abundance

i'm now officially a Digger. i guess i got curious after seeing its co-founder Kevin Rose here on BLOGBloke. no, i wasn't intending to increase the blog's exposure into that sub-space. it's quite timely, actually. i've been tasked to assist in looking for articles for some e-zine at the office. i'm not sure if i understood the task correctly, though. oh and what an irony. we always joked that we're in the archeology trade as we always have to dig for records. i wish i'd signed up earlier cos i'd have used this site as an example in my recent paper. the first article i clicked on was about the sexual romp among some beauty queens caught on tape. what a disappointment. about the article. lol. and yea, i should've known better than to believe the hype. oh well, let's see if i have the patience to plough thru yet another space for something worth my attention. i've already lost half the interest as i typed...

btw, do you like geeks? i do :P

the next thing i read was DIGG's collaboration with TOMS. i first read about it here. i'm gonna ask Melly if she's bought a pair. she recently went to Soon Lee with Sarah. how coincidental: she's got some new digs. (i'm going to be digging this saturday. yay.)

anyway, the collaboration reminded me of this entry on The Rebelution. click on the Jaime Colman link to read it.

"I was giving out of sheer abundance but she was giving out of pure genuine sacrifice."

Jaime Colman: Shoes for Karogoto

sometime back, i've been meaning to write something about abundance. abundance according to Christ Jesus. how far off the mark we are if we interpret it from our perspective. yes, having much possessions is being abundant, no doubt. but let's not fool ourselves and believe the lies of false teachers who preach the prosperity gospel. that is NOT the good news of Christ.

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it's not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time." -- Mahatma Gandhi

this is a very poignant quote. incidentally, my colleague was telling me just yesterday that many rich people seemed to be religious. i told her frankly that i got what she's trying to say. i always wondered too when i saw people toting branded things at church. i don't own many and i sometimes refrained from taking them out. there really is no need to look too much into this because these are things you see on the outside. the bible says God looks at our hearts and He rewards openly for the secret things that others don't see. and followers of Christ should know that He takes away just as He pours blessings on His children. still. the fact is that we are subject to people's judgement and they could get it wrong about us and our faith. i didn't buy any branded bags until 2007. not to justify my buys but rather i'm really stating the fact that i was able to do so by the grace of God. i was deprived of things for quite a long time. there was a time i wondered if i had to file for bankruptcy or go mad from trying to do the right thing. i really don't know why i'd even begin to buy branded bags. i had the opportunity when i was flying, when i had more money. why only now? did i think i deserved them? perhaps. but that's not the point, right? anyone can deserve good things. note i didn't say anyone can deserve branded things. it's we humans who put a price tag on these things that pass away and go down with us back into the dirt where we came from.

 

Gandhi's quote also brings me to talk about lunch today. just today. a colleague asked us if we buy lottery. a new colleague who's a Christian replied that she'd buy occasionally. she said her pastor said it's OK. cos it's like donation. yes, some of the money goes back to society. she then gave an example of one time why she bought 4D or Toto. and she 'qualified' that God would not let her strike anyway. i voiced out that the pastor was wrong, she responded that he was just joking. i didn't find that funny. the gullible would surely take his joke for real. there're a few non-believers in the office who would always be talking about winning the lottery, about the whatcouldhavebeens and all that. and they'd admit openly that they've lost lots of money. people like to say buying lottery is like buying hope. i guess. but i think it's a numbers game and the odds are too obviously against us. i don't understand how anyone would enjoy being hooked onto such a habit. how is that hope, really? bound by the desire to get rich; there's no freedom. i know of another Christian colleague who openly buys lottery. i suspect that it's because she's won a few times before, that's why she couldn't stop. did she start out with the intention of donating? recall the clip in this entry. familiar here, too?

did you know that Gandhi almost could have become a Christian if not for being turned away by a Christian?