Breaking Through the Barriers of Darkness: Recognizing the Cult of Qigong for What It Is

Chapter 7

Qigong Vs. Christianity

Suppose a friend asks me questions, and I try my best to answer, using all the views I know. Your corrections will be greatly appreciated.

Question 1. What essential differences are there between qigong and Christianity?
Answer: These two are as far apart as east and west, as light and darkness. The background of Christianity is the Spirit of God; while the spiritual background of qigong is the evil spirits in league with Satan. Qigong leads people to destruction. It is a way to hell. Christ gives eternal life to people. He is the only Way to Heaven.

Question 2. What are the highest realms of qigong and of Christianity?
Answer: The highest realm of qigong is "heaven and man united as one." It is a union of man with evil spirits. There are different realms of different levels for different practitioners. There is no talk of the highest realm in Christianity, for all believers of Jesus are the same. They can all enter into Heaven without differences of levels of realms.

Question 3. What is the difference between the qigong worldview and that of Christianity?
Answer: The worldview of qigong is worshipping the universe, though not knowing the origin of the universe. It worships humans themselves and regards them as the spirits of the universe, though not knowing where they have come from or where they are going. It teaches a belief in ghosts and gods, though not knowing about them.
The worldview of Christianity is worshipping God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, believing God has created the world and everything in it and human beings in His own image, and believing in an inevitable end for the world and for human beings on this planet.

Question 4. What is the difference between the qigong view of life and that of Christianity?
Answer: The qigong view of life is to "let it be," to stand aloof from worldly success, to be disillusioned with the mortal world, and to take everything in the world as meaningless. It holds that practitioners who have reached the highest realm can live forever. Others' lives can be reincarnated.
The Christian view of life is love of life. It encourages earnest living under God's blessings, the seeking of happiness, and finding the true meaning of life. Christians know they will surely enter into Heaven and enjoy eternal life after they die.

Question 5. What is the difference between qigong moral values and those of Christianity?
Answer: The moral values of qigong come from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. They include performing generally recognized good deeds; avoiding generally recognized evil deeds; no killing of animals; respecting Buddhist monks, Taoist priests and high level qigong masters; and the worship of idols.
The highest Christian moral value is love, which is love of God, Jesus God’s Son, and the Holy Spirit and also love of one's neighbors as one loves oneself. Love is the principle behind all words and deeds (Matthew 22: 37-40).

Question 6. What is the different between the ghosts and gods in qigong and those in Christianity?
Answer: Qigong theories about ghosts and gods are very obscure and inconsistent. Generally speaking, they believe that ghosts are the souls of dead people, that devils are evil people whose qigong has reached the highest level, and that immortals are qigong masters who have achieved the highest realm of qigong. Another theory about ghosts and gods is that of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taosim.
In Christianity, the devil is Satan, who is a fallen angel. God is the Creator of all.

Question 7. What is the difference between the special signs in qigong and miracles in Christianity?
Answer: The special signs performed in qigong are disruptions of the normalcy in human bodies. They come from the evil power of the devil, but are misunderstood as coming from the power of man. And the special signs performed do not have much to do with practical daily living.
The miracles in Christianity have as their starting point God's blessings on people and God's glory. They are performed by the Spirit of God. Humans do not have supernatural power, and we can only pray for God to perform miracles. The miracles are closely related to people's practical living.

Question 8. What is the difference between the faith of qigong and that in Christianity?
Answer: The faith of qigong is absolute confidence in humans. The results of all supernormal capabilities, special signs and events are decided by this confidence.
The faith in Christianity is trust in Jesus the Lord. It is from this trust in Jesus that faith and confidence come. The results of all miracles and events in Christian lives are decided by this trust in Jesus Christ.

Question 9. What is the difference in ways of worship between qigong and Christianity?
Answer: Worship in qigong is the worship of invisible masters and masters still living on earth and includes their pictures and all kinds of idols in temples. Postures have to be pious. Incense and paper have to be burnt for ghosts and gods. Money offerings are made for getting protection from the ghosts and gods.
Christian worship is worshipping in spirit and truth. Postures have nothing to do with piety. Money offerings are made for people in need and are made under the encouragement of love, not for the purpose of a good return.

