What It Means To Be A Christian Before God and Not Before Man

In the light of the recent public outcry and shock over the caning of three Muslim women who voluntarily submitted themselves to the punishment handed out by the Shariah court, I have nothing to say except to respond with the Christian perspective of the meaning of repentance before the Almighty God. This post was written back in August 2007:

Most Christians struggle with the question of what it means to be a Christian in the eyes of the church, in the eyes of fellow Christians and non-Christians. They are at pains to create the right impression of what a good Christian ought to do, say, think and behave. Little do they understand that in the eyes of our Lord, these are not genuine spiritual questions but facile questions of the world.

The spiritual journey of man begins when we ask questions that are beyond our ability or powers to answer and only through constant struggle, unceasing wrestling with God will we find an answer that speaks to our innermost being. So deep down, when a surface Christian asks what he/she should do to appear like a good, Godly Christian, he/she is ultimately seeking his/her own happiness and trying to fit his/her life into the visible realm of a typical Christian family. In other words, these people are trying to put on what can be seen from the outside as Christian but internally they are just a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

The only litmus test to ascertain whether a person is a genuine Christian and a disciple of Christ is the one test which our Lord Jesus gave in John 13:25: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That is the true mark of a Christian. Yet there is a great paradox in Jesus’ command: “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He is saying we are to love unconditionally one another and love with the same intensity, the same passion with which He loved us (“As I have loved you.”).

But we all know that this type of love will always be tested: True genuine love that is flowing naturally from an eternal spring can only occur when we have Christ in us and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers…This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”) All other attempts to live a life of genuine love will be based on our fleshly desire to fulfill a duty, an obligation, an external rule that has no true appeal to our own selfish hearts.

So Jesus is saying that we have to love one another and yet at the same time, in order to do that in practice, we have to clean up our own hearts, give up the fleshly desire to be a happy Christian or the notion that God’s purpose in putting us on earth is for us to be “happy” Christians living in comfortable homes, doing some church work and attending church regularly. (I can well imagine a Christian who sacrifices his life for another with deep joy and peace in his heart but I find it hard to imagine a Christian “happily” sacrificing his life for another.)

Just look at what the true Christians in the Scriptures went through: Paul, Daniel, Jacob, Joseph, Elijah and all the apostles of Jesus. Did they live a comfortable, orderly life of getting cut-and-dried answers to their spiritual problems and dilemmas by asking their pastors, reading some inspiring books, attending a prayer rally or surfing some Christian sites? Were they superficially asking themselves “am I in the right books of God?” or “Is my church in the right standing with God?” and seeking these answers through external appearances and external approval from their fellow Christians? I really wonder had they been given all the technology and the resources in the world in their time whether they will take the quick-and-easy way out or would they still experience their dark nights of the soul regardless of the external environment. Would they seek to impress the public and their fellow Christians or would they seek direct answers from God through prayerful dialogue and internal baptism of fire?

The reason why Christians today no longer have any genuine arguments with God anymore is because our consciences are no longer sensitive, no longer shocked by the horrors of sin, of hatred and of violence that is burning human society each day. We have become so immune to the horror and senselessness of sin to the extent that we can no longer distinguish between right from wrong in a world where wrong is puffed up as right and right is brushed off as wrong.

The only recompense (our sacrificial payment to the Lord for our immoral indifference) is to go back to the Lord and tell Him how we feel, our hurts, frustrations of not being able to love unconditionally and disgust with our sinful hearts. And then be quiet, like Job at the end of his dialogue with God, and wait for Him to provide the peace that passeth all understanding, the vision that puts every jigsaw puzzle, every wrong in its rightful place. And this epiphany of the soul through wrestling with God is the whole essence of being a Christian before God. By allowing Him to work through our inner struggles, we are allowing Him to melt away the selfishness, the things of the flesh in us. And through this melting process, we are refined in the way which He wants to refine us.

Great Hope For Malaysia Through A Spirit of Thanksgiving

Dr. Farish Ahmad Noor, a Malaysian political scientist and historian and presently a Senior Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, recently expressed his doubts and concerns about the future of Malaysia as a nation in this article A Cold Look At The State Of Malaysia Today.

My fellow Malaysians,

Much as I empathise with Dr Farish Noor's pessimism based on the present facts (corruption in high places, attacks on church buildings, political and religious contentions of the lowest sort, etc) , I urge all Malaysians to look beyond the facts which are symptoms of a greater struggle, an inner spiritual conflict that Malaysia is going through.

If you can see that the nation is in birth pangs to give birth to a new Malaysia (be it in 2012, 2015 or 2020), then you may be filled with hope and joy.

Don't allow the immature and narrow politics to blur your vision of what God has destined for this nation.

In God's eyes, the future is eternal and He already knows the choices we have to make. One road leads to ruin and the other leads to harmony and glory. But if we Malaysians take the wrong road, the nation will have to go through a more painful lesson before she gets back to the right road.

Whatever road we take at the crossroads, in the end, God's final destiny and will for Malaysia will be achieved.

The choice of how we wish to arrive at the truth depends on us (citizens and politicians alike), through the valley of darkness or through reason, love and wise counsel.

And the secret to overcoming the negative spirit of hopelessness and despair that has arisen from the political, social and economic disintegration of the nation in recent months is a spirit of thanksgiving. Thank God for good health, for our families, for the food and the earth that He has given us to live and share among ourselves.

According Pastor Peter Tan, an attitude of thanksgiving in our words and actions has a major impact on the spiritual forces that drive a nation. This is an excerpt from his online book Prosperity Through Grace.

"We are the custodians of the New Testament flow of grace; we should be as willing as God to bestow unconditional love and grace towards all men. The manifold wisdom of God of this dispensation of grace is to be manifested through the church (Ephesians 3:2, 8-10).

