As For Me and My House We Will Serve the Lord - James Taylor

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
this is a quotation from the book of Joshua when he challenged the Israelites to swear their allegiance to God. In today's world, this saying is widely used by many christian family as a motto and prayer for their family.

Many have committed to do so, but how many can really live out their faith and serve the Lord as one family? On this day, I am honored and glad to hear from the descendant of one of the spiritual heroes in the modern day whom I admired very much: Dr. James Taylor IV.

Dr. James Taylor IV is the great-great-grandson of Dr. James Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, founder of Overseas Mission Fellowship (then China Inland Mission), and is currently serving in OMF.

He, as well as his father, and his father's fathers were all born in China. If we have heard of a Chinese born in US, we will call them ABC - American Born Chinese. For the case of the Taylor families, it is only apt if we call them White Chinese. White, because they are white people, but they are even more chinese than many of the chinese in the region. He preached better in Chinese than in English that in one occasion, a congregation member exclaimed that "Dr. James, I can see that your mother tongue is not English"

Resided in Taiwan, he married a taiwanese chinese wife and has three children: James Hudson Taylor V (see the pattern now?), Selina Amelia Taylor and Joy Leone Taylor. The unique part is in their chinese name. Hudson Taylor's chinese name is Dai De Sheng: 戴德生, James Taylor IV's chinese name is 戴记中，James's 3 children are 戴成约，戴成书，戴成亚， respectively. If you combine the last character of each name, and you will get the name 约书亚 or Joshua. It is his desire that his children will continue the family tradition and commitment to continue to serve the Lord in China.

I thank God for the chance to see the descendant of a legendary figure in Christian History, particularly in China. I thank God for his family that continue to serve the Chinese people. I hope that through their example and ministries, more people will come to know Christ and follow them, as they have faithfully followed Christ's example.

Sharing my first 'message' in Maid's Fellowship

There is a growing group of maids in my church. Though not all have accepted Christ, but most are open to the message. Perhaps because my church is rather small, the congregation member are very close and welcoming. Naturally, the maids feel at home and willing to come and meet with other church members and fellow maids in Sundays.

Every fourth Sunday, there is a maid fellowship, or Maria-Martha Fellowship as we named it. And today, I got the privilege to share a message to them.

I was quite reluctant, and scared when offered the opportunity 3 weeks ago. If I accepted the offer, it will be the first time I ever 'preach' to the public. After some consideration, I accepted the honored task. I continued to pray for guidance in order to preach well (I wasn't given any theme for the message).

During the preparations, I decided to share a message based on the faithful servant of Abraham - Eliezer. This is definitely a quite obscure figure to preach on, compared to Abraham and Isaac. But I think God has opened my eyes to see the virtue and loyalty in the life of Eliezer and to draw a direct line to the life of the maids in Singapore.

1. Eliezer was a foreigner. He is from Damascus, a nation different from Abraham's.
2. Eliezer was willing to work hard. He mastered the skill and able to manage Abraham's entire household
3. Eliezer was trustworthy. He was given power over all of Abraham's household, this is similar to the life of Joseph.
4. Eliezer was considered as a part of Abraham's family. At one point of time, Abraham considered Eliezer as the heir of his family. That is before Isaac was born.
5. Eliezer continued to serve faithfully. Even after Isaac was born, Eliezer still serve his master faithfully. He was entrusted to a major task, to find a wife for Isaac. He did not care that his supposed inheritance is no more. He continued to complete the most important task that Abraham has given him.

To draw this to a direct application to the maids, it means that eventhough they are at first foreigner, but they can prove that they are capable by hardworking, they can prove that they are trustworthy by being honest, and if they are able to keep doing good work and stay honest, they will be accepted as part of the family. They will be entrusted to even the most important task in the family.

I hope that my message can land in each of the 15 maids' hearts and bring hope and encouragement to them. I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him in this way.

Results for Assignments/Quiz so far

There are many quizzes, assignments for the course that I am taking in SBC. Because it is a master course, we are required to do a lot of thinking, and of course, research, and papers. Due to different nature of the subjects, each subject required different kind of approach to force students to think, so that they can get the full grasp of what is it that they are studying.

For Greek, it is like learning a new language. Therefore, it is required to force the students to remember lots of words, grammar and other stuff. This subject must be studied continuously, and last minute studying will do you no good. To achieve the maximum result, we are bombarded with quiz after quiz every week. So far my result has been good ( 20/20, 24/25, 20/20), however the last homework that I submitted was poorly done and I got a Minus sign for the homework. Hopefully for the next one I can spare more time to do it.

For OT Background, this subject is full of historical background about what was happening during the OT times. There are many readings, including old poetry, poems from other civilizations. In order to force us to read, we are given quizzes also. For the first quiz, I managed to get 91/100.

For Theology of Mission, I have to say, that this is one of the most intellectually challenging subject. We are forced to think, and discuss, about mission in every perspective. Past, Present and Future. I have submitted a paper on this, but no result is given so far.

For Survey of Church History, I like this subject a lot. Only recently do I find that history is actually a very interesting subject. It is not just about remembering of the dates, but rather the sequence and consequences of each event in the history. Once you got that right, then all that is required to be remembered will fall into place accordingly. I write a paper "Eusebius" on this subject and I think I got a 9/10.

