Are Christians superstitious?

bling said:

Would you read those verses to someone describing Christianity as a superstition?

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I thought it might be a basis to work a conversation around, which is what you are asking for, is it not? Anyway it should be a biblically based conversation to have any credible results.

bling said:

That still just sounds like a superstition?

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Exactly. Calling Christians superstitious is saying their taking their faith too far. But to be a good Christian one must take their faith to an extreme. I mean we have stories in the Bible of selling all and following after Christ. etc etc etc. The Bible is full of extreme examples, Moses killing slaves and such.

I think your best option is to say Christians are not superstitious, but they do take their religion very seriously. Superstition is saying you're taking it too far, so argue why most Christians don't take it far enough?

bling said:

This is better, but it is not my students with a personal problem of being superstitious, but their friends and family back home only seeing Christianity as another superstition and superstitions are for the weak minded, fearful, and uneducated.
Hopefully God will show them the difference, which might happen through me, but I was hoping for an easy explanation.

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Well, all you can do is give it a try. But you are facing is a good opportunity to witness, and if you give any credence to the gossip that they picked up at home, you are putting yourself on the defensive. And for nothing. All they bring in the way of facts or evidence is hearsay from people who don't know Christianity. They cannot even say that this isn't the situation.

bling said:

The Communist Government is cracking down on the Christians right now. These students are all very smart and part of the upper class in a two class society (rich and poor), but they are curious about Christianity. All they might have heard is "Christianity is a superstition", but are questioning that conclusion. About half of my students have never knowingly spoken to a Chinese Christian. They sympathizes with the Chinese in Hong Kong fighting for freedom, but would not openly support them for fear of being considered a traitor (that can get them killed). They had no Bible unless they bought it in Hong Kong or outside mainland China.
The problem is not the superstitions of my students, but providing them with knowledge to explain why Christianity is not a superstition in a short conversation.

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You point out there lack of information, that they are supersitiously believing the governments propergander and point out where they can get accurate information.
Web sites, churches, know places where Christians meet, leaflets and bible you have etc etc etc

bling said:

My students are not the issue, but the Criticism is an issue. What do you say when a person tells you: "Christianity is just a superstition"?

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Well then you are dealing with Atheists. That is just one of many arguments for not believing in God. There are very few Christians who can defend their faith to an Atheist. I consider it a gift from the Holy Spirit if you can debate one of them and actually turn them to the truth. So that being said, there is much more to that statement that needs explaining and if they are willing to hear the truth we hope who is delivering that truth is gifted.
Blessings

bling said:

I teach Chinese Students in Dallas Universities and they say: one of the criticisms they hear in China about Christians is “Christians are superstitious”, so what would be a good come back answer to that comment?

Some Christians Chinese seem to make the cross they wear or the Bible they constantly hold into a “good luck charm” which turns off nonbelieving Chinese seeing them as being superstitious, so what should the spiritually strong say to these and/or the nonbelievers if anything?

I know we have to define “superstition”, but we also have to live with the definition others have and the significance they attach to the word.

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Being Superstitious describes a belief in chance or magic

Christians have an actual personal relationship with the Lord (our creator) and that relationship isn't by chance or magic, the relationship is developed over time. It is a conscience decision made by a person ... not happen-chance.

My understanding of China is that they are an atheistic culture, so any form of belief in the supernatural would be viewed as superstitious. I would recommend that you poke some holes in their materialism; the world is much stranger and more wonderful than they know. Talk about the evidence for the resurrection of Christ, evidence for miracles, etc. Materialism is an ideology of nihilism, they just haven't realized it yet, and they haven't realized that to be human means to be spiritual and not just physical. We have spiritual needs and are capable of experiencing spiritual realities.

I used to think practices such as blessings, holy water, or crucifixes were just a form of superstition within Christianity. I later realized that these things were ways God works through the physical. We live in a world of wonders, and once they realize it, they will be much more open to Christ. When your philosophy is materialism, there is a black void behind everything you do; show them that void in their ideology. If you're successful, they'll realize the implications of their underlying beliefs, and actually want something more.

Keeping in mind the Oversea Chinese Missionary Movement of the early 1900’s before the Japanese invasion might offer some insight as well.

bling said:

I teach Chinese Students in Dallas Universities and they say: one of the criticisms they hear in China about Christians is “Christians are superstitious”, so what would be a good come back answer to that comment?

Some Christians Chinese seem to make the cross they wear or the Bible they constantly hold into a “good luck charm” which turns off nonbelieving Chinese seeing them as being superstitious, so what should the spiritually strong say to these and/or the nonbelievers if anything?