The devil will seek to make us ungrateful for our country, our leaders, our fellow countrymen, our world so that our prayers for them become ineffective. We should endeavour through thick and thin to have a grateful thankful heart for everyone around us. For the atmosphere and attitude of thanksgiving is essential for the working of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Be thankful for your spouse, your family, your children. Don’t let the enemy make you an ungrateful person and hinder your prayers for your own loved ones. The seeds of divorce are found in the attitude of ungratefulness and the lack of thanksgiving. A strong loving marriage is built upon the foundations of thanksgiving and love. Always be thankful for your leaders, your country and your fellow countrymen. For you release the grace of God (and the power
of God) upon their lives when you hold them before God with thanksgiving in your prayers."

(Note: By "new Malaysia", I do not mean to say I support a change in government to PR or BN. Politics will always be subservient to a nation's spiritual quest for truth.)

Online Allah Debate Opens Up Philosophical Insights

Datuk Marina Mahathir’s blog post "Prophet Muhammad's Promise to Christians" at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/ has opened up interesting philosophical issues facing Malaysia.

The diverse and interesting comments on this blog post can lead us into a deeper discussion about truth and human nature.

One of readers (pro-Allah is exclusive camp) said it is better to be unfair to non-Muslims that they cannot share their faiths while Muslims can openly do so with non-Muslims. He/she warns Muslims with a scenario of former muslims worshiping at a church in PJ.

First, openly sharing the Christian gospel is already possible through the Internet. Even without the Internet, God has His ways to show you the truth sooner or later. Just read the story of the Prodigal Son who was welcomed back by his father despite straying into a sinful life. If your religion has little influence over you, then real life experience will teach you lessons about your purpose in this world.

Second, we are again putting the cart before the horse when we espouse religious orthodoxy at the expense of fairness, kindness and peaceful acceptance of others with different beliefs.

Third, even assuming the former Muslim converts into a false religion, don't you think that one day he will open his eyes to the truth. Or is that false religion so strong and persuasive that he can't see the truth himself?

The last point is most relevant in this Allah debate because we are actually discussing about human nature: can man know spiritual truths through his own personal experience or is it through external laws governing his conduct, speech and rituals?

The Catholics would err if they think that the readers of their Bahasa publications, or Sarawakian Christians for that matter, will be less spiritual and confused by changing the name of Allah to Tuhan.

Likewise, the "Allah is exclusive" Muslim group will also be mistaken to believe that a generic name used by other faiths can have any impact on the richness of their faiths.

But the High Court ruling is right that to make the Allah word exclusive is unjustifiable. It is an infringement of constitutional rights. Not only that, it shows Malaysians to be most superficial, petty and ungracious in their religious practices, far behind Indonesia and many Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East.

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Here are some of comments in the intense dialogue:

Dear Marina,

Your article about the historical promise is a wonderful discovery. True religion should tame a man from the inside and not from the outside. Only truth will set people free from the rage that imprisons their souls. Here is the best illustration of the destiny of Malaysia, which is at the crossroads between flirting with theocracy and birthing a true democracy.

Written by pastor TD Jakes on 6 April 2009:

"The founding fathers of America created a democratic system that separated church from state so that, as a country, we could avoid the slippery slope of getting into the business of telling people what to believe. That is a job they left to be determined by the individual, the synagogue, the mosque and the church!

A country that has one national religion as its only compass is much more of a theocracy than a democracy. That kind of tyranny leads to witch burning, spiritual genocide, forced and fraudulent expressions of faith, and God knows what else. As wonderful as faith is, faith out of control can be lethal. I love democracy because it is designed to keep the government from telling me when and how to serve communion, and it allows room for debate without dominance.

Religious people will never agree on everything within or outside of the bounds of the church. Democracy allows that debate without polluting it further with political intervention as long as that debate doesn’t infringe on another human’s rights.

Lately, it is my view that religion has become increasingly a servant to politics, and whenever a flame is needed to move a candidate or party closer to power, they ignite the flame of the faith community by playing on controversial issues and fear."

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Munira said...

And interestingly enough, in the Netherlands...What we're really doing is we're arguing semantics. It's petty. But at the same time, as Nehemiah has pointed out, the one good thing that comes out from all this is some of us have learned something new. Nehemiah's sensible argument made a lot of strong points.

Also, if we ban the non-Muslims from using the word Allah, we'll be affecting the prayers of Sikh people as well. Or have we forgotten about them too, or simply ignorant?1. What about us?2. Ban on "Allah" word will interfere with Sikh prayers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it very unIslamic to interfere with the prayers of other people? Bukankah salah kita mengganggu sembahyang orang lain, walaupun orang itu bukan orang seagama kita?

Be kind. Be generous. Be understanding. It's not that hard, for that is what God, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Holy Quran are trying to teach us. Not hatred. Not prejudice. And definitely not injustice.

January 7, 2010 12:08 PM

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Regarding Encik Azahar's comment:

"BTW Marina, do not let your great confidence in ISLAM to blind you from sinister acts of enemies of ISLAM who are always searching for ways to destroy ISLAM"

1. Is the reason why you advise Marina not to have great confidence in ISLAM, is because you think that God will have great confidence in you to carry out the dictates of Islam? i.e. by sounding and acting extra religious?

2. Pray tell who are the sinister enemies of Islam? With the world filled with rising crimes, drug abuse, wars ,etc, is it more important to protect your religion and your God's generic name, which is not exclusive btw, or make the world a better place to live in by truly transforming man's inner soul?

The purpose of religion is to reform man so that (a) he is in a right and loving relationship with God (b) he is in a right and loving relationship with his neighbour.

And Marina hit the nail on its head by saying that this relationship is based on CONFIDENCE and trust.

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Postscript: I think there can be a simple solution to avoid confusion among the Muslims:

A compromise solution that will satisfy all parties concerned would be for the Herald to put a qualifier/caveat every time it uses the word Allah (e.g. "interpreted as the triune God by Christians and distinct from the Allah referred to by Muslims").

