Last Friday the soothing melody of love serenaded the cell group. We talked about the one subject, love, that is most elusive, most incorporeal and most celebrated in the history of humanity. When love throws her tantrum, no lover is spared. When love sacrifices all, it also conquers all. Love comes in many names and is known by all, even the loneliest. Even the recluse has experienced love in her highest form, that is, his mother's sacrificial love. Without love, life dries up and dies.
The Bible gives us a glimpse of who God is by saying God is love. Indeed, He is, And the greatest of these...hope, love and faith, is love. Although many people have tried to define love, it remains beyond definition. Love is also beyond the scrutiny of scientific instruments. We cannot extract a unit of love, place it in a crucible and study it. We know that this world runs faithfully, if not slavishly, on a plethora of fixed natural laws. Newtonian three laws of motion govern our world as we see it. And Einstein's law of time and space or relativity governs the universe or universes as far as our telescopes can capture it. But what or who governs love as we individually feels it? Who set the laws of love in motion? Who ensures that love follows a predictably linear pattern that can be replicated in a lab?
The miracle of love is that it cannot be domesticated in an equation or encapsulated in a series of mind-numbing formulae. Let me explain. In physics, we know about Einstein's brainchild, E = mc2. This equation is immutable, unchanging. With this formula, we can know the amount of potential energy locked in an atom. And mind you, it is mind-bogglingly huge because it is the mass of an atom multiplied by the speed of light (that is, 300,000 km/per sec). Imagine the amount of potential energy locked inside a grain of rice! Even force can be captured in a formula. Remember this, Force = Mass x Acceleration? How about the area of a triangle? Well, the last time I checked, it was still equal to 1/2 base x height.
But how do we measure love? How heavy or light, or how long or short, or how wavy is it? To even ask such questions would seem silly. Because love is not reducible to any form of equation, it is therefore immeasureable. It is as immeasureable as human consciousness. Who can tell for sure what another person is thinking just by looking at him? Can we put someone through a brain scanner and observe some part of his brain lighting up and confirm with deductive certainty his thoughts, motives, dreams and intention? Surely we are more intricate than the sum of a few cerebral lights up! In other words, we are more than the sums of our parts and the atheists or materialists should, at this juncture, take a moment to dismount from their high horse of logic, reason and rationality and consider the vastness of their ignorance instead of regaling in their own deluded intellectual superiority.
Coming back to love, we discussed about marriages and relationships. This is where I touched base with you guys. Most of us are married with children. Some of us are reasonably happy with their spouses. Some are not. Some are in a difficult phrase in their marriages. Some are even skeptical about the choices they had made. These are serious issues and they require our serious attention. While it is easy to fall in love, it is hard to stay in love - especially with the other all-too-familiar half after the sweetness of courtship had turned sour and the honeymoon of marriage had given way to the reality of living together. If familiarity breeds contempt, then marriage is a major breeding ground for such contempt to flourish into hatred, unforgiveness and personal revenge.
In my 10 years of being a divorce lawyer, the most ironic and sad fact about divorce is not the blood bath involved in the division of assets or the cat-and-dog fights for custody. But it is the recurring thought of how the same couple who were once ready to "die" for the other is now so bent on "killing" each other. I had one client who told me that nothing would bring her greater joy than to wish him an early death! Sadly, the marital vows of, "I do" has now become "I don't care". This, I guess, is the eighth wonder or mystery of the world: How can a marriage once based on unconditional love and unquestioned devotion turned so disastrously and irreversibly bad? Well, any takers?
I had another client who came to me to request that I save her marriage. Her husband had told her that he wants to leave her for his mistress. He wanted to start a new life with his new found love. She was of course devastated. And to kick sand into her wound, he had also transmitted STD to her and her condition was incurable. Despite all these unspeakable betrayal, she still wanted me to save her marriage. As a Christian, she told me that a marriage is meant to be forever as spelt out in the marriage vows, "Till death do us part". But sadly, I told her deadpan that most spouses suffer from what I can "mortal impatience". They just can't wait till death to part with his or her partner. Death is too long a time for a divorce. If the marriage vows were to be more realistically updated for their sake, it would read, "Till boredom, do us part" or "Till another hot-thing comes along, do us part."
My client could not accept divorce because she mistook "fantasy" for reality. The marriage vows are idealistic declaration. It is like a public announcement on par with the PA system in a shopping mall. Of course, we are admonished to treat the vows seriously. And I do not doubt the sincerity of a marriage couple declaring their vows to each other and the world at large. Alas, if only marriage is as perfectly worded, neatly aligned, systematically paragraphed and impeccably presented as the declarative, romantic and touching wording in the marriage vows. In other words, the marriage vows are perfect but we are not.
Our marriage does not revolve around the vows. Neither is it defined by it. At best, we take it as a reminder or a guide. Our marriage is, more appropriately, defined by our daily choices and actions and in making the right daily choices and actions. Do not, for one second, mistake pre-marriage bliss with post-marriage bliss. Or pre-marriage understanding with post-marriage understanding. Marriage is a lot of work and it does not end with a grand Chinese dinner or a public declaration of a mutually kindred inner resolution. Like driving, getting married is like obtaining the licence to drive. It is just the start. The road ahead, however corny this analogy may sound, is invariably long and winding.
If I can only name one enemy of love, it should be boredom. Boredom robs love of its passion like cancer takes away life from a person. So, be on guard against boredom. King David was bored when he committed the one act that marred his kingmanship for the rest of his life. Moses was bored (among other emotions) when he killed his fellow kind and became a fugitive for a major part of his life.
