This is a good 14 video series on the study of the New Heaven and New Earth, Eschatology, debunking Premil & Postmil, etc.
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The Theology of Heaven in the Book of Hebrews by Lane Tipton
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Journal of the Week
03/07/2026 Saturday
We visited Princeton Art Museum in the morning and then had lunch at Lan Ramen at 4 Hulfish St. instead of Nadia's originally planned lunch at a diner. She loved their noodle and beef. I ordered N0 The Ultimate Lanzhou Beef Noodle $17 which was not bad but a bit blend and Nadia had N1 Lanzhou Beef Noodle $16. We also ordered the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken $15. I felt the familiarity of the restaurant, which looked and located like the one I ate with my parents during the bus tour years ago (the first and only time they visited me up until today).
The museum is a mix of both modern and classical arts. I have no interest in their modern collections. But there are a few Christian themed paintings and Monet. There's also a limited collections of Asian and ancient Mediterranean arts. Entrance is free. Crowd on such Saturday was about 50%. We parked on the street using Princeton's website park meter.
A few note of interest to learn from the collections to look up:
St. Margaret (of Antioch, Martyred, AKA Margaret the Virgin, 289-304AD): Margarites means pearl in Greek. Girls are named after this martyr.
St. Cecilia (Roman virgin martyr, 200-235AD), patron saint of music. Forced marriage with pagan nobleman named Valerian, converted him to be baptized by Pope Urban. Sang to God in her heart during her pagan wedding.
03/06/2026 Friday
Allie Beth Stuckey (I think from now on I'll abbreviate ABS) has a good episode on a strip club ministry by Rachelle Starr. Once a while, ABS does something remarkable. It's called Scarlet Hope. The ministry does sound legit from a gospel perspective from the interview. Not questionable money scheme like VOM (Voice of the Martyrs). Sharing new perspectives about a ministry that brings food to strip clubs and facing skepticisms because Christians were viewed as evil Bible thumpers picketing out on the streets by their work place (strip clubs). That they believed that the free meals may even be poisoned by these Christians.
03/05/2026 Thursday
Mark Zuckerberg's $170 million island mansion in Florida becomes netizens' attention. This reminds me of John 14:2-3. The translations of the verses are not really that clear (i.e. are we talking about mansion-like luxury in a city size house or something more abstract for current understanding?). But I would say it's better than these rich folks' mansions. But the afterlife certainly is not boring.
Attended JAUC (Japanese American United Church) Bible Study online for the first time. This schedule used to conflict with other Bible Studies (GCC's or Crossroads' small group.) I joined about 10 mins late around 7:10pm. I was distracted by this and that while on zoom with them, so my participation level was really low. Then I remembered to do AI note taking using Granola half an hour in since I joined. This is the only Japanese church that I know of in the area, I visited them at least once in Manhattan years ago when I was living in Flushing. Pastor Stanley Wayne was the teacher, on the topic of 1 Samuel 25. It's really a mix of English and Japanese. But I think everyone on this hybrid (about 9 people on Zoom, and in person) session are Japanese speakers, except for myself. I didn't speak nor was asked to, especially since I was late. English is likely tolerated. I think the pastor read one verse in English and then another alternated in Japanese. I saved the Granola notes to my work drive. I believe the pastor's using either NKJV or NASB for English and JCB (リビングバイブル Japanese Contemporary Bible - I couldn't this module for e-sword). I think I would try again if given opportunity and less distractions.
03/03/2026 Tuesday
This morning I woke up with a unique dream. It has to do with the demonic supernatural. I don't remember much now, but I supposed there was an encounter of the evil forces at someone's place, which I then encountered again privately on the street or something.
Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian, testified that Israeli terrorists are worst than Hamas, this is an interesting take, as I don't know enough:
03/02/2026 Monday
This is the challenge from the center (I wouldn't put Holy Post Media on the Left) using the nation's founding fathers' quotes regarding for ALL nations and ALL religions, against the Christian Nationalists of this country. This is always interesting to me because the Right would love to argue that "religions" just means different denominations of Christianity in America, and not other religions such as Buddhism and Islam:
03/01/2026 Sunday
Today, because of the beginning of the split into two services (duplicate) at Crossroads, Nadia and I were able to attending GCC's Sunday School by Pastor Chris. I kept having to explain to Nadia that it's not about "Tim loves Pastor Chris' Sunday Schools", but more about "I respect true servant of God." Because the content of the pastor/GCC may be too shallow for my taste, in fact, GCC gives me a vibe of hard Calvinism. Antinomianism is probably an unspoken reality as a result. After that, I gladly (Nadia may be feeling a bit uncomfortable) go to Crossroad with Nadia for the Sunday Service, as planned. I told her, that she must focus on worshipping God, not men. Since she couldn't stand Pastor Chris' sermons (injection of self-righteousness, shallow, confusing terminologies, etc.), Crossroads would be a reasonable solution.
