Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Why Are We Here?
A common question we are asked, both here in Costa Rica and in the U.S.is "Why are you here (or in Costa Rica)?" Since Catholics are in the "Christian Camp" it is assumed that they are, in fact, Christians and in no need of being evangelized. There is no need to elaborate on the fallacy of the concept that the claim makes the fact. One example will suffice. I remember many years ago when we were in Salt Lake City, Utah and visited the Morman Tabernacle. The young lady who was guiding us through the area began her talk with, "We are Christians, just like you." Well, first of all, I doubt that everyone listening to her was a Christian, and, secondly the question I would have liked to have asked her is, "By what criteria do you claim Mormans are Christians?" I am supposing it is assumed that if Christ is somewhere in the belief system of a group, or person, that person or group feels justified in claiming Christianity. Without getting into doctrinal questions (at least, not yet...later), many events and people in history would dispute that claim.
But back to the question of the Catholic church...it traces its roots to the early church, and thus claims to be the true church...the "Holy Catholic Church". A study of church history would be hard put to dispute the claim of historical descent. However, and this is a big "however", the question is not one of descent, but one of content. (ref. Matt.3:9)
Since we are using the term "Christian", perhaps we should be sure of what role Christ plays in one's belief system before we make a claim of being Christian. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me." (John 14:6 NASB) There are many other scriptures, but you can check them out for yourself. The point is that Jesus is the means by which we obtain salvation and reconciliation with God. His atoning work on the cross paid what we owe for our sins, and grace is extended to those who believe in that and trust in Him as Lord and Savior...pretty basic, but extremely profound and important.
Now, having said all that, let me tell a short story to illustrate the problem...and the reason we are here. Last week we were taking some friends sightseeing through beautiful Orosi Valley. In the village of Orosi is located the oldest standing church in Costa Rica, Catholic, of course. (See above picture.) As we were leaving the church, I decided to ask a fellow sitting in the door ( I think he was a caretaker, or guide maybe.) a couple of questions. I'm always interested to hear what people believe. I inquired if I might ask him a question, and he agreed, so I asked him to explain to me, according to his belief as a Catholic, what is necessary to have salvation. He briefly answered my query in this manner: "Find the priest, confess your sins, and that will bring reconciliation with the church." Of course, we were talking in Spanish, and I wanted to make sure I understood him correctly,so I said, "You are saying..." and repeated what he had told me. I understood his explanation. The only problems with that statement are: 1) The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and 2) it is not the church to whom we must be reconciled. The Bible teaches that we must be reconciled to God, through Christ. In what the man said there seems to be an implication that the church is the object of worship and the supreme authority
Now, before you pounce upon me for a generalization, I realize that was only one man's statement. However, it is echoed, in various forms, by many. No doubt there are true Christians within the walls of Catholic churches. I also have my doubts that the man's statement lines up with the official teaching of the Catholic church, but in practice, it is the belief of many...and...that's why we are here.
But back to the question of the Catholic church...it traces its roots to the early church, and thus claims to be the true church...the "Holy Catholic Church". A study of church history would be hard put to dispute the claim of historical descent. However, and this is a big "however", the question is not one of descent, but one of content. (ref. Matt.3:9)
Since we are using the term "Christian", perhaps we should be sure of what role Christ plays in one's belief system before we make a claim of being Christian. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me." (John 14:6 NASB) There are many other scriptures, but you can check them out for yourself. The point is that Jesus is the means by which we obtain salvation and reconciliation with God. His atoning work on the cross paid what we owe for our sins, and grace is extended to those who believe in that and trust in Him as Lord and Savior...pretty basic, but extremely profound and important.
