We Are Not The World

Saturday, 18th April 2009

Back in the 1980s, there was a charity record that was released by a group of artistes who called themselves USA For Africa, the proceeds of which went to the famine victims in Ethiopia.

The title of that record was "We Are The World". The song contained a verse that went "As God has shown us by turning stones to bread, and so we all must land a helping hand."

Well, sorry to disappoint you, Mr Willie Nelson. God did not turn stones to bread. He was tempted to do so by the devil, but he responded by saying "It is written: man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God".

Which brings me to the title of today's post.

There has been a great debate about how much Pastor Joseph Prince was paid by NewCre. While those who are in support are NewCre members (with this Methodist being the exception), those who take issue are both fellow Christians from other churches and even pre-believers.

Christian blogs like those maintained by Angie, Geri, Stan, Joshua and Yi Wei are primarily meant to be read by fellow believers. After all, the gospel of Jesus Christ is foolishness to the world, while the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God.

We are not the world. We may be in the world, but are not of the world.

What happens then when pre-believers (or believers masquerading as pre-believers) start reading our blogs or even start leaving comments on them? It becomes like rojak, and my concern is that besides the influx of rats and mice, some may end up getting "poisoned" as well :-/

It is no wonder that Stan has now mentioned in his blog:
"By the way, my blog is mainly meant for fellow Christians to discuss and debate things we have learnt in our different churches, and not as a platform to prove to non-Christians our faith and win them over."

Which brings me back to the point as to why engaging pre-believers and believers using the same platform may be a futile exercise at best, and a dangerously confusing one, at worst.

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, what resulted was that they became aware of what was good and what was evil and realised that they were naked, even though God did not tell them so.

Note that the tree was that of the *knowledge* of *good* and evil. It was not the tree of evil.

God had declared everything that He created as "good" (with man being the pinnacle of His creation, and thus considered "very good"). So while that tree was part of what was good, that tree was not good... for man.

Soil may be good in the garden, but it is not good on the carpet.
Sex is good within the context of marriage, but not outside of it.

And so, as a result of Adam and Eve eating from that tree, all mankind (both believers and pre-believers) now has an in-built sense of right and wrong, of good and evil, of justice and injustice, of fairness and unfairness, etc. Or a sense of common sense, as how some would put it.

Hence the debate about whether Ps Prince's pay is fair or unfair, and particularly in the eyes of the world.

The world will say that Ps Prince's pay is not fair.

The world will say that is not fair for a religious man to go to hell.

The world will say it is not fair for the thief who hung next to Jesus to go to paradise.

The world will say that it is not fair that Pharoah and his kinsmen got punished even though it was Abraham who lied about his wife.

The world will say it is not fair for someone who cheated his own dad and brother in order to get his birthright and who wrestled with the angel would end up being so abundantly blessed.

The world will say it is not fair for a woman who had tricked and seduced her own father-in-law into getting her pregnant, would through that unholy union produce an ancestor to the throne of David, from which the Messiah would descend from.

The world will say it is not fair that a harlot who betrayed her own king and fellow citizens not only got away with treason but ended up marrying the enemy's commander's son and likewise become an ancestor to the throne of King David, and whose name was also specifically mentioned in the Messiah's genealogy.

And that, my friends, is exactly what is so amazing about grace. Because it goes against the natural man's sense of reasoning. Grace is what no religion or philosophy can ever teach. It is undeserved, unmerited and unearned.

It takes the Holy Spirit to understand grace. And that it is why engaging pre-believers should be on a different platform. This blog and the others aforementioned are not the forum for such.

We are not the world.