Pastor Chris' Sunday School lesson of the day was on John Calvin, still on the Church History track. I saw Eleni's notes from last week which was on The Lord's Supper and Infant Baptism, which I agree with Pastor Chris as he gave us the lesson notes saying "you missed last week's which would be more interesting on the doctrines, and now we're back at the boring historical facts again." I agree last week would be quite interesting, but I disagree that today's any more boring. Teaching Church history, especially outside of the Seminary academics, really has a lot to do with who your audience is in order to engage interest in all aspects of the history. But it was fun enough, Nadia was actually listening this time, perhaps it's John Calvin. I then tried to talk to Eleni about infant baptism, she stressed she didn't want debate, even though I wasn't nor ever did debating her on this subject before, but we were interrupted by Matt who wants to talk to me about airlines to KL, now that's boring. Another example of how "Satan" could strategize the fall of a church - by preventing true fellowship in the Lord amongst church members. Anyway, Crossroads is doing healthier goals, we'll have that Christian Nationalism discussion soon in April for the men...but as Nadia would say, why just the men?...Indeed. Pros and cons everywhere, any church.
Posted in Art, Dreams, News, Theologization
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Satanic Panic
Google AI: The Satanic Panic was a 1980s–1990s moral panic, primarily in North America, involving unsubstantiated, widespread fears of organized Satanic cults abusing children. Fuelled by the 1980 book Michelle Remembers, sensationalist media, and dubious, recovered-memory therapy, this hysteria led to numerous false accusations, ruined lives, and innocent convictions, especially against daycare operators.
I believe I learned this term from the Holy Post Media, more than once now:
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History of America by Hillsdale College
This series maybe bias to the political right wing, but in the age of easy AI-fact check, all it take is some due diligence to learn properly:
Posted in Geography
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Journal of the Week
2/26/2026 Thursday
Allie Beth Stuckey doesn't care: Her bias is revealed when she couldn't handle false dichotomy about left and right wing agenda, she could only side with Trump no matter what (unless it's something Trump wouldn't come at her or her father of, i.e. IVF matter, etc.): "And this is why when people send me Trump's tweets or posts or he said this or he made this joke about the women's hockey team, I'm like, I don't care!." They sure can be clever on how to treat the general public (i.e. Her Jubilee Debate, Doug Wilson's interviews, etc.) but the fundamentalist Christian light is really just an echo chamber, speaking only to her own tribe.
2/25/2026 Wednesday
Stephen Tong on pedagogy, to not practice unwise stringent rules upon the children, 郭盈恩 (Grace Quek, AKA Annabel Chong) mentioned, the Singaporean church elder's daughter who had a marathon sex with 200+ men. Google AI verified:
She was born and raised in a middle-class Protestant Singaporean Chinese family, described as a "product of Singapore's strict value system".
Listening to what I didn't realize (or forgotten) was of Handel, George Frideric' Water Music Suites:
Suite #1 Suite in F major (HWV 348), V: Air
Suite #2 (not 3. as some mistakenlystated) Suite in D major (HWV 349), II: Alla Hornpipe
2/24/2026 Tuesday
How to build Mobile Apps using Rails, by Joe Masilotti. He's written a book about it. Seems legit for beginners.
This controversy with Eileen Gu is of interest. The Right loves comparing Eileen Gu with another Alysa Liu: Boo to Gu; Woo to Liu.
I was ignoring the lame "deport this traitor" comments by American right wingers until coming across the above video by Stephen Chan, and commented:
至於古愛凌，也有可能("U.S. already has the representation"-2019,"I'm flattered"-JD Vance)是美國競爭輪不到她，所以2019年打算投別國“服事” - no problem.
It's me hinting that he's been doing his ministries in other countries too, so don't be a hypocrite. JD Vance when questioned, at least knew that it may not be a black and white background story regarding Eileen Gu, but he's also trying to make his constituents happy by saying by ignoring a dual citizenship patriotism spirit.
