Jesus Prayed Eyes Wide Open: Awake and Watchful

“[Jesus] brought them [the disciples] to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair. Then he told them, ‘My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death… stay here… stay awake with me’”
(Matthew 26:36-38, The Living Bible)

The Gospels tell us that Jesus and His disciples regularly visited Gethsemane. After the last supper, Jesus took them with Him. Once they were in the grove, Jesus had eight of the disciples stay close to the entrance while He moved deeper among the trees to pray. Some says that it was a rocky place surrounded by trees. Jesus then took Peter, James and John with Him, the same three who had accompanied Him on the mountain when He was transfigured in Matthew 17:1-13 [At this point, Judah Iscariot was going to the Pharisees to betray Him]. I assumed those with Jesus could clearly see that their Master was “anguish and despair.”

Then Jesus told the three who were with Him, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death… stay here… stay awake with me.” Newer translation translated: “Stay here and keep watch with me” (NLT). Jesus was literally said: “I am very sad” or “grieved.” This statement by Jesus reminds me of Isaiah’s words about the Suffering Servant whom God would eventually send to His people, the Messiah: “We despised him and rejected him – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised and we didn’t care” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was about to experience the worst parts of His earthly life…

Jesus asked the three, “Stay here… stay awake with me” or “Stay here and keep watch with me.” The term He used means “keep aware.” Jesus wasn’t asking them to pray while He go for ministry; He was asking them to pray alertly as He Himself was praying. This is interesting: It is not likely that Jesus closed His eyes during prayer, nor that He instructed His disciples to do so. We’re told that before He raised Lazarus from the grave, “Jesus looked up to heaven and said…” (John 11:41); also, at the beginning of His high priestly prayer, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things he looked up to heaven and said…” (John 17:1). I noticed that keeping awake and watchful were what in Jesus’ mind as He talked about prayer.

Even though Jesus is the Son of God, in times of crisis, as a man He turned to prayer and bringing others to join Him. He expressed His dependence on God and His dependence on others too. He went to the cross alone but He invited others to walk there with Him as far as possible. This make me think: People we depend on often let us down (and we, in the same way, let others down) but that is not necessarily a compelling reason to stop depending on others. Even though Jesus knew the shortcomings of His disciples, He trusted them in His hour of need. After all, that was the only way for them to eventually learn to be trustworthy. For a very independent person like me, these lessons from Jesus are great reminder for me to: 1) Pray by keeping awake and watchful; and 2) Learn to depend and trust on others, just like Jesus. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Simple Book Review: The God Delusion

The God Delusion (2006) by Richard Dawkins

“If you feel trapped in the religion of your upbringing, it would be worth asking yourself how this came about. The answer is usually some form of childhood indoctrination,” writes Richard Dawkins. Calling himself as consciousness-raiser atheist, he said, “My dream is that this book may help people to come out” and “If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen to me. And yet, I find that this book is thought-provoking and brilliant.

When I talked to my friends about this book, I asked them to question me as if I’m an atheist. Because I studied Dawkins’s perspectives and arguments mainly from documentaries such as “The Genius of Charles Darwin”, “The God Delusion: The Root of All Evil”, “Enemies of Reasons”, “The Atheist: Richard Dawkins”, “Faith School Menace” and through his many debates and interviews such as “The Selfish Gene” and “An Appetite for Wonder”, easily I find that in the end of our conversations my friends are either looking up thinking, speaking up defensively or shutting up conclude that it doesn’t matter. For the latter group of people, I would like to quote Dawkins: “Unquestioning faith is [not] a virtue.”

There are many things I agree with the author such as “There is no such thing as a Christian child: only a child of Christian parents”; “Religion can be a force for evil in the world”; “Only religious faith is a strong enough force to motivate such utter madness [suicide bombers] in otherwise sane and decent people”; “The teachings of ‘moderate’ religion, though not extremist in themselves, are an open invitation to extremism”, etc. What I disagree with Dawkins are his treatments of the Scripture (out-of-context), his ideas about the God of the Old Testament (The God hypothesis), and his bias references to Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus suggesting that Jesus is a myth and never really existed.

