Challenging Faith

If you ask me, as a Christian, in what way am I Christlike? Well, I’m probably most Christlike…in the way I flip tables! Joke aside, I do resonate greatly with Jesus when he flipped the tables of the animal merchants and money exchangers in the temple, especially recently. I find it harder and harder to identify myself with a Church (capital C for churches in general, not any specific church) that doesn’t reflect God’s love and justice. Jesus flipped the tables among the most religious because they failed at reflecting God’s love, mercy, compassion, and justice for ALL. To be more specific, they did exactly the opposite. Perhaps at the moment, I identify more as a table-flipper than a Christian, and somehow I feel closer to Jesus when I identify less as a Christian in the present moment. “ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. ” Micah 6:8 NIV It’s never too late to r...

I’ve been listening to Pink’s music lately, and what I really appreciate about Pink is that she has many uplifting songs, songs that encourage, songs that are empathetic, songs that give positive energy. And that’s when it dawned on me: we Christians have been understanding and doing the whole “be the light of the world” thing wrong. We have not been the light of the world. We’ve been criticizing the world so much that we’ve become the snobs of the world. We’ve been telling people how bad and how unlovable they are that we’ve become the downers of the world. We’ve been judging the world, sentencing everybody to hell, that we’ve become the haters of the world. Instead of being ambassadors of the gospel, we’ve become the bad news bear. Whenever we open our mouths, it’s always bad news, it’s always judgment and negativity. And because of that, it’s getting harder for people to experience the love of Christ and the goodness of the gospel through us. But we have a choice. We can choo...

Today is George Floyd's birthday, and it seems fitting to revive this post, first written and published on Saturday, May 30, 2020 . Christians Can’t Be Silent No More (Image: Source: Courtesy of Christianity Today from " George Floyd Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston ") I read an article today on the George Floyd incident, the senseless killing of a black man by a police officer who kneeled on the man’s neck, ignoring the pleas of both the man and his companions. I watched the footage of the incident and was very disgusted by the police officers in the video. The author of the article that I read is a Chinese immigrant, and he calls for Chinese immigrants in the US to stand up for the black community. The author’s reason for such a call is not only because Chinese/Asian Americans have widely become the target of hate crimes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He writes: “ The ultimate benchmark for the assimilation of the Chinese (or any ethnic group) in the American...

I know this may sound like heresy coming from a seminary-graduated former pastor, but if I’m to give advice to Christians who are caught at the crossroad of making an important decision, I’d tell them to stop praying, even though as a former pastor, I taught - like every other good pastor - about praying fervently on everything. From my own experience and from observing Christians around me, I’ve noticed how often prayers can become paralyzing. People either believe they must wait for a sign from God before taking any meaningful actions, or they use prayer as an excuse to procrastinate on making important decisions. But God has given us the faculty to analyze, make our own decisions, and own our lives. What I’m saying is not that you shouldn’t pray, but that prayers and actions must go together. We can certainly pray before making crucial decisions. But as we pray, we must also act. God gave us the faculty to take responsible steps: gather as much information as possible, analyze...

Reading the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10 with my Female Christian Ministry Leaders cohort this morning, a fresh perspective dawned on me. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made - likely overwhelmed by fixing up a feast for Jesus and his entourage all by herself, while Mary, her sister, was sitting and listening to Jesus teach instead of helping. It’s not that Martha didn’t want to sit at Jesus’ feet and spend time with him like Mary did. But in a culture that valued hospitality and conditioned women into domestic roles, Martha felt obligated to all the busy work she was doing. But then Jesus’ response to Martha’s request for Mary to help was completely countercultural: Mary “has chosen” what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Wait, what? Mary had a choice? This must have come as a shock to many who were present at the time. It’s mind-blowing, because women in that culture didn’t really have the option to not take on domestic res...

Truth be told, as Christians, what we consider “biblical” often has more to do with our preferences than we’d like to admit. We constantly pick and choose the kind of God we want and can resonate with. Some want a harsh God because they feel a deep-seated need for justice or even vengeance; some want a rigid God because they find security in the certainty of rules; others want a God who would never send anyone to hell because they struggle to reconcile love with eternal torment. We as Christians are constantly casting our own Golden Calves. This isn’t to say there’s no absolute Truth, but I highly question our human ability to comprehend the complete Truth of an infinite being. If you hold strong beliefs, present them with sound arguments and reasoning. Don’t just label something as biblical or unbiblical, expecting others to take your word for it. I’ve made this mistake myself, and I hope to do better moving forward. Also, just because you strongly believe something and other...