Purposed by God to run after Him

After 6 months...

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:39:00 +0000

Yes, my exams are up again! Have three papers in 2 weeks...

It hailed last night!

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Exams are in 5 days! I'm getting quite stressed indeed.

Branding and Integrity...

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:09:00 +0000

It's been a real difficult few weeks for me especially with the assignments pilling up and the exams looming ahead. So for those who are wondering where my newsletter is (I doubt there are many but hey), I've decided to put out a double issue for May/June just so that it'll be less of a distraction.

On a different note, yesterday at college I had two very interesting workshops. Instead of the usual preaching workshop, we had a "marketing" workshop conducted by a top image consultant in Australia. Yesterday's session was focused on the topic of "branding". How do we "brand" our church/faith/Jesus? Well, not really Jesus but you get the point. We even briefly touched on brand "Hillsong" and what it means for the secular public out in Australia.

However, what I found most intriguing was the discussion resulting from our principle’s question, "how do we market our faith when most of Australia views religion as irrelevant if not negative?" I know we should be asking these questions of ourselves especially in light of the many scandals and antipathy but I can't help ponder over this.

The second workshop was held during our usual ministry formation class but by a guest speaker. A "church consultant" and this was a workshop on being a healthy pastor. The workshop was really a three hour session of head bashing on the importance of our character and integrity in ministry and the value of TRUTH.

Now, I think this is certainly amazing. Only at Vose can you get two workshops on the same day that seemingly contradict each other and leaves you struggling to find coherence. Marketing people are well known for their "lack" of integrity aren't they? Always putting out subliminal messages and perceived images to tempt people into purchasing decisions (well at least that what 3 years of business school has taught me).

Christian leaders as men and women of integrity and character? Well, again, the public often view pastors and leaders as lying paedophiles and homophobic cheats. Always up to no good or brain washing their congregations.

MAYBE, just MAYBE, the reason we're in this mess is because we've become so caught up in all these secular management theories and trying to appease the world that we have lost all credibility. Isn't it from the bible that we learn we can only serve either God or the world? How do we serve God with worldly methods? Yes, they work. I don't doubt that. Yes, they make us appear more relevant. BUT DO THEY MAKE US BETTER DISCIPLES OF CHRIST? DOES IT STRENGTHEN THE CHURCH?

Maybe it does. I'm still left pondering?

If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:21:00 +0000

That's a sermon Jimmy Carter heard as a young man that set him up for a life of living for Christ. It got me thinking.

Today, we celebrated Eucharist at church and also on Wednesday at Chapel at Seminary. Ps. Colin Waddell, before serving the communion shared that as each of us take a piece of bread, it was a symbolic of each of us being of the same body. Immediately, I thought of how believers across the world were taking the same meal with us every Sunday morning. Without questioning doctrine, theological frameworks, styles of worship, etc... we are all part of the same body, rejoicing with one another (despite being around the globe) in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. We are indeed one, just as Christ and His Father are one.

Anyway, I'm currently working on the May issue of "My Journey" and I'm hoping it'll be out very soon.

To be like Jesus!

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:45:00 +0000

It's been a busy couple of weeks, getting back to the rhythm of college life after the break. Also, Leighton (my housemate) and I have been working at being more like Christ. We've decided to do some carpentry work. Two Saturdays ago, we made this little table out of some scrap wood lying around the house.

And last Saturday, after shopping around for some speaker stands for our two surround speakers (from the 5.1 sound system I brought back from Singapore this last trip) in our living room, we decided we'll be better off just making it ourselves. And after a quick trip to Bunnings and an hour of labour...

On a more academic level, I've been reading "Creation in the Old Testament" edited by Bernhard W. Anderson as part of a book review I'm doing for my OT class. Coincidentally, I've also been listening to the podcast "Doctrine of Creation" by William Lane Craig again (which I highly recommend) in my car. I've always thought that a literal reading of the creation narrative in Genesis is quite indefensible apologetically and this book actually supports that with some top evangelical scholarship. Right up to the 19th century, the churches never considered a literal creation to be a test of orthodoxy and I think that Christians who are extremely dogmatic about this should really... chill out a bit! Some church fathers like Augustine, Origen and Justin Martyr never did agree with 6 days creationism anyway.

This doesn’t mean we agree with evolution or any scientific theory that seeks to explain away the mystery of life. Quite the contrary, the text in Genesis itself doesn't appeal to a 6 literal 24 hour day in creation. To quote William Lane Craig, "the Christian, unlike the atheist is free to follow the evidence wherever it leads while the atheist is committed to Darwinian theories of evolution however improbable they are." In fact, the highly improbable characteristic of evolution and the Big Bang actually lends support to the existence of God, so there...

