Halloween

After tuition I saw a bunch of guys at the mall handing out candies in Halloween costumes, most likely advertising something. It was so confusing and I wanted to tell them they got their dates wrong as a joke but they were quite a distance away.

I went to church today after not going for I-don't-know-how-many-weeks, I presume the week right after I bawled in front of everyone and I was too... oh, how do I put it, embarrassed to face them? I think that sounds about right. I listened to the sermon and tried to understand it but I seemingly got lost halfway, so I resorted to reading the slide. Actually it was more like squinting, I couldn't really read a damn thing. (I really need to remember to pack my glasses!)

The sermon was about applying what we learn from sermons to our everyday lives. Paraphrasing heavily here, I recall pandering to our earthly wants as (something) to the flesh, instead of (something) to the spirit. What was the word??? I swear I remembered it because it was echoing in my head, chiding me. No, chiding is too mild a verb, I'd say reprimanding. I was really not prepared to hear a sermon like that (not the applying what we learn part, more the pandering is something to the flesh part) because from where I stand as of writing this, I understand faith in God, but I'm also not fully acquainted with God yet. It's just not the best time to hear that I'm thoroughly rotten for sinning, but God loves me regardless.

I sat a whole hour straight studying History with the other church youths taking SPM, which is unprecedented except for when I crammed for Trials. Now I'm officially halfway through Form 4, which is all I'm answering for SPM. Obviously I also have to study all selected topics of the F5 syllabus, but I'm definitely placing priority on Form 4. Sounds like a good strategy? I hope so.

Speaking of religion though, I really hope that everyone would understand that the reputation of a religion is tainted not by the presence of God (with some exceptions, reserved for lost teachings whose idea of God is whack) but by its people who abuse their religion. They do evil things in the name of their religion because "their God said so". With all religions that includes texts, everything is up to our interpretation and that is very dangerous as we witness a lot of holy scriptures taken out of context, and in some cases, altered. That's done by the works of man, not God.

Also, I realise that even the NIV Bible is a close approximation to its original text. I wonder how many things have been lost in translation? I don't doubt its authenticity, I just doubt that every word and syllable that is supposed to be in our Bible has ended up in every copy. That could be attributed to not having an equivalent word in English (when translated), different sentence structures, basically differences in different languages, and also by human error and interpretation.

In the book of Isaiah in the Christian Bible, when compared to the same book of the Jewish Bible, there seems to be slight differences. I thought that was rather interesting. I just wonder, if it's the same book, how could there be any differences at all?

Am I wrong in questioning this part of my faith, or am I supposed to just accept my religion with all its man-made flaws?
- Fire ninja out.