Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Having attempted to pull an all-nighter to get Bible study prepped, I awoke abruptly at 7am to discover the light still on, my face in an open Bible and a very stiff hand still clutching a pen. Probably not what was meant by "fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads" (Deuteronomy 11:18).

Refreshed from the unexpected sleep, happily polished the study up, rounded up the Usual Suspects and rattled off to Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, a childhood hangout after organ lessons at the nearby Yamaha, for kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs.

CMC is well-known for its kaya. The kaya is made on the premises, in the back, in small vats.

The props kept getting eaten.

CMC Confectionery is at the junction of East Coast and Chapel Road, an egg's throw away from the famous Katong Antique House

and cross the lane from the Church of the Holy Family.

A good friend of mine became the priest there and the Usual Suspects were plotting evil things to say to him in the confession box. Fortunately, he's safe(?) on sabbathical in New York furthering his theological studies. And he's probably got enough to deal with in his own church: I was chatting with a jazz singer after her rather erratic gig and found out she went to Holy Family.

"Father ___ ? Oh. I luuuurrrvvvve him. I keep asking him to marry me."

Somehow, following a certain line of French literature (bearing in mind their very Catholic culture), men of the cloth and nuns always seem to incur the barely-bridled lust of the opposite sex. It could be the effect of power and charisma on the parishioners, or the perceived pureness that must be sullied, or the mistaking of good counselling skills for love.

It's not surprising to find that many Bible colleges include a compulsory course on the unique temptations in ministry. There is no sin that is not known to man, and no one is "safe" anywhere of course (even a hermit in the desert), so we live in a community and continue to remind and encourage each other to live godly lives whilst still in the flesh amongst other people still in the flesh, in the sinful world.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
204 East Coast Road
8.30am - 5pm, closed on Monday
It's apparently good for cream horns, custard puffs, swiss rolls and sugee cake too. No wonder my priest friend next door was being gifted with girth.

Parallel Imports

On the way to Four Seasons to meet assorted amiable ambassadors and have tea and scones with the aunties, we swung by Chinatown to grab a handful of parallel import CDs for some anti-somnambulic sampling.

Some people gawked at the cheap dirty-pink plastic bag that held the sweeties and asked incredulously,"You meet ambassador, carry fake CDs, not scared mata catch ah?"

Fortunately, without going into the legal technicalities of false imprisonment and circumstances in which arrest warrants are not required, parallel imports are not on par with pirated (ie. copyright-infringing and therefore illegal) CDs under Singapore law.

A long long time ago, in the last decade of the last millenium, when mata wore shorts and R.E.M. wasn't considered pop yet that sort of thing, parallel imports were held by the High Court of Singapore to be illegal. The very next year, Parliament swiftly reversed this sorry state of affairs by amending legislation to allow such imports.

So all the parallel importers of CDs lived happily ever after, legally selling and distributing their cheap wares in Singapore? Not quite. Although we don't have to navigate a maze of dodgy Chinatown shops to get our paws on parallel import CDs, and Gramophone and That CD Shop carry them openly, parallel import CDs still have a bad rep.

The Bad Rep of Parallel Imports
This may, in part, be due to the protectionist spew tendencies of the local distributors.

See, for example, this article from The New Paper (1 October 2004), reproduced here for educational purposes because the original url is no longer valid:

CD War: Parallel imports make local record companies see red
By Wendy Teo

Piracy and free music downloads are no longer the only enemies of the local music industry.

There is a new nemesis in town, and it's proving to be an even bigger threat than the other two.

The onslaught of parallel-imported CDs from China - on the local market since last year - are making record companies here reach for aspirins, in what they see as the biggest problem facing the industry now.

These made-in-China CDs - mostly from Shanghai - are retailing at nearly half the price of the local versions, and their comparable quality are making them a very attractive alternative to consumers here.

The difference between the two types of CDs is slight, with the parallel imports coming in a no-frills package, while the local ones usually come with a free disc. (See report on facing page.)

Most record companies that The New Paper spoke to reported at least a 20 per cent dip in sales as a result of the parallel imports.

Warner Music Singapore, which released Taiwanese band F.I.R's debut album in May, was expecting sales to have hit the 40,000 mark by now.

But it has barely sold 25,000 copies, a problem Warner's promotions manager Tan Puay Hoon puts down to the stiff competition from the parallel imports.

'Consumers tend to compare prices. If they just want the songs, they will go for the cheaper alternative.

'More over, while the price is as low as that of a pirated disc, it is not a pirated disc but an original one.'

SALES AFFECTED
Miss Gillian Tan, marketing manager of EMI Singapore, also lamented the less-than-spectacular sales of Elva Hsiao, Penny Tai and Chiang Mei-chi's recent greatest hits albums.

She told The New Paper: 'We were targeting for each of the albums to reach double platinum, which is 30,000 CDs. But, so far, we've only reached platinum, which is 15,000 CDs.'

Even the God Of Songs has not been spared.

According to Universal Music Singapore, Jacky Cheung's Cantonese album, Life Is Like A Dream, released in May, has fallen '30 to 40 per cent' short of target sales.

While record companies can take comfort that they usually have the market to themselves for one week before the parallel imports start flooding, the more popular artistes do not enjoy this time lag.

Especially badly hit is R&B darling Jay Chou.

Thanks to his popularity in the region, the parallel imports of his latest album, Common Jasmine Orange, arrived here within a couple of days of its local launch, posing head-on competition to the locally-distributed CDs.

Not only are these parallel imports driving the already-declining CD sales down further but, for local record companies, the bigger frustration is the inability to do anything about it.

Whereas the industry has been protected by the law against piracy and downloads, parallel imports are legal.

Even though it is specified on the CDs that they are 'for sale in China only', the Media Development Authority says that they 'are considered legal for retail in Singapore provided they have been submitted to the Board of Film Censors (BFC) and have the BFC certificates affixed to them'.

And retailers are cashing in. When The New Paper visited CD shops at Toa Payoh Central, four out of five were selling the parallel-imported CDs.

TS Group, one of the biggest video and audio chains here, currently stocks a 70:30 proportion of parallel imports to local versions.

CHEAP IMPORTS
Marketing manager Joseph Toh told The New Paper that the sales of the cheaper parallel imports has been rising fast since TS Group started to bring them in earlier this year.

Mr Toh also claimed that the profits margins from the imports are 20 per cent higher.

Consumers like engineer Tommy Lim, 26, are rejoicing.

He said: 'Why buy the more expensive one when you have the cheaper version? No doubt it comes with less frills, but I don't care because I'm just going for the songs.'

But there are hardcore fans like Sandra Chen, who insists on buying the locally-packaged version.

