ERIC FU

Auburn Gracepoint Church

My family is not very religious; although my dad believes in Buddhism, my mother and elder brother are both indifferent. I grew up in Hong Kong and spent the first ten years of my life there. As a child I went to a Catholic primary school where I first learnt the history of Christianity. Back then I was not too sure about the whole thing; it seemed more like a story or fairytale. As I went through my teenage years I was taught in high school science class Darwin’s theory of evolution, and that life has existed for millions of years. These kinds of theories were ingrained in my head and tested in exams, and soon enough they were treated as facts.

In a world that seemed focused on rapid advances in science and flying saucers, I pretty soon forgot about God. Eventually I thought what was important was to live a good life and have a good character. Having said that, I did pray every so often.

At the back of my mind I have always believed in supernatural forces in this world that cannot be explained by science.

My friend told me about a series called Introducing God his church was about to start.

Thinking I had nothing to lose and wanting to discover more, I decided to give it a try. The first night I attended the series I was amazed to find a long-lost friend who greeted me at my table. It would have been more than ten years since we last saw each other while studying Japanese in Saturday school! Looking back now it was amazing to know that God cares and how he unites people in the most unexpected ways.

The course was a catalyst for me to think seriously about the subject of God, Jesus and the significance of his death and resurrection. It’s not often you get the chance to analyse this subject. As Dominic Steele outlined God’s story each week, I had serious questions. I went to some of my Christian friends to talk about it and started doing some research on my own.

Pretty soon I discovered that Jesus didn’t only exist in the world of Christianity, but that there are references to him in ancient Jewish and Muslim literature. I also discovered that the things that separates the three religions are their beliefs about the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ. I was sceptical about the resurrection, initially thinking perhaps Jesus’ disciples hid his body. However if there was any deception, it wouldn’t have made sense for all the apostles to then subsequently go to their deaths defending their belief in Jesus’ resurrection. This applied even to the most sceptical disciple, Peter.

Darwin’s theory of evolution seems to suggest that life is simply an accident, and therefore our existence also appears to be nothing more than a random event. However, knowing the complexity in the structure of a strand of DNA and the volume of information contained in a form so small, it is easy for one to marvel at the beauty of life. It is so intricate and complex that it would require great intelligence and design for it to be created. If one was to discover a skyscraper in the middle of a desolate planet, would you claim that it was a random chance creation from millions of years of erosion from a block of metal, or would you think that there was intelligence behind its design?

I realised I needed to dismiss Jesus as a lunatic or liar, or accept that he loved me and died for me, paying the price for my rejection of God.

Eric’s story first appeared in Introducing God: Meeting the God who loves us by Dominic Steele with Melinda Chiew (Bible Society, Evangelism Ministries, Christians in the Media, City Bible Forum, 2006).