Resources

Just in case anyone wants to study the Bible a little more.. Or if anyone is stuck at what a particular passage means.. Here is a very handy program which will definitely help ;)

http://www.e-sword.net/

Yup, the software incidentally have the same name as our youth group ;)

This program on its own doesn't do much, rather what it does is that it allows you to access different versions of the Bible, Commentaries about the Bible, and Dictionary on the words used in the Bible.

For instance, you can do a parallel study on a particular verse in ESV, MKJV, KJV, CEV, and even the Chinese version of the Bible. By doing so, you would get different shades of meaning from all the translators - and probably get a clearer idea of what the verse is trying to say. (Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic are different from English, some words have shades of meaning which are absent in a single English word used in one translation).

Alternatively, you can even look up the original word from which the passage is translated from. They will give the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic word. And you can check up the meaning of the word in the handy Greek - English dictionary or Hebrew - English dictionary.

Of course, you can just check up the commentaries which are available. They explain the verses in various ways. Of course, that is no substitute for your own study and what it means to you, but the commentaries make available to you the result of years of study by other people. Who studied other people. And so on. Matthew Henry's Commentary of the whole Bible is a particularly comprehensive study. Gill is more concise though. It depends on how much you want to study, and how much time you have.

There are only 2 issues I have with these. Firstly, it does not have NIV which although Isaiah says is not a good translation, is the one that most of us use. Secondly, obviously I had not read through all of the tens of commentaries there, so I can't tell if all of them are Orthodox, so those using it must still have discretion. And of course, do your own study before referring to these tools.

Still, its useful ;)

Oh yes, and its free ;)

Understand

I don't understand, says people..

Now, when it comes to concepts, that can be understood.

But strangely, that is sometimes said for examples too. But you can't really "understand" an example. An example is meant to be an illustration for something. At least, that is what I understand and what I would mean by an illustration. If it is meant to be a literal illustration, then what you can "not understand" is its application or relevance to the concept at hand. Either that, or the description of the example is not clear enough so that you couldn't get an idea of the picture. But you won't be able to "not get" the example itself, that is just a story, which cannot be judged to be true or false. It is (exists). Of course, the concepts can be judged to be true or false, but not the story itself.

Of course, if it is a metaphorical example, then there can be an additional problem of whether it is a good metaphor.. But that is again, something different from understanding the example.

Get away

I seem to be getting away with unsubstantiated things =p

Enlightenment

During the Enlightenment (A period of time, not to be confused with the Eastern Religious idea of being Enlightened =p), people tried to build up everything from a single Truth which they know Must be true. The idea was, if there was any One thing that you can absolutely know, then you can know other things from that and everything else you know, you will know to be absolutely true.

So the search began. And it ended on 3 words: Corgito Ego Sums

I think, Therefore I am.

Here, "I am" means that I exist. In other words, the one thing that they found that they will definitely know is that they exist. I mean, no matter what else you are (say, a brain in a vat, or a computer program - anyone remember the Matrix?), you would have to exist in order to think right? And you are thinking, right? So you must exist.

Corgito Egro Sums

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But there is an assumption that everyone had to make before coming to this conclusion. And that is that there is something called Logic. It is by Logic that you can reason that unless you exist, you cannot think. And this Logic must be Absolute. It is not a convention, it is not from observation (I mean, no one observes logic); yet it is obeyed.

Where did Logic come from?

What is Logic?

Why should we trust it?

The last question is perhaps the most problematic of all.. Why should we trust Logic?

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In the Beginning was Logos (the Word)...

Empty

Grieving people shake their fists at God. So do people with compassion. Injustice stirs up something within us, telling us that all is not right. For some, God died with the angelic Jewish boy hanging in a Nazi death camp. There is no God...

What if they were right?

What if there was no God? What if all these suffering was for naught? The the serial murderer never found would never see the face of Justice? That there was ultimately no reason for those unfortunate enough to be in the path of a drunken driver? Ashes we came from, and ashes we return.

