Life as a secret Christian convert
| By Linda Pressly BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents |
Abandoning Islam for Christianity is such a sensitive issue in Malaysia that many converts find themselves leading a secret, double life.
"If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and throw it at me."Maria - not her real name - is a young Malaysian woman who has lived a secret and sometimes fearful life since she converted from Islam to Christianity.
Apostasy, as it is known, has become one of the most controversial issues in Malaysia today.
Maria became a Christian over a decade ago when she was 18. She says no-one forced her to convert, that she made the decision after studying different religious texts.
Conversion is deemed so sensitive in Malaysia that even the priest who baptised her refused to give her a baptismal certificate.
And, even now, the church she attends asked her to sign a declaration stating the church is not responsible for her conversion.
"My church says if the authorities come, they are not going to stand up for me. I have to stand up for myself," she said.
Not even Maria's family know she has converted.
"If my family find out I am no longer a Muslim they will completely cut me off. That means my name in the family will be erased.
"I could migrate, but the problem is I want to stay in Malaysia, because this is my country. And I love my family. I just want to live peacefully."
...
"I feel that I am all alone in this struggle," she says, "and I am frightened because I am alone against the odds."
| By Zach Harris Sunday, December 3, 2006 |
They either have to live a secret life in fear of their family, or come out in the open and face persecution. Some are forced to leave their hometown, some are forced to leave their country, and some are killed.
But the final and most horrific attack against them does not come from the Muslim community.
Sadly, after facing so much persecution from their own family, friends, and relatives, the greatest blow against them comes in the form of rejection from the so-called "Christian church".
"ARPC": Abandon and Reject Persecuted Christians
Knowing of the trials that Muslim converts face, about one year ago I brought this issue before the ARPC elders to see whether ARPC would be a safe place to bring Malay seekers.
I asked them, "If a Malay converted to Christianity and joined ARPC, and persecution arose against them, and the government made threats against ARPC, would you stand together with our Malay brother or sister through the trials even if, for example, it meant losing the church property?"
The correct Biblical response to this question is clear from passages like Hebrews 10:32-34, "But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one" (emphasis added), and 1 John 3:16, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
But instead, the elders of ARPC responded saying, "We are not ready for that yet." In other words if Maria came to ARPC, then through whatever persecution she faced, she would have to stand by herself.
Of course, Maria would very likely never have joined ARPC in the first place, because attitudes like those that show themselves in ARPC's prohibition against gospels in the Malay language1 probably would have made her feel entirely unwelcome from the beginning.
The leadership of ARPC has shown that they follow a false, imaginary gospel. This false gospel says we can follow Christ and still hold on to earthly comforts, rather than abandoning it all for the labour of sacrificial love. Therefore, by necessity, this imaginary gospel excludes certain people who might get in its way.
Anyone who cherishes the true gospel of Jesus Christ does not have a home at ARPC. May God raise up a church in Singapore which adheres to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.