CHRISTIANITY AND THE SOCIAL ORDER
By Dr. Ng Kam Weng
350 pages, 8.3” x 5.8” x 0.85”
ISBN: 978-629-97691-0-1 Continue reading “Just Published by Kairos Research Centre! Christianity and the Social Order by Dr. Ng Kam Weng”
The Problem With Arminian Middle Knowledge
Some young Calvinists I know are not sure how to respond to their friends who reject the Calvinist doctrine of God’s foreknowledge and predestination with a self-assured declaration, “No thanks, Calvinist predestination is theologically and logically problematic. I prefer Luis de Molina’s teaching of the “scientia media or middle knowledge as it is more coherent and persuasive.” These young Calvinists become unsettled and feel intimidated by the unfamiliar terminology thrown at them. However, a simple question would dispel the Molinist’s aura of sophistication. “As a Molinist, are you then a Jesuit or an Arminian? Since you are Protestant, I conclude that you are basically rebranding old-time Arminianism by using exotic language, granted that the idea of a divine middle knowledge is at the heart and soul of the Arminian view.”
This being clarified, we can focus on the theological problem with Arminian middle knowledge. To begin, classical theology referred to two kinds of divine knowledge: Continue reading “The Problem With Arminian Middle Knowledge”
Resurrection of Christ as Fulfilment of God’s Covenant Promise of Salvation. BADR Part 5
Resurrection of Christ as Fulfilment of OT Prophecy of Salvation. BADR 5
Kairos Podcast Series 8: Biblical Anthropology, Death and Resurrection (BADR Part 5)
Question: How is the hope of Israel that believers will be resurrected and enjoy the eternal presence of God related to the resurrection of Christ?
God’s covenant was the promise and fulfillment of Israel’s hope of resurrection:
1) God’s promise of covenantal inheritance in his covenant with Abraham and his descendants. “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen. 17:7).
2) The qualifier “everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring” points to the eternal salvation of the person who believed in God. “God is everlasting, the promised inheritance under the covenant consists of reconciliation to this eternal God, and it is therefore only to be expected that God’s elect should continue to exist in fellowship with Him.” (Barton Payne)
3) The resurrection of Christ is fulfilment of God’s covenant promise of salvation. The everlasting covenant promise and eschatological hope of Israel is the necessary framework to understand Christ’s resurrection. Conversely, Christ’s resurrection proleptically realized the eschatological promise of the covenant.
Acts 2: 23-24 The keynote in Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” // Psa. 16:8-11
Acts 2: 27 – “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. Peter saw this fulfilled literally in Jesus’ resurrection from the grave after only three days. He died as the Scriptures revealed He would (according to the Scriptures)”.
You can view the video at –
Resurrection of Christ as Fulfilment of OT Prophecy of Salvation. BADR 5
The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2. (BADR Part 4)
The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2
Kairos Podcast Series 8: Biblical Anthropology, Death and Resurrection (BADR Part 4)
Question: In the light of the terrifying prospect of Sheol awaiting the dead, what led Israel to believe in the resurrection of the dead? What is the basis for Israel’s hope (Dan. 12:2-3)?
A. The OT gives two reasons. First, the OT affirms that Yahweh is the living God (Psa. 18:46; Jer. 23:36; Hos. 1:10). With the ever living God, death cannot be the sovereign power in the universe. Second, God’s reign of righteousness and justice extends even to Sheol (Job 26:6; Psa. 139:8; Prov. 15:11; Amos 9:2). Vindication will come at the final resurrection where the wicked will be punished and the righteous will be rewarded (Dan. 12:2). Continue reading “The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). Section 2. (BADR Part 4)”
The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). (BADR Part 3)
The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). (BADR Part 3)
Kairos Podcast Series 8: Biblical Anthropology, Death and Resurrection – BADR Part 3
Question: Some scholars believe that the Bible teaches not dualism but monism. Can you explain the competing view of monism?
Death involves disintegration of a person’s vital power, cessation of bodily life, and separation of the body and the soul (nepeš): Gen. 35:18; 1 Kings 19:4). Does the soul continue to exist after the death of the person? The monist theologian’s answer is “no”.
