Think
Nature, nurture and spirit probably have a hand in passing on Family scripts
FAMILY stories often seem to have recurring themes. Some therapists call them family scripts. It seems as if unwritten but nevertheless powerful scripts find expression generation after generation. Researchers have noted that certain patterns in attitude and behaviour tend to be repeated in family history. Alcoholism, suicide, domestic violence, broken families, and other patterns of […]
Think
Can Christians believe in astrology?
ARE you a dragon? A horse? A Gemini? A Librian? Astrology uses these signs to describe you by judging the positions and qualities of the stars and planets according to their influence on events or human personality – in fact, upon all areas of life, including the future. Astrology sees our world as a miniature […]
Think
Creativity, art and the Christian’s responsibility
WHAT is art? For most of us, when we think of art we immediately think of sculptures, museums and art galleries. To us, art is not an everyday thing – it is something abstract, remote and perhaps even elitist. In our minds, only the privileged can enjoy art – that is, one must either be […]
Think
PLEASURE PALLS
PART 4 OF THE SERIES OF MEDITATIONS ON ‘WISDOM TO LIVE BY: MODERN REFLECTIONS ON AN ANCIENT TEXT’ Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 UNABLE to find satisfaction in the wisdom of the world, the Preacher dipped into the well of irrationalism and turned to pleasure as a solution. “I said to myself, ‘Come now, Let’s give pleasure a […]
Think
Now that’s a story to tell
INSPIRATIONAL stories from the Internet: who hasn’t been flooded with them? There’s one about Farmer Fleming, a poor Scotsman who one day heard a cry for help and ran to save a boy from drowning in the bog. The next day, the boy’s father, a nobleman, pulled up in a fancy carriage and offered payment. […]
Think
Of Christian trust and fatalism in gloomy situations
IN A global climate whose fluidity and uncertainty could bring devastating consequences to our small economy, there is an urgent need for us to make changes and adjustment. This is a painful reality when our pockets are hit, our comfortable lifestyle needs drastic tuning and our personal God appears remote when our supplications do not […]
Think
Of distraction and active holiness
” … Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him (Jesus) and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, […]
Think
Time to move on …
The writer and her husband Ivan: Moving away from what is familiar and comfortable. — Methodist Message picture. Kwa Kiem Kiok is a contributor to Methodist Message. In mid-August she and her husband Ivan Tan left for Asbury Theological College in Wilmore, Kentucky, for a sabbatical. Below are their reflections on taking this step. […]
Think
Steering wheel or spare tyre?
THERE are no atheists in the frontline trench. How true, for when under fire, even the man who had habitually denied the existence of God begins to pray desperately. It seems almost common to our human nature that personal danger often turns the cynical atheist who thrives in fair-weather into a hysterical theist who shakes […]
Think
A pride of Methodists?
I REMEMBER vividly one Ministerial Session interview at a July Annual Conference Special Session where a young pastor was asked if he had any faults; whether he had a dark side. And the cheeky pastor replied that his main failing is that he is too humble; if he wasn’t so humble, he would be perfect! […]
Think
Finding greater freedom in Christ
ONE of the hallmarks of the Christian life is the freedom from sin and its consequences, which we receive from Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Jesus Himself said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV). However, the ordinary believer often struggles with sin and experiences less than […]
Think
The line between religion and politics
The following is an extract from a talk given by the late Dr Tay Eng Soon (1940 – 1993), then Senior Minister of State (Education), in 1989 at a seminar sponsored by the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship and Trinity Theological College. Dr Tay was a founding member of Barker Road Methodist Church. This talk was first […]
Think
Anatomy of a public prayer
CHURCHES have remained vigilant and offered prayers over the current concerns in Singapore. Here is a public prayer offered at a Preaching Point entreating God to exercise His sovereign control over us: “We want to pray for our country and our people. Our lives are crippled and inhibited by illness, ignorance, bitterness and grief. In […]
Think
The forgiveness of sins
Sin, forgiveness lose their meaning in secular age THE statement of the Creed concerning the forgiveness of sin poses some difficulty to the modern reader because both sin and forgiveness have lost their meaning in the secular and superficial age in which we live. The evangelical theologian Bernard Ramm aptly entitled his book on sin, […]