To all bahasa-reading Christians, we must be clear that changing the word Allah to Tuhan does not change our foundational understanding of God nor our spiritual walk with Him. It is a question of religious worship and familiarity for many East Malaysians who are used for decades in calling God Allah.

Since the government banned the word, the licensing issue can only be settled by the High Court. However, the social, cultural and constitutional controversy should be discussed in interfaith dialogues to reach a mature and harmonious solution.

Of Hamlet, Atheists & The Dilemma of Msian Christians

I am a Christian. Though I may not be an exemplary one at times, I do not boast about myself but Christ in me.

In a simple analogy, Jesus may not appear to be the answer to how we decorate our houses but He is the answer to what foundations we build our houses upon. There are many people who live successful and moral lives without believing in God and Jesus Christ. At the end of their lives, they will face an accounting for which they will be judged and weighed by their Creator.

The confusion of this world and the tragic comedy of the human soul is caused by our lack of understanding of who we are, our position in this world, our purpose and final destiny. A world in which every man and woman act for themselves within the constraints of the law and human decency is destined for failure. If we build our house on the rock of Christ, we shall withstand every storm, every blow of circumstance and overcome the sting of death (i.e. we shall all die a physical death but will be spiritually redeemed and saved from eternal death).

In simple words, Jesus is the practical answer to every aspect of our lives. He is present in every suffering person, be the pain physical or emotional or spiritual. I personally know because I marvel at the way He rescued me many times from trouble even when I was not a believer in my youth.

My faith is in Jesus who died for our sins and took our place of bearing the punishment that God had reserved for sinful man. My faith is that man can only be saved and have eternal life through giving our lives to Him.

Why Christians Come Short of Christ

However, many Christians who have been spiritually reborned have allowed their old selves and old ways of thinking to return and drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit (God is a trinity of the Father, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit). In other words, there was not a full conversion, a deep cleansing of the heart due to some unresolved issues.

Without a daily renewal of the heart and mind in the love of Christ and communion with Him (hearing His voice and reading the Bible), Christians face the danger of backsliding into their old selves. And many are unaware they have backslided or were not truly converted in the first place.

In this sense, a Christian engaged in social or political works without the power of the gospel and the aid of the Holy Spirit is like an empty drum, making noise and having little impact in the harvesting of souls.

So I think the dilemma facing Msian Christians, post March 2008 shake-up in the political landscape, is not Hamlet’s dilemma of whether to be or not to be a man of action (to stay apolitical or take a more active political stance apart from voting at elections). It is precisely this limited choice that caused Hamlet to end tragically. Without the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God, we won’t be able to contend with the enemy of this world, which is not flesh and blood but principalities.

The Fallacy of Atheists & Hamlet's Question

The logical fallacy of historicism is to assume that historic men of genius believed in the God of the Bible out of cultural convenience (they happened to be shaped by their historical circumstances), ignorance of other philosophies (the Internet and printing press were not invented yet to widen human knowledge) and a limited scientific breadth of mind (all Newtonian ways of seeing the world are outdated following Einstein's discovery of quantum truths).

If Shakespeare or Rembrandt were to be borned in 20th century England or Holland, it is my conviction that they will still be inspired by the intellectual, literary and emotional power of the Bible above all modern literature and philosophical paradigms. Hamlet struggled with an ancient sense of guilt that could neither be relieved from his soul by action or inaction but only by the free will to submit to and believe in the transformative power of Jesus Christ.

The Gardener Rabboni & The Woman At The Tomb

A woman is weeping outside an empty cave tomb. Two strange men stand guard inside the tomb, ask her why is she crying. She says “They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put him.” The men remain silent.

Suddenly, a man appears in the sunlight at the entrance to the tomb. Thinking he is the gardener, the woman, with tears in her eyes, asks him if he has carried the body that was previously there. The ‘gardener’ calls out her name, “Mary” and she turns towards him and cries out “Rabboni (teacher in Aramaic)! My Lord Jesus! You are alive!”

Jesus is alive today and he waits at the door of Heaven for us to join him. He has prepared a beautiful garden in Heaven for us that we may live joyfully with Him.

Jesus is the Gardener of our lives for he takes out the weeds and cuts off the twigs that bear no fruit in our lives. He is the Teacher through His Word in the Bible and he is also the Shepherd, who takes us to living waters, out of the desert, out of the valley of death into life eternal.

6 Hours In Heaven and 10 Minutes in A Traffic Jam

While I was driving my son to school on a rainy day, I thought of continuing our discussion about Heaven after what I recently read about a pastor's six hours experience in Heaven.

On October 22 1988, Henry Gruver, a global itinerant pastor called by God to visit and pray for nations, was taken up to Heaven during a prayer session from 10am to 4.15pm. Read the whole testimony here.

Anyway, i started by telling my son about the golden pavement flowers that sang to God and this was what followed during the 10 minutes we were driving through the PJ traffic:

Father: When the flowers sang, their songs were so wonderful and turned into a glowing light that went up to the throne of God.

Child: That is why Heaven is full of lights, right?

Father: Yes, Heaven is full of lights and songs of love for God.

Child: Will I have a brithday cake in Heaven? Can I make a birthday wish there?

Father: Of course, you can wish for anything in Heaven and God will make your wish come true. But you will make only good wishes because there are no bad wishes when we are there.

Child: (Silence as he pondered over this before asking...) Can I wish for God to show me how He makes miracles happen?

Father: Yes, you can ask God to teach you about His miracles. That is real magic because the only true magic is the miracles of God. (Pastor Gruver mentioned this miraculous quality of Heaven in this excerpt:

"All of creation when it gives life and gives honor and praise to throne that made it, it is regenerated in that manner. As the River of Life flows beneath throne, so does all life flow from throne. Everything in heaven is regenerated continually in the presence of his glory. You see perfection of beauty and no degeneration.")

