July 12, 2009
Reported by Chen Wei-jian
Written by Lydia Ma

How should Christians in Taiwan view folklore and folk religion? When people become Christians, must they abandon their cultural traditions? Must churches in Taiwan always fight against traditional culture? These questions and more were asked and answered during a forum on how to use folklore to share the gospel on July 35 at Taichung Presbytery's Pan-Ding Church.

The forum's guest speaker was Rev. Yeh Ming-han from Austin Taiwanese Presbyterian Church and Christians from different church denominations in Taichung area attended the event. Attendees were very enthusiastic and questions abounded during the forum. Rev. Yeh is an expert on folklore and has travelled to many parts of the world to hold forums on his expertise. He always cites the Bible as his key reference when exploring folklore.

According to Yeh, when he was still a small child, a fortune-teller predicted he would bring bad luck to his family. Before he was seven, Yeh's brothers and sisters died of illnesses and his father died of cancer a few years later when he was fifteen. These tragedies sparked his interest in metaphysics because he wanted to find out the source of these incidents. Yeh's interest eventually led him to become a somewhat well-known fortune-teller until he discovered he had cancer. Without hope and on the brink of suicide, Yeh met God and responded to His call. After accepting Christ, he found out that his cancer had miraculously disappeared and decided from then on to spend the rest of his life preaching the gospel and witnessing for Christ.

During this three-day seminar, Yeh spoke on topics such as folklore and culture, ancestor worship and filial piety, and "how to avoid evil forces," and stressed that every ethnic group's distinct culture can be used as background for introducing the gospel. He especially emphasized there's no need to view traditional culture as satanic or replace them with Western customs. Yeh believes that rejection of traditional culture may be the key reason why there continues to be so few Christians in Taiwan even though the gospel was introduced 144 years ago.

Yeh said that one reason why the gospel has not flourished in Taiwan is because Taiwanese people see ancestor worship as an integral part of filial piety. New believers must be taught how to handle traditional burial ceremonies and rites because though the Bible prohibits holding incense because it is a gesture used for worship, kneeling as a sign of respect for the deceased is negotiable or acceptable.

Yeh believes it is very important to nurture strong and accurate religious convictions among new believers and that is why he wrote a series of educational resources for adult Sunday schools. He also affirmed efforts by some churches in recent years to incorporate ceremonies during burials or memorial services that highlight honoring one's ancestors because religion must be contextualized to fit Taiwanese culture instead of using exclusive and offensive language that would turn people away rather than attracting them to know God.

Taiwan Church News