The Doctrine of Family

Have you heard of what a "doctrine" is? If you haven't, Dictionary.com says that:

doc·trine [dok-trin]noun1.a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated,as of a religion or government.

Does it make sense? Perhaps what I would say is that a doctrine is a particular truth that we hold on to which not only governs our understanding of things but also our actions. In other words, your so called "doctrine", if held properly, will be so obvious from our behaviour that sometimes you don't have to mention it aloud.

One interesting "dok-trin" that we Christian fellars have is about family. We call God our Father and Jesus, who is God's son also calls us his brothers (and sisters) (Hebrews 2:11). That makes us all family.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15)

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. (Ephesians 2:19) 

This doctrine means that even if I've never met Ah Kau, Jack, Djibundu, Maria or Doriasamy before, the fact that they are Christian would mean that our first time meeting should be something like long lost siblings. We are family even before we first met physically, because we share the same Father and same Brother.

You might say that is quite daft to be in a family of hundreds of millions, but this doctrine is very real to me and I can tell you why.

Firstly, it is in God's word, and every time I try to challenge something in God's word, I normally lose one. The track record suggests that it is true, but I realise this reasoning might not be compelling to you.

So, the second reason is that I experience this doctrine firsthand, and it is in fact a big part of my life.

Tiong Clan at the Airport, Minus Youngest Tiong

Let's begin with my hometown of Melaka, which we like to call "the birthplace of everything". When I think of going back, the first people I would think of is my biological family, of course. However, our Tiong clan is also subsumed within the bigger umbrella of my church family.

Those who have heard me talk about MGC can testify to the affection I have for the church family there, and right now I think it is only my calling to Kampar that keeps me 300 kilometres north. The situation is not always cotton candy and popcorn but when the chips are down you just know we will stand together for what's right.

Two live specimens from Melaka. No creature was harmed in the shooting of this photo.

My "family" in Kampar has always treated me as a member from day one. Sure I may sometimes be the annoying, out-of-town, outlandish whippersnapper who can't string together two words in Cantonese but I think the uncles and aunties do see me as a son, and the younger folks as a brother. On my part, I genuinely think of them as family too.

Kamparians in a Kampar restaurant.

Recently, I had to go to PJ alone for some course over 5 days. I don't know anything about PJ and wondered where I could stay. Somehow, most my friends in PJ are ladies and it might be a bit weird for a guy to stay at a girl's place on his own for a whole week. That's why a family in PJ opened their home to me and in doing so, further strengthened my belief in this "doctrine".

The lost boys and lost girl having dinner in PJ.

My young brother chilling out on the beanbag.

Two other guys and I had the privilege of staying with them over that week, and it is definitely one of the fondest memories of my year. I am really grateful for the bonds we have made and really look forward to our future interactions, and watching the three lively and friendly children grow up :)

There are many others I have not included in this post just because there are too many to mention, but they have all made an indelible mark on my heart and played a role in shaping me into who I am today.

My prayer is for everybody to be able to experience these kind of deep and giving bonds, and I praise God because I know that this would not be possible if we did not have the same Father and Brother. It all comes back to Jesus :)