Happy "Moo" Year!

Chinese New Year is a big deal here in Singapore. It's kind of like Christmas and Thanksgiving rolled up into one big holiday. The festivities and preparations begin months in advance, and they last 15 days after. This upcoming year is the Year of the Ox (the reason for my cheesy title) and it begins on January 25th.

There will be huge family reunions, large dinners, parties and the trimmings that go with any major holiday. However there is a flip side to it. I was having dinner two nights ago with a guy who is involved with a ministry that helps people with mental and psychiatric disorders, and he tells me that the staff in their residential centers have to be extra alert during these seasons because the incidence of attempted suicide goes up significantly in the weeks leading up to major holidays. When I asked him why that may be so, he surmised that some of it may have to do with the stress that comes from facing family, and the judgement that inevitably follows. I think that we all face it in some degree or another. I know I’m going to get more than a few comments about my “expanding ministry” or how “well-rounded” I’ve become in this past year.

And just as I was sinking into despair, I came across this quote from Martin Luther today and realized that this is what we need during such stressful times!

There are laws enough in the world, more than people can keep. The state, fathers and mothers, schoolmasters, and law enforcement persons all exist to rule according to laws. But the Lord Christ says, “I have not come to judge, to bite, to grumble, and to condemn people. The world is too much condemned. Therefore I will not rule people with laws. I have come that through my ministry and my death I may give help to all who are lost and may release and set free those who are overburdened with laws, with judgments, and with condemnation.”

This is a comforting saying in which the Lord Jesus portrays his dear sweet self, and it agrees with John, who says, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). Jesus says, “I have come into the world that was condemned already and has enough to do with judges and judgement; but I will take away their judgement, that all who are condemned may be saved.”

Because of our desperate need, we must have such sayings.

A gift to an Atheist

A really interesting perspective on evangelism from an atheist (Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller). Kudos to my friend Dave B who posted it on his blog!

A View of the Law

Say What?

"Laws and regulations do limit excessive abuse; however, they only mark the space in which the war is waged. They don't eliminate war" Miroslav Volf in "Free of Charge", p. 14.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men...

"Preoccupied with self and distracted by affluence, many Christians try to confine the gospel to a superior form of therapy; they fail to see it as a cosmic plan of redemption..." Chuck Colson

Back on Track!

Liverpool vs. Besiktas
Originally uploaded by opusco.

Liverpool has been in the soccer doldrums lately, and there has been a sense of despair that had been growing among the Anfield faithful. All that has changed today, since Liverpool beat Besiktas 8-0.

Learning to be Good?

"[P]ride cannot be removed by teaching at all. We can be proud of anything we have learned. It's not primarily God's teaching but God's presence and activity in us that can effectively heal our pride" (Miroslav Volf in Free of Charge p.111)

Going for No. 6

Liverpool made it through a tense UEFA Champions League semi-final yesterday against Chelsea. I watched it in the afternoon instead of in the wee hours of the morning like we usually do in Singapore. I can't wait for the final on May 23! It will be the last time I get to watch a Champion's League final at the sane hour of 3 in the afternoon this year for the last time! *sigh*

The World's fastest walkers

So it seems that Singapore is number one again-- in walking. A study conducted by the British Council tells us that Singaporeans rank 1st in walking speeds.

Pedestrians all over the world are moving faster than a decade ago, according to scientists who have conducted a study into the pace at which people walk.

Psychologists say walking speeds have increased by an average of 10 percent in the past 10 years.

People in the greatest hurry live in Singapore, according to the study of cities in 32 countries. Following in their footsteps are residents of Copenhagen in Denmark and Madrid in Spain.

Researchers in each city found a busy street with a wide pavement that was flat, free from obstacles and sufficiently uncrowded to allow people to walk at their maximum speed.

The speed of each city's walkers was then timed by a team researchers, armed with stopwatches.

They timed how long it took 35 men and women to walk along a 60-foot (18-meter) stretch of pavement, monitoring only adults who were on their own and ignoring those conducting mobile phone conversations or struggling with shopping bags.

The results of the study, headed by British psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, were compared with similar results from a decade ago in an experiment carried out by American psychologist Professor Robert Levine, from California State University.

