Theology 1.0: Why is it important to engage with culture?

In the world but not of the world
Recently, my colleague commented that I take fictional works likes stories, plays and movies too seriously. He does have a point. Movies like Lego aren't meant to be taken apart and studied methodically like a textbook on invertebrate dissection.

So why have an alternative culture section?
Taking a page from the Medieval monks (Hanman, 2010), I think that engaging with culture (especially popular culture) is important.

Firstly it provides a common ground to talk about. If we begin a conversation to discuss the Bible with our non-Christian friends, they might lose interest quickly.

Secondly, I passionately believe that every piece of creation, whether human or natural, for good or for bad, is a talking ground for Christianity. This everything can be viewed through the lens of Christianity. Every piece of human art has some level of divine-connotation because the creation of humanity is God-breathed.

Summary
I am not saying that we should engage with culture purely for evangelistic purposes. I am saying that if we love our neighbours, we undoubtly know more about their interests, even if we disagree with the natural of their hobbies.

We can show that Christ even speaks to them in their culture.

References
Hanman, J. (2010) God's Philosophers

For further reading
Bethinking

With Due Respect: Aren't all religions inherently peaceful?

Introduction
In a secular Singapore (where I come from) inter-religious harmony is greatly promoted. While Singapore is the only non-communist secular state in Southeast Asia, Singapore is not immune to religious or racial tension. Hence there is an idea that all religions promote peace.

In this post, I want to challenge this "peaceful idea".

Some religions are inherently violent
The Aztecs believed that sacrificing human beings (especially their prisoners-of-war) is needed to sustain the universe. The Spanish explorers including Hernan Cortes and Juan Diaz recorded their disgust as Aztecs priests rip the hearts out of their victims and offer it to the sun.

Furthermore, the Aztecs were not a primitive tribe but the most advanced civilisation in the American continent at that time.

Some religions differ on their ideas of peace
Before and during the Second World War, the Japanese government incorporated Shinto Buddhism (which promoted loyalty to the Japanese Emperor) to garner support of the Japanese war effort. Unlike the idea of universal peace that the United Nations promotes, the idea of peace in State Shinto was Japanese nationalism (that the interests of the Japanese state was more important overrides all other interests).

Again, the Japanese were not some primitive people, but one of the major powers of the global war.

Conclusion
It has never been my intention to create inter-religious hatred or misunderstandings. However, peace cannot come at the expense of truth. And the truth is this-- not all our beliefs are the same. We should be encouraged to explore our beliefs and the beliefs of others in more detail.

Alternative Culture: Lego The Movie Review

I have to be honest with you-- initially I did not want to watch this film. I thought it would be too whimsical to my liking. Nevertheless, a few of my colleagues dragged me along to watch this, and I was glad I did.

Plot summary
Lego construction worker Emmet had always led an ordinary life. His daily life is filled with routines and instructions, leaving him little room for creativity. However upon finding a special item known as the "Resistance", Emmet learnt though a prophecy that he is no ordinary person. Teaming up with a thief, Batman, a wizard, a space engineer and a pirate, Emmet goes through an adventure of a lifetime to fulfill his true destiny.

Theological issues
Despite its childish presentation, the movie brings up deep theological themes. In this post, I would like to explore a few.

1) Finding the creator
In one of the scenes, Emmet breaks the fourth wall and meets his owner. Whether intentionally or not, this seems to run coherently with Christian theology-- God is involved in the world, although He cannot be found in nature and is outside the world.

As Pastor Tim Keller (2008) mentioned, to look for God in nature is like Hamlet looking at his attic for Shakespeare. While God's work can be physically found in the world, he generally cannot.

2) The importance of purpose
The overall theme of the movie seems to be the idea of purpose. In this postmodern era, it is generally preached that we humans have the ability to craft our own destiny (Wyatt, 2009), like Emmet comments to his fellow Lego.

I would argue that that our purpose is not self-determined, but divinely-determined. The only way for us to fulfill our true purpose in this world is to ask our creator (i.e. God).

Conclusion
Do watch this movie, even if you consider yourself a mature adult! I give this movie 70/100.

