Attended a KPMG Hollywood costume dinner yesterday night... ingenious outfits - Mr T, Princess Amidala, Jar Jar Bing, Rocky, Warrior Princess, a skinny Mr Incredible (too much stress from saving the world, has finally slimmed down).
Finally managed to investigate the famed maidens from Audit Dept! But i didn't stay on for the dancefloor. (My colleagues used to stay that I have good rhythm but the attempted 'Saturday Nite Fever' moves made them laugh.)
Anyway, I had to rush out by abt 10.40 pm because 'Dave' is called upon at a UM interfaith dialogue on women's rights. By the time I arrived, the dust has settled... just got a small piece of the action where I shared with Brother Shah Kirit on bible texts that teach monogamy. (apparently he thot bible is silent)
Two Agora brothers and I (the only Christians around) did some post-engagement analysis over teh tarik which you may find interesting:
1. Imagine being raised up all your life with only one view, a multi-religious society forces the question, "What about the others?"
Many of our student friends are very pious and they also wanna find out abt other faiths. During younger days, they were told to keep their searching questions to themselves. Now in uni, they can explore in open-minded sharing...
2. Some felt a heavy burden for OUR 'lost souls'. So they intentionally seek out temples and churches to understand what makes us tick? I applaud that - we talk abt evangelism, but who among us actually sit down at the feet of a monk and listen?
3. One guy said, "The only problem I have is Trinity and Incarnation"... Reason is, our average M. friend is incurably 'foundationalist'. They take the high ground of asking, "Is it logical? Show me the evidence". The standard christian reply is, "God's ways are higher than our ways", which I think is a cop-out. They deserve a better answer for ultimately Trinity/Incarnation are not illogical.. Mysterious, yes. Illogical? No.
4. During interfaith dialogues, a lot of students approach the counter for literature. Are we gonna give them D2Y2, Asian Beacon, Wen Qiao magazines? We can do better than that!
5. Someone asked if I'd like to go into the ring in the future. (I'm a commentator, not a boxer!) Anyway, I gave a tentative yes for no other reason than this -
As a nobody in Christian circles I can afford to LOSE - ahahah! But if I pull off an upset, it'd be earth shattering... heheh... It's a conundrum, really, Dr Ng Kam Weng did a good show in Malacca and he was never invited back! So in winning, we lose... the curse is the blessing... My strategy is to 'win small'!
6. But what I really wanna do is, to sit at Starbucks and have two-way conversations that wud enrich each other. At the same time, to put some basic skills into hands of students to be able to have similar discussions. The days of insulating our people in isolated cliques are over.
Be Emergent in method, Evangelical in content.
7. Forgot to mention that SABA Islamic Media S/B is a well-oiled, IT-savvy organisation. The counter is well-stocked with Ahmad Deedat, Harun Yahya CDs/booklets
The manager is also the apologist/speaker in such dialogues.
http://www.saba.com.my
Finally managed to investigate the famed maidens from Audit Dept! But i didn't stay on for the dancefloor. (My colleagues used to stay that I have good rhythm but the attempted 'Saturday Nite Fever' moves made them laugh.)
Anyway, I had to rush out by abt 10.40 pm because 'Dave' is called upon at a UM interfaith dialogue on women's rights. By the time I arrived, the dust has settled... just got a small piece of the action where I shared with Brother Shah Kirit on bible texts that teach monogamy. (apparently he thot bible is silent)
Two Agora brothers and I (the only Christians around) did some post-engagement analysis over teh tarik which you may find interesting:
1. Imagine being raised up all your life with only one view, a multi-religious society forces the question, "What about the others?"
Many of our student friends are very pious and they also wanna find out abt other faiths. During younger days, they were told to keep their searching questions to themselves. Now in uni, they can explore in open-minded sharing...
2. Some felt a heavy burden for OUR 'lost souls'. So they intentionally seek out temples and churches to understand what makes us tick? I applaud that - we talk abt evangelism, but who among us actually sit down at the feet of a monk and listen?
3. One guy said, "The only problem I have is Trinity and Incarnation"... Reason is, our average M. friend is incurably 'foundationalist'. They take the high ground of asking, "Is it logical? Show me the evidence". The standard christian reply is, "God's ways are higher than our ways", which I think is a cop-out. They deserve a better answer for ultimately Trinity/Incarnation are not illogical.. Mysterious, yes. Illogical? No.
4. During interfaith dialogues, a lot of students approach the counter for literature. Are we gonna give them D2Y2, Asian Beacon, Wen Qiao magazines? We can do better than that!
5. Someone asked if I'd like to go into the ring in the future. (I'm a commentator, not a boxer!) Anyway, I gave a tentative yes for no other reason than this -
As a nobody in Christian circles I can afford to LOSE - ahahah! But if I pull off an upset, it'd be earth shattering... heheh... It's a conundrum, really, Dr Ng Kam Weng did a good show in Malacca and he was never invited back! So in winning, we lose... the curse is the blessing... My strategy is to 'win small'!
6. But what I really wanna do is, to sit at Starbucks and have two-way conversations that wud enrich each other. At the same time, to put some basic skills into hands of students to be able to have similar discussions. The days of insulating our people in isolated cliques are over.
Be Emergent in method, Evangelical in content.
7. Forgot to mention that SABA Islamic Media S/B is a well-oiled, IT-savvy organisation. The counter is well-stocked with Ahmad Deedat, Harun Yahya CDs/booklets
The manager is also the apologist/speaker in such dialogues.
http://www.saba.com.my
Comments
The manager is the main speaker, in such dialogues.
http://www.saba.com.my
Think of them as Malaysia's answer to Stand to Reason.
OK, the motif that we're fellow seekers of truth in a journey of faith is genuine and needs to be recovered... we cannot communicate as if our audience is the enemy... that's bad communication.
But on another level of ideas, we're engaged in a clash of worldviews. The 'battle' analogy needs to be qualified, but cannot be abandoned... because we'd be crippled tactically as a result. Our frens wud take it much more seriously than we do.
Imagine the diff that our frens are preparing for war while we are preparing for a picnic? Who is willing to make sacrifices?
We know well enough that we are of the one and only true 'way' and with our bibles and churches, we have all we need to grow in our faith. And that is the problem, the self centredness of the modern Christian.
Those who learn apologetics or study and learn of our neighbours, do so out of a passion that is part of a Christianity that has a prior commitment to engage and save our neighbours. This is not the same as head-count evangelism, that is only interested in "doing our part" and secretly says in the heart "let them go to hell if that's what they want".
Thus to love them is to 1. learn about them and accept them as they are 2. porceed to save them from fatal error. Sadly, many today want to do either 1 or 2 - and to do either one and not both is a deadly error, the first error is not be a hobby anthropologist with spiritual significance and the second is to be a cultural issolationist that limits the ammount of people in a culture you can reach.
So, we cant pretend not to be at war in these interfaith debates, and to pretend that we believe what they say is hypocrisy. My solution is then to state objectively that we are there to;
1.learn all we can about them and love them as they are
2.challenge great evils they may practise of the platform of secular social justice (like Jihad and Polygamy)
3.Meet their felt needs apart from evagelism, like teaching their kids and free clinics, etc.
4.and identify and support the church as it evangelizes as ussual
1. Hot - Books/Materials/Training Provided, Speaker inc.
- Confrontative, handpicked questioners will
line up during Q&A
2. Mild - Friendly, great smile
- Only 4 spiritual laws booklets provided
- Bookmarks and keychains inc.
3. VERY HOT - Imagine Ahmed Deedat meets Jerry Falwell
- 'kachang' included, just in case