Personally, my marriage would have faltered or stagnated if not for the injection of some creative, child-like fun and humor once in a while. I am a lot of things to Anna, mostly not so positive. But one ability I have is the ability to make her laugh at the most unlaughable period in our marriage such as when she was fuming mad at me. Maybe your gift is different. I guess it could be being romantic at the right opportune time? Or making your spouse feel important and secured? Or making her feel treasured and loved? Whatever it is, don't take your spouse for granted. Take this as a rule of thumb: if you feel that she or he is okay or fine, that is usually the time you should start to inject some excitement in the marriage. So, go tiger!
Let me end with this thought: Always love for the love of the sake of love. A bit convoluted right? It is quite deliberate, for emphasis. Anyway, it simply means to let your love be an end in itself. God is love. And God is the uncaused cause, or He is uncreated. He just is and will forever be. So, if God is love, then love is the ultimate cause or the final explanation of all things seen or unseen. Love is the ultimate motivation of all our actions. It is therefore an end in itself.
Love is not contingent or conditional. We jeopardize our marriage if we love with strings attached. It is like telling your spouse I love you but only in a way that you uplift my image or you make me more secured and less lonely. Worse still if you say I love you because I need to apply for a HDB flat. This is a needy form of love. And it is self-centered and self-profiting. It is simply a love based on quip-pro-quo. Or a love based on "what can I get in return for loving you". So in the end, borrowing the words of Richard Templar, who authored The Rules of Love, we must want to love and not need to love. Pause for reaction?
This dreamy December, let these words by Jack & Carole Mayhall of the Navigators, who co-authored Marriage takes more than Love, breathe life, soul and passion into your marriage, "Marriage is an enormous enigma, a colossal conundrum. It is agonizing, adjusting, pain and pleasure, delight and demands. It is a mixture of the mundane, the ecstatic, the commonplace, the romantic. It comes in waves, ripples, bubbles and splashes. Its days contain thunder, sunlight, hail, wind, rain. Its hues are the rainbow's spectrum, but prominent are shades of red, purple, yellow and grey. It is intimacy, distance, closeness, awayness. It is a quiet melody, an earthy novel, an obscure mystery, the greatest show on earth. It is choices. Choosing to love, to understand, to enjoy, to know. It is choosing...marriage."
Your challenge for what's left of this year is: To love your spouse in ways that surprises even yourself. So, go tiger!
Have a Romantic December!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Friday's Recap (141108)
Last Friday, we had a discussion about hell. As you know, Hell is a topic that will raise a few eyebrows. We all know that hell is a place of suffering - fire, sulphur, brimstone and all that. In this day and age, it is almost a social taboo to talk about hell. Wealth and health would be a more seductive alternative than hell. Churches all over would rather embrace the "how to get rich with God" teachings than to talk about "rejecting God and go to hell" warning. I had mischievously labeled today's grace-is-a-licence-to-do-as-thou-pleases indoctrination and the Jesus-wants-you-to-be-very-rich mantra as "Casino Christianity".
The danger of Casino Christianity is that of dethronement. When preachers take upon themselves to redefine Christianity based on personal enrichment, indulgence and convenience rather than obedience, sacrifices and humility, God takes second place in the hearts of the congregants. An imbalance emphasis on wealth, material possessions and riches as promises of God will definitely attract crowds, lots of them, but not personal conviction. Put it another way, when the bait of the gospel is "getting rich with God", the catch would expectedly be overwhelming. But a gospel of this sort is shallow and superficial. The peril of associating the gospel with self-interest, personal convenience and well-being is that we turn God into a genie in a lamp rather than the savior of our souls. By the same token, we have turned our creator into a jackpot machine ready to dispense with chips at one's lucky pull of the one-arm-bandit.
You have heard the gospel hymn "Amazing Grace", "I once was lost but now am found." Casino Christianity sings to a different tune called "Amazing Disgrace", "I once was found but now am lost." There is therefore nothing on offer from Casino Christianity except temporary pleasure, false hope and blind faith.
So, beloved, do not practise selective believing. The gospel has two sides. The wealth and the sacrifices. The joy and the broken heartedness. The victory and the suffering. The answered prayer and the trust and obey. The blessed assurance and the carrying of the cross. The heaven and the hell. Both sides require equal emphasis lest we stunt our spiritual growth and degenerate into Christians defined by personal convenience and enrichment - that is, Christians looking for a quick fix, quick buck or quick medicate.
Let's go back to hell. In my view, Hell is a necessary evil. It is necessary because justice demands it. Our God is a God of love and justice. And justice is not just a concept of putting things right, it is also about punishment or paying the price. By the same reasoning that a convicted felon is sent to jail or rehab for his crime, men and women who reject God are correspondingly destined for hell as a place of eternal punishment.
Of course, the skeptics have raised hell about the disproportionality of the punishment of hell. While a man convicted of 1st degree murder goes to prison for life, it is extremely unfair that a person who merely rejects God or chooses to disbelieve Him ends up in a place of eternal suffering with no hope of a second redemption. The basis of this criticism is that God should not be so arbitrary about those who are going to hell and those who are not going to hell. He should consider the circumstances and decide on a case-by-case basis. Let me give you some examples.
Take a little girl of below the age of maturity. She is born with a critical, life-shortening illness. Fate dealt her the final blow at age eight when she succumbs to her illness and dies without the opportunity of listening to the gospel. What should God do in such a situation? Imagine arbitrarily sentencing this little poor girl to eternal condemnation without considering her rather exceptional circumstances. It is times like these that being God is more difficult than being the American President-elect confronting the current financial crisis.
