Trying to collect Donations for Church Work on a Busy Shopping Street (Nov. 2011)
In
my experience, one of the biggest problems in Taiwan is the meaning and
approach of education. According to Wikipedia ‘education is the process of
facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and habit’.
I remember that I was so touched that I could study in the Seminary that I had tears in my eyes when I stepped through the door. For me it was a great honor to spend my time to study the word of God, that I could improve in my relationship with Him. I tried to be humble and soak in as much as I could - I studies for life and neither for a subject or a degree...
Graduation
from the Chinese Evangelical Seminary
As a husband, father and Christian I’ve learned
that education is not something that is taught from a 3rd or higher point like
a pastor should teach the true meaning (truth) of the Bible from the view of Theology
in Taiwan. On the contrary, Christians come to church and expect that their own
views are matched by the leaders but neither challenged nor corrected during
worship.
For example, during my service, I teach the 'Triune God' or 'Holy Trinity'. It holds that ‘God is one God but three coeternal
consubstantial personas or hypostases; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’
as ‘one God in three Divine Personas’. While the homeless and low-income families
very fast understood very easily (I’ve made a test after 1 hour and everyone passed!) many university graduates, struggle with it after being
Christians for many years.
I found out this is simply because the
homeless have a very different attitude and/or approach to education. Like one
of my Seminary teachers said: “You have to believe to understand Systematic
Theology” the homeless have a very simple approach and listen, without
comparing it to other religions, cultures or traditions etc. and, as this
teacher put it, ‘simply believe’ and trust that the teacher is truthfully to the Bible and Christian Theology. But many educated people in Taiwan don’t
have this simple mind to approach Christianity or Christian theology; some even
connect Jesus Christ with one of the Spirits in Buddhism to understand and
explain the meaning ‘Holy Trinity’. As Christianity and Buddhism are very different religions, his approach is not very useful...
Trying to understand some background we have to go back in history. On 28 Feb. 1947 the 228 Incident began in Taiwan. An anti-government uprising was violently suppressed by the Mainland Chinese ‘Republic
of China’ government and thousands of civilians have been killed. This marked also the beginning of the White Terror under the martial law (1949-1987) in which tens of thousands went missing, died
or were imprisoned. The government created a network of spies who infiltrated
every layer of society as a a tool to suppress political dissidents.
With this background it could be explained why Taiwanese have suspicions against everything new challenging their status quo. But
Christianity is not about spying on but helping people, is not about separation the society in different classed but about unity as one in Christ.
The other problem I face every day in Taiwan is a general mistrust in
everything (Western) foreign. For me this does not make a lot of sense
because
- foreign orders created an influx of badly needed currencies,
- with many professors foreign educated the society changed
- with American fast food came a clean standard of cheap
restaurants to Taiwan
- with 7-11 came 24-hour open convenience stores with clear
prices on the goods on the shelves
etc., etc., etc.
- sees Taiwan as part of theirs,
- successfully stops any attempt of Taiwan to join international organizations
like the UN or even the International Red Cross
- is the only foreign country actively involved in the free and democratic elections in Taiwan.
Why this suspicion against
Western foreigners exists, I honestly can not explain after living in Taiwan for nearly 30 years!
Be blessed, Gerhard
 |
| Trying to collect Donations for Church Work on a Busy Shopping Street (Nov. 2011) |
I remember that I was so touched that I could study in the Seminary that I had tears in my eyes when I stepped through the door. For me it was a great honor to spend my time to study the word of God, that I could improve in my relationship with Him. I tried to be humble and soak in as much as I could - I studies for life and neither for a subject or a degree...
 |
Graduation
from the Chinese Evangelical Seminary
|
For example, during my service, I teach the 'Triune God' or 'Holy Trinity'. It holds that ‘God is one God but three coeternal
consubstantial personas or hypostases; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’
as ‘one God in three Divine Personas’. While the homeless and low-income families
very fast understood very easily (I’ve made a test after 1 hour and everyone passed!) many university graduates, struggle with it after being
Christians for many years.
I found out this is simply because the
homeless have a very different attitude and/or approach to education. Like one
of my Seminary teachers said: “You have to believe to understand Systematic
Theology” the homeless have a very simple approach and listen, without
comparing it to other religions, cultures or traditions etc. and, as this
teacher put it, ‘simply believe’ and trust that the teacher is truthfully to the Bible and Christian Theology. But many educated people in Taiwan don’t
have this simple mind to approach Christianity or Christian theology; some even
connect Jesus Christ with one of the Spirits in Buddhism to understand and
explain the meaning ‘Holy Trinity’. As Christianity and Buddhism are very different religions, his approach is not very useful...
Trying to understand some background we have to go back in history. On 28 Feb. 1947 the 228 Incident began in Taiwan. An anti-government uprising was violently suppressed by the Mainland Chinese ‘Republic
of China’ government and thousands of civilians have been killed. This marked also the beginning of the White Terror under the martial law (1949-1987) in which tens of thousands went missing, died
or were imprisoned. The government created a network of spies who infiltrated
every layer of society as a a tool to suppress political dissidents.
With this background it could be explained why Taiwanese have suspicions against everything new challenging their status quo. But
Christianity is not about spying on but helping people, is not about separation the society in different classed but about unity as one in Christ.
The other problem I face every day in Taiwan is a general mistrust in
everything (Western) foreign. For me this does not make a lot of sense
because
- foreign orders created an influx of badly needed currencies,
- with many professors foreign educated the society changed
- with American fast food came a clean standard of cheap
restaurants to Taiwan
- with 7-11 came 24-hour open convenience stores with clear
prices on the goods on the shelves
etc., etc., etc.
I tell and teach that the only enemies of Taiwan or the Taiwanese are their relatives in Mainland China, the only country in the whole world that
- sees Taiwan as part of theirs,
- successfully stops any attempt of Taiwan to join international organizations like the UN or even the International Red Cross
- is the only foreign country actively involved in the free and democratic elections in Taiwan.
- sees Taiwan as part of theirs,
- successfully stops any attempt of Taiwan to join international organizations like the UN or even the International Red Cross
- is the only foreign country actively involved in the free and democratic elections in Taiwan.
Why this suspicion against
Western foreigners exists, I honestly can not explain after living in Taiwan for nearly 30 years!
Be blessed, Gerhard
Be blessed, Gerhard
No comments:
Post a Comment