The 18-year-old student said: 'I believe that I'm paying more for the quality, as I've heard from friends that the parallel-imported CDs scratch easily after a few spins.'

Administrative officer Christine Tan, 21, agreed.

She said: 'If you buy the cheap one and you ask Jay Chou to sign on it, do you think he will sign?'

GOODWILL GESTURE
Like these fans, some retailers, like CD-Rama and Music Junction, have chosen to stick by the locally-manufactured CDs.

According to Music Junction manager Lenz Neo, the company's decision not to stock parallel-imported CDs was a gesture of goodwill towards the record companies.

Mr Neo is standing by the decision even though he admitted that sales have taken a dip after 'losing a share of customers' who go for parallel imports.

He said: 'There's no point in us stocking parallel imports now. We will only be creating trouble for ourselves (by offending the record companies).

'The profit margin used to be larger for such CDs but no longer, since everyone's bringing them in.'

On their part, record companies here have also been trying to make their product more attractive by bundling free posters, premiums or VCDs with the CDs, and even bringing artistes down more often to do promotions.

Universal Music's product manager Connie Low, who has artistes like boy band Energy and Wilber Pan in her stable, says her company has been absorbing the additional cost of such promotions, leading to a 10 per cent dip in profits.

Even then, the benefits of the promotions may not be reaped solely by the record companies.

Play Music's marketing director James Kang lamented: 'Every time we bring an artiste down, we have to hope and pray that people will buy our CDs, and not go straight for the parallel imports.'

The Recording Industry Association of Singapore (Rias) is aware of the problems that its members are facing.

Its CEO, Mr Edward Neubronner, told The New Paper: 'Since the start of this year, we noticed that there's been an even more significant increase in these (parallel) imports, especially from China.'

Mr Neubronner says that the association had submitted a proposal to the Intellectual Property Office Of Singapore (Ipos) for amendments to the copyright law when the Ipos called for public consultation on the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2004 earlier this year.

However, in an e-mail reply, Ipos said: 'Parallel importing of goods of legitimate origin is allowed in Singapore. The US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, with the exception of the provision on parallel importation of pharmaceutical products, does not require Singapore to alter this position. Therefore, the impending law changes to our Copyright legislation will not affect this regime.'

Record companies here are still hoping for the Government to help them.

But in an e-mail reply, the Ministry Of Trade And Industry said that the Government does not intervene in the economic decision of companies, unless there are 'overriding social or political considerations'.

'We operate a free market system which allows open competition among not only domestic firms and products, but also foreign firms and products. Consumers stand to benefit from wider choices and lower prices from such open competition.'

TIP-OFFS AND POLICE RAIDS
THE parallel imports may be legal. But record labels here are crying foul over counterfeit CDs trying to pass off as parallel imports.

Sony Music Singapore's marketing director Paul Khor is one of those who are hopping mad.

He said: 'In China, pirates are very rampant. So it's difficult to tell whether the parallel imports are real or fake. I've seen these CDs. They have ridiculous details, for example, putting the Polygram Music label on the album of an artiste who is under the Sony Music label.'

According to the Rias, it has received tip-offs about such goods, and are aware of a few successful raids conducted by the police.

'We have written to retailers informing them of the presence of such products and how to identify them. We are also working with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) to organise seminars, to educate them and the consumers too, ' said Rias CEO Edward Neubronner.

He said the counterfeits are sometimes very well-made, and the difference boils down to technical specifications, like the absence of the manufacturer's code on the discs.

If you are unsure of whether your CD is a counterfeit product, you can visit the Rias website at www.rias.org.sg/piracytype.html or call it on 6220-4166.

Note the vague reporting about how parallel imports are the biggest threat to the "local music industry". Note also the suggestion that parallel importers are cheating the copyright holders of their royalties. This is completely untrue. The threat is not to the singers or musicians or producers. The threat is to the profits of the middlemen, the local record distributors. Jacky, Jay and F.I.R. still continue to get whatever money they are supposed to receive from record sales.

What Parallel Imports Are
Assume that the copyright owner resides in the United States. He gives an exclusive licence to A, a record company in Singapore to copy and distribute his music in Singapore (that is, he will not give a licence to anyone else in Singapore to copy and distribute his music in Singapore). At the same time, he gives a licence to B, a record company in China to copy and distribute his music in China. B or some other enterprising soul purchases and ships the authorised Chinese copies to Singapore and sells them in Singapore. They are imported in parallel to those sold by local Singapore record companies, hence, "parallel imports".

What Parallel Imports Are Not
Parallel Imports Not A Breach of Contract
No wrong is done contractually since the copyright owner has kept his part of the contract: he has given the licence only to A in Singapore to copy and distribute in Singapore. That copies under B's China licence have been shipped into Singapore and sold has nothing to do with A's contract with the copyright owner. And the copyright owner has no power/authority to prevent the importation of Chinese copies, only Singapore law can. And Singapore legislation was specifically amended to allow such importation.

Parallel Imports Don't Harm Copyright Owners
The ultimate copyright owners (the singers, musicians, producers) don't lose out. They continue to receive their royalties from sale of the products from the Chinese record company.

Parallel Imports Only Harm the Greedy Middlemen
It is only the local record companies that lose out because consumer demand leans, almost topples over, towards the cheaper parallel imports.

Ban on Parallel Imports Would Hurt Consumers
By petitioning the government to make parallel imports illegal, these local record companies are essentially asking for protection against competition and for a monopoly in the Singapore market.

A monopoly without competition can never be good for consumers like us. It would mean that local record companies would be able to set any price for a CD because consumers would have no (legal) alternative but to purchase their products (counting mp3 downloads as different products).

As the quoted email reply from MTI rightly pointed out,

"We operate a free market system which allows open competition among not only domestic firms and products, but also foreign firms and products. Consumers stand to benefit from wider choices and lower prices from such open competition."

In any case, it is already commonly argued that with the globalisation of markets being facilitated by the development of a global communication system (aiyah, the internet lor) envisages the end to domestic territoriality because of the rise of global competition. So all these artificial barriers to trade are like, so ten minutes ago darlinks!

Get with the times! Instead of resorting to seeking restrictive trade practices and against-public-interest types of market dominance to be entrenched in law, local record companies should make use of the evidence that consumer demand for CDs is highly price elastic to lower their prices. That would most likely result in a disproportionate increase in demand for their licensed products (which don't have those strange Chinese hieroglyphics on them), in turn translating to a higher revenue flow for them.

