Sunday, March 27, 2011

The reason for God: Belief in an age of scepticism (2008) - Timothy Keller


There can’s be just one true religion
10 - Our cultural biases make weighing competing truth-claims harder, yes. The social conditionedness of belief is a fact, but it cannot be used to argue that all-truth is completely relative or else the very argument refutes itself.

How could a good God allow suffering?
23 – Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one.
24 – Many people have to admit that most of what they really needed for success in life came to them through their most difficult and painful experiences.
26 – If you are sure that this natural world is unjust and filled with evil, you are assuming the reality of some extra-natural (or supernatural) standard by which to make your judgement.

Christianity is a straightjacket / Is believe in absolute truth the enemy of freedom?
46 – A fish, because it absorbs oxygen from water rather than air, is only free if it is restricted and limited to water. In many areas of life, freedom is not so much as the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions.

The church is responsible for so much injustice
53 – The mistaken belief is that a person must ‘clean up’ his pr her own life in order to merit God’s presence is not Christianity.

How can a loving God send people to hell?
73 – Think how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Do we respond with benign tolerance as we might toward strangers? Far from it…Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference.
79 – It is not question of God ‘sending us’ to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will be hell unless it is snipped in the bud.

Science has disproved Christianity
86 – It is a presupposition and not a scientific finding to say that science has proven/disproved God.

You can’t take Bible literally
114 – If you choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? A God , essentially of your won making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction.

Source: The reason for God: Belief in an age of scepticism (2008) - Timothy Keller

The problem of pain (1940) - CS Lewis


15 - “If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.” This is the problem of pain, in its simple form.
Logical fallacy: If A then B. Not B therefore not A.
If study hard, then you will get good result. You did not good result therefore you did not study hard.

15 – Absolute vs relative possibilities/impossibilities.
The absolutely possible may also be called the intrinsically impossible because it carries its impossibility within itself, instead of borrowing it from other impossibilities which in their turn depend on others. It has no unless clause attached to it.

Can the God who has unlimited power create very heavy stone even He Himself cannot lift it?
16 – His omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say “God can give a creature free-will and at the same time withhold free-will from it,” you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other works “God can”. It remains true that all things are possible with God: The intrinsic impossibilities are not things but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even we talk it about God.

20 – If fire comforts that body which at a certain distance, it will destroy it when the distance is reduces. Hence, even in a perfect world, the necessity for those danger signals which the pain-fibres in our nerves are apparently designed to transmit.

20 – If the fixed nature of matter prevents it from being always, and in all its dispositions, equally agreeable even to a single sour, much less is it possible for the matter of the universe at any moment to be distributed so that it is equally convenient and pleasurable to each member of a society. If a man travelling in one direction is having a journey down hill, a man going in the opposite direction must be going up the hill.

21 – The permanent nature of wood which enables us to use it as a beam also enables us to use it for hitting our neighbour on the head.

21 - We can, perhaps, conceive of a world in which God corrected the results of this abuse of free-will by His creatures at every moment: so that a wooden beam became soft as grass when it was used as a weapon, and the air refused to obey me if I attempted to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies of insults. But such a world would be one in which wrong actions were impossible, and in which, therefore, freedom of the will would be void; nay, if the principle were carried out to its logical conclusion, evil thoughts would be impossible, for the cerebral matter which we use in thinking would refuse its task when we attempted to gram them.

22 – Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.

59 – It would, no doubt, have been possible for God to remove by miracle the results of the first sin ever committed by a human being; but this would not have been much good unless He was prepared to remove the results of the second sin, and of the third, and so on forever. If the miracle ceased, then sooner or later we might have reached our present lamentable situation: if they did not, then a world, thus continually underpropped and corrected by Divine interference, would have been a world in which nothing important ever depended on human choice, and in which choice itself would soon cease from the certainty that one of the apparent alternatives before you would lead to no results and was therefore not really an alternative. As we saw, the chess player’s freedom to play chess depends on the rigidity of the squares and the moves.

90 – To say that God “need not have tried the experiment” is to say that because God knows, the thing known by God need not exist.

92 – From our present point of view it ought to be clear that the real problem is not why some humble, pious, believing people suffer, but why some do not.

103 – We must never make the problem of pain worse than it is by vague talk about the “unimaginable sum of human misery”. Suppose that I have a toothache of intensity x: and suppose that you, who are seated beside me, also begin to have a toothache of intensity x. You may, if you choose, say that the total amount of pain in the room is now 2x. But you must remember that not one is suffering 2x.

