Numbness

Let’s discuss another manifestation, numbness. What problem is this? (A defect of humanity.) Numbness is a defect of humanity. What are the typical manifestations of numbness in people? Reacting sluggishly, moving at a slow pace, and lacking flexibility while doing things, and, when thinking about problems, having few ideas or only being able to contemplate relatively few aspects of problems. All of this is called being numb. Which aspect of humanity does numbness involve? It involves the depth of one’s view of people and things, the depth of one’s self-conduct and actions, as well as one’s intelligence or caliber when it comes to viewing people and things and conducting oneself and acting. Generally, what kind of person is described with the term “numb”? (A person with relatively poor caliber.) Numbness means that a person has poor caliber, low intelligence, and sluggish reactions—having these manifestations is numbness. Numbness is a major defect of humanity. This numbness does not refer to your arm or leg being numb and losing sensation—it is not this sort of physical insensitivity. Nor does it refer to a personality trait of being dull, stiff, or rigid. Instead, it is a mental reaction or a manifestation of one’s intelligence in handling problems. Typically, this kind of person is often in a state of being numb, dull-witted, and having no reaction when it comes to the people, events, and things around them. That is, they see things but cannot see through to the essence of those things and cannot notice the problems within. When you remind them that there is a problem here, they do not even have a reaction and do not know it is a problem. Even if someone points out the problem to them, they still cannot see through to the seriousness of the problem or the essence of the problem. Consequently, they handle many matters very slowly. This is numbness. Numbness in and of itself is a defect of humanity. As for numb people, regardless of their age or whether any part of their physical body is numb, in terms of the manifestations of their humanity in this aspect, they cannot do specific, essential work, nor can they shoulder work that involves technical content or that is highly specialized in nature. Of course, such people also are not capable of being leaders and workers. If a leader or worker is numb, then trouble will arise in the work that they do, it will come to a standstill and be paralyzed. They aren’t able to notice problems, and they aren’t able to promptly resolve them, so when various problems arise, they cannot notice them, and the problems cannot get resolved. They cannot see problems with their eyes, so they cannot set their hand to resolving them, and they do not know what work is most important to do. Every day, they can only do a bit of superficial work in a routine manner. Whatever work arrangements are issued by the Above, they pass them along, but after passing them on, they have no idea whether they can be implemented properly, what results can be achieved, or what the subsequent effects will be. They cannot see through anything. No matter how many people around them are doing evil, or causing disturbances or disruptions, they cannot perceive it. They also do not know how much work needs to be followed up on or which specific work needs to be implemented. Someone asks them: “Have you assigned and arranged the work?” They say: “It has all been arranged. I fellowshipped with them and read the work arrangement aloud once—everyone knows it.” Is this implementing the work arrangement? (No.) Implementing the work arrangement first requires assigning the responsibilities of the leaders and workers properly, specifying which leader should handle which work, and ensuring that each item of work is assigned to specific people. Additionally, the leaders and workers must be told specifically how to do it and according to which principles. All these matters must be explained clearly so that everyone knows how to do the work. Only this is what it means to allocate work. When performing work, some people merely read the work arrangement aloud to others and have everyone share their understanding and feelings regarding it, and that’s it. As long as they see everyone busy doing their duties, they assume the work arrangement has been implemented properly. At this point, if you ask them: “Do the brothers and sisters have any difficulties in doing their duties? Are there still any problems present? Did you fellowship to resolve them?” they respond: “I haven’t heard of any problems—I’ll go look into it.” Actually, the person in charge of the work didn’t bring up any problems or difficulties, but those difficulties do exist. It is because they are too numb that they cannot notice them. For example, they cannot even perceive it when two people aren’t able to cooperate with each other and vie for status between themselves while doing their duties, and this affects the work. They even say, “Their relationship is pretty good—they have conversations and communicate with each other. If they couldn’t cooperate, they wouldn’t be talking.” People ask them, “Are they vying for status with each other? Can they cooperate harmoniously?” They respond, “I don’t know about that.” Only after an inquiry is it discovered that the two of them aren’t able to cooperate and are competing with each other—competing over who preaches loftier sermons, whose voice is louder, and who speaks for longer. These things have long since been noticed by God’s chosen people. If you ask that person, “Have these problems been resolved promptly?” they will say, “No, they haven’t been resolved. I didn’t know this was work I should do.” They don’t even know to resolve such a major problem—aren’t they feeble-minded? (Yes.) They read the work arrangements aloud once and then require that everyone make declarations and vows to do their duty well, and after that, they consider their job done. They say to themselves, “I remember who the church leader is, who is specifically responsible for which item of work, and who is in charge of film production work,” but they just cannot see how those specific items of work should be carried out. This is what being numb and dull-witted looks like—they are foolish individuals. They cannot notice any problems and do not know how to fellowship about any aspect of the truth principles. When it comes to problems involving the truth principles, they do not know how to fellowship the truth to resolve them. When it comes to problems involving personnel or administrative work, they also cannot perceive any of them. Even if they do see that someone cannot do the work, they do not know how to resolve this. They cannot see through anything. This is what it means to be numb. They only know how to speak some doctrines but they are not competent in the work—they have a numb and dull-witted appearance. Tell Me, is a person like this a leader who is up to standard? (No.) If leaders and workers are numb, this is troublesome—they will not be able to do any work at all. If they do not do the work that they ought to, and when someone reports a problem, they also do not handle it, then this is no longer simply an issue of numbness, instead it is lacking normal humanity, and losing the normal function of conscience and reason.

