The clerk of the Religious Administration Office of Johor Province finished registering the information for Ho Paulo and found that the other party was still looking through the information.

So he asked very casually and at the same time to arouse the other party's attention:

"Have you finished reading it? Is there anything you would like to add to your Church materials? ”

Paul Ho sobered up from his thoughts, and then boldly questioned:

"With all due respect, you religious sectarian profiles are compiled by unbelievers who are resistant to the faith, with malice and hostility.

"The implication of this document is that all religions are meaningless, that is, to make the person who sees this material lose interest in faith."

Paul Ho thought that the other party would be provoked by himself, and he might be expelled.

However, the clerk on the other side asked rhetorically with a blank face:

"Is this kind of skeptical mentality also raised with hostility to religious believers who discriminate against unbelievers?"

Paul Ho immediately explained:

"No, we don't discriminate against unbelievers, they are all lost lambs, children in need of salvation......"

The clerk immediately pointed to Paul Ho and said:

"Aren't you doing this to yourself?

"On what basis do you think that unbelievers need the salvation of your God?

"Why do you say that all those who do not believe in your God are lost? This is a typical form of intimidating fraud.

"Also, you often compare people to sheep and livestock to animals, which is the most direct insult.

"If someone goes to the Shicheng County to sue you for this, you need to publicly apologize and pay compensation."

He Baolu suddenly collapsed a little:

"Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's, this is a matter of faith, and earthly laws cannot be used......"

The clerk immediately interrupted Ho:

"Do you mean the God of Haotian?"

He was stunned for a moment:

"It refers to our god, not the god of the Jade Emperor of Haotian......"

The clerk said with a straight face:

"I now formally warn you once, according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty Religious Administration, the word God shall not be used to represent symbolic individuals in myths and legends other than the God of Haotian Jade Emperor.

"Except for the relevant departments of the Ming court, no sect may use the name of God at will, and it must not be interpreted as a symbolic entity of any other source and sect.

That is, it is not permissible to translate the God of your church as God or Heaven, but only God or transliteration as Steep.

"This is the first time, so a verbal warning will be given, and if it is found again, it will be fined to re-education through labor, and the third time it will be directly deported."

After the clerk finished speaking, he also added a few strokes to He Baolu's new file and wrote down the matter.

Paul Ho's Adam's apple moved, realizing that he had just been excited.

Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary, translated the god of his family into God and God, and claimed that the God that appeared in the ancient literature of Shenzhou, the "heaven" and "God" in traditional mythology, were essentially no different from the "one true God" of Catholicism.

So he began to refer to their god by God.

This expression and usage was widely used by Catholic missionaries who came to the East.

However, after Emperor Shizu of the Ming Dynasty rebuilt the Ming Dynasty, he explicitly prohibited this kind of behavior.

God can only be the God of the Jade Emperor of Haotian in the traditional mythology of Shenzhou.

Since Paul Ho came to Daming to take charge of the missionary mission, of course, he also learned the relevant basic information.

Usually I use Tianzhu or God as much as possible, but I accidentally slipped my mouth when I was excited just now.

】

As a result, the topic is now completely off the rails.

He did not argue about whether he violated the law, but tried to calm down:

"I'm sorry...... I'll pay attention to it later...... It should be said that the sovereign belongs to the sovereign, the gods belong to the gods, and the discussion of matters in the spiritual world should not be evaluated according to secular laws......"

The clerk shook his head directly and said:

"If you only have a spirit and no body, I can ignore whether you treat others as animals or not.

"But your body is here, and your mouth makes a sound, then I, as an official of the Ming court, have to let your mouth accept the rules of our Ming Dynasty.

"No matter which god you are subordinate to, when you come to the realm of my Ming Dynasty, you must obey the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

"By the way, it's not allowed to call someone a child without permission."

He Baolu was in a complicated mood, and opened his mouth several times to speak, but finally stopped his mouth.

Because of his habitual rhetoric, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty that he just learned, there seem to be problems everywhere.

The lamb is an insult, and from the point of view of a pure unbeliever, it can indeed be regarded as an insult.

Children can't use it casually, and the other party may not want to call themselves priests.

The theory of original sin that is born sinful...... Without saying anything, Paul Ho realized that this might also be a scam.

From a completely objective point of view, this seems to be the case.

What sin can a good person, a newborn child, have......

