“Valentine's day is a warm day to express love in origin, but it changes in China and it is related with things violating the basic ethnics, such as unfaithful, cohabitation and losing virginity. Why does this phenomenon exist?”
Pastor Liu, currently a leader of a house church in a second-tier city, Eastern China, wrote down such words on the eve of the Valentine's day. In the secularism, the Valentine's day begins to link together with falling of values on love and marriage, turning to be an excuse for falling and opportunity.
At the same time, more and more grass-roots churches see that this trend is destroying values on love and marriage, and leading to many social problems. They try all sorts of rich and colorful activities and congregation on love and marriage to invite young people to establish biblical values on love and marriage.
On February 14th, Christian couples in Hangzhou Xiasha Rock Church participated in the congregation named "Life Together" spending the Valentine's day. The Rock Church said that they hoped to get rid of fast-food type and consumption type of love through this congregation and let couples know more about the eternal things.
In the evening on February 14, Valentine's Day activities in the vineyards of En Gedi with the topic "the beginning of heart, the promise of love " was held in the Beijing Haidian church youth group deputy hall. According to the news on the Haidian church website, voice of David chorus group in the Haidian church lead all the Christians in the church to sing psalms to praise God and thank for the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then all the Christians were divided into three groups ( the 70s, the 80s and the 90s), introduced themselves and communicated with each other within their own group. Many interesting activities were organized for the brothers and sisters to have a happy valentine's day.
Through activities, brothers and sisters introduced each other, gave each other a New Year greeting, shared the spiritual communication and exchanged their respective study life. After the host leaded the ending prayer, brothers and sisters communicated and shared with each other freely; some brothers gave sisters roses with full of blessings or small souvenirs to remember this memorable and happy Valentine's day; some brothers exchanged contact information with sisters for further communication. Through activities, more members knew each other in the Lord Jesus. "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"(Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10).
Besides, many Christians also shared the true origin of the Valentine's day in the WeChat “friends circle.”The lovers’ day in Chinese is not the accurate translation of Valentine's Day. At that time of Saint Valentine, the Roman emperor announced the young man couldn't get married because he thought that a single man would become better soldiers. Regardless of the law, St. Valentine kept helping young people get married. The emperor knew this and sentenced Saint Valentine to death.
Another version is that Saint Valentine was sentenced to death because he helped Christians escape harsh Roman prisons. During waiting for execution, Saint Valentine fell in love with the daughter of the prison guards. It is said that he handed her a piece of affection before death with his signature "your Valentine".This is two versions related to the origin of Valentine's day among Christians. We can see that the origin of valentine's day itself is to let a person see the pure love that God gives single men and women as very beautiful gifts, and the love and marriage of more people should also walk in God's cultivation and irrigation of the truth of love.
Pastor Liu in eastern China also says that the lovers’ day becomes the "unfaithful day". Firstly because today's China bear the "fruit" of sexual moral corruption. Secondly, the deterioration of the Valentine's day is also the direct weak performance of Chinese universities and their education. And the media vulgarization route also has unshakable responsibility and is also the result contributed by merchants.
From the perspective of a Christian, he thinks that the original meaning of the Valentine's day is to express love and affection, care and blessing, but it is distorted, metamorphic in China. We're not going to deny the Valentine's day, but to restore the original meaning of the Valentine's day with the ethical standards of the Bible.
Translated by: Jenny
