Jonathan Ong's Blog

Inspired by True Blood

1. Technically, Jesus is an undead, deceased yet behave as if alive, just like a vampire.
2. Jesus has eternal life, much like a vampire unless killed.
3. Jesus says to drink His blood, and basically you will have eternal life.
4. He can bring other people back to life, specifically Lazarus.
5. He can heal the sick, which according to True Blood, can be done when humans drink vampire blood.
6. Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” – Luke 9:60
7. Everyone feared him and thought he was the “Anti-Christ”.
8. He loved to sleep in tombs.
9. He can get people to do his bidding just by asking them.
10. Jesus was the first vampire, and because he died on a cross, vampires are scared of crucifixes.

All the worlds’ religions are concerned with entering or attaining some type of heaven or nirvana. What is a life but a journey to the afterlife? A journey generally consisting of doing good works and being of good character. But what most people don’t contemplate is what happens after entering heaven? I have never thought of it until one sleepless night, and, after thinking about it, hell seems like a better place than I previously thought. What is heaven? In my current state of imagination, I can only picture a Pandora-type world.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:3-4

Heaven is described as a perfect, peaceful, and eternal realm. In this forsaken world, all we seek is peace and serenity. Most religions’ goals are to seek peace and serenity either as introverts, seeking individual inner peace, or as extroverts, converting and waging war on others. Governments, militaries, and charities are setup almost for this sole purpose, but what becomes of them when peace does come? There will be no more people to save from death, no more poor to feed and shelter, no orphans crying for parents, no more destruction, no more crime. The advent of this concept of heaven negates the need for strong government, any militia, any charity, and, most of all, most types of religion.

A quick google search provides scripture on the description of heaven: Diane Dew and provides two aspects of heaven that I dislike. I don’t mind praise and worship, but continual praise and worship… for eternity? I don’t want to be an iPod on repeat with unlimited batteries; I have much more useful talents. Is that not we are taught, to use our talents wisely? Yes, we won’t have carnal forms and can no longer procreate in this sense, but no marriage? A sense of community is important, but so is a sense of partnership with another person. It’s more difficult to share happiness with a lot of people than just one.

Every good story needs conflict, but heaven seems like an everlasting story without conflict. Conflict drives every plot, builds character, creates emotions. It helps us understand ourselves, others, the universe, and connections in between. Without any conflict, the only good story in heaven can be written by God, nearly defeating the purpose of us having free will. How can one by happy without knowing pain? Expectations are relative, and heaven will set them higher, making it more difficult for us to exceed our expectations and be happy.

How do you keep a population happy, especially for eternity? Governments know that to keep the population happy: you keep them busy and distracted. You give them sports leagues, television shows, music, fashion, art, anything that would distract them from the important issues in life.  You give them jobs to keep busy, focus, and stop complaining. But are we willing to practice our hobbies and toil with whatever task handed to us for eternity? Of course, we won’t grow old and physically weary of what we do, but I need change every few years. Would work even be necessary? Wouldn’t God provide? Would work exist purely to keep our hands busy since idle hands are the devil’s playground?

Some Christians attempt to convert pagans through fear of hell, but I’ve always thought the correct approach is through the allure of heaven. However, with deep pondering, heaven has lost most of its appeal. My goal as a Christian is no longer to avoid hell or to attain heaven, but to simply do good on Earth. Among the choices of afterlife, eternal toil, finite pain, or simply death, I prefer simple death on the condition that my legacy lives on. Of course, this statement assumes I cannot fathom the euphoria, whether rational or emotional,to be experienced in heaven.

People’s choice to not live to their full potential disheartens me, but this feeling amplifies among fellow Christians. I [try to] live my life based on the Protestant Work Ethic and feel it is a Christian’s moral imperative. The main premises of the Protestant Work Ethic is that Christians are inclined to become successful in the world. This ethic is one of the main reasons Christians are generally Republicans – they seek a government which helps those who help themselves. Worldly success generally implies strong character and significant contribution to society unless you somehow control a significant portion of the market and/or lack moral and/or ethical character. My issue with Christians these days is that most do not seem to follow the Protestant Work Ethic.

What is the definition of worldly success? For me, it means wisely using all your talents to its full potential. This doesn’t mean that every Christian has to be a CEO of a company or can’t be a humble social worker, but one should make sure that is where he or she belongs. Worldly success doesn’t mean you should make as much money as possible, but donating money to various causes helps people much more than most things your hands could do. The problem with Christians is their false sense of purpose; many believe that to live a purpose driven life, they must find a career within ministry or something else related to religion. Look at most small churches around you and you will find that their leadership is inefficient and ineffective. The only pastors I actually learn from lead large churches, not small ones. For this reason I usually prefer large churches, though its more difficult to obtain a sense of community.

To me, the main purpose of Christianity in our generation is its sense of community. Christianity teaches us to steer away from temptation, so Christians create a community that minimizes any sort of temptation and sin. The result is a deeply sheltered community disconnected from the world, a community that votes against gay marriage but has never grown close to a homosexual, a community that votes against abortion but has never experienced one, a community that votes for war but has never seen a bullet kill another human being. To become successful in the world, one must understand the world and be able to withstand all of its temptations. To me one who avoids temptation is a coward because one knows that he or she will fall if faced with temptation, but one who confronts temptation and overcomes is of strong character. What is the purpose of religion but to choose those of strongest character?

