This Easter

I'm not sure how many of you have noticed but ever since we did the study on the accuracy of the bible, there was a flurry of news report abt the discovery of the Gospel of Judas after 1,700 years (pg 2, Straits Times 8 Apr, sat). In this gospel (author unknown), the writer claims that Judas was corroborated to betray Jesus by Jesus himself. In the ST articles, it is said that "Jesus entrusted Judas with special knowledge & ask him to betray him to the Roman authorities. By doing so, Judas will 'exceed' the other disciples". This intriguing copy of the Gospel of Judas was found somewhere in Egypt and was dated to be around 300AD. In fact, the Gospel of Judas is the highlight for this month's National Geographic and an entire TV programme has been devoted to this 'gospel'. Interestingly, another article cropped up in today's ST pg 27 written by this lady called Elaine Pagels and reproduced from New York Times. Anyone who has read the article called "Why the 'Lost Gospels' Lost Out" in the Real Bible Code bible study notes will find the name Elaine Pagels familiar. Further to the Pagels' article, she wrote many times that Jesus is said to have revealed a sacred mystery to Judas and that many of the other gospels, like the one by Judas, offer secret teaching and secret writings. By this, she is referring to the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary Magdalene (the focus of the Da Vinci Code) and the Gospel etc. also collectively known as the Gnostic Gospels. She claimed that early Christians in the period after Jesus' death regarded these secret gospels not as radical alternatives to the New Testament gospels but as advanced level teaching for those who already received Jesus' basic message. She thinks that these secret books, which contained paradox and mystery akin to the mystical teachings of Kabbalah (Madonna's religion), were not considered suitable for beginners. She even ended her article with this, "Those who go to church may find their Easter reflections more mysterious than ever." Mysterious indeed. For those of us who followed the Real Bible Code studies, we will be able to point out a few things:

1) that all these emphasis on secretive or mysterious teaching sounds a tad too familiar to the Gnostics understanding of salvation. basically, in the footnote of "The Canon of the New Testament", gnostics are a group of false teachers who emphasized the need to have direct and special knowledge (Gk : gnosis) of God in order to be saved. where Christianity emphasizes the role of Christ's act of redemption on the cross as the basis of our salvation, Gnostics taught that one's salvation depended on the individual possessing intuitive knowledge (gnosis) of the mysteries of the universe and of magic formulas. the Gnostics are labelled as preaching heresy by the early church father, Ireneaeus in the 2nd century. hence, the controversy surrounding the Gospel of Judas is as old as time itself. the early church has rightfully termed it as heretic but of course, now, with renewed interest from readers of Da Vinci Code and with scholars like Pagel, it is seeing a resurgence.

2) the other noteworthy thing about the Gospel of Judas is its dating. it is dated (by the admission of the group of scholars assembled by National Geographic Society) around 300AD. this is a good 200+ years after the death of Jesus, which means that any accounts in this gospel about Jesus cannot be disproved because the eyewitnesses and those close to Jesus will probably be dead by then! this is similar to other gnostic texts which only cropped up a hundred years after Jesus' death (in the 2nd and 3rd centuries) and after New Testament books were already recognised as authoritative and widely circulated. basically, gnostic texts, like Gospel of Phillip, Gospel of Mary etc. mostly draws on the accounts in the NT books and added in some new ideas about Jesus and about the faith. based on the Gospel of Judas' dating, it fails 2 tests - that of apostolicity and identity. the writer is not known and hence, his closeness to any of the apostles can't be ascertained.

