Muslims turned Christian

What happens when a Muslim changes his mind and decides to follow Y'shua?  What do you think happens?

In some communities, people have the freedom to choose.  In other communities, the convert is treated as having committed a serious crime.  He might be excommunicated, imprisoned, or punished for this choice.

I recently met a family of refugees who left their home country because of their faith.

My recent reading, though, comes from a more spiritual angle.  The convert felt peace, blessed for having a relationship with God.  He said "the Gospel never ceases to overwhelm me".  He continues to fellowship with the Muslims.  He will fast with them this Ramaddan, but more with the hope of sharing love with them than to be seen as a Muslim because of what he is doing.

Can we then say that it is worth becoming a Christian in spite the difficulties and oppositions from one's family and peer group?  Does the peaceful relationship with God compensate for this difficulty?

What about the hereafter?  Is it worth giving it up for an eternity with God?

What do you believe?  Why?

Life Plan

Harleena Singh advises us to have goals to work towards as we plan our lives.  She says that "having a purpose in life is like knowing your destination, where you’ve to go".  She advises us to follow our dreams, fulfill our destiny, work towards what we think we should live for.  We must set short-term goals that lead us to long-term goals.

Does such advise seem familiar to you?  Is she "preaching to the choir"?  What are the goals, what is the purpose that you should live for?

Do you think you can plan your life the way she advises?  How?  Or, why not?

Does God have anything to do with your goals?  Is God your priority and your goal?  Or does He get in the way of what you think you should do?  If He gets in the way, then is He right to do so?

What do you believe?

Children and online games

I heard a presentation of Collette Smart last night.  The following are the significant points I took home:

• Parents never wish for child to just be entertained.  They wish for more than that.
• However, today, people want to be entertained as though being entertained is normal. It wasn't like this before.  People struggled with life more.
• Do not be afraid of boredom.  Boredom creates creativity.
• Triangular parenting refers to the triangle of love,boundaries and consistency.  Consistency the hardest.
• It is a false sense of security to expose child to Internet but not to road.
• We cannot deprive children from technology.  It is part of their world. We just need to experiment and know how to handle it.
• Kids love the technology because of fun and social.  Parents use it for banking and shopping.
• 2/3 children have no rules re their gadgets
• There is active vs passive technology time. Active time is using technology for paying bills, research, uni assignments, etc. Passive is using the technology for games, videos, etc. entertainment.
• Games are a social currency these days.  Children talk to their friends re the games they play.  Excessive play not good.
• Must get devices out of the childrens' bedrooms.  We cannot look over their shoulder all the time.
• Children look for boundaries. Would not parent their kids re technology the way they have been parented.
• Privacy to some young people means private from Mum & Dad, not from everybody else.
• Fun-failure factor - enough fun, but not too easy, so have challenge. And success after challenge is conquered.
• Lack of sleep puts body clock out of sync.  Teens need 8.5-9 hr sleep. Younger children 10.5-11 hr.
  Technology is a contributor to poor sleep.
• Pornography is looking for them, they are not looking for it. They stumble on it. Hence need for boundaries.
• Put good habits in place now, not later when it is harder.
• You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice.
• Recommend 1-2 hr passive technology time/day. 0 for < 2 yo
• Set age restrictions for apps.
• Let children play one main game at a time.
• Discourage distributed play, binge play safer.
• Know your children's passwords
• Talk to them re the content of their games.  Sons who play violent games with Dads tend to be less aggressive compared to those who don't, as they talk to Dads as they play.
• Negotiate a technology contract with your children, allowing technology at age-appropriate levels.

What do you think?  Do you agree with her?  How do you handle your children and their technology?

