Hi everyone, or if anyone is still reading this site,
If you missed the annual lecture, too bad. I think it will be available online soon.
James gave a lecture unlike what I had expected. I think he only touched the surface of the topic, but left lots of space for questions.
My conclusion, as also alluded by Jane, is what is wrong being mind manipulated by God, and so for worship, why not let our emotions raise us up. After all, our emotions are also made by God, but like all parts of the human flesh/psyche, they can be misused. If we let our emotions be employed during worship, we connect with God not just in our mind and knowing so, but feeling so. I think both are equally dangerous if abused or confused by the wrong reasons.

Dear all,
This is kind of like a post-script, not sure if anyone will read it though!
I was just flipping thru my SOT file, and pondered on Dave Bookless tireless sacrifices. Made me realise something...
Modern civilised living by itself is a threat to the  environment! Whatever is called
a convenience or appliance or life-aid, is somehow involved in using energy and expanding entropy. Hhhmmmm!

Hi Lifetracker!

Just to let you know that the pub social details are:

The Beauchamp
7.30pm
Friday 23rd March

Hopefully you'll all be over St. Patrick's Day by then.

It will be a good opportunity to catch up with everyone. Maybe like me you're thinking 'where to from here?' It would be good to discuss things.

Till then, take care & God's richest blessings,

Hi everyone,
I was reflecting on the Iraq War just like everyone must have been last Saturday when Mike spoke to us. I think all Christians in general abhor wars, but can diplomacy always successfully overturn world evil as seen in the Christian’s eye? Many issues arise from this question alone.

Well, for one, unbelievers do not believe in the pervasive evil as we understand it as Christians. If you do not believe that humans can be supernaturally evil, then one need only look at recent twentieth human history. Locally, the many youths killing one another is a sign of the depravity of humans without Christ. The first Q must then be: Was Saddam evil? Did he need to be overturned? If you are then convinced that there was human evil, the next Q is: what is your limit of tolerance beyond which war is an option after diplomacy had failed. Many now dispute that not enough was done, and I won’t be surprised that is the truth. But, could we have been sure prospectively? Could anyone have predicted this mess that the Iraq War has gone into now? In another words, was success so small that it failed the Just War Criteria? Retrospectively, all of us are wise owls. Furthermore, how would you gauge that politicians had tried their best in pursuing diplomacy to solve disputes? To make matters more difficult, how much would a civilian like myself be allowed to know about the political situation before an invasion. Much information becomes secret intelligence at the point when war is planned, wrong intelligence or not.

Hi Lifetracker!

A few of you mentioned that you would like to get together for a pub night upon completion of the the course. Venue to be advised at this stage.

I suggest Friday 23 March so that the illustrious Andrew C can make it.

All in favour?

Blessings,
Daniel

Hello everyone,
I was just looking at Mike Schluter's notes and I could not help but reflect on what had been happening in the past few weeks of violent crime on adolescents by adolescents. For those who have not heard of the damning UNICEF report, do look it up at
http://www.unicef.org.uk/press/ news_detail.asp?news_id=890
Amidst all the wealth of London, the children here are last in the league table! Guess, wealth cannot buy us healthy relationships!

Hello everyone,
I thank John for enlightening us on what must be done to change our work ethos. I think it takes a lot of guts and determination, plus prayer to be able to gather a few like-minded Christians to pray together and support each other at the workplace. I do envy John!
The culture of individualism in the UK sometimes makes talking about Religion and prayer so weird, that only God's grace can open the way. All of us got to pray and be  courageous to press on. Hey, I 

Dear brave bloggers,
Politiczzz anyone? I think that Christians, like many other people in the UK, differ in how many policies should be carried out! It was interesting that we mentioned a few times today, the hot issue on adoption by gay couples. How should we respond to this political dilemma faced by the church in the UK?
It was like discussion and debate was just starting when time ran out today on us again! Rats!

if life really begins at conception, God will know how to reconcile, or put the soul back in the hopper for the next body that comes along. if we're concerned about the sanctity of life, then there's a lot of lives already among us that need our protection.