God alone is good

The Old Testament describes God as holy and Jesus says that our heavenly Father (God) is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Today, we heard Jesus mention yet another attribute of God.
"And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone" (Mark 10:18).
As usual, Jesus' saying was a bit enigmatic. Given that God alone is good,  does Jesus admit/claim that he is God? For Christians, the answer is affirmative. Yes, Jesus is God and he accepted the rich young man's salutation.

How do Christians describe their God? They say that God is omnipotent (all-ruling, almighty), omniscient (all-knowing) and beneficent. Very few people bother to challenge the omniscience of God. If God were not all-knowing, i.e. knowing all that could be known, this God would not be God. Again, very few people bother to challenge the beneficence of God. If God were not good, God would be the Devil. Now, people are more interested in undermining the omnipotence of God, in particular, the combination of omnipotence with beneficence. Let's discuss them one by one.

First of all, Christians believe that God is omnipotent. People would challenge the Christian God to create a rock so heavy that even God is unable to move. The logic is simple. They try to put God in a dilemma. Either God is unable to create such a rock, or God is unable to move this rock He creates. Either way, God is not almighty. The Christians lose. Their God is not worth believing. Period. Actually, they don't have to be so creative. Simply ask God to tell a lie. God is faithful and He cannot lie. (I wonder if anyone is able to tell whether what God says is a lie.)
Well, let me tell these winners, the Christian God is really incredible. Have you ever seen a deity that is willing and able to downgrade Himself into lower levels of existence? Have you ever  heard of a deity that is mortal? Ask the Christians. As if people would never be satisfied with mountain-melting, ocean-splitting or food-raining for forty years, the Christian God stuns the believers by becoming a man and later a piece of wafer. The Christian God even died on a cross. The Bible tells us these stories about God who works in a totally different logic system from us (Isaiah 55:8). Logical dilemma or even trilemma? God does not bother.
According to our primitive logic, a being cannot is and not-is at the same time. However, in the more exciting real life situations, there are many grey shades between black and white, true and false, on and off. (For your information, true and false are digital logic and grey is analog. If 3-5 volts mean ON, 0-2 volts mean OFF, what do 2.4 volts represent? ON or OFF?) Just think about what happen when we tell lies. We tell people that we are telling the truth but actually we are telling lies. Is telling lies not a contradiction? We are able to do it all the time. Yet God never tells lies (Titus 1:2). Luckily, the Bible leaves unwritten a lot of things about God, such as the unmovable rock. This allows us to think up a lot of things which God will not do or is not able to do. Perhaps one day, God will show us how to create a rock which He is unable to move, and yet that does not lead to any contradiction. For the moment, rest assured that God is not able to tell lies!

Now, let me approach the more challenging issue about an omnipotent, omniscient and beneficent God and the existence of evil. Adding the omniscience attribute makes God morally responsible. If God does not know, God is not morally responsible for the sufferings caused by evil. In brief, the existence of both evil and an omnipotent, omniscient and beneficent God is contradictory. This problem of evil is attributed to Epicurus (341-270 B.C.) So, this challenge is not anti-Christian at all. Any religion that believes in an omnipotent, omniscient and beneficent deity has to answer this challenge. Buddhism believes in reincarnation and karma. It has no difficulty answering the challenge. Christianity does not allow for reincarnation to purify our karma. It has a hard time trying to answer the challenge. If God is beneficent and omniscient, He should have prevented evil from happening and people from suffering. Yet, God does not stop evil and sufferings. (On October 4, SCMP reported a Lamma Ferry-Collision survivor's claim that her God had saved her family in that collision in which 39 people died. An indignant reader protested and put forth this Epicurean paradox to counter-claim that this Christian God is cold-blooded.) Either God is not omnipotent or God is not beneficent at all. Either way, believing in God is outdated. Frankly speaking, this is a very thorny question Christians have been trying to answer. So far, every answer is flawed. For example, some Christians argue that God allows evil to exist for the greater good of man. Misfortunes make man mature. For example, in the story of the Forbidden Fruit in Eden, God knew beforehand that man would fall into the temptation of the Serpent. Yet, God respected our freedom of will and allowed Adam to breach His command, thus entered Sin and Death into the Creation. Bad as it is, through this evil, man, the mere creature from dust, is able to partake in the eternal life of God etc. However, try tell a surviving girl that the death of her parents in the ferry-collision is a greater good for her. I cannot do this. In this disaster, I prefer consoling the pitiful girl to offering an armchair theological argument. At the end of the day, we have to admit that our system of logic is flawed and suffering is a mystery.

