Which Wolf Will You Feed TODAY? #LeadersAreReaders November 2022

A familiar story but let me put a twist on it. An old man is teaching his grandson about reading good books. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy, "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One holds ignorance, sameness, comfort, passivity, laziness, distraction, and impatient. The other loves knowledge, new ideas, creativity, imagination, empathy, and good thinking."

"One is trying its best to make excuses not to read books. The other knows the magical potential of reading good books. One says, 'Someday'. The other says, 'Today.' The same fight is going on inside you and every other person too," says the old wise man. The grandson asks, "Which wolf will win?" Pointing his finger to his heart and then to his white-grey hair head, "It's the one you feed."

Which wolf will you feed TODAY? Mark Twain said this: “The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the fellow who can't read them.” I think it's okay if you don't read books, there are other ways of learning and improving yourself. But you might miss out on a lot of things. The world is moving forward so fast, so hectic, and so rushing. I believe the way to smartness and peace is by slowing down, stepping back a little, and pausing time by reading good books. Have you ever wondered why God gives us The Book a.k.a. The Bible instead of graphic manga, smartphone, YouTube videos, and audio recordings? The main means of His communication is the BOOK. Woff! Woff!

#ServeToLead #ReadersAreReaders #FeedTheRightWolf #TheBook #SlowingDown #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

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I Don't Have Enough Faith the Be An Atheist (2004) by Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, Book Review

David Limbaugh in his forward writes, "[This book] is the best single book I've seen to prepare believers to give the reasons for their faith, and for skeptics who are open to the truth. This book will serve as an indispensable evangelism tool, especially when dealing with nonbelievers with 'intellectual' obstacles to the faith. As we know, the intellectual obstacles are just an excuse for nonbelievers, but when you remove the substance of their excuse they are left naked to confront their real obstacles, their real demons." I agree with Limbaugh but with the exception that it is NOT "the best single book." There will be new 'intellectual' obstacles ahead of us (although principally "there is nothing new under the sun"), so, we have to always need new, fresh, and better books to tackle future issues with the same effectiveness as this one. Always preparing the way for the Lord and His Word to touch people's lives with the never-changing Gospel. Having said that, for me, this book is one of the best apologetic tools so far (probably next after Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict).

Between the two authors, I'm more familiar with Frank Turek because I subscribed to his podcast and YouTube channel with the same name as this book and frequently listened to his talks and interviews. Norman Geisler, now deceased, is the giant of apologetic who wrote and co-wrote many amazing books. Together they present the essential information needed for readers either to stand firm in their faith in the God of Christianity or to make a decision to come to the God of Christianity with a reasonable faith. For believers, your faith will be strengthened; for honest seekers, your beliefs will be challenged. Some people will read this book and yet remain an atheist or skeptical but they will have no excuse that they never knew. "One beauty of God's creation is this: if you're not willing to accept Christianity, then you're free to reject it," explain Frank and Norman. "God has provided enough evidence in this life to convince anyone willing to believe, yet he has also left some ambiguity so as not to compel the unwilling." I like that. It is consistent with the character of God that I read in the Bible. No one - especially mine - can claim absolute certainty about anything. Everything requires some amount of faith. Questions such as "Is truth knowable?", "Does God exists?" and, "Is the Bible the Word of God?" even with a fair amount of evidence, in the end, require faith. Vise versa, to reject them also requires faith. But as the book argues, it takes a lot more faith to be a non-Christian than it does to be a Christian.

Let me share five (5) reasons why I recommend this book (I could share more but, to misquote the Book of Hebrews, "time will not allow me"):

#1 The Logical Flow - At the outset, they outline 12 points starting from a general but crucial one "No.1 Truth about reality is knowable." What is truth? Can truth be known? Can truths about God be known? So what? Who cares about truth? Then, they progressively move to the last one "No.12 It is true that the Bible is the Word of God." Is the Bible historically reliable? Who is Jesus? If Jesus is who He said He is, what He taught about the Bible? They begin with general revelation to special revelation.

#2 Not Using the Scripture to Proof the Existence of God - In the first 5 out of 12 points, they argue about the existence of a theistic God not by using the Scripture but by science and reason. They use the Cosmological Argument (Beginning of the universe), the Teleological/ Anthropic Argument (Design of the universe, design of life), and the Moral Argument (Moral law). These arguments alone are enough for me to say that "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist"!

