Zh'ng My Car

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).

Today, I set out from my house at 6:45 a.m. My car refused to start. I dunno why. I’ve already sent it to the mechanic for the umpteenth time. It has an undiagnosed disease. Sometimes, it can start. Sometimes, it cannot start. The problem is, whenever I send it to the mechanic, it can start (but of course what. If the car cannot start, how can I get the car to the mechanic in the first place?) I’ll need a live-in mechanic to figure it out.

Great. Now, I cannot go to school. What would Jesus do?

Love: I lovingly picked up my handphone, lovingly called my father, and lovingly asked him to tell the school that I won’t be coming. Even if I come, I will be late.

Joy: I can hear other people’s cars around me, joyfully coming alive at the first try. I sit in my car with joy. I have a valid excuse not to go to work. The other fellows have to go to work. Poor fellows.

Peace: I walked back to my house, took off my shoes, read old newspapers, and watched tv. Peace.

Longsuffering: I wish I can get a new Myvi… Like, tomorrow. But, I may not be in Penang permanently. I don’t have a steady paycheck yet to foot the installments. I cannot find anyone to buy this car from me. So, what to do? Longsuffering.

Kindness: I saw a Hot Wheels Grand Prix toy car on the dashboard. I kindly ripped the wrapping open, and played with it. It’s a red racecar. A token of kindness from my father’s car.

Goodness: I remembered the email I read some time ago, about how some people’s lives were saved because some unforeseen circumstance happened to them, and they turned up late at the World Trade Center, and their lives were spared from the terrorist attack. My goodness.

Faithfulness: I still have faith that somebody, someday will buy my car. Faithfulness.

Gentleness: I gently popped the hood to check the air filter, gently opened the air filter’s cover, gently put the cover back, and gently closed back the hood. Gentleness.

Self-control: I said the word that I learnt from Adam Sandler’s Anger Management. “Goosefraba.” I sang the song I learnt from the same movie. “I feel pretty… Oh so pretty…”

Against such there is no law: I arrived at school at 8:10 a.m. No law.

Actually I very geram la... Sigh...









My Ford Laser. Besssst…

Have You Heard Of Wawasan Open University College?

Mei Yee finally got a job! She is now a Communications Officer (cool name) for Wawasan Open University College, Penang. Where is that? What is that? Haaa… That’s where she comes in. Her job is to make it known to you, and to the ends of the earth.

I’m so excited and happy for her! I asked her, “Are you gonna blog about it? If you don’t then I will!” She probably won’t be as quick-fingered as I am. And since my blog has a bigger readership than hers (ranging from acquaintances to former students to friends to friends’ mums), I’m gonna steal her thunder and just do it :)

I feel so glad for her, as if I got the job myself! Maybe it’s because I’ve been with her throughout her job-hunt journey. I’ve been to every interview with her (except for the TV3 one) from Penang to Ipoh to KL and back. I dunno what kind of things people will think I am, following her around everywhere she goes, and hanging around until she’s done. So many people did double takes on me as I waited for her interviews. I can be so easily passed off as a convict who just escaped from jail, who kidnapped her and is now holding her hostage, but letting her go out once in a while to do her thing, as long as I get my ransom sooner or later. Or a possessive, obsessive, paranoid boyfriend who wants to keep her on a leash wherever she goes, whatever she does, and whoever she is with. Or a retarded cousin :)

I’m so proud of her! She finally found a job that she likes (mass comm line), in which she has a talent for (involving media skills, events management, writing, etc), in a learning institution (a field that I highly approve of), that functions as a non-profit institution (a cause that she believes in), that pays well (RM1750), for a steady Monday – Friday (she’ll still have her weekends to go back to Ipoh), 9-5 job (she will still have a life), in Penang (the best place to be)! There, I said it all in once sentence. Mei Yee always says that I can be a very good copywriter.

Plus, she gets to stay with her university friend (Siao Ping) at her apartment, she gets to drive one of the old cars from my father’s collection (transportation taken care of), traveling to her workplace takes only 15 minutes (along the Jelutong Expressway), her friends work nearby (Kimberley Chong and Jonathan Chen), working in Penang has a lower cost of living and a better, safer, cleaner environment (compared to KL), she gets to do something related to her field (how many people get a job of their choice nowadays), without virtually losing your life in it (like in full-fledged production houses), while working towards an honorable cause in mind (providing educational opportunities to underprivileged people), which will keep her from losing a sense of purpose in what she does everyday (unlike typical production houses, who are only out to churn money all day).

