Fudcon APAC @ Phnom Penh

Following my presentation @ Flock 2016, it generates alot of interest in Zanata project, especially on how Zanata can integration more towards the Fedora ecosystem. We have implemented few requests and wanting to share more with the Fedora community. What better time than presenting it at Fudcon APAC @ Phnom Penh. 

Its a pleasant 10 hours trip (hopping between few airports), and I managed to met up with Ryan and Noriko in the same flight. Thanks to the well organised team and Sirko, a tuktuk (local taxi) is already waiting for us when we arrived. 

Fudcon APAC was organised alongside with BarCamp Asean. Brian was one of the keynotes speaker during the opening ceremony where almost all of the students attended.  It was always nice to see locals and government participate in these conferences and show support.

Group photo

Zanata talk is right after keynotes in afternoon. Everything goes smoothly during my talk, and there's few interesting feedback and suggestions from the attendees. I've managed to deliver all the updates and news for Zanata project. One of the main thing I forgot to bring during this trip was Zanata's swag. (I will make sure I bring it next time). I also received a gift from the university at the end of my session. (I believe all speaker receive that)

Gift from University

Our day 1 ends with nice south-east-asian dinner organise by Sirko.

Day 2 starts with heavy rains in Cambodia. By the time I arrived at Uni, I was all wet but thanks for Sirko's advise beforehand, BRING SANDALS and UMBREALLA!! 

It was busy day with lots of interesting session from both BarCamp and Fedora which I managed to attend even while working on Zanata. 

We had an awesome dinner/party with BarCamp organiser at the end of the day. 

This is the third time I attended Fedora event, and each time, the community and people I met makes me feel like I'm/Zanata is part of this community.

I really thank the organiser (Sirko) for putting up such event and have to deal with us for the past few months.

Meeting with new people, making new friends, and enjoy and work hard at the same time. I hope to see you guys again.

Flock 2016

Finally my first Flock 2016 @ Poland~Krakow and my first talk at Flock! Travelling out from Australia is always a pain, this trip took me about 24 hours flight and 3 stops. From Brisbane -> Dubai -> Munich -> Krakow

After arrived at about midnight a day before the conference, I am glad knowing that I don't need to be on flight again, at least for the next few days and very excited to finally get to see some familiar faces!

Day 1:

My first day starts off with a nice Polish buffet breakfast with members from G11n~Pravin, Noriko, Mike and Jens, and pretty much follow by a full on whole day.

The keynote was presented by Matthew Miller and Zanata is mentioned during the keynote one of the source they needed for statistics of contributions from translators. Fedora Hub is another focus point as a new website that will act as a collaboration/activity hub of all contributors from across all teams.

I've met with alot of people on the first day and most of them pretty much started with Zanata's related question. Its probably my Zanata t-shirt that is attractive :)

First talk I attended was Noriko's "Localisation in Fedora", and it was mainly focusing on basic introduction of what localisation means and the importance of localisation in Fedora. Follow on was wonderful lunch organised by Flock. I was enjoying the meal and almost forgot about my talk on Zanata.

 

Zanata's talk comes after lunch, and it was a huge crowd. Zanata swag was gone in seconds after I distributed it at the end of the session. The talk went smoothly and almost goes overtime with questions from translators and ambassadors. Overall, it was great and got alot of feedback from the community.

Zanata flock2016 from Alex Eng

 

The last session I attended was Pravin talk on "Globalisation on Atomic". It was focusing on the upcoming atomic module which where Fedora is heading towards and how i18n and l10n can prepare for such change.

Almost everyone joined the evening event organised by Flock "Walking tour in Krakow". There is a tour guide assign to each groups that guide us to all the historically destination and explaining to us the rich history of Krakow. The whole tour took about 1.5 hours but it was an eye opener with all the scenery and architecture.

We finish the evening with nice dinner in the downtown.

Day 2:

Flock day 2 starts with keynotes on the importance of creativity since young age. Very interesting facts on the decrease of number (measurement of creativity) over age. 

I've attended few interesting talks "Gnome Software" by Richard Hughes and "Using atomic as workstation" by Patrick. I've managed to fit to work during my free session here and there.

Also met with Paul and Matt to discuss generally generally about Zanata and Fedora hub. Briefly discussed about Zanata blog with Zoltan and how he can get more details and help with the article.

The night ended with night cruise with dinner organised by Flock. Everyone was enjoying after a day of work and having a really good time.

Day 3:

Workshop, workshop, workshop. Today and tomorrow is all about workshop in Flock.

Again, I've attended few workshop:
Documentation workshop - Moving towards Ascii doc format, and topic base documentation. Briefly discussed with Brian how will that affect the i18n and l10n process. And also what it might means to Zanata's integration. 

Infra workshop:
Discuss with Patrick on the possibility of getting Fedora Infra manage Zanata and what we can do to make Zanata project more visible as part of Fedora project.