Meanwhile, however, we can continue to enjoy the benefits of parallel imports (like being forced to improve our Chinese) with clear consciences and without stumbling others. :-)

PS: Actually, have thought of some ways that local record companies can get around this, and certain judges have concurred that it's possible. But let's not give anyone any ideas now. ;-)

PPS: I was advised to put in disclaimer/caveat/qualification/don't-sue-me statement. Here we go: I not lawyer, therefore this post does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon. It's just my layman take on the law that I rely on myself. Go pay a lawyer for his legal opinion. Or write an email to the nice people at IPOS yourself.

Related post: Copyright and the Christian

Overview of 2 Peter

Sim Boon Yong gave an overview of 2 Peter at tonight's ARPC Adult Meeting with loads of encouragement to keep meeting up over God's words.

For the benefit of those who were stuck at work/had more pressing appointments/didn't manage to awake from your afternoon siesta/couldn't be arsed to attend, here's a summary of the proceedings:

Last Words
Boon Yong started off by asking what we thought our last words would be before we passed away. We figured our last words would be a reflection of the clumsy curiosity with which we'd lived our lives, like "Oops!", "Uh-oh…", "Hey! What's this..." or "So what happens when you mix this…" or some unedifying cuss word. That wasn't quite what Boon Yong had in mind. He was hoping for a slightly less accidental, more contemplative and considered deathbed speech.

Peter's last words (or as last written words as far as we know) are recorded in 2 Peter (1:15). (Ok, so he wasn't really just about to pop his clogs since he managed to write 3 chapters.)

Peter is concerned for the people/believers he will leave behind when he passes on. He is concerned that they will persevere in their faith in the future.

Peter
Peter was a very privileged man. He was one of the Apostles. He lived and travelled with Jesus, and was one of the few disciples who saw Jesus' transfiguration. He was also the one that pointed out that Jesus was the Christ. Peter was also quick-tempered and spoke faster than he thought. Unfortunately, after Jesus was arrested, Peter was also the one who denied Jesus three times when asked if he knew Jesus. After Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus restored and reinstated Peter commanded Peter to take care of his people, his sheep (John 21:15-19).

Peter's 3 Concerns for the Aforementioned Sheep
In his letter, Peter lists 3 main concerns:

• that the believers grow in godliness;
• that the believers guard against false teachers and false prophets; and
• that the believers are able to defend themselves against scoffers.

First Concern: Growing in Godliness
Peter is fully aware who the readers of the letter are: they are believers who have been saved because of Jesus' righteousness and they will therefore participate in the divine nature (1:1-4). So, they are to make their calling and election sure (1:10).

God's sovereignty in saving them (1:1; 1:3) does not mean that they have no responsibility to take any action to live a godly life (1:5-9). The Bible holds the two things in tension: God is sovereign in salvation and we are also responsible for living a life pleasing to God.

There is only one type of believer: one under construction. We hate it when things are under construction: there is dust and noise and it disturbs us. Similarly, we hate to undergo transformation to be more and more like Christ, but it is this very transformation that we must undergo and we will continue to undergo it until we are made perfect when Christ comes again. Not only are we to continue to undergo this transformation, we must possess godly qualities in increasing measure (1:7).

Therefore, meeting together as Christians whether in a large group like the Adult Meeting, or going for service, or going to DG (small group bible studies) are non-negotiables. We must use every opportunity to build each other up, to live a life pleasing to God, to undergo transformation, and in increasing measure.

Second Concern: Guarding Against False Teachers and False Prophets
Set against the faithful teaching and faithful living of Peter, are the false teachings and false living of the false teachers. We see in chapter 2 that they are destructive and have a detrimental effect on the believers; Peter care for his sheep and feed them, but the false teachers were self-centred and boastful. They were greedy and exploited the sheep.

It is only those that know the truth who can discern what lies are.

Therefore, fellowship with other believers over God's Word is non-negotiable. Where else can we be led to grapple with God's words in the Bible and be familiar with them?

Note that despite the presence of false teachers, God is not impotent. He is able to keep those who are his safe and condemn and judge the false teachers (2:4-9).

Notice also that the false teachers are people who follow their own evil desires. So even as we gather as a fellowship group, we must pray for the leaders that they will not be like Balaam, a prophet of God who followed his own evil desires.

Third Concern: Defending Against Scoffers
Scoffers are foolish people who do not believe in God and his words (3:3). They can be our relatives, colleagues and friends. They despise our beliefs and ridicule us for them. They can undermine our faith, and we can start to doubt that God exists and even lose sight of him.

Therefore, if we are on our own, it is easy for us to doubt that God exists or that his words are real. Going to a gathering of Christians is non-negotiable. We must meet to encourage each other, and continue to spur each other on. We must keep reminding each other of God's coming judgement. God's graciousness in staying his judgement is so that we can live godly lives and also encourage and pray for our non-believing family members and friends for as long as God has still given them time to repent.

A gathering of Christians has famously been likened to a pile of wood burning. If you take one stick away from the fire, it will soon die out. We must come together so we can encourage and spur each other on to be on fire for God.

Our Response
We must take to heart all the lessons to be learnt from 2 Peter, so that:

• we will not be ineffective and unproductive (1:8);
• we will be able to discern untruths that would lead us to destruction;
• and we can withstand the attacks of scoffers who will try to pull us and entice us away from the truth.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (3:17-18)

A whirlwind tour no doubt. We'll have a great time studying this in more detail in DG in the coming weeks!

The Bull Run 2005

During lunch hour, some accountants spotted a Starbucks employee dispensing coffee from a metal canister that looked unappetisingly like the container of insecticide that the ubiquitous NEA guys had been totting about the island this dengue season. But our hardy accountants, being practical and not at all adverse to free items, went through several cups of the stuff.

Payback came after markets closed and they realised that their tummies though trained on long late nights and endless cups of caffeine could not cope with the non-airconditioned environment of the Padang where we gathered for this year's Bull Run, the corporate charity fun run in office wear organised by the lovely people at SGX (the Singapore Exchange).

So they took handfuls of antacids and ruminated about the accountability of spending by charities.

Good fun was also to be had at the expense of the corporate governance people who, similarly unused to the heat, were wearing thick T-shirts of dubious breathability. They were promptly (and gleefully) accused of not being transparent.

The following photographs are similarly of dubious quality due to the heat, the battle with mozzies and the excessive build up of lactic acid (and not, I stress, not the free Veuve Clicquot):

Chris Flagnagen (Credit Suisse)

What the desk-bound really wear under the table:

Genuine cubicle dwellers:

Traders clearing adrenaline from their system:

Tall, pale, thin, wearing shorts and cap with shirt, tie and jacket...must be an experienced accountant...:

Tanned, decent-sized, running with a flag...must be the new recruits:

If you've always been too busy to get to know your colleague:

Remember the evil-looking-bull-with-ridiculously-coloured-toupee? These guys were carrying his head in a bedsheet!

