though i am known for being anti-christian at some points of time( yes darren) i still feel this is an excellent story

Religion vs Science

"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes, sir."

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could... in fact most of us would if we could... God doesn't.

[No answer.]

"He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

[No answer]

The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young fella."

"Is God good?"

"Er... Yes."

"Is Satan good?"

"No."

"Where does Satan come from?" The student falters.

"From... God..."

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience."I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian.

"Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"

"Yes."

"Who created evil?

[No answer]

"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All the terrible things - do they exist in this world? "

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"Who created them? "

[No answer] The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"

[No answer]

The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.

Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?"

[No answer]

"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?"

Pause.

"Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?"

[No answer]

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."

The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen him? "

"No, sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir. I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus...in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?"

[No answer]

"Answer me, please."

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"You're AFRAID... you haven't?"

"No, sir."

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"...yes..."

"That takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the underling."According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?"

[The student doesn't answer]

"Sit down, please."

The Christian sits...Defeated.

Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"

The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."

The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"Is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No, sir, there isn't."

The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.

The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super- heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than -458.

You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. "Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.

"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"

"That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"

"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes..."

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."

The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!""

"Sir, may I explain what I mean?"

The class is all ears.

"Explain... oh, explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains. "That for example there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it."

The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"

"Of course there is, now look..."

"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality.

Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"

The professor's face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless.

The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."

The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't view this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."

"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies.

"Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.

"Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?"

"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.

"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"

"I believe in what is - that's science!"

"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."

"SCIENCE IS FLAWED?" the professor splutters.

The class is in uproar.

The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided. "To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?" The professor wisely keeps silent.

The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out in laughter.

The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. "Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain... felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?" No one appears to have done so.

The Christian shakes his head sadly. "It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the professor has no brain."

The class is in chaos.

The Christian sits down

As I was in the 171 bus on my way to dhoby ghaut mrt station with my dear friend Kang Le this evening, a Caucasian chap brushed past me, causing me to sway to one side, swearing under my breath, for my beloved laptop almost fell out of my clutches. I glared at the fellow, but he did not notice the hardly 1.6m 14 year old kid. Too bad.

It was about fifteen minutes later, I think, that chap did an amazing thing. Beside me were two ladies . one was what we call “of golden age” and the other was a pregnant mum-to-be. “Excuse me” were the first words I heard. I turned around. “Could you give up your seats to this lady? She’s about to pass out”. I was shocked into silence. First, you don’t see that everyday. Duh. Ok, second, he actually asked those whom people are supposed to give up their seats to, to give up THEIR seats to somebody in need. It seemed kind of cool as my brain was processing that train of thought at that time. The old lady didn’t look especially pleased and she kept staring at the poor lady who looked really pale. The pregnant lady of course, gave up her seat willingly.

ANYWAYS, this event sparked many trains of thought, but I will tell you the main one. Giving up your seats. Are you definitely wrong when you do not give up your seat in the bus or mrt to the elderly, the young, and the handicapped? I don’t really think so. Why not? Some elderly may not really need to sit down, but they expect to just because the government wants to take care of them. Being one who always gives up my seat to the elderly, I am not one to talk, but there really are times when I am so tired that when I see an old woman, I just tell myself “since she is not super bony and does not have white hair, forget it”. However, my conscience won’t let me do that, and I find myself leaning against a wall, half awake.

Sometimes, you don’t even know whether some of the elderly really NEED the seat or not. Do not deceive yourself, my friend. Haven’t you ever wondered “Does this old man really have so much difficulty standing?” or maybe “It doesn’t hurt to let him stand”. Seriously speaking, all of us have experienced these thoughts going through our heads, but it seems that everybody just decides to be obedient citizens(ahem) and thus just gives up their seats to whom we are supposed to give up our seats to. So, WHY? Take some time to think about it, catch you laterJ

