Quote-31 Mar 2010

The last few weeks have been quite the rollercoaster ride—ups and downs aplenty! I promise that in my next blog post, I will address all the concerns that some of you have raised recently.

This article is found in page 1258 of the Leadership Bble. Its a word-for-word 100% copy. Just check the photos of the leadership Bible page 1258 seen here. It is also found on Vol 1 day 61 of KH’s “Renewing your spiritual life in 90 days.” And thhen this megachurch superpastor can claim his boook, “all rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission, with the exception of brief excerpts in magazine reviews”. He can copy others’ work but others cannot copy his. Even the work he has copied from others cannot be copied by another. :))

Pls lahh megachurch superpastor, how can you do this? Having done a Doctor of Theology, I am sure any respectable college will always warn you ahout crediting work not done by you

Friday, May 07, 2010
Kong Hee & co. are into plagiarism?

The blogger of Cheat Grace alerted me to his blog two months ago. He/she has been compiling plagiarism evidences committed by Kong Hee, the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church, a mega-church with a congregation of over 30,000 members.

(Disclaimer: I don’t have the published materials mentioned below, so I am depending on the blogger’s reports. For this reason, I was hesitant to blog about this initially. However, what my clustermate told me yesterday motivates me to blog as a way to seek verification from those who have access to these materials.)

Most of the evidences are those from Kong Hee’s web-based daily devotion. There are a few examples (post one, post two) taken from the Leadership Study Bible edited by Kenneth Boa, Sid Buzzell and Bill Perkins.

The blogger also reported that Kong Hee has plagiarized not only for his website but also in his own hard-copy publication: Renewing your Spiritual Life in 90 Days, Vol. 1. It appears that Kong Hee copied the devotional material for day 61 and day 89 from other sources without acknowledgment. What is irony is this printed statement on Kong Hee’s book: “All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission, with the exception of brief excerpts in magazine reviews.” Since I don’t have a copy of this book, I hope my readers who have access to it able to verify the cited pages.

In our first semester at Trinity Theological College, we are required to attend a class titled ‘Theological Study Skills’. Throughout the class, the lecturer, Andrew Peh, keep reiterating the severity of plagiarism. Taking another person’s work and claiming it as your own is equivalent to stealing, coveting, bearing false witness, etc. Kong Hee who has a Doctorate in Theology from New Covenant International Theological Seminary should know this. Or perhaps that seminary, unlike Trinity Theological College, allows plagiarism.

Last night, one of my clustermates told us about a conference which he has attended. One of the speakers of the conference was the Caucasian pastor from City Harvest Church pastoral team. At the beginning of the speech, the Caucasian pastor told the attendees that what he was about to say on that day was revealed to him by God. Guess what? My clustermate recognize that his speech was copied entirely from one of Willow Creek Church’s resources. As he was speaking on the stage, my clustermates was telling his fellow attendees seated besides him the subsequent points the Caucasian pastor was going to make. And my clustermate got them all right.

Is plagiarism a trend in City Harvest Church’s pastorate?

Did Kong Hee plagiarise?

Irreligious

University students know the seriousness of it. So do journalists, whose reputation stand on their ability to tell the truth. Even literary writers, whose job is to craft fiction, understand the need to be original.

So I was surprised to learn that large swaths of Kong Hee’s daily devotionals are lifted from other sources — without attribution. This unexpected revelation was brought to light by an anonymous blogger who devoted an entire blog called ‘Cheat Grace’ to exposing Kong Hee’s alleged plagiarism of other authors.

I’ve learnt about this blog a couple of months ago, but as it began to uncover more of Kong Hee’s allegedly plagiarised articles, I began to feel a little disturbed. Underestand that I am not talking about copyright infringement, which is an entirely different issue.

While copyright infringement is illegal under all circumstances, plagiarism is not. But plagiarism is still unethical, which is why academics, journalists, and literary writers treat it seriously. Even as a blogger, I do not want to be caught stealing passages from other writers without giving them a nod.

Plagiarism is simply a breach of integrity. Writers who plagiarise are claiming the work of others as their own. It is a form of thievery and deception.

I am disturbed, therefore, that someone would accuse Kong Hee of plagiarism. But read the blog and its allegations for yourself — which are backed up with solid documentation. The person behind the blog apparently has plenty of time and a deep well to draw motivation from.

