IN MY COUNTRY, I AM NOT LEGALLY PERMITTED TO SHARE MY CHRISTIAN FAITH WITH MUSLIM BUMIPUTRA BROTHERS AND SISTERS. IF YOU ARE ONE, PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT MY MESSAGE IS NOT INTENDED FOR YOUR READING NOR DIRECTED TO YOU.

Introducing God:
The Gospel According to Tim

Introducing God: The Gospel according to Tim was written one fine Sunday afternoon in November 2003 - that's about 5 years ago, but the message is still relevant then as it is now. I have revised it many times over the years. As my websites continue to grow, I hope that those who visit my pages will somehow find their way here.

Considering the amount I have written describing temples, mosques, non-Christian deities and festivals, it may come as a mild surprise to you, to learn that I am in fact a Christian. Not a Roman Catholic, or Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Eastern Orthodox, Charismatic, or Christian by any other name. I am quite simply a Christian, period. When I was born, my mother named me Timothy. It is a name that comes from Greek, and it appears in the Bible. The name Timothy means "to honor God". As I grow up, and as I enter the world, I often wonder how do I live up to my name.

As a Christian, I believe that God gives each of us special gifts and talents, instruments to spread His Good News. These talents should not be buried awaiting the Master or kept shiny and unused in a box, but rather these talents should be taken out and fully utilized. When I meet my Master one day, I will present my well-worn talent. Many of you have already known me through my many websites. AsiaExplorers, EarthDocumentary, WorldGreatestSites, The Flowering Garden, HappyJoblessGuy, Travel Photography Workshop, Penang Travel Tips, London Travel Tips, Phuket Travel Tips, the list goes on... My websites reach out to thousands of people from all walks of life every day. And as I have built so many to serve my own purpose, it is necessary for me to build so that God's Good News can reach every corner of the world that the Internet touches. I believe that God uses each of us in His own special way. Through this website, may the Good News reach a willing, listening ear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I am sure I am not the first Christian you have ever met. There are many out there. The majority are Christians by name. And looking at me, many people will probably also regard me as a Christian by name, one who claims to follow Jesus Christ, but has never done anything to advance His Work. A minute minority are Christian fanatics - people who chase after you, wanting to make you a Christian, and scaring the daylights out of you.

If you ever want to understand what it means to be a Christian, without having Christianity jammed down your throat, or be drag off to spend one and a half uncomfortable hours in some strange church, then this message should be very useful to you.

As a Christian, it is my duty to God to introduce Him to all the world. There are many ways to introduce God into the world. God gives different people different capabilities. I believe we should allow God to use us according to our talents. I am well placed to do it, as I have good knowledge of the religions of the world. By using the Internet, I can tell people about God 24 hours a day, in a non-threatening environment, where they can get to know God on their own. After knowing God, whether or not they wish to become a Christian is entirely left to them. It is my duty to introduce God to you. It is not my duty to force you to accept Him.

But before we begin, let's get a few things clear. I am not writing this to drag you to my church. When you're done reading this message, the least you can do is say to yourself, "Fine, that's your belief." However, if you begin to see how meaningless life is, having known God and not accepting Him, then I can take you through the next steps. On the left hand column are more information to help you. You can learn about the Bible and what's in it. You can get to know my church, and how we worship there. I want you to know that being a Christian is not scary at all, and that you can fit right in comfortably, among God's wonderful people.

Having said that, let's start the introduction.

1. Who is God?

If you don't believe that God exists, and no amount of persuasion can make you change your belief, then there is really no reason for you to read further. But if you believe that God exists, or at least there is a grain of possibility that He exists, then I can help you get to know Him better.

To me, God exists, as well as angels, as well as ghosts and demons, everything. Who then is God?

God is the Almighty that created everything on this earth and in this universe. Without God, there is no earth, and no life on earth. Without God, there is no sun and no moon, no stars in the night sky, indeed no sky and no night for that matter. Without God, there is no man to make the chair that you sit on, or the words that you are now reading, and I will not be here, telling this to you. Everything that is, that was, and that will be, they all exist because either God created it, or God allows it to be.

