Some seven years ago, I was going through a period in my life where I lacked direction and focus. Sensing my vulnerabilities, my then-best friend offered me a solution. He had just found his "calling" with a group of singing and dancing parishioners, who always seemed welcome to invite others into their fold, a thing called a cell group.
At that time, religion was hardly something that factored in my life. Religion was something that was restricted to Chinese festivals, where I would have to light a few smoky sticks and choke on the smoke as it wafted to the rooftops of what I called "smokey temples". The smoke would sting my eyes, and I would ask my mom repeatedly why I had to stay around and pray to a "God" I could not see, and endure all this suffering. She would just ask me to be "quiet and not talk so much if not the god will punish you", and then I would have to pray in random directions. I was never more relieved to be out of those places.
But as I grew older, I realised that there was something called "Christianity", and my first introduction to it was in a large cavernous hall in Boon Lay. I remember going into the lobby of the church and remarking that it looked like a hotel, it was that resplendent. My friend simply smiled, and led me down into the basement of the church.
I stepped out into the auditorium at B4, and there was a huge congregation of people already there. I had never seen anything like it, a whole auditorium of people singing and dancing to this thing they called the "Holy Spirit". It felt like a rock concert, and I thought wow this rock concert is free, although the lyrics to the songs were a little cheesy at times.
That was till they passed a blue bag around and people started staring at me. I had no idea what the bag was for. I reached a hand inside and realised it was full of money. My friend and his cell group mates then looked to me, as though they expected me to do something. It suddenly dawned upon me that I had watched their rock concert on credit. I put in $2, all the money I had that day.
I left, disgusted, never to return.
After I left, I thought about all that had happened. The whole session felt like a huge peer pressure exercise. I remembered how non-christians and backsliders had been asked to identify themselves, and walk to the front, only to be led away into another room. For some enlightened reason, I did not raise my hand, because I realised that perhaps I might not make it out of there alive. It reminded me distinctly of the Holocaust, how Jews had to identify themselves and get escorted onto trains which led to gas chambers, and we all know what happened next.
I knew that whoever it was up there already knew whether I was Christian or not, and there was no need for these people to know, especially since they weren't anything close to God, but a bunch of people who wanted my money. You can say all you want, but I stand by my assertion that day that when those parishioners looked at me, the only thing they cared about was whether I was interested in a buy-in into their church. It was then I realised how the resplendence of the compound had come about.
That friend of mine, I have no idea if he remained in City Harvest. A few months later, he invited me to join in another money-making session at a multi-level marketing company. It was six years back then, and such things were truly a novelty. I remember being brainwashed by this OCS officer into how easy it was to make money, as long as you paid $2000 upfront to buy in.
I thank my lucky stars then that I did not have $2000 to spend, or I would have found myself a lot poorer. Now looking back, I realise that my friend was ignorant. But I thank myself for having this friend anyway, because he introduced me to two things that would eventually go on to stir much controversy in Singapore, City Harvest, and MLMs.
For the latter, it is arguable that it is impossible to prevent fools from being parted from their cash. For the former, it might be the same thing, seeing as how the church has grown financially in 20 years, but it is also tied in along with faith, emotions, divine beings, thunder and lightning, a holy book, and a stubborn refusal to use common logic.
Talk about money, and people get defensive. Talk about religion, and people don't just get defensive, they get offensive even. The truth is, religion is a double edged sword, and its capacity to do good is only matched by its capacity to do evil.
The problem does not lie with the instrument of religion, but the people wielding the instrument. The instrument takes on the characteristics of its bearer, and amplifies them. It is how religion can produce figures like Mother Theresa, and on the flip side of the coin, Shoko Asahara, the leader of the cult Aum Shinrikyo, that carried out sarin gas attacks in Japanese subways in 1995.
I know not whether Kong Hee is guilty, and it is not my place to judge him. However, there are people out there who are uncomfortable with how a church is run like a business, because a church is something founded on trust. It cannot be questioned without calling one's faith into question, and as a result, it is the best vehicle for exploitation.
It is the whole premise of the church and its pastor being beyond reproach that makes people uncomfortable. It doesn't help that CHC counts amongst its members a lot of immature youth who are impressionable, always ready to defend and fight for a cause they do not truly understand. To them, its us against the world, and they do so without even realising that a root of the problem lies within themselves.
Their aggression is misguided, because their ignorance makes them afraid, and in their fear, they attack everything they perceive as the enemy. If they were truly knowledgeable about their church, they wouldn't be afraid of people attacking it. It's just like how you know that the answer for one plus one is two. If someone were to tell you it was three, would you have any problems telling him why it is not so?
If a church is truly beyond reproach, it should not fear being open about its practices. It should not be afraid of being under attack, because it would have nothing to hide. Perhaps I simplify the situation, but just as the adage goes that there is no smoke without fire, the hardest test for all flawed organisations, is the test of time.