Finally, as he put on his heavy school bag before leaving the car, I ended the conversation by saying I will write all this on my blog and then prayed the fatherly prayer for him.

A Child's Q&A About Heaven

Sometimes, the joys of parenthood resurface suddenly like a burst of sunshine breaking through a cloudy day. Yesterday was one of those blessed days while waiting for my wife in the car with my two children seated at the back.

Out of the blue, my five-year old son asked me a series of philosophical and moral questions which kept my mind pondering on how the world is viewed by a young toddler.

Child: "Papa, why did God made the world?"

Father:
"God created the world so that we can glorify Him."

Child: "Why are Christians so important?"

Father:"Christians may not be important to other people but we are very important to God because we can build a better world and help other people be saved by God."

Child: "But Papa, why did God create a world that has bad people?"

(This question surprised me for a moment and I had to think how to explain to a 5-year old about original sin, free will and creation.)

Father: "God did not create bad people. He allowed people to choose to be good or be evil. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, God gave them a beautiful garden to live in but they disobeyed Him. God actually created a beautiful world: look, we have good food to eat, good weather and many great places to see: the mountains, the lakes and forests."

Child: "I know. Eve ate the apple and gave it to Adam. Why did she listen to the snake?"

Father: "She listened to the snake because she was deceived (lied to) by the snake, which is the devil. The snake said she will be like God after eating the apple. This made God very angry because God wants us to worship Him and not worship ourselves."

(Silence as he pondered what I said.)

"In the Garden, God also created a world where the lion and the lamb can lie side by side in peace and be friends with each other. If you go to Paradise in Heaven, you will see all the animals living there."

Child: "Papa, will I go to Heaven? Will I get new wings?"

Father: "Yes, you will because you believe in Jesus. In Heaven, we will have new bodies and there will be no sickness, no death. We will be young forever. And there are no tears in Heaven."

Child (excitely declaring): "I want to go there. And I want all of us, Papa, Mama, me and baby to go there."

After a thoughtful pause, the Child said: "But Papa, I am naughty, how can I go to Heaven if I am naughty?"

Father: "Don't worry. You can be good if you ask God to help you to be good. We all have sin in us because of what Adam and Eve did. We can pray to God and ask Him to make us good each day. So don't say that you are naughty. You must always believe you are a child of God and you can do all that He is. Each day, God will change you to be a better person."

From what I can recall, these are the pieces of the conversation which we had over ten to fifteen minutes. I shall treasure these moments with my son, who is seldom so lucid and focused in his enquiries about God and the world.

And it is my prayer to God that our son will always have that heart-felt wonder and inquisitiveness about his creator and the world.

As for this blog, I shall turn inward towards more spiritual and philosophical matters from this year onwards and take a welcome break from political commentaries. We need to talk to our children more to know what kind of world awaits us and to be humbly reminded of our place in the universe.

They are truly the future and the promise of a new world.

3 Kinds of Bloggers & The Heart of God

Just as there are three kinds of leaders, there are three kinds of bloggers/writers:

1. The Rear Mirror Types: Using the analogy of driving, these bloggers focus on the past, history, what was done, the wounds, the glories, the disasters of the past 50 years of Msia.

2. The Present Focused Types: These bloggers will comment and anlayse the present situation and the latest policy statements. Many are witty and tend to be pro-reformasi as shown in my bloglist on the right.

3. The Future Focused/Visionary Types: These bloggers, while having a healthy dose of realism, are more than intellectual. They know that what really moves heaven and earth is a tangible vision of the future, what our deepest hopes are for the nation and for our citizens. For instance, the rainbow nation comprising various races blended into one is a vision that Msians can aspire for.

I think most local civil rights, pseudo-political blogs and Internet media are in the 1 and 2 groups. Malaysiakini has a potent blend of opinionated content but has only 10-20% focused on solutions and future visions for the nation. I hope existing and new bloggers like Dato' Zaid Ibrahim's will put their intellectual energies into building up fresh visions for Malaysia’s future.

The future is now in our hearts as soon as we cherish the vision despite the corruption, the partisanship, the comedy of our present state of politics.

This is not New Age hocus pocus but a spiritual truth: what we constantly cherish in our hearts which are aligned with the heart and promises of God will come true. It may take months or years but I am confident God will fulfill the hopes of man that are visualised and imagined faithfully according to His Word.

Drawing Hands by M.C. Escher

A People-Friendly Second Best Solution

An open letter by blogger Nehemiah to the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional:

The present political stalemate in Perak can only be resolved with creative, new solutions which are rakyat friendly. Otherwise, the reluctance by one of you (Najib) to agree to fresh elections will see the issue go back and forth between the courts and counter appeals, etc.

Barring a fresh election, both your parties should work together (or cooperate if you like) to prove to Perakians that the people's welfare is a HIGHER priority than partisanship.

The rakyat should and is the final employer assessing which candidate to employ.

But if two rival candidates refuse to work together, the employer(rakyat) should give them a choice: either you cooperate for my benefit or you both don't get the job. In such a stalemate, Perakians can afford to bear the loss of being ungoverned and wait for the next GE to decide. Perhaps by then, both parties will come to their senses or there will be a third party that can offer better governance.

Of course, the ideal solution is for snap elections to be held but that option is currently a roadblock for BN as it would be quite certain to lose.

And please, in the talks between both of your alliances, do not reject outright any proposals for power-sharing if it is the second best solution to serve the people's interests.

The whole of Malaysia and the world is watching how you both navigate the state out of this mess with a new creative solution that is approved by Perakians. Conduct Internet polls or surveys among the people to get feedback on the second best solution. Get the media/bloggers involved as an objective third party.

As Deng Hsiao Peng once said, it does not matter that the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice. Looking at recent developments (notwithstanding the national shame of the violent removal of the Speaker Sivakumar on 7 May), both of your parties seem to be more concerned about who gets to be called the official MB and occuplying the state secretariat than in catching real mice.

