The Agora Ministry seeks to inspire & train laypeople in the marketplace to live out and proclaim the lordship of Christ over every domain of their life.
The Greek agora, or marketplace, was where citizens could meet to discuss issues of the day - ethics, life, faith and philosophy. A Ministry for the Malaysian church by CDPC. Subscribe To Agora Today!
"The driving force behind the journey in Gilbert's memoir is a pursuit of truth and divinity. 'You sometimes must reach out of [the world's] jurisdiction for help,' she explains, 'appealing to a higher authority in order to find your comfort.'[5] She knows she is lost and, having reached the end of herself, she cries, 'I just want God.'[6] Gilbert's trip may be indulgent, but her search is earnest. In the adaptation, Liz isn't searching for God, she's searching for herself - a pursuit that many critics have deemed narcissistic. Introspection isn't just selfish, however, it's depressing. The film begins as a treatise on individualism, but it gradually slumps into a rom-com because this offers an easier conclusion. In the book, Gilbert grapples with prayer in New York, forgiveness in an Indian ashram and compassion in a Balinese village. The film sees Liz search for the key to her identity at the same far reaches of the world, but - stopping short of spiritual exploration - perhaps she doesn't look far enough."
Presented this brief sharing to the Ripples youth group at CDPC Subang today on common misconceptions people have on Christians and Christianity in general. Download the full text here
One day, as I was having a conversation with my secondary school friends, someone asked if I am a Christian. I said, “Yes”. Immediately, he responded by saying, “Oh, in that case, you don’t believe in science.” To my surprise, my friend already has a misconception that Christians don’t believe in science. When you introduce yourself as a Christian, some misconceptions may already have colored his perception of our faith.
Misconception #1: Christians Don’t Believe in Science
a) Famous Christian scientists who contributed to the scientific movement because of their belief in an intelligent Creator who made an orderly world that can be discovered: Copernicus was an astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun, Francis Bacon established scientific method of inquiry through experiment and inductive reasoning, Kepler established the elliptical nature of planetary motion about the sun, Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity etc.
b) The problem is not with the Bible but with some people’s misinterpretation of the Bible. i.e. Even today we say, “The sun rises in the east” (as it appears to our eyes) even though we know it is scientifically inaccurate. Others mistook a non-biblical popular view (i.e. earth is center of solar system) for what the Bible teaches when it doesn’t teach so.
c) Sometimes some Christians may be careful of accepting a certain ‘scientific’ view not because of their faith but because of the lack of scientific evidence to support this view. But when we do real discoveries of the world, our body and the animals, we are finding out more about how God has designed the universe that reflect His wisdom and power. It motivates us to be better scientists.
Misconception#2: Christians are judgmental! Who are you to judge others?
Who are you to judge his or her lifestyle is wrong? Live and let live! Nowadays, you are forbidden to forbid. No one has the right to judge my own values and lifestyles. It’s my life. On the other extreme, there are people who are critical, resentful and narrow who loves to judge people to make themselves look more important. Jesus was speaking to both groups when He said, “Do not judge or you will be judged” (Matt 7).
Jesus is not saying we should not discern right from wrong or never point out wrong practice/beliefs in others for the sake of unity and tolerance. We are called to make good judgments about false prophets etc (Matt 7:6, 15, 21-23).
What He meant was we should not judge like the Pharisees who judged the wrong things (wrong to heal on Sabbath?) or make right judgments for the wrong reasons. They had a ‘holier than thou” superiority rather than humility. Instead of removing the plank in their own eye, they want to remove the speck of dust in others’ eyes. We need to deal with ourselves first, we will see clearly to help others. We do not claim perfection or superior than others. But we are commanded to know God’s word in order to find out what God wants us to believe and how He wants us to live. Discernment determines our destiny.
Misconception#3: Christians are so intolerant. They always force you to believe what they believe.
We need to be winsome, gentle and respectful when sharing the gospel with our friends. There are two dangers of just stopping to evangelize because we don’t want to offend our friends and to be over zealous in being too pushy when people are not yet ready. Very often, our role as witnesses is to ask them questions, drop hints and be like a guide on a journey to a wonderful new country.
But another cause of this misconception is due to our friends’ belief that all religions are valid paths to God. What they really mean is, “Yes, yes, yes… Jesus is the way to God, but there are other ways to get there too. So why insist everyone else to follow Jesus? All roads lead to Rome.” But if you come to think about it for just a minute, actually not all roads lead to Rome. You can’t drive to Rome using Jalan Puchong or Old Klang Road or Federal Highway. You just can’t pay the toll at LDP and get to Rome. Not all roads lead to Rome.
Jesus did not claim to be just one of many ways to God. He says: “I am the way; no one comes to God but by me.” That’s quite a big claim to make. A man who makes a claim to be the only way to God cannot be just another religious guru. He is either a mad man, a bad man or He is really who He claims to be. Jesus did not leave us the option of regarding him as just another wise human teacher. Great human teachers point to the truth, but they don't claim to be the truth. And yet, here we are confronted with the unique claim of Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life.
This is something that many people find hard to accept. In one of our family conversations about Christianity, my dear relatives told me, “How can you Christians believe that Jesus is the only way? That’s too narrow and exclusive. All religions are lead to God. We are like the ten blind men trying to describe an elephant. One guy touched its trunk and said “The elephant is like a snake”. Another touched its body and said, “No, it’s like a wall”. Yet another touched its leg and think it’s like a tree. As they argued amongst themselves, the King walked by and set them straight, “All of you only got part of the truth. The elephant is a huge animal and each of you touched only a part!”
At first, the story appears to be very humble and inclusive: The truth is greater than any one of us can understand. But the only way you can know that all religions have only part of the truth is if you have the whole truth. The only way you could know that none of the blind men have the whole truth is if you can see the elephant. The only way you can tell this story is if you are the King who sees everything. There is an appearance of humility but actually there is a hidden, almost arrogant assumption that the storyteller has a knowledge that is superior to all others. But how did he get this knowledge? How can he see when everyone else is blind? If I am blind and you are blind, then how can you possibly know what the elephant is really like? You see, the problem with this story is it is actually making a very exclusive statement that no one else got it all correct except himself.
