B. Knowing What’s Correct and What’s Incorrect

Now that we’ve finished fellowshipping about discerning right from wrong, we should next talk about knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect, yes? (Yes.) Knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect is definitely different from discerning right from wrong; otherwise, there’d be no need to discuss them separately. Knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect means that, from the perspective of humanity, one must know which viewpoints and which words are correct, and which are incorrect. What is correct should be upheld, and what is incorrect should be let go of. In the minds of normal people, there are some thoughts, viewpoints, and bases for discerning what’s correct and what’s incorrect. They will persist with what is correct, and will oppose or even reject what is incorrect. If one cannot even do this, it shows that there is something lacking in their humanity; it can also definitively be stated that people like this are devoid of humanity. As a person, if you say that you have humanity, but you don’t even know what’s correct and what’s incorrect, then how can you conduct yourself? How can you conduct yourself properly? How can you speak every word and perform every action within humanity? If you don’t know what’s correct and what’s incorrect, then every one of your words and actions is not spoken and performed within humanity. What does it mean to not act or speak within humanity? It means that you do not speak these words and do these things rationally, based on the correct thoughts and viewpoints that humanity should have—this is what it means to not speak or act within your humanity. Some people say, “If one doesn’t speak or act within their humanity, then on what basis do they speak and act?” Roughly speaking there are two bases. One is speaking and acting within a demonic nature, living by a satanic disposition. People who understand the truth can see that the thoughts, viewpoints, and attitudes of these people in their words and actions are the same as those of devils, and that these things mislead, harm, tempt, and misguide people, and are not positive. This is one basis: speaking and acting within one’s demonic nature. The other is speaking and acting as a beast, and beasts are even more devoid of humanity. Being devoid of humanity means speaking and acting without conscience or reason; it’s as simple as that. The words that beasts speak are a pile of muddled, foolish, twisted words; all they say are some distorted doctrines. You see, the words they speak are the same as the thoughts and viewpoints of animals—they are twisted and foolish, stupid and muddled. After listening to them, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, and you say, “How can he say that? It’s as if he were a three- or five-year-old child, preposterous and not knowing any better. These aren’t words that an adult should say! His words don’t hold water, they’re laughable—they’re too embarrassing to say in front of people!” That is an animal, a beast, speaking. They are speaking and acting within the nature of a beast, without any sense to speak of, or any reasonableness, much less any conscience and reason. That is, their speech is highly irrational, without any logic behind it. You don’t know where the things they say come from, and after hearing them, you are completely confused and at a loss. The more you listen to their words and their narration of things, the more chaotic it seems to you, and you have no way of understanding them. When they speak, they always go around in circles, jumble things up, repeat themselves, and they ramble on and on about the same thing and still do not know how to wrap it up in the end. This is a beast, an animal speaking. Such people have a characteristic, which is that no matter what they do, what they say, what thought or viewpoint they possess, or what thought or viewpoint they absorb, they do not even know themselves whether it’s correct or incorrect. This is a characteristic of their humanity. The characteristic of their humanity is ultimately determined to be that such people have no humanity, that is, they have no conscience and reason. They don’t even know what’s correct and what’s incorrect, so do you think they can speak and act with conscience? Can they possess the conscience and reason of a normal person if they don’t know what’s correct and what’s incorrect? Can they have the thinking of a normal person if they cannot discern what’s correct and what’s incorrect? They will never have it. Normal people cannot communicate with such a person. Why do I say this? Is it because you are unloving? No, it’s because you have no common ground, you don’t share any thoughts or viewpoints with them. Communicating with them is like communicating with an animal, with a devil; it’s impossible. Tell Me, if you talk to devils and Satans about the truth, can you get through to them? If you say to devils and Satans, “You should believe in God. God created humankind. As created beings, it is only right and proper that people should worship God,” what will they say? “Worship god? I want people to worship me! How much money will I get for worshiping god? I’ll do it if I get paid.” What kind of words are these? Can you communicate with devils? (No.) What about with animals, can you communicate with them? (We also cannot communicate with them.) You see, some animals are extremely protective of their food when they eat. After finishing their own food, they’ll even try to snatch the food of other animals. If you tell them, “Don’t fight over food, just eat your own,” can they take this in? (No.) When it’s feeding time, they’ll still snatch food from each other, and even start fighting and biting one another. You simply can’t communicate with them. In order to protect them and prevent them from fighting over food, you have to take measures and manage them strictly, feeding them separately when it’s time to eat. Only this is the proper way to manage them. Why? Because they’re animals, they have no rationality, and even less self-control, and they cannot judge whether what they do is correct or incorrect, and so no matter how correct what you say is and how much it holds water, and no matter how beneficial it is to them, they won’t get it. People who are reincarnated from animals are also like this. No matter how clearly the truth is fellowshipped, they don’t understand it, so they never act according to correct principles. Even if they do something wrong, they don’t think it’s wrong, and they will persist in it, and even do so for a lifetime. Are they not animals? Such people who cannot understand human language are just like animals—hardly any better, if at all.