The Invisible Costs of May 7 For The Nation

In the field of economics, there is a saying that what we don't see with the naked eye is more important than what we can see.

For example, some vandal who breaks a glass window will cause the house owner to give money (say RM100) to the glass maker to make a new window, which triggers a chain of positive economic effects throughout the economy. But the opportunity cost is invisible: what the house owner would have done with the RM100, which he saved for his consumption or investment, if his window had not been broken.

Same truth applies to politics and the recent Perak crisis, what we saw was the Perak Assembly Speaker Mr Sivakumar being forcibly removed by several men at the State Assembly on 7th May. And economics student/writer John Lee has rightly pointed out, what is unseen is the tremendous damage to democracy and respect for the rule of law, the separation of powers enshrined in the constitution.

I think the invisible damage is worse: the use of physical violence on a law-abiding citizen should be condemned by government leaders. If not, then it may be interpreted by the young and politically illiterate as an implicit official sanction of violence for the sake of asserting one person's power over another.

Will criminal violence escalate after this shameful incident? I beseech the authorities to be wise and responsible and express remorse over the violent removal of the speaker instead of trying to justify it.

Msia's Top 4 Macroeconomic Problems Remain Unsolved

According to the World Bank, in 2007, Malaysia had a GNI per capita of US$6,420, far behind high income societies such as Singapore (US$32,340), South Korea (US$19,730), Japan (US$37,790), Hong Kong (US$31,560), Australia (US$35,760), Finland (US$44,300), and Switzerland (US$60,820) and Norway (US$77,370).

There are four economic reasons why Malaysia has fallen below the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of Asia's Tiger economies since the early 1980s.

(1) Dutch disease: Our blessing of oil and commodity resources which meant that we had little incentives to upgrade our manufacturing sector to rise to higher value-added chains. The blessing can be a curse in the long term.

(2) Subsidy policies: The subsidy implicit in the national car Proton at the expense of non-national cars which are overpriced due to high tax duties. The subsidy of food and fuel prices which makes cost of living articifially cheap so that wages can be low and cheap foreign labour can be employed. The hidden policy of keeping the Ringgit competitive vis the USD is also a subsidy for exporters. These subsidies prevent the proper allocation of resources and prevent manufacturing and other industries from rising up the value chain.

(3) The wealth distributive policies: The NEP if implemeted properly should be to alleviate poverty of all races but instead is used as a political weapon. At the end of the day, affirmative action policies help no one except the rich and the political elite.

(4.) Corruption from the top to the bottom. This is prevalent in the construction sector and other sectors where bidding for government contracts are not on open tender basis.

If the present government and policy makers seriously address these 4 economic bindspots, then Malaysia's long-term slide in the ranking of GNI per capita may be reversed. The current economic recession should be a good reason to review the above and open the eyes of citiznes about their sheltered economic existence in a world that is changing rapidly by China and India's economic resurgence.

Now, there is a new economic problem coming up and that is the strong possibility of the Opposition party Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in winning the people's mandate at the next general ellection in 2012/2013.

If PR can remain focused on these four issues and come up with workable policies while the economy's growth continue to stagnate at the 1-3% range in the next few years, then the politicial pressure will intensify for the incumbent government to fast-track real reforms in the economic and political sphere.

Msia's Policy Makers Wake Up To Economic Realities

The IMF projects Malaysia's GDP to contract by 3.5% this year compared to the Malaysian government's forecast of -1% and +1%. Meanwhile, IMF's forecast for Sinagpore is -10%, which is in line with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's comments a month ago.

Thus, PM Najb's move to remove the 30% bumiputra equity requirement in 27 sub-services sector (Computer & Related, Health & Social, Tourism, Transport, Sport & Recreational and Business Services) is commendable and marks a first step towards real economic reform for the country.

Removing the NEP policy and the political agenda behind it is essential. But what is more essential for bloggers/the media and the public to understand is that distribution of human and financial resources based on race is economically most wasteful and greatest disincentive for economic wealth-building (as opposed to wealth hoarding by the privileged few).

Allocating economic resources based on race/class(Marxism)/religion/or any other superficial feature is a guarantee for economic inefficiency and waste. There are huge opportunity costs (RM140 billions or 20% of annual GDP?) that Malaysia's affirmative action policies (as distinct from but not unrelated to cronysm) have incurred.

So Najib's move should spark a fresh wave of analysis why Malaysian policymakers need to recognise the absurdity and stupidity of economic disincentives and to allocate its resources in the market efficient way. Everyone benefits from a bigger pie.

A Mighty Nation In The Making: Part II

There have been some post-election analyses commenting about the risky strategy of Msian Chinese voters in Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang in supporting PAS and attending PAS ceramahs.

Chinese Malaysians are not naïve with regards to PAS's Islamic state aspirations. We have all along known their long term objectives. But if PAS changes its pro-multiracial colours after helping PR to be the next government, then it would destabilise the government because Malaysian voters can always vote them out.

The common glue that holds the Pakatan together is the anti-corruption, anti-injustice agenda. And what is most tragic about BN/UMNO is their blatant lack of shame in the face of corruption and money politics (albeit Msia is ranked 7th in terms of corruption).

This lack of honour and fair play is totally unacceptable in Asian cultures. The advent of the Internet media and bloggers has opened the eyes of Msians, esp the younger generation regardless of race and religion.

So I conclude that the PR victories in the two states are not a victory for Islamic interests but a victory for all Malaysians.

A Beautiful & Mighty Nation In The Making

God works in unknown ways. Deep in my heart, I wish that PR will win the three seats (Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang and Batang Ai) in the by-elections tomorrow.

What is God’s plan for Malaysia under the new PM Najib? Will he be under pressure to reform or maintain a tight grip on the status quo?

Tonight, I’ll pray that the the best party with the best leaders will win in line with God’s future plan for this beautiful and mighty nation.

