We’ve seen that the arguments that ASSSCs (Anti-Social Sunday Sleep-In Christians) put forward that church is moot as long as you are in Christ is typically flawed, because we are part the church as soon as we accept Him into our lives. The heavier theological questions stems from the USAECs (Ultra-Spiritual Anti-Establishment Christians). Their basic premise is that the Bible does not state one needs to be a church member.

I actually don’t have much argument on that, just google ‘Church Membership’ and you’ll see a million sites to talk about it. For me, it’s really simple. If I love God, I belong to the church. I also identify with a local church, in this case GTPJ. Do I love GTPJ? Yes, of course. The people there, the ministers, the cell, my friends: they have given me so much, that I’m just thankful to be identified with a group like GT. You say, oh, he’s from GT? Yeah! You got that right! In fact, in my younger days, I was so loyal to the church that we would get into fights in our football/basketball games with other churches. That’s irrational loyalty! (And kiasu-ness of course, I admit).  I don’t advocate beating up the pastor from another church down the street but you know, we were young punks back then.

Why are we so ready to fill up forms to become members of Isetans, Jaya Jusco, Frequent flyers etc, but balk at church membership? USAECs, the Bible doesn’t mention about joining Isetan membership, or Tropicana Golf membership, what are we to do? The point is this: Are we simply opposed to church membership because it is a CHURCH and adds no material value to our lives the way an Isetan, Golf, Frequent Flyer membership does? Or if you are a Manchester United fan, if joining Manchester Fan Club is FREE and gives you 10% off your mamak when you watch a Manchester match, would you do it? I know I won’t, because Juventus rules forever and ever, but sure, if you are one of those United supporters, I’m sure you’d jump at that!

The argument is not whether it’s mandated by God or not (we can argue till the cows come home). The argument is: Why Not? Why the commitment phobia? Why the crisis in commitment? Do you think that the pastors will randomly select a name from the memberlist for a drug test? Or just simply seeing your name on a list makes you nervous? Why do we shy away from identifying ourselves with a local church?

Being a GT member should be something to be proud of. I am proud to represent GT when I go for conferences. I don’t grin uncomfortably and say, “Umm, yeah, I attend GT. No, ummm, not a member, but yeah, an attendee. Regular attendee.” When you fill out conference forms, under ‘Membership’, do you put “Universal Church”, or “I disagree with this discrimiative statement”, or simply, “I am an USAEC”? I am a GT member! I love God, the fellowship of his people, my church leaders, my zone pastors, my zone leaders, my cell members!

If GTPJ emphasizes on formal church membership, then I’m game. Whether the church needs it for number crunching, ministerial resource management, cell leadership, ministry, exacting church discipline, propagting church agape funds, missions ministry etc: what is the big issue? What is our LOSS? Are we paying money to be members? Come on. Seriously. I’ll be an embarassment to my own conscience if I argue I disagree with church membership but still pay RM105.00 for my monthly golf membership.

I love my church. Why would I put them in a position of awkwardness, in which the leaders go: “Umm, well, so-and-so shows great commitment in going missions and he is struggling a little with money, let’s give him a subsidy for missions?” “No, he’s not a member.” “What? Man, that’s uncomfortable. Let’s tweak our rules a bit then here and there.” “NO, we shouldn’t.” “Maybe we should?” “Hmmmm.”

Or the matter of serving in a ministry regularly and not being a member. What if there was an agreement within the leadership to have members of the church only minister? Where is the accountability? Now the church would need to give allowance and exceptions. Stop that. USAECs, instead of spouting out the absence of God’s mandate in formal church membership, should view the argument from the church perspective. If you, as an attendee of such and such local church, can help the church alleviate any ambiguity, and submit to its view of having members, whatever the reasons, and if you, as a mega rational USAEC, cannot find one major disadvantage of being a member of the church you love and that loves you: WHY NOT MEMBERSHIP?