As Christian, I make it a habit NOT to read only Christian books. In the past I had read book by Michael Shermer, another influential atheist, entitled The Believing Brain (I would also refer to Sam Harris and late Christopher Hitchens). Both books instead of moving me away from the God of the Bible, they actually help me to think biblically and critically on the faith issues. Books that doesn’t help you to think, doesn’t worth your time. However, if you’re a new Christian, I suggest that you may want to strengthen your faith and understanding of the Word first. Discernment and Biblical worldview are much needed especially if you want to read this kind of books. Below are Richard Dawkins’s book contents:

Chapter 1: A Deeply Religious Non-Believer

Deserved respect. Undeserved respect.

Chapter 2: The God Hypothesis

Polytheism. Monotheism. Secularism, the Founding Fathers and the religious of America. The poverty of agnosticism. NOMA. The Great Prayer Experiment. The Neville Chamberlain School of evolutionists. Little green men.

Chapter 3: Arguments for God’s Existence

Thomas Aquinas’ ‘proofs’. The ontological argument and other a priori arguments. The argument from beauty. The argument from personal ‘experience.’ The argument from scripture. The argument from admired religious scientist. Pascal’s Wager. Bayesian arguments.

Chapter 4: Why There Almost Certainly is No God

The Ultimate Boeing 747. Natural selection as a consciousness-raiser. Irreducible complexity. The worship of gaps. The anthropic principle: planetary version. The anthropic principle: cosmological version. An interlude at Cambridge.

Chapter 5: The Roots of Religion

The Darwinian imperative. Direct advantages of religion. Group selection. Religion as a by-product of something else. Psychologically primed for religion. Tread softly, because you tread on my memes. Cargo cults.

Chapter 6: The Roots of Morality: Why Are We Good?

Does our moral sense have a Darwinian origin? A case study in the roots of morality. If there is no God, why be good?

Chapter 7: The ‘Good’ Book and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist

The Old Testament. Is the New Testament any better? Love thy neighbour. The moral Zeitgeist. What about Hitler and Stalin? Weren’t they atheists?

Chapter 8: What’s Wrong with Religion? Why Be So Hostiles?

Fundamentalism and the subversion of science. The dark side of absolutism. Faith and homosexuality. Faith and the sanctity of human life. The Great Beethoven Fallacy. How ‘moderation’ in faith fosters fanaticism.

Chapter 9: Childhood, Abuse and the Escape from Religion

Physical and mental abuse. In defence of children. An educational scandal. Consciousness-raising again. Religious education as a part of literary culture.

Chapter 10: A Much Needed Gap?

Binker. Consolation. Inspiration. The mother of all burkas.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Simple Book Review: The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of The Structure of DNA

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of The Structure of DNA (1968)
by James D. Watson

Honestly I almost don’t understand the language of chemical and biological terms – biochemistry – in this book besides sugar, protein and X-Ray photography. For the most part, I refer to Youtube videos such as “The DNA Double Helix Discovery” and “TED Talk by James Watson: How We Discovered DNA” to understand the whole experiences. So, what is my goal in reading this book? Serendipity and inspirational story. Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist, writes, “[Watson] has described admirably how it feels to have that frightening and beautiful experience of making a scientific discovery.”

The discovery of the structure of DNA by Francis Crick and James D. Watson (with Maurice Wilkins) in 1953 with all its biological implications has been one of the major scientific events of the 90’s century until now. Without it, there will not be any explosion of researches in relation to biochemistry. The discovery was one of the biggest contributions to the history of science!  Besides that, this book also highlighting their healthy-rivalries (some said bitter rivalries) with people like Linus Pauling and their beautiful friendship stories. They were very serious and focus, yet very playful. In my opinion, they win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 because they were curious and passionately pursue one goal, one aim only: To find “the secret of life.”  I can feel Watson’s excitement for his work as he penned: “DNA was my only gold rush. I regarded DNA as worth a gold rush.” And so they found gold…
[However, since I’m a theist, I find that James Watson involvements in The Genome Human Project is ethically wrong. But as scientist and brilliant thinker, I admire him and Crick.]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Shared the Glory with the Father Before the World Began (John 17)

