Safespace complete interview on Biotechnology: Are We Playing God?

Biotechnology is both a blessing and a curse to modern man. But, how do we, as Christians, tackle this ethical dilemma? Are we playing God when we use Biotechnologies to manipulate life? In this episode, Alexa Ho sits with Dr Alex Tang to talk about the breakthroughs of biotechnology and how should the church navigate its many ethical challenges that ensue. Listen in to our episode “Biotechnology: Are we playing God?”

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL65SzbncP3

Safespace Interview on Biotechnology: Are We Playing God? Part 3

What should be the core guiding principle to Christians seeking to faithful God’s stewards of his creation and knowledge he has given us, and that includes science? Tune into part three of our conversation with Dr Alex Tang on “Biotechnology: Are we playing God?” to find out.

Link:
https://youtu.be/cV1IbLvrJ4M…

Eugene Peterson, Spiritual Director Extraordinaire

Image: Taylor Martyn / Fuller Seminary

Eugene Peterson, former pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland and Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology in Regent College, Vancouver, Canada passed away at home on 22 October 2018. He was 85 years old. In the Spiritual Formation Movement, I regard Dallas Willard as the head, Richard Foster as the hands, and Eugene Peterson as the heart. Dallas Willard who died in 2013 provided the ideas that formed the infrastructure of the movement. His ideas were often abstract and his concepts difficult to grasp. Richard Foster consolidates   the movement by recovering the spiritual disciplines and the formative programs of Renovaré, an organization that he started. However, it is from Eugene Peterson that I discovered the heart of the movement.

I only met Eugene Peterson once many years ago at a Spiritual Formation Forum in Los Angeles. It was late in the day and he was tired yet he was willing to spend half an hour talking to this unknown Asian guy over a cup of coffee. I do not remember what we talked about but I do remember I was impressed by his authenticity and spiritual presence. I remembered leaving the encounter spiritually uplifted and convinced that I should continue to be involved with the movement. This was before the publication of the Message, his paraphrase of the Bible, which made him internationally famous . I have been reading and studying his writings before this chance encounter and continued to do so. I regard Eugene Peterson as my spiritual director even though he may not know it. His books, writings, lectures, and sermons provide spiritual guidance at the most appropriate times in my life. Like all spiritual guides, he draws me closer to God with his wise counsel.

The centrality of the Word lies at the heart of all his writings and teaching. Being a linguist himself, Eugene Peterson was familiar with ancient Greek and Hebrew. He emphasized the need to know the Bible and to apply it in all areas of our lives. I find Eat this Book and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction representative of Eugene Peterson’s thinking in this area. Megachurches, modern theologies and the prosperity gospel did not impress him. A  thought which he shared  that have stayed with me was that he would not pastor a church that has more members than he can know personally. I believed he gave the number as 300 members. And he held true to that conviction, faithfully pastoring a small church in Bel Air for over 23 years. I am totally convinced of his concept of  a pastor as being a part of a community. Reading his personal memoirs The Pastor, community and place were featured prominently as his areas of emphasis. Christian spirituality was a deep interest of his and his books Run with the Horses and Subversive Spirituality taught me the importance of our spirituality in Christ in the ordinary events in our daily life.

Though he is no longer with us, his legacy lives on. A gentle man with deep roots in the Word and in God. An earthly man with deep roots in his communities. A thoughtful reflective man whose body of work continues to inspire and guide others to engage in subversive spirituality in a materialistic world.

John Sung and Mental Illness

I am fascinated by how God uses people with mental illnesses. One of the persons I am studying is John Sung, a famous Chinese evangelist in South East Asia and China during the Twentieth Century. I have written a paper on John Sung and his mental illness and had presented it at The Society of the Study of Christian Spirituality Conference in the University of Notre Dame a few years ago. I have been meaning to rewrite the paper for publication but have not got around to it yet.

I came across some new insights at “The Biographical Dictionary of CHINESE Christianity.

John Sung’s life story is interesting

According to his testimony, he continued to read broadly; translated the Dao De Jing into English, and exploring philosophy and history on his own. He was at first influenced by his theologically liberal teachers, but everything changed – again, according to his testimony – when he underwent a dramatic conversion while attending evangelistic meetings in January, 1927. He also said he was born again on February 10 of that year.

