All Creation Sings. It's Your Fault They're Off-key.

Once in a while, thankfully, the smogasbord of auditory enjoyment becomes so overladen that one is hard put to deny the lush manifold beauty of God's universe:

Across the shopfloor of Best Denki, a familiar tune, menacing but chirpy, a call to harvest the energy of the sun against the determined grunting undead - Plants vs Zombies! Laura Shigihara's soundtrack is pop console chiptunes, funky melodics, big band swing, "macabre yet goofy" piano tinkling. The music video is but a poor sample of the enjoyability of the music:

A few hours later, in a K-BOX karaoke room, there was the insistent demonstration of the ease at which one could quickly pick up and sing any of the many predictable Mandarin ballads (assuming the ability to read Chinese).

But though formulaic (shy earnest boy + true love lost), not all eyes were dry after 古巨基 (Leo Ku)'s great mash-up of loads of love songs/brilliant way of prolonging the end of a de-stressing session, 情歌王*.

And the next night at Heineken Green Room's's 8-bit Blitz, minimal techno in the microhouse of old Kallang Theatre called forth by the hirsute Robag Wruhme and the fancy Superpitcher - probably describable only in Kerouac-ian prose. Best listened to with friends nursing a couple of cold beers, or, erm, while doing work - the repetitive stripped-down beats really clear the mind and the sound-sample layering keeps it fresh! Sadly the crowd voted for fags and chats outside, instant noodles and ice-cream at 7-eleven and after-parties at Home (Club).

The end of the noughties is a bit late for theory-mongering, but in the midst of the current post-post-modern Mustafa-like music offerings, can even "pop" be defined (not to mention the ever-expanding sub-categories of techno, house and that all-encompassing term, "indie")? If all music is expression, to some extent of ideals, values, cultural identity, political mindsets, how, if at all, does the seeming lack of demand for minimal techno interpret Singapore society? All enjoyment of music must, at least in part, be mediated through conceptual assumptions of what constitutes good music. If interpreted on a scale of sophistication and progress (cf Adorno's "regression of listening"), then on what basis should we measure legitimacy in musical taste?

French at Le Bistrot, Singapore Indoor Stadium

Japanese at Kaiho Sushi, Cuppage Plaza. The uni (sea urchin gonads), fugu mirin boshi (grilled puffer fish) and Japanese chestnut ice-cream are especially good.

Similarly, prandial diversity. It's been great to have been able to stand and watch the starched-linen sushi and French food era being swept away by the deluge of mass market gastronomy. But does the provision and appreciation of such global victualling necessarily assume a concurrent consumption of attendant culture and values? What is the significance of the popularity of raw fish with wasabi or tabouleh and olive oil bread? Is such consumption merely representative or also communicative? Again, are foods subject to hierarchy - eg. traditional and artisan vs mass-produced, and if so, on what basis?**

Celebrating early Thanksgiving with turkey in Singapore

Faced with such delicious diversity of delights (sorry), one might extol the virtues of a Creator who is happy to bring forth such frivolities for our pleasure; after all, none of this beauty seems critical to our survival. Yet, doesn't music exist so that we can sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to teach and encourage each other with God's word, and to praise and worship God? If music is, in part, expression of ideals, values, identity and mindset, then it's not about the brand of CCM that forces "Christian" lyrics into popular tunes but that the natural outflow from a Christian is necessarily God-centred.

And God gave us good food not just to gather friends around: sweaty cooking and sharing repast should also be about practising hospitality (by cooking for other than one's pals) and making opportunities to speak words of eternal life. Whereas Jewish dietary restrictions were meant to emphasis the holiness/set-apart-ness of the Israelites wrt other nations, the food laws were set aside by Christ's death. God's buffet is now open to all. WWJD? Sup with sinners and tax collectors, most likely.

Lovely manmade lines at Stadium MRT and Changi Airport MRT

The overarching foundation (oxymoron?) of all this is that the whole of creation, its unparalleled intricacy and magnificence, exist so that we humans can clearly perceive God's eternal power and divine nature, and in so knowing him, honour him as God and give thanks to him (Romans 1:20). Yet, we stubborn fools persist in our ignorant theories that the world must have come about of its own accord, and insist that there is no Creator; we run around obsessed about saving the world from greenhouse gases and dolphins from being clubbed, refusing to see that this world came about by the word of one person and by his word this world will be swept away. We fancy ourselves rather advanced and sophisticated monkeys when we define right and wrong, not realising that all this is actually a sign of our impending destruction:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)

and

...first of all, ...scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:3-13)

