Systemic sins

From Brian McLaren's book-- Everything must change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope

Only a fraction of our sins are personal. By far the greater part are sins of neglect, sins of default, our social sin, our systemic sin, our economic sin. For these sins Christ died, and continues to die. For these sins Christ atoned, and continues to atone.... As long as evangelism presents a gospel centered on the need for personal salvation, individuals will acquire a faith that focuses on maximum benefits with minimal obligations, and we will change the costly work of Christ's atonement into the pragmatic transaction of a salvific contract.... The sanctifying grace of God in Jesus Christ is meant not just for the sinner but also for a society beset by structural sin.

Consumerism

This is a reminder for me when I'm thinking about buying yet another new camera, coz my camera is kinda broken (still functional), but more because I WANT a new one...

From Lord to Label: how consumerism undermines our faith

Christian critiques of consumerism usually focus on the dangers of idolatry—the temptation to make material goods the center of life rather than God. This, however, misses the real threat consumerism poses. My concern is not materialism, strictly speaking, or even the consumption of goods—as contingent beings, we must consume resources to survive. The problem is not consuming to live, but rather living to consume.

We find ourselves in a culture that defines our relationships and actions primarily through a matrix of consumption. As the philosopher Baudrillard explains, “Consumption is a system of meaning.” We assign value to ourselves and others based on the goods we purchase. One’s identity is now constructed by the clothes you wear, the vehicle you drive, and the music on your iPod. In short, you are what you consume.

This explains why shopping is the number one leisure activity of Americans. It occupies a role in society that once belonged only to religion—the power to give meaning and construct identity. Consumerism, as Pete Ward correctly concludes, “represents an alternative source of meaning to the Christian gospel.” No longer merely an economic system, consumerism has become the American worldview—the framework through which we interpret everything else, including God, the gospel, and church.

When we approach Christianity as consumers rather than seeing it as a comprehensive way of life, an interpretive set of beliefs and values, Christianity becomes just one more brand we consume along with Gap, Apple, and Starbucks to express identity. And the demotion of Jesus Christ from Lord to label means to live as a Christian no longer carries an expectation of obedience and good works, but rather the perpetual consumption of Christian merchandise and experiences—music, books, t-shirts, conferences, and jewelry.

Approaching Christianity as a brand (rather than a worldview) explains why the majority of people who identify themselves as born-again Christians live no differently than other Americans. According to George Barna, most churchgoers have not adopted a biblical worldview, they have simply added a Jesus fish on the bumper of their unregenerate consumer identities. As Mark Riddle observes, “Conversion in the U.S. seems to mean we’ve exchanged some of our shopping at Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and Borders for the Christian bookstore down the street. We’ve taken our lack of purchasing control to God’s store, where we buy our office supplies in Jesus name.”

......

As a result, choosing a church today isn’t merely about finding a community to learn and live out the Christian faith. It’s about “church shopping” to find the congregation that best expresses my identity. This drives Christian leaders to differentiate their church by providing more of the features and services people want. After all, in a consumer culture the customer, not Christ, is king.

He Loved Me

This hymn is probably listed among the top of my faves, maybe number one. It is based on based on Romans 8:35-39.



He chose me --- be-fore the world was known.
He chose me --- to be His very own.
He made me, then let me choose my way.
I chose to move a-way.
He loved me --- when hope had tak-en wing.
He loved me --- when I lost ev-'ry-thing.
He bought me, redemp-tion's work was done
though Jesus Christ, His Son.　

Who-- shall sep-a-rate me from the love of God?
Shall dreams of to-mor-row,
pain, or sor-row,
Can the need of food or earth-ly pos-sess-ions,
the threat of war or man's op-pres-sion?
In all these things
vic-t'ry is our reward.
Vic-t'ry is our reward though Jesus Christ, our Lord.

#Of this I am sure,
that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor prin-ci-pal-i-ties,
nor pow-ers, nor things pres-ent,
nor things to come---

Not height, nor depth,
nor any crea-ture
Shall sep-a-rate me from the love of God.#
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Safety?

I don't mean we should get into danger deliberately, but when has Christianity become something about safety?

I've read a few different articles on social action and Christianity. When I brought this up with some Christians about what we can do for marginalised groups, I got responses like "these are work for those specially called by God", "you should not be blaming elders for not caring about these people, after all they need to be concerned about our safety"...

Why "evangelism" is for everyone, while taking care of the poor is for those with special calling??

When were Jesus and the early Christians ever concerned about their own safety?? Prophets in the Old Testament? Martyrs in Christian history??

Why should we?

Some of the articles I read recently
肥醫生@mingpao
讓我們回轉……
對「教會」反思 (一)

Sermon 16 Nov

Col.3
[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
[3] For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Set your mind on things that are above, not thing on earth, if you were dead, why would you care about the Hang Seng Index?

Christianity and the Political Economy of Capitalism

Oh apart from the last lecture, all are in day time, hmm...

Acceptance

I have already shared this on Google Reader, but it's really worth reading. It's in Chinese.

It reminds me of this cartoon that I love!


And I also remember when I talked about talking to beggars, AIDS patients, etc. , some people said that was not the task for everyone.

What can the Gospel do for these people?

Mount Sinai??

Jesus People Pray That False Idol Will Save God’s Economy

More Photos & Videos From Yesterday’s Sacrilege Wall Street Bull Prayer

Financial tsunami brought some people closer to God, and yet they brought these people away from God, or maybe these people were never close to God.

