Doxa in Kenya: In Brief, Parasites and Robbery

Friday, September 15.

I went to Kitui with Lazarus to bring some stuff to Dr. Johnson's clinic today.

At the clinic, I got checked for parasites from my stool sample. We found some ascaris (round worm) eggs... No wonder I've been having stomach problems. Dr. Johnson gave me some medicines for that. I also got some medicine for my shoulder. I got into a bicycle accident about a month ago in Lenkijape. I was carrying a boy in the back, and we were going downhill. The bike had no break, so we ran into a small bush. I flew over the bike and landed on my right shoulder. It's still moving, but it hurts a bit when I stretch it. Hopefully the medicine will work. All the medicine only cost Ksh50 (~70 cents).

Recently I discovered that, while I was in Tanzania couple weeks ago, somebody stole my money. I think it was when I was staying in the Hotel 77, because I left my money in my room during dinner. Although I had the room locked, I bet one of the workers went in and took the money. I lost $300 from that. I feel terrible because it was given to me by the church, and it was money that people gave as sacrificial offerings. I should have known better than to leave money in a hotel room... I learned an expensive lesson.

God provides and takes away as He pleases. My the Lord be glorified when I'm healthy, when I'm sick, when I have money, when all my money is gone, and in every situation.

Pictures!

It took a while, but I've finally uploaded some pictures! They're not in
full resolution, and I've only uploaded a few, but you might get a better
idea about life in Kenya through these.

Check them out here!
http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo

I'll keep adding more photos later, hopefully.

Lenkijape Diaries: August 1 to 3

Here are some of the long awaited journal entries that I wrote while living in Lenkijape. I actually wrote them in a notebook with a pen. (Continuing from July 31)

Under the Candle Light
Tuesday, August 1. Lenkijape.

I finally got in touch with Eben. I called him when he was I Kenya coming from Tanzania. He was on his way to Kiluani, so they came soon after I called. As PuiMeng and I suspected, they thought I was already in Lenkijape, so they went there instead of Kiluani. It was my bad because I didn't communicate with them beforehand. Anyhow, they came to Kiluani with some missionary team from Korea. They didn't have time to take me to Kenkijape, so they took me and Pastor Stephen to Mile-Tisa, a little village on the main road that is closest to Lenkijape. From there we had to find a "taxi."

We had to go quite far from the main road. The barabara ("road" in Kiswahili) was very bumpy. Good thing we were on a big 4WD pickup truck. After we arrived, we had some chai with the pastor here (David Aluvisia), the chairman of the church and primary school (Jonathan Larmoi), the headmaster of the school (John Solonik), and one of the teachers (Shadrak Kaliti). Then I visited the school, talked with the headmaster, and helped pastor Aluvisia with recording grades. They had just finished the exams for the trimester, so they were adding up the scores and ranking the students. We took about an hour to do something I could have done in 8 minutes on Excel... 6 minutes entering data, 1 minute calculating and sorting, 1 minute formatting and printing. Instead, we used paper, pencil, calculator, and carbon paper. After that, I joined the students playing volleyball from a few minutes before they were dismissed for the day. They are closing the school on Thursday.

I got to talk with the pastor for a while. It seems like that's what I do most of the time nowadays, talk with pastors. Pastor David is a bit quiet and not so playful as pastor Stephen, even though he's only 2 years older than Pastor Stephen who is 33.

Pastor David's wife is gone home till Thursday, so there were a few girls from school cooking for us. We had some rice, chapati, cabbage and potato, and some goat meat (they just call it "meat" here). They were so much better than Isaiah's cooking... If Isaiah opened a restaurant in the US, he'll probably get a health inspection grade of "F," while the girls here (who are still in class 6 or 7 in primary school, but mostly at age of about 17) would get at least a "C."

After dinner, I talked with some of the boys who live at the compound. They asked me a lot of science questions to see if I knew them. One of them, Benson, is 21, and he is in class 7. He has 2 wives, 2 children, and 200 cattle. He used to be a moran (Masai soldier) like all the boy were traditionally. After getting married, he decided to get educated so that he could be a soldier. He also seemed quite interested in studying at BCEA. It's intriguing to see people like Benson who is already an adult going through primary school.

