Titus Jonathan's Stories

(published in The Jakarta Post on 27 May 2009. Click here ) I smiled when I learned that Facebook worried some Muslim clerics. Hundreds of clerics from the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) from Java and Bali gathered in Kediri and eventually issued a fatwa banning the use of Facebook and other online social networks. I do appreciate their responsibility and concern for what has been happening in the Islamic boarding schools ( pesantren ) today. The clerics said students (or ' santri ' as they are commonly called) in Islamic boarding schools tend to spend excessive amounts of time on Facebook. It totally disturbs their concentration for their main task, which is to study hard, said Nabil Haroen, the spokesman for the Lirboyo boarding school in Kediri, East Java. As well as this, Facebook facilitates virtual communication among friends that will be used for chatting, gossiping, even flirting, which will cause the users to commit the sin of lust, whereas traditional Muslim norms determine a ...

(published in The Jakarta Post on 15 May 2009. Click here ) Obviously, building discotheque is easier than building a church in this country. However, thank God for His omnipresence, because if He only would like to dwell in churches, some of the Christians in this country would never meet His presence and could not listen to His words. So, do we need a church? A church today is a luxurious desire - like "a dream" that you have to scrap immediately when you wake-up, because realizing it would be little more than desperate longing, as these dreams hardly ever come true. You could have a great patience and wait till permission to build a church issued, but, be ready to be disappointed. In this country, you can't be alone in wanting a church, because building a church requires the support of at least 90 worshipers. So, pity you if you live in some area where you are the only Christian. Where can you go to fulfill your spiritual needs? You cannot have a church for yourself. T...

Students today are spending time in school excessively, even almost similar to employees who spending time in office. They leave their home early in the morning and back to home in late afternoon. If they came earlier to their home, they take lunch, eat their meal in hurry then prepare stuffs for some other extra activities and go out again. In the evening they then come home back, exhausted and go to bed to welcome the same routine in the following day. I met with some teenagers who have to come to the school even though during holidays, and when I asked why did they love school so much and not enjoy holidays with friends or families, they explained that before holidays their teachers assigned them for doing some tasks which must be accomplished when they back from holidays. They had to come to school since the laboratory is there, and the computers are also there. They could not stay away from school because their future is inside there. The school put their own standard to maintain ...