Of brains and saliva...

Been travelling around to request doctors to aid me in my saliva collection for my research... Getting rejected is part of the process, with all kinds of explanation i.e. no patients, busy and etc which i fully understand though the whole saliva collection takes less than 1 minute...

But what happened just made me shook my head in despair... The doctor that i spoke to said that going up to private clinics is unethical... And he wanted me to reflect whether if it really is appropriate to do so as he is from the dental association...

I brought in all the legal documents and the proposal went through ethical committee and my supervisor signed and read the letter that i was about to give to him... In what way is that unethical??? I have an explanation sheet on my research written in 2 languages alongside with a consent form also in 2 languages... And with that, my supervisor's name is on it!!! Talk about afraid of being sued by your patients, if i do use those saliva for unethical reasons, my supervisor and I will be in big trouble, not to mention my uni's long-built reputation, and all you can think of is your own clinic and your license...

Saying that we might be future colleagues meaning we will handle patients' lives together and yet you can't even trust me with the patients' saliva is just a big joke... Either you didn't mean that i'll really be your future colleague or you just do not want to help me, can you please give a more reasonable excuse other than saying that it's unethical??? Why did i even include a consent form then???

Asking me whether just going on the streets and collecting saliva from patients is ethical, i don't see any problems with that now... As long as the patient has consented and you have FULLY explained to the patient what is to come and what institution you belong to...

Besides, i as a medical student am doing you, dentist, a favour by trying to HELP YOU discover biomarkers for TMD, and i'm giving you an opportunity to participate in this research... Whether it works or not, at least i would be able to tell you that my method cannot be used to discover biomarkers for TMD or something... And now, not only you want to be a stumbling block to this discovery, you are also jeopardizing my grades...

It just makes me wonder what kind of people are we really producing... Robots who only have specific skills or people who can look at bigger pictures??? Personally, i love being a robot... Perhaps this is part of the reason why we are still quite far behind from other countries, or maybe i'm wrong...

Oh well... This is just some rants from me... I feel ashamed when compared to the humiliation and crucifixion Jesus faced and yet He prayed to God the Father saying that they know not what they're doing...

Sovereign LORD please help me to continually remind myself that you have planned this to happen and not make me make much of these petty issues... And also, please help us to use our brains more often...

How far can we go?

Sometimes i really wonder how far can we really go in denying biblical truths and continue sinning...

From being individualistic and arrogant, to self-centeredness at the expense of destroying our brothers and sisters, to denying Paul's apostolic authority, to women denying submission to men, to striving to be spiritually superior in church and ultimately to even deny the resurrection of Christ...

And it is the failure to grasp that we are new creations with the mind of Christ whose purpose are ultimately to build up God's church that is causing all these(in part at least)... Such is the outline of 1Corinthians...

God has providentially left us this letter to show us that ultimately, WE are the problem... As the church fathers would say 'heresy comes from within the church, not outside'... And the saying 'those who never learn from history, are deemed to repeat it' is very very true... It's just interesting to see how a letter that is almost 2000 years old can still be applied to describe the current Christian culture...

If only more people could read and learn from 1Corinthians, some of the issues in Klang Valley would be settled... But even then, exegesis or interpretation can never change the hardening of the heart...

O God, help us all...

Wisdom of the Corinthians...

Reading 1Corinthians again and again just makes me go crazy... Why is Paul such a smart apostle, or rather why is God so sharp in identifying the problems(see what i mean by going crazy)... Why are the Corinthians so dumb? Why are we so like the Corinthians? Why am I so dumb? gah...

1Cor2:15-3:9

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.But I, brothers,1 could not address you asaspiritual people, but as bpeople of the flesh, ascinfants in Christ. 2 dI fed you with milk, not solid food, for eyou were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is fjealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For gwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” hare you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? iServants through whom you believed, jas the Lord assigned to each. 6 kI planted, lApollos watered, mbut God gave the growth. 7 So nneither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each owill receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are pGod's fellow workers. You are God's field, qGod's building.

Why are there so many divisions? Why is it that people are so blind that they think people just like to follow a particular group or a person? Worse still, why do we always think that Calvinism is following John Calvin or whatever... If there's only one baptism, one faith, why is that we can't talk about it? Why is that we just like to avoid conflict and not talk about our differences? 

