Scribbling Theology:

Christian Spirituality & Thought
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  • Tag: bible

    • Scribbling Journal: Entry 2

      Posted at 6:06 am by scribblingtheology, on November 12, 2022

      Jesus came to me first through religious fervour and fanaticism. Christianity was almost a swear word, a kind of “you know who” or a “he who must not be named” sort of thing that, if you had to bring it up, an unsavoury taste lingered upon the tongue in conversation. Far too many stories were heard of priests molesting children and preachers zealously proclaiming “turn or burn” on street corners, causing most people who heard them to ignore their existence, if not shy away in embarrassment for them entirely.

      My parents, and their parents, grew up in an age believing religion and politics weren’t things one talked about at the dinner table if one were to have a civil conversation. This is ludicrous because spirituality and politics are some of the most important topics of discussion when getting to a person’s heart. Never have I known a person more than when they painted for me a picture of the world and how they believe it can be fixed. If this kind of conversation were fostered more, maybe we’d be having very different conversations now about identity and the sorts.

      It wasn’t until much later that I started to see Jesus as more than a “car salesman.” I had always been interested in mythology and spirituality, and as I started reading about new-age teachers, historians and storytellers, I learned that Jesus was a serious spiritual person. It just took hearing it from someone who wasn’t a Christian first for me to realise it. It still took me longer to trust in Jesus – whatever that means – or at least to give the Christian thing a red hot crack… here I am, still giving it a go more than ten years later.

      I can’t tell you exactly what got me into trusting Jesus. Some would say it is the sovereignty of God, and others would say he filled the hole in my life or whatever (in some ways, I have more “holes” and “cracks” now than I ever did). As I got to know it more and more, the biblical story made the most sense of my humanity (or lack thereof), the world around me, and my place in it. I used to believe that the Bible was something you could sit down, read, understand, and walk away with. However, the Bible takes more than a lifetime to master. The Bible is the sort of literature you have to sit with over coffee or tea every day for the rest of your life. It is supposed to be read in a community, and It is the kind of story that moves from only the intellect to the centre of your being.

      As I read the Bible more, Jesus started moving from being a spiritual guy who told us to love people (erg!) to him representing me. I can imagine the surfer Jesus that puts flowers in people’s hair and sings kumbaya coming out of the surf, pushing a craft beer in front of me and staring at me in the eye with a look of intense affection and saying, “Camaron, look at me. There’s more to life than what you lack. I can show you how to be more.” I think he would have an Aslan kind of effect on me. When he speaks, he shakes off the salt water from his long curls, but you shudder in fear and awe, and the space he commands has a certain gravitas. But instead of running away, you want more of him. You can’t help but be drawn to His presence. You hang off every word, even if they’re hard to hear.

      “When we learn to read the story of Jesus and see it as the story of the love of God, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves–that insight produces, again and again, a sense of astonished gratitude which is very near the heart of authentic Christian experience.”

      ― N.T. Wright

      I pray that we will all have that sense of astonished gratitude.

      Posted in Journal Entries | 0 Comments | Tagged bible, Christianity, Gospel, Jesus, Spirituality, Theology
    • People and Apologetics

      Posted at 4:31 pm by scribblingtheology, on May 19, 2021

      I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

      C. S. Lewis

      This is part II in a series on apologetics. If you want to read part I on “What is Apologetics?” click here. Enjoy!

      Over the years, my relationship with apologetics has taken many turns. There was a time where you would find me arguing with university students until 3 or 4 in the morning about evolution vs creation or ethics at Gloria Jeans. I used to think if I could just come up with a really concise argument that was rational, it’d convince the world, and I’d be the next Billy Graham or whatever. Even though there is a lot of value in logic, facts, and arguments, I began to realise that even the most eloquent of arguments alone would never win over the hearts and minds of those who reject Jesus and His Gospel. Ironically, the more I studied at Bible college, the more Christianity became something more than an intellectual assent to a list of doctrines and beliefs. It wasn’t just “God is true because …”; instead, it became a “life, humanity, and the world makes sense because of God.” By Christianity, I saw and made sense (and am still making sense) of everything I see and experience. I started to move away from wanting to just win someone over to my way of thinking to seeing a real person. I wanted people to experience God and the world around them in the way they were always meant to. My focus shifted from a win-lose mentality to a sort of invitation-love-unity mentality. It is my conviction that when we engage in apologetics with other faiths and worldviews (even among people in our own Faith), we make enemies of them far too quickly because we forget some essential truths about those people.

