Why have the Thai Buddhists been so resistant to the gospel? Many people have asked this is a question, but very few have provided answers. Alex G. Smith wrote “The failure of missions to make a significant impact, especially on Theravada Buddhists, is due to both Buddhist barriers and missiological weaknesses.”
In reference to the Buddhist barriers, he mentions three.
The eclectic nature of Buddhism
In other words, Buddhism is flexible and adjusts to the local religious culture of the people adopting it. Buddhism selects and incorporates essential cultural and religious elements into its system. This means Buddhism compromises some of its teaching to mix in with the local beliefs. This is called syncretism. Therefore, Buddhism comes in many shapes and forms: in China, it is mixed with Taoism and Confucianism; in Japan, with Shintoism, Confucianism and ancestral worship; in Korea, with shamanism and Confucianism. Theravada Buddhism incorporated animistic spirits of the folk religion of the people into its worship. Lacking rituals, it also integrated Hindu rituals into their syncretistic mix. Buddhists would go even further to accept elements of Christianity as well, but there would be no room for a unique Christ. They even adapt Christian institutions. School children parade weekly in the uniforms of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides under the Buddhist guise. The eclecticism puts pressure on churches to remain faithful in a syncretistic society.
Buddhist solidarity
Buddhist philosophy is all pervasive, permeating the concepts and world views of a people and saturating their culture, language, education and attitudes with Buddhistic viewpoints. In fact, the social solidarity of Buddhism is so strong that the national identity of the people comes from Buddhism. To be Thai is to be Buddhist. Buddhist solidarity threatens the identity and survival of churches, because those who dare to stand out as Christians will suffer isolation.
Theological barriers
Although there are similar words to Christian vocabulary such as hell, heaven, sin, salvation and born again, there remains significant differences in definitions of these words. A leading Buddhist scholar equated God with karma, thereby, rejecting God’s personality in favor of impersonal ‘nature’ as the cause in life. He also identifies God the Creator with Buddhism’s ‘avijja’, meaning ‘ignorance’ or ‘lack of knowledge, a term which Buddhists identify as the cause of all evil and suffering.
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