Journal of the Week

Posted on March 31, 2025 by timlyg

4/4/2025 Vocab learned (Taiwanese、Mandarin):

嘴秋 = Talking big, vain.
窝囊 = 受了委屈心里不痛快
嗆聲 chàngshēng, “chhiàng-siaⁿ” = to provoke/challenge
勿谓言之不预也 = 是中华人民共和国通过官方媒体发出的最严重警告

Painting of the day: An Arrest, Painted by Christian Ludwig Bokelmann (1844-1894), Painted  in 1881, Oil on canvas, Christie’s / Wikimedia Commons

Patrick van der Vorst alluded this painting to Jesus' arrest (attempted) in John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30. Contrasting the public humiliation of just cause in the painting with that which was intended to judge the Judge.

4/3/2025 Thanks to Ryan from Reformed Forum, finally got this cleared out. I kept hearing "Doctor Piper" on Presbyterian podcasts and it was apparent that they weren't talking about the Baptist Dr. John Piper. I may have had it cleared out before but googling "presbyterian piper" and such just won't work when (if) I forgot about it. This is what Ryan answered me: Dr. Joseph Pipa, President Emeritus of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is one of the founding ministers of the PCA and currently serving as one of the pastors of Antioch Presbyterian Church in South Carolina. I would never have been able to figure this out on my on given Google's current artificial intelligence.

4/3/2025 Jared Madsen explores the Chinese poem Bamboo Grove Villa (竹里館) by Buddhist 王維 aka 詩佛. Using excerpts from the movie: 长安三万里 (2023), shown below this video. Interesting vocabulary learned: 篁 huang2 = bamboo forest.
独坐幽篁里，
弹琴复长啸。
深林人不知，
明月来相照。

4/3/2025 Painting of the day: The Death of Moses, Painting by Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), Painted in 1850, Oil on canvas, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France

This is a huge painting, Fr. Patrick van der Vorst related this to John 5:31-47, where Jesus rebuked the Jews - "There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope." God depicted on the left as Moses is dying before God, gazing at the promised land. The style of flowing drapery and muscular form imitates that of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings.

4/2/2025 Painting of the day: The Concert, Painted by Gerrit Van Honthorst (1592-1656),Painted  in 1623, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Fr. Patrick van der Vorst related this painting to John 5:17-30: I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me to illustrate the beauty in harmony. What's worthy of note is Gerrit van Honthorst, one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age, after training in Utrecht, Gerrit travelled to Italy, where he absorbed tenebrism (strong contrasts of light and dark) characteristic of Caravaggio’s work. Upon returning to the Netherlands, he became famous for his candlelit night scenes, earning him the nickname “Gherardo delle Notti” (Gerard of the Nights). His compositions are often filled with warmth, life, and fun storytelling, whether depicting biblical narratives, historical subjects, or lively genre scenes of musicians. His reputation led him to prestigious commissions from European courts, including working as a painter for King Charles I of England and Prince Frederick Henry of Orange. ~ van der Vorst.

4/1/2025 Painting of the day: Christ Healing the Lame at the Pool of Bethesda, Drawing by Perino del Vaga (1501-1547), Drawn in 1538-1539, Pen and brown ink, over red chalk, on paper; Morgan Library, New York

This Morgan Library is near where I work and I haven't even visited.

Excerpt from Fr. Patrick van der Vorst, using John 5:1-3, 5-16: At the top of the drawing, an angel hovers, said to be the one who stirred the healing waters of the pool...Born in Florence, Perino del Vaga later moved to Rome, where he joined Raphael’s workshop...Jesus’ question... ‘Do you want to be well again?’ I agree with Vorst that it seems that this lame was not too grateful and rather complained than answering Jesus directly what he wanted. The blind in the soul couldn't see true blessings. And it reminds us to truly wish to be healed by our Lord, of addictions, impatience, grumpiness, etc. Or do we just wish to blame someone/something else for any shortcomings in us. It is also interesting that in verse 14, Jesus did warn the healed sinner: "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." And the next verse just state that he went to tell the Jews it was Jesus who healed him. This is probably the most gracious act of our Lord amongst those seemingly unappreciative accounts.

