Interview: Luis Palau on 'A Friendly Dialogue Between a Christian and an Atheist'
Friday, Feb. 26, 2008 Posted: 10:25:22PM EST
CP: Well, the 2008 Summer Olympics is going to be held in Beijing and that’s going to a big opportunity. A lot of human rights groups have used that as a platform to bring up issues … from Darfur to North Korean refugees to underground churches. So will you be using that event or that time for any kind of…
Palau: I believe you ask for permission, from my perspective as a foreigner coming to a foreign country, like I do in the states or anywhere else, you ask permission to hold rallies. I don't think it would be helpful for me. But I have asked officially from people here and over there, any person can go in there and take Bibles, as long as they're not selling them, but if they're giving them away, they can take all the Bibles they want. And I think that's going to happen. And I think that's very valuable. I'm encouraging people to book their flights because it's going to be jammed and to get a hotel and bed and breakfast because it's going to be jammed with people. But they're going to be free, they're not going to be stopped, to express the Gospel, to preach.
As far as human rights, that's a political thing, I think. But as far as Christians, I am encouraging them to go. I told the government people in China that I'm going to encourage people to come and witness for Christ. And they were afraid that the athletes would start. Athletes are there to play and win. But they may witness for Christ like some Chinese athletes do. The main woman soccer star in China is a strong believer who carries a Bible everywhere. And if we do our rally, we've asked if she could come and testify her faith. The famous soccer player.
CP: I saw in the book that you signed Mr. Zhao's Bible with a verse from John 10:28. The NIV version reads, "I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. No can snatch them out of my hand." Why did you choose that particular verse to sign in Mr. Zhao's Bible?
Palau: For good reason.
I was very touched by this. It's not in the book but I always tell the story of my father dying. My father became a believer at the age of 22, 23. He died at the age of 34. He died knowing he was going to heaven, that he had the assurance of eternal life. He died clapping and singing a song about heaven and quoting Philippians 1: "I'm going to be with Jesus which is better by far." This morning, the Christianity Today guy asked him and he told that story. He said, "To me, that was the most touching thing that I heard Mr. Palau say because we in China, have no hope. We despair before death." His mother is dying. And he said, "To me, his view of eternity was so, so moving that his father was at peace, he was singing, he was clapping, he knew where he was going."
That's why I put that verse. Because I know the Chinese mindset is: despair before death. Even though there is talk about reincarnation, most people know that this is probably not going to happen, (chuckles) which we know it won't. So I like the thought. I found whenever I work with Chinese, years ago in Singapore, Hong Kong, and where ever there are Chinese, Indonesians…I find that the talk about creation and the talk about eternity stirs the Chinese soul because there's a sense of angst, there's a sense of vacuum, there's a sense of hopelessness even though the Chinese revere their forefathers. Partly, it's because of that despair of never seeing them again. Whereas the Gospel says, "If you have eternal life and they do too, you will see them again." That's why I love that verse.