And the funny thing is: the story also contains an important truth. Because the only Person who can see everything and know the complete truth is the King… It’s God Himself. No one else can do that. Like blind men, we humans are all limited and sinful creatures who can only see part of reality. There is nothing we can boast about because we are blind like everyone else groping in the dark. We won’t know what the truth is like unless… unless the King has spoken. Unless the King who knows everything reveals Himself to us and corrects our mistakes. And guess what? That is exactly what the gospel is all about. God has already revealed Himself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “I once was blind but now I see…” because God has revealed Himself to us. The only way we can know the truth is because He has made Himself known in Christ. He is not just one of many ways or one of many gods. Jesus is the way so let us walk in Him with confidence.
Misconception#4: Christianity is just a crutch for weak people
People need to believe in God because of psychological weakness, unable to cope with life, the desperate need for a father figure or emotional need for comfort or to overcome fear of unknowns.
a) We all need a crutch. In a sense, all of us are crippled (needy sinners) so we need a crutch to help us. So it’s a matter of whether we see our real needs and get help; or we ignore our needs and unable to walk properly.
b) People are often attracted to imagine up a religion for emotional needs – find comfort ad consolation even in self-made beliefs. That’s true. The Bible condemns this practice as idolatry – making substitutes of God who alone can meet our needs.
c) But emotional and psychological needs may also cause us to reject God too. Belief in an all powerful, all holy and all knowing God can be scary and uncomfortable to sinners too. So rejecting belief in God can also be a crutch for psychologically ‘weak’ people to run away from their fear of a Judge so they can live however they like. If we want a comfortable religion, we will not invent an awesome, holy and ‘traumatic’ God like the biblical God.
The latest edition of Kairos magazine: "Rediscovering the Whole Bible" is out! There is an article addressing how Christians can be confident that the Bible we read today accurately reflects the original writings and how to choose an English translation of the Bible:
Have you ever played the Telephone Game? It’s an all-time favorite ice breaker where the first player thinks up a phrase and whispers it to his immediate neighbor. And the message gets passed on quietly to the next person until it reaches the last player who in turn shouts it out loud.
In a ‘successful’ game, the final message would bear so little resemblance to the original statement that everyone breaks out in laughter.
Despite their best attempts, mistakes easily creep in somewhere down the line and distort the entire message.
If communication is such a precarious business, how can we know that the Bible we read today accurately reflect the original writings of the authors?
The original manuscripts were lost in the sands of time. All we have were copies of the original. But people make mistakes. Errors accumulate with each successive copy.
In a few hundred years, who could tell how much of the original message was left intact? Just like in the Telephone Game.
Compound that with the fact that the Bible was not written in English. Not even King James English.
Most of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew (a few passages were in Aramaic) while the entire New Testament was composed in Greek. That means that for most of us, the message of the Bible needs to be translated into a language we can read and understand.
But why are there so many different English versions of the Bible? How much confidence could we have in the accuracy of these translations?
Recovering Lost Lecture Notes
Unlike the telephone game, however, the biblical text was passed down to us in written form. Writings can be tested and less susceptible to distortions compared to oral whispers. In the ice breaker, communication is limited as “one-to-one” with everyone lined up in single file. But the Apostle Paul’s letters can be transmitted via multiple copies, which in turn duplicated into more numerous copies. Its transmission was non-linear.
The fact is that historians can confidently reconstruct what an ancient manuscript says from existing copies even though they may contain differences.
Here is an analogy of how it works.
During secondary school, I had an Economics teacher whose teaching style seems to have missed the invention of the photocopy machine. Mrs. Lee would write her lengthy lecture notes on the whiteboard while the students furiously copy them down before she could wipe them off.
Suppose that the entire class was hit by a flu bug on the crucial day that Mrs. Lee handed out her much-anticipated “spot questions and sample answers” before the exams. Only three students managed to attend the class and copy them down on their notepads. Pitying their sick friends, each of them lent their notes to ten of their classmates who in turn made more hand-written copies.
Since I had missed the class, the original copy on the whiteboard was lost forever. With exams only a week away, I anxiously tried to contact Mrs. Lee and the three students who made those copies. But for some mysterious reasons, they were also down with flu and quarantined for a week. In a state of panic, I rounded up all the remaining classmates and spread out thirty hand-written copies on the floor to recover the original wordings.
Immediately I can detect some differences. Ten copies have a misspelled word (“inflaxion” instead of “inflation”). Five copies had wrongly ordered phrases (“buy high, sell low” instead of “buy low, sell high”). And one copy contains an entire paragraph not found in any of the others.
Do you think I can accurately reconstruct Mrs. Lee’s original lecture notes based on these different copies?
Sure, I can. Misspellings can be easily spotted, mixed-up phrases can be corrected and it is more likely that an extra paragraph was added to one copy than for it to be omitted from twenty nine copies.
Authentic Text: How Many? How Early?
In simplified form, that is how the science of textual criticism works. Even with more numerous and complicated errors, historians can still recover an ancient document depending on two factors:
1) How many surviving copies do we have to compare and test? The more manuscripts we have, the easier it is to detect differences.
2) What is the time gap between the oldest surviving copies and the writing of the original? The closer to the original, the more confidence we have in the manuscripts.
First let us look at the statistics for non-biblical texts:
Caesar's The Gallic Wars has 10 surviving manuscripts with the earliest copy dating to 1,000 years after the original writing; Thucydides' History (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed); Herodotus' History (8 manuscripts; 1,350 years elapsed) and Tacitus' Annals (20 manuscripts; 1,000 years). The best preserved of ancient non-biblical writings is Homer’s Iliad with about 650 surviving copies (500 years elapsed).
