Star War Episode III: Backstroke of the West

Thanks to SL for the heads up. A bit of old comic relief in the form of Shanghai Jeremy's post, mirrored here only because his bandwidth is busted and no one can get through. Do not continue if you have a tender conscience for it is better to keep your conscience clear before God:

"i saw revenge of the sith last weekend at a local theater with my friend joe who was in town on business. it was much better than the first two movies and a fitting end (err.. middle) to the star wars saga.

the next day i was walking past my friendly dvd salesperson and decided to check out revenge of the sith. i was assured the quality was good and for 7rmb why not give it a shot.

aside from the counters on the top of the screen and a distorted perspective it was ok- not high quality but watchable. the captions were a hilarious surprise- a direct english translation of the chinese interpretation of what the script was saying. it varied from being somewhat close to the script to being 'far far away'....

amazingly enough, the beginning scroll is mistranslated even though the words are right there on the screen.


star war (just one)


'the backstroke of the west' is the english translation of the chinese title.


anakin: "this is where the fun begins"


obi wan: "let them pass between us"


anonymous doomed fighter pilot: "they're all over me"


obi wan, space battle strategist.


obi wan grows impatient with r2.


the chancellor warns anakin and obi wan that count dooku is... big.


obi wan assures the chancellor that it's no problem.


count dooku talks tough.


that's chancellor palpatine speaking, talking about obi wan.


general grevious gets some bad news.


the general considers punishing his troops.


anakin taunts general grevious.


the general fires off a snappy comeback.


ummm... ????


yoda: "premonitions? premonitions?"


sounds like something yoda might actually say... maybe.


anakin is haunted by dreamses.


troopseses!


anakin gets frustrated with the jedi council.


this seemed completely random until i figured out that 'jedi council' was being translated into chinese then back to english as 'the presbyterian church'.


anakin: "obi wan, may the force be with you"


anakin bargains for the life of his cuckoldry. cuckoldry?


c3po tells the amorous couple to get a room.


obi wan can't face what he must do.


yoda insists...


...and explains that the person he once knew noed longer is.


anakin tells padme about his new virtues, now being both strong and big.


padme doesn't want strong and big- she also doesn't want to walk on a road meant for running about.


lier!!!


obi wan has heard enough.


i love this translation. darth vader is actually shouting, "nooooooooooooo..."

captions there be, mangled they are."

See also other post on Star Wars spoofs.

Home

The unfortunate earworm that has been trapped in my head for the past few weeks is Newsboys' "The Orphan":

maybe I push when I'm meant to be still
maybe I take it all too personal
Jesus, how to reconcile
the joyful noise
the ancient land
the tug from some invisible hand
the dying mother weaving bulrushes
along the Nile

CHORUS:
float her basket over the sea
here on a barren shore
we'll be waiting for
a tailwind to carry her (an) orphan's cry
don't you worry, child
I wrote a lullaby

I try to settle, but I just pass through
a rain dog, gypsy
a wandering Jew
all those homes were not ours
then I slept one night
in Abraham's field
and dreamt there was no moon
the night he died
counting stars
Selah

- CHORUS -

BRIDGE:
building you a home
building you a home
building you a home
we're building you a home
Selah

- CHORUS -

float her basket over the sea
here on a barren shore
we'll be waiting for
a tailwind to bring us your sweet cry
don't you worry, child
I'm gonna sing you a lullaby

It's not that the tune is particularly fascinating or lyrics particularly clear and meaningful. But that's the illogicality of earworms for you.

Anyhow, the lyrics speak interestingly of travellers, wanderers, people with no place to rest their head:

• Moses started off as a baby with no home, was adopted by the people of Egypt but in the end was rejected by his adopted home at 40 years of age and wandering in the desert for the rest of his life, never stepping foot in the Promised Land.
  
• A rain dog is a term for a dog you might see huddled in a doorway in the city or lost out in the country, unable to find its way home because the rain has washed away its scent markers.
  
• Gypsies are nomadic and are hardly accepted and usually viewed with suspicion by both townspeople and country folk.
  
• The Wandering Jew is a figure of folklore. In legends, he is supposed to have been a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the cross and was cursed to wander the earth forever until Judgement Day (well, that's terribly unChristian lack of grace for you).

For a large part of my life, I've had the feeling that I was wandering far from that which was truly home, always eager to move on, thirsting for the next journey, wondering what's on the other side of the mountain or the ocean. Maybe it's genetic: at any given time, my cousins are spread out over several continents, a girl or two in each state, and the continents (and girls) keep changing. They try to settle down, they attempt engagement, but soon the wanderlust is too great and in the end, they just pass through and on to the next place. Maybe the same dis-ease is shared by all mankind.

Is the solution the gospel? Is the answer, as Peter Furler suggests, for the church to be a home for the homeless and fathers to the fatherless?

Perhaps the local community of believers, the church might be somewhere we could call "home". But the gospel suggests and the Bible confirms that the implication of knowing and trusting in God is not that we will be able to call anywhere "home". Rather, we will not be accepted anywhere: we will be aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11) in any society we attempt to enter, in any country, in any culture.

For now...

For the writer of Hebrews says of Abraham and all the faithful with him:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

...a city which we can finally call "home" and find our rest...

Greetings Earthlings

Hello everyone!!!
*waves from a sunny secluded Sentosa beach*

"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false." (Psalm 24:1-4)

That wasn't King David, that isn't us. That's Jesus Christ, that is.

Sydney Anglicans

The Sydney Anglicans kenna Wiki-ed.

Phillip Jensen and Peter Jensen also kenna.

You may edit perceived inaccuracies if you wish.

