Doubting Thomas

In the Performing Arts course, we learn about different performance styles. This particular adaptation has taken a well known Bible character, Thomas the Disciple, and placed him in a modern setting. In adapting this, we imagined Thomas if he were meeting up with his friends in 2009, in a Singaporean Kopitiam years after the resurrection of Christ. Actually, it is a Kopitiam in heaven, because, in the end Thomas tells his friends of his eventual martyrdom for the cause of Christ.

In our placing Bible characters in modern settings, with local language, the audience can more easily identify with them. Otherwise, these characters might be seen as Ancient History and having no relevance to modern people's lives. But a modernized depiction breaks down stereotypes and helps us learn from and apply lessons of these ancient peoples. In the same way Jesus used parables to teach, these modernized Bible characters are just one way of effectively reaching and communicating with 21st century people. May God bless you in your effort to teach God's truths with creativity.

“Doubting Thomas”

I guess you could say I did doubt, but this nickname “Doubting Thomas” is really bo-fair leh. Yes…I may found the idea of rising from dead kang kor xiong xin, but I didn’t make doubting my way of life. Being a doubter was not my permanent condition.
I wanted to know the truth, so I said so. ”unless I see the kang in His hand and put my chiu ji thru, I will not believe it”. Bo salah, right?

I took Ye-So a xi pretty hard. I didn’t expect yi zhou ka an-neh kin, and in the way that it did.

Wa jin xiong xin without Him. My life qua bo lo. In the days immediately after yi a xi, Wa sial ke! Trying to sort through all my emotions and make plans for future. And hor, after that 3 kang kor days, the others disciples told me they had seen Him in the lau ding, bo see…. Wah… lagi sial! And they were going to meet him there the next night.

I didn’t want to be bluff and disappointed again. That’s why I said I needed proof, zhen gi ! The idea of a resurrection…. xi bo kor neng a!!!
But I wanted to believe. I wanted a reason to follow wa a Taukeh. Trust me; my doubt was just a reluctance to believe the impossible.

Lu nang ma xi xiang kuan. Don’t you find it hard to believe the impossible? You walked carefully through your life and leave tam bok room for miracles. Don’t bluff. It’s true. Jay xie kai miracles xi bo sim mi kor neng a! I bet ar, that you let your dreams die because of doubt.
Just like me, you forgot “impossible; BO KOR NENG” is one of God’s favorite words.

All I asked for was a little bit proof, not too much, right? Jesus hor wa exactly what I asked for. And do you know the rest of the story…? Once I had the proof hor, they had to kill me to get wa a chui stop talking about wa a peng yu who’d come back from the dead.

If they honestly and earnestly seek it, He tak teo hor lu proof a. And their response will be just like mine hor. Fall flat on their face when they realize the truth and cry out “my Lord and my God”!

And life will not ever be the same again.




Edited by Barry Chee
TCA College, Singapore 2008
For Performing Arts Final
Kimberly Creasman, lecturer