Firstly because I am due to travel to Hong Kong to celebrate the 58th birthday of my Si-Fu with him, and to be one of the few ’white devils’ and ’long noses’ witnessing the rehearsals for the Chi-Sao Championships. And secondly because I take pleasure in Rolf’s strong belief (and perhaps envy him for it?), and would like to share his deep thoughts on Christianity with you.
So over to Rolf Weinrei!

Your Keith R. Kernspecht

Notes on your Thoughts in the last WT-World:

Dear Grandmaster Kernspecht,

I have been learning WingTsun for the last three and a half years from my Sifu Frank Durst in Giessen. During this time this martial art has fascinated me for many reasons. Firstly I no longer have back pain, which would be reason enough to practice WT on its own. But secondly I had the impression from the very start that there is more involved in WT than mere self-defence. It is at the same time a way inward, a philosophy of life. In this sense I very soon became aware of your eight principles, all of which can also be understood as rules for the right way to live, as well as your remarks in WT-World, where you do not so much reveal yourself as primarily a master teacher of a fighting style, but rather as a spiritual seeker after truth – something I find extremely gratifying. Your latest book takes its title from a quotation by Jesus, and the attentive reader will quickly realise that you obviously take up the Bible from time to time (and probably other "holy" books as well).
In your letter to Jan Silberstorff in the latest edition of WT-World – and on the basis of the common centre shared by the different martial arts – you discuss the different religions and order them around the centre of your (esoteric) circle to show (according to my understanding) that the religions of the world basically want the same and are aimed at the same.
Please allow me to comment on your remarks at this point. My volunteering this without being asked is not in any way due to a personal conviction that my thoughts are of earth-shattering importance. However, the fact that you have presented your exchange of views with Mr Silberstorff to such a wide public in WT-World leads me to assume that you might welcome involvement on the part of interested readers.
I am also writing because I am a Christian, i.e. a follower of one of the religions which you arranged around your esoteric circle in such an orderly manner, and with this in view I would like to make a minor but decisive remark from the point of view of my belief. Where Christianity is concerned you are no doubt right to place it in a lineup with the other religions which have become institutions and assert that its primary functions are probably sociological, economic or similar, like all other belief systems which manifest themselves in the form of institutions of whatever kind.
As a Christian I certainly agree with you on this point, but I just as definitely deny that this description of the outer manifestation of Christianity says anything even remotely relevant about the soul of this religion and the actual object of its faith. From my point of view as a Christian this is not the case!
Or expressed differently: it is alright to place Christianity in line with Islam, Buddhism and Confucianism etc., but it is by no means alright to place Jesus Christ in line with Mohammed, Buddha or Confucius etc.
It is not Christianity that is the object of a Christian’s faith, but Jesus Christ himself. We Christians do not place our trust in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but rather in Jesus himself. To remain with the image of your circle, he is not the way to the centre of the circle, but is himself the hub or centre of the circle. The truth is not a something but a somebody – Christ himself. The truth is not an abstract principle residing in itself, but a philanthropic God who becomes a man in the form of Jesus because he wants to come close to us. He does not remain at the centre of his circle, but goes out to search for those who have lost this centre and mercifully offers us the chance to rediscover our centre through faith in him. In brief terms this is incidentally also the crux of the Christmas message. It is not only I who believe this, but all Christians.

Let me make two further remarks to avoid misunderstandings:
First of all, I am very well aware that the assertions I have just made about the Christian faith are basically outrageous. To claim that God came to earth as a human being and peed into a nappy is quite simply unfounded presumptuousness for any enlightened person who is able to use his common sense.
Neither is this changed if one decides to believe this assertion and dedicate one’s life to it. Indeed, the first people who heard these glad tidings from Jesus already found them "scandalous" (1st Cor.1,23). But today I can give no better answer to this outrage than the first Christians who spread this faith and were prepared to die for it: only those can really understand God who see him as love, and love is known to do crazy things. If the authors of the New Testament are to be believed, God goes even further in his love: As Christians remember at Easter, he allows himself to be crucified out of love. He allows people to kill him, then offers them eternal life with his resurrection.

The last point I find important concerns the matter of tolerance.
You might well counter that faith in Christ as the centre of the world’s circle must generate an intolerant and perhaps even violent attitude to other religions and philosophies of life. Where this is concerned I can only speak for myself, for the failings of the church and overzealous Christians are so obvious (the latest example is George W. Bush’s Iraq war as a religiously motivated crusade) that it would be ridiculous to deny them. Speaking personally I have to say that my belief that Christ is the truth also means that I can never take possession of the truth myself. On the contrary, the truth wants to take possession of me and I should be open to it. Even if that means confronting and rejecting the many lies (also religious lies) in my life. Incidentally, WT has also become a great help to me in this respect: for me, "free yourself from your own strength" means be who you are! Do not try to be somebody else! Confront the truth! Be ready to encounter Christ!
And just as you, dear grandmaster, can help me on my way to this truth with your principles, so it is with Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Socrates and the many other great teachers. It would never occur to me to think or speak disparagingly of them; instead I am grateful for the unending and inestimable riches revealed to me in this way, for all truth is a step towards Christ in the eyes of a Christian. But I do not expect I will ever place my faith in them, for the "centre of my circle" is occupied by the child in the manger, the man on the cross.
If you have actually continued to read my letter thus far, I am very grateful to you. I hope you will not regard me as a know-all; it is just that your remarks in WT World are sometimes so well aimed at what is fundamental, at the truth, that I find it difficult to hold still if I think I can contribute something as well.
In the hope that I will have the opportunity to make your personal acquaintance at some time, and that I will benefit even more from your martial art than before, I remain with best wishes

Rolf Weinrei