If USAECs still insists on Bible Scriptures, what about:

“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves” (Hebrews 13:17)

I know this is not a great theological argument, like I said, you can read that off the net, just google church “Formal Membership”. But sometimes, I just think it’s quite ludicrous how one can be so opposed to church membership and not think twice to be a member of Orange Julius Ice Cream Club to get that 10% off Dairy Queen Milk Shakes.

Do we love our church as much as those Milk Shakes?

I once knew a guy back in uni who refused to attend a church, stating that it was a man made institution and that God already resided in him. He simply stated it was enough for him to commune with God alone in his apartment on Sundays (possibly in deep prayer, interspersed by snores), without committing to a church. We will call this the Anti-Social-Sunday-Sleep-in Christian or ASSSC for short.

On the other hand, we have a second group of fellows, Christians who would happily attend a church, worship there, have church friends, join cell activities etc, but refuse to be a member of the church. When asked, they suddenly become ultra holy and declare, at their sternest voice: “It does not say anywhere in the Bible that we need to be members of the church.” We can call this group the Ultra-Spiritual-Anti-Establishment Christians or USAECs for short.

Should we belong to a church?

It’s a strange phenomenon, that we (myself included) like to point out our holiness in accordance to the Bible when it suits our fancy. It’s like the argument: “The Bible never said we can’t drink.” Actually, the Bible doesn’t say a whole lot of stuff. Like what we should wear everyday. Wouldn’t it be great if the Bible had that and we don’t need to make these silly decisions like what colour to wear today? What kind of Bible is this that doesn’t tell us these simple things??!? It doesn’t tell us what we can or cannot drink either. I can consume petrol if I wanted, but that would really be stupid, wouldn’t it?

But seriously, let’s make it clear. The Bible doesn’t say Christians need to be members of the church or they will go to hell. In fact, it doesn’t have anything to do with your salvation. The church, pastors, ministers DO NOT SAVE. There’s no saving power there. Only Christ saves.Technically, a Christian might not go to a church building due to reasons like physical health, but his salvation is still secured.
However, in many scriptures, the church itself is referred to not as a physical building, but the believers. That’s what a church is. It’s not Glad Tidings the building, it’s Glad Tidings the People. The believers. 1 Peter 2:5:

“you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Alun Davies (who spoke at our camp) made an interesting observation that the word ‘church‘, the english word has its origin from a Celtic word, kirk, which in turns comes from a greek word meaning Lord’s house. Unfortunately, kirk’s meaning is the physical building as opposed to the greek’s view of the ‘Lord’s house’. So from kirk, comes ‘church’, and until today we view it as a BUILDING. (I like all these scholaristic analyses, they make articles look very professional). However, the New Testament does not reference a building when it talks about church. It talks about the gathering of people. In the New Testament sense, we can’t ‘go to church’ because we ARE the church. We are part of the ecclesia, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ. The building’s function is to house the church, which is us.

Back to the story of my friend who argues he can be a Christian without belonging to a Church, the New Testament makes no provision for that, because it simply does not make any sense. It’s not a building or a place, but rather, a spiritual house, a spiritual state of belonging into God’s family. If you are part of the body of Christ, then you are part of the church. Paul talks about different parts of the body functioning differently with different gifts. The New testament idea is this: If you are a Christian and love the Lord, you would want to be part of the bride of Christ. You would relish in belonging with the body, of functioning and fulfilling your role there, to serve God with fellow members, to be a living stone in the spiritual house. The Bible doesn’t talk at length about how belonging in a church will be beneficial to members, like carparks, rights to vote, having subsidy for church camps and such because there weren’t many USAECs or ASSSCs back then. People were a lot simpler, and God uses the simple to make fools of the wise.

So we have arguments these days that Christians are against the establishment of a structured membership of a church; that these are formal ceremonies and not needed etc. These Christians continue to declare their salvation without declaring their allegiance to the church. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. You are birthed into a spiritual body. You are the church. You are already part of the church, if you are truly saved. In that way, we are participating in God’s plan for the church, for the body, for the bride of Christ in the earth today. It’s not about an individual, and I think that’s why many people balk at it. They still want to retain one feet in the world they have left, and another in the church. I call it the Calamity of Commitment.

