Just the other day I received a belated reply email to the article and I was so impressed by the authors' comments that I have, with his permission, decided to publish them here today.

Why you may ask do I do this? Firstly, it is a great demonstration of true dialogue between two people with different belief systems. In a nasty letter I received in relation to one of my articles, I was asked what sort I parents did I have. My reply to that was that my parents were people with a great sense of humour, and a genuine respect for other people's beliefs. My email reply bounced because the sender only permits person's on his 'access granted' list to actually send emails.

This following letter by Nathaniel demonstrates that there is no need for people to be nasty or offensive when stating their contrary opinions.

Additionally, Nathaniel's email demonstrates that he is a person who 'thinks' about issues, not about 'forcing his opinion' down other people's throats.

I thoroughly enjoyed his email, and I have promised to send him a personal reply in relation to some points he raised.  We do not need to share our personal perspectives with the world. It suffices just to continue the dialogue personally.

Before I proceed to show you his email, there is one point I will restate , for I have stated it previously. There can be no doubt about the inhumanity of the treatment of prisoners in China. This point I do not argue. What I do question, is the tendency to view the victimization of Christian prisoners, as 'Christian persecution'. In those places where prisoners are mistreated or murdered, it is because the guards are monsters, with little respect for human life. It does not matter if that life is in prison for religious beliefs, murder, prostitution or whatever.

Just this last week it was revealed that a policeman who was arrested, charged and imprisoned for his wife's murder, was in fact innocent. His wife turned up recently, married to another husband. That policeman had endured torture and threats for years, and is now seeking compensation from the government.

Whatever the issue that may be raised here at Magic City Morning Star News, or elsewhere, respect for the opinions and beliefs of others should never be pushed aside in order to 'score points'.

True respect allows others to have different opinions.

Here now is Nathaniel's reply.

Dear BenDedek

Your article was very interesting - but it seems to me that you may have failed to consider a few things.

Were the Bibles you observed as being "freely available" edited in any way, or were they complete? This matters a lot to the believing Christian, especially in light of the 1600+ year old canon, and the meaning that it holds as a whole.

There are several flaws in your reasoning, as I see it. First, believing personally that the Bible is in fact, infallible in terms of the doctrines, themes and ideas conveyed (I am not a believer in the "King James Only" ideology, nor does it damage my faith in the slightest to recognize that there are in fact textual errors and
numerical errors in various translations), it does not seem to be exclusive of the possibility of government persecution. The Church began under severe persecution in the 1st century - and certainly, in past decades, there has been severe persecution in China, the Sudan, Soviet Russia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and other places. Jesus himself warns about this. Of course, it doesn't hamper the power of the message (in fact, it often seems to refine and empower it), because the message is timeless, for all people in all situations. Why should the persecution of Christians invalidate the message?

Second, you mentioned that you weren't sure whether or not the Chinese government banned certain doctrines from being taught. Wouldn't that be rather important in determining whether or not the need for secretive worship still exists, if one desires to remain true to ALL of ones faith? Of course, you may be right, and if you are, then wonderful! I'm glad that China would ease restrictions, if that is indeed the case. But I'm not entirely sure that is the case either. So, if they are, then perhaps some of the "underground" will cease to be so. But you listed three other points, which I'd like to address:

1. comparing a church which violates the laws in the West versus one in China seems to be an extremely bad comparison, because it assumes that the restrictions and laws pertaining to religious expression are equal in those places. I beg to differ - I'm sure that the laws in China are FAR more restrictive and prohibitive than those in the United States. While Scripture teaches submission to Government, it makes the exception when Government law contradicts God's - and at that point, the choice for the believer is obvious.

2. While all governments seek social stability (this is the very purpose of government), it should be fairly obvious that the means to this end are not equal, and may violate what we understand to be "human rights". China's government is decidedly Communist, and founded squarely upon Marxist and Stalinist principle - which explicitly decry any religion as dangerous. The U.S. has religion as part of its founding principle - and so the two are almost opposite in terms of
their approach.

3. This goes back to what I discussed earlier - but I'm afraid your summary of what Christianity teaches is not only somewhat innacurate, but also entirely oblivious to the Whole Point. While I am quite sure
that there are many "true" believers in the Chinese "sanctioned" churches (I would never speculate to judge the heart of anyone just because they belonged to a certain group), I find it hard to believe that they are able to declare and hold to everything the unedited Scripture teaches with the full approval of the Chinese Government. Again, the restrictions may in fact be easing, and if they are, then the underground churches may emerge - and if so, again - great! But to suggest that they are psychologically keeping themselves in that position is both laughable on the one hand, and on the other, a despicable insult to the testimony and faith of an awful lot of good people.

It seems also that your estimation of the Chinese government is incredibly naive, considering both past and present behavior. Even in a "free" country such as the U.S., and being a native New Yorker, I question the effectiveness and sincerity of many internal investigations into the behavior of police officers and other officials, when the evidence seems clear on the outside, but no one is convicted. Also, it is quite well known that governments will sacrifice "underlings" to satisfy a particular outrage (remember Rodney King?) but take no interest in actually solving the problem. In many Asian, Middle Eastern, and other governments, the behavior of police and government agents is of absolutely no concern as long as the goal is achieved, and worlds "whistle blowers" are kept quiet. Even in the U.S. - much less China.

Not all governments are equal. The Marxist approach, I believe, is inferior for many reasons. Chairman Mao and many other leaders are inferior to many in the West (no matter the political stripe). The moral, ethical, religious and political relativism that suggests otherwise is silly.

Thank you for your article nonetheless - these dialogues are invaluable to thinking people - and I genuinely appreciate your thoughts.

Sincerely, Nathaniel

R.P.Bendedek

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

R.P. BenDedek (pseudonym) is a conversational English Teacher in China (Hubei Radio and TV University Wuhan), and writes for Magic City Morning Star News. In addition to his 'Stories from China', he is the author of 'The King's Calendar:The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com.

The King's Calendar is a chronological study, of people and events listed in the Bible, Josephus, and The Damascus Document of the Essenes. It both confirms and challenges many cherished concepts in relation to Biblical Infallibility and Bible History, The Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of Josephus, the Reign of Nebuchadrezzar, Moses and the Exodus, Jeremiah's Seventy year prophecy of the Babylonian Exile, Daniel's Vision of Seventy weeks, and discrepancies between the Septuagint and Masoretic Texts of the Bible.