The various faculties included within the innate conditions God gives people, or the caliber and abilities people innately possess, have nothing to do with Western or Eastern education. The various faculties within people’s God-given innate conditions are positive things. Why do I say they’re positive things? Because these innate conditions come from God. Specifically, possessing these innate conditions allows a created human to accept positive things, and to learn from, self-reflect based on, apprehend, and understand the various people, events, and things they encounter in real life. This is arranged and prepared for people by God, so it is a positive thing. Whether Eastern or Western education, or Eastern or Western culture, neither has anything to do with the truth that God teaches and provides to people. It even runs counter to the truth and to the humanity God requires people to possess. Therefore, neither Eastern education nor Western education is a positive thing. Regardless of whether it comes from society, from evil trends, or from some ruling class, it is not positive. Even though Western education is a bit more advanced and better than Eastern education, able to give people some freedom and satisfy some of their needs, it merely makes use of people’s free will and their faculty to think about issues and express opinions freely. That is, it makes use of positive things, but the thoughts it advocates and the goals it aims to achieve are not to get people to walk the right path, nor to help them become the true created humans that God wants. So, in light of this, even though Western education is superior to Eastern education or satisfies the needs of humanity, it has not, by making use of people’s free will or certain faculties, enabled them to submit to God, act properly as created beings, and fulfill the duty of a created being. This education also hasn’t brought people before God or helped them become able to worship God and shun evil. Eastern education and Western education have the same function: They both cause people to distance themselves from God and from the truth. Regardless of whether it’s Eastern culture or Western culture, both emerged against the broader societal backdrop of Satan’s rule over mankind and through the process of Satan corrupting mankind. Thus, whether it’s education in the Eastern cultural form or the Western cultural form, everyone lives in this human world of Satan’s corruption. Similarly, mankind has also been corrupted in different societies or under the education of different forms of society, and the result of this corruption is that people have come to possess a humanity which—across different levels and forms of culture—has the corrupt dispositions as its life. Eastern people possess the corrupt dispositions of the qualities of humanity produced by Eastern culture, while Westerners possess the corrupt dispositions of the qualities of humanity produced against the backdrop of Western culture. Although Eastern and Western people may seem different in terms of the qualities of their humanity, in terms of their corrupt dispositions, since they’ve all been corrupted by Satan, both Eastern and Western people live within the same corrupt dispositions, and both possess a humanity that has the same corrupt dispositions as its life. In this way, the nature essence of Eastern and Western people is the same: They’re both hostile to the truth and to God. So, there’s nothing praiseworthy about either Eastern or Western people. Whether Eastern culture or Western culture, in the presence of God and the truth, they’re both negative things, containing nothing commendable. Both Eastern and Western civilizations contravene God’s original intention in creating mankind, which was for mankind to worship Him; they use their respective forms of cultural education to snatch humans, who are in the ranks of creatures, away from God’s presence. In this respect, the East and the West are the same, are they not? (They are.) There’s nothing praiseworthy about the East, nor about the West. You see, although both have accepted God’s work of the last days, after Eastern people accept it, they immediately start hosting brothers and sisters and proactively take them to preach the gospel to their relatives and friends; they have great zeal and enthusiasm for the work of preaching the gospel—Westerners, on the other hand, are different. They are very cautious about the work of preaching the gospel. Even after they’ve accepted God’s new work for half a year or a year, when you ask them if they’ve preached the gospel to their relatives and friends, they say, “My parents, relatives, friends, and fellow churchgoers mostly have their own independent thoughts and views on the matter of the Lord’s return. I have to think it through carefully and touch base with them before I can provide them to you as gospel leads. The main quality of how we in the West conduct ourselves is that we must defend our rights and we must protect our independent space to the greatest extent. How can you just preach the gospel to people without consideration?” You say, “You preach the gospel to them so they can welcome the Lord, gain the truths expressed by God in the last days, and have the opportunity to attain salvation and survive the disasters. This is God’s commission, and it’s the responsibility you ought to fulfill.” They reply, “Well, I still have to protect myself first; God’s commission can wait. I can take charge in this matter. I must have my own independent thoughts, and can’t be swayed by you. Those of us in the West value democracy and freedom; we have an awareness of defending our rights. We’re not like you Eastern people with your blind enthusiasm. We all have our own personal living space, and no one bothers anyone else.” See? It’s at such critical moments that the qualities of humanity of Eastern and Western people are distinguished and differentiated. But in any case, regardless of whether the qualities of humanity are produced by Eastern or Western education—whether it’s enthusiasm or indifference—as long as a person lives within Satan’s corrupt dispositions, they are a member of corrupt mankind. There is no distinction between noble and lowly here; everyone needs an understanding of the truth, the provision of God’s words, God’s salvation, and, even more so, God’s judgment and chastisement.