G11n workshop
- Discussion about G11n steering committee, and how we going ahead with this plan
- Proposal of FAS event for G11n
- G11n T-shirts
- Feature requests/Feedback for Zanata

We ended the day by attending last evening event organised by Flock "Brewery Lubicz". It was a nice dinner with awesome environment, not to mention the beers!

 

Last day:

This is the last day of Flock and some of the attendees starting to leave as its only half day workshop.

I've start off with a late morning and trying to recall and write down all the wonderful things for the past few days in Flock. After lunch, I've joined workshop by Infra team focusing on Fedora Hub. Discussed with Pierre/Patrick/Paul on how can Zanata provide some information towards the platform.

The last day ended with lots of farewell and nice dinner with the team.

It was a fantastic event overall. Everyone was friendly and helpful and the feeling of you're being recognised for your effort and hard work is really encouraging to the community. I've made many new friends in these few days and looking forward to see them again in next Fedora event. 

Testimony

Year 2008 was like a roller coaster ride for me and Sharon. Many things have been planned as well as many things have failed. During this time, we’ve experienced the highest high and lowest low in both reality and spiritually in our life.

In the beginning of 2008, we planned to have our wedding ceremony done in Malaysia in 2009. And at the same time, we were also looking for new property in south side (as our life group habitation is there). We were so excited with all these plans but at the same time busyness with these things draw us away from depending on God. We were so self reliance and didn’t really pray to God on all these plans.

By mid 2008, we found a nice property in south side and decided to go ahead with it. After we got the contract, things started to get confused and uncertain to us. First, it was economy recession started to take place during that time, because of this, we got very worried and started to doubt whether our decision to get this property is right or wrong. Sharon and I started to pray about this and also consult few brothers and sisters regarding this. During this time, Sharon received a word “Wait and SEE”. This is really a big decision for us as we already paid property inspector. But finally we decided to stop preceding the application and withdraw from it.

By then, I’ve thought everything is over, but the exciting part is just coming in. During October, we discovered that we are going to be parents. This was really shocking news for both of us at first as it was unplanned. But after we thought about what had happened in the past, things started to fit in the whole picture. So instead of worrying about property, we now focus on the baby. We would be in financial trouble if we were to get that new property which will cost us to pay 2 mortgages and also medical expenses for Sharon and the baby.

By now, I would like to think everything has comes an end, but obviously God has much more to test and to train me. As off beginning of December, I was made redundant due to the economic crisis. It was really a hard time for me as we are expecting a baby soon, and we are in a tight budget schedule. I told this bad news to some of my brothers and one of them actually asks me to pray specifically on what I wanted to do in the future. Every day I would be sitting in front of my desk and send out as many resume as possible but none replied me. I often pray to God asking why He had forsaken me, and allow me to go through all these hazards but the prayer often ended with no reply. Ending up, I joined my life group in unit getaway camp. Although I was having a great time during the getaway, I still have the concern of unemployment and how to deal with it when I get back to reality. Many stress and worry I had I kept to myself as I didn’t really want to increase Sharon’s worries and what she already dealing with. After I come back from camp, I started to worry again and I got to the point where I only slept less than 6 hours per day. Just when I was about to give up the hope of getting job, miracles happened.

On one fine Thursday night, 8:30PM sharp, I received an email from a company which I’ve totally unexpected regarding having interview with me on the following Monday. I’ve applied few positions in this company in the past and I didn’t even have to chance to be invited to interview. So I was really excited at first, but when I think of how many turndowns I got from pass interview, and due to the fact that there are more experienced delegates in the market, I started to have negative feelings about this interview. So without much hope and preparation, I went to that interview. I didn’t really get much response from the interview and just went back with negative thoughts and attitude.

On Tuesday early in the morning, I received an email from HR department about the rejection from this company. I was really sad and angry towards God. I keep asking Him why He has to give me the chance to get interview after months of torturing and stress but then take the job offering from me. After around an hour, I received another email from HR asking me for referee’s details, I was so shocked that time and thinking, why they would want to know more about me if they didn’t plan to offer me this position. After double checked the email I received in the morning, I realise the rejection was referring to another position which I applied long time ago in this company. I felt relief as well as sorry on what my disappointment had brought my attitude towards God.

Despite all my confusion and blurred mind, I decided go to prayer meeting hoping to get some encouragement and words from God. During prayer meeting, out of my expectation, Jojo came to me and share with me the vision she saw. I was really shock at time and couldn’t response to her but just listen and get her to pray for me. On Wednesday morning, I received another email asking me to attend second interview. I was so happy but also worry on failure. I didn’t tell anyone about this second chance I got because I was so scared of failure again.
So, I went to the interview on Friday morning. Everything went smoothly and my team leader offered me this position on the spot. I was really happy and almost jump up when he offered me, but thank God I didn’t. One of my life group members even comes by my house that very day after work just to share the good news and joy. Because of this job offer, I now can testify that what I prayed specifically in the beginning has been provided to me. I know that this is none other than God’s plan and work.