Fully transformed, Song zealously evangelized his professors, warning them of eternal punishment if they did not repent. They were not amused, and had him locked up in an insane asylum, where he proceeded to read the Bible through at forty times in seven months. He was released through the efforts of an American pastor, and returned to China in 1927.
That is the story which has come down from Song and his biographers, especially Leslie Lyall.

However

Recent research, based partly on reliable archival materials from Union Theological Seminary, paint a different picture. It seems that Song really did suffer some sort of psychological breakdown, leading to hallucinations, strange dreams, visions, and bizarre behavior, including impenetrable letters and diagrams. Having been diagnosed as psychotic by three psychiatrists, he signed the self-admittance form to Bloomingdale Hospital in White Plains, New York.

My personal diagnosis is that John Sung suffers from Manic Depressive Psychosis.

While in the mental hospital, he became obsessed with a female goddess, “Shenmu, the Queen Mother,” whom he variously called, “Mary, Mother of Jesus, Queen of Queens,” “Mary Magdelen, Mother of Christ,” or simply, “Goddess.” On April 4, 1927, he “married” her in a ceremony that included a “holy kill and holy union.” His diaries contain messages that he purportedly received from her. Later, he ceased writing and filled his diaries with complicated digrams and graphs that supposedly showed the correlation between the Gospels and radio waves….Song returned to China instead of resuming classes at Union. One of the first things he did was to visit the temple of Guanyin, a Buddhist figure sometimes merged with the Taoist Queeen Mother of the West.

This part about his mental illness seemed to suggest that he had schizophrenia. The material about his association with Quan Yin, the Daoist Goddess of Mercy was new to me.

However, this does not deter me from believing that God uses people with mental illness for His purpose. My thesis is that not only use God uses people with mental illness, He uses the mental illness itself. Otherwise, how do we explain how in his short 12 years of active ministry, John Sung did more for Christianity than most people did in a lifetime.

In that 12 years, John Sung empowered the churches in South East Asia by visiting them in at least three tours, and also laid the foundation for the churches in China in his travels around the country that enable the churches to survive the Communist takeover. This could be the manic energy from his mental illness that allowed him to preach three times a day and five times on Sunday for months at a time!

A Man Called Barnabas

A man called Barnabas from Alex Tang

Sermon statement

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith

read more here

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Random musings and reflections on life, God and all that stuff (movies, comics, science fiction, spiritual formation, Christian education, biomedical ethics, post modern parenting, books, theology and philosophy)

Review of Lim’s Life and Ministry of John Sung

Lim Ka-Tong, 2012, The Life and Ministry of John Sung, Singapore: Armour Publishing

This is a timely and much needed book in English on the biography of evangelist John Sung who played such an important part in the revivals in China and South East Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Unfortunately, John Sung is not well known or even remembered among the contemporary churches in Asia except for a few. Among these are those who actually met Sung and whose lives were changed as a result of that meeting. Even now six decades later, these people can remember Sung clearly and with joy their remembrance of their encounter with God as a result of this meeting.

The last significant biography of John Sung was by Leslie Lyall which was written 50 years ago! Lim Ka-Tong’s biography is a distinctive improvement with more new information from Sung’s diaries and letters. Lim, presently a pastor in Texas, is a graduate of Singapore Bible College, Dallas Theological Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary. In this book which covers Sung’s early formative years, the short 12 years of ministry and his dying years. Significantly it covers the five phases of his life; water (reimmersion, 1927-1930), door (opening, 1931-1933), dove (time to soar, 1934-1936), blood (wartime spiritual warfare, 1937-1939) and tomb (pastoral years, 1940-1944).

Lim’s book explores the impact of Sung’s ministry in the context of prewar and wartime China and South-East Asia, the Chinese worldviews and Sung’s own personal spiritual development. He does this by answering five questions:

(1)   What shaped John Sung? How did John Sung become John Sung?

(2)   In what ways did contextual elements contribute to the prominence of John Sung’s ministry and his lasting influence?

(3)   How did John Sung’s ministry contribute to the growth and indigenization of Chinese Christianity?

(4)   How did John Sung make such a great impact in so brief a time?

(5)   Why has John Sung been slighted by historical scholarship, despite his pivotal influence on Chinese Christianity?