Update 5/18/2026: Some fake news about Alysa Liu calling Karoline Leavitt "sit down, barbie" got me looking some related news about Alysa up again. It seems that Alysa's relationship with her father is worse than Eileen Gu's with her mother:
I wouldn't say Alysa Liu wishes to be estranged from her father, because there still seems to be some respect there. But some Chinese preachers/pastors prefer to be in denial of anything negative about the father Arthur Liu, if contrasting with Eileen Gu. Also, this is not about IVF, which is a debatable topic which I am leaning towards ignorance from the IVF opposition's context:
Posted in Computer Science, Music, News, Theologization
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God Does Not Forgive You because You Repent
An old post by David Tong, which is a good quote to deal with some Christians who have bad theology on forgiveness and repentance: God does not forgive you because Christ died for you.
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The Parallel of A.I. Fear and Automobile Fear (and other examples)
Folks who fear AI, are usually from the Fundamentalist (not very smart folks because ignorance of God's general revelation) church. Their argument is not different than folks who argue against cars back in the days:
These folks never learn from history. What were the common fear when Automobile first came around, having to transition from horse chariots to cars?
Google Gemini said:
The transition from "horse power" to the internal combustion engine was far from smooth. While we now see the early 20th century as a time of exciting progress, many people at the time viewed the automobile with genuine terror, suspicion, and deep moral concern.
Here were the most common fears and anxieties when cars first appeared on the streets:
- The Loss of "Horse Intelligence"
One of the most profound fears was the loss of the horse’s own brain. People argued that a horse provided a "second intelligence" on the road. A horse wouldn't knowingly walk off a cliff, stumble into a deep ditch, or collide with another animal.
The Fear: Without a horse to act as a "natural cruise control," people feared that human drivers were too fallible to handle a machine that had no instincts of its own.
The Habit: Early drivers were famously known to yell "Whoa!" or "Stop!" at their cars during a panic, forgetting that a machine required a physical brake rather than a verbal command.
- "Speed Madness" and Safety
In the late 1800s, the world moved at about 10–15 mph (the speed of a trotting horse). When cars began reaching 25 or 30 mph, it was seen as a reckless, life-threatening pace.
The "Devil Wagon": Cars were often called "devil wagons" because they moved without any visible means of propulsion, which felt supernatural or "ungodly" to some.
Danger to Children: Since streets were previously a shared space where children played and pedestrians walked freely, the sudden arrival of fast, heavy machines led to a high number of fatalities, sparking "Anti-Automobile" riots in cities like New York and Cincinnati.
- The "Red Flag" and "Blanket" Laws
The fear was so high that governments passed "Red Flag Acts."
Manual Warning: In some parts of the UK and the US, a car was legally required to have a person walking 60 yards ahead of it waving a red flag to warn pedestrians and horse-riders of the "danger" approaching.
The Pennsylvania Law: One proposed (though possibly apocryphal or short-lived) law in Pennsylvania required a motorist who saw a horse coming to pull over and cover their car with a canvas blanket that blended into the scenery. If the horse still seemed scared, the driver was supposed to take the car apart, piece by piece, and hide the components in the bushes until the horse passed.
- Economic and Social Displacement
Entire industries were built around the horse: blacksmiths, stable hands, carriage makers, and "buggy whip" manufacturers.
Job Loss: There was a massive fear that the "horseless carriage" would bankrupt the working class.
Elitism: For the first decade, cars were toys for the ultra-wealthy. Farmers and rural residents often saw them as "arrogant" machines that tore up dirt roads, scared their livestock, and provided no practical use for a working man.
- Environmental and Sensory Assault
We often think of cars as the original polluters, but at the time, cars were marketed as the "Green" solution.
Manure vs. Smoke: In 1898, the first international urban planning conference in NYC was canceled early because no one could figure out what to do about the 2.5 million pounds of horse manure dropped on city streets every day.
The New Fears: Despite the manure solution, people hated the "mechanical" smell of gasoline and the "infernal" racket of the early engines. The noise was so disruptive that some towns banned cars from operating on Sundays to keep the peace for church services.
- Mechanical Unreliability
Early cars were notoriously unreliable. This led to the famous 1890s-1900s jeer: "Get a horse!"
The Fear of Being Stranded: If a horse got tired, it could rest; if it was hungry, it could graze. If a car ran out of gas or "popped a tire" (which happened constantly on roads filled with horseshoe nails), the driver was completely helpless. People feared being stranded in the wilderness with a "useless pile of iron."
- Physical Health Concerns
Some doctors even hypothesized that the human body wasn't designed to travel at such high speeds. There were concerns that the "vibrations" of the engine would cause internal organ damage or that the "rushing air" at 30 mph would make it impossible for passengers to breathe, leading to "respiratory paralysis."