Christian Spirituality. This subject is rather vague and abstract. How do you actually mark a person's spiritual level? hehe... like, how often do you pray, or how much faith you have, etc. you can't. But this is one of the most important subject, because it concerns about the heart. If your heart is not right, then perhaps you are not supposed to stay in SBC. I do hope that I can always attune my heart to God, and benefit from this subjet. We are required to write 1 paper this week on the book of Ecclesiastes, and another paper next week on a spiritual book that we read.

Hermeneutics. So far no paper submitted yet. There will be two however, one on the book of Ruth, and the other on the Letter to the Philipians. This paper require a lot of thinking out of the box, require a combination skill of science and art to decipher what is mentioned on the surface, and below surface level of the scripture.

And... for my field education. I am required to read Uncle Cam (Cameron Townsend) the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translator's biography and present a book review.

Paper and assignment and quiz and readings... hopefully I can manage my time well and not to forget time for fellowship with one another and with God

Happy Birthday SBC !

Today is the founder's day of SBC, or in other word, is the birthday of SBC.

God has used SBC greatly. Since the start 55 years ago until now, SBC has produced over 2000 God's servant, serving in 40-50 countries in various ministries.

We thank God for this wonderful day, and we shall not forget about how SBC has come to life 55 years ago.

The rise of SBC and other Theological Seminaries across south east Asia, owes a lot to China. The rise of communism and the lost of the KuoMingTang has pushed missionaries from China out to Hongkong, Singapore and Indonesia. Without them, there will not be SBC, there won't be SAAT.

If SBC exist because of China, then should not SBC help to train workers for the growing need in China? Just as the China churches caught the vision that since the Gospel come out and reached China, and it has the duty to pass the Gospel Back To Jerusalem, so SBC felt the same way, that we can grow faithful servants for God's use in China.

May God continue to use and bless SBC, the staff and students that together we may continue to glorify His name by continuing in His good works.

Happy Birthday SBC

SBC Fund Raising Concert Result

I am trying to make it a habit to write a blog in the midst of the busy schedule in SBC. So even during weekday, I will write some short articles, whereas during the weekend I may be able to update with more illustration.

We thank God for the Fund Raising Concert that was done last saturday-sunday. As mentioned, the concert aimed to raise a total of 100k SGD for the redevelopment of block 5 SBC. We managed to raise 70K SGD in total for the tonights, including donations, CD sales, and ticket sales.

We thank God for the participation of the Bruce Greer's family, for the wonderful performances and to witness how God has bestowed so many talents upon one person (singer, composer, arranger, pianist, etc). The wife Kim, and the sons: Gavin, Mitchell, Preston and Corbin also participated in leading the congregation in a live worship band! And unlike most artists invited for fund raising concert, they only require the school to cover for their return air tickets and accommodation in Singapore. For the CD sales, they donated the entire proceeding to the Fund.

May God continue to use Bruce and his works, bless him and his family, that they may continue to be a blessing to others, through music and other ministries.

For more information about Bruce, you may want to visit his website:
www.brucegreer.com

Free Bruce Greer's Concert Tonight - For me only

Yes, the free concert is for me only.... I got a complimentary ticket :)
so, don't call me or ask me regarding where to get the tickets ok?

Let me tell you more about the concert.
The concert is actually a fund raising concert, and Bruce Greer and his family travelled from Texas, stranded in Phillipines, arrived in SBC, just to help us raised fund for the rebuilding of block 5 in SBC and if we have any excess, for renovations of other blocks as well.

Why block 5? it was quite old, and previously house only 18 students. After renovation, it will be a taller building able to house 120 students, thus provide for more foreign full time students or those staying in punggol or pasir ris.

The entire project costs 7.5 Million SGD, and thank God, we have reached the 6.8 Million so far, and from the concert, which is not free (tickets priced at 55SGD and 110SGD) we hope to raise another 100k SGD or so.

Below is the picture of Bruce Greer, his wife Kim, and their four sons:


Bruce Greer is an accomplished singer, pianist, arranger, composer, multi-talented artist who has won many awards. His wife's accomplishments is no less than Bruce. In the Concert, Bruce will play piano and sing, Kim will sing and lead SBC Chorale, the four sons will perform as a live band, and so I think tonight's performance is something not to be missed.

If possible, I will post more details about the concert after tonight.

Upcoming Free Concerts

Ada free concert lagi nih. Ada dua tepatnya, jadi bagi yang sempat, jangan lewatkan kesempatan-kesempatan ini yah:
1. Concert "Music of the Heart" by S T Kimbrough Jr
time: Selasa, 28 Agustus 8pm
Venue: Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (KKMC) Sanctuary
Konser ini diadakan dalam rangka memperingati Tercentenary dari ulang tahun Charles Wesley (1707-2007), pendiri dari Gerakan Methodist.

note: Sebenarnya hari kamis dan jumat juga ada konser di waktu yang sama dan tempat yang sama, tetapi untuk bisa masuk perlu complementary tiket. Bedanya adalah di hari kamis dan jumat ada presentasi karya2 terbaru dari ST Kimbrough dalam peringatan ultah Charles Wesley ke-300 tersebut.

