Link to NEWS at ABC

It was Thanksgiving day, she was supposed to be thankful. And where is her Thanksgiving day?

And Christmas season is the same. I met some people who belives Christmas is the birthday of St. Claus – an old man in red! And I found in the season of Christmas, there is no Christ around and hundreds of St. Claus around.

Where is thanks in Thanksgiving day, and where is Christ in Christmas day?

The 120th Assembly referred back to the Council a proposed Mission Statement, which was called for by the Assembly of 1991. During the year, the Council has consulted with the Committee on Church Doctrine and the Special Committee on the State of the Church. As the result of changes suggested by members of the Committee on Church Doctrine, the Statement has been slightly revised.

Mission Statement of the Presbyterian Church in Canada

Who we are?

• Disciples of Christ
• Empowered by the Spirit
• Glorifying God and
• Rejoicing in Service!

What do we do?

Relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, we proclaim the love and good news of Jesus Christ through our words and actions.

As a reformed church, we rely on the truth and inspiration of Scriptures for God’s guidance into the future-a future that we approach with wonder and anticipation, knowing God is with us.

As worshiping communities joyfully celebrating the sacraments, we are supported, strengthened and equipped to share the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

How do we do this?

1. Our mission, in a world where many do not know the gospel, is to tell the biblical story in ever new and creative ways.
2. Our mission, in a world wounded by sin, is to point to the redemptive work of Christ and the life-changing presence of the Spirit.
3. Our mission, in a world burdened with anxiety and apprehension, is to provide a place of sanctuary, tranquility and renewal in the name of the One who said, “I will give you rest.”
4. Our mission, in a world where many are oppressed, excluded or ignored, is to call for personal righteousness, justice and reconciliation in the Church and in the world and to hear, respect and cherish all God’s children.
5. Our mission, in a world of limited resources, is to use God’s gifts wisely and fairly for the good of all.
6. Our mission, in a world of many nations, peoples, denominations and faiths, is to learn from one another and work together for the healing of the nations.

In all times and seasons, we give glory to the God of all creation, to Jesus Christ, the Son, and to the Holy Spirit by whose presence all are blessed.

My first impression was ‘It is very good. Do we really need to rewrite this just because it was written quite many years ago?’ After discussion with my minister, Rev. Peter Bush, we agreed that this statement does not explicitly mention about the ‘blood’ and ‘cross’ of our Saviour which made it unclear what ‘redemptive work’ means. And we didn’t like the denominations and faiths because I think we have only one faith and one Church. I am totally OK with other protestant denominations but not with any denomination who declare themselves as Christian denominations. So if we can drop the expression of ‘denominations and faiths,’ that would be great. Other than, this statement is very good overall.

According to the dictionary, faith and belief look quite alike. If they are almost identical, why then do we need two different words?

This could be total non-sense because I am not an English Native Speaker. But it is just an idea.

Belief, as all we can see, came from BELIEVE. So if we believe in God, we have a belief on Him. That is easy. When we have belief, WE believe.

Then how about faith? I don’t know where this word came from, but I know another word which came from the faith: faithful.

When we say ‘this guy is so faithful to his wife,’ does this mean he believe his wife? No, but the opposite.

Now, I think faith and belief are basically same but the direction or the flow of the trust is reversed. Then what?

This is the conclusion:

If we have belief, then we believe God. The trust flows from us to Him.

If we have faith, then God believes us. The trust flows from Him to us. If we have faith, God can trust us, believe us that whatever He asks we would fulfil it. When we have real faith, then God can trust us, and then He can give us His precious mission or task.

Now, all Christians have belief because we need to believe to be a Christian. But all the Christians have faith? I don’t think so.

I can say I have belief for sure. But if God asks me whether I have faith, I hope to say yes but… Someday I pray I can say YES boldly.

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; (Titus 1:7, KJV)

Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; (1 Timothy 3:3)

If a clergyman is hot-tempered, strikes or is violent, and loves money, he or she is already wrong. If they say they are upright in front of God, then they are just denying the Bible and God.

In comparison to US, Korea is very small country. How can it be possible?

Here I give you one secret.

When I was in Toronto, I was friendly with a guy from Korea. I stayed with him for several months in Toronto and in Winnipeg too.

He did not go to Church even once while I was with him for several months. Also he did not look he attended regularly in Korea too. But his wife does.

When I was helping him packing his stuffs, I found a paper titled, ‘Certificate of Missionary.’

He came to Canada just to work and live, but the church which he does not even attend made him a missionary to Canada. Then the church would proudly say to others, “Hey, we sent a missionary to Canada!”

