By Li Chun, China

One day in February 2022, the church leader asked me to write an evaluation of Wu Jun. I was startled and thought, “The church is doing the cleansing work during this period of time. Could it be that the church is collecting evaluations of Wu Jun in preparation to clear him out?” At that moment, scenes of my interactions with him flashed through my mind. In 2019, Wu Jun was doing a text-based duty, and I was responsible for the church’s text-based work. At that time, he often argued endlessly with his cooperating brother over trivial matters. During gatherings, he would ask us to judge the disputes. We fellowshipped with him, urging him not to over-analyze things but to accept it from God and learn lessons. However, he refused to accept this and continued in the same manner afterward. During that period, every gathering had to focus on resolving his problems, and we couldn’t conduct normal fellowship. Both church life and church work were significantly disturbed. Because Wu Jun did not seek the truth, constantly debated right and wrong, and did not accept others’ guidance or help, he was eventually dismissed from his duty. In 2021, I was responsible for the gospel work of several churches. At that time, Wu Jun was a gospel worker in the church and was very supportive of the gospel deacon, Li Cheng. Li Cheng did not do actual work, so the leaders sought evaluations of Li Cheng by the brothers and sisters, but Wu Jun told the brothers and sisters, “If anyone speaks ill of Li Cheng, I will take issue with them!” Subsequently, the leaders dismissed Li Cheng based on principles. Wu Jun was extremely dissatisfied with this matter and lived in a resistant state, putting on airs and setting himself against it. During discussions about gospel work, he would sulk and remain silent. On several occasions he even vented his dissatisfaction during gatherings before everyone had arrived, saying, “The leaders only discuss with my cooperating brother about the work, and do not come to me. Now I don’t even know if I’ve been dismissed!” I reminded him at the time that he was over-analyzing things, and advised him to accept it from God, learn lessons, and focus on self-reflection. But he not only refused to accept it but also argued and justified himself. It wasn’t long before he was dismissed, but he did not have much knowledge of himself and continued to cause trouble and make a fuss. He also judged the leaders, claiming that they didn’t know how to do their work. He had many other similar behaviors.

Reflecting on this, I thought of God’s words: “Is it not vile that some people like to split hairs and go down blind alleys whenever something happens to them? This is a big problem. Clear-minded people will not make this mistake, but this is what absurd people are like. They always imagine that others are making things difficult for them, that others are deliberately giving them a hard time, so they always antagonize other people. Is this not a deviation? They do not put in effort when it comes to the truth, they prefer to quibble about unimportant things when something happens to them, demanding explanations, trying to save face, and they always use human solutions to approach these matters. This is the greatest obstacle to life entry. If you believe in God this way, or practice this way, you will never attain the truth because you never come before God. You never come before God to receive all that God has set out for you, nor do you use the truth to approach all this, instead you use human solutions to approach things. Therefore, in the eyes of God, you have strayed too far from Him. Not only has your heart strayed from Him, your entire being does not live in His presence. This is how God views those who always over-analyze things and split hairs. … I tell you that no matter what duty a believer in God performs—whether they handle external matters, or a duty that relates to the various work or fields of expertise of the house of God—if they do not frequently come before God, and live in His presence, and they do not dare to accept His scrutiny, and they do not seek the truth from God, then they are a disbeliever, and they are no different from a nonbeliever” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Often Living Before God Can One Have a Normal Relationship With Him). From God’s words, I understood that anyone who over-analyzes people and things and argues over what’s right and wrong, always clinging to their own view, convinced that they are right, without accepting things from God or seeking the truth, is not a sincere believer in God. In essence, such a person is a disbeliever. In light of the exposure of God’s words, I thought, “Wu Jun is exactly like this. If I were to truthfully write about his behavior, he is very likely to be cleared out.” As soon as I thought about writing his evaluation, the scenes of him helping me in the past came to mind. When I’d believed in God for two or three years, my wife passed away and some difficulties arose at home, leading me to fall into a state of negativity. During that time, I stopped reading God’s words, stopped singing hymns, and didn’t even attend gatherings. For more than a month, I had lived entirely in darkness and even had thoughts of not wanting to live anymore. After Wu Jun learned about my situation, he had repeatedly fellowshipped with me, offering help and support. Each time, he would return home very late. I was deeply touched by his actions. After a period of time, I had gradually come out of my negativity. It was Wu Jun who had helped me during my most negative and painful times. Thinking about this, I felt an increased sense of gratitude toward him. I thought, “When he helped and supported me before, it was to bring me before God. Now, if I write his evaluation, it would have a bearing on whether he is cleared out of the church or not. If Wu Jun really is cleared out and he knows that I exposed him, he will surely say that I am ungrateful. How could I have the face to see him then?” Thinking of this, I wrote insincerely, “Recently, I haven’t had much contact with Wu Jun; we only attended a couple of gatherings together, and I don’t know much about him.”

