It really gets on my nerves when Christians read too much into the Book of Revelations as it will cause unnecessary social panic just like all the food hoarding.
Jesus is clear with regards to End Times in Matthew 24 (also in Mark 13) that no one knows the day or the hour that we ought to have the view that He will come at anytime that we should be ready at anytime. We shouldn't have the view of being 'good' only when His return is near. That's not true repentance. Since we ought to view everyday as the last day, why bother trying to predict when is He coming?
Some will argue "If we are not to interpret the Book of Revelations, why did God bother to tell us?" Was Jesus telling His disciples about the End Times meant for them to worry and predict when it is the day? It can't be. Firstly, Jesus told them not to worry beforehand (Mark 13:11) for Holy Spirit will guide them when the day comes. Secondly, Jesus said no one knows the day nor hour (Matthew 24:36-51 & Mark 13:32-37).
The Danger of Reading Too Much into Book of Revelations
Why is reading too much into Book of Revelations dangerous? A few cults were developed as a result of it.
They quoted some things from Book of Revelations with their interpretations that make 'sense' to some that misled them to believe in their message.
Doesn't Book of Revelations mention 'red dragon' (Rev 12:3)? Imperial China in the past often used Dragon to symbolises herself. Red is often used by Communists. It does make sense if it means Communist China at first glance. Now, this is the danger.
Bible never say it is Communist China. That is just an interpretation which may or not be correct. Do you know the Flag of Wales is a red dragon too?
Flag of Wales
The interpretations can be of countless possibilities. Not many familiar with Wales will know the flag has a red dragon. Not many familiar with other things are aware of countless possible interpretations hence can jump straight into belief when Communist China interpretation makes sense.
As they believe part of the message that makes sense, they lower their guard and believe more and more of the messages and be misled. This is actually against the very purpose of what Jesus told His disciples!
What is the Purpose of Jesus Telling His Disciples about End Times?
Jesus told His disciples:
"At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible. See, I have told you in advance." (Matthew 24:23-25)
The purpose of telling us in advance isn't meant for us to predict and be in fear that subject ourselves to false teachings. No false teacher/prophet on their head will write "I'm a false teacher/prophet" and not all are aware that they subjecting others to false teaching or risk too.
The purpose of telling us ahead of time is for us to be on our guard so that we do not be misled. When we are too into the Book of Revelations and try to predict and accept whatever is said just because some things look like it makes sense, we subject ourselves to false teachings. Don't think too highly of ourselves for even the elect will be misled (Matthew 24:24).
As if any essay, the conclusion always addresses "So what after saying all these?" and in the context of Matthew 24, the conclusion was expressed in Matthew 24:36-51 and further elaboration and emphasis in Matthew 25. We are to be ready and what does that mean? It is perhaps explained in Matthew 25:
Be ready and not repent only because when the end is near (Parables of the Ten Virgins). That's not true repentance if we only behave in fear of punishment and not a genuine change of heart.
Be a good steward of God on the resources He has given us (Parables of the Talents).
Love one another as He has commanded us (Parables of the Sheep and the Goats). 1 John 4 explains well that fear involves punishment (my first point) but not so in love. Those born of God should have the love of Christ in them.
During this COVID-19 period, there would likely be more emphasis on end times messages. So be on guard and verify the purpose of the message. Does it really draw you closer to God or it creates fear or subject you to letting down of your guard (against Jesus' instruction)? If it creates fear, is it a sign that something needs to be done in your life so that you may grow spiritually and in love with Him?
Be on your guard.
Recently I'm given this article despite I'm a HR Professional with HR knowledge at Masters level as if those really trained in HR don't know how to do their job. Sometimes you cannot see HR's effect is not because HR is doing it wrong but rather HR is not given the power and chance to get the company to do it right.
When you think HR is 'common sense' that anyone senior can talk about HR like an expert, you already subconsciously is discrediting HR and not giving them any chance to get things right. This article is not entirely wrong but people who read it may have some misunderstanding about interviews and HR practices. I'll address every points mentioned in this article.
ARE JOB INTERVIEWS UNTRUSTWORTHY? When many people talk about 'interviews', they are actually talking about 'unstructured interviews' or 'situational interviews' instead of 'interviews' generally. And people reading this article may stereotype interviews as 'unstructured' and 'situational'.
Unstructured interviews has a lower validity rating in predicting performance being at only 0.31 (Anderson and Shackleton, 1993). In unstructured interviews, candidates can be asked any question that is customised according to situation. When it is customised, you cannot compare person A to person B fairly. People may assume customisation can lead to higher validity but given the tendency of humans having psychological errors and biases, objectivity likely not to be there. The solution is structured interviews where there is a standard set of questions for all. Validity is higher at 0.62 (Anderson and Shackleton, 1993).
The article mentioned about theoretical/hypothetical questions. Those well trained in HR knows very well these questions have low validity in predicting future performance (Barclay, 2001). You can fake answers easily with hypothetical questions. What interviewers should do is to do a behavioural interview in which candidates are asked about a past experience that they have exercised this or that knowledge/skills. It is hard to fake it because you can drill deeper and if they are found not able to answer smoothly, there is a high chance of them lying.
You can use behavioural interviews to test many things. Whether one has team work, technical skills and many things.
LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL WITHIN A CANDIDATE TOO
Of course you look for potential too but you think a 1 hour interview can tell you a lot about potential? You need to work with that person after hiring then you will know better.