Reference
Keller, T. (2008) The Reason for God.

Wyatt, J. (2009) Matters of Life and Death

Alternative Culture: The Last Christian review

[The following post is dedicated to my friend Abigail]

The Last Christian..... in America
The daughter of missionaries, Abigail Caldwell, returns to the United States in 2088 after the tribe she was working with perishes to a pandemic. However, she finds that there are no Christians in the United States due to the advent of brain transplants. Inspired by a message from her late grandfather, she takes it upon herself to bring the gospel to her homeland.

What I liked
I admire the way the author imagines the decline of Christianity in the Western World. He attributes the regression due to the rise of evolutionary theory and lack of counter-culturalness. He also imagines the moral decline of the country with the loss of marriage institutions and lowering of the sexual age.

In reality, despite the hopes of the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, it is unlikely that religious belief will disappear in the near future. If anything, the number of cultural/nominal religious people are decreasing, while the number of practising religious people are increasing (McGrath, 2004).

I also liked the way Abigail innocently describes Christianity to a sceptical audience on live television, and the process in which her understanding of her faith changed. From relying so much on her own efforts, she slowly had a reformation of her heart and trusts God instead.

What could have been improved
I am quite surprised by one factual error, considering that the author did some research in Papua New Guinea. He mentioned that that there was no reputable neurological centre in the country, which would be pretty unlikely, since there is a famed neurological disease, kuru, which is endemic to the country.

Another aspect I thought was not well written was plot device in which the author links the soul to the brain. I wished it was better explained, because it seems to run contrary to the author's theology which he links faith to a relationship, rather than a state of mind.

My theological review
Despite its convenient deus ex machinma, I enjoyed this easy-to-read science fiction novel. I give it a 70/100.


Before I end this reveiw, I would like to do the author a favour by adding his video of Abigail Caldwell in the link below:

abbysmessage

References

McGrath, A. (2004) The Twilight of Atheism

Theology 1.0: What is the importance of miracles in Christianity?

Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2013

I do not know why Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the removed all mention of miracles and the supernatural from his version of the Bible. Maybe like some modern Christians, he was uncomfortable with the idea of God violating of the laws of nature.

I would like to make a bold statement-- unlike other religions and worldviews, miracles are essential to Christianity.

1.) Miracles make Christianity what it is.

Although the Bible contains accounts of many miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea and the prophet Elijah summoning fire, I want to focus on the main miracle of Christianity-- the resurrection of Christ.

As the apostle Paul says in the 1 Corinthians 15:17-19,

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The basis of Christianity is based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus-- to deny any of these beliefs is to undo Christianity entirely (Lewis, 1945).

2.) Miracles presupposes reason

Many people seem to think believing miracles requires to people to suspend their intellect. In order to recognise a miracle, one needs to be reasonable.

For instance, in order to recognise the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ as a miracle, one has to understand that sex is needed before birth (Lewis, 1904).

In other words, to recognise a violation of the laws of nature, one has to know the laws of nature.

Conclusion

Miracles are important in Christianity. However, it is not the most important issue. The more pressing issue is this: is it true?

As journalist GK Chesterton (1904) writes,

"What matters about a religion is not whether it can work marvels like any ragged Indian conjurer, but whether it has a true philosophy of the Universe. The Romans were quite willing to admit that Christ was a God. What they denied was the He was the God – the highest truth of the cosmos. And this is the only point worth discussing about Christianity." 

References

Chesterton, GK (1904). The Religious Doubt of Democracy.

Lewis, CS (1942, October). St Jude's Gazette, 73, 4-7.

Lewis, CS (1945, 27 April). The Grand Miracle.  The Guardian, 161-165

Theology 1.0: Who is GK Chesterton?

G K Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton is one of my favourite authors. Known as the Prince of Paradox, Chesterton is famed for turning popular sayings unto itself. For instance he makes statements like these:

"Silver is sometimes more valuable than gold, that is, in very large quantities."

"To be clever enough to get all that money, you must be stupid enough to want it."

"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps me clean."

