what happen to kong hee dishonesty case?
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Originally posted by Fugazzi:
When one has alienated the ''god' within oneself, running to the church,running to the temple, running to anthying is utterly being stupid. One cannot recognise it within, how to recognise it without? God is assumed by most believers to be omnipresence and that surely must include the within/without. What a predicament!I think your diagnosis is off the mark.
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I m not an atheist nor am I a non-atheist, , so where do i belong? I will belong somewhere with certainty if i am looking to reaffirm my sense of self or find meaning to my self. AN why would I do that, cos i want to feel secure and add value to my self. I am not secure within. I will latch onto anything that props me up. Most question, certainly they do, but look for answers and (most likey to reaffirm what has been told to them. They do not question beleifs, traditions, so on so forth and why? There is another type that questions, - they question and not look for answers but reevaluate, examine and drop what is misleading or erroneous. The third type - simply being aware of .... , cos the latter is a synthesis of inner and outer (inner and outer) Hence, i reiterate one can be religious and gravitate towards being spiritual. Religion, most are merely pointers to being spiritual. Religion (all) is learning and of course, for the seeker the possibility of it as a device to being spiritual is there. For the follower, if one is sleepwalking – it is nothing but rituals after rituals. Spirituality is unlearning, not collecting, it is unlearning, a process where one unloads all the ’’rubbish’’. True or false all depends on where one is on the spectrum of learning/unleraning/relgion/spirituality
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Originally posted by BroInChrist:
Most churches today need money to finance their daily operations, and the larger the church, the more money is required to keep the machinery going. Many people will accept that some finances are required, but the main gripe comes when we are talking about the multi-million dollared church "corporations". But I agree with you on this, that many believers are not sure about their ecclesiology. And if those within are not sure, then it is no wonder that nonbelievers also entertain flawed ideas about the church.
i mean ultimately these are the ppl bringing the images of christianity and churches around and with such cooperate like behaviours, it is easy for non believers to believe wad they see... especially when wad these ppl preach are also somewhat similar. For eg, i can never understand why a envelope mus be passed around for ppl to put money. This just makes outsiders like me see it as a compulsory action to "donate" money. I think the nature of running the place with minimal money is ok.. but its when donations gets more and money corrupts... and ppl exploits these followers beliefs. -
Originally posted by [imdestinyz]:Remember this lah, fools abiding rascals exploit - catch the drift?
i mean ultimately these are the ppl bringing the images of christianity and churches around and with such cooperate like behaviours, it is easy for non believers to believe wad they see... especially when wad these ppl preach are also somewhat similar. For eg, i can never understand why a envelope mus be passed around for ppl to put money. This just makes outsiders like me see it as a compulsory action to "donate" money. I think the nature of running the place with minimal money is ok.. but its when donations gets more and money corrupts... and ppl exploits these followers beliefs.
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yeap... i got the drift..rather sad case..but it happens across religions though
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yes and it is happening cos most are looking for ''something'' out there somewhere n someday, when ''that is'' is already within, but i suppose fear takes on many faces!
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Originally posted by Fugazzi:
I m not an atheist nor am I a non-atheist, , so where do i belong? I will belong somewhere with certainty if i am looking to reaffirm my sense of self or find meaning to my self. AN why would I do that, cos i want to feel secure and add value to my self. I am not secure within. I will latch onto anything that props me up.
Most question, certainly they do, but look for answers and (most likey to reaffirm what has been told to them. They do not question beleifs, traditions, so on so forth and why?
There is another type that questions, – they question and not look for answers but reevaluate, examine and drop what is misleading or erroneous.
The third type – simply being aware of …. , cos the latter is a synthesis of inner and outer (inner and outer)
Hence, i reiterate one can be religious and gravitate towards being spiritual. Religion, most are merely pointers to being spiritual. Religion (all) is learning and of course, for the seeker the possibility of it as a device to being spiritual is there. For the follower, if one is sleepwalking – it is nothing but rituals after rituals. Spirituality is unlearning, not collecting, it is unlearning, a process where one unloads all the ’’rubbish’’. True or false all depends on where one is on the spectrum of learning/unleraning/relgion/spiritualityBut why would you not want to be certain of your own beliefs? Is it because you are confused and confounded by your own musings?
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Originally posted by [imdestinyz]:
i mean ultimately these are the ppl bringing the images of christianity and churches around and with such cooperate like behaviours, it is easy for non believers to believe wad they see... especially when wad these ppl preach are also somewhat similar. For eg, i can never understand why a envelope mus be passed around for ppl to put money. This just makes outsiders like me see it as a compulsory action to "donate" money. I think the nature of running the place with minimal money is ok.. but its when donations gets more and money corrupts... and ppl exploits these followers beliefs.To be fair, there must be something in which to put the money in, whether a bag or an envelope. And you can always pass it on without dropping anything in. Again I think your gripe is not about the fact that money is required to finance religious operations, but that sometimes it amounts to millions of dollars and that it can be misused or misappropriated. But this is the sin nature at work in man everywhere, and is not a church problem per se.
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I did not expect to see any comments, and not so fast.
I continued researching the blogs and find that I am far from being alone in being uncomfortable with the teachings of CHC?
My subjective observation in CHC:
I witness a huge group of people, mainly young and hardly fully matured -- my estimate would be that average age of the people I saw in Suntec is around 20, and mostly female -- joining a "rock-concert" like show using Faith and Jesus Christ to call it a "Church service".The message:
We need to grow - size matters - so we need your money. One does not need a college degree to understand "Arise and Build".CHC has convinced its members that it is ok to give money to CHC, and expect a reward from God.
The stunning part: "NO ATTEMPS ARE MADE TO CONCEAL THIS".
I was not able to find a single youtube of Kong Hee preaching the true Gospel. If the name of Christ or the Lord is mentioned than only in a blasphemous way -- "Let's give the Lord a clap" to name one -- as if He is some cheap magician performing tricks. Verses are taken out of context willy nilly to support the only goal "Arise and Build" while giving unconditional support to the leaders.Yes, people can be gullible, and give money once, or worse case, twice. But wait a minute: This is Singapore!!! Not some poor backward Hillbilly country. The people I am meeting in Singapore are savy, smart, friendly, and definitely have a healthy sense of business. I found this business attitude in university graduates, as well as the friendly hawker selling fishball noodles.
So why is this possible? In Singapore? What happened to common sense?As the situation is absurd beyond logic - following absurd and sarcastic (you are warned) example:
CHC and the Friendly Fish Ball Hawker
Imagine walking up to your favorite hawker: Ask him to give you a portion of his income, EVERY month.
If he did not kick you out immediately, he might have some questions:
- What's in it for me?
You can visit our church to listen to music, watch drama, meet friends, ...and make offerings. You even have the chance to join special events which will return you your money 100-fold within 12 days. - Wa, 100-fold. Do I get that in writing?
No of course not. You only receive when you have enough faith. It is not CHC who will pay you, it is the Lord, because you paid CHC, understand? - So how many people in CHC received 100-fold?
Good question. We anounce the lucky ones during the services also. Personally you are allowed to shake Pastor Kong's hand. Some of his blessing might rub off. Last year 2 people in CHC received a tax break equalling the 100-fold. - 2 people out of 15,000? Not so much faith in CHC huh? Anything else?
Good question. Yes, we heal the sick. Just recently we healed an Indonesian boy in Medan with a severe mental illness. Thanks to our healing, he now has a college degree. It's a miracle. Also Paul Potts won X-factor thanks to his Faith in CHC. It's a miracle. - Erhmm, Paul Potts was trained by Pavarotti, and he is not a Christian, much to the disliking of his parents. He does have a great voice. More?
Why don't you try our service. Bill Johnson, the anointed pastor from the United States of America is coming in February. During one of his services, Angel feathers floated down from the ceiling. You do not want to miss that. - Hmm, I also have pigeon problem in my stall. Is that the one who divorced his wife?
It is not pigeon feathers. The feathers disappear before touching the ground. So must be Angel one. Wa so many have divorced..Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley, Paula White,...to many to remember...must have been the spouse fault....They were of the devil... - You mean just like Universal Studios tricks?
