End Times. Now.

When I was 12, I started in Yahoo! a group dedicated to discussing the endtimes. At that age, I was decidedly post-tribulationist. Where would be the fun if we were all raptured? The group was, I think, not very successful. But it could've done worse. I don't know of its fate today.

Just recently a friend of mine asked me whether we will make it through the end times. That seems to be the concern of many a Christian, and I wonder why they're not learning survival techniques and storing up on baked beans by now.

The time is near, at least they think so. So did, uh, Herr Luther. Of course he's dead now, but he did believe rather fervently that Jesus was coming very soon.

I don't like to rant. I've ranted before. Believe me. But here it is again, and please bear with me for a moment.

Revelation shouldn't be interpreted literally. At least, I don't think it should. Yet we have dear Hal Lindsey's imagination working overtime in his "interpretation", and his (and others of his kind) legacy remains today. God forbid (indeed) Left Behind.

And, I don't think Paul was wrong when he said that Jesus was coming "soon". Now, "soon" has been extended to two millenniums by many folks. But our dear Apostles were not speaking from the viewpoint of God. Rather, they spoke from their viewpoint to (and this is most important) other humans. Ditto with Jesus in his Olivet Discourse.

So, when I say I'll give back your money soon, I don't mean to say that I will only give it back to you by the time your grandson has great-grandsons.

My dear friends, I hardly think the end is soon. But then again, maybe it is. And I'm not sure about everything the Bible says (I'm still caught between the millenialisms). On the other hand, people have been wrong for 2000 years. I don't think we'll be right anytime soon.

Date setters have never gotten it right. Even a youth pastor, teaching on the end times, has said that the end should've been at least one generation after the gathering of Israel (1947).

That means...uh...yeah, the tribulation should've started already. No, he said. We're living on "extra time". But such ad hoc adjustments only serve to notify us that it's a theory that clearly is lacking hard evidence.

So, the antichrist might already be here. But I shake my head and say, "not likely". Not because I'm certain it ain't true. But because I know that the methods in which people arrive at the conclusion are clearly dubious.

My closing words? There are other interpretations of the end times. I think the most persuasive one (a summary of which can be found here) is preterism. But most premillenial folk will reel in horror at such a suggestion. But I think it's the closest to what the Bible teaches.

I'm It.

Got tagged by Ian. Like him, I don't have anything to put on my blog either, hence why I'm writing all this.

1.Your name plus "ness"?
Daniel-ness

2. Two feelings at the moment?
Happy and jovial.

3. What are you listening to right now?
Some guy upstairs doing scales on a piano.

4.Done anything you regret so far this week?
Not having any ice cream.

5. Describe where you are right now?
In the Milky Way. It's kinda big, I occupy a small, tiny, microscopic corner of the galaxy.

6.The highlight of your week?
Me having to do my 7,000 word report all over again.

7. What are you craving to have right now?
Said report completed.

8. Who were the last people you ate with?
Bros, and dad.

9. What are you scared of?
The dark, and maths.

10. Last movie you watched?
Eragon. Cheesy, squirm in your seat kind of show.

11. Last songs you sang out loud?
Heartbeats, Jose Gonzalez. Or, er, was it Hikari by Utada Hikaru? Not sure...

13. Are you thinking of someone right now?
Now that you mention it, I am.

14. Who is the last person you talked to?
My mom.

15. Last thing you downloaded on your computer?
A journal on M&As (If you don't know what it is, trust me, you don't want to).

16. Have you changed much this year?
Time moves, change is inevitable. What kind of a question is that?

19. Hug or kiss?
Hugs can kill, but kisses can be deadly. Hence, neither.

20. Last time you cried?
When I had an epiphany, a beautiful religious vision, for lack of a better word.

21. Friends? or Lover?
Lover, no contest.

22.Who do you wish to talk to right now?
No one. I'm content by myself.