One concept that many Christians, especially my mom, doesn’t understand is the concept of authority. Everyone talks, but how do we know which person to listen to? You choose to listen to those who have some sort of authority in that field. A doctor is an authority in medicine, a math professor is an authority in math, Warren Buffett is an authority on business. If you want people to listen to what you say, you need to be an authority, and to become one you need some degree of worldly success. Without worldly success, it is difficult for a Christian to change the minds of anyone. The problem with many small churches is that they are founded or led by a pastor without authority. I don’t like the Seventh Day Adventist church that much, but what I do like is that every pastor I’ve encountered has a pastoral degree and is sent from headquarters to the church. Be careful from whom you receive your information.

I hate fundraisers. I believe it is much more efficient if  instead of contributing one’s time to the fundraiser one contributes to society by finding a job and donate their wages to the cause. Fundraising is only efficient when rich people are involved since they are inclined to donate for tax reasons. Think Arrested Development. This is another reason I don’t believe pastors should ever receive a salary unless they are spectacular. A man of God should never have to rely on other people for money and instead should make his own income. My mom for example works as a dentist and spends all her extra time using her own money to pastor. Due to her own steady income, she faces no difficulties, especially since as a Dentist with a pastoral degree she has some sort of authority. Another issue with pastors receiving an income and position is the abuse of power such as in the Catholic Church, but that’s a whole other topic.

Christianity is about character growth, not about shaping one’s personality. To me it’s not about how we should think and act, but how we may change the world (though to do so requires some changes in the way we think and act). Usually when one is a young Christian he or she seeks leadership, but be wary of who you want to become. Just because he is your leader does not mean the way he lives his life is best for you. To grow in character and personality you must know who you are and become yourself, not some idealistic concept of the perfect Christian, and to do requires conflict, which I find by exploring, fighting, and learning the sinful world by becoming successful in it.

Walnut and its vicinity are considered relatively wealthy cities and [relatively] has a very low proportion of residents that are considered poor nationally. I don’t consider any of my friends poor, though some are extremely frugal, but that’s usually because they don’t have a job. Thus, I generally consider anyone who lives in this area blessed. At our age, much of the time spent together as Christians are usually to help us grow as Christians. However, we must remember that there are those less fortunate as us and when we mature as Christians we must shift our priorities from ourselves and each other to those less fortunate than us, and the most effective way to help out the needy is with money.

What is Christmas to you? A day to spend with the family? A day to spend with those you care for? A week of giving and receiving gifts? A week to share happiness? A day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? A month of holiday music? The question is: why don’t you do these things everyday you can? There is nothing stopping you.

Like almost every other American holiday, Christmas to me is just another day I can’t In-N-Out or do anything remotely productive. There’s no reason to be happier or celebrate traditions and history more than any other day, it’s just another day the machine tells us what to do. I look around and all I see is the commercialization of Christmas. Companies push consumers to spend money they don’t have on products no one would ever buy for themselves for people who would never use them. Gifts to mean are meant to be cherished and symbolic for a greater meaning, and a Christmas gift means nothing when its worth is only as a Christmas present.

Christmas is not primarily a Christian holiday. According to Wikipedia, Christmas is based on three different dates: exactly nine months after Jesus’ believed conception date, a historical Roman festival, and the winter solstice. If Jesus was actually born on Christmas, he would’ve probably died from the cold. Christmas was just another holiday that Christians used to lure pagans to Christianity like changing the Sabbath to Sunday. By making celebrations very similar, conversion to Christianity would be efficient.

Now Christmas is just a mix of various Western holidays celebrating the winter solstice. Almost no Christmas traditions are actually Christian other than, for example, the Nativity of Jesus. Gift-giving, Santa Clause,  mistletoes, and other traditions are obviously not Christian and are derived from pagan traditions from various Western cultures. If you’re Christian, why bother with these other traditions? They should mean nothing to you. You should be trying to give everyday, not just on Christmas.

Of course, the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but why don’t we celebrate his birth everyday? Sure, Christmas should be merry, but why should we be more merry on Christmas than any other day? Because everyone else is merry and attempts to share their happiness? Happiness is something to be shared everyday, not just Christmas. When I see people feigning happiness simply due to Christmas, I lose a little faith in humanity.

I look around an amazing at how enthusiastic some people are about Christmas. What’s the purpose of Christmas trees other than just to look at? If I had a tree, I would leave it in my house all year long cause to me, every freaking day is Christmas. Why are people so excited about holiday music on KOST 103.5? I listen to Christmas music all year long. I don’t give out gifts on Christmas because I don’t want people to be obliged to give me gifts, and I don’t like receiving gifts because very rarely do I receive a gift that is actually useful to me. When I see something I know a friend would like no matter what time of year it is, I buy it for them. Like religion to most people, Santa Clause is just another myth that creates a fake sense of happiness to people. It doesn’t need to be a holiday for me to spend time with my family. Who needs Christmas, or as a matter of fact, any holiday? Everyday is a holiday.

My mom always told me not to use the NIV Bible. According to her, recent translations have been edited. I remember looking through the bible back then to see what the differences were back then. One difference, she said, is the NIV’s lack of emphasis on the importance on the blood of Jesus. I can’t really seem to find an example of this, but what I have found is the lack of emphasis on the importance of sexual purity. A quick online search finds the following:

“being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,” – Romans 1:29 NKJV

“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,” – Romans 1:29 NIV

Notice that the NIV version of the Bible does not include sexual immorality. BibleGateway even has this omission footnoted. This is only one example of the differences, and although it is small, it is culturally significant.

Please, try to avoid the NIV Bible. You can read more about the differences in manuscripts here. I’m sure there are scholarly explanations to this. If any theologists know, let me know!