No Comment. - What will you do with my money?
That's a very rude question. Why would you want to know what we will do with your money? but since you are a nice guy we will tell you. We use the money on TV-shows, Video Equipment, Music shows, Fire-proof seats, Hollywood mansions, First class tickets, 5-star hotels and the salaries of the anointed one. All this so we can grow the church and save more members like you. - Will you use my money on charity?
That's again a very rude question. Why can you not just the leaders to spend it wisely? But like I said, you are a nice guy. We spent 7% of our income on charity. That means from every dollar you will "happily" give us, we will give 7 cents to charity. - Only 7 cents on the dollar? Salvation army does 90%.
I prefer not to answer that question. - What charity did CHC do so far?
So many rude questions. Our Pastor's wife personally went to the Tsunami victims and personally helped all the victims. In total we spend 100kSGD, including the Pastor's wife first class flight tickets to the distaster area in 2005. In Japan, we gave 10 rice cookers to our friendly church to help the victims. - Does your leader have any qualifications?
It is not correct to question our leader as he is annointed. Jesus appeared to him in a cloud on his terras in one of his 25 condo's. Forgot which one. But I will answer one more time. No Pastor Kong has no qualifications to teach the Bible. He got his degrees online. He "EGOTISTICALLY" studied the Bible by himself. But he is a nice guy. We love him. We will follow him everywhere. He is our general. He has given up his life for the CHC members. And do not confuse this with Idolatry. Of course we do not idolize Pastor Kong. We love Jesus. Pastor Kong does not even get a salary. He only gets to keep the revenues from his books, even the plagiarized ones, his speaking engagement fees around the world expenses paid by CHC, sale of CD's and other devotional material. Small insignificant detail: Pastor Kong is now a co-owner of Suntec City Mall. But I repeat: He does not get any salary since 2005, around the same time that other scandal popped up. - Do you give money yourself?
Of course I do. I fully trust and believe Pastor Kong. My main reason is that I can feel the presence of the Lord. One time I was sick, and when Pastor Kong prayed, my pain went away. One time I started laughing loudly together with my co-members for no apparent reason. It was the Holy Ghost I tell you. - Uncle at temple can do same leh. My doctor say is psychosomatic.
Yes we know people sometimes accuse CHC of using MLM. We know that cardiovascular beats open the mind to suggestions. We know that peer pressure can influence the mindset, especially of the young people. We know that love-bombing is used to manipulate victims. We know that speaking in tongues has been performed in many pagan tribes, or even the Methodist church, or the Quackers. But I assure you...CHC is not like that. You will feel it when you come to church. Please come to my church as I did not yet fulfill my quota for this week. Cell leader will bollock me leh. - Jer 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: Who can know it?"
Here my friend, have some free fishball noodles. Don't eat the feathers...
- What's in it for me?
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Originally posted by BroInChrist:
But why would you not want to be certain of your own beliefs? Is it because you are confused and confounded by your own musings?
Existential experience cannot be believed or disbelived. What is hot can turn cold the next moment, what is unpleasant can become unpleasant and so on so forth. Existence has no say, it does not impose what to believe in or not what to believe it. One can partake of it as it is or one can add one's own idea of what it should be or not should be. It is, in other words, being ignorant to one's own conditioning, programming, beleifs and so on forth Human mind, imposes ''meaning'', and hence the utter mess. hence the proliferation of organzied ''truth'' What can I say lah, selective deception/selective attention or being stupid? -
Originally posted by Fugazzi:
Existential experience cannot be believed or disbelived. What is hot can turn cold the next moment, what is unpleasant can become unpleasant and so on so forth. Existence has no say, it does not impose what to believe in or not what to believe it. One can partake of it as it is or one can add one's own idea of what it should be or not should be. It is, in other words, being ignorant to one's own conditioning, programming, beleifs and so on forth Human mind, imposes ''meaning'', and hence the utter mess. hence the proliferation of organzied ''truth'' What can I say lah, selective deception/selective attention or being stupid?You are confusing experience with the issue of truth, the subjective with the objective. Like it or not, humans are created with purpose and meaning, and thus we seek to find purpose and meaning. And just because humans can and do mess up on this, it does not follow that we should dispense with that, for you too seek meaning and purpose by imposing your existentialistic meaning on things.
