“‘Look.’ Johan had fixed his eyes on the lip of the cliff. There, on the high rock ledge, stood a single lion, gazing out over the land.
The magnificent beast was suddenly joined by another. And then a third, then ten, and then a hundred lions, filling into a long line along the crest of the dried falls.
The beasts at the head of the falls were shifting uneasily now. The line split in two. They boy stepped into the gap. The boy stood barefooted on the rock, dressed only in a loincloth.
And then the boy’s face twisted with sorrow. He raised his head, opened his mouth and cried to the sky.
The long line of beasts dropped flat to their bellies, like a string of dominoes, sending an echo of thumps over the cliff. A chorus of bays ran down the line.
The air filled with the boys wail, His song, a long, sustained note that poured grief into the canyon like molten lead. []
Tears grew in Thomas’s eyes, blurring the image of the gathered beasts. He closed his eyes and let the sobs come. He couldn’t take this. The boy had to stop.
But the boy didn’t stop. The cry ran on and on with unrelenting sorrow.
The wail fell to a whisper— a hopeless little sound that squeaked from a paralyzing throat. And then it dwindled into silence.”
This is an excerpt from a book called The Birth of Evil (The Circle Series) by Tedd Decker. The book describes two parallel universes and fictionally depicts the fall of mankind. This excerpt is from the point where humanity falls from its perfect state and makes a choice to choose other things rather than God (who is “the boy” in the excerpt).
Before I say anything else, I’d like to change gears and give you a picture of our experiences here in Cambodia and Thailand as we make temple visits during our ministry and as we experience South East Asian culture.
A short line of humble monks in bright orange garbs pass by us as we enter through the cement gate. They have one shoulder covered and one shoulder uncovered to show respect to the place of worship. Serpent-like dragons coming out of the mouth of other decorative dragons greet us at the open doors to the main building of the temple complex. The front face is covered almost completely in gold carvings and there are steep cascading roofs that draw toward the back. As custom, we take off our shoes and walk in. The inside is just as ornate as the outside. Gold, hand painted designs cover every inch of the wall and ceiling with the exception of pictures representing the life of Buddha. The bold reds and blacks make the gold designs pop. There is always a red carpet leading up to the main platform, and there are gorgeous columns. Its hard to feel like you’re not a princess in an Asian castle. There are gold and silver Easter eggs (well at least they look like Easter eggs!) the size of your head toward the back of the temple. There are multi-colored flowers, incense sticks, angel statues, candles, and monk replicas (that would fool you for being real people). Everything points toward the golden calf in the shape of a Thai Buddha wearing traditional cloth, similar to what is worn by the bride and groom at weddings, in the back of the temple.
A young woman sits with her legs to the side with a basket of oil facing the Buddha. She is very beautiful and wears a traditional patterned skirt. She is so still you can’t tell she is even breathing. The only thing that moves are small strands of her hair when the fan swivels toward her head. She is meditating, working to quiet her mind before the Buddha. Soon, another older woman enters the temple. She kneels about 10 feet before the Buddha, folds her hands in prayer, and bows by touching her head to the ground. She slips an envelope into an offering box and walks out. As the first girl continues to meditate, four men walk in and perform a sequence of bows and prayer before the Buddha. And then there are the tourists who happen to be mostly white people who walk around analyzing the beautiful architecture and taking pictures. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a family sit down slightly behind where I am sitting. Through the small glimpse of my peripheral vision, I see a small boy bowing down like the locals had done before him. I whip my head around in surprise because I thought they were white tourists. It turns out they are. Based on body language and verbal language, it’s usually very easy to tell who is a tourist versus who is there for other reasons. The older brother looked surprised at the action, but the parents were not phased. I wanted to run up to him and tell him that he has no idea what he just did. I didn’t. I was too shocked I just sat there and watched.
