2012 & 2013: A Review (Part 2 - first half of 2013)

(Part 1: 2012)

OKAY 2013!!!!

Jan: Experience Yale-NUS Weekend, this time as a facilitator thingy, since I was interning at the Admissions office. (blog post) I think Dec and Jan were my two months of six meet-new-people events, and I was really jaded. But EYW was fantastic, meeting all those amazing people! And Julia and Tutku!

I also started giving weekly 'O' Level English supplementary lessons at my church's private school, City College, under the tuition ministry. (For no pay, of course.) I loved the experience and meeting all the people that I did. They're all lovely people and unfortunately I can't teach for the first half of 2014 but I hope I'll be there for the second half!

Feb: Crashed ACJC Orientation with Sumay! (blog post) Was fun, but one of the girls said "You don't look 16...you look 20" and I was like AH DAMMIT. Watching Ruo Wei go from being a clueless OG kid to an OGL himself was just really nice :3 About the picture below: I was Jess Chen's OGL, and then when she was Ruo Wei's OGL I crashed her OG, and then when Ruo Wei became an OGL we both crashed his OG. Three generations of leader-crashers!
OMG RUOWEI IS GETTING HIS A LEVEL RESULTS SOON THIS IS GETTING SERIOUS GUYS HE'S GROWING UP i mean i still remember so clearly the time i was pretending to be a DSA kid and he was taking in all my crappy lies and he was like "Maybe we'll be classmates!!!"

Mmm, Chinese New Year was also fun. I remember my poor brother trying really hard to help Sumay and I take pictures and we were so demanding and my brother was like "aiyah no one even looks at you anyway!"

Also stopped interning at the Admissions office to give myself a short break before SOT. 

Valentine's Day was fun - I tried baking orange chocolate cookies on sticks and bought flowers for the interns at the office and made cards yay! And then we went to Ikea with Aly. (blog post)

March - July: School of Theology!!! It was supposed to be till September but I had to stop for Yale-NUS. But I'll probably be resuming the course this year. Definitely an amazing experience, from praise and worship every morning to trying out various ministries (e.g. Children's Church) to learning so much more about the Word and just, just being in that atmosphere of love. I wasn't very close to my SOT team, but there's such a pure easy atmosphere of acceptance and love, of no judgement, of embraces and just love. LOVE! Mock Cell Group and Preaching Test sessions were also really fun, listening to everyone's own personal revelations. 

I'm really glad Andrew was my batchmate, too; someone to chill out with during breaks and talk to and everything. I like to think I was sort of his backstage girl, too, like I am with Kevin now (link). 

Each smiling face has so much within - it was amazing hearing all the stories each individual had to offer. Everyone's own personal struggle, gangs and drugs and griefs and family situations; how they came to God, how God turns things beautifully around; parents still against their kids being a Christian (very few of us are from Christian families); hard times with God and hard times without.

June: an insane month with camps / overseas trips every single weekend!

1) Went to KL with Sam and Andrew!!! We went church-hopping and it was simply wonderful. 

2) Pre-camp for game masters and team leaders in preparation for our church zone camp, which didn't happen that month because of the haze.

3) Also went on my first mission trip to Jakarta for SOT, where we preached for cell group / leaders' meetings and stuff, and did door-to-door prayer visitations (this was INSANE, and draining, but a fantastic experience).

(blog post about points 1-3)

4) FACILITATOR'S CAMP IN PREPARATION OF YALE-NUS ORIENTATION!!!!!

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR...THE SECOND HALF!!!

YALE-NUS FINALLY BEGINS

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

...i think the awesomeness of yale-nus demands a separate post so i shall end here

What's right might not be right

Had a short lesson on erroneous faith teachings, and here are a few good points: (will keep it short)

1. Even if it seems like a good thing, if it isn't in the will of God, it shouldn't be done.

Do you realise that out of all the sick people by the pool of Bethesda, Jesus only healed one man? That He didn't heal the lame man at the gate of the temple? Jesus went according to what the Father moved Him to do. When God remained silent, Jesus didn't presume that the time was perfect for the work.

In 2 Kings 20, when God told the godly king Hezekiah, who was sick and dying, that his time on Earth was almost up, he didn't want to die so he prayed to God in tears that he would live longer. God did hear his prayer and decided to grant him fifteen more years, but they were bad years, years of mistakes that only made him a more sinful man.

