Pekkle

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I’ve been asked a few times about the cartoon character I use in my Comments template. I wasn’t too sure myself, as I had gotten the duck off a random piece of stationery marked “PEKKLE,” so I looked it up. The duck is Sanrio’s Ahiru No Pekkle. Here’s his Google category, and here’s a fansite. Enjoy.

Religion – Relationship?

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“It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship!” goes the evangelical platitude

Indeed, indeed! It’s a saying we Baptists are especially fond of using, to illustrate how Christ’s salvation of a person transcends the stodgy ritualism of tradition. And yet, is there really a biblical precedent to say such?

This is a hot issue with many local cults, who often meet the Christian’s “personal relationship” with the retort that such words never appear in the Bible, and must therefore be wrong. According to them, in fact, it would seem more biblical that God’s Saviorship is extended to the church as a whole body. (Of course, this being a cultic prooftext, the “church” in question is that and only that which has been founded by Eli Soriano / Felix Manalo / Joseph Smith / etc.)

Fellow Christians saved solely by God’s grace, how do you respond to that? Having been saved through the spilling of Jesus’ blood on the cross, I have no doubt in my spirit that I share an intimate personal relationship with Him. Naturally, we are indwelt by His Spirit, and we speak with our Lord in prayer as sons to a Father. How could that be recognized as anything other than a personal relationship? And yet, I prefer to be cautious against too liberally throwing about the platitude of “a personal relationship with Christ” before first stressing the primacy of our salvation through His propitiatory sacrifice.

(One interesting but slightly tangential point: Iglesia ni Kristo and Ang Dating Daan cultists claim that a personal relationship with Christ is false because He “is not a person,” but just a heavenly being dwelling in the flesh. However, they simultaneously deny that Christ is one in being with the Father, and is merely a “lesser god,” or “Almighty god” — small ‘g’ — as Eli Soriano puts it. However, when pressed to expound on exactly what kind of relationship it becomes if not personal, most of these cultists are at a loss to continue, and instead resort to personal attacks. Well, if it isn’t personal, what the heck kind of relationship can it be? The cultic method of killing off both Christ’s humanity and deity leaves them with nothing but an empty shell of a religion which works only to mislead the ignorant.)

Let me reiterate the question: what biblical precedent is there to claim a “personal relationship” with Christ?

Unpleasant Day

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What use is it, closing my windows every morning against the possibility of rain leaking into my apartment, when the guys in the room next door fail to consider the same contingency?

Thanks to my neighbors’ sloppy lack of foresight, the numerous thunderstorms which have frequented Manila in recent weeks have driven rainwater through the windows to form puddles on the floor of this 6th-story unit: puddles which leak under the porous wooden walls and flood my own room as well, regardless of the measures I myself take to prevent exactly that annoyance from occuring.

Worse, my blanket has fallen off the side of my bed and landed smack-dab in the middle of just such a puddle, where it has been left most of the day to soak up as much of the offending liquid as it can. This leaves me more than a little peeved.

As you can see, it has not been a pleasant day. In addition to the aforementioned woes, I have also managed to cut a small but deep gash in my left forefinger with a random staple bullet left in the cardboard bag which I use to stow my dishes in the office.

To cap it all off, I’ve been rather ill, afflicted with congested sinuses and an unforgiving migraine.

But enough of gloom and doom and woe. I will leave you with this humorous observation: As I was just now purchasing a Quickly Pudding Milk Tea with Sago outside my subdivision, I noticed a small blurb for Quickly’s new hot Choco Latte drink… “THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THIS DRINKS IS THAT YOU CAN’T STOP KEEP GOING BACK FOR MORE!”

Um, sure.

Musica Alta Ripa

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I’ve just returned from an excellent performance by chamber music ensemble Musica Alta Ripa, featuring works from the Baroque to early Classical periods — on authentic instruments! — at St. Scholastica’s College.

The first piece played, the Overture in E minor by Johann Bernhard Bach (one of J.S. Bach’s sons), was wonderfully crisp, each movement perfectly rendered. Tonight also marked the first time I genuinely enjoyed listening to something by Pietro Locatelli — his Sonata in D for two violins and basso continuo. Vivaldi’s La Folia Sonata in D was also played, to astounding effect, especially with vintage Vivaldi basso continuo performances from Jacques van der Meer and Juris Teichmanis. Herr Teichmanis’ fingers are a blur on his violoncello: simply amazing. Danya Segal’s recorder-playing is vibrant and active, and Anne Rohrig and Ursula Bundies complemented each other perfectly with skilled violinism. Not to be ignored is Ulrich Wedemeier’s deft mastery of just about any stringed instrument you can pluck.

Missing from this performance was bassoonist Michael McCraw, who abstained from the Philippine tour “for political reasons.” Quite a loss, as his credentials are impressive, and I’m certain he would have played well.