I really thank God for all things that He has given me and even this wonderful and stressful journey. I even thank God for all the people He had placed around me that always there for me, pray for me when I needed the most. Thinking back now, God has really brought me up through this journey and renew my faith towards Him. I’ve also learnt have faith on God not only during good time, but also bad time in my life. And God sure do knows our limits and how much we can take in our life.

For all my brothers and sisters that is in the same situation as me, I really encourage you all to be patient and do really pray a lot, you won’t know what type of journey will God bring you through and what He is going to do in your life, but only if you put faith in Him, He will surely walk and share the burden with you.

Life = no life without God, but with God, Life = colourful life.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Your brother in Christ,
Alex Eng

Cain's wife

This is interesting. I was reading Genesis about Cain's killing on his brother Abel and run away from God. And he then got a wife and give birth to a son. Just wondering at that time where does his wife came from?

So I found this passage which explains all these.


Is She the Most-Talked-About Wife in History?
We don’t even know her name, yet she was discussed at the Scopes Trial, mentioned in the movies Inherit the Wind1 and Contact,2 and talked about in countries all over the world for hundreds of years.

Skeptics of the Bible have used Cain’s wife time and again to try to discredit the book of Genesis as a true historical record. Sadly, most Christians have not given an adequate answer to this question. As a result, the world sees them as not being able to defend the authority of Scripture and thus the Christian faith.

For instance, at the historic Scopes Trial in Tennessee in 1925, William Jennings Bryan, the prosecutor who stood for the Christian faith, failed to answer the question about Cain’s wife posed by the ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow. Consider the following excerpt from the trial record as Darrow interrogates Bryan:

Q—Did you ever discover where Cain got his wife?

A—No, sir; I leave the agnostics to hunt for her.

Q—You have never found out?

A—I have never tried to find.

Q—You have never tried to find?

A—No.

Q—The Bible says he got one doesn’t it? Were there other people on the earth at that time?

A—I cannot say.

Q—You cannot say. Did that ever enter your consideration?

A—Never bothered me.

Q—There were no others recorded, but Cain got a wife.

A—That is what the Bible says.

Q—Where she came from you do not know.3

The world’s press was focused on this trial, and what they heard has affected Christianity to this day—Christians can’t defend the biblical record!

In recent times, this same example was taken up by Carl Sagan in his book Contact2 (which was on the New York Times best-seller list) and used in the movie of the same name based upon this work.

In the book, we read the fictional character Ellie’s account of how she could not get answers from a minister’s wife, who was the leader of a church discussion group:

Ellie had never seriously read the Bible before ... . So over the weekend preceding her first class, she read through what seemed to be the important parts of the Old Testament, trying to keep an open mind. She at once recognized that there were two different and mutually contradictory stories of Creation ... and had trouble figuring out exactly who it was that Cain had married.4
Sagan cleverly listed a number of common questions (including Cain’s wife) that are often directed at Christians in an attempt to supposedly prove the Bible is full of contradictions and can’t be defended. The truth is—most Christians probably couldn’t answer these questions. And yet there are answers. But since churches lack in the teaching of apologetics,5 particularly in regard to the book of Genesis, most believers in the church are not able to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

Why Is It Important?
Many skeptics have claimed that for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam and Eve. To many people, this question is a stumbling block to accepting the creation account of Genesis and its record of only one man and woman at the beginning of history. Defenders of the gospel must be able to show that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve) because only descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. Thus, believers need to be able to account for Cain’s wife and show clearly she was a descendant of Adam and Eve.

In order to answer this question of where Cain got his wife, we first need to cover some background information concerning the meaning of the gospel.

The First Man
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

We read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Adam was “the first man.” God did not start by making a race of men.

The Bible makes it clear that only the descendants of Adam can be saved. Romans 5 teaches that we sin because Adam sinned. The death penalty, which Adam received as judgment for his sin of rebellion, has also been passed on to all his descendants.

Since Adam was the head of the human race, when he fell we who were in the loins of Adam fell also. Thus, we are all separated from God. The final consequence of sin would be separation from God in our sinful state forever. However, the good news is that there is a way for us to return to God.

Because a man brought sin and death into the world, the human race, who are all descendants of Adam, needed a sinless Man to pay the penalty for sin and the resulting judgment of death. However, the Bible teaches that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). What was the solution?

The Last Adam
God provided the solution—a way to deliver man from his wretched state. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15 that God provided another Adam. The Son of God became a man—a perfect Man—yet still our relation. He is called “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) because he took the place of the first Adam. He became the new head and, because He was sinless, was able to pay the penalty for sin:

For since by [a] man came death, by [a] Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:21–22).
Christ suffered death (the penalty for sin) on the Cross, shedding His blood (“and without shedding of blood there is no remission,” Hebrews 9:22) so that those who put their trust in His work on the Cross can come in repentance of their sin of rebellion (in Adam) and be reconciled to God.

Thus, only descendants of the first man Adam can be saved.

