Bumiputra Christians And The Use Of "Allah"

The Christian community in Malaysia by and large is aware that there are two legal suits pending in the High Courts to determine whether we have the right to use the word "Allah". 9 July 2008 is a very important date. The latest development now witnesses Sikh's participation in the fray. Four State Islamic Councils have already applied to be the respondents in this case. They are Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIAMP), Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (MAIWP), Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Terengganu (Maidam) and Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang (MAIPP). Its outcome has far reaching implications over the missio praxis particularly among the Malay-speaking congregations who mostly are bumiputera of Sabah, Sarawak and Orang Asli of Semananjung Malaysia. In this context, our church leaders (ordained, lay and including politicians) are in the forefront to battle it out for us so to speak in the court of law. They are exercising their roles and responsibilities as church leaders. We thank God for them and we are grateful to them for doing what they are doing. Frankly speaking, making the final judgment is not going to be easy for the judges who will preside over the two cases.

As I searched the internet on the universal usage of the word "Allah" with particular reference to its currency in the Malaysian contexts, I came across Micah Mandate. I salute Mr Goh for interviewing Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in Putrajaya on major issues, among other things, religious freedom - the use of "Allah" by the Christian community in particular. I do not know Tan Sri very well but I do know one or two politicians who are close to him and through them I know he is a man of principle. Therefore, I BELIEVE in his words. Another contributor in the same site described the turn of events leading to the two court cases (I mentioned earlier) on the word "Allah": one was filed by the Roman Catholic Church (RC) and the other suit was filed by Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB).

The use of "Allah" in our Alkitab, kebaktian kudus, khotbah, latihan perlengkapan, perbualan, etc is long established. It may not be used every second of our daily lives but it is certainly used right through the rites of passages from the day one is baptized as an infant to the day of his or her funeral. It is used in Sunday or weekday services in churches as well as in our homes, in our daily prayers, teachings or cell group meetings. We continue to praise God in heaven and I believe God would accept our praises and worship containing the word "Allah" if we were to use it to address and worship him (see Rev 7:9-12). In short, it is impossible to cease the use of Allah from our communal and religious life.

We have used this word even before Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963. In fact the Malaysia Bible Society authority would affirm that the word "Allah" has been used in the Malay translation of Mathew's Gospel in 1612 some 350 years before the idea of Malaysia was ever conceived. When Malaysia was formed and proclaimed Bahasa Melayu (now Bahasa Malaysia) became the national language and Islam the official religion. Other religions were freed to exist, express and propagate their faiths. For us, the freedom enshrined in the Constitution also included the free use of words, phrases, terms and terminologies including the word "Allah". I do not think that from that day onward Christians were no longer allowed to use "Allah" in their community? I am interested to find a specific clause in our Federal Constitution spelling out that beginning 1963 Christians no longer can use "Allah" because it would confuse the Muslims and only Muslims can use the word. What has happened I suggest is rather an afterthought pronouncement so to speak, and if so, what other proactive approach could be taken to rectify it? For example, it is far effective to educate Malaysians regarding the use of Allah than legislate its use.

The word has become part of our story telling very early in our struggle towards nation building If we were to delete this most central and fundamental word from our vocabs; we would create huge vacuum in our Christian education programs. It impedes our understanding and teaching of who our God Almighty is. Our prayer language is devoid of the most fundamental truths and understanding of our God who became man, died and rose again and to whom we now make petitions. Charting this path of removing the word in our story telling may seem to others an effortless task - just a delete and forget processes. Or, just use another word - Tuhan. But we cannot underestimate the power of words. Nor can we easily brush aside history and the attachment associated with the word. This Allah word, when rightly taught and correctly understood evokes feelings of intimacy, love, fear, respect, honour and worship of God. It is intrinsic to our ecclesiastical, religious, linguistic and spiritual landscape. We are proud to use a foreign word that has become our national language and ecclesiastically proper when used to address and worship our God. Now we might face the possibility to forget it? The concern that we will lose this privilege to use the word "Allah" is real.

We must also allay the fear among Muslims that we might use the word to confuse or win them over. It is a legitimate concern, especially in the context of Malaysia. I sincerely believe the Christian community will not resort to this scheme. We know we cannot evangelise Muslims and that we can be prosecuted when doing so. What is the difference between our Allah and their Allah? I have sisters and many relatives who are married to Muslims by choice and converted to Islam. If they ask me to explain my "Allah" I will reply that my "Allah" is he who is righteous, loving, compassionate and forgiving. He hates sin but loves the sinner. No one has ever seen Allah because he is spirit but he became human and lived among humans. He died for everybod and rose to heaven. Whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That is my "Allah". Period.

