the matter of religion...

In a multi-racial-religious-ethnic country, there are bound to be sensitive issues which are best not to be touched on. it's everyone's responsibility to try to accept and respect a person's belief or way of living, as they say..ignorance is bliss.

but sometimes, it's hard to ignore news such as this when it is widely publicized in mainstream media such as in print or electronic and as much as we want to put it at the back of our mind, the nagging feeling of wanting to know the actual truth still remains.

take the recent raid of a multi cultural dinner at a church in Damansara Utama (for those who do not know where this is, it's in Petaling Jaya, in the proud country of Malaysia) that claimed the church was trying to apostatize Muslims in its activities. my first reaction was to condemn the church for being insolent, but after awhile I was dying to know what had actually transpired. was it really as what was claimed or was it just a propaganda of some sort. for this case, the investigation is still on going so can't really say much about it.

a particular mainstream Malay paper has been following up on stories such as these with the recent one about a Christian shelter in another part of the country trying to convert Muslims to Christianity either by monetary or goodwill assistance. as a christian myself, this is quite worrisome. not because of the fact that Muslims are converting but because the churches are 'inadvertently' pushing them to do so. i believe that everyone has a right to choose what they believe in, but to impose a belief on others by means of dirty tactics is outrageous! i do not recall being taught that we must convert people, but what i do remember is to show who we are as a person with religion. if these reports are unbiased and true, i would be in league with those who are trying to bring the church down.

on another note, although it is appreciated that this issue was highlighted in the aforementioned paper, the way it was reported could be done in a more tactful manner, for instance:

'mereka yang menyertai kumpulan ini akan lupa pegangan agama asal buat seketika aabila kerap diberi minuman air suci dan selepas menjalani upacara Black Tiding pembatisan dalam kolam renang'

-pg 8, Tuesday, 9 August 2011-

translated as:

'those who participate in this group will momentarily forget their original religion when they are (frequently) given the holy water to drink and after undergoing the Black Tiding baptism ceremony in the swimming pool'

i went like what?!!! drinking holy water doesn't do that and besides, the holy water isn't meant to be drank and even if it was, it doesn't make you forget..it's only water for f*** sake! and what the hell is a black tiding ceremony?!!! i couldn't even find anything about it when i googled it up. reports such as this not only give a bad portrayal of the religion but also hinders the understanding of inter-faiths...not unless, the paper was never intended for the Christians to read.

the other thing which made me uncomfortable whenever the paper report this kind of issue is how they generalize all Christians as the same. at least mention the name of the places or churches who are making all the ruckus, as what they did with the Damansara Utama Methodist Church so we can do our own digging.

Nothing much to say again, just that to all the Christians... if you want to evangelize, do it to those who are willing to listen. if you want to help others, do it out of the goodness from your heart. and if you think you have the (so called divine) right to convert others, it's not your call to make. Just remember that having a religion alone doesn't make one good, its your actions which proves it.

anyway, it's common sense for us to know what respect is all about, as the proverb goes:

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)

which roughly translates as:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

or for those who finds this a bit tough to understand:

If you don't like anyone trying to convert your brothers or sisters, try not to convert anyone yourself!

now that felt good :)

Peace to all of us :)

the warring of religions...

it's either you have to like it, hate it or just ignore it. that's my thought when it comes to religion. i don't have anything against beliefs in general, but when it causes pain, heartcahe, injury or death i have my doubts on why people need to have a religion in the first place.

religions are meant to guide humans to be better people, and it teaches us to love and respect people for their differences. it pains me and a whole lot of like minded humans out there to read about people getting hurt under the pretense of religious duties.

i'm not condemning any religion in particular, i'm just saying it in a general context. who am i to judge who is wrong and who is right when i don't even know the answer to it. but one thing i do know and very certain is that, NO RELIGION TELLS ANYONE TO KILL, PLUNDER OR CAUSE HARM TO ANOTHER HUMAN. yeah, i am well aware of the religious wars which had happened in midieval times and i am still not in agreement with it either, i mean, to me it's already a blasphemy to any religion TO KILL IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY BEING. who are we to take the life of another person? Even if you call it a Holy War, a Crusade or Jihad, taking someone else's life is a sin, regardless of whatever reason!