"Financial tsunami"

Other than increasing sale of safes and second hand shops, according to the news yesterday, more people are going to church to pray after the collapse of the markets.

The news report said people are praying for the market, even though I don't think God is gonna boost up the market any time soon, it is encouraging to see God using this chance to get people to turn back to Him, and stop relying on their own power and wealth. (despite losing so much money myself... =P)

Psalms 3

[0] A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
[1] O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
[2] many are saying of me,
there is no help for him in God. [Selah]
[3] But thou, O LORD, art a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
[4] I cry aloud to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy hill. [Selah]
[5] I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
[6] I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
who have set themselves against me round about.
[7] Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek,
thou dost break the teeth of the wicked.
[8] Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
thy blessing be upon thy people! [Selah]

v3-4: David's prayer
v5 God's answer, after that David suddenly changed, how did God answer David's prayer? By letting him SLEEP! It's not easy to fall asleep while you're in the run. However, in v5, the original Hebrew translation, it is something like, "I, I lay down and then fell asleep, and I woke up." This is how David knew God is with him, and he was no longer afraid after that.

Bring our focus back to God, and see God's presence within simple experiences. God did not speak to David through visions/dreams. Trust God.

David did not pray that God kill his enemy (as he did in other Psalms), just slap them or break their teeth (so that they can no longer bite others maybe).

In v8, he prayed that God blessed His people, but in this case, the rebellion of Absalom, the people are his enemies! Can we pray like that?

Psalms 2

Ps.2
[1] Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,
[3] "Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us."
[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.
[5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
[6] "I have set my king
on Zion, my holy hill."
[7] I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, "You are my son,
today I have begotten you.
[8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
[9] You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
[10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
[11] Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling
[12] kiss his feet,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

We are unfamiliar with the historical settings of Psalms 2. This is NOT about Jesus, v7 "You are my son, today I have begotten you." is the kind of language used during the crowning of a king. It is about the time when Solomon became king of Israel. (That's when the nations conspired to attack the anointed.)

This is such a political psalms. We are so used to the idea of the separation of church and state. Church is pure and politics dirty. This is so not the case.

Even in God's church, we see all these problems. What should we do in these cases? How can we pray for politics? How can we pray for our church politics?

Look and see what God is doing! God has already set his king. (v6)

We should NOT limit God to what we want, and ask for God's will. Learn to submit to God's will. Even when the church is ruled by THAT pastor! If we don't want to listen to God, pray that we are willing to.

That's what God means when He said, "for everyone who asks receives."

Psalms 1

Summary of what I learnt from the class "Learning to Pray thro Psalms"

All the psalms are prayers themselves, it is like the Book of Common Prayers used in the Anglican Church, you may be surprised if you seriously think about it, Psalm 1 is a prayer, what is the writer praying about?

[1] Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[3] He is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

This is exactly how Jesus told us to pray, to pray for God's kingdom and His righteousness. Forget about our own agenda, forget about the weather/Jabez prayer.

Remember how the Lord's Prayer mainly focused on God, and when Jesus used "our daily bread" from Proverbs 30, note that the original writer did not just pray that he will not be poor, also he WILL NOT GET RICH!

[7] Two things I ask of thee;
deny them not to me before I die:
[8] Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
[9] lest I be full, and deny thee,
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.

Do not treat our God as another one of those traditional Chinese idols like Guan Yin for us to borrow from her bank ("借庫"), not treat the church as a regular Temple, and stop speculating in the market to try to get rich.

It is a particularly striking message at this time when the financial market is in a turmoil and everyone is talking about money. Pray about God's kingdom and righteousness, NOT our own agenda. Pray for our willingness to submit to God's will.

If Jesus Came Today, He Wouldn't Be a Christian

Found this here while surfing the web



I love Jesus
And Jesus loves me
I know all about him
Because I’ve got a PhD
Studying Religion and Church History
And the development of Christology
From its pre-Christian origins
To the Council of Chalcedon
In 451 - Yeah!

If I could make a machine
To travel back in time
I’d go to the first century
And live in Palestine
I could talk to John the Baptist
And Rabbi Hanina Ben Dosa
I’d find St Paul
And punch him in the head
Then I’d talk to Jesus
And listen to everything he said - Yeah!

I’m sure that Jesus
Must be turning in his grave
When he sees those
Who are preaching in his name
If Jesus came today he wouldn’t be a Christian
No, he’d probably be a liberal Jew
That’s why I don’t want to be a Christian
Just a follower of Jesus
… Or maybe just a Buddhist - Yeah!

Environment & Religion

As I have said in my other blog, I found this really great show about environmental protection, and I just watched an excerpt on its website about religion and environment.

It's interesting to see these Jewish children learning about trash instead of the Torah. =)

What I learnt from my Spiritual Theology Class

I guess I'm in search of some kind of theology I can identify with in the Spiritual Theology Course, I think I found it in one of the classes, and surprisingly it's the kind of theology closer to me than I think (I've come to dislike many of the stuff typical evangelicals believe in... sigh...)

The topic was the Reformed Tradition with a particular concentration on Calvin. (These are all my understanding from the lecture itself, so whatever gets wrong, it's my fault .=P) For Calvin, being "spiritual"means submitting to God whatever He gives us. His providence is always the best.

For Charismatics (or even evangelicals), when you got sick, you thank God when you get cured. (Yeah, we sang the song about thanking God for the thorns of the roses, how many of us pray for that? I really don’t want to pray like this coz I don’t want to get stuck by thorns =P.) For Calvin, he has got this conviction that God's will whatever it is-- is good, so you can praise God whatever the circumstances.

