prison break

season 3 is taking a break until jan, but that's not the point. not the main point anyway.

being used to travelling to and from prison headquarters in changi every mon to fri from nov 06 to jul 07, it also feels like i'm taking a break from work for the next 3 years (rather than being at university as a student per se). which i am, actually.

having said that, i'm quite conscious of the fact that i'm at york not only as a full-time student but also as a future (current?) employee of the singapore prison service. it's a break in the deeper sense that i have so many different opportunities to make the most of my time here as a pepper (someone from the school of pep), as a prospective prison officer and above all as a person.

commitments

there are days when i feel i have no commitments at all. on the other hand, there are days when i feel i have too many of them. strangely enough, they often happen to be the same days. what is the right thing to commit to? when is the right time to commit? what is the right level of commitment?

your commitments not only reflect who you are and what you're committed to (obviously); they also pave the way for your future commitments. it's like blogging about something then coming back to it days, weeks, maybe months (even years) later, realising that the old entry is outdated but that there wouldn't be such a thing as a new entry if there wasn't an old entry for it to replace in the first place.

what is history?

history isn't just one thing after another, but how the past and the present interact with each other; how the past shapes the present and the present captures the past in return. since the present will eventually become the past and the future the present, you might also say that history is how the present shapes the future and the future captures the present in return. in other words, history is as much a study of the present as it is a study of the past (don't quote me on that).

going back to commitments then, your present commitments pave the way for your future commitments. i'm quite conscious of the fact that just as i'm at york not only as a full-time student but also as a future (current?) employee of the singapore prison service, things would be rather different if just one aspect was different. not necessarily better or worse (what would "better" or "worse" mean anyway), just different.

as it is, being at york with all the personal and professional commitments i have has led me to explore how i can serve and grow in unique situations (ie. take on new commitments based on my own existing commitments) while i'm at york. at the end of the day, your present commitments pave the way for your future commitments and your present non-commitments (which really are commitments in themselves) pave the way for your other future commitments.

either way, it has to be the right thing, at the right time, to the right extent.

philosophy and theology

philosophy and theology are similar yet different disciplines (if you can categorise them as such). philosophy is the 'tool by which the christian makes sense out of his faith' (geisler and feinberg) yet christianity is not the tool by which the philosopher makes sense out of his worldview. while philosophy may (and indeed should) align with our christian perspective, it cannot replace the work of the Holy Spirit in the 'commencement of salvation' (spurgeon) - nothing can.

having taken 10 credits (25% of my total work) of reason and argument (the logic of language) this term, i must say that learning about propositional logic has led me to rethink a number of grammatical conceptions, particularly as applied to Scripture. this has widespread implications on the way we think, act and live.

the material conditional

'a is necessary for b' if it is the case that 'b only if a'. for example, where a is "oxygen" and b is "fire", then 'oxygen is necessary for fire' if it is the case that '[there is] fire only if [there is] oxygen'. which it is. this means that we cannot have fire without oxygen.

on the other hand, 'a is sufficient for b' if it is the case that 'if a, then b'. for example, where a is "fire" and b is "light", then 'fire is sufficient for light' if it is the case that 'if [there is] fire, then [there is] light'. which it is. this doesn't mean that we cannot have light without fire (we can still have light by other means, such as the sun - ok, so it is a huge ball of fire after all, but you get the idea), but rather that we cannot have fire without light.

notice that we cannot say that 'oxygen is sufficient for fire' since it is not the case that 'if [there is] oxygen, then [there is] fire'. we can have oxygen without fire, but not fire without oxygen. to this end, oxygen is a necessary but insufficient condition for fire, while fire is a sufficient but unnecessary condition for light.

so what?

without infringing on the respective domains of philosophy and theology, i think that propositional logic helps us to understand certain passages of Scripture better.

