Trinity Theological College
My alma mater has a really cool newly designed website.
Check it out here.
BLOGGING PUBLICLY WHAT I THINK PRIVATELY. HIGHLY CLASSIFIED.
REFLECTIONS ON THEOLOGY, SPIRITUALITY, AND CULTURE. ON LIFE.
June 18, 2008
May 9, 2008
Crucial Choice
London, May. 7, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican's top ecumenical spokesman has posed a challenge to Anglican leaders, saying that the Anglican communion must decide whether it has more in common with the Catholic and Orthodox churches or the Protestant denominations.
[ Read more ]
March 31, 2008
A Brave Religious Leader
Most religious leaders I've met are diplomats and bureaucrats. It's refreshing to see an exception.
VATICAN CITY, MARCH 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican spokesman is suggesting that Benedict XVI's willingness to baptize a high-profile convert from Islam may have aimed to affirm the freedom of religious choice, deriving from the dignity of the person.
[ read more... ]
March 9, 2008
Worst Electoral Defeat
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's ruling coalition on Saturday suffered its biggest electoral upset ever, losing control of four state governments and failing to win the crucial two-thirds majority in parliament.
It is Barisan Nasional (BN)'s worst performance in a general election since independence in 1957.
Click here to read more.
Anil Netto prays:
Almighty God/Allah, thank you for an amazing night. You are a God of Justice, Truth and Compassion. You love especially the poor, the meek, the marginalised and the overburdened. You want your people to be ruled with Justice and Peace. Thank you for taking us a major step further in this direction. Thank you for making all of us more aware of the importance of the struggle for Justice and Truth. Let your Justice flow like a mighty river in our land. Thank you, Lord. Amen/Amin.
Likewise, as a Christian, I can say "Amen" to that prayer.
January 7, 2008
Poverty on Epiphany
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday criticized a world with luxury for a few and poverty for many and called for moderate lifestyles to ensure fair distribution of wealth amid a scramble for natural resources.
April 7, 2007
Link: Holy Friday for Malaysians
Link: Holy Friday for Malaysians
To our friends in the West, this article somewhat explains why you'll never be able to truly understand the plethora of paradigmatic confusions we live with and why our theology will never truly be systematic the way you often seem to expect it to be.
March 11, 2007
Mastering Grief
The grieving world continues to delude itself as the many people contained within it furiously construct new realities - countless new worlds - that they may find elusive happiness in those synthetic climates of emotional security.
Deep within, some of them grieve those things they’ve lost whilst others grieve the absence of those things they never had. Each, in his own unique way, expresses those needful things in his life. Strangely, even if many of these "needful things" are projected to take on the form of things, almost inevitably, it's a person who was once lost and caused grief.
Some say that grief is but a gradual process which eventually brings one towards wholeness, that grief eventually ceases. I beg to differ. I think the scars of our painful pasts invoke a grief which lasts throughout our lifetimes. At some point, the grief no longer paralyses us, but yet, we express that loss through certain mechanisms which generate a sense of hope just so we feel that we can perhaps cope with the grief throughout this life.
Some have grieved for so long they can’t imagine a life without it. I've lived almost all my life with people who were and are still grieving. They spend their entire lives trying to compensate that which they’ve lost. Some others even over-compensate just so they feel justified. Perhaps only then can they be somewhat convinced that this world into which they were born is a world regulated by justice. They need to know it, just so they can survive in it.
Grief produces a kind of energy, an energy which renders a certain power to the griever. This energy can either damage or develop others. Our scars can be a source from whence temporal healing is found, or they can be the ugly source from which flows the further debilitation of human life. The art of nurturing grief must be mastered creatively, craftily and delicately, lest it masters you.
Editor's Note: This is a related article worth reading and pondering over.
March 8, 2007
Link: Quiet Revolution
The two-day event organised by emergentMalaysia, Friends in conversation: A quiet revolution of hope, has ended successfully. Influential author and speaker Brian McLaren, and other local conversation partners have exchanged their perspectives on four main issues; gospel, church, discipleship and world.
Link: Read the report on this event published by Christian Today
March 1, 2007
Link: Jesus Found?
Link: James Cameron Finds Jesus?
I don't have a sense of protectionism over my faith. It's open to be examined. If it's found unreasonable, I'll leave it.
It's just that up until now, no one has succeeded in convincing me otherwise. Yet.
The Christian faith must never be afraid to stand up to scrutiny.
Now read here. See what I mean?
February 15, 2007
Link: Friends in Conversation
For the first time in Malaysia, influential speaker and author Brian McLaren and Conversation Partners touch on challenges and opportunities facing the 21st Century Church. Join the conversations on:
Gospel - more than we imagined it to be
Church - ways forward beyond forms and technique
Discipleship - tired of shortcuts and superficiality
World - being ready for active engagement
For more information, click here.