3/31/2025 Painting of the day: Death and Life, Painting by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Painted in 1910, Oil on Canvas, Leopold Museum, Vienna. Contrasting death and life (vibrant colors, all ages, mother, father, etc.)

3/30/2025 Painting of the day: The Prodigal Son, Painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Painted in 1618, Oil on canvas, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

Observe the son's face (right), the owner's daughter couldn't help him. The animals have better colors than he.

Paraphrasing Lane Tipton: If you truly get the relationship of your gracious election and righteousness, you would probably see non-Christians better than you. I added this on FB: Why most Christians who claimed to be reformed, don't really get what reformed by often criticizing/looking down on non-Christians on certain ways:

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Journal of the Week

Posted on March 24, 2025 by timlyg

3/29/2025 Painting of the day: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Engraved by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872), Published Leipzig, by Georg Wigands, 1852-1860, This plate conceived in 1854, Die Bibel in Bildern, Plate 200, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud

Schnorr is quite unique an artist of his time. A Lutheran belonging to the Nazerene Movement: a group of early 19th-century German and Austrian artists who sought to revive the purity, spirituality, and craftsmanship of early Renaissance and late medieval art, particularly inspired by figures like Fra Angelico and Raphael

3/28/2025 Painting of the day: The Boating Party, Painted by Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), Painted in 1894, Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Fr. Patrick van der Vorst: Mary Cassatt was an American painter, born in Pennsylvania, who spent much of her adult life in France, where she became close friends with Edgar Degas. As one of the few prominent female Impressionists, she exhibited alongside the movement’s leading figures. Her work primarily depicted the social and private lives of women, often highlighting the deep, intimate bonds between mothers and their children.

Vorst reflects this maternal love on God's love for us as we practice loving God in return, based on Mark 12:28b-34 ...You must love the Lord your God with all your heart.

3/27/2025 Painting of the day: Room in Brooklyn, Painted by Edward Hopper (1882-1967), Painted in 1932, Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Van der Vorst's interpretation: Edward Hopper, influenced by French Impressionism, was a master at capturing solitude and introspection in his art. His paintings often depict lone figures immersed in quiet contemplation, bathed in the soft light of a window or lost in thought amid an empty room. While his works are sometimes associated with isolation and loneliness, they also evoke a sense of profound stillness, one that invites the viewer to reflect. In many ways, his art resonates with our Lenten journey. I recently read an article that remarked, in light of Covid, “we are all Edward Hopper paintings now.” However, there is a distinction between the loneliness often ascribed to Hopper’s work and the sacred solitude we seek in faith. As Christians, we intentionally carve out moments of quietness: not to be alone in despair, but to step away from the noise of life, to find God.

Phil asked me to play this in church before. I didn't and still don't think it's apt for church worship services. But it's a nice piece to learn and play, perhaps I shall duet myself and record this on youtube, starting from Timothy Chooi's interpretation, besides the other masters on Massenet's Thais:

3/26/2025 Learning Figma, a UX writer's guide.

Art of the day: The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Executed circa 200–190 BC, Sculpted Parian marble, Louvre Museum, Paris

I have certainly seen this piece at my time in the Louvre. Though it was too crowded for me to fully learn and appreciate it until now, with this art of the day email newsletter. It was originally meant to be placed in a fountain but became a symbol of naval victory on a ship's prow. Discovered in 1863 on Samothrace island. Head and limbs are missing, but its flowing garments still shows its gallant billowing through the wind.

Interesting that Fr. Patrick van der Vorst, the host of Christian.art, also noted the importance of timeless pieces especially of the classics rather than the temporal fad of many modern arts.