All Related
Since the Bible describes all human beings as sinners, and we are all related (“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,” Acts 17:26), the gospel makes sense only on the basis that all humans alive and all that have ever lived (except for the first woman6 ) are descendants of the first man Adam. If this were not so, then the gospel could not be explained or defended.

Thus, there was only one man at the beginning—made from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

This also means that Cain’s wife was a descendant of Adam. She couldn’t have come from another race of people and must be accounted for from Adam’s descendants.

The First Woman
In Genesis 3:20 we read, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” In other words, all people other than Adam are descendants of Eve—she was the first woman.

Eve was made from Adam’s side (Genesis 2:21–24)—this was a unique event. In the New Testament, Jesus (Matthew 19:4-6) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) use this historical and onetime event as the foundation for the marriage of one man and one woman.

Also, in Genesis 2:20, we are told that when Adam looked at the animals, he couldn’t find a mate—there was no one of his kind.

All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Adam’s wife, from the beginning. There could not have been a “race” of women.

Thus, if Christians cannot defend that all humans, including Cain’s wife, can trace their ancestry ultimately to Adam and Eve, then how can they understand and explain the gospel? How can they justify sending missionaries to every tribe and nation? Therefore, one needs to be able to explain Cain’s wife, to illustrate that Christians can defend the gospel and all that it teaches.

Who Was Cain?
Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve recorded in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). He and his brothers, Abel (Genesis 4:2) and Seth (Genesis 4:25), were part of the first generation of children ever born on this earth. Even though these three males are specifically mentioned, Adam and Eve had other children.

Cain’s Brothers and Sisters
In Genesis 5:4 we read a statement that sums up the life of Adam and Eve: “After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.”

During their lives, Adam and Eve had a number of male and female children. In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.”7

Scripture doesn’t tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve, but considering their long life spans (Adam lived for 930 years—Genesis 5:5), it would seem logical to suggest there were many. Remember, they were commanded to “be fruitful, and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).

The Wife
If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extrabiblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to marry sisters or there wouldn’t have been any more generations!

We’re not told when Cain married or many of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that Cain’s wife was either his sister or a close relative.

A closer look at the Hebrew word for “wife” in Genesis reveals something readers may miss in translation. It was more obvious to those speaking Hebrew that Cain’s wife was likely his sister. (There is a slim possibility that she was his niece, but either way, a brother and sister would have married in the beginning.) The Hebrew word for “wife” used in Genesis 4:17 (the first mention of Cain’s wife) is ishshah, and it means “woman/wife/female.”

And Cain knew his wife [ishshah], and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch (Genesis 4:17).
The word ishshah is the word for “woman,” and it means “from man.” It is a derivation of the Hebrew words ‘iysh (pronounced: eesh) and enowsh, which both mean “man.” This can be seen in Genesis 2:23 where the name “woman” (ishshah) is given to one who came from Adam.

And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman [ishshah], because she was taken out of Man [iysh]” (Genesis 2:23).
Thus, Cain’s wife is a descendant of Adam/man. Therefore, she had to be his sister (or possibly niece). Hebrew readers should be able to make this connection easier; however, much is lost when translated.

Objections
God’s Laws
Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve’s sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister marriage. Some say that you can’t marry your relation. Actually, if you don’t marry your relation, you don’t marry a human! A wife is related to her husband before they are married because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of one blood. This law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18–20). Provided marriage was one man for one woman for life (based on Genesis 1–2), there was no disobedience to God’s law originally (before the time of Moses) when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other.

Remember that Abraham was married to his half-sister (Genesis 20:12).8 God’s law forbade such marriages,9 but that was some four hundred years later at the time of Moses.

Biological Deformities
Today, brothers and sisters (and half-brothers and half-sisters, etc.) are not currently permitted by law to marry and have children.

Now it is true that children produced in a union between brother and sister have a greater chance to be deformed. As a matter of fact, the closer the couple are in relationship, the more likely it is that any offspring will be deformed. It is very easy to understand this without going into all the technical details.

Each person inherits a set of genes from his or her mother and father. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the Curse), and these mistakes show up in a variety of ways. For instance, people let their hair grow over their ears to hide the fact that one ear is lower than the other. Or perhaps someone’s nose is not quite in the middle of his or her face, or someone’s jaw is a little out of shape. Let’s face it, the main reason we call each other normal is because of our common agreement to do so!

The more closely related two people are, the more likely it is that they will have similar mistakes in their genes, inherited from the same parents. Therefore, brother and sister are likely to have similar mistakes in their genetic material. If there were to be a union between these two that produces offspring, children would inherit one set of genes from each of their parents. Because the genes probably have similar mistakes, the mistakes pair together and result in deformities in the children.

Conversely, the further away the parents are in relationship to each other, the more likely it is that they will have different mistakes in their genes. Children, inheriting one set of genes from each parent, are likely to end up with some of the pairs of genes containing only one bad gene in each pair. The good gene tends to override the bad so that a deformity (a serious one, anyway) does not occur. Instead of having totally deformed ears, for instance, a person may have only crooked ones. (Overall, though, the human race is slowly degenerating as mistakes accumulate generation after generation.)