Naturally, the Big Bosses get their own lane:

Then on with the party on the Padang!

Boastful fire-eaters, gaudy stilt-walkers and eager clowns mingled with the crowds. But those city kids are difficult to please:

Cute Chaoyang kids dancing:

Free Milo:

free gourmet coffee:

and free Tiger beers and cartons of Veuve Clicquot champagne:

Games of chance:

The management relay with briefcases as batons:

While Merrill's red devils red bulls collected their Best Dressed contest prize:

KPMG cleared out and disappeared back to the office to do more work:

Massively great fun for all and S$2.3 million was raised for various charities. But people wondered if all the money paid out for use of the venue and for publicity and general entertainment (and the goodie bags and the rest of the free stuff) could not have been better spent by giving it to the named charities instead.

How much better stewards of money would Christians be even if we were organising fund-raising for "church" purposes? And how much more cheerful givers of money would we be without having to be distracted by "fun" events while someone attempts to pry the dough from our cold dead hands?

Books, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Bible Study

A kind soul gave me a lift to town on Sunday evening, navigating the dark wet roads so I could grab a book.

"How do you manage to buy so many books?", he asked, to which old Schopenhauer would have answered,

It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents.

Arthur Schopenhauer was a sharp chap and some of us used to be terribly fond of him and the man he supposedly influenced, Friedrich Nietzsche (who in turn was supposed to have inspired nazism, though he vigorously denied it).

So fond were we of them that every Tuesday night, thin pale bearded graduate students of philosophy, wild-maned English professors, chain-smoking classical musicians and singed-haired researchers from all the neighbouring counties, armed with feeble torchlights, would make the long trek through the bitter English cold on trecherously frosted ground, past apple orchards and pastures of sometimes rampaging cows, to meet in the even more bone-chilling cellar of an ancient pub which used to serve tankards of ale to the pirate-lord Francis Drake when he was in town. Amongst the huge stacks of beer kegs, under a solitary naked light bulb, we'd sit or stand around an old pub table, bundled up with most of the clothes in our wardrobes, stamp about, rub our roughly-gloved hands together, quaff beer and cider and smoke roll-your-owns and pipes to keep warm, watch the almost petrified wisps curl up towards the gnarled wooden floor of the pub and discuss Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

Just before service last week, someone argued that people shouldn't keep telling him to go for bible study,"After all, I don't need to go for bible study to be saved what."

A good grasp, perhaps, of some of the concepts of the Bible: sola fide (faith alone), sola Christi (supposed to be Christ alone but my Latin sucks) and sola gratia (grace alone). It is true that it is not by works (and so certainly not by faithfully attending bible studies/small group sessions!) that we are saved, but by the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

So following the last post on How to be in a Small Group, why bother going to small group bible studies in the first place?

Well, the question should actually be,"Why not go for bible study?". The straggly lot of us Schopenhauer and Nietzsche fans would willingly and faithfully trudge miles every week to discuss the writings of long dead men

because it was the natural thing to do when you think something very important and are interested in it and want to find out more about it and can hardly contain your enthusiasm on finding people who love the things you love. It's also somewhat like why people go to Star Trek conventions and aerospace shows.

But with Bible studies, there is something much much more. (And it's not to achieve the meditative purity and universal oneness that 柳宗元 hankered after while reading Buddhist scripture:

晨詣超師院讀禪經
汲井漱寒齒﹐清心拂塵服。
閑持貝葉書﹐步出東齋讀。
真源了無取﹐忘跡世所逐。
遺言冀可冥﹐繕性何由熟﹖
道人庭宇靜﹐苔色連深竹。
日出霧露餘﹐青松如膏沐。
澹然離言說﹐悟悅心自足。)

Akan datang.

How to be in a Small Group

"Fellow Workers" is a free tabloid-sized newsletter that is usually shipped out (quarterly/sporadically) together with Matthias Media's The Briefing.

In the Feb-March 1998 edition, the main article was on "How To Be In A Small Group". Last week, we were talking about the importance of DG attendance with a variety of people. Recalling that this article is usually passed around DGs at the beginning of every calendar year, I bummed it off the Google cache which had taken a snapshot of someone in FOCUS who'd scanned in the original onto the old FOCUS site, thinking it might be of some use. The original link is broken:

Another year, another Bible study group. Time to sign up, turn up and get things rolling for another year. Ho hum. Time also perhaps to ask some questions about your small group. Is it really making much of a difference in the lives of its members? Do you feel as if you just go along because that's what you're expected to do? Does the group have a clear purpose, or does it just exist because it has always existed? More to the point, what part are you going to play in this year's group? What can you be doing to make the group a success? There are many books and guides and training materials for small group leaders (like Growth Groups from Matthias Media), but what about the humble group member? What can each of us be doing to make the most of our small groups?

Why go in the first place? People go to small groups for all sorts of reasons--to fulfil expectations, to make friends, to pursue romantic possibilities, to receive encouragement and counsel, to learn, and so on. While most of these might be perfectly acceptable reasons to join a small group, the first and indispensable reason must be clear in our minds. Our primary reason for belonging to a small group is to give us opportunity to love and encourage other people in Christ. It's not about Me; it's about Them. And it's about Them because of Christ.

This after all is what the Christian life is about. Our most basic principle is to love other people as Christ has loved us, to lay down our lives for them as Christ did for us. This applies as much to small groups as it does to marriages, families, workplaces, and larger Christian meetings. We go to small groups not primarily to have our needs met, but to meet the needs of others. Of course, we have needs too, and no doubt they will be met along the way--but we can let others worry about that. In fact, paradoxically, the more we focus on loving others, and doing whatever we can for them, the more encouragement and strength we find ourselves.

There are many ways we can love and encourage the other people in our groups. Here are five powerful ones (complete with alliterative titles).

1. The power of presence
This is the simplest and most obvious, but is no less powerful for being so. Just being there each week without fail is a powerful encouragement to the other members of the group. In making the group time a solid commitment, to be missed only in times of emergency, you send a very clear message to the other members: "Being with you matters very much tome. Unless something very important comes up, you can expect me. Encouraging you is a top priority."

Conversely, inconsistent attendance sends a somewhat less encouraging message: "I don't mind coming, but it's not that important. If I feel abit tired or something else crops up, don't expect me. Being with you and encouraging you isn't really a very high priority for me."

Turning up regularly requires no extraordinary gifts or talent, but it is a powerful way of loving other people.

2. The power of preparation
Most small groups complete their evening's Bible study with a plaintive plea from the leader for people to read the passage and prepare for next week's study. The leader knows full well that most people won't, but there's no harm in trying!