Why do you think there is performance management system in place? Cause you cannot guarantee the best candidates during recruitment! Even during the midst of employment, you are still 'interviewing' candidates and screening them with appraisals. Performance Management Systems have a sorting effect in which poor performers will automatically resign. If well implemented with biases minimised, it is actually a very powerful system. ARE COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS NOT IMPORTANT FOR TECHNICAL PEOPLE?
If you work in a team, communications skills will be important. Period. Jobs are specialised and you need to coordinate. In order to coordinate, you need to explain what you do and get understood. While it is less important for some roles, it is still important and should be considered too. PROBLEMS WITH SOME OF THE SUGGESTIONS 1) Asking Candidates to Interview You Instead? Asking senior candidates to produce a plan for next 30-90-180 days especially in IT area may not be realistic. There is a severe lack of IT Professionals in the market. Many are likely to have overworked. Why would they have the time to produce such a plan? You will screen off many good candidates by that alone. I already have candidates (though few) that chose not to turn up for my interviews because we have too many tests which they don't find it worth their time. Asking them to interview you instead may not get a high acceptance of the method as this is not widely used and can backfire. If they need to invest so much time to develop a plan and think about interview questions, I doubt they will want to apply for your jobs to begin with unless they are so desperate in wanting to join you. If you are Google, I think you can do it but an average company can't. For average company, people just mass send their generic CVs. You can't expect them to spend hours for every single application to develop various plans right? If interviews are so flawed, asking candidates to interview you when they are not well trained in interviews will only make it more flawed. 2) Stop Speed Dating Interviews? While interviews are not speed dating, Managers don't have all the time in the world to take their own sweet time. Company operations need to run and not stop or slow down because of wanting to get the best candidate. Real world decision makers are satisficers. You do want to get a good enough person by sacrificing losing the best because by getting the best, you may sacrifice far more. Imagine it is so slow (because there can always be a better one than earlier interviewed) that all existing staff already overworked and start to resign and snowball. Getting the best individual while losing an army is pure stupidity (the author never suggest this but some people kept emphasising getting the best like as if at all cost). 3) Asking Practical Questions Practical tests are no longer uncommon. Ability tests have validity of about 0.54 while work sample tests have validity of about 0.55 (Anderson and Shackleton, 1993). Are they superior than interviews? Yes to unstructured interviews at validity of 0.31 but not to structured interviews at 0.62 (Anderson and Shackleton, 1993). But of course, no harm having tests! It can complement the structured interviews and as a whole can increase the validity of predicting performance. 4) Should Personality/Cultural Fit Questions Not Be Asked? Personality has a low validity in predicting performance. The highest as found in HR research is Big Five Personality Test which is only a validity of 0.20 (Barrick, M. R., Mitchell, T. R., & Stewart, G. L., 2003)! Why? Because like the article said, people can adapt to situation. However, if it is a service job when it is long hours of dealing with customers, those that are high introverts will feel very stress as they are forced not to be themselves for too long. Generally, personality can only predict how a person would behave when alone, without social pressure to conform. However, there are some traits in which personality does predict a person's behaviour. Low self-monitors cannot monitor the environment well to know when and how to adapt. There are also people that choose not to adapt even if they can (those less open). These can be tested with relevant questions. So I don't think such questions should be dropped as long as asked correctly. Again, these can be tested using a behavioural interview. Furthermore, personality test can be used to complement other better selection methods. However, if too many methods used, it will scare people off. 5) Should You Not Be Afraid to Hire Overqualified People? The issue is not about over-qualification. Of course you want the best but the best in which you can use. If you cannot manage the expectations, they will leave and what best candidate do you have to utilise if they join and leave after few months? What returns can you get from this best person as compare to one who is good enough that stays and you don't have to retrain all over again in months to get him/her to perform? Overqualified people tends to expect more. Unless you are the market leader in HR practices and pay, you have to fear hiring overqualified people as you may not be able to keep them. Of course you can say 'but not all overqualified people have high expectations'. True, but you as a job seeker have to give confidence to employers that despite your over-qualification, your expectations are not hard to manage. If you can stay in your previous company for long despite a pay that is not high, if you show it in your CV/application, you can give confidence to the employers. CONCLUSION Many people are quick to point fingers at HR and telling HR what they should do because they cannot get what they want (e.g. job) and blame it on HR. As I have shown above, people don't even know what is an 'interview'. They stereotype all interviews as 'unstructured' and 'situational' and discredit all interviews blindly and ignorantly think they are in a better position to 'advise'. They also assume HR practices suck because of HR. In reality, that's not true. How many CHRO do you see in C-Suites within companies? How many people have told you "HR is common sense, no need a Masters". Got people even surprised that there's PhD in HR. If really common sense, you won't have many HR-related problems. It is because HR is not given the power and people assuming it is 'common sense' do not think they need HR's advice. How then do you expect good HR practices to appear in a company? I always see reports of HR analytics going around but hey... HR academics already know all of them and these are widely known by people well trained in HR. They don't appear because HR's voice gets silenced by those in power who may argue "these are common sense" but yet don't practise them or consciously go against their subconscious biases to do what's right. Things might change when HR starts to acquire more analytics capabilities to show their worth better and show evidence to get buy-in. Interviews like many HR practices are well backed by scientific research but they cannot get their full potential because you have non-HR people using them in whatever way they want because they think it is 'common sense'. And it is also these people that question HR if HR disagrees with their 'common sense'. They exaggerate their seniority in other areas as justified enough to be an HR expert. We can listen but if becomes too pushy, then don't expect us to take it well. I don't like to do what is inefficient and ineffective. I prefer to do things backed by science.
