Although God disliked the way man had used the gift of free will, He still loved us as His unique creation. He knew that if things remained status quo, humanity would be lost forever and would ultimately suffer the same fate that awaited Satan – eternal punishment in hell. For divine fellowship to be restored, mankind had to be cleansed of the deadly disease (sin) it had contracted.

Therefore, God devised a 2-phase purification process:

1. Initially allowing Him closer contact to His tainted creation that He might tend to the physical symptoms of sin,
2. Introduce a cure which would totally annihilate sin itself and all of its diseased properties.

The one element common to both of these purification phases was the shedding of blood as blood represents the life of all flesh. In the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) and throughout the ancient world, covenants were sealed and confirmed with blood.

Phase One: The Temporary Covering Covenant

The first phase of the Creator’s rescue plan was to narrow the gap that Satan had forged between God and man. For a reconciliation to happen requires both conflicting parties to come together. Therefore, the Creator established a covenant with His creation and sealed it with the blood of a slaughtered animal. After Adam and Eve committed their first sin and saw themselves naked, God Himself slaughtered a beast and made coats of skin for the couple to wear. The Lord shed the blood of an animal to provide a covering for humanity’s transgression. That event initiated the practice of animal sacrifice. Its purpose was to act as a temporary blood covering for man’s transgressions. So every time the ancient Israelites committed sins, they may beg for God’s forgiveness and His blessings by sacrificing animals. Hitherto our Muslim friends still practice this animal slaughtering tradition once a year a few weeks after Hari Raya celebration. The shedding of animal blood was a means of “momentarily sterilizing” man’s sin infection, so that he might reestablish limited contact with His Creator. However, its effectiveness was so inadequate that our Old Testament forefathers had to repeat the process each time they brought a petition to the Lord.

Man’s free-will decision changed God’s paradise into Satan’s perdition. The corruption of sin that infest the world restricted mankind’s access to His maker. Although the Lord longed for direct companionship with His creation, the first blood covenant could do very little to rescue mankind from the curse of sin.

From the beginning, God’s strategy was to break through Satan’s barrier, eradicate sin and its numerous diseases and restore man to his rightful place of dominion. However, this portion of God’s rescue plan demanded a sacrificial covering far more potent than the blood of a soulless and spiritless animal. To eradicate the disease of sin, it would require a dose of pure blood from the same species that was originally infected – man.

Phase Two: The Perfect Sacrifice

But man did not qualify. Unfortunately, nobody is right in God’s eyes. Humanity’s bloodline was tainted from the very start by Adam’s sin. Everybody has sinned, even a new-born baby. Because sin is not only talking about committing acts which disobey God, but it’s also talking about our status. By default, everyone originating from Adam has acquired a “sinful” status.

The perfect sacrifice must be pure and of sinless bloodline. The sacrifice of this pure and perfect substitute would not have to be repeated. Its potent flow would supply, once and for all, the ultimate covering for all of humanity’s sins and transgressions.

Man’s sin leads to eternal death and man’s sickness needs a cure. Ironically, man cannot save himself. Someone who is holy has to come and save the unholy for the unholy cannot save themselves to make themselves holy. (This very concept is logical and appealing to my intellect). The perfect sacrifice has to come from God Almighty Himself. Therefore, seeing no other alternatives, God Himself came down to earth in the personation of Jesus Christ to be the ultimate sacrifice. Clothing Himself in man’s flesh through a virgin birth, Jesus Christ came to earth and became the sole supplier of what this temporal and imperfect world needed most: the healing power of divine and pure blood.

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter…..” – Isaiah 53:7

Recently, I stumbled upon my friend’s serial blogs on Buddhism entitled “Why I left Buddhism”. As the title suggests, the blogs contain his deep reasonings on his decision, after spending hours of thinking, to denounce his former religion. I strongly believe that this issue is highly relevant as I am introducing some Christian belief in my 4-part blogs entitled “Mission Impossible”.

After reading his blogs, I quite admire my friend. I give him my approval NOT because I, being a Christian, agree with him and support his stand against Buddhism, hoping that he might embrace Christianity as well. I give him my approval for his courage - the fact that he dares to challenge what he believes in, not accepting his faith superficially at face value. I myself also learn to constantly challenge my Christian belief, to continuously re-examine and review its teachings and values. I am also learning to be open to other ideas and teachings from other religions. Therefore, I find his posts on Buddhism enlightening. I encourage everyone to do the same. We should not blindly cling on to some faith or belief without giving it incessant pondering and thinking upon it because narrow, fanatic mindset is harmful. For example, the suicide bombers in the name of a religion.

There are many ways to the so-called “the truth” offered to us. However, I believe there is only ONE WAY leading us to the one real TRUTH. Because, to me having many correct ways leading us to the one truth is nonsensical. To put it in a simple analogy, it’s like having many gods and deities of different religions with their different ideals, agendas and laws living together in perfect harmony in the same heaven. Unfortunately, that ONE WAY leading us to the only TRUTH will only be revealed to all of us at the end of the day. Only then we know who is right and who is wrong. It may be too late for some of us to make the right choice. Therefore, I would like to encourage everybody to keep seeking and choose wisely. I strongly believe that every persistent seeker who humbles himself to learn and receive will eventually discover the Truth =)

Genesis 1:26, 2:7
“And God said, let us make a man in our image, after our likeness…. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
It was a world of perfection, a paradise where the concepts of need, worry and pain were unknown. Daily conversations with God were as natural and ordinary as the breeze. Man was in control over the rest of God’s creations, except for a small patch of ground where the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” grows.
But Satan slithered into the picture. The fallen archangel, Lucifer was enraged by God’s fellowship with man and covetous of the world which the Lord had graciously given to man.
At this point, I should give some background knowledge about the origin of satan. There were 3 Archangels of God: Michael (the Archangel of War), Gabriel (the Messenger of God) and Lucifer (the archangel of arts, praise and worship). One day Lucifer became too proud and wanted to become equal to God Almighty. Leading a third of the heaven’s army of angels, Lucifer rebelled against God in a heavenly coup.