Furthermore, she has a superior that likes her (her resume was personally hand-picked by her superior among 200 others), her job gives her opportunities to further enrich her skills either on-the-job or during her free time (such as freelancing for Ian “Captain” Barbosa if she gets projects thrown her way), this will help equip her towards the direction of her long term goal (to take Masters in Mass Communication), so she can continually deepen her skills in learning something that she has a passion for (through real-life experience, or academic paper chase), and open up possibilities for different job opportunities in the future (such as making a career change to lecturing, perhaps).

Taking all those factors into consideration, coupled the splendid timing of the company that just employed her (Wawasan Open University College is just about to venture into a new, exciting phase this month), I can only think of one word to sum it all up: Perfect.

God be praised for the way that things are falling in place for her! Indeed, God is gracious and good! This is not something you call coincidence. It is providence.

She starts on Monday. A new Communications Officer is in the house!

“So, what is Mei Yee doing now?”

“Oh, she’s got a job already. She is now the Communications Officer for Wawasan Open University College.”

“Wow, that’s great! Where is that? What is that?”

"Haaa… That’s where she comes in. Her job is to make it known to you, and to the ends of the earth…”

Online Poll

I don't get it. What's so buruk / wat tatt / ugly with this picture?







Is it:

A) The bald head?
B) The glasses?
C) The pouch bag?
D) The parking attendant / reload card vendor / VCD seller / youth worker look?
E) The shorts?
F) The hairy legs exposed by the shorts?
G) The oversized slippers?
H) The V-shaped feet?
I) His shrunken skinny-ness?
J) All of the above.

The Authority Of Scripture

The things I learned in Systematic Theology Chapter 4 - The Four Characteristics of Scripture: (1) Authority.

The authority of Scripture means that all words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to believe or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

A) All words in Scripture are God’s words.

1) The Bible claims for itself to be God’s words.

a) The Old Testament text frequently begins with “Thus says the Lord…”
b) Not every word in Scripture was audibly spoken by God Himself. But the quotations of other people are God’s reports of what they said, and rightly interpreted in their context, come to us with God’s authority.
c) The New Testament affirms that all of the Old Testament writings are God’s words (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).
d) The New Testament writings are put on the same level with Old Testament writings as “scripture” (2 Peter 3:16, 1 Timothy 5:18). Thus, once we establish that the New Testament writings belong to the special category called “scripture”, then we can correctly affirm the New Testament writings as part of the canon of Scripture (hence as God’s own words as well).

2) We are convinced that the Bible is truly God’s word as we read it ourselves.

a) Our ultimate conviction that the words of the Bible are God’s words comes only when the Holy Spirit speaks in and through the words of the Bible to our hearts and gives us an inner assurance that these are the words of our Creator speaking to us.
b) Although other evidence (e.g. historical accuracy, internal consistency, fulfilled prophecies, etc) is useful to help support the claim that the Bible is God’s words, the persuasion and convincingness of such evidence is nothing compared to “the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.” It is incomparably the work of the Holy Spirit, through Whom “our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority (of the Bible)” comes (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1643-46).

3) The words of Scripture are self-attesting.

a) Scripture cannot be “proved” to be God’s words by appeal to any higher authority, because it is already the highest authority in itself.
b) If we ultimately appeal to human reason, logic, historical accuracy, or scientific truth as the authority to prove Scripture to be God’s words, then we have assumed that those things that we appealed have a higher authority than God’s words itself, and that those things are more true or more reliable than Scripture.