Someone from my Army whatsapp group shared this post from The Independent Singapore somehow suggesting Singaporeans are being discriminated where jobs go to foreigners easily.
Being in HR, I know this message is not true and refuted it. First of all, having lived in UK and having fellow Singaporeans trying to find jobs in UK, I understand how difficult it is to find a job in UK as a foreigner, even more than in Singapore. So it is easier for foreigners to find a job in Singapore but whether is it 'easy' is subjective. It depends on what job.
MISREPRESENTATION 1: EASY TO FIND JOB FOR FOREIGNERS IN SINGAPORE
The person who was featured in the article is a makeup artist! Whether her job is still makeup artist, I do not know. Assuming it is still her profession, do majority Singaporeans want to be a makeup artist? If not, of course it is easy to find a makeup artist job! This is the makeup artist's youtube channel. This is her blog. This is likely her old facebook page (note Vintage Vision, the blog is mentioned). And this is likely her LinkedIn Page. Freelance Makeup Artist/Hairstylist is her background when in UK.
The other person featured was Joshua Robinson who didn't have a degree yet get a job in Singapore. Firstly, who tells you that you need a degree to get a job in Singapore? You think the foreign construction workers have degree? The need for a degree is usually a criteria for Employment Pass as mentioned in MOM website here. S Pass for Diploma at a minimum. He is a mixed martial arts instructor as this news article mentioned here. Do you think such a job need a degree?!
MISREPRESENTATION 2: WIDESPREAD DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LOCALS
Quoting 50 companies violating foreign manpower policy seems like widespread if you just look at the nominal amount of companies BUT how many companies are there in Singapore?
In reference to Singapore Statistics report, page 12, in 2015 alone, there are almost 65k business entities in Singapore. 50 is like 0.08% of all business entities only! Even with 250 in the watchlist, that is like 0.4%?
If anyone is arguing "hey... but it is increasing in numbers". My reply? "Of course! At early stage of discovery of anything, you will definitely find more following initial discovery! Do you expect the numbers to decrease?" But just because numbers are increasing doesn't mean it is widespread. After 250, it may go up more or go down depending on the stage of discovery. Until full exploration, it is hard to judge if it is widespread. We should look at proportion of total business entities and not on nominal amount alone and blow it up influencing irrational policies that put good behaving companies at disadvantage.
There are companies struggling because of quota being stricter. Look at 4:20 of the video above. If companies cannot perform optimally, they will be forced to leave. Singaporeans will then lose jobs instead of saving jobs for them! This irrationality and exaggeration doesn't help Singapore! This video has many valid arguments. If free, have a look at it.
IT IS GETTING HARDER FOR FOREIGNERS TO GET A JOB IN SINGAPORE
There is a trend of EP being downgraded to S Pass even when EP criteria has been met. It happened to some people I know and the recruitment agency I worked with also saw such trend. So it is false to say Government is not doing anything. In fact, I felt it may have been overdone.
MISREPRESENTATION 3: INCREASING NUMBERS OF FOREIGNERS = EVIDENCE OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LOCALS
A counter-argument against me was raised that foreign manpower increases over the years as can be seen here and that local population growth rate has been decreasing as reflected here. Sounds legit argument? No.
This argument is overly simplistic. How can you say this is an evidence without looking at the growth of jobs, the trends for locals, the supply of locals and etc? That data isn't even apple vs. apple to begin with. You are comparing a working age foreigner vs. entire Singapore local population instead of working age locals.
In view of working age locals, local manpower also increased over the years. Have a look at the growth in resident manpower supply here. This doesn't mean they are employed of course. The unemployed rate for local residence has been quite stable at around 2.87 since 2010 as reflected in Resident Unemployment Rate and Number data. In translating that data into trends, the growth employment for residents (as based on the data on 'Number of Persons In The Labour Force Aged Fifteen Years and Over' is:
2012: 2,060,000 out of 2,119,600 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate) 2013: 2,078,913 out of 2,138,800 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate) 2014: 2,126,200 out of 2,185,200 employed (97.3% employment rate, 2.7% unemployment rate) 2015: 2,169,796 out of 2,232,300 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate) 2016: 2,189,872 out of 2,257,600 employed (97.0% employment rate, 3.0% unemployment rate) - preliminary data only, not finalised
Even Singaporean/PR nominal amount of people employed also increased over the years. So does more foreign manpower mean Singaporeans/PR get discriminated? No. This is a positive correlation. Instead, it may instead suggest that job growth for locals is dependent of foreign manpower!
MISREPRESENTATION 4: FOREIGNERS COMPETING JOBS WITH LOCALS
Is it true that foreigners are competing jobs for locals?
2016 data:
EP: 189,600 (13.5%) VS. 760,400 residents with degree (33.7%)
S Pass: 179,400 (12.8%) VS. 438,700 residents with Diploma & Professional Qualification (19.4%)
Other lower tier Work Visa: 1,035,700 (85%) VS. 1,058,400 residents with highest qualification below a diploma (46.9%)
Data for Foreign Manpower is from here. Data for residents can be found here under 'Resident Labour Force by Highest Qualification Attained and Sex'.
This isn't entirely an apple vs. apple comparison because the latter data on resident is on labour force which says little of whether or not they are employed. However, with only 3.0% unemployment rate, it has little influence on the big difference from the current proportion stated here.
You can see from this data that locals aren't really discriminated against. Bulk of quality jobs (S Pass & above) are still given to locals. Those that really suffered are the low-skilled workforce which is recognised by Government like cleaners. Things like workfare are being done to help them. More can be done but to say nothing has been done is an unfair statement.
