What Are You Desperate For?
by Motte Brown on 08/21/2008 at 9:37 AM
A few days ago, members of Vision Beyond Borders stayed at an airport in Kunming, China for 26 hours waiting to see if their 300 confiscated Bibles would be returned. They were not.
World Magazine reports on the incident:
"We're very disappointed, for a country saying they're opening up and things are getting better, it sure doesn't seem like it," a representative of the group, Pat Klein, told the AP by telephone. The Sheridan, Wyoming-based group distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world.
The Bibles were printed in Chinese, he said, and were intended for Chinese Christians.
"The Chinese Christians have been asking us for Bibles, saying they are desperate for Bibles," he said.
Chinese officials said foreigners need permission ahead of time from religious affairs office if they're bringing in more than one religious book. But Chinese officials say a lot of things.
This sort of thing isn't shocking for China. So my mind went elsewhere. Like what sorts of things Christians here in America are desperate for, what I'm desperate for. Certainly not Bibles.
I have three of them I regularly use: a daily reading Bible, a travel Bible, and a Bible at work. My wife has two, a black leather ESV Reference Bible and a pretty green one I bought for her at the Focus on the Family bookstore. Our nine year old daughter has two and a half Bibles (one is a little New Testament signed by a late U.S. Senator from South Carolina). In addition to these, I'd say we have about six or seven more just laying around the house. That's more than a dozen.
As you can see, I'm not desperate for Bibles. What I am desperate for is silence. Because here in the land of the free, silence has a lot of competition. And the competition usually wins with me.
So I'm not battling some oppressive government trying to molest my quiet. I'm really battling myself. I'm just not sure which is easier to overcome, a dark regime or a dark heart.
I do know that the gospel is able to overcome both.
1. Kevin said the following at 9:55 AM on Aug 21
I'm desperate for truth and clarity. And I'm desperate for something to show people that what I believe is greater than all the other beliefs and interpretations out there.
2. Carrie (the original) said the following at 11:00 AM on Aug 21
As a side note on the statement "Chinese officials said foreigners need permission ahead of time from religious affairs office if they're bringing in more than one religious book."
This is true. You can bring one. When I was there back in 2002, I was sent specific instructions that we could bring one Bible for personal use. Unfortunately, I left mine behind accidentally in the Los Angeles hotel room (got it back several months later when I returned). One thing you can also do is buy Bibles inside China. I wasn't a translation stickler back then, like I am now, so I can't recall how accurate the translations are. I know that I bought one and read it for a month or so, then left it behind on a train (by accident, again, are we noticing a pattern??). I was without a Bible for most of my time in China. Although this is not an action I recommend, the Lord was gracious in growing me a lot during my time there, without a Bible. I had other ways to get nourished, but hopefully next time I will be more careful, if the Lord allows a next time.
3. Marc said the following at 11:02 AM on Aug 21
Motte wrote:
'So I'm not battling some oppressive government trying to molest my quiet.'
Don't you think that the word, "molest", is just a tad too melodramatic?
4. Rachael said the following at 11:26 AM on Aug 21
I think a dark heart would be tougher to deal with than a dark regime on an emotional level, though the latter could definitely darken the former. But as you say, the gospel is able to overcome both.
Yes!
I have so many Bibles, too...including a pretty green one. :)
5. Rachael said the following at 11:34 AM on Aug 21
PS
In answer to the question that is the title:
I should feel desperate for a peace of mind when things start to weigh heavy. I say "should" because I wonder if rather than being desperate for peace, in some twisted habitual way I am often drawn to overthink things instead of activating Philippians 4:6-7 -- giving God the requests with thanksgiving, and waiting for the peace promised in vs. 7.
Recently I've been thinking of the image of batting up the requests like baseball. Hopefully when the "balls" (anxieties/thoughts) come I'll start batting them quickly toward God.
Perhaps I should be desperate for a sense of desperation...to turn to God.
6. J said the following at 12:55 PM on Aug 21
God is definitely using those 300 Bibles, but in a different way than any human intended. While 300 Bibles may have been lost to a crafty government, *God is using this dilemma to motivate thousands more.
Let us rejoice in this small set-back.
And let us take our own Bibles and gather more people to help China grow in Christ. Who knows? God could still use any of the 300 Bibles confiscated.
Please, do not forget to pray for the persecutors, too.
(*I am not saying this was a necessary evil. Only, I know God is reaching me through it all.)
7. Riqui said the following at 1:15 PM on Aug 21
I am desperate to be content with whatever season God has me in. I am also desperate to fully understand what it means to be found at the feet of Jesus...like Mary.
8. obewan said the following at 1:33 PM on Aug 21
>>Chinese officials said foreigners need permission ahead of time from religious affairs office if they're bringing in more than one religious book.<<
I am all for the freedoms we enjoy, but I also recognize that some other countries do things differently. My take is that for now, we should be willing to play by the rules if in the long run it will advance the gospel.
