How We Use Scared Books

Posted by ongohing under Perspective

In my boyhood, being afraid of the dark growing up in a new village which did not have electricity supply, I had thought that placing a copy of the bible beside my pillow would do the trick. That is, give protection and provide coverage for the long night especially after having inadvertently heard some ghost stories. Not that I was a Christian then but if not the bible what?

We didn’t have Buddhist or Taoist texts handy at home for that purpose. So when I became a Christian, the habit persisted and for the rest of my youth even in young adulthood, the bible remained my night companion. At that phase in life, I sometimes thought that with the bible within viewing distance, I might be less likely to commit sin.

With the introduction of television and Hollywood movies especially the law series with a lot of courtroom action, the bible took on another utility. Those westerners were shown to be taking their oath of truth with one hand lifted and the other placed on a copy of the bible as in “Do you solemnly swear to tell the whole truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?”

By then I was doing a lot of bible study and the bible took on a different role in my life. It became a treasure book of historical anecdotes, wisdom, inspiration and guidance for doctrine and practical living. Without bible knowledge I would have no foundation for faith and life. Like physical exercise, regular bible study is indispensable to develop and maintain spiritual health.

By this process, I came to understand something about the uses of sacred books. At best the use of the bible in the courtroom or in oath-taking during induction into public office in America can only be symbolic. The bible is sacred in the sense that it reveals God’s will and wisdom. But it does not possess any supernatural powers of its own. Its presence beside my pillow at night prevents nothing as such. Such supernatural roles of giving protection and the like are performed only by God himself.

To swear an oath placing one’s hand on the bible does not guarantee that one is necessarily telling the whole truth. The more important reality to stress and insist upon is that my oath (say of marriage) is made in the presence of God who is present as a witness and who will hold me to my pledge. Thus the degree of honesty of any oath-taking is dependent on personal sincerity and a person’s fear of God rather than our hand on a mere book. By the mere act of my swearing on a bible, those who have legitimate grievances against me could draw little comfort or assurance since my swearing on a bible is a very easy thing for me to do. All it requires is a functioning limb rather than a functioning conscience.

To be sure, because of what the bible contains and reveals, I maintain a healthy respect for it and do not treat it like I would ordinary books by throwing it on the ground or sit on it or in any way do irreverent things with it. (I would baulk at killing a mosquito with the bible, for instance.) But if indeed we consider a book sacred, then the best way to demonstrate that is to take its revelation and writings as of highest importance and the best way to show it respect is to read, understand and obey its instructions as a mark of respect for its Author.

Regarding the mere act of swearing or oath-taking, the bible reveals these sayings of Christ in his sermon on the mount:

Matthew 5.33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be “Yes, Yes’ or “No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

This was echoed by the apostle James elsewhere in the bible:

James 5:12 “Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Discerning The Voice Of Jesus

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Are you looking at some difficult decisions? Are you uncertain about which course of action to take?

John 10:27 says, “My sheep hears My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”. Do you hear God’s voice? More importantly, do you follow Him?

Last Thursday, I found myself attending Gordon T. Smith’s Seminar on Listening to the Voice of Jesus: On Prayer and Discernment. If it wasn’t because it was compulsory, I would most probably have skipped it.

That’s because I kinda see myself as an expert in this area already – yeap, read it all, done it all, even HEARD it all….including the audible voice of Jesus. Didn’t even get the wrong discernment on that one – He said “You follow Me”. I remembered crying for more than two hours after that. Not the sad, hysteria kind but rather one of gratitude. Perhaps it was my first awesome spiritual experience, it completely “took me by surprise”. Does He really love me that much, He even chose to make Himself real to me? How many Christians in the world except for that “incorrigible” classmate of mine Kenneth Fong perhaps, who has literally became as famous as Gordon Smith himself after his book, Why Me, God? was published (so “jealous” of him) gets these sort of privileges? Certainly not every day. So, why bother with another “Hearing God’s Voice” seminar????

Well, there can’t be anything new. Don’t expect much, I told myself. It will just probably be the usual stuff - on how to hear from God, the techniques to use - as if God is a set of manuals, we can just flip open and follow the instructions. No.1, do this. Then go on to No.2 and do this…blah, blah, blah.

