Taiwan’s Christians urged to respect the feelings of non-Christians

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3079 Edition
February 28~March 6, 2011

Headline News



Taiwan’s Christians urged to respect the feelings of non-Christians



Reported by Lin Yi-ying, Lydia Ma

Written by Lydia Ma



“Don’t let your excitement to share the gospel get the best of you by uttering 
offensive remarks and inadvertently becoming a stumbling block to the next 
Christian trying to share that same gospel. Otherwise, many Christians won’t 
have a chance to share the gospel because of you’ve set a bad precedent,” urged 
Rev. Yeh Ming-han during a seminar entitled “Folklore and Culture” in Lotong 
Presbyterian Church in Ilan on February 22, 2011. 

Yeh’s seminar is part of a series of events and seminars organized by PCT 
General Assembly to equip its congregations for “One-leads-one, New Doubling 
Movement.” He was originally an expert on mysticism and numerology before 
becoming a Christian.

For those who’ve always worshiped their ancestors or believed in folk religion, 
as is the case with most Taiwanese, Yeh underscored that having Christians tell 
such people they’ve sinned by breaking one of the Ten Commandments is a 
non-starter. 

“That’s a pact between God and Israelites, not between God and Taiwanese 
people!” he pointed out, adding that the reason why many people in Taiwan 
cannot accept the gospel is because many “old” Christians in Taiwan lack 
empathy and don’t quite understand folklore or other religions. These 
Christians should spend time listening and understanding people from other 
faiths.

He illustrated his point with a story: “A zealous young preacher visited the 
home of an old, 80-year-old Hakka lady. Upon seeing the Bodhisattva statuette 
in her home, he told her bluntly that Bodhisattva used to be a man and later 
became a woman – making Bodhisattva a fake god. He then suggested that she 
worship Jesus, the true God, in the future. After the old lady politely 
escorted the preacher out, she lighted some incense, prostrated before the 
statuette, and said, “Bodhisattva, please forgive me. I didn’t invite this man 
to my home. I didn’t know he would insult you. Please forgive me.” The old 
woman went on to warn her children and grandchildren to never invite any 
Christian to their home.”

Yeh alluded to the Third Commandment and pointed out its background. He said it 
was a pact between God and the Israelites, who already had a long-standing 
relationship with God before this command was given. But to tell people who’ve 
never heard of Israel’s God nor this command that they’ve sinned against this 
God by bowing down to an idol is a grave insult.

“Every culture is unique. Like the apostle Paul, we must respect every culture 
and religion instead of criticizing it. We can also inspect if it has any blind 
spots and start dialogue from there, but always with respect.”

As for “cultural” Christians who know about Christianity but don’t have a 
personal relationship with Christ, Yeh’s suggestion is to take the New 
Testament or Paul’s approach rather than Old Testament prophets’ approach of 
preaching repentance and woe.

“Every person in this universe is searching for acceptance and approval and 
people want to know about their own future and afterlife. That’s the reason why 
many use mediums such as Tarot cards or fortune telling or New Age practices,” 
he explained.

But if “born-again” Christians were to highlight Jesus as the way or “medium” 
to these answers and the one who takes away the power of “sin” and “death” and 
replaces them with “Holy Spirit”, “guidance”, and “eternal life”, they might 
win over their “cultural” Christian friends more easily than preaching 
damnation.

 

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