#3 Uses History, Philosophy, Logic, and Biblical Theology to Establish Their Arguments - For example, when they try to prove that the New Testament is reliable, they do not simply say that "The Bible tells me so" but give evidence from external and internal sources, historical and philosophical supports, logical and theological based. "We came to believe through evidence," they said, "...the fact THAT we are Christians is not the issue: WHY we are Christians is the important point."

#4 Anticipating Counter-Arguments and Answer Them Clearly - In the past, I almost lost my faith in Christianity. I figured, if Christianity is false then all religions* must be false too. I don't want to be an agnostic because I think the issue is simple: whether God exists or not. So my next best choice was to be an atheist. When I'm trying to explore the possibility of the non-existence of God, I have lots of questions. Every time I heard or read Christian's positive arguments, I always have counter-arguments or objections. Authors of this book anticipate objections as they presented their arguments. For example, take the case of the reliability of the New Testament again. They know those common objections such as "history cannot be known", "The New Testament documents contain miracles", "The New Testament writers were biased", and "Converted people are not objective" would be in the back of the reader's mind like I was. With vast experience, knowledge, and humility, they answer these common (not all) objections clearly.

#5 Provide More Than Enough Facts - To me, three reasonable facts are enough to change my opinions; five strong facts are enough to convince me to reconsider my beliefs; seven undisputed facts are enough to change my mind and make me a convert. Throughout the book every time the authors make a case they always give more than two reasons or facts. For example, in the question of "How do we know the moral law exists?" they give eight compelling reasons. In Chapter 11, they give "The Top Ten Reasons We Know the New Testament Writers Told the Truth" which is also the title of the chapter.

The authors acknowledged that "evidence alone cannot convince someone to become a Christian. Some atheists and non-Christians may reject Christianity not because the evidence is inadequate but because they don't want to accept it." It seems oversimplified but in the final analysis, it's true. They continue, "Some people choose to suppress the truth rather than live by it. In fact, we humans have a fatal tendency to try to adjust the truth to fit our desires rather than adjusting our desires to fit the truth." Don't do that. This is about your eternal destiny. This book cannot answer ALL your questions. In fact, we will never have ALL the answers anyway. But this book - by God's grace - has more than enough answers to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Christianity is true. The Scripture says: "[If] you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." Lord, give the reader enough faith to believe and confess! Amen.

#ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #IDontHaveEnoughFaithToBeAnAtheist #FrankTurek #NormanGeisler #Apologetics #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

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BOOK REVIEW The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists (2008) by Ravi Zacharias

The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists (2008) by Ravi Zacharias

In 2004 & 2006, Sam Harris, an atheist scientist, wrote two anti-religious books entitled, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason and Letter to a Christian Nation. Before and after that there were other books also published such as Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great, Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell, and more (Harris, Dawkins, late Hitchens, and Dennett are called the Four Horsemen, main spokespersons of the New Atheism Movement, I think Lawrence Klaus should be the 5th Horse. These are fascinated read except for Dennett's, his books are too philosophical).

So in this book, Ravi Zacharias, a well-known Christian apologist, the founder, and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM), response to Harris' utterly bankrupt worldview and hatred toward anything religious and faith-based. Ravi in this short book (only 128 pages) eloquently - with his over 30 years of experience in the apologetic, vast amount of knowledge in Christian doctrines, world philosophies, and religions - explain the true nature of evil, the foundation of morality, the meaning of life, the important of hope and love, the necessity for God, the Creator, and more.

The strength of The End of Reason, in my opinion, lies not only in Ravi’s debunking of Harris’ core arguments, but in uncovering the path down which new atheism leads its followers. Ravi exposes the reality that the atheist worldview is inescapably bleak, with no basis for love, hope, morality or the value of human life – that “the emperor has no clothes, and through his verbal magic Harris is trying hard to cover him up.”

My favorite quote from this book: “The worldview of the Christian faith is simple enough. God has put enough into this world to make faith in him a most reasonable thing. But he has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason alone.” Amen!

