Studying
=) hi mom n dad
i'm touched that u wrote an email.. we hardly ever get to talk =) thanks. it means a lot to me that you care. dad, hope the gmail password thing helps.
My timetable is
19th Nov 1pm Computing and Society
22nd Nov 1pm Discourse of Argumentation
23rd Nov 9am Interactional Discourse
24th Nov 9am Lexicology
1st Dec 9am General Biology
Yah i'm quite frustrated because i think my education is quite a waste of time...
for example past year exam questions actually ask "which webcast recording posted online this semester is the longest?"--and this is totally irrelevant to module content! Who cares how long the lesson posted online lasted? doesn't the content taught in the lesson matter more? how about analysis of content? If questions are set like that how on earth will i know what to study..?
for other modules they are fields of studies based on theories that don't even hold up. you just examine the theory with a careful analysis and the whole thing falls down, yet i'm supposed to write as though i actually believe in them... because the lecturer's entire profession is built on this. Postmodern theory says that you are your own god and you make your own laws and rules. it has influenced a lot of theory making in many different fields, including socio linguistics. I'm doing 2 discourse related modules this semester, related to why people talk the way they talk. many of the theories i don't agree with because of the postmodern foundation of their theories.
You see, postmodern theory just doesn't make sense. postmodernism says there is no absolute truth. I completely disagree. truth has to be absolute if it is truth at all. But anyway, this belief that there is no absolute truth has become the world's excuse to make its own rules. If I am my own god and i make my own laws, then other people have the same rights. if everyone starts making their own laws, they will try to get away with many things. in some cultures it is customary for you to greet your neighbours. in other cultures you eat your neighbour. (think Iban headhunter). and yet universally people agree that murder is wrong. I cannot believe there is no law written into our hearts. the bible says clearly God's law is written into our consciences. Also if you make a comparison, and compare maybe let's say killing somebody to helping your neighbour, most people will tell you that it is more good to help your neighbour even though they may not be sure what frame of reference they are using. My point is this. you cannot make comparisons, unless you have a benchmark that you measure right and wrong against. You only know something is better, because you have an ideal of perfection. situations that are nearer to this perfection, you call better, situations further from it, you call less moral. So there IS absolute truth.
\n \nIn class my lecturer posed a question. Can God make a stone too heavy for himself to lift? The whole aim of the exercise is to prove that God doesn\'t exist. See right, if God cannot make such a stone, He is not God, because God is supposed to be able to do everything. If God can make such a stone, but cannot lift it, he is also not God because he is supposed to be able to do everything. So he concluded before a class of about 200 students that God does not exist, and that faith in God as a person is blind faith.\n\n \nI did an analysis showing why the God of the bible, and only the God of the bible, can do that. I posted the article to my class about it and posted it on the class forum where students are supposed to think about issues discussed in class and voice their opinions. My lecturer just kept very quiet on the forum and then dismissed the thing with a wave of his hand. He\'s the world\'s top 5th linguist, and is a Hindu.\n\n \nNow linguistic theory has come to be developed to support homosexuality. It normalizes homosexuality, makes it sound so right. the theory is again postmodern. so much so that there isn\'t 3 genders (male female and homosexual) but a whole range (female trapped in male body, male homosexual who wants to look male and feel male but is attracted to males, pre-operation transvestite having sex change from male to female..etc) The number of genders now is uncountable because goodness knows what or how people want to express their sexuality, and how they want to classify themselves. I love the sinners, but I really do hate the sin. The theory gives people license to believe the sin is who or what they are, instead of the fact that they are deceived into thinking so.\n\n \nI am frustrated. Do you know that university, when started in Oxford, the world\'s oldest university, the aim was to have knowledge lead us towards God? The word "university" means "unity" in theological conclusions amidst a "diversity" of knowledge. I am utterly convinced however, that the mind of man, without an understanding of God\'s spirit and word, is utterly depraved, and that no amount of trying to convince him with knowledge and logic will lead him to the truth, unless he sincerely meant to discover it in the first place. Man will believe what he wants to believe because his heart is sinful by nature. he will not accept the truth even if it makes more logical sense, and even when it is staring at him in the face. because there is too much some individuals have to lose--their reputation and pride. They don\'t see that their conviction in a theory is also a matter of faith.\n",1]
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In class my lecturer posed a question. Can God make a stone too heavy for himself to lift? The whole aim of the exercise is to prove that God doesn't exist. See right, if God cannot make such a stone, He is not God, because God is supposed to be able to do everything. If God can make such a stone, but cannot lift it, he is also not God because he is supposed to be able to do everything. So he concluded before a class of about 200 students that God does not exist, and that faith in God as a person is blind faith.
