Archive for ‘Religion’

Pastor Rony Tan: what if he were Richard Dawkins?

By blogpastor, 21 February, 2010, 35 Comments

What if Richard Dawkins, in a public lecture in Singapore, had said exactly what Pastor Rony Tan had said about reincarnation, karma, and Buddhism? What if it made its rounds in cyberspace and YouTube? Would the Internal Security Department have given him a phone call? Would he have transgressed the The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (1992)?

Restraining orders against officials or members of religious group or institution

8. —(1) The Minister may make a restraining order against any priest, monk, pastor, imam, elder, office-bearer or any other person who is in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof for the purposes specified in subsection (2) where the Minister is satisfied that that person has committed or is attempting to commit any of the following acts:

(a) causing feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups;

(b) carrying out activities to promote a political cause, or a cause of any political party while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief;

(c) carrying out subversive activities under the guise of propagating or practising any religious belief; or

(d) exciting disaffection against the President or the Government while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief.

The answer would be in the negative because he is not “in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof” unless Atheism has become a new religion of the masses. Would he be liable by law to any other charge from the Singapore law code?

And what if he had said something incendiary about Christianity like what he wrote in his book:

“”The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Will he draw angry knee jerk reactions from red-faced Christians? I am sure there are those who will give him an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The majority will just shrug it aside. Some would invite him to a debate. Which was what happened and you can watch it in Richard Dawkins-John Lennox Debate. It is wonderful when intelligent civil discussions can take place in a meaningful way over controversial, volatile issues.

Hopefully one day the issues raised by the Pastor Rony Tan’s webcast on Buddhism and homosexuality can be intellectually dissected and discussed and everybody, Christians and Buddhists and gays, can get enlightened in the process, or at least have their say.

Pastor Rony Tan: towards a loving and respectful witness

By blogpastor, 9 February, 2010, 52 Comments

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the following statement to the press:

“The Internal Security Department (ISD) has called up Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism (LE) today in connection with his comments and insinuations about Buddhism and Taoism at LE sessions. These sessions were video-recorded and made available on LE’s website; video clips of these sessions subsequently became available on YouTube and other websites.

Pastor Tan’s comments were highly inappropriate and unacceptable as they trivialised and insulted the beliefs of Buddhists and Taoists. They can also give rise to tension and conflict between the Buddhist/Taoist and Christian communities. The ISD told Pastor Tan that in preaching or proselytising his faith, he must not run down other religions, and must be mindful of the sensitivities of other religions.”

Rony Tan responded with a public contrite apology to all Buddhists for his insensitivity:

“I have received a number of emails from people who have been saddened and hurt by the testimonies of an ex-monk and an ex-nun. I realized that my presentation and comments were wrong and offensive. So I sincerely apologize for my insensitivity towards the Buddhists and Taoists, and solemnly promise that it will never happen again. When we have received those emails, we immediately removed the video clips from our website. I urge those who have posted those clips on the YouTube to remove them as well. After reading the frank views from those emails, I was also prompted to tell my members not only to continue to love souls, but also to respect other belief and not to ridicule them in any way, shape or fashion. Let’s put our goal to build a harmonious Singapore a top priority.“

Preachers of the past

Elijah mocked the Baal of the prophets in the payroll of Jezebel. The Old Testament prophets made derogatory remarks about idols and other gods. And even Paul spoke of “worthless” idols. What are we to do? Are we living in a different environment? Would these prophets have said in Singapore church pulpits, the same things they had said in their historical cultural context?

Church generally guilty

Perhaps the whole church need to also issue a blanket apology for all the insensitive remarks that Christians in Singapore have generally been guilty of. I have watched the video and I think some of the making light of beliefs (presumed to be Buddhist,) is not uncommon in the thinking of many Christians, if not in their speech. I plead guilty too. We do need to be more respectful of people whose religious beliefs we disagree with, however mistaken in our eyes they may seem to be. We should respect them as though they are a future mother in law with strong religious belief different from ours.

Pruning for greater fruitfulness

When one member of the Body of Christ suffers, let us suffer, identify with him, and learn the way of the meek and gentle Christ. This is deeply humbling and we should not make light of this incident, but use the opportunity to learn afresh the grace and wisdom of Christ’s witness.

Rony Tan has done the right thing, the brave thing. Perhaps he had no choice. But his actions prove to me he is sincere. He has gone the second mile and it is not just perfuntory minimum requirement. He will move on from this episode a more able evangelist with an even greater wisdom, love and anointing and reach.

And so can the Church at large as well.

