Where I am at Present

Read time: 6 minutes

I have not been very active on this website for a while now. I am still here, however, so here is an update about where I am in life at the moment, and what my prospects are.

At the beginning of the year I started to work. I thus left my leisurely student days behind, while not actually having finished my studies. With reasonable expectations, this was going to be a challenging year for me. Read more …

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Preparing for the Rapture

Read time: 4 minutes

I am surprised of how many people have got wind of the 21 May doomsday prediction lately. Over the past few weeks I have come across a few people who recently found out about it, whereas previously it has been something that very few people I know have heard of. I have already written on this subject. But this surge of interest in the lead up to 21 May has prompted me to mention it again. Read more …

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Equip 2011

Read time: 3 minutes

I returned from Equip 2011 today. As always, it was a wonderful experience and difficult to leave such a peaceful place of fellowship, but we were encouraged to go into the world and fulfill our duty to preach the gospel in it.

Our speaker this year was Andrew Sach from St Helens in Bishop's Gate, London. He took us through the book of Exodus, showing us a bit of who God is and how we are to relate to Him. It was a great study and I got more out of it than I expected I would! Read more …

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Christianity at StackExchange: An Interesting Idea

Read time: 8 minutes

Today I stumbled across a proposal for a new StackExchange (Q&A) website which focuses specifically on Biblical Hermeneutics. I find this proposal very intriguing.

(Please excuse me if I am overly excited in my writing and completely go off track, but as a Christian who is also a Computer Scientist, I find this topic fascinating!) Read more …

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A Christmas Message (2010)

Read time: 3 minutes

The world celebrates Christmas because it is a time of goodwill and giving, fun and happiness. But more importantly, at the heart of Christmas is the story of a little helpless baby, born to two common people in adverse conditions. It is a heart-warming story! Read more …

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Seven Arguments in Support of the Existence of God

The Blue Marble
Read time: 14 minutes

Recently a controversial blasphemy poster campaign was launched in New Zealand. The campaign slogan is "Religion is Garbage", and while it is aimed at all religions and religious denominations, it especially targets Christianity (including cults, hypocrisies and what I am going to call "objective Christianity"). Due to the nature (and intent) of this campaign, there has been much discussion around it. In response to the many, many commentators who appear to express what I can only call flippant atheistic views, I thought it good to respond by summarising a talk which William Lane Craig gave at an apologetics conference in Cape Town earlier this year (something which I have been wanting to do for some time now anyway). What follows below is my summary of his seven points for claiming that it is reasonable to believe in God, and not just any god, but the God of the Bible. Read more …

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Blessedness during Trials

Read time: 7 minutes

In my experience, the end of the year is mostly marked with stress and fatigue. For scholars and pre-graduates, it is exam and assignment time. For post-graduates, it marks the weariness of the degree. For others, the end of the year is a time of an as yet unattained finish of a long term product. Yet others, like teachers, look forward to a time of quietness during the long December holidays which we traditionally enjoy here in South Africa.

I have been feeling the heat myself. The past few weeks has been particularly trying. But I have the strength to persevere because God grants it to me, and I know that there is a lesson to be learned from every situation, appealing or unappealing. Below are some of the things which have been happening: Read more …

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Addressing Forgiveness

Read time: 7 minutes

This past Sunday, I attended Southern Cross church, which is a new CESA congregation in Constantia in Cape Town. It was the six month anniversary of their establishment, and for the occasion, the speaker was bishop Frank Retief. He was involved with St James in Kenilworth when, in 1993, it suffered a terrorist attack which killed a number of people and maimed many more. And so he spoke to us about the question of suffering, although it was not a regular sermon. Rather, he spoke to us about the attack, describing the immediate aftermath in vivid detail, and then proceeded to explain how they as a congregation worked through the experience, trying to make sense of that horrid ordeal. Read more …

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A Constant in Changing Seasons

Read time: 2 minutes

Change is a characteristic of life. When change is good, we delight in it, such as when a child is born or there is an exciting new opportunity in a new city. But change can, of course, also be bad: the loss of a job, a serious illness in the family, a piece of unsettling news... all of these things, and many more, can throw what we perceive as a spanner in the works. It is then time for adjustments to be made, plans to be altered and strategies to be changed. Read more …

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Making Wise Decisions

Read time: 4 minutes

Last night, CESA bishop Des Ingelsby preached at TBT. His sermon on wisdom and making plans for the future was really good and one which I enjoyed and found relevant. At present I do not know what will happen after this year, when I finish my studies. Preliminary thoughts are to stay in the Cape area, but I have no idea whether I'll move to the City, stay in the Boland or go somewhere else (perhaps back to the northern suburbs?). With difficult and daunting life decisions laying in front of me, it was a great encouragement to hear a message on how to make wise decisions. Read more …

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A Pleasant 2010 World Cup Surprise

A football lying on the grass of a football pitch in a stadium
Read time: 3 minutes

As a general rule, I am not very much into World Cup events. I am not big on most sports, and especially not soccer. While I am grateful for many of the benefits which hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup has brought South Africa (such as improved road infrastructure), I do feel that the billions of rands spent on building stadiums could have spent on housing or long-term poverty alleviation. Also, I am not very keen for the "cult of personality" used to create hype for the event, although I understand it is necessary so we can present a happy and enthusiastic face to the world. I am a grinch like that. Read more …

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