While he was famed for his Father Brown novels, he was also well-known as a Christian apologist, although he claimed to have "never read a line of Christian apologetics" (Chesterton, 1908). Contemporary Christian author Philip Yancey admits that he reads Chesterton when he feels his faith is "dry", and famed apologist CS Lewis is greatly influenced by Chesterton's works.

His unique brand of apologetics
What makes Chesterton so compelling to me was the offensive nature of his apologetics. While Christian apologetics literally means the "defence of the Christian faith", Chesterton goes on a step further to reveal the irrationality of unbelief. For instance, he criticises the agnostics (people who argue that God is unknowable),

"We don't know enough about the unknown to know that it is unknowable."

His genuineness
Another thing I admire about this author is that he led an extremely joyful life, despite his plumpness and short-term memory. He found Christian theology enriching, rather than restrictive. In fact he led such a joyful life that German writer Franz Kafka commented, "He is so gay (happy), that one might almost believe he had found God."

As he asserted the importance of individuals before God, he often dressed strangely and opposed attempts to enforce conformity.

Conclusion
If you have yet to pick any books by GK Chesterton, you should give it a shot.

For more information

bethinking

Chesterton, G.K. (1908) Orthodoxy

Alternative Culture: Straw Dogs review

[The following post is dedicated to my friend Juliet]

The end of me

John Gray makes a bold claim-- humans are nothing special. He argues that liberal humanism (the philosophy that humans are special) and postmodernism (the idea that truth and purpose is what we humans make of it) are offshoots of the misguided religion called Christianity.

The argument of the book

My friend Juliet has summarised this book in a phrase: "doom in 200 pages". However, I would argue that she does not treat this book fairly. One of my favourite contemporary philosophers, Gray shows off his cutting intellect that would make Nietzsche proud. In this post I would like to explore several of his ideas.

1. Heirs of Christianity

"Humanism is a secular religion drawn from the decaying scraps of Christianity." --pg 31.

According to Gray, the pre-Christian world thought that history was cyclic and not progressive. As Christianity introduced the concept of universal human salvation (and hence progression), Gray argued that humanism borrowed from Christianity in that its adherents (the humanist) support the idea of human emancipation (that humans are special).

The postmodernists go one step further, as they assert that humans themselves can decide their purpose in life.

However, Gray criticises their worldview as the "worst kind of arrogance" (pg 55). Postmodernism states that the limit to humanity is human thought. This unhinges their adherents from the reality but asserting that "man is the measure of all things".

2. The failure of science

"Science has been used to support the conceit that humans are unlike all other animals in their ability to understand the world" -- pg 24

Despite promising the return of Jesus, Christianity has failed to sustain its position as the hope of humanity. The Enlightenment thinkers argued that reason, science and technology will be the saviour of the world.

However if anything, science has made humans better at doing evil things. Gray argues that the Holocaust and Gulags were only made possible with the advancement of technology. There is no evidence that humans are getting morally better.

"As the hope of a better world has grown, so has mass murder." -- pg 98

In fact, Gray makes a chilling prediction towards the end of his book -- "Future wars will be fought over dwindling resources." (pg 180)

3. The myth of progress

"The world will forget mankind. The play of life will go on." --pg 151

Every organism on earth is doomed to extinction-- why should humanity be any different? Since the idea of progression is a myth that comes from the false hope of Christianity, Gray argues that humanity cannot truly move forward.

The purpose of life, Gray concludes, is to simply exist. There is nothing to save humanity, and nothing that humanity needs saving from. According to Gray, this view should be liberating.

Conclusion

You might find it surprising that I largely agree with Professor John Gray. If Christianity is wrong, then there is no such thing as progress.

Unlike Gray, I find this view extremely depressing. Nothing matters in the long run.

But note the conditioner "if". Either Christianity is true and we are all progressing towards a better end. If not, we are all headed towards a dark and gloomy cycle with no way out. You see my friend, theology matters.

The challenge laid down now is whether Christianity is true. How would you the reader attempt to explore this?

For further reading

Gray, J.N. (2002) Straw Dogs

Wetlenses