In comparison, there are approximately 5,500 Greek existing manuscripts that contain all or part of the New Testament! The New Testament was written from about A.D. 50 to A.D. 90. Two major manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus (A.D. 325) and Codex Sinaiticus (A.D. 350) date within 250 years of the time of composition. Most fascinating of all, the earliest fragment of a small portion of John’s Gospel dates about A.D. 120 with other important fragments dating within 150-200 years from the time of composition.
On both counts, the manuscript evidence for the biblical texts overwhelmingly surpassed those of other ancient documents. If skeptics dismiss the Bible as unreliable, then they must also dismiss the reliability of virtually everything we learn from ancient documents.
Even if all of these precious biblical manuscripts were somehow lost, we could still reconstruct the entire New Testament from quotations of Scripture found in ancient catechisms, lectionaries and writings of the church fathers. As the gospel spread further by the end of the 2nd century A.D., New Testament translations were made into Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian and other languages. These early versions (more than 18,000 surviving copies) provide valuable resources for scholars to cross-check the original Greek wordings.
Sir Frederic Kenyon, former director of the British Museum and foremost authority on the subject, wrote:
"The interval between the dates of the original composition (of the New Testament) and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."
Found In Translation
Now, what about the accuracy of the English Bible translations? Even a brief visit to the nearest Christian bookstore would yield a bewildering variety of Bible versions available today.
How shall we even begin to decide on picking one for our personal use?
For almost three hundred years, the King James Version (completed in 1611) was the most widely accepted translation for English-speaking Protestants. Its lofty language had a profound influence on literature and history. However, modern readers began to find its archaic words hard to understand, thus providing impetus for the explosive growth of Bible translations.
Another important reason for fresh translations came about as archaeologists discovered more and older copies of the biblical text (i.e. the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Codex Sinaiticus). As we saw earlier, such a wealth of manuscript evidence enables us to get even closer to the original writings.
Thirdly, the proliferation of English versions resulted from different translation approaches adopted by the translators. Do they aim for an essentially literal word-for-word translation? Or is their goal a thought-for-thought translation that seeks to get the idea across instead? Or is it a free paraphrase like Eugene Peterson’s The Message? Although all translators need to balance readability and faithfulness to the original text, Bible versions differ in how each of these objectives is emphasized.
For the most accurate access to the biblical text, a modern translation that benefits from the best available manuscripts and adopts a ‘word-for-word’ approach that seeks to retain the words that the biblical authors wrote would be a preferred choice. A paraphrased version can provide an interesting read but when it comes to serious study of God’s inspired word, we need a translation that is as close to the original as possible.
Avoid translations made by a single person for it would leave us at the mercy of his or her own private interpretation. Most important translations are done by committees where its members can check on each other.
Choose a readable translation written in contemporary vernacular. You may also find certain Bible study tools like maps, study notes, cross-references and concordances helpful.
Lastly, it may be a good idea to try out a few translations before making your choice. When you come across a difficult verse, read it in several versions and observe the differences. You may also find online resources like Biblegateway.com convenient and inexpensive for this purpose.
Celebrating 2000 years of Christian art heritage, MICAS 2010 will be launched on the 6th Nov. (Saturday) @5pm at Galeri Dunia Seni Lukis in Kuala Lumpur.
A paper on Christ Alive in Culture will be presented by Dr Rev Rod Pattenden on the 7th Nov (Sunday) at the gallery hall. There will also be special art related workshops for those interested to attend.
Malaysians are spoilt for choice when it comes to food. Imagine walking into a giant food court where you can find Penang Laksa, Ipoh beansprout chicken, Indian curry, Iranian kebab, Nasi Padang, Western grilled steak, Hong Kong dim sum – almost everything else you can think of under the same roof. You can choose to eat anything you want. You can mix it up – eat a bit of sushi for appetizer, then chicken rice for main course and finish with rojak for dessert. How about that? Are you feeling hungry already?
But for a lot of people, making choices about spirituality or religion is also like eating in a food court. It’s all up to your personal tastes or preference. Some like it hot, others like it cold. It can also be a bit like ‘rojak’ – you just mix up all the ingredients and hopefully it tastes good. “Oh, I like my religion with a pinch of Buddhism, a sprinkle of Christianity, two cups of Lillian Too feng shui and a glass of Hinduism – shaken, not stirred.” What’s your personal religious preference?
So… in today’s society, for someone to even claim that a certain religious practice is wrong or that some religious beliefs are untrue, that would sound arrogant and intolerant. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s as if someone say to you, “You are wrong to choose nasi lemak for lunch today” or “You are a bad person if you chose to eat “char koay teow”. You should have chosen Maggi goreng.” That sounds so intolerant (it doesn’t make sense) because we live in a time of “rojak spirituality”. People choose their faith or spirituality or religion based on personal taste or preferences. You like chocolate ice cream, I like strawberry flavor. You like Islam, I like Christianity, she likes Buddhism. It’s based on what we like. There is no right or wrong answer here.
But truth or reality is not like ice cream. It is more like insulin. When my wife Grace was pregnant with Zhen, she was found to have gestational diabetes. Maybe due to hormonal imbalance, her body does not produce enough insulin to break down sugar in her blood. So what did she need to do? Almost everyday she has to give herself an insulin injection to maintain her health. And she cannot say, “I don’t feel like taking insulin anymore. Let’s see… I think I would prefer to take ice cream instead”. If she stopped taking insulin and choose ice cream, it would be very bad for her health and for the baby. In the same way, we are all sin-sick people in need of a cure that is the gospel. We don’t get to decide what is true based on our subjective tastes. That’s make-believe. Reality is like a solid rock. Just because we don’t like it doesn’t make it false. Just because we like something doesn’t make it true either. When it comes to spirituality or faith, the reason we ought to believe something is because it is true… Truth is like insulin to someone who suffers from diabetes, it’s not ice cream.
