Hubert Chathi

Happy New Year, to everyone!

(By the way, I'm in Edmonton now, which I haven't blogged about yet.)

Last year (2006), I went through a “read through the Bible in a year” plan. It's been about seven years since the last time I read through the Bible, and I figured it was about time to read through it again. Last time, I think that the plan that I used was just a straight-through reading, from Genesis through Revelation. This year, I went through the Victory Bible Reading Plan, which gets you to read an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, and a Psalm or Proverb each day. The Old Testament is arranged in roughly chronological order (though there were some mistakes in their order). It's certainly a different perspective from a straight cover-to-cover reading of the Bible, as prophets are juxtaposed with the history into which they were prophesying. And it was certainly nice to read a Psalm or Proverb each day. Last year, I fell behind in the plan a bit, but managed to mostly catch up near the end, so I just went over the year by one day.

But as much as I enjoyed going through the plan last year, I did feel a bit rushed, reading three passages a day, and switching between the OT and NT was a bit disorienting sometimes. This year, I want to try more of an in-depth study. I'm planning on studying the Torah (a.k.a. the Pentateuch, a.k.a. the books of the Law”, a.k.a. the first five books of the Bible). Why the Torah? Well, it forms the basis for much of Christianity; I don't think that you can get a complete picture of the New Testament without an understanding of the Old Testament, and the Torah in particular. And I think that the Torah isn't very well understood by Christians in general. Most of it is seen as obsolete laws that don't really apply to us (e.g. the sacrificial system, purity codes, etc.). However, I think that it is very much a reflection of the character of God. When God delivered His people out of Egypt, He gave them the Torah as a means to reveal Himself to them.

So, that's the why. As for the how, I've taken part of the Victory Bible Reading Plan, expanded the section of the Torah by spending three days on each reading. The first day, I'll read in the NIV. The second day, I'll be copying down the passage — based on Deuteronomy 17:18, which commands kings to copy down the Law (which they evidently didn't do all the time, since the Law was lost several times); copying a passage is a different way to meditate on it and get it into your brain. I'm going to be writing it out by hand; this will either give me a lot of practice to improve my handwriting, or will give me carpal tunnel syndrome and my hand will fall off. On the third day, I'll read the passage in the NASB (which is a more literal translation, and probably something my computer programmer brain will be able to relate to better).

Just in case you thought that craziness was limited to airline security:

So-called "Religious Freedom" bills have been passed in the Indian states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh with the expressed intent of stopping people from receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior.

According to the laws, you must notify the authorities one month in advance of you changing your religion. And the authorities are allowed to reject your application to change your religion. They are rather audacious if they think that they can regulate a person’s religion in this way.

Wow. One month’s notice.

“A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America — about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don’t think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.”

— David Miller, Blue Like Jazz p. 111

I’ve been wanting to write this for a while now. In fact, I wanted to write it before the election. But I haven’t had time. But anyways, on with the show.

In Canada, evangelical Christianity is generally associated politically with the Conservative party (much like it is generally associated with the Republican party in the States). This association is mainly because of the Conservative’s stance on morality issues, and its defense of “family values.”

A number of Christians, however, prefer to align themselves with the left-wing parties such as the NDP or the Greens because of different reasons, mainly social justice issues. I would tend to fall into this second group.

While morality issues may be important, I believe that social justice issues are more important in the Christian’s public life, and I believe that this is supported by the Bible. It seems to me that most Christians today have become like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, comparing the lengths of their tassels, instead of being like Jesus and eating with the sinners.

The Bible says a few things about how we should interact with the rest of the world — our public life: in the beginning, we are commanded to rule over the world (Gen. 1:28) (in other words, to take care of God’s creation). We are to take care of widows, orphans, and the oppressed (James 1:27, and others). We are, ourselves, to live pure lives (Gal. 5:25, and others). And we are to make disciples (Matt. 28:19–20). But we are never commanded to impose God’s law on non-believers; we are never told to make the world conform to our morality.

(Passages such as Ezekiel 33:7–9 say that we are to warn the wicked and “dissuade him from his ways” (NIV), but this should not be taken as merely getting others to follow our morals. As can be seen from these passages, the reason for trying to get the wicked to change their ways is a salvation issue. And we know that we are not saved by not doing wicked things, but by believing in Jesus. Merely getting them to follow our morals is useless when it comes to salvation.)

While the Bible does instruct us to live moral lives, it is primarily a command for personal observance, along with for instructing fellow believers and your children.

Thus when acting politically, I believe that I should be acting according to these values: care for creation; care for the widows, orphans, and the oppressed; personal purity; and evangelism. The last two are not affected by any of the current political parties. And what is left mainly puts me alongside the values of the NDP.

(Next election essay: electoral reform.)

This past weekend was BreakForth 2006, my first BreakForth in five years (made possible by the fact that I’m doing my internship in Edmonton right now). And has it grown a lot since then. The last time I was there, it was at Sherwood Park Alliance Church. This year, it was at the Shaw Conference Centre, plus workshops in 10 other locations in downtown as well.

It was a fun conference, though I can’t say that I learned a whole lot from it. I went to workshops by Phil Keaggy and Michael Card, which were really light on content, but great to be at, listening to those great musicians. I also went to workshops by Dan Kimball and Joyce Heron. Kimball’s workshop, about the "emerging church", and designing worship gatherings, was interesting. He talked about the culture of the emerging church, and how it differs from the contemporary church. Joyce Heron’s talks were good, but they weren’t really about ministering to the marginalized, which was what they were billed as.

My brother has his summary of the conference too, which includes the main sessions and the late-night events. His comments on the main sessions is more or less similar to my own feelings.

Acquisitions: they were giving away free copies of K.P. Yohannan’s book Revolution on World Missions, so I picked up a copy. One more book to add to my reading list. I was inspired by Phil Keaggy’s guitar playing, and picked up his instructional DVD (the video was shot in 1991 — and he looks really different) and a CD (which I’m listening to right now). I also picked up the BreakForth Worship Series songbook plus updates, so I now have 250 songs to add to my binder when I get back to Waterloo. I also thought about picking up a headset mic, but decided against it.