The Arrogance of Helping the Less Fortunate

We in developed countries like to do our bit for the less fortunate in Third World countries, donating clothes and food, raising money and attempting to make poverty history by wearing fashion accessories and putting up concerts like Live 8 or persuading guilt-stricken school children to donate their lunch money to sponsor a child in Africa or adventurously popping in to a developing country to build a school for kids dressed in rags, and at the end of the day, patting ourselves on the back and feeling good about helping the poor and starving. Perhaps we should not be so arrogant.

In conjunction with the G8 summit earlier this month, Spiegel spoke with Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialised nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years.

more...

It has been suggested that the figures of those needing aid have been exaggerated (sound familiar?). There is also some suggestion that financial aid perpetuates corrupt cruel dictatorships, food aid destroys the livelihood of local farmers, and the mass dumping of used clothing lays waste the local clothing industries. And people in Vietnam don't need religious tourists short-term missionaries to come and build their schools.

Why do we assume that we know best what the needs of developing countries are? Why do we not assess the situation or seek local advice before riding into town on our high horses and shooting the wrong man?

Oxfam gave some thought to this in its guidelines on involving locals in decision-making mechanisms in the provision of aid. (Thanks to Huichieh for the link.)

Our arrogance in dealing with the Third World is somewhat like our arrogance in dealing with God. We say we will relate to Him however we want, we will give Him whatever worship we want to give Him. All our religions will certainly lead to the same God, because we want it to be so. Why bother finding out about Him? Surely what ever theory we have is correct.

And so the Israelites decided to worship God with a golden calf (Deuteronomy 9). And God in His wrath was angry enough to wipe them off the face of the earth completely, but in His great mercy spared them. Only to have them many generations later, continue to decide that God was to be despised and so anyhow worship also can (as we have recently seen in Malachi).

Buying Cars and Stumbling Others

We've spent the last few weeks helping someone search for a car. This morning, she sent out this email:

Yo guys.
Thanks for helping me in this car search thingie. Really appreciate it.

Had to think about loads of stuff while contemplating whether to purchase a car:
Q: Is this a good stewardship of money?
Q: Do I really need a car?
Q: How can the car be used to serve others?
Q: What car would be the best use of God's money for which I would have to give an accounting on the last day?

It just occurred to me that another factor to think about is that I live within a community of believers, a church. Therefore the purchase of a car not only affects me but also affects others within the local family of Christ. In purchasing a car, I should not stumble anyone. A pretty car or perceived-to-be luxurious car might cause others to lust after it and covet it even if price-wise, it costs less than a soul-less new Jap/Korean car.

You might know me well enough to know how much I appreciate (perhaps demand) beauty in objects: classic leather-strapped Rolexes, soft-calf Bally leather, the exact shade of black on Prada goods... I think I can say in good conscience that my love for the beauty in these things is intrinsic and not tied to any praise or admiration I may garner for being the owner of these items.

Similarly, the look and sound of a Beetle or the classy curves of a classic BMW or Merc or Aston Martin...

But even though any of these may actually be a better use of money than the purchase of a new Jap/Korean (with the welcome addition of some character), I guess there is the danger that they might cause brothers and sisters to stumble. Therefore, I have decided to look for the ugliest, most uncovetable working used car possible [Q: Does this work for husbands as well? ;-p].

Of course there is the 3-strand reason for why we sin: the world, Satan and our flesh. So people might still covet my ugly car but the least I can do is show my love for my church family by not putting stumbling blocks in places where I know some people might trip over.

Please hold me to this.

[PS: It scares me that I teared as I made this decision. In all conscious memory, I've never ever considered any car other than a classic. It's almost like giving away apart of something entrenched within me, some cherished dream. But what is that compared to the invaluable godliness of others. Yet, it's scary to realise how much I still treasure things of this world...]

Postscript: after the car was acquired, she had this to say:

A car was necessary because I continue to reside in ulus-ville and waste loads of time (and other people's time) attempting to get to civilisation and meet others. A car would mean weekend, beforework and afterwork time can be used more efficiently for ministry and errands, rather than waiting for a taxi/bus/lift out of the house.

Am quite sad to have to stop taking lifts because the enforced proximity that is a function of lift-taking has helped to nurture many a friendship and provided the enjoyment of not just a few fellowships discussing God's words and works. Never mind. Now, I shall be another provider of enforced proximity for friendship and fellowship.

:-)

Christian Assurance at PTBC

The Project Timothy Bible Conference was great for the good fellowship over God's word. Numerous walks along the River Longkang of Singapore yielded:

beautifully disused warehouses


a colourful Clarke Quay (with S pretending to be a terracotta soldier)


erm...a water droplet blimp...



nightly shared supper fry-ups at Zion Road "Riverside" Food Centre (and loads of "see you in Zion" jokes)


beer mats (and last night's party people) drying out outside Gallery Hotel in the morning light,


great brekkie munchies from Simply Bread,

and encouraging discussions about God's assurance of our salvation.

It's somewhat surprising (and yet surprising to be surprised about it) that assurance is not a distinct academic doctrine all on its own but just the gospel again. Only more-ish (as people who write books like "How to be a Domestic Goddess" are wont to say).

The gospel is after all the good news. And the good news is that although we cannot find anyway to stop ourselves from our downward plunge, hurtling towards complete destruction, God himself has reached out a kind and loving hand to halt our fall and carry us to safety.

The good news is also that this salvation from destruction isn't earned by us in any way. Like Jacob, we were chosen before we were born, before we could have done anything to merit this salvation. (More on predestination here.)

