Journal of the Week

5/15/2026 Friday

I am taking Reformed21's (GRII) Fokus Q&A (by Pdt. Hendry Ongkowidjojo) more seriously as when I use Google Gemini to summarize them, there are some useful terms not seen much in the West, both in English and in Malay/Indonesian:

The Role of Laypeople: The video pushes back against a "clericalist" view (where only priests interpret). While experts/pastors are necessary for deep training, the goal is for the laity to become mature enough to study and even teach [20:59]. [Clericalist is very common not just in the Catholic Church or other religions, but in Protestant Christianity as well, where the pastors are viewed as the only ones with answers in the Bible. WCF 1.7 speaks of the Perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture: All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves… yet those things which are necessary to be known… are so clearly propounded… that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.]

The speaker’s focus on genre and original context [01:29] is the standard Reformed method of interpretation.

Literary vs. Literal

Reformed View: One must seek the sensus literalis (the literal sense), which includes understanding when the author is using metaphors, poetry, or historical narrative.
External Source: Louis Berkhof’s Principles of Biblical Interpretation is a classic Reformed text that mirrors the speaker's points on distinguishing between "Proverbial" and "Didactic" literature.

The "Priesthood of All Believers" vs. Church Order: The video navigates the tension between the "Priesthood of All Believers" and the need for trained "Teaching Elders."

Reformed View: Unlike the Roman Catholic view of the time, Reformers believed all Christians are "priests." However, they also believed in the divine office of the ministry. God gives "Pastors and Teachers" (Ephesians 4:11) to the church to prevent "winds of doctrine" [18:54].
Analysis: The speaker clarifies that while we are all equal in Christ, we are not all equal in function or gift. This is why "Elders" must be "apt to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2) [32:21].

Moral Law vs. Ceremonial Law: The discussion on pork [10:49] touches on the Threefold Use of the Law (Moral, Ceremonial, Civil).

Reformed View: Dietary laws are "Ceremonial" and were fulfilled/abrogated by Christ. The "Moral Law" (The Ten Commandments) remains binding.
External Source: John Calvin, in the Institutes, explains that the ceremonial laws were "shadows" that vanished when the "substance" (Christ) appeared.

How Christians should vote in politics, drawing from Proverbs, Phil Vischer concluded:

"The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; The wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves."

The above clip comes from episode 720 of Holy Post Media: The Casino-fication of the Church and Mark DeYmaz. These are useful terminologies from the episode:

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) is a term coined by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton in 2005 to describe the most prevalent, de facto religious worldview among American youth and young adults. It is not a formal religion, but rather an umbrella of watered-down spiritual beliefs. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The term is broken down into three core concepts:

Deism: The belief in a Creator God who exists, orders the world, but generally steps back and stays out of people's daily lives—unless needed to solve a problem. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Moralistic: The central belief that the ultimate goal of life is to be a good, nice, and fair person.

Therapeutic: The belief that the purpose of religion is to feel good about oneself, be happy, and achieve subjective well-being.

The following is where MTD is used:

The Video’s Stance: The hosts argue that the church has become a tool for personal "wellness" or political mobilization, hollowing out the slow formation of Christian character [36:56].

Reformed Analysis: This aligns with the Reformed critique of "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism." Reformed theology emphasizes that the Church is a covenant community where the primary goal is the glory of God, not the satisfaction of the individual. In The Westminster Confession of Faith, the "chief end of man" is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, which contradicts the "casino-fication" model where God is a means to a personal jackpot.

External Source: Sociologist Christian Smith’s research on "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" supports the video's claim that modern religion often functions as a utility for personal happiness rather than a transformative faith.

