go on daily.

Oh, and Islamic terrorism claimed a Singaporean life in Mumbai last year. That will be hard to forget, especially for us and the hundreds of other families who lost loved ones that terrible day. So don’t get me wrong; Aldiss’s finger is very well, and vividly, pointed. I’d recommend Harm if it could just have been pointed in the other direction…

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Oh, and here’s a sample of what I’m talking about: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14812&size=A

In church we prayed for the area last week, and prayed for God Himself to aid governments against the Taliban scourge. Basically, it’s bad. Very, very bad.

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I bought a joystick not too long ago—I was having a terrible time playing Blazing Angels 2 on an Xbox 360 gamepad. Don’t even get me started on the even worse time you’ll have playing a flight action game with a keyboard and mouse—this setup is for shooters, not whipping a plane around the sky. They’re completely unsuited for it; it’s like drinking cream soup with a knife and fork. Even if you do master it, which is entirely possible, you’ll still wind up not drinking very much and looking stupid in the process.

And I just got another reminder from Ubisoft Romania that yes, the $80 or so I spent on a Logitech Force3D Pro was money very, very well-spent. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have long had the Ace Combat series, some very well-made games that let you fly detailed real-world planes over fictional settings. I’ve never forgotten the trailer I saw; a flight of F-15s and F-16s attacking a giant flying ship that resembled an Imperial Star Destroyer, or something right out of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

It’s OK if you don’t get the references. Just read: really, really cool.

Anyway, for a long while the PC was the home of big, realistic flight sims with manuals as thick as the phone book and needing mountains of time and patience to play. On the other hand you could pop an Ace Combat DVD into your console, throw aerodynamics to the wind, and fly a world-saving mission in 20 minutes. Even the PSP had Afterburner: Black Falcon. Us PC players without the blessings of loads of time and IQ points were missing out on an entire genre.

The PC’s now got its own answer to Ace Combat, and that’s the reason I’m so thankful for the joystick. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. blew me—and an entire Saturday—away.

(But please, please Ubisoft Romania, make it easier to remap the joystick buttons to the controls by not making the stick inputs so sensitive. It’s bloody irritating when I’m trying to map target-designation to a thumb button, jerk the handle ever so slightly… and start switching targets like mad when what I want to do is jink right.)

Don’t let the fact it’s set in the real world fool you. HAWX—an acronym for High-Altitude Warfare: Experimental Squadron—is still far more flight arcade game than simulator, and in keeping with such conventions you never have to worry about fuel, g-forces or rules of engagement; those “minor” things that consistently bug real-life jet pilots. Which means planes all carry more than 200 missiles, an infinite number of cannon rounds, and the ability to effortlessly pull tight turns that would rip anything burdened by our physics apart. Even the F-117 Nighthawk and A-6 Intruder bombers sport 9-G capability, enough anti-air capability to rip whole enemy squadrons apart, and said infini-cannons.

But even though realism has been completely chucked out the window, such silliness actually works. By stripping out the mundane, the dangerous and the infuriating, and keeping us busy with a level-up system that unlocked better and better planes and loadouts, Ubisoft has grasped what makes the formula really take off and then executed it. Not flawlessly, of course. But think of it; no more taking off and flying ages to the combat zone, or limping back with a plane full of holes, one engine out and the stick almost dead. True, I miss games like that. Though what’s come in their place is still a blast, there’ll always be a place in my heart for the realistic combat sim. If and when a developer with the know-how, budget and ear for fun comes along and does it right, I’ll definitely take notice.

In the meantime though, you can’t go wrong with HAWX; as a game it just clicks and is a blast to play, in spite of the ridiculous storyline, physics and weapons. It doesn’t pretend to be realistic, and it’s a shame about its use of the Tom Clancy name, which until recently (yes, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, I’m looking at you) was associated with rigourous, realistic depictions of military ops of the near future. HAWX is the beginning of something great, but insofar as the Tom Clancy universe is involved, it seems to be taking a giant step in the wrong direction.

If it’s all the same to you, ignore the plot entirely. Plug in a good joystick, and you’ll be having too much fun to pay close attention to the story anyway.

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.

