The reflecting theologian

Carl Sagan, in his novel 'Contact', made the suggestion that amidst the statics that are present in the universe, one could infer that there is intelligence involved. Watch the movie and you know what he meant by that. The implication is that as long the thing is not randomness, that suggests signs of intelligence. Now the picture below is a picture of the rose window in York Minister. You know it is not there by random. Now the thing you see below is a cross section of a DNA. If macro-evolution theory is true, this ought to look random too. I always wondered what's the big deal about a cross section of the DNA looking like the Rose Window... until I saw this. This is information, no randomness. Such is the beauty of God's creation.

It's been quiet for a while. Mainly because I am still thinking about the few planned postings which I will be writing. The first that will need to be due is a new post on faith and reason, opening up the can again to pen down my latest thoughts and findings from my studies. The second post will be the final post on Apologetic Methodology, which ties in closely with the post on faith and reason. There are other posts which I will be writing. Just to give you all a heads up.

If you want to write well, avoid these analogies, actually written by high-school students: "Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze." "He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree." "McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup." "The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't." "John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met." And my fave: "Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at 35 mph." —"Strange World," Campus Life, Vol. 56, no. 9.

D.L Moody told an interesting testimony in his book: Men of the Bible and I think it's worth retelling here. There was a great celebration at the opening of a saloon and billiard hall in Chicago, near where Moody lived. As a joke, the organisers sent Moody an invitation to go to the opening. He took the invitation and went down and saw the two men who had the saloon and asked them: 'Is that a genuine invitation?' They said it was. 'Thank you,' he said, 'I will be around; if there is anything here I don't like I may have something to say about it.' They said, 'You are not going to preach?' 'I may.' 'We don't want you. You won't want you in.' 'How are you going to keep me out?' he asked; 'there is the invitation.' 'We will put a policeman at the door.' 'What is the policeman going to do with the invitation?' 'We won't let you in.' 'Well, I will be there....

I wonder what Joseph would have felt when he dreamed those dreams, to be able to see God's vision and purpose for him in his dreams. It represents a vision, an end-goal and Joseph was to screw these all up in the beginning by proclaiming his dreams tactlessly in front of his family members. But would he be better off if he had not had the dreams? Nay. Remember what he said to his brothers: And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. - Genesis 45:5-7 Maybe badly executed but certainly fall within God's vision for him. I mention this because I was thinking that we ought to have a dream. We got to resonate with Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous p...

The following list of phrases and their definitions might help you understand the fuzzy language of science and medicine. These special phrases are also applicable to anyone reading a PhD dissertation or academic paper. "IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN"... I didn’t look up the original reference. "A DEFINITE TREND IS EVIDENT"... These data are practically meaningless. "WHILE IT HAS NOT BEEN POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE DEFINITE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS"... An unsuccessful experiment but I still hope to get it published. "THREE OF THE SAMPLES WERE CHOSEN FOR DETAILED STUDY"... The other results didn’t make any sense. "TYPICAL RESULTS ARE SHOWN"... This is the prettiest graph. "THESE RESULTS WILL BE IN A SUBSEQUENT REPORT"... I might get around to this sometime, if pushed/funded. "IN MY EXPERIENCE"... Once. "IN CASE AFTER CASE"... Twice. "IN A SERIES OF CASES"... Thrice. "IT IS BELIE...

Things You Don’t Want to Hear During Surgery:   - Oops!   - Has anyone seen my watch?   - That was some party last night I can’t remember when I’ve been that drunk.   - Damn! Page 47 of the manual is missing! - OK, now take a picture from this angle. This is truly a freak of nature.   - Better save that. We’ll need it for the autopsy.   - Come back with that! Bad Dog!   - Wait a minute, if this is his spleen, then what’s that?   - Hand me that...uh...that uh.....thingie   - If I can just remember how they did this on ER last week.   - Hey, has anyone ever survived 500ml of this stuff before?   - Damn, there go the lights again...   - Ya know, there’s big money in kidneys. Hell, the guy’s got two of ’em.   - Everybody stand back! I lost my contact lens!   - Could you stop that thing from beating; it’s throwing my concentration off.   - I wish I hadn’t forgotten my glasses.   - Well folks, th...

A few years back, I remember bringing my cg and treating them to watch the movie, 'The Bucket List' and subsequently posted some of my thoughts here . I have since not treated my subsequent cgs (or LG now) to any movies. Think it will remain that way but my current LG has gotten better treats. This movie was screened in last year's ID2010 conference and we were asked to watch the movie from the perspective of a disciple and a disciplemaker. In some sense this post seeks to complete, after so many years, the post that I have not been able to articulate well then. In other sense, it is inspired by a series of messages that I heard online about unresolved conflicts in the family. It triggered me to look back at this movie again because I was reminded of Jack Nicholson's character in the movie, who had an estranged relationship with his daughter, only to find themselves reconciled towards the end of the movie. That was one of the most touching part of the story, together ...