Malaysia is beautiful because it is the nation beloved by God for its racial harmony despite government-sponsored racism. It is mighty because the dramatic political upheavals and elections in the past year have been broadly peaceful with no bloodshed.

7th April, Tuesday: Whichever way the by-elections go today, I think PM Najib will surprise on the positive as far as incremental reforms are concerned.

If BN wins two out of the three seats (Bukit Gantang most likely will be won by PAS/PR), it would increase the people's anger more if BN sees the victories as an endorsement to be as corrupt and oppressive as before. So the PM will likely make some reforms to placate the middle ground, the most important challenge being the revamp/removal of the NEP stigma on the nation.

On the other hand, if PR wins all three of the seats, the PM will be under more pressure to reform BN internally, which is also good.

Either way, the stock market is riding a global bear market rally and should retrace later when the focus is back to a contracting economy.

Painting by Iranian artist Kamrooz Aram.

How God & Man Can Change Malaysia's Destiny

For many months since the political earthquake of 8th March 2008, I, as an ordinary citizen, have been praying and seeking solutions to Malaysia's seemingly intractable economic and political problems.

Why should I care if not for the fact that I love this beautiful country where I spent many wonderful teenage years and where my children will be growing up.

Presently, the problems we face seem insurmountable at this stage when a new Prime Minister will be taking over the government, the Opposition is facing fresh hurdles and the economy is sliding into possibly its worst recession.

Einstein once said that given an hour to solve a problem, he would spend 55 minutes understanding (or defining) the problem first and the last 5 minutes solving it.

Dr Aiko Hormann, a Christian minister of God and a former Artificial Intelligence scientist with NASA, revealed in her remarkable interviews (with "Its a New Day") that the way for us to resolve difficult problems (financial, health, emotional, spiritual) is to move into God's perspective and declare God's promises over the present situation despite the adverse circumstances.

In doing so (and we need to be sincere in our motives which is to glorify God), God will actually bring about a change in our external circumstances to be in line with our spiritual state of being (which is a joyous praise and thanksgiving to Him who has already done the finished work of healing, of freedom from poverty, of freedom from anger, hate, bitterness, etc.)

She reveals that the two hindrances that keep us from instantly seeing the power of God work in us is (a) to be distracted by the physical sensations of our present and (b) not being able to "see" from God's time perspective of the past-present-future.

In other words, humanity is always attempting with little success in moving from point A (the present with all the harsh realities) to point Z, where all our problems are gone.

Rather than dwell in A, God wants us to be spiritually and mentally be in the future time zone of Z, where all His work is accomplished just as Jesus Christ finished the work of our redemption with His death on the cross two thousand years ago.

How does all this relate to Malaysia's current problems? Well, I believe Christians as well as non-Christians should take a different perspective of this country, where its future lies according to God's plan and not according to our ideals or visions.

And the important point is not to despair or be discouraged by what we see in the physical realm (no, YB Lim Kit Siang, we are not entering a dark age) but instead be joyful and strong in nurturing a victor's perspective and mentality (not a victim's pessimism). Why? Because this is the kind of spiritual partnership with God that will work real miracles in this country.

No man can defeat the problems we face or heal a divided nation. Only when we begin to see how small, how insignificant these problems are, do we see from God's eternal perspective.

Postscript: Whether Malaysia will see its problems fixed overnight or in three or four years time depends on how we submit to God's guidance and solutions. Dr Hormann did say that sometimes, the victory is delayed so that our faith will be tested and emerge stronger after we go through difficult times.

6 Ways To Ascertain The Truth of the Bible

It has never been my contention that spiritual truths can be proven with the scientific precision with which we prove physical truths such as the law of gravity. But the inability to conduct a laboratory experiment on a moral or religious issue is by no means proof that the issue can never be verified.

In fact, if we use a scientific, empirical mindset to understand the law of divine justice in human affairs, we can see that certain spiritual truths or laws will always be immutable (not susceptible to change).

One such truth is the law of sowing what we reap. For instance, if we spend time thinking and planning on how to be rich to the exclusion of every sensible responsibility, then we shall one day pay the price in either making a bad investment decision or in breaking the civil law.

Nonetheless, the existence of God is something which cannot be proven by reason alone. As the philosopher Dr Charles Taylor said: "This (religious belief) is something that you cannot ultimately prove except by impressing people with the fact that you have a more intelligent interpretation all the time."

Conversely, the non-existence of God (or the idea of a world without a creator) can be proven to be irrational. No man, who is a being of sensible reason, emotions and limited intelligence, can ever honestly admit to living happily in a state of uncertainty about his after-life. He may have theories or beliefs about what could happen to him after death, but his endeavours to resolve this sudden unknown event will be a measure of the meaning of his life.

When various religions proclaim that there is life after death and describe the different worlds that exist in the after-life, there seems to be no way of proving which religion is right or whether they are all fanciful stories.

The objective social scientist can conduct an experiment and that is to investigate and interview people who have apparently died physically and then returned from the after-life to tell their experiences.

As a practising Christian (who was formerly an atheist, then an agnostic and just before becoming a Christian, a Buddhist), I am convicted of the truth of the Bible as the Word of God. But looking at the Bible from the non-Christian and skeptical perspective, I think there are 6 ways to ascertain its truthfulness. These ways are the weight of evidence in support of the truth of the Bible:

1. The Historical - the main historical person in the New Testament is the person of Jesus Christ whose words, deeds and teachings were described in the eye witness testimonies of the four Gospels, written in the first century. Apart from the Bible, there are historical records that verify he existed and was borned at the time cited in the Bible.

Charles Guignebert, Professor of the History of Christianity, at the Sorbonne, maintained that the "conclusions which are justified by the documentary evidence [concerning the life of Jesus] may be summed up as follows: Jesus was born somewhere in Galilee in the time of the Emperor Augustus, of a humble family, which included half a dozen or more children besides himself." He adds elsewhere "there is no reason to suppose he was not executed".