This is the true depiction of life in the slums. Children and adults alike live in sub-human conditions like these. They do not have access to medical supplies- dysentery and cholera constantly ravage their health. Neither do they have basic sanitary facilities (I’m sure everyone remembers Jamal being trapped in the toilet/latrine), which actually exacerbates the spread of tropical diseases.

The worst deprivation is, in fact, the inability to get proper education. You probably remember Jamal and Salim (his brother) running late for class. In fact, most slum kids do not get schooling. Those fortunate enough to get education drop out after primary education, due to lack of money to pay fees. This promotes what sociologists call the ‘cycle of poverty’. Since slum dwellers are too poor to afford education, they are doomed to a life of lowly jobs, and this cycle continues through the generations. Most of them give up on their lives, knowing they can do nothing to break out of this system of injustice.

Prayer pointers:

- May the Lord break our hearts when we think of the poor. I am once again reminded of how lucky I am to be in wealthy Singapore . Let us pray for compassion and zeal in intercession. While we may not be able to effect long term change, we can pray that more Christians become aware of social injustice. Let us at least intercede in fervent prayer.

- We have an education system that slum kids would view as heavenly opportunities. Let us be thankful for it. Also, let’s pray that governments in 3^rd World countries will implement policies that promote equal education opportunities for all, especially those in the slums.

2) Child Exploitation and Prostitution

Many of us will remember the heart-wrenching scene of Jamal’s friend losing his eyes after singing beautifully. Not many of us will have noticed that when the protagonists were first brought into the child camp, they were not allowed to interact with the rest of the children. The reason was because many of them were handicapped- purposely maimed by the Mamal and his henchmen to be beggars. It was also painful for us to watch how girls were being trained (like Latika) or sold into prostitution at a tender age.

In my own experience in Dagupan, greedy landlords would mercilessly evict slum dwellers into the streets if they could not pay rent.. Some are even particularly harsh to Christian tenants.

Prayer Pointers:

- Pray against the exploitation of slum children. Due to their lack of education and money, they are often coerced into illegal and shameful occupations. While our childhoods are filled with memories of toys and loving parents, they remember only abuse, beatings and exploitation.

- In many countries, the law enforcers are ‘wilfully blind’ towards child exploitation and other injustices. Recall how the police refused to tend to the flaming man during the religious riot. Also note how the police inspector interrogating Jamal merely walked out of his office after ascertaining that Jamal was innocent. He realised there was nothing he could do anyway… Pray that the Lord will cultivate agents of justice in such countries who will wield the law effectively to protect the under-privileged.

3) Religious and Racial Conflict

When Jamal was asked the question concerning the Hindu god, he recounted his experience. I hope you remember what he said after that, which I felt was one of the most powerful lines in the movie. He lamented, “I wake up everyday wishing I did not know the answer to that question. I might still have my mother then.” His mother died in the Hindu-Muslim riot.

This happens all over the world today. The starkest example of course is full-blown war between Israel and Palestine . There is also strained border conflict between India and Pakistan . Serbia and East Timor are also countries with histories of racial disharmony. These are real people dying for false beliefs.

Prayer Pointers

- Pray that God will send more missionaries to preach the Good News to these people, that they may come to believe in Jesus. Perhaps then they will see that God intends for us to love our enemies, co-exist in peace and honour Him.

- Pray that Christian missionaries will not be viewed as neo-colonialists. This is a surprisingly still a barrier in many Middle-Eastern countries, especially anti-American ones. May the Lord open doors and protect his servants in these countries.

4) Income Inequality

This is a major theme that runs through the movies. The police officers continually call Jamal a ‘slumdog’. The gangster boss lives in a big house and even has money to develop property. He also owns a luxurious car. What do the slum dwellers have in comparison? Most live in filthy huts, walk barefooted and prowl the streets as beggars. The wealth of the rich is often built on the misery of the poor.

Prayer Pointers:

- Pray that the Lord will correct the wrongs that the rich have committed upon the poor. May the rich realise how blessed they are, and learn to share with their impoverished brethren. God loves all of us equally, both rich and poor. Sometimes, ‘God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.’[1 Cor 1:27].

