How important is an individual human life?

This morning, I woke up, had breakfast and went to work. I worked for 7 hours, came home, had dinner and then jumped online . That was my existence. However, I visited the World Pres Photo Exhibition on Thursday night, and I was reminded of the reality of the existence of people throughout the world: one that is frequently faced with suffering and death. As I looked through some of the photos, I was struck by the fragility of an individual human life. And not just the fragility but the pure insignificance of a single human being. Its worthless! 1 individual human life among 6,697,254,041...? How important is 1 individual life...?

What I just said is politically and socially incorrect. Many people would be outraged at what I said. But I'll describe some of the photos I saw at the exhibition:

1. A man being stoned for adultery in Somalia. Some of the men are smiling as they throw rocks at the mangled body.

2. A girl shot dead during protests against the government in Madagascar.

3. The head of a little girl. The only part of her that is not buried in the rubble of a collasped building in eastern Gaza city. It was the target of an air-strike.

4. A youth lying dead on a street due to clashes between rival drug gangs in Columbia.

5. The scene of the assassination of the president of Guinea-Bissau, a country over-run by drug cartels.

Did any of the people who were behind these deaths stop to think whether the life of a human being was worth anything? For the leaders of men who send their armies to wage war against another, for those who order long range attacks on urban settlements, for the drug lords whose goal is to make as much profit for themselves as possible, what did the the life of an individual human being mean to these people? Not much. If people got in the way of their plans or their interests, just take them out of the picture. Assassination, murder, deposition: these are the many tools that we can use to get people out of our way to further our interests.

Its disgusting isin't it? That these people would see a human being only as pawns or obstacles to their own goals. But before we begin pointing fingers, what about us? For me who spends half of my waking hours working in an office, and the other half living in recreation, what does the unneccessary death and suffering of millions of people mean to me? Not much. For those of us who contributed to spending 1.7 billion minutes on Facebook, how important is an individual human life? Important for us to be stirred to action: to do something, anything, anything at all? Or are we too busy? Too busy, like the drug lord, trying to make the most of his life for himself?

I don't know if unneccessary suffering and death happens in Sydney. What I can say for certain is that Sydney is by far not a perfect city. And though there might not be the same occurances in Sydney as I saw in the World Press Photo Exhibition, there is plenty of need for people to help those who are victims of injustice and ill-fortune.

Is an individual human life that important? Is it really worth that much? Its easy to give a resolute 'Yes!' when we live in our comfortable houses with enough food and face no restriction on our basic liberties. Its easy to say that people should stop killing other people, that no child should go without food and education, that an individual human life is significant. Its also much easier to condemn the injustice that occurs half the world away, then that which occurs within your own backyard. Isin't life just too easy...

I'm going to go on Facebook now.


The World Press Photo Exhibition is on at the NSW State Library Mitchell Wing till 25th July (one week left!). Its FREE entry and is open to 8pm on Monday to Thursday. I highly recommend it. Alternatively, you can see the photos online: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=20&Itemid=257&bandwidth=low2high . Its not the same as seeing it in real life...

Encouragement

Last Sunday, I was encouraged by the sermon at church. It is probably the first time, since arriving back in Sydney, that I have been encouraged to be Christian.

I've come to be convinced that the church is not dis-similar to any other social/sporting clubs that are out there. I play frisbee and there is an organisation of volunteers that admister the running of the sport and it is not just an organisation of volunteers. Its a social context that people spend their after-work lives in. There are regular frisbee games, and after the structured activities there are the times you spend with the friends you have made at the regular games. One thing can found in almost any social club, the members are primarily concerned with furthering the agenda of the club. Consequently, nearly all clubs have it part of their agenda to grow the club. Church isin't that dis similar.

In Matthew, Jesus says "You are the light of the world...a city on a hill cannot be hidden...let your good deeds shine for all to see". If you know the context of Matthew, you woud actually realise that Jesus is NOT speaking to Christians here. Matthew wrote his book to a Jewish audience. Jesus at the sermon of the mount was speaking to Jewish people, not Christians. Jesus is saying that the Jewish people, God's chosen people, are supposed to be a light of the world, a city on a hill. God expected the Jewish people to be a light to the world. How were they supposed to be a light of the world? Jesus says it later, by having their good deeds shine for all to see.