The good news is that this salvation is by God's grace alone: we are beneficiaries of God's undeserved favour, recipients of a free gift far more valuable than if someone had stopped us at a crowded sweaty bus stop and given us keys to a flaming Lamborghini.

So what assurance do we have that we won't at some point fall away and continue our plunge towards eternal death?

Our assurance is in the very good news that saved us in the first place (just more-ish):

• for in believing in the good news, we believe that we are outright rebels against God and sinners and cannot save ourselves from our just deserts, but that only God can save us and has saved us through the death of his Son on the cross;
• and in believing this perspective of the world to be true, we are actually trusting (1) that the words of God set out in the bible are true and accurate; and (2) that God's promise of salvation to those who repent of their rebellion against him and believe in him and the efficacy of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins is trustworthy; and (3) that God himself is trustworthy and will fulfil his promise in the end, and also (4) that God is God and therefore has the ability to fulfil his promise in the end;
• and in depending on the trustworthiness of God and also understanding that our salvation is by God's grace alone, that he reached out a hand and stopped us from falling, then we will continue by God's grace alone and he will carry us till the end, because he is faithful and trustworthy;and if anyone needs more evidence, well, God has already done the harder thing by sending his only Son to die on the cross as propitiation for our sins and to redeem us from slavery to Satan. If God has done the harder thing, what would prevent him from doing what he promised and keeping us till the end (Romans 5:9-10; 8:32)?
• there is no assurance of salvation for those who continue to sin with a high hand, but in believing in the good news, through the working of the Spirit in our hearts and wills, we trust (as mentioned earlier) that God's take on reality as set out in the Bible is the only true and accurate interpretation, so we will not subject God's word to our own interpretation of reality (whether we call it reasoning or logic or something else) but instead subject our brains to and renew our minds with God's word, and will heed the warnings not to revert to our rebellion against our own Maker but to live under him and give him the respect and honour due to him. Therefore and thusly, we are kept safe from falling back to terrible destruction.

It is a great great comfort that ultimately, the certainty of our salvation rests on God and not on ourselves. Do we trust ourselves to ensure that we don't fall away? Do we have the ability to ensure that we don't fall away? Like Ray Galea, I don't trust myself to do that and I know I can't do that. Without God, I would happily and very stupidly resume my puny rebellion against God in a blink of an eye.

Thank God that our inheritance is entrusted to One far far more trustworthy than ourselves. Thank God that our priceless treasure is stored up in heaven for us safe and sound so we won't be hoodwinked into trading it in for a bowl of lentil stew.

Are Christians arrogant to say they are sure that they will end up in heaven? Their assurance comes not from their gross overestimation of their own resources but the very fact that they acknowledge that they cannot make it but the One who is steadfast and true will come through for them because he has promised to do so, he is willing to do so and he is able to do so.

"To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." (Jude 1:24-25)

Retro Snacks

The poor secretaries are going through deep funks, brought on by mass resignations and the continuous murmurings against the Big Boss, chasing each other in a rapid downward depressive spiral. So I have decided to attempt first to chemically alter their moods by the introduction of a new food group: retro snacks, prior to talking about the fallenness of this world and the meaning of life and the big picture of our existence.

The first experiment caused some mood elevation:

eating off fingers stuck through Cheezels rings.

Kaka was a great hit with the male passer-bys (even without those free little plastic toys which used hide among the edibles)

For future reference, decided to make a list of "retro" snacks. Please feel free to contribute!

Mamee Monster Snacks

Twisties

Calbee prawn crackers

Hiro Chocolate Cake

Ding Dang


Apollo wafer dengan krim coklat

Boro biscuits

Kit Kat

Pocky

Yan Yan

Lotte Koala Chocolate Biscuits

Hello Panda

Collon biscuits

Ritz crackers

Chicken in a Biscuit

Chips Ahoy

Iced Gem biscuits

Bee-Bee Snacks

Tenkei marshmellows

HACKS medicated cough drops

the very collectible PEZ

Milkmaid condensed milk that was slathered onto bread, biscuits, ice kachang...

fizzies in glass bottles especially Kickapoo Joy Juice, Green Spot orange drink

Yakult

Bovril WITH the beef in it...not this vegetarian nonesense nowadays

Return to Flight

Last week, NASA slammed a probe into comet Tempel 1 ostensibly to gather data that they hoped would answer questions about the creation of the solar system. Hopefully they didn't decimate a extraterrestrial lifeform in the process (makes you wonder about the dinosaurs and those theoretical comets). Not a very polite way of starting a War of the Worlds scenario.

Back on earth, humans, with their own eccentric ways of commemorating such occasions, incorporated computer simulations of the Deep Impact probe in flight with footage of Billy Haley and His Comets in a music video:

and one promptly sued NASA for "disrupting the natural balance of forces in the universe".

Now, NASA is preparing for its first mission since the Columbia disaster in February 2003. Liftoff is set for 3:51 p.m. ET.

I've always been inordinately fascinated by any exploration of the universe. There is something terribly humbling about the vastness of space and our inability to even venture to a few specks of it in the enormous beach.

Of course, any study of the cosmos is humbling. As far as my layman's understanding of it goes, the world is not quite the neatly catalogued, efficiently filed away, certain place that physics, chemistry, biology or geology school textbooks would have us believe: here we are, sitting on a speck whose age we cannot determine with any accuracy. We have theories about how it manages to rotate around the sun without smashing into it or be thrown off into deep space, but they are only guesstimates until a better theory comes along. We have theories about the creatures that lived many years before us but even with the very few complete fossils we have, we sometimes manage to jumble up their body parts in recontruction and stick their thumbs on their noses. The theory of plate tectonics is fairly recent and wasn't accepted until the 1980s. We're not quite sure what the earth is made of and what we're sitting on and since no one has seen the interior of the earth, what is taught as geological fact is mere postulation.