I received an interesting unrelated comment from the previous post: I would like to invite you to read a special gift from the wilderness of cyberspace Rev 12:6... Not one child of God will be put in a hell fire no matter what their sins. It never entered the heart or mind of God to ever do such a thing Jer 7:31, Jer 19:5 and I prove it by the word of God at   http://minigoodtale.wordpress. com . The true Gospel (Gospel means Good Tale) now delivered Rev 12:5, 13 sets us free to love. Before you judge this gather all the evidence first Pro 18:13.   Interested enough, I decided to go into the website to see what this person is talking about...  She has a rather interesting outlook on her faith, thinking that she is the prophet that Moses had talked about. I do not know where this comes from but apparently, in her posts, she quoted a lot... and I mean a lot of bible verses to substantiate her points. I didn't really read through the posts, cos she just quotes and quotes......

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html http://www.apple.com/icloud/what-is.html http://www.apple.com/macosx/how-to-buy/ I seriously think Apple is trying to put its competitors out of business by earning money from those who could have used these services for free with Google... just kidding. But the concept of iCloud and the iOS5 is really something that will go well with Apple users. iCloud means that Apple users are able to tap into the benefit of cloud computing with their Apple device, something which previously only possible with apps such as dropbox and platform such as Google. For iOS5, the iMessenging feature is surely going to put Whatsapp out of business... cos new iPhone users will definitely going to stop buying Whatsapp if this feature comes along with their new iPhone or even better... iPad. This gives me a good reason to get my iPad...

Read a report in Insing.com on demanding boss in Singapore . Apparently, Singapore has the most demanding bosses in the world, with 96% of them expecting their staff to be reached during out-of-office and vacation leaves. We are only topped by Hongkong: 97%. I felt a pinch of truth in the report. Thinking about it, how often do we find ourselves knocking off on time, and even if that is possible, how many of us find ourselves doing work at home? I see this in my bosses, though I am quite fortunate not to be activated unless absolutely necessary. But the thought that people can't knock off on time and can't take a mental break from work outside of office just irked me a lot. How much competitive and productive can we get if we find ourselves working beyond what's necessary? Such is the peril of emails and mobile devices nowadays.

Are you the person whom the person you are looking for is looking for? Just thought that my previous post missed out some caveats that I should fill in. I have met several people who questioned me last time when can we tell that we are ready for relationship? Does it mean that we need to be financially stable before we are ready? Does it mean that we need to have a stable career first? I have not really been able to answer these questions but now I shall give it a try. I think I will start off from the premise that our present, which will be our past, will come back to haunt us in the future. That means that our history and track records matter a lot. I figure that most of our preparation work to be the right person will most of the time deal with our past baggages. This brings to me a new look into the verse that says 'Do not conform any longer to the patterns of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind'. Most of us, unless we grow up in a monastery, grow ...

Sometime back, I posted my understanding of a godly BGR here . In it, I expounded on Issac and Rebekah and argued for certain principles from the bible that are useful for us to follow, in order to honor God in a relationship between man and woman. Of course, part of the principles looked at the criteria that one should watch out for in a life partner. What I have never made clear enough is the fact that while we look out for these criteria, we need to bear in mind that we will be judged by the same criteria as well.  You see, I think I agree with the point that seldom does it state in the bible that God has the perfect one or the right one for us. Garry Friesman, in his book on Decision Making and the Will of God, argued that if God, in His sovereignty, has such an idea in mind, then probably most of us are destroying God's sovereign plan, as it just takes one person to marry the wrong person to set a whole series of mistake in chain. Then, we need to ask ourselves, is this reall...

I was meditating on the issue of Holy Spirit Baptism yesterday, thinking about the debate of the signs of Holy Spirit Baptism. By definition, Holy Spirit Baptism is a given in Christianity. Any Christians worth his salt and who have studied the bible will know that as Christians, we are promised the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You can check out the verses in Bible Gateway by searching for the exact keywords. What is really in dispute is the question whether tongues is a compulsory sign of Holy Spirit baptism.  I am not here to answer the question, but I want to point out some inconsistencies in 'conservative Christians' in their biblical interpretation. Opponents of tongues have always quote Paul from 1 Corinthians when he asked 'Do all speak in tongues' while proponents will counter-argue that Paul is speaking from the perspective of tongues as a gift, not as a sign of the Holy Spirit Baptism. Sadly, I have read more scholarly and more thorough studies for the former ...