Always remember that we act in faith in response to God's own INITIATIVE. Something that seems logically good might not be in the will of God. Not everything in the Bible given to individuals is also specifically for you and me.

Exodus 33:15 If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

(Also, a point to note: Good, godly men who are honoured by God can also get sick to the point of death. God heals, but He's also sovereign over what happens to our lives. Timothy was sick (1 Tim 5:23). Paul was sick (Gal 4:13). Even Elisha died of sickness (2 Kings 13:14). I once heard a pastor (of a certain church that I really respected and loved) talk about how this guy had fallen ill with cancer, and how if he had been a Christian, he might not have gotten it. I was like WOAH. Christians do fall sick too, and more often than not, it has nothing to do with lack of faith or deviance from God.)

2. Just because God can do it for you, it doesn't mean He will.
He is still sovereign. He has the ability to make 'all grace' abound towards us, but maybe He has something better in store for the development of our character. So? Does it mean we stop trusting in Him? Do we have faith in the healing, or in the God who heals?

The last one is something I've always believed, and I'm so glad he brought it up:

3. If anyone is fully, entirely certain about his theology, he's probably wrong.
One simple reason. How can a limited, finite man fully comprehend an unlimited, infinite God?

With a lot of things regarding theology, people are extremely aggressive or defensive regarding what they believe. Every theology or concept - all human ways of understanding God - is made up of a zillion major and minor parts. Maybe we're all partly right. Maybe we're all totally wrong. Just because a few minor points are errant (to someone else), it doesn't make the entire concept invalid.

I believe in both evolution and intelligent design. If each were a circle in a Venn diagram, I believe they  are more overlapped than separate. I'm not going to bother explaining it now, but in Genesis, God created the sea creatures, then birds, then land animals, then man - why can't he have formed them all from a single process? Are we limiting His ability? Are we trying to comprehend His own reasoning, and then dismissing the idea when we can't seem to read His mind?

I'm probably wrong. It's okay. I'm open to people's viewpoints, and each person's opinion opens up a whole range of new possibilities. We don't know. It's okay. We have to come to a point where we acknowledge, and are comfortable with, the fact that we don't know it all.

Take me higher; draw me deeper

- edit: I'm usually not very comfortable with blogging about my personal encounters with God, but I just felt like I should document this - it might help someone, someone like the younger me, and I want to talk about this truthfully, to share it with my Christian friends, just a genuine, open sharing. I might take it down later on if I feel it's too personal to post. God is my own private hiding place, and I'm not so sure about sharing this with everyone. Makes me wish I had a more private blog sometimes. - 


Standing at my seat, hands lifted. My legs are already feeling it, and my mind gets the better of me as usual, imagining a forceful blow to the back of my knees that would send me into a kneeling position, or pain. I discipline my mind. Lord, I know you're a good God, and you won't hurt me, I reason. Be gentle. Be gentle like you are. And I receive the image: He lifts me up, right arm lifting me from the back of my knees, His left arm supporting my back. And I am cradled like a daughter against His chest.

I look at the screen and see people I know and love. It always touches me deeply, sometimes to tears, to see people I'm close to worshipping God and loving Him. Look at this God, not just my God but the God of those I love. And He knows us each intimately, privately, and we all worship Him in the private spaces of our own heart, in a realm only known by Him and each of us individually. Thank you, God, that each of us knows You personally.

Standing in the aisles, a double anointing waiting. God, take away my fear. I tend to have this weird apprehension every time I walk to the front to be laid hands upon, and it results in me not being able to receive much. Lord, look at these anointed people. Let me encounter You today. Let this be my best encounter. Don't draw back. I stare at the edge of the stage, willing my fear away. I don't want this experience to be taken away from me this time. I close my eyes. Feel that strong something in the air. It's not the strong something of His atmosphere that I'm familiar with - the fire - and this seems foreign, but there's something strong there. Soak it in.

Her hand over my wrist, such a woman of love. His hand on my head - was it there? It must have been - but barely, before I seem to trip backward over my own stationary feet and fall. Someone catches me from behind and lets me down slowly, and I curl up on my side and the tears come forcefully, suddenly, inexplicably.

Hello, Jesus.

Usually, I just happen to fall forward on my knees, or kind of trip backward a bit but regain myself before I fall. This is the first time I have fully fallen in the presence and power of the Spirit. But it's only physical. I don't feel it in my spirit, I don't feel the bursting of my soul, the sudden burst of worship, like the most impactful of encounters do.

