What makes some Beliefs credible and others, not?

In its 2000-year history, Christianity revised some interpretations of the Bible in light of new discoveries.

To help us unpack that, Dr Ron Choong, whose life and work span cultures and continents converses with philosophical theologian, Dr Andre Ong.

In this podcast, Ron shows that where possible, Christian beliefs that stand the tests of geography, history and science, earn the confidence of believers.

• How does where we live influence what we believe?
• ⁠How does when we live — our moment in history - shape the beliefs we inherit or question?
• And how does what we know — the discoveries of science - transform our interpretation about God and the universe?

The “Hidden Christians” or Kakure Kirishitan went underground in the 17th century when the Tokugawa shogunate repressed Christianity from 1638 until the ban was lifted in 1873. In response, many Christian believers modified their spiritual practices to resemble Buddhist ones on a surface level, but which held hidden Christian meaning.

Depictions of the Virgin Mary modeled on the Buddhist deity Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), goddess of mercy, were known as "Maria Kannon". The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chants, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, because printed works could be confiscated by authorities.

Approximately 30,000 secret Christians came out of hiding in 1873 after the Meiji Restoration. The Kakure Kirishitan became known as Mukashi Kirishitan or 'ancient Christians.' Some Kakure Kirishitan did not rejoin the Catholic Church and became known as the Hanare Kirishitan or 'separated Christians' and live on the Gotō Islands. Today, there are less than 100 Hidden Christians left on the island of Ikitsuki in Nagasaki, down from 10,000 in the 1940s.

In this episode, Christine Leong interviewed me to explain what I discovered about these “Hidden Christians”.

I have heard of Malta but knew very little about this speck of rock between Europe and Africa. Until I visited this crossroads of Afro-Euro maritime civilization.

Western civilization is inextricably linked to Christianity. Although Jesus never left Israel and did not leave us any writings, Paul wrote half of the New Testament and traveled across the Roman Empire covering three sides of the Mediterranean Sea. Both Christianity and western civilization were shaped by Paul. It is impossible to understand Europe, the Americas, Australasia as well as much of Africa and Asia without a basic knowledge of Paul’s travels and thoughts.

In AD 60, Paul was shipwrecked and imprisoned in Malta. But his 3 month stay led to Malta becoming the first European community to embrace Christianity. Modern archaeology affirms this account. Today, Malta has 360 churches for a population of just 500,000 residents.

In October, I traced the Footsteps of Paul in Malta and visited St Paul’s Grotto, the cave where the Apostle was under arrest.

St. Augustine wrote that Christianity is FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING.

With the benefit of the science and technology of archaeology, we can separate the facts from fictions of faith. This is how Thinking Things Through leads to a Faith that Seeks Understanding.