bobjots : redux

I am reposting the video again but in 4 separate segments for faster download times:

To blog about thoughts on:

• PKR Congress
• Lina Joy Verdict
• Whats The Point Of Going To Church

.. Arminian: While you love me and have a wonderful plan for my life, I have the power to resist your will. If I did not, love would not be possible. For our relationship to be loving it needs to include the possibility of breaking up--something I am doing right now ..

.. New Perspective on Paul Scholar: Rather than earning God's blessing, it is established on the basis of our covenant courtship (I asked your dad to date you didn't I?) which requires the proper response of an intentional and deliberate pursuit of marriage. Yet there is no such pursuit, therefore God's blessing on or relationship is no longer maintained ..

.. Emergent: The question if whether we are in relationship or not is mired in Modernity's obsession with propositional truth. A better a way to look at this is to enter into God's story about how he lead us together and is now leading us apart ..

.. Lutheran: I want our relationship to continue, but first there are a few things about you that God wants to change. Here is a list of 95 that I made. What? OK, then, I guess we're done ..

My Migrant Soul, a video documentary by Yasmine Kabir, is about Shahjahan Babu, a young migrant worker from Bangladesh, who left for Malaysia in search of work. Having sold his only piece of property and virtually mortgaging his life - the young man arrives in the host country to experience only disillusionment, misery and frustration.

Plaisir d'Amour or The Joys of Love is a love song written in 1775 for the French court by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian and set to music by Jean Paul Égide Martini.

The languid melody is a simple arc of sorrow while the lyrics echo the great ballads of the 1600's with their bitter-sweet attachment to an unfaithful love. In fact, this plaintive lament sounds like a traditional folk ballad but it is not.

It remains a popular song today and continues to be performed today by such artists as Andrea Bocelli (2002), Nana Maskouri (1997), Marianne Faithfull (1965), and Joan Baez (1961). The hit song "Can't Help Falling in Love" sung by Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii is based on the melody of "Plaisir D'Amour" with new, english-language lyrics by George Weiss.

This version is from the soundtrack of HBO's Band of Brothers mini series, specifically Episode 7; The Breaking Point. The scene is poignant and the arrangement haunting which is perhaps why I love this version.

.. errr .. ok .. the pun's unintended and yep, I know GodTube has its own share of critics but I could only find this clip there :

Christian leaders, including Jim Wallis (Sojourners), John Bell (Iona Community) and the Bishop of Durham (England), reflect on the biblical call for justice. This film was produced by the video team at Christian Aid, the international development agency of the churches of the UK and Ireland. Christian Aid works wherever the need is greatest – irrespective of religion or race.

And most importantly, it makes me wonder what we can do as the Church in Malaysia.

Usually I try not to comment on the developments of the evangelical community in the US. I think we're already too heavily influenced by what goes on over there anyway. Nonetheless, a recent development got me thinking a little bit. Why? Probably because the main movers and shakers of this development have quite a considerable following and influence here in Malaysia. And one of them is scheduled to be in the country this October for the Klang Valley Bible Conference.

I'm talking about the recent Gospel Coalition conference held at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (see Google's Blog Search for more chatter on this). This is a conference that was birthed out of a theological colloquium held last year and led by D.A. Carson and Tim Keller to redefine a clear center for evangelicalism based on a broadly reformed evangelical confession of faith initially drafted by Carson. Participants in this conference ranged from folks like John Piper, Mark Driscoll and Philip Ryken and a foundational document was finally hammered out outlining their beliefs and vision for ministry (PDF download here).

Dean Peters, the guy behind the social networking and blog aggregator site; blogs4God; and the Church marketing blog; Heal Your Church Web Site; and also a contributing author to the book; Son of Web Pages That Suck; will be in Kuala Lumpur from June 2 - 16 and wants to meet up with some local Christian bloggers.

Here's an excerpt of his e-mail to me and I hope to be able to organise at least a dinner meeting or something while he's here:

.. Here is my itinerary:

Sat, Jun 2, 2007 - Depart 6:40am, Arrive 8:25pm
Sat, Jun 16, 2007 - Depart 10:50pm, Arrive 1:49pm

I will be in K.L. on business, but will likekly be available during an evening or two, and the weekend inbetween (June 9 & 10).

I would love meeting with members of the Christian blogging community - even if only briefly - sometime during that trip. I've already been in touch with Sivin Kit ... so I'm excited! ..

So, if you guys are interested, leave a comment here on my blog with your contact details (it'll be captured in the comment form anyway) and I'll try to hatch something up.

With the Registrar of Societies (ROS) threatening the dissolution of the party if Anwar wins the elections for party president and Abdul Rahman Othman finally deciding to withdraw from the race, Datin Seri Wan Azizah has won the presidency of the party for another term unopposed.

More details about the fireworks caused by Anwar's announcement to withdraw his candidacy can be found at Nik Nazmi's and Jelas.

Wan Azizah herself made an impassioned plea for cadres and supporters to keep up the struggle for reform and social and political transformation of the nation ..