- Let us review our lives and our spending. Perhaps many of us find it normal to splurge on luxury handbags and gadgets. We can afford it, and even have enough savings. But is this the best way to spend our money? I try (but sometimes fail) to ask myself before I make a purchase, “What would my friends in the Slums think if I bought this product (e.g. latest Nokia handphone when there are $0 ones on sale)?” Maybe it’s time we reflected whether God indeed intended us to enjoy luxuries so indiscriminately when others are struggling with basic needs and suffering economic exploitation. It is true that the money we save does not automatically go to the poor. But, when there is a crisis like East Timor conflict, do we regret not having enough savings to help them out because we splurged on luxuries?

Concluding Remarks and Biblical Basis (important!!)

I’m sure most of you have many more thoughts about the movie, and my comments here are not exhaustive. Whatever the case, we as Christians should not walk out of the movie only thinking, “Wow! That was a great show!” We should not remain oblivious to the plight of the poor. Let us be willing to at least pray against social injustice.

My parting remark is an extensive quote from the Bible (which incidentally talks about social injustice more than salvation)… As you read Isaiah 58:5-10 below in its whole context, you will realise it speaks of how we cannot fast properly without upholding social justice.. The same applies for all our ‘spiritual activities’. Can we truly serve the Lord while numbing ourselves to the plight of the poor?

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
       only a day for a man to humble himself?
       Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
       and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
       Is that what you call a fast,
       a day acceptable to the LORD ?

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.”

Additional References:

1) ‘Good News to the Poor’ – Tim Chester

God bless,

W.C.

PS: This email is not intended to condemn or criticise you. You can disagree with my comments as they may be rather extreme to some. Apologies for any distress caused.

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…

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?

What Does the Bible Say?

Whether you should read this section depends on what you believe about the Bible. Either its Old and New Testaments were written under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit by authoritative prophets and apostles, or someone made that idea up. If you believe it is truly God-breathed, read on—otherwise, please proceed to Overreaction.

Have the defendants done anything Biblically wrong in this? Note that there’s nothing against causing offence in itself; Peter, Paul, John and even Jesus Himself had no shortage of enemies and listeners hurt and offended by their teachings (John 8:58; Acts 4; and many other texts).

But notice none of this was against the laws of Rome (yet), or even the local Herodian government! The New Testament tells us several times to submit to Governmental law, even if it’s in secular interests… or could care less about what God’s will for it might be. Even Jesus urged that our efforts to render service to earthly leaders not be compromised by that to God (Mark 12:17). He might have slung His harshest words at the Jewish leaders of His time, and yet He remained willing to support them with the temple tax when tradition called for it (Matthew 17:27). While it’s true “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29), Christ reminds us that it’s better never to give offense needlessly. In many cases, Christian wisdom and humility remind us that we’ll sometimes be wiser to drop our rights than insist upon them (to paraphrase Matthew Henry, commenting on this passage).

We see a continued pattern in the works of the apostle Paul, many written under intense persecution by Jewish and Roman authorities alike. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,” he counsels in Romans 13:1—no doubt his audience would’ve consisted of well-read people who had good reason to disagree with Caesar’s court on fundamental issues. But human institutions, however flawed, serve to protect us from our worse natures through systems of justice, reward and punishment. Consider the Australian man who, in a fit of madness, killed his four-year-old daughter by throwing her off a bridge! The heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9); there is no deed so monstrous nobody will ever carry it out.

Face it, there are evil people out there who can and will take your health, property or life given the chance—and a national government works, however imperfectly, to deny them that opportunity. Should it appear and they take it, human justice is God’s means of punishing their deeds in the here and now.

We’re also told to be an example, most famously in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-14). Later, the apostle Peter would place this in the context of human institution:

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

– 1 Peter 2:12

Note we’re called to suffer as Christians—not lawbreakers like thieves, murderers or arsonists. Indeed, our conduct should serve to prick the consciences of the unsaved, that they seek to (a) emulate us, (b) persecute us, or (c) ignore us. The second and third choices, if picked, will then ever be a witness against them (Proverbs 6:17; Deuteronomy 27:25). Readers of the epistles were thus instructed that Rome would find nothing legally wrong with the new sect its parent religion was oddly seeking to destroy. Paul’s defence speech before the governor Felix is worth quoting:

“You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.”