Lord, an encounter that's only physical isn't as powerful; it doesn't grip my spirit or my heart. But I trust that You're working something within me. Let its effects last longer than the moment. Anoint me. Let others feel You through me, whether it's in my words, my prayer or my love. In the future, I will pray, and Your presence will fill the room, tangible. Let the others know what it means to be in Your Spirit.

And I realise my best encounters were not at church or at a large zone gathering, where a powerful pastor laid hands upon us. My best encounters were always at cell group meetings. Cell meetings - where our leader isn't a powerful pastor or renowned miracle worker - but God is the same and He works through them all. It doesn't matter who imparts the Spirit; He works through every broken vessel, and no one's works mean anything without Him.


I also happen to remember the two times I got pins and needles so bad while worshipping that it even got to my mouth, my forearms, etc. The first time was during the Exco Retreat at Telunas, while I was leading praise and worship at night. It was just a small thing, with Alex on the guitar, but I started to get these insane pins and needles. When they got to my mouth I couldn't open my mouth to sing properly. I probably looked like a fish. The second time was when the congregation was standing and praying. I got pins and needles so bad it spread to my upper arm. I had no idea why. I wonder if it means anything. I mean, who gets pins and needles on their lips while singing?!

This is all I know

“Simon, son of John, do you love [agape: unconditional love] me more than these?” 
 “Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileo: brotherly love] you.” 

 “Simon, son of John, do you love [agape] me?” 
 He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileo] you.” 

 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love [phileo] me?” 

Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love [phileo] me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love [phileo] you.” 

 John 21:15-17 (extracts)

-

Like Peter, I can't say I love You unconditionally. I'm not sure if I really know what it means to love You. Respecting and obeying and trusting and worshipping I can do, because they're actions, but love - especially a love that's unconditional - means so much more. I find myself bursting into thoughts that scream 'I love You, I love You' occasionally, but that's only when I know the Holy Spirit is filling me and speaking on my behalf.

I can't really understand Your love either. I just don't get it. I know it in my head, but it's just hard to understand. Your mercy, Your good plans for us, sure, but love... love is so different. I remember the times I saw your arms wrap round my head as You brought me close to You, though. I remember the soft, the calm image. Was that Your tenderness? Was that Your love? I don't understand, I don't know in my heart - ginosko - I don't understand what they always call the Father's unconditional love. You're a just God, you hate lukewarmness, and yet You're a loving Father. I really want to know it in my heart; help me understand.

And I know I've got so much to work on every single day. I'm still young in the faith. I've learnt a lot, but it's nothing, only the very tiniest tip of the iceberg You have in store for every disciple, a treasure trove of information for the head and heart, knowledge of You and Your workings and Your love. It's a bit like where I am in life now - I'm twenty, I've learnt so incredibly much from life, yet it's nothing; I'm still a sheltered daughter and college-student-to-be, still in the wading pool. I'm still such a young believer. Doubts come so easily. I waver a lot. Unstable. I've got so much to work on. I'm so undisciplined.

But today I remember how much I just wish that other people would feel what I've felt. Experience what I've experienced. You've given me a lot of amazing experiences and revelations and encounters and I feel so blessed, yet I can't stand knowing that I belong to a great minority. It's something fantastic that You've just really got to give to other people. It's like education. Something so fantastic and beneficial and that everyone needs to have. People need to know You. Look at this world, a heap of ashes of confusion and pride and ignorance and of running into walls. They need to experience You. They need to know Your presence and spirit.

It's just, it's something so amazing that You've given to so few. Don't hold it back anymore. Let everyone else experience the amazing things You've let me experience. And my experiences are nothing when I look at that of my leaders, my friends, testimonies I've heard. Let everyone know what Your encounters are. Show them what You've shown me.

You need to. You need to let everyone encounter You. And if You want to use me as a means by which You'll reveal Yourself and Your presence, so be it. I'm willing to be used if that's what You want to do. It's a lot of sacrifice. It's a lot. But if it's what will make Your presence known to people, so be it. Just do whatever it takes to let people experience Your Spirit and power, too. For them to know without a doubt in their hearts - ginosko - that You are Lord, and You are close.

