Statement from Church of Our Savior on Aware connection
April 30th, 2009 | 
Author: As the media reported on the AWARE saga, it brought up the fact that several of the new exco are members of Church of Our Saviour. This has created the perception that the church was behind the move.
This is not true. Church of Our Saviour did not initiate or instigate any campaign to take over the leadership of AWARE. The church withheld comment but the allegations have continued. This statement is to clear the air so far as our alleged involvement is concerned.
We have not, nor will we, allow our pulpit to be used to intentionally teach anything that would arouse social tensions, divisions and unrest.
Church of Our Saviour does not have an agenda against homosexuals. We are not antihomosexual. The Christian Bible says we have all committed sin in different ways – heterosexual and homosexual – against Almighty God. But God loves us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to take the judgment in our place. (Reference John 3:16, Romans 5:8). We believe homosexuals should be extended understanding, kindness and love like every other human being. No homosexual should ever be deprived of any right enjoyed by every other Singaporean.
However, Church of Our Saviour does have a stand against the agenda of activists promoting homosexuality as a normal alternative lifestyle. Just as much as the Bible commands us to love the homosexual person, it also states categorically that homosexual practice is wrong. (Reference Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:8-10)
Accepting homosexual practices and endorsing any education program that teaches our children that such practices are neutral or normal, would lead to the erosion of the sound family values on which Singapore society has been built.
We hope that AWARE members will go to their EGM without the wrong assumption that the exco is a pawn of the church or that it has intentions to turn it into a religious organization as that is totally untrue.
Senior Pastor Derek Hong
Source: Asiaone
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18 Responses to “Statement from Church of Our Savior on Aware connection”
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Alex Tan Allan Ooi AWARE Chee Soon Juan Chiam See Tong Claire Lee David Widjaja DBS Dr Allan Ooi Dr Silviu Ionescu Dr Vivian Balakrishnan Foyce Le Xuan highnote5 Hong Lim Park Jack Lin Xinli Jack Neo Jack Neo affair Jack Neo scandal Josie Lau Josie Lau Meng Lee Lee Kuan Yew Lehman brothers Lighthouse Evangelism MAS minibonds Miss Singapore World NTU stabbing PAP Pastor Rony Tan Ris Low Romanian diplomat in hit-and-run Rony Tan S-League silviu ionescu Singapore Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Tan Kin Lian Thio Su Mien Tiger Woods affair Tong Kok Wai Top 8 Vivian Balakrishnan Wendy Chong Y O G Youth Olympic Games
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What a whole load of crap… similar to the lines espoused by JL, Thio SM and the pussycats.
Lies, lies… god know’s what else just to hold on to the power it as insidiously gotten.
Lies from the start
No hidden agenda?
Come on, what does Derek Hong takes us to be? Exhorting the sisters to make a stand on their faith to support JL and the pussycats. Making the whole congregation “pray” for JL & Alan?
And now with this statement? whow what a timing, less than 2 days to go and they are going for the kill just before the action.
Dear Senior Pator Derek Hong
What you’ve said as reported on this page is hypocrisy at its worst.
The CHURCH, including yours, CAMPAIGNED against the repeal of S377A……….if that’s not “AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS” or being “ANTIHOMOSEXUALS” (your words), then what is it?
Seen against your ACTIVE involvement in CAMPAIGNING for the new AWARE exco who are FROM YOUR Church, and your sermon from your Church against the so called “agenda” of the old AWARE exco, your denial of YOUR Church involvement can only add to the TOTAL LACK of CREDIBILITY of YOU yourself as the Church Senior Pastor and or YOUR Church and of its members like Thio Su Mien, Alan Chin, Josie Lau etc who have acted under the direction of Thio.
May the Lord forgive you for your DECEIT and bringing Christianity into disrepute.
Conflicting Interests between Private vs Public responsibility
In a democratic society, leaders are drawn from society and they have personal and economic interest in making decisions and policies for the government or organization they lead. Such leaders should observe standards of conduct to distinguish between material and substantial conflicts and those which are minor and inconsequential conflicts which are unavoidable in a free society.
When a leader is called upon to make statements, policies and rules for the general society, the official must be mindful that such action will affect the official personally, his immediate family, his friends, and the organization with which the official is associated.
Because of his public stature, his statement and his action will invariably affects a whole class of similarly-situated interests, whether it is spoken in his official capacity, behind the pulpit, or in his personal communications. The audience who are so addressed are often not able to distinguish the capacity the official is engaged in , especially when the conflict of interest situation is not disclosed at the outset.
Therefore, a public official should not, in an official capacity, participate in any activity in which the official or a connected person with which the official is associated has a substantial social or financial interest, direct or indirect.
In this regards, Pastor Derick Hong and Shawn Tay, have definitely engaged themselves through their emails supporting TSM/Jose Lau’s hijack of Aware leadership. They are guilty of having a positon of conflict of interest against their church’s duty as Pastors.
They should resign from being Pastors of the Church, or be removed .
BS BS BS..can you say BS? Plus a huge serving of sugar coating mix with hypocrisy.
What a way to ensure more people vote for them on Sat…deny, whitewash, butterup and then wrapped as gift to society.
Those who wish to “eat” these words of Pastor Derek Hong please mind that you do not get diarrhea.
Yes, 蛇 鼠 一 窝 hiding behind the pulpit.
When the torch shines on them,, they disperse and flee…
Resign,,,, Shawn Tay,, and Derick Hong.
Save your grace,,, dig your graves.