Then there is the uncertainty of how life began, and even if we just concentrate on the life that is on this planet at this moment, we have barely scratched the surface of the enormous amounts of creatures and species that exist. And even if we just concentrate on one species, the homo sapiens, we hardly understand the whys and wherefores of its physiology, anatomy, genetics, race and ethnic differentiations, sexualities, intelligence, psychology, emotions, biological disease...

The pompousity of our current understanding is embarrassing given that it is only infinitely and picayunically paltry. The cosmos is so infinite and complex, yet to us who believe, it is very simple:

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.

The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:6-22)

Moths and Environmental Destruction

Quite a bit after midnight, this ungainly biped was absently scratching the rumbly tummy and wandering out of a room in search of a snack when it almost accidentally ground to dust a large Lyssa zampa that was sitting (not very intelligently) just outside the door of the room.

Chinese superstition has it that these moths are the spirits of ancestors and loved ones saying goodbye before they return to Hell, probably because the annual emergence of the Lyssa zampa somewhat coincides with the annual Hungry Ghost Festival Month.

The less amateurish theorise that drops in predator population have led to increased numbers of the moths and the monsoon season, to the moth visitation of urban areas (a bit waffley if you ask me...might as well just blame deforestation as usual).

Of course the long and bitterly-held accusation that environmentalists have against industrialists is that they are in the process of obliterating the life-sustaining earth, having already severely disrupted the fragile ecosystems of the world. Less waste, less pollution, less desecration, go back to the organic and natural and all will be well.

Not so. It is not often remembered that destruction of the environment by humans did not start only in the last few centuries since the Industrial Revolution. It started right at the beginning with the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.

When Adam and Eve attempted to usurp God, their relationship with God was torn assunder and so too their relationship with the rest of nature. By falling from the perfect relationship with their Creator, they caused the rest of creation to fall with them as well, so now beautifully symmetrical Lyssa zampas die far from their lush jungles, surrounded by cold concrete, and are swept up angrily by people who think their existence a complete nuisance.

Less waste, less pollution and less deforestation are not the perfect answers. But God's environmental rescue plan is.

Psalms, Praise and Worship

Between

pretty decent pepper crab and

pretty decent waffles,
was stopped in tracks by a very decent doppelgänger in Sin Ming
of the souped up Toyota AE86 Trueno driven by Jay Chou in Initial D

Didn't wait to see the driver of the doppelgänger. Too shored up in our current reading of Psalms.

Everyone likes the Book of Psalms. It's poetic, it's lyrical, it's beautiful. But pay attention to the words and not everyone can in all honesty praise God with those words.

The word "praise" itself is often used to mean "sing a song to God". "First we'll have a time of praise and worship before Pastor XXX comes up to give us the sermon", say many songleaders (or "worship leaders" as they are misleadingly termed). Many think that "praise and worship" releases the presence of God into a Christian meeting, so they can "have a personal experience of God's presence" (eg. the "liver shivers" or "warm fuzzies"). Some Christians use "praise and worship" as an attempted means of getting God to act. However, this was not how it was meant to be...

It is in fact, no better than the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. Contrast this with Elijah's behaviour, which is almost "anti-worship". Elijah "tries to create an atmosphere which is non-conducive to divine intervention (for example, pouring water over the sacrifice)" and then uses only "a short prayer of dependence" which is based on Yahweh's prior faithfulness, rather than being "an attempt to rouse God to act".

This contrast between Israel's worship and that of her neighbours can be simply stated in an antithesis: for Israel, worship was the response to God's action, not the means of rousing it...

The view that our "praise and worship" rouses God to act in some way is attractive because it gives us a part to play in the divine activity. It makes us feel as though we are able to create the atmosphere which is conducive to God's blessing - that my singing, praying and praising somehow invites God's presence. Attractive as it might be to some, I hope it is obvious that this way of thinking cuts right across the gospel of sheer grace. (John Dickson, "Worship and the Digeridoo")

What then is "praise"? And how does one do "praise"?

Tony Payne writes in Confessions of a Teenage Praise Junkie,

The Hebrew title for the Psalms ("tehillim") means simply "praises", and certainly we cannot read many psalms without coming across the familiar call to praise ("Praise the LORD") or some other expression of praise ("I will praise you, O LORD").

In their original context, the Psalms were probably something like Israel's hymnbook. Many, if not all, of them were accompanied by music, and it seems likely that the temple was the usual place where they were sung.

But if it is clear that music was often involved in Israel's praise, it is just as clear that it was the accompaniment to praise, not the praise itself. Singing was often the mode of expression, and musical instruments were the accompaniment ("I will praise you with the lyre and harp"), but what was it that was being expressed and accompanied? When the call rang out to "Praise the LORD", what did Israelite in the congregation expect to happen next? What was the "praise"?

...as is so often the case with biblical words and ideas, the Hebrew word translated "praise" describes a much more ordinary and mundane activity. Suppose we see a friend doing something excellent, or notice a fine quality or attribute in his character. "Praise" happens when, having observed this excellence, we tell others about it. We might stand our friend up in front of his peers and tell them all, right in front of him, just what he has done, and how excellent it is. We praise him. We describe how noble is his character or how extraordinary his achievements.

Praise is this proclamation of how good someone is. It is advertising. In the Psalms, it is advertising about God. It consists of telling forth as loudly and widely as possible, the excellences of the God of Israel, that everyone might honour him.