However, this fact of present-day life did not apply to Adam and Eve. When the first two people were created, they were perfect. Everything God made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). That means their genes were perfect—no mistakes. But when sin entered the world because of Adam (Genesis 3:6), God cursed the world so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). Over a long period of time, this degeneration would have resulted in all sorts of mistakes occurring in the genetic material of living things.


But Cain was in the first generation of children ever born. He, as well as his brothers and sisters, would have received virtually no imperfect genes from Adam or Eve, since the effects of sin and the Curse would have been minimal to start with. In that situation, brother and sister could have married (provided it was one man for one woman, which is what marriage is all about, Matthew 19:4–6) without any potential to produce deformed offspring.

By the time of Moses (about 2,500 years later), degenerative mistakes would have accumulated to such an extent in the human race that it would have been necessary for God to bring in the laws forbidding brother-sister (and close relative) marriage (Leviticus 18–20).10

(Also, there were plenty of people on the earth by now, and there was no reason for close relations to marry.)

In all, there appear to be three interrelated reasons for the introduction of laws forbidding close intermarriage:

As we have already discussed, there was the need to protect against the increasing potential to produce deformed offspring.
God’s laws were instrumental in keeping the Jewish nation strong, healthy, and within the purposes of God.
These laws were a means of protecting the individual, the family structure, and society at large. The psychological damage caused by incestuous relationships should not be minimized.
Cain and the Land of Nod
Some claim that the passage in Genesis 4:16–17 means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. Thus, they conclude there must have been another race of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam, who produced Cain’s wife.

Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.
From what has been stated above, it is clear that all humans, Cain’s wife included, are descendants of Adam. However, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin in commenting on these verses states:

From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage.11
Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod. He didn’t find a wife there but “knew” (had sexual relations with) his wife.12

This makes sense in light of what Nod is, too. Nod means “wandering” in Hebrew. So when Cain went to the land of Nod, he was literally going to the land of wandering, not a place full of people.

Who Was Cain Fearful of (Genesis 4:14)?
Some claim that there had to be lots of people on the earth other than Adam and Eve’s descendants; otherwise Cain wouldn’t have been fearful of people wanting to slay him because he killed Abel.

First of all, one reason that someone would want to harm Cain for killing Abel is if that person was a close relation of Abel!

Secondly, Cain and Abel were born quite some time before the event of Abel’s death. Genesis 4:3 states:

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
Note the phrase “in the process of time.” We know Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), and Eve saw him as a replacement for Abel (Genesis 4:25). Therefore, the time period from Cain’s birth to Abel’s death may have been 100 years or more—allowing plenty of time for other children of Adam and Eve to marry and have children. By the time Abel was killed, there may have been a considerable number of descendants of Adam and Eve involving several generations.

Where Did the Technology Come From?
Some claim that for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city, he would have required a lot of technology that must have already been in that land, presumably developed by other races.

Adam and Eve’s descendants were very intelligent people. We are told that Jubal made musical instruments, such as the harp and organ (Genesis 4:21), and Tubal-cain worked with brass and iron (Genesis 4:22).

Because of intense evolutionary indoctrination, many people today have the idea that their generation is the most advanced that has ever been on this planet. Just because we have jet airplanes and computers doesn’t mean we are the most intelligent or advanced. This modern technology is really a result of the accumulation of knowledge.

We must remember that our brains have suffered from 6,000 years of the Curse. We have greatly degenerated compared to people many generations ago. We may be nowhere near as intelligent or inventive as Adam and Eve’s children. Scripture gives us a glimpse of what appears to be advanced technology almost from the beginning.

Cain had the knowledge and talent to know how to build a city!

Conclusion
One of the reasons many Christians cannot answer the question about Cain’s wife is that they tend to look at today’s world and the problems that would be associated with close relations marrying, and they do not look at the clear historical record God has given to us.

They try to interpret Genesis from our present situation rather than understand the true biblical history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin. Because they are not building their worldview on Scripture but taking a secular way of thinking to the Bible, they are blinded to the simple answers.

Genesis is the record of the God who was there as history happened. It is the Word of One who knows everything and who is a reliable Witness from the past. Thus, when we use Genesis as a basis for understanding history, we can make sense of evidence which would otherwise be a real mystery. You see, if evolution is true, science has an even bigger problem than Cain’s wife to explain—namely, how could man ever evolve by mutations (mistakes) in the first place, since that process would have made everyone’s children deformed? The mere fact that people can produce offspring that are not largely deformed is a testimony to creation, not evolution.

God and "god"

Did it occur to you that when you need Him the most, His not responding? Or when you need Him the most, His not there for you? Well, you're not alone. There are times in my life when I needed Him most, He didn't answer and He didn't reply me. If you have a spiritual shepherd or mentor, they will tell you that either God will only do according to His time (it's not the time yet) or they will tell you that be faithful, for He knows what you need the most. Lol, I'm laughing as im typing all these. But seriously, I was thinking, if thats the case, why not we just sit here and wait. If God wants it to happen, it will happen eventually. The difference is He is taking the initiative, not you. We are just human, nothing more. We can't do what He doesn't us to do, and we can't be what He doesn't want us to be. But... do you see the problem?? First, there's God who can and are control everything in your life. He is trying to draw you closer to Him, but at the same time, His not making this an easy process. His like telling you that "You must earn what you want".