So here in Lenkijape, there is no electricity, so I'm writing this on paper under a candle light. I bought only 6 candles but too many matches. Judging by how fast the candles are melting (I'm using 3 right now since 1 is not bright enough), they not going to last more than a week. I must get more soon. I'm planning to go to Nairobi on Friday. PuiMeng is supposed to pick me up at Mile-Tisa at 7:30AM.

Next week, all the teachers are going to Masai mara for a safari tour for 3-4 days. The pastor had talked with them beforehand so that I could join them (he is also one of the teachers). So I'm really looking forward to that.

Tomorrow, we have "Morning Glory" (morning prayer) at 5am. Then I'll be going to a fellowship in the afternoon.

I guess I'll sleep now (11:20pm). I'm staying at one of the rooms in the church building next to the pastor's bedroom. Apparently some of the guys from the London team stayed here a few weeks ago.

Taking a “Shower” for the First Time
Wednesday, August 2.

The first three candles have already gone out. They were too short that I could not see the notebook, so I put the last three candles.

The day started out with morning prayer at 5am. Since there is no electricity, people just came in to the sanctuary and prayed out loud. Some people sang a few choruses in (I think it was) Kimasai. After an hour of prayer (although I was dozing off for the most part), we had a cup of tea and some chapati (leftovers from last night) for breakfast.

Three of the headmaster's children (Alex, Grace, and Samuel) stay with the pastor during the week because their home is in Mile-Tisa, which is too far for the children to travel everyday. I went to the school with the pastor well after the kids went. The school is right across the street from the church. Students were basically cleaning the school (or just playing) all day. I got to talk with one of the youngest teachers, Johnstone Keton (23), for a while, and learned a bit more about Maasai culture and Kenya.

At 3pm, Jacob Kila, Mark (brother to Rachel, one of the girls who cooked last night) and I walked over to a church member’s house for a fellowship. Kila and Mark are 17 and 16, respectively (I think), but are still in classes 8 and 7 because they started school late. In traditional Maasai homes, looking after cattle takes precedence over education, so they make their firstborns learn to take care of livestock while they send the younger ones to school. So both of the boys who were with me today have younger brothers who are already in secondary school. We walked for about 40 minutes and finally arrived at a boma. Usually the pastor leads the fellowship, but today he was busy, so Kila shared some words and Mark translated for me.

On the way back, we dropped by the place where people get water. It’s basically where the river ends and the water drains. The river is all dried up right now, but they say it was filled in April. People were digging the mud and scooping sandy water into reused plastic bottles. The bottles weren’t even those clear plastic bottles used for water. They were those opaque bottles used for cooking oil or engine oil. These people really know how to recycle. I can’t even imagine drinking that water, but apparently they wait for the sand/debris to settle and drink the top layer. I suppose it’s the same water we have in the tank outside of church right now. There’s no running water in Lenkijape, so people have to carry it.

During our journey to fellowship, I got to meet a moran for the first time. He’s actually a brother of Kila, so I got to take a picture with him. He was only a little kid. But boys can because a moran as soon as they are circumcised (usually around 13).

After the long trip, I decided to take a shower for the first time (I don’t know if you would call it shower though). I heard that the London Team, while they were staying here, didn’t shower even once because they had people carry water for them, and didn’t want to waste it. Since I’m staying here for a while, I figured I’d get used to their way of taking a bath. Now that I’ve taken it, I’m thinking there might have been more reasons than just the shortage of water that the London Team didn’t take a shower for a whole week.

