Skeptical Theism

Found this article while browsing some of the pages under my blog's segment "Guru's pages"

As I read the first paragraph, it seemed to be describing the kind of "theism" I believe in.

This is the URL: http://www.iep.utm.edu/skept-th/

This is the excerpt from it...

"Skeptical theism is the view that God exists but that we should be skeptical of our ability to discern God’s reasons for acting or refraining from acting in any particular instance. In particular, says the skeptical theist, we should not grant that our inability to think of a good reason for doing or allowing something is indicative of whether or not God might have a good reason for doing or allowing something. If there is a God, he knows much more than we do about the relevant facts, and thus it would not be surprising at all if he has reasons for doing or allowing something that we cannot fathom.

If skeptical theism is true, it appears to undercut the primary argument for atheism, namely the argument from evil. This is because skeptical theism provides a reason to be skeptical of a crucial premise in the argument from evil, namely the premise that asserts that at least some of the evils in our world are gratuitous. If we are not in a position to tell whether God has a reason for allowing any particular instance of evil, then we are not in a position to judge whether any of the evils in our world are gratuitous. And if we cannot tell whether any of the evils in our world are gratuitous, then we cannot appeal to the existence of gratuitous evil to conclude that God does not exist. The remainder of this article explains skeptical theism more fully, applies it to the argument from evil, and surveys the reasons for and against being a skeptical theist."

I fully agree with the statements in bold. We can fabricate reasons and try to explain why God allows things to happen this way and that way...but this does not mean that we are right. And we may not be wrong either. This is called anthropomorphizing. Which means we try to ascribe human form or attributes to God (in this context).

We try to understand God from our realm of understanding. However, God transcends our realm of understanding. In fact, He created and structured truth and reality and the way we perceive it. So to put it blatantly, to anthropomorphize is to try to "judge" God...And this usually leads to wrong conclusions when we don't understand who God is.

This is what the atheists are guilty of (which we theists sometimes are too). They interpret God's actions and decisions of allowing things to happen through their finite, human lenses and derive at the conclusion that God is evil and stuff like that...

The ramifications of this wrong conclusion will result in a erroneous worldview and this will result in people making wrong decisions such as Hitler...who was fiercely atheist. (His actions and decisions derived from the atheist belief, since morals - right and wrong - are undefined in this worldview...I'd take another post to justify this...till next time)

I don't know how much of this stuff whets your appetite, but it does whet mine :) Haha.

Yup, when I have the time, I'll go and read up the rest of this article.

Family Holiday @ Phuket

Before I begin vividly recounting the panoramic & stupefying landscapes and experiences over at Phuket, I'd like to say that BLOGSPOT SUCKS!

The picture uploader does not allow you to select multiple pictures to upload at once. So all the 100+ pictures you see in this post are painfully & patiently clicked by me, ONE BY ONE. On top of that, while uploading the pictures halfway, somehow, the server stopped uploading the photos and I didn't know. The uploader didn't prompt me. So I selected all the pictures for uploading only to realise that I have to refresh the whole damn thing.

Upon refreshing, I HAVE TO RE-CLICK EVERYTHING AGAIN!

I feel like paying the web programmer a visit and slap him. Simple user-friendly and user-sensitive functions such as these they cannot even think of! That's really oblivious. Apparently, the programmers don't use their own programme enough to know the shortcomings of it.

Ok enough said, ANYONE can recommend me another good blog website? Does it have better photo uploading functions? Lemme know. Thanks :)

Back to the awesome retreat we had in Phuket.

Our family holiday was from 18th - 22nd November 2010 :D We left Singapore on a Thursday morning. :D

 

Daddy, Jerina, Myself & Jeravan @ the check-in counter :)

 Mummy, Jerina, Jeravan & Myself still @ Changi Airport snapping photos...Ok, this is the last one. LOLS!

Me, Mummy & Jerina in the plane :D

Yup, we took Silk Air, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. Our supposed 1hr30min flight took 30mins longer. It was delayed -__-"

The angsty female captain of our flight addressed us over the house and informed us that due to a damaged runway undergoing repair, they now are left with this one runway and everyone is vying for it. Thus, there's a queue and we have to wait until it's our turn to go.

And yes she sounded angsty over the house. She didn't bother to sound nice and cordial. Her alto-ranged vocal cords addressed us laconically. She might be undergoing her monthly biological workout...HAHA!

Anyway...we finally arrived at the hotel! :) Marriott Vacation Club :D There was a van arranged to pick us up from the airport.

