City Harvest Church Trial - The "Apology"

Working in the public health service in NSW, one would be educated through mandatory training on the skill of Open Disclosure. As defined in the Open Disclosure Policy (PD2014_028), "Open Disclosure is the the process of ensuring that open, honest, empathetic and timely discussion between patients and/ or their support person(s) and Health Service staff following a patient safety incident."

In the policy, it also describes how staff must apologize in an empathetic manner. The apology should acknowledge the consequence, yet it should not attribute blame. Examples quoted in the policy include, "I'm sorry this has happened to you" or "I regret this has happened."
(Source: StraitsTimes)
Pastor Kong Hee has indeed mastered this public relation skill. Pastor Kong Hee made a public apology at one of City Harvest Church's services after he was found guilty of criminal breech of trust. He apologised by saying he was sorry for the "pain and turmoil" with traditionally Asian deep bow. An apology which stop short of admitting fault of what caused all the "pain and turmoil". But why apologise when you aren't ready to repent?

 The first reason which comes to mind is the way the Singapore legal system works in terms of dishing out penalties. Convicted criminals who are unrepentant are often given a harsher penalties. In this case, under the Singapore penal code 409, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. By making the public apology, the Kong Hee might have been legally advised to do so to avoid the look of the "unrepentant" just in case appeals don't work. Yet the apology did not extend out to admitting fault, so that there is room for appeal - to get out of the whole saga.

 After the lengthy trial, I'm sure most of us would have seen till today that the convicted has really not admitted to the crime and have actively avoided doing so. None of us know if the convicted has repented deep down in their hearts. But I'm sure God will be the final judge and the man has till his last day, or the last day to repent. 

 Unfortunately till then, sin hurts. Sin hurts the individual. Sin hurts the church community. For City Harvest Church, I pray that the church leaders found guilty will turn back and be truly repentant of their sins and set a public example of what true repentance looks like.  I pray that the church community will heal from the hurt and lies. I pray that the church community will grow and be a stronger church where people are willing to help each other by encouraging each other when dealing with their sins.

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City Harvest Church Trial: Sin, Consequences and Forgiveness

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