The preacher gave an example of the misinterpretations of the Bible in the book: the Confucian saying “All men within the four seas are brothers” is the equivalent of “Whoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:50).
Ethics and morals are standards put forward by human beings and are different from God’s requirements in essence, and they should not be equated with each other. “The love” in Christianity, the preacher explained, refers to loving God and people according to God’s words. According to the preacher, “etiquette” and “benevolence” in the Analects are used to explain the ethics and morals between people, while “the law” in the Bible is an obligation to God’s people, required for them to uphold in order to keep their relationship with God. For example, the book states that the Chinese word li (“etiquette”), as explained in the Analects, is equivalent to “the law” in the Bible that the “benevolence” espoused by Confucius corresponds to “love” in Christianity. Some have even described the book as heretical, cautioning Christians to be wary of such CCP-orchestrated doctrinal erosion.Īs a preacher from Yuzhou area explained, the arguments in The Analects Encounter the Bible distort the teachings of the Bible entirely and are misleading Christians.
However, the book has caused controversy in the religious community, and many Christians view the arguments in the book as misrepresenting the pure Christian doctrine. The Analects Encounter the Bible is reportedly aimed at building bridges between Christianity and Confucianism – a system of moral and ethical philosophy that is the basis of values and social conduct of the Chinese – and helping Chinese Christians learn more about the traditional culture of their country. from Peking University, is a member of the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and claims to be a Christian, is dedicated to biblical interpretations of the Analects – a collection of the teachings and ideas attributed to Confucius (551-479 BC), the most influential Chinese philosopher and teacher. Published in 2014, the book, written by Shi Hengtan, who holds a Ph.D. On July 18, the Religious Affairs Bureau of Yuzhou city in the central province of Henan distributed to all local Three-Self preachers a copy of the book entitled The Analects Encounter the Bible and demanded them to prepare their sermons based on it. The cover of The Analects Encounter the Bible. Three-Self Church clergy forced to interpret the Bible through the prism of traditional Chinese culture – part of CCP’s campaign to make religions “more Chinese.”
0 kommentar(er)
