the original Sin

Being in the most free country (in all senses of the word) in the world makes you think about freedom and rights. I never fail to marvel at how much respect is given to every individual and how when it is not the case, there are avenues for challenge, debate, reform, or at the very least voicing of opinions. Entitlement is big in this culture. Personal Rights are revered as sacred.

As much as I am impressed by the upholding of rights on a personal level, I can’t help but see that such a view has the dangerous tendency of absolutizing what is meant to be contingent. Being an outsider that observes the western world with a more oriental vantage point, I immediately observed some differences. 1) Values in the East are more grounded in communal interests as opposed to values in the West being more individual-centric. That is not too say that people are in fact more communal in the east and more individualistic in the west. It is the formulation of values that I am talking about. A simple illustration: motivation for success for Easterners is very much seen as the prospering of the family name, or fear of tarnishing that heritage. Communal pride and shame takes centre stage. Whereas personal success is highly promoted, in the West, with phrases like “Be the best you can” characterizing individual achievement. I might be generalizing, but such cultural traits are prevalent and noticeable.

I’m not arguing for or against either frame-of-mind. But I would like to caution my American friends, believer or otherwise, to view the Bible not through the lens of the Western framework but through the Jewish-Ancient Near-Eastern framework the bible and its characters lived and breathed in. This caution was motivated by cries I’ve heard such as these: “Why does God have the right to kill those people?”, “God has the responsibility to demonstrate to me convincingly why I should believe in Him”, or most pointedly “Original Sin is the most totalitarian and unjust idea ever conceived”.

I have thought long and hard about the last objection. I have often tried to explain this away by saying that the point is not to complain about the quagmire but to consider the proposed solution. But I guess addressing the issue itself is inevitable. Reading the bible and putting myself in that context, I’ve begun to understand why. In the book of Deuteronomy, God gave his people numerous laws, laws for just about anything, even very “personal” decisions. Reason? “You shall purge evil from your midst” or “You shall not defile the land your God gave you for an inheritance”. Repeatedly mentioned. We ask so much what has someone else’s sin got to do with me. Why should I be responsible? Yet in the case of Achan, one man’s selfish decision of taking unauthorized spoils caused an army of 3000 to be wiped out.

I think we as a culture fail to see the gravity of sin. Sin is not a personal thing! It is of cosmic consequence! It is not merely personal fault, it is a collective human rebellion against God. That is why we experience the effects of sin because of Adam’s folly. It is THAT serious. That is why God had to send his only Son to die for us. Until we start seeing sin as a deadly disease spreading among us, and that it brings consequences into our community, we fail to grasp the weight of sin and correspondingly the richness of our salvation through the Second Adam, through which we derive our new lineage. Our idea of rights, as Christians, have to be thought out through the perspective of seeing mankind as a community relating altogether with our Creator, not as individuals asserting our own wills against each other and against God in the battle of blame.

Someone in my dorm building just committed suicide in her room this week. How many of us dare say it is solely her problem? NO! we all recognize it is the failure of the community to extend that support. So instead of discretizing society into individuals and exalting the person, let us learn to embrace our community and let the love of God, which covers all sin, spread. Sin can break our community, but God can restore us to true community. The doctrine of Original Sin not only points to the shared burden of debt, but in a larger sense, point to the shared identity of us as creatures made in the image of God, where God is the Original Community of Three in One that desires for us to be one people. We are the people he jealously fought for on the Cross. Let us be one. One people under God not sin.

He is Able

felt disillusioned with faith and school and relationships and everything 2 weeks ago. felt the hard hand of God on me and discipline that I did not take well to. I asked myself: why do the children of God have it so hard? we have eternal hope, yet day to day we still struggle.
then i brought my cares to the throne of God, pleading that he speak to my tortured soul.

He did.

First, he led me to Psalm 73. Spoke exactly about my condition, fears, doubts, and gave the ultimate encouragement. “Though my flesh and heart fail me, but the Lord is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Then again he spoke.

Was sitting through an unmotivational sermon during church. Then came communion. then the words “He is able” and the song of the same name kept ringing in my head. and tears flowed.

He is able. He is able. I know He is able. I know my Lord is able to carry me through.

Fumbling in the Dark

Walking though the old testament, and arguments from renowned atheists regarding the untold cruelty of the OT God as demonstrated in many OT accounts came to mind. If you have read the God Delusion, you would have been treated to an opening of a chapter that has a half-page running sentence with nothing but adjectives after adjectives describing this cruel God. I am sure we as christians also find ourselves asking the same questions when we come across these “odd” accounts.

