Gaping at giants

"Men go to gape at mountain peaks, at the boundless tides of the sea, the broad sweep of rivers, the encircling ocean and the motions of the stars; and yet they leave themselves unnoticed; they do not marvel at themselves" Augustine, Confessions

prayerless dogma

All of us are guided by dogma of some sort. We believe a certain set of beliefs to be self evident as the American constitutional writers so cleverly put it. We expect many people to agree and therefore share such common ground with us or at least to be willing to engage with us on these terms. They are basic assumptions about life that we regard to be objective and thus True, becoming core pillars of our entire worldview. More so, dogma is often believed rather than argued and its association with faith rather than logic in the epistemological realms set mental barriers to how they should be understood. They exist in every person and there is no naturalist, positivist or empiricist who is above dogma. In short, we are all beholden to dogma, whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or may I add, Atheist.

Therefore, undoubtedly, all men are dogmatic in some form. The atheist insist that there is no God, though he is ultimately unable to prove it. But he insists upon it and thus shares in the same dogmatism that he accuses the Christian of possessing. Well the Christian is dogmatic about his fundamental truth assumptions, that God is omnipotent, omnipresent and He has manifested himself through the incarnation of His Son on earth. He too is unable to prove it but he shares it with an extraordinary passion because he believes it to be of cosmic importance. Certainly I agree with that, wholeheartedly in fact, but like the atheist, i find an aspect of Christianity very discomforting. That is as the title suggests - Prayerless Dogmatism.

The arrogance of the shallow and the humility of the deep.

I've often found an arrogance in the shallow and a profound humility in the deep. What do i mean by that? Very often, those who engage deeply in their subjects, and in this case christian doctrine are drawn to humility at the expense of their limitations. They are aware that beyond what Christ reveals to them, they are ill-able to discover on their own. What they do know, they hold firmly and humbly. When in conversation, they are prone to contemplate carefully, they do not have to name big names to state their point, for by sheer logic and careful consideration, their points are proven sufficient. There aren't many -isms in their speech.

Ultimately, the key mark of such humble and might I say intelligent men is their love for prayer. They engage with God and think within the comforts of His grace. What they shout in the pulpit is earned in prayer. What they've learnt over the years through the Word and their books has humbled them and they are aware of their limitations. I think of Leonard Ravenhill and Paul Washer and the throng of people who want to be like them. These throng scream and wail against problems in the church, expound theology like they're some expert and in imitation of Washer and Ravenhill, scold the flock. But here's the nub, do you share in Ravenhill's and Washer's prayer life? Do you want their dogma earned with prayer or do you just want to imitate their dogmatism?

Ironically, the shallow are prone to arrogance. They like the pulpits because it is elevated, they like to study theology because it makes them look rather smart. Yet they do not have a passion for the Lost or even if they do evangelise, they evangelise for numbers. They do not know the many deaths a pilgrim faces in prayer. They are dogmatic about their dogma without prayer and when we're like that we become arrogant. Reading the bible and books often, they do not have life. Why is that? They do not pray. They do not love prayer.

My recollection

My friends come from a varied spectrum of thought - and if you ask me honestly, I'm rarely bothered about whether they're Calvinist or Arminian (i could be shot for this). If they believe that man are liable for sin and that God is sovereign, i don't really bother too much. I'm interested in their views on Jesus, revival, prayer, humility and the state of the church. I'm interested if they believe the bible is the sole authority, sufficient for teaching unto salvation with the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to know if they want to have Jesus and die for it. I want to know if they want to preach this Jesus authentically to the dying world.

That is why despite some theological differences with my friends in India, I count them as brethren, in fact I'm very honoured if they count me as one of them. I remember their sacrifices, their prayers and I thank God for that. Their dogmatism is prayed over and over again and they breathe in it. Rather than those who walk around sprouting theological learning without prayer, who haven't given much thought to what they believe in, except that they like the cleverness of it all.

All theology is for doxology and with it comes humility and much prayer. Thats good dogma.

The mortality of humanity hangs like long hair over my eyes, occasionally irritating my vision and then brushed aside. Yet with the coming of every sunset and fading away of my years, the strands of hair creeps over my eyes and allow me to stare into the inevitable - that I would one day perish like the rest and sleep. Permanence has become a blessed luxury, for in the face of dying, nothing appears to last. So much that seems to be so important, amounts to no more than vanity.