Imagine you’re in a booth made of iron sheets and wood. It’s dimensions are about 4ft x 4ft x 7ft, about the size of a telephone booth, except a bit smaller. The floor is made of cement, and has one small hole for a drain. You carry in a big basin with some water, some soap, shampoo, and a shower scrub. There is a metal wire going across at your eye level, so you hang your towel and clothes. Just after you’ve taken off all your clothes, you realize you didn’t bring a clean pair of underwear. But you decide to proceed with the bath. You crouch down to the basin and start wetting your hair. Then you notice the smell from the toilet which is right behind the iron sheet. You figure that you could cover up the smell when you use the shampoo. Note that toilets here are just a hole in the ground surrounded by walls made of iron sheets. The waste goes down the hole and just sits in a deep pit down below, so the smell is quite interesting. You don’t have any scooper, so you use your soapy hands to scoop up some water to rinse your hair. The water in the basin is already whitish, but you figure it’s just some shampoo. There’s hardly any light in the booth. There are a few small holes that let light in from the outside, but the sun is already behind a hill, and it’s starting to get dark very quickly. You wash your face and soap up the body, but all you can see is a silhouette of yourself, and you can’t tell how much soap is still on you. You feel some grainy things on your arms, but since you can’t see them, you have no idea what they are. You just try to rinse them off with your hands. Then you start to rinse the rest of the body by scooping water with your hands, but without much success. So you dump the rest of the water in the basin on the top of your head as the last-ditch effort. Perhaps it was a success, but you don’t know because it’s too dark. Besides, by now you don’t really care. You just try to dry off as much as you can with the towel. Since you don’t have a clean pair of underwear, you just wrap the towel around your waist, put on a shirt, and walk back to your room hoping no one will see you.

So that was my experience taking a bath here for the first time.

Now I must sleep. I’m so tired...

Closing Ceremony and Wild Chicken
Thursday, August 3.

I really should be sleeping now but I’ll just briefly summarize what happened today.

The primary school closed today. The closing ceremony was super long. Everyone was ranked among their classes, and teachers and parents spoke about I-have-no-idea-what. They all spoke in Kimasai, so I couldn’t understand anything. Alex and Grace were both the top of their classes (5th and 3rd grades, respectively).

Afterwards, two of the girls who were cooking for us (Leah and Ruth), Kancholi, and Joshua taught me some Kimasai. Now I can count up to 10,000 in Kimasai. Well, I still need my notes though. Maasai people use a sign language for numbers (as well as words), which I though was quite interesting. It’s not just the deaf of the mute that learn the sign language, but basically everyone knows how to say a number in sign language.

Pastor bought a guinea fowl for dinner. I got to see it being slaughtered. It was the weirdest thing ever. When Pastor cut its neck, it didn’t seem to resist at all, but right after the head fell off, the body started to go berserk, and the head was still moving! The eyes were blinking and the beak was moving. The body kept twitching for at least another 2 minutes. Guinea fowls make me think of dinosaurs. They have a horn-like head, and their skin is blue. The meat was the toughest thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Nothing much happens around here. So slaughtering a bird is an event. Tomorrow, Pastor and I are going to Nairobi. We have to get picked up by PuiMeng at 7:30am at Mile-Tisa. So I must get up early and get ready.

Doxa in Kenya: Work of the Holy Spirit in Tanzania

Wednesday, September 6. Nairobi.

I feel like it's been quite a while since I wrote an entry, but my last
entry was only 5 days ago. I guess compared to the past 6 weeks, when I
wrote an entry almost every day (with pencil and paper), 5 days without
journaling seems like a long time.

Anyhow, let me talk a little more about Tanzania. Originally, I was going
back to Nairobi on Saturday, but I stayed in Tanzania for another day due to
last minute changes.

The opening ceremony was quite nice, even though none of the buildings were
complete. We have a church building, the main school building, dormitory,
cafeteria, and a guest house. Apparently the workers kept saying there's no
problem, but they were very slow. According to the contract, they were
supposed to have finished 3 weeks ago, so we could start working on interior
design. But I guess that's what happens with all construction. UCLA
construction hardly ever finish on schedule either. But then I think the
scale is quite different in Tanzania. The workers don't seem to feel any
pressure even when they are told that they need to hurry up. Not only they
are very slow, they don't really listen to directions. Pastor Lazarus drew a
model of the main gate for the college just like the one we have in Nairobi.
He showed it to the main fundi (general term for worker, repairer, etc.),
but the fundi didn't follow the order at all. Instead he made a really
crappy-looking gate that was even crooked. I think he was so ashamed of
himself that he didn't even come to the opening ceremony. He should have
been recognized for the work that he'd dome so far, at least. I guess he
knows what he has done (or what he didn't do and should have done).

We had a contract with another fundi earlier, but one day he decided to run
away with all the money. So we had to make a new contract with the current
fundi to build the school. Then a while ago the first fundi came back and
told us that he will sue us because we've hired a new fundi while we had a
contract with him. Quite ridiculous, isn't it? He was the one who broke the
contract and took all the money in the first place! But this is only
something that I heard from someone. So I don't know much about it. The best
thing to do is just let him sue us. In reality, he's not going to. He said
he'll sue us only because he hoped we'd feel threatened and just give him
some money. So I'm sure he's disappointed that we're not doing anything to
respond to his threat.

On Sunday, those who were remaining in Tanzania split up and went to several
churches to preach. I went to a church with Dr. Gary Johnson and Rev. Peter
Elibariki. The church was located on a hill, and literally, if the land was
not occupied by a building or a road, it was packed with banana trees and
coffee plants. The church building was not even complete but they've been
building it for at least 6 years. It's because they build it using money
from the offering, but people here really don't have much money. So they
save little by little and build bit by bit. I was actually quite impressed
by how they did it, because they've done so much with the little they have,
even though it took so long.

Before Dr. Johnson gave the sermon, I got to share a little bit of my
testimony. I told the congregation about how God brought me to Kenya and
helped me to cope with the life in Masai Land for 5 weeks. I encouraged them
to do everything for God's Glory (1 Cor. 10:31). Then Dr. Johnson preached
from Philemon. He talked about how Paul wrote a letter to Philemon telling
him to forgive Onesimus, and how Jesus intercedes for us. He asked the
congregation if anyone has not yet received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Nobody
raised their hands or anything, but something really cool happened. The
choir started singing after the sermon, and during the song, an old lady
came up to the front and told the pastor that she wanted to pray to receive
Christ. So Dr. Johnson went up to her and started talking to her. While he
was talking to her, two more ladies came up and did the same! From what I
understand, Dr. Johnson made sure they understood what they were doing, and
that they did not pray to receive Christ before. What's really amazing is
that these women have been going to church for at least 15 years, and have
never prayed the sinner's prayer! It was truly the working of the Holy
Spirit. I thank God that He lead me to stay one more day in Tanzania. I
should remember to preach the Gospel whenever I'm given the opportunity.

One of the reasons I haven't been writing as much is because I've been busy
with school. I've working in the office again. Today I started making an
inventory of the book with have for selling. It's not too bad, since I just
have to count how many of which books with have, but there's quite a number
of books. Although, I'm sure this is nothing compared to what I have to do
for the library (5000+ books).

I've also been teaching English to the first years. We have two English
classes: standard and advanced. The standard class is mainly for foreign
students (i.e. Out side Kenya). Some are from Congo where people speak
French, and some just don't know English at all. This one student pretends
to understand what I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure that he doesn't
understand a single word. I'm teaching them pronouns right now. I haven't
had a class with the advanced class yet (their first class in on Friday),
but at least they'll really understand what I'm saying. It's a bit hard to
teach when there's limited resource. I wish I had more (and faster) access
to the Internet...

I need to be diligent with the med school application. It's been on hold for
over a month because I was out in the wilderness. But I really need to focus
this time. It feels like time goes by so fast here. I'm here doing one
thing, then right after that I'm doing another thing somewhere else. I get
up really early (5:30am) for the morning prayer, and (try to) go to sleep
around 11:30pm. Ok, maybe I should write less journal and work on the app
more.

Doxa in Tanzania: No-Hurry Africa

Friday, September 1. Arusha, Tanzania.

