This just happened about 5 hours ago, my family were heading out for our weekly saturday morning dim sum meal, which is sort of like the Chinese version of brunch.

As we were sitting down in a crowded restaurant and waiting for our food, two middle age Chinese girls came in and "dap tor" (Chinese saying for "sharing tables") with us. It's not the first time we shared a table with others and it is pretty natural in large restaurants among Chinese people as large tables can not usually be used at full capacity.

Well, we each minded our own business and food orders without really approaching one another with comments. Then, the first steamed dishes came and the Chinese girls began to pray and thank God (Actually in Cantonese based on their Cantonese, it is Protestants prayer as Catholics have a different way of saying God). At first, it was fine, I've heard enough prayer and understood the practice, even if I don't share it. Then, the second dish came and again they prayed. Then, the third and fourth....You get the idea. It seemed odd, but it is not my practice, so I let it be.

During the interlude, they kept exchanging pleasantries like I thank God for all the customers that we have at the Travel Agency or I thank God for the many (White people) who went down to New York in recent months. They laughed throughout the meal as I sat there drinking my green tea remaining calm externally, but enraged at the thoughts these girls had established.

This exchange is why I don't like segments of modern Christianity or some of their Chinese adherents, they treat God as some sort of "eternal Santa Claus" without really thinking about why things fall into place or about the suffering of others in order for them to reach rewards. This is in effect Pride and Selfishness at its heart. For this I personally think Buddhist will probably reach heaven faster than Chinese Christians, even if you believe in Jesus Christ as your savior as long as you hold to such concepts of rewards without validation or acknowledgement of others, you are just lying to yourself.

When I pray before a meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas, I do it with the suffering of others in mind over the past year in getting the raw materials like my Turkey or Chicken on a plate, or a slice of bread due to the drought that happened last year. It is to thank God for the miracles of weather, events, and luck coming together so I can have those meals, not a personal favor.

The thing that really got to me was how these girls were reacting to the high amount of people taking their buses down to New York to visit family. Do they not realize that these people went down due to the Hurricane and human suffering? Thanking God for that is not what Christians should be doing and if everyone believes that is what Christianity truly is, then it is no wonder why more than half of American no longer believe.

Maybe it's just me being angry over a few ditzy girls, but I just cannot hold my outrage in. I also cannot fathom how Christianity has devolved to the point that people do not realize that their profit was not generated by God's good graces, but someone else's suffering.

That's my rant...