Question 10. How do the fruits of the Christian life differ from those of qigong life?
Answer: Fruits of life are simply the results that a faith brings to one's actual living.
Qigong suppresses one's heart and soul and is like a fetter upon the practitioner. Every major issue that is vital to one's happiness in life, such as one's career or marriage, is eventful, with strange mishaps hanging around.
Christianity releases one's soul and gives peace to one's heart. It gives freedom in life, and in all things that are important to one's happiness of life there are God's care and blessings coming along. Unimaginable, wonderful joy and events appear in life.

Question 11. How is the theoretical origin of Christianity different from that of qigong?
Answer: Qigong theory lags far behind its practice. There is, up to the present time, no very consistent and systematic theory. Buddhist and Taoist theories are the main sources and bases of qigong theory.
The theoretical authority of Christianity is the Bible. It has been written at different times by over forty authors over a period of 1600 years. It was completed almost 2000 years ago. The main content is historical fact, written in very common and easy-to understand language. This is not the case with the theory of other religions. No one has been able to discover and prove contradictions or untruth in this Book, which has sold the more copies than any other book in the world.

Question 12. How do their historical witnesses differ from each other?
Answer: Qigong comes from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, all three of which have been declining. Confucianism is still quite popular in Asia, but only its ethical morals are accepted, with other aspects such as its worldview, its view of life, and its political views having been almost discarded.
Christianity started from a small beginning, but the number of believers in it continues to increase, and it is spreading all over the world. It originated with the Jewish people in the small country of Israel, but it is accepted by peoples of all nations in the world. There are two things that develop the most rapidly in the modern world. They are science and Christianity.

Question 13. What is the present situation of Christianity in the world?
Answer: According to some rather authoritative statistical data, in 1979 there were about 1 billion Christians all over the world, and by 1996 the number had increased to 2 billion, approximately 40 percent of the world population. Christians have covered all corners of the world.

Question 14. What is the situation of Christianity in China?
Answer: According to Chinese official statistical data, there were about 300 thousand Christians in China in 1979 and about 18 million Christians in 1996. The second figure may not be accurate because there are a great number of Christians who do not attend the public church and therefore cannot have been included in the number. There were altogether about 12 thousand churches in China in 1996. The number of Christians has been increasing even faster since 1996. According to another quite authoritative statistic, there were 20-30 thousand people becoming new Christians every day in just the country areas of China in 1998.
It is estimated that by 1998 the number of Christians in the mainland of China had increased to approximately seventy million.

Question 15. How about the situation of other religions in the world?
Answer: Some data show there were about 1 billion Muslims in the world by 1996, 0.76 billion people believing in Hinduism, and 0.33 billion believing in Buddhism.

Question 16. What is the situation of other religions in China?
Answer: Chinese official data holds that in China there are approximately 4000 Catholic churches, 3000 priests, and 5,000,000 Catholics.
There are approximately 70,000 Buddhist temples and 200,000 Buddhist monks and nuns.
There are over 1000 Taoist Temples and 10,000 Taoist priests and nuns altogether.
There are approximately 30,000 mosques and 20,000, 000 Muslims.
Data are unavailable for other religions such as Confucianism, which does not have any external formalities. But aspects of Confucian culture are still the vital part of Chinese culture.
Also, although there are about 40,000,000 Communist members, belief in Communism has become nominal.

Question 17. Who is Jesus?
Answer: Jesus is a true historical figure. Born around the beginning of the Christian era, or more likely between 5 and 4 B.C., he was a Jew from Israel. In about 30 A.D., Jesus was crucified by Pilate, the governor of Judea, which was under the rule of the Roman Emperor. Jesus was resurrected three days later.
The first four books in the New Testament of the Bible record the life of Jesus, his teachings, and the miracles he performed. He made the blind to see, enabled paralytics to walk, and cleansed lepers. He walked on water, rebuked the wind and raging waters, and brought the dead back to life. He was resurrected from death and ascended up to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Almighty God.
Jesus was not an emperor, a politician, a philosopher, a military scientist, or an artist, but he is the most famous figure in the whole world. He has exerted the most significant and the most powerful influence in human history. Wherever His Name becomes known, great effects result.
Jesus is the Son of God, the plenipotentiary Representative of God, and the only Savior of all human beings.

Question 18. Why do we say Jesus is not a qigong master?
Answer: The divinity of Jesus proves that Jesus is what he himself claims to be, the Son of God, Savior of all human beings.