And in the passage of Scripture we read just now, Jesus was about to go to the cross. It was just before the Passover feast. He knew His time was near. He had lived the life that we should have lived and now He would face the death that we should have died. He came from God and He was going back to God. He was about to accomplish His mission in the world and return to the Father. So he was having his last meal together with his disciples. But his disciples were worried – “Who is going to betray Jesus? The Master is leaving us but where is He going?”
So Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; Trust in God, trust also in Me. In my Father's house are many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you with me. You know the way to the place where I am going."
One of the disciples Thomas asked him: “But Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how do we know the way?” And then Jesus replied with this famous statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.” Great teachers point us to the truth, but they don't claim to BE the truth. Jesus, however, makes this amazing claim about himself – I am the way, the truth and the life.
So today I’d like to consider THREE implications of Jesus’ unique claim for us, Malaysian Christians, living in a multi-religious, multi-cultural society such as ours:
1st implication: Jesus is the way so walk in Him with confidence.
Some years back, I met a church leader who believed that all religions are valid paths to God. He told me, “Yes, yes, yes… Jesus is the way to God, but there are other ways to get there too.” All roads lead to Rome. But if you come to think about it for just a minute, actually not all roads lead to Rome. You can’t drive to Rome using Jalan Puchong or Old Klang Road or Federal Highway. You just can’t pay the toll at LDP and get to Rome. Not all roads lead to Rome.
Jesus did not claim to be just one of many ways to God. He says: “I am the way; no one comes to God but by me.” That’s quite a big claim to make. A man who makes a claim to be the only way to God cannot be just another religious guru. He is either a mad man, a bad man or He is really who He claims to be. Jesus did not leave us the option of regarding him as just another wise human teacher. Great human teachers point to the truth, but they don't claim to be the truth. And yet, here we are confronted with the unique claim of Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life.
This is something that many people find hard to accept. In one of our family conversations about Christianity, my dear relatives told me, “How can you Christians believe that Jesus is the only way? That’s too narrow and exclusive. All religions are lead to God. We are like the ten blind men trying to describe an elephant. One guy touched its trunk and said “The elephant is like a snake”. Another touched its body and said, “No, it’s like a wall”. Yet another touched its leg and think it’s like a tree. As they argued amongst themselves, the King walked by and set them straight, “All of you only got part of the truth. The elephant is a huge animal and each of you touched only a part!”
At first, the story appears to be very humble and inclusive: The truth is greater than any one of us can understand. But the only way you can know that all religions have only part of the truth is if you have the whole truth. The only way you could know that none of the blind men have the whole truth is if you can see the elephant. The only way you can tell this story is if you are the King who sees everything. There is an appearance of humility but actually there is a hidden, almost arrogant assumption that the storyteller has a knowledge that is superior to all others. But how did he get this knowledge? How can he see when everyone else is blind? If I am blind and you are blind, then how can you possibly know what the elephant is really like? You see, the problem with this story is it is actually making a very exclusive statement that no one else got it all correct except himself.
And the funny thing is: the story also contains an important truth. Because the only Person who can see everything and know the complete truth is the King… It’s God Himself. No one else can do that. Like blind men, we humans are all limited and sinful creatures who can only see part of reality. There is nothing we can boast about because we are blind like everyone else groping in the dark. We won’t know what the truth is like unless… unless the King has spoken. Unless the King who knows everything reveals Himself to us and corrects our mistakes. And guess what? That is exactly what the gospel is all about. God has already revealed Himself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “I once was blind but now I see…” because God has revealed Himself to us. The only way we can know the truth is because He has made Himself known in Christ. He is not just one of many ways or one of many gods. Jesus is the way so let us walk in Him with confidence.
2nd implication: Jesus is the truth so proclaim Him with humility
A few months ago, the Singapore Internal Security Department called up a church leader, Pastor Tan (not to be confused with our own Pastor Tan), after receiving complaints about two video clips he had posted on his church website that showed him making "insensitive comments about Buddhism." The Ministry of Home Affairs said that his remarks were "highly inappropriate and unacceptable as they trivialised and insulted the beliefs of Buddhists and Taoists." The pastor has since removed the video clips from the website and he apologized to the Buddhist and Taoist communities, promising that such incidents would not happen again. This could easily happen in Malaysia as well and it shows the need for Christians to rethink how we relate to people of other faiths. Do we ever catch ourselves making inaccurate, insensitive or insulting jokes about other religious beliefs or practices?
Indeed, we need to share the truth of the gospel faithfully, without watering down the gospel. But we also need to speak the truth in love, gentleness and humility. We need to respect and honor those who have yet to know Christ as persons who were made in God’s image. They have the right to believe, practice and propagate their faiths even if they don’t agree with us. We should celebrate and not begrudge the fact that people of different religions are capable of great moral integrity and profound wisdom too. When we see what is good, true and beautiful being taught by others, we can thank God that in spite of our sinful natures, this is still possible because of the common humanity we share with them. Although tainted by sin, the image of God in fallen people can still produce something good, true and beautiful. And we can use these common grounds (our shared humanity) as a bridge to dialogue with others and communicate the gospel that only in Christ would the truth, the beauty and the goodness that we all cherish make any sense at all. A missionary in Indonesia Martin Goldsmith wrote, “Sin and the remnant image of God interact both in cultures and religions. So we dare not dismiss all cultures and religions as merely demonic, evil or totally false.” Instead, there is every reason for Christians to listen to our non-Christian neighbors and humbly learn what they believe about God, about life, about truth and about salvation. Seek first to understand then be understood.
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of speaking to a mixed group of medical students at an interfaith dialogue. It was something I have always wanted to do. The topic was on the Purpose of Life. A Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian speaker was each given 15 minutes to present their views followed by questions and answers from the students. I felt it was a fruitful time as I learn from the other speakers and students. Interestingly, I also get to (legally and openly) share the gospel in front of a few dozen Muslim students. Open conversation and evangelism should not be seen as mutually exclusive. Instead, gospel witness invites dialogues and questions. And having meaningful dialogue with our neighbors expands and deepens our gospel witness. On a more personal level, interfaith conversations like that can happen at the mamak stall, kopitiam, cafeteria or anywhere. And I’m so glad that some of us in CDPC Puchong organized a visit to the Shah Alam mosque with a team from our partner churches in America. We went there to dialogue with the imam, to learn and ask questions about Islam. You see, this is the kind of dialogue, truth encounter and mutual understanding needed not only for our American mission team, but especially for our Malaysian youths as well. It would be tragic if we spend our whole lives growing up in Malaysia but never know anything about what our neighbors really believe or what worship means to them just down the road.