Wiseman said walking speeds provided a reliable measure of the pace of life in a city.

"This simple measurement provides a significant insight into the physical and social health of a city. The pace of life in our major cities is now much quicker than before. This increase in speed will affect more people than ever, because for the first time in history the majority of the world's population are now living in urban center," Wiseman said.

Click here (CNN.com) to read more

Durians!

I love this stuff! It is the "king of fruits!" Can't wait to get back to Singapore so I can eat them again.




NYT: Thailand — You can take the sugar out of soft drinks and the fat from junk food. But eliminate the pungent odor from what may be the world’s smelliest fruit and brace for a major international controversy.

The durian, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia, has been variously described by its detractors as smelling like garbage, moldy cheese or rotting fish. It is banned from many hotels, airlines and the Singapore subway. But durian lovers — and there are many, at least in Asia — are convinced that like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

Under the durian’s hardy shell are sections of pale yellow flesh with a consistency that can be as soft and oozy as custard and a flavor that is nutty and sweet with hints of vanilla and an occasional bitter bite.

Read the rest of the article...

The Christian soldiers who bring forgiveness

Ten minutes’ bumpy drive from the border with Thailand, past a strip of gaudy casinos and brothels in a landscape of denuded hillsides, is a place where travellers fear to stop.

Throughout Cambodia the border town of Pailin is known — apart from its gemstones — as the last bastion of the Khmer Rouge, from where its remnants fought the Government until 1998.

The reputation is enough to send most travellers rushing through to the capital, Phnom Penh, eight hours drive away. Locals say that about 70 per cent of the area’s older men were fighters and that nearly all families have links to the regime blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million of their compatriots between 1975 and 1979.

Among them are men guilty of the worst crimes of the 20th century. Yet in the past four years many who are now law-abiding farmers and traders have renounced their former leader Pol Pot as a servant of Satan; travellers today are likely to suffer nothing worse than a fervent attempt to bring them to the Lord.

Phannith Roth, a missionary who grew up half-starved in a labour camp, admitted that he was terrified when his congregation in the town of Siha-noukville begged him to go to Pailin to spread the Word.

“I was scared because there are landmines everywhere, malaria is rife and because of the Khmer Rouge, who everyone knows are cruel,” he said.

“But it was the Lord’s will.” Now his Pailin Bible Presbytery Church has about 40 former Khmer Rouge worshippers....

Pastor Phannith said that many chose Christianity because they did not find forgiveness in Buddhism, which teaches that a soul must pay for its sins during lives to come.

Click here to read more...

What makes Christianity Different...

I was reading a paper that Dr Elaine Storkey presented at the Theologians Task Group at Amsterdam 2000. It was on the topic of the need for dialogue with people of other faiths in the pluralistic reality of today, and how it can be so important for the mission of the church.

Towards the end of the paper she tells a personal story that really illustrates why we as Christians need to be in dialogue with others...

I was recently involved in an inter-faith broadcast with the BBC World Service. The Jewish Rabbi and Islamic Professor and I were all answering questions sent in by listeners from all over the world. The discussion was courteous, good-humoured and pleasant until one question came up. It was about how we can identify the real believer from the counterfeit. We all agreed that it was by their fruits that we could know them. Then the Rabbi told us about the enormous weight of the Law which had been given to the people of Israel, and how we would need to see some evidence of seriousness about living in accordance with God's norms and standards. The Muslim went through all the obligations to worship, the great holiness of God, the need to counter all forms of evil and infidelity, the importance of the moral law, and on and on. When it came to me, the presented changed the question. "What do Christians have to do, Dr Storkey?" I took a deep breath and explained that Christians did not have to do anything. We had to simply hold our empty hands to receive all that Christ had done for us. For we could not reach these standards of God's on our own. It was only through the grace of God in the work of Christ that we were acceptable.

The Islamic professor was horrified, and lectured me for many minutes on the way this would open the door for young people to do anything they wished. I had two attempts to reply, when the Rabbi finally came to my aid. Putting a hand on the Muslim's shoulder he said, "My dear friend, you will have to accept what she says. You and I will never understand this. We are a Jew and a Muslim. But this grace is what Christians are all about. It is what makes Christianity different from every other religion." 

