Let's together observe Earth Hour 2010~! Yay~
Cheerz~
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Let's Observe Earth Hour
I'm writing this post half hour before the official Earth Hour, and one hour before USM's Earth Hour. So, I'm gonna switch off everything and go out somewhere else to lepak. Cya!
Human Nature
I just read the recent post of two blogs on my sidebar.
Please read these two posts first before continuing:
http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2010/02/just-what-kind-of-bull-shit-is-this.html
http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/02/this-is-injustice.html
Again, please read the two posts above first before continuing... thanks.
Incidentally... even though those two posts are talking about different events, the idea I get is the same. By the nature of human, we always get mixed up between justice and compassion. We get our mind mixed up with our heart. The mind says justice, the heart says compassion. Then, both clashes can causes confusion within us.
But you know what? What Jesus did on the cross was 100% compassion & 100% justice. It's FULLY compassion and FULLY justice at the same time. Unthinkable? Think about it. God is the chief judge. All of us are guilty of our sins. No one escapes that. So, to be 100% justice, all of us deserve full punishment from God. But, with 100% compassion, God the father sent His son Jesus to take ALL of our sins upon himself, and therefore receive ALL the punishment upon himself, alone. Imagine.. All the wrong that we did, and we should receive the punishment. But, Jesus came and took our place of the punishments, instead of us.
So, in the end, 100% justice was done, because ALL the sins of EVERYONE was punished. Yet, it is 100% compassion, because Jesus took the punishment for us, and spared all of us. How amazing was that?!
Another way to understand is through this famous story from Josh McDowell's book:
So, relating to what's going on recently, what I can say is.. Jesus is the answer. We need to have the mind of Christ. Human by nature is full of flaws and inner confusions. And guess what? The master of confusion is Satan himself. Sigh. So, what else can I say? Have the mind of Christ and God will guide and discipline us to do the right things and do the things right. He will take control of our minds and hearts.
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Please read these two posts first before continuing:
http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2010/02/just-what-kind-of-bull-shit-is-this.html
http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/02/this-is-injustice.html
Again, please read the two posts above first before continuing... thanks.
Incidentally... even though those two posts are talking about different events, the idea I get is the same. By the nature of human, we always get mixed up between justice and compassion. We get our mind mixed up with our heart. The mind says justice, the heart says compassion. Then, both clashes can causes confusion within us.
But you know what? What Jesus did on the cross was 100% compassion & 100% justice. It's FULLY compassion and FULLY justice at the same time. Unthinkable? Think about it. God is the chief judge. All of us are guilty of our sins. No one escapes that. So, to be 100% justice, all of us deserve full punishment from God. But, with 100% compassion, God the father sent His son Jesus to take ALL of our sins upon himself, and therefore receive ALL the punishment upon himself, alone. Imagine.. All the wrong that we did, and we should receive the punishment. But, Jesus came and took our place of the punishments, instead of us.
So, in the end, 100% justice was done, because ALL the sins of EVERYONE was punished. Yet, it is 100% compassion, because Jesus took the punishment for us, and spared all of us. How amazing was that?!
Another way to understand is through this famous story from Josh McDowell's book:
A young woman was stopped for speeding. The police officer ticketed her and took her before the judge. The judge read off the citation and asked, "Guilty or not guilty?" The woman replied, "Guilty." The judge brought down the gavel and fined her on hundred dollars or ten days in jail. Then he did an amazing thing. He stood up, he took off his robe, stepped down from the bench, took out his billfold, and paid the young woman's fine. Why? The judge was her father. He loved his daughter, yet he was a just judge. She had broken the law, and he couldn't simply say to her, "Because I love you so much, I forgive you. You may go scot-free." Had he done such a thing, he would not have been a righteous judge. He would not have upheld the law. But because of his love for his daughter, he was willing to take off his judicial robe, step down to her position, assume his relationship as her father, and pay the fine.
So, relating to what's going on recently, what I can say is.. Jesus is the answer. We need to have the mind of Christ. Human by nature is full of flaws and inner confusions. And guess what? The master of confusion is Satan himself. Sigh. So, what else can I say? Have the mind of Christ and God will guide and discipline us to do the right things and do the things right. He will take control of our minds and hearts.
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I Wanna Watch!
Anyone got this movie?
Dont get the wrong movie. It's this one:
So, anyone? Pwease..?
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New Happy Tiger Year
Project 365 #24-Feb13: Antivirus wishes you Gong Xi Fa Cai ~
Video somewhat related to the post~
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Go Forth and Blog
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog.Extracted from AP news here.
Yay! Great news! It is good to make use of whatever medium of communications available at the moment, especially the various web social media we have now, which are growing faster and stronger everyday. We have to prepare ourselves for the generations to come, where digital communications will surely dominate the world of communication.
