A Singaporean Christian Blog

I’ve never fully agreed with the denomination of SDA. But what Faith Toh writes does strike a chord with my heard. I think it’s an issue that’s affecting many churches in Singapore here today.

I think at the end of the day, it’s important to remember who you’re serving, and when in doubt, always go back to the Word of the Lord.

Disclaimer : This is a diatribe against a specific person and one particular outpost of a very huge global organisation. However, as I have not mentioned any names, any inferences you derive are yours and yours alone. Take ownership of them — because I certainly can’t … and won’t.

Firstly, and I cannot emphasise this enough, the Church, the Community where God’s broken people can seek refuge and repair, is a place that can and does exist. It doesn’t need million dollar smart buildings, or successful folks driving SUVs, or megachurches to actualise. Often, all it takes is just one heart that loves and one shoulder to cry on and one arm to hug you and say “God loves you and so do I”. And sometimes, the Church even reveals itself in the imperfect of the church.

Yes, Church versus church. The former is an ideal that I believe in with every fibre of my being. The latter… well, let’s just say that sometimes a group of people can get it right and reveal a glimpse of what Jesus died on the cross for but most times we get it so wrong.

We sneer and find justifications why the evil bad world cannot understand us and our beliefs. While all the while, we are so oblivious that we ever realise our mouths talk a lot of jargon about love and redemption but our actions betray our judgemental hearts.

I’ve refered to myself as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. Lately, I’ve been taking to saying : I’m a Christian who attends the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The difference is not a subtle at all. It is a wide, gaping maw. It is saying, I am first and foremost a child of God, redeemed and in the process of much needed repair and I choose as my “garage”, the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Note the lowercase “c”. Yes, because the SDA church is flawed. Why? Because a church is merely the sum of its individual members and these members… we are all terribly, disgustingly, pathetically flawed.

But when did this concept of ‘corporate flaw-ness” become a security blanket? When did recognising the reality of our collective brokeness become an excuse for apathy? When did the fact that a church is losing members (and not gaining new ones) signal that it is “pruning” it’s dead weight? And since when has not doing an iota of evangelism with lasting results reflect the imperviousness of the post-modern culture more than the lack of spirituality in the church members?

I am indignant.

I am utterly disgusted that theologically inaccurate and faulty sermons are continuing to be preached because whether a sermon benefits us or not isn’t dependent on the pastor’s spirituality but OURS?!?! If we are spiritual enough, then no matter what crap is dumped on us, we can still find diamonds? So in other words if I fail an exam its not how little I know, but how bad the prof is at marking it!

I am indignant that when a pastor is informed respectfully by 4 young men that they will be attending a different (but still Seventh-day Adventist) church, instead of listening with an open and objective heart to their prayer-backed reasons, he jumps to defensive conclusions.

I am apalled that these young men — whose decision was wrought after a dedicated one month of intense prayer and counsel from their respected elders — should have to be told that they have the wrong perception of God; How they need to stop thinking about how much they should receive and instead depend on God to provide them with the reinforcements they need to keep giving; They need to stop looking for external support and instead discover God even in the midst of adversity and spiritual drought.

On its own, I agree but everything needs a context! “Hit the bat” means two very different things when said during a baseball game and while at a zoo exhibit! And in this instance, I find it offensively judgemental and perpetuating the wrong image of God!

An abused wife, because of her experiences with her abusive husband, can learn patience and forgiveness, her strength can be refined and she can still reflect a Godly countenance . But does that mean she should stay in the relationship? What real values will she instill in her children if she continues to allow herself to be consistently flayed? What sublimal lesson does she teach her husband about his rights to whack her?

Am I saying that this* church is the spiritual equivalent of an abusive husband? Yes. I would cite examples but at the moment I can’t trust myself not to descend into bitch mode. So better not.

*this — referring to only one of many many many Seventh-day Adventist churches avaliable worldwide… not the ENTIRE denomination. Please. And its not the one in the West. That one is my safehaven. The reason why I haven’t turned my back on the entire denomination.

So to draw on the analogy further, what message are we sending about God’s character?

Our God is not a vindictive God. He isn’t a nasty, malicious, prankster who is so unimaginative that trials are the only means through which He makes us grow.

Self-flagellating people, people who go to the First Church of Anything That Brings You Joy Is A Sin and I Only Feel Holy When I Am Suffering want us to believe that it is only through the pain that we can measure how holy we are! “Its not good unless it hurts so bad” is their motto.

I had that shite shoveled to me in truckloads for years … and I swallowed it all. My fault for being so stupid. To absorb their hurtful words, they’re cold shoulders, their gossipy whispers and thinking it was my own fault for not being friendly enough, not being lovable enough, rich enough, smart enough, brown-noser enough to be worthy of being accepted and loved for who I am.

Our God isn’t a evil God that enjoys watching us suffer and hurting us just in the name of “character building”!

Our God is a loving God who LOVES us into a better person. True, sometimes we need the trials to learn, but the very act of his death on the cross underlines the fact that he chooses the LOVE method first!

“Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, … ” (Hebrews 10:24)

The FUNCTION of the Church is best served within the INSTITUTION of the church.

How can a church succeed at increasing its membership if it treats visitors like maharajahs and its members like criminals?

Ofcourse, when all is ranted and done, the question is : what about me? Am I not equally flawed? Have I not dished out my share of pain and judgement? Yes. I have. And you know what? I probably will continue to do so inadvertantly. I’m not proud of it, in fact I’m utterly ashamed but just because I don’t always practise what I preach, doesn’t mean that what I’m preaching isn’t the truth.

Let’s put it this way, if I’m swimming in the ocean and I see a shark, I don’t need a doctorate in marine biology to get the heck out of the water.

Of course, if I’ve offended you, you can always use this verse instead to soothe your ego… Numbers 22:28 “Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth…”

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