Question 19. How is the divinity of Jesus proved?
Answer: First, the Old Testament was written between 1,500 and 400 B.C., but it contains over three hundred precise prophecies about Jesus. For example, Daniel 9: 25-26 prophesied the exact time of the crucifixion of Jesus. The length of time from the beginning of the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the death of Jesus is exactly 7?7+62?7=483 years. Why was He so precisely prophesied about? What could His identity be?
Second, the miracles Jesus performed are the greatest of all and have never been surpassed by those performed by anyone else. He raised more than a few from death and was Himself killed, then resurrected on the third day. He revealed himself to several hundred people during the following forty days and ascended up to heaven in front of a whole group of people.
Third, Jesus' prophecies about the later situations of Israel and about the development of Christianity have all come true.
Finally, Jesus' teachings have the authority of God. For example, He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He also says that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. There is no one in human history who can speak with such authority except the one with the identity of God.

Question 20. Was Jesus really resurrected?
Answer: It is recorded in the Bible that Jesus was crucified on the cross, put in a tomb, and resurrected on the third day. Many people do not believe this recording to be true.
Some have done very interesting logical reasoning.
It is also recorded in the Bible that the disciples followed Jesus and witnessed many miracles He performed. They believed Him to be God, called Him their Lord, and were very faithful to Him. But after Jesus was arrested, they all ran away except Peter, who followed Him secretly. When Peter was later found to have been with Jesus, he denied Him three times. Even though the disciples had witnessed Jesus’ bringing the dead back to life, their faith in Jesus were small and shaken in dangerous situations. Yet after Jesus died, His disciples were suddenly firm in their faith and preached publicly that Jesus is the Son of God. The government and religious people of that time had outlawed their activities, and the situation was more dangerous than it was when Jesus was arrested. Then why did the disciples suddenly become so bold and so courageous if there was not supernatural truth behind their activities? The government immediately forbade their preaching, and they were thrown into jail, beaten and even killed. Yet they followed one after another in sacrificing themselves for preaching that Jesus is the Savior. Their faith never failed.
Now give this a thought. What on earth happened after Jesus died that made the disciples put complete trust in Him and fear not even death for His Name's sake? Before Jesus died, they dared not to publicly acknowledge Him; after He died, they preached openly and would not quit, even though they were cruelly persecuted for so doing. Why?
Before Jesus' death the disciples had witnessed many miracles which He performed, including bringing the dead back to life, and they had heard many teachings of Jesus. Yet they did not completely believe in his divinity and his identity as the Son of God during His life on earth. What else then could it have been that made the disciples completely believe in Him, besides the fact that Jesus Himself came back to life, joined the disciples again, and ascended to heaven before their eyes? Nothing else.

Question 21. Did any humans see Jesus after He went up to Heaven?
Answer: It is recorded in the Bible in Revelation 1:12-16 that the Apostle John saw Jesus again after Jesus had left the earth and ascended to heaven. Several famous contemporary Christians like Jonathan Edwards and Kenneth Hagan also claimed in their books to have seen Jesus.

Question 22. Why do human beings have to die and suffer misery?
Answer: According to the Bible, misery and death are the penalties for sin. They are punishments by God (Ge 3:16-19; Ro 5:12).

Question 23. Why did God not prevent human beings from sinning?
Answer: This is a very good question, for which many Christians and theologians in history have sought an answer. Yet there is no satisfactory result up to date. The following answer is only for reference.
God endowed human beings with free will. He hoped human beings would love Him, but He did not force human free will, but wanted to enjoy human beings' voluntary love for Him. He hoped that human beings would choose to reject evil.

Question 24. Will there be an end for the world?
Answer: Yes. Jesus has prophesied about it. In the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, the end for human civilization and the world is prophesied.

Question 25. Did you believe in the prophecy that the world would end on August 18, 1999?
Answer: No. For Jesus said that no one knows when the end will come except God alone.

Question 26. If God is omnipotent, can He make a stone so heavy that He Himself cannot lift it?
Answer: This is a very popular paradoxical proposition in universities.
Since the presupposition of this proposition is that God is omnipotent, then there is no such a thing in existence as "a stone so heavy that He Himself cannot lift it up." "Omnipotent" does not include "cannot". The conclusion contradicts precondition and renders this proposition invalid.
The hidden quibbling in this proposition results in the overthrow of its own presupposition.

