My Christian Experiences in Taiwan (4) Crossroads (1)

   I am a German living in Taiwan and very glad about this fact. My family was made out of an alcoholic father and a Nazi mother which would hardly count as 'glad'. But I've learned that a nearby community service center of a local church can be a safe haven from all the troubles in the world. The pastor and the youth leaders did not solve my personal problems but they created a sense how a peaceful world close to God could function for real.

Aborigine Church in Taidong County, Taiwan

   Many people do not quite notice that most of the humans move constantly between two worlds - the spiritual and the worldly. In the world we have society standards like separating the human races into colors of skins, levels of educations, religions, culture and so on. But Christianity in fact, according to the Bible, unites us in Christ.

   Jesus was born as a Jew, his parents both have been Jews. The Jewish religion is based on their father Abraham, according to the Bible:

   "When Abram was ninety-years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers (Genesis 17)." 

   Not much later the Bible added:

   "9 Then God said to Abraham, "10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you."

   So every Jew must be, according the the Old Testament, a descendant of Abraham and undergo circumcision to belong to the 'chosen people of God.

Inner of Church in Hsin Chu County, Taiwan

   The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament and, even most Christians do not read the Old Testament, the old part is quite essential to understand the roots of our Christian faith. A testament is not 'an act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death' but rather 'a covenant (agreement, promise) between God and the human race'. 

   When Jesus was born the land, which God promised to Abraham and his descendants, was occupied by the Roman Empire. This happened because, as the Prophet Isaiah explains "They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him."

   Jesus came into the world "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3, NIV)."

   This is clearly a new covenant from the former relationship between God and the human race: away from the family of Abraham and the circumcision to a new relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ!

   Jesus promised His disciples "19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live you will also live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

What a great promise! 

For me, writing this is so clear and touching that I wonder why this is so difficult to teach in a way that others are touched in a similar way! Jesus came here that we repent and return to Him, that we understand His grace and became a new human being in Him!

(to be continued)