i read the book and i couldn't help feeling in awe when he talked about magnificent people who spent their lives thinking about what they could do for other people.. because they deemed it better to treat others as themselves if not better..
i had been struggling these few days with myself.. and with God..
if God were to ask me to give up the very thing i treasured.. n i won't say it here. and declare on my own to Him that He alone is enough.. would i be able to do it?
i looked at the conference.. the heaven invade earth conference.. and 1st day the word was simple, bout words of knowledge. 2nd day was about how the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. I remember how Bill Johnson once said that God does not reveal everything to a single church. While God has revealed His purposes for healing to Bethel church.. i worry that the church would become consumed with signs and miracles. n forget altogether the creator..
i looked at many of the people who came for the conference.. many came because they were able to. many come because they want to receive from God. Impartation.. or gifts.. it calls us to eagerly ask for Spiritual gifts.. but what i want to hear is about love.
Because without the msg of love.. without knowing that God loves them.. how disappointed that people who come for the rally and leave not realizing that God showed all these miracles because He wants to prove that He cares for His sick children. He isn't a God who wouldn't intervene.
There would be many who are healed.. but there would also be people who wouldn't be healed because it isn't in God's timing. there would also be people who don't even get healed at all..
What shall they have to sustain them?? if they leave the conference without being healed of their infirmaties?? that God loves them less than they love the guy who is healed beside them? that they are not worthy of receiving healing???
why is it that one guy receives healing while another dosn't???
And so without the msg of God's love...
Healing is like a resounding gong.. and we start placing values on what kinds of healings we see in the service.. we get so in awe of the illnesses that we see get healed and start boasting about it. ... and glory is drawn unto the messenger who receives the msg rather than the God who gives it..
There is always a fine line when it comes to healing services and rallys.. and Love. is the overarching reason why God even allowed this whole event to be realized...
My prayer tonight is that we would be reminded about the msg of love.
My prayer is that God would remind His people how deep His love is for us.. and that we would be so convicted of His love that we can't help but pour it out on the people whom we interact with.
Lord u know how incapable i am.. of love...
you know how self centred and self conscious i am..
even though i try to hide it.. but i always find myself drawing attention to my own needs.. but Lord.. you love me still the same even though i do not respond the way with my friends as i ought to.. even though i don't love the people around me as i ought to..
such love takes strength that i simply do not have..
Lord i pray for more of Your love.. i pray for more of it. dear Lord.. i need you more than ever..
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
a mother begging for money to feed her baby in the streets of Singapore
if i told you that i met such a person in Singapore.
Yes... in Singapore.. would you believe me?
God has been proving to me time and again.. how worthless the things of this world are.
How worthless it is to see articles on news paper like "Daniel Radcliff becoming a "man"" while right in our very door step in our own home.. we have a mother.. who is starving to death.. She wants to feed her child and looks so malnourished.
Yet when she asked for money to buy milk for her child..
all she got were shillings..
COINS!!! TO BUY MILK!!!!! While WE are IN our ivory towers complaining about the government.. there are fellow Singaporeans whom nobody cares about.
When there are children who are dying.. and genuinely need help..
HERE WE ARE WONDERING>>>... WHAT IF HE/SHE IS LYING!!!!!!
TELL ME WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEG!!!?????
Which sane person like to beg for money????
2 kinds. the slug and the truly needy..
but we'd always give the excuse and like to believe that people begging on the streets are usually the former. so that we can conveniently ignore their cries..
The mother i saw on the street was gaunt.. she was so skinny... she had beautiful eyes.. but they were sunken.. she looked 40 but she was actually not much older than i was.. she had a kid.. but no father.. she was an orphan. the phone she had.. she didn't even know how to use. she was so helpless..
So what if i gave her money now.. where would she find her sustainence..
she didnt ask for more money.. she asked and begged for help to find a job.
woe to us.. woe.. if we should conveniently ignore the cries of the weak.. and the helpless...
woe to us.. that we have so much blessings and spare not a single cent to help the needy..
woe to us... who complain so much that we are not paid our bonuses when a man on the street dosn't even have a job.
woe to us who have been so greatly blessed but only clamor for more.
Woe. woe.
Yes... in Singapore.. would you believe me?
God has been proving to me time and again.. how worthless the things of this world are.
How worthless it is to see articles on news paper like "Daniel Radcliff becoming a "man"" while right in our very door step in our own home.. we have a mother.. who is starving to death.. She wants to feed her child and looks so malnourished.
Yet when she asked for money to buy milk for her child..
all she got were shillings..
COINS!!! TO BUY MILK!!!!! While WE are IN our ivory towers complaining about the government.. there are fellow Singaporeans whom nobody cares about.
When there are children who are dying.. and genuinely need help..
HERE WE ARE WONDERING>>>... WHAT IF HE/SHE IS LYING!!!!!!
TELL ME WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEG!!!?????
Which sane person like to beg for money????
2 kinds. the slug and the truly needy..
but we'd always give the excuse and like to believe that people begging on the streets are usually the former. so that we can conveniently ignore their cries..
The mother i saw on the street was gaunt.. she was so skinny... she had beautiful eyes.. but they were sunken.. she looked 40 but she was actually not much older than i was.. she had a kid.. but no father.. she was an orphan. the phone she had.. she didn't even know how to use. she was so helpless..
So what if i gave her money now.. where would she find her sustainence..
she didnt ask for more money.. she asked and begged for help to find a job.
woe to us.. woe.. if we should conveniently ignore the cries of the weak.. and the helpless...
woe to us.. that we have so much blessings and spare not a single cent to help the needy..
woe to us... who complain so much that we are not paid our bonuses when a man on the street dosn't even have a job.
woe to us who have been so greatly blessed but only clamor for more.
Woe. woe.
the woman in the white porshe.
i was at a bus stop waiting for a bus to go back to my office.
then a white Porsche whizzed past.
There was a young lady riding the car.
She was hunched slouching and driving.
A thought came to mind.
Not a cynical one. but a probing one.
What did she have to give up to drive that Porsche.
What did she have to give up to earn the money to ride in such a luxurious car.
Next thought that came to mind.
Would we trade our health for a car that few people can even afford.
I thought to myself.
It really is nice to have a Porsche and have people say wow.
But .. all that hard work for a first impression.. and when people see you they go wow.
its like a model who works out and nitpicks on every single part of the body and does weird exercises just to tone and lose more muscle at the cheekbone.. to get a straighter jaw line..
as if getting a finer jawline would earn you a million bucks.
But so many people work themselves dry to the bone. to earn something they cannot keep.
Not knowing that their souls will live for eternity.. but what they have on earth, they will lose with time.
Nothing lasts.
Save our souls, our God and His word.
Your Porsche would never outlast the impact that memories have on people.
Oh.. how harrassed this world is..
they chase for things that can't be depended on.
they set their eyes on the next big thing. but waste their energies and sacrifice time that ought to be spent with people.. but most importantly,
with God.. who holds the keys of life and death.
In the light of death. everything material possession on this earth is worthless.
truly worthless. They are mere tools that are really useful for maintaining whatever riches we are trying to scoop into our bucket.
its a cycle that feeds another..
a loop where we lose our selves.. and where we may even forget altogether what it means to be humans.
We have truly become plugged into a virtual reality. a machine city..
a ghastly vision as portrayed in the matrix.
then a white Porsche whizzed past.
There was a young lady riding the car.
She was hunched slouching and driving.
A thought came to mind.
Not a cynical one. but a probing one.
What did she have to give up to drive that Porsche.
What did she have to give up to earn the money to ride in such a luxurious car.
Next thought that came to mind.
Would we trade our health for a car that few people can even afford.
I thought to myself.
It really is nice to have a Porsche and have people say wow.
But .. all that hard work for a first impression.. and when people see you they go wow.
its like a model who works out and nitpicks on every single part of the body and does weird exercises just to tone and lose more muscle at the cheekbone.. to get a straighter jaw line..
as if getting a finer jawline would earn you a million bucks.
But so many people work themselves dry to the bone. to earn something they cannot keep.
Not knowing that their souls will live for eternity.. but what they have on earth, they will lose with time.
Nothing lasts.
Save our souls, our God and His word.
Your Porsche would never outlast the impact that memories have on people.
Oh.. how harrassed this world is..
they chase for things that can't be depended on.
they set their eyes on the next big thing. but waste their energies and sacrifice time that ought to be spent with people.. but most importantly,
with God.. who holds the keys of life and death.
In the light of death. everything material possession on this earth is worthless.
truly worthless. They are mere tools that are really useful for maintaining whatever riches we are trying to scoop into our bucket.
its a cycle that feeds another..
a loop where we lose our selves.. and where we may even forget altogether what it means to be humans.
We have truly become plugged into a virtual reality. a machine city..
a ghastly vision as portrayed in the matrix.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Independence.
Independence.
I had a conversation with my church friends at coffee club @ tiong bahru yesterday. It was a stimulating conversation no doubt and thought provoking discussion about the concept of independence..
what does independence mean to you?
i don't exactly have all my thoughts arranged properly.
i'll start from a discipleship session i had with my youth at church yesterday. We were talking about what it means to deny yourself. and one of the youths mentioned about how difficult it was to deny himself stuff.. because he is an independent person and he dosn't really want to depend on God to provide him with things..
rewind back to a service in church about 3 weeks back.. we had a new year talk in service where someone went up and shared about how we needed to raise funds for the new church building cuz our current church has about another 20 years to go before the lease is over. so within 20 years.. he did a break down of how much the congregation had to give each month so as to raise the significantly large amount of money.. as i was listening to this being said in front of the congregation.. i thought to myself.. isn't this a church of God? i mean.. if its a church of God.. why are we not first.. turning to God by rallying people to pray for God to provide? Its like although we are a church.. we do not believe that God, whom we worship is incapable of providing the sum of money for the new church building.. and here we are.. week after week.. hearing sermons being preached on the pulpit about.. its not by might nor by strength but by the Holy Spirit.. or.. God is our Jehovah Jireh, or our provider..
IF! God is truly God, why do we come up with smart schemes to coerce the congregation to monthly set apart money for the church.. its like we are relying on our own strength to fund the church instead of God's mighty providence.. What about faith?? We do not see the money.. and thats precisely why we pray.. because faith is a substance of things hoped for... If God is truly our boss.. if God is truly our God.. if God is truly all powerful.. won't He be able to provide the money? just as Jesus told His disciples to go fishing and they would find a 4 drachma coin in the first fish they catch, enough to pay for their taxes.. Jesus couldn't be constrained by what He didn't have because He knew that His God owned all the silver and gold. Silver and Gold was His Father's!
Then.. drawing back again to the topic we were talking about at coffee club.. we initially started talking about the absurdity of the reasons that Singaporeans are getting married.. in SIngapore.. getting married is synonymous with getting a HDB.. and couples.. who aren't even married are booking each other for the next 5 years.. because 5 years is the time needed for a couple to get a HDB flat.. and the incentives given for couples who are going to get married are tremendous in Singapore because you get to save thousands of dollars .. houses are much cheaper for couples in Singapore.. however.. the time taken for a couple to get a 'cheaper' house is so long!! some couples wait 5 years .. to get married.. because of the HDB flat.. and find out.. oo.. this guy is not the one.. and then.. all the deposit is eaten up because the couples separate.. in 5 years.. so many things can happen..
The most disgusting truth in Singapore.. and perhaps all around the world.. is that people are being too pragmatic about marriage.. we think about our survival when we think about marriage.. everything is so safe.. and preplanned and... so boring!!! SO DARN BORING!!!!!!
no one has any exciting stories to tell about their lives.. because.. every story is the same as the other... oh.. this guy starts saving money from young.. as old as 18.. and starts working.. to save for a future house.. so that... his future wife and him can get married..YAWNSSS SO BORRRINGGGG!!!!!.. i really want to see stories where God provides miraculously for the house.. i want to hear stories of people beating the odds.... Singapore's system.. must be given its due credit and honor.. its a wonderful scheme for families who get a house and sell it and get a great profit.. and benefit.. and they start seeing their houses as investments.. but.. in reality.. they are still very much subjected to slavery to debts.. that can last them a lifetime.. all they have is the carrot dangling in front of them.. that they would eventually sell that house.. and make a big earning from it!IF! Christians really have an all powerful God, how come it seems like their all powerful God is incapable of providing for their real needs? needs like a home?? or is it just that nobody dares to trust God???
whats even more disturbing to me isn't that. What disturbs me is the reason why people make choices.. especially choices to get married.. is it about getting the house??? or two people coming together in union?? we seem to have mixed the two up entirely.. we all seem to have this fairy tale mindset that in order for a couple to be considered married, they need to have a house of their own.. which is true! but there are many people who get married first and then think about the house later.. and when i meet those people.. i often hear amazing heart wrenching stories about how God provided a house.. how they.. got their stuff at a cheap rate.. and that relatives started flooding them with things they really needed at the right time.. its quite sad when i hear how.. they would advice other couples to start planning early and saving money when they themselves didn't. Instead of making the point of their testimony even more powerful.. which is this.. If God can provide for my family! HE WILL PROVIDE FOR YOURS TOO BECAUSE WE HAVE THE SAME GOD!!! I hope this inspires you to follow God and put your trust in Him and not yourself!!! .this would be the kinda advice i'd be eager to swallow!!MAN IF GOD REALLY CAN DO TT FOR U I WANT GOD TO PROVIDE FOR ME TOO!!!!.
Its true .. the more i think about it.. i heard a Korean saying from a Singaporean friend.. The more ignorant you are, the braver u are.. the less you know.. the more things you do.. sometimes,, i believe Singapore's 'superior' education system is destroying the ability of children to simply "just do it" (and i'm not referring to sex here). Sure.. they may know more stuff... but they certainly are much more aware of all the potential risks of attempting anything.. any project.. any responsibility.. they just run away knowing the immense pain and suffering they would have to go through.. children are trained to think like adults at a young age to their detriment.. We are training children to be all talk no action people.. no one wants to do the dirty work.. they just want all the benefits.. Its like.. the more knowledgeable a person is.. the more aware of risk he is.. i was talking to my friend online. and he told me.. you know.. most business men aren't very well educated.. but they dare to take risks.. because they fix their eyes on what they have not gotten yet rather than the risks they have to take.. of course it is foolishness to be unaware of risks.. but great men always declared that they would do something awesome even though everyone else tells them it is impossible.. America sending the man to the moon is the classic example of such a great story of faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.
Our education system trains us to think about pros and cons.. and to weigh everything based on facts.. while ignoring a very crucial part of human beings.. which is their instincts.. few people learn how to trust their own instincts.. because.. of the herd mentality.. they are so accustomed to thinking in a similar pattern.. or following the leader that it is so easy to manipulate people now adays.. u just have to bribe the head of the pack to say something and then u will have crowds of people rushing to make a stock investment.. based on what a person says.. or to.. just blindly do stuff. Yet.... there are so many people who trust their instincts and.. lo and behold.. amazing things happen.