Question 27. Does the "Tao" in Tao Te Ching refer to Jesus Christ?
Answer: It absolutely does not.
The founder of Taoism, Lao Zi, who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period of China, wrote in his book Tao Te Ching: "You wu hun chen, xian tian di sheng; ji xi liao xi, du li er bu gai, zhou xing er bu dai, ke yi wei tian xia mu; wu bu zhi qi ming, zi zhi yue dao." ("There was one 'thing' which has existed since the time before the sky and earth were formed. It is hard to describe its features, but it is independent and never changing. It does not have a beginning or an end, instead moving in endless cycles, and is everlasting. This thing is the origin of everything in the universe. I do not know its name and call it 'Tao'.")
It is written in John 1:1-4: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men." From these words in the Gospel of John, we know that the "Tao" (logos) refers to Jesus Christ.
It is important for us to go back once again to the " half-true, half false lies" in chapter 4.2 for an illustration of this topic.
First of all, the devil knows about God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So it was written: " There was one 'thing' which has existed since the time before the sky and earth were formed…. It is independent and never changing…. This thing is the origin of everything in the universe." These three statements are close to the truth, but they are not complete and are only partial.
Second, the devil's purpose is to delude human beings. So he covered up, rejected, and distorted the truth. So it is said, "You wu hun chen… ji xi liao xi… zhou xing er bu dai." (There is something, which is muddy and turbid…It is silent and lonely. It does not have beginning nor end, moving in endless cycles, and is everlasting.) These three statements give a vague and abstract concept that is very different from the concept given by the Bible. They help to mislead people. For according to the Scripture, Jesus has a distinct person and identity, which is "the Word was God. He was with God."
Hence, it is the half-true, half-false lies that the devil made use of to get the conclusion that "wu bu zhi qi ming, zi zhi yue dao." (“I do not know its name, and call it 'Tao'”). The concept of "Tao" was thus established. We can now see that it was under the guidance of evil spirits that Lao Zi wrote these words.
Please refer to chapter 5.4 of this book for the essence and principles of this "Tao" taught by Lao Zi. Without knowing the principles and essence of qigong and the relation between qigong and Taoism, it is very hard to comprehend this issue. Some rational concepts have to do with other concepts with spiritual backgrounds, so we should consider not only their superficial philosophical concept, but also their spiritual significance.
When we try to find out about something, we should not allow the half-true, half false lies to confuse us.

Question 28. Why does the first chapter of the Book of John in the Bible in the Chinese version use "Tao" to refer to Jesus Christ?
Answer: Chinese Bible translators know the best about the answer to this question. But each nation's language carries with it that nation's cultural characteristics. It may be true that translators of the Chinese Bible could not find a better word than "Tao" for translating "the Word," or they might have misunderstood the meaning of "Tao."
The Chinese Bible has been translated from the English Bible, which has been translated from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts.
In the English Bible "Tao" in the Chinese Bible is actually "Word" in the English Bible. Its direct meaning is "word." Yet with the first capitalized letter, it has a deeper meaning, which is too hard to explain in human language. Why "Word" then?
"Word," as used in the Greek New Testament actually has two meanings. One is the words spoken by the mouth; the other is the "meaning of one's thinking," which is in one's head but not spoken out yet. People express in words the "meaning of the thinking" in their head, and before the words are formed, the "meaning of the thinking" must have been formed already. What is the equivalent for this "meaning of the thinking"? In Greek it is "word"; in English it is "reason"; there seemed to have no exact equivalent in Chinese for it.
Yet the more direct reason may have been something else. In Greek, the word "word" contains a concept of "a rational law that controls everything in the universe," when it is used to describe cosmological ideas. It is purely philosophical idea, which is understood by the Israelites as "God." We all know that the New Testament Bible is written in Greek. Apostle John, the writer of the Gospel of John, used the word "word," which can be understood by both the Greeks and the Israelites. The English translators were faithful to the original text and translated it directly into the word "Word." Because this word did not include the over-all meaning of the original word, they capitalized its first letter and made it into a word used only for the Bible commonly accepted by all.
The second sentence of John 1:1 "the Word was with God" clearly shows the different person of Jesus Christ from that of God. And we learn from the third sentence that this "Word" is God. Jesus Christ is God.
Personally, I think the word "Tao" used in Chinese translation of the word "Word" is inappropriate. Even though we know, that considered literally and purely philosophically, the word "Tao" is a very suitable translation, for Chinese who, up to the present time, are still under the strong influence of traditional culture tinted by Taoism, the word "Tao" has a misleading effect, tending to cause confusion and divergence of views. Again, as we have discussed in question 27, some rational concepts have to do with other concepts with spiritual backgrounds, so we should consider not only their superficial philosophical concept, but also their spiritual significance.

