The reflecting theologian

And so the past weekend was the all too (in)famous Valentine Day. To the aliens reading this post, Valentine Day is simply a date (14 Feb of every year) designated by florists, gift shops and the jewellers for all the 'lovers' (a.k.a guys) to express their love to their girls in the most expensive ways possible. On this day, prices of flowers, gifts, and food at expensive restaurants will go up inexplicably while demand goes up inexplicably as well. Nothing a Hello Kitty can't fix on a Valentine Day Beyond buying a Hello Kitty with open mouth or a Chuck with guns and roses, I was just thinking about this supposedly very special day. Why does it seem 'so special'? Or would it even be special without all the commercialisation? Many girls act as if this is the only day their lovers express their love to them, and hence, the demand for more than extravagant celebration. I beg to defer from all this. Most of the times, guys express their love in the best way that ...

I was talking to a friend, who was telling me about a brother in Christ who was on the verge of leaving church due to a stagnation in his spiritual growth. A while after that, I heard of another sister in Christ who actually decided to leave her current church to another one due to the lack of growth opportunity in her current church. It got me thinking a bit. To give a bit of context, I think the grace of God has been upon me thus far in my own spiritual journey and hearing accounts of lack of spiritual growth in church is something that sounds like angelic tongues to me. Before I dwell further, let's look into the definition. What do we mean by "spiritual growth?" If I may give my own definition, it is the development of Christlike character and behaviour in the Christ disciple through a renewed mind and tested faith. It is the maturing of his faith, understanding, holiness and commitment. The ultimate goal, as we see, is Christlikeness and this is mentioned in Script...

This is a bit late, but I still think that I should make an effort to reflect on my year 2014 to give my readers a glimpse on what went on... especially since 2014 was my least productive year in terms of number of blog postings. The secret voice within my mind... For 2014, I am going to adopt something different compared to previous years. Instead of reviewing year by year, I will do it by major themes that happen, since this will be easier for me and less tedious for people to read. 1. Calling as a Christian minister In some sense, 2014 is a year when I was forced to clarify my calling as a Christian minister. By Christian minister, I don't mean a paid one, but I would define a Christian minister as a Christian who is serving God. This person needs not be a full time paid person in church or any other related organisation. In my context, I was serving concurrently as a lifegroup leader, in community projects as well as some education related stuff. 2014 signals a begi...

I was just reflecting a few nights ago. We normally like to criticise the church for its shortcomings, and that's probably what I am doing now. But can we talk about these shortcomings in a manner that is not 'critical' but instead be one that strives towards Christlikeness (save for the table flipping part although I think that will be quite cool). Here are five things which I think, as a Church, we can collectively do better: Just being random with my meme 1.  We can sing more biblically correct songs One of those things that irk me a lot is that we sing songs that are either theologically questionable or biblically inaccurate. Here is one of those lyrics that I think we need to be careful about: Through You, I can do anything, I can do all things, For it’s You who give me strength, Nothing is impossible This part of the lyrics combine two very well-known verses in the New Testament: Matt 19:26 and Phil 4:13. One talks about God making salvation of man possible...