Evangelical Review of Theology 25:1 (2001) pp.45-52

Obese men less likely to commit suicide, study finds - Los Angeles Times

"Obese men less likely to commit suicide, study finds" screamed the LA Times headline. It points to a study that shows that as the BMI of a man increases, the likelihood of him being depressive and suicidal decreases. If I couldn't enjoy food, I would be suicidal too!

Click here to read it.

It may be No. 6 this year!

I decided that this was too good to not blog about. I know that I haven't been on the blogs for a while, and certainly haven't blogged about football in ages...

Liverpool beat Barcelona on Wednesday in one of Liverpool's best European away performances in history. They overcame last year's champions at their dreaded Nou Camp stadium, in front of 90,000 Barca fans! And to add insult to injury, it was Bellamy and Riise, two of the players who were just in the news for a bust up over a Karaoke session after a training session! Sort of reads like a soap opera.

NYT and their Anti-Christian Bias...

Some of you are probably old enough to remember that old BeeGees hit, "Stayin' Alive" and line talking about "The New York Times' effect on man..."

Well this past week I read a really biased article about a faith-based prison program in Iowa and the verdict by a judge in that state who is trying to shut it down. I have a good friend who works with Prison Fellowship who runs that program and I know from his accounts all the good these types of programs are doing for those who have run afoul of the law. Yet when I read the report, it was obvious to me that this article by the NYT was skewed in a terrible way.

Well Mark Early, the president of Prison Fellowship has put the record straight. Here is his side of the story...

All the News That's Fit to Print?

By Mark Earley

Regular “BreakPoint” listeners and readers know that a federal judge has ordered a highly successful program for prisoners called the InnerChange Freedom Initiative®, or IFI, to shut down because the judge felt it violated the separation of church and state.

Prison Fellowship strongly disagrees. So do the Justice Department, nine state attorneys general, and numerous faith-based organizations. That’s why Prison Fellowship is appealing the case and why the others I just mentioned have filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the appeals court on IFI’s behalf.

Not surprisingly, however, the New York Times agrees with the judge. On its front page last Sunday, the Times ran the following headline above the fold: “Religion for a Captive Audience, Paid for by Taxes.” The headline alone tells you the kind of picture the Times intended to—and, in fact, did—paint: inmates coerced into participating in a government-funded religious program.

But what did the Times not tell us in that article?

Click here to read more...

Balance

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"The Christian life, lived in the magnetic field between the two poles of the amazing grace of God and the appalling sin in which I share, has a corresponding synthesis of a godly confidence and a godly fear. The fear is lest I should put my trust in anything other than God's grace in Jesus Christ; the confidence is in the infinite abundance of his grace to me and to every one of his creatures." (p.178)

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

We've probably all heard the story of "The Blind Men and the Elephant." It has been used to appeal for greater toleration amongst religions and as a parable in the cause of pluralism. But what is the real point of the story?

In the famous story of the blind men and elephant, so often quoted in the interests of religious agnosticism, the real point of the story is constantly overlooked. The story is told from the point of view of the king and his courtiers, who are not blind but can see that the blind men are unable to grasp the full reality of the elephant and are only able to get hold of part of the truth. The story is constantly told in order to neutralize the affirmation of the great religions, to suggest that they learn humility and recognize that none of them can have more than one aspect of the truth. But of course, the real point of the story is exactly the opposite. If the king were also blind there would be no story. [emphasis mine] The story is told by the king, and it is the immensely arrogant claim of one who sees the full truth which all the world's religions are only groping after. It embodies the claim to know the full reality which relativizes all the claims of the religions and philosophies.

Lesslie Newbigin in The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (pp. 9-10)

Singapore Takes on Crows; One Down, 34,999 to Go - New York Times

I'm always fascinated when Singapore makes news in papers around the world. However, this article from the New York Times on the culling of crows in our ultra-urban city state really tops them all for me!

"“Garbage bin! Garbage bin!”

The men with shotguns tumbled from the Land Rover in a crouch and trotted along beside it like marines taking cover behind a Humvee.

“Don’t let them see your gun, they know about guns!” whispered the leader, Dennis Lim, a 20-year veteran of this kind of thing.