Don't let me go. I'm scared of losing You. I know what spiritual dryness feels like and I'm so afraid of feeling dry. I really want to be able to be Your vessel as You reveal Your spirit to others. I want my friends to experience You. I want my friends to go into a deeper relationship with You. As I pray for them, anoint my hands and words. Have Your power flow through me if that's what You want to do. Do it, so that I will be touched by You too. Help me discipline myself. Help me get into a deeper relationship with You. Help me in my walk with You. Reveal Yourself to me every day. Your revelations, Your convictions, that inexplicable stirring of joy beyond words in my heart, don't keep those from me.

I'm only such a young, immature believer. Walk with me. Anoint me. Give me Your power, so that I can help others experience Your presence. I want others to feel what I've felt. Don't hold back any longer, Jesus. Let this be the day of Your power.



'And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?'
Esther 4:14

Why can't God just do His Old Testament Miracles now?

It's a great question, and something we must all have wondered at one point or another in our lives. I was talking to my junior, Tricia, an amazing love-filled sister in Christ, and she posed me that question. Why doesn't God part the Red Sea or do the whole throw-down-your-staff-and-it'll-become-a-serpent thing anymore? Why is the Old Testament full of these crazy miracles that we find hard to fathom now? If God is the God of yesterday, today and forever, why has the magnitude of His miracles changed?

I used to think it was because in this day and age, the amount of faith we have proportional to our doubt when it comes to this kind of things is.......not exactly in our favour, or God's. Like, when Jesus went back to his hometown, he couldn't perform many miracles there simply because of their unbelief - our faith determines how much God is able to give us. But as I was talking to Tricia I realised something else.

In the Old Testament, God Himself was shown to personally interact and be with the people, like, directly connecting with them here on Earth. But when Jesus came, God didn't have that kind of direct contact with us anymore. It was the time of Jesus! There was only one instance where God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit appeared all together: when Jesus was water-baptised. And then, before Jesus ascended into Heaven, he said "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). In Acts 1:4-8, it's "He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father...'you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'...'you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you'. 

Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit couldn't come to baptise all believers until He died in John 16:7-15: "...if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you... when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth...". In John 14:26, it says "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name".

So in the Old Testament, it was the age of God's direct contact with men here on Earth. While Jesus was alive, it was the age of Jesus here on Earth. And now, we are in the age of the Holy Spirit. Each time is different and has their own pros and cons.

When Jesus was here, he didn't part the red sea or turn a staff into a snake, but He did multiply food, turn water into wine, and healed a gazillion people. And then He gave His disciples the authority to cast out demons and heal the sick.

Now, in the era of the Holy Spirit, we also don't part the red sea or do crazy things, and we haven't seen insane food multiplication. Oh well. But we have more than that! In those days, you had to be super darn blessed to have seen, heard or had contact with God or Jesus directly. It seems like a lot of people did, but that's only because we're reading about the lives of those special people in the Bible. The other 99.99999% of the people on Earth never had that privilege of direct contact with God / Jesus.

With the Holy Spirit, all believers, from all the countries in the world, are able to experience God. I mean, here in Singapore, if it was still the time of Jesus, I'd never get to witness and experience those healing miracles and deliverances and slaying and everything. But because the Holy Spirit isn't limited by geography and is poured out freely for all who thirst and willingly receive, we have dramatic healings taking place among our church and our own friends; all disciples have the authority to heal the sick and cast out demons; we are all able to experience God moving mightily within ourselves. 

To me, the God-given encounters are essential to my faith. I mean, if we only read about God in the Bible and believe without having had any real inner encounter with God, it could simply be a philosophy. Something people came up with to put the city in order. A 'paper gospel'; meaningless and dead. But because you feel the stirring of the Holy Spirit right inside you, because you know when His voice is there and you can speak in Tongues and experience wonderful things of God, you know He is alive. More than a doctrine, but a relationship that's so alive. And although I haven't seen the parting of a sea or the dramatic multiplication of loaves and fish, I'm thankful I'm leaving in the age of the Holy Spirit.

So, why couldn't the Holy Spirit be given to all until Jesus was ressurected?
John 7:39 "...for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

I don't think my church has spoken about this explicitly yet, but from what I gather, I've come to a conclusion that I find makes sense. The Holy Spirit is something holy, and a holy Spirit can't dwell inside a body that is unclean, tarnished by the stain of sin. After all, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit!

Before Jesus died on the cross, there wasn't a perfect sacrifice to redeem our imperfect selves. When Jesus died, His perfect blood was able to erase the condemnation of our bodies for our imperfection. After Jesus died and His righteous blood was offered to us, when people called on His name and believed that He was our Redeemer, the perfect blood was able to erase the penalty of our shortcomings, so that we could now put on Jesus's blood and be considered righteous, just like Jesus was.

