The reflecting theologian

I had wanted to write this but till now, have not been able to find time to do. As many of us know, this year's Valentine Day falls on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year. To many Chinese, it's a double celebration of love, since it's supposedly the coinciding of the western and the Chinese V Day. Unfortunately, to the horror of many friends, I chose to spend the night with another guy friend, praying with him and spending quality time with him. Why so? Why choose not to celebrate V Day? When I was younger, I used to find V Day a romantic idea. As I grow older, and as I see my friends engaging in mercenary trade during V Day, I realised that things actually get more expensive during V Day. There is a problem here. The flowers that the guy can normally get for cheaper price, he's getting it at more expensive price, just because people celebrate love that day. Likewise for the many soft toys and blinks blinks that guys will get for the girls. Furthermore, if someone is g...

I recently posted an article from Mark Driscoll on missionary dating on Facebook:  http://theresurgence.com/2014/01/29/missionary-dating-and-other-bad-ideas . After I shared the article, a couple of my friends on Facebook began to protest against the article (they are non-Christians btw). Part of the reason is because of the view that Christians cannot date non-Christians even if the non-Christian is awesome and that Christians are limiting themselves and restricting their choices of dates. Here I would like to provide some thoughts regarding this issue. Assuming that we are talking about normal dates whereby a guy just meets up a girl to interact and build relationship with a view on getting beyond the friendship level but with no intention to get into marriage, I will say that the guy, regardless of his religion, is free and has all the choices under the heaven. That being said, I am by no means saying that I approve of such approach, but given the parameter, this is possible a...

Thinking about God and praying to God are not two discrete acts which we must somehow try to bring together by some mechanical bridge called 'spiritual application'; rather they are ultimately a single act of relating to God." - Simon Chan I recently read this interesting book by Simon Chan on Pentecostal Theology and the Christian Spiritual Tradition. The argument of the book is that we need to look at Pentecostal theology on a broader picture and ground it within the larger Christian tradition. He does a great job in explaining how it can be done. But I found that he made one profound point, that our theology cannot be solely based on the biblical theology, even though biblical theology has its place in ensuring that our theology is also founded on solid biblical ground. Specifically, my reflection here wants to focus on the above quoted statement. The main point is that everything that we do ultimately relates back to God, whether we are thinking about Him or prayin...