2. Esplanade Presents: Beautiful Sunday: Sounds of SYCO (Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra)
Time: 9 September 2007, 3 pm
Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall (diharapkan paling telat 2.45pm sudah sampai di tempat)
Performance ini akan menampilkan berbagai items bernuansa chinese, dan juga yang berhubungan dengan mid-autumn festival.
Pemain2nya berusia 13-25 tahun.

Bagi yang berminat untuk datang ke pertunjukan2 di atas, bisa merencanakan untuk pergi bareng2. Kalau bagi yang tidak tau siapa yang akan pergi, bisa menghubungi saya lewat japri.

SBC Class of Year 2007

Jesus combined a group of most unlike people together with Him:
4 fishermen - who only knew how to catch fish,
1 tax collector - who is known to side with the Romans,
1 zealot - who is known to rebel against the Romans - a terrorist to be exact,
1 scientist - who doubts the thing that he cannot see,
1 calculative accountant- who will ultimately betray Him,
4 others - whom I dont know how to describe

He grouped them together as the twelve Apostles. The stories are all inside the Gospel, and subsequently from ancient church literatures we know about their great achievements in spreading the Gospel until the point when they died gloriously in martyrdom.

Now, what do we have when this group of people gathered together:
7 Singaporeans (two of which are a couple)
1 New Zealander
1 Aussie
1 Naga
1 Mongolian
1 Japanese
1 Malaysian
1 Indonesian
1 Philipino

We are the first year student in SBC studying under MDiv BS, MABS, MDiv PM programmes!
May God bless this group of people so that we will continue to work together, to help each other to learn and grow, not just in studies but to know God better.

OT and NT Missions: Compare and Contrast

COMPARE AND CONTRASTS OF

OLD TESTAMENT AND NEW TESTAMENT ON MISSIONS

The Bible is a book of missions. Its contents from both the Old Testament and the New Testament are full of God’s intent to reconcile mankind back to Him, the Creator. The ways that God worked maybe different from time to time, but similarities and contrasts between conditions, situation, and parties involved in the Old and New Testaments can be observed. This essay seeks to reaffirm that the Christian God is a missionary God who cares for the humanity and their depravity, and proactively works through different peoples, in different conditions and settings, throughout the history to bring salvation to the mankind.

Why is there a need for Mission? Ever since the fall in Genesis 3, sin was introduced into the lives of human. With their own limited knowledge and ability, human could never manage to reach up to God. Not only that their status is now marked as ‘sinner’, their depravity condition worsens to the point of being rebellious to God and disobeying His commands. Clearly, without God’s own intervention, it was impossible for human to be re-connected back to God. God has reached down to humankind, and this was culminated in the incarnation of Christ and His redemptive sacrifice for the descendants of the first Adam.

Although the Bible as a whole provides a unified message about Missions, many different aspects on missions are being presented differently in Old Testament and New Testament. Even the main theme that is conveyed to the nations is different! In the following pages, we shall discuss in greater detail about the chosen people to proclaim the mission, the failure of the prophets and apostles in mission, and the message and method by which the mission is being carried out, both in the Old Testament and New Testament.

The Chosen People – The Missionaries

In the Old Testament, through Abraham, God had chosen to cultivate a people, a line of family who would later become a nation called Israel. God had bound Himself in the covenant, that Abraham would become the father of great nations, and through him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. It is important to note, that even though God has chosen a specific nation to follow Him, He actually intended the ‘other’ nations to be blessed through the one He had chosen. How was that going to happen?

God did not just single out the nation of Israel and let them continue to live in the same way as the neighboring nations did. No, He gave them a handbook - the Ten Commandments - and taught them how to live in a right manner, both in spirituality and in conduct, to God and to one another. It was hopeful, that they would set a good standard for the other nations to follow. However, in reality this did not happen. More often than not, the Israelites failed. They disobeyed God and turned to worship the idols of the pagan nations and engaged in their ungodly cultures.

In the New Testament, God set apart the church to be His ambassador to the rest of the world. If the team of missionaries in the OT was build up by means of natural reproduction, the team in the NT was build up by way of discipleship. Jesus Christ was the Teacher and the twelve disciples were the first batch of graduates. God, through Jesus Christ, entrusted the Great Commission to the apostles.

While the Israelites in OT were guided by the restrictive, yet passive Laws, the apostles were equipped with the Holy Spirit which enabled them to be super effective missionaries. But were they without flaw? Well, not really, at least not initially.

The Failure of the Prophets and the Apostles

The Prophets and Apostles were selected few specially chosen by God to convey His message to a destined party. Being able to converse with God (the prophets) or having gone through the discipleship program of Jesus Christ (the apostles) however does not mean that they would not commit any mistake in fulfilling God’s mission.

In the OT, God had raised many prophets to remind Israel of who He is, and what He had commanded the people to do. There were many prophets and books of prophets in the Bible, although the majority of the prophets was sent to Israel or Judah, there were some that were instructed to go to the other nations.

The prophet Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh, which he constantly refused to obey. Why? Nineveh was the capital of the enemy of Israel, and Jonah was too nationalistic. Same as other Israelites, Jonah would think why should He share the ‘message’ with the godless gentiles? He failed to see that God intended for all nations to be saved, not just Israel.

In a similar way, the Apostles too, had fallen into the same pit.