Many people think that only in the New Testament does the loving and caring God come about. Thats not true. The call for the Israelites was for them to worship God. Through the sacrifical system yes, but also through letting their good deeds shine before men. Not is Jesus only talking to Jewish, and is it limited to the Old Testament? No, its a call for ALL of God's people. All those who are called by God, are called to do good works. It is a theology that is found in both the Old and New Testaments.

The churches in Sydney, the ones who term themselves 'evangelical Bible-believing', are shining their light very brightly as they can. The problem is I'm not sure if its the right light. Because if Jesus defines shining the light as doing good works, then we've got to wonder about what type of light we are shining? We shine a light of Bible studies, conventions, evangelistic events. Are these works any different from that of a social club in furthering its own agenda? Just ask non-Christians what they think of zealous Christians who spend heaps of time in church activities? Shining a light such that even the unbelievers praise God as Jesus says in Matthew 2:16? Or do they see such churches as on the same level as a cult? Some might say, that this is God's agenda. Perhaps yes, but as far as Jesus has just expounded on, it seems like we might be missing out on God's agenda. What type of light does this really shine?

I've personally felt this. I've tried to distance myself from bible studies and I've told people that I am keen on getting involved in community service. Many people have told me how important it is for me to be in a 'fellowship' group and tell me that I should get involved in a Bible study. More importantly, no one (barring one person) has encouraged me in getting involved in community service, to help those who are not as blessed as I am, to help those who Jesus would have spent time with should he have arrived in this present day. Now I'm not frustrated at any person or people. I'm just stating the objective facts. While many people gently rebuked me for not joining a bible study group, only one encouraged me to be involved in community service. If there is something that I am emotional about, it is the extent of religion within our church: where what is being taught and modelled to the large majority in churches is more concerned with advancing God's 'glory' and not obeying his instructions.

Last Sunday, I was encouraged by the sermon at church. It is probably the first time, since arriving back in Sydney, that I have been encouraged to be Christian.

The Wittenburg Church Door

'He who has ears, let him hear'

-1st Century Jewish teacher

I am no longer a good example. In fact, I might be a bad example now. Some people may have noticed that since being away for more than a year, I've changed. Before I left I was actively involved with many things at church, 'min-is-try' as people say. People might have described me as 'switched on', 'on fire', 'zealous'. I was a 'good example' for others. I've come back and I'm not doing half as much as I used to. The truth is that over the course of last year, I've grown to become tired of the religion of Christianity. Believe it or not, its not a position that has emerged suddenly over the past year. My present position stems from underlying sentiments that I had begun to feel and think about even before I left.

Honestly, I've lost some confidence in the leadership of our churches. Not any one church in particular, but churches in general. Its not because of anything that a leader has done to me. I have not been wronged in any way. Rather than because of the way others might have treated me, its because of the way that I have treated others. Its because of the way that I have acted as a leader in the church as a good example.

Its not that I have wronged anyone (at least as far as I know). In fact, I've done all the right things. And therein lies the problem... I have led bible study groups on campus, at church and at youth group. I have met up with guys on a weekly basis to read the bible together and 'dis-ci-ple' them. And yet, the truth is I really didn't care that much about many of these people. I didn't. I might have asked for prayer points at the end of a session, but I sure didn't care enough to spend much time praying about this. And even now, I haven't continued to keep in touch with them to see how they are doing. Its akin to a therapist or social worker whose responsibility to a child only goes as long as they have been given that charge. Once the charge has been fulfilled, then the relationship is gone. I wouldn't say that a social worker truly loves all the children under their care. I wouldn't say that a doctor really cares about all the patients under him. I wouldn't say that I as a leader was genuinely concerned about the people who were under me.

