Princess Corner

” Contamination of Sin ” ( Genesis 3: 1-24 )

This was my Pastor’s sermon title on Sunday and the bible verse referred to. It is not an unknown verse for most of us, as it is talking about when men first sinned by eating the fruit of the tree  in the middle of the Garden of Eden.  Though a simple  verse like this was used in his sermon this Sunday, but as usual, it has not failed to make me notice things and again look at sin from a different view and  again the verse  speaks  on its own  for itself , proving the point.

However what I want to blog about is not about the verse, but it is about what pastor said in his sermon. The title of my post already said a lot. Pastor was preaching on the contamination of sin. What sin actually does to us, and how we as human beings often are in a state of denial and do not admit our sins. We often sin in secret and think that no one will ever know. However, as Pastor was preaching he said that we will be in denial, we will push the blame and other things we will also do when we sin.

The 3 points that really hit me in the sermon on Sunday was about denial, pushing the blame, and about our sin being found out. As pastor was preaching, I was checking myself. I think all of us wouldn’t deny that we sin everyday, but what our sins are or what we do that causes us to sin, we do not admit. Secondly, pastor said that we will push the blame around, never saying its our own fault, but blaming others or blaming anything that we can find to blame in a particular situation. Thirdly, the point where pastor said yr sin will find you out, was also a very strong point as most of the time we think we can get away with sin, but somehow our sin will be found out sooner or later. Take a lie for instance, we tell a lie ad it leads to another lie , and then another, and it continues on until we fumble at one point and everything is found out.

After the sermon as Pastor was praying, I was checking myself and I am fully aware that I am filled with sins, sins that have been denied , sins that I have not put the blame on myself but others, and of course the 3rd point hit me hard , ” that yr sin will find you out ” , reminding me that there is no way I can run away from my sins, but instead I have to change and repent , and ask for forgiveness. I really do hope that those of you in the service that day, understood what a serious and challenging message pastor spoke that day. We all have to keep on checking ourselves and not allow ourselves to be so contaminated like the water illustration pastor used that was slowly dripped with black ink , and we wouldn’t want our lives to turn out that way.

The last whole week has been a wake up call for me, as besides the Sunday sermon, on Tuesday i attended a rally in GTPJ and the sermon there was also somehow connected, as one point the speaker said that we cannot be sinning and practicing the opposite of what we preach. The example he gave was how could a girl just have premarital sex with her boyfriend, and then the next moment minister to him about God ? In the same way, how can we preach about being against these things but yet we do it in our everyday life? One thing that I gained from this two sermons is that the world today is becoming so scary, with the amount of sin that everyone is committing , that it is very difficult to stand up as a Christian for what we believe in. However I do not think it is impossible.

So friends, let this all be a wake-up call to all of us. If we are going to reach out to non-believers and minister the greatness and goodness of our Lord, then we must first live our lives right in His eyes and then step forth. The clock is ticking and we need to step out of our comfort zones and make a difference, starting with our own lives.

I was very upset today when I read the front page of the STAR Newspaper. There was a report on the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics , about the little girl that sang the song before the China’s National Anthem.

If you could remember, she was a very cute little 9 yr old that seem so sweet and pretty , standing there singing in front of the whole world. However, to many people’s dismay, it is discovered that the 9 yr old girl, Lin Miaoke had only been picked for her looks. She was only miming the words. The actual singer was a 7 year old girl, Yang Peiyi. I wasn’t so much angry and dissappointed with the fact that the actual singer wasn’t perfoming, but I was very upset by the statements and reasons given, saying as to why Yang Peiyi wasn’t ” qualified ” enough to sing live.

The reason given was that apparently Yang Peiyi was not considered attractive enough . The show’s musical director said that , ” The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we were thinking of projecting the right image for the nation. ” “  The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expressions.”

I was so upset by the reason and statement given. How could they even say that ? What so they mean by the child was not good enough ? I understand if they mean age wise or in maturity, if they fear her being stage-fright and freeze onstage instead of singing on the actual night. But it is very unacceptable when no credit was given to her. The only reason that they now mentioned it was because all over China, reports of a new ” rising star ‘ had emerged and then only did they come forward and say that Lin Miaoke was not the singer. The second statement was even worst, as it stated that Yang Peiyi was not goodlooking enough. They wanted a flawless image …..Just because, Lin Miaoke looked cute and pretty , she should deserve to be out there ? Just because Yang Peiyi doesn’t look as pretty and has some crooked teeth in front , that she’s not worthy of standing in front of the whole world to sing ? I found their reasons so outright dumb. What is pretty and attractive or beautiful ? We can never define that right ? what has gotten into the world today , that a seven year old with some crooked and missing teeth who supposedly doesn’t look as attractive as the other girl, was not allowed to sing live in front of everyone? Despite the fact that she had a nice voice ? I think things have really got out of hand and is reaching an alarming rate, as we can see through this example, that even children are pressured to be ” attractive and beautiful. “  This would carry on into their adult years. What will become of the next generation ? Deformed or disabled people will be shunned all the more, and people will never be happy with how they look.

I guess thats all I can say, there’s no use ranting on, as this has already passed, but I do hope that little Yang Peiyi, doesnt have a bad time being comfortable with who she really is. People hardly think of the damage they cause by making such decisions, I can’t imagine how the child must feel. If I were her, I would feel very inadequate of myself, especially in terms of physical appearance. We should all be very attentive and try to change people’s perspective on physical appearances. We cannot control what the world thinks, but we can start with ourselves, and with people around us.