Thursday, July 10, 2008

Biggest Hypocrite Award


MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Some reflection on what I’ve learned from Soaring the Eagle Camp.
Well, this is not the title of this activity, but it certainly have to do with it. We are given a situation. You have a beautiful wife, 2 pretty daughters and 1 extremely handsome boy. However, they like shopping and you can’t bare not to give them any money when they ask from you. So one day, you borrowed RM 3000 from Ah Loong (loan shark), and have to pay back in two weeks time.
Then the payment day came. You went to the bank only to find your balance is not enough to pay back. Then immediately after that, you received a phone call from the Ah Loong saying that he’ll be in your house with his gang in 15 minutes time and you are warned that things might not be pretty if you do not have the money with you.
Then you looked around, you saw an old man, dropped an envelope on the ground after taking some money from the ATM nearby. You wanted to call out to him but he went on a bike and went off before you can call out to him. You went and pick up the form only to find that there is exactly RM3000 in it. There is no name and no address and no numbers on the envelope. There was no way to trace back the old man.

Each team is to put up a sketch showing that whether you will take the money or not in the end.

(what our team acted was that if he did not take the money, the wife and daughters will be raped, and the son’s fingers will be chopped off one by one. But if he took the money, they will continue to have one happy family)

Lesson learned is that YOUR VALUED PRINCIPLES WILL CRUMBLE UNDER PRESSURE. There were so much talking about integrity from the starting of the camp, only to decide in the end that we will take the money when we’re in desperate measures.

On the other hand, we have to look at this in all directions. We always think of our own consequences, well being of those who are involved, how would people view us of the decisions we make. But have we wondered what God’s view is? Might it be a test of your faith? We all know that God will not test us more than what we can take.

If we take the money, it will be contradicting to what we have learned, preached, and practice all the days of our life. We don’t talk about paying back for what we have done wrong, if all sins can be paid in monetary form, there won’t be the need of grace and cries for forgiveness. If we can just pay back for what we have done wrong, then it is a clear ticket for sinning and paying back later. In that case, it is ok to kill, and then justify yourself that you can repay for what you have done wrong.

We need not justify our actions. If we took the money, our faith is very much broken. It is the same as when we take bribe to feed our family. This is non-halal money. A sin is a sin, you don’t justify it with excuses and the fruits that you can get out of that one little sin.

Yes, of course we have to live with the consequences of the wives being rape and the son beheaded. It will not be easy, but if you give in and say it is ok to take the money, then those that you thought, those you are with will all together lose faith and turn away from the God of justice, God of truth, God of love, God that they trust the God that you have been teaching, learning and believing all these while. Till the end of days, when you see God face to face and when he asked you about why did you denied your faith at that moment, are you going to stand in front of Him and justify yourself?

If we look in-depth into the situation, if we are trying to justify our actions with the people in the quran and the bible or any other religious teaching, they did so and then asked for forgiveness and repented, of course they are forgiven and their sins are washed away. But how many other believers will you cause to stumble? Are we teaching them that it is alright to sin first when we are desperate and then come and repent later?

Why teach all the right things and not practice it ultimately. We can clearly see that living by faith, people will prosper. But we also see those who are persecuted, whose families are tortured, those who loose every earthly thing that they ever valued.

If we can pay back our sins, then what is the use of the millions good thing that we are teaching about?

It is a hard decision “reality vs godliness”

Who are we serving? Who are we living for in the end? For ourselves, for those we care for, for our friends or for God?

When the end of days come, it will not be easy, many will give in and stumble. I know it is easier said than done, but in the end, will I continue to stand for what I believe in or will I do wrong and justify myself later? I cannot guarantee that I will stand firm but by the grace of God, I shall stand by His side and fight for Him, living a godly life.


About the sketch, after much consideration and thoughts, I somehow got a revelation from a friend with good explanation that we should not have taken the money.
If we put the light of God into the picture, think of who we are ultimately serving, look at the end picture, knowing that right is right and wrong is wrong.

This is very debatable and are we looking from earthly view, “ we’re doing for the benefit of many” of are we looking from God’s point of view?

* We know that it is not a blessing from God when we see the money because God will not cause someone to loose something for your gain.

I failed big time, failed to stand for what I’ve believed in so far. Failed to live in faith. If this is an award giving ceremony, I shall be getting the “biggest hypocrite” award. I solute Assurl, a muslim in my class that stands for what is right in the eye of God. He is among the odds but did not give in; he did not justify himself and is viewed as a guy who made the wrong decision. But in the end, who are those who made the wrong decision?

Our principles that are set based on the word of God. How far are we willing to stand up for it? NO COMPROMISING, JUST DO IT.

Question is, who are we living for and do we practice what we preach. May it be the smallest decisions in our life, may we do everything for the glory of our Lord.

Filled with conviction, I hope its not too late to change our mind set on “what grounds are we standing for?”, and “how far can we go on carrying the light of Christ with us.”

Am I trying to be super spiritual? No, I’m just a little girl trying my best to follow my God, trying to make the right decisions based on the right source.

What we decide on can see how much we really love God and how close we are to Him.

*Thanks JIT for laying down the right foundation for this case. My coming here is not such a waste and buat kacau after all, and thanks to the facilitator who show us the reality of the world out there.

4 comments:

Janus995 said...

Very thoughtful...Got me thinking deeply there.

I'm so confused about faith.

Serena Lim said...

well, faith is a short word with long explainations.
but then we do not have a specific measurement for it and hence, it is not easy living by faith. =D

Ash Singh said...

You have a very interesting outlook of life serena.

Anonymous said...

I see taking the money as the lesser of two evils. Is a husband's responsibility not also towards his family? Is abandoning them not also a sin? from "God's point of view"?

It's is so easy for someone sitting at home conveniently surrounded by moral textbooks to make the "right" choice. But being in the real situation, deciding factors that one may have discounted before would definitely carry much more weight.

I think using the money would have been the better choice. It's not like rm3000 cannot be raised to be returned to the old man after the debt has been paid, right?