There is a passage from a 10th century Arab historian named Agapius of Manbij who was a Christian. He cites Flavius Josephus (c. 37–c. 100), a Jewish and Roman historian, as having written:

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and (he) was known to be virtuous and many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not desert his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.

The text from which Agapius quotes is viewed by historians as closer to what Josephus wrote about Jesus.

(For skeptics who say there is no proof of his resurrection after three days being dead, read this article.)

2. The Archaeological: In the last 150 years, archaeologists have excavated thousands of sites in the Near East, many of whom have tried to disprove the historical records of the Old Testament. Yet, every time they turned their spades, the new evidence confirms what the Bible says.

For example the Old Testament mentions all the kings of Israel and Judah in addition to 47 other kings in the Gentile (non-Jewish) world of Egypt/Babylon/ Syria/Greece. Not a single history book mentioned even one of them. The archaeologists found in their sites every one of the 47 kings exactly in the places where the Bible said they had reigned.

3. The Sensible Insurance Policy: Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

We only have two things to stake, our "reason" and our "happiness". Pascal considers that there is "equal risk of loss and gain", a coin toss, since human reason is powerless to address the question of God's existence. That being the case, we then must decide it according to our happiness by weighing the gain and loss in believing that God exists. He contends the wise decision is to wager that God exists, since "If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing", meaning one can gain eternal life if God exists, but if not, one will be no worse off in death than if one had not believed.

(Note that although he was a Christian, Pascal's wager does not necessarily point to a Christian God but to the belief in one God - theism - which is shared by Judaism and Islam).

4. The Scientific: Empirical science is catching up with the Bible as neuroscientists explore the seemingly unexplainable power of prayer and meditation. Increasingly, the miracles of Christians praying for the sick and healing them of a wide range of illnesses (cancer, deafness, physical deformities, etc) are being recorded on the Internet and have been confirmed by secular doctors who have tested these patients before and after the prayers of healing. Just because today's science may not yet have full explanations of how the cures occurred does not at all invalidate the efficacy of prayer, which the scientific mind will be open to explore.

There are even many testimonies of people who have died and were taken to witness Heaven and Hell before coming back alive.

These experiences and testimonies are hard, but not impossible, to verify scientifically but there will be a day when tests can be made to see if these people are hallucinating or lying. (To those who explain that healing may be due to the power of the mind over matter, then they should examine how ineffective is healing through new age methods.)

5. The Psychological: There is insurmountable evidence throughout history of the positive, inspirational impact of the Bible on the lives of great politicians (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce, etc), writers and playwrights (Dante, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens,etc) scientists (Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Morse, etc) and social workers (Florence Nightingale, David Livingstone, Mother Theresa, etc) to name a few.

These are men and women of great intelligence whose works have transcended their cultural eras and historical circumstances. Can these people of character and genius who have done so much good for the world and whose good deeds have benefited our present society, be irrational and easily converted by "a fanciful, superstitious book that can only be believed by fools?" Think again with wisdom and care.

6. The Fulfilled Prophecies: Finally, the most powerful feature of the Bible is the fulfilled prophecies about Jesus Christ decades before he was borned. There are 333 prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah Christ and these predictions include the exact date of his birth, the place of birth (Micah 5:2 -Bethlehem), that he would be borned of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) . These predictions in the Old Testament also describe his character, his betrayal for thirty pieces of silver, his burial in the grave of a rich man, his resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven. All of which were fulfilled and described in the New Testament.

There is no individual in the history of mankind nor any other religious texts that has been so prophetically and predictively detailed.

To those who are still skeptical despite the 6 peripheral ways of ascertaining the truth of the Bible (note I did not say that reason alone can be used to confirm the Bible's truth), then I will paraphrase the English writer C.S. Lewis who said that even if Jesus was a myth, it would be a myth worth living for. From my personal experience, I testify that Jesus Christ is not a myth but the only living truth that can help man redeem himself from the darkness of his savage and corrupted nature.

And the Good News of the Bible is encapsulated in this foundational verse 1 John 16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believe in Him (His Son) shall not perish but have eternal life."

Editor's comment: Far be it for me to suggest that the existence of God can be tested as this would be a mark of distrust and irreverence. Rather, I am simply showing to skeptics and atheists the tremendous weight of evidence, through 6 different perspectives, concerning the truth of the Bible, which offers a unique and more intelligent, if not the only, interpretation of the meaning of our purpose and life on earth.

Perak Crisis Snowballs In Favour of Perakians

Thank God I was prophetically discerning when I wrote on 4 Feb, the eve of changes in the state government in Perak:

"Today, God may allow the devious cross-over and reverse takeover of the Perak state government by BN for one very good reason: the whole population of Perak and the country will start to see how unethical and undemocratic is the BN in trying to gain power.

Let them win the war of cross-overs but they will definitely lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the voters."

The daily drama (or comedy?) of events in Perak since the day BN declared themselves the "new government" of Perak continues to show to the nation and the world that the people of Perak are the true victims of an unethical, unconstitutional grab for power at all costs.

The good news is that this crisis is turning into an avalanche of sympathy for the people of Perak as long as they are denied a snap election to elect the state government.

So I wonder why the bloggers, lawyers and media commentators are so exasperated and demoralised by the Perak political crisis. Whatever use of force (ISA or emergency rule) that the BN comes up with in desperation to assert its rule of Perak, the outside world is watching with bemusement.

All's well that ends well and the end of Be End is coming soon if it continues in its present path.

http://jeremiahliang.blogspot.com/2009/02/battle-for-hearts-minds-of-perak-is.html

http://jeremiahliang.blogspot.com/2009/02/lessons-to-be-learned-from-perak-crisis.html

Postcript: I call on all Malaysians to pray for Perak, the state of grace, that the Lord will fight the battle for this state amidst the current turmoil it is going through and open the way for justice, righteousness and the rule of our constitution to prevail.