Question 29. How do you view human wisdom?
Answer: Human wisdom is very limited. For example, human beings are unable to answer the question of whether the universe is finite or infinite. If the universe is finite, what then is there beyond its limit? If it is infinite, that is equally incomprehensible, for how can anything be infinite? What is infinity?

Question 30. What does Christianity say about science?
Answer: Science is part of truth, but a very small part of it.

Question 31. What does Christianity say about human rights?
Answer: Because the Bible says all are equal before God, Jesus respected human rights even when He was still on earth. He gave freedom to people and made friends with them. God endows people with rights for survival, freedom and happiness. Nobody can rightfully rob them of these rights. The spreading of Christianity will surely cause human rights to be respected.

Question 32. What does Christianity say about religious freedom?
Answer: The first in the world to propose religious freedom is Christians. God has given humans beings free will, and though He hopes everyone believe in truth, He does not force them to do so. People who object to religious freedom have fear in their hearts. Truth does not fear.

Question 33. What is the Christian view of the union of church and state?
Answer: The union of church and state inevitably leads to corruption. Catholicism is an instance. Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" (Luke 20:25).

Question 34. What is the difference between Catholicism and Christianity?
Answer: In AD 590 Gregory I was chosen pope and established Catholicism. With Christianity there is no man who is the authority. All people are equal, having Jesus as the authority for all believers and the Holy Bible as the theoretical authority. With Catholicism, the pope is the authority and has the power to give commands. In the Christian church no one can command another. Catholicism worships not only the Trinity, but also the Virgin Mary. The Bible says that Mary is mother of Jesus, but also a human being who does not have divinity. Worshipping Mary is worshipping a human, an idol, which is detested by God.

Question 35. How do you explain the Trinity of God?
Answer: According to the Holy Bible, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the triune God. We can say that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are the triune God. They are different "persons,", but each of them is God.
This is a little difficult to understand. Here is a parable for an illustration. The grapevine consists of the branches, the leaves and the grapes. When you point to the grapevine and say, "This is a grapevine," You may be pointing to the grape, or the leaf, or the branches, but it does not matter, for whichever you are pointing toward, you are talking about the grapevine.

Question 36. Why does Christianity emphasize evangelization?
Answer: Jesus sent His disciples to preach to the whole world because God hopes to save all people, not wanting any of them to perish. Christian evangelization is carried on out of love.

Question 37. How does one become a Christian?
Answer: By saying a prayer out of your own willing decision to become a Christian and by believing in Jesus Christ.

Question 38. How does one say a prayer to accept Jesus?
Answer: When you feel so moved in your heart and would like to know Jesus, say a prayer like the one just below. It would be better if you say it aloud.
"Dear Jesus Christ, I believe You are the Son of God and the only Savior of my life and of all human beings. I believe You died on the Cross for my sin. I ask you to please forgive me of all my sins. Please enter into my life right now and take charge of my whole life. I am willing to follow You. Please make me eligible to enter heaven and enable me to enjoy the full life you have given me. I ask You again to please forgive my sins and wrongdoings and give me power to overcome all my bad habits and flawed character, quality and style, speech, ideas and actions, such as [here you can say these specific things quietly in your heart]. Jesus, please give me abundant faith, love, hope, and wisdom. Please give me eternal life. In Jesus' name. Amen!"
By coming to know Jesus in this way, you have come to know God.

Question 39. What if I still have doubts after I have prayed to accept Jesus?
Answer: It does not matter. This happens to many new believers. Human hearts are not controlled by logic, but God knows our hearts. The Bible says, "It is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Ro 10:10). To say the prayer to accept Jesus is to confess with our mouths our faith in Jesus Christ. It does not matter how strong your faith is at the moment. God has accepted you. The Holy Spirit is with you. You pray to communicate with Jesus Christ, who will definitely prove to you in your life that He is the Christ, the God.
There are not many people who have complete faith from the very beginning, but such people are more blessed.