We leave our personal desires. Instead of praying for what we want, we ask God's will to be done. (That doesn't mean God's will is not always done, but this means we are actually asking ourselves to submit to God's will.)

God may not heal is, that's not the point.

Some charismatics suggest that we should tell God what we want specifically, but the lecturer told us it might be because he’s lazy, but he just asked God to help mould him into a good father, and as to how to be a good father, it’s up to God to decide. It’ll be really terrible if our desires all turn into reality. =P (haha, this is exactly how I usually pray like, maybe I’m lazy, but why should I name all these stuff I think is good for God?? =P)

The lecturer said he was invited to dinner by a sister from church, whose mother got a stroke long ago and became a Christian, but her mom still remained unhappy, because she could not forgive someone. Then just before that dinner, that sister said her mom was much happier recently and asked the pastor to pray for her. He forgot what he prayed about, but after a while her mom died. Then the sister came and talked to him and thanked him, because she had been thinking about this for a while, her mom was happy and didn’t have much to do in the world anymore, maybe it’s time for her to rest in God. And that day when the pastor prayed for her, he prayed that if it’s God’s will, then let her rest. He jokingly said others’ prayers brought healing while his brought death. =P

Some thinks that the idea of predestination makes people lazy in evangelism, but Calvinists' effort in evangelism was more than that of the Lutherans.

And one important aspect of predestination, is whatever your work is, the effect is from God. Not us! Otherwise it’ll be really scary, whether someone would believe in God depends on us, who make so many mistakes and error?!

Blog Action Day 2008

Textbooks

Look at these required readings from the NT course...

Money...

I have recently lost some money on investments, I was quite unhappy about the whole thing. It is just so easy to think that when you do something good, you’re more likely to be blessed. Like all humans, whenever bad things happen one tends to ask why (not necessarily as a complaint towards God. Then I realized I have been really preoccupied with money these days, thinking about the possibility of buying a house later, I have spent a lot of time thinking about money and stuff. Maybe this is a reminder from God for me.

I was still unhappy, but less so, then on Sunday, two firemen died while rescuing people from the huge blaze at Mongkok, I couldn’t help but think what’s more important, life or money, then I remember money is not really important.

I also realized the drop in the prices of commodities and foreign currencies are actually good (well not for me, but for the poor people who can barely feed themselves around the world, and I just realized these people are the ones who need the money, not me.

And I also read this post over at Jesus Shaped Spirituality. We should think about how we use our money as Christians.

Matthew 6
[19] "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal,
[20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
[21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture By: Marva J. Dawn (Part 2)

Here are the rest of the excerpts I found enlightening...

Why I Left the Institutional Church by Frank Viola

Two of the reasons he has given are:

... The second thing that got me out of the traditional church has to do with what I felt to be the shallowness and superficiality of modern Christianity. According to my own frail assessment, contemporary Christianity is ten miles high and two inches deep. In fact, it’s so shallow that I question if a gnat could drown in it.

... Neglecting the Poor to Maintain and Enhance the Building

this is so true... sigh... read the rest here.

Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the Turn-of-the-Century Culture By: Marva J. Dawn (Part 1)

I am reading the Chinese translation of the book, but I managed to find almost all the parts I wanted from google books. =) I have finished 2/3 of the book, still 1/3 more to go, but I'll share it bit by bit.

From Reaching Out Without Dumbling Down
(I am a bit lazy to type this all up)

This is a book about worship, one with messages we need to hear. The standards of men/women dropped over the past decades, their ability to appreciate literary works, art whatever has declined.



And we sometimes try to get these people with "lower standards" to church by lowering the standards of worship in our church. That's where we got it wrong, worship is for God, not for us, or any other purposes.









We seldom acknowledge suffering in our worship, when we talked about suffering, we often talked about how God can help us, but in Psalms, the poets had a different way of expressing their feelings in their worship as Walter Brueggemann pointed out

Rikk Watts on Acts

I am taking a correspondence course from Regent on New Testament Foundations.

And when Rikk Watts talked about Acts,

Nothing can hinder this that God has determined to do.
(many examples from Acts) - nor the church in Jerusalem: whether leaders or corruption.

There is a crisis in my church, and this reminder that God is in control is reassuring.

Why should I become a Christian?- I guess it can be "Why did I become a Christian (Part 4)?"

I remember trying to explain to my secondary school classmates why they should believe in Jesus? And then one said, "I am happy on my own, I don't need Jesus." We often think non-believers need Jesus, they have an emptiness inside, but many of them don't think they have.

Read more about this in the internetmonk blog.

And also an article from Times Online.

Nevertheless, young people do not feel disenchanted, lost or alienated in a meaningless world. “Instead, the data indicated that they found meaning and significance in the reality of everyday life, which the popular arts helped them to understand and imbibe.” Their creed could be defined as: “This world, and all life in it, is meaningful as it is,” translated as: “There is no need to posit ultimate significance elsewhere beyond the immediate experience of everyday life.” The goal in life of young people was happiness achieved primarily through the family.

...

“We live in an instant culture, which cannot be reached by instant missionary tactics.” And the desire for happiness is valid and should not be criticised by clergy. “It can only be outclassed by a Christ-like way of life, for in him alone is true happiness to be found.”

Heather King- I think this can also be "Why did you become a Christian (Part 3)"?

I just followed the link from internetmonk without even reading the whole thing he wrote and found this interview with someone named Heather King, and in the end, I found that the paragraph that I love is also quoted by internetmonk in his blog. =)

I think this is a the way Christianity should be, but she is talking about Catholicism. A pity "evangelicals" can't touch people's heart like this. Like what the internetmonk said, with a lot more real world application and more integrity with the main issues that are at stake with Jesus.

I just read the obituary of a woman named Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who died at the age of 98, and who’d saved something like 2500 Jews, many of them children. The Nazis repeatedly tortured her, breaking her feet and legs, but she’d refused to give the names of her collaborators, or the location of the garden where she’d buried a jar containing a roll of paper with the names of the children and their parents. The Nazis finally let her go and as soon as she got out, she continued with her rescue work. You don’t have to be Catholic to be an Irena Sendler, but I can’t imagine anything that would encourage me more in that direction than Catholicism. Someone like Irena Sendler makes me realize how unworthy I am to call myself a follower of Christ: if I were really a follower, I’d live in a lot more courage, humility, poverty, chastity, and obedience than I do. But people like Irena Sendler give me something to strive for, to emulate. There’s something sublime about an Irena Sendler, about Catholicism, about a religion that makes saints out of sinners. Saints aren’t “good,” they’re beyond good, they’re part crazy. I read recently that faith means believing in the surprise ending. The Crucifixion was a surprise ending. You don’t expect the Savior of the world to die an apparent failure, rejected and scorned, spat upon, cut down in the prime of life and butchered—just like we don’t expect cancer, broken hearts, bankruptcy, alcoholism, war, lost children, famine, crime, and aging to cut us down like they do. So the Crucifixion was a surprise ending.

But the Resurrection—that’s the biggest surprise ending of all.

Also on a question almost everyone asks me, even my Catholic colleague, how come a Protestant like myself wears a cross with a crucified Jesus on it?? My answer is always "I love the one with Jesus dying on the cross more", of course, Heather King said it a lot more eloquently.

The cross in a Catholic church has a body on it. Right up front, right above the altar, is the message that subconsciously haunts us: someday, we’re going to die. Right up front, loud and clear, is the human condition: suffering, torment, conflict. As I say in Redeemed, the first time I went to Mass and really “saw” that body on the crucifix, I realized Christ isn’t saying that we need to suffer more; he’s acknowledging the suffering we’re already in. And I suppose on some level in that moment I “got” as much as I ever will, or as it’s possible to “get”—which is that God loves us so much he incarnated himself as man, he came down and pitched his tent among us to teach us how to come awake, to accompany us on the journey, to show what it looks like and what happens to you when you live in total integrity. Eventually, one way or another, they’ll kill you—which is why hardly anyone ever dares to live in total integrity.

And there is this one other question by the interviewer

Linda: Recently I sat for a time with someone with late stage Alzheimer’s and I remembered you once wrote that learning to just sit with someone in their own suffering is one of the greatest gifts and one of the most difficult to accomplish. It was helpful for me to realize I didn’t have to try to fix anything but that there was a purpose in just being there. Do you feel that grace lies in giving witness in that way, without any mirror for the ego?

Heather: Grace is a slightly overworked word that seems to mean different things to different people, but I think it requires grace, that is, the help of God, in order for our ego to “disappear” in the first place, in order for us to detach from our deep desire for results. We tend to value productivity, and to value ourselves according to how effective we are. Just sitting with someone in his or her suffering is difficult because our impulse is either to fix the person, or to be thanked, or both. If they can’t be fixed, we tend to lose interest; there’s nothing in it for us. The last thing Christ asked of his disciples was to sit with him, for his “hour” in the Garden at Gethsemane the night before he died—and of course, they couldn’t; like us, they fell asleep. It requires tremendous vulnerability, on the side of both parties, to simply sit quietly in each other’s presence. We feel we have to say something interesting or the other person will leave or get discouraged. So to get close enough to your own heart, and the heart of another, to realize, This is all I’ve ever wanted, for someone to sit with me. To love me just because I exist. To be in solidarity with my humanity and my suffering…

That’s big. I hope I make it there some day.

The Green Bible!

The Green Bible is printed on recycled paper and all the things about God's creation is highlighted in green. There are contributions from Brian McLaren, NT Wright, Desmond Tutu, and others.

Wow! If there are no highlights in green, I think I wanna get one... but I don't just want to read the "green" passages, so I need to think. (I was searching for NRSV Bible when I found this, coz I only have the NT NRSV at home...)

After reading more about it on Amazon.com, I'm seriously thinking about getting one... but I realise 10/7/08 means Oct, instead of Jul, so it's not available now, forgot about the American style for dates... sigh...

Why did you become a Christian?? (Part 2)

As mentioned in the previous post, at least one of the reviewers commented NT Wright's lack of mention on hell/sinning in his new book. I have a bit more on it today.

There's one chapter in Surprised by Hope on "Purgatory, Paradise, Hell". Sin was mentioned and NT Wright proposed a view on hell which is those who persist in sinning will end up in their dehumanization as they lost the image of God.

After he wrote about his proposed "hell", he did continue to say, "I am well aware that I have now wandered into territory that no one can claim to have mapped... The last I want is for anyone to supposed that I (or anyone else) know very much all about this. Nor do I want anyone to supposed I enjoy speculating in this manner... I should be glad to be proved wrong but not at the cost of the foundational claims that this world is the good creation of the one true God and that he will at the end bring about that judgment at which the whole creation will rejoice."

I think this is a reasonable proposal and he offered it in a humble way.

