Theology Of Day To Day Life

The life of the church in North East India and Chin regions of Myanmar are similar in many ways. First and foremost, most churches belong to Baptist denominations and they subscribed to all the fundamental beliefs and practices of the Baptist all over the world. Many of the Baptist churches are not susceptible to the changes. The churches (including other denominations) tend to draw lines between the social issues and church issues. For instances, the churches did not join rally or protest gathering. Though pastors and church members join the rally and protest but as an individual. Another feature of the churches is that we draw a big line between the church and politics. The church did not endorse any candidates or political parties. So, the churches are keeping themselves away from anything which is political in nature. However, churches face enormous challenges and persecutions. The churches are severely affected by political activities. For instance, if there is a rebellious activi...

The Critical Asian Principle or in short CAP is something Union Theological Seminary, Philippines will be proud of for years to come. It was formulated and introduced by the former president Emerito P. Nacpil. Since its inception and eventually adopted as a basis for doing theology in Asia, CAP has been a vital part in unearthing the richness of Asian thought. Today, we can see the objective of CAP being realizing each day in many Asian nations by way of promoting theological education which is basically and fundamentally Asian. Our uniqueness of Asian; our cultures, religious needs and questions, our experiences etcetera etcetera, are distinct from the thoughts and experiences of other parts of the world. Our distinctiveness and uniqueness necessitate CAP. It addresses the issues and concerns of the Asian community effectively. Having subscribed to CAP doesn’t necessarily exclude other school of theologies or thoughts as many would opined. However, this principles provide a platfo...

Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah (Ruth 1) The story of Naomi and her family was a tragedy. They try to escape famine in their land and moved to Moab. It is like one is running away from a lion just meet tiger at the other end. All the men of the family died there in a strange land. They came to Moab so that they might live but instead they died there except Naomi. It is quit natural that everyone tries to escape from the death, especially by hunger. We make all possible efforts to keep ourselves alive. It must have been hard for the Elimelech family to stay in the land. But God has a plan for moving down there. When all husbands were died, Naomi has not much option than to send them back to their respective families. Orpah left because Naomi insists her to go back to her parents. But Ruth determined to stay with Naomi and we are started to realize the purpose of Elimelech going down to Moab. If they did not go down, certainly, they will not find Ruth, a Moabite woman. If we take the story to our...

We are all invited to work in His field through out the history. The wage he promises us is the same – the kingdom of heaven. No matter at what point of time one was called or one is called or one will be call, it is for the kingdom of heaven, nothing more nothing less. The parable conveys the message of equal blessing upon all His workers. Another truth revealed in this parable is unceasing invitation of God for workers. He calls for workers, regardless of the times of the day. He wants everyone to work in His vineyard at whatever point of time when He calls us. Interestingly, tools will be provided when we reach the field. It also implies that He is not looking for professionals and expertise in the vineyard. He calls everyone whosoever is standing at the market place. Standing in the market place implies that one is looking for job. So we need to be ready looking for Him to pass by. If He is not, we go His house and enquire about it, if there is any vacancy. Once we are accepted, he...

No doubt, the parable is subversive and we can see that from the reactions of the chief priest and Pharisees. The parable posts a great challenge and need careful study. In most cases today, it was the owner who is manipulating the poor tenants. The tenants are the one who are tossing and twisting by landlord. Now, certainly we are not identifying with errant tenants in the vineyard. The great challenge here for a pastor is “where can we fit in to the parable?” We are neither tenants nor the owner. Who are we then? We are other tenants who will be given the vineyard by the Landlord! How can we draw meaning and purpose from such subversive parable is a great challenge. In the present world, the resemblances we can observe with that of the errant tenants are our politicians and those big business people who are money mongers. In some way, they are entrusted with responsibilities by God. In Jesus times, chief priest and Pharisees were the “tenants”; entrusted to take care of God’s people ...

God’s redeeming act (Genesis 3) This is the story of how humanity falls from the original state of being; from the splendor and privileges of being created manually by Lord God! (Assuming I am doing the Bible study now among women). Certainly, their were in a state of innocence, enjoyment, happy and probably dancing around or running around the trees like the actor and actress of Indian Movies. Everything was going well; family (man and wife) has no quarrelling, no fights over who is greater or who is lesser, and no worries for their foods and clothing. Now the story is about to begin. Somebody got jealous and wants to bring some troubles to the couple. This somebody is the “Serpent”, the most subtle creature of all creatures. It is a matter of investigation “who is this Serpent?” In the Book of Revelation, the writer called “the old Serpent”, probably referring to the Serpent of Genesis 3. But In others parts of the Bible, Serpent was quite helpful. For instance, Moses had to lift up ...