And it's only when we're considered righteous and without blemish that we are pure enough for a Holy Spirit to be able to take residence in our human souls.

Colossians 1:21-22 "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight..."


I hope this makes sense! :)


Just to add on, in case you go one step further to wonder what I wondered (and if you didn't, you should, and I'm giving it to you here): if the Holy Spirit only came after Jesus was ressurected, does it mean that the prophecies and psalms and books written before the age of the Holy Spirit were not God-inspired, or prompted by the Holy Spirit?

That was the main question that kept me doubting everything I just posted, but thankfully, my church brought that up.

Before the death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit influenced certain selected individuals to accomplish God's purposes from time to time - it was only given to a very small handful, and wasn't a permanent indwelling; He came only as He was needed.

After Jesus was resurrected and His blood was able to make us pure, the Holy Spirit could be given to all believers as a personal, permanent indwelling.

:) Cheers! Can't wait to see how much I'll learn and gain in the next 27 weeks.

Questions

Okay, I wanted to post this long ago but just never got around to doing it. I've been busy with stuff and you can never rush out a blog post when you've got stuff to do! My blog posts usually take hours to complete. So here's to you, Ami and Hsieh Wen, here's a blog post at long last, even though I just bought that Macbook and haven't even started it up and I've got an English class worksheet to do up and tomorrow I've got that Resorts World interview and tuition class till 9.30 and I'm probably going to sleep at 3am or something tonight. And this is for Sam and Daryl too, because I told you guys I'd post the questions I had but just never got around to doing it!

Okay. For anyone who likes long posts, here we go...

So there's my whole big 1 Timothy 2 question about Paul's point about disallowing the women of that specific church from trying to usurp the authority of the men because they were being disruptive and stuff. I mean, I'm fine with that; I just don't really see the link between that particular command for that particular church, and the reasons he gave that pertain to women in general. Why should the fact that Eve sinned first affect my ability to be in a position of authority now, since Jesus has died and redeemed us all equally already? And why does it say that I will be saved through childbearing? What... what is that?

I raised the question to a few of the awesome pastors of the church before, and to my cell group leader and to dear Mr Fong, and they all gave opinions that were valuable and that I learnt from. They're great inputs, just that the explanations are a little too long to post here, and Daniel talked about the "For Adam was made first, not Eve" bit with me already, so I didn't include it here. And from the responses I received, I think it's pretty much agreed on that women in general are not limited to submissive roles, and that childbearing isn't a "condition" for salvation. But yeah, it's just a bit unsettling a paragraph, and it's hard to see the Bible as a hundred percent flawless and perfect with this and Paul's reasoning given. I'm very open to others' inputs and stuff, so do let me know if you have thought about this question yourself! Oh, and Mr Fong was supposed to show me the notes he had on this chapter that might answer my questions, but I keep forgetting to ask him about it.

Besides that, I've encountered a few questions in the past three weeks. Some have been answered, in which case I probably won't put them up here unless I feel they're really beneficial for others, but I'll post those that are unanswered as of yet here:

#1 
Easy one first. When Jesus healed the leper in Matthew 8, he said "See that you tell no one". When he healed the multitudes in Matthew 12, he "warned them not to make Him known" (12:16). In Matthew 16, when Peter said Jesus was the Messiah, "He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ". ...Why did he not want anyone to know? I mean, he was pretty public about healing and miracles and telling people that he was the Son of Man, right?
(This is probably an easy question; do let me know if you know why!)

#2
Second. We all know that the "wages of sin is death", and I thought about the reason for it before, and came to the conclusion that because God is life, and God is perfection and absolute holiness, a life that departs from God... departs from life, so anything that's not good, the opposite of God, is also the opposite of life, aka death. Okay, I spent hours thinking about it and writing it down so there's a lot more to it, and I was thinking about why blood had to be shed as the price for sin and stuff. If you'd like to know more about my reasoning and conclusions, let me know :) But here's my question.

Genesis 2:17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Of course, we all assume that that death is physical death; we've learnt that from Sunday school. But also, there are three types of death: the physical, the spiritual and the eternal.