I do love the way he ended this chapter.

"But the most important thing to say at the end of this discussion... is that heaven and hell are not, so to speak, what the whole game is about. This is one of the central surprises in the Christian hope. The whole point of my argument so far is that the question of what happens to me after death is not the major central framing question that centuries of theological tradition have supposed. The New testament, true to its Old Testament roots, regularly insists that the major central framing question is that of God's purpose of rescue and re-creation for the whole world, the entire cosmos. The destiny of individual human beings must be understood within that context-- not simply in the sense that we are only part of a much larger picture but also in the sense that part of the whole point of being saved in the present is so that we can play a vital role within that larger picture and purpose. And that in turn makes us realise that the question of our own destiny, in terms of the altenatives of joy or woe, is probably the wrong way of looking at the whole question. The question ought to be, How will God's new creation come? and then, How will we humans contribute to that renewal of creation and to the fresh projects that the creator God will launch in his new world?...

Maybe we are faced with in our own day is a similar challenge: to focus not on the question of which human beings God is going to take to heaven and how he is going to do it but on the question of how God is going to redeem and renew his creation through human beings and how he is going to rescue those humans themselves as part of the process but not as the point of it all."

I think this is a rather good answer to the question I asked.

Why did you become a Christian?? (Part 1)

Last Sunday, someone asked a question about whether one can still recognises his/her family in heaven, because in the Bible, Jesus said, there won't be any marital relationship. And it is very difficult to convince people to believe in Jesus when they won't know their family/friends in heaven anymore.

My question is: Is Christianity only about getting to heaven??

It's just sad that so many people (EVEN CHRISTIANS) think that way.

I'm reading NT Wright's Surprised by Hope. I have read a lot of his stuff before, so most of the stuff in the first half of the book sounds familiar to me. =P

I agree with his view of heaven being on earth, rather than somewhere UP in the sky. I think most of the people who read his books agree with him on this. Most of the people don't like the political emphasis he had on this whole "heaven" business.

I haven't read through the application part yet, I had to read through the whole book because I got to introduce this "new" (I know it is not new, but most Christians don't know about it) heaven concept, and I think I have to be balanced and include the opposite views as well.

Someone on Amazon reviews said Wright did not mention much about sin, I don't know if he didn't mention it because he doesn't believe it is important in this whole business, or if it is because like what he said in the book, if a football commentator who doesn't talk about baseball, it doesn't mean he doesn't believe in baseball! Since so many people are talking about it, and so he didn't? I don't know.

I don't see why the removal of sin cannot co-exist with the new heaven and earth. Jesus' victory against sin is also part of it. hmm...

Got to figure out a way to present this whole complicated concept... and so many controversial points...

I've started listening to the lectures on New Testament Foundations I got from Regent College, Rikk Watts seemed to really agree on what NT Wright said about Israel stuff. hmm... I think I need to listen to some opposing views.

Will of Power- thoughts an from the history of spiritual theology class and mp3 I got from church library

Spiritual discipline is a neglected tradition among evangelicals. Monks learned submission to God through submission to their abbots, and forfeit their own "rights" by obeying others. In this world and age, we often stress the importance of our right. Men are poor in their endurance and often have weak will of power to do what we need to do.

People who are weak in their will of power often have the following problems:
1. tardiness
2. breaking their promises
3. failing to resist temptations
4. laziness
5. failing to obey God

Post-modernity encourages
1. Consumerism (whatever we want, we can buy)
2. Sense of Control/patience (e.g. with MTRs, we don't need to wait for buses, with mobile phone, we can find anyone at anytime, with computer & internet, we can find information within seconds)

Some of the ways we use to practice in our daily life (that I think maybe useful for me)
1. Submitting to your family (to learn to forfeit our rights)
2. Stop watching TV for one week (to learn that we can live without certain things we think we need, but the fact is we can live without them)

(Thoughts and notes from the lectures on History of Spiritual Theology and the Baptist U lecture MP3 from Dr. Milton Wan)

I am weak in will power... maybe I should start practising...

Course materials received

Take a look at these... it costs me more than HKD 10000... they are sent by courier to me from Regent College for continuing studies...

New books

My "trophies" from Tien Dao today!! With theotokos' Tien Dao card, so I got 20% off all the books, hahahaha!!



Initially I just intended to go and buy 二千年靈修神學 which is the textbook for the spiritual theology course I just started attending. And perhaps Surprised by Hope because I saw from Tien Dao website it was supposed to be available in the TST Tien Dao. (however, it was not... =P)

However, I found two newly published translated works of NT Wright!! Just when I was wondering how to get Chinese material for the fellowship meeting I suggested (to learn more about stuff written by NT Wright), I found these two books!!! YEAH!! No need for me to do the translation on my own and a lot cheaper than the original English version. Though I hate reading translated books, I have to get the translated versions, it's difficult to get people to start reading NT Wright stuff with the language barrier, even though most people I know can read English, reading theological stuff in English is fairly difficult for most.

The good thing is that it is a lot easier to get people to read them now!

Surprised by Hope will be transferred to TST shop for me later, so I'll buy it later.

Intentions & Celebrations

As the preview pages from my Amazon account exceeded the limit, these are my own translations from the Chinese version of Marva Dawn's book. =P (As only the Chinese translation is available from my church library...) Any mistake is mine. =P

In the chapter Embracing Intentionality, Marva Dawn mentioned what we think is important. And we need to reconfirm out status as God's people, even after suffering, humiliation, disappointment and failures. For Jews, keeping Sabbath reminds them of their own identity even when the Temple is no longer present.

