That Terrible Split Identity Feeling...

The election Campaign is here and there is no doubt about it that i'm very much excited over it because this will be my first time voting. Come this March the 8th 2008 will be a very historical event personally for me as I will make my little vote of mine count towards the nation's fate for the next 5 years.

.

Maybe this excitement in me is triggered due to my senses telling me that this will also be the one and only National Event i ever participated (except for FES national camp and the Boys' Brigade national Pesta which only involve the christians and the non-muslim members of the Boys' Brigade).

Perhaps this coming election will not only stir my sense of patriotism for this country but also my thoughts about being a Malaysian Christian.

BUT christians cannot ignore this terrible split identity feeling isn't it? That is, One can never feel patriotic after knowing that we are only a passer by of this world... and when judgement day comes, patriotism is no use anymore.

Remember in youth meeting, there was this popular teaching about knowing your identity in Christ? It somehow make me think again about those christian who do not wish to vote or even care much about Patriotism. Maybe they are right, because the Bible (i think) stated so:

I'm to be a stranger to this world - 1 Peter 2:11

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

.

I am a citizen of heaven - Philippians 3:20

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

.

I am a fellow citizen in God's kingdom - Ephesians 2:19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.

.

"We are a fellow citizen of God's Kingdom... not Malaysia! So, Why Vote. Vote in heaven-lah." i can only imagine some of my very old church members saying this to me.

But it is clearly portray in a way that christians are encouraged to be set apart from this world. Because it is obviously telling you that you are not part of the world. Very susah isn't it? That is why i say... this is a very terrible split identity feeling.

So, while i am dealing with this ambivalence role of mine in this world, i am still going to vote no matter what. Perhaps, one day God himself will reveal all the answers for the questions i once asked.

JOM UNDI! JOM UBAH!

VOTE FOR PEDRO!