Yesterday’s (30 December) TODAY published the comments made by one Philip Pullman, author and avowed atheist, who criticised the Chronicles of Narnia as relying too much on "martial combat".  Pullman said that

The highest virtue we have, on the authority of the New Testament itself, is love and yet you find not a trace of that in the books.

So now we have, on the one hand, critics like Vinita Ramani who slam Narnia for spoiling the fun of fantasy by being too "Christian".  And on the other hand, you have critics like Pullman who slam Narnia for not being "Christian" enough.  (Honestly I don’t see how Narnia would have been more appealing if written more like a "loving" My Little Pony or Carebear & Friends-type fable, if that’s why Pullman wants).

You just can’t please everyone, can you ?

Well, actually I think that’s not all there is to it.  To me the above also shows that once a person is biased against something, he will find an excuse - any excuse - to dislike it.  Objectivity is thrown out of the window.  In this connection, I think it will do all critics (including myself) well to be more circumspect, to be more aware of our personal biases when commenting on an issue.

The above also brings to mind 2 Timothy 4 : 3 - 4, where the Apostle Paul wrote that more and more people will ignore objectivity and truth, and will instead listen to and approve of whatever they want to hear to suit their personal biases.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

This sounds really angst-sy, but I’m sick and tired of my mother and sometimes sisters watching (and commenting on) what I do whenever I’m looking after Jed.

"He needs to be burped"

"Don’t let him cry so much, or else hell get wind in his tummy"

"He is hungry"

"I don’t think he likes you because you don’t have breasts"

Hey, it’s not as if I’m going to drop him on the floor by accident.

While I really appreciate that they do what they do out of concern for Jed, it’s really irritating for someone else to tell you what to do when they haven’t spent as much time as Joyce and myself looking after him, and understanding his needs, or when they tell what you what to do against your personal parenting preferences.  Sometimes, they even act against your personal parenting preferences when looking after him !

Like feeding him water when breast-fed babies clearly don’t need to drink more water.  Or trying to burp him violently when that is likely to cause him to throw up.

I suppose they think that men don’t know how to look after babies.  That may be true of my dad, who has never carried a baby or changed a diaper in his entire pathetic life as a father, but I’m not my dad.

Leave me alone.

My department has been asked to get volunteers to join several committees set up by the Organisation to plan for the annual dinner and dance, workplan seminars, blah blah blah other WOT extra-curricular activities.

My boss circulated a memo asking for volunteers but, rather cleverly and with the usual enthusiasm, no one drank from the poisoned chalice.

I decided to be noble and save my boss the embarassment of not being able to get volunteers (or having to "volunteer" a volunteer), and put my name in for the committee responsible for the annual publication.  But I made what I thought about these ECAs clear, scribbling at the side of the form that "out of the goodness of my heart, I sacrifice [myself].  I volunteer for the annual [yearbook] (it’s probably the least painful of the committees anyway)" (which I subsequently learnt to my embarrassment was flashed on screen during the staff meeting, for all including my director to see).

I wonder how I will in good conscience be able to sit on a committee that churns out a suck-up-to-the-senior-director(s)-but-otherwise-useless-publication (which will probably be badly written too).  Sigh … the things I put myself through because I have a good heart …

Add to that the fact that trees will have to be sliced to make paper for the useless publication - that’s like suffering death by a thousand cuts.  What a terrible, and meaningless, way for trees to die.

BTW, I’ve already decided what I’ll do with the publication when it comes out.  As with the previous publication, I’ll keep it for Jed to doodle on when he is old enough to hold a pen.  I suppose that is more meaningful than ending in the office shredder or buried and forgotten in some office drawer.

It’s not been a good week so far.

Brought Jed to the doctor’s yesterday because he’s been throwing up his milk lately.  Pediatrician said that he has gastric reflux, ie. a common occurance in babies who can’t hold their food in their tummies because of a weak stomach (?) muscle.  Feeding Jed now takes about twice the time because we must prepare a special viscous formula to mix the breast milk with, and handle him gingerly.  This is to minimise the likelihood of him throwing up.

(Thank God though, Jed has put on weight even though he’s not been keeping all his food in.  He put on another 500g in two weeks).

I also seem to have busted my left knee.  It hurts to walk down the stairs, especially steep ones (like the attic).  Can’t cycle, and probably can’t run.  Definitely not good for the waistline, because I’m craving for ice cream and other high calorie desserts.

Despite the many constraints, the youths put together an excellent Christmas skit on Christmas Sunday.  Though not everyone ultimately got to perform on Christmas Day itself, I thought it was great that almost everyone was involved somehow - whether in the script, publicity, logistics, etc. - in creating the final product.