People say Christians follow blindly when they follow God.. To a certain extent that is true.. because.. we have to walk by faith and not by sight.. but we follow only because.. the person we are following is perfect.. and flawless.. I don't think this walking by faith and not by sight people makes people comfortable.. it scares the heck out of people.. but .. for others.. its u either have faith.. and carry on.. inspite of the odds.. or.. u turn back and die.. there is no turning back for some people.. once they walked far enough in faith.. and.. this is not something just limited to the realm of religion.. but virtually in every aspect of life.. people always want some sort of safety reassurance to eliminate the possibility of risk.. and to buffer themselves.. insurance basically.. sometimes..we spend out lives.. worrying about things that never happen..
and i think its partly due to the fact that we've been trained to think negatively. By our school.. by our society.. when people look at unemployment rates.. they never think about how high the employment rates are.. they always look at the negative which more often than not is far outweighed by the positives in life. Which is why most people amount to nothing more than ordinary people.. because.. they focus on the rubbish stuff in life.. rather than the good.. its really about the way that people have been trained to see life.. and more often than not.. they've been trained to be cynical..i mean like.. in Singapore.. it is probably even seen as a virtue to complain.. because firstly.. you get what you want.. and you get things done.. if u don't complain you won't get what you want.. and so we see a whole generation of people who are filled with self pity because they can't get what they want.. and they complain complain complain instead of just do something about it. it as if they believe their complaining will get them the wife of their dreams.. its as if their complaining will get them the family who is loving and cohesive.. people think by complaining they can get away from not having to change themselves because they see the problems with other people rather than themselves.. and they see no need to improve themselves because well.. people who complain alot usually think they are perfect and faultless.
even in pr sch.. this disturbingly negative mindset where... people are no longer seen as people with pure motives.. they always have an ulterior motive. a kid is nice to another kid.. parents train the kid not to trust people.. if not you will get backstabbed.. and a kid learns to treat all his friends with suspicion.. until the people who truly like him start staying away from him... to me.. this train of thought is a self-fulfilling prophecy.We neglect the power of thought and hence are not selective about the thoughts we choose to entertain and the thoughts we ought to just fling out of our minds. we view people so negatively that.. even though someone may have no harmful intentions on us.. they eventually become that way.. simply because somehow.. its as though our thoughts can influence people and we unknowingly can sense the thoughts of others.. and this is all reflected in our body language.. which for most part.. we are incapable of controlling.. we think our words are the only form of communication and so we think by not saying anything.. we would not give our ill intentions away.... boy are we so deceived..
People ultimately follow only ideals and they look up to someone who embodies that ideal.. action follows when they choose to aspire to become that someone who embodies such an ideal..
and most of the times, people blindly follow someone.. not knowing that they are being manipulated by the very person they try to follow.. because man is fallible.. and corrupted.. Alot of people follow someone they treat as an idol only to be severely disappointed when he falls severely short of the glorious image that they have naively painted of that idol in their minds. The world follows and chases after men with power, status, recognition and popularity.. because these are the ideals that embody the successful.. ultimately no one wants to be a loser or a nobody.. or to do jobs that are seen as lower class.
Christians follow one man.. and He is Jesus..We follow Him because He alone is perfect. He alone is God. He will only surpass our expectations of Him simply because He can and He is able to! Though i'm only 26. but.. i have stories to tell of GOd's faithfulness.. my diary is full of the amazing things He has been doing in my life!
But, back to the topic of independence which i have strayed so far away from. When people talk about independence.. more often than not... they talk about financial independence.. they long for a day where they would no longer be leeches and that they would be able to provide for their families.. this is by no means bad. in fact.. in the bible.. it says that if we are not providing for our families.. it is something to be scorned. I know how it feels like to be dependent all the time.. to be a leech.. and to constantly suck pocket money from my parents at this age where my younger brother and sister are both working and earning more than me.. i'm currently earning zero bucks.. cuz i havn't started work.
However, in the context of Singapore.. when we are talking about independence.. we forget that.. while it would be ideal and necessary to be financially independent from our earthly parents. because when we marry, we will leave our parents to settle down with the wives of our youth. We can't do tt until we are truly financially independent. However..we simply can't afford to be independent from our heavenly father who provides all things.. He provides the job.. He provides the health.. He provides the strength.. He provides the favor.. Which successful man can say that he is a self made man.. He is a liar. There is no way a man can rise up purely on his own strength.. He has to have help at one point.. just the way no man can claim he came out of his mothers womb an adult.. It is very true in the church.. people are so independent that they no longer need God because they are so self sufficient. They think God is someone whom they depend on for their spiritual health.. and emotional well being.. and they completely forget that .. God expects us to trust Him with all our heart, and mind and strength... And this basically encompasses all aspects of our lives. We always do not expect God to provide the mundane things for us.. like food.. or our daily provisions.. but God says.. He will provide all these things for us.. because He knows that we need them!! :)
Every baby comes out of his/her mother womb vulnerable and susceptible to death.. Were it not for his parents who brought him up while he was helpless.. he would be dead. a nobody.. a seed that never even had time to grow into a shoot. what less produce flowers.. what less produce fruit.. We cannot afford to say we are self made people.. that would be a sure sign of sheer ingratitude.
Independence is foolishness and arrogance of the highest order. If a man should think he is independent from family and emotional support.. he deceives himself greatly.. When a man starts working.. does his independence mean he conveniently neglects supporting his parents financially.. just because he has his own family? obviously not.which man can survive without encouragement?? which man will not grow hard hearted without it??
Can a man hope to live a life that God has intended for him without relying on God?? WHAT foolishness.
And yet, that is the way most CHristians live... they go through their semester in uni.. without setting apart time for God in prayer.. their days are work, eat, sleep, play. God is never part of their equation until the exams.
When they look for a job.. they send out 20 resumes and when non of them comes back to them.. they turn to God and ask.. GOD WHY AREN"T U PROVIDING ME WITH A JOB??? when they have never even turned to God first and seeked Him for a job.It says seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto u.. not seek as a last resort his Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto u. What an insult to God. And yet we do these things day after day without a shred of conviction.. and think we are doing perfect.. doing the church going thing..
The sad thing about the modern church, with all its glitz and glam is not that it isn't getting enough people converted.. its really the way they think. It hasn't really changed from the way they view life since the day they accepted Christ. they have such a pathetic view about God and what He can do.. they do not believe that God can provide for them beyond their wildest imaginations.. but God keeps reminding us.. no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love Him!1 cor 2:9.
They think God is not able to trump the things that they see in movies like Harry Potter, Inception, The Matrix, Sucker Punch, 300.. but they probably have never seen this verse in the bible.... God, our sovereign God has prepared things for us.. that no human minds has ever heard about.. no human ear has ever heard about.. and no human eye has ever seen.. and its a pity.. that so few people dare to believe this verse.. because.. it means.. they would have to trust God completely .. because there is no precedence for the things that God has prepared individually for each and everyone of us. no matter how amazingly other people may have encountered God or seen God move, God can easily trump those experiences.. with something no one has ever seen or heard.. with God , there is no such thing as.. i've seen it all.. i've heard it all...
the man who says that only says that because all he looks at are the people in the church.. and not God who is in heaven..
my take on this topic of independence.. i'd rather be dependent.dependent on God for all of my needs. because.. i don't have any amazing plans for my own life.. if u asked me what i wana do.. i'd tell u i have no clue.. i'd probably get a job. get a wife . get kids and die a happy death.. but that is the worst possible life i could think of.. so boring.. and so.. dead!!!!!! If that is life.. we might as well just go and end our lives.. because there is no meaning in it. its a routine.. and .. we might as well be machines.. factories...
My plans for myself are so boring i could cry..
Which is why.. i'm always asking God to surprise me.. drop me special people to meet.. drop me special quests to take.. drop me special jobs to do.. bring me to places i could never have imagined.. show me what He has in store for me to do...
I shan't say what God has shown me about what He wants to use me for.. in my life.. but i'm so afraid when He showed it to me.. because its so big i can't even bring myself to believe that this could be the magnitude of God's plans for me.
But all i have to really do is believe.
No one wants to be another face in the crowd.. With God there is no such thing.. because when u really spend time with God, 'the one and only!' creator of the universe. when you spend time with people who have really been changed drastically by God.. u simply can't help but transform and be amazed at yourself because you start doing things you never could before.. cuz God has transformed your mind.
Independence.. hmmm .. well.. we can only go so far on our own strength..
its nothing that impresses me.. though i certainly feel inadequate when i compare myself with people who have surpassingly more than i have in their own strength.. i feel so weak and powerless when i compare myself to them... But.. i have what they can never have.. joy unspeakable, peace unshakable unless of course they have the same God as me. I know tt when i am broken.. He would restore me.. and remake me.. and lift me up.. God Himself crafts me like a pottery.. Can a man who has made himself pick himself up without help when he is destroyed on his own? Independence.. neh... i think its for crazy people to kill themselves over. As for me i want to be forever dependent on God for everything in my life. :) my wife, my job, my colleagues, my calling, my destiny, my heart's needs, my emotional wants, everything.
All i can do is stand amazed and give God all the glory He and He alone deserves. :)
to God be the glory!!! :)
I had a conversation with my church friends at coffee club @ tiong bahru yesterday. It was a stimulating conversation no doubt and thought provoking discussion about the concept of independence..
what does independence mean to you?
i don't exactly have all my thoughts arranged properly.
i'll start from a discipleship session i had with my youth at church yesterday. We were talking about what it means to deny yourself. and one of the youths mentioned about how difficult it was to deny himself stuff.. because he is an independent person and he dosn't really want to depend on God to provide him with things..
rewind back to a service in church about 3 weeks back.. we had a new year talk in service where someone went up and shared about how we needed to raise funds for the new church building cuz our current church has about another 20 years to go before the lease is over. so within 20 years.. he did a break down of how much the congregation had to give each month so as to raise the significantly large amount of money.. as i was listening to this being said in front of the congregation.. i thought to myself.. isn't this a church of God? i mean.. if its a church of God.. why are we not first.. turning to God by rallying people to pray for God to provide? Its like although we are a church.. we do not believe that God, whom we worship is incapable of providing the sum of money for the new church building.. and here we are.. week after week.. hearing sermons being preached on the pulpit about.. its not by might nor by strength but by the Holy Spirit.. or.. God is our Jehovah Jireh, or our provider..
IF! God is truly God, why do we come up with smart schemes to coerce the congregation to monthly set apart money for the church.. its like we are relying on our own strength to fund the church instead of God's mighty providence.. What about faith?? We do not see the money.. and thats precisely why we pray.. because faith is a substance of things hoped for... If God is truly our boss.. if God is truly our God.. if God is truly all powerful.. won't He be able to provide the money? just as Jesus told His disciples to go fishing and they would find a 4 drachma coin in the first fish they catch, enough to pay for their taxes.. Jesus couldn't be constrained by what He didn't have because He knew that His God owned all the silver and gold. Silver and Gold was His Father's!
Then.. drawing back again to the topic we were talking about at coffee club.. we initially started talking about the absurdity of the reasons that Singaporeans are getting married.. in SIngapore.. getting married is synonymous with getting a HDB.. and couples.. who aren't even married are booking each other for the next 5 years.. because 5 years is the time needed for a couple to get a HDB flat.. and the incentives given for couples who are going to get married are tremendous in Singapore because you get to save thousands of dollars .. houses are much cheaper for couples in Singapore.. however.. the time taken for a couple to get a 'cheaper' house is so long!! some couples wait 5 years .. to get married.. because of the HDB flat.. and find out.. oo.. this guy is not the one.. and then.. all the deposit is eaten up because the couples separate.. in 5 years.. so many things can happen..
The most disgusting truth in Singapore.. and perhaps all around the world.. is that people are being too pragmatic about marriage.. we think about our survival when we think about marriage.. everything is so safe.. and preplanned and... so boring!!! SO DARN BORING!!!!!!
no one has any exciting stories to tell about their lives.. because.. every story is the same as the other... oh.. this guy starts saving money from young.. as old as 18.. and starts working.. to save for a future house.. so that... his future wife and him can get married..YAWNSSS SO BORRRINGGGG!!!!!.. i really want to see stories where God provides miraculously for the house.. i want to hear stories of people beating the odds.... Singapore's system.. must be given its due credit and honor.. its a wonderful scheme for families who get a house and sell it and get a great profit.. and benefit.. and they start seeing their houses as investments.. but.. in reality.. they are still very much subjected to slavery to debts.. that can last them a lifetime.. all they have is the carrot dangling in front of them.. that they would eventually sell that house.. and make a big earning from it!IF! Christians really have an all powerful God, how come it seems like their all powerful God is incapable of providing for their real needs? needs like a home?? or is it just that nobody dares to trust God???
whats even more disturbing to me isn't that. What disturbs me is the reason why people make choices.. especially choices to get married.. is it about getting the house??? or two people coming together in union?? we seem to have mixed the two up entirely.. we all seem to have this fairy tale mindset that in order for a couple to be considered married, they need to have a house of their own.. which is true! but there are many people who get married first and then think about the house later.. and when i meet those people.. i often hear amazing heart wrenching stories about how God provided a house.. how they.. got their stuff at a cheap rate.. and that relatives started flooding them with things they really needed at the right time.. its quite sad when i hear how.. they would advice other couples to start planning early and saving money when they themselves didn't. Instead of making the point of their testimony even more powerful.. which is this.. If God can provide for my family! HE WILL PROVIDE FOR YOURS TOO BECAUSE WE HAVE THE SAME GOD!!! I hope this inspires you to follow God and put your trust in Him and not yourself!!! .this would be the kinda advice i'd be eager to swallow!!MAN IF GOD REALLY CAN DO TT FOR U I WANT GOD TO PROVIDE FOR ME TOO!!!!.
Its true .. the more i think about it.. i heard a Korean saying from a Singaporean friend.. The more ignorant you are, the braver u are.. the less you know.. the more things you do.. sometimes,, i believe Singapore's 'superior' education system is destroying the ability of children to simply "just do it" (and i'm not referring to sex here). Sure.. they may know more stuff... but they certainly are much more aware of all the potential risks of attempting anything.. any project.. any responsibility.. they just run away knowing the immense pain and suffering they would have to go through.. children are trained to think like adults at a young age to their detriment.. We are training children to be all talk no action people.. no one wants to do the dirty work.. they just want all the benefits.. Its like.. the more knowledgeable a person is.. the more aware of risk he is.. i was talking to my friend online. and he told me.. you know.. most business men aren't very well educated.. but they dare to take risks.. because they fix their eyes on what they have not gotten yet rather than the risks they have to take.. of course it is foolishness to be unaware of risks.. but great men always declared that they would do something awesome even though everyone else tells them it is impossible.. America sending the man to the moon is the classic example of such a great story of faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.
Our education system trains us to think about pros and cons.. and to weigh everything based on facts.. while ignoring a very crucial part of human beings.. which is their instincts.. few people learn how to trust their own instincts.. because.. of the herd mentality.. they are so accustomed to thinking in a similar pattern.. or following the leader that it is so easy to manipulate people now adays.. u just have to bribe the head of the pack to say something and then u will have crowds of people rushing to make a stock investment.. based on what a person says.. or to.. just blindly do stuff. Yet.... there are so many people who trust their instincts and.. lo and behold.. amazing things happen.