3/25/2025 Interesting secret for landing the software developer engineering job with the right resume building. I've loaded to the Amazon Photos cloud as well as my media drive in case this is censored online. Interesting notes:

What matters:
Prestigious schools, i.e. MIT (I guess I can just take a couple of courses from MIT-online), Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, etc.
GPA
4-10 years experience in the field.
Expertise in JS, LLMs, etc.
Longevity in previous roles. 2 years+
Startups matter
Diversity matters (i.e. female, black, etc.)
Citizen, Green Card
Founder experience is bonus

What are red flags:
Sub-contracted candidates
Visa seekers
Boot camps graduates
IT consulting backgrounds, instead of actual product companies
Big companies experience only (i.e. Intel, Google, Uber, HP, Dell, Cisco, etc.)
Fake profiles

Painting of the day: The Annunciation with St Emidius,
Painted by Carlo Crivelli (1430-1495), Painted in 1486, Oil on canvas,
National Gallery, London

At first glance, I would not have cared too much for this medieval art, but with Patrick van der Vorst's guide, there's much to appreciate about this Italian (Carlo Crivelli)'s work. I was in London and I certainly have missed this piece of artwork. The annunciation is the proclamation of the incarnation to Mary and the Catholics love arts surrounding this theme. This piece involved St. Emidius holding a model of the town (Ascoli Piceno) he was "patron saint" of, seemingly kneeling next to the Angel Gabriel. Mary has a ray of light descending from the Holy Spirit in the painting. In the foreground, apple signifies the forbidden fruit of Eden, a reminder of sin; the cucumber, to the left of the apple, represents resurrection and redemption, a medieval theme of the vegetable as cucumbers regenerate year after year and the fruit last freshly for a long time. The peacock above Mary's ceiling is an association with immortality, as the ancient believes that its flesh never decay. The background bridge shows two man, one reading a message handed to him by another, the message was delivered by carrier pigeon with its cage to the right, the imagery is a metaphor for the Annunciation itself. Everyone else is minding their own business, oblivious to the kairos, except for a small young girl, curiously peering from the left corner of what is really going on.

3/24/2025 AI that color matches pictures from other pictures to share the same color theme.

Painting of the day, The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return, Etching by James Tissot (1836-1902). Published in 1882, Etching laid paper; second state of two
Metropolitan Museum, New York(first of 3 pieces?) ? National Gallery of Art, DC ? Princeton University Art Museum

Departure:

Above first piece, No. III, The Return: Modernize biblical parable set to harbor scene by Realist painter Tissot, who love maritime arts. Observe the pigs in the background as well as the woman watching in awe/shock on the right.

The same artist has another piece in the Brooklyn Museum, set to the biblical time, The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l'enfant prodigue):

3/23/2025 The Romans Doxology is the doxology version we use at church sometimes, alternating between the classical version from the hymn book. At first finding, I found this youtube version to be more rich in chords for the moment, perhaps I'll also arrange one:

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On Pride vs. Selfishness

Posted on March 21, 2025 by timlyg

On Pride vs. Selfishness, I finally am able to lay this out more comprehensively on FB:

Not gonna play their Catholic game. I pick Self-centeredness / Selfishness. You can be selfish but not prideful, but you can NEVER be unselfish if you are proud. I'll just define pride here simply as: Thinking you are ALWAYS superior than others in certain areas. Greed is closer than pride to selfishness, depends how you define greed, but I'll still stick to self-centeredness to avoid confusion. Many think if they are humble they have prevented all 7 sins, but the root problem isn't pride, instead, by not tackling their selfishness, they've become more prideful (in a different way totally not to their expectation), more selfish, perhaps even more jealous. Leading to fake humility, individualism, idolizing family/children/spouse, offering the golden calf of philanthropy, unable to accept that a loser could overtake them, etc. all in the verbal mask of "thanks be to God".