The soloists as well as the group are well-known for their credentials with this and other chamber and early music ensembles. Very much worth trusting when looking for good baroque and early classical recordings. (Note: Unfortunately, I don’t think that MDG, the label which carries their recordings, has any of the group’s CDs available here in the Philippines. The soloists, however, have many recordings with other groups.)

God and 9-11 Again

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In the days following 9/11 terrorist attacks, I readily agreed with the general trend of thought that a good and loving God could not possibly be responsible for such horrible acts. (Yes, that also meant jumping on the “Bash-Falwell-Robertson” bandwagon.) I thought to myself that this is not God’s way of punishing America, but rather the natural progression of a world which exists separate from Him. My reasoning went that “people who have turned away from God need not be punished by Him; they do that all by themselves.”

Not a particularly sound theological outlook, I admit. Especially considering that our God is one who is in control, who has set things in place even before they happen. It’s not much of a step from there to arrive at the somewhat uncomfortable conclusion that, as with all human events, these terrorist attacks were not only allowed by God, but ultimately planned and caused by him.

That’s the point where you ask yourself, do you still trust our Lord? Perhaps you would answer no — if you were to rely solely on limited human wisdom. But myself, I am convicted that God is good. (Cue Don Moen: All the time!) And through eyes of faith, I continue to believe that God has a reason — a good reason — for all things he does. He is neither capricious nor cruel, and as the song goes, he is too wise to be mistaken, too good to be unkind. He loves all people with an infinite love, and will do what is best for the good of those who love him.

There are those who would call me a blind, foolish, childish sheep for this innocent outlook. So be it. Far better to receive God and his kingdom like a little child than to deny God’s existence simply because his plans and actions do not conform to human standards of how God should behave.

(Related material at GraceNotWorks.com.)

Mosquitoes and Small Wonder

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Did you know that female mosquitoes only drink blood to prepare for for egg-laying? Otherwise, mosquitoes (male or female) are just like other insects, living off sugar from plant nectar.

In other news, it’s heartwarming to know that ******* Brissette, the little girl robot VICI of the old sitcom Small Wonder, has become a devoted born-again Christian, serving in counseling and music ministry in a Presbyterian church in San Diego. I wonder if she ever cracks Small Wonder robot jokes.

Dark and Gritty Webcam World

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Wow, who would have thought the wild world of webcamming was so full of thorny perils and vicious teeth and claws? After a short chat with Ritchie, and a look at SurvivorCam, Internet Gossip, The Anti-Webcam-Girl Coalition, Daign’s camgirl reviews, and “Candy From Strangers”, I feel like I’ve seen a dark and gritty underside to the personal web which I’ve never but dipped my toes in. Best not to delve too deeply, I suppose. Wouldn’t want to see me flashing skin in exchange for wishlist contributions now, would we?

Doulos

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I joined Tiff’s folks two Sundays ago to visit the Doulos, which (until yesterday) was docked at Manila North Harbor. Wow, I never thought the ship was so big. I had been expecting something about the size of Big Blue (the liveaboard we stayed on in Palau), but this was much bigger, more on the order of a frigate or a small passenger vessel. The only bigger ship I had ever been on in my life was the Queen Mary. (Did you know the Doulos has been in service since 1914? That’s just two years less than the Titanic.)

It being a Sunday, the ship was brimming with visitors. We lined up to climb the gangway along with hundreds of other people, and were greeted on deck by crewmembers from various ethnic backgrounds. (Yes, P. Mark, I know their greetings were sincere. :) From there we went down a flight of stairs and passed through a deck crawling with children, who ran about and clambered through the props of an indoor mini-playground and exhibition.

Out a door and around the corner, and we plunged into the Doulos Bookshop, which that day probably had as many people as books in it. What a mob. I didn’t find a Parallel Study Bible in the Christian section as I’d hoped, but I did get a copy of Dickens’ Bleak House (Jim’s recommendation) for only P100 (that’s just two dollars!), and Tiff snagged a book on Christian perspectives on Advent. We almost got a few C.S. Lewis books, but we found the prices for those were even cheaper at NBS.

Forward from the main bookshop, there was a special discount bin, where, for P200, they would give you a Doulos bookbag, and you could stuff it with as many books as you could. That sounded like a nice all-you-can-eat deal, but to my dismay, all that was left in the crates was Heartsong Christian romance novels. Gag. (I did get a nice laugh out of the brand of crates the discount books were stored in: “The Great Aussie Crate… Mate!” I swear, you Aussies are crazy.)

The M/V Doulos itself is an impressive ministry. There are about 300 people on board, most of them full-timers who live on board with their families. They sail around the world, selling books, going on medical and humanitarian relief missions, and providing support and encouragement to Christian ministries internationally. Now, wouldn’t that make an interesting missionary opportunity…