Oh dear!! We have finally found the long lost brother of the prata man, TopSage, from CNA forum. It will be a touching moment when they meet. Sniff…
ok lah, at least Pastor Derek has the courage to speak up rather than remaining silent all the time. seems that he has toned down quite a lot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD52OlkKfNs
West Wing Skewers Laura Schlessinger
On October 18, 2000, NBC aired an episode of the Emmy winning television show The West Wing in which the character President Josiah Bartlet, played beyond description by Martin Sheen, absolutely skewers a character, named “Dr. Jenna Jacobs,” who bears striking similarities to our very own, dear, Laura Schlessinger, in a dialogue very similar in theme to the “Dear Dr. Laura” letter which was wending its way about the net not that many months ago.
MORE • The “Dear Dr. Laura” Letter
President Josiah Bartlet: You’re Dr. Jenna Jacobs, right?
Jenna Jacobs: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: …Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs. Are you an M.D.?
Jacobs: A Ph.D.
Bartlet: A Ph.D.
Jacobs: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Psychology?
Jacobs: No, sir.
Bartlet: Theology?
Jacobs: No.
Bartlet: Social work?
Jacobs: I have a Ph.D. in English literature.
Bartlet: I’m asking because on your show, people call in for advice and you go by the name Dr. Jacobs on your show, and I didn’t know if maybe your listeners were confused by that and assumed you had advanced training in psychology, theology or health care.
Jacobs: I don’t believe they are confused, no, sir.
Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Jacobs: 18:22.
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side-by-side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.
[originally transcribed by Rex Wockner. (Very few) Edits by Deborah Levinson]
the spirit of truth is in you heart,only you and you only will know are you telling the truth or you have your agenda, by sat day, the outcome will show how aware menbers decide what they want. let everyone has a chance to clarify before the outcome.
Is this a case of rats abandoning the sinking ship? Why are the pro-new-exco quietly leaving one by one? Do they fear the new exco will lose the EOGM?
做贼喊捉贼。。。
The Bible also says, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” In fact, this is the very First Commandment.
If COOS affirms religious diversity, why does it deny sexual diversity? Aren’t they both sins according to the Bible? Why the inconsistency?
Pastor Hong’s insidious logic, when taken to its ultimate conclusion, would strike at the very root of our multireligious society. Being the hypocrites they are, they do not seek to ban other faiths because they know that the Government would never allow it. So they pick on vulnerable minorities like gays whom the Government doesn’t care about.
Hi Readers
There is an artical concerning DR Thio Su Mien and daugther Thio Li-Ann, I have an copy one part from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thio_Li-ann, if you wanted to know more about the write up, please visit the site and make your own conclusion.
Thio is the daughter of Dr (Mrs) Thio Su Mien, who was formerly the Dean of the Law Faculty, National University of Singapore and is now in private practice. Dr Thio Su Mien came to the attention of the Singaporean public in 2003 when she sent a letter to the local daily newspaper The Straits Times stating her strong disagreement with homosexuality.[18] The letter, signed by eight persons, was in response to a speech by the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in which he mentioned that the Civil Service would not discriminate against employing homosexual individuals. On 9 February 2006, Dr Thio Su Mien also wrote another letter to The Straits Times which, amongst other things, stated her belief that the American Psychiatric Association had ceased to regard homosexuality as a mental disorder due to “pressure tactics from homosexual activists — including riots and disruptions of APA meetings”.[19]
夫妻本是同林鸟大难之时各自飞…
Pastor Hong is now finding it difficult to fight the anti-pro war with TSM /Jose Lau…now he wants to jump ship…..
In last weekend sermon, Pastor Derek Hong urged the women in his flock to ‘be engaged’ and support Ms Lau and ‘her sisters’ at Aware. He said: ‘It’s not a crusade against the people but there’s a line that God has drawn for us, and we don’t want our nation crossing that line.’
Today, the new COOS official statement clarifies that they are not involved in the AWARE takeover, and they have requested that that statement be used in its entirety or not at all. What does this caveat mean?
This paragraph “… without the wrong assumption that the exco is a pawn of the church or that or that it has intentions to turn it into a religious organization” is taking all S’poreans as goons.
People still don’t know who is the real pawn – COOS, TSM or himself? And who is controlling the pawn – new exco, COOS, TSM or himself? AWARE has always been a secular organization, so how can it work effectively as a religious organization even if Derek Hong wants the change?
Does it sound like a lawyer’s statement? Are there any linguistic catch here? Any lawyers here can help to comment?
when i first read this statement from the church, i thought okay, the church is clarifying their stand, never mix religion with any issue. my shock!!! when i saw that it was sent by the same person- who as reported in the media to having ask their members to support the new exco – i.e. fellow members!
lies, lies! and many lies!! hv the writer forgotten what he had said!.or did the media report wrongly!!!!
respect everyone as an individual, help with no borders, WORLD without borders, gay, lesbian or not!
Just because your religion says it’s wrong, doesn’t mean other religions say it’s wrong, and doesn’t mean you can impose your own beliefs on others!
The Bible also says, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” In fact, this is the very First Commandment.
The a/m commandment has led to disruption of harmony and heartache within a Chinese traditional family. It is not uncommon to hear of Christian children refusing to participate in funeral rites of their parents because the “church forbids the holding of joss sticks”, and elderly parents coerced to convert because they fear that no one would take care of their afterlife affairs. This really constitutes “emotional abuse”.
It is also not uncommon to hear of newly converts being asked and in fact witnessed by their pastors to destroy any possessions with the dragon symbol as any “snake” is symbolic of Satan. Recently a friend of mine confessed that she reluctantly broke a set of prenuptial porcelain tea set.
One wonders if being Christian is really abandoning one’s tradition?
Gay-bashing is really a very “western christian” concept and yet some christians claim that gay-bashing is to preserve their “family” values as a gay person is “infectively immoral”!
So much sufferings are caused by such blind adherence to dogma without using our uniquely human-endowed “gifts” to learn from compassion and wisdom.