In Continuum.

There is something really odd about the commercialization of religion, don't you think. Instead of a little place that preaches about the goodness and kindness of human beings, we have stores that sell books on the same subject, DVDs of pastors talking about the same stuff, CDs that goes on repeat in the shops over and over again. Lines from Bibles and words of pastors turned into rock songs, and everything was being sold in the shop like some cupcakes or toothbrushes. The image of an organized religion going to such lengths or promote their religion, in a way, just doesn't sit right with me. Yet, I suppose only the truly religious and unreligious people (like myself) would want to enter such a place. The former would probably want to purchase a book to, say, remind themselves on long bus rides about the values that their religion is teaching - perfectly normal. I, on the other hand, went into the shop because I was curious about what in the world they sell in a shop full of Christian stuff. It's funny how the best selling book on the shelves is titled "How I Went to Hell". I flipped through that little red book, and it spoke of how this boy did very bad things to his father, and as a result ended up in Hell and how it is like there. It was supposed to be a fictional story, but I am sure a lot of people took it pretty literally. 

Anyway, I was flipping through the newspaper yesterday morning over some nice warm soup when I saw the article that made me want to vomit everything back into the bowl. Apparently, a certain church in Singapore managed to raise 19 million dollars in 24 hours to build their spanking new church at Buona Vista. The building looks like a combination of a stack of metallic pancakes, coffins, crumpled paper, and a failed primary school science project. It looks pretty bad, but that's not the main problem I have with it. The main problem I had with it was the fact that 19 million dollars were spent on an ugly looking building, in a time when everybody is having an economy crisis, one way or another. I'm not good with numbers, but I think I know that 19 million dollars stand for a whole lot of money. You don't just dump that kinda money into a grotesque looking building because you need some more space to talk about your stuff. It is worse when you are turning that place into a giant mall - what for? What are you going to sell in the stores, more shops with Christian stuff? I wonder what is going to be in the restaurants over there, if everything is going to be Jesus-themed. You know, Jesus Sandwiches and you have a mini crucifix instead of forks. That'd be a very cool themed restaurant. 

But I don't know, I don't like the idea of a church at all. Like, to me, the church should be an idea, a meta-physical bond between individuals with the same concept of a superior being. You know, when I hear that someone belongs to a church, I don't imagine him or her gathering in a building every Sunday. I imagine him or her belonging to a group, a group with a common purpose or belief, and it doesn't matter if they are physically present in the same space or not. But of course, a lot of people out there have very different concepts of a church. They tend to want everybody to be together at the same time, under the same roof, and everybody would be praying to the Lord at the very same time - when in truth, if He is really so powerful, you could probably do it anywhere at anytime. It isn't easier for the Lord to receive your messages when you are all chanting at the very same time. The only reason I could think of is the fact that it makes it easier for people to converge to a common cause, and also it makes it easier to collect money when need be - which is every damn week. Things started on a small scale, and churches were almost always small and modest. Some of my favorite buildings in Singapore are churches, and most of them are small and modest. Then some people, having gotten their hands on a truckload of money, want to turn their church into a mega church. 

If you look at the pictures of the church right now, you can't help but think to yourself - is it really all that necessary. Is it really necessary to have a lavish looking church auditorium slash mall slash restaurant, thing. I mean, it is your business to come together to pray to the same dude, fine. But when you are decorating the church to look like this giant concert hall, you can't help but ask - what for? Why go through all those trouble, spend all that kind of money, when the purpose is really the same at the end of the day. You know, 19 million dollars could be spent on, say, helping children get into schools, or to provide medical aid for a lot of old people. Or spend it on saving animals, but that probably isn't on the priority list of most religious institutions, since you can never convert animals to any organized religions - what is the use? So they want to help children, help old people, help the gullible people who'd believe whatever that their "saviors" tell them. It's a fair exchange, of course, because you only need to attend their sermons in exchange for a couple of meals everyday - sounds fair. If you are poor and hungry, you'd do anything to make yourself less poor and less hungry. Attending a sermon just doesn't seem all that difficult. After a while, getting off the streets may suddenly look and feel like a divine intervention - it isn't. 

