The Piety of the Persecutors

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. (Daniel 2:34 ESV)

Originally, the Romans persecuted Christians out of their belief that Christianity was a "superstition" or "atheism". Actually, Christianity is a dangerous religion. Roman beliefs, religion and culture were involved in an existential struggle with Christianity. If Christianity win, the Roman gods and Roman culture will die. Christianity did win and Rome and its gods died.

QUOTE
The Roman Empire was generally quite tolerant in its treatment of other religions. The imperial policy was generally one of incorporation - the local gods of a newly conquered area were simply added to the Roman pantheon and often given Roman names. Even the Jews, with their one god, were generally tolerated. So why the persecution of Christians?

In order to understand the Roman distrust of Christianity, one must understand the Roman view of religion. For the Romans, religion was first and foremost a social activity that promoted unity and loyalty to the state - a religious attitude the Romans called pietas, or piety. Cicero wrote that if piety in the Roman sense were to disappear, social unity and justice would perish along with it.

The early Roman writers viewed Christianity not as another kind of piety, but as a "superstition." Pliny, a Roman governor writing circa 110 AD, called Christianity a "superstition taken to extravagant lengths." Similarly, the Roman historian Tacitus called it "a deadly superstition," and the historian Suetonius called Christians "a class of persons given to a new and mischievous superstition."
UNQUOTE
Robert L. Wilkin, "The Piety of the Persecutors" Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 18

Now Christianity is involved in existential struggle with China. If Christianity wins, China and the Chinese culture and beliefs as we know it will cease to exist. Like the Romans, the Chinese are aware of this and they are trying very hard to stamp out Christianity.

In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever. (Daniel 2:44 BSB)

Paul Caused Religious Disharmony In Ephesus

About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. He called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows:
"Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren't really gods at all. And he's done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! Of course, I'm not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I'm also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis - this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world - will be robbed of her great prestige!"
At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the believers wouldn't let him. Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater.
Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn't even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak. But when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Acts 19:23-33 NLT)

Romans were polytheists and polytheists are very religiously tolerant. They would had gladly added Jesus to their pantheon of gods. But the Christians, being monotheists, are very religiously intolerant. Paul refused to accept the Roman and Greek gods as gods. There were great religious disruption in those days. I wondered what would had happened if Paul were to be religiously tolerant. What would the world today be like without Christianity's disruptive influence?

Christianity The Dangerous Religion

He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32 ESV)

The New Testament is full of ordinary people, who would not have been known, if Christianity did not become a world religion. Who would be interested in Galilean fishermen who lived 2000 years ago?

In the first 300 years of Christianity, the religion was spread by ordinary people, unknown to history. No general took up the sword to force people to become Christians. No king got converted and made Christianity a national religion. In fact, in the first 300 years of Christianity, Christians were persecuted by good and wise Roman Emperors, who realized that the Roman culture was involved in an existential struggle with Christianity. If Christianity win, the Roman gods and Roman culture will die.

Christianity did win and Rome and its gods died.

This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:23 ESV)

How Religions Got Started

Many believed that religion is invented because men realize that limitation of their understanding and control of the world they lived in. They created gods to explain the things that they cannot control or understand so that they would not look stupid, but instead, appear to understand certain mysteries. Many of these secular people believed that religions evolved first as a polytheism and evolved into monotheism as the thoughts of the people progressed.

And people became even more progressive and came up science and the scientific method that taught the people to think, to experiment and to prove. As science progress, ignorance was stripped away and the control of the environment increase. One by one, the gods started to lose their jobs. They were no longer required as an explanation for many things.

Secular people treat religion as part of the progress of mankind, something that may still have some good, but not always relevant to the modern world. Secular governments treat all religions as equal, tolerating them as long as they respect state control.

While the petty gods slipped away, one God continues to hold out against science, the God that created the heavens and the earth. While science has progressed to explained most things, science is still unable to explain creation. The best science can come up with is the Big Bang theory, but what caused the Big Bang? Nobody knows. So the God that created the heavens and the earth is still needed to fill the gap. Will He lose His job like the rest of the petty gods?

"Well," He said, "No." For He has another explanation on how religions were started. Men were created to believe in God. Religions were started when men refused to believe in the one true God. But since men were created to believe, something had to replace the true creator. Thus all kinds of gods were invented as a substitute. So first there was monotheism. Then it degenerated into polytheism. Since these gods are false, they could not withstand the scrutiny of science and they started to look stupid, giving all religions a bad name (called superstitions).

