The children who live on Mount Zion are now educated in the New Testament Church’s ‘God-based’ education system known as Eden Homestead. In the early years of settlement on the mountain children were educated in the nearby village school . The secular education provided was not congruent with the values that the co-workers were attempting to install in their children. The reforms to the education system that were ushered in during the mid 1990s relaxed the centralisation that typified Taiwan’s education and enabled private education to expand . As a response to this, in 1997 Hong declared that that the New Testament Church would educate its children itself, and do so on Mount Zion214. The conventional education system was damned and the movement of children of co-workers out of these schools is celebrated on posters at Mount Zion -
To us -
Diplomas are trash and school is history We are no longer slaves to grades
nor are we exam machines under the oppressive education system
of the human kingdom We learn for God
91c
This is the most meaningful and valuable .
212 Hong, E. (1983). A Man and a Mountain Chosen of God. Taipei, Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade. Page 47.
213 Pan, H. and C. Yu (1999). "Educational Reforms: Their Impact on School Effectiveness and School Improvement in Taiwan, R.O.C." School Effectiveness and Improvement 10(1): 72-85. Page 79.
214 http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/english/index3.htm accessed on 15 February 2008. 215 Photo of poster on Mount Zion taken by author on 12 January 2008.
The Eden Homestead education system is a radical rebuttal of the mainstream system in Taiwan. There is a strong emphasis placed on nature, as part of God’s law of creation, and students study in a variety of fields “ranging from sweeping, mopping, cooking, sewing, cosmetics, construction, farming ... to languages, sciences, art and computer”216.
The Eden Homestead on Mount Zion is part of global network of schools that is operated by the New Testament Church. The church claims to have “close to 1000” children learning in Eden Homesteads worldwide . Exchange forms a large part of the education system, with representatives of the church telling me that children spend months at a time in other countries, where they participate in Eden Homesteads at church properties, some of which are consecrated lands and are termed ‘off-shoots of Zion’. The strong family bonds that are generated within the Church help mitigate homesickness felt by the students as ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties’ (Church co-workers) educate the children through “faith, love and patience”218. While the education of the New Testament Church’s children is kept in-house, those that are eligible for military service in Taiwan still participate.
Taiwan has a requirement of military service. Under the Military Service Law, all males are required to fulfil 22 months of military service . Representatives of the Church have told me that the young men of Mount Zion fulfil this obligation. While willingly participating in military service might be an attempt to minimise the perception of the New Testament Church being a civil disturbance, it does not appear
216 http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/english/index3.htm accessed on 15 February 2008. 217 Ibid.
218 Ibid.
to comfortably reconcile with the ultimate goal of Eden Homestead, that is “to terminate the systems of the human kingdoms, end the history of men, accomplish God's plan of salvation, usher in the new heaven and new earth, and bring all creation into the perfect realm of Eden to enjoy God's commanded blessings”220. Willingly taking part in the national army could be seen to validate the rule of the human kingdom, when so many of the New Testament Church’s other activities snub it. At Mount Zion my guide told me that officials in the army are very happy with the range of skills and high level of competency demonstrated by graduates of Eden Homestead.
Tourism
Mount Zion has evolved into something of a tourist destination in the years since the New Testament Church was allowed to return. Guests are welcomed to Mount Zion and the church hopes that they will be inspired to know and accept God221.
Despite building a multi-story car park and having a designated parking area for coaches as well as providing maps and a huge number of information signs, church representatives have told me that Mount Zion is not designed as a tourist destination - it is a pilgrimage destination. This notion is supported by the church’s continuing unwillingness to levy a fee for visitors. The church claims that the number of visitors can be several thousand on public holidays and “as high as the tens of thousands” during the Chinese New Year222. As it is located in Kaohsiung Country, visitors with private transport from the nearby large cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung
22,1 http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/english/index3.htm accessed on 15 February 2008. 221 hom e.zion.org.tw/zion/english/zion/tour/rightll.htm accessed on 15 February 2008. 222 hom e.zion.org/tw/zion/english/zion/history/flow/right.htm accessed on 15 February 2008.
can easily visit Mount Zion for a day trip. As of December 2007 it was much more difficult to visit by public bus as there were only two buses that went past the mountain. Aside from spiritual motivations, visitors may be persuaded to visit Mount Zion to witness the communal lifestyle enjoyed by its residents. Likewise, they may be interested in the controversial history of the mountain or merely just want to enjoy a walk around the attractively landscaped gardens and forests.
An additional reason for public interest in Mount Zion may be the growing popularity of the LOHAS movement. LOHAS is an acronym for ‘lifestyles of health and sustainability’ and is a consumer movement based on a perceived social or environmental benefit resulting from purchasing specific goods or services. Taiwan, along with Japan, has been recognised as being home to one of the fastest growing LOHAS sectors223. The organic food and natural products produced by the New Testament Church, along with their God-based ‘back-to-nature’ lifestyle holds many similarities with the LOHAS movement. The growing acceptance of, and interest in, LOHAS may have a normative effect on Mount Zion and the New Testament Church as their might be a greater degree of acceptance of their organic produce, in spite of their radical Christian beliefs.
While visitors to Mount Zion will be unable to avoid seeing posters that provide forceful and graphic denunciations of the KMT (see Figure 3), there are also a number of guides roaming the mountain who are able to explain the history, role and landscape of Mount Zion as well as elucidate the New Testament Church’s scriptural position.