Archive for January, 2010

A message?

January 15th, 2010

Is someone trying to send me a message? Since my last post quite a few Christianity-related things have popped up around me.

Perhaps it’s just a heightened state of awareness and it’s purely my consciousness picking up things which are near the front of my mind these days. But then again, it’s just weird.

It started out with the book I was reading – Gandhi’s autobiography. Now I’ve been reading that book since mid-2009, and as I’m not a slow reader, it’s just purely that I wasn’t that interested enough to sit down and read. But about a week ago, the text suddenly jumped up at me as Gandhi started exploring his own faith, questioning Christianity and spoke of his own beliefs in God. What astute timing… coincidence 1? Maybe.

Coincidence 2 – Last Thursday, my first day back at work, there was a booth at Silks where colleagues were promoting a series of lunchtime talks called “Christianity Explored”. Title is self-explanatory. I was interested in attending, but with so much work it would have been very difficult to step away at lunchtime. Plus I feel like this journey for me, at least at the start, will be a fairly individualist and personal, engaging only close and trusted friends.

Then there was that article about Tiger Woods’ faith. According to the journalist, Woods is a Buddhist. But due to his recent transgressions, it was suggested that conversion to Christianity could offer Woods guidance, forgiveness and redemption. True that in Buddhism there isn’t the One Being to say “I forgive you”. Of course it’s not the same in Buddhism. It’s not about sin. It’s about recognising the cause of suffering and addressing that cause.

It’s most interesting because I don’t think I really understand the concept of Sin. Maybe in layman terms, but not to the extent the Bible teaches it.

And most recently was just last night when Reine and I engaged into a conversation about the history of Christianity, Islam and Jewism. We wiki’d quite a few pages like “Bible“, “textual criticism“, “Malaysian Chinese religion” (which turned out to be quite an amusing read!), “Chinese deities“, “Chinese gods“…

I felt like we were engaged in a proper conversation. It made me feel good to be teaching and educating her! I don’t want to be her lecturer, but her mentor – be someone to help guide her through life and grow as an individual and as my partner.

Back to the original purpose of this post, I don’t know what it is but I’m so curious these days. I want to learn and to know more! Not just about Christianity, but about other religions. I want to know what I believe.

Welcome 2010

January 10th, 2010

So here we go again, blogging.

For me, it’s just an avenue for release, nothing more. I don’t expect anyone to be reading this, and hopefully no one is tracking my RSS feed! I just want an online journal for myself. Somewhere to type my thoughts. I don’t know where else I’d put it!

There comes a point at the beginning of every new year when I am writing and have to pause, scratch out the old date, and insert the new date with the correct year. 2010 was no different. I managed to get through9 fulls days without having to re-write the date, but on the 10th day, the eraser was brought out and the date corrected.

What are my hopes for this year? I’ve had no easy 2009 that’s for sure. No it’s not the famine and the wars I’ve suffered, no plague or (serious) disease. But I still endured countless sleepless nights filled with stress and worry. I don’t want that. I truly don’t. Everyone says it’s a part of growing up. Well yes, it may be true that growing up necessarily reveals more and more problems in life, but the better part of growing up is learning how to deal with these problems effectively!

So I had turned to Buddhism over the past two years to try and understand the reason for my suffering. Whilst it has brought strength and wisdom in my daily affairs, I still feel a part of me is lacking the answer I seek. I don’t know what question it is I am asking, but there really is a void somewhere in my heart. It sounds cliched. Ah. Religion. The age-old debate.

Well for me I think there’s no harm exploring. There’s no harm in seeking knowledge. Since Reine is so keen on finding out more, I shall take the opportunity to join her. Let’s see what Christianity has to offer. Let’s see why about a third of the world’s population believe in this faith.

So the other two New Years’ resolutions I’ve made to myself are

a) to become healthier – eat more fruits, sleep earlier, become fitter; and

b) to learn mandarin – I really want to work in HK for at least 6 months of my life. I recognise that language will be my number one barrier and it’s only up to me to try and address this problem!

Here’s to my attempt and to a fantastic 2010!