tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82419492024-03-14T10:48:21.679+08:00The Ragamuffin Kidoccasional rumblings of the bedraggled, beat-up and burnt-outrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-43642685265815821832007-08-31T11:02:00.000+08:002007-08-31T12:56:25.805+08:00I Have MovedDear Friends,<br /><br />After 3 years, I finally figured that I need a blog overhaul!<br /><br />It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to my new blogsite,<a href="http://allysark.wordpress.com/">tilted halos</a> at Wordpress. Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me.<br /><br />See you at there!<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-34265308339348341262007-08-13T10:32:00.000+08:002007-08-13T12:52:22.432+08:00Getting to Know Me Better<a href="http://allysark.mypersonality.info/" target="_top"><img alt="Click to view my Personality Profile page" src="http://badges.mypersonality.info/badge/0/1/13677.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I was bored the other day and decided to take this test just for fun. Oh my.... am I fascinated by the amount of information about my personality type (ISFJ). Of course like any other such test, it's not 100% accurate but this is the closest so far. So do give it a try. You'll be amazed. To be honest I took the Personality Test (PT) twice while only once for the Multiple Intelligences (most of it are obvious). There are certain questions that are not exactly black and white (referring to the PT). Some of them are pretty subjective, so I had a tough time deciding. I guess no one is over 90% leaning on one side. There is usually a little of the opposite trait as well. So the chart up there is very helpful. As you can see, while I am clearly a "introverted-judging" type with over 80% leaning towards that direction, how I make decisions however, is a balance between feeling and thinking.<br /><br />Incidentally I am in the right job (administrative) for my personality type (no wonder I last this long). The multiple intelligences test however, suggests quite a different variety.....uh hermm... phychologist, philosopher, theologian, writer. Hmm...... well, you know what, don't be surprise if I tell you that all of these have at least crossed my mind more than once in recent years. It bet I could actually be one given the right training. Haha. I am not surprised to see that my visual/spatial, music and interpersonal capabilities are all at 50%. I certainly have a keen interest in them. I studied fashion and make-up while I was younger but have always felt a certain "limitation", thus they never really took off. Now if only I have studied, psychology or philosophy. Oh well. But does anyone know of a career that matches both my personality and intelligences? Hmm...it's a tough one.<br /><br />To read the full ISFJ profile plus detailed information of the various components that make up my profile, visit <a href="http://allysark.mypersonality.info/">mypersonality.info</a><br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-35516541373772046652007-08-01T15:45:00.000+08:002007-08-01T15:52:22.305+08:00Korean Hostages in AfghanistanThis is not going to be a well thought out piece where I go through a few rounds of editing. It's just going to come out as it is.<br /><br />I'm angry, upset and disappointed with the way things are turning out in Afghanistan with regards with the Korean hostages. The whole situation has been met with indifference, insensitive criticisms and mindless blaming. I'm sick to my stomach. If some of you don't know what I'm talking about, it just goes to show how silent the media has been.<br /><br />If I dare to admit and be totally honest, I am even angry, upset and disappointed with God. But that's something I will sort out in my own private time with God later.<br /><br />I urge you to please do what is within your ability. Be it to spread awareness, sign petitions, gather together or privately to pray, just.... whatever you can in your own way, that you think can help in some small ways. May I direct you to this blog by <a href="http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/">Eugene Cho</a>. He has got pretty extensive coverage on the situation. You'll find lots of details there. If you feel criticism or an impulse to blame, rising up within you, I beg you to stop. There will be a time for you to voice that. Now is not it. Now is the time to contribute something positive.<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-20393585530121131752007-07-25T16:19:00.000+08:002007-07-26T09:30:29.763+08:00A Longing That Shouldn't BeI looked out the foggy window at carefully planted rows of trees that moved by slowly as our bus made it's way through the early morning traffic. Beyond them are houses and apartments looking tranquil and contented in the early morning shower, as if they've just woken up from a deep satisfying slumber. Rainy days, when it's not a thunderstorm out there, are heaven's refreshing. Rain as light as feather, descending upon the earth like showers of a billion rose petals. The scent in the air was thick with hope and all things beautiful. Flowing out of my earphones and through the spaces between my consciousness came a gentle, melodious voice, carrying with it a certain longing.<br /><br />What the world needs now<br />Is love, sweet love<br />It's the only thing<br />That there's just too little of<br /><br />What the world needs now<br />Is love, sweet love<br />No not just for some<br />But for everyone<br /><br />I pulled my sweater closer and continued to gaze out the window. The trees and houses receded, leaving only the words of the song and the quiet pattering of the rain. I remember the words I read recently, "when something stirs your heart, remember that I am loving you." A faint smile broke out of the corner of my lips as I slumped back and rested my head on the window, subjecting my body to the gentle rocking of the bus as it wind it's way through.<br /><br />I know You love me but we both know that other longing. Why stir it up when I have determined never to cross it's path again? I let out a silent sigh of resignation.<br /><br />Lord we don't need another mountain<br />There are mountains and hillsides<br />Enough to climb<br />There are oceans and rivers<br />Enough to cross<br />Enough to last<br />Till the end of time<br /><br />What the world needs now<br />Is love, sweet love...<br /><br />As we waited at a traffic junction, a series of visions started to intrude my private world. Like a slide show presentation, they played themselves before me. A couple sat in an embrace as they looked out towards the horizon, waiting for the break of dawn. In another, a girl had her arms wrapped snugly around those of her partner as they walked pass, their silhouette coming together in unison. Later, she was laying by the fireplace propped up on her elbows as she read from a book. Sitting across from her is her lover, watching and listening to the silence of inexpressible contentment and happiness, as though there is not a care in the world.<br /><br />Lord we don't need another meadow<br />There are cornfields and wheatfields<br />Enough to grow<br />And there are sunbeams and moonbeams<br />Enough to shine<br />So listen, Lord<br />If you want to know<br /><br />What the world needs now<br />Is love, sweet love<br />It's the only thing<br />That there's just too little of<br /><br />What the world needs now<br />Is love, sweet love<br />No not just for some<br />But for everyone<br /><br />I thought of all the opportunities and temptations I hsve let pass over the years. How is it that I feel so in-control and yet so bound.<br /><br />The lights turned green and with a jolt we started moving again, leaving the visions behind.....till the next time God stirs my heart again.<br /><br />Until then, I'll be okay. >wink<<br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-7111830985160234142007-07-17T16:59:00.000+08:002007-07-18T12:36:57.927+08:00God's Blog and Anne Frank<div align="left">I just finished Anne Frank's diary (more on that later) a week ago and suddenly felt the motivation to write. I take that as a good sign. When I'm writing I'm processing my thoughts. So yeah, it's a good thing to think about what I'm thinking.<br /><br />Lately I have resorted to borrowing books from the local library. In the past, most of my books were bought from particular stores as most of the time I know what I wanted and where to find them. It's always easier to get them from one place rather than having to search the library. And of course I had a bigger budget for books then. So the library is my saving grace now.<br /><br />Two titles caught my attention that day, God's Blog by Lanny Donoho and Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary. I am very pleased with both.<br /><br />In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Blogs-Life-Perspective/dp/1590525353">God's Blog</a>, Donoho uses the latest communication tool to introduce many biblical principles on a wide variety of subject ranging from creation, to music, to laughter. It is a refreshing new way to rediscover God again. You get the feeling that God himself is talking to you. That was how I felt. It is actually a very small book that can easily be finished in one sitting. I wasn't expecting deep theology but I think I went away with something even better - a renewed appreciation for the God that I have come to know and love. God is not limited to deep and mighty things. In fact, most often he speaks to us through ordinary, simple things.<br /><br />Here's an excerpt from the book, speaking of music....<br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">"The gift of Music is an expression for and from your soul...and your soul is connected to Me. After watching and listening to so many of you do so much with this gift today, I want to pass along a message:<br /><br /><strong>This gift inside you is a piece of Me.</strong><br /><br />If it makes you want to move or dance, if it stirs your soul and calms your spirit, if it makes you wanna shout or run or ..... makes you move faster on your treadmill while it is piped into your head through your iPod....<br /><br />it's Me.<br /><br />I AM the music.<br /><br />Remember this: The next time you download a song from the internet (legally, of course), or sing a song in the shower, or turn on the radio in your car to hear your favorite oldies, or slip on a pair of Bose noise-reduction headphones that you paid two hundred bucks for, and your favorite song comes in ringing through your eardrums....and your heart and soul become enthralled with sound....and your mind is enveloped with this amazing thing called music - remember....<br /><br /><strong>what you're hearing is a gift<br />from your Creator<br />because I love you<br />and I want to<br />stir your soul."<br /></strong></span><br />There is another "post" which is also one of my favourites, about God wanting to burst the bubble his people have created to separate themselves. I really want to share that with you but alas I need to move on to the next book.<br /><br />I know most of you have read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl">Anne Frank's Diary</a>. After all, it's one of the world's most widely read book. Through her writing, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank">Anne Frank</a> has become of the most renowned and discussed of Holocaust victims. I was never interested in history, let alone the history of a minority race. But all that changed when I became a Christian. Suddenly history comes alive because all of history becomes His-story. Naturally, the history of His chosen people, the Jews, became of particular interest to me ever since, not only because I could trace their story all the way back to Abraham in Genesis but also because what happens to them continue to have a bearing on present day history and beyond. <br /><br />Now back to the book. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 1942 to August 1944. She died in one of the concentration camps when she was only 16. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Frank-Beyond-Photographic-Remembrance/dp/0140369260">Beyond the Diary</a> is a photographic remembrance of this young Jewish girl whose story of adolescent life during the German occupation of Netherlands in World War II has touched millions and opened the eyes of many millions more to "the folly of indifference and the terrible toil it takes on our young" as Hillary Clinton puts it. I have not read The Diary itself but I will. I intend to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Anne-Frank-Critical-Editions/dp/0385240236">The Critical Edition</a> because I like that it contains almost all the different diary texts, as well as information on the Frank family's background, their life in hiding, and their betrayal. <br /><br />I am glad I started with Beyond The Diary because it provided some needed context and there is something so humanizing about those photographs. In them, Anne has not yet passed into historical legend. I felt a chill down my spine every time I look at those photos. They were such ordinary photos of everyday life that I could easily find in my own album. There was Anne in her bathing suit with her sister and a group of neighborhood friends and Anne when she was a toddler and later on in grade school, and many others more with her family, all of them with smiling faces that speaks only of innocence. All these before the diary, before the attic. Knowing the fate that waited them was what brought those chills. I recalled descriptions off the dark pages of Wiesel's Night and horrific images from Speilberg's Schindler's List and contrasted it with the bright and innocent tone of Anne's writings and those photographs. It is therefore noteworthy and particularly heart warming to read these words from this young girl, who also writes about ordinary day to day issues that besets an adolescent life, like disagreement with parents, sibling rivalry and boyfriends. Anna Quindlen wrote of Anne in the introduction to Beyond the Diary,<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="color:#cc0000;">" We know Anne Frank the victim and Anne Frank the fugitive. This is Anne Frank the free, the living, the person who was able to write what has become a life lesson for millions of us in the years since: "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." </span></blockquote><br /><br />Wouldn't you say she is one amazing girl?