Indifference & Stupidity

Redeemer's famous quote: "The opposite of love is indifference."

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference." [1]

by Elie Wiesel in his 1986 interview with U.S. News & World Report and his subsequent Nobel Peace Prize lecture: [1]

The generation of indifference comes from the generation of niceness (as in foolishness).

I look at the academic pridefuls, when I see indifference in their characters, I search and find the foolish zeal of those who brought them up.

Update 2026-10-10: While Tim Keller got this idea from Elie Wiesel, Stephen Tong got similar idea from Soren Kierkegaard, explicitly addressing how indifference completely invalidates love, and how ignoring someone is a devastating act. Kierkegaard heavily unpacked the mechanics of indifference in his 1847 masterpiece on Christian ethics, [Works of Love]: [1]

Like Kierkegaard, Keller used this understanding to show that an indifferent Christian is a psychological and spiritual impossibility; Tong used this idea to ignore his slanderers: 主耶穌成了戲景被眾人譏誚就還口,口出兇嚇的話嗎❓唐牧師為何不回應人來的辱罵羞辱呢❓(希伯來書要理問答 第1217問)

Posted in Theologization | Leave a comment

Pelagianism

Pelagius, pious Irish who had problem with Augustine's prayer: "Oh God, grant what Thou Commandest; and Command what Thou dost desire". The first part of the prayer means "grant me the grace to do your will."

Pelagius: "If God commands those to do what they are unable to do, God is not just."

This touches on issues of moral responsibility.

So, are we inherently good? Pelagians: "Yes, the original sin has not tainted us. Grace facilitates and helps us to do good, it is not a necessity. Jesus is a good moral example for us in our redemption."

Sproul on Pelagianism vs. orthodox doctrine (We are debtors we can't pay our debts ourselves):
Pelagian: We are either no debtors or we can pay our debts ourselves.

Posted in Theologization | Leave a comment

The Law of Supercomplexity

Like Steno's Law of Superposition, I propose "The Law of Supercomplexity":

All diversities come from more complexity. The less complex something is, the younger it is.

Entropy principle may apply.

This could debunk the theory of macro-evolution, which starts everything with the simplest forms.

Posted in Biology | Leave a comment

Elizabeth A. Morton. National Wildlife Refuge - Birds supposedly come to your hand for seeds

Park near Montauk. (Photos From FB)

Posted in Projects, Travel | Leave a comment

On Abortion - The Silent Scream

A doctor's short documentary on the subject: Showing fetus being aborted under ultrasound.

Posted in Biology | Leave a comment

The 3 Idols Today, by Tim Keller

An article on Tim Keller's discussion and his book Counterfeit Gods:

  1. Experience
  2. Doctrine
  3. Consumerism*

The first two are very apt. The last one, consumerism, may only be applied to megachurches or declining churches. It is really not a Christian phenomenon. If there's a need to talk about consumerism in a church, the pulpit already has a problem. In fact, all that the article listed on this can reflect the pastors/leaders of the church. Of course, these leaders' natural answer is: None of my business, I've already done my part. That is the problem.

Posted in Theologization | Leave a comment

A Thorough Analysis on Jealousy/Envy

Terminology of jealousy or envy will be based on the ESV standard.

The two words (jealousy & envy) are very similar.

3 Kinds of jealousy/envy:
First, there is the jealousy of God. In fact, the word jealousy in ESV is mostly used for God, whose name is Jealous. Exo 34:14. In Eze 8:3, there are mentions of "the image of jealousy"

Then, we have the envy towards neighbor. Ecc 4:4

Last but not least, the more talked about "envy" is the discipline not to be envious of sinners/wicked ones. Psa 37, etc.

 

The OT Hebrew word for jealousy/envy is the same: ָקָנא (qana). קְנָאה (qinah) being the feminine. The English translations seem to use jealous & envy interchangeably with the Hebrew term.
The NT Greek words for jealousy/envy are either φθόνος (phthonos) or παραζηλόω/ζηλόω (parazeloo) from the word zeal/hot. The English translations tend to use "envy" for φθόνος, "jealousy" for παραζηλόω/ζηλόω. "Jealous" is used for the Jews a lot against Christ/Christians. In Romans 11:11,14 we have making Israel jealous so that some of them may be saved.

However, the word jealous alone is applied to God in both OT & NT.

Teaching on Jealousy:
Don't be envious of the arrogant, wicked:
Psa 37:1, Psa 73:3, Pro 3:31, Pro 23:17, Pro 24:1,19

Against envy/jealousy in general/towards neighbors:
"Envy": Pro 14:30, Pro 23:17?, Ecc 4:4, Rom 1:29, 1Co 13:4, Gal 5:21, Gal 5:26, Php 1:15, 1Ti 6:4, Tit 3:3, 1Pe 2:1
"Jealousy": Num 5:14-30, Job 5:2, Pro 6:34, Pro 27:4, Song 8:6, Eze 16:38, Rom 13:13, 1Co 3:3, 2Co 12:20, Gal 5:20, Jam 3:14,16

 

Thesis: I'm inclined to take Pro 23:17 "do not envy sinners" as a bridge between envy of the wicked and envy towards neighbors/in general. It would appear that if we envy, it is always gearing towards sinners. They may have degrees of wickedness, but they are sinners nonetheless. If that is so, then is there no such thing as envying Godly men for those who wish Godly lives in themselves? Because if we envy that which is Godly, the envy is immediately translated as seeking after righteousness. But perhaps we can still call it jealousy, sometimes, which will apply to when God made Israel jealous of the gentiles so that some of them may be saved. Though it may have negative tone and perhaps second to simply "seeking after righteousness", this latter part on jealousy seems to be a good one.

Posted in Projects, Theologization | Leave a comment

Vocab: Sycophant

WordWeb: A person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage.

Synonyms:
Crawler, lackey, toady

 

Posted in Vocabularies | Leave a comment

Ligonier Class: Church History II: The Medieval Church

Medieval = medium aevum = middle age.

Dark ages.

From the decline of the Roman Empire, to a 1000 years later.

Ephesians 2:11-22, a good reminder of the humble view of gentile being further from Christ than the commonwealth of Israel.

Elaborate PDF format of the outline at the welcome page.

Posted in Projects, Theologization | 7 Comments

Vocabulary: Chummy

Buddy-buddy

Posted in Vocabularies | Leave a comment