1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 147 I am not a believer of God

Two priests and six nuns came to visit Liang Yao.

Neither priest was wearing traditional clerical robes.

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

Reverend Willis, the Fulham representative, was wearing a dark suit.

Although the representative of the London Missionary Alliance Church, Pastor Eyose, had a big beard, but he saw his appearance through his hair. Liang Yao judged that this pastor was very young, probably not more than thirty years old.

It's just that Ai Yoser's clothes are a bit strange, he is wearing a robe of a scholar-bureaucrat in the Qing Dynasty, with a cross hanging on his chest.

"Deputy Governor Liang, my name is Willis, a representative of the Fuhan Society."

"Deputy Governor Liang, my name is Aiyuser, a representative of the London Missionary Society, and my Chinese character is Dijin."

The two pastors introduced themselves to Liang Yao in very proficient Mandarin Chinese. What surprised Liang Yao was that Aiyuser still had words.

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 re-enter the five commercial port cities and Hong Kong and Macau to preach after the first Opium War.

"Our Fuhan Society received your letter last year, but later we learned that the ship delivering the letter had an accident and unfortunately sank.

Our president, His Excellency Guo Shili, admires you for your willingness to set up schools and sponsor Han Chinese students to study at American University, and praises you as a devout believer in God. "

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

Fuhan Church is a very young church, the founder is the current president Guo Shili.

The association was established in 1844 by Guo Shili organized by the local Han people, and the name of the Fuhan Association is also very clear: Han people believe and obey.

Yung Wing's first teacher when he was in Macau was Wen Shidi, the wife of Guo Shili, the president of the Fuhan Association.

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

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

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

"Unfortunately, the reply letter to you from our London mission is also on this wrecked ship." Eyose said.

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

Liang Yao denied that he was a Christian. In fact, he was indeed an atheist, and he did not intend to believe in religion in the future.

In the last life, his mother was a religious believer, but her mother believed in religion so that she could receive a barrel of cooking oil from the church every month. She didn't even read the "Bible" carefully, so she was not a Christian in the true sense.

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

However, Liang Yao took the lead in talking nonsense: "I am full of sins now, and I am not qualified to be a believer in God. Joining the religion without washing away the sins on my body is a blasphemy against God."

"So you want to fund a school? Fund an education for your own countrymen?" Eyose asked.

"Exactly, if you will help me cleanse me of my sins, I will finance the building of a cathedral for you in San Francisco to preach.

When I first came to San Francisco last year, there were only [-] to [-] people here. Now the population here has more than doubled, and more and more Han Chinese will arrive in California. They, like me, are temporarily Neither are believers in God. "

Liang Yao said slowly.

He knew very well that education was but a means of preaching for these people, who were still fanatical Christians at heart.

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

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

Of course, there are more 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 were not pure and selfless people.

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

As long as these talents are mature, he can organize and build his own modern education system without relying on these missionaries and nuns.

He believed that as long as he crossed the language gap and with California's open minded atmosphere, these Chinese children would soon be able to absorb modern knowledge and become modern talents that he could 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 tangible benefits.

When Liang Yao took the college entrance examination in his last life, his mother not only brought him to worship the Buddha God, Allah, but also brought him to worship the Lord of Earth and Sun Dasheng.

How many gods he worshiped before the college entrance examination, he himself couldn't remember it, at least he worshiped a dozen gods, almost all the gods that could be worshiped in the local area, and he didn't see any god he became in the end believer.

If he had to believe in anything, he was more willing to believe in himself.Instead of pinning the hope of life on illusory gods.

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

In Liang Yaoyan's eyes, the population is the development dividend of California, but in their eyes they are believers and potential believers.

Facing Liang Yao's temptation, the two pastors were moved.

When they were in Guangzhou, they had noticed that more and more Chinese were going to California to seek gold.

The population of the Chinese is what makes these missionaries who come to China covet, imagining that all these Chinese will develop into believers of God, that is hundreds of millions of believers!

It's just that 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 tirelessly preached to the Chinese on board and developed their believers when they were still on the ship.

"I can impart knowledge to them, but they must first become believers in God," Eyose said.

"Hahaha."

Liang Yao laughed.

"Di Jin, since you are proficient in Sinology, I think you should know that there is a saying in China called "Twisted melons are not sweet. We Chinese pay attention to persuasion. If they are forced to join the religion, they will not become devout believers. At most It's just catering to you on the surface.

We Chinese also pay attention to respecting teachers. As long as you can become their teacher, you will gain their great respect by imparting knowledge to them. You can take this opportunity to influence them. I think whether they can become devout believers of God, just Sooner or later. "

"Deputy Governor Liang is still considerate." Willis gently put down the teacup in his hand.

"Chinese people pay attention to convincing people with virtue, Aiyuser, you are too impatient. It is a long road to convert pagans to God. We have a long way to go. We should not rush for success. Deputy Governor Liang said very reasonable Only by becoming their teachers, imparting knowledge to them, and then influencing them can we develop them into true Christians, and perhaps we can develop a few missionaries from among them.”

Willis from the Ferry Evangelistic Association is very dissatisfied with the development strategy of the Fuhan Association in China. The missionary work of other churches has caused a lot of trouble.

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

Sure enough, Jiang is still old and hot. Both Willis and Aiyuser are good at Chinese, but the older Willis is obviously better than the young Aiyuser in both Chinese and Sinology. .

(End of this chapter)