How could I define hope and purpose in my life if after death I would simply not exist?” Eric Lee asked himself.

Uncertain health and a sisterly challenge drove Eric Lee to seriously investigate if the Christmas story is fact or fraud

Born into a Malaysian family, Eric Lee cannot remember a time when spiritual beliefs were not important to him, and this was first evident in his childhood ambition to become a monk.

“I had always wondered where I would go after death, and searched for spiritual fulfilment,” he says.

At the age of 15, he moved to Melbourne to study. He continued to be a devoted to his religion, but he felt strangely empty, like something was missing.

“I knew there was something lacking in my life — I just wasn’t sure what it was,” he explains.

One Christmas day, when Eric was 22, he sat down to watch a Santa movie on TV. He ended up watching a documentary that claimed to prove that Jesus was only a fraud.

“I was happy to watch it after my many bitter experiences with Christians trying to convert me,” he admits. “I concluded the documentary to be informative and utterly truthful.”

Two weeks later, he went home for a visit. His sister, who, he found out, had only just become a Christian, gave him a Bible to read.

“I rejected the idea firmly, with no hesitation,” he says. “But before she left me alone, she said, ‘You should not judge anything before investigating it yourself.’”

Her words stuck with him.

After returning to Australia, a few months later, a doctor informed Eric that he had a potential health problem, and would need to undergo some tests. In the end, everything was fine, but the period of waiting all alone in Australia for the results was very difficult and depressing for Eric. This started him wondering.

“I started asking questions about life and, in particular, death. As an adherent of an Eastern religion, I’d learnt of reincarnation and karma. To be enlightened and in order to obtain inner peace, I would strive to do good deeds and abolish selfish desire. However, I knew that something was lacking,” Eric explains.

One evening, while watching some religious teaching, Eric was struck by something. The founding spiritual teacher of his religion had never proclaimed to be the creator of the world.

“If this revered teacher was not the creator,” Eric wondered, “then who was? How could I be assured I would be reincarnated after death? Or should I accept the view that there is no creator and no life after death? How could I define hope and purpose in my life if after death I would simply not exist?”

Eric met up with a Christian friend the next day.

“She had never tried converting me, so I thought it would be safe to ask her why she believes in Jesus,” Eric says.

“Her eyes sparkled and she replied promptly, ‘I believe because I know He is the God who created us and loves us.’. It was a simple reply, which I did not understand, but I saw something in her faith that gave her hope and strength that I had never seen before.”

Eric began to think that maybe his sister was right, and he should investigate Christianity. A few weeks later, he went on a Christian camp. Preparation for this camp required the camper to read one of the books of the Bible.

“It was my first time reading the book,” he admits. “And I felt that God was speaking right into my soul! I started to read other books, and the more I investigated, the more I was convinced that Jesus is God the Son, who died on a cross, and was resurrected from death to set us free!”

A few months later, Eric knew he needed to surrender His life to Jesus Christ, to trust in Him as the one who was the substitute for the penalty of his sin against God.

After this he says he felt God did not want him to just keep quiet about his new life, but share it with others by being involved in missions.

In 2006 he moved to Melbourne, to take up a position as an assistant director at Monash University.

Eric found a church there where he could serve and grow, and ultimately began to be involved in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to international students.

“Life takes many unexpected turns,” Eric says. “Around that time my parents informed me that they too had become Christians and we took a very special trip to Jerusalem together.”

Courtesy Warcry magazine of the Salvation Army