2021- A Year of Faith

Listened to one of my favourite sermons from Pas. Jason Fong one fine Sunday morning. The message was about the new year 2021. In his sermon, he mentioned that the new year often brings about hope to people. People hope for new changes in life from all the aspect that did not seem good in the previous year. Which is quite true, because who wouldn't want a better life? In one of his statements, he asked a question, 

"Everyone thinks that the new year will always be better, 

but could that be pseudo thinking?" 

I paused in my string of thoughts, quickly snatched my phone atop the table and googled. Pseudo: not genuine;sham; spurious. Also used alongside, pseudo humanity, pseudo critical thinking. Pseudo critical thinking: a form of intellectual arrogance masked in self-delusion or self-deception, in which thinking that is deeply flawed is not only presented as a model of excellence of thought, but is also, at the same time, sophisticated enough to take many people in. I read through this a few times. Allowing the words to slowly sink in, allowing comprehension to dawn.

Apparently, besides simply good thinking, bad thinking and grey areas in this world, there is also bad thinking that appears to be good and therefore wrongfully, disastrously, is used as the basis of very important decisions. Very often, this "bad thinking" is defended and "rationalized" in a highly sophisticated fashion for society at certain eras. This got me thinking about the history we read at Form 4, where the rise of the era of individualization causes the era of solidarity to slowly fade behind the scene. Because society at that time worships individualization, "self" is put first place, and slowly, the culture of individualism seeps in,  people became more and more self-centered. Unity/ agreement of feeling/action no long seemed to matter. The result of individualism overly exalted is selfishness and loss of humanity. 

This also got me thinking about a talk with a friend during my trip to Malacca. We were sharing about some issues faced nowadays, to which she concluded in mandarin "there's no correct or wrong, it's just different point of views (这件事情没有对错，只是大家都站在不同观点）". I some how agree to this statement, but also some how disagree. Agree to disagree, no? No doubt that this is a statement highly idolized in my generation. Here and then, we hear people around us using this, we read books and quotes about this. 

"Lying might not be wrong, it's just that you're standing from a different point of view."

"A person who steals might not be wrong, it's just that you're standing from a different point of view."

"That guy who ran from home with his new girlfriend might not be wrong, it's just that you're standing from  a different point of view."

Now look around us. When we used this statement to cover up our moral failures, what has society become? What will society become...... I dunno, pseudo thinking maybe? Oops, too off course.

Back to the sermon. He reminded us that, like it or not, the world is slowly falling to pieces, in other terms, the years cannot get any better when it is getting worse. According to our Christian belief, the bible predicted the world to come to an end one day. Covid-19 will not last forever, but even after it's gone, other things will take it's place, be it political, ecological, biological or persecutions. We don't know what's next. 

But why so pessimistic? Can't you be more optimistic? 

Because when we gather our visions on breadcrumbs of false hopes, and when things happen, we take a huge blow. A blow so huge, some people cannot withstand. A blow so huge, it takes away all hope and meaning of living. A blow that will cause people to fall away from God. A blow huge enough to cause people to end their lives. But when we're mentally prepared for what's ahead, when we're bracing ourselves for worst to come, we know. Because we were told beforehand about what is to come. Then with the knowledge we have, we can comfort others, just like how God comforted us.

"We need to put down our vain and complacent hero stories so we can understand that we are not the heroes of the story of humanity and that the story is not going to end when we do."

So why continue to live when we know things will get worst? Because there are things more important than trying to be immortal, than trying to not die. There's joy. There's peace. There's hope. There's love. There's relationships. Like taming flowers in the garden with mum. Like drinking a cup of coffee with dad. Like throwing a huge fit with sisters but still lending them your favourite dress the next day. Like bringing your dog for her favourite car ride and watch her tongue stick out the window. Like playing the piano and singing to God. Like watching the sun rise after a night of thunderstorms. All these are the treasures in life.

Watched another video from GoodTV, on how new year resolutions are hard to achieve when we list it out one by one. Instead of making a list, the speaker encouraged us to set a theme, eg " A year of XXX" according to what you wanna achieve. For example, when my theme is "A year of less spending", each time I tend to spend, I can repeat to myself, "No, this is a year of less spending!" Sounds great?

A year of faith- Reminding myself once again, that I'm just a mere human. To be humble. To just let go, and let God take full control. When situations arises, so will I proclaim "Hey, this is a year of faith!"