In Malaysia's multi-religious framework it is well and good to settle things amicably in the spirit of musyawarah. Musyawarah is considered a vital tool in problem-solving. However, going by the present situation we might as well allow the court to help settle this case once and for all. Let us pray that the judgment favours us. If the judgment does not favour us this scenario will take place; we cannot use the word "Allah" anymore in our daily conversation, religious or community activities. The reason is because we might "confuse" the followers of the official religion of this country. As a pastor-teacher-preacher and theologian in the local church I naturally follow this event with interest and anticipation because it has far reaching implications in the way we treat our literature, liturgy, songs, ministry and mission enterprises, etc. What will be our next option (I am not answering this question in this article, yet)?

By the way, in the context of the universal declaration of human rights, does one has the right to require an adherent of another religion not to use a specific word because that specific word belongs only to his religion? The two judges shoulder a heavy responsibility in interpreting the law when they preside over the two pending and separate court cases over a common issue - the right to use the word "Allah" We trust in God and pray that the court will deliver a favourable judgment to us.

(By LIDIS SINGKUNG/ MySinchew)
-----------------------------------------------
Lidis Singkung is an Anglican clergyman and also a Kadazandusun. Presently
he serves in St Patrick's Anglican Church in Tawau). Used by permission of
www.themicahmandate.org.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Religious Husband

A HUSBAND COMES HOME FROM CHURCH; HE GREETS HIS WIFE AND LIFTS HER UP. HE THEN CARRIED HER AROUND THE HOUSE.

THE WIFE WAS SO SURPRISED AND SHE ASKED 'DID THE BISHOP PREACH ABOUT BEING ROMANTIC'?

THE HUSBAND SAID, 'NO, HE SAID WE MUST CARRY OUR BURDENS AND SORROWS'.

National Day of Prayer

The first Thursday in May is National Day of Prayer. President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law on April 17, 1952.

My church was open all day today for anyone who wanted to come in and pray.

The National Day of Prayer also coincided with my weekly Bible Study with a group of church ladies. After our regular study we spent about 10 minutes praying together over the prayer items listed in the National Day of Prayer leaflet.

*****

2008 Prayer for Our Nation

Dr. Ravi Zacharias
2008 Honorary Chairman, National Day of Prayer Task Force



Holy Father, in a world where so many are hungry,
You have given us food in abundance;

In a world where so many are hurting,
You offer to bind up our wounds;

In a world where so many are lonely,
You offer friendship to every heart;

In a world longing for peace,
You offer hope.

Yet, we are so stubborn and resistant.
Have mercy upon us, Lord.

Our nation is at a crossroads this year;
we look to you to be our strength and shield.

Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you
and to respond to the wisdom from above
so that our hope may be renewed and our blessings be treasured.

In God's holy name.

Christianity without Christ

That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today – Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country.

But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words “Jesus Christ” will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with “Glorious hope.”

Thus, it will be hope that is declared to be resurrected – an expression of renewal of optimism and the human spirit – but not Jesus, contrary to Christianity's central tenet about the return to life on Easter morning of the crucified divine son of God.

Generally speaking, no divine anybody makes an appearance in West Hill's Sunday service liturgy.

There is no authoritative Big-Godism, as Rev. Gretta Vosper, West Hill's minister for the past 10 years, puts it. No petitionary prayers (“Dear God, step into the world and do good things about global warming and the poor”). No miracles-performing magic Jesus given birth by a virgin and coming back to life. No references to salvation, Christianity's teaching of the final victory over death through belief in Jesus's death as an atonement for sin and the omnipotent love of God. For that matter, no omnipotent God, or god.

Ms. Vosper has written a book, published this week – With or Without God: Why the Way We Live is More Important than What We Believe – in which she argues that the Christian church, in the form in which it exists today, has outlived its viability and either it sheds its no-longer credible myths, doctrines and dogmas, or it's toast.

She is considered one of the bright, if unconventional, minds within the United Church, Canada's largest Protestant Christian denomination. She holds a master of divinity degree from Queen's University and was ordained in 1992. She founded and chairs the Toronto-based Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity.

Full story here.

Ms Vosper should stop deceiving herself and her followers and just call themselves atheists or anything they like. Anything but Christians.

They do not believe in Jesus Christ or God. So what is the point of calling themselves Christians? Progressive or otherwise?

Resurrection? Prove it to me

"Raised from the dead? Sure. Right. And I have a bridge I'd like to sell you."

That's how Thomas might have responded if he had lived in our day. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."¹ He'd seen dead people before. And Jesus was dead. He sounds like sophisticated rationalists of the Twenty-first Century. "It isn't plausible," they would contend. "It didn't happen."

But what if it did happen?

Thomas was convinced when Jesus appeared to him, reached out his hands to Thomas, and said, "Put your finger here."

Thomas dropped to his knees. "My Lord and my God!"²

It was self-hypnosis, you counter. The disciples wanted to believe that their Lord was not dead, so they just invented it out of whole cloth.

Really? Let's look at some of the evidence.

