believing in a God you don't see

"and so we get down on our knees, close our eyes and see what happens" - nicole ritchie

firstly, i would like to clarify that i never watch "the simple life" mainly because i do not fancy watching paris hilton drain my iq to naught. the above soundbite was from one of those endless trailers always aired on star world, which i nearly always watch.

the above line reminded me of what one of our prominent bloggers wrote of her experience in church. answering an altar call, she was the only one who "didn't feel anything", and scorned all those who apparently did.

i am not too sure what was the exact phrasing, but that was the feeling i got: scorn and the refusal to believe in what is beyond science and possibly human understanding.

abovementioned blogger, in another ground-breaking post on the first day of 2005, dissed christians for having blind faith in God.

blind faith. well the literal meaning is true. we cannot see God, so in a sense our faith is blind because we cannot see. but 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that "we live by faith, not by sight" and John 20:29 says "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed".

it goes against human logic to say that something we have yet to see exists. that is the principle behind the atheist argument - "there is no proof that God exists, so He does not exist."

yet by faith we know of His existence. we know that somewhere in jerusalem, sometime 2000 years ago, this guy named Jesus died for us because He loved us. it is by faith that we believe.

it is saddening that there are people like nicole who mock this faith, superficially classifying it as a mindless intoxication of some kind. like in Acts 2:13, people made fun of the apostles when they were filled with the Holy Spirit because they did not understand.

faith does not require superhuman iq or a high psle grade. faith is more like the courage to believe in what is yet to come.

-----

anyway i have some ideas for upcoming posts but am still working on them. anyone care to provide their views on the debates surrounding singlish and the bus fare hikes? hehe.

blogging for the right reasons?

somehow a few blogs got me thinking. the credit goes to a few blogs i've been reading lately for the inspiration for this post...

... which will be rather secular in nature.

i remember a time when i used to blog about what happened in school. i remember a time when i used to blog about the petty things i had to say about my enemies and the little incoherent musings i derived from my myopic points of view.

i remember i started my first venture in blogging when i was secondary three. before that, i kept everything in volumes and volumes of diaries that now lie rotting in my cupboard.

i was childish then. i did not realise what a powerful tool blogging would have become, i did not realise that i could have done something more.

that's the way most blogs are headed now. most of them give a minute by minute account of that really fun day at sentosa, or just a blow-by-blow narrative of their significant others. such writing usually betrays a narrow point of view to life as well as immaturity in the idealistic author who whores for comments and visitors. unfortunately (or rather, luckily) in the vast world of the internet, these types of blogs would never ever stand out. face it, nobody wants to read too much about what your dog ate for breakfast.

some blogs are just plain bitchy and/or bimbotic, whoring pictures of the usually very fetching female owners. a picture paints a thousand words and a pretty photoshopped photo beats a million words hands (or face?) down anytime. amongst the many pretty females out there, xiaxue and sillycelly certainly stand out on my list of hatable but popular pretty females (hppf). want their urls? go google them.

the blogs that earned my respect are those with thoughtful insights and/or credible bitching (such as ms. beautifuk or the now m.i.a calm one). it's one thing to rant and rave mindlessly about a certain cab snatcher or an insensitive insult. it is another when you throw wit/sarcasm into the equation to cut the offender down to atom sized shreds.

me?

7km/h is basically my blog for evangelism. a blog wherein i harness the power of a blog to fulfill one of my christian duties to witness for Christ. of course, there are other reasons for this blog as well, reasons that are reflected in the readme for the blog..

anyway, back to the previous point, blogging for Christ: call it taking the lazy way out. i'm not that great at talking about religion to strangers.

just for laughs...

on mothers' day, our pastor gave us the old jewish proverb, which goes, "God could not be everywhere, so He made mothers." one week later, he received an sms from someone who disagreed. "Satan could not be everywhere, so he made mothers-in-law."

the christian's bed of roses.

ever wondered why they say "life is not always a bed of roses"?

like, why must it be the thorny but beautiful flower that is linked with life? why not something sunny or sweet such as the sunflower or the daisy? and when we say that "life is not always a bed of roses", does that mean life is easier because you will not be lying on a bed of thorny flowers?

oh wait, i forgot that roses can be grown thornless now. but that is besides the point.