“I have tasted the bitter and the sweet of politics. I have even tasted the pain of a tear-gas grenade. I have had my own home attacked, and my own poor children forced to live in fear. I have been treated with contempt, even dishonoured by the foulest lies.” ...

... "Don’t kill what we have been fighting for, hold on, hold on to our struggle. Reformasi!"

It seems that the Internet connection at the Press Centre in the venue of the party Congress is down so news will be a little bit slow to come by. The latest press statement was verbally dictated to me over the phone so that I could update it on the party site. This padawan is learning patience :)

Too often the Christian discourse on the Middle East is monopolised by two extremes. One extreme comes from a dispensationalist perspective is based on the premise that God provided the physical nation of Israel with specific promises which will be fulfilled at a future time in the Jews. By extension, Christians should support Israel as the nation is viewed as unique in God's eyes. This perspective is very influential in the United States, especially among the fundamentalists and a substantial number of Evangelicals.

Just in from the official grapevine:

PRESS ALERT
25 May 2007

ROS REJECTS ANWAR APPLICATION TO CONTEST

Anwar Ibrahim, Advisor of the People's Justice Party (KeADILan) and one of the three candidates for presidency of the party, received a notice from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) this afternoon, rejecting his application to contest.

Anwar has since filed an appeal to the Home Minister.

Under the Societies Act, the Home Minister has the right to grant him a waiver.

KeADILan strongly condemns such the move by ROS as a deliberate ploy to prevent the reemergence of Anwar Ibrahim into active political leadership.

He has expressed his intention to go ahead with the elections tomorrow.

Tian Chua
Information Chief
People's Justice Party (KeADILan)

Shane Claibourne's book; The Irresistible Revolution; was an exciting read for me. It didn't say anything I didn't already know (ok .. maybe it did), but it definitely was articulated well and it fired up my imagination!

I came across this intriguing little text called The Didache (pronounced Di-duh-kee) or The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles. This is a brief treatise which reads like a handbook for Christian converts and communities; almost like a catechism. Incidentally, it can be viewed in a couple of sections, like any good catechism;

1. On Righteousness & Sin
   (Chapters 1 - 6)
2. On Rituals
   (Chapters 7 - 10)
3. On The Conduct and Administration of the Church
   (Chapters 11 - 15)
4. On The Coming Of Christ
   (Chapter 16)

I'm probably gonna get whacked for this, from both Christians and non-Christians alike, but here are some resources that I've found online that's worth checking out regarding the Christian perspective on egalitarianism:

Then again, what were we to expect when the original duo got away without even a slap on the wrist?

When Parliament House was first built “it was a very beautiful building” but it needed maintenance and renovations.

“A woman 50 years ago, she looks beautiful, but today she won’t look so beautiful,” he said, adding that work under the RM90mil renovations was complete.

- Samy Vellu (BN - Sungai Siput), Minister of Works

(see The Star or Malaysiakini for full report)

"In a community ruled by love, Capitalism cannot exist and Marxism won't be necessary .."

- Shane Clairbourne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

- Matthew 22:36-40

The news of Tan Sri Bernard Dompok's resignation as chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (PSCI) came as a surprise for many. Among the reasons given to the press was that he felt that he "may not be able to do justice to the tasks assigned to the committee by Parliament" as a member of the Cabinet. This comes in the wake of the failure of the PSCI to convene a meeting to enquire on the allegations that hundreds of thousands of non documented migrants in Sabah obtained Malaysian identity cards illegally. The effort to conduct an enquiry was essentially scuttled when the National Registration Department (NRD) refused to attend the meeting.

The Star headlined "MPs say sorry" in their issue today regarding the Bocor Incident. Interestingly the Malay press buried it in the inside pages:

• Berita Harian
  2 Ahli Parlimen Mohon Maaf
• Utusan Malaysia
  Maafkan kami

Every now and then, something hits you and makes you realise that an important part of your life is being missed out. I was editing this section in a Wikipedia article on the breakdown of Malaysia's Chinese population by dialect group when I realised that for demographics purposes, I am probably classified as a Teochew speaker, specifically of the Shantou/Swatow sub-group from the Chenghai/Tenghai region.

Honestly speaking, this isn't very true as I don't speak Teochew. I can understand the dialect (at least the Swatow variety) but I just can't speak it. Conversely, I am quite at home with Malay, English, Mandarin Chinese, Hokkien (specifically the Penang Hokkien variety) and Cantonese but Teochew .. nope .. sorry.

The statistics compiled below are based on the Department of Statistics' Population and Housing Census 2000 and Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk's Operation World.

According to the 2000 census, Malaysia's Christian community makes up 9.1% of the population of Malaysia. This means that from a total population of 23,274,690, Christianity counts 2,117,997 adherents in the country. Now here is where it gets a bit interesting ..

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a well known and controversial Christian fundamentalist pastor and televangelist died at the age of 73 a few hours ago after collapsing at his campus office in Liberty University which he founded as the Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971 and was serving as its Chancellor.

