The Edge and Bottom of the Bitter Sea

By Fan Xue-De

Starting From Buddhism

Buddhism has a long lasting influence on the Chinese people. If one goes on holidays to famous mountains and rivers, it could be a major Buddhist mount, or a small Buddhist mount. Opening up the famous Chinese novel Red Chamber Dream, and in just a few pages ones finds a series of Buddhist terms: ill luck; emptiness; liberation; watchfulness; downfall; fire pit; etc. These terms are everywhere.

The fundamental Buddhist axiom, "Life is suffering" has been ingrained in the Chinese mind for a long time. Whether or not we are cultured, we all know that living is suffering, getting old is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, misery is suffering, and even in happiness there is suffering. Enmity and hatred is suffering, loving and separation is suffering, want and cannot get is suffering, want and getting is also suffering. Comparing human's tears with the sea water, which is more abundant, and which is more bitter? According to the Buddhist, the cause of suffering is the human emotions "greed, anger, folly"; everything burns with the fires of greed, anger and folly; everything goes downhill along with aging, misery, malice, sadness, pain, depression and desperation. A Chinese monk has related the Chinese character 'bitter' with a man's face: the eyebrows is like the grass cap, the two eye and nose like a cross, and the mouth is the character mouth, all together like the word 'bitter'. It may a stretch of the imagination, but certainly imaginative!

Regarding the thought that there is certain bitterness in life, Christians can regard it with a broader perspective through the gospel. Among the thinkers in Western culture, the ancient historical poems of Homer are representative. Some time ago it was fashionable among Mainland intellectuals to quote the thought of Schopenhauer, the basic tenor of which is suffering.

The Bible has recorded a famous psalm written by Moses. It is written, "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years; yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away." (Psalm 90:9-10). "Labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone" is the bitterness of life.

However God had spoken to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:7-8)

Jesus had also gave out invitations, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)

When we preach the gospel, we have to tell our friends that the Bible acknowledges life is suffering, that in our life we are but one who labors and bears a heavy burden.

The "Bottom" of suffering

The Chinese saying "the bitter sea has no shore" is familiar to all. But does the sea have a bottom? In other words, what is the cause of bitterness in life?

In the process of gospel preaching, we can use the fact that life is like a bitter sea as a common starting point between our friends and us. We can acknowledge that suffering is an undeniable fact, and use our past experiences to demonstrate the truthfulness of this statement.

We must then analyze what causes such suffering.

From a negative point of view, the cause is definitely not because man has desire. God created man and He declared that His creation is good; this is an endorsement that human desire is positive. Our ancestors had confirmed that both appetite and sex are human nature. With appetite we would not die of hunger; with sexual drive we would guarantee descendants. That human being fell into the bitter sea was not because of human desires, but because of man's rebellion against God, which turned the appetite for food into addiction and greed, and sexual desire into lust.

From an affirmative point of view, the root cause of human suffering is because man rebelled against God, and wanted to be God; which is sin. There are three points following the sin induced suffering. First, our ancestors Adam and Eve who disobeyed God's command planted the root of suffering. Since then, sweating, heavy labor and sorrow became part of man's daily life. Man's undeniable fate begins with the earth and returns to the earth. Second, each and every one of us has not only inherited the sinful nature of Adam and Eve, but from our mind, emotion to sub-consciousness, we have been contaminated with sin. Thus we are asking for suffering and eating our bitter fruit. Third, we sinners live in a sinful world; while other's sins bring pain to ourselves, our sins also bring trouble to others. All these bring about suffering upon suffering.

Therefore, there is a bottom to the bitter sea - and that is man's sin. And among all sins that man commit, the most bitter and poisonous is man's pride. Pride causes man who is not God to want to be God; or to regard man's creation such as money or power as God; or even God's creation, such as mountains, rivers, animals and birds, as God.

Only bitter fruit can come from bitter sea.

The seeds of bitter fruit are sowed by man; the root of bitter fruit is in man's heart.

The "Edge" of suffering

After we discern the bottom of the bitter sea, we should move one step further and ask, where is the edge of the bitter sea? Or, whether there is an edge to the bitter sea? This question cannot be clarified with a simple answer.

From one point of view, if we liver in a world without God, or if we live in a world created by God but we refused to believe in God, then the bitter sea indeed has no edge. The birth of a person is by chance, his life is fragile, his struggle meaningless, everything is entangled with craziness, and inevitable death is the end to everything. In this case the bitter sea has no "edge"; even death is not its edge.

However we can let our friends raise a bold assumption: if one's death is not the end of everything; if there is another world after death, and if what happened in that world has something to do with what happened in our current world; that is to say, it is related to whether we believe in God; then the bitter sea truly has an "edge".

The point we want to emphasize is to proclaim that "there is an edge to the bitter sea", and that is God's love, Jesus Christ's salvation, His grace.

For a long time God has seen that man has fallen deeply into the bitter sea of sinfulness. The human history is a record of man seeking pleasure within the sea of suffering; a history of weeping, struggle, and drowning.

Although there are many who strive to save themselves from the bitter sea, and some even strived to save others from fire and water. However, no one can save themselves, not to mention others.

God so loved the world and He does not wish man drowning in the bitter sea. God gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus Christ is the salvation.

Only Jesus Christ is capable of saving.

Jesus wants to save us from our sins. He died on the cross to cleanse our sin.

Summary:

1. Admit life is like a bitter sea, and what caused the sea to be bitter is man's sin.

2. If one does not believe in Jesus, the bitter sea would be without an edge.

3. Believe that only Jesus can save man from the depths of the bitter sea.

Extract from Walking Towards Our Heart - How to preach the gospel to Mainlanders by Fan Xue-de. This book will be published by Overseas Campus Magazine and Center of the Great Commission in 2004.