Well.. it was a series of events but it turned out ahh. Firstly, people often try to convince me to accept Christianity and they gave time and most of the time I will say no. They never really ask why. Maybe they do ask.. but, because it can be quite offending so they never really persist on asking.. but little did they know I really want to answer them.

Question

1. To me the existence of God was never a question. The question is which God is real. There’s Buddhism, Muslim, Hinduism and Christianity. Brought up in a society of multiple religions and beliefs, believing in miracles is a norm. Because of all these perceptions, I came to a conclusion that all religions are equal, none is greater. How do I know which is real? They all teach good things; just the God they worship is different. By telling myself this, I’ve made myself very comfortable when confronted with issues related to religion because I have got a stand.

Ever since I came to Perth 3 years ago, the service…sermons never answered my questions. Instead, they focused on bringing people to know Christ, as in they only have 2 types of people in mind. Their most direct way of evangelism is telling the truth by installing the fear of hell and the desire to go to heaven. One, is the Christian’s and the other is the non believer that have not heard about Christ. Another group was not addressed, which is those that have heard of Christ but have chose not to believe because they have no reason to be bias about other religions. I know, Christianity is not a religion. It’s a relationship because He is personal.

The downside of this type of approach then is it uses fear to install the need of God in the lifes of the non believers by telling them that believing is the one way passage to heaven. The Only way.

However, it does not work with people that already know about Christ but chose not to believe it because of other factors that really matter. These are religion, feelings of my immediate and extended family and so on. My uncle studied in Australia before and he once told me..,”When you go to Australia do not get brainwashed”. We’re in a very difficult position.

Apart from that, I know that Christian’s here really believe in their God and eternal life that they persist so much so to bring you to salvation. But, have you ever figured how much pressure it is when you go to service, or a church event and the message that is supposed to be bringing people to salvation is seen as a message condemning us.. If you don’t accept Christ you will end up in hell.

Because the way it is preached.. it sounds really true. (For non believers). At some point you really want to but because of things that really matter, you hold back. Slowly, a shield to the heart starts to form.

And when all your peers around you are Christians, you can feel the pressure there.. peer pressure.

I once told Wei Yue how I felt. Then he said, “In Buddhism, you do not need to believe, because they say that reincarnation takes place even if you believe it or not. So why then can’t you just believe in Christ and gain something extra.”

Of course that is not all he told me. But based on this alone, I was not convinced. I always think logically and how can I believe if religion/relationship is put in this way.

In church I feel that way, in cell I feel that way too… initially.

But I guess, now I’m used to it.

At the start, I joined my friends for church on Sunday because I had nothing better to do and I need to take care of my lunch. After I got to know more people, I ended up going regularly despite my faith, because of the friendship built. Despite all that, I refused to join any ministries even after being in church for 2 years.. nearly 3 now. The reason being because I’ve been in church long enough to know how things work.

First you start of doing a small thing.. then later you wonder how you end up doing many things.

One catch phrase you will never fail to hear is,” You are here for a reason. Not by chance, not because your friends have asked you to come but because God have placed you here.”

So I never started in any ministry. Not because I don’t want to help or do many things.. But I do not want to serve for the wrong reasons.

Jia Huei once said,” Sometimes I also have doubts bout Christ but if I always have doubt then how can I say I believe. I might as well have faith.”

I do not want to serve because at the heart of all the ministries, the main cause is to serve the Lord. How can I serve the Lord if I am not a believer?

I know I’m stubborn, but really, I just want to be sure.