A Skeptic's Search For God.

During the past years to fore, I'd always had questions.


Questions about the Bible.


Stuff that whirled through my head sometimes when I was listening to lectures and in church and all that are like :

• Everybody seems to just assume and just take it that the Bible is true. How can they just assume that? What if the Word Of God, Old Testament and New Testament somehow got 'messed up' during all those years of scribes copying and copying the scriptures? What if further errors happened when translating them into other languages?

• How do you know it's true?

• Can you prove it's true?

• Maybe the Bible's a whole bluff. Maybe it's not correct. Maybe, all those 'fulfillment of prophecy' that were 'recorded' by the disciples were just written by the disciples and anybody who wrote just to fit into what the prophecy said about Jesus.
  

• Eyewitnesses(those people like maybe the disciples and other people who wrote some of the books of the Bible based on what they saw) tend to exaggerate things a little. Even add things here and there to make things more interesting.

I didn't know much then. I hated it and it irritated me very much when I asked and people pull this 'scandalous' expression, like, "how can you doubt?!?!" kind of look on their faces.
I didn't like to be expected to believe without question.

But then I read and I read more and during those readings I had 'Oh' times when some of those questions were answered.

And recently I read this particular book, 'A Skeptic's Search For God' by Ralph O' Muncaster.

And I had a lot of 'Oh' moments.

Ralph was an atheist. An intelligent one. For years he believed and argued on the side of evolution. Then came along this salesperson who he happened to be arguing with, who challenged him to prove either that God didn't exist or prove Evolution or something.

And this dude, Ralph, he went through and extensive research(which includes mathematical calculations, ew) which more and more only proved that Evolution was impossible.

Which then means that God did make earth after all.

And then he researched the Old Testament and New Testament by method of testing out the prophecies and their fufilments and proved that, after all, they were correct.

Lots of 'Oh' moments, no?

It answered a lot of questions for me. I certainly recommend this book for reading, it's very informative and enlightening. =)




- Alexis -

Evidence of God

Your right arm is probably bent at the elbow now, hand holding the mouse and clicking away.

Now, stretch out your arm in front of you.

It seems a simple task to you, of course.

But what's happening is a number of extremely complex cycles in your muscles cells that produce energy that affords you to move your arm in the first place. That energy then gets converted into kinetic energy through the contraction of your muscle cells so that your arm can unbend and stretch forth and hold it in that position.

And other than that, there' also the tendons that connect your muscles to your bone, exerting the pulling force on your bones that makes your arm unbend. And also there's also the ligaments that are holding the two parts of your entire arm together - the forearm and, erm, the other part - that keeps your arm from dislocating most painfully.

And then I could go on about other stuff that connects to the simple, simple task - to us, anyway - of stretching an arm forth.

Many say that the world came about through the process of evolution. Many good minds claim that, after the Big Bang, a whole number of incredibly lucky events happened to eventually result in the formation of bacteria which then evolved into more complex organisms, and finally the human you know today.

Okay. Let's just say that, yes, evolution happened, and out of the millions of probabilities of combinations of atoms and molecules, the just-right ones occured to produce proteins and the necessary components for life.

But consider this, all those combinations might, and this is a megnomous might, produce proteins and stuff like that, but no way can any combination of atoms or molecules produce life.

No, no combination of any physical thing could breathe life, could put a spirit, a soul in an organism. For that matter, no combination of anything could create the human mind.

No.

If any of you blog-readers somehow can come up with an explanation for how the process of evolution could bring about a soul, I'm willing to hear you out.

So face it, there is a God out there, the same God who made you, who made me, who made the delicate petals of a sweet-smelling rose, who made the sun to shine.

And there's only one God.

Ta.

- Alexis -

supporting the school CF/CU's

some schools have christian fellowships(CF) or christian unions(CU) as a part of the koko activity. i kno cf is the more general term but since i am from acs i will use cu in this post. this post is mainly on my own thoughts and experience

REASON #1: cu is like a church, just tat it is in skool and we dun have BOB, baptisms, etc. wat i a church?? a church is not a building(although it will be a good place for believers to gather) but essentially it is a GATHERING OF BELIEVER. so, if us as christians dun attend cu, who will? unbelievers?

REASON #2: each believer has something to offer in cu. for this reason itself, i think we shud support our skool cu. we might not be the like the apostle peter that is known to be the prominent apostle in the Twelve, but each believer has something to offer to the group. so, whether we are the ones tat form the committee, worship lead, musician, lead bible study, speak or the more back-stage ppl tat helps by stting up the logistics, invite frenz, ushers, etc-you have a role to play. even, each members attendance for tat 1 hour or so is a gift to God and to others members. i can really say this from my time in the aacs cu committee: that each member's(no matter it is form 1 rite up to form6) attendance is a real encouragement. so, yea attend cu and serve in wat ever way you can bcos thru them all, every1 will be blessed
[read 1 corinthians 12:12-30]

REASON #3: the cu can and should be a beacon of light (and i like to say this) to non-christians and christians.
non christians for the very reason tat any1 without Christ is in darkness and as christians, we are called to be His light wherever we r, even in skool.
[read acts 2:42-47 *the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved]
christians(esp young ones but also for the older ones) not because they are still in darkness as far as their salvation is concerned but because by coming together, we grow together and we learn new things together. and the thing about cu is tat you dun juz grow by having Bible studies, but you learn by each others lives. being 'stuck' with each not just in cu, but in skool for the entire week, we see the side of each other that we dun see outside skool or in church.

this brings me to..

