The thing about the affections is, that people most often confuse them with emotions. And so when we talk about affections, sometimes people get concerned that we're going to end up as shallow Christians

However 'affections' and 'emotions' are different from each other, although they are linked. And what we're on about, and what God is interested in, is the affections.

For example, you may love your daughter - your affection for her is 'love'. However the feelings that you have for her may change. So if she goes and draws on the walls with crayon, your emotion could actually be anger. However if you take someone else's child, for whom you have no affection, and if he goes and draw on the walls, you may feel nothing at all.

So affections are linked to emotions, and they can lead to emotions - like in diagram (a). But affections are different from emotions. The thing about emotions is that we enjoy them, we experience them very strongly - but affections by themselves may not necessarily produce such enjoyable feelings inside of us.

Some Christian ministries know how powerful emotions are, and they target the emotions directly, bypassing the affections altogether - like in diagram (b). And so what they can do is sing songs in such a way to touch the emotions, or tell stories that manipulate the emotions - and it can feel wonderful.

But emotions are not affections, and strong feelings of euphoria in a worship session are not necessarily a sign of godly affections at all.

When evangelicals see what such ministries are doing, they recognise how hollow and manipulative it is. And so evangelicals tend to avoid this whole area of the inner person entirely. But by doing so what we do is we end up just focussing on the intellect and the will - and we neglect the affections.

However God is interested in the affections. He commands our affections. He demands that we love him, that we hate sin, that we fear him and long for his return. And while these may lead to emotions, our focus should be on the affections.

[ PS: Jonathan Edwards devotes a whole section in the Religious Affections to false signs of godly affections - signs such as strong emotions... ]

Have you noticed how Chinese people are when it comes to learning musical instruments? Because the unacknowledged, yet pervasive influence of Confucianism, can actually be seen in the attitude of Chinese families to music...

Many Chinese families get their kids to learn piano or violin. In some cases we've found that over three quarters of a group of second-generation Chinese have been brought along by their parents to learn music!

But notice that it's not just any kind of art form that they are encouraged to learn. Chinese parents don't so much encourage art forms like painting, or dance, or sculpture. It is particularly music that they like!

And notice also that it's not just any kind of music. Chinese parents don't tend to encourage their kids to learn drums or the guitar. It is particularly piano and violin that they encourage their kids to learn - those musical instruments that are perceived to be refined and cultured. And electric guitar is certainly not cultured and refined!

However, if you ask a parent why they want their kids to learn piano or violin, they won't be able to tell you. They just ... like it. And that's the influence of Confucianism. It's just there, influencing the culture, but people aren't necessarily aware of its impact.

It is like how the earth's mass exercises an inescapable, gravitational pull on the moon - although there is nothing visible  that ties the moon to the earth.

Because Confucianism is all about restoring order and harmony in a China that was divided and at war against itself. And while part of Confucius' answer was to recover the rites and rituals of their ancestors in order to become a cultured person (or ren), it also involved applying oneself to learn music of all things!

Here is one quote on music from the Analects of Confucius, and notice from this how music is elevated to the important level of the odes and the rules of propriety (the li):


One of the important texts of Confucianism was even the Book of Music, which unfortunately has been forever lost during one of the purges against Confucianism (during the Qin dynasty).

The idea of music in Confucianism was that it was a means by which people could create harmony in society.

A family may have different people with different feelings towards each other. And the emperor's court may also have simmering feelings of rivalry and jealousy.

However, by the family group, or by the court sitting down together and listening to a piece of music being played, as that music is being played it creates harmony in the feelings of everyone present. It regulates what people are feeling, so that at the end they are all feeling the same thing.

Of course people have lost that idea now, and many Chinese would not be able to express why the idea of their children learning piano or violin so appeals to them. However, rooted deep in the Chinese culture is this idea of music being an important tool for the virtuous man to create harmony in society - and of course harmony is one of the great virtues of Confucianism.

From this you can see how something like Confucianism very much influences what we do now - but people won't necessarily know that the reason why we tend to do it is because of Confucianism. And if Confucianism influences us so much in how we are with music, then how much more in other areas of life!

[ PS: were you ever encouraged to learn piano or violin as a child? ]

Quickly: if you were asked to pray for someone who is sick and dying, what would you pray about?

From my observation over the years, here is what we tend to pray for:

• recovery of health
• relief of suffering
• prolonging of life
• wisdom on the part of doctors
  

And those are in fact good things to pray about. God is sovereign even over microscopic viruses and diseases, and may in his sovereignty intervene in the natural course of a disease to miraculously bring about healing and prolong life.

However that's all we seem to pray about.

And I wonder if the content of such prayers reveals much about what it is that we have really set our hopes on. Notice for instance that there is often no mention in our prayers about:

• desiring to be with Jesus
  
• longing for our heavenly home
• looking forward to the resurrection body
• having confidence in the face of death
  

Why not? I wonder if it's because really, our hopes aren't for our heavenly home. We don't really desire to be with the Lord. Instead, we want to stay here for as long as we can, so we can enjoy our nice house, be with our family, and enjoy more of life. In other words, what we really long for is more of this world and this life.

