To my understanding, Mr. Zhao is not yet a Christian and is not a member of any church. Starting with the bare facts and utilizing his broad understanding and  his acute observation of culture and history, he affirmed the essential value of divine culture for healthy human development. His was a well thought through, objective, and genuinely engaging article. It is especially thought-provoking since it is penned by an atheist.  

For the past few decades the minds of the Chinese people were tightly controlled, and the information they were allowed to receive was greatly distorted. Now a re-clarification of our thinking is very important. Every one of us needs to re-examine the reliability of the information that we have collected and the value systems upon which we have made our judgments. 

 Since the door to China opened, the deceptive nature and biased propaganda of Marxism and Maoism concerning western economy, politics and society has been revealed. However, because of the passion for nationalism, hostility towards Christianity persists until this day. Not only the common citizens, but even the leaders of the country, have had little chance to understand the truth about Christianity. As China faces its rapidly deteriorating moral standard, many are hoping for a revival of traditional Confucianism. It is commendable that Mr. Zhao decisively categorized Confucianism as just another secular culture, and proclaimed boldly the restorative power of divine culture. 

In the past century, Western missionaries sowed seeds of the Gospel in this vast land. Though they were expelled from Mainland China some forty years ago after Christians and churches were persecuted, yet the number of Christians in China has grown from two million to tens of millions and is still growing.  

In Southeast Asia and North America, many Chinese have come to know the Lord, including many scholars from mainland China. Historically, we have seen the Gospel spread from the Middle East to Europe to North America. Now it is moving back towards the East. Whether through a lone cry from a scholar for re-introduction of divine culture, or rapidly growing house churches, we can clearly see that God's hand is working among the Chinese.  

The key to a divine culture is very simple. It is the recognition of the existence of God. If there is no God, there will be no sacredness. People may lift up a person as sacred or to be an object of worship. However, the era under Chairman Mao ought to serve as a warning against such folly. On the other hand, if science or material things are held as sacred, one needs to look no further than today's secular culture and the consequence of pursuing such a course. Mr. Zhao said, "There is reason to believe that in the future human development and advances in science can also provide absolute authority for value standards which were previously only found in religion." I am afraid this will prove to be wishful thinking. In fact, it is against the backdrop of inherent relativity in human sciences that the sacredness of faith and its incomparable absolute value, shines.   

Whether one admits it or not, the atheistic world view as the foundation of all secular cultures is the chief cause that has led to moral corruption. Dostoevsky once said, "If there is no God, man can do whatever he pleases." On the contrary, a theistic world view establishes the baseline for morality and human decency. Out of reverence and love for the true and living God, one can avoid temptations that trip us up so often. One can live out a good, exemplary life that seems so out of reach for others. For the believers of Christianity, the omnipresent Holy Spirit will be guide and protect them all the time. This is far more effective in safeguarding the moral character of believers than any set of codified rules of conduct handed down by great philosophers of the past. Those who have a superficial understanding of Christianity often attribute the result of Christian moral conduct to the absolute commands of the Ten Commandments. The reality is that the Ten Commandments did not prevent the Israelites from sinning, just as Chairman Mao's absolute command of "serving the people entirely" did not stop the Communists from deviating from their ideal. A true faith is believing in a living God rather than a set of theories. A genuine experience of faith and the receiving of blessings from a loving, living God provide constant discipline and guidance, not the process of self-improvement by keeping a rigid set of good commandments. 

Divine Culture and Miracles  

Miracles will always accompany divine culture. If god is the result of a hypothesis or a product created by the need of human society, as the Materialists maintain (Mr. Zhou seems to be unable to free himself from their influence), then this god will not have true absolute authority. Only the One who has manifested himself to be almighty and ultimately good in history, in the present, in nature and the hearts of man, will be accepted by believers as lord of their lives.  

For over two thousand years, the vigorous strength of Christianity has come from the historical miracle of Jesus Christ's birth, his preaching, crucifixion and resurrection. It also has come from God's continual manifestation through sufferings and blessings in the lives of believers throughout all generations. Looking back into history we see Jesus who was born in a manger, son of a carpenter, uneducated, and was crucified at age thirty-three, son of a carpenter. Yet from Him emerged a Christian culture which changed the course of history and purified the souls of man. Isn't this a great miracle? 

