The Element of Surprise (Shocking?)

About a month ago, one of our scholars (a very good friend of mine), an expert in 'the Trinity debate and the Holy Spirit' shared about his mother who decided to trust her life in Jesus. This scholar could not believe with her mother's sudden and immediate decision. At first, he felt that her mother was not serious with her decision. The fact that he has been praying for years for her mother to repent does not remove the element of surprise (or 'shocking' to speak).

This woman is 74 years old now and have been going through two cancer operations and some treatments. She had been opposing Christianity in her entire life up to her repentance. She disagreed with her son's decision to serve as a pastor and a theology lecturer. This fellow scholar (note that he holds two PhDs!) compared her mother's repentant with 'sending mountain into the sea' - something possible only through the intervention of God.

This morning this fellow scholar shared again about her mother. She was baptized two weeks ago. In her personal testimony after the baptism, she shared about the tragedy of loosing her biological father during the second World War - but now she is so thankful to God for adopting her as his daughter. The once fatherless woman now has eternal, saving and loving Father. What a great speech from an old woman who is starting a new life! God restores the deepest need of her; God heals her wound exactly on its deepest spot. Her genuine testimony has deeply touched my heart.

Upon hearing this testimony, I was reminded that God's miracles are available to all kinds of people: men and women, young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, married and single. The Holy Spirit is still at work. The Spirit spoke to this old lady, and immediately (and surprisingly) she decided to trust her life in Christ.

Are we ready for the element(s) of shocking in our life in Christ? For those who are in Christ and fully dependent on his grace, surprises and miracles are not far and impossible. God listens to our prayers attentively. The time will come when we will personally experience God's greatness in our lives. We are limited, but our heavenly Father is unlimited.

God is Real

'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.' (1 Jn 1.1-4; NIV)

This morning this passage spoke to me as never before. Both John the Gospel and John the epistles have been accused by liberal scholars of presenting the unhistorical Jesus. My reading on the passage leads to a different direction. John wrote about someone he knew well. He (and people around him; 'we' is used here) has seen him, heard his teaching and touched him. The language of this passage is very vivid. Jesus, the Son of God was a real human in his appearance two thousand years ago. The focus of the humanness of Jesus points to his real presence with John and other believers. For John, Jesus was not simply an abstract spiritual ideology. The fellowship between the believers and Jesus was something that is perceivable by the human senses. John's motivation in sharing this encounter with Jesus is singled out in verse three. John invited people to join the real fellowship with Jesus and his Father.

Two sets of simple reflective questions came to me this morning: First, do we now as Christians still experience the real perceivable fellowship with Jesus? Is our faith in Jesus genuine or theoretical based on 'secondary resources'? The word 'faith' is not the same with the word 'experience.' Faith without genuine 'experience' however is abstract, meaningless, and fruitless. The next question would be whether our life experiences will still attract people to trust their lives in God? I am indeed afraid that many Christians are even no longer impressed with and interested in their own lives. The presence of Jesus is no longer felt in the lives of so many believers. If this is the case, how can we expect people to trust their lives in Jesus?

Second, how deep is our desire to share our encounter with Jesus with other people? Does sharing Jesus with others occupy prominent place in our lives? What is our highest or deepest life's motivation? The first epistle of John was written with a single motivation: it is to share Jesus, the divine Son of God whose presence is real historically and perceivable to human beings.

As I finished reading and reflecting the passage above, I said to God in my prayer, 'Amen! I thank you Lord, for being real in my life.' Imitating John, allow me to invite us all not only to know God theologically, but also to experience him genuinely and personally in our lives.

Red and White

The Flag of the Republic of Indonesia. Red represents bravery and courage. White represents purity and integrity. The two colours picture the way the country was struggling and fighting for the independence. Today, Indonesia celebrates her 61st year as an independent country. Let us pray for this country, so that the 'red-white spirit' continues to burn in the hearts of the Indonesian people in looking forward for a better peaceful future of the country.

