The reflecting theologian

How joyful is the sinless vestal's lot The world being saved, by the world there's God Eternal sunshine of the saved soul and mind Each pray'r answered, and each wish resign'd. I changed the wordings a bit from 'Eloisa to Alebard', in reflection of my last post. Sounds perfectly fine now. I (was imagining myself) woke up one morning, not remembering anything that happened after 10/12/2006, no memories of that at all. Life seems to go on as normal though. I walked out of my room, looking around. Everything seems to be the same as before. I walked into my room, packed up my laptop and changed my clothes. I was a bit puzzled by the bible in my laptop carrier, but thought that it was just for fun, I thought I would never receive Christ and was thinking, what the hell??? It must be some self-prank after a night of drinking (is there any?)But it didn't matter, I just left the house for another supposedly normal day of school. But something was just not right. I fe...

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd; This is a segment of the poem, 'Eloisa to Alebard', by Alexander Pope. Yes, if you find the name familiar, just as I did, you are right. It's the same Alexander Pope who buried Issac Newton, as mentioned by Dan Brown in his atrociously un-historical (mis)work called the 'Da Vinci Code'. It's a beautiful segment, my fav segment of the whole poem (or rather, the only segment which I bothered to appreciate). But it's a segment which attempts to discuss a larger issue at hand. Will we be ever abe to forget what we have gone through, to obtain a 'spotless mind'? Let's say today, I wanna erase whatever memory I have after 10/12/2005, then what will I be? Obviously, the Huanyan on 29/08/2006 is not the Huanyan on 10/12/2006 (I couldn't write this sort of thing in my IVLE ...

Simply lost for words for these days. It seems that there's a sense of revival in the whole NUS ministry... or is it just me? Have been witnessing changes in others' life, and also my own one. Finally had my first offical quarter marathon... though I'm unable to complete it, due to spoilt running shoes. I was asking myself ,'God!!!! why must this happen to me???' It was at the 7.5km mark, around there. Then... I saw the milo point... and I knew why. Gulped down 5 cups of pure concentrated thick milo... maybe more than that. Maybe it was God wanting me to enjoy the milo. The rain was good, though it was unwelcomed when it first started, I was asking, 'God!!!! why must it rain?'... then it just seems as if the rain was refreshing me. Feels as if the Holy Spirit is raining down on me. Then it just dawned upon me... As we know, God normally answers prayers in three ways: yes, not yet, or wait, there's something better. Then I realise, when we pray, if God an...

One day, I woke early in the morning to watch the sunrise. Ah, the beauty of God's creation is beyond description. As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work. As I sat there, I felt the Lord's presence with me. He asked you, "Do you love me?" I answered, "Of course, God! You are my Lord and Saviour!" Then He asked, "If you were physically handicapped, would you still love me?" I was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs and the rest of my body and wondered how many things I wouldn't; be able to do the things that I took for granted. And I answered, "It would be tough Lord, but I would still love You." Then the Lord said, "If you were blind, would you still love my creation?" How could I love something without being able to see it? Then I thought of all the blind people in the world and how many of them still loved God and His creation. So I answered, "Its hard to think of it, but I would still love you....

The world, what do we think about the world? Is the world big, or is it getting smaller through globalisation? We look at the physical world around us, and some of us may find that the world is vast, there is simply not enough time for us to finish explore the world around us. But how about our individual worlds? We each have our own world, the invisible world that only the individual can see, or perceive. There is of course, an invisible world around u also, but that's another story. I have been thinking about the 'invisible world' of the individuals. But before I carry on any further, let's define this invisible world. It's actually the world which we perceive ourselves to be. It's part of the physical world we are living in. It encompasses our worldview and also our social circle, our own friends around us, the people around us. It involves our own attitude towards the physical world and the people who are living in the physical world. It's what we see, t...

This is the picture which I have been talking about in the last post. Just for all your entertainment and curiosity. Apparently people have been messaging me and telling me that I appear in the TNP... yeah...

Today seems to be a day of the big media exposure and wooha over the TNP for me. If you read the hardcopy of the Sunday TNP, 13 Aug 2006, at page 13, you will know why. I never understand how a simple photo can cause such a stir within my social circle. But today's TNP is quite funny though. It has a report on porn stars going into politics, and there is this ex-porn star Mary Carey who said, 'As you can see I'm dressed more seriously. I got brown in my hair because brunettes are taken more seriously'... it certainly sounds like a blonde joke to me. Today is also the first time I attend the annual National Day Rally at UCC. For the first time in several years, the PM did not give out any goodies to the Singaporeans. Instead he chose to discuss the issues that are at heart to the challenges that Singaporeans would face in the coming years, with the changing economic and social forces around the world. And I think the whole speech can be summarised as Singaporeans have to...

One rainy afternoon I was driving along one of the main streets of town, taking those extra precautions necessary when the roads are wet and slick. Suddenly, my daughter, Aspen, spoke up from her relaxed position in her seat. "Dad, I'm thinking of something." This announcement usually meant she had been pondering some fact for a while, and was now ready to expound all that her six-year-old mind had discovered. I was eager to hear. "What are you thinking?" I asked. "The rain!" she began, "is like sin, and the windshield wipers are like God wiping our sins away." After the chill bumps raced up my arms I was able to respond. "That's really good, Aspen." Then my curiosity broke in. How far would this little girl take this revelation? So I asked... "Do you notice how the rain keeps on coming? What does that tell you?" Aspen didn't hesitate one moment with her answer: "We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgi...

