Terrific Teens

We'll be going to JB on 21-22 November 2009 (Sat - Sun). We'll be leaving at 8am Saturday and reach Shah Alam at 9pm Sunday. Block the dates on your calendar now!

Er, how much will it cost?

Just a mere RM 20! Fee is for transportation only. Accommodation will be provided by Daya Gospel Centre (Thank you! =D), but please bring your own sleeping bag. Also, please bring extra money for meals ya. Hehe.

What are we going to do there?

We're arrived JB on Saturday for lunch, and we'll probably visit one of the shopping malls. Hehe. In the evening, we'll attend Daya Gospel Centre's Thanksgiving & Dedication Service (dinner provided). More lepaking on Sunday afternoon before we head back to Shah Alam. Expect good fellowship together with the DGC's youth too! =D

So how do I register myself?

Kindly contact Andrew or any of the SAGC youth for the parental consent form, fill it in, hand it back to us together with the fee and we're ready to go!

What are you still waiting for?

JB, here we come!

p/s: For more details, please contact Andrew (016-2387780)

November

There are questions in life which we find it so hard to answer. So hard to understand. And this month, we'll try to tackle few of those.

7th November: What Makes Right Acts Right?

Moral. Ethics. What is the absolute truth? What is the absolute measurement of good and bad, right and wrong? What makes right acts rights?

14th November: Why Should All The Good People Suffer?

Not fair. The world is unfair isn't it. The rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer. Good guys suffer, bad guys prosper. Where is justice? Where is, most importantly, God?

21st November: Holiday Trip To Johor Bahru

We'll be going to JB for a weekend holiday trip! More details soon. =)

28th November: Does Hell Exist?

If God is Love, why is there this place called hell? And would a loving God send people to hell?

Terrific Teens 31/10/09

Forum: Q & A

1. Does leviathan/behemoth exist?

¹ "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?

² Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³ Will he keep begging you for mercy?
Will he speak to you with gentle words?

⁴ Will he make an agreement with you
for you to take him as your slave for life?

⁵ Can you make a pet of him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your girls?

Job 41:1-5

¹⁵ "Look at the behemoth,
which I made along with you
and which feeds on grass like an ox.

¹⁶ What strength he has in his loins,
what power in the muscles of his belly!

¹⁷ His tail sways like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are close-knit.

¹⁸ His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like rods of iron.

¹⁹ He ranks first among the works of God,
yet his Maker can approach him with his sword.

Job 40:15-19

2. When did God create the dinosaurs?

- Created together with the rest of creation

- Existed before and after the flood

- Existed together with humans

- Died off during the Ice Age

3. What happened during the Ice Age?

- Ice covered 30% of the earth

- Global temperature dropped by 5 degree Celcius

- Animals went extinct

- Indirect result of the Flood

- The two ingredients required for an Ice Age, cool temperatures and tons of snow, were dramatically fulfilled immediately after the Genesis flood

- The Flood and its aftershock provide the volcanic dust and gases that bring the summer cooling indispensable for the Ice Age

- Waters from the 'fountains of the great deep' (Gen 7:11) and mixing during the Flood provides a warm ocean. In the mid and high latitudes the warm ocean would cause copious evaporation and produce massive amount of snows

4. Why are there natural disasters (i.e. flood, tornado, flood, etc) if God is love and good?

- God has said in Bible prophecy that natural disasters would grow in frequency and intensity as the end of age (Matt 24:7, Luke 21:25-26, Rev 6:12, 11:13, 16:18)

- The sufferings experienced now in "this present evil age" (Gal 1:4)

- Natural disasters or accidents should humble us, helping us to see our dependence on God to sustain and deliver us (Rev 16:8-11)

- We don't know all the reasons God brings or permits specific calamities or why particular people are made to suffer by them (Rom 8:28, 1 Tim 2:4)

5. We read in the newspaper/internet news that new creatures are found every now and then. Is God still creating? I thought He created everything in six days in Genesis.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Genesis 2:2

-It's a new DISCOVERY, not creation

6. How can we say that God creates each one of us uniquely i.e. "knit in our mother's womb" when the process is really a natural genetic process?

¹³ For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Psalm 139:13

- Figurative vs. literal

- The double helix of DNA resembles a thread of yarn which is used for knitting

Monday, October 26, 2009

Terrific Teens 24/10/09

Is The Bible True? by Ian Teoh

1. Unique structure

- 2000 years

- 66 books

- 40+ authors

- One same message

2. Fulfilled prophecies

- Over 1000 prophecies

- 668 fulfilled

- 100% positive fulfillment

His bones will not be broken (Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12 states that the Passover lamb's bones are not to be broken.). Fulfillment: John 19:33.

They will divide his clothing and cast lots for them (Psalm 22:18). Fulfillment: John 19:23-24

He will be given vinegar and gall to drink (Psalm 69:21). Fulfillment: Matthew 27:34, 48.

