Sunday, June 13, 2010

Pastor Mark Ng (New Creation) Insulting Other Religions


Speaking in broken English, very much in the mould of Ris Low's Singlish, Mark Ng mock and make fun of Chinese festival of 7th Month Ghost Festival and Chinese Deity Idol Kuan Kong....

happyman4072 — 11 June 2010 — Here we have Pastor Mark Ng of New Creation Church making fun and insulting the Chinese beliefs and tradition. I don't have any problem with people preaching. But I find that preaching and making fun of people's beliefs are two different things. I don't think that the preaching the word of god includes insults and degrading others. Pastor Mark Ng is a good example why there is an divide growing between groups of different beliefs and religions.

pigcanfly007
The whole sermon sounds like Jack Neo's "Gao Siao Xin Dong" talking show..
Christian policemen pray to Jesus, some robbers also pray to Jesus, so how?
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MrTheholydead
Clearly, its saddens me to see such leaders in the christian community wanting to set people 'free' with jokes about other people's beliefs and religion. There is no truth in anything if you dont have faith in it. Every religion teaches us values and the right morals.Be it Buddhist,hinduism or christianity. Truly,Making fun of other people religions and beliefs is an action from supposedly a leader in the church community. I am taken aback...
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pookeelahh
seriously, tell him to improve his english before criticizing or even preaching. bad bad bad speech mark. we know, we know so stop you know you knowing already. and amazing how the chinese gods are regarded as 'idols'? you mean Jesus isnt one too? no offence, but im a Christian believer too.
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FrostWurm
Aiyah...this is a free society what. He can say whatever he wants. It's just like a hypothetical example of an atheist telling a group of christians that god does not exist. Then what? Prosecute him?

@FrostWurm Not really. As mentioned countless of times, this is Singapore where we have peoples of different religions and customs. He can of course say what he wants, but there will be consequences. And there are laws in Singapore which ensures that people respect each others religion and customs.

First of all, a church is supposed to be an open place where everyone can freely enter. Secondly this is a sermon. This is supposed to be spread among the masses, no? Thirdly, no matter which own "christian grounds" you are in, you are still in SG. You have to follow SG laws. And finally, I didn't record it, I merely posted it for awareness that there are such dangerous pastors out there. If you think that it is "ME" causing divisions in SG, then by all means, pls report me.
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nusld
He devoted his sermon to poking fun,demonising and putting down the Chinese religious beliefs as much as he could to laughter from his congregation.
Frankly, i shudder when i think of my fellow Singaporeans friends among the congregation. Wonder these people who recite the Pledge everyday really believed in it or otherwise. In times of difficulties can we depend on them as fellow s'poreans to assist those who didn't share their beliefs.
This is a urgent social problem in S'pore now.
Sad!
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mattscout
6 hours ago
Firstly, No one knows how Jesus looks like nor God. And, even though we may be a democratic nation, Pastor Mark should not use his pulpit as a stage to provoke other religion, when you are on the pulpit, people believe that whatever you're saying, is from God, but when you misuse the pulpit and people would believe that whatever he's saying is true and from God. Which is not. Therefore, I guess he should apologize and not misuse the authority that has been given to him.
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haohao93
The whole sermon is held within our own christian grounds where do you get the right to record and post online on youtube and STOMP. anyway your faith toward your beliefs is weak that's why you drift away giving yourself a chance to step into church grounds. Pastor did not insult or degrade others he is only evaluating common superstition neither did he judge those chinese customs. Pastor is not the reason for the division between religion it's people like happyman4072 creating unease amongst.
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sorryalsomustexplain
5 hours ago
I wanted to hear the full sermon but realized I could not get it anywhere, either from the the online bookstore or the actual retail bookstore in Suntec. I checked and found out that this sermon was actually preached about 2 years ago. The church must have taken action to remove it after the Rony Tan fiasco that happened earlier this year. Won't be surprised the if ISA had already warned the church to be more cautious, considerate and sensitive about what and how they preach in church.
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By Yen Feng

THE internal Security Department (ISD) has looked into an incident involving the New Creation Church over a 2008 sermon being circulated online that mocks Taoist beliefs.

