While surfing by a Christian website, the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, which discusses inter alia British culture as it relates to Christianity, I was amused to read an article discussing "kidults" and "tweenagers" -

Tweenagers -  8 & 9 year olds who spend their pocket money on mobile top up cards rather than toys - their wants have become similar to those of late teens.

The exact same can be said of ‘Kidults’ the late twenty somethings, early thirty somethings, who are reluctant to settle down, who still club at the weekends are still addicted to Nintendo, who are still essentially living the life they lived as late teens albeit with a bit more cash to spread around.

All the above seems to outline that the ‘cult of youth’ is a major driving force in society. Think of politicians who are desperate to win the youth vote; Blair’s Cool Brittannia, the Liberal Democrat’s relaxed attitude to drugs that’s won them popularity amongst teens. It seems that nearly every area of life has been infiltrated by the need to ‘think young’.

which I thought was rather insightful. 

I think Singapore is becoming like that.  If the number of clubs that have opened up in Singapore, and the number of ads that we see about looking young and slim, are anything to go by, then yes, maybe a sizable number of our late twenty to early thirty somethings have of late been trying to live superficial and sometimes reckless lives as overaged teenagers, chasing after the wind.

Be happy, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.

- Ecclesiastes 11 : 9 

Recent events have sort of made it necessary for me to come out of early "retirement" (necessitated by fatherhood), to prepare for a sermon on 27 August. 

I’ve tentatively decided on the topic "Does Church Matter Anymore ?".  A good friend yesterday told me that the theme was manifestly depressing.

Nonetheless, I went ahead to prepare for that topic last night.  My friend was right.  In the course of my preparation, I was somewhat amused and distressed to discover that I had many bad things to say about the Church (not my church specifically, but the body of Christ generally).  The sermon is turning out to be a list of gripes.

Not good.  I have issues.

I think that, on the list of people I don’t like, Christians might well rank slightly below terrorists, and my BMT platoon commander and ex-boss.

Yesterday’s Planetshakers concert was good.  As good, I suppose, as a Christian "rock" concert can ever get.

I have to confess that I found screaming "Jesus" the way one would scream "Justin" (after Justin Timberlake) rather odd.  But then I’m somewhat older than your average, hormonally-charged teenager.

Understatement of the year.

At least I wasn’t the oldest there.  I saw mothers and grandmothers, perplexed at the loud music and pulsating lights, but nonetheless appreciating the music in whatever limited way they could.  I assume this because I did not hear of anyone being wheeled out because of a cardiac arrest.

Herein lies the beauty of the body of Christ.  Acceptance for one another arising not from homogeneity, but because of our common love for Christ despite the diversity, and despite our different ways of expressing this love.

I can imagine how - horror of horrors - heaven might look like this.  Christians who continue to worship with minimal or without musical accompaniment today had better prepare themselves mentally.

Thank God for ministries like the Planetshakers, where Christians can rock to music without the wardrobe malfunctions, somewhat odd as this might be.

Said at my workplace ceremony today

"In 1962, our ancestors voted to join Malaysia …"

How the mighty have fallen in battle !
  Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
  you were very dear to me.
  Your love for me was wonderful,
  more wonderful than that of women.

How the mighty have fallen !
  The weapons of war have perished !

- 2 Samuel 1 : 25 - 27

It was said today that

To obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatory.

- 1 Samuel 15 : 22 - 23

But it was not said that in the historical context, King Saul’s "sacrifice" was unacceptable because it was motivated by selfish gain rather than a genuine desire to honour God through the deviation.  King Saul had been directed to attack the Amalekites and completely destroy the enemy and the enemy’s property.

"But Saul and the army spared Agag [ the Amalekite king ] and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat claves and lambs - everything that was good.  These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed." (1 Samuel 15 : 7 - 9)

"Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, ‘Saul has gone to Carmel.  There he has set up a monument in his own honour and has turned and gone down to Gilgal’."  (1 Samuel 15 : 12)

Is the standard required of a Christian absolute obedience to rules ?  I think that rules were made for men and not the converse.

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as His disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath ?"

He answered, "Have you enver read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat.  And he also gave some to his companions.

Then He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

- Mark 2 : 23 - 27

And in relation to a similar incident in Matthew 12 : 11 it is said

[ Jesus ] said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out ?  How much more valuable is a man than a sheep !  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

When a marriage breaks down, it is the children that suffer most.

Some 12 to 13 years ago, when I was still young and naive, I was a victim of such a failed marriage.  Sitting alone in a bus, tears streamed down my face as I listened to "We are One Body" on my walkman.

Though we are many, we are one body,
We are one body in Christ.
One faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ, binding us together in one cause.
One hope in one God, one Father over all.

I asked why it is those who are least able to fend for themselves that suffer in a break up, and prayed for healing that did not materialise.

Now, 12 to 13 years later, I stand again at the brink of another failed marriage.  The circumstances are sadly similar.  Though I am now hardened and cynical, there are, again, those who are unable to fend for themselves - victims - who will feed and defend them, bind their wounds and lead them to safety ?

Great crowds came to [ Jesus ], bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them. … Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

Matthew 15 : 29 - 32

Joyce and I talked about whether it is ever appropriate for Christians to pray "curses" on people, such as for the downfall of, maybe, a terrorist, etc.

We reached the conclusion that Christians should pray that righteousness will prevail instead.  Righteousness being the converse of wickedness, the latter will naturally be eliminated, when righteousness prevails.

When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;
when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. (Proverbs 11 : 10)

Head of Iran’s powerful Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, recently called on Muslim nations to help Hizbollah’s (otherwise spelt as Hezbollah) fight against Israel.  This is what he said :

"Now, it is expected that Muslim states not spare any assistance to Hizbollah and the Lebanese people, especially providing weapons, medicine and food".

Unsaid, was this :

"It is expected of you not to spare any assistance to Hizbollah.  These suckers fight to carry out our glorious genocidal agenda of wiping Israel off the world map, in a suicidal war which all of us know they cannot win because it is impossible for a guerilla army to defeat a conventional army, regardless of the arms and munitions that they are provided with.  But because we are bloody cowards and dare not face the Israeli army in battle we should, in the spirit of self-serving irresponsibility and neglect of our brethren, arm our proxies.  Send primarily but not only weapons.  Send aid !  The Zionist state has shrewdly devastated the economy of Southern Lebanon which is (now was) controlled by Hizbollah to finance their terrorist operations and indoctrination of the local population.  They need your aid to rebuild the lost Hizbollah businesses so that they can be self-sustaining once again."

For the past couple of days, I’ve been driven by an inexplicable urge to read a book.  Seeing how it’s been almost two months (if not more) since I last read a book (Bible doesn’t count), I guess it’s not so inexplicable.  I finally found the time today to drive down to the bookshop (Harris) at Great World City.

I bought Elie Wiesel’s Night.  (Well, I wanted to read something depressing).

The book lives up to its reputation.  I’m only at the preface, and I’ve already found it absolutely riveting.

"If in my lifetime I was to write only one book, this would be the one.  Just as the past lingers in the present, all my writings after Night, including those that deal with biblical, Talmudic or Hasidic themes, profoundly bear its stamp, and cannot be understood if one has not read this very first of my works.

Why did I write it ?

Did I write it so as not to go mad or, on the contrary, to go mad in order to understand the nature of madness, the immense, terrifying madness that had erupted in history and in the conscience of mankind ?

Was it to leave behind a legacy of words, of memories, to help prevent history from repeating itself ?

Or was it simply to preserve a record of the ordeal I endured as an adolescent, at an age when one’s knowledge of death and evil should be limited to what one discovers in literature ?