How about stillborn babies? How about aborigines living in some remote parts of the world, untouched by the diffusion of the gospel, dying as unsaved souls? How about the mentally challenged who are unable to comprehend the message of Jesus? How about those who live in ultra-conservative Islamic states who are kept by their culture, government and family from ever being exposed to the gospel? Surely, considering these situations, God would have to make some exceptions to the divine concession of John 3:16. Is there another way to avoid the fiery flame of hell?
The conventional answer is no. There is no exception to the rule. Jesus meant it fully when He said He is the way, the light and the truth. And the only way to prevent going to hell is to accept Him as lord and savior. Supporters of this view, who constitute the majority of Christendom, mitigate its seemingly rigid and uncompromising stand by saying that just as much as God is firm on the position that hell is reserved for those who reject Him, He is equally, if not more, gracious in bestowing the passage of heaven by making it an almost effortless, costless and painless exercise of one's choice. Choosing God is as easy as going to the election booth. It is an informed choice based on personal autonomy or free will. It is as easy as reciting the alphabet. Therefore, saying yes to Jesus is the only ticket to heaven.
But saying yes to Jesus requires one to at least know Him and His promises, right? How does God expect the innocently ignorant to say yes to Jesus without knowing that He exists and that He had promised eternal life to all who believe Him?
So, let me be as unconventional on this as I can. My view, and only my view, is that God is not blind to the exceptional circumstances in every case at hand. Every soul that dies and comes before Him will be dealt with carefully, fairly and respectfully. This is the basic judicial temperament of an earthly judge and I would expect no less from God. The stillborn, the innocently ignorant and the mentally challenged will have their day before the judgment seat. I believe that the day of judgment will not be one that is black-and-white, cut-and-dry or open-and-shut.
By this, I mean that God will dispense with mercy and justice in the very same way He had dispensed with them by sending Jesus to this world to redeem us two thousand years ago. God is wise in His creation, in His redemption and, I believe, in His judgment. So, I believe that justice will be tempered with mercy. God once told Moses that he will show mercy to whomever he shows mercy. The Bible also asks, "Will not the Judge of the earth do right?" (Gen 8:25) This implies that God will do what is right to all in a way that is fair, creative and beyond reproach.
With this in mind, I believe that at the conclusion of judgment day, the words of Ronald Nash , author of Is Jesus the Only Savior?, would resonates in the hearts of all those who had received their judgment, "When God is finished dealing with all of us, none will be able to complain that they were treated unfairly."
Earlier I say that hell is a necessary evil. Having dealt with the necessity of hell, let me deal with hell as a place of evil and of conscious eternal suffering. The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). Other characteristics of hell are that it is a place of punishment, a place of destruction and a place of banishment. The lost are eternally separated from God and His presence by this place called hell. As far as the Bible goes, this is as much as we know about hell with regards to its physicality and nature. Except for Jesus and some prophetic visions, none of the bible characters have been to hell. Neither have they given a detailed account of hell in the Bible. So, our knowledge of hell as a physical place is limited. Well, it is limited unless you are Mary K Baxter, author of A Divine Revelation of Hell: Time is running out!
Mary Baxter claims she had been to hell sometime in March 1976. It was an experience that changed her life completely. In short, she wrote that Jesus visited her at her home and gave her a tour of hell. The purpose of the tour was to tell the world that hell is real. In hell, she saw enormous suffering that were so depressing that she cried non-stop. She even begged Jesus to stop the untold sufferings but Jesus was restraint to act.
She describes hell as a physical place with different sections. At the start of her book, Mary wrote that she saw large funnels in the sky, spinning in suspended animation. These funnels were the gateways of hell. As Mary entered one of them, she noticed that the walls of the funnel were full of creepy crawlies and slithering serpents. Amidst the scream, the stench and the howling, she accompanied Jesus to the left and right legs of hell. There, she saw many pits like trenches on the ground. In each pit, there stood a soul with burnt and decayed flesh hanging from its body. These souls cried out to Jesus as he approached them and asked for a second chance but Jesus relented not.
Then, Jesus took Mary to the belly of hell which, according to her, was shaped like a body. As she entered the belly of hell, she saw many coffins. Surrounding each coffin is a group of 12 demons with spears. Predictably, inside the coffin lies a soul and the demons were piercing the soul with their spears, tormenting it with no mercy. Mary wrote that these coffins were reserved for preachers who professed God with their lips but sin against Him in their heart.
Walking forward into the belly of hell, Mary saw many cell blocks and each of these cells holds a prisoner. These prisoners were former witches, soothsayers and mediums. Jesus also brought Mary to the heart of hell and to a place called the outer darkness. Needless to say, these places were characterized by torment, anguish and heartrending screams. Accordingly to Mary, there was also a fun center whereby souls, who were surrounded by cheering demons, were torn to pieces by other demons.
So, whether you believe the above account or not, as a Christian, hell as well as heaven are real places. Because we are spirit beings, and our spirits live on long after physical death, our ultimate destination or residing eternal home is either of these places. So, always keep watch and pray that your heart does not fall prey to the two sins that dog every Christians: pride and rebellion. For Jesus did say that not all who call upon Him will be saved. On this somber note, I shall end here.
Have a fun, enjoyable and watchful weekend.
