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Community and Compassion
THE Church is a faith community governed by the love of Christ. It seeks to help people experience God and build quality relationships with each other. As secularisation increases, paradoxically, there is also an increase in religiosity in the world. Is the Church positioned to address real human needs, promote true spiritually and build authentic […]
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Standing on the shoulders of giants
SUNDAY, July 23, 2006 was set aside as Methodist Schools Sunday, a day commemorating the work and contribution of schools with a Methodist tradition in Singapore. Today, 14 schools on our island fly the banner of The Methodist Church in Singapore, each of which can trace its heritage to the pioneering work of many remarkable individuals, […]
Soundings
The Bible also speaks of God’s holy wrath
Is conditional immortality (CI) a credible alternative to the traditional doctrine of hell? THE traditional doctrine of hell has recently come under fire even from evangelical theologians. In the past 20 years or so, an increasing number of evangelical theologians have rejected the traditional understanding of hell and eternal punishment and have forwarded a view […]
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Give me Ebenezer, anytime!
MANY Christians are familiar with the hymn “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace”. The second stanza begins: Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by thy help I’m come. There is a revised version found in Anglican Church of Canada’s hymnal Common Praise. It goes like this: Here I make faith’s […]
Soundings
Transsexuals should seek therapy, but much depends on what sort
Should Christians endorse Gender Reassignment Surgery (GRS) as an option for transsexuals? I THINK it is best if we begin with a working definition of transsexuality. A transsexual person is someone who is uncomfortable with the behaviour required for his or her chromosomal gender. In other words, a transsexual is someone who rejects his or her biologically and genetically determined sex, […]
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Healing at the end of life
IN HIS letter to the Corinthians, Paul paints a picture of spiritual healing at the end of life. This is an important concept because end of life care is becoming an increasingly important concern in our society as modern medical interventions paradoxically prolong the process of dying as doctors fight the battle against death. This […]
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LESSONS FROM THE WORLD CUP
Aim for our goals BELIEVE it or not, there is a global pandemic fever. It is called the “World Cup Fever”. Today if you do not know anything about the World Cup, like who is in the semi-finals, people might think you are from another planet. I realise that the World Cup is a great conversation […]
Soundings
Gnosticism and how ChristianGnosticism and how Christianityity
What is Gnosticism? How did the early Christian leaders respond to its teachings? THE phenomenal success of Dan Brown’s controversial novel, The Da Vinci Code, and the recent hype surrounding the discovery of the Gospel of Judas have generated public and media interest in Christian Gnosticism. Scholars have not achieved a consensus on the origin of Gnosticism. Early sources also […]
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Strength is for service, not status
THE strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not just please themselves. Yet how often has the Christian community done the exact opposite and insisted that the weak become strong if they wanted to be accepted? Again, the church needs to be reminded that we are a community of needy pilgrims, […]
Soundings
How do we know if this is prophecy?
What is prophecy? And how can we discern if it’s from God? MUCH of the confusion with the practice of prophecy in the contemporary church has to do with a misunderstanding of what the New Testament means by the term. It is not possible to provide a full discussion on prophecy in the limited compass […]
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It’s only a game – or is it?
One newbie player’s experience in the virtual world HOW do you react when you see someone sitting for hours at a computer, busy playing a game, or when you pass by a gaming centre and see rows of teenagers playing digital games, oblivious of their surroundings? Or do you think that it may be better […]
Soundings
Christian faith does not condone euthanasia
Should Christians condone euthanasia? IN THE modern world dying has become a problem! The extraordinary advances in science and technology have not only made it possible for doctors to alleviate pain but also to extend life. The possibility of being maintained on life support for months and sometimes years has resulted in much anxiety in both elderly and non-elderly patients. Patients and their […]
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Let’s not dismiss our Christian history
IN DECEMBER 1945, Muhammad Ali and his brothers of the al-Samman clan accidentally discovered a collection of ancient documents at Jabal al-Tarif, a spot near Nag Hammadi, a village in northern Egypt. They found a storage jar containing 12 leather-bound books (codices) and eight leaves removed from the thirteenth book. With the family of Muhammad […]
Film / Book Reviews
Highly readable commentaries for Christians
Encountering Biblical Studies Available at SKS Books, 315 Outram Road #10-05, Tan Boon Liat Building, Outram Road and Bethesda Book Centres HAVE you ever wanted a one-volume introduction to the Old Testament or the New Testament that is not shallow, divorced from everyday life or soporific (yawn)? The people at Baker Books have […]
