The Controversy Over Jesus Folding the 'Napkin'

The Controversy over Jesus Folding the ‘Napkin’

Khen Lim

Image source: but-thatsjustme.com

John’s account

The Gospel of John in 20:7 throws up remarkable detail about the napkin that was originally placed over the face of Jesus. What John tells us here was not only that it wasn’t thoughtlessly cast aside as it seemed the case with His grave clothes. In the Gospel, a whole verse is dedicated to describing the manner in which the napkin was meticulously folded and set aside from the grave clothes:

“Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.” (Jn 20:3-7, NLT)

How it is that John’s details are so immaculate in description when the other three Gospels aren’t so is unclear. We may not have a real understanding behind his motive but at the same time, it might be presumptuous on our part to attach any symbolic meaning to his description. 

Fatherhood in the Trust of God (Part 2 of 2)

Fatherhood in the Trust of God (Part 2 of 2)

A personal testimony to how God touched me in my love for my children

Khen Lim

Image source: Beliefnet

Never too busy for them

Although in my semi-retirement my routines are not so stringent anymore, I still have a schedule to follow. I don’t travel far to work anymore. I don’t work for any mortal boss and I don’t need to face down any threats of retrenchment like I had in my past. 

Still I do have a boss that I labour joyously for and that is God and that is why I try very hard to keep up with this website. I understand many readers in more than ninety countries around the world who visit and read and in my gratefulness, I do my best to produce worthy things to read every week.

Fatherhood in the Trust of God (Part 1 of 2)

Fatherhood in the Trust of God (Part 1 of 2)

A personal testimony to how God touched me in my love for my children

Khen Lim

Image source: Daily Star

It’s April 2017. Being the beginning of the fourth month, that’s exactly one-third point into the year and yet our very small family has already its fair share of events to deal with. Life, as they say, is a journey full of events but being confined by limited hands on deck, ours was even more severely impacted in recent times.

Recently I wrote about my father’s time at the ICU. That took place a little more than a month ago. Not long after my dad was discharged, my wife was stricken with dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease very common in this neck of the woods. 

In our neighbourhood, dengue fever has been rife over the last few years. Notwithstanding the frequent torrents of rain, drains have been clogged and fresh puddles of water are constantly formed in and around the gardens, creating opportunities for mosquitoes to breed and lay their eggs. And that likely included the lush garden around our own home.

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn't (Part 2 of 2)

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn’t (Part 2 of 2)

The Christian strategy against liberalism, political correctness and every change that is destroying the world

Khen Lim

Image source: IFL Science

No bright horizons

The world isn’t just an unhappy place but it is also doomed for destruction. Unless something miraculous happens that would turn it around, we have no way out. And even as we lay the blame squarely at the feet of liberals and corrupt politicians, perhaps we may be partly held accountable too because all these decades, many of us had placed so much importance on prosperity and growth that we ourselves ignored the changes that have shifted our social and cultural perceptions. Some of us might have thought they were harmless. Some might have even believed that these changes would never last.

A Emigrant's Best Friend Dies

An Emigrants’ Best Friend Dies

On the Day March 25 1877

Khen Lim

Caroline Chisholm, 1852, by Angelo Collen Hayter, from Dixson Galleries (Image source: Caroline Chisholm Society)

There are many catchwords that are often used to describe Australia. ‘Ocker’ is certainly one of them and so is ‘larrikin.’ Both play to the unique character of the Australian individual but it is ‘multiculturalism’ that perhaps define the national culture of what was once White Australia and of the names in history that are linked to the multicultural movement, it was Al Grassby, the late Gough Whitlam’s Minister of Immigration till 1974 who was even known in some circles as the father of Australian multiculturalism.

Yet with all the hoopla about Grassby’s role, what we may not realise is the link to Australia’s immigrant history goes farther back to at least the nineteenth century when a certain woman from Northampton, England who, with her husband, made Australia her home chose to fight for alien rights in the most unprecedented spirit of them all. It was on this day, one-hundred and forty years ago, in 1877, that she passed away.

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn't (Part 1 of 2)

The More Things Change, the More We Realise God Doesn’t (Part 1 of 2)

The Christian strategy against liberalism, political correctness and every change that is destroying the world

Khen Lim

Image source: thoughts-about-god.com

“I can’t believe it,” the church member said, “but this is not the school I thought I knew.”

“I signed up to do my practicum at my old school, thinking that familiarity will ease things up a little for me. Y’know… I know where everything is… the classrooms, teachers’ staff room, the school hall, canteen and even the administration and the headmistress’ office. I’m familiar with the teachers, some of whom actually taught me.”

She sounded upset but I wasn’t sure I fully understood what the problem was and so I probed a little more.

“What were you really looking for when you applied to do your teaching experience back at your school? Favours, maybe?” I asked.

“Favours? Of course not! When you do the practicum, you know that assessment is going to be tough. So if I could eliminate as much of the unnecessary uncertainties that surround a strange and unknown school, I could at least focus more on the teaching instead. I thought if I could do my teaching experience at my own school, that familiarity would be helpful. What I wasn’t prepared for was that the school seemed to have changed so much in such a short time. I wasn’t ready for that!”

In Despair, God Reminds Us of Freedom in Salvation

In Despair, God Reminds Us of Freedom in Salvation

“‘I tell you the truth everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.’” John 8:34-36 and Romans 6:22 (NLT)

Khen Lim

Image source: Shutterstock

Her side of their bed is now creaseless and her blanket remains folded. That side has not been slept by anyone since. Similarly, her bedside light has not been turned on and neither her reading glasses above her books and periodicals been touched. Her slippers are still arranged neatly right next to her side of the bed and the walking stick that we bought her – which she never did use – remains where it has always been.

Since my mother passed away on October 22 2015 from duodenal cancer, my father has not been the same, which is understandable considering that they’d been married since 1957. That’s two short of sixty years together. 

In the sixteen months since, dad has taken her absence not in a very constructive way. It’s difficult to always try to talk him out of it because nagging just won’t work if the heart’s not there but not being able to say anything purpose to help him makes me helpless at the same time. 

Being a very young Christian who rarely reads God’s Word, dad’s spiritual immaturity means it’s not easy to help him see things in the ways of Christ. And so we’re left to try to cope with dad’s mood swings every day because some days, he’s fine but otherwise, he can be so enormously difficult that struggle isn’t the word to describe what my wife and I experience.