The love of silver is really not about those who love collecting bitcoins, nothing wrong with collecting mountains of gold, it's the about bad motive behind it.

Once you return your SELF to God (viz. God-centered), then all is good.

From my phone's note on 3/17/2026: I know it's silly to have to define Pride, but American folks have been treating pride as the root of all sins that they really corrupted the definition. So here is my other definition for pride: A superstitious claim of one's own credit. Meaning that one does not believe that others' credit counts or simply ignores others' credit and counted them as one's own credit. Because of this definition, folks who are proud generally tend to avoid competitions, being judged, despite claiming or acting otherwise.

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What do you call those who have problem with fictional stories not being real

Posted on March 21, 2025 by timlyg

I have called this type "low IQ" or lack of creativity, abandoning an important gift God instilled in man. They would even think that the Bible does not promote fiction, that Jesus' parables do not include use real names, in fact, some would even go as far as considering Jesus' parables as real history, real events that actually happened somewhere in time. To them, fiction = lie/false testimony and thus breaking biblical law. I don't know if they are honest with this belief or not. It may not have started honestly in the beginning but because they felt jealous for unable to keep up with the metaphors, they committed themselves into such shallowness to save their ego. My theory anyway.

I asked ChatGPT and this is the interesting answer I get:

There isn’t a widely recognized psychological term specifically for people who refuse to engage with fiction because it’s not real, but there are a few concepts that might explain their mindset:

  1. Literalism – Some people have a very literal way of thinking and struggle to see the value in things that aren't factual or real.
  2. Pragmatism Extremism – Some highly pragmatic people see fiction as a "waste of time" because it doesn't directly contribute to real-world knowledge or success.
  3. Reality Bias (or Hyperrealism) – A cognitive bias where people overly prioritize real-world experiences and dismiss anything that isn’t grounded in reality.
  4. Fictional Apathy – Not an official term, but could describe people who just don’t see the point of fiction because it doesn’t reflect real life.
  5. Neophilia Deficiency – A lack of interest in imaginative or novel ideas, preferring only tangible, real-world things.

Some might even argue it's a form of "fictional nihilism"—a belief that if something isn’t real, it has no value.

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薄情 / 薄倖

Posted on March 20, 2025 by timlyg

Emotionless，無情。Common usage in boy/girl relationship.

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朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨 - 臭该念chou4 还是 xiu4?

Posted on March 20, 2025 by timlyg

杜甫的诗，有人辩论 “朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨” 里头的 “臭”字，概念成 “xiu4” 还是 “chou4”. 可能台湾人，读成 ㄔㄡ, 国内人则念 ㄒㄧㄨ. xiu, 乃指香味，chou 则是臭味的意思。

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Journal of the Week

Posted on March 17, 2025 by timlyg

3/21/2025 Painting mentioned by Stephen Tong:

Frederick McCubbin's The Pioneer in 1904, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, illustration of husband and wife starting a new life (left) - husband struggling while wife wondering their future, family (center) - new born baby, new generation by his parent's grave with the new city in the far background (right), Tong uses this to illustrate sabbath REST comes after hard work:

Painting of the day: Off, illustrating an apparent rejection by a young woman in a floral dress and straw hat:
Painted by Edmund Blair Leighton (1852-1922) Painted in 1899, Oil on canvas
Manchester Art Gallery, England. The artist is known for his pre-Raphaelite movement (due to the Nazarene movement/Christian Spiritual style painting: unrestricted by conventional academic poses of the likes of Raphael, Michelangelo) and painting style of women in medieval fashion yet popular appeal figure in romanticized scenes.

Painting of the day: The Rich man and Lazarus, drawing by Eugène Burnand (1850-1921), Drawn in 1899, Pencil and graphite on paper, Musée Eugène Burnand, Moudon. Burnand is the same artist that painted the famous Disciples Peter and John running to the Tomb 1889:

3/20/2025 Painting of the day: Saint Joseph and the Christ Child by Guido Reni (1575–1642). Painted in 1640, Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston:

There are tons of contrast, bright baby, divine, authoritative, floating light, first fruit; old Joseph in the dark, fallen, hopeful, worshipful, happy, unburdened.

