About Christianity

i have always hated studying. and because of that, i usually put off studying till the last period, around 3 months or so, and cramp either one or two year's worth of work into that few months, depending on which examination i take. the result is that during that 3 months or so i have almost absolutely no play, and practically stay at home to study every free time i got. after the exams i would be very exhausted, and took very long to recover from the mental tiredness.

i don't like studying, and i still study. i know it is no fun, yet i still try to score for examinations. why? everyone knows, it is because we have to score to have a better future. not that scoring for academic examinations will ensure a bright future, but it gives a headstart. a headstart makes a lot of difference. that is why people work hard for it, to widen the headstart between oneself and other people. nothing wrong with it.

is there even a lesson from this story? yea i guess so. the same thing can apply to chrisitianity. walking the narrow way and the broad way. it is hard sometimes to do the right thing. i hate that feller and i don't want to forgive him, but i have to. i want to pay him or her back for what he or she had done to me, but i can't. i have to keep my mouth from saying swear words. i cannot engage in sexual immorality like other people did. there are a ton of things i cannot do and another ton of things i need to do.

but people still go through it. why? like exams, the life we experience now will determine where we go in the future. even in exams, we have to depend on luck sometimes. will i be sick on that day of exam? will the questions be set much harder this year? will they input the wrong results when they compute our scores? even if i get good results, will i definately get a good job next time? even with this much uncertainty, people still work for it. how much more, should we work for the goal, for the place in heaven that will definately belong to us if we work for it? of course, getting to heaven is by faith and by grace, but we still have to work for it. you cannot expect to get to heaven if you do not refrain yourself from every sin in the world, right?

like preparing for exams, we are preparing for eternal life. it is not fun, it is sometimes tiring. sometimes we want to give up. but then, is it worth it? like failing for exams, sometimes people cry. we know we don't want to fail. we put so much effort for something 'small' like exams when compared to eternal life. we should also, put in a greater effort to walk the narrow way. when we lack strength, all we need to do is to pray and ask to be strengthened, to be encouraged, to be refreshed. that way, we won't pile up our stress and tiredness like what we do during exams when we do last minute work. chrisitianity, shouldn't be last minute. we would'nt know when we will die, or when is this world going to end. we have to be prepared at all times.

i know i don't want to fail my exams. and this life, is something like an exam. if we pass it, we get to heaven. if we fail, we get to go to hell. and i know i definately don't want to fail. what about you? even if you don't like it, even if you see other people enjoying themselves, will you walk the narrow way? will you work for it, for the eternal life and treasure that will never fade away? not that examinations in our real life is not important, but if we can work hard for something that worldly and with so much uncertainty, can't we also work much harder for something promised and something with perfect certainty?

what is the value of life? some people say it is priceless. but as we look at the world today, life sometimes are treated dirt-cheap.

sometimes workers or missionaries overseas are captured by terrorist or rebel forces and the group forced the government of the captured people to pay money to them or they will kill the hostages. in short, kidnap. families will pay kidnappers as much as they can to get back their loved ones. governement will pay and talk terms in order to take back their citizens. that is common knowledge. maybe their life is one million dollars worth, throw in a few hardcore prisioners in jail.

on the other hand, we look at africa and in middle east. civil war, genocide, suicide bombings, roadside bombings, all this nonsense. we look at the people, they did nothing but try to kill their own kind. fight for peace, fight for an overall religious world, all this bullshit. we look at the people dying everyday. how much are these lives worth? maybe nothing. maybe the cost of a bomb and a human life divided by the number of casualties. in short, dirt-cheap?

so what does the value of life depends on? who you are and where you live in? maybe if you are the president of a big country your life is worth a lot of money. maybe if you are just a commoner in africa nobody will care if you die. 2 people, created by God, created in His image, have such difference in the value of their life. maybe the one whose life is more expensive contribute more to the society? is that how we determine?

i would really like to say the value of life is priceless. but that don't seemed to be the case. even families and government has a limit to how much they are willing and able to pay. we know of cases where hostages are killed because families have no money. we know of government refusing to trade in hardcore criminals in exchange for hostages. then is life really priceless? no. their life is only more expensive than other people. maybe much more expensive. much much more. but it is not priceless.

maybe you have someone willing to die for you. a life for a life. the law of the world? no idea. but i realize, life is priceless only to the following: you yourself, the one willing to die for you, and God. let's not go into why you think your own life is priceless, that is a dumb topic to explore. the one willing to die for you, be it human or Jesus Christ, they gave up their own life for your sake. if a human die for you, it means his or her futures, hopes, dreams, everything is gone, in this world. Christ died for us too, yes we know He got resurrected, but that is a different point. and of course, God thinks you are priceless too. He loves you a lot, so much till He sent His Son to die for us.

maybe to most other humans, our lives are nothing. to some, they are worth a lot, and yet to others, our lives are as important or more important than theirs. so, the theory of life is priceless is only applicable to a certain area. in most areas, life is worth from dirt-cheap to very expensive. but the important thing is we ourselves know that God think our life is priceless. our soul is priceless.

if we die, where do we go? in christianity, you either go to heaven or go to hell. in summary, all non-christians go to hell, and disobedient christians go to hell too. let's not talk about why now. i will explain it some other time, if you even bother to read my blog. in hell, there is no end to the misery. how much will you pay to get out of it? how much will you pay to redeem your soul? everything. anything you can do. but the thing is, once you go there, you are gone. you can say you are a permanent resident there. our lives and souls are paid by the blood of Christ, so that we are able to escape hell, only if we are obedient to God. don't care about what other people think how much your life and soul is worth. think about it yourself. how much will you pay to go to heaven? how far will you go to avoid hell? i will pay with my life on earth. use your life for the Lord, be obedient to Him. the price is paid for by Christ, all you need to do is to give your life to the Lord. He will know what to do with your priceless life.