Numbness is a defect of humanity. Although this defect does not rise to the level of a corrupt disposition, just in and of itself, this problem is fatal. A living person stands there, with functioning senses and limbs, but they just do not have the ability of a normal person to view people and things, or to conduct themselves and act. When they do work, they are like a useless person with no thoughts—they cannot notice any problem, they are even less capable of resolving problems when others bring them up, and they cannot see what work should be done. In their mind, it is as if nothing concerns them. As a result, they cannot do any work—they are a good-for-nothing, a useless person. Is this problem not serious enough? You see, obstinate people and sensitive people at least have active thoughts—they possess the thinking of a normal person; that is, their minds are constantly operating. But numb people’s minds are simple; it’s like their minds are paralyzed, it’s like they’re dead. Although they have eyes, no matter what they see, there is no reaction in their minds, and they will not contemplate it in their minds; they have no thoughts and are entirely wooden figures. What are wooden figures? They are people carved from wood; they outwardly resemble people, but when you speak to them, they do not react. You ask them to watch the house, but when the house is robbed, they do nothing. You ask them, “Why didn’t you watch the house?” and they still do not react. If a person has no reaction to anything, this is very troublesome. In other words, the functions that the instincts of humanity should perform—such as the functions of thought and awareness, and the functions that the eyes, ears, brain, and heart should perform—cannot be carried out. They do not have or fall short of the thoughts that people with normal humanity should possess. This is what is called being numb. Numb people are not that different from useless people. Some people say, “You say that people of this sort are numb, that their eyes, ears, and brains cannot perform their functions. But if you insult them, they react. If they suffer a loss, they react. So can they still be considered to be foolish people?” Even some animals can understand human speech—they can understand both the good and bad things that you say about them. If someone, as a human being, cannot understand human speech, then they fall short of the standard of being human. Therefore, to measure whether someone is human, the standard for humans must be used. Why do I mention animals? It is to let you know that you are a living creature that is within the category of created humans, not an animal. If you, as a human, lack the thoughts that even animals possess, then you fall far too short. Even animals know to be good toward and to get close to those who treat them well and provide their daily meals. If you, as a human, lack such humanity, do you still deserve to be called human? Why do I make this comparison? It is to let you know that you are not an animal or a higher-level animal; you are a person, you are the highest-level being among all things created by God—a human. You have language ability, thinking ability, and the ability to understand the truth. God created you to be the master among all things, to manage all things and other living beings. You are the steward of all living beings among all things. To manage them, you must be above them. You must be better than them in order to have the ability to manage them. Therefore, mentioning animals is not to belittle you but to remind you and make you understand that you should be better than them. You should use the abilities that your humanity should possess, as well as the various kinds of common sense and abilities that you have acquired since you were born, to manage them and lead them, doing what a human should do, what God has commissioned you to do. If you regard yourself as a created human, you should use the standard for created humankind to measure your humanity and your essence. This standard should not be lower than the standard that God has established for humankind. Therefore, to measure a person’s caliber and the problems in various aspects of their humanity, the standard for humans must be used. Many people are mentally numb and sluggish to react in terms of humanity, which leads them to perform many of their duties poorly in the course of doing their duties—they are incompetent in church work, and they are unable to practice according to the truth principles. Therefore, you must know yourself and know your own measure. If you do not possess this kind of caliber or humanity, or if you have the defect of numbness in your humanity, then you should not vie to be a leader or supervisor. If you become a leader or supervisor, then whichever church’s work you are responsible for, that church will become paralyzed. Whatever item of work you are responsible for, that work will be a complete mess. If you cannot be competent for it, you should stand off to the side and let those who are capable of performing it do it. Do you understand? (Yes.) Having self-awareness, and then learning to make way for those who are more capable and to recommend others—this is the principle of practice. Some people say, “I’m so numb that I can’t tell who is good—how can I recommend anyone?” If you cannot tell who has good caliber and cannot make recommendations, you need to learn some lessons. When you see someone who understands the truth and can discern others, you should learn from them. By fellowshipping with them more, you will