4) The self-attestation of Scripture is not a typical circular argument.

a) E.g. We believe that Scripture is God’s Word because it claims to be that. And we believe its claims because Scripture is God’s Word. And we believe that it is God’s Word because it claims to be that. Etc, etc…
b) Even though this is admittedly a kind of circular argument, it does not make its use invalid. Because all arguments for an absolute authority must ultimately appeal to itself for proof. Otherwise, that authority would not be an absolute or highest authority.
c) Everyone either implicitly or explicitly uses some kind of circular argument when defending his own ultimate authority for belief anyway.
d) E.g. Logical consistency is my ultimate authority because it is logical to make it so. And it is logical to make it so because logical consistency is my ultimate authority. And logical consistency is my ultimate authority because it is logical to make it so. Etc, etc…
e) The argument for the Bible as God’s Word is more like a spiral instead of a circular argument, because the increasing knowledge of Scripture and increasingly correct understanding of God and creation tend to supplement one another in a harmonious way, each tending to confirm the accuracy of the other.

5) Dictation from God is not the sole means of communication from God.

a) Sometimes, direct dictation is a means of communication from God as it becomes written as God’s word (e.g. John on Patmos Island, Isaiah). At other times, at the other end of the extreme, God’s words can come via ordinary historical research (e.g. Luke).
b) God’s providential oversight and direction of the life of each author was such that their personalities, their backgrounds and training, their abilities to evaluate events in the world around them, their access to historical data, their judgment with regard to the accuracy of the information, and their individual circumstances when they wrote, were all exactly what God wanted them to be, so that when they actually came to the point of putting pen to paper, the words were fully their own words but also fully the words that God wanted them to write – words that God would also claim as His own.

B) With all this in mind, therefore it is reasonable to conclude that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God Himself.

C) The truthfulness of Scripture.

1) God cannot lie or speak falsely (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Therefore…
2) All the words in Scripture are completely true and without error in any part (Proverbs 30:5, Psalms 119:89, Numbers 23:19). Therefore…
3) God’s words are the ultimate standard of truth (John 17:17). Therefore…
4) It is impossible for any new fact to ever contradict the Bible. Therefore, whenever we are confronted with some “fact” that is said to contradict Scripture, we must not only examine the data that claims to demonstrate the fact in question; we must also reexamine the appropriate biblical texts to see if the Bible really teaches what we thought it to teach (e.g. the passage of the sun around the earth, the age of the earth).

D) We confidently conclude that the written Scripture is our final authority.

Questions That Need Answering

There are some questions in my mind. Questions that need some answers. Questions pertaining to life...

Regarding pasar malams:

1) About ESP. How come the all the cars know when to evacuate the pasar malam area, when there is a pasar malam? Who tells them to move their cars? Is it a common understanding? How do they know?

2) About trouble shoot. How come nobody absent-mindedly parks his car there, when there is a pasar malam? What if someone actually does that? How do they solve the problem?

3) About geography. How come the pasar malam stalls know exactly where to pitch their stalls? How do they know the exact spot to do it? If one stall misses its mark by just 1 foot, cumulatively, in a long line of stalls, the poor fellows at the end of the line will not have a place to pitch their stalls. How come that never happens? If it happens, how do they deal with the situation?

4) About legality. Do pasar malam stalls have permits? If I decide one day to open a stall to sell nasi lemak at a pasar malam, can I just go ahead and do that? How do I negotiate which spot I can take to pitch my stall? Who do I talk to? Who holds the authority in pasar malam administration?

Regarding camera batteries:

1) About diagnosis. How come only one side of my battery charger’s indicator lights up, while the other indicator doesn’t? Is it because the indicator is not working, but the battery is still charging? Or is it because the battery is not charging at all?

2) About side effects. If only one of the batteries is charging and the other one isn’t (because of my assumedly faulty charger), when I put both batteries into my camera, will my batteries leak when I use them? Does using 2 batteries that are not equally charged at the same time cause detrimental effects to my camera or batteries?

3) About anomalous behaviour. How come the charger’s indicators never go off, no matter how long I charge the batteries? Aren’t the indicator lights supposed to go off once the batteries are fully charged? How come my charger’s lights never goes off, no matter how long I charge the batteries?

4) About comparative pricing. How come Energizer’s rechargeable AA, Ni-MH, 2000mAh batteries are so much cheaper than the rechargeable AA, Ni-MH, 2000mAh batteries sold in camera stores? The Energizer batteries (with charger) sold at Watsons cost only RM60. But the brands at camera stores (e.g. GP batteries) cost more than double the price. Why is that so?

5) About definition. What does mAh mean?