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Jesus is the Real Apologist and - the Messiah (Mark 8:27-30)

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him”
(Mark 8:27-30, NIV).

Whether you ask or read what people write about Jesus, most people have an opinion of Him. Jesus is been called a philosopher, teacher, rebel, revolutionary, con man, legend, magician, prophet, lunatic and many other things since He first visit to our planet. Trouble is, most people give their opinion of Jesus Christ based upon what other people say about Him – historical writings, fiction, religious teachers, etc. They are answering Jesus’ first question to His disciples – “Who do people say I am?”

Then Jesus asked the disciples another question – similar to the first one, but much more personal: “Who do you say I am?” In other words, Jesus wasn’t satisfied in knowing how well His followers had listened to sermons at the synagogue (for us, church) or rumours from the marketplaces. Jesus wanted their personal opinion based on their exposure to and experience with Himself first-hand. Peter, like always, speaks for the others when he answers: “You are the Messiah” – the Promised One! In this brief confession I hear Peter saying, “Jesus I’ve witnessed your authority over sick bodies, demon-possessed minds, over wind and wave, your selfless love for people and most of all, your love for me. You’ve got to be the Saviour of the world we’ve been waiting for!” Amazingly, but truly, Jesus makes no attempt to deny Peter’s declaration, but accepts his confession as true. Jesus is the Messiah. Months of patient teaching and friendship have borne fruit, the disciples have discovered the truth about Him. Jesus stands alone, unprecedented, unparalleled, unrivalled, unique Son of God!

Peter’s declaration was right on! Even though he may misunderstood much of what the Messiah came to do (I’ll get to that in a later post), Peter and his fellow disciples formed a correct opinion of Jesus based on their experience with Him. So, if Peter’s confession is the truth, then why Jesus “warned them not to tell anyone about him”? As I read commentaries on this, there are two main reasons: First, there were many popular ideas of Messiah being a military or political leader, which Jesus did not fit into. Secondly, Jesus always wanted people to discover the truth for themselves. Jesus was not in the business of making bold statements that gave people no choice. Jesus’ way was always: “Look at the evidence, what do you think?” Jesus is the real apologist!  

Have you ever played the game “telephone line” (we called it “radio buruk” or whatever you call it)? One person makes up a story and whispers it to the first person in a line. The listener then whispers it to the next person in line and so on until the story passes to the other end of the line. The last person tells the story out loud as he heard it, and it’s always funny to hear how the story get distorted from one end of the line to the other. I think, that’s the trouble with listening to other people about who Jesus is. The story gets distorted. To form a true opinion of Jesus, you must meet Him personally through the Bible especially the Gospel stories, pray for the Holy Spirit illumination and interaction with other strong and mature believers [If you’re not-yet-believer, what I mean is: read the Bible, pray to God and ask knowledgeable and matured Christians]. Like Peter, you will confess, “Jesus, You’ve got to be the Messiah!”

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Jesus Reminds Us to Be Ready for Anything (He Will Be with You)

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking – it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”
(Matthew 10:16-20, NLT).

[You may want to read Jesus Commissions the Twelve: Responsibility to bring the Message and to Care for the Messenger. Click Here]

The key instruction in this passage is “Beware!” battles lay ahead, and the apostles needed to be prepared – shrewd, harmless, and ready for anything. They would need to be unafraid of conflict but also able to deal with it with integrity. Jesus warned them that the Gospel would not be warmly welcomed in all places (even in the “synagogue” which was the common place for worship, they will be persecuted).

At times the disciples would face outright antagonism. This would be more than mere differences of opinion or unfriendly families and communities. The opposition would come from religious and authorities (like we, Malaysian Christians, are ‘mildly’ opposed). The apostles would be arrested and could face harsh punishment simply for believing in Jesus and telling others about him. But these persecutions would provide opportunities for presenting the Gospel. Later, the disciples did experience these hardships (see Acts 5:40; 12:1-3; 22:19; 2 Corinthians 11:24). Interestingly, the word “martyrs” comes from the Greek word for witness or testimony.

Jesus said, “Don’t worry about how to respond or what to say.” Some mistakenly think this means believers do not have to prepare to present the Gospel because God will take care of everything. The Bible says, however, that we are to make carefully prepared, thoughtful statements (Colossians 4:6). Later one of these commissioned men, Peter, would write, “If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it” (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus was telling his followers to prepare but not to worry. He promised special inspiration for times of great need. Be encouraged.

