Of babblings and musings.

Meaning taken from Dictionary.com :

1) The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.

2) A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

I do have friends who are non-christians, with religious beliefs different from mine. Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to blog so much about God and my faith, because I have friends from other religious backgrounds or that doesn’t adopt any religion. And when they visit and read my blog, I want to show them that I respect them by not blogging about God all the time.

But as I thought about it, I felt otherwise. Firstly, I don’t ALWAYS blog about God. Maybe 70-80% of the time? Yes. Secondly, it is MY blog. It is my personal space and I can write anything that I want (except anything politically against the ruling party in SG, and anything outrightly upsetting the faith of others of course). Thirdly, my faith is so much a part of me right now that, I view everything and interpret it with the teachings I’ve learnt from my faith. And this known as “WORLDVIEW”. My worldview is a Christian-based worldview.

But herein lies the crux: Do I become a religious fanatic, a person with narrow-minded perspectives, intolerant of the faiths of others, restricted and overpowered by the beliefs I adopt?

I believe my answer is a big fat NO. If anything, I should be the most secular Christian ever, compared to Christians coming from a traditional and more restrictive background/denominations. I come from an uber contemporary and relevant church called City Harvest Church. Why are we like that? We believe in fulfilling the cultural mandate, or “Christ in Culture”. Christ is in every pillar of the 7 pillars in society because He lives in us, and since we are living amidst secularism ie. this broken down and imperfect world, we are to penetrate society with influence and impact. Positive ones (duh) to restore society to its original intention and purpose. which shan’t be discussed here and now. That is the reason why our Church has been controversial from the start – being passionate about our God, yet at the same time remaining relevant to our contemporary society. Some simply couldn’t stomach the two extremes coming together. But it is something many churches around the world are doing. Think Hillsong, Planetshakers, and the list goes on!

Fyi, do you know that Natasha Bedingfield was a Hillsong worship leader before coming out with a secular album and becoming a full-fledge secular artiste? Thought that was interesting to know for fellow Christians. =)

So back to the topic about blogging about my God and my faith. I am honest to say that my life is so integrated into my faith that I eat, drink and breathe church. Yes, I am religious. But I like what I heard from the CNA’s documentary on SG’s religious harmony. In our times now, we can openly DISCUSS, not debate religious differences. And so all the more I see Singapore with a great future when it comes to religious and racial harmony. I really feel we are a model to many countries out there much bigger and richer than us.  But yes, no room for complacency.

I am deeply rooted in my faith, but I also want to know about the faith of my friends, especially if their faiths matter as much as to see their world through their faith (faith-based worldview). More than ever, I hope for religious harmony and most of all, pray that Christians will be more sensible than to think people will convert just by giving out upsetting tracks and doing street evangelism 24/7. And to think they were high-profile people in MNC corporate arena???  They have lost their sensibilities man. Times have changed, so have the method of evangelising. We must always stay relevant and connected to our society.

There is no place like Singapore. I love Singapore and I might just stay here for life because of the social harmony we cannot find anywhere else in the world. Let’s always keep Singapore & the government in our prayer.