Asian Theology Reloaded

Books & Culture, January/February 2008

Mustard Seed and Leaven
Reflections on Asian theology.
by Nate Jones

A few months ago, I left my home in Wheaton to return to Indonesia, where I was born. Besides a few boxes, my trans-Pacific baggage included a handful of stubborn expectations about the shape and substance of my future work. Above all, I carried with me the conviction that God was calling me to sojourn with him again in a new place.

As the weeks and months passed, Jakarta smeared my Wheaton polish of perceptions, opinions, and convictions. Learning again how to live in my adopted home, I was peculiarly ready to pick up and listen to some of Asian theology's foremost authors. My guides in this new (to me) theological world began their reflections where I was—at the margins of divergent political and cultural worlds. I read how Kosuke Koyama tried to piece together his own fractured past, torn between Japan, America, and Thailand. Peter Phan taught me about theology among the in-between and "in-beyond" lives of Vietnamese Americans. Michael Amaladoss emphasized to me that Jesus himself was marginalized, articulating a Christology in which Jesus is sketched from Asian cultural reference points. Together, all three authors emphasized the marginality of Asia's poor and religious masses, declaring confidently that a theology that does not mean good news for these people is utterly inadequate to the Asian context.

Writing from this conviction, all three authors were inevitably concerned with the dynamics of power. What political and economic centers relegate Asian peoples to the margins? What theological center relegates Asian theology to the edge of acceptability and perhaps orthodoxy? What kind of power characterizes the Kingdom of God, in which the last become first and a homeless, itinerant patriarch becomes the spiritual father of all God's people? What kind of power works triumphantly through the resurrection of the crucified Christ? ...

In their eagerness to reread the gospel in light of Jesus' kingdom teaching, Asian theologians have forgotten that Jesus is also the Lamb of God, and that the God who brings in the kingdom also reserves to himself judgment for the wicked. In fact, Asian theologians have little to say to the survivors of 20th-century genocides, or the victims of the torture and war crimes perpetrated across the globe. By ignoring or denying a soteriology that has historically been strongly associated with Christianity-as-institution, Asian theologians have shut their ears to the cries of the martyrs.

Asian theology needs to reread both the Scriptures and the global context more carefully, listening for the rumble of God's not-so-distant judgment in Jesus' promises of the kingdom and remembering that the Son's incarnation and crucifixion were conditioned entirely upon sin—sin that the entire canon describes consistently in both personal and corporate terms....

read complete article

What will Asian Christians say?

.

Asian Theology Reloaded

Books & Culture, January/February 2008

Mustard Seed and Leaven
Reflections on Asian theology.
by Nate Jones

A few months ago, I left my home in Wheaton to return to Indonesia, where I was born. Besides a few boxes, my trans-Pacific baggage included a handful of stubborn expectations about the shape and substance of my future work. Above all, I carried with me the conviction that God was calling me to sojourn with him again in a new place.

As the weeks and months passed, Jakarta smeared my Wheaton polish of perceptions, opinions, and convictions. Learning again how to live in my adopted home, I was peculiarly ready to pick up and listen to some of Asian theology's foremost authors. My guides in this new (to me) theological world began their reflections where I was—at the margins of divergent political and cultural worlds. I read how Kosuke Koyama tried to piece together his own fractured past, torn between Japan, America, and Thailand. Peter Phan taught me about theology among the in-between and "in-beyond" lives of Vietnamese Americans. Michael Amaladoss emphasized to me that Jesus himself was marginalized, articulating a Christology in which Jesus is sketched from Asian cultural reference points. Together, all three authors emphasized the marginality of Asia's poor and religious masses, declaring confidently that a theology that does not mean good news for these people is utterly inadequate to the Asian context.

Writing from this conviction, all three authors were inevitably concerned with the dynamics of power. What political and economic centers relegate Asian peoples to the margins? What theological center relegates Asian theology to the edge of acceptability and perhaps orthodoxy? What kind of power characterizes the Kingdom of God, in which the last become first and a homeless, itinerant patriarch becomes the spiritual father of all God's people? What kind of power works triumphantly through the resurrection of the crucified Christ? ...