23. Who was the last person to text message you?
Jared Locke

24. Where was the last place you went to besides where you are?
Mamak store.

26. Do you speak any other language other than English?
Malay. And yes, a smattering of German, remnants of the days where I had nothing better to do.

27. Last thing you watched on TV?
Eragon, because I watched it on the TV. If you are really that particular, then...probably the news.

28.Do you dress for style or comfort?
Neither. I hate external imperatives, although sometimes they are unavoidable.

29. Name someone with the same b-day
as you?
Erm, Evanna Lynch, for those who watched The Order of the Phoenix.

30. Ever had a drunken night in Mexico?
Nada.

31. Whats the craziest thing you've done?
I have done no crazy thing, thankfully.

32. Favorite color(s)?
Purple.

33. What's your favorite cereal character?
The Kelloggs rooster. I thought it was chicken flakes.

34. What is your favorite Michael Jackson song?
Smooth Criminal

35. Who do you love?
Myself, God, Family, Girl, Myself etc.

36. Any plans right now?
Yeah, an incredible one.

37. What are your plans for tonight?
Sleep by 11 P.M.

38. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
Nothing in particular.

39. Last time you were happy sincerely?
Can't remember. Maybe when I ate a chicken chop.

40.Last time you smiled?
Just now.

41. Who do you wanna be with right now?
Myself!

42. Last book you read?
The Great Gatsby

43. Your ambition?
Academia, hopefully.


44. Can you drive?
Not yet.

45. Last time you wore a cap?
Few months ago.

5 People I Tag:

The first five people to read this. You...uh...know how you are.

;)

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows

Note: This is a spoiler-free review.

From the promptness of this review, I'm sure you can deduce about two things. One, that I was one of the eager first to snag a copy of the book right on its opening date. True. Second, that I read it rather quickly. Yup.

Regardless, the air was filled with excitement, and I could see a long, expectant queue. When the doors opened, everyone rushed in- some went against the escalator- just to be the first to get their hands on a copy. And that was just in Tesco alone. ;)

Well, it's here. The final chapter, as it were. Perhaps your interest in the series might have faded, but still, I'm sure a lot of people will be eager to know what happens to our hero(es) in the end.

And it is remarkably satisfactory at that. Despite Rowling's penchant for long, draggy paragraphs and a somewhat anti-climactic finale, the final pages of the book does leave one with a sense of contentment, that all is said and done.

But of course, if you were turned off by the last few books (I was especially by the previous one) you might not enjoy this one a lot. Still, as I said earlier, you should perhaps read it to know what happens. I noticed, however, the pace in this book is somewhat faster than that of the previous ones, and it did manage to keep me much more interested.

The plot is not as tight as in the first few books, but here, you still keep guessing (though I suppose parts of the ending could already be guessed if you paid attention to the last book, especially). And everything falls into place nicely.

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Innocence Is Whitewashed Ignorance

I think the thought came to me, while I listened to my neighbour (a gal of around 8 or 9, I'm not sure) go into deep detail about a perfectly true story- which was basically about a girl in a hotel meeting up with a particularly nasty ghost.

Completely true, she assured me, and as I listened to her German accented speech (I had more fun trying to detect her accent than listening to her), I couldn't help but shake my head.

But she is young.

Call it innocence or ignorance. I don't know which is which, but for all intents and purposes, sometimes innocence is ignorance. Of course, the young ones might have not had much time to build up their repository of common sense. But some others (who I've met) who are older than me still display a cringe worthy naive view of the world.

Is innocence really bad? Some would just wish we had it. I mean, what if our founding father and mother had not eaten that fruit? Or perhaps knowledge would've been better. I take the latter, for in this world at least, ignorance is not bliss. No, far, far from it.

But everyone (except the insane, although it is debatable as to whether we are the insane ones) expects the youngest, most innocent children to grow out of it eventually. If you are 2, your "innocence" is laughed at and adored. On the other hand, if you were 22, you'd be considered retarded.

My apologies if you had a much higher view of innocence, but I think it is merely ignorance- polished and all dressed up. And anyway, we lost that darn "virtue" a long, long time ago.

