Yaayyy….my friend is going to come to Q&A Night!!

August 18th, 2005 by jck-levin

I could sing…. unending song… of how You saved my soul…

Thanks God that after a never-ending-effort-to-ask-him-to-come-to-CBS-and-Pelita, finally my friend said that he’s willing to go to Pelita Question & Answer Night!!! Hooraayy…. I think that he’s challenged with all those our discussions, debates, and questions. Never forget that by God’s will who knows he’ll be more challenged after going to Q&A Night?? Eniweiii…. i also invite my other friend…. my 1st friend said that he’ll also try to invite this friend so that they can go 2gether…. Keep praying that both of them will come…. and prayed that they won’t change their mind, since there’re lots of other excuses not to come…..

Oh I could dance….a thousand miles…because of Your great love…

Agnostic???

August 17th, 2005 by jck-levin

I had a really unexpected day yesterday (Tue,16/8/05). There’s a talk part of the FREEDOM Mission entitled "FREEDOM From Religion". When I had a 3 hours break from 10am, i went to the library to do some of the biochem lab report. There i met some of my friends, sitting in a big table with their other friends (whom i don’t know,and most of them are not Indo), apparently most of them are biotech students.

Anyway, after a while, i nearly finished my report. Then i just remembered that i had 2 "FREEDOM from religion" leaflets left in my bag. As usual, i gave the leaflets to my friends, inviting them although i knew that they’re hesitated to come. suddenly that leaflets had already spread over the table, and when i realized my friend’s friends were talking about this ‘religion’ thingy. They are Catholics, but they mentioned their other friend (whom i don’t know again!), who confess themself as Agnostic believers.

i completely have no idea abt this Agnostic thing, so i began to asking them what the Agnostic believe, etc. They believe that there is somekind of "power" or "force" that is above us, but don’t want to label it as "God". that power is in control of everything, but it’s not necessarily means that power is involved in human lives. Since my friend’s friend is a Catholic, so he doesn’t know what else abt agnosticism. So i chatted with my indo friend who also believe in agnosticism, and i tried to put the Christianity gospel among our conversation.

Not long after that, our conversation was interrupted by the coming of these 2 friends of my friend that said they believe in Agnosticism. I began to ask them again, they said they believe in this power, but they don’t want to worship or bow down to this power because they don’t believe this power has anything to do with our lives. So i asked them, if the power doesn’t has anything to do with us, what is the role of that power then?? they said that the power is only sitting there, probably making sure tat everything’s ok…. They also agree with the Big Bang theory, all accidental thingy, and they said the power is in control behind the Big Bang. So i asked, if the power is behind the Big Bang, why wouldn’t it involved directly in the Big Bang, rather than let everything happened accidentally?? And again they said tat the power doesn’t need to be involved, just sitting there and watch.

I’m not really sure, but they mentioned something about morality. If i’m not mistaken, they think that religion is all about teaching morality, how to be good person etc. but i’m not sure what they think abt the morality itself.

After that they began to talk abt other things, so the conversation just ended there. To be honest, i really don’t know what to say. i’m the only Christian on that table, and i’ve never heard of this Agnosticism, and i have to know their belief first before i can encounter them. but then i just can’t think of anything to said to them, because they believe in somekind of power but isn’t God, and it’s just different with atheism or catholicism. the atheis don’t believe in the existence of God, while the catholics believe in one God, but just the whole wrong concept about God. So, agnostics are someway in the middle, and i don’t know how i can explain to them that there is only one true God (1 Tim. 2:5) coz they won’t believe in what i’m saying…..

I need to ask one of the MTSers about this….

A Lil’ Nice Chat

August 16th, 2005 by jck-levin

I have wondering for the past few weeks, that how i want to tell my friends abt the gospel, but had never really a conversation abt that. Eniweiii… that opportunity will come unexpectedly, so Paul urged us to be ready with the answers. Here’s one of my story….