Isaiah 14:12-15
“How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who weakened and laid low the nations. And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (Hades or hell), to the innermost recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).”

Having been dismantled of all the heavenly glory, Satan was always on the lookout for a revenge. He found a perfect opportunity by persuading Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. At that instance, the devilish serpent sank his venomous fangs into the bloodstream of humanity. From then on, all mankind is sinful and becomes enemies of God.

Satan’s attack was aimed at the two weakest part of man: the soul, which has the human attribute of free will, and the flesh, housing the sensory feelings that constantly influenced by external sensations. These two elements are governed by man himself and, therefore an easy target for the devil’s ploy. However, the third and most important ingredient of man, the spirit, was protected against Lucifer’s game. This component of humanity remains the property of the Creator Himself. It is God’s timeless means of communication with His creation. To this day, our spirit still vibrates in resonance to the will of God. Unfortunately, this heavenly force does not override man’s own free will. It allows humanity to make its own choices, right or wrong. Although the spirit constantly reverberates God’s wishes, it never assumes control until man freely relinquishes that authority.

To this day, Lucifer’s diversions of pleasure (lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life) and pain (mental and physical disease) remain his only defense against man’s free-will choice to follow God. Sadly, this extraordinary gift of free will that separates Adam from earth’s lower life forms, now has severed his special bond of fellowship with God. His decision to disobey the Lord disqualified humanity’s rights to God’s perfect physical world, and by default, dominion fell into the corrupt hands of Lucifer. Everything about this physical sphere was suddenly in a state of decay. Flowers began to wither, rocks crumbled and human body grew fragile with need, worry and pain. The prognosis was obvious: Separation from God was indeed separation from life, and the beginning of death.

Satan’s victory won him a piece of ground in this fallen world. Despite it all, the Creator (who never changes) still desired to restore the relationship with His creation. God’s divine breath still resided within man’s eternal spirit. That day, the battlefield perimeters were drawn: God on one side, Satan on the other. And the line dividing the two ran across the very heart of man because within a man’s heart resided the domains of both warring factions – spirit (the gift of God) and flesh (the physical realm man relinquished to Satan).

Therefore, a divine strategy for humanity’s rescue was conceived and battle plans were drawn. On that fateful day, the voice of the omniscient God spoke, and declared His first of many prophecies and promises designed to give mankind hope and the serpent a reason to fear:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring [referring to Jesus Christ who has fulfilled God’s promise through HIS victory over Satan]; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15

That day, the war between spirit and flesh began.

Should we believe in divinity or science? This question repeatedly surfaces whenever we are faced with problems. For example, when we are sick. Should we trust in prayers and divine healings more or doctors and powerful medicines?

There are many stories in the Bible which contradict with the law of nature (science).

A virgin giving birth contradicts to biological principle, water turning to wine clearly breaches the natural chemistry. A man walking on water undoubtedly shatters the law of physics for the surface tension of water cannot sustain the weight of man and the gravitational pull of the earth doesn’t allow us to float. Furthermore, Jesus has taught me that 5 breads + 2 fishes = 5000 people eat until full and 12 brackets of breads and fish in excess. This is definitely different from the mathematics taught by my teachers in school. (or perhaps bcos I was sleeping in my maths class?) Some religious fanatics may claim that divine powers prevail and science is nonsense, yet the atheists and science freaks may think the opposite, science clearly rules the nature and divine power is a far-fetched and silly notion.

Should I believe in divinity or science? I personally choose to believe in both. There are many things in life that cannot be explained by limited human knowledge and science. Life is too complex and its high-degree of orderliness, accuracy and precision is too marvelous to be deemed as something resulted by a mere string of coincidences. I don’t think the rapid-advancing science and technology can explain fully LIFE given another millennium of research and studies down the road. The law of nature and science is only valid in this “temporary and constrained system of life” which we are trapped in this fallen world. I believe there is a much greater, eternal and unfathomable-beyond-human-knowledge “system” which rules this limited natural system. Here is where GOD comes into picture. So, in conclusion, yeah I do believe in natural and scientific laws as long as I live on earth, but more importantly than that, I do believe in GOD with all HIS all-surpassing divine natures Whom I come to know personally through Jesus Christ more than I believe in science  =)

Unfortunately, more often than not, we focus too much on physical things and beings - what our physical senses can see, hear, taste, smell and touch and what our logical and rational mind can understand and perceive. We have to break free from this trap of physicality in order to activate our spirit. Man consists of body, soul and spirit. Our spirit should dominate the other two.

Both divinity and science is not anti-thesis. If divinity is the ultimate goal and destination in life, science is the landmarks and the pathway for us to reach our ultimate and final destination. Natural laws with its complexity continuously provides us with awesome and magnificent evidence and leads us to glorify the Great Mastermind. As Albert Einstien aptly put it in his famous quote, "God doesn't play dice in the creation of universe."