The past Sunday was very interesting. The AGM (All Guys Meeting) went pretty well... I think. We knew that we had to bring some of you guys out of your comfort zones in order to get our points across. So, well, we brought ourselves out of our comfort zones as well. Honestly, my heart was beating very fast when I asked THAT question.
But well, all has been said and done. And for the guys, I hope you all have a different perspective on your leaders now. As you can tell, we are far from perfect and we also struggle and are still struggling everyday. In fact, even more so, now that we have much more responsibilities.
But, one thing that we did not address was the issue of BGR, "Boy-Girl Relationships". And like we stated earlier, the reason was because this would be addressed at a more general setting, the BGR forum on 25 September. I am not on the panel, so I am writing this to drum up excitement and give my own personal views on the matter before 25 September. So, here it goes!
Have you all ever sat down to think how people in Biblical times found their "girlfriends" or "boyfriends" and got married? Or did you ever wonder how people 1000 years ago courted each other? We don't really think about it isn't it? Why not? I guess we think it's weird to think about something like that... and yah... it is!
Well, the reason why we think its weird is because for a vast majority of human history and for a vast majority of cultures, the issue of BGR never existed. The norm was arranged marraiges. I believe in many cultures today, arranged marraiges is still the norm.
Well, obviously this really doesn't work today. And so the whole idea of BGR was created by man to serve man's own purpose of trying to "look" for a suitable partner for life. But what happens? We get into a series of relationships and break-ups and carry excess baggages into our subsequent relationships and eventually our marraige. These emotional scars can ruin a marriage and, I believe, is the reason for the rising divorce rate, even among Christians. Do you think that God really inteded it to be this way?
Over the weekend, we asked all of you to write down your questions about BGR so that we can address them at the BGR forum. I've looked at the questions, and I don't know where to hide my face! I can safely say that the girls are asking much better and honest questions than the guys. But then again, this was immediately after the AGM, so maybe the representation was a little skewed.
I'm not going devulge any of the questions. But I will say this, the girls asked questions that pertained to the more emotional and spiritual side of a relationship. The guys, being guys, asked questions that dealt with the physical aspect of relationships. (DUH?!) But either way, I think we've gotten it all wrong. But I won't talk about this anymore. If you want to find out what questions were asked, and what the answers are, then make a date (pun inteded), 25 September 2005, 1.30pm at Aldersgate Hall, Pentecost Methodist Church. Everyone is invited.
I will end this post by making some assertions. Firstly, I don't think God intended for any of us to go through 10 relationships and end up bringing scars into our eventual marriage. Secondly, what I think God intended for us, is to build good relationships with everyone and love each other with the same love Jesus showed for us.
Finally, when you are in a relationship. It takes two hands to clap. And that is a lot harder than we think it is, it takes a lot of time, effort, commitment and sacrifice. I myself and still trying to find my way in all this.
This is part one of a series of posts, and as you can tell, I'm leaving it hanging. Take it as an introduction to a long essay. I will get to my point evetually. As for those questions that were asked, I will give my perspective on the guys questions after the BGR forum