The 10-minute audio clip was posted on YouTube last Friday. In it, a church pastor, Mr Mark Ng, can be heard joking with the congregation about Chinese rituals; in one instance, he compared praying to Taoist deities to ’seeking protection from secret society gangsters’.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said yesterday in a response to queries from The Straits Times that the church had, on its own accord, contacted YouTube to remove the clip. It has also apologised.

‘We are aware of the case. ISD has looked into it and taken up the matter with the New Creation Church.’

In a six-paragraph letter posted on its website on Sunday, New Creation said that Mr Ng, who heads the church’s Chinese ministry, did not intend for his comments to be disrespectful to other faiths.

It added that earlier this year, the church had reviewed its archive of sermons and had stopped reproducing that particular sermon and other insensitive content that had been previously sold in the church bookstore.

‘We recognise our responsibility in this major oversight in allowing this sermon not only to be preached, but also, as a usual practice, to be made available as a resource for sale,’ the 20,000-strong independent church said.

‘It is unfortunate that while we have endeavoured in every way to stop the circulation of this sermon, its recent appearance on the Internet continues to possibly cause offence.

‘We would like to express our deepest apologies to any person who may have been offended by the remarks made by Pastor Mark Ng.’

The user who uploaded the New Creation clip declined to identify himself, but told The Straits Times in an e-mail interview that he hoped to raise public awareness on preaching styles that were disrespectful to other faiths.

‘If such preaching continues unabated, it would definitely be trouble for multiracial and multi-religious Singapore,’ said the 37-year-old Singaporean man, who uses the nickname ‘happyman4072′ on YouTube.

The clip has since been re-posted on more than a dozen websites, including Stomp!, tech forum hardwarezone.com and social networking site Facebook.

On YouTube, it has been viewed about 4,000 times.

In February, the founder and senior pastor of another independent church, Lighthouse Evangelism, was censured for making comments that were insensitive to Buddhist and Taoist believers.

Mr Rony Tan, 64, mocked the religious precepts, such as reincarnation and nirvana. His remarks were recorded on video and uploaded on the church’s website.

In days, the video clips were re-posted on YouTube and online forums.

Mr Tan was interviewed by the ISD and has since recanted and apologised for his remarks.

Mr Ng, who is 48 and married, could not be reached for comment.

The church, however, said on his behalf: ‘Pastor Mark offers his unreserved and unmitigated apology to the public for his insensitive comments… He humbly appeals to those whom he has offended to forgive him for this serious indiscretion.’

The user who uploaded the clip said he had received CDs containing the sermon last month from a church-goer, presumably from New Creation.

‘I am pretty sure that he didn’t realise that these kind of recordings could give offence to others. Perhaps that could be the problem in our society right now?’

He added that he was not religious and did not subscribe to any faith.

Taoist Federation chairman Tan Thiam Lye yesterday called on religious leaders to start paying more attention to what they say during services.

He said: ‘Such comments do not promote religious harmony -- that is obvious. There is just no need to criticise other religions when promoting your own faith.’
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Pastor Mark Ng issued a public apology for his comments about Chinese Taoist diety. Though, it is an old incident of two years but the statement was made public only last Friday when someone posted an audio clip on YouTube. It is an audio clip in which Mark Ng can be clearly heard making racy comments about the superstitions. There is also a picture of Pastor Ng on the clip. New Creation Church peeped through the matter and after finding pastor guilty they forced him to issue apology. Church also banned the sale and circulation of this sermon and told its Pastors that sermons of that nature were not acceptable. Church then issued a statement and mentioned that Pastor Mark was ashamed on whatever he said about a religion and he wanted to make clear that he would not do it again.

Pastor Ng is the second pastor who issued apology for his comments, the first such person was Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Evangelism Church, who also issued apologies after being heavily criticized. It was in February when Pastor Tan was called by the Internal Security Department for the matter because there were lots of complaints against him. He too made comments about Buddhist and Taoist.

Ministry of Home Affairs has also released a statement regarding this matter in which they have said that they are aware of the case. Ministry also revealed that church had made a request to YouTube to remove that clip from their site.

19 comments:

  1. When it comes to matters of religion, faith and beliefs, it is difficult to say who is right or who is wrong. So, let's not go there.

    The issue here is not about who is right or who is wrong. The issue here is about being sensitive, considerate and respectful to others and their beliefs.

    The matter of the fact is: what one considers foolish superstition, another considers as sacred faith.

