Life is about involvement. Yes, there is legitimacy in leisure, rest, sleep, even standing still. But only in the context of work and involvement. When Jesus said, “Come unto me … and rest”, he was speaking to those “who labour and are heavy laden”.
In the face of this, it is curious to say the least why the Christian leadership in Malaysia seems so slow, reluctant and unwilling to address issues of nation-building, social justice and governance. Why is it that Christian leaders feel that silence seems always to speak louder than words?
Yes indeed it is written in the Book of Ecclesiastes, there is “a time to keep silence”. And in a sense, many leaders, and members of their congregations and other human beings in general, wish that at times they had kept their views or words to themselves. But in the biblical text this is immediately followed by “a time to speak”. It is never meant to be a matter of “either or”. There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak.
Granted there is a risk. One can speak wrongly in terms of timing, tone, and content. In speaking out on something, for sure one can be misunderstood or one’s saying can be taken out of context or misquoted. But then there is also risk involved if we always keep silent. Silence can also be interpreted or misinterpreted.
In fact, the Christian leadership in the country has been so pronounced and prolonged in their silence that the signal is sent out LOUD & CLEAR to Malaysians of the various faiths and communities that the Christian Church is uninterested in the affairs of state, in lending its voice to issues of good governance.
In fact, other Malaysians have noted that the Christian churches are only interested in looking after themselves: their places of worship, building renovations, their rights, their bibles, what words they can use, and their burial grounds.
In fact, in pleading its understandable non-partisanship in politics, Christian churches have seemingly also held its peace and would not care to speak on critical matters concerning the equitable distribution of the nation’s resources, the status of state institutions, the state of the judiciary.
In the peninsula, we will soon be observing our 51st year of independence. Shortly, the auditor-general will be publishing its annual report. Will Malaysians get to hear words of wisdom and maturity from Christian leaders? Will there be Christian voices coming from recognised leaders instead of more of the same from small fry’s such as myself? Where are the John the Baptists of today? Where are the voices in the wilderness?
Why the silence? Are we Christians saying a Christian voice on national issues is insignificant, unimportant, unnecessary? Is preaching within church walls all that Christian leaders are called to be doing? It is alright if what the Christian Church says is eventually rejected by Malaysians out there. Better to be heard and rejected than not heard from at all.
Yet some churches feel the injustice when the home ministry sent show cause letters to Herald, The Catholic Weekly and Catholic Asian News (CAN) faulting them for not keeping strictly to narrow religious themes. But what is the use of a licence to speak if on the whole Christian leaders do not wish to speak and hasn’t been speaking in the first place? This terrible silence only gives credence to the home ministry’s interpretation that the two Catholic periodicals are the exception not the norm of Christian practice. Therefore they could be isolated and dictated to with inappropriate state attempts at defining what is Christian and what is not.
I, small fry though I am, dare say that in the main, today’s Christian churches keep silent because they fear to offend those who seemingly have power over them. I dare say that Christian churches keep silent not necessarily just through understandable prudence but that we have become cowards. I dare say that Christian churches no longer serve as conscience of the faith but may have tended to become pleasers of men.
There are times when we are called upon to be silent for the sake of God’s kingdom. That I am afraid is not the same thing as hesitation to speak for our own sake.
The neutral gear is engaged to keep the vehicle from unintentionally moving when it is inappropriate for it to move. The Christian Church cannot move on neutral. Neutrality is a strategy. It is intentional. It should not become a hiding place. Or an excuse to stay still or keep silent for an indeterminate period of time.
We need men and women leading churches to have the courage to engage either the forward or reverse gear to effect desirable movement for God’s sake and the sake of the poor and voiceless whom God has sent us to.
We also need men and women in the churches to tell their church leaders to get off their comfort zones and start acting as Christ’s ambassadors and speak the truth sometimes in righteous anger but always in love. For Christ’s sake speak up and state your stand!
August 25, 2008 at 5:29 am
Take courage and do not be dismayed. For the Lord has gone ahead of you and make known His will to His church. That we as Christians are called to be the head and not the tail; to be the salt and light of this world.
Many have pledged their commitment for justice and will continue to do so. Albeit not in the MSM which everyone knows is biased and prejudiced. Therefore, take heart that our battle is not against the flesh but against the evils in the spiritual realm.
Just as you and I make our stand known before man, our spiritual leaders have made their stand known before God. And in God’s time and design if He so chooses to move against man, His will shall be done swiftly as in the Biblical times. Be strong and take courage. Do not fear or be dismayed. Shalom.
August 25, 2008 at 7:05 am
I truly agree with you that the Christian community needs to SPEAK UP and stand on what is wrong and Not sit comfortably in the four corners of the church.
Great article.:)
August 25, 2008 at 7:24 am
Ben,
just to go a step further..it should be said as ” That we as humankind are called to be the head not the tail….to be the light of this world.
WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE…..
SHALOM FROM ONE OF GODS CREATION.
August 25, 2008 at 10:35 am
Jesus say”Love one another. Do unto other as as what you want other do unto you.”So don’t preach retaliation or revenge as Jesus had said “if you live by the sword you will die by the sword.” Do good deed and dont let the left hand know what the right hand do.
August 25, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Yes,the church has been taking that laid- back-wait-and-see position although some quarters of the church have not and are making their stand.