1. Jesus' body was missing. If the Jews could have found it, they could have stilled the preaching of Jesus' resurrection that filled Jerusalem. But they could not.
2. The body wasn't stolen. The Romans had no motive. The Jews had no motive. Ah-ha, you say, the disciples stole it. There is the matter of the Roman guards, and the disciples' initial disbelief when the women brought them the news early that Easter morning. This brings me to my third point.
3. If the disciples had stolen the body, you wouldn't expect them to risk their lives. People don't die for what they know is not true. But the disciples put their lives on the line, and nearly all were eventually martyred for their faith. They certainly believed it.
4. The church mushroomed size in Jerusalem, the very place he was crucified. Followers of Jesus in the city of Jerusalem grew from a few dozen to thousands upon thousands soon after Jesus' resurrection. They believed it was true.
5. Contemporary documents refer to the event. Thallus the Samaritan, Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny contain references to Jesus. Jewish historian Josephus writes about Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. They knew something had happened.

Jesus' resurrection from the dead is actually more plausible than any other explanation. That's why we Christians make such a big deal about Easter. That's why we celebrate.

Jesus' resurrection means that death is not the end. That though my body may lie mouldering in the ground, Jesus, whom the Father raised from the dead, gives me eternal life. Ultimately, we Christians believe, our bodies, too, will be raised from the dead.

And since Jesus is not dead, people can encounter him today. You can know him through a personal relationship. I could point to lots of people who can testify what Jesus has done in their lives to bring them from the brink of disaster to peace and meaning and joy. He changes people for good.

If you're not sure can't really say you've met this risen Jesus, this Easter Sunday why don't you slip into church to seek him. And perhaps in the midst of our celebration, you'll find him for yourself.

He's alive, you know. That's what Easter is all about!

By Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

A Soldier's View of the Tomb

Cassius stood at rigid attention in front of the commanding officer of Jerusalem's military cohort. "Centurion," the officer barked, "explain yourself! One of your squads was assigned to guard a tomb, a dead man. What could be so hard about that? Now I'm hearing rumors that the body is missing? Tell me this is all a mistake!"

"Sir, may I be frank, one old soldier to another?" asked the Centurion. He and the Tribune went back a long way, though the Tribune was of the equestrian class, and he a mere commoner.

"Please, Cassius," he said somewhat more gently, and motioned for the Centurion to take a seat.

"I must beg your indulgence, sir," Cassius began. "The story actually begins weeks ago."

"Take your time," the Tribune said, relaxing somewhat.

"Ever since this Jesus began preaching around Jerusalem, we thought he might be some kind of revolutionary bent on stirring up the populace with his talk of the Kingdom of God. But I went and listened to him, sir. He was no threat. Thousands would sit in rapt attention as he would talk about his Father, and loving your neighbor, forgiveness from past sins, and beginning a new life. It was fascinating, sir. Made you feel like he cared about you personally, he did."

The Tribune was resting his chin on his hand. "Go on, soldier."

"The next I saw him, we had been ordered to stand guard outside the Governor's official residence. The crowd was getting ugly. Pontius Pilate was sitting up there on the judgment seat and Jesus stood before him. Someone had roughed him up a bit, sir.

"What did you expect, Centurion?"

"Finally," Cassius continued, "Pilate motioned for silence. 'I find no crime in this man,' he called out. Then he tried to set Jesus free. He asked them to choose between Barabbas--a known murderer and rebel--and Jesus."

"And now that criminal Barabbas is walking free again."

"Jews from the ruling Sanhedrin were shouting, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' The rabble took up the cry. It was touch and go for a minute there, sir. Then Pilate called for a basin, and began to wash his prissy little hands ...."

"Centurion, I'll allow no disrespect," the Tribune said sharply.

"Yes sir, but you know Jesus was innocent, pure and simple. He had just offended some powerful priests. But when Pilate saw how the wind was blowing he went along. I thought Rome was about law and justice, not expediency."

"Ruling is sometimes dirty business, Centurion," interjected the Tribune.

"So is soldiering, sir. On your orders one of my squad was picked to scourge the man."

"Oh, they enjoyed it well enough," said the Tribune. "That tall soldier ... Publius, wasn't it? He flogged like a madman, as I recall, with the metal tips of the scourge biting into his back until the skin lay in tatters and blood ran free."

"Few times in my career have I been sickened by blood," commented Cassius, "but to see an innocent man treated with such cruelty...."

"I don't recall you stopping them from dressing him in a purple robe with a reed for a scepter and a crown of thorns. Oh, they were having fun, all right."

"I've crucified hundreds in my time," Cassius replied, "but this man was different. He didn't curse. He didn't whimper. He was half-dead already from the beating Publius gave him, and he fell on the way to Golgotha."

"Fell?"

"He was just too weak to carry the cross, so we conscripted a strong Cyrenean to carry it. Then we crucified Jesus."

"All men die the same."