<br /><br /><br />rk</div>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-8411075676591977482007-07-05T17:11:00.000+08:002007-07-05T17:33:55.772+08:00Dear Mr PresidentA friend of mine shared this video with me. It made my hair stand the moment I heard it, though I don't know if all the blame should be pushed to Bush alone.<br /><br /><br />Dear Mr President by Pink<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6DEh0eSpNvY" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed><br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-42608804598696541432007-06-19T16:54:00.000+08:002007-06-20T09:45:47.938+08:00Where is God When It Hurts?I read this piece on Christianity Today's site not too long ago and found my heart deeply comforted. It just goes to show that what we need most in times of suffering is not pet answers and hasty promises but an acknowledgement of our pain and the proclamation of hope. I'm posting it here mainly for myself, as a reminder, if and when I do walk through the valley of the shadows.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;color:#993399;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A </span><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/june/14.55.html"><span style="font-size:100%;">sermon</span></a><span style="font-size:100%;"> given on the Virginia Tech campus two weeks after the shootings.<br /></span><span style="color:#333399;">Philip Yancey posted 6/06/2007 05:31PM</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">We gather here still trying to make sense of what happened in Blacksburg, still trying to process the unprocessable. We come together in this place, as a Christian community, partly because we know of no better place to bring our questions and our grief and partly because we don't know where else to turn. As the apostle Peter once said to Jesus, at a moment of confusion and doubt, "Lord, to whom else can we go?"<br /><br />In considering how to begin today, I found myself following two different threads. The first thread is what I would like to say, the words I wish I could say. The second thread is the truth.<br />I wish I could say that the pain you feel will disappear, vanish, never to return. I'm sure you've heard comments like these from parents and others: "Things will get better." "You'll get past this." "This too shall pass." Those who offer such comfort mean well, and it's true that what you feel now you will not always feel. Yet it's also true that what happened on April 16, 2007, will stay with you forever. You are a different person because of that day, because of one troubled young man's actions.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I remember one year when three of my friends died. In my thirties then, I had little experience with death. In the midst of my grief, I came across these lines from George Herbert that gave me solace: "Grief melts away / Like snow in May / As if there were no such cold thing." I clung to that hope even as grief smothered me like an avalanche. Indeed, the grief did melt away, but like snow it also came back, in fierce and unexpected ways, triggered by a sound, a smell, some fragment of memory of my friends.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">So I cannot say what I want to say, that this too shall pass. Instead, I point to the pain you feel, and will continue to feel, as a sign of life and love. I'm wearing a neck brace because I broke my neck in an auto accident. For the first few hours as I lay strapped to a body board, medical workers refused to give me pain medication because they needed my response. The doctor kept probing, moving my limbs, asking, "Does this hurt? Do you feel that?" The correct answer, the answer both he and I desperately wanted, was, "Yes. It hurts. I can feel it." Each sensation gave proof that my spinal cord had not been severed. Pain offered proof of life, of connection—a sign that my body remained whole.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><strong><span style="color:#333399;">Love and Pain</span><br /></strong>In grief, love and pain converge. Cho felt no grief as he gunned down your classmates because he felt no love for them. You feel grief because you did have a connection. Some of you had closer ties to the victims, but all of you belong to a body to which they too belonged. When that body suffers, you suffer. Remember that as you cope with the pain. Don't try to numb it. Instead, acknowledge it as a perception of life and of love.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Medical students will tell you that in a deep wound, two kinds of tissue must heal: the connective tissue beneath the surface and the outer, protective layer of skin. If the protective tissue heals too quickly, the connective tissue will not heal properly, leading to complications later on. The reason this church and other ministries on campus offer counseling and hold services like this one is to help the deep, connective tissue heal. Only later will the protective layer of tissue grow back in the form of a scar.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">We gather here as Christians, and as such we aspire to follow a man who came from God 2,000 years ago. Read through the Gospels, and you'll find only one scene in which someone addresses Jesus directly as God: "My Lord and my God!" Do you know who said that? It was doubting Thomas, the disciple stuck in grief, the last holdout against believing the incredible news of the Resurrection.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">In a tender scene, Jesus appeared to Thomas in his newly transformed body, obliterating Thomas's doubts. What prompted that outburst of belief, however—"My Lord and my God!"—was the presence of Jesus' scars. "Feel my hands," Jesus told him. "Touch my side." In a flash of revelation, Thomas saw the wonder of Almighty God, the Lord of the universe, stooping to take on our pain.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">God doesn't exempt even himself from pain. God joined us and shared our human condition, including its great grief. Thomas recognized in that pattern the most foundational truth of the universe: that God is love. To love means to hurt, to grieve. Pain is a mark of life.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">The Jews, schooled in the Old Testament, had a saying: "Where Messiah is, there is no misery." After Jesus, you could change that saying to: "Where misery is, there is the Messiah." "Blessed are the poor," Jesus said, "and those who hunger and thirst, and those who mourn, and those who are persecuted." Jesus voluntarily embraced every one of these hurts.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">So where is God when it hurts? We know where God is because he came to earth and showed us his face. You need only follow Jesus around and note how he responded to the tragedies of his day: with compassion—which simply means "to suffer with"—and with comfort and healing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I would also like to answer the question why? Why this campus rather than Virginia Commonwealth or William and Mary? Why these 33 people? I cannot tell you, and I encourage you to resist anyone who offers a confident answer. God himself did not answer that question for Job, nor did Jesus answer why questions. We have hints, but no one knows the full answer. What we do know, with full confidence, is how God feels. We know how God looks on the campus of Virginia Tech right now because God gave us a face, a face that was streaked with tears. Where misery is, there is the Messiah.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Not everyone will find that answer sufficient. When we hurt, sometimes we want revenge. We want a more decisive answer. Frederick Buechner said, "I am not the Almighty God, but if I were, maybe I would in mercy either heal the unutterable pain of the world or in mercy kick the world to pieces in its pain." God did neither. He sent Jesus. God joined our world in all its unutterable pain in order to set in motion a slower, less dramatic solution, one that involves us.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">One day a man said to me, "You wrote a book called Where Is God When It Hurts, right?" Yes. "Well, I don't have much time to read. Can you just answer that question for me in a sentence or two?" I thought for a second and said, "I guess I'd have to answer that with another question: 'Where is the church when it hurts?'"<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">The eyes of the world are trained on this campus. You've seen satellite trucks parked around town, reporters prowling the grounds of your school. Last fall, I visited Amish country near the site of the Nickel Mines school shootings. As happened here, reporters from every major country swarmed the hills of Pennsylvania, looking for an angle. They came to report on evil and instead ended up reporting on the church. The Amish were not asking, "Where is God when it hurts?" They knew where God was. With their long history of persecution, the Amish weren't for a minute surprised by an outbreak of evil. They rallied together, embraced the killer's family, ministered to each other, and healed wounds by relying on a sense of community strengthened over centuries.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Something similar has taken place here in Blacksburg. You have shown outrage against the evil deed, yes, but you've also shown sympathy and sadness for the family of the one who committed it. Cho, too, has a memorial on this campus.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><strong><span style="color:#333399;">Life Matters</span></strong><br />The future lies ahead, and you're just awakening to the fact that you are an independent moral being. Until now, other people have been running your life. Your parents told you what to do and made decisions for you. Teachers ordered you around in grammar school, and the pattern continued in high school and even into college. You now inhabit a kind of halfway house on the way to adulthood, waiting for the real life of career and perhaps marriage and children to begin.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">What happened in Blacksburg on April 16 demonstrates beyond all doubt that your life—the decisions you make, the kind of person you are—matters now. There are 28 students and 5 faculty members who have no future in this world.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">That reality came starkly home to me nine weeks ago today when I was driving on a winding road in Colorado. Suddenly, I missed a curve and my Ford Explorer slipped off the pavement and started tumbling side to side at 60 miles per hour. An ambulance appeared, and I spent the next seven hours strapped to a body board, with duct tape across my head to keep it from moving. A cat scan showed that a vertebra high on my neck had been shattered, and sharp bone fragments were poking out next to a major artery. The hospital had a jet to fly me to Denver for emergency surgery.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I had one arm free, with a cell phone and little battery time left. I spent those tense hours calling people close to me, knowing it might be the last time I would ever hear their voices. It was an odd sensation to lie there helpless, aware that though I was fully conscious, at any moment I could die.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Samuel Johnson said when a man is about to be hanged, "it concentrates his mind wonderfully." When you're strapped to a body board after a serious accident, it concentrates the mind. When you survive a massacre at Virginia Tech, it concentrates the mind. I realized how much of my life focused on trivial things. During those seven hours, I didn't think about how many books I had sold or what kind of car I drove (it was being towed to a junkyard anyway). All that mattered boiled down to four questions. Whom do I love? Whom will I miss? What have I done with my life? And am I ready for what's next? Ever since that day, I've tried to live with those questions at the forefront.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I would like to promise you a long, pain-free life, but I cannot. God has not promised us that. Rather, the Christian view of the world reduces everything to this formula: The world is good. The world has fallen. The world will be redeemed. Creation, the Fall, redemption—that's the Christian story in a nutshell.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">You know that the world is good. Look around you at the blaze of spring in the hills of Virginia. Look around you at the friends you love. Though overwhelmed with grief right now, you will learn to laugh again, to play again, to climb up mountains and kayak down rivers again, to love, to rear children. The world is good.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">You know, too, that the world has fallen. Here at Virginia Tech, you know that as acutely as anyone on this planet.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I ask you also to trust that the world, your world, will be redeemed. This is not the world God wants or is satisfied with. God has promised a time when evil will be defeated, when events like the shootings at Nickel Mines and Columbine and Virginia Tech will come to an end. More, God has promised that even the scars we accumulate on this fallen planet will be redeemed, as Jesus demonstrated to Thomas.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I once was part of a small group with a Christian leader whose name you would likely recognize. He went through a hard time as his adult children got into trouble, bringing him sleepless nights and expensive attorney fees. Worse, my friend was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Nothing in his life seemed to work out. "I have no problem believing in a good God," he said to us one night. "My question is, 'What is God good for?'" We listened to his complaints and tried various responses, but he batted them all away.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">A few weeks later, I came across a little phrase by Dallas Willard: "For those who love God, nothing irredeemable can happen to you." I went back to my friend. "What about that?" I asked. "Is God good for that promise?"