Jesus warned the apostles to focus on their mission and turn their defence into a testimony of faith. We must assume that as we live for Christ and tell others about him, we will face persecution (physically or mentally or socially or all of these and perhaps more. But spiritually we will be empowered and strengthen by God). At those times, we can thank God for the opportunities and remember that Christ has “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and in him we will too. 

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Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection #4: "Blood and Water” Flowed Out of Jesus’ Side

The Passion movie. Jesus was flogged with Roman flagrum

One of the most prevalent skepticism about the Crucifixion and the Resurrection was that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross but fainted or swooned and was revived in the coolness of the tomb (as most Muslim apologetic speakers try to explained. And they also speculate that Jesus was taken into heaven just before he was about to be crucified and Allah replaced another man who “looked like Jesus” to die on his behalf). In other words, Jesus wasn’t resurrected because he didn’t really die. Modern medical science has now refuted the claim, that Jesus could have survived the cross and preceding beatings resulting in massive blood loss.

What is so significant about this account? Alexander Metherell, MD, PhD, University of California at Irvine, is a medical doctor proficient in medical diagnoses. He asserts that the flogging Jesus received with a Roman flagrum was a significant factor in his death. The Roman flagrum, an instrument of torture, was a whip that had pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends of the lashes. In some cases, a flogging with a flagrum alone was enough to cause death. The metal-studded whip dug into the skin and muscles of the victim and pulled out pieces of flesh until they were shredded and quivering. The flogging induced heavy blood loss. As was seen depicted in the Crucifixion story, Jesus was already suffering heavily as he walked to Golgotha. On the way to Calvary, he was unable to carry his cross, so the Roman guards forced a bystander to carry it for him. At this time, says, Dr. Metherell, Jesus was already in serious to critical condition medically.

One symptom of the massive loss of blood from flogging was that the victim became very thirsty, a condition of hypovolemic shock. John 19:28 tells of how Jesus cried out from the cross that he was thirsty, and the soldiers lifted up a sponge soaked in wine vinegar to his lips.

Victims of Crucifixion normally died of asphyxiation. As they were hanging, arms extended, wrists nailed, from the crossbeam, they had to strenuously push themselves up by their feel nailed to a crossbeam in order to exhale. In time, they became too fatigued to push themselves up and could no longer breathe.

Since the Sabbath began at sundown and the Jewish leaders didn’t want to leave the bodies on the cross during the Sabbath, the soldiers broke the legs of the Crucified thieves on either side of Jesus to cause them to asphyxiate quickly. But when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. The only disciple brave enough to watch the execution of Jesus was the apostle John. He gives an eyewitness account of what happened to Jesus on the cross: “One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account; it is presented so that you also can believe” (John 19:34-35, NLT).

This outflow of blood and water was most likely because Jesus died of congestive heart failure secondary to asphyxia, according to Dr, Metherell: “When the spear penetrated Jesus’ side, it probably went through the lung and into the heart. When the spear was pulled out, blood flowed out and then the clear fluid that had gathered around the heart, which would have looked like water. What John wrote in the Bible is consistent with medical fact.”

Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection #4:
“Blood and Water” flowed out of Jesus’ side.

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Reference: Gary R. Habermas, The Case for Christ’s Resurrection, DVD, David W. Balsiger, senior producer, Grizzly Adams Productions, Inc., 2007.

Evidence of Jesus' Resurrection #1: The Empty Tomb

"[Jesus] is not here, for he has risen."

“[The] angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said’... So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:5, 8, ESV).

Gary R. Habermas, PhD confidently says, “The Resurrection is the cornerstone of our [Christian] faith.” And the most important fact of the Resurrection is that the tomb was empty of the body. How do we know this for sure?

