Dear Sir,
I was deeply saddened to read your article on 'Smuggling Bibles into China? (en July). As a Christian, I could never have grown in my faith without a copy of God’s Word the Bible. How did Steve Laverty think he was going to just breeze in to China with God’s living Word and not face opposition? Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. How can anyone go to do a work like this thinking there would be no risk?! In all honesty this work should be approached with fear and trembling and Steve and friend learned this the hard way.
Rather than show such negativity to God's Word going into a country 'supposedly' swimming in Bibles, Steve and his team should be considering: Matthew 5.10, 1Peter 3.14, 17 and many more like it. I would really appreciate if you would please send me details of your China Experts as I would love to find out why they believe China doesn’t need Bibles.
Yours sincerely,
EDITOR’S NOTE
Enquiries about the need for Bibles in China made to people acquainted with the situation suggest that it depends on what region of the country you are in. Here are a list of websites supplied to us which give a taste of the situation. (TSP refers to the government-authorised Three Self Patriotic Churches).
China’s Amity Press in Nanjing is the largest printer of Bibles in the world! In 2014 the Financial Times carried a report that Amity Press had printed its 125 millionth Bible – picked up here by Christian Today www.christiantoday.com/article/landmark.moment.as .125.millionth.bible.printed.in.china/42750.htm and here is another good article: www.christianitytoday. com/news/2012/november/worlds-biggest-bible-publisher-china.html . Bibles are available, but you have to buy them from TSP Church shops or other authorised shops. But, for digital versions, you can buy online even through a commercial online shop like Taobao which is similar to eBay or Amazon. The problem is in remote regions or areas where there are no registered churches. You have to go all the way to the city TSP Church to buy printed ones, so it’s more about accessibility for the rural or remote churches.
But here is a quick answer to your question: www.chinasource.org/resource-library/from-the-west-courtyard/where-can-someone-get-a-bible-in-china . CS is one of our partners and is also on Missio Nexus (US equivalent to Global Connections). They produce more balanced reports on the church in China.
https://biblesforchina.org/?gclid=CPXxnr7SydUCFZ0K Kgodf1sJ6A explains why some still bring Bibles for the remote House Churches as part of their ministries. Even Open Doors does not do much of this these days though they do still work on providing Bibles in minority languages (ie in remoter areas) www.open doorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/owning-a-bible-in-china-the-impossible-dream-1/ .
