Christianity Rediscovered

In [evangelizing], do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, as beautiful as that place might seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have ever been before – a beautiful description of the unpredictable process of evangelization, a process leading to that new place where none of us has ever been before. When the gospel reaches a people where they are, their response to that gospel is the church in a new place, and the song they will sing is that new, unsung song, that unwritten melody that haunts all of us. I believe the unwritten melody, the new song waiting to be sung in the place of the hymn of salvation, is simply the song of creation. To move away from the theology of salvation to the theology of creation may be the task of our time. ~ Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered.

An inward-turned Christianity is a dangerous counterfeit, an alluring masquerade. It is no Christianity at all. The salvation of one’s own soul, or self-sanctification, or self-perfection, or self-fulfillment may well be the goal of Buddhism or Greek philosophy or modern psychology. But it is not the goal of Christianity. For someone to embrace Christianity for the purpose of self-fulfillment or self-salvation is, I think, to betray or to misunderstand Christianity at its deepest level. Christianity must be a force that moves outward, and a Christian community is basically in existence for others. A Christian community which spends all its resources on a building campaign for its own needs has long ago left Christianity high and dry on the banks. ~ Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered

Nitty-Gritty

We can be very proud if we understand the right doctrines and have certain opinions. But when we deal with the very nitty-gritty of living the way Jesus taught us, none of us can act very proud. ~ Brian McLaren, in an interview with beliefnet.com

October Rains...

The rain pours down in unending torrents…

Can’t work…

Staring out into the fields, taking refuge at the silo

Kids are playing, enjoying every single moment in their carefree world

I can hear the birds, singing in the rain

Rain is slowing down… but they never stop

Tears falling down from heaven… mourning the passing of our first lady…

How did a man whose wife was seriously ill manage to lead an entire country? How will he be able to go on? Who will support him? Who will care for him? Who will love him? The country mourns with him. Even the radio stations mourn… instrumental music, singing their soft melodies of peace and comfort to the nation.

And the rains add their magic ambience to the soothing orchestra. Pitter patter…pitter patter…

The winds blow, the paddy leaves dance, the music continues… I wish they played such music everyday. The skies are gray… in every direction, as far as the horizon. They are sad. It’s a sad, sad day.

We decided to join the birds…

Fishing in little puddles…

Under the gray clouds, in the breeze, feeling each drop of heaven’s dew on our faces… not very far away, a prime minister mourns the loss of his beloved wife… and the nation mourns with him…

Through the looking glass… what does a raindrop see?

A world upside down.

The rain stops…

Lying down on a cemented irrigation gate… admiring cloud formations. I can see the sun behind the gray layer of cloud. The breeze continues to blow across the fields. Above me the birds are flying across the sky. A cool, lazy afternoon.

Shoals of fish swim across the road like the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Big fish… small fish… Why did the fish cross the road?

Back to the car… more music… this time with sounds of running water and ocean waves. The country continues to mourn the loss of one life… one beautiful life. Meanwhile, the world mourns the loss of 50 000 lives in another country not far away. All over the world, people mourn…

The rains fall down again… pitter patter… pitter patter…

What Saint Paul Really Said: Justification by Faith

What was Saint Paul talking about when he spoke of 'justification by faith'? Most of us think of ‘justification by faith’ as the crux of the gospel according to Paul. It is a system of salvation, in which we are saved from our sins. Because we are all sinners, we need to be made right with God in the sense of moral righteousness. Good works, not even high moral values… nothing we can do can save us from our sins. But we are justified by having faith in Jesus Christ. In this sense, ‘justification by faith’ is an evangelistic message. It is the good news that we tell our non-believing friends: that there is a way in which they can be justified by believing that Jesus died for our sins so that we can be made righteous in the eyes of God. And when we talk about righteousness, we usually understand it to mean that we are morally upright (of no sin) in the eyes of God.

The only problem is that Paul wrote about justification by faith mainly TO THE CHRISTIANS. OK, maybe the early church didn’t really understand all these things, so Paul had to teach them some basic theology. Or, could it be that the message of ‘justification by faith’ was a message particularly to the Christians of Paul’s time, with reverberations for us Christians in the 21st century?

Paul came from a thoroughly Pharisaical Jewish background. And Jews of his time believed that they were the chosen people of God – the covenantal people of God. And the symbol that marked them out from all the other pagan nations was the Law, mainly circumcision. It was their being under the Law that determined if they were God’s people, and if they would be the ones who would be saved when God announces His judgment on the world. When judgment comes, they would be deemed righteous before God. This righteousness comes by the grace of God, through faith, as Paul was quick to note when he spoke of God’s covenant with Abraham. It does not mean that one is ‘sinless’ or morally upright before God, but rather that God bestowed that righteousness upon His people by declaring them righteous on the day of judgment (based on the early Jewish judicial system). So the Jews believed that since they were the people of God, God would deem them righteous on the day of judgment. And the thing that would mark them out presently as belonging to that group of God’s people is of course, circumcision and the Law.

