What Are They Up To?

It was a quiet Sunday today. After sending JJ to Sentral this morning because he was supposed to witness an ad shoot or something, I was home the whole day. By the way, JJ is still out there somewhere but it's OK because he is getting relevant exposure in his chosen line of work.

Sometime in the late afternoon, someone rang the doorbell and looking out the window I saw four young-looking people. At first impression, I thought they were students doing some part-time survey or promo thingy. There was a guy and three girls. They told me they had something to share (regarding Christianity of course) and asked for a few minutes of my time. On closer scrutiny, none of them looked anything above 23 (Krystyn's age) and curiosity got the better of me so I invited them in.

The group said they had just graduated. My initial evaluation after a brief introduction was through visual impression. The guy (from Sarawak) who looked typically nerdy said he graduated overseas (did not say what discipline).

The three girls had distinctly different looks from each other. A prettier one with bright eyes who had graduated from Universiti Malaya in accounting (looked to, and did have a better command of English); a born Christian. Another who looked definitely ordinary had a degree in marketing from UPM or UKM; she looked the type who would feel at home in a Christian fellowship. The third (also from Sarawak) was a graduate in finance and economics I think. She was definitely in need of professional skin care. The second and the third girls appeared more enthusiastic and they revealed later that they were not born into Christian families but had recently converted to the faith.

The guy was the leader and I prompted him to begin his "sharing". They must have been taught by their church elders some form of canned presentation; everytime he mention a seemingly "salient" point the second and third girl would chorus his words in tandem as if cued. Anyway, they were trying to sell me Jesus...

Guy: "Uncle, all you have to do is to embrace the Spirit" (followed by girls' chorus on cue).
Me: "How do I do that?"
Guy: "Just say three simple words" (followed by girls' chorus on cue).
Me: "Wah! So easy wan ah. Say what ah?"
Guy: "The Lord Jesus"
Me: "You sure or not? So simple only ah. Just say the words and I can go to Heaven ah?"
Guy: "No lah, you have to accept Jesus in your mind (he did say "mind") by saying the three words then the Spirit will grow in you and you are on your way".

They were obviously all reasonably intelligent kids but I suppose still very naive and vulnerable to persuasive church elders. I was of course amused by the whole thing but felt I should stop wasting their time because they were certainly wasting mine. Moreover, I was already laughing in my mind because they reminded me of Boney M singing "The Rivers of Babylon":




What concerned me was that these 4 Chinese youth who admitted to not having had any life-shaking upheavals in life yet, are so besotted and obsessed with their religion which they obviously had not sufficiently studied in depth. There they were trying to teach me about my afterlife when they had not really begun to live their own real-life!

I was thinking they should be channeling their energy and devotion towards joining hands with other youths of Malaysia in demanding a better future for themselves in THIS promised land called Malaysia.

The session ended with me advising them to study Christianity in greater width and depth, and more importantly, also study the religions of others. But most important of all; find out in wider perspective what the increasing numbers of "Non-believers" believe. Gain more knowledge before deciding to put on the blinkers!

The guy was of course not very pleased that he was made to look rather unconvincing in front of his "flock". Hope they learnt something.

Hmmm... JJ is still out in KL somewhere. I know he has the same degree of dedication as the 4 youths but his is to learn as much, in the shortest possible time by creating opportunities and at the same time, not wasting opportunities that come his way.

Watch the following video too and see what many other Malaysian youth are doing:



...and this was a prequel: