Better idols

I am from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, traditionally known as a Christian nation. Though I don’t believe in religion, I can be called a protestant, a Christian religion that comprises 20% minority of the whole population. The majority of Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians. There has always been tension among this religions based on minor doctrine details. I believe not so many people know that the doctrinal difference between these 2 religions is only 15%. After all that is the problem with religion, it exaggerates minor doctrinal details, laws, rituals, customs and takes the whole focus from what is supposed to be the center of religion, God.

Well, there are things that annoy me about the followers of both these religions. I want to focus on only one today. Most Protestants often blame the Orthodox Christians for bowing to images and statues of Mary, mother of Jesus, angels and saints. The exaggerated term used by Protestants for this act is ‘worshipping idols,’ and their defense is the angel’s response to John when he bowed for him, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” Revelation 22:9 and the second commandment, you shall not make an idol for you and worship them. But I don’t think Orthodox followers who know the right teachings of Orthodox Church bow down in worship but just pay respect to Mother of Jesus, Mary, and angels. I believe one of the things the Orthodox Church is better than the Protestants are in giving respect to Mary, which most of us, Protestants don’t.  A friend once said to me, we respect our pastors, our fellow brothers and sisters and how some of us disrespectfully speak of the mother of our Lord is really insane.

On this post I would like to share the incident that makes me say, ‘if (emphasis on if here) the Orthodox and Catholic Christians really worship ‘idols’ in the image of Mary, the angels and saints; at least those are  better idols. In my travel to Thailand I saw various idols and thought, ‘well what is the big deal if these people make an idol of Mary, the angels and saints, as long as they know God, as long as they know Jesus who was  incarnated and born from the blessed woman who is highly favored by God, as long as they know Jesus died on the cross for the sin of all human beings, and most of all they  believe in the Bible, that clearly states the way to salvation.

The White Temple

Well, the incident was, a couple of months back I went to visit a very famous temple in Thailand, called the White Temple. I am sorry to radically shift from talking about Christianity to Buddhism; after all I am on the same general idea, religion. The architecture of the temple was magnificent, well thought off, beautiful and creepy at the same time.

The White Temple: Photo by Genaye Eshetu

Walking into the compound of the temple there are head sculptures hanging in trees including recognizable characters such as Predator, from the movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Crossing over a bridge of purgatory there are countless sculpted hands reaching towards you, these hands seem to be of thirsty souls from hell begging for water, since there are  bowls in some of the hands.

The White Temple Photo by Genaye Eshetu

The temple is somehow designed to show the battle between good and evil. I don’t actually understand what was presented to be good, except images of people flying in the clouds. The drawings on the wall inside the temple seem to show that evil comes from Hollywood movies and modernization. There are drawings of Michel Jackson, Kung Fu Panda, Neo from the Matrix, Superman and many more characters you can recognize from Hollywood movies. There are many more images you can recognize if you pay a closer look, such as small portraits of Bin Laden, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. There are also creepy drawings representing the devil.  For an Ethiopian, who has visited many traditional churches throughout Ethiopia, these drawings are very strange to be found in a temple. I bet they are strange for most other visitors as well.

The most striking was for me to see colored mural of the Buddha. It is the first thing one would see getting inside the temple. In front of the mural there are 2 statues of Buddha, followed by a smaller statue of a monk. The monk looks so real, at first I thought it is really a monk sitting there.

After walking around the temple, and seeing the various drawings on the wall, I stand for a couple of minutes looking at the mural of Buddha and people coming to say prayers. People of different ages come, kneel before the mural praying. No offense to any Buddhist reading this, but as a Christian those are just idols for me, a great sculptural art of Buddha, a person who at one time lived a good life and passed away like any of us. Don’t get me wrong, I have read the origin and basics of Buddhism and teaching of Buddha, which are really interesting.

Anyways as I was looking at the people, a woman came with her son, who could be 3 years old. She kneeled down and showed him how to kneel, she showed him the mural of Buddha and she started praying. The son imitates everything his mom does. And besides them was a man with a child a little older than the other one. He also looks at his dad and imitates everything.

Looking at these people, I got overwhelmed with the thought that these people have never heard of Jesus. Since childhood all they saw was the image of Buddha. These people never heard of the God, who is above all gods. The God, who loved them so much that He sent his only begotten Son to die on a cross for their sins. Jesus, who knew them personally before the creation of the world and loved them whoever they are and what ever they do,. Jesus, who was willing to die for them to pay for any wrong thing they do, for any pain they would feel. He overcame death and was resurrected on the third day.

This is not just history that happened 2000 years back, and all we have now is a book of rules (Bible) to follow. The Bible is the book of the greatest love story ever told. And Jesus is as real as he was 2000 years back, when he was human who walked in this world teaching, healing and delivering people.  He still listens to and answers prayers. He didn’t only teach about love but he himself is love. He didn’t only teach about peace but He still can overflow one’s soul with peace that passes understanding. Personally Jesus’ love has been so tangible and real in my life, that I even feel him so close often with his arms over my shoulders.

My New Japanese Friend

The above is one of the most emotionally overwhelming experiences I had outside my world of ‘Christianity.’ But one more experience adds up to this. A day before my visit to the White Temple, I met a Japanese guy. He was a guest of mom Sherry and Pastor Chuck (the directors of the school I went to in Thailand www.medialightasia.com). During that day we were doing a baptism of one of the students. Throughout the day I noticed he did, everything we did. When we sing and clap, he claps; when we raise our hands, he raises his hands, when we lay hand on each other and pray, he prays. So I thought, this guy could be a Christian and if not he had some idea of Christianity. Later I started to converse with him. To my surprise, I learnt that he on the other hand does his prayers to his grand mother and his ancestors. He actually only prays if he is nervous or is in a difficult situation. He told me that he is a god to himself. He has Thai and Hindu scripts tattooed on his hands and neck. According to him, the scripts protect Him. He lives for today, when he dies, he believes that he will be incarnated as a man or mosquito based on his deeds in this life. Eternity is on earth for him, an ongoing process of incarnation.

I wished to ask him if he was happy with his life; then I remembered I knew what real joy is after I found Jesus. How can one know how being wet feels like without ever getting into water? How could one know if s/he is happy unless they get into water of life, Jesus?

After these experiences, I felt sorry for my Christian nation, for myself and religious friends who waste their life arguing over doctrinal details within Christian religions, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. I thought of the hours we spent arguing over Mary, angels and saints statue and whether Mary and angels can plead to God on behalf of us. All our religious arguments over how to act, how to talk, what to speak, what to wear and what to eat came to my mind. We don’t often realize in the time we spend arguing over such matters over 166 people die in Ethiopia and about 3000 die in the world every hour without ever hearing the gospel.

Writing down this sentence make me think how I spend my every days….humm

The 10/40 Window

I first heard of the “10/40 Window”from the webpage/ www.medialightasia.com. It is a term used to refer to the rectangular area of the world from 10 degrees to 40 degrees latitude. This rectangle stretches from Southeast Asia, across the Middle East, over to West Africa. The 10/40 Window is home to approximately 97% of the 2.5 billion unreached people in the world today. There are over 10,000 people groups in this window; 6,000 of those have never had access to the gospel.

Remember every day, more than 70,000 people die in this world without having ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Rom 10:14