Jesus & His Political Peers

The message yesterday...

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Miracles 2.0

There are miracles. And there are miracles.

In the first category: feeding thousands of hungry stomachs with barely enough for a family of three, moon-walking on water in the middle of a storm (without a surfboard), raising the dead, Malaysia qualifying for the World Cup (smile), etc.

The second category, whilst far less epistemically vivid (a termed I learn from Glenn Miller, and is intellectual-speak for 'radiating with awesomeness'!) and open to debate, is more frequent and personally contextualised. For example:

• finding an ATM which dispenses 10-dollar bills (when your account only has something like RM46.82 in it)
• being assigned overseas so you can spend about 20 precious weeks with a grand-parent who would pass away the following year
• being fully sponsored for a graduate degree program
• running out of gas 3 miles from a gas-station, only to have the engine sputter to life long enough for the car to reach the station
• getting a job ten minutes from your home and three from your child's nursery
• making friends with a former enemy (i.e. a person you wouldn't have lunch with unless your boss forced you to!)
• getting a freelance assignment (out of the blue) which brings in a few hundred bucks which holds back the monthly avalance of expenses
• being able to appreciate new genres of books
• getting home before the storm hit
• receiving an encouraging email right after a tense meeting
• finding a car park in a crowded mall

All the above (and much more) wouldn't count - normally! - as 'divine intervention', but why look only at mega-events? Can't the divine move us in the nano (and/or very 'natural') moments of our lives?

Charting Faith & Politics

Based on conversations with friends and activists alike, I’ve tried to classify the Christian response to politics into three dimensions. Whilst this may be over-simplifying, it could be said that the Christians in Malaysia have:

• spent the first few decades of its existence in ‘Model A’ (understandable, given its relative infancy and the struggle to grow)
  
• only in recent years grown to appreciate and embody ‘Model B’ (especially the Web 2.0 generation being empowered by real-time social networking, coupled with stark exposés of the murky side of Malaysian politics)
  
• almost no familiarity with ‘Model C’ (except through history books?)

The following chart is thus presented in the hope that Christians will understand each other more, seek to appreciate the good in the other perspective and in so doing ‘sharpen’ one another (as iron and iron does).

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Illustrations & Maps peacemaking Malaysia

"Recycle for Justice" - Gentle Protest via Automatic-Stabilisers

(This continues the 'creative peace-making for Malaysian Politics' series started here)

A few months ago, there were massive morning jams on all roads leading Kuala Lumpur because the government decided to put police roadblocks on the day of earlier-mentioned Pakatan Rakyat events happening in the city. Police stopped and checked numerous cars for questionable items and in so doing caused bottlenecks all over.

But here's the interesting part: The authorities did this as a reaction to PR plans. Conceivably the road blocks would NOT have occured if Anwar & Gang didn't declare they were going to have gatherings and such.

The bottom line here is that the problem of (unusually) heavy jams in the morning was suddenly a function of Anwar & Co.'s announcments, and for the sake of smooth traffice, Pakatan had to stop making announcements in such a way that the authorities acted to check cars. It is undeniable that more than a few pro-PR voters were hoping for a change of method.

BN had thus - unknowingly? uncaringly? - created an 'automatic stabiliser' to counter Pakatan's plans.

How can these be turned against the government, in line with creative peace-making and reconciliatory protests? What actions be taken such that the moment BN tries does something questionable, wheels are set in motion in such a way to make BN itself wish they hadn't done what they did?

Some ideas to illustrate the point:

• for every week someone is in ISA, can a certain percentage of the populace reduce their use of electricity and/or office phones (and in some way 'punish' the government via lower revenues for Tenaga / Telekom?)...this may also be an act of suffering 'on behalf of the prisoner'
  
• for every time a candlelight virgil is violently broken up, could more (dark-coloured?) flowers be bought and sent to Dato' so-and-so or selected Cabinet Members? (could this be a gentle, non-sarcastic act of protest which would ALSO encourage more greenery AND make certain members of high-society slightly more uncomfortable with the, say, hundreds of flowers suddenly showing up on his doorstep?) furthermore, proceeds can go to charity funds - again this is a form of 'suffering for the injustice in a way which benefits the unfortunate/under-privileged in society [a huge effect is that our protest is comingled with aid for the poor, so our attentions can never waiver into protests for protests' sake]
  
• for every illegitimate arrest made, can X amount of money be withdrawn from MayBank (or some other government-supported financial institution)and channeled to a pro-Pakatan NGO? or into a Tabung for the families of the imprisoned? Similar action can be applied to government-supported restaurants, tour companies, insurance companies, hotels, media, etc. [the point is that illegitimate action starts to beget self-damaging consequences for the ones in power]
  
• for every instance of brute-force, can 1 million "We-Forgive-You-Because-You-Can-Change" emails be spammed to all members of the parliament? [this would be 'forceful' without being 'rude']
  
• for every Pakatan MP ousted draconianly (e.g. Gorbind Singh), can we employ our global connections to ensure that all Malaysian embassies abroad receive something like the above?