Last Wednesday after Focusteam, I decided to call one of my friend. After talking abt uni life, etc, i invited him again to Thu’s mission, but he said that he has non-stop classes from 9am-6pm except an hour break at 1pm….and then i forgot how but he started to talk that Xn always associates everything in our life with the Bible, eg. when broken hearted, etc, and  that he didn’t understand how Xn try to promote the gospel so eagerly, because catholics use a more conservative way. Then i explained to him that we Xn wanna see more ppl coming to Jesus, want to be in heaven together esp with our friends and family, and the only way is to believe the salvation in Jesus Christ. He argued that there’s another pathway(s) to salvation outside church, and when i asked, he didn’t know how.

I told him that I only believe in the Bible, how Josh and the other MTSers told us read the bible by ourselves, trusting the Bible only. But then he argued that everyone has different understanding, even different interpretation about the Bible. He even mentioned that Catholic and Xn separated because of different understanding. he kept emphasise how everyone couldn’t have a same understanding, eg. in a uni subject, we learn the same materials, same lecturers, same textbooks, but yet one pass and the other failed –> that’s because different understanding.  I said to him that there’s only one truth, ie. the Bible, and if we trust in Jesus he’ll send us the Spirit that will lead us only to one truth.

He still didn’t believe, and keep arguing and pointed to what Peter Slezak said (he attended the Great Debate),and he used an example of a murderer that said he’s a Xn, who murders in the name of Jesus, and an atheis who is good and kind. He asked how can God save the Christian murderer, while the atheis who never do anything bad is not saved, and he didn’t see any justice there. Well…. i thought that this is exactly what we learned at MYC, that God is just and the justifier, but I didn’t know how to say that to him, and I know if I explain it that way, he won’t understand or believe anyway. So I ended up with trying to explain to him that murderer cannot be a Xn, coz Christianity is also the matter of heart, if a person confess that he’s a Christian and doesn’t show it in his lifestyle, then that person is just the same as a Pharisee and not a true Xn. and also, the bible never tell us to kill another for the sake of the bible itself. But again my friend argued that everyone has a different understanding, and that christian murderer has a different understanding of christianity. At this point I didn’t know how to answer anymore.
The conversation then changed into different religions in this world. He talked about how he respect everyone’s belief/understanding, including the other religions. Then i asked him if he believes that the other religions’ gods are the "real" God. He answered that he believe in only one "true" God. Then i asked back that if there’s only one "true" God so there can only be one true religion, and the other religions cannot be true. He said that in terms of many religions, there are "transcendentals", which are the institutions that above humanity and govern the human, and he believes that the other gods of other religions are these transcendentals. I don’t understand what transcendental means, i think it’s like an institution that connect between God and human, but he said that’s not it. I haven’t explained that Jesus is the one and only connection of God and human, because it’s pretty late at night and he said he’s tired and I didn’t want to disturb him anymore. So our conversation ended up to that point.
My friend is a smart guy, he used to be the most clever student. He also joined the debate team in his highschool, and he’s much the same as Peter Slezak, he likes to debate and he said to me that he’s ready to debate with me about Christianity even 3 hours conversation he will do, but only in a time that he’s not busy, like in holiday etc. The problem is, when I said to him that I’m trying to answer his questions, he said that he didn’t want any answer and even didn’t care about the answer. That’s make me sad most. He just doesn’t like the feeling of losing, so he argue me with all of his might and doesn’t even care about the answer!
I remember Juni said to me that sometimes non-christians do not care of the answer/our explanation abt christianity, so there’s no point of arguing with them. On the other hand, try to see their point of view by asking, "What do you think?".
To be honest, i don’t like and i’m not good at debating, but in his case, i’m trying to explain that he’s wrong, but i ended up in debate. Chenny said that we should model Archie Poulos, that we’re not debating to be the "winner", but to spread the gospel with humility. Well…. i guess that is the biggest struggle for me right now…

Leafleting: 1 can paid off 100 leaflets

August 14th, 2005 by jck-levin

Heloowww helowww…..