6) About quality control. Which kind of battery is better? The cheaper Energizer ones sold in convenience stores, or the more expensive ones in camera stores?

Why am I asking such questions? Or am I just thinking too much? Am I normal?

Life’s questions that need answering…

New Testament Canon

The writing of Scripture primarily occurs in connection with God’s great acts in redemptive history. The Old Testament canon closed with an expectation of the Messiah to come (Malachi). Therefore, it is not surprising that the writing of Scripture resumed only after the Messiah came (Jesus Christ).

Apostles = The special status that Jesus’ 12 disciples attained after His ascension.

A) Apostolic Authority and the New Testament

1) The apostles wrote the New Testament.
2) The apostles were specially empowered by the Holy Spirit (as Christ promised) to be able to write Scripture.
3) The apostles have an authority equal to that of the Old Testament prophets.
4) The apostles (Peter and Paul) placed New Testament writings on the same level as Old Testament Scriptures as part of the canon of Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16, 1 Timothy 5:17-18).

B) Any New Testament writing belongs to the canon of Scripture if:

1) It is written by an apostle (therefore, divine authority is automatically established).
2) It is preserved by the early church under the direction of the apostles (therefore, ruling out the irrelevant documents that the apostles have written, e.g. grocery lists, personal letters to friends).
3) Its teaching and doctrine is consistent with the rest of Scripture.
4) It is recognized as “God-breathed” by an overwhelming majority of believers.

C) Any New Testament writing that is not written by an apostle belongs to the canon of Scripture if:

1) The personal testimony of some living apostles affirm the absolute divine authority of the writings (e.g. the apostle Paul affirmed Luke and Acts, the apostle Peter affirmed Mark).
2) The writings are self-attesting, i.e. the contents of the writings itself bear witness to their own divine authorship as Christians read them (e.g. Hebrews).
3) It is written by a close and authorized companion of Jesus and His apostles (e.g. Jude).

D) Other evidence of the canonicity of the New Testament

1) The 39th Paschal Letter of Athanasius (A.D. 367) contained an exact list of the 27 New Testament books we have today.
2) The Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) agreed with the same list of New Testament books.

E) The completion and closing of the New Testament canon

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

God’s words to us “in these last days” (i.e. today) are spoken to all mankind “by His Son”. This means, that His Son (Jesus Christ) is the greatest and final revelation to mankind. While God revealed Himself progressively through His prophets in the past, the culmination of His revelation to mankind came through the person of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is God Himself who has come to the world in the flesh.

Therefore, God’s last authoritative speech to us is revealed in Jesus’ teachings, and in the apostles’ writings about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Thus, once the New Testament writings by the apostles and their authorized companions are completed, we have in written form the final record of everything that God wants to communicate to us – things that have meaning and authority over all believers for all time. Therefore, with the passing away of the apostles and their authorized companions, the canon of the New Testament is closed.

It is only reasonable to conclude that the canonicity of the New Testament is closed with the ascension of Christ and the passing away of the apostles and their authorized companions. For how else is God’s speech of divine and binding authority spoken to us “by His Son”?

The completion and closing of the New Testament canon is also found in Revelation 22:18-19.

F) How do we know that we have the right books in the canon of Scripture we now possess?

1) Our confidence is based on the faithfulness of God. Even though the collection and compilation of the canon of Scripture was done through human hands, its historical progression as well as its mechanical process is caused by the hands of God. A God who loves His people will make sure that His every word, which are of utmost importance to us for life itself, is not denied from us.

The preservation and correct assembling of the canon of Scripture is not merely part of church history subsequent to God’s great central acts of redemption for His people. Rather, it is an integral part of the redemption history itself (i.e., just as God’s work in creation, the calling of His people Israel, and in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are integral in redemption history, so is the assembling of the canon of Scripture).

2) The process of determining the right books are guided by the activity of the Holy Spirit. No other work of literature can speak to people’s hearts with an authority, a power, and a persuasiveness as the Bible, attesting to the work of the Holy Spirit.

3) The reliability of the assembling process is supported by historical data for our re-examination and consideration.

4) There exist no strong candidates for addition to the canon, up to today.

5) There exist no strong objections to any book presently in the canon, up to today.