3) consider this line from the Gospel of Judas purportedly said by Jesus to Judas, "Step away from the others and i shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. it is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal." for those of us who are familiar with the writings of the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John will know that there is a great departure from what Jesus said to Judas. not only that but the idea of 'the mysteries of the kingdom' is quite foreign from how Jesus taught about the kingdom as expressed in the NT gospels. in fact, from our recent studies of John, Jesus taught not of the 'mysteries' of the kingdom but rather, that the kingdom is here and that whoever believes in His name will enter this kingdom. the onus now is on us to receive this kingdom. in Luke, Jesus is said to preach the good news abt the kingdom. in fact, that is why he was sent to earth (Lk 4:43). consider this verse from Luke 8:10 - He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, " 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.' to us as believers, the idea of the kingdom of God is not some mysterious and obscure understanding but it is something within grasp as Christ has fully revealed it to us. in that sense, the Gospel of Judas fails 2 tests - textual consistency with the other recognised gospels and writing style.

this is what's said about the Gnostic Gospels as extracted from Greg Clarke's "Is It Worth Believing" (pg 101) :

"When you read them (the Gnostic texts), you find that they are not very much like the Bible at all, especially when it comes to information about Jesus. In the Bible's Gospels, we have three strongly historical narratives of Jesus birth, early life, teachings and miracles, and then his path to crucifixion and then resurrection (see Matthew, Mark and Luke). In the Gospel of John, we have a more stylised and poetic account of Jesus' teachings, miracles and passion events. But even the Nag Hammadi texts with the word 'Gospel' in the title (e.g. The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Mary) are very different from the 'orderly account' (Luke 1:3) that Luke has set out to write. Only The Gospel of Thomas looks anything like a biography of Jesus. For e.g, The Gospel of Philip is a series of statements about light and darkness, baptism, marriage, adultery and overcoming evil. It contains some mention of Jesus, but it is not a narrative of Jesus' life. In comparison with the biblical texts, the Gnostic texts are extremely obscure, fragmented, and difficult to make sense of."

i think we clearly live in times where what's mystical and spiritual sounds the most attractive to us. which is pretty much why New Age spiritualism, Zen Buddhism, neo-Judaistic Kabbalah, Scientology etc. seems so appealing, counting among its adherents people like Madonna, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere and countless others. in church camp speaker Mike Raiter's words, this world has become something of a spiritual marketplace. you choose what works best for you (heavily paraphrased without permission from "Stirrings of the Soul"). people like Elaine Pagels have come and gone in the 2nd century and will continue to come and then go. our sureness in the Scripture comes from our understanding that despite men's folly, biased, manipulation and politicking, what is now preserved for us as the Bible comes as a result of God's grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:16-21). this easter, i urged each one of us to take a good look at the Bible on our laps and reflect on God's faithfulness in wanting to reveal His whole counsel to us.

Da Vinci Code?

After having the "Last Supper" at the Adults' Meeting just now, i can't help but noticed the seeming parallelism of the situation - us attending an overview of the study that will debunk the myths thrown up by the Dan Brown book, and us having the Last Supper, a reference to the Da Vinci painting at the centre of the controversy raised by the book? anyways, what intrigued me most at the Last Supper was the missing dough fritters that were supposed to go with the congee than some missing clue to some quest for the Holy Grail. for the interested few, here's the link to that Dan Brown movie:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thedavincicode/

How to be in a Small Group

Got this from Matthias Media. Think this is good reading for us....

Another year, another Bible study group. Time to sign up, turn up and get things rolling for another year. Ho hum.

Time also perhaps to ask some questions about your small group. Is it really making much of a difference in the lives of its members? Do you feel as if you just go along because that's what you're expected to do? Does the group have a clear purpose, or does it just exist because it has always existed?

More to the point, what part are you going to play in this year's group? What can you be doing to make the group a success? There are many books and guides and training materials for small group leaders (like Growth Groups from Matthias Media), but what about the humble group member? What can each of us be doing to make the most of out small groups?

Why go in the first place?
People go to small groups for all sorts of reasons to fulfil expectations, to make friends, to pursue romantic possibilities, to receive encouragement and counsel, to learn, and so on.

While most of these might be perfectly acceptable reasons to join a small group, the first and indispensable reason must be clear in our minds. Our primary reason for belonging to a small group is to give us an opportunity to love and encourage other people in Christ.

It's not about Me; it's about Them. And it's about Them because of Christ.This after all is what the Christian life is about. Our most basic principle is to love other people as Christ has loved us, to lay down our lives for them as Christ did for us. This applies as much to small groups as it does to marriages, families, workplaces, and larger Christian meetings. We go to small groups not primarily to have our needs met, but to meet the needs of others. Of course, we have needs too, and no doubt they will be met along the way--but we can let others worry about that. In fact, paradoxically, the more we focus on loving others, and doing whatever we can for them, the more encouragement and strength we find ourselves.