In their eagerness to reread the gospel in light of Jesus' kingdom teaching, Asian theologians have forgotten that Jesus is also the Lamb of God, and that the God who brings in the kingdom also reserves to himself judgment for the wicked. In fact, Asian theologians have little to say to the survivors of 20th-century genocides, or the victims of the torture and war crimes perpetrated across the globe. By ignoring or denying a soteriology that has historically been strongly associated with Christianity-as-institution, Asian theologians have shut their ears to the cries of the martyrs.

Asian theology needs to reread both the Scriptures and the global context more carefully, listening for the rumble of God's not-so-distant judgment in Jesus' promises of the kingdom and remembering that the Son's incarnation and crucifixion were conditioned entirely upon sin—sin that the entire canon describes consistently in both personal and corporate terms....

read complete article

What will Asian Christians say?

.

eLearning Reloaded

e-Learning Reloaded: Top 50 Web 2.0 Tools for Info Junkies, Researchers & Students
Published on Monday 18th of February, 2008
By Jessica Hupp

There's a reason why the Web is called the information superhighway-it's full of seemingly limitless resources for learning and research. And with the advent of Web 2.0, harnessing this information has never been easier. These are some of the best tools for organizing, citing, searching, and more online.

Organization
With all of the information available online, it's hard to keep track, but these tools will help you stay together.
1. RSS: For ongoing publications, you can subscribe to syndicated feeds and get updates every time there's new information.
2. Backpack: Backpack does what it sounds like it does-it keeps all of your stuff like notes, lists, ideas, calendar, and more all in one handy place.
3. Remember the Milk: Create a checklist for your project, stay on top of assignments, and more with this handy to-do app.
4. Google Docs and Spreadsheets: Keep all of your documents online, and even collaborate with peers using this tool from Google.
5. Google Notebook: Add clips, organize your notes, and even access your notes from your mobile phone with Google Notebook.
6. openonmy: Store files up to 1GB so that you can research and save information from anywhere with an Internet connection.
7. ThinkFold: Create outlines that can be shared and collaborated in realtime using ThinkFold.
8. Bubbl.us: Use this mind mapping tool to get your thoughts in order.
9. Flowchart: Create charts to organize your thoughts or notes with this neat tool.
10. Connotea: Designed for researchers, clinicians and scientists, this reference management tool is great for organizing and sharing references.
11. Google Calendar: Stay on top of assignment deadlines and more with this calendar. You can even add publicly-available calendars, like school schedules and more.
12. Zotero: Use this handy extension to collect, manage, and cite your research sources right from your browser.
13. Netvibes: Use Netvibes as your go-to page for collecting RSS feeds, and for jumping off points for research.
14. Notecentric: Using Notecentric, you can not only organize your notes online, but also share them with your classmates.

Bookmarks & Citation
Stay on top of references and generate bibliographies using these neat tools.
15. Yahoo! Bookmarks: Yahoo's bookmark tool makes it easy to organize with folders, utilize the drag and drop functionality, and more.
16. Diigo: Diigo makes it easy to highlight, clip, and sticky-note right on a web page.
17. Notefish: Put all of your web research in one simple page with Notefish.
18. Qipit: Take a photo of notes and documents, and this service will turn it into a readable, taggable document.
19. BibMe: Enter books, websites, journals, and other sources into this tool, and it will automatically create a bibliography for you. They'll even let you choose between different formats.
20. Clipmarks: Clip out important pieces of the web using this neat app.
21. Del.icio.us: Use del.icio.us to organize your bookmarks online, and access them easily with tags.
22. Google Bookmarks: With Google Bookmarks, you can keep track of sites and add your own searchable notes to them.
23. Wizlite: Highlight the Internet like it's paper, then share it with your classmates or colleagues.
24. MyStickies: This awesome sticky note app allows you to put post-its on your desktop, or perhaps most importantly for researchers, on specific web pages.

Communication
Get connected with experts, classmates, and colleagues using these tools.
25. ConceptShare: If you're working on a group project, this tool is great for collaboration. Because it's web based, this tool is particularly ideal for long-distance group members.
26. LinkedIn: This professional networking tool is great for research. You can find experts in specific industries and even ask questions for the community to answer.
27. SpeakLike: Forget about language barriers, and use this chat application that will translate between two languages simultaneously.
28. Campusbug: This cool community has loads of useful tools, like flashcards, a bibliography generator, rapid learning, and a question bank.
29. NoteMesh: Using NoteMesh, you can share your notes with classmates whether they're right next to you in class or on the other side of the world.

