Below is an excerpt.
This is the transcript of a lecture delivered by Dr Roland Chia at the National Conference of the International Students Inc on 20 June 2023.
Let me draw your attention to some words of the apostle Paul found in his second letter to his young protégé, Timothy. In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul writes:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.
With penetrating discernment, the apostle Paul presents what may be described as a spiritual diagnosis of the culture of his day. He speaks of the stubborn indifference to the truth. He speaks of the truth being subjectivised and reshaped according to the dictates of the prevailing culture. He speaks of people who will turn from being truth-seekers to being myth-makers, constructing ‘realities’ of their own to suit their peculiar predilections and tastes. He speaks of a flippant and restless religious consumerism as people try to quench their insatiable thirst for novelty.
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Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore) and Theological and Research Advisor of the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.