Religion and Way of Life

Many people tell me, "XXX is not a religion; it is a way of life." My pastor just mentioned this again in his Wednesday prayer sharing. "Christianity is not a religion, it is a way of life."

I believe that any system of beliefs is a religion if it seeks to explain beyond death. To me, atheism is a religion because it seeks to tell you that there is nothing beyond death. If you are an atheist and God exists, you are in trouble. Of course Christianity is a religion. The Bible tells you that God exists and is ever ready to punish you in hell because you are a sinner. But there is always redemption in Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Christianity, atheism and other religions all seek to tell you something beyond death.

When you practised your religion, it becomes your way of life. So a religion is the set of beliefs and a way of life is the practice of the beliefs. Let us not confuse people by saying "XXX is not a religion; it is a way of life."

Christian Activism

If the job of full time Christian preachers is to preach the Word of God, then it is the job of the lay Christians to apply the Word to the world. Look at Christian activist such as William Wilberforce in Great Britain. If not for them, we will still have slavery today. Christians are the light of the world and salt of the earth. If we do not act, then the world will be in darkness.

Jacob and Esau

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Malachi 1:2-3, Romans 9:13), so proclaims God in the Bible. But who was Esau? Esau was not a wicked man. He was a good hunter and liked the outdoors, the eldest son of the Patriarch Isaac. His father loved him because he could cook tasty dishes from the wild animals he hunted. From the worldly point of view, he was a successful man. He had hoped to inherit his father's wealth, but was cheated of his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) and blessings (Genesis 27:1-41) by his brother Jacob. But he went to and became a successful man himself. When he was to meet his brother Jacob again, he had 400 men with him (Genesis 33:1). He magnanimously forgave his brother (Genesis 33:1-16) and built his own inheritance at Edom (Genesis 36:6) and never fought with Jacob for Isaac's inheritance after the latter died.

As a country, Edom progress faster than Israel. While Israel were still slaves in Egypt, kings ruled in Edom (Genesis 36:31). If you were an observer at this time, you would think that Esau the ancestor and Edom the country is doing very well indeed.

But God hated Esau. He considered Esau as a fornicator, or profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright (Hebrews 12:6). Like the world, Esau despise God, and use his own strength to build his legacy. God is ignored. Edom may build, but God will tear down (Malachi 1:4). All that the world built without God will be torn down.

Who was Jacob? His name meant "heel catcher, that is, supplanter". He was the Plain Man (Genesis 25:27), unlike his brother Esau, who was an outdoor man and a hunter. He took advantage of his brother's hunger and bought his birthright. He stole his brother's blessings from their father by pretending to be him. Yet this is the man that God chose to be the ancestor of the Chosen People, the ancestor of Jesus Christ. Jacob's only saving grace is that he desired the things of God, and he tried to get them by all means. In the end, it was God's perseverance with Jacob that finally change him from one who trust his own scheming to one who trust God.

God chose Jacob, the horribly imperfect man and changed him. This gives us hope, for we are also sinners like Jacob and we need God to transform us.

We can all say with Jacob, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands (Genesis 32:10)."

Propitiation, ransom, redemption, reconciliation and justification

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God... (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Rom 3:22-25 ESV)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV)

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 ESV)

Quotes About the Bible - 2

"It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical description has often led to amazing discoveries." - Dr. Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert, (New York: Farrar, Strous and Cudahy, 1959), 136.

Can GOD create a stone so heavy so that He cannot lift it up Himself?

Can GOD create a stone so heavy so that He cannot lift it up Himself? The Bible does not have an answer to this question. But if you change to question to "Can the immortal God die?", the Bible has the answer.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV)

So if there is a stone that Jesus cannot carry, then GOD had created a stone so heavy so that He cannot lift it up Himself.

It is wonderful to be Trinity, three and yet one.

A non-Christian's response to the Bible

On Thursday 12th February 2009's letter to Straits Times, a certain Dr. Panagiotis Karras felt that Professor Ngiam Tong Dow's article "Fostering the freedom to think" on 10th February 2009 in Straits Times, offering the Bible as a model of free thinking is incorrect. He felt that "The model of behaviour in the Bible is one of fear and uncritical submission to 'the will of God'. A prime example is the story of Abraham who followed 'the will of God' and tried to sacrifice his own son. This is not an example of 'fostering the freedom to think'".