Muslim Convert Sues Oklahoma Church for Publicizing Baptism

Posted on June 14, 2014 by timlyg

He got baptized, went back to Syria, was found out, tortured under Sharia Law. Now he sues the church for announcing his baptism online. Rev. Miller admitted baptizing him but denied the allegation...I supposed he was referring to the claim that the unnamed Syrian wanted his baptism to be kept a secret.

I wonder about Rev. Miller's stand on keep such thing private.

Obviously John Doe is not denying his conversion now, as he lied to the Syrians before.

If the claim is true, then both parties are at fault. John Doe should not that Christian faith is not something to be kept secret, yes there is persecution, it is inevitable, I'm not thinking as an Ameristian. Rev. Miller is also culpable, at many levels: That he did not teach the faith rightly, that he broke his promise, that he lied in the media.

If the claim is false, then there's nothing else to be said and John Doe should be charged with false accusation.

I'm more inclined to believe Mr. Doe. A proof of his torture in Syria is tantamount. Otherwise, it would be some cheap scheme by the Syrian people.

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Auto Text Highlighter

Posted on June 13, 2014 by timlyg

My AutoTextHighlighter app in C# gave me trouble for a little while when I use it in Windows 7 desktop. Was I using Vista before?

Short story version:

1. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2346281/vb-net-sendkeys-letters-duplicate

2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.sendkeys.sendwait.aspx

3. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms184658.aspx

4. Be sure to keep the app.config (*.exe.config) file next to the exe app.

Long Story version:

SendKeys.SendWait was doing unpredictable repeats ({ENTER} key). It turns out Microsoft was aware of it and blames it on .NET Framework 3.0 timing issues. Before this, I had lost the latest source code for my application due to Desktop HDD reformat/upgrade. So I used JetBrain dotPeek to disassemble my exe file. After that, there was a Callback issue with "garbage collected delegate...invoke" stuff. I had no idea and no time. So I fixed it via comments on the site of the globalkeyboardhook script:

you have no reference of the callback-method.
  After:
public delegate int keyboardHookProc(int code, int wParam, ref keyboardHookStruct lParam);
just add a new line with:
private keyboardHookProc _keyboardHookProc;
And in function "hook" you have to change code to:
hInstance = LoadLibrary("User32"); _keyboardHookProc = new keyboardHookProc(hookProc); hhook = SetWindowsHookEx(WH_KEYBOARD_LL, _keyboardHookProc, hInstance, 0);

Then, the source code is fully back. To fix the SendKeys.SendWait issue, I have to add:
<appSettings>
<add key="SendKeys" value="SendInput"/>
</appSettings>

to my app.config file. This is in the Solution Explorer -> program name-> app.config. Just before the text </configuration>.

After the build, in bin folder, there is another *.exe.config file which is the same as app.config. I made sure both exe and exe.config files are together. Perhaps it could release both files as one single exe file, but I don't have time to find that out now.

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Good stuff Today

Posted on June 8, 2014 by timlyg

Today's the last day of Craig's Apologetics series. The topic was: Election/Predestination.

A rare subject, of course I would love it if he does a whole long series on this, provided it is as today's format. That is, not too much reading, but teaching nonetheless, while at the same time give Q&A sessions, not discussion.

I am amazed at how he control the audience from talking too much. I supposed he realized this topic could easily get out of hand, when one's passion's too much from either the teacher or the students. It is good to call a stop immediately and be well prepared so you can say: I have much to cover yet.

I agree completely to 99% of what he said and responded to questions. There were always those who got troubled by this doctrine. Craig wondered how it wasn't so 10 years ago. Perhaps, because only today, most evangelistic work is done by the other side of predestination and thus brought in believers of that sort. Redeemer's ecclesiastical format welcomes just about as many types as them, so it is not surprising. Lots of "domestic fish" to catch, in a manner of speaking. That 1% was when Craig put God and unfairness together. He did defined his "fair" terminology. But fair is a good thing, an attribute to God. I would propose a different word for God or a redefinition of fairness. That such fairness is not accountable in predestination. God owns no one for that which He gives to His elects. So God is not unfair in order of creations, but He unequally distributes His blessing to non-living matter, plants, animals, humans.

In explaining the mystery of free will special only to Adam and Eve (posse non peccare), he used the example from Tolkien's Similarion where Melcor (Satan) realized he could make supernatural music-a special kind of free will that does not need to play along with Eru's (God's) music.