They had a special on PBS on official registered churches in China, and many of them now are preaching the true gospel. In contrast, many of the so-called rebel 'house churches' have degraded into cults that are off track from mainstream Christianity.
Franklin Graham had good success with a recent outreach in China by being willing to play by the rules. There are many reported Christians in the communist party now even, and some of them became Christians through their "official" supervision of other Christians.
9. jonburge said the following at 5:23 PM on Aug 21
Does anyone else feel a tinge of guilt when they hear about the suffering of Christians in other areas of the world? I know I do, because I have it so easy and yet I am not desperate for things I should be. Maybe it's just me.
10. James said the following at 5:24 PM on Aug 21
obewan, I wouldn't trust PBS at all. Most likely their sources came from official chinese media. They know what the west wants to hear, and they showed it, but showed their churches as preaching the true gospel and the house churches as preaching a false one. I wouldn't trust them for a SECOND.
Who do you trust? The missionaries that bravely operate in China spreading the true gospel while the official churches proclaim a "christian-ified" version of "China is the greatest! All glory to China!"
Franklin Graham had little trouble because the Chinese realized how big of a media following he had. But when they can, the chinese block anyone trying to bring in bibles. Playing by the rules does not help when the rules are in place to help identify those who would oppose China by bringing in gospel truth.
We can't play by the rules when playing by the rules only means getting turned away and putting whoever our contacts are in China at risk of being arrested and unlawfully jailed for trying to spread the gospel.
11. Leah said the following at 5:29 PM on Aug 21
obewan - I think you underestimate the movement of the gospel in China. A vast majority of Christians belong to house churches because it's so difficult to legitimately meet in a traditional church setting. Note that I'm not saying it's banned, just difficult.
Was that 'special' on PBS produced by Christians or not? I wouldn't really trust it if it wasn't. I've seen articles on Christian things (like Samaritan's Purse) produced by non-Christians that give quite inaccurate, deceptive impressions about what's actually going on.
Certainly, play by the rules where possible. Organisations like Samaritan's Purse (Franklin Graham) should, because being caught out not doing so could be significantly damaging to the organisation and hamper their effectiveness in the future. But sometimes it is good for individuals not to. Have you ever heard of Brother Andrew? He did an enormous amount of work "behind the iron curtain" in Romania (I think) back in the 80s "under the radar" so to speak. Smuggling bibles, etc etc, in a time when it was infinitely difficult to legally get bibles into the country (like, pretty much impossible). In situations like these, if you "played by the rules" the Christians of the country would never have access to bibles. What then?
Brother Andrew also did his work without ever asking for financial help- he simply trusted God for it. And people would simply approach him, offering him money, sometimes because they knew he was doing missions and thought it would be helpful, other times they didn't know and just said God had told them that he needed money. I think we can quite safely assume his work was sanctioned by God.
12. Priscilla said the following at 12:31 AM on Aug 22
Obewan-- what a foolish thing for a christian to say. Play by the rules of an atheist dictatorship that sends pastors to labor camps? Yeah, that sounds pretty biblical to me.
And PBS is know for it's passion for advancing the Gospel... not.
13. Carrie (the original) said the following at 9:58 AM on Aug 22
Priscilla #12:
"Play by the rules of an atheist dictatorship that sends pastors to labor camps? Yeah, that sounds pretty biblical to me."
You know, obewan wasn't completely off. Like I said above, I was allowed to bring one Bible for personal use. I played by that rule and left a Bible behind - albeit accidentally. Who knows, maybe that Bible was actually read by someone and saved? What happens if there were more people that just bought one Bible and accidentally left them behind somewhere in China? Would that be so terrible?
Also, one thing that was pointed out to me when I was there before is that there no law against answering questions. Chinese people are very curious. If you are there long enough, you will get a chance to actually build relationships that revolve around the curiosity of China's citizens.
Shoving Bibles in the hands of other's rarely works as a witnessing tactic anyhow. So, maybe the quiet, guarded questions of others could more effective??
Gosh . . . it's like there is a Master Planner behind it!!
14. obewan said the following at 11:02 AM on Aug 22
10. James had the following to say on Aug 21 at 5:24 PM:
>>obewan, I wouldn't trust PBS at all. Most likely their sources came from official Chinese media. They know what the west wants to hear, and they showed it, but showed their churches as preaching the true gospel and the house churches as preaching a false one. I wouldn't trust them for a SECOND.<<
12. Priscilla had the following to say on Aug 22 at 12:31 AM:
>>Obewan-- what a foolish thing for a Christian to say. Play by the rules of an atheist dictatorship that sends pastors to labor camps? Yeah, that sounds pretty biblical to me.
And PBS is know for it's passion for advancing the Gospel... not.<<
Just because PBS is not a Christian organization does not mean they are not capable of doing some good journalism SOME of the time. The issues I mentioned were backed up with live interviews with church pastors and evangelical Christians. They were not the words of communist beuracrats.