He was found without a pulse at his office around 10.45am Eastern Standard Time (EST) after missing an appointment and was sent to the Lynchburg General Hospital where CPR was administered unsuccessfully. At 2.10pm EST, a press statement was issued that Jerry Falwell had died and hospital records show that he was pronounced dead at 12.40pm EST. Dr. Carl Moore, Falwell's physician, said he had a heart condition and presumably died of a cardiac arrhythmia.

How would you react if someone in Church suggests that the tithe be abolished. Here's what Mark Van Steenwyk of the Jesus Manifesto blog suggested:

We need to abolish the tithe. It may be biblical, but it isn’t Christian. People shouldn’t give based upon income. Instead, we should all live simply, take what we need, and share the rest.

Read more about this here.

Here are some more examples of ordinary radicalism to check out:

• Relational Tithe
• Philadelphia Housing Crisis (Berembangs no more!)

Today a litany was shared and prayed together in Church. A litany is a a form of prayer used in church services and processions with a series of petitions. We don't do litanies very often nowadays but since today is a special day, I felt it was more than appropriate ..

Aristides the Athenian was a 2nd century Greek philosopher in Athens who converted to Christianity and presented a defence of the Christian faith in person to the Roman Emperor Hadrian (of the Hadrian's Wall fame). This defence was known as the Apology of Aristides and was mainly known by reputation until a manuscript was found by Armenian monks in their collection in 1878. For more on this, check out Wikipedia's article.

Here are some excerpts from the Apology that struck me:

Just got an text message from Alvin .. he's now finally getting to do what he wants to do. Congratulations bro!

Blessed Are The Eyes
  That See The Things
    That You Have Seen

Blessed Are The Feet
  That Walk The Ways
    Where You Have Been

Many of us were looking forward to one particular event, considering how testy things have been in the realm of inter-faith relationships in our country, that was supposed to be held in Kuala Lumpur early this month. We were hoping that there might be a glimpse of hope where two faith communities with their best scholars were able to discuss issues of mutual interest in a spirit of mutual respect and acceptance.

There was a bit of concern on my part when the 77th National Fatwa Council meeting held in Kuala Terengganu on April 11th decided, among other matters, that interfaith dialogue was considered harmful to the faith of Muslims (merosakkan aqidah). Interestingly, this was not reported in any of the print media that I monitored. The main news on this meeting was generally about the declaration that participation in online investments schemes were haram (forbidden) and by extension sinful. I guess I was a bit lucky as I got to hear about this on the radio news.

From The Way of Holiness: An Exposition of Psalm CXIX, Analytical and Devotional (London: Methuen, 1901) by Richard Meux Benson, the founder of the Anglican Society of St. John the Evangelist:

There are times when those of us who try to be faithful to God's Word, find it extremely difficult to live out our faith in love and charity to all. Yes, we know the Bible entreats us to love our enemies and do good to those that seek to do us harm (Luke 6:27-28). This becomes unbearably difficult when you read news like these :

Christians at Bible publishers have their throats cut
Times Online, April 19, 2007

Knife-wielding attackers slit the throats of three people at a Christian publishing house in conservative eastern Turkey yesterday.

.. details

As some of you might already know, I recently made a decision to join the Lutheran tradition. The congregation I go to is very small compared to my last one .. along the lines of 3% of the size of the latter congregation. To have an idea of the general size of the congregation, my membership transfer certificate bears the serial number; BLC 0045. My wife got number 46. Average weekly attendance during Sunday worship would be roughly about double that amount.

.. if only my parents were less "practical" about what courses I should have taken in college, I might have amounted to something instead of dropping out of college thrice ..

I came across this song in an old copy of the BB Gazette. Apparently it was written with The Boys' Brigade in mind and was performed during a recording of BBC's Voices of Praise programme.

With the help of the Boys of the 1st Petaling Jaya Company and W/O Yap Wei Liang, we did a choral presentation of this song during one of the Enrolment Sundays (I can't remember exactly which year it was):

I think, therefore I doubt, therefore I write .. and that got me tagged by Lucia for the ..

Apparently I deserved it because I am a :

.. faithful christian and PKR member (in that order). he is the first blogger i met. er… actually i met him before both of us became bloggers (when blogging was virtually unknown at that time!). i admire his devotion to his church. as you can see, most of his posts touch on the church or christianity… but of course on PKR too. many of his posts were quite touching and thought provoking.

She was nice enough not to mention that I smoke like a chimney.

Via the padre ...

What type of Christian are you?
Lutheran You are a Lutheran and a true Reformer! You don't want to give up the traditions of early Christianity, but you have to be able to find it in the Bible at least somewhere. Ordination is important but not enough to effect the operations of the Church. The Holy Communion Liturgy is probably a big issue in your congregation and there are a lot of opinions as to how often it should be celebrated. You don't pray for your dead, not really anyway. You do a lot of remembering the dead though. You like to pray together in formalized ways but at home you like to pray using your own words.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Wow .. the result came out as a surprise. Have I really shifted so much over the years?