Recently, some cinemas in the UK has banned an advert on the Lord's prayer. While many articles have been written for and against it, I personally was quite surprised that the cinemas proceeded with the ban. Do not get me wrong; I am neither for or against the decision, as I feel as an outsider (who only studied in the UK for 4 years), it is not my place.
Why I am surprised
Firstly, the Church of England is a political entity in the UK. Unlike secular Singapore, the Church of England has some level of political sway. Being accustomed to seeing the Archbishop in Parliament and Bishops on the regular BBC news programmes, I was surprised to hear that cinema-goers might be offended by it.
Secondly, so wouldn't denying them a right to advertise would be against free speech? Sure one may say that the Muslims and Hindus would have to be given that right, and I would agree-- if they paid for it, they should be allowed to advertise.
Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. -- Proverbs 30: 7 - 9
Recently, I had the honour of meeting Dr Tan Lai Yong. Hailed for his charity work by the Singapore Parliament in March 2014, I have sometimes heard his name mentioned as a bright shining example of Christendom.
Inspired by Proverbs 30:7-9, Dr Tan dedicated his life to help people who are less well-off. This includes the poor in China and foreign workers, the elderly and ex-offenders in Singapore.
What amazes me is his simple lifestyle. Clad in a simple pair of jeans and a university-sponsored shirt, he greeted my students while advocating a life of volunteerism to my students.
Thanks Dr Tan, for living a live dedicated to God and avoiding a materialistic lifestyle so endorsed by our affluent lifestyle.
What are cults?
A cult is a sub-group that claims the beliefs of its parent, but deviates from the main doctrine of the parent.
For instance, many consider the Eastern Lightning a Christian cult This because it claims to follow the doctrine of Christianity, but argues that Jesus has returned in the form of a woman.
The Arian movement is also considered a Christian cult, as it denies the triune God.
Do Christian cults challenge the truth of Christianity?
As with any ideology, it is inevitable that variants would crop up. Even in atheistic philosophy such as Communism, there are many deviants like Leninism and Stalinism.
However, just as a counterfeit bank note does not disprove the existence of a real Singapore note or the Monetary Authority of Singapore, cults do not bring into doubt religious belief.
If anything, they should make us examine closely our own beliefs.
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
-- Revelation 3: 14 - 18
In Singapore we are blessed with prosperity. And maybe it's our Asian drive mixed with Western ingenuity that has led us to pursue success in every area of our lives. I mean we can easily define success as the amount of money we earn every month, the brand of the cars we have, or even how well our kids are coming. It can be even the less tangible things, such as the amount of options our education degrees gives us, or how happy we are with our current job.
We may even stretch this in the context of our Christian lives. Some people gauge the success of the church by the number of people attending, or the amount of donations. Others look at reputation, or highlight the number of celebrities at their church.
What if I were to tell you none of that mattered?
The costs of following Jesus Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
-- Luke 14: 25-33
In my interactions with my fellow Singaporean Christians, there seem to be an idea that following God would results in blessings gained. However in the verse above, the message is clear: in following Jesus, we must be prepared to give up everything.
That is what has been missing from a lot of preaching I heard in Singapore. The idea that we will suffer, lose or even die when we following Jesus. To deny that is disingenuous to the early Christians or our suffering siblings in North Korea and the Middle East.
The genuity of worship But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams"
-- 1 Samuel 15:22
As shown in the verse above, God desires genuine worship. It is not enough to give money, time and effort if our intentions are not enough. So what if we are wealthy and give God 10%, 50% or 90%? So what if we hit all the right notes in the songs?
Sincerity in worship is more important. If I am allowed to be frank, I rather have a smaller congregation with real worshipers, than to be in a church with many numbers but little sincerity.
The choice between truth and peace Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
-- 2 Timothy 4: 2-4
If we are not careful, we may fill our ears and thoughts with things we simply like, and not what the Bible says. As the song goes, "the heart wants what it wants."
If we want someone to affirm Christian homosexuality, we can find someone to that. If we want to find a respectable person to support the idea that Christianity is about being wealthy and healthy, we can look for that too.
That would be contrary with what the Bible teaches. Christianity is not about peace at the expense of the truth of Jesus. It is about the truth that Jesus died for our sins, and the only way for reconciliation with God is through Him.
