What's the Difference?

Here are some more images of idol worship around our city this week. This is very different from the every day worship at the temples. People crowd around these temporary temples to give honor to and get blessings from a statue. In Acts, Paul was deeply distressed at the idol worship he witnessed. But he did realize one thing- that the people were spiritual and were searching for ways to connect with God. They even went so far as to put a statue up to the "unkown god". It distresses us to see all the idol worship around us. We kind of get numb to it, since it is so heavily surrounding us. I even toy with the idea not to post about this, since it would be giving some publicity to this type of worship. However, when I was in America, I was fully unaware of how much idol worship there was here, so I talk myself into publishing these things because it brings awareness to those who pray for us and the people here. The people are trying to connect with God. They don't know any other way of doing it. They've done it this way for centuries. Some people have even told me that they do it because no one has ever told them anything different.

On Average, $15,000 US dollars are spent on each temporary temple during Durga Puja.
On one 5 mile drive from our house, we counted 13 of these huge temples.

Each one of these temples will be dismantled next week and cast into the river.

But, I need to ask the question- what is the difference between this and what we in America do with what we have grown up knowing? Our tradition tells us to celebrate at Christmas and Easter, the birth of Christ and the death and resurrection of Christ. Yet, most times, other things replace the one true God in our hearts. It may be money, house, career, alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, sports (fill in the blank here). I would say, that many of these things if not all are not spiritual in nature. Are we seeking God when we chase after these things? It is not an idol we can worship, but we chase after these things with a passion- a passion we should have for the one who has given himself as a sacrifice for us and our eternal souls. He has given us given us the opportunity to accept eternal salvation, but we throw that aside for things that will fade away in days, months or years. Americans reject what they know for things that will not last. People here do not know about Christ, so they are not really rejecting Him. But, they are trying to connect with what they think is god the only way they know how.

Can you imagine what kind of passion the people of South Asia would have when they learn the truth of the One True God? That Jesus died and took punishment for the judgement that awaits every person? What kind of passion would we as Americans have if we focused ourselves on the one who has given himself for us and saved us for all eternity?