</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">I would like to promise you an end to pain and grief, a guarantee that you will never again hurt as you hurt now. I cannot. I can, however, stand behind the promise that the apostle Paul made in Romans 8, that all things can be redeemed, can work together for your good. In another passage, Paul spells out some of the things he encountered, which included beatings, imprisonment, and shipwreck. As he looked back, he could see that somehow God had redeemed even those crisis events in his life.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us," Paul concluded. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:37-39). God's love is the foundational truth of the universe.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;"><strong><span style="color:#333399;">Clinging to Hope</span></strong><br />Trust a God who can redeem what now seems unredeemable. Ten days before the shootings on this campus, Christians around the world remembered the darkest day of human history, the day in which evil human beings violently rose up against God's Son and murdered the only truly innocent human being who has ever lived. We remember that day not as Dark Friday, Tragic Friday, or Disaster Friday—but rather as Good Friday. That awful day led to the salvation of the world and to Easter, an echo in advance of God's bright promise to make all things new.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Honor the grief you feel. The pain is a way of honoring those who died, your friends and classmates and professors. It represents life and love. The pain will fade over time, but it will never fully disappear.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Do not attempt healing alone. The real healing, of deep connective tissue, takes place in community. Where is God when it hurts? Where God's people are. Where misery is, there is the Messiah, and on this earth, the Messiah takes form in the shape of his church. That's what the body of Christ means.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#993399;">Finally, cling to the hope that nothing that happens, not even this terrible tragedy, is irredeemable. We serve a God who has vowed to make all things new. J. R. R. Tolkien once spoke of "joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief." You know well the poignancy of grief. As healing progresses, may you know, too, that joy, a foretaste of the world redeemed.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#333399;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Philip Yancey is a CT editor at large.</em></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em></span><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-60769111625880944542007-05-03T15:10:00.000+08:002007-05-03T15:17:09.306+08:00Introducing "Bible Versus"Wanna hear what a gay man living with AIDS in Los Angeles has to say about the Bible? Then, hop on to <a href="http://biblewithhugh.blogspot.com/">Bible Versus</a>. I was <a href="http://www.reallivepreacher.com/node/1001">introduced</a> to it by no other than my favorite rlp. Hugh Elliot has been a cyber friend of rlp since his early days with <a href="http://www.reallivepreacher.com/">Real Live Preacher</a>. A gay man and a Southern Baptist, Texas preacher - you might think that make an unlikely friendship but surprise surprise!! Anyway, one day Hugh decided to check out the New Testament and Psalms for himself after watching rlp's "How To Read The Bible" series which I have yet to watch, and blog his way through it. I know this one's gonna be interesting and I wasn't disappointed. Hugh described Bible Versus as a sometimes humorous, spontaneous, honest but always reverent view of God, religion and the New Testament. True enough, it is as he said. I enjoyed it tremendously and I hope you will too.<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-22648207805636091292007-04-30T14:35:00.000+08:002007-04-30T14:51:57.020+08:00Can Someone Please Translate<blockquote><p><strong>Jesus - the bodhisattva who fulfilled his dharma, to pay for my karma, to negate samsara and achieve nirvana.</strong> - <em>businessman and politician, Ram Gidoomal.</em><br /></p></blockquote><br />I thought that was a brilliant way of putting it!<br /><br />It summarized what I wrote in my previous post, <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/09/everybody-needs-jesus-maybe-not.html">Everybody Needs Jesus? Maybe Not</a>. We Asians tend to have difficulty understanding the concept of sin, righteouness and redemption. Sometimes all it takes is some proper translation to help understand these concepts.<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-32454942877362741452007-04-19T16:28:00.000+08:002007-04-24T09:19:40.873+08:00My Musical JourneyI hope that self-awareness piece wasn't too draggy for you. Now let's move on to something fun. Yes yes... we must.<br /><br />I want to share with you my latest pride and joy ((drum roll)) - a brand new Daisy Rock Pixie acoustic guitar!. I also want to celebrate starting lessons again after almost a year's break! This time round I'm learning at a Christian music schoolcalled <a href="https://www.believermusic.com/">Believer Music</a> I didn't know it existed before. I love everything about it - the school, the coaches, the lessons, the music. It says here on their website<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"Believer Music wants to take you on a musical journey which is God-centered and worship-filled. Hearing from God about His will for your life requires first, an abandonment from materialistic ideals. Yes, you were born for a reason and we encourage you to know what that is by having a deeper relationship with the Life-Giver. Our ultimate goal is that you will find the courage to become all you can be according to what God has purposed. And Yes! it begins with worship."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />The atmosphere is quite unlike Yamaha where I learned classical for over 2 years. Now I'm playing acoustic with lots of strumming with simple chord progression. Finger-picking will come later. I am SO looking forward! The lessons feel different as we learn that making music is not just about us and the music but about expressing our heart to God. At Yamaha, my coach was good in that he would make us learn the hard way. He can be very cold at times......just sitting there and watching us struggle through a piece. For someone who had no music background then, it was quite a struggle for me. I managed to pull through somehow and I today, attribute the discipline to consistent practice to my classical coach. At Believer's I have a very nice and gentle guy for my coach. Evidently, his approach is very different. I have never heard him say a discouraging word or use a discouraging body language. He is THE model Christian man. These days I'm almost never stressed about lessons! You think this would make us complacement? Hmm...perhaps...maybe.....it can happen if your motivation is not strong enough. Okay to be fair, if I'm totally new I to this I might not have given it as much practice because there's less fear that I'd get a sharp rebuke from my coach. But I had been under the torch in my previous class, so it's kind of built in me now that if I want to do this well, I know I have to put in the effort and not just "pray" that my fingers will suddenly work wonders on it's own. But I think the main motivation for me is that the lessons themselves are very rewarding. We can already play a whole song after the first lesson! It just makes you really happy and you want to keep going. Now try working through a solo classical piece. Can die ah! My coach (the classical one) used to say, "If you want to play well, play each line 20 times over before moving on to the next. Repeat this until you finish the entire song." Can you visualize my sweat flying? Compared to that my current class is a honerymoon. I'm sure as I progress to more advanced levels, I'd start to feel the heat. Another wonderful part of the lesson is that I can feel God's presence in those songs. There was this song, I Will Bow, that really sopke to me while I was playing it in the quietness of my bedroom. It feels great if you can play a song but it feels even better when you feel connected with God through the song.<br /><br />So back to my guitar, I have been reading up on acoustic guitars lately. That's half the fun already. I didn't know there are SO many considerations to make prior to a purchase. While I know I should look for one with a solid top, I didn't know that a cedar top will give a rounder sound compared to say.... a spruce top. Then, there's this thing called the action which is the distance between the strings and the fretboard. Low action is good and easier to play but cannot be too low or it will result in a irritating buzz when played. One can go on and on about the bracing, tuners, sizes, shapes, finish, nut etc etc....all of which affects the durability, payability and sustain of a guitar. Oh and get this, I also learned that I can create callouses (yes, thick hard skin - the ones that your manicurist will file away!) on my fingertips trice as fast by swabbing them with rubbing alcohol twice a day! What a great tip! I really need that for my fleshy fingers. Tell you something silly, back in those days when I just started my classical, I was so desperate to toughen my fingertips that I'd twist a rubber band around each fingertip to stiffen them! It worked....but also left me with cold and grey fingers lah. Hey, I've never pretended I was born to be a musician did I? And based on an expert's assessment, I am a mostly left-brain kind of person! But that's okay cos coach says (the classical one again) that playing an instrument is 90% practice and 10% talent. So there....I have hope! Don't laugh, you're the same.<br /><br />Anyway, I was overwhelmed by the information overload. Of course, NO purchase should be made without "touching and feeling" the instrument for yourself. I read reviews for the next 2 days but found out later that sound is a very subjective thing. What a reviewer like might not be what I like. So after short-listing a few recommended models, I plucked up my courage and head down to the music stores. I was immediately intimidated. I was the only girl in all the stores! There were guys, boys, even uncles....but where are the girls?? As much as I was trained to be "thick-skinned" by my classical coach, I still felt veeery tiny, not to mention incompetent, in the midst of these men. (((shudder))) And the moment you decide you want to try out one of these stringed instruments, that's when the mother of all fears descends upon you. I'm not talking about running your fingers across the strings to test the sound, I'm talking about actually asking the sales person to take them down for you and bring you a stool so you could sit down properly and play a tune on it ..... all the while knowing what you'd sound like being a clueless newbie and how everyone in the store will know what a disgrace you are to the community of musicians and would-be musicians. (((( shudder shudder)))) Miraculously, I survived that. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GSK6-eln6Z8/RixxYiwZs2I/AAAAAAAAABc/c4ch4qysIQY/s1600-h/px_pink_pop.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056541148090839906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GSK6-eln6Z8/RixxYiwZs2I/AAAAAAAAABc/c4ch4qysIQY/s320/px_pink_pop.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Finally I decided to settle for a <a href="http://www.daisyrock.com/">Daisy Rock</a> Pixie. It's a girl's guitar in a sweet powdery pink. It was going for a 50% discount, how not to resist? Plus the reviews have been great. It's a serious full scale guitar with a smaller and slimmer neck to accommodate smaller hands. It looks sturdy and well made and comes with Grover tuners. It has a solid spruce top with a composite body like the Ovation ones. Sound wise it's comparable with other smaller guitars though I find it a tad too metallic-y. The bass is also kinda weak. I brought it to a friend who could play and he feels that it's loud and bright enough, only lacking in bass. I'm still trying to figure out if that's due to the strings or the smaller composite body but overall, for that price I'm a happy girl! I think it's a better move than blowing a budget on something I'm still relatively clueless about. If I am still actively playing a year from now, I'll upgrade to a better one with a bigger budget. By then I should be experienced enough to know what exactly I'm looking for. Then it'd call it money well invested!<br /><br />Alright, that's all I have about my new toy. Gotta go polishhh me pixie and swab me fingers now. Ta!<br /><br />rk</div>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-91565114861745841452007-04-16T17:16:00.000+08:002007-04-19T16:11:36.947+08:00Of Detachment and Self-awarenessOh dear...I have not posted for a while haven't I? It's a dry spell. Comes and goes. You know what I mean yah?<br /><br />Well, today I feel like writing! Yay! Not about any subject in particular. Just random thoughts here and there. I'm just going to let my thoughts loose and see where it leads us.<br /><br />I have not been doing much lately. I have run out of books to read. Gasp!! ya...can you believe it? "Poof....what's the big deal?", you say."I've never touched a book in years". Well for me, it's kind of a strange feeling not to be reading anything for such long periods of time. Reading had been my number one obsession for years. I always have some materials on stand by so as soon as I'm done with one, I can start with another. It's not healthy I tell you. Not reading per se but reading without taking time to digest what I read. It started well and good initially but in later years it became an addiction. I concluded that my genuine hunger for spiritual food all those years, in the form of written word, had later morphed into unhealthy escapism - <em>always feeling the need to keep the mind occupied</em>.