Let’s not talk about animal and demonic nature now, but just focus on the aspect of humanity of knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect. Knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect is a manifestation that a person with humanity should have, but in fact, many people lack it. People often express twisted reasoning, say twisted words, and even do fallacious things, doing them with particular tenacity, and they can even spread their twisted reasoning to others, passing it on to them. The reasoning they express is seriously twisted and yet they still pass it on to others, not only harming themselves but also others. For example, if they don’t like eating rice, they’ll say, “Rice isn’t nutritious. We should eat noodles, steamed buns, and bread.” They say that rice isn’t nutritious. Is this statement correct? (No.) Are you a nutritionist? Have you tested it? What is your basis for saying that rice isn’t nutritious? For instance, there are places where they only grow rice and not wheat, and the people there eat rice their whole lives and live quite well, with many reaching a ripe old age. But based on their own taste, people who express twisted reasoning can say that “rice is not nutritious,” even saying this as though it were sound reasoning. Is this actually sound reasoning? (No.) Let’s not go into whether this statement conforms to the truth—it’s not even sound reasoning. How can they bring themselves to express such twisted reasoning? Are they human? (No.) This statement is obviously erroneous; it is clearly a statement spoken due to selfish desires and bias, a statement from someone who speaks in a twisted way. They themselves don’t even know if it’s correct or not, yet they still announce it very openly, proclaiming it everywhere. Some people like to eat rice and dislike wheat-based foods. When they see someone eating wheat-based foods, they say, “Wheat-based foods aren’t nutritious, rice is nutritious. People who eat wheat-based foods are worthless, while people who eat rice are noble!” They use this theory as a basis to measure all kinds of people. If you like eating wheat-based foods, they consider you lowly and not as noble as them. This statement is so obviously wrong, yet they somehow can’t discern this and even speak it everywhere. Tell Me, do such people have humanity? (No.) When they no longer like eating rice and start to like wheat-based foods, they say, “Rice isn’t nutritious, wheat-based foods are. Look how strapping people who often eat wheat-based foods are; we should eat more noodles and steamed buns! Rice is a cooling^[a] food, it’s not good for the body!” Is this statement correct? (No.) Isn’t this a bias? (Yes.) This is a bias; it’s not a fact. On what basis do they say this? On the basis of their own preferences and biases, on the basis of their fallacious thoughts and viewpoints. But they don’t know that this is incorrect, and even say it and proclaim it as if it were correct. If anyone raises a different opinion, they will argue back, and still persist in their fallacious viewpoint. Isn’t this ignorance about what’s correct and what’s incorrect? (Yes.) They don’t even know what’s correct and what’s incorrect in such a simple matter—tell Me, is their conscience able to function? Can they be upright? An upright person must know what’s correct and what’s incorrect to be able to uphold justice and uphold principles; only then is what they uphold correct. If a person doesn’t know what’s correct and what’s incorrect and persistently clings to an erroneous statement or an erroneous thought and viewpoint, is their so-called uprightness true uprightness? It is not uprightness; it is distortion, absurdity, and twisted reasoning. So, tell Me, does the conscience of such people exist? (No.) They have no conscience to speak of. Some people, when something comes upon them and selfish desires arise within them, can realize it in their hearts and be restrained by their rationality. They know that selfish desires are incorrect, so they can rebel against the flesh and let go of them. But some people are different; in particular, those who don’t know what’s correct and what’s incorrect and who are prone to expressing twisted reasoning will persist with erroneous viewpoints foolishly and obstinately. For example, some people are not good at dancing; when they dance, they’re uncoordinated, they have no sense of balance, and they can’t keep to the beat, always making a fool of themselves. So they say, “People who don’t like to dance are steady individuals. People who love dancing are all unsteady, they have bad personalities and are dissolute. If you marry such a person, your life will definitely be unstable.” Is this statement correct? (No.) Why is it incorrect? (Loving to dance has nothing to do with being steady or not.) Without going into whether they say this out of selfishness, jealousy, or an attempt to slander, regardless of what their intention is, do their words align with objective facts? Are people who can dance and who are good at dancing necessarily unsteady? Are such words based on the essence of these people’s humanity? Is it a fact that they’re unsteady? (No.) Furthermore, what does being steady refer to? Does being steady mean one is a good person? Is being steady a manifestation of being upright and kind, of having humanity? At best, it is a merit of one’s humanity or a strong point; it cannot indicate that someone has normal humanity. They speak their viewpoint as if it were sound reasoning, as if it were a correct statement. Is this not expressing twisted reasoning? (Yes.) The fact they can utter those words proves they don’t know