Opinion

And it fills the gaps From Mission to Church: The Evolution of The Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia: 1885-1976 Author: Earnest Lau Publisher: Armour Publishing Pte Ltd 320 pages, $25     DO YOU know when the name “The Methodist Church” was adopted? Have you heard of SMAC? When a church archivist, church leader […]

‘In exhorting His disciples to “hate” their families, Jesus is simply urging them to love God more than anyone and anything.’ What did Jesus mean that those who do not hate their parents, wife, children and siblings cannot be his disciples? (Luke 14:26). THERE are at least two reasons why many Christians would find the statement […]

CAN a person be rich, powerful and yet unhappy? Well, Zaccheus was such a man. But why was Zaccheus not happy? Firstly, could it be that he was socially alienated? You see, he was a tax collector. He collected taxes from the Jewish people for the occupying Roman empire. In the eyes of the nationalists, […]

‘Numerous passages of the Bible support the doctrine of universal atonement. In John 1:29, John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’ Did Christ die only for the elect? THE view that the sacrifi cial death of Christ on the cross has made available God’s […]

Our leaders at least must know how our Church evolved From Mission to Church The Evolution of The Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia: 1885-1976 Author: Earnest Lau Publisher: Armour Publishing Pte Ltd 320 pages, $25   THE story of how the Methodist Mission started in 1885, grew and evolved from a “mission” to become the autonomous Methodist […]

Is there scriptural basis for the doctrine of purgatory? ACCORDING to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994), “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of […]

WHEN Jesus looks upon my life, What picture does He see. Does He see His own refl ection, Or does He just see me. Does He see His likeness, The product of His hand. Or just another Christian, Who never took a stand. Does He see a child of God, A child that He made […]

What do Christians mean when they say that the Bible is the Word of God? CHRISTIANS from all the traditions of the Church – Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant – believe that the Bible is the Word of God. That is why in most traditional churches, the declaration, “This is the Word of the Lord”, […]

But, as The ACS Story reaffirms, it’s much more than happy happenstance The ACS Story Editors: Earnest Lau and Peter Teo Publisher: ACS Board of Governors 408 pages. $20 Available from Times The Bookshop outlets   SERENDIPITY – or what? The veritable treasure chest of a book entitled The ACS Story first wowed the Anglo-Chinese School […]

Should Christians pray for the dead? IT MAY surprise some readers of this newsletter to learn that the practice of praying for the dead has a very long history in the Christian tradition that can be traced as far back as the 3rd century AD. The great father of the early church, Tertullian, who has contributed […]

  JENNY, a mother of three teenagers, recently expressed to me her fear that both her daughter and son seemed to be flirting with things that were harmful to their spiritual health. I asked her what made her think this. She said that both had come home with the smell of cigarettes on their clothing […]

ONE of the sad facts that any youth ministry faces is the number of people who were active in God’s work in their youth who are now not active in service or completely backslidden. Youth for Christ (YFC) has had to face this fact and admit with sorrow that many who were active with us […]