<br /><br />Now having said that, I must also testify that the recent months of doing nothing, reading nothing and listening to nothing on my iPod, left an enormous and uncomfortable gap in my "being". Is that good news? I don't know. Some people say we must learn to be silent and comfortable with ourself without any outside stimulation. Yes and I'd add that it's an opportunity for me to learn to stay focused on God without relying on outside stimulation. How about that? I was once inspired by Richard Foster's discipline of silence in Celebration of Discipline and I thought my recent inactivity was pretty close. But I think I failed. Not only have I lost that focus (on God) but I found my thought life splintered a thousand ways. I felt myself blending into the masses. I was more susceptible to pessimism, murmuring and cynicism. Instead of being light in the darkness and salt of the earth, I felt consumed by the darkness and lost my flavor. I remember pastor once said that if we empty our mind, like what new-agers do, without in turn filling it with the right thoughts, we are allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to other influences. I found that to be true to my experience. Could this be what St Paul meant when he said "Do not be conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be <em>transformed by the renewing of your mind</em>. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is." So I guess detachment (i'm only using the word in it's limited sense. it encompasses a lot more) as a means to sharpen one's focus is beneficial while detachment as and end in itself could prove to be self-destructive.<br /><br />It's not all bad though. In these moments of "nothingness" I felt <em>exposed</em> to myself. I began to think <em>my</em> thoughts and feel <em>my</em> feelings. These could have been suppressed by all the information overload and continuous activity. It's sort of a self-awareness kind of thing. Good or bad? Who knows? Some say that the more we look inward, the more depressed we get because soon enough, we'll discover the darkness that resides there. I can testify to the reality of it because I've experienced it myself. During these times there were moments of self-loathing I didn't know existed. I'll say things like, "I hate myself...I hate myself....I hate myself. God! I hate myself! Help me please!!" It was frightening the first time I heard it. I have always thought I love myself. Some spring cleaning seems to be going on. It's as though God was saying,<br /><br />"Thank you for stopping long enough to realize you've been deceiving yourself. All those stuff you read and hear about me, of how much I love and accepts you just as you are, of me not remembering your sins and counting it against you, of me seeing you in the perfection of my Son and making you an heir of all my goodness, that there's <em>nothing</em> you can do to make me love you any less? They're all true. You thought you knew them all and believe them all but you do not. My servant, your pastor, tirelessly tells you these truth every week in the hope that one day one of you will <em>really get it</em>. Sometimes you do get it but most times you don't. You hear them so much that your mind shuts down. In your pride you thought you knew them all and so you stop listening. You had knowledge but not revelation. They're not the same. You do not know you are no longer yourself. You're just this thing that talks and thinks like what you've been taught to. The people of the world call it brain-washing. Knowledge changes your intellect. Revelation transforms your very soul. But now the silence exposes you. Your own voice is coming forth and you're frightened by it. You thought I'd be offended. That is because you do not know what I desire is for you to be real. Only then will you be ready to give me your all. Only then will you learn what it means to trust me and you will discover that my grace is bigger than your failures. Only then will you be at peace."<br /><br />So perhaps like detachment, the purpose of self-awareness or self-realization as some would call it, has a God ordained purpose. It exposes the <strong>complete</strong> us (the good, the bad and everything in between) to us, so that we can in turn learn to accept them and give them all up to God because He wants all of us, not just the good.<br /><br />Oh dear...I didn't expect this to be such a lengthy post. I had expected something light hearted. I promise the next one will be different. I want to tell you about my new toy! <em>**big grin**</em><br /><br /><br />rk<br /><br /><br /><p><br /></p>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-86633743178841716062007-03-28T11:09:00.000+08:002007-03-28T12:46:51.190+08:00A Message to You<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5Z1K8G21iME" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-28501529692603838672007-03-08T09:46:00.000+08:002007-03-08T23:09:23.244+08:00What IfI've finally picked my first Song of the Year for 2007. "What If" is a powerful song that dares to ask skeptical seekers to put their ideologies on hold long enough to consider that there's more to Jesus than what they've heard. It reminded me of the days just before my conversion, when I was weighing the various possibilities and their consequences - similar to those of the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager">Pascal's Wager</a>. I remember asking myself the very same question "What if it's real?" and concluded that I have more, much more, to loose if I do not made the jump.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.bolt.com/swf/index_offsite_ss.swf?setId=84611&contentType=3&hideLogo=0" loop="false" quality="high" bgcolor="white" name="video_play_500" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="340" width="365"><br />Upload music at <a style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 102, 204);" href="http://www.bolt.com/">Bolt</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Nichole Nordeman - </strong><em><strong>What If<br /></strong></em><span style="font-size:85%;">From the album Brave</span><br /><br />What if you’re right?<br />And he was just another nice guy<br />What if you’re right?<br />What if it’s true?<br />They say the cross will only make a fool of you<br />And what if it’s true?<br /><br />What if he takes his palace in history<br />With all the prophets and the kings<br />Who taught us love and came in peace<br />But then the story ends<br />What then?<br /><br />(Chours)<br />But what if you’re wrong?<br />What if there’s more?<br />What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?<br />What if you jump?<br />And just close your eyes?<br />What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?<br />What if He’s more than enough?<br />What if it’s love?<br /><br />What if you dig, What if you dig<br />Way down deeper than your simple-minded friends<br />What if you dig?<br />What if you find<br />A thousand more unanswered questions inside<br />That’s all you find<br /><br />What if you pick apart the logic<br />And begin to poke the holes<br />What if the crown of thorns is no more<br />Then folklore that must be told and retold<br /><br />(Chours)<br /><br />You’ve been running as fast as you can<br />You’ve been looking for a place you can land so long<br />But what if you’re wrong?<br /><br />What if you jump?<br />And just close your eyes?<br />What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?<br />What if He’s more than enough?<br />What if it’s love?<br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-6003588554314275602007-03-01T16:02:00.000+08:002007-03-01T16:21:09.863+08:00No Need to Yell/ Only a ChallengeThis is the piece I promised to share, regarding the case of the tomb. I've picked it among many because of the author's observation and sensible response to the overreaction of some christians who felt threathened by the film.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc6600;"><strong>No Need to Yell/ Only a Challenge for Some who Need to Step Up and Could<br /></strong><em>by Darrel Bock</em><br /><br />I spent most of the night watching all the reports on the tomb. Christians do not need to get so worked up about this. Several of the responders from the Christian side come across as too nervous about all of this, almost yelling in response to the calm presenters of this Discovery special. Part of this is because they have not yet seen the show and are having to respond to reports, sort of shooting in the dark. I have seen the show and the argument is full of problems that can patiently be set out for others (</span><a href="http://dev.bible.org/bock/node/106"><span style="color:#cc6600;">See Hollywood Hype blog</span></a><span style="color:#cc6600;">).<br /><br />For example, it does not take a biology degree to know that if someone tested your DNA it would not match with most other people in the populace, so the DNA argument being appealed to in the special proves nothing, giving us an expected result. Or as a Forensic Anthropologist said tonight on Anderson Cooper 360, it does not prove much at all. One could say the DNA testing proves next to nothing.<br /><br />Nor does it take a geography degree to know that if Jesus' family came from Galilee, why would they have a family tomb in Jerusalem? Two simple observations that help to show how thin the argument from this special is. The claim about statistics ASSUMES we have a family tomb. But one thing the non-matching DNA might show is that there is no family tomb present at all. What about a tomb with no family in it, but simply people from the area, some of whom might be family and others not? What about a tomb that is shared between families? All simple, basic historical questions, part of the process of doing historical work. Now the truth of any of these other scenarioes would rule out the "hyped" option. So let us just ask some basic questions of this special that show the assumptions made to get to the statistical numbers are themselves not givens. Then the numbers mean nothing because they do not measure what they claim to measure.<br /><br />So no need to yell and scream, just ask good questions. Distinguish between fact and interpretation. Fact: we have a first century tomb that has ten first century bone boxes in them. Many of those boxes have names and two of them (one carrying a Jesus and one carrying a Mary are not biologically related). THAT is all we know from what the special presents. The rest is interpretation.<br /><br />Those who made the special say they want more investigation and seek the truth. Meet the challenge. That is what I say. I think the facts that emerge will show there is nothing here, at least in term sof Jesus' family. What is there is another first century tomb with multiple bone boxes, of value to our understanding names and practices at the time, but that is all.<br />Now let us turn to other issues this raises culturally. Yes, these bashing efforts are becoming all too common to generate hype for networks and fame and fortune for others. It is easy to get frustrated. I tell my students take your flu shot each Easter and Christmas to inoculate yourself from what is becoming a regular practice of Christian bashing during these holiday seasons. Do not be surprised. It is now a pattern to be expected.<br /><br />Now someone should challenge what HarperSanFrancisco is doing publishing so many "bashing books" and ask some tough questions of them.<br /><br />However, above all, what is needed is for some serious Christian funding to come forward to do some first class documentaries with top flight evangelical scholars and others who see all this other stuff as pretty thin on credibility> Let us take up the challenge of showing the other side. Christian publishing is a multi-billion dollar industry. This would not impact their profits in any significant way (and does that really matter for this discussion?). In fact, 0.2% of the money generated by this industry would allow a quality prime-time special each year to be funded. Maybe showing that the discussion is not about profits but truth would help to balance out the motives question as key companies donate some of their money in order to simply make the case. Maybe we should not be so happy with organizations like the NRB [National Religious Broadcasters] for not stepping forward as an organization to meet the cultural challenge? Maybe they or folks like them should support the faith in a team effort on behalf of the case on the other side with a concerted effort. Why don't executives from these large Christian companies pool some resources together (as the cable networks do for these other efforts) and underwrite some first class media level work for TV consumption? That is my challenge. Stop yelling and complaining. Produce something of quality reflecting top rank scholarship to show our culture that getting only one side of a story is not getting the entire story. Maybe that kind of effort can produce something of credibility and quality. This is what it will take to be of help to the culture. Think about it.<br /></span><br />For more of Bock's responses, please visit his <a href="http://dev.bible.org/bock/">blog</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/02/jesus-tomb-titanic-talpiot-tomb-theory.html">Ben Witherington</a>, <a href="http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=2087">Scot McKnight</a>, <a href="http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2007/02/whos_writing_th.html">Paul Maier</a>, <a href="http://ntgateway.com/weblog/labels/Talpiot%20tomb.html">Marc Goodacre</a>, <a href="http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/category/talpiot-tomb/">Tyler Williams</a>, <a href="http://www.michaelsheiser.com/M%20Heiser%20Ossuary.pdf">Michael S. Heiser</a>, and most other <a href="http://www.biblioblogs.com/">biblical studies bloggers</a> are discussing the tomb.<br /><br />The Jerusalem Post interviewd <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894527185&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Kloner</a> and reported on the effects on <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/" cid="'1171894526471&pagename=">Talpoit Residents</a>.<br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-9526862342305393212007-03-01T12:44:00.000+08:002007-03-05T16:34:12.215+08:00Tomb: My ResponseI've been following closely reports on the tomb since it came out on Monday and the response which it generated over the last few days. It looks like the people involved and associated with the making of this film are in for major embarrassment.