Monism argues that according to the Bible, a human being is not divided into separate parts, i.e. body, soul, and spirit, but he exists as a unified or holistic self. The soul and the body are just different aspects of a person. Since existence entails bodily existence, there is no possibility of disembodied existence of the soul after death.
The purpose of this video is to show that monism contradicts the Bible which ascribes to the disembodied soul some forms of consciousness in the intermediate state between death and final resurrection.
You may view the video at:
The Soul Between Death and Resurrection (the Intermediate State). (BADR Part 3)
Related Post:
Old Testament Anthropology as “Dualistic Holism” or “Holistic Dualism”. (BADR Part 2)
Old Testament Anthropology as “Dualistic Holism” or “Holistic Dualism”. (BADR Part 2)
Old Testament Anthropology as “Dualistic Holism” or “Holistic Dualism”
𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝟖: 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲, 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐑 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐)
𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭? \
While the Bible affirms anthropological dualism, it also views human beings holistically where all their psychosomatic faculties work together as an integrated unity. However, biblical holism differs from philosophical holism or physicalism which considers the organism or anthropological entity as comprising a single substance or stuff. In contrast, biblical “functional holism” recognizes the integration and interrelation of all the parts in the existence and proper operation of the whole, without assuming that each part would necessarily cease to function or disintegrate into nothingness if the whole were broken up. To conclude, OT anthropology is both dualistic and holistic. It may be described as either biblical “holistic-dualism” or “dualistic holism”.
You may view the whole video at
Old Testament Anthropology as “Dualistic Holism” or “Holistic Dualism”
Old Testament Anthropology as “Dualistic Holism” or “Holistic Dualism”
The Triumph of the Therapeutic and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution
Philosophical and Social Origins of Identity Politics and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution. Part 3.
A. The Autonomous Self and Expressive Individualism
Recent Gallup surveys show that the number of people in the West who identify as LGBTQ and reject the heterosexual family in preference for “non-binary” sexual relationships is increasing. This extraordinary development is the culmination of a sequence of historical developments in the West beginning from the 17th century. This includes the decline of Judeo-Christian religion, the influence of the Enlightenment-Romantic philosophy of the autonomous self, the erosion of community relationships in secular society, and “expressive individualism”, the modern notion that one must be true to oneself to be authentic.1“Expressive individualism holds that each person has a unique core of feeling and intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized…In the twentieth century, it shows affinities with the culture of psychotherapy.”Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen et. al, Habits of the Heart (Uni. California, 1985, 1996), pp. 333-334.
Historically, the individual in the West based his identity on his relationship with God and the community he belonged to. The role of religion and pastoral care was to help individuals to be integrated with their community. The good life required the individual to order his life in conformity to God’s created order, in accordance the mimetic view of life. But skeptical Enlightenment philosophy dispensed with the idea of God. Consequently, nature and social order became desacralized and may be manipulated and exploited to serve the welfare of individuals and society, in accordance with the poietic view of life. If there is no created order, then society and culture are merely social constructs, and if nature possesses no intrinsic meaning or purpose, then human beings must create meaning and moral values for themselves. This led in the emergence of the autonomous individual who defines for himself his moral values, and sets the goal of self-fulfillment on his own terms. Continue reading “The Triumph of the Therapeutic and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution”
OT Anthropology: The Constituent Elements of Man. (BADR Part 1)
OT Anthropology: The Constituent Elements of Man. (BADR Part 1)
Kairos Podcast Series 8: Biblical Anthropology, Death and Resurrection (BADR Part 1).
