Dave's original introduction to The Agora

Note: this is a classic intoroduction that Dave wrote that I (Leon) just felt should be published here.

Monday, September 27, 2004
The Agora

What is your 'hot button'?
What 'disses u off'' and keeps you up at night?
IF you can change one thing in the world, what would it be?

(Questions that Ps Soo Inn asked at an Ibridge camp last year, though not in those exact terms)

Sometimes, I get 'sleepless in Puchong' and bang my head against the wall when I think of the questions culture is asking about "What is truth? What is the good life? etc." because it appears that the Bible has some pretty good answers.

But somehow, we're not thinking after God's thoughts or loving Him with our minds as well as our hearts.

Like me, most Christian kids me go through education without sufficiently equipped to handle the -isms they learn in class. So we either swallow them whole or ignore them or retreat into a ghetto-like piety.

Everyday we are shaped by the spirit of the age without being aware of it. And I don't mean the 'territorial demons' hovering above KL, ok?

Naturalism in the papers - "Scientists found genes that cause infidelity".
Islamic polemics over radio - "How can God be one and three?"
Relativism in the movies - "There is no spoon"
Secular hedonism in the popular songs - "It can't be wrong if it feels so right".

On one hand we got fantastic scholars in Kairos writing fascinating stuffs. But most of the grassroots seem to be 'asleep in the light'.

Can't we bridge the gap and 'put these cookies on a lower shelf'? (To borrow Greg Koukl's phrase)

Recently some friends and I got together to start something. We have no name for it yet. "Submergent" sounds too much like an undercover-underground cell - haha!

One suggestion was: Project Lord of the Rings. Because it seems that people of diverse backgrounds and gifts are coming together to contribute their bit. We need a healthy mix of hobbits, elves and wizards... also, some human students, intelligent and inquiring adults, lawyer, philosopher, politician, Christian hedonist - strange and potent blend, indeed.

Time: 6.00 pmVenue: CDPC (map in www.cdpc.org)Date: 16 October 2004 (Saturday)Topic: "Do All Roads Lead to Rome?"

Interested folks can contact me at hedonese@yahoo.com

PS: Leon suggested a hermeneutical community... maybe, a 'fellowship of the King' sounds less intimidating?