Thus, when there is an exhortation to praise God in the Psalms, it is invariably followed by the praise itself--the declaration of his mighty character and deeds for the individual or the nation. Psalm 96 is a classic example:

Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. (Psalm 96:1-6)

This public proclamation of God's greatness in the Psalms covers the full range of God's character and achievements. He is acclaimed for being the all-powerful Creator and sustainer of all things (Psalms 74; 104), the Judge of the Earth (Ps 33:6-9,13-15; 11), who rules with righteousness (Psalm 9:8) and acts with an unfailing steadfast love (Psalm 136). The Psalms ring with the wonder that this mighty, righteous, good God has entered into covenant with Israel, that he has stooped from his heights to love them in their depths. He is Israel's Redeemer, both corporately (Psalms 105; 136; 89) and individually (Psalms 22; 30; 32).

Praise, then, is essentially advertising, as odious as that comparison might seem. In fact, to tease the comparison out further, it is like advertising in three ways.

Praise and music
Like advertising, praise can be accompanied by music, although music is not the essence of it. Music is to praise as the jingle is to advertising. It can make it effective, memorable, even grand, but unless the product is actually described and promoted, the music is of little use.

In the case of praising God, it is of course most appropriate to make a noise about it--as in Psalm 150 where a veritable orchestra is assembled to accompany the praise. It is appropriate not only because of the joy and celebration that naturally well up in God's people as they recall all God's mercies, but also because it makes the advertising more effective. The music is not for God's benefit, as if he likes a nice tune, or like Baal needs waking up by loud noise. It is more for those who hear, so that in the context of the temple gathering the proclamation of God’s greatness can have a grand effect.

Perhaps a modern psalmist would write: "Praise our God with a powerful PA system, and with the loudspeaker turned up to 11."

Different forms
Like advertising, praise can take different forms. Very often in the Psalms, it is in the third person--that is, it is spoken or sung about God, being addressed to those listening rather than to God himself. This takes place in God's presence, undoubtedly, but it is addressed to those who are listening:

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD. (Ps 113:3-9).

Sometimes it is in the form of a personal testimony:

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:1-3).

And sometimes it is addressed directly to God himself:

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise. I will bow down towards your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stout-hearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. (Psalm 138:1-4)

However, even when praise is addressed to God, it has the character of proclamation. The psalmist speaks or sings to God about all the things God is and has done, but he is doing so in front of others. God is "praised" when others hear of the marvellous things he has done. Which brings us to the third respect in which praise is like advertising.

Praise is public
Just as one can't conduct an advertising campaign in private, so one can't "praise" in private. The basic nature of praise is the public proclamation, acknowledgment and acclamation of God. Notice how the psalmist expresses this in Psalm 40:

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly. (Psalm 40:9-10)

It is as if the act of rescue or deliverance is not for the psalmist alone. It is given to him that he might proclaim it to the whole community. To conceal it, to keep it to himself, is unthinkable. He must testify in the great assembly (cf. Psalm 35:18).

This, of course, is not to say that in our private prayers we do not give thanks to God for who he is and what he has done. We express our adoration for his glorious character and works. Yet, if we are going to use biblical words we should use them in a biblical way. This personal, private thanksgiving is not "praise" in the biblical sense. Praise always has the character of public proclamation.

Advertising and us
In the New Testament, praise has the same basic shape as in the Old Testament. As Hebrews 13:15 puts it:

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Or as Peter expresses it:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Praise is a confession, a testimony, a declaration of what God has done. Of course, for us, upon whom the end of the ages has come, praise is no longer focused on the physical temple in Jerusalem and its worship. Through Jesus, we are all temples of the Holy Spirit, and so praise takes place not in the cultic context of a temple gathering, but whenever and wherever we "confess his name". When we declare his greatness to others, telling of how he has shown us mercy and called us to be his own people, then we are praising God.

In the New Testament, then, praise is somewhat similar to evangelism. It is the advertisement of God's mighty saving deeds. Because of what God has done for us, we testify. It is not something that we only do in church, any more than we only proclaim the gospel when we gather together. It is not something that is only ever set to music.

This democratisation or expansion of praise in the New Testament mirrors the way so many Old Testament categories are transformed in Christ--"temple", "worship", "priest", "sacrifice", and so on. In fact, many of the errors and problems we face in church life stem from a failure to recognise this transformation.

In the case of praise, many churches fail to free themselves from an Old Testament/temple way of thinking about how praise should happen. Praise is seen as a cultic, religious activity or experience, set to music, to be conducted in church. Just as God was seen to be specially present in the Old Testament temple, so his special presence is manifest when songs of praise are sung, and a particular atmosphere is created.

But in Christ, the Father comes and makes his home within each of us through his Spirit. He is constantly present. Our spiritual worship is the sacrifice of our whole lives to him (Romans 12:1-2), and our praise, similarly, is the lifelong and lifewide confession before the world of what he has done for us.

It must also be said that many churches today fail to recognise the basic nature of praise, in the Psalms and in the New Testament. Praise is not making beautiful music for God. It is not a personal, mystical encounter with God. Nor do we praise God by saying,"We praise you God, thank you Jesus, Hallelujah".

Praise is advertising. It is remembering and declaring who God is and what he has done. It takes place in his hearing, but it is done by telling others. It is boasting about God, speaking well of him, broadcasting his virtues and excellences. It springs from salvation, from what he has done for us. Praise is the testimony of the redeemed.

Elevation 280 and "Praise"

The publicity for Heineken's Elevation 280 came in the form of green parking party coupons.

with the relevant drinking and driving instructions

and stick men liberated from their throwing-rubbish-into-bins existence to party

on the roof of the very retro Market Street carpark.