Likewise, what can be done as gentle form of protest which IN ITSELF is fruitful? Instead of wearing black (which unfortunately doesn't 'help' society all that much), how about:

• "Recycle for Justice" programs?
• "Plant a Righteous Tree" projects?
• "Feed the Hungry to Starve Oppression" campaigns?
• "Lights Off to Dim Corruption" initiatives?

This way the acts themselves serve as salt for the earth and aren't MERELY acts of protest. Also, organisations like Malaysian Care and World Vision can be easily roped in.

Note that the above has to be consistent with the principle of creative peace-making and radical reconciliation posted earlier. These ideas are a way of BOTH voicing our dissent towards political injustice AND blessing our communities WITHOUT making dissent the virtual be-all and end-all of our efforts.

A Politics of Creative Peace-Making & Radical Reconciliation

(Go here for Part 2)

I wish to offer an analysis of what’s cool and not-so-cool about our present advocacy movement, after which I’d like to submit some action-alternatives.

Here goes. What’s FANTASTIC about the present civil / activist / Opposition movement?

• Its passion for justice and righteousness
• Its giving a voice to the oppressed, marginalized, prisoners, etc.
• Its call for Malaysia (and churches) to ‘wake up’, not be indifferent but to be cognizant of the reality of political darkness
• Its creative use of the media and events to generate conversation and raise awareness
• Its holding the government accountable
  

Next, what are the strongest points of CAUTION about the involvement of Christians within this movement? IMO, its the tendency to identify the Church’s missional calling for justice with that of Pakatan Rakyat, all of which leads to:

• A minimizing of cruciformed ways of approaching politics and power (the cross of Jesus – i.e. the Son of God up against the full force of human politics – is silenced and rendered almost irrelevant in the discussion)
• A questionable use of shaming / ridiculing / rhetorical / condemning tactics against the incumbent government i.e. a tacit identification of a high ‘smear index’ with transformational potential
• A movement publicly defined and recognised by reactive protest and anger (not much else, regardless of the actual written manifestos)
• A never-ending sense of victimization and frustration created by the all-encompassing focus on the crimes of the incumbent government (none of which helps the ‘vicious cycle’ emerging in Malaysian politics)
• A sense of alienation between Christians on both sides (a Christian voting BN has coffee with a Christian voting PR - what do they talk about?)

What follows are ideas and suggestions towards reversing the problematic points WITHOUT affecting the great stuff. I have to emphasize that I'm writing primarily to Christians (or those who believe that the message of the Bible should guide our lives and communities).

The below is thus an elaboration of ideas I previously presented at the Revolution of Hope (ROH) conference, grouped along four themes:

1. Creative Peace-Making / Radical Reconciliation
2. Automatic-Stabilising / ‘Productive Protesting’
3. Relationship-Building (forthcoming)
4. Clarity and Primacy of a New Vision (forthcoming)
   

A. Creative Peace-Making / Radical Reconciliation

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” (Matthew 5:44-46)

• Let the FIRST AND LAST WORDS out of our mouths be full of respect and kindness even in the face of oppression
  
• Since we expect the police and authorities to do over-the-top things, instead of preparing to ridicule them, we should plan in advance to creatively communicate a message of hope, forgiveness and reconciliation; this necessarily requires TRAINING and DISCIPLINE as it’s “only human” to retaliate when slapped
  
• Leaders and participants can decide BEFOREHAND to balance comments about forgiveness and care with comments of disagreement and dissent ; with the goal that even the mainstream media begins to see and report a ‘difference’
• Leaders can regularly preach forgiveness and the dignity of all ( i.e. state clearly whilst they decry the unjustified arrests, they also care about the integrity and dignity of the police and for that reason civil enforcement should be reformed
  
• Perhaps - in addition to candles - virgils can include refreshments and cakes for the police? Perhaps - in addition to the colour of mourning - we can wear the colours of hope?
  
• Events can be organized to redefine political ‘strength’ as not merely the ability to ‘stand up’ against bad guys but to do what the bad guys cannot do i.e. actively seek reconciliation
  
• Blogs, twitters, and media should be used to nurture communities of forgiveness, support and reconciliation, NOT create demanding communities of condemnation, un-forgiveness and sarcasm (Eph 4:26!)
  
