What is Christianity?

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According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity), Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament. The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah), the Son of God, the Saviour, the manifestation of God to humankind (Immanuel), and God (Yahweh or the “Lord”) himself.

A simpler version according to Macmillian English dictionary explained as the religion based on the ideas of Jesus Christ. Its followers worship in a church.

And Christians are adherents of the Christian faith (according to Wikipedia) and someone whose religion is Christianity (according to Macmillian English dictionary).

If above is agreed upon, then what is “the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament”?

Shall talk about that in the next post.

Jesus Saves.............

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Here's a joke that I received from a friend and would like to share with you:

Jesus and Satan were having an on going argument about who was better on the computer.

They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, 'THAT'S IT!
I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job.!

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets!

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.


They did some genealogy reports.


They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off..

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers.


Satan started searching frantically, screaming:

'It's GONE! It's all GONE!

'I lost everything when the power went out!'

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.

Satan observed this and became irate.

'Wait!' he screamed.

'That's not fair! He cheated!

How come he has all his work and I don't have any?'

God just shrugged and said,



JESUS SAVES

It's Good Friday

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It's Good Friday and Christians flocked to churches to mark the day they believe Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and died.

The Catholics churches was stripped of all decorations and no music - on a day meant for prayer, fasting and abstinence.

There will be a celebration three days later on Easter Sunday, Christ is resurrected.

Archbishop asks Catholics to give to those in need

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"The Church gives us this period during Lent to encourage every Catholic to take time to reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Archbishop Chia advised. “We are called to focus on charitable deeds to help us draw closer to God and our neighbours. It is therefore important that we set aside time for prayer and spiritual reflection through the use of the Lenten booklet,” he said. “We should re-examine our ‘treasures’ in life since these determine the priorities and attitudes of our heart.”

Jesus is concerned that we build treasures that do not decrease in value and that Jesus connected giving to the poor with laying up treasure in heaven. “He Himself cared for those in need by feeding the hungry,”

In reading the above from the Bishop's message and the various readings in the past week, there is a questions that keeps popping up - are you truely converted in your heart?

A true Christian is one that is converted in their hearts....to one that is full of love. Not one that preaches hatred and anti this or that.

I have seen many so called Christians that are a shame to our faith. Are you one one of them?

Or are you one who truly live a life of what the Bible preach i.e. to love your neighbour? Do you care for those who are in need?

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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“Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine” (1 Cor 11:1)

This week's reading are as follows:

[Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46] [1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1] [Mark 1:40-45]

In the first reading today, we read how a leprous man is considered unclean and must live in isolation outside the community.

In the second reading, Paul invite us to “Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine” (1 Cor 11:1) and “Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God”

The Gospel reading today, we see how a leprous man came to Jesus and asked Him for healing. The man said “If you are willing, you can cleanse me” (Mk 1:40) which really tell us that the man knew that Jesus is God and that He can cure him of his disease.

Being a compassionate man, Jesus of course cured the man. He told the man not to tell anyone but to show himself to the priest. Instead, the man proclaim freely and Jesus was no longer able to go openly into any town but to deserted spots. People from every corner is seeking Jesus…

How ironical that the leprous man who was supposed to be insolated is now back in the community when Jesus cured him. Yet, Jesus is now forced to be isolated because the man proclaimed freely how Jesus had cured him. What a reversal of situations….

So, with Paul’s invitation in mind, are we prepared to be like Jesus and Paul to serve our communities? Do we must provide comfort and aid to others during their times of physical duress?

And like the man Jesus cured, we are also called to share our own experience of spiritual healing, and more importantly to introduce the “Great Physician,” Jesus Christ to people around us.

Our sharing of experiences and our act of love by deed will result in people everywhere corner coming to seek out Jesus……and that’s evangelizing.

Epiphany Of The Lord

Image via WikipediaThis week, we celebrate the Epiphany Of The Lord and the readings are as follows:
[Isaiah 60: 1-6] [Ephesians 3: 2-3, 5-6] [Matthew 2: 1-12]

What is the Epiphany Of The Lord?

Originally it was the Christmas feast of the Eastern part of the Christian Church. In the Western part the stress of Christmas was and is on the birth of Christ as the little human child.

In the Eastern part the stress is more on Jesus coming as the Lord and Saviour of all. This is the reality the liturgy stresses today: Jesus came to save and bring life to all. No one is excluded, no one is a stranger to him. May all come to know Jesus, alive here among us.