Sustenance could be had in the throbbing vicinity in the form of sizzling satay chunks and crisp ice cold beers.

Loved the live scratching and freestyling. It was enjoyable all the more because it was very clear to me that I was jiiving unadulteratedly to the phat beats. Slap on the "Christian" label and throw in a few key Christian words like "Jesus" and "God", and I'd be most dodgified. It would be difficult for me to know if my emotional response was a product of my love for God and acknowledgement of his great magnificence as our Saviour and Creator, or if it's just the excitement of experiencing boundary-pushing music.

This is not to say that I think that the praise and worship of God in music and song should be dull and monophonic and sung by an out-of-tune deaf old wheezer who looks like he'd expire with the next breath, but that thought should be given to discerning why we demand "catchy" melodies and charismatic energetic thumping bands to sing praises of God.

If it is really our goal to sing praises of God, why wouldn't we be satisfied with an out-of-tune deaf old wheezer who looks like he'd expire with the next breath?

Slavery and How White Men Don't Get To Heaven

White supremists base their atrocious theory of the supremacy of the white-skinned man and their right to enslave black-skinned men from Africa on appallingly twisted readings of the Bible.

They start with mangling Genesis 9:18-27, the account of Noah and family after they exited the ark. Noah curses one of his sons, Ham:

Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.

The problem for the white supremists was proving that the blacks were in fact the descendants of Ham. Linguists conveniently emerged to argue that in Hebrew, "Ham" meant "black". Genesis 10:6-14 also provided for them a happy link: that the descendants of Ham were inhabitants of Egypt (not quite dark-skinned enough) and Ethiopia (ahhh...much better).

Stuff and poppycock of course.

There is no concept of the supremacy of any race in God's eyes. There is no one righteous, not even one. Everyone has turned away and together have become worthless (Romans 3). We are all slaves, for slavery means offering yourself to someone to obey him as such. We are either slaves to sin (which leads to death) or slaves to God (which leads to righteousness and everylasting life) (Romans 6).

Now if we wanted to concoct a supremely misguided Asian Supremacy theory, we could very heretically make the Bible say what we want it to say as well. Obadiah is a good place to start. Obadiah prophesies the terrible judgement of God on the descendants of Edom.

Edom of course means red (Genesis 25:25). Edom was also called Esau, which means hairy (Genesis 25:25) for the chap was red and hairy...which any beng linguist will tell you is ang moh in Hokkien. Which refers to a white-skinned Caucasian. Therefore, white-skinned people are doomed to hell and everlasting destruction.

[Here endeth a most unedifying misreading of the Bible.]

The point of Obadiah is not the fate of the white man of course, but that of those who have not come into a living relationship with God; who live arrogantly thinking themselves secure and safe in their rebellion against God. Do not be deceived, says Obadiah, there will indeed come a day when God will judge us all for our response to him.

7/7

Anxious transcontinental calls have been made to confirm the safety of friends and relations.

The dust is settling. Fingers are starting to point.

Wall Street Journal chronicles the 7/7 aftermath in London. Londonist provides an almost minute-by-minute chronology. Newspapers get ahead of the media pack with newsblogs.

A flickr pool forms.

A leaf is inserted into the Wikipedia tome.

The same tome notes impassionately the occurrence of the September 11 attacks, the 2002 Bali bombing and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

When J F Kennedy was assassinated, it seemed to many people of our parent's generation that the world had changed suddenly and irrevocably. There were days and weeks of shock and mourning. Then life went on: everywhere, babies were born, grew up, lost their milk teeth, scrapped their knees, fell in love, some went to school, did a bit of work money, had a few kids perhaps, then passed on.

And so it will be with the September 11 attacks, the Bali bombing, the Boxing Day tsunami and the most recent 7/7 bombings in London. Has anything really changed then with these incursions into our comfortable complacent lives?

For an enlightening moment in time, we are jolted from our illusory stupor and unthinking assumption that life is safe, secure and certain; that we can plan with confidence the next minute, the next hour, the next day of our lives.

Life is actually terribly and suddenly uncertain (and very successfully so). There you could be, riding the bus or train to work or school, strategising your morning meeting or doing some last minute swotting for exams when without warning, there is a loud noise and various chunks of you are plastered on the walls.

Startled survivors and consumers of the latest news gasp indignantly,"It could have been me!" "Far too close for comfort!" complain others with a little shiver.

The meaninglessness of the deaths is another common talking point. Of course it's not usually termed as such. "Innocent bystanders" or "innocent victims" are the words used, meaning, these people weren't soldiers fighting for their country, they weren't in a war-torn country providing humanitarian aid, nor committing any crime, in fact, they hadn't even antagonised anyone by staring at them. They were just innocently minding their own business and going about their little lives when abruptly they were dead or maimed. (Of course it's just as meaningless as stepping off a kerb and being squished by a bus or death by choking on a pretzel, but that's not as newsworthy.)

Innocent...

Is anyone really innocent?

Neil Gaiman and Book Signings

Neil Gaiman in Singapore. Not Death. Looks a bit like Dream of the Endless. Or...dare i say it...David Schwimmer...

*promptly gets beaten up by a dozen Goth chicks*

Book signings.

Why do authors do book signings?

Literary agents recommend it as a good way to market one's books and build up one's fan base. Seasoned book signers, it is said, would know how to work the crowd to create social interaction between themselves and their audience and also between the people waiting in line to get their books signed. Who knows? They might get together and start another fan club. The publicity posters, the announcements in the bookshop, the popping camera flashes, the snaking queue and the media reviews enhance the author's profile, visibility and brand, generate interest and might induce curious onlookers to pick up a book or two, thereby increasing sales (and royalties). Gaiman says that he isn't in it to make money.

