williamtsoi.net

In my first effort of using some of the more sophisticated features of WordPress, I’ve put up my Japan 2009 photos on my gallery page.

Decided that it’s time to play around with my domain and blog site again. I’ve upgraded the blog engine to use Wordpress 2.7. I haven’t tried some of the cooler features yet, but I’m sure I will in due time.

Can’t believe that I haven’t posted for so long. Life has been really hectic, with lots going on. Which means my TODO list is getting larger and larger – mostly consisting of important but not urgent tasks or just non-important things.

Here’s the list:

• Move my speaker system so the rear speakers will ACTUALLY be in the rear
• Build the Gundam that I bought from some dude in PWC, and also the Gundam I bought from the model shop.
• Complete the attendance records for my ISYS303 students
• Start on my .NET MCSD course
• Do more with williamtsoi.net. (here’s a link to a good article on what one can do with servers). Perhaps:
  • Host photos
  • Manage my torrents remotely
  • Jukebox?
• Play my Wii more
• Watch all the movies/TV shows on my Mediagate. Which includes (and is not limited to):
  • Season 2 and 3 of House
  • Zodiac
  • Pirates of the Carribean (all 3)
  • The Bourne movies (all 3)
  • Top Gear polar/arctic special
  • The last season of Family Guy
  • The Pursuit of Happyness

I haven’t had the time to elaborate from my late-night thoughts about this ministry, so I’ll try to tidy up some of the things in my mind and present it in a sort-of-meaningful manner.

What Yeahshow does successfully is to make Christianity accessible to the masses. It’s unfortunate that Christianity has often been shelved as an “established religion” and so people can choose to brush it aside and avoid the “important” questions altogether (is there a God? What is he like? What is the meaning of life? etc). An event like Yeahshow is effective in forcing people to think about these issues.

What I think isn’t so successful about events like this is in providing the answers to the big questions, or at least, I think the message that it delivers is extremely compromised for the sake of entertainment (in the form of comedy, music etc). The visitor is introduced to the questions in life, and is entertained in the process. When asked whether he/she accepts Christianity as the solution to the questions in life, he/she reflects on what he/she has heard over the night. He/she bears no ill feeling because he/she was entertained, and so accepts Christianity as having the ultimate answer.

A simplified illustration is as follows.

1. A man who has family problems comes to an evangelical event
2. He is entertained by the event (either through its music, the comedy value etc)
3. The pastor on stage challenges him about his family problems
4. The pastor says “believe in Jesus and you will have no more family problems”.
5. The man considers the message, and finds the pastor trustworthy because of the entertainment he has received
6. The man “commits” to Jesus with the motivation of getting his family problems solved
7. The man leaves the event in pure joy, thinking in his heart that Jesus will solve his family problems
8. Disillusionment sets in when the man realises that there is no “magic answer” to his problems, and that the pastor that day oversimplified the solution
9. Man leaves Christianity thinking that it’s all a farce

What the? That’s not how evangelism is supposed to work! But that is what happens a lot of the time. What’s the missing link? What is required to keep the man going in his walk of faith instead of suffering from disillusionment?

The answer will be revealed in my next post, or perhaps you can enlighten me with what you think.