Now, having said all that, let me tell a short story to illustrate the problem...and the reason we are here. Last week we were taking some friends sightseeing through beautiful Orosi Valley. In the village of Orosi is located the oldest standing church in Costa Rica, Catholic, of course. (See above picture.) As we were leaving the church, I decided to ask a fellow sitting in the door ( I think he was a caretaker, or guide maybe.) a couple of questions. I'm always interested to hear what people believe. I inquired if I might ask him a question, and he agreed, so I asked him to explain to me, according to his belief as a Catholic, what is necessary to have salvation. He briefly answered my query in this manner: "Find the priest, confess your sins, and that will bring reconciliation with the church." Of course, we were talking in Spanish, and I wanted to make sure I understood him correctly,so I said, "You are saying..." and repeated what he had told me. I understood his explanation. The only problems with that statement are: 1) The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and 2) it is not the church to whom we must be reconciled. The Bible teaches that we must be reconciled to God, through Christ. In what the man said there seems to be an implication that the church is the object of worship and the supreme authority
Now, before you pounce upon me for a generalization, I realize that was only one man's statement. However, it is echoed, in various forms, by many. No doubt there are true Christians within the walls of Catholic churches. I also have my doubts that the man's statement lines up with the official teaching of the Catholic church, but in practice, it is the belief of many...and...that's why we are here.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Meet Patricia and family
The first part of this week I hosted some guys from Virginia whose church is going to take the responsibility of starting new work in the area of San Carlos, Costa Rica. We met with some of the Christians in the area and discussed how we might work together. One dear lady, Patricia, prepared breakfast for us on Tuesday at her home, a beautiful spot nestled in a valley between two mountains.(pictures above) The home is very humble, but is a delightful place to be. It is a country home, repleat with chickens, goats, fruit trees and lots of home grown vegetables. As is often the case in Costa Rica, the windows and doors stay open virtually all the time. Open doors...loose animals...You get the picture.
Patricia loves the Lord and lives with her two youngest children and a long-time friend, Maria. She is divorced and has three older children, 22, 19, and 17. Please pray for the 17 year old, Jackson. He is "in the streets" as they say, and is involved in dealing drugs. It is a heart-breaking worry for Patricia.
A means of support for the family is the production and sale of home produced, organic, toiletry items...shampoo, hand creams, conditioners, etc, all made with various plants and extracts produced right there at their place. She sells them at the "feria", a sort of weekly farmer's market found in every village and barrio.
Patricia says she could move to the city and get a better paying occupation, but she believes it is very important for the children to have the freedom of the country living, the animals, and the raising of their food. I sure can't disagree. What they are experiencing cannot be replaced with a higher income, city traffic, gated and walled houses or easily assesible supermarkets.
The family drives about 10 kilometers to worship with a body of Christian believers who highly value family life and support each other as there is need.
I look at a setting like the one in which this family lives and frankly I am a little jealous. It's a hard life, but it's simple and the children laugh and play and have no idea that they are missing movies and malls. They are learning to love the Lord and life.
Patricia loves the Lord and lives with her two youngest children and a long-time friend, Maria. She is divorced and has three older children, 22, 19, and 17. Please pray for the 17 year old, Jackson. He is "in the streets" as they say, and is involved in dealing drugs. It is a heart-breaking worry for Patricia.
A means of support for the family is the production and sale of home produced, organic, toiletry items...shampoo, hand creams, conditioners, etc, all made with various plants and extracts produced right there at their place. She sells them at the "feria", a sort of weekly farmer's market found in every village and barrio.
Patricia says she could move to the city and get a better paying occupation, but she believes it is very important for the children to have the freedom of the country living, the animals, and the raising of their food. I sure can't disagree. What they are experiencing cannot be replaced with a higher income, city traffic, gated and walled houses or easily assesible supermarkets.
The family drives about 10 kilometers to worship with a body of Christian believers who highly value family life and support each other as there is need.
I look at a setting like the one in which this family lives and frankly I am a little jealous. It's a hard life, but it's simple and the children laugh and play and have no idea that they are missing movies and malls. They are learning to love the Lord and life.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Put Yourself in Their Shoes
I've spent quite a bit of time the last week with new language students - some of my very favorite people. The current policy is for singles or couples without children to live with national families. This, of course, is great for language learning and adapting to the culture but try to picture how hard it can be. A person has just left "home" - all that is familiar and comfortable where they can communicate easily and have a lifetime of experiences. In about four hours they are transported to a place where the residents speak another language; eat differently; live in smaller houses with more people, etc. This new missionary now becomes part of that large family in the small house. Their bodies aren't used to the new germs and sometimes they get sick. Their nervous systems have never been exposed to so much noise ALL THE TIME. Even the biggest rice fans have never, ever eaten so many of those little white grains in such a short time - for every meal. On and on it goes, and they can't even tell their host family how they feel or what they think - maybe that is a good thing actually!