Money and Numbers
Whether you're figuring out student loans or deciding how much to charge for your research, these tools can help out.
30. Instacalc: This calculator will do just about anything you want it to, and you can save links for later reference.
31. Prosper: Find the money you need to pay for school on this peer-to-peer loan site.
32. Calcoolate: With this cool calculator, you can do calculations, save your calculating history, and even replace your Windows calculator with the app.
33. Wesabe: This dashboard has it all, with advice, accounting tools, and more.

Search Tools
Use these tools to find the information you're looking for.
34. trueknowledge: Get answers to your questions from this search engine built on knowledge.
35. CiteULike: Find academic papers on this site using their easy search and tags.
36. ChaCha: Use this human-powered search engine to find what you need. You can even use a live guided search with a real person who will ask you questions to find exactly what you want.
37. PennTags: Search through this user-created catalog to find articles and other references.
38. Footnote: Use this tool, and you'll get access to millions of original documents from archives to shoeboxes.
39. SiteTradr: Find sites that are ranked socially by the education community on SiteTradr.
40. Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a great repository of information, both as an end point or a place to get started.

Learning
Learn how to do just about anything with these collaborative sites.
41. Instructables: Find out how to do just about anything, with pictures, on this instruction site.
42. BookRags: Find guides, lesson plans and more on BookRags.
43. College-Cram: College-Cram offers "social learning," with resources, study groups, and more.
44. eHow: In this community, you'll learn how to do everything from sneaking your child into a gifted program to creating a scavenger hunt.
45. Edublogs: See what instructors are saying and check out blogged classes on Edublogs.
46. TutorLinker: Get one-on-one guidance with a tutor from this site.
47. AnswerU: Ask a question, or look up old ones on this student-governed Q&A site.
48. MIT OpenCourseWare: Some colleges offer free courses, but MIT is the Queen Mother of them all with 1,800 courses to choose from.
49. SuTree: Get community knowledge with video lessons from all over the web.
50. wikiHow: In this collaborative writing project, you can get and share knowledge on more than 30,000 articles.

HT: Jessica for this excellent collection of links.

eLearning Reloaded

e-Learning Reloaded: Top 50 Web 2.0 Tools for Info Junkies, Researchers & Students
Published on Monday 18th of February, 2008
By Jessica Hupp

There's a reason why the Web is called the information superhighway-it's full of seemingly limitless resources for learning and research. And with the advent of Web 2.0, harnessing this information has never been easier. These are some of the best tools for organizing, citing, searching, and more online.

Organization
With all of the information available online, it's hard to keep track, but these tools will help you stay together.
1. RSS: For ongoing publications, you can subscribe to syndicated feeds and get updates every time there's new information.
2. Backpack: Backpack does what it sounds like it does-it keeps all of your stuff like notes, lists, ideas, calendar, and more all in one handy place.
3. Remember the Milk: Create a checklist for your project, stay on top of assignments, and more with this handy to-do app.
4. Google Docs and Spreadsheets: Keep all of your documents online, and even collaborate with peers using this tool from Google.
5. Google Notebook: Add clips, organize your notes, and even access your notes from your mobile phone with Google Notebook.
6. openonmy: Store files up to 1GB so that you can research and save information from anywhere with an Internet connection.
7. ThinkFold: Create outlines that can be shared and collaborated in realtime using ThinkFold.
8. Bubbl.us: Use this mind mapping tool to get your thoughts in order.
9. Flowchart: Create charts to organize your thoughts or notes with this neat tool.
10. Connotea: Designed for researchers, clinicians and scientists, this reference management tool is great for organizing and sharing references.
11. Google Calendar: Stay on top of assignment deadlines and more with this calendar. You can even add publicly-available calendars, like school schedules and more.
12. Zotero: Use this handy extension to collect, manage, and cite your research sources right from your browser.
13. Netvibes: Use Netvibes as your go-to page for collecting RSS feeds, and for jumping off points for research.
14. Notecentric: Using Notecentric, you can not only organize your notes online, but also share them with your classmates.

