Answers to the tough questions

Okay, I know I still owe a literature essay for my previous post but I guess I've been quite busy lately and didn't have the time to do it. What I can do however is present my own answers to the questions that I asked earlier although some of my friends have already done quite a good job at explaining as you can read in the tagbox.(my answer is quite long but read on if you are interested)

1: Regarding this question let us look at this from God's perspective. What does God stand to gain out of our worship and adoration alone? The answer is: nothing whatsoever. Think over this with me, what would the Almighty God of the Infinite as well as the finite, much much much greater than we can even imagine gain from the puny, in fact, comparatively pathetic worship that some tiny creatures living on a floating speck of dust in the tiny universe that fits in the palm of his hand? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Even if He were a sadist(which of course He is not) that gets a kick out of making lesser beings worship him I don't think he would even heed us. We're too tiny and puny! And he wouldn't bother making us if adoration is the only thing he wanted right?

It would be like making a computer software to praise yourself that goes "You are wonderful, you are marvelous, etc" on and on and on without stopping and if I may say, that is a very very sad case and even if we were that, we are obviously very faulty products.
As I heard lately "I(God) don't make junk"

First of all, what is true worship? There are many instances in the Bible where God actually REJECTED his people's "worship" of sacrifices and praises because it was not true. S obviously, he's not self-absorbed. But what is worship? The Bible tells us that "to obey is better than sacrifice" so one aspect of true worship is obedience. It's like how a father wants a child to be obedient to him, not because the father is a control-freak but because he loves the child and want whats best for him. With our human father we call it obedience, with our heavenly father we call it worship.

So why worship? The answer lies in the one most mysterious and incomprehensible aspect of God that is, Love. Why did God make humans in the first place? to share His Love and have a relationship with them. God can very easily talk to us and show his love to us, after all, He is God; but what about our side?

Originally, it was easy. Notice that in Genesis in the creation of man, God never once said to Adam and Eve " Thou shalt worship the Lord your God" at least not in the truest sense of the word "worship", no that came later in Exodus. On the contrary, Adam and Eve talked with God face to face and God walked amongst them in the garden. So what happened? Man sinned and were unable to communicate directly with the Holy God. Obviously, a relationship can't continue with only one side of the party talking to the other, it must be a two way thing. So how can man communicate with God again? You got it, worship. Be it praying, singing, obeying his word and so on, that is the way sinful man can communicate with God.

And why MUST we communicate with God? Aren't we good on our own? Well the answer is no. There is a saying, "Humans are the smartest creatures on earth. They are the only ones who can develop faster, more efficient and more creative ways of killing themselves." Without God's repeated intervention, we would have blown ourselves up a long long time ago. Worship helps us keep track of who we are and who God is; that he is greater and we are lesser. As his masterpieces, the work of his hands, we are obliged to glorify his name. Does a good painter or musician make a work of art with the purpose of putting himself to shame? of course not. As the Bible puts it

"You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing?"

So don't see worship as a self-centred thing on God's part, it's the only way we can communicate with our loving father and at the same time, experience his love for us.

2. Jesus once said "...I am gentle and humble in heart..." He did not just talk the talk, he walked the walk. In the greatest show of humility in history, the God of all the universe became a mere human and died a painful and shameful death for the sake of all people. So quite obviously, God is in fact humble.

As for how he can still demand our worship and that we do not worship any other if he is humble. Well, I've already clarified what worship is, so let me ask this question. Is it arrogant for a husband to demand his wife to give him and him alone an exclusive intimate love and is it arrogant for the wife to demand the same of the husband? Quite clearly no, it is not arrogant of you to demand an exclusive intimate love from your spouse otherwise it would be called adultery.

It is the same with God, as his beloved people, he demands us to love him exclusively as God, not because he is a self-absorbed egocentric, but because we ought to.

Chew on these

Okay, lately I've been thinking of some tough questions and I urge all Christians to chew on these thoughts and reflect on it. First of let me say that it is good for us to think deeply about our faith so as to understand ourselves better.

1 Why does God demand our worship? Does this make him an egocentric?


2 Is God humble? In that case how can He demand for worship and adoration?


3 What if after it's all said and done and we're all in heaven, what if Man is to fall again?


4 If an elder brother goes into a forest and nobody is there to see him, is he still a doofus?


Hrmm.... indeed these are very tough questions(especially the last one). I've thought of an answer to the first two questions. Feel free to tag your thoughts, just make sure it won't be too offensive=)

"O" Level Mother Tongue Results finally out

Well, the mother tongue "O" level results are finally out, after many days of tension so thick I could bang my head against it.

