Selflessness versus Practicality

For lack of a better title... but I was actually thinking about the Christian life. To build up to the point I want to make, let's first set the base for the argument.

No. 1
Every good Christian knows that missions/evangelism/sharing the gospel/whatever term your church uses is the be all and end all of Christian living. It's the Great Commission. Every professing Christian should be involved or at least show some concern about missions, to a greater or lesser extent.

No. 2
Christians are called to a self sacrificial life. The pursuit of wealth or pleasure for pleasure's sake is regarded as vulgar. We are to give to the poor, take care or the orphans and widows. The needs of others should be placed above the needs of oneself. In other words, to live a selfless life.

The Issue
Coming to the crunch - how practical is this kind of life? I'm not even talking about the comfort and convenience, but the basic practicality of it.

I just witnessed a real-life scenario which brought this issue starkly to life.

There's an earnest, devoted Christian family, and I mean the entire clan - aunts, uncles, cousins. All are somehow or other deeply involved in Christian work - pastor, elder, youth worker. You name it, someone in the family's doing it. They encourage their children to serve the Lord in whatever way possible. Those who have 'secular' jobs are in the 'noble' professions such as teaching.

They're kind folks who do the best they can and serve the Lord whole-heartedly.

We're in Malaysia, and it goes without saying that no one in this family is rich by any standards.

One day, the elderly man in the family falls ill - the kind of illness that causes immobility, helplessness and a drastic change in his life. Being the loving, caring family they are, everyone rallies together. Many changes and adjustments will have to be made. This is the kind of illness whose effects are felt beyond the primary sufferer. At the very least, the sufferer needs constant, round-the-clock care and a special diet. To improve his chances even more, he needs regular medical attention and physiotherapy, equipment such as a wheelchair, special bed, and other things that a bedridden person would require.

The entire family gathers together, and there is comfort in their love and sense of shared burden. But beyond that, they need money. Hard, cold cash. For nursing care, doctor's bills, treatment, medicine, equipment, special diet... for everything.

It's a large, three-generational clan. But nobody has the money! Not the middle-aged parents, or the working young adults. I doubt there's insurance.

What happens to the elderly man? His elderly wife is already exhausted from caring and worrying and not knowing what to do. Yet he is not receiving the standard of care he should be getting.

Contrast this with a family that is reasonably well off. (And yes, it's a Christian family as well.) It's a hardship when a beloved family member suffers a debilitating illness, but having the financial means to be able to care for the sufferer takes a huge burden off the family. And the sufferer receives the best possible chance of recovery and regaining some semblance of his former life.

So how do we square the issues?

A Christian colleague once shared with me: she thought that sometimes, Christians get carried away with their desire to serve and give their lives to the Cause. She used the word 'dreamy'. I agree whole-heartedly.

Christians with their head in the clouds fail to realise that there are practical issues to deal with when making such monumental decisions. There will always be bills to pay.

Who's going to take care of your aged parents when you run off to the far-flung corners of the earth to mingle with tribespeople? What happens if you have children? What if there are emergencies? When your elderly parents fall ill, where's the money for medical bills going to come from?

Some like to give the standard answer of having faith in God and trusting Him to provide.

Is God going to pay the hospital bills with a heavenly credit card?

What about the commandment in the Bible that a Christian should take care of his family?

All that selfless altruism is fine when it's just you. Go live in the jungle and no one will miss you. But if you have dependents, people who need you, how can you leave them to fend for themselves while you give all your time, energy and attention to people whom you don't even know from Adam? Where's the logic in that?

I wish that family had the money. Two generations of working adults and they can't support one frail old man's illness. What if (God forbid) something else happens? Someone loses their savings, a house catches fire, an accident, another illness???

I wish that family had the money. I wish God will work a miracle and send a gift to them. Better yet, I wish God would heal the old man!

But it's not likely to happen, is it?

What Batman Taught Me

I just realised my last entry was inspired by a movie. Guess what drives me to put my thoughts in cyberspace this time?