People say Christians follow blindly when they follow God.. To a certain extent that is true.. because.. we have to walk by faith and not by sight.. but we follow only because.. the person we are following is perfect.. and flawless.. I don't think this walking by faith and not by sight people makes people comfortable.. it scares the heck out of people.. but .. for others.. its u either have faith.. and carry on.. inspite of the odds.. or.. u turn back and die.. there is no turning back for some people.. once they walked far enough in faith.. and.. this is not something just limited to the realm of religion.. but virtually in every aspect of life.. people always want some sort of safety reassurance to eliminate the possibility of risk.. and to buffer themselves.. insurance basically.. sometimes..we spend out lives.. worrying about things that never happen..
and i think its partly due to the fact that we've been trained to think negatively. By our school.. by our society.. when people look at unemployment rates.. they never think about how high the employment rates are.. they always look at the negative which more often than not is far outweighed by the positives in life. Which is why most people amount to nothing more than ordinary people.. because.. they focus on the rubbish stuff in life.. rather than the good.. its really about the way that people have been trained to see life.. and more often than not.. they've been trained to be cynical..i mean like.. in Singapore.. it is probably even seen as a virtue to complain.. because firstly.. you get what you want.. and you get things done.. if u don't complain you won't get what you want.. and so we see a whole generation of people who are filled with self pity because they can't get what they want.. and they complain complain complain instead of just do something about it. it as if they believe their complaining will get them the wife of their dreams.. its as if their complaining will get them the family who is loving and cohesive.. people think by complaining they can get away from not having to change themselves because they see the problems with other people rather than themselves.. and they see no need to improve themselves because well.. people who complain alot usually think they are perfect and faultless.
even in pr sch.. this disturbingly negative mindset where... people are no longer seen as people with pure motives.. they always have an ulterior motive. a kid is nice to another kid.. parents train the kid not to trust people.. if not you will get backstabbed.. and a kid learns to treat all his friends with suspicion.. until the people who truly like him start staying away from him... to me.. this train of thought is a self-fulfilling prophecy.We neglect the power of thought and hence are not selective about the thoughts we choose to entertain and the thoughts we ought to just fling out of our minds. we view people so negatively that.. even though someone may have no harmful intentions on us.. they eventually become that way.. simply because somehow.. its as though our thoughts can influence people and we unknowingly can sense the thoughts of others.. and this is all reflected in our body language.. which for most part.. we are incapable of controlling.. we think our words are the only form of communication and so we think by not saying anything.. we would not give our ill intentions away.... boy are we so deceived..
People ultimately follow only ideals and they look up to someone who embodies that ideal.. action follows when they choose to aspire to become that someone who embodies such an ideal..
and most of the times, people blindly follow someone.. not knowing that they are being manipulated by the very person they try to follow.. because man is fallible.. and corrupted.. Alot of people follow someone they treat as an idol only to be severely disappointed when he falls severely short of the glorious image that they have naively painted of that idol in their minds. The world follows and chases after men with power, status, recognition and popularity.. because these are the ideals that embody the successful.. ultimately no one wants to be a loser or a nobody.. or to do jobs that are seen as lower class.
Christians follow one man.. and He is Jesus..We follow Him because He alone is perfect. He alone is God. He will only surpass our expectations of Him simply because He can and He is able to! Though i'm only 26. but.. i have stories to tell of GOd's faithfulness.. my diary is full of the amazing things He has been doing in my life!
But, back to the topic of independence which i have strayed so far away from. When people talk about independence.. more often than not... they talk about financial independence.. they long for a day where they would no longer be leeches and that they would be able to provide for their families.. this is by no means bad. in fact.. in the bible.. it says that if we are not providing for our families.. it is something to be scorned. I know how it feels like to be dependent all the time.. to be a leech.. and to constantly suck pocket money from my parents at this age where my younger brother and sister are both working and earning more than me.. i'm currently earning zero bucks.. cuz i havn't started work.
However, in the context of Singapore.. when we are talking about independence.. we forget that.. while it would be ideal and necessary to be financially independent from our earthly parents. because when we marry, we will leave our parents to settle down with the wives of our youth. We can't do tt until we are truly financially independent. However..we simply can't afford to be independent from our heavenly father who provides all things.. He provides the job.. He provides the health.. He provides the strength.. He provides the favor.. Which successful man can say that he is a self made man.. He is a liar. There is no way a man can rise up purely on his own strength.. He has to have help at one point.. just the way no man can claim he came out of his mothers womb an adult.. It is very true in the church.. people are so independent that they no longer need God because they are so self sufficient. They think God is someone whom they depend on for their spiritual health.. and emotional well being.. and they completely forget that .. God expects us to trust Him with all our heart, and mind and strength... And this basically encompasses all aspects of our lives. We always do not expect God to provide the mundane things for us.. like food.. or our daily provisions.. but God says.. He will provide all these things for us.. because He knows that we need them!! :)
Every baby comes out of his/her mother womb vulnerable and susceptible to death.. Were it not for his parents who brought him up while he was helpless.. he would be dead. a nobody.. a seed that never even had time to grow into a shoot. what less produce flowers.. what less produce fruit.. We cannot afford to say we are self made people.. that would be a sure sign of sheer ingratitude.
Independence is foolishness and arrogance of the highest order. If a man should think he is independent from family and emotional support.. he deceives himself greatly.. When a man starts working.. does his independence mean he conveniently neglects supporting his parents financially.. just because he has his own family? obviously not.which man can survive without encouragement?? which man will not grow hard hearted without it??
Can a man hope to live a life that God has intended for him without relying on God?? WHAT foolishness.
And yet, that is the way most CHristians live... they go through their semester in uni.. without setting apart time for God in prayer.. their days are work, eat, sleep, play. God is never part of their equation until the exams.
When they look for a job.. they send out 20 resumes and when non of them comes back to them.. they turn to God and ask.. GOD WHY AREN"T U PROVIDING ME WITH A JOB??? when they have never even turned to God first and seeked Him for a job.It says seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto u.. not seek as a last resort his Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto u. What an insult to God. And yet we do these things day after day without a shred of conviction.. and think we are doing perfect.. doing the church going thing..
The sad thing about the modern church, with all its glitz and glam is not that it isn't getting enough people converted.. its really the way they think. It hasn't really changed from the way they view life since the day they accepted Christ. they have such a pathetic view about God and what He can do.. they do not believe that God can provide for them beyond their wildest imaginations.. but God keeps reminding us.. no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love Him!1 cor 2:9.
They think God is not able to trump the things that they see in movies like Harry Potter, Inception, The Matrix, Sucker Punch, 300.. but they probably have never seen this verse in the bible.... God, our sovereign God has prepared things for us.. that no human minds has ever heard about.. no human ear has ever heard about.. and no human eye has ever seen.. and its a pity.. that so few people dare to believe this verse.. because.. it means.. they would have to trust God completely .. because there is no precedence for the things that God has prepared individually for each and everyone of us. no matter how amazingly other people may have encountered God or seen God move, God can easily trump those experiences.. with something no one has ever seen or heard.. with God , there is no such thing as.. i've seen it all.. i've heard it all...
the man who says that only says that because all he looks at are the people in the church.. and not God who is in heaven..
my take on this topic of independence.. i'd rather be dependent.dependent on God for all of my needs. because.. i don't have any amazing plans for my own life.. if u asked me what i wana do.. i'd tell u i have no clue.. i'd probably get a job. get a wife . get kids and die a happy death.. but that is the worst possible life i could think of.. so boring.. and so.. dead!!!!!! If that is life.. we might as well just go and end our lives.. because there is no meaning in it. its a routine.. and .. we might as well be machines.. factories...
My plans for myself are so boring i could cry..
Which is why.. i'm always asking God to surprise me.. drop me special people to meet.. drop me special quests to take.. drop me special jobs to do.. bring me to places i could never have imagined.. show me what He has in store for me to do...
I shan't say what God has shown me about what He wants to use me for.. in my life.. but i'm so afraid when He showed it to me.. because its so big i can't even bring myself to believe that this could be the magnitude of God's plans for me.
But all i have to really do is believe.
No one wants to be another face in the crowd.. With God there is no such thing.. because when u really spend time with God, 'the one and only!' creator of the universe. when you spend time with people who have really been changed drastically by God.. u simply can't help but transform and be amazed at yourself because you start doing things you never could before.. cuz God has transformed your mind.
Independence.. hmmm .. well.. we can only go so far on our own strength..
its nothing that impresses me.. though i certainly feel inadequate when i compare myself with people who have surpassingly more than i have in their own strength.. i feel so weak and powerless when i compare myself to them... But.. i have what they can never have.. joy unspeakable, peace unshakable unless of course they have the same God as me. I know tt when i am broken.. He would restore me.. and remake me.. and lift me up.. God Himself crafts me like a pottery.. Can a man who has made himself pick himself up without help when he is destroyed on his own? Independence.. neh... i think its for crazy people to kill themselves over. As for me i want to be forever dependent on God for everything in my life. :) my wife, my job, my colleagues, my calling, my destiny, my heart's needs, my emotional wants, everything.
All i can do is stand amazed and give God all the glory He and He alone deserves. :)
to God be the glory!!! :)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
reflections
Sometimes, life passes by like a haze.
sometimes, things happen so quickly. that you don't have time to reflect back on life.
but when you have time to really do that.. its like.. trying to put pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.. a time to think about what truly is important to you.
a time to think back and think about how you really want to live.
sometimes i wonder. do people really think about life.
how often do we have times where we can have family talks.
sometimes.. i live my life stuck in a virtual world.
its like i'm two people. its not like this is the first time i've felt this way before.
its just that i don't know how to explain it but..
too often.. my actions do not match up with my thoughts.
i have far nobler thoughts than actions.
but don't walk the thought.
i'm at the point in life where i'm finally gona start work.
6 years of studying architecture. finally... by God's grace God led me to a job.
will life still be God centered?
its something that bothers me alot.
would i be so caught up with work that i no longer am able to spend time with God.
its really very possible that could happen.. if i allow it.
many challenges await..
and my desire is to always over come them with God first in mind.
i always yearn for God. and many a times.. i think actions will speak for myself whether i am faithful to Him. to be honest. i'm not a very action oriented person.
i like thinking. but i am poor at executing.
many things i want to do...
but somehow they always seem out of reach.. a little far for me to grasp.. and when i am about to hold them with my hands.. they seem to vanish like a wisp of air.
i know i'm being ambiguous. not specific.
urghh~!!~
the agony sometimes..
But God is good.
seriously..
i havn't stopped seeing how good God is.. each day i have sooo much to thank God for!!!
and they always start from the small things...
Like a small change of heart in my family.. like a lunch session where conversations are very open and engaging with youths. So many times... i see how good God is.. that if i were to record them down.. i'd have trouble finding space in my diary.
and.. i find myself seeing God in the smallest of things...
How closeness in family and friends grow with time...
seeing the hearts of my youths grow closer to God..
seeing my dad give his life to Christ...
seeing my sister want a closer relationship with all my family members...
seeing my mom become less anxious at home...
seeing my brother getting over a relationship and moving on.
seeing my older sister giving birth to a baby girl Angelina..
seeing my brother in-law getting promoted within such a short time...
seeing my cousin get a new convertible and having the opportunity to sit in a convertible for the first time in my life....
seeing my best friend of many years become more himself and honest..
seeing my good friend getting a really good job...
seeing God provide me a job...
seeing God helping me through my last semester with an average of B+.
seeing God lead me to a spiritual mentor just by the hand of God.
seeing God answer my prayer
seeing God use me to write a xmas script and see it being produced in 2 churches..
seeing God use me direct a xmas script with such a short time constraint
seeing God use me to help out in the design for Campus Crusade's ambience design..
Seeing God bring me friends i really can turn to.. for support.. who would call me.. who would pray with me.. who support me...
Seeing God use me to love my friends..
Seeing God give me favor with dear friends.
did i earn any of these..
nah..
part of me just feels that i've been always receiving and receiving from God... so much...
and i've done so little giving...
when i look beside me.. i find people.. who come alongside me in my life.. and they are so different from me.. so changed by God. they inspire me. and they didn't even have to mention one word of instruction to me.. i just had to watch..and i can almost hear God saying to me.. Richard.. just watch and follow these people whom i have put in your life for a reason.. learn from them.. because they are gona teach u things.. but u have to watch and observe them carefully...
their strengths are your weaknesses.. so learn from them..
All i know is that i am truly inadequate. to face life head on..
because i am heading into a world... far different from student life...
it is exciting.. a little apprehensive...
One thing i know i simply can't change is this.. God.
in every circumstance.. i want God to be with me..
i won't want to God where God is not leading me..
i can't survive without God's grace.. and God's teaching me..
from the most unexpected situations.. i learn the most...
from the most unexpected of conversations and meet ups.. i find myself being ministered and learning the most..
from the most unexpected of times.. i realize how much i've got to really grow ..
and i realize..
life is so exciting..
because... i can't imagine whats the next step gona lead me in life..
i can't imagine... what God is going to do next..
i only can lean closer... and ask God.. and hold His hand and ask Him.. God.. is this ok? am i doing ok? are u pleased with me? how are u?
Its a privlege for me to be able to sit down at my best friends house (Victor) and be typing and reflecting.. before the new year really begins full swing when i start work..
all i know is that my circumstance may change dramatically, but my God dosn't.
it is in this i take the greatest comfort... my greatest anchor.. my greatest bearing.. isn't about succeeding in life.. its about pleasing God with my actions..
Day by day.. i'm just in apprehension.. wondering.. if i am able to continue this walk with God.. wondering if one day i would turn back on this faith that i profess to stake my whole life upon..
Am i consistent in what i belief in?
that is my concern.. i want people to say about me on my deathbed that Richard was a man who was the same when he was at home ... as he is at work.. he didn't have to put on a facade wherever he went..
i think that would be a great testimony. of God's goodness... His grace that allows me to be who i am.. regardless of my circumstance.. and to always remain true to what i believe in with all my heart...
that my convictions to one God wouldn't change but only grow deeper with time..
this would be my lifelong dream.
sometimes, things happen so quickly. that you don't have time to reflect back on life.
but when you have time to really do that.. its like.. trying to put pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.. a time to think about what truly is important to you.
a time to think back and think about how you really want to live.
sometimes i wonder. do people really think about life.
how often do we have times where we can have family talks.
sometimes.. i live my life stuck in a virtual world.
its like i'm two people. its not like this is the first time i've felt this way before.
its just that i don't know how to explain it but..
too often.. my actions do not match up with my thoughts.
i have far nobler thoughts than actions.
but don't walk the thought.
i'm at the point in life where i'm finally gona start work.
6 years of studying architecture. finally... by God's grace God led me to a job.
will life still be God centered?
its something that bothers me alot.
would i be so caught up with work that i no longer am able to spend time with God.
its really very possible that could happen.. if i allow it.
many challenges await..
and my desire is to always over come them with God first in mind.
i always yearn for God. and many a times.. i think actions will speak for myself whether i am faithful to Him. to be honest. i'm not a very action oriented person.
i like thinking. but i am poor at executing.
many things i want to do...
but somehow they always seem out of reach.. a little far for me to grasp.. and when i am about to hold them with my hands.. they seem to vanish like a wisp of air.
i know i'm being ambiguous. not specific.
urghh~!!~
the agony sometimes..
But God is good.
seriously..
i havn't stopped seeing how good God is.. each day i have sooo much to thank God for!!!
and they always start from the small things...
Like a small change of heart in my family.. like a lunch session where conversations are very open and engaging with youths. So many times... i see how good God is.. that if i were to record them down.. i'd have trouble finding space in my diary.
and.. i find myself seeing God in the smallest of things...