Prior to the ascension, God had clearly given the Apostles to preach the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the world. But all the twelve Apostles remained in Jerusalem, and only a lately-added-persecutor-turned-apostle Paul saw that the mission of God is intended for Gentiles also. Peter and perhaps the rest of the Apostles, with the exception of Paul, would prefer to preach to the Gentiles coming in to the city of Jerusalem, and not so much as to go out to the cities of the Gentiles.

In the next section we will discuss about the different methods that missions were being carried out in the Old Testament and New Testament. The first one is centripetal method to attract the nations, and the other is centrifugal to go out into the nations.

The Two Methods for Missions: Temple vs. Church

There are many things which can attract foreigners to come to a place or country. It can range from natural sceneries to exotic food, from business opportunities to splendor religious worship sites. The city of David, Jerusalem, reached its golden era at the rule of King Solomon the wise. During that time, the city was perhaps the one of the busiest business center connecting the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia Minor. At the same period, Solomon also completed the project prepared by his father, which is the Temple of God.

Israel maintained a peace and prosperous era under the reign of Solomon, and his wisdom was recognized even by Queen Sheba, who travelled miles in order to come and see for herself. It is safe, therefore, to say that the prosperity of Israel, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Temple of God had become a magnet, by which the nations were attracted to come and learn the way of life and the God of the Israelites.

Could the Apostles in the NT, as explained in previous page, misunderstand the Lord’s commandment to make disciples of all nations, because they preferred the Temple method? After all, if people from all nations, which were under dominion of Rome, come over to Jerusalem, the same goal can be achieved also? How many would be like the eunuch of Ethiopia who received the Gospel gladly from Philip?

Fortunately, God did not allow that condition to remain. The persecutions to the Christians came from all sides: Romans, Greeks even non-believing Jews. This had caused great distress to the Christians to flee and spread out to other cities. From then on the community of believers as a church began to spread to all nations, as originally intended by God. The church had finally become a blessing to all nations.

The Message of Missions

The message proclaimed in the missions of Old Testament and New Testament are somewhat different. The incarnation of Jesus Christ has changed the content of the message from a call for repentance followed by reconciliation through sacrifice, to a new call for repentance and acceptance of Christ and His sacrificial work. There is no longer need for sacrifice as Jesus Himself is the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who laid down His life willingly for all the sins of mankind from all ages.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were required to come to the temple to present burnt offering in order to atone for their sins. In the New Testament, the Christians who have received the gift of salvation were commanded to spread the Gospel to the end of the world, to all nations. The first was required to do an annual reconciliation exercise by priests who were sinners themselves; the latter was obliged to share the good news of the perfect atonement, an atonement that was performed by the perfect High Priest, using Himself as the blameless and perfect Sacrifice.

Conclusion

God is actively at work in the ministry of reconciliation through out human history. Through the Abrahamaic Covenant, the splendor of the King Solomon, the voice of the prophets, God has never stopped to accomplish this task. When His servant Israel in the Old Testament failed, He sent His most precious Son, Jesus Christ, to be the perfect atonement for our sins. Even after the Son has returned to the Throne, He did not stop. He sent down a Comforter to accompany His Church, to encourage, strengthen them, so that His Mission will continue on earth, the Mission to reconcile the creation back to the Creator.

Paper on "A New Eusebius"

Persecution and martyrdom are not something new to Christianity. In fact, from the very beginning, even before the Christians were first named Christian, persecution had been part and parcel of being a Christian. However, information related to persecutions of the church obtainable from the Bible is limited. Whatever happened during the time of the early church is not clear and external sources have to be consulted to gain a clearer picture of the situation.

The book focused mainly on different kind of persecutions faced by the church during that apostolic to the sub-apostolic period, be it from the Romans, the Greek, and even the Jews. The persecutions had provided a condition for the early Christians to test out their character as well as to live up their faith, up to the point of martyrdom. Without the persecutions, the church would not have spread and would remain in Jerusalem, and thus would have failed the Great Commission. Perhaps it can be said, that it was the Lord’s plan to allow the persecutions to happen, in order to mould the character of the early Christians and to push the church out to the world.

From the perspective of the modern day Christians who live in a relatively peaceful condition, the knowledge of the sufferings of the early Christians helps us to appreciate that the Christianity that we embraced today is achieved by the sacrifice of many, not only in time or monetary terms, but even their lives. This knowledge will correct the wrong perception that to be a Christian is to be the son of King and therefore should be freed from all sufferings and enjoy only blessings. On the other hand, going through the story of the martyrs, it encourages those who are going through their tribulations, that the God who gave strength to those heroes of faith to pull through, will also grant them strength and power to overcome their trials and sufferings.

Out of the many figures that were described in the reading, four specific persons were chosen and will be discussed further in this paper.

Polycarp was exceptionally notable for many reasons.

It was mentioned in the text “For he waited that he might be betrayed, just as was the Lord, that we too may become imitators of Him”. It seemed that he foreknew that he will be betrayed, and he was looking forward to that to happen. In my opinion, he could have avoided the capture, but he chose to obey the vision that God has given him. Obviously he knew that the crown and glory waiting for him was greater than the mortal death he was going to face.

Even at the time of his arrest, he served the captors as if they were his guests. Knowing that he was going to die soon, he prayed for all as his final supplication to the Lord. His concerns for the others were greater than his own life.

