Author: Wang Zixu

The clerk at the Religious Management Office of Johor Province finished registering the information for He Baolu, but found that the other party was still looking through the information.

So I asked very casually and at the same time to attract the other person's attention:

"Have you finished reading? Is there anything you need to add to your church materials?"

He Baolu woke up from his thoughts and boldly questioned:

"With all due respect, the materials introduced by your religious sects are compiled with malice and hostility by unbelievers who are resistant to faith.

"The implication of this document is that all religions are meaningless, and it is intended to make people who read these materials lose interest in faith."

He Baolu thought that the other party would be angered by him and he might be expelled.

However, the clerk opposite asked expressionlessly:

"Is your questioning mentality also raised with hostility by religious believers who are discriminatory against unbelievers?"

He Baolu immediately explained:

"No, we will not discriminate against unbelievers. They are all lost lambs and children in need of redemption..."

The clerk immediately pointed at He Baolu and said:

"Are you just asking for it?

“What makes you think that unbelievers need salvation from your God?

"Why do you say that people who don't believe in your god are lost? This is a typical intimidating fraud.

"Also, you often compare people to sheep and livestock, which is the most direct insult.

"If someone goes to the Shicheng County Government to sue you for this, you need to publicly apologize and pay compensation."

He Baolu suddenly collapsed:

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. This is a matter of faith, and secular laws cannot be used..."

The clerk immediately interrupted He Baolu:

"Does your god mean God Haotian?"

He Baolu was stunned for a moment:

"It refers to our god, not the Jade Emperor Haotian..."

The clerk said with a straight face:

"I would like to formally warn you now. According to the Ming Dynasty's Religious Management Regulations, the word "god" cannot be used to represent symbolic individuals in myths and legends other than the Haotian Jade Emperor.

“Except for the relevant departments of the Ming Dynasty, no sect may use the name of God at will, and shall not interpret it as a symbolic individual from any other source or sect.

"That is, you are not allowed to translate the god of your church as God or Heaven. You can only use Shen instead or transliterate it as Doosi.

"This is the first time, so I will give you a verbal warning. If you are found again, you will be fined and sent to labor camp. The third time, you will be deported directly."

After the clerk finished speaking, he added a few strokes to He Baolu's new file and recorded the matter.

He Baolu's Adam's apple moved, realizing that he had just been excited.

Italian missionary Matteo Ricci translated his family's god into God, God, and claimed that the God who appeared in China's ancient documents, the "Heaven" and "God" in traditional mythology are essentially the same as the Catholic "only true God"

There is no difference.

So he started referring to their god as God.

This expression and usage was widely used by Catholic missionaries who came to the East.

But after Emperor Shizu of the Ming Dynasty rebuilt the Ming Dynasty, he explicitly prohibited this behavior.

God can only be the Haotian Jade Emperor in traditional Chinese mythology.

Since He Baolu came to Ming Dynasty to take charge of the missionary mission, of course he also understood the relevant basic information.

Usually I try to address them as Tianzhu or Shen, but I accidentally let it slip when I was excited just now.

As a result, the topic has completely gone off the rails now.

He Baolu did not argue about whether he violated the rules, but tried hard to calm down:

"I'm sorry... I will pay attention to it in the future... It should be said that the monarch should return to the monarch, and the gods should return to the gods. The discussion of matters in the spiritual world should not be evaluated according to secular laws..."

The clerk shook his head and said:

"If you only have a spirit but no body, I don't care whether you treat others as livestock.

"But your body is here and your mouth makes a sound. As an official of the Ming Dynasty, I have to make your mouth accept the rules of our Ming Dynasty.

"No matter which god you are a subordinate of, when you come to my land of the Ming Dynasty, you must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

"By the way, I would like to remind you that you are not allowed to call others children without permission."

He Baolu was in a complicated mood. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but in the end he kept his mouth shut.

Because of my habitual rhetoric, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty that I just learned about, there seems to be problems everywhere.

The Lamb is insulting. From the perspective of a pure unbeliever, this can indeed be regarded as insulting.

Children cannot use it casually, as the other party may not be willing to call him a priest.

The theory of original sin that one is born guilty... He Baolu realized that this might be considered a threat and fraud before he said it.

From a completely objective perspective, this seems to be the case.

What kind of sin can a good person or a newly born child do...

Under the powerful power of the Ming Dynasty, He Baolu mastered the method of empathy.

Otherwise, I might have gone into a rage by now.

He Baolu worked hard to change his thinking:

"Thank you for your reminder. I have written it down and will pay more attention to it in the future so as not to violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty again.

"Also, I would like to ask, are the staff of Ming Dynasty's religious management agencies all unbelievers?"

The clerk opposite directly retorted:

"How come they are all unbelievers? I believe in the power of the great emperor of the three realms to conquer demons, the far-reaching Tianzun Guan Shengdi, and I am also the new mother-in-law of Mazu."

He Baolu almost lost his nerve again:

"This kind of panfaith is different from our church..."

The clerk immediately said:

"Why is it different? Is it because you have your own religious group, because you have a strict hierarchy and many rules?

"So are you qualified to stand in a certain angle and discriminate against people like us who you call so-called Panxin?"

He Baolu worked hard to adjust his mentality:

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I shouldn't have thought this way. I should treat everyone equally.

"So, since you also have faith, don't you think this document is full of bias?"

The clerk said casually:

"What is written here are all objective facts. How can it be biased?"

He Baolu immediately said:

"This is a partial generalization, using the actions of a few believers who have made mistakes to represent the entire group of believers.

“There are lost people among the Lord’s believers, but it cannot be said that the entire group has problems.

"Among our brothers and sisters, there are more people who have kind hearts and have done countless good deeds.

"But this document doesn't mention these things much, but instead focuses on those scum with bad records.

"Just like you believe in Guan Sheng Emperor, there must be bad people and good people among Guan Sheng Emperor's followers.

"You can't just write about the bad guys and not the good guys, right?"

The clerk smiled and shook his head and said:

"This is different. The Holy Monarch Guandi has no church, and there is no distinction between superior and inferior believers.

"Whether he is a bad person or a good person, whether he does evil or good deeds, it is the individual behavior of believers.

"But you have a church, and you must hold religious activities regularly to promote and strengthen your various ideas and behaviors.

"So your new picture can be regarded as a whole, and all good and evil are shared by you.

"Especially, your clergy have their own rules and regulations, but our ordinary believers do not.

"In other words, followers of the Holy Lord Guandi do not have the obligation to do good deeds and be cautious in their words and deeds, but your clergy do.

"In other words, according to your system, you people are expected to do good things, but it is unforgivable to do bad things.

"Well, it's objectively unforgivable, but you can certainly forgive yourselves. After all, is there any atonement?"

He Baolu was speechless.
To be continued...