Stayed at Best Western Hotel the same day. Garden time: 7pm - 10pm
The next day morning breakfast included with the hotel stay was great.
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Why Jesus Wept
The popular explanations have always been a tad childish (i.e. "because he having the same emotion as other humans at a funeral", "because how ugly death is", etc.) Thus far, Stephen Tong's answer's the best one. I have come across someone else (Dirk) giving similar reasoning to Tong's, but such is rare.
Tong starts with the common theme between miracles and crying by our Lord, that it was never for His own sake but others'.
3 times the Bible records Jesus wept: John 11:35, Luke 19:41, Heb 5:7
John 11:35 is most well known and probably the most misinterpreted. Tong liked the reason to John 11:53, that He cried for the suffering of the stubborn hearts that took counsel together to put Him to death since that day forth.
Luke 19:41 is obvious, for Jerusalem.
Heb 5:7 doesn't indicate the specific. Tong believes this was in Gethsemane.
However, all there could easily share one familiarity, that Jesus cried for sin, not death: That how the world rebel against God, that the sin of mankind has become so grievous, that men do not understand the wrath of God that has come upon them.
Jesus was not recorded to laugh. But rejoiced on several occasions. So, it's very likely that he laughed. And one time recorded to be singing (Mark 14:26) praises, which Tong said to be Psalm 118, the passover hymn that all Jews sang, while sung generally in joy, Jesus must have sung it in both joy and sorrow, a paradoxical emotion no one can fathom:
Posted in Theologization
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Ancient Chinese Inventions
Other than the 4 great inventions of China (compass, gunpowder, paper, woodblock printing), toilet paper is also a popular invention of China, and here are more:
Umbrella: 鲁班 507-444 BC. Also invented 斗栱，锯。
Paper money (交子): Song Dynasty, 1023 AD
Toothbrush: Tang Dynasty
Hand Grenades: 震天雷 Song & Jin Dynasty
Mechanical clock: 蘇颂 1020-1101 AD, invented water clock, 天梯, from 一行。
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Journal of the Week
5/29/2025
Painting of the day: Jesus ascending to Heaven, Painting by John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), Painted in 1775, Oil on canvas © Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Fr. Vorst took the passage of Luke 24:46-53 for this painting with regards to the ascension of the Lord: "...Their poses reflect a mix of worship and human astonishment, grounding the divine event in human emotion..."
5/27/2025 Interesting: In his podcast, William Lane Craig defended the position that animals do not experience suffering or pain in a human sense, such that this is not necessarily a bad thing in nature, opposing the Young Earth Creationists' view of no death nor pain even in animals before the Fall, accusing the YEC for falling into the trap of anthropopathism. A form of anthropomorphism. The former more focuses on human emotions and feelings upon non-human beings or inanimate objects. Though there's some mystery to the distinction between animals and mankind, WLC is not wrong if folks like YEC could only argue from an anthropomorphic foundation.
Painting of the day: The Baptism of Æthelberht, King of Kent, by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in 597, Engraving based on the painting by William Dyce R.A. (1806-1864) at the House of Lords, Engraved by R. Anderson, issued circa 1870 Alamy
In the start of Christianity in England, missionary monk St. Augustine of Canterbury, from Rome sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 595, played an important role. Converting the King of Kent, Æthelberht.
Fr. Patrick van der Vorst on the piece (using Luke 10:1-9, on the harvest is plentiful): Our Victorian engraving depicts the moment of the King's baptism on Christmas Day 597. Æthelberht was baptised, a powerful public act that signalled not only his personal conversion but also opened the way for the Christianisation of his kingdom.This event laid the foundations for the spread of Christianity throughout the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and firmly established Canterbury as a centre of the early English Church. Our engraving is based on a painting by William Dyce R.A. (1806-1864) at the House of Lords. We see the king in a great act of humility, stripped of his clothes kneeling before Saint Augustine and the baptismal font. The bystanders in the background are not looking at the event but rather discussing whether they too should get baptised.
5/26/2025 Ok, let's see if I can say this in the shortest way possible: Stephen Tong's (probably last visit) to America is as he has promised last year, in the form of concert, bringing his Jakarta Oratorio Society and orchestra. Coming in July. I may go to the one in Philly due to time (7/14 Monday) and transportation (better traffic than NYC). Admission is free, so this is for God's glory and to inspire young minds. Below are the repertoires:
Repertoires
Suppé Light Cavalry Overture // Orch.
Dvořak Symphony No. 9 // Orch.