"The spread of multimedia communications and its rich 'menu of options' might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web," but priests are "challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources," he said.
Yet, we have to be aware that the devil as well, has already got into the digital world; much earlier than us, and is far more digitally savvy than us mere humans. His has his tricks, traps, schemes and plans all over the digital world as well. So, we must be cautious about this, and learn to control our actions in the digital world.
The 82-year-old pope has often been wary of new media, warning about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media, in particular, to trivialize sex and promote violence, while lamenting that the endless stream of news can make people insensitive to tragedies.
All in all, let us together march into the digital world and spread the message of Love! Yay!
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Avatar Rulez?
On Wednesday, Dr Mahathir said there was strong evidence that the Sept 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 could have been “staged” as an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world.
"If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,” Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying.Extracted from TheStar article here.
I think Dr M might actually be right about this. And I suspect the same theory applies also to the "Allah" incidents (torching of places of worship) here, more so with the recent arson attacks on two suraus. I believe some opportunists are taking advantage of the current situation; playing with peoples' minds and emotions.
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Pwned! Again??
Church torching? Immediately after hacked website?
More details from TheStar here.
Twitter responses:
(1) Umno Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin tweeted "Despicable & cowardly. This is not my Malaysia.", then later on, "Just visited Metro Tabernacle church in Melawati. Am lost for words."
(2) Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir tweeted "All Muslims shd condemn the torching of the church last nite. It is unIslamic to destroy ANY house of worship.", then, "At the church. I wanna cry. It's heartbreaking!". Wonderfully, she also retweeted this Bible verse: "RT @meeshly: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)".
(3) Tweet from @fahmi_fadzil: DrDzul: "PAS condemns the attack unequivocally. Statement out on Harakah soon."
(4) Our dear Prime Minister himself tweeted "I condemn the church bombings. An investigation has been launched and those responsible will be brought to justice. http://bit.ly/7KuTPd"
Other responses:
(5) Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the attacks as heinous and said such actions were against the teachings of Islam.
(6) Wan Azizah urges Malaysians to unite after church attacks. Read here.
(7) Pak Lah condemns church attacks. Read here.
(8) MCA condemns attacks on churches. Read here.
(9) "Pemuda Barisan Nasional (BN) mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan membakar Gereja Metro Tabernacle di Desa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur tengah malam semalam." Read here.
(10) MPF Statement On Church Torchings: "The cowardly and utterly senseless act of a group of misguided, chauvinistic bigots in torching at least three churches in the Klang Valley this morning must be condemned in no uncertain terms by all peace loving Malaysians." Read full article here.
(11) Christian Federation Malaysia (CFM) strongly condemns fire-bombing of Churches. Read here.
(12) More politicians responses here.
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And I'll end here with two great posts from:
1) Art Harun
2) Marina Mahathir
Please click and read. Thanks.
Myself? I'm still speechless and still learning.
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I'm still speechless until this moment. So, I'll just be quoting news articles here.
ADD: Those who wish to donate for Metro Tabernacle Church, check out this site.
Latest news as I write this post:
Latest news as I write this post:
A fourth Klang Valley church, this time in Kampung Subang, was reportedly attacked with Molotov cocktail which failed to explode while police have dismissed reports that cars with Christian symbols having their windscreens smashed in the Bangsar suburb today, hours after arson attacks on three churches. (Source here)
More details from TheStar here.
Twitter responses:
(1) Umno Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin tweeted "Despicable & cowardly. This is not my Malaysia.", then later on, "Just visited Metro Tabernacle church in Melawati. Am lost for words."
(2) Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir tweeted "All Muslims shd condemn the torching of the church last nite. It is unIslamic to destroy ANY house of worship.", then, "At the church. I wanna cry. It's heartbreaking!". Wonderfully, she also retweeted this Bible verse: "RT @meeshly: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)".
(3) Tweet from @fahmi_fadzil: DrDzul: "PAS condemns the attack unequivocally. Statement out on Harakah soon."
(4) Our dear Prime Minister himself tweeted "I condemn the church bombings. An investigation has been launched and those responsible will be brought to justice. http://bit.ly/7KuTPd"
Other responses:
(5) Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the attacks as heinous and said such actions were against the teachings of Islam.
“Islam teaches its followers to respect the places of worship of other religions. I urge all parties to remain calm. I have full faith that Malaysians will be able to resolve the matter without any conflict”
(6) Wan Azizah urges Malaysians to unite after church attacks. Read here.
(7) Pak Lah condemns church attacks. Read here.
(8) MCA condemns attacks on churches. Read here.