The whole Q&A discussion was very educating for me, in terms of pedagogy. It is great that Craig was very well prepared in his materials. I supposed only when he's not subbing anyone. He even picked on Tim Keller's brain whenever he could on the subject. I thought for Craig, he could have access to Keller anytime? Perhaps Michael Liu has the same obstacle with Pak Tong.

I see the mystery of free will in the original man as displaying God's capability to even create a creature that has free will to choose against God. This will go deeper into infra/supra lapsarianism.

***

At the 5pm service, it was Tim Keller (high five!). Interestingly, we couldn't access the balcony because there were no volunteers. I really appreciate the honestly, regardless of motive, which I know not. It did make me think of volunteering. However, my principle stands, that until I am part of their prayer group, I won't commit this way. I plan to join the Men's fellowship this Tuesday at 7am. The sermon was on Spiritual Growth from 2 Peter 1:3-11. Keller took from his note from when he was at a church where J.I. Packer was preaching. There were 5 points, he only had time to take 3. I remember only 1: To grow spiritually, one needs to be vulnerable to people.

My respect for Keller grew when he spoke of his impatience at his recent trip to grocery. Long line, cashier couldn't speak English well enough, grunting. Then, he remembered of the OT verses he read in the morning regarding God commanding Israelites to treat foreign residents well, as while they were mistreated in Egypt, God delivered them. (Lev 19:34)

Soli Deo Gloria.

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John 5:16-30

Posted on June 8, 2014 by timlyg

Two days ago we had the Riverdale Bible Study, led by Ning Ning.

I did not confront her during the session this time as a gesture of mercy. I only confronted her error this time after the closing prayer. It is regarding her claim that Jewish doctors were not allowed emergency cases on Sabbath. As before (on issue of her insisting the requirement of faith for the lame to be healed at the beginning of the chapter), she did not admit to her fault. She said "maybe the doctors were allowed today", when I emphasized on the word "emergency" and pointed to the fact that she did accuse the Jews of saying Sabbath is Sabbath, if you die who cares. She immediately said she doesn't know about emergency cases, and she became a bit awkward. I think it is better I do this in public during the Bible study. Of course, I will only be asking questions based on what they teach, I will not give any comments, such as introducing Pikuach Nefesh.

I am not trying to give Ning Ning a hard time. But teaching of the Bible must be taken seriously. It, especial pertaining to important doctrine, is not up for discussion, as Elder Lyna insisted on separating two kinds of Bible teaching (the discussion type and the teaching type). They think they could solve this problem by someone "special" like the pastor, who always give the last words. This last word method is barbaric, not to mention ignorant. It is not to listen to questions or reasons. It is belittling the minds of fellow believers.

I imagine that Rev. Lin probably had tried to comfort Ning Ning regarding my late interference. Her Bill Gothardian method is predictable, but destructive at best. It didn't work on others, I'm not sure how she expects it to work on Ning Ning, perhaps it fits Ning Ning's type. Then, there is no discernment of truth.

Now, on to the real topic, what I learned from the Bible study:

This passage deals with the issue of Christ's person. "The Son can do nothing of himself" (v.19), has stood the challenges of Christ equality with God. CCCNY used Arthur Pink's version. Which is very enlightening. The divinity of Christ is concerned by church Fathers when challenged by Arius. I believe Pink was relating to Calvin's version, apply only to the Son of God, so far as he is manifested in the flesh. Pink used "Divine glory of the Son of God incarnate" instead. Pink also rejected the idea that Christ was referring to himself as a servant of God here, which Rev. Lin used in her "last words" method. She used "2nd class citizen" instead of "servant". Pink rejected the servant notion to fight against the accusation of the Jews regarding Christ's blasphemy. It is about the person of Christ, the Son, the second person of the Trinity. But what Rev. Lin failed to realize was that Pink also said:

But before passing on to the next verse let us pause for a brief moment to make application to ourselves. "The Son can do nothing of himself." How this rebukes the selfwill in all of us! Who is there among the saints who can truthfully say, I can do nothing at my own instance; my life is entirely at God’s disposal?

She and Ning Ning did not get Pink. They were confused like the Fathers whom Calvin criticized, that they focused entirely on Christ's simple divinity and failed to see the logic of verse 19. Alex might have a field day on this against them if he were there, as he did Dr. Tong pertaining to the creation of Christ's human nature. It is not just about proving Christ's divinity. It is about Christ's dual nature: divine and human (incarnation, manifested in the flesh). Therefore, we are to apply to ourselves what is being taught. If we do not do so, it is merely a praise of vanity, which is a common problem of CCCNY. It is no wonder, those who hold to this twisted interpretation of non-obedience never serve God with joy, but merely seeing God's works as a burden to be suffered, and praising those who would suffer with them instead of rejoicing in the Lord in the work of Christ.