whether what they’re saying is correct or not. Tell Me, do such people have humanity? (No.) Aren’t they very troublesome? (Yes.) If it were someone with normal humanity, even if they were jealous of someone who dances well, at most they would say, “Look how nimble their hands and feet are when they dance. I want to dance too, but I don’t have this gift, this strength; I’m not good at dancing. I’m really jealous that they are able to dance well! If only I had their arms and legs!” Putting it this way is still barely acceptable; this is called speaking the plain truth. At most, there’s something of a corrupt disposition in this, but it’s not a manifestation of having unsound humanity. The problem of expressing twisted reasoning, however, is a serious one. They say, “People who dance are all unsteady and frivolous. You can tell at a glance that they’re not people who can do great things.” The fact they can say these words exposes that there is a big problem with their humanity. What big problem? Their humanity lacks the basic condition of knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect. They can say wrong things, distorted things, and twisted things as if they were sound reasoning and correct words. This is enough to show that they have no humanity. They say whatever they want, without being regulated by their conscience. They are even able to express twisted reasoning in such an open manner, with such a sense of justification, while not even knowing the nature of these words or what the consequences of saying them will be. This is a manifestation of having no humanity. People with no humanity often openly say such erroneous things and absurd things. This is their natural revelation. They don’t only say these things when it comes to one or two matters—they speak this way in all matters, expressing some kind of fallacious thoughts and viewpoints, and believing they are so in their hearts. They never accept correct or positive statements, nor do they ever seek correct or positive statements, but instead persist in speaking this way and in conducting themselves this way. So, such individuals are certainly people with no humanity. They insist on speaking this way, which fully exposes a problem, a fact: They do not know what’s correct and what’s incorrect, and they think that all heresies and fallacies are correct. If you ask them, “What is incorrect?” they’ll say, “Whatever is contrary to these statements is probably incorrect.” And if you ask them further, “What about those words that conform to the truth principles, that conform to objective facts? Are they correct?” they’ll say, “Who cares? Who knows if they’re correct or not? Anyway, the words I say are correct!” Not knowing what’s correct and what’s incorrect—is this a manifestation that a person who truly possesses conscience and reason should have? (No.) The answer is very obvious: It certainly is not.

Someone who liked doing business used to buy some clothing on clearance from nonbelievers and then sell it to the brothers and sisters, making some profit off it. Later, someone else bought some rayon, gauze, and other such fabrics for summer wear and stored them in the warehouse. I said, “It’s not suitable to keep them there. If they’re put there too long, they might get chewed by rats or become moldy from the humid weather, which would be such a shame. We wouldn’t have to worry about that if we made them into clothes for the brothers and sisters to wear, right?” Later, I started to organize this. As we were doing it, the person who sold clothes stood up to object: “No, we can’t do this! Black fabric absorbs heat. The brothers and sisters often work in the sun; they’ll be too hot if they wear black clothes. Who’ll take responsibility if the brothers and sisters fall ill because of the heat or suffer heatstroke?” Does this sound correct? You don’t know, do you? There is an objective fact here: These fabrics were very thin and breathable, they were very cool to wear. Even if black fabric is slightly hotter to wear, as long as the clothing was made a little looser, it wouldn’t cause people to fall ill from the heat as some claimed. Besides, these fabrics weren’t all black; some were in light colors. In fact, the person who said this had ulterior motives. Why do I say this? If you don’t know the context, you might really think he was being considerate of the brothers and sisters. But if you knew the context, you would know that he had an agenda in saying this. If the brothers and sisters were to wear those cool clothes made of rayon, he wouldn’t be able to sell the clothes he’d purchased; the brothers and sisters wouldn’t buy them. The clothes he bought were all from street stalls and clearance sales, of a poor quality; you’d look like a beggar wearing them. Most importantly, his prices weren’t cheap. Now that you know the context, can you get a sense of whether what he said was correct or not? (Yes.) Why did he say this? (He was afraid his goods wouldn’t sell.) He didn’t say he had selfish motives; he used the facade of caring for the brothers and sisters and worrying that they’d fall ill because of the heat to obstruct the making of those clothes, to obstruct this work. There is another objective fact, which is that he himself wore black jeans and black clothes in the summer heat and never said he felt hot. What was going on? What he said didn’t match the facts! We wanted to make some clothes for the brothers and sisters with rayon fabric, and he said, “No, black fabric is too hot, it’ll cause the brothers and sisters to fall ill from the heat.” The black jeans he wore were much thicker than rayon, so how come he didn’t feel