I am attaching a letter from a concerned Christian to the Archbishop of Anglican. I think the thoughts expressed are very important for us to contemplate. The question is not to act immediately but rather to know how then shall we live in the light of the situation. Hope you find your heart resonate just as it has for me.
Dear Most Revd. Dr John Chew,
I woke up this morning with a headache and bulging goldfish eyes. Not surprising because this alwayshappens when I cry a lot.Last night, after spending more than 10 hours witnessing the battle that went on in AWARE yesterday, I tooka cab home. I was finally alone, away from the maddening crowds in Suntec City. In solitude, I cried and tearscontinued to flow even after I got home at 1 am.
First, I cried for Josie Lau and her team. Whether I agree with the way they took over theleadership of AWARE, they were nevertheless my sisters-in-Christ. It was heart-wrenching to see how theywere attacked. They fought with their hands “tied” and with little support. The church was not behind themalthough it was the very set of beliefs the church taught them that they stood up for. In the meantime, the othercamp had a lot of support from various factions of the society including certain international lobby groups.
At the EGM, Josie Lau and her team tried to show Christian love to a crowd who hated them. They werejeered and booed. No one gave them a chance to speak, throwing allegations at their faith and attacking theircompetence. Josie and her team tried to be gracious but they were not appreciated. And when they raised theirvoices for some law and order, they were criticized for being rude and unchristian. It was a lose-lose situationfor Josie and her team. They had to live out a testimony of what it means to be a Christian and they were notallowed to use the same battle tactics as the opposing team who did not come to listen to reasons nor facts.
For the first time in my life, I witnessed a “massacre” of Christians. Also for the first time, I felt it was a crimeto be a Christian. I suddenly understood how Jesus felt when he was on His way to Calvary.
Second, I cried for all Christians and for the Church in Singapore. I disagree with many church leaders' stand that Christians should not get involved in a secular organisation like AWARE.
Aren't the organisations we work for, the schools we attend secular? We cannot hold leadership just becauseour faith and beliefs belong to that of Christ? And if my Christian beliefs form the very core of who I am, whyare you asking me not to exercise them in the world I live in? How relevant then is my faith if I am asked tokeep them within the four walls of the church? And we wonder why our young people abandon the faith oncethey leave school. We haven’t figured out?
If Christians are not allowed to be involved in AWARE, who can? And since most organisations are secular,should we stay out from all of them? If not, then which secular organisations can Christians be involved inand which ones should we stay out from?
Being a Christian and holding leadership position in a secular organisation like AWARE does not mean that itwill be turned into a Christian advocacy group. Josie and her team said many times that they intended for AWARE to be fully represented but nobody wanted to listen. Why? Because the other group wants thefreedom to do anything and everything they desire, in the name of inclusiveness. They know that many oftheir beliefs and lifestyles run contrary to the teachings of Christianity. They are afraid.
Do you know what it means now that AWARE's leadership has gone to the liberalists, the secularists? Theynow have to be pro-choice. They owe it to certain activist groups for supporting them. Being pro-choicemeans they are for pre-marital sex, abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage just to name a few. Yesterday, amandate was given to them to advocate their set of beliefs.
A recognised legal body that claims to represent all women, they can go into schools, homes, institutions andeverywhere in Singapore to propagate their beliefs. In a democratic society, it means that they have the legalstatus to "infiltrate" especially now that everyone is aware that they have been "democratically" voted.2Although I am certain that the government will keep an eye on this group, it means Christians can no longerhide under the umbrella of a conservative government who is under a lot of pressure to open up. We are nowleft to fend for ourselves. A male nominated member of parliament was at the EGM yesterday. Although itwas quoted that he was there as a legal adviser to the old guards, why did he bother to get involved?
Arising from this saga, what do you think is the message to all Christians? It is to "stay away from all secularorganisations and keep your faith to yourself. Christians have no business propagating their faith". From now on, just saying that you are a Christian will immediately bring to mind the AWARE saga and just like how wesaw the liberalists toppled Josie and her team, we will be told to shut up because we are Christians and wehave no part in controversial decisions in any secular organisations we work for.
It just makes living out your faith and evangelising for Christ, a key command from God, even harder fromnow on. And unless Christians speak up and make a stand, we will be drowned and stepped all over.
As much as I understand most Churches’ position for not wanting to get involved in the AWARE saga for fearthat it would taint the reputation of Christianity or that it would tread into the realm of political controversy, Iwish our spiritual leaders have stood up in unity and spoke against some of the activities, for example, the sexuality programme used by the old guards to teach our children in the schools. By steering clear completely,it is indirectly saying that we are fine even with what they were propagating.
In my humble opinion, we have lost more battle grounds in yesterday’s saga. Perhaps we would have lostanyway but could we have lost less? We could even show our young what it means to live for Christ in afallen world through some practical actions. But did we?
Third, I cried for Singapore. The government has just allowed a powerful group to set Singapore'sagenda and this group will make their voices heard in the next election and perhaps even overturn some of our conservative laws.
To our politicians, I seek clarification on the definition of religion and secularism and how do both of theseco-exist in multi-religious Singapore. Can you actually separate one’s religious values from its expression inthe public sphere in matters that concern an individual?
How does one define religion anyway? They have relentlessly said that religion is very sensitive and canpotentially divide our nation. But can a set of beliefs, regardless of where they are derived, fervently held andwhich governs one’s life be a religion? I think so. Yesterday, I saw many people who embrace liberalismturning up in force at Suntec City in support of their beliefs. They were so united and single-minded in whatthey were fighting for. To me, some of them even seemed to be fighting for their right to live. To me, that wasreligion.
In that case, the AWARE’s saga was a fight between two religions. And in all battles, one won and one lost.We lost.
Every country in the world has to be governed by some philosophy and beliefs. Politicians subscribe to certainthinking and values and laws are formulated or amended on those values. Some sorts of beliefs have to takeprecedent over others. Going forward, what is Singapore’s? Secular? Define it.
Singapore wants to be pluralistic and accommodate everyone from all walks of life and from all over theworld in our tiny island. And they want us to live happily together. But can it? Let us not forget thatgeographically, Singapore is very small. Unlike the United States or even Malaysia where I can choose to livein Texas if I don’t like the openness in California or Kelantan instead of Kuala Lumpur if I like to raise myfamily in a more conservative state respectively, I cannot do that in Singapore. And since I like my space,would I be given a choice to reject the society’s dominant values that others determine for me and for which Imay choose not to embrace?3
Finally, I cried for our children. We all try to raise our children to become God-fearing men andwomen who can be salt and light of this world. Some of us even quit our full-time jobs to stay home so thatwe can teach our children God’s ways. To protect our children in today’s internet age, we fight off the newmedia which try to influence our children. Yesterday, I tried to fight off sexuality teachings that ran contraryto God’s words. And tomorrow, I will be fighting off gamblers, drug couriers, prostitutes and gangs. Honestly,I don’t know what kind of environment or the degree of influence and temptations our children would befaced with when they grow up and when they start raising their own children. How can we make it easier forthem to live out their faith? Or are we just making it tougher?
