Chinese Textbook Changes Bible Story, Claims Jesus Killed A Sinner

• A textbook in China has attracted negative reaction from members of the Catholic faith after it changed a story from the New Testament.
• According to the book, Jesus stoned an adulterous woman to death and even said he himself is “a sinner.”

A school textbook has sparked outrage among Catholics in China. The said book, which was published by government-sponsored University of Electronic Science and Technology Press, claims Jesus stoned a female sinner to death.

The book quoted the New Testament story taken from the Gospel of St John which was about how Jesus reacted when a woman, caught in adultery, was brought to him. In the original text, Jesus told the woman he does not condemn her and instructed her to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11). That part has been altered in the controversial textbook.

The textbook version claims, after the crowd disappeared, Jesus stoned the woman to death saying, “I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.”

Of course, believers of the Catholic faith weren’t happy about it, especially since the textbook is used for teaching “professional ethics and law” in certain vocational schools.

One parishioner, for example, said that the strange change was an insult to their beliefs. Turning a passage about repentance and forgiveness into a justification for state-sanctioned murder for minor offences.

“I want everyone to know that the Chinese Communist Party has always tried to distort the history of the Church, to slander our Church, and to make people hate our Church,” he wrote on social media.

In an interview with UCA News, Christian teacher Matthew Wang also confirmed that the textbook account varied from place to place within the country – which is surprising since it has been reviewed by the Textbook Review Committee for Moral Education in Secondary Vocational Education.

Meanwhile, a Catholic priest who declined to be named remarked that this is “a sad social phenomenon in mainland China.”

Paul, a Catholic member, added:

“The same pattern has been repeated every year but the Church has never fought back or received the respect and apology it deserves.”