"Not like he did," replied Cassius. "We spiked him to the cross-bar and hoisted it onto the upright, but I'll never forget his prayer: 'Father forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.' Sir, I was responsible for killing him, and he forgave me."

"Haven't you been a soldier too long to be troubled by a guilty conscience, Cassius?"

"Then the thief crucified next to him asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom."

"His kingdom!" the Tribune sneered.

"But listen to his answer: 'Today you will be with me in paradise.' Amazing! About noon, Tribune, the sky grew dark. Everyone saw it, and felt the cold chill when he cried, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' He sounded like the loneliest man in the world, hanging in the darkness. He spoke scarcely a word until three in the afternoon when he shouted, almost triumphantly, 'It is finished!' And, if you listened closely, you could hear him whisper, 'Into your hands I commit my spirit.'

"At that very moment the ground began to tremble and roll," said Cassius. "Knocked me to the ground for a moment. And then the darkness began to lift. I tell you, Tribune, that was no mere man we crucified, he was the Son of God."

"A few freak coincidences and you're willing to declare him divine? He's just as dead as anyone."

"No, Tribune, he's not."

"He's not?"

"The chief priests and Pharisees insisted that Pilate guard the tomb so Jesus' disciples wouldn't steal the body."

"I know. I ordered it."

"We posted three men around the clock, relieved every eight hours as regulations call for. I sealed the tomb before they began. It was secure."

"So, what's this rumor that the body is gone?"

"It is gone, sir."

"I'll have your hide, Centurion!" the Tribune shouted, rising to his feet.

Cassius stood, too, but went on. "About seven o'clock Sunday morning, sir, the three soldiers on duty came running into the barracks like they'd seen a ghost. 'Centurion! Centurion!' they shouted. 'He's alive!' I got them calmed down, and made them tell me every detail.

"Their shift had begun about midnight," he said. They had been wide awake all night--telling stories about their girlfriends back home most of the time, I understand. Then, just before dawn, they said the garden tomb lit up as if it were high noon, and an angel with garments like lightning came and rolled the stone away from the tomb. They just sat there trembling. Then one of them got up-- Publius, I think they said--and looked in the tomb. The body was gone, and the graveclothes were lying on the limestone shelf wrapped round and round, but no body in them."

"You expect me to believe that?" the Tribune responded disdainfully.

"I questioned them closely. Each looked. Each saw the same thing. The body was gone."

"They must have fallen asleep, and told a story to cover themselves."

"They were battle-hardened veterans, sir, not some green troops. I know those men. Besides, sir, you'd think the sound of people trying to roll a huge stone would awaken sleeping soldiers. No, they were telling the truth, all right."

"What do you expect me to tell people, Centurion? That he rose from the dead?"

"I don't know what you're going to tell them, Tribune, but that's what happened. He's alive. I tell you, he's alive!"

"We'll tell the soldiers to say they fell asleep and his disciples stole the body," suggested the Tribune.

"What soldier is willing to say he fell asleep?" asked Cassius with a thin smile on his face.

"We'll pay them to say it," said the Tribune. "The chief priests owe us. They'll come up with a goodly sum to bury this story.... I'll take care of it from here on out, Centurion. You didn't see anything. You don't know anything. Got it?"

"But I do know, and I did see, Tribune. I can't change what happened. Jesus is out there alive. More than alive."

"Forget this ever happened, Cassius."

"Forget it if you can, sir. But with all respect, Jesus is alive, and that changes everything."

Source: Joyful Heart

Sherif Girgis: The Audacity of Hope

This morning, on The Laura Ingraham Show, I heard a very articulate Princeton University student talk about the open letter he had written to Senator Obama.

Today was the first time I had heard of Sherif Girgis. I do not know how I could have missed this bright young man because I am, afterall, a subcriber of National Review.

This following is the letter Sherif Girgis wrote to Senator Obama, and reproduced from NRO.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The Audacity of Hope
A second-generational query.

By Sherif Girgis

Dear Senator Obama:

As an immigrant from Kenya, your father found new hope in America’s noble principles and vast opportunities. The same promise brought my parents here from Egypt when I was still too young to thank them. Now you have inspired my generation with your vision of a country united around the same ideals of liberty and justice, “filled with hope and possibility for all Americans.”

But do you mean it?


As a legislator, you have opposed every effort to protect unborn human life. Shockingly, you even opposed a bill to protect the lives of babies who, having survived an attempted abortion, are born alive. Despite your party’s broad support for legal abortion and its public funding, most Democrats (including Senator Clinton) did not oppose the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. You, however, opposed it. Your vision of America seems to eliminate “hope and possibility” for a whole class of Americans: the youngest and most vulnerable. You would deny them the most basic protection of justice, the most elementary equality of opportunity: the right to be born.

As a prerequisite for any other right, the right to life is the great civil-rights issue of our time. It is what slavery and segregation were to generations past. Our response to this issue is the measure of our fidelity to a defining American principle: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life.”