i mean think about it, the Almighty gave us a brain to weigh the consequences of our action including the best possible way to tackle difficulties. we can't just resort to killing and murdering other people just because we have run out of ideas on handling tough situations.

some people just don't get it. they're too immersed with their belief to the point of being a fanatic that they fail to interpret the meaning behind their beloved scriptures. and it doesn't take a genius to know that there are limitations to where and when to kill a person. you can't just barge into a school, a hospital, an office or especially religious places of worship such as the Church or Mosques or Temples and start shooting rounds! these are places of sanctuary for heaven's sake!

maybe the humans nowadays lacks compassion, apathy and empathy. if only they could feel what it would be like to experience the things they're doing to these people, maybe we wont be having this problem. just don't do to others what you don't want others do to you...

maybe the end of time is nearing...

the denominations of faith...

I'm not a religious person and i don't go to church unless there's a special celebration going on (i.e Christmas or Easter haha). it's not that i don't want to, but i feel unworthy to step into His holy place because of the things i've done. Only until my burden of guilt has been lifted, then maybe i would start going every week. But if i do go to church, it wouldn't be for the sermons. the songs can easily put me at ease rather than listening to the priest preach...so that only goes to show what kind of Christian i am haha. just because i don't go praying every week doesn't mean i don't have any faith, because i do and no one can take Him away from me :).

For some people, i may be seen as a bad Christian for not doing my weekly responsibility..the heck, i don't really care what other people thinks. I have nothing against Christianity, but i do have something against the institutions which makes up the different denominations there are for the contradicting opinions on how the Bible should be interpreted. i mean, it's bad enough that nearly all religions are claiming the ultimate rights to be the one and only true way to God's promised kingdom that we still have to fight amongst ourselves, the Christians, to claim the right to be the one and only chosen denomination.

maybe it's not my place to argue about this, i just feel like sharing my two cents worth (which is quite worthless in a literal sense haha) on this topic. i may not be religious, but i've read the bible cover to cover on numerous occasions and there isn't one single paragraph which mentions anything about denominations...so it's quite sad to know that these differences existed only because of some pompous guys who claimed or thought they were chosen to be His shepherd. my deepest apologies if i have offended anyone, but it would really be appreciated to have an open mind when reading this entry.

i've been listening to gospel songs quite a lot nowadays, maybe it's a sign for me to start being a practicing Christian haha. As i listened to the songs, a realization which has been buried for more than a decade resurfaced; why do we need several denominations (or religions for that matter)? Put aside the difference of opinions, it doesn't change the fact that we believe in the One and Only Creator of all things. so then, why can't all of us work towards the same goal?

Speaking of religion and God, there is one thing (among others haha) which can easily piss me off. i somehow hate it when people blames Him for all the shit they're going through and when they are doing really well, they somehow conveniently forget that He exists...a real shame.

Then again, we are only humans who are constantly on trial...not to mention confused. so if you're not sure on where you stand or what to do, just try not to think too much about it. instead, do the basic thing on what He would've wanted us to do, which is to have faith.

Our God is a jealous God, and yet at the same time very forgiving for His love knows no boundaries.

darn it...i'm rambling again aren't i? hahaha. it's already 1.41am and the grogginess from the lack of sleep is killing me hahaha. Goodnite and ciao peeps :).

i believe...

some of you may disagree with this entry and some may ignore it completely because this write up will be referring to all humans in general.

i'm not sure how many of us can recall our experiences of what we see or hear when we were still toddlers, where life was all too simple and we get easily amused even with the smallest things. i believe we must've been laughing out of excitement when we first took our first step of being able to walk or run with our own two feet. so excited we are that we exhausted ourselves perfecting the baby steps and trying so hard to be like the adults we look so highly upon. And it helps when the adults or the parents expressed their proudness by giving encouraging words or gestures over and over again making us believe that we are doing one hell of a task!

herein my point resides, we need people to believe in us in order to become someone great. but the act of believing works both ways, we need 'to be believed' and 'to believe' by and to someone or something..and this is where i say all humans are weak and strong at the same time.