As Christians participating in God’s agenda and battle, what are we lacking? Practical tools. Our churcheshave done a good job teaching us the biblical truth and the word of God. Most of our children have thisknowledge in their heads. However, equipping them with knowledge alone is insufficient. We need todemonstrate to our children how to apply God’s truths, how to stand up for them and if need be, fight for thesetruths.
In short, we need to show them what it means to stand up and be counted for God in a secular world, i.e. to bein this world but not of it. We had an opportunity yesterday but we missed it.
In conclusion, I would like to state some facts that won’t be carried in our mainstream media. I wouldalso like to put forth some questions for all Christians to ponder. First and foremost, who decided to usereligion and set it as an agenda in the AWARE saga?
Constitutionally, Josie and her team were above board. They were elected during the AGM a month ago totake over the leadership. Like any organisation with a constitution, it was based on votes and they won onvotes. Neither was the takeover sneaky. Those of us who have worked in secular organisations, and AWAREis a secular organisation, know that takeovers are never friendly. When was religion ever an issue in anysecular organisational takeover?
Our mainstream media, though they tried to be objective, was unfortunately not. From the start, they alreadyknew which side they wanted to support. Why was the coverage on the event so skewed towards the winningparty? Why carry so much of the winning party’s voice and why interview so many of their supporters? I didnot see them going around just as excitedly in seeking the opinions of Josie’s supporters yesterday.
When Dr Thio was asked by MOE to validate and substantiate her statements on Tuesday, my PR team foughtagainst time to issue a statement to the press only to be told that they don’t intend to carry her side of the story.
When Josie and her team wanted to send the media their vision and philosophy that they have crafted forAWARE, the media told them that they are not interested.
Why run the churches’ stories two days and eventhe eve of the EGM?
Are we aware that the AWARE story was the number one world story in twitters? The other camp was madeup of generally young people who are savvy with social media and they leveraged on those tools. Ninety-ninepercent of those on twitters were dead against Josie and her team.
Are we also aware that they have set up hate websites to hit out at Christians and all on Josie’s team? We allknow that Josie received death threats. Do we also know that everyone on that team had letters or calls writtento their employers asking their employers to justify their presence in the organisations? Why is it that no onespoke up about such tactics?
Further, how aware are we that the other group’s supporters comprised mainly of relatively young people?These are going to be our children’s leaders or counterparts. Josie’s camp was made up of middle aged menand women who did not dress, behave or even speak the same “language” as our young today.
What happenedto our young Christian people? Shouldn’t they be interested in what is happening?
And what about the facts regarding the sexuality programme? Are they true? For those who are unsure andwould like to know what’s been propagated, I have a copy and would be happy to lend it to you for yourpersonal reading. It contains the selected controversial pages and we can all judge for ourselves if we wantthis material taught to our children.
For me, this AWARE saga was a chance to practise and learn to stand up for Christ. Regardless of whichangle you choose to see this event, it was obvious that our faith was attacked. I am very thankful for thisopportunity and to be reminded that we are living in the last days. Come to think of it, I played a very smallrole in this whole episode. I liken myself to the soldier guarding the armoury while my comrades went out tofight. The sad thing was my armoury was filled with pistols while my foes were using machine guns. It wasvery painful to have to witness my comrades’ getting injured and knowing that there is nothing I can do aboutit. But one thing I know – God is still in charge and He is sovereign. He will bring to pass what He revealed inRevelations.
But it also means that Christians have to be ready to stand up and fight for our faith. Otherwise we would be useless in God’s army because He cannot use us. To be ready and useful, we must start to learn what it meansto be steadfast and to live out our faith. Speaking up in defence of our beliefs is a start.
In-His-Love, XXX
Summary of MI and teaching strategies by Thomas A.
Reading 8 – Thomas Armstrong, 1994, Multiple intelligences in the classroom (pp 65-85)
MI and Teaching Strategies
“If the only tool you have is hammer, everything around you looks like a nail.” – Anonymous
MI theory suggests that one set of teaching strategies will work best for all students at all times.
Teaching strategies for Linguistic Intelligence
- Storytelling
Weave essential concepts, ideas and instructional goals into a story that you tell directly to students.
- Brainstorming
Give special acknowledgement to all students for their original thoughts.
- Tape recording
Collector of information in interview and reporter of information in talking books
- Journal writing
Can be kept entirely private between teachers and students…
Draws heavily upon intrapersonal intelligence insofar as students work individually and use the journal to reflect upon their lives.
- Publishing
Educator must send the message that writing is a powerful tool for communicating ideas and influencing people.
When children see that others care enough about their writing to duplicate it, discuss it, and even argue about it, they become linguistically empowered and are motivated to continue developing their writing craft.
Teaching strategies for Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
- Calculations and quantifications
Even at non-Math subject
- Classifications and categorizations
Logical mind can be stimulated anytime information is put into some kind of rational framework
- Socratic Questioning
Instead of talking at students, the teacher participates in dialogues with them, aiming to uncover the rightness and wrongness of their belief
- Heuristics
The field of heuristics refers to a loose collection of strategies, rules of thumb, guidelines, and suggestions for logical problem solving
- Science Thinking
Students can study influence of science on history and present day situations.
Science provides another point of view that can enrich student’s perspective.
Teaching strategies for Spatial Intelligence
- Visualisation
- Colour Cues
- Picture Metaphors
A metaphor is using one idea to refer to another and a picture metaphor expresses an idea in a visual image.
- Idea Sketching
Involve asking students to draw key point, main idea, central theme, or core concept being taught. Neatness and realism should be DE-emphasised in favour of a succession of quick sketches that help articulate an idea eg Pictionary
Do not evaluate the drawing themselves; instead, seek to “draw out” students’ understanding from the sketches.
- Graphic Symbols
Teaching strategies for Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
- Body Answers
- Classroom Theater
Can be one minute improvisation of a reading passage or a one-hour play that sums up students’ understanding of a broad learning theme.
Try warm up exercises for older students who maybe reluctant to engage in dramatic activities.
- Kinesthetic Concepts
Translate information from linguistic or logical symbol systems into purely bodily-kinesthetic expression
- Hands-on Thinking
Manipulating objects or by making things with their hands.
- Body Maps
Using human body as pedagogical tool.
Teaching strategies for Musical Intelligence
- Rhythms, songs, raps and chants
Inviting students to create songs, raps, or chants that summarise, synthesize, or apply meaning from subjects they are studying moves students to an even higher level of learning.
- Discographies
Supplement your bibliographies for the curriculum with lists of recorded musical selections – tapes, compact discs, and records, - that illustrate, embody, or amplify the content you want to convey.
- Supermemory Music
Students could more easily commit information, to memory if they listened to the teacher’s instruction against musical background. Baroque and classical musical selections in 4/4 time were found to be particularly effective.
- Music Concepts
Musical tones can be used as a creative tool for expressing concepts, patterns, or schemas in many subjects.
- Mood Music
Locate recorded music that creates an appropriate mood or emotional atmosphere for a particular lesson or unit.