If there's only one Bible and one Lord, why would there be differences or rather why can the differences be at two extremities? It just doesn't make much sense does it?

And by avoiding all these, are we not just adapting the worldly wisdom of wanting to pursue peace and harmony? If that was the goal, why did the Reformation ever happen then? And mind you, if the Reformation didn't happen, we wouldn't be having our bibles right now(which MIGHT REDUCE THESE PROBLEMS THOUGH)... 

If we truly profess that we're Christians, why do treasure or place worldly wisdoms before us? Like piling ourselves up with books or researches or medical stuffs or movies or all kinds of crap? Is not the bible the source of wisdom? ahhh...

The worse thing is to be able to identify ourselves with the Corinthians... Notice the passage up there with the bolded text... Yup, you did not see it wrongly, the 'But' after the fullstop is included!!! And that's the gist of the stupidity that we have...

Look up the verses again... Paul is saying the spiritual person judges ALL THINGS EVEN ANGELS IN CHAPTER 6... WHY??? Because we have the MIND OF CHRIST!!! And then in chapter 3, he starts with a big BUT!!! 

Gosh, imagine when you were in the best class in school, the whole school knows that everyone in the class scores at least 95/100, and on results day, your teacher says all of you did well, BUT... Yeah, it's that kind of tone!!! Imagine, Paul has been affirming their identity in Christ in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 3 he started with a big BUT!!! 

And what was the 'but' for? It was because they were still immature and pursuing worldly wisdom!!!

Ahhhhhhh... How hard it is to be mature... Lord please help us to love your Word and renew our minds through it so that we can mature and live appropriately as eschatological beings...

Sin of hypocrisy...

Hypocrisy... How often do you feel like you're a hypocrite??? I feel that i'm one quite often...

I can pray for something and not mean it... i.e. pray that i will be diligent in reading the work yet i can use my time to enjoy and do other things in a conscious mind that 'i will do it later' WHICH NEVER HAPPENS...

I can say that God is my everlasting joy and yet not want to read His word to continue bathing in this everlasting fountain of joy...

I can say that I love God and even sing gospel-centered songs and yet not have the heart to want to know Him better through His revealed WORD...

I know that the gospel is THE best news that any living being on earth can have, yet i still can't change it as my instinct...

I know that God is the one who saves, and yet often in ministry i often think of ways to save the person with my own hands...

I know that all is meaningless and will be gone one day, and yet i seek pleasure in doing nonsense...

I know that emotions are pretty scary to follow, yet at times i still do so...

I know that the essence of unity is truth from God's Word, yet there are certain false unity that i hold on to...

I know that i'm an eschatalogical being who is supposed to live like i'm in heaven(worshipping God) yet i still want to take control of certain things...

I know that suffering is good for my sanctification yet i want to run away from it...

I know that pride is a killer yet i don't feel like being a humble servant...

I know that there's so much that I know and don't know, but i'm not acting like what i'm supposed to be...

Thank God for 1Corinthians to show me of how justified sinners like myself are still worthless without God's redeemed work and wisdom being revealed to me...

Gah!!!!!!!!! If only, our brains were to be a blank piece of paper with no presuppositions and just let the Bible program it...

LORD, help us all...

Unity?

Dear God, why are we so evil in treasuring a form of unity that is so superficial like unity in being under a certain organization, unity in love, unity in race, unity in language and all kinds? In the end, when the 'wind blows' what will be left? Why do we not understand Isaiah 40:8-The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever? All the unities above will never last but ultimately, those who hold on to the unity of God's revealed truth will not fade... Why? Firstly, God is an eternal being Himself, therefore His word will transcend time and space(guess what, He made them too)... Secondly, it takes the conviction of the Holy Spirit these truths in the Bible that is totally different from the wisdom of the world... Basically, saying it's God helping you to understand His Own eternal word... So of course la, it won't fade, win-win situation... Therefore, doctrinal truths matter!!! It's not just piece of paper or what you need to know to be a Christian instead, if you're a Christian, you have to know it!!!

But what do we do with it? Are we really concerned for it? No... Instead, we treasure those superficial unity more which in actual fact is no unity at all... Be it with non-Christian or worse still, Christians, we just like to avoid conflict and brush things off...