I feel that Guido's Joseph's kind of old. He should be in his 30s, so here is my photoshopped version, thanks to ChatGPT's 5-6 steps (duplicate layers, spot healing brush tool & clone stamp tool remove wrinkles and blend younger skin, Soft Brush tool paint hairs darker in new opaque layer, Dodge/Burn tool to brighten and darken areas), instructions, Guido will be proud:

Famous Chinese claiming to be Jesus' brother, Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全/Hong Huoxiu洪火秀 (1814-1864):

I backed up the above two videos in my Chinese Films drive Under folder: 太平天国 The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom/Intro by Youtuber Jared Madsen.

3/19/2025 I wasn't aware that Westminster Theological Seminar (WTS) on campus study is free. Many Chinese believers believe wrongly that you need a calling to go study at a seminar, and by calling the Chinese refers to calling to become a pastor, preacher, etc. (so I'm not speaking of some generic calling, i.e. calling to do any "christian" thing like picking up laundry). WTS dispelled this lie in #2:

3/18/2025 Christian art of the day: Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (German, 1736–1783). A Hypocrite and a Slanderer, ca. 1770–83. Tin alloy. The title was given after the sculptor's death, so his true intent for this piece remains speculative. This is one of nearly seventy head pieces, or Kopfstücke. Combination of realism and caricature.

Understand these 7 optical illusions to be a better designer.

A very light weight lookalike for classic Photoshop: Fedit on Github, single standalone exe file under 800KB. Not bad considering the size, and it's opensource.

3/17/2025 On how Christopher Yuan view heterosexuality: "Homosexuality is fully wrong, heterosexuality is not fully right, it's a secular Freudian concept..." My comment on FB:

I can agree with that, that heterosexuality is more of an American-Christian view, not THE Christian view, nevertheless, I would have to seriously question Yuan's fellowship/family living, Jesus was quick to reject the kind of celibate lifestyle American Christians are advocating for some today, having the right attraction does matter, just not the American way. So singleness is not the result nor an excuse of a superstitious view of the lack of attraction.

Work, face challenges triumphantly, and always enjoy the Sabbath Rest in the Lord of the Sabbath whom we long, not just saying "Lord, Quickly Come", obey the Sabbath DAY, and avoid trouble. To say, "Lord, quickly come" is twofold. One good, one bad. One treasures grace, the other abuses grace. One is to diligently examine one's own life in order meet the Lord in triumph; the other is enduring suffering elusively until meeting the Lord in bliss:

A curious look at a 3 hour history of Music Videos, from this article:

3/16/2025 Christian Art of the day is Scenes from the Life of Saint Patrick, Adriaen Collaert (1560-1618), St Patrick, 1603. Photo © National Gallery of Ireland. To know St. Patrick's brief story, this piece of art says it all. This site explains the art. It is a good site to learn the Latin of the art as well. St. Patrick is also known for his shamrock representation of the trinity to pagans.

Didache was covered in Sunday School. A brief survey by the pastor, may take two weeks. ChatGPT and others can easily summarize Didache very well:

@6:00 Pastor: The key is to know what's real.
I think that's not the issue, as all opposing parties at this point in general do sincerely believe their own views to be the truth. The issue is always been who's interpretation holds more water, more faithful to what's real/truth.

@15:20 on Chapter 4. Various Precepts: My child, him that speaks to you the word of God remember night and day; and you shall honour him as the Lord; for in the place whence lordly rule is uttered, there is the Lord...Pastor asked what is it, Kathy answered: Is it saying that you should honor the person that is teaching you, your pastor = the Lord. Paradoxical view: I'm not sure if anyone in the pastor worship mode gets this.