Update 5/25/2026: Other than automobile, I think another example would be the invention of photography. There had been great fear and suspicion that this invention was too real to capture the "dignity and humanity than this new mechanical process of capturing an image". There are many more examples I am sure.
The over reliance on AI (especially when you disregard the citations that AI can now provide), is like seeking comfort and help from tarot cards and horoscopes.
The pope has just released his encyclical (通諭) letter to his Church bishops about restricting A.I. I will read it only in my spare time.
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Journal of the Week
02/21/2026 Saturday
GCC Men's fellowship, led by Vincent, topic's good, which was on "Church Growth" but the content gets sidetracked here and there especially when others chimed in. I have no clue where Frank, who talked the longest (more than 5 mins, while others average to 1.5 minutes) thought he was going with some miracle happening in his life finding a long lost friend. The focus should be on our responsibility rather than the lack of before God. The pastor, Clyde, and even Phil got it right most. Phil's was a little impressive bringing Esther into the picture where her uncle told the queen if she does nothing, God will raise up others to accomplish His plan. That's spot on. But the group does err into the let go and let God false dichotomy: If it's my work, then it's not God's work. So overall, it's is shallow. A fail in understanding active vs. passive. A fail in the understanding of Matthew 5:16 ...let "your" light shine. Not God's light. Focus is on your (plural) light, so it's YOUR work (biblical), through the Spirit (Reformed understanding in Biblical Theology).
Clyde raised an interesting question: So I guess our failure was built into the plan? @36:24
The pastor answered: I mean, we're liable for it. We're wrong in it. We don't say, God wanted me to do wrong. He wanted me to do faithfully. And we have to look back and say, if I was obedient, it would have been better. But even in my failure, he turns it around and I learn this lesson, which I needed.
I would have answered: Failure was not built into the plan, but the correction or discipline of our failure was built into the plan. You can say failure was decreed. But you cannot say failure was built into the plan. Beyond that would just be semantics.
02/18/2026 Wednesday
It's interesting to know from Presbycast that there are more conservative PCA elders who do not approve of removing noisy children from service, having halftime in the middle of service for social activities and announcements, etc. Nothing new to me, I believe these are relative matters to be treated with wisdom, there's no need to absolutize it because the reasons they gave don't always work either: i.e. @44:48 "solemnity can be caught" by children observing their parents, which could also lead to hypocrisy without learning much of God's words, making the pew an idol. I also learned that the Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1647 - Scottish rendition) is Westminster's standard replacement of the Book of Common Prayer, due to the abolishment of Catholicism rituals, but this replacement didn't last long, resulting in the Book of Common Prayer still being used in Anglicanism while the Presbyterians use the Directory for the Publick Worship.
This is also the 2nd time (First from GRII) I heard of Zwingli's people having sausage feast during Lent as a protest (grace vs. work) to Catholicism's Lent fasting:
02/17/2026 Tuesday
Watched this done by Hillsdale College in conjunction with the White House. It's a highlight of Black people's achievements in American history from the Ring Wing perspective. Thanks to Google Gemini, I can always query any youtube talks/lectures by: "Summarize, fact check, comment and critique this:..." Here's an excerpt of what I get from the AI in italic, and its interesting critique regarding Dunmore Proclamation, British freeing slaves in America to fight against Revolutionists:
The core of the presentation highlights four specific Black figures from the Revolutionary era:
- Prince Estabrook: A slave and minuteman who was the first Black soldier wounded at the Battle of Lexington [02:45].
- James Armistead Lafayette: A slave turned double agent who gathered critical intelligence from General Cornwallis, leading to the victory at Yorktown [03:26].
- Phillis Wheatley: The first African American to publish a book of poetry, whose writing "stirred the conscience of patriots" [04:41].
- Lemuel Haynes: A minuteman and the first Black ordained minister in the U.S., who used his pulpit to argue that slavery was a sin against God [05:49].
Omission of the British "Dunmore Proclamation": A critical historical critique would be that the video does not mention that thousands of Black Americans also fought for the British. Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation promised freedom to any enslaved person who fled their rebel masters to fight for the Crown. This context is often omitted in patriotic narratives but was a major motivator for why Washington eventually allowed Black men to enlist in the Continental Army.
The Dunmore Proclamation, also known as Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation, was a historic and controversial decree issued on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore and the last Royal Governor of Virginia. It was a pivotal moment in the American Revolutionary War that forced both patriots and the enslaved population to reconsider the meaning of "liberty."
Initially, George Washington (himself an enslaver) had banned Black men from enlisting in the Continental Army. Dunmore's success forced Washington to reverse this policy in 1776 to prevent more people from fleeing to the British side.