And so it must sometimes seem to those around us that we Christians are just as fearful of losing our life, and have just as little to look forward to beyond death, as they do. When in fact that is categorically not so.

Instead we look forward with tremendous eagerness to being with the Lord and to enjoy seeing him face to face at last! We long to dwell in the home of righteousness! We look forward to sharing in his resurrection body! We know that the grave does not mean the end of life, but the start of LIFE! We have heaps to look forward to, and so in the first place our prayers over loved ones who are sick should give thanks for the great things in store. Perhaps even giving thanks for this reminder that this world can never satisfy.

However our feeble minds forget the awesome things set aside for us beyond death. And what can loom greater in our minds is pain, or fear, or the natural sadness of having to be apart from loved ones for a while. And so in our prayers we should in the second place also ask that our loved ones who are sick would have a renewed longing for their heavenly home. That God would increase their longing to be with him.

Here is what Paul writes when he realised that his own end was near. Notice particularly the deep affection he has for his future heavenly home, which seeps through from every line.

    6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NIV)

Would that, when we are close to death, it is obvious what we have really longed for all these years!

[ PS: of course, non Christians won't know about this hope... ]

I recently met a Christian who has been working in a part of China, and they were back here in Sydney for a short period to do a few things. I was asking about what they noticed about the churches in China, and one of the things they mentioned was that the official government churches (known as Three Self Patriotic Movement, or TSPM churches) do not preach on Genesis and Revelation.

Of course China is a very big place, and the restrictions over what is taught in each city or province can vary quite a lot. But officially, TSPM churches are not meant to preach on Genesis and Revelation - and this can sometimes involve sermons being censored.

Why Genesis and Revelation? what's so special about those two books?

Genesis presents an account of beginnings that runs counter to evolutionary theory. And you may know that evolutionary theory is an important building block for the historical dialectic of thesis-antithesis-thesis on which Communism is built. The idea here is that history is a series of revolutions from one form of social order, to its opposite, and then back again, and so on. And what Communism is trying to do is bring that dialectic to what they think is its consumation.

What is lost by avoiding Genesis? Here are a few points (and there are probably many more):

• We lose the sense of rightfully giving God honour as the creator of all people everywhere - instead he may become the God of one tribe in the Middle East. Although careful readers will realise that much of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament assumes the rightful rule of God over all humanity. This can lead to a lower sense of urgency about evangelism and missions.
  
  
• There is a tendency towards a kind of Buddhist dualism between good and evil - since we don't see that there was a beginning (and from Revelation also an end) to evil. This can lead to a lessened commitment to stand against sin and evil - because the feeling is that it will always be with us.
  
  
• We lose a sense of the trajectory of biblical theology across the Bible - that all of history is moving from creation to new creation, from a garden to a garden city (and again Revelation is also important here). Instead the metanarrative of history is provided by other groups. And accordingly we lose an awareness of our place in what God has been doing, and will do, in history.

And why Revelation? Revelation presents a hope for people that is different from the hope of the Communist party. Communism is meant to have created a worker's paradise - so how can it be that Christians are looking forward to a greater paradise?

What is lost by avoiding Revelation? Here are a few more observations:

• Christianity tends to become merely a helpful philosophy of life, instead of a way of life that looks forward with eager expectation to the return of the Lord Jesus. Although careful readers will realise from other places in the New Testament (eg. 1 Thessalonians and 2 Peter) that Christians are those who wait for Jesus' return, with eager expectation. This can lead to a more materialistic Christianity, since our hope is no longer on the future, and instead we latch on to the things of the present.
  
  
• Christians are not as well prepared to deal with persecution and suppression. Revelation shows that God is sovereign even through severe persecution, that he has a plan, and will triumph in the end. Although again the Bible does encourage us about this elsewhere (eg. 1 Peter).
  
  
• While other parts of the Bible present a more irenic view of our relationship to governing authorities (eg. Romans 13), Revelation reveals the superstructure of history and shows that there will come a point of crisis in our relationship to governing  authorities.

When Christians brought up in TSPM churches travel over to Australia to study, we have to realise that they may not have been exposed to the teaching of Genesis or Revelation (although things vary from province to province).

[ PS: can you think of other points of what is changed in Christian thought and practice if we lose Genesis and Revelation? ]

Terrorism hasn't really affected our daily lives here in Australia. We don't have lots of friends and relatives over in Iraq or Afghanistan. And terrorism hasn't really touched our shores in recent memory (older people will remember the Hilton bombing many years ago). If anything, we only face the added inconvenience of airport security checks.

But what should we do about terrorists - apart from protecting ourselves against them? Do we hate them back? hope the Americans deal with them?

In Matthew 5, Jesus tells his followers to love those who hate them, and pray for those who persecute them. Well, these terrorists certainly hate Christians. So do we love them? and how often do we really pray for them?

To that end, there is a relatively new website called Adopt a Terrorist for Prayer (www.atfp.org), which provides a database with profiles of over a hundred terrorists (all Islamic 'extremists'). Some have been captured, while others are still at large. But all hate Christians, and are very far away from the gospel - at least, in human terms. The idea is that you or your Bible study group choose a terrorist, and pray for their conversion.