in being christian, does life become any rosier? my attention was brought to the fact that some people get the misconception that life as a christian is easier because God solves all our problems.

hit the buzzer someone. we are fighting delusion here.

being christian means life gets harder. but more meaningful. accepting this religion relationship means more obstacles that will be thrown your way because you are more spiritually in tune. that is when the rose thorns start to become prickly. the good christian is constantly under the demonic radar because satan is not happy about our salvation. it sure is lonely in hell.

fortunately, rose heads are bigger than the thorns. the same goes for Jesus, for He is bigger than those thorns we call the devil. while the thorns are a part of the rose, what we really focus on is the flower head itself. and the flower is what brings us the pleasure.

when we experience the relationship we have with Christ, everything else pales in comparison. because we know that the Lord will provide for and protect us. and just like a rose can be de-thorned, with God's help we will be able to remove the thorns in our beds of roses.

it is never easy to be christian. but the rewards that are promised at the end does justify the journey we take.

how it is to fall...

the shaking grew increasingly violent. she was not sure whether she was shivering from the decreased room temperature or something else. she bowed her head in an attempt to medidate, hoping that nobody noticed.

she was barely able to move. her knees felt weak and she felt like she was on the verge of collapsing. but the shaking continued, only letting up for a few seconds before seizing control again.

an element of fear flitted across the girl's head. "what if..?" almost as fast as the thought entered her head, that moment came, almost like a dramatic cliche.

for He spoke to her: "do not be afraid, for i am your Lord."

peace flooded her heart as she felt the comforting presence of her Lord. in her spiritually elevated state, all she uttered was "i will stand on Your word and You shall give me strength."

finally it was her turn. almost naturally, she collapsed into the Lord's warm and loving embrace, cushioned by His servants.

when everything else cleared, the girl looked out the great glass windows. raindrops were rolling off the leaves of the tree and the sun was shining. it was a beautiful day.

miscellaneous-ity

sometimes i just cannot help but feel amazed at what the Lord has done for me. me, a literal nobody, a blatant sinner and a bad christian.

i look back in my life, at the number of broken promises i made to God, at the number of times i grieved the Holy Spirit. after 18 years of wrongdoing, it's quite a wonder that my Father actually will bother to listen to me anymore. but He did.

just yesterday i prayed about two things. evangelism and healing.

talk about Heaven's express answering service! i got my answers today. and there was that altar call for healing, and a personal interaction with my Father, that totally refreshed my spirits and rejuvenated me. it is a wonderful feeling.

i know i suck at writing my personal testimony. i remembered when berton asked me about it, all coaching about evangelism flew out of the window cos i was so excited about sharing. blah.

please be patient. God is not done with me yet. =p

anyway, on a totally different note, i really want to learn how to play the guitar. nobody believed me when i mentioned it 6 years ago... =(

the one when God took a holiday...

heard about bruce nolan? the antognistic guy accused God of not doing His job, the angry (but funny) dude who complained too much and simply did not believe?

only when God got a little fed up and exchanged jobs with bruce does he realise how hard it is for God to run the world.

ahh hollywood always loves to look at life through the other end of the telescope.

it took quite a while and a whole lot of grief and chaos before bruce breaks. and when he finally does, he puts God in control and accepts His will. (ironically he does it in the middle of a highway and got knocked down. but that is besides the point.)

i wonder how many people will need to go through such an unbelievable experience before they can put God in the center of their lives.

however, it is only in hollywood that God is able to take a break and leave one of us mortals in charge. besides, i don't think God wants to take a break. does that mean there is no other way?

watching that movie just made me think about how much faith is required to bring a person close to our Father.

disillusion

i hate the world i am living in right now.

nobody really knows how to be nice to other people and everyone (including me) simply lives for themselves. we never bother to say our "please" and "thank yous" anymore.

we live in a "me-first" society. we push forward in train stations, we hog the space near the lift doors, we rush because we fear losing out. our lives are centered around "me" and not "you". as long as my purposes are accomplished, who cares what you do?

i am super disgusted because of an overdose of such selfishness.

not that i am in any place to judge because i am guilty of selfish acts sometimes.

i am just disgusted with the world i'm living in.

incoherence.