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the shape shifting self is so palpable
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Originally posted by Fugazzi:
the shape shifting self is so palpable
Which really speaks of existentialist musings like yours, always so floaty but never definite or certain or grounded in anything objective. Feelings come and go, so do experiences, and these are all so fleeting and differ from person to person.
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True - we seek to find purpose and meaning.
The danger is that feelings, emotions and experiences can be used to manipulate people into believing a particular purpose/meaning.How to explain that CHC'ers all simultanuously feel the same thing?
How to explain that CHC'ers raise their hands simultanuously towards an invisible presence?
How to explain CHC'ers claim they can literally "feel" the presence of the Holy Spirit?
How to explain that all simultanuously start "speaking in tongues"?It is not possible to explain what is going on in CHC from a logical point of view.
Ignoring personal responsibilities
It's all about the feelings and emotions. "United we are Strong" - "Us against Them" - "CHC is an army" - "God versus the Devil". The strong emotional attachment from the members is throwing all reasoning overboard.
CHC has become an addiction. The same emotions and feelings driving a junky to his fix or drawing a gambler to the slot machine is getting CHC members to the church. Getting that emotional fix. Getting that emotional high.
This is not what being a Christian is about. It is not only spiritualy unhealthy.
Since logically not every CHC member will achieve the promised financial wealth, many CHC members will end up getting hurt.I spoke with 2 dedicated female members last weekend. One turned out to be a divorced single parent of 2 little boys. The divorce because the husband stopped going to church hence stopped paying. She is bankrupt due to business failing, cannot pay her debtors, cannot pay her parents, yet diligently pays CHC the committed pledges. On my question whether CHC can support: "How can I expect CHC to pay for me? If they pay for me, they have to pay for everybody. Do you know how many poor members we have? CHC could not pay me."
The second one, a single female of 30+, is working 14+hours per day of which 6 hours free of charge for CHC. She is desperately looking for a boyfriend but has no time to find one. And that was her reason for talking to me. All eligible men in the church are married, and she only wants to marry a man from church. I was a new face. Quite sad I would say.
The investigation of the abuse of church funds is one thing. The manipulation of innocent young people is a completely different matter. We can give Kong Hee the benefit of the doubt, and believe his intentions are sincere. That still does not relieve him from his responsibility as the spiritual leader of this group. I find no signs or actions on his behalf to protect the young ones from giving to the church.
Any authority in Singapore that can investigate?
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Originally posted by James_Tan_1983:
True - we seek to find purpose and meaning.
The danger is that feelings, emotions and experiences can be used to manipulate people into believing a particular purpose/meaning.How to explain that CHC'ers all simultanuously feel the same thing?
How to explain that CHC'ers raise their hands simultanuously towards an invisible presence?
How to explain CHC'ers claim they can literally "feel" the presence of the Holy Spirit?
How to explain that all simultanuously start "speaking in tongues"?It is not possible to explain what is going on in CHC from a logical point of view.
Ignoring personal responsibilities
It's all about the feelings and emotions. "United we are Strong" - "Us against Them" - "CHC is an army" - "God versus the Devil". The strong emotional attachment from the members is throwing all reasoning overboard.
CHC has become an addiction. The same emotions and feelings driving a junky to his fix or drawing a gambler to the slot machine is getting CHC members to the church. Getting that emotional fix. Getting that emotional high.
This is not what being a Christian is about. It is not only spiritualy unhealthy.
Since logically not every CHC member will achieve the promised financial wealth, many CHC members will end up getting hurt.I spoke with 2 dedicated female members last weekend. One turned out to be a divorced single parent of 2 little boys. The divorce because the husband stopped going to church hence stopped paying. She is bankrupt due to business failing, cannot pay her debtors, cannot pay her parents, yet diligently pays CHC the committed pledges. On my question whether CHC can support: "How can I expect CHC to pay for me? If they pay for me, they have to pay for everybody. Do you know how many poor members we have? CHC could not pay me."