This was the context in which Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith came about. A number of the Jewish Christians during Paul’s time were insisting that their Gentile brothers be circumcised and to come under the Jewish Law. Only then would they be marked out as God’s covenant people. Only then, could they say that they were the people of God whom God will declare righteous on judgment day. But Paul insisted that we are all justified by faith. It is not about becoming a Jew, but rather it is by believing in Jesus. It is those who have faith in Jesus that God marks out as those belonging to Him. It is they who are His people and will be declared righteous on judgment day. It is they whom God will save.

If this is the case, then ‘justification by faith’ is not just an EVANGELISTIC message (if it ever was in the first place). It is an ECUMENICAL message. It does not tell us HOW we can be saved (i.e. not by works, but by faith), but rather, WHO God’s people are. Here we are in the 21st century arguing about who the real Christians are. Is it those who are baptized into a particular denomination or church? Is it those who speak in tongues? Is it those who believe in a particular system of salvation? Is it those who believe in justification by faith alone? Is it those who believe in Sola Scriptura? Is it those who believe in pre-tribulation rapture theory or some other doctrine? Paul’s message of ‘justification by faith’ comes clearly and strongly to us all. Just as it is not a matter of whether one is circumcised or not, neither do all these matter. Who will be marked out as the people of YHWH? Who will be the real covenantal people of God, chosen and blessed so that they can be a blessing to the world? All who believe in Jesus. All who, by faith, pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Be it Jew, Gentile, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Charismatic, Anabaptist… all are justified and marked out as God’s people.

Unlike the mistake that the Jews made when they thought that they would be saved and blessed to the exclusion of everyone else, we need to be aware that as the people of God, we were chosen to a blessing to others, just as God chose to bless Abraham so that through him, all the world will be blessed.

So if ‘justification by faith’ is not the crux of the gospel that Paul preached, what was? If ‘justification by faith’ was an ecumenical message to unite the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians rather than an evangelistic message, what was Paul’s evangelistic gospel? And what did it have to do with the gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached?

So Close, Yet So Far

Two of my colleagues will be heading off to New Zealand on Monday. From there, they will make a trip to Antarctica for 10 days. Sigh… each time I think about it, the thought comes… ‘It could have been me’… How many people get to go there in this lifetime anyway? So close, yet so far. I guess it wouldn’t have been so bad if I never had expected it in the first place. I wonder if such opportunities will come knocking again in the future. How long will this project last? My colleagues have been going there every year for the past 3 or 4 years. Well, I can’t do anything about it… maybe just sulk! At least I get to go to the paddy fields! ;P

Whatever it is, I’ll be looking forward to the weekend trip to Penang with my friends. We’re all going to meet Pastor Paul (hopefully), the Iban Pastor from Sarawak! I wonder what’s in store… Can’t wait! What a shame that we’ll be there for less than 48 hours. I do want to spend a little time with my parents too.

This is Getting Really Weird

This is getting really weird. A few months ago, I was introduced to a blog belonging to theologian and New Testament scholar Scot McKnight called Jesus Creed by Pastor Sivin. I was struggling with some thoughts about Hell then after reading Brian McLaren’s ‘The Last Word and the Word after that’. Scot McKnight was doing a series on Hell based on the same book just about that time. I then began reading about the history of Christian thought and began to work through some of Luther’s and Augustine’s theology of atonement. McKnight then writes about Postmodernity and the Atonement. Sometime in about July, I began to read McLaren’s ‘More Ready than You Realize’, with a chapter about conversion as a process rather than an event. This was when Scot McKnight began writing about conversion too. When I was reading McLaren’s ‘A Generous Orthodoxy’, up comes the discussion on this book on Jesus Creed. I noticed this peculiarity right about then. I wondered if God was providing some sort of support for me from a more theologically knowledgeable person. But more was to come. Just after I went through Stanley Grenz’s ‘Prayer: the Cry for the Kingdom’, and was in the middle of reading about contemplative prayer in Henri Nouwen’s ‘The Way of the Heart’, McKnight begins a series on prayer on his blog. Now I am reading ‘What Saint Paul Really Said’ by N. T. Wright as I work through some of Paul’s theology and what the gospel really means. I was surprised when McKnight began a series on the gospel just a few days ago. And today, he writes about the book that I am currently reading! Again! Weird! Or is it a blatant act of God? I can’t deny that his writings have been a great help to me through those times…

A Few Pictures...

I particularly like this picture... it's got a rustic, 'kampung' feel to it...

Under the shade of the mango tree...

Maybe we should consider farming someday...

Back with Loads of Work

I’m back from another trip to the paddy fields. This time I had a really good time! Why? Agnes came along with me! I enjoyed spending the weekend with her and showing her some of the things that I do over there. We even managed to go for a trip to the firefly park.

Now I’m back at the office in MMU with loads of work to do. I really need to finish this journal paper. I really want to graduate as soon as possible! And now I’ve got more classes to teach this week! Sigh… Not to mention the paperwork that still needs to be done due to the car accident more than a week ago.

