Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! Unfortunately I’ll still be too busy to post on this blog for a while, but I’ll keep the articles up and you can contact me via WordPress account… Thanks

Prayer Challenge

I want to challenge Steve Chin of the International Churches of Christ (in China/Hong Kong/Taiwan etc…) to a prayer challenge -a kind of prayer showdown if you will, for God to bring true light to our respective causes.

If God exposes me to be unjustly or deceitfully dealing with the International Churches of Christ I’ll cease my influence. If God exposes you and associates to be dealing with me and any of my family/friends unjustly or deceitfully, then you’ll have to cease influence.

If I lose this will involve me apologizing on this site for any wrongdoing and then dismantling it, and ceasing to try to exert any influence over current members as well as ceasing any efforts to dissuade newcomers from joining the ICOC.

If you lose it will involve you and associates signing a guarantee to cease any secretive, manipulative or deceitful meddling or interference upon my life or my family, friends and associates (including ex-members known by me, colleagues, potential employers etc,) regardless of country, territory, online or offline. This includes that done by yourself or any networks or connections of yours, whether in the church or not.

Religious authority…

Religious authority is sometimes a tricky one… Some churces may claim to be the ‘right’ church, or imply their the ‘only’ church, and with that assume their authority is  basically the authority under the Word of God, and they’ll use scriptures to imply this authority. It’s up to us research the Word of God and decide how authority can be used, to what extent, and also be able to detect when it is being abused.

 

A little ‘under construction’…

I found the notebook, but under the weather again… DOH! Hopefully will publish a new post soon…

Personal Update…

I’ve been a bit sick the last few days, and out of the loop regarding post-ICOC religious world… I have some more ideas written down in a notebook, but somehow lost it. Once I find it I’ll get back to some posts…

Also, I’m on twitter now: www.twitter.com/donakrv, which I’m mainly using to keep people updated with my music and cartoons on Struggling Muso and Munhwa Experience.

Dealing with religious world…

I’m learning more and more it’s all down to faith. I know everyone says it’s about ‘faith’, but what does this mean? For me, in context of my situation having come from the International Churches of Christ, faith means several things.

It means persevering despite what’s happened in the past. It means continuing to investigate the bible, and not just go with the flow of whatever church culture you happen to be immersed in. It means searching for wisdom and knowing why you believe what you believe.

Faith also means using the wisdom from the bible to defend yourself against manipulation and guilt trips of a dodgy church. It means having the fortitude and wisdom to know when to support certain leaders and when to avoid or oppose certain leaders.

 This is the kind of faith developed over time, because you learn that some leaders in the religious world have no scruples and will take advantage of the naive and vulnerable. You need faith to guard against abuse and seek ways to minimise it for future generations of believers.

Faith helps you be grounded in the gospel of Christ and the word rather than the institution, which allows you to contribute spiritually to the institution and hold it accountable where necessary.

Riding the beast Part 2

One of the fundamental contradictions in many religions is that they preach humility and integrity on the one hand, but when their organizations experience exponential growth the leaders are inclined to the temptation of pride and glory. Furthermore, while the rhetoric of the religious group focuses on the teachings of its religion, the reality can be a tendency for competitiveness, political games and maneuvering. This becomes apparent when the privileges and advantages of being in the top leadership motivate unscrupulous players who are more interested in power than in really promoting the religion with integrity.

This definitely became an issue with the ICOC and I believe it’s still a factor today in some congregations. The discipling system allows greater control by leaders and causes members to be further open to abuse and exploitation whether it be financial, emotional, psychological or otherwise. When people began to see inequality between lower members and some leaders in the ICOC in 2003 many became disillusioned and left, but some churches still seem to have a desire to bring back the burdens of pre-2003.

This is why I’ve titled this post and the last one ‘Riding the Beast’. These idealistic movements begin with freshness and inspiration, and it attracts a lot of people, but they also attract people who seek to take advantage of the movement when there’s so much to be gained by advancing your own position. You have to look below the surface of rhetoric and see people’s motives. You have to read between the lines. You also have to detect techniques of manipulation, veiled coercion and threats and pressures to cause members to be over-dependent on the organization.

This is unacceptable for generally decent religion. I’m talking about Christianity, but also any religion that supports universal principles of love, integrity, honesty, righteousness, hard-work, humility and peace, etc. An example passage is Galatians 5.22-24. Spiritual guidance is supposed to empower us spiritually, not enslave us to an organization. The organization is supposed to aid and help us in our spiritual quest, not use us for the purposes of a few at the top. It’s suppose to increase our knowledge and wisdom in the face of life’s difficulties, not restrain us psychologically under the whims and desires of an elite theocracy or clergy-clique.