Humble Scholars

About a month ago, two of OCMS (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies) students completed their Ph.D. Both of these students passed the examination brilliantly and received the highest mark possible from both the internal and external examiners. One of them is a university lecturer in Romania. The topic of his dissertation, to be honest, is not easy to be digested: 'The Qatal//Yiqtol (Yiqtol//Qatal) Verbal Sequence in Couplets in the Hebrew Psalter with Special Reference to Ugaritic Poetry: A Case Study in Systemic Functional Grammar.' I said to some friends that his doctoral dissertation uses some heavenly words - untouchable by ordinary people. Jokingly, I said that this is a work applicable for the world other than ours. The title alone shows how genious the writer is. His level of thought is somehow untouchable for the ordinaries. People praised him for his discipline and academic achievement. Months ago, he expressed his plan to complete his Ph.D before the end of July 2006 and he fulfilled what he desired. One of our professors said that he has been able to manage his study plan successfully more than any other students. My view on him is slightly different: I do not deny the fact the he is a genious and a discipline student, but I found him also as a humble person. In his speech before leaving Oxford, he said, 'Let alone the plan of human being, it is only by God's gracious grace that all things happen.' Setting a plan is good, but none can be completed without the grace of God. Even being a discipline and a hard-worker student are possible only by God's grace. This simple statement has touched me deeply, especially since it came out from someone whose dissertation is full with complexity and untouchable words. The other person who completed the Ph.D is a Kenyan woman. In her speech, she thanked for her long-suffering family (husband and children) back in Kenya. Can you imagine to live without your husband and children for the sake of your research - not weeks or months, but years. It is not easy either for her family in Kenya: a lot of tears! She said, 'Women can feel that completing a dissertation is like a five years labor.' She also is a humble person. Quoting from her conversation with one of our fellows, she said, 'My Ph.D is simply God's will; If God never will, the Ph.D can never be completed.' Her 5 years labor did not serve her human ambition of pursuing doctoral degree, but as her submissive act to the will of God. Her hard work is an obvious sign of her obedience to the will of God. So what do you think? Both fellows showed that the combination of God's grace and our obedience to the will of God is the key to the blessing of the 'promise land.' I am so proud and thankful for being in this community of humble scholars. Despite of the individualistic research culture (you know and are interested only in what you are doing), God's role is affirmed. Viva to brother Silviu Tatu of Romania and sister Emily Onyango of Kenya.

Where can we start to search for the truth?

One of the world's giant philosophers is Plato. He made a sharp distincion between what is real and what is unreal; the physical and the spiritual; the seen and the unseen; the future and the present; the idea and the reality Plato developed a very rigid dualistic view on reality. For Plato, the search for truth can be found only in the unseen spiritual transendent future reality. The picture shows Plato pointing his finger to the heaven (known as Platonic heaven) as the real venue of eternal and absolute truth. Eternal truth is understood as idea or knowledge (known as the Forms). What is seen and physically perceivable is not real. What is seen is only a shadow (or explanation) of what is unseen (the reality, the eternal and absolute truth). Aristotle found himself comfortable with a view contradict to his teacher. In the picture, Aristotle faces his arm to the earth, a symbolic of pointing to a place where the search for truth should begin. Aristotle stressed the materialistic and the presentness nature of truth and reality. Truth is something that we can see, touch, feel, smell and perceive - now and here in our earthly life. Though the above explanation is far from comprehensive, one will soon recognize that Plato tended to be more deductive, while Aristotle tended to be more inductive in searching for the eternal reality and truth. What do you think about Christian theology and life? Where should we start our search for truth and where can we find the real reality and the real truth?

The Prasadjas

I begin the history of this blog by posting my family picture taken in early June 2006 in London.

I wish and pray that the blog will be useful and fruitful to its readers: Strenghtening faith, nurturing love and keeping hope alive.