There are many who are under the illusion of answering whether one needs marriage or not; but the real question is whether one could handle marriage or not, which for the proud and selfish kind, the answer is generally no, if not against marriage, that is the logically and linguistically accurate definition of marriage.
If one does not wish to be saved, God is still able to save one;
If one wish to be saved, God is still not obligated to save one.
1. If one, like Paul, hates Christian doctrine, despises Christians, God is powerful enough to convert one.
2. If one loves all the heavenly benefits and gifts in Christendom, God sees through one's heart and knows if one is a fake. Only God's activation of one's soul allows one to love God. God's love affects first, at an individual level, not only to a group or community of sinners.
A true Christian pastor will be one who can dare to say to his people: ‘Follow me, as I am following Jesus’.
by Lesslie Newbigin.
Quote to use when some like the liberals keep saying "be humble"...
Those smoke/vortex rings could easily be mistaken as UFO.
It was Abe Cho. Scripture lesson was from 2 Peter 1:12-21.
Cho connected the "cleverly devicsed stories (mythology)" in 16th verse to Christ's transfiguration (v. 17-18), instead of resurrection. But I see it unnecessary to compare that with resurrection. Cho's 3 points: What is the Bible. Why do we need the Bible. What does the Bible do. I see no clarity in referencing those points.
When he touched on the subject of extra-biblical word revelation (which is the specialty of the Charismatics, of course he didn't say that), he did not come outright to disagree with it but instead, he described HOW one should read the Bible as how to fit into God's world instead of trying to look for how to live from the Bible.
I therefore observed that the Young Restless and Reformed pastors love to approach controversies not by changing the topics (that's the evangelicals' specialty), but "mutate" the subject in a subtle way to get the reformed "message" (not correction) across, but so subtle that the opponents of the message almost certainly cannot discern what has been said. Therefore, nobody was convicted, nothing has changed except that the "preachers" were convinced that they had preached what they were called for.
I recollected a memory of the past. Back in the days of Philadelphia when a friend, Jonathan Koay (who also claimed to be Christian, now husband of Sandy Ma) asked me to help him ship his package home as he was taking a prior flight back to Malaysia for good. He gave me some money saying that it was the right amount (I don't remember the numbers, perhaps it was in the hundred), but when the carrier came and weighted his stuff, it cost more, perhaps $50 to $100 more. I paid for the extra but after a hard time of getting in touch with Koay, he told me that he had paid me in full. When I tried to explain to him there was an extra amount, he stopped responding.
I don't think he intended to cheat me, which means that he probably thought I was trying to cheat him or giving him a hard time. However, this does not make him faultless. Whatever his problem is, after considering 1 Corinthians 13:5, I see two choices in dealing with him, which is not likely to happen anyway, but to the likes of him:
1. Sign contracts, keep receipts, even if it is $1.00. Yes, I keep no record of evil (I still trust some good in people) but I shall make sure I am not fooled twice. I don't need to do the same for other friends, com'n, it is only $1. But with the likes of Jonathan Koay, SIGN THE CONTRACTS! Friends, sure, I didn't refuse to help him after all, did I? It is his choice of whom he wants help from.
2. If there is no knowledge of who is like him, then it can be considered to just deny service when things go wrong and have his package left in the corner until a certain time before going to donation. Wisdom in this is to know this ahead of time and tell him before hand.
Son of a pastor (John Chang - who also said martial arts is evil), from the Siloam Reformed Church in Flushing, Queens, once said, don't think about the world, no politics, no borders, just think about the Kingdom of God.
Miroslav Volf would refute his statement:
Christians can never be first of all Asians or Americans, Russians or Tutsis, and then Christians. At the very core of Christian identity lies an all-encompassing change of loyalty, from a given culture with its gods to the God of all cultures... When they respond to the call of the gospel they have stepped, as it were, with one foot outside their culture while the other remains firmly planted in it. They are distant, yet they belong.
(Taken from Redeemer Presbyterian Church West Side service Reflection on May 11 2014)
Lev 25:1-7
The concept of a Sabbath Year is not a rest for oneself, but for the land. Westerners love to take this wrongly as a holiday for themselves, calling the opponents of this workaholics.
This signify letting others rest, considering others, not a selfish rest. Not to write a book or go on a research tour. If they really want to keep arguing, then they must not take wages during their sabbatical.
My rating: 2/5
I've skimmed the book briefly. Got audio version from youtube.
The whole point of the book is to discover loop holes in societies, systems, etc. Someone (Gladwell) who had submitted 100s or 1000s of applications for greencard lottery (old system) is sure to find David "broke the rules".
Creativity is not breaking rules.
Interesting source for political analysis, but I can hardly see Gladwell in a warm Christian fellowship manner. Christianity is not about how to be legal "cheaters".
The better biblical passage for his book should be Luke 16 of the shrewd accountant.
There is an audio book version of his book online. Some even free. Even that I lost interest listening half way.
Looked around for a while,
It actually has to do with the simple "how do you know what parameter (for Buy or Sell) to use in the OrderClose. I had used Bid price all the time, so for a sell order, it couldn't close as it needs Ask price, instead of Bid.
