Created In The Image Of God - 2
Human Rights & Indonesian Church, A Broken Theology
March 2008, Kie-Eng

A Broken Theology

It is rather a bold sub-title – A Broken Theology – especially when it is written by a layman, not a theologian. Therefore, I like to ask for an apology for being so daring, and at the same time I would ask for a chance to be heard before anyone shut me off.

The year 2000 was filled with too many religious unrests and violations in Indonesia. Maluku and Poso were among the two major ones. There were at least 59 churches attacked and burned outside Maluku & Central Sulawesi during that year. In the midst of those major chaos, on May 28, a bomb went off in a Bataknese church in Medan – Gereja Kristen Protestan Indonesia (GKPI). A bomb was planted in the female section of the sanctuary, and blasted during a Sunday morning service on May 28th of 2000. More than 25 young females were rushed to hospitals nearby. The Jubilee Campaign (JC) team arrived in Medan on Monday the 29th, some of the girls were still in pain even after 24 hours, due to the lack of pain killer and medicines in those hospitals to provide treatment of that magnitude. People from their church and students from the parachurch organization – Perkantas – were there giving their full attention to help the victims and the families. The chairman of the North Sumatra NU had also made a visit to give his sympathy to the victims and families. Yet what was very confusing to me, the little or almost no attention had been given by the local Christians in that area. One of the concerns a pastor of the GKPI mentioned to us was the hospital bill that was going to be unaffordable. He wasn’t sure how the church and the community would be able to pay off. JC managed to obtain the bill from one of the hospitals. Upon our arrival back in Jakarta, we immediately shared that bill to some of our friends from some of the so called mega-churches in Jakarta. Unfortunately none of them showed any genuine interest in helping with the bill.

2008, 8 years later, has anything changed?

Maluku seems to be in peace, although justice has never been completely served. Poso is still considered not stable, although mass-killings have stopped since Malino Peace Act in 2001. Yet again justice has never been served in Poso, refugee camps are still all over Central Sulawesi. Church burnings and attacks have declined very significantly. However, persecutions against Christians and other minorities have taken a new level. The Islamist, who claimed to be the majority, is in full force trying to change the culture and the legal system of the country.

One thing seems still to be the same, the rising of big churches in big cities especially Jakarta. In the midst of injustices toward Christians, Churches are not willing to stand up and demand their rights under the constitution. In a meantime the country seems to be experiencing major setback in almost every aspect of life, poverty seems to be on a rise, prices of basic goods have become more and more unaffordable, unemployment is also climbing, corruptions don’t seem to be under control by any mean. In all of those realities, we still see big churches being built.

How come the Evangelicals who claim to have the revealed Word of God, and understand the true interpretation of the Bible, and feel so convicted of building expensive facilities for worship, yet could seem so careless to the realities in public space? Why are the Indonesian churches not willing to stand up on the side of the truth? Why could they live in such “glamour” while the rest of the country seems to be lacking in just the basic things of life? I think it is important to understand this phenomenon. The Christians have to analyze this reality, and bring it to the light of their calling. However, it could not be denied that in totality, Indonesian Christians have a broken theology. The God that Christians believe in is a God of love, truth and justice, and those attributes of God haven’t been reflected through their participation in the public space.

God’s Vision Of Public Space

God’s vision of public-space could be studied starting from 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Let us take a look into the first 4 verses.

1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

From the verses above, it is clear that Christians are to be involved in the life of public-space. The requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving are made to God come out of real experiences from our daily walk; they are not just simply empty prayers nor requests nor intercession nor thanksgiving. Our prayers and intercession are genuine and full of passion when we are directly involved in public space, interacting with neighbors and those in authority. That is how the above passage ought to be read. The purpose of our involvement is to allow God work through us to establish His Kingdom on earth, where prosperity and peaceful life are reality, and people have the liberty to pursue truth, and have the opportunity to achieve the full meaning of life. The verses above outline the essence of evangelization in a public-space in a pluralistic society.

Being involved directly in public-space both with neighbors and governments in a western democratic country is completely different from in a country such as Indonesia. The social and political realities are much harsher and harder in Indonesia compare with America for example. Yet that is the call of the church. When Indonesian church has chosen to be silent on the case of human rights violations, then the church has also lost its light and saltiness in the society; the church has become irrelevant to the culture. That is why the Indonesian church has been marginalized in the life of public-space. When church is more concerned about glamour and expensive facilities and has no concern of the people in the society, the church has denied the essence of the Gospel, and has lost God’s vision of mankind – God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son. God created the universe in a very logical and rational and orderly ways. The whole universe displays He is a God beyond men’s intelligence. He created out of nothingness, which shows His power and love. On the sixth day He created Adam and Eve for reason, and gave them mandate and directions for life – to create, to manage, to maintain – so that there could be a fellowship between God and men/women on the seventh day. What is the calling of a church as a community of believers in a society where justice has seemed to be something that can’t be attained, and mankind can’t reach the total potential of itself as God first has intended? That is a question deserved a response from us Indonesian Christians, where life is still full of gaps and our theology seems to be very broken and incomplete.

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