In this book, Lim has succeeded in helping us to understand this complex and driven servant of God. He shows us the constant struggles Sung had in his spiritual life and his ‘unconditional’ surrender of everything to God. It is a hard lived life of seeking God and seeking his will in making choices. These choices including a life of comfort in the United States or poverty in China, ministerial ‘success’ or itinerary wanderings, theological conservatism (fundamentalist) or liberalism, being a ‘Chinese’ Chinese or a Western educated Chinese, and living a kataphatic or apophatic Christian spirituality. It is a result of these struggles that Sung was able to have such an impact in his ministry.

This is a highly readable and interesting book and a must for all Christians especially for those who want to appreciate the Asian and Chinese Christian heritage.

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Random musings and reflections on life, God and all that stuff (movies, comics, science fiction, spiritual formation, Christian education, biomedical ethics, post modern parenting, books, theology and philosophy)

Christianity Today on John Stott

John Stott died July 27th at 3:15 London time (about 9:15 a.m. CST), according to John Stott Ministries President Benjamin Homan. Homan said that Stott’s death came after complications related to old age and that he has been in discomfort for the last several weeks. Family and close friends gathered with Stott as they listened to Handel’s Messiah. Homan said that John Stott Ministries has been preparing for his death for the past 15 years. “I think he set an impeccable example for leaders of ministries of handing things over to other leaders,” Homan said. “He imparted to many a love for the global church and imparted a passion for biblical fidelity and a love for the Savior.”

Below you’ll find our collection of classic pieces from Christianity Today’s publications on John Stott and his legacy. Read Christianity Today‘s full obituary here.

John Stott: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Bishop

Discernment and discipline have enabled him to touch lives worldwide.

By David Neff

Related Articles:

Evangelism Plus

John Stott reflects on where we’ve been and where we’re going.

Interview by Tim Stafford

Basic Stott

In this cover story from 1996, evangelicalism’s premier teacher speaks on gender, charismatics, leaving the Church of England, the poor, evangelical fragmentation, Catholics, the future, and other subjects.

By Roy McCloughry

Legacy of a Global Leader

Less known than Stott’s earlier work is his ministry with Langham Partnership International.

By Tim Stafford

Random musings and reflections on life, God and all that stuff (movies, comics, science fiction, spiritual formation, Christian education, biomedical ethics, post modern parenting, books, theology and philosophy)

Michael Moorthy and Boys’ Brigade in Asia

Well done Michael Moorthy. This article is reproduced from the City Harvest website citynews. An oversight in this article is that it fails to mention that the 1st JB Company is sponsored by the Holy Light Church (English) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and Michael Moorthy’s involvement since 1966 is fully sponsored and supported by the church even after he has chosen to worship with City Harvest Church in 1997.

A “Sure And Steadfast” Man

Posted on 05 April 2011

Business owner Michael Moorthy serves three posts in the Boys’ Brigade in Asia. He shares his passion for his mission.
Contributed By Nicolette Ng

Moorthy (right) with Singapore’s President S.R. Nathan. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MOORTHY

Michael Moorthy, 59, is not quite your average business owner.

Moorthy, the director of Anjung Segar Sdn Bhd, a frozen foods company, is “on call” for the Boys’ Brigade, which he serves as the president of Boys’ Brigade Malaysia, the president of Boys Brigade Asia, as well as the honorary captain of the 1st Johor Bahru Boys’ Brigade company.

The oldest uniformed group in the world, the BB is an interdenominational Christian youth organization, conceived by William Alexander Smith in Glasgow in 1883, which combines drill and fun activities with Christian values.

What sets the BB apart is that its activities not only cater to the physical and mental development of the youth, but also their spiritual development through Christian education classes and activities. This is also where the “graduated” pool of officers who are all volunteers comes in to train the next generation after being blessed by the BB. These people are role models and impact the lives of the young people entrusted in their hands. Their motto: “Sure and Steadfast.”

Having many youths in his care, Moorthy shares that as captain of the 1st JB Company, he is responsible for the overall direction and vision of where the Company is headed in terms of growth and planning their calendar for the year, whilst also ensuring that the weekly operations and meetings run smoothly.

