The Million $ Question - When?

Once again man has been proven wrong. So how come humans never learn? Forget it, dumb question. What is this unending fascination with when the world will end? Perhaps it has something to do with the insatiable human appetite to wonder about and/or fear of the unknown future. Or maybe perhaps it's just that some people really have got nothing else better to do with their time than countdown a calendar. Definitely the Bible has something to do with it, since an entire Book made up of 22 chapters no less, is devoted to discussing it. But before we blame it all on God (as humans are ever quick to do), it would do the world a lot of good to remember the 1 most important clue that is most often ignored which Jesus already disclosed 2012 years ago to a group of eager-beaver disciples wanting to know when the end of the world would come - 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father' (Mat.24:36) . I don't know how much clearer can that get.
Still doomsday predictions have abounded in the past, and no doubt will continue to abound in the future. An old high-school fren commented that even tho he woke up on 22.12.2012 to find he was still alive, the hoax did make him appreciate life and this world a little bit more. Cynics and skeptics on the other hand would have wagged their fingers and tongues delightedly to find yet another reason to disbelieve and probably throw another party to celebrate life like there is no tomorrow.

At the risk of being accused as one of those doomsday prophets, I had to tell my on-line frens that to me, it wasn't a hoax. After all, everything has a beginning and an end. Movies, books, events. Seasons come, seasons go, the sun rises and sets. So why should we assume that this world will go on forever? The world will end one day; it's only a matter of when. I believe it not because of some mind-blowing scientific/astronomic evidence that a comet is gonna drop out of the sky and pulverize entire cities (I think they say the next big one is already heading our way and should make it to earth by late 2013) or some humanistic theory that planet earth can't sustain  life anymore the way we are raping, abusing, misusing and just plain messing it up (which is true and logical anyway). I believe it becoz God's Word can't be wrong. Do I have proof? Nah. But I have learnt what can't be 'proven' according to human criteria doesn't mean it ain't true. There is only 1 irrefutable way to prove the end of the world anyhow - when it happens. If it doesn't happen, well, so I have believed in error and you can call me a deluded fool. But if it does happen, who then is the fool for not believing?

To some I guess it makes no difference. Whether or not the world ends , our 'job' is just to live life well whilst we still draw breath on this earth. And that's absolutely as it should be. I still remember an ex-colleague of mine from my corporate days trying to console me as I was struggling to accept my husband's cancer. He was like my husband, young in the prime of life, and he too had cancer. He said, "It's not the number of years we live, it's how well we live that matters." But what does it mean to 'live well'?

At one time, to me living well meant having a secure job, loving relationships, minimum stress and maximum pleasure. Nothing wrong with that, I might say. But add God to the equation and my perspectives about a life 'well-lived' changed. For one, He says He's got plans to prosper and never to harm me. The only catch is His idea of prosperity and harm differs greatly from mine. I would like power to change others, to change the world into a better place, but instead He gives me power to change myself. And I am learning daily that my Father in heaven really does know best. He is the author of this story- book entitled my life, and if I let Him, He will complete it well as only He knows how. The times I have snatched the pen out of His hands and insisted on writing my own version of life have only led me down paths I have oft regretted. But He is ever gracious, every time anytime I realize my folly, He simply welcomes me back and nudges me back to the right path again, onward to the final destination. Every journey must have a destination after all; else we would just be running around in circles. So too with this journey called life.

The final destination is the be all and end all of existence itself. But life's final destination isn't just death, as the movie of that title portrayed it. If it were, then there is really not much point in life, no matter how well- meaning we try to live it, is there? If all that awaits the human being is to return from ashes to ashes, dust to dust, however we live this life is gonna end up zilch anyway since everyone is just going to rot eaten up by maggots end of the day. Where is the significance of life in that?

God says there is more than this life on earth, so much more, if we care to know it. God talks of eternity, something that's totally alien to a human mind which can only measure time in finite seconds, minutes, hours, days or years. That's why the wisest king on earth wistfully pens, "He has set eternity into the hearts of man, yet they cannot understand what God has done from beginning to end "(Ecc. 3:11) When we live with eternity in sight, we see this earthly life quite differently. Living well becomes not just living as best we can, doing as much good as we can, (that's only the barest minimum), hoping that somehow if there is a heaven, we will make it there on our best self-effort. In a world where there's no guarantee of anything, God's guarantee of eternity stands firm, planted on a cross on a hill-top called Calvary, in a Man named Jesus who died sealing it as a done deal. It isn't a mere wishy-washy, cross your fingers kind of hope. It's a certainty born out of knowing and believing a God we can trust, becoz He has already proven His love for us, for "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life" (John 15:13).

