Chapter 144: I Am Not a Believer in God

Chapter 147 I am not a believer in God

Two pastors and six nuns came to visit Liang Yao.

Neither of the pastors wore traditional pastor robes.

The two pastors came from two different churches: the Fohan Mission and the London Missionary Society.

Reverend Wesley, the representative of the Fohan Mission, wore a dark suit.

Reverend Joseph Edkins, the representative of the London Missionary Society, had a long beard, but Liang Yao judged that the pastor was very young, probably no more than 30 years old, by looking at his hair.

It was just that Joseph Edkins's dress was a bit strange, wearing a long robe of a Qing Dynasty scholar with a cross hanging on his chest.

"Vice Governor Liang, my name is Willis, a representative of the Fohan Mission."

"Vice Governor Liang, my name is Joseph Edkins, a representative of the London Missionary Society, and my Chinese name is Dijin."

Both pastors introduced themselves to Liang Yao in very fluent Mandarin Chinese. What surprised Liang Yao was that Joseph Edkins had a name.

When the Qing Dynasty was established, in order to maintain its rule, the Qing Dynasty basically banned missionaries from coming to China.

The missionaries of these churches were basically able to enter the five trading ports and Hong Kong and Macau to preach after the First Opium War.

"We received your letter from the Fu Han Society last year, but later we learned that the ship that sent the letter had an accident and unfortunately sank.

Our president, Mr. Guo Shili, admires your willingness to establish a school and sponsor Han students to study in American universities. He praises you as a devout believer in God."

As he spoke, Wesley handed a Chinese translation of the Bible to Liang Yao.

Fu Han Society is a very young church, and its founder is the current president Guo Shili.

The society was established in 1844 by Guo Shili and the local Han people. The name of Fu Han Society is also very clear: Han people believe in the faith and are convinced.

Yung Wing's enlightenment teacher in Macau was Wen Shidi, the wife of Guo Shili, the president of Fu Han Society.

Guo Shili was also the chief translator of the Hong Kong British government. Guo Shili was the translator of the British side when the Treaty of Nanjing was signed.

Of course, in addition to this, he has another identity, that is, a spy. He once provided intelligence to the British Royal Navy during the Opium War.

Not only Guo Shili, many missionaries have more or less participated in espionage work against China.

"Unfortunately, the reply letter from our London Mission to you is also on this shipwrecked ship." said Joseph Edkins.

"I am still an atheist for the time being, not a believer in God."

Liang Yao denied his identity as a Christian. In fact, he is indeed an atheist and does not plan to believe in religion in the future.

In his previous life, his mother was a believer, but her mother believed in religion in order to receive a barrel of cooking oil from the church every month. She did not even read the Bible seriously, and was not a true Christian.

Hearing that Liang Yao was not a Christian, the two pastors were unhappy and planned to preach to Liang Yao on the spot.

Liang Yao was the first to speak nonsense: "I am full of sins now, and I am not qualified to be a believer of God. If I join the church without cleansing my sins, it would be blasphemy against God."

"So you want to fund the establishment of a school? Fund your compatriots to receive education?" asked Joseph Edkins.

"That's right. If you can help me cleanse my sins, I am willing to fund the construction of a cathedral for you to preach in San Francisco.

When I first came to San Francisco last year, there were only 20,000 to 30,000 people here. Now the population has more than doubled, and more and more Han people will arrive in California. Like me, they are not believers of God for the time being."

Liang Yao said slowly.

He knew very well that education was just a means for these people to preach. They were essentially fanatical Christians.

It's just that it's 1851 now, not the end of the 19th century. There is only this group of people who are proficient in both Chinese and Western studies.

If you don't give them some real benefits, they won't be willing to teach students for you.

Of course, there are relatively pure missionaries. Yung Wing's two teachers, Guo Shili's wife Wen Shidi and Pastor Brown are relatively pure and selfless missionaries, but such people are only a minority after all.

At least the two pastors in front of Liang Yao are not relatively pure and selfless people.

Liang Yao's purpose is also very clear, to let these pastors and nuns cultivate the first generation of Chinese people who receive modern education for him.

As long as these talents become talents, he can organize and build his own modern education system by himself, and no longer need to rely on these missionaries and nuns.

He believes that as long as they cross the language gap, with the open-minded atmosphere of California, these Chinese children will soon be able to absorb modern knowledge and become modern talents that he can use.

As for whether the Chinese will become fanatical Christians, Liang Yao is not very worried.

The beliefs of the Chinese have always been very complicated, and they are also very secular and realistic. They believe in whatever beliefs can bring real benefits.

When Liang Yao took the college entrance examination in his previous life, his mother not only took him to worship Buddha, God, and Allah, but also took him to worship the Earth God and Sun Wukong.

He couldn't remember how many gods he had worshipped before the college entrance examination. He worshipped at least ten gods, almost all the gods that could be worshipped in the local area. In the end, he didn't become a believer of any god.

If he had to believe in something, he would rather believe in himself. Rather than pinning his hope of life on an illusory god.

The two pastors understood the meaning of Liang Yao's words.

In Liang Yao's eyes, population is the development bonus of California, while in their eyes, it is believers and potential believers.

Faced with Liang Yao's temptation, the two pastors were tempted.

When they were in Guangzhou, they had already noticed that more and more Chinese went to California to pan for gold.

The Chinese population made these missionaries who came to China covetous, and they fantasized about developing all these Chinese into believers of God, which would be hundreds of millions of believers!

However, their missionary work in the Qing Dynasty was not smooth, and the Chinese who immigrated to California showed them another possibility.

Before they arrived in California, they had already begun to preach to the Chinese on the ship and develop their believers while they were still on the ship.

"I can teach them knowledge, but they must first become believers of God." said Joseph Edkins.

"Hahaha."

Liang Yao laughed.

"Di Jin, since you are proficient in Chinese studies, I think you should know that there is a saying in China that a forced melon is not sweet. We Chinese people value conviction. If you force them to join the religion, they will not become devout believers. At most, they will only cater to you on the surface.

We Chinese also value respect for teachers. As long as you can become their teacher and impart knowledge to them, you will gain their great respect. You can take this opportunity to influence them. I think it is only a matter of time before they can become devout believers of God."

"Vice Governor Liang is still thoughtful." Willis gently put down the teacup in his hand.

"Chinese people believe in winning people over with virtue. Joseph, you are too impatient. It is a long road to convert pagans to God. We have a long way to go and should not rush for success. What Vice Governor Liang said makes sense. We should become their teachers, impart knowledge to them, and then influence them, so that they can be developed into true Christians. Perhaps we can also develop a few preachers from them."

Willis from the Ferry Evangelistic Association was very dissatisfied with the development strategy of the Fu Han Society in China. The Fu Han Society accepted everyone. These believers of varying quality not only brought great negative impact to the Fu Han Society, but also caused a lot of trouble for the missionary work of other churches.

"You speak Chinese very well and at a high level." Liang Yao said.

As expected, the older the ginger, the more spicy it is. Both Willis and Joseph speak Chinese very well, but the older Willis is obviously better than the young Joseph in both Chinese and Sinology.