I do them because it's good to go and meet people, and because, while exhausting, they're also more or less fun, and because it makes a change from sitting in a room and making things up. And it makes numbers into people, which I like.

Why do people go to book signings then?

Some want to be recognised and acknowledged by the author as his fans. They want to connect with him and own a bit of him (even if it is his swiggle). Some are curious about what the author looks like, how he gets his ideas and why he expressed them in this particular way. The more mercenary go to book signings to increase the value of their books after the author's death.

It's interesting that although many of the people that Project Timothy bring in are good and even popular authors in their own right, none of them have ever done a book signing. Suggest to an evangelical that he get his copy of Graeme Goldsworthy or Vaughan Roberts signed, and he'd stare at you with horror and (after checking your temperature) offer to do Two Ways to Live with you again.

I sometimes give books and CDs as utilitarian presents. Don't scribble well wishes in them so people can re-gift or sell the stuff if they want to, but many girlies get offended: "it's not personal like that" some say, "we have nothing to remember you by". And if I become a famous preacher or writer, others say, they would be able to pull out the gift, show it to their grandchildren and say they knew me from way before. Of course if I ended up a mass murderer or infamous hacker or virus programmer [this almost happened recently when i accidentally left my executable virus experiments lying around at home], they'd shake their head and warn the kiddies not to follow in my murky footsteps.

If one of us does manage to string together some words or produce a CD that people would actually be willing to pay hard-earned money for, and someone asked us to autograph their book or CD, what should we do?

Should we scoff at their "immaturity", rebuke them for putting us mere humans on a pedestal and subsequently turn this shocking behaviour into a sermon illustration?

I guess firstly, we shouldn't judge their motives before talking to them.

Secondly, while talking to them, Phillip Jensen's account of a wedding-ring blessing incident is instructional in thinking about the confluence of the love for God, love for right theology and love for people:
PJ was telling a young pastor that a visiting couple had approached him before a service and asked him to bless their wedding ring.

"Surely you didn't agree!" gulped the young pastor at this superstitious travesty.

"Surely I did", murmured PJ. He met the couple after the service, sat them down at the back of the church hall and asked about their marriage. They talked and laughed about and gave thanks for the joys and prayed about the problems. He told them the gospel and of God's great and wonderful design for marriage.

Did he ever bless the wedding ring? Like PJ's middle name, that awaits further revelation.

But the point is this: if the gospel is true and God's words recorded in Scripture are true, then truth isn't just confined to formal meetings like bible studies or services or to strict legalities where we require every one to jump through our Pharisaic hoops. The truth about God, about right theology and about love for others goes out to meet people where they are. And when it meets them, it cares for them gently and genuinely.

Visiting Death

Visited Death again recently…in a dusty childhood collection of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Gaiman portrays death anthropomorphically as a hot Goth chick with a silver ankh around her neck, an agreeable practical perky elder-sisterish personality and an eccentric collection of floppy hats. She is kindly, encouraging and loving to those whom she goes out to greet.

The anthropomorphism of death in all cultures throughout the history of mankind is rarely questioned. The ancient Greeks had Thanatos (reincarnated as Thanos in the Marvel comics universe; a comely young lady wearing a diaphanous purple robe), the Roman copycats had Mors and the cat-worshipping Egyptians, Anubis. The Hindus have Yama. Popular Western culture personifies death as the Grim Reaper, an intimidating skeleton wearing a black hooded cloak and carrying a scythe.

Terry Prachett's parody of the Grim Reaper is a curious seven-footer who is intrigued by humans and attempts to live like them: he has a horse named Binky who is a normal living horse (originally, Death tried the more traditional skeletal horse, but it kept falling apart; and a flaming horse, but it kept burning down the stables), he lives in an upper-middle class house (although he has no need of one), has a bedroom (although he doesn't need to sleep) and doesn't realise that pipes have to be hollow. he loves curry (although he doesn't need to eat). He doesn't like chess though, because he cannot remember "how the little horse-shaped ones move" (a cheeky allusion to The Seventh Seal, where Death has a Swedish accent and plays chess with a medieval knight).

The Death who stopped politely for Emily Dickinson is a genteel citizen; the very figure of a gentleman taking a lady for a carriage (one that "swings low" perhaps?) ride.

What do we think of death?

Do we attempt to downplay our fear of it by constructing a fictional welcoming Goth chick or an ally of humanity and an efficient but maligned worker just performing a public service (and who is replaced by a combine harvester when he goes on holiday)?

But we are right to fear death, no matter how 'natural' and certain it is. For there will be a time when we will all lie in a coffin, cold and still. A fly will alight on our nose and no one will flick it away. Perhaps we may not even make it to the obituary page. Maybe no one will come to our wake. Tall or short, fat, buff or rake-thin, rich or poor, head-turningly good-looking or scream-worthily ugly, we will be burned or buried (or if we were caught in a terrorist blast, have our DNA spread over a 1m radius). Possibly we will be mourned for, for a while and then soon forgotten. Our hopes and dreams will be burned or buried with us, and our writings and works which we held precious thrown out with the garbage. Our graffiti on school walls will be painted over and the foundations and trust-funds we established dissipated to nothingness. Our blood-line will die out. And there is nothing we can do about it.

We want to control our lives:

• our education by studying hard and having good examination strategies;
  
• our career by proper presentation at job interviews, impressing the boss and doing the right things to beef up the CV;
  
• our family by marrying the right person and having proper marriage and parenting skills and techniques;
  
• our money by savvy investing and prudent wealth management; and
  
• even our colleagues and friends by politicking, emotional blackmail and psychological horseplay.