To be like Jesus
To be like Jesus
All I ask - to be like Him
All through life's journey
From earth to glory
All I ask - to be like Him.

I'm not so good at talking after all...

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:34:00 +0000

"I don't think that is what the psalmist is saying..." Some classmates commented that they lost me halfway through my sermon and others added that my sub-points were in no way linked back to my main point.

I've just preached at my Preaching for Dummies class, and this was the response I received. Good valid constructive comments. Very humbling too (coincidentally, at our SEBL group, we've just talked about genuine humility). I've always thought talking was one of my strong points, but I guess I have so much more to learn.

I preached on Psalm 27:4-6 and somehow or another, I completely missed the point of the psalm and read into it a "future" perspective and even mentioned praying for Christ's return (as an application of the psalmist longing for the completion of the temple). Blown it completely. But I'll learn. I have to learn!

In reflection, being in Perth this last 3 years or so has really taught me a lot. Especially in humility. In Singapore, I used to assume I was a fairly good worship leader and musician, small group leader and yeah, administrator and leader of a worship team and camp. In the last three years, I've realised that I'm actually not so good after all.

With OCF, I realised that despite pulling out all stops in my two years of leadership, even as president, I was completely helpless in making OCF relevant on our campus. Despite all the hard work, time, prayer and energy devoted into talking to people and trying to convince them, it has all come to naught.

As a musician, I'm perhaps the worst guitarist on our team at Mounties and make so many mistakes and screw-ups each Sunday despite practice. Yeah, I'm nowhere close to leading worship at church. I just don't sing well enough.

As a friend, I haven't made any effort to maintain close and intentional relationships with people around me. As a worker, I tend to be too OCD in the things that don't matter to be productive. As a student, I'm far from exceptional, just average, maybe even below average at a very average university.

What has all this taught me? I once thought that if I put my heart and mind to something, I can accomplish anything. But maybe I can't. I'm not so special. I'm not so clever. I'm not so significant, really. However, despite the failures, I pray that God will still use me. I need to be more submitted to the Lord and His power working through and in me. Truly, not by might, not by power but by the Spirit.

April issue of "My Journey"

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:42:00 +0000

I've finally finished the 2nd issue of "My Journey". I apologise for sending it out so late but it has been a really busy month! You can download it here. Thanks for supporting and praying for me. God bless!

Should people know I am a Christian?

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Something that has been on my mind. Should people be able to tell that I'm a Christian just by looking at me? Or do people know that I'm a Christian simply because I tell them that I am. So how different are Christians from the average everyday person that we come across? Are Christians meant to be that different that we are exclusively so? Yes, we have a joy and a hope in Christ. Yes, we have love and a concern for fellow man. But how do exactly do we demonstrate that without seeming "over-zealous"? More to think about.

I'm just back from the OCF WA Easter camp and looking forward to the two non-teaching weeks ahead of me to catch up on work and rest. Working on the April issue of "My Journey" which should be out shortly!

John 3:16

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:08:00 +0000

So right, halfway through my New Testament class, my lecturer said, "so who said 'for God so loved the world...'?" Of course it was Jesus, no? Apparently, maybe not. In the original Greek text, there were no punctuation marks and thus the translators had to just simply make a decision. In the NIV, they decided that it was said by Jesus. If you have a red letter edition, it'll show up in red plus the quotation marks. However, if you look at the recently updated TNIV, the translators have opted to REMOVE those quotation marks and have them as John's commentary on Jesus' teachings.

How crazy is that? I've spent my entire Christian life believing something that Jesus said but my interpretation was simply at the mercy of the translators. A quick look at various translations show that most translations i.e. the KJV, NRSV, NASB, The Message, NLT, etc has the text marked as said by Jesus but only TNIV doesn't. WHY? Haha, questions to ask the translators sometime.

Anyway, I've been keeping real busy with the assignments and tests. Did manage to pass my Hebrew vocab test right on the dot. Have one more on Tuesday. Below is a photo of Dawn and me on our trip to Nannup on top of a 61m Gloucester Tree. It was a long climb indeed.

It's only just begun...

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:30:00 +0000

It's been a long week. Assignment deadlines are starting to rush at me! Just finished a book review on "The Wounded Healer" by Henri Nouwen (1972) and had my first Hebrew test which I did VERY VERY badly in. Oh well, I really need to settle in on the studying, especially Hebrew. Working on three essays now: (1) Abrahamic call, (2) Johannine eternal life and (3) Images of biblical ministry. All so very exciting! Loads of reading and writing though...

