More about Church Torching in Malaysia

Response from Rev. Ong Sek Leang, Senior Pastor of Metro Tabernacle Church. The administrative office of Metro Tabernacle in Desa Melawati was completely gutted.




HT: Sivin Kit's Garden

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -

Sat Jan 9, 2010 11:57pm EST

Arsonists in Malaysia struck at a convent school and a fifth church on Sunday amid rising tensions between majority Muslims and Christians over the use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian God.

Police in the sleepy city of Taiping, around 300 km (185 miles) from the capital Kuala Lumpur, said a petrol bomb had been thrown at the guard house of a Catholic convent school but had failed to go off.

They also said they had found several broken bottles including paint thinners outside one of the country's oldest Anglican churches, All Saints, Taiping, and said one of the building's walls had been blackened.

read more and watch the video.

Washington Post

By EILEEN NG

The Associated Press
Sunday, January 10, 2010; 12:37 AM

On Sunday, men, women and children from the Metro Tabernacle parish assembled in the cavernous, 1,800-seat meeting hall of the Malaysian Chinese Association party for the service. They lifted their hands and sang "We put all our faith in you," and "You are the God of love and peace" during the Sunday service.

"My wife was worried, but we want to be here to support the church," said Michael Chew, 40, who came to the service with two children, aged 1 and 6.

The service was in English, as are most Christian services in mainland Malaysia though some are in Chinese and Tamil languages. Such services do not use the word "Allah." Only the Malay-language prayers for indigenous tribespeople in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak use "Allah," as they have for decades.

The Allah ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

read more and watch the slide show

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Mr. Zam who’s the president of the Parent Teacher Association of an Islamic School next to the Metro Tabernacle Church was very kind to share some of his thoughts in relation to church arson on Friday, January 8, 2010.

HT: Sivin Kit's Garden

Why? Why the Need to Resort to Violence?

.	Malaysia churches firebombed - Aljazeera.net Two Christian churches in Malaysia have been firebombed amid tensions over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims in the country. ...

Two Christian churches in Malaysia have been firebombed amid tensions over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims in the country.

Attackers threw a petrol bomb at church in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and tried to set another ablaze in a nearby suburb in the early hours of Friday, witnesses and officials said.

A Malaysian court had last week overturned a government ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah" in their literature, allowing Roman Catholic newspaper, the Herald, to use the term to refer to God in the Malay language.

The judge has since suspended the implementation of the ruling, after the government appealed the ruling and the Catholic church agreed to the suspension.

The fire in Friday's first incident gutted the administrative office on the first floor of the three-storey Metro Tabernacle Assembly of God church, shortly after midnight.

"There are witness reports two persons on a motorbike came near the entrance and hurled in something looking like a petrol bomb," Kevin Ang, a church spokesman, said.

Separately, Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, said a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the compound of the Roman Catholic Assumption church in Petaling Jaya, just outside the capital, around 4am on Friday.

other links from Sivin Kit's Garden who call for Mourning for Malaysia

Malaysian church fire-bombed ahead of Muslim protests

KL church torched

Malaysia church torched amid Allah row

Church damaged in midnight fire

Malaysian church set on fire: officials

Is this the right approach? When the due process of the law do not give you what you want, you resort to violence to get what you want? Then these "respect" you give to the "due process of the law" is just so much empty words. And the issue is about? The content and context of a word.

It is a sad day for Malaysia.

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Brian McLaren's Losing Faith

This video is an interesting way to promote his new book "Losing Faith." However it contains many controversial statements. I cannot wait to read the new book to see how Brian explains them.

He writes,

i think we all go through a process of leaving childish things behind ... and embracing a bigger picture as we grow and mature. this is a central theme of my upcoming book, "a new kind of christianity: ten questions that are transforming the faith," which will be released February 9, 2010.

Theological Hospitality

With Christians moving from church to church for whatever reasons, and the decreasing emphasis on denominationalism, it is not unusual to find within a a single congregation, many different theological stands. How does the leadership maintain a unity within the church? Often these theological differences are potential time bombs and may lead to churches to split.

Dr David Dunbar from Biblical Seminary writing in the online Missional Journal issue January 2010 tells of theological hospitality.

The biblical exhortation to hospitality provides helpful imagery when thinking about the pursuit of unity. Christian hospitality is rooted in the character of God who welcomes us into his family through Christ. Various texts encourage believers to extend that same hospitality to one another and to the stranger in their midst (Romans 12:3; Heb. 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9). This was a virtue already commended in the Old Testament.