You have asked me to vote for you. In turn, may I ask you three simple questions? They are straightforward questions of fact about abortion. They are at the heart of the debate. In fairness, I believe that you owe the people you would lead a good-faith answer to each:

1. The heart whose beating is stilled in every abortion — is it a human heart?

2. The tiny limbs torn by the abortionist’s scalpel — are they human limbs?

3. The blood that flows from the fetus’s veins — is it human blood?

If the stopped heart is a human heart, if the torn limbs are human limbs, if the spilled blood is human blood, can there be any denying that what is killed in an abortion is a human being? In your vision for America, the license to kill that human being is a right. You have worked to protect that “right” at every turn. But can there be a right to deny some human beings life or the equal protection of the law?

Of course, some do deny that every human being has a right to life. They say that size or degree of development or dependence can make a difference. But the same was once said of color. Some say that abortion is a “necessary evil.” But the same was once said of slavery. Some say that prohibiting abortion would only harm women by driving it underground. But to assume so is truly to play the politics of fear. A compassionate society would never accept these false alternatives. A compassionate society would protect both mother and child, coming to the aid of women in need rather than calling violence against their children the answer to their problems.

Can we become a society that does not sacrifice some people to help others? Or is that hope too audacious? You have said that abortion is necessary to protect women’s equality. But surely we can do better. Surely we can build an America where the equality of some is not purchased with the blood of others. Or would that mean too much change from politics as usual?

Can we provide every member of the human family equal protection under the law? Your record as a legislator gives a resounding answer: No, we can’t. That is the answer the Confederacy gave the Union, the answer segregationists gave young children, the answer a complacent bus driver once gave a defiant Rosa Parks. But a different answer brought your father from Kenya so many years ago; a different answer brought my family from Egypt some years later. Now is your chance, Senator Obama, to make good on the spontaneous slogan of your campaign, to adopt the more American and more humane answer to the question of whether we can secure liberty and justice for all: Yes, we can.

— Sherif Girgis of Dover, Del., is a senior philosophy major at Princeton University and a 2008 Rhodes Scholar.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Malaysian Catholic weekly told to drop use of 'Allah' in order to renew publishing permit

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia has been told to drop the use of the word "Allah" in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said Friday.

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia's Catholic Church, has translated the word God as "Allah" but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit.

"Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people," Che Din told The Associated Press.

Full story here.

Che Din Yusoff needs to go for further education. He is making himself and the predominantly Muslim majority government of Malaysia a laughing stock.

Have you ever heard Arab Muslims in the Middle East forbidding the use of the word Allah in the Arabic Bible or by non Muslims?

Does Che Din Yusoff not know that the word Allah the name for God is not only used in Islam? The word Allah was used by Arab Jews in Saudi Arabia long before the advent of Islam.

The Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit banned the Iban Bible over the same issue .. the use of Allah in the Iban Bible. That ban was lifted after an outcry by the Ibans in Sarawak.

It is dispiriting for me to read this news during this Christmas season. Malaysia loves to promote herself as a tolerant multi-racial, multi-religious society to the world but when issues like this arise, one has to wonder if the image is just a sham.

What Marriage is Not

1. Marriage is not a dictatorship. The Bible does not give the husband permission to set up an autocracy in the home. Husbands are not to lord their authority over their family, but exercise it with humility.


2. Headship does not mean that the husband is superior. Men and women have an equal standing before Christ. (see Gal 3:28)


3. Headship does not mean that the husband must make all the decisions. Husbands are told to manage their households. (1 Tim.3:12)


4. Headship does not mean that the husband is always right. It does mean that he is responsible for the decisions that are made.


5. Headship is not to be demanded. Husbands are commanded to love their wives, not to make them submit by lecturing and haranguing them.

Howard Hendricks

Role of Men in Marriage

* Lover

• The command is not to "Love your wife when she submits to you."
• Love that is not conditional but continuous
• A Love that is willing to die for someone - a sacrificial love as Christ loves his church

*Leader

• The Husband is responsible for the Spiritual well-being of his wife (family)
• To present his wife in all her glory as Jesus does his Church.
• To cherish and Nourish his bride
  

Relevant Bible Passages:

1 Peter 3:1-6

¹Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, ²when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. ³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. ⁵For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, ⁶like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Ephesians 5:25-33

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body. ³¹"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."^{[b] 32}This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.


Horizon Community Church - Sermon on 12/2/2007

God Answers Prayer

Tues., Nov. 13, 2007

ATLANTA - Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue stepped up to a podium outside the state Capitol on Tuesday and led a solemn crowd of several hundred people in a prayer for rain on his drought-stricken state.

“We’ve come together here simply for one reason and one reason only: To very reverently and respectfully pray up a storm,” Perdue said after a choir provided a hymn.

