The Streaming Bible
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| Who do you see? An old or a young woman? |
DOUBLE VISION
Both
Christians and non-Christians understand the POWER of the Word of God.
The Christians know through personal experience and by Scripture, for
Paul in writing to the 1st-century Jews (Hebrews 4: 12 Khmer) states: "For
the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
The non-Christians know intuitively the power of Christian Scripture, as reflected by the comments and discriminatory diatribes against Christians, one example being the posts of Christian Scripture in KI-Media (alongside the Buddhist, animistic, atheistic posts, etc.)
This is most unfortunate. In this current Khmer society where there is a great paucity of quality reading materials, the raging refusal to read, just because it is Christian Scripture, is first and foremost a loss to oneself. Gandhi and a great many non-Christian philosophers throughout the ages read Christian Scripture and were edified by it.
I was also struck by the confused understanding between coercion/emotional manipulation and open competition of ideas. Providing access to high quality reading materials, particularly materials which have formed the foundation of the western world, human dignity and the human rights movement as we know it is intentionally or unintentionally viewed mistakenly as a negative or coercion. I have seen coercion and emotional manipulation by the Christians, as well as by the Buddhists, the Jews, the Muslims, the animists, the atheists etc. and it should be shunned any and every time it is employed, no matter who does it. One sure sign of coercion is "blind obedience or else", the "or else" being societal sanction, withdrawal of favor or even death.
For me, I am edified when someone shares something that is important to him or her, even if I disagree with that person. As long I have my thinking cap on, reading and thinking--especially reading of excellent materials and ideas which challenge us to think--are to be always welcome. That, simply, is what LEARNING is all about.
It would be useful for all of us periodically to read and re-read Miroslav Volf's concept of "DOUBLE VISION" (click and scroll down to bottom half of the page).
The non-Christians know intuitively the power of Christian Scripture, as reflected by the comments and discriminatory diatribes against Christians, one example being the posts of Christian Scripture in KI-Media (alongside the Buddhist, animistic, atheistic posts, etc.)
This is most unfortunate. In this current Khmer society where there is a great paucity of quality reading materials, the raging refusal to read, just because it is Christian Scripture, is first and foremost a loss to oneself. Gandhi and a great many non-Christian philosophers throughout the ages read Christian Scripture and were edified by it.
I was also struck by the confused understanding between coercion/emotional manipulation and open competition of ideas. Providing access to high quality reading materials, particularly materials which have formed the foundation of the western world, human dignity and the human rights movement as we know it is intentionally or unintentionally viewed mistakenly as a negative or coercion. I have seen coercion and emotional manipulation by the Christians, as well as by the Buddhists, the Jews, the Muslims, the animists, the atheists etc. and it should be shunned any and every time it is employed, no matter who does it. One sure sign of coercion is "blind obedience or else", the "or else" being societal sanction, withdrawal of favor or even death.
For me, I am edified when someone shares something that is important to him or her, even if I disagree with that person. As long I have my thinking cap on, reading and thinking--especially reading of excellent materials and ideas which challenge us to think--are to be always welcome. That, simply, is what LEARNING is all about.
It would be useful for all of us periodically to read and re-read Miroslav Volf's concept of "DOUBLE VISION" (click and scroll down to bottom half of the page).
- Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 24 Feb. 2013
3 comments:
I don't mind listenning to it in English, but in Khmer, it just doesn't sink in, sorry!
I see កក្តាន់
People read because they think it's beautiful or something is highly praised by others - the moment people feel like their benefit from reading is at expense of their freedom to choose, they will resist it.
I feel you'll better convince people to seek out the Christian philosophy by expounding all it's greatness than by telling people they are doing a disservice to themselves for not reading the the bible.
This idea is commonly known in psychology as reactance.
This is what wikipedia have to say about that form of persuasion:
"Reactance can cause the person to adopt or strengthen a view or attitude that is contrary to what was intended, and also increases resistance to persuasion"
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