Dear Jesus, You do not need my defence. Just allow me to do good to the needy. Amen.

To divorce, or not to divorce

Since there was no records or evidences, it is commonly speculated that savages lived in groups to protect each other from wild animals. They took cues from animals and were promiscuous. Nine months later, babies were born. It would take a quantum leap in intelligence  for savages to discover who fathered those babies.
Gregarious animals take care of their young ones. Human beings are no different. It is so natural. Perhaps in the course of evolution, female humans discovered that staying with the same male would provide a greater chance for the survival of their babies. The human clan painfully and slowly developed the "institution" of marriage. Meanwhile, spare resources were accumulated into wealth. Perhaps some time along the evolution of society, women became part of the wealth of the head of the clan, the Alpha male. They were given out for 'marriage' in exchange for more resources. Sex had to be regulated. Laws on sex, marriage and divorce were written down and enforced to prevent members from doing harm to the society.

Of course, the picture painted above is different from the story in Genesis 2, which is a highly symbolic myth about the creation of humans and the institution of marriage. It was the product of a highly civilized literate people. The story enshrines the ideal of the institution of monogamy. Though many people complain about the Bible because it has been used to justify different kinds of discrimination in the society, such as the subjection of women, slavery, homophobia and genocide of other religious believers etc., the story of Genesis 2 shows that such accusations are misplaced.
First of all, God took a rib, not any other spare bones to make a woman (Genesis 2:21). A rib is close to the heart and protects the heart. Therefore, women should not be slighted.
Secondly, the man exclaimed that the woman was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (2:23). Therefore, women did not come from Venus and men from Mars. Men and women share the same human nature. They are not aliens. Subjection of women is wrong.
Thirdly, the Bible teaches that children should grow out of their parents. They should become independent not just physically, but also emotionally, financially and politically (2:24). In the eyes of parents, even octogenarian children are always their baby children! On the other hand, adults living with parents still foster some degree of reliance on parents. Therefore, marriage is good because it catalyzes the maturity of people.

Nowadays, we pay more attention to the welfare of children. People who oppose divorce usually put forward harms caused by divorce on children as an argument. These people would be disappointed with Jesus' reply to the question of divorce because Jesus made no mention of children at all (Mark 10:2-12). It does not mean that children are not important for Jesus. Jesus blessed them to show their importance immediately after the question of divorce (10:13-16). As for Jesus, he does not enter children into the equation of divorce because fidelity alone is enough to condemn the practice of divorce.
Marriage is good for the maturity of man but married life is not at all an easy life. Man should not enter marriage, using divorce as a safety valve. That is, if anything goes wrong or goes against expectation, man may resort to divorce to solve their problems. Had marriage been a legal contract, divorce would have been tolerable. However, Christian marriage is a sacrament, not a contract. It is an encounter of one's being with another's being, a life-long commitment. That rules out the option of divorce. Infidelity breaks down the integrity of a person. We have to pay a price for taking shortcuts. Divorce as a shortcut to solve interpersonal problems exacts a heavy price on many people involved.

Monogamy and "till death we part" are ideals. In reality, the Catholic Church annuls many marriages annually (annulment is another name for divorce). Nowadays, many Christians marry non-Christians. Their marriages are not sacramental and therefore dissoluble. The marriage of two Christians are indissoluble. Of course, leading a sacramentally married life is not easy. However, since their marriages are consecrated by God, God will give them enough grace to grow in love and to overcome all difficulties.