Although Eastern and Western people have different cultures and live in different civilizations under God’s dominion and sovereignty, they have only one identity before God, and that is of created beings. The basis of the equality of created beings is that the innate conditions God created for people are the same. No matter what cultural differences exist between Eastern and Western people, no matter how they differ in terms of appearance, language, or their modes and ways of thinking about issues, as long as, before God, you are a created being made by Him, then the only positive thing you have is the innate conditions He has given you; everything else is a negative thing. This might sound like a bit of a generalization to you, so to be specific, everything in you—apart from the innate conditions God has given you—is something God wants to change, and something you should change and cast off by accepting the truth. What is it that you need to come to know? The so-called culture of mankind, whether Eastern or Western, consists of thoughts and viewpoints, or theories and statements, designed by the ruling classes of different periods to educate the masses. But whether it’s Eastern or Western culture, it has nothing to do with the truth. Even if it doesn’t conflict with the truth, it still cannot be called a positive thing. No matter how good a certain culture is, it cannot measure up to the truth, much less represent the truth. Even if it’s not what people consider a negative thing, it absolutely cannot be classified in the category of positive things. You must be clear about this. Even if a trend of thought is relatively advanced and progressive among humankind, and it safeguards people’s rights and interests, as well as their survival, while not conflicting with the truth in any way, it still absolutely cannot be classified in the category of positive things. Why not? Because only things within the scope of what is created by God, ordained by God, and under God’s sovereignty are positive things. So why are the things within this scope classified in the category of positive things? Because they involve the truth. In terms of the bigger picture, looking at it from God’s level and from God’s perspective, they involve God’s power and authority; God’s disposition; the principles and original intentions behind God’s creation, ordination, and sovereignty over all these things; and the purpose He wants to achieve, and all the effects brought about by the positive things He wants to uphold. Since, from God’s level, they involve God’s authority, power, and thoughts, as well as the established laws and rules involved in God doing all this and the impact this has on humankind, things within this scope are definitely positive things. From the human perspective, each and every thing created by God, ordained by God, and under God’s sovereignty is beneficial to people; it all exists to maintain and uphold the orderly survival and reproduction of mankind. There is also another, more specific point, which relates to God’s management: These things exist to enable people to understand the truth and better know God, eventually embark on the path of attaining salvation, and become people who fear God and shun evil—this is the result that is to be achieved. So, whether viewed from God’s perspective or from the human perspective, the people, events, and things within the scope of what is created by God, ordained by God, and under God’s sovereignty are all positive things. There can be no doubting this. Think about it—can human civilization and culture measure up to things that are on the level of God’s words and God’s requirements for man? They certainly cannot measure up to or reach such things. The content of human education or culture does not involve God’s essence, God’s disposition, or the laws and rules God has established for mankind, much less God’s original intention in creating all things. Furthermore, from the human perspective, this kind of education and culture cannot help humankind know God, the Creator, nor can they help humankind live better, or reproduce and live on in a normal and orderly manner. On the contrary, within the educational environment of this kind of culture and civilization, mankind will head toward decline and destruction. There is another, more important aspect: Subjected to this so-called “cultural education” and “social civilization,” mankind cannot understand the truth, the significance of them being alive, or the way of survival from it. They also cannot obtain a correct outlook on life and embark on the path of attaining salvation through it, nor become able to worship God, or fear God and shun evil. On the contrary, in a social environment of such cultural education and civilization, mankind becomes increasingly corrupt and wicked, drifts further and further from God, and does evil inordinately. Ultimately, even if God weren’t to destroy mankind, mankind would still bring about its own destruction. If mankind were to govern itself, it would head toward destruction; this is inevitable. Mankind has such a high level of culture, so much knowledge, such great civilization, and believes in and relies on science—so why would it still bring about its own destruction? Mankind pursues knowledge and reveres science so much, yet not only has it not understood the truth or embarked on the path of believing in God, following God, and becoming able to fear God and shun evil, but it can even bring about its own ruin. What is going on here? What has become of the earth now due to mankind’s management of it? The water, soil, and air of the entire planet have been polluted, the ecological environment has been severely damaged, and the life of all mankind has gradually fallen into a desperate plight. This is a fact that everyone can see, so there’s no need to go into detail, right? (Yes.) So, whether Eastern or Western culture, no matter what kind of civilization mankind has, even if it does not conflict with the truth in any way, it still cannot be classified as a positive thing. The viewpoints, thoughts, theories, doctrines, arguments, and behaviors that are covered by the topic of “human culture and civilization,” any products, works, or reforms that are produced under this topic, and so on, are not positive things. Some people say, “Since these are not positive things, does that mean we have to criticize them and classify them as negative things?” I didn’t put it in such a black-and-white way. These things may not involve either positive or negative things, but in any case, they’re definitely not positive things. That is, even if these things do not conflict with the truth and do not violate the principle of God’s creation, ordination, and sovereignty—if they’re not negative things—they’re still absolutely not positive things. In short, this is what I tell you: Even if something does not conflict with the truth, as long as it’s not created by God, ordained by God, or under God’s sovereignty, then it is not a positive thing. This is the principle for discerning whether something is a positive thing; you should distinguish things for yourself based on this principle. What is the most important point here? It’s that you have to be clear in your heart that, when you cannot clearly see whether something is positive or negative, you can first just set it aside and ignore it. When your stature has grown and the truth is clear to you, you will naturally be able to discern it. But for now, you must clearly distinguish which things are positive things that come from God, and you must accept and treat them correctly. This is beneficial for your life growth. There is another important point: If something is a positive thing covered by the definition of positive things, then you must absolutely not treat it as if it were a negative thing. This is a matter of principle, and you must be clear about it.