*the list of songs, thanks to martin_tamb:
王力宏 Wang Lee Hom - Forever Love
黎明 Leon Lai - 兩個人的煙火
張學友 Jacky Cheung - 如果．愛
光良 Michael Wong - 童話
劉若英 Rene Liu - 很愛很愛你
古巨基 Leo Ku - 好想好想
周華健 Emil Chow - 明天我要嫁給你
潘瑋柏 Wilber Pan - 不得不愛 (feat 弦子)
莫文蔚 Karen Mok - 陰天
陶喆 David Tao - 飛機場的10:30
黃品源 - 那麼愛你為什麼 (feat 莫文蔚 Karen Mok)
黃品源 - 你怎麼捨得我難過
張震嶽 - 愛我別走
周華健 Emil Chow - 讓我歡喜讓我憂
張惠妹 A-Mei - 原來你什麼都不要
張宇 Phil Chang - 用心良苦
張學友 Jacky Cheung - 祝福
張學友 Jacky Cheung - 吻別
陳昇 Bobby Chen - 把悲傷留給自己
那英 Na Ying - 征服
張惠妹 A-Mei - 聽海
辛曉琪 Winnie Hsin - 味道
孫燕姿 Stefanie Sun - 我懷念的
辛曉琪 Winnie Hsin - 領悟
張宇 Phil Chang - 月亮惹的禍
飛兒樂團 F.I.R. - 我們的愛
黄大煒 David Huang - 你把我灌醉
范曉萱 Mavis Fan - 眼淚
庾澄慶 Harlem Yu - 情非得已
梁朝偉 Tony Leung - 你是如此難以忘記
任賢齊 Richie Ren - 心太軟

**none of this will make sense when current sleep-indebtedness has been redeemed and Words with Friends stops cameo-ing in dreams.

PS: Someone just sent over Sara Groves' You Are The Sun from her O Holy Night Tour: Live the Prison Show. Nice melody, wish the lyrics had more meat on.

The Futile But Surprising Satisfaction of Pathetic Pocket Guitar Riffs In Light of the Fall

The lemurs tend to obsess alot about electric guitar riffs. Alot. At full volume, on repeat - not on the merits of the song in its entirety but just to listen again and again and again to those riffs. The first bit of the opening riff of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine is a prime example.

Thanks to the Great Leveller (second only to Death?!), the iPhone, have managed to exorcise this in some measure with the Pocket Guitar purchased today. We peasants make do with S$0.99 apps for "gullible dummies".

etc etc

No, this pathetic attempt (ie. the first, erm, 7 seconds) will not improve with practice, but we can do no better than milk satisfaction from whatever dry wrinkled cow of talent has been bestowed upon us.

Much has already been made about the realistic observations in Ecclesiastes of the seeming temporality, meaninglessness, valuelessness, lack of significance of our lives and how ultimate meaning, value and significance and permanence is found only in relationship with God. But it only really hit home when we were reading Deuteronomy 28 that all the futility of life is truly both a "natural" consequence of our decision to rebel against God and his created order and also a curse from God for our refusal to acknowledge him as God.

Life as described in Ecclesiastes and as we experience it, is not that far off from the curses Moses warned would befall Israel if they disobeyed their loving and already patient God, eg:

...if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you... The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see...

...The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground...

Perhaps our surprise at the injustice, oppression and lack of satisfaction in the world is uncalled for. Rather we should be flabbergasted that even though we rebelled (and continue to rebel) against God, he has continued to allow us to enjoy so many good things in the short spell of our wretched existence - relationships, food, drink, work!, music...

(Hmm. The solo outro for November Rain's next perhaps, so we can have some peace and quiet around here. Though "nothing lasts forever in the cold November rain.")

P.S. The Rend Collective Experiment makes far better and competent use of those .99 apps (HT: Alto):



Ecclesiastes
Easter Everyday
Quest for Immortality: EPIC FAIL (Ecclesiastes 1:1-15)
Life is Vapour, Therefore Enjoy Life (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3:15)
Life is Far Worse than an iPhone Game, Therefore Harvest the Day! (Ecclesiastes 3:16-5:7)
Rawa Island and Godly Contentment (Ecclesiastes 5:8 - 6:9)
Fallen Frangipani, Really Wise Living (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:29)

Mosaic Music Festival. Restaurant Week. Good times. Suffering and Death.

Perhaps one day, old and decrepit, immobile and blind and deaf, imprisoned within our own minds, we might remember these as halcyon days when we could come and go as we pleased, to bop along at concerts and cheer and whoop at the good bits, to enjoy good food and the company of friends:



Tickets to Au Revoir Simone at Mosaic Music Festival 2010 thanks to Heineken Green Room membership. The club lights and the soundman's enthusiasm for turning up the bass was a contrast to their online image of red xylophones, casiotones, pale pink balloons in bare cream apartments with charmingly peeling paint, scrapbooks of pressed wild flowers, The Virgin Suicides, drawing in notebooks, old typewriters, synths, vintage dresses, and nordic sensibilities...from Brooklyn.