REASON #4:as i said, we see each the side of others better in skool when we are with our regular frenz. so, there's not such thing as 'putting' up a show in cu, plainly bcos the rest know you as you really are. for me it sounds kinda scary? but, by going for cu, you are effectively making a stand, tat you are a christian and this will help you in living out as a witness for him. juz make sure you live out a life that reflects your claim

REASON #5: for the continuity of the cu. if your cu is small and you dun support it, it will soon become smaller and smaller. and this wil have a ripple effect on other members. soon the attendance will be zero.. remember tat i said tat by attending, you are encouraging another? the opposite is true also, if you dun attend, you are discouraging another. and in the years to come, the cu as a club may no longer be part of the koko program. the result? difficult times for the members tat have to meet in underground cu juz bcos their seniors let the cu die.

sorry if this post is like so long. didnt notice it as i write it actually. but i hope you'll take time to read it and not just reading but to drive you to attend cu REGULARLY.

-alex-

Inter-Home Fellowship Quiz "Revision"

haha.. yes, the youth will be sending a 'team' to compete for the coveted title in a couple of weeks time. for that we need you-yes, you to join us.
our training will be during the usual YF time of 4.00 pm in the main hall. bring your Bibles and we will dig into the book of Luke.
see you then..

Okay, okay,

This blog is massively outdated.

But Mr President Alexander Lee _ _ is going to write something in soon, so check back, kay.

ahaha

P+W Team

This post is specially a P+W tippy post... ahaha


Chairpersons :

You are the people who will stand in front of everyone and lead the worship meeting. Therefore,

• Appearance is important. It also depends on the meeting. If it's worship meeting, Long pants(not jeans), long sleeve shirts and tie for guys. (brethren, okay. No gals chair. lol) If it's a youth meeting, look presentable. No shorts, singlet, slipper and all, kay. You get my point.
• Prepare before the meeting. Well before the meeting. The 'before' does not mean 10 minutes before the meeting, where you start flipping through the songbook/typing frantically on the lappy. Take the theme/topic of the meeting into consideration, spend time in prayer that God will guide you and proceed to choose the songs and verses that you'll be sharing.
• Let the musicians have the list of songs before the meeting. The 'before' also means at least 2 days before the meeting. Not when the musician is about to sit down with guitar/on the way to the piano.
• Sing into the microphone. Not beside, above, away from the microphone. It is there for a reason, as are you. If, for instance, the congregation is not so adept at catching the starting note, they'll wait for you. Yes, you, the chairperson. This is especially important when teaching a new song. The congregation need to catch the tune, and can't do that very well from just the musicians.
  
• It's especially important to start well. Fumbling, messiness spoils the whole mood, and it's hard to get back on track.
• Warn the musicians and practice well with them before teaching a new song. Otherwise the tune will get 'corrupted' and this is how hymns 'evolve'. ahaha
• Have a back-up song, in case for whatever reason the song you chose doesn't work out.
• Please give hand signals about a phrase or two before the end of a stanza or something so the musicians can prepare for the transition, whether it is to stop, go back to the chorus, repeat the last line or what. Refer below for hand signals.
  

Musicians :

• Appearance, as mentioned before, is important especially when playing for worship meetings. Even if sitting behind the piano. Because you have to emerge from back there sometime, and everybody is going to see you.
• Practice before the meeting. Preferably half-an-hour to an hour, depending on the number of songs. Practice starting(intro), flow of songs, ending, etc. Musicians do not usually play alone, so coordinate with the other musicians.
• Frequently look at the chairperson to see the hand signals. Nod slightly as an acknowledgment that you saw it.
  
• Remember that what you are doing, you are doing for God.
  
• Prepare the songbooks/chords or whatever you are using. Don't depend on the chairperson, this is your job. Have a backup just in case so that things do not get screwed up just as the meeting is going to start.

Hand signals :

• Stop - Clench your fist, fingers facing downwards
  
• Proceed to the chorus - Make a letter 'C' with your entire hand
  
• Repeat the last line(at the end of a song) - Close your fist and extend our last finger
  
• Go to the bridge - Put your four fingers together, tuck your thumb under them facing downwards
• Repeat from the top - Put out your index finger and twirl it in small circles, like the way people do to signal that somebody is crazy. Don't twirl your finger beside your ears, just do it where the musicians can see it.
• Go to the first stanza - Put out your index finger. Hand is upright.
• Go to second stanza - Put out your index and second finger.

I repeat, all hand signals should be shown early, like one or two phrases before the end of the stanza but don't show too early also.

Above all, remember who you're doing it for. =)




- Alexis -

And the upcoming event is...

Jeng jeng jeng...

The cooking competition!!!

Okay, okay... it's rilly fun, okay, so try to make it la, kay.

It starts at 4.00pm, at the hall of Klang Gospel Hall. ahaha.

Try to make it, okay. You don't have to bring any food or stuff for cooking, just yourself and your cooking skills, and maybe an apron if you value your clothes and have a tendency to splash when cutting or cooking or whatever.

So do come, and have fun! ahaha


- Alexis -