Absolute Living

Most people believe in absolutes, even if they tell you that everything is relative. But by saying that, the statement contradicts itself.

By believing in the existence of God, I know that absolute morality exists; that there is good and evil, right and wrong. I'm not sure *how* we know this innately, but Romans 2:14-15 seems to allude that we know in our hearts the difference between right and wrong. People generally view taking innocent lives an abomination, and abusing the oppressed or the weak an evil. Is it because we live in "educated" societies or is it more than that? Paul writes:

Even Gentiles [non-Jews], who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right - Romans 2:14-15 (NLT).

Earlier in the book, Paul says right out that people should know that God exists!

They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. - Romans 1:19-20 (NLT)

Honestly, I have a hard time reconciling that with cultures who may practice rites we don't do (such as those mentioned above). Yes, I can't think of any that I know of right now, but we hear stories every so often (why does cannibalism come to mind?). After generations of the passing these traditions and rituals down, how would they know what is good - would the conscience still be convicting them unless someone tells them (in which some sees that as imposing values upon them)?

Even with a knowledge of absolutes, I see more and more absolutes becoming grey. Take cohabitation. It's so normal now in our culture to live together before marriage. I feel awkward every time my housing situation is brought up -

• Me: Yes, I have a place!
• Them: *Excitement* When do you move in? Are you and your man moving in together?
• Me: Well, not exactly.
  He's moving in first and one of his friends will be living with him.
• Them: Oh.

Here is where I'm hoping they don't think he's secretly gay. Here is also the perfect opportunity to explain why we want to live apart because we feel marriage is sacred and we don't want to risk damaging it before it even starts. But, I never do. I downplay that part and just say that it'd be weird to live with two guys. Maybe I'm worried about whether they think I'm judging them, about their living situations. I know, it shouldn't be about pleasing man but pleasing God. I did pray about opportunities - now I just need to take them.

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Intermixing languages

Chinglish - 聼一聼: it's used worldwide!

As I was listening to the below podcast, I was laughing at some of the phrases that they use - but it's true; some phrases can't adequately be described in English (and vice versa - trying explaining "User Experience Analyst" in Chinese, much less in English). I remember my friend used to tease me because aiya and 麻煩 were popular words scattered in my English.

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Sphere of influence

A few recent events led me to think that our sphere of influence is huge! This is more evident in social networking sites like Six Degrees, Friendster, and Facebook. My examples:

• ebri and Ina - I knew them separately, and yet years later, they've tied the knot!
• Baahh, another instance of the above - only observed via flickr and fb
• Bumping into a friend of Vonne's that I met (in Canada) while waiting for Vonne inside the MTR station in Hong Kong
• Knowing that PT and Chris knew my uncle's cousin even before we did.
• Our Children's Church teacher was PT's elementary school classmate.
• Chris and a Crusade staff were housemates before we met the Crusade staff as a customer at my parent's sandwich shop.
• While attending NTCBC's summer conference at BrockU, I discovered I recognized many faces belonging to the other church who were sharing the facilities with us. One of those people was a friend of my housemate at WCRI and who turns out to be a high school classmate of my friend, Jon, while they were in Calgary.
• And while in Calgary, I bumped into someone I met while in Halifax.
• Calgary must be small, because Jon knows my friend Zeke as well, from their Calgary days (before I met either of them).
• While lining up for Krispie Kreme one time, I also realized that a friend of mine regularly saw and chatted with one the people I knew from church while commuting on the bus.

The point is, I seem to run into people around the world, who have connections with other people I know. So, being un-mathematical as I am, if we were to reach out to our own circles, our friends would likely end up knowing another person, belonging to a separate circle, that knows you. Our sphere of influence, though seemingly small to our own eyes, may actually be quite big since we would have overlapping ones - we could make a difference and have an impact on the world. That is, I can tell a friend about my relationship with Christ and she might think I'm crazy. You, belonging to a different social circle than I, may tell your friend about your relationship with Christ, who may think that you're crazy too. But perhaps this friend is one and the same person - she knows two crazies, but would have heard the same idea twice. Maybe it'll sound less crazy by then.

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