Our hotel entrance logo :)

And when we stepped out of the van, the hotel staff garland-ed all of us!! HAHA! I felt like some MP visiting Phuket to reform some ties or to establish a better tourist trade between Thailand & Singapore...haha...Whatever. Here's a pic :)

Garlanded from left...Mummy, Mei mei & Me :)

After settling some admin stuffs, we headed to our hotel room in a buggy :D The distance was palpably walkable by the way...haha.

 In the buggy :)

The buggy ride didn't exceed a minute and we were at our room :D Haha. Shall let the pictures do the talking :D

 The bedroom :D

 The master bedroom :D

The master bedroom toilet

The dining area of the living room :D

The TV area of the living room :D

The balcony / porch :D

Our master bedroom view :D

Our living room view :)

Yes, the 2 models are my mum and dad. Haha. We were stuck in the bedroom watching TV...haha...It was airing "Get Smart" haha. Yes, we watched that movie a few times already but as you know, physically, the TV is a magnet and strangely, we're attracted to its magnetic force...HAHA!

After the movie, we left and did a little recce of the hotel :)

The walkway leading to our hotel block :D

 The units below ours... :D It has an open air porch with a private swimming pool. We're standing at the decorative gate :D

The swimming pool :D No we didn't take a random tourist, this is my dad...HAHA!

Another view of the swimming pool :D

 

Jerina & myself at the pool table :D A lil' chill out hut next to the swimming pool :D

 The kid's pool with a slide :) Ok, you can barely see it...My right elbow's "poking" the slide. HAHA!

 The nearby mini shopping area :D

There's this little shopping area near this cluster of hotels..It's called, as you can see above, the "Turtle Village". Don't ask me why it's called that, we didn't bother to go and find out. This cluster is only a 5 minute walk away through the gorgeously designed walkways littered with all kinds of trees and plants. The whole place is like a big garden :)

In this lil' shopping cluster there're a few retail outlets such as Esprit & Triumph selling clothes, there's also a Swensen's & a few other restaurants and there's a lil' supermarket there too, with the prices jacked up.... -_-"

We then headed to the beach which requires us to walk through another hotel...This hotel's equally, if not, more beautifully panoramic than Marriott hotel. It's called Anantara Resorts :D It's not very hotel-ish...all the rooms they offer are villas. Modern kampungs...haha. Absolutely beautiful.

So yeah, here's a few pictures of our walk through Anantara Resorts to the beach.

 Me! :) On the bridge over their pond. :D

 My sister and I :D She's a lil' upset with my mum's cam-whoring...haha.

Without our feet getting sore, we arrived at the beach! :D Oh btw, it's called Mai Khao Beach :D I didn't really bother about its name till I blogged this post...Haha.

 A makeshift hut housing their boats :D

 The shoreline :)

The seaside cafeteria :)

Seaside swimming pool :D

And you see the guy in the picture with lotsa beer bottles surrounding him? He's the DJ...the sound system's there...haha! You just need some guy to swim freestyle across there and the sound system's screwed...Haha!

And, all these facilities by the beach does not belong to Marriott Hotel (the hotel we're staying in), it's part of the Anantara Resorts :D

Still at the seaside swimming pool :)

You talk about having a water bed to sleep on...This hotel gives you the real thing...Bed in water...HAHAHA! Super nice right? Just pray that it doesn't rain...Haha.

 Jerina & myself...still hanging around for another shot when Jeravan has already left...Haha!

 

 Jerina, Me & Daddy :) On the way back to our own hotel...haha

This wasn't much of a recce operation, it was more of a scenic walk. Haha. So yup, we familiarised ourselves with this area and we're getting hungry...

We had dinner at of the cafes at Turtle Village. :D It's called the coffee club.

 @ the coffee club :D

Still waiting for the food...haha

Food's here! But mummy still wants another shot...Haha!

The food was good. Their Thai fried rice & Thai fried noodles are uber good! Everywhere we ate, these 2 dishes never failed us. The green curry served here was also really good...thick, creamy, fragrant and spicy. Shiok :D

The tom yam soup served at this cafe however, was horrible. Haha. It was really bland & thin...super diluted. Haha.

After dinner we bought some foodstuffs for the next day's breakfast @ the mini supermart and headed back to the hotel to turn in.

Daddy rented a car for the next day...so we'd be heading down to Phuket town for some shopping! My army instincts kicked in...I went back and plotted out all the shopping malls we were to go to on the map :D HAHA!

The next day, we found our shopping malls smoothly thanks to my NDS (Navigation Data Sheet) :D HAHA! Ok, only the sergeants & officers will laugh...LOLS! Excluding the lao jiaos who may not have used this NDS..haha!