Church bombing turn into church blessing

By blogpastor, 20 January, 2010, 2 Comments

I received this wonderful testimony of how God can work all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. God can turn bombings into blessings and ash into cash! Here are stories from the Metro Tabernacle church:

“Anyway, the reason for writing is to encourage each and everyone of us. My colleague, CT is a member of the Metro Tabernacle church. This morning (my 1st day back at work) she shared with me the wonderful testimonies that has happened since the burning of their church. And I would like to share the same with you all too.

1) The night before the church was burned their Pastor was at the church past 11pm because he wanted to check his emails. He is a very hardworking person and has a habit of wanting to complete his work as much as possible. But he is also very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. When he got to the church premise and was about to swipe the card to open the door, he had a terrible stomachache that he had never had before. He knew that the Lord was telling him to go back home and he obeyed and left the church premise.. It was past midnight that the church was torched. If he had not obeyed he would have been burned alive and would not be able to live to tell this wonderful testimony. God still has work for him to do on earth. His time was not up yet.

2) The MTC had trouble moving to the new premises in Batu Caves. They had been waiting for approval from the Local Authorities and is still pending. Then they were facing financial difficulties as they needed to buy new furniture for the new premise. They had been raising funds on their own to relocate to Batu Caves but had been stuck due to approval permits and raising more $ to buy new furniture and equipment. So when the church was burned it was all the old stuff that they had been wanting to get rid off! And our Govt compensated them RM500K and CIMB and many other donations started to pour in. From an adversity it turned into a blessing! Our God truly provides!

3) CT has been rejoicing in the office and shared with my MD. Today at our Management meeting, the MD said I had never seen anyone so full of joy when the church got burned down but instead she said it was a blessing.

4) CT said the church leaders and members shook hands with Najib and they released forgiveness for whatever that has happened in the past. She said Najib felt very welcomed at the church. Hishamuddin commented that during his visit he has never seen so many smiling faces when their church had just been burned down. To God be the glory!

5) They also requested for the Batu Caves new church premise to be turned into a place of worship and not a commercial zone. The Selangor Govt is looking into it and the MB, Khalid gave his assurance that he will look into it personally.

6) The Metro Tabernacle worship service appeared in the International Herald Tribune (they were on international news) and the photo of the worshippers with their hands raised was taken in the Wisma MCA hall. My MD asked what was happening and CT told him we were praising and worshipping God. MD didnt know that this was how we praised and worshipped God.

7) A few years ago a visiting speaker from overseas prophesied that the MTC would be in international news. At that time the congregation thought that their Pastor would be traveling around the world to preach as he was already doing that but she said now they understood what the speaker said. I told CT if it was the doing of man, God would not be glorified but when it is not of man, then God would be glorified like in this situation.

8) It was good to see many church leaders of other denominations coming together at the MTC worship service over the last few days, united and praying together.

9) Lastly, sometime last year CT approached me and said that she has been praying and she was convicted in her heart to give me an invitation to ask our church/cell to partner with them in prayer with regards to the move to the new church premise in Batu Caves. They were facing a lot of spiritual warfare. I remember sharing with the cell. We didnt know very much about them then. God is moving amongst us and we could choose to obey his call to pray or disregard and miss the excitement and blessing

I hope the above sharing would have encouraged us all to press on and serve our Almighty God. MTC has found favour with God and so has many other churches. We must increase our faith to the next level and stay united. PRAYER is the only powerful weapon God has given to all of us. Lets use it mightily for His Glory!

God bless, JJ”

Church bombings show intention and pattern

By blogpastor, 10 January, 2010, 8 Comments

The fire bomb attacks on churches were not spontaneous expressions of outrage and violence of common folk, but deliberate, intentional, strategic acts of violence to damage religious harmony that have largely prevailed since the federation was formed. The avoidance of death seemed to be deliberately calibrated to make all parties open to concessions without triggering a religious war. This was probably masterminded by one who knew what he was doing, and he is educated and not a village folk. It was deliberate because it showed a multi-denominational pattern.

One was a charismatic church: the Metro Tabernacle church in Kuala Lumpur. Another was the Assumption Catholic church in Petaling Jaya, though the explosive that was thrown into the church compound did not explode. The third was an attack on a Brethren church called Life chapel in Petaling Jaya where a Molotov cocktail damaged the porch. The latest was a Lutheran church, the Good Shepherd Lutheran church, in south west Kuala Lumpur. Petrol bombs were thrown into the windows of the first and second floors of the buildings but they narrowly missed.

How many denominations are there in Malaysia? Will the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists or Anglicans be next in line? Watch and pray.

Meanwhile, Rev Ong Sek Leong, the Malaysian pastor of Metro Tabernacle church spoke for all Malaysian Christians and citizens of all races and religions when he responded to what had happened to the church he pastored.