A Spiritual Doctor's Prescription for Singapore Christians

Monday, Jan. 18, 2010 Posted: 12:32:22AM HKT

FROM EAR TO HEART: SERMONS ON SPIRITUAL FORMATION
By Bishop Dr Robert Solomon. Edited by Tong Suit Chee.
180 pp. Graduates’ Christian Fellowship. S$15
2009
Available through publisher

If you have marveled at the way doctors know exactly what is needed for each ailment or even certain health conditions and diseases, this book takes it all to a whole new level.

A medical doctor turned doctor of theology, Bishop Robert Solomon represents the new breed of theologians he has referred to in his sermons; the kind that manages to get past the idea of Man as the accused to exploring the possibilities of seeing them as patients.

Admirers of the late David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, another physician turned pastor, would be able to spot the unmistakable resemblance between the two men, both of whom view themselves as spiritual doctors.

In this Bishop Solomon, to use his own words, stands as heir of a great tradition left by the Lord Jesus Christ, who referred to Himself as a spiritual physician of sick sinners and whose own ministry was marked by their healing and transformation.

Sociologists popularised the concepts of the in-group and out-group; put simply, it would be a considerable challenge for an American or any other non-Singaporean to understand the quirks of Singaporeans.

Be that as it may, many Singapore pastors I have observed don’t seem to relate very well to the local context.

In this respect Bishop Solomon is, to use an analogy, like a fish swimming in water; that is, if the 18 sermons that have been selected for the book, the books he has written so far and the devotional writings he has produced for his monthly column in the official Methodist newsletter are representative of the way the Methodist head preaches.

This spiritual physician’s prescriptions are sweet when put in the mouth of the human soul by the very fact that everything he says is true; but, once past mental assent, they prod the lazy spirit to pursue the path of true Christian spirituality, which is the road of bitter suffering, yet not without its attendant benefits – and how incomparably greater!

Little as this book may be, it effectively bridges important gaps: between the there and then of the Bible, its characters and testimonies and the here and now; between the culture of the Bible and the Singaporean culture.

In one area, though, it does not attempt to accommodate 21st century Singapore Christian moderns and what a very significant area: these sermons, given for a variety of settings, do not try to make the message of the Gospel any more acceptable than it is – and this is not very much – in the hearing of an outrageously relativist culture.

The plumb, mustached Indian bishop, who preaches with an enviable and endearing – almost heavenly – clarity and simplicity, presents the Gospel in all its blunt, unrefined offensiveness and political incorrectness.

Christians unwilling to receive the ‘death sentence’ of the Gospel in full force and forsake the earthly comforts of this world are here forewarned not to digest this book: it has the power, unlike so many other books, to take you beyond mere Christian sentimentality and teach you something of eternal value.

For the rest of us, here is a spiritual doctor who knows to prescribe medicine for our terribly sick souls.

Shall I go on to say, just as it was said of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, that Singapore's Christians are divided into those who have read this book and those who haven’t?

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com