Forever a Foreigner

“Can we meet a day early for Bible study? I have to attend a relative’s funeral on Wednesday.”

“Sure, Granny!”

This was the third time I was meeting with this elderly Cambodian woman to study the Bible. (Read about the first two days in Part 1 and Part 2.)

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Soon after she arrived for the Bible study, she again expressed her concern to me over being able to participate in the Buddhist/animist rituals and ceremonies. She questioned me about what she could and could not do in her relative’s Buddhist funeral, and voiced her concerns about various temple-related events during holidays. She had been used to being very active in the community, particularly in religious aspects.

“Does following Jesus mean I can’t do this? What about this?”

I expressed again that followers of Jesus could not participate in worship. “But we can still show love and respect to our friends and relatives,” I said. “We just can’t light incense or be involved with the chants and prayers.”

Some of her questions were beyond me, as they went into details of Folk Buddhism that I had never seen or experienced.

“It’s hard to forsake the customs and follow Jesus,” I told her. “But all followers of Jesus must forsake their old ways in order to follow him. When we become believers, we seek out other believers in Jesus and worship with them. They become like our new family.” I told her about our church for the first time.

When we opened up the Bible, we looked first at the story of Cain and Abel. Using this story, I addressed the problem of suffering. Suffering is one of the core issues in Buddhism, and in that worldview all suffering is tied to karma.

“In the Bible, we see that suffering can come from four causes: one’s own sin, others’ sin, life in a cursed world, and Satan. Our own sin causes us suffering when we suffer the consequences of it. As for others’ sin, an example can be a man who is a drunkard. He beats his wife and child. His sin now impacts his family. Suffering also comes from living in a cursed world. Think of a child who is born crippled. In Buddhism, this would be because either the child sinned in their past life, or because the parents sinned, correct?”

“Yes.”

“But in Jesus, it is not so. It is because the child is born into a world cursed by sin. It is not the fault of the child. And the last one: suffering can come from Satan, who is mankind’s enemy.”

Her hunger for truth was so apparent, that I skipped ahead in our lessons, speeding onward to Jesus as fast as I could. We still needed some groundwork, though.

We jumped ahead to Abraham, emphasizing God’s promises to him (connected to Jesus), and the nature of Abraham’s faith.

“Faith, or belief in Jesus, is active, not passive. We see this in this man’s life. When God told him to leave everything and go out from his father’s house, he did it. He forsook everything to follow God.”

I summarized in brief about Israel, God’s chosen people, into which Jesus would be born. We cut to the ten commandments, which I read out, one by one.

This first two laws are especially a slap in the face to people here, who have been idolaters all their lives. (Literally. No abstract metaphors here.)

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

Exodus 20:3-5

“These laws God gave so that we might know in our selves in what ways we have broken his law. No one can say that they are righteous before him. We have all sinned.”

She nodded, quiet.

“Here,” I said, flipping through the pages, “is a lot of history about Israel, about kings and prophets, and how the people of Israel sometimes broke God’s laws and had to be punished. Sometimes there were people who followed God. Many did not. But God always called them to himself and never gave up on them. Next time, we will talk about Jesus’ birth. This is what we remember at Christmas.” (At the time, the holiday was only a few weeks away.)

She beamed, and told me that she wants to go to church on Sunday, and she also wants to join us for our Christmas program. (Someone actively inviting themselves to church is an almost unheard-of thing in this culture.)

I covered my shock and smiled. “Of course, Granny! You can come.”

Before she left, she said: “I will forsake everything and follow him, if Jesus heals me from my illness.”

Though her words still indicated a conditional faith, I was still amazed. This elderly woman had gone, within the space of an hour or so, from being reluctant to break way from the old ways to stating plainly that she would do so.    

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The Bible study continued after that, and Granny’s understanding continued to grow as the Holy Spirit opened her eyes.

It is my hope that this series is able to show what it is like to share the gospel with people from a culture with zero background in Christianity. Much groundwork has to be laid. Basic truths have to be introduced, one by one, before the cross can even make sense. It can seem daunting. But it is so exciting to see God work. Nothing is impossible with God.