Made a trip to the Emerald Buddha Temple (next to Grand Palace) last month. So what does a Christian tourist do in a place of worship like that?
1) Quietly bind the spiritual powers and strongholds?
2) Worship God who has already manifested Himself via the emerald Buddha?
3) Switch to "learning mode", observe and listen to what my hosts hold dear?
What have I learnt there?
- Revised my knowledge of Hikayat Ramayana, which primarily was derived from a cartoon movie I watched on TV. There was a hundred or so scenes painted on the walls
- The mythical creatures in Theravada Buddhist lore. The dragon which is at odds with the Garuda, a symbol of Thai royalty. There's also a half-bird, half-human creature. That's why Thais revere their king, an avatar of King Rama.
- Religion is not solely of demonic origin. There's an innate sense of the divine in the human heart (Calvin's sensus divinitatis) which provides the urge for humanity's search for the Transcendent. It was marred by sin, but not totally destroyed.
(Karl Barth would probably point out that even our Christianity can be a form of idolatry if there is no encounter with the transcendent God who alone reveals)
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