If we can only see beyond our individual views. Being part of the church is being part of God’s movement that is beyond our borders, across countries, all over the world. If the church wasn’t important, then more than half the New Testament is irrelevant. Then Peter is a useless rock, because there’s no church to be built on it, and the gates of Hell has indeed triumphed. But thank God for His plans that are far outreaching than our tiny world view, because He is using the church to fulfill His plans in this world.

So to the ASSCs, it’s pretty straightforward. You are already part of a church. Being a Christian without being in a church is a concept completely alien to the New Testament. If we think we’re being very smart alecky about it, the New testament ministers would just look at us as if we have grown wings and don tutus and take off into the sunset. It’s unheard of! If you refuse to attend church, you’re simply refusing to go to the building. If you refuse to minister and care for the body or be a functional member of the body; then you are a brick in the middle of nowhere, and a brick without a building is a useless brick. It’s opposed to what God has called us to be. So eventually we will lose our usefulness, we will lose our meaning and we’ll continue to meander through life thinking we have it all figured out, when actually we are more confused about God’s purpose than anyone else.

What about the ultra spiritual USAECs? They ‘belong’ to a church, they ‘go’ to church, and in some cases even serve as ministers in the church. Yet, their spikes shoot up in indignation when prompted to be ‘members’. They flat out refuse and challenge the leaders to point to scriptural evidence on official church membership as God’s plan.

Part 2 coming up!

I’m not a financial guru or expert but I’ve been following with great interest the past week on the news coming from the US financial market, specifically the fate of Lehman Brothers, one of the world’s most prestigious (and oldest) investment bank. One of my good friend and her husband works there, so in the next few days, we will see what happens, and if this will go down as one of the greatest collapse ever in Wall Street…I’m praying for the couple (who just had their first child), but at the same time, also looking into how on earth could a bank the size of Lehman Brothers face bankruptcy in such a short period of time.

I’m not going to analyze it (Google can give you much better articles on how, why, when this collapse occured - for me, amazingly I still have a piggy bank at home), but I was just reading this morning 1 Corinthians 3:18-20:

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

The context here was that some of the Corinthians were ridiculing the message of the cross. In fact, even today, this verse truly applies to many.  We apply the world’s standard for wisdom and use it to contextualise the gospel. To the world, the idea of God coming to die for us is simply too ridiculous to accept. To the world, the idea of sacrifice and looking after the needs of people is simply senseless. To the world, the idea of giving 10% or pledging for missions and building fund is borderline fanatical at best and stupid at worst. Paul deals with this very simply in 1 Corinthains 2:14:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

This is why it’s difficult to rationalise to people on the logic of the gospel, not because the gospel is illogical, but because based on human wisdom, it is indiscernible. It remains a ‘mystery’, but Paul contends that the mystery has already been revealed in Romans 16:25.

In the workplace, we all depend on experiential wisdom. I’m not saying those are not valuable, but how often do we forget to place God in the decisions we make? How often do we not steer out of problems because we don’t let God take the wheel? Our experiential wisdom can take us so far, but we are all depending on historical memories to guide us along, and we extrapolate that into the future. We’re not predicting the future, but we’re assuming what we think is the future based on past trends. We call it a guestimate. That’s as much as you can go with.

I’ve often faced roadblocks at work that is simply overwhelming. I don’t even know what to do or start. I’m trying to get into a habit of putting all issues to God first. And everytime, there’s some kind of help, beyond human reasoning or human wisdom that just occurs. It’s not me, but it’s the wisdom of God. To God, what is our future is a past to Him. It has occured, even if it is in the future because God is beyond the parameters of time. Wouldn’t it be great to know all outcomes of all decisions we make?

But God leads us through one chapter after another. Depend on His wisdom, not the world’s standards and He will raise you up to glorify Him.

I continue to pray for the couple in Lehman Brothers. In the world’s wisdom, such an established company should never be bankrupt, but yet, they are on the brink of insolvency. Their proud 158 years history down the drain.

