Bethel Church, Bandung

Feb 12th, 2007, in News, by

A Christian group in Bandung is forced to stop services.

Dozens of people in the Warung Satangkal area of Majalaya, Bandung, claiming to belong to a group called the Anti-Apostasy Movement of the Indonesian Ulema Congregation Forum, demonstrated in front of a house belonging to a Christian family on the 11th, says the Jakarta Post, demanding that it no longer be used for religious services.

Those attending the church services voluntarily left the house and no violence occurred.

Omay Komarudin, head of the Warung Satangkal neighbourhood unit, said the rally was held because local residents were bothered by the religious services being held once a week in the house, for the last three years. What was worse, said Omay, the house-church was near a mosque.

Omay said that local people had often asked the house’s owner to stop the services, and they had eventually sent a letter to the management of the Majalaya chapter of the Indonesian Bethel Church.

But our letter was not heeded. We, as a Muslim majority here, are greatly disturbed. On Saturday night (10th), one of their representatives visited my house, and he was drunk and criticized our protest letter.

Some people reportedly got angry over this incident and they gathered at 7 a.m. on the 11th in front of the house of Ayun Sobandi, who is the representative of the church. Alner, another church representative, decided to stop the church service after seeing the mob.

We’re aware that this church has no permit so I’ve taken the initiative to stop it and disperse. It’s really difficult to process licenses for the construction of churches, especially permits from nearby figures and other local noted figures (as required by the existing law).

Alner signed a statement, and promised not to hold religious activities in the house until a license was issued by the Religious Affairs Ministry. Alner said around 100 churchgoers in Majalaya routinely worshipped at Ayun’s house. Three families in the vicinity became members of the church communion, while others came from surrounding areas in Majalaya.

Alner said they converted the house into a church because they did not have a church which was free from disturbances.

We haven’t had a license, but we frequently consult with local officials, including the police. And Mr Ayun is a local boy who has lived here since 1986.


79 Comments on “Bethel Church, Bandung”

  1. Ihaknt says:

    By the way Hassan, I would like to sincerely thank you for awakening my memory of my mother. It’s been so long since I’m aware and grateful of what a great parent she was and still is. Now that I live so far away from her, I guess it slips my mind sometimes. Thank you.

    Oh I forgot to add that my relationship between me and Allah is personal and I believe I can ‘contact’ him whenever, wherever.

  2. Ali says:

    Amen – may God bless you, Ihaknt!

  3. sgn says:

    IHnAKnT,
    you are not alone.
    God bless you.

    sgn

  4. Grace and Mercy says:

    Hassan

    I have a story.

    Then it remains just a story isn’t it. Can it be substantiated if it really took place? (Read my comment to your comment in Densus 88)

    Are you trying to generalize that a good Muslim is a hypocrite one? If not, then why the tone, and the implicit acknowledgment of that fact using the ‘former House Representative’ example?

    Well, they who commit the act certainly try to paint themselves as one that is ‘good’. I haven’t seen any remorse/ admission of wrong doing coming out of them. You be the judge.

    You know, there had been a lot of sexual abuse cases in certain Churches in the U.S. lately. Can I generalize that perversion seems to be the sole requirement to be a ‘good’ priest in the U.S nowadays?

    I certainly don’t defend them or their actions. AND, at the VERY LEAST they stood in front of the media admitting wrong doing (i.e with the latest case of Ted Haggard). Has anyone caught in scandal in this country ever admit to wrong doing? They always justify their actions with something or another. Always getting defensive, just like you, always replying a post about something that goes wrong with Islam (or Arabs as we see in other posts) with something along the line of:

    “Well the Christians did that too in such and such time, so I heard” 😀
    “Well the Americans did that even worse in such and such time, so I heard” 😀

    You want to generalize? Go ahead, be my guest. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. See if I care, because its only an opinion. 😉

  5. Hassan says:

    Grace and Mercy: I don’t think that I used the term “so I heard” as often as you suggest. I used it once, and some guy (whose name I forgot) asked for confirmation of the source then I told him to google it. I’m sorry that I could not recall any other instances when I used the “so I heard” line. Can you refresh my memory? Or was it only an attempt (and a poor one at that) to smear my credibility?