The landrover we used...HAHA! Ok, quit army talk...it's a Toyota Avios. LOLS.

Anyway, here are few interesting stuff I found while shopping...haha.

 I found this pair of slippers really nice...Haha. The yellow portions are caved in...Haha.

Just when you thought keyboards are meant only for fingers...HAHAHA! Trust the Thais to be creative man...HAHA!

Crab crackers!! It'd cost you a bomb to order one chilli crab at a local "zi char" stall...In thailand, they sell it by the packets!! HAHAHA!

Out of these 3 featured merchandise, I bought of them... :D Guess which one?

Nope, not the crab crackers...Nah, not the keyboard slippers...THE YELLOW SLIPPERS! :D HAHA! I really liked it the moment I saw it. My mum was against this purchase but...I insisted :D HAHA!

We then had lunch at a Thai fast food chain...ok, not really fastfood chain...The restaurant's called MK. I was trying to find out what MK stands for, but to no avail. No inkling of this mysterious acronym was presented in the menus or restaurant interior design...They probably don't know why it's called MK themselves! HAHA!

 

No, I'm not the restaurant's mascot! I'm holding the mascot...HAHA! Ok, it's not the mascot either, it's just a tissue box. Haha.

We got the staff to exercise their photography skills. Haha.

Oh, lemme list the malls we shopped at...Robinsons Shopping Centre, Ocean Plaza Mall, Central Shopping Centre and finally the "Big C" hypermarket! HAHA! It's a Thai version of our "Giant" megamart here in Singapore...LOLS.

There they had everything we wanted/needed...Clothes, grocery, souvenirs, everything...all at super cheap prices! Now we know how much we've been scammed at the Turtle Mart & other shopping centres...Haha.

I actually wanted to bring us to the Lotus Shopping Centre but the Big C kept us shopping...haha.

After that, we left for Patong Beach! :D The most famous beach in Phuket...They had seaside pasar malams there and makeshift food stalls selling satays and all kinds of foodstuff. It was a mega version of Bugis Village! The main difference is, it's by the sea! So it's really cooling and not stuffy like Bugis Village...HAHA!

I hardly shopped there...was about to buy some cheap S$20 Abercrombie polo-Ts when mummy hurried us to meet Daddy to walk to his friend's hotel.

Ok, I know my dad's friend too. He's Uncle Kwang Liang. He and his whole family are holidaying in Phuket too! :D Uncle Kwang Liang smsed my dad and asked him to meet his family for dinner :D

Question is, how did he know we're in Phuket too? The answer, I found out, at the dinner table from Uncle Kwang Liang "My son saw your son's facebook post that you guys were going to Phuket". Gabriel saw my facebook post! HAHAHA!

They left for Phuket one day later than us...Haha. Oh and let me introduce Uncle Kwang Liang's family to you...Uncle Kwang Liang's wife, Aunty Jasphia worked together with my mum in some MOPS event or project. They have 4 kids!! One more than our family! HAHA!

Starting from the oldest...Gabriel, Deborah, Adriel & Nathaniel :D They're all still super young man...Haha.

Anyway, we couldn't shop because we had to make our way, BY FOOT, to Uncle Kwang Liang's hotel...Seaview Hotel :) We took a 1km walk to his hotel... -_-" Haha.

 Uncle Kwang Liang & family's hotel...Seaview Hotel :D

At the hotel's lobby :)

Another of Uncle Kwang Liang's friend was also there to meet him. So they all (my dad, uncle kwang liang & his friend) shook hands, talked and got into their cars and we're off to his recommended restaurant :) Uncle Kwang Liang's friend is a local there, so yeah...

 Clockwise from left...Uncle Kwang Liang, Aunty Jasphia, Nathaniel, Gabriel, Deborah, Adriel, Myself, Jerina, Jeravan, Julie (my mum) & James (my dad) :D

 Take 2 with flash :D

 Take 3 with Uncle Kwang Liang's friend

Oh, and I must say that Uncle Kwang Liang's friend makes a good muscle trainer man...Facial muscle...HAHA! He brought his uber good camera and got us smiling at the camera as he fiddled with it, getting the aperture and zoom and focus and all correct...Our smiles held there for say, 1 minute? HAHA!

Ok, not that bad...but bad enough to make all of us remember vividly his camera skills :D HAHA!

 Crabs!! :D

This is just one of the many dishes we ate there...Once again, their fried rice was GASTRONOMICALLY AWESOME! Haha. so was their meatball soup and Tom Yam Soup! Oh, this is the real deal man...LOLS.

