Editor’s note: Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, recently received writings from two sojourner Christians of Xuzhou origin in which they expressed their thoughts and reflections on the case of the chained mother of eight children. In a video released on January 28, a woman was chained to a hut of Feng County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province in the cold weather near zero degrees Celsius, wearing only light clothes and speaking with a lisp, which caused massive outrage on the Internet. The issue also raised hot discussions among the Chinese Christian Community. Below are their articles.
I. My Thoughts on the Case: There Is No Middle Ground Between Good and Evil.
By Yang Shi
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)
This is one of the opening sentences of the Gospel of John, which declares a truth that could not be simpler, that is there is no middle ground between good and evil because darkness does not accept light.
Because there is light in people, which is life, people turn into a kind person. This is the basis and essence that defines mankind.
Therefore, you are obliged to be kind, a manifestation of your essence. People can not do evil no matter what the reason was.
Concerning the aforementioned situation, we may stand on the bright side to fight for justice or the dark side to defend the perpetrator. However, there is no middle ground between these two positions because there is no neutrality between good and evil. A person being indifferent to this matter indicates that he or she has actually chosen the dark side. The neighbors of the woman knew she was chained for 25 years and remained silent for that long, thus were they not standing on the dark side? Their silence turned into connivance and became the unscrupulous reason of the wicked.
Reasons for defending the wicked, are confined to the following excuses. Local poverty is one. Poverty makes them uneducated and so they are forced to do certain acts of evil. Obviously, poverty is to be blamed, which is nothing new. However, we can’t help but ask whether poverty leads to evil. Due to poverty and hunger, a child has to steal a loaf of bread and that is not evil because his body needs it. Yet, because of poverty one can enslave and abuse another person, and that is a very different matter from stealing bread - poverty is just an excuse for evil.
Can being uncultured be a valid reason for committing evil? People who have no education have been corrupted by evil. They know the rules of gangsters. If they grow up as cannibals, cannibalism is their culture. However, can cannibalism exist openly and legitimately to be the norm? Can culture be the reason for evil? If this is the case, then it would be excusable for Jews to crucify Jesus. In this world, there is only one kind of culture that is feasible, that is, man will never be a tool, not a means, but an end. Anyone who goes against this goal can be regarded as evil.
Is there a gray area between darkness and light so that those of us who don’t care about this matter can stand on it? Obviously, gray is not light. It is still darkness that does not accept light. Therefore, anyone who is silent in the face of evil is on the side of evil.
This is especially true for Christians. Anyone who defends the perpetrators is standing in the dark and does not accept the light.
Because we Christians regard light, justice, and truth as our crowns, conscience as our highland in society, and we regard ourselves as the salt and light of the society, which shows that we are the light, the guiding light placed on the lighthouse. That’s why we Christians can’t be silent.
Jesus said he who sows the seeds of the gospel in thorns cannot bear fruit. Those scattered on the roadside will be eaten by birds. Only when planted in fertile soil can they grow into towering trees. Then if the conscience of a society has no fertile soil and no height, it can’t grow. If there is no bottom line, the seeds of conscience can’t germinate. A society without conscience, that is, a savage society, is a land of thorns. There are bright people in our lives who want to be fertile ground for social conscience!
A society without conscience is full of thorns, and a building without a foundation is crumbling. Jesus said that our faith can’t be built on the sand because when the water washes the foundation, it will break down and the building will collapse. Jesus told us to build our faith on a rock so that the water can’t wash it away and the wind can’t move it. As long as the foundation is stable, we can do the building.
Obviously, the conscience of society must also be built on a rock. This rock is the conscience of each of us, everyone’s persistence in light and truth and justice. The larger the group that is obsessed with conscience the larger the rock for building social conscience, so as to build a bright society.
Therefore, our attitude and position towards the mother-of-eight not only determines our personal tendency, but also the tendency of our society because this determines the direction of this society’s development.
Therefore, we Christians should not take the pursuit of spirituality as an excuse so that being divorced from society appears to be a kind of justice. In fact, this is not spiritual but worldly. This is not justice but a kind of silence in the face of social injustice. Anyone who thinks that the concern for social justice hinders spiritual life is silent. Because if his gospel belief can’t bring bright influence to society, then his belief doesn’t conform to Jesus’ teaching.
Because Jesus said that God’s judgment in the future will be to see if we love each other. Here, we are not only among Christians but all kinds of people people.
