Game: Seen on Screen

An interesting puzzle game. You click on things on the screen based on short cryptic clues. I finished it, so if you need hints, let me know through the comments. Lev 13 was difficult, i think because it's wrong.

What Christmas means to me

I don't care that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25, 0 AD. To me, that isn't what Christmas is all about. It's not a birthday party, where we bring out a cake and approximately 2010 candles; we don't decorate the room with festive banners, and play pin the tail on the sheep. In fact, did you know that the early Church frowned on celebrating birthdays? Origen, a great theologian of the early Church, in one of his commentaries wrote: "Some one of those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man." I know it's hard to understand that old writing, but basically it's saying, only bad men celebrate birthdays. He said to look as an example the Pharaoh and Herod. He also went on to further say, no righteous man in the Bible ever celebrated a birthday. I could never make such a bold statement, since I'm not Bible scholar, but apparently that's all he did, study the Bible even in its original Hebrew.

Nope, for me Christmas isn't about birthdays, keeping score of how old Jesus was. To me, Christmas is about honoring Jesus, and remembering the time He abased himself and became mortal. To me, Christmas is tightly intertwined with Easter, the two bookends of my salvation. One cannot exist without the other. Christmas is the celebration of the beginning of grace, of forgiveness. Yes, I still indulge in all the trappings of Christmas, giving gifts to my family, singing carols, go to Christmas concerts. It's fun, and a good diversion from the rest of the mundane, which is my life. I still participate in my Church's Christmas program, even if it is only for entertainment. However, I always remember that Christmas isn't just a festival celebrated once a year. It's in my heart 24/7/365. It's a mindset, that Heaven came down, and Glory filled my soul.

What kind of gifts are you expecting? For me, I want good health for my family. I want my entire family to stay strong with the Lord. I wouldn't mind more of them reading my blog, but only God can make the impossible, possible :) So, have some eggnog, relax with your family and friends, forget about work. Click on all the links I've provided over this past year, I promise you'll find at least one thing to enjoy. I'm going to be on vacation next week, so you'll prolly not hear from me till Next Year. Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year everyone! Peace.

Christmas Myths (Pt 1)

Well, it's here. Christmas. The word has different meaning to everyone, based on their religion, race, culture. To some it means skiing, to others it brings memories of jam-packed malls and outrageous sales, and to others, it evokes images of Church Christmas play or Church potlucks. And to some, it brings memories of the Birth of Jesus.

Lately, there has been a huge backlash against Christmas, from both the conservative Christians and from the atheists. It's interesting how two polar opposites can agree on one thing about Christmas, they both don't like what it represents today.

Now, take your kids out of the room, because this blog is for mature readers only. Most of the Christmas story is a myth. Now, there are many attacks on the Nativity story, but I'm only going to deal with the ones that can be supported solely from the Bible.

Genealogy of Jesus
The two major Birth stories occur in Matthew (1:1-16) and in Luke (3:23-37). And both of them thoughtfully include the genealogy of Jesus. If you're at all like me, once I see a huge list of names, my eyes kinda glaze over, and I drift through each line and verse until I see a normal paragraph again. And if you are like me, you would not have noticed that the two genealogies are vastly different. First, Matthew traces Jesus to Abraham, while Luke traces it further back to Adam. Scholars believe this is because the author was writing to different audiences. The branch or split occurs after the David. Matthew traces Jesus' lineage along the bloodline of Solomon, while Luke traces it along the bloodline of Nathan. No one knows for sure which is correct.

Three Kings of Orient
This is taken from Matthew. First of all, they weren't kings. Matthew called them Magi, or wise men (Mat 2:1). Most likely they were astrologers, people who divined events of importance from looking at the stars. Second of all, there weren't three of them. Or maybe there were. But we don't know for sure. Matthew just mentions them in the plural sense throughout the passage. Now, I'm guessing that whoever wrote that song thought it would be fitting for there to be three because Matthew mentioned three gifts that they brought (Mat 2:11). So wouldn't it be cool for a song for each king to bring one gift?

King Herod and the Execution order
Because the Three Kings were long associated with Jesus' birth, it was only natural to include Herod as the bad guy in this story. After all, he was the one who pointed them to Bethlehem.(Mat 2:8) However, his inclusion in the Nativity story should be minimal at best. When the magi finally came to Israel, Jesus was already a boy. And based on Herod's execution order, we can deduce that he was around two. That's why Herod ordered all children under 2 (Mat 2:16). If Jesus was still a baby, when Herod found out about this new King of the Jews, he would most likely have ordered the deaths of all babies or persons under the age of 1. It might have been a safety move on his part to have the 2 year olds killed too, but what's the chances of someone mistaking a 2 year old with a baby boy?