There are many ways we can love and encourage the other people in our groups. Here are five powerful ones (complete with alliterative titles).

1. The power of presence
This is the simplest and most obvious, but is no less powerful for being so. Just being there each week without fail is a powerful encouragement to the other members of the group. In making the group time a solid commitment, to be missed only in times of emergency, you send a very clear message to the other members: "Being with you matters very much to me. Unless something very important comes up, you can expect me. Encouraging you is a top priority."

Conversely, inconsistent attendance sends a somewhat less encouraging message: "I don't mind coming, but it's not that important. If I feel a bit tired or something else crops up, don't expect me. Being with you and encouraging you isn't really a very high priority for me."Turning up regularly requires no extraordinary gifts or talent, but it is a powerful way of loving other people.

2. The power of preparation
Most small groups complete their evening's Bible study with a plaintive plea from the leader for people to read the passage and prepare for next week's study. The leader knows full well that most people won't, but there's no harm in trying!

However, preparing for the group time is another powerful way to love the members of the group. Of course, having read the passage, or done the homework, greatly increases the benefit you yourself receive from the discussion. More importantly, however, it equips you to encourage others by what you say. Rather than throwing in whatever occurs to you at the time, you have actually thought about the Bible passage and the issues that it raises. You are much better prepared to say things that stimulate and encourage and teach others if you have bothered to give it some thought beforehand.

3. The power of prayer
Paul's friend and fellow worker, Epaphras, would have made an ideal small group member. According to Paul, he was always "wrestling in prayer" for the Colossians, that they might "stand firm in all the will of God". Paul was able to vouch that in doing so, Epaphras was "working hard for you" (Col 4:12-13).

Praying for others is hard work, but real work. It is one of the most loving things we can do for our fellow group members, not only because it is through our prayers that God does his work in people's lives, but because it is such a quiet, inconspicuous form of ministry. Making a casserole for someone, by comparison, is much more satisfying--you see something very tangible for your efforts,and you have the pleasure of delivering it to the person and receiving their warm expressions of thanks. Prayer has none of these rewards. You do it for one reason only: that you care for that person and want what is best for them in Christ. And so you pray for them.

4. The power of personality
The alliteration may be starting to stretch a little thin here, but the point is solid enough that a powerful way of loving others in your small group is to be willing to share your own life and personality with them.

This is by no means an easy thing to do. Many of us would much rather keep quiet and not give too much away. However, by opening up and sharing our lives and thoughts and struggles and joys, we do others a great service. We not only show them that we have the very same struggles that they have (but thought they were along in suffering); we also encourage them to open up as well.

Of course, it is anything but loving to indiscriminately dump everything we are thinking or feeling onto the group. We need to heed the advice of Proverbs and think carefully before we speak; as well as the words of Ephesians 4: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph 4:29).

5. The power of love
Whatever you do in the group--every word you say, every action--do it for the sake of others. Look for how you can support and help the leader. Look for ways to care for the members of the group--those who could really do with a phone call or visit; those who would benefit from having someone to pray or read the Bible with; those who need financial or other material help; those who just need a friend to have pizza and a video with.

Belonging to a small group can be a very demanding exercise. It can cost us our lives, because that is what it means to be a follower of Christ--to lay down our lives for the sake of others. If we grasp the possibilities, small groups represent an enormously fruitful opportunity for doing just that.

(Matthias Media 1998)

Why I refuse

Here's a poem that was sent to me which never fails to remind me that we should live by faith and not by sight:

I refuse

I refuse to be discouraged, to be sad, or to cry
I refuse to be downhearted, and here's the reason why
I have a God who's mighty, who's sovereign and supreme
I have a God who loves me, and I am on His team.

He is all wise and powerful, Jesus is His name
Though everything is changeable, my God remains the same
My God knows all that's happening; beginning to the end
His presence is my comfort, He is my dearest friend.