But for some Malaysians, interfaith dialogues like that are strictly forbidden and feared. There are loud voices in our society that say: “Only my religion is true, so how can I sit side by side with these other religions? What’s there to dialogue about? Interfaith dialogues will threaten and confuse our faith. No way! ”
But as a Christian, I have a different take on this. I don’t want to shut myself out from mutual learning because that only shows that we are not confident in what we believe. If we know what we believe is true and why we believe the things we believe then we can be confident that the truth will withstand any test. And the truth will be shown to be true no matter what others may say. The truth does not need to fear falsehood. Light is not threatened by darkness. Just the presence of light dispels darkness.
So there is no place for arrogance or insensitive jokes when it comes to speaking the truth. If people want to reject the gospel, let them do so because they refuse to accept the claims of the gospel, and not because they are turned off by our offensive or insensitive behavior. The truth is not an abstract list of dos-and-don’ts or a religious experience. The truth is personal and historical. Jesus is the truth so let us proclaim Him with humility, gentleness and respect.
The last implication: Jesus is the life so live with grace for others
There is a good reason why the idea that all religions are equally valid or “rojak spirituality” (as I call it) is so popular today. In a global village where we live so close to each other, people want to avoid religious violence and conflicts. After the September 11 attack, the ‘war on terror’ or closer to home, the cow-head incident in Shah Alam and the pig-head incidents at Old Klang Road, the world is desperately looking for ways in which different religious groups can live in peace, harmony and tolerance. That is a very noble and sincere motivation that we all share. But the thinking goes like this: “If you claim to have the truth and others don’t, that will lead to conflict and oppression. You will look down on others, right? My faith is better than yours. The followers of my religion are more holy than yours. You unclean people cannot come inside my place of worship.”
We know only too well how religion can be used by some politicians to divide, exclude and control people, don’t we? Recently there was a controversy in Penang about whether Muslims can pray for their non-Muslim leaders in the mosque. And there was another hoo-haa in Selayang over non-believers stepping into a mosque. For some, that’s strictly forbidden. You can’t even pray for those who don’t share your faith.
So wouldn’t it be nice if everybody thinks all religions are the same, then there is nothing to fight about rite? Sounds nice, but only if everybody in the world thinks like that… The problem is: You can have peace if and only if followers of all faiths play down their own beliefs and exclusively agree on another ‘faith’ different from their own. A superficial unity is achieved at the cost of ignoring genuine differences. But tolerance itself implies disagreement. You cannot ‘tolerate’ people who agree with you. They are on your side! Tolerance implies that you don’t agree on the same thing. If every person believes in the same thing that all religions are equal, then what room is there for tolerance and respect?
So on one extreme we have people who believe in absolute truth but promote conflict and separation; on the other extreme we have people who want to promote peace but they give up on the truth. Maybe there is another way. Because Jesus is the resurrection life, He can empower us to live as agents of peace and reconciliation in the society. How can the gospel do that? Well, if you believe that God accepts you because of your good works and salvation depends on how holy and righteous you are in obeying laws and regulations, then it’s very easy for you to look down on those who are not as good, holy and righteous. “Hhmph! Those are unbelievers, I want nothing to do with them. They are sinful and unclean.” Or you will look at the religious people and think, “Hmmph! Those religious fanatics, I want nothing to do with them. They are exclusive, crazy and violent!”
But the gospel says you are not saved by your performance, wisdom or morality. You are saved when you admit that you are never good enough so you need Jesus the Savior to save you from your sins. Not because of what you have done but what Christ had done on the cross for you. You are saved by grace. It’s a gift that you don’t deserve… Tim Keller said it this way: The gospel humbles you (you’re not better than others) and leads you to expect that those who don’t agree with you may be morally better than you. You would expect to find nonbelievers who are much nicer, wiser and better than we are. So you can’t look down on others. At the heart of the gospel is the life of a man who died for his enemies, prayed and forgave those who opposed and slandered him. If you follow Him, if your life is modeled after His Life, then how can you be violent to others? You can’t. His Life will release and empower you to be a peace maker, to be generous and sacrificially serve and pray for those who are different and even opposed to you. That’s what the world desperately need today. Won’t you like to be part of it?
We have just celebrated 53 years of independence. At such a time as this in Malaysia, we desperately need citizens who are committed to the common good of all and not just the interests of our own race. Perhaps there is no better time for Christians to be peace makers, to intercede for the well being of non-Christian leaders, sacrificially serve those who are different than us and sincerely invite them to our place of worship for fellowship and conversations… Perhaps that’s what it means to be salt and light in our context here in Puchong… Jesus is the Life so let us live with grace for others.
We (Malaysians) are spoilt for choice when it comes to food. Imagine walking into a giant food court where you can find Penang Laksa, Ipoh beansprout chicken, Indian curry, Iranian kebab, Nasi Padang, Western grilled steak, Hong Kong dim sum – almost everything else you can think of under the same roof. You can choose to eat anything you want. You can mix it up – eat a bit of sushi for appetizer, then chicken rice for main course and finish with rojak for dessert. How about that?
But for a lot of people, making choices about spirituality or religion is also like eating in a food court. It’s all up to your personal tastes or preference. Some like it hot, others like it cold. It can also be a bit like ‘rojak’ – you just mix up all the ingredients and hopefully it tastes good. “Oh, I like my religion with a pinch of Buddhism, a sprinkle of Christianity, two cups of Lillian Too feng shui and a glass of Hinduism – shaken, not stirred.” What’s your personal religious preference?
