Good Morning, Malaysia!

Standing My Ground wishes you a very good morning! May you have a productive day ahead of you.

First of, I would like to congratulate the people of the Republic of Nauru on their 40th Independence Day. This Island Republic achieve her independence from Australia. Besides the pristine beaches and the breath-taking panorama, Nauru also has a colorful history. Like many other island nations, Nauru also faces the threat of rising sea-level due to global warming. As the Republic continues to make its presence in the Pacific, I wish her and her people all the best.

 

Besides Nauru, HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will be celebrating her (personal) birthday today. Born on 31 January 1938, the monarch have led her country through its ups and downs. At a more personal level, Queen Beatrix have led a life worth being envied. Despite being born to royalty, she maintained a high degree of professionalism (cf. arrogance which some royalties have) with all those around her. As the Head of the Dutch Royal Household, she admiringly have made the monarchy as relevant as possible for a liberal country such as the Netherlands. Standing My Ground wishes Her Majesty a very happy birthday. May the Queen meet many more successes with the passing time.

From celebrations, we turn to the papers.

In the midst of the investigations by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Linggam Tape, it is good to know that some still have faith in our judges - or rather, past judge. Siti Norma Yaakob, former Chief Judge of Malaya, was appointed to the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Court. She will be joining the ranks of David Williams, Sir Anthony Colman, Sir John Chadwick, Omar Juma Mohamed Saif and Ali Shamis Mohamed Shamis Madhani.  (Source: New Straits Times)

I leave you here for now; until after my Administration of Trusts test.

Have a good day ahead of you. Keep safe, be safe.

Knowledge and Wisdom

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

The focus of this entry is knowledge, wisdom and the acquisition of both. In 1990, a revolution took place silently across the globe which shattered many conventional rules and shook the earth at its very foundation. This revolution altered the course of human history from what our parents and grandparents knew to what we can all merely guess. The Information Revolution continues to shape the world. How does this relate to the Bible?

Listen! Wisdom is calling out. Reason is making herself heard. On the hilltops near the road and at the crossroads she stands. (Proverbs 8: 1-2, GNB)

With rise of the literacy rate, accessibility to education and information and the rapid development of the Internet, the global economy is now driven by knowledge. In my view, what haves and the haves not now possess or lack is not just wealth but wisdom. During the time of Solomon, God have given advice and instructions to the Children of Israel on this.

During the agrarian era, he who has land will become rich. Landowners grace the halls of Parliament and the Palaces of Kings and Emperors. With the Industrial Age, he who owns factories – not necessarily land – join the ranks of land owners. When the Industrial Age began, factory owners joined the ranks of the landowners. Today, palaces and Parliament are built around those who possess the know-how and expertise. If you think about it, knowledge and wisdom began driving the economy since time immemorial. Unfortunately the word “k-economy” was only coined in the last decade – greatly misleading the masses.

The monopoly of knowledge was held in the hands of the Church before the printing machine was invented. After that, it was controlled by the elite. Now, anyone can seek it – online or on print.

I believe that in today’s scenario, Wisdom and knowledge are calling out and making themselves heard on hilltops near the road and at the crossroads she stand. Also on the computer which is staring at you in the face.

Why do Humankind ignore her when she was the first thing that God created (Proverb 8:22, GNB)? The irony is that even those who look and claim to be more devout than I give her their backs. God elevated her position so high and so close to Him! He armed the prophets, apostles and ultimately our Saviour with her.

I guess Proverbs 18:2 stand true. A fool does not care whether he understands a thing or not; all he wants to do is show how smart he is. But do not take me wrong, I’m in no position to say who the fools and the wise are. If you see these fools, heed the Holy Scripture: When a fool speaks, he is ruining himself; he gets caught in the trap of his own words (Proverbs 18:7, GNB). There is hope, however: After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut (Proverb 17:28, GNB).

The Lord’s Prayer - A Personal Interpretation

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

The Lords’ Prayer shouldn’t be alien to you – if you’re a Christian that is. For the benefit of all, I include it here:-

Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

Some versions of the Lord’s Prayer uses the word “sins” and “sinned” which replaces “trespasses” and “trespass” respectively. In any case, it denotes the same meaning. With that said, this is the line which I would like to humbly discuss. My favourite line. And once again, I quote the verse amended:

And forgive us our [sins], As we forgive them that [sinned] against us.

What is so attractive about this line?

I am a law student and a commercial writer. I am intrigued by words. When we recite this verse, we ask for conditional and proportionate forgiveness. When we pray to God, we ask for Him to forgive us all our sins. This is the first limb. This verse is followed by the phrase “as we forgive…”. In modern day sense, it means “just like how I forgive…”. In other words, when we recite Our Father, we ask him to forgive us just like how we forgive those who did us wrong.

In my personal view, when we want God to forgive us, we must first forgive others – irrespective of their race, religion, creed, culture, ethnicity, origin, etc. etc. The verse never said: “forgive us as we forgive our Christian brothers (and sisters)”. Show me which Bible that states so and I show you an altered Bible.

Jesus taught us: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. In this way you show that you are children of your Father in heaven. He makes his sun rise on people whether they are good or evil. He lets rain fall on them whether they are just or unjust. If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? Even the tax collectors do that! Are you doing anything remarkable if you welcome only your friends? Everyone does that! That is why you must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:43-48, GNB).