104 – There is no such thing as a sum of suffering, for no one suffers it. When we have reached the maximum that a single person can suffer, we have, no doubt, reached something very horrible, but we have reached all the suffering there ever can be in the universe. The addition of a million fellow-sufferers adds no more pain.

Source: The problem of pain (1940) - CS Lewis

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Sunset at the North Pole



This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point last week.

A scene you will probably never get to see in person, so take a moment and enjoy God at work at the North Pole.

And, you also see the sun below the moon.

Source: Email from a friend

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

有規有矩的教會 (林前 11:1-16)

Opening Prayer

Ice Break
两人一组:其中一个人吩咐另一个人做一件事/说一句话,然后另一个人就做或说出来
- 谁是说的,谁是做的
- 两人不是个体,指示的应该顾及到对方的能力/愿不愿

同样地,教会也是有不同的人负责不同的岗位。大家必须互相帮助,其中一方顺服另一方才能够把一件事做好。

Bible Reading林前 11:1-16

Framework
1-2 Introduction
3-7 Headcovering
8-12 Nature / Relationship 创造的次序和关系
13-16 反问and Conclusion

Introduction 1-2
1
我们怎样效法基督? – From Bible
为甚么保罗说:“你们该效法我”?保罗并非自高自大,他也不以自己为无罪的人。此时,因为哥林多教会的信徒对基督的生平和教训认识不多,保罗不能叫他们效法基督,事实上,当时连福音书也还未曾写成,所以他们不知耶稣是怎样的。
AD 54-55 Corinthians成书
Earliest Gospel- Mark AD 60-70
1st Book - Thessalonians (AD51)

2
- 保羅在以弗所寫了本書參林前十六8
- 保羅在到達以弗所之前,曾在哥林多住了一年零六個月(徒十八11,18~19)。哥林多教會應是那一段期間,由保羅所建立的。
- 使徒保羅第二次出外傳道時,曾在以弗所居留約達三年之久(徒廿31)。就在最後一年(大約主後五十四至五十五年)的五旬節以前,在以弗所寫了本書(參林前十六8)。

Headcovering 3-7
3
「男人是女人的頭,」在這一段論到蒙頭的經文裏(3~16節),只題到『男人』或『女人』,而沒有一次題到『弟兄』或『姊妹』,這是表示說:不是弟兄姐妹的问题乃是男女的问题。因为问题涉及男女被造的次序,外表,和穿着。

头 – 源头 / 权力与顺服的关系

What is the 层次体系? 神 – 基督–男人–女人
3.3「基督是男人的頭」 是指神創造人類時,上帝先造亞當,而基督也是創造的參與者 (8:6)。
3.4「男人是女人的頭」 夏娃是由亞當的肋lèi骨造成的 (創2:21~22)
3.5「神是基督的頭」指在救贖裡,基督降世為人,祂是從上帝而來的。

What is 头与身體的关系?
其實頭與身體都不可或缺,並無所謂重要不重要,但各別的功用卻是不同。『頭』並不含有仗勢欺壓的意味,反而是保養顧惜身體(弗五29),意指照顧、護理。
Like the game we played just now

腓 立 比 書 2
5 你 们 当 以 基 督 耶 稣 的 心 为 心 :
6 他 本 有 神 的 形 像 , 不 以 自 己 与 神 同 等 为 强 夺 的 ;
7 反 倒 虚 己 , 取 了 奴 仆 的 形 像 , 成 为 人 的 样 式 ;
8 既 有 人 的 样 子 , 就 自 己 卑 微 , 存 心 顺 服 , 以 至 於 死 , 且 死 在 十 字 架 上 。
9 所 以 , 神 将 他 升 为 至 高 , 又 赐 给 他 那 超 乎 万 名 之 上 的 名 ,

Before 4
当时候的背景Context
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/1-corinthians11-7
Important to take into account the context: 历史,文化,上下文
If I said Roland cried just now, what would be your response? To ask and find out the reason/context.

