A Story by YenYen Lintang

Peace washed over Taoyang as he sat in the school sanctuary. It was a small room–smaller than any of the classrooms–lined with rows of chairs meant to serve as pews. At the front of the room was a table with a wooden cross and a Bible. There were hardly any lines on the spine of the Bible, since few of the students actually ever came to the sanctuary. Like Taoyang, even though they attended a Christian high school, none of them really took to heart any of the lessons that their teachers spouted at them from the Bible.

It wasn’t that they didn’t believe in the existence of the man-deity Jesus or the miracles that he performed. No, it was simply that this particular deity seemed to have little relevance in Taiwan.

Feathery light angelic whispers seemed to breathe over Taoyang’s skin. He twitched slightly, not sure whether the feeling was welcome or not. Every day after school, he liked to come to the sanctuary to experience the peace that the Christian deity offered. There seemed to be a trade-off, however; he could only feel completely tranquil for a brief period before the voices and the touches began. They seemed to be entreating him to do something, to change something, to cut off a part of himself that he was comfortable with and to jump into something that he was terrified of. They seemed to be urging him to become Christian. And that was something that he could not do.

Taoyang popped in his MP3 player and started to walk home. Every day, he passed a Matsu Temple on his way to and from school. He often accompanied his parents to this temple, where they would pay respects to the goddess Matsu and the other gods that lived within the temple. Recently, however, he started to experience a ringing in his head and more voices whenever he passed by. These voices were different from the voices in the school sanctuary; these were angry, jealous voices.

As Taoyang started to pass the temple, he turned up the volume on his MP3 player. For a moment, it seemed to work, but then it was as if the player skipped a song and now he was listening to a cacophony of screaming whispers. Frightened, Taoyang pulled the earphones from his head and cast his possessed MP3 player onto the side of the road. He thought he saw a shadow moving towards him from the corner of his eye, and he began to run.

Unconsciously, one hand went to his neck, where he wore a Buddhist charm and Christian cross on the same chain. When he felt these talismans against his palm, he could sense the shadow drifting further away from him. As he arrived home, he offered a prayer of thanks to the Goddess of Mercy and to Jesus Christ. Maybe the Christian god did have a use in Taiwan, after all, if He could help drive away evil spirits.

Later that night, after dutifully burning incense at his family altar in the living room, Taoyang prepared to sleep. He made sure to put his Buddhist charm and the Christian cross next to his bed, where he also kept a set of Daoist mirrors and yinyangs.

“The more charms, the better protection I have,” he repeated an idea that had been taught to him.

Not long after he turned the lights off, however, voices began to crowd into his head again. He squirmed, feeling as if he were being pulled in a thousand different directions. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? Then he felt the weight begin to build on his chest.

A demon was sitting on him, pressing down on him. He had heard about this before from many people, but could not remember what he was supposed to do to drive the demon away. Frantically, his head searched his bedside and came into contact with something cold and round–a yinyang.

“Go away,” he said. “Please, please go away.”

The weight on his chest increased until he could hardly breathe. His fingers limply released the yinyang and groped for something else. The cross–what was it about the cross? Jesus? What had he learned in school?

Suddenly, a flicker of pure faith surged in him, and Taoyang believed–with the all the assurance in the world–that Jesus Christ, above all other gods, could drive the demon away.

With confidence that seemed to flow through him, but not from him, he spoke: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, get away!”

Instantly, the weight lifted.

Taoyang exhaled sharply, chest heaving.

The next day, Taoyang opened the Bible in his school sanctuary. He spent several days trying to read it and to understand more whole-heartedly some of the things that he was told in school by the Christian teachers. But eventually his enthusiasm began to fade. He still revered the Christian god, in the same way that he revered all Buddhist and Daoist deities. He never forgot that it was Jesus Christ who saved him from the demon that night. But he did forget the momentary conviction he had had that it was Jesus and only Jesus who could save him from evil.

* * *

Taoyang is a very typical teenager in Taiwan. The spirit world is very real to Taiwanese people, even to the educated and “enlightened.” Many normal Taiwanese can honestly recall being possessed, “pressed down on” by demons, or harassed by “voices.”

Christian schools are not uncommon, but many of the students come from non-Christian homes and–although they may not feel the need to actively reject Christianity–they are very resistant to the idea that there is only one God and one way to salvation through Jesus Christ.

To most Taiwanese people, accepting the existence of the Christian god and of Christ are not difficult things to do; Taiwanese are naturally polytheistic, and they feel no qualms about incorporating new gods into their pantheon, which include figures from Buddhism, Daoism, and Chinese folk religions. The monotheistic demands of Christianity are what put off Taiwanese people. Also, like Taoyang, most Taiwanese worship their ancestors as a demonstration of filial piety. To not worship one’s ancestors is perhaps the biggest challenge that Taiwanese face when considering whether to become Christian.

Please pray for Taiwan. They are ready and willing to believe, but to forsake family and social values to exclusively worship the Christian god is something that requires extreme faith.