Pastor of burnt Church speaks out

Response from Rev. Ong Sek Leang,

Senior Pastor of Metro Tabernacle Church

Rev. Ong Sek Leang is the Senior Pastor of Metro Tabernacle Church.

There were three torching and attempted torching of churches. The administrative office of Metro Tabernacle in Desa Melawati was completely gutted. The Molotov cocktail thrown at the Church of the Assumption along Jalan Templer in Petaling Jaya did not explode. But The Life Chapel in Section 17 Petaling Jaya suffered some damage to the church's front porch area.

The name of Allah

A friend John T has sent me the following in response to the whole 'Allah' debate

So where did the name Allah come from? Prior to the rise of Islam and for some time afterwards, Aramaic was widely used among Jews and Christians in the Ancient Near East and many Aramaic words were borrowed into Arabic. The usual term for God in Aramaic was Alâh(â). It is the term that Jesus would have used. It is used as the term for God in the books of Ezra and Daniel, in the Jewish translations of the Bible (the Targums), in the Talmud and in the Aramaic Bible used by many Middle-Eastern Christians today. When Judaism spread across Arabia, it brought many Aramaic names and terms, including Alâh(â). When Christianity followed, the Christians used Aramaic Scripture and liturgy in most of Arabia and Mesopotamia. As a result the Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians introduced many Aramaic words and names into Arabic. In a research paper entitled “Who was ‘Allah’ before Islam?”, I present evidence from pre-Islamic inscriptions and manuscripts to show that Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians were using Allah as the name of God in the centuries prior to the rise of Islam.

(This is being published by William Carey Library in Rethinking our Assumptions About Muslims.

A prepublication version is available.

It should be noted that Muslim scholars do not like to admit that the Arabic of the Qur’an has loanwords, and they suggest that the name Allah is derived from the expression al ’ilah, meaning “the God,” with the article of uniqueness. The word ’ilah is related to the Biblical Hebrew words ’eloh and ’elohim, meaning “God,” as well as to the Biblical Aramaic words elâh and alâhâ, so regardless of the derivation, the word is related to the Biblical terms for God. The prophet of Islam claimed to preach a continuation of the message of the Jewish prophets and the Messiah Jesus, so it stands to reason that he would use the same names that Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians were using. Evidence for this is found in the Qur’an itself. For example, it cites the claim of Christians that Jesus is Allah. This claim is rejected in the Qur’an, which says, “In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary” (Sura 5:17, Yusuf Ali translation). The very next verse in the Qur’an criticizes Jews and Christians for claiming that they are “sons of Allah” (Sura 5:18). So in addition to other historical evidence for the pre-Islamic use of Allah by Christians, the Qur’an itself reflects a situation in which Christians were already using Allah as the name of God.

click for the source

Rising Tensions in Malaysia

Tensions are rising in Malaysia particularly in KL when 4 churches were attacked as a protest. The controversy stems from a ban on a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, using the word 'Allah' in its Malay-language edition. The Kuala Lumpur High Court struck down the three-year old ban on non-Muslims using of the word 'Allah'.
Whilst the main Islamic Polictical party, PAS, agrees with the ruling, there are others who do not, including one main Islamic Youth movement, Abim.

more in the BBC article Malaysian churches firebombed as ‘Allah row escalates

As the article points out Christians in the middle East have been using the word ‘Allah’ for God for centuries - before the coming of Islam in fact.

Inivitably as well as the official and more formal communications through the media, the world of social networking comes into its own at times like this....

Some of my Facebook friends are from Malaysia. So they and other Twitterers have been pointing to articles and making comments through their updates:

Church & Christians showed dignity, restraint, compassion. Contrast with t/ arsonists & protestors. Such excellent PR.

judiciary website hacked

A kind touching response from a Muslim

Eddie in his Kouya Chronicle explores some of these complexities from a translators perspective in his article 'what's in a name'

But I'll let the Bishop of West Malaysia Moon H. Ng have the last word

KL situation is not too good. Three churches are torched. One more not sure how bad. Cars with Christian stickers are smashed. ...... We are meeting the PM to talk. Pray for peace and harmony. It is a sad episode.

Pray we will and pray we must .....

'Ice and snow' The Mullah's wager

Mulla Nasruddin made a wager that he could spend a night on a near-by mountain and survive, in spite of ice and snow. Several wags in the teahouse agreed to the adjucate.

Nasrudin took a book and a candle and sat through the coldest night he had ever known. In the morning, half-dead, he claimed his money.

"Did you have nothing at all to keep you warm?" asked the villagers.

"Nothing."

"Not even a candle?"

"Yes, I had a candle."

"The the bet is off."

Nasrudin did not argue.

Some days later he invited the same people to a feast at his house. They sat down in his reception room, waiting for the food. Hours passed, and they started to mutter about food.

"Let's go and see how it is getting on," said Nasrudin.

Everyone trooped into the kitchen. They found an enormous pot of stew, under which a candle was burning. The water was not even tepid.

"It is not ready yet," said the Mulla. "I don't know why - it has been there since yesterday."

more such stories are available on spiritual-short-stories.com

Auld Lang Syne sung by Dougie MacLean

I love this version of Robbie Burns poem - Auld Lang Syne As sung by Dougie MacLean on the album 'Tribute'

I add it here for all my blog readers of 2009 - little late I know but hey.... its a good song

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For more see wikepedia

Women in Afghanistan

This excellent little cameo of rural empowerment was posted on Facebook by Claire in Afghanistan.

Considering our Medair value of dignity, I wanted to empower the women to describe their lives to me and highlight topics of their own choice. What is closest to their hearts? What consumes most of their time? So I provided some paper, pencils and modeling clay and they led the way.

There were a lot of smiles and giggles. It was a bit of an experiment as these women were illiterate and the majority had never held a pencil before. But they were really excited to have a go and some asked their children to help them. The modeling clay was more familiar as every day they use their hands to make bread and so they could shape the clay easily.

For more information, please visit www.medair.org

The Wealth that is our Fellow Human Beings

Archbishop's New Year Message - The Wealth that is our Fellow Human Beings


What would our life be like if we really believed that our wealth, our treasure, was our fellow-human beings? Religious faith points to a God who takes most seriously and values most extravagantly the people who often look least productive or successful- as if none of us could really be said to be doing well unless these people were secure…. Read the entire address



Thanks to Christine Sine for pointing this out to me on Godspace