The Bible that started everything

How the gift of a Bible changed the life of Tiu Hock, now a student at the Sabah Theological Seminary

SABAH, Malaysia — Growing up on an estate in Peninsular Malaysia, Tiu Hock was surrounded by different religions. Each morning he was awakened by the sound of the local Muslims’ call to prayer, while his Chinese background and culture made him aware of a number of other eastern faiths.

Although he was exposed to the teachings of these different religions, however, he never felt satisfied with their answers to some fundamental questions he had about the purpose of life, how the world was made and who God really was.

All that changed when he visited his Christian aunt in Kelantan, who gave him a Malay Bible as a gift. Not knowing anything about the Christian faith and having nobody to guide him through God’s Word, he began reading at the most logical place - Genesis.

As he read the Creation story he found his questions being answered. He felt a great excitement at having discovered the truth about the relationship between God and man. His excitement mounted as he continued through the Old Testament stories, learning that God was not only the creator of the world but was also interested in each individual person.

Reaching the end of the Old Testament he continued into the New Testament, where he learned about Jesus and how he had been sent by God to save mankind from sin. Still not having any Christians to guide him, and the Bible being his only point of contact with the Christian faith, Tiu Hock decided that he wanted to come to know Jesus personally.

Eager

He read in the Gospels that he could communicate directly with Jesus through prayer and was eager to use the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, but he was not sure how to go about it. Coming from a Chinese background where etiquette was emphasised, the position adopted for prayer was important to him: should he raise his hands? Lie on the floor? Sit in the lotus position? Then he saw a picture at the back of his Bible of someone kneeling against a chair with his hands folded. He decided that this was how he would pray, using the Lord’s Prayer.

When he did so he felt a profound change in himself and continued praying by himself every day and reading his Bible. His faith grew through reading God’s Word but at the same time he felt isolated and in need of other believers to speak to.

Delight

It was at this time that his family sent him to stay with an uncle in Perak, so that he could attend secondary school. To his delight Tiu Hock discovered that his uncle had become a pastor, and he spent hours discussing the Scriptures and the Christian faith with him. He was also baptised.

Tiu Hock decided that he wanted to serve God in full-time ministry and started planting churches. He is currently attending the Sabah Theological Seminary.