You have gone through life, and you have worshipped a lot of beings who claim to be God. Some times, you may even have worshipped beings that do not claim to be God, from stones to tree to even Britney Spears, that you have forgotten the one who created the stones, the trees and Britney Spears is waiting for you to worship Him. And since He is such a patient God that is slow to anger, He allows you to continue your life, so that someone somewhere will have the chance to introduce Him to you.

But many will go through this life, and never know Him. Even worse, some will have known Him, but outright rejected Him. Really, it is no loss to God if we reject Him. Truly, the loss is entirely ours. But what benefit it to us, that we should know God and accept Him, when after all, life goes on with or without accepting God.

2. Why is it necessary for me to be a Christian?

God promises me something that I cannot have in this world: eternal life. I want to live forever in a paradise where there is no unhappiness, where I can enjoy all the pleasures that is simply undescribable, where I don't have to die any more. How sure I am that there is eternal life? As for me, I am not sure. Instead, I would trust God by faith. If He says there is eternal, then by faith I trust him that there is eternal life.

On the other hand, you may cringe at the thought of eternal life - hey, that's just too long. Won't I get bored in heaven? Will I have toured every corner of heaven and run out of things to do? Eternal life is going to go on forever, and it's going to be as boring as hell. If you think like that, I can assure you that you have no idea how hell is like, in comparison. If your belief is that there is no such thing as eternal life, that once we die, that's the end, then a belief in God is not relevant for you. For all we know, you could be right, that once you die, it's the end of everything. But darn, isn't it a shame if you are wrong? How can you be sure, 100%, that there is no eternal life. What proof you have, apart from scientific explanations brought on by man, who himself is

And if you are indeed wrong, let me tell you what you get if it is not eternal life. Yes, the opposite of Heaven is Hell. If you don't get one, you get the other, no other options in between. So with such options, I don't think there is much of a choice available, is there?

3. But why do I need to be a Christian to reach heaven? I can be a Buddhist too.

Don't be offended by this, but I think it is pretty tough for me to reach heaven (or Nirvana) as a Buddhist, or as a Muslim, Hindu or anything else. Let's take Buddhism. In order to reach Nirvana, I need to ascend every level of being. I have to do good, so much good that it takes me all the way to the top. Perhaps not in one life, but in many, many lives. In other words, I have to be like Buddha himself.

Now let me face reality. How can I be like Buddha? I can't even get 100 marks in my exams. There are so many things I want to do, but I just can't do it. As for achieving the perfection of Buddha, I am a sure underachiever. So if I am going to go to heaven based on my own merit, I have no hope. And neither does most people - most, as in the billions and billions of people in this world, only a handful will reach the level of merit of Buddha. And they will end up in Nirvana perhaps. Certainly not in the Christian heaven. And why not?

Because God has already told me, that despite all the good works I can do, by my own effort it is impossible for me to reach heaven. To spare me the effort, God Himself has told me, in the Bible. Me and everybody else. Why? Because all the good that I can possibly do, is simply not good enough by God's standard. So what hope do I have in reaching heaven?

God. My only hope is in God. That despite all my failures, He would open a way for me to reach heaven. Knowing that by my own effort, I will surely be on the direct flight to hell, God does something that only God can do: He sends a proxy, someone to take my place, so that I can reach heaven not by my own effort, but by Someone Else's. But considering there is no person on earth who is good enough to save me, He sends an immortal, His most precious gift, His Own Son, Jesus Christ, to be my Saviour.

4. Who is this Jesus Christ?

From Buddha to Muhammad, every one of them tells you to do good. So why is Jesus Christ any different from all the rest? Well, unlike Buddha or Muhammad, who were born human, Jesus Christ is not human. He is the Son of God, in immortal, that comes into the world, born out of Mary, a human, to take on the form of man, and to fulfill one single purpose: get me to heaven.