I do not intend to give a detailed resolution here, but merely to further an analogy regarding the OT. To borrow a description from eminent bible scholar B.B. Warfield, the OT is like a room “fully furnished but dimly lit”. People like the new atheists are mistaken and naive about the seeming cruelty of God because they lack the light of revelation. And revelation presents itself in context. They fumble about in the dark, bump into an object, and with a curse complain that the object is in the way.

The point: Read your scripture in context of the whole revelation, and in context of the covenantal relationship we share with our loving and just God.

He giveth more grace

He giveth more grace, by Annie Johnson Flint:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase

To added affliction he added his mercy

to multiplied trials he multiplies peace

When we have exhausted our store of endurance

when our strength has failed ere the day is half done

when we reach the end of our hoarded resources

our Father’s full giving has only begun

His love has no limit, his grace has no measure

His power has no boundary known unto man

for out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

Sweeter as the years go by

It is the new year. Have you made your resolutions? I’ve made mine. Of course it includes a desire for greater holiness, I’m sure yours does too. Measures to achieve that? check. Read the bible through? check. Looks like I’m all pumped up and good to go!

But then I realised, haven’t we been through this year after year? What is missing amidst this grabbing at the ever-elusive holy life? A dear hymn brought forth the resolution to sum it all: Sweeter as the years go by. Yes! It is that desire to discover for ourselves more and more the sweet communion with our Lord Jesus Christ, to taste the sweetness of affirmation (Matt 25:21), discipline (Hebrews 12:6), blessings (Leviticus 26:4-10), trials (James 1:2-4). Not pitiful drudgery of religious practice, not fulfilling of sacred responsibilities, but to ENJOY the fellowship of Christ. C. Austin Miles wrote the hymn, In the Garden, that we don’t sing in church anymore, (perhaps we think it’s overly romanticised?). And He walks with me, He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own/ and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. This garden is what we need!

And lest you think this is all abstract, I must clarify that all service, resolution toward holiness, even the desire for it comes from that communion! if we don’t yearn for that relationship, our pursuit will be religion, our efforts filthy rags. Which religion offers that intimacy? Count it a privilege, and our greatest gift and motivation. Fall in love with the Person again.

Sweet New Year!

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ” Ephesians 3:18-19

Chronic Occupation and the establishing of Life Patterns

I owe this meditation to my brother, Ryan Fields, who has shared with me his wisdom on this subject during our conversation, and whose inspiration was from another brother in church, and that from many others before him, and ultimately from our Lord God. Such is the beauty of Christian edification.

Life just gets busier isn’t it? I was just reflecting about how often in this culture we greet each other how are you, and how often we respond “busy”. This usually is accompanied by a sigh or a shaking of the head, suggesting a discontent with what has been and a very bleak and weary outlook of what is to come. Busy perhaps is the true reflection of our condition, but busy is also the self-projected perpetuation of self-pity, and it is even the excuse we put out to shield ourselves from more responsibility. How many people actually have joy and “take pleasure in all his toil–this is God’s gift to man.” Ecclesiastes 3:13.  Gift? You’ve got to be kidding me. We then lapse into what I call misery reinforcement cycle: i’ve got alot of work, work makes me feel miserable, my misery makes me only see my work, and the pressure makes me feel even more miserable. With regard to busyness as an excuse, we often communicate to others that we are busy for 1) need for an image of productiveness to be upheld 2) reflect away any “unnecessary” propositions that may potentially complicate our situation.  (1), because having nothing to do, seeming free, communicates a sign of weakness and not fully using one’s time to achieve something. Almost to say that a busy person is a useful person (see previous post). (2), because saying we are so caught up with our work is essentially saying we have no time for anything else concerning others, so “just leave me alone”.

Let’s face it. We are busy by default. Even if we are not, we make ourselves busy. So the hope that things will get better, I will be more free by time t to do a, is a false one. I often find that I never get down to do a, because more things come up to fill my “free” schedule. So then, what should we say to this? Ryan brought up the importance of establishing life patterns, in which we commit to prayer and and Christian disciplines and make it a necessary and fixed part of our lives. I choose to think that we ought to devote ourselves to these amidst our preoccupation, not apart from it. Yes, work is never-ending, but there has to be the understanding that enough is enough, sometimes.