The Jewish leaders who despised Jesus heard his prophesy that he was going to come back again. Therefore, they wanted to ensure that his disciples didn’t steal the body to pretend that the prophesy came true and went to Pilate with a request that he secure the tomb of Jesus. In response to their request, Pilate installed a Roman guard of 16 men in front of the tomb and sealed the tomb with a two-ton stone with his own seal on the stone (Matthew 27:62-66) in response to their request. Surely a weak band of followers like the disciples wouldn’t be able to get past a trained Roman guard. Yet in spite of the soldiers’ best efforts, they couldn’t keep Jesus in the tomb. On the third day, he walked right out of the grave.

Just imagine how the religious leaders took the news of the Resurrection! And interesting story is told in the Gospel according to Matthew about the Jewish priests’ reaction to the news that Jesus had risen from the dead. The tomb guards were concerned about their own welfare because they had failed in their mission and could be punished by execution, perhaps even Crucifixion. Some of the guards came and told the priests what had happened at the tomb. The priests bribed the guards to spread the story that the disciples stole the body (Matthew 28:11-15). These were the actions of a desperate group who were afraid of Jesus!

Apologetics author Ralph Muncaster, former sceptic, writes: “It would have been virtually impossible for the misfit band of disciples to overcome the guard and steal the body of Jesus. Nor would they have any reason to do so. Despite the explanation presented by the Jewish leaders and the Roman guards that the disciples had stolen the body, the city of Jerusalem was not accepting it. Instead, the people accepted the story presented by the eyewitnesses that Jesus had rose from the dead. Many gave their lives to verify this strong belief.

“In the nutshell, all the Jewish leaders and Romans had to do in order to end Christianity forever was to produce the corpse of Jesus. They couldn’t do it. And Christianity has since become the largest religion in the world. The tomb was empty.”

Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection #1:

The Empty Tomb

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References:

1) David W. Balsiger and Michael Minor, The Case for Christ’s Resurrection (Orlando, Florida: Bridge-Logos, 2007), p. 8-10.

2) Gary R. Habermas, The Case for Christ’s Resurrection, DVD, David W. Balsiger, senior producer, Grizzly Adams Productions, Inc., 2007.

3) Ralph O. Muncaster, Examine the Evidence (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2004), p. 393.

Let Go of Prejudice and Read It Firsthand

I once read that G. Campbell Morgan - an evangelist, preacher and teacher - had grown up in a Christian home, never questioning that the Bible was the Word of God. But in college, before he became known as Bible teacher, his faith was severely challenged and he began to entertain doubts. “The whole intellectual world was under the mastery of the physical scientists,” he later said, “and of a materialistic and rationalistic philosophy. Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Spencer, Bain. There came a moment when I was sure of nothing.”

In those days, opponents of the Bible appeared every Sunday in great lecture and concert halls across England, attaching Christianity and the Bible, and these brilliant atheists and agnostics troubled the young student. He read every book he could find, both for and against the Bible, both for and against Christianity, until he was so confused, so riddled with doubt that he felt he couldn’t go on.

In desperation, he closed his books, put them in his cupboard and turned the lock. Going down the bookshop, he bought a new Bible, returned to his room, sat down at his desk, and opened it. He said, “I am no longer sure that this is what my father claim it to be – the Word of God. But of this I am sure. If it be the Word of God, and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and opened mind, it will bring assurance to my soul of itself.” As he looked into the book before him, studying its form and structure and unity and message, he was amazed. He later said, “That Bible found me. I began to read and study it then, in 1883, and I have been a student ever since.”

Are you in doubt of the Bible? Here are my suggestions:

Let down your predetermined prejudice about the Bible,

Open your mind and let it speaks for itself,

Then you’ll discover that it is what it is – the written Word of God – or not at all.

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Athenagoras of Athens on the Christian God

In this defense of the Christian faith against pagan criticisms, written in Greek around the year 177 and addressed to the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius Antonius and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, Athenagoras sets outs the main features of the gospel in a lucid and reasoned manner. The early Christians were accused of atheism on account of their refusal to worship the emperor. In this extract, in which Athenagoras explains what Christians believe about God, important anticipations of later thinking of the Trinity can be detected. The work is known by various names, including Apologia, Legatio and Supplicatio pro Christianis. In excerpted of his writing he wrote,

