Hello Oriole happy Valentine's Day!
Wow we set an Oriole record at Botanics yesterday. 16 people! Nice.
How's my February? Well I'm moving into Phase 2 of Job Hunt, which is expanding my job search parameters a bit, haha. My account is now up and running on Careers@Gov and constantly monitoring for whatever new jobs that strike my fancy... finally got resume, referees, etc etc down pat so I don't have to scramble around filling out forms and stuff! [By the way, advice to JC, poly and uni people: please stay in touch with at least 2 of your favourite teachers / lecturers after you leave. This is important when it comes to job application. This is where I got repaid by my thank-you emails to 3 of my lecturers after I graduated, which I sent on an impulse.]
Probably as you know by now my early job applications aren't going so well: I got rejected by MFA after the grueling 2nd round assessment, while the MINDEF job process is aggravating, to put it mildly. Sending wrong emails, notifying me of stuff last minute, getting my application essay lost in the email, taking ages to reply... ugh. But it's ok. You can't expect everything to go your way. And what does it say of my faith in the Lord, if I'm put down after such a minor setback? I know things will work out the way He wants it to.
See you guys this Saturday! :)
- Ivan -
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To Kenneth,
Are you going to give me back "Loving God with all your mind" first? You seem to have a long list of reading ahead hahahaha.
Growing Deep in Faith is good stuff and easy reading. As for CS Lewis, besides Narnia his easiest book is probably Screwtape Letters, might be an easier book to pick up first. Four Loves has been on my bookshelf for a LONG time. I haven't read it.
In short, I like your reading list.
It took me a long time to get around to it, but I'm finally reading the modern Christian classic The Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster. Seriously the best book for the current season of my life.
Finally, to respond to your other post:
"Human choices do not and cannot alter God's action or his plan".
Are you so sure about that? I actually think we can, you know. Not God's overall plan for the world or His ultimate plan for salvation, but I think whether we repent, how we pray, etc. has led God to change His mind before. How about Moses' plea after the people burnt the golden calf, or the city of Nineveh repenting to avoid destruction?
Of course, this does not detract from God's overall sovereignty, which I definitely agree with.
hey, my human choices and God's plan thing was quoted from somewhere else
ReplyDeleteoh yaa I was intrigued by how God changed his mind when Moses plead.
ReplyDeleteDoesnt it contradict God's perfection?
God's choices are all perfect. Why would he change his mind when some human told him something? Can it be that Moses was more sympathetic or could see the people in a way God could not?
And, God promised not to destroy his people totally. How could he really have decided - before Moses intervened - to do that?
Last time I asked Jun Xue in DG. I think he asked Pas Andrew before that.
Maybe God was testing Moses. Whether Moses loved God's people or just himself, what he can enjoy with God.
Still seems a bit weird, but more sensible to me.
How can anyone change - even a tiny little bit - how God sees thinks or sees things?
ReplyDeleteGod's choices need not be all "perfect"; they just have to not go against God's perfect nature. There is a difference.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, he won't have destroyed his people totally in the original plan - He was planning to fulfill it through Moses!
Thirdly, we can change how God sees things [in some cases] because He allows us to. Why won't He listen to those He created and loved? In most cases, He will let us know that what He does, we do not comprehend. In certain other cases, though, God CAN be moved to act differently according to what people do.
By the way, all that we're doing currently is treading the waters of the classic debate between classical and open theism. Kenneth is taking the classical position and I support the open case.
ReplyDeleteDon't want to get into too deep a discussion here on a cell group blog; Kenneth, if you want to carry on do shoot me an email. In the meantime we would do well to examine the literature that is already out there. And to know that regardless of the position we take we can still go on living in the unity and purposes of Christ. :)
haha okay
ReplyDelete