his disgrace...

Matt was speaking yesterday. I was a little bored, so I was just reading random bits of the Bible near to the passage he was referring to. While doing so, I came across this interesting bit of Scripture...

"Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering." 1 Cor 11:14-15

haha. most of my friends have been telling me to cut my hair, but i far prefer this shaggy mop to the secondary-school-standard-style i had been sporting before. truth is, i have no idea what to do with my hair. i want it longish to hide the fact that my chin is more pointy than the Eiffel tower, but i don't know how to pull it off in a way that doesn't look girly. having no muscles doesn't help me here. people tell me i look like a girl, but i just laugh it off. :)

Jill asked me if God was saying something to me through that particular scripture. I don't really think so, but i'm usually quite blur in these matters, so i will wait for further corroboration. :) but it kinda relates to something i've been thinking hard about these past few weeks about the interpretation of scripture...

abit too lazy to go into details now, but what i've been telling people is this: The Bible is not a book of rules. It's a bunch of stories about people who were all trying their darnedest to follow God. So even when there are rules written in there, it doesn't necessarily apply today. But do look at why those rules were written in the first place. This is the logos word of God.

Occasionally, individual bits of Scripture may jump out at you, and may need to be taken literally. This is the rhema word of God, as described in Hebrews 4, where it says that the word of God is living and active. That's what Jill was referring to when she asked me about the hair...


One thing which helped me understand Scripture interpretation was the realisation that Jesus himself often contradicted OT scriptures. I think it's most apparent in Matthew 5, where Jesus repeatedly quotes OT scripture ("You have heard it has been said..."), and then makes his own statement about the topic ("But I tell you the truth..."). I wonder if I might have realised this earlier if I knew how to read Greek...

joking aside...

i made this observation a week ago at a meeting.

"It's always the people who are the most ON FIRE that end up getting BURNT OUT."

and i received the groans that were due me. i, on the other hand, was trying hard to suppress hysterical laughter. sigh... but making lame jokes makes me happier for awhile.


as my cousin put it at dinner on the eve of CNY, "Lame jokes run in our family, except that they're lame, so they can't run." lalalalala.


i had a remarkably deep conversation with my cousin's fiance about ministry matters, even though it's only the second time i've ever met him. he's been working hard with church youth, and we talked about our frustrations and our hopes. it was refreshing to talk with someone who's gone through the same problems, and is further along the path that i'm walking on. i spoke to him again today at lunch, and his passion for the kingdom was clear to see. and next to him i was reminded of the many things i have yet to become. sin confounds me. fear dominates me. i grimace more than i smile nowadays.

i am tired, and have been unable to find rest. i've been sleeping day and night, yet i can hardly bring myself to do anything that resembles work. i have dropped many responsibilities, but there are still many on my plate. i eagerly anticipate the day when i will finally be free of them all.

one of the modules i am taking this semester is ES2007S, Professional Communication. Amongst other things, it is also teaching about emotional intelligence, defined as the identification and understanding of one's emotions, and the control and utilisation of said emotions in aid of one's goals. i don't think i will do very well here...

first time playing soccer in yonks.

got a blister approximately an inch across. oozing everywhere. muscles aching too. but glad for it.

it's true. everybody's equal when playing social hall soccer.

i learned a new word today, from NGM.

zaftig

One entry found.

Main Entry:

zaf·tig

Pronunciation:

\ˈzäf-tig, ˈzȯf-\

Variant(s):

also zof·tig \ˈzȯf-\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Yiddish zaftik juicy, succulent, from zaft juice, sap, from Middle High German saf, saft, from Old High German saf — more at sap

Date:

circa 1936

of a woman : having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump



I think this may be a useful word to know. :) Scrabble, anyone?

In what is probably a new record, school has been on for less than two weeks, and I have already found myself tired and grouchy enough to skip a lecture (today, Solid State Physics II). I was outside the lecture venue, and then I walked back to my room to chill.