“When Jesus had finished saying all these things [about himself to the disciples] he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the time has come. Reveal the glory of your Son so that he can give the glory back to you. For you have given him authority over every man and woman in all the earth. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life – by knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth! I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to. And now, Father, reveal my glory as I stand in your presence, the glory we shared before the world begin’”
(John 17:1-5, The Living Bible, bracket mine)

As we read John 17, the time for Jesus’ glorification had arrived. If the Father would glorified the Son in the crucifixion and resurrection to come, the Son could in turn give eternal life to His followers [Remember: Eternal life is not so much as the longevity of life but the fullness of life, namely, life in fellowship with God]. In doing so, Jesus would glorified the Father. Jesus clearly stated that people could have eternal life by “knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” In this statement, Jesus affirmed that He had glorified the Father on earth by “doing everything” that the Father had given Him to do. This work would be accomplished through His death on the cross.

Then, what amazed me is, as Jesus looking beyond the cross to His resurrection and ascension, He asked the Father to restore the glory He had enjoyed with the Father “before the world begin.” Wow! There are two main proofs that Jesus’ prayer was answered: 1) Before Stephen was stoned to death, he exclaimed, “Look, I see the heavens opened and Jesus the Messiah standing beside God, at his right hand!” (Acts 7:56); and 2) After Jesus ascension to heaven, the Apostle Paul explains…

“Though [Jesus] was God,

did not demand and cling to his rights as God,

but laid aside his mighty power and glory,

taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.

And he humbled himself even further,

going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross.

Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven

and gave him a name which is above every other name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven

and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father”

(Philippians 2:6-11, The Living Bible)

                                                            

To me, clearly, Jesus knew who He was: the Son of God. Today people have wide ranging of ideas of Jesus’ identity. Some see Him as an idealistic religious leader; others highlight His moral teachings and example. Some call Him a radical, a revolutionary, and others focus on His concern for the poor, a socialist. While some views may have a bit of truth, these are the most important facts about Jesus: He is fully human and fully divine; He died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead; eternal life can be found only through faith in Him (that mean, for wrenched sinners like us, “the only way” is in fact, God’s grace to us). We can know a lot about various religious practices, the Scriptures, the exemplary of moral life and good works (of course, these are also important). But that means nothing unless we know Jesus.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus' Gift Is A Peace of Mind and Heart

[Jesus said] “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you – I am going away, but I will come back to you again... I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me”
(John 14:27-29, The Living Bible)

Lord Jesus’ gift to the disciples was “peace of mind and heart.” Jesus wasn’t promising the absence of troubles. In fact, in the near future Jesus Himself would personally endure great physical, emotional and spiritual pains and struggles. What Jesus promised was that they would have His peace in the midst of or during those conflicts and problems. So He affirmed His disciples to “don’t be troubled or afraid.” God was in control.

I think the disciples assumed as long as Jesus was present with them physically, they could rely on the peace and security He brought them, but what would they do when they had to face problems without Him? Besides His continued presence through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), Jesus promised His peace (“shalom”) will be with them. In the days and years to come – example, during the Book of Acts – Jesus’ gift of peace would be a vital source for the disciples. Later Jesus told them, “I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Why Jesus continued to speaks about His imminent departure and return to the disciples over and over again? Oh, so that they would not be surprised and fearful when these events occurred! They would recognize that Jesus knew what would happen (as He said it would be), and they would have confidence and faith in Him. Jesus wanted them to have “peace of mind and heart” and not be “troubled or afraid.” In the same way, as Christ believers we all face struggles, conflicts, tragedies, and broken dreams almost every day. Don’t be troubled and afraid! Jesus’ assurance in the past also applicable for us today: “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart.” At every turn, Jesus assures us of His presence and promise. The midst reality of problems and conflicts in life, God is with us.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

My Top 25 Classic/Contemporary Books that Change My Life (To Reread Again)

“A wisdom seeker will read a great book, savour it, and reread it in the future”

(Tony Reinke, Lit!)