The danger of Casino Christianity is that of dethronement. When preachers take upon themselves to redefine Christianity based on personal enrichment, indulgence and convenience rather than obedience, sacrifices and humility, God takes second place in the hearts of the congregants. An imbalance emphasis on wealth, material possessions and riches as promises of God will definitely attract crowds, lots of them, but not personal conviction. Put it another way, when the bait of the gospel is "getting rich with God", the catch would expectedly be overwhelming. But a gospel of this sort is shallow and superficial. The peril of associating the gospel with self-interest, personal convenience and well-being is that we turn God into a genie in a lamp rather than the savior of our souls. By the same token, we have turned our creator into a jackpot machine ready to dispense with chips at one's lucky pull of the one-arm-bandit.
You have heard the gospel hymn "Amazing Grace", "I once was lost but now am found." Casino Christianity sings to a different tune called "Amazing Disgrace", "I once was found but now am lost." There is therefore nothing on offer from Casino Christianity except temporary pleasure, false hope and blind faith.
So, beloved, do not practise selective believing. The gospel has two sides. The wealth and the sacrifices. The joy and the broken heartedness. The victory and the suffering. The answered prayer and the trust and obey. The blessed assurance and the carrying of the cross. The heaven and the hell. Both sides require equal emphasis lest we stunt our spiritual growth and degenerate into Christians defined by personal convenience and enrichment - that is, Christians looking for a quick fix, quick buck or quick medicate.
Let's go back to hell. In my view, Hell is a necessary evil. It is necessary because justice demands it. Our God is a God of love and justice. And justice is not just a concept of putting things right, it is also about punishment or paying the price. By the same reasoning that a convicted felon is sent to jail or rehab for his crime, men and women who reject God are correspondingly destined for hell as a place of eternal punishment.
Of course, the skeptics have raised hell about the disproportionality of the punishment of hell. While a man convicted of 1st degree murder goes to prison for life, it is extremely unfair that a person who merely rejects God or chooses to disbelieve Him ends up in a place of eternal suffering with no hope of a second redemption. The basis of this criticism is that God should not be so arbitrary about those who are going to hell and those who are not going to hell. He should consider the circumstances and decide on a case-by-case basis. Let me give you some examples.
Take a little girl of below the age of maturity. She is born with a critical, life-shortening illness. Fate dealt her the final blow at age eight when she succumbs to her illness and dies without the opportunity of listening to the gospel. What should God do in such a situation? Imagine arbitrarily sentencing this little poor girl to eternal condemnation without considering her rather exceptional circumstances. It is times like these that being God is more difficult than being the American President-elect confronting the current financial crisis.
How about stillborn babies? How about aborigines living in some remote parts of the world, untouched by the diffusion of the gospel, dying as unsaved souls? How about the mentally challenged who are unable to comprehend the message of Jesus? How about those who live in ultra-conservative Islamic states who are kept by their culture, government and family from ever being exposed to the gospel? Surely, considering these situations, God would have to make some exceptions to the divine concession of John 3:16. Is there another way to avoid the fiery flame of hell?
The conventional answer is no. There is no exception to the rule. Jesus meant it fully when He said He is the way, the light and the truth. And the only way to prevent going to hell is to accept Him as lord and savior. Supporters of this view, who constitute the majority of Christendom, mitigate its seemingly rigid and uncompromising stand by saying that just as much as God is firm on the position that hell is reserved for those who reject Him, He is equally, if not more, gracious in bestowing the passage of heaven by making it an almost effortless, costless and painless exercise of one's choice. Choosing God is as easy as going to the election booth. It is an informed choice based on personal autonomy or free will. It is as easy as reciting the alphabet. Therefore, saying yes to Jesus is the only ticket to heaven.
But saying yes to Jesus requires one to at least know Him and His promises, right? How does God expect the innocently ignorant to say yes to Jesus without knowing that He exists and that He had promised eternal life to all who believe Him?
So, let me be as unconventional on this as I can. My view, and only my view, is that God is not blind to the exceptional circumstances in every case at hand. Every soul that dies and comes before Him will be dealt with carefully, fairly and respectfully. This is the basic judicial temperament of an earthly judge and I would expect no less from God. The stillborn, the innocently ignorant and the mentally challenged will have their day before the judgment seat. I believe that the day of judgment will not be one that is black-and-white, cut-and-dry or open-and-shut.
By this, I mean that God will dispense with mercy and justice in the very same way He had dispensed with them by sending Jesus to this world to redeem us two thousand years ago. God is wise in His creation, in His redemption and, I believe, in His judgment. So, I believe that justice will be tempered with mercy. God once told Moses that he will show mercy to whomever he shows mercy. The Bible also asks, "Will not the Judge of the earth do right?" (Gen 8:25) This implies that God will do what is right to all in a way that is fair, creative and beyond reproach.
With this in mind, I believe that at the conclusion of judgment day, the words of Ronald Nash , author of Is Jesus the Only Savior?, would resonates in the hearts of all those who had received their judgment, "When God is finished dealing with all of us, none will be able to complain that they were treated unfairly."
Earlier I say that hell is a necessary evil. Having dealt with the necessity of hell, let me deal with hell as a place of evil and of conscious eternal suffering. The Bible describes hell as a lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). Other characteristics of hell are that it is a place of punishment, a place of destruction and a place of banishment. The lost are eternally separated from God and His presence by this place called hell. As far as the Bible goes, this is as much as we know about hell with regards to its physicality and nature. Except for Jesus and some prophetic visions, none of the bible characters have been to hell. Neither have they given a detailed account of hell in the Bible. So, our knowledge of hell as a physical place is limited. Well, it is limited unless you are Mary K Baxter, author of A Divine Revelation of Hell: Time is running out!