let's put religion under the microscope as our subject of discussion. for centuries, we homosapiens has placed our belief/s to a one unseen being/s. We have been practicing and refining the art of believing up to the point of finally having several systems of religious constructs, from a lowly believer to the esteemed appointed by the people (or some may claim by God) religious leader/s.

the need to believe in the all seeing being can be easily explained by several factors where nurture and nature plays a big role in molding a person's belief. most of us are stuck with a religion because we were born in it and raised to embrace it and after years of believing what seems to be the ultimate faith, it would be difficult to turn our heads and ignore the divine existence or else be doomed to suffer in the fiery pit of hell for all eternity.

And yet, logic and rationality is against our beliefs, dictating the possibilities of His existence is next to zero, but still, we hung on to the hope that maybe..despite what our God given logic and rationality tells us, He may actually exist and would one day re-appear to save the souls of his believers and to lead those who are lost back to the right path.

We put our faith to something or someone for strength. we need to believe in something in order for us to achieve great things or to guide us to the path we desire. but most of all, we need it as proof of our own existence...that we are alive and living (although remotely) and that we are actually cared for (although it's only the mind saying it).

Geez, i have no idea what i'm rambling here....a sudden burst of idiotic inspiration out of nowhere. but hey, it's better than nothing right? hahaha.

Anyhow, enjoy the video (or rather song) people :).

the universal word...

in the past couple of days, the news of Church arsonings took the limelight. for most, it was easy to blame the so called 'religious extremists' as the perpetrators but i on the other refuses to be a part of the majority unless proven otherwise simply for the simplest reasons which would be explained later in this entry.

seven Churches were arsoned and the root of the unfortunate incidents stemmed from a specific word which sparked the outrage of the few religious communities. i mean, all these could've been avoided should everyone remained level headed and use a bit of their rationality in dealing with the situation...but apparently, for the perpetrators, succumbing to their raging primal instinct was the better solution compared to using a tiny portion of their God given mind.

but what irked me the most was the fact that these so-called religious people who seemingly acted to fight for religion weren't exactly fighting for what they believe in, they were just puppets influenced by certain political leaders for political mileage proving over and over again the nation's political status-quo hasn't changed much since its inception...sad but true...then again, these group of people isn't to be entirely blamed for it, the other party which was the cause of all these rucous should be blamed as well. in short, both sides are to be blamed...

there isn't much for me to say about what had happened, all i want to say is that throughout my adolescent years of being surrounded by Muslim friends and families, i came to love the religion as much as i love mine. i remember a time when i was 15 years old, my friends and i would be discussing religion, exchanging what we understood from our own beliefs and respecting each other's opinion on the basis of the similarities between our different yet similar religions. maybe that's what everyone should be focusing on, the common grounds rather than the differences because at the end of the day, wether we want to admit it or not, we are servants and children of the same Almighty being.

and i stand corrected that, religion is not to be blamed here but the people who misinterprets and taking its meaning literally..the culprits who think they truly understand the word of God when in fact they're still at loss to what the Almighty really wants them (us) to do, a confused group just like the rest of the population. then again, we are only humans. if only there was a nation which is focused on understanding what religion really is, a nation where differences really doesn't matter...i bet, if all religious leaders gather together and compare notes, 90% of the world's problem would be solved.

i shouldn't be saying more, a few readings from these sites would be more worthwhile...

From the pages of Marina Mahathir (gotta love this woman!):
a) http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/01/confident-people-do-not-get-confused.html
b) http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2010/01/building-peace-and-building-bridges.html

From the pages of Dr. Rafick:
http://rights2write.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/malaysian-cares/
**(i'm no 67 in the list :p)

The petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/Msia0801/petition.html

More readings:
a) http://thenutgraph.com/allah-can-be-discussed-calmly
b) http://www.themodernreligion.com/prophet/prophet-rao.html
c) http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/49330-dont-tell-us-how-to-pray-borneo-states-say-

(very) debatable entries:
http://thoughtsintangents.blogspot.com/

open up your eyes everyone, we are all the same in God's eyes...mortals with confused souls...ciao.