I’m currently reading N. T. Wright’s ‘What Saint Paul Really Said’. I guess this will be my introduction to the ‘New Perspectives’.

A notable lesson for me from yesterday’s study of Philippians 1 and 2:

Paul didn’t care if people preached the gospel out of envy, rivalry or selfish ambition. What mattered to him was that Jesus was preached. He didn’t have to be the hero! Let others take the credit or whatever, even if their motives are wrong, as long as God’s work is done! And the amazing thing was that God can still used those people for the advancement of the gospel!

A problem verse we came across as a group:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. ~ Philippians 2:12-13

What did Paul mean by ‘work out your salvation’?

Looking into New Perspectives

A new way of looking at Jesus would inadvertently lead to a new way of looking at Saint Paul. If the message of Jesus is the message of the Kingdom of God, then what was Paul’s message to the Gentiles? What is Paul referring to when he speaks about salvation? What about justification by faith? What does it mean? So much work has been done in what is called the ‘New Perspectives on Paul’. I wonder what these theologians are saying about him. Will these new perspectives shed light on some Pauline controversies? Will they paint a more complete picture of what the gospel is and what it means to be a Christian? This will be something interesting to explore…

To the Church in Philippi...

I have always found it difficult to study the epistles in the New Testament. The authors just seem to rant on and on, jumping from one topic to another, then writing about something totally unrelated before coming back to the same issue again. My last experience with 1 John was like that. Sometimes, you just didn’t know what John was arriving at.

But the epistle to the Philippians is an entirely different matter. Maybe it was because 1 John was a general letter and we don’t really know who the recipients actually were. In Philippians, we know enough about the church in Philippi to be able to piece together the puzzle. Through Acts 16, we are able to appreciate the deep friendship between Paul and those in Philippi, and how much suffering Paul went through in the founding of the church. We are also able to observe that Paul was addressing specific issues in the Philippian church. We see in this epistle Paul’s heartfelt sharing of his personal struggles which we rarely find in other epistles. We get to see how Paul really loves this church, and how the church was so concerned about Paul after hearing about his imprisonment. I was really quite amazed about this epistle as I was preparing to lead the Bible study on Monday. Here we have a man who was really concerned about the problems in the church he was ministering to; one reason being that he founded the church himself through literally blood, sweat and tears.

It caused me to wonder about some of the ministries that I am involved in. Do I really do it out of love for my neighbors and friends? Is there a deep bond between us, so that whatever we do will be out of love rather than out of ‘responsibility’ because it is our job? Need to spend some time reflecting on this…

Now I’m looking forward to digging into Paul’s other epistles!

Bali Dua

I recently bought a CD called ‘Bali Dua’, which boasts of wonderful, ambient Indonesian Gamelan music (and it comes with some incense sticks as well). This is the sequel to Jalan Jalan’s first album entitled ‘Bali’. From the pictures and films that I’ve seen, Bali is indeed a beautiful place, one which I would love to visit one day if I had the opportunity. Its culture and traditional wooden architectures have fascinated me for quite awhile, and the music from this album allows my mind to drift to this mysterious place…

Every time we wake up in the morning with news that another place has been bombed, even as hurricane Katrina and Rita have just left their marks in Southeastern United States, it gets a little bit harder to believe that the world is going to become a better place. The Kingdom of God? Coming? At hand? Chaos reigns. It’s much easier to believe that the world is coming to an end and that God is going to destroy it in judgment soon. Let the world go to Hell with all the evil in it…

So hard… so hard to hope for that which Jesus promised… the Kingdom of God… ‘I am making everything new!’ How long more? But as we sang ‘How Great Thou Art’ and a few other songs at church on Sunday morning, it was a reminder that God is still sovereign. Jesus is still Lord. Our God reigns. It’s hard to believe it in the midst of these circumstances, but I accept it. As we sang of the birds and the trees, the mountains and the stars, it reminded me that the world is still a beautiful place. God said, ‘It is good’. No doubt the world is fallen… but we have to believe that it is still good. And we have to hope that one day, it will be as it was then… as it should be… a world of beauty, justice, peace and love…

For now… we will just have to wait… and pray with the victims of the Bali bombings the prayer of Jesus – ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’… to grieve in solidarity with them… to weep as Jesus wept when He saw the condition of Jerusalem. I saw an amateur clip on the news that showed the bomb exploding inside a restaurant. People chatting happily on dinner tables… a loud explosion… pitch black… darkness… people running… screams… horrifying, yet sad at the same time. It’s ironic… the second terrorist attack on Bali… Bali Dua indeed…

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." ~ Revelation 21:1-4

It is indeed foolish to speak of such things in times like these. Who would believe it? But such prophetic imagination will be the only source of hope for a world in anguish, while its leaders remain numb to the cry of the oppressed and those in mourning. Will the Church carry this counter-cultural, prophetic message to the world?

Lord, we are still waiting… How long O Lord?