CONFESSIONS, CONFESSIONS, CONFESSIONS.............. I AM A FOOD ADDICT!
I had my hair re-bonded for the 9th time........... gorgeous hor? Finally the irritating curls are gone......... yeah......... wish those stubborn fats will disappear too............... haiz....... Btw, Rachel is back for hols.....we brought her for Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice on Sunday. Then Novena for donuts.......yummy! Hmmm.......... she is also back with a ........nothing.....may not be true........ but them again, like I always say, when it comes to the matters of the heart, I always believe cos I rather lose face than lose a friend!
I watched Dead Poet's Society on Sat with Gil at my place........ actually seen it twice when I was in school but never really understood it until now. It was so inspiring and made me think of someone in my Creative Writing Class. Yup, Gil........ Carpe Diem!
This week was quite eventful with so many things happening around me but so little time to blog!
Was surfing the web and found this on http://www.bibleanswer.com/ I search for a topic on Public Confession and this http://www.bibleanswer.com/confssin.htm came up:
Your Bible question was: The question is, when people come before the church to confess their faults, do they need to say just what kind of sin or fault they did, or can they say, "Brothers and sister I have sinned" which is sufficient because it seems that in today's society the people who go to church now would find it disgraceful to say specifically what they have done so now all that I hear is the sorta traditional way, and that is, "Brother and sisters I have sinned". If you can answer that I'd really appreciate it.Thank you and God bless you.
One of the primary passages appealed to approve the practice of public confession of sin is James 5:16: "Confess your trespasses to one another,and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."
It is right to seek such prayers, and to use the assembly of the saints for such confession is equally proper. We might more appropriately describe this act as the public confession of public sin. The amount of publicity we give to confessing sin depends upon how public the sin was. Let me explain from the scriptures what I mean.
In Matthew 18:15, one brother sins against another brother. Here is private, personal sin occurring. What is the remedy? To begin with, a private, one on one meeting. Go privately to the person who sinned against you, point out his sin to him, and urge him to repent. Confession of sin is implied in the phrase, "If he hear you, you have gained your brother."Nothing was ever made public about this sin, because there was no public knowledge of it. Only when the sinner refuses to confess his sin and repent of it is the sin made public. And even then, that publicity occurs gradually, until finally (in the absence of repentance) the whole church is made aware of it.
Now, let's suppose that instead of the sinner being persuaded to repent by the one-on-one meeting, two or three must be brought into the situation, but again the sinner refuses to repent (Matt. 18:16). Finally, the church is told about the sin and it tries to persuade the man to repent (Matt. 18:17).Now, suppose he comes to his senses and repents of his sins. Now, how public ought his confess be? The Bible answer is, just as public as is the knowledge of his sin. When there was only private knowledge of the sin (v.15), the sinner confessed to the person against whom he had sinned. If he had repented when 2-3 others got involved, that would be the extent of the needed confession (v. 16). If common knowledge of one's sin exists, then a public confession of that sin is in order (v. 17).
There is nothing in the NT that says one must publicly confess private sin, much less specifically name that private sin. Now, if that sin is publicly known, then to specify it during public confession is simply a matter of good communication. Everyone, because they have knowledge of the sin, needs to be informed of the confession so that they know that the sin has been repudiated.
So, the purpose for the public confession of sins is at least two-fold:
1) To obtain the prayers of the righteous on one's behalf (Jas. 5:16; cf.Acts 8:24).
2) To make knowledge of one's repentance as public as was the knowledge of one's sin.
We should remember that when we repent of sin, we confess our sin to God, since all sin is against Him (1 Jno. 1:9).
If one desires the prayers of the brethren concerning sin which they have committed, there is nothing wrong with a generic description of the sin.Wisdom should be used in declaring the sin - not so much because it might seem "disgraceful" to tell exactly what the sin was, but to spare the sinner unnecessary hardship over a sin he is now repudiating. I have been told of occasions when one came forward confessing the sin of adultery when the spouse was not aware of it, but was also in the audience. To publicly announce the specific sin under those circumstances would not at all be wise, nor demanded from the word of God.
So, generally, it is a good rule of scripture to say that sin should be specifically confessed to the extent that knowledge of the sin exists.I hope this helps as you consider this Bible topic.