哥林多城位於希臘南部,雅典以西,位於羅馬與東方交通往來的要道上,在當時是一個重要的商業中心城市。哥林多向以廟寺聞名,以供奉希臘美與性的女神維納斯最 為有名。哥林多人藉用宗教之名鼓吹嫖妓,全盛時期廟妓數目高達千人。由於其宗教信仰腐敗,故這城也以不道德聞名於世。人們常以『哥林多化』一詞,作為『放 縱情慾』的代號,用來形容生活墮落與腐敗。

歌 林 多 前 書 6
9 你 们 岂 不 知 不 义 的 人 不 能 承 受 神 的 国 麽 ? 不 要 自 欺 ! 无 论 是 淫 乱 的 、 拜 偶 像 的 、 奸 淫 的 、 作 娈 童 的 、 亲 男 色 的 、
10 偷 窃 的 、 贪 婪 的 、 醉 酒 的 、 辱 骂 的 、 勒 索 的 , 都 不 能 承 受 神 的 国 。
18 你 们 要 逃 避 淫 行 。 人 所 犯 的 , 无 论 甚 麽 罪 , 都 在 身 子 以 外 , 惟 有 行 淫 的 , 是 得 罪 自 己 的 身 子 。
歌 林 多 前 書 10
14 我 所 亲 爱 的 弟 兄 阿 , 你 们 要 逃 避 拜 偶 像 的 事 。
20 我 乃 是 说 , 外 邦 人 所 献 的 祭 是 祭 鬼 , 不 是 祭 神 。 我 不 愿 意 你 们 与 鬼 相 交 。
21 你 们 不 能 喝 主 的 杯 又 喝 鬼 的 杯 , 不 能 吃 主 的 筵 席 又 吃 鬼 的 筵 席 。

Bible Reading 4-7
Pictures
–Take note on their hair and headcoverings
– Roman Baths (different wearing  Different地位, 资格, 身分)

4-7
On the contrary, ancient sources indicate that
Greek women commonly participated in religious ceremonies without headcoverings.
Nor does it seem that he is advising conformity to Jewish customs, in which women hid their faces in public.
He is certainly not advising conformity to Roman customs of his day, in which male priests normally covered their heads for ceremonies. (but not shown in the picture)

To summarize the matter briefly here, I will only say that there is not enough evidence in ancient sources to conclude that Paul is advising conformity to Corinthian customs in this passage.
But clearly he is urging the Corinthians to observe an established custom of the Church.

5 (headcovering)
Ancient
婦女蒙頭原是當時希臘人的一種風俗習慣,凡是婦女外出行路時,或在公共場所,都要用一種薄紗頭巾蒙著頭,以表示順服謙卑,惟獨那娼妓不貞潔的女子,如在哥林多有很多這樣的人,在公共場所是不蒙頭的。

〔背景註解〕古時只有出家無男人的尼姑剃髮;娼妓或被丈夫懷疑有淫行的女人不蒙頭(參民五18)。所以不蒙頭是妓女的標幟。剃髮與不蒙頭就是無男人與羞辱男人的表示。

我們必須記得在東方蒙頭的重要性。就是到今天,東方婦女要戴上『約希麥』(yashmak),這是一種長的面巾,只露出頭額和眼目,其長幾乎到達腳邊。在保羅的時代,東方的面中更是隱蔽。它從頭到腳,只為眼睛開了一個孔。一個有身份的東方婦女做夢也未曾想到在人前不戴面巾的一回事。在海丁五(Hastings)所編的聖經辭典(Dictionary of the Bible)中,台維斯(T. W. Davies)說,『在東方的鄉村或是城巿,沒有一個有身分的婦女出去不戴面巾的,不然她會受到誤會。在埃及工作的英美籍宣教師對本人說,他們自己的妻子女兒,在外出時最好也要帶上面巾。』

6 (Hair Cut)
Picture - General
Although in ancient times the customs of female dress varied, women of all cultures allowed their hair to grow long. Nowhere was short hair the custom for women. Short hair on a woman was a sign of grief or disgrace. Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans, adulteresses sometimes had their hair cropped as an extremely humiliating punishment for their crime.
希臘人的一種風俗習慣, 此外剃髮又是淫婦所受的刑罰

7
前面 - 蒙头/剪发
现在 - 象征/比喻

创造的次序和关系Nature / Relationship 8-12
因 为 他 是 神 的 形 像 和 荣 耀
創 世 記 1
26   神 说 : 我 们 要 照 着 我 们 的 形 像 、 按 着 我 们 的 样 式 造 人 , 使 他 们 管 理 海 里 的 鱼 、 空 中 的 鸟 、 地 上 的 牲 畜 , 和 全 地 , 并 地 上 所 爬 的 一 切 昆 虫 。
27   神 就 照 着 自 己 的 形 像 造 人 , 乃 是 照 着 他 的 形 像 造 男 造 女 。