Teaching strategies for Interpersonal Intelligence
- Peer sharing
- People Sculptures
The beauty of this approach is in having people represent things that were formerly represented only in books, overheads, or lectures. People sculptures raise learning out of its remote theoretical context and put it into an immediately accessible social setting.
- Cooperative Groups
- Simulations
Involves a group of people coming together to create an “as-if” environment.
Teaching strategies for Intrapersonal Intelligence
- One minute reflection period
Frequent “time out” for introspection or deep thinking. One min reflection periods offer students time to digest the information presented or to connect it to happenings in their own lives. They also provide a refreshing change of pace that helps students stay alert and ready for the next activity.
- Personal connection
Making connection between what is being taught and the lives of their students ie “what does all this have to do with my life?”
- Choice time
Give students choices is as much a fundamental principle of good teaching; building opportunities for students to make decisions about their learning experiences.
- Feeling-toned moments
To feed that emotional brain, educators need to teach with feeling. Educators are responsible for creating moments in teaching where students laugh, feel angry, express strong opinion, get excited about a topic, or feel a wide range of other emotions.
Educator can model, make it safe and provide experiences that evoke feeling-toned reactions.
- Goal setting session
Necessary skills for leading a successful life.
MI and Teaching Strategies
“If the only tool you have is hammer, everything around you looks like a nail.” – Anonymous
MI theory suggests that one set of teaching strategies will work best for all students at all times.
Teaching strategies for Linguistic Intelligence
- Storytelling
Weave essential concepts, ideas and instructional goals into a story that you tell directly to students.
- Brainstorming
Give special acknowledgement to all students for their original thoughts.
- Tape recording
Collector of information in interview and reporter of information in talking books
- Journal writing
Can be kept entirely private between teachers and students…
Draws heavily upon intrapersonal intelligence insofar as students work individually and use the journal to reflect upon their lives.
- Publishing
Educator must send the message that writing is a powerful tool for communicating ideas and influencing people.
When children see that others care enough about their writing to duplicate it, discuss it, and even argue about it, they become linguistically empowered and are motivated to continue developing their writing craft.
Teaching strategies for Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
- Calculations and quantifications
Even at non-Math subject
- Classifications and categorizations
Logical mind can be stimulated anytime information is put into some kind of rational framework
- Socratic Questioning
Instead of talking at students, the teacher participates in dialogues with them, aiming to uncover the rightness and wrongness of their belief
- Heuristics
The field of heuristics refers to a loose collection of strategies, rules of thumb, guidelines, and suggestions for logical problem solving
- Science Thinking
Students can study influence of science on history and present day situations.
Science provides another point of view that can enrich student’s perspective.
Teaching strategies for Spatial Intelligence
- Visualisation
- Colour Cues
- Picture Metaphors
A metaphor is using one idea to refer to another and a picture metaphor expresses an idea in a visual image.
- Idea Sketching
Involve asking students to draw key point, main idea, central theme, or core concept being taught. Neatness and realism should be DE-emphasised in favour of a succession of quick sketches that help articulate an idea eg Pictionary
Do not evaluate the drawing themselves; instead, seek to “draw out” students’ understanding from the sketches.
- Graphic Symbols
Teaching strategies for Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
- Body Answers
- Classroom Theater
Can be one minute improvisation of a reading passage or a one-hour play that sums up students’ understanding of a broad learning theme.
Try warm up exercises for older students who maybe reluctant to engage in dramatic activities.
- Kinesthetic Concepts
Translate information from linguistic or logical symbol systems into purely bodily-kinesthetic expression
- Hands-on Thinking
Manipulating objects or by making things with their hands.
- Body Maps
Using human body as pedagogical tool.
Teaching strategies for Musical Intelligence
- Rhythms, songs, raps and chants
Inviting students to create songs, raps, or chants that summarise, synthesize, or apply meaning from subjects they are studying moves students to an even higher level of learning.
- Discographies
Supplement your bibliographies for the curriculum with lists of recorded musical selections – tapes, compact discs, and records, - that illustrate, embody, or amplify the content you want to convey.
- Supermemory Music
Students could more easily commit information, to memory if they listened to the teacher’s instruction against musical background. Baroque and classical musical selections in 4/4 time were found to be particularly effective.
- Music Concepts
Musical tones can be used as a creative tool for expressing concepts, patterns, or schemas in many subjects.
- Mood Music
Locate recorded music that creates an appropriate mood or emotional atmosphere for a particular lesson or unit.
Teaching strategies for Interpersonal Intelligence
- Peer sharing
- People Sculptures
The beauty of this approach is in having people represent things that were formerly represented only in books, overheads, or lectures. People sculptures raise learning out of its remote theoretical context and put it into an immediately accessible social setting.
- Cooperative Groups
- Simulations
Involves a group of people coming together to create an “as-if” environment.
Teaching strategies for Intrapersonal Intelligence
- One minute reflection period
Frequent “time out” for introspection or deep thinking. One min reflection periods offer students time to digest the information presented or to connect it to happenings in their own lives. They also provide a refreshing change of pace that helps students stay alert and ready for the next activity.
- Personal connection
Making connection between what is being taught and the lives of their students ie “what does all this have to do with my life?”
- Choice time
Give students choices is as much a fundamental principle of good teaching; building opportunities for students to make decisions about their learning experiences.
- Feeling-toned moments
To feed that emotional brain, educators need to teach with feeling. Educators are responsible for creating moments in teaching where students laugh, feel angry, express strong opinion, get excited about a topic, or feel a wide range of other emotions.
Educator can model, make it safe and provide experiences that evoke feeling-toned reactions.
- Goal setting session
Necessary skills for leading a successful life.
Reflection on AWARE saga as a Singaporean
I have mixed feeling about the whole AWARE saga. I risked being labeled and misunderstood to pen my reflection. But i will do so because i love Singapore.
As a Singaporean, i am saddened by the display of mob behavior at the SUNTEC EGM. Granted there were pent-up emotion and feeling for "justice" to be served. But the scene of booing and shouting is definitely not the society i am proud of.I am neither for any groups in particular. i think both groups can definitely learn from the whole experience.
Another thought i have is concerning RESPECT. i dont agree that RESPECT needs to be earned. RESPECT is a basic atitude we should have in dealing with ALL of humanity. We RESPECT not because someone has done something worthwhile for us to RESPECT. Because going by this arguement, many people would not need to be respected ie beggar, HIV patients, etc. Whoever started the saying, "Respect needs to be earned", could have misused the word. I would think "Recognition needs to be earned" because recognition is given to people who earned it but not RESPECT. We RESPECT others simply because we are HUMAN. RESPECTING others need not the reflection of the other person's worth or standing.
Thus, in conclusion, we all have lost. We have lost our RESPECT for our fellow country-women, we have lost our sense of civil-mindness, we have lost our ways.....Ironically for the purpose of finding the Singapore society.
Crossroads - how to make decision?
I have been thinking about how we can know the will of God for our lives. It has become quite obvious that there has not been much training in this area.
