2002-12-24

(Clearwisdom.net) This is a letter about Christmas that I wrote to a friend last year. In a previous letter, I introduced Falun Dafa to her, but she thought that beliefs were a personal matter and should not be "promoted" to others. Therefore, I wrote this letter to her. A year passed and now it's Christmas again. I took out the letter and read it again, somehow, I sighed with emotion.

The following is the text of the letter:

After receiving your letter, I had to write you a few words. Perhaps you thought that I was "promoting belief", while I thought that I was showing people good from evil. People can have their own individual beliefs, but they should [be able to] distinguish good from bad. Perhaps for common people, right and wrong can only be clearly seen after the whole truth has been revealed, and a verdict can be given only after significant events have occurred. However, what history leaves for the parties concerned is always compunction and regret, while what is left for the later generations is often references and warnings. I could have kept my beliefs to myself and only been concerned with myself; but my beliefs teaches me to selflessly tell other people what good or bad is.

When I walked on the city streets this evening looking at the bustling crowds and shops decorated with lights and streamers in celebration of Christmas, I could not help sighing and feeling a great sorrow. I felt that I had to tell you my feelings. I would very much like to ask those who are celebrating Christmas, "What is Christmas?" It is Jesus' birthday. "Why do people celebrate Christmas?" Because Jesus brought people the truth and showed them a path to eternal life. People in this secular world appreciate his compassion. However, at the present time, people abuse this sacred holiday to indulge in their desires and behave recklessly. Jesus Christ was born at that time, but if he was here today, he would only sigh. Isn't the human being's degeneration reaching a dangerous state?

I seem to remember faintly a group of words carved on the gravestone of an Egyptian pharaoh, which annotated his understanding about the universe: in length and breadth, ancient and modern, good and evil.