China gets it, America doesn’t

Posted by Ryft

Aug 9

Now that… is interesting:

Former Time correspondent, David Aikman, interviewed the retiring head of state in Communist China in 2002, Jiang Zemin, and asked what he wished for in regard to China’s future. His response shocked Aikman and much of the world when he replied:

I would like for my country to become a Christian nation.

When asked why, Zemin’s response was an amazing revelation. He explained how a panel of Chinese scholars had spent twenty years studying why China continually lagged behind the West in science, industry, and culture. After considering every possible explanation, they concluded that it was the religious heritage of the West that had allowed it to reach such heights. [...] [As] Jiang Zemin understood, it is not just economic freedom that enabled America and the West to rise to such heights—it was its biblical worldview. There was purpose behind the prosperity. However, in the greatest economy ever developed, this most basic connect is being lost now in the United States. To the expressed shock of the leaders of the two most powerful former communist states—Russia and China—America, the forerunner and premier founder of the most powerful economic force in history, is now abandoning its biblical worldview as the former communist countries are embracing it.

Click here to read the full article.

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Filed under: Church History, Politics, Theology

http://aristophrenium.com Mathew

I've said this elsewhere before: the West is biting the hand that feeds it when it turns it's back on it's Christian heritage. We have immigrants galore fleeing their home countries for the opportunities and freedoms that the West affords and all our secular, social elites wish is for the demise of the Christian foundations that fostered those very opportunities and freedoms that allowed them to reach such heights. This reminds me of Dinesh D'Souza's What's So Great About Christianity which is a fascinating read of the positive influence Christianity has had in education, science, economics and social values, among other things.
http://aristophrenium.com Ryft

Volumes… volumes… could be written about this subject. And have been.
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http://www.triiiray.nl/pillars/life/ RayFalling

That IS surprising :)

However, the point of Christianity is not to have a solid economic system. I hope these people will get to see that it is Jesus who they need, and not at all for monetary and political reasons. Otherwise, arn't you just really cheating the system ;)

That said, it would be wonderful to see a country like China embracing the Christian faith more and more.
tavarish

I shall take this with a grain of salt. China, a country that has a population 3 times that of America, and a heritage that stretches to 2100 B.C., has a culture that lags behind that of a country founded less than 300 year ago?

One of the world's fastest emerging superpowers is somehow jealous of the country it has literally bailed out for the last decade?

I've tried to find anything on this article in particular, but it's pretty difficult, as there is no notation at all to be had, nor any transcript available readily. I honestly see this as a way for apologists to rationalize a personal statement that has been made by a foreign official into something that backs up their own world view. It's not that America forgot its "Christian roots" – America was started with secularism in mind. From day one, there was a separation of religion from the political landscape.

I would honestly like to see any arguments that lead from embracing Christianity to a thriving economy, and how it is realistically implemented in America, or any other country, for that matter.
http://lowerwisdom.com JS Allen

I would encourage caution in reacting to this story, for two reasons.

First, the story appears to be apocryphal. The actual story from Aiken's book is that he heard from a "reliable source" that Jiang Zemin made this statement at a dinner party to a small number of guests — the comment was not made to Aiken, and was about making Christianity the "official state religion". So the morningstar account seems to be embellishing Aiken's original story a bit.

Second, even if the statement were made at a dinner party, it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of Christianity. I'm friends with a number of senior party officials in Beijing, and have heard similar comments made in half-jest. I have also attended church in Beijing, and can attest to the fact that when someone like Jiang Zemin suggests that "Christianity become the official state religion", he is talking about the "official" form of Christianity which is controlled by the communist party (those massive, beautiful white churches in Beijing and elsewhere). The Chinese are not supportive of house churches, but are supportive of the state-controlled Christianity, especially since Christianity preaches obedience to earthly authorities.

In any case, the comment shows a misapprehension of Christianity. Christianity does not promise material prosperity, and we should not take heart from people who try to sell it as a route to worldly success.

(BTW, I may be delayed in responding, since e-mail subscriptions appear to be broken)