be able to learn some things. Since you have the defect of numbness in your humanity, don’t be picky or selective about what duties you do. You yourself have this defect, so there are not many kinds of work and duties that you can do. If, with much difficulty, a suitable position is found for you, and you are still being picky and selective, then this is not a problem of numbness or a defect of humanity but a corrupt disposition. What corrupt disposition? It’s that of arrogance, of not submitting, and of not knowing your own measure. You are nothing, just a good-for-nothing, an idiot, yet you still want to do duties that are dignified, that are not tiring, and that are highly regarded by others—this indicates an arrogant disposition. If you are very numb, having work that you should do and matters that you should take care of but neither doing nor noticing them, if you do not even bother to lift a finger when things go wrong, and even when you see something harming the interests of God’s house, you ignore it, thinking, “This isn’t a problem in my own house, so I won’t bother with it,” this is not merely numbness but a lack of conscience and reason. If you have even a bit of conscience and reason and treat the matters of God’s house as your own, then you should fulfill your responsibility and not allow the interests of God’s house to be harmed. But if you lack this good intention and do not do a single good thing, aren’t you a dull-witted and numb person? That concludes our discussion on the manifestation of numbness.

Being Unashamedly Thick-Skinned

Let’s now talk about being unashamedly thick-skinned. What kind of problem is being unashamedly thick-skinned? (A defect of humanity.) Is it a defect? (It is a problem of poor character.) Poor character means bad humanity. What aspect of humanity does being unashamedly thick-skinned involve? It involves conscience and reason, as well as integrity and dignity. This involves the aspect of one’s character. What are the specific manifestations of being unashamedly thick-skinned? What things indicate that a person is unashamedly thick-skinned? Whatever shameless things they do are certainly manifestations of being unashamedly thick-skinned. Flattering and fawning without feeling that it’s cringeworthy—isn’t this being unashamedly thick-skinned? (Yes.) Why do we say this is being unashamedly thick-skinned? Because doing this indicates that a person has no sense of shame. They can say some words that violate the conscience of normal humanity or that do not conform to the facts, no matter how cringeworthy or unpleasant those words are, without blushing or their hearts palpitating, and they do not care how others perceive them after hearing them; even if others laugh at them, they do not care. They lack a sense of shame, don’t they? (Yes.) Isn’t having no sense of shame exactly what being unashamedly thick-skinned is? Also, when someone is clearly nothing, yet still publicly vies for status and to be a leader—isn’t this being unashamedly thick-skinned? (Yes.) Not only do they vie publicly, but during elections, they also fabricate ballots. While others cast one vote per person, they cast two votes for themselves—isn’t this being unashamedly thick-skinned? (Yes.) When others don’t vote for them, they vote for themselves. Such people vie to become leaders unabashedly and without any sense of shame—how unashamedly thick-skinned they must be! Generally, those who love status and have ambition all wish to present themselves well so that others might choose them as a leader. Once they are chosen as a leader, they feel quite proud, but if they are not chosen, they feel unhappy and displeased—this is a normal manifestation. However, unashamedly thick-skinned people are not like this. They will use any means necessary to become a leader. They say, “Everyone dislikes me and won’t vote for me, but I will find a way to become a leader. Even if I have to cheat and use underhanded means, I will make everyone vote for me as leader!” Others say, “Even if you become a leader, everyone will still dislike you. We do not have a good opinion of you, and your reputation is bad. If you arrange any work, no one will listen to you.” They respond, “Even if you don’t listen to me, I will still try to be a leader!” How unashamedly thick-skinned such people must be! Judging from this, don’t such people lack self-awareness? (Yes.) They lack self-awareness and have a somewhat violent quality to them. Judging from the thoughts and viewpoints of unashamedly thick-skinned people regarding their self-conduct, they have no sense of shame in their humanity, they do not care about integrity or character, conscience or a sense of embarrassment, nor do they care about morality and the baseline for their self-conduct—they disregard all of these. Judging from their thoughts and awareness, they are amply stupid, ignorant, and base. It is thus said they have poor, bad character. So, the shameless things they do are certainly driven by their erroneous thoughts and viewpoints. During church elections, they insist on choosing themselves, voting for themselves, and becoming a leader—not becoming one is unacceptable to them, and if they don’t become one, they will hate the brothers and sisters for not voting for them. Once they find out that you didn’t vote for them, they find you displeasing. No matter what you say, they retort with something. They are extremely harsh when talking to you, as if they’re breathing fire. They also think about how to take revenge on and torment you, and may even refuse to