Reward for seeking seeker

Seeker experiencer

The Reward of Being A Seeker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John 20:15 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you seeking? She, supposing that He was the
gardener, said to Him, Sir, if you have carried Him away,
tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.
(16) Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to Him in
Hebrew, Rabboni! (which means Teacher). (18) Mary the
Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, I have seen the
Lord, and that He had said these things to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If we want to see something more of the Lord, we must have
more fellowship with Him. Mary's seeing the Lord was the best
morning watch [devotional]. In this morning watch, she met
the Lord and the Lord met her; she prayed to the Lord and the
Lord spoke to her; she fellowshipped with the Lord and the
Lord gave His word and His revelation to her.

In this chapter it is quite evident that there are three
kinds of disciples. The first kind is represented by Mary,
the second by Peter and John, and the third by the lazy ones.
The lazy disciples had no revelation or discovery of the
Lord's resurrection. Peter and John had the discovery and the
revelation but not the experience. Mary had the discovery,
the revelation, and the experience. What is shown in this
record is also true of Christians today.

This record reveals the accomplished fact of Christ's
resurrection, but the discovery of His resurrection still
requires our seeking, and the experience of His resurrection
demands even further seeking. We must first seek the Lord
before we can discover His resurrection, and we must seek the
Lord even more before we can experience His resurrection.

Do faith and reason conflict?

Renowned Indonesian evangelist Stephen Tong addressed the age-old debate head-on Thursday at a preaching session at the National University of Singapore.

His answer: faith and reason operate in different spheres and actually complement one another. Faith is the more important of the two.

True faith is not counter-reason, the Reverend Tong, 70, expressed with the help of his English translator. In fact, faith ‘improves’ reason and “makes it complete.”

“True faith will bring your reason that has been lost to be loyal to the truth,” he said.

Speaking to a lecture hall filled with students, he highlighted that every person exercises some form of faith in their day-to-day living. He was fielding a question from the audience during a segment designated for that purpose.

Mundane things people do like brushing their teeth and sitting down on a chair demonstrate faith. In the former, faith that the toothpaste is good for health is exercised. For the other case, faith that the chair will hold one’s weight is demonstrated.

Most people simply believe their parents are who they say they are. And most people believe the earth revolves around the sun without having actually seen it.

Indeed, the viewpoint that reason should come before faith is a contradiction in terms, he pointed out. This is because in holding such a view, one has already exercised faith.

It is an overly ‘arrogant’ thing to seek to live purely by reason, the Rev. Tong stressed.

Reason alone cannot bring fulfilment in life. This is because it is incapable of apprehending transcendent things such as love.

The evangelist told the story of a scientist whose mother wept over him. Being a rationalistic scientist, he simply stored her tears.

A teacher saw the bottle and asked him what it contained. When he told him the truth, he did not believe.

So the scientist brought the bottle to the laboratory in the hope of finding some proof that they were his mother’s tears.

Obviously, his investigation was lacking in the area that it could not detect his mother’s love. Here was a rationalistic scientist confounded by presuppositions he and the teacher had in common.

The Rev. Tong told the story in response to a question about proof of the existence of the transcendent.

In contrast, people who embrace faith are passionate and committed individuals. They are so confident that they are willing to pay any price for their faith.

“A person without faith is not perfect,” said the evangelist.

Prominent philosophers Blaise Pascal and Immanuel Kant acknowledged this.

Pascal, who invented the mechanical calculator, expressed that the heart has its own ‘reason’. Conventional reason has the ability to perform mathematics. Yet human beings have another faculty in them that affirms that something is right or good or ought to be. In other words, there is a moral and ethical dimension to human existence.

At the end of his life, Kant, who had written extensively on reason, expressed that there were only four things he honestly he wanted to know. First of all, what is a human being? Secondly, what can we know? Thirdly, what should I do? Fourthly, what is my hope?

Not even well-known atheists like Chairman Mao or Cold War Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev were consistent in their expressed beliefs.

Before his death, Mao told the late American journalist Edgar Snow that he was going to see God but had forgotten to buy a ticket. Khrushchev, when pressed to give an honest account of his religious beliefs, said: “God knows I’m an atheist.”

Evidence is not everything

In fact, “evidence is not enough to prove everything,” the Rev. Tong expressed. “Evidence is only a small part of the truth,” he said. “Science is only to know a bit about the superficial.”

Here, the evangelist addressed both rationalistic Christians and critics during his talk and in fielding some questions.

The first group seeks to prove the existence of God out of their piety. For a long period of time in church history, Christians have relied on major arguments in Natural Theology. They include such arguments as that God must exist because the universe is so magnificent, history has a direction and because mankind has a logical concept of the greatest.

But such efforts are ‘unworthy’ of God, the Rev. Tong emphasised. This is besides the fact that they do not stand up to intellectual scrutiny. Kant demonstrated that when he highlighted that the God ‘proven’ in Natural Theology need not be the God revealed in the Bible.

The evangelist responded to a declaration in a recent book by English physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking that God did not create the universe.

Even today, scientists do not fully understand the universe. So they should refrain from making such presumptuous claims, he advised. Actually, progress in human knowledge about the vast, expanding universe has only served to reveal human ignorance.

An evolutionary explanation of origins cannot stand the test of logic.

There are three unbridgeable gaps. They exist between non-existence and existence, existence and life and life and human beings, the Rev. Tong cited Alfred Russel Wallace as saying. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin.

In the final analysis, as Kant has said, it is difficult to believe in the existence of God. But it is harder to believe that God does not exist, in view of the wondrous universe made in many ways for the benefit of mankind.

The Rev. Tong highlighted just a couple of cases throughout the session to illustrate this.