In the readings today, we see how the Magi (probably from Persia) followed the stars and found baby Jesus whom they came to pay their homage. There is a very important significance in this as the Magi are gentiles. This really means that God’s salvation plan is for all and no one is excluded which remind me of Jn 3:16 which so many of my protestants friends loved to quote. God indeed send His only Son to save the world and not only Christians.

God has given us Jesus Christ as the Gift who brings light to our dark world Jesus is born for us – He brings the joy, peace and hope to the world that needs them so badly.

How about us? Are we a light to our family members, relatives and friends?

By being a loving, gentle and kind person to our family members, relatives and friends we too can bring joy, peace and hope to them.

Another aspect to note is that in celebration of the Eucharist that we remember that Jesus offered the Gift of Himself to God. He is offered for our salvation. Thus by following the teachings of Jesus, we can also offer ourselves as near perfect gifts to God our Father.

Lesson from our Blessed Mother

Image via WikipediaAfter reading the homily of the Archbishop Nicholas Chia on our Blessed Mother (in the post before this), I gain a deeper understanding on Marian worship. As I have blogged before (click here to read about it), there are many misconceptions about praying to our Blessed Mother.

At the wedding feast in Cana, our Blessed Mother clearly showed us that she do care for us when she brings the needs of the wedding couple to Jesus. And as what the Archbishop said, “. Here we see the powerful intercession of Mary” and she continues to intercede for us and we must also pray and intercede for others like our Blessed Mother.

Our Blessed Mother has never seek fame and glory for herself. In all her appearances, she always point the people to her son Jesus Christ our savior. Her simple words ““Do whatever He tells you”, and her genuine love for others has converted more than any self proclaimed pastors (especially those Korean or American styled – courtesy of their wives) and is still converting.

So, let’s learn from our Blessed Mother and make her shining example be known to all.

To end this all, I love to share with you here a clip on Ave Maria....

Second Sunday of Advent - We Hope in Jesus

Image via WikipediaThis is the Second Sunday of Advent and our reading this week are as follows:
[Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11] [2 Peter 3:8-14] [Mark 1:1-8]

In this week’s reading, we are offered the message of hope with the coming of Jesus Christ. We are called to dedicate our life to God and we are all exhorted to be holy.

In this difficult period of time facing many due to the economy recession and financial melt-down, we can place our hope in our Shepherd to carry us through our difficulties and to restore us with His tender love and care.

Just as John the Baptist has preached for repentance from sins to prepare ourselves for a new life to herald the arrival of Jesus, this season of Advent is a good time for us to reflect on our lives. Can we take stock of our short-coming and sins and do something about it to prepare ourselves to receive the coming of Jesus Christ?

Can we do something to “Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands” (Is40:3) and “Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain” (Is40:4) – “then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all humanity will see it together” (Is40:5)

All the valley are what we lack perhaps in our love, virtues and goodness and we should pray o the Lord to help us have more of that to fill the valley….

And every mountain are like our sins – obstacles to the Kingdom of God and we pray to the Lord to help us over-come our sins such as addictions, bad habits etc.. so that the mountains of sins will be leveled.

Let’s not get discouraged because of what we have done or failed to do but asked God for help so that we too can build this straight highway to God - bit by bit knowing that “The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance.” (MK1:9)

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• First Sunday of Advent

“Victory of the Cross”

Image by Getty Images via Daylife This week, we celebrate the “Victory of the Cross”.

In Nm 21:4-9, Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and along the way sustained them with water and manna. He also protected them from enemy forces. We would think that the Israelites should be grateful, but all the while they were grumbling, so Yahweh sent poisonous snakes.

The Israelites recanted and begged Moses to intercede for them. At Yahweh’s bidding, Moses created a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whoever gazed upon the image of the serpent would be cured. Yahweh merely took the serpent, a common symbol of fertility at that time to cure the people.

In Jn 13-17, Yahweh would replace this makeshift salvation symbol of a serpent mounted on a standard with the image of Jesus Christ nailed on the cross. The Israelites who gazed at the serpent received a cure for their physical ailments.

People of all time who gazed upon the face of Jesus on the cross will be comforted and have everlasting life. Sometimes we forget to gaze upon Jesus and instead, think that we are capable of living life without him.