Korean churches are lying about the number of missionaries. Is there anything that Korean churches do not lie about?

But the minister found something – they don’t have a service on first Sunday after Christmas. The minister wanted to do it but the elders were against her. The elders said the same thing for two years:

“This is tradition. And after the Christmas, everybody wants to spend time with family. Nobody will come.What can you do alone in the Church?”

But the second year, she said to them, “If nobody comes, I will do it alone.”

The Christmas passed, and the first Sunday came.

She found the whole congregation came to the service but elders. Only elders, any elders came to the service.

How can they be called ELDERS? They have the titles but they are not actually. If they were real elders, they should have asked the minister first to have the worship service.

In Matthew 15:3, Jesus said, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”

I googled for it and found in Youtube.

It’s called HUMAN by Natalie Grant. I am listening to it every day.

I am pretty sure that you’d like it, too.

First day, there was only the pastor, his wife, and me. I prayed aloud, but not to loud.

The next day, a lady came to the service. She was the member of that congregation.

Just before I began to pray, I pastor called me and asked me to pray very very quietly. He doesn’t want to frighten his member. I was very surprised because I cannot even count how many times the Bible tells us to cry out or call on to God. I had no choice but to obey.

That evening I was reading the Bible and praying alone at home, and God told me:

If a pastor fears people and try to please them, and does not obey or follow God’s command, then whose servant is he?

Yes, God. If any one wants to be the servant of God, he should follow and obey You, not other people.

I found similar Bible verse at Galatians 1:10 saying:

For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

With the help of Google, I found a page at that site saying:

We’re sorry but the following version has been removed: Korean Bible

And I re-installed Xiphos whose previous name was Sword because I re-installed my Ubuntu. And there was sure Korean Bible module, and it was also removed.

Again, with the help of Google, I found why at the Xiphos develop mailing list. It was because of the copyright.

I want to ask the Korean Bible Society – Is the copyright and making money more important to you than spreading the Word of God?

I am very much, extremely mad at Korean Bible Society. They are just sucking the precious blood of Jesus Christ for their own profits.

The Korean Bible is also and still available online at http://www.holybible.or.kr/.

What do you think do most Christians lack?

I think that is the generosity and grace of Christ.

Last year I biked almost everyday in the Winter – even at nights of 40C below freezing point. It was so cold and too much painful.

And this year, I drive a car – not my car. A friend of mine allowed me to drive and she’s not a Christian.

I cannot say enough how a car is cosy and comfortable. And warm. It protects me from the freezing wind and cold air.

And I said this to my sister who is very good Christian. “A car is this good, this good, and this much good….. etc.”

And guess what she said to me.

She said to me that a car is an idol to me and I am like an idol worshipper.

But this is not only my sister’s problem. Most Christians do the same thing. They push and drive somebody to the edge just because he or she says or is slight different from  what they think it is right.

Christians, be generous and gracious.

I mean, if you are real a Christian, please be like Christ for Christ’s sake.

So, NIV says “led him away and handed him over to Pilate.” while NIV-UK uses turned instead of handed.

So I asked the BibleGateway about it, and I got an answer saying, “contact the publisher – www.biblica.com.”

And I wrote another email to www.biblica.com and am waiting for the answer.

I just really curious that this difference is supposed to be or just typo. I think NIV and NIV-UK is identical version just using different spelling rules.

Many times, even people think they knew, that could be just the illusion. Because the Bible is completely written in parables.

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: (Matthew 13:34, King James Version)

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:9-10, King James Version)

And of course, to interpret or understand the Bible for the hidden meaning, we definitely need spiritual inspiration from God.

But the problem lies here:

Many times or most times, the one who had the inspiration and the listeners value the inspiration or the interpretation more than the Bible itself. What we have to believe is not the interpretation or the inspiration. We have to believe the Bible itself through the interpretation and the inspiration.

Any inspiration should be used only to interpret or explain the Bible, not to replace it.

Just let me make it easy: the Bible says the boys should be circumcised on eighth day (Genesis 17:12). Now,

if someone says, the eighth days means preparing for God and something like blah blah…, that’s fine.

if someone says, the Bible says 8th day, but actually it is 7th day. I got it by the inspiration from God., then this is wrong.

And I have to say this is how the most heresies and heterodoxies came out.

Any inspiration is NOT superior to the original Bible. It cannot replace or correct any part of the Bible.

Korean version of this posting is at (한글로 쓴 글의 위치는) http://crinje.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/%EC%98%81%EA%B0%90%EA%B3%BC-%EC%84%B1%EA%B2%BD/