Denver Seminary professor David Buschart uses this image as a guide for exploring eight different families or theological traditions within Protestantism. Theological hospitality is the practice of welcoming other Christians whose understanding of Scripture and theology may seem strange or challenging to us. This welcome is appropriate, says Buschart, in light of the ontological reality of the church's present unity in Christ and the assurance of complete unity at the return of Christ. Thus his examination of each tradition (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, etc.) is an exercise in careful listening and friendly (but fair) evaluation...

We should understand, therefore, that commitment to a particular theological position or tradition is not in itself a hindrance to the faithful practice of hospitality. A crucial determinant is attitude. Do we see our tradition as a fortress (to be defended against the enemy!) or as a home (in which to welcome friends)? The latter requires us to practice humility, and this "entails admitting that one's theology is neither complete nor free of errors.... Such fallibility is often acknowledged, at least in principle, but theological hospitality requires acting upon this humility."

read more

Sex after Marriage

From Christianity Today online

Illustrations by Tim Baron

THE VILLAGE GREEN Help That Makes a Difference What's the best way to encourage people to save sex for the covenant of marriage? Mark Regnerus: Focus on Calling Richard Ross: Make a Promise to Jesus Donna Freitas: Stop Talking Marriage

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 02

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 02 (January 10 to January 16, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The New Testament as God’s Written Words
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

Lust
An Article
By: Scott Schuleit
Webpage PDF Word

Obedience
An Article
By: J.I. Packer
Webpage PDF Word

The Consequences of the Fall of Man
An Article
By: J. Gresham Machen
Webpage PDF Word

Sinners Welcome To Come To Jesus Christ, Part II
An Article
By: Archibald Alexander
Webpage PDF Word

The Mortification of Sin
An Article
By: Christopher Love
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
ERASMUS’ PREFACE REVIEWED, Part I
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

Abraham Heschel's God Needs Man

The Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reuven Kimelman

This is an excellent overview of the theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel by Reuven Kimelman published in the December 2009 issue of FIRST THINGS. Herschel who is an excellent scholar devoted his life to the startling proposition that God needs man!

Judaism is not a doctrine but a life—the continuation of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Or so Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) often said. To learn Jewish theology, then, is to relive the history of God’s encounter with the Jewish people, for theology and history are inseparable. What God revealed to Israel through the prophets, the sages, and the mystics is the “bold and dangerously paradoxical idea” that God needs man.

Much of academic Jewish scholarship finds conflicts between biblical Judaism and the rabbinic Judaism of late antiquity as well as between rabbinic Judaism and later kabbalistic-hasidic teaching. The academic consensus sets up dichotomies between the legal and the spiritual and between the rational and the mystical. Heschel instead integrates biblical, rabbinic, and kabbalistic sources into a unified vision of God’s continuing dialogue with the people of Israel. Indeed, Heschel’s scholarship, rightly understood, is inseparable from his theology, for his scholarship seeks to re-create the dialogue of the Jewish people with God.

God needs man may sounds heretical. Kilmelman explains it as

One might think of the divine–human relationship as analogous to that of a general and soldier where the power lies with the general and the soldier merely follows orders. In reality, every command implemented by the soldier extends the general’s power. The growth of the power of the general thus corresponds to the increase in compliance by the soldier, and vice versa. An order that commands no compliance is a voice in the wilderness.

read more

SFI Seminar on Small Groups

SFI Seminar 2010/1

Small Groups

Small group has been an important part of church life. It helps the church to be lively and maturing the congregation.

Speaker: Rev. Dr Jennifer Turner

Date : 2.00pm- 9.30pm, Saturday 9 January 2010

Place : Berea, Holy Light Church, Jalan Gertak Merah, Johor Bahru

A. Synopsis

Whenever churches have been alive and maturing, small groups have been an important part of their life. Small groups can help us to grow spiritually and care for each other in ways that satisfy our deepest longings as human beings. But it doesn’t happen automatically. There is much we can learn from experience about how to have good groups and make good groups even better.

B. Areas to be covered

i) How can I expect to benefit from being in a small group?

ii) Building community and caring in a small group

iii) Helping my small group to be a good learning experience

C. Speaker

Rev. Dr. Jennifer Turner has been faithfully serves the Lord in the field of teaching and lecturing for more than two decades. She lives in Perth, Australia. She was born in Australia but lived and worked in various places, such as U.S.A., Scotland, India, Germany, Philippines, Kenya as well as Australia. She obtained her doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary, California, U.S.A. in 2000. She is married to Neil, a scientist. They have three married sons and six grandchildren.

Registration

Please register with Sister Grace Soon of HLCE (Tel: 607-2243285)

Seminar cost RM20.00 (includes refreshment,dinner and seminar notes).

