The Great Pretenders

They had been standing at the same spot for some time now. Behaving like amateur thieves, they were nervously waiting for the right moment to execute the perfect manoeuvre. While waiting for the right time to act, the thinner one, who acted as the "watchman" of the duo, stealthily looked to and fro at the direction of the table where the rest of the group were seated. After being sure that the coast was clear, he swiftly signaled to his accomplice to act. After receiving the signal, his accomplice, who was the "executioner", quickly approached the target and accomplished his task.

The two youths succeeded in acquiring a few sticks of cigarettes without the knowledge of the rest. Well, at least that was what they thought. Unfortunately for them, several youths within the group, including the youth leader, witnessed the whole scene without the knowledge of the secretive duo. When the two returned to their seats, the youth leader put on an oblivious look and asked, "Where did you go?" Before the "executioner" could open his mouth, the "watchman", who was clearly the mastermind, rushed to answer, "We just went for a walk lah," obviously fearful that his accomplice might say the right wrong words. These young bloods must have thought that they had pulled it through. Little did they know that their secret act had already been exposed...

It does not take the brain of a genius for you to discover that the youth leader in the story is none other than yours truly. Time and time again, as I experienced similar scenarios such as the aforementioned story, I feel amused yet irritated by the fact that these youths could be so ignorant to think that I would be stupid enough to believe their blatant lies.

However, these encounters with the youths led me unexpectedly to an embarrassing but valuable realization: "Don't we treat God in the same way too?"

Throughout the week, we, who call ourselves Christians, adopt a secular lifestyle and readily replace Christian principles with secular values and secular wisdom once those principles become unrealistic and impractical. We specialize in offering silly excuses and lies to God in attempting to justify our wrongdoings. We willingly offer our God-given resources to the three gods of the world: Money, Sex and Power. At the end of the week, we dressed nicely in our religious cloaks and gather with other Christians in participating in the religious rituals of the institutional church, assuming that all our wrongdoings have gone unnoticed (even by God) for yet another week. The next day, we happily return to our secular lifestyle, and the endless cycle goes on.

Above all these, we constantly affirm ourselves that we are already saved (in the Protestant understanding): the obtainment of eternal life in heaven.

Who are we really fooling: God or ourselves?