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Why Bangkok? They need Jesus as the Counselor and Savior Because of the spiritual weaknesses and the social problems of Thai people, they are struggling with depression, addictions, abuses, and other hindrances keeping them from walking in complete freedom. Thai people in Bangkok need desperately the ethical teachings of Jesus, the power, the true love and most importantly, the eternal life that only Jesus can give. My strategy, therefore, is to introduce Jesus Christ as their Wonderful Counselor to help solving their immediate problems through counseling and, then, present the gospel to introduce Him as their Savior. They need Christian based counseling to prepare them to be a good soil to receive the gospel. Child abuse and child prostitute Children are in crisis of being severely abused. It is estimated that 20% of them are terribly abused and sold into prostitution at very young age, 35,000 are homeless and 5 million are being tortured in child labor Corruptions Corruptions in government, military and police massive networks have protected the sex trade, drug network, crime syndicates and ecological degradation of the country. Drug abuse A large number of children in Bangkok are caught up in family problems and said drug abuse is rampant in their schools. Family problems 60.2 percent of the 920 children interviewed said they had family problems, while 69.2 percent said their schools and colleges were not drug-free. Educational problems The research house also found that up to 67.7 percent of respondents suffered educational problems. Suicide On problem of suicide, love conflicts were cited by 37.2 percent of those questioned as a reason to end their life, while 31.3 percent said family problems were the cause. Drug problem Of the respondents, 27.7 percent thought that the drug problem should be quickly dealt with, while 11.8 percent demanded that the new government end traffic congestion. Life and asset insecurity was a major concern for 9.2 percent of the respondents. Pressure TFRC said the survey results showed that children in Bangkok were living under pressure due to family, love and financial problems. Depression Verbally and emotional abuses are not considered a sin or immorality. Children are abused both at home and in school. Materialism College students in Bangkok become prostitutes to earn the money to buy the famous brand name clothes and accessories in order to be well accepted by their friends. Adultery 50% of Thai men have minor wives AIDS People living with HIV and AIDS 570,000 (estimate in 2003) Dies of Aids 58,000 (est. in 2003) Prostitute There are 100,000 male and 700,000 female prostitutes while there are 300,000 Buddhist monks. The figure shows 40-80% of the prostitutes end up with AIDS Is prostitution illegal in Thailand? “Prostitution has been illegal in Thailand for more than 30 years. Not until recently has the Thai government made it an offense for a man/woman to have sexual relations with a prostitute aged between 15-18 or younger. The penalties for customers are 1-3 years imprisonment and/or a fine ranging from 20,000-50,000 baht. If the girls are younger, the penalties will be increased to 2-6 years imprisonment and/or a fine of from 40,000- 120,000baht. [Source: Bkk post July 5, 1994]. At present, the Criminal Code already stipulates heavy punishment for those who sexually violate minors aged15 and under. According to the Criminal Code, any person having sex with minors faces 4 to 20 years imprisonment and/or fines of 8,000 to 40,000baht regardless of consent. Procurers, meanwhile, will get jail terms of3 to 15 years and fines of 6,000 to 30,000 baht if the girls are aged between15 to 18. If the girls are younger than 15, the more severe jail terms are 5 to 20 years and fines of 10,000 to 40,000 baht. For parents who sell their daughters into prostitution, these penalties will be raised by one-third.[Source: Bkk Post April 5, 1996]. But until there is an agreement on the number of prostitutes in Thailand, we may never know if the penalties has affected the business.” (1) The Weaknesses of Thai Society There are 100,000 male and 700,000 female prostitutes while there are 300,000 Buddhist monks. The figure shows 40-80% of the prostitutes end up with AIDS (2). Crime, drugs and alcohol abuse are widespread. Corruptions in government, military and police massive networks have protected the sex trade, drug network, crime syndicates and ecological degradation of the country. The middle and upper classes in Bangkok are educated, wealthy and very materialistic. They reject the gospel of the kingdom of God but accept the occult and necromancy. Children are in crisis of being severely abused. It is estimated that 20% of them are terribly abused and sold into prostitution at very young age, 35,000 are homeless and 5 million are being tortured in child labor (3). They are also abused at schools and at home without law to protect them. These are the people that God put the passion in my heart to go and win them for the Lord
Buddhists believe that they may obtain their salvation by works. They have hearts to give with expectation of going to heaven after death. However, their gods do not and cannot guarantee them salvation by mean of good works. Yet, even though some of them truly repent from their sins, they have no god to forgive them. The sins continue to be stigmata through all their lives. Without knowing the true living God, they continue to worship spirits and ghosts as their gods hoping that they might protect or bless them. Buddhists laypersons are required to practice only five doctrines: not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to gamble or drink whiskey. Without the Holy Spirit working the conviction of sins in their hearts, they, under the bondage of Satan, have committed both known and unknown sins. They also continue to suffer from the consequences of their generation sins and are taught to accept them, as part of their good consciousness. Most of them have found neither purpose nor the true meaning of their life. They believe that their philosophy of life is that people are born, get sick, get old and die. All their lives, they have not found true peace for their souls. Their teachings do not talk about love or relationship with their gods. They worship their gods out of fear, not out of love. In Christianity; salvation can be obtained by grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. Buddhists have fear of life on earth and after death, while Christ gives Christian peace and joy now and salvation after death. They did not even realize that verbal, emotionally and physically abuses are sinful. Additionally, they are not given the Holy Spirit as a seal of salvation. Buddha is dead but Jesus is a living God. God answers our prayers; while Buddhists depend on making vows to many small gods they do not even know. Positive Points of Buddhism
Negative Points of Buddhism
Problems in Christianity in Thailand
General Information of Christianity in Thailand
The weaknesses of Thai Christianity of Thailand Located in South East Asia, Thailand has 65 million populations and only 1.62 % of them are Christians (of which 0.47% is Pentecost). The growth of the church has been disappointing. Christian Pentecost entered into Thailand 175 years ago (4). According to Operation World in Thailand section, Bangkok is one the sectors that needs special ministry. There are only 40,000 evangelical Christians among 15 million people live in Bangkok. The problems among them are: theological compromise, the increasing rate of back sliding, misuse of church funds, a tolerant condoning of sin resulting in failure in discipline leaders who err, too many divisions among Christian leaders, lack of vision and lack of funds (5). The mature and fully trained pastor and leaders are few. The quota of visas for missionary is very restricted, yet there is a freedom for evangelism, but not through media (6). The major evangelism has taken place in urban area, hill tribe, northern and north east, but not in Bangkok. Christian help ministry such as Christian radio, cassette ministry is well developed only in rural areas but not in the capital city of Bangkok (7). Christianity is not respectable in the high and modern society in Thailand. (1)The Bangkok Post Newspaper, Bangkok, Thailand (2)Patrick Johnson and Jason Mandryk, Operation World ( UK: Paternoster Lifestyle, 2001),621 (5)Patrick Johnson and Jason Mandryk, Operation World ( UK: Paternoster Lifestyle, 2001),620 |