G) Concluding quotes

The work of the early church was not to bestow divine authority or even ecclesiastical authority upon some merely human writings, but rather to recognize the divinely authored characteristic of writings that already had such quality. This is because the ultimate criterion of canonicity is divine authorship, not human or ecclesiastical approval.

The canon of Scripture today is exactly what God wanted it to be, and it will stay that way until Christ returns.

So, does that mean that after Christ returns, the canon of Scripture will be reopened again? Hmmm…

Old Testament Canon

The things I learned from Systematic Theology Chapter 3 – The Canon of Scripture.

Canon of Scripture = the list of all the books that belong in the Bible.

Apocrypha = the collection of books included in the canon by the Roman Catholic Church, but excluded from the canon by Protestanism.

A) Historical development of the Old Testament canon

1) The Ten Commandments (God Himself wrote it).
2) Moses wrote the words of the law (the 1st human hand).
3) Joshua added to it (the 2nd human hand).
4) The prophets wrote additional words from God (e.g. Samuel, Jehu, Isaiah, etc).
5) The last prophet who wrote is Malachi (435 B.C.)

After 435 B.C., no more additions to the Old Testament canon.

B) Authorship of the canon

The authors of the Old Testament canon consists of:

1) God Himself (e.g. the Ten Commandments).
2) God’ prophets (e.g. Israelite history, prophetic books).
3) Some "special people" who wrote during the times of the prophets when the Holy Spirit “has not yet departed from Israel” (e.g. David, Solomon).

C) The completion and closing of the Old Testament canon

1) Extrabiblical Jewish literature attests that the divinely authoritative words from God had ceased since 435 B.C.
2) 1 Maccabees records that there was no one who could speak with the authority of God as a prophet during the time of its writing (after 435 B.C).
3) Josephus states that what is now known as the Apocrypha “has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets”.
4) Rabbinic literature states that the Holy Spirit departed from Israel after the death of the latter prophets (e.g. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), therefore divine authority (or inspiration) to write Scripture has stopped.
5) The Qumran community awaited the authority that came from a prophet to supersede any existing regulations, hence the writings after 435 B.C. were not accepted as having equal authority with the rest of Scripture.
6) Jesus was in full agreement with the Jews over the extent of the Old Testament canon.

D) The rejection of the Apocrypha

1) The books in the Apocrypha were never accepted by the Jews as Scripture.
2) The inclusion of various Apocrypha in the canon of the early Christians was not done in any agreed way or at the earliest period, but occurred in Gentile Christianity, after the church’s breach with the synagogue, among those whose knowledge of the primitive Christian canon was becoming blurred.
3) Jerome included the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, but Jerome himself said that they were not “books of the canon” but merely “books of the church” that were helpful and useful for believers.
4) Melito, the bishop of Sardis (A.D. 170) named the earliest Christian list of Old Testament books, and none of the Apocrypha was mentioned.
5) Eusebius quotes Origen as affirming that none of the Apocrypha is canonical.
6) Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria (A.D. 367) wrote his Paschal Letter listed all the books of the Old Testament. He mentioned the Apocrypha, and said they were “not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness.”
7) None of the early Latin and Greek church fathers who quoted from the Apocrypha as Scripture knew any Hebrew.
8) The Apocrypha contains doctrinal and historical inconsistencies.

E) The Catholic-Protestant conflict over the Old Testament canon

At the Council of Trent (1546), the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Apocrypha to be part of the canon. Roman Catholicism holds that the church has the authority to constitute a literary work as “Scripture.” However, Protestanism holds that the church cannot make something to be Scripture, but can only recognize what God has already caused to be written as His own words.

Analogy of the Catholic-Protestant conflict

You can recognize genuine money as genuine money, and you can recognize counterfeit money as counterfeit money. But you cannot make counterfeit money to be genuine, no matter how many people you can get to agree to say so with you. Only Bank Negara can make genuine money. The only thing we can do is recognize them from the counterfeit ones.

Similarly, only God can make words to be His very own words and worthy of inclusion in Scripture. We merely recognize what are God’s very own words when they indeed are God’s very own words. We cannot make something to be God’s very own words by declaring it to be so, any more can you make a piece of cardboard paper to be genuine money by declaring it in a meeting.