MISREPRESENTATION 5: GOVERNMENT STATISTICS CANNOT BE TRUSTED
Total foreign manpower for 2016 is 1,404,700. Someone argued that data is inconsistent citing, total foreigners in Singapore population is 1.67 million as reflected here. Are all foreigners working in Singapore? Foreign students are non-existent is it (which consists of 66,800 persons)? Dependants of Citizens/PRs/Work Pass Holders who are foreigners living in Singapore without working also non-existent is it (which consists 267,200 persons)? These groups consists of 20% (which is 334,000 persons). 1.67 million less 334,000 is 1,336,000 which is more or less tallied (it differs likely due to difference in period of statistical data collection within the year and some statistical error which is quite minimal).
Breakdown can be found here in this news. STOP EXAGGERATION
There are definitely exceptions of discrimination against locals BUT please do not blow things out of proportion misleading public and influencing them to harm themselves by doing irrational things. When public use their election votes to threaten government to react to tighten foreign manpower even more, it can make companies not able to perform optimally, discourages others to invest in Singapore and existing ones to stay. The supply of manpower is very important. Singapore's labour market is becoming too tight (i.e. hard to hire people quick enough). To reduce dependence on foreigners, we need to use more technology. But the embrace of technology by locals is kind of slow. Local cohort of IT programmes in local Universities as I was told by locals in those programmes are like less than 20%. If we overdo the control of foreigners (the interim solution until we catch up on technological adoption), we may force employers to leave Singapore. When they leave, so will jobs be created for Singaporeans/PR. Will this make anyone happier?
Many of these anti-Government articles are heavily biased, written by ignorant Singaporeans who are not well-trained in research and data analysis. These created lots of 'noises' making valid arguments against policies being 'drowned' in the noises that cannot be easily be discovered.
In order for Singapore to maintain its competitiveness, it is important to be innovative. Innovativeness has to do with diversity too. Foreigners need to learn how to integrate with us but this takes time and we also need to stop being irrational xenophobic behaviour and embrace this diversity. When we are welcoming, foreigners will be more willing to interact with us and only so can ideas be exchanged to add innovation.
Is the end coming? A video was shown to my mom to influence the mentality that the end of the world is coming. While not sure the exact video, the one below does suggest it could be this.
The link between the sound of trumpets and end of the world is aligned with the Bible in context of Revelation Chapter 8.
TRUE OR FALSE?
So is it really coming? They said these sounds were heard recently only. True? False. In 1979, that was heard before. Read here.
And such sound of trumpets could be true but could be faked. Snopes, the famous website that debunks hoaxes exposed one such hoax here. All you need is a videocam and a sound player at the background. It has been demonstrated by someone here. Even audio expert broke down the sound to analyse to prove it is an hoax here. It could also be something natural, a sound of the earth as explained by scientists here.
What are some Christians doing then? Believe into such things easily and spread lies. You have heard of cry wolf story. When lies are spread be it deliberately or not deliberately, people lose trust in you and when the true trumpet really sound, everyone's heart will be hardened. Why be so quick to judge that it must be? We just don't know and admit that. THE WARNING BY CHRIST ABOUT FALSE CHRISTS & PROPHETS
Did Jesus just warn about false messiahs? No. He warned about false prophets too! And some Christians naively assumed false prophets as those that can be easily identified. If so, how would they been able to deceive? These false prophets likely to live among you. They might not be deliberately deceiving but due to the lack of wisdom, they believe in such things easily and spread them. If they are leaders, their ability to influence belief would be stronger. More will accept that information and will spread it. As more spread it, it becomes widespread and people will reason "if it is not true, why is it widespread?" as if the earth being flat is true even though once upon a time, it was a widespread belief.
WHAT DO YOU WATCH OUT FOR?
The above Bible verses are misused. It says "keep watch" and so people says it meant to keep a look out for end times signs. If that is so, why did Jesus said "do not believe it!" (Matt 24:24)? Is He trying to tell just to look out for the signs and so be ready?
Or instead in the following context, He was trying to address a proper attitude of a Christian?
If you truly believe in God and treat Him as your Lord, should you not do what a loyal servant should do? If you truly believe that hard work is good, do you still need someone to monitor you to work hard? Hence, if you are a changed new person belonging to God, with or without God monitoring you, you should be ready and be Christ-like and not because the end is coming then you suddenly become alert and start 'behaving' yourself when your heart is still wicked. God seeks the heart, not your acts.
If indeed He meant for you to look out for end times signs, He would not have said the following:
If you are the faithful and loyal servant, what is there to fear?
WHAT WE SHOULD BE
We are Christians who claimed to follow the Truth! But what truth is in you if you easily believe rumours and hoaxes and spread them? If you do not embrace science, a tool that systematically study things to know what is reliable or not, how can you tell what is true? Anyone can write a religious book and say it is from God and you cannot question, cannot use science or will use the common excuse "science cannot explain anything" and can make any falsehood true.
Like Einstein said "Science without Religion is lame, Religion without Science is blind". Can you be the light when you yourself is blind? You can't even see yet expect to guide?
Do you not see that you are to love if you are with God?
Do you not see that love rejoices with truth and does not delight in evil?
So why do you not care whether it is true or not, not verify the credibility like whether Obama really is anti-christ and spread lies? Is slandering not evil? Why then are you participating in that? Have you turned away from God?