My leader asked me, “You read a lot of books, is this a form of escapism for you?” My answers was (and is): “Yes, in one sense it is for the purpose of escape, but not so much as escapism. I’m not reading to avoid reality, but I do read to temporarily escape to another world.” For me what’s dangerous is when we read to escape from reality. What I’m promoting is that we read to escape to another world where we get help, encouragement and inspiration in order for us to return home to reality. Great books – Christian books or non-Christian books – can bring glory and honour to God, the Giver of Thought and Word, when those books help me to see more of God’s greatness, beauty and creativity. To these kind of books I want to escape to.

As Christians who treasure an ancient book – the Bible – we by new nature in Christ also (can or/and should) esteem old books. To be honest, many contemporary ‘Christian’ books today are not worth reading, and some are spiritually dangerous and somewhat very shallow. Given the vast number of such books in the marketplace, we need wisdom and discernment in what we read, lest we be unwittingly led astray. Therefore, it is recommendable that we read wisdom-proved old/classic books. C. S. Lewis values old books that he writes, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.”

Reading old/classic books is a good way to gain the perspective we need to guard our hearts and minds in this age of abundant nonsense and heresy. Having said that, I also would like to recommend great contemporary books that I think should be listed as classic (at least in my opinion). Here are my lists of classic and contemporary books that I will surely reread it again and again:

My Top Classic Books

1. Knowing God (First Published 1973) by J. I. Packer

2. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (First Published 1986) by John Piper

3. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (First Published 1978) by Richard Foster

4. Charismatic Chaos (First Published 1992) by John MacArthur

5. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (First Published 1563) by John Foxe

6. The Pilgrim’s Progress (First Published 1678) by John Bunyan

7. Mere Christianity (First Published 1952) by C. S. Lewis

8. Spurgeon: A New Biography (First Published 1984) by Arnold Dallimore

9. Bible Speaks Today Series: The Message of 2 Timothy (First Published 1973) by John Stott

10. The Challenge of Mission (First Published 1959) by Oswald J. Smith

11. The Holiness of God (First Published 1985) by R. C. Sproul

12. The Mind on Fire: An Anthology of the Writings of Blaise Pascal (First Published 1989) edited by James Houston

13. Expository Thoughts on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (First Published 1857) by John C. Ryle

14. The Confessions of St. Augustine (First known as “Confessions” written between AD397-400)

15. The Upside-Down Kingdom (First Published 1978) by Donald B Kraybill

16. Whatever Happened to Worship? (First Published 1985) by A. W. Tozer

My Top Contemporary Books (should be classic! Maybe some of it are)

1. God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (First Published 1998, but Jonathan Edwards’s The End For Which God Created the World was published in 1765) by John Piper

2. Don’t Waste Your Life (First Published 2003) by John Piper

3. The Supremacy of God in Preaching (First Published 1990) by John Piper

4. Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (First Published 1993) by John MacArthur

5. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading (First Published 2006) by Eugene H. Peterson

6. Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (First Published 2011) by Timothy Keller

7. Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus (First Published 2011) by John Eldredge

8. Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books (First Published 2011) by Tony Reinke

9. Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (First Published 2003) by David Pawson

My favourite preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, writes this about rereading books: ““Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them…digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be ‘much not many.” Now, go, read book!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Apakah Respon Musa Apabila Ada Orang Lain Bernubuat Seperti Nabi? (Bilangan 11)

