Saturday, July 15, 2006

Thinking about a lot of things (Part I)

There are much to be written about what i am thinking recently, from the books i've read, or situation that i've been in, or countries that i've visited - i'll try to come to some sort of organization for what i am thinking - it involves - pretty much everything from religion to technology to politics , conflicts between countries, and then about us - humans - and myself - obviously.

To start it off, i've been in multiple cities in multiple countries in the last couple of months, from my "home town" in the US to my "home town" in East Asia, there are much to be said, and much to be ponder about.

First of are things that we had taken for granted in the United States, from the technologies to food or sports - for one thing, as a follower of Christ, we've taken our faith and blessings for granted. As i am currently visiting the island of Taiwan, where the population of Christian are probably 2 to 3% which comparably lower than countries like Singapore, South Korea, and the US - but there are fervency here - some that i don't see in the States - the Christians here pray for revival and claim cities and neighborhood for Christ, they pray for healings of people's heart, they pray for physical healings, they are praying for God's glory to be displayed, in their country. The Christians here pray with authority that i felt we sometimes lacked in the States, have we stopped believing ?? or have we just sunked into the mindset of a Technopoly (i will refer to this book later) - where science had become our certainly, and not God ?? Let's just ask ourselves this question, who is constant, God? or the knowledge of this world ?? and who would we trust ??

if you've kept up with East Asian news lately, we all can see the struggle in Taiwan's democracy, where this "baby democracy" is still trying to learn how to be truly democratic, and how integrity is important , and how freedom needed to be used - very interestingly - just in the last couple of weeks and months, i can see that prayers are being offered for the Presidents, for the Parliament and such, for a government with Integrity - i hope this government will be truly transparent and truly free - and i am glad to be part of its audience as i watch it unfold ... and be part of the process by praying for it =)

Here's the next question i am going to pose - is United States getting less free - or have we just taken for granted of what we've know - or what we've inherited from previous generations of spiritual heroes ?? Have we gone soft of what we knew as truth ? Have we let the media or public opinion shaped the truth ?? I read some truly saddening news today where a valedictorian's speech was cut short (or blank out) because she mentioned her thankfulness to Christ as her savior - What is wrong with that speech ? A person truthfully thank her savior for saving her - yet doesn't have her rights to speak about that on her graduation ? In a free America ? what kind of argument is that? Persecution in America ? you tell me about that ...

I guess situations like that are fairly common lately, with the label of separation of Church and State , our country had taken away the opinion of my generation - we know the truth too - and when we share it, please do NOT shut us off ! Christians can be prominent figure too, we can be valedictorian as well, prominent scientists - even successful businessman , and stop branding us as backwards people, because we are NOT, and we refused to be branded as that -

okay, maybe i've written too much about that issue - let me know what you are thinking as you read this - and there's much more to come as far as what i think on other issues - definitely including the mid east conflict ... ahh ...

til then,
peace out,
Daniel

Sunday, July 02, 2006