F) Factors for disqualification from the canon

Any written document (such as the Apocrypha) is not regarded as part of Scripture if:

1) They do not claim for themselves the same kind of authority as the Old Testament writings.
2) They were not regarded as God’s words by the Jewish people from whom they originated.
3) They were not considered to be Scripture by Jesus and the New Testament authors.
4) They contain teachings that are inconsistent with the rest of the Bible.

G) The status of the Apocrypha

They are merely human words, not God-breathed words like the words of Scripture. They have value for historical and linguistic research, but they have no binding authority for the thought or life of Christians today (the same way a history book by Ranjit Singh Malhi can be accurate and useful, but it has no authority over our lives the way the Bible has).

Do Baldies Have More Fun

What have I been up to nowadays? Lemme see…

I read my portion of Systematic Theology for the day. Then, I read the Bible. After that, I read Systematic Theology again. In between reading those two, I read Tuesdays With Morrie. I write in my blog. And I wait for my posting.

Last night, I was unable to sleep. It must be the prolonged “afternoon nap” that I took. I suddenly realized that I have a severe lack of entertainment. What has happened to me? When was the last time I played sports? When was the last time I sweated it out in the great outdoors? When was the last time I watched a no-brainer movie? When was the last time I indulged myself at some eating place?

Hmmm… I can hardly remember. What have I become? I have become… A book-reading, blog-writing, theology-studying nerd! My muscles are atrophying. I’m getting skinnier by the day. I’m turning into a Cicak Man. Oh no… How come I never saw this coming?

My father must have watched Remp-it. Even my Baby Boomer generation father watched a movie like Remp-it! And what was the last movie I watched? An international movie about mail-order brides. Oh no… What am I turning into?

It’s like, I’m breaking out from a larvae. But I’m not morphing into a butterfly. I’m turning into a moth!

As I’m perplexing myself over how come I didn’t notice the things that are coming over me, I ran my fingers through my head. Aaaaah… My bald head. What comfort and solace it brings…

The female staff at Methodist Boys’ School said I look like Mawi. Chek Boon said I got a torpedo head. His Malay friend said I look like a Smashing Pumpkins band member. Mei Yee said I look like an alien. Some people said I look like a prisoner that just came out. The teachers in Convent Green Lane asked me what’s the message behind it. “To show that we should be bebas dari taklukan minda,” I’d say.

You know what’s missing? I think my bald head and new glasses will go well with a black t-shirt that says in white fonts, “Don’t censor me.”

I feel my bald head with my fingers again. “Yeah,” I tell myself. “I’m still cool…”

He's So Lucky...

I’ve stopped teaching at St. Xavier’s Institution for 2 weeks already. The reason I stopped is because I believe my posting will come by mid September. I think I have solid reasons for believing so:

1, the Education Ministry has been giving out standard answers to everyone that the posting will come by mid September (My course mate’s friend called in every day, got the same answer every time, plus a scolding as a bonus). 2, I am a Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia scholarship holder. So it will be foolish for the government to let me off the hook without paying off my 4-year bond after having spent RM26 000 on me. 3, even if not everyone from my batch will get posted by mid September, I have solid reasons to believe that I will be the privileged few to get it, because of the money that the government has invested on me.

However, my father has a different theory. He thinks that I may not get a posting at all! He thinks that even if I do get a posting, it will probably come by January next year. He thinks he has solid reasons for believing so:

1, a lot of teachers who have graduated many years ago still have not got their posting up to today. 2, the current hoo-ha with the Education Ministry is “all over the news” (according to him). About people who have not got a posting for the umpteenth year, walking straight up to the Education Minister and demanding an answer, but the Minister is unable to comment. 3, even if the government dishes out the posting, those who have been jobless for more years than 1 will get a higher priority than fresh graduates. 4, they will probably post us by next year, because the school term is already ending.

So, my father got me hooked up with Convent Green Lane, to temp there until I get my posting. Starting immediately.