• We can plot events of gentle "protest without protest" which look hard for the good in people, even the ‘bad guys’ (e.g. on May 13^th every pro-PKR supporter should say one good/kind word to a BN person or a policeman or an FRU member, and make that a movement)
  

The ultimate goal is to slowly create a change of heart in members, to point to a better (albeit more unnatural) way of protesting, to ‘release’ PR from the sense of victimization (i.e. instead of seeing FRU-like action as shameful obstacles, they see it as ‘raw material’ for even GREATER manifestations of human solidarity / reconciliation).


As per Martin Luther King, Jr.'s message to the whites who were lynching his people and treat the blacks as sub-humans:

"We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.”

I would like to BEG that even if you find any of the specific points above 'non-sensical' (or even an affront to the whole purpose of the advocacy movement) that you at least CONSIDER the 'heart' of the proposals (please take a look at the Cross before you object and ask yourself if it's at ALL 'relevant' to politics and how it should/must be).

If you are someone actively involved in the advocacy movement, then - unlike me - you can do so much more with the above. What's best is if you can use your own creativity to come up with like-spirited ideas.

To rephrase another famous sermon extract of King, Jr.: “If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love…historians will say, ‘There lived a great party – Pakatan Rakyat! – who injected new dignity into the veins of Malaysian civilisation.”

Throwbacks / Objections (to be addressed forthcoming posts):

1. What about the victims? Doesn’t the ‘love-your-enemy’ approach dis-empower our voices? You do not tell an abused wife to ‘love her husband’, do you?
   
2. The Opposition movement is a mix of Christian and non-Christian members – to insist on this approach might create confusion/alienation, etc.
3. In the book of Revelations, John calls Rome a 'beast' - doesn't this show that harsh words by Christians against oppressive governments are fine?
4. What about 'prophetic action' (and didn't Jesus fire away at the Pharisees, too?!) and wouldn't your recommendations mitigate against that?

Invisible Christians

Slide 6 relevant to Malaysian politics, by any chance?

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More Than Conquerors

The question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" implicity :

• assumes that God is 'ultmately behind' the evil event
• ignores the fact that free supernatural agents (i.e. demons) can and do continue to wreck havoc in the world

In a word, the question misses the fact that Christianity posits kingdoms at war.: The kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of the 'ruler of the air' (Eph 2).

Whilst Satan has been defeated in principle (to use a soccer analogy, the half-time score is 8-0), the game isn't over yet and the army of God cannot relax in front of the goal-mouth.

The battle continues, though the war has been won.

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The List

In the Gospels, there were groups of people which society in general (and the 'religious right' in particular) despised. What's remarkable is that these were the same group of people whom Jesus targeted with His love, inclusion, acceptance and even protection:

• tax collectors
• prostitutes or women with dubious reputations
• lepers
• sick or with serious infirmities
• children
• Roman centurions and soldiers

Today, there are other groups which the Christian community has a tendency of condemning, picking on as outcasts and treating as (virtually) unworthy of the love of God:

• homosexuals
• liberals, pluralists and syncretists
• evolutionists
• pro-choice supporters (i.e. pro-abortion)
• the politically questionable
• environmental pollutors
• key figures of denominations ours has a bone to pick with(!)
• rapists and child molesters (whilst I don't mean to minimize their crimes, I feel the ease with which we brand them 'animals' is worth some reflection)
• terrorists

Now, how would we feel if Jesus had regular meals with these folks? What if He selected some of them to spearhead his message or just be 'with Him'? What if He looked at us and told whoever has not sin to cast the first stone (or publish the first fiery article)?

The WatchMan

At 4pm I read about how, when groups of students for an experiment are asked to recall the 10 Commandments prior to the experiment, they end up on average not cheating in the task set for them. Conversely, when another group of students are asked to recall their ten favourite books (instead of the 10Cs'), their scores strongly suggest they were cheating.

At 5pm the Bible reader steps up and reads from Exodus 20:1-17, the lectionary for March 15th, 2009.

Moral of the coincidence:

1. Want to achieve high moral standards of behaviour? Think more about what's right and true and commendable.

2. God is watching.

Palmer's 23 Rejects

There's Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Max Lucado, Eugene Peterson and other great spiritual writers out there. There's only one writer, however, who's managed to push me to the edge of sobbing more times than I bothered to keep track of, and that's Jim Palmer.

His book, Divine Nobodies, is the perfect blade for the heart frozen (and thus shrunken) in metaphysical theology, Christian 'systems' and relationally problematic ideas of God. The stories are totally fresh (because they're true) and the mapping to theological ideas is sublime. Best of all, they leave you holding back the tears - or just letting them flow.