So… in today’s society, for someone to even claim that a certain religious practice is wrong or that some religious beliefs are untrue, that would sound arrogant and intolerant. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s as if someone say to you, “You are wrong to choose nasi lemak for lunch today” or “You are a bad person if you chose to eat “char koay teow”. You should have chosen Maggi goreng.” That sounds so intolerant (it doesn’t make sense) because we live in a time of “rojak spirituality”. People choose their faith or spirituality or religion based on personal taste or preferences. You like chocolate ice cream, I like strawberry flavor. You like Islam, I like Christianity, she likes Buddhism. It’s based on what we like. There is no right or wrong answer here.
But truth or reality is not like ice cream. It is more like insulin. When my wife Grace was pregnant with Zhen, she was found to have gestational diabetes. Maybe due to hormonal imbalance, her body does not produce enough insulin to break down sugar in her blood. So what did she need to do? Almost everyday she has to give herself an insulin injection to maintain her health. And she cannot say, “I don’t feel like taking insulin anymore. Let’s see… I think I would prefer to take ice cream instead”. If she stopped taking insulin and choose ice cream, it would be very bad for her health and for the baby. In the same way, we are all sin-sick people in need of a cure that is the gospel. We don’t get to decide what is true based on our subjective tastes. That’s make-believe. Reality is like a solid rock. Just because we don’t like it doesn’t make it false. Just because we like something doesn’t make it true either. When it comes to spirituality or faith, the reason we ought to believe something is because it is true… Truth is like insulin to someone who suffers from diabetes, it’s not ice cream.
I will be preaching on how we can be peace makers and gospel heralds in a pluralistic society this coming Sunday @ City Discipleship Presbyterian Church Puchong.
Time: 10 am
Date: 5 Sept (Sunday)
PS: We have just celebrated 53 years of independence as a nation. At such a time as this in Malaysia, we desperately need citizens who are committed to the common good of all and not just the interests of our own race. Perhaps there is no better time for Christians to be peace makers, to intercede for the well being of non-Christian leaders, sacrificially serve those who are different than us and sincerely invite them to our place of worship for fellowship and conversations… Perhaps that’s what it means to be salt and light in our context here in Puchong…
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO PASTORAL LEADERSHIP AND SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
Churches today that aspire to grow big eagerly seek out strong leaders to lead the way. However, the price of rapid growth seems to be the displacement of pastoral ministry by organizational imperatives that prioritize efficiency and programs over personal relationships.
There is concern that strong leadership without accountability may lead to abuse of power, resulting in problems such as leadership cronyism, misappropriation of finances and sexual impropriety.
How can churches maintain the balance between organizational imperatives and pastoral care that is vital for healthy church growth in contemporary society? What biblical resources may be found to help churches and Christian leaders address the problems and challenges confronting church leadership, spiritual authority and pastoral ministry today?
These are some of the important issues that will be discussed at the Forum.
Who Should Attend?
Pastors, Church Leaders and Lay Leaders
VENUE: PETALING JAYA GOSPEL HALL
DATE: THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2010
TIME: 9.30AM – 12.00 NOON
SPEAKERS:
PROFESSOR D. A. CARSON
(Research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Illinois, USA).
BISHOP DR. HWA YUNG
(Methodist Church Malaysia)
CHAIRMAN: DR. NG KAM WENG
(Research Director, Kairos Research Centre)
My new book is now available in both hard cover and paperback. This is the textbook for Project Timothy with live sessions in New York, San Diego, Basel and Petaling Jaya. For details, please write to pt@actministry.org
This is Project Timothy's Guide to the New Testament. Each book of the NT is introduced according to the chronology of its publication. So we start with the Epistle of James. It covers the different genres of writing and features biblical exegesis and hermeneutics in engagement with archaeology, the sciences, philosophy and historiography. This is an ideal book for Christians and unbelievers who seek a no nonsense examination of the New Testament for the 21st century. Written by an evangelical independent scholar, the contents are not beholden to any hidden agenda or denominational requirements. The only affirmation of the author is that the Bible is an inspired writing to guide the confessional follower of Jesus, the Christ. Visit us at www.actministry.org
Change Your World (CYW) started in 2009 and it goes from city to city to create awareness; presenting real issues and practical solutions towards JUSTICE, MERCY & FAITHFULNESS.
We hope to journey our generations towards CITY, NATION OWNERSHIP & WORLD IN CRISIS AWARENESS.
In order for all this to happen, we need to PRAY, ACT and LEAD.
Who is involved in Change Your World?
CYW targets the millennial generation (15 – 25 years old).
However, we need working adults and families to rise up to be the MENTORS & FATHERS to this generation.
How do we do it?
CYW is not a one-time event but a journey:
1. CYW Quest (Pre-Event) – interactive one-hour sessions that takes place 2 months before the Tour to create awareness and inspire change
2. CYW Tour (Event) - an energetic concert interlaced with challenging messages and compelling calls to initiate change
3. CYW Venture (Post-Event) – practical solutions to bring change starting with “I Love (My City)” projects and/or trainings.
Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet” for good reasons. In the royal courts, Jeremiah functioned as the magisterial enforcer of the covenant with primarily tragic laments and warnings of divine retribution (chapter 10 - 11). He reminded the people of the terms of the covenant God made at Sinai with their forefathers when He delivered them out of Egypt and the blessings and curses spelled out in Deuteronomy. His ministry lasted for about 40 years, which spanned the reign of Josiah and his reforms (2 Kings). But these reforms were not radical even for idolatry was still rampant in the land (Jeremiah 3:6). He called the faithless nation to return to the Lord (3:11-13) but Judah has not learnt from the lesson of northern kingdom’s fall. Even the leaders, priests and prophets were corrupted and worshipped Malak and the gods of the stars (chapter 7-8). Therefore the time of repentance was over and renewal would only come after the exile. Only judgment awaited the nation. Such unpopular message caused Jehoiakim and other leaders to threaten to persecute and kill him.