Mary Baxter claims she had been to hell sometime in March 1976. It was an experience that changed her life completely. In short, she wrote that Jesus visited her at her home and gave her a tour of hell. The purpose of the tour was to tell the world that hell is real. In hell, she saw enormous suffering that were so depressing that she cried non-stop. She even begged Jesus to stop the untold sufferings but Jesus was restraint to act.
She describes hell as a physical place with different sections. At the start of her book, Mary wrote that she saw large funnels in the sky, spinning in suspended animation. These funnels were the gateways of hell. As Mary entered one of them, she noticed that the walls of the funnel were full of creepy crawlies and slithering serpents. Amidst the scream, the stench and the howling, she accompanied Jesus to the left and right legs of hell. There, she saw many pits like trenches on the ground. In each pit, there stood a soul with burnt and decayed flesh hanging from its body. These souls cried out to Jesus as he approached them and asked for a second chance but Jesus relented not.
Then, Jesus took Mary to the belly of hell which, according to her, was shaped like a body. As she entered the belly of hell, she saw many coffins. Surrounding each coffin is a group of 12 demons with spears. Predictably, inside the coffin lies a soul and the demons were piercing the soul with their spears, tormenting it with no mercy. Mary wrote that these coffins were reserved for preachers who professed God with their lips but sin against Him in their heart.
Walking forward into the belly of hell, Mary saw many cell blocks and each of these cells holds a prisoner. These prisoners were former witches, soothsayers and mediums. Jesus also brought Mary to the heart of hell and to a place called the outer darkness. Needless to say, these places were characterized by torment, anguish and heartrending screams. Accordingly to Mary, there was also a fun center whereby souls, who were surrounded by cheering demons, were torn to pieces by other demons.
So, whether you believe the above account or not, as a Christian, hell as well as heaven are real places. Because we are spirit beings, and our spirits live on long after physical death, our ultimate destination or residing eternal home is either of these places. So, always keep watch and pray that your heart does not fall prey to the two sins that dog every Christians: pride and rebellion. For Jesus did say that not all who call upon Him will be saved. On this somber note, I shall end here.
Have a fun, enjoyable and watchful weekend.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Joel's update - Man's dilemma: God's hope
Dear Cell, Joel went under the surgical knife this week. The neurosurgeon removed the benign tumor from his left frontal lobe in a 6-hour operation. He is currently in SGH, recuperating. Initially, under the effect of anesthesia, Joel was semi-groggy. His responses were delayed. But on Friday night, before we left the hospital, he cracked a joke and we heaved a sigh of relief – Joel is back!
Cell, I share with you this because you guys have the right to know Joel’s progress. This journey has been very difficult for him and his wife and their 10-month old son. His parents and siblings and loved ones have all cried silent tears for him, including me. I thank you guys for all your support in prayer. Personally, I had prayed real hard for the tumor to be removed by the divine surgeon. This was one miracle I wanted more than anything before Joel was wheeled into the operating room. I prayed, and some of you heard me, that this miracle would be a testimony to all the backsliders and a booster to our faith. I literally poured my heart and soul into this prayer but it did not turn out the way I had hoped.
This is the second reason why I am writing to you guys. I know that I have been writing quite a few letters on apologetics (defending our faith) or theodicy, justifying the existence of God in a world of seemingly inexplicable pain and pointless sufferings. In my quiet time, I once posed this question to God:-
“Why doesn’t God make Himself obvious enough so that it takes much less time to convince the die-hard atheist, the staunch agnostics and the apathetic deists?”
I mean “obvious enough” in several ways. God could easily intervene when pointless sufferings are taking place. He could stop the gang rape of a little twelve year old. He could teleport an elderly woman out of the way of a motley crew of thugs and murderers. He could deflect incoming ballistic missiles heading straight for a school bus full of students singing their way to school. Maybe, God could end birth deformity so that babies would be born with the same equal socioeconomic opportunity as other normal babies. How about showing Himself in the sky, in whatever form, at infrequent intervals, so as to shut the wagging tongues of skeptics? Then, stretching our imagination a weenie bit, God could answer the earnest prayer of a travailing believer from the crutches of imminent death or irreversible physical pain and handicap. Finally, if it is not asking too much, God could make Himself “obvious enough” by occasionally saving innocent lives and punishing deserving evildoers. Only occasionally…
These acts of God would surely make this world more habitable, more meaningful, more encouraging and more explainable. Not to mention that such miraculous acts would be enough to convert at least 98% of the world population to Christianity while leaving only a handful of rebels who still choose to reject God. A world like this would still give individuals the free will to choose. A world like this would still have suffering to strengthen our character but it would not have pointless suffering that give reasons for the skeptics to mock us. A world like this would explain a lot about God and give us a clearer picture of His goodness, mercy and grace. A world like this can’t be that bad, right?
I mean, didn’t the Bible say that God is good, loving and merciful? Didn’t the Bible also say that God is all powerful, the creator of the universe, without whom nothing is ever conceivable, not to mention ever created? So, how does one reconcile an all–loving and all-powerful God with all the pointless sufferings in this world? I understand that pain and suffering are inevitable. Our growth ultimately depends on it. We mature under pressure. I am not advocating that God eliminate all forms of sufferings. But surely not all sufferings are beneficial. Some sufferings, in my view, have no apparent purpose. Raping and then killing a little girl in some remote part of the world would leave no beneficial legacy behind. How about the killing of 6 million Jews and 5 millions non-Jews like gays, gypsy, Poles, Czechs and Christians under the deranged Nazi machination? Lastly, some natural disasters are deeply heart breaking. The East Asia Tsunamis and the Hurricane Katherine floods are but some examples.