Sorriii for "abandoning" this blog for a looonngg looonngg time… yesterday i met rusmin and he asked me why i didn’t update my blog again, maybe that’s because i rarely use the internet at home, coz i can’t connect the internet to my laptop, so i must use either my bro’s or my hozmate’s computer to get online. well…maybe because i’m a bit busy and lazy too…. hehehehe ^^;

Eniweeii… there’s a story that i wanna share here… You know that there are lotss of FREEDOM Mission happening in uni, and 1 of the ways to let ppl know abt this mission is by giving them leaflets! So we Pelitans were in charged of leafleting on Monday last week (8/8/05) @ 8am. I actually also volunteered for another leafleting @ 9-10am, so that means 2 hours for standing and smiling and giving the leaflets to anyone you hardly know and preparing to be rejected ^^; This was my first experience of leafleting, so i needed to prepare my mental too ^^;

After a looong decision who’s going to leafleting where, me and Glorya head off to the main gate at around 8.15 or 8.20. Not so many ppl at that time. At 8.40 ppl started to come, and we’re like playing the "cat-and-mouse" coz some ppl had seen us from far away and when they came near they clearly avoided us! Well… I’m a bit discouraged at that time, but i remember someone said to me that they were actually avoiding and rejecting God, not us. And sometimes I’m similar as them, just grabbing any leaflets without really pay attention to that. So i continued the job by saying to myself that this was my responsibility to God by bringing ppl closer to Him, so I shouldn’t grumble.

Later on, some Union ppl started to come and give the Union Week booklets, but they’re standing behind us, coz we got there first ( ha ha!) When none came at the main gate, we chatted a bit with the Union ppl, we gave them the leaflets and in return we received the booklets… it was a bit funny at that time… ^^
Before 9 o’clock me and Glorya had already run out off leaflets, so she went to the Chaiplancy again but there’re no more leaflets, so we’re giving away the FREEDOM business card.
By around 9.15 Victor and Andri came (they’re already finished), and the other CBS guys came and replaced us, so me, Vic, and Andri (who hadn’t anything to do, but yet still lots of new leaflets and business cards in our hands) decided to go to another spots. I was a bit tired at that time, waking up in the morning and standing up and advertising for more than an hour without really knowing whether ppl were taking attention or not, so only Vic who still giving the leaflets to ppl as we walking down the main walk. Again, we met some of the Union ppl near EE, and Andri (with his marketing skill!) said to them that we should’ve slipped the FREEDOM leaflets in the union booklets, and we’ll help them giving away the booklets, so both of us would get mutual benefits! hahahahaha….

Eniweii… we finally came to the benches outside CLB (Commerce Lawn i think), and Vic said we should give the leaflets to those who were sitting at the benches, so in that way they wouldn’t be able to escape from us ^^ hahahaha… I didn’t think that’s a good idea, and while I was still thinking, there’s an oz guy sitting there, looking at us. For a few seconds I was still standing idlely, and that guy’s still looking at us so many times. I didn’t know why, but i started to approach that guy and gave the leaflet to him. He seemed to be interested, and started to ask what’s it’s all about. So i told him abt the event Great Debate, the speakers bla bla bla, and I found out that this guy had been interested with the FREEDOM stuffs without really having anyone to tell him what it’s all about!! So I gave him the business card where he could see all the events happening, and I ended up chatting and asking him his faculty, and said that he can go to CBS and there’re bible studies based on faculties, and he said he’ll consider that and somehow i know that he’s not lying. Too bad that I didn’t ask his name or whether he knows abt Christianity or not, maybe by doing that i might be able to develop the conversation into the gospel, but yeahh… maybe God has another plan for him…. I want to meet him again, asking how’s he going, and seeing whether God is working on him. But i think that’ll be hard, coz now i hardly remember his face ^^;

I was really really really really encouraged at that time, knowing that even there’s only 1 person interested to the mission, that feeling can pay off all the tiredness, all the rejected-feeling of giving hundreds of other leaflets! Now i understand the  mission ads that i saw on MYC, that we spent lots lots of money for the thousands of leaflets,posters,business cards,hoodies, and lots of ppl’s efforts, but "bringing 1 person closer to God is priceless".

