Choices

TITLE: CHOICES
SCRIPTURE: John 7:17
Written by: Dr Conrade Yap
Date: February 8th, 2015

"If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." (John 7:17)

Last week was an emotional moment. Having prepared fervently so many years for my son to be enlisted, I was totally unprepared for the emotions flooding me on the actual enlistment day. Oftentimes mixed, the overriding mood was one of pride. Pride that my son has willingly submitted to the mandatory duty of military service imposed on each and every male citizen of this island country. Compared to armed forces in the West, the Singapore government does not give young males a choice when it comes to enlistment. By law, every male citizen has to serve. Period.

Honestly, if given a choice, I would rather not have two years taken away from my son like that. Very few parents would like their sons to be exposed to military situations. There is no such thing as no risk. Conscription is not something people take kindly to, especially in Western-style democracy and free society. In fact, when he goes on National Service, it seems like my entire family is doing an indirect form of National Service. My job gets interrupted. Our family gets separated. Everyone's lifestyle gets affected in some way, some more, others less. The only thing for us is to pray and to support our son as much as possible. Like many parents, we too are concerned about safety matters. With tough training regimen and demanding physical exercises, the handling of live firearms, plus occasional stories of accidents happening inside the camp, only the nightly phone calls back home bring some forms of relief. During this time, it is much easier to simply bury ourselves in work. Such a strategy lets busyness become a lid to check emotions. I took some time to reflect upon the whole week. A key point: Choices affect us more than we think.

Fake Religion

TITLE: FAKE RELIGION
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 7:1-8
Written by: Dr Conrade Yap
Date:January 24th, 2015.

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: “ ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless." (Jeremiah 7:1-8)

Key Question: What looks and feels good but is really not good?

This week, I read about the story of a bank in the Eastern part of China that was just opened a year ago with more than 200 customers. Promising 2% interest rates every week, it attracted many small businesses from ZheJiang province to open accounts at this new bank. Called the “Nanjing Mou Village Economic Cooperation Unit,” this bank has a beautifully designed location with fully uniformed bank tellers. There are official letterheads and deposit envelopes with a logo and all. One customer even deposited 200 million RMB with them. But there was one problem. The bank was fake. After one year, no one suspected the problem until one businessman who had deposited $2 million, saw the interest credited to his account and tried to withdraw the money. He couldn’t. He complained. The bank shut down. Police arrested five persons. In total, more than 32 million dollars were swindled out of ordinary people. This is the first time I read about fake financial institution that looks real on the outside but totally fake on the inside. Five people were arrested, but for the 200 customers, many may never recover their hard earned money.