For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25 HCSB)

Religions Become More Sensitive

Catholics protested against CHIJMES publicity materials for a Easter weekend "Escape Chapel Party" which showed girls dressed in nun's habits and mini-skirts with thighs exposed. Organised by Creative Insurgence, the Singapore arm of a British events company, it was to be held on Saturday 7 April. After the protest, the event was cancelled.

Taoists protested againts the use Taoist robe worn by a model in fashion catwalk organized by the Floral Designers Society of Singapore at Furama RiverFront Hotel on 30 March. They said that the red robe is a sacred ceremonial robe can only be worn by ordained Taoist priests when they conduct religious ceremonies and important rituals.

The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act is now making religions more sensitive, assertive and intolerant. In the past, they could do nothing. Now they can charge you under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. Even Buddhists and Taoists get into the act. They used to be the "Eastern or Asian" culture type, suffering in silence, feeling inferior because their practices are viewed as superstitions.

Should Christians in Singapore resort to this Act to defend our God?

In Judges 6:25-32, God asked Gideon to tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. When the men of the city found that Gideon had torn down Baal's altar and cut the Asherah pole beside it, they went to Joash, his father and ask him to put Gideon to death.

But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar." (Judges 6:31 HCSB)

Is our God like the idol Baal, who need men to plead His case for Him? No. God will plead His own case. We do not need to appeal to this Act to defend our God.

Reaching God Through Silence

Today (14 Jan 2012) Straits Times Forum (page A47) published a reply by Shi Chuan Guan (Shi ZhiXing), Dharma Propagation Chair, Singapore Buddhist Federation, in response at an article by Chua Mui Hoong on Tuesday (Straits Times Prime Commentary Page A2), who thought that she found some harmony in all religions - reaching God through silence. But Shi Chuan Guan unharmoniously rebutted her. This is part of what he wrote:

QUOTE

Buddhists do not have a belief in a creator god and also do not meditate to reach god through silence.

We meditate to cultivate samadhi (concentration) and prajna (wisdom).

This wisdom culminates in nirvana, which is the complete cessation of suffering, attaining Buddhahood.

This is not communion with god or gods.

UNQUOTE

Well, the Bible tells us that there is a Creator God, but the Bible never teaches Christians to communicate with God through silence. We pray intelligently and verbally to God. There are times when we have to wait in silence for God's answer, but that is waiting, not communicating.

Actually if you read Chua Mui Hoong's article carefully, she did not contradict Buddhism. This is what she wrote:

QUOTE

They focused on contemplation and meditation - the common search for meaning and the journey to God or Ultimate Reality or Divine Consciousness, through the path of stillness and silence.

UNQUOTE

So she described exactly what Shi Chuan Guan described - meditate to attain wisdom than to the ultimate - nirvana. She just did not add nirvana into her catalogue of ultimates to seek, but neither did she claim that those are the only three possibilities.

But she contradicted the Bible. The Bible tells us that men never seek for the true God. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11 KJV)", but it is God that seeks for us. "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. (Luke 19:10 NLT)".

Stop your seeking through the path of stillness and silence. God had already spoken and had told us the way. Any other way leads to ultimate futility.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NASB)

Six Blind Men of Hindustan

So six blind men of Hindustan
disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right,
they all were in the wrong!

Many people like to quote the story of the blind men and the elephant to conclude that we are just like the blind men attempting to explain the Divine, which is just too huge to be grasped.

But this is not the issue. Most of us would acknowledge that we are blind, which is why we follow the teachings of the wise men who claim to see and started religions. The problem now is that those who claim to see are telling us different things. Now we who are blind are confused. Since we are blind, how can we conclude that the wise men are also blind?

All the wise men of Religion
Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha,
Each claimed to able to see
and we who are blind are not on par;
Do we dare to declare them also blind,
Since their opinions are apart so far!

But among the wise men, there is One who claimed that He is more than Man. He is actually from Heaven and thus qualified to tell us all about Heaven.

No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. (John 3:13 NLT)

So what shall we do? Should we acknowledge our blindness and follow Him, or should we claim that we can see and follow the other wise men?

Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains." (John 9:40-41 NASB)

Polycarp and Rony Tan

POLYCARP
Bishop Polycarp of the Church of Smyrna was caught by the Roman authorities for being a member of a cult called Christians, who refused to worship Caesar and other Roman idols, seriously undermining the peace and unity of the mighty Roman empire. (Note: Romans considered Christians to be atheists because they did not worship Roman idols.)

The proconsul was quite nice to Polycarp. He had considered Polycarp's age and tried to release him by persuading him to a deny Christ.

Proconsul:
Have respect to thine age, swear by the genius of Caesar; repent and say, Away with the atheists.

Polycarp:
Away with the atheists.

Proconsul:
Swear and I will release thee; - reproach Christ.

Polycarp:
Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath saved me?

