tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197758462026-04-01T03:34:16.181+08:00This blog is my personal blog. All views and articles expressed and written here are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or denomination or anyone else. Most posts are written for my own personal edification, and are not written in response to any external situation, unless otherwise and explicitly stated. Nobody should be reading into them anything other than what is explicitly stated, unless otherwise confirmed by me in writing.Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.comBlogger2195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-72383592569600870062026-03-23T22:47:00.001+08:002026-03-23T22:47:47.195+08:00

Sometime ago, I did a book review of the booklet Education and Society: A Christian View of Public Education in Singapore, published by Ethos Institute. I had withdrawn it some time back as I believed it could be better. Well, finally I redid the book review. It can be read here.

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-26181752312246753582025-11-15T00:38:00.000+08:002025-11-15T00:38:17.115+08:00

In academia in particular, copyright is considered important. Putting one's name before a work one has authored is the norm, alongside the copyright symbol. In the West, all authored works are by default copyrighted. Nevertheless, the issue of copyright is somewhat alien to many "Eastern" cultures, where piracy runs rampent and no credit is given to the original author. Besides the issue of

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-91354543224134059832025-10-23T23:24:00.000+08:002025-10-23T23:24:26.679+08:00

"We shouldn't do politics in church." "Church should not be partisan." In this era of deep political polarization in America and parts of the West, such statements have been made and elevated to the level of truisms. After all, Jesus did indeed say that his kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 17:36), so the Church should not be involved in politics, shouldn't they? Now, it must be said that reading

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-78889189576526265282025-10-01T19:30:00.000+08:002025-10-01T19:30:16.620+08:00

Recently, a Reformed Baptist Christian in Singapore, Vincent Chia, was handed information on the supposed presentation of a Reformed church in Singapore on the topic of Charlie Kirk. The supposed criticisms by that church can be seen below: Chia has responded to those criticisms on his Facebook post (which may or may not be private). On the specific topics of these four criticisms, I agree

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-27401062339062217162025-09-08T19:22:00.000+08:002025-09-08T19:22:27.576+08:00

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (Jn. 16:7) Why did the Holy Spirit not come during the ministry of Jesus, but must only come at Pentecost? Why did Jesus say that it is to the disciples' advantage that He do away, so that He can send the Holy Spirit to them? I

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-46437224839810761812025-07-17T11:38:00.000+08:002025-07-17T11:38:21.970+08:00

I have written in days past about the impact of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in American Christianity, yet there has not been a coherent article looking at it. After so long, I have decided to revisit the issue with, hopefully, clearer sight. In this article, I have decided to relook at the issue of what I am calling 'Left Racism,' to show the infiltration of ideas spawned about in CRT into

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-44944066741473653702025-05-10T16:40:00.002+08:002025-05-10T16:40:47.181+08:00

If will is a personal property, it folllows that personal identity is located in freely willed actions. It means that a person is most fully herself when freely exercising the prerogative to initiate actions and make decisions. (Adonis Vidu, The Same God who works all things, p. 111) What is a person? What is a person's identity? For one, it can be "tall, smart, black hair, male, Chinese," and

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-25784556046436286032025-05-10T12:56:00.000+08:002025-05-10T12:56:28.326+08:00

Now, and this is the pivotal move in this argument, if the persons are identified with the relations, if these are relations that subsist in the unity of an intellectual substance, and if other relations, contingent and economic, were to obtain between the persons—where there would be a to and fro, a giving and a taking—then the very identity of the persons would also depend in some

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-56775354262765456712025-05-07T21:07:00.003+08:002025-05-10T12:21:28.950+08:00

"A thing acts in so far as it is in act," Aquinas wrote. By no means an esoteric principle of the Common Doctor, this axiom merely expresses the simple idea that the activity of a particular thing is determined in its nature by the kind of thing it is. A rock can't speak, but it can break; water can flow, but it can't break; and so on. [Adonis Vidu, The Same God who works all things, 92] The

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-31197896043846099442025-02-10T12:57:00.002+08:002025-02-10T12:57:19.729+08:00

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has recently been exposed by the (second) Trump adminstration as funding sexual perversion (among other things) around the world. The spotlight on the immoral left shows that much of the new liberal talking points about "democracy" and so on are actually subversive of democracy. On the issue of sexual pervsion (i.e. LGBT+), it is easily

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-5401760658138949732024-09-18T09:25:00.001+08:002024-09-18T14:34:56.779+08:00

The book Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham has taken the American evangelical church by storm, as it documents and charges various evangelical leaders of pushing leftist positions. Is this a political book, or rather, as the author says, it is a book designed to expose politicking in the church? Well, I have finally read the book, and have written a review about it from a non-Western and

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-53631381712780612892024-07-30T08:49:00.003+08:002024-07-30T13:06:41.088+08:00

[The Canons of Chalcedon on the Church of Constantinople (Canons 9, 17 and 28); Text, with commentary] 9. If any cleric has a suit against another cleric, let him not leave his own bishop, nor have recourse to the secular courts of justice, but let him first try the question before his own bishop, or, with the consent of the bishop himself, before these persons whom both parties shall choose to

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-42226528592155305892024-06-24T17:46:00.001+08:002024-06-24T18:26:15.713+08:00

