Background and Purpose
The title of the site says it all. Bible for Life. It is inspired by the verse: "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence" (2 Pet 1:3). This is a proclamation of Christianity's sufficiency and relevance in instructing us for godly lives.
There is an ongoing perception that the Christian faith is in fact not applicable in daily lives, especially modern daily lives. Some say, "well, we never get to experience our own parting of the red sea." Or that the present-day challenges are so immensely different, that such idealism will severely damage our chances at victorious lives. There have been different approaches with which Christians tried to tackle this. On one end of the spectrum, they try to demythify the Bible and make its message strictly about moral values. They reinterpret and redefine many if not most of what the Bible says. On the other end of the spectrum, they try to literally part their red seas. They seek for modern day miracles to empower their lives, without which they feel defenseless and abandoned in the modern world (I will need to put a disclaimer here lest this is misunderstood; I do believe in the God of miracles!). The initial took the power out of the Bible, whilst the latter sought after the wrong sort of power. I'll not explain here why this is the case here, as this is not an article.
My firm belief is that God has indeed given us everything that we need for life and godliness, through the promises that are given to us in His Word. I profess that faith only comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17), and that the Bible is God's providence for lives, no matter the time or place. We must profess Paul's words, that the Gospel is the very power of God unto salvation and one that reveals to us the righteousness of God (Rom 1:16-17) and because of that Christians ought to live by such faith.
That said, the articles contained within will (mostly) be intentionally written in an attempt to bridge theology with everyday lives, and to expound the Bible's own instructions for life and godliness. I hope that readers will only take the readings as that: the explanations of the Bible. Wherever you find the Word of God being explained, believe it because it is the very Word of God. Wherever you see personal opinions being brought forth, take it into consideration only insofar as it is struggling for a (presently) unclear view of a certain verse. But wherever you see something that is not in accordance to the Bible, or is inconsistent with the overarching teaching of the Bible (despite having quoted a verse or two), ignore that. I have, to the best of my knowledge, tried to be faithful to what the Bible says.
So far, these are the contents I intend to put up: (1) The reflections from the Books from Genesis to Revelation, which is intended to give the biblical worldview that helps readers' own further readings of the Bible. (2) A "Cultural Mandate" series, which attempt to illustrate how the Christian faith can be a salt and light to every discipline of study; as well as every true profession. (3) Other "theology for life" topics, which are a collection of articles aimed at Christian lives or current issues.
I will be blunt in saying this. The purpose for which I am putting these up is to form a distinctly Christian worldview. Consciously or otherwise, we all hold our own worldviews, that is, the way we perceive the world we live in. See, every living person in this planet have their views on the following issues: Is there a God? If so, how do we relate to Him? Are we accountable to Him? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Can we know the truth? And if so, how? Is there a purpose to life? If so, how do we know it? What does it mean to be successful? What does it mean to be human? What differentiates us from the animals? Or are we descendants of certain animals? What happens after we die? Is there life after death?
All of us without exception think about these things, and we have preconceived ideas about the answers of all these things – even if we have not really given it much thought and have not read through tons of books or meditated for decades to get it. The reason we all have a preconceived idea of the above questions is because we have all tried to make sense of the world we live in. We have tried to arrange the realities we sense and have tried to make a coherent perception of the world. And that perception and (mostly unverified) belief is our worldview. When we have subscribed to a particular worldview, we begin to interpret our own interactions with the world in accordance to that worldview.
How does one hold an evolutionary view of mankind without having thoroughly researched this very topic and knowing the numerous pitfalls the theory actually has? How is it that he begins to think the very complex world we live in could be a result of mere chance, when the law of probability would put this as practically impossible? Why would a person go to a doctor without having prior evidence that he will definitely be healed, and yet be very very particular about evidences when it comes to the Divine? These are shaped by his worldview, his belief. See, contrary to popular belief, science is not neutral. Philosophy is not neutral. Religion is not neutral. They all carry within them a certain set of presuppositions that make them appear consistent. But I will argue that aside from the Christian faith, these will crumble when taken to the test; and these things under the sun will eventually show their meaninglessness.