My results actually kinda shocked me.

First let me say. Thanks to my wonderful elder brother, guess where I was 12 hours before the mother tongue paper? That's right! The land of the rising sun! Japan yay!. And thanks to that I completely missed out an entire week of mother tongue drilling that all my other peers went through. And I kinda got stunned during the malay orals and stoned for a few seconds.

So, as you might guess, this morning I was EXTREMELY nervous about my result. I really didn't want to retake Malay paper. So anyways, we were finally called to the hall to receive our results. The teacher was there lecturing us about the average grades of all the mother tongue subjects.

When he reached Malay, he said that it was 100% passes. That hardly gave me any comfort.

My fear was not in failing but it was that I receive a horrible pass and be forced to retake the paper. Then he said that the percentage of distinction was 45%. Somebody very helpfully pointed out that that means about only 4 people got As in the malay class. I wasnt bothered, It's definitely not me right?

I kept thinking "Stop preaching to us and show us the results danggit!" I just wanted to rip off the rubber band.

Earlier in class, I was praying "God I know that whatever grades I may receive, it is what I deserve to receive and I will praise Your Name no matter what it is Lord. I just pray that I may glorify you through my results,"

So anyways, FINALLY the teachers started calling the names of students to come up and see their results. I waited, and waited, actually I didnt have to wait for long cause 2 names after the first student, the teacher called out: "ALVIN!"

I was confused at this part, there are 2 Alvins in my class you see. So the other one went up and then sat back down. Then again I waited and waited and waited as names were called and cries of both sorrow and joy echoed through the hall. My heart was beating quickly within me. Finally the teacher called out the other Alvin's chinese name an I was like"HEY!!!! Why didnt anyone tell me that the first Alvin was me?". So finally, I walked up to the teacher and I asked what rsult I got asI scanned that piece of paper.

"You got an A1,"

I could not believe my ears! I got A1?!?!" and the teacher replied "Yes, you got an A1" My hands were trembling as I signed beside my score, everyone could see that.

I literally leapt for joy as I left and shouted "HALELUYA!!!!" and I can testify that it is truly only by God's grace that I got an A1. hahah, expected differently didnt you? Although, after that, alot of people gave me abit of contempt cuz I skipped a week of intensive driling going on holiday... But all I can say is this, I had worked hard before that and even then, it was not just because of my effort that got I the A1, it's all thanks to God's grace. I never stopped telling them that.

Out of the class of 10 only 4 got A1 an I was one of them=D Ironically though, 3 of the 4 people who aced malay were Chinese haha.

Praise God

The Bible as a Literature Text

Yeah, you read the title right. From now on, I'm gonna use the Bible to practice Literature.
One theing I'm going to do is post a passage from the Bible(or should I call it prose?) every now and then and put some questions beneath it. All Christian Lit students, feel free to try it out=D

I'm gonna start with John 21

John 21

¹Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: ²Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.

⁶He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. ⁹When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

¹¹Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

¹⁶Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." ¹⁹Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

²⁰Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") ²¹When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?"

²²Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." ²³Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"

²⁴This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

²⁵Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

1 What are your impressions of the disciples ?

2 Explain at least 5 ironies in this passage

3 What other literary devices are used and how do they enrich the passage?

4 What is the significance of the last paragraph?

(I'll post my own answers soon=)

you are not you, you are just a mask

Monday, you're starting your gig
your lips are purple on your sullen cheek

Tuesday, prancing, yellow and gay
your face is radiant though your mind's a fray

Wednesday, pleasing the upper hand
orange smiles with many knives in the sand

Who are you?
such a hypocrite
I've never known you
get out of my sight
What is real and what is fake I ask
You are not you, you are just a mask

Thursday, you're impressing a maid'
you're not blushing yet your face is all red

Friday, already you're running dry
your eyes' are all grey yet you refuse to cry

Saturday, and you're pious white
On your knees you pray, pray that snakes won't bite

Who are you?
such a hypocrite
I've never known you
get out of my sight
What is real and what is fake I ask
You are not you, you are just a mask

So tear it off, before these masquerades crash
waste away the mask and bare the rotting flesh
it eats away your face, and replaces your skin
till you're not you but you're just a mask

Sunday, the canvas void of paint
Take it off now or do it all over again