Paul Long's Ramblings

Just posted up this Sunday's Pastor's Notes. To read, click HERE .

"Small fry" demand respect! And I highlight in red the part that I think that needs to be strongly emphasized ... --------- PRESS REALEASE 12 TH  APRIL 2010 TREAT US WITH RESPECT – MCCBCHST     The Emergency Meeting of the MCCBCHST Executive Committee held on 12 April 2010 wishes to register our displeasure and disappointment at the recent remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin referring to the status and members of the recently established Committee on Promoting Interfaith Understanding and Harmony under the Department of Unity and National Integration as “small fry” as quoted in Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider dated 12 April 2010.   It is unbecoming of a Minister more so the Deputy Prime Minister in the government to look down on leaders of the other religious communities in the country.   The various religious representatives of the MCCBCHST are committed to sincere and frank dialogue between different faiths as equals at the table. ...

The Shepherd and the Sheep Spiritual leadership is the leadership of the Good Shepherd. As Jesus says, good shepherds know their sheep, and their sheep know them (see John 10:14). There must be a true mutuality between shepherds and their sheep. Good leaders know their own, and their own know them. Between them is mutual trust, mutual openness, mutual care, and mutual love. To follow our leaders we cannot be afraid of them, and to lead our followers we need their encouragement and support. Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd to show the great intimacy that must exist between leaders and those entrusted to them. Without such intimacy, leadership easily becomes oppressive.

Insincerity and political doublespeak yet again.... *sigh* Don;t be too sensitive? How not to when such words are yet again from the DPM no less .... From the Malaysian Insider ... Nazri: DPM’ ‘small fry’ to protect, not insult inter-faith panel By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 – Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz defended Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s “small fry” remark when describing the Cabinet’s inter-faith panel, saying the deputy prime minister was protecting it from religious groups rather than reducing its role. Muhyiddin had caused an uproar with his statement yesterday prompting an umbrella body for non-Muslim faiths to threaten a boycott of the inter-faith committee until he explains his remarks. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department explained that the “small fry” statement must be seen in the context of Mufti of Perak’s objection to the committee. Malay right-wing group Perkasa had also made similar objections. “I think we should look at DPM’s reply in...

Grace Pays the Bill I was having breakfast with my dad and my younger son. As we were finishing our meal, I noticed that the waitress brought our check, then took it away, and then brought it back again. She placed it on the table, smiled, and said: "Somebody in the restaurant paid for your meal. You're all set." And then she walked away. I had the strangest feeling sitting there. The feeling was helplessness. There was nothing I could do. It had been taken care of. To insist on paying would have been pointless. All I could do was trust that what she said was actually true and then live in that—which meant getting up and leaving the restaurant. My acceptance of what she said gave me a choice: to live like it was true or to create my own reality in which the bill was not paid. That is our invitation—to trust that we don't owe anything. To trust that something is already true about us, something has already been done. To trust that grace pays the bill. from Velvet E...

Child marriage fair in Islam, foul by law Article from the Malaysian Insider.    Boo Su-Lyn PETALING JAYA, April 9 — Religious experts are split whether child marriages are legal in Islam but all agree that Malaysia’s civil laws prohibit such nuptials. The issue came to light when an 11-year-old girl named Siti Nur Zubaidah was married off to a 41-year-old man in Kampung Jelawang, Kuala Krai last month. Also in Kelantan was a case involving a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly forced to marry a man in his 30s. Kelantan Women, Family and Health executive councillor Hajah Wan Ubaidah Omar said Islam condoned such marriages if they were approved by the Syariah court. “In God’s eyes legal, but in laws of the country (Malaysia) not legal,” said the Kijang state assemblywoman when questioned on the legality of child marriages. Speaking about the 11-year-old, Ubaidah said that it was clearly wrong as the girl’s father had not received permission from the Syariah court to marry the...