Under the suppression of the powerful energy of the name of Daming, He Baolu mastered the method of empathy.

Otherwise, it would have been thunderous by now.

Paul Ho tried to change his mindset:

"Thank you for the reminder, I made a note of it, and I will pay more attention in the future, and I will not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

"In addition, I would like to inquire, are the staff of the religious administration of the Ming Dynasty all unbelievers?"

The clerk on the other side directly retorted:

"How are they all unbelievers? I believe that the Great Emperor of the Three Realms Demon Suppression, Shenwei Yuanzhen, Tianzun, Guan Shengdijun, and I am also a new Mazu Niangniang. ”

He almost didn't hold back again:

"This kind of pan-faith is not the same as our church......"

The clerk immediately said:

"What's different? Because you have your own religious community, because you have a strict hierarchy and many rules?

"So you are qualified to stand in a certain angle and discriminate against what you call a pan-believer?"

Paul Ho worked hard to adjust his mentality:

"I'm sorry, it's my fault, I shouldn't have thought this way, I should treat everyone equally.

"So, since you also have faith, don't you think this document is full of prejudice?"

The clerk said casually:

"What is written on this is an objective fact, why is it biased?"

Paul Ho immediately said:

This is a partial generalization, the actions of a small number of faulty believers, representing the entire group of believers.

"There are lost believers in the Lord, but it cannot be said that the whole community has problems.

"Among our brothers and sisters, there are still more people who have a kind heart and have done countless good deeds.

But the document doesn't say much about these things, instead focusing on the scum with bad deeds.

"Just like you believe in Guan Sheng Emperor, there must be bad people and good people among Guan Sheng Emperor's followers.

"You can't just write about the bad guys and not the good guys, right?"

The clerk shook his head with a smile and said:

"This is different, Emperor Guan Shengjun has no church, and there is no distinction between superior and inferior believers.

"Whether it is a bad person or a good person, whether it is evil or good, but the behavior of the believer personally.

"But you have a church, and you have to hold regular religious activities to promote and reinforce your ideas and deeds.

"So your new picture can be seen as a whole, and all the good and evil are borne by you together.

"In particular, your clergy themselves have a purana precept that we ordinary believers do not.

"In other words, the followers of Emperor Guan Shengjun do not have the obligation to do good deeds and accumulate virtue, and to be cautious in words and deeds, while your clergy do.

In other words, according to your system, you people are right to do good, and it is unforgivable to do bad.

"Well, it's objectively unforgivable, but you yourself can definitely forgive yourself, after all, there are indulgences."

Paul Ho was speechless.

Looking at the other party's smiling expression, Paul He slowly realized one thing:

These staff members deal with people of all religions all day long, and their way of thinking is not at all the same as that of ordinary people.

The point is, they don't have any reverence for their religion and gods.

And the personnel of their own religious churches do not pursue debate as much as Buddhism and Taoism in China.

If you want to convince the other party from any angle, it seems that it is useless to do it again.

He was silent for a few seconds before changing the subject:

"Thank you for your advice, can I leave when the paperwork is completed?"

The clerk is also not entangled at all:

"Yes."

He stood up and prepared to leave, but after raising his feet, he thought of a question:

"Excuse me, I heard before that when I receive a notice in the future, I will give a mission to a specific person in a specific place, so what is the specific place of this particular place?"

The clerk replied casually:

"Inside your church."

He Paul was stunned again:

"Church...... According to my understanding before coming to Daming, there should be at least one large church in Johor Province, but this church does not seem to be on the island of Sin Chau in the Lion City......"

The clerk explained to Paul Ho:

"Yes, not on Sin Chau Island, where the Lion City is located, but on the opposite side of Ba Nang Island, there are regular ferries on the pier to Ba Nang Island."

Paul Ho doesn't know exactly how far away Pratham is, but it's certainly not in the heart of the Lion City and Johor province:

"Can we apply to build a new church on Sin Chew Island?"

The clerk rightly said:

"No, the whole of Sin Chau Island can be regarded as a downtown area, you monks should stay away from the world and go to the pure mountains and forests to cultivate your self-cultivation.

"The nearest hill to the Lion City, on the north side of the continent across the strait, at the foot of this hill."

He Baolu felt in his heart that Da Ming was really unreasonable.

Your temples and Taoist temples are used to being built in the mountains, so we can't ask our churches to be built in the mountains.