Thankfully, His death wasn't the end; if it was, then Christianity would just be a dead religion with a dead God. When Jesus rose from the dead, He opened the door to eternity for those who would take His hand and walk through it. That's the final destination of those who are willing to believe. What a fantastic finale to a life lived well on earth - preparing for an even better life in the world to come. In the words of the apostle Peter, " Since everything will be destroyed.... what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming . But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:11-13). Crazy fella, how can he want to 'speed up' the end of the world?? I guess becoz he's caught the vision of a glorious eternity, grounded in the one and only, true and living God. Call him (and I) crazy, but that's a vision which takes away every fear, even as another new year rolls in.....

I dunno if there will be anybody around to give out a million bucks to the person who correctly answers the question when the world will end. But there is another much more pressing question that needs to be answered right now by all of us, since the prize is the inestimable cost of our soul - on which side of eternity are we standing - with or without God?

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'.... Revelation 21:1,3-4

 

Mercy, Grace and Justice

I didn't know superheroes can sing, and sing very well at that. Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine of X-Men mesmerized me with his vocal prowess singing his soul out as Jean Valjean in the cinematic take of the famed Les Miserables opera. So did the other protagonist Russell Crowe, in fact so did all the rest of the supporting cast, whose voices blended in rich resonance to re-tell Victor Hugo's famous classic tale of a thief who after his release breaks parole, but made good, yet is haunted or rather hunted down by his old jailor amidst the background of pre-French Revolution social activism. I barely noticed how long the show was, although for some people I am sure it was a drag, as 3 hours of continuous song and dance can be pretty boring if you don't particularly fancy musicals. Personally, I enjoyed not only the excellent voices, especially the duets and harmonies, but also the fine acting, which i venture touched many a heart in the audience as i heard sniffles besides my own.

After all who can fail to be affected by the vivid realism portrayed of the oppression of so-called lower classes of society - the convicts, prostitutes, poor and hungry dying on the streets? Who will not be aroused to sympathize with the idealism espoused by the young, even kids, willing to believe in and die defending a cause bigger than themselves? Who will not root for a fallen hero who finds his redemption becoz someone chose to show him mercy instead of the condemnation he knows he deserves? Even the 'villain' attracts sympathy; we can fault Javert the cop for being over-zealous in applying the law, but we can't fault him for being right to execute his duty under the law.

It really doesn't matter why the law was broken or that amends were made, the point is the law was broken which consequence is punishment. That's what makes law law. The fact that Jean stole bread for his sister's son, served his 19 years, turned over a new leaf to become a good compassionate guy, fulfilling his promise to a dying prostitute to take care of her only daughter, saving someone's life, even refusing to take revenge on his jailor who insists on making his life hell, cannot take away the facts that he did break parole, he did steal (again), and he did live a life of deception as far as the law was concerned. A good prosecutor will tell you all that 'emo' stuff only goes towards mitigation and a fair judge would still have to pass sentence. That's why Javert is so right, and Jean knew it. The climatic moment was his cry as he pondered whether to let an innocent man be blamed for his offense - Who am I?

Who are we? Surely there must come a time in everyone's life we are faced with that question. Are we really that 'nice' 'harmless' person we profess to be and indeed for all intents and purposes appear to be? Well, I dunno about you, but I am no criminal for sure. I don't kill, murder, plunder.  I give to charity, volunteer my Saturdays feeding the poor, and am even kind to stray cats. So...big deal, God's prophet pronounces the truth - 'The heart (that's me, by the way) is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer.17:9). Who am I trying to kid but myself? When I am inclined to pat myself on the back for being 'so' good, my memory bank screams out an alert regarding all the 'bad' I have accumulated over 50 years of living, and once again I am reminded of how great is the mercy I have received from God that He hasn't punished me as I deserve. Like the bishop who chose to cover up for Jean even tho he was guilty of stealing his benefactor's silverware and declared, '...My brother....You no longer belong to evil...I have ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God', I am reminded that's exactly what Jesus did for me.  If I were to pinpoint the most significant moment of the movie, I would say this was it - the point when a man, knowing he has run afoul of the law, deserving and expecting punishment, instead gets saved by the very hands of the one he wronged. He was shown mercy and given grace. Someone put it very simply "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, and grace is when you get what you don't deserve". That's what a convict got - instead of rotting in prison, he was set free, instead of death, he got to live. And Jean Valjean learnt the lesson well - he in turn extended mercy and grace to his arch enemy Javert when he could have killed him off, held as he was as a prisoner of the rebel upstarts.

