I had an epiphany today. I had this epiphany because of a mission trip to Thailand. A mission trip I didn’t go on. Because I didn’t go, I am going to tell you about a similar experience that the ladies who did go on this trip had.
In Thailand, 5 women from my church were working with girls caught in the sex industry. They were tasked with going into bars and walking the red light district to talk to and love on the girls in this industry. I have heard from many of the women doing ministry that while talking to these girls, religion would come up. The girls didn’t speak much english and the women talking to them spoke little to no Thai, so the conversation went something like this:
Girl in bar, “Me Buddha.” (Translation – I’m Buddhist)
Other Woman, “Me Jesus.” (Translation – I’m Christian)
Girl in bar, “Oh, me Jesus too.” (Translation – I’m worship Jesus too)
You see, Buddhism is a polytheistic religion. They worship Buddha and trees and other people and inanimate objects, so they can according the their beliefs worship Jesus and Buddha.
Of all the response to this mission trip, the most common one I heard was how hard it was to hear these girls say this. Mostly because it was hard to know who had really accept Jesus because after having a “Jesus moment” they would turn around and leave a token on the next shrine they pass.
I thought this was sad too and was wondering how you explain the concept of monotheism to a polytheist. How do you tell someone who grew up worshiping many God that they can only worship one? How do you know who really has accepted Christ if they continue to worship other gods too. And then it hit me – How do we know his about anyone?
We’re all polytheistic. We didn’t go from worshiping no god to worshiping Jesus alone the moment we accepted him. In fact, we probably continued worshiping and serving more than one other god. What about money, work, success, pleasure, power, sex, or some other inanimate object or idea?
Okay, you’re probably thinking I didn’t worship any of them. Maybe you didn’t sing praises to them, but did you serve them. Did you live in such a way were they got in the way of your relationship with God. Modern Idols or Western idols aren’t usually images we worship, but they do exist.
If the question is how can you truly know that they understand who Jesus is because they continue worshiping their other gods then we should also be asking that about every person who has ever said they have accepted Christ.
The Bible is pretty clear that you will know people by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). This means that by the change in their lives and in their hearts we will know who followers of God are.
And not to add confusion, the change won’t happen over night. The girls stuck in the sex industry could stop leaving drinks for Buddha the next day or in three years, but if their heart is changing and you can see the fruit of the spirit they’re likely Christ followers. Likewise, it could be instantaneous or take years for your neighbor (a newly found follower of Christ) to quit worshiping money.
In other words, the second we accept Christ we are not perfect. All of our previous sinful habits don’t disappear. We are still human and we continue to sin. It is usually a gradual process of different convictions about our sin or experience we have and the growth of our relationship with God. It is not by our instant lack of idolatry (since that is highly unlikely anywhere) that we know a Christ follower, rather it is the fruit of the spirit (the change in their lives and hearts) that bare testament to their acceptance of salvation found only through Jesus.
(I will be posting pictures to this blog when I have access to my mother’s pictures)