Why salvation is by faith and deeds.

Image via WikipediaPaul and James or any of the apostles are simply teaching us what Jesus has taught them. Let’s take a look now at what the teachings are about:

In MT 22:34-40, Jesus clearly sum up the commandments for us into 2. That is to love God and to love our neighbour.

In MT 25 31:46, Jesus tells us what are the criteria of entering into Heaven. The criteria such as feeding, clothing visitations are all deeds of love, compassion and charity. If one has shown such deeds to one’s neighbour, one has shown love to God. Thus both the commandments are fulfilled.

In MT 7:21-27 , Jesus also warned us that not all who call “Lord…Lord…” will enter into Heaven. It is not lips service that He wants. He said a true disciple are those who hear the words and act on it. Not those who hear but do nothing.

In the story of the good thief, one can see clearly that the thief was saved by faith and deeds. While in the midst of his own misery, he not only said that he believed that Jesus is the Son of God, he showed his beliefs by standing up (read…good deed) for Jesus when the other thief mock Jesus. Is he saved by faith alone with no deeds?

So what does Paul teaches us? Paul teaches us that faith is very important as his letters are addressed to newly converts, he stress the importance of having Christ. Without Christ, no salvation is possible. No matter how hard one works, he has no salvation unless he has Christ.

Never did Paul said faith alone will save. Neither did he ever said works is not needed.

Does Paul thinks that he is saved already? Is he working towards it?
Reading RN 8:18-25, Philippians 2:12-18 and 3:8-15 may give us some clues.

Is James contradicting Paul?

Of course not, unless you mistaken what Paul is saying in the first place. Why James said what he did in chapter 2 is to remind Christians that they need to have deeds or their faith is useless. It is also to address those who have misunderstood Paul. God is not looking for lips service.

James made it very clear and simple that faith alone does not save. Why? Because without deeds, faith is useless and such faith cannot save. Only by deeds can one show one’s faith and only such faith can lead to salvation.

As to questions of what is deeds, I think we can safely refer back to the words we hear from Jesus - that is, the 2 most important commandment (which will lead us to salvation).

As to questions of how many deeds is required, it’s an irrelevant question.
The importance really is on “effect of the Law engraved on their hearts”. It is about making the act of loving, compassion and charity a part of our Christian life – not by words alone, but by living it out (read…doing, deeds, act on it) from your heart.

Who are Christians ?

Image via WikipediaI have been looking in some Christians forums recently and I am shocked to see how "twisted" some of them are.....

Christianity is a simple and straight forward religion to me. It all means that we believe in 1 God who created everything on earth (seen and unseen). God loved us so much that he send his only son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins so that we can have eternal life.

So, why did Jesus came on earth as a fellow human being? It's God's way of revealing himself to us (as God is unseen) so that we can know and be close to him.

Jesus taught his disciples by telling stories (parables)
and what we need to do in order to be saved. These stories and Jesus teachings can be found in the 4 Gospels - Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

Jesus in all his parables are teaching people to be good and to love one another.

I fail to see how so many people can be quoting so many verses (or rather mis-quoting) and end up with so many "funny attiudes".....

Christianity is all about Faith, Hope and Love.....

I will be posting the parables as taught by Jesus and share my thoughts with you especially non-Christians so that you will know that many Christians out there who disgusted you are simply mis-guided.

Before I do that, I will like to spend some time to post on a few commonly heard "complaints" of Christians from non-Christians so that you know that they are not Jesus's teachings.

If you have some thoughts, I welcome you to share with me by posting your comments.

What Is Christianity ?

Image via WikipediaThere are lots of discussions on the forums on Christianity....more accurately, which is the true Christianity.

Well, lots of arguments out there and many Bible verses quoted. For people who do read such arguments, take note when bible verses are quoted and then proven that they are mis-quoted by someone else....it almost always happened that people who quote them are from particular denomination.

Why are there so many denomination in the first place?

Christianity is about believing in God and his son Jesus Christ. In particular, that God send his only son to save the world. Jesus was born a man and lived like one of us and among us.

If you truly wants to know what is Christianity, I think we should turn to Jesus Christ for answer.

For that, I suggest that one focus on the 4 gospel in the New Testament namely : Mathew, Mark, John and Luke.

In these 4 books, you get to learn what Jesus is teaching us.

You will realised that Christianity is all above faith, hope and love.....