A
Chinese theology student wrote an essay recently explaining why a group of
Chinese Christians protested a Chinese Bible exhibit in the United States this
year. The traveling exhibit was sponsored by the National Committee of the
Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China, the communist committee
that oversees China’s official church.
The
Bible exhibit, titled “Thy Word Is the Truth: The Bible Ministry Exhibition of
the Protestant Church in China,” was displayed in Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.;
Dallas, Texas; and Chicago, Ill. According to an online article by The Christian Post, the exhibit shows
how the Bible was spread throughout China. Rev. Bao Jiayuan, associate general
secretary of the China Christian Council, a co-sponsor of the exhibit, told The
Christian Post, “We hope to build mutual understanding between American
Christians and Christians in China.”
In his
essay, the Chinese student attempted to clarify true church-state relations in
China and to explain some common misconceptions about the Three-Self Movement
and the reasons why Chinese Christians protested the Bible exhibit. The
anonymous writer said Chinese believers opposed to the Three-Self Movement are not
necessarily opposed to churches within the movement, emphasizing that many members
of the body of Christ belong to Three-Self churches.
“Since it is acceptable to expose the China Red
Cross Society’s embezzlement and corruption and its monopoly of charity work,
so we can likewise criticize the Three-Self for being politicized, for not
being separate from the state and for controlling and restricting the church,”
the student wrote. “In any case, when the government violates biblical principles,
the church, as the vanguard of society and its conscience, has the
responsibility to criticize and to bring up biblical truths.”
The student discredited the idea that
Three-Self churches are full because they are successfully preaching the
gospel. In China, only one Christian church is allowed per area; therefore, the
only Christian church permitted is a Three-Self church. “Just imagine if in all
of Shanghai (or Chicago) there were only five gas stations. Each would be
jammed with customers,” the student wrote. “So the fact that there are so many
people at these churches that meet openly isn’t because they are doing such a
great job, but rather is due to the irregular religious policy and the
Three-Self’s control and restrictions.”
The student also claimed that the Bible
exhibit did not paint a true picture of the availability of Bibles in China. He
pointed out that Chinese customs officers still seize Bibles when they are
brought into the country in quantities. Several pastors are in prison for
printing the Bible without permission, and Bibles in China are sold only in
churches belonging to the Three-Self organization.
The exhibit displayed Bibles that Chinese
Christians copied during the Cultural Revolution and at other times when Christians
were widely persecuted in China. “Yet no mention was made anywhere of who was
persecuting the church and [who] had made it impossible for Christians to buy
Bibles, or who helped the government forcibly take over the church, or the fact
that the Three-Self monopoly on Bible distribution brooks no interference,” the
student wrote. “What they are trying to do is to dress up a religious policy
that is wrong and not free and the Three-Self’s history of controlling and
persecuting the church so as to create the illusion of religious freedom in
China and the Three-Self as an organization that loves the Lord and loves the
church.”
According to the essay, overseas
organizations cooperating with the Three-Self have underestimated the potential
consequences of working with them. “Consider this: If the Three-Self wins the
support of the overseas mainline churches, and then, in the name of ‘orthodox
Christianity,’ begins large-scale persecution of house churches, the harm to
the work of the Gospel far exceeds the little bit of ministry that they [the
foreign groups] can do.”
The student suggested that if foreign
churches want a part in ministering to Christians in China, they should do so
by working directly with local governments, training house church preachers and
translating Christian literature, rather than working with the government
organization. Foreign churches can contact China’s local churches, including
churches within the Three-Self, and establish a relationship. “All these would
be much better than helping the Three-Self in its propaganda efforts.”
Sources: China Aid Association, The Christian Post
Posted: December 2, 2011