Georgia and its neighboring states are caught in an epic drought that threatens public water supplies. Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle against the release of water from federal reservoirs and appealed to President Bush.

Full story here.

The above news was on Tuesday. And the following news was two days later. Co-incidence?

Of course not! God does honor prayers of the faithful. The governor and the people of Georgia believed only a higher power, God Almighty Himself, can change the weather patterns.

Was there even a hint of rain forecasted before the governor led the prayers? Only a slight possibility of rain said meteorologists.

Praise God, the God of the Universe! He can make a slight possibility into a storm, resulting in an inch of rain!

When his hour-long prayer vigil for rain ended with the sun shining through Tuesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue made a bold proclamation.

"God can make it rain tomorrow," he said.

Just like Perdue — and the National Weather Service — said, it was a rainy night in Georgia on Wednesday.

The rain was triggered by a cold front coming through, and it was expected to last until the early hours of Thursday morning.

"It will tease us a little bit," said Lans Rothfusz, meteorologist in charge at the Weather Service, "but it will come nowhere close to breaking the drought. The ground is so dry, it will absorb everything that falls on it."

More than 250 faithful Georgians joined Perdue outside the Capitol to ask for divine intervention to end the historic drought.

Full story here.

Sue them till they are forced to close down!

Planned Parenthood faces criminal charges for aborting late-term, pre-born babies in violation of Kansas state law. Today, Kansas District Attorney Phill Kline filed a 107-count indictment against the abortion group. District Court Judge James Vano found probable cause. The charges are as follows:

23 felony counts of making a false writing
29 misdemeanor counts of performing unlawful late term abortions
27 misdemeanor counts of failure to maintain records
29 misdemeanor counts of failure to determine viability

"Planned Parenthood is accused of falsifying records to cover up numerous violations of state law against aborting late-term babies," said Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America (CWA). "Now we know what Planned Parenthood means by 'privacy' when it refuses to release information on the abortions it commits on pre-born babies -- it is claiming privacy on its own alleged illegal actions."

"Planned Parenthoods around the country receive federal funding, so our tax dollars may be subsidizing this alleged illegal activity. The Department of Health and Human Services should begin an immediate investigation to discover whether other Planned Parenthoods around the country engage in the same type of potentially illegal activities, violating state and federal law."

Judy Smith, State Director of CWA of Kansas said, "We believe that the allegations brought against Planned Parenthood of Overland Park need to be investigated. The people have a right to expect that the laws enacted by their representatives are followed to the letter. As a women's organization, we want to ensure that every woman receives the legally approved medical standard of care on any procedure, including abortion. If this is not happening at Planned Parenthood clinics, women should be able to rely on the law to protect them."

Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.

Source: ChristiansUnite.com

About time. Planned Parenthood receives funding from the government, and I say it is time to end the funding of legalized murder of the the unborn using our taxpayer dollars.

Planned Parenthood uses a large chunk of public funds to lobby for unrestricted access to abortion. I say, now is the time to stop this barbaric practice of abortion on demand.

I am praying for the time where abortion is not a "right". I am praying for the time when the "constitutional right" that was discovered by judges in Rowe v Wade is overturned.

RU 486

WASHINGTON, (christiansunite.com) -- Misleading conclusions are being drawn in news stories based on a study that has indicated that the RU486 abortion drug is no more dangerous than surgical abortions.

"Reporters are drawing the erroneous conclusion that this study means RU486 is completely safe. That's not what the study says, and nothing could be further from the truth," said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. "Women are dying at an alarming rate from RU486 abortions and its widespread misuse in the abortion industry. That has not changed."

The study indicates that future pregnancies are equally affected by RU486 abortions and surgical abortions. However, it is a leap in logic to say that either are safe when the study simply shows that the risks to future pregnancies of both abortion methods are equal.

"Women who have had abortions have greater risks of miscarriage and infertility than women who have not had abortions. It is no accident that the study refused to compare these two groups of women, because we know they would have found that abortion hurts women, and that is obviously a conclusion that they did not want to reach," said Sullenger.

RU486 is a drug approved for abortions in pregnancies under six weeks. Three office visits are usually required for this kind of abortion. Some reports indicate that RU486 has a 15% failure rate, meaning that many women who receive the drug must also have a surgical abortion to completely remove the pre- born baby and other pregnancy tissue.

"Women aborting with RU486 can pass their babies anywhere. This has created a lot of emotional trauma for women who do not expect to come face to face with a tiny baby complete with arms, legs and a recognizable face," said Sullenger.

"The reputation of RU486 has suffered recently because of the publicity generated by a number of abortion deaths related to the drug. The media distortion we are seeing is a simple case of public relations damage control," said Sullenger. "Hiding the possibility of RU486's life-threatening dangers from women really shows that there is more concern for selling abortions than for protecting and informing women. This misinformation campaign is really a horrific thing when you think about it that could needlessly cost women's lives."

Read more here.