@22:50 on Chapter 7, Baptism. This is a fun one. 1. Running/living water and cold water is preferred. I looked up, seems to be signifying cleansing nature of the living water as well as a shocking effect (awakening the soul) of the cold water rather than the warm cozy type of water. @23:55 Patty, as I have been anticipating since previous chapter of the Didache, as attentive as she has always been, finally had to speak up from her Oneness church's point of view, that the formula of baptism should be in only Jesus' name and not the Trinity, according to their understanding of Acts. I was relieved when the pastor answered it properly with the formula Jesus gave. However, I think the pastor messed up in @24:50 by conflating Jesus with the Trinity: "...but if you're baptized into who He [Jesus, per Acts] is, and He is?! Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as Son?!, then that's Christian baptism..." But at least this part is tackled against Patty by the pastor, that Jesus commanded so. Hopefully she will eventually learned that Oneness actually rejects the Trinity as a whole rather than redefining the word trinity, which is her confusion of it all and the pastor's latter part didn't help much in that. As for Acts, I've already done an in-depth take in another entry. I've told Nadia enough that she was anticipating this as well. So that was how I teach Nadia, through much patience in the theology and pedagogy of time. I told Nadia later that what would bring me joy is for Patty to want to baptize "again" properly. We shall see, until then, I am not making any business out of this since my priority is the Gospel and I'm not an elder.

@28:00 Pouring of water was apparently okay for the apostles. This results in a rather comprehensive discussion of Baptist's view. I told Nadia that Eleni conveniently (as a reformed Baptist) sat this one out due to her cold. Tom even made the pastor went on and on about infant baptism. Pastor: I do not believe Pentecost fully immersed all 3000 people. I tried to get the pastor say more by asking him what would the best defense of a Baptist on this. After he danced around (on what the word baptism means), I pushed, and he said, ask a Baptist. I'll take this as he just humbly admitting he doesn't know. He should think further as I wasn't setting it out to be a gotcha question, but at this point, I'm fine with it already, not surprising to me anymore.

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The Metropolitan Museum and Christian Arts

Posted on March 12, 2025 by timlyg

I've been wanting to do this for a while. First it was motivated by Stephen Tong decades ago when he spoke of Christian Arts in NYC. Then Ron Choong had his book about the MET's artifacts that linked to ancient Christian influenced cultures. I also saw from time to time, at the MET Museum, a prolific Bible Tour group called the OASIS Biblical Tours, which is a Jehovah's Witnesses affiliated organization, whose tours at the MET I'm not familiar with (wonder if I just piggybacked it for free instead of $39?). So I've been wanting to catalogue my own Biblical tour of the MET.

Christian.Art is perhaps a good source for this as well. A Catholic run program with newsletters and forums. They probably don't target the MET in general, but the first short article I was emailed from them was a white marble Table Base with Jonah Swallowed and Cast Up by the Big Fish sculptor in Asia Minor in the 300s at the MET. I don't even know I've seen this before.

So, let's begin here, with the MET & Christian related Arts.

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Journal of the Week

Posted on March 12, 2025 by timlyg

3/13/2025 Bible Study at GCC on Proverbs 20:22-21:4. I spoke more this time. So here's some disagreements and agreements:

Proverbs 20:22, can be looked deeper than "vengeance belongs to God". Retribution wasn't quite touched on seriously, though it's not the focus of the verse, it does beg the question, because it's important to not just turn away from all evils.

Proverbs 20:24, Non-Christian view was discussed more: "wanting self-control against God's authority". I tried to focus this from a Christian's perspective, as most Scripture really is targeting Christian listeners, not non-Christians and certainly not for Christians to laugh at non-Christians. Rob rightly pointed to Proberbs 16:9, that a person's active action is still important.