He jumped from behind the van, whirled and fired, “pop!” But his prey — seven or eight crows sitting on a trash bin — were gone.

“They’re smart birds,” Mr. Lim said. “One of them saw us and alerted the others. He started flying and the others started flying.”

Mr. Lim, 54, is on the front lines of a battle for his country’s territorial integrity, a member of the Singapore Gun Club who has been enlisted to help reduce an infestation that at one point climbed to 150,000.

The club is one of the few places here that permits private weapons, though owners must lock them up before they leave. In 1982 the government asked the club to take on the crows, and Mr. Lim has been hunting them down almost from the start.

Now he is standing by for a new challenge, the possibility of bird flu and the need to secure Singapore against migrating birds, perhaps by shooting them out of the sky."

Read the rest here...

The Way I See It

On the way back from a meeting at a church in Monroeville (which is about an hour away from Ambridge), my professor and I stopped at a nearby Starbucks for a quick coffee. I picked up a mocha latte and was quite surprised to read a little theology on the side of the cup. It was part of a series that the coffee giants call "The Way I See It" and is intended to spark conversations. The quote was from a musician named Mike Doughty, who as far as I can tell isn't a Christian. This is what he said:

It’s tragic that extremists co-opt the notion of God, and that hipsters and artists reject spirituality out of hand. I don’t have a fixed idea of God. But I feel that it’s us – the messed-up, the half-crazy, the burning, the questing – that need God, a lot more than the goody-two-shoes do.

A Tragedy of News

The horrific carnage that fell upon the Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, has made the news all around the world. The gruesome details have been repeated ad nauseum in news reports in print, over the air and on the internet. But one place that won't happen is in the main newspaper that serves that strict religious community.

The Los Angeles Times reports: "Although the Oct. 16 paper will reflect the loss of life in Nickel Mines, where a man burst into a one-room schoolhouse on Monday and shot 10 Amish girls, killing five, Lapp (the editor of the Amish paper) hopes not to devote too many column inches to the incident. Long-standing policy at Die Botschaft prohibits the publication of stories about murder, as well as stories about war, love or religion."

When I was trained as a journalist, on of the ways in which I was taught to evaluate the newsworthiness of an event was by the level of conflict or controversy it manifest. What happened in Lancaster county certainly qualifies. And what is interesting is that this same element was also an essential ingredient in my scriptwriting class. I was told that conflict was an important tool that help a story's entertainment value. There in lies the rub. Is news meant to be for our entertainment or information?

Can we really make this distinction? In many ways, since the newsmedia is a business, it will always seek to give the public what it wants. It has to if it hopes to attract the eyeballs which sponsors demand and pay for. It has to cater to the same instinct which manifests itself in our tendency to slow down as we pass a car wreck to see if we can catch a glance of a mangled body, or a pool of blood. It horrifies us, but we can't look away.

The only problem though is how much do the details of such incidents actually inspire others to imitate the example. Malcom Gladwell in his hugely popular tome, The Tipping Point, highlighted the influence the few can have. He cited the example of how reports of a suicide had often resulted in a sudden uptick of imitators. The "permission" was given and others who harbored similar inclinations somehow felt that the door had been opened for them to do likewise.

The Amish schoolhouse incident is the 3rd school shooting that has occurred in the space of a week here in the US. Everyone of them highly publicized events. Is there a connection? Schools around the country worry about it. Some may consider the Amish paper's decision to not report the tragedy quaint and out-moded. But do they have a point?

The sad truth of the matter is that people don't need "permission" to act in atrocious and despicable ways. As saddened and appalled as I was by the incident, I only saw it as another example of how the whole issue of original sin continues to plague the human condition. We are not "evolving." Civilization is not progressing. The more we know, the more we discover that the sin in our hearts continues to rule and reign. No amount of "civilization" can eradicate it!

I don't condone the way in which the news outlets have continued to feed the public hunger for all the gory details. Yet I know that even if they didn't, the innate depravity that every human being carries withinin will come out, and will provide yet another story to be covered.

Our Part

"The only thing of my very own which I contribute to redemption
is the sin from which I need to be redeemed"

Archbishop William Temple