Posted in Theologization | 8 Comments

Pedagogy

Posted on June 7, 2014 by timlyg

First rule of pedagogy is to love the stuff you teach.

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Man of Science and Philosophy

Posted on June 7, 2014 by timlyg

The man of science is a poor philosopher. - Albert Einstein.

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ClassCraft

Posted on June 6, 2014 by timlyg

Classcraft.com interesting pedagogy.

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Did Jesus Make Mistakes?

Posted on June 3, 2014 by timlyg

I am about to go to work and I came across this article. It is from a recent sermon by Mark Driscoll. It is said that this segment of the sermon has been deleted...hmmm...I wonder why?

Driscoll claimed (I know he attempted to use "maybe" from time to time, but his intention was very clear) that Jesus made mistakes, while not sinning. Christianity Today magazine concurred. Patheos is not sure. This question is not unfamiliar to me. I remember Peggy Won asked that before back in Stony Brook and the pastor had no answer.

My conclusion is No, Jesus did not make mistakes. In regards to Driscoll's examples, I would say Jesus may even refuse to play baseball in the first place. As for having to go through trials and errors to learn something, I wouldn't call that kind of errors as mistakes. Spelling Jane Austen incorrectly would depend on how you do your study and research (It is normal when names are spelled differently in different languages). Careless mistakes is as abhorred as sin itself, in fact, it is sinful. Answers are plenty by doing a simple google search on: Carelessness sinful Bible verse. Jesus amazed many scholars with his 12 year old questions, I would not think that comes from a boy who learns by making mistakes. There are also verses relating to unintentional sins which needed to be atoned for and innocent accidents which are processed via a refuge city (ie. Numbers 35). In all cases, it has to deal with identifying different kinds of sin correctly and to be judged accordingly. The least could be misuse of wisdom (foolishness - a sin), though not hatred, but sin nonetheless. I cannot imagine Jesus would so carelessly slip an axe at someone accidentally without first noting the danger of the situation, the possibilities of risks and handle it. I believe any wicked setup for Jesus was prevented by God's grace.

I remember president Bush labeling his action as a "mistake". Driscoll calling his plagiarism conduct as a "mistake". But these people did not bother with what they were doing in the first place. (Lev. 5:4, Mat 12:36) If it had been Jesus, not that he would even go there, he would have considered the errors and decide what to do after that. This is why it is said that Jesus grew in the grace of God (Luke 2:40) that is, under God's favor, proper guidance, etc. We must learn from how Jesus did not make mistakes to be better, not from how Mark Driscoll tries to separate one sin with another and become even worse.

Lastly, I shall repeat, that those who love to think Jesus making mistakes have a very low view on humanity. Because they are not perfect, they want to see (not just believe) others imperfect as well. Nay, we must put the glory of God first, that is, the hope for perfection in all His children. Christ is a man, just as we are men, we make mistakes, we learn from them, but we should not make our humanity equal to Christ's humanity in such a way.

From this I have a new project (not a mistake) to look up and learn from: the meaning of "perfected perfection".

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I have No Association with CCCNY

Posted on June 2, 2014 by timlyg

I'm not associated with the Chinese Community Church of New York. Never have. I've watched this carefully since the beginning. They gave me membership themselves, I did not ask for it, nor do I see a need to fight for its revocation. I wouldn't call it a cult, I have mentioned of its pros. The key reason for my non-association with this church is:

It is not a Gospel-centered church. It has no vision. It values people to people relationship more than the relationship with God. It is leaning towards liberalism, or to use Jahja Ling's terminology but not intended by him: A "Social Gospel church". However, I wouldn't quite call it a social gospel church, because Redeemer is doing far more social related works and I consider it not a social gospel but a Gospel centered church. Spent a few days memorizing Redeemer's vision:

As a church of Jesus Christ, Redeemer exists to help build a great city for all people through a gospel movement that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal to New York City and, through it, to the world.

I would try to help them, because if Ravi Zacharias dared to preach for the Mormon Tabernacle people, helping this shipwreck [CCCNY] should be a merciful act rather than heresy, but association is just too much to ask for, I will not be part of the shipwreck.

 

Posted in Reflection, Theologization | 14 Comments

So much for idolizing patent

Posted on June 2, 2014 by timlyg

Patent Troll Ordered To Pay For the Costs of Fighting a Bad Patent http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/dju7qc9J8w8/story01.htm

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