“So we are not atheists, in that we acknowledge one God, who is uncreated, eternal, invisible, impassible, incomprehensible, and without limit. He is apprehended only by the intellect and the mind, and is surrounded by light, beauty, spirit, and indescribable power. The universe was created and ordered, and is presently sustained, through his Logos (that is, Jesus Christ)… For we acknowledge also a “Son of God.” Nobody should think it ridiculous that God should have a Son. Although the pagan poets, in their frictions, represent the gods as being no better than human beings, we do not think in the same way as they do concerning either God the Father or God the Son. For the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, both in thought and in reality. It was through his action, and after his pattern, that all things were made, in that the Father and the Son are one…

[The Son] is the first creation of the Father – not meaning that he was brought into existence, in that, from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind (nous), had the Logos within himself, being eternally of the character of the Logos (logikos). Rather, it is meant that he came forth to be the pattern and motivating power of all physical things… We affirm that the Holy Spirit, who was active in the prophets, is an effluence of God, who flows from him and returns to him, like a beam of the sun.”

[Source: Apologia, X, 1-4; in Athenagoras: Legatio and De Resurrectionem ed. W. R. Schoedel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), pp. 20-2.]

“I [Jesus Christ] and my Father are one” (John 10:30)

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C.S. Lewis on the Father and the Son

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity, he writes:

“We must think of the Son always, so to speak, streaming forth from the Father, like light from a lamp, or heat from a fire, or thoughts from a mind. He is the self-expression of the Father – what the Father has to say. And there never was a time when He was not saying it. But have you noticed what is happening? All these pictures of light or heat are making it sound as if the Father and Son were two things instead of two Persons.

So that after all, the New Testament picture of a Father and a Son turns out to be much more accurate than anything we try to substitute for it. That is what always happens when you go away from the words of the Bible. It is quite right to go away from them for a moment in order to make some special point clear. But you must always go back.

Naturally God knows how to describe Himself much better than we know how to describe Him. He knows that Father and Son is more like the relation between the First and Second Persons than anything else we can think of. Much the most important thing to know is that it is a relation of love. The Father delights in His Son; the Son looks up to His Father.”

It is fit to end this lengthy quote with God own words:

“[The Word] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, ESV)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus on the Unforgivable Sin (A Reflection on Mark 3:22-30)

To me this part of the Scripture is like a list of unbelievers or doubters starting from Jesus’ own earthly family members, the people in general and here we will see – from the teachers of the Law. When these teachers from Jerusalem observed or probably only heard about Jesus’ works, especially His authority over evil spirits, they concluded: “He has Beelzebul in him! It is the chief of the demons who gives him the power to drive them out” (Mark 3:22, GNB). “Beelzebul” is a derogatory name for Satan or lesser being than Satan, which literally mean “Lord of the Dung.” So they simple accused Jesus’ wonderful works as having it source from “the chief of demons.” They attribute Jesus’ powers as from satanic powers. They and the people were saying “He has an evil spirit in him.” (Mark 3:30) This is blasphemy!

“So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart. If a family divides itself into groups which fight each other, that family will fall apart. So if Satan’s kingdom divides into groups, it cannot last, but will fall apart and come to an end” (Mark 3:23-26). This was a logical answer to their accusation. If Jesus cast out demons by the power of Satan, then the kingdom of Satan are destroying themselves. This is nonsense!

Satan is wickedly evil but not stupid. Satan has power but Jesus is more powerful. Satan is strong but not the strongest, Jesus is. That was why He said, “No one can break into a strong man’s house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.” (Mark 3:27) It was a declaration that Jesus has bound Satan so that through Him people can enjoy their freedom in God.

Jesus then said a subject that has puzzled and terrified people to this day – the unforgettable sin, “I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say. But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because he has committed an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29) Excuse me, will never be forgiven? Eternal sin? Why? Isn’t God is the God of mercy and grace? Wasn’t Jesus Himself died for us in order to provide the way for our sins to be forgiven? I don’t understand!

[I need to pray and pause for awhile to find answer and explanations to my own questions]

In his book Where the Action Is, Ralph P. Martin has written some good words of explanation that I couldn’t figure out just now. He writes, “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an attitude of resistance to the Holy Spirit, a rejection of God in human life and a perverse confusion of moral values and issues… In Jesus’ teaching, it was blasphemy to attribute satanic powers to Him or to believe that He was none other than a false prophet inspired by the devil. To attribute His words of mercy, done in God’s name to Satan, said Jesus, is to be morally perverse and spiritually blind. To say that He is the devil’s Messiah is to cut oneself off from all understanding of who He is, and so deny oneself access to God’s forgiveness. This is the ‘unforgivable sin’ – unforgivable because a person like this doesn’t know what right and wrong are, and he is in no conscious need of being forgiven.”

