City Harvest's founder Kong Hee & 4 others arrested/charged

[concern2]

patagonia:

My 5-year old nephew recently told my mum, \"Por por, you can't go to Heaven because you don't go to church.\" My mum wasn't offended, but was sad that he's 'brainwashed' at such young age. In my mum's simple and uneducated mind, kids should be given a chance to learn and be exposed to different religions before they make their own decision at a later stage. I totally agree.

Thanks for sharing this, patagonia. My son also came back from school one day, asking me this question, \"Mummy, xxx said that if I am not a Christian, I will go to hell, is that true?\"

My answer to him was,\"Just be good, and do good deeds, be the best you can, and not to cause hurt or harm to others. When your time comes, whether you go to hell or go to heaven, it is for God to decide. We are still living on earth, so live your life well, don't be too overly concerned about these things.\"

He liked my answer and went away happily. Frankly, I was also caught off guard with that question, and it was the best I could come up with on the spot. Guess that's what I think unconsciously.

[empressplace]

信则有，不信则无。


So it depends on what you allow yourself to believe in. Ultimately everyone, other than the insane or with mental incapacities, is responsible for their own thoughts.

Younger people have less confidence and less experience to question what they are told. It is important to teach children independent thought and to have a healthy questioning atitude and also to have basic common sense. Once you are in a group, group dynamics take over and a person with a weaker mind will feel safety in numbers and conform to the majority view. And as they spend more time in the group to the exclusion of the outside world, the norms of the group become reality and they become disengaged with the outside world.

As we now live in an urban alienated environment, there are weaker community ties and young adults find themselves unconnected and without a rudder once they are out of school or even in school. Parents work late and have pressures of their own to deal with. Hence megachurches come in to fill this void. It’s not just spiritual needs but also social and emotional needs. The religious organisation’s primary role is spiritual and does not have to be the primary source of fulfilment of social and emotional needs.

Hence there is a real need for the government to look into expanding the outlets available for young adults and teenagers to fulfil these needs and not get them mixed up with religion. For example, humanitarian and charity work could be done by non religious organisations. These organisations could expand their reach to young adults to provide them with a healthy source of fulfilment as well as recreation. Outreach costs money and I suppose governmental authorities have more funding available than any mega church.

[concern2]

empressplace:

信则有，不信则无。


So it depends on what you allow yourself to believe in. Ultimately everyone, other than the insane or with mental incapacities, is responsible for their own thoughts.

Younger people have less confidence and less experience to question what they are told. It is important to teach children independent thought and to have a healthy questioning atitude and also to have basic common sense. Once you are in a group, group dynamics take over and a person with a weaker mind will feel safety in numbers and conform to the majority view. And as they spend more time in the group to the exclusion of the outside world, the norms of the group become reality and they become disengaged with the outside world.

As we now live in an urban alienated environment, there are weaker community ties and young adults find themselves unconnected and without a rudder once they are out of school or even in school. Parents work late and have pressures of their own to deal with. Hence megachurches come in to fill this void. It's not just spiritual needs but also social and emotional needs. The religious organisation's primary role is spiritual and does not have to be the primary source of fulfilment of social and emotional needs.

Hence there is a real need for the government to look into expanding the outlets available for young adults and teenagers to fulfil these needs and not get them mixed up with religion. For example, humanitarian and charity work could be done by non religious organisations. These organisations could expand their reach to young adults to provide them with a healthy source of fulfilment as well as recreation. Outreach costs money and I suppose governmental authorities have more funding available than any mega church.

:goodpost:

[puff]

(From wat i know ... Correct me if i am wrong )Buddhist belief that once reach enlightenment you will go nirvana which is like Chirstian heaven... However it is not eternity.... once good karma used up , will be back to rebirth ( maybe this help in overcrowding situation in heaven too :rotflmao: )

[HVR]

concern2:

patagonia:

My 5-year old nephew recently told my mum, \"Por por, you can't go to Heaven because you don't go to church.\" My mum wasn't offended, but was sad that he's 'brainwashed' at such young age. In my mum's simple and uneducated mind, kids should be given a chance to learn and be exposed to different religions before they make their own decision at a later stage. I totally agree.

Thanks for sharing this, patagonia. My son also came back from school one day, asking me this question, \"Mummy, xxx said that if I am not a Christian, I will go to hell, is that true?\"

My answer to him was,\"Just be good, and do good deeds, be the best you can, and not to cause hurt or harm to others. When your time comes, whether you go to hell or go to heaven, it is for God to decide. We are still living on earth, so live your life well, don't be too overly concerned about these things.\"

He liked my answer and went away happily. Frankly, I was also caught off guard with that question, and it was the best I could come up with on the spot. Guess that's what I think unconsciously.

Good reply concern2! In fact this perspective is applicable to many other aspects of our life too.

[empressplace]

puff:

(From wat i know ... Correct me if i am wrong )Buddhist belief that once reach enlightenment you will go nirvana which is like Chirstian heaven... However it is not eternity.... once good karma used up , will be back to rebirth ( maybe this help in overcrowding situation in heaven too :rotflmao: )

From the little I know of Buddhism, Nirvana is not like the Christian heaven. It is a state of mind free from suffering. Morality issues are not that significantly different among the different religions but the Buddhist world view is fundamentally different from a Christian world view. A Buddhist will be able to reach Nirvana and can only reach Nirvana from personal efforts. A person can only accept Christ to go to Heaven.

[patagonia]

His parents are Christians. Their kid, their religion, their decision how they want to bring up the kid. We won't interfere, even when the boy was reluctant to go to church sometimes.


This is off-topic already. To get back on track, I'll again share with everyone Kong Hee's sermon in the recent Presence Conference 2012 in Sydney. It's about 30 minutes long, and do move the clip forward from 39:30 onwards. http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2012/04/kong-hees-fleecing-of-the-masses.html

I believe everyone should hear it for themselves since he's unlikely to repeat this in Singapore in short-term.

[empressplace]

The following podcast from the same website shows how KH himself views the 6 months of investigations in 2010.


http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2012/06/ed-youngs-calvinist-melt-down.html
Listen from 16.00 to 23.00.

[Sun_2010]

puff:

(From wat i know ... Correct me if i am wrong )

Puff, Sorry but I do feel your post is frivolous.
I am not a buddhist but religion being a sensitive topic should be approached with respect even when we do not agree, understand or believe in practices.
There is beauty in world religions, let's live and let live.

[Jennifer]

empressplace:

These organisations could expand their reach to young adults to provide them with a healthy source of fulfilment as well as recreation. Outreach costs money and I suppose governmental authorities have more funding available than any mega church.

There are already many outreach programs.

It's a matter of whether the youth want to join or not.