One of the things that I’ve noticed while my time in
Thailand is how pretty everything is.
The beaches, the rubber tree plantations, everything is beautiful. There are all sorts of little
shrines and statues everywhere, brightly colored and gorgeous, in their own
right.
The Thai people could be called very spiritual. They even
have a saying, “To be Thai is to be Buddhist.” Their religion isn’t something
you can simply “separate” from who they are, as it is almost a part of their
nature. In some ways, that is a hindrance to sharing the gospel with them, for
in some ways they wonder, “If I accept Christ, will I even be Thai anymore?”
So I can understand why they make their gods so pretty. I
feel like, the concept of a “god” in itself is something that MUST be “higher”
than you are. Why worship something that is beneath you? So everywhere, you can
find shrines and gods, and little altars built to worship the gods they have
made.
Thai Buddhism is a mixture of Traditional Buddhism, Ancestor
Worship, and a religious practice called “Animism”, which is a religious belief
system that says everything in nature has a “spirit.” Trees, land, animals, everything has a spirit, so you need to
be respectful of the spirits that live inside nature. What that means, is that
every house has a “Spirit House” outside of the dwelling, which is a decorated miniature
house, generally atop a pedestal in the yard.
The Thai people believe that
because they took the land from the spirit to build their house, you need to
make sure you have a house for the spirit of the land to dwell in, or that
spirit just might decide to come and torment your house for stealing its land.
They generally will offer sacrifices to these spirits, (which generally consist
of a bowl of rice, a bottle of water, or even some lucky spirits get a bottle
of strawberry Fanta.)
You’ll also see some of the bigger, older trees with
brightly colored ribbons or “Prayers” tied around them, as the Thai people
believe that the older a tree is the more powerful the spirit inside that tree.
Probably the most gorgeous temple on the island of Phuket is
also one of the most known for its religious practice known as the “vegetarian”
festival.
This particular festival is well known for the participants purifying
themselves, and then “invoking” spirits to take over their bodies. Proof that
they have been indwelt by the spirits is how the participants act afterward, as
they walk on hot coals barefoot and pierce their cheeks with swords and other
sharp objects to show that they no longer feel pain.
We visited this temple briefly, and once inside you can see
all the little statues of various ‘gods’ that are worshiped inside. There must
have been hundreds.
Another familiar face in Thailand is the King. The King of
Thailand is well respected and loved by his people, and you can see pictures of
him everywhere. It is in poor taste to speak ill of the king in anyway, for
that is one of the quickest ways to offend someone from Thailand. In some ways,
their affection for their king borders on worship, as they refuse to talk about
how the king is aging or in poor health. The king is a great man, after all.
seemed entirely devoted to elephants.
this one Buddha statue. It was really an interesting sight, as people placed
the elephant statues there as a sacrifice (I’m guessing.) Big elephants, Small
elephants, and even some miniscule tiny elephants tucked between the legs of
the larger ones.
I find it interesting, how in a land with so many gods, the
people still seem so spiritually bankrupt. With a plethora of gods to worship,
the Thai people still seem almost lost, wandering through life with a mentality
of “whatever happens, happens.” Their take on life is all about karma, and how
if you have a poor life, you must have been really evil in the life before, and
vice versa. So they accept their current life as ism hoping and praying that
they do enough good works to merit a better life when they are reincarnated.
Could you imagine having to live in such pressure? Hope you do enough, if not,
better luck next time!
Thailand was a hard month, very spiritually oppressive. The
people were fantastic and beautiful, but their spiritual situation was
downright depressing at times. In the end, our team saw nine people come to
Christ last month. Considering the climate, I would say that is a HUGE
breakthrough. I’m glad that somehow, in a land of pretty gods, the beauty of
the one true God, Jesus Christ, was able to shine through and penetrate the
darkness.
Suck on that, Satan. You know you’re in trouble when even the dogs get bored of your shrines.