Single Event Upset (SEU), where alpha particles from uranium or thorium affect the 0 & 1 bits in microchips which are on such small enough scale that this could happen. This was discovered in 1978 by Intel, and manufacturers have been careful since. This is not easily discovered by mere thinking and could have become trade secrets:

5/14/2026 Thursday

Trump's visit to China has gotten the world watching (amidst tariff war, Putin vs. Ukraine, Iran vs. USA, Strait of Hormuz, AI chips, Soya beans, Apple, Taiwan, etc.). China is predictably playing the cool(er) head. Stephen Chan posted a photo of the meet, which I fixed with ChatGPT, and then Chan reposted my fix in a new post on Facebook, what an honor LOL. A.I. photo doctoring has gotten a long way, I didn't ask it but it actually sharpens/clarifies the image incredibly well, not sure if it's just plain photoshop edition technique or ChatGPT actually used external photos of the presidents for the enhancement. ChatGPT seems to do a better job here, while Microsoft's Copilot turned these heads a tad scary with blank eyes and such. The only problem is, ChatGPT couldn't do well when I asked it to have the presidents holding hands, so I had to cover it with something, such as Aladdin's Cartoon snapshot:

From the video below, I came across this learning: Mongol Empire 1300AD can be broken into 4 primary states (khanates) with respective successors:

Google AI: The Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, and Yuan Dynasty are the four primary successor states (khanates) that emerged from the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259. They represent the division of Genghis Khan’s vast territory into autonomous, regional empires ruled by his descendants, which continued to share cultural and trade connections. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Yuan Dynasty (East Asia): Established by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, this became the center of the empire, with its capital in modern-day Beijing. It held nominal suzerainty over the other three khanates.
Golden Horde (Northwest): Founded by descendants of Jochi (Genghis’s eldest son), this khanate controlled Russia and the Kipchak Steppe, flourishing from the mid-13th to the end of the 14th century.
Ilkhanate (Southwest): Established by Hulegu, another of Kublai's grandsons, this khanate controlled Persia and Iran, often fighting with the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate.
Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia): Ruled by the descendants of Chagatai (Genghis’s second son), this state controlled Central Asia and focused on maintaining traditional Mongol nomadic customs. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

While initially unified under one supreme leader, the empire fragmented due to civil wars, separating into these four distinct entities that eventually collapsed or were absorbed, with the Ilkhanate failing first and the Chagatai lasting the longest.

5/13/2026 Wednesday

Interesting heads up by Allie Beth Stuckey about the upcoming Christopher Nolan film: The Odyssey. It should be disappointing with the blackwashing (black woman playing Helen of Troy, Transgender Ellen Page playing Achilles, etc.) But mainly, what I learned from this episode is that ABS likes The Hamilton musical show @58:19.

2nd time joining Christian Underground (by Pastor Greg Armstrong, Alex, Shahriq Khan). This time it's led by Pastor Greg, which seems better than last week's by Alex (slow, seemed tired). And though it's long, learned a lot about Islam and how to evangelize to them. Tons of documents they have prepared via Skool and groups joining. This time, I recorded 2nd half of the session via ShareX on top of Granola notes, as it's definitely worth it.

5/12/2026 Tuesday

Though I would still doubt that Trump was trying to turn his Oval Office in the Whitehouse into the Holy of Holies, Skye has a good take on the Golden Calf in that technically Israelites weren't worshipping a false god because Aaron called it Yahweh, just not worshipping the right way, just like the pastors mentioned in this video as claiming: We worship "Jesus", not Trump, whose statue is not the golden calf:

Open Source Icons: These 11 sites to be bookmarked...So I bookmarked. This is useful for free use of icons anywhere, particularly in website designs:
1. Lucide

2. Iconsax

3. The Noun Project

4. Iconic

5. Hugeicons

6. Pixelarticons

7. Nucleo

8. Iconoir

9. Feather Icons

10. Phosphor Icons

11. Pikaicons

5/10/2026 Sunday

I should really start pre-read the Sunday Service's Bible reading before hand, now that it's made available online.

An interesting contrast between Pastor Dan & Pastor Chris' sermons, today, Pastor Dan in his sermon @45:08 (my own recording) said: "You don't like your job? Don't just assume that God wants you to find a new one. Seek His will. Don't despair and become bitter. Cry out to your God..." vs. I don't have evidence but I've heard enough of Pastor Chris's (of GCC) sermons to know that he would say something similar with a different direction in "You don't like your job? Maybe it's time to look for a new one...". Now of course these are subtly relativistic, but one has to wonder the philosophy of life each of these preachers hold to differently. One strives for God, while you have to wonder if the theology of the cross is missing in the other one.

Though not my cup of tea with the lower quality CCM, in addition to no display of song titles or name of writers, I should at least play around them with SUNO to learn chords and theories.