Let’s not be accomplices of darkness because there is light given by God in our lives. In facing the darkness of society, let’s say no, no more silence!
II. My Feelings Towards the Mother-of-Eight: Some Reflections on Justice
By Yu Christine Sun
When I first read about the case, I was in Singapore. I forwarded this news to my classmates and friends in my hometown, but no one knew it at that time. In the Internet Age, people get information in the same way. Being in Singapore, I was physically far way from where it all happened, yet I was probably better informed than the locals who were closer to it than me.
Events are constantly fermenting. There is a great deal of news forwarding. I believe it is for justice and indignation. People want to expose the injustice in society, put pressure on the local area, rescue the oppressed victims, and eliminate the legacy of trafficking, all of which I agree with. However, the complexity of this incident is as follows: if the motivation is right, the behavior is right; if some behaviors are right, the whole thing is right. I also feel the harm caused by people who cry for justice.
First of all, a phenomenon rooted in cultural dross and bad social habits, an act that has not even been reasonably punished by the legal system, and an evil that pervades the society (especially the countryside) should not only be directed at Fengxian and Xuzhou. I admit that I don’t know much about Fengxian, but I know very well about Xuzhou City, which is my hometown. I can testify that it is not necessary to say today in Xuzhou city. Even when I was growing up in the 1980s, this kind of thing rarely happened in my life. I have never seen or heard of such a case. Xuzhou City in the 1980s was basically an ordinary dual-worker family structure, with a high status of women, without the public awareness of “discriminating against women as a tool” as claimed by netizens. Of course, no one can guarantee that there will be no such case in this city, but it must be in the dark like other crimes, and it can never be openly displayed. So this kind of incident, even in Xuzhou in the 1980s, will not be “tacitly understood” or “be used to it” let alone today. Xuzhou covers an area of 11,258 square kilometers and Singapore covers an area of 724.4 square kilometers. One Xuzhou is effectively equal to the size of fifteen Singapores. I have never been to the counties and subordinate towns. The life of people exposed on the Internet seems to be another world. I really don’t know the truth about the countryside, but at least Xuzhou is not as savage, backward, and insensitive to sin as mentioned in various posts. The fact is that most people in Xuzhou don’t know at all.
There is a post saying that brothers and sisters in Xuzhou feel “ashamed”. Their feelings should be the same as mine, ashamed of the scandals in their hometown, but their “shame” should not be more than any Christian in other regions because such incidents cannot be characterized by distance and administrative ownership. People should reflect on the legal system, culture, and social status behind the incident, and condemn the criminal gangs instead of attributing responsibility to a specific group or even convicting a group.
In addition, as one post said, “This is not just a concern for women at the bottom, but also an arrogance or superiority to the bottom or countryside”. I also read some postings of “drawing a line” saying personally, “Our southeast coastal civilization has evolved normally, and there are cases of buying wives in our rural areas, but what they are doing is still “human behavior” - what are the different weights? Some people also say things like: “that village should not exist on earth”; “this city should disappear”; “Xuzhou City is like Sodom, waiting for the fire to burn”. The violent gene of Christians in church history made me see its naked reality. Therefore, when we forward posts and comments righteously, do we think about whether our actions hurt other innocent people? When Xuzhou shares plummeted, many people spontaneously boycotted Xuzhou products, and more local people were scolded for being unable to lift their heads, but they were innocent, and they were tied with a heavy iron chain by the violence of netizens all over the country. When Christians speak for social justice, have they paid attention to whether this joint sin violates God’s justice? Do you have humility when promoting justice, and include yourself in “one of them” to pray for it? Or is the circle city convicted, standing outside the circle, sanctifying and judging separately?
I wonder if the spirit of the “mother-of-eight” will return to normal after medical treatment. If she is a normal woman, can she accept that she has become a household name in the country and even in the world? Does she appreciate that the portrait of herself wrapped in chains has been interpreted in the form of various arts and artistic performances by netizens from all walks of life? Many posts and articles that seem to just call her “dog chained Girl”, “Xuzhou crazy girl” and “crazy county Girl”, show her miserable defeat on the Internet (of course, the public agrees that she needs redemption), but when people speak up for justice, should we pay attention to protecting the privacy of the parties? She is eager to be rescued but not necessarily so famous.