hot? So, was his statement that black clothes were too hot and would cause the brothers and sisters to fall ill from the heat, correct? Was he being sincere when he said this? He was not being sincere; he was going against how he really felt. So, was what he said correct or not? Did it conform to the facts? (It did not conform to the facts.) Then why did he say this? It was precisely because this matter conflicted with his business. He was anxious inside but couldn’t say it outright, so he could only use these words to sabotage the matter, to achieve his goal of protecting his own interests. It was I who organized this, and he openly disrupted it like this. If he had any objections to what I organized, he could have brought them to Me directly, but he didn’t do that. Outwardly he put on a great act, seeming to have no objections at all, but behind the scenes he undermined the work, not holding back at all. What did he say? “The brothers and sisters all have clothes to wear, and they’re dressed quite well. Is it necessary to use so many people and put in so much effort to make these clothes?” He didn’t say a word in front of Me; he just undermined the work like this behind the scenes. When he said these words, did he know in his heart whether they were correct? If he had done this to an ordinary person, and he knew in his heart whether it was correct or not, and only did it because he was blinded by greed and was driven by personal motives and aims, this would only be a problem with his character. But he was targeting Me with this action, and after he said these things to undermine the work, he didn’t know whether they were correct or not, he had no awareness of this in his heart, nor did he feel any self-reproach, and he didn’t know the nature of his actions. What kind of person is this? Does he have humanity? (No.) He committed such a grave act yet felt nothing in his heart. Tell Me, did he have a conscience? (No.) He had no conscience, that’s clear to see. Even if it’s an ordinary person attending to proper matters, doing something beneficial for the brothers and sisters in God’s house, you should support it and not undermine it—everyone should cooperate harmoniously to get it done. That is to say nothing of this work that I initiated; yet he still dared to undermine it behind the scenes, and dared to extend his demonic claws. The nature of this is too serious! After he undermined the work, he still pretended to be a good person, as if nothing had happened. Tell Me, did he have a shred of conscience? He still claimed he believed in God, too. Is that the likeness a believer in God should have? Is that the conscience and humanity a believer in God should have? He didn’t even know who he believed in, and couldn’t discern between correct and incorrect. What duty could he do? Such a person still hoping to be blessed—isn’t that a joke? If he had targeted Me personally with remarks about Me, and I saw that he was not intentionally disturbing and disrupting the church’s work, and that his performance of his duty was acceptable, I would have tolerated it for the time being and continued to observe him. But I was doing something that ought to be done for God’s house and for God’s chosen people, something that was beneficial to everyone, and he came out to disturb and undermine it, preventing Me from carrying on. Tell Me, should I go easy on him? If he were someone of small stature who didn’t know any better, but his performance of duty usually bore fruit, then I could tolerate it and give him a chance to repent. If he was willing to repent and willing to render service for God’s house, I could spare him and not deal with him. If he didn’t know what was good for him and continued to release heresies and fallacies, and continued to disturb and undermine things, then I wouldn’t show him any courtesy, and would deal with him according to principles. All that can be done with evil people is to deal with them according to principles. When all the different kinds of vermin that disturb the church are cleansed away, the church will be much more at peace. When these non-humans are dealt with, it will be so peaceful! Livestock such as pigs, cattle, horses are not suitable to be kept inside. If they are, what will the consequence be? Most certainly, it will make the house a foul place, a place of chaos. If you say you could tolerate this, I’d like to see how many days you could go. Things that are not suitable to be kept inside must be let out. They should stay wherever is suitable for them, and the problem is thus resolved. Tolerating is not a solution; only resolving the problem is a solution, right? (Yes.) No matter how clearly you fellowship with these non-humans, they just won’t put any of it into practice. They may have believed in God for ten or twenty years, but when things happen to them, they are still like nonbelievers; they do not accept or practice the truth at all, they have no life entry, and when things happen to them, they just disturb and sabotage things. When such people haven’t shown their true colors, they reluctantly render some service. But once their true colors are revealed, they should be cleansed away quickly—don’t show them any courtesy. If you do, you are being cruel to those who truly have humanity, pursue the truth, and are devoted in doing their duty.

Footnotes:

a. “Cooling” is being used in the context of traditional Chinese medicine. In this context, “cooling” is not referring to low in temperature, but instead to a property of certain foods believed to reduce internal heat, restrain yang energy, and impact the functions of the stomach and spleen if consumed in excess.