Once you get the real deal, you also are gonna play the real Monopoly Deal...HAHA! No link...basically, the bill came and made my eyeballs roll...It cost a whopping 6400B!! If you change your $$ at the average exchange rate of S$1 = 25B, this meal costs S$256!!

Ok, but there were 12 of us. So basically, the meal costs an average of S$21.30 per person! Which is not too cheap, but considering the awesome food and cool ambience. It was worth it.

The restaurant is at least 2 HDB storeys high and it's situated beside the Patong Beach...The bay of the beach..if that's what you call it...the curved part of the beach. Haha.

Yup, had a hearty meal. Our dinner ended at around 11.30pm Sinagapore time...which means we ended at 10.30pm Thailand time. Haha.

And we got lost on the way back. So we only reached back our hotel room at around 11.45pm Thailand time...Haha.

The following day was spent entirely at the Mai Khao beach. Not much pictures of us were taken at the beach because Mummy didn't really like the beach. She stayed at the swimming pool by it. Haha! She did take a few pics of us la...but it was really unglam so I shall not disclose them :D HAHAHA!

Upon reaching the beach, my dad would set up his fishing line while Jeravan would watch/assist him and run around trying to catch crabs and Jerina would set off on her seashell hunt. I would do all of the above...HAHA!

Ok, I spent hours seashell hunting with my sister who left for the pool halfway through "our" expedition. LOLS!

The main thing about this visit is I caught 2 live cockles! Ok, not really cockles since the shell couldn't be closed...Don't know what that creature is called. Basically, it's a mollusk that lives in between two semi-transparent shells.

The first one was killed by me...I was poking seashells into it to see its reaction. And its reaction was YUCKY! The mollusk would try to squiggle out of the shell when poked...Like a worm trying to wriggle out of a small hole but with its body stuck.

I found a second one and wanted to bring it back to our hotel room to experiment with it but...on the way back, I dropped it. HAHA! I was holding it nicely when it deposited some kind of shit on my hand!! Some slimy, squirmy part of its body, or it's waste plopped onto my hand while I was holding it.

I freaked out and let go of it...as I thought the whole mollusk had crawled onto my hand...haha. It hit the floor and its shell cracked. But I was not sure if it was still alive...So I still brought it back to the hotel room, put it under the tap, turned on the running water and pronounced it dead. HAHA!

Earlier at the beach when I poured fresh water from my water bottle on it, it'd squiggle and wriggle. Now I did it again and it was nonchalant...or rather, unable to respond...haha. Hais, sad...I'd have videoed it down and it'd be a recorded science experiement!! Wasted! HAHA!

Anyway, we went to swim after our beach visit...and we played water basketball! Or whatever you call that...There was a hoop, there was a ball, we're in a swimming pool trying to get the ball in the hoop...So I think it's called water basketball...LOLS.

After that, we headed to an Italian Restaurant for dinner :D The food was average...but I must say the ingredients they used for the food is really Italian...Olive oil, olives, figs, and the tons of spices and herbs used are an interesting part of our visit. Their variety of bread also impressed me. Haha.

There we learnt how to eat bread the Italiano way...They provided us with a small bowl of olive oil and there were spices and ingredients for us to add into it to make it taste good. After adding whatever we wanted (e.g. vinegar, chilli powder, and some other foreign ingredient) into the olive oil, we would then dip our bread into it and then eat it.

Really cool way to eat bread man. Dipping it into oil. LOLS! But Olive oil is really, really healthy that drinking it won't kill you. Don't do it with cooking oil. HAHA!

Me posing with my stick bread :D

Take 2 with everyone's attention...haha

Still breading...haha

 Jerina & Mummy...the backdrop of wine bottles are really nice :D

All of us in the Italian Restaurant :D

Take 2 :)

By the way, this restaurant isn't located near our hotel...we took a buggy ride over there...

The Italian Restaurant is located next to our hotel...We're staying in Marriott Vacation Club...whereas the restaurant we ate at is in JW Marriott. Which has the same owner...just that one is for businessmen, the other (the one we're staying in) is for holidaymakers.

So we're at yet another hotel! :D Haha. Check out the pictures :)

@ the bar

@ the Hotel lobby :D

 A whole stretch of beds & seats are there to welcome you to the hotel...haha

Yet another cushiony invite...haha

After all the picturing...we went back to Turtle Village to grab some groceries and take some pictures...haha

 Jerina & I with the elephant...It's made of Styrofoam btw..haha.