A few days later, I received another letter from the church leader, asking me to write about Wu Jun’s behavior. I thought, “The leader keeps asking me to write an evaluation of Wu Jun. If I write about all his behaviors, then along with the information provided by other brothers and sisters, it’s very likely that his being characterized as a disbeliever will be justified. The church cleanses people based on their consistent behavior. A good person will not be judged unfairly, nor will an evil person get away with it. I need to cooperate with the church’s cleansing work and write about his behavior, otherwise, it would be covering up for and protecting him.” But then I thought, “If Wu Jun really is cleared out, how will I ever face him again? If he finds out that I wrote his evaluation, will he say that I have no conscience? If it came to that, I truly would be branded as ungrateful, and who would still be willing to work with or associate with me?” Thinking this over, I wanted to find an opportunity to fellowship with Wu Jun before writing the evaluation. So, I just wrote a few brief sentences without expressing my own views. After sending the letter, I felt somewhat uneasy, “Am I prioritizing personal relationships over the interests of the church?” But then I thought it might not be a big deal, and it wasn’t too much of a breach of principles, as my intention was to help the brother. I just thought about it briefly, and then moved on from the matter. After some time, the leader came to the host house where I was staying due to some matters, and upon seeing me, he spoke bluntly, “Brother, you have been asked to write an evaluation of Wu Jun. Why have you delayed it for so long? Can’t you just be an honest person and write it in full, down to every last detail? You’re really holding things up like this.” Facing such a rebuke, I felt deeply ashamed and thought to myself, “I’ve delayed this evaluation for over a month already, and there’s really no excuse for it.” It was at this moment that I began to reflect, wondering what the root cause was behind my reluctance to write the evaluation truthfully.

Later, I read two passages of God’s words that directly addressed my state. God says: “The idea that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid is one of the classic criteria in Chinese traditional culture for judging whether a person’s conduct is moral or immoral. When evaluating whether someone’s humanity is good or bad, and how moral their conduct is, one of the benchmarks is whether they return the favors or help that they receive—whether or not they are someone who gratefully repays the kindness they receive. Within Chinese traditional culture, and within the traditional culture of mankind, people treat this as an important measure of moral conduct. If someone does not understand that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid, and they are ungrateful, then they are considered to be devoid of conscience and unworthy of associating with, and should be despised, spurned or rejected by all. On the other hand, if someone does understand that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid—if they are grateful and return the favors and help they receive with every means at their disposal—they are deemed a person of conscience and humanity. If somebody receives benefits or help from another person, but does not repay them, or just expresses a little gratitude to them with a simple ‘thank you’ and nothing more, what will the other person think? Might they feel uneasy about it? Might they think, ‘That guy doesn’t deserve to be helped, he’s not a good person. If that’s how he responds when I’ve helped him so much, then he has no conscience or humanity, and isn’t worth associating with’? If they ran into this kind of person again, would they still help them? They wouldn’t wish to, at least” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (7)). “When some people are in difficulty or danger and happen to receive help from an evil person that allows them to extricate themselves from their plight, they come to believe that the evil person is a good person and they are willing to do something for them to show their gratitude. However, in such cases, the evil person will try to involve them in their nefarious doings and use them to carry out bad deeds. If they are unable to refuse, then it can become dangerous. Some such people will feel conflicted in these situations, because they think that if they do not help their evil friend in doing a few bad deeds, it will seem as though they are not sufficiently reciprocating this friendship, and yet it would violate their conscience and reason to do something wrong. As such, they get caught up in this dilemma. This is a result of being influenced by this idea in traditional culture of repaying kindness—they become fettered, bound, and controlled by this idea. In many instances, these sayings from traditional culture take the place of the sense of man’s conscience and his normal judgment; naturally, they also influence man’s normal way of thinking and correct decision-making. The ideas of traditional culture are incorrect and directly affect man’s views on things, causing him to make bad decisions. From ancient times up until the present day, countless people have been influenced by this idea, view, and criterion of moral conduct regarding the repayment of kindness. Even when