Bookmarks & Citation
Stay on top of references and generate bibliographies using these neat tools.
15. Yahoo! Bookmarks: Yahoo's bookmark tool makes it easy to organize with folders, utilize the drag and drop functionality, and more.
16. Diigo: Diigo makes it easy to highlight, clip, and sticky-note right on a web page.
17. Notefish: Put all of your web research in one simple page with Notefish.
18. Qipit: Take a photo of notes and documents, and this service will turn it into a readable, taggable document.
19. BibMe: Enter books, websites, journals, and other sources into this tool, and it will automatically create a bibliography for you. They'll even let you choose between different formats.
20. Clipmarks: Clip out important pieces of the web using this neat app.
21. Del.icio.us: Use del.icio.us to organize your bookmarks online, and access them easily with tags.
22. Google Bookmarks: With Google Bookmarks, you can keep track of sites and add your own searchable notes to them.
23. Wizlite: Highlight the Internet like it's paper, then share it with your classmates or colleagues.
24. MyStickies: This awesome sticky note app allows you to put post-its on your desktop, or perhaps most importantly for researchers, on specific web pages.

Communication
Get connected with experts, classmates, and colleagues using these tools.
25. ConceptShare: If you're working on a group project, this tool is great for collaboration. Because it's web based, this tool is particularly ideal for long-distance group members.
26. LinkedIn: This professional networking tool is great for research. You can find experts in specific industries and even ask questions for the community to answer.
27. SpeakLike: Forget about language barriers, and use this chat application that will translate between two languages simultaneously.
28. Campusbug: This cool community has loads of useful tools, like flashcards, a bibliography generator, rapid learning, and a question bank.
29. NoteMesh: Using NoteMesh, you can share your notes with classmates whether they're right next to you in class or on the other side of the world.

Money and Numbers
Whether you're figuring out student loans or deciding how much to charge for your research, these tools can help out.
30. Instacalc: This calculator will do just about anything you want it to, and you can save links for later reference.
31. Prosper: Find the money you need to pay for school on this peer-to-peer loan site.
32. Calcoolate: With this cool calculator, you can do calculations, save your calculating history, and even replace your Windows calculator with the app.
33. Wesabe: This dashboard has it all, with advice, accounting tools, and more.

Search Tools
Use these tools to find the information you're looking for.
34. trueknowledge: Get answers to your questions from this search engine built on knowledge.
35. CiteULike: Find academic papers on this site using their easy search and tags.
36. ChaCha: Use this human-powered search engine to find what you need. You can even use a live guided search with a real person who will ask you questions to find exactly what you want.
37. PennTags: Search through this user-created catalog to find articles and other references.
38. Footnote: Use this tool, and you'll get access to millions of original documents from archives to shoeboxes.
39. SiteTradr: Find sites that are ranked socially by the education community on SiteTradr.
40. Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a great repository of information, both as an end point or a place to get started.

Learning
Learn how to do just about anything with these collaborative sites.
41. Instructables: Find out how to do just about anything, with pictures, on this instruction site.
42. BookRags: Find guides, lesson plans and more on BookRags.
43. College-Cram: College-Cram offers "social learning," with resources, study groups, and more.
44. eHow: In this community, you'll learn how to do everything from sneaking your child into a gifted program to creating a scavenger hunt.
45. Edublogs: See what instructors are saying and check out blogged classes on Edublogs.
46. TutorLinker: Get one-on-one guidance with a tutor from this site.
47. AnswerU: Ask a question, or look up old ones on this student-governed Q&A site.
48. MIT OpenCourseWare: Some colleges offer free courses, but MIT is the Queen Mother of them all with 1,800 courses to choose from.
49. SuTree: Get community knowledge with video lessons from all over the web.
50. wikiHow: In this collaborative writing project, you can get and share knowledge on more than 30,000 articles.

HT: Jessica for this excellent collection of links.

Blade Runner- The Final Cut

The upcoming movie with Harrison Ford as the main actor brings to mind, another Harrison Ford movie which I regard as one of the greatest science fiction movie ever made- Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel,
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[contain spoilers]

The story is set in Los Angeles of 2019, a Los Angeles that only those in the early 1980s will dream of. At that time, the Japanese were buying up large chunks of the US of A. This future Los Angeles is like a crowded Tokyo, implying that Japan actually owns the USA by then. The concept of the film actually predicts globalisation, global warming and climatic change and genetic engineering (the word cloning was not in common use then). Genetically engineered humans called replicants were created to work in dangerous places in off world colonies. To keep them in check, these replicants were implanted with false memories of their past and they do not know that they are genetically engineered. They have only a lifespan of 5 years. Following a small replicant uprising, replicants become illegal on Earth; and specialist police called "blade runners" are trained to hunt down and "retire" (kill) escaped replicants on Earth. Retired blade runner Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt 6 replicants in this movie.

