"No, this is not good..."

At a Buddhist Temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The conversation with Jo, our taxi driver, after I had explained the gospel went like this.

“So you do something bad, and the Spirit of Jesus tells you it was bad.  You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes,” I said confidently. 

“The next day, you do something bad, You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes.”

“The next day, you do something bad, You say you are sorry, and then Jesus makes you clean.”

“Yes,” I said triumphantly, so thrilled he got it!

“No, this is not good.”

Wondering what I had said wrong, and how the good news of Jesus forgiveness could not be received with great joy asked, “Why do you say it is not good?”

Jo continued to explain to me that Buddism was good because if you do something bad, you get bad things.  If you do something good, you get good things.  You should not get good if you do bad.  Our conversation continued where I explained that you don’t do the SAME bad things every time.  This seemed to make him happier, but the next day is when I gained real insight.

My new friend and sister in Christ

I was sitting with my new friend and sister in Christ on our way to a village to observe a program.  I asked her what the most difficult thing was for her when she became a Christian (the first in her family and in her entire village), she said it was the idea of forgiveness that was most difficult for her.  Then she explained that it was not until she understood that the Spirit makes you better than you could ever be without him that she felt more at peace with the idea.  Being good is such a high value in Thai culture, and my friend realized that when she was forgiven of a sin, she was able to become victorious in new ways over bad things in her life.  Yes, this is good.

I will probably  never get a chance to talk with John again, but I can pray that he would understand the love God has for him, and how God desires to make him a “good person” better than he could ever hope to be without him.  Not only that, he can forgive him from all the bad that he can never pay for!