Prayer Walk in Bangkok

Every man from a Buddhist family is expected to become a
monk at some point.  The amount of time
spent as a monk varies.  Women are to
NEVER touch a monk.  If a monk is touched
by a woman then they must cleanse themselves for 10 days.  There are around 200,000 monks in Thailand.

Things we saw at the temple were people bowing down three
times, and giving offerings of a few flowers, three candles, and three incense
sticks.  By doing this they are declaring
that the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Order (the monkhood) are their refuge.  People go to the temple to build up their ‘merit’,
and to pray for blessing in their life, job, finance, etc.  At this specific temple there were 108 bowls
that lined one wall where people were placing a coin in each bowl as an
offering or a way of ‘making merit’.

  

The specific temple that we went to was Wat Po – The
Reclining Buddha.  At this temple there
were 9 different sacred places.  The main
attraction is a 46 meter long reclining Buddha.

I had never in my life seen anything like this.  It broke my heart to think that people
believe in something like this.  I just
wanted to go up and ask them “What has your god done for you?”  Do people actually see a change in their life
or feel rewarded for their efforts of bowing down to an idol?  My God gives FREEDOM, is a REDEEMER, is the
ALPHA and OMEGA, gives us an Inheritance, LOVES us unconditionally, is our
COMFORTER and PROVIDER . . . and so much more.