The reflecting theologian

So I'm finally back from one of the most 'xiong' mission trips that I have ever gone for. The ones I went during my times in Japan were physically tiring but they were never this spiritually and mentally exhausting. Due to the need to protect the churches that I was serving, I will not mention the name of the country and the names of the churches in this post. My friends who know me will know where I have gone to. This trip was my first one with AGBC, and perhaps one of the many to come. For the first time in all my mission trips, I was to give teachings and handle all worship related stuff during all the ministering sessions. The preparation was on top of my normal ministry and schoolwork, so I had little time for myself to prepare the teachings, not to mention, I have to do the teachings in another language. But whatever my team has prepared, God seemed to have other plans for us. We flew off on 17 Nov and reached our destination sometime in the evening, after 10pm....

Just want to pen down some thoughts before I fly off for my trip. Two years ago, at exactly this period, I was preparing myself to fly to Japan to help out with some of the relief work in Tohoku area which were affected by the tsunami. What I saw back then, I was not prepared for it. That trip changed my outlook on the Christian mission and I was prepared to invest more time in social causes, having in mind that these are avenues which God's love can be shown and demonstrated to the suffering world. Two years on, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines. The devastating news took a long time for me to realise the magnitude of the damage. But yet again, while we were having the special giving earlier during service, I felt that God broke my heart once again. And again, the same feeling came, and for a short while, I was asking why God would allow this to happen. The response from myself did not take long because regardless what is the answer, I was singing later "For You alone...

And with predictably incoherent results. After comparing more than two thousand DNA samples, an American molecular geneticist, Dean Hamer, concluded that a person's capacity to believe in God is linked to his brain chemicals. Of all things! Why not his urine? Perhaps it will not be amiss to observe that Dr. Hamer has made the same claim about homosexuality, and if he has refrained from arguing that a person's capacity to believe in molecular genetics is linked to a brain chemical, it is, no doubt, owing to a prudent sense that once that door is open, God knows how and when anyone will ever slam it shut again. - David Berlinski I am currently reading David Berlinski's book, The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretension. Only into the first chapter and I already find his insights and poking at militant atheists funny. It is indeed refreshing to read a secular scientist poking at incredulous claims of militant atheists instead of Christian apologists. His c...

I was just reflecting on the incident of Ashley Madison that has been flaming on Facebook. Singaporeans are currently lobbying against Ashley Madison setting up his Singapore branch of his website here to promote adultery. And this episode got me thinking once again on the model of marriage that God has instituted. Perhaps going back to Genesis 2, we know that God created male and female, for the reason that woman was taken out from man, the man will leave his parents and be united to the woman as one flesh. It is the intention of God that a couple in marriage should not be separated - that it is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman and we know that it is not his intention for divorces to happen. Likewise, I found no approval from the Old Testament that a marriage can be anything other than monogamous. I remembered talking to a fellow colleague and we were discussing how Abraham had had many women as his concubines after the death of Sarah and how Solomon had had many concub...

Recently, the theme of family has been standing out as I study the Scripture and reflect on the various issues that our society is facing, till the point that I have started to be convicted that family, being the axiom of our society, has to be strong and follow God's model. Hence I shall muse on the traditional makeup of a family according to the Scripture. Perhaps the first place for all Christians to look at for all issues that relate to family lies in Genesis 1-3, a passage which I have gained an increasing appreciation over the past few months. In Genesis 2:18, God said that it was not good for man to be alone and thus made man a helper after he finished naming the creatures. At that point, it can be argued that man has also realised that he is short of a suitable helper after naming all the creatures in creation. The implication thereafter is clear - God then created woman to help man. If I am to take this at its own, I will say that God has not created another man, but a w...

It has been a long time since I last brought someone down for an Alpha session and going through the session allows me to reflect on the basic rubrics of the Christian faith. I must admit, at some point, doing too much theology has blunted my Gospel instead of sharpening it. I'm not saying that it does not help in understanding. In fact, as all of you know, my basic belief is that we need to get our doctrines and fundamentals right in our faith - correct thinking precedes correct living. But as I listened to the facilitator tonight, I think I lost some clarity in my sharing of the Gospel to my fellow friends as I continue to dwell deeper into theology. Perhaps reflecting even further down, I would think that Christian apologetics remain my primary interest, although my interest in biblical theology is beginning to pick up. I still yearn to do systematic theology and as a result, philosophical and practical theology - learning how to put these into real applications. This is espec...