On Sunday 30th May 2010, Asia Conference , a mega-conference which draws about 20,000 delegates from over 70 countries organised by City Harvest Church, and CGI, Church Growth International,
draw to a close.
On Monday 31st May 2010, the first news that appear online, is that 17 City Harvest Church members, including Senior Pastor and Founder Kong Hee are being investigated for the misuse of funds. CAD raided their houses and offices for evidences, and took away documents and computers.
From Tuesday onwards, many news websites like Straits Times, Yahoo! News, ChannelNewsAsia...
etc, gathered thousands of comments regarding the investigation of City Harvest Church. While there are encouraging comments to support Pastor Kong and City Harvest, there are also negative and nasty comments. Majority of the comments, up to 93%, are the negative ones.
......
Now, I'm here writing this post, is not going to counter the 93% of the negative comments, I'm also not going to prove City Harvest Church and Kong Hee 's innocence, I'm not going to gather a huge group of like-minded or unlike-minded fans to go for or against CHC in Facebook or in Speaker's corner.
The reason why City Harvest is being probed, and that why I'm so happy, because
They call for investigation after Asia Conference, which allows all the people to attend the full conference. It is a Mega-Church, which amassed a lot of funds. They must be probed. Let them be probed, so they can show the world if they are a trustworthy church with trustworthy leaders.
There are many church members who are very affected by the comments. It's normal when this kind of things happen. Because, it is the right time to test the faith of the church members.
Let's say in your family, your dad is being investigated of embezzlement of company's funds. If you know that your dad is a trustworthy dad, who saves and provides for the family and for you, and you personally know your dad, you will have faith in him that he will not embezzle the money.
If you do not know your dad well, or you don't trust him from young, you will say "No question, It's definitely him. What a disgraceful Dad." You will give him the sentence before the final verdict is out.
For me, I'm not at all affected by those negative comments, because up to 99.9% of those negative comments are based on emotions and not based on facts. Another 99.7% of those negative comments are made by people who
1) are not from City Harvest Church
2) do not attend a service of City Harvest Church
3) do know know who is Kong Hee, but mainly post their comments to show support of their negative friends
4) hate friends who are from Chc
5) are anti-Christians (this is different from non-Christians)
6) are young and naive and loves to gossip
7) have a mindset of a victim (btw, 95% of people in the world are victims)
8) are afraid that City Harvest will keep growing and become a Super-Mega Church, which will make them more jealous of its success
9) will like to see City Harvest crash, or see Kong Hee sent to jail, so that they are satisfied because members of City Harvest and Kong Hee will be like just a normal mediocre person like them
10) just complain about everything around them.
I know that people who are reading this post now, are not one of the 10 kinds of people listed above, because I believe you are a successful and mature person, and a successful and mature person will not do what is listed above.
My final words: This case is still under investigation. I don't see a point people from both sides accusing each other here and there.
If City Harvest and Kong Hee is proven innocent, and there is no misuse of funds, will the negative comments stop? Hardly, they might point the fingers at the police for not doing a thorough job, or say that Pastor Kong has some super powers...etc. Negative comments will be there no matter what.
If City Harvest and Kong Hee is proven guilty, and City Harvest is closed down, and Kong Hee sent to jail, i believe those true City Harvest members will not go back and criticise or insult those people who posted negative comments.
In whatever industry, be it in sports, education, information technology, health and wellness, automobile, financial services, medical services...etc, there are bound to be more negative comments than positive comments.
We can't stop the negative comments, but we can put 100% faith in what we believe.
Great Post. However, I wish to highlight that you might be mistaken in stating 99.7% as a figure representing the uneducated intellects who chose to criticize City Harvest. In fact, if you might propose that there are many intellects who are in City Harvest, there are just as many who are skeptical about City Harvest, as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting to note that people who are most skeptical come from the same camp, like how Jesus was accused by the Conservatives. One might also consider that Pastor Kong is called up BECAUSE people have evidence against him.
Whatever it is, your argument is a persuasive one. Well done =) But do check out what the brainful people have to say about Pastor Kong, because they are stunning as well as stinging. I would not say I'm one of them, because I personally believe with you that one should not speculate before the results are out.
Cheers,
Lady above the alley
Hi Ms Lady above the alley,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your reply. I agree with you that there are brainful people who have something to say about Pastor Kong too, and they are stunning as well as stinging, from what I have read from other posts too.
I love your argument too, and like you and me, many people out there would love to see what the outcome of the case will be.
Afterall, i believe it's impossible for someone to please everyone in the whole world. There are out to be negative comments no matter what issue it is, whatever outcome there is.
Nice knowing you, and hope to see you here anytime soon :D