China's Communists Aim to Rewrite the Bible to 'Create a New Version of Christianity'

PJ Media ^ | 06/11/2020 | Tyler O' Neill

[SeekAndFind]

As the Chinese coronavirus distracts the world, the Chinese Communist Party has ratcheted up its crackdown on religious freedom, and sources say President Xi Jinping is working on rewriting the Bible itself to “create a new version of Christianity shorn of its transcendent visions and values.”

Xi Lian, a professor at Duke University Divinity School, told The Wall Street Journal‘s Matthew Taylor King that Beijing doesn’t just want to repress religion — the Chinese Communist Party wants to transform it.

Lian said Beijing wants to “drain Christianity of its spirit.” China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last year that Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang had presided over a meeting of so-called scholars and “religious people from the grassroots level” to discuss “making accurate and authoritative interpretations of classical doctrines to keep pace with the times.”

The Chinese Communist Party sees Christianity, which is likely China’s largest-growing religion, as a unique threat, Lian insisted. He mentioned three key reasons: Christianity’s international connection to believers inside and outside of China; Christianity’s congregational strength — “You have this ability to mobilize a stable, reliable community;” and the faith’s “transcendent vision, transcendent values,” which form a “moral and ideological rivalry” to communism.

Lian argued that Chinese people largely see the party’s Marxist-Leninist foundation as a spent force.

Xi has long insisted that religion should be “Chinese in orientation.” China is notorious for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims in the northern province of Xinjiang, but it also heavily restricts religious freedom for a wide range of beliefs, including Tibetan Buddhists.

According to sociologist Rodney Stark and co-author Xiuhua Wang in A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China, there has been a 7 percent increase in Christians every year in China.

[avenir]

Lol, puny China!

The Spirit gives life, and His breathed out Word is unlike any other words man can cobble together.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

One sentence from Romans 6 has more dynamite-life in it than every word that has ever proceeded out of demonic China’s mouth.

[moovova]

PCUSA will be all over this.

Expect to see the Sichuan Standard Bible on pew-back racks in the near future.

Will Communion be Chinese green tea and a fortune cookie?

[Red6]

And when state and federal governments tell churches to stop administering the blood and body of Christ in church, to have virtual services, what do the churches do?

Do you really believe that in the US churches are immune from government influence, i.e. losing tax exempt status (thank God Trump rolled that back!) if they openly state their position on moral issues???

I don’t disagree with that it’s a perversion and abuse of Christianity, very wrong, but we have it here too! Sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes more subtle, sometimes more overt... Totalitarian regimes like the Chinese, former Soviets and Nazi’s are simply more brutal and blunt in their approach because they do not care about the political opposition (there is none), legal ramifications (there are none), bad press (won’t happen). they tend to be very open about their intent and MO, while here in the West we are a bit nicer and smile a lot, while doing much of the same.

[Olog-hai]

Oh, I’m not saying the subversion of churches is not happening, only that it’s being done by a different route; note post 10.

[Hebrews 11:6]

If you're unfamiliar with it, you might enjoy CS Lewis' classic That Hideous Strength, in which he develops your argument fully and dramatically. He told his biographer he considered it his favorite of all his books.

[aimhigh]

The bible has a warning for those who change the text:

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Rev 22:18-19

[avenir]

Amen!