I did an analysis showing why the God of the bible, and only the God of the bible, can do that. I posted the article to my class about it and posted it on the class forum where students are supposed to think about issues discussed in class and voice their opinions. My lecturer just kept very quiet on the forum and then dismissed the thing with a wave of his hand. He's the world's top 5th linguist, and is a Hindu.
Now linguistic theory has come to be developed to support homosexuality. It normalizes homosexuality, makes it sound so right. the theory is again postmodern. so much so that there isn't 3 genders (male female and homosexual) but a whole range (female trapped in male body, male homosexual who wants to look male and feel male but is attracted to males, pre-operation transvestite having sex change from male to female..etc) The number of genders now is uncountable because goodness knows what or how people want to express their sexuality, and how they want to classify themselves. I love the sinners, but I really do hate the sin. The theory gives people license to believe the sin is who or what they are, instead of the fact that they are deceived into thinking so.
I am frustrated. Do you know that university, when started in Oxford, the world's oldest university, the aim was to have knowledge lead us towards God? The word "university" means "unity" in theological conclusions amidst a "diversity" of knowledge. I am utterly convinced however, that the mind of man, without an understanding of God's spirit and word, is utterly depraved, and that no amount of trying to convince him with knowledge and logic will lead him to the truth, unless he sincerely meant to discover it in the first place. Man will believe what he wants to believe because his heart is sinful by nature. he will not accept the truth even if it makes more logical sense, and even when it is staring at him in the face. because there is too much some individuals have to lose--their reputation and pride. They don't see that their conviction in a theory is also a matter of faith.
\n \nI have won battles with God these 3.5 years, not with logical arguments, but with deep, unceasing prayer. To learn to see with His eyes and to feel with His heartbeat. My university education has allowed me the opportunities to bring others to Christ through the application of my mind, but God has humbled me completely. The conviction of the soul of another person is entirely His work, and my responsibility is not to struggle so hard on my strength to find an argument that works, but to depend on Him and Him alone. Yes He gave me wisdom to write arguments for Him, but He\'s showing me that He alone can change the heart of man.\n\n \nAs for me, my education, I am paying $5000-$6000 (not counting hall fees) per annum just to learn up knowledge that is not the truth, and knowledge that does not edify me in any way. I\'ve spent my past 3.5 years in university, debating as fairly as I can with my teachers and classmates, why an approach that does not include a consideration of God does not make sense. But they will not see it. Also, I have pointed out the truth, but nobody wants to listen, because they still think along postmodern lines, that God is a want, not a need, and that they will define for themselves (as god) whether or not they need God.\n\n \nDad, Mom, you would agree with me, that looking at 1000 counterfeit dollar notes won\'t help me to tell the difference between a real dollar note and a fake one? I don\'t need to know more counterfeit truth Pa and Ma, I just need to know the truth to tell what is not true. I don\'t need to know how to classify homosexuals and the whole range of genders by the way they use language. I know these categories shouldn\'t even exist. I don\'t need to know this to help homosexual friends either. debating with them on why the theories they live by doesn\'t give them hope, only Jesus does. You cannot leave sin unless you have something better to replace it with. Likewise, all I need to know is Jesus, to help. God will give me all other peripheral wisdom and skills if I should ever need them if an intellectual argument is needed, (as He has already done,) but He wants me to depend on Him first. \n",1]
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I have won battles with God these 3.5 years, not with logical arguments, but with deep, unceasing prayer. To learn to see with His eyes and to feel with His heartbeat. My university education has allowed me the opportunities to bring others to Christ through the application of my mind, but God has humbled me completely. The conviction of the soul of another person is entirely His work, and my responsibility is not to struggle so hard on my strength to find an argument that works, but to depend on Him and Him alone. Yes He gave me wisdom to write arguments for Him, but He's showing me that He alone can change the heart of man.