Proconsul:
Swear by the genius of Caesar.

Polycarp:
If thou supposest vainly that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as thou sayest, and feignest that thou art ignorant who I am, hear thou plainly, I AM A CHRISTIAN. But if thou wouldest learn the doctrine of Christianity, assign a day and give me a hearing.

Proconsul:
Prevail upon the people.

Polycarp:
As for thyself, I should have held thee worthy of discourse; for we have been taught to render, as is meet, to princes and authorities appointed by God such honor as does us no harm; but as for these, I do not hold them worthy, that I should defend myself before them.

Proconsul:
I have wild beasts here and I will throw thee to them, except thou repent

Polycarp:
Call for them: for the repentance from better to worse is a change not permitted to us; but it is a noble thing to change from untowardness to righteousness.

Proconsul:
I will cause thee to be consumed by fire, if thou despisest the wild beasts, unless thou repent.

Polycarp:
Thou threatenest that fire which burneth for a season and after a little while is quenched: for thou art ignorant of the fire of the future judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why delayest thou? Come, do what thou wilt.

Polycarp was burnt on Saturday, the 16th of Nisan.

RONY TAN
It was reported on 9th February 2010 in the Straits Times that the Internal Security Department (ISD) has called up Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism after receiving complaints about online video clips that show him making insensitive comments about Buddhism. This had threatened the peace and unity of the small Singapore Republic. Following his interview with ISD, Pastor Rony Tan posted the following statement on the church’s website, apologising for his insensitive remarks.

Urgent Message From Pastor Rony:
"I have received a number of emails from people who have been saddened and hurt by the testimonies of an ex-monk and an ex-nun. I realized that my presentation and comments were wrong and offensive. So I sincerely apologize for my insensitivity towards the Buddhists and Taoists, and solemnly promise that it will never happen again.

When we have received those emails, we immediately removed the video clips from our website. I urge those who have posted those clips on the YouTube to remove them as well.

After reading the frank views from those emails, I was also prompted to tell my members not only to continue to love souls, but also to respect other belief and not to ridicule them in any way, shape or fashion.

Let’s put our goal to build a harmonious Singapore a top priority."

Pastor Rony Tan is still the pastor of Lighthouse Evangelism as at today.

Church Reaction to persistent call for Religious Harmony

The church and state is separate. This is good because they have different goals. However, there are times when they could be on a collision path. During the time of the Roman Empire, the state insists that everyone acknowledge that the emperor is divine. This the Christians cannot accept and many were martyred. Most modern democracies practise religious freedom. However, some, like Singapore, makes religious harmony a law. They insist that all religions should not criticise each other.

Christianity is an exclusive religion. If Christianity is true, all other religions are false. This is written explicitly, implicitly, clearly and unambiguously in the Bible. Jesus is the only way (John 14:6) and there is no other way (Acts 4:12). There is only one God (Exodus 20:3-5, 1 Timothy 2:5) and there is none else (Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 43:11), in the past, in the present and in the future (Isaiah 43:10). Thus Christianity cannot be harmonise with other religions, monotheistic or otherwise and runs the risk of breaching the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. So what can a Christian in Singapore do?

First, we have the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) to obey. Then we have the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act that forbids us to criticise other religions.

Let us heed the advice given by our Lord Jesus Himself, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16)." We do not have to criticise other religions in public gospel meetings. We just tell them that Jesus is the only way. It may be offensive to some, but we do not criticise the other religions directly. The hearers can form their own conclusions.

When we share the gospel with our friends, we can do it with more liberty. But if we share it with strangers, we have to do it with discretion, asking for wisdom from our Lord. But for our own church members, we should educate them on the error of other religions. We can do a comparative study of Christianity with the other religions, highlighting the differences. We have to do this on the basis of Bible teachings. We cannot criticise them flippantly, but scripturally and logically. Since our religion is true, our ground is sure.

We have to "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15 NASB). " We have to pray "for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (1 Timothy 2:2 NASB)."

However, when we have to make a choice between the Church and the State, we have to follow the example of Peter and the apostles, who answered to the authorities of their day, "We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29 NASB)."

The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act creates more disharmony

The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act is now making Singaporeans more sensitive. Now even those not part of any established religion, such as the gays, are asking Rony Tan to apologise.

Journey to West (西遊記) insults Taoism

In the epic story Journey to West (西遊記), in the chapter Havoc in Heaven (大闹天宫), the Monkey God (孙悟空) made a monkey out of the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝), mock at the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu, also known as 李耳 and 太上老君. The Jade Emperor was forced to honour the monkey with the title "Great Sage who is Equal to Heaven (齐天大圣)". Finally, the Jade Emperor was forced to look for Buddha (如来佛祖) to tame this monkey, thus proving that Taoism is inferior to Buddhism.
No Taoist ever lodges a complaint to ban this book. This is because the story is so popular and everyone is desensitised because of the common knowledge. Every Taoist has been inoculated with this story, and they do not feel that they are being insulted.

