Christian Evangelicals In Thailand

[zzaa09]

It's just one giant racketeering network.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[thaiIand]

That's one of the few things that really gets under my skin. I'm up in Issan, goto the night market, and see a bunch of mormons wandering around offering "free English lessons". Ughh... in my mind, that's the height of arrogance. You're a guest in a foreign country that's like 99.5% Buddhist, and you proceed to wander around basically telling everyone their beliefs aren't right, so they should listen to you, because your beliefs are the way to go.

I have a difficult time thinking of something more arrogant and pompous than that.

well they are right, buddhism isnt a religion. Buddah wasnt a prophet, he was en enlightened man who taught people how to live their live and ascend to a better understanding.

Yet 0% of thailand understands this.

Theyd be better of believing in a religion that tells you to love thy neighbor instead of give food to stupid spirits and win lotto. or Drive like a maniac with eyes closed, small rope under wheel will save thy self.

[rott]

I think nothing of it provided they are trying to 'convert grown' adults.

The indoctrination of young child, however, is another matter entirely.

You must seriously oppose the Roman Catholic school system then rakers.

[rott]

YES! And Rammed it down the throats of other countries. Isn't that a form of Religious Imperialism?

Somebody needs a history lesson. America was founded on the notion of freedom to practice any religion without prosectution from government. A right that has thankfully not yet been eradicted.

Huh? Which countries exactly did America ram it's religion down the throat of? Honestly, it seems the most vocal Anti-American Europeans are lucky if they can find California on a map let alone have any knowledge of American history. Yes, freedom of religious persecution was a fundamental factor in Europeans coming to America. Several different sects of Christianity communities were established all over the country. The seperation of Church and State was a fundamental principle to the creaters of the American constitution. Perhaps you guys would like to provide some citations?

Actually that is a fallacy, the Puritans had religious freedom, they went to America to make their version of Christianity the only acceptable version. Unfortunately it didn't work out like that.

[KeyserSoze01]

It's just one giant racketeering network.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Bingo. Just another way to control the populace through fear.

[MAJIC]

Religions, whether for the most part for the good of Mankind or not? is open to personal interpretation,one thing is certain,each and every one of all Religions attract more than a fair share of those that have ulterior motives,and use the Cover,Trust and Power provided, for their own gratification.

Which has been proven throughout modern History, but that does not mean that all religions are evil,only some of them,and some small groups of other Religions.

[zzaa09]

Religions, whether for the most part for the good of Mankind or not? is open to personal interpretation,one thing is certain,each and every one of all Religions attract more than a fair share of those that have ulterior motives,and use the Cover,Trust and Power provided, for their own gratification.

Which has been proven throughout modern History, but that does not mean that all religions are evil,only some of them,and some small groups of other Religions.

You could almost substitute the term religion with politics/government.

[FiscalFizz]

They should all go back to AmericKa where they belong.

As an American, the comment you made lacks thought. As in religi-nuts are only in America. As in ALL of America is religous. We do have a "bible belt" region in the deep southern states. You don't find many religious ideals in San Francisco, Seattle, NYC etc etc. I am from Detroit, Michigan and what is religion??? No one up here cares

BTW- Isn't the head of the Church around Rome, Italy.... over in Europe?

Im not mad hehe, just, your comment is kind of stupid.

[IanForbes]

I am an evangelical Christian, I do share my faith with others but only those who show an interest, I do not force anybody to listen nor do I drone on when no-one is listening, I do not like many of the tv evangrlists who give a ten minute sermon and a fifty minute sales pitch. As a christian I cannot force anybody to believe what I believe, that would be counter productive. If I talk to someone and the subject about what I believe comes up and I can see there is no interest outside of polite attention, then I will stop talking about my beliefs and let the conversation go in a different direction. The best evangelistic tool I have is the way I live my life, I cannot justify telling others to live righteously while living unrighteously myself, if you do not do as you say, you cannot expect others to do what you say without seeing what you do first. Christians are persecuted and killed in parts of the world where there is religious intollerance, in Northern India it is at the hands of zealous Hindus, in the Middle East and Northern Africa it is at the hands of Muslims, China often has regular raids on underground churches which can often lead to lengthy prison terms without trial, in the West it is the athiestic interest groups that want to silence the church in countries that were founded on Christian principles. Here in Thailand there is religious tollerance and all religious groups have the right to promote their brliefs, which is as it should be.

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Very well said, Tom.

Lead by example and let others decide.

Although I was raised as a Christian I'm more anti-church than anything. It's not too difficult to know right from wrong and follow the right path. Doing as you do I get along well with any church demomination unless they try forcing things on me. Then I just politely say goodbye.

[IanForbes]

Well in the old days the Christian missionaries managed to "save" the Akha hilltribe people near Chiang Rai .

They now read their bibles and go to churches .

Prisoners of a White God is a documentary about the Akha people, produced and distributed by Twin Star in September 2008. The documentary is about a Czech researcher, Tomáš Ryška, who goes to the Thai and Laotian mountains in order to search and document the causes of wrong doing and violence done to the indigenous peoples and their children by Christian missionaries.