Many have been very satisfied to teach and challenge the members to live by the general will of God. This has resulted in many feeling that the church is not interested in their development or worst irrelevant to their lives.
This is not so in the times of NT. Paul prayed for the Colossians that they might know God’s specific will for their lives.
Col 1: 9For 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. 10And 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, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Few obvious worthy of highlighting;
- We need to know His will WITH wisdom and understanding lest we become rash and tactless (lack of wisdom) in our walk.
- Life worthy of the Lord and please Him MUST be founded on His WILL.
- We would be able to bear fruits, grow in His knowledge, strengthen with all power, have great endurance and patience, give thanks and share in His inheritance.
Such is the blessing of walking in His will.
Now the question is how can I know His will?
I chanced upon Discipleship Journal and found this very interesting guide.
There are 5 systems whereby we need to check to confirm or discern His will for our lives.
1 The bible
The bible will give us general guidance on His will and ways to show us. We will know the character of voice to confirm His leading.
2 Our unique gifts and talents – our design
Our giftings and talents are from God to lead us to His end for our lives. Thus they are good indicators of where He is leading in our lives.
3 Our Circumstances
Open doors are not necessary signs to proceed or closed doors as signs to stop. We need to ask God to reveal His purpose in these circumstances.
Remember that the devil is at works too.
4 Direct leading
Specific events or confirmation must also be checked with scripture and godly counsel.
5 Input from others
We are created in community and we need to know what the community is saying to us too.
These are not new insights for many of us. But the key difference I learnt here is that we can be more certain when all 5 systems lead to the same conclusion. And anything less would call for more waiting and weighing.
I am very blessed with this information. But I would like to see if I can develop this further so that I can be a blessing for others who are at the crossroads of their lives.
Many have been very satisfied to teach and challenge the members to live by the general will of God. This has resulted in many feeling that the church is not interested in their development or worst irrelevant to their lives.
This is not so in the times of NT. Paul prayed for the Colossians that they might know God’s specific will for their lives.
Col 1: 9For 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. 10And 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, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Few obvious worthy of highlighting;
- We need to know His will WITH wisdom and understanding lest we become rash and tactless (lack of wisdom) in our walk.
- Life worthy of the Lord and please Him MUST be founded on His WILL.
- We would be able to bear fruits, grow in His knowledge, strengthen with all power, have great endurance and patience, give thanks and share in His inheritance.
Such is the blessing of walking in His will.
Now the question is how can I know His will?
I chanced upon Discipleship Journal and found this very interesting guide.
There are 5 systems whereby we need to check to confirm or discern His will for our lives.
1 The bible
The bible will give us general guidance on His will and ways to show us. We will know the character of voice to confirm His leading.
2 Our unique gifts and talents – our design
Our giftings and talents are from God to lead us to His end for our lives. Thus they are good indicators of where He is leading in our lives.
3 Our Circumstances
Open doors are not necessary signs to proceed or closed doors as signs to stop. We need to ask God to reveal His purpose in these circumstances.
Remember that the devil is at works too.
4 Direct leading
Specific events or confirmation must also be checked with scripture and godly counsel.
5 Input from others
We are created in community and we need to know what the community is saying to us too.
These are not new insights for many of us. But the key difference I learnt here is that we can be more certain when all 5 systems lead to the same conclusion. And anything less would call for more waiting and weighing.
I am very blessed with this information. But I would like to see if I can develop this further so that I can be a blessing for others who are at the crossroads of their lives.
My study - How theology in Galatians can contribute to Education
Living in this performance-centric society, it is very difficult to discern the subtle influence of “works” in our walk with God. Yet through the signs of many stressed out believers, tired out pastors, and unhealthy pursuit of outward conformity to the “culture” of western Christianity such as robes, church tradition, birthday blessings, and many other subtle influences, we can conclude the yoke of “distorted gospel” is at work among us. This is where the book of Galatians can help us to examine where we have fallen and how the theology highlighted earlier could help us in staying true to the “true gospel” (pun intended).Being a pastor and leader of an education institution before, it is of particular interest to me to look at Christian Teachers Training and Development. Having the book of Galatians and the course study guide as my reference, we would explore 2 specific areas of applications – the development of teachers and the delivery of lesson. The theology discussed earlier, specifically “Union with Christ” and “Role of Holy Spirit”, will be used in this consideration.
1 Development of Teachers - Need for spiritual training for our Christian teachers
Good teaching comes from good teachers. And good teachers are good because they are good people (Palmer, 1998, p. 10). Skills alone cannot make an eternal impact in the lives of our students. It is the life in Christ that makes the teachers good (Mk 10:18). Thus, only in Christ, can the teachers become good teachers. Also it is only in Christ that Christian Teachers can live out the “cruciform life” (Gorman, 2001, p. 30). The question is who is responsible for the spiritual development of the teachers. We cannot assume that this will be taught in churches. Churches, for most part, will be focusing mainly on the general needs of the congregations. They will not be able to focus on the specific needs of any occupation. Beside, it may not have the resources to do so too. Hence, Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College must consider the spiritual development of Christian Teachers just as they do for other subject matters.
Just like the Galatians, it is very easy for the Christian Teachers to feel that “grace and good teaching performance = acceptance and approval from God” in this performance centric society. The “and …” is what causes the confusion in the Galatians church; adding anything to grace is in fact nullifies grace. For the Galatians, it is circumcision, while for the Christian Teachers, it will be ability to produce students with good grades in this performance centric society. This has caused many Christian Teachers, in Singapore, to feel discouraged with their sense of calling. On one hand, they feel the call to teach, and on the other, they feel the pressure to perform. As a result, we are seeing many resignations among the Christian Teachers or they become indifferent. Such disillusion in teachers can be minimized if the Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College make effort to educate and tutor the Christian Teachers to understand the privilege of being “in Christ”.
We are warmly received into the Kingdom of God because of grace and grace alone. It is the result of the gospel event. There is nothing we can do or add to gain acceptance and approval from God. Christ has done it all for me. It is in Christ that Christian Teachers receive the acceptance and approval from God. And this acceptance with God will allow the merits and perfection of Christ to be applied to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Goldsworthy, 1991, p. 220).
Such truth needs to be experienced by Christian Teachers regularly so as to keep their motivation in service pure - they serve diligently not because they need that to be accepted but because they are already accepted in Christ. In this way we would have lesser disillusion teachers.
One way to do so is to schedule regular retreat for Christian Teachers to remember the gospel event. It is in the act of remembrance that allows God to illuminate their mind to this truth with freshness. This “remember” retreat approach is in much agreement with what the Bible advocates too (Heschel, 1951, p. 161). Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College can also tap into the wider Christian Community such as Christian Seminaries and Christian Churches for renowned teachers in this subject matter to come and lead the retreat. In this way we will have provided a good experience for the teachers as well as helped the larger community to be mindful of the needs of the Christian Teachers.
