the four right chords can make me cry

becks asks: what can we know for certain?

I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship
Should set His love upon the sons of men
Or why as Shepherd He should seek the wanderers
To bring them back, they know not how or when

But this I know
That Christ was born of Mary
When Bethlehem's manger was His only home
And that He lived at Nazareth and laboured
And so the Saviour, Saviour of the world is come

I cannot tell how silently He suffered
As with His peace He graced this place of tears
Or how His heart upon the cross was broken
The crown of pain to three and thirty years

But this I know
He heals the broken-hearted
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden
For yet the Saviour, Saviour of the world is here

I cannot tell how He will win the nations
How He will claim His earthly heritage
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage

But this I know
All flesh shall see His glory
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown
And some glad day His Sun shall shine in splendour
When He the Saviour, Saviour of the world is known

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship
When at His bidding every storm is stilled
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled

But this I know
The skies will thrill with rapture
And myriad, myriad human voices sing
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth will answer:
At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world is King!

William Young Fullerton
1857-1932

Over the past month I've been struggling with the issues of what is the Truth?, how much of my faith is what i've been brought up to believe and how much of it is truth? Could I just be genuinely mistaken?
I have no easy answers. You just have to assume a God a priori, I haven't been able to find any other satisfactory way of looking at it. Honestly not the most intellectually satisfying answer.
No matter what arguments you use, at the end of the day it just comes down to this: do you believe there's a God, or not? I can't think of an empirical way to prove the existence of God, but i've not been convinced by anyone trying to prove that God doesnt exist either. So it just comes down to making the choice to believe.
You can't know everything. Just because the sun rises everyday is no guarantee it will rise tomorrow. Even so-called unchanging laws of physics change. Man has been mistaken so many times before, what makes us think we are absolutely right simply because we are in the present?
But this I know. There are some things which you can know for sure. Things that are pertinent to me, here on the brink of 2006, as well as to Mr William Young Fullerton.
During IBS, the search was for eternal truths. In the realm of secular academia, there's really no such thing. Everything is in a state of flux. Strangely enough, many of the oldest and best universities started of as theological schools.
Don't be afraid to question. Uncle Jing Hee always tells us that Truth is more important than doctrine. Ask, consider, question, reason. THINK. The Christian faith wholly rational.
It's good I guess, that for the next quarter of DTC we will be looking at Know what you believe and Know why you believe by Paul E. Little. I'm expecting a lot out of it, gonna grill the teachers. I hope my classmates will be more involved, not many people seemed very interested, esp last quarter when we did church history. You get as much as you give.
In the meantime, trying to fix my eyes and set my heart on the day when heaven to earth and earth to heaven will answer: at last the Saviour, Saviour of the world is King!
Beyond 2006, akan datang.

posted by beckyboo @ 2:04 PM