The pious she and the mediocre me

I have brushed shoulders with God countless times in my life, never shaking hands. God sent many devout believers to surround me and be friends with me, and I gained friendship but never gave myself to God. I like to read the Bible, sometimes as a storybook, sometimes as chicken soup for the soul, and more often as a poem. Every time she mentioned that I had found some solace in the Bible, her eyes lit up and she said to me, "Just believe it!" I was embarrassing myself for not being religious while stressing to others that I was not religious. I agree very much that people should believe in something in their life to have a better sense of direction, but I am naturally bitter and mean, and it is difficult for me to surrender myself to believe in something wholeheartedly without questioning it at all.

The year our children were born is precisely the era of double non-children (children whose parents are not Hong Kongers but who were born in Hong Kong and obtained permanent resident status), independent travel between the mainland and Hong Kong, and the high birth rate of Hong Kong itself, resulting in At that time, milk powder, diapers and degrees were all robbed, and we living in the New Territories suffered even more. The intensification of the conflict between China and Hong Kong, the rise of Leung Chun-ying, the anti-state religion, and the occupation of Central have all made us very cautious in choosing schools. It seems that the government has backed down on the anti-state religion incident, but we believe that the Education Bureau will slowly infiltrate the state religion into its public schools again. Private schools follow a school-based curriculum and are relatively less affected by the Education Bureau, so my consensus with my husband is that if possible, we should all be enrolled in private schools. Most of the schools in Hong Kong have religious backgrounds, Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Christianity, and most of the well-known private schools are founded by Catholic and Christian churches. My hesitation lies in the fact that the child is still so young and his own thinking ability has not yet formed. Should he be "baptized" in religion early in the morning? The words that Mr. said at the time dispelled my doubts, "Look at the current situation, Do you still have a choice? As long as you lead people to be kind in the end, isn’t that enough?” So our children from kindergarten to elementary school are all going to private schools with Christian backgrounds, and she is quite comforted by this, probably she In my eyes the best decision of my life.

When our children were in kindergarten, the school arranged parent classes to share parent-child parenting through the Bible. Of course, the most important purpose was to hope that non-believing parents would fall into the arms of God. I also signed up with the mentality of understanding religion. Seeing me So active, she is happy. However, I ran away after the first class. After listening to my story, she sighed helplessly and said angrily, "Stubborn!" I remember that the first class was given to us by the principal himself. In the class, at the beginning of the class, the principal said something serious to everyone. I don't remember the original words. The general idea was that since everyone made up their minds to sign up for the class, it meant that everyone made up their minds to become Christians. The principal led us on the spot to recite the prayer of determination, and then shared a lot of the Bible with us. The remaining 1/3 of the time was to share child education through the Bible. After this first class, I dropped out of the parent class on the grounds that I was busy with work. I complained to her: "I don't understand everything clearly, why did it suddenly become that I want to believe it with all my heart?" She replied, "I just want you to believe it, just believe it." I disapproved and continued. Read the Bible as a book but refuse to embrace God.

We got to know each other because of work. Apart from belief, we were absolutely congenial in reading and views on life, and we soon became confidants. To convince me, she often shared her beliefs with me and gave me a Bible. There are a lot of things I don't understand about religion, and she tries to answer it for me. We quarreled over religious issues to the point of blushing and even cold wars. I said that I believe that everything has a cause, not just a single sentence of God's arrangement to explain, I only believe in science. She asked me back that there are so many things in the universe that science can't explain, not what God is. I don't remember how we reconciled in the end. Anyway, we've known each other for more than 20 years in a blink of an eye. She continued her life of faith, and I continued to insist on my life of criticism. The Bible she gave me has accompanied me to move homes countless times, and then traveled across the ocean to Taiwan together.

As a non-believer, I also have a prayer that I can recite verbatim—the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t remember why I can recite it so well. What’s even more amazing is that I still sing it. This is because There was a time when the kids came back from school and sang non-stop, and I got it.

 Our father in heaven:
May your name be sanctified.
may your kingdom come;
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us our daily bread today.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation; deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever and ever.
Amen!

Living in the mainland, she regretted that the church was not allowed to run schools, hospitals and charitable organizations. I said to her, "You have brainwashed everyone by doing good deeds. Can the head of the family not be afraid!" The entire Lord's Prayer alone is Naked "incitement", the kingdom, the scepter, and the glory are all gods, what about the head of the family? Everyone believes in God, but who will believe in Him? The Lord's Prayer alone cannot contaminate the church with any education!

Over the years, our life has not been easy. We are in different places but we are crushed by the same machine. Relying on faith, in the end, she can always face the difficulties of life peacefully. , It seems that he has not found a way to calm his mind.