Toon Theology

The empty front row

Conversations

The seventh lunar month. A getai concert has been set up under the block of flats, with loud music and a row of red plastic chairs at the front that nobody sits in. Theophilus and Hannah are walking home with their neighbour, Mr Tan.

  1. NoticeTheophilus

    "Everyone's standing at the back, but the front row is completely empty." He just says it.

  2. Ask whyTheophilus

    "Why does nobody sit there?" Mr Tan laughs and says the front row is for the guests: the spirits who come out this month because nobody has been looking after them. The concert is for them, so they will be entertained and leave everyone alone.

  3. Explore the theologyHannah

    Hannah asks whether Mr Tan thinks of the spirits as dangerous, or as sad. "Both," he says. They are hungry and nobody feeds them. Hannah notices he says they are someone else's dead, never anyone's own family, and she doesn't point it out. She asks instead whether he believes the spirits are really there. He says he doesn't know, but it's better to be careful.

  4. Offer an alternativeHannah

    Hannah says, "People think Christians say all this is imaginary. We don't, actually." Mr Tan looks surprised and asks what she means. She tells him that in the Bible a medium calls up the prophet Samuel, and Samuel really comes. "God forbids it, but not because it can't be done. He forbids it because it can. We believe the dead are where they are, and nothing we burn or sing can move them. But the living still can be helped."

  5. Leave it open

    Mr Tan says that is not what he expected a Christian to say, and that he'll think about it. The music starts up again. They say goodnight at the lift.

    The conversation stops here on purpose. It is not an argument to be won.

Read next