Religious Inoculation

The best way for religious harmony is Religious inoculation. When all the representatives of various religions sit down together, they should not try to look at their common points and pretend to agree with one another and say that all religions are the same and is good. They should go through all their differences, and know how their religion would be criticised by the other religions. When every religion knows how they would be criticised and had those criticisms repeated repeatedly to them, they would be less sensitive to the criticisms. For example, the Buddhist should be told that the Christians do not accept reincarnation as true. The next time when they were told that some Christian pastor is criticising reincarnation, they would say, “I know, the Christians always says that.”

Religious Fault Lines

These are the most common fault lines of the major religions of Singapore:

Fault lines - Monotheistic versus Non-monotheistic
Monotheistic religions believe in one God who governs the universe and to whom we are responsible for our actions on Judgment Day. Monotheistic religions by definition are exclusive. If my God is real, then the other gods have to be false. Reincarnation is not true.

Fault lines within Monotheistic religions - Jews, Christians and Muslims
The Christians said, "Jesus is the Messiah (Christ) according to the Old Testament. Mohammed is a false prophet. The Koran is not true."
The Jews said, "The Messiah has not come. Jesus is not the Messiah. The New Testament is not true. Mohammed is a false prophet. The Koran is not true."
The Muslims said, "Mohammed is the last and greatest of the prophets. Jesus is one of the prophets. The Bible was corrupted by the Jews and Christians."

Non-monotheistic religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism are usually inclusive. They can welcome and absorp other gods and doctrines. They are seldom involved in religious wars.

The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act is therefore good for non-monotheistic religions because now they protected by the Act and cannot be criticised. But it will cause problem with the monotheistic religions because when the monotheistic religions explain their religions, they would have to explain their exclusivity, and that may involve criticism of other religions, monotheistic or non-monotheistic. If they cannot, then they cannot fully practise their religion and will build up tension and resentment. If Singapore wants to maintain religious harmony, the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act has to take into account the exclusive nature of the monotheistic religions and recognise the fault lines, or risk religious disharmony in the future.

MacDonald, Rony Tan, Religious Harmony and Sensitive People

The Internal Security Department (ISD) has called up Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism in connection with his comments and insinuations about Buddhism and Taoism at his church sessions.

By intervening in this case, the Singapore government had made a mistake. The religious fault lines exist long before Singapore. Trying to manage these religious fault lines is like trying to manage the tectonic fault lines that cause earthquake.

When the Singapore government acted on behalf of sensitive people to call up Rony Tan, more sensitive people will be created. Now that sensitive Buddhist can complain about Rony Tan, can sensitive Christians complain about Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and get it banned? What about the book "Jesus Prophet of Islam" by Muhammad Ata-ur-Rahman/Ahmad Thomson? Can this be banned too?

When MacDonald Restaurant took care of the feelings of the sensitive Muslims by replacing the pig in the Chinese Zodiac with Cupid, it offended the feelings of some sensitive Chinese. Fortunately most Chinese are insensitive to religion.

The correct way would be to manage the sensitive people so as to reduce their number. Those who complained against Rony Tan should be counselled to understand the fault lines of the major religions of Singapore. If everybody becomes sensitive, then nobody can talk. Every word will be an offence to someone.

There should be a Religious Harmony session among the different religions to emphasise on their difference and how to manage the criticisms of each other. Some formula could be agreed upon, for example, to allow criticisms of another religion, as long as it is based on the teachings of that religion. To deny that these differences exist is to deny reality.

All the religions should know how the other religions would criticise them and accept it as part of that religion and promise not to incite violence against the religions that do not accept their views.

Please don't try to manage religious fault lines by stopping criticisms. It won't work. It builds up pressure for a bigger earthquake at a later date.

Truth Versus Religious Harmony

"Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth" Matthew Henry (1662-1714). The Singapore government values religious harmony. But would the Singapore government sacrifice truth for peace?

Negative criticism is also needed

A friend once mentioned this to me, “We should not criticize other religions. We should just emphasize the positive points of our own religion.” When the banks sold the Lehman Brothers mini-bonds, they emphasize on the positive points of the product. Many people are unable to see the short coming of the products by just looking at the positive points.
Religions are an equally complex subject. Not many people can see the positives and negatives of a religion, unless it is pointed out to them. When the pros and cons are listed, then a person is in a better position to make sound judgment.