In the world’s wisdom, a God should never have to die for our sins, it shows how weak this God is, and how Christianity would fade away. In the words of John Lenon: Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. John Lennon was shot dead at the age of 40, and his wisdom now seems terribly misplaced.
We depend not on the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of God in the decisions we make everyday in our lives. Trust in Him, be faithful to Him and in the trials and tough periods of life, He will bring you through.

“I asked the man at the gate of the year, give me a light, that I may walk safely into the unknown; but he said to me stretch out your hand, and place it into the hand of God, and it will be to you better than the light, and safer than the known.” -King George IV, World War II.

Our cell has always been blessed; moreso from a career perspective. In the past 2 years, we’ve seen careers flourish, progress and members taking up new jobs, new roles, new responsibility. I believe that the next frontier is the marketplace. I was talking to PVL about it last week, that as God is raising His people up in the marketplace, we need to know what sort of roles are we playing, not just in the company but in the kingdom of God. As we pursue our careers, where does our faith in God come in? Are we simply seeking for money, a good raise, a good appraisal?

Someone said to me once, “I hate this rat race. You won’t be seeing me climbing this corporate ladder, I want to do the things of God.”

It’s a typical fallacy of many, that if you’re in ‘the world’, you’re not doing the will of God. Esther spent years and years in a pagan king’s court and yet she was placed there for a reason! There’s nothing wrong in pursuing careers, excelling in them and even getting promoted to high positions. Humility isn’t about driving the tiniest car, getting the lowest paid job, walking around like a bum, not owning a house etc. That’s false humility! That’s a show of humility, but there’s nothing to be humble in those cases. Humility is about taking responsibility of the role that God has given you, and constantly coming back to God for strength.

I am not an advocate of the prosperity gospel, but I believe that God will provide all our needs and will add to us according to his will and plans, and his time. The blessings of job, of salary are all there because He is positioning us for ’such a time as this’. It’s not coincidence that young cell members are blessed beyond what is imagined. I am sincerely overjoyed whenever any of the members have a praise report of a pay raise, of a good income. I don’t really care if I get less and I’ve worked longer. It doesn’t matter!Because God is going to use the resources we have to do His work. And we don’t worry about not having enough. God’s not about giving you the enough. He gives you in the abundance, if you know what to do with it.

Pastor Bernard Blessing spoke about the ‘Evening that will come’ for every Christians, based on John 6:16. We’re all in different positions: some will undergo the ‘evening’, meaning challenges, trials; some are going through it and some have gone through it. No matter the case, we’re called to help and bear each other up. We’re called to be ‘resource centers’.

Our cell group is not just a social group out for a good time. The ’social’ is the  external part. Many people see it, and they dismiss it as being just a social group. They don’t see the underlying part of cell; the constant encouragement; the help in any ways-finance, advice, support-the intercession and prayers; that goes on through the week. If you’re not part of this aspect of cell, then yeah, it’s just a social group, if there’s no effort to find your role in the cell group. There’s no ‘relevance’, and it’s unfortunate, because you will miss the blessings and the opportunities to bless as well. More than a social group, we are a resource group. We are called to distribute God’s blessings to others.

Some are going through our ‘evenings’.  To others, our evenings will eventually come. Be in the habit of generosity and don’t just come to cell for the superficial social, but be useful. Be a distribution center of God’s goodness!

Ching Ming was observed over a week ago, and although I don’t observe it, a few things came to mind.

A brief writeup on Ching Ming can be found at http://www.chcp.org/chingming.html. I’m a little bemused by the statement:

“Today families may be more likely to prefer simplified offerings of only the incense, paper money and flowers.”

He’s probably not Malaysian, and have not seen our petrol kiosk being burnt, along with wonderbras and BMWs and even maids..yes, I just found out that effigies of maids were also burnt. If that’s not grand, I don’t know what is.

