ReligioN?

This entry is written because of edmond’s question to me last night… oh well.. I AM trying to say it in my point of view… I dun think I would not be bias.. but yea.. I think this is wad I think about religion…

What is religion?

To me, it is a way human beings try to be closer to the Maker. We know that there IS a greater power, greater being above us. We, human, are needy creatures. We always demand physical and spiritual needs. Physical needs are relatively easier to fulfill, but spiritual needs cant be just put aside. Without looking at religious point of view, we know that humans seek love, security, confidence from others, reliance in need and also just someone to be there when you want to pour everything out. Those things we could find in religions. Plus, we could ASK for something in prayers. That is why most of us belong to a religious group…

The various teachings are invented and chosen by humans to bring us closer to our Maker… Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindus, Muslim, Judaism, etc etc, I guess all are human effort to be closer to God… and since each individual is unique to themselves and hence have their own preferences. We choose a religion based on our feelings.. whichever makes us feel better, whichever we could depend upon, trust and confide and also makes us feel loved, cherished, and eventually, find our fulfillment in life.. since most of us are ‘normal’ human beings, we tend to pass the responsibility of finding the right way to our ‘holy-man’ and these people will teach us how to grow closer to God…

These ‘holy-men’ are also humans.. humans are bound to make mistakes. As we all know, God is all that humans are not. He is perfect, He is love, He is wisdom, He is never wrong…!! His scriptures are fixed, but the way we interpret them depends on our own understanding of the scriptures.. I dun think there’s a one way of understanding the scripture… and IF we do interpret them wrongly, I think THAT’s due to our limitations.. It was said that our minds is too limited to understand God’s wonderful love and grace.. that’z true! And hence, God’s holy words could also be interpreted differently, if not wrongly....

For me, I personally believes in Jesus, partially because ive known him all my life ever since I was born, another reason is because ive alwiz felt him beside me through my years… even more when I was back in indo smp2, and while in sg, Ive gotten much more blessings than any1 hav ever received… however, sadly, Christians are also not that simple.. it sounds simple.. all are one and all for Jesus.. but Christians hav different2 branches too.. and THAT is precisely what the different interpretation came about…

For example, rituals like, (inspired from yesterday’s preaching), holy communion… to me, I guess the difference is the way you interpret it, but I thought, as long as we remember Jesus’s last supper with the disciples and hence, the blood of covenant thatz pour onto us. That, to me is the whole purpose of taking the holy communion… well.. our pastor would say ‘this is my body that is broken for us, eat this in rememberance of Me (Jesus)’ and also ‘this is my blood that is pour out for the forgiveness of sins.. Do this, in rememberance of me…’ again, he asked us to remember that wad He did on that most amazing day… THATZ all.. for us to alwiz remember Him in our lives, that we, sinners are big values to Him that he is willing to die crucified (this is the most shameful punishment, that is only done to heaviest juvenile in that era)... that He is alwiz be with us becoz he didn’t die forever.. he rose again on the third day to show that evil is defeated!!

As for Christians, they KNOW this wonderful story about how Jesus came to save us and hence, want to share it with the world.. u know.. juz like (example) marlin’s cousin’s miraculous recovery from throat cancer stadium IV… well.. she shared the happy story with the world, right? and wad if the recovery is by this bloody good doctor? She’d definitely recommend this doctor to everyone else.. she wouldn’t gain or lose by not sharing, but u know.. sometimes happiness is too good to be kept to yourself.. so that’s actually Christians’ motives for telling others the good news that the disciples experienced first hand on that Easter day. It is not us to gain anything if eni1 turned to believe.. it iz our God’s honour that is glorified.. the more people to believe, the more he’s glorified and more people are saved :D well at least that’s the real motif… the question of ‘saved’ will create more questions… ‘does that mean other religion is not RIGHT?’ is not ‘saving their flock of sheep’? well.. I guess u’d find out which religion is the right one the day u die.. :p haha *eniwei…..*

As I said, there are loadz a teachings about getting closer to the Maker, and modified to such a way, that it would suit the modern days lifestyle.. I think this is not a bad idea.. I mean if you would stick to the old tradition, it would not help as people will think that your religion is too old-fashioned…!! Afterall, people DO need to be convinced that religion is NEVER outdated.. alwiz relevant to our ordinary lives although itz written at stone-age.. (hey im exaggerating here.. :p)…

Moving on, studying scriptures is not as easy as doing GP comprehension.. well GP comprehension IS already difficult to me.. what more is scripture? I mean it could be interpreted in sooo many ways.. even stories, (inspired by today’s sermon), upon Jesus’ death, why is everyone crying, saddened, and even disappointed by His death? When HE already clearly said that he’ll rise again after 3 days? Well I guess it is human nature.. we tend to overlook things we think is not important.. although we hav been prepared to face things in life, we juz forgot or simply ‘didn’t know’ ‘didn’t see’…. Do we say Mary Magdalene is not Jesus’ strongest disciple? Or Joseph? Or the 12 disciples? I do not know the answer either!! Humans are just human… This is the point when we need something to hold on to! Something MUCH MORE STRONGER than our power and will, to remind us that we’re not alone in this world…

As for why am I a Christian, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe in Holy Ghost, I believe that He came to save us and I believe that one day he’s coming again to earth to end this world and hence, separating us into 2 different places, heaven or hell…. I believe in his crucifixion, I believe his atonement for our sins, I believe that He rose again on the third day…. Here’s the argument ive heard to convince Christians why we are Christians :D

Jesus died and rose again… isit true? What if he didn’t actually rise on the 3^rd day? Our faith would go to waste… but WHO took the body?

1. The disciples took the body? Hey.. if THEY took the body, why would they hold their ground and proclaim that he rose again in expense of their lives??? Wouldn’t they LIE to themselves by doing that? I mean they proclaimed that Jesus rose again, when the truth is the corpse was stolen by them n juz THERE lifeless?

2. The Pharisee (the big big judges) stole the body? Hm… why didn’t they PRODUCE the body when the disciples were so jubilantly proclaiming His triumph that he’s won over evil and rose again? If they’re really going to prove that Christian is nonsense, they should have produced the body… right?

Actually there are more to this arguments.. but yea.. I guess this 2 are enough to convince myself that He rili was born and died and rose again… and as the disciples hav preached, He will come again…

To me, it doesn’t matter if u r a catholic, Buddhist, Islam, or Hindu or Taoist or wadever, what I know is that God works in His own unimagined way… it is really up to us, individuals to trust.. trust is really a scary word (at least to me)… it is to put ur whole mind and body into someone’s care… for us, the more educated one, u know how risky it is to let someone control your life what more if that someone you cant see.. but that’s what religion is about.. trusting something that you dun see, only feel and appreciate through his creations… Since Jesus said ‘he is the way’, to me, he is indeed the only way… and since I know He is the way, I would want my loved ones to know that He is the key to our togetherness in eternal life…. :D

Oh well… this topic is never ending… debatable and sensitive… but yea HEPI EASTER ALL!! ^_^ Jesus is risen today! ^_^

ps : this entry is MY own personal thoughts own examples, there are some i discussed with aswin too.. =p