Saturday and Sunday was the most busiest day of the week for me and tow of my friends. We joined our church debate competition. So we had to do preparation. My teammates were Derick Josob (1st speaker), Me (2nd speaker) and Alex Seeni (3rd speaker and rebuttal speech). We kind of did a last minute preparation for the first round which was on Friday and the debate was on Saturday. But by God's grace we managed to get through the first round. The topic given to us on the first day was, 'Is Holy Living a possibility in today's world?' We managed to gather our points from books and through many experience form the pastors sermon and other notes form cell group. Derick( 1st speaker) gave the main definition of the topic and he spoke about the importance of holy living. I spoke about how to live a holy life. Alex Seeni spoke about holy living is crucial to sustain us through temptation. We managed to get our points and stand clear that holy living is possible in today's world. The opposition team was lead by Aaron Dason (1st speaker and rebuttal speech), then Jashen David(2nd speaker) and Jared Joseph(3rd speaker).
The title was infact a title that favoured us because we as Christians can't deny the fact that we cant live a holy life because it is written in the Bible that in the book of Lev-11:45, For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. So we have to accept the fact too.
The opposition team to gave a good fight with us but they could not bring out points or fact that we biblical as the highest marks is allocated for points or facts that are quoted from the Bible. The as we have won the first round, we managed to proceed to the finals. We were about to face a team who were 3 times or age. Derick is 17, I'm 18 and Alex is 19 and our opponents were at their mid or late 50's. However, we made our mind clear that we are not going to just leave without a battle.
They gave us the title and both ours and their team were blurred. The title given was, 'Does culture and tradition influence our Holy Living?' We were again chosen to be the Government team. We had to say that traditions and culture do influence our holy living. It either can be good or bad influence.
Once again Derick was the 1st speaker, me 2nd and Alex 3rd speaker. We gathered together in my fathers tuition center at about 8pm. For about one and a half hour we could not move with or points as we were blurred and we did not know where, or how to begin. We managed to get through the definition and some points that we not so strong. Then I decided to call Rev. Raymond from Sungai Pelek ( he was the pastor in Nilai church as when I was studying in Nilai), to seek for some help. My teammates and I have to really thank him because without his help we surely wouldn't have won at all. As I put my phone is Loudspeaker mode, Alex began writ ting the points on the whiteboard and his points were all flowing out so easily. He suggested to us two books that would really help and that our pastor Rev. Laurence might have it too. Immediately, I called him and asked whether he had the books or not, then he said he had it and Alex and I rushed to his house to get the book from him.
It was already late that night, so we decided to take the books home and gather our points the next day. I was still blurred on how to break put our points although I had the book which helped a lot. The next morning, after I woke up and as I was on my way to church, many points came in to my thoughts just that instant. I suggested that we break our points as positive, negative and then summing up.
We managed to meet each other properly after church to clarify some matters such as the topic. The topic given to us was in English and Tamil because our opponents are going to speak in Tamil. They were terrified to face us as they saw us spoke in English that they couldn't understand much. Anyway we said that we might try to speak a little in Tamil as we go on. We gathered again at about 1 pm in my fathers tuition centre again to finalise our points. Derick will be giving the complete definition and the positive influence that culture and tradition has affected our holy living. I will be speaking on the negative influence that our culture and tradition has taught us and Alex summed up and gave a wonderful speech.
The opposition team had nothing much to speak and they didn't speak with much facts as they were speaking more emotionally. They misunderstood many concepts and analogies that we tried to bring up to them. But at the end of the debate, we were really terrified. Derick, Alex and I thought we lost as the judges seemed to support or speak more about that culture and traditions doesn't influence us at all.
At last the results was announced and we won the debate. It was a really HAPPY and JOYUS moment for us at that point of time. I really would like to take this oppurtunity to thank all those who had helped us to win this debate.
Firstly I would like to thatnk God for showing his wisdom for us and allowing us to speak our boldly. We always had a prayer session before we began our debate session and whenever we met. I am really sure that God was surely with us. Next, I would really like to thank my teammates, Derick Josob and Alex Seeni for really putting a lot of effort. Then, Rev. Raymond, who really oppened our eyes and put us right on track, Rev. Laurence who was kind enough to lend us the book althought it was kind of late at night, to my parents, relatives ( especially Clement and Evelyn for their continous support), and to all that who has helped us through this.
From left (Alex Seeni, Jonah Seeni (me) and Derick Josob).