Reformed Perspectives Magazine Volume 12, Number 01

(January 03 to January 10, 2010), is now available. The following articles are featured in this issue:

The Doctrine of the Word of God
The Apostles’ View of the Old Testament
By: John M. Frame
Webpage PDF Word

Anger
An Article
By: Scott Schuleit
Webpage PDF Word

Believe Christ, Not Satan
An Article
By: Richard Sibbes
Webpage PDF Word

Sinners Welcome To Come To Jesus Christ, Part I
An Article
By: Archibald Alexander
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
Preface
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
Preface by Translator
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

The Bondage of the Will
Introduction
By: Martin Luther
Webpage PDF Word

Digital Word Biblical Commentaries

It's here!

All 59 volumes of Word Biblical Commentaries on one CD-ROM!

Cost USD $1,199.99 but I bought it at a special Christmas discount of USD $399.95

I am dancing...

Please Don't Forget How to Dance

After reading Kansas Bob's post on While we're here we should dance, the notion of dancing has been playing on my mind. Not that I am a dancer or anything. It is the notion that that dancing as a celebration of life. God is also known as Lord of the dance. Perichoresis or the relationship of the Persons in the Trinity is liken to a dance. So dancing as a celebration of life and of God.

Last night I was watching the War Prayer episode of Babylon 5. My daughter and I have decided to watch the whole series and the movies in the sequence it was aired. In that episode in the first season, Centaurian ambassador Londo Mollari said this to Vir, his aide.

Something my father said. He was old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "My shoes are too tight, but it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to dance." I never understood what that meant until now. My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.

This episode deals with the call of duty and traditions in the Centuarian society. Marriages are arranged and are often used as means for merger of noble houses to make themselves more powerful. There is no room for love or free will. The ambassador realised too late for him that "My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance."

Both of us are struck by this scene. Life has a tendency to tie us down and force us to conform to expectations and the norms of society. Hopefully it has not bound us so tightly that we are presently "living lives of quiet desperation." May we live life of moderation and not forget how to dance. May we not be so tied down by our obligations that we forget how to live, or have a life.

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. ^Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.

(Ecclesiastes 5:18, 19).

Playful and Grateful

From the January 2010 issue of Listen, "Playful and Grateful"

"Play awakens and engages our sensuality and sexuality. Playful activities create the glue for mutual, innovative endeavors and meaningful relationships. An antidote to suffering, play is healing and restorative."

"Spiritually, play is integral to a vital, healthy, and whole life. Playing is a profound way to pray, and only one letter separates pray from play!"

Helps for the Aging Brain

Adult Learning | Neuroscience from NYTimes.com

How to Train the Aging Brain

Illustration from istockphoto.com

By BARBARA STRAUCH

Published: December 29, 2009

Some good news by Barbara Strauch for people with middle aged brains (and I assume older). All is not lost.

The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.

The trick is finding ways to keep brain connections in good condition and to grow more of them.

“The brain is plastic and continues to change, not in getting bigger but allowing for greater complexity and deeper understanding,” says Kathleen Taylor, a professor at St. Mary’s College of California, who has studied ways to teach adults effectively. “As adults we may not always learn quite as fast, but we are set up for this next developmental step.”

read more

Barry Wain's Malaysian Maverick

Barry Wain (2009) Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan

Barry Wain is Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. He was a former editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal. An Australian, Wain has spent 37 years as a journalist in Asia.

The book blurb at the back cover,

The grandson of an Indian immigrant and the first Malay commoner to become prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad turned the Muslim-majority Southeast Asia country into one of the developing world's most successful economies. During his 22 years in power he adopted pragmatic economic policies alongside repressive political measures, and showed that Islam was compatible with representative government and modernization...But in mixing business and politics, Mahathir encouraged cronyism and failed to prevent the spread of corruption. Authoritative and impatient, he jailed opponents, sacked rivals and undermined institutions as he pursued his obsession with development...

This is an interesting book that is written by a journalist. His aim was to present and review ex Malaysian prime minister's term of office from the grassroot level.

The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart

The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart (2009). M.O'C.Walshe (trans) New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.

This book is actually a reissue of the three volume Meistert Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, translated and edited by M. O'C Walshe. These three volumes were published in 1979. Meister Eckhart is my favourite Christian mystical writer and philosopher. M. O'C Walshe did a good job in translating his sermons and writings. Eckhart presents his scholarly and academic writings in Latin while he preaches and presents his reflections in the vernicular German. The German portion of his works are often referred to as his mystical writings.

in the midst of silence, there was spoken within me a secret word...But where is the silence and where is the place where the word is spoken?...It is in the purist place that the soul is capable of, in the noblest part, the ground...

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