"I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry." Amos 5: 21 - 24
Today's societal values appear to be deteriorating. The incidence of violent crime against humanity is climbing and appalling. Cases of violent rape, incest, murder, continued high rate of snatch theft despite highly publicized and sad cases of death or permanent disability arising from such crime are astounding! Do people have no conscience anymore?
Similarly, corruption seems to continue unabated and has not shown any sign of decline. Even Tun Mahathir remarked that corruption seemed to be gaining acceptability, moving from 'under the table' to 'above the table'.
Yet the church in Malaysia seems to be growing and expanding and thriving with increasing attendance, bigger churches and mega churches mushrooming. Each school term break today see hotels at resorts filled and unsurprisingly, occupied by quite a few church camps. My recent church camp saw three church groups 'competing' for the facilities of the resort!
And yet…this growth does not appear to have a proportionate impact on the society at large. The moderating influence as salt and the beacon of hope as light to the world does not seem to have made much of a dent to our Malaysian society. WHY NOT?
Could it be that we, the church, the representative of the Kingdom of God in Malaysia are too preoccupied with our 'other world' pursuits that we have neglected our 'current world' obligations?
Could it be that we are too parochial in our outlook, too inward looking and too concerned only with personal piety and forms of religiosity? An anecdotal example was shared to me by a friend about how during a Sunday sermon, the pastor talked about the need to spend more time in fellowship with the brothers and sisters and not with our non Christian friends less we become 'polluted' by them.
How, I wonder, are we going to be true to our calling to be 'salt and light' if we are reluctant to be engaged with the world and to be involved with the lives of those in need of a 'physician' as the Lord puts it? Jesus did not ask us to look at him in heaven and be saved. He came into our midst and walked with us and lived our lives to present us the logos of life.
In Amos, God made it very clear what is of greater concern to him. It is not our worship services and beautiful music (and mind you, some of our services have gotten quite sophisticated), or the acts of Christian piety (more bumper stickers and wall posters, tracts and other symbolism of religiosity). It is about justice and righteous living that God wants to see without sacrificing the others. Check out what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt 23:23.
So where are we, fellow Christians? Are we making a difference for God in our respective corners of our world? Will Malaysia become a better place because we are here? I commend those of us who have the courage to stand up and be counted, who have decided to walk into the furnace of corruption and wickedness to, with God's help, become beacons of light for the world and the rest of us laggards. I commend the Chun Wais, the Seng Koks, the Ron Tans, the Nehemiahs, the Denisons and many others who dare stand up in the marketplace to make a difference for God.
Lai Tak Ming
Vice President
Graduate Christian Fellowship
Today's societal values appear to be deteriorating. The incidence of violent crime against humanity is climbing and appalling. Cases of violent rape, incest, murder, continued high rate of snatch theft despite highly publicized and sad cases of death or permanent disability arising from such crime are astounding! Do people have no conscience anymore?
Similarly, corruption seems to continue unabated and has not shown any sign of decline. Even Tun Mahathir remarked that corruption seemed to be gaining acceptability, moving from 'under the table' to 'above the table'.
Yet the church in Malaysia seems to be growing and expanding and thriving with increasing attendance, bigger churches and mega churches mushrooming. Each school term break today see hotels at resorts filled and unsurprisingly, occupied by quite a few church camps. My recent church camp saw three church groups 'competing' for the facilities of the resort! And yet…this growth does not appear to have a proportionate impact on the society at large. The moderating influence as salt and the beacon of hope as light to the world does not seem to have made much of a dent to our Malaysian society. WHY NOT?
Could it be that we, the church, the representative of the Kingdom of God in Malaysia are too preoccupied with our 'other world' pursuits that we have neglected our 'current world' obligations?
Could it be that we are too parochial in our outlook, too inward looking and too concerned only with personal piety and forms of religiosity? An anecdotal example was shared to me by a friend about how during a Sunday sermon, the pastor talked about the need to spend more time in fellowship with the brothers and sisters and not with our non Christian friends less we become 'polluted' by them.
How, I wonder, are we going to be true to our calling to be 'salt and light' if we are reluctant to be engaged with the world and to be involved with the lives of those in need of a 'physician' as the Lord puts it? Jesus did not ask us to look at him in heaven and be saved. He came into our midst and walked with us and lived our lives to present us the logos of life. In Amos, God made it very clear what is of greater concern to him. It is not our worship services and beautiful music (and mind you, some of our services have gotten quite sophisticated), or the acts of Christian piety (more bumper stickers and wall posters, tracts and other symbolism of religiosity). It is about justice and righteous living that God wants to see without sacrificing the others. Check out what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt 23:23.
So where are we, fellow Christians? Are we making a difference for God in our respective corners of our world? Will Malaysia become a better place because we are here? I commend those of us who have the courage to stand up and be counted, who have decided to walk into the furnace of corruption and wickedness to, with God's help, become beacons of light for the world and the rest of us laggards. I commend the Chun Wais, the Seng Koks, the Ron Tans, the Nehemiahs, the Denisons and many others who dare stand up in the marketplace to make a difference for God.
Lai Tak Ming
Vice President
Graduate Christian Fellowship
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