His defense was one ought to be remembered by all Christians “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong: how then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Indeed, when we are being confronted to the point of death, how many would have the courage of Polycarp?

From the life and death of Polycarp, we can see the picture of a person who desired to follow Christ and offered his life to God just as Christ did. The difference is Christ died so that we may live, Polycarp died so that we may be encouraged to follow him, as he had followed Christ.

Apart from Polycarp, another person who stood out from the text is Justin, who is known as Justin the Martyr. The way that he died was not as dramatic as the other martyrs, but prior to his death, he had done outstanding written works. He had proactively written two apologies, from which part of them were also used by Eusebius in this book, to defend the Christian faith. He did not allow those false accusations about Christianity be made without a fight, and he ventured to write to the Caesar to clear the name for the faith that he believed in. Although he did not succeed in persuading the Caesar, at least he brought attention to the Romans that perhaps their understandings of the Christians were wrong.

Another point to note from Justin is that without his works on the two apologies, we would not have understood some of the events, or doctrines that were practiced during that time in history. It is therefore essential to note, that literary works and records are very important in the history of Christian churches. Imagine if there were hundreds of heroes of faith, but no one was alive to tell, and no written records were passed down. All the heroes would have died in vain, not to themselves, but to those who have heard nothing about them.

Euelpistus, a companion of Justin, who was also a slave of the Caesar, confessed to be a Christian: “I also am a Christian, freed by Christ, and share by the grace of Christ in the same hope.” It takes a lot of courage and bravery for a person who is still under bondage, physically, to confess his belief so proudly and confidently in the face of his ruler. It is amazing that he did not merely confess that he was a Christian, but he stressed that he was freed by Christ, in contrast with his earthly status.

No one would truly understand what freedom really meant better than a slave. Probably due to the fact that slave trading was common in the era, and due to the liberating message contained in the Gospel, therefore it was not difficult for the slaves to embrace Christianity. It was probable that the early church congregations consist of a considerable number of slaves. No wonder why Paul included instructions for those of servant status in many of his letters.

Last but not least, among the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, there was an amazing martyr named: Blandina. Being a woman, it did not prevent her from joining in the sufferings and the glory of the rest of the martyrs.

Blandina, even though appeared to be weak, was able to endure the team of torturers, until all of them were exhausted. The torturers even testified that each of their torture instruments was capable to kill, but the amazing thing was that Blandina not only endured one, but all forms of torture available. Who or what gave her the strength to pull through and even have to strength to confess “I am a Christian, and with us no evil finds a place”? It was not human strength, but her love for Christ, a love which showed itself in power and did not boast itself in appearance, that was the love enabled her.

To hold fast to the faith is not merely for the benefit of oneself. No doubt, if any persevered to the end will be given a crown of glory, but the process and the perseverance can be a great encouragement to the spectator, as in the case of Blandina and Ponticus who greatly benefitted from the example set by Blandina.

There are many other great stories of the martyrdom of the early Christians in the text, but one may want to discuss: Were all the deaths necessary? When Jesus sent out the disciples, he instructed them to be ‘wise as serpents and harmless as dove’. When Ptolemy was convicted to be punished, should Lucius keep quiet and has his own life spared? Should Polycarp run away while he could and perhaps in turn will help to serve God’s ministry for a few more years? If every Christian volunteered to be killed, who will remain to pass down the message to the others? Is it God’s will for them to gain martyrdom as a crown, while neglecting the ministry possibilities in the world should they survived? It is inevitable to come to a probable conclusion that the early Christians actually looked forward to martyrdom.

Finally, although all the persecutions were very painful part of the early church histories, we have to keep in mind, that without persecutions perhaps the church would not be able to spread to the rest of the Mediterranean area, and subsequently to the world.

End of Week 4 in SBC

Life in SBC is definitely tougher than what I expected.

For the survival of my stay in SBC, I have decided to start to using English for the future blog entries. The reason is simple. In SBC, even in my first semester, we are required to write various papers for each and every subject. The only paper that I have written previously was my final year paper in NTU, and I do not remember writing any other essays. I definitely need more practice.

Today (Friday, 17 August 2007), we are required to subject 2 papers:
1. Reflection on "A New Eusebius" by Stevenson
2. Compare and Contrast between OT and NT Theology of Mission

Eusebius is the first Church Historian. He lived around AD 300, and thus had access to many ancient documents dated after the Apostolic era. The book basically described all sorts of persecution faced by the early Christians and how they persevered to the end.

The second paper is trying to dray a golden thread between the old and the new testaments, and conclude that God indeed is a missionary God, that He, through different time and era, used different people, conditions, circumstances to achieve His Mission, that is to reconcile mankind back to Him, through the Man and Work of Christ.

Many hours was spent to complete the two papers. Prior to writing, we need to read and research quite a many number of pages. The readings alone took a lot time, not to mention to put them into writing. My best record was about 300 words per hour, and I spent the whole last night to write the second paper. I was not alone. I think half the class did not had a good sleep last night, and some didn't sleep at all.

However, I think it is a good start to have a feel of what is the REAL thing in SBC. It is either you love the food too much, that your Stomach Biggerthan Chair, or you study too much until you Slowly Become Crazy. Some of the subject and workloads here are Simply Beyond Comprehension of your human mind, but I think that is where God and friendships come into play.

