Samson and a gay pastor

Bible study class a few hours ago on Judges 16 lead me to thinking about a surprising parallel that can be drawn between Samson and a gay New York pastor. Its implications lead me to view the recent hullabaloo regarding Rev. Ouyang’s marriage with less apprehension and, I must admit although the following adjective’s political incorrectness is almost staggering, a little less distaste. The issue has stuck a really raw nerve with me and I’m surprised to sense such intolerance in my system.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against gays. Stating the above often seems to be the precursor to a long diatribe against a bunch of nice although frequently ostracized group of people. Here it’s not. Believe you, me.

And here comes a whole bunch of other disclaimers, if ever anyone reads this blog and accuses me of being a bigoted nazi. I’m a protestant whose religion is very much a part of his life. I don’t think that the church’s idea is to condone homosexual activity, and definitely not in such a public sense as Rev. Ouyang’s and the ordination of Scott Anderson by the Presbytery. I have gay friends.

They were both men of God, albeit Samson was fairly faithless for much of his life. Samson was a Nazirite yet was a violent troublemaker, frequently flouting his religious restrictions. The pastor is a minister of his church, a church that should, by virtue of its affiliation to an Abrahamic religion, find homosexuality to be a deviation from the straight and narrow, and a lifestyle not to be practised. Conflict arose in both scenarios. The seeds of an Israeli insurrection against their Philistine masters were sown. Outcry against openly gay ministers and gay marriage resounded in many quarters of Malaysian society. God’s cause was furthered by Samson’s violent reign as judge of Israel. Has a line, that God has drawn from the beginning, started to become more evident to people that were ambivalent about homosexuality in the past? Has God’s purpose been served by the controversy?

Wonderful Penang

We took a trip up to Penang recently and it was love at first sight.

We’ve both been to Penang in the past, albeit not together. My memory was sketchy and didn’t retain details of my prior visits. A cruise followed by a trip to Kek Lok Si and assam laksa at the foothills. I’ve seen the pictures of a child version of me at the botanical gardens feeding the monkeys but no real recollection.

Although short-lived, we managed to catch a little slice of the beauty within Penang and took back some memories that I’m sure we’ll classify as fond in the years to come.

On MCA developments and a higher power

Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek recently quit his post as deputy president of MCA, paving the way for fresh party polls. On Twitter today, tweets expounding on how Dr. Chua kept his pre Chinese New Year promises of resigning, once the festivities were over of course, abounded. Hailed as a leader that ‘walked the talk’, his supporters are probably fairly anxious for him to wrest power from Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat for the rebranding of MCA to commence.

There was little mention of his foray into gonzo today. Caught on video performing an illegal sex act, casted as the contrite everyday man succumbing to a common character failing, Dr. Chua quit his party post, only to rejoin the party and now stands the greatest chance of occupying MCA’s most coveted seat. Verily, Dr. Chua is a leader that leads by example.

 

What traits however, is Dr. Chua’s example exhibiting? That a senior member of the BN coalition can get away with a ‘criminal’ act? The laws that govern his sexual experiences are archaic and outdated, but are laws nonetheless. Does Dr. Chua’s example reinforce such beliefs? That members of the opposition can, and will, have their political careers destroyed on the flimsiest and most ludicrous of charges while those in power, even though implicated with video evidence get to go scot free? Are Dr. Chua, and members of the ruling coalition, above the law? That you can avoid the fairly short arm of Malaysian law, and still come up tops if you are a powerful and influential individual? Are these the values that our leaders wish to impart on the young? That a self-confessed adulterer, not to mention recipient of illegal fellatio, is the present mover and shaker of Chinese representation in government? Apparently so.

I have nothing against Dr. Chua personally. He may just be the nicest guy, that did what he did in a few moments of weakness. We are all human, and I’m sure that we can all relate to human weakness.

 

Nevertheless, I fully believe that a higher power exists to judge those that are found to be in extreme want. Through the swath of chaos and public despair left in the wake of their clamber for power and wealth, they have caused the innocent to suffer. By employing their immoral and diabolical methods to get what they want, they’ve caused our country’s growth to falter. Think highway concessions, national car brands, diesel powered locomotion, alienation of land, uniforms, RM5700.00 car jacks, soccer training, tourism promotion, submarines, etc. Their corrupt ways are a blight unto our beloved nation and an insult to the political maturity and honour of the Rakyat. The Rakyat is disillusioned and has no further confidence in a bigoted, evil clique of dastardly politicians that will not hesitate to take a life if it means that the act will serve their ends.

 

Some advice for Dr. Chua. It’s taken from an old book.

Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

 

Here’s a more recent gem from the same tome that is very relevant to MCA.

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

 

As for Barisan Nasional leaders (with a few exceptions of course, for rare is the basket of uniformly rotten apples) , take heed, before it’s too late. It already may be too late for you, as I would be truly surprised to see your names sealed in the book of life, whatever your faith.

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

In the previous verse, the paramount advice for good governance.

Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal.

And finally,

Mat 3:2  And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

God Bless the people of Malaysia.

On Auntie Bee Lay’s passing

On the 30th of January, 2010, a saint left this sorrow filled world for glory at the side of our Maker.

