Suspended disbelief

I believe that occasionally, even the most hardcore atheist will look upon the world and think, "hot dang, maybe there is a design to this after all!"

Ecumenism in Singapore

I went for a Cassoc (York's Catholic society) meeting today - my first in awhile, I think. The topic was about ecumenical chaplaincy, which is something I've quite some interest in, and even though it turned out to be of a more personal (and probably more accessible to frequent Cassoc goers) nature than expected, it did get me thinking about ecumenism in Singapore.

It's an issue quite close to my heart because, well, I have a lot of Protestant (used here to refer to non-Catholic Christians, although some people might argue about its appropriateness) friends, and I've been going to bible study with them, and it's really interesting meeting with different people from different backgrounds to discuss their interpretations of the bible - some of which I totally disagree with of course, but it's definitely an educational experience just discussing things anyway.

The thing is, back home in Singapore I don't think you see such ecumenical activities often, especially between Catholics and Protestants. Each denomination (or church, even) tends to keep activities within its boundaries, and I think there is just so much misunderstanding and wasted opportunity because of that.

The take-home message for today - it is really up to the parishioners to initiate such activities. I don't know when or how exactly, but I do hope to someday contribute to inter-denominational relations in my own way.

Homosexuality, Christianity and Singapore

I've been thinking about the issue of the legality of homosexuality in Singapore for some time now, especially more so every since Otto Fong, a teacher in RI, published his 'open letter' declaring himself homosexual, and the Ministry of Education apparently pressured him into taking it down.

As I'd commented somewhere on LiveJournal, I can totally understand why a Christian might disapprove of homosexuality - the bible practically explicitly instructs us to do so (to kill them, more specifically).

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Lev. 20:13)

Personally, I don't believe that every word of the bible is infallible or should be taken as an instruction to be applied in everyday life, but I know many people who do, and yes - if the almighty God your creator has told you that homosexuality is wrong, it is altogether sensible that you should do your part to stamp it out. Encourage your homosexual friends to 'turn over a new leaf', if you sincerely believe that will be better for them - fine. Form support groups for homosexuals who want to 'change' - alright, I guess. Have campaigns to educate the public on the evils of homosexuality (whatever those be) - I'm a little dubious about that, but hey, it's (theoretically) just exposing others to your viewpoint, so I guess that's alright.

But where I draw the line is when church groups vocally lobby to retain section 377 of the penal code, that part of Singaporean law which makes it illegal for homosexuals to have sex with one another. It's not a law that is actively enforced (even if they were able to), but it silently signals the government's non-acceptance of homosexuality in Singapore.

Civil law is civil law, and unless every citizen is a member of a certain religion (and even then, perhaps not), there is no reason why religious viewpoints should be mixed in with deciding how to maintain secular social order. As Christians we have no right to force our beliefs upon others, just as the Muslims have no right to make us eat halal food (though as a sidetrack, a lot of Malay food is seriously tasty and hard to avoid eating =P).

Purely from a secular point of view, I fail to see how homosexuality makes a detrimental impact on society as a whole - arguments about the 'breakdown of traditional family structure' and stuff don't quite cut it, for me. In fact, I don't see why homosexuality should be regarded as a greater ill than smoking or alcohol.

I'm not particularly supportive of homosexuality (am personally slightly homophobic, no particular reason - just not particularly comfortable with the concept), but I don't see why they should be discriminated against either, and I am tired of Christians being broadly labelled as 'anti-gay' when really I think it's something we have no business poking our noses into in the first place (on a national legal scale, anyway).

Catechism

So I've signed up to be a Catechist.

For those who don't know (which might well be the average reader here), Catechism is kinda like the Catholic version of Sunday school. The backstory being, two or three weeks ago there was a little speech made by a current Catechist as part of their recruitment drive, and during his little speech he'd listed some of the other Catechists and surprise - Audrey, who'd taken my class back in 1998-1999 (in preparation for Confirmation), was still there - about 8 years down the road!

That would have been it, but somehow last week thoughts of becoming a catechist started rising up in my head. I guess it's because I'm going into my last year of study already - kinda making plans for when I come back. At the same time, I was wondering how Audrey was doing now, so I thought I should get in touch with her and ask about joining the Catechists, so I sent my church secretariat an email (asking for Audrey's contact), to get the following reply.

What a pleasant surprise? How have you been. I have been thinking of you and wanting to touch base but don't have your contact details. So with your email to Ester - I am glad that I am now in touch with you.

Now I'm not too sure how much of it is being polite and how much is factual, but it's quite a nice email to get lah huh? So, long story short, I met up with Audrey earlier, observed one of her lessons, had a short chat, and filled up an application form.

Coincidentally enough, I also found out that my ex-neighbour (who moved out just last year) is currently heading the Catechists!

I don't often fill my blog with religiousy stuff, and I don't really consider myself a psycho fundamentalist whackjob (not that any of my more religiously-inclined friends are =P), but all this just feels... amazingly fortuitous. I have a strangely remarkable sense of ease about everything, and though I still don't believe that God actually takes the time/effort to plan every single detail of my life for me (I believe there are better things to do, even for an omnipotent being), I'm not opposed to believing that this might be one thing he's done for (to?) me.