In every science there are facts: facts and ideas; or, facts and the mind. Science is more than knowledge. Knowledge is the persuasion of what is true on adequate evidence. ... In every department the man of science is assumed to understand the laws by which the facts of experience are determined; so that he not only knows the past, but can predict the future. ... If, therefore, theology be a

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-46680281435470924982024-06-03T16:27:00.002+08:002024-06-03T16:27:31.883+08:00

John Frame is an influential but controversial figure in American Reformed Christianity. In the last few months, I have decided to carefully read and analyze John Frame's works, specifically his Systematic Theology book, so as to give him as fair a reading as possible. The result is this analysis of John Frame's thought in general and his book Systematic Theology in particular, here. An excerpt:

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-9456281738313513462024-04-20T23:44:00.000+08:002024-04-20T23:44:02.817+08:00

Gavin Ortlund and Ryan Mullins has done a sortof debate on whether the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS) is true, with Ortlund taking the affirmative position and Mullins the negative position. You can watch the debate below:

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-41491500729184071612024-04-01T22:47:00.003+08:002024-04-01T22:47:47.064+08:00

While reflecting on ministry, I recalled a piece I had read some time back. Titled "Arise Jonah, Go to California that Wretched State and Preach Jesus!," the blog article by Pastor Christopher Gordon sets forth reasons for Christians continuing to be in California and specifically for preaching Christ in California. Now if this article is arguing for Gospel ministry to be done in the most godless

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-19205909157005568942024-02-23T10:39:00.002+08:002024-04-01T22:13:29.394+08:00

According to the philosopher, the people on the first story have no visible stairway by which they may walk up to the second story and actually see the nature of who God is. They can look at pictures that God the owner has placed on the first story. Some of the pictures are very good and very beautiful. But it is still all the first story. The philosopher, however, is like the manager of the

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-76620283685359022992024-02-22T21:15:00.000+08:002024-02-22T21:15:00.966+08:00

After the victory of icons, the number of monks who became bishops grew. (John Binns, The T & T Clark History of Monasticism, p. 77) The monastery was a centre of support for icons during the iconoclast controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries. (p. 90) Monasteries were places of ascetic struggle and were populated by women and men who lived by different standards and had a different set of

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-44992238483656817772024-02-22T09:33:00.022+08:002024-02-22T11:03:19.262+08:00

Another pioneer of Egyptian monastic life was Amoun. He was born in 295 and lived in the north of Egypt in the region of the Nile Delta. He was an orphan and at the age of twenty-two was forced by his uncle to marry. He went unwillingly through the ceremony but then read passages of the Bible to his illiterate new wife instructing her about the importance of chastity. She had little option but to

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-87841156328327875152024-02-22T00:01:00.000+08:002024-02-22T00:01:48.359+08:00

Where did Christian monks come from? There were certainly no monks or nuns in the Bible, yet, for we know that monasticism infests the lands in the time of Martin Luther. Most certainly, monasticism is a departure from biblical Christianity, yet how did it emerge in the first place? In his book on the history of monasticism, John Binns details the emergence and development of monasticism [John

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-47489399012232911592023-12-06T23:42:00.000+08:002023-12-06T23:42:09.024+08:00

For activity is the natural power and movement of each essence. (St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith, 147) ἐνέργεια γάρ ἐστιν ἡ φυσικὴ ἑκάστης οὐσίας δύναμίς τε καὶ κίνησις (pp. 147-8) And again: Natural activity is the innate movement of every essence. It is therefore clear that those things that have the same essence have the same activity, and those things that have different natures

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-54259156741492970552023-12-06T22:58:00.000+08:002023-12-06T22:58:46.946+08:00

One needs to know that here is a faculty naturally implanted in the soul that is appetitive of what is in accordance with nature and embraces everything that is essentially characteristic of nature. This is called the capacity for willing (θέλησις, thelēsis). For the essence of being and living and moving, both mentally and sensibly, has an appetency directed towards its own natural and full

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-12571881132362873642023-10-28T00:18:00.001+08:002023-10-28T02:28:11.233+08:00

I have completed my personal reflections on strict confessionalism and my time in it. The whole article with footnotes and conclusion can be read here. Here is an excerpt from the conclusion: The promise of Reformed Confessionalism is to plot a path between Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, to not pick fights on minor issues while keeping fidelity to the Christian faith. Evangelicalism has

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-60984372348970732023-10-27T00:41:00.001+08:002023-10-27T00:41:56.542+08:00

The failure of strict confessionalism: Theological lies and the failure to tell the truth It is not a secret that the American Reformed churches are extremely divided. After studying Reformed theology, it is my opinion that many divisions are not warranted and driven more by ego and the need to “prove oneself.” For example, the whole republication (of the Covenant of Works in the Mosaic Covenant)

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-43900708385900981832023-10-24T23:47:00.000+08:002023-10-24T23:47:18.580+08:00

If we could imagine all the creeds of Christendom as having been suddenly wiped out of men’s memories, so that we should have to start all over again in our understanding of the Bible and in our summary setting forth of what the Bible teaches, I believe in tie the necessary creeds of the church would again be built up. It might take another nineteen centuries – if it be God’s will that the

Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0