Through a holistic program, the BB instils discipline and the development of three key areas: body, soul and spirit. While updating their programs regularly to mold the character and leadership skills of the youths is effective, Moorthy shares that it is important not to lose sight of sharing Christ with them in the process. The BB’s objective is “The advancement of Christ’s kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness.”

It was in 1966 when Moorthy, impressed by the uniforms, badges and the marching band and caving in to the persistent encouragement of his classmates, joined the BB. There has been no turning back since. It was also through the BB that Moorthy got to know Christ as his Savior. It is no surprise that Moorthy’s greatest satisfaction from the ministry is to know that through the BB, they are changing lives and reaching out to young people who are transformed to become better members of the society.

The Moorthy family. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MOORTHY

Moorthy acknowledges that the success the Companies have had come about because of a group effort. “I’m only as effective and efficient as the team of fellow volunteer officers I’ve had around me over the years, and I have been blessed to have their support.”

To date, the 1st JB Boys’ Brigade Company has grown to become one of the largest Companies in Malaysia. One milestone for them was when their marching band played overseas in Thailand and China, and was featured in the Malaysian Book of Records for being the First Youth Marching Band to play at the Great Wall of China.

The City Harvest Church member and his family from JB first encountered the church in 1997. “We just fell in love with CHC, the praise and worship, the inspiring messages by Pastor Kong. The love and care from our friends over the years made us realize that CHC is not just a mega-church but a mega-caring church,” says Moorthy. Since those days of the church at Hollywood Theatre, Moorthy and his wife, Janet, and their four children have commuted across the Causeway every single weekend to attend service. It comes as no surprise that his eldest and second son were also BB members.

His is a life and a family that is dedicated to the cause of Christ. “It is my belief for my family and me, that we are all about tending God’s business, and will do our best to the measure He has entrusted to us.”

Random musings and reflections on life, God and all that stuff (movies, comics, science fiction, spiritual formation, Christian education, biomedical ethics, post modern parenting, books, theology and philosophy)

The Martyrs of our Modern Church

From Thinking Faith
18 March 2011

Photo by rosaamarilla at flickr.com

Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ

Next week, the 31^st anniversary of the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero will be marked by people around the world to whom he remains an inspiration – in his life and death – as they strive for justice. His country of El Salvador saw many other lives lost as members of the Church were targeted by the authorities as a result of their protestations against an oppressive regime. Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ, who worked with many of these martyrs, tells their stories and gives an insight into the Church teaching that lay behind their deep commitment to justice.

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Karl Barth in TIME

Karl Barth made the cover of Time magazine on April 20, 1962.

In the 20th century, no man has been a stronger witness to the continuing significance of Christ’s death and Christ’s return than the world’s ranking Protestant theologian, Swiss-born Karl Barth (rhymes with heart). Barth knows that the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection are not coherent, but he refuses to make the mystery more palatable to human reason by suggesting—as did the great 19th century Theologian D. F. Strauss in his Life of Jesus—that the story of the crucifixion is a “myth.” Instead, Barth argues that the subject of this unique event is God, not man; and only God can know the full truth of his own history. Man’s only road to understanding of this divine history is through faith—faith in the reality and truth of what the Evangelists so incoherently describe.

“Do you want to believe in the living Christ?” says Barth. “We may believe in him only if we believe in his corporeal resurrection. This is the content of the New Testament. We are always free to reject it, but not to modify it, nor to pretend that the New Testament tells something else. We may accept or refuse the message, but we may not change it.”

These are fighting words and so very true.

Essentially, Barth is a Christological theologian, whose uniquely modern thought centers around ancient realities: faith, the Bible, the church. He has a philosopher’s knowledge of philosophy, but unlike such contemporaries as Tillich or Bultmann, Barth is wary of restating the dogmas of the church in nontraditional language. His thought is complex, but he nonetheless writes of doctrine in prose that is not far removed from that of the pulpit. Above all he writes of the mysterious history of Christ. Knowledge of God is knowledge of God through Christ. Faith is faith in Christ; the church is the Church of Christ; the Bible is the witness of Christ. Theologian Hans Frei of Yale calls him “a Christ-intoxicated man.”

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Random musings and reflections on life, God and all that stuff (movies, comics, science fiction, spiritual formation, Christian education, biomedical ethics, post modern parenting, books, theology and philosophy)