Why then might I be considered an example? Maybe its because of my repentance and works. Well only one person can really say what goes on inside my heart and I have to say, that person isin't too impressed. Blessed are those who are meek. Blessed are those who are poor in Spirit. Blessed are those who are merciful. I am none of these things. Nothing exemplifies this more than my attitude when I am wronged, or when I been done a diservice. I am not meek, poor in Spirit, merciful. Instead, I think highly of myself, I do not forgive easily, I do not see myself as in need of repentance. Am I repentant as a result of the work of Jesus? Yes I am, but barely. I'm only as good as good circumstances allow me to be.

Why was I previously considered a good example? It was because I was doing all the right things. And one would think that means being loving, self-sacrifice and repentant. But in real life, it translates to the amount of 'min-is-try' that one gets involved in. In fact, the religion I had become caught up in was that of pursuing theology. I was a Pharisee, propagating a form of religion that I personally enjoyed, which I was personally quite adept at. And rather then leading to repentance, it led me to religion. I barely loved and I was minimally repentant. This is the form of religion that I've become tired of.

I've been back in Sydney for a month and a half now. 45 days, for which I haven't had a mobile phone. The reactions from people have been quite varied. At best, the person expresses surprise but doesn't say much. They probably think I'm retarded (they might be right). The most striking responses are from people who seem offended by me, as if having no phone is akin to me making fun of their mother. Not only offended, they are also quite outspoken in trying to persuade me to get a mobile phone.

I have my reasons for not having a phone. But honestly, they're not that convincing. I'm sure many people will read what my thoughts and think me an idiot. I can't blame them. The truth is, I'm throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Over the past year, I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be faithful. God is faithful, and I'm called to be faithful. But what does that mean? As I look at the way that we relate to one another, its striking that we are far from faithful. We agree to meet at 3 but we make no make little effort to be there at the time agreed. Too often, people don't show up to things they say they will. There has been many times I've not done, what I would say I would do. Our words have ceased to hold meaning. Their not trustworthy.

On top of being unfaithful, we're also noncommital. Its what Generation Y are infamous for. With the wealth of opportunities before us, we don't want to commit to anything in case we miss something better. I first heard this a few years ago and thought it was a harsh assessment of the generation of which I am a part of. I now realise it to be a sad reality.

Why is Generation Y like this? The problem lies in a dirty little C-word: convenience. Convenience is defined as: "suited to your comfort or purpose or needs" or from wikipedia: "anything that is intended to save resources......frustration". Technology is convenient. It suits our comforts, our purposes and our needs. It saves us from frustration. It helps you to live your live as comfortable, and as burdenless as possible. Why arrive on time when you can let the other know that you're coming late? Why commit to something when you don't have to? Why would you possibly deprive yourself of something better?

Being faithful and committed would be far too inconvenient for us. After a certain point, convenience just becomes plain selfishness. Its far easier to just act in our own convenience as opposed to being commited and faithful to our words.

Now I wouldn't say that technology neccessarily leads to our current predicament. But it certainly doesn't help. If one intends on budgeting and saving money, getting a credit card isin't neccessarily going to mean that one goes over budget. The credit card doesn't preclude one from achieving their goals. However, it doesn't lend itself well to that direction. Of course, should the person be responsible and self-disciplined, then such a problem would not exist.

I am intending on being faithful, committed and intentional. This doesn't mean that I need not neccessarily exclude myself from getting a mobile. However, the problem is exactly that I am not responsible and self-disciplined. I don't like to commit to things until all other options are exhausted. I like to optimise my time towards my maximum utility. Getting a mobile isin't going to prevent me from changing, but it certainly won't help.

You pay for what you get!

I stumbled across this article while doing some research on busking.

Its taken from http://thewishingwellband.com/food-for-thought/one-busker%E2%80%99s-story/

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November 8th, 2009
Many of you have met us somewhere along way busking outside a train station, in a mall, outside of a church and we found this story about a very talented violinist and wanted to share it with you:
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito
This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?

Getting in and out of Barcelona

The thoughts we have, the emotions we feel, the persons that we are can be so abitrary. Over the past two weeks, I've had some of the worst moments that I've experienced in a long long time. And yet now that I've been back in Amsterdam, I can barely relate to how down I had been feeling. I'm seeing everyone again in Amsterdam, and just the joy of seeing familiar faces makes me forget what has happened. The last two weeks has been pretty terrible, at the same time its been a time that God was in control and using to refine me. What worries me, is that as I forget the ordeals that I've been through that I'd also forget the lessons I've been learning. Hence, my desire to sit down, reflect and write it all down. Both, so that you(the faithful few... :p) may know whats been happening, and so that I may know what has happened.