When I was younger I was quite ambivalent about abortions. One of my neighbours when I was a kid did not practice any kind of birth control. When her children got too many she resorted to abortions to reduce their number. One of her kids was born without fingers and toes, and I believe that was a result of a failed abortion.

I think there are worst things in life than being pregnant. Whatever reasons that are given by those who have had abortions, it all boils down this - having a child is an inconvenience. I do not buy the "mental health" reason for having an abortion. Except for a serious risk to the mother's life, abortion should be banned. Rape and incest, give birth to the child, and give it up for adoption. Two wrongs do not make a right.

A woman's right to privacy ... what a lot of bull! Abortion is sanctioned murder.

Gay Church in Malaysia?

Muslim-majority Malaysia will block a plan by the country's first and only openly gay pastor to establish a church embracing homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals, a minister said Monday.

Reverend Ouyang Wen Feng, an ethnic Chinese Malaysian ordained in the US, caused controversy after saying he wanted to set up the church by 2010.

The government would block the plan, Tourism Minister Adnan Tengku Mansor told AFP, adding the country had always sought to portray itself as a "family-oriented" holiday destination.

"We have no intention of being portrayed the same way like other cities such as Bangkok or those other cities in that league," Mansor said, apparently referring to the Thai capital's sex industry.

"We are here to be seen as a multicultural country with people who are good, excellent followers of their respective religions," Mansor added.

Homosexuality falls under a Malaysian law prohibiting sodomy, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and whipping.

Ouyang's plan to start the church had stirred anxiety, Reverend Wong Kin Kong, the secretary general of Malaysia's National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, said last week.

This was "because Christians do not want others to assume they condone such a thing," he said.

But Ouyang remained unfazed and urged a congregation of about 80 people -- including his male partner -- to "reclaim faith and celebrate our sexuality" in an underground mass Sunday.

"For some of us, especially our gay brothers and sisters, we have experienced first hand that Christianity has been used to persecute minorities," Ouyang told the mass, according to press reports.

Source: Yahoo News

Why do you think Ouyang was quite brazen about starting a church in Malaysia even though he is a practicing homosexual? Is it because he was trained in the US where homosexuality and same sex unions are acceptable in some Christian churches?

I won't be surprised if that was his primary motive. He has become one of those liberal Christians who choose to ignore clear biblical teachings about sexual purity, and sodomy. Listen to what he says about Christianity being used to persecute minorities. If he thinks that emphasizing biblical teachings and wanting your flock to adhere to those teachings is persecution, then is it persecution too if the church admonishes its unmarried members from abstaining from sex before marriage?

I don't know what Bible Ouyang is reading but my Bible does not teach me to "reclaim [our] faith and celebrate our sexuality". The only celebration of our sexuality that the Bible clearly teaches is within the bounds of marriage between a man and a woman.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

How true!

Can you be a Christian and a Muslim at the same time?

Is it possible to be a Christian and a Muslim at the same time? That idea is both illogical and contradictory, if not heretical! Apparently it is not illogical or contradictory for the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding a clergy woman of the Espiscoplian church of St. Mark's in Seattle, Washington.

In Islam, Jesus Christ is merely a prophet, even lower in esteem than Mohammad. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, and this doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and salvation through Christ only is totally incompatible with Islam.

But then the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding is one of those liberal Christians who rejects the divinity of Christ and the Trinity. It is therefore not surprising that she can embrace both Islam and Christianity.

Rev. Redding should be thankful that she was a "Christian" first before she decided to embrace Islam at the same time. If it had been the other way around, I doubt her Muslim superiors would be as understanding if she had decided to embrace Christianity while remaining a Muslim!

I agree with Dr. Emir Caner, dean of The College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, when he described Redding’s faith conviction as “an extraordinary illustration of what has become Postmodern Christianity in America.”

Further Readings:

Christian Theologians: 'Episcopal Muslim' Faith is Illogical, Contradictory

An Episcopal Muslim?

Pray to Allah?

The Bishop of Breda, Tiny Muskens, wants people to start calling God Allah. He says the Netherlands should look to Indonesia, where the Christian churches already pray to Allah. It is also common in the Arab world: Christian and Muslim Arabs use the words God and Allah interchangeably.

Speaking on the Dutch TV programme Network on Monday evening, Bishop Muskens says it could take another 100 years but eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches. And that will promote rapprochement between the two religions.

Read the rest of the story here.

I understand what this bishop is saying, and why he is saying it. I understand the "what" but I cannot agree with the "why".

I come from a background where the word "Allah Taala" is used to refer to God Almighty. And I do not refer to God as "Allah" because I want to promote rapprochement between Islam and Christianity.

What needs to be emphasized here is that the word "Allah" has been in existence long before Islam. The word "Allah" when referencing to God cannot be exclusively used by Islam even though Islam would like to claim the word for their own. In Malaysia, the bible in the Iban language was banned for a time because of the use of terms that are found in the Qu'ran. The reason for the ban was that the Iban Bible might confuse the Muslims, which in my view, is a ridiculous claim.