Batman Begins

This started out originally as an email to close friends. Was told by Joe that I should put it in my blog. (You really think it's that good, sweety? Heh heh.) Why not? Hey, if I'm going to prepare a sermon (as he put it), I might as well plonk it where the whole world can see...

Watched 'Batman Begins' for the 2nd time last night.

This time round, several themes from the movie struck me as having similarities in the Bible. For those of you who haven't watched, don't read on... it will spoil the experience.

For those of you who have watched, remember that unforgettable line
"It's not who I am underneath; it's what I do that defines me."

What does that tell us about our actions? What we do and what we say and how we represent ourselves as followers of Jesus to other people? Look at James chapter 2:

v 17: In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
v 20: Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
v 22: You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

So it's not just what we believe in our hearts - it's how we behave in our everyday lives that matter. The movie reinforced this for me.

Other memorable themes were that of vengeance vs compassion and forgiveness, and standing up for what's right even against overwhelming odds, and not to let cynicism and world-weariness make us jaded.

There are so many parallels between Gotham city and our world - so much that is wrong, corrupted and twisted. It's easy to give in to despair and not bother about making a difference. But that's precisely what the Bible calls us to do - to be salt and light, even when the 'meat' is completely rotten like Gotham, KL or New York.

We may not have an ultracool Batmobile, a super anti-gun, anti-knife, anti-bomb Batsuit, or nice gadgets to help us jump and fly around rooftops. But what we do have is a lot of super-duper holy armour from God:

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

And Amen to that!!!

Good movies are a treasure. For those who haven't watched, go catch it quick before the Bat flies away from cinemas!


I like this picture - the silent observer, standing in the rain.


It was a tough fight between this or the one above - the still, contemplative hero shrouding his being and his thoughts behind his dark cape.

Crusades: What did it achieve?

Watched 'Kingdom of Heaven' last night. Certainly not a bad film. But I left feeling sad. So much blood spilt over a little piece of dusty land. To what aim?

There really are all kinds of people in this world. Fundamentalists and fanatics exist in every religion, race and culture. And it takes just a small group to create havoc... much like a bad apple in a basket.

On a lighter note, I was telling my partner that if a woman had led both the Muslims and Catholics, there would be no bloodshed. Ha ha.

The movie made me wonder how often the phrase "God wills it/It's the will of God" had been used (or more likely, misused) over the centuries by all the nutters trying to achieve their own agendas. How dare they assume to know the mind and purposes of the Almighty? Unfortunately, this still happens today. And not just on a global, political scale.
The "will of God" excuse occurs in many churches, mosques, gatherings, meetings, demonstrations, conferences, etc etc etc. Who can truly fathom the will of God? What mere mortal can claim to understand the workings of the Creator?

The movie has made me keen to find out more about the crusades. Exactly what happened, where, when, how, who, why. But on the other hand, I dread the research I'll have to do. Because history and the interpretation of history is so very subjective. It really depends on who did the telling. What are the chances that a Muslim and Christian perspective of the crusades will turn out the same in all areas? How will I discern the truth?

Well, we all have to start somewhere. Time to read up.

What has become of the church?

Last Sunday's unbelievable sermon left me wondering if Joseph and I were the only sane people in a world gone mad.

We preach love and compassion, yet verbally attack our brothers of the Catholic faith during Sunday morning worship service. It was unjustified, undeserved and inexcusable.

Yes, we have doctrinal differences and some of those that were told to us were probably true. But the entire tone, manner and approach of the so-called sharing was wrong, wrong, wrong. Literally. "Catholics are wrong! They have sinned! Those who associate with them are not Christian!"

What broke my heart was the way the congregation clapped and nodded their assent after the 'sharing' was over. Didn't anyone feel disturbed? Uneasy? Worried for the future of the church? For supposedly godly people to agree heartily with this kind of sharing... what next? I had visions of flaming torches, pitchforks and screaming crowds demanding blood.

What happened to tolerance? Seeking understanding? Religious harmony? Reaching out in love?