How closeness in family and friends grow with time...
seeing the hearts of my youths grow closer to God..
seeing my dad give his life to Christ...
seeing my sister want a closer relationship with all my family members...
seeing my mom become less anxious at home...
seeing my brother getting over a relationship and moving on.
seeing my older sister giving birth to a baby girl Angelina..
seeing my brother in-law getting promoted within such a short time...
seeing my cousin get a new convertible and having the opportunity to sit in a convertible for the first time in my life....
seeing my best friend of many years become more himself and honest..
seeing my good friend getting a really good job...
seeing God provide me a job...
seeing God helping me through my last semester with an average of B+.
seeing God lead me to a spiritual mentor just by the hand of God.
seeing God answer my prayer
seeing God use me to write a xmas script and see it being produced in 2 churches..
seeing God use me direct a xmas script with such a short time constraint
seeing God use me to help out in the design for Campus Crusade's ambience design..
Seeing God bring me friends i really can turn to.. for support.. who would call me.. who would pray with me.. who support me...
Seeing God use me to love my friends..
Seeing God give me favor with dear friends.
did i earn any of these..
nah..
part of me just feels that i've been always receiving and receiving from God... so much...
and i've done so little giving...
when i look beside me.. i find people.. who come alongside me in my life.. and they are so different from me.. so changed by God. they inspire me. and they didn't even have to mention one word of instruction to me.. i just had to watch..and i can almost hear God saying to me.. Richard.. just watch and follow these people whom i have put in your life for a reason.. learn from them.. because they are gona teach u things.. but u have to watch and observe them carefully...
their strengths are your weaknesses.. so learn from them..
All i know is that i am truly inadequate. to face life head on..
because i am heading into a world... far different from student life...
it is exciting.. a little apprehensive...
One thing i know i simply can't change is this.. God.
in every circumstance.. i want God to be with me..
i won't want to God where God is not leading me..
i can't survive without God's grace.. and God's teaching me..
from the most unexpected situations.. i learn the most...
from the most unexpected of conversations and meet ups.. i find myself being ministered and learning the most..
from the most unexpected of times.. i realize how much i've got to really grow ..
and i realize..
life is so exciting..
because... i can't imagine whats the next step gona lead me in life..
i can't imagine... what God is going to do next..
i only can lean closer... and ask God.. and hold His hand and ask Him.. God.. is this ok? am i doing ok? are u pleased with me? how are u?
Its a privlege for me to be able to sit down at my best friends house (Victor) and be typing and reflecting.. before the new year really begins full swing when i start work..
all i know is that my circumstance may change dramatically, but my God dosn't.
it is in this i take the greatest comfort... my greatest anchor.. my greatest bearing.. isn't about succeeding in life.. its about pleasing God with my actions..
Day by day.. i'm just in apprehension.. wondering.. if i am able to continue this walk with God.. wondering if one day i would turn back on this faith that i profess to stake my whole life upon..
Am i consistent in what i belief in?
that is my concern.. i want people to say about me on my deathbed that Richard was a man who was the same when he was at home ... as he is at work.. he didn't have to put on a facade wherever he went..
i think that would be a great testimony. of God's goodness... His grace that allows me to be who i am.. regardless of my circumstance.. and to always remain true to what i believe in with all my heart...
that my convictions to one God wouldn't change but only grow deeper with time..
this would be my lifelong dream.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Marriage
There was a news article posted up by the straits times about 2 days ago. It was about how statistics in Singapore show that more women are cheating on their husbands. And it said.. women are catching up with the men.. in terms of the occurrences of sleeping around and committing adultery. as though this was something that is good for the women.. as though the women are finally getting there.. and doing something good..
i felt disgusted at the way the article was worded.. its almost as though the writer takes delight in the fact that more women are becoming promiscuous..
through out the article.. there was no definite stand on whether sleeping around and whether adultery was something right or wrong.. the closest the article came to talking about whether its right or wrong was based on whether the public thought it was socially acceptable or not.
which brings us to the temporary conclusion that as long as society thinks its alright to sleep with your neighbour's wife.. or husband.. then its alright.. since everyone else is doing it.. why not do it??
and when i went for reservice.. i realized how sad this truth is.. about the increasing promiscuity of Singaporean males.. especially when they start working.. Going abroad to bangkok to 'bang cocks' is as real as it can get.. and mind you guys.. aren't ashamed to tell you that they've given away their virginity to someone they don't even know.. they infact are proud of it..
and the honest stand is to screw around as much with as many women as you can get before you settle down with your wife... and my reply to that is.. this.. then what is the difference between your wife and the rest of the women you've banged? after all.. if your wife can't satisfy your sexual needs.. then you can go bang some banger on the streets.. for a few dollars.. or u could even obtain it free from a one night stand from clubbing.. sex is so cheap now that it is worth nothing in a marriage.. if a wife uses sex as a bargaining chip for attention.. the husband can simply get offended and go screw a prostitute or any cheap lady who would throw away their morals just for 20 mins of pleasure. after all.. he's done it so many times before he was married... its just like masturbating .. u've done it so many times that its nothing.
pre marital sex cheapens something meant only for one person.
it destroys the sanctity of marriage.
because its high chance that the person you've married has had sex with other men and probably has had more stimulating sexual encounters than the final person he/she ends up with.
there is a tendency for people to simply overlook the fact that men and women have this feeling called jealousy. No matter how seasoned a hooker or no matter how seasoned a prostitute.. no matter how seasoned an adulteress.. everyone of them is subject to the law of jealousy. which man or women is not jealous when his wife or her husband is *fucking* another woman or man...
in war time.. Japanese/American/German soldiers.. they go to a helpless village.. take a husband and wife.. and rape the wife in front of the husband..
Imagine the outrage of a husband. imagine the rage of the husband.. what can sooth a man's heart when he sees someone whom he at one point of time cherished so much being screwed by another man??
Yet.. in a time of peace... men are screwing the wives of other men. women are looking for men who can give them their want for love.. and that includes sex.. though women are more complex than men.. men only want sex. then they go back to their wives satiated.. by another woman.. who is better in bed than his own wife who can't perform to the standards that other professional sex workers can perform on him.
The greatest deception is this.. when people think about adultery.. they think its only a relationship between 2 people being affected.. reality sinks when the man loses his wealth.. and his property and his very own children are no longer his own..
he has given up all this for another women who is not his wife.
In the newspaper article.. it didn't use the word adultery.. rather .. they use the word. cheating.. which shows you how lightly people have taken the sanctity of marriage.. since now.. in a modern society.. with modern mindsets and more civilized point of view.. you can 'suka suka' go and change wife.. u just have to abandon your children...
but this is all on a macroscopic level of discussion...this discussion about adultery..
when we look at this statistic in larger context.. it becomes highly alarming and disturbing.. because.. people don't have a stand against adultery..
all they have are excuses.
but yet again.. it is impossible for a man and woman to really love each other unless they have the love of God.
Can a man love his parents unconditionally?? most of the time it is parental obligations that cause a man to provide for his family.. does he really love his parents? i can safely say that unless a man has the love of God.. he can't love his own parents the way God meant .
Its so difficult for one to honor his own parents.. because they are imperfect. because they are flawed.
only the love of God could love a man completely with blemishes included.
It is logical why a man a woman get divorced.. because God is not the centre of their relationship. It takes too much emotional effort and strength.. strength that a human alone cannot bear.. strength to work a job and still come home to the spouse and satisfy her needs and be attentive to her...
doing this day after day.. night after night.. its impossible.. without God.
Why are children such a burden to men?? because they rely on their own strength.. they do not deem it necessary to draw their strength from the true source of living water.. Jesus Christ who has died on the cross for our sins.
Jesus does not give as the world gives.. the world can offer monetary rewards and fleshly pleasures.. but something it is simply incapable of providing for is a peace within the soul.. it is incapable of providing true joy from within. these things can't be taken away.. they can only be given away.. and that's when you no longer spend time with the maker who makes all things beautiful.
I know God is very indignant when He sees all his precious children making their lives muddier and muddier..When the cakes of mud have hardened.. it seems as though.. they can't be washed away.. because mud seeps into the deepest cracks of the heart and encases the heart such they it becomes a heart of stone rather than a heart of flesh.. remember the days when all of us were kids and we knew how to laugh. When God puts a new heart in us. we become like kids once more. we laugh like kids once more.. with a reckless abandon.. not caring what the other person thought about our actions.. we become children in adult bodies.. with the mental faculties of adults.. and the joy of children. our lens becomes brighter because no longer are we constrained by what men can't do.. but we become empowered by what God can do through us.
May the name of the Lord be glorified forever and ever.
Amen. :)
i felt disgusted at the way the article was worded.. its almost as though the writer takes delight in the fact that more women are becoming promiscuous..
through out the article.. there was no definite stand on whether sleeping around and whether adultery was something right or wrong.. the closest the article came to talking about whether its right or wrong was based on whether the public thought it was socially acceptable or not.
which brings us to the temporary conclusion that as long as society thinks its alright to sleep with your neighbour's wife.. or husband.. then its alright.. since everyone else is doing it.. why not do it??
and when i went for reservice.. i realized how sad this truth is.. about the increasing promiscuity of Singaporean males.. especially when they start working.. Going abroad to bangkok to 'bang cocks' is as real as it can get.. and mind you guys.. aren't ashamed to tell you that they've given away their virginity to someone they don't even know.. they infact are proud of it..
and the honest stand is to screw around as much with as many women as you can get before you settle down with your wife... and my reply to that is.. this.. then what is the difference between your wife and the rest of the women you've banged? after all.. if your wife can't satisfy your sexual needs.. then you can go bang some banger on the streets.. for a few dollars.. or u could even obtain it free from a one night stand from clubbing.. sex is so cheap now that it is worth nothing in a marriage.. if a wife uses sex as a bargaining chip for attention.. the husband can simply get offended and go screw a prostitute or any cheap lady who would throw away their morals just for 20 mins of pleasure. after all.. he's done it so many times before he was married... its just like masturbating .. u've done it so many times that its nothing.
pre marital sex cheapens something meant only for one person.
it destroys the sanctity of marriage.
because its high chance that the person you've married has had sex with other men and probably has had more stimulating sexual encounters than the final person he/she ends up with.
there is a tendency for people to simply overlook the fact that men and women have this feeling called jealousy. No matter how seasoned a hooker or no matter how seasoned a prostitute.. no matter how seasoned an adulteress.. everyone of them is subject to the law of jealousy. which man or women is not jealous when his wife or her husband is *fucking* another woman or man...
in war time.. Japanese/American/German soldiers.. they go to a helpless village.. take a husband and wife.. and rape the wife in front of the husband..
Imagine the outrage of a husband. imagine the rage of the husband.. what can sooth a man's heart when he sees someone whom he at one point of time cherished so much being screwed by another man??
Yet.. in a time of peace... men are screwing the wives of other men. women are looking for men who can give them their want for love.. and that includes sex.. though women are more complex than men.. men only want sex. then they go back to their wives satiated.. by another woman.. who is better in bed than his own wife who can't perform to the standards that other professional sex workers can perform on him.
The greatest deception is this.. when people think about adultery.. they think its only a relationship between 2 people being affected.. reality sinks when the man loses his wealth.. and his property and his very own children are no longer his own..
he has given up all this for another women who is not his wife.
In the newspaper article.. it didn't use the word adultery.. rather .. they use the word. cheating.. which shows you how lightly people have taken the sanctity of marriage.. since now.. in a modern society.. with modern mindsets and more civilized point of view.. you can 'suka suka' go and change wife.. u just have to abandon your children...
but this is all on a macroscopic level of discussion...this discussion about adultery..
when we look at this statistic in larger context.. it becomes highly alarming and disturbing.. because.. people don't have a stand against adultery..
all they have are excuses.
but yet again.. it is impossible for a man and woman to really love each other unless they have the love of God.
Can a man love his parents unconditionally?? most of the time it is parental obligations that cause a man to provide for his family.. does he really love his parents? i can safely say that unless a man has the love of God.. he can't love his own parents the way God meant .
Its so difficult for one to honor his own parents.. because they are imperfect. because they are flawed.
only the love of God could love a man completely with blemishes included.
It is logical why a man a woman get divorced.. because God is not the centre of their relationship. It takes too much emotional effort and strength.. strength that a human alone cannot bear.. strength to work a job and still come home to the spouse and satisfy her needs and be attentive to her...
doing this day after day.. night after night.. its impossible.. without God.
Why are children such a burden to men?? because they rely on their own strength.. they do not deem it necessary to draw their strength from the true source of living water.. Jesus Christ who has died on the cross for our sins.
Jesus does not give as the world gives.. the world can offer monetary rewards and fleshly pleasures.. but something it is simply incapable of providing for is a peace within the soul.. it is incapable of providing true joy from within. these things can't be taken away.. they can only be given away.. and that's when you no longer spend time with the maker who makes all things beautiful.
I know God is very indignant when He sees all his precious children making their lives muddier and muddier..When the cakes of mud have hardened.. it seems as though.. they can't be washed away.. because mud seeps into the deepest cracks of the heart and encases the heart such they it becomes a heart of stone rather than a heart of flesh.. remember the days when all of us were kids and we knew how to laugh. When God puts a new heart in us. we become like kids once more. we laugh like kids once more.. with a reckless abandon.. not caring what the other person thought about our actions.. we become children in adult bodies.. with the mental faculties of adults.. and the joy of children. our lens becomes brighter because no longer are we constrained by what men can't do.. but we become empowered by what God can do through us.
May the name of the Lord be glorified forever and ever.
Amen. :)
Friday, December 9, 2011
the passing of time
There is something that I just simply couldn't put my finger on.something elusive that I've tried to describe but just couldn't. And that is the passing of time.. I am sitting beside the street blogging on my phone as I write this post. I saw a young girl walking past me to the bus stop. And I thought to myself. She would one day be someone else's wife. Then I looked at another girl and the same thought came to mind. And then a third lady walked past And she was holding a child.. And I was thinking for a woman to have a child she must have had sex with her husband.and of course there are the exceptions. But... I was just thinking... when you see a woman with her child. You don't think about the dark night in the room where she was busy creating a child with her husband... but that didn't change the fact that a mother has to have sex with her husband before giving birth to a child. There are many things that are hidden and forgotten with the passing of time. When we meet a woman for the first time, we see an appearance. A woman whose appearance is susceptible to change. What she looks like today can be entirely different from what she looked like the day before. A woman whom you once thought of as perfect could be the object of disgust with the passing of time. Yet she is still that person...
With the passing of time, I could have a family.a wife..a job.. I could be an entirely different person from who I used to b in five years time... yet it still wouldn't change the fact that I am still Richard Yew. In relationships... we turn to our partner and tell them... you've changed. And we remnisciese how life used to be better when we were more caring to our spouse. When we used to shower affection and give our hundred percent... how in the past... everything every gesture that we did was appreciated and received with gratitude and affection. But with the passing of time. That too hanges.. cuz with time a man's strength wanes.with the passing of time... what used to enthrall us merely become experiences.. that either are forgotten or become glorified remnants of a past that no longer is in existence.