The most hurtful thing you can hear from people would be, 'aiya, what's with all these theology all? not important la... justification by faith, not by theology... so, please don't fight over it and let's just continue to be bros and sis la ok?'

How futile is this to think of theology in this way... Have you ever considered Ephesians 4? One baptism, one faith, one LORD and more ONES... And what does the bible say about unity? And do we even have any idea of what theology really means? If you don't view God in a proper manner, obviously it will affect the way you live la... E.g. when we are busy with our studies, we instantly spend time less on working out what the bible is saying... And in light of reading 1Corinthians, it just makes me ask myself the question of my own identity, am i a Christian 1st or a student 1st? If we are indeed Christian 1st, why can't we put reading the bible, committing to church, doing ministry and even considering helping to advance God's kingdom and on and on instead of our studies? Not saying studying is wrong, but why not? In 1Cor 7, you can see that marriage itself obviously can cause your time devoted to God be divided, but does it mean you don't marry? Likewise in everything else, studies, career, family, relationships, hobbies and all will also divide your time devoted to God, but in the same passage, you can see we are to secure our undivided devotion to the LORD... How la?

Undeniably, no one will ever have the perfect theology, but that doesn't mean it's not important... And after knowing the basis of unity, dare we even say that it's not important?

Sometimes it's just so sad to see the scenario above...

LORD, please remind us of our identity and lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil...

I don't wanna be a Corinthian!!!

O LORD, why are we so useless? why are we so dull? why are we so foolish? why are we so sinful? gah... I don't want to be like the Corinthians who often forget their identity in Christ and to add on to that, they don't even know they are doing it... Sounds so impossible to happen, but that's the reality of it... That's how 'powerful' God sees us as...

1Cor 3:1-4
But I, brothers,1 could not address you as aspiritual people, but as bpeople of the flesh, as cinfants in Christ. 2 dI fed you with milk, not solid food, for eyou were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there isfjealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For gwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” hare you not being merely human?

This kinda tells a lot about them, that they already are a new creation in Christ but yet they are behaving as though nothing has happened... Continue to be in synergy with the world and moreover, adopt the worldly wisdom to do things as seen in 1Cor 6:1-11:

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous rinstead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that sthe saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, twhy do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 uI say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. vWhy not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even wyour own brothers!1

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous2 will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: xneither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,310 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And ysuch were some of you. But zyou were washed, ayou were sanctified, byou were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

This is just so saddening but yet relieving in a sense that this pushes us to keep trusting God and His revealed Word... Perhaps, that's why in Isaiah, he kept telling Israel that there will be a Great Redeemer and kept reminding them that they are indeed the redeemed...

May God continue to renew our minds and help us to not do things for our own sake and also to judge everything as we have been given the mind of Christ to do so...

God _________ Gospel...

Why do you believe in Jesus? Seriously, why do you believe in Jesus? Have you asked yourself this question before? I have, and the answer wasn't a pleasing one... Well, you might give the right answer but be honest with yourself, is that what your heart is really saying? That's what i'm pushing for, to be honest and humble before God and change our old ways...

There's a lot of of answers to the question if you're honest to give the honest answer... Jesus can offer me a better life, Jesus is a good role model, Jesus is a good man, Jesus can bring me to heaven, Jesus can give me what i want(ask and you will receive), Jesus is God, Jesus deserves to be worshiped and etc... All of these can be true but i'm pushing for you to see something greater(if it's possible by God's grace)...

Let's assume somehow you can get to HEAVEN filled with everything you like, chocolates, ice creams, japanese food, kobe beef, durians, LV bags, Nike shoes, 3-storey bangalows, hot S-curved ladies, hot gym dudes with 6 packs, big sandy beaches with coconut drinks and on... Such a beautiful place isn't it? Would you be dying to go there? In case you didn't notice, there was 1 thing missing, the one and only thing that gives you comfort in life and death-Jesus... Now, do you still want to go to heaven without Jesus? The whole point of heaven is Jesus is there, God is there, that's why He came to earth to die for your rebellion, to BRING YOU BACK... If you want to go to heaven without Jesus, why do you even 'want' the gospel? John Piper's 5 year old granddaughter could ask this question... No joke, go listen to the source that I'll quote to you at the end of the post...

