While the sinner\u2019s prayer is designed to help people become Christians, here in Thailand (as in other places) it many times has the opposite effect of confirming people in a fundamentally animistic worldview.\u00a0 At its core, animism is the using of religious rituals and ceremonies to manipulate the spirit world into doing what the animist wants it to do, whether that be warding off evil or inviting blessing.\u00a0 Thai Buddhism is a mix of pure Buddhism and local animistic beliefs in spirits, omens, relics, sacred objects, fortune telling, astrology, sorcery, and so on.\u00a0 This mix of spirit beliefs and Buddhism forms an important part of the worldview and belief system of Thai people, and it is this understanding of spiritual reality that Thai people bring to the table when they come to an evangelistic rally or hear a Gospel presentation.<\/p>\n
Animism is not a heart religion where it is important that you really believe something from the depth of your being.\u00a0 Animism is not about devotion or love for a particular deity or spirit.\u00a0 Animism is not about conforming your life to some external moral standard which has come down from heaven.\u00a0 Animism does not require you to change your life or to repent of your sins.\u00a0 All it requires is the performance of some religious rituals in order to cause the spiritual powers that be to bring about the desired blessings in your life.\u00a0 It is all about external things that you do in order to get what you want.\u00a0 But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about a change in allegiance from self to God.\u00a0 It is a change of priorities from our own priorities to God\u2019s priorities.\u00a0 It is about God\u2019s plan for what my life should be like, not about using religious ceremonies to manipulate God into helping me accomplish my own ideas of what a happy life should be like.\u00a0 Animism at its core is pragmatic and utilitarian.\u00a0 Whatever gets the job done to help me achieve my idea of the good life is what I\u2019ll do. 1) The sinner\u2019s prayer is just another religious ritual that might help you get want you want.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong> I am sure that the majority of Christians who lead Thai Buddhists to say the sinner\u2019s prayer are genuinely trying to help them, but it is a misguided effort.\u00a0 It takes a long time for people from a completely non-Christian background to understand the true nature of the Gospel and to come to point where they can truly put their faith in Christ.\u00a0 We are not saved by how much we know however there is a certain amount of knowledge about God, the world, and self that needs to be in place for someone to truly trust in Christ.\u00a0 In my next post, we\u2019ll take a look at the process of conversion and why it is impossible for folk (animistic) Buddhists to make an instant \u201cdecision\u201d for Christ.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the sinner\u2019s prayer is designed to help people become Christians, here in Thailand (as in other places) it many times has the opposite effect of confirming people in a fundamentally animistic worldview.\u00a0 At its core, animism is the using of religious rituals and ceremonies to manipulate the spirit world into doing what the animist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goyeandteach.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen Thai folk Buddhists are invited to say the Sinner\u2019s Prayer<\/strong>
\nSo how would people from a primarily animistic worldview, such as Thai folk Buddhists, understand an invitation to say the sinner\u2019s prayer?\u00a0 And why does the sinner\u2019s prayer, as commonly practiced, fail to bring about understanding and conversion among Thai Buddhists and other animistic believers?<\/p>\n
\nFor Thai people hearing an invitation to say the sinner\u2019s prayer, I think their reasoning often goes something like this: \u201cThat trip to the spirit medium didn\u2019t solve my problem, and the astrologer didn\u2019t give much help either.\u00a0 I tried wearing the sacred relic that my aunt gave to me but haven\u2019t seen anything change.\u00a0 Getting a tattoo might be expensive.\u00a0 Perhaps this Christian ceremony will help.\u00a0 What\u2019s to lose?\u00a0 Why not say this prayer that the Christian teacher seems so eager to have me pray?\u00a0 There might be something to this foreign religion after all.\u00a0\u00a0 I can try out this foreign Jesus religion for a while and see if it really has the amazing power that the Christians are claiming.\u00a0 If it works, great.\u00a0 But, if Jesus doesn\u2019t work, I\u2019ll can just move on and try something else.\u00a0 Nothing lost, nothing gained.\u201d
\n
\n2) The sinner\u2019s prayer is viewed as a magical incantation<\/strong>
\nIn animism, it is not important to understand the actual words said in a prayer or spell since the power of the prayer is in the sacredness of the words themselves, not in understanding them.\u00a0 Chanting at the Buddhist temple is in the ancient language of Pali that the common person does not understand.\u00a0 However, as long as they hear the monks chanting or say the words themselves, merit is gained.\u00a0 So, when asked to say the sinner\u2019s prayer, a person will more likely than not think that the words of the sinner\u2019s prayer itself are powerful magical words that will bring about blessings.\u00a0 What the words mean are largely secondary and inconsequential.\u00a0 Going through the motions is all that matters.
\n
\n3) The words in the sinner\u2019s prayer are automatically redefined by the listener to fit with their animistic worldview<\/strong>
\nChristian evangelists use words like \u201cGod\u201d \u201csin\u201d \u201cheaven\u201d \u201chell\u201d and \u201ceternal life\u201d with the assumption that their listeners will pour into those words the same meaning that the Christian is pouring into them.\u00a0 But when the listeners are coming from a radically different worldview and belief system, that is a poor assumption.\u00a0 Although the words of the sinner\u2019s prayer indicate (in the mind of the evangelist) commitment to Christ, the Thai Buddhist hears and interprets those words based on what he has been taught at home, at school, and at the Buddhist temple.\u00a0 The thinking might go something like this:\u00a0 \u201cThere could some kind of god out there, and maybe he can help me.\u00a0 Sure, I am a sinner, who isn\u2019t?\u00a0 I want to go to heaven (regardless of whether it really exists or is just a happy life on this earth).\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go to hell, if there is such a place.\u00a0 At the very least, maybe this Jesus can help lessen the suffering in my life, which is hell on earth.\u00a0 I can invite Jesus to be my Savior from my problems and difficulties;\u00a0 I\u2019ve asked all sorts of other spirits to help me, so why not this one?\u201d\u00a0 Evangelism that only goes skin deep leaves all the misunderstandings of the Gospel untouched and any conversion that happens is superficial.<\/p>\n