Blogjam

“Tightly controlled” is how Malaysia is often referred to. Although in some ways its citizens enjoy greater latitude compared to other Muslim countries, there are signs that the grip is tightening. Take blogging for instance. Opinionated Malaysian bloggers who think freedom of expression is a right will find out soon enough that in this country at least, it is a privilege. No, not just a privilege, but a risk.

This privilege is defined by legislations implicit and explicit (and a host of unwritten taboos) purportedly to serve national interest. Stick your nose too far and you’re liable to have it bloodied. Popular blogger Jeff Ooi of Screenshots knows something about this being one of Malaysia’s most read blogger (if not the most influential). Now fellow blogger Mack Zulkifli finds himself playing host to ‘unofficial’ visits by the police and government officials. No one relishes becoming a celeb blogger with fans like these.

That’s not all. Veteran journalist and commentator MGG Pillai laments ugly comments from ‘vigilante bigots’ who threaten civil discourse. I do not always agree with MGG’s views but he’s right that we have become a nation cowered into silence, not least by fear of the law, stalkers and bigots, but also a deadening of the spirit. It may explain why so many Christian bloggers here (including myself) find it easier to write about theology, church, philosophy, travel, the arts, books, what we did last weekend, who made us cry. Politics? Uh-uh. Social commentary? Ditto.

Controversial Christian intellectual, activist, and student of Francis Schaeffer Vishal Mangalwadi once wrote:

“Christ’s mercy did not touch the individual alone. It sought to touch the heart of a society. It sought to awaken the sleeping conscience of society. It troubled the stagnant waters which brought about a torrent of retaliation from vested interests.”

He was commenting on Jesus’ healing of the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. Mangalwadi insists that Jesus’ act of healing did more than make a paralysed man walk; it was a deliberate provocation of the Establishment. Jesus went about doing good, but for all he taught and the good he did, he was above all seen as a troublemaker.

Now that’s scary. Provocateur. Troublemaker. Who? Me?

What a friend

Sherwin plays for Dad 

Sherwin who is first violinist with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra asked if he could play for Dad. Sure, why not? we said. I wasn't able to be there when he dropped by but I was told he played several tunes beautifully (including What a Friend We Have In Jesus, Amazing Grace, As The Deer, and a Chinese song). It was a moving performance, and Dad clapped. Amazing, really amazing.

RZIM's Malaysian connection

I was quite pleased to have met I Ching Thomas. In case you did not know, I Ching is a true-blue Malaysian lass who is the newest addition to Ravi Zakarias International Ministries. It was Pari who introduced us and the three of us had tea talking about apologetics and the challenge of acquainting Malaysian churches with a decidedly more robust appreciation of their faith. Is there a postmodern approach to apologetics I asked? I Ching said the approach may be different but essentially the issues are the same. It’s how you handle the questions, which is what Ravi Zakarias himself illustrated in one of his lectures: even in India, you still have to look left and right before you cross the road.

I Ching will be based in Singapore. Hmm, her biodata isn’t on the RZIM site yet. Anyway, I look forward to seeing and hearing her in the near future.

Dumb and Dead

Sure there are problems in the church - one of them is me. Joe Carter’s post on Evangelical Outpost quotes Eugene Peterson on the church that rings true.

But many Christians would look at this church and say it's dead, merely an institutional expression of faith.

What other church is there besides institutional? There's nobody who doesn't have problems with the church, because there's sin in the church. But there's no other place to be a Christian except the church. There's sin in the local bank. There's sin in the grocery stores. I really don't understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don't get it.

Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There's no life in the bark. It's dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows and grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it's prone to disease dehydration, death.

So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn't last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it's prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.

In my writing, I hope to recover a sense of the reality of congregation - what it is. It's a gift of the Holy Spirit. Why are we always idealizing what the Holy Spirit doesn't idealize? There's no idealization of the church in the Bible - none. We've got two thousand years of history now. Why are we so dumb?

For a dose of reality there's Paul Johnson's History of Christianity. His telling of 2000 years of church history is full of political intrigue and war, church vs state, as much as it is about struggles over theological touchpoints. And to think that this is the church that Jesus calls his body.