And so it is with the rest of us . Jean Valjean is but a reflection of the entire human race. All of us already stand (rightfully) condemned before God's court of law for there is no one who can ever claim to have done zero wrong (whether it is 'big' or 'small' wrong, is still wrong). So if God were like Javert, He would have - indeed He has - every good reason and right to refuse to let us live , since the divine law prescribes that the wages of sin is death. Someone commented on the incomprehensibility of Javert walking away and ultimately committing suicide when he clearly had the upper hand over Jean as the latter was desperately trying to rescue his adopted daughter's wounded boyfren. He could have either arrested Jean on the spot or postponed the arrest as requested, why instead did he have to kill himself? If we can't 'get' it, that means we have failed to appreciate the tension tugging at Javert's heart. We fail to see that he really couldn't live with either option. To arrest Jean meant condemning the one to whom he owed his life. To let Jean go free meant he would be condoning the breaking of the law of which he was sworn to uphold. He said it himself - 'it's a pity the law doesn't allow me to be merciful'. So our tormented tormentor throws himself into the raging sea to end the dilemma of choice.

So it is with God as He looks on our sinful estate. If He lets man off the hook, He is breaking His own law. If He exercises just judgment, He has to punish man to death, in effect destroying the beloved 'crown jewel' of His creation - us. Someone put it very simply - God loves us but He cannot Not punish us, if He is to be a just God. I am reminded of how my mom used to run after me with a cane whenever I got into mischief - which was often enuf. I had no doubt she loved me, but she didn't spare the rod. Thankfully we don't have to run from God, for He Himself provided the escape route for us, yet at the same time fulfilling His law. In His grace and mercy He spared us, but He requited the punishment due us onto Jesus Christ. Certainly it wasn't fair on Jesus. But it was never about fairness with God; it's always been about justice and mercy. At the cross justice kissed mercy, and man is enabled to be reconciled to God.

We can only come to the Cross when we realize the import of this truth as we see ourselves the way God sees us. And when we do, there is only 1 appropriate response to the mercy and grace of God available to all. The bishop not only didn't condemn the thief, he went 1 step further to give him the very best silver-ware still in the house. Jean Valjean couldn't understand it, but on his knees, he received his redemption. At the end of the day, that's all we can do too.

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" ... 2 Corinthians 5:21

Another take on Christmas

All in the family

It fits, kind-of

Orr, so nice, matches my outfit

What's a celebration without food!

And then the volcano erupted. I should have seen it coming of coz; the signs were all there ; the underlying resentment, challenging provocations, curt answers. But we never do expect the unexpected, it's like we always declare so confidently this or that will never happen. Whats the saying - never say never. A mole hill can become a mountain, a quarrel can explode over a seemingly small thing. But sometimes eruptions are good, it clears the air, lays a new foundation for another beginning, hopefully surely a better one. When we are honest with each other, we can have mutual release. We can face the reality that the ones closest and dearest to us will hurt us the most.  After all, that's what happened to Jesus Himself, misunderstood by His very own, deserted by all at the end of the day, forsaken even by God and yet showed us the example by crying in the midst of dying on the cross  "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do". Of coz they knew what they were doing; how can you not know you are murdering someone, the only thing was they didn't know who they were murdering - the very One who loved them and came to save them. So, why should humans expect to be treated any differently? Yes, we hurt people and people hurt us, but we can forgive and love  again.  Most of all we can really finally let go of  those who hurt us and commit them to the Almighty God who created us all, knows us all and loves us all in spite of our human ugliness. We can trust that He knows what to do, when to do and how to do all things well.

I know a lot of doctrine. That's not a boast, just a fact, after all you should know a lot if you have walked 10 years with God, reading His word, praying and doing all the 'right' things a Christian should do. But when it comes to the crunch, doctrine doesn't help really. Doctrine without the experiential application of it is simply dead, like faith without works is simply dead faith. I already know I should surrender and indeed I can even pray conscientiously  'surrendering' to God, and believe that i am, but actually God looks down and sees my hands still manipulating the scenes. It's like the puppeteer who pretends the puppet is talking but all the time he's pulling the strings. How many times we Christians pray that God's will be done (that's correct doctrine) and then ask God to bless our plans (that's reality check). Well, when God has enuf of my wheeling and dealing, I guess He sends an explosion, to shock me up good and proper, so that once and for all, I am  forced to see myself  as God sees me, pathetic creature that i am, who think I know it all and can do it all my way.