As we progress in life, the responsibilities on our shoulders are just going to become greater and heavier. The person that has life patterns well-established from a young age finds that 24 hrs is all he needs, because he develops a pattern around it, not demanding more to accommodate his insatiable hunger. I’m coming to appreciate Matthew 6:34 “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” In the spirit of that, I resolve to not say that I’m busy, to put up this self-protective reflective barrier, but to have time available for God and brothers and sisters.

Help keep me accountable.

“What gain has the worker from his toil?.. He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:9,11

the function and the essence

I recall a time when I was walking to class when someone I knew but have not spoken with personally before came up to me and after an intial greeting, asked if I would be free sometime to meetup. Taken aback, my first response was “what for?” Totally inappropriate. Awkward. But therein reveals an ingrained mentality of defined purposefulness in many things I do, or at least the expectation of that. Somwhat culturally conditioned, many of us are brought up to be calculative. Phrases like “Spend your time wisely”, concepts like “cost-benefit analysis”, even the chinese concept of success which is to grow up to become a “useful” person, all communicate how we ought to plan our lives and respond to the world in a very utilitarian way.

Many people lead lives that are like that. And we see more and more of that as we progress through stages of our lives.  The young age of innocence is replaced by conscious and continuous deliberation and worrying about the cares of life.  For me that is very evident in college, especially when it all balls down to deadlines, grades, interviews etc. We get so absorbed in the paper chase and fire-fighting night after night, or running from meeting to meeting, failing to recognise that our existence has become more functional than meaningful. I am not discounting the things people do, for they can be pretty noble. But it can be easy to miss the big picture. How do I prevent myself from trudging through life fulfilling responsibility after responsibility, achieving goal after goal, like a hamster on the wheel until I pass away?

I think the key is to look beyond life as being functional, and to embrace its ontological (dealing with essence of being, intrinsic) significance. This means I acknowledge that life presupposes a source, and this Source we know as the God who breathed life into us, and intends it to be full and abundant (John 10:10). This has important implications. This suggests that intrinsically life is worth living and full and abundant, independent of  what we are able to do with it, independent of how successful we are. Many singaporeans I know, including sometimes myself, like to say “die! die!” when we fail in something. This betrays the sentiment of pegging success to the essence of life itself, however exaggeratedly.  This should not be! I recall a line in the hymn that says “life is worth the living just because he lives”, speaking of Christ’s resurrection. How true! Life is not worth living because there is yet another mountain to scale, it is worth living because God is that author of life and he has secured our eternal future through the resurrection of his Son, sent to die for us.

We must beware of the departure from an ontological perspective of life to a functional one even in faith matters as well. These few weeks God has exposed how functional of a relationship ours has become. When do I seek God? When I need strength for the day, wisdom to lead small group, help for a friend in distress. These are all good. But imagine going to your mother only when you need help. Do I stop to behold His majesty? Do I embrace Him for who He is apart from his blessings? Do I praise His absolute holiness? Do I treat him as a friend? Or do I only come with him with an agenda, formulating the next “what for?” in my mind? May we echo the Psalmist in all pathos, saying “as a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1,2). Not your gifts, not your helps, but you alone, Father.

Back to 90

Sometime in the distant past I developed a love for this particular Psalm in the Bible that has so broad a scope of time discussed, so deep a range of emotions portrayed, and so real an existence described. It is Moses’ prayer to God in Psalm 90. But it has been quite a while since I read it, and the experience of picking it up again is refreshing, to say the least.

Firstly, it introduces God’s eternal nature–“from everlasting to everlasting(2)”–then contrasts it with man’s transience–“in the morning it flourishes and is renewed, in the evening it fades and withers(6)”. Then it describes how painful this existence is when our sin opposes and sets us against the eternal God who brought us into being. His righteous anger burns against us and we live our years to an end “like a sigh”(9). The contrast is frightening. God in all His glory and majesty brought forth a wonderful creation, yet here we are, puny pathetic creatures “making mud pies in a slum”, as C.S. Lewis would put it. The magnificence of transcendence seemed to not have any bearing on our life on earth. Or has it?