I know we have to define “superstition”, but we also have to live with the definition others have and the significance they attach to the word.

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Well, I'd want to notice the attitude of the person I'm talking to, before responding. I could imagine a sincere attitude as one possible one (instead of cynical or mocking). If sincerely stated, the person may honestly believe (not just a rhetorical attack) that Christians are maybe just superstitious people.

In that case, you have a chance, with such a sincere person, to tell them a more real thing. I'd want to give them a powerful hint of how wonderful the things Christ said are, so that they might go and read more for themselves. Depending on the person, there are a variety of ways that could sound, and so this is only one of a great many possibilities:

"Aren't Christians really just superstitious?" [if asked sincerely]

One answer: "It could seem that way from a distance, and some in any city probably are. But what motivates most Christians is instead that they want to learn more from the Teacher who said such things as "Love your neighbor as yourself", and even said "Love your enemy" -- they want more of what He has to teach, and there is very much more. That's why Christianity is so popular around the world through the centuries, in any nation where people hear some of it. "

Here we've recognized the partial truth in their point of view, but also given them a strong hint of the actual reality, and even better, some of the actual Word of Christ.
Key thing: the actual Word is always better than any representation or partial paraphrase of some bit.

China has roots in Marxist atheism. In 2018 they blew up a megachurch building. They have been arresting and torturing Christians. They suspended Communist party elections as Xi became a dictator.

God is truth, not superstition.

bling said:

I teach Chinese Students in Dallas Universities and they say: one of the criticisms they hear in China about Christians is “Christians are superstitious”, so what would be a good come back answer to that comment?

Some Christians Chinese seem to make the cross they wear or the Bible they constantly hold into a “good luck charm” which turns off nonbelieving Chinese seeing them as being superstitious, so what should the spiritually strong say to these and/or the nonbelievers if anything?

I know we have to define “superstition”, but we also have to live with the definition others have and the significance they attach to the word.

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Superstition is subtle in believers. Not conscious on their part. An example is citing verses like magic charms. Or looking for signs from God without knowing the Spirit's leading. For some, the Bible is an idol in the sense that they substitute it as tho it were God.

bling said:

I teach Chinese Students in Dallas Universities and they say: one of the criticisms they hear in China about Christians is “Christians are superstitious”, so what would be a good come back answer to that comment?

Some Christians Chinese seem to make the cross they wear or the Bible they constantly hold into a “good luck charm” which turns off nonbelieving Chinese seeing them as being superstitious, so what should the spiritually strong say to these and/or the nonbelievers if anything?

I know we have to define “superstition”, but we also have to live with the definition others have and the significance they attach to the word.

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I was under the impression that Chinese propaganda is that all religion is superstition. So undoing that propaganda is probably going to be difficult, since it involves putting forward the counter-point that the Chinese government is engaged in brainwashing the Chinese people.

The Chinese government has been actively targeting Uyghurs in Western China, imprisoning and effectively targeting them purely on the basis of their ethnicity. The Uyghurs of Western China are predominantly Muslim, but the Chinese propaganda machine calls them all terrorists, even though they are being targeted because of their ethnicity.

The Chinese government has been accusing the Hong Kong pro-democracy protestors and demonstrators "terrorists" as well. And that narrative has been pretty successful in convincing a majority of the mainland Chinese population of that falsehood.

As such, convincing some students that their government has been actively lying to them their entire life isn't exactly going to be an easy task.

-CryptoLutheran

bling said:

I teach Chinese Students in Dallas Universities and they say: one of the criticisms they hear in China about Christians is “Christians are superstitious”, so what would be a good come back answer to that comment?

Some Christians Chinese seem to make the cross they wear or the Bible they constantly hold into a “good luck charm” which turns off nonbelieving Chinese seeing them as being superstitious, so what should the spiritually strong say to these and/or the nonbelievers if anything?

I know we have to define “superstition”, but we also have to live with the definition others have and the significance they attach to the word.

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One possible response might be to agree with your students. If there are Christians who treat their bibles or crosses as good luck charms, then they are a bit superstitious. You can explain that the function of the scriptures and the symbol of the cross is not "good luck," but Christ.

Responding this way opens the door for you to share a more robust understanding of our faith, the One in whom we have faith, the scriptures, and so on.

AlexDTX said:

For some, the Bible is an idol in the sense that they substitute it as tho it were God.

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No, "they" don't.

Let's keep this point you are making in the realm of what's credible.