First, the view of Ng Kam Weng of Kairos Research Centre in his article Why Defacement of the Alkitab is Desecration - http://libertysentinel.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/why-defacement-of-the-alkitab-is-desecration/
One comment left on this post is by a Lee Yik Sheng. I agree with it. I've bold and italicize the important bits.
Lee Yik Sheng Says:
March 24, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Although I disagree strongly with the policy of the home ministry (more so the attitude of the minister as reported in the media), I think using the word desecration is not appropriate and could raise more confusions than finding solutions.
Our bible is inspired by God and because of this, it is considered the word of God worthy of following and submitting our lives to. But the bible is not by itself, a sacred religious object like what pagans considered some objects to be, which would mystically bring miraculous powers to the wielder.
Such an object can be desecrated, but this is very much a pagan concept. However, such a concept, in my view, should not be applied to our bible because in its physical nature, the bible is just another normal object, made out of paper and print, or digital ink if you wish.
Nevertheless, it is holy and it is the word of God in every spiritual sense because when we follow or preach it, God chooses to work through it, confirming it with miraculous signs, as if saying that these are His words that represent His character. Only in this sense, I believe, is our bible considered holy and sacred.
Nothing from the outside can defile a person, says our Lord. Equally, nothing done by man physically to our bibles can ‘desecrate’ it because the ‘desecration’ of our bibles, God’s word, can only happen from within our hearts, when we ourselves choose to ignore, dishonour and disobey it.
Yes, we resist the kind of high handed way in which the home ministry and the obnoxious minister are handling the issue, but we ourselves must not be confused and raise unwarranted fears when the circumstance does not warrant it.
My two cents to clarify on the issue to lessen the confusion, and to reduce the tension. May the peace of God be with you.
For a really long, and I mean LONG analysis of the issue, have a read of this - Alkitab Stamping & Serialization: Response 2.0 - http://szezeng.blogspot.com/2011/03/alkitab-stamping-serialization-response.html
I'm still following the story
1 comment:
Hi Jason,
I have address Israel Lee's comment in a post (http://www.themicahmandate.org/2011/04/serialization-stamping-of-alkitab-how-to-respond-part-1/). In fact we have discussed over this through private correspondences.
My main point is that the Bible is considered holy by a community. How does this holiness is being perceived to have come about is another matter.
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