Communist China* hates Christianity. They do everything they can to destroy the Gospel, with its power to free people from bondage. That’s because China is all about keeping human beings in bondage.
Mere Inkling is not a political blog, so I have no incentive to go through the litany of communist China’s demagoguery. Besides, listing their crimes would take far too long.
In terms of their persecution of the Christian Church, however, many agnostics know little.⁑ The Red Chinese began their war against Christianity in the days of Mao. Millions have been denied their civil rights, imprisoned, and even murdered. Even with their “enlightened” and “tolerant” policies, they continue to deface and destroy church buildings and harass and imprison believers.
But now, they have done the unimaginable.
They have sought to replace the various Chinese translations of the Bible with a new, official edition. The regime’s Bible, though, is not a genuine translation.
It is an intentional corruption of God’s Word, and it is no exaggeration that some of its inspiration comes from the Father of Lies, an honored commissar in all Communist nations.
In a superb essay discussing the pseudo-bible, Cameron Hilditch reveals how the Communists are attempting to co-opt the Messiah and present him as the herald of the Marxist gospel.
Put simply, the Chinese Communist Party “plans to turn the Scriptures into another piece of regime propaganda by rewriting them beyond all recognition.”
Beyond all recognition indeed. Before looking at their perversion of Jesus’ message of mercy, let’s consider the actual biblical account. We read that in Jerusalem,
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in their midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and
Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Here is the communist mistranslation⁂ of the end of this powerful example of God’s grace and mercy.
When the crowd disappeared, Jesus stoned the sinner to death saying, “I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.”
Twisting the Scriptures
The act of translating the Scriptures is not controversial. In fact, it is necessary. C.S. Lewis noted this in his essay “Modern Translations of the Bible.”
The truth is that if we are to have translation at all we must have periodical re-translation. There is no such thing as translating a book into another language once and for all, for a language is a changing thing.
If your son is to have clothes it is no good buying him a suit once and for all: he will grow out of it and have to be re-clothed.
However, the re-translation must be an honest one.
There are several warnings in the Bible itself not to alter the words in the Scriptures either by deleting or adding to the text. Substituting the actual words, as the Communist Chinese have done, would violate both of those prohibitions.
Some people argue that mainland China exerts a benign influence on the world. “We have short memories,” says Christian attorney and advocate for the poor, Anna Waldherr. Rather than praise China for its increased engagement with the world, she reminds us of the true situation.
These days, the United States and China have mutual economic, political, and security interests. But China remains a Communist nation with a totalitarian government and unresolved issues involving human rights.
The evil purposes of communist China’s ruling elite do not extend to their people. On the contrary the residents of that historic nation are its primary victims. The Chinese people and their culture possess much nobility. As I have written before, “C.S. Lewis held great respect for Chinese civilization. He was interested in the Chinese philosophical concept of the Tao.”
I share Lewis’ high regard for all that is good in China along with a genuine compassion for the Chinese people. May God deliver them from the dark principalities that reign over them.
* The communist People’s Republic of China is not to be confused with the democratic Republic of China, which is usually called Taiwan, due to the PRC’s coercive actions. For the same reason, the 23 million people living in the Republic of China are denied representation in the United Nations.
⁑ The Communists persecute other religious groups as well, most notably the Uighur (Islamic) people, who are being placed in vast reeducation and labor camps. In addition to rewriting the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, they are presumably also rewriting the Quran with the same, pro-regime agenda. Unsurprisingly, when asked their specific plans, “the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.”
⁂ As reported in Hilditch’s article, “China’s Communist Christ,” linked to above.
The original painting featured in the illustration above, “Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery,” was painted in 1653 by Nicolas Poussin.
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I saw that story, too.