the person who bestows kindness on them is an evil or bad person and compels them to do nefarious acts and bad deeds, they still go against their own conscience and reason, blindly complying in order to repay their kindness, with many disastrous consequences. It could be said that many people, having been influenced, fettered, constrained, and bound by this criterion of moral conduct, blindly and mistakenly uphold this view of repaying kindness, and are even likely to aid and abet evil people. Now that you have heard My fellowship, you have a clear picture of this situation and can determine that this is foolish loyalty, and that this behavior counts as comporting oneself without setting any limits, and recklessly repaying kindness without any discernment, and that it lacks meaning and value. Because people fear being castigated by public opinion or condemned by others, they reluctantly devote their lives to repaying the kindness of others, even sacrificing their lives in the process, which is a fallacious and foolish way to go about things. This saying from traditional culture has not only fettered people’s thinking, but it has also placed an unnecessary weight and inconvenience upon their life and saddled their families with additional suffering and burdens. Many people have paid great prices in order to repay kindness received—they view repaying kindness as a social responsibility or their own duty and may even spend their whole lives repaying the kindness of others. They believe this to be a perfectly natural and justified thing to do, an unshirkable duty. Is this viewpoint and way of doing things not foolish and absurd? It completely reveals how ignorant and unenlightened people are. In any event, this saying about moral conduct—a kindness received should be gratefully repaid—may be in keeping with people’s notions, but it does not accord with the truth principles. It is incompatible with God’s words and is an incorrect view and way of doing things” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (7)). From God’s words, I came to understand that the idea that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid is one of the criteria in Chinese traditional culture for judging whether a person’s conduct is moral or immoral. It is precisely this traditional cultural education that has distorted people’s thoughts and perspectives. When someone receives favors or help from others, if they are able to gratefully repay that kindness, they are seen as a person with a conscience and humanity, earning the approval of others. Otherwise, they are labeled as ungrateful, and lacking in conscience and humanity, and consequently face contempt from others and society, and even rejection and isolation. Thinking back, ever since I became aware of things, I was influenced and educated by the ideas of “A kindness received should be gratefully repaid” and “The kindness of a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring.” As long as I received favors or help from others, I would think about how I could repay them. If I couldn’t do so immediately, I would find a chance to make it up later. I believed that only by doing this could I be considered a person with conscience and humanity, someone with high moral character. I had always taken this statement about moral conduct as a guiding principle for how to conduct myself in the world, using it to set standards and regulate my words and actions. For example, my brother-in-law helped move me from the mountains to the suburbs, and also helped me start a family. So, I regarded him as a great benefactor, never forgetting the kindness he showed me. During every holiday or festival, I would bring gifts to visit him. Only by doing this would I feel at ease, believing that this was what it meant to be a good person with a conscience. After starting to believe in God, I continued to act and conduct myself according to this standard for moral conduct that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid. When I was at my weakest and most negative, it was Wu Jun who tirelessly came to fellowship with me, helping and supporting me. So I considered him my benefactor and was afraid that if I wrote an evaluation exposing him, it would give me the bad reputation of being ungrateful and lacking a conscience. Because of this, I was unwilling to truthfully write about his behavior. I even lied and acted deceitfully, using the excuse, “Recently, I haven’t had much contact with Wu Jun; we only attended a couple of gatherings together, and I don’t know much about him,” to cover up the facts. When the leader asked me to write the evaluation again, I wrote in a cursory manner, only mentioning trivial things, even without expressing any clear opinion. I knew very well that Wu Jun didn’t accept the truth, and was prone to over-analyzing people and things, which disrupted and disturbed both church life and church work. So I should have written the facts straightforwardly and honestly, sticking strictly to the truth, yet in order to repay his kindness, I procrastinated and acted against my conscience. I was truly rebellious! It was only then that I realized living by the traditional cultural idea of “A kindness received should be gratefully repaid” led me to do things that went against principles and rebelled against God, making Him loathe and detest me. I needed to urgently seek the truth to resolve this issue.