His second book, Wide Open Spaces, was less touching but introduces radical theology minus any scholarly snobbishness or must-read-thrice paragraphs.

Here he is with 28 religious rules he's broken:

1. Whatever it is you believe, it must pass the mind’s test of logic and reason.

2. Don’t trust or follow what you feel deep inside.

3. Don’t try this apart from institutional structures and programs.

4. If it has anything to do with God, ultimate reality, and the deepest longings of your soul, count on it being near impossible for someone like you to figure it out.

5. Don’t fraternize with non-believers or people of different religious or spiritual beliefs.

6. Just assume that what others say the Bible says is actually what the Bible says, especially if the person saying it is someone who is supposed to know that sort of thing.

7. That deep feeling of love, peace, freedom, joy and contentment can’t be God. Instead, you should probably start feeling guilty about where you are falling short with God.

8. Reduce your life only to those things that you can fit into the “God” category. If necessary, justify other things by creatively establishing some remote correlation.

9. When you become progressive or more enlightened, look down your nose (in compassion of course) upon those poor souls who have yet to reach your level.

10. Assume that everything you’ve been told or currently know is all there is to truth and anything refuting it must be wrong. In other words, you’ve arrived with virtually nothing left to learn except for trying harder with what you already know.

11. If you keep applying the same formula or beliefs and it doesn’t produce the result it promised, assume the problem is you.

12. Don’t waste your time with the small stuff, do something big or join something big.

13. Have a social justice persona. Remember that the image can suffice even if you don’t really have the time or inclination to respond to people in need along the everyday paths of life.

14. Make sure a majority if not all of your conversations are overtly connected somehow to “God.” Unless the word is actually used or some closely associated word, the conversation doesn’t really count in terms of eternal value.

15. Be at least slightly skeptical and conflicted about truly enjoying very ordinary moments in your life…feeling of the warm sunshine on your face, playing a board game with your daughter, walking your dog, taking photographs, enjoying the quiet, lounging around with your family - that kind of meaningless stuff.

16. Proceed as if figuring out truth is a matter of your intellect.

17. Make sure at all times there is some burning question you have to answer or some enlightening understanding you must attain before you can rest.

18. Don’t take personal responsibility for the insanity of your beliefs and practices that were damaging and destructive. Blame and resent others.

19. Measure and judge others based on where you are. Just assume if it’s a place where you currently are, everyone else should be there. If it’s something you now believe, everyone else should believe it. If it works for you, it should work for everyone.

20. Draw your conclusions from the data gathered through your physical senses. For example, come to a determination about others based on their appearance, attitude, and actions.

21. Just accept at the outset that your humanity is your enemy.

22. Equate God’s blessing with improved circumstances or existing in a constant state of “good feelings.”

23. Don’t ever let yourself fully give into love and freedom.

Deconstructing Church & Country

I wrote Deconstruction & the Daring Christian many months back. This may (or may not) be published later but I'm glad at least a dozen folks have even bothered to click on it (smile).

The article looks at one dude's reflection on post-March 8 Malaysia in the (dark?) light of deconstruction and tries to suggest that maybe impossible, irrational, un-real thinking, the kind of thinking from another kingdom (a celestial non-democrary), are worth pondering if not striving towards.

But if it serves as a helpful introduction to an(O)ther way of seeing faith, doctrine and politics, I'd be please. I suspect stuff like critical theory, Derridean analysis (or deconstruction) and post-modernism in general are still very unfamiliar to the Malaysian populace, given our often brash certainties regarding what's "good" or "bad" for the country. We're too sure, IMO, about the way forward, too embracing of 'sides', too judgmental of those who sit on the fence (or forego even that).

God knows we have too many 'positions' and 'stands' in the world.

Christ on the Road

1. Don't use the horn (unless it's life-or-death); say what you want to say with either a kind hand (not a finger!) or a nice smile

2. Look at the faces of the drivers, chances are they're troubled, hurt, disturbed. Say a 3-second prayer for two people every 10 minutes. This takes you out of yourself and makes you a spiritual hero

3. If jams are frequent, you can:

• Leave your house (much) earlier - and discipline your rising time
  
• Leave your house (much) later - and spend the extra time reading/reflecting
  
• Get a walkman or iPod and use the jam time to learn something new or enjoy music - skip the radio unless you've found a great channel

4. Don't cut queues, beat lights or overtake any but the virtually stationary cars (what's the rush?)

5. Let others cut in, give way and smile at them

6. Put the safety of other drivers at a high priority

7. When at the tol, give a big smile to the attendant (who's job is certainly less attractive than yours) and thank God that you've got a car, a job to get to and money to help you along

God of the Average

Health, career, academics, family, housing, crises, addictions: these are the usual items we mention at prayer meets. 