女 人 是 男 人 的 荣 耀
創 世 記 2
18 耶 和 华   神 说 : 那 人 独 居 不 好 , 我 要 为 他 造 一 个 配 偶 帮 助 他 。
22 耶 和 华   神 就 用 那 人 身 上 所 取 的 肋 骨 造 成 一 个 女 人 , 领 他 到 那 人 跟 前 。

箴 言 12
4 才 德 的 妇 人 是 丈 夫 的 冠 冕 ; 贻 yí羞 的 妇 人 如 同 朽 烂 在 他 丈 夫 的 骨 中 。

Now, according to the same symbolical manner of thinking, Paul interprets the woman's headcovering. It is understood to be an emblem象征of the woman's submission. It follows, then, that a man should not wear such a headcovering. As the image of God's authority he should not dress like a woman, because this would involve a symbolical violation of his headship

10
因 此 , 女 人 为 天 使 的 缘 故 , 应 当 在 头 上 有 服 权 柄 的 记 号 。
a)When女 人蒙头 –〉在头 上 有 服 权 柄 的 记 号
b) 为 天 使 的 缘 故

以 賽 亞 書 6
2 其 上 有 撒 拉 弗 侍 立 , 各 有 六 个 翅 膀 : 用 两 个 翅 膀 遮 脸 , 两 个 翅 膀 遮 脚 , 两 个 翅 膀 飞 翔 ;
3 彼 此 呼 喊 说 : 圣 哉 ! 圣 哉 ! 圣 哉 ! 万 军 之 耶 和 华 ; 他 的 荣 光 充 满 全 地 !
这是合理的解释但可能也有别的寓意,无论如何资料有限。
In which case the idea would be that if the angels themselves do this, how much more should a woman

11-12
從被造的觀點來看,女人之所以存在,原是為著作男人的配偶以幫助他。
從生育的觀點來看,男人是藉著女人出生的。
不是男尊女卑,乃是互相依靠,彼此同等的。
神造男造女,各有各的独特地方,互相补足,两种性别没有孰好孰坏的分别。

在最后的时候,我们又会回来看男女/夫妻顺服的挑战。

反问and Conclusion 13-16
13-14 合宜与本性
在谈论到蒙头及头发长度的问题时,保罗指出的是:信徒应该 按着本身所处的文化背景,选择最端庄合宜的服饰。

在哥林多,如果男性留长头发,会被人视为是异教庙宇中的男妓,而女性剪短头发,则是妓女的象征。因此,保 罗就他们所处的文化,要求哥林多的姊妹留长发,保罗并非叫我们完全接纳传统文化的习俗,但却要小心别让自己的外貌和行为成为我们为基督作见证、传扬福音的 拦阻。

保罗的反问反映出每个人都知道答案,每个人都认可。

15
everyone agrees that a woman's head should be covered. And if there is something especially suitable about a woman's head being covered, then she should be glad to wear a headcovering in addition to the long hair. But if she does not like a headcovering, well then, let her shear off her hair also!
Long hair for men – more grooming, vigorous physical work, likely to be seized by it in a fight
Long hair women – feminine beauty, covers head

16
『神的眾教會』就是當日已經在各地出現的眾教會;全句意指眾教會對此都是意見一致,全然沒有辯駁的情形發生。
His concluding rebuke of the contentious people in Corinth is meant to cut off debate and settle the issue, not to leave it open.
Those who continue to challenge the παραδόσεις regarding women after these explanations have been made are to be regarded as obstinate trouble-makers, who deserve no further answer.