The blogger, lets call him Cheat Grace, even muscled in the effort to pour through Kong Hee’s devotional book “Renewing Your Spiritual Life Vol 2″ — which is sold for $14 — to find that it contains the allegedly plagiarised devotionals. Cheat Grace even pointed out that Kong Hee claimed at the back of his book that he is “sharing his insights from the Bible”.

The church has been silent on the matter, perhaps because it hasn’t generated much online attention — yet. Church members seemed to have glossed over it, maybe because it is deemed an insignificant and minor offence. But let me proffer another reason: Since everyone is from the Body of Christ, Christians see no need to be uptight about such regulations. After all, if the truth is preached, does it matter where it came from?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. The problem with this reasoning is that even if the other party doesn’t mind that his article is plagiarised, the plagiariser is still presenting a false image of himself. It is taking a shortcut to create a good impression. It is still deception.

But I’ve realised that plagiarism is quite rampant among some pastors anyway, except that their followers don’t call it plagiarism. Pastors have been known for preaching each other’s sermons as if it is their own. But while some pastors don’t see it as an issue, others do. My personal stand is that even insights preached in sermons should be credited. I do not want to receive praise for a sermon I did not craft.

There appears to be a clash of cultures. On one hand, the principle of intellectual integrity demands that the work of others must be credited. On the other hand, church leaders are lax when it comes to intellectual property. Good things, they’d say, are meant to be shared after all. Or perhaps it was never implicit that sermons must be original.

But for reasons that I’ve mentioned above, I think there should be a sea change in the culture of the church. It is a misguided form of generousity that breeds laziness in sermon preparation. The pastor is in fact killing his own creativity and creating a false impression of himself. It deprives church members of original insights. Intellectual integrity, therefore, should be a prized value in church too.

I don’t think ripping sermons is a problem if 99 percent of pastors are okay with it. Ethics and morality are after all community-based. But as above article shows, some pastors do see it as an issue. And even if every pastor in the world is okay with the practice, the context of delivering a sermon is different from authoring a piece of literary work.

Anyway, now that Cheat Grace has so painstakingly brought the truth into public space, it is time the church reveal its side of the story publicly. Since Kong Hee has published the devotional online and sold them in bookstores, this incident cannot be considered internal anymore. Does City Harvest Church believe that there is nothing wrong with such practices? If the church believes so, then declare it out loud.

But if the church acknowledges the folly of such practices, rectifications can still be made before the situation goes out of hand. My sincere hope is that this slight can be resolved quickly, and everyone can learn a lesson and move on.

I don’t want a private explanation. This time, the larger Christian community needs to know.

There was once a Mayor and a Beggar who lived in the same Town. The Mayor was well-loved by all; he was rich, influential, and eloquent. The Beggar, on the other hand, goes about his daily routine, relatively unnoticed.

One day, while walking inside the Grocery Store, the Beggar saw the Mayor slip ten bars of soap under his exquisite robe.

Outraged, the Beggar ran to the Shop Owner to tell him about the Mayor’s crime. The Shop Owner, however, snapped at the Beggar.

“Do you have a hidden motive for telling me about his act? Are you trying to disrupt the peace in the neighbourhood?”

Undeterred, the Beggar went outside the Grocery Store, and shouted to all who would hear: “Hear ye! Hear ye! I was in the Grocery Store when the Mayor stole ten bars of soap! Who will join me in indicting him?”

But most of the bystanders ignored him, and went their way. Others, disgusted at the sight of the Beggar’s rant, shouted at him: “Do you have something up your sleeve? Are you trying to cause riots in this town?”

Dismayed, the Beggar decided to try one last thing. He put up notices all over the Town; on the walls, the lamp posts, and even outside the police station.

Most ignored the notices and went their way. Others, in a fit of rage, ripped off the notices, threw them onto the ground, and uttered: “Who is this man making a nuisance of himself, tarnishing our beautiful environment with this trivial concern?”

Some shook their heads and said to the Beggar: “It’s okay to be critical. But have you become cynical? Go home and repent of your sin!”

The Beggar, realising that the Towns Folk adore the Mayor too much, decided to give up.