The thing that sustains the faith of Christians is not a set of faultless theories. Rather it is the living miracles that persist from the beginning of Christianity until now. You can ask any believer, whether educated or illiterate, and he or she will bear witness to the love and faithfulness of God. This simple fact is a miracle itself. The sacredness of divine culture is established upon millions and millions of such miracles.  

All cultures must be lived out by living agents. The secular nature of the secular cultures and the sacred nature of divine cultures must be lived out by their respective agents. They cannot merely be sets of theories created by some thinkers. The agents for the divine culture are the millions of Christians who are followers of Christ. Likewise, agents for secular cultures are the millions of people whose aim and goals are confined to the pursuit of material things of this world.  

A lot of people regard highly the achievement of Christianity and its impact on morality, yet they look down upon the Church and those in it, particularly those "uncultured" Christians in Chinese "house churches". They do not see the simple fact that apart from Christians there would be no Christianity. As one appreciates the magnificent rainbow in the sky, does one think about the billions upon billions of individual droplets of water that make the rainbow possible by reflecting the sun light? If you are clamoring for the appearance of the divine culture rainbow, you need to ask yourself whether or not you are willing to become one of those damp and foggy droplets that reflect the light.

Divine Culture and Soul 

From an outsider's perspective, one can make a rational analysis of the functions of divine culture, but the sacredness of the divine culture is manifested in the lives of its multitude of agents, the Christians. Its foundation is spiritual in nature. The awakening of the soul will invariably lead to life commitment, while rational persuasion will at best bring about wise choices and resolves to avoid doing wrong.   

Throughout history, there are three forms or ways in which moral commands are communicated:

1. Admonishment. Examples: Confucius's teachings, and the Ten Commandments in Judaism. Followers are required to identify with, remember and abide by the teachings.

2. Philosophical. Examples: Zen, and the Book of Ecclesiastes. Followers are taught to comprehend, be persuaded and transcend themselves.

3. Modeling. Example: The propaganda used by the Communists to follow the examples of some hand-picked heroes. It appeals to one's emotion. Admiration will lead to imitation.

These three rely on the human rational and emotional faculties to bring about the effects of moral commands. 

 The Christian faith not only includes all three elements; it surpasses them all. Its foundation is found in the spiritual rebirth of the believer. Divine faith gives the believer a new life. The Almighty Living God enters into the believer's life and becomes his master. Not only does a believer have the teachings and example of Jesus, but more important, the Holy Spirit is always with him guiding, admonishing and helping him. Therefore the love and goodness that flows from a Christian's life does not come from obedience to a set of harsh commandments, nor from wise decisions nor from deliberate imitation. It is a natural display of a new life, a genuine self, and reality of life.  

The Christian faith is rational, yet it is not established or sustained by rational and dialectical proof. Most cultural studies on the Christian faith commit the common mistake of neglecting the spiritual nature of Christianity's core and merely treat it as set of theories or a system of logic. This often leads to on the one hand, affirmation for the function and value of its divine culture. On the other, it leads to the rejection of its source (God's existence), its foundation (Jesus Christ's miracles), its agents (Christians and churches) and its manifestation (souls are saved).  

Many humanists love to quote Francis Bacon that "knowledge is strength", yet they ignore another quote from him - "superficial knowledge will create an inclination for atheism, a human manufactured truth". If one is willing to investigate further, one will be drawn to religion. Even this is not enough to enable one to accept the mystery of God's kingdom, because one will not be able to comprehend God through the senses. One must submit himself or herself to God's holy laws and commands before one can know God. For those who are seeking after knowledge, I hope that they will be able to recognize the limited and relative nature of human knowledge so that they can draw closer to the One who is infinite and absolute. Not only is He the hope for a decaying post-modern society. More important, He is the salvation for every individual's soul. God's salvation does not need help from human reasoning or science. It does not need to invalidate human reasoning or science. His salvation is what causes the whole human realm of science, reasoning, moral standards, and life to be bathed in His holy light. 

Mr. Yuan Zhiming comes from Beijing and is currently an editor and researcher for Overseas Campus Magazine.