A Chinese Christian leader described his idea of a church as a place removed
from the din of the street, approached by a walk flanked with trees and flowers
and adorned within by symbols speaking to the heart of the Chinese. He longed
for the mystic silence and the beauty of holiness which would open the windows
of the world of spiritual reality and throw its light upon the problems of
life. He was asked, “Would you adapt some of the symbols of the Chinese
religions?” He said, “Many of those symbols are neutral. They suggest religious
emotion. Their character depends upon the content which the occasion puts into
them. If the content is Christian then the symbols and emotions will become
Christian.”
Christianity is a religion of beauty. The beautiful in architecture, symbol and
ritual, expressing the spiritual universe of the past, present and future,
makes a strong appeal to the Chinese heart. It may well be emphasized in the
future as never before.
_4. Emphasis on the Mystical in Christianity_
Not long ago a Buddhist in one of the large cities of China was converted. He
found great joy in the experience which revived him and gathered into unity the
broken fragments of his life. He attended church regularly and participated in
the prayer meetings. Gradually he discovered that he was not being nourished.
He felt his joy slipping away from him and his divided life reinstating itself.
He went to Buddhism for consolation. He is not hostile to the church. He
appreciates the help he received, but he said that he came for consolation and
peace and found the same—hard orthodoxy and morality so familiar to him in
Confucianism.
While the case of this man may have individual peculiarities, it may be made
the starting point for a discussion of the situation in many churches in China.
The early message to the Chinese was doctrinal. The false notion of many gods
had to be displaced by the idea of the one true God. With this idea of the true
God a few other tenets of the Christian religion are often held as dogmatic
propositions to be repeated when questions are asked. The great sin preached is
the worship of idols.
The second part of the Christian message is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
This salvation is other-worldly to a large extent. The extreme emphasis upon it
has made of the church an insurance society, membership in which insures bliss
in the world beyond.
The third part of the message has been concerned with moral acts, abstinence
from opium (liquor and tobacco in some churches), polygamy, and the gross sins.
Attendance upon church services, contribution for the support of the church,
and the refusal to contribute to idolatry have also been required.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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