Some scholars believe that worshipping God is China-oriented Christianity. In fact, this statement exaggerates the color of Christian worship of God.

During the Ming Dynasty in China, missionaries came to the East. During their missionary work, they found it extremely difficult to spread pure Christian teachings in China. Not only were they not regarded as disseminators of God by the people of China at that time, but they were demonized in the context of China culture, making it difficult to preach. In view of this, a group of missionaries began to wear Confucian clothes, learn from Confucianism, call themselves "foreign Confucianism", and quote Confucian classics to spread Christian teachings. On the premise of adhering to the essence of Christianity, they learned useful cultural resources from China traditional culture, especially Confucian culture. This makes Christianity in China have China characteristics different from native Christianity. At this time, we can call this situation of Christianity China Christianity. From this point of view, will the worship of God be China Christianity or a folk religion with only Christian color? This is a question worth pondering. Worship of God is undoubtedly influenced by Christianity, but how big is this influence? As far as I know, we overestimated it in previous studies. I tend to think that worship of God is an out-and-out folk religion in China covered with a Christian film.

As the soul of a society that worships God, Hong Xiuquan's thoughts play an important role in the society that worships God. In order to illustrate the relationship between God worship and Christianity, we chose Hong Xiuquan as the specimen. Investigating Hong Xiuquan's early experience, we found that he had contact with Christianity about twice: the first time was indirect, that is, he got a book "Advice to the World" in the process of rushing for the exam and studied it later; The second time was directly, that is, in the spring of 1847, he went to Guangzhou to study Christianity with Luo Xiaoquan, an American pastor, and stayed for about four months.

Hong Xiuquan didn't study the book carefully after he got it, but just looked at it a little and put it on the shelf. Later, Li, his middle watch, accidentally pulled out "My Advice to the World" from his library and asked Hong Xiuquan about the contents of the book. Hong Xiuquan answered with a little knowledge. It can be seen that Hong Xiuquan is not very interested in the true content of the book. On the contrary, judging from Hong Xiuquan's later thoughts, as a Confucian scholar in China who was deeply influenced by China's traditional culture, especially Confucian culture, Hong Xiuquan's interpretation of this book was entirely based on his own knowledge system and practical needs. Hong Xiuquan deconstructed Shi Shuo Xin Yu from the perspective of China culture. Therefore, as far as the Christianity understood by Hong Xiuquan is concerned, it is no longer Christianity, but a hodgepodge of China traditional culture (including folk beliefs) that borrowed some Christian ideas. After Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan broke up with Gu Cun, Feng Yunshan went to Zijing Mountain to preach. Worshiping God was established on the basis of Feng Yunshan members who developed from Amethyst Mountain. Feng Yunshan's thought comes directly from Hong Xiuquan. Therefore, whether the early worship of God was a Christian organization for China.

From 65438 to 0847, Hong Xiuquan went to Luo Xiaoquan to study Christianity. In 1852, Luo Xiaoquan wrote: "When Quan first came to our office, he wrote a paper in the Book of Persuasion, detailing his success, his illness and the visions he saw during his illness, and said that what he saw in his dream was confirmed by what he said in the book. When describing his dream, what he said really puzzled me. So far, it is not clear where he got this view, so he knows little about the Bible. He asked to be baptized, and we were not satisfied that he was qualified, so he went to Guangxi. " Chuan in Luo Xiaoquan's view, Hong Xiuquan's understanding of the Book of Persuasion and Christianity is incorrect. Later, Hong Renkai's description of Hong Xiuquan's strange dream was even denounced as "superstition" by foreign brothers. Hong Xiuquan was not baptized in Luo Xiaoquan. Some people think it was an ambush. But more importantly, as Luo Xiaoquan said, Hong Xiuquan "doesn't know much about the Bible" and can't be regarded as a "qualified" Christian. Since Hong Xiuquan is not even a qualified Christian, the great task of making Christianity China can never be accomplished. Judging from Hong Xiuquan's early experience, he is a genuine Confucian. Therefore, Hong Xiuquan is fully capable of establishing a religious organization and theoretical system like the folk sects in China. The difference between Hong Xiuquan and his predecessors may only be that he decorated the worship meeting he founded with his superficial Christian knowledge.

The above is our general understanding of the relationship between God worship and Christianity. Some scholars have suggested that Hong Xiuquan's revolutionary theory coincides with early Christianity. They believe that the doctrine and revolutionary role of God worship, Hong Xiuquan's own role and works, and the heroic struggle spirit of Taiping Army all show that they accepted the revolutionary doctrine of early Christianity and combined it with the practice of peasant revolutionary struggle in China to become the so-called Taiping Christianity. In fact, this is just speculation, not enough.

In the history of China, there are countless examples of using religion to launch the peasant revolution, and its ideological resources are also extremely rich. Judging from the thought and practice of Hong Xiuquan, God Worship and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is the logical product of the historical development of China peasant revolution. Luo Xiaoquan once said that Hong Xiuquan was puzzled when describing his strange dreams. "So far, it is not clear where he got this advice." . In fact, it is not difficult to find that this kind of opinion came from the folk beliefs at that time by investigating various situations of Hong Xiuquan's strange dreams. Although folk beliefs have never enjoyed the officially recognized right of religious freedom since ancient times, they have always been treated with courtesy. But it has never lost its inherent spontaneity, naturalness and comfort. Judging from its inexorable spreading trend, it is deeply rooted in the fertile soil of China local culture, which widely influences and dominates all aspects of people's daily life and occupies an extremely prominent position. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is a peasant revolutionary movement, and the influence of folk beliefs on it is undoubtedly extremely prominent. We believe that the religious thoughts of most worshipers of gods come from the folk beliefs in China. Worship of God is essentially a traditional folk religious organization in China.