When sickness comes to weaken me, to bring my head down low
I call upon my mighty God, into His arms I go
When circumstances threaten to rob me of my peace
He draws me close unto His breast, where all my strivings cease
When my heart melts within me, and weakness takes control
He gathers me into His arms, He soothes my heart and soul.

The great "I AM" is with me, my life is in His hand
The "Son of the Lord" is my hope, it's in His strength I stand
I refuse to be defeated, my eyes are on my God
He has promised to be with me, as through this life I trod
I'm looking past all my circumstances, to heaven's throne above
My prayers have reached the heart of God I'm resting in His love
I give God thanks in everything, my eyes are on His face
The battle's His, the victory mine, He'll help me win the race
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

~contributed by LMMyers

Questions for the New Year

Found come questions on this website which are useful to help us start the new year. Might be helpful that we can think through some questions and pen down the answers and evaluate them from time to time as the year goes.

I myself haven't got around to thinking through all questions yet. But surely something worthwhile to do! :)

Overview of JOHN

It was a good start to the new year. I am thankful to be reminded that the God whom I believe in is in total control and He is sovereign. So whenever we are helpless and we know that there's really nothing we can do by our own strength, do not doubt nor forget the God who has saved me and died for me.

I felt helpless in some aspects of the ministries I serve in. There is only that much I can do as a human being, a wretched one saved by God... whether I am a co-DGL or song leader. I am not "Miss-do-all" nor "Miss-know-it-all". But I know that in prayer, I shall depend on God and trust that He will accomplish all things according to His good and perfect timing.

Here is the overview of John for those who did not attend the Adult Meeting last night...

1) Jesus' Mission
a) Reveals God and His purposes
b) To save the world (3:17)

2) The Churches' Mission
a) New entry point into heaven (4:21) and fellowship with God
b) God's commandment to love one another (15:7)
c) New mission (20:21-23): God tasked Jesus into the world. Jesus tasked us to go out and do his mission.... so that the elected will get to know God.

"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." - John 17:18

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23

Happy New Year?

Time truly flies. As I write, we’ve entered the third day of the New Year. It’s yet another year of going to church, going to bible studies, going to our various ministries, tending to our families and loved ones, getting on with our work and play and before you know it, it’s time for X’mas service again and then, the New Year’s Eve dinner. And then before you know it, another year has passed, along with the humdrum and ho hum-ness of life. Like every other year, ARPC had the New Year’s Eve dinner to usher in the New Year, albeit in a different venue. After some painstaking efforts by Eilen, we managed to fill up the 2 tables and have a small “reunion” of sorts for members who’ve been together for 2 years, or more. After another reflective sermon from Chris, our evening was capped by a singing of Sir Cliff Richard’s rendition of the “Lord’s Prayer”, a momentous countdown and a spectacular display of fireworks. What more can you asked for – an evening with friends, some song and dance, and then an opulent display of fireworks. Strangely enough, the evening left me with a bittersweet aftertaste. Possibly because of the long day I’ve had. Possibly the feeling of having to squeeze with a few hundred countdown “revelers” on that rickety-looking balcony as the fireworks went off in the distant. Or it could be the sobering sermon that Chris delivered. Or possibly, a bit of everything.