Love this quote from SP weekly:
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” — George Washington Carver
After watching The Pendragon Cycle series (the Celtic-Christian fantasy-history themed film's not bad) directed by Jeremy Boreing, I was reminded that he was a questionable Christian. So I looked it up and was assured of what was wrong with his faith, so I replied on his self-bio on X:
of course none of it assures your salvation. Only that you're clever, at best. However, it doesn't excuse you from being ashamed to be called Christian in public. The smug mask you put on against "gang slogan" only reminds us why the offices of priest and king were separated.
02/16/2026 Monday
This morning, I went to sleep after sending Nadia to work at 6am. Woke up at around 11am, finding Nadia calling me multiple times with much worry because my phone was on silent since church the day before and I called back. I do feel very heartbroken listening to her worry when she first picked up my callback. She had tried to call everyone including my mother out of worry.
Posted in Faults, Quotes, Theologization
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Geopolitic/Economic Surveys & Reports Worth Noting
I learned most of these from Phoenix TV’s 石評天下 interview with a Pro-China commentator: Shi Qiping (石齊平). Though pro-China (親中反美), I do enjoy listening especially after too much propaganda from left and right from American side of reports. The following reports, though Western, are what the China side is attending to, so they must mean something:
The Carnegie Survey, by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 卡内基国际和平基金会
Posted in Economics, Geography
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The Closer I move my Spectacles, the higher the power: Vertex Distance
This drew my attention when I am trying to adjust my prescription from https://vr-rock.com for the RayNeo XR Air 3s Pro I bought recently, for extending my smartphone & computer screens.
The power attached to the XR (or AR?) glasses is naturally too high for me perhaps due to its distance from my eyes. While the center of the lenses offer clarity still but combined with the somewhat higher power of the peripherals, I could certainly use less power. And if I push the glasses slightly away from my eyes for a few mm, then the power decreases and I could see the clarity with better comfort. Less power is always less stressful to cope than too much power.
This change in distance is called vertex distance. So in my myopia (short-sighted) case (not hyperopia/long-sighted), the negative degree becomes more negative as the lenses draw closer to my eyes. And this is the formula for the vertex compensation:
To calculate the new effective power (Fe) of a lens based on a change in distance, use the vertex distance formula:
De = Do/(1 + d(Do))
Where:
De= Effective power (new power)
Do= Original lens power (in diopters)
d = The change in vertex distance in meters (e.g., a 3mm shift is 0.003)
Note on Sign: When the lens moves closer to the eye, d is treated as a positive value in this formula.
And there're calculators online for vertex compensation: https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/contact-lens-vertex
So in order to not risk harming my eyes, I would have to order another set of these prescription lenses from VR-Rock, which did not disappoint. I'll just have to measure how much distance is adjusted.
RayNeo Air 3s & 3s Pro Prescription Lenses × 1 $64 total:
Prescription Type: With Prescription
Model Selection: RayNeo Air 3s Pro
RIGHT SPH: -8.75 (+ $5.00)
RIGHT CYL: -1.00
RIGHT AXIS: 85°
LEFT SPH: -8.50 (+ $5.00)
LEFT CYL: -0.75
LEFT AXIS: 95°
Lens Upgrade: Anti-Fog(Cost-Free), Oil-Resistant (Cost-Free), Scratch-Resistant (Cost-Free), Easy to Clean (lotus effect) (Cost-Free), Radiation-Resistant (Cost-Free), Anti-Glare (+ $5.00)
Update 3/4/2026: Ordered a second set with lower power for vertex compensation of about 11 mm:
Prescription Type: With Prescription Model Selection: RayNeo Air 3s Pro
RIGHT SPH:-8.00 (+ $5.00)
RIGHT CYL: -0.75
RIGHT AXIS: 85°
LEFT SPH: -7.75 (+ $5.00)
LEFT CYL: -0.50
LEFT AXIS: 95°
PD:63
Lens Upgrade:
Anti-Fog(Cost-Free),
Oil-Resistant (Cost-Free),
Scratch-Resistant (Cost-Free),
Easy to Clean (lotus effect) (Cost-Free),
Radiation-Resistant (Cost-Free),
Anti-Glare (+ $5.00)
Update 3/16/2026: Turns out this latest order from VRRock is a bit too low, so with a little tweak of the older VR-Rock lenses (bending upward from bottom lenses while attached to the RayNeo) I was able to drop the power overall and make viewing slightly comfortable, I'm printing the specs for the newer one so that I can tape it to the box for storage.
Posted in Biology
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