So, can any one out there stand in proxy for God to answer the above question? Some have indeed taken the time and courage to stand up and answer the question. One rabbi concludes that may be God is not all that powerful. May be He has His limitations. He created the world and then decided to leave it as it is after the fall of man. Remember that fallen humanity has fallen consequences. An imperfect world brings with it imperfect results. Sickness and diseases abound because of sin and corruption. Men turn against men and nations against nations. War, pillages and genocide are just part of the consequence of sin.
This explanation is rejected by both the theists and the atheists. Believers do not accept the idea that God has limitations. Didn’t God reprove Job by challenging him with these questions, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?...Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place?...Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?...Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this…”
Atheists rail against this explanation because it is a cop-out. It is just an excuse that Christians cling on to. Saying that God is not all-powerful to explain the existence of pointless sufferings is as good as saying that God does not exist and life, whether we like it or not, is a game of random evolutionary forces that are beyond anyone’s control.
So, going back to Joel, it is difficult to understand why our collective prayers were left unanswered. One can say that all suffering has redemptive value, that is, sometime good always comes out of something bad, even seemingly pointless ones. Romans 8:28 affirms it most elegantly. But by that same token, one can also say that healing Joel miraculously is equally, if not more, purposeful and redemptive than not healing him. Imagine that Joel is healed by our collective prayers. I can picture the scenario. Our faith would definitely rise by leaps and bounds. Joel’s testimony would impact lives. Even unbelievers would have to reassess their atheistic standing in the light of this miracle. The church as a whole would be edified when Joel stands before the crowd and testify. Wouldn’t it be “more good” that Joel is healed than otherwise?
My wife recently asked me, “Why didn’t God heal Joel?” I think this question has been in the minds of all my loved ones after the surgery but none of them wants to bring it up since there are more pressing issues at hand. Further, that question usually begs more questions with no apparent answers and it is therefore better to just move forward with faith than to mope backward in doubt.
So, this is the part of my letter that skeptics are dying to hear: I have no answer. But my qualification is this: saying that I have no answers doesn’t mean that I have no hope. For it is written, “let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23). Life’s mysteries will always remain as life’s mysteries. There are things most unfathomable even to the best minds of this world. To this day, no intellectual giant can even agree on the definition of life. Some say that it is all about reproduction. Some say it is metabolism. Some argue that it is DNA; others say it is RNA. Still others throw up their hands and subscribe to quirky alien theories to explain life and its origin. Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize winner and co-founder of the double-helix DNA, once wrote, “The plain fact is that the time available was too long, the many micro-environments on the earth’s surface too diverse, the various chemical possibilities too numerous and our own knowledge and imagination too feeble to allow us to be able to unravel exactly how it might or might not have happened such a long time ago…”
And the plain fact for me is this: I have come to a point in my faith to accept the fact that it takes more faith to disbelieve God. I cannot imagine that the world just decided to come into being out of cold, unfeeling nothingness. It therefore takes far more imagination to believe what the atheists believe. I choose to see life as a journey and all the trials that come my way as life’s coaches sent by God to point me in the right direction. For it is said, “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers: grow, grow.” God whispers to me in my doubts, my trials and my pain. In all of life’s circumstances, God is telling me to grow, to move on, to mature. It may not be the best answer but, like a coach who pushes his trainees to breaking point, it is one answer that leads to great results. CS Lewis once wrote, “They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.”
So, my hope is forward looking. I choose to see the good that unfolds after a trial or suffering. I believe that my disappointments are only temporal. In the end, there is a justification for everything and God will sit me down to explain it all to me. This is not wishful thinking; it is faithful believing. And this faith is based on a hope that is rooted in His reality, His promises and His timing. For in Psalms 39:6-7, it is written, “Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain: he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”
Press on, good Christian soldiers!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Friday's Recap (311008)
Last Friday I was intimate with you guys. I shared about my OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Although I have not reached a stage where I needed clinical intervention, I do sometimes overdo things or engage in repetitive routine. I checked my keyhole thrice on regular occasions. I inspected my car thrice to ensure I had locked it. I even talked to myself out loud sometimes to the surprise of passerbys. I know that I am able to control myself but I still indulge in these urges at the expense of my wife. Living with me and my annoying habits can be trying sometimes. Moreover I am rather particular about cleanliness. I am quite obsessed with neatness. I strongly prefer a tidy house with everything nicely arranged, properly folded and closely packed. My wife is quite the opposite. She is the least particular about cleanliness. So, these 8 years plus have been a marital period of adjustments, compromise, heated debates and more adjustments.
I share this because we are not perfect. Marriage may be made in heaven, but a lot of details (and I mean a lot) have to be ironed-out on earth. We are still learning as a couple. This marital journey is going to be long one. So, there is a lot to discover - the good and the bad. It is our plan that we sandpaper each other everyday into characters we esteem to become. We just have to smooth the marital corners and edges until we are well honed and well-adjusted. And that would take years, many years. For it is said, it takes only minutes to make acquaintances, but a lifetime to truly love someone. I only know of one redeeming quality that makes a marriage both durable and a great success, and that quality is the quality of sticking together against all forces that threaten to unstuck us.