Marva Dawn also mentioned an organisation for developmentally disabled named l'Arche, what we can learn from them on how to celebrate.

Michael Downey emphasizes that the celebrations there continue "no matter how deep the suffering"-that, in fact, the celebration "intensifies as suffering deepens". We do not need to wait until suffering is over to celebrate, and the festivity itself can improve our communication with God. Sabbath must include celebration, even during the Holocaust, and celebrations on the Sabbath helped the Jews in concentration camps to maintain their courage.

Celebration is not compensation, joy from profound suffering will be nurtured during celebrations. Celebration means accepting life and seeing that life is indeed precious.

Sabbath

Marva Dawn quoted The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschelin in her book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting

It is a very special concept for me, time as a sanctuary. It makes me rethink my whole concept on Sabbath. You can read the whole excerpt here. We often use our time to exchange for space or to increase our power in space, but for God, time is much more important than space.

Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time... Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year. The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals; and our Holy of Holies is a shrine that neither the Romans nor the Germans were able to burn; a shrine that even apostasy cannot easily obliterate: the Day of Atonement. According to the ancient rabbis, it is not the observance of the Day of Atonement, but the Day itself, the "essence of the Day," which, with man's repentance, atones for the sins of man...

One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word kadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?

It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word kadosh is used for the first time: in the Book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness...

When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time. When at Sinai the word of God was about to be voiced, a call for holiness in man was proclaimed: "Thou shalt be unto me a holy people." It was only after the people had succumbed to the temptation of worshipping a thing, a golden calf, that the erection of a Tabernacle, of holiness in space, was commanded. The sanctity of time came first, the sanctity of man came second, and the sanctity of space last. Time was hallowed by God; space, the Tabernacle, was consecrated by Moses...

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.

Read another excerpt here.

According to Stagirite, "we need relaxation, because we cannot work continuously. Relaxation, then, is not an end;" it is "for the sake of activity", for the sake of strength for new efforts. To the biblical mind, however, labour is the means towards an end, and the Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil, is not for the purpose of recovering one's lost strength and becoming fit for the forthcoming labour. The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life... "Last in creation, first in intention", the Sabbath is the end of creation of heaven and earth."

The Sabbath is not for the sake of weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not the interlude but the climax of living.

Can we live for the Sabbath in our life? And redefine our purpose of life?

Ceasing Productivity and Accomplishment

Just when I'm feeling guilty about my post-exam unproductive life, I read this from Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting

Setting aside a Holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways.

I desperately need to keep Sabbaths faithfully so that this attitude can increasingly pervade the rest of my days; I still get too easily frustrated if I think I have not accomplished enough in a day. During the times when I am not able to do very much, I forget that more important things are happening in me as God works to change my character and transform me into his likeness. If I am so worried about my productivity, I usually miss the lessons he is allowing me to experience so that I can be changed.

...

Too often we failed to appreciate others because they don't meet our expectations, because they are not as good as us at certain things, or because they don't measure up to the world's standard for usefulness. It seems to me that the Church could take the lead in suggesting other values by which to cherish individuals. Certainly the One who created and formed us made each of us a unique individual with special attributes. If we can give up our need to produce and to judge others similarly by their accomplishments, we can be freed to value those particular gifts that others bring into the world. Thus our Sabbath ceasing from productivity can bring great healing into our lives as well as into the lives of those around us.

Obviously, one of the Sabbath practices that supports this ceasing from productivity is the intentional choice to use time simply to be with people. The point is not necessarily to do anything-- perhaps to play, perhaps to share a needed time of gentle affection, but above all simply to be together. We can help each other learn not to find a person's value in his or her accomplishment. Accordingly, one of the greatest gifts of the Christian community can be this nurturing of a better sense of ourselves, a sense not tied in with our usefulness and success. I speak idealistically, of course. It grieves me that our Christian communities get tied into the world's value system and forget this constant message of the Scriptures: that we are worthy because we are loved by God. I hope that you who are reading this book can take your lead in your parishes to cease using productivity as the yardstick by which the value of others is measured.

Security, work, God

Matthew 6
[24] "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
[26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
[27] And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
[29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
[32] For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
[34] "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

This is the Bible passage for the sermon today. Ever since, I have passed my exams, everyone's been asking me about my plans for the future. Plans to further my career.

With so many people asking, I can't help thinking about the plans, what I should/should not do...

Do not serve two masters. The reason we can't do it is the lack of security without money/career/whatever, we have to read the passage as a whole, when Jesus told us not to serve mammon, we should remember God will take care of us.

And we should be serving God only.

It's not some radical new message, but a timely reminder for me to remember again whom I should be serving.

From Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (I have just started reading it today)

The Sabbath is a day to abstain totally from whatever is our work at the time. Jacques Ellul declares that the emphasis on the Sabbath in the Old Testament "shows that work is not after all so excellent or desirable a thing as people often tell us". In our culture, which attaches such a grand importance to work and productivity, our weekly ceasing reminds us that the value of work lies not in itself nor in the worth it gives us, but in the worship of God that takes place in it. The Sabbath, then, is a sign of liberation, Ellul asserts. Jesus never calls anyone to work.

The man beside the Bethesda pool

I went to the service at CrossCulture Church of Christ when I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago. On that day, the daughter of the minister was baptised, and she was baptised by another pastor who was a "very" pregnant lady... I don't think I'll ever see something like this in Hong Kong...