Roots & Solutions to The Middle East Conflict

The Israel-Arab/Palestinian crisis is a very complex problem that poses the biggest risk of a geopolitical war. However, I disagree with the various naive proposals offered by many people across the blogs who say that the solution is to reduce the power of the extremists from both sides, ignore the religious perspectives, talk peace and disarm.

What we are dealing here is a political conflict that emanates from an ancient family trauma (the rejection of the surrogate son and the concubine wife from the Abraham family) which, over the centuries, manifested into controversial texts that incite warmongering against the other half-blood tribe.

Nonetheless, there are several ways to approach the problem and achieve a real solution. A complicated problem requires a complicated analysis from various perspectives with a simple but profound solution.

1. Reexamine the simplicity of the political solution: a two-state solution simply requires that each state recognises and respects the existence of the other. All other tactics to obstruct the recognition of this fundamental right of existence reflects an indirect denial of real peace. For example, if Singapore/Indonesia refuses to recognise Malaysia as a legitimate country and threatens to wipe it off the sea, why bother talking about a truce or lasting peace with them? Wiser to prepare secretly for the coming attack.

2.The diplomatic solution is now offered by President Barack Hussein Obama. He is likely to convince Iran and all the proxy elements of the Arab world to lay down their arms for peace. But this peace won’t hold because it is merely diplomacy laced with great rhetoric from an ambitious world leader. Read his inaugural speech:

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

This means a voluntary disarmament which will eventually be a prelude to rearmament. An unclenched fist can easily become clenched with a nuclear bomb later on.

3. On the question of who is right or wrong. I suggest we heed Jesus’s advice to judge a tree by its fruits. How many Jewish and Arab friends do we personally know from both sides of the issue to be able to know the truth of their lives in this region?

We should learn to see the problems of the Middle East from the perspective of a Martian who has no vested interest. Which party in this conflict is unreasonable, barbaric, illogical and religiously extremist? By their acts and their behaviour, you shall know the wolf behind the sheep.

Maybe, the Martian will conclude that both parties are equally guilty. But ask him further, show him the history of this conflict which extends to Abraham’s relationship with his two sons Isaac and Ishmael and you may arrive at a truly objective view.

4. The spiritual solution is the most effective one: both the Arabs and the Israelis must look deep into their intertwined past as half-brothers and truly repent of their hate crimes and forgive each other.

They must be made to see that the alternative is more bloodshed and perhaps a geopolitical war. Just remember that the last world war was tainted by the tragedy of the Holocaust (the genocide where about six million European Jews died.)

Unfortunately, human nature can only learn to repent after a great tragedy has happened. And the tragedy of lost lives stemming from the wars fought between Israel and the Arabs since the formation of the former on May 14, 1948 is perhaps not sufficiently painful for sane, citizens of the world to turn their backs on the insanity of war and the drive for political power in the Middle East.

Is The Hedgehog or the Fox The Best Leader For Msia?

Now with the latest Perak crisis, doubts are emerging about Anwar's effectiveness as the opposition leader. However, the mystery of who is the real Anwar should be analysed from the fox and the hedgehog context.

Philosopher and historian Isaiah Berlin said that foxes know many cunning tricks to survive while hedgehogs know only one single thing.

My instincts indicate that Anwar pretends to be a fox who can fix many of M'sia's social and economic challenges. However, he may actually be a hedgehog with only one real talent: Is it his oratory skills? His ability to hold the PAS-DAP dichotomy together or his anti-NEP and anti-corruption principles (which very few Malays have the intellectual bravery to champion)?

For most M'sians, all they want to see is a shadow cabinet, sound economic policies and a new set of values that will unite the secular and the non-secular sentiments of the citizens.

Since the former Premier Tun Mahathir, who seemed to be more of a fox than a hedgehog, failed to move the country out of its handicaps, the public may now clamour for a hedgehog-type of leader, a man of integrity and vision who only knows how to carry out one great idea that will solve many of the country's problems.

Abraham Lincoln's hedgehog genius was to liberate America from the scourge of slavery at the cost of civil war. I guess Barack Obama's hedgehog idea is to do the opposite: promote world peace at the cost of making diplomatic alliances with despotic regimes. ("To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.")

In others words, a false world peace today to postpone the real world war that is looming at the periphery of the global financial meltdown.

Lessons To be Learned From Perak Crisis-Malaysiakini

Now that the full consequences of party-hopping and cross-overs have been reaped for every Malaysian to see, let us re-examine three simple lessons we can learn from this crisis:

1. If party hopping followed by snap elections is justified as an unjust means to a fair end, then there will be no end to party hopping, what more when vast amounts of money is offered under the table. (Anwar, pls take note, you are at an economic disadvantage in this respect).

2. Now that both BN (sin by commission) and Pakatan Rakyat (sin by temptation) have created this political mess, it is the honourable thing for both Anwar/PR leaders and Najib to outlaw party hopping. But first, to regain his credibility with the voters, Najib should call a snap election soon in Perak to make amends for the unfairness with which the Perak people are subjected to. That way, he will be doing what Anwar actually promised, cross over and give back the mandate to the electorate.

3. Politics is often dirty and devoid of ethics. Whoever has more influence on the rules of the game (the courts of law) has a stronger hand. But the spectators, i.e voters have an active role to play in giving the weaker opposition a stronger hand. They can either walk out in protest or continue watching the drama between the two foes. If the civil rights activists and bloggers had debated thoroughly the issue of cross-overs and not given blanket approval to Anwar's 916 tactics, they would have seen its dangers, both ethical and political.

Aside from Pakatan Rakyat's greatest political weapon of being anti-NEP and anti-corruption, what was sorely lacking was the lack of a shadow cabinet, concrete policies for the economy and a new set of values to unite a multi-ethnic people.

So the blame for the current Perak crisis should be shared with Malaysia's intellectuals, bloggers and silent citizens.

Read Karim Raslan's take: "Trouble in Perak."