Are our span on earth nothing but “toil and trouble”(10)? Certainly the case when our life is one big midterm and never a final (friend’s quote)! Yet it does not seem so when you are having it good. Certainly someone who leads a partying lifestyle would not think so. I often shun to share the gospel with people whom I feel are doing alright in their lives and wonder why they need God. By thinking that I fall into the trap of echoing Karl Marx’s saying that religion is the opiate of the masses. Only the weak need God(?). I do not disagree fully with that statement, because this is what the Psalm is showing us! That everyone who is in sin and does not know his creator is pitiful and lost and alienated from the true glory of this life and the next! Yes, even the seemingly powerful and have-it-alls are amassing for themselves to cover up their desolate and derelict selves. Moses meditated on divine alienation and shuddered at the thought of it. Have we?

The pitiful contrast lands up, fortunately, in a happy turn. The Psalmist is saying “this should not be!” He asks for wisdom to number his days; pity by His returning; to be satisfied with divine love and the joy and gladness that follows; asks that as much as there is affliction, let there be gladness too; and finally, that God’s work and power be manifested to all. Oh the favor of the Lord might be upon us (17)! It is here where divine approval is knitted into earthly work. It is here we are reminded that God knows and looks over our past with forgiveness (13), our present with richness and stability (14), and our future in renewal (15). It is here we move from the insecurity of transience to the certainty of acceptance. It is here where I know I can wake up every morning and say to the God of time and universe, “Ok Let US do this!”.

“establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!” Psalm 90:17

the Real Jesus and mercy revisited.

i realised after some meditation that my view of the gospel in relation to administering to people’s physical needs is still incomplete! in my zeal i have perhaps suggested an inadequate portrayal of biblical truth of the issue and which i believe is a danger to gospel ministry to an extent.

what was lacking was this: that the Real mercy to be dealt to the needy is the forgiveness of the Cross! when we look at Jesus’ outward ministry of healing and casting out demons, the call to ‘sin no more’ often follow. Call to repentance is the key message, and that is the greatest love that needs to be communicated to whoever needs to hear. the emphasis on social justice and giving is undergirded by this. failure to center our helping ministry around this purpose might cause us to view it as an end in itself. if we develop the mentality that all is good as long as we are helping people, charity becomes self-centered. if we think that all is good as long as people are helped, we miss the point. the point is not to merely provide for people’s material comforts, but to show them there is a God who loves them and wants them to return to Him.

the last thing we want is our giving to be merely a thumb under the faucet, trying to alleviate some of the world’s numerous problems best we can. our ministries should not be characterized by SOCIAL JUSTICE, but GOSPEL MERCY. let us not shortchange the people we are helping. we must be careful that the love we give others is Christ love, not our own. and if it is Christ’s love, it entails the calling of people back to His possession.

Save. don’t just help.

the Real Jesus and mercy

Through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ, God is taking back His lost and broken world, and reclaiming it for what it was always meant to be.

This is the gospel definition that I learnt this weekend at Fall Retreat, as we went to Chicago Urban Program to learn more about what it meant to carry the gospel to the broken world.

Indeed, CUP exposed me of  the incompleteness of the Jesus I preach and portray in my life. The gospel would not be the gospel in its fullness if it neglects the real needs of the marginalised.

It is interesting that at the start of Jesus’ ministry, (and also in its entirety), Jesus was healing the sick, feeding the hungry, casting out demons. If the Church is not identified by that, then we are not worthy representatives of Him. James 2:15-17’s portrayal of spiritual niceties given out in place of genuine charity is a stark reminder to us all that faith needs to take action.

How many times have I preached mercy, yet turn the other way to my brother in need. I guess back at home people never really were aware of social ills and the urgency to help. Growing up, we were too comfortable in doing church activities and feeling spiritual. Jesus’ ministry brought the spiritual into the physical; showed heavenly abundance by earthly provision; displayed cosmic love by giving a human touch. THIS is the beauty of the Jesus we know. Sadly, we have become ugly and all the world knows about us is that we hate everything.

I was asking myself then, if even non-christians champion social causes, so what if we did? We do not want to do social justice because we want to be ‘better than non-christians’, do we? I think that’s not the point. The speaker at the retreat shared that Christians do social justice because we believe that our present world should be a glimpse of what is to come– to show the world more of the coming kingdom. Christians fight the battle of social injustice confidently and with purpose, because we know the outcome. God has redeemed this world. God will come again. All things will be restored to what it is. This should not cause us to sit back and relax but to be part of God’s healing power on earth.

As I write this, I am still struggling with the prospect of overwhelming responsibility that can potentially numb me into inaction. May God give me strength to do my part.