That Monday, i had classes until 5pm, and somehow i was really really tired, maybe b’coz of helping the missions and having classes non-stop. But my soul is joyful,even until now, if I remember that guy and see that God is working through everything that we’ve done to bring His ppl coming back to Him… I’m thinking, what would happen if I didn’t do the leafleating that day, if I took the other way than the CLB Lawn, if i didn’t see that guy looking at us, if I didn’t make a decision to approach him and give the leaflet…….. Would that guy know abt the mission from someone else?? Would I be encouraged by this?? But I know one thing for sure,and I’m really happy that God involves me in His work!

Cheers! v(^0^)v

My Bestfriend’s b’day

June 30th, 2005 by jck-levin

Today is my bestfriend’s birthday, but unfortunately she’s currently in Indo and i don’t go back to indo this july so i won’t be able to meet her… :’(  So i just posted a poem below into her friendster testimonial :p. I actually made that poem last Valentine, so i just added "Happy Birthday" at the bottom instead of  "Happy Valentine"…hehehe… ooppss…now i forgot, did i give that poem to her last Valentine??? Ohh dear….

Eniweeiii…. gotta go now…. have to study for 2morrow last exam of Food Nutrition… and after tat….HOLIDAAYYY!!! woohoooo…!!

My BestFriend

June 30th, 2005 by jck-levin

Like a violin with its strings
Like a symphony with its melody
That’s the meaning of your presence
My dearest friend

Together we create
A beautiful melody of life
Until an unforgettable harmony is formed
That will last forever

Happiness and sadness had been through
My best friend is my strength
Without you it’ll be meaningless
Without you there’s only a falsetto

And on this special day
To you who always on my side
I wanna let you know that
You are the music of my heart

~Jessica L.H.~

tHiS bLoG is AdDiCtivE!!

June 26th, 2005 by jck-levin

Arrggghhhh…. writing up blogs is fairly addictive! Don’t u think so? Or maybe it just applies for me who had never written blogs before….hahahaha… yeah…so much things can be said here…and now i have to control myself not to go to my bro’s or my flatmates’ computer, open the internet explorer and type www.friendster.com…. well…i have already done so, i straightly clicked "Update my blogs" and "compose a new post", just after i got home from a BIOChem prac exam @ Racecourse, which is not very far from my house so i just need to walk 20 mins, which is not very hard although i still made some silly mistakes… >.<

Before i went to do the exam, i talked with Rusmin abt "blogging" -this is what i called for the action of writing online blogs- and he has been writing blogs since last year in http://focuser.net, which is a website for FOCUS ppl to write blogs there. as i looked at the website, whoaa…lots of ppl write blogs there already. To be honest, i just quickly skim read anybody’s blog, and it’s interesting that as we read a person’s blog, we can build a picture of what kind of person he/she is…..in addition, if you see FOCUSer’s blog, we can see that person’s growth spiritually, and we also able to learn from his/her experience!

well…. i’m talking as if i got a lot of time to read anybody’s blog, which is not true….hahahahahaha :) Now i’m wondering, what makes a blog good? I mean, where ppl who read it will be interested and the blog has a ‘quality’?? is my blog good enough that anyone who read it will not be bored??

Oh dear… i forgot to put the milk and yoghurt and eggs i’ve just bought into the fridge… wow….see how much addicted i am now!! ahhahahahahahaa…

Batman Begins….