I grew up in a Christian family, but spent a lot of time with my grandmother, who was Taoist. Or at least I think she was. She had an altar set up with the idol of Guan Yu I recall, back in her OldTown house, so as a chinese family, we were culturally influenced a lot by my grandmother, even to little superstitions like not reading while eating, or not mixing sweet and salty stuff and little things like that. We were brought up to respect our elders, not eating till they ate and asking them to eat first; and of course, the famous relative-calling everytime we go into her home. This meant we needed to call everyone who was there, except for the ones younger. So if it was a huge family reunion, I’ll need to go one by one and call: “Ah Ma, Ah Yeh, Sam Suk, Ah Pak, Ah Pak Leong, Ku Che, Ku Cheong etc etc”.

We observe Chinese New Year, of course, and had firecracker wars with the neighbours, where we would angle our moon travelers to attack a particular house or field. We even devised a bazooka, where using a firecracker can shoot a projectile at murderous speed. So much for pursuing peace with all men.

But I don’t remember Ching Ming, and I suppose, it could either mean my grandmother never believed in it (to burn incense for Ah Tai, my great grandmother) or we were shielded from such ceremonies by my parents. I do recall a portrait of my stern looking Ah Tai in my grandmother’s room, where I would sleep over night.

Hence, I never had to experience the pressure to participate in a religious ceremony that might compromise my christian faith. I am quite sure many others have. The chinese culture is steeped with such ceremonies like respecting the dead and praying to them.

How can a Christian respond without coming across as being disrespectful?

In order to address this, let us first construct the background in which such a question might be asked.

In Chinese tradition (and I’m sure in others as well), respect and loyalty to elders is often demonstrated in the event of death. Every family member has a duty to perform for the deceased, and not to do so will be viewed as being disrespectful and unfilial. Filial piety, after all, is a virtue. Emphasis is placed on being filial, so much so that in death, respect to the dead is shown by performing rituals, such as leaving gifts and burning hell money to make sure that the travel of their after life would be eased. Some might say that they don’t worship their ancestors, just showing respect, which all religion should teach.

However, there must be a line drawn for christians to participate in ceremonious rituals in the name of respect. For instance, while I agreed to be the witness and best man for my friend, I made it very clear to him and his family that I will not be part of the blessing ceremony. What about performing those rituals so as not to cause anymore distress in the family unit? What about going through the motions but praying to Jesus instead under your breath?

I agree it’s a difficult position, one which I have not been in, so I probably cannot write authoritatively about this. While I think it is OK for Christians to care for the grave site, mourn for the dead without being idolatrous, we must be careful not to confuse what is biblical and unbiblical. There’s a difference between speaking of a friend who passed away and to a friend who passed away, for instance. Whatever that implies our agreement with idolatry, necromancy and unbiblical beliefs, we must avoid it. I.e not participate at all. Of course, the keyword here is implies, and as I have written in my previous post; we need to be conscious of the interpretive gap.

It’s quite a hard line approach, that whatever we do in Ching Ming, whether we say we don’t believe in it, but still accompany our family to the gravesite, still stand beside them, still help them burn incense…these actions implies our agreement to the rituals. Just as I would not participate in my friend’s marriage blessing, I would avoid any participation in grave visits. Not that visiting a grave of a loved one is wrong in itself, but doing so during Ching Ming would inevitably lend the impression that we condone to ancestral worship and rituals related to the festival.

I’ll also add that as Christians, our faith will always be tested and there will be conflicts in families regarding faith, as said in Matthew 10:34–39. But the first generation Christian must be the salt and light of the family, and face such persecutions for the faith. While we should respect the family, we must also have no part in traditional rituals of ancestral worship.

In 2 Corinthians 6:14–16:

” Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “

Reading 1 Corinthians 8:

v4: So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.

v7: But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

v8: But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

A couple of months back, one of my best friends got married. He was a strong buddhist, and once contemplated becoming a monk, and spent a few months at a monastery. He asked me to be his witness (or his best man, in other words) which I readily agreed.

“But I’m getting married in a temple, and will be blessed by a monk,” he added, half apologetically. We have often debated about religion, him about Buddhism, me about Christianity. In fact, at one point, both of us readily agreed we were trying to witness our own religion to each other, that just as I really wanted him to believe in the freedom of Christ, he wanted me to believe in the liberation of Buddhism. It’s funny, how two good friends are trying to convert each other to what we know is the truth.