Do you not know there is no fear in love? Why then spread end times fear? You say it is to create urgency. So you create lies to influence wicked servants that God is coming to monitor them so they should behave? Shouldn't you guide them to be faithful servants that do not even need monitoring and would behave?
Some fruit for thought and the reason why I decided to leave the group.
For consecutive 2 days, I have been bombarded with messages by Christians claiming Pokemon is Satanic just like they accused Harry Potter as so too.
As a Christian myself and one that is surrounded by scientific studies and did a proper-though-short 10,000 words research for Masters degree, being able to analyse research to judge validity and reliability of claims, such rumours really annoyed me. I'm accused that I could be biased against a 30-minute video because I refuted it without viewing it for the full length as I was busy. So now that I have cleared most of my work, I'll address this.
HAS CHRISTIANITY DEVIATED FROM WHAT IT SHOULD BE?
When I was in Sunday School, I was taught that Christianity is the Truth and it is not superstition. I was also taught 10 commandments to hold them dearly. One of them was "you shall not give false testimony against your neighbour" (Exodus 20:16). Today, Christianity is different from that when I was young. Obama was accused by one speaker even to be the Anti-Christ last year in a Church service I attended! Rumours of this or that is 'Satanic' is not uncommon and the trend is with Charismatic movement. I'm not saying that is necessary the cause but there seems to be a higher tendency to link anything to the spiritual world which is not so common back then among the traditional churches era.
And confirmation bias is rather common too. People just do not verify the validity of the source of a claim especially if it fits their initial belief (e.g. Pokemon is bad) and just anyhow spread it despite 10 commandments told us not to give false testimony. They can quote you many Bible verses to make their claims as if 'Christian'. Yet, even Arch Angel Michael dare not slander against Satan! (Jude 1:9) How many times did the Bible warn against the tongue and slandering? The word 'slander' came out in the Bible 43 times! THE VIDEO CLAIMING POKEMON IS SATANIC
This video is by Stephen Dollins and is spreading around. Who is he? He is a self-claimed ex-Satanist High Priest which no information can be found to verify that. Most websites I found doubted that. For example, this website wrote about his background.
ARGUMENT AGAINST THE CLAIMS OF THE VIDEOS
So I'm going to address the logic and validity of those claims one by one. The video suggested Pokemon has its source from Satanism. Snopes, the famous website that debunk myths suggested not.
1:23: He claimed that Poliwhirl has the symbol of a spiral which symbolises male fertility. I checked if that is true. Indeed, this article suggested so. However, the spiral is also a symbol of hypnosis and even before it was used as a symbol of male fertility, it already existed as a symbol! Just see what does this symbol mean in different culture yourself! So next time Satanists use the cross to mean something means Christians cannot use it already? Since when what God has created, Satan can claim it just like that? Anyway, this was the real reason why there is a spiral symbol (taken from TIME interview with the creator):
2:04: He claimed that Mew-Two has 3 fingers which if translated to humans will be the sign of the horns that Satanists use to mean "hail Satan". Hello... the so-called 'Satanists' which some give that label to Wiccans, use it as a sign of their goat god. There are only 2 fingers, not 3. The thumb is used to hold the other two fingers down making it look like a goat, not as a 3rd finger like the photo on the right (I took from wikipedia from the link above).
3:52: He even claimed that Pikachu's lightning symbol on its tail is a 'Satanic Z'! I have no idea what is that and cannot find that. But I find the claim nonsense. So our ruling party cannot use lightning symbol already! By this time, I already feel like not wasting further time listening to the rubbish but since I did not finish seeing the whole video hence not in position to judge, to prevent such nonsense from spreading again, I'll finish watching and critique it.
4:10: He associated the Pokemon Trading Card game with Wizards of the Coast and link it to male practitioner of black magic solely because of the word 'Wizards'. However, do you know the card is not from Wizards of the Coast? It was first created by Media Factory in Japan in 1996 and Wizards of the Coast published it in USA in 1998! The company is named 'Wizards of the Coast' which I believe has nothing to do with black magic but more like because it is dealing with games based on fantasy. It became a subsidiary of Hasbro which your Cluedo and Monopoly came from! Are you saying Hasbro is into black magic?! I have also played Magic the Gathering during secondary school with my friends too. For Role-Playing game, of course you become part of the game else you call it 'Role-Playing' for what? But do you lose yourself? I did not become a more 'spiritual' person but rather even more rational and scientific today. 6:48: He claimed that those role-playing games lead you unable to tell what is real or not. You think I think the fantasy world is real? Kids may think it is real with their imagination (though I really doubted so). When I was a kid, I imagine I have lots of bodyguards protecting me and someone is hunting me down so I ran from school back home. It is role-playing too! But I acted as if it is real, not believing it as real.
And you better don't watch TV too. Back then when I studied Social and Applied Psychology, it was proven that people tend to assume what is shown in TV drama as factual (can't remember which study). Like men always force their way to kiss ladies ending up the ladies giving in. Some men do actually believed that works and ended up being sued for molestation or even rape! That is not even role-playing. So shut off your TV from now on...
8:18: He claimed that experts said many teens committed suicide because of playing Dungeons and Dragons. True? False. BBC News is far more credible than this guy. In the news, it is stated that the American Association of Suicidology found no causal link between Dungeon & Dragons and Suicide! Do you not see what nonsense and bad reputation you can create by sharing such nonsense? Even Christians became featured in BBC News on the nonsense we believe and we became infamous! Until you open your eyes and interact online, you won't know what sort of reputation has been created because of our not-so-careful behaviour.
