Friday, January 28, 2011
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Sabbathical Leave
one great thing I have done for myself in recent a few years... sabbatical leave. I realized that resting is good thing when we have worked steadily for a period of time, but being healthy is greater one. During one week of personal retreat, I felt not just rested, but healthy spiritually, emotionally, and physically. just as body needs good healthy discipline, our whole being, spiritual being needs discipline. Dallas Willard puts, "the spirit of discipline is nothing but the love of Jesus and its resolute will to be like the One we love." The person that I am as a whole needs to celebrate disciplines with the help of the Holy Spirit in my body and spirit.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
can boys grown up with nannies become womanizers?
Recently, we have been hearing about sex scandal issues with Catholic bishops 9and priest. And I was a bit disappointed when I heard the news about Tiger Wood's adultery. I am a father of four children. My wife and I love our children, who don't love their children? For different reasons, parents hire nannies to help their children. One article says, "Mothers who outsource the care of their sons to other women may be inadvertently raising adulterers." It is quite understandable to think that being nurtured by nannies, kids needs are met by anyone other than the parents, may contribute to many child development. In Koran immigrant family context,often we see kids were grown up with their grandparents. In that case, the grand parents play a significant roles their lives. So those boys grown up with the most of nurturing by nannies other than their Moms may become womanizers. Is it a far fetched idea? I think it is, however, it is something that the parents should give careful thought and prioritize especially during the infant childhood.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
From Skeptic to becoming the Christ-follower
We live in a plularlistic society where intolerance to other religion is intolerant. The majority of Americans believe in God. The numbers are astounding. According to the Washington Post, 92% of all Americans believe in God and even one in five atheists believes in God. I think this is funny. Atheism gets all this airplay, but there seems like a few dozens in the country. They get all the Time articles and come out on CNN, but it's a minority group, come on, 8%. But here is a thing, 92% of Americans believe that there is some sort of God, but at the same time, the majority of Americans believe that no one religion can know the fullness of spiritual truth. And that those who claim they do know the absolute truth, they are mocked as arrogant and intolerant.
A common parable of the elephant and the blind men proves the point. The story goes like this. A group of blind men were asked to describe an elephant.
And the first one grabbed the trunk and said, “An elephant's like a snake. Yeah, it's just like a snake with two holes on the end. It's really weird.”
And the other one was touching the leg going, “No, it's nothing like a snake.” He’s feeling the leg. “What are you, blind? Does that guy not have any hands? It's like a tree trunk. An elephant's like a tree trunk.”
And the other one is feeling the side of the elephant. He goes, “What is wrong with these people?” “It is nothing like tree trunk.” “An elephant's like a wall.”
The last guy's at the end; he's just holding the tail. He's like, “No, it's kind of hairy, and long, and humid.”
The point of the parable is to show how each of the religions, although somewhat correct, is in the end wrong. If anyone is making absolute claim like, “An elephant is like a snake” or “an elephant is like tree trunk,” he is wrong. Furthermore, if he is making absolute claim about it, then that guy is arrogant and foolish and causes violence against humanity.
But there is a serious problem about this parable. The problem is that it is intellectually inconsistent. It accuses Christians for being intolerant when in reality the skeptics are no more tolerant. Let me explain. The only way the parable of the elephant and the blind men makes any sense is if the narrator of the story sees the whole elephant.
What skeptics are saying is that they see the whole picture, and Christians do not. The point is this. The moment you claim that ultimate reality is unknowable, you have just claimed the knowledge that you say can't be known. The moment you say ultimate reality is unknowable, you've just claimed what you say can't be claimed. This is intellectually inconsistent.
Here would be skeptic’s affirmations: that God is ultimately unknowable, that no one can know and claim the absolute truth about God. The only way you could possibly know that would be to know how the universe is wired, why it's wired that way, which is the same thing. What they're claiming can't be known.
I (Christian) and the skeptics, we're claiming the same thing: an understanding of ultimate reality, Only difference is I'm considered arrogant and I'm intolerant because I say I know ultimate reality. To the notion of Skeptic, I don't really know ultimate reality, but he knows ultimate reality, I'm arrogant for claiming I know ultimate reality because he really knows ultimate reality.
If you are skeptic about Christian faith, set the religion (Christianity) aside, and try to get to know Jesus; His life, his teaching, and his work.
A common parable of the elephant and the blind men proves the point. The story goes like this. A group of blind men were asked to describe an elephant.
And the first one grabbed the trunk and said, “An elephant's like a snake. Yeah, it's just like a snake with two holes on the end. It's really weird.”
