Life is full of color...
different cultures, different set of perspectives, different way of solving problem.
Life is full of emotions...
whether it's joy, distress, anger, and passion
Life is full of issues...
either it's ethic, morale, wisdom, or humanity
Life if full of intrigues...
about sex, power, money and fame
Life will never be boring
Yet, the question is...
What kind of life you want yours to be?
In this part of the website, I would like to put my commentaries about many issues in life. But I'm not trying to limit myself only to commentaries here, but also to summaries about what I have heard or read before, essays from previous assignments, reviews of movies, books, etc... well, basically, I will dump my all kinds of writings here :) ... but I'll try to sort them out according to the more general sub-topics they belong to in chronological manner.
All the writings here were produced using Latex. And also to make it compatible with different operating systems, all the files are saved in PDF-format. You need Acrobat Reader to read the files, downloadable from Softwares to read the documents.
But before reading them, allow me to make a few disclaimers first:
- All the files are originated from my own inspiration, and hence I'm solely responsible for their contents
- By no means, in any case, I'd ever like to provoke or offend anyone through my writings. In case such uneasiness arises, I deeply sorry for that. Hence, I'm open to any constructive critics and feedback.
- As I am a mere human, I might have mistakes all over the content of each file due to my ignorance. The mistakes might range from, as simple as, typograhical errors to factual errors. Hence, I'm also open to any corrections.
- I fully respect everyone's stand and opinion toward any topics here. Hence, I also welcome those who would like to give any comments to any of my writings. I'm willing to discuss the matter further for the sake of exchanging idea and knowledge between us, but not to debate it over.
You may direct all your feedbacks, comments, and corrections to andreasd@sps.nus.edu.sg.
Christianity in Worldly Affairs
Although it is true that God has promised every single believer a dwelling place in heaven for eternal life, we, as Christians, are still required to spend sometime in the world. Regardless of how long we live on the earth, be it 20 years... 40 years... 60 years... 80 years... God definitely does not want us to spend those years doing nothing. God calls all believers to be the light and salt of the world. As light, we are supposed to provide enlightenment to the world, bringing the good news of God's grace, mercy, and peace to people around us. As salt, we are supposed to spice up the dull and sad routinities of life with the joy and hope that God has given us. While at the same time, as what salt is sometimes used to preserved food from decaying (as in the case of salted-fish ^_^), we are to preserve the world from degradation due to sin, whether it is a morale degradation, integrity degradtaion, or faith degradation.
Quite often, as Christians ourselves, we are in the process of degradation itself. We may get discouraged because our family rejects of being a Christian, or we lost our dear ones which we thought that shouldn't happen, since we know they are good people. Good people should live longer ^_^. Then we start to question our faith. Where is Jesus, who have promised to help us? Where is God's justice when we know that we are being cheated? Another temptation may come from our daily workplace or neighborhood. If we do not bribe the offificals, we may not be able to pass through the protocol. If we do not please our bosses, we may not get promoted. Our sometimes our boss is so hard on us that he keeps on giving us work... so much work that we do not have time anymore for our devotional time to God. It is sad indeed, but it is real!
The writings below are supposed to help us recognize the challanges that we are facing in our earthly life, while at the same time to encourage us to face and solve it with the help of God who continuously strengthen us :)
- Distressed Christians. This was written in partial fulfilment of the School of Christian Ministry course in my church. The course was title: Making Sense of the New Testament Part II, conducted by Pr. Benson Goh. It was supposed to answer the following question: Why is is that the world and church remian so full of problems even after Jesus Christ has come?
- 24/7 Economy & Its Impact on Working Life Today. A summary on the first Graduate Christian Fellowship forum that I attended after I joined GCF. We discussed about current ecocomic lifestyle and its consequences.
- A Life that Has Lost Its Focus. A summary on Dr. Ravi Zacharias' public lecture. In this lecture, he addressed the issue regarding the danger of losing focus on God's command in our lives by comparing the contrast lives of Manasseh and Josiah, both were kings of Judah, as study cases.
- Godliness in Unspritual Workplace. A summary on Dr. Richard Mouw's public lecture about how Christians should view their workplaces from the right perspective as the Bible have taught us.
- The Temptation of Jesus. This artcile discusses the temptation of Jesus, based on Matthew 4, in inductive-bible-study style. The discussion was started as part of the Berea forum intended for FESIM cell-group leaders. However, in my opinion, everyone can still learn alot from the discussion.
Christianity in Ethics, Morales, and Philosophy
Christianity is not about ethical conducts. Christianity is much more than just lists of moral teachings. Christianity provides answers to questions that philosophies cannot answer. Yet Christianity is very much related to all of them.
- Free Thinkers: Why don't you believe? A comprehensive summary on the basic Christian apologetic, written based on my own experience when conversing with my free-thinker friends, and also from knowledge that I acquired along the way. Common questions often rised, such as the origin of universe, the existence of evil, whether moral goodness is enough, are discussed also here.
Christianity with Science
I am neither trying to justify God's Words through scientific means, nor am I trying to justify any scientific discovery or invention using Biblical teaching. As a scientist myself, my stand is clear: I believe, as any other pious Christians do, in God Trinity who reveals part of His amazing creation through the beauty of nature that I'm studying now as a science enthusiast.
Christianity among Other Religions
- Is Gospel the Only Answer. A summary from the first ISCF fellowship in semester 1 AY2005/2006. This basically tells us what make Christian distinctive in its teaching about salvation. The main point is that Christianity teaches us that salvation only comes from God's initiative, as men, being sinful in nature, will never be able to come to God by their own effort.
- Why should I believe the Bible. This writing provides a convincing basis n the Christians' Holy Scripture, the Bible. This writing addresses the folliowing issues: the distinctive message in the Bible, its reliability and credibility, and the proofs to show the authenticity of the Bible.
- The Authority of the Bible. This article is the sequel to the article above "Why should I believe in the Bible?". After we are conviced that the Bible is credible and authentic, we now argue that the Bible should be the absolute authority upon which all truth, laws, rules, moral codes, etc are justified.
Christianity in Mission
This section contains missionary and evangelistic-related articles. Evangelism and Christianity are inseparable. The very word Christian originated from the name Jesus Christ, to indicate that the Christians are His followers. Jesus Christ led the life a true evangelist, so does the life of a Christian.
- His Last command, Our First Concern. A summary from the mission rally talk by Rev. Howard Foltz. This talk argues that there at least 4 good reason as why Jesus very last command, known as the Great Commision, should be every Christian's very first and primary concern.
- Evangelism to Free Thinkers and Fundamentalists:Is Evangelical Explosion always Effective? This is my own personal opinion, based on experience, on why Evangelical Explosion technique may not always work in the field. I discuss in this article both the loopholes and strength of the technique.