Magazine Pulled Off Shelves

From The Straits Times ... March 3, 2012

FHM Singapore pulled off shelves over articles
Publisher withdraws magazine following protests from Christian reader

By Jennani Durai

All unsold copies of this month's issue of FHM Singapore magazine will be pulled off stands islandwide, after two articles in it sparked the ire of Christians here for being insensitive.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the magazine's senior editor, Mr David Fuhrmann-Lim, apologised on Friday for any offence caused.

He said the magazine will be pulled off shelves immediately and the process would be completed within two days. He also posted the apology on the magazine's Facebook page.

A spokesman for media regulator Media Development Authority (MDA) on Friday said it is investigating the men's lifestyle magazine 'for possible breach of content guidelines'.

Is Christmas about Santa?

"Tis the season to be jolly," so says the Christmas song, Deck the Halls. But what is in this season for us to be jolly? Is it the receiving of.gifts, the festivities of Santa Claus coming to town, or is it the gathering of a mass of people together to celebrate the birth of Christ? Here's taking a look at the origins of Santa Claus to understand the reason for this Christmas season.

Santa Claus is known by many names, including Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or just ‘Santa'. He is the figure in most of Western cultures described as the one bringing.gifts on the eve of Christmas Day. Saint Nicholas is believed to be the youngest bishop in the history of the church who was well known for his benevolence in the 4th century as the one who cared for needy children and poor maidens. He was persecuted and imprisoned with many other Christians during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian and was released and honored when Constantine the Great established the Christian Church as the official religion.

Two hundred years after his death, Saint Nicholas became a great figure in Christian Legend, and Justinian, the last Roman emperor in the East, built a church in honor of Nicholas in Constantinople. A day was set aside to celebrate the feast of Nicholas in honor of his benevolence on December 6, naming it as Saint Nicholas Day. In certain countries, this festival has been assimilated to Christmas, partly because Saint Nicholas Day is very near to Christmas and partly because of some Protestant hostility toward the worship of the saints in some parts of the world. After the feast of Saint Nicholas had been moved forward and identified with Christmas, some of these countries felt the real patron of the day and Giver of.gifts should be Christ Himself, hence the birth of Kris Kringle in popular German, meaning Christ Child. Among some of the German people in America, however, the legend of Santa Claus continue to survive, and Kris Kringle evolved into a combination of Santa Claus and the Christ Child.

In the 19th century, political cartoonist Thomas Nast of the United States popularized Santa Claus as the fat jolly man in red coat and trousers with white cuffs and collar, and a black leather belt with boots. This portrayal of Santa was reinforced through song, radio, television, and films. In the American version, Santa was said to be living in the far north or the North Pole. In the United Kingdom of Europe, however, Father Christmas was said to live in Lapland. Blending local folklore from Nordic countries, Saint Nicholas was also said to be bringing.gifts with the Yule Goat, which gradually became the elves, the ones said to be responsible for making the toys of Santa.

This combination provides a summarized idea of how Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus from the earliest times, and the birth of the elves. The mystification of Santa flying through the sky with reindeers on a sleigh is therefore a concept not of Christian origins, but of stories belonging to countless fairy tales about elves, gnomes, spirits, and hobgoblins.

In understanding Christmas, therefore, we must return to the origins of Christmas celebration. The Bible states it clearly, that the reason for this season of Christmas is the birth of God the Word, Who became flesh to dwelt among us, the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Christmas is therefore about Christ-mass, the gathering of a mass of people to celebrate Christ's birth.

Christmas Cooking and Feasting

Some of us have just celebrated Thanksgiving with feasting, and it's that time of the year once again when all of us will soon come together to enjoy Christmas feasting as well, yet not everyone in the world has this same privilege. While some may complain about the preparation, the cooking and the baking, many like me who knows next to nothing about cooking and baking, often just sit around in expectancy to a feast in celebration of our Lord's birthday.

The Bible mentioned a great deal about feasting, but very little about cooking, except maybe for what is implied of Martha's distraction with her preparation when the Lord visited her home, and of another occasion when she prepared a supper for the Lord (Luke 10:38-42; John 12:2). In the Old Testament, the Bible mentioned many feasts, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of the Harvest, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), and Feast of the Passover. Some of these feasts are still being celebrated today by Jews and by Christians in various parts of the world.

The Feast of Booths, for example, is being observed by some 50,000 Christians, according to an article at the web site of Wikipedia. This Feast, in some places in the world, is even declared as a Christian holiday, much like the Lord's birthday. The Book of Zechariah mentioned about this Feast as part of a prophecy of our Lord's return (Zechariah 14). Biblical feasts, such as this, are usually observed in honor of God to remember what He has done for His people. Likewise, when we celebrate Christmas with feasting, we must also remember the reason for our celebration -- the birth of Christ, born to die for our sins and to set us free from spiritual death.

While it is absolutely true that all of us who participate in the feasting appreciate and are grateful to the ones who prepare the Christmas feast out of love, in suffering and hardship to cook and to bake, we must above all things, always remember the purpose of our celebration. Christmas is indeed an occasion deserving of a great celebration with feasting, cooking, and baking, but we, who are the ones who prepare the food, and the ones who feast on the food, must always do it out of love and appreciation, not only to one another, but also to the Lord, Who is the reason we are celebrating the occasion. Let us all, therefore, when we eat of the food, the turkey and ginger bread, the delights of the stomach and appetites, remember that it is because of Jesus we are cooking and feasting on this joyous occasion.

Teach us, O Lord, as we celebrate Your birthday with joy and feasting, to remember You, the reason for our celebration, to appreciate, love, and cherish the ones who work so hard to prepare the feast, to cook and to bake, in love and charity, so that we may feast with joy and gaiety, with appreciation and without gluttony.

A Day of Celebration

After twenty years of on and off attending classes, writing assignments, and sitting for tests, I am finally attending the last class for a certificate course in religious studies this evening.

The course which is conducted at a Bible College for the School of Theology consists of sixteen units, broken down into the following subjects:

• Old Testament (4 units)
• New Testament (4 units)
• Doctrine (2 units)
• Missions (2 units)
• Christian Education (2 units)
• Electives (2 units)

At this end of the course, students will obtain the Certificate in Christian Studies.

Some people has asked me why I have taken up this course, since it does not add up to provide any transferable credits for a degree or higher course in any theological seminary, nor am I planning to become a lay leader, pastoral or full-time church staff. After all, it does not provide credits to greater spirituality or entry to heaven.

Well, don't ask me why. I take it because as a young Christian years back, that was my interest, and I don't like to do things half way or leave it uncompleted. It's a promise I want to keep with God, after completing my academic studies.

Just last year, after six years of anxiety, stuggle and many sleepless nights, I have finally completed my degree in media studies. Now is the time to 'pay back' what I have started to do a long time ago, and although there have been much inconveniences weekly in getting to the classes, it is all well worth it. My academic study is not wasted too, as it helped me hone my skills in preparing for the assignments in this course, and to obtain better grades.

This is a day for celebration!

How I came to be a Christian

I became a Christian when I was a secondary school student. As a librarian in a Catholic school, I had the opportunity to be sent to YMCA to learn some typing skills. While at YMCA, I picked up a brochure and found out about Christian correspondence courses that are available free, so I enrolled and got to know more about Christianity.

One day, while standing at the stairs of the National Library at Stamford, some students invited me to join them in their church's school club at the Bible House in Armenian Street, so I went with them. My first visit to the club was an evangelistic meeting and having known Christ through correspondence courses, I readily received Him there and then.

Becoming a Christian is not all smooth sailing. Coming from a 'buddist' family, I was persecuted and considered an outcast of the family who does not know his roots. In school, I was branded a 'holy cow' and was segregated from a circle of friends. It was not until several years later that people began to accept me for what I am, and even till this day there are still occurences of rejection from my family and relatives in situations such as a non-Christian funeral. All these 'sufferings' however are insignificant in comparison to the joy I receive when I trust Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. Even when I stray away at times, God never for once stays away from me and when things seem humanly hopeless, He always puts in my heart a special calm that gives me confidence to go on.

Now after many years in the Christian faith, I have served the Lord in many areas, including ushering, church youth club leadership, cell group and worship leadership, counselling for several public Christian gospel conferences and other areas. I have also studied some theological studies part-time at FEBC and SBC in the past and wrote Christian teachings in church newsletters. As part of my interest in Christian research, I have also written a book on Church History many years ago for my Bible Study group.

Today, I am just a simple and ordinary Christian attending church regularly, whose heart is desiring to reach out to help others, and to share with mankind the inner peace that I've experienced in Jesus Christ.

A Christmas Story

The happiest person is not someone who received a wonderful present on Christmas, but someone who after days in an open boat, or after hours in a crippled airplane, or after minutes in a burning building, is RESCUED!

We thrill when we read of the rescue of miners or of mountain climbers or of a child who has fallen deep into a well. What irony when a soldeir risks his life to save a buddy, only to have this buddy refuse help, claiming that he can solve his own problem. And then he dies!

The greatest rescue operation of all time began on the first Christmas Day. Yet most of us refuse to be rescued! We are confident that we can solve our own problems. We deny that we are in danger.

But man's danger is fantastically great:

the 'ordinary' dangers of sickness, accident, war, poverty, and death
striving for the wrong goals in life
misplaced self-confidence and uawareness of the spiritual world
the lack of realization that he is destined to live forever - in unspeakable sorrow or in unspeakable joy.
In fact, man's danger was so great that the infinite God had to become man in order to rescue man. No one else could do it! God became man in the person of the baby Jesus. That is why Christmas is so important.

You see, man has sinned. Now sin is not some minor weakness that can be cured by a few good intentions, or a few good works, or even a few prayers and other religious activities. No, our sin was a rebellion against God; a selling of ourselves to the devil; a total pollution of our wills and minds and souls.

The only rescue from this pit of degradation is by someone taking the punishment due us and also having the power to clean up our innermost being.

And this is exactly what Jesus Christ did. Since He is the sinless Son of God, he could bear the infinite anger of God against all sin. And He sends His Spirit into the lives of all who come to Him to cleanse them from every impurity.

The proof of God's amazing love is this: that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us. No condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are 'in' Christ Jesus. For the new spiritual principle of life 'in' Christ Jesus lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death.

But this rescue must be accepted. We must confess our sin, ask God's forgiveness, and accept the only way of salvation: faith in Jesus Christ.

If we freely admit that we have sinned, we find God utterly reliable and straight forward - He forgives our sins and makes us thoroughly clean from all that is evil.

For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him should not be lost, but should have eternal life.

What a wonderful salvation from a horrible condition! This is why it is a ... Merry Christmas!

To know more about the Christian faith, feel free to join the Living Water group blog. You need not be a Christian to join the group ... all you need is an interest to find out more!

by Faith, Prayer & Tract League, Grand Rapids, Michigan