Madman (Review)

I have wanted to read this book for some time. I have picked it up on and off, usually stopped reading it after a page or two because I found it really boring... UNTIL I got past the first few chapters, then it turned into a roller coaster ride. I finished it in a few days after getting past that boring part.

It is a novel based on the story of a demon possessed man who appeared in the Gospel of Mark and Luke. (remember Legion?? that was sent to a group of pigs??) It is interesting to learn about the cult of Dionysus (that is the postulated reason why the guy went mad).

Jesus appeared only near the end of the book, and the book doesn't sell Christianity overmuch. Despite the look of the cover, it isn't a horror. I like the characters of this book. They are down-to-earth and human.

I got a bit bored with all those details on Dionysus later on though, and the way the characters talk/act sound really too modern... And the kid was rescued far too easily, I think the writer took the easy way out in plotting. (I don't want to spoil the story by revealing too much.)

It's okay, but I think it could be better.

I am Legend

I have been thinking about seeing I am Legend since I first saw the movie poster. Because of the coming exams and all the engagements I have got (sigh!), I don't think I have time for it...

However, it seems that the movie has got a lot of parallels to the Gospel... Seems really interesting... I'll probably have to wait for the DVDs/VCDs...

The Redemption of “I Am Legend”
How Do We “Frame” The Gospel?

Peter

A sermon I heard today...

Luke 5
[1] While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes'aret.
[2] And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
[3] Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
[4] And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
[5] And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
[6] And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,
[7] they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
[8] But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
[9] For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;
[10] and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb'edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men."
[11] And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Knowing
Experiencing
Surrendering
Leaving/Following

These were the 4 stages Peter went through in this passage.

When Peter got to know Jesus initially, he called Him "Master", but still showed his disbelief at his command, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." which probably means "just because you're a master, so I'll follow your instructions, but you know I'm the expert in fishing here, we won't get anything, I assure you."

Then when he did what Jesus told him to do, he got to experience Jesus' power, if he didn't obey, he would never experience this.

After the experience, he called Jesus "Lord", acknowledging Jesus as the one with power over him, surrendering to the Lord Himself. However, Peter also knew about his own sins, and he was afraid that he was not worthy to serve God. Not afraid of difficulty in making a living (unlike us), because he saw the abundance of Jesus' supply.

And then Peter left his fishing nets to follow Jesus.

(Imagine what would happen if this story was found in the Chinese folklore... the ending of the story might be "Peter and his family thanked Jesus and recognised He was a god with supernatural powers and so they built a "Sea God" Temple where they worshipped Him and prayed for nets full of fish." Only if we imagine things like this, then we get to realise how different our religion is, to all the others traditional "religions". =P)

Vicar: Dire Times For Iraq's Christians

This is not exactly news, but I watched this segment of 60 minutes on TV today, and ended up with tears in my eyes. You can also read the story here.

This is the story of underground Christians in Iraq. Unbelievable as it is, in the 2000 years of Christian history, the worst time for Christians is the time under American rule. They don't even have enough to eat, and they got murdered, tortured.

A brief summary of the story from the CBS site:

From the time of Jesus, there have been Christians in what is now Iraq. The Christian community took root there after the Apostle Thomas headed east.

But now, after nearly 2,000 years, Iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered and forced to flee -- persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq's religious civil war. You'd have to be mad to hold a Christian service in Iraq today, but if you must, then the vicar of Baghdad is your man. He's the Reverend Canon Andrew White, an Anglican chaplain who suffers from multiple sclerosis and from a fanatical determination to save the last Iraqi Christians from the purge.

White invited 60 Minutes cameras and correspondent Scott Pelley to an underground Baghdad church service for what's left of his congregation. White's parishioners are risking their lives to celebrate their faith.

From the interview,

"Some of your parishioners must ask you, 'Why is God allowing this to happen to us?'" Pelley asked.

"To them I say, 'God is with you and he is with me and I am with you and I'm not going away,'" White replied.