Sad Song, The Bird of Music

Or more delicate though similarly incongruous, a pair of real Norwegians in the Esplanade Concert Hall:


Kings of Convenience at Mosaic Music Festival 2010.


Erlend Øye during I'd Rather Dance doing his nerdy best in the non-mosh pit. His dance moves were even more aunty-ishly dorky (see vid evidence below).


Riot on an Empty Street, Homesick


Riot on an Empty Street, I'd Rather Dance





The Restaurant Week menu at Chiharu being a bit dismal, we went with the omakase course instead: Zensai (five kinds of appetisers of the day), Otsukuri (sashimi), Kurobata no wasabi shoyu yaki, Arani (chopped fish head in sweet sauce), Hiyashi tomato, Nigiri sushi, Vanilla ice-cream anzu soe (apricot syrup). The raw stuff was suitably fresh but nothing was terribly outstanding.




Well-executed menu during Restaurant Week at Absinthe: Tartare of Hokkaido Scallops, Wakame and Citrus Dressing; Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly, Star Aniseed Jus, Fennel Salad; French Duck Breast, Sauteed Potatoes; Grilled Pink Snapper, Salad of Baby Spinach and Spelt, Lobster Scented Hollandaise; Vanilla Creme Brulee, Raspberry Sorbet.



Surprisingly bad food at Ricciotti (China Square Central): the calamari rings on 5 out of 6 plates of antipasto were cold; 2 out of 3 people thought the spiciness of the red snapper overwhelmed any taste of the fish; 3 out of 3 people could not bear the saltiness of the tagliolini; 6 out of 6 people were greatly disappointed by the dry chocolate cake. Arguably, it was the 9 alcoholic units in one body and the paucity of Hokkien vocab in another that resulted in discussions about hanging bak kwa to fend off ghosts of Muslim and Jewish origin, the indignity of being mummified to be stared at by future generations, the time-zone FAIL of international IT support and the uses of vibrating mascara sticks and why such items were an essential part of one's gender-non-specific makeup collection.






Mostly tasty menu at The White Rabbit accompanied by a glass of Mumm champagne: Chestnut and sweet onion soup served with trumpette mushrooms and gruyere croutons; Roasted root winter vegetables served with poached egg and truffle vinaigrette (it took some time before any one could smell the truffle shaving); Grilled vegetable pasta sauteed with garlic and flambeed with vodka - the pasta itself was bland so each mouthful had to be accompanied by a slice of grilled veggie; Juicy tender chestnut stuffed farm chicken served with carrot puree, cabbage, bacon and thyme jus; good flavour pairing - white chocolate and coconut panna cotta served with a salad of pineapple and mangoes; Profiteroles with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce. 100% of the people vowed to return with family and friends in tow, the mother of three lamented that it was too late to hold her wedding reception here.



More misses than hits again at The Prime Society: strangely bland truffled mushroom soup, 100% full blood Blackmore wagyu and yuzu carpaccio, tendon-y Gunpowered beef with a taste-edge of bak kwa, vanilla bavarois with strawberries and chocolate soil. A hunt for meal fulfilment and carbs had to be conducted after dinner.



Some of us needed to make a pitstop and refuel at shots. cafe after a leisurely afternoon on Ann Siang Hill checking out Style Nordic and Fred Perry, trawling through the massive closing down sale at Asylum, browsing Books Actually. The owner, a member of New Creation Church, was handing out a book by his pastor - Joseph Prince's Destined to Reign.

Discussions on motifs in current music and menus have been in heavy rotation these days - whether such repetition points to a lack of creativity or if it is a necessary center around which orbits a coherent universe.

Interestingly, it makes no difference to our relationship with God whether we are helplessly horizontal in bed waiting to be turned by the nurse or having a decent lie-in after a great night out with mates. In all circumstances we are meant to continually respond to him in repentance and trust and obedience.

In good times, all the good things we enjoy - the things that have been made by God, are meant to remind us of God's eternal power and his divine nature (Romans 1:20). But though we thus know God, we do not naturally honour him as God nor give thanks to him; instead we fools exchange the glory of the immortal God and instead worship the things he created (Romans 1:23). Though life is going swimmingly with no hint of God's judgement for our hard and impenitent heart, we are duly warned that if we continue to ignore God, we are storing up wrath for ourselves on the Last Day (Romans 2:5). Do we presume on the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience in not executing immediate judgement on us? God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4) and should not be taken as licence to continue in rebellious sin.

