absolutelyBangkok archive · Culture & Arts
Originally published Jan. 17, 2009
I’ve come across quite some missionaries during the years in Thailand. They’re mainly found in the northwestern region along the Burmese border and — since the tsunami — along the Andaman coast. They’re not rich, but money doesn’t seem to be an issue for them. Churches and believers back home keep the business of Christian missionaries here well funded.
I say business because praising Jesus, the Son of God, as a saviour is a comparably easy task among desolate people. You invest that much, you get back that much more. In no way shall this trivialize any belief, but hey, as even atheism is just another belief non-believers are left as homeless as believers must feel sometimes.
But that is not the aim of this post. The aim is you’ll have to watch the video below and make up your own mind. It’s a most carefully choreographed text emphasized by the right music and simple, clear images mentioning a “someone with pale skin speaking a language I couldn’t understand.” But remember Dostojevski’s Brothers Karamasov: If Jesus would be alive today he’d long been thrown into a dungeon as a revolutionary.
As we’re all aware that the first Gospel according to Mark was written some three decades after Jesus’ death. But even today with news broadcasted around the world within milliseconds, different people will construe a same event in many different ways. Now imagine what’s left of the real Jesus. The Old and New Testament are rather a condensation of humaneness. And here the modern-day missionaries come in:
They interpret Jesus as they wish. He heals from AIDS:
The story may be true you may say and whatever help neglected people get: it’s still help. What disturbs me most though is that missionaries will hardly “witness” such miraculous healings in a more advanced society. And why is that. But here, hey, do as you please, say what you want.
Jesus becomes a handyman of many kinds.
But who wants to regulate missionaries. Once I saw a bible distributed by some evangelical crusaders in Bangkok.
Opening the first page the New Testament’s probably most famous phrase of John 1:1 read: “In the beginning was Jesus Christ.”
By the way, struggled to find a fitting “Thai missionary” photo on Google Images with preferences set to non-filtered.
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