Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Multiethnic Ministry

Remorse after murder…

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“I have to stay on this bus forever.”
and
“Please kill me.”

These are the two statements coming out of the mouth of Vince Weiguang Li, the man who murdered Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus last week.

Since his arrest he has yet to speak to his court-appointed attorney and the prosecutors.

Here is a bit more information about him, (from a CNN report – this link contains a picture of Li)

A church pastor, Tom Castor, who helped hire Li soon after he immigrated in 2004 with his wife, Anna, said the man never showed any sign of anger or emotional problems when he worked there as a custodian.

Church officials said they vetted Li by contacting references listed on his application and running a criminal record check.

I wonder, what happened to him? What was going on through his mind, soul, and body while he murdered a man he had never met before?

Is it a psychological issue? Is it a spiritual issue?

Is he mentally unstable? Is he demon-possessed?

These are the questions that I am asking myself as I continue to examine what happened.

What do you think?

bus murder…where was God?

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I just read the story about the horrific bus murder that occured on a Greyhound bus traveling from Winnipeg to Edmonton.

My heart is wrenching and at unrest.

I cannot simply process or begin to comprehend how someone could just stab, murder, decapitate, and carve up another human being, who he “seemingly” didn’t know.

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is Christianity like driving a car?

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Throughout my university years, I was heavily involved with Campus Crusade for Christ (in Canada, now known as Power to Change). I believed in the vision so heavily that I even wrote a paper on the founder, Bill Bright.

Now i’m not saying anything against the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC); after all, if it weren’t for CCC, I wouldn’t be able to articulate my faith as well as I do now, and I wouldn’t understand missions as well as I do now.

However, there is one aspect within the regular CCC teaching materials that I want to propose is off-the-mark.

[Read more…] about is Christianity like driving a car?

is money evil?

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“Money is the root of all evil” – we’ve all heard it before, but is it true?

We can’t live without money, but too much money can consume us and change us.

We think money can buy us and bring us everything that we want, but is it true? John D. Rockefeller after making millions of dollars admitted, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.”

Deep within us, all of us want to be loved – it’s a natural human craving. No one is born with an innate craving for money. Babies and children don’t even understand the concept of money! What we are born with is an innate craving for love and acceptance.

However, when our innate craving for love and acceptance isn’t met, especially as adolescents and adults, money enters the scene. Money is the love and acceptance of our culture. We use money to buy ourselves love. We use money to buy ourselves acceptance.

Therefore, perhaps the reason all of us want excess money is because deep down inside of us, we are all craving for love and acceptance.

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stanley cup baptism

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Upon winning the Stanley Cup, Detroit Red Wings’ Tomas Holmstrom decided to let his cousin use the Stanley Cup as a baptismal font to baptize his 7 week old daughter. Now that’s probably never been done before.

Growing up in a Korean Presbyterian Church, I was baptized as a child, and I was confirmed as a teenager. However, in the Evangelical tradition, they disagree with infant baptism because they believe baptism to be a symbol that one has made a confession of faith. As a result, since babies can’t make confessions of faith, infant baptisms are null. (My line of argument is more or less simplistic.)

This brings me to my current situation. I know that I am saved, and I have made a confession of faith through my confirmation. However, since I am currently attending a church that lines itself up with the Evangelical Tenets of Faith (as do I), is there a necessity to receive water baptism?