“Sure,” I responded and added, “Do I need to also shave and chant with you?”

“No need lah!”

It’s funny, that he considered asking me, thinking I might be offended to go to a temple. But I’ve been to many temples and wats and even a mosque. To me, going these places isn’t defiling what I believe in, or compromising my faith in any way. So I went and sat as a witness, met all his friends and adjourned to the chamber where he and his wife would be blessed by a Sri Lankan monk. I didn’t go into the blessing chamber but hung around outside, where I met another Christian girl who also got invited and we struck up a very nice conversation, amidst the chants of blessings. And I was just wondering, if I had actually gone into the blessing chamber and sat there just to get out of the sun, and this girl was told I was a Christian, what would go through her mind?

1 Corinthians 8 deals with Paul’s address to the church, dealing with what can defile and what cannot defile. He is basically saying, that food, offered to idols is still food, since the idols aren’t real anyway. So an apple is an apple, not some kind of poison just because it was brought to an idol. This wasn’t a new teaching; in fact, Jesus addressed it in Mark 7:14-15

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ “

And in Romans 14:14, Paul reiterates:

As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

Here he deals with two aspects of our actions: the actual and the perceived.

I used to not really care what a lot of people think of me. If I wanted to have a drink, I’d do it, and all these goody two shoes christians can say what they want. It’s the liberation of Christianity’s dos and donts, it’s all about ‘personal convictions’, whether I feel good or bad about it. This was a popular theme of debate back in my university days, that anything I felt was ok, then it was OK, else the Holy Spirit would have convicted me otherwise.

This is actually a very dangerous philosophy, because I dealt primarily with the actual consequences, and neglected what was perceived. For instance, if I visited my grandma’s grave and knelt before it, praying to God and thanking God for her life, I have theoretically done nothing wrong. But if another friend, a non-christian happened to be there, he would have thought, “Hey, Christians believe in ancestral worship since he’s kneeling down and praying to it.” There is that gap that leaves too much to interpretation, which is unncessary. We can call it the interpretive gap, because it sounds cool and has a management guru book ring to it. =)

As what Paul writes; if he should eat these food and another person sees him doing it, there’s that gap that might be interpreted wrongly. At that time, newer christians might have been converted from heathenism, and they might think Christianity still believed in divine powers of idols by eating the food. To Christians, it’s nothing. To new believers, the interpretive gap is too open.

As Christians, we are free. Because we know that idols are simply carvings and have no power to possess you when you eat that ’siew pau’ offered to it, we enjoy the liberation of truth. But we need to be conscious of what is perceived, and how other believers have their own interpretive gap. It is simple. Can I survive without the siew pau offered to idols? Sure. I will just make do without it, so it doesn’t leave any gap for new christians to stumble.

It’s a contentious point, true. I used to openly order beer when I go out with friends at times. But if I had a new cell member who struggles with alcoholism, how much effect would that be for him to see a cell leader with a Heineken in his hands? Can I survive without it? Definitely, so I stopped, and hopefully matured through that process.

The Bible says clearly that this is a sin for a Christian to cause a weaker Christian to stumble in this way. It even go as far as to say we could lead to them being destroyed. It is much easier for me to say, “I don’t need to eat or drink this, since there’s not much benefit it it anyway,” and do away with it. Though we are free from all these bondages, we should not abuse such freedom in a way that would cause others to fall. Unfortunately, there will be times when you will be misinterpreted. I am not discounting possibilities where one might go to a brothel to witness to prostitutes, but be sure that the intentions and motivations are God driven, and He will definitely guide your path and not allow you to stumble the weaker Christians along the way. But as much as possible, we should minimise the interpretive gap by avoiding ambiguous circumstances if possible, like drinking a beer, smoking a cigar or going into a casino especially if you are in leadership positions.

After all, the freedom of Christ has taken away our dependence on such things like these.

Well, an occasional Seremban char siew pau is still irresistible.