A God-blessed Merry Christmas to all who drop by this blog !  Whether or not you are a Christian, I hope that the Christmas message below (in the post before this) is meaningful to you.

Wrote an article for the Christmas edition of the church bulletin.

Party with the Pious People

This article is dedicated to the youths, many of whom I know sacrificed a lot to make the games and caroling with the children at Sengkang, and today’s Christmas celebration, possible.  God loves you.

What is Christmas about?

“Good food, fine wines, gifts and parties through the night”, said one.

“A break from work, a good opportunity to fly away for a holiday”, said another.

“No, no,” said the Christian piously.  “Christmas is more than a party or holiday.  It is about the birth of Jesus Christ.  I am going to church to celebrate this with my friends.”

Is this all there is to it ?

…  …  …

Let’s go back to the very first Christmas some 2,000 years ago.  Then, God threw a party for the birth of His only son, Jesus.

We know that it was not a self-indulgent party where people were getting drunk on good food and fine wines.  Jesus was born into very austere conditions.  He was born in a manger. 

But neither was it a party at the Jewish temple or synagogue (The equivalent of our present day church) where pious Jews had gathered around.

It was a party which God decided to take outside His “church”.  A small celebration (Jesus had to keep a low profile because King Herod was trying to kill Him) attended by His parents, a few wise men, a couple of shepherds, and lots of sheep.

I think it is very significant that God held the celebration outside of “church”.  It means that Jesus celebrated His birth with the poor, the despised, the aliens (the wise men were, technically, “aliens” and foreigners) and the outcasts of society.

Some 30 years later, Jesus preached: “When you throw a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, then you will be blessed.” (Luke 14 : 13)

…  …  …

Christians rightly feel upset about how Christmas, and our world generally, has become so commercialized, so un-Christian.

And so we retreat into our little churches, sing our nice songs, listen to sometimes boring sermons – celebrating our faith on Sundays, and the birth of Jesus on Christmas.

…  …  …

The result is churches where Christians compete to throw the best Christmas parties (or else they compete to attend the best Christmas parties where you get to eat the best food).

In another case, I have a Christian friend who shared recently about how she had been misunderstood by some church members, who thought that she had overspent from the church budget on outreach programs to the people in her community. They disagreed with spending on the people, until the needs of the church had been met.

…  …  …

Jesus’ birth and His ministry reminds us that Christmas is more than just a celebration amongst ourselves, that church is more than just a building in which the pious build higher and nicer walls that sadly has the effect of keeping the people outside, out.

Jesus’ birth and ministry reminds us that God desires to bless the poor, the despised, the aliens and the outcasts outside of the church.  And we should strive to reflect this in our lives, in our church, and in the parties we throw.

I am glad that, in 2005, Peoples’ Presbyterian Church threw more parties for the people in our community that for us, many times at the cost of our personal time and resources. I believe that this is what God wants and that He will honor our efforts to love the people around us.

I hope that we will continue to take the birth and ministry of Jesus seriously in 2006.  For this and future Christmases, don’t just party with the pious; party with the people !

I’ve been thinking about some of the Christians I’ve come into contact with in the past - those that are perhaps brilliant theologically, but overly combative, and somewhat tactless in proclaiming their beliefs.

I recall pointing out to one of them that "your intransigence is not scoring you, or God, any points.  I also think that it is extremely unhelpful to spew theological verbiage … because it makes you sound even more like a raving fanatic and drives the wedge between believers and non-believers even further".

To which he replied (sadly IMO) that "The world already hates us … only God knows whether I am scoring any ‘points’. As for ‘driving the wedge between believers and non-believers’, I see salvation as the work of God.  The wedge is already there and can only be crossed through the grace of God."

Yes, yes.  I know all that already.  Thank you.

Of what use are we as vessels of brilliant theology when we have no effect in drawing non-believers closer to God ?  Are we not then mere resounding gongs or clanging cymbals (1 Corinthians 13 : 1) ?

1 Corinthians 8 : 1 says that "knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies".

I believe that sound theology must be combined with acts of grace and love in order to be effective.  Jesus did this best, ministering with acts of grace and compassion, and speaking to the masses (who would have difficulty understanding profound theology) in parables, which may at one level be understood as simple faith lessons.  Jesus also taught that the world will recognise Christians by their love for one another and for their neighbours.

Hence John 1 : 14 describes Jesus as being "full of grace and truth".  This is sound theology, combined with grace and love.

The more I read, the more I realise how little I know about my God.  I stumbled on another website today which publishes excellent (if somewhat profound) Christian resources - The Modern Reformation.