Because they don't have cars, they must walk, take the bus or a taxi. Costa Rica doesn't have street addresses but "direciones" which read something like this (our address) "Moravia, San Jose, Los Colegios norte, entrada principal, 100 metros norte, 200 oeste, 25 norte, mano derecho, primero porton".
Then there is the problem of getting used to the new money. It's overwhelming to spend 25,000 colones at the grocery store. This is about $50 American but sounds like you just blew your entire year's salary.
This time of year, they can count on the fact that it will rain every afternoon so they never leave the house after lunch without their umbrella. It will most likely be a downpour and they will come home wet from the knees down no matter how big their paragua is. Their shoes will soon smell horrible and their clothes will mildew in the closet.
Finally they begin classes at language school and from the first the instructors speak only Spanish to these poor folk. They get grammar books and workbooks and are given homework that can take up to five hours to complete because they have to look up every word in the dictionary.
Some of the new students have children. These families live in mission-owned homes so that is somewhat easier but they have the stress of getting the children settled in a new school. These kids will make good friends at school but many of those friends will leave after three months and most of the others after six or when these children leave in a year.
All of these language missionaries will attend national churches and leave most Sundays with a headache from concentrating so hard to understand just a few words of the sermon. It is a discipline to maintain good spiritual health.
These are just a few of the stressors language missionaries experience but "vale la pena" - it's worth it. It's not long before these people have national friends they love and almost immediately they bond with their fellow students - misery does love company, you know.
By the end of their time in Costa Rica studying Spanish they know literally thousands of Spanish words and have come soooooooooooooooooo far. They still have a long way to go before all that information that has been stuffed into their brains becomes natural to them in speaking but they are well on their way.
They leave with great memories and so excited about finally getting to their field of service.
It is our pleasure and a great blessing to get to know these fine folk - one of the perks of being a missionary in Costa Rica where the IMB sends their new personnel to learn Spanish.
Because they don't have cars, they must walk, take the bus or a taxi. Costa Rica doesn't have street addresses but "direciones" which read something like this (our address) "Moravia, San Jose, Los Colegios norte, entrada principal, 100 metros norte, 200 oeste, 25 norte, mano derecho, primero porton".
Then there is the problem of getting used to the new money. It's overwhelming to spend 25,000 colones at the grocery store. This is about $50 American but sounds like you just blew your entire year's salary.
This time of year, they can count on the fact that it will rain every afternoon so they never leave the house after lunch without their umbrella. It will most likely be a downpour and they will come home wet from the knees down no matter how big their paragua is. Their shoes will soon smell horrible and their clothes will mildew in the closet.
Finally they begin classes at language school and from the first the instructors speak only Spanish to these poor folk. They get grammar books and workbooks and are given homework that can take up to five hours to complete because they have to look up every word in the dictionary.
Some of the new students have children. These families live in mission-owned homes so that is somewhat easier but they have the stress of getting the children settled in a new school. These kids will make good friends at school but many of those friends will leave after three months and most of the others after six or when these children leave in a year.
All of these language missionaries will attend national churches and leave most Sundays with a headache from concentrating so hard to understand just a few words of the sermon. It is a discipline to maintain good spiritual health.
These are just a few of the stressors language missionaries experience but "vale la pena" - it's worth it. It's not long before these people have national friends they love and almost immediately they bond with their fellow students - misery does love company, you know.
By the end of their time in Costa Rica studying Spanish they know literally thousands of Spanish words and have come soooooooooooooooooo far. They still have a long way to go before all that information that has been stuffed into their brains becomes natural to them in speaking but they are well on their way.
They leave with great memories and so excited about finally getting to their field of service.
It is our pleasure and a great blessing to get to know these fine folk - one of the perks of being a missionary in Costa Rica where the IMB sends their new personnel to learn Spanish.
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