I am so glad I don't know it all, indeed I don't have to know it all. And I don't have to do it all. I just have to know the God who created the whole universe and holds it in the palm of His mighty hands. When I truly let go of the ball, God can handle the game way better than I. So it was that I spent the days before Christmas in repentance, tears and fasting. I was so sorry I had gotten into His way, what a blind donkey I was. (I think the donkeys in the Bible were all smarter than me!) True to His word, He cleanses, restores and heals; a broken and contrite heart He will not despise (Psalm 51:17 ) And now I am free, really totally free. I am no longer bound by me. I am struck once again by the truth that Christianity is really all about understanding the paradox of God. Doctrine that teaches to be really free, you gotta surrender, and the 1st thing you have to surrender is yourself, or that to really live, you have to die first yourself is pretty hard to accept. But I guess that's the price . Everything in life has a price after all. It's just whether we are prepared to buy or pay it. Its like the coin i hold in my hand. On one side is surrender, flip it over and it becomes freedom.

The church staged a drama aptly entitled 'Freedom', summarily a story of a family gone wrong; a wife who deserted her overly-suspicious husband, dumping their new-born daughter on him, and then reappearing years later when the now-grown child is rebelling against the father's paranoid control. Someone commented it didn't make sense. My reply was simply a lot of movies don't make sense too but that doesn't stop us from enjoying or gleaning some lessons from them. Life and God for that matter doesn't make sense many times. But things like love, forgiveness and reconciliation should. To be able to give and receive love and forgiveness from man and from God is the highest freedom of all - that's true reconciliation. I think the day that finally happens, there will be no more wars in the world.

I rose early on Christmas day for my usual morning jaunt. I had hoped for a fabulous sun-rise, to sort-of lift up my spirits. But it wasn't to be. Heaven was overcast with clouds. There was just a sliver of light breaking thru one tiny patch of sky, and it was slow in coming out full strength. But it was a brilliant shaft all the same. I guess life with God is like that, it isn't always about bright sunshiny skies;  there will be times, many times in fact, that there seems to be no dawn to dispel the darkness of nite. But actually the light is there all the while, it may be pretty slow in coming out, and we may only catch glimpses of it every now and then.

That pretty much sums up the past year for me. Lots of things, "bad" things in fact if I had to categorize them, have happened which have stretched my faith. And to be honest, many times I can't even see any light on my path. I dunno how some people can go around ever cheery and upbeat as if nothing bad ever happens to them - i guess maybe they hide/manage it better than I do, or maybe really nothing bad ever happens to them (wow, good for them then). But me, I am just an ordinary sinful mortal, a mom trying to do the best she can with the kids, the job, this life that God has saved. I scream in frustration at God when I don't understand why He lets things happen which I don't want to happen, which I am so sure He doesn't (or shouldn't) want to happen. And then I catch myself, or rather God catches me and says ever so gently, "There you go again, child, telling Me, God what to do" Sometimes when I am too deaf to hear him, becoz I am too busy hearing myself, He sends an eruption my way, to remind me who's in charge of the universe. That kinda puts things into perspective and that's how good and  great my Abba Father is.

Its taken me awhile but I re-learnt a few things about Christmas (and life) this year. That it isn't just about joy and peace, it's not simply singing we wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year. Christmas isn't just celebrating the birthday of Someone special, presents and the warm goodwill, fuzzy lovey-dovey stuff. All that is well and good. Even Pastor's message confirmed actually the truth about Christmas is that in spite of all that is well and good with Jesus Christ being born, yet it was into a world and a time of mayhem, chaos and evil. That's not a very 'nice' or traditional Christmas story, but that's also the truth about life - it isn't 'nice' for a lot of folks, Christian or not. Christmas and life actually can get pretty cloudy. As I sit watching the sun rise, I noticed the clouds didn't go away. God could have blown or swept them all off, but He didn't. Instead the sun simply shines right through them and the shafts slowly but surely expand to fill and brighten up the whole sky...and then presto, another new day is born.