The second one, a single female of 30+, is working 14+hours per day of which 6 hours free of charge for CHC. She is desperately looking for a boyfriend but has no time to find one. And that was her reason for talking to me. All eligible men in the church are married, and she only wants to marry a man from church. I was a new face. Quite sad I would say.
The investigation of the abuse of church funds is one thing. The manipulation of innocent young people is a completely different matter. We can give Kong Hee the benefit of the doubt, and believe his intentions are sincere. That still does not relieve him from his responsibility as the spiritual leader of this group. I find no signs or actions on his behalf to protect the young ones from giving to the church.
Any authority in Singapore that can investigate?
I doubt that the authorities would do any investigation into any alleged manipulation of people, unless one can prove an offence being committed or a law broken.
It seems that most mega-churches with their concert styled worship services (some may say entertainment) have pretty much honed their craft such that the atmosphere of the entire worship experience is not much different from a Jay Chow concert with its own hysterics and special effects. Perhaps they have realised that this is a sure-fire way to draw the crowds and keep them coming week after week. But one may wonder if the true test of the quality of the Christian life will be exposed if all these frills and "cult-personality" pastors are suddenly taken out of the way. In other words, when the life-support machinery of the institutional church is removed away, how many believers can survive with just Jesus?
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CHC also makes an effort to mention how lucky Singaporeans are and how well Singapore is governed.
They don't mention directly who governs Singapore, but they might as well.
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Originally posted by James_Tan_1983:
True - we seek to find purpose and meaning.
The danger is that feelings, emotions and experiences can be used to manipulate people into believing a particular purpose/meaning.How to explain that CHC'ers all simultanuously feel the same thing?
How to explain that CHC'ers raise their hands simultanuously towards an invisible presence?
How to explain CHC'ers claim they can literally "feel" the presence of the Holy Spirit?
How to explain that all simultanuously start "speaking in tongues"?It is not possible to explain what is going on in CHC from a logical point of view.
Ignoring personal responsibilities
It's all about the feelings and emotions. "United we are Strong" - "Us against Them" - "CHC is an army" - "God versus the Devil". The strong emotional attachment from the members is throwing all reasoning overboard.
CHC has become an addiction. The same emotions and feelings driving a junky to his fix or drawing a gambler to the slot machine is getting CHC members to the church. Getting that emotional fix. Getting that emotional high.
This is not what being a Christian is about. It is not only spiritualy unhealthy.
Since logically not every CHC member will achieve the promised financial wealth, many CHC members will end up getting hurt.I spoke with 2 dedicated female members last weekend. One turned out to be a divorced single parent of 2 little boys. The divorce because the husband stopped going to church hence stopped paying. She is bankrupt due to business failing, cannot pay her debtors, cannot pay her parents, yet diligently pays CHC the committed pledges. On my question whether CHC can support: "How can I expect CHC to pay for me? If they pay for me, they have to pay for everybody. Do you know how many poor members we have? CHC could not pay me."
The second one, a single female of 30+, is working 14+hours per day of which 6 hours free of charge for CHC. She is desperately looking for a boyfriend but has no time to find one. And that was her reason for talking to me. All eligible men in the church are married, and she only wants to marry a man from church. I was a new face. Quite sad I would say.
The investigation of the abuse of church funds is one thing. The manipulation of innocent young people is a completely different matter. We can give Kong Hee the benefit of the doubt, and believe his intentions are sincere. That still does not relieve him from his responsibility as the spiritual leader of this group. I find no signs or actions on his behalf to protect the young ones from giving to the church.