    About the “I have a story”, I believe you missed my point, it is a story that could happen anywhere. The moral lesson of the story was that you shouldn’t have blamed a person for practicing his/her religion. A small backtrack will reveal that you said to 1ndra these things:

    1ndra : “Because that was Adzan, a call for shalat, and shalat is wajib and sinned if failed to do that. If the Adzan is ‘muted’ and no one hear, its a sin too.”

    Your reply : “There seem to be always be an excuse for thy action doesn’t it?”

    I felt that your response was inappropriate and showed a lack of respect towards other people’s faith, and it’s teachings. Now, we shouldn’t call a Christians wish to go to a Church as an “excuse”, should we?

    “Well, they who commit the act certainly try to paint themselves as one that is ‘good’. I haven’t seen any remorse/admission of wrong doing coming out of them. You be the judge.”

    You knew it was just an effort by those people to hide behind the mask of religion, yet you said “it is indeed” to Ihaknt’s statement: “it’s just the munafikness that now seems to be the sole requirement to be a ‘good’ Muslim.”

    “Always getting defensive, just like you, always replying a post about something that goes wrong with Islam (or Arabs as we see in other posts) with something along the line…”

    What in the world gave you the idea that I am somehow related to those people’s actions (“just like you”). About being defensive, all I can say was that I do not need to be defensive if no one was in the offensive. Catch my drift?

    Besides, you can call it defensive or whatever you want, but I was just trying to clear certain misconceptions about Islam and Muslims, something that all people of all faiths will willingly do regarding their respective religions.

    One thing for sure, I never justified any horrendous acts done in the name of religion. I have never ever justified the acts of Osama, Saddam, Baashir, Al Qaeda JI, etc. You can check that if you want. As for why I liked to mention the crimes that other religion had also done, it’s not meant as a justification. All I can say was that some people (like Ismail, riccardo, etc) needed to be given a taste of their own medicine in order to learn something called ’empathy’. No one liked it when their religion is unjustifiably smeared. How about you?

    “You want to generalize? Go ahead, be my guest. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. See if I care, because its only an opinion.”

    And you didn’t generalize regarding the good Muslim thing?

  6. Hassan says:

    Ihaknt: “A good Muslim in my view is one who is wise, able to hold his anger and emotion while time is rough, step out of the box, look at things from the outside and a different angle, think with a cold head and be fair with the decision, and able to come up with a win-win solution.”

    The “good Muslim” characteristics you provided seemed to be attainable by anyone. A person that doesn’t even believe in Allah SWT could be wise, patient, step out of the box, come up with a win-win solution, etc. Perhaps those characteristics are better suited to depict a ‘good and rational leader’ rather than a good Muslim?

    A good Muslim is what a good Muslim does. Islam is a religion based on actions, not just thoughts. “Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware.” as Allah said on His Quran. He didn’t say the noblest of Muslim is the best at heart. 🙂

    “I don’t need to publicise or berkoar koar Allahu Akbar just so people know I defend my God.”

    Off course not, it is not compulsory to do that. As for those who do, their reason usually are: 1. They are offended by the bad things the ignorant people unjustifiably addressed to their religion. After all, an attack on a religion is also an attack on the followers’ conscience 2. They wanted to clarify misconceptions that others have on Islam. A normal thing, as people tried to clarify other people’s misconceptions about themselves or their families all the time, for example.

    So, please don’t call those who do as ‘muna’ until you have solid proof that they are like that. Only God can determine what people have in their hearts.

    “My God lives inside me.”

    Yet He is not a Being that we can ‘conjure up’ whenever we want. He is after all our Lord and Ruler, we should give Him the proper praise and worship as He deserved, and commanded.

