My son came home last week and told me a strange occurrence.
He said he was invited to a shrine - a HDB flat - and a man in his early fifties started to talk to him about the way of Tao.
My son was with two of his classmates and he said the session lasted for about two hours.
That night, he came home more keen than ever to know more about this Tao. He was seriously intrigued.
He asked many questions about Christianity and was told by the man that all religions are the same. That is, they say the same thing, teach the same virtues, establish the right morals, and inspire us to be and do good.
At that time, I listened by nodding and asking sincere questions.
Within me, I was a little jaded from work but I told my son that what was important to him is important to me (although the more he told me about the teaching of Tao - in particular - the part about Jesus and his teachings are the same with that of Buddha, with Confucius', with Mencius' and so on, the more I find it disturbing).
Then, at this time, my son asked me to attend the next session to hear for myself. He seemed eager for me to attend. He wanted to know how I would feel about it.
With great reluctance (although I did not show it outright), I said ok. Before I know it, the meeting was held last night.
We met and after the initial pleasantries, the man started with this line: "Jesus is the only way".
I smiled and said, "Only?" or "one of the ways".
He said something like well you believe it that way, so he is the only way.
I then asked, "if he is the only way, I should then be the one telling you about him rather than you telling me about Tao, right?"
There was a short pause and he said, "But let me share with you the similarities between all religions. They are all the same, they teach the same things..."
I nodded and for about one hour or more, he shared and drew diagrams to tell me where the teachings of all religion including Islam, Judaism and Buddhism overlapped.
He drew a Cross, he placed virtues like faith, righteousness, propriety and wisdom around the Cross, and below each virtues, he wrote water, fire and earth and said these elements from other religion corresponded with our Christian understanding of faith, righteousness and so on.
He then shared with me about Jesus declaring that he is the way, the truth and the life, and related the Way with teachings of Tao's virtues, with Buddhism's and Hinduism's dharma.
As for the truth, he corresponded it with the balance of yin and yang and reminded me that all other religions preached about truth.
He said that the God we worship sent different messengers to different part of the world with different cultures to spread the truth.
In Middle East, he sent Muhammad. In Jerusalem, he sent Jesus. In India, he sent Buddha. In China, he sent Confucius.
And Singapore, LKY? (The last part is all mine - just jesting).
There were much more things that he shared and some of them were plain spooky to say the least.
He said there are thousands of Tao masters everywhere in the world. They are real human beings loitering the globe to hold secret meetings and only students of Tao are invited.
And my son (and I) have to be trained for a few months with him before we can be invited. Before that, he said he can't reveal much.
But what he can say is that the meetings are held in nondescript locations (even in his house which he called it a "shrine").
In the meeting, the master will appear before a crowd of 20 to 30 devotees and he will conduct some ceremony, which he was not comfortable to share with me.
After the ceremony, the master will carry out some baptism-like altar blessings where devotees are supposed to kneel before idols and three sources of light lit by candle fire.
He told my son as a Christian that he need not worry about bowing down because for him, since he is a Christian, he can remove the idols and just kneel down before the three sources of light as it represents the trinitarian gods or some principles/virtues they represent (my recalling here is a little vague).
To add to the suspense, he said the master will impart three things to the believer.
For the life of me, I could only remember two of them; that is, some mystic cavity and a secret chanting code.
He said the mystic cavity is wisdom to guide the individual and the code is a life-saver. Just chant it to avert misfortune.
I asked him what misfortune. Is it like a car travelling at break-neck speed towards me or some financial disaster that is imminent?
No, he said. And of all examples, he actually told me earthquakes. He said when it strikes, chant and the believer will be saved.
But earthquake in Singapore is as rare as a Trump-like character being elected in our GE, right? I muttered beneath my breath.
Now, I know I have said enough about his teachings, and this was where he turned to me and asked whether I have any questions.
To be fair to him, he was willing to listen and was humble in many ways. We did not argue and at some points, we exchanged knowledge and he said he was willing to learn too.
With the mic in my hand (as he had been speaking for one hour with no interruption from me), I ask him how different is Jesus.
He said he died on the Cross. That's the main difference. He even said Jesus was great for that act. No one ever did that. Not Buddha or Confucius.
But he caveated that, and gave me two illustrations.
He said look at Orchard Road. You can get there by bus, train, taxi or private car. From the east way, west way or south way.
Then, he pointed at me and said his finger is Tao pointing to the sun. My finger is Jesus pointing to the sun. My son's finger is Jesus too and pointing to the sun.
Different routes, different ways, and different fingers, so different religions but one truth.
I smiled and asked: "Can Jesus be Orchard Road or the Sun? One Truth?"
He said that if that is so, then it would be unfair to other religions. They all also seek the truth.
Yes, I said, but there is a big difference between seeking the truth, however earnest, and being the Truth, embodying the Truth, walking with us as a historical person, leading us, guiding and dying for us."
At this moment, my intention was not to evangelise but to state facts, at least facts recorded in Jesus' own words and chronicled thru the centuries by different scholars and experienced by billions in their own unique ways.
For if the truth sets us free, maybe the facts, the historical facts, may just set us thinking. This was what I truly wished for my son that night.
Now, it was his turn to smile and he said okay.
So, I asked him whether any religion talks about a historical person, establishing a 3-year ministry here, impacting lives up till today, sacrificing on the Cross, claimed to have resurrected after three days, and announced that he had overcome, so can we?"
He then admitted that there are similarities to that in other religion but what I had described is certainly unique to Christianity.
"So, this uniqueness is why Jesus so boldly said that he is the way, the truth and the life, right?" I asked. (This was also where I turned to my son, and said to him, "He is unique. He is different").
At this time, he went on to talk about other things, still emphasising on the similarities, but everytime I brought him back to the Cross, a man hanging there, the promises he had made, the life he had led and the death he had overcome, he could not say that other religions or teachings share the same saviour in the likes, purpose and life of Jesus.
At this moment, my son was nodding and I detected that he was quite content to leave the conversation or discussion at that.
After we left the meeting that night, my son turned to me and said: "Thanks dad, I needed that. I needed to know that ours is different."
I asked him whether he will be going back to hear some more from the man.
He said quite firmly: "No dad, I don't need to."
Well, that night, many things were said, many things that were from the teachings of great philosophers, religious teachers and sages of all time.
I respected them all and am keen to learn from them in the way they had taught and lived their lives.
But, I have to admit that the greatest satisfaction I had from last night was not so much what was shared and discussed.
It was on the contrary how we were able as adults to present the facts to my son in our friendly discussion and how he was able to apply critical thinking to them and come to a decision he can now defend with even greater assurance, faith and hope.
And the icing on the cake is that our bond is deepened even more because we had learned together as father and son that there is only one way to stand upright, that is, at right angle, just as there is only one Orchard Road and one sun that we travel or point to in faith, hope and love. Cheerz.
Ps: Son, daddy loves you enough to respect your choices; but loves you even more to never leave you alone with them.
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