Seeing the culture, history of the beautiful thai people and their beautiful land

The land of thailand is so different, so pleasant, and visually stunning.  It is spectacular in many ways.  I wanted Tammy to enjoy the sights and see what the Thai traditions are.  The people themselves are raised to be respectful, laid back, kind, gentle, loving. 

The culture has changed according to locals due to technology and the influence of the West.  The locals do not like the disrespectful ways that seem to be taking over the youth. 

To be honest, there's a side of me that in a fleshly sense that wouldn't want the society to change, in the sense that I wouldn't want to steal away their culture, their traditions, their identity, their "goodness".

But it's not about us.  God loves the Thai.  He came to save them when He sent Jesus (His Son, who with Him Created all things (John 1, Genesis 1:27, Colossians 1:15, John 8:56, John 10:30). 

I can't worry about these mixed emotions regarding the richness of the culture.  What good is it to have an interesting culture, and be spiritually deceived.... to be apart from the God that created them and loves them, and apart from the truth that God wants them to know.  The Lord wants them to have their identity in being His children...conformed to the image of Him.  Now the gentleness, kindness, and loving nature of the thai are all consistent with the fruits of the Holy Spirit...they seem to demonstrate that better than other cultures of the West.  But the point that the Lord wants them to have is not just for morality...it's for their salvation unto an eternal home where the true God resides.  The one that is worthy of worship.  The one that paid their way by giving up His only begotten Son to be physically battered, bruised, and bloodied....strangulated on the cross...the perfect sacrifice worthy of paying all of mankinds sin (including the thai's).  This is about giving Him his honor and due.  This is not about me making a judgement on changing the culture. 

He who honors the Son, honors the Father who has sent Him.  John 5:22-24 (New International Version)

22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. 24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

In a humanitarian, short sighted, self righteous way, I can justify keeping the truth from the Thai who desperately need to know the Lord (we all do!  we need Him!  He made us so that we would seek Him) because I could argue with myself that the kind people of thailand are morally better than the west who have been privileged with the knowledge of the Jesus for centuries).  But the big picture is that this life is short, eternity is forever, and God wants them to know while they are living here, that He is their hope.  Where they take it from there is up to them, but true worship will lead them into the fullness of life....More love in their life.  More true peace, not a facade of it.  Communion with not just spirits, but having the CREATOR's Holy Spirit to guide them.  I'll take the Lord's Spirit as my guide over supposed dead ancestors all of the time.  God is perfect, my dead ancestors,though beloved, are imperfect. 

The Word of God, proven through and through by historians, archaeologists, scientis, and thru prophesy of Israel and of Jesus Christ fulfilled in exact fashion, commands the believers who are born again of His Spirit, to share the GOOD NEWS about God's love for mankind to the nations, to the ends of the earth.  He went through great detail and great lengths in order to save people from the coming judgement after death based on what He did for them, on FAITH and TRUST in believing what HE performed on that Cross for them, because of his riches in mercy due to the great love He has for us all, so that we can be free!  Free from having to pay a debt we can't pay through our own goodness.  God has declared that NO ONE is truly "good"... only God is truly good and perfect.  This is why we all need help.  For those who believe in what Jesus did, they are accredited His righteousness, because they are admitting they are not holy, but they need God's mercy, His pardon, and therefore are worshipping Him with true love and appreciation for what He did for them.  This is why He is worthy of all fo our praise.  We are always going to fall short...I fall short every single day, and so does the pope.  No one is righteous, not one (Romans 3:23), but God has made a way for us through sending Jesus.  If we reject that solution God made for you, it is saying that God doesn't love you to do that, and that He's a liar, and a fool.  Sounds harsh, but that's what the Word of God says about us.  Try telling your Maker otherwise.  He's already called it out in His Word. 

See Acts 17
Acts 17:22-28 (New International Version)

22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'