Waaaait a minute… 1, If I really do get my posting by September, why is there such a hurry for me to work? The remaining few days I have to rest will be important to me. 2, If I stop working in less than 20 days, I won’t even get paid. 3, if I share the belief that I wouldn’t be posted until next year, I could’ve just continued at SXI! 4, I haven’t finished missing SXI yet :)

Everyone is throwing their theories around, and I’m caught in the brunt of it. “You can’t be living on sunshine!” My exasperated father said. Well, I AM living on sunshine, regardless of whether or not I temp. Because the pay for temporary teachers will not come in after a few months. So the sunshine is still my source of food, thanks to photosynthesis (I think you can see why I like to argue with my father sometimes).

Today, I went straight up to the Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah to see Mr. Toh. I am a diplomatic person. I don’t want to lose a window of opportunity at CGL, and I also don’t want to lose my holiday in a gamble. Therefore, I think the best course of action will be to negotiate for a delay in the contract, without losing it to someone else. If I get my posting before 18th September, I’ll kiss CGL goodbye. If I don’t get my posting by 18th September, I'll take up the job at CGL. Sounds reasonable, rite?

So I went to see Mr Toh. And something happened that I couldn’t believe it. He gave me this:







He handed to me the contract, with all its documents, and asked me to take it home. “Everything in the forms is already filled,” he said, “Except for the date. When you decide on the date you want to start working, just fill in the date, come to the office and hand it back to me, and you can start.”

See the highlighted part in the contract, where the date is supposed to be? He highlighted it himself.

WOW!! How often do you get breaks at government departments like this? He is like… Handing to me a blank check! How often do you get such kind treatment, from a place that has a stigma of red tape and bureaucratic idiosyncrasies?

It’s so wonderful... Now, whether or not I get a posting is not a problem at all! If I get posted by September, then I'll go. If I don’t get my posting by September, I have a job waiting for me in CGL.

The coolest part is… I even get to choose what I want to do, and when I want to do it! In view of the huge unemployment rate of education graduates all over the country, how likely is this to happen? Maybe it’s because I’m getting famous in the District Office. Maybe it’s because of my bald head. Or maybe it’s because I’m just born to be lucky! Man… I can’t believe what luck I have!

No, no… I shouldn’t call it luck... I should call it unfair. Yes! God is “unfairly good” to me!

Oh, can I just add? With my scroll, now I get paid RM1653.73 a month, which is a RM700 jump from my previous STPM pay!

Wait till my course mates find out about this. “GOD IS NOT FAAAAAAIR!” They will bewail.

“God is not fair. But God is just” – Thomas Chung, National Conference 2005.

The Word Of God

The things I learned from Systematic Theology, Chapter 2 – The Word of God.

1) The Word of God refers to the person of Jesus Christ (e.g. as mentioned by the apostle John).

2) The Word of God also means speech by God. There are 4 kinds:

a) God’s decree is a word of God that causes something to happen (e.g. creation).
b) God’s words of personal address are the words that God uses to communicate with people on earth by speaking directly to them (e.g. to Adam and Eve, at Jesus’ baptism).
c) God’s words as speech through human lips are words that God speaks through the mouths of prophets (e.g. Moses, Jeremiah).
d) God’s words in written form are God’s words put in writing (e.g. the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, the New Testament epistles).

My questions to pick at your brain:

i) Do God’s words still come to us by personal address today?
ii) If one day, God speaks to us through a personal address, how should we respond to it?
iii) How can we be sure that we are hearing “God’s voice”? What does it sound like?
iv) Does God use us as His mouthpiece to communicate to people today? How do we know if God is “using” us to communicate His words through human lips?
v) If we find a copy of a New Testament epistle in our backyard today, and it can be proven that it was written by an apostle, should we treat that document as God’s words in written form?

“Even if we did hear some words of personal address from God to ourselves today, we would not have certainty that our understanding of it, our memory of it, and our subsequent report of it was wholly accurate. Nor would we be readily able to convey to others the certainty that the communication was from God, even if it was.”

vi) How come the people from ancient times could do it, but we can’t?

I’m sure these questions can be answered in Chapters 3, 7 and 53. But I’m just ear-marking these thoughts.

My responses to the questions for personal application:

I do not think I would pay more attention if God spoke to me from heaven or through the voice of a living prophet than if he spoke to me from the written words of Scripture. It takes faith to hear, believe, and obey the Words of God, in whatever form it comes in.