However, preparing for the group time is another powerful way to love the members of the group. Of course, having read the passage, or done the homework, greatly increases the benefit you yourself receive from the discussion. More importantly, however, it equips you to encourage others by what you say. Rather than throwing in whatever occurs to youat the time, you have actually thought about the Bible passage and the issues that it raises. You are much better prepared to say things that stimulate and encourage and teach others if you have bothered to give it some thought beforehand.

3. The power of prayer
Paul's friend and fellow worker, Epaphras, would have made an ideal small group member. According to Paul, he was always "wrestling in prayer" for the Colossians, that they might "stand firm in all the will of God". Paul was able to vouch that in doing so, Epaphras was "working hard for you" (Col 4:12-13).

Praying for others is hard work, but real work. It is one of the most loving things we can do for our fellow group members, not only because it is through our prayers that God does his work in people's lives, butbecause it is such a quiet, inconspicuous form of ministry. Making a casserole for someone, by comparison, is much more satisfying--you see something very tangible for your efforts, and you have the pleasure of delivering it to the person and receiving their warm expressions ofthanks. Prayer has none of those rewards. You do it for one reason only: that you care for that person and want what is best for them in Christ. And so you pray for them.

4. The power of personality
The alliteration may be starting to stretch a little thin here, but the point is solid enough that a powerful way of loving others in your small group is to be willing to share your own life and personality with them.

This is by no means an easy thing to do. Many of us would much rather keep quiet and not give too much away. However, by opening up and sharing our lives and thoughts and struggles and joys, we do others a great service. We not only show them that we have the very same struggles that they have (but thought they were alone in suffering); wealso encourage them to open up as well.

Of course, it is anything but loving to indiscriminately dump everything we are thinking or feeling onto the group. We need to heed the advice of Proverbs and think carefully before we speak; as well as the words of Ephesians 4: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph 4:29).

5. The power of love
Whatever you do in the group--every word you say, every action--do it for the sake of others. Look for how you can support and help the leader. Look for ways to care for the members of the group--those who could really do wth a phone call or visit; those who would benefit from having someone to pray or read the Bible with; those who need financial or other material help; those who just need a friend to have pizza and avideo with.

Belonging to a small group can be a very demanding exercise. It can cost us our lives, because that is what it means to be a follower of Christ--to lay down our lives for the sake of others. If we grasp the possibilities, small groups represent an enormously fruitful opportunity for doing just that.

This article emphasises the how of being in a small group. So it's useful for people who want/are committed to be in a small group in the first place and suggests ways of going about this. But the throwaway paragraph that being in a small group gives us the "opportunity to love and encourage other people in Christ" isn't very helpful for people who don't see why anyone would want this opportunity at all.

Time to move the horse, methinks.

Otherness, Godliness and An Ex

After lunch, I was standing along a corridor, peering at my vertically bisected kueh tutu and wondering how packing the flour differently might affect the mouth feel of the said street snack when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what appeared to be the all-too-familiar gait and body shape of an ex.

It was X. A good bit older no doubt, but it was very X.

And we had one of those awkward catch-up moments where because of the confluence of past personal histories, we stood in ancient comfortable encroachment of each others' personal space, suddenly remembering that quick greeting hugs were no longer in order, wanting to know what had happened in the intervening decade, taking turns to fumble around for questions to ask to bring us up to speed and casting around for pithy answers that would encapsulate the evolutionary changes, the life-changing discoveries, the personal growth that had taken place since we last met.

Even without the distancing intervention of years, it's interesting how we never really know someone. The parents, spouses, friends and colleagues of accused murderers always express their disbelief that their good/filial/hardworking/quiet/non-trouble-making child/spouse/friend/colleague could have done something as horrific as he/she was alleged to have done (or those just make good human-interest stories for the media). Influential local patriachies, perhaps in acknowledgement of this fact, have potential son/daughter-in-laws thoroughly investigated before they are allowed into the fold. But all the tests, investigations and surveillance in the world cannot grasp the mind and access the soul of a person.

Sometimes, as we enjoy a wonderful bonding session over great food and drink and thigh-slapping laughter, or Bible-centred fellowship and Christ-centred confession, I sense this otherness and separateness from the other persons. It isn't loneliness or melancholy or dejection. I'm happy enough, but at the same time am faced again with the realisation that however much we relish each other's company, or talk deep into the night or let the other into the intimate areas of our lives where few foreign feet have trod, we can never really truly know another. There is an unbridgeable apartness between individuals.

This solitariness means that we can never fully know the thoughts and motives of the other.

We were discussing this a few days ago after we noticed that some new Christians who were easing into church life had started to imbibe Christian lingo unthinkingly. What did they mean by saying that we were godly?

• first of all, what exactly is godliness?
  
• then, what is the difference between godliness and good works?
  
• and whom does the Bible say is godly?
  
• how do we know if anyone is godly?
• and finally, are we to judge if anyone is godly?

We played with scenarios:

1. A church member lends his Porsche Cayenne to the church camp committee to haul stuff up to camp. Is he godly? What if his Porsche Cayenne was the cheapest of his vast car collection and he was going to scrap it anyway?
2. A church member cleans the house of a disabled person. Is he godly? What if he has a fetish for cleaning?
   
3. A church member babysits for a couple so that they can have the evening off. Is he godly? Would the answer differ if he is (1) someone who is generally busy and dislikes babies; and (2) someone who is bored and has nothing to do in the evenings and loves babies?
   
4. A church member chats with someone during Friendship Break. Is she godly? Would the answer differ if she is (1) someone who is painfully shy and quiet; and (2) someone who is outgoing and can't stop talking?
   
5. A church member is a considerate, caring and gentlemanly person who always looks out for the weaker people in any group. Is he godly? What if he'd been trained to do so from a young age by his parents? Or what if he wasn't Christian?
   

What is Godliness?
Fundamentally, godliness appears to be a tri-directional: (1) it looks backwards and is a response to the hearing and acceptance of the gospel (2 Peter 1:3); (2) it looks forwards towards the second coming of Christ (2 Peter 3:11); and (3) it is in the present and also for the future, an assurance of our salvation (1 Timothy 4:8).

Godliness is distinguishable from holiness (cf 2 Peter 3:11), contentment (1 Timothy 6:6), righteousness, steadfastness, faith, love (cf 1 Timothy 6:11) and good works (cf 1 Timothy 2:10).

Godliness is something we can profess (1 Timothy 2:10) and work towards (1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Timothy 5:4) but is also simultaneously, a gift from God (2 Peter 1:3). The only reason why we can pursue godliness is because Christ's death on the cross ushered in a new era in which the *ahem* stronghold of sin on our hearts and minds has been broken (1 Timothy 3:16).

