Belief

There was once a boy who had a bad past,
Because of which, he hurt himself,
And this troubled his father,

So he went to see a doctor and begged,
"Please, if you can, heal my son."

"If I can??"

The specialist, clearly irritated, replied:
"Sir, what DO you believe is possible?"

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,

"I DO believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" - Mark 6:24

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Belief.
Its a word has been constantly in and out of my head.
Come to think of it, it maybe from God...

So much comes out of how much one believes in himself.
and it brings confidence, or otherwise
and hope, or fear.

its like, a total doubtless acceptance that something is true. Conviction.
The web defines it as: any cognitive content held as true
What you believe structures your thoughts and actions, attitudes and motivations.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

Belief, or Epistemology (lol, pronounced: A-'Piss-Them-All'-ogy... the scientific study of knowledge and belief),

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John Mayer also wrote about Belief in the album, 'Continuum',

Amidst the riffs, he sings:

"Belief is a beautiful armor

But makes for the heaviest sword

Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for

We're never gonna win the world

We're never gonna stop the war

We're never gonna beat this

If belief is what we're fighting for"

Nice song, if you're into blues, listen to it...
A little morbid on the lyrics though.

He explains, later, that he thinks that it is futile to replace someones belief with another. "The only way that anybody can change a belief is internally."

True. Circumstances like accidents, inter-religious debates, and abuse have been known to dramatically change what a person believes in.

"Everyone believes...

From emptiness to everything"

Gavin DeGraw also has a song with the same title, giving belief a more protagonist-ic approach.

dedicated his to tsunami victims.

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I find it hard to believe in myself. Lack of confidence, maybe. But its been always easier when someones believing in me instead. maybe its reassuring...

Ah, its just decisions that i've got to make. I seem to be going in circles, its fun... Till the nausea hits. One minute its like, "screw the world, this is what i want", next, "wait, is this really going to work?". But hell, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger, right? So bring on the nausea...

Lets talk bout Allah...

Oh, please don't throw a Molotov cocktail and incinerate my blog... smirk...

Everyone (assumably) knows bout the church burnings/vandalism that's been going on around here... but for the ignorant, thus ends your bliss ;)

As of today, (Disclaimer: only as far as I've heard...) 8 churches have been burnt via homemade Molotov cocktails, a number of pastor's cars splashed with black/red paint, and rumors of people breaking into cars with signs of Christianity are spreading. Cause? A Catholic published an article and called his God, 'Allah'. Naturally, there are people of another faith who would feel offended. It was brought to court, which in turn ruled in the publisher's favour. Even more disappointment.. mhmm...

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Technically, the Arabic word 'Allah' and the Hebrew name for their God 'Aleim' (whom we now popularly spell 'Elohim') came from the same root Semitic word, 'Al'/'El'. So Islamic authorities cant actually claim the word 'Allah' to represent the Islamic God. That, adding to the fact that Allah is defined as 'the one God' or a mono-theistic God in most middle-eastern countries (possibly ALL other countries), makes one really wonder "Who really IS in the right?".

None the less, for convenience sake it would have been much simpler to keep things the way it was. its so much easier to stick with God, or even Tuhan (which, if you don't know, is God, mono- or poly-theistic). Stirring up a storm in a teacup? Well, i guess if something isn't right, someone has to try fixing it.

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So how should we respond? (as Christians i mean... and as not to make this post any more cheong hei, we'll use bullet points):

- Understand. Hey, what if Hindus or Muslims start calling their god Yahweh, or Jehovah? Kinda feels a little insulting right? + Allah has always been a personal name for the God Malays worship. faham faham la...
- Think. Please don't act rashly, whatever you do. Be it burning a mosque, talking about this issue in public, or things like drinking and the language you use... the way people see it: You=Christian
- Act. Be ready to give an answer to those who question your faith. Not offensively, but be in the know and prepared to relate to those of other faiths. For God's sake, don't start a fight! And please, do pray always for all Malaysians.


Its not a time to celebrate, but lets stand confident and see things in Gods eyes.

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Personally, i feel that Malaysia has really grown and matured. Look, 30 years back, if someone burned a place of worship, race riots would start and many people will kill more people and lots would die and their kids would kill more people etc..

Today, assuming (as everyone are) that the culprit are Muslim extremist, its so very touching and assuring to find what, 130 Muslim NGOs? All volunteering to ensure the Church's (in capital, because it means all of us :) safety.

Thank God :)
Hansel

12Jan10

THE GAME

The Game is an abstract concept.
It involves no tangible objects, nor is it played on any physical medium.
It exists in the minds of those who play it, and it never ends.
That's right, you can never win The Game (though this is debatable).

In order to lose the Game, you have to think about the game.
Upon thinking about the Game, you lose and must announce that you've lost.
This spreads the game to new people and forces others to lose the game.

So, you are now playing the Game.

You will soon forget about this definition, and maybe sometime soon be reminded of it somehow, thereby losing the game.