BLOGGER



Youngest kid of six with an inferiority and black sheep complex, but determined that God saves not just his soul to heaven but the remainder of his manic-depressive life, so others won't say he became a Christian and remained a jerk.


MAIN THEMES

On identity
i won't be transparent before i'm opaque. and you'll get to know me starting from the small things: who my favourite bands are. what kind of movies i like. who are my heroes.

On Christianity
I’m convinced that when confronted with sincere, real love, the Jesus factor will become obvious. But let’s not plant the cross before we carry it. I’m not trying to con you.

On dreams
Some dreams are meant to be achieved. I know that. But maybe other dreams are meant to drive us, privately. Never known to anyone but ourselves.


OTHER THEMES

On melancholy
It is a sadness that, when choosing between crying and sighing, will choose sighing. I'd almost say that melancholy is being sad about sadness itself.

On memory and nostalgia
It saddens me when life moves forward and people decide that certain things are worth forgetting.

On language
I've learnt that the word irregardless is filed as a non-standard word in the English language. That's a lexicographer's way of saying it's not a real word.

On politics
Crowds are fickle things. So when we stand in the thousands and cry against the present government, do we know who we're actually crying for?

On society
People always want the best for themselves. But I want to sometimes take second or third or fourth best, just so that the loser down the road doesn't always have to come in last. It must feel like shit to always come in last.

On growing old
Leasehold property make me feel sad. It doesn't matter how old the family photos are that you put on your wall. It's your family but it's not really your wall.

On philosophy
I ask you, if God loves everyone, and if God is also incapable of loving evil, how can there be such a thing as an evil man?

On a daily basis
One line quips, like this.


CHAT





Monday, February 09, 2009



These aren't fantastic days to be a judaeophile. god knows i've never been one. 

(click here for a hillarious spoof of the jaws movie poster)

we had a jewish pastor preach at church today. he preached what i always imagined was the quintessential jewish christian sermon, ie the jesus-is-so-very-the-OT-lamb-he's-not-kidding sermon. about half way through, when he told us that he'd done pesach with about a hundred plus singaporeans in traditional jewish style, i wondered, to what extent should we be judaeophilic? (right now, i'm also wondering two other things: firstly, if they had any checks in place for the lamb's blemish rating, and secondly, should 'judaeophile' be spelled 'judeophile', without the 'a'?)

i know enough christians who are convinced that a truly authentic expression of their christian faith involves flag dancing, blowing weird-sounding horns during worship, knowing their hebrew root words and wearing tassled clothes. others either have their brains configured to judean geohistory or have one eye on the israel situation everyday. 

i've always been a bit iffy about this one. we're the gentile world right? i'm evangelising to and living among what is essentially globalised malaysians with our own ethnic hang-ups. what really is the relevance of an israel fixation in my world? but doesn't the bible say that i'm adopted into the bloodline of abraham, isaac and jacob? isn't that fundamentally the grandfamily of the jewish people? oh but wait. maybe i want to trim the fat off all the stereotypes of churchisms and seek an expression that's less culturally saturated and more kingdomlike. 

i don't know. idon'tknowifiwanttoknow. 

i wonder, what happens to us if it really does matter?

i'm reading this book right now called the chosen, by jewish fiction writer chaim potok. i'm sure that's worth at least 50 judaeophile points. let's see. my favourite meat is pork. that's gotta be something like a minus 10,000. maybe if i pray hard enough, God will let me grow a beard. that must be worth at least 2000 points. nevermind the fact that i'd look way cool.

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Genusfrog [ 3:17 am ]

8 Comments:

  • Eh even if God allows you to grow a beard, I wouldn't. HAHAHA!

    By Blogger Athalia, at 9:53 pm  

  • what's the point deduction if i said jewish music/shofar/tassles/hebrew words don't do it for me in worship? my score's already minus 10k for loving porky. >.<

    By Blogger E, at 11:57 pm  

  • don't like shofar? don't like tassles? no hebrew words? minus 500 points. wait. do you like tambourine dances? market rate for liking flag dance is 30 points. but tambourine dance is more rare. if you like that, in today's market, can easily get 70 to 80 points.

    By Blogger Genusfrog, at 2:07 pm  

  • is 'hallelujah' hebrew? i try not to use that too - i prefer the english equivalent, but i do let it slip out sometimes :)

    tambourine dances are rare - maybe cos they don't really go with the contemporary songs we sing, but i'm open to them.. my preferred frequency is once a year.

    By Blogger E, at 4:53 pm  

  • hallelujah is actually very interesting, etymologically. "ha" is said to come from asia minor and while it is semantically obscure, it is speculated to mean something like a gesture of surprise.

    the rest is simpler. "le" and "lu" come from the southern chinese dialects, and it means "you" or "your" while "jah" is found in most germanic languages as a sound denoting affirmation.

    when put together, "halelujah" roughly means a surprised affirmation towards you and you. in other words, it's actually wrong to say halelujah to only one person because it implies that that person is actually two persons, which would make him/her godlike, and make it an idolatrous thing to say.

    By Blogger Genusfrog, at 5:14 pm  

  • it then follows that the only way you can say "halelujah" to only one person is to drop one of the middle syllables, making it either "halejah" or "halujah", a feat mastered, undoubtedly, by all great rabbis.

    By Blogger Genusfrog, at 5:16 pm  

  • LOL!!!!!
    eh, i very gullible wan u know. u almost had me there!
    good one, though.

    By Blogger E, at 5:21 pm  

  • God is essentially three Persons (people, remembering your older post) so it makes sense to use Hallelujah for Him. Maybe you'd have to add another "lu".

    By Blogger oomoo, at 9:55 pm  

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