Ghost Month

It is now ghost month in Hong Kong. For those of you who don’t know what ghost month is, it is the time of year when the locals build huge shrines (one down the street from my apartment is the size of a small house in America) and burn various articles, including incense and paper figures modeled to look like everyday items such as cars, computers, and money. They do this to satiate the ghosts who live in their neighborhood and keep the ghosts from bothering the living until the next time ghost month rolls around.

Coming from 21^st century America, it is shocking to see how many people still believe in and practice something that would be brushed of as mere superstition back home. Viewing the practice as a Christian, it is saddening to see so many people living in fear and turning to setting fires to try to calm their fears. Seeing the practice has made me think about the wonders of the gospel and how it is so greatly superior to religion in two key ways:

Fear: Religions keep people trapped and following a lie through fear. For the locals during ghost month, this fear is that if they don’t do their duty, the ghosts will plague them over the next year. For some who claim to be Christians but in reality only pursue moralistic religion, this fear is a fear that God is out to get them and will unleash His anger upon them if they fail to attend church or read their Bible for a day.

The gospel frees us from fear by telling us that we absolutely deserve this punishment from God, but that because of His love He poured out our due punishment upon Himself on the cross. God gave His own life for us. He has proven that He is not anxious to trap us and get us as soon as we give Him a chance. We have each given Him thousands of chances to “get us” in situations where we truly deserve the punishment because of our sin. The gospel reminds us that rather than punishing us, God has loved and accepted us. Because of this truth, we are free to follow Him not out of fear of what will happen if we mess up, but rather out of thanks for the love that He has already shown us.

Works-Based Righteousness: Every religion, at its core, teaches that we, by being good enough, earn our way to our goal (whether that is heaven, Valhalla, Nirvana, etc.). In ghost month, the goal is to avoid the ghosts of the dead bothering the living, so the living perform works (burning various items) in order to satiate the ghosts and keep them away for a while. The problem with this is that nobody can ever do enough to “make it.” Even if the locals in Hong Kong burn enough incense this year to keep the ghosts away, there is no way to know that they will have the same luck next year. Someone counting on their good works for acceptance before God can go months or years without any “major sins,” but all of that “goodness” can be undone (at least in this person’s mind) by one “major failure” tomorrow.

The gospel frees us from this endless pursuit. On the cross, Jesus bore all our sins. There is literally nothing we can do to add to His work and contribute to our own salvation. All we can do is receive His gift. And the gospel doesn’t leave us stuck in a state of confusion, wondering whether Jesus’ death was sufficient. The resurrection is God’s seal of approval upon Jesus’ sacrifice. It is the proof that the debt we owed has been paid in full, that the work is finished once and for all.

Please pray for the city of Hong Kong, that its people would see the liberating power of the gospel, that they would believe it, and that they would be freed from the religions and superstitions that keep them trapped for now.