    Don't forget, when it comes to such matters, as far as the government and the general public are concerned, the overarching principle is: live and let live. The key objective is to maintain racial and religious harmony in our society.

    Given the spread of the audio clips in the public domain, and the fact that some members of the public have already voiced out that their feelings were hurt, I think NCC did the sensible and appropriate thing by promptly issuing the public apology.

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  2. It makes one wonder what is the control over the issuing of pastorship. If someone of Mark Ng's calibre can become Pastor, then any Tom, Dick and Harry can also become one. A simple-minded Mark who doesn't even know how the world works, but making comments and insults on other faiths and beliefs is unforgiveable to the authority who gave him the pastorship.

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  3. Besides making a fool of himself, Mark also show his capacity for betraying his ancestors and parents and their beliefs.

    Can anyone put their faith and life into the hands of such lowly character, who call himself a "pastor"?

    Very soon, the word Pastor is synonymous with the word Bastard.

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  4. This fool should personally step out and apology to all taoist and buddhist community, and is there any QC check for one to be a pastor?

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  5. This guy is blind man. He has very shallow knowledge of who GuanYu represent. He obviously don't know alot of the Taoist practises which are based alot on cause and effect and compassion. The Chinese culture has been through some much, thousands of years. A simple statue, a symbol, 1 or 2 words can means alot and has deep profound meaning. Only when i understand what is critical thinking, that i appreciate our ancestor's wisdom.

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  6. Personally, I see no difference between Jesus and Guan Yu. They are historical figures admired and idolised by many.

    In the same vein, I see no difference between seeing ghost and seeing "God". They are just figures of our imagination. Neither can be verified to exist.

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  7. There is a huge difference between giving sermon inspiring others and being a joker poking fun at others. Mark may have been given the wrong job discription!

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  8. It is time for the police and the ISD to take actions against these fake Pastors before more fools and idiots got themselves brainwashed and still feel great and arrogance about it.

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  9. I knew new creation was crazy, But now they just proved that they belong in a whole new other dimension of intelligence. A dimension far from nuts. Or shd I say.....far below the nuts....

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  10. pls use yr brain n think be4 u talk ........u call yrslf a pastor n yet u say tis kind of thing .....disgrace!!!
    (Ren Zai Zuo, Tian Zai Gan!!)

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  11. These people think they can speak abit of ang mo, being modern and dress nice nice therefore they can look down on people. Pride and Ignorance are their hallmark. Somemore say what cultured and educated; SHAME!

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  12. this fecker is unforgiveable but the benevolent taoist leaders forgave him.

    this fecker is shooting his mouth off like a machine guns with remarks even his ancestors will feel ashame to have him as their descendant.

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  13. Does it occur to Pastor Mark Ng that he is in fact ridiculing his own parents and ancestors?
    What manner of man is he that bite the hand that fed him. Does he not know that without his ancestors and parents, he shit can know god, much less become a stupid pastor

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  14. Pastor mark ng,
    When the police (who worship the supreme one that Mark Ng worships)have a clash with the gangsters (who worship the supreme one that Mark Ng worships), does your supreme one knows who to deliver?
    Apply this kind of rhetoric/ senseless analogy
    to your own belief and you will know how mature or intelligent you are.

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  15. i tink some still dun understand , well for those who may agree as freedom of speeh .yes it true . but bear in mind that he a influnectial leader if 10000 ppl listen and reacted to what he say . what would it caused .For example now 7th mth a devotess buring inscense suddenly a christin laughing at it directly ..it creates war. tongues kills , that the power of words , yes mere comments but who will react to that i dunno . suicde bomber i dun think is born in a day

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  16. Funny, why these get-rich-quick pastors do not dare to offend the Islam religion in their sermons?

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  17. The guy is just a pathetic full!!! another fucker who just wanna earn some extra pocket money. ask him go fuck himself and whoever out there cursing to die after a speech i'm in!!

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  18. hmmm... regarding e guan kong part. if both e police and gangster believe in christ, isit it e same thing?

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  19. This is bad no wonder he insult other religion in church, in MBC I heard one Senior pastor said 'Methodist are stupid' than I was very pissed off to tell the whole world what had happened. Rev Mark I surely knows one person can go against you. Just like what Ps Sng did

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