I believe the aim of Paul the Apostle was to guide recent Christians of his day into greater spiritual growth and wisdom. His focus was on accountability we will have before God, and therefore to help us take responsibility for ourselves as we grow in Christ. But he knew all the pitfalls of religion, and one was the dangers of followers being led astray and exploited, as is seen in 2 Corinthians 11:19-21:

(New International Version) 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!

I saw an interesting documentary the other day on Islam, and one of the Muslims being interviewed claimed that for hundreds of years there was no clergy in Islam, meaning that no leaders of the religion were paid for their religious work, they all had secular jobs. The interviewee made the point that because of this there was no motive for leaders to exploit followers, they had no vested interest in establishing a religious bureaucracy.

At any rate, I feel that as Christians in the modern world, we have more at our disposal to educate ourselves, and should strive to maintain enough wisdom, flexible and independence, that we know when to support a church and know when to walk away. Never let a church culture, movement or organization give you the impression that it is essential to your salvation. It’s not. It’s the gospel that’s essential to your salvation.

Spiritually churches come and go. They can be righteous in one point of time, but if you know your New Testament well, they can go sour, become seduced by money, devour themselves internally by deceit, envy and competitiveness, water down the gospel and New Testament teachings or just grow complacent. It’s up to all members, not just leadership, to help each other stay on the narrow path.

But if corrupt leaders get in power, it’s time to leave or go into hiding, because not only will they strive to play the system, they will secretly strive to gather supporters who are just as deceitful and corrupt as they are, because that’s how they gain security, and they’ll strive to isolate, slander and provoke anyone who would dare stand up to them or threaten to expose them. At this ponit the key is to have faith in God.

Riding the beast Part 1

In the next couple of posts I’m exploring the issues of power and idealistic or revolutionary movements, again in light of my experience in the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). I suppose I’m looking at how the power influences people who have it and people who don’t, and how at the beginning they came together.

We’re all familiar with the term ‘power corrupts’ but it’s scary how power and control in a religious group can creep up. A church or religious organisation is first and foremost a place for believers to come together to  interact, encourage and edify each other. Persevering in one’s faith is a difficult thing -at times the most challenging commitment to keep, and a church should be about spurring you on. It should provide services of teaching, guidance and activities, and you should provide contributions of time, money and talent. Within this interaction is fellowship and fulfilling relationships.

But the problem is when a religious organisation becomes a monster so much more complicated and intrusive than what it should be. It takes on the Orwellian symptoms of control by a few over the many. It imitates tendencies of autocratic regimes and dictatorships in the use of information, propaganda, character assassination and the fundamental twisting of truth and justice.

The question is, how does this happen in a democratic society? And why does such an authoritarian religious group grow in popularity? How does it gain so much control over people’s lives in a society that values freedom and democracy? Not that democratic systems are squeaky clean. We all know corruption exists, but there’s freedom of the press and ways to balance power. And we still have to pay our taxes and support the government. But you don’t want to be in the position of supporting two corrupt institutions: the government and your religious order. Paying taxes to one is enough, you only want to support a religious group because it’s your free will to do so.

As is well known on the blog, the International Churches of Christ was the religious order I joined around 17 years ago while on campus. Thinking back, the reason I joined was for ideals and camaraderie. I was impacted by the way they taught the bible, called for change in peoples lives, and their attitude to righteousness which stood in contrast to society in general.

From my experience, and the little corner of the ICOC I was a part of, back then we were motivated by certain ideals. It was a religious revival, but like many religious revivals it has some good things and some bad things. Many of us were inspired by something that stood out from the rest of the Christian community, while some of the Christian community felt threatened.

But surely this is how movements start, of any ideology whether it’s religion, socialism, environmentalism or any other political ideal -even a business concept. Things start out fresh. There’s a sense of hope and reform, a kind of revolution, and of course the old guard is threatened. There’s usually a leader or few with innovative ideas and ideals who manage to spark a social following, a wave or snowball that grows with a life of its own.

The problem is, if the fundamentals are not quite right, then down the line things can go very pair-shaped. That’s why you have to be careful with certain ideals, because they can become twisted  and misused down the track.

But just as there will always be a human tendency for revivals and revolutions, there’s always the accompanying tendencies for yesterday’s revolutionary to become today’s dictator. And it makes sense.

Imagine you’re young, full of energy, zeal, ideas and ideals. And you decide to start a revolution with your ideas (or perhaps a religious revolution with your revelation etc…) You rope a few of your best friends in as side-kicks, and you start a society. As a little group you become dreamers, and you motivate people with impassioned speeches, and this sparks interest and reactions. The excitement draws people in, and the more that join, the more exciting it becomes with the snowball effect.

Of course, you, being the one that started it, are becoming more and more important. You started out just leading a few friends, no big deal. Now you have a membership of thousands. Next year it’s tens of thousands, because those followers are motivated and well-networked to inspire new recruits to join.