– Acts 24:11-16 (emphasis mine)

Was the Bible disobeyed in this present case? Yes—knowingly or not, they broke the law of a God-instituted government. I’m all for correcting the belief errors of sinners, but tract distribution to the unwilling is simply not a legal or even effective means of doing so in this here country.

Here’s a suggestion. The couple’s church, and the churches of the bookstore’s employees, are certainly allowed to provide support, legal advice and encouragement in these difficult times; their committing of an offence under the laws of men is no excuse to discriminate against them or withhold the Christian charity due fellow believers. It is, however, an opportunity to display the love of Christ’s body. Remember how great a salvation all of us have received, from sins far worse in the eyes of an Authority higher than any government (Revelation 1:5-6).

And it would be great if their church released a statement on the issue; a reminder that all involved are remembered, accountable and together with all Christians, children of the same heavenly Father.

Meanwhile, let’s not forget—or regret—how contrary to governments throughout history this declaration has been: all glory and honour be to Jesus Christ, and in His name we go!

May we do so with prudence, boldness and wisdom.

Overreaction or Keeping the Peace?

OK, thus endeth the sermon; in summary, there is a Biblical command to be subject to human authority unless such submission counters Scripture and fails to prevent the effects of human depravity. Our Government doesn’t and hasn’t, as far as I know—and so the defendants have indeed disobeyed Scripture in this case. I’m grateful that the Government hasn’t outlawed evangelism per se, only certain means of it… but we must see the effects of such tracts in perspective.

First, nobody was injured or killed. There are countries where possessing pretty much ANYTHING you find in a Christian (or even secular) bookstore is deemed thoughtcrime and punishable by jail, fines, beatings and ostracism from society. Orwellian[2] overtones aside, the fact remains that local Muslims have the good sense not to heed fanatical mullahs and rampage through the nearest convenient Christian neighbourhood. The worst-hit things were somebody’s feelings, not businesses, private property, human beings or even communal tensions like the prosecutors claimed. I’ve personally read some of the tracts, and nothing in them encourages readers to hate or discriminate against other communities in any way.

Of course, that such tracts question their cherished beliefs may mean the hate-o-meter swings the other way. Take for example the recent Arab insult thrown (literally) at President George W. Bush, in the form of a Lebanese journalist’s size 10 shoes. Apart from the flood of blogs and newspapers hailing the failed shoe-slinger as a heroic martyr who dared give the Big Bad Warmonger what for, nobody actually tried to destroy life and property in retaliation. What if an American had thrown his shoes at an Arab leader? What about places the world over where the cherished beliefs of Christians are mocked, ridiculed and attacked with their bearers?

I think the record of many countries in the Middle East, where punishment of religious criticism is given far greater weight, speaks for itself. No, I won’t suggest the complainants move there. No free Singaporean deserves life like that… unless of course, they really, really want it. Where Singapore law is concerned, I’m suddenly thankful for its comparative ‘boredom’.

So in a country which collectively exercises such restraint, what “seditious” effects could the tracts have? I’m guessing—very little.

Second, a ban and raids are not the solution. So our Government believes it’s safer to simply block any attempt to read, own or distribute them. That in itself sends a message: we care more about hurt feelings than the truth. Notice that there is absolutely no mention of what the tracts might have said and where Chick Publications got their facts wrong—which they might do often, only with the materials we have on hand we’ll never know.

A blanket condemnation of a publisher known to a significant number of Christians, myself included, would have two effects; first, automatically guaranteeing an increase in demand for them among certain segments of the community. Second, it would create a perception that there must be something true within the tracts’ message; why then would so much effort be spent removing them from the public eye?

In a sense we never lose the childlike urge to discover just why Mommy and Daddy never let us look in their drawers. Why do some open when we pull them, while others don’t?

