just minishorts.

It isn't funny that we have China's quake happening days after the disaster in Myanmar. It isn't funny that I already have end-times literature trickling into my mailbox, like it always does after major disasters. It happened right after the Tsunami, and yes it's happening again. And it, as usual, disgusts me what some Christians can be like.

Let me show you an example. Please visit this site: Rapture Ready News.

Read it? Fun right? I personally found it intriguing that the administrators of the site were so meticulous in listing out 'signs' of happenings in the world that point out that the end is nigh, Christ is coming. Then I felt disgusted lah. The title of the site gives me enough reasons to not like it. Pre-Trib rapturists, before you're quick to accuse me of denying the second coming of Christ, cool down, have a thought. I'm not anti-Rapture. I just don't like obsession in the rapture, because it takes us too far away from the whole point of choosing to believe in Jesus Christ.

The site reminds me once of a service I attended somewhere, a few months after the tsunami, where the minister went up on stage, showed the congregation a video tape of the disaster as it struck and the devastation it left behind, and then following the video, went on to talk about how we are so blessed because we were safe and far from disaster and how that proved that God is still in our midst. The minister continued to stressed on the point that it was important that we realized that the tsunami was merely another sign that the end times was near, and then he quoted from the famous Acts passage, 'But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Of course the minister also reminded us that we had to further commit ourselves to the ways of Christ, and call upon the power of the Holy Spirit, for when our Lord comes like a thief in the night and we are not prepared, we will be left behind. 'And let me tell you, NO GOOD CHRISTIAN WILL WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND!'

Many years ago I was of the opinion that Christianity was that kind of gila faith that was extremely mad and vague. First, there are too many flaws in the argument for disasters being a punishment of God, and us being safe in Malaysia, i.e. we are still blessed by God. It also implies that if disaster strikes a person, God is punishing him, does that mean that God randomly punishes the innocent? This is obviously something that no good man should subscribe to. The other thing is there's too many vague words in this kind of discussion, 'commit ourselves to the ways of Christ', 'call upon power of the holy spirit'… do what?

I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that come Sunday when many of us attend Church, some of us will be faced with this kind of message from the minister. I know I've heard it many times before, and I'm certain that there will be churches with ministers who will take the opportunity to fish for more believers during altar call by preaching the end-times message. If you are going to Church this Sunday, let me do my little part here by telling you to please think before you suddenly decide to accept Christ — you shouldn't believe in Jesus Christ if you're only interested in achieving heavenly citizenship - that is not the point.

…

In this disaster-prone season (thanks to the work of man, global warming is ridiculously dangerous these days, and also to the tectonic plate movement, a natural phenomenon), it is easy for the frail human to fall back upon the easier choice. Sites like Rapture Ready scare the shit out of me, because turns Christ-loving people into freaked out zombies waiting for the world to end when we're actually called to do so much more. I hope that my pastor is not the type (hahah I know he's not the type but I wanna pressure him anyway). For me, when disasters strike, its a call to all of us, whether we're Christian or not, to walk out into the world and do our part to make a difference. Gandhi, a great Hindu and one of the leaders I admire most, said the 'Be the change you want in the world' part. That's basically what Christ wants us to be too.

I mean, imagine lah if Jesus Christ were here today, and then He sees you sitting comfortably in your homes praying and thanking God for how He has blessed you, and then continuing to watch TV and talk about how blessed you are that you're not struck by lightning yet. I would roll my eyes and wonder why you're not already out there making a difference by being Christ to the people who now need us the most.

To China and Myanmar.

It's the curse of the human race, that we're all born to die and in the midst of dying, we strive like mad cows in order to make our mark in the universe while we live.

In all communities, everyone wants to be special. In religious communities, Christian communities in particular, almost everyone wants to be part of a living church (as if there is a such as thing as a dead church, really). Everyone wants to be part of a 'revival' movement, its as if its an important fraternity to belong to.

I despair sometimes, because its hard to find the simple Christian who is satisfied with being merely just another one of His followers.

Nothing is as extraordinary as the wish to be ordinary, someone once said. I think this applies everywhere, even in church.

Happy joy joy!

Flickr Pic by petervanallen

I was surfing blogs on one of those 'It's still CNY and I hate work' days (today is it!) when I came across this hilarious take on the Genesis tale.

On the sixth day morning, God was, unusually, very nervous. He was pretty confident on his sculpting skills, though he had only five days experience in the art. He had quite a few specimens in front of Him. From platypus to peacock. Giving Him self-doubt and confidence, and thus making him unusually nervous. God was a curious creature. Though he thought it would be too girlie for a God’s standards to create a mirror, He couldn’t help wondering how he looks. It was the prime motivation behind dirtying His hand on that fateful sixth day. He also had the hope of handing over the responsibilities of all the stupid things he had created. Just like any other father.

If I say He was shocked, I’d be underestimating the divine emotions. He just couldn’t believe His eyes. The truth that was grinning at him was too hard to ignore. If He had created a mirror, He would have broken it in a millisecond. It was real mirror-cracking material that stood before Him. He looked around for an assurance He was desperately seeking.

He saw the snake, and asked the snake.

“Do I really look like this ugly, dumb, Neanderthal?”

“Yes, Lord,” the snake replied without thinking about the consequences. (It was the first time the snake was asked a question, and it was completely clueless about diplomacy). God was in an incontrollable rage, and He stamped his foot on the snake’s head, flattening it. That was how the snake, and its predecessors were granted with the hood.

Obviously you have to visit Jubin George for the fun twist he composed last April. As for me, I'm inspired, and feeling rather mischievous. Perhaps it could be that Lent is starving me, and I'm tempted to play around with the stories in the bible, but for some reason I quite suspect that my pastor won't approve very much if I chose to bastardize the stories in the bible with my version of tale-telling.

And also, I haven't done this in years. But I'm tempted. Very tempted. I wonder what would Jesus think? How about popularizing the tales that the old Jews used to tell in their travels?

Again, I'm tempted. It could be Lent that's starving me, or actually, yeah, it's probably just the sinner in me.