Jehu [King of Israel] assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab worshiped Baal a little; Jehu will worship him with great devotion. So now, bring to me all the prophets of Baal, as well as all his servants and priests. None of them must be absent, for I am offering a great sacrifice to Baal. Any of them who fail to appear will lose their lives.” But Jehu was tricking them so he could destroy the servants of Baal.
Then Jehu ordered, “Make arrangements for a celebration for Baal.” So they announced it. Jehu sent invitations throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one was absent. They arrived at the temple of Baal and filled it up from end to end. Jehu ordered the one who was in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all the servants of Baal.” So he brought out robes for them.
Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rekab went to the temple of Baal. Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Make sure there are no servants of the Lord here with you; there must be only servants of Baal.” They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt sacrifices. Now Jehu had stationed 80 men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives.”
When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard and officers, “Come in and strike them down! Don’t let any escape!” So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there. Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal. They hauled out the sacred pillar of Baal and burned it. They demolished the sacred pillar of Baal and the temple of Baal; it is used as a latrine to this very day. So Jehu eradicated Baal worship from Israel.
– Old Testament (2 Kings 10:18-28)
Chancing upon the above, I’m both appalled and consoled. The first because of the violence involved then, of how intolerant one was, the latter because of less violence nowadays(?), of how there is greater harmony(?) It is better to cherry-pick scriptural elements of harmony to emulate, than to emulate any violence in the pages of bloody history.
One should not honour only one’s religion and condemn the religion of others, but one should honour others’ religion for this or that reason [that is worth honouring]. In so doing, one helps one’s own religion to grow and renders service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise, one digs the grave of one’s own religion and also does harm to other religions.
– King Asoka
This comment might not relate to this post at all …
I came here today, as I wanted to highlight something which I encountered and I alone would not have any solution for this …
I met a stranger and have a small talk @ KMSPKS. A person who feel some inner peace or “trust” when seeing the status of Buddha or Bodhisattva but has no idea on Buddhism.
I could be wrong but I feel that this person has some “problem” in life or is just a process which needs to go through to get close to Buddhism.
This person (not local but PR) received a Buddhist Mantra booklet from a stranger where she has no idea what the mantra is all about.
Co-incidentally, someone also hand out to her a Flyer on “Buddhism” on the road, which in a way, make this person think it is the path to go to … (because the flyer has a picture of a Buddha which the person can recognise as Buddha and like …)
As a Non-Buddhist, not a counsellor, it is impossible for me to point this person (a lost one) to the right direction …
What good and easy information and resources or place of worships or courses (free) (with no obligation) is there prominent enough to help such people in getting to the right path …
So far, I had only grab some FREE distribution books for this person, would it help (I don’t know) and what other channels or place of worships that this person can go to …
No worries, I don’t need an answer …
Hi Crystal, thank you for helping to share the Dharma. For similar cases in future, you can help get the person’s email address or phone number and send them to me at moonpointer@gmail.com for me to help follow-up.
Another way is to intro http://www.TheDailyEnlightenment.com as a means to know more Buddhist activities in Singapore.
🙂
Ok, noted : ) Usually on the spot, such channels could be totally forgotten unless we are very familiar with it or have such encounters before.
This person can only understand Chinese (that should not be a big problem, I guess)
What I feel is that, there could be many such people around and they might not even voice out at all (not to say to a total stranger) and Buddhism is different in a way (marketing is no-no) , so how should the “reaching out” be, might be something to think about …
Hmmm… actually, the temple has many big noticeboards with activity posters. But it might be easy to miss them in the crowd.
Crystal has a point… (Hi Crystal! Long time no see!)
There are some people who will not pro-actively sign up for an activity they see on the notice board, especially when they have no idea where they should start and it is also in a field which they are not familiar with..
but then again… i also think it depends on causes and condition. haha..:-D
Hihi Dreamy 🙂
You got the point.
Same thing, I won’t sign up for any tour, if I have no good info (everything about) a tour … For new and ulu places, usually, I will wait till more info, more reviews, TV tour programmes and more tour agents offering the tour package etc
Sometime, even friends recommend a particular course, does not mean it will interest other, it all depends what are the things people are looking for.
Could “these things” be presented in a way that catches their attention, seeing the benefits and beauty of it. Just like how the photographer captures a certain angle, able to direct other attention into seeing the beauty of a scene or object.
True, it depends on the causes and conditions too. I guess, other could also help to create more positive causes and conditions, if not wasted …
The activity posters are beautiful and colourful. BUT …. not all posters are there.
I seen a poster on “Certificate in Practical Counselling’ before but it could not catch my attention and totally forgotten about it.
Yesterday, happened to pop by the website and see the course. Today I could not find it at the temple noticeboard, even I am kind of interested on this topic now after attending a talk elsewhere on counselling, that person manage to “sell” and let me see the benefits just that the course is too expensive almost $5k.
I don’t receive all the new activities/courses via email (only some by different people) … It would be nice that if I agree to receive info, I could receive all courses and it is also easier to tell friends too.
I hardly check the website or go to KMSPKS, unless I wanted to check what new classes which are very seldom. When people get too busy with daily life, it is very easy to forget on this part.
Hi Crystal, you can sign up for a weekly e-newsletter that list such activities. Just need to send a blank mail to thedailyenlightenment-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The counselling course is listed in the latest issue at the Events section of
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/enewsletter/43.php
Agree that the marketing can be better. You can email publicaffairs@kmspks.org your suggestions too. I made some suggestions recently too. Amituofo
😉
Can, no problem 🙂