Yearly Archives: 2007

Daily Scribble

Golf Tournament

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Nothing beats playing golf in a Friday afternoon with free beer during office hour and still get paid. Today is the annual PMC golf tournament. We took the afternoon off from the office to tee of in West Wood Plateau Academy. It is a 9 holes half course. I don’t remember when was the last time I played on the green. The view of the golf course is fantastic. It locates on top of the Coquitlam mountain, overlooking Vancouver. Golfing is a relaxing sport. You can enjoy the greenery and chat with friends in the same group. My golfing skill sucks, so I won’t mention my total par number. Some holes has a river running across the fairway, which costs me losing 5 balls.

The secretary is not playing golf, she drive a golf cart around with an icebox loaded with beer. It took us 3 hours to finish 9 holes. Golfing is not a very active sport, it seems won’t burn you much calories. However we have some good exercise walking the 9 holes and carrying the golf bag. I was quite tired on the last 2 holes after the long walk. I couldn’t stay focus and hit quite bad. After the tournament, we have buffet dinner at the club house. The food is not very great, but it seems very taste to a hungry man walking for 3 hours. What a wonderful day!

宗教

基督教思想史第一部 – 第二章﹕聖奧古斯丁的生平思想

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不論在神學或是西方哲學上﹐聖奧古斯丁(St. Augustine of Hippo)也是非重要的一位人物。啟蒙後的大哲學家的思想﹐如笛卡兒﹐黑格爾﹐史賓洛沙等的思想﹐也可以追溯源頭致奧古斯丁的著作。他的神學思想同樣影響深遠﹐差不多奠定日後西方神學所走的道路。他是古典時代的最後一位哲學家﹐亦是中世紀的第一位哲學家。研究基督教神的人﹐絕不能無視奧古斯丁的思想。而要明白他的思想﹐先要從他的生平開始。

奧古斯丁的生平可算是多姿多采﹐他的思想結集當時各家哲學之大成﹐並將之融會灌通入基督教的神學裏面。他父親是異教徒﹐但母親是基督徒。受他父親的影響﹐他得以學習古典時代的眾多學說。他的思想轉變分為八個時期。最初他如大部份人一樣﹐受柏拉圖和Stoics的傳統的影響。其後他受Cicero的影響﹐從哲學中探索真理﹐並把哲學應用在基督徒的生活上。其後他受波斯完教Manichaeism的影響﹐嘗試用善惡二元論去解釋世界。他從天文中看到世界運行的完美法律﹐於是墮入懷疑主義中。他建立一套新的認知論﹐從懷疑主義走入新柏拉圖主義﹐去釋神與世界基於愛的關係。他這時開始接受教會的權威﹐而教會中聖人和修行僧亦給他很大啟發。不過奧古斯丁與亞里士多德的思想相異﹐而千多年來這兩個不同的傳統的爭議也沒有停止過。

奧古斯丁的認知論與苖卡兒推論同出一轍﹐均是認為人應該內省去找到可以確定的真實存在。分別是苗卡兒的結論是“我思故我在”﹐而奧古斯丁的結論則是靈魂內看見的神﹐而神就是世界真實存在的跟據。他認為只有神永恆不變的存在﹐我們才不會活在懷疑的空虛中﹐這樣世間萬物才有意義。

奧古斯丁認為神是終極的存在﹐超越時間和空間﹐超越客觀和主觀﹐世界所有事物也存在神當中﹐神就是愛。當我們正確地愛自己或事物的時候﹐就是愛我們或事物中的神性﹐我們就是在愛神。他對三位一體提出新的見解﹐聖父就是給與愛﹐聖子就是被愛﹐而聖靈就是愛的力量﹐如同記憶﹐智慧和意志一樣。他明確地指出神從虛無中創造世界﹐世界並不獨立存在於神之外。他認為時間並不是無限﹐時間隨著世界被神創造出來﹐因此並沒有所謂創世前的時間。他的時間觀是線性﹐與Stoics的循環時間觀不同﹐因為只有時間一去不返﹐我們的人生才有意義。

奧古斯丁說人的擁有意志﹐靈魂的兩個基本活動就是求愛和求知。他認為靈魂永恆不滅﹐若遠離神沒有神的愛﹐就是最大的懲罰。

奧古斯丁的歷史觀是聖俗二分﹐ 我們從地上罪惡之城﹐通向上帝充滿愛之城。

奧古斯丁對神學的最大貢獻﹐是他發明了原罪的教義。這個問題正是宗教與道德的交叉點﹐自古以來在教會為此爭論不休。到底人類行惡事所以犯罪﹐還是人類因為有罪性所以行惡事呢﹖在早期教會中﹐異端神學家Pelagius與奧古斯丁唱反調﹐他認為人類的本質是自由﹐人擁有理性可以作出正確的決定。他認為人是受造物﹐人類自然會死亡﹐死亡並非罪的懲罰。他認為亞當犯的罪並不禍被後人﹐所以原罪的並不存在﹐人要犯了罪才會淪為罪人。 耶穌透過領洗赦免已犯罪的人﹐並世人作一個不犯罪的好榜樣。人類可以憑自由意志行善或行惡﹐行善則親近神﹐行惡則遠離神。奧古斯丁則認為人的本質是墮落﹐必需依靠神的恩典才能夠行善。人類想憑自己力量行善﹐就會離遠神然後墮落。犯罪是因為人類驕傲﹐因為驕傲讓人遠離神。在奧古斯丁的理論中﹐犯罪並不是因為行了惡事﹐倒過來行惡事是因為人有罪。人類犯罪因為遠離神﹐遠離神本身就是犯罪的懲罰。基督透過領洗把恩典賜與人類﹐人類是因為神的愛成義﹐信只不過是成義的媒介。奧古斯丁認為人不可能抗拒神的恩典﹐被神選取的人就不可能失落﹐而Pelagius則認為人要努力才能夠接受恩典。