Anyway, back to the point, the Bible passage for the sermon that week is identical with the one I heard the next week after I came back to Hong Kong. I think it must a reminder from God...

John.5
[1] After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes.
[3] In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.
[5] One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"
[7] The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me."
[8] Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
[9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath.
[10] So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet."
[11] But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.'"
[12] They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk'?"
[13] Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
[14] Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you."
[15] The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Here's the summary of the message from the church in Melbourne.



Most of the time we don't want to get well. The paralysed guy had been lying there for years, presumably got his money from begging/charity/family. No need to work, a bit inconvenienced. It may be difficult for us to imagine him not wanting to get well.

However, that's what we're doing (pr what I'm doing). I have to say most of the time I don't want to "get well". I just wanted to maintain the status quo.

"Yeah, my spiritual life is bad, but am I praying really hard/reading the Bible a lot to make it better? No!" "Yeah, it's bad to be addicted to TV, but do I wanna quit? Hmm..." "I know it's bad to just want to get more money. Hey, the stock market just dropped again!!! What??!!"

How can I make myself want to get healed??

NT Wright on the Colbert Report

I can't imagine any religious leaders/scholars appearing in this kind of talk show... =P haha!!

Sichuan Earthquake

I didn't do anything until 10 minutes ago.

It was so unlike me, almost every time this sort of disaster happened, I donated money immediately and then sent emails to my friends asking them to do the same.

This time, the devastation is so great, other than shedding my own share of tears while reading/watching the latest news, I didn't do anything.

I thought about what I could do to make a difference. Even if I gave half of all my money, (EVEN IF, not that I'm this generous), it might only be enough to build a few cottages at most. (I think the construction fee there should be quite cheap, right?) However, it is still nothing compared to the scope of destruction.

I thought about going to Sichuan to help, if not for the coming examination next week. That might be able to make a little bit of a difference. Unfortunately, exam is coming in the next two weeks.

When people feel helpless, they turn to prayers. I have received numerous requests to pray for these people in the past few days. However, I don't know what to pray about, and I am simply tired of prayers like these though. (I agree with what littleho said in his blogpost.)

Today, I went to a church near my home, not my own church. And surprisingly, I found some pretty good prayers that I could say to God from my heart.

(You can click on the photo and then the magnifying glass to get a bigger version.)





(Sorry for the poor quality, I just took them with my camera, too lazy to scan them =P)

I like the way these prayers dealt with suffering, not just by saying let these people become Christians, and shouting stuff like "oh God heal them". One of the best way of dealing with suffering is through Jesus' own suffering. And in the third prayer to the Holy Spirit, there is a line about identifying the calling from God (on how to help these people), this is something I've never thought about in the past few days.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:35)

(FYI, I made a donation online just before I started writing this.)

Summer courses of CGST

The list of summer courses... I intend to take the two courses of Dr. Stephen Lee, and also the one on Spiritual Tradition, I also want to take the one on Greek, but I don't think I can arrange so many nights off for all these courses... all in July and August... sigh...

Kingdom of God, Heaven, and Books...

Today, I couldn't sing this song during the service... The image presented seems so wrong... I know I shouldn't live for stuff in this world (like money), but I don't think I believe in the picture portrayed by this song anymore...

This world is not my home
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

I think I'll be buying the latest book from NT Wright and I'll read it after my exams... If you have read/watch (the video on) my previous post, you may know what the book is about, it is about the misconception we have about "Heaven".



Just read the review from Internet Monk about the book,

It has occurred to me this week that fundamentalism’s appeal within my own tradition has a great deal to do with anti-intellectualism and accessibility. A fundamentalist preacher can confidently haul out the certainties of creationism and make every student in my school who is failing biology feel that he knows more than a professor at Yale. Watch a few hours of Hovind/Hamm videos and you are ready to trounce any Biology professor at Oxford or Cambridge. Fundamentalism is about creating that kind of confidence out of the shallowest, cheapest materials.

This kind of Bible-waving simpleton-ism models everything that is wrong with the Christian approach to intellectual and academic issues. Armed with blatant misunderstandings of the Bible, the fundamentalist isn’t just competent to say the wise of this world may miss the truth of the Gospel (which is absolutely true); he/she’s also competent to make pronouncements on every subject, preach distortions and outright falsehoods as facts and drag whatever audience is available to believe what amounts to mythology as Biblical fact.

Wright is another approach. He is deeply prepared. He knows his history, Bible, languages and theology. He also knows the errors and minefields on the subject, but instead of coming off as an arrogant ass, he shows his readers what it looks like to approach Christian belief with critical seriousness, humility, and the courage to say, “…or maybe not.” He offers up a highly original alternative way of reading the Bible, one that has stimulated many of us toward the Bible in ways no other writer has- often because we’re convinced he’s made a wrong turn.

Frankly, I am sick of the type of simplistic Christianity we have, sick of reading about how fundamentalists arrange tours in museums to tell children how wrong the scientists are about evolution, and stuff like that.

Read more about the book in this article Bishop Wright wrote himself. Here's a tiny bit from it... (It's tiny, coz the article is 4 pages long, haha!)

When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world—not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety...

When Paul speaks in Philippians 3 of being "citizens of heaven," he doesn't mean that we shall retire there when we have finished our work here. He says in the next line that Jesus will come from heaven in order to transform the present humble body into a glorious body like his own. Jesus will do this by the power through which he makes all things subject to himself. This little statement contains in a nutshell more or less all Paul's thought on the subject. The risen Jesus is both the model for the Christian's future body and the means by which it comes...

