The Eternal Word/永恒的道

Embedded is the audio of a song that my husband and I had made for our musicians so that they can perform this song at our wedding last year in order to lead our guests in worship. The original author and composer of this song is unknown. Below are the original lyrics, romanised pronunciation as well as rough translation of each stanza.

太 初 有 道, 道 与 上 帝 同 在,
tai chu you dao, dao yu shang di tong zai
这 道 就 是 上 帝
zhe dao jiu shi shang di
诸 天 万 物 借 这 道 被 创 造,
zhu tian wan wu jie zhe dao bei chuang zao
生 命 从 道 涌 流 出 来
sheng ming cong dao yong liu chu lai

(Rough translation: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him, all things were made.)

这 道 成 肉 身 名 字 叫 耶稣,
zhe dao cheng rou shen ming zi jiao ye su
来 到 世 上 成 为 奴 仆,
lai dao shi shang cheng wei nu pu
经 历了人 生 一 切 的 痛 苦,
jing li le ren sheng yi qie de tong ku
唯 要 叫 世 人 得 救 赎
wei yao jiao shi ren de jiu shu

(Rough translation: The Word became flesh, named Jesus, He came as a servant. Going through life's trials and pains, with the goal of bringing redemption to mankind.)

永 恒 的 道 为 我 们 而来,
yong heng de dao wei wo men e lai
祂 原 是 宇 宙 万 物 主 宰
ta yuan shi yu zou wan wu zhu zai
永 恒 的 道 为 我 们 而来,
yong heng de dao wei wo men e lai
你叫 我 怎 能 不 悔 改
ni jiao wo zhe neng bu hui gai

(Rough translation: The Eternal Word - the Lord of life came for us, how can I not repent?)

Captivated by Love

[Inspired by a short MSN conversation with PP]

3 weeks into married life and I'm so touched by all that my dear had done for me because "he adores you" (in the words of PP.) I realise I'm quite xiaojie plus I'm now living at his parents' place which makes for huge adaptation issues. But my dear's being absolutely accomodating in all my requests and in trying to find out how to get living arrangements done at his house.

I perceive though that he's so busy serving me, he doesn't realise that he's tired. This led me to think and consider what I can be doing so that I can lessen his burden. At this point in time, this is my personal response to the deep, devoted love my dear had for me.

It was at this point that I realise what it should be between Christ and His believers.

Christ's love for us is so much more than the (very deep, devoted) human love that my dear had for me. He so love us that He gave up His life for us so that we can have eternal life. I am also sure that all believers who know that Christ is God will be able to recall personal episodes when Christ has taken personal care of us in our daily lives. For all believers, He loves us and "will work for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes."

The main question we answer in living our lives as beloved believers is: With our hearts captivated by His love, how are we responding to Him?

Taste the Lord for He is good

Recently, I was very much saddened when talking with a sister-in-christ, she shares from her heart, "I don't think I'm good enough to be blessed by God."

I am also partly angry (not with my sister-in-christ, but with Satan) because it is in operation from half-truths, and it keeps His people from feeling His joy.

The truth in that sentence is that no one is good enough to deserve God and to deserve Jesus.

"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God." (Rom 3:10-11)

But that's us, our fallibles from our human strengths. We will try, and we will fail. Even as we strive, our being longs to do the opposite of His will and to sin. And in our inheritance from Adam, we are all cursed because of our sin and all cursed and condemned.

But that is not our God of Love. Even as we struggle and fail, He reaches out to us and wants to save us. We are righteous, not because of what we do or not do, we are righteous because of His Son on the cross. He died, so that all our sin and evil, of all that we've done or not done, whether in the past, present or future, has been atoned for. And He also rose bodily, to show us the new Hope of what the Father had destined for His Sons and Daughters. We simply place our faith in His Son that we have become God's Sons and Daughters because of what Jesus had done for us.

And because of what He has done, we inherit His promises:

"God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Rom 8:28-30)

He has also said:
""My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons." God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:5-7; 10-11)

His will is to bless those who are His Sons and Daughters, and though sometimes life may not turn out the way we will and want, that's not to say that He does not will to bless us. Perhaps He wills to bless us through these tribulations? In ways we do not yet know or can imagine?

So:

"Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." (Ps 34:3-8)

A Christian's place in Human Resource Development

Human Resource Development (HRD) holds at its heart humanistic assumptions. One fundamental assumption is that humans are inherently good

This is incompatible with the Christian worldview that "There is no one righteous, no not one" (Rom 3:10). Does the fact that we believe that humans are fundamentally sinful mean that Christians cannot or should not function in HRD?