2 Classroom teaching - Need for relying on the Holy Spirit
The book of Galatians emphasizes a lot on being dependent on the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasizes such reliance when he exalts the Galatians to receive the Spirit (3:2), begin with the Spirit (3:3), be in the Spirit (4:6), through the Spirit (5:5), walk by the Spirit (5:16, 25), be led by the Spirit (5:18) and live by the Spirit (5:25). All these reflect the great need to be relying on the Holy Spirit in our daily walk. This reliance should apply to the classrooms for the Christian Teachers too. Many teachers are tempted to rely more on the lesson plan than the spontaneous guidance of the Spirit.
But the role of Holy Spirit is more than the exercising of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It should include both the gifts as well as the fruit of the Spirit (5:22) in the lives of the teachers. This does not imply that lesson preparation is not important. It does, however, imply that dependence on the Holy Spirit should start from the point of lesson preparation. Students are not drawn to the smartness of the teachers alone. They are looking for models who can relate and inspire them. Spirit-filled teacher will certainly be attractive teachers to the students because they would be reflecting Christ in the class through personalifying the fruit of the Spirit and exercising the gifts of the Spirit. Such teachers would be awesome.
During classroom management, students do not need to face the raw emotion of a frustrated teacher. Instead they would be managed by one who can control his emotion with a tone of spirituality. During correction, students will receive correction which reveals their weakness and yet heals their pain. During lesson time, students will be amazed by the Spirit-led lesson plan presented with the gifts of the Spirit. This is made possible because the Lord has given us His Spirit through faith (3:2).
Living out this reliance on the Holy Spirit, among the Christian Teachers, needs to be nurtured in the whole school. As in developing any habit, teachers need community to encourage the development of this intentional reliance on the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 2:2). Clustering Spirit-filled teachers with younger (in faith) teachers together will help modeling this practice as well as imparting practical ways to live out this Spirit-filled lifestyle. This will certainly help to transform the class into a Spirit-filled room for learning.
1 Development of Teachers - Need for spiritual training for our Christian teachers
Good teaching comes from good teachers. And good teachers are good because they are good people (Palmer, 1998, p. 10). Skills alone cannot make an eternal impact in the lives of our students. It is the life in Christ that makes the teachers good (Mk 10:18). Thus, only in Christ, can the teachers become good teachers. Also it is only in Christ that Christian Teachers can live out the “cruciform life” (Gorman, 2001, p. 30). The question is who is responsible for the spiritual development of the teachers. We cannot assume that this will be taught in churches. Churches, for most part, will be focusing mainly on the general needs of the congregations. They will not be able to focus on the specific needs of any occupation. Beside, it may not have the resources to do so too. Hence, Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College must consider the spiritual development of Christian Teachers just as they do for other subject matters.
Just like the Galatians, it is very easy for the Christian Teachers to feel that “grace and good teaching performance = acceptance and approval from God” in this performance centric society. The “and …” is what causes the confusion in the Galatians church; adding anything to grace is in fact nullifies grace. For the Galatians, it is circumcision, while for the Christian Teachers, it will be ability to produce students with good grades in this performance centric society. This has caused many Christian Teachers, in Singapore, to feel discouraged with their sense of calling. On one hand, they feel the call to teach, and on the other, they feel the pressure to perform. As a result, we are seeing many resignations among the Christian Teachers or they become indifferent. Such disillusion in teachers can be minimized if the Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College make effort to educate and tutor the Christian Teachers to understand the privilege of being “in Christ”.
We are warmly received into the Kingdom of God because of grace and grace alone. It is the result of the gospel event. There is nothing we can do or add to gain acceptance and approval from God. Christ has done it all for me. It is in Christ that Christian Teachers receive the acceptance and approval from God. And this acceptance with God will allow the merits and perfection of Christ to be applied to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Goldsworthy, 1991, p. 220).
Such truth needs to be experienced by Christian Teachers regularly so as to keep their motivation in service pure - they serve diligently not because they need that to be accepted but because they are already accepted in Christ. In this way we would have lesser disillusion teachers.
One way to do so is to schedule regular retreat for Christian Teachers to remember the gospel event. It is in the act of remembrance that allows God to illuminate their mind to this truth with freshness. This “remember” retreat approach is in much agreement with what the Bible advocates too (Heschel, 1951, p. 161). Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College can also tap into the wider Christian Community such as Christian Seminaries and Christian Churches for renowned teachers in this subject matter to come and lead the retreat. In this way we will have provided a good experience for the teachers as well as helped the larger community to be mindful of the needs of the Christian Teachers.
2 Classroom teaching - Need for relying on the Holy Spirit
The book of Galatians emphasizes a lot on being dependent on the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasizes such reliance when he exalts the Galatians to receive the Spirit (3:2), begin with the Spirit (3:3), be in the Spirit (4:6), through the Spirit (5:5), walk by the Spirit (5:16, 25), be led by the Spirit (5:18) and live by the Spirit (5:25). All these reflect the great need to be relying on the Holy Spirit in our daily walk. This reliance should apply to the classrooms for the Christian Teachers too. Many teachers are tempted to rely more on the lesson plan than the spontaneous guidance of the Spirit.
But the role of Holy Spirit is more than the exercising of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It should include both the gifts as well as the fruit of the Spirit (5:22) in the lives of the teachers. This does not imply that lesson preparation is not important. It does, however, imply that dependence on the Holy Spirit should start from the point of lesson preparation. Students are not drawn to the smartness of the teachers alone. They are looking for models who can relate and inspire them. Spirit-filled teacher will certainly be attractive teachers to the students because they would be reflecting Christ in the class through personalifying the fruit of the Spirit and exercising the gifts of the Spirit. Such teachers would be awesome.
During classroom management, students do not need to face the raw emotion of a frustrated teacher. Instead they would be managed by one who can control his emotion with a tone of spirituality. During correction, students will receive correction which reveals their weakness and yet heals their pain. During lesson time, students will be amazed by the Spirit-led lesson plan presented with the gifts of the Spirit. This is made possible because the Lord has given us His Spirit through faith (3:2).
Living out this reliance on the Holy Spirit, among the Christian Teachers, needs to be nurtured in the whole school. As in developing any habit, teachers need community to encourage the development of this intentional reliance on the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 2:2). Clustering Spirit-filled teachers with younger (in faith) teachers together will help modeling this practice as well as imparting practical ways to live out this Spirit-filled lifestyle. This will certainly help to transform the class into a Spirit-filled room for learning.
A Good Read; both as a book review and understanding of NCC
I chanced upon this interesting article recently. i felt it was a rather fair and objective outsider's view of the book and NCC. I am putting this up in this blog to remind myself how to evaluate with a right posture and tone; i really appreciate the way Rev Dr Wong writes.
BOOK REVIEW – Joseph Prince’s Destined to Reign
Reviewed by Rev Dr Gordon Wong
"I recently read the book Destined to Reign (2007) by Joseph Prince, the senior pastor of New Creation Church. When I conveyed some of my thoughts on the book, one of my pastoral colleagues thought it would be helpful if I shared them with more Methodists.