      1. All of humanity is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). This means a lot of different things to a lot of various scholars. I’ve written a bit about it here. However, here is a quick summary to make my point. For humanity to be made in the image of God means that they are to be a unified people that reflect God’s character to the created order by loving God, one another, and the world around them. Here’s the thing, this command was given to humanity in general, not just the Church. So every Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jew, New Ager, Atheist, Satanist, Witch, Wizard, Butcher, Baker, and Candlestick Maker have all been endowed with this “image” and are called to live it out. The only difference is that this is now only achievable in Christ as it is He who enables us by the Spirit to live out this calling. Nevertheless, the Genesis 1-3 story leads me to have a deep spiritual connection to everyone I talk to that stops me from having a win-lose mentality and instead makes me see them as human despite how flawed and sinful they are may be.
      2. The Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) is about Yahweh (God) pursuing some of the most messed up people to ever exist. Israel’s story was full of the most bloodthirsty, faithless, abusive (sexually, physically, spiritually see Gen 16:1–16; 21:8–21), wicked (Is 13-23), idolatrous (Ex 32; Jer 2), murderous people (2 Sam 11-12). Yet, God still called them out to be His people, to represent Him and to be a kingdom of priests (or image bearers) to bring about His redemptive plan (Ex 19:6; Is 61:6). Don’t get me wrong, God hates sin (Ps 5:4-5), and I don’t think God ever intended sin to be a regular part of the human experience. However, on this side of the Fall (Gen 3), there is something very “human” about sin, brokenness and failure. It’s in that chaotic mess that God pursued Israel, and in turn, all of humanity in the person of Christ. What a picture of you, and what a picture of me. This is a constant reminder that God pursues me even as I fail, sin, and fall, and so to does He pursue every other person. God isn’t just trying to win over the person you’re talking about evolution with; he wants to transform them. Israel already knew God existed, right? God had already freed them from slavery, and even after He gave them the promised land, they continued to rebel. God wanted to transform and renew (Jer 31:31; Ezek 36:26), not just convince them of a set of doctrines and laws.
      3. Obviously, Israel didn’t always do a good job of being that royal priestly image-bearing kingdom of people God wanted them to be. Transformation was yet to come. This is where Jesus comes in. Read the Gospels. God comes in the likeness of human flesh (Lk 2:1-20; Rom 8:3), He travels around and preaches the Good News of the Kingdom of God (Matt 3:2, 4:17, 5-7), He performs miracles (John 2:1-11, 4:46-54, 5:1-15, 6:5-14, 6:16-24), and teaches people about Himself (Lk 4:21). Jesus gives up His life to be a ransom for many (Mk 10:45), He was raised from the dead (Mk 16), and before He ascends, He tells His disciples there’s more. He wants to transform, renew, and empower His people to be what Adam, Eve, and Israel couldn’t be. So He sends His Spirit to dwell among those who have trusted in Jesus (John 14:16, 15:26, 16:7; Acts 1-2). Jesus wants to bring everyone into an empowered family of people who image God and love one another. He doesn’t just want to convince them that He is real.

      For me, this passage wraps up the vision Jesus has in the Gospels quite well:


      Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
      And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment (see also 2 Cor 5:17).

      Revelation 21:1-6


      Let’s circle back for a moment. A person is sitting across the table from you, and internally you are seething because they won’t accept that the earth is 6000 years old (“exasperated sigh”), or that ethics is static, or that Jesus died for their sin. As you try to stoically sip your triple-shot mocha with a pump of caramel, try to remember that there is more at stake here than trying to win an argument. These are real, fallen, broken, complex sinning, loving, crazy, logically irrational people that God loves. Loving your neighbour or your “enemy” is as important as getting across your point. As I have theologically demonstrated in this article, reflecting on the person’s substance will help remind you that they are a human to love, not just an argument to win.

      Posted in Scribbles | 5 Comments | Tagged apologetics, bible, Christianity, church, doctrine, Jesus, Spiritual
    • Jesus The: Sage

      Posted at 3:03 pm by scribblingtheology, on April 27, 2021

      A short series of short reflections on the person of Christ in the Scriptures

      For me, Jesus is The Sage. He is enlightened, inspiring, and His teachings reach into the very depths of one’s soul. Out of all that Jesus said and did, the sermon on the mount (Matt 5-7) is probably among some of His greatest teachings. From “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt 5:3), “salt and light” (Matt 5:13-16), the lord’s prayer (Matt 6:5-14), to the golden rule (Matt 7:12-14), Jesus’ teachings drip with wisdom for all to come and drink from. If the Bible is anything, it’s wisdom literature that reaches its crux in the teachings of Jesus (Ps 19:7). As I walk through the pages of God’s Word, I can almost feel Jesus leading me by the hand from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 into a life long journey to wisdom. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:6-7, “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore, get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

      The cost of following The Sage is your life. Yet, The Sage will protect you and watch over you if you love Him. However, a life walking after The Sage feels like anything but. I believe wisdom’s most effective tools in the classroom of life is time plus suffering. Jesus Himself spent a life full of suffering up to the cross itself, and no servant is greater than The Master (Jhn 15:20). The Sage has taught me much about suffering, much about self, much about God. The greatest lesson? “to fear God, keep His commandments, and to love others as yourself” (Ecc 12:13; Lev 19:18; Mk 12:31).

      “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

      ― Confucious

      Posted in Scribbles | 0 Comments | Tagged bible, Christ, Christianity, Jesus, Theology, Wisdom
    • The Crackling Word

      Posted at 10:33 pm by scribblingtheology, on August 25, 2020

      Each page crackles as it lifts from a leathery shell, giving birth to new waves of flame.

      Smoke rises and fills one’s nostrils with ancient history, myth and story.

      Tongues of flame wave slowly at those gathered around its holy site.

      People stare entranced in harmonious gathering with the Other as they listen to flame’s whispers.

      Songs played and sung aloud; marshmallows melt softly in flame’s warm embrace.

      Around the Sacred Fire, there is no black, white, free, slave, male or female, for they are one with the Spirit that binds them in the night.

      Here love is found. Love is lived. Love is loved.


      Celebrate. Learn. Rejoice. Drink deeply from the well of flames that He has to offer.

      Posted in Scribbling Poetry | 0 Comments | Tagged bible, Christianity, Fire, Jesus, poetry
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