Mathew Shia: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

EXPLORE Week 2: The Rebellion – Genesis Chapter 3: 1-19

Questions and thoughts
1) Were the punishments to heavy?

2) Supposing God is full of love and compassion, why was He acted cruelly and cursedly when human just disobeyed Him?

- God created all the sufferings because He cursed?
- God was unreasonable because He wanted man to do what He says?
- You have to do things wrongly in order to know what is right.
- There was no right and wrong, it was just the matter of obey and disobey.
- Do we need to do what God says, otherwise we will be punished?
- Do you completely obey you parents because they “created” you?
- If God did not curse, then there will be no suffering.
- Are all the sufferings caused by sins?
- God was imperfect because he did not have unconditional love (including forgiveness).
- God was like a dictator.
- Did God want human to continue to be ignorant as He said to man that you must not eat from the tree of knowledge…

Insights
- Parents gave birth to use but God created us
- God defines what is right by saying what are the things suppose to be done and vice versa.
- God is having both the characteristics of unconditional love and justice.

EXPLORE Week 1: The Beginning – Genesis Chapter 1: 1-31 and 2: 1-3

Questions and thoughts
- Why there is discrepancy or no consistency in the usage of first-person narrative when addressing God? (1: 26 – “our”, 1: 29, 30 – “I”)

Insights
- God created both male and female on the sixth day (1: 27)
- Repetitions: 1) And God said…and there was / it was so (POWERFUL)
2) …it was good (WORTHWHILE/ABSOLUTE, God defined good)
3) …according to its (their) kinds (STRUCTURE)
4) And there was evening, and there was morning (ORDER)
5) God called… (AUTHORITY)
- 3 Rs for “image”—reflect (characteristics), represent, and relate (relationship)
- “…it was good” was repeated many times, however after all the things have been created, “…it was very good” (1: 31)

Further readings and information
- “Who wrote the Bible?” (1997) Richard Elliott Friedman, 2nd edition
- Documentary Hypothesis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEq2msDMOJU&feature=PlayList&p=C9553D084359F933&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6)

Study meets ministry/church activity

There is a church camp/activity/serving opportunity which falls during the day(s) of schooling. I always encounter this kind of situations and tough decision need to be made. Should I skip classes and participate in the activity or should I attend my classes?

This situation is argumentative. People can say that you must always put God first, therefore participation in the church activity prevails. On the other hand, study should be your highest priority because you are a student and study is your greatest responsibility for now.

Although I know that the general rule is that study is suppose to be the more important issue, but sometimes I still face dilemma when this situation occurs. Until recently I realized that I have not thought of another aspect of this decision.

Appreciate that from the sharing of David (my friend in the UK), I was explored to a new aspect which I did not think of. For Christian like me, decision to go to the church activity is always a wiser and a more “glorious” option. However, one thing that I need to consider is that whether I could be certain about there will be no influence at all to my study. Am I 100% sure that my study will not be affected at all? Am I able to cope with my study after skipping for a few classes? It is true that if I am not 100% sure about this, I will start blaming if I do not perform as good as expected in my study. Eventually, I might put the blame on God (in my case, there is high possibility for me to do so). I might regret with my decision too. Therefore, this is a critical aspect of this kind of situations.

Sometime when I ask myself deeply, my main motive might not be to serve God but it is largely about my own personal preferences.

From this point of view, study prevails. I think I could serve God and have good testimony to others through my study too:)

Aspects that we might neglect

I needed to make a decision to choose from one of the two weekly events of church. The names of the events are iFocus and Explore. Both are meant for international students/working people. Basically, iFocus is for Christians because it focuses on detailed study of the Bible. On the other hand, Explore tends to be more suitable for non-Christians because it helps you to discover the “surface” of Christianity.

In order to make a better decision, I joined both of the events before my term started. However, I still could not decide which one I should stick with because I think I have learned a lot from both of the events. Thank God that one Singaporean Christian helped me in this decision by asking me a question: Which is the event that your friend needs you the most? Eventually, I decided to go to Explore.

The key thing from this experience is that I always think from my own personal benefits instead of a broader view of eternity. This reminds me about the book “Purpose Driven Life”. Besides the factors that we always take into account, I think considering the aspect of eternity could lead us into a wiser decision and make it easier to decide (like my case above).

Expanding temporary prospective into an eternal view. By asking what would Jesus do, could also help me to consider the aspect that I tend to forget always.