Poverty and Youth Thousands of young people graduated from universities and colleges every year. After huge investment to get the degree, no surprise; no job around! The irony of the present world is that if you are graduated from ‘not so popular’ universities or colleges, job is hard to come by. Those who can afford to attend good schools can afford to attend good universities and end up in big corporate office. While on other hand poor can’t afford to attend good school so also can’t go to good universities and ended up in corner of your house and content with the sari-sari store. Worst, one will end up driving ‘padi-cab’ or ‘tri-cycle’. While that’s something! Still, there is possibility of ‘forever hunting’ job. This world is not a ‘poor-friendly’ world. Who is to be blame for all these mess? Politician? Our forefather? Who? Now it is difficult to point out to a single cause, responsible for this present situation of poverty. It is like an unwelcome guest. We blame the Government a...

why Romans killed Jesus? Why Paul was killed by the Romans? Why others early Christian were persecuted and killed? The straight forward answer is "they preached Christ Jesus - Son of God" What is wrong in preaching Jesus Christ as Son of God? Do they hate the title or others don't want Jesus to be the Son of God? Here is the vital information from the budding New Testament scholar Prof. Revelation Velunta of Union Theological Seminary. This is what I have learned from his class on 16th July 2008. First, we have to understand few terms which were very important in those days. 1) Basileus a Greek term for "king". The Romans considered their king - Caesar as son of god or in other word they believed their emperor were descendant of god. 2) Basileia a Greek term for "kingdom". It was a term used by the Romans for the Roman Empire. 3) Pistis a Greek term for "faith" or "believe". In other to be member of the kingdom, one has to confess...

Inquiry to the concept of ecumenism Kamang Gangmei Jaojianlung Since very young, I have been hearing about the story of the Tower of Babel. The story in the Genesis says: Genesis 11:1-9 – "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. {Language: Heb. lip.} {Speech: Heb. words} 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. {from...: or, eastward} 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. {They said...: Heb. a man said to his neighbour} {burn...: Heb. burn them to a burning} 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, ...

How does one get crucified for telling Parables? Introduction Two very important reminders: First, If there is one fact we are perfectly sure about Jesus of Nazareth, it is that he was crucified by order of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, in the mid-30's CE for allegedly being "King of the Jews." And we don't need the Bible to confirm this. Two historians, the Jewish Josephus and the Roman Tacitus, attest to the “pernicious” superstition called Christianity and its crucified and supposedly risen leader. Second, if there is one thing most scholars agree about Jesus is that he was a storyteller; that he taught in parables (like the many rabbis of his time). And his followers remembered and we have many of his stories in the gospels we now call Mark, Matthew and Luke.The key question we hope to answer this term is one which has bothered many for centuries: If Jesus were a teacher of heavenly, spiritual truths then why was he executed as a political subversive between ...

The role of Youth against the rampant corruptions in the nation "The youth are the pillar of the nation" We feel good to hear something good, something nice about our nation. For instance, the whole nation celebrates when Manny Pacquiao won the bout against his opponent. Though my stay in this country is just over two years and few months, it is long enough to immersed myself to the culture and people as much as I could, knowing that I don’t have all my life to experience! Now, I have so many pare and mare. Growing old with them allows me to observe many aspects of their lives. All my pare and mare are from ordinary class and I strongly believe that rest of the people are not so much differ from them. All mga kaibigan are generous and very considerate! I have been wondering how such corruption creep in to the Filipino people. "Economy our friend and foe at the sametime" The forum on “Corruption” on 9th July 2008 at Salakot, UTS Dasmarinas, answers some of my wonderi...

What is the problem of Ecumenism? Our discussion start with the word meaning of Oikos (household) or Oikomene (whole inhabitant of the world) It was really a noble ambition to have ecumenical movement, trying to unite christian, regardless of their denominations. But can such thing really happen? When we say "unity", it is talking about physical unity of the various christians sects or denomination. There will be detail elaboration within few days.

Today, our discussion was on anthropology according to Paul. Now the issue at this subject is that "was Paul influenced by Hebraic thought of anthropology or Greek's trichotomy? The Hedrew viewed mankind as a whole being (Thats what the presenter said, need to check it) and Greek thought mankind is composed of Body, Soul and Spirit. The confusion here with Paul is, what kind of view he was following? The question? Is there any doctrinal significance by such anthropological views of mankind? Certainly! There is a significance. We have body, souls and spirit. Our body is temporal, not necessarily sinful. Our souls are what it make us living. As our bodies need our souls to keep alive, our souls need a spirit. Now, you choose what kind of spirit! We have Holy Spirit to give us living spirit, that will teach us and guide us. There is also a spirit of the devils. So we need to discern, what kind of spirit is about us. I will elaborate more in the next entry.

Most of the Asian countries experieince colonialism and it affected the society to a great extend. For instance, most of our churches were still under the influences of our colonial master. The hymnals, liturgies, language, organisational setup and on and on. We are coming to the point that our very own culture are evil culture, a pagan culture or we are made to think that christianity has nothing to do with our culture, someting like leave it and forget it! Now, we will have crisis identity. Our coming generation will have any idea about our rich culture God has given us. Yes, there are some practices which are really need to do away but there are numerous practices which are far more nobler and better than our colonial master tought us. Now, our colonial master used English (language) exclusively to exploit us. For many, English language is just simply a stark reminder of the colonialism. Now, the question is "Is English an universal language or Imperialist language? For many of...

What is the objective of the CE? Many of our friends gave their answer of which some are close while some are not that close! The primary objective of the CE according to Prof. Liz, is 'proclaiming the reign of God/Kingdom of God'. The kingdom of God is realized when there is peace, justice, and love. This was the core message of Jesus while on earth. The CE plays a vital role in carrying out this message. Therefore, developing a curriculum that will address human development, cultural development, and community developement is the need of the hour. There is an immense need develope a value system or rather reclaiming the our rich traditional value system. A value system which will eliminate individualism, capitalism, colonialism, oppression etcetera. Assignment Need analysis of the church (our local church), our community Formulating vision and mission (project proposal) Venue (such as camping, youth class, leadership training etc)