That's the whole picture, if we are patient to wait for it to unfold. The truth is the reason for Christmas - Jesus Christ - the Light of the world, can still break through into every situation every time into every life that opens to receive Him. For in the midst of ugliness, there still can be found beauty. In the midst of despair, there still is hope. In the midst of evil, there is still God, and He is still good. And it's not just at Christmas time.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life"... John 8:12

Home Sweet Home

This December I find myself at the movies more often than customary. Guess I can't resist the 5-star reviews that come out with the holiday seasons blockbusters. And I confess I do have a good time at the movies. I am the type who gets totally absorbed by the story on screen. First to cry at touching scenes, first to jump at shock-effects, first to clutch the seat at tense moments, and ever ready to glean life-lessons from make-believe larger-than-life reel stories. So it was with the latest Peter Jackson offering of "The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey". All I remember about the book is that I read it a looong time ago, which is to say I have quite forgotten how the story goes, but I think that's not a bad thing sometimes, since then I get to appreciate the movie for what it has to tell, instead of trying to compare it with the book and finding fault with how the director took 'artistic license' changing the authors narrative.

Certainly it doesn't match up to Jackson's epic sweeping LOTR trilogy. And 3 hours is a pretty loong stretch; the only other show I remember watching for 3 hours was 'Gone with the Wind' and yes, yes, that was umpteen aeons ago. Still Hobbit had a handsome king/hero, enuf action and meaningful dialogue to keep this old aunty quite happy. I liked the title too, as it reminded me how in real life, we will find ourselves faced with choices whether to walk off the familiar path into unexpected journeys. And I could definitely relate to Hobbit Bilbo's initial reluctance to "share in an adventure" , since 'adventure makes one late for dinner', not to mention they can turn out to be rather nasty and disruptive things! That's how it is with life,when we are asked to step out into a totally different direction. As Bilbo considered the enormity of the decision before him, he thoughtfully counted the cost, asking Gandalf the wizard, "Can you promise that I will come back?" To which the honest old wizard replied, "No, and if you do, you will not be the same." How true, we will never be the same for having taken the road less traveled.

And what an adventure this bunch of not-so-merry dwarves embarked on with Bilbo, the half-ling. However one wild escapade after another can tend to get rather pointless after awhile. It's like living from one 'high' to the next, with no end in sight. It's so easy to get immersed in the myriad activity of life and never really stop to ask why we are doing what we are doing in the first place. We can have a 'ball of a life' without knowing what life is all about really. Whether that 'ball' happens to be for an altruistic cause like saving planet Earth or just plain partying away every weekend. Bilbo's reason for sticking it out with a band of dwarves 'not of his kind' and risking his own life was so touchingly profound, when he told the dwarf-king Thorin very quietly and simply, "I know you doubt me. I know you always have. I often think of Bag End. That's where I belong. That's home. You don't have one. It was taken from you, but I will help you get it back if I can."

Home. They say home is where the heart is. I venture that most of us who have a home can't wait to get back to it after a hard day's work. Likewise even when I am overseas, I 'itch' to get home after 4 days, no matter how enjoyable the vacation. So it is with every missions trip when I am away for 10 days, in my heart, I can't stop the 'count-down' to home. That's why I am particularly affected by the homeless who gather every Saturday at the street-feeding programme I am involved in. I cannot imagine the horrors they face without a home to call their own. My home is nothing fancy,in fact it's kinda run-down already. The toilets don't flush properly, the parquet is scratched and peeling , the doors get stuck. But this is my home; it spells rest to me; it's the secret place where i can put up my feet, let down my hair where in my little room, i can hide, shut off the world and be with my God.

Years ago, my husband and I hunted around for several months before we purchased this house, becoz we wanted to make sure it would be a perfect home. Yet as comfortable as my home on earth is, I am restless, knowing there is an even better one by far already prepared for me by the Great Architect of the universe. In fact sometimes I get pretty home-sick for that other home of mine, especially considering the state of the world I live in. Sometimes problems seem so overwhelming I sigh to be taken into that eternal resting place in the bosom of my Abba Father in heaven. I am sure it's a fantastic place, it has to be, since He tells me the roads are paved with gold, and there is no more death, no tears, no sorrow, no pain. I am told my house is now worth close to a million bucks becoz of its good location . But that's nothing compared to the home I am going to possess, whose location is top-notch; who can beat staying in the same neighborhood with God Himself?!

