Opinion

ON THE Sunday following the tsunami that killed more than 150,000 people and affected millions, I was struck by the confusion reflected in the hymns, words and prayers we spoke and prayed in church that morning. The anthem was “All Things Bright and Beautiful”; the worship leader com-pared the tsunami with King Herod who slaughtered the […]

AT THE time of the American elections last year, there was a lot of talk about religion and politics. People grumbled that the evangelicals in the United States helped President George W. Bush win. “Keep religion and politics separate!” is almost like a mantra today, especially in Singapore. The whole idea is that religion is a […]

In the Scriptures, we are told about Mary, the mother of Jesus; but Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus remains a shadowy figure in the background. Some years ago I saw an unusual nativity painting: Mary tired after the birth, Joseph looking perplexed, as if he did not know what hit him. They are both focused […]

Christmas reminds us of our Christian duty to be sensitive to the needs of the poor, the lonely and those seeking liberation in all its manifestations. IT WAS Christmas Eve, and the streets of the city were crowded with happy fathers, mothers and children. Their faces were bright and smiling and their arms were loaded […]

Implications of modern technology on life, thought and culture ONE of the more interesting commentators on modern society was Marshall McLuhan who coined the phrase “The Medium is the Message”. This phrase sought to capture the profound yet often unnoticed implications of modern technology upon modern life, thought and culture. Neither an irrational alarmist nor anti-technology, […]

AT THE end of July, an irate parent wrote a letter to The Straits Times Forum Page to complain about a morning radio broadcast during which one radio jockey host gave his advice on how a shy caller should approach a girl. His comments were found to be coarse and unacceptable. Even before the Media […]

PART 12 OF THE SERIES OF MEDITATIONS ON ‘WISDOM TO LIVE BY: REFLECTIONS ON AN ANCIENT TEXT’ Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 EXPERIENCE, it is often said, is a great teacher. But, as J. A. Froude is quick to add, “experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes”. Even a cursory study of history will reveal that […]

SUKKOT, or better known as the Feast of Tabernacles, comes on the fifth day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is a Jewish festival that lasts for seven days (Leviticus 23:42). This special occasion commemorates the period of wilderness experiences after the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The Israelites were commanded to live in […]

PART 11 OF THE SERIES OF MEDITATIONS ON ‘WISDOM TO LIVE BY: MODERN REFLECTIONS ON AN ANCIENT TEXT’ Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:12 Whoever loves money never has money enough; Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income (5:10) THE subject that the Preacher addresses in this passage is not wealth per se, but insatiability. The modern […]

“For other FOUNDATION can no man lay that is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST.” – 1 Corinthians 3:11 AN EVIL is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has devel-oped at an abnormal rate, […]

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road … that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. — Acts 8:26ff. IT HAPPENED again […]

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, with the revival of the institutional church in China after the Cultural Revolution, some painted a very bleak picture for Christians there: widespread persecution, heresy due to a lack of Bibles and teaching, a cowed official church. But nobody could deny that there was a great hunger for the Word in China. […]