Malaysia Bible Seminari Experience

Dr Tony Lim asked me to write of my experience as a part time student at MBS so here goes:

As a new Christian believer, I used to think that an intellectual understanding of what and why we believe is not important as long as we have an experiential feeling in our heart! The heart is what you used in a relationship with God but the brain is what you used while studying science, computers, economics and history in school.


This results in a separation of the heart for spiritual stuffs and the mind for secular stuffs. But when that happens, no wonder our faith has so little impact on how we do our work or studies in the world. And no wonder our daily activities outside the church have very little to do with God or the gospel. Yet Scripture tells us: “Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds” (Romans 12:2). It doesn’t say “Be transformed by the removal of your minds”!

As I slowly discover that love for God involves all our being (heart, head and hands), I begin to see the value of theology in my own spiritual life and ministry. Together with a group of working adults, I enrolled in Malaysia Bible Seminari (MBS) on part time basis while working as an IT consultant. Despite the challenge of battling traffic jams to attend night classes, the MBS learning experience has been both personally-enriching and ministry-enabling. The able and helpful lecturers equipped me with a biblical framework of creation, sin and redemption through which I have the tools to discern truth from error, right from wrong, beauty from ugliness in contemporary Malaysian life and the world in general. Seminary training is an invaluable resource as I engage with marketplace issues through the blog: http://theagora.blogspot.com/

Today, there is an urgent and serious need for the church as a redeemed community to respond to current issues like racism, inter-religious harmony, creation care, globalization and ethics in medical technology. Since the gospel is public truth (not just private experience), we have a responsibility to think and speak biblically in the public square where such practical issues of life are discussed and decided. We cannot address these burning issues in our Malaysian society without faithfully and diligently applying our hearts and minds to connect God’s word with God’s world.