Of swines and maggots

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- Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 11:45 AM

Time for my monthly update. I think i mentioned before that i would like to see a longer archive listing, hence the minimal update once a month. But this time it's totally incindental, really. Just wanna put my thoughts to paper(harddisk/internet/whatever).

I've just read a blog belonging to a friend's friend, and it was thought provoking. There are a few things in life which would garner interest, both in the positive and negative sense, from the general crowd. Take politics for example. Everyone has their stand of whether they support the PAP or EEP (Everyone Else Party). Sure, some of you might be saying "but... i dun really care who's in charge of the country, just as long as they do it right". Ahh.... but think back and you'll probably remember a time when you cursed the guhmen for the 7% GST hike, or when you have just enlisted and are about to get your precious locks shaved by the menacing barber. Politics, at some point when something happens which will affect you, even indirectly, a personal opinion will arise.

The other "hot" topic, so to speak, is religion. And this is where the meat of this entry comes in, and Christianity, to be more specific. From the neutral point of view, there are many issues which Christians have caused for others to raise questions about. There's the philosophical questions, i.e. if God is so powerful, can He create something so big that He Himself couldn't carry. Also, the moral issues, i.e. why can't a Christian hold joss sticks as a sign of respect to their elders?** I shall provide my take on these questions (since i've raised them up) at the end of the blog, but i'm here to talk about other things.

Mega churches have been questioned on their existence, whether they are brainwashing their congregation, and the full blown article in the Straits Times years ago, doesn't make things easier either. On a more personal note, some people might find Christianity to be a load of crap. The hypocrisy of Christians is a major turn off, example, the boss who attends church every week but raises hell among his workers during the rest of the week. So many examples, so little space, so i'll just sum it up as, Christians don't seem to be nicer people, even with God in their lives.

A "easy-way-out" answer would be simply, Christians are human too and are imperfect, or if we were perfect, then we wouldn't need God. Valid reasons, but it may seem more like an excuse more than an answer. We are supposed to be "better" people, very generally speaking. Better in the sense we should love one another more, along the lines of this. For those who don't, hey, that's really between that person and God.

The blog i read was also pretty condemning. Nothing wrong with that if we're talking about personal opinions here. However, a lot of times, i feel people don't really have a full understanding of what Christianity is all about. They take shots at the faith from their limited knowledge, for whatever reason, be it just dislike for Christians in general, or to feel good that they are in the know of something seriously flawed that millions of Christians around the world are unaware of. To illustrate, I got back from a trip to Japan a couple of weeks ago, and the customer service there was excellent. The salespeople there really wait on you hand and foot, and if you end up leaving the shop without buying anything, no worries, they're still all smiles. Now, in Singapore, we have quite a different story. Just this morning, I had one such experience. I bought myself a cup of coffee from the NUS engine coffee shop and proceeded to pay for it. Unfortunately, i was left with a $50 note and got this major scolding from the auntie selling it, just because she had to walk half a metre away from the main counter to the cash register to extract more change. She even ended up saying that if the coffee wasn't already brewed/mixed, she would have refused to sell it to me. Now... imagine if a Japanese, who has never been to Singapore before, decided to buy a cup of coffee from this stall upon touch down in Singapore. If i were him/her, i would probably make the assumption that Singaporeans are all rude. I think you can draw the parallels of this yourself.

All that being said, my intention of this entry really isn;t to protect Christians and justify all their actions. Apart from merely pointing out that sometimes some people lack the full knowledge of Christianity and thus make assumptions, i would jsut like to mention the heart of this matter, and why it's bothering me at 3 am in the morning when i have school at 9am. Why do Christians want others to become Christians? Is it so that they can build a large enough army to conquer the world? So that you will think like them and be "brainwashed"? Or is it so that we can supposedly "force" you to give 10 percent of your income for the riches of Christian leaders (We don't actually, for the record.)? Why do we do so many of these things for a God whom we cannot see? Well... if you're able to sweep aside all prejudices for Christian people for a moment, the main reason behind it all is simply.. God.

The existence of God is something which i know of and don't follow blindly. For me to say why, will take me hours to type out. And if there IS a God, wouldn't He want you to be on His side? Initially, we are all condemned to die because we are imperfect, i.e. we have sinned, both Christians and non-Christians alike. To start off, no one is better off than the other person, from the nice guy who donates to the poor regularly to Marilyn Manson. Imperfection is just one sin away from perfection. Yet, He loved us so that He sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins, so that we may not be condemned to eternal death. What we got to do? Simply believe in Him and follow Him.

Having written so much, i think visuals will explain more clearly, and more simply of what Christianity is all about, stripping away all the "controversies" and issues:

Yup, God sees past our imperfections and our "bad-ness" and is always there to pick us up, for Christians and non-Christians alike. He is ALWAYS there, and no matter how badly you have led your life before, it doesn't matter to Him. Simply put, all you got to do is reach out to Him...

** will update tmrw or something. =)

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