Godliness is something internal. We can have the appearance of godliness but not be godly at all (2 Timothy 3:5).

The Godly
The godly are people whom God has set apart for himself (Psalm 4:3), those who have faith in God (Psalm 12:1), those who have acknowledged their sinfulness and have been forgiven by God (Psalm 32:5-6), those who trust in God (Psalm 86:2)...

The godly sound like the people we know now in 2005 as the Christians.

Who is Godly?
No one is godly by their own merit, for no one of their own accord acknowledges and trusts in God. All Christians are godly, not because of anything they have done, but because of God's grace in Christ. Although the status of Christians is that of the godly, yet, they are to work towards godliness; to live in accordance to their status. The godly/the Christian will always work towards living in accordance with his status.

So perhaps commenting that someone is "a godly Christian" is tautologous and that someone is "an ungodly Christian", an oxymoron.

And though we may observe the appearance of godliness/Christian-ness in another, we can never be certain that they are godly/Christian, for it is an internal affair between them and God. We can never know perfectly the thoughts, convictions and motives of another person. Which is why we are always to pray for our brothers and sisters-in-Christ, to encourage them and to rebuke them. Because the only human who can examine his heart is the person whose heart it is, in the light of God's word in Christ and with the help of the Spirit.

The True Fictional Story of Noah

A completely, utterly fictional story of a man named Noah narrated in language that sounds just a mite bit better than a reverse Babelfish. Based on the completely, utterly true story of a man named Noah (Genesis 6-9).

In the beginning...
A long long time ago, out of nothing at all, God made the heavens and the earth, the land and the sea, the sun and the moon, the birds of the air, the creatures on the land and the fish of the sea. And he made man and woman. He loved them and instructed them on the best way to live in the wonderful creation he had made. He also warned them that attempting to usurp his rightful rule over the whole universe would lead to death, because by deciding that they didn't want the very Giver and Source of Life, they would get what they asked for: complete eternal death. And by rejecting the Creator of everything good, they would get what they specifically requested: to be cut off and utterly separated from anything good. Natural cause and effect.

Man and woman lived in the wonderful garden God had made for them and enjoyed the food God had provided for them. Still, they decided that God couldn't be trusted. So though they didn't create the world, nor could they figure out how it worked, nor did they even understand how they themselves worked or what was best for themselves, they decided they would do things their own way and view the world how they wanted to view it and ignore the kind instructions and the clear warnings of God. In fact, what use had they for God when they could determine for themselves how they world should work and what was best for themselves. And surely there was no such thing as death.

Silly extremely stupid man and woman.

So ignorant, weak and puny man and woman feeling very pleased with themselves, blew rude raspberries at God and called him a liar and a fool and strutted forth in smirky arrogance and attempted to sit on his throne and reject their Giver and Source of Life, the Creator of everything good. They so blinded their own eyes that they convinced themselves although he had made the whole universe, he was too weak to do anything to them. Perhaps…although they had seen him and talked with him…perhaps he didn't even exist. Not really real.

But God was real and his word was trustworthy and his warnings were true. Because he knew how he had made the universe to work, after all.

Death Penalty and One More Chance
And so man and woman would have reaped the natural consequences of rejecting their Giver and Source of Life and the Creator of everything good: eternal and horrific death, a cesspool of all the pain and suffering in the world imaginable, where there could be no love, no relationship, no mercy, no compassion (for those where all good things). But God in his great mercy spared them this undeliverable fate…for the moment. He gave them a limited number of years to live so that they might have the opportunity to repent of their doomed attempted usurpation and be saved from that undeliverable fate.

But as the years went on, and men and women filled the earth, they absolutely refused to make use of this grace period to repent for their horrendous rebellion. As they continued to live not quite in complete happiness, but not complete misery either, they got used to hurting and being hurt by others, forgetting that all this hurt was but a foretaste of the agony to come if they did not begin to live under God's rule again. In fact, as they continued to live year after year, they started to mistake God's grace period as evidence that God was too weak to act. Perhaps…perhaps he didn't even exist after all.

But God was real and his word was trustworthy and his warnings were true. Because he had created the entire universe and was the judge over everything, after all.

Death Penalty and A Second Chance
So the men and women would have reaped the natural and just consequences of rejecting the grace period that was held out for them and be left to their undeliverable fate. But God in his great mercy and infinite patience (1 Peter 3:20) again spared them this undeliverable fate…for the moment. Amongst all these wicked people, there was one man who acknowledged God as the Giver and Source of Life and the Creator of everything good and he trusted God. God told him that the undeliverable fate that had been hanging over the heads of all people was due to come soon in the form of a flood. By the flood, just destruction would come to all people who deserved it. As for Noah he would be saved by building himself an ark.

Although there was never such a thing as a flood in living memory, and Noah was hundreds of miles from any large body of water, Noah believed that God was trustworthy and that his warning was true and that his instructions for how he could be saved would be effective.

There was great jeering and sneering from everyone,"Fool! Day-dreamer! Madman! Where will the water spring from in this desert? Poor old Noah, are you going to drown in a puddle?" But Noah set about building a huge ark…in bone-dry land. Year in, year out, Noah continued to add plank after plank to the ark. Decades passed and people laughed even harder for after so many years, there was not even the slightest indication that a flood could be remotely possible.

"Repent!" cried Noah to them, "for destruction is near! Repent and turn back to God, for God is the Giver and Source of your life! You have already lost your life and anything you treasure as good! Quick, turn back to him and beg him for mercy before it is too late!"

The people scoffed at him,"Oooh look at Mister Chicken Little now." "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!", they laughed as they danced around him.

Alarmed at their flippancy at a time like this, Noah desperately urged repentance from the children, for perhaps the children would listen and be saved from this horrible end. But the people saw Noah talking to their children and beat him to the ground with sticks. They set their dogs to tear into his flesh and hurled him from their presence.

This is a civilised place they said. We are educated and we know what the world is about. We've tolerated your eccentric theories so far because they do no harm to us, but how dare you bully and corrupt our children with your madman beliefs and crazy ideas.

Death Penalty but No More Chance
And people continued to be born, get married, lived their lives in relative comfort and there was not even a hint that the God Noah spoke of existed (not to say that he would do anything about their alleged rebellion against him). But Noah, though faced with events that he had yet to see, continued to construct the ark in reverent fear of the Lord because he continued to trust that what God had said was true (Hebrews 11:7).

And so people were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage until suddenly, the flood did come. And they were all swept away (Matthew 24:37). And the little children too.

Are people being persecuted for their Noahic warnings? They should take comfort.
Are people persecuting others for their Noahic warnings? They should take heed.

"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, " (2 Peter 2:4-9)

Icons thanks to Bry-Back Manor.