Question 40. How can I communicate with God through prayer?
Answer: Praying is the most attractive thing about Christianity. Praying is done in Jesus' name. It is free communication with God. I would recommend that you pray to Jesus directly when you have just become a Christian, so that you can have a very good foundation.
You can pray for blessings, help and forgiveness for sins you have confessed, for sharing your emotions, and giving thanks and praise, etc. When you are a newborn baby in Christ, you can pray for God's blessings upon you. Pray for the detailed help you need and pray specifically for that help. When your prayers to God are answered one by one and many things you have asked about happen miraculously and precisely as you have prayed, your faith in Jesus will grow, and very naturally, you will not be able to help thanking and praising Him. Please note that you should not feel ashamed for asking God for blessings. For God is your Father, and He wants you to be happy. He has a lot of blessings in store for you when you ask for them.
After you have accepted Jesus, it is very important for you to learn about Him.

Question 41. How can I learn to know about Jesus?
Answer: Through praying to Jesus, reading the Bible, and having fellowship with other Christians.

Question 42. How do I read the Holy Bible?
Answer: You can start with the New Testament. The first four books of the New Testament are records of Jesus' life from different angles by four disciples. Bible reading helps you to understand theoretically your faith in Jesus Christ and enhances the practice of your faith. In the Bible are written words out of the mouth of God for human beings.

Question 43. Where can I buy a copy of the Holy Bible?
Answer: Bibles are sold only in churches in the People’s Republic of China. Hopefully, someone will give you a copy.

Question 44. How should I pray to Jesus?
Answer: Please refer to the answer to question 40.

Question 45. What about my fellowship with other Christians?
Answer: You can go to church, or have fellowship in small groups of Christians. You can go wherever you are able to learn to grow in the Lord. Nobody can rightfully bind you. At such gatherings there is no human being that is the authority. You are allowed to question even the teachings of the pastor because humans are fallible and may speak wrongly unintentionally. The only theoretical authority is the Bible.

Question 46. How does the state of mind of someone praying differ from the meditation and imagination of qigong?
Answer: Your state of mind is relaxed when you pray. What you speak in spirit and truth is the most sincere. God hates hypocrisy and lies. When you pray, do not try to adjust your own ideas and imagination as one does in qigong practice. Do not try to make efforts in your heart because your moods and feelings have nothing to do with whether or not God answers your prayers. It is God, not you, who is to make the thing happen. You just simply speak what you have to say.

Question 47. Do Christians have to read the Bible, pray, and attend the church?
Answer: It is not that they must do these things, but that they need to. Just as eating and sleeping are indispensable, one reads the Bible, prays, attends church, and has fellowship out of one's own willingness, not because forced to. Because one feels he/she can learn something, it is a pleasure for him/her to do these things.

Question 48. What is the most important thing for Christians?
Answer: Love is the most important quality or action. We are to love God our Lord Jesus Christ, love our neighbors, and even our enemies.

Question 49. Why should I love my enemy?
Answer: Because even though you too have a lot of sins in God’s eye, He loves you and forgives you. It is easy to say but not easy to put it in practice to love your enemies. You may not be able to do it all your life, but it does not matter. The important thing is that God's Love keeps filling you up and therefore the love in your heart will not stop growing. We are always doing better.

Question 50. What is the principle of action of Christians?
Answer: Love. (Please read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8.)

Question 51. What does Jesus ask of Christians?
Answer: Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).

Question 52. What is Jesus' command?
Answer: The center of Jesus' command is love.

Question 53. What ceremonies are there in Christianity?
Answer: There are two ceremonies, one being the baptism, the other Holy Communion. These are required by Jesus.

Question 54. What effect can be achieved through joint prayers for a specific issue by many Christians?
Answer: Jesus said, "If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." Therefore, many people joining together in praying for something will cause the Lord to value and answer our prayers.

Question 55. Why should we pray for the government?
Answer: So that the government will do what pleases God.

Question 56. The Bible says that we are saved by faith. What does faith mean?
Answer: The Bible says, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Faith includes belief based on the foundation of Jesus and also trust in God. Our prayers and our expectations of heaven are all based on this faith. (Please read Hebrews 11:1.)

Question 57. What is that faith mentioned so frequently in the Bible?
Answer: Christian faith is trust in God our Lord Jesus Christ. Because we believe in God, we can rest completely assured. For example, when we pray for help, we do not know what will happen exactly, but we believe that God has heard our prayer request and that He will surely make things happen as long as those things are good for us.