- Translated by Charlie Li
编者按：日前，有二位籍贯徐州地区、已离开家乡多年的基督徒来稿谈到他们对特链女事件的感受和反思。
一、八孩女事件有感：善恶之间没有中间地带
文/杨时
生命在他里头，这生命就是人的光。光照在黑暗里，黑暗却不接受光。(约翰福音 1:4-5 和合本)
这是约翰福音开头的一句话，这句话宣示的一个再简单不过的道理，在善与恶之间没有中间地带。因为黑暗是不接受光的。
人里头因为有了光，这就是生命，才让我们成为一个善良的人。这是人之为人的依据，也是人之为人的本质所在。
因此，人为善是义务，是人本质的体现。人不能为恶，不论以什么样的理由。
在八孩女这个事件中，我们也许站在光明的一面争取正义，也许站在黑暗的一面，为施害者辩护。但是，在这两个立场之间，没有中间立场。因为善恶之间，本来就没有中立。一个对这件事冷漠和不关心的人，他/她实际上已经站在了黑暗一面。因为，那些八孩女的邻居们看着她被铁链锁25五年的岁月中，沉默了25年，难道不是站在黑暗面吗？他们的沉默，变成了纵容，变成了恶者肆无忌惮的理由。
为恶者辩护，无非出于以下的理由。当地贫穷，贫穷让他们没有文化，让他们不得不作恶。显然贫穷为恶背锅，这已经不是新鲜的理由。但是我们不禁要问，贫穷是否就可以作恶？因为贫穷饥饿，一个孩子去偷一个面包，这不是恶，因为他的身体需要。但是因为贫穷，一个人就可以奴役虐待另一个人，这已经与偷面包不同了——贫穷只是恶的借口罢了。
没有文化是否可以作为恶的理由呢？没有文化的人，已经社会化了，他知道社会的规则，除非他生长在食人族中，吃人就是他们的文化。但是食人族的吃人文化难道就可以堂而皇之存在，成为正义，文化就可以成为恶的理由吗？如果真是如此，那么当年犹太人钉死耶稣，也就有情可原了。这个世界，只有一种文化是可行的，那就是人永远不是工具，不是手段，他是目的。凡是违背这个目的的，都可以视为恶。
在黑暗和光明之间，是不是存在灰色地带，让我们这些不关心这件事的人，可以站在上面。显然，灰色依然不是光明，依然是不接受光明的黑暗。因此，任何一个面对恶沉默的人，都是站在了恶者一边。
这件事，对于基督徒来说，更是如此。任何为施害者辩护的人，都是站在了黑暗中，都是不接受光明。
因为我们基督徒将光明、正义、真理作为我们的冠冕，将良知作为我们立于社会的高地，我们把自己作为社会的光和盐，这说明我们是光明，是放在灯塔之上的指路明灯。正是如此，我们基督徒才不能沉默。
耶稣说，把福音的种子，撒在荆棘里的，不能开花结果；撒在路边的，会被鸟吃掉；只有种在沃土里，才能长成参天大树。那么如果一个社会的良知，没有沃土，没有高度，就无法成长，没有底线，良知的种子就无法发芽。一个没有良知的社会，也就是一个野蛮的社会，就是荆棘之地。我们这些生命里有光明的人要成为社会良知的沃土！
没有良知的社会是荆棘丛生，没有地基的大厦也就摇摇欲坠。耶稣说我们的信仰不能建立在沙堆上，因为水一冲地基就坏了，大厦也就坍塌了。耶稣告诉我们，要把信仰建立在磐石上，这样水冲不坏，风吹不动，只要地基稳了，那么我们就可以建构大厦。
显然，一个社会的良知，也必须建构在磐石之上，这磐石就是我们每个人的良知，每个人对光明的坚持，对真理公义的执着。对良知执着的群体越大，这个建构社会良知的磐石就越大，这样才能建构一个光明的社会。
因此，我们对八孩女的态度和立场，不仅决定我们个人的倾向，也是我们所处社会的倾向。因为这决定了，这个社会向前发展的方向。
因此，我们基督徒不要以追求属灵为由，从而脱离社会就是一种正义，其实这不是属灵，而是属世，这不是正义，而是一种面对社会不公的沉默。任何一种认为对社会公义的关注，有碍属灵生活的，都是沉默者。因为如果他的福音信仰不能给社会带来光明的影响，那么他的信仰就不符合耶稣教导。
因为耶稣说，将来上帝审判是看我们是否彼此相爱，这里的彼此不仅仅时基督徒之间，也是人与人之间。
我们不要做黑暗的帮凶，因为我们的生命里有上帝赋予的光明。面对社会的黑暗，让我们说不，不再沉默！
二、八孩女事件感受：施行公义时需注意的一些反思
文/Yu Christine Sun
第一次看到八孩事件，彼时我在新加坡。将此文转发给家乡的同学和几个朋友，当时还并无人知情。互联网时代，人们获取信息的方式都一样，远在新加坡的我比距离更近的本地人或许还灵通。
事件在不断发酵。有许多转发的人，相信他们中的大多数都是出于正义与愤慨，希望暴露社会中的不公，希望给当地施加压力，希望解救被压迫的受害者，希望肃清拐卖遗毒，这些我全部认同。但是这个事件的复杂性表现在：不是动机正确就行为正确，不是部分行为对了就全盘都对了。我从中亦感受到，呼喊正义的人们所带来的伤害。