In my seeking, I read more of God’s words: “Statements on moral conduct like ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid’ do not tell people exactly what their responsibilities are within society and among mankind. Instead, they are a way of binding or forcing people to act and think in a certain way, regardless of whether they want to or not, and no matter the circumstances or context in which these acts of kindness befall them. There are plenty of examples like this from ancient China. For example, a starving beggar boy got taken in by a family who fed him, clothed him, trained him in martial arts, and taught him all kinds of knowledge. They waited until he had grown up, and then started using him as a source of income, sending him out to do evil, to kill people, to do things that he didn’t want to do. If you look at his story in light of all the favors he received, then him being saved was a good thing. But if you consider what he was forced to do later, was it really good or bad? (It was bad.) But under the conditioning of traditional culture like ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid,’ people cannot make this distinction. On the surface, it appears that the boy had no choice but to do evil things and hurt people, to become a killer—things that most people would not wish to do. But didn’t the fact that he did these bad things and killed at the behest of his master come, deep down, from a desire to repay him for his kindness? Particularly due to the conditioning of Chinese traditional culture such as ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid,’ people can’t help but be influenced and controlled by these ideas. The way that they act, and the intentions and motivations behind their actions are certainly constrained by them. When the boy was put in that situation, what would his first thought have been? ‘I was saved by this family, and they have been good to me. I can’t be ungrateful, I must repay their kindness. I owe my life to them, so I must devote it to them. I should do whatever they ask of me, even if that means doing evil and killing people. I cannot consider whether it is right or wrong, I must simply repay their kindness. Would I still be worthy of being called human if I didn’t?’ As a result, whenever the family wanted him to murder someone or do something bad, he did it without any hesitation or reservations. So weren’t his conduct, actions, and unquestioning obedience all dictated by the idea and view that ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid’? Wasn’t he fulfilling that criterion of moral conduct? (Yes.) What do you see from this example? Is the saying ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid’ a good thing, or not? (It’s not, there is no principle to it.) Actually, a person who repays a kindness does have a principle. Namely, that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid. If someone does you a kindness, you must do one in return. If you fail to do so, then you are not human and there is nothing that you can say if you are condemned for it. The saying goes: ‘The kindness of a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring,’ but in this case, the boy received not a small act of kindness but a life-saving kindness, so he had all the more reason to repay it with a life in return. He did not know what the limits or principles of repaying kindness were. He believed that his life had been given to him by that family, so he had to devote it to them in return, and do whatever they demanded of him, including murder or other acts of evil. This way of repaying kindness has no principles or limits. He served as an accomplice to evildoers and ruined himself in the process. Was it right for him to repay kindness in this way? Of course not. It was a foolish way of doing things. It is true that this family saved him and allowed him to continue living, but there must be principles, limits, and moderation to one’s repayment of kindness. They saved his life, but the purpose of his life is not to do evil. The meaning and value of life, as well as man’s mission, are not to do evil and commit murder, and he should not live for the sole purpose of repaying kindness. The boy mistakenly believed that the meaning and value of life were to gratefully repay kindness received. This was a grave misunderstanding. Was this not the result of being influenced by this criterion of moral conduct, ‘A kindness received should be gratefully repaid’? (Yes.) Had he been led astray by the influence of this saying about repaying kindness, or found the correct path and principles of practice? He had quite obviously been led astray—this is as clear as day” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (7)). God’s words are very clear. People adhere to the moral standard in traditional culture that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid, and as long as others have shown them kindness, they feel obligated to repay it without hesitation. This way of acting and conducting oneself can easily lead to the loss of principles and minimum standards. Sometimes, in their attempt to repay kindness, people might even commit crimes or do evil, risking their own lives. It is truly foolish! In light of the exposure of God’s words, I reflected on myself. When the leader had asked me to write about Wu Jun’s behavior, I’d known very well that he had consistently rejected the truth and disturbed the church’s work. However, in an attempt to repay his kindness and avoid being labeled as ungrateful and lacking in conscience, I had procrastinated and didn’t expose him, even disregarding my own inner sense of self-reproach. As a result, I had delayed for over a month. God’s house clears out disbelievers and evil people to purify the church, creating a good environment and order for the brothers and sisters, so that they can have a normal church life. This is God’s intention. But I, disregarding the church’s interests and the life entry of my brothers and sisters, had wanted to keep Wu Jun in the church. The nature of my actions was in fact that of covering up for and protecting a disbeliever, giving him free reign to cause disturbances and disruptions in the church. What I had been doing was hindering the church’s cleansing work. I had actually been doing evil and resisting God! I had lost the principles and minimum standards for conducting myself. What I had been doing was nothing but blindly repaying kindness. It was similar in nature to a beggar committing evil acts, such as murder, to repay kindness. It was truly foolish! At that moment, I finally realized that Satan uses sayings in traditional culture regarding moral conduct, sayings which people generally consider good, to mislead and corrupt them. It is incredibly insidious and wicked!

