A friend of mine was telling me a while ago about the sacraments: The obvious ones are the communion, the many sacrifices outlined in the latter half of Exodus. There are also less obvious ones, he said, such as the rainbow: It is a weapon of war (wrath) that is strangely pointed toward its wielder, prophetic of God’s atoning self sacrifice.
At that moment I was convinced, but less so now. Still, it was interesting. How about the sun? Continue reading “on the sun”
I heard a recent prayer for people willing to accept Jesus into their hearts. One thing that irked me about it though was its handling of sin. The prayer talked of sin as doing bad things, and asked of Jesus’ help as more behaviour changing than the radical change and metanoia described in the Bible.
What does behaviour modification look like?
Thirty years ago it was commonly held that outside stimulus shaped a person’s character: hence the kerfluffle about rock music, violent tv shows, etc. These days it is increasingly held that though violent and disturbing media does corrupt those who are exposed to it, it’s more about those people wanting these things in the first place. Someone who loves horror and violent films is probably just a disturbed person whose attraction to these things is a manifestation of inner troubledness. Continue reading “on behaviour modification”
Why is the Bible compelling? Many reasons: it’s a message of love, hope, the correct way.
How about a message of realism? One thing that strikes me is how well God knows us. Better often than we know ourselves. If all gods are figments of our imagination, what does one call a god who is in many ways quite un-godly? What kind of a god says things no human priest would ever dream up? Continue reading “on realistic gods”
Having read M Mikalatos’ excellent Imaginary Jesus I realise that it is true, the Christian must make sure he is following the real Jesus.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of the Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Word, Jesus of the Bible.
A warrior king, but whose most breathtaking act of valour was to willingly and obediently die on the cross. His obedience was what made him great.
Antithesis to the ‘macho Jesus’ ideal. Continue reading “some thoughts on christ”
I am what you’d describe as a shy guy, scared of talking to pretty girls.
Sounds innocuous, even charming. But here’s what’s wrong with that:
Shyness means I don’t want to talk to a pretty girl for fear of looking bad in front of her – I think I speak for nine out of ten guys who suffer from shyness (and in fact the Cantonese/Mandarin words for ‘shy’ are rendered 怕羞 and 害羞 respectively, both of which approximately mean ‘afraid of shame’) – but is this not simply pride and self-importance? Continue reading “on shyness”
Our reaction to many things is often an indication of our personalities. How does one react to criticism? To riches? To adoration? To challenges? To conflict? To Christ’s forgiveness?
How about to the Bible? Over the years I have found these to be the most unsettling parts of Scripture: Continue reading “on unsettling parts of scripture”
A gut reaction to be humble and service is not necessarily good. In my experience always insisting on being the first to serve inflames the ego. On the contrary allowing yourself to be served (receiving without giving anything in return) takes humility – provided you see the service as meeting your weakness/need and not something to be exploited! Witness Peter’s cry of ‘you shall never wash my feet, Lord’, and Christ’s reply. (John 13:6-8)
A son is served out of his father’s riches. Learn to enjoy these as the fruits of sonship. Continue reading “on sonship”
It’s easy for me to scoff at those heathens with their little pinwheels, flocking to worship at Che Kung’s temple. Does such idolatry actually remain in this age? Yes it is easy to scoff, I am a man of Christ and a son of the King.
Yet I regularly offer my body in worship to Eros and Pornographia. My mind is often given to the god Ego, yes I am quite the devotee to him. My eyes worship the goddesses Masthos and Skeles on a daily basis. Continue reading “on idolatry”
Yesterday, church community did not feel so good. Felt a bit dead, clique-y. Granted, church is more than hanging out, but when that’s missing, something’s wrong. But then that church community is usually up and down. Work with what you have.
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The way people view you is no reflection of your real worth;
Granted, but if everyone is agreed you’re an asshole, something’s wrong.
Being brave is to do what you don’t want to do because it has to be done;
Granted , but that doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble. Continue reading “substitutionary atonement and other things”
The Lord calls us to go the whole way with Him, to walk with Him. Enoch walked with God, and in fact walked so close to Him, went so far with Him that the Bible implies he didn’t have to go through death, God simply took him away (Gen 5:24).
But then there’s a lot of instances however of people called by God to walk with Him, but who only went halfway through. Terah was probably one such person; he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to make his way to Canaan, the destination that Abraham would eventually reach, but he only made it as far as Haran. The Bible seems to imply that God had in fact called Terah to make the journey his son would eventually make, but the father of the patriarch did not walk with God all the way. He settled for Haran and stayed there, unable to attain the inheritance and surrounded by pagans till his death. (Gen 11:31) Continue reading “crossing the river”
Remember, My Lord 