 Night view of the signboard :D

We then proceeded to play pool :D The past few days when we walked past the pool table, it was occupied, this time, it was also occupied, but the hongkees left after one game! Thank God! Haha. So we took over :)

 Jeravan, Jerina & Jonavan :D

 Me in action :D

 Oh, look what the scoreboard says! :D

Daddy in action :D

 Practiced Chinese calligraphy there...Haha. Ok, Chinese Chalk-igraphy? :D HAHA!

There's a reception at the pool table too. And I found this interesting brochure advertising for one of their island...check it out.

 Brochure @ the pool table reception :D

I think the Hokkiens found this island near Thailand and decided to name it "Similan"...HAHAHAHA! The Thais later captured it and evicted the original Hokkien owners...but its name remained...Now that's called fabricating history! LOLS!

Get the joke? If you don't try saying the word in three separate syllables with the first 2 in fourth tone and the third syllable in the han yu pin yin third tone :D HAHAHA!

Anyway, here's a peek at my first day of seashell collection :)

Pretty right? :D

We all woke up to the last day of our holiday! So fast! Had brunch...

 Eating brunch :D The noodles were this good :D HAHA!

The "pad kee mao" instant noodles we bought at the supermarket in Robinsons were really good. The spices and the spicy-ness made the instant noodle a real delight to savour. Haha.

I wanted to buy like 15 packs back and give to my friends as souvenirs...but we never went back or went out to shop again after the 2nd day :(

Anyway, after brunch we headed off to the beach again :D If I didn't mention earlier, we also buggied to the beach...HAHA!

 

3 of us on the buggy in our beach attire :)

Daddy & I were still at the beach fishing & collecting seashells (that was only me)...when Jerina, Jeravan & Mummy slipped off (again) to the Anantara swimming pool.

This time, they were more daring. They audaciously sat in the Anantara's swimming pool chairs and acted as if we were staying in Anantara Resorts! HAHA!

Here comes the best part! One of the hotel swimming pool staff approached mummy and asked her "Mam, which unit are you staying in?" My mum replied nonchalantly "Villa 46"

The swimming pool staff then smiled and thanked her and came back and gave her towels and an apple! HAHAHA!

Jerina then devoured the apples...HAHA! Here's a picture of the grand theft act performed by the malicious trio...

 Jerina eating the forbidden apple...HAHA!

After this daring stint, we all headed back to the swimming pool we are allowed to enter...haha!

 Jerina & Daddy at the right pool...haha!

Dinner took place at one of the restaurants within the vicinity. It was just beside the swimming pool. Once again, their Thai fried rice & Thai fried noodle didn't fail our tongues. :D Haha.

 In the restaurant :)

 Take 2 :D

 Take 3...change of photographer..haha

 The dishes :D

On the way back from dinner, we saw a frog near the lift landing. So Jeravan & myself caught it, with his slipper, and brought it back to our hotel room for some experimenting :D HAHA!

 

 The frog in our toilet sink :D

Here's a video of what we did :D Haha. Mummy wasn't all that happy with a foreign animal in our hotel room :D HAHA!



With that, we ended our holiday :( Haha.

Oh and before we left the hotel room, I realised that all our bedrooms have this storybook...

 The Mormon Bible!!

We were too busy running around that we didn't open the drawer to see what Holy Scripture they provided. Most hotels provide the Gideon's Bible...but not this one...Apparently they're propagating the Mormon "gospel"...That's bad man. No wonder I had problem sleeping at night...HAHA!

Oh, I forgot to mention...The 3 of us (kids) slept in the master bedroom. The 3 of us shared the queen sized bed while daddy & mummy took the normal bedroom...Haha.

So sleeping space was kinda tight...thus the discomfort in sleep...Haha!

Yup, here's a last picture of us on the plane home :( 

 Me & Mei mei...I just won her in the hp game, sumo smash!! :D HAHAHA!

And here's a few of my favourite seashells I brought home...FYI, the amount of sea shells I brought back is at least 3 times the amount you see here...These are the shortlisted ones :D haha.

 My favourite few shells :)

 Love these the most...Look at the detail in design in the top row of these shells...The zig-zag lines and colours are simply amazing.

 Another 2 on top...I love the colour of these 2 new additions. And check out the bottom right hand corner shell...it's the smallest seashell I found! It's the size of a cough tablet! haha.

I really love seashells. They're simply gorgeous. I don't know what I'll do with my collection...but I think I'll use it to make cards for my dearest friends or something...haha...Girls, that is...guys'll just chuck my cards one side...haha!

Yup, Thank God for our safe journey there and back! :) Hallelujah! :D