The reflecting theologian

Disclaimer: My Christian background is that of a protestant tradition, furthermore, I am a Pentecostal Christian, which means I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate and subsequent experience from conversion and that tongues is the initial compulsory sign of Holy Spirit baptism. So I am by no means straying away from the tradition which my Christian faith grew up in.  I recently read this post on " Shared Savior, Split Tradition " and this article resonated in me. The gist of this article is on how we should see other Christian traditions which are distinctly different from ours. The clearest divide in the Christian traditions is perhaps that between the sacramental ones and the non-sacramental ones. This refers to traditions which are more sacramental in nature and hence utilise more physical sacraments for their worship compared to those which do not. One clearest example that I can think of is how the Roman Catholic church conducts its worship compa...

Being in the organisation that I am in, it is not difficult to be exposed to leadership development materials. After all, my organisation is entering into leadership development for tomorrow and hence we do a lot of leadership work around. And a lot of teaching materials are directed to the leaders, both in churches and marketplaces. However, I just wonder if there is a need to differentiate between leadership principles and common Christian living principles, as if they are meant for different people at different stages holding different positions. My answer is an emphatic No. My first ground of argument for this is based on what the Scripture says about leadership. Actually on reflection, the Scripture does say about leadership, but the more explicit didactic texts are always directed at church overseers. Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlle...

We often hear this statement: God accepts us for who we are, or we can come to God wherever we are. Do you hear this often? Do you hear this being mentioned on the pulpit? It sounds like true that God will accept us for who we are but I would like to dissect this statement further. My thesis for this post is that GOD DOES NOT ACCEPT US FOR WHO WE ARE (cap is for emphasis). People will be shocked to hear this statement: does this mean that we have to do something before God can accept us? My answer for this is yes. So let me start my argument. So, let's start from where we are. This "where we are" is actually a more loaded term than a lot of us realise. Depending whether you are a believer or not, your positioning can be quite different. Starting off from the view of an unbeliever, we will examine his position. I will go back to the book of Romans. Regardless which perspective you take on, a normal reading of Romans 1:18 to 3:20 will reveal that Paul is actually talking ...