Indo Song Rayuan Pulau Kelapa // + Choir
Indo Song Garuda Pancasila // + Choir
Mendelssohn Elijah: Hear Ye, Israel! // + S
Elijah: Be Not Afraid! // + Choir
Lobgesang: I Waited for the Lord! // SS + Choir
My Song Shall Alway Thy Mercy // + ST
The Night Is Departing // + Choir
Haydn Creation: Sing the Lord, Ye Voices All // + SATB+Choir
Handel Messiah: Worthy Is The Lamb // + Choir
Messiah: Amen // + Choir
We already told Tante Lyna last year we're not interested in just concerts when she first mentioned it. The a few days ago, she texted me about Stephen Tong coming to deliver sermon on 6/1 during CCCNY Sunday service, with poster and everything, just seems like PR to me. I asked what was this for, she was frank enough to tell me that Tong will be attending his son's 2nd doctorate graduation as well as Peter L.'s father memorial service which will be in Cleveland. I thanked her for it. I think it's innocent enough. I told Nadia, had it been Rev. Lin, I might not reply as kind, as it would be obviously a kind of publicity for the church, which is fine by itself, but to do PR and making it look like it's not PR, it is despicable. Which would be Rev. Lin's methodology, at least back then.
But today, I got an email from Rev. Lin, offering me and Nadia tickets to the Jakarta concert at Carnegie Hall. I thought to myself, these are free tickets (that can be obtained online), why even bother, if not for some twisted kind of PR. But I tried to be fair, and kindly rejected the offer, because concerts are everywhere, anytime. She tried to convince me back again with some weird attachment that's allegedly Stephen Tong's own narration/bio about the concert in Chinese, but it read suspiciously penned by someone else or cut & paste from here and there. But this is not important. What's to note was that she tried to I guess persuade me with the fact that there are "good" Christians from her church that sing at the concert. Apparently, she thought these are the kind of stuff that's going to get me to come. I thought to myself, funny, I keep hearing lots of promotion of people amongst those who allegedly "support" Stephen Tong's ministry, but I never really see any of these folks achieve much in Christendom. In the secular world, maybe, but when I see them in church, some of them scrolling through galleries of photos on iPad during a sermon, some just don't seem like they care about the Bible much. Maybe they attend some church. Maybe they gave some money. And lo and behold, these are people you should come meet. Yet, the ones that truly want to step up and serve God, these are being rejected by them after certain degree of recognition, especially when the bad actors realized they had no part in the rearing/promotion of such folks.
This is clear divine indication what sort of alleged "servants" of God these are. The Bible speaks of them plenty times. Jesus considers them "strangers...depart from me..." Since I know not for sure how far they have fallen, I think I'll just ignore them as best I can. Unless I am opportune to smash their heads, as the serpent's head is crushed, let them go hunt the poor somewhere else. This concert is really for the young minds as Stephen Tong intended. I'd be as guilty if I just focus on bringing the kind of folks, myself included, who only care to be entertained and simply remarked "what a wonderful concert!"
History of Javascript. Brief account.
I'm trying to catch up my Youtube videos since returning from my time in Malaysia. So some of the Youtube posts here may be of videos from a couple of weeks ago.
Stephen Tong on laughter being blessings from God, not invention of men, as Nietzsche (Tong incorrectly attributed this to Arthur Schopenhauer):
Google AI correcting Stephen Tong: It was Friedrich Nietzsche who stated that "Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.". This quote appears in his book "The Will to Power"
Stephen Tong: 你对基督所受苦难的认识，就是你爱祂的基础. How well you perceive the suffering of Christ, is proportional to the foundation of your love for Him:
Jesus said don't be joyful because of the power bestowed upon you to "tread on serpents and scorpions", I would interpret Luke 10:17-19 as church growth in numbers, but rejoice rather because your names are written in heaven. This also implies that one's ministry success does not necessarily mean one's name written in the book of life. Also, Jesus personally took on the hardest ministry himself while He was on Earth, hence His disciples rejoiced over the easier tasks:
2025/05/25 Painting of the day: The Fog Warning, Painting by Winslow Homer (1836–1910), Painted in 1885 Oil on canvas © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fr. Patrick van der Vorst chose John 14:23-29 for this painting, to emphasis reliance on God in times especially of great trials:
we see a weather-beaten fisherman rowing alone in a small wooden boat. He glances anxiously over his shoulder towards a larger, more secure ship in the distance, with fog beginning to roll in behind it. The sea is choppy, a wave lifts the bow of his boat, and two large halibut weigh down the stern, preventing it from capsizing. Homer learned from the fishermen he knew that halibut fishing was among the most dangerous, requiring long journeys into the open sea. It was a risky business.
