There was a spate of articles in the papers recently about how ‘indecent’ the salaries were of religious group leaders, and their involvement in businesses. You can read here, here and here.

For better or worse, the conduct of various charities and religious organisations have been put under the microscope because of the NKF scandal. Most recently, we saw how the CEO of Ren Ci Hospital, the Venerable Shi Ming Yi, was accused of misusing donations. The need for charities to be above-the-board, whiter-than-white in their wheeling and dealing is a must, since they are using public funds. And, for the longest of time, they were operating with very little oversight or questioning by the public till the NKF scandal opened the can of worms.

Now, with news of mega churches involved in businesses, I suspect another round of questioning will arise. “As poor as the church mouse”, goes the idiom. Obviously, it doesn’t really hold true today. However, is it right for the public to expect religious (all religions, not just Christianity) leaders to be ‘poor’, or at least appear to be poor? Is it fair?

People like to quote ‘money is the root of all evil’, without realising they are actually mis-quoting the Bible. Actually, it reads ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’ (1 Timothy 6:10) Money in itself is amoral. But, when greed comes into the picture, problem arise. If you examine the recent scandals we have with charities, essentially it is a problem of greed.

Too much money is a problem. On the other hand, too little money is a problem. One of the letters to the forum quoted (again) from the Bible of the example of the Levites. The Levites were supposed to be the priests to the people of Biblical Israel. While the Levites looked after the spiritual well-being of the Israelites, in return the Israelites look after the physical well-being of the Levites. The Levites were forbidden to own any riches. The writer to the forum implored the religious leaders to follow the example of the Levites and be poor.

Do you think the writer has a point? Is it feasible?

Labels: Religion

Labels: People, Sianzz 0.5

Labels: Humour

Labels: Me

I've been getting Sufficient Sleep(8 full hours baby! + a 16 hour "nap" 2 days ago), SPH sent me my cheque today(Work of the Barest Minimum with pretty decent payout), I've had 2 consecutive Good Hair Days, I am ONLY 105 DOLLARS AWAY FROM NOT OWING MYSELF MONEY and I get to lie on my bed and do nothing but listen to The Winner Takes It All by ABBA
on repeat for as long as I want without having to do Anything(This is my current favorite song. Kill me I’m retrosexual). Life is pretty peachy, I've been doing nothing but hang out, chillax, Meet For Tea and read scarily good children's books by Neil Gaiman(Genius, end of story) I have assorted plans to do Nothing and Go Out over the next few days, and on Monday, I'm going to tan at the beach with Bel(By that I mean she cowers under a straw hat and apply sunblock liberally and obsessively every 40 minutes.) and everything is going to be Alright, until Wednesday that is.

..And I'm also gonna flunk my prelims quite spectacularly.Seriously, Karma is going to bite me in the ass, and then who knows what. AHHHH STUDY DAMMIT. STUDY. And it's not like I actually dislike ANY of the subjects I take, I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM ALL. Yes, even you Mathematics. (Seriously, if I hear another person say, "You've worked hard, you'll get what you deserve." or "Don't worry, you always do fine." I will poke your rectum with A TWIG. Those phrases aren't comforting, at all. Mostly because I don't study, I just get lucky, and it sounds like a warning, like all 'Oooooh THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT STUDYING, YOU ARE GOING TO FAILLL!!

Yeah the prelims didn't go so good. I literally sacrificed Everything for Geography, I completely neglected everything but, if I don't manage to somehow pass, I honestly don't know how I'm going to react. It was pretty horrific, I don't know how I managed to survive the long drawn-out torture of Preparing for the Next Paper Under the Time Constraint of One Day, You Brought This Upon Yourself, Die A$%&@!* Die, but somehow I did. Honestly, if I didn't have awesome friends, I would have had a brain hemorrhage. Thanks for entertaining my last minute "Hi, my paper is in 4 hours and I don't know Anything. Help?" calls.Looking back, it was a bit...excessive I suppose.

