When I went to get my car washed, I passed by complexes of multi-million-dollar apartments. A Rolls Royce was left in the entrance of the carwash, where I wouldn’t have parked my 5-year-old Honda Fit. The place was packed with expensive cars. After the wash, I had to wait for a Tesla to be moved, so my car could be dried off. When I left, the Rolls took my place to get wiped down. Was I in Beverly Hills or one of the capitals of Europe? No. I was in Beijing, China.
Yes, I live in a nice part of town, but that is just a facade of the real China. In reality, this is a prison. The government holds the people’s minds in captivity. From my nice part of town, I can still see a little of how the Chinese government controls their people. Google, Facebook, and Twitter are blocked by the “Great Firewall of China” and TV news is blacked out whenever there is an unfavorable story. The Chinese President toured news stations and told them; they serve the public interest best when their reports agree with the government policy. That was not philosophical point, it was a warning. Public dissent is crushed (literally in Tiananmen Square). Even with the world watching, thousands of civil rights lawyers have been arrested and religious activities are either tightly controlled or shut down.
There was a lively discussion in our office about some new Chinese government restriction, when a coworker said, “It is just another form of government.” I have heard cynical remarks from him about governments before, but that one was too much. A visitor might be excused for thinking that, but he has been living here for almost two years and works in the U.S. Embassy. To make it worse, this guy immigrated with his family to the United States from a 3rd world country. He and his family have benefited from the freedoms and economic opportunity our form of government enabled. He is free to speak, assemble and worship in our country. Maybe he doesn’t cherish the freedoms the Chinese people don’t have.
That is like those who say Christianity is “just another religion.” They need to look a little closer. The difference is love. “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” (John 3:16 NIV). What other god would do that? Another difference is forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV). He forgives us when we fail and even paid the price for our sin? Not a normal attribute for a god. Maybe they don’t cherish the love and forgiveness that GOD offers? Maybe they need to “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8 NIV)
Wayne Lance (2016)