I came across a post in the bulletin in my friendster:
A girl raped in HOUGANG Message: a teenage girl about 17 had gone to visit some friends one evening and time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year.
She ended up staying longer than planned, and had to walk home alone. She wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.
As she walked along under the tall elm trees (Oceance notes: Elm trees in Hougang? Righhht~), Diane asked God to keep her safe from harm and danger.
When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for her. She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for God's protection. Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped round her, she felt as though someone was walking with her. When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely.
The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she had been there. Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep. Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station. She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story. The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him. She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley the night before. When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.
The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her. She asked if they would ask the man one question. Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her. When the policeman asked him, he answered, "Because she wasn't alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her."
Amazingly, whether you believe or not, you're never alone. Did you know that 98% of teenagers will not stand up for God? Repost this as A girl raped in (your city) if you truly believe in God..
PS: God is always there in your heart and loves you no matter what..... and if u stand up 4 him u would repost this
i bet 93% of u people dat read dis wont repost
This is an example of how a set of teachings can be used in such a wrong way. I'm not a Christian, but I'm willing to speak up for it.
So this Diane girl walked down an alley, saw a suspicious man and started to pray, and managed to reach home safe and sound. The next day she read on the news that some unlucky girl was raped in the same alley 20min after she left the alley.
This story seems to advocate the notion that the unlucky girl had not prayed to God and was hence raped.
This is madness. Just because she had not prayed, God didn't want to take care of her? And just because the Diane girl prayed, God sent a hallucination to the rapist (so that he thought he saw 2 men with her) so that the Diane girl would stay safe??
Worst still, the message mentioned, "Whether you believe it or not, you're never alone." Yeah right, I believe you; you tell me how the unlucky girl got raped.
This is a story with such a big loophole I will not be surprise if anyone would actually fall into it and treat it seriously. Contradicting? No. Someone mentioned that the art of telling a lie is to stuff in a sentence of truth in the midst of a pack of lie. The same thing applies to telling a story.
Listen, I'm not saying Christianity is a lie, do not misunderstand me. I'm just bringing out this story above as an example to how a set of teachings meant for the good of mankind can be misinterpreted by ignorant people, and then further influence other ignorant people, and eventually takes over the place of the original set of teaching.
Teachings go haywire and off-track because of people who misinterpret it and stuff it into situations that don't fit the original stand of the teachings. That's why we got all those religious extremists doing the entire wrong thing in the name of the righteousness.
Having a religion, having something to believe in and to trust in is good. But at the same time we would have to test the teachings, to stretch it, to put it over the fire-- before we finally believe in it. Believing in something and "believing blindly" got difference one, leh. Like PCK always like to remind us, "Use your blain use your blain use your blain!!!"
It is a surprisingly sound advice from a character in a comedy.