First of all, the judgement of good is not from one person to another. Rather the judgement is by God (who is infinitely good - holy) to man. By His standards, we are not good.

Knowing that the "Wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23), He however does not simply just bask in His holiness and allow us to languish. He "so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). He did not do this just so that humans will be declared righteous, but also "because you (Jesus) were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. ou have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God..." (Rev 5: 9-10). That is the greatest intervention anyone can make to 'help people become better' (Understood fully, this phrase is probably the understatement of world history.)

And so we are called "to be holy as I (God) am holy" (1 Pet 3:16). He did not leave His disciples (and I pray I am one of them) alone though, "the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my (Jesus') name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26) Our ultimate Developer "lives with you and will be in you." (John 14:17)

All these include human development in processes and actions.

But as disciples, we are not called to simply develop ourselves. We are also called to be salt and light in the world. (Matthew 5:13-14). Ideally, it's to prevent decay from sin and bring about God's goodness. Isn't the aim of Human Development to help people to become the best that they have the potential to be? (And from the Christian argument, hasn't God shown the greater vision and imposed the more rigourous standards than what any man has devised?)

So though Christians can differ in our beliefs in this fundamental difference, it doesn't mean that Christians cannot and should not be in the field of HRD. In fact, in the ideal situation (where alot of Christians including myself have failed by God's standards in), we are all called to "Love your neighbour as yourself." (Matt 22:39). These will necessarily include interventions that will help our fellow people to become better - necessary Human Development functions, with our hearts being driven by love.

History also attest to how ordinary Christians, being driven by this heart of love, have helped bring about better human conditions and education. William Wilberforce took forceful actions to lead to the lawful abolition of the Slave Trade; St Margaret's School remains the legacy of Maria Dyer, a missionary who opened the school to give orphan girls a chance for free education; Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham provided the male counterpart in Anglo-Chinese School to get boys off the streets.

From the way I see it, there's nothing in our belief system that should prevent our involvement in HRD, rather the bigger question is are we driven enough by God's love to do it well enough?

The "Dead Sea Scrolls" Exhibition

On hearing that the "Dead Sea Scrolls" exhibition is in town, I was eager to view it and was doubly excited when my SO repeatedly reminded me about the exhibition and sought to confirm that we would be visiting it over the weekend (as if I needed any reminder!)

I had expected it to be a historical, factual tour and it was that. The unexpected and wonderful gift and bonus was that it was also a faith-building experience.

First the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 which had previously belonged to an isolationistic Qumran jewish sect. They were dated to be within 100 years of Jesus' death and resurrection. They contained fragments of the scrolls on which the Old Testament was written in their original hebrew, and in which scholars painstakingly pieced together over 60 years. They confirmed that the Old Testament text, from which legitimate bible societies now translate from into our own languages, is the same as the text that was read by the original Israelites of old. Miraculously, the fragments came from all the different books in the OT (except for the Book of Esther.) Even more amazingly, a whole scroll containing the Book of Isaiah is intact. This is consistent with Isaiah 55:11

"...so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Next the miraculous passion in varied individuals in various parts of Europe to translate the word of God from its original Hebrew and Greek into their own tongues. Up till 400A.D, the bible was translated into 160 languages, however, from 500 A.D, the bible could only be available in 1 language, which was in Latin (not even the "native" tongue of the originals.)

However, in 1510s, an amazing thing happened, varied individuals, who do not know each other initially, felt the call to translate the bible into their own language - an illegal activity punishable by cruel torment and death, normally burnt at the stake as a heretic. And so heroes sprang forth - Martin Luther (who had initially purposed for internal changes, not an external separation) for the German bible, William Tyndale for the English bible (and who created the modern English language in the process), Casiodoro de Reina in Spanish, many of them matyred in the process. It reminded me about Jesus' word:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

All these enabled by the timely invention of the movable-type printing press! Though Gutenberg's primarily purpose appears to be for profit (as mentioned by some resource on the internet), it was the invention that enabled the mass production of the bible.

It is illuminating to see for myself evidences of how God Himself protected and enabled to transmission of knowledge of Himself to all nations. The scrolls, the bibles right there, one of which could be felt and touched directly awed me as to the finality of God's purposes and will and on how He had enabled men to do the work He had purposed in His good timing despite men's militancy and suppression for their own agendas. How great and glorious is our God!