The other day, there was a lively discussion among friends in regards to the influence of religion in our lives. I was among the people from diverse religious background and it was a lively religion discussion. In a world where bombs would ripped our limbs, heads, torso and anatomy parts apart, I count it a real privilege being able to sit together in one coffee table together with friends from different race and creed. Topics range from mismanagement - human & finance side ( very very lengthy and healthy debates ) , leadership style, fundamental structures and even everyday application were discussed at a lively pace. I guess, I must say that in many ways, we are surprisingly alike in such issues. All of us were in unison of agreement when it comes to financial mismanagement, bad preachers, weak leadership, irresponsible/"lack of balls" ( hey! these are very very real people! ) board of trustees and the iron-fist clad nonsensical policies.
I guess, as I reflect on the discussion held over a nice cuppa coffee, "pisang goreng" and "ubi keledek goreng", it is nice to know that there are people out there who really care for their own religious establishment. All of us hate mismanagement and wastages ( equating it to our present government policies and wasteful ways! ) while the apt/precise Malay proverb " harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi" stick like a sore thumb whenever discussion of leaders and leadership comes into question. All in all, it was a lively discussion and you could see every believer in their faith faces such real situation eventhough we always think that "the grass is always greener on the other side." The truth is that every religious institution and believer faces the same difficulties and it is how these problems are overcame that is important.
This is what I believe -
1) Shoddy and questionable religious preachers/pastors/reverends/leaders with "dirty" hands on the finance matters, integrity and questionable leadership style MUST GO IMMEDIATELY! Act now or the rot gets worse! My caution is this : The removal is easy but the re-building of lives lost due to the acts by these unscrupulous people over the years is so much harder. So, THE ROT MUST STOP! The "KELUAR" sign hanging at the exit doors are there for a purpose!
2) Board Members/Deacons/Trustees/Council who are morally corrupt, questionable characters, shoddy handling of critical matters and have no balls in decision making - MUST GO OUT the door too! They too cannot be ignorant of the "KELUAR" signage hanging at door!
3) RE-BUILDING the religious institution by installing the fundamental structure and foundation of faith. The physical building is just a physical structure with no exceptional purpose except for the gathering of the believers. It is the human structure of faith building that I am talking about. Re-building hurt and real lives are more important than mere concrete building.
4) RE-CONNECT, REACH OUT and HEAL the hurting people who were outside the confines of the faith foundation because of such acts of terrorism in our religious institution today. Birds wandered off their nest because the parent birds are not feeding solid food to the young birds. Not because every bird would have to leave their nest someday. Yes, eventually, they will leave their nest but every sensible and logical parent in the animal kingdom would understand that even the young ones needed to be cared, nurtured and given good solid food foundation before they can leave the nest lest they becomes the prey of the predators.
5) Offer the olive branch of HEALING and SUPPORT for the hurting, the lost and the unfortunate by genuinely caring and concern of their lives. Pretense, pretentious personalities and fakeness are easily recognizable especially when it is permeated by such fake leaders we have these days in the religious institution. There just too many who are called leaders only by name sake but would not lift a single finger to make a difference in the lives of others. The saying " Evil triumphs when good men/women does nothing! " is an accurate rendition of truth for multi-faced leaders.
6) NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN GOD. No preacher, no preacher's wife, no preacher's children, no leader , no personality, NO ONE is bigger than GOD. Even so-called ordained servant of God cannot claim to be correct ALL the time. I am a firm believer in this phrase : You can lie to some people some time but you cannot lie to every one all the time!
7) A concern caution : To these rotten leaders/lack of nuts leaders, LEAVE GRACEFULLY lest you be SHOVED OUT the door in a horrifically shameful manner when an expose explodes in the face! After all, what is done in the dark will eventually be exposed by the deafening righteous light no matter how hard one tries to conceal it. The Light will triumph eventually.
There you have it - United despite our diversity!
This is what I believe -
1) Shoddy and questionable religious preachers/pastors/reverends/leaders with "dirty" hands on the finance matters, integrity and questionable leadership style MUST GO IMMEDIATELY! Act now or the rot gets worse! My caution is this : The removal is easy but the re-building of lives lost due to the acts by these unscrupulous people over the years is so much harder. So, THE ROT MUST STOP! The "KELUAR" sign hanging at the exit doors are there for a purpose!
2) Board Members/Deacons/Trustees/Council who are morally corrupt, questionable characters, shoddy handling of critical matters and have no balls in decision making - MUST GO OUT the door too! They too cannot be ignorant of the "KELUAR" signage hanging at door!
3) RE-BUILDING the religious institution by installing the fundamental structure and foundation of faith. The physical building is just a physical structure with no exceptional purpose except for the gathering of the believers. It is the human structure of faith building that I am talking about. Re-building hurt and real lives are more important than mere concrete building.
4) RE-CONNECT, REACH OUT and HEAL the hurting people who were outside the confines of the faith foundation because of such acts of terrorism in our religious institution today. Birds wandered off their nest because the parent birds are not feeding solid food to the young birds. Not because every bird would have to leave their nest someday. Yes, eventually, they will leave their nest but every sensible and logical parent in the animal kingdom would understand that even the young ones needed to be cared, nurtured and given good solid food foundation before they can leave the nest lest they becomes the prey of the predators.
5) Offer the olive branch of HEALING and SUPPORT for the hurting, the lost and the unfortunate by genuinely caring and concern of their lives. Pretense, pretentious personalities and fakeness are easily recognizable especially when it is permeated by such fake leaders we have these days in the religious institution. There just too many who are called leaders only by name sake but would not lift a single finger to make a difference in the lives of others. The saying " Evil triumphs when good men/women does nothing! " is an accurate rendition of truth for multi-faced leaders.
6) NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN GOD. No preacher, no preacher's wife, no preacher's children, no leader , no personality, NO ONE is bigger than GOD. Even so-called ordained servant of God cannot claim to be correct ALL the time. I am a firm believer in this phrase : You can lie to some people some time but you cannot lie to every one all the time!
7) A concern caution : To these rotten leaders/lack of nuts leaders, LEAVE GRACEFULLY lest you be SHOVED OUT the door in a horrifically shameful manner when an expose explodes in the face! After all, what is done in the dark will eventually be exposed by the deafening righteous light no matter how hard one tries to conceal it. The Light will triumph eventually.
There you have it - United despite our diversity!
No comments:
Post a Comment