Applications
有規有矩的教會
什么規矩/次序? 教会的层次体系 and 教会成长班的组织结构
有了规矩后,需要什么? 遵守/顺从

以 弗 所 書 5
20 凡 事 要 奉 我 们 主 耶 稣 基 督 的 名 常 常 感 谢 父 神 。
21 又 当 存 敬 畏 基 督 的 心 , 彼 此 顺 服 。
22 你 们 作 妻 子 的 , 当 顺 服 自 己 的 丈 夫 , 如 同 顺 服 主 。
23 因 为 丈 夫 是 妻 子 的 头 , 如 同 基 督 是 教 会 的 头 ; 他 又 是 教 会 全 体 的 救 主 。
24 教 会 怎 样 顺 服 基 督 , 妻 子 也 要 怎 样 凡 事 顺 服 丈 夫 。
25 你 们 作 丈 夫 的 , 要 爱 你 们 的 妻 子 , 正 如 基 督 爱 教 会 , 为 教 会 舍 己 。
28 丈 夫 也 当 照 样 爱 妻 子 , 如 同 爱 自 己 的 身 子 ; 爱 妻 子 便 是 爱 自 己 了 。
29 从 来 没 有 人 恨 恶 自 己 的 身 子 , 总 是 保 养 顾 惜 , 正 像 基 督 待 教 会 一 样 ,
30 因 我 们 是 他 身 上 的 肢 体 ( 有 古 卷 在 此 有 : 就 是 他 的 骨 他 的 肉 ) 。
31 为 这 个 缘 故 , 人 要 离 开 父 母 , 与 妻 子 连 合 , 二 人 成 为 一 体 。
32 这 是 极 大 的 奥 秘 , 但 我 是 指 着 基 督 和 教 会 说 的 。
33 然 而 , 你 们 各 人 都 当 爱 妻 子 , 如 同 爱 自 己 一 样 。 妻 子 也 当 敬 重 他 的 丈 夫 。

Key Word / 共同点=顺服
1) 神 - 基督
腓 立 比 書 2
5 你 们 当 以 基 督 耶 稣 的 心 为 心 :
6 他 本 有 神 的 形 像 , 不 以 自 己 与 神 同 等 为 强 夺 的 ;
7 反 倒 虚 己 , 取 了 奴 仆 的 形 像 , 成 为 人 的 样 式 ;
8 既 有 人 的 样 子 , 就 自 己 卑 微 , 存 心 顺 服 , 以 至 於 死 , 且 死 在 十 字 架 上 。
9 所 以 , 神 将 他 升 为 至 高 , 又 赐 给 他 那 超 乎 万 名 之 上 的 名 ,

2) 基督 - 教会
教会的层次体系 and 教会成长班的组织结构
相互的关系
基 督 是 教 会 的 头,所以教 会应当顺 服 基 督
基 督 爱 教 会 , 为 教 会 舍 己 。

牧师上个星期分享了关于教会成长班的组织结构
希望大家能够彼此帮助/配搭

3)丈夫 - 妻子 (家庭是组成教会很重要的一环)
想听一听男生的意见 – 很高兴?
想听一听女生的意见 – 不公平?
A)海外校园 (Read from the article)
B)SM, female(non-Christian couple from China)
不是绝对的,总的来说是男的做主 考虑问题比较全面
问男:女管男 不好受
问女:男管女 OK 女管男 ,你要一个这样的丈夫吗?
女的强势/做主 -->很少对象

Conclude: 有規有矩的教會是由男女/家庭组成。大家应对教会制度和家庭制度的了解并顺服。这是一个相互的关系,就好象身体不能没有头,头也不能没了身体。

Ending Verses
撒 母 耳 記 上 15
22 撒 母 耳 说 : 耶 和 华 喜 悦 燔 祭 和 平 安 祭 , 岂 如 喜 悦 人 听 从 他 的 话 呢 ? 听 命 胜 於 献 祭 ; 顺 从 胜 於 公 羊 的 脂 油 。
何 西 阿 書 6: 6
我 喜 爱 良 善 ( 或 译 : 怜 恤 xù) , 不 喜 爱 祭 祀 sì; 喜 爱 认 识   神 , 胜 於 燔 fán祭。

Main Sources
http://www.ccbiblestudy.org/New%20Testament/46%201Cor/46CT11.htm
http://www.ccbiblestudy.org/New%20Testament/46%201Cor/46GT11.htm
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/1-corinthians11-7

Monday, March 21, 2011

What does God allow suffering?

What is the motive of the person asking the question?

Motive 1: The reason to reject God.
Premise 1: God allows sufferings in the world.
Premise 2: I cannot understand how God can allow these.
Conclusion: So there is no God or there is a god who is not worth believing in.

Premise 1: Lecturer gives low marks for my exam paper.
Premise 2: I cannot understand how the lecturer can do this.
Conclusion: So the lecturer does not exist or the lecturer is not worth to be trusted.

Premise 1: 1+1=2
Premise 2: I cannot understand how can 1+1=2
Conclusion: So 1+1=2 does not exist or 1+1=2 is not worth to be trusted.

In this sense, the person is very proud because he only accepts things that he understands and rejects things that he does not understand.

