The greatest love story of all

Once, there was a big boss, G who runs a company. Some of his employees are very nice chaps, like you and me. And some are rotten, like you and me too. Things got out of hand and G decided to send his representative, Jay to sort things out. Jay willingly carry out the task but as you know, good guys are the ones who always kena bully. Due to jealousy, some big shots feeling threatened and the usual scandals that happen in our dirty world, Jay was killed. Jay was only 30something when he died a torturous death. Today is the anniversary Jay died.

G, the big boss is very hurt and sad but, he knew that without sacrificing Jay, more and more people will be suffering and these people will not have a future. G, being a very powerful man, raise J from his death on the 3rd day, i.e. on the midnight of tomorrow (Saturday night/Sunday morning). And with that, we live happily ever after. Not in this earthly world, but a life in Heaven upon our death. Therefore, followers of Jesus, rejoice!

To my friends, if you find it hard to digest what some of us Christians are talking about, let me show you a photo.

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This is a photo of my toddler, Matthew. He was about 40+ days old and being carried by his god-father, Vincent (yeah, same name Vincent). The priest is pouring water over Matthew’s head. All my four children were baptised with me in April 2003. Some questions in your head?

Question 1 : Lilian, why lah must a little baby be baptised? Why didn’t you wait till he is grown up and able to decide for himself?

Answer : As a mother, I have the confidence that I will be the one shaping their future. I have the faith that I will bring them up with a religious foundation. When a child reaches Form Four, they will go through another ceremony, called the confirmation, where they will be asked again if they want to be follower of Christ.

Question 2 : Why baptise? Is it to clean away the sins? How can a newborn baby carry sin?

A newborn baby and all children certainly are like white sheets of paper. They are sinless. It is symbolic. It is like receiving the baby into part of the family. However, for adults like me, yes, my sins are washed away (symbolic)at baptism but that is just a small part of being a Christian. The major one is whether I can live the rest of my life, following closely to Jesus’s teachings. That is to love one another as God loves me (i.e. unconditional, forgiving, selfless etc)

Question 3 : It is often said that Jesus died for our sins. How can that be? Aren’t we suppose to bear and carry our own sins?

What it means? Long ago, when God created the world, it was suppose to be Heaven. But remember that Adam and his Eve stole the apple and ate? That one act had caused all the evil things to seep into the world. And with that, everyone who dies, dies. The end. But God loves His creations and therefore, send Jesus to live as a man on earth. This way, Jesus’s job is to make good what has turned bad. By dying and live again, all God’s creations, that is you and me, will have the same glorious ending like Jesus. Die and live again. The sins that we often heard are the sins of the original Adam.

And yes, we are suppose to carry our own sins that we messed up. That’s why it is important that we have some religious foundation, whereby we can live with a guide. And a big boss, God, who is ever forgiving and forever loving. That is the greatest love of all.

I found some very good read about this related matter. One of them is Chief’s blog on Good Friday (today).

And another one, surprise, surprise is some thoughts penned by a Muslim. As a Christian, I always overlook the points that can cause arguements but I only focus on our similarities. Glad that Silencer share the same views. This is part of what he had written:

I applaud the Christians for being so in love with Jesus and proudly showing it. For I too, love my Prophet yet I don’t quite know how to show it. For the most part, my love is expressed in private during prayers by regularly sending regards [selawat and salam] in his name.

Though there are differences between us, for many reasons I believe we are but brothers. And that’s why I feel it’s just terrible to hear people going on about Muslims hating Christians and Christians waging war on Muslims.

To all my Christian friends – Happy Easter and God bless!

To everyone – Peace!

**If I have misquoted, please feel free to tell me. I admit my understanding of Christianity is very shallow. I have only 2 years of being in Christ.**

6 thoughts on “The greatest love story of all

  1. Dear Lilian,

    Blessed Easter to you and your family! šŸ™‚

    To answer these question you have posted I believe it is best to refer to the Cathechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) to avoid misrepresentation of the faith.

    Question 2 : Why baptise? Is it to clean away the sins? How can a newborn baby carry sin?
    We are all born with a fallen human nature and we are tainted by original sin. [CCC 1250] Therefore, babies too have sin – original sin (which is the sin from Adam). For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). So what happens to babies who died before having received the sacrament of baptism? We can only entrust them to the mercy of God. (CCC 1261) Through Baptism all your sins are forgiven , literally (not symbolically) and we can enter heaven! For more info: http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=6280

    Question 3 : It is often said that Jesus died for our sins. How can that be? Aren’t we suppose to bear and carry our own sins?

    Here’s an excerpt from one of my blogposts:

    In the beginning God created Adam & Eve (the first human beings on earth!) Adam & Eve sinned because they ate the forbidden fruit from the.. (you guessed it) forbidden tree, thus disobeying God’s commands and the result of that: Sin crept in to Mankind, and made all man inclined to sin. And we proved that to be true. OK OK. Moving on.. Sin seperated God & Man and there is mega-huge gap.

    But because God loves Man so much, He decided that the only way to bring His people back to Him is through the death of His only Son, Jesus Christ. So he sent down Jesus to be crucified and to die for the Sin of mankind. (It’s like a just judge convicting his mother of a crime, instead of putting his mom into prison; the judge takes her place. Thus fulfulling the duty as a just judge & loving son)

    Thus bridging the gap between Man & God. So that is why Jesus is the Way, the Truth & the Life and no one goes to the Father except through Him. In other words no one gets to heaven except through Jesus.

    3 days after His death Jesus was resurrected and He ascended into heaven. And His resurrection signifies our resurrection too. Because He rose, through Him we can too.

    But because God love us so much and is a true Gentleman, He does not force us to enter heaven; rather he lets us do so willingly. That is why in John 3:16, Jesus says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

    For a short version of the above, check out: http://digitracts.com/view_digitract.asp?id=4

    In short, the reason why Jesus came down from Heaven and to earth is to take the full burden of our sin (past, present and future!). So that we do not need to carry our sins! But we do recognize that we have to bear the consequences of our sins (e.g. pre-marital sex = STD/broken relationships/etc)

    The beauty of being a Christian is that, we are able to go to heaven not because of what we have done, rather because of what GOD has done.

    The CCC is an official summary of what Catholics believe. Here’s a link to an online version of the CCC: http://usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm

    Hope what I said was helpful. šŸ™‚

    p/s: in reference to your comment on my blog. hehe. it’s ok. most people assume my gender based on my name. šŸ™‚

    God bless.

  2. Hi Celestine! Thank you so much for the info. I need that! God Bless.

    Chrissy – Same to you!

    Romantic – Thank you. God bless!

  3. Hello Aunty Lilian šŸ˜€ I agree with child baptisms la! My parents baptised me when I was 4. Well, I think it’s a good start for faith loh. Somehow I feel confident in the faith. Dunno ler. But I guess it’s me thanking my parents for that gift. I’m sure your kids will thank you too one day šŸ˜€

    See ya, great mom. God bless *smiles*

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