Afterward, I pondered on why the idea that a kindness received should be gratefully repaid is incorrect. I then read these words of God: “The societal responsibilities and obligations that man is capable of fulfilling, those deeds that man should be instinctively capable of doing and ought to do, and simple acts of service that are helpful and beneficial to others—these things can in no way be considered kindness, as they are all cases where man is simply lending a helping hand. Giving help to someone who happens to need it, at an appropriate time and place, is a very normal phenomenon. It is also the responsibility of every member of the human race. This is simply a sort of responsibility and obligation. God gave people these instincts when He created them. What instincts am I referring to here? I am referring to man’s conscience and reason. … In the same way, people are capable of performing their duties and responsibilities in God’s house and this is what anyone with conscience and reason ought to do. Thus, helping people and being kind to them is near effortless for humans, it is within the scope of human instinct, and something which people are completely capable of accomplishing. There is no need to rank it as highly as kindness. However, many people equate the help of others with kindness, and are always talking about it and constantly repaying it, thinking that if they don’t, they have no conscience. They look down on themselves and despise themselves, even worrying they will be reprimanded by public opinion. Is it necessary to worry about these things? (No.) There are many people who cannot see past this, and are constantly constrained by this issue. This is what it is to not understand the truth principles. For instance, if you went with a friend into the desert and they ran out of water, you would certainly give some of your water to them, you would not just let them die of thirst. Even though you would know that your one bottle of water will last half as long with two people drinking from it, you would still share the water with your friend. Now, why would you do that? Because you could not bear to drink your water while your friend stood by suffering from thirst—you just could not bear the sight. What would cause you to be unable to bear the sight of your friend suffering from thirst? It is the sense of your conscience that gives rise to this feeling. Even if you did not want to fulfill this kind of responsibility and obligation, your conscience would make it such that you could not bear to do otherwise, it would make you feel upset. Is this not all the result of human instincts? Is this not all decided by man’s conscience and reason? If the friend said, ‘I owe a debt of gratitude to you for giving me some of your water in that situation!’ would it not also be wrong to say this? This has nothing to do with kindness. If the tables were turned, and that friend had humanity, conscience and reason, they would also share their water with you. This is just a basic societal responsibility or relationship between people. These most basic of societal relationships or responsibilities or obligations all arise due to the sense of man’s conscience, his humanity and the instincts that God bestowed man with at the time of man’s creation. Under normal circumstances, these things do not need to be taught by parents or inculcated by society, and much less do they require repeated admonishment from others telling you to do them. Education would only be necessary for those who lack conscience and reason, for those who lack normal cognitive faculties—for example, mentally challenged people or simpletons—or for those who have poor caliber, and are ignorant and stubborn. Those with normal humanity do not need to be taught these things—people with conscience and reason all possess them. So, it is inappropriate to vastly overstate some behavior or act as being a form of kindness when it was just instinctive and accorded with conscience and reason” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (7)). “If God wants to save you, no matter whose services He uses to accomplish it, you should first thank God and accept it from God. You should not direct your gratitude solely toward people, to say nothing of offering up your life to someone in gratitude. This is a grave mistake. The crucial thing is that your heart is grateful to God, and you accept it from Him” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (7)). Pondering over God’s words, I realized that helping others is an instinct given to people by God when He created them. As long as one possesses conscience and reason, they can do this. It is a simple act of service and cannot be considered as kindness. For example, when Wu Jun helped and supported me during my weakness, it was not kindness, because he was a church leader at the time, and helping and supporting weak brothers and sisters was his duty and responsibility. Moreover, even if he hadn’t been a church leader, as long as he had conscience and reason, he would also offer help and fellowship when he saw a brother or sister being negative or weak. Furthermore, the improvement in my state was primarily due to the effectiveness of God’s words in me. I should be thankful for God’s love and fulfill my duty to satisfy God and repay God, rather than always thinking about Wu Jun’s kindness and how to repay him. Now that I was asked to write an evaluation of Wu Jun, I should practice the truth and be honest, writing truthfully. The church would assess and characterize him based on principles. Even if, in the end, he was cleared out, it would be the consequences of his persistent behavior of over-analyzing people and things, rejecting the truth, and disrupting and disturbing church work. This would be God’s righteous disposition coming upon him. Afterward, I prayed to God in repentance, “Oh God, when writing about Wu Jun’s behavior, I was not honest. I just wrote it perfunctorily, lying and deceiving, delaying the cleansing work. My behavior disgusted and repulsed You. Oh God, I am willing to turn back to You and write Wu Jun’s behavior truthfully. May You scrutinize my heart.” Subsequently, I completed the evaluation and submitted it to the church leader. Later, Wu Jun was characterized as a disbeliever and cleared out from the church. Hearing this news, I felt indebted and self-reproachful. I saw how my failure to practice the truth delayed the cleansing work.

Through this experience, I clearly saw that the idea of “A kindness received should be gratefully repaid” is not a positive thing, and no matter how well it is upheld, it is not practicing the truth, but is incompatible with the truth. In the future, I need to practice according to God’s requirements, viewing people and things, and acting and conducting myself according to God’s words. Thank God!