7/25/2026 Saturday
Crossroads' supposedly first Men's Book Club. I've already made an entry on 7/22 for the book in question: Made for People, by Justin Whitmel Earley. For some reason, it's all Asians, about 7 of us. Henry lead the whole thing well. I got a chance to rant about page 14, the source of Earley's theological error for the entire book. Henry also mentioned about Earley's views on Forgiveness (can be done without needing the other to apologize first) and judging (Jesus commanded not to judge hypocritically, not just simply not to judge) which are two of the strongest agreement I have with Earley in the first 5 (or 4 as we had time only to go over 4) chapters.
Fun fact, while I was doing this book club, Nadia and Willy went to Estate Sales 10 minutes away at 3 Lockwood Dr., Bridgewater, NJ which is a mansion. And Pastor Jeff offered me a ride to that address when the book club was done. I had time chatting with Pastor Jeff on the road, briefing him about my church history in New York and Jersey. He's heard of Stephen Tong it would seem. I told him about Rev. Laura Lin who prefers male heir (or male elders/pastors over female ones), Pastor Jeff said it's the first he's heard of it, LOL.
7/24/2026 Friday
This was interestingly done by Allie with the Knechtles, particularly when she pushed back when Stuart Knechtle @52:40 misrepresenting God: "you know what, you can be as irreverent, even say, screw you God, if you like, and as long as you just keep speaking to me, that's what I desire." Good for Allie to later reacted to put Stuart back in his seat @55:29: "So I wonder what the balance is there, because I do think God cares how we talk about him and the things that we say to him." The whole conversation of this episode centers around one thing that seems lacking, that is, if you want to doubt God, how you come before God to doubt Him matters. Gideon vs. Thomas is one classic example of good doubt vs. bad doubt. Remember that Jesus' response to Thomas was a rebuke, apparently many do not get that or even get offended by that. And Stuart went the completely opposite direction "doubt with irreverence" until Allie corrected him.
Cliffe Knechtle’s Most Controversial Take—And Why He’s Doubling Down Ep 1375
This morning we finally checked out the Tesla shop that's on Rt. 9 near us. It was truly like another world. Tesla handles things completely different than regular car dealerships: Everything done via their Tesla app (scheduling demo, buying the car, etc.), Michael, our sales guy had the Model Y self drive from parking lot to right in front of us at the front door, there's no bargaining as their reps don't take commissions, it's basically 90% talking to AI/app for a customer to buy a car. Michael even left the car to Nadia and myself in the middle of test drive, which was new to us because no sales persons would trust potential buyers that much at conventional dealerships. We were only planning to have fun with a Tesla car demo for the first time before heading to Open Road Mazda to seal the deal for $40k on Mazda CX-50 Hybrid. But once Nadia saw that Tesla currently offering not only have 0.99% APR interest rate for 72 Months on Model Y Premium full wheel, the car interior was attractive enough for Nadia, large storage space (same space as Honda CRV 2026 Hybrid at 76 cu ft) compared to CX-50 Hybrid's 56 cu ft. The Full Self-Driving feature certain got me sold (but $100/month is steep), and using someone's online referral link, I get from 1 month to 3 months free trial of the FSD.
7/23/2026 Thursday
Nadia called out today, so in the evening we visited a second Mazda Dealership (Sansone Mazda in Avenel) for CX-50 Hybrid Premium Plus. Our dealer didn't seem that interested in selling, even though their company is bigger, but the staffs there don't seem to care about customers. Nadia said. So we gave up after bargaining down to $43,000 total. The previous Mazda Dealership (Open Road Mazda at East Brunswick last week) texted Nadia saying that they could do the same deal for $40,000. So we walked out thinking we will make the deal with the more willing seller at Open Road the next day morning.
7/22/2026 Wednesday
Windows 11 bug that kills storage space, seems to be an issue lately at work, the fix is supposed to be another security update:
Stellafane, Star Fest & Conference, by AAA: A meeting that I couldn't attend so I had Granola AI attend it and summarize it for me. What's interesting is that https://stellafane.org/ is a telescope making society and they offer telescope making classes. They also have annual conventions in VT. Certainly worth a check especially that I have been wanting to make my own telescope.
7/21/2026 Tuesday
The debate on Daylight Saving in America: This is one of the major political issues during Trump's administration. Should each state decide on this? Some really has gotten tired of its dynamic, arguing for a permanently fixed hour. We know this is a Northern/Southern issue rather than a right/left wing issue. Is it a matter of school hours risking students in the dark? Is it a matter of parent/bus driver's convenience? Was it just because of lamp fuel during the World War?
Unlike the USA, in China, businesses adjust their time schedules, not the whole country. China does not observe Daylight Saving Time. The entire country follows China Standard Time (CST), which is UTC+8, year-round. [1, 2] China previously experimented with DST between 1986 and 1991, but officially abandoned the practice in September 1991. So this shows how Americans differ from Chinese in view of their freedom.
7/20/2026 Monday
Do you need do read the Qur'an to evangelize to Muslims? Allie Beth Stuckey would be wrong on this: "...also I don't think it's necessary though to evangelize to those people in your life..." This is like doing missionary in foreign lands, you kind of need to learn their language. Stuckey is probably only familiar with general evangelism, where your targets are folks who claim to be Muslims or Buddhists but not really. Then you're not really evangelizing to Muslims, just some general sinners. Real Muslims would know why they are sticking to their Qur'an and you should know better if you wish to evangelize to them, unless you consider these already of Satan, which is typical of fundamentalist Christians.
Who is closer to God: The one preaching in the pulpit or the one listening in the congregation? Nadia was once confronted by the Indonesian Pentecostal pastor long time ago in Elmhurst (of course, that pastor's point was to raise pastors higher) with the same question: