Skip to content

Sivin Kit's Garden

Planting Seeds for a Better World

Menu
  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing
Menu

Study

Posted on 26 September, 2003 by admin

I’ve made a “commitment” to work through Willard’s “The Divine Conspiracy” with a study guide, so I suppose this is going to be at least about 10 weeks worth of study.

book_divine_25.gif

Willard’s comments (in bold) in the foreword to the guide is noteworthy (p. 1-3) – my thoughts in brackets.

_________________________________________

.. Until the present century, Christians assumed that anything that was important had to be studied and restudied and studied again. they did not think that studying something many times was strange. It is the twentieth-century illusion that you can comprehend aspects of Jesus and his teaching in a quick, snappy sermon.

(More and more nowadays .. I’m reading slower, I’m re-reading stuff I thought I read years ago. More and more, I’m highlighting, scribbling, reflecting and responding with actions that I believe will make a difference. I remember at one phase of my Christian pilgrimage when I finished reading the New Testament once I was not motivated to re-read it again. How wrong I was? Now every passage is worth unending re-studying)

In the nineteenth century, for example, people heard long difficult sermons at church in the morning. then they went home and discussed the meaning of the sermons with neighbors and family in the afternoon. We can not imagine people doing this today.

(Frankly, I have a difficulty sitting through a long difficult sermon myself. In many ways, I’m a child of my age – i.e. can multi-task and yet unable to plunge the depths of issues. But, I think this can be unlearned and relearned into a new mode of thinking. This process of “renovation” (there that word goes again!) takes time … I’m just beginning to enjoy its fruits now .. that’s after 4 years of Seminary and another 6 years of pastoring, about 15 years when I “conciously” affirmed my faith in Christ and got back on the journey with Jesus … 31 years of learning to live out the promise of my baptism as a baby (if you want to count the day of God’s chosenness from infant baptism)! I think BLC’s effort with a whole morning dedicated to worship & learning is kind of a “revised” version of a long diffucult sermon, heheh! The LiFE group sharing has been rewarding thus far … still rom for improvement

We need to return to the idea that we have to put thought into God’s kingdom and how it works. We accept that someone spends years becoming a dentist and even more years training to become a surgeon, but we do not accept that we need to spend years giving serious though to the nature of the soul, the nature of God, who Jesus was, and how it all works. In early periods of the church, it was assumed you would devote your whole life to understanding the fullness and complexity of God’ kingdom.

(emphasis mine. I feel that last line liberates me from rushing and squeezing too much too soon. I still hunger for learning and yet I know it’ll take a lifetime for the processing and progressing to take place. Such Grace! As for the analogy of training, it shames the Christian community when even leaders take short cuts, and recently this “cheap”-“short-cut” theological degrees specifically doctorates have raised quite a number of eye-brows. Lord have mercy. Now wonder, Christians follow suit in their dicipleship. With out making it in accessible, or over intellectualized (the danger in Malaysia is anti-intellectual), time to make ammends… REPENT?!)

Yet rarely this happens in churches today. We recruit church members in a quick and easy manner so that Christians and non-Christians think they do not have to study. We have copied the media and the educational establishment by doing so. Both say that the public will not look at or try to understand the intricacies of complex issues, so they produce “dumb down” versions that people will look into because they are easy to understand. Yet understanding anything important requires major effort. Understanding Jesus’ teaching is more important than learning algebra, which takes a great deal of effort; yet most Christians have never put the same amount of effort into understanding Jesus’ teaching that they’ve put into solving algebraic equations.

(I believe in simplicty, I believe God’s truth is not just for scholars but for the ordinary – it’s plain. And I also believe with whatever capacity we’re able, we’re called to put effort into it. Looking at how we’re willing to put effort in pursuing education, making a living, creating opportunities for pleasure and entertainment. I wonder why is it so hard to do the same for what is the most important – our re-forming of our worldviews, the shaping of Kingdom values, the nurturing of authentic relationships, the cultivation of a right & healthy lifesytle, the investment into the next generations, add to the list…?) Ok! after complaining, now it’s time to get our hands dirty and start constructing!)

____________________________

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Moved to Medium
  • The End | The Beginning
  • I Will be Back …
  • It’s Been a While …
  • GE13 Malaysia: Who to Vote for? (A Christian Contribution)

Recent Comments

  • Malaysia: Government Vows to Review Web Censorship Law After Protest · Global Voices on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • List of Participants in Internet Blackout Day! « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • Join Us and Support Internet Blackout Day « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • JB on Imagining My PhD Journey
  • Alex Tang on Imagining My PhD Journey

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

CALENDAR

September 2003
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
« Aug   Oct »
  • Academics
  • Bangsar Lutheran Church
  • Beyond
  • Bible
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Christian Year – Lent
  • Church
  • Conversations
  • Emergent/Emerging Churches
  • Events
  • Family
  • Five Sentences
  • Friends in Conversation
  • Fun stuff
  • Gracious Christianity
  • Ideas
  • Images
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Lists
  • Lutheran
  • Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Meditation
  • Micah Mandate
  • Mission
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Stuff
  • Norway
  • Norwegian Notes
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Podcast
  • Preaching
  • Prezi
  • Project 365
  • Random Links
  • Random Thoughts
  • Random Tweets
  • Random Utterances
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • RoH Malaysia
  • Second Thoughts
  • Seven Series
  • Simple Steps
  • Spirituality
  • Technology
  • Theology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • World
  • Worship
  • Writing

Archives

  • November 2020
  • November 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • February 2003
  • August 2002

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Pages

  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing

Social Media

© 2022 Sivin Kit's Garden | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme