Direct Action

An interesting excerpt from Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses, 1951.

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Wiki says:
Direct action is a form of political activism which seeks immediate remedy for perceived ills, as opposed to indirect actions such as electing representatives who promise to provide remedy at some later date.
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Gasset takes direct action to the sociological level to analyse the mass man, the average man of modern society who lives in intellectual hermeticism, liberally expanding his desires without gratitude for the toil that made possible for his ease of existence. The mass man possesses a hedonist streak sanctified by liberalism.


'Why should he listen if he has within him all that is necessary? There is no reason now for listening, but rather for judging, pronouncing, deciding. There is no question concerning public life, in which he does not intervene, blind and deaf as he is, imposing his "opinions."

But, is this not an advantage? Is it not a sign of immense progress that the masses should have "ideas," that is to say, should be cultured? By no means. The "ideas" of the average man are not genuine ideas, nor is their possession culture. Whoever wishes to have ideas must first prepare himself to desire truth and to accept the rules of the game imposed by it. It is no use speaking of ideas when there is no acceptance of a higher authority to regulate them, a series of standards to which it is possible to appeal in a discussion. These standards are the principles on which culture rests. I am not concerned with the form they take. What I affirm is that there is no culture where there are no standards to which our fellow-man can have recourse. There is no culture where there are no principles of legality to which to appeal. There is no culture where there is no acceptance of certain final intellectual positions to which a dispute may be referred. There is no culture where economic relations are not subject to a regulating principle to protect interests involved. There is no culture where aesthetic controversy does not recognize the necessity of justifying the work of art.

When all these things are lacking there is no culture; there is in the strictest sense of the word, barbarism. And let us not deceive ourselves, this is what is beginning to appear in Europe under the progressive rebellion of the masses. The traveler knows that in the territory there are no ruling principles to which it is possible to appeal. Properly speaking, there are no barbarian standards. Barbarism is the absence of standards to which appeal can be made.'
pages 51-52


'When the reconstruction of the origins of our epoch is undertaken, it will be observed that the first notes of its special harmony were sounded in those groups of French syndicalists and realists of about 1900, inventors of the method and the name of "direct action." Man has always had recourse to violence; sometimes this recourse was a mere crime, and does not interest us here. But at other times violence was the means resorted to by him who had previously exhausted all others in defence of the rights of justice which he thought he possessed. It may be regrettable that human nature tends on occasion to this form of violence, but it is undeniable that it implies the greatest tribute to reason and justice. For this form of violence is none other than reason exasperated. Force was, in fact, the ultima ratio. Rather stupidly it has been the custom to take ironically this expression, which clearly indicates the previous submission of force to methods of reason. Civilisation is nothing else than the attempt to reduce force to being the ultima ratio. We are now beginning to realise this with startling clearness , because "direct action" consists in inverting the order and proclaiming violence as prima ratio, or strictly as unica ratio. It is the norm which proposes the annulment of all norms, which suppresses all intermediate process between our purpose and its execution. It is the Magna Charta of barbarism.

It is well to recall that at every epoch when the mass, for one purpose or another, has taken a part in public life, it has been in the form of "direct action." This was, then, the natural modus operandi of the masses. And the thesis of this essay is strongly confirmed by the patent fact that at present when the overruling intervention in public life of the masses has passed from casual and infrequent to being the normal, it is "direct action" which appears officially as the recognised method.

All our communal life is coming under this regime in which appeal to "indirect" authority is suppressed. In social relations "good manners" no longer hold sway. Literature as "direct action" appears in the form of insult. The restrictions of sexual relations are reduced.

Restrictions, standards, courtesy, indirect methods, justice, reason! Why were all these invented, why all these complications created? They are all summed up in the word civilisation, which, through the underlying notion of civis, the citizen, reveals its real origin. By means of all these there is an attempt to make possible the city, the community, common life. Hence, if we look into all these constituents of civilisation just enumerated, we shall find the same common basis. All, in fact, presuppose the radical progressive desire on the part of each individual to take others into consideration. Civilisation is before all, the will to live in common. A man is uncivilised, barbarian in the degree in which he does not take others into account. Barbarism is the tendency to disassociation. Accordingly, all barbarous epochs have been times of human scattering, of the pullulation of tiny groups, separate from and hostile to one another.'
pages 53-54

The Ecumenical Movement is preparing the world for the fearful unification in Revelations. By removing all standards that we have, claiming moral ethics based on God's standards as religious in nature and thus ought not infringe onto the exclusive secular, are we removing the existence of the self-absorbed mass-man, or are we encouraging their existence? Social ills arise from the rejection of Genesis and creationism (Ken Ham in Evolution: The Lie). Interreligious harmony has seen the subtle shift from mutual appreciation and understanding to the writing of literature and media that gods in different religions are the same. We are setting a new moral compass that is ironically deviating from God's view of morality. Will civilisation further crumble?

How depressing to think about the future of the world we live in!

My apologies!

All along I thought it was just my mac that couldnt view the template that was supposed to be here on my blog. I was told my blog was 'the simplest' one has ever seen, sorry for the visual yuckiness.

I'm having my first varsity examinations this week and the next. I'm done with my first half of two papers that I took on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Thank God I did learn my lesson from Monday's traumatic experience - senseless rambling of ill-planned essays that left me wordless beyond despair after the paper. I felt I did my best for yesterday's paper, and I want to give glory all the more to God for perseverance despite initial apprehension and intimidation because it is a level 3000 course. I've said this many times to my friends, but God has provided for me this course as a catalyst to develop my intellect.



My next half of the exams is this Saturday, next Monday and Tuesday, after which would be followed by church camps, church carolling and Christmas Praise Service, practising my violin and learning my ABRSM Grade 5 syllabus, movie marathon and Christmas party with my junior college classmates, a thanksgiving sleepover with my Sunday Schoolmates on December 31 night, and of course, carolling with the college choir. That's surely enough food for the body, mind and soul for December!

I just realised school only starts on January 14 for me, leaving a good two weeks to spend more time with God, church and loved ones. Now now, I shall contemplate what to do exactly with the two weeks before plunging myself back into another high-speed semester.

Here's some mid-week spiritual snack to munch on: Matthew 5:44-48.

44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

God’s Listener

God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we could speak less and listen more. Besides the horrifying sight of having a friend with one ear and two blabbering mouths, God wants us to learn to listen, not just to friends. More importantly, He wants us to develop a keen ear for Him.

Why do we need to listen to Him?

(1) Out of love-duty. We have been reconciled with God through the blood of Christ (Col 1:21-22), meaning that we have been redeemed from the grasps of sin and its deadly consequence of death. We have grown up with too many an epic story that tells of a distressed damsel reciprocally offering herself to marriage with her heroic saviour. God’s grace is unfathomable and is beyond the shallow gratification that we can offer. However, what we can do is to offer our best. He saved us, and it is fitting that we become bond-servants like John.

As MacArthur highlights in his book, “Because the Time is Near”, bond-servants were a special category of slaves that willingly serve their masters out of love and devotion. The laws in the Torah wrote that in such cases, the master should ‘pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.’ (Ex 21:5-6) Many posts ago, I wrote about bearing the mark of the cross, like how a lamb bears the carving of its shepherd and a staunch member brands himself with the seal of his organization. We listen to God because He is our benefactor, and we are obliged, out of both love and duty, to listen to Him and live our new lives according to His Will.

(2) So we can serve Him. Isaiah wrote that he ‘heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us?” (Is 6:8) He replied, “Here am I send me!” In order to live for God, we must first discover what His Will for us is. God has beckoned the Israelites to come near Him, for He is the Lord who saved them from Egypt. Yet idolatry, greed, sexual immorality and sins pulled them away from God. Only people who have stayed close to Him have been able to hear His voice. Noah, like Isaiah, heard the Lord’s voice because he was a godly man, his godliness made apparent by his faith in God despite the mockery he faced for building the ark. If we want to be God’s stewards, we need to listen to His instructions. If we want to be faithful ones, we need to constantly have a keen ear for His Will.

(3) God is our only true refuge in times of need. Elijah was disillusioned upon hearing Jezebel’s poisonous vow, so much so that he pleaded the Lord to take his life (I Kings 19:4). He was the great prophet that defeated the 300 prophets on Baal on Mount Carmel with God’s strength. Yet within a day, he became a man fleeing for his life, losing his faith in God. God’s appearance to him at Mount Horeb came not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in the still, small voice that came after. The NIV writes ‘gentle whisper’. In order to listen to God, we need to peel our ears, especially in face of hardship. It takes a lot of faith to keep calm and listen to that whisper in danger, but it is precisely faith that God will prove He is Jehovah Shalom.

(4) Because He is the Source of All Blessings. God promises us that He is Jehovah Jireh. Jesus says the prerequisite to God’s providence is that we must seek His kingdom and righteousness (Matt 6:33), aka His Will, ‘and all these things shall be added unto you’. We need to find out God’s Will so that we can please Him. He will answer our prayers and even give us the crown of life for being faithful stewards when we finally see Him again.

How do we listen to Him?

(1) Sanctification
A seraph used a piece of coal to purify Isaiah of his sin (Is 6:7), so that he could meet God. What can be extrapolated from here are two things: to be God’s listener we need to be saved and consecrate ourselves to the Lord, what John Calvin calls ‘Perseverance of the Saints’.

(2) Discovering His Will
God’s revelation has been made through three modes, as categorized by systematic theology: Natural Revelation, Common Revelation and Special Revelation (hope I got the terms right). God reveals to us His Creator identity through everyday things we see around us. Nature tells us it is the handiwork God has shewn to Man (Ps 8:3) so that we may give due reverence to Him, and know that He is the Sovereign God (Rom 1:20), a title that encompasses matters of judgment, grace, faith and providence. Common Revelation is made to us via the Bible that is so readily available in many parts of the world today. An example of God’s Will revealed through the Bible is the Ten Commandments, the crux of which is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength (Deut 6:5, Matt 22:37). Special Revelation pertains to the Will He has for each of us. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we pray for His Will to be enlightened upon us each day. His Will for each of us is not too abstract to be understood – simple decisions made each day, year and phase of life, are the gradual fruition of His plan for you in life. The emphasis is on prayer, which entails spiritual intimacy with God, best complemented with daily immersion in His Word (aka Quiet Time). Another form of spiritual bread is reading Christian literature, which ought not be substituted for quiet time, however.

(3) A Willing Heart

Isaiah’s “Here am I. Send me!” is a reply of willing fervency. What boils down to the core of being God’s listener is a heart that is humble enough to receive, acknowledge and execute His Will. Young Samuel also pledged his service to God, “Speak for your servant is listening’ (I Sam 3:10). Isaiah and Samuel both listened to God, and God used them and blessed them greatly – Isaiah being God’s prophet, Samuel being in favour of both God and men (I Sam 2:26).

Talking about Common Revelation, Jesus, the One ‘whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze’ (Rev 2:18), beckons in this final book of the Canon for us to be God’s Listener. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Jesus ended off his letter to the seven churches in this same manner. He could not emphasise more on the importance of listening to God – His last words of warning to Laodicea and Thyatira and His words of comfort and affirmation to Smyrna and Philadelphia. Likewise, God reminds us of His sovereignty in judgment, his righteousness and justice. The unfaithful servant who had refused to listen to God’s still, small voice will be refused of the rewards God gives to the faithful steward who had done otherwise.
Our ears are symbolic reminders of the need for spiritual intimacy with God, so we could hear what He wants to say to us. How often do we, in the chaotic world of paper chases and the ‘certification of self’, of seeking peer pleasure and merriment, of worldly recognition, ignore the beckoning of the Holy Spirit in us to read the Bible, pray to God and be close-r to Him?

Let he who has an ear, hear what God has to say to him!

The Math of Our Bible

Have you felt there are many verses you know offhand, but sometimes you can't remember where they're quoted from? I have - it's a pretty bad habit for me because when I need to find these verses, I have to rely on identifying what colour the verse was highlighted in, which part of the left or right-hand page of the Bible it is in. Very tedious work, though worthy of it. Thank God for numbers! Magical.

I've collated the following according to number patterns.

Same quotation (number-wise):

The 3:5s

Ps 3:5
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

Prov 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;

John 3:5
"No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born out of water and the Spirit."

I Tim 3:5
If anyone does not know how to manage his own family,
how can he take care of God's church?

Rev 3:5
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.
I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life,
but will acknowledge his name before my Father and His angels.

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The 3:16s


John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish,
but have everlasting life. (AKJV)

I Cor 3:16
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

Col 3:16
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,
and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God.

I Tim 3:16
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.

Rev 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold-
I am about to spit you out of My mouth.

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The 10:13s
Rom 10:13
Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.

I Cor 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to Man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it. (AKJV)

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And I suppose this is easy to remember: Feb 14 (Valentine's)

Lk 2:14
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men. (AKJV)

II Cor 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ
and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

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The 6:11s

Eph 6:11
Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

I Tim 6:11
But you, man of God...pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

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Next, verses with identical numbers.

Rom 10:10
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Heb 10:10
We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.

I Tim 6:6
Godliness with contentment is great gain.

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Lastly, a few verses that are second in their chapters.

Ps 26:2
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me;
try my reins and my heart. (AKJV)

Prov 21:2
All a man's ways seem right to him,
but the Lord weighs the heart.

Eccl 1:2
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,
vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (AKJV)

Even though I got an A1 for elementary math and an eventual B3 for ao math, thank God the math in our Bible isnt hard to grasp. No integration, differentiation, permutation, approximation or whatever.