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix

It's the fifth time round, and already some are beginning to suspect something lagging. It might be that the movie wasn't well made or (perhaps?) the source material wasn't that great. But then again, I did enjoy the fifth Harry Potter book rather much (as much as the previous ones) and so I don't think it would've been any problem there.

So why do I think that this is one of the lesser Harry Potter movies? Well, a few reasons. One would be its puzzling run time. At around 130 minutes, it is considerably shorter than, say, Chamber of Secrets (which clocked in at 160 minutes). Taking into account the fact that this had been the thickest Harry Potter book to date when it was released, it does tell you about how much had to go.

And a lot goes. Character development takes a backseat (or at least, only Harry and a few others get their proper treatment). Much of the story (and side stories) that gave the book much of its delight has been left out, unfortunately.

But I wasn't really all that disappointed. It still was adapted remarkably well, and certainly it did entertain. At least we got to see some proper duels, of which I wished there were more.

For the next show, I sure hope they don't make such short a movie. Then again, considering how slow Half-Blood Prince was, maybe it would be wise to prune out a few bits here and there and make something that's really interesting all the way.

We Are Damned!

Us Prots, I mean. All them Baptists, Presbies, Lutherans, etc. are not the true church. So says the Roman Catholic church. But, really, it's nothing new.

So why does this warrant any comment? Well, first thing is to solidify the fact that us Protestants have been anathematized by the RC church for the umpteenth time, since ancient history. One wonders why we are so sure of our salvation when, according to the one true church, we are gonna burn in hell. One wonders.

Not that I greet this with derision and ridicule. They obviously have put a lot of thought into this (and other similar theological issues).

Of course, this would pose a setback to them ecumenicals. I must pity the ECT folk.  But again, let me take this time to heap praises onto Pope Benedict XVI and how he takes his theology seriously. No compromise with him. Nothing but clarity and absoluteness. I like his stance. Hehe.

But as I wrote about here a lot of times, one can never hope for absolute truth (in certain things) to be found here. Least of all this issue. This has reinforced the fundamentalists' notion of the RC church being Satan's wife.

So they are damned, and so are we. Mutual damnation is not exactly a promising or exciting prospect, but the truth is that only one can be right (or both wrong). Who knows?

Hence why we gotta start finding out now. I make a small request that many others would make. Educate our laity on this issue. I find it how most (Protestant) people I meet either think the Catholics are: Mary worshippers and basically unsaved or that they are on the same bus, only in different seats.

Or at least, the church that I attend ought to be talking more about these issues (and not relegate it to "classes"). After all, Catholics are the largest Christian denomination on Earth. And their HQ says we are not "churches". Perhaps our dear clergy could why, to everyone.

Some People Just Don't Get It

Sarcasm, I mean. Take a look at this video I posted nearly a year ago. To date, it's (ironically) my most popular video. In a nutshell, it's a lame air-cover of Funtwo's rendition of Canon. The title is tongue-in-cheek.

But no. Most people just don't get it.

Here's a few (with some slight editing):

lol, it had to be a stupid nigger huh, go suck **** u piece of ****

do u have a retard holding the camera.. or is it one of yur kids? and
whered u get the guitar walmart?.. or did u steal it?.. eihter way
funtwo is a god guitarist .. so **** it

sad son of a ****

I have doubts myself as to whether they actually really were insulting the poor guy in the video, but I think that some of them actually meant it. If that were the case, then Youtube is (disturbingly) populated by more two-bit airheads than I thought.

On the bright side, I'm sure the guy in this video, Calvin Samuel- a rather popular guy his social circles- would be pleased to know that he was called a nigger. Yes, the geniuses who commented thought thus. A classic example of shallow thinking, as this guy is an Indian through and through.

But I say that he would be pleased to know that he had been a called a nigger for the simple reason that he prefers to be an African-American more than to be an Indian. He's a rapper (wow), too.

So yeah, good things. And bad things.