Tuesday, February 9, 2010

What Will We Do in the Afterlife?


Most people in our land go to cemeteries on certain days. They take flowers to spread on the graves and pray for the dead. Some even burn incense, food and fake money on them. The aim is clear: to show their respect for the dead and please or calm the spirit of their beloved ones that are now in the afterlife.
The members of the family or society who choose not to follow this rite will be scolded as disrespectful and without manners. They are many times accused of grieving the spirits of the dead.
Honestly, does anyone know what the dead are doing there in the afterlife?
None of you knows?
Well, I do.
Two years ago when my mother passed away, I was greatly disturbed by the fact that I was not present on the hour of her death. I thought to myself that she must have been waiting for me as she was departing – and I didn’t come to her side on the deathbed. I was worrying about her spirit not finding peace and rest there in the afterlife – and I told God my anxiety.
“Lord,” I whispered. “I need to know what Mom’s thinking right now while she’s by Your side. Is she thinking about me? Is she thinking about any particular matter?”
A few days later, I had a dream. It felt as real as any incident in the flesh under the sun.
In the dream, I was taken to an enormous ballroom that could hold thousands of people. The ballroom was full of light, and there they were holding a service.
The congregation was singing hymns, and I was surprised to see the one leading the song: my late pastor!
I was even more surprised at seeing my mother sitting on the third row from the podium, beautiful and healthy as she used to be before suffering from stroke!
“Mom! Mom, it’s me!” I immediately took the seat by her side.
But she didn’t answer.
“Mom?” I tried waving my hand before her eyes.
Still, she didn’t seem to notice. She was focused on singing and praising God.
She neither could see nor hear me, I thought to myself, completely bewildered.
Then, I saw the people sitting around her. I recognized the faces of women who once attended church long ago. I suddenly remembered: they all had died!
I leapt to my feet!
All the sudden I realized that the place I was visiting was not of the present world. It’s the afterlife!
With the new realization, I lifted up my face and scanned the ballroom.
There were many empty seats reserved for others whom hadn’t come yet. I saw people coming in through the huge, main door at the back of the ballroom, one by one they entered – and sat at the seats prepared for them.
I understood then, that the sermon hadn’t begun yet because they were waiting until the ballroom was full, until the number of all who died in the true faith to God was filled. They were waiting for the yet-living!
I stared back at my mother, who couldn’t stare back at me. My heart was filled with relief and joy, so great that I thought it would burst! I turned around to leave the ballroom, and the dream dissolved.
As I opened my eyes, fully realizing that I had returned to the present world, the world where we breathe and touch and smell and feel, I gave thanks to God.
Ever since that morning, I understand completely what the dead are thinking and doing in the afterlife. They are no longer burdened by the cares of material world: all such worries and problems have passed for them. All they care about is serving God for eternity. And while doing so, they are waiting for the rest of us to finally join them in everlasting peace.
Alright! Showing respect to the dead is not wrong. The fault lies at the paradigm that believes the dead are still concerned about life happening on Earth.
Trust me: they’ve wiped clear all thoughts of mortal life once they drew their last breath and went to the afterlife!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Indonesian Soap Opera (Sinetron) = Poison Candy?


In Indonesia, we call it sinetron.
In other countries, people know it as TV Soap Opera.
Why do they call it “soap” opera?
It’s because the majority of corporations sponsoring the sequels are soap manufacturers.
But that is not the underlying idea we’re discussing at present.
I personally am more concerned about the content of the programs compared to the sponsors behind the films.
For over the past two decade, the soap operas that sell most and gain the highest rating in Indonesia are those that carry the issues of love-affairs, divorces, premarital pregnancy, and disputes over family inheritance – spiced up with anger, vengeance, and tear-shedding at every turn of the act.
Perhaps it’s what people want to see. Perhaps it’s just their taste. And producers simply give the society what they desire. Movie-makers in Indonesia, after all, are companies with the goal of income-making in mind.
People merely like such programs because they rarely find them in real life.
Indonesians, just to keep in mind, are people with very simple mind and paradigm. We love peace. We love monotony in life. We do our routines just to make ends meet. We don’t fuss with too many plans for the future. We don’t find anticipation our nature. We flow with the current. We live life the way it is.
So when some programs show up offering us the other side of life, telling us how unjust and cruel one can treat others, we might as well watch with wonder and amazement. It’s like finding a purple camel in the middle of an oasis.
And our people like such amusement!
Since the majority of the society loves it, production houses keep producing such programs for years and years up to the present.
The programs sell. That’s the main interest.
But here we are now, twenty years after RCTI and SCTV, two of the first private television stations in Indonesia, were established.
Have we ever notice what’s going on as we look around?
• Divorces are taking place all over the land. People are so disrespectful toward marriage these days; they can easily divorce their spouse by phone!
• Love-affairs are nothing more than natural nowadays. And there’s no need to fuss about it.
• Premarital pregnancy no longer becomes a big deal. Actresses and actors in TV do it in real life anyway. So, that gives way to accepting free sex and adultery as part of daily life.
• People cheat to gain the greater (if not all) share of family inheritance. They find a way to blind the law.
Don’t we realize that all this diminution of morality comes from what our mind has been consuming for the past two decades?
What can we expect from a society that no longer upholds justice in the court, has no respect toward the sacred marital bond, easily breaks commitments, and permitting acts of indecency in public life?
What sort of generation do we expect to spring up in the future, from today’s so corrupted society?
When we let greed, indecency, amorality and injustice keep on poisoning our mind and slip into our family lives through that brainwashing crystal box sitting in our living room, it’s unlikely for our children to live a straight and respectful life in the future – and their children after them.
It’s time to filter the programs we’re watching.
It’s time to say NO to bad and mind-corrupting television programs.
Throw those poison candies out of our family’s life!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

When We've Got Ears but Fail to Listen


Pastor Steve got a message from his troubled friend.
It said, “Why is my life so distressing and gloomy? Why do all these problems surround me? What have I done God wrong? Tell me why these things happen to me!”
Steve replied, “Sometimes, when bad things happen to us, it is God’s process to shape us into a better person. At other times, it is due to our own sin or wrongdoing that God wants us to evaluate and correct before stepping any further. In all things, we need to have a heart full of gratitude for everything He does in our life.”
Can you guess the friend’s response?
He messaged back, “So you’re telling me I’m an ungrateful person? You dare call me a sinner? Who in this world never sins? Answer me!”
Well, from the reply, we know why those things happen to him, don’t we?
Steve’s friend is the kind who lacks self-evaluation. Instead of taking time to introspect himself, he believes that all the problems he’s facing come from outside. He blames others – either God or people or circumstances – for being responsible for the troubles in his life. He never thinks that he has to be responsible for himself: his mind, his actions, his behavior, and his decisions.
Stephen Covey was right when he said, “If we don’t take control over our own lives, others will.”
So the underlying point is how to be the man-in-charge over the wheels of our life. Though God is in control over everything in the universe, He doesn’t want us to be passive or idle in managing the life He’s granted us.
He gives us mind to think, hands to work, heart to feel, and – as in the above story – ears to listen to advices, rebukes and improving inputs.
When we’ve got ears but fail to listen, well… Don’t be surprised if we don’t find solutions to our problems!