Yet, having our worldview based on the Bible; and presupposing our belief on the very Word of God means that we are rooted in what cannot be shaken. The logic of faith is this. If God was the one who said it, then it is true, and is reliable. The Bible is not, as they say, speculative. And it contains everything pertaining to life and godliness, to the glory of God.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Stephen Gunawan
There is an ongoing perception that the Christian faith is in fact not applicable in daily lives, especially modern daily lives. Some say, "well, we never get to experience our own parting of the red sea." Or that the present-day challenges are so immensely different, that such idealism will severely damage our chances at victorious lives. There have been different approaches with which Christians tried to tackle this. On one end of the spectrum, they try to demythify the Bible and make its message strictly about moral values. They reinterpret and redefine many if not most of what the Bible says. On the other end of the spectrum, they try to literally part their red seas. They seek for modern day miracles to empower their lives, without which they feel defenseless and abandoned in the modern world (I will need to put a disclaimer here lest this is misunderstood; I do believe in the God of miracles!). The initial took the power out of the Bible, whilst the latter sought after the wrong sort of power. I'll not explain here why this is the case here, as this is not an article.
My firm belief is that God has indeed given us everything that we need for life and godliness, through the promises that are given to us in His Word. I profess that faith only comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17), and that the Bible is God's providence for lives, no matter the time or place. We must profess Paul's words, that the Gospel is the very power of God unto salvation and one that reveals to us the righteousness of God (Rom 1:16-17) and because of that Christians ought to live by such faith.
That said, the articles contained within will (mostly) be intentionally written in an attempt to bridge theology with everyday lives, and to expound the Bible's own instructions for life and godliness. I hope that readers will only take the readings as that: the explanations of the Bible. Wherever you find the Word of God being explained, believe it because it is the very Word of God. Wherever you see personal opinions being brought forth, take it into consideration only insofar as it is struggling for a (presently) unclear view of a certain verse. But wherever you see something that is not in accordance to the Bible, or is inconsistent with the overarching teaching of the Bible (despite having quoted a verse or two), ignore that. I have, to the best of my knowledge, tried to be faithful to what the Bible says.
So far, these are the contents I intend to put up: (1) The reflections from the Books from Genesis to Revelation, which is intended to give the biblical worldview that helps readers' own further readings of the Bible. (2) A "Cultural Mandate" series, which attempt to illustrate how the Christian faith can be a salt and light to every discipline of study; as well as every true profession. (3) Other "theology for life" topics, which are a collection of articles aimed at Christian lives or current issues.
I will be blunt in saying this. The purpose for which I am putting these up is to form a distinctly Christian worldview. Consciously or otherwise, we all hold our own worldviews, that is, the way we perceive the world we live in. See, every living person in this planet have their views on the following issues: Is there a God? If so, how do we relate to Him? Are we accountable to Him? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Can we know the truth? And if so, how? Is there a purpose to life? If so, how do we know it? What does it mean to be successful? What does it mean to be human? What differentiates us from the animals? Or are we descendants of certain animals? What happens after we die? Is there life after death?
All of us without exception think about these things, and we have preconceived ideas about the answers of all these things – even if we have not really given it much thought and have not read through tons of books or meditated for decades to get it. The reason we all have a preconceived idea of the above questions is because we have all tried to make sense of the world we live in. We have tried to arrange the realities we sense and have tried to make a coherent perception of the world. And that perception and (mostly unverified) belief is our worldview. When we have subscribed to a particular worldview, we begin to interpret our own interactions with the world in accordance to that worldview.
How does one hold an evolutionary view of mankind without having thoroughly researched this very topic and knowing the numerous pitfalls the theory actually has? How is it that he begins to think the very complex world we live in could be a result of mere chance, when the law of probability would put this as practically impossible? Why would a person go to a doctor without having prior evidence that he will definitely be healed, and yet be very very particular about evidences when it comes to the Divine? These are shaped by his worldview, his belief. See, contrary to popular belief, science is not neutral. Philosophy is not neutral. Religion is not neutral. They all carry within them a certain set of presuppositions that make them appear consistent. But I will argue that aside from the Christian faith, these will crumble when taken to the test; and these things under the sun will eventually show their meaninglessness.
Yet, having our worldview based on the Bible; and presupposing our belief on the very Word of God means that we are rooted in what cannot be shaken. The logic of faith is this. If God was the one who said it, then it is true, and is reliable. The Bible is not, as they say, speculative. And it contains everything pertaining to life and godliness, to the glory of God.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Stephen Gunawan