Queen's Road Cell

I had encouraged us to consider what we heard in the sermon on 24/5/20: "Love the sinner, but hate the sin". This idea is quite commonly heard in public discourse. Christians use it, for instance, in speaking about homosexuality. But the truth of this statement needs some qualification. We mentioned in our discussion that the context of the use of the phrase is important. It has been noted that if we emphasize on "loving sinner s " there is a risk of viewing people with a morally superior attitude (they are "sinners" defined by their sin). So those who hold this view would say that we are never commanded to "love sinners" in the Bible and that this way of viewing people as objects of our love is inappropriate. It has also been noted that in practice it is not easy to love people while hating their sin. I think these observations are not incorrect, but that they are not fundamental considerations in approaching this idea. Certainly the phra...

Edmund Chan says that we are becoming a Biblically illiterate society where even churchgoers only have a superficial knowledge of the Word. We get our Bible knowledge second-hand rather than from personal study. The Word is "incidental, not fundamental". So our Bible studies are dominated by superficial opinions instead of Christ-centred depth. He says there are 4 things that will help us engage with Scripture: 1. A desire to encounter God, not just to learn about Him 2. A disciplined approach to Bible study - training whether we feel like it or not. 3. Learning to delight in the Word because it changes us. 4. Being devoted to the Word as a response to God's love. We commit time and effort and seek to obey it with all we have. Why is it important to experience all these things? My answer is that we engage with the Word of God in basically the same way as engaging with God himself. We do not approach Him in a single way, and so we can only approach His Word rightly b...

We had rather unusual questions about standing up for our faith should the occasion come when we are asked to worship something or someone other than the God of the Bible. In the first scenario - would it be ever right to do this? In the  second scenario - would it  be ever right to do this if our loved ones are threatened in front of us. Here, there is the testament of history when Christians were persecuted (e.g. in Roman times, or in medieval  Japan). They chose death rather than denial. There is also the present day experience of many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who have to make precisely these choices as a real experience. They also choose their own death (and that of their loved ones) We know that Jesus told his disciples in no uncertain terms that loyalty to Him must take precedence over all other things " If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his ow...

God's Standards & Promises for our Living (Isaiah 33:15-16). 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;      trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?      Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” 15  He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,      who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,      who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed      and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, 16  he will dwell on the heights;      his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;      his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. 17  Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;      they will see a land that stretches afar. (Is 33:14-17) Today is WSCS Sunday and Mother’s Day, so I would like to g...

In this chapter, Edmund Chan identifies 4 concerns that confront us as Christian disciples: 1. A crisis of identity in an age of narcissism - our culture is one of self love. We forget our true identity as a holy people belonging to God. 2. A crisis of truth in an age of pragmatism - we care more about 'what works' than 'what's true'. So we lose conscience and conviction based on absolute spiritual truth. The latter must be reclaimed by discernment based on deep reflection on the Word. 3. A crisis of authority in an age of consumerism - we put our rights, choices and wants first. This has affected the way we view church, in that we become too self-centred to help others or submit to authority. 4. A crisis of spirituality in an age of fatigue - we are busy and restless in our spirits. Intimacy with God is not seen to be as important as activity for God. We minister out of spiritual dryness and thus become spiritually fatigued. I think these are great obser...

David asked the question: "Is evangelism an individual mandate for Christians?" arising from this blog article.The concern is that some form of guilt ensues if an individual Christian fails to share the gospel. One response is that our hearts should be motivated by enthusiasm and joy in God's beauty and truth. We should not be picking and choosing what we want to do as a disciple. The apostles could "not help but speak of what (they had) seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). How can we hold back on sharing what will save others? All of us should be able to witness to the reality of Christ in our lives. How else should we act in view of the fact that those we interact with will face an eternity of hell if they do not hear the gospel? In relation to the idea of 'mandate' as something compulsory, Selwyn mentioned that we live under grace, not the law. So following "the spirit of the law" is loving our neighbours as ourselves and being perfect as our ...