Jeremiah 7 tells us of the social injustices perpetrated in the land. The leaders were complacently thinking that just because the temple was in Jerusalem, the city would never fall. They were focused on the external appearance of the temple without obeying the Mosaic covenant to deal justly with the marginalized. Jeremiah cried out: “Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless, or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place and do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers.’” (7:1)
Jeremiah was told not to marry or to father children because the threat of invasion and exile were looming. Jeremiah 16 tells of the horrifying aftermath of wars and starvation as seen from the perspective of an eyewitness to the siege and fall of Jerusalem. The prophet himself was carried off at the end of the book to Egypt into exile and died there. No wonder the book of Jeremiah was filled with complaints and laments as he carried out such a difficult calling (Jeremiah 1:17-19). The Lord reassures him that he will be sustained and strengthened like a wall of bronze so he will not be overcome by opposition (15:15).
Yet there is a message of hope and comfort in Jeremiah 30 – 33. The prophet explained to the exilic community the reasons for God’s severe punishment. Upon repentance in 70 years God will return them to Judah and establish a new covenant. The new covenant will be different because God will put His law in the hearts and minds of the people instead of putting it on stone tablets. God will forgive their sins and the knowledge of God will be widespread (31:31). God is not finished with the Davidic dynasty yet despite the failure of his descendants. Jeremiah 23 explains, “The days are coming when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called, the LORD Our Righteousness.”
His message to the exiles in a foreign land was to settle down and seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which they has been deported (29:4).
Thanks to the kind invitation of Elder Chew, I will be preaching at Klang Presbyterian Church on apologetics (yesterday) and cultural engagement this coming Sunday. Some past issues of Kairos magazine will be distributed for free. Say hi! if you happen to drop by.
Date: 15 August 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 11 am
Venue: 103, Jalan Batu Tiga
41300 Klang
Selangor
KLANG VALLEY BIBLE CONFERENCE (KVBC) 2010
Expositions of Selected Parables of Jesus
Date: 13 to 15 September 2010 (Monday to Wednesday)
Time: 8:15 p.m. nightly
Venue: Clubhouse, Tropicana Golf & Country Club, Petaling Jaya
Speaker: Dr Donald A Carson
Free Admission
Please note that Dr Carson will also be conducting the Klang Valley Expository Preaching Seminar 2010, details as follows:
KLANG VALLEY EXPOSITORY PREACHING SEMINAR (EPS) 2010
Preaching from Apocalyptic Texts - with special reference to Revelation
Date: 14 and 15 September 2010 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Venue: Clubhouse, Tropicana Golf & Country Club, Petaling Jaya
Speaker: Dr Donald A Carson
Cost: to be confirmed (please refer to the registration forms when they are out)
Registration is required as seating is limited.
Registration forms will be available by end July 2010 from Evangel Book Centre (SS2, Petaling Jaya) and our website http://www.kvbc.info/
Quick. What's the first thought that comes to mind? ___________.
Many people find work to be stressful, busy, tedious, and meaningless. For example:
a) Work = traffic jam, back-to-back meetings, endless projects, office politics, meaningless KPIs.
b) Work = cooking, washing, feeding, keeping the house neat, ferrying the kids to tuition.
c) Work = homework, more stupid homework. And trying to stay awake during boring classes.
Do you hope for meaningful work? Do you think it's possible for your work to help you become more Christ-like in the way you think and act? Do you desire to be more attentive to God's presence while you work? Do you long for Christ's presence? Do you want to take your soul to work?
If you identify with any of the challenges and questions above...
We invite you to attend a three-part series on Taking your Soul to Work. The sermons will be interactive, reflective and practical. Each sermon will feature a 10-minute conversation with a "mystery guest." After the Sunday morning service, there will be Q&A opportunities to interact with the guests.
Details as follows.
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July 11: Prayer as Work.
To take our souls to work, we prioritize private prayer as work. Jesus will serve as our mentor in choosing silence and solitude as life became increasingly busy. A lecturer/counselor at a large private university will share her experiences of what led her to spend eight days of silence in prayer -- and why prayer became so important for her as she faced the tyranny of the urgent.
What to expect: we will reflect and seek creative ways to practice prioritizing prayer as work.
July 18: Praying and Working.
To take our souls to work, we pray intentionally while we work. The Lord's Prayer will serve as our model and approach in praying regularly throughout the day. A senior business executive at a large corporation will share his experiences of what led him to pray before work, during work and after work -- and why he has found this practice to be so life-giving amid the stresses of daily work.
What to expect: we will reflect and seek creative ways to practice being attentive to God while we work.
July 25: Work as Prayer
To take our souls to work, we bring our whole selves to work. The Apostle Paul will serve as our mentor in transforming the fruits of his labor into prayer. A mother, counselor and CEO of a thriving restaurant and boutique business will share her experiences of what led her to place her life and work in God's hands -- to trust that all will be well amid the tough leadership decisions of daily life.
What to expect: we will reflect and seek creative ways to practice becoming 'prayer-full' workers.
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Dates: July 11, 18 and 25 (Sundays)
Time: Worship service starts at 10am
Venue: City Discipleship Presbyterian Church (CDPC) Puchong
1-13 and 1-15 (1st floor)
Jalan Merbah 1, Bandar Puchong Jaya
47100 Puchong
Directions: CDPC Puchong is next to IOI Mall's new wing, on the first floor above Puchong Lakeview Cafe.
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About the speaker:
Alvin Ung sees himself as a beginner in prayer. He regrets not being attentive to the life of prayer while he worked as a counselor, analyst, journalist and telecommunications executive. He's grateful that his subsequent work in theology, philanthropy, leadership development, fatherhood and marriage have become a training ground and playground for integrating prayer and work.
Alvin is currently a Fellow at Khazanah Nasional, where is he is writing a book on the mindsets and methodologies of breakthrough leaders in Malaysia. His other book, Taking Your Soul to Work: Overcoming the Nine Deadly Sins of the Workplace, will be released by Eerdmans in September 2010. He is undergoing training in a three-year program as a Spiritual Companion in Ignatian spirituality. He's married to Huey Fern. They have a son, Andrew.
