Joss-sticks?
UPDATED 15.8.08: Scroll below.
I don't know why Christians aren't allowed to hold joss-sticks. I find that practice(or lack of practice) very cruel, especially for parents who are not of that religion, with baptized children.
I remember reading on the newspapers something about a mother of 3 daughters, 2 of whom got baptized. And when she dies, these 2 daughters wouldn't be able to pay their respect for her during her wake. And even when she gets cremated, the daughters wouldn't be able to enter the temple, because they 'don't believe in this'.
Guess the mother's wishes, which was the title of the article anyway: 'You can get baptized only after I die' or something along those lines. Just reading and recounting and typing it pains me to see what an impact 'God' has on his believers, that even stepping into a temple to pay last respects to someone, who has paid for your education and your food and shelter and water and various time-wasting stuff like letting you go to church just so you could repay them by being unfilial, is banned.
It's just the Christians. I think Catholics are allowed to. What's the difference?
Another thing about the article: The mother said something which really touched me. Not that it's exceptionally touching, but that it's very true and that I can really feel her regret. With this sentence(I'm going to try to produce it from my memory, which isn't very credible), she summed up her lifelong regret up remorsefully: 'For us, our parents is the biggest. For Christians, Jesus is the biggest.' Something along those lines. I was just reading a newspaper article, and this had to happen.
This is very true. All the thanks and everything good that happens to people, they attribute it to God, not to the people who gave birth to them, who loved them as their children. No, they feel that they are God's children and that their parents are nothing but a portal for them to enter this world by. Look at Christians and their believes: They don't believe in Mother Mary. That reflects the view that mothers are useless? I don't know.
But I think I can accept fully Christian families. I mean, there won't be a problem when someone passes on. But..I just feel sorry for the people with converted children.
One of my better and more keesiao friends told me about how his uncles refused to enter a temple to pay their last respects to their mother. Just because they're Christians. I really have nothing against Christians or God, but I just think it's damn cruel to remain indifferent in the face of family bereavement in the form of their mother. Just because you believe in God doesn't stop you from fulfilling your parents' last wishes, right?
They always say stuff about hos Jesus is greater and more noble than everyone else because of his love for people. Or something along those lines. But when my Christian friends got quizzed, they'd rather not have their parents than not have God or Jesus. I think they're completely missing the point in God. Perhaps I'm the blind one, but from what I see, the ones of high power would rather you keep your parents than you keep their existence. Not that this situation would appear, but it reflects the mentality of believers.
And I have something against shepherding. Blah.
What Ms. Leong said was true, or at least that's what I feel too. You don't have to spend so much time on God, if you're true to him he'd get the point.
On a completely different note, I'm going to talk about public enemies. What's there to hate about someone, to the point of public hatred, and what compels people to express their dislike in an open way, a perspective reflected by many. That's why there are 'public enemies', people who can be seen all around society.
Why? What makes them so hatred?
Should they change so that they wouldn't live life being hated? Are people against others because of their character?
I think public enemies should change their characters, because people only hate others when they're grossly different from the norm, which is defined by the haters. These public enemies are hated for a reason, and that reason would probably earn them the scorn of people even after they graduate and step into working society. Since it's a situation that wouldn't change, why won't that person change? Perhaps it'd be for the better.
Why not? It's respectable to not change for others, but being obstinate doesn't help in such situations either.
The update: My Christian friend's father read this post, and concluded that I'm going to hell. Which reminds me of how much I find that statement stupid. I mean, I'm not going to become a believer just because I want to avoid hell.
By stating to non-believers stuff like 'You're going to hell', you're effectively saying 'One main reason I believe in God is that I won't go to hell'. Which makes me really doubt the reason behind Christianity, because it seems almost as if they believe just to avoid hell.
But I know that most don't think that way. I mean, hardly anyone goes around telling others stuff like 'Oh, believe, then you don't have to go to hell'. Personally, I don't think that God, if he exists, is as narcissistic as to think along those lines like worship me or get tortured. I don't subscribe to that point of view, yet some Christians do? Weird. I'd rather burn in hell as an atheist than go to believe in God just to go to heaven.
Oh another thing. This isn't my point, my friend said it so I'm just going to replicate it here. Christians would never go to hell, because s'long as they repent, they would be forgiven for their sins. And when that happens people won't go to hell.
I asked yet another Christian friend whether his parents believe in his God or not. He said no, and I asked whether he would fulfill his duties as his parents' son or not by offering joss-sticks and stuff. He said he would, and that he wouldn't care about the rules or anything of that nature.
I wonder how long that notion would stay.
-- 8/12/2008 08:22:00 PM