For Rent?

As I was driving into Kamalasai from the north, I was taken aback when out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a sign รับเช่าพระ which translates Phra for Rent.

Phra for Rent Sign

"Phra" is a word that carries a lot of different meanings, but one of the more common ones is to refer to monks. So my brain quickly interpreted this as "monks for rent," and I was a bit stupefied. Is this some sort of temple prostitution being advertised? Which would be really weird because it it not really a thing in Thailand. It would even be against the teachings of Buddha. So there had to be some other meaning.

The Thai language has a very rich vocabulary and there are often many ways to say the same thing. So to me it is odd that they have words like Phra that have so many different connotations. So, on another day, I went by on my bicycle and looked more closely at the sign. There were images of amulets on the poster. Then I understood the meaning—someone was renting out religious charms. There are other words they could have chosen to be more clear about this meaning, but I guess thay chose Phra because it is the shortest.

The use of amulets is quite common in Thailand, particularly among men. Most people have at least one amulet hanging around their neck. Some people have so many amulets, I wonder how they keep their head up straight against the weight of them.

People believe that amulets have special power to protect one from dangers and hazards of various types. There are magazines dedicated to the subject where one can research which amulets can be used for particular types of protection. These pendants can be quite expensive, especially for a charm that was worn by a particular person that protected that person from harm. Or maybe the charm has special powers that were given to it by a monk who prayed an incantation over it.

Amulet vendors are everywhere and it is not unusual to see someone studying a pendant under a magnifier trying to determine if it is genuine.

Amulets for Sale

Since powerful amulets can be quite expensive, it makes sense that someone would make a business renting them out. Someone might want some special protection for a certain event. Or maybe they just need to impress someone in particular with their choice in amulets.

It can be easy to ridicule people for such superstitions, especially for someone like me who grew up in a religion that didn't use much in the way of symbols. I even struggle sometimes with the way that Christians use crosses.

The Bible is full of prohibitions regarding the use of idols—images resembling people, animals, birds, or mythical creatures. So it is interesting to hear people in Thailand say that one of the reasons they don't like Christianity is precisely because it doesn't have the idols. The are many people who want something that they can look at or touch. It is part of what makes their religion real for them.

The writer of Hebrews tells us: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1-NIV)

There is a saying that goes, seeing is believing. What makes Christianity difficult for some is that it reverses this to something like, believing is not seeing.

Since I grew up without the use of idols or amulets, it is easy for me not to depend on them. But it must be really hard for those people whose culture is full of statures and images and charms worn on the body. I really can't imagine what it must be like for them to believe in a God they cannot see. But one thing I do know is that when I put my trust in the One I cannot see, Jesus Christ, His presence became very real to me, as real as any statue that I can touch with my fingers.

Thomas, one of Jesus' disciples, had difficulty believing that Jesus rose from the dead. Then, when he finally saw Jesus, he believed the resurrection had actually happened. Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29-ESV)

There is no need for us to buy or even rent a charm or statue. We need only put our faith in the One who died on the cross and rose again. We may not see Jesus, but He is real, and He is alive.

Keeper of the books

Good Friday.

What's so good about it?

The other day I was looking up a word in my Thai-English dictionary and my eyes caught an adjacent entry that piqued my interest.  This began a chain of looking up words that help explain other words until I came across this one:

เจ้าพ่อเจตคุปต์

Which roughly translates: guardian spirit that keeps the thoughts

Transliterated it comes out something like Jao Paw Jettakoup

Jao Paw Jettakoup is one of five idols in the City Pillar Shrine in Bangkok.

Image credit:
http://2g.pantip.com/cafe/gallery/topic/G11881443/G11881443.html

The job of Jao Paw Jettakoup is to remember all of the bad deeds people have committed and to recite them to the god of hell after the person dies. (It's probably not a good idea to try to bribe him to edit the record.)

Many Buddhists here in Thailand believe in the existence of an account book called the Account of Good Deeds and Account of Sin (บัญชีบุญบัญชีบาป).  When a person dies, that account book is opened and the good deeds are weighed against the bad deeds to see what kind of punishment a person will get. They also believe that merit made on behalf of the dead person will be taken into account, which probably accounts for many of the merit-making activities in Buddhist funerals here.  (Note: not all Buddhists believe this, some believe one's fate is determined by an automatic cause-and-effect process that does not involve a deity as a judge.)

For most of us, the existence of such a record book would not be a good thing.  If the book was something tangible we might go through a lot of effort to seize and destroy the book--or at least edit it--but in the process earn a bunch of entries on the "bad deeds" side.

This is where Good Friday comes in.

By His death on the cross, Jesus is able to take away the sins of those who believe in Him.  This is why, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)  It's as if  by submitting to crucifixion, Jesus earned the right to take an eraser to the Account of Sin.

That is Good News!  That is why it is called Good Friday.

The Cross - Good News for us

The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world.

David writes, "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:12, ESV).  Jesus is able to take the one side of the ledger and heave it as far as the east is from the west.

Good News!  Good Friday.

When I think about this Buddhist concept of a Book of Deeds, I am reminded of Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:4.  Love, he says, "keeps no record of being wronged".

Jesus tells us that "God is Love."


There is no reason to take an eraser to the Book of Deeds if you don't keep such an account in the first place.

This is what Love does.

This is what God does.

  Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:7-10, NLT)

Good News!  Good Friday.