Yet, we cannot plan for death; we cannot control when we die (suicide excepted but even then, there are always those bunglers who don't quite make it out of life).

I've heard cancer patients die unwillingly, braying loudly like mad donkeys, struggling to keep breathing and keep living. Others describe the painful gasping for breath and flailing of arms as some are dragged towards death, their eyes wide with fear and terror of the unknown.

As a young child, I was sickly and in and out of hospitals. One strong memory I have is of lying on an operating table, sleepy but conscious of my surroundings. The surgeon switches off the operating lights and my parents hover just within sight. The surgeon is talking to my parents. I try to call out to them but my mouth won't open and no sound comes out. The surgeon's voice is thick and muffled but I make out that he is telling them that there is nothing more he can do, he is sorry. What is he talking about? I'm alive and fine! I try to protest with my arms. Nothing moves. I try kicking. My feet are still. I can't even blink. They move away and out of sight. I sink back into oblivion.

Would death be like that, I've always wondered: the lonely separation from the ones we know and love, the impenetrable wall between the living and the dead; friendless, still, stiff; 'wrecked, solitary and alone'?

Who can accompany us as we take our last breath? We may have an adoring crowd around our bed as we die, but not even our closest friend holding our fading hand will be able go with us. We leave the life we've lived and the world we knew and the people we've treasured and travel the journey alone. It is our rightful penalty for sin (Genesis 3, Romans 5).

But death is not the end and death is certainly not the most frightening thing to ever happen to us. There will come a day when all the dead from all the ages past, present and to come will rise again. Great and small, they will all stand before the throne of God and he will judge them according to what they had done while they lived (Revelation 20:12). Words cannot describe how much more terrible than death that day will be for those who do not know God, for they remain his enemies and will be condemned to everlasting death.

Yet for those who knew God and acknowledged his kingship while in the flesh, that day will be a most glorious day. From then on, the dwelling of God will be with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-4).

With that certain hope and future, as we who believe take our last breath, we can say, not with silly bravado but with solid confidence,

"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)

For in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross in place of our sins, death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Elisabeth Elliot

Post-church camp, the conversations were awash with topics like love, romance, dating and matchmaking. Books were recommended to the interested, the two most touted authors being Elisabeth Elliot and Joshua Harris.

Many girls I know, especially those who were already believers in their teenage years, have always enthused about Elisabeth Elliot as "woman after God's heart" and their role model. Curious, I recently borrowed some books off RG.

The Mark of a Man is a book written ostensibly for her nephew, Pete. Didn't find it very helpful. Much of the book is taken up with her recounting with disdain and a lot of head-shaking, thoughts and behaviour which she deemed unacceptable. But there is a singular lack of well-argued points from the Bible why such ideas or actions are unacceptable. When she does quote from the Bible, her usage of verses is sometimes out of context of the originating passage. More ironically, as she exhorts men to be strong, to take the initiative and to lead, she prevents them from doing so by teaching them and having authority over them, ignoring the very practical injunction of 1 Timothy 2:12. Why then does she narrate with such surprise and derision that after she'd lectured them about being manly, the men she taught refused to listen to her?

Right, I thought. Perhaps she's much better at writing for the girlies. So on to the much-feted Passion and Purity.

Didn't expect it to approximate a schoolgirl's gushing diary: Jim Elliot's good looks, his wrestler's body, his smile, his little quirks, her squeals of delight at his attentions, his passing words to her treasured and replayed, the first date, the cute long conversations alone at the Lagoon…and I thought head-in-gas-oven Sylvia Plath was bad… Elliot's book traces her obsession with Jim Elliot and desire for romance from the time they met until they got married.

It's true that she does use pietistic words like "surrender", "wait upon the Lord" and "little deaths" and preaches God as Lord and master, but the focus of all this is still very much self-centredly on her and not God: her life, her love, her loneliness, her needs. She asks, "what's the will of God for me?" Or rather,"I know that I want Jim, give him to me". "God, speak to me", she asks. Yet, when Jim finally thinks that God "calls" him to bachelorship and not to marriage to Elisabeth, they continue writing love letters to each other.

Elisabeth does not demonstrate any palpable love for God as she does for Jim. There is no dwelling on His great and magnificent qualities and wonderful works as she is fixated with Jim's.

In that light, her exhortations to "pour at God's feet the treasure trove of one's love", or advice that "waiting upon the Lord requires the willingness to bear with uncertainty" seems more concerned with works than God's grace; a narcissistic convent girl's piety and mania for cleanliness and purity within herself than any acknowledgement of her own dirty sinfulness and need of the undeserved favour of God.

Even her choosing to go into the Ecuadorian mission-field seems to be more to do with Jim than with any interest in preaching the good news to the unconverted.

"What do men look for?" she asks, and answers that women should keep their distance so that they will be an intriguing mystery to the men. Sounds much more like The Rules by pagan New Yorkers (all of whom were consequently divorced) rather than anything from the word of God.

An interesting account of one couple's "love story": two sinners in a fallen world, struggling to live God's way. But they never admit that their ways are tainted with sin but in fact hold it out as path to be followed. Definitely not a book I would recommend to anyone.

It was unsatisfying. I needed Real Food.

The main point of any Christian book on the subject should surely be that marriage is just for this life (Luke 20:27-38). Don't obsess about it. Don't spend hours talking about it with pals trying to second guess if Girl A likes you or if Boy G is actually chasing Girl B. Getting married so that you can finally get laid is not God's plan for your life. God's kingdom and his glory is. Git off yer arse and git ye to work!