Y.S. Stephen - Reader | Casual Observer

In this day where we have bibles of many translations, study bibles under different themes, regular Sunday schools as well as debates and numerous resources in many formats, the author of The Sin of Certainty , Peter Enns, wonders if our obsession with an intellectual-based faith isn't blocking us from progressing as a Church and as individuals. The evangelical scholar believes our frantic quest for intellectual correctness has led us far too deep into wrong roads, resulting in wrong priorities and divisions within the church. He writes: When holding to correct thinking becomes the center, we have shrunk faith in God to an intellectual exercise, a human enterprise, where differences need to be settled through debate first before faith can get off the ground. Peter Enns talks about over-investment in intellectual engagement and the ineffectual nature of the arguments in spiritual matters. He says that debates over petty doctrines have a poor record of changing people...

... it is true that men are great at creation and manipulation. God, alas, is on another level. I have been feeling a longing to move house of late. I have taken time to study the current world situation and that of my immediate environment. And my conclusion is always pretty much the same - the time to move is near. However, after much thought and I'll admit, a little prayer, I couldn't but feel a sense of déjà vu. I feel like I'm being mugged. Again. We all have our illusions of freedom, a faith in our capacity to do what we want at any time we want with results that falls in line with our predictions. But the end game is always the same, isn't it? For many of us striving to make our lives more convenient, chasing riches, material wealth or whatever you may call it, all to improve our lot, we have noticed that more money doesn't change our inner circumstances. Being rich means you have more stuff, but if you are a paranoid person before you got rich, you...

Like Pema Chodron, who told the graduating students of Naropa University in 2014 to get curious about their mistakes as mistakes can be a portal to creativity , so said Mary Karr in her 2015 commencement address to the graduating students of Syracuse University. Mary Karr, the author of three award-winning, bestselling memoirs and the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse Univeristy, exhorts the graduating students to banish any fear of misfortune and face their lives with optimism. Like any good storyteller, the author dips into her past, telling the students her story of drugs, poverty and mental issues that almost drove her to give up on everything. However, she counsels that the darkest roads often hides the paths to redemption and people out to be curious about what scares them. She says:  "And if you can get curious about what scares or infuriates you—especially if it’s part of yourself—you can grow less scared........ And stuff that first looked like the worst, mo...

Makoto Fujimura's Silence and Beauty is a book worth reading more than once. Silence and Beauty reads like a book review. After several pages, this assessment changes and you kind of start looking at it as a memoir of some sorts. Truly, Silence and Beauty is both review and memoir, but a remarkable trait of this book is the ease with which it navigates between the two identities. Silence and Beauty  is written by the award winning contemporary artist, Makoto Fujimura. The book is an exploration of another book titled Silence by Shusaku Endo. Silence is a historical fiction about a Jesuit priest who ventures into 17th century Japan to seek out his mentor who is rumoured to have turned into an apostate. The priest manages to enter Japan, but from his arrival notices the influences of an ongoing persecution that has led to the deaths of several local Christians. The Japanese Christian persecution, which springs from a shogun's effort to wipe out Christianity from Japan, s...

Life can be ordinary, with enough routine to make you think you are on some kind of autopilot with no will of your own. You wake up, go to work, return home, eat, drink, participate in whatever hobbies or pastime you love (if you are lucky to have one), then kick your legs off to sleep. This is the way of the modern adult, and not many life situations jolt us out of that mould. It is also the reason why we idolise those who seem to live outside of this bubble, especially those who, in Christian definition, are spiritual and dedicate more of their time to what we consider as “the things of God”. That can include praying, worship, preaching and the likes. It is why there is usually an air of veneration among Christians when someone with the common title of “Pastor” shows up. We venerate and respect these kinds of people because, compared to our humdrum lives, where nothing seemingly spiritual exists but anger, stress, worry, depression and frequent illnesses, the "Pastor...

Flair , by Jim and Jennifer Poage, focuses on teaching us how to do work that excites the world. With real-life examples and anecdotes, the book tells us how to master the skill of rendering unforgetable services and creating products that stirs up positive emotions. Using Dr Dre's Beats headphones, Reebok jerseys, The Magic Castle Hotel (Hollywood) as examples among others,  Flair  gives us a glimpse of what creators considers as the essence of their creation as well as what effective flair looks and feels like. What is flair? How do we recognise it? The book states that effective flair must have some, if not all, of the following elements: Story - Tell a story about your offering. Entertainment - Have your offering entertain your customers. Experience - Create pleasant, even happy, customer experience. Sincerity - Construct flair to accurately reflect your offering. Excellence - Be sure your offering is high quality so it doesn't disappoint. Energy - Striv...

I love reading and writing. I have benefited from practicing these disciplines and can attest to their powers. However, it would be naive of me to think reading or writing is an end in itself. We read (and, or write) to gain knowledge, we do it to expand our horizons, we do it to understand one another. We can also use it to incite hatred or spread malice. The point is: the act of reading or writing is a tool and its usefulness depends on the person wielding it, among other things. I take a similar view with spiritual disciplines like fasting, bible reading, prayers, and the likes. I have heard many extolling the value of bible reading in ways that makes you think the book itself contains magical properties, while some treat the act of prayer like a magic wand that grants all dreams and wishes. Needless to say, these spiritual disciplines are believers' lifeblood and we cannot do without them. But just like writing and reading, they are tools and can be used rightly or wrongl...