Does evil exist?

We had a discussion about in this in one of our Uni SE meetings. Well, it wasn't really the topic but seeped into the discussion. Some people don't think that evil exists. I wasn't very sure about it, but then I went to the Human Rights Film Festival and watched a movie about innocent Burmese girls, taken from their villages and tricked into a life of prostitution in Thailand. They usually come form poor families and are told that they will get work in the city - washing dishes, cleaning etc. - and thus be able to earn some money to help their family. So scared, but optimistic about the prospect of supporting their family, they go along with these smugglers and are taken to brothels and similar such places. They don't really understand what is happening. Some of them eventually contract STDs.

After watching that, I was pretty sure that evil exists. And its not just a force, but some people are evil. They knowingly trick and manipulate innocent people to lead life of misery so they can profit from it. It is beyond just greed and selfishness. There has to be an element of evil in it. And that is just one example.

Make Poverty History

2005 has been designated the year to make lots of noise and make a difference and to make poverty history. There is a global campaign launched to end poverty as we finally have the resources, knowledge and opportunity to do so. Click here to check out the campaign in NZ.

We are the first generation that can look extreme and stupid poverty in the eye, look across the water to Africa and elsewhere and say this and mean it: we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science, butdo we have the will? Do we have the will to make poverty history? Some say we can't afford to. I say we can't afford not to.
- Bono, 29 September, 2004

An excerpt...

An excerpt for Life of Pi which I am currently reading (and enjoying).

There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed with leprosy, begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, "Business as usual". But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.

These people fail to realise that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing from each heart. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defense, not God's, that the self-righteous should rush.

a (belated) tribute

Postdate-dated, but nonetheless, still a tribute. During his life, I never really bothered to find out more about him and what contributions he has made. But with the failing his health and his subsequent death and funeral, there has been lots of snippets of the Pope John Paul II's life.

He somehow reminds me of Paul. Paul was passionate. His life showed it. He was passionate about Jesus and about sharing the teachings of Jesus. The Pope was also passionate about Jesus and never wavered from that. He was also passionate about justice (or injustice as it is) and spoke up for the down-trodden.

I reflect on my own life and wonder... if I died now, what would people say I was passionate about? I'm not sure if I would like the answers! How does one develop a life that is lived out of passion. Blogging about it gives clues about what I am interesting in. But I want it to reflect in my life. I want people around me to pick up from my actions and words, what my passions are. Thats hard.

Also in a day and age, when people that seems to have integrity one day betray that trust, it has been refreshing to know that there has been a man of recent times who stood for justice, for Jesus and was man of humility and of integrity. And I bet, Jesus would have welcomed him saying, "Good on ya, mate!"

What is church?

Don't worry. Not a lengthy discourse. Last Sunday (err... make that 2 Sundays ago). We had a combined church service with the Chinese Methodist Church (who use our building for their services on Sunday afternoons.) However, due to the International Women's Bike race that took place in Wellington (and caused the closure of inner city streets), the service had to take place on Sunday evening instead.

As part of the service, each church talk about what they were about. Can't remember much, but the CMC said one of their goals was to win people to Christ. Not a bad goal - being a church. But, one of pastors who spoke on behalf of Central summed Central as being inclusive, showing compassion and creating community. Well, they certainly have shown that to accept a cynical, questionning, non-institutional-conforming person like me *phew*.

Sin

Such a loaded word. A word I struggle to explain what it means because it seems so damning. I guess it is. At our last young adult SE group, we discussed sin. Someone brought up a point from a book they had read: sin is when we do not know our true selves (apologies for my bad verbatim quote).

I like that concept. It is more freeing and yet more challenging at the same time. Sometimes talking about sin can end up in guilt bashing, or it may seem that there is no ounce of good or nobility. It can be a very depressing topic when talking about doing wrong, being rebellious and all that. It’s all very negative wording. I’m not trying to make sin sound nice – it isn’t nice. But sin as a concept of a state of being when we do not know our true selves seems a lot less condemning.

If we are made in the image of God, then our true selves is one that is good. When we know our true self, that can be one way for us to connect to God. For example, in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve only started to cover themselves up after eating the fruit. That was where they starting hiding parts of who they are. And this is why we don’t know our true selves. We put on layers and masks, because we learn very early on from our environment (family, peers, society) that certain ways of thinking, certain ways of behaving, certain ways of expressing ourselves etc. are more acceptable than others. Thus we start to put on layers to cover up who we truly are (and cover up our true selves).

How does Christ fit into this? Christ offers grace. Grace frees us to start peeling off the layers because we are accepted for who we truly are. The work of Christ on the cross conveys unconditional love, so I am free to be me – that surely is life in abundance.

"The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error." Thomas Merton