Buddhist Boy Finds New Meaning in Death and Rebirth
When Tumo* went to the temple as a little boy in Bangladesh and saw his parents worshipping the Buddha idol, he could not help thinking that it did not move and did not have life.
“I used to tell my parents,” he said, “‘This idol does not have life, cannot speak and cannot hear – then why should we worship the idol of Buddha?’”
His father tried to explain to him that Buddha had achieved nirvana, breaking the cycle of suffering and continual rebirths as different beings. But Tumo was not interested in nirvana; he longed for heaven.
“You will never achieve nirvana by longing for or desiring things,” his father said.
His father tried to explain to him that Buddha had achieved nirvana, breaking the cycle of suffering and continual rebirths as different beings.
Tumo did not know where his concept of heaven came from, but he knew he wanted it.
As Tumo grew up, he realized he could never go to heaven by emulating the Buddha’s achievement of rising above all sense of self, desire and concern for the material world. At the same time, he became aware of bad habits and continually falling into arguments with other people. Where was love?
“A native missionary came to our village and shared about Christ and gave his testimony, and then I was interested to know more about Jesus,” he said.
He began reading the Bible and came to know that only Christ could forgive his sin through His death and resurrection.
“I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour, and I was baptized,” he said. “I am not doing bad things as I did before. I praise and thank the Lord for this.”
The leader of the native ministry working with unreached tribal people in Bangladesh said his teams have seen many lives improving since they began sharing the gospel.
“I thank the Lord that up to this time we have baptized 1,758 tribal peoples from different tribal villages who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour,” he said. “Many Maru people and Chakma people have given up drinking wine and doing bad things. They are enlightened, and they are interested to send their children to the school as well as to the church.”
With first-hand, life-long knowledge of the complex mix of religious customs in the country, the native missionaries know how to share the gospel with Buddhists who have strong animist beliefs involving animal sacrifice, as well as with the majority-Muslim population.
Native missionaries throughout South Asia bring this same built-in expertise to their passion of sharing the message of Christ’s love and light. Please consider a gift today to help bring the gospel to people living in great darkness.
*Name changed for security reasons