Question: Shouldn't we spend our time and resources helping poor people rather than animals or plants?
Vinoth Ramachandran once remarked that the question is like asking a poor mother not to bother about her child’s education because feeding him is more important. Of course, both basic needs should be our concern although in some contexts, saving lives would have higher priority than environmental conservation.
In most situations, however, it’s not an either/or choice. The well-being of rural poor is often dependent on a sustainable ecosystem. The natural resources are their ‘pharmacy’ (from which they gather medicinal herbs) and ‘local supermarket’ (from which they are supplied daily needs) and water supply system. Environmental degradation disproportionately affects the poor. Since there is close interdependence in the ecosystem, animal and plant extinctions would ultimately be unhealthy to people as well. Helping people to manage and develop their natural resources in a sustainable manner would in turn alleviate poverty.
Therefore, we must care for both people and for non-human elements of God’s creation.
Obeying God’s commandment to be responsible stewards of His world is also an expression of love for the Creator and for people, especially the rural poor.
The main challenge to creation care is to start with ourselves. None of us likes to change our lifestyle if it involves perceived inconvenience. If each of us care enough to act in the light of what we discover, we can begin to live a simpler lifestyle, reduce pollution load and free up more resources for those really in need.
Dean Ohlman wrote, “We must not prioritize our ethical obligations to such an extent that we excuse the plight of animals made to suffer unnecessarily by our neglect or cruelty.”
Question: Isn't this business about ‘saving the earth’ a distraction to the church’s task of ‘saving souls’?
This question is best addressed by asking a similar question – “Is parenting a distraction from our Christian task of evangelism?”
For those of us with children, parenting is a time-consuming responsibility we carry out daily. It’s part and parcel of living in obedience to God. We rarely need to choose between caring for our children and witnessing for Christ. We perform each duty when it is required and doing either one does not contradict the other.
In the same way, Dean Ohlman observed that “earth-keeping is a natural and integral aspect of our day-to-day decision-making regarding spending, work, consumption, transportation, waste management, and so forth. The problem is that not until recently have we come to understand how irresponsible we have been regarding this foundational aspect of daily living.”
A Christian analysis of environmental degradation sees its primary cause in our broken relationship with God which leads us on a futile quest for fulfillment at the expense of the earth. Instead of purveying more gloomy news and passing more laws, lasting progress can only come about when people have a radical change of heart. And the fruit of gospel witness should result in transformed hearts and reordered lifestyles towards God, other people and the creation as part of our discipleship.
The conservation movement today is in dire need of hope that the good news has to offer.
Not only that. Every time we care for creation, we are really witnessing to the Creator.
We are demonstrating to the community the practical outworking of the gospel with our lives.
For instance, A Rocha, a Christian conservation movement, took a piece of unkempt land in West London and turned it into an oasis for wildlife called Minet Country Park. It raised questions among the neighboring people, “Why are they doing this?” It gives opportunities for them to find out that our ecology is based on the gospel and our gospel is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Question: What’s the point? The ecological problems are so huge. What I do won't make any difference.”
Environmental stewardship is a loving response to God and turning away from consumerist lifestyles. As Christians, we can do what is right not primarily because of the perceived usefulness, but as an act of worship. This perspective frees us from the despair that secular environmentalists face – to act rightly while trusting in the sovereignty of God for the results even when the circumstances look bleak.
The technological advances in telecommunication and the Internet have shrunk the world into a global village. Malaysia and Singapore are actively involved in the globalisation process and its subset glocalisation. While there is no agreed definition of globalisation, it is often understood to have the following characteristics: increasing speed in communication, the interconnected world become smaller, the blurring of national borders, reciprocity, manageable risk, and presence of trust. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the influence of globalisation on Christian spiritual formation in the churches in Malaysia and Singapore, and suggest some possible measures for these churches to enhance the positive effects while limiting the negative ones.
Why care for creation if it is to be destroyed by fire eventually (2 Peter 3:10-13)? Why bother since we'd be whisked away safely in our spirits from this God-forsaken physical planet?
Our Christian duty to be responsible stewards of God’s creation is based on clear biblical instruction in the Creation Mandate and motivated by love for the Creator and love for our neighbors, whose well-being depends very much on a sound ecosystem. (See Dr Leong Tien Fock’s article on Creation Care in this edition of Kairos for more details).
Therefore, it does not ultimately rest on any eschatological debate on whether the present universe will be utterly destroyed and replaced by a new universe created from scratch. It is clear though that the earth as it is now will not remain forever but will pass away.
The passage in 2 Peter 3:6-13 seem to imply that the present world will be subjected to judgment by fire but would ultimately result in the new heaven and the new earth. John Piper writes, “When Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:10 say that the present earth and heavens will ‘pass away,’ it does not have to mean that they go out of existence, but may mean that there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes away.
We might say, ‘The caterpillar passes away, and the butterfly emerges.’ There is a real passing away, and there is a real continuity, a real connection.”
Through fire, the present universe will be refined, restored, renewed and transformed into the new one. Just as the old world was destroyed by the Flood and the present world arose out of it, so also would the present world be dissolved by fire to give rise to a purified new heaven and new earth (2 Peter 3:5-7).
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.
Although liberation theology is by no means monolithic, certain broad emphases are discernible in how its practitioners understand the function of theological reflection. In contrast with abstract metaphysics that seem disconnected with ordinary life, liberal theologians stressed that theology should proceed in dialectical relationship with the common experience of oppression and poverty. The theologian is not a disinterested and neutral observer.
Rather his or her commitment to the poor against unjust structures which dehumanize God’s children becomes the particular, concrete context for critical reflection on praxis in light of God’s word. Committed action comes first, reflection follows as a second step. An understanding of liberation theology cannot be acquired by mere learning without actively taking the first step of embarking on its path.
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