But do you know what you want? It's a human nature of only believing what we can see and feel. Do you still remember the first time you encounter Holy ghost? the excitement that seems only memory to you right now. It seems that after the first encounter, you won't be getting the same feeling again (for most of us). You move on in your life, working, playing, sports. What happen next? Your faith started to move. Move on towards something you can see and feel, MONEY!! And when life started to get misarable, you will suddently remember, Oh, there's God up there that I can get help from. But no matter how much you pray, there's no reply. And you started to pray desperately, try to listen to voices. This is where your "god" came in.

It is hard to differentiate between "god" and God. Honestly, until now, I still can't distinct between "god" and God. But life still goes on, and most of the time, this is where the God came in. And you will be thinking, "hmm, I must be lucky". And then, the whole thing runs in cycle again.

The point here is, it is normal for us sometimes to question the existing of God, afterall, His doens't appear in you MSN contact as online status everyday. But always, He did something to get you back. It's like breathing. Do you realise you are breathing now? You didn't realise it before I was asking you right? it became so part of your life that you even didn't realise you are doing it. But until someone or some event remind you, then only you remember. Like, when you encounter air turbulence in airplane and the oxygen mask comes down, then only you will realise that how important oxygen is to us.

Same thing with encountering God. When we are so comfy with our life, we tent to forget who is providing all these to us. But only when we start losing something, then only we will return to Him. Its just like a cycle of high and low peak. Everybody encounter that, the only difference on each and everyone is how many times do we have to climb back up to high peak?

Coffee Type

About Espresso
Espresso or caffè espresso is a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing very hot water under high pressure through coffee that has been ground to a consistency between extremely fine and powder.

Espresso [ess-press-oh]	Espresso Macchiato [ess-press-oh mock-e-ah-toe]	Espresso con Panna [ess-press-oh kon pawn-nah]
Caffé Latte [caf-ay lah-tey]	Flat White [Flat White]	Cafe Breve [caf-ay brev-ay]
Cappuccino [kapp-oo-chee-noh]	Caffé Mocha [caf-ay moh-kuh]	Americano [a-me-ri-ka-no]

Failing down

For the pass few weeks, there are tremendous things that happens around me. First of all, economy is bad, really bad (not only to me apperently). Things that involve in finances started to get stress up. My plan with Sharon initially was to have our wedding on 4th July 09. So, after confirming all things and getting headcount from all my friends, suddently, there's this bad news that comes around about my finances support from parents. So, Sharon was pretty angry at that time as we planned on alot of things based on our current finance. So, she got angry because of
1) We are getting second property (based on our ability and without having to spend money on wedding)
2) Economy is getting bad and we have to plan the worst scenerio on i'm jobless
3) More events are coming in church like Oceania Convention 09 which is held in Melbourne, Working Adult Getaway, Unit Getaway. (Estimate total spending on these 3 event = AUD1000 + AUD500 + AUD200 = AUD1700)

So things started to get worst in our finances that we planned to drop out the OC'09 which I always wanted to go. But because of extra expences coming on with the wedding which might cost around 5kAUD, we need to start saving.

Few weeks before this things happens, I was searching for job, desperately. Owen and Eric got sent out and left me alone in Dialog House. I was really in bad mood whole week thinking of that. I was interviewed by TAFE on AP position, then I got called again from EMC2 to another AP position. Both has turn me down. I prayed and prayed, day and night, 24/7. But things just doens't go as planned. As the result of that, I took 3 days leaves to start thinking and overcome my problem. Sharon was with me all the time. I was so dissapointed and started to question on God's existance.

Why would bad things happen, it is all planned by HIM? or it just happen? Is there GOD? Or God is just another way of human try to blame the cause of whatever happens in their life? Or God is just another 'thing' that human put all the responsibility to rather than facing them?

One thing I discovered, human's nature are weird, especially when talking about responsibility. There are few groups of people which I can categorise on

1) God exist, whenever bad things happens. This group of people tend to 'blame' or put the cause of bad situation onto HIM keep thinking of it's just a test or lession His giving us and eventually all will be good.

2) God exits - Good/Bad situation is all about HIM

3) God doesn't exist at all. All things happens because of human's work.

So it's not just God exist or not, religion has been a way of life in human mind and part of our life. No matter christianity, buddism, or islam, All these teaching had in fact stored in our mind since young from either parents, or society, or friends. It is part of our life to say that, "Oh, there someone more superior up there that make all these thing happen". But there are also groups of freethinker that get out of this 'controlled' situation whereby everything that ever happens are because of men.