I think I can trust the pastors of some of the mainstream denominations that have legal registered churches over there. They also had the personal testimony of an evangelical that left one of the house churches because the leader had turned it into a money cult and had a side business he was funneling money into. I did not say all house churches are bad nor did I say all state churches are good.
On the topic of Bible smuggling, I am all for it with some reservations. I am familiar with Brother Andrew’s work and I have heard the stories about white lies at border crossings (eg. Are there Bibles In the car? NO. (the Bibles are under the car floorboards.)). I just get frustrated when OUR people break the law, and then trumpet the fact that they are being abused. Maybe they are, but would not the same thing be accomplished in terms of press releases and the bottom line if they FIRST attempted to go through the right channels, and THEN trumpeted the denial to the same press? At least that way, the foreign governments cannot use the secular press to paint them as lawbreakers. Plus, if the government officials actually read the literature, they might even get saved themselves. That is the testimony of some Christians in the communist party. They were curious.
Regarding Priscilla #12. I am in no way trying to say the communist are good guys. I am merely trying to point out that a lot of recent press has been circulating regarding how they are softening their opposition to Christians as of late. Try reading the recent article in Christianity Today for starters if you don’t trust PBS.
15. Priscilla said the following at 2:35 PM on Aug 22
I really don't think that we, as americans who have access to any and all kinds of Bibles, theology books, churches, denominations, etc have ANY right to sit here and say that Christian organizations should "play by the rules" and withhold Bibles from Chinese Christians.
We are only to obey the laws of government as long as they don't contradict the laws of God.
16. Jo said the following at 3:48 PM on Aug 22
Priscilla: Obewan's point was that people ARE allowed to bring Bibles into China. Yes, there are restrictions, and yes the government may make it very difficult. But by obeying the rules as far as possible, Christians can make a moral stand and advance the Gospel without breaking the law. Don't you think that the more Christians smuggle Bibles into the country, the tighter the restrictions will become? Like Obewan, I'm not against Bible smuggling. But all proper legal methods should be tried first.
17. c. said the following at 5:28 PM on Aug 22
"Chinese officials said foreigners need permission ahead of time from religious affairs office if they're bringing in more than one religious book."
Yep, true! My church has frequent Bible-distribution trips in China (including Kunming!) And they're all legal! :) They 'play by the rules', and are on good terms with the local government officials as well. My pastor likes to stress the importance and significance of our Bible-distribution being legal.
18. c. said the following at 5:38 PM on Aug 22
oh man, I just read some of the comments here! My pastor isn't a 'foolish' Christian, and yes I believe that if it is possible to do things legally, you should! And our church seems to have flourished in the area of China Bible-distribution partly because, by observing the rules (i.e. informing officials, keeping on good terms with them and showing them that Christians have legal integrity as well), we've established good relations with the officials, gained their trust and respect, and can do even more. It's been a real blessing, and, I believe, a good witness to the government officials too.
I have no idea about PBS etc, but do take this from me - churches can and DO make lots of legal Bible-distribution trips in China! My church has been doing this for the past 2 or 3 years. And not a few Bibles at a time... rather, boxes of hundreds of Bibles; that sort of thing.
19. Lola said the following at 6:15 PM on Aug 22
I'm desperate to let God use me to share the Gospel with abandon. I'm also very desperate for all believers to fully discover who we are in Christ and how we ought to live as a result :-)
20. BDB said the following at 7:07 PM on Aug 22
Hmmm...you know, there's oppression, and there's bureaucracy...
We have a long-term mission in Mexico. They've been there 12 years, and our church has been the primary sponsor for 9 years.
One year, YWAM came and built some houses for squatters - workers who sort of carved out a spot on the edge of a settlement.
And the Mexican government came to OUR mission and told them to knock it off since they didn't own the land. I guess our mission had been their so long they just kind of assumed it was us.
Technically, you're not supposed to bring building supplies into Mexico. But you're allowed to buy them there. There's both Home Depot and Wal-Mart, but for some reason materials are far more expensive than the U.S.
Remember that China has a tradition of bureaucracy that goes back at least 20 centuries. It doesn't surprise me that some churches have learned to navigate the bureaucracy and bring in Bibles now.
I'm very curious to know if the Bibles available for purchase in China are quality translations. Does anyone know?
21. Brad said the following at 9:12 AM on Aug 23
I am desperate for joy. In a culture where we have free access to the Word of God and freedom to worship as well as relatively easy access to meeting our physical needs, joy is surprisingly lacking even in the church. Myself included.
22. Charles H. said the following at 9:52 AM on Aug 23
BDB #20: While it's true that bureaucracy isn't always motivated by oppression, it's also true that oppressors have learned to use bureaucracy as a comparatively harmless-looking way to achieve their objectives.
China in the 1980s would have said "Protesters at the Olympics will be shot." China in 2008 said "No protesting at the Olympics without a permit" -- and, of course, the permits were never issued though a large number of applications were made.