Is Joseph Tan a Christian ?

KNN !!!! I hope he is not a Christian.

If he is, f88k, gosh...... for f88k sake, such superstition !!



http://www.straitstimes.com/print/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_280424.html

Sep 20, 2008
Baby's birth cert reverses parental joy
THE arrival of my newborn daughter was a source of joy for my wife and myself - until I went to obtain her birth certificate from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

To my horror, she was given the number T08-XX444X. As Chinese Singaporeans are aware, the number four suggests death, and implies misfortune.

I appealed to the ICA officer, also a Chinese Singaporean who understood my discomfiture. But she firmly rejected my plea because rules were rules, I was told. Subsequently, I appealed to a superior officer and waited an agonising week, making several calls in between, only to be given the same answer.

I grant that sticking to a system of rules is important. But so too is crafting exceptions which humanise the system.

My wife and I took great pains to craft our daughter's name, consulting time-honoured cultural principles, because we wanted an auspicious life for her. Imagine having a birth certificate number like 444 which counters all that.

A birth certificate is a personal and important life-long document.

A system which forces officers to stick rigidly to the rulebook without due regard for cultural sensitivities is not a good one. Rules are made to serve citizens and not the other way round.

I'm not giving up. I hope that my daughter can be given a more appropriate birth certificate number and I'm not asking for very auspicious figures.

Joseph Tan

straits time published this type of junk mail

no wonder they r ranked 150+ in the world..

Your post puzzles me until i realize that you possibly meant why use the name 'Joseph' if you are such a believer that the numbers 444 will affect your daughter's life.

Two possibilities:

He is really a christian but cultural values are his foundation

or

He just like Andrew Llloyd Webber's musicals.

BUT to be fair to him, numerology plays a very part in some christian's life. For example there is another 'Joseph' who got a '555' for his car license plate because according to him, '5' stands for grace. I do not know enough to comment on how widespread numerology amongst christians is, but symbols and symbolisms play a large part in the psyche of human beings.

As a person thinks, so he is.

In this case, the government could have program a skip of the number '4' from the birth certificate but then i understand that number '4' is not a bad number for other races. In such a case, where to draw the line.

Supposing Joseph Tan is not a christian, then perhaps he might like to put a talisman on his daughter's birth certificate especially if the government will not budge.

SIFU said:

straits time published this type of junk mail

Click to expand...

Perhaps Straits Times is trying to provoke responses. Let's see.

kakowi said:

In this case, the government could have program a skip of the number '4'

Click to expand...

like skipping SEX for car number plate

Chinese superstition with numbers and mentality with the pronunciation of numbers are incomprehensible. For example, the number 8, usually associated with striking good luck or fortune. In Mandarin, 8 is pronounced "ba", in Cantonese it's "paht", in Hokkien it's "pueh". But the prounciation for the word superstitiously associated 发 is "fa" in Mandarin, "faht" in Cantonese and "huat" in Hokkien. Where's the similiarity that leads to the linkage that the pronunciation of the number 8 equates good luck?

How about "wang ba" 王八？ Literally, the king of eight. It means tortoise, turtle or bastard.