Within four blocks of the YWAM base in Kalasin, Thailand, there are three large temples, countless monks, and many idol shops. Sticks of incense burn on every street corner, and ladies in carts sell flowers, garlands, and other gifts to place before the gods. Interspersed among the temples are shrines where people stop throughout the day to pray, make an offering, or seek the counsel of spirits. Towering in the corner of such shrines stands a dark furnace with a black maw, open and ready for the consumption of birds, food, and other burnt offerings.
The furnace.
This is a strange culture. I cannot imagine walking down the street back in Minnesota to stuff some small animal into a dark hole and hope for good karma. Yet, the people here are far from strange. They are warm and caring. They work, smile, and laugh just like everyone back in the States. But, there is one difference I have noticed between the Buddhists and the Christians here. Most of the Thai Buddhists that I have met live for the present, and have a forlorn attitude toward the future. It is as if their destiny has already been determined, and little room exists for big dreams. Instead, it is more important achieve good karma, which Buddhists believe will give them a more favorable reincarnation. Never is this ascetic attitude more apparent than on the faces of people in the monasteries.
Many parents send one of their children to the monastaries to become a monk; in exchange they believe they will receive divine favor. My heart aches for these kids. They did not choose Buddha, but the rest of their lives will be spent bowing down before him! As a monk, they are not allowed to sing, dance, listen to music, nor break celibacy. They won’t grow up playing sports, climbing trees, or eating Dunkaroos, and I have no idea how often, if ever, they will get to see their parents or siblings. Instead, they will spend every day dutifully and obediently walking down the eightfold path in hopes of achieving nirvana (which allows them to escape the cycle of reincarnation) and achieving blessing for their families. Where is the room for a hopeful future?
Instead of watching cartoons or playing Simon Says these Buddhist kids worship these statues:
Can these figurines replace a family? Can they bear the fruit of love and joy? Can meditation before them lead to virtue and morality? Can an offering to a plastic god atone for the guilt and power of sin? Can such images impart strength, or provide comfort in catastrophe?
It is not my intention to demean Buddhists, nor judge a religion I am ignorant of. But, isn’t it easy to see the thread of idolatry that runs from our hearts into the heart of Buddhism? We all bow down before false gods which will never fulfill us. Though we physically do not fall on our knees before a six-headed plastic figure, we let the god of power, popularity, or acheivement take up station in our hearts.
According to the Bible, worshipping anything apart from God is equally as futile as placing a garland around the neck of a cracked and broken five-inch tall golden statue. After all, in comparison with God, is it any better to worship the realization of immense fame and wealth than it is to worship a hand-carved figurine?
What is it that we think about more than God? What is it that we keep placing garlands around and bringing incense to in a vain search for satisfaction?
Nothing, Nothing, NOTHING, can ever replace God’s rightful place as Lord of our lives!
Isaiah 44:9-23
All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame.
Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit nothing?
People like that will be put to shame;
skilled workers are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and shame.
The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,
human form in all its glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!”
They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Such people feed on ashes, a deluded heart misleads them;
they cannot save themselves, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
“Remember these things, Jacob,
for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant;
Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”
Sing for joy, you heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, you earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.