Ever since I came back to Nairobi, I've been having some gas problem. Not
that I passed gas so frequently, but when I did, it gave out some
exceptionally deadly odor. I've known myself for 22 years, and I know what
my fart should smell like. But for the past few days it was different. Then
this morning, after I had breakfast, I had a semi-loose stool, and felt
really weak. I felt really dizzy as I sat on the john, but a little better
when I finished relieving myself. I took some vitamins, Immodium, and some
herbal medicine that I got from an acupuncturist back home, then I rested
for half an hour. I felt a lot better after that, and now I think I'm all
better. I have no idea what caused it though... Well, maybe it's because of
the over-a-month old garlic that I've been using in almost every meal. I
left some garlic in my apartment before I left for Masai Land. By now they
should be at least 6 weeks old. I should stop using those from now on and
see what happens. Now my gas smells quite normal.

A group of us from BCEA left for Tanzania today. I rode in Dr. Gary
Johnson's car. He is a lab technician at Clinic of Care in some rural area
east of Nairobi. Dr. Johnson was invited to attend the pastors conference we
had this week at BCEA. He's been working in Kenya for 27 years already, and
he is such a jovial old man. Dr. Howard Carlson and his wife were also in
our car. Dr. Carlson is also very old and playful like Dr. Johnson. Dr.
Carlson teaches at BCEA sometimes, but his main work is at Faith College in
Nairobi. I'm not sure exactly what his role is at the college, but his wife
was working on making the schedule for Faith College, so I assume he is also
in some kind of administrative position. It was quite interesting to see the
two men with white hair teasing each other and making jokes with one
another. I hope I can be as cheerful and energetic as these men when I'm at
their age. Dr. Johnson told me I'm welcome to visit his clinic sometime
during my stay in Kenya. I hope I'll get the opportunity to do that. I
really look up to them because I want to be like them, serving the Lord far
away from home at their age.

Some of us including myself are staying at the same hotel I stayed last time
I was here. It's called Hotel 77 (or Hotel Saba-saba, saba = seven in
Kiswahili). For dinner, we went to the hotel cafeteria, which probably was a
big mistake. We sat at our tables around 6:50pm, and soon after that ordered
our drinks and food. The sodas came after about 10 minutes, but by the time
the server brought the chai that Christine and I ordered, it was already
7:50pm. The food didn't come till half an hour after that. The food wasn't
quite enough, so we ordered a few more chapati, which came well after we
finished all our food on the table. So you can imagine how slow things work
here. While we waited we joked about how only after we order they start
cutting firewood, make charcoal, catch a chicken, slaughter it, harvest
vegetables and tea leaves from the farm, etc. So this is Africa.

A couple days ago, Tanzania started a nation-wide power rationing. One of
their power plants are undergoing rehabilitation or something like that, so
the whole country gets power from the lines only from 7pm to 7am everyday.
When we arrived, they were powering the lights with solar panels, but the
water heater was not working. Now it's already 12:30am, but water heater is
still not working... I guess they just turned it off or something. Oh well,
I'm used to cold showers anyway (I've been taking cold bucket showers for 5
weeks in Masai Land).

Hotel 77 is one of the biggest hotels in Arusha, and still the service is
quite terrible. We asked for an extra towel from the front desk when we
finished dinner (about 9:30pm, 2.5 hours after we sat at the table), and the
towel came past 11pm. So I guess this is what we call No-Hurry Africa.

Doxa in Kenya: Should Christians Preach Against Evolution?

Thursday, August 31.

I attended some more of the "Discerning the Spirit" sessions today. I learned about Modernism, Neo-Evangelicalism, and Neo-Fundamentalism. I was already familiar with Modernism, so I didn't learn anything new about that. I had never heard of Neo-Evangelicalism or Neo-Fundamentalism, but from how Dr. Khoo described, they sounded pretty familiar. Basically, Neo-Evangelicals are people who say Bible is inspired by God, but it can have some errors. Dr. Khoo gave an example with the 6-day creation story in Genesis. Since evolution says it took many years for all the different species to form, Neo-Evangelicals would say that Bible might have some mistake. Fundamentalists believe in the strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, so Dr. Khoo said that if science doesn't seem to agree with the Bible, the Science must be wrong. Well, I'm definitely not a Neo-Evangelical (I believe that the Bible in its original languages is inerrant), but I’m not fundamentalist either. I believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and all of it is God-Breathed (or inspired by God, 2 Tim. 3:16) so the Bible is always true. But if science doesn't seem to agree with the Bible, it's not just "science must be wrong." It's either science is wrong or our interpretation of the Bible is wrong.