So what happens when you’re the number one personality of a tribe of a hundred thousand. Now, if it’s a religion, the belief system strikes not to doing business, or a commitment to a political party or social club, but to a spiritual cause and the belief in eternal life, giving cause for a far deeper commitment. There in lies the temptation, with access to adoration from your group and the kind of influence, power and financial resources that might become available to you. No wonder they say power corrupts.

Somewhere down the line, the dreams and ideals that motivated so many seem to take a back seat to maintaining control of the resources at your disposal. You still talk about the dreams and ideals, but the reality could be that the position, power and influence you have becomes too important to you. You’re in a high position, with a long way to fall. You’ll probably have a range of enemies and critics, both internally and externally. They would range from the old threatened establishment that you led a revolution against to competing upstarts within your movement who you may fear to have an eye on your position.

This is the danger of heading religious revival movement, because once it becomes large and established, you want more. Riding that wave in the early days must have been a real high as well. There’s always the temptation to want to return to that glory, because in those days things were simple, there were less critics and less complications.

Discussing ‘Advice’

The concept of advice shouldn’t be confused by a discipling system, and used to exert pressure by a ‘discipler’ (or ‘moses’) on a ‘disciplee’ (or ‘joshua’). When the concept is abused by pressure with authority and ‘lording’ over people, it’s not really advice at all.

Advice is something an individual seeks when faced with difficult decisions. The responsibility is solely on him or her, as these decisions can potentially bring about life-long consequences.

Proverbs 24:6 says “for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers.”  A general or king, as the leader, has to take the consequences of his decisions in battle, which can lead to victory or defeat. So a general will have his advisers who can provide information, give insights, look at the pros and cons and give advice, but the advisers don’t have authority or power over the general.

The concept of discipling became twisted when seeking advice in reality meant seeking permission -this was the policy in the ICOC regarding dating, for example. ‘Going against advice’ was frowned upon and seen as ‘rebellious’, therefore ‘against God’s will’. How can that be pressure-free advice? And seeking advice should mean the individual has the freedom to chose from whom he or she seeks advice. Another major flaw in shepherding is when inexperienced disciplers are given authority over a Christian’s life which can have an adverse influence.

I think back with embarrassment while I was in the ICOC the number of times I heard another Christian sharing struggles or problems with me and I ask “have you talked to your discipler about it”. It was almost instinctive, and indicative of how dependent we were on a discipling system. That’s not Christianity.

When you or I are leading our life, we have to take responsibility, but we should seek wise advisors. It says in Proverbs 24:5, the preceding verse, ‘A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength’. So you need to seek advice from wise and trusted people rather than just accept a discipler assigned to you. The more consequential the decision, the wiser and more trustworthy the adviser you need.

But getting wise advice is not enough. We need to do our own homework, and seek wisdom straight from the source of the issue. If it’s spiritual, you need to search the scriptures. If it’s financial or regarding career, you should do your own research and reading. That way, no matter what the topic, when you seek advice, you are also grounded with your own knowledge. This allows you to make informed decisions in receiving advice, and not just swallowing advice ‘hook, line and sinker’. It also means you’re more likely to detect faulty advice and make the right decision with conflicting advice.

Furthermore, when it says ‘a wise man has great power’ I believe it’s not just saying seek wise man, but strive to be one. To be truly wise, you have to do more than just learn from those around you, you have to go the extra mile in doing your own homework, and seek inspiration that puts you above the norm. Just going with the flow and accepting the same input from everyone around you means you’ll just be a part of the system, another brick in the wall.

To be wise and visionary, you need to seek something outside the system -in Christianity, that is searching the scripture for truth, not to just strengthen your own sectarian position. It means having the courage to ask difficult questions. Most of us simply end up accepting the sectarian culture with interpretations that are taught to us year after year. For me, it wasn’t until the ‘Honest to God’ letter and other articles and information that I realized how much I’d just swallowed everything in the ICOC, including the concept of advice and tithing among other things.

On to some other proverbs: Acts 11:14 says “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make a victory sure.” That’s just common sense. You wouldn’t want you’re government waging a war if it didn’t get reliable intel. You wouldn’t want your company to waste its advertising budget on a product if it didn’t get reliable marketing info.

Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”  This is a verse that does look at someone’s stubborn and proud nature of relying on him or herself rather than listening to advice. I don’t think that gives justification for discipling authority… The responsible thing for an individual to do, as mentioned above, is to seek advice from wise people. And it makes a difference if the individual trusts that person, rather than an imposed discipler. It’s also possible, if the discipler is inexperienced, to give the wrong advice, and if insecure, to feel betrayed if the disciplee seeks advice elsewhere. Then the disciplee may be labeled ‘proud’ for seeking advice elsewhere, even though it’s the right thing to do.