With the passing of time.. we realize. Things are always changing
With the passing of time, I could have a family.a wife..a job.. I could be an entirely different person from who I used to b in five years time... yet it still wouldn't change the fact that I am still Richard Yew. In relationships... we turn to our partner and tell them... you've changed. And we remnisciese how life used to be better when we were more caring to our spouse. When we used to shower affection and give our hundred percent... how in the past... everything every gesture that we did was appreciated and received with gratitude and affection. But with the passing of time. That too hanges.. cuz with time a man's strength wanes.with the passing of time... what used to enthrall us merely become experiences.. that either are forgotten or become glorified remnants of a past that no longer is in existence.
With the passing of time.. we realize. Things are always changing
Saturday, November 12, 2011
was any great man never extreme?
which normal man has ever been extraordinary?
greatness.. is something people want for themselves.
but it isn't something they would pay the price for.
greatness requires sacrifices that people would never see.. because those sacrifices are all made behind the scenes.. those sacrifices were made long before they became great. They all started as decisions.. invisible..
the call to follow Jesus is a great call.
it is a call to be great in the eyes of God.
but it may not necessarily equate to being great in the eyes of men.
greatness always starts in the invisible realm.
this is a fact.
for which man was made great by looking at the world as it was?
no.. it was the great who looked at the world and saw things that never happened as though they had. it was the great who looked at life and saw things to come that may or may never happen. and they lived according to what they perceived in their intuition.
they had the ingredient that transformed the ordinary man into a great man.
Faith.
The substance of things hoped for and the confidence about what is not seen.
we as Christians are called to set our eyes always on things that are unseen for the things that are unseen are eternal. but the things that are seen are only temporary.
Faith is this. to believe that the world was formed at God's command.
this goes beyond all rationality. the implication of such a belief is tentamount to saying that all that we see as created came out of a realm that is invisible.
but it makes weird sense.
because.. when you look at every single thing you can imagine.. buildings, laptops, houses, books, handphones, cars... from the shape, to the design to the colour ... there is not one thing that is created that did not orginate from the invisible realm of thoughts.
then.. comes to mind.. what is the origin of all thoughts? how many of our thoughts really creative thoughts truely come from us? are they not borrowed? or copied?
but how about the original creative people? people like Leonardo Da vinci.. or Pablo Picaso. from where did their remarkable thoughts originate? were they not human like us? why then did they receive supernatural ideas that no man during that era could ever conceive??
the bible is true.
every word is true.
because this is what the bible says about all creation.
this is what the bible says about every single physical object... be it a cup .. or a tree... or a building.. or a car... the bible says that what is seen was not made out of what was invisible.in other words. all that you see.. is made out of what is invisible. mind you there is a big difference between made up of and made out of.
out of the thoughts which God has put in our heads, what is in the invisble realm comes into realization in the physical realm.
it has taken place over and over again.. but man in his arrogance has called all these 'his' own creativity... and in so doing.. robbed God of the glory that He deserves.
how merciful and how loving God is. how merciful and loving God is
How mercifcul and loving God is.
greatness.. is something people want for themselves.
but it isn't something they would pay the price for.
greatness requires sacrifices that people would never see.. because those sacrifices are all made behind the scenes.. those sacrifices were made long before they became great. They all started as decisions.. invisible..
the call to follow Jesus is a great call.
it is a call to be great in the eyes of God.
but it may not necessarily equate to being great in the eyes of men.
greatness always starts in the invisible realm.
this is a fact.
for which man was made great by looking at the world as it was?
no.. it was the great who looked at the world and saw things that never happened as though they had. it was the great who looked at life and saw things to come that may or may never happen. and they lived according to what they perceived in their intuition.
they had the ingredient that transformed the ordinary man into a great man.
Faith.
The substance of things hoped for and the confidence about what is not seen.
we as Christians are called to set our eyes always on things that are unseen for the things that are unseen are eternal. but the things that are seen are only temporary.
Faith is this. to believe that the world was formed at God's command.
this goes beyond all rationality. the implication of such a belief is tentamount to saying that all that we see as created came out of a realm that is invisible.
but it makes weird sense.
because.. when you look at every single thing you can imagine.. buildings, laptops, houses, books, handphones, cars... from the shape, to the design to the colour ... there is not one thing that is created that did not orginate from the invisible realm of thoughts.
then.. comes to mind.. what is the origin of all thoughts? how many of our thoughts really creative thoughts truely come from us? are they not borrowed? or copied?
but how about the original creative people? people like Leonardo Da vinci.. or Pablo Picaso. from where did their remarkable thoughts originate? were they not human like us? why then did they receive supernatural ideas that no man during that era could ever conceive??
the bible is true.
every word is true.
because this is what the bible says about all creation.
this is what the bible says about every single physical object... be it a cup .. or a tree... or a building.. or a car... the bible says that what is seen was not made out of what was invisible.in other words. all that you see.. is made out of what is invisible. mind you there is a big difference between made up of and made out of.
out of the thoughts which God has put in our heads, what is in the invisble realm comes into realization in the physical realm.
it has taken place over and over again.. but man in his arrogance has called all these 'his' own creativity... and in so doing.. robbed God of the glory that He deserves.
how merciful and how loving God is. how merciful and loving God is
How mercifcul and loving God is.
Monday, October 24, 2011
the meaninglessness of life.
If you want to be discouraged by life. Read the bible. Its one of the most discouraging books you can read.
Read the book of ecclesiastes and it will tell you all about the meaninglessness of life.
If you want to be filled with despair read the bible. because it tells you that everything is meaningless.
And the scariest part is. you will agree with what the bible says about the meaninglessness of life. because it is indeed meaningless.
so read the bible and be encouraged. :)
Read the book of ecclesiastes and it will tell you all about the meaninglessness of life.
If you want to be filled with despair read the bible. because it tells you that everything is meaningless.
And the scariest part is. you will agree with what the bible says about the meaninglessness of life. because it is indeed meaningless.
so read the bible and be encouraged. :)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
richard... Be a man.. do the right thing.
i realized with some horror today that i don't even know how to take care of myself.
It took people who were younger than me to show me how pathetic i was.
People who are younger than me are getting jobs.. teaching tuition to pay for their school fees... they are trying to make ends meet by paying for their own stuff..
while me...
a 26 year old... who professes to follow Christ, has done virtually nothing about his work.
I'm literally useless. Being brought up by my family too well perhaps.. and not knowing how to take care of myself... that i can't even help to do house work.. and things tt would benefit the family more..
i've got more time.. but i'm not making good use of it..
i know that my responsibility is not just limited to keeping my room clean.
when i look at myself. i think...
God help me!
You know how weak i am.
Lead me!!! so i can be a man and not behave like a boy.
It took people who were younger than me to show me how pathetic i was.
People who are younger than me are getting jobs.. teaching tuition to pay for their school fees... they are trying to make ends meet by paying for their own stuff..
while me...
a 26 year old... who professes to follow Christ, has done virtually nothing about his work.
I'm literally useless. Being brought up by my family too well perhaps.. and not knowing how to take care of myself... that i can't even help to do house work.. and things tt would benefit the family more..
i've got more time.. but i'm not making good use of it..
i know that my responsibility is not just limited to keeping my room clean.
when i look at myself. i think...
God help me!
You know how weak i am.
Lead me!!! so i can be a man and not behave like a boy.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
A question on my mind
There is a question on my mind.which is this how do i have a relationship with myself?
I was having a prayer meeting last week and we had a sharing. and the topic was about how is your relationship with yourself?
and i think its a question i've not thought about. though it did cross my mind before.
i'll probably just dish out whatever that comes into mind.
I find myself very different from most people. because i don't really care much about myself the usual way others do. i don't care alot about getting things for myself.. like.. good grades.. and clothes.. and things.. like even if i wanted to go for a holiday.. i'd be too lazy to work for it.. and it disturbs me quite abit. but not enough for me to do anything about it.
but the things that i care for myself is my rest.. and my personal time.. do i have my own quiet time.. and do i have space where i can sit down and reflect. which is one of my favorite past times.. i could write on and on if i had space and time to reflect in my journal.. and then i'd forget what i write in my journal.. because i'm just dumping information into a book.. and pretty much moving on in life.
it dosn't really change me.
i don't care for alot of things.. i don't really care whats going on in the world.. i don't care... what happening in the lives of most of my friends.. unless i'm in a setting where i would talk to them.. and pretty much i'm preoccupied with my own thoughts.. and i'm lost in my own world...
I"m lost in thoughts about how God is real and how He can use me. And how He can use a dreamer like me... whose room is so untidy.. whose bed is full of books.. but i don't really read the books.. and have been too lazy to do so.. who hasn't been spending time at home... and who can't really be bothered about whats going on at home...
my life is full of things i should be worried about.. but somehow the one thing that really gets to me is whether i am walking in a way that is honoring to God..
and there is a heckload of things i know i should be doing like my project work.. like a script i'm supposed to help my friend with for Christmas.. like the tonnes of photos i'm supposed to edit and upload on facebook.. like.. the newspapers i should be reading so i know how to pray better for the world.. hmmm like... the times i should be studying and reading up on things so that i would be kept up to date with my work...
but somehow..they are always so far away.... and my mind gets really intimidated... i've got so little time and so manythings to do.. go out with friends who matter. go for prayer in the morning.. reading God's word.. things that hardly seem important to anyone who dosn't see the need for God in their lives.
But what is the relationship that i have with myself in all of these?
i don't know.. because.. i think it dosn't really matter to me.. my confidence comes from God. and sometimes i don't even know what that means...
but i do know that in the times when i feel so inadequate.. when i feel that i should be doing work but still i spend time to be with God, my soul is constantly restored.
really.. alot of things become meaningless to me.... to chase after cars.. to chase after fashion trends.. to try to seek fame and fortune. of course... i may be saying all these now because i don't have them. and people might say i am just comforting myself. but in light of being able to taste of the supernatural.. to taste of heaven on earth. to know what it is like to touch God even while on earth.. thats something that captivates me as a moth drawn to a candle light. it captivates my heart each time i read the bible and something springs out at me that i've never realized.. and when the experiences i have in my life support that God's word is true... and that what He says is real.... that the Holy Spirit really does move .. and it isn't some gust of wind that just gives you peace.. but that Holy Spirit contains power to break strongholds of sin in families.. to break the iron clad hearts that we have created when life becomes tough.. and things we never expect to happen in our lives happen..
with God.. rather than our hearts becoming more hard hearted... they become more soft and vulnerable... where people start to clam up.... God in us causes our hearts to open up and even be susceptible once again to pain.. and hurt.. God in our hearts calls us to step out and take the initiative... and share love with a person.
But lo and behold.. we are people who are hardened.. and unreceptive and.. things in this world always seem much more attractive than what God has in store..
the world looks at the outward appearance.. while God looks at what is inside...
God uses imagery like treasures in jars of clay... treasures in the most unseeming looking things... He puts treasures in people who are weird and even unattractive.
its like in transformers... all the decepticons always look more cool... they have much more cool designs than the autobots.. but somehow.. the autobots seem to win all the time. they have heart.. where the decepticons have appearances.
in our lives...
what are the things that are most endearing to us?
is it the glitzy diamonds and cars? or the friends we grow up with in life? is it the super elite bosses we work for whom we highly esteem ? or our parents whom we see major character defects in simply because we see them at their ugliest and their most beautiful?
Although its obvious.. that on our deathbeds... we never think about things like.. oh... i hope my business is doing well. Rather.. we wonder about things like.. i wonder if i've made a difference in the lives of the people i've been with... when we are going to die.. the things that matter the most wouldn't be the things of this world.. it would be the treasures hidden in jars of clay.. it would be the people whom we have grown up with.. it would be the friends who have not fallen away over the years.. it would be the people whom you have shared your life with.
and of course.. on your deathbed.. you would then ponder about the question.. what's next. is there a life after death? What are the things in our lives that we are striving after .. are they of eternal value?
which man can say that his career is of eternal value? Man fights for something he cannot keep. He goes for women who would leave him for better men. He goes for what other people prize as desirable even though he has not much use for that. whats the point in that?
Only what is unseen is of eternal value.. only Jesus is the one thing worth seeking after all our lives.
I was having a prayer meeting last week and we had a sharing. and the topic was about how is your relationship with yourself?
and i think its a question i've not thought about. though it did cross my mind before.
i'll probably just dish out whatever that comes into mind.
I find myself very different from most people. because i don't really care much about myself the usual way others do. i don't care alot about getting things for myself.. like.. good grades.. and clothes.. and things.. like even if i wanted to go for a holiday.. i'd be too lazy to work for it.. and it disturbs me quite abit. but not enough for me to do anything about it.
but the things that i care for myself is my rest.. and my personal time.. do i have my own quiet time.. and do i have space where i can sit down and reflect. which is one of my favorite past times.. i could write on and on if i had space and time to reflect in my journal.. and then i'd forget what i write in my journal.. because i'm just dumping information into a book.. and pretty much moving on in life.
it dosn't really change me.
i don't care for alot of things.. i don't really care whats going on in the world.. i don't care... what happening in the lives of most of my friends.. unless i'm in a setting where i would talk to them.. and pretty much i'm preoccupied with my own thoughts.. and i'm lost in my own world...
I"m lost in thoughts about how God is real and how He can use me. And how He can use a dreamer like me... whose room is so untidy.. whose bed is full of books.. but i don't really read the books.. and have been too lazy to do so.. who hasn't been spending time at home... and who can't really be bothered about whats going on at home...
my life is full of things i should be worried about.. but somehow the one thing that really gets to me is whether i am walking in a way that is honoring to God..
and there is a heckload of things i know i should be doing like my project work.. like a script i'm supposed to help my friend with for Christmas.. like the tonnes of photos i'm supposed to edit and upload on facebook.. like.. the newspapers i should be reading so i know how to pray better for the world.. hmmm like... the times i should be studying and reading up on things so that i would be kept up to date with my work...
but somehow..they are always so far away.... and my mind gets really intimidated... i've got so little time and so manythings to do.. go out with friends who matter. go for prayer in the morning.. reading God's word.. things that hardly seem important to anyone who dosn't see the need for God in their lives.
But what is the relationship that i have with myself in all of these?
i don't know.. because.. i think it dosn't really matter to me.. my confidence comes from God. and sometimes i don't even know what that means...
but i do know that in the times when i feel so inadequate.. when i feel that i should be doing work but still i spend time to be with God, my soul is constantly restored.
really.. alot of things become meaningless to me.... to chase after cars.. to chase after fashion trends.. to try to seek fame and fortune. of course... i may be saying all these now because i don't have them. and people might say i am just comforting myself. but in light of being able to taste of the supernatural.. to taste of heaven on earth. to know what it is like to touch God even while on earth.. thats something that captivates me as a moth drawn to a candle light. it captivates my heart each time i read the bible and something springs out at me that i've never realized.. and when the experiences i have in my life support that God's word is true... and that what He says is real.... that the Holy Spirit really does move .. and it isn't some gust of wind that just gives you peace.. but that Holy Spirit contains power to break strongholds of sin in families.. to break the iron clad hearts that we have created when life becomes tough.. and things we never expect to happen in our lives happen..
with God.. rather than our hearts becoming more hard hearted... they become more soft and vulnerable... where people start to clam up.... God in us causes our hearts to open up and even be susceptible once again to pain.. and hurt.. God in our hearts calls us to step out and take the initiative... and share love with a person.
But lo and behold.. we are people who are hardened.. and unreceptive and.. things in this world always seem much more attractive than what God has in store..
the world looks at the outward appearance.. while God looks at what is inside...
