Talk:Chinese house church

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Should this page also be the main article for information on "the Chinese underground church(es)" or should we create a different article? Dpr 05:30, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

• you seem to be the one most active on these articles. my inclination is that here would do fine, but go ahead and do either. SchmuckyTheCat 13:04, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Why there is a Chinese house church movement

I note that, in this article, no reason is given for the existence of the Chinese house churches, which continue in spite of the threat of persecution. I would anticipate that there are significant doctrinal differences between the typical house church and the state-sponsered TSPM, CCC, and CCBC.

An editorial by William F. Buckley Jr. (Christians Afoot, Nov.25, 2005) states, "China is officially and aggressively atheist, and such Christianity as is vestigially permitted is doctrinally emasculated. (Christ did not rise from the dead; his mother was not a virgin.)" Such deviations as these from orthodox Christian doctrine could help to explain the persistence of the house church in China.

Inclusion of such differences between the "underground" church and the state-sponsered church would be helpful and informative, and would complete this article, rather than leave it begging the question.

[edit] Problem with unregistered/underground religious sects in China

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/202-three-grades-of-servants

Above article refers to couple house churches often cited by human rights groups - "The Three Grades", and their rival "The Eastern Light".

These unregistered/underground Christian sects were banned by the Chinese government because they were killing people in order to retain and compete for membership.

These "cult of Christianity", thou in name are Christian, do not even believe in the Bible. For example The Eastern Light believes Christ has returned to Earth - in the form of a invisible Chinese woman. The Three Grade's Leader, Xu Shuangfu, actually named himself as the Messiah reborn.

Bobby fletcher (talk) 22:34, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard of apologeticsindex.org so I question whether it is a reliable source, but anyone interested in writing about this may find these stories from the International Herald Tribune useful:

China executes leader of Christian sect and 11 followers

China's true bull market: cults

Readin (talk) 23:23, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

There is already an article on the Eastern Lightning movement.Brian0324 (talk) 15:08, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Readin, Apologetics Index is well-known in the anti-cult academia, and perhaps not so well outside of it (I have no association with it BTW):

http://www.google.com/search?q=apologeticsindex.org

I hope this will address the notability issue you have raised.

The reason I'm asking for feedback is because the wiki as is does not address this aspect of the reality of house church in China. It could be ideological, political, but it could also be ordinary law enforcement. Bobby fletcher (talk) 23:33, 24 April 2008 (UTC)