speak to you for their entire life. What is revealed in these specific actions of such people is a corrupt disposition. What kind of corrupt disposition is it? (Viciousness.) To put it mildly, it is arrogance and overestimating their own abilities—they simply want to be a leader. However, judging from their means of doing things and various manifestations, they are people who have a vicious disposition. The corrupt disposition of these unashamedly thick-skinned people who have vile humanity is very evident. All their actions can rise to the level of corrupt dispositions. Being unashamedly thick-skinned is one manifestation of their character; in their speech and actions, then, they are governed by this aspect of their character, and consequently they commit many shameless deeds, and reveal various corrupt dispositions, such as arrogance and viciousness. Therefore, to a certain extent, the vile manifestations that are revealed from a person’s character fall within corrupt dispositions; these manifestations are all connected and entangled with their nature essence, and their specific revelations of any corrupt disposition originate from their vile character. Thus, vile character and corrupt dispositions are interconnected. People’s corrupt dispositions are produced after people are corrupted by Satan. For example, aspects of vile character within people’s humanity, such as being obstinate, narrow-minded, and unashamedly thick-skinned, all result from people being corrupted and worked on by Satan. Before accepting the truth, people all first accept the corruption and misleading of many fallacious, evil, and negative thoughts and viewpoints—they accept these fallacious things into their hearts as their life, and this means that corrupt dispositions become their life.

Being unashamedly thick-skinned has some other manifestations. Some leaders and workers carry out obvious actions of causing disruptions and disturbances, deceiving those above them while keeping things from those below them, or going against work arrangements, and their actions even cause great harm to the church work. Yet not only do they not reflect and come to know their own problems or admit the fact of their evildoing of disturbing the church work, but on the contrary, they even believe they have done well, and want to seek credit and rewards, boasting and testifying everywhere about how much work they have done, how much suffering they have endured, how many contributions they have made during their work, how many people they have gained through preaching the gospel while working, and so on. They do not acknowledge at all how much evil they have done or what great harm they have brought to the church work. Of course, they also do not repent, much less reverse course. Tell Me, are such people not unashamedly thick-skinned? (They are.) If you ask them, “Did you carry out the church work according to the truth principles? Did your work conform to the work arrangements of God’s house?” they avoid the topic. If other people then expose that they caused serious losses to God’s offerings during their work—some losses amounting to several hundred yuan, some to several thousand, and some even to tens of thousands—what is their reaction when they are asked to compensate? Normal people with conscience, reason, and a sense of shame would collapse upon hearing this, feeling humiliated and ashamed from the depths of their hearts. They would believe that they had not done their work well and that they were so indebted to God, and so they would not try to justify themselves; even if they did some concrete work and endured a lot of suffering, they would not think it worth mentioning. If their work had truly been done well, could it have caused so much harm to the work of God’s house? It could not have. Simply judging by the harm they caused, it can be proved that their work was done poorly, and so they should admit fault and repent. Regardless of whether the losses they caused require compensation, at least, they must acknowledge the fact that their work caused disturbances and disruptions to the church work. Only utterly shameless people would refuse to acknowledge this fact. They would say, “Even if I compensate for the losses, I will not acknowledge that I made any mistakes or did anything wrong in my work. Even if I repay the debts, I am still a meritorious person, better than the average person in God’s house. I have had a glorious history!” What kind of humanity is this? Tell Me, do people of this sort have any sense of shame? Can they even spell the words “sense of shame”? If they truly have no sense of shame, that is problematic. If they know clearly in their hearts that they have done evil but stubbornly refuse to verbally acknowledge it, aren’t such people very intransigent? If they recognize in their hearts that they have done evil and can also acknowledge it verbally, then they still count as possessing conscience—they still have a sense of shame within them. If they not only refuse to acknowledge it verbally but are also defiant in their hearts, constantly resisting and even spreading claims everywhere that God’s house is treating them unfairly and that they are victims of bad luck, then their problem is serious. How serious? They have no conscience or reason at all. Conscience must include both a sense of justice and kindness. One aspect of a sense of justice is that people must have a sense of shame. Only when people know shame can they be upright, have a sense of justice, and love positive things and hold to them. However, if you