Let me begin by saying that Pastor Prince’s emphasis on grace has been a great blessing from God to many. My nephew and cousin belong to New Creation church and have grown immensely in their relationship with God. My prayer is that God will use Prince’s gifts of preaching to even more blessed effect as he allows the Holy Spirit to convict him (graciously, as always) of areas that could be improved. I hope my comments below will be helpful towards that end.
1. Prince’s teaching on God’s Grace and Anger
His emphasis on grace has led some to accuse him of giving Christians a licence to sin. He vehemently rejects this criticism (e.g. p. 30) and explains that a person who has properly experienced grace is one who is inspired and empowered to turn away from sin.
What I like:
the book’s stress on the power of God’s grace is correct. The grace of God in the Bible is meant to inspire holiness, and not allow sinfulness. The book’s strong emphasis on grace is true to the Bible. Self-condemnation and guilt are real problems that afflict many people today, and the message of God’s grace is truly good news.
What I had reservations about:
In stressing grace, the book appears to suggest that God no longer gets angry with Christians. If this is what it really means to teach, then this is not biblical. On p. 41, read: “We do see God being angry in the Old Testament, and in the book of Revelation, where his anger is toward those who have rejected Jesus. But for you and me, believers in the new covenant, we are not part of the Old Testament and we will never be punished because we have already received Jesus. As believers, God is no longer angry with us because all His anger for our sins fell upon Jesus at the cross.”I suspect (and hope) that what the book really means is that God’s anger is not the type that takes delight in condemning us and pointing out how horrible we are. Also, I think (and hope) that what the book means to say is that God’s anger and punishment on believers does not result in the loss of eternal salvation. But to say the above is very different from saying that God gets angry only with unbelievers and never with true believers (p. 41), or to insist that “the Holy Spirit never convicts you of sin” (p.134). Does the Bible really say that God never gets angry with believers anymore? In the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), God is presented as getting angry with believers. For example, the letters to the 7 churches (i.e. people who profess to be believers) in Revelation 2-3 include a lot of stinging rebuke and condemnation from Jesus himself, including the use of threats of punishment and judgement. (I find attempts to say that the “churches” in Revelation do not really refer to believers as far-fetched.) God Himself seems to punish two professing believers Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Isn’t this an example of the Holy Spirit, through Peter, convicting Ananias and Sapphira of their sins? Or must we assume the (not so gracious) judgement that Ananias and Sapphira cannot have been true believers?? For argument’s sake, even if they were not true believers, they were certainly in the church assembly. So there is place still for Spirit-inspired preaching for the conviction of sin within church walls. There may be many “believers” like Ananias and Sapphira who need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and our need for grace. Perhaps the book could have made a clearer distinction between divine anger at Christians that results in the loss of eternal salvation (which is what he is most concerned to speak against) and divine anger at Christians that aims to correct and discipline (which he seems to reject).
To be fair, Prince does accept the positive idea of child discipline or training (pp. 65-67), but he rejects any association of this discipline with the words “anger” or “punishment”.God’s anger was, and can still be an expression of His love and grace, just like a loving mother who sometimes scolds her child. (Prince is, hopefully, only joking when he implies, p.37, that children will become schizophrenic if parents sometimes express happiness and at other times anger!) To say that God will never get angry or punish believers anymore may promote (unwittingly or mistakenly) a distortion of the Bible’s teaching about God’s grace.
God’s anger is an expression of His love and grace towards his children. Prince would perhaps do better to speak of righteous anger (Ephesians 4:26) versus unrighteous anger. God never gets (unrighteously) angry with us, but loving grace demands a place for righteous anger as long as His beloved children still need discipline.
2. Prince’s teaching on Law
The book is very strong on rejecting the value of the Law in the OT as being of any positive help for Christians. For example, on p.120 there is a section entitled “The Ten Commandments Kill” and it says that these commandments are “the ministry of death”.
What I like:
I think (and hope) that the book is trying to say two biblical things about the Law.
Firstly, it may be warning us that the Ten Commandments can be used or preached in a condemning way that destroys the soul of people and makes them cringe in fear or turn away from God as a harsh Master. This is a good biblical warning.
Secondly, the book’s description of the Law as a ministry of death rather than life correctly describes and reinforces the biblical view that obedience to the Law cannot lead us to receive salvation. It is correct and very good of Prince to speak against those who are “trying to use the Ten Commandments to remove their sins” (p.124). We are saved by grace, not by obedience to the Ten Commandments or the Law. If these two points represent what Prince teaches on the Law in the Bible, then this is good and biblical.
What I had reservations about:
That the Law can be preached and understood in such a way as to promote soul-destroying guilt and deeper condemnation is certainly true. Prince is to be commended for eloquently highlighting this biblical warning about the danger of the Law, and stressing the wonderful grace of God that forgives us all through Christ. But while there are many who need this message of God’s grace-filled forgiveness to save them from their guilt and despair over sin, there are many others who need the message of God’s grace-filled discipline and rebuke to save them from presumption and indifference to sin. Prince’s emphasis on free and full forgiveness is very good at helping the former, but not so good for the latter. Does Prince believe that guilt is the only problem people have because of sin? If so, that would present an incomplete picture. Sin does not only imprison us in guilt; it also lulls us into indifference and presumption. The Bible addresses both these effects of sin. The book appears to suggest that there is no way of preaching the Law in a graceful manner in order to set us free from our sinful indifference and presumption.
Similarly, Prince is correct to stress that the Law cannot save or justify, but his writings give the impression that the Law has no other positive function except to prove that we cannot be saved by it. But the Law in the Bible is also presented as a positive expression of God’s grace in telling us what God desires. But because Prince contrasts Law and Grace in this manner, he gives the impression of implying that the Law has only the negative value of telling people that they cannot be saved by their attempts at obedience to the Law. The Law certainly does perform that valuable function, but it does much more as well. It helps us know what is good in God’s eyes. The book is weak on emphasising the ongoing value of the Law for both Christians and unbelievers.
To be fair to this book, there are certain parts of the Bible that also speak in similarly strong negative tones against the Law (e.g. most of Galatians and parts of the books of Romans and Hebrews). But this negative view is balanced out in other parts of the Bible that are very positive about the Law (e.g. Jesus in Matt 5:19-20; James 1:25; Psalm 119 etc.). In other words, the Law as a means of salvation is spoken of very negatively in the Bible, but the Law as a means of showing us God’s pleasure or desire for our lives is spoken of very positively. The book seems to emphasise only the negative picture of the Law. Doing so would fail to do justice to the biblical balance which speaks also of the ongoing positive value of the Law for Christians. Paul, himself, could sum up the Law very positively as teaching us to love one another (Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8,10).
3. Prince’s teaching on Healing
Healing is a big topic in the Bible, and it is not the main theme of Prince’s book.
But from the little he says in his final full chapter “Good Things Happen” (pp. 287ff), Prince relates testimonies of people who were healed when they received the grace and forgiveness of God. He also states that “once you know that you have been forgiven of all your sins, past, present and future, the healing of all our diseases follows” (p.290).