Grandparents parenting

Harleena Singh lists the following reasons why grandparents are playing a bigger parenting role with their grandchildren these days compared to the past:

• Compensating for the effect of death or disability of a parent;
• Helping as parents go through divorce, separation, etc;
• Reduce the children's contact with their parents because parents have drug abuse or mental disability type of problems;
• Catering for a home-like experience to help shape the children's cultural identity;
• Support because one or both parents are in prison;
• Help children out in cases of parental abuse;
• Help children abandoned by their parents, or when parents are away in military service;
• Help out their children in the case of teenage pregnancy;

I think all these are valid reasons, and I appreciate grandparents' help.  However, I also see that in a lot of these situations, it is because something went wrong in the lives of the parents, that the grandparents step in to cater for the children.

Is this right?  Should parents be more responsible?  Should the responsibility be undertaken by grandparents, do you think?

I see that sometimes, it is because both parents are employed full-time, or working overseas, that parents take on the parenting role.  It might be greed for more money that this happens, although Harleena also mentions military service as one of the reasons.  I see also that as the cost of living in the cities increase, that it might not be financial greed, but purely necessity driving this trend.

What do you think?  Is this a good trend, or a not-so-good one?  Is the economic reason a valid one?  If this trend is not good, then what would be a better solution?

Racism in the days of the war

The movie "Small Island" carries a story of five people:

• Hortense Roberts, who grew up in Jamaica.  She dreams of living in England, as she has read a lot about this "mother" country.  Her mother left her to grow up in the Roberts household, and it was there where she was initially educated. She also dreams of marrying Michael Roberts, a guy from the household where she grew up.  Hortense later trained as a teacher.
• Michael Roberts, who grew up with Hortense but is does not notice her affections.  His father is a devout Christian, but Michael, after being educated, set his sights on beyond Jamaica and his Christian roots and left his early upbringing.
• Gilbert Joseph, who is also from Jamaica.  He wished to be a lawyer, but did not have enough money to study law.  However, he is an accomplished driver and mechanic.  He chose to fight as an ally of the British army in order to open up opportunities towards achieving his dream of becoming a lawyer.
• Queenie Bligh, who grew up in a piggery farm in England, but moved to the city of London for the city comforts and opportunities tht she preferred to the life of working with pigs.  She has no prejudice against the dark skinned Jamaicans, unlike many of the other English people around her.
• Bernard Bligh, a banker of London.  Bernard married Queenie because he loves her and wants to give her what she dreams.  He is one of the English people who wishes to not mix with the dark skinned people of his day.

Michael and Gilbert ended up visiting England for a time during the Second World War.  Bernard gets assigned to India for a time, all three being part of the RAF.  Michael and Gilbert meet Queenie at this time, and the friendship continues to bless the three of them even after the war.  Bernard disappears, much to Queenie's concern.  Queenie ends up carrying Michael's child, while Michael moves on to "greener pastures" in Canada without her.  Gilbert chooses to leave Jamaica to settle in England, and Hortense, after giving up hope on Michael, makes Gilbert a deal so that he would marry her and send for her after he finds a home there.

Some striking scenes in the story shows how

• During the war, the white-skinned Brits assumed that all the dark-skinned people are of the same lot, not realising that some identify themselves with Africa, others with America and yet others with Jamaica.
• The dark-skinned people were discriminated against in terms of finding accommodation and jobs after the war, even though they fought alongside the British during the war,
• The British assume that all dark-skinned people are from Africa, many have not even heard of Jamaica, even though Jamaica is a Commonwealth country and received British education,
• Though the Jamaicans consider England as the "mother" nation and learned about her, many of the English did not know anything about Jamaica,
• Some Jamaicans think of England as a lovely country because of the education they received, not realising the discrimination or the ugly side until they have lived there,

I wonder if this is still true of England today.  Is racial discrimination a thing of the past?  Are people kinder to each other now?  Do people still segregate themselves based on colour and country?  Do other nations still consider England as "mother"?

Is anything wrong with the way things were in those days?  Is anything wrong with the way things are today?  Has cultural values changed for the better?  Or worse?

Are people all the same, or are there differences?  How should we handle the similarities and differences?  What do you think?