Though as it gets closer to Wednesday and My Results...(Oh yeah, I had a Horrible Nightmare involving a chainsaw wielding maniac who wanted to sever my legs and my teacher telling me I did Terribly for GP. It's a sign, I'm expecting the worst though, I felt pretty shit after the GP paper, and I always seem to screw up when it counts).Eh, yesterday was pretty strange, I met Joan(I've met you so many times, I'm sick of you already) and we somehow managed to have an embarrassingly loud argument regarding something completely retarded like A Straw, and ownership of said straw, in front of a waitress who looked suitably amused. Yeah and of Course Joan HAD to smooth it over and Look Mature - "Oh, I am so sorry you had to witness that! But could we have another straw?" "Yes of course, so now you two won't have to fight anymore.*snigger snigger*"

Yes, this is a last minute panic ZOMGWTFBBQ post. I need my bolster and an anal-retentive, control-freak type friend to call me up and yell at me(anyone?). I literally have no self-control.I MEAN I AM ONLINE, LISTENING TO ABBA; TRYING TO GET INTO MAMAMIA MOOD.


I abuse parentheses hahaha

Labels: Friends

I read an interesting article in The Straits Times a while back, and it has always been at the back of my head ever since. It seems that, not just in Singapore but also everywhere in the world, people are thumbing their noses at Plato and thumbing through books by Planck.

Do you think that, in today’s society, we do not really have to care what the humanities (philosophy, sociology, political science, literature etc…) have to tell us? Rather, we should care about what the sciences can tell us because they help us to get rich? Yep, no one gets rich studying philosophy…

A constant question that I ask when talking about education is ‘What is the purpose of education?’ No doubt, studying useful subjects like engineering and medicine will help us to make tons of money. However, without the study of humanities, we lose what makes us human.

A lot of the sciences we study today originated from the study of humanities. One of the examples I love to quote is Rene Descartes (he of the “I think, therefore, I am” quotation). It was in his writings on the topic of rationality and the need for pure reasoning that the branch of mathematics - Cartesian coordinates, came from. Adam Smith, the famous author of the ‘Wealth of Nations’ which most of our modern economic theories come from, was first and foremost a philosopher, not an economist. His book “Wealth of Nations” was written to address the lack of inequality in society and how society can solve it. If we are to discard the study of humanities, won’t we also be discarding the potential insights that some thinker will come up with about the world?

However, Man being ever so practical, seems to treat the study of humanities as 2nd-rate. In Singapore, we are no better. Based on anecdotal evidence, it would seem that the NUS Arts Faculty is attracting top students to the faculty in recent years. Not that suddenly these straight-A students like to know what Shakespeare said, but because the Department of Economics is there. It seems that parents want their Ah Huay and Ah Huats to become the next chairman of Citicorp.. Practical bunch of people they are, our parents.

The study of sciences tells us what the world is like. The study of humanities tells us what we are. We can’t do without either of them.


“Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil.” said Plato. Tell me what you people think.

Labels: Education

What is fidelity and monogamy? Is it truly possible for humans to be monogamous creatures? Or have we been so deluded by our so called "superior" existence? Are we, when it comes down to it, the same as animals? Is it in our make up to move from person to person, to mate, and to re-populate? Is that the basic and baser instinct we all carry in us?

Words like fidelity and monogamy, these concepts are after all, inventions of the "civilised" human race. Much like other moral values, for example, honesty and integrity, that are ingrained in us since birth, should fidelity not be adhered to as closely as well?

Personally, I would never be tempted to cheat. Being with someone else, while I'm in a relationship with someone I feel strongly for, would just feel wrong to me. It's simply not possible. But then, that's me. Is it the same for other people? Have they been affected by these ingrained ideals of superiority?

That temptation is second nature to the human race is disappointing, I suppose. How many times have we heard the phrase, "I'm human, after all"? When someone cheats on you, is it something you should take personally, or is it something that should be expected of us, as human? Human weaknesses..

Is fidelity an ideal that we have invented to justify our claim as the superior species? Have I been bound by this potentially useless idealistic view? After all, if monogamy is a moral code, why do dozens break this standard we set for ourselves every single day?

Maybe love, fidelity, good and evil, and dozens of other moralistic views are just inventions of the civilised world. Maybe when we come down to it, we are nothing but mere beasts set loose on earth.

Dear pal, I hope this is thought-provoking enough for you.. At least to formulate some soul searching answers of your own :)

Labels: Moral Fabric, People, Random Ruminations