But there are some things we do NOT pray for, period, let alone raise in a prayer meeting or group-chat. I mean, when was the last time we told a friend, "Please pray for my...:

• credit card - it's the third time it's been frauded, very troublesome informing my regular payees, (re)signing and faxing docs, etc. 
• broadband - I need it keep steady, especially during exam weekends
• split hairs, white hairs - yeah I'm vain too, so sue me... 
• pride - I really think I'm the best in my department, can't help fantasizing about being given accolades and awards every now and then, can't help feeling cheated when some other dude gets the unexpected kudos 
  
• mattress - it's a breeding ground for bed bugs (even if they don't bite you, which is rare, they still explode into many tiny black blotches on your bed you wonder if your Mont Blanc was leaking)" 
• time/motivation - to clear my store room, to hit the gym again, to get new shoes, to clean the fridge, etc."

I reckon we've been ingrained with the idea that God only listens to "important-enough-to-be-announced" prayers. Maybe we find the casual and the ordinary embarassing to bring up at prayer meetings or a waste of 'sharing' time.

But tell this to a father whose daughter keeps nudging him to sleep a bit more to the side so she can sleep closer next to him. Or to a mother whose son is wailing because he can't find his beloved red tumbler.

It's not about triviality. It's about intimacy. In this case, ours with God.

Our prayer that mountains be moved is likely more effective only after we're used to praying for that 10-year old car top start after a long drive (or a cold night). 

Our prayer for special doctor-dazzling healing will come more naturally only after we've been praying for the grace to do things like clean the corners of the room ceiling. 

We'd feel more at home praying for spiritual conversions after we've done the time of praying that currency conversions don't hit your overseas credit payments too hard.

Because if we don't pray for the banal which can occupy up to 70-80% of our daily experience, no one else will. God is as much the God of the average and the awkward as He is of the awesome.

The Hard Life

If you can't pay full seek-first-to-understand attention to at least two people's problems in a day, you are under the illusion of over-importance.

If you can't give 10% of your income to a charitable cause, you are conned by the Mammon spell of insufficiency.

If you can't take half an hour a day off to reflect and think through your life, you are being deceived by the tyranny of the busy.

If you can't absorb a slight or insult without retaliation, then Ego has got too strong a hold on you.

If you must ogle at every attractive member of the opposite sex that walks by or floats on-screen, your life is hanging by a thread at the non-mercy of Eros.

If you have to keep gloating over your past successes and the compliments people pay you, then a hard fall would do you good.

And if you can't seek out hurting needful members of your community to show some unexpected and unanimous mercy/justice to on a regular basis, then you risk losing sight of why you're alive.

Life is tough, love hard.

Graceful Guests

My piece, Guests of Grace, has been uploaded at the Micah Mandate. Take a look?

Spiritual Assumptions

Alex wrote an interesting story about making controversial spiritual assumptions (probably the dozenth in his cute Abba Ah Beng series).

I thought I might list down certain generally unquestioned assumptions (about discipleship, theology, etc.) which plague Malaysian Christians. The following is based on personal experience (sigh) and conversations with others.

In no particular order of importance (and without suggesting that any of the below are categorically false):

1. True/Good Christians should be involved in as many 'Christian' activities as possible (at the office, in college, etc. and certainly in church)

2. God has a pre-planned specific will for everything that happens to me, from why my car hit a van the other day to which university I should attend, hence the habit of asking God why He would let something unpleasant into my life

3. Christians who don't behave or believe the way my church community does "have a problem"

4. Going to pubs, clubs or discoes is an 'un-Christian' activity (same goes with smoking and drinking)

5. After a great sin, performing pious acts of service appeases God and stays His wrath; and if a serious calamity occurs - especially after a sin I committed (or a good deed I omitted) - this is God punishing me

6. Everyone who has stopped going to church has 'back-slided'; their sinning and spiritual sloth has come between them and God

7. I've tried so hard to stop this particular sin; surely God will understand if I commit it now

8. It is the Christian's duty to speak up each time the Christian faith is denigrated in public

9. Anything other than a spoken sermon isn't a real sermon

10. Not giving a tithe is always a bad thing.

11. Unless you close your eyes, you haven't really prayed.

12. The job of the pastor is to give theological answers cum definitive statements. Ambiguity is near-absolutely bad.


Which other axioms do you think we shouldn't be taking for granted?