Posted on The Star - Citizen Blog on Monday, January 11, 2010
In this past few days, our nation that was always looked up as a peaceful, multi-racial and multi-cultural country was slapped with one of the worst religiously motivated attack on churches in our country’s history.
The arson attack on eight churches in Klang Valley and other parts of the country have been condemned by our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as well as political leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties.
Some call this the black day and some others say that this is truly a sad day for Malaysia. This is an act of extremism, which could dampen the government’s effort in promoting 1Malaysia concept.
Never the less, the beauty of these scenario is that the leaders of the Metro Tabernacle Church - that was badly effected in these incident - said that they do not harbour any ill-feelings against the culprits but choose to forgive those responsible.
The senior pastor of the church, Rev Ong Sek Leang was quoted saying: “We have a congregation of about 1,700 who are Godly and forgiving.”
That is a peaceful and Christ-like remark. I salute them for their stand. This shows their true Christian spirit of love and forgiveness. We should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
Jesus Christ told His disciples: “If someone slaps you on your left cheek, give also the right side.” – This shows that we should forgive ‘on the spot’ anyone who hurts us. Easy to say but it takes courage to practice.
The other beautiful part is, many non government organizations including the Muslim brothers condemn the unlawful and unIslamic action and some NGO's even offered to make security rounds around churches to make sure it's safety.
I believe, we should continue to be kind and tender hearted to one another and forgive one another.
Let us together do everything possible on our part to leave in peace with everybody and not revenge anyone.
SALAM 1MALAYSIA!
by: Kumarathevan BalakrishnanComments
The phrase "If someone slaps you on your left cheek, give also the right side" has been widely misused and misunderstood. There is no recorded incident in the Bible that Jesus actually did that, even when he was persecuted. The whole moral of that phrase is simply not to retaliate. And I applaud the Christians for doing just that.
For the pastor to say "I forgive" is not as easy as reported. It takes a lot of soul searching and prayers, I am sure to be able to say what he said! I praise the Lord for giving him the strength to say what he said. Not all professing Christians can say what he said, that is for sure! However, by saying it, he has given strength to many others, not only in his congregation but other Christians and I hope non-Christians, too, that our God, a God of love and therefore forgiving in nature, will always give us the Strength to do the near impossible if we pray to Him and trust in Him and be guided by Him. This is our strength and I am sure many true Muslims share this with us, because we believe in the same almighty and powerful God/Allah!
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