God knows that without Jesus Christ coming to rescue me, I will be going to hell for sure. But how does Jesus Christ rescue me? While the others either show me the way, or tell me his is God's messenger, only Jesus Christ has come to rescue me.

The main reason why I cannot reach heaven on my own effort is because I am not "good enough". And, I am "not good enough" because of sin. Let me describe it metaphorically. Imagine that each of us are born with a sheet of white paper. Sin is like a stain on that paper.

To enter heaven, I have to present a paper as a perfectly unstained piece. It's the visa into heaven. But I can't - from the day I was born and perhaps even before, my paper is stained. My mother was born with a stain on her piece, and so was my father. And right down my generations, each of us has a stain that we cannot get rid ourselves. So what does Jesus Christ do?

Of all born into this world, only He has an unstained piece of paper. Now He comes to me and offers me his unstained paper, and tells me my only hope to enter heaven is through presenting this piece of unstained paper.

As for me, I accept His offer. In exchange He takes my stained paper. Now, He continues to offer His perfect unstained paper to anybody who accepts the exchange, and collects all the stained pieces from every human who accepts the trade.

What's the penalty of holding on to the stained pieces of paper? It's death. In other words, rather than me dying for holding a stained paper, He takes it from me, and dies in my place. And I, who deserve death, gets His perfect unstained paper, my visa into heaven.

Now, why would Jesus Christ do something like that? Because He obeys God the Father. And why would God the Father do something like that, sending His only Son to die for me?

Because He loves me. He loves me so much that He does the only thing possible to save me: giving up His only Son to rescue me from eternal death in hell.

5. So what do I have to do to reach heaven?

There is no simpler way to reach heaven. All you need to do is this:

1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and by your own effort you cannot reach heaven.
2. Accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour.
3. Abandon your old ways and your old gods to accept God as the one and only God.

That's it. Hello, did I forget to mention that to get to heaven, I need to do good? I didn't forget, because doing good is not part of the equation. It doesn't mean that by accepting Jesus Christ's offer, I can continue living my old life, to deceive people, to cheat, etc. God will still reward me according to how I live my life. And now that I have received this so-called Eternal Life Insurance, Jesus Christ gives me a duty, which is, to become an eternal life insurance salesman. Except that, this insurance is not sold for money, but given free to those willing to accept it. And if you accepts it, you become a Christian, end of story.

6. How do I become a Christian?

What I have described above may sound too simple. It does not involve going to church. It does not involve reading the Bible. Then what does it involve? It involves reestablishing a personal relationship with God, the one who created you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't go to church and you shouldn't read the Bible. As God's follower, you would want to know more about Him, and that's through the Bible. You would also want to be in the company of God's wonderful people, and that's through attending church. But first and foremost, it is to accept that you are a sinner, and Jesus Christ died for your sin, you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour.

Now, let's say you're ready to become a Christian, and you also accept what I have listed above, what should you do next? Well, even if you accept that you are a sinner, you cannot do it alone; you need to tell it to the world, or at least, tell someone who is a Christian that yes, you are a sinner, and that yes, you cannot reach heaven on your own, and you accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour, the one who dies for you, and that you are ready to abandon any of the old gods that you worshipped, and worship only the one and only God, the one who created the heavens and the earth. If you cannot find a Christian to tell all this, you are perfectly welcome to tell me.

7. But what about going to church?

In this age, a lot of people confuse Christianity from Christian traditions. I am not telling you not to go to church. What I am telling you is that going to church does not make you a Christian. If you are a new Christian, I would recommend that you go shopping for a church that you will feel comfortable with. There are many churches with many different styles to choose from - go to one which you like. Never allow the act of going to church become more important than God. Going to church doesn't make you a better Christian; observing a close relationship with God and obeying him does.