The movie received mixed reviews on its opening. Many people could not understand the story. Despite the box office failure of the film, it has since become a cult classic.
Seven versions of the film have been created, for various markets, and as a result of controversial changes made by film executives. A rushed Director's Cut was released in 1992 on DVD. As one of the first films chosen for the new DVD format unfortunately it has mediocre video and audio quality. In late 2007 Warner Bros. released in theater and DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray the 25th anniversary long-awaited digitally remastered definitive Final Cut by Scott.

The movie asks two basic questions (1) Does a replicant or a genetically created human being or a human clone has basic human rights? and (2) Does a replicant or a genetically created human being or a human clone has the right to ask of his or her creator, ‘why am I created’? In the case of the replicants in the movie, they were created to be used and exploited for 5 years after which they cease to function (die). The two questions have haunted me since I first saw the movie in 1982. Does the created have a right to ask the creator, ‘Why am I created to suffer?’ The movie asks the existential questions of the book of Ecclesiastes while playing out the Greek tragedy of Job. The final question that will ring in our minds as the credit roll will be that, ‘Is Rick Deckard a replicant too?’

.

Blade Runner- The Final Cut

The upcoming movie with Harrison Ford as the main actor brings to mind, another Harrison Ford movie which I regard as one of the greatest science fiction movie ever made- Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel,
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[contain spoilers]

The story is set in Los Angeles of 2019, a Los Angeles that only those in the early 1980s will dream of. At that time, the Japanese were buying up large chunks of the US of A. This future Los Angeles is like a crowded Tokyo, implying that Japan actually owns the USA by then. The concept of the film actually predicts globalisation, global warming and climatic change and genetic engineering (the word cloning was not in common use then). Genetically engineered humans called replicants were created to work in dangerous places in off world colonies. To keep them in check, these replicants were implanted with false memories of their past and they do not know that they are genetically engineered. They have only a lifespan of 5 years. Following a small replicant uprising, replicants become illegal on Earth; and specialist police called "blade runners" are trained to hunt down and "retire" (kill) escaped replicants on Earth. Retired blade runner Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt 6 replicants in this movie.

The movie received mixed reviews on its opening. Many people could not understand the story. Despite the box office failure of the film, it has since become a cult classic.
Seven versions of the film have been created, for various markets, and as a result of controversial changes made by film executives. A rushed Director's Cut was released in 1992 on DVD. As one of the first films chosen for the new DVD format unfortunately it has mediocre video and audio quality. In late 2007 Warner Bros. released in theater and DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray the 25th anniversary long-awaited digitally remastered definitive Final Cut by Scott.

The movie asks two basic questions (1) Does a replicant or a genetically created human being or a human clone has basic human rights? and (2) Does a replicant or a genetically created human being or a human clone has the right to ask of his or her creator, ‘why am I created’? In the case of the replicants in the movie, they were created to be used and exploited for 5 years after which they cease to function (die). The two questions have haunted me since I first saw the movie in 1982. Does the created have a right to ask the creator, ‘Why am I created to suffer?’ The movie asks the existential questions of the book of Ecclesiastes while playing out the Greek tragedy of Job. The final question that will ring in our minds as the credit roll will be that, ‘Is Rick Deckard a replicant too?’

.

Indiana Jones Returns

Indiana Jones Returns

The Chinese Pakua

Ong Hean-Tatt (2007), The Chinese Pakua: An Expose, Kuala Lumpur: Pelanduk Publications


Dr Ong presented some interesting conclusions from his extensive study of the Chinese Pakua. The Pakua is a powerful mystical symbol of the Chinese. The circular eight-side diagram, often with a central mirror (or yin-yang symbol) hung over doors of Chinese homes to ward off evil. Its origin remains a mystery.

Ong postulates that the Pakua originates from Mesopotomia, the origin of human beings and is a device for recording the historical origins of the Chinese people. The Chinese people were from Akkadia in Mesopotamia and migrated to China overland after the Tower of Babel incident in the Bible.