However, whether they were literal 6 days or whether the entire Bible should be interpreted literally should not be the issue. We should think about what’s really important. I mean, is every word of the Bible have the same weight and importance? Can we say that all the little details of the law in Deuteronomy, every psalm, the four Gospels, and the epistles are all equally important? I believe they all have a purpose of being in the Bible, but I think some of the words are more important than others. I’m talking about the Gospel, which you need to know and believe in order to have salvation. The saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most important message in the Bible, isn’t it? Tell me if you think I’m wrong.

So why am I saying we should focus on what’s the most important thing in the Bible? I’m trying to say that when it comes to someone’s salvation, whether the person thinks the earth was made in 6 days or thousands of years is not important at all! Let’s say that some one was at his death bed. He was a terrible criminal, and did many evil. But just before he died, he heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he sincerely repented and believed. Would he not enter that Kingdom of God? It doesn’t matter how bad or evil your life was before. When you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, no matter who you are. Then let’s say that the man in his death bed was a hardcore modernist/atheist. He believed in the theory of evolution and all the other scientific theories that might seem to contradict the Bible. Then he heard the Gospel, repented, and believed. Soon after that he died. Before he died, he didn’t hear about Genesis 1. Not only did he not know that Bible says God made the earth in 6 days, he didn’t get a chance to hear that God made human in His own image. Then would he not go to heaven? Would he go to hell because he believed in the theory of evolution, even though he repented and believed in Jesus Christ? I believe even fundamentalists would say no to that. Well, perhaps they would say no because they are fundamentalists. The Bible literally says if you confess and believe these things about Jesus Christ, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Of course I’m not saying that people should believe whatever they want as long as they believe in Jesus. If someone is still alive and has received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then s/he should live like Jesus is the Lord over his/her life. Then he would study the Word of God and make effort to find the truth. More importantly he would obey the commands and also share the Gospel with others. Take note that I’m talking in the context of someone’s salvation. At the point of one’s salvation, the person doesn’t need to know everything in the Bible. But once he is saved, he should make the effort to know other important teachings in the Bible.

Now then, why is it important to talk in the context of salvation? Well, granted it’s important for someone to get saved, it’s very important that someone does not reject the Gospel because of our interpretation of some other parts of the Bible. Let’s say that you meet someone who is agnostic, but he is a scientist and has extensively studied biology as well the theory of evolution. Upon finding out that he believes in the theory of evolution, you tell him that he is wrong and that the Bible says the earth was made in 6 days. Some people may think of it as an interesting idea, but most probably would be offended. Then you try to share with him the Gospel, just after telling him that all that he had been studying for the past 10 years were simply wrong information. Would he even want to listen to the Gospel? Think about it. Most likely he wouldn’t. Even if he did, he would just flat out reject it because it’s from the same book that says he is wrong without any apparent proof or support. To us, the Bible is the Word of God, so we might feel strongly convicted about Genesis 1 one way or another. But to someone who’s never read the Bible, it’s just literature. So basically what you did was hardened someone’s heart to hear the Gospel. I’m not talking about the correct approach to presenting the Gospel. God can work in all sorts of ways, and even a simple, straight forward presentation of the Gospel can change someone’s heart. It’s up to the Holy Spirit, not you, to convict one’s heart and reveal the truth.

