WORSHIP AND CHRISTIAN MUSIC – Joshua Law, Challenger 1990
WORSHIP AND CHRISTIAN MUSIC — by Joshua Law CCM, Challenger 1990
True Worship
When we go to church on Sundays, what do we expect from the worship experience? Most of us expect to be lectured to when we get there. We have learnt to become passive, and quietly pay our religious dues by enduring a boring but necessary religious ceremony. We do not want to admit it but deep inside, we tend to believe that the church experience is mainly for the good of our children and it is a form of work that we do to gain salvation.1 The worship service is rarely exciting and meaningful. We know some where in our hearts that the message of the gospel is powerful and is the source of our happiness, wisdom and strength. We heard many great blessings from the Bible delivered through the pulpit, but we don’t seem to get these blessings in real life. It seems as if they are all true in theory only. So we slowly come to the conclusion that all these blessings are not for the present life,2 and may be, if we attend church often enough and be a good person, we will have a better future life in Heaven.3 So therefore most of us, in order to find meaning in church activities, resorted to socialize and making friends and planning programs around the most superficial of Christian themes.4 Going to church at its best means to have a sense of belonging, to make friends, to be lectured to or to live the good life. To have fellowship means no more than drinking coffee together and chit-chatting until there is nothing to chit-chat about. Hymn singing is often dull, dragging, and exhausting. All in all, the church experience rarely bring us any excitement, much needed nurture, discipline, and growth. Continue reading
A Closer Look at Christian Music, Joshua Law, 1991
A Closer Look at Christian Music. by Joshua Law June 1991
Music is a language.
Some people, unwittingly, believe that music is a universal language mainly because music generally has a pleasant appeal. To me, music is an enhanced encoded language. Music needs to be learnt in order to be understood. And to be understood, music needs to be decoded. (Music can be very uncertain: I Cor. 14:8) However, since pure music is abstract, the message it gives is ambiguous, The listener is free to interpret it the way he feels at the moment. Therefore, music often arouses a variety of emotional responses. However, not all music appeal to all people. The same piece of music can arouse contrasting emotional responses. Continue reading
勸人與祂和好的職份
勸人與祂和好的職份 羅天樂牧師講，黃慧芷記錄。
中國人講文章都是以起承轉合的方式，對不對？所以我用起承轉合的方式將我的信息帶出來。
第一是起，就是救恩，教導救恩的福音，我們在救恩那裡怎麼得到快樂，怎麼得到榮譽，怎麼得到好處，然後因為救恩如此的緣故，我們有職份，有托付。
接著是承，就是承受了使命，也就是傳福音。
接著是轉，因為人有軟弱，包括基督徒在內，我們常常活在黑暗中，很容易自己刪除律法裡的各條，或自己補上去，增添上去；又失去見證，假冒偽善，彼此論斷。
接著的結論呢，就是合，我們要改過前非，在主前大家合一。
第一，謙卑下來；
第二，確保見證；
第三，為主犧牲；
第四，搶救靈魂；
第五，扶助弱者；
第六，保衛合一；
第七，清潔教會。
Worship and Music, River of no Return
I am writing this article not without substance and preparation. I am attempting to objectively lay it out to plead for change. I do not want any reader to belittle what I have to say in this matter. But to hear me, and in all sincerity give this issue an objective evaluation. Hopefully we could do something in resolving the problems caused by this blessed but yet divisive medium, called music. Therefore, I need to qualify myself. Continue reading
基督道理的開端
基督道理的開端 羅天樂牧師講稿
希伯來書6:1『所以我們應當離開基督道理的開端、竭力進到完全的地步．不必再立根基、就如那懊悔死行、信靠神、各樣洗禮、按手之禮、死人復活、以及永遠審判、各等教訓。』
我們今天可以說是有一個很圓滿的敬拜，因為我們的敬拜當中有人見證神怎麼拯救他，又相信神，又有讚美的聲音從會堂響起，又有人受洗，又有人奉獻，未信之人看到這些，他們可能不大明白，他們未曾明白基督教的真理並『基督道理的開端』，甚至許多人信了耶穌一段的時間也未曾明白『基督道理的開端』是什麼？我以下的講道是『基督道理的根基，道理開端』的第五講。是有關基督復活的訊息。
聖經裡，神藉保羅要我們『離開基督道理的開端，竭力進到完全的地步』，這是指我們並不是只停止在基督道理的根基，道理的開端那裡，我們一定會要進步。我們知道中文翻譯原文常常會有一些偏差，其實『進到』這個動詞在原文的意思就像是風吹動船的帆的意思；所以我們的進步是要靠風來吹動的。風就代表神的靈，神的靈一吹的時候，如果我們的帆是撐起的，我們自然就會前進。這麼說來，我們信主之後，這個進步是靠我們用我們的意志決定，用行動去撐起了帆，這相當於不靠自己的力量，而讓神的靈動工，敏感的等候神的引領而行。我們願不願撐起這個帆呢。 Continue reading