Dear Lord, I pray for those who contemplate to lead a married life. May Your unfailing grace support them on their way of sanctification. Amen.

How literally can you follow the gospel?

Today, we read of a challenging passage in the gospel of Mark. To say that the passage is challenging is an understatement because if we follow it literally, we will be maimed.
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (Mark 9:43, 45, 47).
I always quote this passage to tease those who insist on interpreting the bible literally. Had we followed it literally, heaven would have filled with handicapped people. Heaven would be a heaven of disabilities. In fact, no such heaven would exist because according to theologians of the Middle Ages, God would restore and make perfect our risen body. We will only be handicapped in this life, not in the next.

When I was doing my annual research paper, I came across the ethics of mutilation in medical ethics. I came across Origen, a Church Father who castrated himself after meditating on the same gospel passage. The Church was not happy about it. In the end, the Latin Church did not ordain him and never canonizes him. Why? Why is it acceptable to amputate the limbs, but not the sexual organ?

It is easier for those who interpret the Bible literally to answer my questions. Why? Because the gospel does not say "If your sexual organ causes you to sin, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life as a eunuch than with your balls to be thrown to hell." Therefore, it is ethically not acceptable to castrate yourself in order not to allow your balls to cause you to sin. Therefore, if you see a beautiful girl and lust after her. You follow her to a quiet place, overpower her with your hand and rape her. Then you should amputate your hand and foot, pluck one eye out but not castrate yourself! Don't you think it is better and more effective simply to remove your balls than to do so many things?

For those who interpret the Bible figuratively, they have an even better time. The message of the passage is more important than the letters. The passage tells us to have the courage and determination to cut yourself away from circumstances leading to sin. Therefore, if you see a beautiful girl and etc., don't do it next time. Don't look at beautiful girls. Don't go to quiet places. Don't ... etc. Don't you think it is hypocritical? Castrate yourself to demonstrate your determination and courage!

I read of an explanation. It states that the Church does not want us to take a physical shortcut. We should keep our sexual organ, limbs and eyes which are the sources of all these temptations. Engage in the spiritual struggle instead.

Dear Lord, give my mum strength to struggle against her alcoholism. Give me a humble heart to accept her addiction and a love that can motivate her to kick the addiction. Amen.

Ask rightly

Since Enlightenment, men have relied less and less on God. As our father, God should be happy with our achievements. We have grown up and become more independent. As children, we asked God what we needed, what we wanted. As adults, we think that we have the ability to satisfy our needs so we do not ask. We simply do what we fancy without truly satisfying our needs. Thus, we want to cheer up our spirits with wine. In the end, we feel more depressed and perhaps become addicted. We want to earn more money to lead a more comfortable life. In the end, we spend most of our time working, leaving very little time to enjoy life with our loved ones. We want to win the election so that we may serve the public. In the end, power corrupts our souls and we compromise our ideals and principles to cling to our position. How true is the words of St. James.
"You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions" (James 4:2b-3).

Let's take a look at the first line which tells us at least two things. First of all, as Christians, we believe in God who is the source of all our good.  All that we have we receive from God. We do not have what God has not given us. Secondly, we have grown too arrogant that we do not ask God what we need. Of course, we have made a lot of technological advancements and we rely less and less on God for our material needs. Still, there are spiritual needs to be taken care of. These needs can only be satisfied by an infinite God. However, our technological achievements have blinded us with a materialistic outlook of existence. We care less and less of our spiritual life and consequently, an unspeakable void is created deep down our hearts and souls. This blindness makes us unable to ask God, the source of all our good. Simply put, we have forgotten God. People tell us that God is dead. We have no faith in God whom men have banished.