Jesus was born December 25th
First of all, no one knows the exact date of Jesus birth. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. And if you are Chinese, Vietnamese or Persian, you know what that means. It's hard to convert a lunar calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. There's always a floating month every couple of years. So it's hard to pinpoint exactly when Jesus was born in the Hebrew Calendar, and even then you have to convert it to Gregorian system, which will totally be off. But, even though we don't know the exact date, the Bible gives us a time-frame, or season-frame as the case may be. Luke writes about a bunch of shepherds living out in the fields, tending their flocks at night (Luke 2:8). Do you think this would happen during the winter, which is where December would fall? It's highly unlikely. The most plausible explanation is either spring or summer, when it is still warm enough outside for shepherds to live in the open.

So, why December 25th then? As is the reason behind Halloween, we must look at the early century Church. Going along with the program of adopting pagan rituals and "Christianizing" them, they incorporated all the winter festivals and feasts and changed them to Christmas, the birthday of Jesus. There were three major pagan festivals around December, Saturnalia, Natalis Solis Invicti, and one that should sound very familiar, Yule.

Video: Scary Mary

A long time ago (maybe last year?) there was a small internet fad of taking movies and re-editing them to different genres. So, here I bring you Mary Poppins, the Horror movie: Scary Mary.

Game: Pacman-like game

There was an old freebie game where you draw lines to divide the screen up from the bouncing balls. This is something similar, only it uses Pacman and the ghosts and powerups. Pretty fun. Check it out.

Arlington Wreaths

A very uplifting story about a man's desire to never let soldiers be forgotten.

Rituals (Pt 2)

Rituals, by its very nature are not a bad idea. If they were, people wouldn't be using them so often, not just in religious ceremonies (as rituals are most often associated with) but even in every day life. Don't you have a morning "ritual"? I know I do. Get up, do the toilet tango, brush my teeth, shower, comb my hair, dress up and dash downstairs as I'm late for work. I'm sure you have one too. Most likely upon waking up, you don't randomly do your various waking up tasks, like putting on clothes, then brushing your teeth, then jump in the shower, then do your business. So, do you see why rituals are important? With a routine, it allows our bodies to do the basic tasks while the brain is focused on more important things (like waking up). Rituals ensure that everything we need to do, will be done, without the brain worrying about every step. It allows our brains to go on auto-pilot. Can you imagine the added stress it would cause us, if we have to consciously remember everything we do? Just the sheer thought would probably motivate you to stay in bed. It's easier :P

Rituals also give us comfort. Most humans feel safe around a controlled environment. It's why everyone feels safest at home, even though there is no mathematical reason why it is so. You are still just as likely to get robbed or cheated while at home then at the office or in your car on the way to work. No, the comfort of home is in the control people have over their environment. Things are where they are expected to be. Rituals in a way allow us to control certain aspects of our life. Driving the same route to work every day is a comforting ritual. You know exactly how far to drive, which exit to get off on, which street to turn into. Imagine what it would be like if your company switched locations every day. You would have to get a new map, get lost, drive slowly looking for the right street while people behind you are honking and throwing fingers at you. Not exactly a good way to start the day, right?

So, the same reasons apply to religious rituals. There are entire denominations that rely on rituals. Catholics are very ritual-centric, but I would say that Greek Orthodox are the most ritualistic. I once went down to a friend's wedding with a Greek Orthodox. The interesting thing was he wasn't born into that faith. He was actually a Baptist. But after he dropped out of military academy, he grew his hair long, sported a beard, and started to attend a Greek Orthodox Church. I was naturally curious about his decision, and he began to tell me why. Now bear in mind, this conversation happened about 4 years ago, and I've been told I mishear things all the time, so this may not be too accurate. However, from what I understand, the essence of worshiping God is not in the preaching, the praise service, or even the prayers. The repetition of the liturgy, vespers, and prayers, allow our minds to commune with God. By taking away all the distractions of our bodies, we are free to focus on the divinity itself. Just like the morning rituals we all do when we wake up, instead of worrying about what songs to sing, what the sermon is going to be about, we can instead focus on loving God, being in His Presence. The prayer books, the sermons have been written hundreds of years ago, by the powerful Christian thinkers of that time. They have been passed down from century to century, every word carefully preserved. And the purpose of them is to be familiar, comforting, to be as stress-free as possible. So that the worshiper can focus just on God.

To be honest, it's hard for me, personally, to give good reasons why it is best to have traditions in Church worship. So, I will end with a paragraph taken from a true and fervent believer in ritual worship, Mr. Lewis.

..Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they don't go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to these things best - if you like, it "works" best - when through long familiarity, we don't have to think about it. As long as you notice and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping...
Thus my whole liturgiological position really boils down to an entreaty for permanence and uniformity. I can make do with almost any kind of service whatever, if only it will stay put. But if each form is snatched away just when I am beginning to feel at home in it, then I can never make any progress in the art of worship." (Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer, pp 4-5)

If you are interested in other topics about the ritual of Service, check out this paper, by a Reformed Presbyterian Pastor. Peace out.

Video: Creep you out

Do you remember Jibjab, who made their 10 minutes of fame with that Bush and Kerry "Our land"? Well, combine their zany animation with Weird Al's great humor, and you get this.

Rituals (Xmas)

Rituals have such a bad connotation nowadays.  When I say (write) the word ritual, what’s the first thing that pops in your head?  For me, I get the sense of over-used, trite, lifeless.  Tired is often an adjective that gets lumped in with ritual, much like fiery temper or stony silence.  Tired rituals.  It’s become a cliché now.  And when people suggest doing something that’s been done before, instead of saying “It sucks”, they would say, “That’s so ritualized now”.  Well, probably not the common man, but, maybe common English majors?  

But rituals aren’t a bad thing.  Rituals have a sense of tradition, a feeling of history.  When the ritual first began, it held some importance to a group of people.  That’s how they start at any rate.  For example, when I say Independence Day, what comes into your head?  Fireworks, hotdogs, family barbeques…  But if you said the same thing to people in 1800’s, what do you think they would think of?  Fireworks, sausages, witch burnings… whoops, just kidding!  No, they probably would think, boy it’s great to be free of those pesky English!  This is a great day to celebrate our freedom!  Then the Easterners would paint their faces in blue paint and wear skirts with no underwear.  I might be getting it mixed up with the Scottish, but y’know, same difference.

Let’s look at another more important ritual.  Christmas.  Malls, sales, crowds, jostling with every one to get into the paying line.  Santa Claus sitting in the chair taking pictures, Santa Claus in the movies, Santa Claus outside the store ringing that bell with a red bucket on a tripod.  There’s the incessant rushing around to various Christmas parties, the Christmas dancing, the Christmas plays.  Shopping in a crowded mall with thousands of kids screaming all at the tops of their lungs while Christmas music blares into your eardrums and the wild festive colors of red and green assault the senses.  It’s enough to drive anyone insane, no wonder people are fed up with that holiday season.  It’s gotten so bad, that people actually start dreading the holiday season.  I’m one of them.

Christmas as a ritual, is a “Bad thing”.  But then, if you see it as a contemporary ritual, you are missing the point.  Rituals are all about the original intent.  If you look past the gifts, eggnog and cheer, you’ll see something that is most basic and fundamental.  It’s about the birth of salvation.  If you perform a ritual from the heart, that’s a “Good Thing”.  And that’s what we forget.  When we perform a ritual, don’t just go through the motions.  Remember why we are celebrating it in the first place.  In this case, live in the past.  Feel the way the pioneers of that tradition felt when they started it.  This just doesn’t apply to Christmas either.  Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, even President’s and Veteran’s Day.  They are all rituals that celebrate something important, and if you don’t know what that is, then maybe you should take the time to look it up.  Rituals don’t also have to be holidays either.  There’s the ritual, or rite, of the sacrament, of baptism, of marriage.  Do you ever say those are tired traditions?  

If you do, then maybe it’s time to stop doing it, and reflect why it is you are doing it.  Trust me, I don’t think the Church or God will be offended.

Top College Pranks

A list of the top 10 college hoaxes as compiled by the Museum of hoaxes. Each hoax is described and reasons are given why it should be in the top 10. Most are pretty amusing.

Quiz: Where have I seen this guy?

Happy Monday! Here's a quiz for all you movie star buffs. A very hard quiz on supporting actors. I only managed an 8.

Game: The Car

Another point and click adventure. This time about a experimental car. It wasn't too bad. Just remember to click view object on the items you pick up. If you're stuck, drop me a line and I'll see if I can help you out.

100 Greatest TV Quotes

TV Land is going to air a week-long series on the 100 greatest TV Quotes starting Dec 11. Here's the advanced list in alphabetical order. You'll just have to tune in to see which is number one! Interestingly, I think SNL has the most quotes. Seinfeld has one! Yay!

Motives (Pt 2)

Sorry for the lateness of this post, but the dog ate my journal. So that I don't confuse myself, I'm posting it under Thursday, even though I wrote it today, Friday.