So we compare:

Jao Paw Jettakoup-the one who ensures none of your bad deeds is forgotten.

Jesus Christ-the one who ensures none of your bad deeds is remembered.

Which will you choose?


Good News!  Good Friday.

Explore

Last week, while we were driving home from Chiang Rai, we decided to take a different route than usual.  The route took us through an area that has a fair number of these bizarre hills that stick almost straight up out of an otherwise very flat landscape.

A limestone hill in Wiang Chai district of Chiang Rai province.

I noticed that there seemed to be some kind of statue on the side of one of these, so we turned off down a dirt road that headed in that general direction.  The road quickly narrowed until it was just wide enough for a vehicle to pass between the rice paddies on either side.  It also turned away from the hill we wanted to get to.

A quick question to a farmer assured us that the road would take us to the hill, we only needed to turn left up ahead.  And, sure enough, we eventually made it.

Buddhist shrine in Wiang Chai

While we were climbing around the shrine, Ingrid noticed a small “tunnel” formed by some pieces of limestone that had fallen off the mountain.  She suggested that we go through the tunnel (letting me go first to scare any snakes out of the way).  We were rewarded by coming to a small cave formed by a large slab of rock sloughing off the mountain.  But what this cave lacked in size, it made up for in the sheer number of bats that were hanging around inside.

Bats hanging from the wall of the cave,
even after scaring off many of them.

Both Ingrid and I have this curious bent that makes us want to explore new places.  To us, the phrase, “we haven’t been that way before,” is an invitation to a new adventure.  Sometimes we even get rewarded by the sight of something new or especially interesting or beautiful.

Last week I was wandering down a farm road on my bicycle when I happened upon an almost random Curcuma flower growing at the edge of a rice paddy.  Well worth the flat tire incurred along the way.

Bloom of Curcuma latifolia.

Since I’ve taken to bicycle riding as a form of exercise in lieu of going to the non-existent gym, I’ve been able to explore a lot of the roads in the area.  Often I’ll get a big smile from some farmer driving his truck down the road (after the initial look of surprise a seeing a foreigner on a bicycle in the middle of nowhere).  One time I even got cheers from a bunch of people planting corn, who were impressed that I actually rode a bicycle up the hill that far.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that it was at a workshop called Explore that we were launched on a new trajectory towards service with MB Mission.  With a compass on the logo like that, who WOULDN’T want to go?

Since coming to Thailand, we've had the opportunity to explore different parts of Thailand. 

On our explorations of Thailand, we’ve noticed a few things.  One is that there are large areas of Thailand with no churches.  Another is that some areas, like where we currently live, have lots of churches—but they are generally in villages of some of the hill-tribe peoples that don’t worship in the Thai language.

One of the challenges facing the church in Thailand is how to mobilize some of these people groups with a fair number of Christians to reach out cross-culturally within Thailand.  It is our privilege to work with a number of our Khmu brothers and sisters who have a desire to do exactly that.  So now we are exploring  together with them how it might happen.

Working with some of the Khmu church leaders.

There are a lot of challenges to make this happen.  Like some of our journeys, sometimes the road seems to go in the wrong direction.  And just like how driving down the back roads brings risks of getting stuck or a flat tire, we also will likely run into obstacles along the way.

But in the end we have the hope that we will encounter something beautiful along the way.

Then all of you came near me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.'

Deuteronomy 1:22 (ESV)

Hidden power

Water can do amazing things.

When we were in Canada last September, we went to Maligne Canyon—a narrow gorge carved into the rock by water flowing down from Maligne Lake towards the Athabasca River.  Haw can water do this?



Later on, we were in Hood Canal in Washington State.  There, water trapped behind a dam in the mountains feeds into a pipe which turns generators to make electricity.



Water has this hidden source of power that enables it to do amazing things.

But I want to write about another source of hidden power in this world that can accomplish amazing things—the Spirit of God.

Last July, I found myself asking, “What should I study for my next language check?” We had just come off a busy season near the end of our first term and our team leader asked us what we were planning on studying next. I told her that I would like to prepare my first sermon in Thai. For subject matter I thought I would write about the impact of having idols, based on some of my recent scripture reading.

My language helper would be Knot, a young man who decided to follow Jesus back in February. What I did not know at the time was that he and his wife had an idol in their car. Even though they did not believe the idol had any power any more, they had not thrown it out because it was given to them as a gift from a close friend. I found out later that some of the leaders in the church had been talking with him and his wife about this.

As we were looking at various passages in scripture relating to idols while preparing for the sermon, Knot told me about the idol in his car and why he still had it (by this time I had heard about it from others as well). The next week, Knot was busy, so his wife, Goi, was helping me. We were reading from 1 Corinthians where Paul writes about how eating food sacrificed to idols can cause others to stumble. I did not mention the idol in the car. But after we finished I overheard her talking to Knot about their idol and why, even though they may not believe the idol has any power, it might be something that keeps others from coming to Christ.

The next week, as I was again studying with Knot, he told me that they got rid of the idol from their car.

Jesus said:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13 ESV)

Even though others had tried to talk Knot and Goi into getting rid of the idol, it was as if they weren’t able to receive that counsel until they received it by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God

As we go about our work as missionaries, we can be tempted to rely on our own abilities and wisdom to get the work done. But we are most effective when our ministry is covered in prayer and we let God work in people’s lives. There is great power as the Holy Spirit works through the word of God.

Knot and Goi