What's Next? - Joshua Lee

After writing mostly on what I have learnt from the various lectures, I thought it would be a good change to write about the people who have accompanying me through the same programme for the past three or so weeks. 

I am very thankful for the company of like-minded God-fearing young adults. It is always a very nice change from the usual secular gatherings to a safe and warm environment where one can freely talk about the most important thing in life, God.

I must admit that I am hardly the most outgoing person and making new friends is usually a very slow process for me. However the genuinely friendly atmosphere which is characteristic of the assembly of God's people made it much easier for me to get to know new people. I do hope that my interactions with my new friends do not end with the programme. At least I'll have the chance to see a few new faces in school next semester. 

Looking forward, what happens after the programme? Do I take all that I've learnt, pack it nicely in some box, label it as a nice experience and just store it in one corner, never to look through it again? 

That would be such a waste of all the effort that was put into this programme. Beyond myself, I aim to pass on some of the lessons that I have learnt during the programme to others, but even more importantly, I hope to challenge others and their world views just as I had been similarly challenged. If I was so comfortable in my faith, can I assume that many young people are so too? There is a growing burden within me for the young people of today. I see in them the past me, whom was either blissfully ignorant, or just aimless wanderers. At the end of the day, I just hope that they will eventually see their need for Christ, and all I can do is to work alongside with God for He will bring whatever He has planned to fruition.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Joshua Lee

Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord - Joshua Lee

This is mainly going to be a rehash of my sharing during the last day of STEP, but I think it is a good idea to pen it down, at least to prove to myself that I did indeed learn something. 

Ignorance, or living in my own bubble. I wonder if it stems from laziness, not wanting to consider other views. In previous reflections I have commented on my general indifference towards the Chinese language and in turn the Chinese congregation. That was the first step in the disintegration of the alternate "reality" that I was living in. 

Gradually, over the past three weeks or so, many of my preconceived notions about the faith were challenged. "To disturb the comfortable, and to comfort the disturbed" is a quote that I really like and it does seem that I had been very comfortable in my faith for a very long time. How often did I shut off during sermons, assuming that because I knew the passage, it had nothing new for me? This is why I am very thankful for the various lectures during STEP which provided me a deeper admiration of just how rich scripture can be. I would like to thank the organisers for assembling a top-notch lineup of speakers whom I have learnt much from. 

With this awareness of the depth of scripture, how much more must be revealed to me before I truly understand how limited my knowledge of the Bible is. There is no doubt of the importance of the Gospel truths, but if I just limit myself to that, I am missing out on so much more. At the end of the programme, I am just thankful for this STEP in my walk with God as He is slowly but surely revealing more and more of Himself to me.

Joshua Lee

How Do You Know What You Know? I Don't Know - Joshua Lee

Jose Philip's talk about Christianity and Science transported me back to a time when I was still in post-secondary education. Back then, we were made to take a subject called 'Theory of Knowledge' which is basically another name for Epistemology. 

We were taught the different ways of knowing, such as emotion, reason, sense perception and language. Apparently, I was taught too about faith being the foundation of knowledge but I have no recollection of that. What I somewhat remember is the limitation of the various ways of knowing and how that affects the various areas of knowledge such as the sciences. 

One of the early points that stood out to me was that faith and science are not replacements for each other but rather have a complimentary relationship. As the speaker said, science is more interested in asking how and faith is more about asking why. Understanding this point kinda makes the whole debate moot. As was mentioned, science is not self-interpreting, it requires a certain worldview in order to function, and the Bible indeed provides such a worldview. Science and faith can indeed co-exist. 

Another key point that was also brought to my attention was the distinction between a difference in degree and a difference in kind. One use of this contrast was to illustrate the difference between chaos and order. Less of chaos does not bring out order, zero chaos just results in inaction. Order on the other hand is organised action. Thus the difference between chaos and order is a difference in kind. 

Science has not yet explained the jump from chaos to order, but the Bible does so right at the beginning, where God brought order to chaos. Similarly, there are jumps in a person's life which science cannot explain either. Such as the change from disbelief to belief in God which is a difference in kind, not degree. This change is not brought about by human effort, and no amount of human effort can effect such a change. We can all be thankful for the change that has taken place in our lives and pray for those who have not received it yet.

Joshua Lee

Can You Speak-er In English-si? So What Is Calvinism? - Joshua Lee

After an exciting first week, my expectations for the second were set pretty high. Having been pumped up about how exciting the Word of God can be and seeing the depth and richness of the Word, I headed into the second week, hoping that the gist of Calvinism would be made known to me in that one week. 