首先，一个根植于文化糟粕和社会陋习的现象，一个连法制都没有予以合理惩戒的行为，一个遍及社会（特别是乡村）的罪恶，不应该只将矛头指向“丰县”、“徐州”。我承认对于丰县缺乏了解，但对徐州城却有十分地了解，那里是我的故乡。我可以作见证说：徐州城市中勿用说今日，即使是我成长的80年代，生活中也鲜有这种事，我没有见过也没有听说过一例；80年代的徐州城，基本是普通的双职工家庭结构，妇女地位很高，无网友所称的“歧视妇女，将之作为工具”的公众意识。当然没有人可以确保自己的城市一定没有这种案例，但它必是像其它犯罪一样行在暗处，绝非可以堂而皇之。所以这种事件，即使在80年代的徐州，也不会被“心照不宣”“习以为常”，更何况今天？徐州面积11258平方公里，新加坡面积724.4平方公里，一个徐州就等于十五个新加坡，我从没去过六县以及下属乡镇，网络上曝光的人的生活看起来是另一个世界。我确实不了解乡村的实情，但至少徐州不是各类帖子中所说野蛮、落后、对罪麻木的情况。事实情况是绝大多数徐州城里的人们根本不知情。
有帖子说徐州的弟兄姊妹觉得“羞愧”，他们的感受应该与我一样，为家乡出现的丑事羞愧，但是他们的“羞愧”不应该比其它地域的任何基督徒更加羞愧，因为这样的事件不能以距离远近，行政归属定性。人们应反思事件背后的法制、体制、文化与社会现状问题，应该谴责打击罪恶的犯罪团伙，而不应将责任归于一个特定群体，甚至给一个群体定罪。
另外，正如一个帖子所说“这不单纯只是对底层女性的一种关注，还参杂对底层/乡村的傲慢或优越感”。我亦看到有人发帖“划清界限”，亲口明说“我们东南沿海文明进化正常，我们那里的农村也有买媳妇的情况，但他们实施的还算是‘人类行为’”——请问这是何种两样的砝码？也有人说“那个村子不应该在地球存在”；“这个城市应该消失”；“徐州城就似所多玛，等待烈火焚城”——教会历史中基督徒的暴力基因让我在现实中赤裸裸看到。所以，当我们义正言辞的转发帖子和评论的时候，是否思想我们的行为是否伤及无辜的他者？当徐州股大跌，许多人自发抵制徐州产品，更多徐州人被骂得抬不起头来，但是他们是无辜的，他们正被全国网民的暴力拴上一条粗重的铁链负重前行。基督徒在为社会公义发声的时候，是否留意过这种连带罪过是否违反神的公义？在弘扬正义的时候是否存有谦卑的心，将自己纳入“其中一员”为其祷告？还是圈城定罪，自己站在圈外分别为圣并施行审判？
不知道“八孩母亲”经过治疗精神是否会恢复正常，如果她是一个精神正常的女人，是否能够接受自己已经成为全国乃至世界都要家喻户晓的“明星人物”？她是否欣赏将自己被铁链缠绕的肖像被各路网友演绎为各种艺术与行为艺术？许多貌似正义的帖子与文章，称呼她为“狗链女”、“徐州疯女”、“疯县女”，网络上尽展她那落败凄惨的景象（当然大众都同意她是需要被救赎的），可是当人们为正义扬声的时候，是否应留意保护当事人隐私？她渴望获救，但不一定渴望如此般“出名”。
两位籍贯徐州的基督徒来稿谈八孩女事件的感受与反思
Editor’s note: Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, recently received writings from two sojourner Christians of Xuzhou origin in which they expressed their thoughts and reflections on the case of the chained mother of eight children. In a video released on January 28, a woman was chained to a hut of Feng County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province in the cold weather near zero degrees Celsius, wearing only light clothes and speaking with a lisp, which caused massive outrage on the Internet. The issue also raised hot discussions among the Chinese Christian Community. Below are their articles.