What bothers me is that so few here are bothered – not just by this attack on Christianity and religion, but by the Chinese Communist Party’s ( not the ordinary people who are under their brutal thumb and constant IT surveillance – with repercussions ) human rights issues/slavery, their horrendous pollution/destruction of the environment, their lack of appreciation/value for individuals, human life and dignity, their desire to dominate and control the whole world politically and economically. Tibet should have been enough of a warning.
This is a real danger
Why don’t people see?
Yes, it truly is a danger–to the entire globe. You cited an accurate litany of their most grievous transgressions.
They are also “helping” undeveloped countries by constructing infrastructure. When you read the articles you see they don’t hire any locals (depriving the host nations of any economic benefit) and they defer the costs (leaving struggling nations in debt slavery to Beijing). Don’t have space here to express this all clearly, but it is especially damaging to African nations.
Ultimately, the willingness of people (e.g. international corporations, NBA superstars) to look the other way seems linked to a lust for mammon.
And it should go without saying these criticisms of the communist China are not a judgment against the people themselves; it is their oppressive rulers who bear the guilt.
I thought you’d post the quote from the Chinese version. ..I’ll go look at your link to see if it’s in there. :)
And, I agree about being worried. Diplomatic relations are a great goal, but we needn’t allow them to seep as much as they have into our ideals. When we order dice store inventory from China, they frequently lie on the packing slip in order to evade Customs fees.
I see that only that last paragraph is what’s different; which is, of course, terrible! “[A]ccurate and authoritative interpretations of classical doctrines,” indeed.
Turns the entire message on its head, doesn’t it?
Yes! It’s awful.
Not surprising at all… I must admit that I enjoy getting “inexpensive” products from China, but I prefer to buy American (or other democracy-produced products) whenever possible.
We try to acquire local products whenever possible!
I’m sure you do. It’s just that the West has allowed Chinese factories to co-opt so much of our manufacturing. The worst case being all of our antibiotics. That’s a scary thought…
Ugh, that is awful. Imagine if somehow their version of the Bible was the only one that survived.
Recently I read a dystopian novel by Lauren Oliver in which the regime had made their own scriptures, the Book of Sshhh. One of the stories in this book is a rewrite of the story of Solomon’s judgment on the stolen baby— but in the Book of Sshh version, the baby actually does get cut in half. The twistedness of this is lost on readers who don’t know the original story (probably most young adult readers in the UK).
Your first comment reminded me of The Book of Eli (starring one of America’s finest actors, Denzel Washington). All of the Bible’s were destroyed, and Eli is the only person in possession of a copy which needs to be saved. Excellent film, which I need to view again soon.
The Book of Sshh sounds like an interesting plot device (not least of which, because of its title).
As for your final comment… it makes me want to weep.
I must check out that film.
As a Pagan, I’m more invested in the literary value of the Bible, obviously. Quite aside from what it means to Christians, the Bible is foundational to ever such a lot of western art and literature. Every art gallery has a painting of Susannah and the elders, or Judith and Holofernes; there’s references to Samson and Delilah, David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, David and Abigail, and so on.
A Druid friend of mine teaches English literature at university level, and found that he had to teach the students about the Bible and basic Christian theology in order for the literary texts he was teaching to make sense. If you didn’t get the basic of Christianity, books like Jude the Obscure, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and so many others, just wouldn’t make sense.
There’s an excellent essay on biblical language by AS Byatt, and another by Jeanette Winterson on the way that the King James Version is the basis of so many sayings. Byatt says that her mother always used to say “here is the butter in a lordly dish” (quoting Judith in the story of Judith and Holofernes).
If you like apocalyptic storylines, you should enjoy it.
You remind me of when I went to the University of Washington, back in the early 70s, and took “The Bible as Literature.” I enjoyed the class quite a bit.
On the surface, a Druid teaching biblical literature seems anachronistic, but it is really quite logical. I wish everyone understood how a knowledge of some biblical metaphors and stories is crucial to understanding Western civilization.
Expanding our knowledge–regardless of our belief system–is a worthwhile pursuit in itself.
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