I'm back from Church camp! As promised, I have decided to write whatever that inspired me through the three days I was away. Like most camps, one makes new friends and get to know old ones better. The message for the camp was about Jesus Christ sacrificing himself on the cross to die for our sins and being resurrected on the third day. For my non-Christian friends whom aren't very sure what Good Friday and Easter Sunday is about, let me tell you a little about it (For your information, its not just about having a public holiday, a long weekend, finding Easter eggs and eating candy! Haha).
Good Friday is actually the day Christ died roughly two thousand years ago. In a more historical and factual context, he was captured by the Romans, brought to an unfair trial, tortured, humiliated, made to carry the cross (that is a symbol of the Christian faith today), nailed (his hands and his two feet) to the cross and left to die. To be nailed to a cross and lifted up is known as the Crucifixion.
After dying on the cross, he was brought down and his body was laid in a tomb. On Easter Sunday, he arose from his death, looked for his disciples to give them a final message and soon return to God in heaven. Oh, one important thing that you guys should know, though Jesus is the Son of God, he is actually God in human flesh. God came in the form of a man to save us and his name was Jesus.
***If you want to get a better idea of Good Friday, have a look at the movie Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson done in 2004. ***
Now who is Jesus and where is he from? I'm afraid it is something that I have to share with you another time for he is many things and his story is filled with miracles and wonders that unless you have the heart and will to listen to it, you would think I am being outrageous! So till then, you would have to wait. Hopefully I do not have to wait till Christmas! :)
So the above story explained was in a very historical and factual context, now I am going to give you what the spiritual and religious context about this historical event. In the Christian belief, the fact that we are all here today on earth is because Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God and in the image of himself, defied God by eating the apple from the tree of knowledge. This is what is termed as Original Sin, the first sin. From then on, we became sinners. However, in the death of Christ on the cross, he asked for forgiveness for all mankind, Christian and non-Christian, men and women, past, present and future.
This therefore became the act of ultimate sacrifice for all mankind. The most popular verse in the Bible being John 3:16 "For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life". The emphasis of this verse seems to be believes in him .... everlasting life. However, until this camp, I realised that "for God so love the world" means the extent of how much love God has for the world. He loved the people of the world so much that he knew he had to let his Son die to have a chance to reconnect with us.
On Easter Sunday, three days after his death, he rose from his tomb (he actually foretold his death and return though no one had enough faith to believe in him). This resurrection signifies many things, but mainly the fact that all men will die in sin, but will be reborn in Christ. We basically ascend to Heaven lah when we kick the bucket (not sure about the random Singlish). The ultimate forgiveness is therefore even when sin is committed, one can be saved as long as he repents and loves God.
Which comes finally to the lesson of the day, to forgive someone. Almost everyone of you reading this has a somebody or somebodies that you hate, can't get along, can't stand, are irritated with. I admit, there are people like that in my life and before this camp, I had no intention of getting along or reconciling with them. I guess now, I can, at least, try. I hope all of you can find the strength to do it, to forgive people that have did harmful things to you.
Forgetting, is a whole different level altogether, the common phrase and forgive and forget is a ideal concept but something extremely difficult to accomplish. Lets discuss a few personal stories so that you guys can relate. Firstly, the story of Ian and one of his best secondary school friend Shaun. Well, Shaun and I grew apart in Secondary 4 (16 years of age) as I thought he was getting arrogant and only being friends with me for benefits, it was a silly thing now that I think about it. In the end, we just suddenly stopped talking.
After getting our results for our "O" levels, he came up to me to offer a shake of a hand to reconcile. I said, "do you know what you did wrong?" He replied no and I walked away. Perhaps I should have just shake his hands, forgive him and told him why I was angry with him. But yeah, all of us should learn from experience. A few years later we met in Officer Cadet School and we started to chat up. Though we didn't talk to each other like before, at least we reconciled and there is one less person to hold a grudge against in my life.
One last message before I close this post, it is a story that Jesus told his disciple Simon in Luke 7:41-43 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii, and the other 50. Neither of them had money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
He who has been forgiven much, love much, but he who has been forgiven little, loves little.
More to come... God Bless... :)
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