LT worship

I really enjoy it when I go to mass. Even though it's held in a Lecture Theatre on campus (which, though extremely convenient, does affect the ambience somewhat), I almost always am able to feel God's presence in Catholic mass. Maybe it's just the familiarity of the rites, or the familiarity of the songs, but that seems to be where I gain the most... spiritual utility, so to speak.

Apparently it's Christian Unity week, but underneath all the talk of embracing your brothers lies trickier questions. Do you accept practices which you believe are wrong? Do you try to spread the practices you believe are right? Just who is your brother and who isn't, anyway?

It seems like the world would be a better place if everyone just forgets about all these and focuses on living in harmony, but if you genuinely believe that you could be improving other people's lives, what do you do?

Glod is gory

Spoonerism of the day - Praise Glod for he's gory.

(Meant to be "praise God for his glory", as far as I recall)

I'm not sure who this Glod fella is, but I sure hope this doesn't constitute paganism!

For some reason I've been unintentionally producing spoonerisms ever since I finished NS. I suspect that all those months in there have fried my Broca's area and somehow left my linguistic abilities sub-optimal, with some amusing effects.

I often think that God is the ultimate jokester.

Living on borrowed faith

Am I?

I'll shout it from the mountaintop

I'd like to say that I've found my personal saviour, but a part of me is afraid to totally commit. I've always been a coward in that way, but I guess it's better to err on the side of caution.

It's just a nice fuzzy feeling right now, with the knowledge that things have changed, that you've found what you were looking for, that everything's going to be alright. It's kinda like the feeling when you like someone and then you tell her and find out that she likes you too, and you just spend the next few hours basking in each other's love.

And so now I'm just contemplating how amazing it is that I've suddenly accepted the Good News, when I've heard the exact same stuff before and never really took it seriously. And I know there are still a lot of doubts (some small, some big) hanging in the back of my head, but at this moment they don't matter, and I'm sure I'll be trying to tackle them in time to come, anyway.

(Gosh. They probably dope the food at that 'Still Hungry' course I'm attending.)

Cosmic coincidences

It's the first night of proper rest I've had for awhile now, and the first morning I'm waking so incredibly refreshed. It's been an amazingly eventful period here in York, despite it being a small boring city in the middle of nowhere... or perhaps because of that, the human drama here is so much more intense. These acts are absolutely fascinating to observe, but also absolutely nerve-wrecking at times when you're playing one of the roles.

Pretty much like an actual drama production, don't you think?
--

One of my main issues with my religion was how, well, I never seemed to see any sign of it in my own life. The devout Christians always seemed so sure of seeing the evidence of God's hand in their lives, whereas what I saw consisted more of... coincidences.

Did something happen as you'd wanted? Praise the Lord! Did something happen which made you really, really sad? The Lord works in mysterious ways/He's testing you/Praise the Lord! In this cosmic game of chance, God never loses.

Watching while a similarly confused friend went through a whole chain of seemingly random coincidences prodding her toward certain actions and resolutions, however, has made me stop to wonder. Surely the cosmic game of chance can't be quite as coincidental as that, can it? I stopped and thought even harder after finding out that I was in fact one of the many prodding factors in the whole chain of events.

Well, I've encountered my own chain of random coincidences recently, with very happy results, but once more, I doubt. Is there any meaning to it all? While I'd very much like to believe that God's will is in all this, isn't it a bit pompous to assume that He's actually bothering himself with small details like this?

I don't know, and I wonder when I ever will.

A quiet Sunday

This morning was my first in church for oh-so-long. I've been in a confused state about religion for the longest time, and before leaving I'd decided that I should really take this time to finally sort out where I really lie. It's a little too early to tell, but I think I've started on the path toward reconciliation with God. Somehow, somewhen.

Afternoon was a walk to a nearby pub with three housemates, we'd originally planned to have roast for lunch. Unfortunately we were a little late and ended up eating normal burgers and stuff. It was nice, though, especially since I haven't been interacting with them very much. Think I'm getting along with one of the guys just fine, so at least there's someone I can call on just next door.

Evening was dinner with three other Singaporeans, where one girl did a simple pasta dish and i whipped up a repeat of my (infamous) omelette. I've cooked just twice so far in the UK - both times omelette. It's quite good actually, but c'mon, how far off can you go with omelette? I think I've been getting on really well with the Singaporeans so far, which is great, but I keep getting these flashes in my head reminding me of how cliquish foreigners tended to be in Singapore and how I seem to be headed right down that path. Hmm.

In about 15 minutes I'll be off to my first game of Ultimate (aka Ultimate Frisbee). I wasn't too into it initially but I'd realised that I wasn't gonna get a lot of exercise here if I don't join anything physical, and Ultimate seemed to be a pretty fun way to get that.

I'm supposed to be reading my textbook in preparation of upcoming lectures this week, but somehow it's still shrink-wrapped. Hopefully I'd be reading it sometime later or tomorrow, otherwise it seems that I'm headed toward the same old style I'd adopted toward schoolwork back at home.

My day in a nutshell. Nice, idyllic, pretty fun. Quite indicative of my average day at York thus far, I think.