I think Singaporeans are mature enough to see these messages for themselves, and examine any arguments the local Muslim and other communities might be able to provide. Should they fall into the hands of children and other impressionable parties… well, I’m thankful somebody set me straight when I encountered the Chick Publications material in Secondary 3. I hope representatives from the “offended” groups can do so for a general audience through outreach, publications and websites that do so in a respectful manner, rather than knee-jerk calling the police in on what should be a private matter of belief. A private matter, of course, that we’re called to proclaim to the ends of the earth.

This may seem like a side note, but for a refutation of the anti-evolution tract Big Daddy?, have a look here. I don’t agree with some of what this article says, but it’s a good illustration of what I’m talking about.

Third, the real enemies are ignorance and irrational discrimination. We seem to have lost the ability to analyse and critically examine the various claims that are being made from what seems to be all over the map. To borrow a term from atheist Richard Dawkins, cultural ideas are spread in the form of memes, a basic unit of philosophy analogous to the biological unit of the gene.

Right now I can pull from the top of my head memes continuously repeated by many people I meet, read and otherwise respect:

(1) Do your best, and let God do the rest.

(2) President George W. Bush is a stupid, despised and ultimately failed leader.

(3) Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked by a few extremists.

(4) I don’t think it matters what religion you believe as long as you’re sincere.

(5) Barack Obama’s policies will bring hope and change to America.

Now note I’m NOT saying the ideas above are completely false. Some of them hold an element of truth, but the danger lies in when we accept them as universal, self-evident truths as many have done. A few times I glibly quoted #1 to friends without considering whether it was God’s will and glory they were applying themselves to; I’ve heard #2 ad nauseum from friends, blogs and newspapers that take Bush’s failures for granted and completely discount some very significant successes; #3 is best dealt with by the relevant parties; and I could go on. I’m saying this because I used to read and faithfully believe Chick tracts on the origins of other religions, and said some pretty foolish things as a result.

My point is that we’ve been conditioned to absorb unquestioningly a lot of what we hear; from news, the Web, and other sources of information. If somebody did so to a Chick tract or a fanatical mullah’s screed—as is still possible in Singapore—the emotions stirred up are not to be underestimated. The response (to such a believer) should not be “this makes me so mad! I’m calling the police!” but “that’s interesting, but what are your facts? How can you prove any of these assertions?” It’s one thing to disagree with the conclusions and presentation of tracts like The Little Bride; it’s quite another to prosecute its owners simply because of someone’s hurt feelings.

A ban will ultimately do nothing to solve this underlying willingness to accept unsupported, biased statements.

Conclusion

Insofar as Ong, Chan and Tecman broke the law, despite our common faith and concord I’ve nothing against their prosecution. I’ll close by reminding anyone reading this to defer to the government so long as we’re not being called to disobey the Word of God. Were their methods wrong? In a local context, yes. There’re other and better ways to reach fellow Singaporeans with the gospel.

Singaporeans and their society don’t need to be protected from ‘seditious’ Chick tracts; they need to consciously be able to reject the bad, and hold fast to what is good. Here’s one last, positive example from the Bible:

“The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

– Acts 17:10-11

[1] Unless otherwise stated, all Scriptural references are taken from the English Standard Version.

[2] I just reread 1984. Sorry, had to slip those words in somewhere.

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. =)

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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.

That is changing. While modern B-2 Spirit stealth bombers still pour dumb bombs into Nevada desert ranges, in combat they are far more likely to be carrying munitions like these. For those who think research in weaponry is somehow evil and contributes only to killing and death, think again; precision-guided weapons are designed to use the very limits of modern technology to save lives, not take them. Imagine a small bomb that can guide itself to within six feet of its target from forty nautical miles away—that’s like hitting a specific car parked in Pasir Ris from further out than Jurong Island. But it can be done, with assurance only that car will be blown up, with minimal loss of innocent life and property.

You’d think the days of carpet bombing were over; but it turns out America’s enemies have no such ability, nor the desire to develop it. Their actions—9/11, rocket barrages, suicide and car bombings, and the threat of nuclear attacks—show just the opposite: such a disregard for innocent life, it sees them only in terms of the number of political points their mass murder can score.

