cptrelentless wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:29 pm

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:25 pm “I believe in the God of Christianity because Jesus is responsible for forgiving people who did wrong things in the past after they understand about their faults and start to do good things,” she says. “In Buddhism, good deeds are rewarded and people have to be responsible for their bad deeds themselves.”

As it turns out, I believe in that same God too (Happy Easter, heathens!) but I've never heard new-found faith in God expressed in such a mercenary way before.

TRIGGER WARNING: RELIGIOUS STUFF AHEAD! YOU MAY WANT TO HEAD TO YOUR SAFE SPACE!

One of the reasons that we don't proselytize to Cambodians here (apart from the law) is that, with the perceived imbalance of power that Westerners have over nationals, if you held a religious crusade and were entertaining enough, nearly 100% of attendees would accept whatever god you were flogging, because Buddhists have no issue with adding one more god to their stable of gods. I heard a Khmer person express it this way - gods are like slot machines at the casino. You put your money in and try your luck, and if that doesn't work on a given day, you move on to the next slot machine, and try that one. You want me to follow your god? Sure, no problem, especially if there's some rice or sponsorship (or in one church I know, free second-hand iProducts) in it. And the second you're not looking, I'm going back to my animist/voodoo version of Buddhism cum Hinduism.

Don't get me wrong, I personally know many Khmer Christians who truly believe and follow the Christian faith. I personally had a jailhouse conversion experience, so I'm not going to dismiss the beliefs of the lady in question. I've just never heard conversion expressed in quite that way before.

A missionary (who admittedly failed to convert Im Chhem 10 years ago) in the voa Khmer language version https://khmer.voanews.com/a/im-chaem-co ... 36160.html of the article expresses conversion in a similar way;


«បាទ​ ព្រោះ​ព្រះ​បាន​សន្យា​ហើយ​ថា​ នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​មនុស្ស​ម្នាក់​ប្រែ​ចិត្ត ​ព្រះ​អង្គ​អត់​ទោស​បាប​ឲ្យ​គេ​ ​មិន​ថា ​អ្នក​នោះ​បាប​តូច​បាប​ធំ។ ​ព្រះ​អង្គ​អត់​ទោស​ឲ្យ​គេ ​ទោះ​បី​បាប​អតីត​កាល ​អនាគត​កាល​ បាប​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​កាល។ »។

"Jesus promises that when a person changes one's mind (repents) Jesus forgives them, regardless of if their Sin is small or big, Jesus will forgive them, even if it's a sin in the past, the future or in the present".

The Along Veng DC-Cam representative agrees with you, StroppyChops

«ប៉ុន្តែ​ខ្ញុំ​នៅ​តែ​មិន​គិត​ថា​ វា​ជា​ជំនឿ​មួយ​ដែល​គាត់​ជឿ​ពេញលេញ​ទេ ​ពី​ព្រោះ​គាត់​និយាយ​ថា ​គាត់​ទៅ​វត្ត​ ក៏​គាត់​ទៅ​ យេស៊ូ​គ្រីស្ទ​ក៏​គាត់​ជឿ​ដែរ។ ​អីចឹងវា​មាន​ន័យ​ថា​ ជឿ​ទាំង​ពីរ»។ ​

"But I don't think she believes fully in just Christianity, because she says she goes to the Wat and she believes in in Christianity also. It means she believes in both"

She seems to have overlooked this escape clause in the contract:

Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man/woman reaps what he/she sows.