The Village That Lived by the Bible

http://www.crossroad.to/Victory/testimonies/Japan.htm ^ | Clarence W. Hall

[Rytwyng]

These people remind me of the Pilgrims. This story is proof that the American miracle can be replicated by anyone, anywhere, if only they will follow the Lord's ways.

[Rytwyng]

ping...

figured I’d better post this before I get banned again!

[Rytwyng]

ping....

[Rytwyng]

One more thing -- for those familiar with the martial arts world, "Shosei Kina the schoolmaster" of the story is a revered master of shorin-ryu karate and the kobudo arts of Okinawa. He is indeed the same Shosei Kina who appears in martial arts histories.

To those who wondered, the Christian doctrine of "turn the other cheek", is not a contradiction to the martial arts -- quite the reverse, it is a prerequisite. As any competent sensei will tell you, the only person who is fit to learn martial arts, is the one who is truly willing to "turn the other cheek" and "go the second mile" to deescalate, defuse, or just walk away from antisocial violence -- even at the cost of his pride -- reserving the use of martial arts only to the rare situation, so-called "asocial" violence, to use Tim Larkin's term, where force is truly unavoidable and necessary. (Luke 22:36, get a sword, etc.)

By all accounts, Kina exemplified this virtue. He was reported to be a very kind and gentle man. He could afford to be!

Another interesting fact about Kina is that, like so many other martial artists, he lived a long time. Accounts vary but he was somewhere between 97 and 100 at his death in 1981.

[Anti-Utopian]

Kinda puts to death the old “America is a Christian nation” myth, don’t it?

[Tainan]

An absolutely fascinating and inspiring story. Thanks for posting it.

Side note:
Many years ago, the second school of 'martial arts' I studies was in Shorin-ryu. I went to ichdan. My first school was in Korean Moo Duk Kwan. Nidan received in it. They both were suited to my physical structure.

[scott7278]

Amazing how blind we as a nation are over here...we’re going the opposite way.

[Quix]

Thx. Will check it out.

Why do you get banned?

[Quix]

Great story.

Truth or fictiion?

[Quix]

Ahhhh. A true story.

Thanks.

Thought so.

[Rytwyng]

Kinda puts to death the old “America is a Christian nation” myth, don’t it?

In defense of that myth... Those who make that assertion are under no illusions that America was ever *all* Christian. After all, consider slavery... But, consider these three points:

(1) There is an enormous Christian substructure in our culture -- it shows up in our laws, in passages in the Constitution, our customs, our national habit of charity, etc. Our civilization is based on Judeo-Christian worldview and presuppositions in too many ways to count.

(2) At several key turning points in our history, it was Christian influence that kicked us in the right direction. The antislavery movement, to name just one example, began in the church. (Alas, so did Prohibition... oops.)

(3) At times when a much higher percentage of the population affirmed Christian faith and attended church, the levels of public, civic virtue were much higher. It was safe to walk the streets at night, or let your kids run through the hills all day ("Just be home for dinner"). Civic virtue can survive by inertia for some time after the faith is forgotten, but it is unstable... one little kick from the hippies in the 60's and it all came crashing down, leading to the present hell-on-earth.

[vanilla swirl]

The Word of God changes people!
How far we have fallen from it!

[vladimir998]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,886757,00.html

And Catholics had been in Japan for about 400 years by that point: http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/jcn/jul2009.htm

[Budge]

If I may be so bold...

(4) During the frontier days, there were no school books. All children who either attended a school or were home schooled, were taught from the Bible.

[constitutiongirl]

Thanks for adding this info. I’ve studied both shorin-ryu and goju-ryu karate and am familiar with Shosei Kina. Amazing.

[Nea Wood]

Thank you for the ping!

[johngrace]

Thank you for posting! So amazing!

[johngrace]

Hiroshima had the largest church in Japan. A great amount were killed when the bomb came. But also some had dreams to leave before it was dropped and they survived. There were different christian types. There was a christian monk who survived -right after devotionals he was having breakfast and then the bomb came, Total destruction around the area around him except the building he was in at the time. He survived no cancer for 30 plus years going to churches around the world as a witness.

[Rytwyng]

Yes, I’ve heard of the Hiroshima miracle survivors too. There was a group of German Catholic monks, who, despite the Japanese regime’s hostility to Christianity, were tolerated and allowed to continue their work because of their German citizenship - Nazi Germany being an ally (the Lord works in exceedingly mysterious ways sometimes). They were basically at ground zero, yet survived with no long term effects. Maybe the same monks you were talking about.

[Rytwyng]

Thanks for those. I was aware that on mainland Japan, that there were underground Catholics for centuries. But that Time article on other Okinawan churches was new to me.

I think the point of the "Village" story is that, these people had very limited exposure to the Christian faith -- and really, really ran with what they had. Those of us in the West, by contrast, are those to whom "much has been given", and of whom much more should be expected. We're soooo blowing it.