I had arrived at Luton Airport at 10am even though the flight was scheduled to depart at 1.20pm. You might wonder why I didn't catch a bus to arrive at the airport at a better time. Well, it was basically because the earlier bus were cheaper than the later buses: £2 cheaper (and people think the Dutch are cheap...). I figured that I could get there early and do some reading, while saving (some...) money. When it got closer to the departure time, I went to check in. The lady gave me an invoice and told me to go to another counter. It turns out that I was supposed to have checked in online the night before, evidently I hadn't done that. The invoice was to charge me for the service of having to use their check in services. How much was it? £40! You can imagine that if I'd endeavoured to save £2, having to cough up £40 was quite a shock to me. For a few moments, I considered not getting on the plane. The only reason why I was going to Barcelona was because peope had returned and were raving about it. I wanted to check it out for myself, and yet I wasn't that eager. Anyways, I ended up paying the £40 and getting on the flight.

I started to get really homesick in the first few days that I was in Barcelona. Only on my second day in, I was walking around and had already started to feel down. I kept thinking about what in the world was I doing in Barcelona? What was the point of travelling? Frankly speaking, I couldn't come up with any good answers. I'd been to Venice, Verona, Antwerp, Bruges, London and what had it all meant? Nothing. I'm not any wiser or any different having gone to these places. It seems like being a tourist amounts to ticking things of a list so that you can say/boast: "I've been there. I've done that." How pathetic. Coupled with the fact that I found Barcelona quite underwhelming made it all seem very pointless indeed.

I was sightseeing on my own, and that made me feel quite isolated and lonely. And being away from Amsterdam for a month was making me want to be back in familiar places and with familiar people. I was starting to feel quite depressed. After a while, I sat myself down on a bench and came to God with my despair. It was then that I realised that all my travelling was simply living for myself. In fact, the only reason why I was feeling down was because I wasn't having a great time in Barcelona. As I came to God, I realised that I needed to get my priorities right. I needed to make God's priorities my priorities.

So...while I had originally planned on travelling down to visit a friend in Granada (southern Spain), I decided to cut short my travels and fly back to Amsterdam where I did have a church and Christian fellowship. I was still a bit unsure about my decision. Once again, my desire to travel and see the world was telling me that I could go to Granada and then fly back to Amsterdam. However, in the end I decided to just stay in Barcelona and then fly out from there. On skyscanner.com the cheapest way to get back to Amsterdam would be to fly from Barcelona to Manchester and then from Manchester to Amsterdam, about £50 each way. Expensive yes, but at least I'd be back in Amsterdam. The flights were on the 14th of August, which gave me, 10 days, a decent amount of time to stay in Barcelona and experience the city.

I still had about 8 days left in Barcelona. The first few days were still pretty bad. I had met some people while out at night, but during the day I was just doing sightseeing on my own. I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit in my last few days in Barcelona. Well actually, it was while I was outside of Barcelona that I enjoyed myself. I went with some guys on a day trip to visit Cadaques, a nice beach town 2.5 hours from Barcelona and also went hiking in Montserrat. I had a great time at both of them. I was still excited to be getting back to Amsterdam. On the 13th, I started to get paranoid. I'd already paid £60 + 40 to get there and now I was paying another £100 pounds to get out. I was worried that something would go wrong and so I tripled checked my flights to make sure that I had done everything for the day after.

I got to the airport 2 hours early. This time it was because I didn't have much choice for which bus I could take there. I had a really nice flight to Manchester. The guy next to me offered me his meal as he'd ate a big breakfast. I had a nice time talking to him about Spain and a bit about football. I thanked God that things were looking pretty good. We arrived in Manchester, I picked up my backpack and had another 3 hours to spare before the flight to Amsterdam.