@18:30 Pastor rightly corrected Patty's misunderstanding of verse 25 in reverse: Esau lets go of his birthright. This verse is about claiming something godly, not letting go something godly.

@19:30 Phil rightly used the Acts 5's Ananias with Sapphira's case for verse 25, even though the pastor said it's more about deception. Those who rashly devoted something holy are falsely exercising deception wither one admits it or not. To the pastor's credit on this, the verse is a warning to the seriousness of making vows, the second part of the verse was not "apparent" by Ananias and his wife. However, the entire verse can still be applied to the couple in Acts 5. John Gill would agree with Phil on this verse.

@22:40 Pastor used Martin Luther's example of making vow to become a monk to St. Anne in lightning storm. The pastor seems to want to believe Luther did it out of sincerity, I would agree as Luther did fulfil his vow without a second thought. This is not to justify a praying to a patron saint or being a monk. So I think the pastor used this as a counter example to vain vows.

@23:46 The pastor does not condone marrying a "random" girl just because you got her pregnant, as traditionally imposed. I would say that the pastor is in direct violation of the moral law in Exodus 22:16-17. This disagreement would take a long time and I had a soundbite response/question: "So how is the alternative better, unless doing nothing is always better which is another error". But I did not use that, instead, I foolishly said something based on another assumption, that there's a chance for the child to be raised right despite the fact. I think Phil would also disagree with the pastor as well, if not more in the crowd, but only I, Phil and Nadia spoke up/question the pastor's opinion. @28:50 When Nadia challenged the pastor by piggybacking my response, "What if they meant their vow", she caught his Achilles's heel, because the pastor's response was a bit lame: "They meant it it's good, but this verse is when they don't mean it", as if the pastor was going for either there are fake vows, which is not the context of this verse, or that failure to fulfil a vow invalidate the sincerity at the time of the vow. The pastor is wrong again @29:20 "getting married for cultural reason", the context being the example he gave (so I'm not talking about everyone in the village is married so you must be married), because God does sometimes use cultural pressure as a secondary means of grace to enforce of his precepts, i.e. to maintain a family structure rather than some anti-family orphan upbringing. The fact that "your heart's not there, thus the vow is invalid" is also a stretch. Sometimes holy things can be passively moved by God. Also, the alternative can only be worse anyway (viz. Destruction of society) so man up and learn the vow. Other than Phil and I or Nadia, seems like everyone else's responses really just somehow missed the fact that they are comfortable with abandoning the baby or giving the baby away somehow, for I don't know how else are you caring for your baby rightly before God if you are not a married parents. The pastor would only be right if we are applying absolutely the principle of "other people's business is none of our business" which I would say is unbiblical for a Christian.

@33:10 Nadia rightly brought up Jephthah and his daughter. It seems that the pastor is one opined with the idea that he killed his daughter, which I would also agree.

@43:20 Proverbs 20:30 I can agree with the pastor, that this is not just about spare the rod spoil the child, but also corporal punishment. However, our differences come when the pastor does not condone non-relative's corporal punishment (@48:45). This only raise a lot of obvious questions: Define corporal punishment (i.e. does pushups count? running rounds? writing 20 lines on the board?, etc.), so the government has no right to punish...corporally? etc. I foolishly again to just claim that I was more familiar with corporal punishment when the pastor said [in the modern West] that corporal punishment is a strange thing. I should have worded better, i.e. "we, the East, don't agree the American way, but we also need to play smart by not getting into the legal issues of the West" @46:50 Though Esther's parents are wise to schedule corporal punishment, so not to mix abuse of anger, "despising you" with God's wrath, I do not agree (even after discussing with the pastor briefly after the session) that it was right for her father to apologize while executing the punishment. To quote 2 Peter 3:9 "...not wanting anyone to perish..." or that @1:08:20 "no judge really wants to kill anybody" [shifting to capital punishment--off topic?] being harmed and thus maybe apologizing (or proclaiming "regret") to the criminal for the punishment levied, still do not justify saying sorry or feeling bad or tearing up while executing the judgment. It is not biblical because like God, we do not mix justice with mercy/regret/sadness/apology, and certainly not apology. It actually is a kind of unholiness. Perhaps Rob agrees with me I don't know @1:11:25. Execution of punishment does not imply desire to punish. Apologizing in sorrow and tears does not properly convey the true goal of discipline (erroneously advocating compassion from sinners instead is having sinners own their sins and repent for the grace of God).