Are we now going to tear down Buddhist statues and plant bombs in mosques?

The final blow was when I realised that the church leadership allowed this 'sharing' but prohibited Damien Chua from coming to share about his abduction experience and how God (apparently) miraculously freed him from his captors. The bitterness was hard to swallow. Damien Chua's disallowed speech had been a thorn in my side for the longest time - it was difficult to forgive and forget, especially when I didn't even get an answer as to why he was not encouraged to come share. Sunday's Catholic-bashing incident just brought back all the old hurt in a fresh new way. I wanted to yell at someone: "You allow this hate-inciting, vicious attack on an undefended group of people during Sunday service, but prohibited a person who wanted to share a personal experience that testified to the goodness of God????"

To the Catholics, I apologise. I regret the incident and I hope it never happens again. Understand that the views expressed 2 days ago are not held by all of us (Protestants), or even many of us.

It's worrying, this conservative road that our church is heading down. What's with all the 'reformed theology' and almost exclusive hymn-singing? What happened to the church I knew and loved? It's getting lost in all the doctrine, dogma and inflexible attitudes that are cropping up alarmingly more frequently.

Someone highly interested in deep doctrine comes to the church, and suddenly, almost overnight, it was all about the Westminster Catechism, reformed theology, orthodox church music and Presbyterian views.

I wonder what the Father, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit really think about these things. Is He happy with our actions? Is He proud of what we've done, or not done, in His name? Do all these serve the end purpose of giving glory to God?

Sometimes, I'm amazed that God hasn't struck us all with lightning and be done with it. Look how we've screwed up: the Anglicans and their gay archbishop, Southern Baptists and their racism, the Middle Age church and their crusades, the Catholics and their indulgences. And we're supposed to be the salt and light of the world!

To the youth in the church: always let God's Word and the Holy Spirit be your guide, liberally peppered with love, wisdom and understanding. Religion is never just about dogma and rules; it's about people.
Let's hope our youth, and I, will do better.

Everyone should have birthdays like this

Hello, world wide web.

Promised myself that I would start a blog, but never got around to it. So what gave me the final push to start?

Money to Burn

Valentine's Day.

The idea that someone would cough up RM200+ for a bunch of thorny flowers, RM500+ for dinner for two and other astronomical sums that the florists, gift shops and restaurants charge, is just amazing.

Just came across an article in the paper detailing how competitive the so-called Day of Lovers is turning out to be in our friendly neighbour across the Johor straits. Kiasu Singaporeans are making the flower industry ecstatic over their no-holds-barred approach to outdoing one another in the Valentine's stakes. Women sent flowers to themselves at their workplace just to enjoy the supposedly envious looks of their colleagues. And then they became jealous anyway when the girl in the next cubicle got a bigger, more elaborate bouquet (which she probably sent to herself as well).

What's with all these people?

For the last time, Valentine's Day is just an excuse for crass commercialism. The only ones who really benefit (read: profit) from Valentine's are those businesses that can somehow cash in on the sentiments of the season... and on the gullibility of the poor sods who choose Feb 14 (out of all the 365 days) to declare their love.

My sympathies to the boyfriends who've had to reluctantly shell out large chunks of moolah to make their women happy. Then again, if the silly man's silly enough to date/marry a female who makes such a fuss over one ordinary day of the year, he deserves to burn a big hole in his pocket.

Being the brilliant person I am, I date a man who, like me, doesn't give a flying fig about Valentine's. I received an sms on Feb 14 from said man that read:

"merry gong shi valentine dear. Have a good day!"

Check it out - a Chinese New Year-cum-Valentine greeting all rolled into one. Sometimes, he's almost as brilliant as I am. Needless to say, I did have a good day. Especially since I didn't even realise what day it was.

This is so much better...

Instead, almost a month ago, I had my own special celebration. It was my B-day. Check out what happened:


The raw materials


Ham Choy fish & the rest of my surprise birthday dinner


Trail of rose petals from the lift to my desk the next morning



99 roses and a pile of presents

My desk sprouted roses overnight