When the time came, I went to enter the departure hall. The lady took my ticket and scanned it over the gate. The gates wouldn't open. She scanned it again. The gates wouldn't open. She then looked at my ticket and pointed out that the date on my ticket was wrong. The ticket was dated for the 13th of August, not the 14th... It sounds like a pretty funny joke now. But at the time, my heart just sank. I was hoping that because I had checked in online early, that the date might have been mixed up. I went to the ticketing counting and asked the girl to check it out. It turns out that I was really that incredibly stupid and had booked it on the wrong date. At that point of time, I just wanted to cry. There was another £50 gone. How much would it cost me to buy a ticket on the flight I had intended on catching? £140. I almost had a heart attack. I wished I had a heart attack and just died right there. I'd noticed a prayer room in the airport before and decided to go there to come before God. I was at a complete loss of what to do. All I knew was that I didn't want to spend another £140 to get back to Amsterdam. I considered going back to London and then taking the coach back to Amsterdam from there. It would have been more affordable. But getting to London would have been expensive. Maybe I could just get to Manchester stay over night and re-think everything. What would you have done in my shoes?

I ended up procrastinating to the point where I missed the opportunity to get on my intended flight. I pretty much just didn't want to pay get on that flight. Having missed the flight, I still didn't know what to do. If I stayed overnight anywhere, it would have cost me around £20 for one night. It seemed like maybe I should have just bit the bullet and took that £140 flight. I seriously just wanted to crawl into some hole and die.

I ended up asking the ticketing counter again and they mentioned that there was a KLM flight leaving for Amsterdam. They were kind and generous enough to let me use their computer and even checked up the cost of flights for me. Turns out that a two way flight from Manchester to Amsterdam and back would cost me £160. I'd take it! I was already considering flying to Manchester to visit Abby and Jess. I booked the tickets online, bought the ticketing girls coffee and then hurried over to Terminal 2 to catch my flight.

If I had caught the first flight, I was scheduled to arrive in Amsterdam at 7pm and was planning on surprising my bible study group. I arrived at 9.40pm and was trying to catch them just as they were wrapping up. However, when I arrived they had already gone. I went to Suresh and Babu's and surprised them by showing up at their door right after the study. It was great to see them again. I shared about how things had been going for me and we prayed together before heading off to sleep.

Ben's wedding

Last weekend, one of my good friends from Singapore got married and I had the honour of being his best man. I always thought that all the best man did was to stand next to the groom, pass him the rings and make an embarrassing speech about the groom. As it turns out, best man's have a lot more responsibility in Welsh weddings.

I only found out while looking through the itinery that Hannah had given me. I noticed that my name featured quite a few times throughout the wedding day: making announcements, organising photos, ushering people, keeping to the time. Junyi was surprised to find out that he was scheduled to dance during the ceilidh. During the day itself, I was quite stressed with having so many responsibilities. it wasn't exactly the things I was responsible for that made me nervous. It was probably more the fact that I was so unfamiliar with pretty much everything. I had never been Best man before, neither had I been so deeply involved in the running of a wedding, and finally, I had never been to a wedding in Wales. Lastly, I had the best Man speech to give later that night. While I had spent a lot of time thinking about it, I had never written it down word for word. By the afternoon, I had still yet to figure out the last parts of what I wanted to say.

Thankfully, everything went quite well. We managed to keep well to the time and get photos done alright. And my speech went quite well. I didn't think I would be that nervous. But I was incredibly calm while giving my speech. And after the speech was done, I was finally free to have fun. There was a Ceilidh band that started playing afterwards, and they got some sort of line dancing thing going. it was heaps fun for everyone. At the end of the day, I was glad to see that Ben and Hannah had had both an enjoyable and memorable day.

My time in Wales was really enjoyable. It was great to spend the week hanging out with Ben and to help out with the wedding preparation. It gave me a really nice break from having to plan what the heck I'm going to do for the immediate future and later future; something that I've started to get pretty tired off actually. Although in the very immediate future(tomorrow), I'll be watching Les Miserable at West End and this Friday I'll be helping out at the Soul Survivor Youth Conference for 4 days. I'm looking to both things quite a lot.