These days have been filled with some sightseeing of significant local sites, and beginning to travel home by leaving Cambodia and returning to Bangkok for the preparation of our return flight home. On Friday, we traveled to Angkor, which is an ancient area of prominence in Cambodia, comprised of a number of cities and dozens of temples (it is now near the modern city of Siem-Reap).
Among these temples, is the central temple, known as Angkor Wat, which is largest religious facility in the world. It’s outer walls contain over 200 acres of land and the temple itself covers almost 25 acres. It was built in the early 12th century over a period of about 30 years. The facility and grounds is in remarkably good condition, given its age. Physically, it is a remarkable place, but spiritually, it was so discouraging. The architecture and detail contained at Angkor Wat, along with similar examples at three other wats we saw, were stark reminders of the vanity of false worship and the lengths to which men will go to appease their consciences and their “gods.”
In one section of the temple, a Buddhist priest was seated before a shrine and some burning incense. He was also (for a fee) tying lengths red yarn around the wrists of worshippers. These strings, along with his spoken incantation were his attempt to ward off evil spirits. As we watched, an American woman was receiving this rite. Seila, the son of Pastor Soy, had accompanied us on this trip to help translate and explain what we were seeing. When he saw what was happening, he asked, “why is she doing that?” He understood that Buddhism was not her faith and he was genuinely confused why should would succumb to this ritual. Those who do not follow Christ will always be susceptible to not only accepting anything other than Christ, but even more, accepting everything other than Christ.
On Saturday morning, Jack and Susie took us back to the border and after a quick and uneventful crossing, our taxi driver took us back to Bangkok in the three-hour drive. Elizabeth and I (from the gracious directions of Jack and Susie) found an excellent Thai restaurant for lunch, which we finished off with two scoops of ice cream from the nearby Baskin-Robbins!
On Sunday, our taxi driver (which we hired for the sum of about $8.50/hour!) took us to some of the significant sites in Bangkok (a city of nine million people!). While we were unable to see the Grand Palace because of the funeral of the King’s sister, he took us to a number of important sites, including two more Buddhist wats.
At Wat Pho, we saw the impressive reclining Buddha. This statue, gilded in gold leaf, is 150 feet long and 50 feet tall. As we entered the building that houses this Buddah and then walked along the front of it, I could hear a clinking, almost rythmic sound coming from the back side of the statue. As we rounded the corner, I saw lining the walls a series of 8-10 inch metal recepticles, running perhaps 100 feet or more along the back wall of the building. Individuals were then walking past those pots, putting a coin or token into each vessel — making some kind of offering to the Buddah, undoubtedly in hopes of some sort of vain attempt to accrue more righteousness which might allow them to enter heaven.
This trip has been a reminder in some ways of my trip to Costa Rica a few years ago. The national religion is different — Buddhism instead of Catholicism — and yet these false faiths are not so different. In both places there are large edifices constructed to facilitate worship of those who are not Christ, and encouraging enslaving practices which emphasize the supposed value of self-righteousness instead of Christ’s righteousness. And in both places, while marveling over the beauty of construction techniques, I have been deeply sorrowed over the bondage of those who have been deluded by a false system.
After the taxi driver returned us to our hotel, Elizabeth and I wandered on our own for a while, and found a large park, where we found some local “critters.” Not sure what they are, but the locals didn’t seem too concerned about them. We kept our distance.
Words of Grace 