The human face was designed so that it could hold up a pair of glasses. Even the fact that water expands and floats when it freezes is so that people can have seafood in the winter.

Convincing enough for the unconvinced

The evangelist described himself as a doubter as a young man. He had told God that if He would help him solve his questions, he would in turn help others solve theirs.

Because God did that, he became an international preacher. He has preached over 300,000 times. Every year, he holds 600 preaching sessions and travels over 300 times.

During his meeting, he defended the Christian understanding of God as a convincing one.

Asked why it is necessary to believe that God revealed Himself through the Bible, he expressed that a God who hides Himself is an unworthy one.[Continued From: Page 1] Before his death, Mao told the late American journalist Edgar Snow that he was going to see God but had forgotten to buy a ticket. Khrushchev, when pressed to give an honest account of his religious beliefs, said: “God knows I’m an atheist.”

Evidence is not everything

In fact, “evidence is not enough to prove everything,” the Rev. Tong expressed. “Evidence is only a small part of the truth,” he said. “Science is only to know a bit about the superficial.”

Here, the evangelist addressed both rationalistic Christians and critics during his talk and in fielding some questions.

The first group seeks to prove the existence of God out of their piety. For a long period of time in church history, Christians have relied on major arguments in Natural Theology. They include such arguments as that God must exist because the universe is so magnificent, history has a direction and because mankind has a logical concept of the greatest.

But such efforts are ‘unworthy’ of God, the Rev. Tong emphasised. This is besides the fact that they do not stand up to intellectual scrutiny. Kant demonstrated that when he highlighted that the God ‘proven’ in Natural Theology need not be the God revealed in the Bible.

The evangelist responded to a declaration in a recent book by English physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking that God did not create the universe.

Even today, scientists do not fully understand the universe. So they should refrain from making such presumptuous claims, he advised. Actually, progress in human knowledge about the vast, expanding universe has only served to reveal human ignorance.

An evolutionary explanation of origins cannot stand the test of logic.

There are three unbridgeable gaps. They exist between non-existence and existence, existence and life and life and human beings, the Rev. Tong cited Alfred Russel Wallace as saying. Wallace was a contemporary of Charles Darwin.

In the final analysis, as Kant has said, it is difficult to believe in the existence of God. But it is harder to believe that God does not exist, in view of the wondrous universe made in many ways for the benefit of mankind.

The Rev. Tong highlighted just a couple of cases throughout the session to illustrate this.

The human face was designed so that it could hold up a pair of glasses. Even the fact that water expands and floats when it freezes is so that people can have seafood in the winter.

Convincing enough for the unconvinced

The evangelist described himself as a doubter as a young man. He had told God that if He would help him solve his questions, he would in turn help others solve theirs.

Because God did that, he became an international preacher. He has preached over 300,000 times. Every year, he holds 600 preaching sessions and travels over 300 times.

During his meeting, he defended the Christian understanding of God as a convincing one.

Asked why it is necessary to believe that God revealed Himself through the Bible, he expressed that a God who hides Himself is an unworthy one.

"God is not a dying God, or deaf God, or blind God or dumb God," he said. "He is an existing God, a living God... the source of life... of truth... of grace."

If that is the case, He 'must' make some self-disclosure of Himself. A God who hides Himself and leaves mankind guessing is very cruel. But God is the source of wisdom, truth and revelation, he said.

"A true God must be true... honest... really love us... truly wanting to give us the truth," he said. "It's reasonable to believe in God through His revelation to us."

Asked why it is necessary to believe that Jesus Christ reveals God, he pointed out two things about Christ.

Firstly, He lived without having committed any sin. He did not speak a word of falsehood.

Secondly, He explained where His teaching came from. Christ said He came from the Father and will return to Him. He said that whoever knows Him knows the Father. Christ declared that He is the truth. He declared that He is God incarnate.

Comfort for the soul

Beyond intellectual argumentation, the Rev. Tong, who has preached to over 32 million people in 53 years, also offered comfort for the disheartened.

Nobody is useless, he emphasised, urging his young listeners to live optimistically. Indeed, even if one amputates every limb, such a person would still be useful – as an inspiration to others.

He encouraged those who stammer by telling the story of a man who sold more Bibles than his smooth-tongued colleagues, though he stammered. This was because those he approached wanted to get him off their backs.

The evangelist encouraged those in suffering that it is by suffering that the soul grows and matures.

Addressing those who had been jilted, he pointed out that such people think very differently. They are able to distinguish true love from infatuation.

The Rev. Tong cited the case of a popular voice professor. Students of this professor would have to do weight-lifting for a year before they would be taught to sing. This expands their diaphragm. The professor also told a student that he could sing better if he was jilted. And it happened.

On one occasion, the Rev. Tong addressed a question by a Christian who felt purposeless. He promptly commended the person for good handwriting and encouraged a career in copying Scripture. Seeing that people will surely be touched, he said half in jest.

Prayer for and tribute to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew

While responding to the question, the Rev. Tong urged prayer for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He had been emphasising the importance of optimism in life.

The evangelist highlighted that often it is very difficult for the surviving spouse in such situations to carry on their lives. So he exhorted his young audience to pray that Mr Lee would find optimism to carry on.

Earlier, the Rev. Tong referred to Mr Lee as the greatest leader in Asia. He lauded him for transforming a small island without natural resources into the modern city-state it is today. Tong was explaining the theological argument that history has a direction.

Respect for other religions

The evangelist also urged respect for other religions.

He said: "Religion is a great thing. Religious leaders were great people.

"We should respect them, even though our beliefs are different."

About the preaching session

The preaching session was organised by the CVCF and co-hosted by the VCF, CCC, Navigators and STEMI. Another session will be held Friday at 7 p.m. at LT1A of the Nanyang Technological University.


Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com