God uses imagery like treasures in jars of clay... treasures in the most unseeming looking things... He puts treasures in people who are weird and even unattractive.
its like in transformers... all the decepticons always look more cool... they have much more cool designs than the autobots.. but somehow.. the autobots seem to win all the time. they have heart.. where the decepticons have appearances.
in our lives...
what are the things that are most endearing to us?
is it the glitzy diamonds and cars? or the friends we grow up with in life? is it the super elite bosses we work for whom we highly esteem ? or our parents whom we see major character defects in simply because we see them at their ugliest and their most beautiful?
Although its obvious.. that on our deathbeds... we never think about things like.. oh... i hope my business is doing well. Rather.. we wonder about things like.. i wonder if i've made a difference in the lives of the people i've been with... when we are going to die.. the things that matter the most wouldn't be the things of this world.. it would be the treasures hidden in jars of clay.. it would be the people whom we have grown up with.. it would be the friends who have not fallen away over the years.. it would be the people whom you have shared your life with.
and of course.. on your deathbed.. you would then ponder about the question.. what's next. is there a life after death? What are the things in our lives that we are striving after .. are they of eternal value?
which man can say that his career is of eternal value? Man fights for something he cannot keep. He goes for women who would leave him for better men. He goes for what other people prize as desirable even though he has not much use for that. whats the point in that?
Only what is unseen is of eternal value.. only Jesus is the one thing worth seeking after all our lives.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
feeling low?
have u been feeling down?
have you been wondering what on earth you are doing with your life?
Have u been looking at your work daily.. wondering.. if this is all that your whole life will be like?
have you ever wondered... wow.. how it would be like to travel around the world and see all the things people dream of seeing. but when u got down to it... actually... it wasn't all that great.. the buildings you saw in the books.. weren't as nice as they looked in real life..
but when people ask .. how was your holiday? your instinctive reply is... it was awesome! we did this and that and this and that and it was wonderful!
and u wonder...
was it really that great?
and people dream about their dream car.. the Lamborghini.. or the dress that some movie star wore..
and they fantasize... oh.. how great it would be like if i got a Lamborghini.
how great it would be if i had what others had.. an Ipad.. or a samsung galaxy tab 10.1.
How great it would be.
and when you get it.. then.. suddenly.. it wasn't all that great...
the Lamborghini is so noisy.. and the roads so bumpy cuz its so low... and i can't go around without worrying that someone might scratch my expensive car..
the dress that you've been dreaming of getting suddenly looks a whole lot duller than it looked in the photoes and worst of all.. it dosn't even look good on you.
the world promises us things that never satisfy....
all the smart slogans are empty promises. They appeal to a desire that no product can even come close to fulfilling.
and as a result.... we settle for so much less.
so much less in our lives...
the pinnacle of life for most become their career.. and prestige.. about what someone has done... and achieved... people now try to be youtube celebrities.. they do things where they abandon their dignity just for the desire to be known by people.. so that they wouldn't be a nobody their whole lives..
we totally fall short of what deep inside we know we ought to be. Deep down inside all of us there is always this knowledge that we were made to be great. And it may sound cliched .. when you hear stuff like.. how people try to give themselves a self esteem boost by saying they are great they are great... but they eventually end up someone who tries to copy someone else. No matter who you are... people always want to be like their hero. They want to be like the people they admire. They train themselves.. and they torture themselves to be someone they are not.. and they do so because they assume that that's what everyone else thinks is cool...
and so they forget to be the person they were created to be.
People so often do not know who they are because they are told what to be.
The voice that calls out to these people are really what you see in television and in movies...
these movies are a poor substitute for God's calling in their lives... some people watch a movie and they see what they'd like to be.. and they model their lives after a movie character... a figment of someone else's imagination.
They do not realize that God's calling for their lives is far beyond their imaginations.. God would lead them on a journey they would never have fathomed...
if people really knew or understood that God never intended for people to live normal lives... they would come to God seeking and searching for an answer to the lives they hate.
the life of fear... fear of not meeting bills.. fear of not getting a promotion.. fear of not meeting a dateline.. fear of not meeting up to expectations.. fear of not being able to provide for their family....
people are daily being harassed left right and centre by fear... of the unknown.. fear of the future.. which daily is painted in a bleaker and bleaker light...
they do not realize that God is sovereign.. that God will take care of them.. that God has been taking care of them all their lives.. they do not realize the immense amount of things they received that they never worked for.. but are so fixated on working for the things that they want to achieve for their own personal vain glory..
the bible says that people are harrassed and without a shepherd. They do not know the good news from the church.. even though the church has been around for 2000 years. all they hear about the bible are laws and more laws... religion becomes detestable... but that was never the way things were supposed to be with the gospel..
it is about knowing that God is in charge in our lives.. and we really have to trust in one thing.. that God loves us and sent His son to die for our sins. and we have to believe in Him. In Jesus Christ. because Jesus wishes to bear our burdens.
You never know what that means until you have experienced your heavy heart suddenly being lifted and you feel light again because there is power in God's word.. when God's word is spoken.. it brings life. Heavy hearts and weariness is suddenly lifted. No longer do people feel that life is hopeless.. it is impossible to feel hopeless when your hope is in Jesus.
My prayer is that you would taste and see that the Lord is good.. that He isn't someone intangible... but He speaks and uplifts your spirits when the situation is so bleak.
You would have to repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour. Because He came to set us captives free.
have you been wondering what on earth you are doing with your life?
Have u been looking at your work daily.. wondering.. if this is all that your whole life will be like?
have you ever wondered... wow.. how it would be like to travel around the world and see all the things people dream of seeing. but when u got down to it... actually... it wasn't all that great.. the buildings you saw in the books.. weren't as nice as they looked in real life..
but when people ask .. how was your holiday? your instinctive reply is... it was awesome! we did this and that and this and that and it was wonderful!
and u wonder...
was it really that great?
and people dream about their dream car.. the Lamborghini.. or the dress that some movie star wore..
and they fantasize... oh.. how great it would be like if i got a Lamborghini.
how great it would be if i had what others had.. an Ipad.. or a samsung galaxy tab 10.1.
How great it would be.
and when you get it.. then.. suddenly.. it wasn't all that great...
the Lamborghini is so noisy.. and the roads so bumpy cuz its so low... and i can't go around without worrying that someone might scratch my expensive car..
the dress that you've been dreaming of getting suddenly looks a whole lot duller than it looked in the photoes and worst of all.. it dosn't even look good on you.
the world promises us things that never satisfy....
all the smart slogans are empty promises. They appeal to a desire that no product can even come close to fulfilling.
and as a result.... we settle for so much less.
so much less in our lives...
the pinnacle of life for most become their career.. and prestige.. about what someone has done... and achieved... people now try to be youtube celebrities.. they do things where they abandon their dignity just for the desire to be known by people.. so that they wouldn't be a nobody their whole lives..
we totally fall short of what deep inside we know we ought to be. Deep down inside all of us there is always this knowledge that we were made to be great. And it may sound cliched .. when you hear stuff like.. how people try to give themselves a self esteem boost by saying they are great they are great... but they eventually end up someone who tries to copy someone else. No matter who you are... people always want to be like their hero. They want to be like the people they admire. They train themselves.. and they torture themselves to be someone they are not.. and they do so because they assume that that's what everyone else thinks is cool...
and so they forget to be the person they were created to be.
People so often do not know who they are because they are told what to be.
The voice that calls out to these people are really what you see in television and in movies...
these movies are a poor substitute for God's calling in their lives... some people watch a movie and they see what they'd like to be.. and they model their lives after a movie character... a figment of someone else's imagination.
They do not realize that God's calling for their lives is far beyond their imaginations.. God would lead them on a journey they would never have fathomed...
if people really knew or understood that God never intended for people to live normal lives... they would come to God seeking and searching for an answer to the lives they hate.
the life of fear... fear of not meeting bills.. fear of not getting a promotion.. fear of not meeting a dateline.. fear of not meeting up to expectations.. fear of not being able to provide for their family....
people are daily being harassed left right and centre by fear... of the unknown.. fear of the future.. which daily is painted in a bleaker and bleaker light...
they do not realize that God is sovereign.. that God will take care of them.. that God has been taking care of them all their lives.. they do not realize the immense amount of things they received that they never worked for.. but are so fixated on working for the things that they want to achieve for their own personal vain glory..
the bible says that people are harrassed and without a shepherd. They do not know the good news from the church.. even though the church has been around for 2000 years. all they hear about the bible are laws and more laws... religion becomes detestable... but that was never the way things were supposed to be with the gospel..
it is about knowing that God is in charge in our lives.. and we really have to trust in one thing.. that God loves us and sent His son to die for our sins. and we have to believe in Him. In Jesus Christ. because Jesus wishes to bear our burdens.
You never know what that means until you have experienced your heavy heart suddenly being lifted and you feel light again because there is power in God's word.. when God's word is spoken.. it brings life. Heavy hearts and weariness is suddenly lifted. No longer do people feel that life is hopeless.. it is impossible to feel hopeless when your hope is in Jesus.
My prayer is that you would taste and see that the Lord is good.. that He isn't someone intangible... but He speaks and uplifts your spirits when the situation is so bleak.
You would have to repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour. Because He came to set us captives free.
Friday, August 26, 2011
positive reinforcement: the most ridiculous parenting tip u could give to any parent.
proverbs 13:24
Whoever spares the rod hates their children,
but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
i was talking to some of my crusade friends at the arts corner. Joeyee n Limin n Chorks were there.
i was thinking about this as i was taking the train ride home.
i was thinking about how certain ideas may sound very appealing and humanistic.. but the deeper issues i feel are disturbing.
in psychology...psychologists are taught that positive reinforcement is better than disciplining the child with a rod. See .. they say that you don't need to whack a child to make him obey you. because using a cane to spank all the folly out of a kid is considered barbaric and inhumane. In the name of humanity.. any kind of discipline on a kid is considered as "not so civilized".
i think on the surface.. this whole idea of positive reinforcement is tantilizing. parents don't have to suffer the heart break of hitting their kids when they steal, or lie, or refuse to obey their parents.. all they have to do is bribe their kids with a reward. u see.. u train a kid the way you train a dog.. you'll raise up a pack of dogs.
now let me explain the difference between the rod and the reward method of getting a child to obey his/her parents.
The argument against the rod is basically this. Psychological trauma. this means.. when you hit a kid, you could potentially cause him to become emotionally unhealthy..
however.. the reward method allows you to coax your kid into obedience by constantly bribing your child with things that he likes. Now.. how could such an innocent and seemingly humane method be bad?
the issue here ... is not about psychological trauma tt e kid suffers because of a parent caning a child. the issue is really about how kids start making decisions in life.
a kid who is trained with a cane grows up with morals. A kid who grows up with a cane makes decisions based on principles because the decisions he makes are based on what he knows to be right or wrong.
Does this mean a kid who grows up with positive reinforcement dosn't have morals?
firstly.. let me paint a picture. when a kid grows up with positive reinforcement.. he makes decisions based on what he would get in return. say... a kid does something bad. The child is punished by sending him to his room and taking away his priviledges. then.. after that... when the child is good, you give him like the toys he always wanted.. and kid is happy, parent is happy.. cuz kid obeys parents...
for a while... this could work well... because young kids are easy to please..
but sooner or later... when all the needs of the kids are already being provided for... positive reinforcement no longer has any hold on the kid.. because the parents no longer can provide the kid with the desires of his heart... because some kids just can't be bribed cuz their ransom is too high.
as a result... at the end of the day.. the parent becomes a slave to the child. because in order to get the child to submit to the parent, the parent has to offer something in exchange for the child's submission.. kinda ironic.. cuz now the child is the one disciplining the parent... i.e.. the kid thinks he has a right to scold the parent because the parent is not providing him with better bribes in order for him to be coerced into behaving the way the parent wants him to..
the way the child makes a decision then is very much based on.. a reward system.
which explains the phenomenon you see in the London riots. in order for the government to be voted in... you have to provide enough incentives for the people to obey you. since u can't anyhow discipline them.
as a result.. you get a generation of people who think the whole world owes them a living even though their contributions to the world is worthless.
positive reinforcement my ass.
take that simple rod.. and whack the rudeness out of your child. Then he would know that it is wrong because it is wrong.. rather than it is wrong because he would not be able to watch his favorite show ..
the 'positively reinforced' child would grow up without realizing that he is making decisions only to get what he wants.. rather than making decisions based on principles, morals, etc.
so if u really want ure child to be a spoilt brat. please continue with positive reinforcement.
otherwise you'd raise up a pack of dogs who would do anything for scraps...rather than men who would do things based on their principles.
Whoever spares the rod hates their children,
but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
i was talking to some of my crusade friends at the arts corner. Joeyee n Limin n Chorks were there.
i was thinking about this as i was taking the train ride home.
i was thinking about how certain ideas may sound very appealing and humanistic.. but the deeper issues i feel are disturbing.
in psychology...psychologists are taught that positive reinforcement is better than disciplining the child with a rod. See .. they say that you don't need to whack a child to make him obey you. because using a cane to spank all the folly out of a kid is considered barbaric and inhumane. In the name of humanity.. any kind of discipline on a kid is considered as "not so civilized".
i think on the surface.. this whole idea of positive reinforcement is tantilizing. parents don't have to suffer the heart break of hitting their kids when they steal, or lie, or refuse to obey their parents.. all they have to do is bribe their kids with a reward. u see.. u train a kid the way you train a dog.. you'll raise up a pack of dogs.
now let me explain the difference between the rod and the reward method of getting a child to obey his/her parents.
The argument against the rod is basically this. Psychological trauma. this means.. when you hit a kid, you could potentially cause him to become emotionally unhealthy..
however.. the reward method allows you to coax your kid into obedience by constantly bribing your child with things that he likes. Now.. how could such an innocent and seemingly humane method be bad?
the issue here ... is not about psychological trauma tt e kid suffers because of a parent caning a child. the issue is really about how kids start making decisions in life.
a kid who is trained with a cane grows up with morals. A kid who grows up with a cane makes decisions based on principles because the decisions he makes are based on what he knows to be right or wrong.
Does this mean a kid who grows up with positive reinforcement dosn't have morals?
firstly.. let me paint a picture. when a kid grows up with positive reinforcement.. he makes decisions based on what he would get in return. say... a kid does something bad. The child is punished by sending him to his room and taking away his priviledges. then.. after that... when the child is good, you give him like the toys he always wanted.. and kid is happy, parent is happy.. cuz kid obeys parents...
for a while... this could work well... because young kids are easy to please..
but sooner or later... when all the needs of the kids are already being provided for... positive reinforcement no longer has any hold on the kid.. because the parents no longer can provide the kid with the desires of his heart... because some kids just can't be bribed cuz their ransom is too high.
as a result... at the end of the day.. the parent becomes a slave to the child. because in order to get the child to submit to the parent, the parent has to offer something in exchange for the child's submission.. kinda ironic.. cuz now the child is the one disciplining the parent... i.e.. the kid thinks he has a right to scold the parent because the parent is not providing him with better bribes in order for him to be coerced into behaving the way the parent wants him to..
the way the child makes a decision then is very much based on.. a reward system.
which explains the phenomenon you see in the London riots. in order for the government to be voted in... you have to provide enough incentives for the people to obey you. since u can't anyhow discipline them.
as a result.. you get a generation of people who think the whole world owes them a living even though their contributions to the world is worthless.
positive reinforcement my ass.
take that simple rod.. and whack the rudeness out of your child. Then he would know that it is wrong because it is wrong.. rather than it is wrong because he would not be able to watch his favorite show ..
the 'positively reinforced' child would grow up without realizing that he is making decisions only to get what he wants.. rather than making decisions based on principles, morals, etc.
so if u really want ure child to be a spoilt brat. please continue with positive reinforcement.
otherwise you'd raise up a pack of dogs who would do anything for scraps...rather than men who would do things based on their principles.
the presidential election
Tan Kin Lian
definitely won't win my vote... which crazy guy suggests 1500 for NS men.. obviously he's just boot licking to get the votes of the majority by playing the heart strings of the parents and their precious army boys. totally not president worthy material... dosn't know how to think for the country..