“Maka keluarlah Musa lalu disampaikannya firman TUHAN kepada bangsa itu. Dia mengumpulkannya tujuh puluh orang daripada kalangan tua-tua bangsa itu dan disuruhnya mereka berdiri di sekeliling Khemah. Kemudian TUHAN hadir dalam awan dan berfirman kepada Musa. Diambil-Nya sebahagian daripada Roh yang ada pada Musa, lalu diletakkan-Nya pada kesemua tujuh puluh tua-tua umat itu. Ketika Roh itu turun ke atas mereka, bernubuatlah mereka seperti nabi, tetapi sesudah itu mereka tidak lagi bernubuat. Akan tetapi, ada dua orang tertinggal di perkhemahan, seorang bernama Eldad dan seorang lagi bernama Medad… Roh itu pun turun ke atas mereka dan mereka bernubuat seperti nabi di perkhemahan… Yosua anak Nun, yang menjadi pembantu Musa sejak masa mudanya, berkata, ‘Tuanku Musa, cegahlah mereka!’ Tetapi kata Musa kepadanya, ‘Adakah kamu mencemburui hal itu demi mendukung aku? Kalau sahaja seluruh umat TUHAN menjadi nabi kerana TUHAN mengurniakan Roh-Nya kepada mereka!’”
(Bilangan 11:24-26, 28-29, Alkitab Versi Borneo)

Musa sudah hampir burning out. Tugas yang diberikan oleh TUHAN kepadanya sangat besar dan adalah sangat mustahil bagi dia untuk melakukannya sendirian (walaupun Miriam dan Harun memimpin bersamanya). Jadi TUHAN meletakkan “sebahagian daripada Roh yang ada pada Musa” kepada “kesemua tujuh puluh tua-tua umat” atau pemimpin-pemimpin Israel. Selepas itu, Alkitab mengatakan bahawa ada dua orang daripada mereka – Eldad and Medad – keluar dari Khemah Allah dan mula bernubuat secara terbuka di kawasan perkhemahan orang Israel. Pada masa itu, Yosua merasakan ini merupakan suatu masalah yang besar!

Kenapa? Pada pendapat saya, Yosua melihat ‘tragedi’ ini sebagai suatu ancaman terhadap kepimpinan Musa. Sebelum ini hanya Musa yang bernubuat bagi orang Israel. Oleh itu, Yosua “mencemburui” hal itu kerana dia sangat ingin melindungi kepimpinan dan keunikkan tuannya Musa sebagai nabi orang Israel. Mungkin juga Yosua melihat Eldad dan Medad sebagai ancaman kepada kedudukannya sendiri. Dia menyeru supaya Musa mencegah atau sekurang-kurangnya menegur para nabi tersebut supaya tidak bernubuat lagi. Tetapi bagi Musa, dia tidak terasa diamcam. Malah dia mengalakkan supaya (jika boleh) “seluruh umat TUHAN menjadi nabi”! Musa tidak cemburu. Musa tidak rasa tergugat. Musa berharap semua orang diberkati oleh TUHAN, bukan dia sahaja. Memang padanlah apabila Firman Allah berkata: “Musa seorang yang begitu lembut hatinya, bahkan lebih lembut daripada semua umat yang berada di muka bumi ini” (Bilangan 12:3).

Dalam perkara-perkara rohani, ego boleh menjadi penghalang kepada kepimpinan kita. Melalui kes diatas, kita diingatkan oleh Musa supaya jangan terasa cemburu apabila ada orang lain dipanggil oleh TUHAN dan mempunyai kebolehan yang sama (atau lebih lagi) daripada kita. Semuanya tentang kemuliaan TUHAN, bukan tentang kemuliaan kita sendiri. Sebagai pemimpin, kita harus memberi galakkan dan mengajar orang lain untuk melayani TUHAN dan umat-Nya. Kita memimpin mereka supaya Kerajaan Allah yang harus diutamakan, bukan agenda kita didahulukan. Jika difikirkan baik-baik, sebenarnya kita tidak harus mendapat kredit apabila sebenarnya Roh Allah yang bekerja dalam kehidupan kita. Jauhi rasa cemburu dan ego dalam hal-hal rohani.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.