May God's kingdom come and His will be done, in Iraq as in heaven.

10 Ways To Deconstruct Your Faith

Whenever I started to talk about how we're "spreading the Gospel" the wrong way, people asked me what I think the right way is, honestly, I think I'm still exploring to find a better way, but this is good...

From 10 Ways To Deconstruct Your Faith

10.) Count conversations not conversions.

Gone are the days of evangelism by sales pitch, or at least I/we hope so! Deconstruct your view of sharing the gospel by simply counting the amount of spiritual conversations you have with people about THEIR faith journey, thoughts of God and life, opinion of Jesus, view of the world and how to restore it, and whatever else peaks there interest. The point is not to sell Jesus like a vacuum and obsess over the amount of conversions you have, but rather move into a posture of dialog and conversation.

To serve or to be served...

It's easy to "serve" in church. I can arrange the chairs before fellowship, I'll help others by cleaning up. I'll do all sort of work (some can be even rather menial) at church, yet I am not a servant, not really serving... rather expecting to be served.

I am going to teach Mark 8-10 this week. And an important part of this section is on being a servant.

Mark 10
[42] And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
[43] But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
[44] and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
[45] For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

I went through some of my previous blog posts to see if there is any useful stuff for teaching, and found this. (I have completely forgotten about it. =P) We basically expected to be served at church. Even the Gospel has been distorted by us in the process.

It’s structured to give people what they want, not to change what they want. It centers exclusively around the welfare of man and temporal happiness. It discards the glory of God in Christ. It forfeits the narrow, difficult road that brings deep human flourishing and eternal joy. This therapeutic gospel accepts and covers for human weaknesses, seeking to ameliorate the most obvious symptoms of distress. It makes people feel better. It takes human nature as a given, because human nature is too hard to change.

In this new gospel, the great "evils" to be redressed do not call for any fundamental change of direction in the human heart... These are today’s significant felt needs that the gospel is bent to serve. Jesus and the church exist to make you feel loved, significant, validated, entertained, and charged up. This gospel ameliorates distressing symptoms. It makes you feel better. The logic of this therapeutic gospel is a jesus-for-Me who meets individual desires and assuages psychic aches.


And an example is this



It is so difficult to be a servant in its truest sense. Really not expecting MY needs to be fulfilled, not be SELF-centred and think about MYSELF! This is something we all ought to learn.

Thoughts on Franklin Graham Festival

I have attended the Franklin Graham Festival last night due to some unexpected circumstances. Because many people warned me beforehand that I had to go early, otherwise I'd probably have to sit on the grass at the South China Stadium... so I went there at 5:30pm! The result was that I managed to save some seats for Bao... and sat idly for 2 hours... =P

As a friend of mine had already told me, there were lots of music and seemed really commercial... What I don't understand is why they did not invite some local groups to sing instead of these people...

I can't hear what this guy (Dennis Agajanian) was singing AT ALL!



This Tommy Coomes Band was better, I could actually hear their words, and they had even attempted a Cantonese version of their song.



However, if all they wanted was some pop Christian songs, why couldn't they invite ACM?? I'm sure more people would benefit from those Cantonese songs...

Do we still actually think stuff from the US/Western world are better?? More people will believe if these Western people come??



Is it why we have to invite Franklin Graham to deliver the message?? And use so much $$$ in the process?? He is not a bad preacher, but I think there're plenty of preachers like him in Hong Kong. Why do we need to invite him to come here all the way?? Why not deliver a more "local" message, one that is more suitable for our own culture??



A friend of mine told me she was really touched when lots of people accepted Jesus as saviour the other night. I don't want to sound cynical... but how many of these people are actually going to really follow Jesus for the rest of their lives??

Yeah, we hear about all these people who said they had become believers in the previous Billy Graham Festivals and they are now preachers, teachers, leaders... I bet if you ask people on the streets, many of them may tell you they had said they would follow Jesus on the same occasions, but they hadn't thought about Him for quite some time recently. =P