On the Sunday School at GCC: The Early Church - Post Apostolic Era to Fifth Century AD, Week 12 Rise of Monasticism.
@4:00 The pastor claimed that monasticism is not from Christianity/Scripture but from culture. I think this is a shallow understanding of how to relate to natural revelation. The right way of viewing this is "radical Christian monasticism comes from the wrong understanding of Scripture."
@9:11 On fundamentalist/gnostic view of asceticism, the pastor chickened out with "if you are doing these for the Lord, that's fine." It's a bad reasoning. The best view on this is simply various level of faith: viz. some people feel drinking alcohol will suffer God's wrath; while others simply don't believe that is true -> differences in interpretation of Scripture. It appears that the pastor could not deal with biblical conflicts between Christians to some level.
@11:00 seems that the pastor has problem with Christians doing their own thing without the church's approval. If that's true, it's historically insensitive as well as wrong view of ecclesiology: a confusion of a church and The Church.
It's good that the pastor listed some key names worth looking into: St. Anthony of the Desert, Alexander of Unsleeping, Simon Stylites of the Pole, Pachomius, Basil of Caesarea.
@30:40 P asked the pastor why didn't God stopped all these extremists that are twisting God's word. The pastor: "That's a question to God", Tom answered better: "so that we can learn how the church survived through all these."
@34:50 I think the pastor got the whole concept of Christian Monasticism wrong. It's not about "look how righteous and holy I am", but more about "getting closer to God by abandoning the world" - however, the pastor was aware of it when he related earlier to the Greek/Gnostic view on this. But it's hardly a pride thing, which seems to be what he was implying.
Posted in Art, Theologization
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Journal of the Week
5/21/2025 To know about Jack Ma 马云:
5/19/2025 After sending Nadia to work, I drove to Sandy Hook beach on this Monday morning (around 7am). A quick tour around Parking Lot C of the beach:
First time this year and free, right before Memorial Day Weekend (following Monday) until Labor Day (Sept 1 2025, Mon) 8am - 6pm, which they will charge $20 per car, for "parking".
5/17/2025 Saturday, I had Men's Fellowship first time after coming back from Malaysia and we did some church cleaning after that with a few (I counted about 3) ladies. I left around 12:30pm while the outdoor husbandry was still going on, as I promise Nadia to return by 1pm. What I did was basically weeding out the children's playground and saw off some dead branches. And I'm going to have to bring my electric saw (Joe's originally) some day to saw off some stump on the trunks.
I would have to critic on the Bible study which was led Phil this time as I didn't get a chance to respond during the session (nor could others) because as usual, Phil, like many, does not really do discussion, so it's more about "listen to me because my view is God's view, and then someone please end with a prayer" kind of deal, despite me trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. This time Rob also didn't persuade for discussion as he did with Bill S. last time. So these are the folks who don't care about discussion: Bob, Phil, Rudy (hopefully he changes because he was the only one I spoke to about this issue), Bill S. There could be more, but I only remember these. I don't think it matters I put their names here as these are just first names and nobody outside who even know who they are, and those who know would have something to do with this church and care enough to know in other means anyway.
I would say Phil's topic today is officially on the names of the Lord: El Shaddai, El Elyone, etc. which he asked people to read a million Bible verses. A classic Charismatic/fundamentalist move (showing off knowledge of the Bible), which anyone can easily look up these days in the internet. But his motive I would say is more about his struggle with people of sciences, or in short, people who study more than he, and he couldn't stand it, so he use God as his excuse to justify his own short coming.
Because of that, there were flaws everywhere in his arguments or shall I say...opinion. I would just some these flaws up as simply strawman arguments and thus, contradictions:
Strawman and contradiction:
- It seems that he was speaking of non-believers: those who try to replace God with science.
- But then he mentioned these are believers (strawman - as if he's confusing himself as to whom he was referring to), as if he's trying to say science is wrong, but he was afraid to do so and thus he said science is good. Which leads to contradiction.
2nd Contradiction:
- Yes, he love talking about election/God's sovereignty. And he had once affirmed also that some who allegedly believe in election are not necessarily elect.
- But he appears to speak of those who allegedly believe in such that they must be elect. I now wonder how he understands this as, based on his rhetoric - since he appears to conflate believers vs. non-believers often times.