If you consider the logic, how can you love someone you hate just as much, if not more, than your own family? Wouldn’t that hate dissolve? Would the love neutralise the hate? If that is the case, wouldn’t it be impossible to have enemies?

Whenever the Lord’s Prayer I recite, I take my time at that verse. I want to make sure that I personally forgive all those who did me wrong. Forgive them, before I ask forgiveness for myself. And that, I admit, is no easy task. What does the Lord’s Prayer mean to you? Please, share your opinion and experience. I’m sure we can learn from each other.

Money and Evil

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

The words “money”, “wealthy”, and “rich” conjures up a plethora of images, opinions and emotions. Some loathe those words. Some hate them. Others enjoy and seek them. This entry is rather personal to me. Until I read it in Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad series, I never gave a thought of either words or getting rich.

Let’s begin with the common misconception: people say that the Bible blames money as the root of all evil. Below is the extract from St. Paul’s First Letter to St. Timothy that is commonly being misquoted:-

Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief. (1 Timothy 6:10, GNB)

 

Throughout the four Holy Gospels, there are accounts where Jesus lashes out at the rich and wealthy. But you should not assume that He is anti-rich and anti-wealthy. In fact, Jesus had used money and gold in a number of Parables. My favourite: the Parable of the Traveller and his Three Servants (Mat 25:14-30, GNB).

 

In summary, this parable illustrates a rich man who gave three of his servants some gold according to their ability. He then went away for quite some time. When he returned and met the servants, two of them return the gold coins twice the number they had received. They were both praised and celebrated by the man. The third servant, however, returned the same 1,000 gold coins he received. When the man left, this servant dug up a hole and hid it. Unfortunately, the third servant was scolded by the man and banished from the estate.

 

 

Good job! You’re a good and faithful servant! You proved that you could be trusted with a small amount. I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and share your master’s happiness.

 

The words uttered by the man.

 

Applying the lesson to reality:-

 

God created the world and its inhabitants, including Humankind. In this world, He gave us resources which we ought to use. Resources which include gold, diamonds, land and money. When we use it, the idea is for the betterment of the whole of Humankind. In fact, God does not expect us to sit down and wait for Him to send food and water. There are many warnings against sloth!

The sin here is not having or collecting money. Is it wrong for us to collect money to build a church? Is it sinful to collect money to pay and maintain our missionaries? Why would God make it sinful for us to collect money to buy Bibles? Evidently accumulation of wealth could not be a sin per se.

 

What the Bible teaches us is to be wary of the love of money. This “love” is the cause of all evil. Because of this love, people are willing to kill, to rape, to sell their body, to cheat and to be come an animal so terrible that nothing in the animal kingdom can describe it. The love of money creates a monster out of us.

 

I’m not saying that everyone must be rich. What I’m trying to convey is: money is just a tool. A tool which you can use to build or destroy. A tool indifferent from knives, fire, water, stone and iron.

 

While being rich is not mandatory, it is definitely sinful to not use the skills God gave us. In fact, not using it is no different from being lazy – just like the third servant. An elaboration on this is another entry. (“,)

 

What do you think? Is money the root of all evil? Or is it the love of money which is the root of all evil?

Opening the doors, Sharing the light

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Valued Reader,

I will not claim to be a bible scholar; I do read the bible from time to time. In fact, I lead a relatively secular life. Based on life’s experience, sermons and discussions over the years, I will attempt to write out what I learn from the Holy Book.

From time to time, I will make some entries in this blog of how the Holy Scriptures shed light onto my path.

I appreciate your feedback, especially your own opinion related to the entry. As I will be moderating the comments, be mindful of what you post. If doubts should arise, I recommend that you seek a qualified religious adviser.

God bless you.

P/S: I am using the Interactive Bible Software provided by e-Sword. You can download their software for free at http://www.esword.net. Bible reference will be made using the Good News Bible.

Better stop Stats-Watching…

Right now I’m writing this entry from a “cybercafe” in Section 8, Shah Alam (hence no graphics…). For a blogger (or so I read), I shouldn’t be obsessed with the stats of my blog. Referring to it once and a while is fine, but obsessively is a bad habit. I guess it’s much like biting your nails or something.

How about you?Do you look at your blog once and a while or every other minute?

Thanks a lot, KennySia.com…

I was going through the older posts in KennySia.com when I found this entry: How un-Malaysian Are You? Evidently I took the test and the following is my result:-

Congratulations Aldric Tinker, you are 53% not Malaysian. That means you’re as Malaysian as…

Guy Sebastian !
How Un-Malaysian Are You?

Finally I’ve got my graphics!

I have always believed that when blogging, pictures play a key role in attracting and retaining readers/visitors. The quest for searching such pictures finally bore fruit after I stumbled upon this DVD at Plaza Masalam.

Pictures also makes sense when it comes to search engine optimization. I read somewhere that the search engines go through the captions for all the pictures when doing the search. I guess that’s how they managed to compile an Image results page.

The graphics used are an alternative to copy-linking online materials. In fact, I would most likely be relying on it until I get to (ab)use my own digital camera.

In the course of writing this blog, you might find something peculiar about the fashion and designs of objects in the particular picture. I suspect the pictures were taken sometime during the early 90s…

Like the baby on the right, I can be no happier!

 

P.S: Just so you know, I host the images on Imagseshack.us before I paste it in WordPress. ;-p

P.P.S: If the images are protected by copyright, please inform me as soon as possible - especially when you are the copyright holder.