Any authority in Singapore that can investigate?
yea i've spoken to some of them and they too speak of such absurb thinking... it wld seem as though CHC is placed as the top most priority and it is the r/s with CHC and not god... which puts me to feel that such things is in itself intoxicating to the innocent. The misuse of the funds cld seem not to be as dangerous as the manupulation of the minds of these younger generation. Cld not figure out how come they place CHC to such high importance... apparently they are not even aware of themselves having more of a r/s to the church rather than god and this is totally wrong. No offence to christians but CHC appears "cultish"
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Frankly, it takes two to tango; however, the one who purports to ''help'', purports to ''save'' or ''realize'' or .... is only helping, saving or helping to realize if he/her self is fulfilled from within. If that is absent, one would always use another to meet one's own ends. It does not necessarily have to be money, coould be anything ...... it presupposes being self-honest. In other words, it is simply - i do this for u, u do this for me. This is subtle but dig deep and one would see manipulation, and it is a mutual benefit scheme. I m not singling out any particular church, such unethical people (wearing the cloak of religiosity) abound in many other so-called religious organizations/temples and so on so forth.
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In case of emotional manipulation there is an abuser and a victim. It would be stretching it a bit to say there is a benefit for both. Usually it is the abuser who benefits as the victim goes out empty.
With regards to Kong Hee. He likes to position himself as a poor victim, preaching about the hardship in his life. Unless he is referring to the criticism on his plagiarism, his wife's career, or the burden of deciding where to spend the money, I am not sure what he means. He is born as the son of a rich diamond trader, and can hardly by called poor by any standards. This in contrast to his flock, who really seem to be working hard to meet ends.
A "false" happy feeling does not pay the bills or brings food on the table. The many young adults in his flock, who should be enjoying their young life, are trapped working in church for free only to please the master. Stockholm syndrom perhaps but no tango
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Originally posted by James_Tan_1983:
In case of emotional manipulation there is an abuser and a victim. It would be stretching it a bit to say there is a benefit for both. Usually it is the abuser who benefits as the victim goes out empty.
With regards to Kong Hee. He likes to position himself as a poor victim, preaching about the hardship in his life. Unless he is referring to the criticism on his plagiarism, his wife's career, or the burden of deciding where to spend the money, I am not sure what he means. He is born as the son of a rich diamond trader, and can hardly by called poor by any standards. This in contrast to his flock, who really seem to be working hard to meet ends.
A "false" happy feeling does not pay the bills or brings food on the table. The many young adults in his flock, who should be enjoying their young life, are trapped working in church for free only to please the master. Stockholm syndrom perhaps but no tango
its not new. religious people turned by greed and money and power. these 3 combined are powerful enough to intoxicate anybody.
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Originally posted by [imdestinyz]:
yea i've spoken to some of them and they too speak of such absurb thinking... it wld seem as though CHC is placed as the top most priority and it is the r/s with CHC and not god... which puts me to feel that such things is in itself intoxicating to the innocent. The misuse of the funds cld seem not to be as dangerous as the manupulation of the minds of these younger generation. Cld not figure out how come they place CHC to such high importance... apparently they are not even aware of themselves having more of a r/s to the church rather than god and this is totally wrong. No offence to christians but CHC appears "cultish"
they have a brain, but unfortunately dunno how to use it to think critically and rationally for themselves. religion is like an opiate is very true. they are intoxicated by opiate.
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I googled for: How to recognize a Cult? and landed with WikiHow.
How does CHC pass the cult-test?- A charismatic founder, leader or leadership.
I would say that Kong Hee is a charismatic leader. - Have a structured central bureaucracy.
All power is with the board of directors which are appointed by Kong Hee. Kong Hee has the authority to assign and dismiss directors. Kong Hee himself, as the founder, can not be fired (unless you want to end up with a church without money) - Simplified goal or aim structure, such as to save something or introduce something to everyone.
The goal for CHC is simple and clear: Arise and Build...Grow the church at any cost. Key performance indicators measuring growth are identified and communicated in the complete organisation thru a cell group structure. The results are carefully monitored. A reward system is in place to motivate recruitment and pledging. - A society history, most new initiates are invariably required to learn and respect the founding figures.