January 31, 2007
Link: True Greatness
Here is a very profoundly excellent reflection on True Greatness in relation to questions of eternity.
January 24, 2007
Links: Christian Theology
It's been humbling for me to read some reflections posted up by a sister after our journey of learning theology together over a period of six days:
Truly, how can theology be the exclusive language of anyone other than a community of friends reflecting upon its collective engagements with God.
October 28, 2006
Link: Two Becoming One!
My "secret" is now leaked out in Two Becoming One!
Someone had to do it, I guess. 
September 26, 2006
Link: Christian Parents
Having been in the pastoral ministry for a while, I've come to realise that urban Christian parents can be a most troublesome lot in the church community. It's difficult to entertain their demands on their children and on the rest of the Christian community.
Read this honest blog entry from a youth worker: Christian Parents
September 8, 2006
Link: I Wonder
Link: I Wonder (A Poem on the Church)
An extremely brilliant poem by Janelle on how different people may differently perceive the function of the Church. Is it a convenience store? A theatre? A bus stop? A coffee shop? Or neither of these?
July 13, 2006
Link: Studying Theology
Does studying Theology ruin your faith?
Please read the above entry. Especially if you're one of those friends/students of mine who think that theology is a big threat to the steadfastness of your Christian faith. Yeah, read it!
July 7, 2006
Link: Beauty of Sports
A good entry - packed with theological thought - on how right sportsmanship may help enhance one another's participation in the dream of God. Read Daniel Ng's entry on the Beauty of Sports.
June 25, 2006
Link: EMO Meeting
Shared my ideas on Postcolonial Orthodoxy with some friends at the Emergent Malaysia Open Meeting yesterday. Alwyn's commentary on my thoughts is intriguing: read it here.
Sometimes I wonder why people ask me to share these thoughts when it's so obvious they can articulate them even better than I can! Thanks Al!
April 28, 2006
Role of Apologetics
Link: Respectable Apologist Fried for "Inflammatory Remarks"
Without any derogatory intentions whatsoever, I find this to be an an article of interest. It just so happens that one reflection question I've given to my students this semester is:
What, in your assessment, is the role of apologetics today in the proclamation of the Christian message?
The following is an answer extracted from one of my students' papers:
Propositions are secondary to a personal encounter with the Truth because the Truth is a person. It is and must be personal and relational knowledge. The Pharisees of Jesus' time were not ignorant of truth as revealed through Moses' laws. Yet Jesus' harshest words were directed at them. They knew truth but did not know the Truth! Truth came as a person, the person ofChrist. The Word became flesh. Mere apologetics, however logical and brilliant, is insufficient.
Brilliant answer. Deep and thoughtful. An insightful point which certainly deserves the points. We don't see apologetics with disdain, for it constitutes a part of the Christian tradition. However, we need to face the reality that we now live in a world that criticises the inadequacy of mere propositional truth. Truth alone isn't enough, they say.
Whilst the apologist proclaims truth to the world, the world says truth isn't enough. We can either keep loud hailing what we deem to be proclamations of the truth, or we can start focusing on the sacramental embodiment of relational truth. We may defensively claim that the two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but the medium of proclamation inevitably betrays our bias.
If we don't start getting our art of apologetics right, we may end up having more apologising to do.
Note from the Editor: Just for the record, I wanted to clarify that I have heard this apologist speaking in person and have met him face-to-face before. I have also read almost all his books that were available to me. And I believe I've heard almost every single one of his messages that have been aired on radio before. Just in case I'm deemed to be critiquing from afar...you never know!
March 16, 2006
Boring Day?
Having a boring day? Read this poem; it'll make your day.
February 18, 2006
Links: On Life and Brokenness
I am no fan of poems. But read this poem about life, and tell me if it speaks something of life's painful realities. Few like to speak about pain anymore today, even if it is real. I'm glad there are the few who still do.
But I am a fan of anything proverbial, although relatively few catch my attention. This one did. Again, few like to speak about authenticity of being anymore today, even if it is so much needed. I'm glad there are the few who still do.
January 24, 2006
Link: Beating the Intelligence Trap
Link: Beating the Intelligence Trap
This is a brilliant entry on the important shift that must take place in the enterprise of theology. Some may say this approach is being a tinge too "liberal", whilst others may say it stands a little too far to the left of conservative theology.
I say it is being true to the heart of a faith community that has been bequeathed a language with which to articulate her engagements with the living God. The humility with which we are confronted in our relationship with God and the generosity of his grace that we experience must be reflected in our theology.
My seminary students are going to read this article.
A theological researcher. A conversationist on theology, spirituality, and culture.
A pilgrim seeking to inspire the world to live in the way of Christ.
A friend. Journeying towards relational, formative, missional, authentic, transformative, meaningful, kingdomic and communal faith in the redemptive Spirit of Christ.
I entreat your frequent visitations, for it is in the company of community that life is authentically formed and meaning is shared.
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