Then what should you say about science and the Bible? Which is correct? Well, if you believe that the Bible is God’s Word, then Bible is of course true. Sure, science can be inaccurate sometimes, and no theory is ever accurate. Theories are theories. They are always being revised to fit new information. But remember we or what we think are not always correct either. More importantly, it’s dangerous to say, “science is wrong,” because we’re not just saying that the theories are wrong. There are people behind every scientific theory. Real people study and come up with ideas that become theories, and real people rely on these theory for their research and even career. To say, “science is wrong” to someone, especially scientists, who has much more knowledge about science than you might, is basically saying “you’re wrong” in their face. How loving is that? And if that causes people to shut their ears to the Gospel for the rest of their lives, how terrible is that? In fact, isn’t that what’s happening in the world today? Isn’t it because all these “Christians” are saying evolution is flat out wrong, that many scientists are also atheists? Perhaps it’s not the only reason, but I imagine it is one of the major reasons. You see, I’m a scientist, but I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If someone really knows science, they would know that it’s not scientific to conclude that God does not exist just because His existence cannot be proven scientifically. It’s a Modernist idea that all things can be explained scientifically. Obviously not all scientists are Modernists, but may of them become one.

Let’s say that you are a scientist, and you have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But you know that these people called Christians believe in God. One day you find out that these Christians are strongly against the theory of evolution, which you think is a fairly well studied theory. You also find out that the basis of their claim is just some book written long time ago, and that Christians say theory of evolution is wrong because God said so. You don’t know much about the Bible or what the Christians believe, but since Christians strongly believe that you’re wrong, your natural response is to think that Christians are wrong. Since the basis of their claim is this thing called “God,” and you think they are wrong, you may conclude that this idea of “God” must also be wrong. Although it’s not scientific, through reasoning you decide that God doesn’t exist. The main reason for this conclusion was some group of people called Christians that said you are wrong. Now you are an atheist, and you don’t even want to hear about what Christians believe. Is this scenario too farfetched?

So as Christians, should we strongly advocate Creationism and young-earth theory? Are they worth jeopardizing the opportunities for some people to hear the Gospel? Definitely not! If you advocate these ideas, do so within the church. Encourage other believers to investigate the truth of God’s Word. Warn each other about dangers of misusing the theory of evolution. It is our responsibility to study the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15). As Christians, that’s definitely something we should do. But as for the unbelievers, it is not their responsibility to know what the Bible says about Creation. It’s the same with sin. We as believers have the responsibility to keep each other accountable so as not to sin. But we do not just go around telling unbelievers that they should not do this and that. How can they stop sinning when they don’t have Christ!? We need to first show them the love of Christ and share with them the Gospel. Once they become a believer, you have the responsibility to keep them accountable. Once they become a believer, you should teach them what the Bible says about other things in the world, such as Creation.

So there’s really no problem for Dr. Khoo to talk about science and how he thinks it’s wrong in front of a group of pastors. In fact, it was good that he clarified a lot of things about the Bible. Dr. Khoo’s lectures were really good. They were strongly based on the scripture, and makes a lot of sense if you believe that the entire Bible should be interpreted strictly literally. So he was very consistent. This isn’t about Dr. Khoo at all, and I already said that fact that I disagree with his fundamentalist view is not important. I think problems arise when these pastors start preaching that science is wrong when they are trying to evangelize. The creation story is not the Gospel. The Bible doesn’t say “believe that God created earth in 6 days and you’ll be saved”! Dr. Khoo’s lecture just reminded me of some people in the past that strongly advocated creationism and young-earth theory. These people I met in the past would mock scientists and their professors because they think their science teachers are idiots for believing in evolution. This is not the type of attitude Christians should have towards unbelievers. That’s why I’m talking about all this.

People are saved regardless of whether they are Fundamentalist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, Evangelical, or whatever denomination. Conversely, people can sill have the wrong Gospel and not be saved even when they associate themselves with Fundamentalist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, Evangelical, or whatever denomination. There is no such thing as a perfect denomination. Denominations are works of people. Difference in denominations exist because people are different. Once again, the most important thing is salvation through the Gospel. So if your church gives the true Gospel, not the health-and-wealth gospel nor the 6-day-creation gospel, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and your church is working to spread it, then give all glory to God.