10:55: Who can verify the students really believed Necromancer's ability and trying to summon spirits in school field? Magic the Gathering was also popular during my secondary school days. I did not see that. Anyone doing that will be a laughing stock.
12:40: He tried to link Pokemon with Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons because of Wizards of the Coast being the publisher for all of them in USA. But note that I mentioned Wizards of the Coast was not the originator of Pokemon trading card. That made all his linkage invalid.
14:50: Being a Pokemon 'Master' was warned as against God because you don't need parents or need anything. Maybe Christians shouldn't pursue a Master's degree. I should just burn my Master's degree too because it suggested that I have mastered a field of study (hence the name 'Master's').
16:35: I do agree that by repeating 'Gonna Catch'em All...' may induce purchase behaviour. But this has nothing to do with Satanism or 'enchanting'. This is marketing. Anyone trained in marketing likely to know that!
17:45: He mentioned Team Rocket who do cross-dressing and other behaviours are bad examples for kids. Have I cross-dressed despite growing up watching Pokemon? Nope. Social & Applied Psychology found that TV does influence kids (so as adults) but if adults are nearby and educate a behaviour as incorrect, it actually works out better than avoiding it completely (they will still be exposed to it in future just not in TV and when you are not around to educate, how?)! Imagine you deprive your kids from all cartoons because it has a bit of things not in line with Biblical teaching, how can your kid fit into any social circle in school? Your kid will feel left out and may even eventually hate Church and associate all these social discrimination with Christianity because of your behaviour!
20:10: Claiming that MewTwo has a Satanic salute with its left hand (in Biblical tradition, 'right' is deem as good while 'left' is bad). Hello... that's the right hand on that poster though on your left hand side.
21:00: He featured this CNN news article that many Japanese became sick after watching Pokemon. He claimed that the kids did not have epilepsy. True? False again! A study based on sample size was carried out and NBC news did mention that electroencephalograms revealed that 10 of the 13 who had not been diagnosed with epilepsy did, in fact, have the disease! They likely have the genetic predisposition just may not be triggered before.
24:00: For the energy balls, for a electric-breed pokemon, you don't use lightning bolt symbol, you use what? For psychic pokemon, you don't use the eye, you use what? And that eye can be found on eye mo too! So eye mo Satanic? The fist is symbol of anarchy? We used to punch our fist to the sky in Army too! So rebelling? The symbol of fire is witchcraft? I see that in my fire extinguisher too! The leaf is also a witchcraft symbol? I don't know so many symbols have been copyrighted by witchcraft! Then water symbol also can link to witchcraft. Next time you better don't take water from any water source because it has the symbol and linked with witchcraft! Pokemon has its origins from its founder Satoshi Tajiri's childhood where he grew up at Machida where he collected bugs from rice paddies, rivers and forests. Full of nature. Of course you have those nature-based symbols!
Do you see how nonsensical you look to non-Christians when you believe in such things? The Bible has always been emphasised but did you know Paul in addressing food sacrificed to idols are only food if one does not associate it with the idols (1 Cor 8:1-13)? So what if indeed they are satanic symbols? If you do not know and do not believe nor your act will stumble others, does it matter?
28:40: You can have bad dreams for anything scary. You don't need hunter pokemon. I throw you a bunch of cockroaches see if you will have bad dreams. I once had nightmare assuming cockroach climbed on my legs and woke up suddenly because it did happen before! This is not the work of Satanism or whatever.
29:20: Then he mentioned 'Abracadabra' as a word used in magic. Do you know in Etymology, the study of the origin of words found it to have multiple possible sources and one of it is Jewish and perhaps Biblical origins? Read more about it from wikipedia and here. He then said Kadara has 'SSS' on its body which means 'Satan's Solemn Servant'. Have a look at this picture yourself if it is 3 wavy lines or 'SSS':
The Satanic salute I have addressed as well that it is invalid as the sign of the horns does not have three fingers. Further debate on Kadabra can be found here.
31:10: Did you see any kids really believing they have power to call upon pokemon? Last time, I did play with friends as a kid to call upon Captain Planet but it was for fun, not assuming it was real. We acted as if it was real because it was fun. Did you also see any pokemon fans raised their hands with the sign of the horns? I don't. If you have watched pokemon, you know that is nonsense as it has little association with pokemon. You call upon a pokemon by throwing out your pokeball and say "Pikachu, I choose you!"
31:20: He used news articles like the news on Montreal case (not the exact news page as can no longer find) as well as the Lakeland case to claim that kids believe they have magical power because they beat or even stab others over pokemon cards. Wait... doesn't make sense. If they believe they have, why still need a knife? Just call the pokemon like Pikachu to electrocute the other kid! And where did the News article claim that the kid did say "they were trying to steal my powers"? How did he know what the kid said exactly then?
I'm sure pokemon may destroy some families when some are players and some are not and those who are not debate with the players arguing it is satanic etc. then those that play will find them a nuisance and unreasonable. Then quarrel happen and family may break up. Was it really because of pokemon or the nonsensical belief that it is satanic leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy?
I have walked around my neighbourhood. I also saw families coming together where parents used pokemon to engage with their kids and play together. Instead of destroying families, it became a tool to bring them together too. It really depends on individual wisdom on how they use it rather than a deterministic view this speaker try to portray.