I am, said the Man, to the Universe
Yes, but that had not raised in me
Compassion

Those who are living can probably make meaning out of tragedy. So could those who suffered and lived on. But what can the dead do about it? And for that matter, isn't it even worse if the live was lived full of meaning, and ended in a flood, in a wave of meaninglessness.

Shivers.

Days

Without God.. Mournday, Tearsday, Wateday, Thirstday, Fightday, Shatterday, Sinday

=p

Emergent

Everyone knows that oaks grow from seeds. Emergent isn't it? Just like evolution. Order ascending from disorder. The idea of growth. Progress. Machines become more and more complex. Simple to complicated.

But there is a reverse side of this. Oaks grow from seeds, but the seed itself comes from something far more complex than itself, the oak tree itself. There is a pattern of descend before the ascend can take place. Machines become more complex, but the machine itself comes from something far greater, the human who made it. And life is formed from simple components, singles cells; but its order comes from a creator far greater than nature itself.

The pattern of descend and ascend is found everywhere in nature.. Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains a seed.

Guess what? This pattern is found in nature because it is first found in the creator. From His greatness, in glory and majesty, He descended to the level of the natural, then to a babe.. He then descended even further to the tomb, almost disappearing. Just like the seed which fell from the oak, then died in the ground. But He burst forth once again, ascending, bringing along the whole of humanity with Him. And He was given the name above every name.

Such beauty.

Chicken and Egg

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Sometime ago, someone commented that a certain issue was like the chicken and egg issue. Like, which came first?

Which started me thinking. Was it really like the chicken and egg issue?

Say you are answering the question from a creationist perspective. Your answer is quite direct, that the chicken came first. Cause God created the animals. And thats about it. There is not much issue about it.

If not creationist, lets say you are answering from a naturalist / intelligent design / evolutionist / materialist / evolutionist point of view. According to this view, the chicken emerged from the reptiles (I think) or some other animal. In that case, isn't the only proper answer to the question be another: What is a chicken?

If one gradually changes to another, then how would you know when the animal stops being a reptile and starts being a chicken? And if you do not know what a chicken is, then how would you know whether it starts being a chicken from its genes or from its genes mutation (that is, from the time it is an egg or from a time in its life)

So, what is a chicken?

Idealist

And Proud of it :)

Courage

Courage little one, said I

Yes, the mirror replied, but for you, not me.

Descend

Those who are low cannot descend much. Those who are high can descend more. Those who are higher can descend even lower than those who are high. Only the Most High could descend to the lowest position...

Stand

Take up the full armor.. and having done everything, to stand... (Eph 6)

The last thing to be done, is to stand. In the end, thats all that is required. At the very last, when He returns, or calls us home, this is the most important. Tell me, what can be scarier than the idea that after you had done everything, when all your ministry, all your service is accounted for, you find yourself disqualified? Perhaps this is why Paul's life ambition (fight the good fight, run the race, and keep the faith) contains "keep the faith" in it. Fighting the good fight and running the race is USELESS if one does not keep the faith..

Agnostism

Many people think that there is a guy upstairs. I have a friend who would go so far as to say that there is almost definitely a guy upstairs. For instance, the wonderfully balanced universe makes some wonder how it came about - unless it were created. Also, the experience of humanity itself, in Nature, in the Sunset... to some it may be like a call that there IS more than this...

Yet, many remain agnostics.

Perhaps it is because God's children had not exactly been behaving in a way that befits one of that status. Yet, I would suppose many of them can actually see that how the children behave is perhaps not exactly the best way to see which is the true God. How many earthly parents had their heart broken because of their children? How much more God's children?

Some just do not want anything to do with Him. A mindless Pantheistic God would be better, but even if it happened to be a Person, a Being, they do not want anything to do with Him...

Yet, it is the Father who calls out to them. He calls them to come to Him. For He desires to Love the World. He Loves the World. And He is not willing (does not want) any to perish, any to turn away from Him

For in reality, that is the state of all who had not turned to Him. Their back faces God. Perhaps deliberately, perhaps by default, but all have their back turned towards Him...

Come to the Father, though your gift is small...