<br /><br />Here are some of my personal views. Okay, I must admit first off that the way the filmmakers present the "evidence" in the film makes the case pretty convincing, especially to lay people who are not familiar with archeology, science or biblical history. It also gives skeptics, who are only too happy to find evidence to discredit Christianity, ground to dance on. We know how irresponsible preachers could take Bible verses out of context and make them support their own interpretation of scripture. So this could well be a case of the filmmakers trying to join dots that don't belong. Many so-called Christians are biblically illiterate and therefore more prone to swallow everything that comes along especially where powerful words like DNA, scientific evidence and archeology were thrown around.<br /><br />I personally feel that if such things were discovered and there is any possibility that it could be of great significance, they should be made public so that further investigations by more experts can be done. So the fact is that these tombs had been discovered and the names on the tombs may suggest a link to the holy family. Cameron and his team made the initial investigation and is now trying to present to us their conclusion. Now it's up to the other experts to take-up the case. What I don't like is the way the filmmakers try to sell us their conclusion. Discovery insist in their press release that "they do not have a point of view" and that this is just a platform for real discovery to begin. That's Discovery's assertion and it may well be true. However that is not the idea you get from the film. It was so obvious that the filmmakers were trying to sell us their opinion.<br /><br />So what are we to make of it then? Wait I guess..... wait for more experts not related to this film to make their own investigations. My prediction is that it will always remain a mystery, if not totally refuted, because like one of the experts said, archeology can never conclude 100%. So it's always up for debate. The really good thing is that, people will be interested to investigate the bible for themselves. I myself have went home to re-read the 4 gospels because they were heavily quoted. What I discovered was that some claims the filmmakers made were utter nonsense. They were trying to use the bible to support their theory and one read will tell you that it's impossible. Was it a case of intentionally mishandling the Bible or perhaps they didn't know any better? I mean, scriptures are interpreted very differently by those who have the spirit of God to guide them and those who do not. A good example is the case of Judah, the supposed child of Jesus, as the filmmakers claimed. Jacobovici suggested that the young lad leaning on Jesus' breast was Judah and he said that this person was never named in the gospel except by the description, "the disciple whom Jesus loved". We all know that this is John himself, the author of the Gospel of John. Upon reading that chapter again last night, I am definitely convinced that this could not be Judah because later in the gospel, John refers to himself on several other occasions where it wouldn't make sense if the lad was indeed Judah. Even if you question if the real author was indeed John, it still doesn't make sense that it could be Jesus' son! Read it and you'll know what i mean. So I felt it was very irresponsible of the filmmakers to make such bold suggestions without bothering to do their homework. I have also been re-reading Lee Strobel's Case for Christ with regards to the empty tomb case and his case is just as convincing if not more.<br /><br />Some people ask, does it really matter if the remains of Jesus were found? Of course it does! Christianity stand or fall based on this very foundational belief that Jesus was resurrected. People say what's important are His teachings. That's religion, not Christianity. If you know Christianity you will know that Jesus did not come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people live! Christianity does not have the luxury or being wrong about such an important fact like the resurrection. If the Bible is wrong about Jesus' resurrection, then it may well be wrong about a whole lot of other issues fundamental to the faith.<br /><br />So that's my take. But what we really want to hear are from the experts themselves, people of authority who really knows what they're talking. I have a very good piece which I will share with you in the next post.<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-46829421595229776752007-02-28T16:26:00.000+08:002007-02-28T17:53:59.000+08:00Tales From The CryptJust thought I should include one more article on this topic. I have chosen this article from The New York Times for it's report on alternative views from other experts and religious leaders regarding the findings.<br /><br /><span style="color:#993300;"><strong>Crypt Held Bodies of Jesus and Family, Film Says</strong><br />By Laurie Goodstein<br /><br />A documentary by the Discovery Channel claims to provide evidence that a crypt unearthed 27 years ago in Jerusalem contained the bones of Jesus of Nazareth.<br /><br />Moreover, it asserts that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, that the couple had a son, named Judah, and that all three were buried together.<br /><br />The claims were met with skepticism by several archaeologists and New Testament scholars, as well as outrage by some Christian leaders. The contention that Jesus was married, had a child and left behind his bones — suggesting he was not bodily resurrected — contradicts core Christian doctrine.<br /><br />Two limestone boxes said to contain residue from the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene were unveiled yesterday at a news conference at the New York Public Library by the documentary’s producer, James Cameron, who made "Titanic" and "The Terminator." His collaborators onstage included a journalist, a self-taught antiquities investigator, New Testament scholars, a statistician and an archaeologist. Several of them said they were excited by the findings but uncertain.<br /><br />"I would like more information. I remain skeptical," said the archaeologist, Shimon Gibson, a senior fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, in an interview after the news conference.<br /><br />In recent years, audiences have demonstrated a voracious appetite for books, movies and magazines that reassess the life and times of Jesus, and there is already a book timed to coincide with this documentary, which will be on the air next Sunday.<br /><br />"This is exploiting the whole trend that caught on with ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ " said Lawrence E. Stager, the Dorot professor of archaeology of Israel at Harvard, in a telephone interview. "One of the problems is there are so many biblically illiterate people around the world that they don’t know what is real judicious assessment and what is what some of us in the field call ‘fantastic archaeology.’ "<br /><br />Professor Stager said he had not seen the film but was skeptical.<br /><br />Mr. Cameron said he had been "trepidatious" about becoming involved in the project but got engaged out of "great passion for a good detective story," not to offend and not to cash in.<br />"I think this is the biggest archaeological story of the century," he said. "It’s absolutely not a publicity stunt. It’s part of a very well-considered plan to reveal this information to the world in a way that makes sense, with proper documentation."<br /><br />The documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," revisits a site discovered by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority in the East Talpiyot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1980, when the area was being excavated for a building.<br /><br />Ten burial boxes, or ossuaries, were found in the tomb, and six of them had inscriptions. The Discovery Channel filmmakers say, and archaeologists interviewed concur, there is no possibility the inscriptions were forged, because they were catalogued at the time by archaeologists and kept in storage in the Israel Antiquities Authority.<br /><br />The documentary’s case rests in large part on the interpretation of the inscriptions, which they say are Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Matthew, Joseph and Judah.<br /><br />In the first century, these names were as common as Tom, Dick and Harry. But the filmmakers commissioned a statistician, Andrey Feuerverger, a professor at the University of Toronto, who calculated that the odds that all six names would appear together in one tomb are one in 600, calculated conservatively — or as much as one in one million.<br /><br />One box is said to be inscribed "Yeshua bar Yosef," in Aramaic, an ancient dialect of Hebrew that is translated as "Jesus son of Joseph." The second box is inscribed "Maria," in Hebrew. Maria is the Latin version of "Miriam" — a name so common in first century ancient Israel that it was given to about 25 percent of all Jewish women. But the mother of Jesus has always been known as "Maria" (which in English is "Mary"). The documentary says that while thousands of ossuaries have been discovered, only eight have had the inscription "Maria" spelled phonetically in Hebrew letters.<br /><br />The third box is labeled "Matia," Hebrew for Matthew, and the filmmakers cite a reference in the New Testament to buttress their claim that Mary had many Matthews in her family and it would make sense to find one in the family tomb.<br /><br />The fourth box is inscribed "Yose," a nickname for the Hebrew "Yosef," or "Joseph" in English. Again, the filmmakers turn to the New Testament Gospels, which refer to four "brothers" of Jesus: James, Judah, Simon and Joseph. Scholars disagree whether these were actual brothers, companions or cousins, but the filmmakers infer that the inscription refers to a brother of Jesus.<br />Perhaps the most shaky claims revolve around the inscription on the fifth box, which the filmmakers assert is that of Mary Magdalene. It is the only inscription of the six in Greek, and says "Mariamene e Mara," which the filmmakers say can be translated as "Mary, known as the master."<br /><br />The filmmakers cite the interpretation of a Harvard professor, François Bovon, of the "Acts of Phillip," a text from the fourth or fifth century and recently recovered from a monastery at Mount Athos in Greece. The filmmakers say that Professor Bovon has determined from the "Acts of Phillip" that Mariamene is Mary Magdalene’s real name.<br /><br />The filmmakers commissioned DNA testing on the residue in the boxes said to have held Jesus and Mary Magdalene. There are no bones left, because the religious custom in Israel is to bury archeological remains in a cemetery.<br /><br />However, the documentary’s director and its driving force, Simcha Jacobovici, an Israeli-born Canadian, said there was enough mitochondrial DNA for a laboratory in Ontario to conclude that the bodies in the "Jesus" and "Mary Magdalene" ossuaries were not related on their mothers’ side. From this, Mr. Jacobovici deduced that they were a couple, because otherwise they would not have been buried together in a family tomb.<br /><br />In an interview, Mr. Jacobovici was asked why the filmmakers did not conduct DNA testing on the other ossuaries to determine whether the one inscribed "Judah, son of Jesus" was genetically related to either the Jesus or Mary Magdalene boxes; or whether the Jesus remains were actually the offspring of Mary.<br /><br />"We’re not scientists. At the end of the day we can’t wait till every ossuary is tested for DNA," he said. "We took the story that far. At some point you have to say, ‘I’ve done my job as a journalist.’ "<br /><br />Among the most influential scholars to dispute the documentary was Amos Kloner, former Jerusalem district archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who examined the tomb in 1980.<br /><br />Mr. Kloner said in a telephone interview that the inscription on the alleged "Jesus" ossuary is not clear enough to ascertain. The box on display at the news conference is a plain rectangle with rough gashes on one side. The one supposedly containing Mary Magdalene has six-petalled rosettes and an elaborate border.<br /><br />"The new evidence is not serious, and I do not accept that it is connected to the family of Jesus," said Mr. Kloner, who appears in the documentary as a skeptic.<br /><br />New Testament scholars also criticized the documentary as theologically dangerous, historically inaccurate and irresponsible.<br /><br />"A lot of conservative, orthodox and moderate Christians are going to be upset by the recklessness of this," said Ben Witherington, a Bible scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. "Of course, we want to know more about Jesus, but please don’t insult our intelligence by giving us this sort of stuff. It’s going to get a lot of Christians with their knickers in a knot unnecessarily."<br /><br /></span><em><span style="color:#993300;">Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.<br />The New York Times<br />February 27, 2007</span></em>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-16539928252248590372007-02-26T16:07:00.000+08:002007-02-26T16:41:58.441+08:00The Lost Tomb of Jesus?<blockquote><p>"Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you ‘The Titanic’ is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">back with</span> another blockbuster. This time, the ship he’s sinking is Christianity.<br /><br />In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Simcha</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Jacobovici</span>, make the starting claim that Jesus <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">wasn</span>’t resurrected — the cornerstone of Christian faith - and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem.<br /><br />No, it's not a re-make of 'The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Da</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Vinci</span> Codes'. It's supposed to be true."</p></blockquote><p></p><p><br /><br />Oh God, here we go again....<br /><br />By now some of you would have already heard about the new <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">controversial</span> documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, premiering Sunday March 4 9pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel and a few other networks including Israel's Channel 8 where it has already sparked a fierce debate.There is no news yet if it will premiere here in Singapore or Asia.