And how very wrong I was. I soon found myself on the listening end of an articulate discourse on how evangelical Christians approach spiritual discernment and how we can empower others to hear more clearly the voice of Jesus for themselves, building on the rich spiritual tradition that spans the diversity of history and theology from Ignatius Loyola to Jonathan Edwards to John Wesley.

Gordon Smith certainly has no trouble explaining his ideas. Overrall, he managed to be practical without being overly how-to-ish. He approached the topic as a learned skill – listening to the Holy Spirit through scripture and prayer, and allowing God’s voice to shape our minute choices, hearing and responding in wisdom.

Christians he said ought to be able to answer two very important questions at any time in their life: what is Jesus saying at this point in your life? And how do you know it is Jesus that you are experiencing? To these two questions, Smith further adds that on one can do this for you except you yourself.

Having considered myself an expert on the first two questions, it was the addendum to the two questions that caught my attention. Sitting at the very front pew with my that very “incorrigible” classmate, Kenneth Fong and his co-author and wife, Sherryl (this must be a Divine arrangement - God’s three very privileged people together, I thought), it suddenly “illuminated” on me, that this was my “problem”. I have been depending on others to discern God’s message for me because I doubt the message.

When we doubt God’s message or that what God calls us to do may strike us as unreasonable, we doubt his love. Thus, we may hesitate in our decision-making and this will undermine our inner confidence prompting us to look to others for reassurance and affirmation. This creates a problem. Two friends may offer two different opinions. To say yes to one, is to say no to the other and risk rejection. We also may be tempted to rely upon the external circumstances for reassurance and all these leads to error and/or disobedience, ultimately causing sin.

Gordon Smith himself said in his book The Voice of Jesus, “Nothing is so fundamental to the Christian journey as knowing and feeling that we are loved. Nothing”. Without the unqualified assurance that we are loved, Smith states, we are handicapped in our capacity to discern what is best for us.

That was what happened to me. I could not discern what was best for me because I doubted the message - it didn’t make sense to me! As a result I could not respond in love - I doubted the message, I doubted the love and I turn to others for answers. Unknowingly, I have allowed men to replace God.

I am so glad I went last Thursday. I did learn something after all. It has taught me how to judge and discern well instead of having other people making judgment and discernment for me. The mind that was given to us by God is a gift from God and we need to judge and discern what’s happening to us emotionally with the use of the mind. God will not call us to do what is blatantly unreasonable or foolish.

The only way to discern what is best for me is to increase my love for Him and no one can do this for me except me myself.

Here are the urls to the 2 nights' messages of Dr Gordon Smith, Thanks tothe PA crew of True Way Presby. Church:

Night 1 Message http://www.mediafire.com/?4x1jecfg1wg

Night 2 Message http://www.mediafire.com/?6xmctvxeizm

The first file is 50+ MB and the second is 54+ MB.

Anglo Chinese (Methodist) School, Sitiawan

from Wikipedia

ACS (Meth) or Anglo Chinese (Methodist) School was founded on March 1, 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham, as an extension of the Methodist Church. Its first location was a dilapidated shophouse at 70 Amoy Street with a total of 13 pupils. The name of the school came from the fact that it conducted lessons in English in the mornings and Chinese in the afternoons. By the following year, enrollment had increased to 104, and the school moved to Coleman Street. Within the next three years, its student population increased to 300.

Between 1914 and 1920, under the leadership of the Reverend J S Nagle, the school introduced regular religious (or "chapel") services and physical education classes. Afternoon classes were also established for academically-weaker pupils. In a bid to ensure continuity in school life and keep the school adequately staffed, Nagel encouraged ex-students, known as old boys, to return to the school as teachers. To this day, the Anglo-Chinese School Old Boys' Association is a link through which many old boys continue to keep close ties to the school. The Anglo-Chinese Continuation School was started by the new principal, the Reverend P L Peach, in 1925, for students who had to leave the school due to the newly imposed age limits on school-going boys by the government. Eventually, ACS was renamed the Oldham Methodist School. A secondary school was opened at Cairnhill Road.

Anglo-Chinese Schools of Malaysia

The Anglo-Chinese Schools of Malaysia were founded as independent entities, sharing neither motto, school arms, nor anthem with the first ACS in Singapore. However, a common Methodist identity links all the Methodist schools of Singapore and Malaysia.