lack a sense of shame in your conscience and in your sense of justice, and you don’t know shame—and if, even after doing something wrong, you do not feel embarrassed about it, and do not know to reflect on or hate yourself, and feel no regret, and do not care how others expose you, and are unblushing and feel no shame—then your conscience as a person is problematic, and it can also be said that you have no conscience. In that case, it’s hard to say whether your heart is bad or evil—it is possible that your heart is evil, that it is the heart of a wolf; not positive but negative. People without conscience and without humanity are demons. If you do something wrong and feel no shame at all, and do not feel remorse or a sense of guilt, and you not only do not reflect on yourself but also argue, oppose, and attempt to defend and justify yourself, dressing yourself up in a nice-looking facade, then, if measured against standard humanity, your humanity is problematic. Regardless of how your reason is, if you fall short of the standard of conscience, then it is hard to say whether you actually have humanity or not. Let’s not discuss what your inner spirit is, where you came from, or what evil you have done in the past; let’s not talk about your previous life. Just speaking in terms of the conscience you should have in this life, if you lack a sense of shame, then you are not up to standard as a person. Some people say, “I am unashamedly thick-skinned so I just take whatever I want.” But it depends on where you do that—doing that in God’s house will not work. God’s house is not a place that you can live off. If you insist on living off it, you are bound to bring calamity upon yourself. Some people think, “I’m as thick-skinned as a crocodile. No matter where I go, I act this way, parading around like I own the place! I don’t care what others say about me—who can do anything about me?” People may not be able to do anything about you, but since you believe in God, you should pay attention to how God measures and evaluates everything you do, how God defines you and what verdicts He passes on you. If you do not pay attention to this, are you still someone who believes in God? If you don’t even care about this, then you are a disbeliever. You may disregard what people say about you, but shouldn’t you care about God’s evaluation of you, His view on you, and the verdicts He passes on you? If God’s evaluation of you is that you are unashamedly thick-skinned, dead to embarrassment, and devoid of a sense of shame, that your humanity lacks many things, and that you are missing some very important things, then you should start conducting yourself anew—you must repent and stop coming up with your own reasoning. Even if you have thousands upon thousands of excuses, the single fact that you are unashamedly thick-skinned is enough to determine that there is a tremendous problem with your humanity and conscience. Measured by this alone, your problem is very serious. If you can understand what I am saying, you should repent and stop coming up with your own reasoning in your heart. Your reasoning stems from impetuousness, from emotions, from Satan—even if you believe your reasoning is not wrong, it is not the truth. God’s assessment of you is not entirely based on your corrupt dispositions. Before considering your corrupt dispositions, God first looks at your humanity. What your humanity is like and what your attitude toward each matter is like are determined by your character. What God observes is certainly accurate, and the standard by which He measures you also conforms to the truth. No matter whom He measures, it is never based on their outward appearance but on what they actually do, their revelations and manifestations in their daily lives, their thoughts, viewpoints, and attitudes when handling each matter, as well as their attitude toward positive things, toward the truth, and toward God. No matter how God ultimately defines or evaluates you, you won’t be wronged. It is not based on your temporary manifestation or occasional transgression; it is an evaluation that’s based on your overall manifestations. Therefore, God’s evaluation of each person is accurate and objective. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) The manifestation of being unashamedly thick-skinned involves a person’s character. Of course, to a certain extent, it also rises to the level of a corrupt disposition. Because such people have this aspect of humanity, it leads them to do certain things, and when they do these things, they reveal their corrupt disposition. Regardless of which kind of corrupt disposition is revealed, the corrupt dispositions revealed and the actions performed by unashamedly thick-skinned people are inseparable from their humanity. Thus, whether a person’s corrupt dispositions can change and be cast off depends on what their character is like. If their character is evil, if they resist the truth, are repulsed by and averse to the truth, and refuse to accept the truth, then their corrupt dispositions will be difficult to cast off, and they will not be able to attain salvation. However, if, in terms of their character, they are not an evil person, and they can comprehend and accept the truth, are not obstinate, and do not have problems of vile character, then their corrupt dispositions can be cast off. Everyone has corrupt dispositions, but what determines whether one can cast off corruption and attain salvation? (It depends on what one’s character is like.) Exactly—it depends on whether one’s humanity is good or bad.