Do not misunderstand the term ‘unforgivable sin’ here. Every sin is forgivable – all, except, the sin of deliberate action of a person who is so morally and spiritually twisted that he attributes God’s work to the devil. The unforgivable sinner, sad as it may seem, I think had lost all the sensitivity to God. I urge you, don’t be like this. The fact that you think you have done an ‘unforgivable sin’ is a sign that you’re not doing it. You’re still under God’s forgiveness. If you have sinned, God’s desire in Jesus Christ is to restore you through your repentance, confession and His forgiveness. Beware not to harden your heart like “the teachers of the Law.” Do you understand now?!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

C.S. Lewis on The Theology of Being Good

“[Anyone] is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17,ESV)

From C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity:

“Even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting on his own steam – he is only nourishing or protecting a life he could never have acquired by his own efforts. And that has practical consequences. As long as the natural life is in your body, it will do a lot towards repairing that body. Cut it, and up to a point it will heal, as a dead body would not. A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself.

In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble – because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repent (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or – if they think there is not – at least they hope to deserve approval from good men.

But the Christian think any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.”

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Agama Kristian ialah Bukan suatu Rekaan Manusia

Lukisan oleh Michelangelo

Selain daripada sangat rumit, kenyataan atau realiti, pada pengalaman saya, juga sangat tidak mudah untuk difahami. Ianya tidak disusun dengan kemas, tidak ketara, tidak seperti apa yang kita anggapkan. Sebagai contoh, sebelum kamu berkenalan dengan rakan-rakan baru dari bangsa atau negara yang berbeza dengan kamu semasa di universiti, kamu menyangka bahawa semua orang di Malaysia hanya berbangsa Melayu, Cina dan India. Tetapi selepas kamu dewasa, kamu mendapati bahawa banyak lagi bangsa lain di Malaysia ini; Iban, Bidayuh, Kadazan, orang Asli, Kenyah dan sebagainya.

Kemudian, apabila kamu menyangka bahawa kamu sudah hampir tahu kebanyakkan bangsa di Malaysia ini, kamu terkejut apabila mendapati, sebagai contoh, bahawa bangsa Bidayuh mempunyai banyak pecahan etnik seperti Selakau, Lara, Jagoi, Singai, Biatah, Bukar, Sadong dan sebagainya. Namun apa yang lebih mengejutkan lagi ialah kamu seterusnya mendapati bahawa setiap orang walaupun sama bangsa dan etnik, mereka tidak mempunyai ciri-ciri, sikap dan perwatakan yang sama. Ini semua ialah sesuatu yang tidak mudah untuk difahami dan sampai matipun kamu tidak mungkin dapat menyiasat segalanya. Inilah kenyataan yang harus kita hadapi.

Kenyataan, sebenarnya, ialah sesuatu yang tidak mudah untuk kita sangkakan. Inilah salah satu sebab kenapa saya percaya dan menjadi orang Kristian. Kristian ialah agama (‘agama’ dalam pengertian kebanyakkan orang) yang tidak mudah untuk kita sangkakan. Jika ia menyatakan SEMUA perkara – di dunia dan di akhirat – dengan begitu tepat dan jelas sekali seperti apa yang kita anggapkan, maka, kita harus mengesyaki bahawa ia ialah suatu rekaan manusia semata-mata.

Agama Kristian yang sebenar tidak langsung begitu! Ada beberapa perkara dan bahagian yang tidak mudah untuk disangkakan dan ia bukan rekaan manusia – tetapi Tuhan sendiri. Tuhan yang Benar tidak mudah untuk kita sangkakan. Mesti ada misteri (seperti tritunggal Tuhan) dan perkara yang tidak boleh dijelaskan untuk ia dipanggil sebagai kenyataan. Saya harap kamu mengerti apa yang saya cuba jelaskan di sini.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.