2012: End of the World... Again?

We will put up a CDPC library book booth this coming Sunday with some free giveaways. While Stock Lasts...

Allah Is Not A Personal Name

Kam Weng: "It is bad enough when the Malaysian government bans Christians from using the word Allah. It is worse when some misguided Christians (granted it is a small minority) agree that Muslims have sole proprietary rights to the word Allah, even though this capitulation amounts to surrendering their centuries old usage of the word Allah for worship and spiritual instructions.

Perhaps this capitulation results from a misunderstanding of Arabic grammar, that is, the view that Allah is a personal name. Allah, as such, refers solely to the individual Supreme Being whom Muslims (and no other believers) worship. Accepting this misunderstanding would give grounds to the Muslim’s (still contestable) demand that only they have the right to use the word Allah and its related terms.Such a capitulation must be vigorously resisted seeing how the Malaysian government unrelentingly prosecutes its ban against Christians using the word Allah. It is imperative that we analyze and correct this misunderstanding."

Read on for the rest of the article "Allah Is Not A Personal Name".

Alfred Tais (of NECF) while compiling documents for the SIB Allah cases came across some documents that shows the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia / Bahasa Indonesia were published earlier than 1950. For example, Matthew's Gospel was first published by Dutchman AC Ruyl in 1629. The Perjanjian Baru was published in 1668 while the Alkitab was published in 1733.

Get to know the history of Alkitab in these documents The Bible Translator, Sejarah Terjemahan Alkitab dalam bahasa bahasa tempatan di Indonesia and Mengenal Alkitab Anda. Be equipped and vigilant in prayer as 15000 bibles seized by malaysian government this past year


Mengenal Alkitab Anda - Title Page

How To Be A Moral Animal With Help Frm Selfish Genes?

Listen carefully the next time you overheard an argument in office or at home. For you may just stumble upon a powerful clue for God’s existence!

In his bestseller Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis observed that when we quarrel, we would often appeal to some higher Moral Law to which the other party is accountable. For example, it is common to hear people argue like this: “That’s my seat, I was here first”, “Give me a piece of your orange, I gave you some of mine” or “How do you like it if someone did the same to you?” Such arguments do not merely express our displeasure at someone’s behavior. They are actually appealing to a standard of right and wrong which we expect others to know about and ought to follow. Otherwise it would be as futile as claiming that a footballer had committed a foul without some agreement about the rules. This transcendent and universal Moral Law is a signpost pointing to God who is the Lawgiver.

But not everyone would agree. Popular writers such as Richard Dawkins and Robert Wright have tried to show that rudimentary forms of moral cognition can be found in animals as well. Here is a discussion on whether natural selection can account for morality as we know it available in the latest edition of Kairos Magazine.


The Selfish Gene: Monkeying With Morality

Every Story Whispers His Name

The Bible is not a book of rules, nor a book of heroes. There's only one Hero.

“The Bible is most of all a Story… It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life! You see, the best thing about this Story is--it's true! There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.”

This is Christ-centered hermeneutics so simply and elegantly framed in a children storybook written by Sally Lloyd Jones and beautifully illustrated by the award winning Jago. Having browsed through a friend's copy available at Canaanland.com.my, I intend to buy one for my son too.

Here is a review from Tim Keller:
”Sally has captured the plot line of redemption in a children’s story Bible that sings the praise of Jesus and his saving grace on every page, in every story... To discover The Jesus Storybook Bible is to have a unique resource for communicating the gospel to children in all it’s fullness.”

Click here for a sampler


In many Sunday School lessons, biblical stories are used as moral lessons for children. "Be like Abraham, he obeys God". "Be brave like King David, he challenged Goliath". "Be strong like Samson, he wrestled with lions."

But what do we make of the parts where Abraham allow Sarah to be taken to save his own skin? Or David's famous murder of Uriah? Or Samson's downfall courtesy of Delilah?