Today’s topic is kinda related to my previous column, about motives and intents. However, I came across a passage that made me stop and think. It seems to go against everything I’ve said before; to me, it says the “Ends do justify the Means.” In other words, the result is all that matters, the hidden motives behind the actions do not matter. It’s exactly the opposite of the entire column I wrote before. Where is this verse? It’s in Philippians 1:15-18. Here's the passage so you don't have to turn to it. (Aren't I nice?)

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

I took the liberty of highlighting the important points. Now, unlike my previous articles, I have been very careful about those niggling things like context and exegesis. It's why I got ripped off bought the Expositor's Bible. I wanted to make sure I didn't get this wrong, and they all agree with me. In this one case, Paul is saying that motives don't matter.

So let me explain to you what's going on, here, as I understand it. When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison. And he heard from his little birds, about people preaching the gospel. Some he knew, preached out of love and goodness. They preached because they honestly love the Lord, and want to fulfill Jesus' commission. But others, Paul understood, preached out of pettiness and jealousy. They wanted to hurt Paul, by showing him that while he's stuck in prison, apparently unable to do anything, they're out spreading the gospel far and wide. Secretly, they were jealous of Paul. They wanted to hurt him, make him feel powerless, because he wasn't at the forefront of the ministry spreading the gospel. However, little do they know that Paul was bigger than that. He was magnanimous. The second interesting thing is that Paul did not find any fault with their preaching. They were teaching the exact same gospel that Paul and his followers preached. Because he did not say anything bad about their preaching style, we must conclude that they are preaching the same thing he did. So that's another thing to keep in mind.

I want to preface the whole thing by saying first, that this is the only example I could find where motives did not matter to Paul. As I had shown you in my previous column, there are many many examples where motives do matter. This is significant because it means that this is a very isolated, special case. I think there are several factors which make this a specialized case, factors which I will detail later. But I just want to warn you that it will be very hard to apply this passage to any argument you may make about the "ends justifying the means." That's all I'm saying.

First of all, this passage illustrates that Paul is a totally ego-less person, humble to the extreme. These people preached the gospel to get at Paul. To ridicule him for his imprisonment. While he is stuck in a holding cell, all these other people can finally be at the forefront of spreading the gospel everywhere. These were people who had too long been living under Paul's shadow. However, Paul didn't take their bait. Essentially, with this passage, he's saying, "Good Job! You have spread the gospel!" He doesn't care who preaches, as long as they're preaching the right gospel. He clearly writes that he doesn't care why they are preaching the gospel, as long as it is being preached. He doesn't want divisions within the Church, where people are baptized from Paul, others from Barnabas. He wants everyone to be baptized and live in unity. Just like he doesn't care who spreads the gospel, as long as everyone can hear it, and know the full knowledge of Christ.

Second of all, it is very important to note that these preachers with evil motives, nevertheless preached the correct gospel. The message they gave was the exact same message that Paul gave. If they had preached a wrong or false gospel, Paul would have come down hard on them. These weren't Gnostics, of whom Paul had denounced in many of his other letters. Nor were these Judaizers, who tried to preach Jewish customs to Gentiles, a practice that Paul also abhors.

Even though this was a very isolated case, it is still important because as American legal system would say, "It sets a precedent." Paul shows that under the right circumstances, it doesn't matter what their motives were. He is happy nevertheless, because the gospel is preached! It didn't matter to him that some people preached out of envy or jealousy. Just as long as the gospel is reached around the world. In this case, motives don't matter. Now, can we apply this situation to today? Well, possibly. If someone today preaches the correct gospel, but he does it because he wants to become famous, is that wrong? Or if someone starts up another church because he doesn't like the pastor of his current church, is that wrong? If someone serves in a Church ministry out of obligation, "because if I don't, who will" mentality, or to be recognized within the church, is that wrong? I can't answer these questions, only the Holy Spirit can.

A-Z Retail Tricks

Here is an informative website on how retailers use tricks to get you to shop more. The page background is atrocious though, making it a little hard to read.

Motives (Pt 1)

I've done a lot of thinking about this blog and columns. In the beginning, I created this blog. Unlike The Supreme One, I had no purpose, rhyme or reason to do so. I had some things that had been stewing in my hamster wheel, and it was cluttering my mind. This was a way to put my thoughts down in some version of permanence, which allowed me to promptly clear out my head for some new thoughts. At least that was the idea. Unfortunately all I have now is an empty head. Anyway, I've made a lot of mistakes, and I tried a lot of different directions. At first I was going for the application side of Christianity, what it's like to live in the real world not in some fantasy Christian-land. Then I took a dark turn and started to rant and rave for a while. Now, I think I'm ready to try the middle path. I'm not going to give my opinions anymore. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop talking about controversial topics, but it means that what I will endeavor to do is to provide both sides of the argument, and let you, my dearest reader, to decide for yourself. And today is as good a day to start.