    “Now to answer your question yes I am a Muslim, I may not pray 5 times a day.”

    I know you will say, “whatever I do is between me and my God” or “it’s none of your business” but I have to say these things in an attempt to do Amar Ma’ruf (advocating good) and to do what God had mentioned in 103:2-3 “Lo! man is a state of loss, Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance.”

    And I also knew that there are what we call practicing Christians and ‘spiritual Christians’ but I couldn’t recall such things in Islam.

    20:14 “Verily, I am Allah. There is no god but I: So serve thou Me (only), and establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise.”

    98:5 “And they have been commanded no more than this: To worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith); to establish regular prayer; and to practice regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and Straight.”

    74:42-42 “What hath brought you to this burning? They will answer: We were not of those who prayed”

    OK, that wraps it up. Good luck on this journey called life!

  7. Ihaknt says:

    Whatever. Thanks, good luck to you too. I knew my answer won’t be sufficient to you. Only God has the right to judge.

  8. Grace and Mercy says:

    Hi Hassan,

    Thanks for a really great discourse, I appreciate it. I have to say you are a learned individual. Though here I found contradicting statements to your previous posts I have been reading, I’ll leave it at that for the time being.

    And about not needing to be defensive if no one was in the offensive. One would not need to be defensive in an offensive strike does not hit a target.

    Catch my drift? 😉

  9. Hassan says:

    Grace and Mercy: “Though here I found contradicting statements to your previous posts I have been reading”

    I will be more than happy to clarify any of those contradicting statements. It’s just that I often lost track of some of the things that I had written. So, please remind me or quote any part of those statements you found contradictive. 🙂

    “And about not needing to be defensive if no one was in the offensive. One would not need to be defensive in an offensive strike does not hit a target.”

    “Catch my drift?”

    Gotcha. 😉

  10. Hassan says:

    “Only God has the right to judge.”

    Yet He had told us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do through religion. Should we not strive and do our best to do what He asked of us and refrain from what He had prohibited? After we’ve done that, then we can say that only He will judge what we have done.

    BTW, the verses I quoted was from The Judge you mentioned, the Allah in your religion Islam, and not my own words.

    And your answer was: “Whatever”

    What’s the point of saying ‘only God has the right to judge’ if you seem to ignore the words of the very Judge you placed your faith on? 🙂

  11. Mohammed Khafi says:

    Hassan,

    Don’t forget that one of Allah’s attributes is mercy, there is only one thing that he will not forgive.

    Regarding prayer remember this:

    “Recite that which hath been inspired in thee of the Scripture, and establish worship. Lo! worship preserveth from lewdness and iniquity, but verily remembrance of Allah is more important. And Allah knoweth what ye do.” 29:45

    Rememberance of Allah is Greater than Worship!

    Peace Bro

  12. Ihaknt says:

    Gees Hassan, I feel sorry for you. You are so sombong. Seriously, being able to quote verses from Quran or anything doesnt make a better person let alone a better Muslim than anyone else. I didnt mention all the things that Muslim should do cos it just goes without saying. Good on you for being able to extract all those verses hope you yourself will find the intention and true meaning behind it. You are one of those I’m-better-than-most-people person, you’re too defensive to a level where you are actually just trying to prove something. Well, have fun, cos it is amusing to see that you dedicate so much time to counter us who disagree with you or trying to give a different point of view. Oh and thank you for doing the research for us too for those verses, etc, you saved us a lot of time. I guess i just wait for another ‘counter’ comments.

  13. Hassan says:

    Ihaknt: “You are so sombong. Seriously, being able to quote verses from Quran or anything doesnt make a better person let alone a better Muslim than anyone else.”

    Personally, I don’t feel that I’m any better than anyone else. And excuse me for failing to see the relationship between the act of reminding others and ‘sombong’. ihaknt, I was just reminding you about something that Allah SWT had told us in His Quran, was that an act of arrogance?

