The reflecting theologian

Recently, I attended a meeting with a Christian organisation which shall remain unnamed and during the meeting, they were telling me about what they were doing, listing 'biblical references' as the basis for their approach. Most of them come from the OT. The way that they 'interpreted' the Scripture was interesting enough for me to revisit a topic which has been in my mind for a very long time. Let's backtrack a bit first and talk about my own spiritual background. I come from a Pentecostal church (not AOG) and for most part of my Christian life, I have at least seen physical miracles and wonders performed by God through His people in the church and outside of the church. Hence, in practice, I am not an anti-Charismatic. Theologically speaking, I believe a solid theological and biblical case can be made against cessationism, so I am not against any charismatic practices. What I am often against, is that people use Scripture out of context to justify certain char...

Empathy is overrated... Yes, you are reading it correctly. I am saying that empathy, as a social skill, is overrated and to some extent, heavily misunderstood and over-demanded. Empathy, according to Wikipedia, is the capacity to understand what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference. It is (dun get me wrong) an important social skill in this era. But it is precisely because it has become so important that I think it is beginning to be abused by people, especially people who tend to be more 'in touch' with their emotions. These people can either be emotionally unstable, or simply just emotionally immature. And here comes my gripe: these people use empathy as a weapon to blackmail whoever is helping them to come and meet their need for self-pity. I may be a bit harsh here and I do not have a lot of data points to back my claim. And I want to be very careful with what I say here lest it comes back and haunt me. But in most insta...

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 ...

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. - Romans 7:14-20 I was talking to a friend yesterday on how we reached certain logical conclusions after reading the Scripture. Then we concluded that bad hermeneutics generally lead people to the wrong conclusions about what the Scripture means. I have previously pointed out Philippians 4:13 and today, I would like to point o...

I have to say, I agree with him telling her 'Don't waste time'. What LKY told a local female PHD student will make you laugh#throwback #RIPLKY Posted by SGAG on Wednesday, March 25, 2015