today i celebrated the 60th anniversary of kprbc in the morning and the 44th anniversary of singapore's independence in the evening (by watching ndp 2009 on tv).
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
as a christian and a singapore citizen, i believe in the separation of church and state. at the same time, i also believe that there are parallels between church and state. more precisely, there are parallels between how we live as members of the church and how we live as citizens of the state.
we live in a fallen world.
no church is perfect and no state is perfect. it's been said that if you find the perfect church, don't join it because you will only ruin it!
the question is not whether we should live with imperfection. we have to live with imperfection, most of which is our own. the question is how we should live with imperfection.
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." - Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)
there are primary and secondary issues.
given that we live in a fallen world, we will not be able to agree on every single issue. in fact, there is nothing wrong with holding our own theological or political convictions and we can agree to disagree on certain things. but we should not allow the secondary issues to become primary - or worse, allow the primary issues to become secondary.
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." - 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (NIV)
the road to reform is from within.
given that no church is perfect and no state is perfect, there will always be a need to resolve primary and secondary issues - within the proper channels. you might not be able to change the system if you stay, but you definitely won't be able to change the system if you leave - or worse, destroy the system.
of course, you might decide that the system is beyond repair (like the reformers) and give up or create a new system, but that's a different story. even then, the reformers first tried to reform the roman catholic church from within, before discovering that it was impossible to do so.
See the moon and the stars, look how far we have come
Look around at our faces, they shine brightly in the sun
With our hopes and dreams, imagine what tomorrow it may bring
What do you see? What do you see?
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
*****
on a side note, i found the second line of this year's ndp theme song rather intriguing:
Where the future is an open book, a land of destiny
in one sense, this affirms open theism. in another sense, this affirms predestination.
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