Imagine there is this kind person who gives you a present each day, and slowly you start to like this friend... One day, he stops doing all this, then you feel weird, and start questioning him... So what was your 'liking' based on? The gifts or the giver himself? Translate this to the gospel, if you believe in Jesus because He can give you great stuffs i.e. eternal life, goodies etc, then aren't you the same as the example above in loving the GIFTS and not the GIVER? Now, take a step back and look at the gospel again, did God offer us some special or good stuff? No, he offered HIMSELF!!! All the good stuffs are used to give glory to the GIVER, not the gifts itself... Psalm 43:4- an altar is where sacrifices were made, in order to cleanse ourselves, but notice that after going to the altar, the psalmist says to God my exceeding joy... It's not even about being cleansed or whatever in that sense, but God is the joy!!!

In Acts 8:9-25, Simon the magician saw Peter converting people and Simon wanted the same power... But a crude way of Peter's reply would be(quoting Piper), 'to Hell with you and your money', for Simon wanted the spirituality and power that the Holy Spirit can offer... This is a great rebuke for us if we follow Jesus for spirituality(in a wrong way) and power or whatever that He has to offer... Deuteronomy3:1-3, God did the signs and wonders to test us, through false prophets, the test is not whether you can perform sign and wonder but do you speak the truth from His holy Word. God is more important than spiritual gifts.

John 7:1-5- Jesus’ own brother don’t even believe in Him, the eagerness to ask him to perform the works is worldly. Believing in Jesus doesn’t save you if you believe in him to do the right stuff. Gotta talk about believing in Jesus for the right thing. Why do you believe in Jesus for? Believe Him for God.

James 4:2-5- God wants us for Himself, and not 'sleep' with anyone else. She goes to bed with God and pray for money so that she can pay to another man to sleep with. We cannot know what prayer is for until we know life is war. Hallowed be thy name is the goal of every prayer. Prayer is for calling in firepower in battlefield. What’s the battle? To see him, know him, treasure him, not to use him. It's not wrong to pray for health or whatever. It’s wrong if you want IT more than you want God and using Him to get IT. 

There is a kind of thanksgiving that is idolatry. You can thank God with an unregenerated heart. They are thankful for the cross as an echo of their own worth. ‘They first rejoiced and are elevated with the fact that they are made much of by God. Then on that ground, God seems lovely to them. They are pleased in the highest degree in hearing how much God and Christ make much of them. So that their joy is really in themselves and not in God’. ‘This is the difference between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the saint. The hypocrite rejoices in himself. Self is the 1^st foundation of his joy. The true saint rejoices in God. True saint has his mind inexpressibly with the glorious and amiable natures of God. This is the spring of their delight and cream of their pleasures. This is in contrary of the hypocrites, they first rejoice that they are made so much by God, and on that, God seems lovely to them. There are many evangelistic tracts in churches who are doing this.’-Jonathan Edwards.

2

2    2 Corinthians 4:4-6- the gospel is the glory of Christ. The gospel is about Christ who is the image of God!!!

1.     God is glorified in the work of redemption by the greatness of man’s dependence upon Him in the whole of it. The redeemed have all their objective good in God, God himself is the great good which they are brought to possession of and enjoyment of. He is the highest good and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints, he is the portion of their souls, their wealth and treasure, their food, life, dwelling place, health, their diadem and glory. They have none in heaven but God. He is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The LORD God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem and is the river and water of life that runs. In amidst the paradise of God, the glories and excellencies of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints. The love of god will be the everlasting feast. The redeemed will enjoy other things, angels, each other, but all these that will draw them to delight in all these will be what God made them to point to Him.

2

     Phil 1:20-21- there is a significant contrast between life and death... The most significant contrast being to live is Christ, to die is gain... For most of us, i think we focus too much on the 2nd part, but after understanding all the above, i see a massive contrast in between these two... To live is Christ, to live in this world is better in one sense because you can do His work and proclaim Him and truly show the world how He is your only joy, because we don't see Him yet but we still dare to be fools for Christ... TO LIVE IS CHRIST seems much more appealing to me now, but it's tough...

     God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him... So why do you believe in Jesus? Are you satisfied in Jesus? 

   These are tough concepts, but it's biblical... Still trying to work it out myself too... Feel free to edify and rebuke me...

     All these are just SOME notes and reflections of mine after listening to 'God is the GOSPEL' by Piper... Do check it out...

     May God help us understand and accept these hard truths...