As The Eldest Child

As the eldest child, I often lamented being the experiment of my parents' virgin parenthood. My parents raised me up in a very laissez-faire manner, giving me all the freedom I had. However, there were times or even periods of behaviour inconsistent with this trust they had in me. Especially during my rebellion phase, my mum always clamped down on my life. No doubt she knew commands were the most direct and efficient way to steer her beloved daughter away from danger. I couldn't truly understand why she imposed many restrictions however. I was taught never to ask why. When I did ask, my mum only reasserted her authority by warning me against making her angry and flare up. So I spent many a time in my room from young struggling with tears and self-censorship.

Thank God for the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us when we are in weakness (Rom 8:26), when we are unable to express the pain through language. It was the many prayers and pleads I made in this same room that God drew me closer to Him. Now that I have a much younger sister (11 years younger), I thank God that I can be a comforter to her. She needn't wrestle with things she didn't understand but had to accept. Over some small dispute involving some ice cubes and water, she felt overwhelmingly that she was being treated unfairly. So she went to her room and cried. Initially I rolled my eyes, irking at the touchy feely things I had to say to calm her down. But the more I explained and reconciled the upset in her, the more I was reminded of II Cor 1:3-4.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

After the showering of sisterly love and an afterward-complained painfully choking prayer (because I made my sis repeat it after me), she was noticeably much calmer. How amazing it is, that talking to our Father in Heaven gives us immediate peace and solace. Some atheists like to think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy - prayer as just a euphemism for psychological self-talk. I beg to differ. In fact, all Christians beg to differ. We've all felt the work of the Holy Spirit and the love of God but that's not the issue here heh. I am grateful that as an eldest sister, I can help mould my sis to learn and love Christ and she doesn't have to bear her own tears alone - because she has a jiejie who can stand by her in Christ.

In this way, I don't think God is being unfair to me, that being the eldest child in my family meant I had to learn many things in a tougher way. There are still challenges for me as the eldest, such as carrying my parents' baton to bring home the bacon and being exemplary as a Christian daughter and sister. I know that there are many benefits to be gained. What I have overcome with the Lord's help equips me with the ability to comfort others. Praise God!

November 1

"Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!"

"Thanks to God" st. 2, by August Ludwig Storm for the Swedish Salvation Army, 1891

Thank God for another birthday that passed, for it marks full 19 years of grace, love and mercy God has blessed me with. It is indeed wonderful that I have learnt to thank God for all things sweet and bitter -it's not been an easy 19years for me and my family- just like how the hymn says we should thank God for pain and pleasure. In light of this I was reading Psalm 139, the psalm from which another of my favourite hymns was inspired.

God is our Father, and I don't think how much more literal can it be than in Psalm 139. Isn't it amazing to know that even before birth, God has been taking care of us? He made sure that every in every nucleus of our cells, we had 23 pairs of chromosomes, and that in every growth of the embryo, we were safe and were developing as normal, able-bodied babies. David says "you knit me in my mother's womb" (v13) and His "eyes saw my unformed body" (v16) He preserved our lives in healthy wombs so that we could last three trimesters before seeing the world. If you think about it, how many babies actually get to come to the world?

Our heavenly Father has watched us grow from young and He is "familiar with all" our ways (v3). He understands our joy, pain and struggles deep down in the smallest crevice in our hearts. Even when when we contemplate to defy Him by sinning, He knows it too. "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?" (v7) Reflecting the rebellion when I was 15, God knew I was going against Him. I was apathetic and even got defensive against His Word at one point. I skipped church, retaliated verbally against my parents, scolded the F word and partook in dirty jokes and fervent gossiping and maligning, and I even went into a traumatic, much regretted puppy-love relationship with a muslim. God is omnipresent, He was there and witnessed every one of my contemplation about sinning and the actual sins I committed. He could have punished me then and taught me a really painful lesson, like how He punished the 42 kids in Bethel. Yet, His love and respect for my freedom wanted me to return to Him, convinced and un-reluctantly. I sure did, after the constant probing and calling of the Holy Spirit- thank God. Like the injured lamb who depends on his shepherd after it was found, God brought me back, close to Him and forgave my sins. He loves me so much, how can I ever go astray again?

Every birthday is a delightful moment to accord especial glory to God. My 19th birthday has seen God's fulfilling of His never-failing Promise: "The Lord bless you and keep you." (Num 6:24), and going many more epochs back, the fulfilling of His promise to old, faithful Abraham.

19years of preservation.
19 years of nourishment.
19years of disciplining.
19 years of mercy.
19 years of grace.
19years of tears.
19 years of smiles.

19 years of love...

and many more years of God's blessings! O Lord, surely "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Ps 139: 14) Amen!