The ‘Gammadion Four Directions’ design of the Pakua is a symbol of the Garden of Eden with its four rivers. The ‘Four Heraldic Animals’ arrangement of the Pakua indicated the worship of Shang-Ti, the Supreme and only God, surrounded by His four major angels. The ancient Chinese were monotheistic until the Eastern Chou period (771-256 BC) where polytheism was introduced. This monotheism occurred because the Chinese came from the same region as the Hebrews people.

Other evidences were
• Chinese pictograms are similar to the Sumerian writings and also contain amazing descriptions of the legends of Creation, the Flood and the Tower of Babel suggesting a similar origin.
• The Chinese Pakua’s astrology is circumpolar which is similar to the Hebrew-Biblical stars system suggesting they both originated from ancient Babylon (subsequent astrology was elliptical).
• The Magic Square symbol of the Chinese Pakua is similar to the Hebrew Kabala Sigil of Saturn.
• The Chinese Ganzhi system of twenty-two symbols is the precursor of the twenty-two Hebrew Sofrot alphabets of the Hebrews.

Ong also suggests that the Nine Emperor Gods Pakua is a memorial of the time of the nine patriarchs of the Bible; Adam to Lamech (Noah was the tenth). The eight-family of the Pakua are the eight members of Noah’s family who survived the Flood. The Five-Poisons Pakua (the Dragon Boat Festival) is an ancient memory of the Tower of Babel where a war was fought to destroy Nimrod. The 5th Day of the 5th Moon, also known as the Summer Solstice, is a day for human sacrifices. The Dragon Boat races are apparently held for accidents to happen and people to die. This day is equivalent to the time of Saturnalia and May Pole Dance. The Kadazans of East Malaysia also have their harvest festivals around the same time, which in the past also meant head hunting. “This day is evidently some very ancient memory among many cultures of a universal event of a great evil.”

As in his earlier book, Ong reiterated that the Chinese dragon or ‘lung’ was not the limbless ‘Biblical serpent-dragon’ but a limbed-winged holy seraphim of God!

This is an interesting book that bears further study. Ong is making a case that the Chinese people were originally monotheistic and that the Chinese Pakua contains symbols of Biblical history. However throughout its long history it has acquired occultist properties and powers.

.

The Chinese Pakua

Ong Hean-Tatt (2007), The Chinese Pakua: An Expose, Kuala Lumpur: Pelanduk Publications


Dr Ong presented some interesting conclusions from his extensive study of the Chinese Pakua. The Pakua is a powerful mystical symbol of the Chinese. The circular eight-side diagram, often with a central mirror (or yin-yang symbol) hung over doors of Chinese homes to ward off evil. Its origin remains a mystery.

Ong postulates that the Pakua originates from Mesopotomia, the origin of human beings and is a device for recording the historical origins of the Chinese people. The Chinese people were from Akkadia in Mesopotamia and migrated to China overland after the Tower of Babel incident in the Bible.

The ‘Gammadion Four Directions’ design of the Pakua is a symbol of the Garden of Eden with its four rivers. The ‘Four Heraldic Animals’ arrangement of the Pakua indicated the worship of Shang-Ti, the Supreme and only God, surrounded by His four major angels. The ancient Chinese were monotheistic until the Eastern Chou period (771-256 BC) where polytheism was introduced. This monotheism occurred because the Chinese came from the same region as the Hebrews people.

Other evidences were
• Chinese pictograms are similar to the Sumerian writings and also contain amazing descriptions of the legends of Creation, the Flood and the Tower of Babel suggesting a similar origin.
• The Chinese Pakua’s astrology is circumpolar which is similar to the Hebrew-Biblical stars system suggesting they both originated from ancient Babylon (subsequent astrology was elliptical).
• The Magic Square symbol of the Chinese Pakua is similar to the Hebrew Kabala Sigil of Saturn.
• The Chinese Ganzhi system of twenty-two symbols is the precursor of the twenty-two Hebrew Sofrot alphabets of the Hebrews.

