One of the directions in the Pentateuch (ie. first five books of the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah) that the Israelites never implemented, even at the height of their religious fervour, was that on the Year of Jubilee.

Basically, at Leviticus 25, God commands the Israelites to declare every 50th year (the year after seven sabbaths of years), as a year of jubilee.  "Proclaim liberty throughout the land" (v 9), God commands, by :
*  taking a rest from work - neither sowing nor reaping - but eating from the stores accumulated in the previous year (v 11)
*  returning to your clans, families and property, and in this connection, property that had been sold is to be redeemed or, if the previous owner cannot afford to redeem his property, is to be returned to him without charge (v 28) 
*  servants and their families, which in the prevailing culture were to serve their masters for life, were to be freed (v 46).

Our world today would be an entirely different place, if the Israelites, or if the Christians who subsequently "inherited" the Old Testament, had taken God’s words seriously.  Society would not suffer under the extremes of the present capitalist economic systems at one end, and the marxist economic systems at the other.

It is quite impractical if not impossible (pardon my lack of faith) to implement such a year-of-jubilee-type economic system now.  But there are still principles in Leviticus - admittedly hard teachings for Christians in a materialistic society like Singapore - that would do Christians well to remember and apply to our lives :

*  "The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is Mine and you are but aliens and tenants" (v 24) :  What possessions we apparently have are not really our own.  They actually belong to God, who has merely "leased" these possessions to us so that we and others around us may be blessed.  So we should use our "possessions" in ways that bless others, and not just horde them for ourselves.

*  "If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other … do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God" (v 14 and 17) :  Sadly, Christians are always taking advantage of each other.  Partly because some Christians are so trusting, particularly of fellow Christians, we’re suckers waiting to be conned into bad business deals.  But God warns here, fear Me !  Don’t get someone to sign onto a business deal or buy a product that you wouldn’t yourself enter into or buy !

*  "Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.  Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God" (v 43) :  As sadly, there is no lack of bad Christian bosses (or if you are in NS - to touch on a pet gripe - bad Christian officers) who manipulate and oppress their subordinates for their selfish ends.  Here God reminds us that we are all His servants - no one is more deserving than the other of His grace, and no one is superior to the other in His eyes.  If you fear God, govern those who are under your charge with grace and the fear of God.

And here is God’s promise for obedience to His directions in Leviticus, interestingly, in my opinion, repeated several times between v 14 to 17 -

"you will live safely in the land … you will eat your fill and live in safety … I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.  While you plant in the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in."

Unlike Daddy (who would like to believe that he had a humble childhood), who wore his first pair of jeans as a teenager, Daddy and Mummy bought Jed his first pair of jeans before he touched six months of age.

How time flies.  Jed is now half a year old !

I’m not a good, or at least not a perfect, guy.  What happened yesterday - rather funny in my opinion - illustrates this and the Biblical wisdom that "out of the overflow of [ a man's ] heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6 : 45).

I was working later than usual yesterday, and a kind colleague sent me an SMS encouragement :

"Don’t stay too late.  Jam on pie".

Rather intrigued by that hitherto unheard of idiom ("jam on pie"), I started to wonder if it had any association with the infamous pie scene in American Pie (no prizes for guessing what I thought jam might represent), and messaged back :

"Whats jam on pie?  Sounds obscene"

When I got into my car and turned the radio on a few minutes later, I was embarassed to discover that my colleague was referring to the Pan Island Expressway.  My next message was :

"Oh I get it.  Expressway thks".

You, yes you, the reader, are a liar and dishonest.  But because you do not sue me for allegedly defaming you, you are indeed a liar and dishonest ?

Am sitting at a Mitsubishi cars satellite service centre (Aljunied) right now and surfing the internet in the waiting area.  Must say this is quite cool.

Previously, I had lamented about one of my running shorts having been swiped at the gym by whom I suspect is a sick pervert.  Shopping on Thursday evening after work, I found a matching pair of shorts, the second last of its kind in a discount rack.

On to more serious stuff, there’s somewhat disturbing news that Workers’ Party candidate James Gomez was arrested by the police this morning.

My workplace has started a new "Green for Life" policy, which as usual is a whole load of bullshit (see crap below).

I commented that "if we are truly serious, the management should, for a start, stop demanding that everything be printed in font size 14 !".

To which a colleague replied, "yeah, if the old people can’t read normal font sizes, they should just be given magnifying glasses.  More environmental.  Maybe they’ll set themselves on fire in strong sunlight".

Green for Life

Our Policies

We are committed to the presevation of the environment.  We actively encourage environmentally-friendly practices in the offce and participation in conservation efforts.

Our Goals

To organise at lease 1 environmental activity at the Group level this year.

To encourage active particiation in conservation activities both in the office and outside.

Events for 2006

Potential conservation efforts : Sungei Buloh Mangrove Planting

A Christian friend recently asked me if I knew whether God rewards Christians based on with what they do on earth.  I said that I thought so, based on what I could recall from the Bible.  He said that he was uncomfortable with the thought, as the Bible clearly says that our salvation arises from the grace of God and not by our works.  What I read for devotionals in Matthew 16 this morning reminded me of our conversation, and I wrote him this e-mail :

I read Matthew 16 this morning, and v 27 reminded me of what you had talked about once about Christians being rewarded in heaven.  That verse says :

“For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done.”

Unfortunately, nothing there about eternally virginal virgin brides and boy slaves (for those who are so inclined).

If you recall, I had also mentioned at that time that one of the rewards Christians can expect in heaven are crowns.  Well, here’s a list of at least five that I’m aware of :

1.  The Imperishable / Eternal Crown (1 Cor 9 : 24 – 27).  For those who discipline the flesh to victoriously run the race of life.

2.  The Disciple-Maker’s Crown (1 Thess 2 : 19).  For lack of a better name.  Basically this “crown” is the disciple of the Christian disciple-maker.

3.  The Crown of Righteousness (2 Tim 4 : 7 – 8).  Given “to all who have longed for His appearing” (as opposed, I suppose, to those who are distracted with earthly pleasures that they forget there will is greater joy in being with God).

4.  The Crown of Righteousness (1 James 1 : 12).  For those who persevere in the faith despite their sufferings, because of their love for God.

5.  The Crown of Life (1 Peter 5 : 1 – 4).  For those who serve as faithful shepherds of God’s people.

I recall you also said that you felt disturbed by the thought of God rewarding Christians differently and according to what they do on earth.  This is because the Bible clearly says that Christians are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not because of good deeds.  Well, I don’t think the crowns are to be worn like medals that generals pin on their uniforms.  Revelations 4 describes a scene where the elders in heaven lay their crowns before God and worship Him, and I think as non-elders we won’t be doing anything less :

"Whenever the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives for ever and ever.  They lay their crowns before the throne and say :

‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
To receive glory and honour and power,
For You created all things,
And by Your will they were created and have their being’."

There is also a hymn (“We Fall Down”) inspired by this passage by Steven Curtis Chapman and Chris Tomlin.  If you don’t already have it, you might want to get hold of it :

"We fall down, we lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus

We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the Lamb"