A philosopher once quipped, "the measure of a man is what he does with power." If I may add my own, it would go something like this, "the true measure of a man is what he does with love." Love to me is the greatest power in this world or universe. Without it, nothing grows, nothing makes sense, nothing lives. Love changes, empowers and inspires life. Love is a force so strong and mysterious that all relationship flourishes under it. Indeed, God is love. So, to be a real man is to ask yourself, what do I do with love? How do I truly love my wife, my children? How do I change myself for them? What is required of me to transform love so that it becomes not just a mouth-confession by a response from my heart? Food for thought?
So, I have to deal with my problem of impatience directly. I get agitated with my loved ones easily, and especially my loved ones. This is ironic because I am extremely patient with all others. You can say that I am edgy with Anna but smooth with my colleagues. As I confess this to you, I am also reminding myself of my flaws. We need to be reminded sometimes least we grow complacent and dismissive of our flaws. Like the cock who crowed at Simon Peter to remind him of his failings, we need our loved ones sometimes to tell us ours. Character defects only become worse when we trivialize them. It is only when we give our attention to them that we get a better handle to deal with them.
Beloved, remember I said that in a garden, weed flourishes near compost pile (dung hill). This is where we should give our utmost attention to. We need to stop feeding our signature sin(s). We need to search for it, starve it, and uproot it. Stop making excuses for our sins, bad habits and rebellious ways. Stop insulating it from the searchlight of the Holy Spirit. If we don't make a resolute choice to deal with it, God cannot force us to. Remember our marriage, friendship and personal spiritual life are all at stake if we indulge and protect our signature sin by underestimating its impact, dismissing it as inconsequential or denying its existence in the first place. Make the right choice today, and begin today. Every change starts with the first step. Every great achievement starts with a humble admission. This brings me to Repentance.
We shared about two kinds of repentance. One of them is the repentance of Judas Iscariot. The other is that of Simon Peter. In Matthew 27:3-4, Judas repented. He knew he had betrayed a good and innocent man. He was sorry and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest. Simon Peter also repented. In Matthew 26:75, Simon Peter wept bitterly after he denied Christ thrice. But both repentances were not the same. Judas repented from the head; Simon Peter repented from the heart. Judas was basically sorry he was found out. Simon Peter was sorry he had failed God. And that made the crucial difference. William Nevins, a christian poet, once compared the two repentance to "ice broken" and "ice melted".
Imagine with me a large block of ice in a storage freezer. To break the ice block, you jab it with a ice-pick or an axe. Your chops would have broken it into smaller blocks. But left on its own, the room temperature of the cold storage would re-freeze them. No sooner than you know it, the varied, smaller blocks would consolidate into one more unwieldy, rough block. But to melt the ice, you have to take it out of cold storage and place it under the warm sun. Once taken out of the freezer, you don't have to hit with anything. It would obediently melt by itself. The wonder of it all is that the melting process is irreversible. Once the melting is complete, the large ice block can no longer return to it original chunky shape. It is now reduced to water and it is a road of no return.
Judas' repentance is likened to "ice broken". It is only temporary. It does not result in a heart transformation. In other words, his heart remained unchanged. Simon Peter's repentance is of a different class altogether. He repented from the heart and his life changed direction completely. The book of Acts indisputably chronicled this amazing transformation. His repentance was irreversible. He did not go back to his old ways or sins. After the cock reminded him of his sins, he went down in history to become a great evangelist and one of the greatest apostles of God.
Beloved, we are called to turn away from our old man. We are called to repent from the heart just like King David did when confronted by prophet Nathan for his sins of adultery, deceit and murder. King David paid a terrible, terrible price for his sins. His son died stilborn. His other son raped his sister. In revenge, the rapist was killed by his half--brother. And the killer usurped the throne and made King David an exile. Had King David confessed to Bathsheba's husband, his faithful commander, of his adultery, I am sure he would have been forgiven and thereby avoiding the terrible consequences that followed from his initial refusal to come to a point of humble admission and heart-transforming repentance of his sins.
In Psalms 51, King David presented his broken and contrite heart to God. He cried out, "Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me." In one of the defining verses at Psalms 51:17, King David wrote, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise."
Beloved, at some point in our life, we shared the same fate as King David. Our hearts were broken, torn and even shattered. Betrayed by loved ones, convicted by sin or oppressed by circumstances, we reached the end of our rope. We are cornered by grief, hatred and unforgiveness. It is time we let it all go. It is time we present our brokenness and contrite heart to God for God's assurance to you is this, "a bruised reed I shall not break and a smothering wick I shall not put out." Let God be our deliverer.
Let me end by saying this, God gives fresh beginnings. For everything, there is a start. As long as we are still alive and breathing, however and wherever we are in life, we can surely and safely start over. In our marriages, career and relationships, we can have fresh beginnings. We can stop the pain, torment and grieve by breaking its spell over us. We can leave the past behind and start our present life on a surer footing with God. Earlier I said that the true measure of a man (and woman) is he (or she) does with love. Jesus did it by redeeming us to him. So, let's take the first step to return to our first love and trust that all our pain, grief and disappointments are in His good hands. Ultimately, God will deliver us from all and reconcile us back to Him. That day will come, we just have to remind ourselves more of it.
Enjoy your weekend.
I share this because we are not perfect. Marriage may be made in heaven, but a lot of details (and I mean a lot) have to be ironed-out on earth. We are still learning as a couple. This marital journey is going to be long one. So, there is a lot to discover - the good and the bad. It is our plan that we sandpaper each other everyday into characters we esteem to become. We just have to smooth the marital corners and edges until we are well honed and well-adjusted. And that would take years, many years. For it is said, it takes only minutes to make acquaintances, but a lifetime to truly love someone. I only know of one redeeming quality that makes a marriage both durable and a great success, and that quality is the quality of sticking together against all forces that threaten to unstuck us.