I was just considering the diction used in Genesis 2 and 3. After the act of sin, God says in 3:22, "What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!" (NLT).
The NKJV says "And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
And here's another version, the MSG: "What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”

Now, this is after they sinned and death fell upon them, so maybe that's why the wording was as such. Perhaps they were initially designed to live physically forever, but because mortality fell upon them, God couldn't let them become immortal again.

But here's another way of looking at it. Perhaps Man was initially mortal, but the tree of knowledge and the tree of (physical eternal) life were both in the Garden of Eden as things that Man could possibly get, but would not get until Adam had eaten the respective fruits. Since He ate from the tree of knowledge, we all have knowledge of "good and evil". What if he didn't sin, but did not eat from the tree of life, either? Would we still have been mortal by default?

Here's another example of diction to back up my point, although also not concrete and strong:

Genesis 2:17 "Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it':
"Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.

With "for your sake" and "for you", it's easy to conclude that the reason Man has to toil for their livelihoods and suffer the wrath of the earth is that act of sin. But how about "Till you return to the ground"? That sounds like it's already a given, doesn't it? It's like, "Because you sinned, you shall toil for your food and livelihood until the day that you die." It sounds like it was already assumed that life on Earth wasn't meant to be eternal in the first place.

"For our of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return" just sounds like God's reasoning for mortality. And it's completely valid. Man, along with all other creatures, came from dust, and return to dust. It's the cycle of life, and that's what makes life sustainable. If we were meant to multiply, wouldn't there have to be some measure in place to ensure that our population remained sustainable? I mean, if humans were to live eternally, this place would be crowded, man!

So my question is: When God said "you shall surely die", did he just mean the spiritual and eternal death, but not the physical? Was human physical death already a given, just as how everything else on Earth lives and dies?

Phew! Long question, that.


#3.
Pretty much all of us say, and believe, that the Bible is infallible, perfect, the absolute authority, etc. I'm okay with infallible; it just means "without error". But I don't think I can agree that it's perfect. I talked about this with Xi Min, and he brought up a good point: it's written in a human language, something that's already imperfect, and unable to express fully the perfection of God.

In addition, maybe the Bible was more perfect in its original versions and when the books were written in Hebrew and Greek, but translations definitely result in the loss of meaning. Like the types of 'love' that are differentiated in Greek, but not in English (and that's why we add "agape", "eros", "philia" and "storge" as a modifier to "love" when we want to be more specific. Okay, usually just "agape"). And, especially, the two types of "gifts": dorea and charisma, which is so important when looking at the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and Tongues in particular (Ask me if you're interested!). My point being, because of translations, so much meaning has been lost or changed. And its 100% literal perfection just can't sustain itself because of so many translations it's been through. I mean, I even get different definitions by reading different English versions.

And then there are the books of the Bible and how they've changed over the years. I mean, for a very long time, Esther wasn't a book in the Bible, and Judith was in the Bible for a very long time, and other books were often considered a part of the Bible too, like Wisdom. Revelation was even considered "spurious" at one point in time! I attended a little workshop called the Canonisation of the Bible during NUS VCF's Annual Teach-In Camp (it was fantastic) and it made me wonder: What makes a book more authoritative than another book, if they're all divinely inspired? There were so many versions of the Bible throughout the years, with various books included and excluded; which was the "perfect" one? We all considered it perfect in our own times.

What is perfect? It's inerrant, sure, but "perfect" is a big word. I can definitely accept that the Bible is faultless and the final authority, but "perfect"... well, we can't use a human language, or even a human mind, to fathom God's perfection!

Okay, this is more like a stream of consciousness than an actual question.

I came across an article, too, that brought up a fantastic point: Confining ourselves to the literal will never bring us much. We have to stop obsessing over which version is "perfect" and "best to read" and "most accurate", because the Holy Spirit reveals what He wants us to see individually! It's the difference between the logos - the entire black-and-white literal words of the Bible - and the rhema, the spoken revelations by the Holy Spirit for a particular situation, where your eyes could be opened to an entirely different way of seeing the verse you've already known all your life.


#4
Mark 5:1-19 talks about "a man with an unclean spirit" (the Legion story). Luke 8:26-39 talks about the same guy, "a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time". These two versions say it's just one man, but Matthew 8:28 talks about the same situation, but with "two demon-possessed men". Has anyone else looked into this before?


Okay, this post is crazy long and I still haven't done my English worksheets. My last point is a question that I've thought about and found a conclusion to, but I still have more to learn about it. But I think it will help some people, so I'll blog it in the next post...