And now, here are some questions which you may want to ask about life as a Christian, and my interpretation of it:

8. What's the difference between praying and worshipping?

Praying is to establish communication with God, to seek his advise and help. Worship is to give thanks and to praise God. It is good to give thanks to God, and Christians have a unique way for it: they sing songs of praise. That's the most common form of worship, apart from direct prayers.

9. Is it acceptable to worship Mother Mary? How about the cross - do we worship the cross?

Only God is worthy of worship. Nobody and nothing else is worthy of worship. Not Mother Mary, not the cross, not Santa Claus, not the Christmas tree, only God is worthy.

10. Do murderers and gays go to heaven?

Let God decide.

11. My mother passed away as a non-Christian. Is there any way to save my mother's soul? If there isn't, then I don't want to be a Christian.

I know this is going to sound very cruel, but if your mother drowned in a boat that sunk, do you now also want to climb into a sinking boat and be drowned as well, especially when you know of a way to save yourself?
Save yourself, and save all those you are able to save. If you start thinking this way, then what about your grandmother, and your great grandmother, ...

12. How big is this universe?

To me, the universe is a huge virtual reality game. The more mankind wants to probe the universe, the bigger it gets. It's like God playing a game with us, in a video arcade. The deeper we search, the farther we see. But actually, we didn't go anywhere. It's all a play with our senses. By controlling our sight, hearing, feel, and time, God is able to let us live our whole life, to run, to play, to fall down, to hurt ourselves, to sleep, when our soul could just as well be in one place. And this whole world before us, God can simply peel away like a one-way mirror to reveal that He is watching us from the other side. So it is wisest not to try to understand everything - we don't have within our faculty to grasp - but to accept God by faith.

13. What is time to God?

God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He exists before time began and he will be there beyond the end of time. Ten thousand years to him is like a second to us, and vice versa. Now how is that possible? God does not age as we do, and is not governed by time as we are.

To better explain this, imagine a huge table with hour-glasses - billions and billions of hour-glasses. Now this table belongs to God, and each hour glass represents an individual throughout the history of the world, from the first person on earth to the last. On the bottom of each hour-glass is written the name and birth date of each individual. The size of the bottle-neck of the hour-glass is different: some are wide, others are narrow, some have no neck at all. Similarly, some hour-glasses have a lot of sand in it, some little, some nothing at all.

Now, Gods turn each hour-glass over at random, and as soon as God does that, the sand starts to flow down through the neck of the glass. The sand represents our life. Some individuals will have a long life, some short, some none at all. Some start their life a thousand years ago, some are living today, some has not yet been born. It does not matter which hour-glass God turns first - He could turn the hour-glass of Bill Clinton first, then George Washington's, but still Washington will appear ahead of Clinton in the course of history, because each individual will appear on earth according to the birth date on his hour-glass. The length of time given to each individual on earth is according to the speed and amount of sand running through his hour-glass. Now, if God is able to do that, then for sure God knows the entire story of mankind before man is born. After all, He is in control of who gets born first, and who next. So the concept of time, as we know it, is totally immaterial to God.

14. Should I be afraid of ghosts and evil spirits?

When you accept God into your life, God sends the Holy Spirit to live in you. Before that, you are like an empty vessel into which any evil spirit can come to dwell. But with the holy spirit in you, there is no room for evil spirits. And the Holy Spirit from God is mightier than all the spirits of the world. Now that you have God with you, you have no reason to be afraid of ghosts or evil spirits, who are nowhere as powerful as God, who created you and all those ghosts and spirits as well. In fact, the only fear you should have is of God. God will always protect His children (once you accept God into your life, you once again become His child), but there is no protection for you if you purposely disobey God. Though God is full of love and mercy and compassion for you, you should not take the wrath of God lightly.

15. Can I visit temples?

Depends on what you intend to do there. If your intention is to worship other gods, then the answer is no. God, the one and only, forbids the worship of any other gods. In fact, God is a jealous God, who does not consider any other diety worthy of worship except Himself. So we should not make God angry by worshipping other gods once we have become Christians.