奧古斯丁跟從Cyprian的傳統﹐教會是救贖的機關﹐從每個人獨立的聖化﹐轉變為整個教會的聖化。教會的神聖性是客觀的存在﹐獨立於代表教會的人。因為領洗聖事的神聖性是客觀的﹐所以就算是異端教會負責的施洗也是有效﹐沒有人需要重新領洗。同樣地按立也是永久有效﹐所以被逐出教會的神職人員所行的聖事也是有效。

看完這課令我對奧古斯丁完全改觀﹐我以前對他的生平也略有所知﹐也知道他發明原罪教義和主張禁慾﹐這兩項教義正正是我不喜歡他的原因﹐因為我覺得他的思想不合理﹐與西方傳統的進步思想不乎。不過這課以神學的角度去解釋他如何建立這兩個教義﹐讓我明白這兩教義背後的推論。雖然我還是不認同他的說法﹐但在明白他的神學和生平背景後﹐至少可以同情地理解他為什麼會得出這兩個結論。認識原裝正版的原罪論後﹐我更發現以前在基督教常聽的那套原罪論﹐完全歪曲奧古斯丁的精神。因為人有原罪﹐信教者赦罪﹐有罪者入地獄﹐所以不信者會入地獄。這個畸胎原罪論大部份正常人聽了也會反感﹐但是這個畸胎原罪論卻自相矛盾﹐推翻了人沒有自由選擇接受恩典的前設﹐人信不信決定權在神並不在人。奧古斯丁是教會歷史中最偉大的神學家﹐不論認不認同他的神學觀點﹐我們也不能無視他的存在。

Daily Scribble

Miracle of Jesus

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It is a true story from my friend.

Once upon a time (i.e. few years ago) I went to Spain with two friends.  When we arrived the hotel the first night we met this weird hotel staff at the lobby whose name tag told us his name was Jesus.  I was thinking what a name, see whether you can perform a miracle in front of us.  My friends were laughing quite inappropriately, as you would if you were in Spain seeing Jesus in front of your eyes.

We were just talking in the lift whether there is a naked girl waiting for us in the hotel room.  As soon as I opened the door, a girl covered in bed sheet just sat up and spoke in a foreign tongue which I don’t understand, but from the tone of her voice she was really scared.

The miracle was indeed performed by Jesus.

He gave us the bloody wrong keys of someone else’s room.

Thanks, Wally.  This is really a funny joke.  Hope you don’t mind I am sharing it in my blog.

Daily Scribble

Periodic Table vs The Four Basic Elements

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Periodic Table vs 4 elements

When I was searching for the periodic table of visualization methods, I came across this interesting poster. It mocks the debate between Evolution and Creationism. Almost everyone, except a some Christians, knows life evolutes and human is evoluted from some form of pre-historical apes. Those Christians insist on literal word by word interpretation of the Bible, they claim that God really created the world in 6 days, 144 hours. It is not a big deal if they keep their silly idea within their church. Everyone has the freedom of thought to believe whatever stupid ideas.

In 2005, a group of Christians in Cobb County Georgia sues the public school board, trying to force the Biology teachers teach creationism as an alternative theory to Evolution. We all know creationism is not science, it is just a myth.  At best it is an interesting story with some moral teaching.  What a perfect analogy comparing Periodic Tables vs the 4 Elements to Evolution vs Creationism!  Maybe those Christian should also force Chemistry teachers teaching the 4 Elements as an alternative theory to Periodic Table.  The Bible didn’t say anything about the Periodic Table after all.

Daily Scribble

Periodic Table of Visualization

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Periodic Table of Visualization

We have to give presentation at work or in school, we often have to prepare Power Point slides. If we have some data, we don’t drown the audience in sea of numbers. If we have some complex idea, we don’t want to bore the audience to death by long descriptions. A picture wroth thousands words. We give our presentation with colorful pictures or graphs help getting the message across. However, most of us only know how to use the few basic graphs come with Excel, namely the pie chart, the bar chart, the X-Y charts. Some of us many be a little bit more advance, know how to use Visio and able to draw some boxes and diagrams.

However, there are thousands of ways to visualize your data and idea. Data visualization is a combination of art and science. On one hand you have to deliver the information clearly and accurately. On the other hand the aesthetic appeal draw the audience’s attention so that they will remember your message long after the presentation has ended. I found a good reference of all common ways of presenting data in The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Next time when we prepare our Power Point slides, we don’t have to always stick with those boring pie charts.