Children of God?

When Jesus was questioned wether the jews should give taxes to the romans, he said that they should because the coins bear caesar's image and thus belong to Caesar. So which means since we bear God's image, we belong to God, and are therefore entitled to be children of God.

But how can we all bear God's image when everyone looks so different from each other? this leads me to think that '"made in the image of God" means having features that humans have in common, like 2 hands, 2 eyes, 1 nose, etc.

But there are cases of people who have genetic physical deformity, like those born without hands or legs. So then, these people are no longer in the image of God. So are these people still theoretically considered humans? Can they still be children of God? This is something to think about.

If yes, then why cant cats and dogs be children of God too? For all you know, a dog may believe in its creator, just that it cant show that it does. And dogs fulfill God's laws much better than we do.

Hari raya

yesterday there was a 'class gathering' at ernie's house at 3+, as part of hari raya celebration. but only 5 ppl went. only now did i know hari raya lasts a month, with constant visitors all month round.

She lived all the way at hougang. and so luckily there was a direct bus from there to SP, that would bring us all the way to the neighbourhood. the trip took more than an hour. the bus fare was in the E region (1.48). after alighting we walked through a maze of flats before reaching her house.

it was the first time i ever stepped into a malay or muslim household. on first impression, it looked nice and well decorated, but didnt like it. there was a carpet covering the floor with intricate patterns. the place was stuffy and felt claustrophobic. The walls were full of islamic scripture plaques hanging from them and religoius artifacts on display.

the atmosphere was so bad that i suddenly and randomly broke into a laughing fit while watching MTV and everyone thought i gone mad cos there was nothing funny actually.

hari raya is like our chinese new year... lots of goodies for guests to eat. we had about 15 choices to eat from. most of them were handmade by all the females in the family. and these were supposed to be our food for the day, plus a bowl of tomato macaroni each, eaten at 4+, so far from dinnertime. if i had known i wouldnt have ate before i went.

ernie's younger brother was a super hyperactive kid, running around the place and making real lots of noise and trying to get attention. the girls think hes cute, i find him a nuisance.

during the whole time we were there, we just spent the time watching 'shes the man' and MTV. so it seemed a rather unfruitful time, just sitting on the sofa wacthing tv for hours. the movie was ok, but mtv gets real boring so i kept occupied with the snacks. i thought malays are good at entertaining. what about their guests...

halfway during the show, 1 of my classmate's dad called her, and she had to go outside to have a heated argument with him over the phone, lasting 10 mins. when she came back she told us all that they been saying.
this was when i found out how bad state her family is in, mainly cos of her dad. never expected her to come from such a troubled background. her dad is a big, strong man with mediocre education who is terribly abusive of the family members. in the midst of divorce and was eyewitnessed having an affair. his children all hate him.

i am really amazed at her emotional stength. she told us everything including very sensitive topics without a trace of sadness or tears, but rather anger. ordinary girls wouldt even tell, or if they did, would break down shortly after. she is a SP scholar, with the best o lvl result in the class, so i thought her parents are well cultured and highly educated professionals. i guess ppl from dysfunctional families can either be doing very well in studies, or very badly. it just depends on what they use to get their minds away from the troubles - studies, or other things. as for me i feel so comfortable at home i am constantly distracted from studies.

i was waiting for some other activity, but it never came. at 7.30 we decided to go home. i took along a few of the snacks for my long journey home. as the bus doesnt go straight home anyway, i followed the rest at alighting near AMK mrt. there was a direct bus home at the place i alighted, but i decided to kill time at the place across the road.

first, i went up an escalator, not knowing whats upstairs. i came to a supermarket, and spent about 45 mins browsing through every item sold there. window shopping, a form of education. dried seafood, vegetables, raw meat, animal organs, fruits, wine, ice cream, frozen foods, packet convenience foods, all kinds of snacks, breakfast cereals, beverages, fruit juices, milk & cheese products, rice, canned food, condiments, toiletries, hygiene & bodycare products and packeted delicacies. never been so attentive to the items in a supermart before so i found out interesting stuff about them.
i found that the 'white beans' im growing is comonly known as brown bean.

next i went to a mcdonalds that was dimly lit with a cosy atmosphere and full of people. i went around observing everyone there. students studying together or alone with ipod in their ears, gossipy girls, businessmen discussing, project groups or net surfers, PSP players, casual gatherings, families. people from all walks of life, but mainly teens.

next i went to a large shopping mall with lots of fashion stores and fast food restaurants. fashion doesnt interest me, so i went back to bus stop.

i just missed the bus so i went the other way into a hdb estate. i heard a ruckus coming 3 blocks away and investigated. it was a traditional taoist funeral. kneeling relatives in white burning paper beside the coffin, taoist priests chanting in alien language and crashing symbals, some wind instrument blown to accompany the chants. im glad there hasnt been taoist funerals in my estate cos its really noisy and irritating.

as i returned to the bus stop the bus arrived just in time. another half hour journey home.