Often we are afraid to offend people in Singapore, especially since the country prides herself in religious harmony and secularism. Thus there is a tendency to treat all religions as equal. Even my ex-pastor recently went on a Buddhist meditation trip.
It may be unpopular, and even cost us our jobs. But we must declare that Jesus is the only way.
Conclusion
The truth is this -- in our lips we may condemn the prosperity gospel or claim we are following God, but in our hearts in may be different.
Dear friends, it is my plead that we all follow Scripture, even it is brings us to the unfavourable conclusion that we must change our lives in order to follow God.
Recently, I heard about an argument between my siblings-in-Christ, with each insisting on the validity of their interpretation of Scripture. In anger, one of them remarked that "no one can know everything about God, therefore you could be wrong!"
Anger issues aside, I want to be academic about the statement, which echoes shades of Isaiah.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord.
"As high as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
-- Isaiah 55:8-9
Impossibility of knowing God fully
Firstly, I would agree that it is impossible to know everything about God. Since God is limitless, knowing God fully would require omniscience. However, only God has the quality of omniscience.
There are some things we can know for sure
That said, my friend's retort misses the point. While it is true that it is impossible for us to know everything about God, we can do know some things. For instance, though careful study of the Bible, we can know that God is plural (Genesis 1:26), God loves us (1 John 4:7-12) and that Jesus is God (John 1).
In fact this line of logic applies to every aspect of academia, not just theology. For instance, while it is currently impossible for us to know the exact number of people who ever died, we are pretty sure the answer is not two.
Conclusion
While it is impossible for us to know everything about God, that statement should not stop us from attempting to know God better.
Stained glass of St. Maximilian Kolbe. His feast day is assigned to be on 14th August
"Obviously a suicide is the opposite of a martyr. A martyr is a man who cares so much for something outside him, that he forgets his own personal life. A suicide is a man who cares so little for anything outside him, that he wants to see the last of everything. One wants something to begin: the other wants everything to end." -- GK Chesterton
War does terrible things to people. Despite his best efforts to hide the Jews from the Nazis, Roman Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe was caught by the Gestapo. Assigned to the concentration camp at Auschwitz as Prisoner #16670, Kolbe volunteered to take the place of a man (Franciszek Gajowniczek) who was assigned to be executed.
After two weeks of starving him, the prison guards discovered he was still alive. They gave him a lethal dosage of carbolic acid to finish him off on 14th August, 1941.
Conclusion
In my university days, one of my colleagues often dismissed that martyrs hated life and was merely glorified suicide. But in Kolbe's story I see a person who loves life so much that he was willing to give up his to save the life of another.
And that is something beautiful.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
-- John 15:13 For further reading Wikipedia
Often, my non-Christian friends object to Christianity as there seem to be so many sects within it. In fact, there is a claim that there are over 33, 000 denominations in Protestantism. If all of them make exclusive claims to the truth, then how can we be sure then we choose the "right" Christianity?
In this post, I will only be exploring the denominations in mainstream Protestantism. I will not be writing about Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.
Let's explore this objection:
1) Nature of the differences
Let's be clear-- just because not all denominations consider each other heretics. Some of the differences between denominations are due to national interests, traditions or methodology, rather than genuine doctrinal differences.
For instance, the Church of Scotland and the Church of Tuvalu ascribed to Reformed theology, even though they are considered two different denominations (as they also serve a national role).
True, there may be genuine clashes of doctrines. For instance while I differ with many of my close Christian friends on the issue of child and infant baptism, I do not consider them heretics or having horrible ideas of God.
2) Claims of Protestantism
The traditional claims of Protestantism include Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Christus and Sola Gloria. None of the claims ever give the idea that Protestants will agree on every issue all the way.
3) The inevitability of differences
As with any idea, there is going to be a difference in doctrine. Even among my Muslim friends, there are some who are Sunni and Shia. Some of my Buddhist friends are Zen Buddhists and Shinto Buddhists.
Even atheistic ideas like Communism have its variants such as Maoism, Stalinism and Marxism.
The point is this-- just because an idea has many variants, it does not mean that it is somehow false. It means that as we live out the ideas, they are worth refining.
Conclusion
If anything, variants in ideas does not diminish the truth behind it. Every theological idea must be examined on its own merit.