I am more incline to think it’s the long day that I had. A day that I had strangely looked forward to. I had on schedule, a time of evaluating the past year with my fellow bible study mates. A time of sharing, reflecting and possibly, a time of prayer. It’s not that I’m particularly reflective at the end of a year. It’s not even that I have a keen sadistic sense of grilling every member how their year has been, one person at a time. But sadly, that time of evaluation didn’t quite materialize. I’m not sure why I’m even affected by the no-show at the evaluation. I’ve grown immune to previous no-shows or poor turn-outs at similarly organized DG events for me to be affected. Like those times when I tried to get people in the DG to check out other churches, or the time when Eilen tried to get some Games day going with a fellow DG. But strangely, this time it really hit where it hurts. Maybe it’s the way we handled the no-show. Those who came (the leaders) just got on with a game of Risk and thought nothing of it. But even so, I sensed that the few of us would rather be having some sort of evaluation than dominating the world. Or maybe it’s the way the evening subsequently went, where I was lulled to believe we finished the year so well, we deserve some fireworks and fanfare.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to put in the first rant of the year. It’s not even that I’m trying to make a big fuss of a no-show at an organized event. I’ve had too many no-shows to even be bothered by it. It’s just this mixed feeling I had of that evening that I can’t quite reconcile. It’s a feeling that we look so united seated at the same table in our dinner best while deep inside, I’m fighting a turmoil. And the turmoil goes like this: Other than making a point to attend all the year-end dinners, countdowns and X’mas services, do we take time out to really reflect on our lives in the past year? Have I achieved a lot in terms of my family life, my social life, my ministry life, my DG-attending, my church life, my career while God slowly careened out of my life? Have I made tremendous improvements to my work front, my relationship front with my spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/colleagues/church-mates/DG-mates whereas my relationship with God is in the doldrums? In short, have I done an audit of my life in the past year?

In the past week ever since Dec 20 when the KPMG report on NKF was released, there was a barrage of news about how the old management was run by TT Durai. What got my attention was the way NKF did their internal audits. They had the then Arthur Andersen (AA) as their internal auditors. Sometime in 2002, AA suggested that NKF could improve some of its financial processes by implementing some controls. TT Durai eventually dropped AA as its auditors but set up his own ‘audit committee’. Of course, we all now know that NKF has been giving misleading figures for years, and it all went ‘undiscovered’ by its internal auditors.

In some sense, the NKF-saga mimics life, particularly our own accountability to God & to one another. We can lull ourselves to believe that all is fine, even have checks and balances to show for it, but in the end, we can be so engrossed (to borrow a term from Khaw Boon Wan) ‘in building our own little empires’ to notice that all the red flags are up. I think for good reason why when Jesus gave his evaluation to the 7 churches in Revelation, he is constantly reminding them to give ear to what He had said and is saying to the churches. It shows up just how forgetful we truly are and how easy it is for us to ‘forget our first love’ (Rev 2:4). We got to truly ask ourselves if we have a reputation of being alive when we are actually dead. We got to ask ourselves if we are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold! I hate to think that only when the KPMG (King of Promises-Made-Good) comes to do an audit before we pull up our stockings. By then it will be damning report after damning report.

Another story in the papers caught my attention in the past week. A naval diver undergoing counter-terrorism training drowned in the sea off Changi Naval Base. This is despite having 4 instructors keeping an eye on all the trainees during a simulated attack on a Navy vessel. This prompted the State Coroner presiding over the hearings to ask, “How did 4 pairs of eyes possibly miss out on a trainee in distress?” I think it’s no coincidence that like the 4 instructors, our walk with God can wither right before our very eyes despite going to church, to DG or even serving in church. We got to review ourselves, not just yearly, half-yearly or quarterly but at all times just how is our walk with God. And how are we growing in godliness, in accountability and service to God & others and in our maturity in Christ. Have our individual lives gotten so important that we place meeting up and building up others in second place? You mean after what God has done for us, He is still relegated to warm our benches while we happily go on with our lives?

It still pained me somewhat that we could’ve had a great time of sharing & honest self-disclosure together – ascribing thanks to God for those times when we had it well and reflecting on those times when we failed God and one another. We could’ve given useful feedback to the leaders on their leading especially this being Harry’s first year in leading a DG. We could’ve review our past mistakes & on what improvements can be made in the New Year. We could’ve prayed and commit plans of the year ahead to God. But in pursuing our little empires, we choose to do neither.

May we reflect on the words of Paul to the folks in Colosse:

“For this reason since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. AND we pray this IN ORDER that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” Col 1:9-10

Paul prayed that the Colossians may be wise and understand God’s will. And that for the expressed purpose of bearing fruit in every good work. In short, our intellectual understanding of God has to be matched with such good application that our lives are fruitful. Have our passed year been fruitful? Or are we only fruitful in things that do not carry any weight in eternity?

Change of DG Day??

Will it be Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? or Friday night??