Illogicality of Humans and the Veracity of the Theory of Natural Selection

New Car Owner Ponders the Illogicality of Humans and the Veracity of the Theory of Natural Selection

"So you won't wash your TEFAL pans or your Celica with cola because you think the stuff is so acidic that it will eat into the non-stick layer or the paintwork, but you will drink gallons of it every day?!"

"That's right. I like the taste."









"....."

New Christian Ponders the Illogicality of Humans and the Veracity of the Theory of Natural Selection

"So you're sure that you are a sinner who is destined for terrible and eternal destruction and you are certain that the free offer of salvation from your horrible end held out by God through Jesus Christ is authentic and effective, but you refuse to take hold of it?!"

"That's right. I like my life this way."

"....."

Vidus thanks to Viva Plus

Copyright and the Christian

Since someone cancelled last night, I was finally able to get down to stacking some of my own durians:

Amazon! Don't sue me! I'm helping to promote your music (which is not half bad) and anyway, I've got no money!

Just some popular mainstream indie new wave revivalist stuff whatwhat? Well, our unfortunate neighbours across the Causeway think it's worth its weight in gold as this chap explains. Yes, it was only written a week ago in modern Malaysia!

What would we do in such a situation?

I have some very old bootleg copies (in the days of cassette tapes and so waaaay before any local copyright regulations ever reared their heads) of folks like Afghan Whigs and The Smiths before they could be found in Singapore because I had the fortune of knowing someone whose stepuncle's stepchildren brought them in from the Grey Island. My friend went on to form a several bands and quite a few of them (and many of his girlfriends who went on to form their own all-girl bands) had the benefit of his bootleg tapes. How would the music scene have developed without that input? (oops double-edged question)

What's a Christian to do faced with such a copyright situation?

The presumption copyright proponents drill into the collective heads of the general public is that there is no right to copy until money changes hands. We've all been indoctrinated with the view that copying = stealing.

Intellectual Property isn't "Property"
However, to suggest that infringing a copyright is identical to stealing property is too much of a jump. As far as I know, no scholar has ever admitted that what is called "intellectual property" is property per se. Most textbooks start out by acknowledging with a shrug the artificiality of terming it as such. So-called "intellectual property" actually consists of ideas crystallised in material form; a "Material Idea". So what isn't "property" can't be "stolen".

Copying Intellectual Property isn't "Wrong"
To a mere layman like me, it appears that copying intellectual property isn't a moral wrong:

• first of all, copyright infringement should be distinguished from plagiarism. Copyright infringement suggests that you copy a Material Idea wholesale while giving due acknowledgement to the creator of the Material Idea. Plagiarism on the other hand is suggestive of copying a Material Idea, then sticking your name on it and pretending that it was yours in the first place. Prior to copyright regulations coming into force, I know of no civilisation that has found the former dishonest, although the latter would most certainly be found to be a form of cheating or lying; and
  
• secondly, the idea of copyright first emerged as a method of censorship of the media, rather than a way of rewarding the creator of the Material Idea for his creativity.

Reward for Creativity vs Public Good
Right. Let bygones be bygones. The current basis for much anti-piracy publicity is that copying lowers rewards for creativity that are found in sales, and lowered rewards for creativity in turn lowers creativity.

Does copying really lower sales?
Remember the old free Napster? There were accusations that Napster was destroying the record industry, but it is suggested that file trading on Napster actually stimulated, rather than hurt, sales. Wikipedia tells us that:

proof may have come in April 2000 when tracks from Radiohead's album "Kid A" found their way to Napster three months before the CD's release. Unlike Madonna, Radiohead had never hit the top 20 in the US. Furthermore, it was an experimental album that received little promotion and almost no radio airplay. As MP3 Newswire described, it was a perfect vehicle to test this theory as the effect of Napster was isolated from other elements that could be credited for driving sales. By the time of the record's release "Kid A" had been downloaded by millions of people worldwide. The record industry braced for the worst, but then came the big surprise. "Kid A" not only broke the top 20, it captured the number one spot on the charts in its debut week. The record beat out the CDs of some of the most heavily marketed artists of the time including Madonna and Eminem. In the absence of any other force that could account for this success, Richard Menta of MP3 Newswire declared this was proof that Napster was a promotional power.

Does anti-copying really ensure fair returns to the creator?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives Congress the obligation to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." This clause was the constitutional foundation for the first Copyright Act, which granted the holder of a copyright the exclusive right to print, publish, and sell a copyrighted work for 14 years with a second 14-year term possible. There were no rights given to the copyright holder regarding the public performance of the work nor could the holder control adaptations or derivative works. That was considered adequate to ensure fair returns to the creator.

The present day span of creator's life + 70 years and control of adaptations and derivative works gives the creator far more than fair returns. It ensures a monopoly for the creator and his children.

That is of course, if they actually see the money at all. Some articles suggest that the creator/artist might see less than 2% of royalties on their products. The British economist Martin Kretschmer concludes that "the rhetoric of author rights has been largely carried by third parties: publishers and record companies investors in creativity (rather than creators) who are also the chief beneficiaries of extended protection".

If that is true, then the way to ensure that creators are adequately paid for their work is not more/stricter copyright regulation and enforcement but the abolishment of sledgehammer copyright laws.

If sledgehammer copyright laws were abolished, it is possible that many more artists would be able to make a living from their work. It could work out like this: much global artistic enterprise is currently controlled by just a handful of huge cultural conglomerates. Through their ownership of copyrights, these conglomerates determine, unilaterally and depending on which copyrights they have control of, which works of art and which artists are promoted/marketed. Heavy global promotion and aggressive marketing campaigns to achieve returns on their investments determine the content and contours of cultural landscapes worldwide, without regard for local preference or sensitivities. Without copyright regulations, conglomerates would not have monopolistic market control. Enormous numbers of people who would have the opportunity to produce, distribute, and promote works of art, while simultaneously encouraging cultural diversity. Artists would have the opportunity offer their work to the public and not have their projects prematurely aborted because a conglomerate predetermines that that particular work would not be well-received by the public. If their works are gladly received by the public, they would be able to earn a decent income for their work. If not, then they could join the ranks of famous artists who slaved for their art only to become famous after they died paupers. Or not. Artists from Third World country cultural landscapes would have the opportunity to flourish under the influence, but not domination of foreign cultures. This would allow local artists too the chance to earn a decent wage from their work.

Do sales really affect creativity?
Many creators work to be able to put food on the table, but how many are *ahem* incentivised to go beyond their call-of-duty to create astounding works for monetary reward? Einstein was a clerk in the Swiss Patent Office when he thought up the Theory of Relativity. But not for money, that.

