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.