Both papers will be published in the next entries.

Message from water ? too good to be true

Hidden Message from water. That was a title for an article that I read from the internet.
http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

The article is part of the research and interview with Mr Masaru Emoto. The article says that water crystal, or water when you freeze it to become crystal, can contain some 'interesting' message that you can never imagine. Below are some of the image of the crystaline.

The first set below are water that is not 'processed' in any way.



The crystal of a pure distilled water







Antarctic Ice Crystal











Crystal of Sanbu Ichi Yusui Spring water, Japan












Crystal of water from Lourdes Fountain, France











Crystal of polluted water in a river






From the pictures above, it is clearly visible that the quality of water does affect the structure of the water crystals.

We know that plants responds to music. Watermelon exposed to classical music tends to grow healthy, whereas those exposed to heavy metal withers and died. How about water?





Crystal of water after exposed to Beethoven "pastorale" symphony











Crystal of water after exposed to heavy metal music







Interesting findings isn't it? so far, all these are still acceptable. But look at more pictures below. The water went through some 'process' before being frozen.






Fujiwara Dam's water, Japan, before offering prayer











Fujiwara Dam's water, Japan, after offering prayer









after reading a tibetan sutra







Wow...!! it is starting to get bizarre... what about if you want to pray for the water in Jakarta, while you are in Singapore? no problem according to Mr Emoto, as long as you think of the water, it will be done.




A prayer in Japan can remotely change the water crystal structure in Russia, which is miles away






Ok... this is getting beyond what you can comprehend. Mr Emoto further explains that, by putting in writing the words of Thankyou, I love you, I hate you, even the name of persons, in any language, as long as you stick the label to the water bottle containing the water, you can see the effect too!!




Water with ThankYou label stick to it











Water with "I Love You" and Gratitude label stick to it










Water with "I hate you", "I am sick of you" label stick to it










Water with the label "Adolf Hitler"










water with the label "Mother Theresa"







hmm... at this point, everything seems like supernatural. It seems there are some spirit in the water isn't it? or else how do they understand what we write on it? in any language? is it true or fiction? urban legend?

fortunately, all this research are presented by Mr Emoto alone. Meaning, no one else in the scientific world has proven or agreed with what he said. The research method that is done by Mr Emoto is unverifiable, and does not go through proper scientific procedures at all, e.g. double blind test, etc. There is even a challenge to him, that if he can prove his results scientifically, he will get 1 million dollars award. But of course, there is no response from his side.

So, all the good things that is said by him, and all his findings about water crystal are... fraud. A very beautiful fraud I must say.

More about other dispute about this findings can be read at:
http://www.aquatechnology.net/emoto.html

Interesting quote at the end of the page regarding Emoto:

We are actually the descendants of exiles from space. When I expand this idea, I think we might be descendants of exiles who committed crimes on a planet in a far universe.

Our ancestors who committed crime on that Utopian planet because of self-greed, were exiled according to the law of that planet. Maybe the destination was determined according to the crime's degree.

I have no idea how Earth is ranked but once you are sent to Earth bound by devil-like gravity, there is very little possibility that you can come back again. So maybe our ancestors committed quite a horrible crime.

Our ancestors were transformed into ice and emitted towards the Earth. After a long, long journey, they became like comets eventually arriving on Earth and playing into the atmosphere.

Because of the heat at that moment, our “ice” ancestors evaporated and became vapor, became clouds and then rain, and finally fell to the Earth for the first time.

After many many centuries human beings were born and as their past memories were vanished, they started to build civilization all over again.

Survey Kelas Mandarin...

Sekitar 2 bulan yang lalu, sebelum saya masuk ke SBC, saya memulai satu survey untuk kelas mandarin di gereja. Total survey yang dikirimkan mendapatkan sekitar 30 reply.

Survey ini ditujukan kepada masyarakat Indonesia yang berada di Singapore yang rindu untuk belajar bahasa mandarin karena satu dan lain hal.

Hasil Survey, secara general boleh dirangkumkan begini:
- Kebanyakan orang ingin menguasai bahasa mandarin dengan pengorbanan minimum (60 menit per minggu)
- 50% orang merasa cukup untuk bisa berkomunikasi dalam konteks sehari-hari, 50% lagi ingin bisa membaca dan menulis
- Kebanyakan orang percaya, untuk menguasai bahasa ini, perlu banyak latihan/exposure

Belajar bahasa, seperti yang sedang saya jalani sekarang di SBC (Greek) bukan suatu hal yang gampang. Perlu latihan terus-menerus setiap hari, walaupun waktunya mungkin hanya 15-30 menit. Ini akan jauh lebih efektif dibanding dengan satu kali latihan 3 jam tetapi sekali dalam seminggu.

Setelah mentabulasi, akhirnya kesimpulannya adalah, saya akan mengosongkan waktu saya senin malam (6-10pm), rabu malam(6-10pm), dan sabtu siang (12-6pm) untuk mengajarkan bahasa mandarin di kawasan gereja/barat. Pada pelaksanaannya mungkin hanya 2 dari 3 slot itu yang terpakai, karena saya juga memerlukan waktu untuk belajar hehe...