For those who still cling to God, they face a problem of a different level. They feel their needs and ask God for help. Yet, they do not receive and St. James explains that it is because they ask wrongly. How is it possible for a person to ask wrongly? If you are hungry, you ask for food. If you are thirsty, you ask for water. What else will you ask?
On the physiological level, probably we will not be wrong. However, when we move up to higher level such as psychological, inter-personal, social, political and even spiritual, we can be wrong because the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
We have a history. We have been raised up through a complex process in which many things can go wrong. If you were not raised by abusive, dysfunctional parents, you were lucky. See the many single-parents families around you. If your buddies did not bully, smoke or shoplift, you were lucky. See the many juvenile delinquent around you. If the organization you work in is not involved in any insider-tradings or corruption charges, you are lucky. See the many under-table dealings exposed by newspapers. Many of us are still struggling with our past wounds. However, we dare not to face them, to seek healing because we feel exposed, we feel insecure in front of the others most of whom are our rivals. In short, we do not know ourselves and thus our needs. We ask wrongly.
Then what is the right thing to ask for? The gospel reading today may shed us some light.

The disciples were arguing who was the greatest after Jesus had told them for the second time his imminent Passion (Mark 9:34). Here, the disciples were engaging at the sociopolitical level. Jesus told them that he would be going to Jerusalem to meet his death. How could the disciples still be fighting for the top job? Because in their mind, Jesus was the Messiah who would enter Jerusalem to chase away the Romans and build up the Messianic Kingdom. Of course, they cared about who would take up the top job. At this level, very few people will not get lost.
Of course, it is not wrong to be ambitious, to aim at the top job. Somewhere, somehow, somebody has to shoulder the responsibility. However, the occupant of the top job should possess the right attitude. Otherwise, many people, including himself, would suffer unnecessarily. In this occasion, Jesus taught his disciples "servant leadership". To be a leader, one must be the servant of all the people under his leadership (Mark 9:35).
Therefore, it is wrong to ask God to give you the top job to satisfy your lust for power, vainglory and privileges. Rather, we should ask God to give us the humility to serve the needy. The top job would land on your lap if it be God's will. Ask rightly and carefully because the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

Dear Lord, enlighten me to seek Your will. Amen.

Why can't government officials see?

I have no intention to join the controversy of imposing national education in the school curriculum. Nobody can put forth any reasonable objection against national education. However, the insensitivity of government officials has spoilt the whole project, turning a good thing into bad. They have lost touch with the reality and sentiment of the citizens. Simply put, the citizens see mainlanders as intruders and locusts. The mainlanders come to push up the prices of everything, from milk-powder to housing, from maternity ward to school places. Teachers of national education are fighting a losing battle against just one piece of bad publicity news from the mainland --- journalists being illegally detained for more than 44 hours while interviewing dissidents, vandalism during anti-Japanese demonstrations or a mother being punished for petitioning the public security to save her daughter who had been kidnapped and sexually abused etc. When one of these pieces of 'bad' news comes to light, no amount of national education can make the children love their mother country.

Why can't people see the reality?
Simply put, for many people, the reality is too difficult to imagine/accept. Perhaps they have a political agenda to achieve and turn a blind eye to people's sentiment only to back off disgracefully later. Mainland officials see sending visitors to Hong Kong as a benevolence to the livelihood of the local residents. They see themselves showering gifts to save the economy of Hong Kong. They send astronauts and Olympic medalists to entertain and cheer up the patriotism of the citizens of Hong Kong etc. Hong Kongers are too ungrateful. They should learn to love their mother country, beginning with young children in primary schools. For a longer term in the future, mainland officials fear that the universal suffrage of Chief Executive in 2017 will return someone who does not obey them ... etc.
The officials of the SAR Government have underestimated the anti-government sentiment of the citizens stirred up by the "China Model" teaching materials published by the National Education Service Centre which is financially dependent on the government. They think that monetary incentives ($530,000 for each school that implements national education) as well as implicit threats of folding up uncooperative schools (by not sending enough students to their primary one classes) are powerful enough to force schools to implement the curriculum.
Hong Kong citizens see the situation differently. They see the Liaison Office pulling the strings behind the SAR Government. They see mainland visitors absorbing their resources and welfare, pushing up prices to make their daily lives difficult. They don't want to see their children turned into Red Guards, class struggling their parents in the public. In short, they don't want Hong Kong to become one of the Communist Chinese cities. These kinds of sentiment are created by the Central Government and SAR Government together. A national education curriculum definitely cannot solve the problem.