Tan Cheng Bock
definitely won't win my vote. the president's job is not to do reports of Singapore's reserves. like... i'm not so hard up about being transparent.
Tan Jee Say
if anyone votes this man.. he's probably been bribed. he looks the most untrustworthy amongst all the presidential candidates.
Tan Tony
so.. i guess. Tony Tan's my man.
definitely won't win my vote... which crazy guy suggests 1500 for NS men.. obviously he's just boot licking to get the votes of the majority by playing the heart strings of the parents and their precious army boys. totally not president worthy material... dosn't know how to think for the country..
Tan Cheng Bock
definitely won't win my vote. the president's job is not to do reports of Singapore's reserves. like... i'm not so hard up about being transparent.
Tan Jee Say
if anyone votes this man.. he's probably been bribed. he looks the most untrustworthy amongst all the presidential candidates.
Tan Tony
so.. i guess. Tony Tan's my man.
Monday, August 22, 2011
life at a glance.
so many things happened in a week.. that it feels like a month just passed.
and its really really been a week of wonderful time with God and spending time with Him. and Him alone. and sometimes.. i get really distracted..
but God always has His way of drawing us back to Him. :)
And sometimes.. its soo easy.. to see God at work.. be amazed.. and go on life as though nothing has happened.
to live as though He didn't do a thing..
no that's a scary thought..
yet.. i wouldn't know how to live otherwise.
but..
At the end of the day.. i just want to give glory. to God.
and all i really want to know is Him.
To know tt what i've done is pleasing in His sight.
Sometimes.. its so easy to lose track and be tired .. and to be overwhelmed.
but.. Thank God anyways that He is patient. sooo soo patient with me.
and its really really been a week of wonderful time with God and spending time with Him. and Him alone. and sometimes.. i get really distracted..
but God always has His way of drawing us back to Him. :)
And sometimes.. its soo easy.. to see God at work.. be amazed.. and go on life as though nothing has happened.
to live as though He didn't do a thing..
no that's a scary thought..
yet.. i wouldn't know how to live otherwise.
but..
At the end of the day.. i just want to give glory. to God.
and all i really want to know is Him.
To know tt what i've done is pleasing in His sight.
Sometimes.. its so easy to lose track and be tired .. and to be overwhelmed.
but.. Thank God anyways that He is patient. sooo soo patient with me.
Monday, August 8, 2011
a hair cut
sometimes.. a hair cut isn't just merely a haircut.
it is an outward symbolism of change..
and a reflection of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
hence. i cut my hair. again :)
feeling fresh. and happy:)
it is an outward symbolism of change..
and a reflection of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
hence. i cut my hair. again :)
feeling fresh. and happy:)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
the system
when you look at movies...
it seems that the themes are about breaking out of the system.
look at the matrix.
its about humans breaking out of the system... about humans who have been trying to fight the system because it is simply turning humans into machines..
for those who managed to break out of the reality and see the real world as it is... they then regret ever having taken the pill( i can't remember which colour).
and they would even betray what is the truth to return back to a lie.
but look at the kind of opposition you make when u decide to turn your back on the system.
Machines are so much more reliable than humans. They do as they are told when they are told.
Humans on the other hand are unpredictable. unreliable.. and they operate almost arbitrarily and make no logical sense whatsoever.
In this day an age. our system is a work system. We have become entrapped in a system that dictates that we have to literally work like slaves to earn a paltry amount of money. at the expense of our family and relationships.
With higher pay... more of our time becomes part of the system's time.
If there is a revolution that ought to be started.. it ought to be a revolution to put a cap on the number of working hours a day. family ties are daily being withered down.
because of the system we have come to embrace as our life support system.
but are we truly living?
that is the question each one of us has to really ask ourselves.
it seems that the themes are about breaking out of the system.
look at the matrix.
its about humans breaking out of the system... about humans who have been trying to fight the system because it is simply turning humans into machines..
for those who managed to break out of the reality and see the real world as it is... they then regret ever having taken the pill( i can't remember which colour).
and they would even betray what is the truth to return back to a lie.
but look at the kind of opposition you make when u decide to turn your back on the system.
Machines are so much more reliable than humans. They do as they are told when they are told.
Humans on the other hand are unpredictable. unreliable.. and they operate almost arbitrarily and make no logical sense whatsoever.
In this day an age. our system is a work system. We have become entrapped in a system that dictates that we have to literally work like slaves to earn a paltry amount of money. at the expense of our family and relationships.
With higher pay... more of our time becomes part of the system's time.
If there is a revolution that ought to be started.. it ought to be a revolution to put a cap on the number of working hours a day. family ties are daily being withered down.
because of the system we have come to embrace as our life support system.
but are we truly living?
that is the question each one of us has to really ask ourselves.
Monday, July 25, 2011
galations 6:9-10
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
this is something i find difficult.
to persist doing good.
to persist believing
to still continue serving when it seems as though.. you probably have done enough.. and people wouldn't blame you if you didn't serve as actively as you did before..
but still... continue doing good anyway.
and God promises those who persevere a harvest.
:)
Lord, my heart is weary.. and my body is weak.. but Lord i pray that that wouldn't hinder me from doing good. :)
this is something i find difficult.
to persist doing good.
to persist believing
to still continue serving when it seems as though.. you probably have done enough.. and people wouldn't blame you if you didn't serve as actively as you did before..
but still... continue doing good anyway.
and God promises those who persevere a harvest.
:)
Lord, my heart is weary.. and my body is weak.. but Lord i pray that that wouldn't hinder me from doing good. :)
Sunday, July 24, 2011
is it all about Heaven and Hell?
as i was talking to my best friend, Vic today.. and as we were talking about a topic on heaven and hell, i was reflecting on the recent blog post i wrote i thought i ought to add on more thoughts about heaven and hell.
We were discussing about why using the reality of heaven and hell to scare people into believing Jesus Christ is bad.
and the potential implications of doing so.
Now before that i was at a discussion session with my church elders.. and we were talking about how other religions who talk about how through their own effort, they can earn their way into heaven through doing good deeds. And this is regarded as a false teaching in the eyes of CHristianity because only through Jesus can we go to heaven. Because the idea of what a good deed is is relative.
now if people were to think about how Christians sometimes tend to use the hell fire and brimstone tactic to scare non-believers into believing Christ(which i must admit i had unwittingly done so in my previous blog post)there somehow seems to be a fundamental logical flaw for any Christian to even employ such a tactic.
now.. if people were to be introduced to Christ as the only way to go to heaven.. they start off on the wrong note to knowing Christ. Because people would only see Jesus Christ as a means to an end.. As the way only way to go to heaven.
now the reason why it is necessary to be so nitty gritty about whether it is right or wrong to tell people that if they do not believe in Jesus Christ they would go to hell when evangelizing is the impliciations of introducing Christ to people the way doomsday prophets do.
Now in Christianity.. the object of worship is Jesus Christ the son of God.
That is always first.
however, when Christians go around, proclaiming that if people didn't believe in God, then they would go to hell.. then... they are preaching a truth in wrong order. All truth is not equal. And if truth is spoken in the wrong order, people would misunderstand it and see that truth as a threat.
If people didn't know that God loved them first... and that is why.. He sent His son down to die for us so that we should not perish but have eternal life because of the conditions of sin.. and that there is no other way to Go to heaven.... then telling them that they would go to hell if they did not believe in Jesus prematurely would only turn peoples ears and hearts away from God even before they have heard the real good news.
the other reason why we shouldn't threaten people with hell is this. Even if they decided to accept Christ.. the foundation of their reason for becoming a Christian would be nothing more than an insurance policy to escape hell.
Even as i think about it now.. i realize that the concept of a God being real is still very foreign to most people.. Let alone a God who loves them.
However.. although one of the reasons why Jesus sent His son to die for our sins is to save us from hell, it isn't the most important one. The main reason why God even sent His son was love. Because without it.. saving us from Hell is far from logical.. not after we have sinned again and again.. and again..
Think about it.. why bother about man? when they are so Godless? When all they think about is themselves? Why bother about man.. when he is killing the whole earth just to satisfy the pleasures of his selfish heart?
nonono..
its not that God is judgemental.
How can a good God not bring judgement?
How can a just God not bring justice?
Can He who proclaims to be good ignore the cries of his children who are abused?
But i feel... at the end of the day.. people are not suayed by logical arguments that Christians make about why they should believe God. What different would Christians be from the modern philosophers of our days who win their supporters by the sheer logic of their arguments? We could argue till the cows come home about heaven and hell.. and about how a good God could allow people to go to hell... and i can safely assure you that not one of these non-believers would be convinced that God is real. Not unless God first touches their hardened hearts and softens them.
no... all logical arguments at the end of the day are as rubbish when you want to know God. you don't create God out of logic.. because even the idea of god is that he is a being that transcends all logical explanation.
at the end of the day..
how you and i come to know Christ to be real is through a personal encounter with God.
When God Himself would one day come to you and gently point out to you that He is bigger and more real than you could ever have imagined.
It never was about heaven or hell is real.. or whether you and i would go to heaven.. it is really about knowing who God is and having a personal relationship and walk with God.. That's what He desires.
We were discussing about why using the reality of heaven and hell to scare people into believing Jesus Christ is bad.
and the potential implications of doing so.
Now before that i was at a discussion session with my church elders.. and we were talking about how other religions who talk about how through their own effort, they can earn their way into heaven through doing good deeds. And this is regarded as a false teaching in the eyes of CHristianity because only through Jesus can we go to heaven. Because the idea of what a good deed is is relative.
now if people were to think about how Christians sometimes tend to use the hell fire and brimstone tactic to scare non-believers into believing Christ(which i must admit i had unwittingly done so in my previous blog post)there somehow seems to be a fundamental logical flaw for any Christian to even employ such a tactic.
now.. if people were to be introduced to Christ as the only way to go to heaven.. they start off on the wrong note to knowing Christ. Because people would only see Jesus Christ as a means to an end.. As the way only way to go to heaven.
now the reason why it is necessary to be so nitty gritty about whether it is right or wrong to tell people that if they do not believe in Jesus Christ they would go to hell when evangelizing is the impliciations of introducing Christ to people the way doomsday prophets do.
Now in Christianity.. the object of worship is Jesus Christ the son of God.
That is always first.
however, when Christians go around, proclaiming that if people didn't believe in God, then they would go to hell.. then... they are preaching a truth in wrong order. All truth is not equal. And if truth is spoken in the wrong order, people would misunderstand it and see that truth as a threat.
If people didn't know that God loved them first... and that is why.. He sent His son down to die for us so that we should not perish but have eternal life because of the conditions of sin.. and that there is no other way to Go to heaven.... then telling them that they would go to hell if they did not believe in Jesus prematurely would only turn peoples ears and hearts away from God even before they have heard the real good news.
the other reason why we shouldn't threaten people with hell is this. Even if they decided to accept Christ.. the foundation of their reason for becoming a Christian would be nothing more than an insurance policy to escape hell.
Even as i think about it now.. i realize that the concept of a God being real is still very foreign to most people.. Let alone a God who loves them.
However.. although one of the reasons why Jesus sent His son to die for our sins is to save us from hell, it isn't the most important one. The main reason why God even sent His son was love. Because without it.. saving us from Hell is far from logical.. not after we have sinned again and again.. and again..
Think about it.. why bother about man? when they are so Godless? When all they think about is themselves? Why bother about man.. when he is killing the whole earth just to satisfy the pleasures of his selfish heart?
nonono..
its not that God is judgemental.
How can a good God not bring judgement?
How can a just God not bring justice?
Can He who proclaims to be good ignore the cries of his children who are abused?
But i feel... at the end of the day.. people are not suayed by logical arguments that Christians make about why they should believe God. What different would Christians be from the modern philosophers of our days who win their supporters by the sheer logic of their arguments? We could argue till the cows come home about heaven and hell.. and about how a good God could allow people to go to hell... and i can safely assure you that not one of these non-believers would be convinced that God is real. Not unless God first touches their hardened hearts and softens them.
no... all logical arguments at the end of the day are as rubbish when you want to know God. you don't create God out of logic.. because even the idea of god is that he is a being that transcends all logical explanation.
at the end of the day..
how you and i come to know Christ to be real is through a personal encounter with God.
When God Himself would one day come to you and gently point out to you that He is bigger and more real than you could ever have imagined.
It never was about heaven or hell is real.. or whether you and i would go to heaven.. it is really about knowing who God is and having a personal relationship and walk with God.. That's what He desires.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
we only live to die
as i was showering .. this thought came to my mind... after i blogged my previous post.
'we only live to die'.
and this is the reality that people in this world do not see.
and... well... you know... i think event spoke to me in a way i never saw it till God revealed them to me.. how do i know God revealed them to me?... because.. the thoughts i write from my mind are too good for me to have thought about it on my own.
the counter thought which people have for this seemingly morbid way of thinking is this...
make your life count. .. so that when you leave this earth.. and die.. people will remember you.. and you would have changed the lives of thousands.. if not millions. ..
well .. certainly this kind of thinking has alot of loopholes...
firstly.. if you would take such a statement as 'make your life count' literally...
then... Hitler certainly made his life count. Now that's a story that generations would remember.
and all too often.. we want to think that we are infusing meaning into our lives by helping the lives around us. we want to make our lives count for more by being an asset rather than a liability to humanity so to speak.
then again.. such a thought is mere hogwash and foolishness in the light of the fact that we would all one day die. so what if you did 5 million good deeds in your life. you still are going to die.
and majority of people who think that you can earn your way into heaven by good deeds are severely mistaken. because of one fact. Good deeds are non-equitable with evil deeds.
now we talk about good deeds and evil deeds as though they could be balanced out nicely.. for example.. if selling your daughter as a prostitute meant your family would be saved... would you do it?
does an evil deed balance out with the good that comes out from it?..
now lets not mistake the two.. because although good things may come out from a seemingly evil deed... i.e. sin, that dosn't mean that things are balanced out...
because for balance to be achieved.. two objects have to be the same weight.
how can you balance a sin with positive act? such a scale dosn't exist.
which is why.. when someone sinned.. the only way for atonement is a sacrifice.
people killed animals.. and slaughtered bulls because blood can only be appeased by blood..
if you killed a man.. what can you offer of equal value to atone for your sins? a thousand years of corrective work order? what amount of good deeds can balance a single act of murder.
obviously.. good and evil are non-equitable.. it is logically flawed and irrational to even believe so... but yet.... hoards upon hoards of people are deceived into thinking that they just have to be a good person.. and as long as they don't commit the big sins like killing or adultery.. or coveting or whatever sins you can think of.. then.. they can still at least balance out their sins with good deeds so that they can go to heaven.. so they can use their good deeds as bargaining chips...
but u see.. your bargaining chips are worthless to God if they are of no value to God.
its like entering a casino.. and u want to exchange 10 durians for a $100 casino chip. you'd get kicked out for stinking the place up. and probably made to pay a fine. your excuses for entering the casino or purchasing a casino chip is worthless if you don't even have the right currency.. or to put it plainly.. when you don't play by the casino's rules... even if you are the president of the united states, you will have to pay the penalty for not following the casino's rules in the casino. imagine.. what a mockery it would be to the casino. ... President Obama manages to change a casino chip worth $100 for 10 durians.