necessary but insufficient

"Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."" - Matthew 17:19-20 (NIV)

it was the russian novelist dostoevsky who wrote in the brothers karamazov that 'faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith'. faith is necessary for miracles to happen, but faith being sufficient for miracles to happen is another thing altogether. a miracle cannot happen without faith being present, but faith can be present without a miracle happening (if it is not God's will).

sufficient but unnecessary

"If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." - 1 John 1:6 (NIV)

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." - 1 John 1:8 (NIV)

these are just two different claims which constitute lying - each is sufficient in itself (and need not require the truth value of the other) to be considered a lie.

necessary and sufficient

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."" - John 14:6 (NIV)

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12 (NIV)

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9 (NIV)

if and only if!

truth and Truth

the more you plumb the depths of philosophy, the deeper you dig into Scripture. taking ethics next term and problems in the philosophy of mind in the following one will both be quite interesting. it's true, it's True.

link: more on philosophy and theology (5 jun 08)

economics

"it's the economy, stupid" - one of former us president bill clinton's slogans in his successful 1992 presidential campaign

"the economy is not everything but economics is important. if you were starving, you would put it as item number one on your list. but because your stomach is full, so you can afford to think." - pm lee hsien loong, dialogue session with nus students on 21 sep 07

first things first

the principle of placing first things first is a noble one. after all, where else could you place the first thing, except for first?

however, the nature of economics (which - by the way - is not necessarily the first thing) is that while you can't ignore it, you can't exactly live (and die) by it either. (that would be marxism.) if you think about it, economics insulates itself from a purely economic approach to issues.

limited resources. unlimited wants. economics identifies the central problem of scarcity, then leaves the rest to the policymakers. in fact, the propensity of economists to hedge their bets when making policy recommendations (on one hand... but on the other hand) led harry s. truman, another former us president, to frustratedly demand a one-armed economist on his council of economic advisers.

the trinity (with a small t) of philosophy, politics and economics

so economics doesn't exist in a vacuum. it couldn't, even if it wanted to. for example, raising erp rates to reduce road traffic congestion merely treats the symptoms; it doesn't heal the cause. what is the root of the problem, anyway?

what is philosophy? what is politics? what is economics? it's intriguing to study philosophy, politics and economics together because they challenge you to think like a philosopher, a political scientist (not a politician!) and an economist individually, then as all three at one go. but at the end of the day, they're just man-made academic concepts which build on each other and gesture at the truth from different angles.

to arrive at the right answer, you have to address the real need.

london

overcrowding is one of the biggest problems faced by prisons all over the world, let alone entire countries. history has shown that lebensraum, or living space, is a key concept which governors (in both instances) ignore at their own risk.

in keeping with his dual background, the german doctor and chess master siegbert tarrasch once remarked that 'cramped positions carry the germ of defeat'. while spatial dominance doesn't necessarily lead to victory, there is a reason why grandmasters open their games by pushing their pawns forward two squares instead of one (unless they start by moving their knights - but that is relatively rare and another matter altogether).

meanwhile, i was in london for the first time over the weekend. the main event was temasek seminar 2007, but i managed to meet up with quite a number of people and visit quite a number of places as well.

as this view from clifford's room reveals, london - with a population of anywhere between 7.4 and 8 million - is pretty packed. fittingly, temasek seminar 2007 posed the question - singapore's changing landscape: is there room for us?

ironically (or maybe this was to be expected), the forum (which we were ultimately responsible for) hardly dealt with the physical aspects of an increase in population, preferring to focus instead on the social, political and even moral dimensions of the theme (think section 377a of the penal code). after all, the influx of immigrants simply takes a head count of singapore's changing landscape. what's clear, however, is that singapore is a nation with growing ambitions but limited resources. is there a way out of this?

with my return ticket to york at 7pm on sun evening, i spent the rest of my time in london heading from one location to another. it felt like moving across the monopoly board while throwing double dice on each turn. i didn't come across any jails in london though, not in central london anyway.