Semoga kelas ini bisa berjalan dalam 1-2 minggu ke depan...

Love Above All - The Musical

Love Above All - The Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose" - Jim Elliot

This is an original musical production by Mount Carmel Bible Presbyterian Church. Having said that, it does not mean that the musical is of a meager standard. On the contrary, the musical was of great standard, as it included most components that a good musical should have. I do not say this because I am a Christian, but I say so, based on my experiences in watching many live musical performances.

In term of story line, there is not much to say about since the musical is adapted from the true story of Jim and Elisabeth, those that are recorded and published in books. One may find similarity between this musical and the movie "The End of The Spears", however, one may also find that some part of the story is over simplified. Be it the movie, or the musical, we may not know which is truer or which is better. I believe both has conveyed the right message to the audience.

Music, Choreography, Stage settings and scripts are also wonderfully done. Grand choruses, Duets, Trios, Children song, and the role of a protagonist in the musical follows what the great musicals always have (les miserables, miss saigon, oliver, etc).

One of the songs that touched me most, is the song sung by Jim:

He is No Fool

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
To gain what he cannot lose
He is no fool, he is no fool,
who gives what he can never keep.
He is no fool, he is no fool,
who gains what he can never lose.

What if I gain the world and all that it's worth
and lose my soul in exchange
I' be a fool to lose it all
for what will soon pass away
I have one life, one life to live,
so help me Lord, to wisely choose.

He was no fool who gave His life on the crosss,
Who died the world to redeem.
He paid my debt and set me free,
and now I am no more my own.
No greater love could claim my life,
To give my all I gladly choose,
To give my all I gladly choose

This is not the first time the musical was staged in Singapore. The premier was at 2003, and I sincerely hope that let this not be the last. It is easy to find a good musical, it is rare to find a christian musical, and it this is definitely one of the rarest good christian musical available today.

Lord, I killed a snail.... indirectly

Ada banyak sekali dosa yang kita lakukan ketika kita berpikir, atau berbuat sesuatu. Dosa-dosa tersebut adalah suatu 'hasil' dari perbuatan kita. Tetapi dosa tidak hanya berhenti pada apa yang kita lakukan saja. Dosa juga bisa terjadi, ketika tidak atau lalai melakukan apa yang baik dan benar.

Hal ini terjadi berapa minggu yang lalu ketika saya sedang dalam perjalanan pulang setelah mengunjungi kebaktian penghiburan. Cuaca sedang gerimisan dan hatiku juga sedang sedih membayangkan pendeknya hidup seseorang.

Dalam keadaan cuaca seperti itu biasanya suka ada siput yang berkeliaran di tengah jalanan. Saat-saat seperti itu dipakai mereka untuk mencari pasangan, tetapi tentu saja kita tahu, jalanan itu bukan tempat yang 'tepat' untuk kawin. Oleh karena itu, di sana sini banyak keliatan siput-siput yang mati karena terinjak orang.

Di depan saya ada seekor siput yang belum mati, tetapi terbalik karena tertendang oleh pejalan kaki. Biasanya saya selalu berusaha untuk menendang (dengan lembut) siput2 di tengah jalan agar selamat di daerah rerumputan. Tetapi kali ini, karena saya lagi sedih, saya tidak melakukannya. Dan saya melangkah pergi.

Sambil melangkah, saya sadar bahwa siput itu bisa diinjak kapan saja. Kenapa saya tidak menolongnya? Apakah siput itu harus jadi korban, hanya karena saat itu saya sedang sedih? Memang bukan tanggung jawab saya menjadi 'penyelamat siput' tetapi apakah saya akan senang kalau dia mati? Haruskah saya berbalik dan 'menyelamatkan' dia sekarang?

Di saat saya masih sedang berpikir dan bergumul, sekitar 4-5 langkah di depan siput itu, saya mendengar suara 'crunch' di belakang saya. Dan tidak salah lagi, siput terbalik yang tidak bisa bergerak, tidak berdaya itu, sudah menjadi korban pijakan kaki seorang bule.

Hatiku serasa pecah seketika bersamaan dengan suara 'crunch' tersebut. Si bule mengatakan kepada temannya, "I have killed it". Dalam hati aku berkata, "no you didn't, I am the one who have killed it". Siput itu mati, sebagai akibat 'action' dari orang bule itu, tetapi sayalah yang merasa bersalah karena saya tidak berbuat apa-apa untuk menyelamatkan ia.

Setelah saya refleksikan, di dalam hidup ini, mungkin ada banyak hal yang terjadi seperti demikian. Mungkin tidak sampai menyangkut perkara hidup dan mati tetapi pasti ada. Adakah teman-teman yang kita kenal yang memerlukan bantuan? Apakah kita selalu membiarkan momen-momen tersebut lewat begitu saja?

Dalam skala lebih besar, saya membayangkan begitu banyak negara/suku yang belum terjangkau. Kita mendengarkan seruan minta tolong dari mereka, tetapi sudahkah kita memberikan pertolongan pada mereka, selain daripada doa saja? Ataukah kehidupan doa kita cuma suatu rutinitas saja bagi mereka, tanpa ada usaha tindakan konkrit bagi mereka?

