Fond Memories of my Two St John's Island Stay 2008

BACKGROUND

St John's Island was initially an island used by the colonial British authorities to quarantine sick immigrants to Singapore in the 1930s. The island was then used as a place of exile to keep communists and secret society members in the 1950s. It was made into an island of leisure and recreation in the 1970s by the government. There were plans to then upgrade the existing colonial era dormitories to house illegal immigrants during the height of the financial crisis in Indonesia in 1998 but that development stopped when the crisis passed over. Subsequently the NUS set up a marine research centre on part of the island there to conduct R&D on high-technology and high yield fish farming.

St John's Island Round One: 20-22/6/08
With Chiw Foong, Yvonne, Jesslyn, Ting Hui, Jiaen, Yiting, Yiling, Jason, Zhi Hao, Roy, Nik & Teck Seng

St John's Island Round Two: 4-7/7/08
With Jet, Philip, Foo Koon, Xin Yuan, Alvin, the Lim family (of 7 members) & Christine

The photos were taken by me and Jason. I acknowledge his photography skills and his willingness to share his photos with us. Looking at the photos, you won't believe that the island is a part of Singapore!

On the ferry with the girls at Marina South Jetty







At sea on the upper viewing deck of the ferry with those who came with me on the first day

St John's island jetty welcoming us!








The island's palm-fringed beach as seen from the jetty







The jetty as seen from the beach







The Central Business District of Singapore some 7km away as seen from the beach. At night, we could see the many stars and the bright skylight of the city!





The island's jungle interior leading to the NUS Marine Research Centre










The gateway to the disused prison built to house illegal immigrants. Don't I look like the prison guard?






The hall of the former prison that is now used for school camps.







The island's village. Some islanders still go fishing in their boats in the wee hours of the morning.

Some of the island's noisy inhabitants. They were initially very afraid of us. I found out that by imitating the sounds of chickens, it is possible to get them to come out! Chiw Foong, Jason and the rest eventually managed to feed them with our leftover rice. This is so much like kampong life! We could not find the resident peacocks though.


The bungalow that we stayed (built in the 1930s for the resident doctor). It is real huge - 4 bedrooms, 2 huge bathrooms, a BBQ pit and a kitchen/dining room provided with a fridge and all utensils. Another big plus - it is fully airconditioned and inexpensive.

Some of the 80-over fishes that we caught for food during Round Two! Most were caught by the Lim family and Alvin. Jet was our most professional chef who deep-fried the fishes until we could eat the whole fish including bones! I miss his delicious soup! Thank you, Jet!

The island's beautiful sunset (the best in Singapore)

All those who stayed with me at St John's, minus Jason who took this photo. I miss your company!

Pointing back to St John's Island from Marina South Jetty. We shall return!

Such beautiful nature in this world points to the existence of a creator God!
How can anyone doubt that God created the world when he/she has seen the wonders of the beautiful nature that exist on the island?

To believe that our world evolved randomly without purpose and without the guidance of an intelligent higher being (God) over several million years, is to believe that given lots of time and plenty of necessary materials, a computer will be assembled by itself! I find this most absurd. When we look at a computer, we have no doubt that someone designed and made it, so why is it that we rule out the high possibility that God created this world and everything in it? And mind you, our world in all its life forms (such as our complicated human body system) and nature (solar system) are much more complicated than computers or any machines made by human hands! Just look at the millions of stars on any clear night! Also, we may notice that the world is provided with all the necessary conditions for life to exist. Many people forgot that many early scientists who pioneered the scientific revolution in Europe in the 17th century believed that God exists and that God in creating the world, God has come up with natural (scientific) laws to govern this world, just as God has given us moral laws to guide us in this world. Newton for example, believed that the law of gravity is one of God's natural law to make the natural world orderly (or we will all go to space). Isn't it more rational to believe that a creator God exists! Renes Descarthes, the great 17th century French mathematician famously said that, "Maths is the language that God uses to communicate with the world." (something along that lines, the quote may not be exactly correct). He recognised that the complexities of Maths (and may I add the laws of physics and biology) pointed to the existence of a creator God.

"Who created God, if God created the world?"

This would be the question that some may ask in response to what I said above. Those who ask this have not fully understood the concept of "God". All things on earth, living or non-living, are made of matter (material things) and are subjected to decay and rot over time. The Bible tells us that God is a spirit (not matter) with qualities of omnipresence (present everywhere), omniscience (knows everything) and omnipotency (all-powerful), God is therefore NOT limited to time and space, like man. Logically, the creator of this world has to possess such qualities or He would not be the creator! Does God need to be created if He has such qualities? For example, humans logically have to be more intelligent and powerful than the machines and computers that we make! To say that God has to be created by someone else is to say that God is NOT God! Only the God of man's imagination has to be created! The real God who created and rule this world DOES NOT have to be created! He is self-existing, self-sustaining, everlasting and eternal (always existing) and does not die nor fall sick like living material things. Otherwise, He would not be God!

People interested to pursue this topic further may look at the website below:

http://www.comereason.org/exst_god/exs010.asp