At times like these, I am so so thankful for SomeOne who came to help get back this home for me. His name isn't Bilbo the Hobbit, His name is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. But like Bilbo the Hobbit went to such great lengths to help his frens return to the home that they lost to their enemy, Jesus Christ went all the way, even to death on the cross to secure this home for me. Just as the dwarves - with good reason, I might add - doubted that a blundering hobbit who can't even wield a sword could help them in their quest to regain their lost homeland, so too man still doubt Jesus who chose to die that all may live well in their homes on earth and in heaven.

We had to take out a huge bank loan to purchase our earthly home, which but for my husband's demise, would have meant practically a life-time of debt tied round our necks. Yet there is no bank that could help me pay the price for my heavenly home, since it was already mortgaged to the enemy of my soul, who demands payment in blood. But I didn't have to; Jesus paid for me - with His own blood. What I lost thru my sin, Jesus redeemed by His life given in exchange for mine. This fact alone makes that home priceless. Surely this is the greatest news for all who long for rest from the weariness and dreariness of this world - that eventually those who believe by faith are headed for this home of all homes, when the God who loves us says it's time to go... home sweet home.

The key to home is in the hand of the One who purchased it. And we can only possess it if we would first step out into the adventure of believing and trusting the God who says "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20). In the words of the dwarf-king Thorin, all He asks is "loyalty, honor, and a willing heart." Sad to say, some are not willing to share this adventure of a life-time and prefer to 'play-house' on this earth, forgoing the richest inheritance reserved for those who dare take the risk of simply believing .


"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" John 14:2-3

Which Story Do You Prefer?

That was the question posed to an atheist/writer by the sole human survivor of a horrendous ship-wreck at sea. As far as movies go, Life of Pi was a tad slow- moving, understandably, since the story line is a tale of a young man adrift in the middle of the ocean for 227 days with just a Bengal tiger for company - what action can one expect of such a premise after all? But underneath the simplicity of the plot was a thoughtful provocation to ponder the mystery of God and the reason for believing in something beyond our fragile humanity.  Weaved amidst the poetical scenes of shimmering oceans teeming with life and the enormous star-studded heavens was an almost imperceptible invitation to look beyond the beauty of nature to acknowledge the Creator of all nature . Even the fierceness of the storm which finally drove the hero to his knees called attention to the omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of an invisible SomeOne at work in the hero's life. He and his tiger adrift on a boat were not alone in their lost state, though there seemed to be no answer to his frustrated scream as he battled for his very life in the raging storm , "I have lost everything, What else do You want from me? I surrender!" Lest we miss the point, it was at this stage of surrender that his boat was swept onto solid ground. 

The movie is an adaptation of a book which won its author Yann Martel 3 prestigious international book prizes for fiction.  I haven't read the book, but certainly I can appreciate why it's so highly acclaimed. If one cares enuf to look beyond the fantasy adventure theme (which by itself is excellent), it encapsulates  the universal search of mankind for answers which ultimately revert back to what we should know all along - that we can ask and argue our lives away, but really it boils down to whether we will accept God on His terms. At the end of it all, as the hero presents another 'more believable' version of what happened, the atheist   is asked to make a decision which of the 2 stories he would prefer to believe. So which is it? The one which features the incredible tale of how a boy got stuck in a life boat with 4 animals at first with eventually only the tiger  left, as a crazed hyena kills and eats the zebra and the orang utan, only to be attacked by the tiger in turn, after which their boat is swept onto a magical island with carnivorous plants which eats up everything at nite. Finally as our exhausted and near-death hero gets washed back into civilization, the tiger unceremoniously disappears into the forest without so much as a goodbye glance back. 
The atheist is then told the alternate version, which involves humans instead of animals namely Pi's mother, a sailor with a broken leg and a cannibalistic cook.  In this story, the cook kills the sailor, and then the mother, to use them as bait and food. Pi kills the cook in revenge, leaving him the only one alive to be rescued. Which is the allegory, and which is the truth ?? Either one could be the truth of what really happened. The atheist chose to believe the story with the animals. When asked why, he answered, "Because that's the better story", to which our hero says, "And so it goes with God."
And I guess that about sums up the whole issue of God. On the one hand, there is the story that God is the all-knowing, all good,  all powerful Creator from whom, to whom and through whom are all things. On the other hand there is, or rather are, lots of other alternative stories apposite to God, that would deny the existence of God or even allowing that God exists, that He is neither all good nor all powerful, since all evidence in this world seems to point to the contrary, therefore why should He be believed? End of the day, it really depends on which story you prefer. Ultimately God may be a mystery, but faith isn't; it's simply choosing to believe in spite of not having 'pat' answers to life's difficult questions. Ultimately too, I suspect  the reason why many choose not to believe is not because there are no answers, but because God's "answers" are so unsatisfactory, and indeed at times are really 'non' answers to us. And that reduced to its essence is simply an issue of submission, not faith. Which of coz brings us back all the way to Eden, when man first refused to submit to God's 1st and very simple commandment - Don't eat this or else you will die....Adam and Eve chose not to believe. God gave them that freedom anyway, like He still does to us now. And He still lets us exercise that freedom, even if wrongly, like Adam and Eve.