Motive 2: He/she has been through suffering(s).
God has good purpose behind the ‘suffering’ seems to be a weak statement if you told this to people who went through tsunami.

From the Book of Job, two lessons learnt:
1) God does not have to give us the answer to everything. (God did not give answers to Job but indirectly questioning back Job with other questions, Job 38)
2) Although sufferings happen but God is still in control. (Job 42)

From a bigger point of view, God is going to ‘heal’ the suffering world with the ultimate restoration.

Source: Discussion and response from my friend – ML, 20 March 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Lord, I Offer My Life to You



All that I am, all that I have
I lay them down before you O Lord
All my regrets, all my acclaim
The joy and the pain, I'm making them yours

Chorus:
Lord I offer my life to You
Everything I've been through
Use it for your glory
Lord I offer my days to You
Lifting my praise to You
As a pleasing sacrifice
Lord I offer You my life

Things in the past, things yet unseen
Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true
All of my hopes, all of my plans
My heart and my hands are lifted to You.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs-WpiTd7oc&feature=player_embedded

I Worship You Almighty God



I worship You Almighty God
There is none like you
I worship You O Prince of Peace
That is what I want to do

I give You praise
For You are my righteousness
I worship You Almighty God
There is none like You

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klup2IfR35Y

No Higher Calling - by Lenny Leblanc



Down at Your feet, Oh Lord
Is the most high place
In Your presence, Lord
I seek Your face, I seek your face

Chorus
There is no higher calling no greater honor
Than to bow and kneel before Your throne
I'm amazed at Your glory, embraced by Your mercy
Oh Lord, I live to worship You

Down at Your feet, Oh Lord
Is the most high place
In Your presence, Lord
We seek Your face, we seek your face

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sHLAiT9bJE

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dreaming: An introduction to the science of sleep – J. Allan Hobson (2002)


Facts
Dreaming – mental activity occurring in sleep

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep – eyes darted back and forth and up and down behind their close lids during sleep.

Not that dreaming occurs exclusively in REM sleep. It doesn’t. REM sleep just happens to provide the most ideal condition for occurrence.

REM sleep at sleep onset only in Children.

The serotonin and noradrenaline cells that modulate the brain during waking reduce their output by half during non-REM sleep but are shut off completely during REM sleep.

When the brain is intensely activated during REM sleep, motor output has to be actively block . Sleep waling behaviours are due to these motor behaviours are said to be ‘dissociated’ because normally they occur only during waking. The states are hybrids, with features both sleep and waking.

Serotonin and noradrenaline are two chemicals to be necessary for attention, learning, and memory (by implication for orientation and active reasoning).

The activation of the brain in sleep is necessary for us to reorder the information inside our heads, to get rid of certain obsolete memories, to update memories, and to incorporate new experiences into our memory systems. In addition to this cognitive function, the activation of the brain during sleep could have a lifelong development role. (REM sleep is far more prevalent in newborn infants than it is in adults).

Dreaming are related to the changes in the level of brain activation.

Independent from activation, the brain opens and closes its gates of sensor input and motor output. Thus as the brain self-activates in sleep, it shuts its gates so that outside information has difficulty accessing the brain. It is equally difficult for sleep-activated brain to realise the motor acts that it generates.

Dream changes its chemical climate radically. witout serotonin and noradrenaline, the dreaming brain cannot do certain things such as direct its thoughts, engage in analytical problem-solving, and remember its activities.

Interesting questions
Can dreams foretell future?
There is absolutely no scientific evidence for this theory and considerable scientific evidence against it.

Do we dream in black and white or in colour?
Modern lab evidence suggests strongly that we dream in colour.

Do animals dream?
Animals certainly can’t report dreams even if they do have them. We then go on to make the fairly safe assumption that animals have the same mechanisms of brain activation in sleep as we do.

Do babies dream?
We don’t (and can’t) know. But why not?

When does dreaming start?
Dreaming that are similar to those of adults start to appear tat about age three, when the infant is acquiring language and propositional thought. The upper brain circuits that support language and propositional thought must be functional in order for dreaming to occur.

Do blind people see in their dreams?
People who are blind from birth have no visual imagery at any time, neither in waking nor in dreaming. People with acquired blindness have developed perpetual capacities to recall the images where they have had previous vision.

Are men and women’s dreams different?
The emotion profiles in dreams of men and women were strikingly similar.

Source: Dreaming: An introduction to the science of sleep – J. Allan Hobson (2002)