As for me, my education, I am paying $5000-$6000 (not counting hall fees) per annum just to learn up knowledge that is not the truth, and knowledge that does not edify me in any way. I've spent my past 3.5 years in university, debating as fairly as I can with my teachers and classmates, why an approach that does not include a consideration of God does not make sense. But they will not see it. Also, I have pointed out the truth, but nobody wants to listen, because they still think along postmodern lines, that God is a want, not a need, and that they will define for themselves (as god) whether or not they need God.
Dad, Mom, you would agree with me, that looking at 1000 counterfeit dollar notes won't help me to tell the difference between a real dollar note and a fake one? I don't need to know more counterfeit truth Pa and Ma, I just need to know the truth to tell what is not true. I don't need to know how to classify homosexuals and the whole range of genders by the way they use language. I know these categories shouldn't even exist. I don't need to know this to help homosexual friends either. debating with them on why the theories they live by doesn't give them hope, only Jesus does. You cannot leave sin unless you have something better to replace it with. Likewise, all I need to know is Jesus, to help. God will give me all other peripheral wisdom and skills if I should ever need them if an intellectual argument is needed, (as He has already done,) but He wants me to depend on Him first.
\n \nMuch knowledge wearies the soul, for life\'s purpose is not found in it. There are many things i don\'t need to know, and will probably never use again. I\'d really like very much to file for graduation, for I have completed my degree and can leave. I don\'t need an honours degree, I know He will provide what I need. the degree doesn\'t make me smarter, it only makes the world think i am, and I know God\'s in control of the world\'s opinions and will provide for what I need--I don\'t have to worry about pleasing the world. I know you all think practically, but you know, my Heavenly Father is the King of the Universe, so there is nothing that I will ever lack. If He thinks I need a raise in salary, He\'ll give it to me, it has nothing to do with how well qualified the person next to me is. He will give me what I need. Increasingly over the past \n1.5 years I have been burdened to pray seriously over preparing for full time ministry eventually leading into long term mission work in Turkey. I will take december to pray seriously over this, and discern if He is calling, and if so, where He is calling, and what He\'s calling me to. If anything i invite you to pray with me on this. \n\n \nDo take care in the meantime. and ya, don\'t worry, still studying, although i really don\'t care to amass any more knowledge of this kind.\n \n \n \nBelow is the article i wrote on absolute truth and God.\n \n\nDear All,\nThe question raised in class today must burn in the depths of hearts that have sold their souls to the conviction that there was an omnipotent God. I speak as a Christian, but this argument will probably interest those whose faiths also portend a continued belief in an infinitely capable God. It is both our instinct and desire that if there was a God, and if He was the creator God of all things, then logic must have been a product of this creation, and if God were really God, he would not contradict himself. If the conclusion posited in class today were true, the foundations of such a faith itself must crumble. I am not trained in the schools of logic, and I am but an amateur in mathematical deduction, but let me attempt to write a paper in defense of my faith, for I think certain key points have been severely misunderstood, or missed when we look at things in the light of our limited human capacity to reason. \n",1]
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Much knowledge wearies the soul, for life's purpose is not found in it. There are many things i don't need to know, and will probably never use again. I'd really like very much to file for graduation, for I have completed my degree and can leave. I don't need an honours degree, I know He will provide what I need. the degree doesn't make me smarter, it only makes the world think i am, and I know God's in control of the world's opinions and will provide for what I need--I don't have to worry about pleasing the world. I know you all think practically, but you know, my Heavenly Father is the King of the Universe, so there is nothing that I will ever lack. If He thinks I need a raise in salary, He'll give it to me, it has nothing to do with how well qualified the person next to me is. He will give me what I need. Increasingly over the past 1.5 years I have been burdened to pray seriously over preparing for full time ministry eventually leading into long term mission work in Turkey. I will take december to pray seriously over this, and discern if He is calling, and if so, where He is calling, and what He's calling me to. If anything i invite you to pray with me on this.
Do take care in the meantime. and ya, don't worry, still studying, although i really don't care to amass any more knowledge of this kind.
| e.s.t.h.e.r in the arms of Jesus @
11/19/2005 08:00:00 pm |
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