It’s amazing what you can get once you ‘kick the bucket’, or ‘cross over’, or ‘meet your maker’. These days, the industry of the dead is booming, with people selling elaborate gifts to be burnt–yes, you read it right–burnt, during festivals like Ching Ming last week. Cars, handphones, LV bags and even a petrol station can be burnt and sent DHL style to the afterlife address. I mean, it does make sense to burn a petrol station, sure, in the after life, they need some kind of fuel to run those cars, right? What about those fancy bras? Or a plasma screen TV, complete with a power cord? But what kind of power plug is there? Shouldn’t they have a universal converter as well, just in case. I mean, it would really blow if you had all these fancy stuff and not be able to plug it in. And incidentally, what’s stopping an enterprising fellow down there (or up there, depending on which way you look at it) from setting up a store, where everyone can get their own stuff with the billions of paper money they have? That’s a thought.

In all cultures, death always plays a major part. People who don’t believe in God has to believe in death anyway. I suppose, to them, they just kind of blink out of existence, the same way a mosquito is blinked out of existence when we obliterate it with our hands. But atheists aside, most people who believe in some sort of religion believes in the separation of body and soul. The body passes away, the soul survives.

In Christianity, we have many verses stating the differences in the body and the soul; the corporeal and the non-corporeal. In Matthew 10:28 - “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” ; Luke 12:5 - “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”; James 2:26 - “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”.

Having said that, we do not lay claim that the body is not important! Gnostic believes in the complete separation of body and spirit, to the point where sin in the body is considered ok, as the body is ‘evil’. This deviant teachings were shattered in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians. 1 Corinthians 6:19 talks about the body being the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and that we should honour God with our body.

Christians believe in life after death. We believe that the earth is temporary, and all things will fade away like dew in the morning. All glory, all pride, EVERYTHING comes down to one tiny bottleneck we call death. Everyone faces it, kings and paupers, rich and poor, mighty and weak. No one can cheat it. It’s the reality of this life, that it gets taken away sooner or later.

As Christians we have hope. One of the most powerful scriptures can be found in 2 Timothy 4:6-8:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has arrived. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is stored away for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and he will give one not only to me, but to all those who have delighted in his appearing.”

And John 14:1-3:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God and believe in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have said that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that you may also be where I am.”

It’s an exciting way to go, to know the path, to be assured of where you’d be going.

I was talking once to a friend who didn’t believe in God or after life, heaven or hell. He says, “How can you be sure there’s something after we die?” I asked in return, “How are you sure there isn’t?”

Pondering, he said, “I’m not sure, but at least I wouldn’t waste this life chasing an after life that does not exist.”

I answered, “Then at least, I wouldn’t waste the next life wishing that the after life never existed.”

The point I was telling him was this: I am 100% assured of Christ and His promise. But to those who doubt, wouldn’t it be a safer bet to believe there is something after you die and be prepared for it; than to not believe and not prepare? At least, if nothing existed after life, you don’t lose anything, you just blink out of existence. But if something is there…well, at least you knew about it. It’s the only point of view he is willing to look from, and at least, inroads are made. There is indeed life after death, and just as in the recently concluded Broken production in church, we need to realise that the decisions we make in this life, determines where we are in the next.

I think perhaps as all the great conquerors of this earth lay dying, their thoughts were not on what they achieved in this world, but where they would be going next.

“I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ!”- Napoleon Bonaparte

All the great poets and writers, for all their prose and works, must have realised immortality is a myth, that while their works survive, they have to pass on.

Now day and night are locked in combat. I see black light. - Victor Hugo

And all the ones who never believed in God, how haunting their final words become:

Caesar Borgia: “While I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die, and am unprepared to die.”

Thomas Hobbs: “I say again, if I had the whole world at my disposal, I would give it to live one day. I am about to take a leap into the dark.”

Thomas Payne: “Stay with me, for God’s sake; I cannot bear to be left alone … O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter?”

Sir Thomas Scott: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”

Voltaire: “I am abandoned by God and man; I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months’ life.” (He said this to Dr. Fochin, who told him it could not be done.) “Then I shall die and go to hell!”

Robert Ingersoll: “O God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul!”