So should we as Christians preach against the theory of evolution? My answer is no. I would definitely support studying about evolution from Biblical perspective. I suppose we could “preach” against evolution within Bible studies and small groups for believers. But I don’t think it should be preached in churches were unbelievers can come to find out what Christianity is all about. Of course, I’m not saying we should hide from unbelievers what we think about science and what not. As Christians, we are not called to push any one denomination’s doctrine to unbelievers. We are called to spread the Gospel. Preaching Creationism to a group of unbeliever can be very counterproductive. Understanding science is not a sin, but being ignorant of the Gospel is deadly. Do first things first. Spread the Gospel.

I haven’t even talked about Neo-Fundamentalism, but it’s getting really late. I must sleep. We’re going to Tanzania tomorrow, and we’re opening to new Bible college there on Saturday.

Doxa in Kenya: On Charismatism and Friendship

Wednesday, August 30.

Today, I attended one of the sessions at the pastor's conference here at
BCEA. The main speaker is Dr. Jeffery Khoo, Academic Dean of Far Eastern
Bible College (FEBC) in Singapore. His topic for the sessions was
"Discerning the Spirit of Charismatism." I actually learned some things
about the Bible that I never knew before. Usually, when I hear a
sermon/lecture at church service, fellowship, or a conference, I don't get
to learn things that are entirely new to me, although they are often good
reminders of things I learned in the past. This time it was different. For
the first time, I learned that Fundamentalists believe that prophesies,
speaking of tongues, and such should stop when the Bible is completed (1
Cor. 13:10). Basically, there should not be any more revelations/prophecies
to be added after the Bible was completed. That makes sense.

Dr. Khoo also taught that divine powers such as healing were only given to
the Apostles. This doesn't mean that people don't get miraculously healed
nowadays (since all the Apostles are dead now). Obviously, there are people
who are healed miraculously through prayer, and that happens when the Holy
Spirit acts on them. It means that people today don't have the gift of
healing like the Apostles did. In other words, if someone tells you s/he is
a healer, run away from him/her. People don't do miracles. God does. So
nobody today can say they have the power to heal. I'm not all that familiar
with Fundamentalist doctrine, but this makes sense to me.

Eben came back from Tanzania today. He was working on the construction of
the new Bible College in Tanzania. (By the way, hello to Eben's friends back
in the US. Eben told me that one of his friends found my blog by googling
his name.) Mrs. Kim prepared some boiled kalbi (beef ribs) and rice for Eben
and I tonight, like she did when I came back. Eben and I brought the food to
Eben's apartment and ate together. We got to talk about many things
including life of a missionary, marrying a Korean girl, writing inspiring
blog entries, etc. It was really nice talking with him because I got to
laugh a lot. (I'm not just saying nice things about him because his friends
might be reading this.) Although he's a bit older, we could still connect on
various levels.

While I was in Masai Land, I could only connect with a few people, and when
I did it was only a short period. At Kiluani, Nyingei, Lemomo, and Leshushu
were the only ones close to my age, but I had a lot of fun talking with
them. When I visited Kiluani for the seminar (I bicycled from Lenkijape), I
was really glad to spend some time with them. At Lenkijape, I got to connect
the most with Keton, one of the teachers at the primary school. He's only a
year older than me. Even with the cultural differences, when the age is
close, it seems like I could connect with people here really well. Also,
people in Masai Land tend to associate more with their age-mates. So perhaps
that is why it's easier to become friends with those that are similar in
age. Anyhow, I'm beginning to really appreciate having friends that I could
connect with. Back in college, I had many friends close by, but I think I
took most of them for granted. So maybe I missed my chance of connecting
with them at deeper levels. I suppose I'm learning to value friendship more.

I found out today that I'll be teaching two English classes this term: one
advanced, and one not-so-advanced. They're two hours each every week for 12
weeks. The work seems a bit overwhelming at the moment, but I think it will
be a really good experience. I suppose teaching, especially teaching
English, would be a good skill to have if I'm going to be a long-term
missionary someday.

I got the manual for the software I'm using to build the library catalogue.
It's called ResourceMate 2.0. Does anyone know how to use it? I have to
catalogue +5000 books... I have no idea how long it would take, but I guess
this will be my main contribution to the college.