All these things came through my mind during that period of time. I am quite a logically thinker and due to human nature, "We believe in what we can see", I started to lost my track and faith towards what I depends on all these years. I was once told putting our plan on Him, and He will make it succeed. But isn't this contridicting to each other? First of all, He planned the whole thing. If it's already planned, then why we need to plan again and commit to HIM? Isn't planned already suppost to happen? What's the point of us planning when it's already been planned. After all these things that happened, I told myself that I won't go into deep planning anymore. I mean, what's the point if you planned everything, spend lots of time thinking of this and that but finally He says "NO".

Eventually, I carried these questions with me to worship night in UQ. And in that night, I was really carried away by the worship team and songs. Its like going to club and start dancing to lose your ownself. I was beginning to shout out loud on all the lyrics and song. And finally, I lost my voice. But 1 thing I realised that night, the excitement I encounter, the way I acted during the worship, it's all about HIM. Although until now, to be honest, I still have the same question in my heart "Is there GOD?", but often, I was carried aways by the acts He did to show me that He really exist.

After all these, still, I don't planned as much as I was before, but one thing that I was, and will believe in, is that He is looking at us.

天將降大任於斯人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨，餓其體膚，空乏其身，行拂亂其所為，所以動心忍性，增益其所不能

Live Life to its fullnest

From divineverses.com
There Is Only One Life To Live - Enjoy It To The Fullest!

I was watching the “Crocodile Hunter”, Steve Irwin on T.V, in that episode, he was on a wonderful yacht cruise over the Indian Ocean, with his family - wife Terry and little daughter Bindi. What a life he was having, I was just thrilled and excited as he was seeing the cruise over the beautiful vast ocean, and then they showed him flying over the scenic locations and visiting the most beautiful places on earth. What a life, really a life filled with enthusiasm and excitement. My thoughts are that, even though Steve died in a tragic accident, he has accomplished everything in his life and enjoyed every minute of his God given life.

It was at the moment when i stopped and though about my own life. What do i have in my life, worth remembering? What do i have in my life, which i can call an accomplishment? Am I enjoying my life?

The answer is a No… Not at all… We are missing the excitement and the joy of life, when chasing down material goals like money and fame. Stop and think for a moment, If you happen to die today, what do you think, you have gained for your own, in your God Given LIfe? Think for a moment, have you gained anything in life, which your soul can be really satisfied about? Nothing yet, right?

We are loosing the excitement in our life. Everyone of us are born in this universe with a spirit, an excitement towards life. Look at children, look how happy they are, they naturally ahev an excitement towards life. I can bet that everyone would want to be back in their childhood days again. Why, because they were so excited and life was so wonderful then. I still remember, how excited i was everyday, in my childhood days, everyday it was great, eventhough there wasn’t anything special. I felt everyday was so good, i was so happy when i wake up from bed every morning.

But now where is all that joy and excitement? Where are those mornings when we used to wake up with joy, expecting something good ? Where is the God given spirit, that you had when you were a child ? It’s all gone… As we grow older and face the polluted world, our spirits slowly and gradually die, without we ever realizing it. When we get older and start our run towards money and fame, it’s nowhere to be found. Sometimes people start to feel it’s no use living this hectic life.

Friends, we need to regain our God given spirit which we lost on our misleading jorney of life. Your life is something that needs to be treasured, that needs to be enjoyed each and every moment. Your life is a gift from God. Live it the fullest, that’s what pleases our creator, The Almighty God.

Life is not worth dragging around down and defeated, nor is it worth chasing down dreams, money or fame. You can’t have any of them without the spirit, which gives you the enthusiasm and excitement in life. Regain it, and you will regain your life. Live your life joyfully, that’s what we are created for and that’s what pleases our God. If you do it, you won’t ever have to chase down your dreams, The blessings of our Almight God will chase you down and will fill you with abundance.

And this is well put in John 10: 10 which says - Jesus Came So That We May Have An Abundant Life.

One translation says - I have come in order that you might have life - Life In All Its Fullness.

I can only imagine

"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ..."

The atheist professor of philosophy paused before his class and then asked one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes, sir," the young man answered.

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure? God is good," he said, nervously.

"Is God all powerful? Can God do anything?" the teacher continued.

"Of course He is, He is God."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil" he shuffled.

The professor grinned knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He contemplated for a moment and began again, "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good, not evil!"

"I wouldn't say that," the student objected.

"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could... in fact most of us would if we could...but God doesn't." (No answer from the young student). "He doesn't does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmmm? Can you answer that one please?" (Still no answer.)

The elderly man sympathetically answers his own question as he takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax "No, you can't, can you?"
The professor continued his well conceived discourse, "In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. So, let's start again, young fella. Is God good?" By now, the young man was shamefully on the defensive,

"Err... Yes."

"Is Satan good?"

"No!" He protested.

"Where does Satan come from?"

The student falters. "Uhh, from... God..."