If you are visiting a temple to increase your understanding of the world, then the answer is yes, you may go there. As God's children, you may go anywhere in this world and beyond, with full protection from God. If there is ghosts or evil spirit around, they stand no chance against you, because you have God's protection anywhere you go.

16. Should I carry amulets, talismans or charms for protection, so that I do well in exams and work? Is it okay to believe in Feng Shui?

God is everywhere. There is no particular piece of material that has greater concentration of God's protection in it. So God will consider it an insult if you should rely on physical objects for your protection. If you should ever be in fear of anything, you should pray to God.

Your belief in God frees you from having to rely on Feng Shui and superstitions. Also, be reminded that while you may wear the cross as a personal adornment, it should also not be used as a talisman or amulet.

17. How often should I pray?

How often should you speak to a family member in order to maintain a close relationship? How often do you need to speak to your spouse, your parents, your children, your siblings? Treat God as the Father of your household, and speak to Him as often as you need to speak to any other member of your family.

18. Can a Christian drink or smoke?

It was not written in the Bible that a Christian should not drink or smoke, or even take drugs, but we should treat our body as the Temple of God. If you corrupt this temple, then the Holy Spirit will not dwell in us.

19. Is it acceptable for Christians to be wealthy?

Why not? God wants the best for His children, whether in this world or the next.

20. Should I give tithes?

Tithes (or in Malay, zakat) is money given to the church. Different churches have different concepts with regards to this. Many regard one tenth of your earning as the appropriate amount. My opinion is to give according to your ability and your heart's desire, and not just to church but also to any good course, especially if it will help you to spread the Gospel.

21. What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the message from God, introducing Himself to non-believers, telling them how they can become His follower again. When you introduce God to people who are non-believers, telling them the things which I have told you, you are spreading the Gospel.

22. As a Christian, should I spread the Gospel? Can I be a closet Christian?

It is one of your duties as a Christian, even though you should not be so overzealous in your approach as to give Christianity a bad name. Your mission is to spread the Good News (the good news that Jesus Christ dies for you, and now you can have eternal live just by accepting Him as your personal saviour), it is up to the listener whether or not to accept the gospel.

Accept the fact that in the end, it is God that will open the eyes of some and keep the eyes of others firmly shut. Remember that as you God's duty, God will do His as well. To be a closet Christian means to keep your religion secret. Unless revealing it will harm yourself or someone else, you should not be embarrassed that you are a Christian.

23. Is it necessary for me to be baptised?

Becoming a Christian means you now follow God's teaching. And one of the requirements is to be baptised - total immersion in water to signify that you have died and are buried along with Christ, and you rise again with a new life.

To me, becoming a Christian is simply the simplest way to reach heaven. I have no proof of this. All I have is total faith in God, that one day I will be with Him in heaven. Maybe I'm right and maybe I'm wrong. If I'm right, I'll one day find myself in heaven. If I'm wrong, there is no regret for after all, I am not living life as a bad person - I am as good as any Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu around me.

What about you? Are you ready to become a Christian? The choice is pretty simple. All you need to do, as I have mentioned, is this:

1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and by your own effort you cannot reach heaven.
2. Accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour.
3. Abandon your old ways and your old gods to accept God as the one and only God.

It is prefered that you share it with a Christian. If you cannot find anybody, please feel free to tell me. What I will do is, I will teach you understand the Bible. If you happen to stay near me, I will invite you to my church as well. I will also find someone in church who can help you grow in your new faith. I will be there for you always, so that one day, you too can help another non-believer get to know God.

If you are already a Christian, and you are having difficulties in telling people about God in a non-threatening way, feel free to send this page to your friend. The URL is http://www.earthdocumentary.com/gospel/introducing-god.htm. If you have a website or a blog, feel free to link to this page.

I thank you for the opportunity to share with you, and introduce God to you. Please feel free to write to me.