I. My Thoughts on the Case: There Is No Middle Ground Between Good and Evil.
By Yang Shi
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5)
This is one of the opening sentences of the Gospel of John, which declares a truth that could not be simpler, that is there is no middle ground between good and evil because darkness does not accept light.
Because there is light in people, which is life, people turn into a kind person. This is the basis and essence that defines mankind.
Therefore, you are obliged to be kind, a manifestation of your essence. People can not do evil no matter what the reason was.
Concerning the aforementioned situation, we may stand on the bright side to fight for justice or the dark side to defend the perpetrator. However, there is no middle ground between these two positions because there is no neutrality between good and evil. A person being indifferent to this matter indicates that he or she has actually chosen the dark side. The neighbors of the woman knew she was chained for 25 years and remained silent for that long, thus were they not standing on the dark side? Their silence turned into connivance and became the unscrupulous reason of the wicked.
Reasons for defending the wicked, are confined to the following excuses. Local poverty is one. Poverty makes them uneducated and so they are forced to do certain acts of evil. Obviously, poverty is to be blamed, which is nothing new. However, we can’t help but ask whether poverty leads to evil. Due to poverty and hunger, a child has to steal a loaf of bread and that is not evil because his body needs it. Yet, because of poverty one can enslave and abuse another person, and that is a very different matter from stealing bread - poverty is just an excuse for evil.
Can being uncultured be a valid reason for committing evil? People who have no education have been corrupted by evil. They know the rules of gangsters. If they grow up as cannibals, cannibalism is their culture. However, can cannibalism exist openly and legitimately to be the norm? Can culture be the reason for evil? If this is the case, then it would be excusable for Jews to crucify Jesus. In this world, there is only one kind of culture that is feasible, that is, man will never be a tool, not a means, but an end. Anyone who goes against this goal can be regarded as evil.
Is there a gray area between darkness and light so that those of us who don’t care about this matter can stand on it? Obviously, gray is not light. It is still darkness that does not accept light. Therefore, anyone who is silent in the face of evil is on the side of evil.
This is especially true for Christians. Anyone who defends the perpetrators is standing in the dark and does not accept the light.
Because we Christians regard light, justice, and truth as our crowns, conscience as our highland in society, and we regard ourselves as the salt and light of the society, which shows that we are the light, the guiding light placed on the lighthouse. That’s why we Christians can’t be silent.
Jesus said he who sows the seeds of the gospel in thorns cannot bear fruit. Those scattered on the roadside will be eaten by birds. Only when planted in fertile soil can they grow into towering trees. Then if the conscience of a society has no fertile soil and no height, it can’t grow. If there is no bottom line, the seeds of conscience can’t germinate. A society without conscience, that is, a savage society, is a land of thorns. There are bright people in our lives who want to be fertile ground for social conscience!
A society without conscience is full of thorns, and a building without a foundation is crumbling. Jesus said that our faith can’t be built on the sand because when the water washes the foundation, it will break down and the building will collapse. Jesus told us to build our faith on a rock so that the water can’t wash it away and the wind can’t move it. As long as the foundation is stable, we can do the building.
Obviously, the conscience of society must also be built on a rock. This rock is the conscience of each of us, everyone’s persistence in light and truth and justice. The larger the group that is obsessed with conscience the larger the rock for building social conscience, so as to build a bright society.
Therefore, our attitude and position towards the mother-of-eight not only determines our personal tendency, but also the tendency of our society because this determines the direction of this society’s development.
Therefore, we Christians should not take the pursuit of spirituality as an excuse so that being divorced from society appears to be a kind of justice. In fact, this is not spiritual but worldly. This is not justice but a kind of silence in the face of social injustice. Anyone who thinks that the concern for social justice hinders spiritual life is silent. Because if his gospel belief can’t bring bright influence to society, then his belief doesn’t conform to Jesus’ teaching.
Because Jesus said that God’s judgment in the future will be to see if we love each other. Here, we are not only among Christians but all kinds of people people.