When Christians in the Middle East, Indonesia and Malaysia use the word "Allah" to refer to Almighty God, they are most definitely not referring to the Muslim God. This is where I dissent with Bishop Muskens. He makes no distinction between the Christian Allah and the Muslim Allah when he encourages people to start calling God Allah.

When I use "Allah Taala" to refer to Almighty God in my mother tongue I know which Allah I am referring to. I am referring to Allah the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt. I am referring to Allah who is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I am referring to "Allah" the God who is the redeemer of my soul, the pioneer and perfecter of my faith.

Summer Camp

I was pleasantly surprised when NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams, on their Faith in America segment featured a story about how and where some American youths were spending their summer.

The American youths who went to Mexico, went under a Texas based group called Teen Mania Ministries. They had to raise their own money for the trip and they brought food, toys, shelter and most importantly shared their faith with the poor people in that part of Mexico.

I am happy and encouraged to hear of the existence of groups like Teen Mania. I am sure there are many churches who send youths to places like Mexico for the summer. My church does it too, and they have three different groups go to Mexico every summer.

This year we were able to contribute to the trips by donating six bags of used clothes because among the things that my church group brought this year were clothes. Each of the group that went to Mexico built a home for a needy family. All the materials for the building were bought and paid for with money raised by the youths who went.

We also "bought" two pairs of Helping Hands. Helping Hands was a way that some of the youths raised money for their trip. They offered services like yard work, baby sitting etc to raise money.

Almost everyone of the young people who have gone on one of these trips to Mexico experienced a life changing experience. A life changing experience not only from their service to the Mexicans they interacted with, but also to their Christian walk, and they had a better understanding of what fellowship and service with other Christians meant.

Faith's Subjectiveness

Dennis Prager talks about everything and anything on his radio talk show. I always enjoy listening to the topics that he brings up. One of the things that Dennis Prager often says about faith is that it is subjective. Can anyone prove or disprove the genuineness of someone's faith?

In Christianity, faith is only as good as the object of our faith. If I place my faith on something that is not deserving, say a rock, then no matter how genuine my faith is, that faith is delusional. Believing in something that is false does not make it true.

As a Christian, I have to first of all acknowledge that I am a finite being, with limitations trying to understand and reach out to an infinite God, a God who is not limited by time and space.

I have to put my trust in His Word which he has left behind as " a lamp to my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119:105). I have to put my trust in Him because He tells me so, and not to rely on my own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

I can only do these things with my faith. My faith makes it possible for my limited understanding to reach out to the One who is without limitations.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him". Hebrews 11:6

What is a Mother?

When the good Lord was creating mothers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when the angel appeared and said, "You are doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order ?"

"She has to be completely washable, not plastic, have moveable parts, all replaceable, run on black coffee and leftovers, have a lap that disappears when she stands up, a kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair, and six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands, no way !"

"It's not the hands that cause the problems, said the Lord. It is the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."

"That's the standard model," the angel asked?

The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors, when she asks, "What are you kids doing in there, " when she already knows. Another in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in the front so that she can look at a child when he goofs and says, "I understand and I love you," without so much as uttering a word.

"Lord," said the angel, tugging his sleeve gently, "Come to bed .."

"I can't," said the Lord. "I am so close to creating something so close to myself. Already, I have one who heals herself when she is sick, can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower."

The angel circled the model of a mother. "It's too soft," she sighed.

"But tough," said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure !"

"Can it think ?"

"Not only can she think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator.

Finally the angel bent over and ran her fingers across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."

"It's not a leak," said the Lord. "It is a tear."

"What's it for ?"

"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride."

"You are a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," he said.


As found on The Story Bin

Good Friday

Good Friday

~ | ~ | ~

O my chief good,

How shall I measure out your blood?

How shall I count what you befell,

And each grief tell?



Shall I your woes

Number according to your foes?

Or, since one star showed your first breath,

Shall all your death?



Or shall each leaf,

Which falls in Autumn, score a grief?

Or can not leaves, but fruit, be sign

Of the true vine?



Then let each hour

Of my whole life one grief devour;

That your distress through all may run,

And be my sun.



Or rather let

My several sins their sorrows get;

That as each beast his cure does know,

Each sin may so.



Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write

Your sorrows in, and bloody fight;

My heart has store, write there, where in

One box does lie both ink and sin:



That when sin spies so many foes,

Your whips, your nails, your wounds, your woes,

All come to lodge there, sin may say,

No room1 for me, and fly away.



Sin being gone, oh fill the place,

And keep possession with your grace;

Lest sin take courage and return,

And all the writings blot or burn.

Modern Version of Good Friday
from The Temple (1633), by George Herbert