the view across the thames from waterloo bridge

the other side of the river

i had always wanted to visit the london chess centre and as things turned out, it was just a 5 min walk from clifford's apartment. there's a whole range of books, sets and other equipment on sale - in pounds.

all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players - shakespeare's as you like it

a statue of the bard himself in the middle of leicester square

chinatown

covent garden market

a flight of pigeons

future colleagues

being in london, i also took the opportunity to visit all souls church (where john stott remains the rector emeritus, although he recently retired from public ministry in april 2007) with caleb, ian and chris. it was truly heartwarming to witness so many nationalities (as well as fellow singaporeans) worshipping and serving together in such a cosmopolitan city.

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

"world famous" roast duck at four seasons restaurant, bayswater

on a whim, caleb and i decided to get standing tickets for the sun matinee performance of the lion king.

26 days until my flight back home!

nottingham

being the only york student to take part in nottingham games (a one-day inter-varsity competition for singsocs all over the uk) last sat, i emailed gordon and arranged a short weekend stay instead (we normally just head down to nottingham early in the morning and head back to york late at night - that's also what the london universities did this time round).

it was nice to proceed at a leisurely pace and catch up with gordon while exploring the campus/city. nottingham games itself went well too. i even found out from one of the other participants that sheffield has an active chess club which trains regularly and plays in a weekly league of sorts. maybe someday...

york's not the only campus with a lake

this is part of the campus

and so is this (whatever it's supposed to be)

trent building, with rooks on either side (like a chessboard)

chance encounter with po yew (nottingham) and ashley (lse), fellow north lodgers back in acjc.

sidenote: there are loads of singaporeans studying at london universities. apart from the home university, nottingham games might as well have been called london games.

gordon, my gracious host and tour guide. mss actually stands for malaysia singapore society, but both of us are singaporean, having done 1 year 10 months of ns.

nottingham castle

council house

nottingham square

an obelisk of light lookalike in the city centre

cornerstone church

the uk has many wonderful churches, despite not all of them meeting in proper buildings (some of them use school premises, like this one which i visited with gordon and his friend). i haven't been to any of them more than twice and i won't be in york this weekend either, but i always look forward to going to church on sundays.

i'll be in london for temasek seminar (among other plans) this weekend. it'll be my first time in london, hopefully of many!

lost and found

i realised my water bottle (the grey one given by prisons recruitment branch) was missing last night so i got up early this morning to go look for it. i was planning to scour all the lts i was in yesterday but i managed to find it at my second stop.

the parable of the lost sheep

"Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." - Luke 15:1-7 (NIV)

this was the passage which entered my mind when i found my lost bottle. firstly, if you would go after a lost bottle/other random item, how much more would you go after lost souls! more importantly, there is no greater cause than this (bringing people to Christ).

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." - Luke 19:10 (NIV)

vania's visit

voila! in view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. this visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. however, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! the only verdict is vengeance, a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-a-vis an introduction, so it is my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.

ok enough Vs already.

vania's farewell on 1 sep

it's actually been more than 2 months since vania left for paris and 1 month since i left for york. we had the chance to meet up over the weekend since she's visiting her friends in london and york these few days.

apart from showing her around york, it was great to worship together at york baptist church on sun morning. from the order of worship to the choice of songs (down to the font on the powerpoint slides), it really felt like back home and i enjoyed the fellowship. after visiting 3 different churches in york, it's time to settle down.

it's always nice to meet up with different people (caleb are you coming to york?) and you can just msn/email me if you're planning a trip up north.

weekdays and weekends

things are really picking up now and i might not be blogging as much as before. at least the weekends are a good break from the 40 hour full-time student work week.

i'm taking part in nottingham games this sat (finally get to play chess again) and will be in london for temasek seminar next weekend (fri-sun). let me know if you want anything in particular!

asian food (nasi lemak with beef!?)

york minster

clifford's tower at night

singsoc fireworks (louis's camera)

remember, remember the 5th of november! (ord loh! - 1st anniversary)