Today, in the gospel reading, we found St. Peter scolded by Jesus because Peter was not able to accept the reality that the Messiah had to suffer and die. Like most of the contemporary Jews, Peter expected the Messiah to be a political and military saviour to drive out the Romans. Peter and his fellow apostles gave up everything to follow Jesus who worked miracles. They bet all they had on this Galilean carpenter-Rabbi to build up a new kingdom etc. Instead, Jesus told them that he was going to be killed.
And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again (Mark 8:31).
This went totally against the political agenda of Peter, even the apostles and all the followers of Jesus. So Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from doing such a stupid thing.
But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."  (Mark 8:33)

Who doesn't make mistakes? Even St. Peter made mistakes. He made mistakes up to the very end: he struck people with a sword to prevent Jesus from being arrest (Mark 14:47). He was scolded by St. Paul for avoiding the uncircumcised company in the presence of Judaizers (Galatians 2:11-14). Legend also has it that Peter fled Rome during persecution, only to meet Jesus on the way. So, he returned to be crucified upside down on the hill of Vatican. Therefore, government officials can make mistakes. If you are a small potato, your mistakes will not bring too much harm to too many people. However, if you are big, your mistakes will definitely bring a lot of harm to a lot of people. So, see clearly which side you are on, God's or men's. You may not enjoy the special privilege and protection Peter had enjoyed.

Dear Lord, I pray for officials of both governments. Enlighten their minds and brighten their eyes so that they are able to see which side they are fighting against. Amen.

Do you hear?

We are living in a noisy world. Our hearing is flooded with noises of all kinds so much so that we have become practically deaf. Of course, to defend against the invasion of 'unwanted' noises, we choose to hear selectively.

There are different kinds of noises. Some are propaganda trying to persuade us and through repetitions, even brainwash us or simply to desensitize us. Some are misinformation / misrepresentation to crowd out the truth. Some play on our emotions, such as fear or sympathy, to impose their will upon us or to blackmail us. What frustrations hearing brings us! No wonder we develop a habit to hear selectively to protect ourselves.
The examples listed above are noises from the outside but very often, we make noises for ourselves. Nowadays, we can see many people listening to their music in public places with earphones or even a headset. These people know how to enjoy life and do not spare their senses a moment of rest. They must have all their senses fully occupied in order to make life full. Other people are fully occupied with greed, lust and ambition. These too generate a lot of inner noises to crave for these vices. Thus all of us are deaf in different degrees.

Being a Catholic, I want to be able to hear the voice of God. Unfortunately, God speaks so softly that His voice is overcome most of the time by other noises. I want to find a quiet place in order to hear Him better. Unfortunately, what I hear are a lot of inner noises coming from my psyche. I want to speak to some saintly priests to attain peace in my soul. Unfortunately, I am too busy to afford the time. I want to read some spiritual books to obtain inspiration. Unfortunately, I fall into drowsiness before I am able to finish a few lines. I am in a shabby shape and in need of the Lord's delivery.

In the gospel reading today, we heard of Jesus on the run. He had antagonized the Jewish authority and in order to stay away from troubles, he wtihdrew into Gentile regions: Tyre, Sidon and Decapolis (Mark 7:31). That did not stop him from working miracles, driving out demons, healing the deaf-mute and multiplying loaves to feed the hungry. Saint Mark wrote his gospel for Gentile readers. It came as no surprise that he included these miracles in Gentile soil to show that Jesus' mission is for all humanity. Even in his self-imposed exile, Jesus cared about the needy, be they Jews or Gentiles.