Let’s not be accomplices of darkness because there is light given by God in our lives. In facing the darkness of society, let’s say no, no more silence!
II. My Feelings Towards the Mother-of-Eight: Some Reflections on Justice
By Yu Christine Sun
When I first read about the case, I was in Singapore. I forwarded this news to my classmates and friends in my hometown, but no one knew it at that time. In the Internet Age, people get information in the same way. Being in Singapore, I was physically far way from where it all happened, yet I was probably better informed than the locals who were closer to it than me.
Events are constantly fermenting. There is a great deal of news forwarding. I believe it is for justice and indignation. People want to expose the injustice in society, put pressure on the local area, rescue the oppressed victims, and eliminate the legacy of trafficking, all of which I agree with. However, the complexity of this incident is as follows: if the motivation is right, the behavior is right; if some behaviors are right, the whole thing is right. I also feel the harm caused by people who cry for justice.
First of all, a phenomenon rooted in cultural dross and bad social habits, an act that has not even been reasonably punished by the legal system, and an evil that pervades the society (especially the countryside) should not only be directed at Fengxian and Xuzhou. I admit that I don’t know much about Fengxian, but I know very well about Xuzhou City, which is my hometown. I can testify that it is not necessary to say today in Xuzhou city. Even when I was growing up in the 1980s, this kind of thing rarely happened in my life. I have never seen or heard of such a case. Xuzhou City in the 1980s was basically an ordinary dual-worker family structure, with a high status of women, without the public awareness of “discriminating against women as a tool” as claimed by netizens. Of course, no one can guarantee that there will be no such case in this city, but it must be in the dark like other crimes, and it can never be openly displayed. So this kind of incident, even in Xuzhou in the 1980s, will not be “tacitly understood” or “be used to it” let alone today. Xuzhou covers an area of 11,258 square kilometers and Singapore covers an area of 724.4 square kilometers. One Xuzhou is effectively equal to the size of fifteen Singapores. I have never been to the counties and subordinate towns. The life of people exposed on the Internet seems to be another world. I really don’t know the truth about the countryside, but at least Xuzhou is not as savage, backward, and insensitive to sin as mentioned in various posts. The fact is that most people in Xuzhou don’t know at all.
There is a post saying that brothers and sisters in Xuzhou feel “ashamed”. Their feelings should be the same as mine, ashamed of the scandals in their hometown, but their “shame” should not be more than any Christian in other regions because such incidents cannot be characterized by distance and administrative ownership. People should reflect on the legal system, culture, and social status behind the incident, and condemn the criminal gangs instead of attributing responsibility to a specific group or even convicting a group.
In addition, as one post said, “This is not just a concern for women at the bottom, but also an arrogance or superiority to the bottom or countryside”. I also read some postings of “drawing a line” saying personally, “Our southeast coastal civilization has evolved normally, and there are cases of buying wives in our rural areas, but what they are doing is still “human behavior” - what are the different weights? Some people also say things like: “that village should not exist on earth”; “this city should disappear”; “Xuzhou City is like Sodom, waiting for the fire to burn”. The violent gene of Christians in church history made me see its naked reality. Therefore, when we forward posts and comments righteously, do we think about whether our actions hurt other innocent people? When Xuzhou shares plummeted, many people spontaneously boycotted Xuzhou products, and more local people were scolded for being unable to lift their heads, but they were innocent, and they were tied with a heavy iron chain by the violence of netizens all over the country. When Christians speak for social justice, have they paid attention to whether this joint sin violates God’s justice? Do you have humility when promoting justice, and include yourself in “one of them” to pray for it? Or is the circle city convicted, standing outside the circle, sanctifying and judging separately?
I wonder if the spirit of the “mother-of-eight” will return to normal after medical treatment. If she is a normal woman, can she accept that she has become a household name in the country and even in the world? Does she appreciate that the portrait of herself wrapped in chains has been interpreted in the form of various arts and artistic performances by netizens from all walks of life? Many posts and articles that seem to just call her “dog chained Girl”, “Xuzhou crazy girl” and “crazy county Girl”, show her miserable defeat on the Internet (of course, the public agrees that she needs redemption), but when people speak up for justice, should we pay attention to protecting the privacy of the parties? She is eager to be rescued but not necessarily so famous.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Thoughts on the ‘Mother-of-Eight’ Case From Two Xuzhou Christians