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man proceeded. Running his bony fingers through his thinning hair, he turned to the rest of the smirking student audience. "I think we're going to have a good semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turned back to the Christian. "Tell me son. Is there any evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?" Reluctantly the student responded, "Yes."

"Who created evil?" (No answer) "Is there sickness in this world? Ugliness, immorality, hatred? All the terrible things - do they exist in this world?"

"Yes." the student squirmed.

"Who created them?" (No answer.) The professor suddenly shouted at the student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closing in for the kill, climbs into the young Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created them, didn't he?" (Again, No answer.)

The student tried to hold his steady experienced gaze, but failed. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is now mesmerized. "Tell me," he continued, "how is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" To dramatize his point, the professor, sweeps his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. He presses more forcefully, "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?" (No answer.)

"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" There's a pause.

"Don't you?" The professor leans into the students face again and whispers, "Is God good?" Defeated, the student has no answer. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, young man?" The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, Professor, I do."

Almost in disgust, the old man shakes his head. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you seen Jesus?"

"No, sir, I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us, have you ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir, I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus... in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?" (Silence) "Answer me, please!"

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"You're AFRAID you haven't?"

"No, sir."

"Yet you still believe in Him?"

"Yes"

"Now that takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the underling as he begins his final summation. "According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God does not exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?"
The student has no answer.

"Sit down, please." The Christian sat down... defeated, ashamed and humiliated.
Within just a few moments, another student raised his hand.
"Professor, may I address the class?"

Proud of his effective rendering of his logical and scientific discertation, the professor turned and smiled. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."

This second Christian looked around the room to speak to the whole group. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a few questions for you. Is there such a thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replied, "there's heat."

"Is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No, sir, there isn't," he objected

The professor's grin instantly froze as the room suddenly went very quiet. The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat, or no heat, but we don't have another thing called 'cold.' We can hit 485 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we cannot go any further than that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than negative 485‹ you see, sir, cold, is only a word we use to describe the total absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. But cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, it's just the absence of it."

Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom, then the student continued, "Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"

"That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at?"

"So you 'believe' there is darkness?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, but science says you're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn't it? That's the word we use to define the meaning of nothingness. In reality, darkness isn't anything. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and place it in a jar. But you can't give me a jar of darker darkness, can you Professor?"

Despite himself the professor smiles at the youth's affrontery before him and thinks to himself, 'this would indeed be a good semester.' "Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed at the very start, and so your conclusion must also be in error..."

Hearing this the professor goes toxic. "Flawed? How dare you!"

"Sir, may I explain what I mean?" Now the class began to rumble as they waited in anticipation of the students next words.

"Explain... oh, explain." The professor made an admirable but fialing effort to regain control... Suddenly he is affability itself as he waved his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains, "that, for example, there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad god. You are viewing God as a concept, as something finite... something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death, as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a stative thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it."

The young man held up a newspaper from the desk of a neighbour, who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, Professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"

"Of course, there is, now look..." the professor protested. Politely interupting the professor, the student raised his finger into the air and continued, "Again, I'm sorry sir, but you are wrong. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such a thing as injustice? No, injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian paused. "Isn't evil the absence of good?"

Now the professor's face has turned an alarming shade of red. He is so angry, he is temporarily speechless.But the young Christian continued. "If there is evil in the world, Professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if He exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work God is accomplishing?"

"The Bible tells us that it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good (the result of the love of God) over evil (the result of independence or the absence of the love of God). There is nothing greater than love. God is love and God is good. If He is good, than the innate act of His goodness would be to give man the opportunity to experience the greatest thing that exists‹love. But love cannot be forced on someone or it is not love.

There must be a choice involved. God loved us enough to allow us to make the choice. Evil is the result of the choice of independence from God."

The professor bridled. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't view this matter as having anything to do with choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognise the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."

"But sir, I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replied. "Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week. Tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir, or are you placing your 'faith' in the unobservable?" The professor made a sucking noise with his teeth and gave the student a silent, stony stare. "Professor, since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an ongoing endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?"

"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now have you quite finished?" the professor hissed.

Maintaining his polite demeanor, he student replied: "May I follow up on the point you were making earlier to the other student?"

The professor wisely remained silent.

"I believe you have a great mind Professor, but with all due respect let me ask the class a question regarding it. Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's mind... felt the professor's mind, touched or smelled the professor's mind?" The class traded glances with quiet grins.

"No one appears to have done so. No one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's mind whatsoever. While I would not dare to imply it myself... wouldn't the limitations of what you 'believe in' (the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science) say that you have no mind? And wouldn't the same apply to your emotions and your will? I believe your great mind is hidden within your brain although I cannot observe it within the small box, or within the limited parameters with which you wish to place God".

If I want to know your mind, that is, if I want to know the real you (your mind, emotions, will and even your spirit), all I have to do, if you are willing to be known, is be willing to seek to know you and to spend time with you. You can know that God exists... if you are willing... Are you willing, Professor?"

(Silence.)

In the midst of the quiet, the bell rang.
"Class dismissed," announced the professor. "Time is up!"