Conformity?

March 2nd, 2013| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Conformity?

There it is, a five-story house in the middle of a highway to which Mr. and Mrs. Luo Baogen said, “NO!”

You see, this duck-farming couple was the last holdout from a subdivision that was flattened to make way for a main arterial road to a new railway station in Wenling, Zhejiang province. 1,600 families were relocated. Most were forced to accept the money offered by the government. Not so Luo and spouse.

Non-conformity! Luo has become famous in China for his resistance to local officialdom and their aggressive plans for growth and expansion that included scant compensation for land seizure.

Real estate is at a premium in the People’s Republic of China these days. Though, since Mao’s days, private property is permitted, government still is heavy-handed.

Such action is based on “eminent domain”—“the power to take private property for public use by a state, municipality, or private person or corporation authorized to exercise functions of public character, following the payment of just compensation to the owner of that property.”

Except that Luo and his wife weren’t convinced the compensation was just. Hence the resistance.

Such non-conforming buildings even have a label: “nail houses.” Their owners simply refuse to be hammered down!

Luo, apparently, had just finished building his house for ¥600,000 (about $95,000), when he was offered 220,000 (about $35,000) to relocate. He refused.

The road, needless to say, was not opened.

Surprisingly, utilities to the house haven’t been cut off, as is usual in such cases, to hasten the eviction. And Luo and his wife are occupying different rooms to ward off any partial demolition.

Deputy village head Luo Xuehua, a cousin of the duck farmer, said he expected his relative to come to an agreement soon, though he was of the opinion that Luo’s demands were unrealistic.

“We cannot just give whatever he demands,” Luo Xuehua said. “That’s impossible.”

It was. The house was torn down. The elderly Chinese couple has finally admitted defeat. Bulldozers won the day.

Luo caved in and received ¥260,000 (about $41,000). According to village chief Chen Xuecai said: “Luo Baogen received dozens of people from the media every day and his house stands in the center of the road. So he decided to demolish the house.”

Yeah, right!

Non-conformity!

The Bible is clear that the ways of the world are antithetical to the ways of God and exhorts Christians not to conform to the evil around.

And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
so that you may prove what the will of God is,
that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

In fact, “pure and undefiled religion” includes non-conformity.

Pure and undefiled religion
in the sight of our God and Father is this:
… to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1:27

Unstained, unblemished, unpolluted by sin.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,
is not from the Father, but is from the world.
1 John 2:15–16

Some places in the Bible, words are not minced, as conformity is condemned in no uncertain terms.

You adulteresses, do you not know that
friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God.
James 4:4

Be God’s friend! Don’t conform!

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Paul George March 3, 2013 at 5:56 am

    Praise God.Thought provoking. Let us try not to get conformed to the world.

    Reply

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