Auntie Bee Lay was no ordinary Christian. She put many of us to shame with her unwavering faith in God. Auntie Bee Lay was relentless in her pursuit to know and understand the God that she loves.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, Auntie Bee Lay did not curse our Maker, nor did she question His motives in allowing her to be afflicted with such a terrible disease. Calmly she accepted that this was her lot in life and joyously did she thank our Heavenly Father for allowing her to intimately share the gospel with many cancer patients by virtue of her having the same malaise. When I was going through a rough patch during my divorce several years back, Auntie Bee Lay’s words were a great consolation to me, and allowed me to grow my faith in the Almighty when the world seemed so very very dark.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians had this to say of faith.

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Auntie Bee Lay personified this faith in our Lord in her own wonderful fashion. She has touched the hearts of many with her kindness and love.

She is sorely missed.

Till we meet again Auntie Bee Lay, by our beloved Saviour’s side.

We love Phuket!

We went last June, and we were in Phuket in the previous June as well. Just can’t get enough of the laid back, walking around with beer-can in hand afternoons, getting blinded by the lights at night, all the while with a stiff sea-breeze blowing, environment.

 

Clockwise from bottom left: Grace, Suphin, Joyce, Chong, me, Tai. Taken on our 2008 trip. The restaurant along Patong beach was quite pricey but that’s to be expected. Somebody has to pay for their advertising. You are literally bombarded by a truckload of billboard ads and ads in every tourist handout enticing you to eat at Savoy the minute you reach HKT.

 

With the local denizens at Patong beach. Always a great a place to hang out. They have some really creative drinking games that tax your focus. Foreigners cannot smack the nail in with less tries than us, they’re thinking. Sure to order more rounds of beer after losing, they’re thinking. This bunch of foreigners took them to the cleaners though 🙂

 

Imagine the tour guide saying to the Hokkien auntie “Yah, next we go da Similan center.” Auntie will be like WT… Arcade centre at the Phuket Fantasea attraction. They’ve got a fairly decent Vegas type show going on with elephants and some hilarious trained chickens.

On turning the page

Our future abode

It looks so well, incomplete… Am not sure why the temporary fence is situated so close, and with lamp posts just a foot away on the other side. The guard sure as heck didn’t know the fence wasn’t permanent when I asked him about it. Can’t wait to take a tape measure there to see where my lot ends 🙂 My castle. Far removed from inconsiderate neighbours that park their vehicles outside their homes, restricting the use of a third of public roadways. Adios, smog from one of the busiest residential area streets this side of the Straits of Johor.

The show house.

That’s gaudy. The orange has got to go. In the foreground, a quarter of what this is all for. Thinking about renovations makes me incontinent… No, I kid. But it’s still some scary stuff. Enough to give grown men rabid fiscal nightmares.

Uniforms in stark vivid contrast

While we’re on new chapters, I joined aikido recently. Figured if I was ever going to get some exercise, why not another martial art? Can’t possibly kick and punch and scream at 10,000 rpm like I used to. Unassuming white again. Oh well.

Hopefully with a bit of practice, that white belt will turn blue in a few months. I’m thoroughly enjoying it though! Just have to figure out a way not to get injured before class. First, while play wrestling with friends, got my rib kicked out of its default position. The following week, I slipped on slick rocks near the crest of the Kota Tinggi waterfall and slammed my ass into them, coccyx first.

Shiro in his new cot

And now for a random image. Shiro in his new cot. Melissa brought it back from work. It’s actually the basket for some get-well flowers from patients at her ward.

Making a best friend happy – priceless.

Some Random Pictures

The LED taillamps that I got the other day. Can you imagine my elatedness when I got these lamps?? Can you? Maximum elation, let me tell you 🙂

 

Taro,  our guardian rottweiler. So content in his slumber.

A dragonfly in the garden.

Calzone in JB? Who would have guessed. Il Giardino, Johor Bahru.  Not Michelin star material but food’s fairly decent.

Amazing Vista Fix!

This may be the first posting on my blog but I had a compulsion to write it just so that this particular fix is mentioned. Many a times I’ve been on the verge of throwing in the towel in the search for the elusive fixes to the problems below:

1. Firefox suddenly deciding not to work on my laptop one day. It gave no regard to how many times I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled it. It simply would not work.
2. Old Folders and New Folders suddenly could not be Renamed. No matter whether you tried via the context menu’s property tab, or using F2.
3. Adobe Reader did not work. Flash updates also failed. Documents could not be read. Online games could not be played. Despair.
4. Internet Explorer was extremely sluggish. This compounded with the Firefox not working issue really created a crappy browsing experience.
5. A persistent ‘RoxMMTrayApp module has stopped working’ message. Annoying but fairly minor.
6. The issue that ultimately lead me to the post, ‘Error 1606: Could not access network location %APPDATA%’. This error came up every time I tried to update Windows Live Messenger.

I’m running the Vista Home Premium operating system and ever since it shipped from Dell, I’ve been having problems with the wireless connection, driver issues, Windows Update issues, and a plethora of other irritating issues. It was all very frustrating trying to solve each problem in turn.

It never occurred to me that the problem was a single registry issue. A big thank you to the people that posted the fix, especially to Steve123. His post has changed my entire disposition towards my laptop. Without any further ado, the post that has given me more satisfaction than any other post ever did:

http://forums.techarena.in/operating-systems/1127524.htm

The incident truly made me feel Blessed! Praise be to God in the highest!