A Lost Letter to Wormwood

出走的先知 The Prodigal Prophet (Chinese Translation)

第一部譯作。分享第一本譯作的青澀（巧得書皮也是青色哇哈）。以後若要繼續翻譯的話定還得更多加油改進。

https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010861205?loc=M_0006_281

Book by Timothy Keller

Intellectual Humility

A Dozen Evidences for the Resurrection of Jesus

Reflections

Jesus’s resurrection is at the very heart of historic Christianity. In fact, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is both a central doctrinal belief of the faith and the primary evidence for the truth of the religion itself. Given the importance of Easter for Christians, it is appropriate for us to consider a dozen evidences for the resurrection of Jesus. For greater depth on these points, see the recommended resources at the end of the article.

1. Jesus’s Empty Tomb

According to the Gospels,¹ after Jesus succumbed to death through crucifixion, some of his followers prepared his lifeless body for burial and placed it in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Three days later the tomb was discovered empty, for Jesus’s body had vanished. The empty tomb is a critical part of the resurrection account, for if Jesus’s body had been recovered, then Christianity would have been falsified right as it…

View original post 3,464 more words

Brilliant talk on status of our post-truth culture

A prayer

I arise today through the strength of heaven;

Light of sun, radiance of moon,

Splendor of fire, speed of lightening,

Swiftness of wind, depth of sea,

Stability of earth, firmness of rock.

I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me…

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me…

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,

Against every cruel, merciless power that may oppose my body and soul.

– attributed to St. Patrick, 500 AD.

Why Making Decisions Is So Hard – Tim Challies 為何做決定這麼困難

Making decisions is one of the most difficult things we do.  If it is that hard to choose between the mint chocolate chip and the rocky road, how much more do we agonize over this church or that church, this school or that school, this job or that job, this person or that person? We pray, we sweat, we weep, we read, we toss, we turn. Why this fear? Why this agony? Why these sleepless nights? It is the uncertainty …

Source: Why Making Decisions Is So Hard – Tim Challies

為何做決定這麼困難 中文版 Chinese version

Why Natural Selection is probably a misnomer

I think natural selection is somewhat of a misnomer. Even natural processes can be God directed.

For example, the cold winters were planned and executed precisely and intently, down to the exact temperature and duration, to cause necessary intended changes to happen on earth…

Here is a slightly less vague example to help, before I dig up the details on the one given above.

I was in the Chicago Field Museum and was wowed out of my mind by the guide’s introduction of Lignans – introduction of new type of cells, buidling blocks of trees, that cannot be digested by anything on the planet at that time, and then all these were buried and turned into pressurized into coal millions of years later. That blew my mind. Imagine x years of trees grown all over earth rapidly then when they die they just accumulated pile high. Then the pressure and their own weight (plus maybe some geology and tectonics) made them into fuel that we use and rely on today. How did this cell lignan suddently come to existence and why? And why wasn’t there anything that could digest it??

Science can discover and observe but only history, philosophy, theology can tell us why. Even all the human disciplines added together cannot know everything, so how can One human discipline claim know everything and have the right answer?

The fickleness of “Like” 讚的短暫易變

人的喜好真的是會一直改變的。

People really are fickle with their preferences and likes.

五個月來都看不順眼的紅色開水壺今天突然讓我賞心悅目。

An “kische” red tea kettle I couldn’t stand for five months suddenly looks particularly fitting and pleasant in my kitchen and pleasant today.

為了它天涯海角，不惜出高價住辦公室旁，不計時數，不算加班費還自掏腰包，不吃不睡，熬冰熬火，辛苦奮鬥，苦苦衝刺了就快兩年的工作(之前的相關工作和碩士學位也是費盡心血下盡工夫苦熬了四年才換來的)，竟然食之無味，心灰意冷。

A career I gave almost everything for – moved great distances leaving friends, culture and family, pouring in countless hours and dollars, sacrificing sleep and recreation, frequently enduring harsh weather conditions both extreme cold and hot, exerting both lots of heavy lifting and intensive thinking and learning… suddenly one day became completely uninteresting and pointless.

說人的審美疲勞也不過兩三年- 花大筆錢裝修添置家具久了也沒味道了。

They say people have aesthetic fatigue that hits in every two or three years. One can spend a fortune on a kitchen reno and some new furniture but after a while it will all lose appeal.

但上帝是可靠的，完美的，永遠的。祂靈活多樣且能適應無限樣情境變化，但祂真理，旨意，美意不變。祂的智慧是全方位全時間的，我的片面見解永遠比不上祂的所知所見。

But God is reliable, perfect, and eternal. He is live and manifold, meeting infinitude of different needs and circumstances, but remaining unchanged – His perfect truth and will will never change. His wisdom is all encompassing, through all time. My partial views an piecemeal understanding will never compare to His perspective and awareness.

感謝上帝才是能依靠的。我怎能依靠善變浮躁、心猿意馬的自己呢？

Thank God that He is reliable. How can I depend on fickle me?

不管我現在愛什麼、不愛什麼；不管我現在想不想怎樣、做不做這個 – 這些都有它的不確定性在。這就是為什麼我們人類常常會後悔。但上帝 – 祂是不變的，全知全能的。跟隨愛我們純粹只為我們好的祂 – 才是超乎我們能想像、超乎我們能了解的穩妥。

Whatever I love right now, or hate right now; whatever I want to do something or not – these all have its inherent uncertainties.  This is why there is the plague of regret of any member of humanity.  But God – He is unchanging, omniscient and omnipotent.  Following He, who loves us and only wants the very best for us, is the only way to peace and security that is far beyond our imagination and understanding.

Jesus – Logician and Lord

An interesting look at the intellectual prowress – or lack thereof – of Jesus.

https://theologicalmatters.com/2018/05/22/jesus-logician-and-lord/

By Travis Dickinson