Undercover

yesterday when i was having some 3 hours of free time in between, i went to the big 'study room' which has nice aircon, free seating tables and many power sources that ppl use to play games on their laptops n create noise pollution. while doing stuff on my laptop i was suddenly approached by a stranger.

he asked if i was free. he said he would like to share something with me. i didnt think about marketing goods or drug peddling. i guessed he was a poor depressed guy trying to get sth off his chest. And so his first sentence gave it off

"do you know about someone called Jesus?"

I decided to switch to undercover mode, acting as a nonchristian who has never read the bible or been to church. a chance to test his knowledge and his zeal for God. i told him i was a freethinker, and he believed. (even tho i had chrisitan name)

i tried to be as doubtful as i could, questioning everything he says that is unclear, has loopholes or sth to criticise about. but he so effectively answered my questions and put ideas across that in the end after about half an hour i was truly convinced and i agreed to make a prayer to 'accept Jesus into my life.' but doesnt mean anyone would be convinced by him. the character i took on was someone who isnt stubborn or resistant at all, but just need to understand the essentials and be convinced its worth my time.

real cool. and hes only been a christian for a year. he had been doing that often to stationary lone ppl around the campus during his free time, on his own accord. he will do great things for God next time.

it was a thrilling scenario where i get to experience what is it like being a totally secular teen who doesnt care anything about religion. i have never been thru that, so only now can i empathise with the countless freethinkers around me. and i realise the difficulties they face.

after the prayer, i revealed to him that i was a christian. immediately i felt such a relief cos i can finally take off that uncomfortable mask. i talked to him on a fellow christian level and it was so much more lighthearted.

i was under a big restriction - i had to pretend i knew nothing in the bible. and minimal knowledge on christianity. so i could only ask questions based on whatever he told me. much harder questions would come from those who know alot and can select their critic's pick. can even cross refer other verses that seem to contradict it.

from what i felt, after i agreed to accept the prayer, i was still far from being a full fledged christian. busy lifestyle and laziness or unwillingness to sacrifice time will pull me away. being unconvinced especially after i get to know more (ironically) could lead to marking the whole thing as a scam altogether, or simply not worth my time.

So i say, im really thankful i was brought up as a christian. Cos if i were to really be in my character's shoes, i doubt i would have made it to being a full time christian.

worries in vain

There has recently been an unfortunate incident for my bean plants. It started with a quite small problem but led on to bigger things.

the creeper of my champion plant was growing really long and strong, though it did not find anything to cling onto. 2 other of the plants took advantage of it and creeped around champion's creeper. leaves sprouted out on the creepers and soon it became so heavy that champion's stem couldnt support it and leaned until the creeper touched the table. this was a problem cos it was in an awkward angle for receiving sunlight, plus it blocked some lower plants and leaves in its way from the light.

So i came out with a not so good idea to lift up the stem such that it stands upright. in the process, it injured champion's stem and did not work the way as planned. Then the weight of the creeper further pulled the weakened stem down and soon it sorta collapsed, so the top 3/4 of the plant was almost parallel to the ground. now it was crushing the lower plants and looked like a mess.

My next solution was to transfer the container of plants to a shelf with grills so that i can hang the creeper on it and make the stem upright at the same time. another 2 problems occured from this act. the plants which were entangled together got into a tangled mess when trying to shift the 2 containers. i had to manually untangle them, in the process injuring some even more and separating some that have been supporting each other.
then when i finally got the plants onto the shelf, i found the grill was too low. by forcing the plants into that insufficient space, creepers and branches were injured and another plant's stem snapped, ending up in the same position as champion.

now i was left with many injured plants, a state so much worse than initially, and no solution to the problem at all. bean plants are such delicate lifeforms. but maybe thats the beauty of it.

it seemed like a big disaster struck my dear plants, at a time where my fruits were due soon. If i were to lose them, my 2 months of hope, care and anticipation would been in vain.

i was really worried for them and half doubted their survival. i even dreamt twice during this period that they died.

I finally thought of a solution that worked, but it took me quite some hard work and thinking. i built a supportive structure made from 4 chopsticks and 4 toothpicks, cut and glued together. a number of improvisations had to be made. it successfully supported champion's creeper and held the whole plant approx upright.

on sunday i brought my worries to church and prayer-requested for my plant's healing. they thought it was a stupid request, but i find it very reasonable. bean plants are still creations of God, and living things that have a mutually beneficial relationship with humans.

Today, 5 days after the accident, all plants are surviving. champion has fully healed its stem and creeper, thanks to support from the structure. now the part where it was injured at the stem has a big growth there, makign it stronger than before and can now support the weight of the creeper - even without the strucutre. some branches had to fall off, but its ok, they can grow back. the other plant with broken stem is now taking support.

so in a way the prayers did come true. my plants did not die, champion was healed and made even stronger. and quite fast also... imagine recovering from a bone fracture in 5 days. i thank God for giving plants such a wonderful healing mechanism, which is so much better than animal's.