Is there any negotiating with them? Perhaps there could be a method to show them the folly of their ways without excessive bloodshed; enough life has been lost to the scourges of disease, natural disaster and accidents without war and terrorism adding to the list. But such would not be possible without weaponry and the threat of force to back it up. Naively calling for an end to weapons research would be a good idea… if the terrorists and despotic governments using them as brutal tools of repression agreed to those terms as well. So long as there are human beings in charge of national affairs, it is safe to say that will not happen.

Fortunately, the Discovery Channel show Future Weapons (now available on DVD) shows enough people are not listening to the “ban war” crowd; they know how things are in the real world, and work to preserve the lives the brutal reality of warfare can take away. Former US Navy SEAL Richard Machowicz takes you through demonstrations of the cutting edge of military science… and it’s not an overstatement to say my mind was blown by the achievements in this field, from bombs, guns and explosives to new armoured personnel carriers, ships and submarines… almost everything wars of the future will be fought with.

Ironically, the primary job of these weapons designers is to engineer tools that not only protect friendly troops, but also kill fewer, not more people; destroy fewer, not more buildings and infrastructure. Precision and co-ordination with forces on the ground are the aim of the 21^st-century battlefield—places where the enemy can strike from anywhere, and at anyone. Of course mistakes still happen… but as far as high-tech conventional warfare is concerned, they do not lead to the massive losses of life they once did.

But the individual soldier isn’t forgotten either. There’s plenty to help him survive—wearable computers that link him with others in his unit and his command vehicles, assault weapons that survive the harshest of conditions, and unmanned surveillance robots to minimise the risk of entering unknown areas. There’s also coverage of non-lethal weaponry that allows quick takedown of insurgents and domestic criminals with minimal risk to life or limb. Needless to say, in a show entitled Future Weapons lots of stuff still gets shot, riddled, and blown to bits. No animals or people are harmed, though—if they were it’s a safe bet Discovery wouldn’t still be screening it. In the battlefields of the future, Singapore, America and civilised nations around the world need weapons like this. Their technologies save lives and prevent needless destruction; those of their enemies seek to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ as much as possible. Future Weapons is filled with reminders of this fact.

I’d recommend FW to anyone interested in ballistics, military science and engineering, or just general knowledge on an issue largely unreported in the general media. You won’t be a political pundit or weapons scientist—but you’ll be far better informed on the state of weaponry and its implications today.

#

I’m always on the lookout for hymn collections—at least those I can afford and look like they’re worth the $20 or so each.

Of course, you’ll have to be selective. Go to any Christian bookstore and you’ll find hymnals by almost every artiste you’ve heard of (and some you haven’t). With so few being sung in church lately, I’ve to look to CDs—and where Christian artistes deign to cover them the result is old words sung to new, pop-like tunes. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that; I like a lot of pop music, and the words are often deeper and richer than most praise music today. It should be a win-win situation, right?

Not always. There’s a lot that can go wrong; and I must say right off the bat that such covers of long-loved songs are not for everyone. Selah’s Greatest Hymns comes to mind—in summary so you won’t have to track down my full review, for each good track that respected the original and refreshingly updated it, there was another that did just the opposite and completely wrecked the hymn. (The rearrangement of Be Thou My Vision is a beautiful example of the former; the latter doesn’t get much worse than their treatment of Amazing Grace.) A couple of tracks were even in an African language that sounded, to this listener, like Selah were just showing off.

It’s hard to be better known than Jars of Clay, and I’m pleased to say they nailed it far more often. And there’s something else that makes their hymnal so appealing: it’s one thing to sing a hymn everyone knows the instant they read the tracks on the album’s back cover. It’s quite another to take a gamble and do a song nobody has heard of. How many of you know O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile, or On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand? Most of the hymns on their CD Redemption Songs are completely unfamiliar, but thankfully lyrics are provided; lyrics written by men of God, teachers and pastors of the past.

Of course, some of the covers still sting the ear—it’s to be expected when both artistes and listeners are human beings—but most of the tracks are respectfully done, well-updated and ready to take the hymnwriters into somebody’s iPod.

Including mine. On Jordan’s Stormy Banks still gives me the chills every time I hear it. And now—with all due apologies to the original tune composers—I can’t imagine this reverent picture of heaven in any tune other than Jars of Clay’s. Maybe when I sing them in church I’ll remember not to pop-ify them and shock everybody around me.

