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Just as offensive as the word "Samaritan"

Forum: MessageBoard
Re:

Samaritan is a Jew or Gentile?
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Poor Thing, So-Call Chup Cheng ('Santa' Monica)
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Quite distasteful. (frank)
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Well.. (Eveline How)
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Untitled
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 10:06:07 GMT
From: Eveline How <luv_jazz@hotmail.com>

Dear "unknown"
That's the point. Nowadays we read the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we think "Samaritan" means just mixed blood, Jew + Gentile, nothing much. We think Samaritan is very good - helpful Samaritan; Samaritan woman at the well. We have SOS - Samaritans of Singapore.
But a Jew wouldn't even touch a Samaritan. Jews consider Samaritans dirty, unclean, cannot be friends with them. Samaritans must keep hiding at home, and can only use the town well at certain hours (at noon). "Samaritan" is an extremely offensive word, probably just as "chup cheng" is.
But today, in Singapore, we do not understand this sort of undertone in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We think, oh Samaritan helped injured Jew out of own pocket, very helpful, very kind, must learn to be like the Samaritan. But Jesus' use of the Samaritan as the hero is shocking! But do we Singaporeans understand it?
It takes Santa Monica's use of the word "chup cheng" to shock people in this forum into realising how shocking the message of Jesus was to the Jews. If this is the kind of impact her use of the word has on us participants, then she has succeeded in conveying the kind of message meant in the Bible. Don't blame her for using this "distasteful" "chup cheng" term because the passage IS supposed to be distasteful to the Jews.
-eveline