Thursday, April 28, 2005

HOT weather

The weather is totally not cooperative. I can't work, can't think, can't sleep, can't eat in this scorching temperatures.
Which is a very telling sign that, I haven't been productive. This is terrible.
Seriously can't wait for the exams to be over. To begin with, this has seriously been an exam marathon. Bet many of you know I had exams since a LONG time ago. Stamina just seems to go poof. urgh.
It just seems like I am wasting my time away. Feel like doing anything and everything except studying. gosh. What's happening to the self control?
Heh. yesterday, i drank 3 cups of milo consecutively. Cold ones. And i used to hate milo. This must the adverse effects of the heat. Plus my milos are the DINO milo-s. You know... milo topped up with 2 tablespoons of milo powder on the top. MAN. I didn't look at the calorie content of milo poweder. I sure hope it's not a lot.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Back

The weather is SOOO hot. Can't believe it. It's worst in Malaysia though. Yeps. back from the north. It was quite a different trip this time. To start off, my grand-uncle passed away. So we were back for the Buddist funeral. Which, is something I haven't attended for a pretty long time. I just sat there watching everything that happened. How the house transformed from a cosy, warm, happy place, to an eerie yellow curtained, flower wreath filled, big black-and-white photo sitting right in front of the door, 2 large lanterns with his surname and his age.
With my aunties, uncles, cousins, taking turns to chant, kneel, pray, singing this "tuneful" chant thing along with the nuns.
Religion doesn't seem like a real difference until you see these things in action I suppose. The peace that we have when someone passes away, because we know they have salvation, and is with God, doesn't seem evident here.
The number of times you chant, the way you chant, the things you do to help them leave the earth, makes a difference to the deceased. (according to the Buddist of course). The number of times you bow, or kneel, or the number of days you turn vegetarian. Just sets me to wondering why it doesn't just depend on the deceased faith, instead of all these rituals of the present.
And I was there listening and asking why these were done. Eerie stories galore! The deceased is supposed to return twice to the house, once which can be counted by some monk and another which can't be... food offerings... and chants... burning of joss sticks and all. Hmm...
I just thank God that for us, Christians, we know that we have salvation. It doesn't depend on the number of children you have to walk you out, or the number of sons you have, or the filial piety demonstrated through chants, or the time of the day which is counted as auspicious to be buried.
Going back is always about eating. (heh) and about shopping. Sleeping in and making yourself feel like a pig. That usually is a form of luxury if you ask me. But going in the midst of your studying week. Man. That's where the trouble really starts. The engine just switched itself off on Thursday evening after my paper. And it hasn't been turned on. It has this high inertia state. Reluctance to be ignited. Everything about eating, slacking, is still in my head. Self discipline had better start. SOON.

Monday, April 11, 2005

I Do Not Know Which Way They Went

Does God approve of dubious actions to accomplish his will in certain perilous situations? Can strong faith go hand in hand with the employment of methods which are alien to the integrity of God's character and word? Are Rahab's treason and lying in any way justifiable, perhaps as a 'white lie'?

Her lie cannot be so easily dismissed. She said, " I don't know which way they went." That was palpably false. Romans 3:8 warns us not to say, " Let us do evil that good may result." Neither should we argue, especially from a descriptive or a narrative passage, that a text validates deceit under certain conditions.

The so-called dutiful lie dismisses how precious the truth is in God's sight. Even lies told for every good purposes are not free form divine disapproval. Rahab's untruth allowed the 2 spies to escape harm, this does not therefore justify such a method. God is not reduced to unholy acts to fulfill is will. At most, God allowed his purposes to be fulfilled in this most unusual manner, because his grace can operate in spite of the sinful aneuverings of men and women. Untruth cannot be vindicated simply because it is closely tied to the total result.

We cannot say that protecting innocent lives is a greater good than the demand always to tell the truth. Scripture nowhere advocates or allows for such hierarchy. To do so would pit part of God's nature against other parts of his nature. TO say that lying is a lesser evil than being involuntarily implicated in murder is again an artificial and subjective construct. We need to follow all of God's Word and that Word involves respect for both life and truth, as difficult as that is in a world that oftne pits one moral absolute against another.

On the other hand, we may not surrender innocent lives just because an army or police force (such as Hitler's Thrid Reich) demands it. Rehab should have hidden the spies well and then refused to answer the question whether she was hiding them. She could, for instance, have volunteered, " Come in and have a look around," while simultaneously praying that God would make the serchers especially obtuse.

It is possible to maintain a posiotion of nonconflicting absolutes. God will provide a way to avoid conflicts (1 Cor 10:13)

~ Walter C. Kaiser, Jr~

Saturday, April 02, 2005

An influence

Your comfort zones in life, may end up affecting someone else's life.