I know very little about the world deaf people live in. All I know is that it is a silent world. Human beings have relied on their sights for survival so much that hearing becomes secondary. The deaf are even deprived of this sense so that they are always living at the perils of impending dangers around the corner. e.g. a screeching car or a collapsing roof. They are not able to share the intensity of the laughters of their friends and their ability to articulate the subtlety of feelings is limited by the sign language they speak. On the receiving end of the channel, ordinary people know only a little. Deaf people must be very frustrated and lonely in their daily life. Therefore, after being healed by Jesus, the deaf-mute must have felt a kind of liberation, an unprecedented freedom and ability to build up relations with his fellow villagers.
Of course, for people isolated by misunderstanding, their frustration is no worse than the deaf-mute. To reestablish the communication channel takes effort and perhaps even external help. Unless you are prepared to live in an isolated lonely world of silence, you had better reach out or to seek help. Open your heart to hear the voice of God.

Dear Lord, open not just my ears, but also my mind and my heart. Fill my heart with Your loving grace and my lips will sing praises to You. Amen.

A list of 12 or 13 vices

In the gospel reading today, we heard of accusations directed against Jesus by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem because some of his disciples ate with ritually unclean hands (Mark 7:1-5).
Usually, when we read this story, we seldom ponder on who Jesus' disciples were. We take for granted that they might be the Twelve or some followers. This morning, Fr. Milanese gave a new interpretation in his homily. He related this story with the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish. Wow! This is a new insight! It makes sense when we consider the context of the story. It happened after the miracle. Of course, Fr. Milanese extended the definition of disciples to include the crowd of 5000. They listened to Jesus' teaching before they ate. According to the gospel of John, many of them sought Jesus because they had eaten. To a certain extent, they were qualified to be disciples. If we confine the disciples to the Twelve, it means the Pharisees and scribes had to spy on Jesus in order to obtain the evidence against him. So, Fr. Milanese's interpretation is reasonable.

Near the end of the story, we heard of Jesus listing 13 vices that came from the heart and they defile. Here is the list:
evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly (Mark 7:21b-22).
From what we learned in the Biblical Institute, this list is catechitical, i.e. it is a list of vice taught to the community from which Mark worked. The Christian community was told not to do these vices. By the way, if we read the list in Greek, it rhymes.
οἱ διαλογισμοὶ οἱ κακοὶ ἐκπορεύονται, πορνεῖαι, κλοπαί, φόνοι,  
μοιχεῖαι, πλεονεξίαι, πονηρίαι, δόλος, ἀσέλγεια, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός, βλασφημία, ὑπερηφανία, ἀφροσύνη^.

No list is ever complete. For example, drunkenness, domestic violence, gambling and homosexuality were not mentioned. Perhaps such vices were not problems in the Marken community.  Anyway, let us meditate on how these vices defile.

Evil thoughts is a broad term. They affect our relations with other people. They make us ugly.
Unchastity is more specific. Engaging in unrestrained sexual activities defile our bodies.
Theft is specific. But how does taking away others' things makes us unclean? Possessing things that are not earned degrades our capability. It makes us cheap.
Murder takes away the life of innocent people. Our hand is defiled by the blood shed.
Adultery destroys our marriage and those of other couples. It harms a lot of adults as well as their children. Once more, it degrades our sex and makes it cheap.
Greed is not just internal. When we take advantage of others and obtain more than we deserve, we look cheap.
Malice is a wish to harm others. It poisons our mind. The rest is dirty.
Deceit makes us look good but in fact we are not so good. We are not true to ourselves and to others. We are scam.
Licentiousness is sexually dirty.
Envy makes us green, not our true colour.
Blashpemy makes our mouth foul.
Arrogance drives away people because it sends out dirty signals.
Folly makes us stupid.
I have to admit that my repression is deep and I dare not dig too deep into it lest I may collapse. So I cannot offer any better meditation on these vices. Perhaps my readers can throw better lights on them.

Dear Lord, in the days ahead, expose me to my vices and grant me enough grace to overcome and uproot them. Amen.