Ong also suggests that the Nine Emperor Gods Pakua is a memorial of the time of the nine patriarchs of the Bible; Adam to Lamech (Noah was the tenth). The eight-family of the Pakua are the eight members of Noah’s family who survived the Flood. The Five-Poisons Pakua (the Dragon Boat Festival) is an ancient memory of the Tower of Babel where a war was fought to destroy Nimrod. The 5th Day of the 5th Moon, also known as the Summer Solstice, is a day for human sacrifices. The Dragon Boat races are apparently held for accidents to happen and people to die. This day is equivalent to the time of Saturnalia and May Pole Dance. The Kadazans of East Malaysia also have their harvest festivals around the same time, which in the past also meant head hunting. “This day is evidently some very ancient memory among many cultures of a universal event of a great evil.”

As in his earlier book, Ong reiterated that the Chinese dragon or ‘lung’ was not the limbless ‘Biblical serpent-dragon’ but a limbed-winged holy seraphim of God!

This is an interesting book that bears further study. Ong is making a case that the Chinese people were originally monotheistic and that the Chinese Pakua contains symbols of Biblical history. However throughout its long history it has acquired occultist properties and powers.

.

Who is F.W.Boreham?

An example of the way F W Boreham deals with the ordinary, everyday stuff of life is evident in an essay he writes about ‘tiffs’ which begins this way:

A friend and I found ourselves standing the other day before a fine picture by G. T. Pinwell in the Melbourne Art Gallery. It is entitled 'Out of Tune.' It represents two lovers whose honeyed hours have been temporarily embittered.I say 'temporarily' advisedly, for, although Mr. Pinwell's picture does not forecast the future, any one with half an eye can see how it will all end.

‘Tiffs,’ as Principal P. T. Forsyth says in his book on Marriage, ‘are not tragedies. It is childish, as soon as the clouds begin to drop, to think that heaven is burst. A happy marriage depends on the way these things are handled, and not on their entire absence. And a mistake is not irreparable.’

There is some comfort in that, but I am afraid that the statement is too sweeping. It requires some modification. ‘Tiffs are not tragedies,’ says the Principal. But they may be, and very often they are. ‘A happy marriage depends on the way these things are handled,’ says Dr. Forsyth. It also depends on the way these things come about. We must not generalize.

F W Boreham, ‘Tiffs’, The Golden Milestone (London: Charles H Kelly, 1915), 258-259.






Who is F.W. Boreham? Check out this wonderful blog,The Official FW Boreham blogsite by my friend Dr Geoff Pound.

Who is F.W.Boreham?

An example of the way F W Boreham deals with the ordinary, everyday stuff of life is evident in an essay he writes about ‘tiffs’ which begins this way:

A friend and I found ourselves standing the other day before a fine picture by G. T. Pinwell in the Melbourne Art Gallery. It is entitled 'Out of Tune.' It represents two lovers whose honeyed hours have been temporarily embittered.I say 'temporarily' advisedly, for, although Mr. Pinwell's picture does not forecast the future, any one with half an eye can see how it will all end.

‘Tiffs,’ as Principal P. T. Forsyth says in his book on Marriage, ‘are not tragedies. It is childish, as soon as the clouds begin to drop, to think that heaven is burst. A happy marriage depends on the way these things are handled, and not on their entire absence. And a mistake is not irreparable.’

There is some comfort in that, but I am afraid that the statement is too sweeping. It requires some modification. ‘Tiffs are not tragedies,’ says the Principal. But they may be, and very often they are. ‘A happy marriage depends on the way these things are handled,’ says Dr. Forsyth. It also depends on the way these things come about. We must not generalize.

F W Boreham, ‘Tiffs’, The Golden Milestone (London: Charles H Kelly, 1915), 258-259.






Who is F.W. Boreham? Check out this wonderful blog,The Official FW Boreham blogsite by my friend Dr Geoff Pound.

How to Tell Your Child About Anesthesia

Sometimes, our child may need an operation. It may not be a problem with babies and toddlers but may be one with older children. This link from the Royal Children Hospital in Melbourne is an excellent aid to tell your child about anaesthesia. It also reflects how we should treat our child with respect.

How to Tell Your Child About Anesthesia

Sometimes, our child may need an operation. It may not be a problem with babies and toddlers but may be one with older children. This link from the Royal Children Hospital in Melbourne is an excellent aid to tell your child about anaesthesia. It also reflects how we should treat our child with respect.

Not Just For Monks

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Not Just For Monks

Spiritual disciplines are for anyone who wants to love God and others more

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