He will say: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1). Fulfillment: Matthew 27:46

3. Scientific Accuracy

- Roundness of the earth (Isaiah 40:22)

- Almost infinite extent of the sidereal universe (Isaiah 55:9)

- Law of conservation of mass and energy (2 Peter 3:7)

- Vast number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22)

- Law of increasing entropy (Psalm 102:25-27)

- Paramount importance of blood in life processes (Leviticus 17:11)

- Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6)

- Gravitational field (Job 26:7)

4. Historical Accuracy

Bible descriptions matches historical events:

- Campaign into Israel by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:25-26), recorded on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt.

- Revolt of Moab against Israel (2 Kings 1:1; 3:4-27), recorded on the Mesha Inscription.

- Fall of Samaria to Sargon II (2 Kings 17:3-6, 24; 18:9-11), king of Assyria, as recorded on his palace walls.

- Defeat of Ashdod by Sargon II (Isaiah 20:1), as recorded on his palace walls.

- Campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judah (2 Kings 18:13-16), as recorded on the Taylor Prism.

- Siege of Lachish by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17), as recorded on the Lachish reliefs.

New discoveries matches Biblical events:

- The discovery of the Ebla archive in northern Syria in the 1970s has shown the Biblical writings concerning the Patriarchs to be viable. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place names in the Patriarchal accounts are genuine. The name “Canaan” was in use in Ebla, a name critics once said was not used at that time and was used incorrectly in the early chapters of the Bible. The word tehom (“the deep”) in Genesis 1:2 was said to be a late word demonstrating the late writing of the creation story. “Tehom” was part of the vocabulary at Ebla, in use some 800 years before Moses. Ancient customs reflected in the stories of the Patriarchs have also been found in clay tablets from Nuzi and Mari.

- The Hittites were once thought to be a Biblical legend, until their capital and records were discovered at Bogazkoy, Turkey.

- Many thought the Biblical references to Solomon's wealth were greatly exaggerated. Recovered records from the past show that wealth in antiquity was concentrated with the king and Solomon's prosperity was entirely feasible.

- It was once claimed there was no Assyrian king named Sargon as recorded in Isaiah 20:1, because this name was not known in any other record. Then, Sargon's palace was discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. The very event mentioned in Isaiah 20, his capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace walls. What is more, fragments of a stela memorializing the victory were found at Ashdod itself.

- Another king who was in doubt was Belshazzar, king of Babylon, named in Daniel 5. The last king of Babylon was Nabonidus according to recorded history. Tablets were found showing that Belshazzar was Nabonidus' son who served as coregent in Babylon. Thus, Belshazzar could offer to make Daniel “third highest ruler in the kingdom” (Dan. 5:16) for reading the handwriting on the wall, the highest available position. Here we see the “eye-witness” nature of the Biblical record, as is so often brought out by the discoveries of archaeology.

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.“

John 20:29

Monday, October 19, 2009

Terrific Teens 17/10/09

Genetic Engineering: Playing God? by Lue Jun Yi

What is genetic engineering?

A. Manipulation of Human Reproduction

1. Artificial Insemination

The process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse. It can be done using the husband’s sperm (AIH) or a donor’s sperm (AID).

2. in vitro Fertilization

A technique of fertilizing an egg in an artificial environment outside the body. Usually, more than one egg is taken out and fertilized at a time to increase the likelihood of success. Embryos formed which were not used to implant in the woman’s womb are normally frozen and used for later implantation/further experimentation/destroyed.

3. Surrogate Mothering

This refers to the carrying of a baby by a woman who is not the biological mother. Ways it could happen: the surrogate may carry an embryo from a married couple’s egg and sperm; or the embryo can be formed with her egg but a sperm from the biological father; or her egg and sperm from a donor; etc.

4. Cloning

The artificial reproduction of an organism which is the exact genetic copy of another living organism. Currently, it has only been successful with plants and some animals.

B. Manipulation of the Genetic Makeup of Living Things

1. Sex Selection

Two categories: pre-implantation where the sex is determined before conception and post-implantation where the sex is determined after the embryo is formed and then choosing to abort or not to implant (in the case of IVF) what one doesn’t want.

2. Recombinant DNA/Gene Splicing Technology

This allows scientist to redesign the genetic makeup of an organism by deleting, adding and/or changing the genetic code. This has been successfully used in agriculture (GMO), animal farming (breeding of animals with better traits), health care (production of human proteins for treatment), etc.

3. Gene Therapy

The insertion of genes into an individual's cells and tissues to treat a disease. Two categories: somatic cell therapy – genes are spliced and introduced only to the tissues that are affected by the defective genes and only affects the individual treated; germline therapy – genes splicing affects the genetic code in the reproductive cells and changes will be transmitted to future generation.

What is the biblical response to genetic engineering?

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)

15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother's body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.

Psalm 139:15-16 (NCV)

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart...

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

Don't you understand?

I am the only God;

there are no others.

I am the one who takes life

and gives it again...

Deuteronomy 32:39 (CEV)

Ethics of Genetic Engineering