Betrayal

Betrayal
Yes its me. The complicated person who needs to think about his life. Anyway, Im here today to talk about betrayal. Two aspects of it actually. One, is betrayal of all forms justifiable? And two, does betrayal help us learn, or is it just causing us double trouble?
OK! First up. Is betrayal justifiable? Many people like to think of complicated problems as a “go with the flow” kind of thing and like to say things like “oh it depends on the situation”. I don’t. Not at all. Take murder for example. You could be killing as an act of revenge, you could be killing because you have no choice, but the fact remains that you killed somebody. It’s the same with betrayal. Once you betray somebody, theres no excuse. You can say “its for his own good”, or “its either me or him”, or whatever excuse that can come out of your mouth. You can never erase the guilt you feel, thee hurt you can see on your friend’s face. His sorrow will remain. The very fact that you betrayed somebody shows your self-centeredness and how much you value your friend. It doesn’t matter if you are a criminal and you betray your friend and turn to the police. You are still a traitor.At least, that’s how I feel0.0
Secondly, some say that pain help us learn. When we get betrayed, we experience some sort of pain I guess. THUS, does betrayal help us learn? I don’t think so. Having experienced betrayal, one gets confused in the future. Confused about whether to trust anyone in the future. Confused about who is your friend and who is not. Fearful that they might be betrayed yet again. So no, I do not agree that the pain in betrayal can actually help one mature/learn

Now I Know Not To Feel Sad When I Don't Get 'A's

Now i know not to feel depressed when I don't get A1s. Because, according to brain scientist Allan Snyder, founder and director of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney. He feels that students who always get 'A's are not going to do anything exceptional in their lives because by getting many 'A' grades, one is actually forcing himself to learn what other people want him to learn and doing as other people want him to. Let me now make my speech*claps*

I fully agree with Professor Allan Synder's statement. If you look at the great inventors and artists throughout the years, none of them were exceptionally bright as students. Take, for example, the great Albert Einstein. When he was young, his teacher once said that he was stupid, asked too many questions, and would not amount to much in the future. However, he went against all odds and became one of the world's most brilliant inventors and scientists. Walt Disney, the man who founded Pixar Animations, was also told that he could not draw when he was young. However, he too proved people wrong.

Thus, I feel that to be a successful person in life, one does not have to study everything out syllabus requires us to only. We must have the courage to break the rules, to explore the unknown, so that we can discover something new, that may ultimately benefit mankind. Or maybe if you are a boss in a normal office, be courageous to break office norms. Treat your staff like a big family. Care about them. This will improve working relationships and the office will not seem like a tense place for everybody. Work as a team. Look at results only and have none of that boot-licking rubbish.

Everybody can break norms. And who knows, they might just work. Why should we conform to what people want us to do? Are we learning for them? Are our lives controlled by them? No. That is the simple truth. So why aren't we changing? because we are students, and we have no choice but to work our asses off and get a degree so that we can be "successful". That seems like another simple truth. However, I would like to ask if that truly means being successful. Society has certainly brainwashed many people into believing so, but it may not be so. If my dream is to be a coach and I fulfill my dream of training my students to international standards, I fell successful. I may not have a car, a condominium, a country club membership or a rolex watch, but i feel successful and content. Scoff if you want, but that is truly how I feel. Seriously. Without a doubt. Absolutely. Ok bye

Nothing

sorry. blogger messed up . refer to above

Inception

(Please do not be too frightened by this. What what what. I'm just sayin')

Let me just put it out there. Inception is the best movie ever. I am not joking. the trailer doesn't really do it justice, if I should say so myself.

Have you ever thought about it? That somebody is watching you, that you are Pawns in a game of Chess, like the movie Matrix? Or, that you actually are in a dream, and to wake up to reality, you need to kill yourself, to give yourself a "kick"? Mind boggling, isn't it?

there could be essays written on this topic. Ok, let us now start with the fact that we are in a dream. It sounds absurd at first, but if you think about it, do YOU remember how you came into this situation? you don't do you? Do you exactly remember how exactly you were born? You don't and you can't. Sounds like a dream situation, no? Let's say we are in a dream and Christopher Nolan wants us to possess this idea that inception is possible. You see my friend, by reading this, the idea of putting an IDEA into somebody's head through DREAMS is already in your mind. You cannot forget it. At least for now. So for inception to work, the victims (us) must be in a dream. Therefore we can conclude that this is a dream. You are looking at your computer screen. You hear the sounds of human life. They may not be real.

Or maybe the old chap Nolan is being used as a pawn by somebody somewhere in an alternate universe, somebody who wants a genocide and thus "programmes" Nolan to spread this message. That person up there, in an alternate world where no God exists, is possibly pragramming me to type this blog post. But if it was his and his will only, why am I talking about this? Paradoxical, no?

Strange how a simple movie can cause one to question one to think so much. But don't you agree that it is better than watching movies that are funny because they're lame? or overrated and cliche movies that do nothing but spread the message about teenage love and romance? Yes? Ah, glad you agree. Oh wait, that was probably what the chap up there wanted me to tell you.......

THE END (EPIC MUSIC)

Plot Of The Merchant Of Venice