Knowing that people in the East places loyalty over justice helps us to understand the strong support that was given to the accused leaders of CHC. A wise person need not go for either or. He can do above. This is precisely what Jesus did on the cross. To uphold justice, man's sin must be punished. To uphold love for mankind, mankind must be saved. So Jesus came to die on the cross on our behalf that the punishment is paid and man are saved from hell. Jesus went one step further to give us a rebirth as a new creation without which his death on the cross is but a licence for us to sin. That is the good news - a new creation and not just a improved version.Chinese Values - Righteousness is Loyalty 讲义气
A bring difference between the values of East and West lies in this relative importance of "Justice vs Loyalty (Relationship)".
Broadly speaking, in the West, Justice/Righteousness/Fairness comes before relationship loyalty. Whereas in the East, relationship usually comes first before justice. Being loyal to your friend is regarded as more important than obeying the laws. There is even social pressure against a person who testify against his friends or relatives. The closer the relationship, the stronger the pressure. Among close friends, one key value of the Chinese is 讲义气, literally, speaking about the spiritual strength of righteousness, or the strong obligation to support one's friend, or simply, loyalty. Loyalty is a righteous values.
So it is extremely difficult to get the abused wife to report the abusive husband to the police. She will be scold and cursed by her parent in-laws and relatives. Hiding the shame within the family circle is another values that the Chinese have. Face saving is very important to the Chinese. Any whistle blower is going to get a lot of persecutions. He/she will be regarded as the betrayer.
Confucius stressed on '仁' - love. “仁者爱人。泛爱众。“四海之内皆兄弟也。” Love is about loving people. How is that done? Treating everyone within the four seasons as brothers or simply, everyone is your brother.
The passive form of love is expressed as “已所不欲，勿施于人。” What you do not like, please don't do it unto others.
In the proactive form as “已欲立而立人，已欲达而达人。” You must help others to be successful (be independent, stand-up, understanding, riches) as you have achieved your success.
The Highest Chinese Values "Die to gain Love and Righteousness".
His disciple Mencius stressed on "义" - righteousness or justice, knowing that people may misunderstood love. He said “生，亦我所欲也；义，亦我所欲也，二者不可得兼，舍生而取义者也。” "Life is what I want. Righteousness is also what I want. When we can't have both, then I give my life to gain righteousness". This become the famous “杀身成仁，舍生取义” Die to fulfill love and Die to gain righteousness.
So we can see that Chinese values love and righteousness equally high and higher than our own lives. When there is the need, then we can give up our lives for them.
Jesus Christ - The Fulfillment of "Death for Love & Righteousness"
For me, it is amazing that Jesus is the very one who die to achieve love and righteousness.
Christianity world view on people is that man has sin. Man disobedience and sin need to be punished to satisfy justice.
Out of love for man, God cannot vanish man to hell. To fulfill both demand Jesus, as God's only Son, came to become a man and to die on man behalf so that man, accepting his substitutional death, will need not suffer the eternal punishment as his punishment have been taken by Jesus.
But saving sinful man from punishments without changing his sinful nature is actually giving him a licence to sin. So Jesus, upon resurrection, need to give man a new sinless nature. Anyone who accepted Jesus' salvation plan will be rebirth by the Holy Spirit into a New Creation (2 Cor 5:17) that is sinless. This is even a better deal than Adam. Adam was created in the image of God and made from earth. New births in Christ are created by very Holy Spirit of God and become the children of God and taking upon the godly nature of God. The is the great great good news. Salvation is not about an improved man but a new creation of new nature of god. Too good to be true but it is the truth. Otherwise, we will not call it the Gospel - the Good News. Not no punishment but much more, the very nature of God in the rebirth man!
How we apply love and righteousness in real life?
We have heard the true story of how a woman caught in stealing was sentenced by the judge to jail or pay a fine. The woman was freed by paying the fine with the money that the judge had given her.
How do we handle this case of the accused CHC leaders?
But standing on the side of truth and justice and not interfering with court proceedings and judgments. By praying that the judges and lawyers be given wisdom to discover the truth and to be fair.
But standing on the side of the accused by giving them materials and prayer support and in whatever needs that may arise for the accused and the family. By not prejudging them. By going through their records and finding new evidences and facts that may shed better light on the issues. By implementing and following rules of governance to prevent any accusations that may arise in the future. Bible has told us that as leaders, we should be above reproach (1Ti 3:2, Tit 1:6). The church should set and practice standards that are above the worldly standards so that the world cannot find any thing to accuse us for. We need to show greater accountability and transparency. It is a great embarrassment for the church to be brought to court by the worldly legal systems. Nevertheless, we prayed and are sure that the church and all people involved will come out stronger than before (Rom 8:28) no matter what the outcome.
This ends the reflections on this affair.
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