If you’re interested in the old hymns, or are just tired of contemporary Christian pop and want to try something new, you could do a lot worse than Redemption Songs. And if you want to learn new hymns that would’ve fallen out of favour without Jars of Clay’s touch, there are few better albums than this. (In case anyone is wondering, I got it from Sembawang; the chain of CD shops, not the zone up north.)

#

Oh, and another thing. I bought a Dell XPS 1210 in March 2007, and in these 22 months it’s given me little but trouble; motherboard problems kept it refusing even to switch on. Repair costs are mounting—how do they time technical faults exactly with the month the warranty expires?

One thing’s for certain; my family’s bought four Dell computers already, and this one’ll be the last.

Microsoft Word 2007 tracks lone punctuation marks as words.

I’ll explain. The only way to be declared a winner of Nanowrimo is to upload a 50,000-word manuscript between November 25^th and 30^th… and the word-counting robots on the Nanowrimo site don’t consider words the same way Word 2007 (here abb. MSW7) does. You see, where a loose punctuation mark like the # which I use to split scenes within the same chapter is added, MSW7 counts it as a new word while Nanowrimo does not. More commonly, when one character cuts another off I use a dash, then the inverted commas to indicate where the cuttee is interrupted. Like so:

“Ikari was killed because he’d got in the way,” Colonel Tsuja shrugged. “It’s part of life, and the sooner—”

Shari spat in his face. For a moment Tsuja was too surprised to do anything but blink… but his bodyguard was faster and she was kicked to the ground for her efforts. Another Kemp jammed his M6 rifle in her face and almost pulled the trigger… but the colonel bade him lower it with a dismissive wave. With the other hand he wiped the strand of thick, bloodied saliva from his cheek with a grey silken handkerchief.

“You’re still more useful alive than dead, Miss Sharifah. Thank your God for that.”

And he was gone, the guards following behind. The last thing she felt before passing out was an overwhelming relief she hadn’t lost bladder control.

The sooner–” is regarded as two words by MSW7, though the Nano word-counters only recognise the one word “sooner”.

So for the whole month I’d been keeping to my word count on MSW7, not realising I was slipping further and further back every time I split a scene, or cut someone off.

On the 29^th I uploaded my copy and got a nasty shock; my word count had actually dipped from when I’d been merrily entering my MSW7 total into the system over the last 20-odd days. So there went an hour that could’ve been spent studying for my Biotransport paper (in two days!) that went into figuring out a new direction to take my heroes in.

But come through it did, and I’m rather proud of the result—the first time I’ve ever been able to hit the darned target. True, it could be MUCH better… but that’s the point of a first draft.

I drew a spiritual lesson from this episode of high-velocity studying and writing, experiences I have sadly not been able to replicate:

Deadlines are powerful. Okay, this one was a Nanowrimo buzzword; the entire event centres on the need to complete your 50,000-word manuscript in 30 days. In his book No Plot? No Problem!, founder Chris Baty affirms the programme ‘rewrites the laws of motivational physics’. He was right; not even my imminent exams could tear me away from the story I just had to write. Fact is, I promised a good friend I’d take part; and my word to her was enough for me to set bum to chair, fingers to keyboard.

With so many people across the planet striving towards the goal, I was reminded of the race that every Christian runs—how we are urged to cast aside every weight and sin that would hinder us.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

– Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

If people will put themselves through this grinder for so little earthly reward (a ‘shiok’ feeling and a neat T-shirt you buy if you want), setting aside temptations, procrastinations and whatever might come your way between those 1,667 words a day, how much more should we for a crown of life from the Lord Himself? “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10 ESV)

Where procrastination and self-doubt stand in the participant’s way, these and many powers of the world are added as obstacles of the Christian walk. The stakes, too, are infinitely higher (Revelation 21:6-8). And make no mistake; there IS a deadline. It is true that we do not know the day or the hour—but rather than discourage us it should spur us to be watchful always. Jesus Himself warns His day will come “like a thief”.

Have no greater wish to be found doing your duty.