Though he did not open to discussion, it was good that the pastor interject at one point for Exodus 15:26 (on Jehovah Rapha - the Lord who Heals), emphasizing the context being a conditional one: "...If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God..." hence I think the pastor aligned with my critic that let there be no confusion that this is to the believers, not the unbelievers.
In the new covenant, I think it is crucial to discern this. I didn't speak up because I wasn't sure if we get the chance to speak. So next time, with the likes of Phil, I should get ready to interrupt and speak up against confusion as it does not do God justice. Shooting blanks and patting oneself on his own shoulder that he's done a good job speaking God's word, but is in fact just an accomplishment of a glorified stage speaker in the wrong time and place.
Phil basically treats non-believers as believers and believers as non-believers with his strawman arguments and contradictions.
I would caution the distinction of the two: We speak to/of believers one way, and should to/of non-believers another way. This is not to say that we know for certain who are which ultimately, but that these two terms show that this is the reality of truth nonetheless and should not be conflated. To be ignorant of so, and to reject academic study of science and other fields without proper cause while also accepting science in one's own term is starting a contradiction. And justifying or confusion thoughts using contradiction is an offense to God, as it is basically calling God a liar whether one admits it or not. This is typically common of reformed-wanna be folks who are actually fundamentalists (i.e. Reformed Baptists) as they do not truly understand general revelation, a doctrinal contribution by ONLY the Reformed, because the 1689 London Baptist Confession struck such terminology out. And Phil fell for this, seeing that this was his background apparently.
As for how a Bible Study/Fellowship should be done as discussion or a monologue, I do not have a fixed principle on such but where there's too much discussion, then a monologue should be insisted; and if there's too much monologue, a dialogue should be promoted. In the case of our fellowship, I think it should focus more on dialogue since most don't seem to care about what others think, which is bad. It is pride. Unless one is certain of the correctness of one's own view and that others are learning from it, one should seek to find how others are thinking, especially when there are silent disagreements. A responsible host should care about it and not just discard this point simply as "I'm just a broadcaster of God's word, I've done my part, the rest is none of my business." This is actually no difference from a Biblicist (Solo, not Sola Scriptura), a stand which all true Reformed reject, but I am skeptical if any of this church, especially Phil, even know this term to its full definition. A Biblicist basically sees his own interpretation as the only inspired one and those who differ from his are basically having a low view of not his own interpretation, but of the Bible.
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Malaysian Trip 2025 April 23 - May 13
To check out my father, after his stroke last year, and the rest of the family in Malaysia. As well as Nadia's parents (her father also suffered stroke) who came with Willy (first time in Penang) to Penang for the father's check up at Adventist Hospital. Nadia and I also toured Bangkok for 4 days 3 nights.
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Office 365 MFA Reset
It seems that the reset doesn't really work from the Admin.microsoft.com Multi-factor Authentication tab anymore. So it needs to be done in the new Entra Admin Center: Users > All users > select user > choose Authentication Methods > "Require Re-register Multifactor Authentication"
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Rewarded Play Terminated my Account
After traveling to Malaysia, I was notified that Rewarded Play is not supported in foreign countries. So I contacted the support team to tell them I was traveling abroad for a few weeks, then they asked me for my personal information, after which they terminated my account without any reason given.
Rewarded Play had been consistent with payment (Amazon credits) for playing their games. But lately, it's been tougher as you need to play more for lesser points.
So I would say it's time I terminate them as well. It's pointless to even try to successfully hack their games (leave it playing for the minutes required and do other things). Delete all cache of the app and its games.
Posted in Computer Science
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Journal of the a Week
4/23/2025 Painting of the day: The Pilgrims at Emmaus, Lithograph by Maurice Denis (1870-1943), Issued in 1895, Lithograph on paper, Alamy
Fr. Patrick commented this art using Luke 24:13-35 (the supper at Emmaus):
In this lithograph, Maurice Denis offers a contemporary interpretation of the Supper at Emmaus. We see Christ seated at the table, blessing the bread. Opposite him sits the artist himself, portrayed as the disciple who has just recognised the true identity of his extraordinary table companion. Denis’s wife, Marthe, enters the room carrying a dish, while a friend follows with two small jugs; one for water, the other for wine, a clear Eucharistic reference. The print, based on Denis’s original painting now housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, reimagines the scene from today’s Gospel in a modern setting. Notice, too, the two candelabra on the table: their flames seem to merge into one. It is a beautiful image: our own light drawn into Christ’s, shining all the more brightly together.