And the other one was touching the leg going, “No, it's nothing like a snake.” He’s feeling the leg. “What are you, blind? Does that guy not have any hands? It's like a tree trunk. An elephant's like a tree trunk.”
And the other one is feeling the side of the elephant. He goes, “What is wrong with these people?” “It is nothing like tree trunk.” “An elephant's like a wall.”
The last guy's at the end; he's just holding the tail. He's like, “No, it's kind of hairy, and long, and humid.”
The point of the parable is to show how each of the religions, although somewhat correct, is in the end wrong. If anyone is making absolute claim like, “An elephant is like a snake” or “an elephant is like tree trunk,” he is wrong. Furthermore, if he is making absolute claim about it, then that guy is arrogant and foolish and causes violence against humanity.
But there is a serious problem about this parable. The problem is that it is intellectually inconsistent. It accuses Christians for being intolerant when in reality the skeptics are no more tolerant. Let me explain. The only way the parable of the elephant and the blind men makes any sense is if the narrator of the story sees the whole elephant.
What skeptics are saying is that they see the whole picture, and Christians do not. The point is this. The moment you claim that ultimate reality is unknowable, you have just claimed the knowledge that you say can't be known. The moment you say ultimate reality is unknowable, you've just claimed what you say can't be claimed. This is intellectually inconsistent.
Here would be skeptic’s affirmations: that God is ultimately unknowable, that no one can know and claim the absolute truth about God. The only way you could possibly know that would be to know how the universe is wired, why it's wired that way, which is the same thing. What they're claiming can't be known.
I (Christian) and the skeptics, we're claiming the same thing: an understanding of ultimate reality, Only difference is I'm considered arrogant and I'm intolerant because I say I know ultimate reality. To the notion of Skeptic, I don't really know ultimate reality, but he knows ultimate reality, I'm arrogant for claiming I know ultimate reality because he really knows ultimate reality.
If you are skeptic about Christian faith, set the religion (Christianity) aside, and try to get to know Jesus; His life, his teaching, and his work.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Missional Living
The National Study of Youth and Religion, conducted from 2001 to 2005, a study on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents. This project resulted in a book called, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (the ages of college students --18 and 23). It is written by Christian Smith and Patricia Snell. The book deals with questions like these;
How important is religion for young people in America today?
What are the major influences on their developing spiritual lives?
How do their religious beliefs and practices change as young people enter into adulthood?
The book reveals there are six major religious types among the emerging adults:
1. Committed Traditionalists (no more than 15%)
2. Selective Adherents (perhaps 30%)
3. Spiritually Open (about 15%)
4. Religiously Indifferent (at least 25%)
5. Religiously Disconnected (no more than 5%)
6. Irreligious (no more than 10%)
Let me explained a couple of these categories. The Committed Traditionalists are the ones who accept traditional Christian beliefs. But the Selective Adherents “believe and perform certain aspects of their religions but neglect and ignore others.”
They, basically, “pick and choose what they want to accept.” Most often rejected beliefs are traditional views related to sex before marriage, hell, and select doctrines such as the Trinity and the divinity or resurrection of Christ. They pick and choose only those they want to accept. Notice, 30 % of people belong to this group.
For this group, the main idea is that “the absolute authority for every person’s beliefs or actions is his or her own sovereign self.”
The Religiously Indifferent –2nd largest group “neither care to practice religion nor oppose it. They are simply not invested in religion either way. “It just doesn’t matter that much for them.” They are simply careless about religion.
The 3rd Group “Spiritually Open” people are very willing to engage explicitly religious conversations. They are willing to talk about religion, but they are “not taking a lot of initiative in pursuit of the spiritual stuff.
So, if you look at this study, we can see the Selective Adherents (30%) and Religiously Indifferent (at least 25%) make up the majority (55 %). If you add, the Spiritually Open (15%), 75% of the people don’t really care about the truth and authority of Scripture.
This study represents a massive shift taking place in our culture that carries huge ramifications for the outreach strategy of the local church. Traditional churches are committed to events and program and invite “people to come to church.”
At AKPC EM, “Missional Living” means that we are community of believers sent by Jesus to the world to live out the mission of God incarnationally, relationally, and intentionally by integrating our faith into whole spectrum of life.
God sent us out, wherever we are, to bring this message of Christ by living the life He wants us to live. Here is the third key word. We must be intentional about how we live our lives and integrate our faith in every aspects of life to bring this message of Christ. It is not about making programs and events. It is about the people going out and building a healthy and meaningful relationship to show Christ to them through the message of words and good deeds.