Proverbs 21:3 @52:15 Nadia enjoyed bringing up Taylor Swift's line "Band aids don't fix bullet holes. You say sorry just for show", to the pastor's agreement of the use of this example. and even playing it in the car again.

@53:20 Mary pushed beyond the decided last verse of the day to verse 4. I appreciate the pastor @54:10 being honest indicating he's not prepared to answer that after giving a brief explanation. I believe others have expressed praise for this rare character of the pastor as well. @54:03 On verse 4's "plowing of the wicked" Interesting that Elizabeth's Bible version "fallow ground..." is LSB (Legacy Standard Bible) which is from John MacArthur's The Master's Seminary in 2021. And interestingly, the word ניר H5215 for plowing or fallow ground could also mean lamp H5216 (HASB, ESV, NIV).

A comparison of AI: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity.

3/12/2025 So far the best interactive map plotting all battlefields since 2500 BC. Using Wikipedia as source.

Chinese titles for foreigners explained: 老外，洋人，鬼佬 (Cantonese)=白人/诡诈：

The video did not mention 红毛人(Hokkien), but that's self-explanatory.

We spent 3 cents to make a penny. Hence Trump wants to stop it:

Tin Pan Alley, 28th Street between 5th and 6th Ave., historical landmark for music, Mr You had a video at the end of this clip about it (the next video below this is the full version 5 years ago), I should open my eyes next time I come across it, as it's so close to NYGC:

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Total Lunar Eclipse and Photography - March 13-14 2025, in South Amboy, NJ

Posted on March 7, 2025 by timlyg

The AAA free class on this was hosted by Stan Honda. Suggested website for tracking information is timeanddate.com. Stan know photography. So this is in anticipation of the coming Lunar Eclipse.

Honda's suggested exposure setting:

Telephoto zoom: focus on moon
Wide angle: focus on distant building or bright light

Manual mode, don't use Auto.
Partial phases: need to "overexpose" by 1+ f-stops to maintain brightness
Suggest using spot meter setting in camera
At start - similar to full moon: ISO800, 1/1000 sec, f5.6
Closer to Totality: ISO800, 1/125 sec, f5.6

Decent wide angle shot with NYC skyline: 200mm lens, ISO1600, 1 sec, f5.6

Big moon is up at sunset, getting bigger each day

For Composites:
Need sequence of images at regular intervals
Suggest 1-minute intervals
Use wireless/wired remote interval timer or internal interval timer in the camera
May need to adjust exposure setting leading up to totality
Will need to adjust exposure for totality
Check focus every 20-30 min.
Star trail photography freeware recommended: StarStaX

AAA has tutorials on various related subjects on youtube.

This is the time table for Perth Amboy:

Magnitude 1.1782
Duration 6h, 2m, 41s
Duration of totality 1h, 5m, 20s
Penumbral begins Mar 13 at 11:57:28 pm
Partial begins Mar 14 at 1:09:40 am
Full begins Mar 14 at 2:26:06 am
Maximum Mar 14 at 2:58:43 am
Full ends Mar 14 at 3:31:26 am
Partial ends Mar 14 at 4:47:52 am
Penumbral ends Mar 14 at 6:00:09 am

Update 3/21/2025: It was cloudy, no moon for me to see that day, so I shared this on Facebook, someone (Tom Matheson) did a 3D stereogram of the Lunar Eclipse back in 2010 & 2019:

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