There are many rules to follow for those who practice Buddhism- at least the traditional strain of Buddhism practiced in Thailand. For Thai monks, its 227 rules. Lay Buddhists still have a lot as well. After having conversations with a few of the monks, it’s interesting to see that a number of their larger and more prominent rules align with the truth in the Ten Commandments: no lying, no stealing, no killing, etc. Its crazy to see the ways that truth can transcend cultural or even religious barriers. They work toward attaining good karma in order to remain in Nirvana after death rather than be reincarnated into another thing on Earth. I asked them, “why do you believe in Buddha?” Our friend responded by saying that they don’t believe in Buddha, they believe in his teachings. One also said because we know its true. You shouldn’t believe in something if you don’t know why or can’t see that its true. I couldn’t have agree more with that statement- that we shouldn’t believe in something if we don’t know why or don’t have the evidence of its truth. “Why do you pray?” I have been confused because I didn’t necessarily think that they believed in a God, yet many of their actions reflect it. “For good karma, for blessings,” was what I gathered from the response. I’m not an expert. Although I have been seeking to understand, asking questions, and even gathered some info from what the monks had left us, its a very confusing religion for Westerns to understand.
We also see shrines. There are shrines everywhere in Cambodia and Thailand. They are outside of every local owned business and house. They look like a miniature temple that is raised on a platform so that they are often about 5 feet tall. Many are the same but in different colors. In Cambodia, we saw a few places that sold them and had hundreds sitting in their yard. Some are larger and on the ground. Every day, you see people cutting up mangos and fixing miniature meals to lay at the front of the shrine. They also lay wreaths of small flowers or have figurines there as well. Any Western foreigner would think they are shrines to the Gods. That is what my team and I believed as well when we first got here. However, we learned that they are to appease the bad spirits that they do not enter their homes or businesses.
Every Easter season, I would watch the ten commandments with my Mom and younger brothers while preparing for our Easter meal the next morning. Even now, I love the movie and find it incredibly interesting. One of the largest scenes in this story is the golden calf. In the States, its something that we know existed a long time ago. In a general culture based on enlightenment philosophy, agnostic ideation, and a “belief in people,” the idea of a golden or physical idol just seems silly. It doesn’t seem serious or real. I would like to say, that here in Asia, physical idolatry is VERY real. I’ve only lived in primarily Buddhist countries for two months, but it seems just as normal and sensible as someone in the States who would suggest God doesn’t exist. Its not silly, and it’s absolutely everywhere.
Its easy to point to whats physical. Its easy to say that you can’t bow down to a statue made out of gold. I think that in America, and perhaps a lot of the first world, our sin is much more deceptive. Its easy to manipulate and justify it as good. Its easy to say how its beneficial when really it might be even worse.
“Thou shall not have any other Gods before me….” Exodus 20:2
If you think about that language, its strong. Good thing God is the one who said it. Anything that we put above God is an idol. It’s that simple– Anything and everything. That is scary. It is an even scarier thing to realize I do it much more often than I should. Perhaps we all do.
Is your golden calf in the mirror? When you obsess over how you look and your outward appearance?
Is your golden calf your job? Where you will sacrifice anything to just get to the next level?
Is your golden calf food? As you constantly think about what or how much you should eat?
Is your golden calf someone else? While we are directly called to live in community and love on each other, do we value people above God? Do we go to others first or do we go to him? Do you look for them to solve the cracks in the foundation of your life?
Is your golden calf technology? Do you spend so much time on Netflix or scrolling through social media when you need to rest that you forget about the one who gives you true rest?
Is your golden calf people in general? Do you think that humanity will be a stable foundation to run to despite its wicked and deceitful heart? Do you think humanity can bring you everlasting joy despite the fact we are terribly selfish and prone to disappoint?
The list goes on longer than this.
Idols don’t have to be “bad things.” They can be, but often they are not. The examples listed above are all good things. They become bad when we obsess over, place above, or put our faith in, these things ranking them higher than the Lord in our lives.
And this brings me back to the beginning- back to the excerpt from the book. Every time we worship an idol- no matter how physical or discrete- humanity falls. And we have fallen too many times. He cries because he is disrespected as the creator, truth, and lover. He cries because he knows we believe in things that will disappoint or hurt us because they can not fill us like he does. He cries because he knows our reality is false when we believe in things that don’t exist or that are not true. He cares so much that his cries echo through the universe after our hearts.
Every day humanity falls hundreds of times, and God cries just as loud every time.