I think it's unlikely for a modern Catholic priest to expound on Luke 24:25 ("O foolish ones!"), instead he would always try to make Jesus a gentle soul, impossible for anger and rebuke.
4/22/2025 Painting of the day: Noli Me Tangere, Painted by Abraham Janssens I (1575-1632) & Jan Wildens (1586-1653), Painted circa 1620 Oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque / Wikimedia
Fr. Patrick's input (John 20:11-18: Do not cling to me):
the risen Jesus says to Mary Magdalene: ...“Do not cling to me”, or in the Latin that titles our painting by Abraham Janssens and Jan Wildens, “Noli me tangere.” But this phrase carries far more weight than a simple “don’t touch me.” It speaks of letting go, of not holding on to Christ in the way we once knew him. “Cling” is, in fact, a powerful word: it suggests grasping at something tangible, physical. And Jesus gently tells Mary not to cling to his earthly form, but to cling to him in his spiritual form for soon he will ascend to the Father.
This is the defining moment of Mary Magdalene’s life. This is the instant everything changes. In the painting, she is shown in a graceful, almost reverent posture: kneeling, reaching out, yet holding back. She has just realised the gardener is none other than her friend, the risen Lord. Christ stands before her, clothed in a flowing blood-red cloak that opens to reveal the wound in his side. In his hand he holds a spade, a subtle, traditional symbol in depictions of this moment, and the only remaining sign of his humanity. Note how the tip of the spade rests gently on the soil, an almost symbolic bridge between the divine and the earth, uniting heaven and humanity in a single, humble tool...
The garden around Jesus and Mary overflows with fruit, a sign of new life and spiritual abundance. The image of Christ as the gardener is a very helpful one.
4/21/2025 Painting of the day: Resurrection, Painted by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), Painted in 1497, Tempera on panel, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, France
Relating the painting to Matthew 28:8-15, giving money to the soldiers to silence Jesus' resurrection, here's Fr. Patrick's input:
Our painted panel by Andrea Mantegna depicts Christ rising from the tomb, framed against a massive rock. He is encased within a mandorla, an almond-shaped aura surrounding the whole figure. The almond-shaped mandorla is formed by the intersection of two circles drawn behind Christ—one symbolising his divine life, the other his full humanity. The overlapping space, where divinity and humanity are perfectly united, creates the almond shape, expressing the mystery of the Incarnation. The guards surrounding the tomb each have different expressions in the face of the Resurrection: awe, belief, disbelief, indifference (one is even still half-asleep), curiosity, remorse. These are not just historical reactions; they are human reactions. We can see ourselves in those faces.
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Meta Quest 2 VR replacing 3D Cinemas/TV
More and more cool features with these VR goggles. I wish I have higher resolution (i.e. Apple's Vision Pro or even Meta Quest 3). But since Nadia bought Quest 2 for my birthday, which took me about a year to finally stop procrastinating from using it, I find so much potential with it: 3D movies, surround VR, I can also use it for 360 videos such as from Youtube or from my Insta360 recordings.
Now I am eagerly looking for 3D movies, SBS (aka Side-By-Side) format. Thus, the subtitle would need to be converted from srt to ass format. The best of such conversion tool for Windows is TheZoc's sub3dtool, with command line simply: sub3dtool input.srt --3dsbs -o output.ass.
I learned about 3D movies sharing by other users (mostly pirated) and chatting rooms like mirc, which are better than Meta's own meeting app. This app is called BigScreen. So basically I can download 3D SBS movies and convert the srt subtitle to ass SBS format and even share these movies with others.
BigScreen is very much like SecondLife, which wasn't really designed for VR devices as they weren't popular then. An alternative to BigScreen is probably VRChat which I have yet to sample. However, with BigScreen, one can easily create a conference/movie nights, sharing even pirated movies, in 3D. The only downside in BigScreen is the movements, which is teleportation based. So you can't really walk/glide around with your joysticks. I've seen some people managed to hack this (maybe they just physically walked around instead of using the controllers) and the only hack I found working was using Steam (PC) version of BigScreen, to do Gravity Reverse (floating up and down from teleported spots, basically). To do so, you'll need to install OpenVR (OVR) Advanced Settings. The author turned it from free to $7.99 on Steam but you can still do this free from Github. Simply download and run the exe installer while SteamVR is running. I'm saving this installer in case they remove it. The restart the app and the OVR settings will appear in Apps/Games Detail/properties page: Bind "Gravity Reverse" (float up) and "Gravity Toggle" to the controls and check gravity features under Motion.
Posted in Computer Science
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