Jika iya... maka tidak ada salahnya lagi bagi kita untuk menghadap ke Tuhan dan memohon pengampunan dariNya, serta meminta agar diberikan suatu hati yang sensitif, untuk mengetahui kebutuhan dunia dan orang-orang di sekitar kita.

Starting to get overwhelmed ?

Belakangan ini agak jarang update blog. Ini karena:
1. Reading assignment banyak yang ga kekejar
2. Waktu tidur yang kurang, sehingga tidak ada energi buat ngeblog
3. Kondisi tubuh yang sudah ga prima, gejala flu kelihatan sekarang.

Memang, ini baru melewati minggu ke-2 di SBC, tetapi kenyataannya buku2 yang harus dibaca begitu banyak. Banyak hal yang setelah dibaca juga tidak dimengerti. Benar2 harus mengatur waktu dengan baik neh.

Selasa, Kamis, Jumat adalah hari-hari paling sibuk di SBC. Selasa, Jumat kuliah dari pagi sampai jam 3. Sedangkan kamis ada paduan suara sampai 5.30. Rabu adalah yang paling santai dengan 2 jam kuliah dan 1 jam spiritual group sharing (semacam CG). Senin masih ada kuliah dua jam tapi 3 minggu lagi hari senin bakal kosong untuk belajar di rumah.

Selasa sampai Jumat, jam 10-11 itu disebut dengan Chapel Hour. Setiap hari acaranya beda:
Selasa: Testimony / Sharing dari student. Masing2 sekolah adain di tempat masing2, SOTE, SOTC dan SOCM mengadakan terpisah
Rabu: Spiritual Group Sharing. Semacam CG. Mengenal satu sama lain di satu group dengan lebih dekat. Pergumulan, beban, etc disharingkan disini.
Kamis: Combined Chapel worship. Ketiga skul gabung di worship hall untuk memuji Tuhan bersama dengan mendengarkan kotbah dari salah seorang dosen.
Jumat: SMF Hour. Student Mission Fellowship. Setiap minggu students (SOTE) berkumpul untuk mendoakan satu people group.

Intinya, kegiatan di SBC lumayan pack. Dimana ada waktu kosong, kiranya waktu itu bisa dipakai dengan baik untuk belajar. Tetapi tidak baik kalau tidak sosialisasi juga. Bersyukur ada senior dari MDiv PM2 (pastoral Ministry 2) dan MDiv BS3(Biblical study 3) mau ngajakin bertemu dan memberikan survival guide di SBC. Kita diencourage untuk ketemu sesama teman kelas untuk saling mendoakan dan belajar bersama.

Kalau melihat beban pelajaran, tugas, etc, memang semuanya sepertinya banyak. Tetapi dengan bersandar pada satu sama lain, dan bersandar pada Tuhan, harusnya semua tantangan ini bisa dilewati.

Standard Chartered Bank - Worst Banking Service in town?

I seldom openly criticizes people (yang bener...) or bank. But this time round I have to. And for the sake of the others who do not understand Indonesian, I shall do this in English.

At around the 3rd week of June, I received a telemarketing officer, offering a CashOne Loan Application on behalf of Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore. The officer was persistence (as usual), and insist on giving me a loan which I do not need. He later assured me that after the loan was processed, an acceptance letter will be sent to me for me to approve, and I can always cancel the loan if I am not happy with the loan facility. With that assurance, I agreed to have the application processed.

Soon, on the 2nd July, I received a letter from Standard Chartered Bank, saying that my loan application was successful, and the amount agreed was already deposited into my bank account. I was quite annoyed. I thought that only when I signed the acceptance letter will the loan be given to me. Apparently my understanding, or what was conveyed to me by the telemarketer was wrong.

On the 3rd July, I called the customer service hotline 1800-747-7000 for SC Bank, for cancellation of the Loan Facility. After communicating for 10 minutes, I was told that the cancellation was triggered, and within 10 days, I should received a cancellation letter, which I have to sign and return it to the Bank.

On 18th July, no letter was received, no call from the bank either. I called back to the bank. Another officer said that he will put a request for cancellation for me.

On 25th July, no letter, no call. Again I called the bank. This time round the officer was a bit more informative. He said that the first request was rejected, because of a mistake done by the officer who initiated the request. He said the second cancellation request is being processed. I am supposed to receive the letter anytime next week, and I should call them again if I do not receive anything.

On 1st August, no letter, but a call. A call from their debt-collecting department. A call asking me to pay for a loan that I do not require, that I have not accepted, that I have request for cancellation but 28 days after my first request nothing has been done. I was frustrated and agitated. Later on, I called to the Customer Service again, and complained about this. I was advised to proceed to the branch for cancellation instead.

On 1st August, I walked into the Standard Chartered Bank - Holland Village branch and have my cancellation request processed. I wrote the cheques, returned the money that was transferred to my account.

What kind of service is this??!! I have to make 4 phone calls to the customer service, and even now, I don't know what is being done, or if anything is being done at all. I have to spend an afternoon walking down to the bank to personally handle the cancellation. Time is wasted and who is responsible for this? I don't believe that all the pains that I have gone through are 'normal' or 'proper'. I believe an apology is due by the bank to me.

Should I receive any other call from the bank asking me to pay money for the loan that I have canceled and returned in full amount, I will write a longer article and post it to Today.