Do not our short lives make plain the supremacy of your eternity O God? and should not our short lives stare humbly into the realms of forever and be drawn towards You for You have set eternity in our hearts? Deep calls unto deep at the sound of your waterfalls and how endless are the depths of your mercies that they do not run dry for all eternity! and how sweet the taste of your love that makes our love look like stale water against the fresh waters of a mountain brook.

O Lord, whilst I was in the army, you have shown me death and the fragility of life and I have pondered anew your mercies. How the pride of youth misplaced my attentions and how You have desired to free us from it. More time, more time, there is always more time, my youth calls out, but flowers and grass that do not last your Word announces violently to me.

I remember Your love in the nights and in the mornings I am awakened by Your whispers yet still I have brushed it aside so often! How much does eternity weigh O Lord? Is it not more than 5 more minutes of slumber? Is it not more than the pride of a moment? How can mortality boast as so many mortal man do in the face of an eternity in worship to God! Can we not do anything unless You have given us grace to do so?

Pride of Youth, Boastfulness, idleness... they stare foolishly and crookedly in the face of men and their ways are ways of death, but Your ways are humility and self denial and they are life everlasting. Teach me O Lord Your ways and I will follow, give me Your grace that I may do what you teach so that I may live to glorify You forever.

Aware

When the Aware saga first broke out, i must admit to thinking " these women just need to get married" or "they need a man down there to sort things out" before flipping on to more important news plaguing the unfortunate planet. Why on earth should i be concerned about a group of riled up women in a group that numbered less than 300 in membership (at that time)when thousands of poor refugees were held up in Sri Lanka facing the very possible prospect of death?

Singaporeans as I had previously argued needed a sense of proportion in a world that was radically larger and more complex. Yet when the topic became sensationalised around the subject of homosexuality it became apparent that this went beyond personal differences. Interjected and perhaps central to the discussion was a globalised moral issue transposed into our comfy island context. The battlefield was in the den of a few passionate women but the issue was global and more. Subsequently, the caricatures, the name calling, the emotions from that theatre would be invariably fixed into this feminist fall out.

Therefore, would it not be wise to adopt a calm, compassionate and understanding disposition, for there are too many emotional entanglements involved in this saga. Firstly, the media had a field day and clearly, the straits times and the new paper had their obvious favourites. And given this opportunity, the sensational coloured what was True and made for little space for the deeper issues to surface. Secondly, behind the many large sounding concepts of equality, diversity, religious plurality existed personality differences hidden behind nobler sounding facades. Lastly, given the issues at stake, unbridgeable polarities between camps gave little ground for conciliation and large swathes of people from either sides of the populace registered strong opinions even before coming to an understanding of the issue. The nature of this Aware saga is just part of a long running debate that began long ago, having had some battles (377A...etc) fought over it, that did not allow people to have many views anyway since they already had them.

My take on it? well, its the bible really. Though two issues I would want to broach on, namely

1) The secular/religious divide

There is a common belief that we must divide the secular realm from the religious one. That the organised church has no place in secular organisations. Well. perhaps organised religion should have not interfere in organised politics or NGOs, but that does not mean they do not have a right to comment on them! Also whereas we can segregate organised religion from secular organisations, we cannot separate the religion from the man. That the secular organisation is composed of religious people is a reflection of our society since most of us are religious in Singapore. We cannot suppress our moral/religious views just because we are in a secular organisation because the very nature of religion is that it enegages our whole being.

The separation of religion and secular is alot more complex in that case, since they are in effect deeply intertwined. Away from this liberal rhetoric, it just does us better to accept this fact and be wise in our dealings.

2) The church's response

The church of the Lord must know that this is a depraved world that desires depraved pleasures to puruse its depraved end to its logical conclusion. In a blinded world, we should not expect acceptance but rather malice and difficulty. We live for heaven, for Christ, for the glory of His infinite love. For that we make our stand according to the bible, and on it shall we stand or fall.

And we must respond in love like our Saviour did, in much prayer! and in stating our position kindly and gently.

At the end of the day, we got to move beyond the myopia and be aware.