However, after the first day, my bubble was burst and I had to re-evaluate my expectations for the rest of the week. I previously mentioned about my ignorance of the Chinese part of the Synod and this is partially due to my incompetence in the language, so having a lecture done mainly in Chinese is a sure way of losing me. My mental ability to decipher, translate and understand Chinese in realtime is quite limited as I have found out during the singing of Chinese songs, where I am struggling to catch up to say the correct pronunciation at the right time which leaves me with no spare brain power to process the meaning of the words. The inevitable conclusion to the first day was the sporadic grasping of a few points and a lot of "huh?"s and "what is that in English?". 

I mean no disrespect for the speaker and I acknowledge that this is more of a reflection of my own shortcomings and I feel that this is sounding more of a rant than anything else, so I shall try to change course now. I was very thankful for the next day where the speaker tried to use English as the main language of communication and things got a lot better. 

One thing that I realised was that Christianity is a thinking "religion" (for lack of a better word). There is so much to process, so many ways to interpret the source text and so many schools of thought to consider. How can anyone say that it is a blind faith when there is so much thinking going on? Of course I recognise that this might not apply to everyone, but the uniqueness of each person's life and how God can work in it means that we each have to ponder what our faith means to us and apply it in our own distinctive way. 

Ultimately, I probably left the week with more questions than when it first started. I don't see this as a bad thing, but rather a renewed interest in the Word and doctrine. Time to add more topics to read up on to the list of things to complete this summer holiday.

Joshua Lee

Theological Education as Holistic Pursuit - Joshua Lee

The third and fourth day of the programme was dedicated to exposing us, the participants to the two major theological colleges in Singapore, Trinity Theological College (TTC) and Singapore Bible College (SBC). The objective of these two days was pretty clear with two talks explaining the importance of theological education and just what exactly it is about. I must say that these two days has been pretty effective in instilling a better sense of appreciation and understanding of what a formal theological education provides.  

In the same way when one goes to a secular school to learn, education not only comes from within the classroom setting but also from other sources such as the interactions one has with classmates. Studying in a theological college not only equips one with knowledge, skills and tool-sets but also provides a conducive environment for the progression of one's spiritual well-being. 

One goal of theological education which struck out to me was the holistic pursuit of education, in the sense that one should not specialise solely on one aspect. This got me thinking that the work that God calls us to do is often not exclusively in one area, especially when dealing with people.  One would of course need proper knowledge of the Bible, but in addition to that, additional skills such as how to properly counsel someone in a biblical way, and so on would be extremely helpful. Just as being a Christian does not mean merely subscribing to a certain religion, having a theological education should not just be additional knowledge or skills that one can use but rather the things that one has learnt should be integrated appropriately into one's life and eventually into the lives of others.

I will end off by observing that I am actually quite surprised that I could stay awake through the various lectures in the same day, which is definitely not the usual case for me in a school setting. I hope that this is not due to the novelty of having a few theological lectures but because of a genuine interest and desire to know more about God.

Joshua Lee

Church Clique, Culture Shock, and Applicable Head Knowledge - Joshua Lee

While I have had participated in various events that had participants from different churches, this was the longest (and most intensive?) of such a programme that I have taken part in. Thus, there was the ever present anxiousness of not knowing how this would turn out, having been mostly confined to working with people from my own church. 

I am thankful for the large number of people from my church that are participating in this programme with me, although I do recognise that this could prevent me from getting to know the other participants better, especially when as an introvert I much prefer to socialise with people I know. I do pray that I will make the effort to get to know the participants from the other churches.

The first culture shock I got was when the first day's devotion was done in Chinese. Having a general lack of competence of the language due to the lack of use (and possibly my roots in ACS), I was definitely taken out of my comfort zone (which I guess might be the one of the objectives of this programme?). Interacting with participants from Chinese congregations is also something that I have rarely done, so it was a new experience for me too. 

After hearing about the history of the Presbyterian church in Singapore, my eyes have been opened to the realities of the strength and numbers of the Chinese congregation in the Presbyterian family in Singapore. This has definitely given me a reason to brush up on my Chinese, as was mentioned that one of the biggest mission fields in Singapore are the Chinese speaking free-thinkers and the Chinese immigrants.

My original intentions for joining this programme were mostly intellectual, to satisfy my curiosity, but after the first week, I have definitely been challenged in ways that I did not expect. My hope is that the knowledge gained during these three weeks will not just stay in my head but will also be applied to the spiritual aspect of my life.

Joshua Lee