The mission of the church is nothing more or less than the outworking, in the power of the Spirit, of Jesus' bodily resurrection. It is the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and rule over the redeemed world he has made...

If that is so, mission must urgently recover from its long-term schizophrenia. The split between saving souls and doing good in the world is not a product of the Bible or the gospel, but of the cultural captivity of both...

If it is true, as I have argued, that the whole world is now God's holy land, we must not rest as long as that land is spoiled and defaced. This is not an extra to the church's mission. It is central.

I bought a book yesterday. I can't resist it after reading a bit of it in the bookstore, that part was about a worker who helped people with AIDS in Africa telling the pastors how they made things worse. =P I know I am supposed to be studying. It is Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. I was hoping to find some more examples on what we can do if the Kingdom of God is here, when we pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." What should we be doing?? I was running out of examples last time I tried to teach on the Gospel of Mark on the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is so NOT about heaven (or at least the image we got about heaven.) Here is a part from the first chapter:

Why do we need to have singular and firm opinion on the protection of the unborn, but not about how to help poor people and how to avoid killing people and how to avoid killing people labeled enemies who are already born? Or why are we so concerned about the legitimacy of homosexual marriage but not about the legitimacy of fossil fuels or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction? (and in particular, our weapons as opposed to theirs)? Or why are so many religious people arguing about the origin of species but so few are concerned about the extinction of species? Then I'd wonder, if we religious people have seized on a couple of hot-button issues, what other questions should we be thinking about that nobody's asking??

What should we be doing instead? What can I do?

Thinking whether I should go... hmm...

Suffering and Heaven

Found these thro littleho's blog

Dr Milton Wan 溫偉耀博士 has often mentioned his daughter who had mental retardation. in his sermons. She just passed away recently.
Dr. Milton Wan's sharing on his daughter

He said she is one of the three most important theologians for him. Read the article to know more on how God can use "suffering". What is the purpose of life when one is just born to suffer?

And then on NT Wright, another theologian whose view has changed my understanding on my own religion.

His article about his new book

An interview with ABC


Another interview on the Time magazine

Sufferings

苦難能把宗教真正的力量牽發出來，需要掙扎求存的條件越苛刻，無關重要的宗教枝葉就愈被剝落，真正的宗教核心就愈被顯露。

---from 楊牧谷 《從哀傷到歡呼 詩篇與人生》

We have often ignored the importance of sufferings in our faith. Maybe we should stop praying for God to remove/solve whatever problems we're facing, and face them head on.

This is the only way to get to the bottom of our true faith, so that Christianity stops merely being our religion.

I heard something profound in a sermon about Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane today. Prayer in the end is something you do alone. In that time of His sufferings, in spite of the presence of the disciples, Jesus was in that alone.

Changes

I remember I have said the same thing about someone else years ago.

It is just so easy to say someone is wrong, he/she should know XXX iw wrong, and did it anyway.

Today when I heard the same thing from someone else. I think it is so easy to be the accuser. When you're the one involved, you won't say the same thing. I'm not the ones involved, but I totally understand why they did what they did.

I'm beginning to think-- what would Jesus do? I think Jesus would be a lot more sympathetic than us. (I hate to admit it but many of us "evangelicals" are self-righteous prigs...)

Julian of Norwich- A Call to Perserve

From Jerry Moye's Praying with the Saints

Pray wholeheartedly, though you may feel nothing, though you may see nothing, yes, though you think you could not, for in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in weakness, then is your prayer most pleasuring to me, though you think it is almost tasteless to you.

Julian of Norwich- Yearning of the Soul

From Jerry Moye's Praying with the Saints

... God longs for the love of God's world... If God lives with longing, why should we demand instant gratification of our desires?

... Humans are not the controlling or initiating agents of love. We cannot claim to have the infallible way to make God always present according to out timetables and agendas. All mature saints speak of a dark night of the soul, of dry periods of prayer, of feelings of desertion or emptiness. Julian accepted the dry periods and the times without visions, as well as the times if beautiful revelations.

She provides a wise safeguard for careless evangelists who promise immediate gratification for deep basic needs and who imply there is a way to possess infinite God. Julian also gives us a view that is contrary to the values of our consumer age. We can easily be misled to believe there is a quick fix for every problem or instant gratification for every need. The longing of a vital relationship with God, however, is not met quickly by guaranteed methods of knowing the right techniques or having the right answers.

God chooses to work through methods of prayer and concepts of religion, but God is not limited to our frantic struggles with these. We learn to do prayers of silence as well as articulation. We learn to offer up our longings as well as our prayers of thanksgiving for what we have experiences. We accept the pain of longing, for it is also joy.

Forget

Deuteronomy 6
[10]"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities, which you did not build,
[11] and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full,
[12] then take heed lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I was reading this during last week's Sunday service... (No, the topic of the sermon is not on this passage... =P)

I forgot that none of the stuff I got now is from myself... that is part of the source of my anxiety. Thanks for the reminder. Even when I'm still anxious when I looked at the huge pile of unfinished notes... (yep, I say part of my anxiety only...)

Two good articles to share

Because of my upcoming exams, I don't have much time to write much until I pass (hopefully!), and frankly my spiritual life is in lying low down in the bottom of a trough, but here're two articles I read today I'd like to share with all

Both are in Chinese (from Christian Times)

精衛未填之海：福音派的反智傳統
再思「聚會主義」