In a different post, we ventured into the elusive realm of memory. As they say, in for a penny, in for a pound, so shall we take another stab at it? This time, we turn our attention to long-term memory, which serves different purposes such as retaining the Biblical knowledge that constitutes the bulk of our interpretation. Compared…
We’ve talked about kings. We’ve talked about kingdoms. We’ve talked about the patriarchs, and so many more who lived and breathed throughout history. Before moving on to more human beings, how about a detour to spiritual beings? In fact, we talk about them so much more frequently than many individuals that it serves us well to know who they…
What better way to spend the Pentecost weekend than celebrating God, the Holy Spirit? Without presuming that everyone understands the doctrine of Trinity 三位一體 {san1-wei4-yi4-ti3}, please allow me, a layman, to briefly repeat what we believe about Holy Spirit, in case anyone needs to interpret messages about Him on the spot. The God we believe in…
Continuing with the awkward wrinkles between English and Chinese, let’s talk about “life”. In Chinese, we have the word “生命” for “life”, which describes the essence or state of being alive. We also have the word “生活“, which describes the act of living, the days that we live, or sometimes the lifestyles we adopt. Regrettably,…
Have you ever encountered a word that you simply can’t translate into another language? My personal bane is the Chinese word, “撒娇”. I have poured hours of discussions and research into this word and still, for the life of me, can’t find a good match. Go ahead, give it a try. If you manage to…
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” — Isaac Asimov Isn’t that the same with interpretation and our walk with God in general? Sometimes everything we do, hear or say makes perfect sense. Once in a while though,…
It is naive to think that there is a one-to-one equivalency for every word in English and Chinese. There are always the “oddballs” that simply do not have corresponding counterparts in the other language. Even for those that do, their translation varies depending on the context and meaning. One that is particularly perplexing is “感動”…
In this post, we touched on the origin of God’s name in various languages and how the approach in English and Hebrew resulted in the choice of “The LORD” for what is “耶和華” in Chinese. But what about “萬軍之耶和華”? In literal terms, it means “The LORD of Myriad Armies”, which sounds unmistakably awesome, but where does that…
Putting the rabbits, eggs, and chocolates aside (yes, they are all very delicious), what is Easter really? The obvious answer is the time to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which took place during a Passover in the early 1st century. But why “Easter”? What’s so “east” about it? The name “Easter” has a…
主禱文 {zhu3-dao3-wen2}Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4 There’s no better place to learn how to pray than from the lips of the Son of God. It’s short enough to memorize and profound enough that many pastors have expounded countless sermons on it. Suffice it to say, maybe it IS a good idea to memorize it and meditate on…