<br /><br />I am still reading <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">through</span> the many sites that have sprung up overnight in response to this. As such, I shall reserve any comments if at all till much later. For now, I'll just provide some links for you to do your own reading. Alternatively, just <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">google</span> "The Lost Tomb of Jesus".<br /><br />Discovery Channel's <a href="http://www.pr-inside.com/rss/discovery-channels-the-lost-tomb-of-jesus-reveals-new-scientific-evidence-supporting-possible-find-of-r56195.htm">press release</a><br />Discovery Channel's <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368731,00.html">"Lost Tomb"</a> site<br /><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368731,00.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">YNet</span> News</a><br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?q=%22lost+tomb+of+jesus%22&hl=en&rls=SUNA,SUNA:2005-43,SUNA:en&sa=X&oi=blogsearch&ct=title">Links</a> to blogs discussing the topic<br /><br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">rk</span> </p>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-71571924019235381152007-02-12T17:44:00.000+08:002007-02-26T17:00:32.089+08:00An Open LetterDear Friend,<br /><br />I have observed with concern, mixed with a bit of frustration, how you have been late for church with alarming regularity lately. At first I thought it was me who was too early. Or me, who has a housekeeper to manage the chores and kids so we could all leave on time. Then I realize I have been managing these on my own for weeks since our helper left, and have not been late once.<br /><br />I really don't mind if you prefer to stride into the auditorium while praise and worship is in full swing, with people on their feet, clapping and lifting hands, to find your way around this crowd. I really don't mind because I would have warmed one of those red velvet seats somewhere in that auditorium. I would have already entered into sweet communion with the Lord.<br /><br />You see, I really don't mind....except when I needed to watch the other red seat beside me, with my phone on mute in the palm of my hand, trying to manage a half clap, so that a friend could afford to be late and not have to squirm her way through that massive crowd. And what of the questions I had to endure from ushers who could not help but notice that the seat with a Bible on it is still, well....still has a Bible on it and not a person. Surely they would have known by now, the reason behind my verbal acrobatics. How many excuses can one come up with? "She's stuck at the tape counter, in the washroom, with the pastor, in the queue, at the food court, in the car park, etcetera etcetera..... My most common excuse? "She's on the way." That's about the best I can manage without feeling like I have defiled the place with my lies. Minutes ticked by and the Bible will still there. Ever so often, I'd turn to look around to see if you're coming.<br /><br />These revelations are so you get an idea of what it is like at my end. I have put up with them as long as they do not disrupt too much of my worship time with the Lord. But the last straw came that Sunday when I had to pick-up your calls in the middle of worship, to direct you to that empty seat beside me. The music and singing drowned me out so you could not hear. I had to text you your seat number and the direction in the middle of How Great Is Our God. Using the phone in the presence of God is something I really want to avoid. It bothers me when you answer calls and reply messages during service. It bothers me even more if I have to do it.<br /><br />Therefore, in keeping with my desire for a distraction-free church service and with <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2005/06/to-be-fully-present.html">my promise</a> to not let the little communication device control my life, may I propose two solutions. One, set your alarm clock to wake you half an hour earlier. Two, find your own way around once service begins as I won't be contactable then. Thank you for your kind understanding. As you have been such a dear friend, I will continue with pleasure, to reserve a place for you in the queue.<br /><br /><br />Your dear friend,<br />rk<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">This letter is a response to my observation of what has often be taken for granted during church services. In a broader sense it applies to everyone of us who has made a habit out of making our friends wait on us and who has allowed our mobile phones to interfere with our life.</span></em>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-59251753773318292172007-02-09T10:00:00.000+08:002007-02-09T11:36:24.186+08:00Americanism - The New ReligionI used to wonder why so many American-Christians are critical of their own church. Where they once kept their bitterness to themselves or perhaps addressed their grievances directly to God himself, they now have a new outlet (the blog) to voice their growing dissatisfaction. Some of my favorite bloggers are in that camp. They boast of foreign wisdom as if they are higher and more enlightened than the wisdom of the Bible, preached from pulpits Sundays after Sundays. Familiarity breeds contempt? Some would even go as far as to suggest that our children should be spared from the contamination of churches and it's ideology. <em>Suffer not the little ones to our idea of God, let them think for themselves.</em> To a large extent, I agree. We adults are good at complicating things that are simple and readily recognizable to children. Worst, we pass on our faulty theology and doctrine to our children. However, we do not live in a world where everyone is naturally a friend of God. We do not live in a world without opposition from other spirit beings bent on frustration the will of God. We live in a world where opposing spiritual forces are constantly in a cosmic battle for our heart and mind. To let our children be is to offer up their mind to anyone and everyone. If we don't shape their mind and draw their heart now, someone else will. Keeping them from churches and Christian ideas is not the solution. "It is appropriate to tell them what we think and believe, but we can do so without trampling their tender autonomy. Love, wait and allow them to develop and grow making their own decisions instead of showing off a little robot child who says all the right things, even if achieveing that result is to her detriment."<br /><br />There was a time when I grew impatient and increasingly frustrated with the constant complaining. I for one, is regretful that someone did not bring me to church earlier. My life could have taken a very different turn. Consequances that resulted from particular sins and some really bad choices could have been avoided if I had known the liberty that flows from the grace of God. One reader nailed it when he said this,<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"People all over the world go to worship the Lord Jesus Christ Sunday after Sunday at the risk of losing their own lives and all we can do is whine about telling children the TRUTH. Chinese Christians are risking their lives to preach the Gospel to everyone and we are worried about indoctrinating our children in the faith once delivered to the saints? The problem here is that we have <strong>a uniquely American outlook</strong>. Talk to the Ethiopian pastor who was attacked by Muslims with knives while preaching the Word of God. Talk to the Chinese Christian who sits in jail and rots because of his boldness to be the "church man" in order that people who hate him will be loved by him with a message that could keep them from hell. Leave her a pagan? Follow this advice and her blood will be on your hands." </blockquote><br /><em>A uniquely American outlook</em>. I didn't quite understand it until I heard some American preachers myself and I thought ..... no wonder their people are rebelling. Their God is like a vending machine, someone whom they can manipulate and command at whim. Makes you wonder who is God. Either that or it's hell-fire-and-brimstone all the way. Can we blame our American brethren for their cynisicm? They are not opposed to God or Christ. They are opposed to the new religion of Americanism. Singapore is heavily influenced by the west, particularly America. Many churches here have adopted America's brand of Christianity. While brimstone messages can be heard everywhere, the former is particularly symptomatic of first-world nations. So to be fair, it is not solely an American problem.<br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-44121107321820380232007-02-06T17:08:00.001+08:002007-02-06T17:22:17.966+08:00The Swan In MeI heaved a sigh of relief and crossed my fingers as I see the tutor out. I hope the new tutor turns out alright. With the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_School_Leaving_Examination">PSLE</a> (primary school leaving examination) barely 8 months away, we really can't afford to change tutors if this doesn't work out.<br /><br />Please forgive my slowness in churning out posts for my blog. The past weeks have been crazy ever since our schizophrenic foreign domestic helper changed her mind and demanded we send her back to the agent, pronto. It's a long story. So much has transpired in the final days leading to her departure that it'd drain me out writing about them. So I'll leave that out and hope that her replacement comes through quickly so we can all have some normalcy back into our life. In the mean time, miss "in-control" tried her best to keep things running. To a some extent, she succeeded. She managed to get her finger cut - almost requiring stitches, handled the cleaning and washing in spite of it, fired her son's tutor, found a replacement, get her kids going and kept the house close to spotless. In between, she tolerated her daughter's persistent whininess (why does God make little girls so whiny??), gave her son's class bully a dressing down he'll remember for life, accommodated her in-laws as they came over to help, squeezed in some time to supervise her children's school work AND survived her husband's unreasonable demands.<br /><br />I hate transitions.<br /><br />The time came for her to meet up with the new tutor and there she was, frazzled with a dozen things in her mind. She could hardly wait to get on with it so she could move on to the next thing that needed fixing. She was anxious, yet hopeful, wanting so much to get it right this time round. It was an hour long conversation with the tutor and she was dizzy with information overload. She tried to let them all sink in but couldn't keep her mind from rehearsing that unexpected comment from the tutor. She seems like a fine tutor but that single comment bothered her.<br /><br />"........you are such a simple and innocent mother, so untouched by the stress of your children's education."<br /><br /><em>Academic success is the no.1 worry and MAJOR stress trigger of Singaporean parents due to the high standard of education here.<br /></em><br />"You are too easy-going my dear. You need to be more stressed," she said in motherly fashion. ????!!!!<br /><br />I kept my thoughts to myself and managed a half smile. I doubt <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters">Screwtape</a> would assign me to his nephew, Wormwood - not yet at least. I would be a difficult target if the tutor's assessment is anything to go by. His subordinate nephew might not be ready.<br /><br />Stress and worry is a favourite weapon the enemy uses against us, pastor said. Even if we can't help it, at least learn to be like the swan - remain calm on the surface while paddling like crazy beneath the waters. The devil, not being omnipresent, can only assess us by what we manifest on the outside.<br /><br />Unfortunately Screwtape has observed me in another environment - my home, where guards are down - and has already sent Wormwood to sift me like wheat.<br /><br />I need my armour.<br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-51006679567433434452007-01-09T12:46:00.000+08:002007-01-09T12:55:07.224+08:00An ErrorI was reading through 2006 In Focus yesterday and realised that my entry for Walk The Line in the Film Of The Year segment is missing. I must have deleted it by accident while editing. I've reinstated it, so you may go back to read it if you're interested.<br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-9645238522869775042007-01-05T17:33:00.000+08:002007-01-09T12:46:08.955+08:002006 In FocusThis is a little late in coming but as you've probably noticed I've been in hiding for a while except for Borrowed Time. But reflection is a good spiritual exercise; so here I am. I don't foresee anything much in my list for 2006 after scanning through all my entries for that year.<br /><br />As always, I will filter my journey the past year through a spiritual lens because I believe all of life is spiritual. If something has an effect on me, it is because it has first affected me in my inner most being. Generally the year started with the continuing struggle towards certain detachment, as reflected in some of my earlier post for the year. I am relieved to announce that this could well be the year where there is a real breakthrough in that area. Surprisingly I wasn't particularly ecstatic. To put it plainly, it was almost a non-event. Perhaps because the progress was so natural and gradual that I hardly took notice, which explains why I did not even blog about it. Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm could be because I was at the same time entering into a phase where I was feeling spiritually dry and far away from God; wallowing between self-doubt and unbelief, guilt and apathy (read <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/06/faithless.html">Faithless</a> and <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/03/is-there-higher-reality.html">Is There a Higher Reality?</a>). That is not to say there weren't moments of refreshment and grace and passion for the things of God, though they could be more. Last year was also the year I prayed the least and read the least from Christian authors. Was it any mystery then that I felt I was slipping away? However, as the year ends I began to feel once again a drive to reconnect myself with God and to pursue Him afresh. Maybe because endings and beginnings tend to point us of the one who is the Alpha and the Omega.