CONCLUSION
Why create the necessary fear among God protected Christians stumbling them by claiming this is associated with Satanism etc as if God does not protect His people that we have to check every single association and live in fear? Do you not know perfect love drives out fear? Fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18). If your heart is right with God, why should you fear? I do not agree or believe such message to be from God because firstly, it is not based on facts which I have given more credible sources to refute his claims. Christianity is about Truth and it is an insult to God by influencing people with lies just to get what you want. Sure, the spread of lies if adopted by majority can make it look 'true' but you are answerable to God when you see Him! Secondly, it creates unnecessary fears. Thirdly, it slanders against people without credible claims. It is against what a Christian should be.
Sure a few people may experience spiritual things but can individuals' experience be generalised for everything? Some people also experience spiritual things while cooking, so cooking = satanic? Sometimes what is 'spiritual' may just be your imagination. You are being bonded and you know that is not right. In psychology, that is called 'cognitive dissonance' which is uncomfortable and you will want to bring back consistency to your ideas, beliefs etc. You could do so by reasoning that it is not satanic or reason that it is and thus leave the game etc. The cognitive dissonance itself is not a claim that it is 'evil'. It is a state of no comfort, no peace. And why are you bonded? You may not really know. It may have some elements that increase psychological attraction etc. and need not be of satanic origins.
Pray for wisdom and think about the impact you have on your kids. By exaggerating cartoons as satanic when the claims are not valid and you just want to 'play safe', are you really abiding to Biblical standards and principles or are you creating the impression that Christianity is irrational, being a hindrance to a kids' ability to make friends and be seen as unattractive and drawing them away from God instead?
For me, as an adult, the spread of irrational news and claims do annoy me and in fact draw me away from the Church, not closer because I do not want to be associated with such irrationality. Then perhaps some may have self-fulfilling prophecy and say "ahh.... Pokemon led me to this else I wouldn't defend it against Christians". I'm defending the image of Christianity and will continue to do so until I no longer find it worth protecting. These claims are detrimental rather than beneficial for the Church in my opinion. How can I even attract people to Church when they know how nonsense it can be? Think again.
And so, this weekend would be the pink dot movement in Singapore
where those supporting LGBT rights will be wearing pink. The religious groups
who support pro-creation and fear how pink dot movement would affect society
will be wearing white. Both groups believe they are doing what is right while
the other group is doing harm and made assumptions.
Should I wear any of those colours? To many, they are quick to pick a colour to
wear. For me, I hesitate. Why?
1) APPLYING CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES
For many Christians, they would be quick to say, "ahhh... Bible disagree
with homosexuality, it is obvious that we should wear white!" Then they
will quote the Bible:
But is it really so obvious? Have you worn white against sexual
immorality? Movies nowadays show nude scenes. Have you wore any coloured shirt
to protest against it or boycotted all Hollywood movies because of that?
Adultery is getting common too. Have you made any noise? Some people can be
greedy wanting to win a fortune by getting into gambling. Have you worn anything
to protest against it? Some Christians even gamble with greed! Are those lesser
sins in eyes of God? Is there selective reading?
The Bible while complex to understand has some very simple principles too.
Everything is summed as 'love':
And what exactly is 'love'?
Many may say "it keeps no record of wrongs" and so must
be accepting of all things. That is also selective reading. It says "Love
does not delight in evil". Hence, if something is considered 'evil' in
eyes of God, we should not support it. But it also says "... but rejoices
with the truth". Have we considered the truth before placing our
judgement? Are we really kind and understanding? 'Love' is often linked with
empathy, putting us in the shoes of others. But have we Christians really done
that?
2) RELYING ON THE TRUTH
Have you wondered why there is pink dot
movement? One of the reasons was due to early scientific studies. One of the
early studies was done by Bailey
& Pillard (1991)which
they wrote their findings that "52% (29/56) of monozygotic cotwins,
22% (12/54) of dizygotic cotwins, and 11% (6/57) of adoptive brothers were
homosexual". Adoptive brothers are not genetically identical. Dizygotic
cotwins have genes that are similar and monozygotic cotwins have almost identical
genes. And you can see that homosexuality increases as DNA is found to be
similar. This suggested that genes is one of the factors influencing sexual
orientation cause if one twin is homosexual and the other is, then it cancel
out environment as a likely cause especially if they were raised in different
families (in cases of orphans). The sample size for this research is small and
hence cannot really generalise but you can see the pattern.
Another much
bigger sample size research was done by Långström,
Rahman, Carlström
& Lichtenstein (2010) in Sweden on 3,826 same-sex twin pairs.
Genes were found to explain 34-39% of the differences in sexual orientation
while individual-specific environment explains 61-66%. You might then be quick
to say "see, genetics is only moderately the cause while environment is
the main cause hence they chose to be so". Is it? Did you get to choose
where you get born into? Did you get to choose your family? No.Even if environment is the main
cause, it doesn't mean you can choose freely.Dr.
Bailey warned that 'environmental' does not mean 'socially acquired' that
suggest individuals have full control. Also, 34-39% is still quite a big
number.
Another
research done byUniversity
of Californiain USA recently
suggested 20% due to genetics but it is of a much smaller sample size of 37
sets of twins (so questionable on the validity to suggest the whole population
would be 20% also). There are plans however to do a much bigger research on a
bigger sample size. To say it is mostly by 'choice' and justify any
discrimination is way too premature.
I used to
debate with people on such issues over at least a decade ago standing on the
white shirt camp and I lost the argument. I recalled reading a research done on
twins raised in different families that when one was found homosexual, the
other is as well and together with other researches, they somehow suggested
there is a 'gay gene'. I could no longer recall which research nor can I find
it now. Nevertheless, I did not support it. Few years ago I also debated with a
Professor during a Summer School when the topic was being raised by him. I
argued from sociological point of view that people can be socialised to certain
sexual orientation and while I am not against LGBT people, I'm not in favour of
it being promoted or publicised in anyway as kids can be influenced and may
affect population growth (the extent of it is questionable though) etc. Still,
I'm not in favour of wearing white. I'll explain why later.