Success: I used to think that this is the way of life, to find success in life - the sole purpose of how life is all about. Of course, now, I can preach and preach about how this is not so. But I'm not so interested in doing so now. My friend just sent me an email, about the 8 ways of having a consistent flow of success and I think the following which the email mentioned really holds true: Success should not be at the center of your life. There are many more important things that you need to tend you. When you neglect or postpone what is important in your life, you will find that you are chasing success just to have more time, more energy and more money to enjoy life. It doesn’t happen that way. Set aside time to work on your career goals, business plan, life plan, etc, then continue with our life. If you're always on the look-out for success, it will rarely come. Have you heard the expression: "A watched phone never rings.”? Be patient and don't try to rush success. L...

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was ...

Today is National Day, it marks the 41st year of a founding of a nation. Note that I wrote 'nation'. One thing I always find amusing about people. They say Singapore was founded by Stamford Raffles in 1819... but Singapore was always there, Raffles did not found Singapore. Now, I can imagine some people will 0_o and say 'what??' and will probably start shooting me down for not knowing my history (I'm a historian, so if you wanna shoot down me as a historian, you better be a history professor or practising historian). But wait, I mean Singapore was always there, it was not hiding somewhere to be found, it's always at the tip of the Malayan Peinsula, get it??? Also, I find it amusing when Singaporeans wanna celebrate the 41st birthday of Singapore... It sounds as if Singapore was not around 41 years ago and due to a miracle from God, the island sprouted out from the ocean and became what we know as the Singapore island today. To me, National Day marks the day when...

I just realised something. If you guys have not realised, I have a tracker in this blog which basically track how many unique visitors are there in my blog every day and it compiles a list of datas about the visitors (other than their id) who reads my blog day in day out. When the holiday season began, my daily attendance, which used to average 20 per day, dropped to arond 5-7 per day. Now, the attendance rate rose back to the way it used to be during last sem (I added this tracker sometime before last sem started). My only conclusion is this: there are bo liao people from NUS, taking the same mod as me and who are as bo liao and bored as me, going into the ivle frequently dun know what to do and decided to click on the class roster to see who is taking the same mod as them and as the class roster reflects those who has put down their website or what, these bo liao people chose to click on the links and entered the blogs of people and began to read their blogs. This only happens during...

No, I won't deny it... Great is the Lord, Great is the Lord Make His praise loud Make it loud, make it loud I just came back from the 1st session of the FOP 2006. It was a good session of praise and worship from Christian City Church band and Don Moen and a good sharing from Pastor Ed Silvoso from Argentina. I never realise that Don Moen can be that good, considering that it's the first time I hear him leading worship. Christian City Church is also very good, I especially like their praise 'Great is the Lord', part of the lyrics which you see above. Indeed, it's so true, how can anyone who has tasted that the Lord is good denies that the Lord is great? It's precisely the power of the gospel that has ever so changed our life. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile - Romans 1:16 Indeed it's the power of the gospel, the power of God's word at work in ...

4 names you go by: Huanyan Yan Huan Ah Lee 4 things that scare you: persecutions conflicts heavy downpour when I'm going for some outdoor activity lost people 4 of your everyday essentials: God hp specs books 4 things you are wearing right now: specs shirt shorts watch 4 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment): Jay Chou Hillsong Mercy Me Paradise 4 favorite songs (at the moment): I can only imagine What would Jesus do To You The power of Your love 4 things you want in a relationship (other than real love): God-centered Serving click God-centered 4 truths: I love God I like history I like biz-related stuffs I'm obsessed in Christian apologetics 4 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex): smile eye hair Christ aura? 4 of your favorite hobbies: slacking reading chilling out with friends listening to music 4 things you want really badly: Meet God Going to NOC Sing on stage? Being a shepherd 4 places you want to go on vacation: China Silicon Valley ...

Recently just went to watch the movie, 'Lady in the water', by M. Night Shyamalan. It was quite a good show, though I dun understand why people went in with a preconception that it's a horror movie. It's actually a fantasy movie which I think has very interesting narration style. Imagine a story narrated in a story, which is actually the story itself. Sound chim but it's exactly the way the movie was being narrated. I'm not going to reveal the plot here, at least i dun wanna spoil the movie for other people who have not watched the show yet. But what I found most amusing during the 1 hr 50 min is the two very 'cute' sisters besides me on that night. I was really quite amused and entertained by them, (not in a bad way), though I think it's not that good to scream and get too excited when people wanna watch movie in peace. Recently there was an article in the newspaper about blogging. Read it while I was doing ushering at the Hope membership class. My ...

Imagine... I finally managed to upload the song 'I can only imagine' by Mercy Me into this blog. I have also changed the rolling lyrics, by courtesy of lyricsdownload.com. I'm still thinking of new ideas for this blog, but as for now, the music is what I will do from time to time. I have been reflecting, whether when I received Christ, will I automatically sense if people really have received Christ or not. I remembered reading somewhere (when I was still a spiritual infant, now I'm a spiritual toddler), that because if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, it is quite obvious that if anyone is really saved, his life will be completely changed. And I read that time that if someone does not show any changes in his life after receiving Christ, most likely he has not been saved at all. As such, there exists a mechanism by which we can know if someone really has received Christ with both his heart and mouth, ...