(9) "Pemuda Barisan Nasional (BN) mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan membakar Gereja Metro Tabernacle di Desa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur tengah malam semalam." Read here.
(10) MPF Statement On Church Torchings: "The cowardly and utterly senseless act of a group of misguided, chauvinistic bigots in torching at least three churches in the Klang Valley this morning must be condemned in no uncertain terms by all peace loving Malaysians." Read full article here.
(11) Christian Federation Malaysia (CFM) strongly condemns fire-bombing of Churches. Read here.
(12) More politicians responses here.
.
And I'll end here with two great posts from:
1) Art Harun
2) Marina Mahathir
Please click and read. Thanks.
Myself? I'm still speechless and still learning.
.
Pwned!
* click for larger view *
wooaW!
Some people are really harder than hard rocks.
For those of you who missed it... The official Malaysian Judiciary website,
http://www.mahkamah.gov.my/, was HACKED a few hours ago, if not mistaken, around 9pm. The home page was replaced with what shown above. Take a look for yourself. The page lasted for about 3 hours, till 12.30 midnight.The "Allah" issue has already been nicely and peacefully discussed and reasoned, yet there will always be people who are outdated.
ADD: Read TheStar news here.
Nomenclature
So, regarding the matter on the usage of the word "Allah", I'll just link you to two great views I happened to come upon. Just two opinions and it covers most of what you may ever wanted to argue about, in regards to this issue.
1) From a Muslim's perspective, our dear Marina Mahathir takes the example of "Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians" to show how easily people get confused with the word. The article also pointes out how are Muslims to relate with Christians.
Please read the full article here.
2) From a Christian's perspective, Dr Ng Kam Weng discusses the significance of the word "Allah" in Christianity, backed with some doctrinal references. He focuses more on the 'technical' details.
Please read the full article here.
So, what can I say? In the end, it's all about politics, and people fall for it.
ADD: Another interesting read, from a Sabahan. Please read. It'll widen your mind.
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1) From a Muslim's perspective, our dear Marina Mahathir takes the example of "Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians" to show how easily people get confused with the word. The article also pointes out how are Muslims to relate with Christians.
Now, when that delegation from St Catherine's monastery came to meet with Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), I suppose it's fair to assume that they spoke Arabic to one another. And when they were conversing, surely the word 'God' must have come up. As in "May God Be With You" and such like. What word did the Prophet (pbuh) use for 'God' I wonder? And what did the St Catherinians use in return? For monotheists like them, was there a 'your God' and 'my God' type of situation, or did they understand that they were both talking about the same One?
While some idiots are mourning over the 'loss' of the word 'Allah' and therefore basically telling the world that they are people easily confused by nomenclature, and others are predicting riots over what is basically a 'copyright' issue, let me define what I think a confident Muslim should be:
Please read the full article here.
* Commercial break... refresh your eyes *
2) From a Christian's perspective, Dr Ng Kam Weng discusses the significance of the word "Allah" in Christianity, backed with some doctrinal references. He focuses more on the 'technical' details.
One major demand from the Malay protestors is that Christians stop using the word Allah on grounds that Christians can find a simple alternative, that is, simply substitute the word Allah with the word Tuhan. Unfortunately, this demand only betrays the ignorance of the protestors. I would have thought that any Malay would know that the meaning of the words Allah (God) and Tuhan (Lord, Rabb) are not the same. How can they suggest that Christians simply use the word Tuhan to substitute the word Allah? To express the issue linguistically, Allah and Tuhan have different senses even though they have the same reference.
Both the terms Allah and Tuhan are used in the Malay Bible. Following the precedent set by Arab Christians, Allah is used to translate el/elohim and Tuhan(or TUHAN in caps) is used to translate Yahweh (YHWH). The two words are sometimes paired together as Yahweh-Elohim in 372 places in the Old Testament (14 times in Genesis 2-3; 4 times in Exodus;8 times in Joshua; 7 times in 2 Samuel; 22 times in Chronicles; 12 times in Psalms; 32 times in Isaiah; 16 times in Jeremiah and 210 times in Ezekiel etc.).
More importantly, the word Tuhan is also applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Thus we read of the LORD Jesus as Tuhan Yesus (The word LORD was used to translate the word kurios 8400 times in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. It refers to human beings in only 400 times and refers to God 8000 times. Of these 8000 times, 6700 are substitute for the word YHWH). The transference of the title kurios LORD/YHWH to Jesus Christ is testimony to the belief in the deity of Christ right at the beginning of Christianity.
Please read the full article here.
So, what can I say? In the end, it's all about politics, and people fall for it.
ADD: Another interesting read, from a Sabahan. Please read. It'll widen your mind.
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