王盈方醫師瘋狂之旅 Dr Yvonne Wang's Blabberings

最近的閱讀

臉書最近有一篇網路文章，是Wayne寫的:

這周末有澳華浸信會展愛堂兩年一次的家庭營。

英文比較好的朋友們可以看我從講課影片做的英文筆記:

https://youtu.be/gmT7_txFJOY

一、以"使徒信經"的信仰告白來分辨異端。

今日的教會，雖然有很多不同的教派，但是在基本信仰上，卻都是一致地採取〞使徒信經〞為共同的信仰告白。

Abstract: Christian scholar Jonathan Hill felt that Christianity in Asia before the twentieth century was the story of missionaries, and that development during and after the twentieth century has been dominated by indigenisation. This essay explores whether Hill’s statement is applicable to the church history in Taiwan. Indigeneity is hard to define in Taiwan as the population is comprised of people from three major waves of migration very distinct in terms of historical origin, language, custom, and culture. Having been under the control of various rulers they did not choose, the population is in an acute multilayer identity crisis. This crisis even threatens the unity of the Church, as evidenced by the ostracisation of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan from other denominations. Through examining the three waves of missionary influx, we see a changing trend in Taiwan’s church development from paternalistic attempts at forced assimilation into the Western paradigm during Dutch colonisation to the promotion of indigenisation during the Victorian era, and finally the age of mass migration and globalisation today. Missionaries taking a paternalistic Western approach did not seem to make as much impact as missionaries that worked hard to learn the native culture and bond with the natives. The indigenisation of resources already occurred with Taiwan’s churches during the twentieth century, and a good number of renowned Taiwanese theologians also emerged. Rather than indigenisation, the world trend is now towards globalisation. Missionaries will continue playing a crucial role in the story of Christianity in Asia as the emerging non-Western missionaries make their contributions to global Christian expansion.

當視野越被擴張時就越發現自己懂得很有限。

When we think of Solomon, we think of wisdom. But was he truly wise? This is what I learnt from Morling College Old Testament Foundations:

Solomon is typically seen as one who began his reign well and was only led astray by his foreign wives towards the end of his life. However, there are indications that Solomon already failed to fully submit to the requirements of the Torah from the beginning of his reign.

Abstract:

The original sin occurred in the Adam and Eve narrative in the book of Genesis, which led to the downfall of humanity. The book of Genesis teaches that the nature of sin is related to the unbelief in God’s commands and promises, and human pride. It also teaches that sin affects all dimensions of one’s relationship, with oneself, with God, with each other, and with the rest of the creation, and physical death will come as an inevitable consequence to all. Furthermore sin spreads like wildfire and has a tendency to become more severe as it spread from a personal to a community level. God’s judgment always accompanies sin, although the severity of punishment can vary from mitigation to undifferentiated punishment on all. In Genesis 1-11, God regularly remedied sin through judgment. Then, after God’s covenant with Noah we see a greater mercy in the patriarchal narratives which demonstrated even more clearly that a line of ‘seeds’ traced throughout Genesis concluding with Judah will be the channel of God’s blessings to all nations on earth.

Ms Park Ji Young, a 22-year-old crew member of the ferry Sewol, was among the heroes who risked their lives to save others. She lost her life while struggling to ensure that all passengers on the third and fourth floors of the vessel wore life jackets and found their way out. "I repeatedly asked her why she did not first wear a life jacket. Park just said that she would get out of the ship after making sure that all passengers were out. She said the crew including her would be the last (to escape)," a survivor told the media. "Park pushed shocked passengers toward the exit even when the water was up to her chest."

Abstract:

The Council of Jerusalem was turning point in early church history and the core essence of the Book of Acts. The reasons why this meeting was so important for the development of the early church was because the church was expanding so rapidly that Gentiles were beginning to outnumber the Jews, at a time when the church was still struggling to find its own identity, and despite the conflicts in Gentile-Jew table fellowship, they could not deny the great works of the Holy Spirit which clearly demonstrated that the inclusion of Gentiles in the church was indeed the will of God. Various scholarly explanations for the council decision will then be evaluated including ethical, societal, and cultic explanations. Finally, the application of Acts 15 in dealing with racial and cultural divisions in the modern church will be examined.

With the movie “Noah” in the theatres now, it aroused my curiosity about Oriental origins according to the bible. There are some very interesting readings which I came across.

Chinese Characters and Genesis:

最近「挪亞方舟」電影的上映，讓我開始好奇中華民族是來自於挪亞哪個兒子的後裔!有些學者認為是閃，有些則認為是含! 以下是我所看到很有趣的一個探討:

「船」這個字很有意思!

Summary of Martin Luther's life

• Iconic figure in the church’s history of Protestant Reformation during the 1500s through the famous ‘Ninety-five Theses’ and his breakthrough on justification by grace alone

Martin Luther was the iconic figure in the church’s history of Protestant Reformation during the 1500s through his breakthrough on justification by faith through grace alone. He was the author of the famous ‘Ninety-five Theses’. In this essay, I will first examine the background of Luther and what was happening in his era that lead to the writing of the Ninety-five Theses. I will then analyse whether Luther’s theological breakthrough on justification by grace alone was reflected in the Ninety-five Theses.