Sounds impossible? Then remember the apostle Paul, who was once a persecutor of Christians, breathing out murderous threats against them. And how Jesus appeared to him, and turned him into his apostle to the Gentiles... So why not Abd al-Aziz Awda, of the Islamic Jihad? or Khaled Mashal, chief of HAMAS’ Syrian branch?

It's also been encouraging to see how Christians affected by terrorism - particularly US soldiers who have an active faith - have responded to the website. Often with deep humility and prayerfulness!

[ PS: hope you had a great holiday - our Bible study group had a picnic in a park! ]

Did you know that there are three levels of conversation?

The first level is where we share facts with one another. For instance, "it is raining outside." The second level is where we share our opinions. For instance, "I think it's going to rain all day." And the third level, where we disclose our feelings. For instance, "I feel sad whenever it rains."


Consider at which level you spend most of your conversations. Consider also the different groups of people - your family, your non Christian friends, the people at work. At what level do you spend most of your conversations?

Most people operate out of level one, and maybe level two. However, it's particularly when we are sharing with others at the level of our feelings, that we establish close relationships with people. So you can have a lot of conversation with people, and spend a lot of time and energy talking about facts or debating opinions - but that will only get you so far. If on the other hand you move on to share feelings, you will quickly find yourself establishing a quality of relationship that you may never have established, given years conversing at level 1 and 2.

Conversations are also one of those things that take two people to play. And so you might intend to go from level one, to two, and down to three. However, you have to do it in a way that your conversation partner will be comfortable following!

That's because, in a relationship, we naturally move from sharing facts, to opinions, and eventually feelings. And so it's not often appropriate to jump straight to level three! People will feel very uncomfortable if the first thing you share with them is your feelings! If you go around talking like an emo, people will avoid you. So if you want to build relationships with people, you do want to get down to level three, and you can lead the conversation in that direction - but you don't want to do it too quickly.

In leading a person in conversation, observe the principle of reciprocity. When you say something, the other person will tend to respond in kind. And so if you offer an opinion, it's likely that the other person will respond to your opinion with their own. If you want to get the conversation at the level of feelings, you have to disclose something of your feelings first - and then it will create a more favourable environment for your conversation partner to share their feelings too.

Note also that culture plays a role in all of this. So a bare statement of fact may actually carry emotional content to it - but it may not be picked up by people who don't share the same background.

In counselling, counsellors often listen out for these three levels when their client explains an event. And most often people will report an even in terms of the facts they observed, and their opinions of the event - but will tend to leave out the emotions they felt about the event. Counsellors will then try to draw out the feelings of the client about that event.

This is also useful for evangelism. Evangelism happens best in the context of relationship. And in order to get establish a close relationship with someone, you can make use of these three levels of conversations. That way you can intentionally work at your relationship with your colleague at work (say), so as to prepare the way to talk about the more meaningful things of life.

[ PS: what are your conversations with non Christians generally like? ]

I was explaining the gospel with a new couple at church a couple of weeks ago. As we sat together, I took out a bulletin and drew six boxes, and talked them through the gospel logic of 2 Ways to Live.

But as I did so, something didn't quite feel right.

Have you ever noticed the way we share the gospel with someone? It tends to be in terms of the facts and logic of the gospel. And our apologetics again tends to be about the facts and logic of the gospel. And rightly so - how else will people know the content of the gospel message?

However, what worries me is that while we explain the facts and logic in our presentation of the gospel, we tend to leave the affections out of it entirely...

That is, we seem to call people to know and believe a set of facts - but the manner of our presentation seems to entirely leave out the joy and delight that we have in knowing Jesus Christ! Someone might well conclude that Christianity was all in the intellect. And that the reason people should therefore become Christians because it 'makes sense'. Or because it is the 'right thing to do'.

Christianity does make the most sense. And it is the right thing to do. However, when the Bible talks about people who come to God, it describes it as a wonderful thing!

In Luke 14 Jesus paints the picture of people being called - to a banquet. A rich and sumptuous feast! In Isaiah 55 God calls on destitute people to come to him to eat freely, to buy wine and milk without cost. it is a tremendously lavish image! In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the story of a merchant who, on discovering treasure hidden in a field, goes away and in his joy sells everything he has!

We aren't just calling people to have a correct diet - maybe a bland meal, but one that is good for them. No: we are calling beggars who have no sense of smell to sense the aromas, who have no sense of sight to see the lavish feast, to come inside and freely participate in a grand feast!

The reality is, not only is Christianity right - it is the best. As Christians we know we have greater joy than non Christians. We have greater satisfaction and fulfilment than non Christians. We delight in Christ - we don't just obey him out of sheer rightness!

And so I wonder if it would be better if, in the manner, and perhaps even the content of our gospel explanations, we would do well to show some of the joy, the contentment, the delight that we have found in the pearl of great price!

[ PS: no wonder the Bible so often describes the kingdom as a banquet! ]