Malayalee vs. Christian

Considering this is the 3rd or maybe 4th week i haven't gone to church since coming back from seeing the girl my mom started crying in the bathroom this morning that the devil is working. Maybe the devil is or isn't working but i couldn't resolve in my head after all the things i've done living a Christian life why i'm being punished with the fact that no intelligent, attractive malayalee woman likes me. As my friend Danielle says, "I don't understand what's wrong with these women." Danielle, neither do I.

It got me thinking about my culture and religion and in particular the brainwashing i've undergone for both. Here's what my culture says:

• Be Educated - there is a hierarchy for education, being a M.D. is at the top, everything else is shit...funny thing is, i earn more than most doctors earn now and my earning potential is going up faster than theirs. Education is all about your earning potential, that's why no one wants their kid to be a garbage collector. But i know for a fact that my plumber takes home more than even i do, which means he makes more than doctors do.
• Come from a good family - that's fine but when your younger brother goes out and gets married first and then to a white girl, well that means your family is fucked up. The submarine klaxon is sounding its warning...avoid this family.
• Be God Fearing - first of all what the hell does God fearing mean? Does God fearing means you put your religion of Christianity first, but putting our religion first means we should put our education and earning potential second. Well that's a violation of our culture. Oh, oh, we have a problem here.

See, i can't figure out why Malayalee's pretend to be Christians. Everything in our culture is in direct violation of Christian principles. Love your neighbour as yourself...we choose to gossip about our neighbour, not love them. Tithe to the church, how many people actually tithe? The weekly $10 donation covers their coffee or tea after church that's it. We strive for highly educated children with professional careers. But that trust translates into dollars. Why are we so concerned about this? Why do we want them to be so overly educated? It translates into a stable career with a steady cash flow. What does a steady (and hopefully) increasing cash flow provide? A nice big house, a 3 car garage with a BMW, Mercedes and Lexus in the driveway. Where does God play a role in all of this? He doesn't, because we love our money more than we love God. We have no faith.

So, i pose the question, why do we pretend to be Christians? Why bother going to church? Is it strictly for the social aspects? That's my opinion. Any young malayalee that is actually concerned about their faith doesn't attend malayalee church's on a regular basis. We shouldn't call it the _____________ Mar Thoma church we should call it the Mar Thoma Community Centre of (whatever city you live in.)

We have to make a choice, either follow our community or follow Christ. Following Christ might mean you end up beocming a doctor or lawyer or engineer or plumber. But we shouldn't judge people by their professions (and yet we do). Following our community means you're highly respected by our community and your earning potential. Is there a way to bring both together, i don't think so.