You ordinary people don't go to temples and Taoist temples for a long time, and our followers have to go to church regularly to worship!

Then he explained, almost subconsciously:

"Our priests don't need to stay away from the world, and they don't need to go to the mountains and forests to cultivate, that's the habit of Taoism and Buddhism.

"Our tradition is to live in a city, and churches should be built in residential areas so that the faithful can go there at any time."

The clerk responded, as a matter of course:

"In the Ming Dynasty, you have to abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty, and the monks of the Ming Dynasty have to stay away from the world, and you have to cultivate yourself.

"If you can't accept it, you can go back to your hometown and don't make trouble in Daming.

"Again, I would like to remind you that you can stay and live in the Lion City, but you have to find a regular job as soon as possible.

"Or go straight to the church, live with the rest of your church, and wait for a subpoena from the Authority.

Otherwise, if you stay in the Lion City for a long time and have no work, you may be seen as a covert missionary.

"You'll be summoned periodically for investigation, and if anything unusual is found, you'll be deported."

Paul Ho did not ask why he, as a priest, had to find a normal job, and the key was that he could not preach.

I didn't ask again how the believers should do their weekday worship when the church was built in the mountain.

Now these questions don't make sense.

He Baolu agreed with a complicated expression, and then left the palace with his new documents.

On the street outside the palace, He Baolu thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to go to the church first.

He subconsciously wanted to go to the station to ask, and wanted to ask the people around him how to get to the church.

But the moment the words were about to be spoken, they were stopped.

Paul Ho was a little skeptical that asking strangers about church matters in public would violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

So after hesitating, Paul Ho returned to the bureau and carefully inquired about the way to go to church.

Take the train from the Lion Thom railway station and travel more than 20 kilometers north across the railway bridge over the Straits of Johor.

Once on the Malay Peninsula on the opposite side, continue inland for about 10 kilometers to the north.

Got on the train in a small town and hired a horse-drawn carriage.

After driving more than ten kilometers northwest of the town, I came to a mountain village at the foot of a small hill.

After passing through the mountain village and into the mountain forest, I ran another two kilometers. Finally, we entered a mountain canyon.

There is a rather large courtyard in the middle of the canyon.

The carriage was at the gate of this big courtyard, and He Baolu, who was a little motion sick, got off the car and slowly moved to the gate of the courtyard.

The courtyard is locked, and there are two passages on either side of the entrance that can only be passed by one person in turn.

Next to the passage are two gatehouses with small windows open.

He Baolu followed the entrance passage to the side of the gatehouse, and a middle-aged woman in her forties came out:

"What do you do? Any idea what this place is? ”

Paul Ho handed over his identity documents:

"I'm ...... I'll look at the documents......"

Paul swallowed back the words of his introduction, because he remembered the advice he had heard before.

You can't identify yourself in public.

The middle-aged woman opposite read Paul Ho's document, signed it, and then came back:

"Let's go inside."

He Baolu took back his identity documents and walked into the compound along the passage.

In the middle of the large courtyard is a small square, and there is also a circle of small courtyards around the square.

The layout of these small courtyards is completely identical, and they are all traditional pavilions and pavilions in China.

There are walls painted with red paint, buildings with cornices and arches, and majestic and serious stone statues.

All the courtyard doors are hung with dock plaques, and the door frames are hung with peach character couplets.

All the small courtyards are different only in plaques and couplets.

Paul Ho searched around and found the Roman Catholic "church" in the middle of the courtyard of the Persian Zoroastrian and Celestial Sunni sects.

To be honest, if it weren't for the signboard, it would have been difficult for Paul Ho to associate this garden with the church.

It is a temple or a Taoist temple that is a little more convincing.

There are indeed courtyards with Taoist temples and temple signboards hanging around.

This small square and most of the courtyards can be said to be very deserted.

There are only those two temples and Taoist temples, and there are occasional people coming and going.

There was no one outside the other courtyard gates.

Not only are there no believers or disciples, but even the priests who are supposed to be in the garden will not show up.

Paul Ho had already learned that priests were not allowed to wear religious clothes to go out, let alone talk to believers outside the door.

The reason for this is that it has the potential to have an impact on people in other churches.

It may constitute an act that violates the freedom of belief of others.

But it may also have the benefit of preventing church members from meeting and fighting.