The reflecting theologian

I was just attending my biblical interpretation classes over the past one weeks. Learned quite a lot but that will be another story for another day. The thing I noticed over the past few days as I was reflecting on my journey is that God seems to be preparing me all these while for what I am learning currently and what I will be doing, particularly in this case, biblical interpretation. Firstly, my education in history has put me in good state to do research. Truly speaking, there are a lot in research methodology which I have never learned till I enter AGBC but my time doing history means that I am prepared to 'whack' libraries for resources for my research, and an ability to recognise pattern in how books are being placed in the libraries. This means I can gather resources in less time than other people. Secondly, history has taught me to appreciate historical context, the first question to ask in an exegetical quest. Reading up historical apologetic materials has equipp...

Recently, I have been listening to an Indonesian worship band by the name of True Worshippers. And this song particularly touched my heart a lot that I kept on listening. Given that I know a bit of broken Bahasa Indonesian, I could catch some part of the lyrics and also searched online for a proper translation: Bapa Kau setia (Father, You are faithful) Takkan meninggalkan (You never forsake) Dan kupercaya (And I trust) Engkau milikku dan kumilik-Mu (You are mine, and I am Yours) Kerinduanku (I desire to) Tinggikan nama-Mu (Lift Your Name) Kar’na kutahu (As I know) Engkau dalamku dan kudalam-Mu (that You are in me, and I'm in You) Ubah hatiku (Change my heart) Seputih hati-Mu (To be as white as Your heart) Setulus salib-Mu (As sincere as Your cross) Kasih-Mu Tuhan (Your love, God) Biar mataku (Let my eyes) Seperti mata-Mu (Be like Your eyes) Pancarkan kasih-Mu (Shine Your love) Ku mau jadi seperti-Mu (I want to be like You) This is an imperfect translation, as all translatio...

When George was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet of which, like most little boys, he was extremely fond. He went about chopping everything that came his way.  One day, as he wandered about the garden amusing himself by hacking his mother's pea sticks, he found a beautiful, young English cherry tree, of which his father was most proud. He tried the edge of his hatchet on the trunk of the tree and barked it so that it died.  Some time after this, his father discovered what had happened to his favorite tree. He came into the house in great anger, and demanded to know who the mischievous person was who had cut away the bark. Nobody could tell him anything about it.  Just then George, with his little hatchet, came into the room.  "George,'' said his father, "do you know who has killed my beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? I would not have taken five guineas for it!''  This was a hard question to answer,...

I once remember a JC classmate posting on Facebook, saying that he knew why Christianity is so popular in Singapore - because the Scripture is written in English... *facepalm... Immediately, a few people replied in the post to correct the misperception. The thing unfortunately is that today, most Christians don't even realise that the Bible is a translated text. The Bible in English we have today, depending on the translation you use, is normally translated by a group of Biblical scholars who are well-versed in the original language of the original texts. For the Old Testament, it was the Hebrew manuscripts and for the New Testament, it was the Greek manuscript. And I would suppose I need to elaborate more about the world behind and that shaped the New Testament to qualify my comments in my previous post on Galatians 4:4. Particularly zooming in, with relations to where we started off, is the point on the Greek language. One needs to take note that when Alexander the Great, thr...

A passenger to stewardess: Hallo Miss, just want to ask you ah, who and where is this Kevin Khoo ah? He seem to be a very busy man. Everyone is looking for him... Stewardess: Sorry, Kevin Khoo? Not sure what you mean sir.. Passenger: You know Kevin Khoo la.. even the Captain is always looking for him. Kevin Khoo, please be sitted for take off... Kevin Khoo, please return to your station... Kevin Khoo p..lease disarm all doors.. Kevin Khoo, please be sitted for landing.. aiyo! he's so busy la.. why you all never help him one?? Stewardess: Sir, there are 12 of us Kevin Khoos on this flight.. and it's cabin crew.. not Kevin Khoo!!

一對情侶吵架。 女：「你每一樣東西都比不上別人! 男：「對，尤其是女朋友！ --------------------------------------------------------------- 女：你喜歡我天使的臉孔，還是魔鬼的身材？ 男：我。。。我喜歡你的幽默感。 --------------------------------------------------------------- 情人節時。。。 女：親愛的。。。！我喜歡大大的玩偶！ 七夕時。。。 女：親愛的。。。！我喜歡法國香水！ 生日時。。。 女：親愛的。。。！鑽石代表永遠。。。！ 聖誕節時。。。 女：親愛的。。。！我。。。 男：等一下，寶貝。。。！有沒有什麼便宜的東西是你喜歡的啊？ 女：有啊！我最喜歡你了！！！ --------------------------------------------------------------- 男職員向女主管請假。 男職員：「經理，我想請假去向我女友求婚。」 女主管：「（鄙視）難道你沒聽過婚姻是愛情的墳墓？」 男職員想了一想。 男職員：「那麼我請喪假。」 ----------------- ---------------------------------------------- 一天有一對非常要好的朋友一起喝酒。 A突然對B說：「哎。。。你老婆不是不讓你喝酒嗎？怎麼。」 B答：「我在家就像是奔馳在沙漠中的老虎。我會怕她！哈哈。」 不久他老婆從外買菜回來！ B突然大叫：「快。。。武松回來了！幫我把桌子收拾一下！」 --------------------------------------------------------------- 阿山在金門當兵時，慘遭兵變，女朋友要和別人結婚了， 希望阿山能將她的照片寄還給她。 阿山悲痛之際，向戰友們借了二、三十張女孩子的照片， 連同女友的照片一起裝進紙盒裡，寄給移情別戀的女友。 他在信上如此寫著：請挑出自己的照片，其餘的再寄還給我。 --------------------------------------------------------------- 小明：「妹...