Question 58. How is the faith in the Bible different from the confidence of qigong?
Answer: The "faith" that Christians often talk about is not self-confidence, but trust in God the Lord Jesus Christ. How things will happen is decided by God's will. People who pray do so in order to let God know their requests. It is because of their trust in God that Christians have confidence in themselves, while the confidence in qigong is absolute self-confidence, which decides whether things will happen or not. Qigong practitioners are themselves determiners.

Question 59. What does "spirit and truth" mean?
Answer: The Bible says that whoever worships God must worship in spirit and truth. (Please read John 4:24.) This is very hard for qigong practitioners to understand. We should know that we are not to think that the more we pray, praise the Lord, read the Bible, and attend fellowship meetings, the more we will please God. None of these things is obligatory. God wants you to do these things often, but He wants you to do them from your heart, out of willingness and pleasure and without feeling forced to do so. God loves the sincerity and honesty in people, and He hates hypocrisy and lies.

Question 60. What does Christianity think of lies?
Answer: God detests lies extremely. It was because they were cheated by the snake's lie that Adam and Eve, the first parents of human beings, sinned against God.
Chinese like to categorize lies into three groups: malicious lies, kind lies, and innocent lies without good or evil intentions. Chinese think the last two kinds of lies are not wrong.
Christianity regards all lies out of any motivation as sin. Christians speak only truth, or else they remain silent.

Question 61. What should I think of fate?
Answer: Christians know the result of their fate, even though they do not know the details of their fate. Therefore, we should use God-given faith, love and wisdom so as to do our best in everything. If someone thinks his/her fate is bad, he/she should have that fate changed for the best through knowing Jesus Christ.

Question 62. What is my right attitude towards pastors?
Answer: Pastors are Christians who teach the Bible and administer church activities. Pastors take on duties, not positions. They are equal with all other Christians, and they are fallible too. They can even teach wrong ideas. Pastors are not authorities.

Question 63. How do Christians look at themselves?
Answer: I am a Christian. God is my Heavenly Father. Jesus is my friend and brother. I sometimes please God, and sometimes anger or grieve Him. I endeavor to abide by Jesus' commandments, but I sin unavoidably. As long as I sincerely repent, God will forgive me. God also disciplines me. I know how precious I am in God's eye. He loves me more than my parents love me. I will be with Him for ever and ever in Heaven in the future.

Question 64. How should we spread the gospel?
Answer: We spread the gospel out of willingness, not reluctance. Evangelization is done out of love. Evangelization is not the most important, but love. All actions have to be the results of love. Only evangelization out of love is pleasing to God.

Question 65. What does Christianity think of marriage?
Answer: Jesus said, "What God has joined together, let man not separate." (Please read Matt. 19:3-6.) Marriage is holy and should be highly respected. Christians are very careful in choosing their spouse. And after they have decided to enter into matrimony, they are determined to stay together all their lives.

Question 66. Do Christians have to marry Christians?
Answer: It is not that they have to, but that they are happy to. Without a common belief, common views and easy communication will be impossible, and naturally, sweet love will be impossible too. Christians choosing Christians as their spouses is a very practical decision.

Question 67. What attitude should Christians have towards daily living?
Answer: Christians live with care, in faith, love, wisdom and hope. They ask God to bless their lives. For Christians to enjoy the happiness of life is God's will because God is our Heavenly Father.
Christians do not escape this world, but conquer it, for Jesus has conquered this world for us.

Question 68. What do you think of the present trend toward sexual freedom in China?
Answer: Materialistic atheism inevitably leads to sexual freedom. For the sake of the Chinese traditional "saving face," many people hesitate to get a divorce, but they go for that extra-marital sexual freedom that has become very prevalent in China. Pre-marital sex has become common. It is sinful and is detested by God.

Question 69. What is the mainstream culture of China at present time?
Answer: Chinese mainstream culture consists of two components: some ethical morals of Confucian culture and a materialistic worldview and view of life.

Question 70. What do you think of the direction of China's development?
Answer: Christianity is developing and spreading far and wide. It will become China's mainstream culture, which will produce corresponding political, economic and social systems. This process can be estimated to take the next thirty years for its completion.
Question 71. How should I treat qigong practitioners and people who believe in other religions?
Answer: We should love them, have compassion towards them, and pray for them. If they are willing, we can lead them to the truth of Jesus.

Question 72. What do you think of the technology of cloning?
Answer: As a scientific technology, it is not wrong in itself, just as gunpowder is not wrong in itself. It all depends on how this new technology is used. From this we should know that things told in the Bible like the Virgin Mary bearing a child and God making woman out of one rib of Adam are not anything to be fussed about.

