Edmund Chan's testimony

Dunno whether if u all interested. Here is my testimony. Hope you will be encouraged.

I was a non-Christian for the most part of my life until the first year of army. In the past, I have attended catholic schools during primary and secondary school, and finally, a Christian JC. Along the way, I was, of course, exposed to Christian teachings. Though I innately believed in them, I didn't give much thought to becoming a Christian. I mean who will actually think so much about such stuffs! Anyway, there were many other reasons why I did not want to be a Christian. Who wants to sacrifice their Sunday mornings? Also, I have a perception that most Christians are hypocrites. And, I believe that all religions lead to god and it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are a good guy. So, why bother?

All these things change one month after my A Level. My beloved father was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. It also didn't help that my family is not well to do. My father is the sole breadwinner and he is a taxi driver. My sister is also in her primary school and my mum has been a house-wife for the past 20 years. Also, it doesn't help that my brother and I were going to NS soon. In short, my situation looks quite bleak.

In such dire circumstances, I turn my eyes to Jesus. I don't know why. I just pray and pray, but, nothing happen. Instead, things took a turn for the worse. I witnessed my father change from a bubbly fat man to a very skinny man with an inflated belly. Simply horrible! I cried; I complaint; I got angry; I pray. But, still nothing happen. I was desperate.

To cut the long story short, my father passed away after 7 months. My entire family witnessed his last breath at SGH. God doesn't seem to be there. Where is God?

A few weeks later, I realized that God is indeed there. It appears that some of my mum's Christian friends came to visit my dad in the hospital. They prayed for his health and, guess what, my father choose to accept the lord as his savior during one of the visits. Amazing! This news was broken to me when my mum's friends came and visit us a few weeks later. It was then our entire family accepted the Lord as our personal savior and friend.

Becoming a Christian is definitely not an easy journey. In fact, until now, a lot of my questions were not answered. Why must my father who is a really good and honest man die? Why didn't God save his life? Is God cruel? Our family all love each other so much. Why must God take away something that is good?

However, over the years, I have learned that, despite these questions, it does not mean that there is no God. There is! God is Jesus who dies on the cross. He loves us so much that he paid the price for our sins. He truly loves us and all we need to do is to reciprocate. Leave all the questions to when you reach heaven and focus on what is really important in life - knowing your creator God and getting to heaven.

Most people who share their testimonies will often illustrate how God has blessed them so much. Likewise, I can go down this route. God has blessed me infinitely, way beyond what I expect. Off the top of my head, I have many examples – getting 4.01 cap score for 2nd Class Upper honours (must get 4 and above to have 2nd Class Upper), passing my first driving test despite getting a failure score of 22 pts. I can share a lot more. Trust me. However, I will go deeper. I will proclaim why I love and accept this beautiful God.

Three main reasons:
1) Look at creation- the birds and the bees, the sun and the moon. All these bear testimonies to a creator God
2) Look at historical records. They will show you that the bible is true. They will tell you that Jesus walk on earth and it is more than enough to prove objectively that Jesus is God
3) Look at the lives of my cell group members. They have many evidences and stories to prove how God is so real and how God loves them so much.

At the end of the day, I can say until the cows come home. It is pretty much up to you all. In this Christmas, many people exchange and receive gifts. And the greatest gift you can ever receive is Jesus Chris who loves you so much and died on the Cross for our sins. And like all gifts, it depends on whether the receiver wants to accept the gifts or not. I hope you can accept this gift. Amazing love.

Merry Christmas

Prayer Requests

Ling:
1) Her mind be transformed by God
2) Godly mindset
3) Always meditating on God

Hoi Yan
1) Communicate better with God
2) To learn how to pray to God
3) To know how to relate to God
4) Need better guidance

Joshua
1) More discipline
- Not to snooze after alarm clock ring
- Not to find excuses not to do QT
2) To focus on what is important
- Not to do things just to satisfy conscience, but to do QT coz he loves God

Amy
1) Meditating on God's word
2) To focus
3) To enjoy learning and growing in God

Jon
1) To be contented in God in where he is and where God is going to lead him
2) To relinquish his life
3) To listen more and spend more time to listen; not to talk so much when communicationg with God

Ed
1) Fix his eyes on God; and not on circumstances & man
2) To love God

Questions abt Christianity

I've been out with a few friends lately. Had lots of sushi and food over the weekend. Many questions were raised while talking to my friends about Christianity. The same questions were repeated over and over again.

Here is a sample, answers anyone? I will be doing some research on these topics too. I think it is good knowledge to have.

Enjoy.

1)How was the early church formed?

2)Are Roman catholics, catholics? What's the difference?

3)What are the fundamental differences between Catholics and Christians? Do we all believe in the same God? Should I view a catholic as a brother/sister in Christ as well?

Are catholic practices right or wrong? Who is right? Christian or Catholic?

4)Do muslims believe in the same God as Christians? i.e Is Allah the same god as the God we believe in?

5)What happens when we die? Is hell an ever-burning place like the Lake of Fire described in the book of Revelations?

6)What about those that died before Jesus came? Do they stand a chance?

7)Do the Jews believe in the same God we believe in? What will eventually happen to them since they still do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Anyone has any answers or books to recommend? I dont really trust wikipedia. Thanks.

Ruijie