<br /><br />Here is my list for the year.<br /><br /><strong>Music/Song of the Year</strong><br /><br />There weren't any that stands out particularly but there are some I should mention because they speak of my state of mind at that moment of time. Songs like, <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/02/addicted.html">Addicted</a> and <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/02/because-of-you.html">Because of You</a> spoke of my addiction and sense of loss, <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/08/homesick.html">Homesick</a> and <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/08/healing-rain.html">Healing Rain</a> of my longing and <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/07/much-of-you.html">Much of You</a> of my devotion. There was also Daniel Powter's Bad Day which I couldn't stop playing for days. Apart from these I've enjoyed most of the songs in Jason Mraz's album, <a href="http://www.jasonmraz.com/mra-z/">Mr A-Z</a> for their catchy tune and clever lyrics.<br /><br /><strong>Film of the Year</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/instoo/">I Not Stupid Too</a><br /><br />I am usually not a fan of local production but this one reduced me to tears. I don't remember crying that much since The Passion of Christ. Every Singaporean parent (myself included) will agree that this film has impacted us in the way we bond with our children and to challenge us to rethink our priorities. The setting and stories were so close to reality (though sometimes exaggerated to prove a point) in the life of a typical Singaporean family that it immediately confronts us with our apathy towards our children's cry in affluent Singapore. We see how the mad rush to acquire status and fortune at the expense of our children and our inability to accept them just as they are has hurt them and set them up for failure as adults, passing on the dysfunction from generation to generation.<br /><br /><a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/08/sophie-scholl-final-days.html">Sophie Scholl: The Final Days</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.walkthelinedvd.com/">Walk The Line</a><br /><br />I love this film not only for the story of the legendary Johnny Cash but also for the music. It contains a multitude of concert scenes, thanks in huge part to Phoenix and Witherspoon's ability to tell us so much about their respective characters by the way they sing a song. Their singing is as impressive and engaging as their acting. The film starts with young Cash whose enormous grief over his beloved brother's tragic death was further compounded by his father's cruelty. His sorrow becomes the soil for an achingly authentic artistry but tragically also for self-destructive patterns of addiction and impulsiveness. On one of his early concert tours, Johnny meets June Carter (played by Reese Witherspoon) and together they formed a successful musical partnership in a series of duets. In the course of it, they forged a strong friendship that withstood many detours and demons. Ultimately June becomes the saving grace in Cash's life. And so it was that Johnny Cash changed music forever with three or four guitar chords and a voice that people believed while June Carter changed Johnny Cash forever with faith and love.<br /><br /><strong>Book of the Year</strong><br /><br /><a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/03/night.html">Night</a> by Elie Wiesel<br /><a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/12/borrowed-time.html">Borrowed Time</a> by Paul Monette<br /><br /><strong>Event of the Year</strong><br /><strong><br /></strong>Israel-Lebanon War<br /><br />The Jewish nation has been in war for as long as anyone could remember but for some reason last year's conflict with Lebanon left me particularly disturbed and distressed. It was my first time signing any petition and I have lost track of how many I've signed for this one, painfully reading every one to make sure I am supporting the right thing. Some of my thoughts are recorded in <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8241949&postID=964523852286977504" html="">Don't Be Silent</a> and <a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2006/07/evangelical-blindness-on-l_115398998791713516.html">Evangelical Blindness On Lebanon</a> and a few others in the August 2006 archive.<br /><br /><st><rong><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">People of the Year</span><br /><strong></strong><br />Paul Monette<br /><br />Who showed by example what self-sacrificial love is, who questioned and challenged our desire to truly and lovingly understand the gay community and our acceptance of them. He exposed our ignorance and prejudice and the tragedy which they wrought. You may read more about it in my review of Borrowed Time.<br /><br /><strong>Sermon of the Year</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />This has got to be the message that pulled me out of my spiritual depression. Preached by none other than my own pastor. It came at a time when I was near the bottom of the pit and like the wind that chased away the dark clouds, it lifted me out of my darkness. To put it simply, it was a call to switch focus because what we focus on, we bless. Start giving heed to God's blessings no matter how small we think they are and see them multiply in our life. Look for the good, talk about them, and we will see more of it. Shift our focus away from our problems because what we give heed to, we bless. What we honor and bless increases, what we curse withers. Start giving attention to people that matters to us because to ignore them is to curse them. I won't be able share everything in writing because there were just too many illustrations but you get the jist of it. The <a href="https://store.josephprince.com/pc-1131-54-what-you-honour-and-bless-increases.aspx">message</a> is available at the church's <a href="https://store.josephprince.com/">online store</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Blog of the Year</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><a href="http://notsoraggedyane.typepad.com/my_socalled_expat_life/">My So-called Expat Life</a> by Not So RaggedyAne<br /><br />The light-hearted tone of this blog, not to mention all the girlie stuff and food and travel is a refreshing change to those heavy, serious stuff that I torture myself with sometimes. The author is pretty, witty and best of all, have a great sense of humor.<br /><br /><strong>Lesson of the Year</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />Do not take people too seriously because humans are fickle creatures. Have the kind of posture where you're able to laugh at yourself and others. Giving heed to people while maintaining a sense of humor could save you a lot of heartaches.<br /><br />God speaks in the most unlikely places, even through people whom we considered unworthy. The fact is, none of us are worthy. Most things take on a different light when we stop thinking of ourself, our ideas, our theology and start standing alongside each other with the mindset that we're in this journey of life together.<br /><br /><strong>Others</strong><br /><strong><br /></strong>Finally I should also announce that I have terminated my subscription to <a href="http://www.audioblog.com/">Hipcast</a>, through which I post all my audio and video blogs. This explains why all the audio buttons are no longer working. Something went wrong with the billing and I had to terminate it in order not to be overcharged.<br /><br />I've also stopped formal guitar lessons due to my increasingly tight schedule. I tried to keep up with the practice on my own for a while but towards the last quarter of the year, I hardly touched the instrument at all. I certainly hope I won't loose touch and has hope to start picking it up again.<br /><br /><br />rk</rong></st><br /><br /><a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2005/12/2005-in-focus.html">2005 In Focus</a><br /><a href="http://theragamuffinkid.blogspot.com/2005/01/2004-in-focus.html">2004 In Focus</a>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-1166203423666696302006-12-15T22:31:00.000+08:002006-12-18T11:38:50.446+08:00Borrowed Time<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3456/549/1600/538561/0380707799.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3456/549/200/679000/0380707799.01._BO2%2C204%2C203%2C200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow%2CTopRight%2C45%2C-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I never thought I'd write again anytime soon but after <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Time-Memo-Paul-Monette/dp/0380707799">Borrowed Time</a>, how could I not? As far as I am concern it is one of the most beautiful love story I've ever read, heartbreaking as it is. There isn't that many book that leaves a lasting imprint in my heart and mind to the point that it alters forever the way I perceive things. And I am writing here to say that Monette's account of the last 19, AIDS-wrecked months of his gay lover has burned out of me a deep respect for the gay community, not just any gay community but those who are faithful and committed to their partner. "Is the love between gay couples of any less value than those of their straight counterpart? Are they any less real?" my lesbian friend asked.<br /><br />The tenderness and consistency in which Monette cared for his sick lover, even in the midst of his own fear, denial and fatigue will put many of us to shame. The fevers, the IV drips, the mountains of medication, the endless trips to the hospital, the gradual loss of basic function, the roller-coaster ride of hope and despair and the hatred and ignorance they had to endure and finally the moaning....oh the moaning - "the saddest, hollowest sound I've ever heard, loud like the trumpet note of a wounded animal" as Monette puts it. Even in the midst of these, there was the poetry, plato, the gardenias, the evening walks and the simple cuddling of each other, binding them together in a place where no sorrow could touch. It is impossible not to be affected; to read and not weep. Towards the end of the book, when Al, Roger's father, walked into the hospital room grievously aware that the end is near for his son, gripped Monette by his shoulders and declared, voice breaking, "This boy took care of him like a mother", as if to thank him for the 12 long years with which he had loved his son. The father who could not look Monette in the eye for a whole year when his son first broke the news that he was gay, was at the end overwhelmed with gratitude for the love and self-sacrificial way this young man had cared for his son. I do not doubt for a moment that Roger's parents finally realize that their son was so blessed to have Paul as his best friend and lover.<br /><br />If anything, this experience - I call it an experience because you can never read it without entering and partaking in the tragedy and beauty of it - has humbled me. Now I look back with regret at some of the ways I used to think of gay relationships. We who are one the other side of the fence are often quick to draw our own conclusions on things we have little personal experience or knowledge about. Worst still, sometimes we talk as if we know it all or we dismiss the other's feelings as though it didn't matter, all because we fail to put ourselves in their shoes and for once try to understand things from their side. You can see this disease manifesting it's symptoms everywhere. Ever heard from friends who seems to know how to handle your children better than you do and made you feel so incompetent? Or your happily single friend who can't for the life of her understand what's the big deal about going to the movies alone?<br /><br />If we had laid aside our "opinions" and instead, know them for who they are and not what we want them to be, we'd find that a lot of these people are not very different from us. They long for the same sense of belonging and security that committed love brings the same way we do. There are still many things I don't understand, but one thing I can't deny is that the love between same sex partners is as equally valid and beautiful as any other monogamous relationship and they certainly deserve our respect. We don't have to figure it all out before we accept someone. Love them first and the understanding will follow. Isn't this the way in which we first know God? We came to Him by faith even as we were trying to figure out the Bible and discovered that understanding flows easier after that. Knowing a person's heart opens the doort for us to know their ways. Speaking of God, some of you may ask, "So what would Jesus think of Roger and Paul?" Well, He did say, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends." And I've just finished reading an excellent example of it.<br /><br />Monette's jarring narrative of living on borrowed time transcends one man, one gay couple or the gay community. As one reviewer said, we enter the universal arena of human loss.<br /><br />It is at it's core the purest poetry.<br /><br /><blockquote>"...we held each other as the machine answered the phone. After the beep, a voice said: "This is UCLA Medical Center calling. Mr. Roger Horwitz died at 5:42am this morning, October twenty-second." Bernice and I hugged each other briefly, without a word, and I swam back to bed for the end of the night............putting off as long as I could the desolate waking to life alone - this calamity that is all mine, that will not end till I do." - Borrowed Time<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Paul Monette is a part of the first generation to suffer from AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. His friend, Roger Horwitz, died after a long battle with the virus. Monette gave his courage, strength, and love as he helped his friend fight this battle. Borrowed Time is the story of the AIDS roller coaster. It was nominated for National Book Critic's Circle Award 1988 for best biography and Winner of the 1989 Pen West USA Literary Award For Best Nonfiction.</span><br /><br /><br />rkrkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-1160371979523204602006-10-09T13:31:00.000+08:002006-12-15T22:28:55.646+08:00How To Create CynicsThere have been a domestic situation recently. All of us in the family are still trying to adapt to it. This explains my lack of writing the past weeks. I have been busy and will still be for a while till things are more settled. Mean while I have been wanting to share this article with you but have not had the time to do it till now.