Question 73. What do you think of the British "Diana phenomenon"?
Answer: It is an obvious symptom of the faith crisis of the UK. When God is gradually forgotten, humans themselves can very easily become idols to be worshipped. The tremendous zeal exposed in the "Diana phenomenon" shocked the whole world. Even though the worshippers do not represent all British people, they depict a strange picture of the UK for the whole world.

Question 74. What about the British "football rascal phenomenon"?
Answer: It is also a symptom of the faith crisis and the degeneration of humanity. Some people worship football and its related items, which they use to fill up their spiritual emptiness and also as a kind of vent.

Question 75. What about the Chinese football fad?
Answer: Football has become a spiritual prop for many Chinese. This is a typical manifestation of the faith crisis. Through the football fad people find their attention shifted from the various pains and dissatisfactions of actual life. "Football" has become a synonym for "national self-esteem."
Please note that "enjoy football playing a lot" and "football worshipping" are totally different, the former being an entertainment, the latter a spiritual prop.

Question 76. How should we understand U.S. president Clinton's attending of the worship service at Congwenmen Protestant Church in Beijing during his visit to China?
Answer: On Sunday morning, June 18, 1998, US President Clinton attended the worship service at the biggest Protestant church in Beijing, Congwenmen Church, and even delivered a short speech following the pastor's preaching, emphasizing the call for religious freedom. He quoted Acts 17:26 from the New Testament and undoubtedly taught a lesson from the gospel for Chinese people. He encouraged Chinese Christians and served as a propelling power for Christian evangelization of China. He greatly baffled at the same time millions of Chinese people, who wondered: Oh, my! Is the American president also so superstitious?

Question 77. What do you think of the development of Christianity in China?
Answer: Christianity is developing rapidly in China. This is a great blessing from God upon China. Christianity has churches as its operating units. Influenced by the mainstream culture, the Chinese church has an important problem demanding prompt solution: The setting up of a perfected church mechanism.
We can say there are two types of mechanisms:
a. An open-church mechanism in the society.
b. The non-open house-church mechanism.
Setting up a perfected church mechanism is an important guarantee for a healthy development of the church. Without a perfect mechanism, the church will be troubled with a lot of problems once it grows large, even though any harm remains unremarkable when the church is small.
Depending on man's faith and moral virtues for a healthy operation of the church will certainly meet with failure because even Christians have tendencies towards sin and sin constantly.

Question 78. What does the mechanism of a public church include?
Answer: The open-church mechanism includes the following:
a. A system for democratic election.
All members of the church elect directly and openly members of the church committee, whose duties will be to take care of detailed church affairs and to serve the church. (See Acts 6:3-4 in the New Testament.)
They also elect directly the pastor and other clergy, whose duties will be to organize the detailed activities of the church, to serve the church, and to carry out each one's duty according to the gift each one has received from the Holy Spirit.
The principle for election is selecting people on their merits who love the church as their own bodies.
b. A perfected financial system.
The church committee appoints the accountant, cashier, auditor, and other church financial personnel.
c. An efficient overseeing system.
All members of the church oversee all members of church committee and all other clergy. The church committee oversees the work of the clergy and the financial personnel.
d. A system for appointing and removing church workers.
All members of the church or the church committee can vote directly to remove unsuitable workers. Ways and processes taken to remove personnel should set up so as to avoid hurting these personnel emotionally.

Question 79. What does the mechanism of a family church include?
Answer: House churches should not be very big, especially in the cities. The number of believers for each house church will function best with around 6-8 in the cities and around 15 in the countryside. Even though each house church has a small number of believers, a lot of house churches spreading out in the whole local area can form a large system and be connected with each other freely and equally. There will surely be apostle-like believers who will serve to connect and instruct the individual house churches.
As to the very sensitive issues of leadership and financial organization, these will discussed and studied in my other book.

Question 80. How does one set up the mechanism of a church?
Answer: First, the mechanism of the church has to be set up even in the beginning when there are few members.
Second, decisions about the mechanism of the church must be discussed and made by all members. No one is to be regarded as an authority.
Third, the mechanism of the open church should be put down in written form and perfected through long-term practice.
Finally and most importantly, the setting up of the mechanism of the church is not to run counter to biblical teachings.

Chapter 6 | Table of Contents | Chapter 8