In normal times, I suppose spending 19 million dollars on a church would be acceptable. But these are not normal times, very tough times at that. People losing jobs, people losing jobs again, people can't find jobs, and a lot of these people have mouths to feed at home, plates for them to put food on. These are also the same people forking out money to donate to a church, just so that they can build this grotesque looking building in the middle of a damn economical crisis. I think there are a lot of people in need of help, and I think 19 million dollars is going to help a lot. Those unfortunate people who were unfortunate when the economy was good, are going to be even more unfortunate when the economy is crap. I mean, when our wallets are smaller, we tend to want to care more about our immediate family members you know, tested and proven. People cannot care less about those people lying in old folks' home, handicapped people, and children with learning disability. No, not a lot of people are going to give a shit about them, because they could hardly take care of themselves - natural law. Love for strangers shrink with an economical downturn, and I think these people would really like some monetary aid, if not anything else. But no, somebody thought it'd be nice to spend 19 million dollars on a spanking new building that does the exactly same thing as the spanking old building. The exact same thing, in a different place, with the same people in charge. 

So I did a little research on that particular church, and you won't believe some of the "testimonies" they posted on the blog. It features the testimonies of the believers and how the Lord has touched their lives in more ways than one. If you are talking about the Lord taking you through rough patches, I can somewhat understand that you know. It makes a little more sense, because you don't exactly have people to turn to all the time in life. So you turn to a higher being with all the powers in the world - childish, but it makes sense. Then we have the people praying and testifying to the powers of the Lord for the most trivial of things. I read of some dude who prayed to the Lord for an ulcer to heal, another dude who prayed to the Lord for some facial twitching problems, and a girl called Janet who prayed to the Lord because she had skin itches. First of all, I don't think those testimonies were by real human beings at all. Second of all, even if they were real, these people are plain pathetic. If you have a skin itch, scratch it. If it doesn't go away, scratch it some more. If it starts to bleed, go to a doctor. If that doctor doesn't work, go to another doctor. You don't bother God with your stupid little problems and your selfish little needs. He, supposedly, has better things to do than your dumb little requests. "I have a running nose, dear God" - stupid. 

Then I read about this other testimony from this polytechnic or ITE student, and about this competition that he joined with a couple of students from his school. It was kinda like those micro mouse competitions or something like that, with this electronic mouse traveling through a maze after being programmed on a computer. So, what happened before the competition was that they were unable to establish a connection between the computer and the micro mouse. There was some connection error, and the team started to panic on the spot. So, the dude that posted the testimony, apparently started to pray to God about the disconnection problem. Eventually, the device started to work, a connection was established, and they went on to win the top prize in the competition. He thanked God a million times in that testimony, but then here's what I was wondering when I read the testimony - he never thanked his teammates. You know, while he was busying PRAYING, his teammates were actively SOLVING THE PROBLEM. You know, tweaking the wires and stuff like that to establish a connection, things like that to solve the problem at hand, right. All he did was pray, and he thought that it was what made the device work in the end. No, your teammates putting their heads together made it work, not your indecipherable mumbling. They were proactive, you were just being primitive. 

I think if I am rich enough, I'd have no problems giving my money to, say, the Red Cross. Never through government, and never through religion. If the church consists of people giving testimonies like that, I am not sure if I want to put 19 million dollars into their bank account, just to build a giant church to house these idiots. I'd rather use the money for a better cause, like to provide safe drinking water for members in an African tribe, or something. I'd be pretty generous with my money, but not through the government or religion, because I simply do not trust them to do the right thing with my money. The people who donated claimed that they were never forced into giving money to build this damn church. Oh sure, they probably weren't forced to put money in a box with a gun pointed at their heads. But the thought of going to Hell if they do not give their money to a "worthy" cause, that is the biggest threat ever. That is why the best selling book in their own store is also the one about Hell. People want to learn more and be afraid of it, so that they will be good. You know, goodness out of fear, that just doesn't sit right with me. This is a 19 million dollar worth of stupid, and it is slapping all its members in their faces.