Friday, January 27, 2006

Hiring of the elderly to work

A recent law proposed in Singapore could see people work beyond the age of 62.
http://www.asiaone.com/st/st_20060127_367455.html
While there isn't any biblical support as to how old a person should work until, part of the Christian worldview is to recognize human beings as dignified - being created in the image and likeness of God.
In Singapore, where we are experiencing an ageing population, it is inevitable that more and more people may have to work till an older age in order to sustain the economy. While I do not have any problem with work (instead of amusing ourselves to death watching TV), it is troubling to see some elderly folk toiling under the sun or scrubbing an entire row of toilet floors simply because they are forced by circumstances to do so.
A mark of a gracious society is to see how the elderly are being treated - and on such accounts, I suspect that the consumerist culture of Singapore may be sorely lacking in such social graces. Unless we start to re-examine our sense of moral virtues, I fear that the next generation of Singaporean parents (that includes myself) may lose our moral authority and credibility to educate our young.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

A Beginner's Christian Bookshelf

Happened to stumble across this list of good books that every well-informed Christian should attempt to read.

http://www.yale.edu/ygcf/various/bookshlf.html

One reason why the church is struggling to make any sort of intellectual and cultural impact in society (beyond simply duplicating existing trends) is because we are very impoverished when it comes to loving God with our minds.

As Bertrand Russell once quipped, "Most Christians would rather die than thinkā€”in fact they do". In my opinion, he was spot on. Living in the 21st century, we seemed to have forgotten that the history and heritage of Christianity is one that has constantly challenged cultural assumptions, demolished ideological strongholds and transformed societies. Instead, we are now caught up with all sorts of fads and fairy tales, taught to us by less-than-credible writers. I visited a booksale recently and gosh, you wouldn't believe how rotten thousands of books out there in the market are.

Sigh...