I think this verse also implies listening to advice from an expert. The fool ignores the experts because he made up his mind already. That’s obviously proud. If you’re seeking advice regarding a career decision, you should seek a career counselor and/or people who are already in that prospective industry.

Then there’s also bad advice. Another proverb says: “The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.” Another issue regarding advice and discipling is if deceitfulness and competitiveness become widespread within a church. This leads to the devastating effects of power games and manipulation, and where individuals are vulnerable if one-on-one discipling is used as the ‘nuts and bolts’ of a system of control.

This is the danger of discipling I have often warned about on the blog. The ICOC culture of discipling allowed so much potential influence to be exerted on the individual by leaderships -whether it’s the immediate discipler or bible-talk leader above them etc… There is no ’stop-gap’ for abuse. There is no objectivity and people are vulnerable to emotional, financial and social abuse and exploitation.

Certain leaders’ assumptions that ‘discipling’ is biblically essential is gravely erroneous. Discipling and shepherding are controversial, and used well they can be effective for personal training, but there’s a tendency for immature leaders to have far too much control over individual’s lives. That’s how the term ‘advice’ can become grossly abused. I suppose if the leaders have great integrity at the top, and ensure it down the line, and also allow avenues for issues, conflicts and complaints to be heard in a balanced, objective way then a discipling/mentoring system can be successful. But if leaders at the top become deceitful and corrupt, then that’s going to permeate all the way down the line as all lead by personal example or ‘miss-example’.

The Kingdom of God is Within You…

That’s an interesting statement, from Luke 17:20-21. I never heard it preached much while I was in the ICOC (International Churches of Christ), but I did hear :”the Kingdom of heaven is advancing forcefully, and forceful men take hold of it” a thousand times. In fact it was virtually beaten over our heads…

 Perhaps leaders were afraid that people may interpret the ‘within you’ as too ‘new agy’. Within the ICOC culture people forever warned not to ‘follow your heart’, after all the heart is ‘deceitful above all things’…Talking about the kingdom being ‘within you’ might give people the impression they don’t need the ICOC franchise as long as you have God’s spirit in your heart.

 So then, why does Jesus say such a statement? He even says that people won’t say ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’. This was something I asked myself when I read it whilst in the ICOC. But having gone through and come out of the ICOC, this makes more sense to me now.

 One of the problems with the ICOC culture was a tendency to make things clear cut, or ‘black and white’. You either were a Christian, or not. You were either saved, or not. And you were either in the kingdom of God -a church which followed correct doctrine etc etc, or out.  And through this ‘black and white’ reasoning we rationalised what the Kingdom of God should be defined as, and believed that all other churches couldn’t really be in the Kingdom because they didn’t follow out ‘biblical’ definitions.

 Once we had the ‘Kingdom of God’ defined -repentence, baptism, one-on-one discipling, tithing, World Sectors and centralised leadership etc.. it was easy just to pretty much define the Kingdom of God in modern times as the ICOC -”God’s modern-day movement”.

 But I believe, as with other things, we got ahead of ourselves. We went beyond what was written. We made dangerous assumptions, and that is, perhaps, why it’s prudent not say ‘this is the Kingdom of God’ or ‘that is the Kingdom of God’. You can keep all the ‘externalities’. You can say the right things, show up to all services, meetings, groups and events, you recite all the right scriptures, and define all the right doctrines, but that doesn’t mean you’re God’s kingdom, because God cuts through to the heart.

 Our human definitions to the boundaries of God’s kingdom ultimately mean nothing, because the bible warns that even from within a congregation a corrupt leader can rise up to lead people astray -and they can still be under the umbrella of the organisation which you assume is so faithful.

 Therefore, the kingdom of God can’t be seen so obviously, and it exists because a group of people have the right heart before God. There did seem to be two interpretations: one was that it ‘exists within you’ as in ‘in your hearts’, and the other was ‘among you’, as in existing within a bunch of Christians. Perhaps it’s similar to the concept as ‘where two or more are gathered in my name I am there also.’

 It’s harder to make definitions of what is the kingdom of God in the present situation of post-2003 churches related to the ICOC -whether it’s ex-ICOC, ICOC cooperative, SODM or ‘mainline’ churches of Christ. I’ve made certain decisions from what I’ve witnessed, and the first is to oppose churches that employ one-on-one discipling. I also believe that members of congregations should be wiser and shrewder in regards to leadership in their church, and be prepared, if compelled by conscience, to leave a congregation and search others.

 The good news is no leader can coerce or bully you into staying by claiming his church is ‘in the kingdom of God’ and another church is not included. The kingdom exists in your heart when you have a relationship with God and choose to support a fellowship that has the same mindset.