CHC has its own Bible school to indoctrinate the new members. Every new member is pressured into following Bible school. Rules are strict. Respect to the leaders e.g. by addressing them by their proper title is a directive. Failing to comply results in reprimanding. - There is a degree of intellectual limitation, so outside ideas or interaction with non members are not encouraged
Most CHC members have very little friends outside CHC. The many CHC activities will prevent them from having friends outside. The general feeling amongst CHC members is that contact with outsiders is not required. The church is their family. Marriage within the church is highly encouraged. Members are even encouraged to give up their job and join CHC friendly companies such as Cisco or Walton International to stay in a group of CHC friends. - There is also a system of repercussions, such as shunning, "time out" or isolating or demotion.
The repercussions are only applied if the rules are ignored, or if the management is criticised. As criticism is surpressed "in the field" by the cell group leaders, repercussions will not be needed. Due to previous point, the only friends are other CHC'ers, there is a fear of leaving as the complete social environment is based on CHC. - There is a system of development, so a person may be groomed or encouraged to go towards certain roles, or assist in various ways.
Kong Hee elaborated on this last service on Saturday. You are expected to climb the ladder. In order to do that, you most work "ungodly hours" and free of charge. Cell group leaders are under constant pressure to perform. Every member is expected to participate in all events and show absolute commitment to CHC. - There is a tithe, membership dues or other system of getting money from members, rather than earning it externally
10% tithing is expected. Failure to comply, and the Cell group leader will raise the issue. On top of that, CHC members are expected to offer as well.
CHC passes all criteria as a CULT as listed in WikiPedia. Congratulations. - A charismatic founder, leader or leadership.
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Originally posted by James_Tan_1983:I googled for: How to recognize a Cult? and landed with WikiHow.
How does CHC pass the cult-test?- A charismatic founder, leader or leadership.
I would say that Kong Hee is a charismatic leader. - Have a structured central bureaucracy.
All power is with the board of directors which are appointed by Kong Hee. Kong Hee has the authority to assign and dismiss directors. Kong Hee himself, as the founder, can not be fired (unless you want to end up with a church without money) - Simplified goal or aim structure, such as to save something or introduce something to everyone.
The goal for CHC is simple and clear: Arise and Build...Grow the church at any cost. Key performance indicators measuring growth are identified and communicated in the complete organisation thru a cell group structure. The results are carefully monitored. A reward system is in place to motivate recruitment and pledging. - A society history, most new initiates are invariably required to learn and respect the founding figures.
CHC has its own Bible school to indoctrinate the new members. Every new member is pressured into following Bible school. Rules are strict. Respect to the leaders e.g. by addressing them by their proper title is a directive. Failing to comply results in reprimanding. - There is a degree of intellectual limitation, so outside ideas or interaction with non members are not encouraged
Most CHC members have very little friends outside CHC. The many CHC activities will prevent them from having friends outside. The general feeling amongst CHC members is that contact with outsiders is not required. The church is their family. Marriage within the church is highly encouraged. Members are even encouraged to give up their job and join CHC friendly companies such as Cisco or Walton International to stay in a group of CHC friends. - There is also a system of repercussions, such as shunning, "time out" or isolating or demotion.
The repercussions are only applied if the rules are ignored, or if the management is criticised. As criticism is surpressed "in the field" by the cell group leaders, repercussions will not be needed. Due to previous point, the only friends are other CHC'ers, there is a fear of leaving as the complete social environment is based on CHC. - There is a system of development, so a person may be groomed or encouraged to go towards certain roles, or assist in various ways.
Kong Hee elaborated on this last service on Saturday. You are expected to climb the ladder. In order to do that, you most work "ungodly hours" and free of charge. Cell group leaders are under constant pressure to perform. Every member is expected to participate in all events and show absolute commitment to CHC. - There is a tithe, membership dues or other system of getting money from members, rather than earning it externally
10% tithing is expected. Failure to comply, and the Cell group leader will raise the issue. On top of that, CHC members are expected to offer as well.
CHC passes all criteria as a CULT as listed in WikiPedia. Congratulations.oh maybe dong hee is satan in disguise, who know
- A charismatic founder, leader or leadership.
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Is he still in Sg?
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Originally posted by charlize:
Is he still in Sg?
kong hee fatt choy for the new year
