On Sheep and Goats
In the last six months, most of my friends have removed their sheep costumes and shown themselves as goats. I realised I was a lot more naive and childish than I had thought and cried my eyes out every other day these months. I came across Matthew 25:31-46 the other day and wondered whether there is a way for us to recognise the sheep and the goats in our lives. Boss Man looks at the heart, and it will be easy-peasy for Him on that day.
Matthew 25:31–33
The Final Judgment
[31] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. [32] Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. [33] And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. (ESV)
I spent some time reflecting on my relationships with friends and family. One simple question might be sufficient to tell the sheep from the goats. What is the cross that they are bearing?
I also devised a sheep or goat self-test for reference only. What did you do when you last passed a homeless person on the street? Did your heart tremble if you had nothing to give or did not give? Goat if the answer is no; otherwise, sheep.
Bearing the cross means taking up burdens and responsibilities of my own volition for the benefit of others without expecting any return. After completing my dance degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, I returned to London. I took up financial and parental responsibilities to look after my younger siblings. The family fortune had been declining for over a decade, and I wanted to give my younger siblings the same opportunities I enjoyed as the firstborn. In Chinese culture, the firstborn also bears the responsibility of carrying the family name, and my sexuality meant that there would be a difficult conversation with my parents on a future date. Therefore, looking after my siblings also partially alleviated the guilt of not fulfilling the expectations of the firstborn.
I arrived at the Rosebay campsite on 10 April and got kicked out on 19 July last year. It was precisely 100 days, and I lived in total agony for over a month until He came to save me on 25 August. I arrived in the United Kingdom on 26 August 2013, 11 years ago. In those five weeks, I searched my heart and soul, trying to figure out what I did wrong at the campsite to become public enemy number one despite having only good intentions to help the community.
The ethical thought experiment I designed during COVID-19 that came true involves a time machine and a specific Austrian artist who played a significant role in the Second World War. Suppose every attempt to use the time machine to travel back in time to stop the Austrian artist from committing atrocious acts leads to the end of humanity before the 21st century due to the uncontrolled development of nuclear weapons. Effectively, the atrocious acts were a costly lesson for humanity to define a redline that we should never get close to again. What could we say about the actions of the notorious Austrian artist in light of this piece of information? There is no doubt that the atrocious acts were evil, and the Austrian artist was an absolute madman. The thought experiment further supposes the Austrian artist was so mad that he believed he had only good intentions for the future of humanity, either through imaginative madness or perhaps divine intervention.
I thought I had become like the Austrian artist when I got kicked out of the campsite. I had only good intentions of providing full-site Wi-Fi coverage to benefit the campsite guests. Still, I became public enemy number one and got kicked out. My ethical system imploded because I realised that regardless of my intentions, the development of events and perceptions by other people was entirely out of my control. I did not know what was good and what was evil anymore. No one at the campsite replied to my messages or explained what I did wrong after they kicked me out except my neighbour, who also left the campsite shortly after. After putting everything together, I realised I had been gaslighted and manipulated by the campsite boss, John. I was shell-shocked when John’s partner unleashed a barrage of accusations on me, and I thought we were on good terms, as we had been during our last conversation.
In hindsight, what I saw and heard in those 100 days at the campsite could be summarised with the following passages in Romans 1.
Romans 1:28–32
[28] And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. [29] They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, [31] foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (ESV)
Shortly after writing a previous post, I realised that I had already quoted the answer to my confusion. I should perhaps do less overthinking in the future. I’m not sure if the atheists realise that God’s omnipotence means creating a universe where you find no evidence of His existence is entirely within His capabilities. And we humans, by definition, are not omnipotent and, therefore, would not know whether He exists even if we lack evidence. Have you tried inquiring about His existence? If you still reject the possibility of God’s existence after all the testimonies available and rational debates with reason, I would like to ask, what have you done?
John 3:19–21
[19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (ESV)
The good news is, it does not matter if you are a murderer, a rapist, or an atheist; there is hope and opportunity to mend things with God before that day. He is good and faithful. Turn, and He will heal you.
1 John 1:9
[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)