The reflecting theologian

Today I read one such article in Straits Times: WP 'had absolutely no idea of Yaw's alleged affairs' In letter, Low refutes criticism that expulsion was hasty and careless By Andrea Ong & Kor Kian Beng  WORKERS' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang has made clear that he and the party's election committee had 'absolutely no idea' of the alleged extramarital affairs of sacked member Yaw Shin Leong when they decided to field him as a candidate in last May's General Election. 'Even though I was familiar with Yaw Shin Leong's background and I have met his family and attended his two wedding ceremonies, I have no way and no authority to inspect his private matters and personal life. 'I am a Member of Parliament, not a private investigator!' Mr Low said in a letter to Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao yesterday. He added: 'Mr Ho Kah Leong said I should take responsibility for the Yaw Shin Leong saga. May I ask how I should take responsibilit...

I have been thinking of doing this post for a while but not really sure where to start. But might as well start somewhere. It is about the kind of standards that we should set for ourselves as Christ followers. Take an analogy, in all sectors that have to be regulated by the government or some government agencies, there's always a set of laws and statutes that govern the regulation and set the minimum standards for the sectors. Very often, this set of standards is the very bare minimum the sectors will be allowed for in order to guarantee societal safety, personal safety, work safety and other many reasons. In some sectors, the minimum is so minimal that you sometimes wonder why regulate in the first place. For the average Christ follower, we do not have a set of laws to regulate the kind of standards we should be having. This is true in the sense that firstly, we do not live in the OT era anymore, and secondly, the church cannot fine us for failing to meet any standards (at le...

There was this article which was published on Straits Times on 4 Feb 2012 written by David Brooks: A FEW weeks ago, a 22-year-old man named Jefferson Bethke produced a video called 'Why I hate religion, but love Jesus'. The video shows him standing in a courtyard rhyming about the purity of the teachings of Jesus and the hypocrisy of the church. Jesus preaches healing, surrender and love, he argues, but religion is rigid, phoney and stale. 'Jesus came to abolish religion,' he insists. 'Religion puts you in bondage but Jesus sets you free.' The video went viral. As of Thursday, it had acquired more than 18 million hits on YouTube. It speaks for many young believers who feel close to God but not to the church. It represents the passionate voice of those who think their institutions lack integrity - not just the religious ones but the political and corporate ones, too. Right away, many older theologians began critiquing Mr Bethke's statements. Blogger Ke...