lifesong
Everyone needs compassion
Love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations
Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
So take me as you find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender
Shine your light in
Let the whole world see
We're singing, for the glory
Of the risen King
Jesus, Shine your light in
Let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory
Of the risen king
Thursday, October 20, 2005
-4:32 pm
I'm stuck at home with a cold and headache. Reckon I need a day to rest properly and catch up on my sleep too. Nasty maths test and options homework. I'm glad that it wasn't any other day that I have to miss school because today's lessons are ok to miss. I'll catch up, as always.
Tomorrow's matriculation day at RJC and I still haven't really decided what subjects I'm going to take. At first, it was lit, geog, maths and econs. But after a talk by the RJ econs teacher, I was totally scared off. So now it's lit, geog, theatre studies & drama and maths.
The BIG issue here is that I really want to get the Humanities Programme Scholarship but I have to offer KI if I were to qualify for the programme. The thing is, KI's really not for me. Having gone through Philosophy as a subject for two years, I am very certain that I'll be torturing myself by taking KI. It's not a problem of whether I have the aptitude for it, it more like whether I should take it just to get into the humans programme. Sigh. Tough decision to make.
I am very firm on only taking subjects which interest me, and I have a passion for. Though I don't exactly excel at maths, I need it if I were to do psychology in the future and as a contrasting subject as well. But I can't say the same for KI.
I really can't imagine myself doing KI for the next two years of my JC. One module in KI is examining the construction of knowledge. To be honest, I don't care about how knowledge is constructed; I just want to learn what I need to know. Call me ignorant, but I have absolutely zero interest in determining whether the green colour of my file I'm seeing now is really green and how I know it's green. It might mean something for eager academics and scholars but not for me. I know intellectual rigour is good but I have a lazy mind. Ask me to analyse lit texts and I'll eagerly jump to it but seriously, KI is a totally different study altogether.
For philo in Sec 3 and 4, we studied topics like Existentialism (how sure are you that you really exist and the world around you exists as well?) and Religion and Morality. I really dreaded and detested the latter lessons. We were taught to question whether God truly exists, and if he does, we had to question his suppossed "benevolent, altruistic, loving and good" nature. The argument goes something like this (yes though I hated the lessons, I still listened):
*I consider this to be heretical rubbish. I'm just re-producing it for the purpose of illustrating my point.
How do we know that God exists? Does he exist because he says he does? And if he does exist, how do we know for sure that he is good? How do we know he's not some sadist who puts humans on earth to suffer and enjoy watching their pain? Let's assume that we take whatever God says to be the truth. If we think he is good just because he says he is, then how can we be sure that he isn't lying?A rebuttal to the last statement is that God can't lie. But then there'll be another counter-argument to that point. And then it goes on and on and on...
I was just concerned for the new believers and pre-believers in my class. That particular philo lesson about religion and morality practically undid all that my Christian classmates and I have been doing for the pre-believers. I have quite a few oikos in that class and from the way they were so engaged in the argument, I knew that this was war.
We too as Christians must watch out. The indoctrination is very subtle. When we delve into philosophical topics, we make ourselves vulnerable to spiritual attacks. It's the enemy's perfect chance to strike when we are off our guard with our mind's eye unprotected. The best thing to do is not to touch the subject of philosophy or KI at all.
God spoke to me right after that lesson. God Himself is far wiser than the humans He created. How then can we in our limited human wisdom understand all that there is to God? If we are able to know and explain everything about Him, then wouldn't we be as wise as God? God wouldn't be greater than us then. If we are just as wise as God, then it follows that we wouldn't need Him. Right? Wrong.
The fact is, God is unfathomable. His ways, His purposes, His timing are all beyond our understanding. That's what makes Him who He is- God, the One who created the heavens and the earth, made us in His likeness and gave us life, not to mention our intelligence too. He made us superior to all the other living creatures. To turn around and question Him is, to me, unthinkable and shows how faithless one is.
As a Christian, it's pointless to argue about this because I know the truth. It didn't really do any damage to my faith but instead made it stronger because I knew the fallacies and loopholes in the above flawed argument. Sometimes, things like that can't be explained. Science fails where faith succeeds. I know God exists because I've experienced His love, touch and presence. How am I supposed to prove that?
I can only liken God to the wind. We can't see the wind, but we know it exists because wherever it blows, the leaves rustle in its wake. Similarly, we can't see God, but we know He exists because of the lives He has changed. Every life impacted is a testimony for God. Just look around you and you'll be able to find someone whom has been touched by God.
I have no idea how I got from talking about my subject combination and KI to the topic of faith but maybe God meant for me to discuss this. I'm sure it isn't just a coincidence.
Human beings fear what they don't understand and so they try ways and means to explain phenomenons. However, we cannot bring God down to our human level to be understood because the reality is that He is an inexplicable God. When humans try to do that, flawed theories and fallacies arise. I feel that true understanding is realising and accepting that there'll be things about God which we will never be able to elucidate.
It is only when we
stop questioning and
start trusting can we truly experience the love and power of God.
Then, you'll know for sure that He exists.
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