A. Contemporary Criticism Against Biblical Dualistic Anthropology
Under the influence of prominent liberal scholars like Adolf Harnack in the early 20th century, the movement to decouple biblical theology from the alleged influence of Greek or Platonic philosophical influences gained momentum…
The distinctive usage of biblical anthropological terms should alert us to the need to examine Scripture on its own terms in order to resolve the controversy between holism and dualism. This post shall examine closely how the terms which describe the constituent elements of man are used in the OT…
B. Man’s Constituent Elements
Bāsār, Flesh
Note that flesh does not connote the principle of sin or the man’s unregenerate nature. It connotes a nature which is frail and transient: “all flesh is grass” (Isa. 40:6; Psa. 78:39). However, “flesh” is open to God’s positive influence so that a heart of stone could be changed into a heart of flesh, something which is soft and yielded to God (Ezek. 36:26).” Continue reading “OT Anthropology: The Constituent Elements of Man. (BADR Part 1)”
All that is Solid Melts into Air: The Recentred but Empty Self
Philosophical and Social Origins of Identity Politics and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution. Part 2.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming
A) Loss of meaningful sacred order and providence
Since antiquity, people acknowledged that there is a natural order of law and morals. Life is best lived when it is lived in accordance with the requirements of natural order. Among the Greeks, the Stoics taught that man must live in harmony with the rational and purposive order in nature. Ancient Israel also acknowledged a natural order, one that is implanted into creation by the Creator. According to the sages of ancient Israel, knowledge of God comes from experiencing God’s activity in the world. Faith in God’s providence means trusting in the reliability of the creation which the benevolent God has ordered to support human life and guide man in his moral knowledge and action. Gerhard von Rad explains, “This order [of creation] was, indeed, simply there and could, in the last resort, speak for itself. The fact that it quietly but reliably worked towards a balance in the ceaselessly changing state of human relationships ensured that it was experienced over and over again as a beneficent force. In it, however, Yahweh himself was at work in so far as he defended goodness and resisted evil. It was he who was present as an ordering and upholding will in so far as he gave a beneficent stability to life and kept it open to receive his blessings.”1Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (SCM, 1972), pp. 191-192. Continue reading “All that is Solid Melts into Air: The Recentred but Empty Self”
The Uncanny Superiority of Ecclesiastes over Its Counterparts (Ecclesiastes 5/5)
The Uncanny Superiority of Ecclesiastes over Its Counterparts
Kairos Podcast 7: Ecclesiastes and the Human Quest for Meaning (5/5)
Ecclesiastes is a speech “framed” by third-person references to the speaker, including a description of him and his teaching. In this description it is explicitly claimed that the speech is Scripture inspired by God. However, recent commentaries by even Evangelical scholars assume pessimism and contradictions in the speech. How then can it be Scripture inspired by God? The first video indicated that the supposed pessimism and contradictions in the speech are only apparent, not real. This final video seeks to corroborate the explicit claim that the speech is Scripture inspired by God by showing that the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is uncannily superior to that of its non-biblical counterparts.
The Vanished Soul and Quest for the Authentic Self in Modern Western Thought
Philosophical and Social Origins of Identity Politics and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution. Part 1.
Due to the influence of the Bible, the majority of thinkers in Western society for centuries have acknowledged the reality of the soul which is distinct and yet intimately linked to the body. According to the Christian tradition, what we refer to as body and soul are aspects of one unitary reality and process, that is, the body and soul are viewed as a psychophysical unit, the human person. The physical body changes through time but the soul persists as the person interacts continuously with the world. It is the continuity of the soul, with its faculties of intellect and will, which ensures coherence and defines the personal identity of the person.1Due to constrains of a short article, the words “soul”, “self” and “mind” are used in this post interchangeably in the light of overlaps in their semantic domain. For example, the immortality of the soul is linked to the immateriality of the mind and the mind is a power of the soul. However, we should be sensitive to the nuances of each thinker in how he uses these words.
Knowledge of the soul is inseparable from knowledge of God.2John Calvin notes, “true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he “lives and moves”… Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Westminster, 1960), Book 1.1.1, 2. However, from the 17th century, many Western scholars and scientists began to reject both the idea of God and the soul. Indeed, the soul has become absent or irrelevant in contemporary intellectual discourse. How did this happen?
To answer this question, we begin with the French philosopher, Rene Descartes. Continue reading “The Vanished Soul and Quest for the Authentic Self in Modern Western Thought”