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| The Team for 4th June Devotion |
No week would be complete without a visit to the next main
theological college of Singapore, Singapore Bible College (SBC), and so
we visited the place on the day after that. The first lecture, on
Christianity in Southeast Asia, given by Dr Violet James, stood out for
me. In the lecture, she traced out a journey of the progress
Christianity had made in the Southeast Asian region from the 16th
century onward, and the means by which such progress was made.
The
main point she made was that Christianity spread primarily due to the
reasons of commerce and trade, and colonization of such countries. Even
today, the effects of the colonial rulers could still be observed. For
example, the forcing of Catholicism onto the citizens of the Philippines
by the Spanish rulers resulted in it being a majority religion in the
Philippines, even today. Thailand, the land of the free, which was left
uncolonized, still has Christianity as one of its minority religions.
It
made me think if the ends ever was justified by the means, no matter
how brutal or violent they may be. However, I still believe that God
will work in His own time and way. A significant thing she said was
that: a life gripped by fear cannot be really lived. This struck me as I
had never really thought about what it truly was like to live in fear
for most of your days, and I thank God for freeing me from such
shackles.
All in all, it was a truly satisfying week, full of
knowing and appreciating the diversity of gifts and thoughts all of us
have, yet being inspired by the unity in Christ that drew all of us
together to this place. Already on the first few days we took initiative
in meeting up for breakfast, being recipients of bus rides, and
celebrating Crystal’s birthday. I can’t help but look forward to the
next week!
Timothy Hou
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