It seems that the biblical stories took care to tell us (with brutal honesty) something not-so-clever or downright mean that these people have done. The point is not simply that they are heroes to be emulated. But they are also needy, fallen and sinful people that God loves and repeatedly saves. The overarching story is a story of grace and God is the hero who comes to the rescue. It's the gospel hidden everywhere in the entire Bible.

Word Works

Check out Word Works conference on the book of Deuteronomy

Dates: 27 - 28 Nov 2009
Venue: Empress Hotel Sepang.

"These may be some of the reasons why reading Deuteronomy presents specific challenges and also potential discouragement for Christians. Even worse, Christians sometimes speak of the Old Testament as being largely irrelevant and cite Deuteronomy as proof. Non-Christians also often take verses like those above as reasons for rejecting the ‘Old Testament God’ or for rejecting Christianity altogether.

And yet, at the end of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy stands as an important pillar in understanding the Old Testament and is a landmark in the history of salvation, at an important point in the relationship between Israel and God.

In fact, for every generation of Christians, Deuteronomy has great blessing for the Christian in understanding God’s character, His holiness, His mercy, love, justice and His patience with a sinful people. So many of the concepts for how God relates to His people are found here in Deuteronomy that it would be a tragedy for Christians not to know how to read it."

The Jesus Of History

KAIROS PUBLIC FORUM: Jesus of The Bible versus Jesus of the Documentaries (National Geographic/Discovery /BBC)

Date: Friday, 20 November 2009
Time: 8.30pm – 10.30pm
Venue: Hall 1, Dream Centre
2 Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia

Influential networks like National Geographic, Discovery and BBC Channels are propagating new portraits (or fabrications) of Jesus that distort if not contradict what Christians traditionally believe about Jesus for 2000 years.

This Kairos Public Forum seeks to explain why these TV producers rely on pagan Mystery Religions and 2nd century Gnosticism texts to reconstruct new portraits Jesus, what methods and assumptions inform the scholars who advise these media channels for their distorted views of Jesus. The Forum also offers evidence for the integrity of the New Testament Gospels as reliable historical records of Jesus’ life and ministry and critiques popular images of Christ in contemporary society.

Topics/Speakers
1) The Fabricated Jesus of Contemporary TV Documentaries
Speaker: Mr. Philip Koh
(Partner of a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur and Director of Kairos Research Centre)

2) The Historical Christ of the New Testament: The Test of History
Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng
(Research Director of Kairos Research Centre)

3) The Real Jesus Christ and Contextual Christs Today: Who makes the real difference?
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Tan Jin Huat
(Anglican minister and CTEE Director, Seminari Theoloji Malaysia)

Kairos Seminar on Jesus Christ and Early Christianity
There will be a follow-up seminar for those who want to learn in detail how contemporary research supports the historical accuracy and authenticity of the New Testament portrait of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng

Date: Saturday 5 December 2009
Time: 9.30pm – 12.00 noon
Place: Dream Centre
To participate in this seminar contact Kairos office (Tel no: 7726 5420 or email: kairosmalaysia@gmail.com)

Kairos Research Centre sends you early wishes for a very Blessed Christmas!
DC: Portrait of Jesus by Rembrandt

The Call Of Malaysian Christian Artist

Pastor Keng Sen has generously shared some of his artistic works in this blog. Enjoy! If you'd like to be part of a network of Christian artists in Malaysia, do get in touch with him.

Reformation Day 2009

In conjunction with Reformation Day (Oct 31), I have just completed a 5 series introduction to Reformed Theology sharing to a Chinese speaking church planting team in Subang Jaya. We tried to explore how the history of Reformation (5 solas'), the emphasis on cultural mandate, the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace have implications in planting a church in and for the Malaysian city.

Much of the notes are taken from resources on the Internet especially by Matt Perman. I came across his articles long before he became the Desiring God ministry website anchor person and he is very lucid and helpful in almost everything he wrote - always pastoral and clearly, well-thought-out. Here are the notes I have compiled for the group:

An Introduction to Reformed Theology

Asian Disasters!