A philosopher once quipped, "the measure of a man is what he does with power." If I may add my own, it would go something like this, "the true measure of a man is what he does with love." Love to me is the greatest power in this world or universe. Without it, nothing grows, nothing makes sense, nothing lives. Love changes, empowers and inspires life. Love is a force so strong and mysterious that all relationship flourishes under it. Indeed, God is love. So, to be a real man is to ask yourself, what do I do with love? How do I truly love my wife, my children? How do I change myself for them? What is required of me to transform love so that it becomes not just a mouth-confession by a response from my heart? Food for thought?
So, I have to deal with my problem of impatience directly. I get agitated with my loved ones easily, and especially my loved ones. This is ironic because I am extremely patient with all others. You can say that I am edgy with Anna but smooth with my colleagues. As I confess this to you, I am also reminding myself of my flaws. We need to be reminded sometimes least we grow complacent and dismissive of our flaws. Like the cock who crowed at Simon Peter to remind him of his failings, we need our loved ones sometimes to tell us ours. Character defects only become worse when we trivialize them. It is only when we give our attention to them that we get a better handle to deal with them.
Beloved, remember I said that in a garden, weed flourishes near compost pile (dung hill). This is where we should give our utmost attention to. We need to stop feeding our signature sin(s). We need to search for it, starve it, and uproot it. Stop making excuses for our sins, bad habits and rebellious ways. Stop insulating it from the searchlight of the Holy Spirit. If we don't make a resolute choice to deal with it, God cannot force us to. Remember our marriage, friendship and personal spiritual life are all at stake if we indulge and protect our signature sin by underestimating its impact, dismissing it as inconsequential or denying its existence in the first place. Make the right choice today, and begin today. Every change starts with the first step. Every great achievement starts with a humble admission. This brings me to Repentance.
We shared about two kinds of repentance. One of them is the repentance of Judas Iscariot. The other is that of Simon Peter. In Matthew 27:3-4, Judas repented. He knew he had betrayed a good and innocent man. He was sorry and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest. Simon Peter also repented. In Matthew 26:75, Simon Peter wept bitterly after he denied Christ thrice. But both repentances were not the same. Judas repented from the head; Simon Peter repented from the heart. Judas was basically sorry he was found out. Simon Peter was sorry he had failed God. And that made the crucial difference. William Nevins, a christian poet, once compared the two repentance to "ice broken" and "ice melted".
Imagine with me a large block of ice in a storage freezer. To break the ice block, you jab it with a ice-pick or an axe. Your chops would have broken it into smaller blocks. But left on its own, the room temperature of the cold storage would re-freeze them. No sooner than you know it, the varied, smaller blocks would consolidate into one more unwieldy, rough block. But to melt the ice, you have to take it out of cold storage and place it under the warm sun. Once taken out of the freezer, you don't have to hit with anything. It would obediently melt by itself. The wonder of it all is that the melting process is irreversible. Once the melting is complete, the large ice block can no longer return to it original chunky shape. It is now reduced to water and it is a road of no return.
Judas' repentance is likened to "ice broken". It is only temporary. It does not result in a heart transformation. In other words, his heart remained unchanged. Simon Peter's repentance is of a different class altogether. He repented from the heart and his life changed direction completely. The book of Acts indisputably chronicled this amazing transformation. His repentance was irreversible. He did not go back to his old ways or sins. After the cock reminded him of his sins, he went down in history to become a great evangelist and one of the greatest apostles of God.
Beloved, we are called to turn away from our old man. We are called to repent from the heart just like King David did when confronted by prophet Nathan for his sins of adultery, deceit and murder. King David paid a terrible, terrible price for his sins. His son died stilborn. His other son raped his sister. In revenge, the rapist was killed by his half--brother. And the killer usurped the throne and made King David an exile. Had King David confessed to Bathsheba's husband, his faithful commander, of his adultery, I am sure he would have been forgiven and thereby avoiding the terrible consequences that followed from his initial refusal to come to a point of humble admission and heart-transforming repentance of his sins.
In Psalms 51, King David presented his broken and contrite heart to God. He cried out, "Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me." In one of the defining verses at Psalms 51:17, King David wrote, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise."
Beloved, at some point in our life, we shared the same fate as King David. Our hearts were broken, torn and even shattered. Betrayed by loved ones, convicted by sin or oppressed by circumstances, we reached the end of our rope. We are cornered by grief, hatred and unforgiveness. It is time we let it all go. It is time we present our brokenness and contrite heart to God for God's assurance to you is this, "a bruised reed I shall not break and a smothering wick I shall not put out." Let God be our deliverer.
Let me end by saying this, God gives fresh beginnings. For everything, there is a start. As long as we are still alive and breathing, however and wherever we are in life, we can surely and safely start over. In our marriages, career and relationships, we can have fresh beginnings. We can stop the pain, torment and grieve by breaking its spell over us. We can leave the past behind and start our present life on a surer footing with God. Earlier I said that the true measure of a man (and woman) is he (or she) does with love. Jesus did it by redeeming us to him. So, let's take the first step to return to our first love and trust that all our pain, grief and disappointments are in His good hands. Ultimately, God will deliver us from all and reconcile us back to Him. That day will come, we just have to remind ourselves more of it.
Enjoy your weekend.
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