Why do people want to worship or give honor to pieces of rock and stone? The logic escapes me, as most everything that this world likes to do does.
But what is really sad, is that many of God’s people, SDAs, condone the practice of honoring foreign gods who are not really gods. That is happening at all the SDA schools in Bangkok that i know of, and also at the school where i teach. No doubt stranger things will happen in the end times, when our own former brethern and sisters in the faith will become our bitterest enemies. By compromising in little matters, they become easy prey for Satan in the big matters. And he laughs all the way to eternal destruction. Oh, why will you fall for Satan’s traps, when God’s way is so clearly outlined?! Please repent and worship and honor the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. And you will have eternal life.
Idol worshipping is intensely strong with some and just mildly nodded at by others. I have in our church visited a chinese/indonesian woman. She was raised budhist. Was converted catholic, then read her bible and discovered Sabbath is saturday and started visiting our church. In her garden is a middle size stone image of squat-sit Buddha. The same stone image is on her mantel-piece in the eating room. Around her tv are huge standing plastic pretty-girl dolls all dressed up fancy like. She has about eight dolls starring at us visitors when we sit in on sofa of different sizes. One must be so diplomatic when bringing up the matter of the first commandment and where we look for soul comfort and a feeling of protection. This I will talk with her only after I established her mind to see the importance of Jesus.
…by the way… tell me how the SDA’s in Japan cope with the traditional worship of dead ancestor worship? How do they honor the relatives in the graves? It is big there, isn’t it, to celebrate with bringing food offering to the (temple?) and having to go with living relatives into feasting afterwards. How do the SDA’s separate themselves from these traditional family/relative demands?
You are exactly correct about the Japanese. Every August they all go back to the ancestor’s hometown, to the grave, clean it, pour some water and maybe sake on it, give it some money and food and flowers, and then pray towards the gravestone. I’m not sure if they pray for the dead to get higher up in heaven, but i’m sure they pray for the peace of the departed soul.
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Most SDA pastors in Japan are very much compromised on this, and i’ve had pastors tell my friend there that “It’s OK to go along with it, just when you pray, pray in your heart to Jesus. Jesus knows your heart”.
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Then we read the story of Daniel’s 3 friends not bowing to the image. She compromised one time, felt terrible about it, and never did it again. Yes, her father got very angry, but she stood firm, and that was that.
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Let’s not fear man, but fear only God 🙂