How important is religion for young people in America today?
What are the major influences on their developing spiritual lives?
How do their religious beliefs and practices change as young people enter into adulthood?
The book reveals there are six major religious types among the emerging adults:
1. Committed Traditionalists (no more than 15%)
2. Selective Adherents (perhaps 30%)
3. Spiritually Open (about 15%)
4. Religiously Indifferent (at least 25%)
5. Religiously Disconnected (no more than 5%)
6. Irreligious (no more than 10%)
Let me explained a couple of these categories. The Committed Traditionalists are the ones who accept traditional Christian beliefs. But the Selective Adherents “believe and perform certain aspects of their religions but neglect and ignore others.”
They, basically, “pick and choose what they want to accept.” Most often rejected beliefs are traditional views related to sex before marriage, hell, and select doctrines such as the Trinity and the divinity or resurrection of Christ. They pick and choose only those they want to accept. Notice, 30 % of people belong to this group.
For this group, the main idea is that “the absolute authority for every person’s beliefs or actions is his or her own sovereign self.”
The Religiously Indifferent –2nd largest group “neither care to practice religion nor oppose it. They are simply not invested in religion either way. “It just doesn’t matter that much for them.” They are simply careless about religion.
The 3rd Group “Spiritually Open” people are very willing to engage explicitly religious conversations. They are willing to talk about religion, but they are “not taking a lot of initiative in pursuit of the spiritual stuff.
So, if you look at this study, we can see the Selective Adherents (30%) and Religiously Indifferent (at least 25%) make up the majority (55 %). If you add, the Spiritually Open (15%), 75% of the people don’t really care about the truth and authority of Scripture.
This study represents a massive shift taking place in our culture that carries huge ramifications for the outreach strategy of the local church. Traditional churches are committed to events and program and invite “people to come to church.”
At AKPC EM, “Missional Living” means that we are community of believers sent by Jesus to the world to live out the mission of God incarnationally, relationally, and intentionally by integrating our faith into whole spectrum of life.
God sent us out, wherever we are, to bring this message of Christ by living the life He wants us to live. Here is the third key word. We must be intentional about how we live our lives and integrate our faith in every aspects of life to bring this message of Christ. It is not about making programs and events. It is about the people going out and building a healthy and meaningful relationship to show Christ to them through the message of words and good deeds.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Is a child with Down Syndrome worth living?
We need to think about this before answering the question. In my college ministry, students asked me to give seminars on the topics they are interested. abortion is one of the topics. Al Mohler recently wrote an article on aborting babies with Down Syndrome. In the medical community and parents are facing huge moral, ethical, religious issue at hand. We just had a new born baby in July, 2009. During pregnancy, the doctor has given us an option to find out if the unborn child may have a Down Syndrome. We've decided not to find out. Over the resent years, the birth of babies with the Down Syndrome has decreased by 15 %. In the future a simple blood test find out a definitive diagnosis of one of more of the genetic variants of Down syndrome. More parents will receive the testing and will face the choice to abort the baby when the diagnosis suggests the risk of DS in the baby. Dr. Brian Skotko's (expert on DS)research indicating that 92 percent of women who learn they are carrying a baby with Down syndrome choose to abort the pregnancy. "As new tests become available, will babies with Down syndrome slowly disappear?" What does this say about our society's value on human life? Is a child with Down Syndrome worth living? Or, can we celebrate life with the Down Syndrome? Tell me what you think.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Public speaking
It made a good laugh.
Recently I came across the Top 10 Newscaster Bloopers at the Time.com. It is known that public speaking is one of the top fears for the most people. In the video, you can see as the anchor makes mistake one after another, his confidence simply vanished. While watching this video I laugh out loud real hard, but as a pastor preaching week after week, I understand some mistakes speakers make. I watched even a great anchor like Anderson Cooper had a blooper. I have to tell you, there are times when I feel so horribly did preaching, I would like to run and hide. Poor guy, I think I know how he feels.
Recently I came across the Top 10 Newscaster Bloopers at the Time.com. It is known that public speaking is one of the top fears for the most people. In the video, you can see as the anchor makes mistake one after another, his confidence simply vanished. While watching this video I laugh out loud real hard, but as a pastor preaching week after week, I understand some mistakes speakers make. I watched even a great anchor like Anderson Cooper had a blooper. I have to tell you, there are times when I feel so horribly did preaching, I would like to run and hide. Poor guy, I think I know how he feels.
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