In times of suffering and illness and death, we ought to respond too in repentance and faith in God. This is not to say that a specific suffering or sickness is necessarily due to a specific sin which we are meant to repent of:

1. Suffering and death is a result of sin in general and the attendant fallenness of this world and the humans therein. Rebellion against God and how he designed the world and the innate evil in all humans has resulted in the wrong use of all creation by all people, and suffering and pain is a natural consequence of such incorrect use. Death came into the world because of the rebellion of man (Genesis 3) as a right and just consequence of sinning against God. So we all deserve to live out the results of our choice to deny God as our lord - suffering and then death. When we see a sick person, or when we are in pain or troubled, or when we offer our condolences to the relatives of someone recently departed, we are to remember that something is very wrong with us and the world and we need to turn back to God. But we find we cannot do this on our own and need a saviour to save us from this tragic mess.

2. God tells us that some suffering is meant for the good of those who love God - "God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness" for "without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:10,14). Suffering is never good in itself but right response to calamitous evils will work for our good in maturing us in our relationship with God, for suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope, and hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:3-4).

This is not to say that we live in a dualistic universe where God the Good and Satan the Evil battle it out day after day and sometimes, God manages to turn a bad situation into something good. Rather the Bible's view is that God is completely and utterly sovereign over everything in his creation.

And as to why God would allow suffering:

How can God allow suffering and evil in the world? from A Passion for Life on Vimeo.

4. Ultimately, there are many things we will not understand because we are not God. And we are wrong to assume that God owes us an explanation for everything. God has already told us what he is more concerned about: to be worshipped and trusted. (See the Book of Job.)

3. In fact, trouble will specially attend God's people. There will be opposition and persecution of those who are the children of God just because they are his children. After all, we follow in the footsteps of his Son, the rejected and crucified Messiah. So he said "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?" (Mark 8:34-38) and "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you...If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." (John 15:18,20). And Paul warns us "...everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12).

So there is no biblical evidence for the teaching that that a prosperous, healthy life means we have God's favour and vice versa. God did not create a mechanistic universe that is mere cause and effect, he created a universe in which he himself is the only sovereign God in control of all things.

And when Jesus himself walked on the earth, he did not care for a healing ministry even though he could heal an entire catalogue of illnesses and even raise the dead. Rather, he was concerned about teaching about himself and what he would do to save them rather than healing in the here-and-now (see eg. Mark 1:15,21,35-39; 2:2,13; 3:14,22-23; 4:1; 6:1-2,34; 7:14; 8:31,34; 9:30-31; 10:1; 12:1,35). In fact:

There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them,"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:1-9)

Jesus' point was not so much that those who suffered were any more wicked than those who escaped such a fate. The assumption was that all deserved to die and that it was only God's mercy that kept them alive to give them time to repent.*

Do we see suffering, illness, pain and death? Are we experiencing great troubles and difficulties? Let these be sufficient warning of our destination in the forever if we do not acknowledge him as God now that we have been given the opportunity to bear the fruit of repentance.

There will indeed be a time when there will be no more sadness and grieving. On this Last Day, all the consequences of our rebellion against God and our abuse of his creation will be reversed, because of Jesus' prior payment for our sins by his death on the cross. But for those who did not, while it was not yet the Last Day, repent and turn back to God, this Last Day will be the first day of eternal suffering and death forever.

So in the unmerited favour of this now-but-not-yet time, let us be put on high alert by God's judgement on Job's "comforters". Their reductivist view that Job's secret unconfessed sins must have caused his sufferings was a great insult to God and presented a great temptation to Job: to confess sins that weren't there in order to try to retrieve his prosperity. If Job had succumbed, it would have meant that Job cared more for prosperity than for his integrity or for the Lord himself; and the Lord would have lost his wager. Their counsel, if followed, would have actually led Job away from the Lord; Job would have been reduced to being yet one more person interested in seeking God for merely personal gain.*

We have ample evidence from human history as recorded in the Bible to know that God is good and trustworthy and rightly desires to be worshipped by his creatures, whatever the circumstances of life. So we are without excuse if we do not repent from our self-centered wants of health and wealth and worldly success (even more so if our quest for more faith or deeper knowledge of God or even our "repentance" is with the aim of addressing these wants) or from demanding answers for our situation, and turn towards God and his desires that have already been clearly revealed in his Word.


*D.A. Carson's How Long, O Lord? is very good. John Piper and Justin Taylor, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God might also be worth a read.