We are mistaken if we assume that we decide the rules to go to heaven.
we make them up all the time..
we burn money.. to our ancestors... we burn cars... title deeds.. clothes...
but all these earthly things or worthless to the dead. does the dead have any need for clothes to keep them warm? or food to sustain their bodies??
we have been too easily convinced by pathetic explanations about what happens when we die. and the reason is simple.. we don't think we will die anytime soon.
but when age catches up with you..
and i when i see the old folks in the old folks home.. i really understand one reality...
whether rich or powerful... wise or influential... all these once young men and women are discarded into the old folks home by the very children they have raised. THat is reality.. death is their reality.. when they no longer have strength.. when they no longer have hopes... the phrase.. 'we only live to die' is simple truth.
men and women who live as though God never existed would sense the meaninglessness of their existence as they grow ever closer to drawing their last breath.
but how different is a man or woman who has Jesus in their lives.
I saw a woman.. at NTUC... 83 years old.. going shopping for groceries on her own.. with the strength to come out and walk around .. without the help of a maid... without sickness in her bones.. with a smile that you would associate with an innocent child.. with a look of radience.. when most people of her age look as though life were snuffed right out of them.
This woman was praising God.. for her strong body.. this woman was declaring her love and faithfulness that God was real to her. That He and He alone had sustained her.. and this is a woman who had lived for 83 years.. and she still could say this about God.. even though her son-in-law scolded her for pointing out to him that his maid was stealing money form her.. its not as if this old woman didn't know what a hard life was.. her husband died when her children were just 15. but still she had a joy in her... that even young people don't.
You want to know how real Jesus is.. then you've got to find people who really know Jesus.. not the young people. but the older folks.. who've been walking with Jesus all their lives..
We all live in a body of death.
Each day.. we are decaying outwardly..
the young ignore this fact.. only till they start to break apart ...
time will prove wisdom to be true.
not intellect. not intelligence.
That's when the sons of righteousness will stand.. bold as lions.. proclaiming that God is the one and only true God.. that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
'we only live to die'.
and this is the reality that people in this world do not see.
and... well... you know... i think event spoke to me in a way i never saw it till God revealed them to me.. how do i know God revealed them to me?... because.. the thoughts i write from my mind are too good for me to have thought about it on my own.
the counter thought which people have for this seemingly morbid way of thinking is this...
make your life count. .. so that when you leave this earth.. and die.. people will remember you.. and you would have changed the lives of thousands.. if not millions. ..
well .. certainly this kind of thinking has alot of loopholes...
firstly.. if you would take such a statement as 'make your life count' literally...
then... Hitler certainly made his life count. Now that's a story that generations would remember.
and all too often.. we want to think that we are infusing meaning into our lives by helping the lives around us. we want to make our lives count for more by being an asset rather than a liability to humanity so to speak.
then again.. such a thought is mere hogwash and foolishness in the light of the fact that we would all one day die. so what if you did 5 million good deeds in your life. you still are going to die.
and majority of people who think that you can earn your way into heaven by good deeds are severely mistaken. because of one fact. Good deeds are non-equitable with evil deeds.
now we talk about good deeds and evil deeds as though they could be balanced out nicely.. for example.. if selling your daughter as a prostitute meant your family would be saved... would you do it?
does an evil deed balance out with the good that comes out from it?..
now lets not mistake the two.. because although good things may come out from a seemingly evil deed... i.e. sin, that dosn't mean that things are balanced out...
because for balance to be achieved.. two objects have to be the same weight.
how can you balance a sin with positive act? such a scale dosn't exist.
which is why.. when someone sinned.. the only way for atonement is a sacrifice.
people killed animals.. and slaughtered bulls because blood can only be appeased by blood..
if you killed a man.. what can you offer of equal value to atone for your sins? a thousand years of corrective work order? what amount of good deeds can balance a single act of murder.
obviously.. good and evil are non-equitable.. it is logically flawed and irrational to even believe so... but yet.... hoards upon hoards of people are deceived into thinking that they just have to be a good person.. and as long as they don't commit the big sins like killing or adultery.. or coveting or whatever sins you can think of.. then.. they can still at least balance out their sins with good deeds so that they can go to heaven.. so they can use their good deeds as bargaining chips...
but u see.. your bargaining chips are worthless to God if they are of no value to God.
its like entering a casino.. and u want to exchange 10 durians for a $100 casino chip. you'd get kicked out for stinking the place up. and probably made to pay a fine. your excuses for entering the casino or purchasing a casino chip is worthless if you don't even have the right currency.. or to put it plainly.. when you don't play by the casino's rules... even if you are the president of the united states, you will have to pay the penalty for not following the casino's rules in the casino. imagine.. what a mockery it would be to the casino. ... President Obama manages to change a casino chip worth $100 for 10 durians.
We are mistaken if we assume that we decide the rules to go to heaven.
we make them up all the time..
we burn money.. to our ancestors... we burn cars... title deeds.. clothes...
but all these earthly things or worthless to the dead. does the dead have any need for clothes to keep them warm? or food to sustain their bodies??
we have been too easily convinced by pathetic explanations about what happens when we die. and the reason is simple.. we don't think we will die anytime soon.
but when age catches up with you..
and i when i see the old folks in the old folks home.. i really understand one reality...
whether rich or powerful... wise or influential... all these once young men and women are discarded into the old folks home by the very children they have raised. THat is reality.. death is their reality.. when they no longer have strength.. when they no longer have hopes... the phrase.. 'we only live to die' is simple truth.
men and women who live as though God never existed would sense the meaninglessness of their existence as they grow ever closer to drawing their last breath.
but how different is a man or woman who has Jesus in their lives.
I saw a woman.. at NTUC... 83 years old.. going shopping for groceries on her own.. with the strength to come out and walk around .. without the help of a maid... without sickness in her bones.. with a smile that you would associate with an innocent child.. with a look of radience.. when most people of her age look as though life were snuffed right out of them.
This woman was praising God.. for her strong body.. this woman was declaring her love and faithfulness that God was real to her. That He and He alone had sustained her.. and this is a woman who had lived for 83 years.. and she still could say this about God.. even though her son-in-law scolded her for pointing out to him that his maid was stealing money form her.. its not as if this old woman didn't know what a hard life was.. her husband died when her children were just 15. but still she had a joy in her... that even young people don't.
You want to know how real Jesus is.. then you've got to find people who really know Jesus.. not the young people. but the older folks.. who've been walking with Jesus all their lives..
We all live in a body of death.
Each day.. we are decaying outwardly..
the young ignore this fact.. only till they start to break apart ...
time will prove wisdom to be true.
not intellect. not intelligence.
That's when the sons of righteousness will stand.. bold as lions.. proclaiming that God is the one and only true God.. that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
what do these three movies have in common?
Source Code, Dylan Dog and Sucker Punch?
They both talk about a highly intriguing theme.. which is about alternate realities.
Actually.. i find it highly intriguing that i've watched 3 movies... which i just downloaded.. that i've never watched before.. and all 3 of them to do with alternate realities..
i wonder what God tries to say by bringing three seemingly different movies.. yet all three of them saying basically the same thing.
the human intrigue with the idea of alternate realities.
Dylan Dog is about a guy who tells a story.. that werewolves and vampires exist.. whether we'd like to believe it or not.
Sucker Punch is well a very complex movie which most people don't get till they research about the storyline.. it basically.. is like an imagination within an imagination.. where this woman called baby doll is put into an asylum .. and in this asylum.. there is a place called the theatre where other seemingly crazy women role play their abuse to aparantly get over it. However.. within this roleplay.. baby doll has another dream world in her mind.. and somehow .. they are all interconnected.. and happening even though in reality.. all that you see aparantly is a room full of lunatics.
the last movie which i just finished watching.. and felt really satisfied watching .. was source code.. again.. the idea of an alternate reality affecting the actual reality.. and aparantly.. it seems that the alternate reality has no way of affecting the physical reality because it is intangible.. however.. the impossible happens.. and the scientist's assumptions are all proven wrong.. His understanding about alternate realities is severely short sighted..
i'm thinking out loud as i write this..
but have you ever watched a series of movies..and felt as though the movie was speaking to you? its like.. there is a msg hidden within the outer msg... as though.. through that movie... a secret had been unveiled to you that is all too awesome.. and yet .. too fantastic to take as reality?
It is that spark within us that makes a human human. To perceive what is intangible.. after all... the greatest inventions on earth always sparked off from a single idea.. an idea that a man decided to take as reality even before he did anything about it.
our imaginations are the only limits to our possibilities.
But.. to take it to the next level... what if they aren't merely possibilities but realities?
However.. i would also like to also bring in another abstract idea to further mess things up.. this bright spark of imagination.. where there is more than meets the eye... only if you bother to dig further..
for every bright idea that popped up in human history... almost certainly... it met with fierce opposition.. a mechenical mindset.
it isn't the common masses who opposed these ideas... but it was always the supposedly highly intellectuals of society who scorned the prodigies who had that bright spark within them. Primarily out of fear that the system that once supported these intellectuals would be rendered obselete.. as old wine skin that can no longer contain new wine. the old skin or the old system would certainly not support a new way of thinking .. like a snake that has to shed its skin.. is the human mindset that has to constantly change.. as the next generation looks at their world from a child's set of eyes.. it is free from baggage.
perhaps the reason why generations have to live together is because the old generation needs to shed the rigid structure of thinking that experience has perhaps... cursed them with.
too often.. we are so enamored with our version of reality.. that we reject all other forms of reality.. the realities of my generation would be different from my parent's generation.. and my grandparent's generations. yet.. no reality is superior.. its not as though.. just because our grand parents have been through the world war.. that they can talk down to us and tell us arrogantly that we don't know how to handle hardship.
true.. to a certain extent..
but our generation sees hardship from an entirely different point of view.. such that if we were to compare those realities of hardship side by side.. well... you only can say.. its relative...
but.. what am i really trying to say here?
i think i'll just point you back to my God.
Jesus.
People say there is no such thing as truth.. everything is relative.
but that in itself is a truth that you believe.
Truth is really this... it is something... that whether you deny its existence or not.. it still will be there.
denying truth is merely hiding your head in the sand.
many things are indeed subjective.
but the truth that every single person would encounter would be this..
Everyone would one day die.
thing is.. when you die. what you believed on earth will finally be revealed to be either true or false.
Is there really a God?
the only time you will find out for sure is when you die.
is there heaven or hell..
the only time you would know for sure.. is when you die..
because that's when the true reality of our existence is revealed.
after all... a man's soul is immortal.
although his body would die.. his soul would remain alive forever.
however... there are only two places that his soul could go to.
you could close your eyes to that reality for now.. but sooner or later..
you would have to meet your maker one day.
is it gona be heaven? or hell?
They both talk about a highly intriguing theme.. which is about alternate realities.
Actually.. i find it highly intriguing that i've watched 3 movies... which i just downloaded.. that i've never watched before.. and all 3 of them to do with alternate realities..
i wonder what God tries to say by bringing three seemingly different movies.. yet all three of them saying basically the same thing.
the human intrigue with the idea of alternate realities.
Dylan Dog is about a guy who tells a story.. that werewolves and vampires exist.. whether we'd like to believe it or not.
Sucker Punch is well a very complex movie which most people don't get till they research about the storyline.. it basically.. is like an imagination within an imagination.. where this woman called baby doll is put into an asylum .. and in this asylum.. there is a place called the theatre where other seemingly crazy women role play their abuse to aparantly get over it. However.. within this roleplay.. baby doll has another dream world in her mind.. and somehow .. they are all interconnected.. and happening even though in reality.. all that you see aparantly is a room full of lunatics.
the last movie which i just finished watching.. and felt really satisfied watching .. was source code.. again.. the idea of an alternate reality affecting the actual reality.. and aparantly.. it seems that the alternate reality has no way of affecting the physical reality because it is intangible.. however.. the impossible happens.. and the scientist's assumptions are all proven wrong.. His understanding about alternate realities is severely short sighted..
i'm thinking out loud as i write this..
but have you ever watched a series of movies..and felt as though the movie was speaking to you? its like.. there is a msg hidden within the outer msg... as though.. through that movie... a secret had been unveiled to you that is all too awesome.. and yet .. too fantastic to take as reality?
It is that spark within us that makes a human human. To perceive what is intangible.. after all... the greatest inventions on earth always sparked off from a single idea.. an idea that a man decided to take as reality even before he did anything about it.
our imaginations are the only limits to our possibilities.
But.. to take it to the next level... what if they aren't merely possibilities but realities?
However.. i would also like to also bring in another abstract idea to further mess things up.. this bright spark of imagination.. where there is more than meets the eye... only if you bother to dig further..
for every bright idea that popped up in human history... almost certainly... it met with fierce opposition.. a mechenical mindset.
it isn't the common masses who opposed these ideas... but it was always the supposedly highly intellectuals of society who scorned the prodigies who had that bright spark within them. Primarily out of fear that the system that once supported these intellectuals would be rendered obselete.. as old wine skin that can no longer contain new wine. the old skin or the old system would certainly not support a new way of thinking .. like a snake that has to shed its skin.. is the human mindset that has to constantly change.. as the next generation looks at their world from a child's set of eyes.. it is free from baggage.
perhaps the reason why generations have to live together is because the old generation needs to shed the rigid structure of thinking that experience has perhaps... cursed them with.
too often.. we are so enamored with our version of reality.. that we reject all other forms of reality.. the realities of my generation would be different from my parent's generation.. and my grandparent's generations. yet.. no reality is superior.. its not as though.. just because our grand parents have been through the world war.. that they can talk down to us and tell us arrogantly that we don't know how to handle hardship.
true.. to a certain extent..
but our generation sees hardship from an entirely different point of view.. such that if we were to compare those realities of hardship side by side.. well... you only can say.. its relative...
but.. what am i really trying to say here?
i think i'll just point you back to my God.
Jesus.
People say there is no such thing as truth.. everything is relative.
but that in itself is a truth that you believe.
Truth is really this... it is something... that whether you deny its existence or not.. it still will be there.
denying truth is merely hiding your head in the sand.
many things are indeed subjective.
but the truth that every single person would encounter would be this..
Everyone would one day die.
thing is.. when you die. what you believed on earth will finally be revealed to be either true or false.
Is there really a God?
the only time you will find out for sure is when you die.
is there heaven or hell..
the only time you would know for sure.. is when you die..
because that's when the true reality of our existence is revealed.
after all... a man's soul is immortal.
although his body would die.. his soul would remain alive forever.
however... there are only two places that his soul could go to.
you could close your eyes to that reality for now.. but sooner or later..
you would have to meet your maker one day.
is it gona be heaven? or hell?
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