Furthermore, if the legal basis of copyright law was founded on the balance between perceived rewards for creativity and the public good, then viewing copyrights solely as a tool for the acquisition of wealth by the holder of the copyright shows that we've lost our way somewhere. What about the public good bit then?

Can the balance between rewards for creativity and public good be determined properly en masse?
Where does the balance of rewards for creativity and public good lie when we realise that every human work of artistic, medical, technical or other merit follows on from the works that came before it. The notion of complete originality is an artificial idea that does not take into account the history of the world. In fact, the copying and development of ideas (material or not) has always been how nations and cultures develop. One of the greatest ancient civilizations, Rome, was a shameless copier of all things Greek. And the newly-born United States of America was also a hungry pirate nation, ripping off shiploads of Material Ideas from all over the world for at least a century, particularly that Grey Island across the Pond.

Now, what hope do developing countries to develop have in view of the sledgehammer intellectual property laws? The current system of copyright entitles artists and the copyright industries to forbid anybody else to adapt "their" works of art creatively, as has been the case historically. The concept of copyright is strange as well to most cultures in Third World countries. But, under pressure of the World Trade Organisation they have been obliged to introduce regimes of intellectual property protection. So, they must pay intellectual property rights to western companies for knowledge and creative products, which are sometimes partly derived from their own stock of knowledge and creativity. And that exacerbates their debt problems.

And where does the balance of rewards for creativity and public good lie when people in developing countries cannot get access to the pharmaceuticals and medical treatments that are so commonplace in developed countries because of patent rights?

Leaving behind any conspiracy theories and the politics of WIPO and international intellectual property treaties, it is safe to suggest that current legislation takes a poorly-thought-through sledgehammer approach to ensuring fair returns to the creator of Material Ideas.

What's to be done?

We could philosophise about widespread and independent civil disobedience being evidence of the disparity between the law as the social contract of a democratic society and the real opinion of the masses.

We could do some good thinking and get active like other people/groups like Cory Doctorow or Access to Knowledge on these issues.

We could suggest that the way forward could be by using Creative Commons, General Public Licence, free use, public domain or open source concepts.

We could lobby for all these things through the appropriate channels but ultimately, we must submit to God, who tells us:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:1-7)

So we might also have to think about how our church activities could constitute an infringement of copyright regulations: for example, the photocopying of scores for all the members of the music team, the putting of song lyrics on the overhead projectors, and even the performing the songs. But let's not trouble anyone's conscience unduly before we get proper advice from ARPC's copyright lawyers (if any)! ;-)

PS: I do take a sniff at other people's durians just to see what the music is like. If I like the music, I go purchase the original copy (ha! oxymoron!). If not, it goes into the bin or gets recycled.

PPS: Haven't bought an ipod yet because apparently copying mp3s from one's original copy of a CD to one's ipod is an infringement of copyright legislation. Why then don't the music distributors sue Apple from aiding and abetting infringement like they did the old Napster? Hmmm…

Related post: Parallel Imports

Bible Study Group Attendance

Fortified by rather decent North Indian food at Heritage,

some Bible study leaders were sitting around, catching up and discussing DG (discipleship group, bible study group) attendance.

A few were discouraged by the low/sporadic attendance by their members and their tiredness ran rings around their eyes. Others were encouraged by the regularly high numbers in their groups and their spirits were buoyed; they laughed confidently and their eyes shone.

What're your secrets? asked the discouraged leaders. More socials, came the highly-spirited answer. More prayer time. More fun activities. More "clicking". More ownership of the group.

Increasing/stabilising attendance at a meeting is the problem of any social club: ruggers would be most put out discouraged if they go to the School of Physical Education for a game only to find a straggly few milling about. A political campaign would be a failure if only a handful of old fogies drive up to the campaigner in their motorised wheelchairs (and only because they mistook the campaign for a free karoke session). A Weight Watchers' convention would be most discouraging if a large number of the conventioneers happened to have entered and never left a cheap buffet on the way to the convention.

Is the success of a Bible study group to be measured by numbers as well?

That depends on the objective of Bible studies.

Objective of Bible Studies
Going for weekly Bible study isn't a specific command in the Bible. Yet attending weekly Bible study is one of the widely-acknowledged ways in which professed Christians grow in their Christian lives for it is a meeting of God's people under God's word.

What is to be achieved in a meeting of God's people under God's word then? Paul's letter to the Colossians is instructive. We see Paul encouraging the Colossian Christians who, he seems certain, have already received Christ (2:6).

"Therefore," says Paul,"just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." (2:6-7)

The growth of the Colossian church was not to be group-centred or church-centred but Christ-centred. So Colin Marshall suggests in Growth Groups that the goal of a Christian group is:

• to receive Christ as Lord; and
• to live with Christ as Lord.
  

Col explains further:

Receive Christ as Lord
When the Colossians received the gospel of Christ, and put their trust in it, they received Christ Jesus himself. They were once slaves in dominion of darkness (1:13), but now they are in Christ (see 2:6,7,10,11); now they have all the fullness of God that was in the Son. We cannot drive a wedge between Christ and the gospel of Christ – as if we become Christians through hearing the gospel but then get to know Christ personally later on. We only know Christ as he comes to us in the gospel, offering us redemption and reconciliation with God. This is why Paul can describe his whole ministry as proclaiming Christ:"We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ" (1:28).

Thus, imparting right knowledge and understanding is central to Christian groups. Receiving Christ means being taught something; it is about learning and understanding and wisdom and knowledge. Salvation and godly living depend on these things, and they are only to be found in Christ. In our groups, we therefore aim to:

• understand God's grace in all its truth (1:6);
  
• be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding (1:9);
  
• have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that we may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (2:2-3).

The Scriptures teach us many things about Christ. As we learn these things, take them to heart and put our trust in them, we grow in our personal knowledge of Christ. He reveals himself as he speaks through the Bible, and we get to know him as a person, as we learn and embrace all that he is and all that he has done for us.

In knowing Christ, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into his kingdom of light. This is what faith is – it is personally knowing Christ; it is understanding who he is and what he has done for us in such a way that we put all our trust and reliance in him.

"he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."(1:22-23)

Receiving Christ is never an academic or merely intellectual exercise. It is a relationship of personal knowledge; it is a relationship of trust based on what we have learnt. Our [Christian groups] must stimulate people to receive Christ in this way, and to continue strong and steadfast in the face of many alternatives.

Live with Christ as Lord
The knowledge of Christ as Lord and Saviour entails living with Christ as Lord.

This means:
Remaining faithful – rejecting other lords and their religions
In the salvation of Christ we are full and complete, needing no supplementary religious knowledge or duty. Our faith must be in Christ alone.

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the e