Ah, a picture of Mica sleeping on my lap. I've never had a cat or dog growing up and playing with Mica is such a wonder.

Mica

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I'll like to introduce everyone to Mica, the new addition to our lives! She's an 11 week old kitten that we adopted from Cat Haven on Monday and a real delight to have around the house (well, Dawn's house). She's very very playful. Right from the start, she won my heart when she climbed onto the fencing of her enclousure and popped her paw out at me (a case for both Arminianism and Election).

Incidentally, this week at Seminary, we begin our study into some old testament narratives and no surprise, we start by studying the creation narratives in Genesis 1 & 2.

"... let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Ge 1:26b NIV)

New students testimony

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Below is the transcript of a testimony that I delivered at Vose Seminary's Commencement and Conferral Service on 9th March 2009 at Morley Baptist Church.

Good evening. My name is Jeremy, and I’m a first year student at Vose. Well, Brent asked me just about eight hours ago to share the new student’s testimony, and my first thoughts were – wow, I’ve just attended one session of preaching for dummies and I’m asked to speak. And not just at Formation Wednesday but in front of real people. Right from first year, Vose certainly demands a lot from its students.

But that all seems to be correct. The Vose website explains that by replacing theological college with seminary, it now accurately reflects Vose being more than an institution of learning and study, but an environment where students can grow in their faith and leadership.

The development of Vose leadership continues to extend that environment, creating opportunities for alumni to keep maturing in their knowledge and skills beyond graduation. Right from the start, I’m most encouraged to know that even after three years of full-time study, I may still have to return to Vose for classes.

But really, the lecturers here are nothing short of phenomenal, their instruction suggests not only their deep scholarship but also their immense love for Jesus and a passion for His gospel. And my fellow students seem to all have a great love for God, His people and table tennis. The honest fellowship and affirmation that I’ve received at Vose is definitely more in line with being a family than a group of classmates.

The members of the student team are all so approachable and each carries with them Christ’s attitude of service. This can be seen when despite having their plans for the beach outing washed out by rain, they were still so full of joy and ready to serve the rest of the student body. The library staff, well… what more can I say? They always seem so pleasant. In fact, I’ve never seen library staff so happy before in my life, it’s absolutely amazing.

Well, the truth is, the entire staff and community at Vose Seminary reflects a deep joy and satisfaction that I’ve never before experienced outside of the church.
And clearly, Vose is part of the church.

Even as I look forward to three years at Vose, I’ll like to take this opportunity to congratulate the graduating students as they finish at Vose and move to a new phase in their life and ministry. As for me, there is still so much to learn, so many readings to do, so many assignments to submit and so many lectures to attend.

But my prayer is that despite the exams, classes, seminars, theology and history, I will still know nothing, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Thank you.

Launch of "My Journey"

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:14:00 +0000

I've finally finished the first issue of my monthly update/prayer newsletter. I've titled it "My Journey" since I can't think of any word more apt to describe my current circumstances or really to describe the rest of my life. Anyway, if for some reason you’re reading this but did not get my email (most probably due to my poor memory), there’s a link below to download it. Thanks for covering me in prayer and being interested in, yeah, my journey.

First week of seminary

ohno_jo@hotmail.com (Jeremy ONG) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:27:00 +0000

"Wow, this is it! Completely unreal." After ten years of waiting for this, the day has finally come. I am officially at bible college.

This "new" blog is set up for this: my seminary life. "prothesis.net" has been in existence for many years now, even well before my life in Perth began and predates even the blogging frenzy at the turn of the century. Over the years, this website and has taken many forms but whatever the form, I have always somehow managed to abandon it along the way. Well, I'm hoping this time, it will be different. At least till I graduate from seminary.

To me, "prothesis.net" has always represented an attempt to share my life and thoughts with my close friends whom I love but may not have the time or opportunities to meet up regularly with. As I begin a new chapter in my life and ministry at seminary, a very special and important time is upon me. I believe that these next three years will have immense impact upon my life and future ministry and once again, I want to share that with the people who love me.

"prothesis" is the transliterated Greek word for shew bread or bread set upon the altar for the Lord and I always yearn for my life to be such - placed upon the altar of the Lord, fashioned by God and set apart for Him. My prayer is that my family, friends and ministry partners from all the years behind me, those currently journeying with me and even those whom I've yet to be aquainted with will visit this blog because they love me and want to share in my ministry now and in the future.

I pray that this blog will be a blessing to those who read it, that as I share my reflections in life, seminary and in ministry, may my life and my stories be a channel of God's blessing to all whom God places along my path. Amen.