blasphemy challenge

this is disturbing: blasphemychallenge.com challenges people (youths, obviously) to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and thus gain eternal damnation. of course, this is after the youths themselves deduce that Christianity is irrational, false and God is non-existant.

i fear that people would just go straight ahead and shoot a video of themselves blaspheming the Holy Spirit, since they aren't Christians anyway. well there's a free DVD innit? but of course, there are those who rationally consider Christianity, and decide that there is no God.

irrational faith. I believe that God did send His only Son, birthed by a virgin, who lived a perfectly Holy life. I believe that God incarnate did hang on a cross and die. I believe His death was for us, and we would gain eternal salvation by the grace of God (since, he IS a loving God).

there is rational faith, but there is no 100% rational faith. no amount of intellect alone will lead you to the belief that Christ is Saviour of the world. (in fact, it takes an emotional high induced by the awesome band, a riot of people spouting an unknown language, a money hungry and homosexual pastor, and prayer ministers who don't believe in the power of prayer to pray over you; and sometimes a touch from God)

but really, why condemn yourself to hell by blaspheming the Holy Spirit? is your ego really so big that you believe you can understand all of creation (or evolution) and decide in this lifetime that God is not real? if you must not-believe, dont seal an eternal contract! that is more irrational than irrational faith.

what is blaspheming the Holy Spirit anyway? i'm not theologically trained, but i'll tell you what i think it is. its denying the work of God on this earth, knowing full well that it is God who caused it to happen. it is- simply- denying that Jesus is the Son of God. nobody can go to heaven without acknowledging that Jesus is the Saviour. this, is the unforgivable sin.

leave it to your rationality, or your irrationality to choose between God or not. "We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity." - PAUL LITTLE

of dialogue and debate (by christianarchy)

of dialogue and debate
By christianarchy (tuffy) on thoughts
thoughts it's one of my greatest weaknesses. on the surface it doesn't sound like one... i mean, how could the fact that i'm always right be a bad thing?
for a long time i've recognized this area in which i struggle. i like to be right. i don't like to admit when i'm wrong. i like to be smart, and i like for everyone to know its true. when someone says something i don't agree with, i tend to want to make sure they understand why they're wrong and i'm right.
but i'm working on it.
i'm learning about it.
i'm learning that the greatest way to be smart is to dialogue. that doesn't come natural to me. my natural inclination is to debate. after all, i was a novice debater for four years in high school. if there's one thing i understand its using immature techniques to win an argument.
the strange thing about the "game" of debate is that the winner doesn't really win anything. no one walks away from a round of debate convinced of the winner's position. only that they happened to argue the loudest or with the most words. or perhaps they just didn't make the mistake of skipping a step in their logic. even more strange is that the winner doesn't have to even believe what they are saying. they just need more points than their competitor.
now i appreciate the high school game of debate. but we sure spend an awful lot of time debating outside of this contest. and where does it get us? see, when it comes to real life debates the purpose of the conversation is still to win, but at much greater cost to both the person we "defeat" and to ourselves.
dialogue, however, has a completely different purpose. where debate seeks to hold tight to where we already stand in order to prove our point, dialogue opens a willingness to not only be heard, but to hear. it means that the real purpose of the interaction is that all involved will come to a better understanding of the subject matter, and therefore everyone wins... everyone moves ahead. and perhaps more importantly, no one is beaten down.
and since dialogue holds within its methods compassion, humility, teachability, and respect, i find it increasingly hard to understand why it is that we, who have the nerve to call ourselves followers of Christ, tend to choose the methods that mean belittling, rigidity, pride, and destruction.
but hey...
i'm working on that.
---
i like this post. reflects me, reflects alot of people i'm around :p the debate team thing especially (though i've never been in one).

dream - in jesus name

i had a long and weird dream, but the focus of it was that my sister (or someone) got posessed, and had like.. crazy eyes (the devil said look into my eyes). then i woke up (in my dream) and prayed for my sister, and i kept praying in Jesus name, but i had to refine it
"in the name of Jesus i ask you to come out", then i thought for a while and changed it to "in the name of Jesus i command you to come out" and it got more and more fierce and commanding. in the end the demon was cast out, but i took so long to find the right words and the right mindset.

i think i dont believe in the power of the name of Jesus enough.

church

for a long time, i've gone to church for the sermon: to gain knowledge about God.
nothing wrong about that, but that became the focal point of the service. the focus is worship.

Holy Holy Holy
is the Lord God Almighty.

no other aspect gets more highlighting than holy, holy, holy.

bad deals

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Mark 8:36-37

if the world is 6000 years old (biblically), by the time you die, you would've lived 1% (assuming you live to around 60 years old) of the entire time that people have been around. 1% is ALOT, especially when you consider how we're taught from young that scientifically the timeframe we live in is an inch out of many miles of the life of the earth.

1%! and if you count from when Christianity began (i take Jesus's death onward, since before that it was judaism): 40 years from now would be 2046, i would be 60, and Christianity would be about 2013 years old; i would have lived 3% of life since Christ died.

oh if i could just impact 3% of the world: 180 million people.
3% of time on earth is mind blowing. I finally feel like a significant number, I finally feel i need to make a difference. I need to pray more :p

happy new year!

to everyone :) stayed over at jolene's place and found out that i snore.

and if you are looking for my msn address: well i had a .com before i moved here, and my msn address is with that .com, though my .com is no longer in existance. actually, i have two accounts on that, one is jawn, the other is jawnlooi.

i used to blog on my old domain, but since its gone i moved here. you can find out where i came from somewhere on this blog :) once again, no cheating.

have fun stranger :)