While (You will never read "whilst" from me in this blog or ever! I think it's highly pretentious.) I was doing my once-in-a-blue-moon Bible Study/ Quiet Time, I came upon an interesting verse, and it literally shook one of my core beliefs. So interested was I in it, that yes, I actually bought an expository Bible (granted it was used, and as I found out much later, a very old version, so yeah you could say I was ripped off... especially when a friend offered to give me a copy for free. But isn't that what friendship is all about? Ripping off each other?) just to see if my understanding of it was correct or not. I'm still not sure. Ahh, what is it, you ask? Sorry peeps, but you'll have to wait til Thursday to find out. For now, I want to talk about: the heart.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Co 13:1)

This well-known verse is commonly understood to mean that without love, all your spiritual gifts are meaningless. Or put it another way, it's all about your motives. You could be blessed with God's most powerful miracle abilities, but if your heart isn't in the right place, then it is wasted. Even now, people are so focused on skills and super-human abilities, that they forget why they have the gifts in the first place. It's not to puff yourself up, but it's to show God's love.

Paul even continues on. Knowledge, faith? All nice things to have. Gifts of charity? Martydom? Yeah, those really evoke noble images. But they're not things that make a Christian unique. Even non-Christians are capable of such acts. Look at those who die for apartheid, injustice, even trees! But, if these acts are done without love, then it's all for nothing. No one will be brought to Christ because of these self-sacrifices. It's not the actions that move people, but the reasons behind the actions. Let's use this short scenario as an exercise. You see a guy rush out to save a beautiful girl from almost being hit by a car. That is certainly a noble thing. How would you still feel if right after that, you see him ask her for her phone number and later for a date? Now what if instead, just before she was almost hit by the car, she had robbed the guy at gun point and was trying to make a quick get-away? Which scenario would make you stop and think? I would venture the second would. Why? Because it's counter-intuitive, it doesn't appear to be a selfish act, whereas in the first scenario, you're left wondering if he saved her to make himself look good. The second scenario looks like the guy did it out of love, or concern for her health, regardless of what she just did to him.

There are plenty of other passages (Pro 16:2, 1 Chr 28:9, 1 Cor 4:5) that deal with the hidden motives. God always looks at someone's heart, rather than their actions. It's this power, that makes God the perfect Judge. So for everything you do, keep that in mind. You aren't doing it for other people, you are doing it for God. And when God calls you up on your actions, don't try to lie to Him about it. Do you want to know what happens when you forget this very important point?

Well, sit back, put your feet up, and let me regale you a tale. During the early church days, there was a dude named Barnabas. He sold a field and donated all the proceeds to the Church. There was much praise for him. Another guy, named Ananias and his wife Sapphira, saw this and wanted that praise. So he too sold some land, but kept part of the proceeds for himself. Then he gave the rest of the money to the apostles. But instead of praise, Peter calls him out a liar, and he dies. His wife comes in later, and lies as well to Peter and plop, she goes down as well. So what's the moral of the story? When you sell land, give all the proceeds to the Church? Well, no, that wasn't the point. The problem with Ananias was that he lied about the donation. He claimed he gave "all" the proceeds to Church, when in fact, he didn't. You can try to lie to others, and your actions may seem righteous, but you can't fool God. He sees through all deceits and subterfuges. And believe me, He will lay the smack down.

Now some will say, that is all there is to this story. The intent of the author is to show you don't lie to God. However, I can't help but wonder why did Ananias try to lie to God? In the verses before, the author writes about Barnabas and the act he did. Ananias did the same act, but he died. The basic act (giving) was the same, but the intentions were not. I wonder, had Ananias told Peter that he was only donating part of the proceeds to the Church, would he have died?

It's a wonderful internet

Pretty cool flash video. It's a parody of "It's a wonderful life". The little slide things is a little gimmicky. It's supposed to evoke images of those old picture books, you know, in brick and mortar stores?

Game: Dolphin Olympics

It's pretty simple, and fun. Just use the 4 direction keys. Pressing down will do corkscrews. The key is to do jump after jump after jump quickly to really rack up the points. Dolphin Olympics

Super Mario Bros 3

Check it out before it gets taken down by the "Man". It seems to be a faithful recreation of that classic, Super Mario Bros 3. I never got past the first level though, but it's pretty good!