<br /><br />Have you ever had times in your life when you feel defeated, confused and discouraged but could not be honest about it because you are afraid others might think less of you, your faith or your God? How often do we coat our speech with God-talk as a way of explaining (though we might not realize it) why we aren't living as victorious a Christian life as we thought we should or as we thought others expect of us? If this describes you, the following article by David Gushee is for you.<br /><br />This is an area I have struggled with and my experience with other believers confirms that it is a problem prevalent among many Christians. If you have been to a cell group where everyone seem to have "got it right" and hardly anyone is experiencing conflict in their lives, you will know what I mean. After all, didn't pastor teach us to honor God's blessing in our life by talking about them instead of honoring, thereby multiplying, the devil's work by focusing our speech on our problems all the time? The Bible teaches that as children of God, our words carry weight; life and death is in the power of our tongue. So where does honesty and transparency fit in? I am often confused by the seeming contradiction. How can I be honest about my struggles if I can't talk about them? Am I honoring the devil's work if I talk about my struggles with a few trusted friends? At first, it seems like a contradiction but upon further thought, I believe that it meant we must not shrink from admitting that life is not exactly what we hope for now but neither should we focus on it by talking about it all the time (often repeating ourselves) to everyone we meet. If we find ourselves irresistibly drawn to talk about the negatives in our life, we have got our focus wrong.<br /><br />I hope the following article sheds more light on the issue. Be blessed.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">How to Create Cynics</span></strong><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:85%;" >Everybody knows when we're covering up our confusion with God-talk.<br /><em>by David P. Gushee</em> </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Are Christians also human beings? Are we permitted to talk about our lives the way other humans do? Can we admit mistakes, confess uncertainty, and be honest about conflicts? Is it okay not to have an airtight spiritual explanation for everything that happens? </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">One of the greatest causes of cynicism among Christians is the way we lather God-talk over our lives in order to obscure realities we consider too painful to discuss directly. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Consider this example from church life (though such situations are not confined to local churches). A minister is not happy in his place of service. He wonders whether he was right in accepting this call in the first place. He has dealt with painful personality conflicts, constant power struggles, and criticism. Now he is leaving. He is leaving because he can't take it anymore. His future is most uncertain. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">But he believes that he can't say any of these things. There is an unwritten Code in the church (and not just this church) that dictates how a minister says goodbye. So he says, "God spoke to me and is leading me to a different place of service at this time. I appreciate the opportunity to be your pastor. I now must move on to wherever God leads me next." </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Everybody on the inside of the situation knows what these words really mean: "I am miserable here. I can't take it any more. At this point, I would rather be unemployed than continue to serve here. I'm not sure exactly where God is in all of this, but in any case, I know that I must move on. I sure wish you would deal with the issues that have led me to this point, but I won't tell you what those are, so I doubt that you will actually deal with them." </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">A departing pastor does a church no favor by not discussing its dysfunctions. How much better to be candid with the leadership group—perhaps bringing in a third-party consultant—in order to equip them to deal in a more health-giving way with their next pastor. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong>Seduced by Certainty</strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">There are several reasons most of us don't feel comfortable speaking directly about our confusion. One is that we want greater certainty about life and our decisions than we often feel. We want to be able to say that we are certain God has led us in such and such a direction and now is leading us in another direction. To articulate uncertainty seems to communicate lack of confidence in God. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">It might help us to remember that human beings (even Christian ones) are fallible and "see through a glass darkly." Surely there is plenty of biblical evidence of faithful people who misunderstood God's will or did not receive clear direction about every decision. Is it really impossible for us to say, "I think I misunderstood what God was leading me to do"? Or even, "I made a mistake in coming here"? </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong>Perturbed by Conflict</strong> </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">A second reason for the Code is that Christians also dislike telling the truth about conflict. The divisions that open up in our relationships and in our churches embarrass us. We think they should not occur. Perhaps we don't want to shake the faith of younger Christians by admitting that we just could not work out our differences. And so we paper over such conflicts with Code-talk about God leading us somewhere else. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">But Paul highlighted his differences with Peter about table fellowship with Gentiles (Gal. 2), and Acts frankly describes the conflict between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark (Acts 15), a conflict that caused them to go their separate ways. Why can't we likewise say that our differences in vision and personality were irreconcilable, and despite hard efforts for unity, we have been unable to achieve it? </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Better yet, why not treat organizational conflict the way C. S. Lewis taught us to think about bodily pain—as God's megaphone. If we pay attention to the pain, we can learn what God might truly be saying to a congregation. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">That kind of God-talk gives birth to discernment. But when we use God-talk to paper over the truth, we risk taking the name of God in vain. Scripture is clear that God does not appreciate it when we misuse his holy name for our purposes. Hiding behind a veneer of God-talk that everyone knows is just a way of obscuring painful realities invites cynicism about all our words about God. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">If we could admit that we are fallen and uncertain and that we don't always know how to interpret every situation, can't always resolve our conflicts, and sometimes simply choose to move in new directions, we could break the power of the Code and end the cynicism we create by misusing words about God.</span><br /><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"></span></p>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8241949.post-1157709108045040152006-09-08T17:24:00.000+08:002006-10-18T11:06:51.260+08:00Everybody Needs Jesus? Maybe Not.Everybody needs Jesus.<br /><br />If you're a Christian, you've probably heard that a hundred times over. After all, the Bible did say "God so love the WORLD that He sent His only begotten Son, so that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" and "ALL have sinned and fall short of God's standard" - implying that ALL of us are in need of salvation.<br /><br />So everybody <em>does</em> need Jesus.<br /><br />Well.....maybe <em>not</em>.<br /><br />Alarms are probably going off in your head now. But before you scream blasphemy! and hit the "next" button, allow me to clarify.<br /><br />I had a chat with a friend recently. We were just talking about food but it later led to a conversation about karma and merits. My friend holds to a Buddhist view of certain things. Currently she is on a vegetarian diet and will continue to do so for another 100 days. The main purpose of this diet plan is so she could transfer more merits to her mother who had just passed away. According to the Buddhist master at the wake, abstaining from meat of any kind helps generate merit that one can either apply to one's life or transferred to another. In the case of her mother, the more merit she receives the smoother her passage in the afterlife and the higher her chances for a better rebirth. The aim is to acquire enough merits to off-set as many bad karma as possible. At this point, I see how the strive to get out of a bad karmic cycle can open doors to God's redemptive grace.<br /><br />Our conversation went something like this.<br /><br />"What if there is someone who can transfer all the required merits to us?"<br /><br />"Hah...if there is such a person, he better not forget us."<br /><br />"Actually I do know of someone who is giving away merits. In fact, I have received mine from him."<br /><br />"Haha....good for you."<br /><br />"Oh but the offer is not just for me. It's for anyone who wants it. He has more than enough to give away."<br /><br />"Actually it can never be enough."<br /><br />"But he does have enough to cover everyone. In fact, he over-paid mine."<br /><br />"But how do you know?"<br /><br />"If I received it you mean?"<br /><br />"Yeah."<br /><br />"Well....if someone gives you a gift and you accept it.... then it's yours. You would know because you accepted it yourself."<br /><br />"Ahh... I see what you mean."<br /><br />We were cut off abruptly by a system failure as we were chatting over MSN. If we had not, I imagine our conversation would continue this way.<br /><br />"But how do you know if it's for real and what he has transferred to you is sufficient?"<br /><br />"That, unfortunately, is something you will have to believe. You have to believe that the offer is real and trust him when he says he has overpaid your debt. If you can't believe it, you won't accept it; how then can you receive it?"<br /><br />"But isn't that a risk?"<br /><br />"Of course it is.... but so does everything else. Do you think for a moment that your own ways to generate merit for yourself and your loved ones are any less risky? Doesn't it also hangs on the belief that what you do is indeed what is required and that they will be sufficient? You said it yourself that it can never be enough. So what is there to loose?" (<em>*</em>)<br /><br />I do not know what my friend thought about our conversation. If she had the slighest interest in the offer, it did not show. I do not know her reasons.<br /><br />I live in a multicultural and multireligious nation. I have friends from different worldviews - formed both by their religion and their culture. I enjoy listening to their diverse beliefs because they help me explore my own. It can be a very enriching experience. I like to ask questions that encourage us to think because I realize a lot of us (christians and myself included) don't really give much thought to what we believe. It is all done in the spirit discovery and to challenge assumptions rather than to convert minds. I respect conflicting beliefs though I might not agree with them.<br /><br />In the course of my conversations with these friends and also from my own experience in the past (my former worldview was of buddhist-taoist-asian-chinese influence), I discovered some of the reasons why Jesus might not be for everyone after all and why not everyone wants his offer of redemption. For the sake of brevity, I shall keep it within the context of karma and merits.<br /><br /><p></p><ol><li>What bad karma? LIFE COULDN'T BE ANY BETTER. </li><li>We want to achieve it (gain merits) on our own because we believe IT IS POSSIBLE and more HONORABLE. </li><li>We believe, with the merits transferred from others, coupled with our own, IT IS POSSIBLE.</li><li>We know we CAN'T, but is willing to accept the consequences if we fall short. </li><li>We know we CAN'T, but is not fully aware of the implications nor it's seriousness if we fall short.</li><li>We know we CAN'T, but do not want to "owe" God any favors. </li><li>We know we CAN'T, but thought accepting help from God is a sign of weakness or failure, though we are willing to accept it (ie. transfered merits) from man.</li><li>We think that God's offer of salvation by faith alone is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.</li><li>We believe there are OTHER BETTER WAYS.</li><li>We just DON'T CARE.</li></ol>Do you see now, why although God's offer of salvation is open to all, not everyone wants or needs it? Those who think they can redeem themselves, don't <em>need</em> a savior. Those who don't believe any of it and don't care, won't <em>want</em> a savior. To those who are willing to accept God's offer, He promissed their debt will be paid in full. Those who have not, will continue to pay for it themselves in the afterlife.<br /><br />I know this doesn't settle well with our spirit because we love our friends and family and want to see them saved. But as true deciples of Jesus, we must recognize each other's right to choose, no matter how much we think they got it wrong. God himself recognizes it. Jesus had never coerced anyone into believing. He states the facts plainly, makes his offer and lets them decide for themselves.<br /><br />rk<br /><br /><em>(*) If everything hinges on faith, how do we know which one is true? On what basis should we belief in one instead of the other? These are questions christian apologits have been trying to answer. I hope to post something with regards to this in due time. Stay tuned.</em>rkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04264037654599138159noreply@blogger.com0