Sincerely yours,
Joe Price
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I totally agree with Joe Price that some sins need not be made public as long as the person has repented and make right with the people whom he has sinned against. It's unnecessary to announce them to people who knew nothing about it. We need to exercise wisdom as Joe mentioned so that the person feels supported and not hurt or humiliated.
So how about accountability, you might ask? Hmm....... that's depends on how you define it. If everything needs accountability, we will be very busy attending lots of confession meetings ........ we sin almost everyday whether you like it or not!This reminded me of Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus must be the most radical and gentlemanly person in the world......he chose a quiet time when he's alone to meet this lady who had committed adultery with 5 men ....... the story ended with the woman telling everyone about Jesus ........eventually, they believed in the Him. I don't see any public confession here except a willing confession of a woman convicted by the what Jesus had said.
Maybe, you might say, "She's a Samaritan!".......fine.....ok, how about Peter who had denied Jesus 3 times................. I would have considered that "public sin".......but Jesus never once asked him to confess to anyone or account to anybody (I don't see the Pharisees and Sadducee around!) . All he did was to restore him with the same question 3 times. Peter made right with Jesus and that's enough.Personally, I do believe in accountability, but only to the right people. We need to seek the person's consent too. He has to feel comfortable to share the matter with the others who do not know about the whole incident. His feelings need to be respected even if he's a young person.
I know what I write here will cause some discomfort to some but my stand is clear........... Public confession is for those who refuse to repent even when the matter is found out and accountability is important but only to the right people with the permission of the offender. Honestly, I think there are lots of confessions out there that need to be made......he has confessed his...... how about yours?Alright, enough of serious stuff.....let's switch to something lighter and fun ........ like.............. hmm............... FOOD & CAM WHORING......yeah......
This is major cam-whoring..........with Jo, Dear & Mich on Fiona's laptop...... Jo took most of them with the mouse......so clever ya.......I am the vainest cos I am in almost all of the 61 pics..........hahahahaha....what to do, I love myself.......hee.............
We celebrated Qiang's Birthday on Monday at Dian Xiao Er. This was my 2nd visit . I didn't like my first visit cos I felt that the food was yucky except the duck BUT this 2nd visit changed my opinion......... the food was soooooooooooooooo good............ yummy, yummy, yummy.............. we had:
1) Shark fins' Soup: This was unexpectedly creamy and sweet....no fishy taste but generous strands of the chewy fins. Together with the vinegar and pepper, this is the perfect combination for me and everyone else on the table. 8/10
2) Ee Fu Mee: Simple and delicious. My aunt & Jo's fave. 8/10
3) Roasted Herbal Duck : This is their signature dish. Needless to say, the duck was roasted to perfection and the herbal gravy was superb. Although I am not a duck lover, I thot this was really good. 8/10
4) Mongolian Spare Ribs: The spare ribs were rather meaty so they were not for those who liked their ribs more on the fatty side. The sauce was ok...... peppery and salty. Not any one's fave. 6/10
5) Stir Fried Broccoli with Scallops: They were very generous with the broccoli but not the scallops......... haha.....I am greedy. 7/10
6) Cereal Prawns: The prawns were covered in a mountain of crispy cereal............ I love this dish the most...... actually this is only my 2nd fave dish........... and yup, the prawns were fresh and big! 9/10
7) Deep Fried Codfish with Garlic in Soy Sauce: This is my favourite dish. The fish were fried to perfection and the deep fried garlic went very well with it. One word: EXCELLENT. 10/10
8) Stewed Fatty Pork: I don't usually enjoy fatty pork but one bite into the tender and well marinated meat, I am converted! Of course, I still couldn't swallow the fatty part. The meat were so soft that it nearly melted in my mouth. Love it. 9/10
9) Stewed Abalone, Mushroom, Sea Cucumber and Lettuce: This dish was ok.......... I love the mushrooms tho'........yum! 7/10
10) Ginseng with Xue Ge aka frog's sperm....haha: I don't like ginseng so I only took a spoonful and gave the rest to my dad. No rating.
My sis bought a super sweet brownie from Mrs Fields. Simply too sweet for me.......... you can get diabetes from eating them!
Overall the service was good and the company was great. Too bad, dear Tommy didn't have the "KOUFU" to eat them cos he was at a meeting. But thoughtful Aunty Liao "ta pao" the roasted duck and fatty pork for him.
Before I end this post, I would like to present you a masterpiece done by my dear Prince Joash. We thot it look like a fish........... so artistic ya.........hee......... yeah..... I love my son.