    Muslims were supposed to remind each other because it’s our obligation to remind each other, “And leave alone those who take their religion as play and amusement, and are deceived by the life of this world. But remind (them) with it (the Quran) lest a person be given up to destruction for that which he has earned, when he will find for himself no protector or intercessor besides Allah, and even if he offers every ransom, it will not be accepted from him..” Quran 6:70

    If the act of reminding one another is an act of arrogance, that means all the ustads, clerics, and preachers are all people who are ‘sombong’, aren’t they? 🙂

    Perhaps ‘sombong’ is more attributable to someone who said “whatever” when another Muslim reminded him/her of Allah’s words, or was even in fact saying “whatever” (ignoring) his/her own God’s words in the Quran.

    “You are one of those I’m-better-than-most-people person, you’re too defensive to a level where you are actually just trying to prove something.”

    My honest answer is no, I’m not one of those people, and I’m not trying to prove anything. Please don’t use stereotypes as a base of your judgment.

  14. Hassan says:

    Mohammed Khafi: You’re not encouraging Muslims to abandon their Shalats, are you? Because you sound as if you’re giving approval to ihaknt actions (ignoring Allah’s command to perform Shalat).

    “Don’t forget that one of Allah’s attributes is mercy, there is only one thing that he will not forgive.”

    1. Branding ‘heresy’ to one another is not an Islamic thing, mainstream clerics might have called you that a long time ago, but I had refrained from using that word. 2. We should not abuse Allah SWT’s mercy by ignoring His commands.

    “Rememberance of Allah is Greater than Worship!”

    It might be is, but ignoring the command to pray completely is not a wise thing.
    I’ve read the ‘manifesto’ on http://www.freeminds.org and even that guy doesn’t say that Muslims should abandon their shalats completely.

  15. Mohammed Khafi says:

    Hassan,

    No, I would never dream of disobeying Allah. But perhaps ihaknt’s sholat, just takes a different form from yours and mine Hassan, Allah says that all his creature know their own form of prayer doesn’t he? I think we can only gauge people from their acts and deeds not from the observation of their prayer ritual.

    I know many who pray 5 times per day and still cheat and lie without a hint of remorse, I know others who have been on the Hajj and also do the same, Islam is not just about appearances Hassan, it is also about the things that are hidden on the inside. I dare say that Osama bin Laden prays 5 times a day or more, but that doesn’t mean he is not going to burn in hell, but I also know some people who don’t pray at all but still do so much good that they cannot be doing any other than Allah’s work in their daily lives. It is not for us to judge my brother, it is only for us to warn, as you said earlier.

  16. Ihaknt says:

    or was even in fact saying “whatever” (ignoring) his/her own God’s words in the Quran

    Hi Hassan, how could you conclude this? I said this because I didn’t see the point of arguing with you. We don’t see eye to eye so it’s end of the story for me.

    Muslims were supposed to remind each other because it’s our obligation to remind each other

    Well I am reminding you that you do sound a bit sombong. Ustadz dsb are different because that’s what they do, although some give wrong teachings to children. If you told me that you were an ustad then that’s a different story. As I said in my previous comment, it is too much to ask for many to see things from outside the box, and you are obviously IN the box. Hassan, what I find amusing is you not the religion.

  17. raden says:

    I am sick to read on & on that my brothers & sisters in Jesus Christ still crying to live in Indon ????
    Where the Java islands, more or less have dissastrous infrastructure, muslim militant thinking, all trees were chop-off in gunung Lawu remain the land-slide, flooding in bengawan river, porong will soon become the second Lake TOBA, all the rivers are garbage transportation by standard of Indonesia, difficult to get clean water, top pollutant with corrupt officers, etc etc ….
    I do not believe, what & why do you as christian still crying to live in Indonesia ? instead of you have no other choice but to live there ?? … can’t understand at all.

    GET OUT NOW !

  18. concerned says:

    well raden, for one, this is our homeland
    for me, this is the place where i was born
    it’s not that easy to move out
    i’ll get homesick

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