Yes they did a lot of harm , the missionaries, if you have a chance watch the documentary.

I watched the entire documentary and enjoyed it. However, I did think the Czech researcher, Tomáš Ryška, did himself a disfavour by "fabricating" some BS to give the documentary more "drama". I found it VERY hard to believe that the Missionaries would or could bribe enough police to hunt and assassinate Mr Tomáš Ryška. The part where he broke free of their clutches and ran away, while at the same time filming himself doing it was just too hard to believe. So was the part where the missionaries and police were going to apprehend him at the Bangkok airport and he had to run away again and hide in the bush land outside the airport. How did he finally get through customs and get on the plane when officials were looking for him?

I think that part distracted from the good information and discredited the whole documentary. Once you lie about something it's hard to believe any of the other data. When you have an agenda and purposely go out to prove it then personal biases get in the way of fact.

I DO know that in every church demomination and school there are paedophiles that use their position of power to abuse the young. But, you can't say that that is the general population of all missionaries. But, it makes better "head lines" in the news.

As I mentioned in the other topic that is now closed, I have spent a considerable amount of time with the hill tribe people in the area from Mae Sariang to Mae Hong Son, and my experiences were all positive. I do NOT claim to have spent anywhere near the time that Tomáš Ryška spent with the Aka tribes.

What he said initially is pretty much what happens to any indigenous tribe throughout the world. It happened all over North America and especially in western Canada where missionaries of various church groups took the children away from their natural homes and tried to "modernize" them into a Christian society. The initial idea was good, but in actual fact it was a disaster that we are STILL trying to recover from. The missionaries commited despicable acts on the children and it completely changed their way of life for the worse. Alcoholism is rampant, as is incest today in many of the First Nations reserves of British Columbia.

There are similar stories of what happened to the native people in the Amazon and many parts of Brazil.

The unfortunate truth is there are pockets of indigenous people throughout the world who have never changed in centuries and have no way of assimilating into a modern society.

[Jaivin2011]

As a gay individual, I despise any attacks on the Catholic and Christian Missionaries.....full stop! Leave them alone, we need them. If weren't for their existence....they won't be enough gay guys in the world to go around!

Plus food for though, why did HE always hang around with only other male apostles!

[Jingthing]

They should all go back to AmericKa where they belong.

As an American, the comment you made lacks thought. As in religi-nuts are only in America. As in ALL of America is religous. We do have a "bible belt" region in the deep southern states. You don't find many religious ideals in San Francisco, Seattle, NYC etc etc. I am from Detroit, Michigan and what is religion??? No one up here cares

BTW- Isn't the head of the Church around Rome, Italy.... over in Europe?

Im not mad hehe, just, your comment is kind of stupid.

Well, not exactly. Surveys done comparing religiosity in America vs. Europe show much higher believing rates in the US. Over 90 percent of Americans believe in God, about half of Europeans do. That's a huge difference.

Imagine an out of the closet atheist American president. (Impossible.)

http://www.salon.com/2011/06/06/americans_belief_in_god_gallup/

[travelmann]

I think nothing of it provided they are trying to 'convert grown' adults.

The indoctrination of young child, however, is another matter entirely.

And yet is done in every country in the world, "our Father who art in heaven" I personally hated this CRAP at school and have held a religious hatred ever since, the more they rammed it donw my throat the more I rebelled. Im not fussy which religion either.

[IanForbes]

I think nothing of it provided they are trying to 'convert grown' adults.

The indoctrination of young child, however, is another matter entirely.

And yet is done in every country in the world, "our Father who art in heaven" I personally hated this CRAP at school and have held a religious hatred ever since, the more they rammed it donw my throat the more I rebelled. Im not fussy which religion either.

The main problem in Thailand is that Thai children are taught to believe EVERYTHING that a superior tells them, and after that it is supposed to be held as the gospel truth. Thai children are not allowed to question anything told them by a teacher or adult.

In North America the kids question everything including what their parents tell them.

[Semper]

They should all go back to AmericKa where they belong.

As an American, the comment you made lacks thought. As in religi-nuts are only in America. As in ALL of America is religous. We do have a "bible belt" region in the deep southern states. You don't find many religious ideals in San Francisco, Seattle, NYC etc etc. I am from Detroit, Michigan and what is religion??? No one up here cares

BTW- Isn't the head of the Church around Rome, Italy.... over in Europe?

Im not mad hehe, just, your comment is kind of stupid.

Well, not exactly. Surveys done comparing religiosity in America vs. Europe show much higher believing rates in the US. Over 90 percent of Americans believe in God, about half of Europeans do. That's a huge difference.

Imagine an out of the closet atheist American president. (Impossible.)

http://www.salon.com..._in_god_gallup/

Don't they also have "In God We Trust" printed on some of the dollar bills?

Edited February 3, 2012 by cdnvic
Asd feared, this has become a broad argument on religion and hardly anything to do with Thailand. Closed.