God may yell at me from my bedroom window. But if I want to mark it off as the voice of a drunk man that just came home, or a hallucination, or just a dream, then it will be of no use to me.

God has given His Words to me in written form in the Bible. If I do not believe that those words are true, or if I do not want to read and obey them, it will be of no use to me as well.

Hearing God’s words takes faith. And faith is useful when it is coupled with action.

I will give Scripture equal weightage with “special revelations” of the sort mentioned above, if given that the special revelations are authentic beyond a shadow of a doubt. Therefore, special revelations have a burden of proof. Hypothetically speaking, if both forms of communication are authentically from God, then I will do well to believe and obey them both.

In the absence of authentic testing (or the possibility of authentic testing) of special revelations, I will pay more attention to the written Word of God. The written words of God do not have a burden of proof. Its burden of proof can be more easily dealt with, compared to that of special revelations. (In fact, it is already dealt with, and thus it should be taken away from the heart of every believer). The reliability, permanence, and accessibility of the written Word of God make it a trustworthy source for the words of God today.

Systematic Theology Chapter 1

The things I learnt in Systematic Theology Chapter 1 – Introduction to Systematic Theology:

Systematic theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the whole Bible teach us today?” about any given topic.

Historical theology = A historical study of how Christians in different periods have understood various theological topics.

Philosophical theology = A study of theological topics largely without use of the Bible, but using the tools and methods of philosophical reasoning and what can be known about God from observing the universe.

Apologetics = A defense of the truthfulness of the Christian faith for the purpose of convincing unbelievers.

Old Testament theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the Old Testament teach us” about any given topic. A study that shows the historical development of the teaching on that topic as it progresses through the Old Testament.

New Testament theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the New Testament teach us” about any given topic. A study that shows the historical development of the teaching on that topic as it progresses through the New Testament.

Biblical theology = Any study that gives special attention to the teachings of individual authors and sections of Scripture, and the place of each teaching in the historical development of Scripture.

My responses to the questions for personal application:

1) This chapter has not really changed my understanding of what systematic theology is, but it has helped me to better comprehend the definition of systematic theology, in comparison with the different types of theology that are present today. My attitude toward the study of systematic theology before reading this chapter is one of eagerness and self-motivated interest. My attitude now is one of fuelled desire to study it not only for myself, but for the benefit of others.

2) A church or denomination that gives up learning systematic theology for a generation or longer is likely to be weakened greatly in its universal distinctive, regardless of denomination, as the “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15). If a proper study of theology ultimately affects the way a person lives his life, then the neglect of the study of systematic theology will produce spiritually challenged children. And spiritually challenged children from one generation will produce more offspring of a greater spiritual retardation in the next generation. Over a few continuous generations, our identity and purpose as “the children of God” will be of no significant impact to the world, especially when the world’s intellectual, spiritual, and moral climate is bending fast towards pluralism and the non-existence of absolute truth.

As far as my church is concerned, I think it will augur well for us to pay more attention to the study of systematic theology as a church, and deliberately plan to do it at a right place and at a right time. In my humble opinion, the approach that my church adopts in the ingesting the Word is mainly via biblical theology. If systematic theology is done on a regular basis, either over the pulpit on Sundays or over special weekly classes, then we can collectively learn and correctly form our beliefs in all topics pertaining to God.

This will benefit us in 4 ways:

a) It will prevent us from going through church life without having any mature stands on things related to God.

b) It will prevent any individual from arrogantly assuming that a stand that one holds for a certain topic is correct, while everyone else within the same church is wrong. As a side product, it will also prevent any individual from ignorantly making a claim that a certain school of thought on a certain topic belongs to our denomination, when there is no real, collective, and exclusive claim of ownership in the first place.

c) The church can move from asking “what does our church/denomination teach us about this topic?” to “what does the Bible teach us about this topic?”

d) The church can function effectively when the right things are done at the right place and at the right time (e.g. Wednesday Prayer Meetings are used for prayer, and Thursday Theology Classes are used for the study and discussion of theology). This will unsure that the church’s activities are rightly used for its purposes. (e.g. Wednesday Prayer Meetings are used for prayer for one another and prayer for God’s work, instead of used as a sounding board or war zone for theological disagreements).