Controversy has raged in the local coffee-shops, in public forums as well as on the Internet about the actions of a local pastor and the remarks he made. An article appeared in the local newspapers about how said pastor has been “interviewed” by the authorities in the form of the Internal Security Department (ISD) from the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore. I don’t have scans of the article in newsprint but here’s an online summary of the report from the Straits Times.
Frankly, I rarely read the local newspapers and more often than not, I get all my news sent to me in emails or online via the Internet. Even though the Lighthouse Evangelism church is located a short distance from our own church, I did not bother when told to watch the videos of Pastor Rony Tan.. until I saw the screaming headlines and that really piqued my interest.
As always, I turned to the Internet to read up about it. There were the usual people going rabid about the remarks he had made and they were posting comments without thinking them out, threats. Some of them have even set up a Facebook site calling for harsher punishment than simply letting him off with what they felt was a”slap on the wrist.” Then, there were the usual responders calling for calm, reason, etc.
According to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs,
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. 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.
Hit that more link below to find out exactly what he said that has riled so many people.
Watch these Youtube videos to find out. The people being interviewed on stage were a former monk and the other a former nun, and Senior Pastor Rony Tan is interviewing them in front of his church congregation.
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As I watched the videos, it seemed to me that despite being a monk and and nun formerly, they did not seem to know much more about Buddhism than I did from my own reading and observations.. and most people will tell you that I’m an ignoramus when it comes to such things. Both the man and woman came across as simpletons who, according to their claims, spent many years practicing the religion and being quite devout, and yet could not make any sense of the teachings of the religion. That or they were simply a little dull. Or I have overly high expectations of religious workers and leaders.. which I’ve also been told.
The interviews came across as a very much managed stage act. And honestly speaking, I’ve been involved with enough events to know that everything IS managed regardless of claims to the contrary. No event organizer allows a loose cannon onto the act/stage without first attempting to know what is likely to happen or better yet, dictating what is to happen. Senior Pastor Rony Tan used the sermon as a basis to ridicule Buddhism. The two interviewees came across looking like fools yet the man, Joseph, was in Senior Pastor Rony Tan’s opinion, good enough to become a pastor due to his very good work in converting children to Christianity. One thing I noticed.. the woman stated she STILL believed in Buddhism despite the fact that she was supposed to have been attending the church for a number of years.
Some days later, Senior Pastor Rony Tan issued the following statement as a follow-up:
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.
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Now, before anyone jumps the gun.. I am not stating that my Christian beliefs are wrong nor am i condoning the actions of Senior Pastor Rony Tan. Personally, I don’t know what to make of it.. Its a question we all have to come to grips with.. at some point.
When we look at the Old Testament, we see incidents of prophets mocking the “gods” of various priests. The Old Testament prophets made derogatory remarks about idols and other gods. And even Paul spoke of “worthless” idols. Would these prophets or the apostle Paul have said the same things that they did in the context of modern day church pulpits, in the context of pulpits in Singapore churches. Would they come across looking as Senior Pastor Rony did?
Conversely, what do we do about the derisive looks and remarks that others make when they learn of our own Christian beliefs? How should we react when they mock us? What serves as the klaxxon summoning us to make a stand on what we believe in? From recent events in a neighbouring country, tough questions.. I think that’s a separate topic to consider for another post.
Perhaps the church in Singapore needs to consider and also issue a blanket apology for all the insensitive remarks that we seem to have generally been guilty of.. recently This making light of beliefs is not uncommon in the thinking of many Christians in Singapore, if not in their speech, then their actions. I’ll be honest.. I have done this as well. I am guilty of it too. At times, we have made light of our own Christian beliefs by simply choosing to not respond when derogatory remarks are made of us. Think about it.. how did you react when people were talking about the Passion of Christ movie? Some felt strongly enough to organize petitions to have it banned. What did you do?
But we digress..
This is about needing 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 were our own parents with strong religious belief different from ours. How many of us come from or live in household where our parents, our in-laws, perhaps even our own siblings do not share the same religious belief that we hold to?
IMHO, there is something to be learned from this incident. It is a good conversation piece. It starts discussions. We should use the opportunity to learn afresh the grace and wisdom of Christ’s witness. We should use the opportunity it affords to reach out to those around us to show them what we do believe in. We should lead our lives as a living example of He whom believe in.
Dare we walk the talk?
- adrian t