I've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows more than twice over the last few days, and most of the climactic bits more than that. Since the climactic bits stretch out to well over a quarter of the book, that takes awhile. But it relaxes me.

As does this: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/archives
It seems that Nat Geo magazine has put up all their issues from the past few years on their website, free to view. I spent an hour there last night, as well as two hours at http://comics.dp.cx/archive.html, which has years worth of archives of around a zillion comic strips.


The task before me at the moment appears impossible. But I suppose that's why people pray.

Long sideburns are biblical...

I just received an email from a church elder exhorting us to read what Lev 19:28 has to say about tattoos, and encouraging us to forward it to our friends so that the Word of God may be relevant in our lives. Lev 19:28 - "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD."

Of course, Lev 19:27 says this - "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." I've seen an interesting book in some bookshops entitled "One year of living Biblically" - the guy ended up with a remarkably hirsute face.

I trust this reflects my opinions about tattoos.


This is one of my pet peeves.

not my people

"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," - Rom 9:25

I find it so amazing that God calls us what we are not, knowing that we will become what He has called us.

by faith, not by sight

things are not progressing as quickly as i hoped they would.
solutions are not forthcoming.
but the God who fed the five thousand is strong.

something worse may happen

John 5:14 surprised me today. "Your sins have been forgiven. Now go and sin no more, or something worse may happen to you" is the general idea of the verse, according to the few versions of the Bible I checked.

I guess it startled me, because the words sounded like abit of a threat. It reminds me of that picture of the bearded old man, standing on the clouds, wielding lightning bolts to toss down at people who displease him. The words seem imbued with the ideas of condemnation and judgment, which didn't seem right to me at first.

But a little further reflection reminded me that this was the pattern God showed the Israelites throughout much of their history, and that this is the basic pattern of the world - sin leads to destruction, be it in this life or the next. I guess that the same phrase could be spoken with much love and tenderness, and that it's only my preconceived cultural references which interprets it as threatening. That something worse may eventually happen to him is not the work of a vindictive deity, but a consequence of God standing by his own words and the system that he set up to redeem a pure people for himself.

I guess I got caught up in the worldly mindset of instinctively rejecting everything to do with the ideas of condemnation and judgment as ungodly. Just because we don't practice it doesn't mean we can't speak about it.

and here's to a happy new year...

it's been a tough year, esp. this last couple of months. realising alot of things about myself, and the basic attitudes i take towards life which don't seem to be cutting it anymore. not really satisfied with any aspect of my life except my grades, which have never been my primary concern. i guess that i'm experiencing more of life and trying to come to grips with what is involved in living it, but it's not a particularly happy experience.

my primary attitude towards serving in church and ministry is heavily influenced by the idea of spiritual gifts. i'm drawn to this idea that if everyone simply does what they can with the gifts that they are given, the church would be a functioning place. some to be teachers, some to be evangelists etc. and somewhere along the line i got this idea that if i simply put my head down and did all the things i felt God had called me to do, then life would kinda fall into place for me, and i would find myself in the places that God had intended me to go into.

so i put my gifts to work in every area that i can, but somehow it doesn't seem to be working anymore.

it seemed great for awhile, as somehow doors opened before me, and i found myself in places i had never dreamed of going into, yet i'm entirely dissatisfied with them, to the point that i'm quite determined to pull out of everything this year. somehow i've been disappointed everywhere i go, and the cliched answers don't satisfy me. i liked the idea that certain actions led inexorably to certain results, even in this walk of faith, and that logic, sequence, and cause and effect still apply. be a man, do the right thing etc etc.

but maybe not. i'm reminded that i have been crucified with christ, and the life i now live in this body of mine i live by faith in the one who loves me. that it is faith that leads to salvation, not works. it seems like i took the 'obey' bit of 'trust and obey' and magnified it out of proportion to the 'trust' bit. but if real trust manifests itself in actions, then how does trusting and obedience differ in any way?

more to follow.