One day, the King of the nation, upon hearing of this matter, decided to pay the Town a visit. He summoned the Mayor and the Beggar before him, and heard the Beggar’s complaint.

The King was furious, and spat on the ground. Pointing to the Mayor, he said: “Justice knows no status, no race nor riches. The law is a fair lady, treating everyone equally. People may ignore the poor and the uneducated, but not I, the King. From henceforth, you are no longer the Mayor of this Town.”

Did Kong Hee plagiarise?

Irreligious

University students know the seriousness of it. So do journalists, whose reputation stand on their ability to tell the truth. Even literary writers, whose job is to craft fiction, understand the need to be original.

So I was surprised to learn that large swaths of Kong Hee’s daily devotionals are lifted from other sources — without attribution. This unexpected revelation was brought to light by an anonymous blogger who devoted an entire blog called ‘Cheat Grace’ to exposing Kong Hee’s alleged plagiarism of other authors.

I’ve learnt about this blog a couple of months ago, but as it began to uncover more of Kong Hee’s allegedly plagiarised articles, I began to feel a little disturbed. Underestand that I am not talking about copyright infringement, which is an entirely different issue.

While copyright infringement is illegal under all circumstances, plagiarism is not. But plagiarism is still unethical, which is why academics, journalists, and literary writers treat it seriously. Even as a blogger, I do not want to be caught stealing passages from other writers without giving them a nod.

Plagiarism is simply a breach of integrity. Writers who plagiarise are claiming the work of others as their own. It is a form of thievery and deception.

I am disturbed, therefore, that someone would accuse Kong Hee of plagiarism. But read the blog and its allegations for yourself — which are backed up with solid documentation. The person behind the blog apparently has plenty of time and a deep well to draw motivation from.

The blogger, lets call him Cheat Grace, even muscled in the effort to pour through Kong Hee’s devotional book “Renewing Your Spiritual Life Vol 2″ — which is sold for $14 — to find that it contains the allegedly plagiarised devotionals. Cheat Grace even pointed out that Kong Hee claimed at the back of his book that he is “sharing his insights from the Bible”.

The church has been silent on the matter, perhaps because it hasn’t generated much online attention — yet. Church members seemed to have glossed over it, maybe because it is deemed an insignificant and minor offence. But let me proffer another reason: Since everyone is from the Body of Christ, Christians see no need to be uptight about such regulations. After all, if the truth is preached, does it matter where it came from?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. The problem with this reasoning is that even if the other party doesn’t mind that his article is plagiarised, the plagiariser is still presenting a false image of himself. It is taking a shortcut to create a good impression. It is still deception.

But I’ve realised that plagiarism is quite rampant among some pastors anyway, except that their followers don’t call it plagiarism. Pastors have been known for preaching each other’s sermons as if it is their own. But while some pastors don’t see it as an issue, others do. My personal stand is that even insights preached in sermons should be credited. I do not want to receive praise for a sermon I did not craft.

There appears to be a clash of cultures. On one hand, the principle of intellectual integrity demands that the work of others must be credited. On the other hand, church leaders are lax when it comes to intellectual property. Good things, they’d say, are meant to be shared after all. Or perhaps it was never implicit that sermons must be original.

But for reasons that I’ve mentioned above, I think there should be a sea change in the culture of the church. It is a misguided form of generousity that breeds laziness in sermon preparation. The pastor is in fact killing his own creativity and creating a false impression of himself. It deprives church members of original insights. Intellectual integrity, therefore, should be a prized value in church too.

I don’t think ripping sermons is a problem if 99 percent of pastors are okay with it. Ethics and morality are after all community-based. But as above article shows, some pastors do see it as an issue. And even if every pastor in the world is okay with the practice, the context of delivering a sermon is different from authoring a piece of literary work.

Anyway, now that Cheat Grace has so painstakingly brought the truth into public space, it is time the church reveal its side of the story publicly. Since Kong Hee has published the devotional online and sold them in bookstores, this incident cannot be considered internal anymore. Does City Harvest Church believe that there is nothing wrong with such practices? If the church believes so, then declare it out loud.

But if the church acknowledges the folly of such practices, rectifications can still be made before the situation goes out of hand. My sincere hope is that this slight can be resolved quickly, and everyone can learn a lesson and move on.

I don’t want a private explanation. This time, the larger Christian community needs to know.