June 26th, 2005 by jck-levin

Last Tues i watched the movie Batman Begins with the foodies @ Eastgarden, right just after Microbiology exam!! wow…the reason we did that was because we got a pretty long gap until the next exam…which is tomorrow >.<

anyway, i really didn’t understand the movie at the first couple of minutes… it’s just sooo strange coz i didn’t know which one was in the future, present, or past, well…except little Bruce’s scenes were definitely in the past. yaaaa….as you watch the movie, it gets clearer and clearer, so my last impression kinda changed from the first impression….hahahaha…and my bro said that lots of his friends said that the movie was sooo good they don’t mind watch it again… well…. not for me i guess ^^;

eniweeiii….actually not the movie that i wanna discuss here… it is the scene when Rachel asked  Batman,"Please, at least tell me your name!" and Batman replied (basically what Rachel said to Bruce), "It’s not the underneath that matters…. it is what you do that defines you." or sumthin like tat, i really can’t remember except for the last sentence. whoaaaa….when i heard this conversation, i think that it’s not like a romantic scene as if Batman told Rachel that he is Bruce, but i really disagree tat "it’s what you do that defines you"! well…. it might be applied to a sooo corrupted city like Gotham, but it does not apply to this current world condition where we’re still waiting for JC 2nd coming. is it because of the fact that you’re an doctor, you are more superior than an engineer? Or a PhD is better than BSc? or a businessman is better that a garbage man? well dude, thanks to JC, everyone is the same in God’s eyes!

1 Peter 1:16,"since it’s written : "You shall be holy, for I am holy"". we have a holy Father, and in JC, we are believers in God. verse 17 : "and if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds…." God is an impartial, right and just judge. (Matt.16:27, Col.3:25, Rom.2:9-11). Sooooo we are not judged based on our characteristics, since verse 18 and 19, we were ransomed from sin to godliness not by silver/gold, but by the blood of JC. He paid the price of death so that we can be God’s children and believe him. As a consequence, verse 22-25, we’ve been born again not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, thru the living and abiding word of God which remains forever.Amen.

Well…basically that’s a summary of Sam Freney’s talk on IUC last Sunday 19th June, entitled "The Stranger’s Lifestyle". Therefore, neither a doctor is more superior than an engineer, nor a PhD is better than a BSc, nor a businessman is better than a garbage man, but we are all the same in God’s sight. Sooo guys, BE WHO YOU ARE, because of GOD, because JC DIES FOR US, live like we’re his children!

You Are Who You Are For A Reason

June 22nd, 2005 by jck-levin

This is a very good poem taken from the book "Purpose of Driven Life", i thougt i should’ve shared here :

You are who you are for a reason

You are part of an intricate plan

You are a precious and perfect unique design

Called God’s special woman or man

You look like you look for a reason

Our God made no mistake

He knit you together within the womb

You are just what he wanted to make

The parents you had were the ones he chose

And no matter how you feel

They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind

And they bear the Master’s seal

No, that trauma you faced was not easy

And God wept that it hurt you so

But it was allowed to shape your heart

So that into his likeness you’d grow

You are who you are for a reason

You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod

You are who you are, beloved

Because there is a God!

~Russell Kelfer~

jUsT GetTinG oUt mY mInD…

May 26th, 2005 by jck-levin

Ohh… i haven’t updated my blog for a loonngg loonng time… well… not sure what to talk now, lots of stuffs are running in my head… today is Fri week 12 already, just 2 more weeks into final exam… food report, chinese gened final exam, bioc mid test, micr individual report, micr bug book are the list of what i need to complete before the stuvac… better manage my time from now on! well… i actually shouldn’t be here, sitting still and browsing the internet and even writing my blog where i still get those stuffs to do… ohh well… don’t bother to read this as i’m complaining about myself ^^ (that’s really strange since u’ve read all the way long and then i told u not to read this ^0^)

ok…gotta go now… hopefully i can manage my time wisely… GANBATTE!!