Tumble Thoughts

Hey mates, was just wondering about some comments the speaker made today. Pretty debatable, struck me a little but was not the gave my brain cells an adrenaline rush. Was just wondering that very often we hope for His presence to be with us when we face stress, difficulties, lonliness etc. in our secular lives, always demand Him to be around when we need Him, but when He kept quiet, we questioned His authenticity. I was a convict, in fact still a convict of 'taking God's grace and love for granted'.

When the speaker said that "if we do not evangelise, then God will not be with us......", i was thinking that there are so many times when we 'forget' about the Great Commission, 'forget' about the lost souls of so many, 'forget' His calling and yet we demand God's presence at the snap of our fingers. IF you are God, would you still give your love to those who disobey?

Pls share

Went to church yesterday to attend the first of a 2/3 day rally, not too sure. But anyway, just decided to go, hoping for something refreshing and enlightening, but was disappointed again. However, is not the first time that i am caught this struggle between respecting God's servant together with the presence of God and my own desire for new perspectives.

The issue being was that the sermon that the speaker gave yesterday was simply just interpreting a verse, elaborating on the verse and telling believers that they must do this and that. If the church see the need to invite a 'special' speaker to share,people who attend the rally definitely hope to bring home something 'special'. But to me, yester-night was just another mundane affair(parallel to Sun worships), except that it was less formal. If the church invites a speaker who can produce a similar sermon as what our pastor had say before, then why do we have to ask someone to come on a weeknight just to repeat the same stuff?

I compare this problem of repeating the same old stuff 24/7 with our mothers' constant nagging. During our adolescent years or even now, we are often annoyed by our mum's nagging, whether is it asking us to bath immeadiately after we JUST got home or to clean up our rooms, we often ask, "Where do they get all the gas to repeat repeat and repeat throughout the night?" From personal experience, i usually bo-chap all the nagging till my favourite tv show ends, i feel gross enough to wash up, then decide to give in to her patience.

This is just like sermons in our church, if sermons just get repeated and repeated every year after another, believers would just get bo-chap and uninterested. Coming to church on Sun would just be routined, with the mindset being, "Just another day when someone on the stage reminds(if blatant, nags). Nobody likes to be nagged at or reminded so many times. So they thought that special events that the church organised would give them something new, they came eagerly, but left disheartened. Eventually, they decide to come out of the production line and seek their own spiritual growth(gross enough to bath analogy!). They feel that the sermons fail to give them new perspectives from the same verse, they start to find places(new churches) where the can receive these new ideas, eventually leaving the church.

Human beings need to reminded, some more, some less. However, from my view, reminders should change/lessen as one matures. In the religion context, reminders can come from mentors/authors, bros and sis and the Holy Spirit. But over the years, the same old concepts just get repeated and repeated again, would believers get sick and tired of it? From my point of view, i would want to listen to new and different ideas from the same verse ie. different commentaries on the same topic, not the model answer! To me if we get speakers to offer repelling ideas, it would be very interesting and beneficial.

My dear church mates, pls share your views.

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Fear

You know, some people say that every election they must vote for the 'white knights' because they fear. So I was wondering what do they fear? Then I came up with 2 probable types of fear that might be in the hearts of every citizen-direct or indirect.

To those that received little education, those that are not well-informed, those that engage in coffeshop rallies(i would say), they fear that once they do not give the 'white knights' their votes, they would end up getting caught by the police or be locked-up under the IDA. My goodness! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard people saying that just because the voting slip has a serial number, they will gun down those who votes for the opposition. Dear friends(who believe so), you think the police will be so free tracking down those serial numbers?(who voted for the opposition), to think such thoughts still entertained the minds of so-called city dwellers and in a democratic country like Singapore(haha). Despite the well known fact to human rights groups and democratic allies that we are governed by a Confuciusnism-Democracy system, we are very much a lawful society, one that follows the legislation strictly, very strictly. The law does not persecute those who votes for the opposition and everyone has an equal freedom to vote for their country leaders, which leads to the latter fear.

Since everyone has a choice, friends, why do you still fear. Every age-group has different worrying issues, making it even more worrying if the 'white knights' loses. The young ones fear about not getting the progress package;the parents fear about both the progress package and upgrading;the older ones fear of CPF, progress package and upgrading. As you get older, you start to fear more, because you realise that you are becoming a liability to the economy. Take for eg upgrading. Honestly folks, look at the 2 opposition wards(if you haven't had a chance go soon before it revitalises). SM Goh calls one of them a slum, I echoed his remark. They are truly ghettos where the younger ones moved on and the older gets older;lifts are old, dirty;facilities never changed;floors are filthy;void decks are dark. Think Bronx, Harlem although no as rough. They looked the same ten years ago. Then the chaps ask a simple question, "Ain't the town council going to do anything about it?" Friends, you think the ruling party will give money to the town council run by the opposition so that you can vote for them 5 years later? Fat Hope! You had a choice 5 years ago to change but just because they made you pay more taxes, you never thought of those who voted for them. Look at the opposition, I seriously doubt their ability to make everyone's life better, those with the dough definitely can. Dear voters(especially those in opposition ward's), think wisely how you want your life to be, think of those who can improve your lives, you have eyes to see that those are not empty promises. You have a choice, is just whether is it the right one or not.

Interestingly, some people in this country just like to be different. Just because they get lesser money than others or they pay more taxes, they disregard the 'white knights'. You know these people should be happier living in countries with a wonderful welfare system where they don't need to work and taking money from the pension policy ie contributed by taxes paid by other hardworking citizens. They are just living off the society, sitting in front of the tube, right hand with the remote, left hand taking money. Just because the Singapore system practices meritocracy, and the sloathness of them disagree with the system, they choose the opposition thinking that one day they might implement the pension scheme. I would not want to see that day happening. I am not pro-government, is just that i want to share with you folks thinking rationally, make a choice that allows you, and the nation to progress and prosper, not just by wayanging but really making realistic policies.

PS: For those who do not want to be affected by the election outcome, live in a private estate. By voting for any won't give you a bigger swimming pool.

Cheers,
Josh