There are 6 ACS (Meth) in Malaysia - Klang, Ipoh, Kampar, Sitiawan, Seremban and Melaka

The Anglo Chinese School (A.C.S.) Sitiawan

Extracted from www.acssitiawan.edu.my/about/

ACS Sitiawan has a rich history, from the day when the first brick was laid to our modern day school, which has been cerfitied as a 5 star school by the Ministry of Education. Our school is famous for it's academic performance and also for our co-curicullar activities, such as our Majestic Band and hardy Scout Troop.

The Anglo-Chinese School (A.C.S.) Sitiawan, began in 1903. It started as an orphanage with four orphans brought in from Singapore by Rev. B.F. Van Dyke, a missionary appointed to this area. It was then called the Industrial School, Sitiawan. It was originally located at the site where the present Chung Hwa Association Building now stands. It was only a small hut with atap roof. Later a wooden building was erected opposite the Pioneer Methodist Church where the present bus bay is situated.

In 1910 Dr. Shellabear designed and built what was intended to be a permanent orphanage. In 1916 Rev W.E. Horley, a missionary in Ipoh changed the name Industrial School Sitiawan to Anglo-Chinese School Sitiawan. By 1926 the number of pupils had increased to 270 and girls were admitted from 1927.

In 1931, Rev D.P. Coole, the Principal then, built two blocks of building consisting of four classrooms, a staff room and a hall with only pillars and a roof over it. The hall (the present A.C.S. Primary School Hall) was only completed in 1938 by Rev. Eugene McGraw who took over as Principal.

During the Japanese Occupation, A.C.S. was used by the Japanese for teaching the Japanese language. After the War, A.C.S. Sitiawan was rehabilitated and in 1947, the first SCHOOL CERTIFICATE class was started and followed by the SPECIAL MALAY CLASS in 1949. In 1950, four more classrooms was being added.

The Government allocated RM10,000 and together with the RM10,000 collected from the public and staff, the Gong Diong Chang Memorial Building was completed in December 1953. In 1953, the school became a centre for the School Certificate Examination for the first time. In 1956, at the cost of RM12,000, a Home Science Room and a Woodwork Workshop were built. In the same year, three more classrooms and a new toilet were added. In 1958, the administration of the Primary and the Secondary sections of the school were separated into two entities. In 1961, a double storey building was constructed which was to house a library, an office, a typing-room and a dark-room for the processing of photography. Dato Dr. Ling Sing Hang, DPMP, J.P. was appointed as new Chairman of the Board of Governors.

In 1963, the school celebrated its Diamond Jubilee Anniversary. In conjunction with the celebration four more classrooms and a science laboratory were added. In 1973, a 3-storey building was added. This was to house three more science laboratories. In the same year, the Lower Science Class was started with 24 pupils. In 1976, the A.C.S. Hall II was builted which housed the present Library and a needle-work room. In 1977, the Form Six Arts classes were started. In 1986, a row of old classrooms were demolished to make way for a double storey building which accomodated twenty-one classes and a P.E. room. The school became a single-session school the following year as a result of it.

In 1993, A.C.S. Sitiawan celebrated her Ninetieth Anniversary with much Fanfare.

1997, marked an important point of the history of A.C.S. Sitiawan. We have connected up with the rest of the world through our CyberLab. From this point on, the learning experience of her pupils will be changed forever as we launched our SMART SCHOOL CONCEPT in line with the National Aspiration of our beloved country Malaysia. A.C.S. Sitiawan has successfully constructed her first robot. Thus, her pupils, stood poised to face the 21st Century with confidence. Of course, in 1997, A.C.S. Sitiawan stood, poised, with her NEW FACADE to usher in her Centenary in 2003.

If Jesus Was A Malaysian

Just LOVE this poster put up by Susan Loone in her blog...

A Woman's Philosophy Of Life

A Woman's Philosophy Of Life
26 Beautiful One-liners

Give God what's right -- not what's left.
Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope.
A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.
In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma --but never let him be the period.
Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.
Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.
When praying, don't give God instructions -- just report for duty.
Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.
We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.
The church is prayer-conditioned.
When God ordains, He sustains.
WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.
Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.
Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.
Exercise daily -- walk with the Lord.
Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.
Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.
Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.
He who angers you controls you.
Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.
Give Satan an inch & he'll be a ruler.
Be ye fishers of men -- you catch them & He'll clean them.
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
Read the Bible -- It will scare the hell out of you.

What we do in life echoes in eternity....