For those who do not wish to speak up, there is nothing we can do about them. We are not their judge but we can teach, encourage and exhort and admonish. But we are not their judge.
More so, we are also not the judge of those who are not of our faith. Although it does say that one day we will judge even the angels in the prophetic language of our Lord and His apostles, we still can’t stand as a judge over others.
If we see the splinter in other people’s eyes, we must take out the log from ours first! This I believe is the reason why Christians do not go overboard with all sorts of accusations of other religions etc.
and should not. Jesus The Messiah said “let him who have no sin take the first stone” to throw at the one who appears so sinful and he was refering to the woman caught in adultery.
ANd yet He has asked us to be harmless as doves but to be wise as serpents ( snakes can sense danger from the vibrations of the ground and they move away from the source of vibrations ). The Church should know when to speak and when not to; it should be a word in season, stinging, essential and preserving as salt.
The Church has spoken in deeds and who among you have not benefitted from the mission schools? What about the countless charities and benevolences that the church has been involved in? The Church has helped with drug rehabs, half-way houses, worked with abandoned children, abused women and housing and education for the poor. The Church has shown that she has loved not only in words but also in good works. That speaks a thousand words more.
For this I commend the Church. Politicians have been speaking much and doing very little. They use the citizens money but the Church has sacrificailly given. Malaysia should be proud of the churches she has as they play their part in nation-building.
Perhaps they should be more vocal in some instances. That I agree. But they have always been speaking, in love and showing love. They did not take to the streets, did not become riotous, did not drain the country’s coffers but contributed to it. They have given birth to some excellent men and women who are now in the government who advocate justice, fairness and love to all mankind.
The church is speaking the LOVE OF GOD through her deeds.
August 26, 2008 at 4:30 am
Hi. I dont have much time to write, so i will be short.
They are many mechanisms to handle this situation, and even more ways to looks at it.
But i ask, what is the point? I ask not in cynicism or pessimism, but really, what do you intend to achieve by speaking out?
Do we want everyone to be aware that we exist and that we have a voice? That we want to shape the policies of the nation by being noisy, as in having loads of “political” activity? To show others that we are doing many things for the nation?
I think not. Man’s objective is to worship God. We could worship God in a political form, or it could be in maintaining a neutral ground, or it could be by swallowing our pride. Like I said, there are many ways to do this. The question is, which way?
It is my responsibility to speak out as a citizen, but it is my Christian faith that makes me a better citizen. There is a difference… but I know this is pretty vague and ambiguous, but look at it like this: Its like a mother being pregnant with her child, the unborn child receives all required nutrients from the mother’s blood, but the child’s blood and the mother’s blood NEVER mixes.
Being a Christian very heavily influences my decisions as a citizen. As far as I am concerned, God put that government there via my vote:) But it is me, as a citizen, who voted, according to my mental faculties and the values that I hold dear, and not because I heard a voice telling me to vote this party or that.
So back to the question at hand… do i advocate speaking out and making some noise? I dont.
As a Christian, i have nothing to prove to my fellow man. Really. As a Christian, its between me an God. I really am not bothered if my neighbour thinks i am cowardly or brave, mute or noisy.
If the Lord looked favourably on the poor lady on the steps of the temple, who didnt give 2 hoots about how pathetic she looked to the others when she gave the little she had to the church, i wont be bothered too.
But my ego would. My ego would say, “… we have to speak out!” or “who do they think I am that they can do this to me?” or “… I’ll show them that i am powerful…” or “… we cant let others think of me like that…” It would be the ego who would ask me to go around waving my holy book and making statements intended for man. It would be my ego telling me to portray myself as more Christian or Chinese than you.
Absurd? Yes. But is it working? Yes also. Don’t believe me? Happens here all the time…protesting against Avril Lavigne, rioting at forums that has little to do with what is being protested… yes, all a wayang to get on the papers and show you that I am holier than thou.
Our neutrality is a tool we can use to promote our values. Yes, certain things will have to have a vocal approach, but by and large, if we can resolve it by just going around the little speed bumps instead of yelling “Our rights are infringed!”, why not? We have been doing that for years, I only hope that our numbers are increasing, and that God is pleased with what he sees.
The Objective my friends, is to worship God, spread the Word and be like Christ. If we can do that with a certain amount of effort, then why choose a more difficult path? There is nothing wrong with the easy path, as long as the objectives are met. But I guess we all know that even the easy paths in this kingdom are difficult.
So then I ask… why make it more difficult?
August 26, 2008 at 5:19 am
My thanks to all who have taken the trouble to make their comments here. In that way you have each spoken out. And there isn’t anything unChristian or unChristlike about that. What you say is not preset. You have said what you wanted to say and it is important that you have said it. How you have said it is not violent or egoistic or even offensive.
What you have done is to participate in a discussion or conversation. Many Malaysians are now voicing their concerns. My objective in writing what I have written is to try to say especially to Christians: join the national conversation. As Christians we have something to contribute to this conversation.
Some one said that Christians may not have done a lot of speaking prefering to let their loving actions do the talking. That’s a very good point. Indeed, it is pointless to speak all the time without our speech being accompanied by good works. But there is a lot to be gained by some helpful talk to go with our action.
Some of you said that we need to be like Christ. But Christ did not always remain silent in the face of injustice which is committed on those who are without voice. He spoke often and even harshly against the rich, famous and powerful. So must we who profess to follow him. Thank you.