What I like:
I think Prince is correct to say that the Bible speaks of a God who heals our diseases, and this is a true expression of the forgiveness and grace of God. Physical healing is taught and prayed for and experienced in the Bible.
What I had reservations about:
Whilst the book speaks of Bible passages where physical healing is expected and takes place, it says nothing about the passages that accept (without surprise or anguish) that miraculous physical healing did not take place e.g. 2 Tim 4:20; Philippians 2:25-27; 1 Tim 5:23; Gal 4:13-14. Incidentally, Galatians 4:13-14 tells us explicitly that Paul did have a bodily sickness which resulted in the greater good of the Gospel being preached contra Prince’s statement that “Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease” (p. 71). The problem is not so much with what Prince affirms viz. that healing is a blessing from a God who is full of grace; the problem is with what he omits to affirm viz. that physical illness without healing on earth can also fall within the gracious providence of God. The Bible teaches us both to pray for physical healing and to be prepared to endure illness with patient endurance. The victorious Christian life is one that remains faithful to God in both times of abundance and poverty, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). I do not know the ministry of Prince well enough to be sure of what he really thinks about healing on earth. Perhaps if you listen long enough to his sermons, you may be able to make a fairer assessment. Does he preach to help Christians cope with the onslaught of poverty and illness, or does he speak only of removing sickness and suffering by effortless faith? We need both messages, because that is the balance we find in Scripture.
In general, most preachers are prone to partial teaching. We all tend to favour one side of the balance more than the other as a result of our personal experience of God’s dealings with us. The danger comes when we imply that the side we prefer is the only true side of biblical truth!
May God grant us wisdom and discernment as we seek to live in ways that befit those who have been saved by such a wonderful grace as that which our Lord Jesus has lavished on us.
Postscript: There are several places where I do not agree with Prince’s interpretation of the Bible verses (e.g. pp. 124f on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; p.263-65 on the cold, hot and lukewarm Laodiceans in Rev 3:15-16), but these are disagreements over the interpretation of specific phrases that can commonly be found amongst devout Bible teachers. My comments above focus on some major issues that discerning Christians should reflect on more carefully."
BOOK REVIEW – Joseph Prince’s Destined to Reign
Reviewed by Rev Dr Gordon Wong
"I recently read the book Destined to Reign (2007) by Joseph Prince, the senior pastor of New Creation Church. When I conveyed some of my thoughts on the book, one of my pastoral colleagues thought it would be helpful if I shared them with more Methodists.
Let me begin by saying that Pastor Prince’s emphasis on grace has been a great blessing from God to many. My nephew and cousin belong to New Creation church and have grown immensely in their relationship with God. My prayer is that God will use Prince’s gifts of preaching to even more blessed effect as he allows the Holy Spirit to convict him (graciously, as always) of areas that could be improved. I hope my comments below will be helpful towards that end.
1. Prince’s teaching on God’s Grace and Anger
His emphasis on grace has led some to accuse him of giving Christians a licence to sin. He vehemently rejects this criticism (e.g. p. 30) and explains that a person who has properly experienced grace is one who is inspired and empowered to turn away from sin.
What I like:
the book’s stress on the power of God’s grace is correct. The grace of God in the Bible is meant to inspire holiness, and not allow sinfulness. The book’s strong emphasis on grace is true to the Bible. Self-condemnation and guilt are real problems that afflict many people today, and the message of God’s grace is truly good news.
What I had reservations about:
In stressing grace, the book appears to suggest that God no longer gets angry with Christians. If this is what it really means to teach, then this is not biblical. On p. 41, read: “We do see God being angry in the Old Testament, and in the book of Revelation, where his anger is toward those who have rejected Jesus. But for you and me, believers in the new covenant, we are not part of the Old Testament and we will never be punished because we have already received Jesus. As believers, God is no longer angry with us because all His anger for our sins fell upon Jesus at the cross.”I suspect (and hope) that what the book really means is that God’s anger is not the type that takes delight in condemning us and pointing out how horrible we are. Also, I think (and hope) that what the book means to say is that God’s anger and punishment on believers does not result in the loss of eternal salvation. But to say the above is very different from saying that God gets angry only with unbelievers and never with true believers (p. 41), or to insist that “the Holy Spirit never convicts you of sin” (p.134). Does the Bible really say that God never gets angry with believers anymore? In the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), God is presented as getting angry with believers. For example, the letters to the 7 churches (i.e. people who profess to be believers) in Revelation 2-3 include a lot of stinging rebuke and condemnation from Jesus himself, including the use of threats of punishment and judgement. (I find attempts to say that the “churches” in Revelation do not really refer to believers as far-fetched.) God Himself seems to punish two professing believers Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Isn’t this an example of the Holy Spirit, through Peter, convicting Ananias and Sapphira of their sins? Or must we assume the (not so gracious) judgement that Ananias and Sapphira cannot have been true believers?? For argument’s sake, even if they were not true believers, they were certainly in the church assembly. So there is place still for Spirit-inspired preaching for the conviction of sin within church walls. There may be many “believers” like Ananias and Sapphira who need the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and our need for grace. Perhaps the book could have made a clearer distinction between divine anger at Christians that results in the loss of eternal salvation (which is what he is most concerned to speak against) and divine anger at Christians that aims to correct and discipline (which he seems to reject).
To be fair, Prince does accept the positive idea of child discipline or training (pp. 65-67), but he rejects any association of this discipline with the words “anger” or “punishment”.God’s anger was, and can still be an expression of His love and grace, just like a loving mother who sometimes scolds her child. (Prince is, hopefully, only joking when he implies, p.37, that children will become schizophrenic if parents sometimes express happiness and at other times anger!) To say that God will never get angry or punish believers anymore may promote (unwittingly or mistakenly) a distortion of the Bible’s teaching about God’s grace.
God’s anger is an expression of His love and grace towards his children. Prince would perhaps do better to speak of righteous anger (Ephesians 4:26) versus unrighteous anger. God never gets (unrighteously) angry with us, but loving grace demands a place for righteous anger as long as His beloved children still need discipline.
2. Prince’s teaching on Law
The book is very strong on rejecting the value of the Law in the OT as being of any positive help for Christians. For example, on p.120 there is a section entitled “The Ten Commandments Kill” and it says that these commandments are “the ministry of death”.
What I like:
I think (and hope) that the book is trying to say two biblical things about the Law.
Firstly, it may be warning us that the Ten Commandments can be used or preached in a condemning way that destroys the soul of people and makes them cringe in fear or turn away from God as a harsh Master. This is a good biblical warning.
Secondly, the book’s description of the Law as a ministry of death rather than life correctly describes and reinforces the biblical view that obedience to the Law cannot lead us to receive salvation. It is correct and very good of Prince to speak against those who are “trying to use the Ten Commandments to remove their sins” (p.124). We are saved by grace, not by obedience to the Ten Commandments or the Law. If these two points represent what Prince teaches on the Law in the Bible, then this is good and biblical.
