Friday, November 13, 2009

Religion in HK

Jen here. More footage via the Jen-spy Cam...One day I was chilling in our apartment and I heard something going on outside. I peered out the window and spotted a table with three cooked pigs and some fruit on it. People were dressed up and gathering, but just chatting. Then I saw a few of the men light some (I'm guessing) incense sticks, stand in front of the table, bow three times, and put the sticks in a pot filled with sand on the table. Intriguing. What is happening here? So I looked on...I saw a few more men do the same things...then some of the women...and I decided to grab my camera! Eventually all of them lit the sticks and bowed three times in front of the table with dead pigs on it... This occurred the day after a holiday in Hong Kong...one of my American friends who married a Chinese man told me it is like Memorial Day for the Chinese. They go and visit the graves of people who have died...and apparently offer pigs and fruit to their ancestors. Interesting religion, interesting beliefs. And I mean religion.





Pictured at left is a little shrine on the 2nd floor of our building. Our neighbors in that apartment burn a stick of incense in it every morning and evening. If you look closely, you can see one stick of it burning, and a bunch of old sticks (dark red) chilling in the pot. In the some parts of HK, there are shrines tucked in the sides of buildings, in the middle of stores and even in the evening you may see fruit or other food on the sidewalk with burning sticks stuck into it. Gotta feed the ancestors, I guess.

We all need Jesus. Whether we grow up burning food to our ancestors or going to church every Sunday, we need Jesus. The act of going to church or being raised by Christian parents does not ensure eternity with God. Knowing Jesus, and seeing our need for Jesus, does. Praise God for His glorious grace and gift offered to each one of us!

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