But of coz Adam and Eve never admitted they were wrong in the first place; they just went around justifying/excusing  their actions, blaming each other, and blaming God. Hai , still the same old story today. Why is it we so easily assume that "giving in" or as Pi says, "surrender"  to God means losing our precious freedom? When actually the truth of the matter is when we claim to be free, we actually bind ourselves to ourselves, effectively becoming slaves to ourselves - where is the freedom in that? When will we realise the greatest freedom comes in letting go, not hanging on to our precious freedom? I guess it's hard to accept the paradox that believing in a God who requires submission can set us totally and really free. It's much easier to forget or gloss over the truth that  it was independence (wrongly exercised) that led to disbelief that brought about man's downfall, and simply write off submission as a 'dirty' word, as we find it so 'distasteful' to have to accept a God who won't answer us 'properly and yet require us to somehow "just believe". 

Yet  like the atheist, we all eventually have to face the same question. What are you willing to believe about who God is,  who you are and why you are here?  Would you  rather believe the incredulous story of Jesus who apparently came down from heaven in the form of a baby born of a virgin,  grew up as a hu-man, went around healing sick people, making the blind see, the deaf hear, casting out demons and even raising the dead??  Nah, those are just 'stories' cooked up to make gullible people believe. So would you believe Jesus hung on a cross to (apparently) die for your  sin? Nah, I don't sin (not much anyway), besides I don't need anyone to die for me, thank you very much. Then would you believe somehow this 'dead' Jesus rose alive and then ascended to heaven? Of coz not, more likely a case of mass hallucination and more cooked-up stories . What about believing that Jesus  (apparently again) is coming back to take you home to heaven? Really, that's the joke of the century!. So you don't believe there is a place where the roads are paved with gold and there is no more death, no pain, no tears, and no sorrow? Yea, sure, dream on, fren!.... 

Yep, I agree the story of Jesus Christ is incredulous, incredible, impossible and  inexplicable, but who is to say it's not true? Perhaps you would rather believe that life  is just about living the best you can, doing whatever moral and ethical good you can (as we all know we should anyway, with or without God). So your life purpose is simply to eat, drink and be merry whilst you still draw breath and then get swallowed up by death and either disappear into the dust of the earth, after being eaten by maggots or be transported to some vague other-world which doesn't matter anyhow, since you don't really care one way or another where you end up.

Or maybe you would rather not choose to believe either. To me, that's a cop-out. It's like the juror who won't make up his mind just becoz he feels there isn't 'enough' evidence one way or the other. In a court of law, you have to decide at the close of case based on whatever evidence is available there and then; there's no such luxury as 'wait' or 'KIV' for more evidence to come in. If we dare put God 'on trial', surely it's our responsibility and in all fairness to either believe or disbelieve based on what He has already chosen to disclose of Himself. There's no such thing as 'sitting on the fence' as far as God is concerned. As Jesus puts it, "He who is not with me is against me.."(Luke 11:23)
 
Well, for me, it's a hands down which is the better story. I'd rather choose to believe in a story which offers hope that this life is more than just existing for the moment, no matter how 'good' that existence may be. I'd rather believe and  trust a God who gives me complete freedom to decide whether or not to submit to Him, not by human logic, but by the highest call of love beyond human understanding.  As the author puts it, "If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' then surely we are also permitted doubt....But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” (I think that means you are just going nowhere in particular)

Well said. And I would add to not believe the better story that there is a God who loves me and who  has prepared the best for me now and in the hereafter is to miss the very meaning and abundance of life itself.  Now to me,  that wouldn't be the 'better' way; in fact it's a rather lousy way to live. 

"And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"  John 11:26