What I had reservations about:
That the Law can be preached and understood in such a way as to promote soul-destroying guilt and deeper condemnation is certainly true. Prince is to be commended for eloquently highlighting this biblical warning about the danger of the Law, and stressing the wonderful grace of God that forgives us all through Christ. But while there are many who need this message of God’s grace-filled forgiveness to save them from their guilt and despair over sin, there are many others who need the message of God’s grace-filled discipline and rebuke to save them from presumption and indifference to sin. Prince’s emphasis on free and full forgiveness is very good at helping the former, but not so good for the latter. Does Prince believe that guilt is the only problem people have because of sin? If so, that would present an incomplete picture. Sin does not only imprison us in guilt; it also lulls us into indifference and presumption. The Bible addresses both these effects of sin. The book appears to suggest that there is no way of preaching the Law in a graceful manner in order to set us free from our sinful indifference and presumption.
Similarly, Prince is correct to stress that the Law cannot save or justify, but his writings give the impression that the Law has no other positive function except to prove that we cannot be saved by it. But the Law in the Bible is also presented as a positive expression of God’s grace in telling us what God desires. But because Prince contrasts Law and Grace in this manner, he gives the impression of implying that the Law has only the negative value of telling people that they cannot be saved by their attempts at obedience to the Law. The Law certainly does perform that valuable function, but it does much more as well. It helps us know what is good in God’s eyes. The book is weak on emphasising the ongoing value of the Law for both Christians and unbelievers.
To be fair to this book, there are certain parts of the Bible that also speak in similarly strong negative tones against the Law (e.g. most of Galatians and parts of the books of Romans and Hebrews). But this negative view is balanced out in other parts of the Bible that are very positive about the Law (e.g. Jesus in Matt 5:19-20; James 1:25; Psalm 119 etc.). In other words, the Law as a means of salvation is spoken of very negatively in the Bible, but the Law as a means of showing us God’s pleasure or desire for our lives is spoken of very positively. The book seems to emphasise only the negative picture of the Law. Doing so would fail to do justice to the biblical balance which speaks also of the ongoing positive value of the Law for Christians. Paul, himself, could sum up the Law very positively as teaching us to love one another (Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8,10).
3. Prince’s teaching on Healing
Healing is a big topic in the Bible, and it is not the main theme of Prince’s book.
But from the little he says in his final full chapter “Good Things Happen” (pp. 287ff), Prince relates testimonies of people who were healed when they received the grace and forgiveness of God. He also states that “once you know that you have been forgiven of all your sins, past, present and future, the healing of all our diseases follows” (p.290).
What I like:
I think Prince is correct to say that the Bible speaks of a God who heals our diseases, and this is a true expression of the forgiveness and grace of God. Physical healing is taught and prayed for and experienced in the Bible.
What I had reservations about:
Whilst the book speaks of Bible passages where physical healing is expected and takes place, it says nothing about the passages that accept (without surprise or anguish) that miraculous physical healing did not take place e.g. 2 Tim 4:20; Philippians 2:25-27; 1 Tim 5:23; Gal 4:13-14. Incidentally, Galatians 4:13-14 tells us explicitly that Paul did have a bodily sickness which resulted in the greater good of the Gospel being preached contra Prince’s statement that “Paul did not suffer any sickness or disease” (p. 71). The problem is not so much with what Prince affirms viz. that healing is a blessing from a God who is full of grace; the problem is with what he omits to affirm viz. that physical illness without healing on earth can also fall within the gracious providence of God. The Bible teaches us both to pray for physical healing and to be prepared to endure illness with patient endurance. The victorious Christian life is one that remains faithful to God in both times of abundance and poverty, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer (cf. Philippians 4:12-13). I do not know the ministry of Prince well enough to be sure of what he really thinks about healing on earth. Perhaps if you listen long enough to his sermons, you may be able to make a fairer assessment. Does he preach to help Christians cope with the onslaught of poverty and illness, or does he speak only of removing sickness and suffering by effortless faith? We need both messages, because that is the balance we find in Scripture.
In general, most preachers are prone to partial teaching. We all tend to favour one side of the balance more than the other as a result of our personal experience of God’s dealings with us. The danger comes when we imply that the side we prefer is the only true side of biblical truth!
May God grant us wisdom and discernment as we seek to live in ways that befit those who have been saved by such a wonderful grace as that which our Lord Jesus has lavished on us.
Postscript: There are several places where I do not agree with Prince’s interpretation of the Bible verses (e.g. pp. 124f on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; p.263-65 on the cold, hot and lukewarm Laodiceans in Rev 3:15-16), but these are disagreements over the interpretation of specific phrases that can commonly be found amongst devout Bible teachers. My comments above focus on some major issues that discerning Christians should reflect on more carefully."
Gospel of the 5th Sparrow
I was told of an illustration which blessed my heart greatly.
There was a boy who came to church and asked to be baptised.
The pastor interviewed him about the conversion story to make sure that the boy knew what he was about to do.
“I am the 5th sparrow!” said the boy.
“What?” exclaimed the pastor. He was puzzled by the boy’s answer as it was not a usual answer.
“Jesus assured me that I would not be forgotten even though I maybe poor and without a home” explained the boy.
He went on and described his daily job, “I catch and sell sparrows in the street. 2 sparrows for a penny and 5 for 2pennies.”
“I will give the weakest and smallest sparrow as the free sparrow” explained the boy.
“So how do you know about God and His love for you?” the pastor interrupted.
The boy explained his learning from the previous sermon he heard.
“You mentioned that in God’s word, He knew about the sparrows and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from His will.”
“And even for the 5th sparrow, it will not be forgotten by God.”
Matthew 10:29 (New International Version)
29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Luke 12:6 (New International Version)
6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
“I am surprised that He knows about my trade and He values even the discarded free 5th sparrow.”
“I want to follow Him” affirmed the boy.
With tears in his eyes, the pastor placed his hand on the head of the boy and said, “Yes, He know all of us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Even if we are the 5th sparrow.”
Amen.
There was a boy who came to church and asked to be baptised.
The pastor interviewed him about the conversion story to make sure that the boy knew what he was about to do.
“I am the 5th sparrow!” said the boy.
“What?” exclaimed the pastor. He was puzzled by the boy’s answer as it was not a usual answer.
“Jesus assured me that I would not be forgotten even though I maybe poor and without a home” explained the boy.
He went on and described his daily job, “I catch and sell sparrows in the street. 2 sparrows for a penny and 5 for 2pennies.”
“I will give the weakest and smallest sparrow as the free sparrow” explained the boy.
“So how do you know about God and His love for you?” the pastor interrupted.
The boy explained his learning from the previous sermon he heard.
“You mentioned that in God’s word, He knew about the sparrows and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from His will.”
“And even for the 5th sparrow, it will not be forgotten by God.”
Matthew 10:29 (New International Version)
29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Luke 12:6 (New International Version)
6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
“I am surprised that He knows about my trade and He values even the discarded free 5th sparrow.”
“I want to follow Him” affirmed the boy.
With tears in his eyes, the pastor placed his hand on the head of the boy and said, “Yes, He know all of us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Even if we are the 5th sparrow.”
Amen.
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