Update: Some church leaders wanting to convince people to wear white saying that because Americans did not make a stand hence the bathroom bill got passed. This is false again. The Bathroom bill was partly a response to North Carolina's state bill to prevent any anti-discrimination/LGBT bill from being passed in the state's cities (which was also a response to an initial ordinance passed by Charlotte City Council, a city within North Carolina). Your so-called 'making a stand' will just escalate any potential conflicts and create unnecessary conflicts. Don't believe this as what happened instead of what those misinformed church leaders said? Read this news articlehere.Leaders have more power to influence and need to be careful with what they say and be responsible. People look up to them. When I argued against what was said by leaders, people criticised me and believe everything said by leaders. Despite my years of education, when it comes to faith, all these are discounted. Even if I'm trained in social sciences to know the possible impact of actions, all are discounted.
Then they also brought out that because of
legalising it being liberal, Europe is in a mess that toilets can be found in
public that everyone can see you peeing openly even for ladies! Is that true?
Below are two photos of some of such toilets I found from google:
They are not so open that you will be
exposed as was suggested. It was exaggerated that such toilet is in the centre
of a mall and it is common! That is nonsense. I have lived in UK for a year,
travelled to Iceland, France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy and I did not see
it common at all! And all these toilets seem to be gents only. The more common
toilets are such paid toilets that I found from google:
They warned against legalising such
movement as it will end up many people being influenced and people would openly
perform certain acts with everything in a mess. Having been living in UK for a
year, I did not see what they claimed. I did not see a mess. While there are
such cases, they are not far above what happens in Singapore and definitely not
above what happen at Changi Village at midnight despite we have laws against
it! It is totally fear-mongering without basis.
4) RELYING ON REASONING
It seems like quite a few Christians
suggest that they have a choice. I argued above that even if it is environment
as a cause, it does not mean you have control or a choice. Ask yourself if you
are straight why do you get attracted to the opposite sex? You would say
"because she is so pretty" or "he is so handsome". And why
are you only attracted to beautiful things? You just cannot explain. You have
no control over what is biological which may also be shaped by environment
(e.g. virus do mutate based on environmental changes).
Have you considered what benefit is there
in being a homosexual? They get ostracised. Who in the right mind would want to
be ostracised? And people still think it is mostly a choice so they label them
as 'sinners' being guilty because they chose to as the 'judges' would claim.
They face hardship and as Christians,
shouldn't we show love and hence empathy to them (this is also why straight
people supported pink dot movement due to society ostracising them too much)?
While we cannot agree to their movement because of religious beliefs, do we
have to wear white and go head on? Some argued that this is not head on but to
create awareness to the Government that majority do not agree. You think
Government stupid or what?Government
has already made clear that they are not going to repeal Section 377A of the
penal code to legalise such movement. Yet, they will also not enforce it to
criminalise such movement. Government is aware of the thoughts of
majority (NUS Institute of Policy Studies did a survey study where majority of over 70% still do not accept so why need you to even wear white to create awareness to the government?) and if any change in legislation will have to go through parliamentary
debates. If you want to raise objection, you could do it then if such bill is
being developed! Why create conflict unnecessary, making so much noises?
What good is it to society when two camps
fight one another under the same excuse of 'just creating awareness'? It only
leads to polarisation that attitude towards you by the other camp will be even
more negative thinking that you are not understanding and unwelcoming then they
will turn even more aggressive and more will join them when they find you
unreasonable. Then your camp will see it as a real threat and increasingly so
and start to convince more people to wear white. Then everything just escalate
all because of self-fulfilling prophecy and unwise decision made.
CONCLUSION
Instead of wearing white, you can still
make your stand like what I did with my Professor that I acknowledged that
genetics is a cause and that it is not fully a choice. But to promote it may
cause other problems too. When you reason, there is a higher chance to convince
people and when you show that you understand the hardship they go through, they
are also more open to what you have to say. If you just wear white, who knows
what you were thinking when wearing that? They will just find you unreasonable;
harden their hearts further and what good have you done that created the image
that Christianity is unloving? Don't believe such initiative is being seen as bigotry? Just read the comments found here.
Be like Christ who in front of the crowd
that tried to stone the adulteress chose not to condemn her but kindly
corrected her with love and not activism. And note that this is Singapore, a
home belonging to all. It does not belong to Christians alone so don't use the
Christian values to push down to everyone's throat forcing them to accept your
values and beliefs. You can speak up but to go into activism is a bit too much
I feel.
Still want to wear white or pink leading
to polarisation and social unrest with the excuse of 'creating awareness'? I
see no good reason and want no part of these.
An update: I saw this video by 3:16 church in Facebook which I want to promote as a far wiser movement. It recognises the struggle that LGBT group have to endure instead of assuming it is a mere choice of lifestyle. It is also far more welcoming showing that the cell group cares for such person that love of God could be seen. Imagine all Christians share such video in Facebook instead of merely wearing white, which is more effective and more aligned to Christian principle of love? This video has the message of love yet made its stand. Wearing white made your stand but does not carry with it a message of love. Instead, it suggests bigotry and intolerance. Have a look at the video at the church's main page here. This church even have a special service tomorrow at 4 pm featuring testimonies from those struggling. For more info, look at their Facebook page here.
